Telling Trump’s Story to Children: For Book Publishers, It’s Tricky

This is a challenging writing task. Presidential biographies are a staple of children’s book publishing, and of classrooms across the country. Nonfiction for children is a surging category, particularly in light of a Common Core mandate that schools put greater emphasis on it in their curriculum. Publishers like Penguin Young Readers, Scholastic and Time for Kids chronicle stories like the rise of Mr. Obama from Illinois state senator to president,…

I should be writing my “Fake News” paper for this weekend’s “Computers and Writing.” Instead….

Could the absurd examples of bizarre public discourse please stop happening so I can investifart some of them?

Amazing High School Yearbook Politics Spread

I’m gobsmacked by the creativity that went into researching, writing, and crafting this layout. A look at how students in the Kansas City region commemorated the campaign in keepsakes meant to be enjoyed by all classmates, no matter their leanings. Source: It Was Hard This Year to Keep Politics Out of High School Yearbooks

Whoops, I Accidentally Used a Photo of Donald Trump in this Blog Post on Richard III

Hum de dum. Not paying any attention to current events at all, just thinking about possibly teaching Richard III in my Shakespeare class this fall. Oh, look, Dwight Goodyear posted commentary on Agnes Heller’s book The Time is Out of Joint: Shakespeare as Philosopher of History. How interesting. You know, to those of us who care about Richard III. Stage 1: The would-be tyrant must become an actor, a dissembler, who spreads…

No, the AHCA Doesn’t Make Rape a Preexisting Condition

A Republican Facebook friend posted a link to this article, which acknowledges that there’s plenty to dislike about Trumpcare, but challenges the truth behind some of the statements that are driving online outrage. Remember the Trump administration’s strategy — do something that invokes outrage, pounce and call it “fake news” as soon as someone exaggerates or makes a mistake in reporting on the outrage, and while everyone is distracted, do…

With actor Ken Bolden, who appears in Quantum Theatre’s gripping (and hilarious, and shocking) Collaborators

Mix the paranoia of 1984, the absurdity of Brazil, the pathos of Chekhov, the social commentary of Moliere, and a healthy dose of “When Mike and Carol swap jobs, the Bradys are on a collision course for wackiness.” Quantum Theatre’s “Collaborators” is a fascinating study of power, integrity, and compromise. (Sound designer Joe Pino directed me 30 years ago as Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to…