NonEssentials

If you haven't done so, go out now and rent/buy John Adams, the HBO mini-series. It is very well acted and directed. The settings are fabulous. Laura Linney (Abigail) and Paul Giamatti (John) are able to communicate passion and their deep, abiding love in a time when restraint, even between a married couple, was the order of the day. So much of what happened during that tumultuous birth of our nation is reenacted to perfection. When I saw the video on sale at Amazon, I scrolled down to the reviews written by those who bought it. The first one began impressively, giving a glowing overview of what was outstanding about this video. Then came these words, "And Thomas Jefferson is hot." Really. No kidding. The comment immediately below that one reiterated that Thomas Jefferson was "hot." Thank you, Paris Hilton, for ruining almost every scene with Stephen Dillane (the actor who played Jefferson), because my inner voice would say, "Yeah, he is kinda hot." T

I have heard from my legion of fans (all three of them) wondering why they haven't been able to read my delightful insights lately. For you three faithful friends, here goes (you asked for it, don't blame me for what follows): At the university where I work, I have become accustumed to teaching a political science class every fall semester. It's a decent gig, but it's always a core class, which means I have many, many students and many, many non-political science majors who can barely keep their heads from falling into their super-caffineated lattes. Well, last semester, nothing! I figured the political science department had progressed from the bottom of the food chain and lucked out -- there were a good number of teaching assistants who would (had to) do this work for a pittance. So, they hadn't reached my level in the hierarchy (occupied soley by me). Bummer. The other supplemental work I had was teaching a paralegal class on Contracts and Intellectual Property