So there’s this weird little story being chewed over by the right wing media about a college girl who does some feminist activism and blogging at the University of Wyoming. An anonymous rape threat targeting her was posted on one of the unofficial university Facebook page, and now police are…
Are millennials delusional?
Young people coming of age over the past decade or so have been referred to as Millennials, or, in a nod to their individualistic nature, Generation Me.Newly published research suggests they could also be called the generation with unrealistic expectations.An analysis of the values and ambitions of American 12th graders finds “a growing discrepancy between the desire for material rewards and the willingness to do the work usually required to earn them.” Psychologists Jean Twenge of San Diego State University and Tim Kasser of Knox College report that, for high school seniors in 2005, 2006, and 2007, materialism remained at historically high levels, even as commitment to hard work declined.Continue Reading… … Read More
I’m successful but depressed
Cary, You are an amazing voice of reason out there, so I am writing to you. In a nutshell, I am miserable. I am 39 going on 40. Anyone looking at my life from the outside would think (and they are correct) I have nothing to complain about. I have three great kids, wife of many years, am a successful professional who makes enough money to perhaps not be a 1-percenter, but certainly a 5-percenter. Heck, I was a college athlete and am still in good shape. So why do I feel so worthless? I am OCD and depressive. I used to drink, and stopped cold-turkey several years ago because I figured out I was drinking myself into a stupor to turn off the feelings of hopelessness, and the next day, when I would be sick, was the lowest. And as my kids got older I did not want them to see me out of control like that. I was not “addicted” to alcohol, i.e., I was able to stop. It was simply my therapy of choice for these feelings of wanting to be dead. Continue Reading… … Read More
Three new suspects taken into custody in Boston Marathon bombing case
Three new suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing case have been taken into custody, the city’s police department announced Wednesday. … Read More
Three new suspects taken into custody in Boston Marathon bombing case – police
From their official Twitter account, the Boston Police Department confirmed just after 11 a.m. local time Wednesday that three additional suspects have been detained by authorities. Three additional suspects taken into custody in Marathon bombing case. Details to follow. — Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) May 1, 2013 According to a police source speaking anonymously with the Boston Globe, the three latest suspects are area college students, and CNN has reported that at least two of them have been charged with obstruction of justice in the case of the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing. … Read More
Jason Collins: Black — and gay — like me
I’d never heard of Jason Collins when I saw a friend’s Facebook status earlier today announcing the news that he was gay. (I prefer college basketball over the NBA.) As I googled his name to find out more, one thought kept running through my mind: “Please be black.”I wanted Jason Collins to be black, because I knew what it would mean to black gay youth in this country. I wanted him to be black because I’m hyper-aware that the list of influential LGBT celebrities like Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper and Neil Patrick Harris is very white. Most important, I wanted Jason Collins to be black because I know exactly what it’s like to be a gay teenager with dark brown skin who comes out but cannot find anyone gay who looks like you on television. Or in magazines. Or on the news. These days, when I lecture about LGBT issues on college campuses and various other events, people often tell me I’m the only black person they’ve ever seen speak out for gay rights. The pride I feel is mixed with uneasiness because I wish that weren’t the case.Continue Reading… … Read More
America’s staggering education gap
You want my advice, you should pour a tall cup-a-Joe and settle in to read this essay by Sean Reardon in this AMs NYT on education and wealth. He covers a lot of ground, but the theme that resonated most with me is one I’ve stressed often in these parts regarding the growing evidence of linkages between increased income inequality and diminished opportunities. A prominent channel through which this occurs is, of course, education.It’s not just that rich kids do better in school than poor kids. That’s an old problem.What is news is that in the United States over the last few decades these differences in educational success between high- and lower-income students have grown substantially.Moreover, these growing differences show up in college access and completion.…the proportion of students from upper-income families who earn a bachelor’s degree has increased by 18 percentage points over a 20-year period, while the completion rate of poor students has grown by only 4 points. …15 percent of high-income students from the high school class of 2004 enrolled in a highly selective college or university, while fewer than 5 percent of middle-income and 2 percent of low-income students did.Continue Reading… … Read More
