Frantic, then Not

The momentum of the school year is a lot like the momentum to meet a deadline.
Finals and AP tests loomed for my son. Crew regattas claimed most of a weekend. End-of-year ceremonies were held for every possible academic and extracurricular endeavor. The room got messier, the time shorter. One week it was mayhem with no [...]

Lessons from a First Editor

As I thought more about the death of my first editor at the Washington Post, I wrote an essay about her and what she taught me (or what I learned). Check it out on the Absolute Write website.
Consider what your first boss was like, and how you perceived him or her when you were [...]

The Lives of Others

Great movie, The Lives of Others, which I saw at a late-afternoon showing in Florida last week. (I was among the youngest in the theatre.) It took place in, what we know in retrospect, were the last years of East German communism. No motives were pure (or were they?); no relationships entirely open (or were [...]