For more than 40 years, authors, friends and Michigan State University alumni Jim Harrison and Thomas McGuane have exchanged letters, documenting a trove of their trials, tribulations and careers.

Fairbanks composer John Luther Adams has become the first Alaskan to be the subject of a major profile in The New Yorker, to my recollection, since John McPhee's "Coming Into the Country" series 30-some years ago. (And McPhee's sprawling documentary w

When universities search for a commencement speaker, they want someone who doesn't just impress but inspires. Oh, and leave the bland platitudes at the campus gates -- and keep it under 15 minutes, please.

Published: May 18, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m. HAMMOND — Southeastern Louisiana University conferred degrees on more than 1,000 graduates Saturday at the university’s spring commencement exercises.

There probably aren't many university professors able to boast that their aunt was a professional contortionist and can-can dancer. And for whom family visits involved remembering the names of more than 50 first cousins, taking money from punters for the