Solo act: Guest-speaker-free and apologetic, Duke incites "fear and fright"... or boredom.

"You can't please all the people all the time," as Duke's recent grammatical gaffe demonstrated. Too bad he killed the truth-ridden cliche by using it three times in the opening moments of class. Better luck next time, buddy. Held hostage on a glorious Friday afternoon, Professor Duke's 21st Century Media class snoozed through a 30-minute tangent of a curiously high school nature, masquerading as "housekeeping." The highlight of the delay to Duke's first solo venture this quarter? An apology for the "your/you're" mishap. Or perhaps it was his finest analogy of the laborious two hours (but thankfully not three), involving a news spigot and journalistic bucket. At least the man has some imagination...

Covert texting and Star magazine consumption (brownie points if you can do both simultaneously) weren't really viable options during today's lecture as the Duke hovered, strolled, patrolled, and wove his way around the entire perimeter of Fisk 217. You'd think he was an anxious first-time student teacher corralling a bunch of rambunctious badasses or something. Speaking of being badass, the solo-reigning prof did manage to infuse some legit, sobering docu-journalism into the second segment of his schtick. The half-hour piece created by Medill seniors chronicled Chitown Housing Authority's controversial revamping of the notoriously ghetto South Side Cabrini-Green projects. C'mon now; that place is seriously fascinating. Not to mention seriously hood. Duke may well have inspired a couple repenting do-gooders after viewing "This Is Change." If only more of his lectures fixated on genuine journalism like that. Granted, the repartee between Duke and his marketing-minded guests of honor have a charm all their own.