I GET FAN MAIL. The fall semester course evaluation comments are in. It's not often I manage to pull this off, a comment on a Principles of Microeconomics.

Best professor I have ever had. You were able to be strict enough to force a quiet and non-distracting classroom setting, but you were still lighthearted and very informative. Your sense of humor brightens the classroom. Thank you!

Thank you. Sometimes it all comes together. Sometimes I fall short. Sometimes I struggle. This comment is from the public policy class that has a principles prerequisite.

Prof. Karlson is a smart, intelligent teacher. Sometimes I think to smart for this class. Though he challenges us to use our own minds he made the material confusing. However he was always helpful if help was asked of him.

I struggle. The policy class crosses, repeatedly, the line from positive to normative economics, and I expose students to more than one norm. One secret is to be smart without seeming smart. I wasn't that smart. I'm still looking for more effective ways of suggesting that sometimes it's OK to be a bit confused...