Russell Frank

  • Frank: AI Ain’t So Smart

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    Russell Frank

    Threatened as we are by The Machine, we love it when we can say, “Hah! The Machine is dumber than we are!” Case in point: I had some transcribing to do. I always have transcribing to do, because in my professional life I am often asking people questions and recording their answers.  My adventures in…

  • Frank: Welcome to the End of the World

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    Russell Frank

    Relax. This isn’t about the apocalypse. It’s about a place, specifically the southwest corner of Portugal, whence I have just returned.  There are several Ends of the World/ Land’s Ends/ Fim do Mundos/ Fin del Mundos/ Finisterres around the globe. Each is on a coast that juts into the sea. The ones in Europe reveal…

  • Frank: You Think You’re Frazzled? Listen to These Kids

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    Russell Frank

    As I’ve gone from being the same age as my students’ parents to being the same age as their grandparents, I’ve increasingly felt like undergrads and I live on different planets: They don’t know anything I know; I don’t know anything they know. This can complicate grading their work. When my journos-in-training drop names into…

  • Subu in Limbo: Seven Months and Counting

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    Russell Frank

    When Subu Vedam was seized by ICE last October, he thought he’d be released in a matter of weeks, if not days.  After all, his murder conviction had been overturned and he was still a legal permanent resident of the United States. Technically, he was deportable because of drug offenses he was charged with around…

  • Frank: TMI Re BPH

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    Russell Frank

    Meet my pal Foley. Foley and I met two weeks ago and we immediately became attached to each other. In fact, we became inseparable.  Though I did not realize it at the time, our bond was foretold a few days prior when I assumed the ritual position before the porcelain altar, as men do, and…

  • Students walk near Penn State's Old Main during the first day of fall semester classes on Aug. 22, 2022.

    Frank: The Luftmensch’s Guide to Educational Reform

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    Russell Frank

    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…

  • Frank: On Not Fading Away

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    Russell Frank

    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…

  • Frank: As War in Ukraine Enters Year Five, a New War Begins

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    Russell Frank

    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…

  • Frank: Can Ray Bilger End the GOP’s Winning Streak in the 15th Congressional District?

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    Russell Frank

    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…

  • Frank: It’s Bye-Bye Bezos for This Consumer

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    Russell Frank

    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…