Russell Frank
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Frank: The Luftmensch’s Guide to Educational Reform
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My academic home at Penn State is the College of Communications, but at heart, I’m a humanities guy. My bachelor’s degree was in Creative Writing, the English department’s home for would-be poets and novelists. My graduate degrees are in folklore studies. As anyone can plainly see, I was (and still am) a luftmensch, a Yiddish…
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Frank: On Not Fading Away
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Question: What do Dolly Parton, Liza Minnelli and Cher have in common? Hint: It’s the same thing that Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Donald Trump have in common. Further hint: Also Sylvester Stallone, Reggie Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, Patti Smith, Susan Sarandon and Steven Spielberg. Answer: If you guessed that all these…
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Frank: As War in Ukraine Enters Year Five, a New War Begins
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If you’re like me, at some point this winter, you complained about the relentless cold. But consider what it’s been like in Ukraine, where it was just as frigid not just outside, but indoors, thanks to a relentless Russian assault on the power grid. If you were living in Ukraine this winter, Svitlana Budzhak-Jones told…
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Frank: Can Ray Bilger End the GOP’s Winning Streak in the 15th Congressional District?
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If you were going to design a Democrat who stood a chance of breaking the Republican Party’s stranglehold on Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District, his resume would look like Ray Bilger’s. Bilger is a Central Pennsylvania native son (Bellefonte), a military veteran (10 years in the Air Force), a gun collector (ask him about his Colt…
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Frank: It’s Bye-Bye Bezos for This Consumer
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We’re done, Jeff. For a while, I found you irresistible. Anything I wanted, you’d bring it to my door, sometimes within 24 hours. I needed to send a gift, you’d do it for me: no trip to the mall, no wrapping or packing, no waiting in line at the post office. I wanted to read…
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Frank: And the Award Goes to…Me!
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María Corina Machado, Venezuela’s opposition leader and last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, presented her prize to President Trump on Thursday during a meeting in the White House. – New York Times Back when I was a no-field, no-hit second baseman for Milk Maid Ice Cream (team motto: “Win or Lose, Our Sponsor Really Should…
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Frank: Greetings From Hellscapes of Immigrants and Couch Monsters
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I’m sitting in a coffeeshop in Portland, Oregon, on the first workday of the new year. My granddaughters have gone back to school, my daughter has gone back to work in her home office and my son-in-law is, like me, prepping for a new semester. Earlier, Nick and I hunkered down at the dining room…
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Ode to the Hungry Eye
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I woke up at 2:30 one morning last week feeling like I was being stabbed in the eye. I wasn’t, of course, so my next thought was that some particle was in my eye, something big and jagged. I pictured a morsel of granola. Here is where I was grateful to live with someone who…
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Frank: The Real Reasons Behind This Season’s Football and Structural Failures
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I know that an informed citizenry counts on us newshounds to get to the bottom of things, so to the bottom of things I herewith get. Many of you remain dismayed that a football season that began with such promise – experienced quarterback, two-headed running back, No. 2 ranking in the polls – has ended…
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Gratitude With a Touch of Attitude
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Last Monday, I chanced upon an e-bike lying on its side on the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street. Odd, I thought. I looked around, saw no one, continued on my way. The bike was still there that afternoon and the next morning and all the rest of the week. Stolen, then ditched?…