A place where thoughtful opinions can flourish, and inspired ideas can blossom into the policies of tomorrow? No, The Black Cordoba isn’t anything like that; it falls well short of any such promise. It’s just a place for some not-so-carefully considered musings, the sort you might hear at the corner tavern … And that’s why you like it.

I’m a regular guy who has managed to make his life much more of a struggle than it had to be, but I enjoy it. I edit and write for an alumni magazine at a school I could have never gotten into, and they seem to like me. I like them, too, so let me be clear: Any opinions I express here are my own, and not those of the nice people who sign my paychecks.

We talk politics, but with no Republican or Democratic dogma. I’m kind of lefty these days, but political parties aren’t teams, and I don’t root for one. I root for three teams: the Phillies, Seton Hall basketball, and Temple football. The stuff in D.C.? It’s not a game.

I’ll also spout off about any of the following:

• higher education
• food
• writing
• booze
• the decline of Western civilization

That ought to cover it. So hop in to The Black Cordoba and let’s go for a ride.