I am a fan of The Great Courses, a company that develops and supplies university-style lectures attached to all manner of subjects, from philosophy to history to science and so on. One would be hard pressed not to find something that tweaks an interest or scratches an intellectual itch. The lecturers are all experts in their field and I have yet to come across one who does not have a passion for their work. Sure there are no assignments, tutorials or deadlines, but that is pretty much what I want nowadays.

At the moment I am listening to Masterpieces of Short Fiction, lectures on short stories selected by the course designer, Professor Michael Krasny. There is some work to do, of course, since one should actually read the stories before sitting in Prof. Krasny's class, just in case he asks a difficult question. I jest. But truly you should read the stories because they are very good and often only a few pages long. Today was Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, a story of home-spun folks in New England who have a dark secret. The ending is a kicker.

I found a student card from Jackson's University of Rochester days. She never finished her degree but managed to still be listed amongst the Class of 1938. She wrote The Lottery 20 years later and it behoves anyone reading it to wonder just where it might have come from.