Laura's Links, August 8, 2024
Quick takes, random thoughts, and old style blogging
Election 2024
For those that are worried that Harris will take an anti-Israel position on the war in Gaza, she told some pro-Gaza hecklers at her last rally to STFU. It was a smart move. The pro-Gaza candidates are going to have a hard time winning elections. People really didn’t like those college protests.
My education writer friends are dancing in the street about Harris’s VP pick. Tim Walz is a former teacher, so there will be lots of education policy fodder coming soon. How did he handle Covid shutdowns? What is the median teacher salary in his state? How are math and reading scores? Good stories on all this will drop next Monday, I’m sure.
For now, I’m pleased that Walz supported a free breakfast and lunch program in public schools. Free breakfast and lunch at schools is a solid GOOD thing. I taught in the South Bronx. We had to bring in boxes of cereal to feed kids, who hadn’t eaten much all weekend. On Mondays, they were hungry!
AOC and Constituency Service
Love AOC or hate her, she does a GREAT instagram story. From time to time, she posts “A Day in the Life” series with pictures, videos, and short explainers about what congresspeople do on an average day. This is TOTALLY the stuff that I used to talk to students about, back when I was teaching American Politics 101 at local colleges. If I was still teaching, I would swipe some of the images for my Power Point deck.
I’ll steal one of the images now, and talk about it:
Source: AOC Instagram
Here, she’s talking about constituency service, which is a huge part of the job of being a Congressperson. They’re not just down in DC voting on wars and economic policy. Mostly, they’re helping out their local voters with little issues. Local people call up and ask their representatives about personal issues, like getting their social security problems fixed and helping their cousins get a green card. And local leaders have to take these issues seriously, even counting up phone call questions, because elections are local.
When I was teaching American Government, I made students get the names of their local congresspeople (they didn’t know) and call their offices to get answers to three questions on policy issues. Then they had to write up their experiences, and we talked about it in class. It was a fun assignment, and I hope I empowered hundreds of students to make those phone calls in the future.
Social Security
Am I really going to talk about Social Security? Yes, I am. Because I’m a fun gal.
Notice that 6% of AOC’s phones from constituents are about the social security checks. It’s not the biggest issue, but it definitely is a slice of the pie Why is that? Because the social security administration sucks.
As a disability advocate, I regularly have to help parents with autistic young people get through the social security system, which they need in order to qualify for state disability programs. Because it’s so complicated, I spent all summer writing up the social security process and other issues for a book that should be done by the end of the month. Again, I’m a fun gal.
Um, can we do better here? If many people are having problems with the Social Security Administration, and people really need those checks, can we clean up this problem?
Education Policy
Like public schools, community colleges spent all their pandemic relief funds. They’re going to need more $$ to maintain new programs. Community colleges are essential to local communities, serving older, low income, and neurodiverse students. Fund them!
From Beth Hawkins at The 74: “Early look at state-by-state spending on special ed reveals scattershot efforts, suggests evidence-backed reading instruction for all kids is crucial.”
From Lauren Camera at The 74: “Black and Hispanic voters in swing states say their concerns about K-12 education and school access have fallen on deaf ears, a new poll finds.”
Personal Updates
My older guy left college without finishing his BA. He got derailed during COVID and couldn’t make himself finish the last 2-1/2 classes. Ugh. Anyway, he’s having a hard time finding a proper job. The lack of a BA isn't helping, I’m sure, but his friends who finished are also struggling. Many are working in the mall or as substitute teachers right now.
After three months of sending out resumes through the crap online websites, he decided to change things up. This week, he’s taking the train to NYC with Steve at 6:45am and handing out his resume in person to various companies. He’s visiting temp agencies today. Fingers crossed. We’re worried about the uptick in the unemployment rate.
Steve and I are going to Spain next week. Yay. Last weekend, I boated around the Rhode Island and visited more of Steve’s ancestors. We talked about my dad’s book. We’re heading back to VT this weekend to pick up Ian from his autism college. We are looking forward to having him back, but mourning the end of my wide open writing time.
Reading: The Algebra of Wealth, Scott Galloway. Will probably write about it soon. ADHD is Awesome.
Watching: House of Dragons, Track and Field in the Olympics, The Boys, Next up: The Bear
Pictures: I’m on a mission to take pictures outside every state capital in the country. Providence, RI.
ICYMI
I wrote about my kid’s progress at an autism college.
Want to get into the weeds about Social Security and disability services? Two posts: