So I'm helping a kid I know with some college applications and I have some thoughts. My friend has a GPA of over 4.0 and a star in track and cross-country. She grew up Black in a white rural town in CA--oh and she's homeless. She's living with a friend's family.
but I really hope my friend gets in and I really would love to go back in time and help my 18 year old self fill out these applications and do SAT prep, etc. We have to have a better system.
And the essay questions!!!! Columbia asks "what exhibits, lectures, theatre productions and concerts have you liked best in the last year?" I'm tempted to write "Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera--psych--my town doesn't even have a movie theatre!
So I convince her to apply to some top colleges and offer to help her jump thru all the dumb financial and non-financial hoops. It occurs to me, after 10 or so applications in, that if you wanted to design a system to keep out poor kids, this one is probably your best bet
These are minor annoying questions. The major one is "tell us what you're most excited about coming to Stanford, etc." She's a first gen college student. She has no idea what Stanford is like. She has never traveled outside her town.
It just seems like anyone who can answer these questions has got to be coached. I am trying to help, but I don't even know. I literally only applied to one college because my friend helped me with the application. I barely know what Stanford is like,
I ask her what kids do for entertainment and she says: "um.... drugs." Another school asks her what her favorite periodicals, newspapers, websites are. She doesn't have access to a computer except when she does homework on a school computer. She doesn't get the New Yorker
We've already paid over $1000 (even with fee waivers). I have no idea how she was ever going to pay that money or who in her life was going to help her with the 100s of essays we've written!
So this undergrad kid "debunks" my book along with a bunch of other scholarship on the causes of the racial wealth gap and says that slavery and fed policy had nothing to do with it and it all comes down to culture. And guess who endorses his completely garbage argument?
Look, if we’re going to be forced to live in a surveillance state and have our data sold without our consent or knowledge, can we at the very freaking least, in return for our souls and identities, not have to fill out 20 pages of medical forms at every single Dr’s office?
ANNOUNCEMENT (is this thing on):
To all the young people who want to do good in the world and work for justice--especially racial equality:
PLEASE STUDY FINANCE, banking, econ, money
You may not tear down the house with the master's tools, but you need to know how they work
My 16 yr old drives an old car with only a CD player. I used it today and this was the CD she’s been listening to, which she says she found in a used bin, which is the CD I had in my car at 16, which fact she did not know, which is to say nature > nurture
I got to skype with
@Ocasio2018
yesterday and I was blown away by her! She seems hungry to learn, ready to work, and super capable. She's taking a ton of notes and asking a lot of great questions. I hope she's a harbinger for what's to come. We might just be alright after all.
All meetings should be done in a very cold room with no chairs. No food or water. No one can bring anything but a paper with the agenda. After 15 min, sprinklers turn on. After 30 min, locusts fly in. After 1 hr, the person who was talking the most gets fired.
Hi 👋🏽 everyone. For Black History Month, please consider reading my book that covers some important history from the Freedman's Bank to the New Deal to Nixon's Black Capitalism. Thanks. 🙏🏽
@vicfleischer
That's sort of what "we" did in our essay. "To be honest, I do not have access to a theatre, concert hall, or a museum...." then explain the situation. Crossing my fingers it doesn't backfire.
I've been thinking about how it was possible for
@Forbes
to have one woman on the list of 100! And not even include a picture. My theory is that they had no women at ALL.....
I am so honored that Justice Jackson is familiar enough with my work to have cited it several times in her opinion, but also so thoroughly grossed out by the fact that she and others have had to spend their time rebutting the cynical nonsense Roberts and ilk keep vomiting up.
I do not regret having children, but dammit if I do laundry one more time and find a stack of folded clothes at the bottom of their dirty clothes hamper....🤬
“We can’t afford healthcare for all”
“How will we pay for it?”
“Reparations are too costly”
“We need to balance budgets.”
“Austerity”
“Cost-benefit analysis”
“Deficits”
@Big_Unit35
I hear you. I've taught at 2 state schools and I believe in them, but Stanford gives free tuition to low income kids!! You just have to jump through a million hoops and get in
@JaneTheTeacher
I am going to ride a recommendation--the other problem is that a lot of her teachers are not used to doing college applications so they are dragging their feet on recs.
and then some last minute editor thought to add one--so they picked
#75
, added a woman's name, didn't even bother screenshooting a wikipedia pic (even though they had pics of all the men)....
And then to make it a neat 100, they squeezed Sergey Brin and Larry Page into a single slot even though they didn't do that with anyone else so they could keep their 99 list of dudes
The other theory is that there are actually no women (or just one woman with no face) that are innovative in business and this was a totally scientific list and that "innovative" and "leader" are totally quantifiable traits that are totally objective and free from sexism
The other day, I was talking to someone who said: “I was really attracted to him; he was diverse.” She meant “black.”
When people refer to individuals as diverse, I want to reply by saying “I AM LEGION”
The absolute best and most secure gig ever is being a Middle-East policy pundit. You need no qualifications at all: no language skills, cultural familiarity or knowledge of history required. You can keep being wrong and never ever lose your job or your platform. It's pretty neat!
You know what would be a better idea? If we could all "donate" money into a common pot of money (say once a year in April?) and then we could use that money to pay all the teachers a decent salary and enough $ for supplies
I'm really impressed with
@PeteButtigieg
's Douglass plan released today. It's thoughtful, comprehensive, and rooted in good research and history. I'm especially excited about the Community Homestead Act! 😊
Read the whole thing:
Something absolutely remarkable and historic is happening in Iran right now. The people are overthrowing their regime—led by women. And it’s happening fast. No outside intervention, no leader, soldiers are walking away from service, the mullahs are scared. Incredible
For democrats who oppose big structural changes--to the court, senate, electoral college.. What happens when the Court goes after the EPA, SEC, reverses Lawrence? And what happens when all the liberals have to move to blue states and we cede the Senate?
@ronlieber
@DorothyABrown
Ok. That’s a great idea. I’m crossing my fingers for positive developments over the next few months. I’ll help her write something up for you.
There's been a false idea that the government does everything badly and the private market can do everything better. The post office has a very democratic and egalitarian mission at its heart. Postal banking is a good way to show how public institutions can deliver.
Personal News that is both sad and happy:
Sad: I am leaving my wonderful institution and amazing students at
@UGASchoolofLaw
.
Happy: I will be going to
@UCILaw
next year, which I am very excited about.
I think we have an adjective problem here—you need not be a socialist to oppose aristocracy and corruption, a feminist to oppose sexual assault, or a liberal to oppose Trump’s cleptocracy. The labels were weaponized by people in power to denigrate basic appeals to justice.
The history of the Trump family business is bringing out my inner socialist. Some defenses of Kavanaugh are bringing out my inner feminist. The Trump-era degradation of American conservatism is bringing out my inner liberal.
IT’S HAPPENING AGAIN.
I remember in HS, I'd call
@Z100NewYork
over and over again so I could be the 100th caller and get free Boys II Men tickets at MSG. Anyway, that's how it feels trying to sign up for a vaccine in my county right now.
Another ordinary Monday, another well-thought out policy release by
@SenWarren
that has been years in the making, can radically change people’s lives, and that centers racial equality. But hey, I wonder how fast Mayor Pete can do a Rubik cube?
Quick story about monopoly power.
So
@amazon
has been trying to build a hub in our town to which citizens & council members have tried to stop.
This was ~ 3 months ago and negotiations seem to be ongoing. ~ 2 months ago, Amazon increased prime shipping time to ONLY OUR ZIP
Stop what you’re doing and go read this book! It’s so brilliant and necessary. The part about the “management” of the breast milk of slaves by mistresses was just devastating and also I just can’t believe it never occurred to me that it would be a commodity!
@sejr_historian
since he clearly didn't read the whole study--the 30% of the ants aren't naturally better or smarter. It's a rotating 30% so the scientists tested for this exact misunderstanding & false comparison to human inequality. It's about congestion in the ant hole, you a-hole! :)
I was just remembering back to law school and I think I had 1 or 2 teachers who ever brought up CRT to analyze a case, but all of them used Law and Econ and asked "what would Posner do" to practically every decision. And I went to a "liberal law school." Seems relevant...
@shesnottrump
@Amanda_pon
@KatzOnEarth
This kid is going to have a long and profitable career and end up on tons of panels with the likes of Sam Harris, Amy Wax, Ben Shapiro, Jordyn Peterson, etc. Grift is lucrative these days and there's always a market niche for POC that claim racism doesn't exist.
Disney when I was growing up: how can we draw a sexy/innocent child/woman with no waist or nose?
Disney now: how can we depict deep-seated inter-generational trauma in a cartoon?
So I know there’s no Nobel prize for legal scholars (thank goodness), but umm after the Econ prize debunking bad wage theory, is someone going to fix this in Posner’s canonical text and all the actual laws it inspired?
“First, you legally segregate, and then you let the market do it for you.”
Great piece, citing my new article Jim Crow Credit.
@CityLab
@brentinmock
I'm just going to say this again--what's happening in Iran is not a protest. It's a revolution. Led by women, but supported by almost all citizens. This is not about Islam. It's a dictatorship that routinely harasses and rapes women under their bullshit hijab rules.
So many innocent people have been murdered and tortured here. My mom was sent to Evin in the 1980s. Torture, beatings, death, all sorts of cruelty. I hope the prisoners get out alive and this place burns to ground.
Some people might consider replacing phrases like: "this thing should be studied," "there are no books written on this topic," and "why isn't anyone studying X" with "I have not read anything on this topic" or "I have not done a basic google search to see if books on this exist."
This whole
#1619Project
is required reading! I was awed by
@nhannahjones
’s initial vision for this and her hard work in creating an essential and timely resource. I am honored to contribute in a tiny way.
A thing that makes me angry is that:
W.E.B. Dubois is probably the best if not one of the best American intellectual of all the centuries during which he lived, which is 2 whole ones.
He was apparently so dangerous that the FBI took away his passport when he was OLD!
I’ve read a dozen books about the damage tech is doing to my brain. Without my smartphone, audible app and Bluetooth, I wouldn’t “read” nearly as many books & articles. Has anyone written about how tech might be making our brains better? I don’t miss being bored and knowing less
Our school district figured this out. Everyone gets free lunch—no coupons or numbers. Just hand every child food if they want it. If you bring your lunch, you still go thru the line.
Using capitalism to fix the racial wealth gap will work only if there is a means to transfer capital, assets, wealth or housing, writes
@MehrsaBaradaran
@tressiemcphd
The part where he accuses her of having an eating disorder?!!!! 😡🤬 I have no doubt that when a guy like this gets dumped, he goes immediately to "girls don't like nice guys" whining.
This child refugee thing is all very personal for me. I was one of those kids. America gave me asylum and I am still so grateful. I wrote this a while back, but it's still true:
I’ve tried very hard to avoid saying anything about this because I know we have enough controversial issues to deal with but I just feel compelled to speak out: feta doesn’t belong in pasta. It’s too strong. Mozzarella is fine and good.
Not linking to the Brooks opinion but I’m just wondering: when these guys write up thoughts that pop into their brain, do they ever consider like reading anything at all about the topic just in case there is like a vast body of work about beauty standards, race, class, gender…?
Ok here’s the pitch— a remake of the Christmas Carol where he falls asleep and meets the ghosts of money past (maybe William Jennings Bryan and Hamilton) and money future (and it’s just a meme that robs him) and then his guide (Keynes) shows him student debt Tim and he gets it?
You guys are making me weep this morning. I got so many DMs and messages like this. I am happy to cover application costs. I won’t feel a pinch, but it’s an insurmountable cost for many people. Admissions contacts would be amazing though.
@MehrsaBaradaran
Mehrsa - thanks for posting.
Ok people let’s get this child into college!
We can’t change the system but we can scrounge the twitter verse for resources.
I can send $ - DM me.
There has to be admissions people out there to help quarterback this? Let’s do this.
My experience with Roblox is that one time I looked at my apple receipt and saw that my 9 year old had made over $1000 in purchases in Roblox. She hadn't realized it was real money. So I guess my 9 year old is a silent investor and I would like my real money back.
In law school, at least when I went and where I have taught, the students who want to work in public interest do crim, family law, etc and the students who want to work at firms do finance. This is a problem.
MLK: greatest stumbling block is the white moderate who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action