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April 27, 2015
TNR piece: Elite colleges these days get you to Bourgeoisieville.
Here's an imperfect but ballsy article in The New Republic I wish I had written. "Elite Universities Are Turning Our Kids Into Corporate Stooges" by 30-something 2002 Duke grad Bryan Williams, a Washington, D.C.- based economist. Williams asks all the right questions about what our best colleges and universities should be making a priority. Encouraging and developing outlaws (my term, for lack of a better one here)--doers, thinkers, artists and writers with genuinely new big ideas--is one. No, getting to be CEO of a pre-built GM or Apple, which mega-talented Duke grads Rick Wagoner and Tim Cook have recently done--is not what I had in mind here.
It's weird that most of these, say, 30 to 40, 'elite' schools in America, have a reputation for free thought or leftist thought. Duke, where I went as well, and I do still love, is the perfect poster boy here. Duke graduates top talent straight into the bourgeois inner sanctums. This is okay with me folks--but you do need more. A good liberal arts education ought to fire the imagination. Produce more Dalis, Buckminster Fullers, Updikes, Styrons, Demings, Heideggers, Sartres. It may not be happening as much. I see the lower standard in Duke grads, in other grads and on resumes. And it's upsetting mainly because hardly anyone is disappointed by it. Except for Williams, the 2002 Duke grad who wrote the TNR piece. Bravo.
Gothic Wonderland: Duke's West Campus
Posted by JD Hull at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2015
More on Wankspeak: Shooting Your Email.
Can we please stop saying "shoot you an email"? It's like GI Joe watched CNBC by mistake or something. How about "send" or "email" as a verb?
Posted by JD Hull at 02:22 PM | Comments (0)
April 23, 2015
Last night I finished Supreme Ambitions, David Lat's first novel.
Supreme Ambitions, David Lat, Hardback, December 2014, ABA, 284 pages, $18.00. Not only can the protracted lawyer-blogger phenom known as David Lat write fiction, Mr. Lat apparently mastered early on--this is his first novel--developing characters and having them talk and move around in believable ways. Terrific story and great respect for how he pitches it at the reader. I thought it would be good--but not quite this good. Get Supreme Ambitions, Justin and Chelsea, and read it. It moves fast. Please write another, David. And for your second novel, I will be pleased to help you find a real publisher. Bravo, sir.
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Posted by JD Hull at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2015
"Cowed," the Book. Might as well face it we're addicted to, yes, cows.
Tomorrow, April 22, is Earth Day. It was the idea over 45 years ago of a Wisconsin lawyer, outdoorsman and ex-governor named Gaylord Nelson I first worked for when I was 21. I hope I write about Earth Day this week. But at the very least I wanted to note that Denis Hayes--Denis Hayes was the Nelson-drafted organizer-in-chief of the first Earth Day in 1970, and has been a huge voice in a number of niches of environmental policy ever since--and his wife Gail Boyer Hayes have written "Cowed: The Hidden Impact of 93 Million Cows on America's Health, Economy, Politics, Culture, and Environment" (Norton, 400 pp., $27.95). "Cowed" was released last month and is catching the kudos and attention of pretty much every American media outlet.
Google it and see. But don't google it too much. I want you to read it. I also note that environmental issues in America--for reasons which I loathe--are generally political even though, and to be fair, even the WSJ reviewer of "Cowed" begrudgingly gave it a big thumbs up (big points). And the Oberlin guy (no points). And hey the Salon guy (points). Anyway, I bought the book in late March from a bunch of Gen-Y hippies who run a cafe-bookstore on 14th Street called Busboys & Poets who were amazed that I was actually alive at the first Earth Day in 1970. Frankly, I'm surprised no one asked me if I knew Jerry Garcia--or Tiny Tim--and it took me 2 weeks before I could go back to Busboys & Poets again.
You can buy "Cowed" at Barnes & Noble, too. I of course read "Cowed". No matter what your politics may be these days--I am famously mercurial politically, and I spent 10 unexpected minutes yesterday with Donald Rumsfeld and his wife Joyce of 60 years, and was in Alpha Male heaven--this is a book every CEO, environmentalist, environmental lawyer, academic, politician, educator and hell any North American who can read without moving their lips should buy. Parts of it surprised me. Most of it added immeasurably to my personal life-long archive for environmental law and policy. All of it is likely to be part of the American conversation on our natural resources for years to come.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)
April 17, 2015
Bravo, National Park Service, Actors and Historians on 10th Street Vigil for 150th Lincoln anniversary.
See The Washington Post this week.
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Posted by JD Hull at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2015
Ultimate Ode to the Slackoisie: Jeff Bridges as The Dude.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2015
HRC
Hillary really running? At this point, I hope it's true.
1. It's her "turn". And yes that means something in the US. Not too many American leaders are ready for the both (1) the street fight of presidential election and (2) then leading.
Case in point: Dem candidate I was a delegate for in 2002: charming and tough Rhodes scholar NATO military leader General Wesley Clark. A friend of mine said, "Wesley and [his wife] Gert were the perfect dog food--but the dogs didn't like it." Great candidate and warrior's warrior who couldn't survive primaries.
2. Hillary is The Uber-Manager. No one would manage USA better.
3. No folks, HRC not that liberal--certainly not as liberal as husband Bill or President Obama. Not even close. Check out her real roots. She grew up in a comfortable and moderate GOP-voting family in a Midwestern city.
4. Don't think of her as too political. She is no ideologue. She's at heart a pragmatist: the ultimate Boomer achiever who likes things that work as much as she likes recognition and power.
5. She is smarter (i.e., proficiency at Western logic) than any of our last 5 presidents.
What's not to like here, sports fans? Or, put another way, you got something better?
Posted by JD Hull at 01:30 PM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2015
Training Video on Millennials in the Workplace.
Hat tip to the peripatetic Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice, and his post Return of the Happy, where I saw the below 'comedy' bit on Gen-Ys in the workplace. It may be April 1--a day when all content is taken as possibly untrue in honor of April Fool's Day--but we should get something straight here. The video you are about to see? It is very true to life and, when I first viewed it, I had problems seeing it as satire. Satire since the days of Dean Swift--remember "A Modest Proposal"?--relies heavily on, among other things, exaggeration ((i.e., literary hyperbole if you went to Kenyon). In my view, there is little if any exaggeration in the comedy bits you are about to see.
http://blog.simplejustice.us/2015/03/22/the-return-of-the-happy/
Posted by JD Hull at 02:23 PM | Comments (0)