Ironic - I finished the post on Antoine's memorial, picked up my notes to see what I'd been thinking about writing next, and found it was MN graduation rates.
According to stats from 2004-06, black students in MN are currently graduating at a rate of 62%. Antoine did graduate, as did all the boys I knew who were at his memorial today.
What did that get him? Or the rest of them? Two had gone on to college, but neither is going back. The rest - not so much.
Overall, MN is down to an 85% graduation rate, though 91% of the state's current workforce has graduated from high school. Why the drop? Why are kids opting not to finish? What does the diploma offer them that they can't get without it? What does it guarantee?
I'm getting like Melissa - all questions, no answers!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Gun Violence in My Life
I attended a memorial today for Antoine, a former student who was killed this spring. In spite of the tragedy, I was glad to have the chance to see many former students - most graduates '06 or '07 - who I might otherwise have lost touch with. As I told the young man who organized it, sometimes bringing people together is the best we can do!
I was so proud of him: organizing any event when you're 19 isn't easy, especially a memorial service for a friend who shouldn't be dead! But it was lovely. We had a cook-out in the park, with a time for people to share their thoughts about Antoine, a prayer, and the release of a ton of balloons, each with a little message written & tied to it. Cool.
I remember vividly the moment I first heard about the shooting of a student of mine: fall of 1995. I was just starting my third year of teaching. We were in the copy room in the morning, and someone came in with the news, and I remember suddenly crying, and being embarrassed to be crying in front of colleagues. He was a 9th grader, shot while riding his bike - not an accident. I remember attending the funeral, and planning things at school to help our students process & grieve.
I don't remember where I was when I heard about the next student of mine who had been shot - it was after the fact so I couldn't attend the funeral, and it was a couple years after she'd moved on from our school, so not too many people were left who remembered her. But I did. She was killed because someone was playing with a gun in the next room and it accidentally went off & shot right through the door of the room she was in.
So this is the third student gun death - that I know of - of my kids. And, shockingly, pathetically, it actually does get easier. Maybe this is how we cope. If it didn't get easier, I guess at some point we would just stop functioning.
I was so proud of him: organizing any event when you're 19 isn't easy, especially a memorial service for a friend who shouldn't be dead! But it was lovely. We had a cook-out in the park, with a time for people to share their thoughts about Antoine, a prayer, and the release of a ton of balloons, each with a little message written & tied to it. Cool.
I remember vividly the moment I first heard about the shooting of a student of mine: fall of 1995. I was just starting my third year of teaching. We were in the copy room in the morning, and someone came in with the news, and I remember suddenly crying, and being embarrassed to be crying in front of colleagues. He was a 9th grader, shot while riding his bike - not an accident. I remember attending the funeral, and planning things at school to help our students process & grieve.
I don't remember where I was when I heard about the next student of mine who had been shot - it was after the fact so I couldn't attend the funeral, and it was a couple years after she'd moved on from our school, so not too many people were left who remembered her. But I did. She was killed because someone was playing with a gun in the next room and it accidentally went off & shot right through the door of the room she was in.
So this is the third student gun death - that I know of - of my kids. And, shockingly, pathetically, it actually does get easier. Maybe this is how we cope. If it didn't get easier, I guess at some point we would just stop functioning.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
It's Equality, Stupid
The Hillary Clinton presidential campaign has me thinking about and noticing sexism is ways I haven't in recent years. And it's not just me: two newspaper commentaries today echo my concerns:
The New York Times Magazine has a piece by Peggy Orenstein called The Hillary Lesson ruminating about what our daughters are learning from her candidacy. Is it "We've come a long way, baby" or "We've got a long way yet to go?"
Her statistics point to the latter: Only 16% of governors and 16% of members of Congress are female, and only 24% of state legislators are female. Only 12 out of 500 of the top executives of Fortune 500 companies are female - less than 3%.
Sigh.
Lori Sturdevant, in a political commentary piece in the Strib today called "Dont Despair", takes the opposite tack with the same info - stats in MN are better than the national average, so we have much to be proud of. Our current legislature is 34% female, with a female house speaker. She also cites several significant legislative accomplishments that happened because a woman or women were in power.
Amen.
But interestingly, it's not just the women writing on this issue: George Will, who we can always count on to make the sexist position sound practical and reasonable, writes about Clinton's run in "The Prize Clinton Isn't Owed" (reprinted in the Strib as "The Other Part of Equality is Losing".) The second half of the article is boring Clinton-bashing, but the first part is interesting. He makes the point that you know you're equal when you're treated badly:
When, in 1975, Frank Robinson became major league baseball's first African American manager, with the Cleveland Indians, that was an important milestone. But an even more important one came two years later, when the Indians fired him. That was real equality: Losing one's job is part of the job description of major league managers, because sacking the manager is one of the few changes a floundering team can make immediately. So, in a sense, Robinson had not really arrived until he was told to leave. Then he was just like hundreds of managers before him.
Thus, he asserts, Clinton should take the calls to bow out of the race as a compliment. I don't agree, but I am always impressed by his ability to make sexism (or racism - or whatever he's peddaling at the moment) not only palatable, but even seem logical.
Gee thanks - not much there to advance the discourse. Orenstien, on the other hand, gives us genuine food for thought as she points out that framing gender as something to be "overcome" is not necessarily in a young girl's best interest:
Right now, my daughter doesn’t know about the obstacles she may face someday, and I’m not sure of the wisdom of girding her in advance. Even the supposedly “girl positive” picture books, designed to address this very issue, pose a dilemma. Take “Elenita,” a magical-realist tale, given to my daughter by a family friend, about a girl who wants to be a glass blower. Her father says she can’t do it: she’s too little, and besides, the trade is forbidden to women. The lesson, naturally, is that with a little ingenuity girls can be glass blowers or stevedores or [fill in the blank]. Nice. Still, I found myself hesitating over the “girls can’t” section. My daughter has never heard that “girls can’t be” or “girls can’t do.” Why should I plant the idea in her head only to knock it down?
Indeed, I think this relates to my concerns about how we kids teach about slavery in America - even telling the stories of overcoming, we are still laying out the paradigm of inequality as the base from which all else grows. What would happen if we quit framing our culture in those terms and just taught our kids what it takes to get ahead?
Food for thought!
The New York Times Magazine has a piece by Peggy Orenstein called The Hillary Lesson ruminating about what our daughters are learning from her candidacy. Is it "We've come a long way, baby" or "We've got a long way yet to go?"
Her statistics point to the latter: Only 16% of governors and 16% of members of Congress are female, and only 24% of state legislators are female. Only 12 out of 500 of the top executives of Fortune 500 companies are female - less than 3%.
Sigh.
Lori Sturdevant, in a political commentary piece in the Strib today called "Dont Despair", takes the opposite tack with the same info - stats in MN are better than the national average, so we have much to be proud of. Our current legislature is 34% female, with a female house speaker. She also cites several significant legislative accomplishments that happened because a woman or women were in power.
Amen.
But interestingly, it's not just the women writing on this issue: George Will, who we can always count on to make the sexist position sound practical and reasonable, writes about Clinton's run in "The Prize Clinton Isn't Owed" (reprinted in the Strib as "The Other Part of Equality is Losing".) The second half of the article is boring Clinton-bashing, but the first part is interesting. He makes the point that you know you're equal when you're treated badly:
When, in 1975, Frank Robinson became major league baseball's first African American manager, with the Cleveland Indians, that was an important milestone. But an even more important one came two years later, when the Indians fired him. That was real equality: Losing one's job is part of the job description of major league managers, because sacking the manager is one of the few changes a floundering team can make immediately. So, in a sense, Robinson had not really arrived until he was told to leave. Then he was just like hundreds of managers before him.
Thus, he asserts, Clinton should take the calls to bow out of the race as a compliment. I don't agree, but I am always impressed by his ability to make sexism (or racism - or whatever he's peddaling at the moment) not only palatable, but even seem logical.
Gee thanks - not much there to advance the discourse. Orenstien, on the other hand, gives us genuine food for thought as she points out that framing gender as something to be "overcome" is not necessarily in a young girl's best interest:
Right now, my daughter doesn’t know about the obstacles she may face someday, and I’m not sure of the wisdom of girding her in advance. Even the supposedly “girl positive” picture books, designed to address this very issue, pose a dilemma. Take “Elenita,” a magical-realist tale, given to my daughter by a family friend, about a girl who wants to be a glass blower. Her father says she can’t do it: she’s too little, and besides, the trade is forbidden to women. The lesson, naturally, is that with a little ingenuity girls can be glass blowers or stevedores or [fill in the blank]. Nice. Still, I found myself hesitating over the “girls can’t” section. My daughter has never heard that “girls can’t be” or “girls can’t do.” Why should I plant the idea in her head only to knock it down?
Indeed, I think this relates to my concerns about how we kids teach about slavery in America - even telling the stories of overcoming, we are still laying out the paradigm of inequality as the base from which all else grows. What would happen if we quit framing our culture in those terms and just taught our kids what it takes to get ahead?
Food for thought!
Friday, May 09, 2008
Post from the East Coast
In 15 years in education, I have never taken more than a long weekend off, so 4 whole days is a radical thing for me! My kid has finished her freshman year & I'm going out to help her move out of the dorm, then we're going to hang out for a few days, then she'll come home with me for a couple weeks.
Whirlwind!
I leave tomorrow and won't post on the trip, but here's to the blessing of being mobile and able to go to her when she needs me. We are so blessed.
Whirlwind!
I leave tomorrow and won't post on the trip, but here's to the blessing of being mobile and able to go to her when she needs me. We are so blessed.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Cinco de What?
Racism pops up in funny ways. This year it's all about illegal immigration. In 14 years of working in public schools, I never heard anyone say anything negative about Cinco de Mayo. Folks may not know the history of what it's celebrating, but hey, a party's a party!
But this year, I actually heard two co-workers complain about celebrating it at school, even though 1/4 of our kids are Latino. The gist of the concern is that we should be teaching American history, not Mexican history.
And then I saw this cartoon, by Scott Stantis. Perfect!
But this year, I actually heard two co-workers complain about celebrating it at school, even though 1/4 of our kids are Latino. The gist of the concern is that we should be teaching American history, not Mexican history.
And then I saw this cartoon, by Scott Stantis. Perfect!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Freedom Takes a Hit
I wrote a while back about the law in Indiana requiring government-issued ID in order to vote, and I am shocked to say that the Supreme Court upheld it.
From an editorial Tuesday in the New York Times:
"Democracy was the big loser in the Supreme Court on Monday. The court upheld Indiana's voter identification law, which solves a nearly nonexistent problem by putting major barriers between voters -- particularly minorities -- and the ballot box. Worse, the court set out a standard that clears the way for other states to adopt rules that discourage disadvantaged groups from voting. It is a sad reversal for a court that once saw itself as a champion of voting rights."
There is still no evidence that there has ever been voter fraud at the polls in Indiana - so this "solves" an imaginary problem. But it creates an important new one: preventing the poor from voting. Getting a government-issued ID is not free or easy; even when the fees are waived, it takes money to get required documents like birth certificates, and it also takes time and energy and knowledge about where to go and what to do. Not so simple.
A related milestone: I paid $41.53 to fill my gas tank today. I know folks with larger gas tanks passed that mark a while back, but it's a first for me. $3.52/gal.
I really think this is all part of the same system that caused Antoine's death... (see below). Things are going VERY well for a small group of the wealthy powerful, and not so hot for other folks.
Democracy could fix this - on all three counts - but the slow destruction of the public schools means average folks no longer understand their power.
What's the solution to THAT???
From an editorial Tuesday in the New York Times:
"Democracy was the big loser in the Supreme Court on Monday. The court upheld Indiana's voter identification law, which solves a nearly nonexistent problem by putting major barriers between voters -- particularly minorities -- and the ballot box. Worse, the court set out a standard that clears the way for other states to adopt rules that discourage disadvantaged groups from voting. It is a sad reversal for a court that once saw itself as a champion of voting rights."
There is still no evidence that there has ever been voter fraud at the polls in Indiana - so this "solves" an imaginary problem. But it creates an important new one: preventing the poor from voting. Getting a government-issued ID is not free or easy; even when the fees are waived, it takes money to get required documents like birth certificates, and it also takes time and energy and knowledge about where to go and what to do. Not so simple.
A related milestone: I paid $41.53 to fill my gas tank today. I know folks with larger gas tanks passed that mark a while back, but it's a first for me. $3.52/gal.
I really think this is all part of the same system that caused Antoine's death... (see below). Things are going VERY well for a small group of the wealthy powerful, and not so hot for other folks.
Democracy could fix this - on all three counts - but the slow destruction of the public schools means average folks no longer understand their power.
What's the solution to THAT???
Monday, April 28, 2008
Perspective
Just as I finished the last post, Amy Grant began to sing...
When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot,
Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Amen.
When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot,
Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Amen.
Dead Children
I have lost another student to murder by gun. I am ANGRY.
I didn't pay close attention to what the Rev Jeremiah Wright actually said that was offending folks, but my recollection is that it was generally negative about America. Right now, I'm feeling that America is on the road to hell, and I can relate to anyone who is ANGRY with the circumstances we find ourselves in today in this country.
I have been in education for 15 years. In that time I have had four students killed and three locked up for murder or other gun crimes. Plus one more just arrested last week for gun possession but apparently getting off. And those are just the ones I know about.
I am ANGRY that a student of mine who was smart, who graduated from high school with skills last year, is now dead after participating in an armed robbery. If the smart ones go down, what hope does that leave for the rest??? Antoine was a good kid by teacher standards - he didn't cause trouble and he learned what I tried to teach him. What on earth was he doing in an armed robbery???
I am ANGRY that kids with potential, who had lots of support while in school, graduate and suddenly have nothing. If a kid is not ready when they graduate, then what? One former student, who keeps telling me he is going to enroll in community college, was caught getting high with a gun in his car, sitting across the street from a school, waiting for his girlfriend. Is that really all he's got?
I am ANGRY that two of the brightest young black men I've sent off to college in recent years have returned - dropped out - in less than a year. As their English teacher, I know it wasn't simply a skill issue - they could think and write just fine. There's more to it. And again, those are just the ones I know about.
What exactly does America offer our poor black boys? Someone asked me this afternoon if Obama could make a difference on this issue, and I said maybe for the generation yet to come, but for these guys? I'll have to ask them, but I doubt it.
I am ANGRY.
I didn't pay close attention to what the Rev Jeremiah Wright actually said that was offending folks, but my recollection is that it was generally negative about America. Right now, I'm feeling that America is on the road to hell, and I can relate to anyone who is ANGRY with the circumstances we find ourselves in today in this country.
I have been in education for 15 years. In that time I have had four students killed and three locked up for murder or other gun crimes. Plus one more just arrested last week for gun possession but apparently getting off. And those are just the ones I know about.
I am ANGRY that a student of mine who was smart, who graduated from high school with skills last year, is now dead after participating in an armed robbery. If the smart ones go down, what hope does that leave for the rest??? Antoine was a good kid by teacher standards - he didn't cause trouble and he learned what I tried to teach him. What on earth was he doing in an armed robbery???
I am ANGRY that kids with potential, who had lots of support while in school, graduate and suddenly have nothing. If a kid is not ready when they graduate, then what? One former student, who keeps telling me he is going to enroll in community college, was caught getting high with a gun in his car, sitting across the street from a school, waiting for his girlfriend. Is that really all he's got?
I am ANGRY that two of the brightest young black men I've sent off to college in recent years have returned - dropped out - in less than a year. As their English teacher, I know it wasn't simply a skill issue - they could think and write just fine. There's more to it. And again, those are just the ones I know about.
What exactly does America offer our poor black boys? Someone asked me this afternoon if Obama could make a difference on this issue, and I said maybe for the generation yet to come, but for these guys? I'll have to ask them, but I doubt it.
I am ANGRY.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
25 Years After "A Nation at Risk"
I don't often agree with George Will - though he is an incredibly articulate writer and one often has to pay careful attention to avoid getting sucked into baloney with him. But his reflection on the state of education the other day is worth reading.
I disagree with much of his rhetoric, but he dares to go where good liberals (myself included) fear to tread, noting that a 1966 report concluded that "the qualities of the families from which students come to school matter much more than money as predictors of schools' effectiveness." (Note the work qualities, not quality. That's important.)
A cursory glance around any school community will confirm this. In general, when parents insist that students do well academically, they do well. When parents do not push, students do not accomplish as much. Occasionally, a student fails or succeeds in spite of their parents, and that's the nature of America. But educators know that, as a group, in general, students will meet our expectations.
(This is why I tell my friends with small children to stop using "or else" - it signals that you don't really expect them to do what you've asked.)
Soo... Will blames schools for focusing on teaching and funding (the things they CAN control) rather than the percent of students born to single parents or poverty - which is not only unfair but pointless. It's unfair because the family is not the purview of the schools. It's pointless because the family is not the purview of the schools. Blaming families is handy, but accomplishes nothing.
It's not a matter of helping parents understand that their kid needs a desk with a light in a quiet place, and needs to sit there for an hour a day, in order to get homework done. That we can do. It's a matter of finding housing for the friends & relatives who are staying in the home and giving kids no privacy. Of keeping the electricity turned on. Of providing a meal - even without the family gathered around one table for dinner. Of convincing folks that Dr King's dream did not die with him, much as it appears to have when viewed through the lens of poverty.
So while Will brings up a point that is relevant to discussions of academic achievement, it is not helpful in terms of improving schools. The spin-master strikes again.
Misusing statistics to push an agenda is not a conservative thing - people from all points of view do that. I was joking with a friend in my stats class today that we can use statistics to prove just about anything. Correlations don't necessarily even show relationship - they certainly don't show cause.
For example, Will implies that the unionization of teaching is the cause of a decline in the average SAT score. That's crap. The first teachers union was created in 1962 and America's highest average SAT scores were posted in 1964. Cause? Of course not. Correlation? Hardly. Relationship? Maybe - both were reactions to the fact that America was asking its schools to do something never before attempted: educate everyone.
Schools do what they can with what they have. Some are racist places that create barriers for kids who don't have well-educated parents. Can't deny this. But the system is a reflection of America - and the many people who think like George Will. We who are working in schools know that we have much work yet to do to accomplish the goal of educating everyone. But unlike the pundits, we're in there fighting the good fight.
I disagree with much of his rhetoric, but he dares to go where good liberals (myself included) fear to tread, noting that a 1966 report concluded that "the qualities of the families from which students come to school matter much more than money as predictors of schools' effectiveness." (Note the work qualities, not quality. That's important.)
A cursory glance around any school community will confirm this. In general, when parents insist that students do well academically, they do well. When parents do not push, students do not accomplish as much. Occasionally, a student fails or succeeds in spite of their parents, and that's the nature of America. But educators know that, as a group, in general, students will meet our expectations.
(This is why I tell my friends with small children to stop using "or else" - it signals that you don't really expect them to do what you've asked.)
Soo... Will blames schools for focusing on teaching and funding (the things they CAN control) rather than the percent of students born to single parents or poverty - which is not only unfair but pointless. It's unfair because the family is not the purview of the schools. It's pointless because the family is not the purview of the schools. Blaming families is handy, but accomplishes nothing.
It's not a matter of helping parents understand that their kid needs a desk with a light in a quiet place, and needs to sit there for an hour a day, in order to get homework done. That we can do. It's a matter of finding housing for the friends & relatives who are staying in the home and giving kids no privacy. Of keeping the electricity turned on. Of providing a meal - even without the family gathered around one table for dinner. Of convincing folks that Dr King's dream did not die with him, much as it appears to have when viewed through the lens of poverty.
So while Will brings up a point that is relevant to discussions of academic achievement, it is not helpful in terms of improving schools. The spin-master strikes again.
Misusing statistics to push an agenda is not a conservative thing - people from all points of view do that. I was joking with a friend in my stats class today that we can use statistics to prove just about anything. Correlations don't necessarily even show relationship - they certainly don't show cause.
For example, Will implies that the unionization of teaching is the cause of a decline in the average SAT score. That's crap. The first teachers union was created in 1962 and America's highest average SAT scores were posted in 1964. Cause? Of course not. Correlation? Hardly. Relationship? Maybe - both were reactions to the fact that America was asking its schools to do something never before attempted: educate everyone.
Schools do what they can with what they have. Some are racist places that create barriers for kids who don't have well-educated parents. Can't deny this. But the system is a reflection of America - and the many people who think like George Will. We who are working in schools know that we have much work yet to do to accomplish the goal of educating everyone. But unlike the pundits, we're in there fighting the good fight.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Getting Easier...
Still struggling with this crazy stats class, but getting better! Here's a question on the current assignment that I actually know the answer to:
For Analysis #2, what are the null hypotheses associated with each of the three linear contrasts for the post hoc tests?
I'm finally to the point where I know answers like that without having to check notes. I'm learning! ;)
For Analysis #2, what are the null hypotheses associated with each of the three linear contrasts for the post hoc tests?
I'm finally to the point where I know answers like that without having to check notes. I'm learning! ;)
Peacemakers
A seminar is not usually my first choice for a Saturday, but I attended a great one yesterday! Peacemaker Ministries teaches conflict resolution using biblical principles - very interesting.
A few highlights:
There are three categories of responses to conflict: flight, attack, or conciliation. Of course the first two are much easier than the third!
The "four promises of forgiveness" are really just sensible ways to ensure that a conflict, once resolved, stays that way - definitely something I can use with students with different language!
- I will not dwell on the incident
- I will not bring it up later & use it against you
- I will not talk to others about it
- I will not all it to stand between us
If my 6th graders would commit to these promises, we'd have a lot less drama in the middle school! :)
Conflict can provide opportunities - sometimes to hep others, or serve others, or for us to grow! And sometimes even the chance to glorify God. So conflict is not - as "Minnesota Nice" would have us believe - something always to be avoided. Ha - radical concept.
I was glad to have the time to think about how to bring positivity into situations where it is needed - it was powerful. God is so good!
A few highlights:
There are three categories of responses to conflict: flight, attack, or conciliation. Of course the first two are much easier than the third!
The "four promises of forgiveness" are really just sensible ways to ensure that a conflict, once resolved, stays that way - definitely something I can use with students with different language!
- I will not dwell on the incident
- I will not bring it up later & use it against you
- I will not talk to others about it
- I will not all it to stand between us
If my 6th graders would commit to these promises, we'd have a lot less drama in the middle school! :)
Conflict can provide opportunities - sometimes to hep others, or serve others, or for us to grow! And sometimes even the chance to glorify God. So conflict is not - as "Minnesota Nice" would have us believe - something always to be avoided. Ha - radical concept.
I was glad to have the time to think about how to bring positivity into situations where it is needed - it was powerful. God is so good!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
This is What 40 Looks Like!
I've been having a "this is what 40 looks like" attitude this month as the milestone birthday hit. I refuse to be bummed out about anything to do with this age. My life rocks! The idea that we should want to be younger is crap. Here's a bunch of my friends at another friend's 40th birthday party last month - all but two of the women in the picture are 40 or 41. I think we're doing just d*** fine. :)
Monday, April 14, 2008
Female Creativity
This came via email so who knows about it's real origin, but it is attributed to a company called Edge which is apparently female-run. This photo is of a space that they supposedly created for another female-owned and run company... true or not, it's still pretty funny. (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Marc Bamuthi Joseph
Saw a very interesting one-man show at the Walker last night - Marc Bamuthi Joseph in a performance called "The Break/s" combining spoken word, dance, acting, and more. Born in '75 he is a Gen Xer in full flower - finding his powers, naming and using them to speak truth to the world and try to make it better. Like the social justice movement rising from the spoken word scene, he has the beautiful faith of the young that he can and even will make his mark.
I took some notes - although there was so much that was rich and interesting I couldn't possibly capture it all. I hated to pull out my TREO because the light form the screen can be distracting, but I covered it up as best I could because there were a few lines I just had to get down:
"If you lose your mind, what jumps in to take its place?" Before the show, the MC was moving through the crowd, asking questions designed to get the audience thinking about the big themes in the show, and he asked "Have you ever lost your mind?" to several people. My friends & I laughed - of course! Every day! In education, how can you avoid it? Ha ha. But Bamuthi took it to the next level: If you lose your mind, what jumps in to take its place? Fascinating question.
About his white girlfriend and the complexities of identity politics: "She is the woman I want to come home to, but not always the woman I want to leave the house with." Ouch. Honest! He talked about how the black mother of his black child challenged him about the extent to which a white stepmother might not be good for his son... when did love get so complex? Was it always so?
"The more I am accepted by others, the less I accept myself." He didn't imply so much that he was seeking approval from others, but he found that as he moved through the world and received approval & acceptance, he lost some sense of self. I can relate. I know I am much more interested in acceptance by others than I should be.... It's a hard habit to break.
His experience of being black in America: "I have not experienced oppression. That is just some shit I see on TV." Oppression is so much bigger around the world than we realize in America. He talked about going to Senegal & learning from a woman who was teaching the elders in very rural areas to stop genital mutilation. So much larger than our problems here. He does see that being descended from slaves is a relevant part of some black Americans' self-identity, but he does not name it as defining for himself.
About the extent to which artists can actually make a difference in the world: "Like Basquiat tagging Bush's yacht..." What am image! I love it! No one talks about Jean-Michel Basquiat anymore, but as a rebel artist I think it makes sense to evoke his name, as it stands in such contrast to George W. Bush, who is no rebel and no artist...
And maybe most important: "How you love is what you do, not what you say. Action is truth." Oh, I believe this.
BRAVO, Bamuthi!
Here's a video to give you a little idea of the experience:
Sunday, April 06, 2008
21
The Mn Legislature is apparently considering a bill to lower the drinking age back to 18, and the Strib came out against it today with an editorial for keeping the drinking age at 21 that surprised me a little. They seem to be relying heavily on "research" that isn't cited. I don't like reading about "studies" and "evidence" with no names, dates & details attached.
I do like the assertion that if it's ridiculous to have kids serve in the armed forces but not be able to drink, then maybe the age for serving should be raised too. We could add marriage to that too & call it a day. But I hesitate to believe it can be wrapped up so neatly.
I have one striking experience with the subject that has informed my thinking for years. When I was in high school, I went on a school-sponsored trip to Spain for a couple weeks. Drinking was considered part of the "cultural experience" and our parents signed a form giving us permission to drink alcohol on the trip. Accordingly, we drank every single chance we got. But the 16-year-old Spanish girl whose family I lived with did not. The first night I was with them, we went out to dinner, and wine was offered. I happily accepted. Chiqui declined. I turned to her in surprise and asked why she wasn't having any, and she said "it's a school night." He parents would have allowed it; she just didn't want any.
The experience has stayed with me ever since. All the American kids on the trip - jocks, geeks, etc - drank. The Spanish kids, who had ready access with no legal drinking age, did not. Do the math, people.
Someone pointed out recently that if the drinking age was 18, most kids would turn "of age" while still living with their parents, and thus have parental influence on learning to drink. Logical.
The Strib says that the rate of drunk driving among 18-21 year olds has apparently dropped significantly since the drinking age changed. Also logical.
But is there another way to address that, besides the law?
I do like the assertion that if it's ridiculous to have kids serve in the armed forces but not be able to drink, then maybe the age for serving should be raised too. We could add marriage to that too & call it a day. But I hesitate to believe it can be wrapped up so neatly.
I have one striking experience with the subject that has informed my thinking for years. When I was in high school, I went on a school-sponsored trip to Spain for a couple weeks. Drinking was considered part of the "cultural experience" and our parents signed a form giving us permission to drink alcohol on the trip. Accordingly, we drank every single chance we got. But the 16-year-old Spanish girl whose family I lived with did not. The first night I was with them, we went out to dinner, and wine was offered. I happily accepted. Chiqui declined. I turned to her in surprise and asked why she wasn't having any, and she said "it's a school night." He parents would have allowed it; she just didn't want any.
The experience has stayed with me ever since. All the American kids on the trip - jocks, geeks, etc - drank. The Spanish kids, who had ready access with no legal drinking age, did not. Do the math, people.
Someone pointed out recently that if the drinking age was 18, most kids would turn "of age" while still living with their parents, and thus have parental influence on learning to drink. Logical.
The Strib says that the rate of drunk driving among 18-21 year olds has apparently dropped significantly since the drinking age changed. Also logical.
But is there another way to address that, besides the law?
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Homoscedasticity
I love statistics class...
Homoscedasticity apparently means homogeneity of variance – we can plot predicted values on a scatterplot against standardized or unstandardized residuals to figure this.
Who knew?
Homoscedasticity apparently means homogeneity of variance – we can plot predicted values on a scatterplot against standardized or unstandardized residuals to figure this.
Who knew?
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Bravo, Patriots!
Shout out to Patrick Henry's boy's basketball team, back in the state semi-finals after a win over St Michael tonight for the first time since '03! The Henry website has more info on the team's accomplishments this year. This picture cracks me up because they are trying to look cool and not smile - but I bet they're smiling tonight!
Varsity players I worked with in my time at PHHS include Louis Cox, Dennis Joiner, Alonzo Melton, and Jerry Sweezy. I'm proud of you guys!!!
Go Patriots - next game is tomorrow! :)
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Better Than Average!
How random is this - globally, people trend downward on the happiness scale until the age of 44, then trend upward again. (Excluding old folks with bad health problems.) The general life-pattern of happiness looks like a U-shaped curve, with the age of 44 at the bottom.
What the flip?!?!
According to a current article in Time magazine, this is exactly the case. Survey data representing 2 million people in more than 70 countries shows that: "Across the world, people in their 40s generally claim to be less happy than those who are younger or older, and the global happiness nadir appears to hit somewhere around 44."
As for me - I'm having a 40th b-day party in a few weeks and counting my blessings. I don't know that I'm happier now than I was at 20 or 30 (OK, I was having a pretty darn good time at 20!) but I don't feel less happy now than I was before. Go figure!
What the flip?!?!
According to a current article in Time magazine, this is exactly the case. Survey data representing 2 million people in more than 70 countries shows that: "Across the world, people in their 40s generally claim to be less happy than those who are younger or older, and the global happiness nadir appears to hit somewhere around 44."
What accounts for this? I'm at a loss, and so are the researchers. The article continues:
"It's not anxiety from the kids, for starters. Even among the childless, those in midlife reported lower life satisfaction than the young or old, says study co-author Andrew Oswald, an economics professor at the University of Warwick in Britain. Other things that didn't alter the happiness curve: income, marital status or education. "You can adjust for 100 things and it doesn't go away," Oswald says. He and co-author David Blanchflower, an economist at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, also adjusted their results for cohort effects: their data spanned more than 30 years, making them confident that whatever makes people miserable about being middle-aged, it isn't related, say, to being born in the year 1960 and growing up with that generation's particular set of experiences."
So what are we to make of this? The article even makes the point that the findings are cross-generational, so Xers are no more or less likely to fall into this pattern than Boomers or Millenials. Hmm...As for me - I'm having a 40th b-day party in a few weeks and counting my blessings. I don't know that I'm happier now than I was at 20 or 30 (OK, I was having a pretty darn good time at 20!) but I don't feel less happy now than I was before. Go figure!
On Race: From One More Articulate than I
No matter what the outcome of the 2008 presidential race, Barack Obama's speech on race this week will be remembered as a turning point in race relations in America. It will be read and studies in schools, and parts will be repeated and sent around the internet for years.
I don't know how he feels about that - or about me excepting some of it here - but I believe it's worth sharing just to advance the cause of unity. Here are the parts that most resonated with me:
"The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.
Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us….
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years….
For the African-American community, that path [to a more perfect union] means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny….
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper…."
Gen X is known as the most cynical generation - one that expects little from those around us and depends mostly on our own selves. I will be curious to see how this speech is received by Gen Xers - will it inspire the some optimism and hope that it will in younger and older generations?
I don't know how he feels about that - or about me excepting some of it here - but I believe it's worth sharing just to advance the cause of unity. Here are the parts that most resonated with me:
"The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.
Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us….
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years….
For the African-American community, that path [to a more perfect union] means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny….
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper…."
Gen X is known as the most cynical generation - one that expects little from those around us and depends mostly on our own selves. I will be curious to see how this speech is received by Gen Xers - will it inspire the some optimism and hope that it will in younger and older generations?
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Trust
More thoughts from my friend Melissa and Fr. Richard Rohr:
It's Lent. There's time in the desert. There's temptation. There's deep rumination. It's a grand season to take us all through to a sweet party of miracles. (I don't really care if you are Catholic or believe in God and a Resurrection or NOT.) Love is good and here and coming through in this guy's words. Enjoy Fr. Rohr's wisdom. And try to trust that the Universe will provide for you. Daily! It is! It Does! Yes! Amen!
Peace,
Melissa
"Our Daily Bread"from The Great Themes of Scripture
-Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM
I try to depend on God, but I don't really like depending on anybody! The message of learning to trust in Providence s powerful for me because it does not come naturally - it must be learned and practiced. To give my life to God is powerful, but not easy. I DO trust God to guide me correctly - and I do try hard to listen to God's guidance. But little reminders like this are welcome too. :)
It's Lent. There's time in the desert. There's temptation. There's deep rumination. It's a grand season to take us all through to a sweet party of miracles. (I don't really care if you are Catholic or believe in God and a Resurrection or NOT.) Love is good and here and coming through in this guy's words. Enjoy Fr. Rohr's wisdom. And try to trust that the Universe will provide for you. Daily! It is! It Does! Yes! Amen!
Peace,
Melissa
"Our Daily Bread"
When Moses prays to God, "Yahweh, feed these people," Yahweh replies, "I will feed them. I will let manna drop from heaven but they are to pick up only enough to feed themselves for one day" (Exodus 16:4). The whole message of the desert is a message of continual dependence on God, minute-by-minute learning to trust in Providence. Some of them want to store up the manna in order to have some for tomorrow. They want to plan for the future, and allay their fears. Moses says, "No! Only enough for today. Yahweh will give you your daily bread. But some kept an excess for the following day, and it bred maggots and smelt foul" (Exodus 16:20). Instead we say, "Give us this day our daily bread." How strange these words sound to a people with savings accounts, insurance policies and three-year warranties, even on their toasters!
-Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM
I try to depend on God, but I don't really like depending on anybody! The message of learning to trust in Providence s powerful for me because it does not come naturally - it must be learned and practiced. To give my life to God is powerful, but not easy. I DO trust God to guide me correctly - and I do try hard to listen to God's guidance. But little reminders like this are welcome too. :)
Orange Dots?
As always, Melissa simply takes a walk and comes up with something profound:
I counted four marked trees. They have these florescent orange dots on them. I imagine Arch Benham would tell me that they have dutch elm disease, they need to be cut down.
What would happen if people had orange dots on them? Wouldn't it make navigation and relationships so much simpler?
"Do not get involved here. This person is sick. Will contaminate you, and destroy your forest; your root system will start to break down." (I have no idea what Dutch Elm does....maybe I should look into this...?)
I can think of a few involvements that would not have taken the path they did had an orange dot existed to warn me away! But then again - the journey is what it is... I would not be who I am today without all of those experiences, so I do not ask to trade any of them away. I don't believe in regret - just growth and, hopefully, learning from experience!
I counted four marked trees. They have these florescent orange dots on them. I imagine Arch Benham would tell me that they have dutch elm disease, they need to be cut down.
What would happen if people had orange dots on them? Wouldn't it make navigation and relationships so much simpler?
"Do not get involved here. This person is sick. Will contaminate you, and destroy your forest; your root system will start to break down." (I have no idea what Dutch Elm does....maybe I should look into this...?)
I can think of a few involvements that would not have taken the path they did had an orange dot existed to warn me away! But then again - the journey is what it is... I would not be who I am today without all of those experiences, so I do not ask to trade any of them away. I don't believe in regret - just growth and, hopefully, learning from experience!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Reminder
From my friend Melissa, a recipe for peace:
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
And a quote on my wall at work that just jumped out at me today:
"I can complain because rosebushes have thorns, or I can rejoice because the thornbush has a rose..."
Amen.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
And a quote on my wall at work that just jumped out at me today:
"I can complain because rosebushes have thorns, or I can rejoice because the thornbush has a rose..."
Amen.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Feminism for a New Generation?
A friend bought me "The Bad Girls' Weekly Engagement Calendar" by Cameron Tuttle, author of "The Bad Girls' Guide to the Open Road" and other comedy books aimed a young women. It promotes a "run your own life" lifestyle that may not be entirely realistic if you have to work for a living, but is certainly attractive on paper!
One page in the calendar really cracked me up - a comparison of "good girl" and "bad girl" behavior. A few examples:
A good girl... plays it safe.
A bad girl... plays by her own rules.
A good girl... sits back a waits.
A bad girl... gets out and dates.
A good girl... always wants to fit in.
A bad girl... always wants to sleep in.
A good girl... never questions authority.
A bad girl... never questions her gut vibe.
A good girl... would rather be liked than difficult.
A bad girl... would rather be loved and difficult.
A good girl... believes in compromising.
A bad girl... believes in living the dream.
Now which one do you want to be?
It reminds me of the Louise Thatcher Ulrich quote: "Well-behaved women rarely make history." No doubt.
One page in the calendar really cracked me up - a comparison of "good girl" and "bad girl" behavior. A few examples:
A good girl... plays it safe.
A bad girl... plays by her own rules.
A good girl... sits back a waits.
A bad girl... gets out and dates.
A good girl... always wants to fit in.
A bad girl... always wants to sleep in.
A good girl... never questions authority.
A bad girl... never questions her gut vibe.
A good girl... would rather be liked than difficult.
A bad girl... would rather be loved and difficult.
A good girl... believes in compromising.
A bad girl... believes in living the dream.
Now which one do you want to be?
It reminds me of the Louise Thatcher Ulrich quote: "Well-behaved women rarely make history." No doubt.
No So Smart
It's interesting to ask why powerful people do stupid things. Literature from the time humans learned to write has addressed the issue - and all powerful people have at some point been exposed to the stories - and yet they continue.
In today's Strib, local lawyer David Lebedoff considers the intersection of Elliot Spitzer's smart brain and stupid behavior.
How can someone with Princeton and Harvard degrees, who made it to the position of Governor of New York, do something as singularly stupid as get caught using prostitutes?
There really are few better ways to lose average folks' respect.
I find it fascinating.
In today's Strib, local lawyer David Lebedoff considers the intersection of Elliot Spitzer's smart brain and stupid behavior.
How can someone with Princeton and Harvard degrees, who made it to the position of Governor of New York, do something as singularly stupid as get caught using prostitutes?
There really are few better ways to lose average folks' respect.
I find it fascinating.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Real Books and Fake Books
I wish I could reprint the cartoon here, but technology says no such luck: check out Opus and Berkeley Breathed's take on e-books... a debate I won't even bother to enter because I'm looking at computer screens way too long every day for work... no way I want to do it for pleasure reading too!
Added bonus - Opus on nature vs video games... :)
Added bonus - Opus on nature vs video games... :)
Saturday, March 08, 2008
I Will Have a Headache Soon
Oops, I didn't take the masters-level prerequisite course for the doctorate-level statistics class I am now in - but I'm hanging in there anyway! :)
A few things I am doing tonight in addition to writing here:
* Compute an estimate of the standardized effect size (Cohen's d) for the analysis and provide a full interpretation of it.
* Create a new variable that takes the natural log of [the variable from the last question]. Explain your opinion about the assumption of normality in an analysis with this new variable.
* Plan a new study on electoral voting with statistical power of .80. Use G8Power3 to find the required sample size using the estimated effect size from the analysis you just completed and a .05 type I error rate. Report both the estimate of the noncentrality parameter and the required sample size.
Wahoo!
A few things I am doing tonight in addition to writing here:
* Compute an estimate of the standardized effect size (Cohen's d) for the analysis and provide a full interpretation of it.
* Create a new variable that takes the natural log of [the variable from the last question]. Explain your opinion about the assumption of normality in an analysis with this new variable.
* Plan a new study on electoral voting with statistical power of .80. Use G8Power3 to find the required sample size using the estimated effect size from the analysis you just completed and a .05 type I error rate. Report both the estimate of the noncentrality parameter and the required sample size.
Wahoo!
Guys: Busted!
I have long suspected that people who dislike Hillary Clinton are really just sexist, whether they admit it to themselves or not. I never hear - from my friends or in the media - people say they dislike her policies or disagree with her on important issues. Instead, it's always something about "baggage" or "coldness" or some other nebulous quality...
In a recent commentary article for Salon.com, Edward McLelland writes about what he calls the "dude factor" in this race: guys who seriously would vote for either McCain or Obama, but not Clinton. In explaining this phenomenon, he notes that when asked what traits they want in a president, guys cite "independence, plain-spokenness, charisma, willingness to take a stand, respectability..." traits they admire in other guys.
But not in women?
They don't say that, of course. Interestingly, according to a recent CBS-NYT poll, 81% of Americans say they would vote for a woman for president, but only 56% think their neighbors would. What does that tell us? Americans are generally full of it.
The author asserts: "I told myself I wasn't dismissing Clinton because I disliked her. I was dismissing her because other people disliked her." I've heard that a lot. I think it's a crock.
He notes that there is a significant number of men who say they would vote for Obama or McCain, but not Clinton. But McCain & Obama have polar-opposite positions on a significant number of issues. As McLelland points out: "[Like Clinton,] Obama wants the government involved in healthcare. McCain thinks it should stay private. Obama wants to raise the minimum wage every year. McCain voted to abolish it. Obama wants to bring our troops back from Iraq by 2010. McCain says they may stay another 100 years. Obama is a dovish, big-government liberal who takes the kinds of positions that have earned Democrats the "Mommy Party" label. But he's not suffering for it the way Hillary Clinton is."
How do guys rationalize this disparity? Obama and McCain are "mavericks" - a great line for attracting independent voters.
But I think this is really about Hillary Clinton. In order to be a good president, she has to be tough-as-nails. In order to get all the experience necessary to be a good president, she has to develop an incredibly think skin. But men don't like women who are tough-as-nails and thick-skinned. It's a catch-22 that she simply can't win.
If she wins the primary or the general election, it will be because women have decided that it's time. We shall see.
In a recent commentary article for Salon.com, Edward McLelland writes about what he calls the "dude factor" in this race: guys who seriously would vote for either McCain or Obama, but not Clinton. In explaining this phenomenon, he notes that when asked what traits they want in a president, guys cite "independence, plain-spokenness, charisma, willingness to take a stand, respectability..." traits they admire in other guys.
But not in women?
They don't say that, of course. Interestingly, according to a recent CBS-NYT poll, 81% of Americans say they would vote for a woman for president, but only 56% think their neighbors would. What does that tell us? Americans are generally full of it.
The author asserts: "I told myself I wasn't dismissing Clinton because I disliked her. I was dismissing her because other people disliked her." I've heard that a lot. I think it's a crock.
He notes that there is a significant number of men who say they would vote for Obama or McCain, but not Clinton. But McCain & Obama have polar-opposite positions on a significant number of issues. As McLelland points out: "[Like Clinton,] Obama wants the government involved in healthcare. McCain thinks it should stay private. Obama wants to raise the minimum wage every year. McCain voted to abolish it. Obama wants to bring our troops back from Iraq by 2010. McCain says they may stay another 100 years. Obama is a dovish, big-government liberal who takes the kinds of positions that have earned Democrats the "Mommy Party" label. But he's not suffering for it the way Hillary Clinton is."
How do guys rationalize this disparity? Obama and McCain are "mavericks" - a great line for attracting independent voters.
But I think this is really about Hillary Clinton. In order to be a good president, she has to be tough-as-nails. In order to get all the experience necessary to be a good president, she has to develop an incredibly think skin. But men don't like women who are tough-as-nails and thick-skinned. It's a catch-22 that she simply can't win.
If she wins the primary or the general election, it will be because women have decided that it's time. We shall see.
Kudos to Rybak
Have to give the mayor credit when he deserves it! The Strib printed a preview clip today from his upcoming State of the City address: "Stop and think about it: The only natural waterfall in the Mississippi powered first lumber mills, with logs that came down the Mississippi, then flour mills, with grain that came either down the Mississippi or in James J. Hill's trains. Innovative business leaders created these mills. In the mills were immigrants from around the globe. This became the milling capital of the world. General Mills and Pillsbury grew up out of that. That's why we have this great standard of living. That's the story.
What are we doing right now? Once again, people are coming from all over the world in an innovation economy, in a city that's inclusive, using partnerships that are not just about other parts of Minnesota, but about more of the globe. That's why our partnership, not only with immigrants, but with students, is so critical. We are doing again what we did before."
Amen, Minneapolis.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Finland - No Surprise
If teachers in Finland are paid about the same, but the profession is much more competitive, I'm curious why. And if the answer seems to be that they have much more academic freedom - fewer standardized tests, etc - I'm thinking HA, no doubt! And it does not surprise me to learn that coming from that environment, kids in Finland are significantly outscoring their American counterparts on the very standardized tests they don't value so much.
Say what?
A recent Wall Street Journal article explains that Finnish students finished first in science & near the top in math and reading because of a formula that is simple, but not easy: "Well-trained teachers and responsible children. Early on, kids do a lot without adults hovering. And teachers create lessons to fit their students. "We don't have oil or other riches. Knowledge is the thing Finnish people have," says Hannele Frantsi, a school principal."
The creators of the international test commented on Finland's success: "Finnish teachers pick books and customize lessons as they shape students to national standards. "In most countries, education feels like a car factory. In Finland, the teachers are the entrepreneurs," says Mr. Schleicher, of the Paris-based OECD, which began the international student test in 2000."
Consider where America might be right now if the Bush administration had invested all that $$ in teacher training, rather than testing...!
An interesting cultural contributor is that English TV shows have Finnish subtitles, not dubbing, so in order to enjoy their favorite shows, students must be good readers. Hmm... how can we replicate that?
Say what?
A recent Wall Street Journal article explains that Finnish students finished first in science & near the top in math and reading because of a formula that is simple, but not easy: "Well-trained teachers and responsible children. Early on, kids do a lot without adults hovering. And teachers create lessons to fit their students. "We don't have oil or other riches. Knowledge is the thing Finnish people have," says Hannele Frantsi, a school principal."
The creators of the international test commented on Finland's success: "Finnish teachers pick books and customize lessons as they shape students to national standards. "In most countries, education feels like a car factory. In Finland, the teachers are the entrepreneurs," says Mr. Schleicher, of the Paris-based OECD, which began the international student test in 2000."
Consider where America might be right now if the Bush administration had invested all that $$ in teacher training, rather than testing...!
An interesting cultural contributor is that English TV shows have Finnish subtitles, not dubbing, so in order to enjoy their favorite shows, students must be good readers. Hmm... how can we replicate that?
Paper Rake RIP
I was disappointed to learn that the Rake Magazine - a local free paper - is abandoning print journalism for online only! Ad revenue issues, apparently. Huge bummer.
I was happy to see that my favorite Rake columnist, Colleen Kruse, seems to be continuing her Motley Kruse column online... bummer I can't read it while waiting for a friend at a bar or for my aerobics class to start anymore, but I'm glad she's still writing.
So I guess I should be happy that it is continuing online, and just get with the times and accept that print journalism has limited appeal these days? I'm not sure. I still get the paper delivered daily, and though I only have time to read it probably 3 days a week, I like it when I do.
Maybe that means I'm getting old! ;)
I was happy to see that my favorite Rake columnist, Colleen Kruse, seems to be continuing her Motley Kruse column online... bummer I can't read it while waiting for a friend at a bar or for my aerobics class to start anymore, but I'm glad she's still writing.
So I guess I should be happy that it is continuing online, and just get with the times and accept that print journalism has limited appeal these days? I'm not sure. I still get the paper delivered daily, and though I only have time to read it probably 3 days a week, I like it when I do.
Maybe that means I'm getting old! ;)
Gotta Give Her Credit
Hillary Clinton may be a lot of things, but you have to give her credit for being a good sport when she not only appears on Saturday Night Live, but she appears WITH the actor who plays her!
Very funny - but even better is SNL's debate skit which lampoons both Clinton and Obama, as well as the press for its treatment of them. Check it out!
Very funny - but even better is SNL's debate skit which lampoons both Clinton and Obama, as well as the press for its treatment of them. Check it out!
Generation Gap?
So I recently told a friend who's my same age (39) that I had just been out with a guy who's 25, and she was absolutely disapproving! I don't get that.
Then - even better - she asked whatever happened to another guy I used to date, and I reminded her that guy was 50, and she said yeah, why aren't you still dating him?
Hello???
Then - even better - she asked whatever happened to another guy I used to date, and I reminded her that guy was 50, and she said yeah, why aren't you still dating him?
Hello???
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Security Theater
Bruce Schneier, a cryptographer, computer security specialist and founder & chief technology officer of BT Counterpane, was interviewed & wrote an article for the Strib about the idea of a national ID card & other dumb security ideas.
He points out several flaws with the idea of a national ID card, (none of which is the ridiculous loss of freedom that comes with requiring such a thing)
* Cost: $23 Billion
* With current technology, any card created can still be forged
* People can still get them with false names - like two of the 9-11 hijackers did with drivers licenses
* Lost cards would require another whole system to deal with
* Human beings, who check IDs, are fallible.
* Computer scientists currently do not know how to keep that huge a database secure
So what's the point of a national ID if it provides so little real security? Schneier calls it "security theater" - something that makes us feel more secure without actually makes us be more secure. He points to airport security measures as an illustration of this principle, saying there have been three legitimate security improvements since 9-11:
- reinforcing the cockpit door
- conditioning people to fight back
- sky marshals
Everything else, he says, from checking shoes to confiscating corkscrews to limiting lotions, has no point beyond making people feel better.
A national ID card? Same thing. Give me a break.
He points out several flaws with the idea of a national ID card, (none of which is the ridiculous loss of freedom that comes with requiring such a thing)
* Cost: $23 Billion
* With current technology, any card created can still be forged
* People can still get them with false names - like two of the 9-11 hijackers did with drivers licenses
* Lost cards would require another whole system to deal with
* Human beings, who check IDs, are fallible.
* Computer scientists currently do not know how to keep that huge a database secure
So what's the point of a national ID if it provides so little real security? Schneier calls it "security theater" - something that makes us feel more secure without actually makes us be more secure. He points to airport security measures as an illustration of this principle, saying there have been three legitimate security improvements since 9-11:
- reinforcing the cockpit door
- conditioning people to fight back
- sky marshals
Everything else, he says, from checking shoes to confiscating corkscrews to limiting lotions, has no point beyond making people feel better.
A national ID card? Same thing. Give me a break.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Shout Out to Greta
I have to say BRAVO to my friend, Greta Oblesby, who just received a most excellent review yesterday for her performance in August Wilson's "Piano Lesson" currently playing at the Penumbra Theater.A couple excepts:
"After attending Marion McClinton's 1993 production of "The Piano Lesson" at Penumbra Theatre, playwright August Wilson remarked that he had seen the work's definitive staging. If he were alive today, he might reconsider."
"At Penumbra, much of the credit for the strength of this "Piano Lesson" goes to Greta Oglesby."
Let me know who wants to go catch this show with me between now & March 16th!
Post after Cabo
So Cabo was mostly relaxing in the sun: pool, beach, bar, then back again. Absolutely spectacular weather! So really not much to write home about. I did have to get online once to finish a lab assignment for my stats class, but I didn't check email or otherwise do any work. :) Four days was perfect - any longer & the work would have piled up back here too much. Just enough time to catch up on sleep & get a tan.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Post before Cabo San Lucas
I'm off tomorrow with friends to celebrate our impending 40th b-days in Mexico. I do not intend to post from Cabo - but the R&R might bring me some perspective on life that will be interesting to share when we return. Or I might just get tan & empty my brain for a few days - we'll see!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
What Would Molly Do?
Susan Lenfestey - my neighbor for many years growing up - wrote a column recently in the Strib called "What Would Molly Do?" in which she shared that she wishes Molly Ivins was still around to give her perspective on the current presidential race. I have had the same longing.
Molly Ivins always told it like it was - whether you liked her brand of politics of not. I'm sure folks in Texas and around the country have called her lots of things, but I doubt anyone ever called her a liar.
One interesting fact that Lenfestey found but I had somehow missed in '06 was that Ivins apparently wrote in a Jan '06 column: "I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president. Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation, and equivocation."
Wow - how did I miss that two years ago?
Ivins also wrote a piece about Gene McCarthy that - while not intended to be a comparison to Obama, holds an interesting echo from the 60's that speaks to our needs in America today:
"There are times a country is so tired of bull that only the truth can provide relief. If no one in conventional-wisdom politics has the courage to speak up and say what needs to be said, then you go out and find some obscure junior senator from Minnesota with the guts to do it."
Substitute Illinois for Minnesota, as Lenfestey did, and it's no surprise that Molly Ivins was ahead of her time in predicting exactly the wave of Obama support that we're witnessing with his win of three more states this weekend.
Amazing woman. No wonder we miss her!
Molly Ivins always told it like it was - whether you liked her brand of politics of not. I'm sure folks in Texas and around the country have called her lots of things, but I doubt anyone ever called her a liar.
One interesting fact that Lenfestey found but I had somehow missed in '06 was that Ivins apparently wrote in a Jan '06 column: "I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president. Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation, and equivocation."
Wow - how did I miss that two years ago?
Ivins also wrote a piece about Gene McCarthy that - while not intended to be a comparison to Obama, holds an interesting echo from the 60's that speaks to our needs in America today:
"There are times a country is so tired of bull that only the truth can provide relief. If no one in conventional-wisdom politics has the courage to speak up and say what needs to be said, then you go out and find some obscure junior senator from Minnesota with the guts to do it."
Substitute Illinois for Minnesota, as Lenfestey did, and it's no surprise that Molly Ivins was ahead of her time in predicting exactly the wave of Obama support that we're witnessing with his win of three more states this weekend.
Amazing woman. No wonder we miss her!
Same Difference
I was blown away last night by a excellent performance of Sam Roberson's "Same Difference" at the Illusion Theater downtown. Thanks to my work as a high school arts program coordinator in recent years, I still get offers like comp tickets to great local plays. :)
Same Difference is about what it means to be young and black in America - how two different young black men see, interpret, and battle the stereotypes that create great pressure on them. It focuses on two college freshmen and how they are choosing to interact with the world around them - a fascinating addition to the courageous conversations educators have been engaged with around race in recent years.
I loved this show - and THEN I found out in chatting with them afterward that one of the stars, Darien Johnson, is the brother of a former student of mine and a graduate of Mpls North HS - fun connections. The other, Jermaine Small, was a college friend of the playwright and recruited from New York to come play this role when the play was picked up by Illusion. I suspect that the life experiences of both young men have influenced their abilities to embrace these roles.
It's being staged locally through the end of the month - here's the schedule - GO SEE IT!
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
The Ceremony Made Me Happy and Pissed Me Off
I attended the citizenship oath ceremony at the Federal Courthouse Building in downtown Mpls today - and there were some aspects of it that were really nice. They listed all the countries the new citizens were from, and it was quite a range for such a frosty state! There were 1 to 4 people from each of the following countries:
Bangladesh
Belarus
Cambodia
China
Columbia
El Salvador
Ethiopia
Germany
Ghana
Guatemala
Guyana
Hong Kong
India
Iran
Korea (I guess that means South?)
Laos
Liberia
Malaysia
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Nigeria
Philippines
Russia
Somalia
South Africa
Spain
Thailand
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Venezuela
Vietnam
So that was pretty cool. I like the idea that people from all different places around the world are choosing to make their home here in the Twin Cities.
But it makes me angry too, on behalf of all the people who are denied this opportunity! There are VERY few people in this country whose ancestry is 100% Native American, and those are not the people we hear screaming about immigration. I don't think there should be such a thing as an illegal immigrant. I think we should let anyone in who wants to come. I really do. I think everyone deserves a chance at the American Dream. We don't have to extend welfare or even health care - those are separate issues - but I think we need to LET FOLKS IN. Maybe if we had a better attitude about the rest of the world, the rest of the world would have a better attitude about us, and we wouldn't have to worry about terrorism...
We are an incredibly blessed nation. We can afford to be more generous!
Sometimes Age Does Bring Wisdom
From a random email that was forwarded to me:
I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be.
Amen!
I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be.
Amen!
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Tough Choice
I heard from 3 friends today about the Obama rally at the Target Center yesterday, all very enthusiastic. Melissa wrote about it - interesting observations "in the moment."
As I have written before, I have mixed feelings about Obama. I worry that he's more abut inspiration than the work of the job, and that if he actually wins he'll never live up to expectations and will be picked apart like crazy. I don't think he will end racism - I think racism will eat him alive.
But I realized recently that black men got the vote several decades before women did in this country, so I suppose it follows that a black man should attain the presidency before a woman.
Although I will support him fully if he wins the nomination, I think that Hillary Clinton would do a fantastic job of restoring America's global reputation and of taking us into the next era. I just want her to get the chance.
As I have written before, I have mixed feelings about Obama. I worry that he's more abut inspiration than the work of the job, and that if he actually wins he'll never live up to expectations and will be picked apart like crazy. I don't think he will end racism - I think racism will eat him alive.
But I realized recently that black men got the vote several decades before women did in this country, so I suppose it follows that a black man should attain the presidency before a woman.
Although I will support him fully if he wins the nomination, I think that Hillary Clinton would do a fantastic job of restoring America's global reputation and of taking us into the next era. I just want her to get the chance.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Only One Point?!!
I was surprised by the outcome of the Wolves-Boston game on Friday. The NBA's best team, playing at home, beat the worst team by... only one point?!
Gotta give the Wolves credit! The celtics are 34-7; the Wolves are 7-35. Literally. And the game was that close.
Go Wolves!!! :)
I Own Snowpants!
If you know me, you will be surprised to learn that I own snowpants. You will try to remember a time - since I was about 12, anyway - that I was outside doing something more than skating or playing broomball, and you will come up blank. And as you think about it, you'll be pretty sure you have not seen me on a frozen lake or pond in recent years. I just returned from two days out in the cold with 160 6th graders at the environmental learning center at Eagle Bluff. For the occasion of standing for 2 hours on a 30-foot-tall platform on a high-ropes course helping kids navigate from one challenge to the next, I utilized my new warm jacket, insulated boots, snowpants (with two layers under them) big mittens AND gloves, which I switched off (the gloves were better for clipping carabiners) and a warm hat. It was below zero for most of the morning, but I was just fine. (And shocked to be so!)
I am reasonably sure that I have not worn a winter hat since my dog died in '04 and I no longer had to walk her in the cold. Which means I have not been out in the cold for more than 10 minutes at a time in the last few years... but even though it was below zero for most of the time we were up there (oops, down there) we all had a great time.
One funny moment: as we began our night hike, we walked down a steep hill toward the path. The kids figured out that they could slide down on their butts just as well as walk - and all I could think was: "yay for snowpants!"
On Obama
In his analysis for the LA TImes, James Rainey explains much better than I can why an Obama win really matters to some people. Having a president who looks like you is symbolic in many ways:
Rainey, talking to voters in South Carolina, found that: "On Saturday, black schoolteachers talked about how an Obama in the White House would motivate students who complain that the deck is stacked against them. Parents hoped it would help them keep distracted sons on the straight and narrow. One woman said she felt it might even push those Confederate flags, occasional dots on the piney landscape, a little farther into the shadows."
It's the potential result of having a black president that excites people. And I don't disagree. For my students, and my friends, this is a big deal. I think I have the same reaction in wanting Hillary Clinton to win. If she wins and does well, it has the potential to shatter the last myths about what women can't do - which impacts me personally.
Rainey noted that: "Most of the Obama voters expressed no animosity for Clinton. "If she can win, that would be big, too," Chandler said." That's how I feel about Obama.
Either way, America wins.
Rainey, talking to voters in South Carolina, found that: "On Saturday, black schoolteachers talked about how an Obama in the White House would motivate students who complain that the deck is stacked against them. Parents hoped it would help them keep distracted sons on the straight and narrow. One woman said she felt it might even push those Confederate flags, occasional dots on the piney landscape, a little farther into the shadows."
It's the potential result of having a black president that excites people. And I don't disagree. For my students, and my friends, this is a big deal. I think I have the same reaction in wanting Hillary Clinton to win. If she wins and does well, it has the potential to shatter the last myths about what women can't do - which impacts me personally.
Rainey noted that: "Most of the Obama voters expressed no animosity for Clinton. "If she can win, that would be big, too," Chandler said." That's how I feel about Obama.
Either way, America wins.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Post from Eagle Bluff
I just returned from two days out in the cold with 160 6th graders at the environmental learning center at Eagle Bluff. I want to say "up north" but it's actually south of here. We had a BLAST - but it was an adventure in more ways than one! And although I did have an internet connection and my laptop, I didn't have time to post.
The picture here shows Brenda standing on the platform of the high-ropes course that I was on for most of the morning, helping students navigate through the challenges. I took the picture from another one further along. I'm not afraid of heights, so being up there was actually pretty fun.
The interesting thing about the ropes course is that it's full of choices - you can go the easy way, a couple middle-level options, or complete the challenge and go all the way. Kids do whatever they can handle. It is not my habit with physical challenges to go for the max, but I did on this one and finished the whole course - just to entertain the kids. This was a classic case of doing something "for the kids" that I was not so excited about, and finding that it was actually entertaining for me as well.
Big Brother Goes to Court
I'm glad to see that the Indiana law requiring a photo ID in order to vote is being heard by the Supreme Court. The more I think about it, the more inane this law seems! And yet I know it's quite the opposite - it's intentionally disenfranchising certain voters. There is a special place you-know-where for the perpetrators of this idea. There is no documentation of any voter fraud at polling places in Indiana - or Georgia or Minnesota, where leaders are trying to pass similar laws. The fraud comes at the vote-counting level, an issue this law doesn't pretend to touch.
But the League of Women Voters (LWV) has rightly jumped into the battle. If you're not familiar with it, the League is: "a nonpartisan political organization, [which] has fought since 1920 to improve our systems of government and impact public policies through citizen education and advocacy. It neither supports nor opposes candidates for office at any level of government." In other words, fols who care about the process and getting it right!
The League filed an Amicus Brief in the case, which (as I understand it) is a friend-of-the-court document from someone who doesn't represent either side, but has a relevant opinion in the case. According to LWV: "The brief points out that while those burdened by the Voter ID Law may be in the minority that does not change the fact that each individual has a fundamental right to vote." The League has documented several cases since the law passed in Indiana in which votes were either not counted, or people were simply not allowed to vote. (For example, although one can supposedly get a photo ID card for free, the birth certificate required to get it costs a fee. One woman found she would ave to spend $50 just to vote. Good grief.)
So YAY for LWV and people who care enough to step up and challenge those who would pervert our political process for their own selfish ends. Someone has to.
But the League of Women Voters (LWV) has rightly jumped into the battle. If you're not familiar with it, the League is: "a nonpartisan political organization, [which] has fought since 1920 to improve our systems of government and impact public policies through citizen education and advocacy. It neither supports nor opposes candidates for office at any level of government." In other words, fols who care about the process and getting it right!
The League filed an Amicus Brief in the case, which (as I understand it) is a friend-of-the-court document from someone who doesn't represent either side, but has a relevant opinion in the case. According to LWV: "The brief points out that while those burdened by the Voter ID Law may be in the minority that does not change the fact that each individual has a fundamental right to vote." The League has documented several cases since the law passed in Indiana in which votes were either not counted, or people were simply not allowed to vote. (For example, although one can supposedly get a photo ID card for free, the birth certificate required to get it costs a fee. One woman found she would ave to spend $50 just to vote. Good grief.)
So YAY for LWV and people who care enough to step up and challenge those who would pervert our political process for their own selfish ends. Someone has to.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Instead, We Should Ask...
A recent commentary by Rosa Brooks has the headline: "Can a Woman or Black Man Be the Next President?" Which of course I found annoying, but it did pull me in to read the article.
She not only makes a case that it CAN, but given the way America has changed in the last generation, she concludes with:
"Can a middle-aged white guy possibly be qualified to lead us into the future?"
She lays out some interesting statistics, including the fact that in 2006, less than 20% of older Americans (60+) were of color, compared with about 40% of younger Americans (under age 40 - I'm still there!) And she points out that the range of people of color is so much broader now, both in ethnicity and socioeconomic level, that the old black-white paradigm just doesn't fit anymore.
Thus, she asserts, questions like "would you vote for a black man for president" make no sense to the younger generation, because "black" is not a fixed notion for them the way it might have been in the past.
Food for thought!
A related aside - when I looked up her original piece in the LA Times, it had a different headline: "Sex, Race and Gen Y Voters" - I think it's interesting that the Strib changed it...
She not only makes a case that it CAN, but given the way America has changed in the last generation, she concludes with:
"Can a middle-aged white guy possibly be qualified to lead us into the future?"
She lays out some interesting statistics, including the fact that in 2006, less than 20% of older Americans (60+) were of color, compared with about 40% of younger Americans (under age 40 - I'm still there!) And she points out that the range of people of color is so much broader now, both in ethnicity and socioeconomic level, that the old black-white paradigm just doesn't fit anymore.
Thus, she asserts, questions like "would you vote for a black man for president" make no sense to the younger generation, because "black" is not a fixed notion for them the way it might have been in the past.
Food for thought!
A related aside - when I looked up her original piece in the LA Times, it had a different headline: "Sex, Race and Gen Y Voters" - I think it's interesting that the Strib changed it...
Monday, January 07, 2008
Big Brother No Longer Scares Us
I am so disgusted with Minnesota - we are seriously moving toward requiring ID to vote! People are so used to Big Brother that they don't even think about how completely unconstitutional such a thing is. One guy was quoted as saying that it bothers him that he is not asked for ID when he votes because: "I could be anybody" - as opposed to what? Why aren't we offended at the implication that there are people out there who don't deserve to vote?
Rep. Ellison had the good sense to note that it's a poll tax - an unconstitutional poll tax - all official forms of ID cost money!
Mary Kiffmeyer, (our former Secretary of State) on the other hand, shows her true colors with a great quote: "I assure you that applying for a photo ID is as easy or easier than getting on welfare or other social services." How the hell would she know? Has she applied for welfare? Does it cost money to apply for welfare?
And even if the state decides to waive the fee, does that make it OK to require citizens to bring ID? Yes, we have to pay taxes, yes, we register to vote, but photo ID? Oh come on.
People in the middle class think carrying and showing an ID is easy because they just do it. People who live in poverty don't have it so easy. When you move regularly, things get lost. When you have no extra cash, and no transportation, getting a new ID isn't so "easy".
I have worked as an election judge in a poor area of north Minneapolis - and will again this year. Folks move and don't know where to vote - we help them figure it out, but then they have to get there! And if they're not registered, they still need proof of address. All this - and now we add photo ID?
So what happens when this law passes? Lots of poor folks don't vote. This is a blatant attempt to disenfranchise voters - no different than all the shitty ways they did it under Jim Crow.
An old Jim Crow joke:
"A white man goes into the polling place to vote. They hand him a reading test - the book, Run, Spot, Run - which he reads with some difficulty. The judges let him vote. Then a black man goes into the same polling place to vote. They hand him a reading test - a Chinese newspaper. He hesitates. The men laugh and ask: what's the matter, can't you read it? He replies: oh yes, I can read it. Well then, what does it say? He responds: It says there won't be any black folks voting here today."
Mean people suck.
Rep. Ellison had the good sense to note that it's a poll tax - an unconstitutional poll tax - all official forms of ID cost money!
Mary Kiffmeyer, (our former Secretary of State) on the other hand, shows her true colors with a great quote: "I assure you that applying for a photo ID is as easy or easier than getting on welfare or other social services." How the hell would she know? Has she applied for welfare? Does it cost money to apply for welfare?
And even if the state decides to waive the fee, does that make it OK to require citizens to bring ID? Yes, we have to pay taxes, yes, we register to vote, but photo ID? Oh come on.
People in the middle class think carrying and showing an ID is easy because they just do it. People who live in poverty don't have it so easy. When you move regularly, things get lost. When you have no extra cash, and no transportation, getting a new ID isn't so "easy".
I have worked as an election judge in a poor area of north Minneapolis - and will again this year. Folks move and don't know where to vote - we help them figure it out, but then they have to get there! And if they're not registered, they still need proof of address. All this - and now we add photo ID?
So what happens when this law passes? Lots of poor folks don't vote. This is a blatant attempt to disenfranchise voters - no different than all the shitty ways they did it under Jim Crow.
An old Jim Crow joke:
"A white man goes into the polling place to vote. They hand him a reading test - the book, Run, Spot, Run - which he reads with some difficulty. The judges let him vote. Then a black man goes into the same polling place to vote. They hand him a reading test - a Chinese newspaper. He hesitates. The men laugh and ask: what's the matter, can't you read it? He replies: oh yes, I can read it. Well then, what does it say? He responds: It says there won't be any black folks voting here today."
Mean people suck.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Redefining "Refugee"
No update from Baghdad Burning since October... have to wonder how she's doing and keep praying! Here is an interesting excerpt from her most recent post:
By the time we had reentered the Syrian border and were headed back to the cab ready to take us into Kameshli, I had resigned myself to the fact that we were refugees. I read about refugees on the Internet daily… in the newspapers… hear about them on TV. I hear about the estimated 1.5 million plus Iraqi refugees in Syria and shake my head, never really considering myself or my family as one of them. After all, refugees are people who sleep in tents and have no potable water or plumbing, right? Refugees carry their belongings in bags instead of suitcases and they don’t have cell phones or Internet access, right? Grasping my passport in my hand like my life depended on it, with two extra months in Syria stamped inside, it hit me how wrong I was. We were all refugees. I was suddenly a number. No matter how wealthy or educated or comfortable, a refugee is a refugee. A refugee is someone who isn’t really welcome in any country- including their own... especially their own.
[In Syria] We live in an apartment building where two other Iraqis are renting. The people in the floor above us are a Christian family from northern Iraq who got chased out of their village by Peshmerga and the family on our floor is a Kurdish family who lost their home in Baghdad to militias and were waiting for immigration to Sweden or Switzerland or some such European refugee haven.
By the time we had reentered the Syrian border and were headed back to the cab ready to take us into Kameshli, I had resigned myself to the fact that we were refugees. I read about refugees on the Internet daily… in the newspapers… hear about them on TV. I hear about the estimated 1.5 million plus Iraqi refugees in Syria and shake my head, never really considering myself or my family as one of them. After all, refugees are people who sleep in tents and have no potable water or plumbing, right? Refugees carry their belongings in bags instead of suitcases and they don’t have cell phones or Internet access, right? Grasping my passport in my hand like my life depended on it, with two extra months in Syria stamped inside, it hit me how wrong I was. We were all refugees. I was suddenly a number. No matter how wealthy or educated or comfortable, a refugee is a refugee. A refugee is someone who isn’t really welcome in any country- including their own... especially their own.
[In Syria] We live in an apartment building where two other Iraqis are renting. The people in the floor above us are a Christian family from northern Iraq who got chased out of their village by Peshmerga and the family on our floor is a Kurdish family who lost their home in Baghdad to militias and were waiting for immigration to Sweden or Switzerland or some such European refugee haven.
Here's My Excuse
My mother was giving me a hard time this fall about my choice not to get a flu shot - I never have - and my standard "why put anything into my body that doesn't belong there" response was not working...
But maybe this will: Kids in Nigeria, which has had a tough time eradicating polio, are contracting it from the vaccine. (Read more here.) I seriously suspect I would get the flu from the vaccine - rightly or not - and that's why I won't do it.
I have not taken a sick day for myself in my entire 15 year career (knock wood, praise the Lord - though I did take four for my kid in '02) and it seems to me that the way to keep it that way is to keep doing what I'm doing! (That's lots of water and sleep, if you're curious. :) So the flu shot is still not on my list.
But maybe this will: Kids in Nigeria, which has had a tough time eradicating polio, are contracting it from the vaccine. (Read more here.) I seriously suspect I would get the flu from the vaccine - rightly or not - and that's why I won't do it.
I have not taken a sick day for myself in my entire 15 year career (knock wood, praise the Lord - though I did take four for my kid in '02) and it seems to me that the way to keep it that way is to keep doing what I'm doing! (That's lots of water and sleep, if you're curious. :) So the flu shot is still not on my list.
No, Really, It's Just Fine!
I wear 3-inch heels most days - work and weekends. (I do not, however, wear pointy styles that scrunch up the toes.) People sometimes comment, wondering how I can stand to wear them, and I always say I prefer them and my feet are just fine.
Still, the truth about what women's shoes do to their feet is pretty gross...
Thursday, January 03, 2008
No Resolutions
Got a text from a friend asking about my new year's resolutions, and I replied that I have no specific resolutions - just an intention to live right!
Integrity.
Sometimes easier said than done, but so much more important than weight.
Integrity.
Sometimes easier said than done, but so much more important than weight.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
A Prayer for Kenya - and the Rest of Us
I got an email from a friend today asking for prayers for Kenya as it struggles in the violent aftermath of messed-up elections... and all I can think is that we had better all learn the lesson from this! In my mind, it's all about corruption.
Last summer, Vanity Fair published a whole issue devoted to Africa - including a really interesting article about Kenya by Binyavanga Wainaina, a native Kenyan. Its focus was on the crazy amount of corruption that goes on in Kenya. It was really interesting.
Coming from Minneapolis, the town of clean politics - because Hubert Humphrey cleaned it up back in the day - I have a strong sense that fair play is, really, good economics too!
Last summer, Vanity Fair published a whole issue devoted to Africa - including a really interesting article about Kenya by Binyavanga Wainaina, a native Kenyan. Its focus was on the crazy amount of corruption that goes on in Kenya. It was really interesting.
Coming from Minneapolis, the town of clean politics - because Hubert Humphrey cleaned it up back in the day - I have a strong sense that fair play is, really, good economics too!
Monday, December 31, 2007
New Kruse Connection
I was pleased to see that one of my favorite local comedians - Colleen Kruse - now has a radio show and a video blog on 107.1 - way cool. The chance of me actually having time to listen between 11am-1pm M-F is not real high, but I will try when I can!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
I Should Care
I suppose this is something I SHOULD read and I SHOULD care to learn about - but the extent of my interest is that I'll put a link here so you can see The Top Ten Scientific Breakthroughs of 2007 for yourself...
10. Transistors Get Way Smaller
9. Scientists Clone Rhesus Monkey to Produce Stem Cells
8. Planet Discovered That Could Harbor Life
7. Engineers Create Transparent Material as Strong as Steel
6. Soft Tissue from T. Rex Leg Bone Analyzed
5. Laboratory Mice Cured of Rett Syndrome
4. Enzymes Convert Any Blood Type to O
3. Mummified Dinosaur Excavated and Scanned
2. Chimpanzees Make Spears for Hunting
1. Researchers Turn Skin Cells to Stem Cells
But really, I'm more interested in Diablo Cody right now - she is a seriously interesting chick. Check her out at the Strib and on Letterman - and go see Juno if you haven't already!
10. Transistors Get Way Smaller
9. Scientists Clone Rhesus Monkey to Produce Stem Cells
8. Planet Discovered That Could Harbor Life
7. Engineers Create Transparent Material as Strong as Steel
6. Soft Tissue from T. Rex Leg Bone Analyzed
5. Laboratory Mice Cured of Rett Syndrome
4. Enzymes Convert Any Blood Type to O
3. Mummified Dinosaur Excavated and Scanned
2. Chimpanzees Make Spears for Hunting
1. Researchers Turn Skin Cells to Stem Cells
But really, I'm more interested in Diablo Cody right now - she is a seriously interesting chick. Check her out at the Strib and on Letterman - and go see Juno if you haven't already!
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