I always try to make it a point to see both sides of an education issue, and as Project Runway host Tim Gunn always tells his fashion designer cast, try to make it work The concept of true school choice fits that challenge

I've got Ironman to blame for catching the comic bug over the past few weeks This weekend I went to see another Marvel character, The Incredible Hulk, be re-introduced to the public

I have a novel in editing, a story of a college administration in the aftermath of the murder of a US

I receive a daily news feed from Salon, and for the past two days I have received articles about Obama-Hagel and McCain-Lieberman unity tickets I have just three words for those who believe such events will happen: it ain't happening

NFL Draft Season is now upon us and if you're a pro football fan you already know about the widespread speculation about where your favorite players are going to plying their trade on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays and, if they're lucky, the weekends in January and February after their college seasons were over

I am completing Defending College Heights, a novel about an Irish Catholic family and a college administration in the aftermath of the murder of a US

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings introduced new proposed regulations to help clarify how schools, districts and states implement policies and business practices under No Child Left Behind Among these proposals, Secretary Spellings has asked that high schools be required to use graduation rates that track cohorts of students as they progress through high school

I just read in the May 19 Christian Science Monitor that a Massachusetts legislator proposes a 25 percent tax on college endowments over $1 billion

My first post about comics as an educational aid generated an interesting response — from the managing director of Classical Comics, a comic book company in the United Kingdom Not to be confused with Classic Comics, often teasingly referred to as a study guide for college literature classes here in the State, Classical Comics turns classical literature into high-quality visual graphic novels

I've read about the decisions of flagship state universities to increase merit-based, not need-based scholarships to the best-of-best students, the ones who might have chosen an Ivy League school, or other highly selective private college This is not an academic strategy as much as it is an economic development strategy; state politicians do not want the best students to take their talents out of state, and possibly never return

During the last weekend in April, West Point cadet Caleb Campbell was drafted to serve in a different Army He was selected in the seventh and final round of the National Football League (NFL) draft

Last week, I was one of the first to see Ironman, the first summer blockbuster movie and the next hero in the Marvel Comics universe to come to the silver screen I like the movie so much I went to see it again in an early morning matinee

The March 18 USA Today had an interesting cover story in education politics: Colleges' debit card deals draw scrutiny The purpose of these deals is to foster computerized cashless transactions on-campus, for example purchasing books, meals or tickets to athletic events through a debit card that doubles as a student ID

These past weeks there has been talk in the higher education press about private lenders and state guarantee agencies either withdrawing from the government-subsidized student loan market or refusing to underwrite new loans These financial institutions cite either a cash crunch or a credit crunch, or reductions in the federal interest subsidy as the reasons for pulling back on such loans

Yesterday, May 11, 2008, marked the 100th anniversary of the first celebration of Mother's Day Although Mother's Day officially became a national holiday in 1914, it was first celebrated as memorial service in a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia, Anna Jarvis, credited as the founder of Mother's Day, proposed the service as a dedication to her late mother, who had believed that it would be a nice idea to have a memorial to mothers

Here in New Jersey, the Garden State, we have a governor who has just proposed to make $500 million in permanent spending cuts, refinance state debt, reduce municipal aid, eliminate two cabinet departments, and introduce tougher standards in math and science education These are proposals that you might expect from a Republican, but Jon Corzine is a fiscally conservative, moderate to liberal social issues Democrat

This day, May 6, 2008, I spot a front page headline in my local New Jersey paper, The Trenton Times that reads: Ewing HS vote is void a second time

This day, April 29, 2008, I spot a front page headline in my local New Jersey paper, The Trenton Times that reads: Students kept off ballot: District to explore race factor while rescheduling vote Our local races for school board took place last week, so I thought this was an aftermath

On April 17, I checked my inbox and found a message from a reader who had read the previous day's column on the JP Morgan/Chase decision to discontinue lending to schools with historically low repayment rates I had pointed out that Chase's spokesperson refused to list the affected schools, but that borrowers deserved to know

On April 16, JP Morgan/Chase Manhattan, the bank that recently worked with the Fed to acquire the former Bear Stearns investment bank, announced that they will not be making student loans to entering or continuing students enrolled at schools that have a poor repayment rate Yet their spokesperson refused to mention the schools that would be affected by the announcement

While I went out on a long limb to suggest that Rudy Giuliani may be the best running mate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, I am at a loss to guess who would run with whom on the Democratic ticket The highly competitive race between Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Barack Obama has had more than its share of drama — and more than its share of barbs that will only help a Republican deflate the credibility of the eventual nominee

I am not on the inside of any presidential campaign, but I consider myself to be a good student of politics And as a writer, I have the luxury of going against the grain on campaigns and issues

The media has passed enough judgment on former New York governor Elliott Spitzer and I agree with the pundits on all sides; there's no possible defense for his extracurricular behavior and he is not above the law But these past events show that we must consider the behavior that we expect from our elected officials in their public, and sometimes private, lives

When I became a writer, I started and then I stopped working a story on bullying I felt that readers would not be sympathetic with a male main character who was the butt of abuse, practical jokes and malicious innuendos

Shortly after I heard about President Bush's proposal for Pell Grants for low-income children to attend parochial schools, I finished reading More than a Dream: The Christo Rey Story, a inspirational book about the founding of the first Christo Rey Jesuit high school in Chicago's Pilsen/Little Village neighborhood