Author Archives: zephoria

social networks for collegiate heritage admissions + affirmative action

I remember sitting in a dorm at Brown listening to people complain about why rich kids seemed to get into Ivy League schools regardless of their intelligence, scores or any other metric with which we were familiar judged; the complaint centered around heritage admissions and famous people’s kids. One of my friends reminded the group that it was clearly a valuable element and should be promoted not critiqued.

If you look at many well-known American universities, the primary value for undergraduates concerns the social network. Frankly, internationally renowned researchers can’t teach. But you don’t pay $30K a year to get the best *formal* education. You pay $30K a year to get tapped into a collection of like-minded driven people who will be a key aspect of your social network for life. The late-night dorm session conversations are so much more informative than the lecture halls. But the connections you make from shared alumni extend widely.

If you assume that the social network is the most valuable asset, it is clearly important to have as diverse a population as possible. You want to introduce the poor brilliant students to the rich ones because they will have a better chance. One of the most obvious impacts of higher education is that you jump socio-economic class. While i didn’t grow up as such, i recognize that i’m now a part of the privileged class. It is not due to my income (which is non-existent), but due to my potential and connections. Those connections are intimately tied into the network that i built as an undergraduate. Basically, college brings together people from diverse backgrounds and with unique access to knowledge or connections. This is then utilized to help groups of students branch out. College is the ideal time to meet new people who can/will introduce you to a wide variety of things.

Thus, from an admissions perspective, it is desirable to bring in rich kids who will not only help offset the costs for poor kids, but help introduce them to a network of possibility. This is why Harvard and Princeton’s decision to give all grants to the poorest students is a great idea. One of the biggest class dividers on a campus like that is who works in food service and who doesn’t because they don’t need to. By letting the groups mingle and not trying to reinforce class in these environments, there’s a great potential for connecting diverse people.

[I’d love to hear a critique of this perspective.]

politics gone awry

A year ago, i broke my hatred for protesting and took to the streets to publicly state my disagreement with my government. My support for their decisions has not grown. I still don’t understand what we’re doing in Iraq and i’m tired of the propaganda. But, unlike last year, i didn’t go to the streets. I find protests a bit frustrating because i don’t feel as though i’m actually helping any cause and the supposed community goodness part of it tends to turn me against my fellow dissenters.

That said, it makes me sick to my stomach to hear of police violence against protestors. Worse, i’m absolutely horrified to read about how the government operates to outlaw dissent in this country [a *scary* must read article – use the day pass – it’s worth it].

To cheer me up, a friend sent along a list of the marriage status of some of the biggest defenders of the sanctity of marriage (from The Daily Show):

Ronald Reagan — divorced the mother of two of his children to marry Nancy Reagan who bore him a daughter 7 months after the marriage.

Bob Dole — divorced the mother of his child, who had nursed him through the long recovery from his war wounds.

Newt Gingrich — divorced his wife who was dying of cancer.

Dick Armey, House Majority Leader — divorced.

Senator Phil Gramm of Texas — divorced.

Governor John Engler of Michigan — divorced.

Governor Pete Wilson of California — divorced.

George Will — divorced.

Senator Lauch Faircloth — divorced.

Rush Limbaugh — and his current wife, Marta, have six marriages and four divorces between them.

Senator Bob Barr of Georgia — not yet 50 years old, has been married three times. He had the audacity to author and push the “Defense of Marriage Act.” The current joke making the rounds on Capitol Hill is “Bob Barr — WHICH marriage are you defending?!?)

Senator Alf onse D’Amato of New York — divorced.

Senator John Warner of Virginia — once married to Liz Taylor.

Governor George Allen of Virginia — divorced.

Representative Helen Chenoweth of Idaho — divorced.

Senator John McCain of Arizona — divorced.

Representative John Kasich of Ohio — divorced.

Representative Susan Molinari of New York (Republican National Convention Keynote Speaker) — divorced.

The bottom line — “Don’t let gays destroy marriage — that’s the job of the Republicans!”

“If you really want to protect the institution of marraige, how about a constitutional amendment against adultery?”  – Jon Stewart

the bright river: a mass-transit tour of the afterlife

It has been way too long since i went to an underground performance art event. If you live in the Bay Area, you need to go see the bright river: a mass-transit tour of the afterlife next weekend. It was absolutely stunning.

Imagine Shalom Alecheim and Raymond Chandler got together and decided to rewrite Dante’s Inferno, and you have the basic premise for The Bright River. A dizzying journey through a world spinning helplessly out of control, the show sends audiences on a mass-transit tour of the afterlife. Guided by a fixer named Quick, and moving through an urban landscape that is at once both intensely real and fantastic, the show is a cinema verite look at life and death in America.

Trained as a traditional Jewish storyteller and oral historian, Tim Barsky has been getting increasing attention for his unique style of performance, which blends hip-hop, physical theatre and folklore. Tim is also the world’s first beatbox flutist, an aural prestidigitator capable of producing up to 8 rhythms and melodies at the same time. He is joined by the members of Everyday Theatre, a group of musicians drawn from the underground hip-hop and klezmer communities. Bassist and drummer Shree Shyam, cellist Jess Ivry, and beatboxer/ vocal percussionist Andrew Chaikin bring a diverse set of skills and traditions to bear. And physical theatre maestro Jeff Raz brings a wealth of tradition to the production in his role as directorial consultant.

Fantastic storytelling and the best beatbox artist i’ve seen. Go out and support fantastic local art!

Update: This show has had extreme success and will be re-opening in the Bay Area from December 1, 2004-January 16, 2005. Click here for more information. (Brought to you by too much Google juice.)

name morphing via the web

I’m really glad that David noted how his name gets morphed by the Internet. I have a similar situation. My name does not have capital letters in it, but when people see me lower-casing things on the web, they assume i’m just being lazy or artistic or something. Folks think that they should be more proper when they address me. Yet, when i publish papers, people realize that i went through effort to get my name lower-cased and they recognize this is how my name is spelled. (That’s why there’s an h – it’s all balance.) So, yes, my lower-casing is not an accident.

[Of course, one friend loves to send me emails full of capital letters, to make certain that i have enough for when the apocolypse comes. He sends me D’s and B’s just in case i needed a few extra.]

the freaks of san francisco

An old friend came to visit me this weekend. ::bounce::bounce:: She’s one of those people who i see as exceptionally similar to me. Overeducated, always thinking about issues of privilege, activist, queer, etc. We both came from the hippie-esque world of the coops.

Anyhow, we spent a few hours wandering around the Mission and it was such an eye-opener. She was so viscerally aware of the elements of CITY and of San Francisco in particular. She’s living in a town that looks like something Disney would create. She’s not blonde, not rich, not a prep, not a surfer; she’s an outright freak there. But she’s there because she’s kicking ass on the international activist scene and that’s where she needs to be right now. But talking to her made me really reflect on how much i value San Francisco.

I’m not a freak here. No matter what i wear, i will run into someone with a crazier outfit. And it doesn’t matter anyhow. My sexuality is also not a big deal. It is so strange to be in an environment where the straight folks are more tolerant of queerness than the gay folks. But again, no big deal. Whenever i want to meet new interesting people, it’s possible. In fact, there are so many intriguing people that i want to get to know, but just haven’t because of time restrictions on my part. I can see art events whenever i want; i can go dancing whenever i want. There are cool bookstores and clothing shops and street life.

I just received a note from a 15 year old somewhere in “WASP suburbia.” She wrote to tell me about how she’s tormented by kids at school, about how the administration does nothing to help, about how valuable the Internet was for finding people like her. I totally get where she’s at. When i was living elsewhere, i always felt so out of place and relied on technology to meet people more like me. But the funny thing about San Francisco is that i’m finally in a place where there are more intellectual freaks/geeks in everyday life than i ever found online.

I just had two different friends leave SF because they *hated* it. I still haven’t been able to squelch my immediate visceral response: how do i like you??? is there something about you that i don’t know about yet? ::laugh:: But seeing my beloved city through a friend’s eyes was so refreshing. I am so thankful for living here. For having 85 degree days in March. For having so many freaks, geeks, and queers that i can just be me and stop trying to exacerbate or repress my identity for others.

It’s funny because people have pointed out that i rarely write about personal identity struggles anymore. I used to write long rants about them. At first, i thought maybe it’s because my blog went a bit off the professional deep end. But then i realized that it’s because i’m actually doing AOK with who i am these days. Seeing my friend and hearing from a youth in suburbia is a clear reminder of how lucky i am. And for that i am very thankful on this Spring Solstice Eve.

trying out ecto

Trying to post from Ecto to my blog. I love the idea of being able to blog offline and just upload.

Although i have a feeling that this might also encourage me to revert to writing more semi-personal entries… It reminds me so much of my LJ days. Hmm… Is that a good thing?

visual representations of SXSW

OK. That is a fanstatically entertaining representation of the echo chamber. ::giggle::

Of course, someone pointed out to me that in both of my panels, the phrase “So, i have to disagree with X” was quite common. Still, i totally love this.