PROFESSORS WITH THE TROOPS

We often hear complaints that the media only cover bad news from Iraq & Afghanistan. Well here's some good news, and it's news about THE PROFESSORS. Today's WASHINGTON POST includes a story, A PLACE FOR BOTH THE PEN AND THE SWORD, about professors from the University of Maryland who are offering courses in the field for the troops in Afghanistan. The professors speak of "scrambling to set up additional classes, searching for more teaching space," which, come to think of it, sounds like the first week of classes on a lot of campuses at home. Gae Holladay, pictured in the article, teaches English. Another prof featured, John Barbato, repeats the joke he was told about the need to search for mines with your left hand so that you'll still be able to grade papers with your right.