The Art of Freedom: Teaching the Humanities to the Poor

by Earl Shorris,
The San Francisco Chronicle, March 24, 2013

On a Saturday morning in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in January 1995, David Howell, a 24-year-old man with a history of violent behavior, called Earl Shorris. Howell told Shorris that he had had a dispute with a co-worker that made him want to push her against a wall and smack her around. "What happened?" Shorris asked, fearing the worst. "I asked myself," Howell replied, "What would Socrates do?"