Cautionary Tales: Educating by Taking to the Stage

Collapsing on the sofa after a long day, Fred Johnson eagerly switched on the television. It was minutes before the big game, and the beer he’d just poured tasted especially good. Then the doorbell rang. Outside stood a smiling young insurance salesman, the son of his friend Dick from the Rotary Club. The insurance man claimed to be responding to a written invitation to discuss new investment opportunities. Johnson denied sending it, but the salesman quickly pulled out a card that, sure enough, bore Fred's signature. “If you could just give me a few minutes of your time,” the salesman said as he led the confused older man toward his living room, “I can explain what we at Ponzi Life can do for you.”

After teaching English in Europe and Turkey for 10 years, Mike Dunphy earned a master’s degree in writing at Emerson College and writes about a variety of subjects from his new home base in Brooklyn N.Y.