By Irwin Speizer
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Donald Brownstein: Logic is kind of dry, but it has important ramifications
Photographs by Chris Clinton |
Donald Brownstein struggles to remember what life was like back when he was a shaggy-haired professor of philosophy at the University of Kansas.
“Those were the days of hippie glory,” he says. “I was very young. I guess I was born to be wild.” He pauses for emphasis. “Like a true nature child.” And then he chuckles.
What are the lyrics of Steppenwolf’s 1968 rock anthem “Born to Be Wild” doing on the lips of a 67-year-old, buttoned-down Connecticut hedge fund manager? Brownstein says he can’t help himself. Old song lyrics simply pop out whenever they occur to him, which is often. This is just one of many anomalies in the quirky character and unusual life story of a man who went from lecturing college students on fine points...