Brad Rourke

Tag: public comments

  • Learners Are People, Too

    This article first appeared in Pajamas Media. On an airplane last week, I found myself seated behind the president of a large municipal school board along with a staffer. I know this because I am only human and could not help but peruse the board member’s briefing book over the owner’s shoulder. They were on…

  • The Pressure of High Anxiety

    This article first appeared in Pajamas Media. They say Americans are under more pressure than ever these days. Students must pass high-stakes tests in order to graduate. Competition to get into top-tier universities is crushing. The middle class is squeezed economically. Schedules are hectic. Commutes brutal. It’s just harder and harder to get by. This…

  • Expensive Money

    This essay originally appeared in Pajamas Media. As I recall, it was a Thursday and I needed to eat. While gainfully employed in a student job, my check wasn’t due for another week or two. I had nothing in my bank account. The slate clouds threatened that cool, morning drizzle northern California is known for.…

  • Living Like Xerxes

    This essay originally apppeared in Pajamas Media. When first we lay eyes on the evil Xerxes, in the visual revolution known as 300, he is riding a monstrous platform carried by a throng of people whom (we presume) are slaves. It’s a floating throne and court all in one, massive and imposing. He wants to…

  • That Golden Ring And The Alamo Of Truth

    This column originally appeared in Pajamas Media. When forced to come clean in public life, we often pretty up our deceits in flowery language and clever rhetoric, admitting that we may not have been “accurate” or might not have been “forthcoming.” We admit to a “misjudgment” or regret that we may have created the “appearance…

  • Porn Nation

    This column originally appeared in Pajamas Media. As luck would have it, we have a late-summer camp-gap as we get ready for school to start. In our household, both my wife and I work at home. So, day-in, day-out, parents and children are spending a lot of time together. I was reading what looked like…

  • Please Don't Run

    Dear Sen. Obama: Just a few days ago, on one of many Debate Days, I saw that photograph of you and your daughter, Sasha, in the bumper cars at the Iowa State Fair. You are both so happy, sharing the simple joys of the lurch and heave and jolt. Looking at the photo, I imagine…

  • "I See It All The Time"

    The Sheriff’s came to the neighbors the other day. Came twice, in fact. First time, they asked if I had seen them recently. I had to admit not since the weekend, when there was a lot of activity in the driveway. The second time the Sheriff’s came, it was with a pair of laborers. They…

  • Debate Season

    It’s debate season. So soon? I have a secret confession: I want them to go away. It’s not that I don’t like politics. I do. I am what political professionals call a “high propensity” voter, even visiting the voting booth for local elections where a handful of ballots sway the outcome. I follow current events.…