On this day in 1933, Cormac McCarthy was born. The great American novelist moved around a lot, and served in the Air Force for four years. After returning to the University of Tennessee in 1957, he was awarded an Ingram-Merrill Award for …
Category: Infographic

In Memory of Jane: Our Favorite Austen Quotes
Today, we honor Jane Austen‘s death. As one of the greatest English novelists, her works live on and continue to be some of the most influential literary works in history.
Infographic: Death in The Odyssey
Sure, everyone sympathizes with Odysseus, the man who got dragged off to fight a ten-year war and then had to face a journey home so filled with obstacles it took another ten years to make it back. That’s rough. Except …
The High Cost of College
How to decide whether a four-year degree is right for you. In a post from May last year we pondered the question, should everyone go to college? And what might still be surprising to some, the answer was a resounding no. …
Happy Birthday, PBS!
On Sunday, November 3, PBS turned forty-four years old. Wow. That’s a lot of numbers. I’d have to count with this vintage piece from Sesame Street a bunch of times to count THAT high! PBS’s mission, from the beginning, has …
Should Everyone Go to College? New Studies Suggest the Answer is… Probably Not
I was listening to The Diane Rehm Show on my commute to go teach my classes this morning. Diane’s guests were Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institue, Nina Marks of Collegiate Directions Inc, and Robert Lerman, professor of economics at American University. I wasn’t surprised …
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That’ll Be a Gazillion Dollars, Plus Tax: The High Cost of Textbooks
I remember the first time I had to buy books as an undergraduate. I took my schedule and dutifully pulled book after book off the shelves for my courses and tried not to hyperventilate as I mentally tallied the increasing …
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