Five for Friday, October 25, 2005

Local Politics, X factor, College Crash, Streaming Subculture, ICYMI

After too much drama last week, this week returned to normal with a mix of family responsibilities and work. I’m meeting an old buddy for a nice Italian dinner in the Village tomorrow night and then having dinner with family friends on Saturday. As I’m finishing this newsletter, Obama and Harris are rallying on my TV in the next room.

Local Politics

While I’m not running for local office this year, I am still very involved. I go to town debates and show up at events. I know the issues and individuals in this year’s election. It’s super fun, especially since I’m sitting on the sidelines this year. But apparently, I’m a weirdo. One friend estimated that of the 25,000 town residents, only 250 know what’s going on.

The demise of local independent press is a tragedy. Active people can get semi-true information on Facebook, but even that’s inaccessible for technophobe older folks. Everybody else is super busy but in the past, the super busy people might have glanced at the headlines in a newspaper. Today, no reporters ever attend our school board meetings or town council meetings.

Look, this national election is huge. I’m not entirely confident that Harris will win, and that Trump will walk away without a big fight. But there’s something silently corrosive about the decline in local government and the local press. If there’s crap at the top, it’s because there’s crap at the bottom.

The X Factor

There's always been a lot of bullshit on Twitter/X, but the bullshit has grown exponentially in the past 30 days. I believe absolutely nothing that I read there unless it's been verified by trusted outside sources or by someone that I know. The Russian bots are seriously working overtime, but we don’t need Russian bots when we have home-grown pundits, elected officials, and influencers writing crap.

Just in the past week, I’ve read that either Harris or Trump were going to jail for some secret story that’s going to break any minute now. FEMA is, of course, engaged in a big land grab in North Carolina. Apparently, the Pentagon now has the power to kill Americans on American soil. And Prince Harry has filed for divorce from Meghan Markle (well, that might be true).

Exception: All the crazy stuff being written about P. Diddy is absolutely true. He’s a Grade A asshole.

Despite all the crap in the public sphere, I’m still a hard-core free speech advocate.

While X sucks, I highly suggest hanging out more on Substack. Even Tina Brown is here now. Yay!

College Crash

Student enrollment is down by 5 percent at all colleges, in part because of the FAFSA fuck up. Declining enrollment is hitting some colleges very hard.

Colleges are closing their doors at a “staggering” rate, according to the Hechinger Report. “Nearly 300 colleges and universities offering an associate degree or higher closed between 2008 and 2023. For-profit operators ran more than 60 percent of those colleges and universities.”

Skimming through the list of the closed schools at the Hechinger Report — Beaver Fall Beauty Academy, Multnomah University, University of Antelope Valley — I’m sad for all the people who worked at these schools, and the students who sat in the classrooms hopeful that hard work would improve their lives.

In 2015, I wrote an article for the Atlantic about the closure of Sweet Briar College, which was later brought back from the dead with the help of alumni. It was such a sad tale, with some faculty not only out of a job, but out of their homes, because they had purchased homes on university property.

Streaming Subcultures

Like everyone else, Steve and I binge-watched streaming television shows during the beginning of COVID and never stopped. Back then, with so much of our regular lives disrupted, we took a much-needed escape to Westview, the Ozark, or Culloden for an hour or two every night, along with a glass of wine and a pint of chocolate-peanut butter ice-cream. It was always a bit sad when the series ended, and we had to return to reality.

“Reservation Dogs” was a huge favorite. Set on an Oklahoma reservation, the show followed four teenage friends, as they struggled with their relationship to the community and their own dreams for the future. While many of the themes of the show are universal and relatable— family, friendship, becoming an adult — the thick description of life on a reservation was delightful and enlightening.

Right now, Steve and I are watching the British murder mystery series, “Shetland” (with subtitles) and getting another close up of another subculture. We’re hooked. Steve’s been googling the best ways to get to these Northern islands. I think quickest way to get there is with two airplanes, over 14 hours.

Also watching: Only Murders in the Building, What We Do in the Shadows, Agatha All Along

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ICYMI

Lots of talk this week about increasing options for students who looking for alternatives to a four-year college. They might even introduce AP exams in Career and Technical Education. I wrote about this topic earlier in the week for this newsletter. I’m working on post at my autism newsletter (aka the book rough draft) about this, but it won’t be ready until tomorrow afternoon.

pictures: Me at local events just in the past couple of weeks