Apr 30, 2017

"Even when they won, they somehow inexplicably managed to lose," he says of an outfit he's supported all his life. Not the Democratic Party, the Boston Red Sox. Losing can teach reliance and effort, he asserts, lessons he applies as head of the Anti-Defamation League. A conversation at JCC Manhattan...

Apr 23, 2017

Are some religions more upbeat than others? Zarin Hainsworth works for the rights of women around the world as did her mother, a true optimist. "Of course she was, because she was a Baha'i," says Zarin, who attributes her own optimism to her Baha'i beliefs. I find her outlook baffling but her accomplishments undeniable....

Apr 16, 2017

Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah elegantly summarizes the problem of human knowledge: "There's nothing that you must know, and there's too much that's worth knowing." So how do you decide what to read next? Or should you just grab a six-pack and head for the beach? A conversation at the Princeton Public Library,...

Apr 9, 2017

Poet Sonia Sanchez and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates each love Howard University, but it's a complicated relationship. "Howard didn't really want me to teach there," she says. And for him: "I was never a great student at Howard University, but I was a great student of Howard University. Love: it's never simple. Two...

Apr 2, 2017

Born in America, the daughter of immigrants, writer Gish Jen recalls that, "When we were growing up, people would often say: your father is very Chinese." Not just  little Chinese, very Chinese. What did they mean by that? She answers astutely, with reference to her father's unlikely memoir, the Tianamen Square tank...