I’ve been doing my look at Africa for a few months now, one country a week, and one thing that hits me is that it would be easier if I knew French. I’ve watched four movies with subtitles. At the UIC library, half the books that look good have to go back on the shelf… [Read More]
Blog
In which I nearly fall for the anchor pricing trick
I’m not an Apple fangirl, but recently, a client asked me to buy an iPad for multimedia project. I started looking for a bargain, and then, I got paralyzed at checkout. I was told to get at least an iPad 2 with 16 gigs of storage, but then I started thinking – maybe I really… [Read More]
Mali – Bamako
The Africa country-by-country project continues, this week with Bamako, set in the capital of Mali. It’s a seriously weird, seriously interesting movie. There are three main parts to it. The first is a mock trial , featuring the people of Mali versus the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The director, Abderrahmane Sissako, filmed… [Read More]
Paying for college: John Warner’s advice for freshmen and their parents
John Warner is a writer and an adjunct writing instructor at College of Charleston. He used to live in Chicago, and we hung out in the same circles back then. He’s smart and funny. John has a regular column on Inside Higher Ed about life as an adjunct. Last week, he wrote two open letters, one… [Read More]
An economist on life, part II
“My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne.” John Maynard Keynes. Think of it as a luxury good with inelastic demand.