ABSTRACT
There can be little question that in matters of the public good a key issue is to distinguish between the public and the private so that somehow the public good does not get swamped by private goodies. Yet, distinguishing between the public and the private can be a most vexing exercise. Veteran editors have discovered to their chagrin that only a slight orthographic slip, something as innocent as the omission of a modest “L” from the puritanical public, can expose the reader embarrassingly to the most intimate of private spaces. As an editor of many texts on public policy, I have learned to be especially respectful of the intricate, subtle, and delicate relationship between the public and the private. As a longtime activist in academia, I learned along the way to be mindful of the thin veil that separates the public from the private and how one can easily morph into the other.
