A friend who works in academia told me that, having gained the job security of tenure, they have decided to write less about stuffy intellectual topics and more about low-brow subjects. (1) An added advantage to my friend’s new writing approach: They don’t have to cite their sources. (2) Which got me to thinking about — and being grateful for — the fact that columns don’t require footnotes. (3) Either you trust a columnist enough that they don’t have to list their sources, or you’ve decided they’re an idiot … (read more)
