Just Links Today
Links and pictures of beer
I spit out my Friday newsletter yesterday — a day early — after an Op-Ed in the WaPo pushed my buttons. Today, I’m in a much better mood despite the death-ray-heat-wave. I sweat out a two-mile run this morning, while listening to the Kesha and Pink on the running Spotify playlist, and the endorphins are still buzzing through my veins right now.
Here is yesterday’s political rant, in case you want to check it out:
Leana Wen argues that the latest variant of COVID, which has just claimed Biden, should not lead to greater restrictions. She’s getting some shit for that article on Twitter right now, because there are people who want permanent shutdowns and masks. Like this woman.
According to the Hechinger Report, only half of all Pell Grant recipients graduated from a four-year college in six years. Students who are eligible for Pell Grants are low-income, so this statistic really says that low income kids only have a 50/50 chance of graduating from college in six years. The half who don’t graduate end up wasting a ton of time and accruing loans with nothing to show for all that effort. Of course, only 60 percent of all students graduate in six years, which is also pretty horrific.
Ezra Klein is talking about why a middle-class lifestyle is elusive to many. He references his wife’s related piece from 2020 the Atlantic. Annie Lowery wrote, “In one of the best decades the American economy has ever recorded, families were bled dry by landlords, hospital administrators, university bursars and child-care centers.”
This week, we toured a transition program for Ian. About 40 minutes away, it seems to have the right combination of college support, job training, and social skills. I think we have plan in place. Whew. This was a year-long process. I can’t believe that we spent so much time and money on all of this. I might talk about about this resolution in Wednesday’s Great Leap newsletter.
When we were up in the Catskills this weekend, we went to some breweries and one distillery. Yes, we love alcoholic tourism. Over beers and cocktails, Steve gave me a mini-history of micro-brewery industry with Jimmy Carter as the hero of this tale. Would you be interested in an article on this topic?
On my blog, I wrote about a recent weekend trip to the Catskills:
Weekend trips around our Northeast area are nothing unusual for us, but when the pandemic hit, and we had a desperately isolated autistic teen in the house, weekend trips became essential. We planned out upcoming trips as a family over dinner during the week. They were highly photographed. And they were something that I wrote about here and on my social media accounts. It was my slightly passive aggressive way of letting people to know that autistic people were horribly isolated during the pandemic and to not forget about them.
Check out the Wyoming debates.
Inside Bennifer’s cozy cottage.
Watching: What We Do In the Shadows, The Bear
Shopping: When it’s hot and you’re traveling through a European city, the best outfit is a sundress (my favorite of the moment) and Superga sneakers. I get a ton of compliments on this pair of cheap-o sunglasses.
Pictures: Catskills, New York
