When I was a senior in high school, my English teacher published a book titled “No Place But Here” about teaching in rural Vermont.  (Yea, I grew up in rural Vermont, farming country.  The population of cows was higher than the population of humans in the county I lived in. ) His book is funny, and full of astute observations, with a few poignant memories about life in the NorthEast Kingdom of Vermont.  The dedication always makes me teary because he mentions another English teacher at my high school who died of cancer my sophomore or junior year.  I don’t remember which at the moment, I’d have to look it up.

That’s a long way for me to say this: I recently found out that Garret Keizer is writing for Harper’s Magazine among other places.  He no longer teachers for the high school I attended, instead he is a freelance writer.  His more recent writings pack more punch than the book I got for Christmas my senior year.  Probably because he was a teacher when he wrote the book, now he’s writing for a liberal magazine and is able to say more about his political views.

Anyway, you can check out a number of his articles at http://www.harpers.org/subjects/GarretKeizer (Opens in a new window or a new tab for FireFox users).  For some of these articles, you’ll need a subscription to Harper’s Magazine, others you can read the text of the article.  He’s got some interesting stuff in there.