Essays: June 2005 Archive Page

On Father's Day, while we were headed east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, on our way to a family vacation in Amish country, the steering on our 1992 Taurus gave out. The car spun out in the grassy median, flipped over, and came to rest partially in a westbound lane.--Dennis G. Jerz

--What I Did on My Summer Vacation: Walked Away from This... (Jerz's Literacy Weblog)

This wasn't a lot of fun to experience, but if you've got to be involved in a rollover accident, I strongly recommend that you become involved in one that doesn't kill anyone.

On this blog, I don't want to talk about what might have caused the accident, and I'm not seeking advice on what to do next. Anyone who's had a close brush with death sees life as more precious.

My son dictated his description of the accident in a letter he wants me to give to his piano teacher. He ended it with, "Well, I hope you're glad we survived."

Watch next week for the introduction of "wikitorials" ? an online feature that will empower you to rewrite Los Angeles Times editorials. --To Our Readers (LA Times)

Fascinating idea.

Her workout on the Stairmaster pumped the clot right through a too-porous wall in the heart on a direct path to the right side of her brain.

Hurrying down to the gym, I suspected that whatever the "small" problem was, we might still have time to make the play. Instead, our lives were about to change fundamentally, and we were both about to experience firsthand the inner workings of British health care.

We spent almost a full month in a British public hospital. We also arranged for a complex medical procedure to be done in one of the few remaining private hospitals in Britain. My wife then spent about three weeks recuperating in a New York City hospital as an inpatient and has since used another city hospital for physical therapy as an outpatient. We thus have had a chance to sample the health diet available under two very different systems of health care. Neither system is without its faults and advantages. To paraphrase Thomas Sowell, there are no solutions to modern health care problems, only trade-offs. --David Asman --There's No Place Like Home (Opinion Journal)

John Watson, who teaches journalism ethics and communications law at American, has noticed another phenomenon: Many students, he says, believe that simply working hard -- though not necessarily doing excellent work -- entitles them to an A. "I can't tell you how many times I've heard a student dispute a grade, not on the basis of in-class performance," says Watson, "but on the basis of how hard they tried. I appreciate the effort, and it always produces positive results, but not always the exact results the student wants. We all have different levels of talent."

It's a concept that many students (and their parents) have a hard time grasping. Working hard, especially the night before a test or a paper due date, does not necessarily produce good grades.

"At the age of 50, if I work extremely hard, I can run a mile in eight minutes," says Watson. "I have students who can jog through a mile in seven minutes and barely sweat. They will always finish before me and that's not fair. Or is it?" --Alicia C. Shepard --A's for Everyone! (Washington Post (will expire))