Welcome to Musing Interruptus. Thank you for clicking, thank you for listening. I was watching House of Cards on Netflix. Patricia Clarkson plays Jane Davis,  deputy undersecretary of commerce for international trade. Apart from the skill and eccentricity, she brings to the role, she gives a voice to one of the most interesting characters of the whole series. In my humble opinion… humblest of opinions…  Before her character is stripped of all its power, she makes a poignant statement about power and women by invoking the Second Sex, by Simone the Beauvoir, She was right about everything.

A couple of weeks ago I got into a heated discussion with someone, who shall remain nameless, who posited that it wasn’t keeping with the times having students read and write essays. Students a ...