I was struck this morning by a one-two reality punch.
First, George Will’s column about why conservatives are happier than liberals – for the first time EVER, I agreed with the whole thing. I usually think he’s full of it, but in this case I thought he was right on – he says conservatives have lower expectations, so they are not often disappointed. Makes sense. Even his requisite FDR attack was not completely unreasonable…
But then I turned to Nick Coleman’s local column, and his reminder of why we can’t leave people – little children in particular – to their bootstraps was like a slap in my momentarily complacent face. The sate of MN has cut $61 million in child-care spending – who knew we ever spent that much in the first place?!! Imagine for a minute how many pre-schools can be run on $61 million a year… and are now closed.
I suspect that most folks would agree that being liberal with children & conservative with adults is fair – and yet policy never quite gets there.
Someday?
Read the columns:
WILL
COLEMAN
Friday, February 24, 2006
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Top Jobs?
According to Fast Company magazine, the "top jobs" for 2006 are those that combine high demand, high salary & education - and are appealing to an educated person, so in putting together the list they focused on business, professional, and creative fields. See what you think:
- Lawyer
- Personal financial advisor
- Sales manager
- Management analyst
- Computer and information systems manager
- Financial manager
- Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agent
- Marketing manager
- Computer software engineer
- Chiropractor
- Postsecondary education administrator
- Medical scientist
- Market research analyst
- Dentist
- Medical and health services manager
- Producers and directors
- Financial analyst
- Wholesale and manufacturing sales representative
- Engineering manager
- Advertising and promotions manager
- Compensation and benefits manager
- Clinical, counseling, and school psychologist
- Real estate sales agent
- Training and development manager
- Public relations manager
A lot of health care & management! Where's the creativity? Good thing I'm not job-hunting because none of them look interesting to me... and I don't think they would look interesting to my daughter, either.
It's fascinating looking at the world through the eyes of a 17-year-old... what she considers for college majors & careers is only what she enjoys - everything is potential! No worries about making a living or being successful - just figuring out what she loves. What an amazing place to be in life! (Remember when? :)
Sunday, February 19, 2006
College Hunting
OK, this is a million miles away from most Gen X minds, but because my daughter happens to be a high school junior, I’ve got colleges on the brain! And because her SAT scores were good (yea! :) there are many to choose from. It’s dizzying.
I just spent over an hour on college websites this morning…
Granted, colleges didn’t have websites in the ‘80’s. But even if they had, I doubt I would have spent much time pouring over them. I had a big box of mail from colleges, much of which I don’t recall reading at all. I knew what I wanted.
I’m not sure why I was so dead-set on attending the University of MN myself – I didn’t even apply anywhere else. (Maybe because they accepted me in my junior year so that allowed me to float through my senior year without concern for my GPA? Nah…) I do remember looking through the course catalog – which at the U was a novel-size book – and drooling over the extensive History and interesting Journalism offerings.
But my daughter is approaching it on another level entirely! Our spring break will be spent visiting schools in DC and Philly – and I anticipate trips this summer and next fall as well. She's looking everywhere from Boston to LA. Because she’s not so sure what she wants, the culture of the place – how it feels to be there – will be important for her.
It’s going to be an interesting year!
I just spent over an hour on college websites this morning…
Granted, colleges didn’t have websites in the ‘80’s. But even if they had, I doubt I would have spent much time pouring over them. I had a big box of mail from colleges, much of which I don’t recall reading at all. I knew what I wanted.
I’m not sure why I was so dead-set on attending the University of MN myself – I didn’t even apply anywhere else. (Maybe because they accepted me in my junior year so that allowed me to float through my senior year without concern for my GPA? Nah…) I do remember looking through the course catalog – which at the U was a novel-size book – and drooling over the extensive History and interesting Journalism offerings.
But my daughter is approaching it on another level entirely! Our spring break will be spent visiting schools in DC and Philly – and I anticipate trips this summer and next fall as well. She's looking everywhere from Boston to LA. Because she’s not so sure what she wants, the culture of the place – how it feels to be there – will be important for her.
It’s going to be an interesting year!
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Smile!
X Perspective got its first link! Io Palmer, from Folwell Urban Initiatives, has been working w/ our students at PHHS and some of their work is one Northside Stories site – cool stuff! Also check out some of our students with Teens Rock the Mic at the Juno Collective site. Much to be proud of!
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Kisses!
Quick - what was your most memorable kiss?
A much more interesting question, I think, than what's the most memorable Hollywood kiss? (Check out answers to that one at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11257793/ - Spiderman or Casablanca or...)
To the first?
8th grade making out with Mario at CTC - with braces, of course... around '94 with Mark in the back entryway of my building as he wasn't leaving... first kiss with Matt overlooking the nighttime city skyline... in high school making out in a movie when suddenly the whole theater goes silent & we realize we just missed the tragic death scene...
Happy Valentines Day!
A much more interesting question, I think, than what's the most memorable Hollywood kiss? (Check out answers to that one at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11257793/ - Spiderman or Casablanca or...)
To the first?
8th grade making out with Mario at CTC - with braces, of course... around '94 with Mark in the back entryway of my building as he wasn't leaving... first kiss with Matt overlooking the nighttime city skyline... in high school making out in a movie when suddenly the whole theater goes silent & we realize we just missed the tragic death scene...
Happy Valentines Day!
Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About
Today's column by David Brooks of the NY Times makes the interesting point that what he calls "Islamists" (as distiguished from Muslims - apparently this is a new label for fundamentalists) don't just have different ideas than we do, they have a different realtionship to ideas. They are opposed to freedom of thought, not just freedom of speech. Scary!
Scarier, to me, is the mention that many of these radical leaders were "educated in the West" but recoiled from a society they found not just distasteful, but shocking. So these are not ignorant people - they are educated & understand our way of life - and they loathe it.
Try to walk a mile in those shoes!
Incidentally, I was amused that you can't read Brooks' column on line at NYTimes w/o paying a fee, but you can read it on the STrib's website, no problem. Lucky for us! :) Check it out!
Scarier, to me, is the mention that many of these radical leaders were "educated in the West" but recoiled from a society they found not just distasteful, but shocking. So these are not ignorant people - they are educated & understand our way of life - and they loathe it.
Try to walk a mile in those shoes!
Incidentally, I was amused that you can't read Brooks' column on line at NYTimes w/o paying a fee, but you can read it on the STrib's website, no problem. Lucky for us! :) Check it out!
Saturday, February 04, 2006
What Do You REALLY Think?
So it turns out that what we THINK we think and what we REALLY think are not always the same! Our conscious and unconscious opinions are not as much the same as we would like… Malcolm Gladwell got into this in his book “Blink”, and Project Implict, a joint effort of Harvard University, U of Virginia and the U of Washington, is currently conducting research on the topic.
To check it out – and even participate – go to:
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/research/
They have 100 different quizzes, assigned randomly. I just took a quiz on attitudes toward corporations & no-profits, and came out with an implicit attitude leaning toward corporations - not what you might expect if you know me.
Gladwell’s book has an association quiz on race that’s really interesting, too. Even non-white people (Gladwell included) tended to have more positive views of whites than blacks.
Oh, the power of modern media!
To check it out – and even participate – go to:
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/research/
They have 100 different quizzes, assigned randomly. I just took a quiz on attitudes toward corporations & no-profits, and came out with an implicit attitude leaning toward corporations - not what you might expect if you know me.
Gladwell’s book has an association quiz on race that’s really interesting, too. Even non-white people (Gladwell included) tended to have more positive views of whites than blacks.
Oh, the power of modern media!
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