By BILL MAXWELL, St. Petersburg Times
Weaving a tangled Web of deceit
When I was a college teacher a few years ago, I got an education, a harsh wake-up call, on the subject of identity and the Internet.
Flamingos take wing off the page
Kay Ryan, 62, is the nation's new poet laureate, the 16th.I discovered her serendipitously in 1996 or 1997, while browsing books on a discount table at Bayboro Books on the campus of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
Only in South Africa
Race and matters related to race are so complex it often confounds logic and mocks common sense.If you think the United States is uniquely obsessed with race and does strange things because of it, you have not read much about South Africa. You certainly have not been there, where skin color governs people's lives and often causes them to act in peculiar ways.
Happiness in the horse latitudes
As a former horse owner, I love the whole equine species. And although I'm a horseracing fan, I care about the welfare of thoroughbreds.Along with millions of other television viewers worldwide, I watched as Da' Tara won the 140th Belmont Stakes last week, the final leg in the Triple Crown. And like most avid fans, I was surprised by Big Brown's last-place finish.
U.S. out of step with the world on cluster bombs
Once again, the United States, under the leadership of George W. Bush, has taken the moral low road. The nation's next president ought to reverse this course soon after assuming office in January.
One more great escape with Indiana
I don't know about anyone else, but I've had it with Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. I've certainly had it with George W. Bush.I've had it with politics, at least for now, so I did what I always do when I've had it: I escape with a movie. Not just any movie, mind you, but a bona fide fantasy, the more adventurous and far-fetched the better.
Our sacred cows stray in the way of honest debate
If Americans ever needed rational thinking and free inquiry to solve our serious problems, that time is now. Even so, we refuse to wean ourselves of a practice that prevents us from finding truth and solutions: We slavishly worship sacred cows, those untouchable ideas, ideologies, individuals, movements and places that are closed to discussion except for praise.
Five drowsy days in Mexico is just the ticket
For five days last month, I had a brand-new experience: I took a real vacation for the first time in my life.Before leaving for the coastal city of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on April 25, I swore that I wouldn't bring my laptop or heavy reading or any deep ideas. I was going to do the tabula rasa routine in reverse.I was going to vegetate, not cogitate.
It was the worst and best of times
Articles in the May/June issue of the AARP Magazine, the April 24 issue of the Christian Science Monitor and the April 25 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education reminded me that 40 years ago -- 1968 -- America was experiencing one of its most tumultuous decades in modern times.
More part-time professors, more dropouts
As Florida lawmakers slash the budget for higher education, forcing university officials to freeze the hiring of full-time professors while hiring more part-timers, I want them to be aware of the findings of a recently published study by the American Educational Research Association.
