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I had always thought of myself as healthy and vigorous. But now....

Heart attack, Part 5: Surgery approaches

Like a lamb chop meeting the chefs

"You're such an interesting case," my cardiologist said as I headed for surgery— precisely the words I had been advised to hope I never heard from a physician. I clutched at the belief that I would emerge healthier than ever, physically rejuvenated and a deeper, wiser person.

Bob Levin

Apr 10, 2012 Essays 8 minute read

Trayvon Martin: Rush to judgment? (2nd comment)

Let's take a deep breath, shall we?

The Trayvon Martin case has drawn national attention, and properly so. Justice must be done, especially in a case with so many racial overtones. What we've had so far, though, looks more like a circus.

Robert Zaller

Apr 02, 2012 Essays 4 minute read

Death and life of a friend

What a hard dying, what an easy death

Let him die on a Sunday, she decides. And so she calls me, and I come.

Maralyn Lois Polak

Apr 02, 2012 Essays 2 minute read

Not necessarily threatening, if the wearer is white.

Trayvon Martin: Reactions, black vs. white (1st comment)

Trayvon Martin and the double standard

Black men are instructed to behave compliantly around whites and avoid threatening behavior, like wearing a hoodie. But where does that leave my son, who is black and autistic and finds a hoodie comforting?

Maria Thompson Corley

Mar 31, 2012 Essays 3 minute read

Lee Benson: The historian as activist

One historian who looked ahead

The late Penn historian Lee Benson contributed significantly to his field, but his shining moment may have occurred when he told his fellow historians to leave the sidelines and get involved.

Marshall A. Ledger

Mar 24, 2012 Essays 3 minute read

To Dr. D, it seemed, I was just another chest to saw through.

Heart attack, Part 4: The prospect of surgery

‘Forget your cardiologist. You are my patient now'

After my second heart attack, my cardiologist was upbeat and I thought I was gradually recovering. But the surgeon had other ideas, and I was in no position to argue with him. Part 4 of Bob Levin's continuing saga of his travails as a heart patient.

Bob Levin

Mar 11, 2012 Essays 8 minute read

China's surprise Pritzker winner

An amateur architect, and proud of it

Unlike most celebrity architects, Wang Shu is concerned not with creating grand monuments but with what people want. Above all, that involves recycling old buildings and materials as a way of maintaining continuity from past to future.

Patrick D. Hazard

Mar 06, 2012 Essays 2 minute read

Funnyâ€” Dick never liked chocolate before.

Prostate cancer and radioactive love

When your boyfriend becomes your girlfriend

Thanks to modern medical science, most men survive prostate cancer. But the doctors don't tell you that sometimes the process can transform a macho man into a girly-girl, at least temporarily.

Maralyn Lois Polak

Feb 28, 2012 Essays 3 minute read

"The Clinton Years' on Public TV

PBS goes belly-up for the Clintons

The Clintons are back with a PBS documentary, but did they ever go away? Was Bill Clinton a political genius or just a born seducer? In four hours, this quasi-hagiographical biopic manages to say remarkably little of substance about the first two-term Democratic presidency since FDR's.