Let’s face it. Going to the beach is a bad idea. I grew up in the landlocked Middle West, where going for a swim meant visiting a murky lake or a concrete-lined pool, so you’d think I’d be especially happy to be by the sea, by the sea, by the…

It was cold and snowing at 5:50 AM when I arrived at the United States Supreme Court building. A quick count revealed there were already thirty-four people in line ahead of me, but because I was among the first fifty people to show up, it looked like I would get…

One of the most magical experiences of my youth unfolded like this: Someone invited a group of us into a high-ceilinged apartment with beautiful wood floors and almost no furniture. I was an Urbana High School senior with a permissive weekend curfew, and I had wandered onto the University of…

Suddenly the Obama years feel like a dream — a distant tableau of American promise, frozen in the past. But we are awake now, and things are very different. I remember this feeling. Most of my life has been spent in conflict with the leadership of my country. Nixon, Johnson…

A teacher’s comment on my second grade progress report has become a recurring joke in my family: “Stuart is a pleasant child, but he daydreams too much.” Far from being ashamed of my daydreaming, I am grateful for it. Daydreaming is a misunderstood pastime. Once considered a dangerous form of…

Four times in my life I’ve traveled to Washington DC to join with other Americans in the expression of unpopular views. The first was in October of 1967, when, as a 16-year-old high school student, I went to the March on the Pentagon, a large demonstration against the War in…