Covid Chronicles Episode 5

We end, begin, whatever another week in the State of the Union of Covid.  We are now deep into the halfway point of the Corona Era which will likely close out around this time next year if we are lucky. And it is luck at this point nothing else as even science has thrown the towel into the wind and found that it flies six feet, sixteen feet or just stays afloat like the Matrix awaiting to land upon its next victim.

We have another miracle cure or not with plasma. Just this last week over coffee with a friend we discussed the whatever happened to Plasma as it was a big issue in New York as the Gay Elite (aka Andy Cohen) who had recovered from Covid cannot donate blood as the law requires gay men to not have sex six months prior to any blood donation. This is a hangover of AIDS and once again proving that Covid is the new AIDS meets Herpes only we are all getting fucked. So Andy this weekend took to Twitter to complain about that despite the fact that the supposed cure was well not and that demon seed is the new drug of choice so spit or swallow folks, at this point what is left. We have run through Hydrochlorine, Bleach, Hand Sanitizer, Blue Light. Now add to the list, HEPA filters, Prayer, leeches and electroshock.

Yes folks the schools, gyms and any other indoor facility are adding HEPA filtration to the HVAC units with some belief it will suck Covid out of the air like a hooker in hell sucks demon seed cock. Well it swallows about 10% and as a woman I say good enough! The blue light cleanings of course are part of hygiene theater as we are fairly certain touching unless immediately after an infected person has sneezed, coughed, sang, talked and wiped their asses or mouths with their hands touch the same doorknob, package, catsup container or has fucked on the desk right before you got there then maybe you can catch it, if you touch, wipe your face, hands and then just act as if it was fine then fuck you are getting that shit. WASH YOUR HANDS folks and when out and about in crowded areas, even outdoors, wear a fucking mask. I carry paper ones know for the walks to toss the second I am inside and the cloth ones for buses, stores and other sites where I can keep distance and wash the second I get home. This weekend I went with the germs, whoops I mean people, to Governor’s Island and when I got home I stripped down so fast and washed all my clothes and took a shower and cleaned my nasal passages with a antibiotic to make sure I was sanitized. The reality of this is we have no reality so you do what you do.

The kids are back in school or not as immediately one college in North Carolina said, see you kids later now get the hell out. I suspect more to follow given what we are seeing in the colleges regarding the behaviors of our best and brightest. If anyone says to me, the future is our children, need to go work with children and realized we are fucked with our without dinner or Covid. I read this in the New York Times and my first thought: I know your parents, the entitled, the liberal and the conservative who are sure they have somehow raised a kid to be responsible and adult. Yeah, that rape problem on campuses the last few years seems quaint in comparison to this. Right here when I read this incident I wondered what this girl was looking for, a date or a case of Covid/Herpes:

On Monday night, he said, he helped a student get back to her room, reminding her that she was supposed to be quarantining. But when he saw her wandering twice more in the next hour as he was posting health signage, he just stood and stared, speechless.

“I hated it,” he said, “but after that first time, my thought was, ‘What are you doing? Why are you out?’ And then, ‘Is your mask on? Am I sufficiently distanced?’ The third time? I just rerouted. I told myself it would be better to just post those rules.”

This is the pandemic police state where we are to stop, scold and bust anyone not following rules or violating protocol. The irony is that few read any of the science let alone the news as in read it, process it and then follow up on it like the issue with plasma when it was first touted three months ago as a potential treatment only now to find out that well its okay. Yet here was Andy Cohen whose best friend is Anderson Cooper but go figure, tweeting hysterically about donating Plasma. Hey but what about the dude on Fire Island who knowingly had Covid and party downed. What happened there? Oh that narrative doesn’t suit. But we have had a wedding that turned into a super spreader event in fact killing one person not even in attendance. So again did she receive a package or a contaminated invitation? No one of the guests came home with a special gift not left behind.

Now the South in its quest to prove that idiocy comes with the territory, literally, continues to be Covid Central. Mississippi once again tops the list which is a change or not if you are looking to where that State stands with regards to anything. It tops the bottom ten for education, voting, income and poverty. Yes it is America’s own third world state. Visit and see for yourself. Drive through the rural parts and it is akin to things I saw in the West Indies. Two places I will never go again as it is simply too heartbreaking as the people are not the problem, the leadership, or lack thereof is. It is the deep South and the racism and classism rule in ways that explain it all. Status and quo go out of its way to meet.

Planning a last minute getaway, go ahead the quarantine rule by the CDC has been lifted. It is supposedly in place here in New Jersey and New York and of course the reality is that it is utterly unenforceable and that there is no contract tracking/tracing in place or if it is it is dysfunctional so again that falls to you to figure out what to do. If anyone believes an “enforcement patrol” is tracking you to your hotel and checking in or requiring the hotel to monitor you, get real.  That is laughable if not pathetic as many are now closing down permanently due to this so the last thing they are going to do is ycall the 311 number on a paying gues. This is more Covid theater and posturing by the Three Stooges of NY and NJ.

 What it means  and always has, is this falls to personal responsibility,  but that is not how we do things here clearly, see the College kids for proof. You can be afraid, very afraid, you can be aware and do your part or you can go fuck it and hit the road. Whatever. I again have a rule: I take care of myself and don’t presume anyone does so I do my best to avoid any situation that could put me at risk and then when I do something like go to Governor’s Island I quarantine for 72 hours to see if I have symptoms as again that is the reality of most viruses… this 14 day window I have never understood as again that would have required tracking, tracing the person’s footsteps to the point of contamination, pin pointing the source and the date this happened. This 14 day thing is just a cover to allow for the testing which “coincidentally” takes what – 14 days. I did the same after the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and anywhere I go with another person as I have no clue what the deal is with them and I assume they are fine but I am careful. Its really why I hate doing anything with anyone at this point and will again go out of my way to not, see the Wedding for clues on that one.

And once again Europe relies on science to test theories and threw a concert to see what spreads. This I find interesting as in reality we are nowhere near here in America opening any closed theaters for Broadway, Symphony Halls or concert stages anytime soon. The Museums that are opening are doing a hell of job and even the Governor’s Island required timed tickets but the reality is we were crammed in lines and on boats where we could distance but I would never go on a weekend again until wintertime. Sorry but no. It is all about close contact, length of time of contact and one’s own immune system and protections from contraction. Those masks really aren’t cutting it but they do offer some console in the case of going to Museums etc. I am going next week and my goal is to keep moving. Anyone within three feet (as again that goal post has changed so much that it is pointless but I go with that) I move away from. I really should be thinner with all this moving but the booze is a calming agent and well without gyms and instructed exercise it is not the same. That is my second loss of time being able to go to Yoga, the gym, Barre Classes and dance. This is all really boring times ten and talking to others is not an exercise that I am finding useful in the least as most people believe what they choose to believe, not what they actually know which requires time, investigation and research. I was surprised this weekend by companion to the island had never heard of furloughing or what that was, job sharing or that New York is NOT a right to work state as is Tennessee. He seemed certain it was and I pointed to the numerous unions that sway power over the area and that if they are telling you you can be fired without just cause that is an employment agreement but it is not the law and likely would get tossed in court if challenged over a termination. Again few really know shit about much and I spend most of my day after a conversation hearing, “I have learned so much from you.” I miss that FROM KIDS. I NEVER heard that once in Nashville, another city on the skids thanks to Covid.

This economic fallback is about how states and cities budget and their revenue stream. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have been covering these issues as they note the migration out of the city and the state now with more companies having work at home orders in place through next year. The reality is that tax revenues that come from property taxes is one source that will be evident next year but the more immediate sources of sales taxes and income taxes are already showing their underbelly. Hence Nashville is finally admitting that they have a deep problem and its bookend, Seattle, will as well. Both cities run on the most regressive tax policies ever and this will destroy their funding for schools and defund the police regardless, without federal intervention and rescue. Yes folks red and blue states are fucked, as I like to say that is Covid, the Herpes and AIDS of the 80s and 90s, we are all getting screwed this time without actual penetration. So much for safe sex. Glove up, Mask up folks. And keep moving.

Back to School

The Fourth of July is normally the mid point of summer, with families scheduling vacations around this date and the hot days of this month are marked by summer camps and other extracurriculars that have kids still socializing and experiencing some type of emotional and intellectual stimulation if not growth.  Right, that is if you have money and access.  Few if any programs exist other than local community centers that like the rest of the services for the great unwashed are quite limited.  Needless to say the antiquated notion of school running for nine months a year with the summer off might have to go the way with the rest of our former ideas on how to manage and operate the United States. Let’s face it folks, when Grocery Store workers, delivery drivers, public transportation operators and those others without degrees or established professional identities (think cooks, cleaners and other lower elements to the totem pole) are considered “essential” then we have a lot to rethink.  They were lumped in with Doctors and other medical professionals or “front line workers” who were there to basically do their job in surreal circumstances, and again those circumstances are the same with the kids going to camp, academy’s and the like during summer break, the staff that work at wealthy hospitals that serve wealthy families.  I have already put up the story about New York’s crisis with regards to how patients were treated, no, handled in public hospitals when they landed there for treatment.  If they were lucky they were shoved to the naval ship or the Javitz Center or the religious tent in Central Park but those numbers were few and far between and many never made it out of the hospital in anything but a body bag.

Yes American medical care is exceptional in that it has two classes of patients – the have and the have nots.  I am 99.9% sure that is why Harborview Hospital mistreated me in 2012 as they did not verify my insurance until after I was dismissed and in turn the damage was already done.  Anyone setting foot in that shithole well good luck to you, its only a miracle I did not die from their mistreatment and I suspect many have been now and no one will ever know as they don’t have a massive newspaper with resources to cover this story as most other cities do either so those stories will go untold and the bodies dumped in the potter’s field or thrown into storage trucks parked on roadsides as they are here.

**and for the record the local presses have been very active in uncovering major scandals.. It was the Keating 5 that came out of local press and the story about Boeing from The Seattle Times and there are many many more, The Boston Herald as the Priest scandal that without their local investigative journalism many stories like these would go unknown and the culprits on with their lives, like now but without a good movie. ****

In fact many of the unclaimed belongings are lost in the halls, closets or trash bins never to find a home or place to rest as well. Again if you think that staff aren’t stealing some of these things, think again. Drug theft is the most common (and that includes Doctors as well)  but they take whatever is not locked down if you don’t believe me,  ask this Nurse. I find it a miracle that I walked out with any jewelry or belongings from my incident.  Nurses are two bit cunts, and many others who work inside are lowly paid persons who frankly are largely ignored exploited workers, so they likely steal to use it to pawn.  I suspect why they have not raided that cookie jar is largely due to the fact that everyone is so bloody scared of Covid they aren’t touching that shit but what they can take, they will.  Again its hard to think of these “heroes” doing such a thing, yeah remember when you felt that way about Cops?

Here is the next casualty on the horizon, public schools and universities.  The reality is that States are driven by the budget crisis to cut everything from everything. So if you think public health and education are already cut to the bone, think again.  This is an irony on top of a crisis as now more than ever how schools and hospitals go forward will be a demanding if not expensive operation for decades to come. And in fact should be the norm as to ensure that parity and equity are finally achieved for all those who don’t have the privileges afforded them for being just essential workers.  I do find that hilarious that the dude who poured my coffee everyday and the other who brought my food had bigger role than my Accountant and Attorney whom I have not spoken to since this began is something that doesn’t surprise me, as I rarely did and they are both new having fired the last Accountant and had just contacted the Attorney to set up some business trust and get my estate in order.  Again more irony.   I have no idea if we ever will meet or I will find someone else as I never wrote a check or followed up after the quarantine went down.  So much for essential.

I don’t think any public teacher wants to set foot in any classroom without heavy duty protections in place, the same go with College Professors.  The reality is that the two cohorts who have the most problem following instructions and complying with order are kids, regardless of age.  I actually think of all kids, High Schoolers, would be the most easiest to work with as they are just of an age to rationalize what this means, the worst middle schoolers.  Then of course those in the first year or two of College are equally disrespectful as they have entitlement tattooed on their forehead as they are convinced their entrance means they are special, like everyone else.  What.ever.  So after binge drinking, pledging a Fraternity and then drugging some girl up to rape behind a dumpster I am sure they have no problem monitoring their health, wearing a mask and following social distance protocols.

This is what current Academics are saying with regards to returning to campus. And this will also be the guidelines for those in K-12 as who do you think are telling the White Daddies what to do. This is the “brain trust” who come up with these ideas, then go “Fuck this is not working out.” Because trying to tell people how to behave and guide human behavior when they won’t listen, don’t care, assume its a game, political, fraud, made up, will go away, the fault of some Chinese person or whatever other bullshit falls out of the mouth of Trump, tells you everything you need to know in why this shit is hitting the fan.  Then you have a media whose sole job is to not actually ask questions, seek varying opinions and follow stories that have the ability to fact check and substantiate, you got more problems. As I have read repeatedly stories that contradict, stories that have odd blank or missing facts without any critical analysis offered.   We have seen opinion pieces and ads published without editorial oversight and more importantly, actual scientific reports printed only to be retracted days and weeks later without any real warning noted at print time advising  that this may not be all that and a bag of chips has instead become the daily Covid Caller.   And these are from the papers that have serious reputations that over the years despite their own roles in major fuckups, (Iran, that one was bad there NYT) (oh and the Post you ain’t innocent either)  they are still considered the bellwether; so, when they screw it up we are screwed. Folks, most people are idiots, just ask the bleach drinkers.

And these same bleach drinkers breed, right there a problem, but do you honestly expect their children to be these compliant, well behaved individuals intent on following instructions and monitoring their behavior? Have you ever been to a public school?  They barely managed online learning, disrupting those classes when and if they ever showed.  So again, what about school?

Just ask these Teachers in Texas, hot bed for Covid 20 which seems worse than Covid 19. And of course the fish stinks from the head and so the White Daddies are putting this all on local districts without any guidance, let alone actual facts on how to do this, so I think this is like hospitals. The rich get all the goodies and the poor, well they can do what they always do, sink or swim.  Oh don’t know how to swim? Well yeah that costs extra and we don’t have any extra sauce for you kid.  Oh shit, (pun intended)  it is like Chipolte.  From parking lot fights to gun toting crazies if there is not another reason to set foot in that fast food dump there it is.  That place was a hot bed of norovirus numerous times,  you know like Covid, but less deadly.  So again if you think all these fights and furies are bad now, just wait.

Texas Teachers Consider Leaving The Classroom Over COVID-19 Fears

The Association of Texas Professional Educators recently surveyed some 4,200 educators. About 60% said they were concerned about their health and safety heading into the 2020-21 school year.

Laura Isensee | Posted on June 30, 2020,

For 40 years, Robin Stauffer has taught high school English in seven different school districts in three different states. Most recently, Advanced Placement English in Katy, where she says working with kids has kept her young and lighthearted.

But since the pandemic hit, a question has nagged at her: Is it time to retire?

“I was very upset and sad. I was torn. I went back and forth,” Stauffer said.

On the one hand, she isn’t ready to leave the classroom. She’s still passionate about why she joined the profession in the first place: “To be the type of teacher that I wish I would have had when I was in public school, to kind of right the wrongs that I experienced.”

On the other hand, she knows how hard it is to maintain a campus with thousands of students. Before COVID-19, district administrators in Katy reduced their custodial staff, and it was often up to teachers to clean their own rooms.

“They don’t supply hand sanitizer. They don’t supply wipes. None of these supplies were ever given to us. You just used what you had or what teachers themselves purchased,” she said.

Stauffer waited for the Katy Independent School District to release safety plans for back-to-school. Instead, she’s seen what she called a “back-to-normal” attitude.

And then she had to consider her health: She’s 66 years old, has diabetes and a family history of heart disease, all making her more vulnerable to the coronavirus.

“I just don’t trust the school district to safeguard my health during this pandemic,” she said.

Like Stauffer, many Texas teachers are on edge and considering leaving the profession even as the state’s education commissioner has declared it “safe for Texas public school students, teachers, and staff to return to school campuses for in-person instruction this fall.”

As many as one in five U.S. educators say they’re unlikely to return to the classroom because of the coronavirus, according to a national survey conducted before Texas indicated its light-handed approach to reopening schools.

“There are people that have already made the decision to quit,” said Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers. “There’s certainly a lot of people that are considering it. I’ve heard from others as well, too. They’re single parents and they don’t have a lot of choice.”

“So they’re depending on us,” Capo said, “to help make sure that they are afforded as much safety as possible in doing that. So that’s what keeps me moving.”

Higher risk

Nearly one-third of U.S. teachers are 50 years or older, according to federal data. That puts them at higher risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus. And the publication Education Week has identified more than 300 school staff and former educators who’ve died from COVID-19.

“There’s obviously a lot of fear because there are so many unanswered questions,” said Noel Candelaria, president of the Texas State Teachers Association.

He says school staff with underlying health conditions are also concerned. Consider his own family: Candelaria is married to Patty, who is a dyslexia therapist and has had three surgeries to fix a congenital heart defect.

“There are educators, like my wife, who if the districts do not provide an alternative method for them to do their job from home without exposing themselves, (they) are seriously considering a medical leave,” Candelaria said.

Texas public school districts are still waiting for safety and health guidelines from the Texas Education Agency. They were scheduled to be released last week, but were delayed after the Texas Tribune published draft rules indicating few mandatory safety measures.

That has weighed on many teachers.

“We can’t just talk about student health and safety without talking about educator health and safety, because they’re sharing the same space,” Candelaria said.

The Association of Texas Professional Educators recently surveyed some 4,200 educators. About 60% said they were concerned about their health and safety heading into the 2020-21 school year.

Sso far, however, that concern hasn’t translated into an increase in retirements. Nearly 22,000 teachers and state employees have retired this fiscal year, compared to about 25,000 last year, according to the Teacher Retirement System.

Few mandates

Gov. Greg Abbott has said districts will have some flexiblity in implementing safety protocols, and allowing families to continue remote learning.

“The state has already made allocations and is prepared to continue allocations of masks for schools, allowing, I think, for a level of flexibility at the local school district level to make the best determinations for the schools in that district about what the mask requirement should be,” Abbott told KBTX-TV in a recent interview.

But, the Republican governor has told state lawmakers Texas won’t mandate schools to require face coverings or test for COVID-19 symptoms.

“It was really shocking because it seems like nobody cares what’s going to happen in the schools,” said Kristen McClintock, who’s taught special education for six years at a large Houston high school.

She has a newborn and a toddler at home and doesn’t want to expose them to the virus. Nor does she want to expose her students with disabilities, whom she says she misses a lot.

“We’re almost like a family,” McClintock said. “So it’s been really hard to not be able to see them for months. I want to see some of them graduate next year”

But every night she and her husband discuss if they can afford for her to quit and rely on his income as an online tutor.

“It would cut our finances in half,” she said. “We would have to lean on support probably from family to try and get by.”

No choice

McClintock is still deciding. First, she wants to see more health data and detailed plans from the Houston Independent School District.

But veteran educator Stauffer has made up her mind. She turned in her resignation in May.

“All my life, I’ve been a teacher,” Stauffer said. “That is who I am. And to give up my identity, it will be challenging, but I don’t feel like I had another choice.”

She cleaned out her classroom, said goodbye to students over Zoom and didn’t have any real celebration.

That is, until some of her colleagues surprised her with a car parade, waving signs and balloons as they drove by — a fitting end to a 40-year career, in the age of COVID-19.

Take A Break

It is spring break time here in Nashville for the public schools and with it an uptick in teen violence culminating yesterday with a teen shooting his mother in the head then running into the street to take his own life.  Clearly the Social Emotional Learning component that the schools added to their curriculum as part of the restorative justice program is working out well.

Today we are awaiting a tornado or some other weather that I think sums up what it like to live in Nashville there is always a storm on the horizon.

The one thing I have learned here in the South is that they run on their own time zone and in turn like rugs lie regularly until they are rolled up and beaten to be clean but then always some dirt remains deep in the weave.

Then my happy day happened when the newest and best scandal to hit the National Enquirer since the Bezos dick pick, Varsity Blues. And while it seems to come from a TV Plot the city of Nashville, that hates to be ignored or as I call the city “The Ramona” (housewives fan will get the reference) which became the city of it due to one, began to immediately ingratiate themselves.  The local rag, citing an affidavit that they did not bother to reprint or link to,  that Vanderbilt was so proud yesterday that they claimed  it was impossible for any progeny of the rich and/or famous to enroll via their sports plan in such a manner. At Vanderbilt, the “lowest” football players have a 3.4 GPA and “have to be big time players,” the affidavit stated, quoting the witness. “Can’t hide (a student) there.”  What they neglect to mention is that this company avoided mainstream star making sports such as football and basketball and instead focused on no less important ones but less scrutinized ones, such as Crew or Water Polo.   Those are not big programs here as what matters here are football and basketball and they save those for future rapists and kids who are exploited for their talent then cut loose with a degree they failed to earn or be able to use if they don’t succeed in professional sports.  And in turn do any rich fucks care about this school?  And again we already know that many high schools do their best to cover up and in turn mask their athletes real grades but again I only work in education.  What I find hilarious is that I doubt they have standards that these kids without the help could have enrolled so bitch please! 

The infamous Twitter Doctor, Eugene GU,  who was a a Resident at Vanderbilt Hospital about the racism and discrimination in that facility and despite that the college is distinctly separate it is no less bizarre.  See Carol Swain as one of the many faculty who demonstrate the crazy that goes on here to show how not racist they are.   Dr Gu was outspoken about his very liberal political beliefs and he paid the price by losing his job.    As an expert in the field of pre natal obstetrics his opinion on the current slate of laws that the wonderful legislature is passing regarding abortion is just another way of demonstrating how bat fucking shit crazy here.  Take some personal responsibility yourself.  The same legislature that refuses to expand medical care and access, against wage laws to improve the standard of living and all while preaching christian ethics is an irony wrapped in a conundrum of bullshit.

But as I have said many times to people: Know your enemy and from them you learn how to work around them.  It is very much a metaphor used in sports and you can’t spit your tobacco far enough to not here someone referencing a local team in any conversation.  Amazon was smart enough to find local grads to push their agenda and where they failed in New York they managed to do here so welcome.  When do we change the name of the Cumberland to the Amazon?   What I love is that the same man who wrote the editorial lived here but makes no plan of moving back here.  Stupid is a does and clearly he is not stupid.   Amazon has a notorious history for not embracing the community nor partaking in interactive processes with communities or with employees.  As of late they are making  some donations to local charities from their 11 billion un-taxed revenue to educational services (they did this in Seattle too) to placate the locals but will  also make for another nice deduction in which to further avoid paying taxes. 

And to add this is again another bunch of crap, literally. As the assault on the Gay community continues with another bill focusing on of course – toilets. These people are so used to shitting in the woodshed I am not sure why the care about those who elect to use a public toilet. And I do find it disturbing that someone is so concerned with what I am doing behind a stall door. Well this is Tennessee the shithole capital of America.

I will write more about Varsity Blues when I can sit down and read the actual documents and allow for more developments to unfold.  But this to me is the confirmation of what I have long suspected about education and in turn the ultimate issues with helicopter parenting and how it damages everyone in their path.  This is a massive failure for the children as they will always have this stigmata burned onto their skin.  I see the same with children of poverty here in Nashville. They go to jail for very different yet ironically very similar reasons – the failure of education and parents to get them the help they need.

I need a break from this and I need out of Nashville but nothing good comes easy. Someone should be teaching people that.

The Clash of Titans

Irony or by intent that the Nashville NFL Team is called the Titans.  As I have said in numerous posts the odd conundrum that exists living in the buckle of the belt of the Bible.   The amount of money generated by tourism and booze is not lost all in the shadow of Churches.  The amount of Churches rival any Starbucks for their presence on every corner and the rising tide of Opioid addiction while struggling once again to allow Medical Marijuana and sale of wine on Sundays. 

Then you have the designation of the “It” City best perpetuated by the starfucking former Mayor who did more than that with her “bodyguard.”  Then we have serious sports hysteria with the Predators and the push for Soccer as again sports is the drug we need to generate money and in turn build the City reputation  all while ignoring housing and affordability via wages and job security in a state that is right to work. Funny how sports teams all have unions and representation to secure their jobs.

Of course the public infrastructure system is horrific, from buses to sidewalks/crosswalks to a public transit system that is being sent to the 20% or so who vote in any election and  that has set this city on a tear debating the value of such.  Add to this a public school system that in debt with little explanation or justification from the Director of Schools who is so busy hiring crony’s and in turn firing them or doing whatever it takes to prove that notion of the Carpetbagger.

Then you have the medical industry that dominates the city but the public hospital is on life support.  And the health and overall wellness as well as possessing health insurance is again a contradiction. Those who are healthy and less in need possess insurance and that is linked to again Education and Employment, which only 40% possess such jobs that enable this.  The songs sung in Honky Tonk’s ring of sad times, bad times, good times, drunk times is another oxymoron with 53% of the population Evangelical. I find that the songs they sing similar be they in the pews or at bar stools very as they very much explain the endless martyrdom and oppressiveness akin to a veil over a Bride’s face;  One is never sure if that is to either hide her fear or shock her groom, either way no one is quite a virgin when it comes to the reality of what waits for you at the end of the line in God’s country.

I often compare Nashville to Seattle but in reality Seattle has always been a bookend to San Francisco and that is the city in which it has always aspired.  Nashville’s bookend is Boston, religious, led by cultural mores, surrounded by schools, a sense of import and history and one divided by class and race in the same way Nashville is.   It is one’s family, one’s roots and where one is from that dominates the culture.   The way one speaks is the moniker for identity and says to those around you who you are and in turn enables those to judge and in turn label you.  All of this is the same in the South.    It is just again the beverage of choice that marks the difference – Tennessee Whiskey or Irish – the culture of the past is very much the culture of the present.

The West Coast is very much a part of America that has always lived in the moment.  Cities in the West are defined by its people and they define the City.  What once made San Francisco the city of “hip”  is now the City of Tech and the same with Seattle.  But they share a liberal leaning that in turn leads to oversharing, overtalking and pearl clutching.  The Seattle process marked by endless circle jerking and repeating the same talking points that is marked by the infamous Seattle Freeze.  The South too claims to be “nice” or  hospitable but that is simply having manners and avoiding eye contact.  As for Boston I cannot truly comment as I went once and let’s just say once was enough.  I could not tell the difference between the weather and the people – cold with a heavy chill.

Outsiders looking in.  West Coast does not tie its identity to teams, they do but not in the way the East and South do.  There are few shops that sell Nativist wear that have the city or state name on them and no one I have ever known calls themselves a “Seattleite” or ‘”San Fransiscan” they are simply “from” there.   People ask where you went to school as if to determine your value or worth or simply to be curious but I never had any discussion about being an Alumnus of the University of Washington in the same ways they do in other parts of the country. Identity comes from your team, from your school, from your family line and the church you belong.   Truly when it comes to looking at why our country is divided I think you need to simply look at the city and the history and the culture. They are more homogeneous, parochial and conservative than you are led to believe.   Most people in America are very provincial and that is the basic foundation of the American dream but as that dream becomes more tenuous and more fragile it explains why we all hate each other in ways that are like game day.  They are the enemy, they want to win, you want to win and you will do it at great cost as no one wants to be the loser. All of it is much like sports, run by rich white men who make sure the players do what they want when they want and if they take a knee be forewarned that they may Tonya Harding you to the other.

Welcome to the clash of the Titans.  It’s game day everyday in America and we are always on offense or defense.  It explains the brain injuries as how else can you stop playing the game.

East-West Culture Clash? Boston, San Francisco See Happiness Differently

By: Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Published: 09/18/2012 0

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed up at a meeting with Wall Street investors in May wearing a hoodie, his sartorial choice sparked a flurry of headlines contrasting Silicon Valley’s laid-back culture with the East Coast’s insistence on formality.

Now, new research finds that this West Coast-East Coast culture clash isn’t just media stereotyping. In fact, people living in the east coast city of Boston closely link their overall life satisfaction with how content they are with their own social status. In San Francisco, residents don’t make the same connection, reflecting a more individualistic, free-to-be-me culture.

“Our ideas about who we are and how we should feel are shaped in quite dramatic ways by our local environment,” said study researcher Victoria Plaut, a social and cultural psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley Law School. Broadly speaking, Plaut told LiveScience, the stereotypes are true: “If you examine the local world, you’ll find that the East is more old and established, and the West is more new and free.”

A tale of two cities

Plaut and her colleagues are interested in how interactions between a person’s environment and their own individual characteristics affect their well-being. While your own personality, education, finances and relationships all make a difference in how happy you are, Plaut said, “they might matter in different ways in different places.” [7 Things That Will Make You Happy]

The researchers wanted to go in-depth, so they picked two cities that are similar on many levels but differ in historical and cultural ways. Boston and San Francisco are both waterfront, politically liberal cities with similar economies and lots of well-educated residents, Plaut said. But while Puritans founded Boston in 1630, San Francisco didn’t boom until the gold rush era of the 1840s, when thousands of hopeful miners flooded California, hoping to get rich quickly.

Even today, the makeup of the cities is different. About 60 percent of Bostonians are natives of Massachusetts, and only 16 percent of city residents are originally from other countries. In San Francisco, 38 percent of residents originally come from California. Nearly a third of San Franciscans are foreign-born.

Tradition vs. freedom

The attitude differences between the Boston metro area and the San Francisco Bay Area could be summed up in the marketing copy, or viewbooks, of the regions’ prominent universities, Plaut and her colleagues wrote online Sept. 13 in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Stanford University in California opens its 2009 viewbook with the words, “The wind of freedom blows,” and refers to “forward-looking, forward-thinking people” looking for “the freedom to be themselves.”

Harvard University, on the other hand, opened its 2008 and 2009 viewbook by discussing the school’s “tradition of excellence” since 1636 and talking up the community of students and faculty.

The researchers wanted to find out if this freedom versus tradition schism was widespread in each metro area. First, they surveyed an online sample of Bostonians and San Franciscans, asking them their own perceptions of social norms in their cities. They found Bostonians perceived the culture in Boston to be much more rigid than San Franciscans viewed Bay Area norms.

“Bostonians are more likely than San Franciscans to believe that there are clear expectations for how people should behave in their city,” Plaut said. “Whereas San Franciscans are more likely than Bostonians to believe that in their areas people have the freedom to go their own way.”

Next, the researchers analyzed the “cultural products” of each city — newspaper headlines and the websites of hospitals and venture capital firms. (Health care and venture capital are major industries in both cities.) They found that the Boston Globe refers more often to communities and groups than the San Francisco Chronicle, which favors stories about innovation, creativity and notable individuals. While the Globe might lead with a headline like, “Church Struggles to Keep Its Voice,” the Chronicle might go with “Wheelchair Athlete Sets High Goals.”

Likewise, Boston venture capital firms were more likely to tout their reputation and experience, while San Francisco firms emphasized their pioneering spirit. Accel, a San Francisco firm, epitomized this attitude with marketing copy like, “We partner with entrepreneurs around the world who have unique, breakthrough ideas and the courage to be first.”

Even local hospitals reflected their city attitude. Boston hospitals tried to lure patients with a focus on their facilities, skilled community of physicians and long histories. San Francisco hospitals were more likely to mention alternative medicine and individual patient empowerment.

Happiness differences

Next, Plaut and her colleagues looked beyond the marketing patter to the city residents themselves. They surveyed 3,485 Boston and San Francisco residents about their satisfaction with their finances, family, community, education and work, as well as their overall satisfaction with themselves. In Boston, overall satisfaction was contingent on satisfaction with all five of these factors, while in San Francisco, only work satisfaction was correlated with overall satisfaction.

In another survey, the researchers asked 403 riders of public transportation in Boston (the MBTA) and San Francisco (CalTrain) questions about things that made them happy(daily uplifts) and daily hassles. [7 Thoughts That Are Bad For You]

They found that Bostonians are at their happiest when relieved of daily hassles, especially those related to family and work relations — again emphasizing the community-based nature of the city, Plaut said. In San Francisco, happiness was more closely tied to the number of everyday uplifting experiences a person had.

“The bottom line is that in Boston, people feel the social pressure more than in San Francisco,” Plaut said.

The findings don’t suggest that every Bostonian loves tradition and community while San Franciscans are all wild and free creative types, Plaut said. The differences are on a citywide scale, not an individual one. Nor does the study suggest that one city is happier than the other, just that residents of each city might find their happiness in different ways.

The trend is likely driven both by the cities’ history and natives as well as by outsiders drawn by each town’s reputation, Plaut said.

The findings are useful for understanding how cross-regional interactions — like Zuckerberg’s hoodie incident — can go wrong, Plaut said. They may also matter to businesses trying to break into new markets or move employees from one city to another. Transferring to a city that doesn’t share your values can be very disorienting, Plaut said.

“That can even cause unhappiness and anxiety. It can cause people to experience a lack of belongingness,” she said. “Understanding the source of that disorientation is an important first step in addressing it.”

Sexual Harassment 100

I would take that class as a precursor to understand what the fuck is going on in our Universities/Colleges across America.

I am irritated by the precious snowflake syndrome (PSS) that seems to dominate the discussion about students who protest speakers, books, people, costumes, Professors, building names and anything that bothers them.  Funny I don’t see them running amok about having to fuck their Professors for getting an A.

In my college days I never met any Professors until I went back to school post grad in my 30s. They hated me and now I get it, I was actually opinionated and dismayed at what comprised a curriculum. which I was unafraid to express.  (Some things never change). And they too used that as a way of discouraging me or disparaging me professionally. It escalated to point where I filed a formal complaint.  It was utterly ignored.  (This is clearly some things that never change regardless)   I was paying my own way, working full time and had only two Professors worth anything;  One a Lesbian adjunct  and the other a well established and respected Sociology Professor who laughed when I said I was told by a Professor I was functionally illiterate.   This same Professor had exempted me from finals as I had clearly an A and was engaged in the class in a manner he respected.   Both knew it was politics not academics.  So what does that tell you? It tells you it is what you say and to whom you say it in College is what matters, not the content but the context.  And the content matters but it must be what they expect, need and want to hear.   That is across education frankly. 

It is why when I taught, I graded papers and exchanged them with my then husband for a second opinion.  In addition,  I informed students that they were to write their names on the back page or a separate page that I could fold over and just read it as anonymous.  You do read with bias as this is best illustrated with ELL or SPED kids whom I graded on their own standards which takes time and actually knowing the students, you cannot do that with a heavy class load.  And in turn you do read with an eye, bias is just that and it can come from a number of factors.

Today they have rubrics to supposedly eliminate that but you still read a paper with knowledge and opinion of the author and it is impossible to not so you have to utterly eliminate that or simply just look for the marks and if they hit it then grade accordingly and know that ultimately it serves as an expedient way in which to grade.  I love it as it makes no homework for me but it tells students nothing.

So when I read this in the Guardian, it was again not surprising. In fact I think I might be pissed.  No one ever wanted to fuck me in College and for the record is is Grad students who most often do and they hated me too!  One said when he handed me a paper, “I did not think you would get an A that was surprising.” And why?  All finals were graded by the Professor.  Whoops fucker fooled you!  Yes, I am a bitch.  I recently told that to my Surgeon who responded, “that is not a medical condition.” Ah some people get me.

Again, men you have something in your DNA clearly that does this. Or you are all just assholes.

Sexual harassment: records show how University of California faculty target students


Documents reveal patterns in how officials appear to target vulnerable students they oversee – in some cases dramatically impeding their studies and careers

Sam Levin in San Francisco
Tbe Guardian
Wednesday 8 March 2017

University of California professor Eric Gans told his female graduate student that he loved her – and that “in another universe”, they were meant to share a life together.

“I have never seen you more beautiful than the past two days,” the French and Francophone studies professor wrote to the student in May 2011, when he was 69 years old. “I can’t help feeling that … you are being beautiful for me, that I somehow inspire this beauty.”

The letter came one week before the UC Los Angeles (UCLA) student had to take an exam that Gans would evaluate. It caused her to become anxious and depressed, and according to a university investigation, was one of many sexually harassing messages he sent even though she repeatedly stated she was not interested in a romantic relationship.

The report about Gans, who eventually stepped down, is part of a massive release of public records surrounding 113 cases of alleged sexual misconduct by employees across the University of California. The more than a thousand pages of documents from one of the largest and most prestigious public university systems in the US offer an unprecedented look at the scope and scale of claims of sexual harassment and violence that activists say have long plagued college campuses.

A review by the Guardian, which received the records last week, revealed similarities in the way faculty, advisers and other academic officials appear to target vulnerable students they oversee – in some cases dramatically impeding their studies and careers.

“One single influential professor can make or break the entire career of a student,” said Noreen Farrell, executive director of Equal Rights Advocates, a national civil rights group that has fought gender discrimination at UC. “This is not unique to the University of California.”

‘I really was terrified’

The records release comes after a year of intense scrutiny on the UC system surrounding multiple high-profile cases of powerful faculty members and administrators who avoided serious consequences after investigators substantiated claims of sexual harassment.

The documents include completed investigation reports and resulting disciplinary records from January 2013 to April 2016 across 10 campuses. Roughly 35% of the complaints came from students, and a quarter of all accused were faculty, according to university officials.

The records reveal that investigators substantiated students’ claims against UC professors for a wide range of misconduct, including lewd comments, unwanted propositions, inappropriate touching and sexual assault.

Some were terminated or resigned, but others faced minimal consequences, the records show. One-third of the accused still work for the university.

At UCLA alone, at least six faculty members faced sexual misconduct investigations. One unnamed associate professor there allegedly told a female student that she “looked so beautiful” and he was “distracted by her charm”. In an email, he said he was inspired to write her poetry.

According to an investigator’s report, when the student subsequently skipped class because she felt uncomfortable, the professor reprimanded her, emailing: “You really should not be missing classes. This is very serious, as it is disruptive to your education.”

The complaint was resolved with a settlement in which the professor did not admit wrongdoing but agreed to pay a $7,500 fee in lieu of a suspension without pay.

Another unnamed male faculty member at UCLA was accused of sending flirtatious and sexual emails to a female student. After she rejected him, he emailed: “Will try and take a cold shower. Don’t know if it’s gonna work though.”

The student, describing the impact of the messages, said: “I spent my days not studying my research but agonizing over how I could possibly fix a situation that I had not created.”

“I really was terrified of what would happen to me academically if I had to cut him from my life.”

The faculty member also resolved the matter with a settlement.

UCLA spokesman Tod Tamberg told the Guardian that both professors who settled remain at the university.

‘A vicious cycle’

While there has been increasing recognition of the epidemic of campus sexual assault in America, the UC records reveal a disturbing pattern in how administrators deal with assailants when they are faculty, Farrell said: “It’s a vicious cycle. How is a college to shift a culture among its students if it’s giving a free pass to its own employees?”

According to the investigator, Gans, the French studies professor who told his student that he loved her, claimed that he believed his overtures to his student were “welcome”, even though she repeatedly suggested otherwise, including one message that said, “I have to make it clear that I don’t see you in a romantic way.”

Gans also reached a settlement that allowed him to assume “emeritus status” but blocked him from teaching, mentoring or advising students in the future.

In an email to the Guardian, Gans criticized the university’s process, saying he was not able to present his side of the case and was not “given anything resembling the ‘due process of law’ guaranteed by the constitution”.

Investigators at UC Santa Cruz determined that Hector Perla, an assistant professor of Latin American and Latino studies, sexually assaulted one of his female students in 2015. Perla, who could not be reached for comment, resigned when disciplinary proceedings began, according to the university. The student’s lawyers recently announced that UC agreed to pay $1.15m to settle the case, which is believed to be one of the largest Title IX settlements in the history of Title IX, the federal anti-discrimination law.

Academic officials at many levels faced accusations, according to the records.

At UC Merced, a male instructing lecturer asked a former female student to meet with him to see if she would be interested in helping him grade papers. Later, according to an investigation report, the lecturer sent her a text message that said, “I wanted you to take your pants off.”

The employee, whose name was redacted, was given a warning.

Joseph Lewis, a dean at UC Irvine, was found to have violated harassment policies after an unnamed person filed a complaint about the administrator making offensive sexual and misogynistic comments and inappropriate touching. Lewis, who did not respond to requests for comment, resigned as dean but was able to take a paid sabbatical, according to spokesman Tom Vasich: “He is aware of and will abide by policies regarding faculty conduct.”

Kathleen Salvaty, the UC’s systemwide coordinator for Title IX said the university has strengthened its policies and procedures since many of these cases were adjudicated, including improving opportunities for confidential reporting and mandating that faculty alert her office to complaints of harassment.

“The more we educate our students about their rights and their options, I think students can feel empowered,” she said.

The university has noted that the complaints cover a large system that employs 250,000 people. But Salvaty admitted that there were likely other victims who decided not to come forward: “The cases that distress me are the cases where the people don’t report.”

Can You Afford It?

That is broad question as it usually means if you cannot afford it then you don’t buy it. When it comes to going to College that seems to be a non-starter.

Can’t seem to win on either as we are told repeatedly that having a degree will be the road to riches. And that piece of paper is akin to a deed when you leave as it is often the cost of a luxury car or a down payment to a house that you can no longer afford with a lifetime of debt that is supposedly a guarantee that you will get a better job to pay them off.

Well the Obama’s proved it as they had student debt until they entered the White House, so see kids it’s true! And when you go out to eat you don’t order food you cannot eat or don’t want. But apparently in College  you do and that, like the athletic fees I wrote about earlier, you pay whether you use it or not. Well that is equality right? Perhaps set up a protest or a safe space about that.  

Meal Plan Costs Tick Upward as Students Pay for More Than Food
 By STEPHANIE SAUL
The New York Times
 DEC. 5, 2015

 KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Before his 35-mile commute through Appalachian hills to classes here at the University of Tennessee, Michael Miceli eats a gigantic breakfast. It is his way of getting through the day without spending money on a campus lunch.

Food deprivation is merely one trick Mr. Miceli uses to minimize his college debt, now creeping past $22,000. So the $300 bill he got from the university this semester — for food — sent him into a tailspin. “I was in near panic at the thought of having to borrow more money,” said Mr. Miceli, 23, a linguistics major.

For the first time this year, the University of Tennessee imposed a $300-per-semester dining fee on Mr. Miceli and about 12,000 other undergraduates, including commuters, who do not purchase other meal plans. The extra money will help finance a $177 million student union with limestone cornices, clay-tiled roofing and copper gutters, part of a campus reconstruction plan aimed at elevating the University of Tennessee to a “Top 25” public university.

Tennessee’s contract with its dining vendor, Aramark, is just one example of how universities nationwide are embracing increasingly lucrative deals with giant dining contractors, who offer commissions and signing bonuses to help pay for campus improvements and academic programs. It is part of a new model of raising money through partnerships with private vendors, officials say, and with state funding for higher education still below pre-recession levels, a way to replace lost revenue.

Under its contract, which runs through 2027, Tennessee will get 14 percent of all food revenues plus $15.2 million in renovations to dining facilities. In exchange for signing a 20-year contract that runs through 2034, the University of Virginia recently got a $70 million contribution from Aramark, based in Philadelphia — in addition to $19 million in renovations and annual commissions increasing to $19 million a year.

Texas A&M announced a 10-year deal in 2012 with Chartwells, a subsidiary of the British-based Compass Group, that included a $22.7 million signing bonus and $25 million in capital investments. Universities frequently announce the windfalls with great fanfare, but critics say the cost gets passed on to students and contributes to the expense of college. Tom Mac Dermott, a dining consultant who works with universities, said upfront payments were built into the price of the meal plans.

“When you keep tacking on this stuff, the cost of the plan goes up.” President Obama mocked gourmet college food in a speech in February at Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis, suggesting that it raised college costs.

And meal plan fees are increasing annually at many schools, driven partly by demands that food be locally sourced, freshly made and hormone-free. Yet the particulars of the contracts reveal that much of the meal plan cost does not go for an individual’s food. Colleges use the money to shore up their balance sheets, create academic programs and scholarships, fund special “training tables” to feed athletes, and pay for meals for prospective students touring campus. Like many such deals, Texas A&M’s agreement with Chartwells comes with a catch, Mr. Mac Dermott said.

If Texas A&M wants to cancel the deal, a pro rata portion of the money must be repaid. “Suppose the operator isn’t doing well over time?” Mr. Mac Dermott said. “The university can’t get rid of them. The investments are made on the guarantee that if the contract is terminated by either party, the client will return the money. That’s not a gift.” But Phillip Ray, A&M’s vice chancellor for business affairs, said there was no clawback if the contract were terminated for cause.

 “People say, ‘You’ve signed this big deal, now they own you,’ ” Mr. Ray said. “Not at all. We call the shots.” In 2013, the year after A&M entered its agreement, several dining facilities there were temporarily closed by the county health department, which found rodent droppings and a roach infestation. Other colleges have deals that offer sweeteners — renovations to the president’s house, private parties catered for employees, free meals for athletic officials in exchange for free football tickets.

These arrangements, which auditors have criticized, can create revenue streams outside the normal budgeting process for funding pet projects, raising the potential of abuse. At South Carolina State University, a historically black institution, a 2014 audit found that students paid $343 a year in “hidden costs” for food. The money was rebated to the institution by its vendor, Sodexo, a French company, partly to pay for a $5 million wellness center, which was never built. The university, under new leadership, said it has ceased the practices described.

 An audit this year at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette found that the food vendor catered free parties for children of a university employee while inflating bills to the university. In a response to the audit, the university said the employee had repaid the fees.

 For food vendors, one of the critical components in turning a profit is a guaranteed revenue stream. Hofstra University on Long Island announced in 2013 that it would require a minimum buy-in from all residential students. Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., will require participation by even seniors who live in dormitories with kitchens next year, said Skyler Golann, chairman of the student dining committee.

“There’s definitely been a backlash,” said Mr. Golann, a sophomore from Hinesburg, Vt. Brandeis said the requirement would help pay to renovate dining halls without increasing tuition and other fees.

This is how mandatory meal plans have become a political issue, both on campus and off. The New Jersey General Assembly last year adopted a ban on mandatory meal plans, although it was never approved by the Senate. “Some colleges were particularly egregious in requiring high-cost meal plans,” said Assemblyman Joseph P. Cryan, who sponsored the legislation. Meal plans at some private schools cost more than $3,000 a semester. The mandatory meal plans that have created the biggest controversies are those imposed on students who live off campus.

One of the first protests arose in Alabama, where students at several universities sued to block the plans, but the Alabama Supreme Court ruled against them in 2011. Danny Evans, a Birmingham lawyer for the students, said that since his lawsuit, the idea has “gone viral,” spreading to other colleges.

This year, in addition to the University of Tennessee, colleges ranging from Loyola New Orleans to Suffolk County Community College on Long Island — a commuter school with no dormitories — have announced mandatory commuter meal fees. Responding to complaints, administrators said dining was important for commuters because it fostered campus community, citing studies showing that students with meal plans stay in school longer.

Administrators here at the University of Tennessee, where a $1,899-per-semester meal plan is mandatory for freshmen who live on campus, first floated the requirement that other students buy a $300-per-semester meal plan at a meeting two years ago. Grant Davis, a student who attended the meeting, at which Aramark served lobster ravioli, said, “We knew we were being greased.”

 Students protested the plan, garnering more than 1,000 signatures practically overnight on a petition titled “Don’t Force Feed Us.” Phase 1 of the new student union building, heralded as the cornerstone of a campus transformation, opened this year, with a Chick-fil-A, Subway, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Starbucks and several other restaurants. Students can get refunds if they do not eat the food, but experience at other schools shows that most succumb to the fast-food temptations.

 Mr. Miceli, a senior from Dandridge, Tenn., intends to ask for a refund. Even so, he said, he regards the money as a loan to the university that he could not afford

And meanwhile why sports and athletic directors are the big earners at public universities, and adjunct professors pic up the slack the Private schools are ensuring their status as truly unaffordable as their chancellors and deans are hitting the CEO mark when it comes to salary.

Funny I was told when you entered the education field it was lowly paid, highly challenging and a work that pays in dividends, just not the stock kind. I guess I chose the wrong field in public ed. Well you gotta eat. Maybe they can give them a meal ticket as a benefit instead.

 Salaries of Private College Presidents Continue to Rise, Chronicle Survey Finds
By STEPHANIE SAUL
 The New York Times
DEC. 6, 2015

Despite pressure on institutions of higher learning to hold down costs, the compensation of private college presidents continues to climb, up 5.6 percent between 2012 and 2013 to a median of $436,000, according to an annual survey.

 The ranking of salaries at 497 colleges contained some expected names among the top 10 earners in 2013, including Columbia University’s Lee C. Bollinger, the longest-serving president of an Ivy League university.

Mr. Bollinger’s compensation totaled $4.6 million, which the university said included $1.17 million in base pay, an incentive payment of $940,000, use of a university residence, and other deferred compensation, placing him at No. 1 on the list. Ranking second is the University of Pennsylvania’s Amy Gutmann, who received just over $3 million, according to the survey, by The Chronicle of Higher Education, a publication that specializes in news for college faculty and administrators. Ms. Gutmann’s compensation included a salary of about $1.17 million and a bonus of nearly $1.48 million according to the survey. But the list also contained some surprises.

Placing third is the president of High Point University, a relatively obscure school in North Carolina with an enrollment of about 4,000. The university’s president, Nido Qubein, received $2.9 million, which included a $2.2 million deferred compensation distribution.

 No. 4 is Richard M. Joel, president of Yeshiva University in New York, regarded as the flagship college of Modern Orthodox Judaism. Mr. Joel’s compensation, $2.5 million, was notable in light of Yeshiva’s ongoing financial difficulties since 2008, when it lost about $100 million that had been invested with Bernard Madoff, a former university trustee.

 In 2009, Mr. Joel announced layoffs and a hiring and pay freeze. Since then, the university’s bonds have been downgraded to below investment grade by Moody’s Investors Service, which last year cited “continued weakening of the university’s financial viability” and a “rapid deterioration of unrestricted liquidity.”

 In a statement, Yeshiva University said Mr. Joel’s compensation in 2013 was because of a one-time payment that covered six years of deferred compensation. Since then, Mr. Joel requested that his compensation be reduced by $100,000 in 2014, and reduced by an additional $50,000 this year, the university said. Mr. Joel recently announced that he would step down as president in 2018 at the end of his current term.

Rounding out the Top 10 list were the presidents of Vanderbilt University, Tulane University, Johns Hopkins University, Rockefeller University, New York University and the University of Southern California. Their compensation exceeded $1 million each. In all, 32 university presidents received $1 million or more in compensation during the year, a slight decline from the previous year, when the number was 36. Since 2008, 77 presidents have appeared on the list of millionaires at least once.

The survey is conducted annually by The Chronicle. This year, a similar survey of public universities by The Chronicle revealed that salaries at those institutions were also up, by 7 percent. The data, reflecting the most recent period available in reports required by the government, appears to show that even during a time when colleges are under pressure to hold down costs, boards remain generous with their chief executives.

 “From talking to boards of trustees, often what we hear is that they’ll pay whatever they have to to retain the talent at their institutions,” said Sandhya Kambhampati, a database reporter for The Chronicle. “There’s a finite number of people available for these positions.” The chairman of Columbia’s board, Jonathan D. Schiller, praised Mr. Bollinger in a statement released by the university.

“Under his leadership, we see Columbia is performing at a level and achieving a standing it has not enjoyed in many years, solidifying its place at the top rank of the world’s great universities,” the statement said. Mr. Qubein’s compensation at High Point was dramatically higher than compensation at similar universities, according to The Chronicle. Among colleges considered peers were Elizabethtown, where Carl J. Strikwerda received $316,299 in compensation, and Messiah, where Kim S. Phipps received $359,531.

Both those colleges are in Pennsylvania. At High Point, Mr. Qubein has made news for a $2 billion improvement campaign. A successful businessman and motivational speaker before becoming president, Mr. Qubein has also donated part of his personal fortune to the university, which is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

 In a statement emailed to The New York Times, a university spokeswoman, Pam Haynes, said Mr. Qubein had raised $275 million for the university and was among its most generous donors.

 Quoting the university’s board chairman, Richard Vert, the statement said, “It would be impossible to compensate Dr. Qubein for the incredible results he delivers.”

 Forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service covering the fiscal year 2013 reveal that the university has reported “business transactions with related persons,” which can sometimes be regarded as presenting potential conflicts of interest.

 For example, a company called Creative Services Inc., which provides public relations and marketing, is owned by Mr. Qubein’s children, but the university said that the relationship predated Mr. Qubein’s appointment as president. The university banks with BB&T, where Mr. Qubein is on the board.

Potato Potato

In light of the Vanderbilt rape case and the problems with sports “culture” or the Frat boy culture which the Atlantic Monthly did an amazing article a year ago abuot the Frat lifestyle and the problems therein. Funny no one mentioned this as they were villifying the Rolling Stone mishap earlier.

And therein lies another problem. You say potatoe I say potatow… how we define ourselves and our relationships and our sexuality is one for debate. I watched the most atrocious show on TLC called “My Husband is not Gay” and then described their spouses as SSA or same sex attraction. I thought that used to be called bi-sexual but apparently its only that if you actually have sex with the same sex and the opposite too. Its SSA if you just find them attractive but don’t act on it. Well I think Angelina Jolie is beautiful, Uma Thurman hot, am I SSA? Again its how you take that brush to sweep either a broad or narrow picture to suit your MEME (a far more appropriate acronym).

So you say rape and I say no, you say yes and I say no or whatever the current MEME is about the matter of what defines sexual assault. There are a lot of problems with this and frankly the communication between men and women and the matter of sex are all issues with regards to how this is defined. I have reprinted an article below that discusses this.

And then I read this article about booze, the number one blame in the game for just about every misdemeanor from assault, to driving to death. And finally the Washington Post actually decided to look into the claims and the stats used to make these wonderfully broad sweeping statements and in turn often laws that further criminalizes and penalize a myriad of behaviors that we just don’t like.

As I said yesterday to a woman, as much as I find the matter of Prostitution loathsome, if a man or woman over the age of consent and it fact over 21 frankly, does so willingly and without provocation, addiction issues or abuse decides to sell her vadge or any other sexual service to a willingly human being who will in turn compensate her appropriately, practice sex safely and in turn not bring harm to anyone in the community then have at it. And of course someone said to me that they read “studies” that most prostitutes are tied ot human trafficking. Really? What studies? Of course they never can cite such studies or know who conducted them, the validity of the data, the funding and intent. We already know that a New York Times columnist, Nick Kristof, who is deeply concerned about this issue was duped by a supposed savior of girls from human trafficking called Somaly Mom . And there is a great deal of debate about what exactly comprises human trafficking and this article in HuffPo I think succinctly summarizes the bullshit like WAPO article about college drinking, that mythology lives not just in Ancient Greece or Rome but in the junk science stats collected to pursue an agenda.

January 13, 2015

Lots of Men Don’t Think Rape Is Rape
By Jesse Singal

Pollsters have long known that the phrasing of a question can significantly affect how respondents answer it — think about the language battle over “pro-life” and “anti-choice.” So maybe it shouldn’t be surprising to hear that this applies to sexual assault: Both men and women will offer different responses to questions about rape depending on whether you use the word rape itself or describe the act in question. But it’s still weird how big some of the resulting gaps are.

This isn’t actually a new finding. In a recent study on male college students’ attitudes toward rape led by Sarah Edwards of the University of North Dakota and published in Violence and Gender, the authors cite research first conducted in the 1980s:

Specifically, when survey items describe behaviors (i.e.,‘‘Have you ever coerced somebody to intercourse by holding them down?’’) instead of simply label them (i.e., ‘‘Have you ever raped somebody?’’), more men will admit to sexually coercive behaviors in the past and more women will self-report past victimization.

Edwards and her team wanted to better understand the male side of this gap — that is, why men react differently (and divulge different information) depending on the wording — so they had a group of college men fill out a few surveys. One asked them which sorts of behaviors they would engage in “if nobody would ever know and there wouldn’t be any consequences.” It included items that both used the word rape and that instead described the act of forcing someone to have sex against their will without using the r-word itself. Other survey items assessed the participants’ levels of hostility toward women, hypermasculinity (which includes “viewing danger as exciting, regarding violence as manly, and endorsement of callous sexual attitudes”), and attraction to sexual aggression.

Almost a third of the men (31.7 percent) said that in a consequence-free situation, they’d force a woman to have sexual intercourse, while 13.6 percent said they would rape a woman. Setting aside the fact that it’s terrifying that a full third of a random group of college men will admit to this, the 20-point divide is still weird, even if it does reflect what’s been observed in previous research: At the end of the day, after all, the two groups are saying the exact same thing.

So how did those who endorsed rape differ from those who “only” endorsed forcible intercourse? Edwards and her team found that the men who endorsed rape when the term was used had higher hostility toward women and more callous attitudes about sex. This might matter from a prevention standpoint. The researchers think that “men who endorse using force to obtain intercourse on survey items but deny rape on the same may not experience hostile affect in response to women, but might have dispositions more in line with benevolent sexism.”

In other words, not all potential rapists go around talking about how much they hate women, and this suggests there “is no one-size-fits-all approach to sexual assault prevention.” The researchers think that “[m]en who are primarily motivated by negative, hostile affect toward women and who conceptualize their own intentions and behaviors as rape are unlikely to benefit from the large group primary prevention efforts done as part of college outreach efforts.” In other words, if you’re the sort of person who is so angry at women that the prospect of raping someone doesn’t really bother you, you’re unlikely to be moved by the sorts of sexual-assault-prevention programming colleges offer up at the beginning of the year.

On the other hand, those men who endorse the idea of forcing someone to have sex but not the idea of rape when given that exact word may — despite how confused and misguided they are — be more educable:

[P]rogramming using a group and norm-based approach appears to be appropriate for men who endorse force but deny rape, as long as the programming can establish rapport and credibility with participants. Because these men do not view their sexually aggressive intentions as rape, failing to attend to issues around beliefs about the stereotypical rapist and not identifying with them could weaken the effectiveness of the programming due to not receiving buy in from participants. This would ultimately likely leave the men who could benefit most from these prevention efforts disengaged.

It’s a bit strange to think of different “kinds” of rapists, given that the act is (obviously) horrible and inexcusable in any context. But from a prevention standpoint, that seems to be the direction some experts are headed.

Oughta Be A Law

Rather than actually enforce laws already on the books and actually respect a woman when she comes to law enforcement, an adult authority figure or to a medical professional and says “I think I’ve been raped” listen to her.  Ask questions and then immediately get the fucking asshole to hear what he has to say.  Then get all witnesses and in turn question them immediately.

This is what the supposed law requires.  This is not what happens.  So now we have this knee and jerk off response to do what should have been done in the first place – respect the individual coming to you with this and in turn investigate all the parties involved.  ALL OF  THEM.

Once again we have what appears to be excessive over legislation to enforce laws and matters that were on the books and were of course ignored.  Schools, public, private, K-12 or post secondary are not law enforcement and yet when an assault of any kind happens you are to contact the Administration of the school first.  Well given that Cops are fuckwits of high order I can understand this sort of, kind of, not really.  Maybe if they were busy doing the job they should be doing, investigating real crimes or  alleged ones they might need to invent them.

Funny if a Teacher or Professor assaulted a kid there would be K-9 dogs issued, SWAT teams and no knock warrants.  The evening news would be abuzz with the Teacher pervert.

As we already know with Sandusky, the Catholic Priests and apparently the  entire BBC line up of television personalities in the 70s-80s, they all got a flying pass, a raise, a transfer with a wink-wink nod-nod that daddy might be a touch of the perv.  Clearly that touch was more than pervvy.

And so when I read the below article I go well how is this going to change or help anyone. I have no idea.

Then I read in the New York Times  about an informant who was actually recruited to ultimately rat on his classmates misconduct with regards to the Air Force Academy.  The investigator who created this program and his recruit were suitably punished, the investigator is cleaning offices, the standard demotion and the kid kicked out. The kid who did rape was punished – AFTER football season. Priorities people priorities.

But the whole idea of recruiting and in turn “tattling” on those whom you are a part seems well second grade and tragic.  How about teaching, as it is a military academy, civics. In that curriculum you could discuss gender issues, race issues, economics and other matters that teach young minds that respecting others means not harming people.  Gosh how revelatory!

By JULIE WATSON of Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) — College students have heard a similar refrain for years in campaigns to stop sexual assault: No means no.

Now, as universities around the country that are facing pressure over the handling of rape allegations adopt policies to define consensual sex, California is poised to take it a step further. Lawmakers are considering what would be the first-in-the-nation measure requiring all colleges that receive public funds to set a standard for when “yes means yes.”

Defining consensual sex is a growing trend by universities in an effort to do more to protect victims. From the University of California system to Yale, schools have been adopting standards to distinguish when consent was given for a sexual activity and when it was not.

Legislation passed by California’s state Senate in May and coming before the Assembly this month would require all schools that receive public funds for student financial assistance to set a so-called “affirmative consent standard” that could be used in investigating and adjudicating sexual assault allegations. That would be defined as “an affirmative, unambiguous and conscious decision” by each party to engage in sexual activity.

Silence or lack of resistance does not constitute consent. The legislation says it’s also not consent if the person is drunk, drugged, unconscious or asleep.

Lawmakers say consent can be nonverbal, and universities with similar policies have outlined examples as maybe a nod of the head or moving in closer to the person.

AP Photo: Gregory Bull

New students at San Diego State University watch a video on sexual consent during an orientation meeting Friday, Aug. 1, 2014, in San Diego.

Several state legislatures, including Maryland, Texas and Connecticut, introduced bills in the past year to push colleges to do more after a White House task force reported that 1 in 5 female college students is a victim of sexual assault. The U.S. Education Department also took the unprecedented step of releasing the names of schools facing federal investigation for the way they handle sexual abuse allegations.

But no state legislation has gone as far as California’s bill in requiring a consent standard.

Critics say the state is overstepping its bounds. The Los Angeles Times in an editorial after the bill passed the state Senate 27-4 wrote that it raises questions as to whether it is “reasonable” or “enforceable.” The legislation is based on the White House task force’s recommendations.

“It seems extremely difficult and extraordinarily intrusive to micromanage sex so closely as to tell young people what steps they must take in the privacy of their own dorm rooms,” the newspaper said.

Some fear navigating the murky waters of consent spells trouble for universities.

“Frequently these cases involve two individuals, both of whom maybe were under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and it can be very tricky to ascertain whether consent was obtained,” said Ada Meloy, general counsel of the American Council on Education, which represents college presidents.

She said schools need to guarantee a safe environment for students, while law enforcement is best suited for handling more serious sexual assault cases.

John F. Banzhaf III, a George Washington University‘s Law School professor, believes having university disciplinary panels interpret vague cues and body language will open the door for more lawsuits.

The legal definition of rape in most states means the perpetrator used force or the threat of force against the victim, but the California legislation could set the stage in which both parties could accuse each other of sexual assault, he said.

“This bill would very, very radically change the definition of rape,” he said.

University of California at Berkeley student Meghan Warner, 20, said that’s a good thing. She said she was sexually assaulted during her freshman year by two men at a fraternity but didn’t report it because she believed “that unless it was a stranger at night with a weapon who attacked you when you were walking home, that it wasn’t rape. It’s just a crappy thing that happened.” She now runs campus workshops to teach students what constitutes consent.

“Most students don’t know what consent is,” she said. “I’ve asked at the workshops how many people think if a girl is blacked out drunk that it’s OK to have sex with her. The amount of people who raised their hands was just startling.”

Defining consent may be easy to do on paper, said Laura Nguyen, a 21-year-old San Diego State University senior, but “we’re talking about college students out at night and the reality is there’s not just ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ There is a lot of in between. I really think it depends on the situation.”

The legislation initially stated that “if there is confusion as to whether a person has consented or continues to consent to sexual activity, it is essential that the participants stop the activity until the confusion can be clearly resolved.”

After some interpreted that as asking people to stop after each kiss to get a verbal agreement before going to the next level, the bill was amended to say consent must be “ongoing” and “can be revoked at any time.”

“California needs to provide our students with education, resources, consistent policies and justice so that the system is not stacked against survivors,” state Sen. Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat, said in promoting the bill.

Supporters say investigators would have to determine whether consent had been given by both parties instead of focusing on whether the complainant resisted or said no.

Denice Labertew of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault said the bill fosters a cultural change: “There’s a lot of criticism around affirmative consent because it requires us to change the way we normally think about this.”