Dear President Trump, Today is my monthly “gallery sit” for the cooperative art gallery I joined in January. It’s downtown and usually I take a half-day off from work, drive here, and park in an insanely expensive lot with way-too-small stalls. Today, however, I took the whole day off and used public transit to get … Continue reading We’ve swapped one devil for another
Science
A long letter on a hard topic
Dear President Trump, Warning – this is a long letter on a hard topic. Last night on the way home I heard a piece on NPR about flood forecasting and how poorly people understand the phrase “100-year flood.” Most of us think if we live in a 100-year flood zone and we were flooded last … Continue reading A long letter on a hard topic
Piling on in the worst ways
Dear President Trump, Over the last couple of days I’ve started seeing media folks (David Leonhardt, NYT; Joe Scarborough, WP) calling out your tepid response to the white nationalist terrorist attacks in Christchurch. They are pointedly saying that your failure to condemn such attacks encourages violence towards non-Christians and people of color. It’s a huge … Continue reading Piling on in the worst ways
Canaries in snowy coalmines
Dear President Trump, LOL – I almost wrote “Dear President Tramp.” It actually works pretty well if we consider the verb form; “ to walk heavily or stomp about.” You don’t do anything cautiously, let alone thoughtfully – you’re a stomper, for sure. Then there’s the noun form, which refers to someone who “travels from … Continue reading Canaries in snowy coalmines
Radical empathy and lack thereof (Part 2)
Dear President Trump, When someone gets hurt in your presence of do you involuntarily wince and feel a zing almost as though it was you who was injured? I honestly don’t know whether narcissistic sociopaths have that capacity, but I rather doubt it so maybe you don’t know what it’s like to feel your stomach … Continue reading Radical empathy and lack thereof (Part 2)
Radical empathy (Part 1)
Dear President Trump, I suppose it doesn’t matter too, too much where I start, no matter what angle one approaches it from, it’s sad, infuriating, and overwhelming. But it does feel important to get the story straight and to tell it reasonably well since it’s one that so many of us white people have a … Continue reading Radical empathy (Part 1)
Super unfair stuff
Dear President Trump, I’m not finished with the Quadlin study yet so you aren’t either. Yesterday’s letter was already on the long side so I didn’t get into the finding that among men there wasn’t a significant effect of grade point average on likelihood of being called in for an interview. Well, it’s still bugging … Continue reading Super unfair stuff
Surprise! Women are penalized for being smart
Dear President Trump, Laura came across an interesting sociology study out of Ohio State University yesterday. The author is Natasha Quadlin, an Assistant Professor who studies social inequality, gender, family, and education. The study has two parts, the first of which involved sending out over 2,100 pretend resumes for over 1,000 entry-level positions (so 2-ish … Continue reading Surprise! Women are penalized for being smart
Cynically malevolent
Dear President Trump, Yesterday I had my first squirrel siting in over two weeks. The poor thing seemed kind of addled as it hopped in a sketchy zigzag line up the icy strip in the middle of the street. It’s still unusually cold here, but now it’s raining instead of snowing and we’re down to … Continue reading Cynically malevolent
More growing pains
Dear President Trump, Because we were to sing in the service, Soul Choir folks sat together up towards the front of the sanctuary yesterday. I got to sit between the two oldest members of the choir, one of whom I know is 90 (she’s both very proud to lived so long and hates that she … Continue reading More growing pains
