Brad Rourke

Brad Rourke’s Blog

  • I’m Here. I’m Here.

    The other night, a close friend was ill. The next day, recovered, we discussed an interesting thought that kept going through their mind. Every few moments, with some change in symptoms or worsening of feeling, they felt compelled to describe it to themselves in the lingo of a status update: “X is lying in bed,”…

  • College For Profit: Its Time Has Come

    Andrea Jarrell passed on to me an item she saw in the always-useful Inside Higher Ed. It’s an interview with Harold T. Shapiro, the new chairman of DeVry, Inc. Yes, that DeVry. The for-profit school. Before you turn up your nose, know this: Shapiro is former president of University of Michigan. Many of my friends…

  • Friday Update — 1-9-09

    Friend– Here are a couple of recent posts from my daily blog that I thought might interest you. I used to be in an “entourage.” It wasn’t a star’s coterie, but a charismatic business person leading a startup. The time has stuck with me over many years. Very strange. More here: In The Entourage I…

  • Against Slavery

    Many of my friends know how passionate I am — but certainly not as active as I want to be — about the new Abolitionist movement against slavery worldwide. There are more slaves now on the planet than there ever has been. Many are here in the United States. Facts: [UPDATE: Forgot to mention these…

  • An Interview With Prince

    I ran across a very interesting piece the other day. It’s LA Times pop critic Ann Powers’ blog post about her five-hour personal interview with none other than Prince. This piece was interesting for two reasons. First, it was interesting on a journalistic level. The piece is a great example of how a reporter can…

  • The Garage

    @bobbygwald retweeted an interesting post that is worth sharing. (If you do not know what that sentence means, you will within twelve months). It’s the rules of the garage: Believe you can change the world. Work quickly, keep the tools unlocked, work whenever. Know when to work alone and when to work together. Share tools,…

  • In The Entourage

    It turns out that it was not Queen Latifah who had her jewlelry stolen in Tobago, but a member of her entourage, according to the Trinidad and Tobago Express. Reading the item made me remember that I used to be in an entourage myself. What a strange life it was. Unless you have been in…

  • Philanthropy's Unique Advantage

    My good friend Dave Moore writes of a middle ground when it comes to leadership at philanthropic foundations: [A]t times foundations need to act in a “top down” or “leadership” way to innovate and take on tough issues. The critique is that this behavior is undemocratic and at times even autocratic. I think there is…

  • Philanthropy’s Unique Advantage

    My good friend Dave Moore writes of a middle ground when it comes to leadership at philanthropic foundations: [A]t times foundations need to act in a “top down” or “leadership” way to innovate and take on tough issues. The critique is that this behavior is undemocratic and at times even autocratic. I think there is…