Creative writing professor Michael Orlofsky reflects on the power of simple acts of kindness to shape people's lives.
As I grow older, I reflect on my life’s “great expectations.” I’m coming to the conclusion, based on the ontological insights of the philosopher Mick Jagger, that “you can’t always get what you want . . . but if you try sometimes, you just might find—you get what you need.”
I never amounted to…
Prof. Michael Orlofsky says some of his fondest memories at TROY are working with students outside the classroom in community service and outreach.
My Polish immigrant grandmother lived in a rowhome in a coal-mining town in eastern Pennsylvania. In making reference to the house and neighborhood she said that they all lived under one roof. Quite literally, every house on her block was connected to its neighbor, and each roof was contiguous one to the other. Her concern…
Whether in athletics or the arts, some of the most important lessons in college come when students are allowed to let their spirits soar.
Some of the most enduring lessons of my life I learned at the 50-yard line of a football field. In high school, I played sports for the Boiling Springs (Pa.) Bubblers. That’s right . . . we were the Bubblers—unabashedly, our mascot was a bubble. Our school colors were purple and gold. As I look…
In my younger and more vulnerable years as a college English teacher, a student in my World Literature class asked why he had to take a General Studies literature course. Up to that time, I thought the truth was self-evident—literature was important in its own right. I gave him the best response that I knew:…