Andrew Sullivan's piece in this week's New York Magazine should be required reading for anyone planning to vote in the presidential election this fall. It's called "Our Democracy Has Never Been So Ripe for Tyranny: The Case Against the People." 

Last Saturday evening, the Program in Educational Theatre hosted a 50th anniversary alumni event featuring a conversation with John Patrick Shanley, the most distinguished alumnus of the program. Shanley is a decorated playwright and screenwriter,  best known for the Pulitzer Prize winning play Doubt and Moonstruck for which he won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

I'm late on this week's musing because I had a deadline that I needed to hit that took priority. It's that time in the semester when I'm feeling tired and overwhelmed by all the tasks that come with this time of year. I'm also aware of the cumulative effect of the academic year. At a certain point my threshold for shenanigans lowers, and general crabbiness ensues.

Last evening the students in one of my classes shared excerpts of their original ethnodramas, and I left the experience feeling so proud of their work and moved by their commitment to risk taking and experimentation.

There's a big difference between talking about revolution and actually participating in and achieving one. I think that's the hard part. Revolution sounds really glamorous to a lot of people, but most of us haven't actually experienced one firsthand.