Midweek Links, Pictures, Quick Thoughts

August 8, 2023

In June 2001, I graduated from CUNY Grad School with a PhD in Political Science. That’s Jonah, my dissertation baby. I was at various degrees of pregnancy in Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Harrisburg, when I interviewed key political actors in the school voucher battles in 1999. By the time I got to Harrisburg, I was waddling. Later, after a very rough C-section, Steve and I took turns watching him and writing our dissertations in 2000.

That ceremony was particularly long and gruesome. Some old fart in the English Department gave an hour long speech that was so bad that one of the honorary PhDs loudly complained and walked off the stage right in the middle of the speech. Through the whole ceremony, I kept fretting that two-year old Jonah would start crying and upset my folks who were watching him. But all survived.

That’s just one of the pictures that I scanned last week. I upgraded a professional website and create a school board campaign website, so I needed some fun old pictures.

Just some links and pictures today. A longer post on Friday.

On Friday, I will probably do a long post responding to two viral articles that are in my lane: Jill Escher’s piece in The Free Press on the problems with the current autism movement and Jennifer Senior’s Atlantic piece on institutionalization.

Eric Adams was the right mayor for New York City at the right time. He is full of a lot of bluster, as Ian Parker points out in The New Yorker (great article, btw), but that’s New Yorkers’ favorite flavor of mayor — quirky, Brooklyn accent, flashy, and maybe full of a little bullshit.

A toast to vintage bloggers!

David Garrow’s book on Obama came out a couple of months ago, but people are starting to pay attention to it thanks to this Tablet article. He says that Obama is quietly pulling a lot of strings in DC. (Random side note: I think I babysat for Garrow’s kids when I was in high school.)

The pandemic penalty continues: Huge, huge decrease in Kindergarten enrollment in New York City’s public schools (and surge at charter schools). New hires lack critical skills.

Questions of the Day: Will November 2024 be the Dementia Election? Will it be Biden and Trump? Will they live that long?

If you’re not sick of the elite college debate, check out Rob Henderson’s newsletter post: “Despite with at they Say, Elite Colleges Don't Promote Equity.” He writes, “These elite colleges are the factories where the ruling class sausage is made.”

Last night’s dinner: Pork tenderloin on the grill, boiled new potatoes with butter, sea salt and rosemary, sour cream with dill, and a salad with cucumbers and tomato from the Farmer’s Market.

This story about the riot in Union Square caused by an Influencer is deeply weird.

A white bean caprese salad is so easy that it doesn’t really need a recipe. But it’s still yum.