Malcolm Gladwell and Joyce Gladwell talk to the whip-smart, glamorous Debbie Millman for her addictive interview show, “Design Matters.” In another podcast, she interviews the justly celebrated typographer Tobias Frere-Jones, brother of Sasha.

This week in the Observer, my old Nation pal Lizzy Ratner has a terrific feature on Calvin Trillin, Alice Trillin, About Alice, and the pining for true companionship that their long romance has inspired.

From the January 15, 2007 New Yorker magazine, page 54, in an article [“Expectations,” by Katherine Boo] on a poorly performing school in Denver, Colorado…. Norberto is a junior in high school. His “elder relations” advise him against college: “If you study too much, you forget to get married until you’re so old that nobody wants you.”

The advice against college in favor of marriage is very Mexican. My grandfather gave my sister a lot of guff when she announced she was going to complete her Master’s degree before marrying her long-time boyfriend because she wanted to have it done before starting a family. She stuck to her guns and had it her way; the only difference it made was that our younger cousin beat her to having kids, which is of dubious value since my sister and her husband are in a more secure living situation thanks in part to their level of education.