“The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse” ed. Marjorie Cohn

“Experience, we are told, is a great teacher. If this is so, then my classroom was a clandestine prison and my teachers, experts in the commission of crimes against humanity.” (Sister Dianna Ortiz, from Preface) Thus begins this harrowing collection of essays on torture, incarceration, and the flouting of human rights by the world’s most…

“Call a lie a lie.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the responsibilities of writers

Congratulations to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on winning the PEN Pinter Prize, awarded to a writer who shows “the real truth of our lives and our societies.” The judges described her as “sophisticated beyond measure in her understanding of gender, race, and global inequality.” I haven’t read much of Adichie’s work, but I know she’s regarded…

Me and Gifted Kids

On September 28th, 2018 I visited the Gifted Kids program at Silver High. Nine teenagers and one teacher, Sara Sosa, were there to greet me. They were in the program because they’d taken a test and been identified as exceptional. Sure enough, I guessed within about thirty seconds that I was the dumbest person in…