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“Airplane!” is 35 years old
Airplane!, the gut busting, hilarious send-up of airplane disaster movies, turns 35 this year. For a long list of reasons, I’m not sure that a similar kind of movie could be made now, but especially...
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Before the college application process went haywire
New York Times columnist Frank Bruni is getting a lot of attention for his new book, Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania (2015), which urges young people and...
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On being a college sports fan: A waif’s journey
From SBNation.com Although I’m a moderately serious sports fan, and I’ve been associated with a good number of colleges and universities over the years, I’ve never attended a school with a big-time...
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Final exam season: Recalling late night munchies for student chow hounds
You’ve come a long way, baby: Late night college chow has upgraded its game If this headline and photo are to be believed, collegiate munchies have definitely stepped up a notch or two since my student...
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Classic movie report: May 2015
I declared as one of my New Year’s resolutions that I would watch more classic old movies, so each month I’m devoting an entry to how I’m doing with it. It has been a very busy month, so I have only...
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As summer approaches, winter has given way to spring in Boston
Boston Common (photo: DY) The brutal winter that we experienced here in Boston has finally given way to more civilized weather, even if piles of snow collected during January and February and deposited...
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Throwback Thursday: Vienna waits for me
Prater Wheel, Vienna (Photo: DY, 1981) On Thursday evening, I’ll be hopping on a plane for Vienna, Austria, for the biennial International Congress of Law and Mental Health, a week-long event that...
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“Welcome to first-year orientation” (Gulp)
Samuel Morse’s allegorical landscape picturing the university as paradise, placing NYU’s original Gothic style building at left (1835-36) For many educators, mid-August brings a sort of foreboding:...
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A quick visit to Hyde Park, Chicago
Yours truly in Hyde Park (Photo by Sharon Franklin Driscoll, 2012) During my recent visit to Northwest Indiana, I made a quick side trip to the Hyde Park section of Chicago, largely to browse through...
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Geek fantasy: Doing college all over again, but only on terms that defy reality
“Umm, professor, you’re expecting me to actually read these?” (Photo: DY, 2013) On Facebook yesterday, one of my long-time college friends posted a photo of her son’s residence hall room. She added...
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Throwback Thursday: My career as a collegiate journalist
My first-ever published newspaper articles! Those who ask me about the potential value of extracurricular activities for college students risk being on the receiving end of a verbal serenade about The...
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As the air chills and the days grow short, the semester chugs along
Boston Common, October 2015 As I made tracks to my weekly singing class on Tuesday evening at around 6 p.m., both the chilly air and dusk were part of my brisk walk. I did stop to snap the photo above;...
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Temporary escapism: NYC teens are discovering “Friends”
New York Times writer Ginia Bellafante reports that New York City teens have discovered the popular 1990s sitcom “Friends.” A big reason for its draw is its portrayal of the relatively carefree lives...
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The hazards of study abroad
Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 1981 (photo: DY) The terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday tragically reminded us that when students go abroad, they are not provided with a protective bubble. Among...
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First-time sojourn across the pond
Thirty-five years ago, I joined a group of fellow Valparaiso University students at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, where we would board a TWA flight to London. We were to be the 27th group of VU students...
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The world-expanding virtues of study abroad
As President of Goucher College in Maryland, Sanford Ungar spearheaded internationalization initiatives that included requiring every undergraduate to enroll in a study abroad program. The school...
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A view from the Garden
This 1940s wartime era photo prompts a nostalgic moment for me, even if I wasn’t around back then and my soggy sentiments have nothing to do with the picture itself. This is the old Madison Square...
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Learning about the 1916 Easter Rising
Easter weekend in Dublin, 1981 (photo: DY) The 1916 Easter Rising was an armed insurrection centered in Dublin, and led by Irish Republicans who opposed British rule and sought to establish an...
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On typing and typewriters
No power needed, except that of your fingers and your mind. (Vintage typewriter courtesy of Adeline Moya) For many years I’ve quipped that Introduction to Typing and Driver’s Education were the two...
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Watching a show within a show: “The Day After” on “The Americans”
If you’re wondering whether we’re still in a Golden Age of television drama, then look no further than “The Americans” on FX. The show stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as deep-planted Soviet spies,...
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