More on Millennials

At first, this seemed like just another bizarre extension of modern feminist nonsense, but then I remembered that the female lawyers around here wear professional attire, to a (wo)man.  And the teachers who teach those spoiled brats wear professional clothing.  (Note: it may be that some feminists want to jump on this bandwagon, but that doesn't change my view that it's careening into an oak tree; if anything, such view is reinforced.)

I am ambivalent about this proposal.  On the one hand, I think everyone is too grade-obsessed, and that places far too much weight on what we should all remember is a proxy (and not necessarily the most accurate proxy), and it's not as though these courses would no longer be graded.  On the other hand, I fear that 1) freshmen would be drunk all the time and probably not make it to sophomore year and 2) I don't know how this would create a more inclusive environment.

Presumably some comination of DC Type-A types and millennials are responsible for the Chipotle-fication of the DC food scene.

This data suggests both that the NFL has a domestic violence problem and that the NFL doesn't have a domestic violence (or frankly, even a crime) problem.  I would want to think more about why these numbers look this way before pushing forward with the "suspend and jail everyone" approach.

Kirsten Gillibrand (not to mention the Washington Post!) has some not nice things to say about Arlington.

The expression for this is "rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic."

The expression for this is "the fat is interfering with your brain."  I read the post before I ever saw this piece and had two thoughts: 1) that makes sense and 2) is Abby going to get in trouble for this?  I think the break is that these anti-fat-shaming people are assuming that people like Abby are conflating wanting to change oneself and not loving oneself.  At no point in her response did Abby suggest that this person should be ashamed of being fat, but rather Abby suggested that the questioner should be ashamed of her complacency in dealing with a difficult but important problem.  To the extent that this was an inaccurate assumption, fair enough, but the framing of the question ("I'm comfortable with the status quo; how can I make my mom change or else shame her into capitulating?") suggested complacency.

There are several issues with this news item: 1) the stated issue, that the leadership team includes two black women that this organization seemed to overlook, 2) this group purports to represent black women and girls but doesn't do so just because of the name or because they say so, 3) the fact that black women are disproportionately affected by domestic violence doesn't mean that domestic violence is different between blacks and non-blacks, 4) the fact that black women are disproportionately affected by domestic violence doesn't mean that the people chosen do not understand domestic violence, 5) Jesse Jackson is prominently involved, and 6) nobody is stopping this group from engaging this issue with the 99.9% of people who are affected by domestic violence but don't happen to play for the NFL.  And if the complaint is that the NFL's high profile would allow this group to get its message out more effectively, then the headline should be "Sore Loser Group Mad that They Aren't Beneficiaries of Free Publicity; Throws Temper Tantrum in Response."

Responses:

1. And he's not even sorry...  Certain crimes are unforgivable crimes.  To be sure, a lot of people haven't forgiven Michael Vick, and if he becomes the starter in New York, I expect those people to get a bit louder.

2. To be sure, Toronto is closer than LA, but wouldn't the dream be In-N-Out DC or NY?

3. A+.

4. That's pretty interesting.

R2R:

1. The teacher glut does raise some questions about the continued need for TFA (though the fact that these laid-off teachers are thus far declining to take jobs in rural areas shows there may still be a place for TFA), but I agree that it's a leadership organization.  I don't think Kopp's goal was to push more people into careers as teachers, but rather to expose intelligent young people to the education system, expecting that these young people, who by and large have amazing credentials, would move into leadership positions down the road and affect education positively.  I get the cultural tourism bit, but I don't necessarily view that as a negative.

3. It's all about money.  All students pay some amount of money that goes into a pot to pay for student organizations (this pot is sometimes supplemented by university funding).  Organizations that aren't recognized by the school are ineligible for this funding and not allowed to use university property for organization events.

8. The argument was that ensuring that NFL teams didn't go out of business because nobody came to the games is in the public interest.  It's a specious argument for many reasons...

BFTP:

Networking is super important.

Also, I posted this a while ago, but I can't find it now.

B