Monthly Archives: May 2010

ARE POOR PEOPLE IN POOR COUNTRIES DIFFERENT?

ARE POOR PEOPLE IN POOR COUNTRIES DIFFERENT? I have posted several times (for example, here and here) on articles by Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee. I welcomed the articles because of the details about how people live on $1 a … Continue reading

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WHAT WAS SHAKESPEARE LIKE?—THE OXFORDIAN VIEW.

WHAT WAS SHAKESPEARE LIKE?—THE OXFORDIAN VIEW. Oxfordians (who include Justice Stevens, Justice Scalia, Justice Blackmun, Freud, David McCullough, Orson Welles, John Gielgud, Michael York Jeremy Irons and Mark Rylance) believe that the Earl of Oxford wrote Shakespeare’s works. Their main … Continue reading

Posted in Literature, Shakespeare | 1 Comment

SIMPLIFYING LEGISLATION.

SIMPLIFYING LEGISLATION. Gillian Tett had an essay in the Financial Times on April 30 arguing against the 1300 page financial reform bill, which has over 300 pages dealing with derivatives. She made two arguments. First, the complexity means that “it … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Politics | 2 Comments

WHERE IS EUGENE O’NEILL?

WHERE IS EUGENE O’NEILL? Terry Teachout asks where Eugene O’Neill is on David Mamet’s list. A clue is in the emphasis that Mamet gives to “poetry.” Teachout quotes Mamet: “‘It is the vulgate, and is as poetic as the sports … Continue reading

Posted in Literature, Theater | 1 Comment

AMERICAN PLAYS TWO THROUGH FIVE.

AMERICAN PLAYS TWO THROUGH FIVE. Mamet ranks the next American plays as: 2. “The Front Page”; 3. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”; 4. “A Streetcar Named Desire”; and 5. Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons.” With the apparent rule of one … Continue reading

Posted in Literature, Theater | 1 Comment

THE BEST AMERICAN PLAY—DAVID MAMET’S CHOICE.

THE BEST AMERICAN PLAY—DAVID MAMET’S CHOICE. In the weekend Wall Street Journal, Terry Teachout reviews THEATRE, David Mamet’s new collection of essays. Teachout includes Mamet’s list of the top 10 American plays of the last century. Number one is “Our … Continue reading

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HOW PROFESSOR SCHAEFER TAUGHT LAW.

HOW PROFESSOR SCHAEFER TAUGHT LAW. Kids, you may be wondering about your uncle’s teaching was like at William and Mary Law School. I think he relied primarily on the Socratic Method, and I know that rather than using a seating … Continue reading

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WHO WAS PROFESSOR KINGSFIELD?

WHO WAS PROFESSOR KINGSFIELD? Professor Kingsfield is the terrifying Harvard Law professor of contract law who is celebrated in THE PAPER CHASE (a book by John Jay Osborne, and later a movie and a television show). Because I knew how … Continue reading

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MY SOCRATIC MOMENT.

MY SOCRATIC MOMENT. Kids, you may be wondering if I ever got called and embarrassed by a professor in law school. Not really. The classes were large, and I was lucky. I say “not really” because of an incident in … Continue reading

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PROFESSOR KAGAN AND THE SOCRATIC METHOD.

PROFESSOR KAGAN AND THE SOCRATIC METHOD. In honor of Nick’s planning to go to law school in the fall, I sent him this story from a former student in Professor Elena Kagan’s class in civil procedure. (Professor Kagan has now … Continue reading

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