I am astounded. I really am.
Alex Rodriguez, the greatest player in the sport of baseball, opted out of a guaranteed 72 million dollars, and almost certainly another 200 million dollars, choosing to leave the most storied franchise in sports: The New York Yankees. That’s amazing. He is an amazing player who made his mark the Seattle Mariners, left for Texas and the largest contract ever signed in sports, and got traded to New York to win championships. That never happened, but the chance presented itself every October. I thought he …

One of my favorite places is the produce corner of my local grocery store.
Somewhere between the mounds of red tomatoes, the yellow lemons, the apples in their rows, the cabbages still wet from the mist sprayers, the leathery onions and spicy garlic, I stop and stare, slowly spinning in circles. I have always liked fruits and vegetables, raw or cooked, mixed together in juices or eaten by themselves. This is my candy store. Maybe it’s the moisture in the air, or the smell of fresh food, but I feel healthy …

I have always considered myself something of a hunter.
When I think of hunters, the beginning of the movie Last of the Mohicans comes to mind. Three men running headlong through the woods, their hair streaming out behind them, trusty muskets in their hands. They run and run, quick and silent as whispers. Then suddenly, they stop. One raises his musket, fires a single shot with a puff of smoke. Flash to a large deer tumbling to the ground. The men come and stand over the deer and thank its spirit …

By Avish Parashar
This year I turned thirty-four. By any standard, thirty-four is a rather unremarkable year. There’s no “On Your 34th Birthday” greeting card from Hallmark. My insurance rates stay depressingly the same. I can already drink, drive, and vote (not at the same time, of course!) However, in my own slightly confused mind, one big change did happen: I made the official move from “early thirties” to “mid-thirties.” I remember feeling the same way when I moved from twenty-three to twenty-four (early-twenties to mid-twenties), though not so much from …

What should one teach kids?
When I first began teaching, I knew I had to teach my students English. It was what I had been hired to do after all. The details of how were left up to me. I could have proceeded by explaining the rules and helping them apply the rules, expanding their vocabulary, and conversational ability, repeating and testing until their grasp grew stronger. I might very well have succeeded in such a method, depending on my ability and my students’ responsiveness.
Two details complicated the situation though. …