Category Archives: Writing

This Just In

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Devastated by the one-two punch of Minnesota Gopher and Minnesota Viking losses, and inspired by Haley Stevens flip-flop in Michigan, loyal PressingPauser, DanDanTheTranspoMan, has flipped and is now endorsing Ken Paxton instead of James Talarico.

Political analysts agree that the unforeseen flipping could do what all of Elon’s millions couldn’t—get Paxton over the line and keep Texas red.

DanotheMano spoke at a presser attended by the country’s largest media outlets:

“Who among us hasn’t committed securities fraud as a result of not disclosing to investors commisons on their business in one of our tech companies? And then had to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution, perform 100 hours of community service, and take legal ethics classes?

And who among us hasn’t had some of our top deputies report to federal authorities our use of our political office to improperly assist a real estate donor—including intervening in foreclosures, providing legal opinions, and shielding records? And then have the real estate donor allegedly help finance our home renovations and provide employment for a woman linked to our extramarital affair?

And who among us hasn’t taken retaliation against whistleblowers, then been sued by the whistleblowers, and eventually had to pay a $6.6 million dollar judgement?

Who among us, following the whistleblower revelations and an extensive investigation, have not had the Republican-led Texas House vote overwhelmingly (121–33) to impeach us on 20 articles of misconduct, including bribery, obstruction of justice, and abuse of public trust?

Who among us hasn’t filed a high-profile, long-shot lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in four battleground states won by Joe Biden?

And who among us, during our impeachment trial, haven’t had news break about an extramarital affair which involved the use of burner phones, secondary email accounts, and a fake ride-share profile to conduct the relationship? And then had their wife file for divorce on adultery and biblical grounds?

And who among us hasn’t omitted a little rental income and mortgages from state financial disclosures when reporting on our $9 million, 15 property real estate portfolio?

And who among us hasn’t accidentally swiped a $1,000 Montblanc pen belonging to another person at a courthouse security checkpoint?

Let whomever is blameless cast the first stone.”

‘Hum 10’ For The Win

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The Brutal Harvard Class That Suddenly Everyone Wants to Take.

From the Wall Street Journal:

“On a Tuesday morning in October, Samantha Matherne paced as she marked up on a white board explaining the philosophical underpinnings of Jane Austen’s “Emma,” with segues into Adam Smith and Immanuel Kant.

The philosophy professor posed big questions to the 90 students gathered in Boylston Hall: ‘Why did Austen create such an unlikable heroine?’ she asked. ‘Why read novels at all?’ And finally, as the 75-minute lecture ended, ‘What will become of Emma—and what will become of you?’

The students burst into applause.

Hum 10, as it’s commonly known, has become the surprise hit of Harvard’s academic lineup and something of a campus institution. Demand to get into the class has surged, fueled by word-of-mouth from ‘Hum Alums’ who talk it up on social media. Applications (essays required) shot up 40% this fall with 180 incoming freshmen vying for 90 spots.

. . . The class is definitely not for padding the GPA. Students read a hefty book a week and write regular essays. There is no pass/fail option. Digital devices are verboten, and attendance is taken in every lecture (pink slips for those who arrive late).

. . . In their applications and in interviews, students expressed the urge to be forced to tackle classics they otherwise wouldn’t read, the need to combat frayed attention spans and the desire for an antidote to The Machine. Several mentioned with disdain that people who aren’t in the class wondered why they didn’t “just Chat the books,” i.e., use AI.”

Be still my beating heart.

Peak Gray Lady

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For the New York Times, an unexpected thing happened on the way to market dominance. She continually improved.

You don’t have to have a degree in economics to know that competition is the lifeblood of our economy. And yet, as minor, mid, and major papers fade from view, the most dominant paper is peaking. Go figure.

Exhibit A is this type of multimedia story detailing why you increasingly feel like you’re up against it. “Life Feeling Too Expensive? It’s Not Just You. And It’s Not Just Inflation.“

Oh, want something lighter, okay. Exhibit B, this example from an excellent series titled “Modern Love”. “On Our Third Date, I Asked for a Joint Bank Account.” It’s a slowish burn, but if you stick with it, there is a wonderful insight about romantic love. Okay, spoiler alert, both people have to be their whole selves for it to have any chance of “working”.

Still not convinced? Exhibit C. “This Emily Dickinson Poem Will Hit You Where You Live.” Major props to A.O. Scott for getting Ronald Scot, a poetry neophyte, to not just read it closely, but appreciate its brilliance.

And I haven’t even mentioned the mouth dripping recipes, the numerous word games, and most significantly, it’s commitment to holding power to account.

She has cast her net so widely and so successfully, how the hell are upstarts supposed to identify niches to exploit?

Here’s hoping The Gray Lady doesn’t get complacent and that a thousand upstarts throw caution to the wind and somehow bloom.

Why Is It So Hard To Make Friends As An Adult?

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I recently had elective surgery, that I’m happy to report, went well. I’m 10 days into a six week recovery that currently limits cross-training me to walking. Thus, I’m working through my too-long podcast queue. If you see me looping Capital Lake, say hello, I’ll happily take my AirPods out.

This was a good, recent listen.

It made me think of another one I recently listened to with a real estate expert riffing on the U.S. housing market. His main point, which I’ve heard many real estate experts make before, is that you can’t generalize about the U.S. housing market much at all, because there are significant regional, state, and even city-based differences. Meaning prices are rising in some areas, flat in others, and dropping in still others.

Thompson and Grant seem to be using the U.S. as their frame of analysis, and like real estate, generalizing as much as they do is problematic.

In one way at least, the “friendship recession” is far worse than the rather pessimistic Thompson/Grant conversation would suggest. Specifically, using my former students as a frame of reference, many young adults openly admit that their interpersonal skills have seriously atrophied in recent years given their preference for digital communication. To the point where often IRL interactions create serious social anxiety, to the point where some find it difficult to leave their dorms and venture in the cafeteria, or leave their apartments and mix it up with their peers at all.

Put differently, Thompson/Grant assume the runner is starting on second base, when in fact, if young, he or she may be stuck in the batter’s box. My challenge to them is to identify small steps socially anxious young people might take to begin running towards first base.

On a completely different note, if I use my bubble fair city of Olympia, WA as my frame of reference, I question the premise of a friendship recession. Why? Because, if you look for it, you can’t help but see ample evidence of people connecting while swing dancing at the Eagles or eating lunch on the picnic benches while listening to music at the Farmer’s Market. Not to mention the ever growing number of grassroots small group bicycle rides for people of every ability. Or running groups up the gazoo. Or the Briggs Y Masters swim team (which I’m sure is missing me something terrible right now, right?). Or Rocky Horror bingo. Or a new “literary” community. Or noisy coffee shops and restaurants.

I suspect Thompson/Grant might be extrapolating from their personal experience. And I can’t help but wonder if where one lands on the “friendship recession” depends mostly on what one is looking for? In which case, I will continue to look for and celebrate small quiet examples of friendship and larger, louder ones.

Your friend,

Ron

Do Not Delay, Find This Book

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The opening four paragraphs of the most glowing book review I have ever read.

Dwight Garner in today’s New York Times.

“In the souk that is contemporary publishing, much attention has gone recently to the minimalists and the tinkerers, to writers of short novels steeped in irony. It’s been a meal of small plates, reflective of short attention spans.

The Jamaican writer Marlon James’s new novel, “The Disappearers,” at 600-plus pages, is instead a maximalist’s banquet: It is humane, blood-flecked, disturbing and sustaining. It takes James 90 pages to say hello. It’s another 70 pages before his story settles into your guts and begins to twist them. It’s yet another 150 before you fully comprehend his loping authority and the scale of his ambitions. Booster rockets fall away. Disparate coordinates begin to converge.

Why not just say it? With this novel about gay experience and murderous homophobia in Jamaica and elsewhere during the 1980s and ’90s, James has written a masterpiece, the novel of the decade and possibly of the century thus far.

It deserves to be talked about alongside Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children,” for its tumult of language and its crisscrossing post-colonial themes; Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” (James picks up on a revenge scenario from that novel); and William Faulkner’s “Absalom, Absalom!” — the greatest American novel, I’d argue — for many reasons but especially for the way James, like Faulkner, hammers his themes like a Vulcan, rolling over them relentlessly from new and sometimes oblique angles, advancing and enlarging his attack each time. This is another way of saying “The Disappearers” was one of the signal reading experiences of my adult life. It sank knives deep into my heart. I’m still in recovery from it.”

The Disappearers

Perspicacious

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I read this sentence on Tyler Cowen’s blog today.

“I once had on Sam Bankman-Fried, now a convicted felon.  It was an excellent episode, and I will point out my lines of questioning were more perspicacious than many people since have realized.”

Cowen is explaining to his readers why he’s going forward with an interview on his podcast with a well-known Chinese internet intellectual, who recently was accused of plagiarism.

I did not know the meaning of “perspicacious”.

I try to be as perspicacious here as possible, but ultimately, that’s your call dear reader.

Layer Me Baby

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The University of Chicago Law School for the win. It’s dean and new AI strategy more specifically which might be described as “both/and”. Becky Supiano explains in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“Its policies are meant to ensure that students learn how to use AI responsibly and how to think without depending on it. As newer AI models prove adept at many forms of legal work, it aims to prioritize distinctly human contributions.”

No AI in first year courses. Then a combo of hybrid courses and AI-specific ones. All the following excerpts are from Supiano’s interview with the law school’s Dean, Adam Chilton.

“The emphasis that we have is: How do we teach students to think both without AI and with AI? That second part is important.”

Chicago Law’s smart approach to assessing the first year AI ban and their curriculum more generally.

“We’ll have to see how faculty and students feel about it and how the quality of discussion is.

Our goal is to be willing to re-evaluate everything that we’re doing more thoughtfully. The technology and the students’ uses of it — and also the way the legal practice is evolving — seems to be changing very fast.”

More points for a smart writing add-on.

“I’ve heard many people say essays and research papers are done, we can’t do them anymore. We added, for our substantial research projects, an oral-exam component. That helps to at least preserve the possibility of still having meaningful writing assignments, because the students know they’re going to have to defend it. The skill of defending your arguments through oral exchanges is a skill that everybody needs, but certainly lawyers.”

Enlightened thinking about AI integration.

“We’ve adopted what we’re calling a layered approach. We’ll have some assignments that you do entirely without AI — some in class, some out of class — and other assignments where explicitly you’re told to use AI. You know: Here’s an AI work product. Mark it up.

Even in that first year of law school, it’s true that when you’re sitting in your torts class, you won’t be allowed to have Claude up to ask it questions in real time, but you still have another class where that’s integrated directly into the curriculum.”

What about assessing the new curriculum more broadly?

“The feedback I’ve gotten from employers has been universally and overwhelmingly positive. Employers are thinking they want to hire people — and maybe they’re going to hire fewer people or people that they want to have different skills — and they want to make sure those people learned something. And so what the employer worries about is that they might hire someone who just took an assignment, pasted it into Harvey, edited it for 30 minutes, and then passed it off as their own. And the lawyer is thinking, If that’s all you’re able to do, what’s your value add over what our clients could already do themselves?”

If I was applying to law schools, and yes I probably should because the world surely needs another lawyer of my caliber, I would have the University of Chicago at the top of my list. Also because I could see my favorite sissy, who lives in NW Indiana, any weekend I wanted.