Sunday, April 30, 2017
Quote
If you want to change the world . . .
start off by making your bed.
From the book Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life and Maybe Your World, by William H. McRaven
start off by making your bed.
From the book Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life and Maybe Your World, by William H. McRaven
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Black Sports Agency
An excerpt from the Undefeated -
This black sports agency reps more HBCU players in the NFL than any other firm
These two agents also handle more than 40 other pro football players
BY MARTENZIE JOHNSON
Adisa Bakari, 44, is the founder and CEO of The Sports & Entertainment Group (TSEG), a D.C.-based sports agency that represents some of the top athletes in the NFL and professional boxing.
Bakari and longtime partner Jeff Whitney, 47, who serves as the company’s president, currently represent 43 professional football players, including Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor and New York Jets running back Matt Forte. The firm also represents professional boxers Lamont and Anthony Peterson.
https://theundefeated.com/features/black-sports-agency-reps-hbcu-players-nfl/
This black sports agency reps more HBCU players in the NFL than any other firm
These two agents also handle more than 40 other pro football players
BY MARTENZIE JOHNSON
Adisa Bakari, 44, is the founder and CEO of The Sports & Entertainment Group (TSEG), a D.C.-based sports agency that represents some of the top athletes in the NFL and professional boxing.
Bakari and longtime partner Jeff Whitney, 47, who serves as the company’s president, currently represent 43 professional football players, including Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor and New York Jets running back Matt Forte. The firm also represents professional boxers Lamont and Anthony Peterson.
https://theundefeated.com/features/black-sports-agency-reps-hbcu-players-nfl/
Young, Gifted & Black Female Sports Agent
An excerpt from the Undefeated -
Black female sports agent Tiffany Porter is making her way in a white-male-dominated field
She wants to be a role model for women and men alike
BY KELLEY D. EVANS
While many sports agents are busy at the 2017 draft, there is one standing out in the crowd. As a woman in a male-dominated world, Tiffany Porter is proving that she can stand strong and give her clients the best representation possible.
For Porter, becoming a sports agent was a natural progression to her multifaceted career. The Hampton University alum has built her credentials over the years as a criminal defense attorney and is managing partner of Porter & Whitner Law Group LLC in Atlanta.
~~~~~~~~~~
As a certified NFL agent, Porter negotiates contracts, but more importantly she strives to protect her clients’ future beyond their playing days. Earning her law degree from Emory University, she is no stranger to beating the odds in the courtroom or in her personal life. She also earned her MBA from Georgia State University.
As a child, she and her younger siblings experienced watching their mother go in and out of federal prison. She was reared by her grandmother and great-grandmother.
https://theundefeated.com/features/black-female-sports-agent-tiffany-porter/
Black female sports agent Tiffany Porter is making her way in a white-male-dominated field
She wants to be a role model for women and men alike
BY KELLEY D. EVANS
While many sports agents are busy at the 2017 draft, there is one standing out in the crowd. As a woman in a male-dominated world, Tiffany Porter is proving that she can stand strong and give her clients the best representation possible.
For Porter, becoming a sports agent was a natural progression to her multifaceted career. The Hampton University alum has built her credentials over the years as a criminal defense attorney and is managing partner of Porter & Whitner Law Group LLC in Atlanta.
~~~~~~~~~~
As a certified NFL agent, Porter negotiates contracts, but more importantly she strives to protect her clients’ future beyond their playing days. Earning her law degree from Emory University, she is no stranger to beating the odds in the courtroom or in her personal life. She also earned her MBA from Georgia State University.
As a child, she and her younger siblings experienced watching their mother go in and out of federal prison. She was reared by her grandmother and great-grandmother.
https://theundefeated.com/features/black-female-sports-agent-tiffany-porter/
Con Men & Losers
An excerpt from Salon -
Donald Trump’s administration after 100 days: A second-rate salesman surrounded by con men and losers
Trump has staffed the West Wing with low-grade hucksters, and his dealmaking skills are just bad poker bluffs
By GARY LEGUM
At the rate Trump is going, the internet could run out of space, long before he leaves office, cataloging all his administration’s deficiencies as a functional entity, its destruction of governing norms and the hash it has made of both domestic and foreign policy. But two observations from the first 100 days stand out to me.
The first is the extent to which Trump’s struggles can be attributed to his pronounced tendency to staff his administration with mediocre, two-bit hustlers and con men whose careers indicate that they have a lot more luck than smarts or talent.
http://www.salon.com/2017/04/28/donald-trumps-administration-after-100-days-a-second-rate-salesman-surrounded-by-con-men-and-losers/
Donald Trump’s administration after 100 days: A second-rate salesman surrounded by con men and losers
Trump has staffed the West Wing with low-grade hucksters, and his dealmaking skills are just bad poker bluffs
By GARY LEGUM
At the rate Trump is going, the internet could run out of space, long before he leaves office, cataloging all his administration’s deficiencies as a functional entity, its destruction of governing norms and the hash it has made of both domestic and foreign policy. But two observations from the first 100 days stand out to me.
The first is the extent to which Trump’s struggles can be attributed to his pronounced tendency to staff his administration with mediocre, two-bit hustlers and con men whose careers indicate that they have a lot more luck than smarts or talent.
http://www.salon.com/2017/04/28/donald-trumps-administration-after-100-days-a-second-rate-salesman-surrounded-by-con-men-and-losers/
Friday, April 28, 2017
Public Art
From Architectural Digest
http://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/11-most-fascinating-public-sculptures
http://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/11-most-fascinating-public-sculptures
Not Surprising
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
Nation’s only federally funded voucher program has negative effect on student achievement, study finds
By Emma Brown and Mandy McLaren
Students in the nation’s only federally funded school voucher initiative performed worse on standardized tests within a year after entering D.C. private schools than peers who did not participate, according to a new federal analysis that comes as President Trump is seeking to pour billions of dollars into expanding the private school scholarships nationwide.
The study, released Thursday by the Education Department’s research division, follows several other recent studies of state-funded vouchers in Louisiana, Indiana and Ohio that suggested negative effects on student achievement. Critics are seizing on this data as they try to counter Trump’s push to direct public dollars to private schools.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/federal-study-of-dc-voucher-program-finds-negative-impact-on-student-achievement/2017/04/27/e545ef28-2536-11e7-bb9d-8cd6118e1409_story.html?utm_term=.aaea59273f63
Nation’s only federally funded voucher program has negative effect on student achievement, study finds
By Emma Brown and Mandy McLaren
Students in the nation’s only federally funded school voucher initiative performed worse on standardized tests within a year after entering D.C. private schools than peers who did not participate, according to a new federal analysis that comes as President Trump is seeking to pour billions of dollars into expanding the private school scholarships nationwide.
The study, released Thursday by the Education Department’s research division, follows several other recent studies of state-funded vouchers in Louisiana, Indiana and Ohio that suggested negative effects on student achievement. Critics are seizing on this data as they try to counter Trump’s push to direct public dollars to private schools.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/federal-study-of-dc-voucher-program-finds-negative-impact-on-student-achievement/2017/04/27/e545ef28-2536-11e7-bb9d-8cd6118e1409_story.html?utm_term=.aaea59273f63
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Safest Seat
From the Huffington Post -
The Safest Seat On A Plane, According To Studies Of Crash Data
One block of seats has a better survival rate than others.
By Suzy Strutner
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/safest-seat-on-a-plane_us_58f7dbd8e4b091e58f382505?ncid=APPLENEWS00001
The Safest Seat On A Plane, According To Studies Of Crash Data
One block of seats has a better survival rate than others.
By Suzy Strutner
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/safest-seat-on-a-plane_us_58f7dbd8e4b091e58f382505?ncid=APPLENEWS00001
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Transportation Innovations
From Vox -
9 radical changes that are coming to transportation
By Timothy B. Lee
http://www.vox.com/new-money/2017/4/26/15363592/tesla-uber-google-waymo-spacex-innovation
9 radical changes that are coming to transportation
By Timothy B. Lee
http://www.vox.com/new-money/2017/4/26/15363592/tesla-uber-google-waymo-spacex-innovation
Our Time in Tulsa
Years ago, when Ben and Frankie were five and three respectively, we moved to Oklahoma so that Frank (ex-husband) could attend seminary in preparation for a career change from active duty military to an active church pastor. This was after ten years or so of our being in the Navy.
The year was 1986.
I was never especially keen on this idea because that meant I would have the role of the "preacher's wife." The problem was I was outspoken and cussed like a sailor. Not handy attributes for the church's first lady.
That didn't stop us from going down this path though. I'm sure Frank thought he'd be able to "pray away" my rough edges.
Long story short.
Frank finished school and just when we should have commenced the process of starting a church, he decided to pursue a job as a commercial pilot, in keeping with what he did in the military.
I was relieved.
No lie.
But this post is about our time in Tulsa.
Of course, one of the most important things we had to do while there was to find a church. There was a lot of buzz about one in particular that fit our criteria. It was Charismatic, with a preacher who taught the Word, and as a bonus, it was predominantly black.
The church was Higher Dimensions.
Now, this whole notion of a Charismatic Church was different for me. I was raised Catholic and used to being in service for 45 minutes. Max. These two-hour services were a hard sell for me, but I'd be OK if they were entertaining.
Boy oh boy.
Higher Dimensions was definitely that.
The pastor, Carlton Pearson, was a rock star preacher. He was in demand all over town, all over the country, and indeed, all over the world. He was single at the time, and the church would be filled with beautiful women, dressed to the nines, all vying for his attention. He's a good looking guy and watching these mating dances was too much fun.
And, he could sing.
He could sho' nuff bring the house down as he would break out in song and dance at any given time.
He could preach, too.
After our first visit, I was sold.
I loved this church and this preacher man.
Now, it's taken me a while to get to the point, but here it is.
Years after we left Tulsa, Carlton continued to rock the Chrisitan world, but he had an epiphany that changed his thinking, and ultimately his message, when he announced that there wasn't a hell and that all people, no matter who they were or what they believed, were heaven-bound. That was considered heresy and he was denounced. This way of thinking was scandalous.
Well, I loved his message (or maybe it was his delivery) then (pre-epiphany), but I especially love it now. This lands me square in the minority though. Church folks have denounced him far and wide.
You can hear a well-done segment of This American Life, produced in 2005, that describes, in detail, Carlton Pearson's rise and fall from grace.
Judge for yourself.
http://tal.fm/304
Side note - There's a movie being made now of Carlton's life entitled "Come Sunday" starring Chiwetel Ejiofor.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1690967/
The year was 1986.
I was never especially keen on this idea because that meant I would have the role of the "preacher's wife." The problem was I was outspoken and cussed like a sailor. Not handy attributes for the church's first lady.
That didn't stop us from going down this path though. I'm sure Frank thought he'd be able to "pray away" my rough edges.
Long story short.
Frank finished school and just when we should have commenced the process of starting a church, he decided to pursue a job as a commercial pilot, in keeping with what he did in the military.
I was relieved.
No lie.
But this post is about our time in Tulsa.
Of course, one of the most important things we had to do while there was to find a church. There was a lot of buzz about one in particular that fit our criteria. It was Charismatic, with a preacher who taught the Word, and as a bonus, it was predominantly black.
The church was Higher Dimensions.
Now, this whole notion of a Charismatic Church was different for me. I was raised Catholic and used to being in service for 45 minutes. Max. These two-hour services were a hard sell for me, but I'd be OK if they were entertaining.
Boy oh boy.
Higher Dimensions was definitely that.
The pastor, Carlton Pearson, was a rock star preacher. He was in demand all over town, all over the country, and indeed, all over the world. He was single at the time, and the church would be filled with beautiful women, dressed to the nines, all vying for his attention. He's a good looking guy and watching these mating dances was too much fun.
And, he could sing.
He could sho' nuff bring the house down as he would break out in song and dance at any given time.
He could preach, too.
After our first visit, I was sold.
I loved this church and this preacher man.
Now, it's taken me a while to get to the point, but here it is.
Years after we left Tulsa, Carlton continued to rock the Chrisitan world, but he had an epiphany that changed his thinking, and ultimately his message, when he announced that there wasn't a hell and that all people, no matter who they were or what they believed, were heaven-bound. That was considered heresy and he was denounced. This way of thinking was scandalous.
Well, I loved his message (or maybe it was his delivery) then (pre-epiphany), but I especially love it now. This lands me square in the minority though. Church folks have denounced him far and wide.
You can hear a well-done segment of This American Life, produced in 2005, that describes, in detail, Carlton Pearson's rise and fall from grace.
Judge for yourself.
http://tal.fm/304
Side note - There's a movie being made now of Carlton's life entitled "Come Sunday" starring Chiwetel Ejiofor.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1690967/
Black & White in the NFL
From the Undefeated -
The NFL’s racial divide
Teams don’t consciously build rosters based on race, it just ends up that way
BY JASON REID AND JANE MCMANUS
On the field, the modern NFL, for the most part, is a meritocracy. But the individual positions on a roster can resemble the ordered black-and-white squares of a chessboard. The story of the enduring blackness of the running back position is part of a much bigger narrative about race and football that dates to a period when African-Americans were unofficially banned from playing in the NFL. And even today, the racial composition of NFL lineups is shaped as much by societal factors as the inclination of decision-makers to stick with what has worked so well for so long.
In the past few decades, critics have decried the way black players historically were blocked from playing quarterback in the NFL – an insulting and economically disenfranchising move. However, statistics show that times are changing – albeit still way too slowly. And although the league’s percentage of African-American signal-callers increased from 18 percent to only 19 percent during a 14-year span analyzed by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida, the emergence of young superstars such as Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Dak Prescott and others have proved over and over again that those anachronistic ideas about leadership and intellect are no longer applicable. Warren Moon could write a book on it. Actually, he did.
https://theundefeated.com/features/the-nfls-racial-divide/
The NFL’s racial divide
Teams don’t consciously build rosters based on race, it just ends up that way
BY JASON REID AND JANE MCMANUS
On the field, the modern NFL, for the most part, is a meritocracy. But the individual positions on a roster can resemble the ordered black-and-white squares of a chessboard. The story of the enduring blackness of the running back position is part of a much bigger narrative about race and football that dates to a period when African-Americans were unofficially banned from playing in the NFL. And even today, the racial composition of NFL lineups is shaped as much by societal factors as the inclination of decision-makers to stick with what has worked so well for so long.
In the past few decades, critics have decried the way black players historically were blocked from playing quarterback in the NFL – an insulting and economically disenfranchising move. However, statistics show that times are changing – albeit still way too slowly. And although the league’s percentage of African-American signal-callers increased from 18 percent to only 19 percent during a 14-year span analyzed by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida, the emergence of young superstars such as Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Dak Prescott and others have proved over and over again that those anachronistic ideas about leadership and intellect are no longer applicable. Warren Moon could write a book on it. Actually, he did.
https://theundefeated.com/features/the-nfls-racial-divide/
HBCUs on Display
From Essence -
Photos From The HBCU Springcoming 2017
The rain didn't stop these HBCU grads from having a good time during the third annual HBCU Springcoming in New York City.
By Mariya Moseley
http://www.essence.com/culture/photos-hbcu-graduates-springcoming-nyc-2017?xid=nl_essence_daily_am_042617
Photos From The HBCU Springcoming 2017
The rain didn't stop these HBCU grads from having a good time during the third annual HBCU Springcoming in New York City.
By Mariya Moseley
http://www.essence.com/culture/photos-hbcu-graduates-springcoming-nyc-2017?xid=nl_essence_daily_am_042617
Connecting Kids
From the New York Times -
Lifting Kids to College
By Frank Bruni
LOS ANGELES — If you go by the odds, Sierra Williams shouldn’t be in college, let alone at a highly selective school like the University of Southern California.
Many kids in her low-income neighborhood here don’t get to or through the 12th grade. Her single mother isn’t college-educated. Neither are Sierra’s two brothers, one of whom is in prison. Her sister has only a two-year associate degree.
But when Sierra was in the sixth grade, teachers spotted her potential and enrolled her in the Neighborhood Academic Initiative, or N.A.I., a program through which U.S.C. prepares underprivileged kids who live relatively near its South Los Angeles campus for higher education. She repeatedly visited U.S.C., so she could envision herself in such an environment and reach for it. She took advanced classes. Her mother, like the parents or guardians of all students in the N.A.I., got counseling on turning college into a reality for her child.
Sierra, 20, just finished her junior year at U.S.C. An engineering major, she’s already enrolled in a master’s program. “My end goal is to get my Ph.D.,” she told me when I met her recently. She wants to be a professor and, through her example as a black woman in engineering, correct the paucity of minorities in the field.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/opinion/usc-neighborhood-academic-initiative-lifting-kids-to-college.html?emc=edit_ca_20170426&nl=california-today&nlid=38867499&te=1&_r=0
Lifting Kids to College
By Frank Bruni
LOS ANGELES — If you go by the odds, Sierra Williams shouldn’t be in college, let alone at a highly selective school like the University of Southern California.
Many kids in her low-income neighborhood here don’t get to or through the 12th grade. Her single mother isn’t college-educated. Neither are Sierra’s two brothers, one of whom is in prison. Her sister has only a two-year associate degree.
But when Sierra was in the sixth grade, teachers spotted her potential and enrolled her in the Neighborhood Academic Initiative, or N.A.I., a program through which U.S.C. prepares underprivileged kids who live relatively near its South Los Angeles campus for higher education. She repeatedly visited U.S.C., so she could envision herself in such an environment and reach for it. She took advanced classes. Her mother, like the parents or guardians of all students in the N.A.I., got counseling on turning college into a reality for her child.
Sierra, 20, just finished her junior year at U.S.C. An engineering major, she’s already enrolled in a master’s program. “My end goal is to get my Ph.D.,” she told me when I met her recently. She wants to be a professor and, through her example as a black woman in engineering, correct the paucity of minorities in the field.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/opinion/usc-neighborhood-academic-initiative-lifting-kids-to-college.html?emc=edit_ca_20170426&nl=california-today&nlid=38867499&te=1&_r=0
No Ink Please
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
A Japanese artist takes on a country that despises tattoos
By Anna Fifield
OSAKA, Japan — Visitors to Japan who have tattoos bigger than a Band-Aid can forget about going to hot springs or swimming in a public pool. They also can rule out some beaches and gyms, certain restaurants and karaoke rooms, and even some convenience stores.
This is because tattoos are strongly associated with organized crime here — specifically the yakuza, or Japanese mafia — and are therefore almost universally viewed with repugnance. Case in point: When Disney released the animated movie “Moana” here recently, the advertising featured only the young girl in the title, and not the heavily tattooed Maui, who was shown on posters elsewhere (although the company says it was simply a marketing decision).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/japanese-tattoo-artist-goes-to-court-to-challenge-a-national-revulsion-to-body-art/2017/04/24/d3bfbdee-25f2-11e7-928e-3624539060e8_story.html?utm_term=.6c89d0917632&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
This is NUTS!
From the Huffington Post -
Nordstrom Sells $425 Jeans That Are Covered In Fake Mud
They’re the opposite of dirt cheap.
By Jamie Feldman
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nordstrom-mud-jeans_us_58ff7777e4b0c46f07829179
Nordstrom Sells $425 Jeans That Are Covered In Fake Mud
They’re the opposite of dirt cheap.
By Jamie Feldman
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nordstrom-mud-jeans_us_58ff7777e4b0c46f07829179
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
"Hidden Figures" in the Classroom
From the Undefeated -
Now we can find ‘Hidden Figures’ in the classroom
The story moves from the big screen into a new curriculum
BY KELLEY D. EVANS
The eye-opening, Academy Award-winning film Hidden Figures made big strides on the big screen. Now the box-office smash can be taught in middle school social studies classes thanks to Journeys in Film, a nonprofit organization that integrates film into education.
https://theundefeated.com/features/now-we-can-find-hidden-figures-in-the-classroom/
http://journeysinfilm.org/films/hidden-figures/
Now we can find ‘Hidden Figures’ in the classroom
The story moves from the big screen into a new curriculum
BY KELLEY D. EVANS
The eye-opening, Academy Award-winning film Hidden Figures made big strides on the big screen. Now the box-office smash can be taught in middle school social studies classes thanks to Journeys in Film, a nonprofit organization that integrates film into education.
https://theundefeated.com/features/now-we-can-find-hidden-figures-in-the-classroom/
http://journeysinfilm.org/films/hidden-figures/
Quote
From the Huffington Post -
“America’s greatness has never depended on the strength of any individual person, but on all of us, working together towards a common goal. But when we’ve failed to stay true to our core values ― when we deny another person our nation’s promise of opportunity ― our national strength suffers.
“When a child can’t access the tools to succeed in school, when a woman can’t afford basic health care, when refugees fleeing terror see the door slammed in their face, when we deny civil rights on the basis of skin color or sexual orientation or religion, and when a working family can’t put food on the table, our whole nation suffers.” - Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tammy-duckworth-first-senate-speech-donald-trump_us_58ffbe9ee4b07ba261e69f64?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
“America’s greatness has never depended on the strength of any individual person, but on all of us, working together towards a common goal. But when we’ve failed to stay true to our core values ― when we deny another person our nation’s promise of opportunity ― our national strength suffers.
“When a child can’t access the tools to succeed in school, when a woman can’t afford basic health care, when refugees fleeing terror see the door slammed in their face, when we deny civil rights on the basis of skin color or sexual orientation or religion, and when a working family can’t put food on the table, our whole nation suffers.” - Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tammy-duckworth-first-senate-speech-donald-trump_us_58ffbe9ee4b07ba261e69f64?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Overdue for Praise
An excerpt from the Huffington Post -
‘If You Take Out Kenan Thompson, The Studio Will Explode’
Insiders at SNL consider Kenan Thompson to be one of the greatest sketch comics ever. As he approaches a record 15th season on the show, maybe you should, too.
By Maxwell Strachan
‘If You Take Out Kenan Thompson, The Studio Will Explode’
Insiders at SNL consider Kenan Thompson to be one of the greatest sketch comics ever. As he approaches a record 15th season on the show, maybe you should, too.
By Maxwell Strachan
After almost a lifetime on television, Kenan Thompson might be on a first-name basis with the general public, but he doesn’t come close to registering as one of the most famous people to walk through the doors of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. His time on the show has never translated into Hollywood stardom or his own TV show. Even at SNL, there has always been someone else who took the title of favorite ― a Tina Fey, or an Andy Samberg, or a Kristen Wiig, or a Kate McKinnon.
But quietly, Thompson, who joined the cast in 2003, has strung together a run at SNL that will soon be without precedent.
Should he return next fall for another season, Thompson will make SNL history, becoming the single longest-running cast member ever at 15 seasons.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kenan-thompson-snl_us_58fdedc3e4b018a9ce5cbb02?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Black Ivy
From Essence -
#BlackMenOfYaleUniversity Photos Give A Fresh Perspective On The Black Ivy League Experience
By Danielle Kwateng-Clark
#BlackMenOfYaleUniversity Photos Give A Fresh Perspective On The Black Ivy League Experience
By Danielle Kwateng-Clark
http://www.essence.com/news/black-men-of-yale-university-viral-photo?xid=nl_essence_daily_pm_042517
Young, Gifted, & Black Rock Climber
From the Undefeated -
Kai Lightner, 17, aims to be the best rock climber in the country
One of the few blacks at the top of the sport, he’s shooting for the Tokyo Olympics
BY PAUL WACHTER
In March, Lightner, now 17, stood in front of another climbing wall inside Denver’s Movement Climbing and Fitness gym. He was one of 69 men competing in U.S.A. Climbing’s Sport & Speed Open National Championships, and, despite his age, he arguably was the favorite. Two years ago, when he first entered the competition as a 15-year-old, he won. And last year he finished second.
~~~~~~~~~~
But being the best male climber in the country isn’t Lightner’s only goal. After graduating from high school this spring, he’ll take a year off before college to expand his international competition schedule and tackle difficult outdoor routes. There’s also the Olympics. “Tokyo in 2020 will be the first time that climbing will be in the Olympics,” Lightner said. “There will only be one male climber and one female climber from the United States, and I’ll be training for that.”
Kai Lightner, 17, aims to be the best rock climber in the country
One of the few blacks at the top of the sport, he’s shooting for the Tokyo Olympics
BY PAUL WACHTER
 |
| Kai Lightner looks up at the climbing wall in – while participating in the USA Climbing Courtesy of USA Climbing |
In March, Lightner, now 17, stood in front of another climbing wall inside Denver’s Movement Climbing and Fitness gym. He was one of 69 men competing in U.S.A. Climbing’s Sport & Speed Open National Championships, and, despite his age, he arguably was the favorite. Two years ago, when he first entered the competition as a 15-year-old, he won. And last year he finished second.
~~~~~~~~~~
But being the best male climber in the country isn’t Lightner’s only goal. After graduating from high school this spring, he’ll take a year off before college to expand his international competition schedule and tackle difficult outdoor routes. There’s also the Olympics. “Tokyo in 2020 will be the first time that climbing will be in the Olympics,” Lightner said. “There will only be one male climber and one female climber from the United States, and I’ll be training for that.”
https://theundefeated.com/features/kai-lightner-17-aims-to-be-the-best-rock-climber-in-the-country/
Insecurity Defines Him
An excerpt from Slate -
Trump’s Defining Trait
It’s his insecurity. Why that should frighten us all.
By Jamelle Bouie
Each president brings with him more than just his agenda to Washington. He also brings personal qualities, those traits of character that shape and define his time in office as much as any event or policy. For Barack Obama, that quality was a confidence—or, critics might say, aloofness—exemplified by the nickname “No Drama Obama.” For George W. Bush, it was a resolve that crossed into stubborn rigidity. For Bill Clinton, a malleability that sometimes—or even often—skirted principle.
Donald Trump has just three months in office, but even now, we can see what he brings to the White House. Not the strength or mastery he works to project with every public appearance, but its opposite: insecurity. As president, Trump is profoundly insecure: insecure about his electoral victory, insecure about his public standing, and insecure about his progress as chief executive.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/04/donald_trump_s_defining_trait_his_insecurity.html?wpsrc=newsletter_tis&sid=554654ea10defb39638b510d
Trump’s Defining Trait
It’s his insecurity. Why that should frighten us all.
By Jamelle Bouie
Each president brings with him more than just his agenda to Washington. He also brings personal qualities, those traits of character that shape and define his time in office as much as any event or policy. For Barack Obama, that quality was a confidence—or, critics might say, aloofness—exemplified by the nickname “No Drama Obama.” For George W. Bush, it was a resolve that crossed into stubborn rigidity. For Bill Clinton, a malleability that sometimes—or even often—skirted principle.
Donald Trump has just three months in office, but even now, we can see what he brings to the White House. Not the strength or mastery he works to project with every public appearance, but its opposite: insecurity. As president, Trump is profoundly insecure: insecure about his electoral victory, insecure about his public standing, and insecure about his progress as chief executive.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/04/donald_trump_s_defining_trait_his_insecurity.html?wpsrc=newsletter_tis&sid=554654ea10defb39638b510d
Beyonce Scholarships - Please Share This
From Vulture -
Beyoncé Is Sending 4 Women to College on Formation Scholarships
By Dee Lockett
http://www.vulture.com/2017/04/beyonce-formation-scholarship-will-send-women-to-college.html
Beyoncé Is Sending 4 Women to College on Formation Scholarships
By Dee Lockett
http://www.vulture.com/2017/04/beyonce-formation-scholarship-will-send-women-to-college.html
Making a Statement
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTKtc_yhzzK/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-lives-matter-prom-dress_us_58fdfb99e4b06b9cb91865dc
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-lives-matter-prom-dress_us_58fdfb99e4b06b9cb91865dc
Monday, April 24, 2017
Snubbed by the US
An excerpt from OZY -
WHICH LEADER SNUBBED JESSE OWENS? HINT: IT WASN'T HITLER
By James Watkins
Adolf Hitler famously refused to shake Owens’ hand, not wanting the humiliation of acknowledging a Black athlete’s brilliance, or so the story goes. But the truth is that, after the first day of competition, Hitler didn’t shake any athlete’s hand because the head of the International Olympic Committee told him he must congratulate all gold medalists or none at all. Sure, the führer wasn’t keen on photo ops with Black or Jewish athletes, but he simply chose to steer clear of the stadium altogether. So Owens was never personally snubbed by Hitler, but his story is still defined by systematic racism — not in Nazi Germany, but in the United States.
After the Olympics, in which 18 African-American athletes competed with record-breaking success, only white athletes were invited to meet President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the White House. It was an election year, and FDR “did not want to be perceived as being soft on the negro issue,” says Harry Edwards, a sociologist and campaigner for Black participation in professional sports. The most decorated American athlete of the Games, Owens had to enter his own celebratory reception at the Waldorf Astoria through the freight elevator. After being banned from amateur competition because he declined to take part in a post-Olympics promotional tour, and with no professional opportunities or sponsorships, Owens worked as a playground janitor. He would later work as a gas station attendant before eventually filing for bankruptcy and being prosecuted for tax evasion. Owens began smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, a habit that would eventually kill him.
http://www.ozy.com/the-huddle/which-leader-snubbed-jesse-owens-hint-it-wasnt-hitler/71998
WHICH LEADER SNUBBED JESSE OWENS? HINT: IT WASN'T HITLER
By James Watkins
Adolf Hitler famously refused to shake Owens’ hand, not wanting the humiliation of acknowledging a Black athlete’s brilliance, or so the story goes. But the truth is that, after the first day of competition, Hitler didn’t shake any athlete’s hand because the head of the International Olympic Committee told him he must congratulate all gold medalists or none at all. Sure, the führer wasn’t keen on photo ops with Black or Jewish athletes, but he simply chose to steer clear of the stadium altogether. So Owens was never personally snubbed by Hitler, but his story is still defined by systematic racism — not in Nazi Germany, but in the United States.
After the Olympics, in which 18 African-American athletes competed with record-breaking success, only white athletes were invited to meet President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the White House. It was an election year, and FDR “did not want to be perceived as being soft on the negro issue,” says Harry Edwards, a sociologist and campaigner for Black participation in professional sports. The most decorated American athlete of the Games, Owens had to enter his own celebratory reception at the Waldorf Astoria through the freight elevator. After being banned from amateur competition because he declined to take part in a post-Olympics promotional tour, and with no professional opportunities or sponsorships, Owens worked as a playground janitor. He would later work as a gas station attendant before eventually filing for bankruptcy and being prosecuted for tax evasion. Owens began smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, a habit that would eventually kill him.
http://www.ozy.com/the-huddle/which-leader-snubbed-jesse-owens-hint-it-wasnt-hitler/71998
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Fueled by Taunts
From the Washington Post -
These robotics students were told ‘to go back to Mexico.’ The taunt only fueled their success.
By Kristine Phillips
Just a few months ago, not many knew about these five fourth-graders from a low-income community in Indianapolis.
But now, the Panther Bots, a thriving robotics team at Pleasant Run Elementary School, have become the face of a success story about a group of kids who were taunted with racial slurs but were too determined to let that affect their confidence. Earlier this month, they found themselves being honored on the Senate floor of the Indiana Statehouse. The group travels to Louisville on Sunday to compete in a worldwide robotics contest.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2017/04/23/these-robotics-students-were-told-to-go-back-to-mexico-the-taunt-only-fueled-their-success/?utm_term=.c0e0ecee6c44&wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1
These robotics students were told ‘to go back to Mexico.’ The taunt only fueled their success.
By Kristine Phillips
Just a few months ago, not many knew about these five fourth-graders from a low-income community in Indianapolis.
But now, the Panther Bots, a thriving robotics team at Pleasant Run Elementary School, have become the face of a success story about a group of kids who were taunted with racial slurs but were too determined to let that affect their confidence. Earlier this month, they found themselves being honored on the Senate floor of the Indiana Statehouse. The group travels to Louisville on Sunday to compete in a worldwide robotics contest.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2017/04/23/these-robotics-students-were-told-to-go-back-to-mexico-the-taunt-only-fueled-their-success/?utm_term=.c0e0ecee6c44&wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1
See Your Mail Before It Arrives
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2017/04/20/postal-service-offers-look-your-mail-before-arrives/100693104/
Signs of the Times
 |
| March for Science Rally, Paris - April 22, 2017 Francois Guillot, AFP/Getty Images |
Friday, April 21, 2017
The Invisible Monument at UC Berkeley
An excerpt from 99percentinvisible.org -
Be sure to check out the podcast that accompanies this article. It came be found on the bottom of the page.
The Invisible Monument to Free Speech
“This soil and the air space extending above it shall not be a part of any nation and shall not be subject to any entity’s jurisdiction.”
http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/episode-22-the-invisible-monument-to-free-speech/
From Atlas Obscura - http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/free-speech-monument
From RoadsideAmerica - http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/30278
Be sure to check out the podcast that accompanies this article. It came be found on the bottom of the page.
The Invisible Monument to Free Speech
“This soil and the air space extending above it shall not be a part of any nation and shall not be subject to any entity’s jurisdiction.”
http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/episode-22-the-invisible-monument-to-free-speech/
From Atlas Obscura - http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/free-speech-monument
From RoadsideAmerica - http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/30278
From Prisoner to Law Professor
From the Washington Post -
He robbed banks and went to prison. His time there put him on track for a new job: Georgetown law professor.
By Susan Svrluga
Hopwood’s new job as a tenure-track faculty member at the Georgetown University Law Center is only the latest improbable twist in a remarkable life: In the last 20 years, he has robbed banks in small towns in Nebraska, spent 11 years in federal prison, written a legal petition for a fellow inmate so incisive that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, done that again, earned undergraduate and law degrees and extremely competitive clerkships, written a book, married his hometown crush and started a family.
But this could be his most compelling role yet. His time in prison gave him a searing understanding of the impact of sentencing and the dramatic growth in incarceration in the United States, an unusual perspective on the law that allows him to see things other lawyers overlook. And he takes the job at a time when criminal-justice issues have real urgency, from lawmakers to protesters to students.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/04/21/bank-robber-turned-georgetown-law-professor-is-just-getting-started-on-his-goals/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_georgetown1100am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.dd54e4087b44
He robbed banks and went to prison. His time there put him on track for a new job: Georgetown law professor.
By Susan Svrluga
Hopwood’s new job as a tenure-track faculty member at the Georgetown University Law Center is only the latest improbable twist in a remarkable life: In the last 20 years, he has robbed banks in small towns in Nebraska, spent 11 years in federal prison, written a legal petition for a fellow inmate so incisive that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, done that again, earned undergraduate and law degrees and extremely competitive clerkships, written a book, married his hometown crush and started a family.
But this could be his most compelling role yet. His time in prison gave him a searing understanding of the impact of sentencing and the dramatic growth in incarceration in the United States, an unusual perspective on the law that allows him to see things other lawyers overlook. And he takes the job at a time when criminal-justice issues have real urgency, from lawmakers to protesters to students.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/04/21/bank-robber-turned-georgetown-law-professor-is-just-getting-started-on-his-goals/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_georgetown1100am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.dd54e4087b44
Fixed
From Full Frontal Samantha Bee -
https://twitter.com/FullFrontalSamB/status/854835411486740487/photo/1
https://twitter.com/FullFrontalSamB/status/854835411486740487/photo/1
History Lesson - African-American Female Activists
From Upworthy -
They're here: photos released of 8 female activists that history almost forgot.
JAMES GAINES
In 2013, the Library of Congress got a hold of the photograph collection of William Henry Richards, a prominent African-American leader who taught at Howard University from 1890 to 1928.
In the collection, they found portraits of the young, badass female African-American activists whom Richards worked alongside.
http://www.upworthy.com/theyre-here-photos-released-of-8-female-activists-that-history-almost-forgot?c=upw1&u=6861cbea6edfdfe5a709ee39ad3c14b64135e61f
They're here: photos released of 8 female activists that history almost forgot.
JAMES GAINES
In 2013, the Library of Congress got a hold of the photograph collection of William Henry Richards, a prominent African-American leader who taught at Howard University from 1890 to 1928.
In the collection, they found portraits of the young, badass female African-American activists whom Richards worked alongside.
http://www.upworthy.com/theyre-here-photos-released-of-8-female-activists-that-history-almost-forgot?c=upw1&u=6861cbea6edfdfe5a709ee39ad3c14b64135e61f
Prison Reform With Potential
An excerpt from the Los Angeles Times -
'I took someone’s life — now I am giving back': In California's prisons, inmates teach each other how to start over
By Jazmine Ulloa
The men Daniel Hopper teaches about drug and alcohol abuse are serving sentences of 10 years to life at a state prison tucked away in the Vaca Mountains of Northern California. They grew up in different places, most of them under difficult circumstances: dangerous schools and neighborhoods, fathers behind bars, brothers in gangs.
Hopper, a tall 35-year-old with cropped black hair, rectangular glasses and piercing wit, can relate to them on a level few others can. He is doing time for killing another teenager when he was 17 and a San Diego gang leader.
“Going to prison was one of the best things that ever happened to me,” Hopper said. It forced him to face what he did — and live differently, he said.
A largely self-educated inmate who had resigned himself to dying within prison walls, Hopper became a substance abuse counselor through the Offender Mentor Certification Program. Now, with Proposition 57 ushering in a massive overhaul of the state’s prison parole system, the program could bring him and his students closer to an early release that some of them thought they would never see.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-prop-57-prison-programs-20170420-htmlstory.html
'I took someone’s life — now I am giving back': In California's prisons, inmates teach each other how to start over
By Jazmine Ulloa
The men Daniel Hopper teaches about drug and alcohol abuse are serving sentences of 10 years to life at a state prison tucked away in the Vaca Mountains of Northern California. They grew up in different places, most of them under difficult circumstances: dangerous schools and neighborhoods, fathers behind bars, brothers in gangs.
Hopper, a tall 35-year-old with cropped black hair, rectangular glasses and piercing wit, can relate to them on a level few others can. He is doing time for killing another teenager when he was 17 and a San Diego gang leader.
“Going to prison was one of the best things that ever happened to me,” Hopper said. It forced him to face what he did — and live differently, he said.
A largely self-educated inmate who had resigned himself to dying within prison walls, Hopper became a substance abuse counselor through the Offender Mentor Certification Program. Now, with Proposition 57 ushering in a massive overhaul of the state’s prison parole system, the program could bring him and his students closer to an early release that some of them thought they would never see.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-prop-57-prison-programs-20170420-htmlstory.html
Undoing Years of Progress
An excerpt from ProPublica -
DeVos Pick to Head Civil Rights Office Once Said She Faced Discrimination for Being White
Candice Jackson’s intellectual journey raises questions about how actively she will investigate allegations of unfair treatment of minorities and women.
by Annie Waldman
The new acting head of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights once complained that she experienced discrimination because she is white.
As an undergraduate studying calculus at Stanford University in the mid-1990s, Candice Jackson “gravitated” toward a section of the class that provided students with extra help on challenging problems, she wrote in a student publication. Then she learned that the section was reserved for minority students.
“I am especially disappointed that the University encourages these and other discriminatory programs,” she wrote in the Stanford Review. “We need to allow each person to define his or her own achievements instead of assuming competence or incompetence based on race.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/devos-candice-jackson-civil-rights-office-education-department
DeVos Pick to Head Civil Rights Office Once Said She Faced Discrimination for Being White
Candice Jackson’s intellectual journey raises questions about how actively she will investigate allegations of unfair treatment of minorities and women.
by Annie Waldman
The new acting head of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights once complained that she experienced discrimination because she is white.
As an undergraduate studying calculus at Stanford University in the mid-1990s, Candice Jackson “gravitated” toward a section of the class that provided students with extra help on challenging problems, she wrote in a student publication. Then she learned that the section was reserved for minority students.
“I am especially disappointed that the University encourages these and other discriminatory programs,” she wrote in the Stanford Review. “We need to allow each person to define his or her own achievements instead of assuming competence or incompetence based on race.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/devos-candice-jackson-civil-rights-office-education-department
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Rang True For Me
I was raised in the segregated South, in rural China, Texas.
I entered first grade in 1962. We didn't have kindergarten back then. The school I attended housed first thru twelfth grades. My oldest brother Willie was fourteen years older than me and already in the military by the time I was school age. My second brother Forrest was a junior, and my third brother Terry was in second grade, and we were all in the same building.
Everyone in that school was black - the principal, the teachers, and the support staff. The advantages of that world were that at an early age we mingled with professionals who looked like us. People who had a vested interest in our learning and who understood the importance of teaching us so much more than just the three R's - reading writing and arithmetic. They, along with our parents, taught us how to navigate our segregated world so that we'd live to tell about it.
That black oasis ended when I entered seventh grade and the school was integrated. I went from having all black teachers for my first six years of schooling to having just one black teacher for the next six years. All of the black staff from our school were fired, except for one. The educational, social and economic impact of that decision was enormous.
In our push for integration, the assumption was if we were in the same class as white kids, we'd get the same education. That was incredibly naive thinking.
The teachers' role in students' achievement was/is HUGE. When teachers believe in their students, even when they don't believe in themselves, it makes a tremendous difference. Does the teacher have to be black to teach black kids? No, but it's a value-added endeavor when the teachers and students can relate to each other on a deeper level.
So, this author's comments and analysis in the article below rang true for me.
I understood them completely because I lived them.
~~~~~~~~~~
An excerpt from the New York Times -
Where Did All the Black Teachers Go?
By BRENT STAPLES
When black schools were shuttered or absorbed, celebrated black principals were demoted or fired. By some estimates, nearly a third of African-American teachers lost their jobs. Those who survived the purge were sometimes selected on the basis of a lighter skin color that made them more palatable to white communities.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/opinion/where-did-all-the-black-teachers-go.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
I entered first grade in 1962. We didn't have kindergarten back then. The school I attended housed first thru twelfth grades. My oldest brother Willie was fourteen years older than me and already in the military by the time I was school age. My second brother Forrest was a junior, and my third brother Terry was in second grade, and we were all in the same building.
Everyone in that school was black - the principal, the teachers, and the support staff. The advantages of that world were that at an early age we mingled with professionals who looked like us. People who had a vested interest in our learning and who understood the importance of teaching us so much more than just the three R's - reading writing and arithmetic. They, along with our parents, taught us how to navigate our segregated world so that we'd live to tell about it.
That black oasis ended when I entered seventh grade and the school was integrated. I went from having all black teachers for my first six years of schooling to having just one black teacher for the next six years. All of the black staff from our school were fired, except for one. The educational, social and economic impact of that decision was enormous.
In our push for integration, the assumption was if we were in the same class as white kids, we'd get the same education. That was incredibly naive thinking.
The teachers' role in students' achievement was/is HUGE. When teachers believe in their students, even when they don't believe in themselves, it makes a tremendous difference. Does the teacher have to be black to teach black kids? No, but it's a value-added endeavor when the teachers and students can relate to each other on a deeper level.
So, this author's comments and analysis in the article below rang true for me.
I understood them completely because I lived them.
~~~~~~~~~~
An excerpt from the New York Times -
Where Did All the Black Teachers Go?
By BRENT STAPLES
When black schools were shuttered or absorbed, celebrated black principals were demoted or fired. By some estimates, nearly a third of African-American teachers lost their jobs. Those who survived the purge were sometimes selected on the basis of a lighter skin color that made them more palatable to white communities.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/opinion/where-did-all-the-black-teachers-go.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
Ouch!
An excerpt from Vox -
Henry Kissinger just damned Jared Kushner with the faintest of praise
By Zack Beauchamp
The entire thing is the most lukewarm of lukewarm praise, about as generic and uninspired as it comes. One academic I follow on Twitter called it “the letter of recommendation you never want an advisor to send,” which sounds about right.
http://www.vox.com/world/2017/4/20/15373668/henry-kissinger-jared-kushner-time-100
Henry Kissinger just damned Jared Kushner with the faintest of praise
By Zack Beauchamp
The entire thing is the most lukewarm of lukewarm praise, about as generic and uninspired as it comes. One academic I follow on Twitter called it “the letter of recommendation you never want an advisor to send,” which sounds about right.
http://www.vox.com/world/2017/4/20/15373668/henry-kissinger-jared-kushner-time-100
How TED Became TED
An excerpt from Wired -
The Oral History of TED, a Club for the Rich That Became a Global Phenomenon
By Emma Grey Ellis
BEFORE ITS 2,000-PLUS videos had been viewed 8 billion times, TED was an annual conference for wealthy eggheads. Starting in February 1984, 1,000 people who could afford to pay $4,000 (and up) would gather in Monterey, California, to hear 18-minute lectures on technology, entertainment, and design. (TED, get it?) Then, in 2006, TED started posting the presentations on its website, transforming a once-exclusive conference into a viral think-piece factory. As TED kicks off its 33rd conference this spring, here’s how the talks went global.
https://www.wired.com/2017/04/an-oral-history-of-ted-talks/
The Oral History of TED, a Club for the Rich That Became a Global Phenomenon
By Emma Grey Ellis
BEFORE ITS 2,000-PLUS videos had been viewed 8 billion times, TED was an annual conference for wealthy eggheads. Starting in February 1984, 1,000 people who could afford to pay $4,000 (and up) would gather in Monterey, California, to hear 18-minute lectures on technology, entertainment, and design. (TED, get it?) Then, in 2006, TED started posting the presentations on its website, transforming a once-exclusive conference into a viral think-piece factory. As TED kicks off its 33rd conference this spring, here’s how the talks went global.
https://www.wired.com/2017/04/an-oral-history-of-ted-talks/
Jordan Gets An Undeserved Pass
An excerpt from the Guardian -
Craig Hodges: 'Jordan didn't speak out because he didn't know what to say'
He was one of the NBA’s finest sharpshooters and a two-time champion alongside Michael Jordan, but was run out of the league for his outspoken views. A quarter of a century on, Craig Hodges is still fighting the good fight
By Donald McRae
Hodges has told his compelling life story with fiery passion, looping around a cast of characters stretching from Jordan, Magic Johnson and Phil Jackson back to Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, before returning to the present. Sport and politics are entwined again in a country where Donald Trump is president and Colin Kaepernick remains locked outside football as an unsigned free agent who had the temerity to sink to one knee during the national anthem. And teenage African American boys, just like they were when Hodges was trying to shake up the NBA, are still being gunned down.
Hodges always wanted to voice his opposition to injustice. In June 1991, before the first game of the NBA finals between the Bulls and the LA Lakers, Hodges tried to convince Jordan and Magic Johnson that both teams should stage a boycott. Rodney King, an African American, had been beaten brutally by four white policemen in Los Angeles three months earlier – while 32% of the black population in Illinois lived below the poverty line.
As he writes in his new book Longshot: The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter, Hodges told the sport’s two leading players that the Bulls and Lakers should sit out the opening game, so “we would stand in solidarity with the black community while calling out racism and economic inequality in the NBA, where there were no black owners and almost no black coaches despite the fact that 75% of the players in the league were African American”.
Jordan told Hodges he was “crazy” while Johnson said: “That’s too extreme, man.”
“What’s happening to our people in this country is extreme,” Hodges replied.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/20/craig-hodges-michael-jordan-nba-chicago-bulls?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
Craig Hodges: 'Jordan didn't speak out because he didn't know what to say'
He was one of the NBA’s finest sharpshooters and a two-time champion alongside Michael Jordan, but was run out of the league for his outspoken views. A quarter of a century on, Craig Hodges is still fighting the good fight
By Donald McRae
Hodges has told his compelling life story with fiery passion, looping around a cast of characters stretching from Jordan, Magic Johnson and Phil Jackson back to Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, before returning to the present. Sport and politics are entwined again in a country where Donald Trump is president and Colin Kaepernick remains locked outside football as an unsigned free agent who had the temerity to sink to one knee during the national anthem. And teenage African American boys, just like they were when Hodges was trying to shake up the NBA, are still being gunned down.
Hodges always wanted to voice his opposition to injustice. In June 1991, before the first game of the NBA finals between the Bulls and the LA Lakers, Hodges tried to convince Jordan and Magic Johnson that both teams should stage a boycott. Rodney King, an African American, had been beaten brutally by four white policemen in Los Angeles three months earlier – while 32% of the black population in Illinois lived below the poverty line.
As he writes in his new book Longshot: The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter, Hodges told the sport’s two leading players that the Bulls and Lakers should sit out the opening game, so “we would stand in solidarity with the black community while calling out racism and economic inequality in the NBA, where there were no black owners and almost no black coaches despite the fact that 75% of the players in the league were African American”.
Jordan told Hodges he was “crazy” while Johnson said: “That’s too extreme, man.”
“What’s happening to our people in this country is extreme,” Hodges replied.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/20/craig-hodges-michael-jordan-nba-chicago-bulls?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
Birds of a Feather?
From the Los Angeles Times -
The Bill O'Reilly case shows how much Fox News and UC Berkeley have (horrors!) in common
By Michael Hiltzik
What may be most telling about the O’Reilly case is that it’s far from unique. Indeed, many of its features were replicated at an institution that, on the surface, is as different from Fox as one could imagine: UC Berkeley. Neither Fox nor Berkeley would probably relish being discussed in the same sentence as the other, but it’s their handling of accused serial harassers that makes them cousins.
The Berkeley case involves renowned astronomer Geoff Marcy, who was forced to resign his tenured professorship in 2015 after reports surfaced of multiple accusations from students of unwanted sexual overtures. Marcy had joined the Berkeley faculty in 1999 from San Francisco State University and was touted as one of its stars. Often cited as a candidate for the Nobel Prize, he commanded millions of dollars in research funds.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-berkeley-sexual-harassment-20170418-story.html
The Bill O'Reilly case shows how much Fox News and UC Berkeley have (horrors!) in common
By Michael Hiltzik
What may be most telling about the O’Reilly case is that it’s far from unique. Indeed, many of its features were replicated at an institution that, on the surface, is as different from Fox as one could imagine: UC Berkeley. Neither Fox nor Berkeley would probably relish being discussed in the same sentence as the other, but it’s their handling of accused serial harassers that makes them cousins.
The Berkeley case involves renowned astronomer Geoff Marcy, who was forced to resign his tenured professorship in 2015 after reports surfaced of multiple accusations from students of unwanted sexual overtures. Marcy had joined the Berkeley faculty in 1999 from San Francisco State University and was touted as one of its stars. Often cited as a candidate for the Nobel Prize, he commanded millions of dollars in research funds.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-berkeley-sexual-harassment-20170418-story.html
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Keep Saying "Good Morning"
From the Los Angeles Times -
Getting older, and falling apart, but no shortage of role models for fighting on
By Steve Lopez
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-20170418-story.html
Getting older, and falling apart, but no shortage of role models for fighting on
By Steve Lopez
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-20170418-story.html
Paid Time Off to Protest
From the Washington Post -
The newest Silicon Valley perk? Paid time off to protest Trump.
By Abha Bhattarai
Silicon Valley firms have long been known for offering a litany of employee perks: home-cooked lunches, free massages, climbing walls and dog-friendly offices.
Now some are adding yet another incentive to attract — and retain — workers: paid time off to protest.
Fauna, a San Francisco-based database start-up, recently began allowing its 13 employees to take unlimited paid leave to participate in rallies, vote, write letters to elected officials and take part in other civic activities. Before February, employees could take time off on an as-needed basis. But the political climate — and polarization — after President Trump’s inauguration called for more defined measures, said Amna Pervez, director of recruiting and retention.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/04/18/the-newest-silicon-valley-perk-paid-time-off-to-protest-trump/?utm_term=.d06dd727f125&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
The newest Silicon Valley perk? Paid time off to protest Trump.
By Abha Bhattarai
Silicon Valley firms have long been known for offering a litany of employee perks: home-cooked lunches, free massages, climbing walls and dog-friendly offices.
Now some are adding yet another incentive to attract — and retain — workers: paid time off to protest.
Fauna, a San Francisco-based database start-up, recently began allowing its 13 employees to take unlimited paid leave to participate in rallies, vote, write letters to elected officials and take part in other civic activities. Before February, employees could take time off on an as-needed basis. But the political climate — and polarization — after President Trump’s inauguration called for more defined measures, said Amna Pervez, director of recruiting and retention.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/04/18/the-newest-silicon-valley-perk-paid-time-off-to-protest-trump/?utm_term=.d06dd727f125&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
Jesuits & Georgetown Repent
An excerpt from CNN -
In emotional service, Jesuits and Georgetown repent for slave trading
By Daniel Burke
(CNN)There is wide gulf, Frederick Douglass wrote in 1845, between Christianity proper and the "slaveholding religion of this land." One is "good, pure and holy," the other corrupt and wicked, the "climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds."
"We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries and cradle-plunderers for church members," Douglass wrote in "Life of an American Slave."
For Douglass, as for other African-Americans, the sin of slavery was intolerable; the complicity of Christians unforgivable.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/living/georgetown-slavery-service/index.html
In emotional service, Jesuits and Georgetown repent for slave trading
By Daniel Burke
(CNN)There is wide gulf, Frederick Douglass wrote in 1845, between Christianity proper and the "slaveholding religion of this land." One is "good, pure and holy," the other corrupt and wicked, the "climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds."
"We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries and cradle-plunderers for church members," Douglass wrote in "Life of an American Slave."
For Douglass, as for other African-Americans, the sin of slavery was intolerable; the complicity of Christians unforgivable.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/living/georgetown-slavery-service/index.html
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Pie Thrower Trial
An excerpt from Deadspin -
Will The First Amendment Save The Kevin Johnson Pie Bandit
By Dave McKenna
Can pie throwing be considered a protected form of speech? Will Kevin Johnson be asked, for the first time ever, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about his seamy side, so help him God? Will Michelle Rhee get cross-examined—or even examined?
Getting the answers to those questions will be among the reasons folks who’ve followed the never-ending soap opera of Johnson, the ex-NBA superstar turned disgraced (and now former) mayor of Sacramento, are excited about the upcoming trial of Sean Thompson, the man who hit Johnson with a pie at a fall charity gala, then took a beating from the pied politico. Thompson was charged with counts of assaulting a public official, a felony, and committing assault on school grounds, a misdemeanor. At a hearing last week in Sacramento Superior Court, a judge confirmed that the trial will indeed start on April 19. The court has set aside two weeks, a huge amount of time for a typical assault case. But nobody expects this trial to proceed typically.
http://deadspin.com/will-the-first-amendment-save-the-kevin-johnson-pie-ban-1794317698
Will The First Amendment Save The Kevin Johnson Pie Bandit
By Dave McKenna
Can pie throwing be considered a protected form of speech? Will Kevin Johnson be asked, for the first time ever, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about his seamy side, so help him God? Will Michelle Rhee get cross-examined—or even examined?
Getting the answers to those questions will be among the reasons folks who’ve followed the never-ending soap opera of Johnson, the ex-NBA superstar turned disgraced (and now former) mayor of Sacramento, are excited about the upcoming trial of Sean Thompson, the man who hit Johnson with a pie at a fall charity gala, then took a beating from the pied politico. Thompson was charged with counts of assaulting a public official, a felony, and committing assault on school grounds, a misdemeanor. At a hearing last week in Sacramento Superior Court, a judge confirmed that the trial will indeed start on April 19. The court has set aside two weeks, a huge amount of time for a typical assault case. But nobody expects this trial to proceed typically.
http://deadspin.com/will-the-first-amendment-save-the-kevin-johnson-pie-ban-1794317698
I Don't Drink, But I'd Go to This Bar
From Thrillist -
THIS JUST-OPENED NYC BAR IS DONATING ALL PROCEEDS TO CAUSES THREATENED UNDER TRUMP
By TANNER SAUNDERS
Get ready to drink, New York, because there’s a new bar putting all your pricey cocktail money towards charity.
Coup, which opened Friday night, is the city’s first 100% not-for-profit cocktail bar. Founded by Ravi DeRossi, the brains behind some of the city’s most influential cocktail bars (like Death & Co. and Amor y Amargo) and bartenders Sother Teague and Max Green, Coup was founded in response to the policies of President Trump. The goal is to offer people a way to support causes threatened by the new administration, and to celebrate the diversity of New York. “The way we define ourselves is: we’re not an anti-Trump bar, we’re just a pro-charity bar and the charities we happen to be working with right now are organizations that need money right now to fight this current administration or are being defunded,” DeRossi tells Thrillist.
https://www.thrillist.com/drink/new-york/east-village/coup-bar-nyc-protests-trump-donates-profits
THIS JUST-OPENED NYC BAR IS DONATING ALL PROCEEDS TO CAUSES THREATENED UNDER TRUMP
By TANNER SAUNDERS
Get ready to drink, New York, because there’s a new bar putting all your pricey cocktail money towards charity.
Coup, which opened Friday night, is the city’s first 100% not-for-profit cocktail bar. Founded by Ravi DeRossi, the brains behind some of the city’s most influential cocktail bars (like Death & Co. and Amor y Amargo) and bartenders Sother Teague and Max Green, Coup was founded in response to the policies of President Trump. The goal is to offer people a way to support causes threatened by the new administration, and to celebrate the diversity of New York. “The way we define ourselves is: we’re not an anti-Trump bar, we’re just a pro-charity bar and the charities we happen to be working with right now are organizations that need money right now to fight this current administration or are being defunded,” DeRossi tells Thrillist.
https://www.thrillist.com/drink/new-york/east-village/coup-bar-nyc-protests-trump-donates-profits
Yes Ladies!
From Oakland Magazine -
The Oakland Sisterhood
Women hold every top leadership job in the city’s bureaucracy. Plus, Libby Schaaf’s mayoral staff has six women in senior roles.
By Robert Gammon, Sarah Phelan, Matthew Artz, and Steven Tavares
Oakland has long been a liberal bastion, but it took 159 years for the city to swear in its first-ever female mayor. And now, just six years after that precedent-setting event, Oakland is making up for lost time. Not only did the city’s second female mayor take office in 2015, but women currently dominate nearly every corner of City Hall.
When Mayor Libby Schaaf swore in the city’s first-ever female police chief, Anne Kirkpatrick, on Feb. 27, women for the first time held all the major leadership roles in the city’s bureaucracy: the mayor, the city administrator, the city administrator’s three top deputies, the police chief, and the fire chief. Schaaf’s mayoral office staff also has six women in senior management jobs, plus 10 more women in supporting roles. And that’s not counting the four female city councilmembers and the city attorney.
Call it the Oakland Sisterhood.
http://www.oaklandmagazine.com/April-2017/The-Oakland-Sisterhood/
The Oakland Sisterhood
Women hold every top leadership job in the city’s bureaucracy. Plus, Libby Schaaf’s mayoral staff has six women in senior roles.
By Robert Gammon, Sarah Phelan, Matthew Artz, and Steven Tavares
Oakland has long been a liberal bastion, but it took 159 years for the city to swear in its first-ever female mayor. And now, just six years after that precedent-setting event, Oakland is making up for lost time. Not only did the city’s second female mayor take office in 2015, but women currently dominate nearly every corner of City Hall.
When Mayor Libby Schaaf swore in the city’s first-ever female police chief, Anne Kirkpatrick, on Feb. 27, women for the first time held all the major leadership roles in the city’s bureaucracy: the mayor, the city administrator, the city administrator’s three top deputies, the police chief, and the fire chief. Schaaf’s mayoral office staff also has six women in senior management jobs, plus 10 more women in supporting roles. And that’s not counting the four female city councilmembers and the city attorney.
Call it the Oakland Sisterhood.
http://www.oaklandmagazine.com/April-2017/The-Oakland-Sisterhood/
She's Fired Up
An excerpt from Salon -
Maxine Waters, Donald Trump and impeachment: One Democrat is ready — her party and the American people may follow
A California Democrat calls for impeachment, and the world says it's too early. That might change — and quickly
By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
The anti-Trump resistance is very much a grassroots effort, but there are leaders emerging. One of the most vocal is Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat who represents Los Angeles. Appearing at the Washington Tax Day march last Saturday, Waters put it bluntly: “I don’t respect this president,” she said. “I don’t trust this president. He’s not working in the best interests of the American people. I will fight every day until he is impeached!” Then she led the crowd in a chant of “Impeach 45!” It doesn’t get any more resistant than that.
Waters has always been a tough and forceful politician, unafraid to take a position and speak her mind. She first came to national attention after the violence following the acquittal of police officers in the beating of Rodney King when she went on TV and explained to America through gritted teeth that the African-American community in L.A. hadn’t just exploded out of nowhere. It was a message a lot of people didn’t want to hear, but she made sure they received it anyway. She has been a thorn in the side of conservatives ever since then, once inspiring Ann Coulter to venomously spew that without affirmative action Waters “wouldn’t have a job that didn’t involve wearing a paper hat.” Right-wingers often lose their composure when confronted with such a strong, unapologetic African-American woman who is unafraid of getting right up in their faces.
http://www.salon.com/2017/04/17/maxine-waters-donald-trump-and-impeachment-one-democrat-is-ready-her-party-and-the-american-people-may-follow/
Maxine Waters, Donald Trump and impeachment: One Democrat is ready — her party and the American people may follow
A California Democrat calls for impeachment, and the world says it's too early. That might change — and quickly
By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
The anti-Trump resistance is very much a grassroots effort, but there are leaders emerging. One of the most vocal is Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat who represents Los Angeles. Appearing at the Washington Tax Day march last Saturday, Waters put it bluntly: “I don’t respect this president,” she said. “I don’t trust this president. He’s not working in the best interests of the American people. I will fight every day until he is impeached!” Then she led the crowd in a chant of “Impeach 45!” It doesn’t get any more resistant than that.
Waters has always been a tough and forceful politician, unafraid to take a position and speak her mind. She first came to national attention after the violence following the acquittal of police officers in the beating of Rodney King when she went on TV and explained to America through gritted teeth that the African-American community in L.A. hadn’t just exploded out of nowhere. It was a message a lot of people didn’t want to hear, but she made sure they received it anyway. She has been a thorn in the side of conservatives ever since then, once inspiring Ann Coulter to venomously spew that without affirmative action Waters “wouldn’t have a job that didn’t involve wearing a paper hat.” Right-wingers often lose their composure when confronted with such a strong, unapologetic African-American woman who is unafraid of getting right up in their faces.
http://www.salon.com/2017/04/17/maxine-waters-donald-trump-and-impeachment-one-democrat-is-ready-her-party-and-the-american-people-may-follow/
Monday, April 17, 2017
He's a Heartless Idiot
From the Washington Post -
Charles Barkley ‘uncomfortable’ as Isaiah Thomas cries, playing one day after sister’s death
By Cindy Boren
Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas struggled with his emotions Sunday, tearing up before the team’s playoff game as he stared down at sneakers on which he had written “RIP Lil Sis,” “Chyna” and “I love you.”
He was playing about 37 hours after his 22-year-old sister had been killed in a car crash in Washington and, while most people were moved by his emotions, Charles Barkley was not. The TNT commentator and former NBA player felt “that’s just not a good look for him.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/04/17/charles-barkley-uncomfortable-as-isaiah-thomas-cries-playing-one-day-after-sisters-death/?utm_term=.a1b2f4297db9&wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1
Charles Barkley ‘uncomfortable’ as Isaiah Thomas cries, playing one day after sister’s death
By Cindy Boren
Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas struggled with his emotions Sunday, tearing up before the team’s playoff game as he stared down at sneakers on which he had written “RIP Lil Sis,” “Chyna” and “I love you.”
He was playing about 37 hours after his 22-year-old sister had been killed in a car crash in Washington and, while most people were moved by his emotions, Charles Barkley was not. The TNT commentator and former NBA player felt “that’s just not a good look for him.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/04/17/charles-barkley-uncomfortable-as-isaiah-thomas-cries-playing-one-day-after-sisters-death/?utm_term=.a1b2f4297db9&wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1
Hilariously Scary
From the New Yorker -
IVANKA’S NOTES FOR THE BABYSITTER
By Ellis Weiner
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/ivankas-notes-for-the-babysitter?intcid=mod-latest
IVANKA’S NOTES FOR THE BABYSITTER
By Ellis Weiner
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/ivankas-notes-for-the-babysitter?intcid=mod-latest
Great App
I just discovered Mr. Number, the call blocking and scam protection app. It immediately identifies scam calls and blocks them.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mr-number-call-block-reverse-lookup/id1047334922?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mr-number-call-block-reverse-lookup/id1047334922?mt=8
Sunday, April 16, 2017
It Matters
An excerpt from the New York Times -
The Real Reason Black Kids Benefit From Black Teachers
By David Jackson
For black students, having even one black teacher can make a huge difference. That’s the conclusion of a new study, which found that that black boys who had a black teacher during their elementary school years were less likely to drop out of high school. It also linked the presence of black teachers to kids’ expectations of attending college.
I wasn’t surprised to hear this. I’m one of a small fraction of black teachers in my district. I know that, as much as many would like to think that good intentions and talent are the only important qualities for educators, students respond differently to teachers whom they can relate to.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/15/opinion/sunday/the-real-reason-black-kids-benefit-from-black-teachers.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
The Real Reason Black Kids Benefit From Black Teachers
By David Jackson
For black students, having even one black teacher can make a huge difference. That’s the conclusion of a new study, which found that that black boys who had a black teacher during their elementary school years were less likely to drop out of high school. It also linked the presence of black teachers to kids’ expectations of attending college.
I wasn’t surprised to hear this. I’m one of a small fraction of black teachers in my district. I know that, as much as many would like to think that good intentions and talent are the only important qualities for educators, students respond differently to teachers whom they can relate to.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/15/opinion/sunday/the-real-reason-black-kids-benefit-from-black-teachers.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
A Heathen's Guide
An excerpt from the Root -
A Heathen’s Guide to Black Church on Easter Sunday
By Lawrence Ware
Easter—or, as the “woke” Christians call it, Resurrection Sunday—is one of my favorite holidays. Not because of the deep, symbolic weight of the day, but because of the fashion.
Black folks are aesthetically creative on a regular day—yet, on Easter, everyone is a black dandy.
There will be pastel suits, white hats and reflective sunglasses, but my favorite part of Easter, without question, are the little kids in ill-fitting suits and pouffy dresses.
... But let’s be honest.
Some of y’all who will be in church Sunday ain’t been there in a solid year—and that’s me being generous.
http://www.theroot.com/a-heathen-s-guide-to-black-church-on-easter-sunday-1794340498
A Heathen’s Guide to Black Church on Easter Sunday
By Lawrence Ware
Easter—or, as the “woke” Christians call it, Resurrection Sunday—is one of my favorite holidays. Not because of the deep, symbolic weight of the day, but because of the fashion.
Black folks are aesthetically creative on a regular day—yet, on Easter, everyone is a black dandy.
There will be pastel suits, white hats and reflective sunglasses, but my favorite part of Easter, without question, are the little kids in ill-fitting suits and pouffy dresses.
... But let’s be honest.
Some of y’all who will be in church Sunday ain’t been there in a solid year—and that’s me being generous.
http://www.theroot.com/a-heathen-s-guide-to-black-church-on-easter-sunday-1794340498
A Twitter Feud
From Thrillist -
WENDY'S JUST BURNED HARDEE'S SO BAD IT GOT BLOCKED
By DUSTIN NELSON
https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/wendys-hardees-twitter-feud-blocked
WENDY'S JUST BURNED HARDEE'S SO BAD IT GOT BLOCKED
By DUSTIN NELSON
https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/wendys-hardees-twitter-feud-blocked
Muted Ball
An excerpt from Slate -
Still a White Man’s Sport
Seventy years after Jackie Robinson integrated Major League Baseball, the game has yet to embrace black culture.
By Lawrence Ware
Black culture is American culture, and the flamboyance of players in the Negro Leagues was a major part of why that great American institution was so beloved. Unfortunately, as black athletes integrated baseball, major-league players and fans did not embrace much of what made the Negro Leagues unique. Many teams, for instance, warmed up by miming baseball moves with great flamboyance, a practice known as playing “shadow ball.” Players in the Negro Leagues wowed the crowds with their convincing reactions to balls that were, in fact, not there. But when they made it to the majors, shadow ball ceased to exist.
As William Rhoden noted in the New York Times in 2014, Robinson didn’t leave the style of the Negro Leagues behind when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. His “speed and daring,” particularly his steals of home, were a trademark of black baseball. “At that time, [white] baseball was a base-to base thing,” Negro Leagues legend Buck O’Neil said in an interview for Ken Burns’ documentary Baseball. “But in our baseball … if you walked, you stole second … you actually scored runs without a hit.” Robinson’s aggression on the base paths infuriated his opponents, particularly the white ones. Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Russ Meyer, annoyed at watching Robinson dance off third base, yelled, “Go ahead you nigger, try to steal.” Robinson did try. He was safe at home.
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2017/04/seventy_years_after_jackie_robinson_mlb_is_still_a_white_man_s_sport.html
Making Music on His Phone
From Wired -
The Hot New Hip-Hop Producer Who Does Everything on His iPhone
By David Pierce
https://www.wired.com/2017/04/steve-lacy-iphone-producer/?mbid=nl_41417_p2&CNDID=
The Hot New Hip-Hop Producer Who Does Everything on His iPhone
By David Pierce
https://www.wired.com/2017/04/steve-lacy-iphone-producer/?mbid=nl_41417_p2&CNDID=
"A Wave of Withdrawals"
An excerpt from the Washington Post -
Even Canadians are skipping trips to the U.S. after Trump travel ban
By Abha Bhattarai
The cancellations came quickly and in rapid succession. Within days of President Trump’s first executive order restricting travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, a number of European travel groups pulled their plans, amounting to a loss of 2,000 overnight stays for Hostelling International USA.
The ban would complicate travel for citizens of the countries cited — among them Iran, Syria and Libya. But Canadians and Europeans and others were dropping their plans, too. As group organizers put it, people suddenly had an unsettling sense that the United States wasn’t as welcoming a place as it once was.
The result was a wave of withdrawals. “Getting those cancellations all at once, that was startling,” said Russ Hedge, chief executive of HIU, which oversees 52 hostels across the country. “We’ve never seen something like that.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/after-trumps-travel-ban-tourism-outfits-say-that-brand-usa-has-taken-a-hit/2017/04/14/d0eebf4e-158e-11e7-833c-503e1f6394c9_story.html?utm_term=.6bbb9ca0a975
Even Canadians are skipping trips to the U.S. after Trump travel ban
By Abha Bhattarai
The cancellations came quickly and in rapid succession. Within days of President Trump’s first executive order restricting travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, a number of European travel groups pulled their plans, amounting to a loss of 2,000 overnight stays for Hostelling International USA.
The ban would complicate travel for citizens of the countries cited — among them Iran, Syria and Libya. But Canadians and Europeans and others were dropping their plans, too. As group organizers put it, people suddenly had an unsettling sense that the United States wasn’t as welcoming a place as it once was.
The result was a wave of withdrawals. “Getting those cancellations all at once, that was startling,” said Russ Hedge, chief executive of HIU, which oversees 52 hostels across the country. “We’ve never seen something like that.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/after-trumps-travel-ban-tourism-outfits-say-that-brand-usa-has-taken-a-hit/2017/04/14/d0eebf4e-158e-11e7-833c-503e1f6394c9_story.html?utm_term=.6bbb9ca0a975
Great Analogy
An excerpt from the Atlantic -
Why Airlines Can Get Away With Bad Customer Service
As much as other types of companies might want to ignore their lowest-margin patrons, most don’t have that luxury.
By KAVEH WADDELL
A security guard stops a customer as she tries to enter a well-stocked aisle in a large department store. “Sorry, ma’am,” the guard says. “This sale is for our silver, gold, and platinum shoppers only.” He points her toward the meager discount corner at the back of the store, where bronze-status shoppers are allowed. She passes attendants who smile only at the elite shoppers, offering them refreshments and guiding them toward the best deals. When she stops for gas on the way home, she gets in a long line for the basic pump, while the priority pump sits empty and unused. At the grocery store, she doesn’t have enough points to approach the organic produce.
This beleaguered consumer lives in an alternate reality where businesses can discriminate between their high-value and low-value clientele at will, enticing the biggest spenders to stay while marginalizing bargain hunters and coupon cutters. Most companies couldn’t get away with triaging their customers this way. But some already do: airlines.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/why-airlines-can-get-away-with-bad-customer-service/523011/
Why Airlines Can Get Away With Bad Customer Service
As much as other types of companies might want to ignore their lowest-margin patrons, most don’t have that luxury.
By KAVEH WADDELL
A security guard stops a customer as she tries to enter a well-stocked aisle in a large department store. “Sorry, ma’am,” the guard says. “This sale is for our silver, gold, and platinum shoppers only.” He points her toward the meager discount corner at the back of the store, where bronze-status shoppers are allowed. She passes attendants who smile only at the elite shoppers, offering them refreshments and guiding them toward the best deals. When she stops for gas on the way home, she gets in a long line for the basic pump, while the priority pump sits empty and unused. At the grocery store, she doesn’t have enough points to approach the organic produce.
This beleaguered consumer lives in an alternate reality where businesses can discriminate between their high-value and low-value clientele at will, enticing the biggest spenders to stay while marginalizing bargain hunters and coupon cutters. Most companies couldn’t get away with triaging their customers this way. But some already do: airlines.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/why-airlines-can-get-away-with-bad-customer-service/523011/
High Tech Pipeline
An excerpt from the Atlantic -
Getting High-School Grads Into the Closed-Off World of Tech
A Silicon Valley program is matching young, lower-income workers with employers eager to diversify their ranks
By ALANA SEMUELS
SAN JOSE—On a recent weekday, an unlikely crew of 18-to-24 year-olds gathered in a classroom in an office building, proving wrong a mantra often heard in economic development: Training programs aren’t effective at getting people good jobs.
From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the students, mostly minorities from poor families, will tinker with computers, hone their e-mail skills,work on PowerPoint presentations, and even practice giving professional handshakes. And in a few months’ time, the 80 students will move on to coveted internships in Silicon Valley, all the more impressive since the students do not have college degrees.
This is Year Up, a training program that serves more than 3,000 students nationwide every year and that is effective in getting people without college degrees into good jobs. The model solves a growing problem in a tight economy: Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people are stuck in low-paying jobs with little room for upward mobility, while employers complain that they can’t find enough qualified workers for jobs that don’t require college degrees. Year Up takes students who might not otherwise know how to negotiate the working world and gives them the skills they need to make it in in-demand jobs. After six months of intense training in a classroom and counseling from mentors, it connects them with six-month internships in fields like business, technology, and finance. The students in the San Jose classroom will move on to internships doing IT support or as administrative support staff at companies like Google, Salesforce, Facebook, and Tesla. In many cases, those internships will lead to full-time employment. Year Up also pays students a stipend while they go through the program.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/training-for-tech-jobs/522921/
Getting High-School Grads Into the Closed-Off World of Tech
A Silicon Valley program is matching young, lower-income workers with employers eager to diversify their ranks
By ALANA SEMUELS
SAN JOSE—On a recent weekday, an unlikely crew of 18-to-24 year-olds gathered in a classroom in an office building, proving wrong a mantra often heard in economic development: Training programs aren’t effective at getting people good jobs.
From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the students, mostly minorities from poor families, will tinker with computers, hone their e-mail skills,work on PowerPoint presentations, and even practice giving professional handshakes. And in a few months’ time, the 80 students will move on to coveted internships in Silicon Valley, all the more impressive since the students do not have college degrees.
This is Year Up, a training program that serves more than 3,000 students nationwide every year and that is effective in getting people without college degrees into good jobs. The model solves a growing problem in a tight economy: Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people are stuck in low-paying jobs with little room for upward mobility, while employers complain that they can’t find enough qualified workers for jobs that don’t require college degrees. Year Up takes students who might not otherwise know how to negotiate the working world and gives them the skills they need to make it in in-demand jobs. After six months of intense training in a classroom and counseling from mentors, it connects them with six-month internships in fields like business, technology, and finance. The students in the San Jose classroom will move on to internships doing IT support or as administrative support staff at companies like Google, Salesforce, Facebook, and Tesla. In many cases, those internships will lead to full-time employment. Year Up also pays students a stipend while they go through the program.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/training-for-tech-jobs/522921/
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Upping the Ante
From the Huffington Post -
Delta Now Pays Up To $9,950 If You Volunteer To Switch Flights
They’re willing to pay you a whole lot more to voluntarily switch flights.
By Suzy Strutner
Delta Air Lines is making a dramatic change in the wake of United’s PR disaster, in which a man was violently dragged off a plane after refusing to accept approximately $800 in exchange for his seat.
HuffPost has obtained a company memo from Delta (who declined to comment) that has raised the maximum dollar amount its employees can offer to passengers who voluntarily surrender their seats on oversold flights.
Under Delta’s former caps, customer service agents could offer up to $800 in compensation to passengers who volunteered to switch planes, and employees with higher titles could offer up to $1,350. Today, those limits were upped to $2,000 and $9,950 respectively.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/voluntary-boarding-delta_us_58f11a12e4b0b9e9848bc15f
Delta Now Pays Up To $9,950 If You Volunteer To Switch Flights
They’re willing to pay you a whole lot more to voluntarily switch flights.
By Suzy Strutner
Delta Air Lines is making a dramatic change in the wake of United’s PR disaster, in which a man was violently dragged off a plane after refusing to accept approximately $800 in exchange for his seat.
HuffPost has obtained a company memo from Delta (who declined to comment) that has raised the maximum dollar amount its employees can offer to passengers who voluntarily surrender their seats on oversold flights.
Under Delta’s former caps, customer service agents could offer up to $800 in compensation to passengers who volunteered to switch planes, and employees with higher titles could offer up to $1,350. Today, those limits were upped to $2,000 and $9,950 respectively.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/voluntary-boarding-delta_us_58f11a12e4b0b9e9848bc15f
Friday, April 14, 2017
History Lesson - Pauli Murray
An excerpt from the New Yorker -
THE MANY LIVES OF PAULI MURRAY
She was an architect of the civil-rights struggle—and the women’s movement. Why haven’t you heard of her?
By Kathryn Schulz
This was Murray’s lifelong fate: to be both ahead of her time and behind the scenes. Two decades before the civil-rights movement of the nineteen-sixties, Murray was arrested for refusing to move to the back of a bus in Richmond, Virginia; organized sit-ins that successfully desegregated restaurants in Washington, D.C.; and, anticipating the Freedom Summer, urged her Howard classmates to head south to fight for civil rights and wondered how to “attract young white graduates of the great universities to come down and join with us.” And, four decades before another legal scholar, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, coined the term “intersectionality,” Murray insisted on the indivisibility of her identity and experience as an African-American, a worker, and a woman.
Despite all this, Murray’s name is not well known today, especially among white Americans. The past few years, however, have seen a burst of interest in her life and work. She’s been sainted by the Episcopal Church, had a residential college named after her at Yale, where she was the first African-American to earn a doctorate of jurisprudence, and had her childhood home designated a National Historic Landmark by the Department of the Interior. Last year, Patricia Bell-Scott published “The Firebrand and the First Lady” (Knopf), an account of Murray’s relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt, and next month sees the publication of “Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray” (Oxford), by the Barnard historian Rosalind Rosenberg.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/17/the-many-lives-of-pauli-murray
THE MANY LIVES OF PAULI MURRAY
She was an architect of the civil-rights struggle—and the women’s movement. Why haven’t you heard of her?
By Kathryn Schulz
This was Murray’s lifelong fate: to be both ahead of her time and behind the scenes. Two decades before the civil-rights movement of the nineteen-sixties, Murray was arrested for refusing to move to the back of a bus in Richmond, Virginia; organized sit-ins that successfully desegregated restaurants in Washington, D.C.; and, anticipating the Freedom Summer, urged her Howard classmates to head south to fight for civil rights and wondered how to “attract young white graduates of the great universities to come down and join with us.” And, four decades before another legal scholar, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, coined the term “intersectionality,” Murray insisted on the indivisibility of her identity and experience as an African-American, a worker, and a woman.
Despite all this, Murray’s name is not well known today, especially among white Americans. The past few years, however, have seen a burst of interest in her life and work. She’s been sainted by the Episcopal Church, had a residential college named after her at Yale, where she was the first African-American to earn a doctorate of jurisprudence, and had her childhood home designated a National Historic Landmark by the Department of the Interior. Last year, Patricia Bell-Scott published “The Firebrand and the First Lady” (Knopf), an account of Murray’s relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt, and next month sees the publication of “Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray” (Oxford), by the Barnard historian Rosalind Rosenberg.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/17/the-many-lives-of-pauli-murray
A New Way to Buy a Used Car
From the New York Times ~ California Today -
Online Upstarts Seek to Disrupt Used-Car Buying
By MARY M. CHAPMAN
Emily Hurwitz, an advertising supervisor who lives in San Francisco, doesn’t like buying cars from traditional dealerships. In fact, she recently bought a 2012 Volkswagen Tiguan through Shift, a start-up that arranges online sales of used cars. She is happy with her car, which the company brought directly to her apartment to try out. Shift financed the $18,000 vehicle.
Speaking of conventional car dealerships, Ms. Hurwitz, 28, said: “I always think they’re going to swindle you. You’re talking to a guy who’s sizing you up. It’s a very overwhelming situation, and you feel like you have to be on top of things and on guard.”
A handful of nascent online used-car companies, including Shift, are capitalizing on sentiments like these. Although most online sites merely refer consumers to dealers, these companies are aiming to disrupt the industry by skirting dealer markups and promoting what they see as a better buying and selling experience.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/automobiles/wheels/online-used-car-sales.html?emc=edit_ca_20170414&nl=california-today&nlid=38867499&te=1&_r=0
Side note - I purchased my car using Roadster, an online broker. It was a great experience.
Online Upstarts Seek to Disrupt Used-Car Buying
By MARY M. CHAPMAN
Emily Hurwitz, an advertising supervisor who lives in San Francisco, doesn’t like buying cars from traditional dealerships. In fact, she recently bought a 2012 Volkswagen Tiguan through Shift, a start-up that arranges online sales of used cars. She is happy with her car, which the company brought directly to her apartment to try out. Shift financed the $18,000 vehicle.
Speaking of conventional car dealerships, Ms. Hurwitz, 28, said: “I always think they’re going to swindle you. You’re talking to a guy who’s sizing you up. It’s a very overwhelming situation, and you feel like you have to be on top of things and on guard.”
A handful of nascent online used-car companies, including Shift, are capitalizing on sentiments like these. Although most online sites merely refer consumers to dealers, these companies are aiming to disrupt the industry by skirting dealer markups and promoting what they see as a better buying and selling experience.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/automobiles/wheels/online-used-car-sales.html?emc=edit_ca_20170414&nl=california-today&nlid=38867499&te=1&_r=0
Side note - I purchased my car using Roadster, an online broker. It was a great experience.
History Lesson - A Renaissance Man
From Atlas Obscura -
The ‘Black Mozart’ Was So Much More
Between composing concertos, Joseph Bologne fenced and fought in the army.
By Andrea Valentino
The 40 years between the American Revolution and the defeat of Napoleon gifted the world some wonderful music. From Haydn’s string quartets, through Mozart’s symphonies, to Beethoven’s dazzling works for piano—a music lover could paddle around the period forever. But one great figure of the age is often ignored: Joseph Bologne, also known by his noble title the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. This is a pity. A person of Bologne’s talents—musical and military—is impressive whatever the era. That Bologne was black, and thrived in a racist society, is remarkable.
Bologne was born in Guadalupe, a French colony in the Caribbean, in 1745. His father was a wealthy plantation owner, his mother a black slave. As a mixed-race child, Bologne enjoyed considerable freedom and eventually went to study in France, where he quickly settled into the life of a rich enlightened Parisian. “Bologne had access to everything money could buy as a young man,” explains Chi-chi Nwanoku, founder of the Chineke! Orchestra, for ethnic minority musicians. It helped that his father was from an “aristocratic family,” adds Nwanoku.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/joseph-bologne-black-mozart
The ‘Black Mozart’ Was So Much More
Between composing concertos, Joseph Bologne fenced and fought in the army.
By Andrea Valentino
The 40 years between the American Revolution and the defeat of Napoleon gifted the world some wonderful music. From Haydn’s string quartets, through Mozart’s symphonies, to Beethoven’s dazzling works for piano—a music lover could paddle around the period forever. But one great figure of the age is often ignored: Joseph Bologne, also known by his noble title the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. This is a pity. A person of Bologne’s talents—musical and military—is impressive whatever the era. That Bologne was black, and thrived in a racist society, is remarkable.
Bologne was born in Guadalupe, a French colony in the Caribbean, in 1745. His father was a wealthy plantation owner, his mother a black slave. As a mixed-race child, Bologne enjoyed considerable freedom and eventually went to study in France, where he quickly settled into the life of a rich enlightened Parisian. “Bologne had access to everything money could buy as a young man,” explains Chi-chi Nwanoku, founder of the Chineke! Orchestra, for ethnic minority musicians. It helped that his father was from an “aristocratic family,” adds Nwanoku.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/joseph-bologne-black-mozart
More Marches
From Salon -
Grab your signs: There are 3 big anti-Trump marches coming up this month
The administration's April cowards bring protesters empowered
By ILANA NOVICK, ALTERNET
http://www.salon.com/2017/04/14/grab-your-signs-there-are-3-big-anti-trump-marches-come-up-this-month_partner/
Grab your signs: There are 3 big anti-Trump marches coming up this month
The administration's April cowards bring protesters empowered
By ILANA NOVICK, ALTERNET
http://www.salon.com/2017/04/14/grab-your-signs-there-are-3-big-anti-trump-marches-come-up-this-month_partner/
My Hero
An excerpt from Slate -
Bless Dianne Bentley, Who Undid Her Cheating Governor Husband With His Exceedingly Boring Sexts
By Christina Cauterucci
There are several losers in the extramarital affair that brought down Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, starting with the man himself, who ended up resigning on Monday and pleading guilty to two misdemeanor crimes. There’s also his paramour, Rebekah Mason, who resigned from her job when news of the affair first broke last year. The entire state of Alabama lost its governor and took another hit to its already-tattered reputation in the same month a hit podcast named one of its municipalities “Shit Town.” Poor Robert, poor Rebekah, poor Alabama.
But, to the extent that sex scandals that lead to ethics violations and campaign-finance missteps can have winners, the Alabama fiasco has a big one: Dianne Bentley, Robert’s ex-wife. This hero was instrumental to the state legislature’s investigation and Robert’s eventual downfall, giving her the upper hand in a familiar scenario that usually relegates politicians’ scorned spouses to the role of the “Good Wife” or hurt victim.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/04/13/bless_dianne_bentley_who_took_down_alabama_s_governor_her_cheating_boring.html
Bless Dianne Bentley, Who Undid Her Cheating Governor Husband With His Exceedingly Boring Sexts
By Christina Cauterucci
There are several losers in the extramarital affair that brought down Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, starting with the man himself, who ended up resigning on Monday and pleading guilty to two misdemeanor crimes. There’s also his paramour, Rebekah Mason, who resigned from her job when news of the affair first broke last year. The entire state of Alabama lost its governor and took another hit to its already-tattered reputation in the same month a hit podcast named one of its municipalities “Shit Town.” Poor Robert, poor Rebekah, poor Alabama.
But, to the extent that sex scandals that lead to ethics violations and campaign-finance missteps can have winners, the Alabama fiasco has a big one: Dianne Bentley, Robert’s ex-wife. This hero was instrumental to the state legislature’s investigation and Robert’s eventual downfall, giving her the upper hand in a familiar scenario that usually relegates politicians’ scorned spouses to the role of the “Good Wife” or hurt victim.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/04/13/bless_dianne_bentley_who_took_down_alabama_s_governor_her_cheating_boring.html
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Black Twitter is on the Case
From the Huffington Post -
United Passenger David Dao Was Compared To Rosa Parks. Twitter Isn’t Having It.
“I need folks to stop comparing people to civil rights activists.”
By Lilly Workneh
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/united-passenger-david-dao-was-compared-to-rosa-parks-twitter-isnt-having-it_us_58efc28ce4b0da2ff85f1976?tgkir24vmdie8kt9&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
United Passenger David Dao Was Compared To Rosa Parks. Twitter Isn’t Having It.
“I need folks to stop comparing people to civil rights activists.”
By Lilly Workneh
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/united-passenger-david-dao-was-compared-to-rosa-parks-twitter-isnt-having-it_us_58efc28ce4b0da2ff85f1976?tgkir24vmdie8kt9&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
The Best Airlines in the World
From TripAdvisor -
https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Airlines-a_Mode.expanded
https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Airlines-a_Mode.expanded
History Lesson - The First Black Umpire
From the Undefeated -
Emmett Ashford, first black umpire in the majors, makes his debut
‘He overwhelmed people with his endurance and his charm’
BY RHIANNON WALKER
Was it a bird? Maybe a plane? No, with catlike quickness and a knack for theatrics, it was none other than Emmett Ashford running down the third-base line.
The third-base umpire could turn his hips to chase down a ball with better precision than a cornerback. He had eyes like a hawk to make the calls and the ability to entertain everyone in the stadium.
Almost 20 years after Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, Ashford did the same when he became the first black umpire in the majors.
https://theundefeated.com/features/emmett-ashford-first-black-umpire-in-the-majors-makes-his-debut/
Emmett Ashford, first black umpire in the majors, makes his debut
‘He overwhelmed people with his endurance and his charm’
BY RHIANNON WALKER
Was it a bird? Maybe a plane? No, with catlike quickness and a knack for theatrics, it was none other than Emmett Ashford running down the third-base line.
The third-base umpire could turn his hips to chase down a ball with better precision than a cornerback. He had eyes like a hawk to make the calls and the ability to entertain everyone in the stadium.
Almost 20 years after Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, Ashford did the same when he became the first black umpire in the majors.
https://theundefeated.com/features/emmett-ashford-first-black-umpire-in-the-majors-makes-his-debut/
Sorry
An excerpt from the New York Times -
Why ‘Sorry’ Is Still the Hardest Word
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
The fine art of repentance is a skill taught in business schools and promoted by high-priced consultants. But all kinds of offenders in public life still seem to struggle with the execution. Corporations like BP and Wells Fargo have faced criticism for dawdling responses to cascading crises, while politicians from Bill Clinton to Anthony Weiner have had difficulty admitting to peccadilloes.
The key to contrition, according to public-relations experts, is projecting sincerity, humanity, and a plain-spoken demeanor — the better to convince a cynical public. And in this age of whipsawing social media, you had better do it fast.
“The head of United should never have been allowed to take three swings at correcting and apologizing for an incident that was on more social media than Kim and Kanye’s wedding,” said Mortimer Matz, a New York consultant who has guided decades’ worth of clients through crises small and large.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/12/business/media/apology-sean-spicer-holocaust-oscar-munoz-united.html?emc=edit_nn_20170413&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=38867499&te=1
Why ‘Sorry’ Is Still the Hardest Word
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
The fine art of repentance is a skill taught in business schools and promoted by high-priced consultants. But all kinds of offenders in public life still seem to struggle with the execution. Corporations like BP and Wells Fargo have faced criticism for dawdling responses to cascading crises, while politicians from Bill Clinton to Anthony Weiner have had difficulty admitting to peccadilloes.
The key to contrition, according to public-relations experts, is projecting sincerity, humanity, and a plain-spoken demeanor — the better to convince a cynical public. And in this age of whipsawing social media, you had better do it fast.
“The head of United should never have been allowed to take three swings at correcting and apologizing for an incident that was on more social media than Kim and Kanye’s wedding,” said Mortimer Matz, a New York consultant who has guided decades’ worth of clients through crises small and large.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/12/business/media/apology-sean-spicer-holocaust-oscar-munoz-united.html?emc=edit_nn_20170413&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=38867499&te=1
Targeted Giving for Girls of Color
From the AP -
Buffett foundation unveils $90M plan to help girls of color
By DEEPTI HAJELA
In the 15-year existence of her girls' empowerment organization, Joanne Smith has dealt with funders and donors but never quite like this: a foundation putting $90 million toward helping girls of color by letting them determine their needs instead of being told what the funds have to be used for.
The NoVo Foundation, founded in 2006 by Jennifer and Peter Buffett, the youngest son and daughter-in-law of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, officially announced on Thursday how its $90 million commitment over seven years will be carried out.
http://bigstory.ap.org/23dfb87a8ece47ce81ba3e1445606615
Buffett foundation unveils $90M plan to help girls of color
By DEEPTI HAJELA
In the 15-year existence of her girls' empowerment organization, Joanne Smith has dealt with funders and donors but never quite like this: a foundation putting $90 million toward helping girls of color by letting them determine their needs instead of being told what the funds have to be used for.
The NoVo Foundation, founded in 2006 by Jennifer and Peter Buffett, the youngest son and daughter-in-law of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, officially announced on Thursday how its $90 million commitment over seven years will be carried out.
http://bigstory.ap.org/23dfb87a8ece47ce81ba3e1445606615
Teachers Cashing In
Excerpts from the AP -
Million-dollar teachers: Cashing in by selling their lessons
By CAROLYN THOMPSON
Miss Kindergarten is in the million-dollar club. So are Lovin Lit, the Moffatt Girls and about a dozen other teacher-entrepreneurs who are spinning reading, math, science and social studies into gold by selling their lesson plans online to fellow teachers around the world.
Despite worries from some educators, such online marketplaces are booming, driven by rising standards and the willingness of teachers to pay out of their own pockets for classroom-tested materials.
~~~~~~~~~~
Teachers Pay Teachers contends that it hit a milestone last year, when its 80,000 contributors earned more than $100 million, and that at least a dozen have become millionaires since the site launched a decade ago. Other major sites including Teachwise and Teacher's Notebook, and recently such corporate players as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Amazon, have launched sites of their own.
https://apnews.com/3c2537fcbb2b470c8e652bf5481e4dc1
Million-dollar teachers: Cashing in by selling their lessons
By CAROLYN THOMPSON
Miss Kindergarten is in the million-dollar club. So are Lovin Lit, the Moffatt Girls and about a dozen other teacher-entrepreneurs who are spinning reading, math, science and social studies into gold by selling their lesson plans online to fellow teachers around the world.
Despite worries from some educators, such online marketplaces are booming, driven by rising standards and the willingness of teachers to pay out of their own pockets for classroom-tested materials.
~~~~~~~~~~
Teachers Pay Teachers contends that it hit a milestone last year, when its 80,000 contributors earned more than $100 million, and that at least a dozen have become millionaires since the site launched a decade ago. Other major sites including Teachwise and Teacher's Notebook, and recently such corporate players as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Amazon, have launched sites of their own.
https://apnews.com/3c2537fcbb2b470c8e652bf5481e4dc1
Women Rocking in the OR
From CNN -
Why female surgeons are posing like this New Yorker cover
By Christina Zdanowicz
(CNN)Malika Favre has designed several covers for the New Yorker. But she's never seen any take off like her latest one.
It shows four women in blue doctors' scrubs over an operating table. And it has struck a chord.
Female surgeons around the world are now posting photos of themselves online, recreating the pose.
"It shows the power of an image and how you can touch a lot of people," Favre told CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/health/female-surgeons-new-yorker-cover-trnd/index.html
Why female surgeons are posing like this New Yorker cover
By Christina Zdanowicz
 |
| Who runs the world? Female surgeons do. |
(CNN)Malika Favre has designed several covers for the New Yorker. But she's never seen any take off like her latest one.
It shows four women in blue doctors' scrubs over an operating table. And it has struck a chord.
Female surgeons around the world are now posting photos of themselves online, recreating the pose.
"It shows the power of an image and how you can touch a lot of people," Favre told CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/health/female-surgeons-new-yorker-cover-trnd/index.html
Wasted Talent
From CNN -
Investigation found Ohio inmates built and hid computers in prison
By Gisela Crespo
(CNN)Lax security allowed inmates at an Ohio prison to build two computers and connect them to the state's Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's network, investigators found.
The computers were found hidden in the ceiling of the prison in Marion County in 2015, prompting an investigation by Ohio's Inspector General.
The computers contained applications for credit cards using another inmate's information, pornography, research on tax refund fraud, recipes for homemade drugs and message exchanges.
The Marion Correctional Institution inmates were also able to issue passes to gain access to multiple areas within the prison.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/us/ohio-jail-computers-trnd/index.html
Investigation found Ohio inmates built and hid computers in prison
By Gisela Crespo
(CNN)Lax security allowed inmates at an Ohio prison to build two computers and connect them to the state's Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's network, investigators found.
The computers were found hidden in the ceiling of the prison in Marion County in 2015, prompting an investigation by Ohio's Inspector General.
The computers contained applications for credit cards using another inmate's information, pornography, research on tax refund fraud, recipes for homemade drugs and message exchanges.
The Marion Correctional Institution inmates were also able to issue passes to gain access to multiple areas within the prison.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/us/ohio-jail-computers-trnd/index.html
Winning Strategies
From the Street -
Amazon's Jeff Bezos New Letter to Shareholders Reveals 4 Big Secrets to Being Successful in Business
By Brian Sozzi
With Amazon's (AMZN) stock up a mind-boggling 47 percent over the past year, founder Jeff Bezos has every reason to share some wisdom on how he is making all the magic happen.
Here are several key business tips Bezos outlined in his latest annual shareholder letter released on Wednesday. Taken together, they offer good insight into how to get ahead in the cutthroat world of business (something in which Amazon's bricks-and-mortar rivals should take to heart).
https://www.thestreet.com/story/14083292/1/amazon-s-jeff-bezos-new-annual-letter-reveals-several-big-secrets-to-being-successful-in-business.html
Amazon's Jeff Bezos New Letter to Shareholders Reveals 4 Big Secrets to Being Successful in Business
By Brian Sozzi
With Amazon's (AMZN) stock up a mind-boggling 47 percent over the past year, founder Jeff Bezos has every reason to share some wisdom on how he is making all the magic happen.
Here are several key business tips Bezos outlined in his latest annual shareholder letter released on Wednesday. Taken together, they offer good insight into how to get ahead in the cutthroat world of business (something in which Amazon's bricks-and-mortar rivals should take to heart).
https://www.thestreet.com/story/14083292/1/amazon-s-jeff-bezos-new-annual-letter-reveals-several-big-secrets-to-being-successful-in-business.html
Scared of a Little Girl
An excerpt from the New York Times -
Wounded by ‘Fearless Girl,’ Creator of ‘Charging Bull’ Wants Her to Move
By JAMES BARRONAPRIL 12, 2017
“Charging Bull” had a message for “Fearless Girl” on Wednesday, and it was more “Get out of my space” than “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
The message actually came from Arturo Di Modica, the sculptor who created “Charging Bull” nearly 30 years ago. He also copyrighted and trademarked the three-and-a-half-ton sculpture that stands near Wall Street. Since March 7, “Charging Bull” has faced off against “Fearless Girl,” a statue of a girl posed with her fists on her hips that was commissioned by State Street Global Advisors, a financial firm based in Boston.
Mr. Di Modica said that “Fearless Girl” was an insult to his work, which he created after the stock market crashes in the late 1980s. “She’s there attacking the bull,” he said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/12/nyregion/charging-bull-sculpture-wall-street-fearless-girl.html?_r=0
Wounded by ‘Fearless Girl,’ Creator of ‘Charging Bull’ Wants Her to Move
By JAMES BARRONAPRIL 12, 2017
 | |
| Arturo Di Modica, the sculptor who created “Charging Bull” nearly 30 years ago, says “Fearless Girl” miscasts the meaning of his statue and violates his copyright. Credit Mark Lennihan/Associated Press |
“Charging Bull” had a message for “Fearless Girl” on Wednesday, and it was more “Get out of my space” than “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
The message actually came from Arturo Di Modica, the sculptor who created “Charging Bull” nearly 30 years ago. He also copyrighted and trademarked the three-and-a-half-ton sculpture that stands near Wall Street. Since March 7, “Charging Bull” has faced off against “Fearless Girl,” a statue of a girl posed with her fists on her hips that was commissioned by State Street Global Advisors, a financial firm based in Boston.
Mr. Di Modica said that “Fearless Girl” was an insult to his work, which he created after the stock market crashes in the late 1980s. “She’s there attacking the bull,” he said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/12/nyregion/charging-bull-sculpture-wall-street-fearless-girl.html?_r=0
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Filed Under "Karma is a B*tch"
An excerpt from the New York Times -
Congressman Who Shouted ‘You Lie’ at Obama Hears the Same From Constituents
By JONAH ENGEL BROMWICH
Representative Joe Wilson, the South Carolina Republican who gained a measure of infamy after shouting “you lie” at President Barack Obama during a joint session of Congress in 2009, had that memorable catchphrase hurled back at him by a group of his constituents at a town hall event on Monday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/us/politics/joe-wilson-you-lie-obama-town-hall.html?_r=0
Congressman Who Shouted ‘You Lie’ at Obama Hears the Same From Constituents
By JONAH ENGEL BROMWICH
Representative Joe Wilson, the South Carolina Republican who gained a measure of infamy after shouting “you lie” at President Barack Obama during a joint session of Congress in 2009, had that memorable catchphrase hurled back at him by a group of his constituents at a town hall event on Monday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/us/politics/joe-wilson-you-lie-obama-town-hall.html?_r=0
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Monday, April 10, 2017
A guerilla gardener in South Central LA | Ron Finley
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/dining/gangsta-garden-ron-finley-eviction-los-angeles.html?emc=edit_ca_20170410&nl=california-today&nlid=38867499&te=1
Honoring the OGs
An excerpt from the LA Times -
A young man in Oakland has captured the wisdom of his elders on a blog and in a book
"OG Told Me"
By Robin Abcarian
I am not sure how I first learned about Pendarvis Harshaw, but I was taken by the idea that this young man from Oakland had spent years asking older black men — many of them strangers he encountered as he biked — whether they had any wisdom to impart to kids like him.
Their answers, and photographs, appear on Harshaw’s blog, OG Told Me. “OG” is a term of respect that has transcended its literal meaning, “original gangster.” Nowadays, as one of Harshaw’s interview subjects points out, it really just means “old guard.”
Harshaw’s OGs are mostly regular guys. Some are athletes, street preachers or former Black Panthers. Others are educators, activists or drunks. Some give only a first name, others only a last. Some give pseudonyms.
Harshaw, a product of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism by way of Howard University, chats them up about their lives, and his last question never varies: “Given your life experience, if you had a chance to talk to young people, what advice would you give them?”
http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-abcarian-og-harshaw-20170409-story.html
A young man in Oakland has captured the wisdom of his elders on a blog and in a book
"OG Told Me"
By Robin Abcarian
I am not sure how I first learned about Pendarvis Harshaw, but I was taken by the idea that this young man from Oakland had spent years asking older black men — many of them strangers he encountered as he biked — whether they had any wisdom to impart to kids like him.
Their answers, and photographs, appear on Harshaw’s blog, OG Told Me. “OG” is a term of respect that has transcended its literal meaning, “original gangster.” Nowadays, as one of Harshaw’s interview subjects points out, it really just means “old guard.”
Harshaw’s OGs are mostly regular guys. Some are athletes, street preachers or former Black Panthers. Others are educators, activists or drunks. Some give only a first name, others only a last. Some give pseudonyms.
Harshaw, a product of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism by way of Howard University, chats them up about their lives, and his last question never varies: “Given your life experience, if you had a chance to talk to young people, what advice would you give them?”
http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-abcarian-og-harshaw-20170409-story.html
The LA Times Takes a Stand
Check out this series.
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Coding For Toddlers
From the NewYork Times -
A Toy for Toddlers Doubles as Code Bootcamp
By ZACH WICHTER
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/business/smallbusiness/stem-education-technology-engineering-coding-toys.html?contentCollection=weekendreads&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=c-column-middle-span-region®ion=c-column-middle-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-middle-span-region
A Toy for Toddlers Doubles as Code Bootcamp
By ZACH WICHTER
 | |
| Cubetto, a wooden robot developed by Primo Toys, wheels around under its own power, along a course charted by the human behind the machine. It teaches children as young as 3 the basics of computer programming. Credit Andrew Testa for The New York Times |
You Might Be Dating An Idiot If . . .
From StumpleUpon -
10+ People Who Just Realized They’re Dating An Idiot
By Inga Ko
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/4b8seI/:1hZMPfe5q:p5.7xH@Q/www.boredpanda.com/funny-silly-boyfriends-girlfriends-significant-others-husband-wives
10+ People Who Just Realized They’re Dating An Idiot
By Inga Ko
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/4b8seI/:1hZMPfe5q:p5.7xH@Q/www.boredpanda.com/funny-silly-boyfriends-girlfriends-significant-others-husband-wives
MAX Motor Dreams (European Version)
http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/4/7/15223920/ford-smart-baby-crib-replicates-car-ride
Saturday, April 8, 2017
Filling A Need
From the Washington Post -
The next phase of the on-demand economy: Haircuts by delivery
By Thomas Heath
Every three weeks or so, a black, custom-outfitted recreational vehicle rumbles into a cul-de-sac in Alexandria. The neighbors pour out of their homes to greet it.
“It’s kind of like the ice cream truck,” said Mary Beth Buchholz, who lives on the tree-lined street. “All the kids come running.”
Grown-ups, too.
The RV pulls up to the curb, the driver’s door swings open and out steps Rubie Williams, entrepreneur and owner of Hair Nirvana, the mobile hair salon that delivers her to her 100-plus customers all over the Washington region.
It’s her answer to the era of on-demand services.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-next-phase-of-the-on-demand-economy-haircuts-by-delivery/2017/04/07/01779c22-1944-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html?utm_term=.29828896a2c8&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
The next phase of the on-demand economy: Haircuts by delivery
By Thomas Heath
Every three weeks or so, a black, custom-outfitted recreational vehicle rumbles into a cul-de-sac in Alexandria. The neighbors pour out of their homes to greet it.
“It’s kind of like the ice cream truck,” said Mary Beth Buchholz, who lives on the tree-lined street. “All the kids come running.”
Grown-ups, too.
The RV pulls up to the curb, the driver’s door swings open and out steps Rubie Williams, entrepreneur and owner of Hair Nirvana, the mobile hair salon that delivers her to her 100-plus customers all over the Washington region.
It’s her answer to the era of on-demand services.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-next-phase-of-the-on-demand-economy-haircuts-by-delivery/2017/04/07/01779c22-1944-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html?utm_term=.29828896a2c8&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
Friday, April 7, 2017
Hand-in-Hand Protest
From Upworthy -
Dutch men around the world are holding hands in support of a gay couple that was attacked.
ERIC MARCH
http://www.upworthy.com/dutch-men-around-the-world-are-holding-hands-in-support-of-a-gay-couple-that-was-attacked?c=upw1&u=6861cbea6edfdfe5a709ee39ad3c14b64135e61f
Dutch men around the world are holding hands in support of a gay couple that was attacked.
ERIC MARCH
http://www.upworthy.com/dutch-men-around-the-world-are-holding-hands-in-support-of-a-gay-couple-that-was-attacked?c=upw1&u=6861cbea6edfdfe5a709ee39ad3c14b64135e61f
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Journalism Scholarships! Please Share!
From ProPublica -
Students! ProPublica Wants to Pay For You to Attend NAHJ, NABJ, AAJA or NAJA
We’re awarding 12 scholarships to students across the country. Apply!
by Lena Groeger
We are proud to announce that for the second year in a row, ProPublica is sponsoring need-based scholarships to attend the conferences of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists. And for the first time, we are expanding our scholarship program to send students to Asian American Journalists Association and Native American Journalists Association events as well. In total, we are awarding 12 scholarships of $500 each to students who would otherwise be unable to attend. These conferences offer great opportunities for networking and professional development, especially for those just starting out in journalism.
~~~~~~~~~~
Follow the link below to apply.
https://www.propublica.org/article/students-propublica-wants-to-pay-for-you-to-attend-nahj-nabj-aaja-or-naja
Students! ProPublica Wants to Pay For You to Attend NAHJ, NABJ, AAJA or NAJA
We’re awarding 12 scholarships to students across the country. Apply!
by Lena Groeger
We are proud to announce that for the second year in a row, ProPublica is sponsoring need-based scholarships to attend the conferences of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists. And for the first time, we are expanding our scholarship program to send students to Asian American Journalists Association and Native American Journalists Association events as well. In total, we are awarding 12 scholarships of $500 each to students who would otherwise be unable to attend. These conferences offer great opportunities for networking and professional development, especially for those just starting out in journalism.
~~~~~~~~~~
Follow the link below to apply.
https://www.propublica.org/article/students-propublica-wants-to-pay-for-you-to-attend-nahj-nabj-aaja-or-naja
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