Questions I hope to answer in 2006.(THE LAST LAUGH)(Column)

In my constant striving for wisdom to accompany my advancing age, I have decided to "improve my mind" as my father always advised us. (His solution was to read the dictionary aloud to us, a habit I acquired sans the volume).

Nor will I rely on the media. After subscribing to the local newspaper for four decades, I have deliberately not renewed my subscription. It always provided a few laughs and outrage, but got too boring and political.

Instead of learning to pass a test, I plan to use a wide variety of sources as I create my personal learning adventure, what pedagogues refers to as "self-directed learning," using both online and traditional sources, as well as personal narratives. They will guide me in my quest for truth, as I search for answers to these important questions:

1. Who is the real Lawrence Summers?

Has an unintended result of his January 2005 bout with foot-in-mouth disease--wondering whether gender caused "innate differences" so women had less aptitude science and math than men--made him a kinder, gentler man?

His recent marriage to Elisa New, a Harvard professor of English and American lit (See Women on the Move), may have been a result of sensitivities fanned during his subsequent apologies and creation of a $50 million fund to support women. Or maybe it was just a PR scam to make him seem more human.

Ellen Goodman, columnist for The Boston Globe, planned to award him the Battle of the Sexes Prize. Instead she awarded it to the Harvard Corporation, which rewarded his performance with a hefty raise this year, leading the board's only black member to resign in protest.