In honor of this column I’m doing my best to conjure up the professorial. I practiced a bit in the mirror this morning, tried to capture that raised-eyebrow look that says: I’m a wellspring of dynamism...

I spend most of my year cartwheeling around a nonfiction classroom, trying to convince students that everyone has a story to tell, a story that matters. Each and every single last one of you, I say. Mostly...