The Crow and the Pitcher

Thank you for your thoughtful comment on the issue of literary prizes and the controversy the selections often spawn. I’m inclined to think that trying to identify “the best” is a pointless exercise. The choice is invariably and necessarily subjective. For that reason, I liked that the Booker Prize was shared this year. Perhaps it could just as reasonably have been divided into three shares or more. As for the hostility directed at Margaret Atwood: it is quite simply appalling.

A perfect articulation of the unease that I feel whenever I think about the fact that, currently, higher education leaves students woefully under-prepared for the many crises they will have to face. Back-to-school September (and all that it entails) had always been my favourite time of the year, and I’m sad they don’t get the same experience.