The Biggest Foreign Policy Blunder In US History

We hear that so many desire real US international leadership. Going forward, let's actually try to provide some.‬

“Eyewitness” To Lives

"You seem to know lots about what Frenchwomen think," my [English] wife has teased me more than once. Actually, no, I don’t believe I do...

“You wrote here she’s brown-haired, but I thought she was a blonde?”

The term "passive-aggressive" may well have been coined by someone observing a jealous author reviewing another's work.

Weekend In Oxford

We spent the last couple of days wandering around in Oxford: We headed there for a visit with my 21 year old nephew, and stayed over into Sunday in a pub not far from his place. The pub doubles as a small hotel, with rooms upstairs. (Yes, really. And what a great room it was! …

Available From November 29

....on paperback and for Kindle: And available for pre-order now for Kindle at.... ....and at other Amazons worldwide. This "sticky post" will be up until shortly after that 29th. Unless I decide to take it down before, of course. The reason for it is I just wanted to prominently reshare the full cover and the …

“It is America. Everyone goes to university!”

The first two novels laid the groundwork. As they are an ongoing tale (although could be read as stand alone books) with most of the same characters, writing them I'm naturally with them for years - literally - watching them change. And I've said before that, given their ages, that some of them even feel …

Spinning Out Of Control

I'm sure some of you reading this were born in the late 1980s and 1990s. The era of which I write about in the novels is therefore in a real sense "history" to you. It pre-dates either your consciousness of the wider world.... or even your birth itself! 😉 It's trite to point out that …

Accents

Yesterday's post was pretty serious. And maybe too heavy - even bordering on depressing. How about something lighter? 🙂 A few years ago, I shared an office when I was working in a London college. Once I answered a colleague's phone when she'd been away from her desk. On the other end was a woman …

When “I’ll Write Soon” Meant Actually Writing

CNN quoting first lady Michelle Obama in Beijing earlier this week, praising studying abroad as "citizen diplomacy": "I'm here today because I know that our future depends on connections like these among young people like you across the globe," the first lady told an audience composed of Chinese and international students at Peking University. "We …

Russians

Currently Russians constitute one of the largest immigrant groups to the U.S. Today's influx began with the first arrivals following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991-1992. At that same time, the sons and daughters of new, post-Soviet Russian privilege, also began appearing in American universities.... __________ In September 1994, in a University of …

She Had Better Not Get Less Than A “B”

Leaving aside the question of whether one Amanda Knox is guilty, let's briefly consider a broader issue. I had noted back in December that there seem to be Americans ages 18, 19 and 20, wandering around abroad who look just like adults. Usually they speak like adults too. However, behind the adult facade, far too …

Escaping An Extended Childhood

The other day it was reported American Amanda Knox (who had been convicted in Italy of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia in November 2007, had seen that conviction overturned in 2011, and then saw that overturning itself overturned in March 2013) had sent an email from the U.S. - via her …