| End of an intellectual whirlwind
A spectre is haunting higher education," Keller declared, "the spectre of decline and bankruptcy." After years of rampaging growth, colleges were gripped by declining enrolments, increased competition, inflating costs, diminishing government support and shifting priorities among those increasingly regarded as higher education's consumers. The future of many traditional institutions was in jeopardy. The only enduring solution, Keller argued, was to take a more vigorous and focused approach to management, using tactics and objectives that had to be developed on an institution-by-institution basis. We could not expect all colleges to accomplish the same things and meet the same standards in the same ways. Nor did it make sense any more to treat the large, expensive, complex modern university as if it were a genteel ramshackle operation to be governed casually and inattentively, if at all.
Masking a crime
She recounts the case of Terry Sinclair, a drug dealer from her native New Zealand, who sneaked out of the country with a false passport and a prosthetically disguised face. He died in Parkhurst prison in 1983. She has also heard of make-up artists being approached by people who want to fake insurance claims by creating or exaggerating bruising or scarring. Those with scars, burns or other disfiguring marks sometimes use theatrical make-up as "cosmetic camouflage". And morticians also use nose and scar wax - a flesh-coloured putty - to repair facial wounds or blemishes, especially if relatives want an open casket at a funeral. .
Ledger bared his soul
Anyone who met Heath Ledger couldn't help getting the impression the actor basically was both a gentle soul and a very sensitive guy. Now I've learned the Australian native expressed that sensitivity by writing poetry and even a few song lyrics. A longtime Ledger associate told me Thursday, ''Heath wrote some really amazing poems ... as good as any I've read.'' According to this insider, the actor penned verse ranging from ''very funny, often naughty doggerel,'' usually to mark a pal's birthday or some other kind of special occasion, to ''very deep, insightful pieces that showed how much he had going on inside.'' While my source expressed the hope the more serious Ledger poetry might be published, she did say the journals containing the work were in the hands of ex-girlfriend Michelle Williams, the mother of Ledger's 2-year-old daughter.
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