David Alford

  • Anniversaries

    Like all the other blazoned dates of our lives, private and public, Sept. 11, too, will fade away.
    By David Alford September 11, 2002

  • "The American Bully Strikes Back"

    By David Alford
    October 15, 2001

  • The one war we can never win

    We aren't just angry at terrorists; we are furious that we are not immune to death.
    By David Alford October 8, 2001

  • Letters to the Editor

    Would Jimmy Swaggart's God forbid sex? Plus: Merger rumors behind hot VA Linux IPO; reducing Russia to vodka-swilling stereotype.
    Letters to the Editor December 17, 1999

  • Diary of a teacher's last year

    Tenure made me soft. Then an aikido master taught me his moves.
    By David Alford December 17, 1999

  • Play "Misty" for me

    When a student turned her affections on me, I learned the values of professional boundaries.
    By David Alford December 10, 1999

  • Letters to the Editor

    Will MP3.com make you a rock star? Plus: If pilots can boost safety, your doctor ought to be able to; looking for literature's "real men."
    Letters to the Editor December 9, 1999

  • Sexual pedagogy

    All the rules in the world against romancing students can't explain away the elusive emotions of this vocational hazard.
    By David Alford December 3, 1999

  • Body paranoia

    Ghostly heart attacks, cancers and other assorted ills have plagued me for the last 31 years. Could the cause be my beloved job?
    By David Alford November 12, 1999

  • Letters to the Editor

    Are 13-year-olds ready for "hand jobs and heavy petting"? Plus: "Weird Weekends" host talks back; it's time for minorities to rethink party loyalties.
    Letters to the Editor October 29, 1999

  • After the apocalypse

    Returning to the philosophy class that I had canceled, I wasn't sure who or what I would find.
    By David Alford October 29, 1999

  • Class dismissed!

    After another personal blow-up in philosophy, I took the only out: To shout like Jehovah and declare the end had come.
    By David Alford October 22, 1999

  • Letters to the Editor

    TNT exec defends "Animal Farm" ad and film; adventurous travelers should be prepared for the worst; "open-source journalism" dates back to Oklahoma City bombing.
    Letters to the Editor October 15, 1999

  • The migration of the chalk

    In a small town in Mexico, a teacher gave me the chalk and demanded a lesson in revolution.
    By David Alford October 15, 1999

  • "The Iliad" and other tales of war

    My momentous monologue turns to dust under the scrutiny of a well-prepared student.
    By David Alford October 8, 1999

  • Artemio Cruz is just a character in a book. Gen. Obregon was real!

    When his students find reality more compelling than fiction, this teacher, a former anarchist, finds it hard to play the authority card.
    By David Alford September 24, 1999

  • Epic moment

    Sometimes we just have to stand aside and let our students become the teachers.
    By David Alford September 17, 1999

  • The first day of the last year

    After poker, sex and forgetting, I face a room full of faces and suddenly remember.
    By David Alford September 10, 1999
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