Motor City

I just spent 72 hours there and with that its most famous of nicknames. Other nicknames for Detroit include the D, Motown, and the 313 for their area code. There are many monikers but the belief that it was the home of the automotive industry still dominates with the famous GM Towers aligning the river and the skyline and the home of Ford as the two most significant still names in the business. But it is also known for its Motown sound and the legendary Fox and Fillmore where many legends of that industry played back in their day. And that is what Detroit seems to have been know for and its reputation and history is tied now to sports and of course the other more negative tropes that have dominated the news, such as Murder City due to its high homicide rates over the years.

What I think of as Detroit is that of a city built on the backs of Black persons who were largely a part of the Great Migration; Where many Black families and individuals left their homes and families in the South to find promised work and labor that would lend to equality and parity in America during the Manufacturing Age that began during WWII and continued on through the 50s and 60s. We once called this part of the Midwest the Steel Belt, referring to it now as the Rust Belt, as that industry and manufacturing base has now declined with most exported to Mexico and China.

The Pandemic brought that reminder of our once ability to produce and build is now one dependent upon Imports versus Exports, and that unequal distribution of labor and output defines our GDP and which our Economy is based. Our greatest contribution to the economy is that of Technology or Intellectual property. But again any of the extrinsic parts of that are too created and built elsewhere thanks to cheaper labor. And if that is akin to the idea of indentured servitude then this pandemic also exposed how that works in this global economy.

And it was Labor and the Unions that resulted out of the continued exploitation of Black Labor, labor both of servitude and slavery which built this country. And it was Labor and Unions and Collective Bargaining of wages and benefits that resulted and enabled the largest economic growth in our country to cross racial lines. And with that made America a powerhouse when it came to production. That now belongs to China thanks to their concept of labor and work as isn’t always politics of some kind, economics another.

Capitalism versus Communism are very different when it comes to the concept of “ownership” and certainly I have many a question about how labor works in a nation that oppresses its workforce. Hmm where I have I heard that before? Maybe they are not all that different. Ah but like all things when it comes to Race in America, White people have to cross the finish line first. Hey you are second place with a smaller trophy but at least you finished, right? And perhaps that is why there are two Detroit’s.

This article in the Guardian discusses how the fortunes fall and rise with its new form of gentrification. I believe this accurately sums it up for many urban cities in America and Detroit is a symbol of it. For Detroit is like Manhattan or like Jersey City, a confluence of both public and private investment and with that parts are booming and the rest in decline awaiting or simply waiting for its turn. And with that the chasm between the rich and the poor grows.

As you read the article the rich and of course the white new money falls to two men. Quicken Loans CEO and Little Ceasars Pizza Founder, Mike Illich. Their business names align buildings, the sports arenas and their mark is clear. Detroit is no longer Motor City. The GM Headquarters is now called the GM Ren Center and frankly it is largely empty and devoid of workers and businesses within yet it sits alight the Riverfront as if a marker for the past and the present. The Q line (get it Quicken?) whisks you for free from the River park that overlooks Canada and yes the infamous Trucker Strike Bridge is just there to the right and it takes you just further south past Wayne State College to the freeway. It is a 20 minute ride in one direction and back. It is the same length of time of the People mover that runs you around the city itself. The ride is no longer free to discontinue sleeping and homeless from riding within it and frankly you can walk the same periphery faster but I appreciated not walking for a stretch.

The parts of the city I did not venture are the Northwest as I went only as a far as the DIA, the Detroit Institute of the Arts to see their amazing Van Gogh exhibit. It was worth the trip on that alone. But after spending quite a bit of time discovering what a treasure they had in the DIA I came out to cross the wide boulevards to see the Detroit Historical Museum, and found it closed and with that I took a wander saw numerous old and vintage buildings for lease and quiet streets. What did stand out was the lack of faces of color other than Black, despite being right there near a University was surprising. I later came to learn that this was another issue as Detroit itself is heavily segregated. The South is largely now Latina and with that a strong community of vibrant homes and business. The North is now up for grabs and of course debate on what will arise from those ashes with the Streetcar stopping just at its border. That is home to the original Motown which was closed the day I was there. The reality for Detroit is again the divide between the have and the have nots and the politics and money that divide as well.

So as I wandered strictly downtown it was interesting to see how it was a vision of appearances and that they matter more over necessity. The lack of shopping other than a few boutiques, a Nike and H&M seemed to be mutton dressed as lamb as they were in glorious buildings with architecture and design that has been well preserved but that was the extent of actually buying any socks, underwear or cosmetics not possible. Down now beautifully redone alleys, near a Gucci no less, were many galleries, bars and other shops, some opened most not. I assume is a labor problem like many are facing. But the reality is that the area is still struggling with that issue and it is about Race I believe as again so few faces of color were anywhere in “front of the house” when it came to the expensive and bland Steak House, Prime and Proper, where I watched the Server prep the meal for an Athlete who was sitting a couple of stools down, as apparently cutting food might get on his expensive suit. The more informal Union Assembly was at least more diverse and fun as I will get into that story in a minute. But as I was there during the election that was once again I was surprised as to what little I knew of the area other than story after story that portrays Detroit in anything but positive light.

It is surprising to see the city today when only a few years ago it filed for Bankruptcy, its city politics had long had a history of corruption and the issues and yet it has a thriving Art Scene that rivals its emerging Tech sector. But what I am seeing and hearing with regards to tech of late, it might be approaching the 2000’s when they took a huge hit. Just ask Facebook, Twitter and Zillow how they are doing? How about that Crypto? Google that as well.

And with the Election day on Tuesday I was there to see that the supposed White Supremacists who promised to be in Detroit to observe were largely non-existent as they had I guess had their numbers down, due to arrests and prosecutions from varying acts that included attempting to kidnap Michigan’s Governor and other bullshit. anywhere I was and many seemed unaware of that plan as they are not known for coming to Detroit and if then only for the sports teams that dominate ALL the topics of conversation and not a bar or restaurant does not have a TV within tuned to a sports channel. For someone who doesn’t know sports all l could think was that their names were from a famous song, “Lions, Tigers and Bears, oh my!” Well I had one right. But sports is the common ground on which they all walk and I really did not have any true concept of what character or quality defines Detroit. The election within the State turned the entire region Blue the first time in over 50 years and it was again hardly mentioned in what little I heard. Then Detroit for the first time is NOT sending a Black person to Congress. He did win and will be going to the House to join Rashida Talib who is from the West side of Detroit. Again the issues of segregation were apparent to me as there was so few faces I saw that were not Black or White. And other than the Sports Star the few adult Black Men I did see were not doing well, not at all. It was distressing to pass Construction sites to even bars or restaurants and see few to none working. I was shocked when I had a Male Desk Clerk of a “certain age” at my Hotel but he was it. I would love to comment on the Siren Hotel as quaint and adorable and literally across the street from the shiny new Shinola which is also a big reason for the gentrification of the area and mythology, but in all honesty I was so distracted by the Hotel Bar and silly shenanigans in which to get a seat (you need to be seated or have reservations and only for 2 hours or so can you stay) I was not sure what to make of it, or the restaurant which is again oddly closed and only open on certain days with advanced reservations. Come on folks. I did love the back alley Karaoke bar however behind as that was old flare with simple straight drinks and not absurd overly crafted cocktails which the Candy Room seems to specialize. Over the top and not really fun as that was my major complaint about Detroiter’s, they are not friendly at all. And then I met a young gal when I wandered in to a random place for my last meal. It was near all the sports stadiums and a short walk to my hotel. I suspected that I did not want to wander and after paying the overpriced bill for very okay food but very inadequate service the night before, I was just going to dine and dash, but that changed with our introduction.

She was a venerable fount of opinion and information. She confirmed what I suspected about the strange public transportation options, the large stadiums and their wealthy white benefactors. She taught me about the history of Detroit and its embedded segregation that distinctly divides the neighborhoods, the North, South, East and West and with that shared with me here growing up in Michigan, moving to Detroit to attend Wayne State just down the street and living in the region where she was from an Evangelical household and now married to a mix race Egyptian/Latin speaking member of the National Guard, who was getting a Masters in Education (the most useless degree folks I have one and don’t bother with it) and was looking to get into politics himself later down the line. Then the story got interesting.

And I shared this with my seat mate on the flight home, he was from Detroit and was friendly. He has a girlfriend who is Corporate Counsel for one of the start ups in the area, full of money and yet while high on cash low on smarts. She too has forced them to let go of the double dippers (aka the Tech’s working two jobs, as the profile in Vanity Fair discusses), the lack of education of most of the staff and experience with it and the overall bloated nature of what defines “tech”. Yes folks this recession is the white collar one and it is coming. And during our flight he shared his story about his 22 y/o daughter who is emotional over all things and everything. She has more labels than a jar of mayo and the hyphens that define here again are well past three. Yes folks this is the new age and they are annoying as fuck.

Her first comment to me was about her being Bi and then discussing her “partner” who I would later learn/understand was a man her age. They have an open relationship and live apart, she in her own Condo and he in “their” home in the other part of town. She was adopted at 18. Well being of legal age okay so she has two siblings who were younger and the family who adopted them were church mates of her Mother and did this as a promise when she died to care for them as a family. I gather this was akin to a very Southern Baptist Reformist based faith like those I knew of in the South. She left as soon as she could to attend college in Detroit and it was in a play in drama class she like Katy Perry kissed a girl and liked it. Then she realized she was a Lesbian until she wasn’t. She was not detailed with regards to how many partners she has had at age 29 but has been “married” for four or five years but that is why they have an open marriage and they attend orgies together. Yes that is correct she said ‘orgy’ and with that I ordered another glass of wine. It would not be the first time I heard that word as later on the way back to my hotel I met someone who was on his way to one as well. Wow that Detroit may not be friendly but they love sex parties.

With that declaration out of the way she discussed her siblings who are apparently now Trans. One is non binary and unsure of going all the way.. no not to a sex party but then again… and the other is fully working towards transitioning. I find this FASCINATING in a simple numbers way. How is that possible that the entire family of children who lost their Mother all became ostensibly all members of what is ostensibly a very rare sexual identity? Two Trans and one Bisexual? Wow. I am not sure if this was all in response to the trauma of living in grief, under extreme religious oppression or just living in Michigan? When I asked my seat mate he is 57 and thinks much of this as do I a need to belong. Or as my Mother used to say, “Be different like everyone else”. This young lady was a nice gal. She wants to be real estate rich and as she and her partner/husband are home owners of two properties and are now relocating for his/they/whatever work to Northern Michigan (aka White Supremacy country) they want to buy another. How they accomplish this is unclear as I never knew what she actually does for work and with that I have no idea how a National Guardsman attending school has that kind of cash but okay! So I suspect much of this story was bullshit or not. At least it made the evening interesting. I live across the river from Manhattan and never heard this so hey Welcome to Detroit.

Would I ever go back? No I actually liked Cleveland and would if there was a reason to and there is no reason what.so.ever to with regards to Detroit. I just did not actually like the people I met. That matters and it explains why that city struggles, they have lost souls. Too many frankly.

Words. Do they matter?

Yesterday I got a massage. Okay so you are now going, “Big whoop there fancy pants” but as I frequently say that my only conversations are with those on the payroll and this was no exception; however he is 30 and I enjoyed his perspective on dating and social media and how it is the only way he ever meets anyone. I of course did the “back in my day” we just met people doing things, and by doing things, I mean drinking.

Dating was confined to fucking. OH MY GOD clutch your pearls and hands but yes kids that is basically what it was. If it worked out you “dated” for awhile and then it ended as any relationship based on sex does as you have fucked yourself out. There are only so many ways, positions and energy you can dedicate to fucking and I think Sex and the City demonstrated how that worked for women in their 30s. The thing was that during that time period I knew NO women like that, NONE. I did know Gay Men just like that and with that most of the Producers and Writers were Gay and/or Men. Some women wrote later on but the show was created by John Patrick King and Darren Starr who are Gay. SHOCK. But this is not news or is if you read the Sydney Morning Herald. And with that it brings up other very Gay Shows that were Gay long before Will and Grace – Fraisier anyone? Cagney and Lacey, the Odd Couple, all very very Gay.

But with that the show became a landmark for women as a type of coming of age in the same way Little Women was for those a generation before. I still have my Manolo’s in my closet after wearing them once, them crippling my feet and there they sit preserved in a box with the plan one day to wear them again and remind myself to never spend $500 bucks on shoes that hurt.

So during my massage I shared that insight with him and he was surprised as he knows almost all women have used that as a reference point in which to teach and guide men into what women want. Well then okay then. How about that each women find their own wants and needs in the same way men do. We have generalized and stereotyped the genders to death that our current climate of ‘they/them’ is the backlash in a way to try to reassess and find common ground. It is idiotic and with that, sticks and stones, names will never hurt me, but an AK15 can blow my head off. The current script and dialogue is again just as it was “back in my day” a script one has to follow in which to be accepted in one’s tribe. And it did not work for me then, nor does it now. No compromises and frankly I am good with it. The alienation I feel is my choice and mine alone and with that I would rather than sit around and try to pretend I give a shit.

Here is what I do when I read Reddit, Twitter, Facebook and so far I just look at Instagram. Do people read Instagram? I have no idea but they put up nice pics and stuff like Pinterest. Another site I don’t use or look at unless by accident. What I do on Facebook and Reddit 99.9% of the time is make fun of scold idiots that post. I do it passively aggressive most often but frankly anytime I post an actual thought I get nothing but a “like” or “upvote” as that seems to be what conversation is today. I got nothing so I will lend nothing to the convo or when I am pissed off, call them poopy pants and be done with it. That is what comprises argument and debate on social media. It is quite Grim. Pathetic. Tragic. And with that I have actually had someone say “What is with the periods, that is not correct grammar you idiot.” Okay then thanks. I am using it as a type of tool nothing more I do know that but again this is the internet. When you have nothing to say, say it anyway.

During our discussion on dating I told him he was brave as I find his generation of women that 27-35 year olds to be vapid Princesses, who are afraid of everything, especially sex thanks to the #MeToo and the advent of social media and have nothing if anything to say about anything. Well other than talk about other people. I have never met a more vapid group of idiots in my life and they wonder why Roe is being taken from them, uh you did that girls, your lack of engagement and not giving a damn did it and you are all on your own when it comes to that battle. Been there done that and not doing it again. And with that he was surprised but I said it is not my battle to fight, I am too old and the vagina is closed for business so it does not affect me at all. Sorry, not sorry. Guns however do.

And this where I told him that it is where I failed that my role as a Teacher and as a Woman did nothing to stop two 18 years olds from grabbing guns the minute they hit that age marker and go out and shoot away. Both and many other killers just slightly older all communicated with girls, abusing them and informing them of their plans and they were dutifully ignored or shut down and with that get the surrogate dick out and shove that jizz down the throats of innocent Children and Adults. That will do it, that will take away the pain of rejection. We have failed young men badly. The Seven Year cycles that Steiner and Erickson theorized has now moved down the spectrum to the ages 14-21 and with that I suspect that is why these current shooters seem to have focused on sexual identity as the prime factor, the 21-27 year olds saw that as a societal function of being part of normal expected marks at that age, first job, marriage and home. We have evolved so much as a society that it makes sense that the markers of age will change as we are evolving as a species as well. Girls at 11 are entering puberty and if boys follow that pattern they will as well. So with that watch the adolescent behaviors change as a result.

But enough about science lets go back to the scripts we follow as we age. We are expected to follow a script that we have never written, seen or read. Yet we are to know it and make sure we do not improvise or edit said script or risk being outcast. Well Survivor is a game show so hey whatever works to become the sole survivor have at it. You see on that show how almost all the contestants study and analyze the show and the former contestants as if to emulate the ones who were successful and yet none of them ever seem to duplicate the outcome. Why? You are not them! Few if any manage to just allow themselves to blend and morph and the new seasons that have emerged have show that the winners, both females and girls of color were in fact excellent at doing that. They had no “game” just sheer force of being in the right place, the right time and using that to their advantage. The real forces of energy never seem to win in this new version as this is set up to attempt to challenge those who have been following the playbook and working it to their advantage. That is game and that is what living is, a game. Games people play.

And with that I have printed below a column by John McWhorter regarding that changing language rarely has the affect intended, which is changing minds. Gosh ya think? Seriously the Coddled Class of this current crop of Millennials have truly done little to change the world, but annoyed it, on that they have succeeded. And with that it explains much of the histrionic response by the GOP. I get it, I really do.

***And today is May 31 the last day of the Month focusing on Mental Health. Wow this month really proved that we need some. And for many who think you don’t, think again. ****

Every Day, We’re Told to Use New Lingo. What Does That Really Accomplish?

May 24, 2022

By John McWhorter Opinion Writer The New York Times

The left these days gets a bad rap for policing language. It can be irritating to feel like you have to watch how you say things or keep up with the latest lingo when the old lingo still seems perfectly fine. This is especially the case with counterintuitive ideas such as referring not to “pregnant women” but to “people who are pregnant” — a phrase now used on Planned Parenthood’s website — or the even less intuitive “birthing people,” which we’re asked to embrace as inclusive, and therefore progressive, despite that both reduce women to being biological vessels.

I’m certainly not arguing for intolerance toward those who can become pregnant but don’t identify as women. I’m saying that even if we’re not being forced to use the new terms, the way they’re introduced, almost as if by fiat, can make it seem as if sticking with the old ones is a kind of thought crime. But it isn’t that those on the left have some weird, childish yen for control. Rather, they seem to be operating under an attractive but shaky idea that language channels thought: Change how people say things and you change how they think about things and then the world changes.

That’s not how it works, though. Good intentions frequently don’t translate into efficacy. So, the question is, how much does changing terminology really accomplish?

In the late 1980s, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said the term “African American” had more “cultural integrity,” and “Black” was, therefore, out of date. But I’d be hard-pressed to say that the Black community today has a greater measure of cultural integrity or is any prouder than it was then. And though a recent poll showed that a majority of Black Americans see being Black as central to their identity, the younger they are, the less central it is — suggesting less significance, as time goes on, about what we call ourselves.

I think also of Nina Simone’s musicalization of Lorraine Hansberry’s phrase “To be young, gifted and Black.” Watch Simone perform this song in Questlove’s Oscar-winning documentary, “Summer of Soul,” with her vocal emphasis, full of conviction, on the word “Black.” Singing “African American” wouldn’t — couldn’t — ring with the same richness. Black America added meaning to and wrested pride out of a word that was supposed to have negative connotations by thinking of ourselves as beautiful and determined. I’m not sure “African American,” just as a term, has furthered that at all: “To be young, gifted and African American”?

Remember, too, the “euphemism treadmill” described by the Harvard University psychology professor Steven Pinker, who explained in a 1994 Times Opinion essay: “People invent new ‘polite’ words to refer to emotionally laden or distasteful things, but the euphemism becomes tainted by association and the new one that must be found acquires its own negative connotations.” For example, the pathway from “crippled” to “handicapped” to “disabled” to “differently abled.” New words ultimately don’t leave freighted ideas behind; they merely take them on.

Consider the phrase “urban renewal.” Starting in the 1930s, there were initiatives in American cities to raze working-class, often Black neighborhoods. They would eventually be replaced with various civic projects, such as new highway construction. One term for this, embraced by city planning éminences grises such as Robert Moses in New York City, was “slum clearance.”

As the years passed, the downsides of this destruction of modest but cohesive communities became more apparent, and the term “slum clearance” was gradually supplanted by the term “urban renewal,” starting in the 1950s. But calling it urban renewal didn’t persuade a range of writers, thinkers and displaced residents to celebrate this destructive dislocation. Other than by, perhaps, some city planners, urban renewal was increasingly perceived as a glum business — the same business — as slum clearance. James Baldwin memorably coined it with the more reality-based term, “Negro removal.”

Even when factoring in Pinker’s treadmill, I understand the impulse to refer to “enslaved people” rather than “slaves” — not all new terminology is pointless. Describing someone as a “slave” can be taken as indicating that servitude is an inherent trait rather than an imposed condition. But I suspect that after a while, the term “enslaved person” will continue its lexical drift and we’ll need a new term. Why? Because of what happened to “homeless person,” which began as an enlightened replacement for terms such as “bum” and “bag lady,” but is now itself being slowly replaced by referring to someone who is “unhoused.”

It is, then, reasonable to surmise that terms such as “pregnant people,” while pleasing a certain contingent, will not deter most people from continuing to perceive the world according to an old-fashioned gender binary. Basic perception will remain that most pregnant people are cisgender women, such that it will still feel natural to think of being pregnant as something women experience, and it will feel forced to use gender-neutral language, even as we acknowledge that there are people who identify as men or nonbinary who can become pregnant.

As I’ve discussed before in this newsletter, research has shown that language can influence thought, but sometimes only slightly. And what pops up in a psychological experiment may not track with real-life behavior: The Implicit Association Test, more than two decades old, has often been used to demonstrate how implicit bias is supposed to work — how negative associations with terms such as “Black” may correlate with people exhibiting prejudice or bigotry. But a more recent analysis argues that there is no evidence that quietly associating negative terms with Black people rather than white people in such tests correlates with racist behavior.

Today’s predilection for newspeak neglects all of this. Frankly, I think it is partly because generating new labels offers instant gratification, especially with the internet handy. It’s easier to introduce new terms than to change the way different groups referred to by those terms are really perceived. In that way, never-ending calls to change the way people talk and write is less an advance than a cop-out.

Terminology will, of course, evolve over time for various reasons. But broadly speaking, thought leaders and activists of past eras put their emphasis on what people did and said — not on ever-finer gradations of how they might have said it.

Far better to teach people what you think they should think about something, and why, instead of classifying the way they express themselves about it as a form of disrespect or backwardness. After a while, if you teach well, they won’t be saying what you don’t want them to say. Mind you, you may not be around to see the fruits of the endeavor — a frustrating aspect of change is that it tends to happen slowly. But “Change words!” is no watch cry for a serious progressivism.

So it goes

Much is made of the growth of the Southern states and what includes Texas with migration patterns of young millennial in search of affordable housing, well paying jobs and other work/life balance issues that seem to veer on tech access and nightlife.  Then they promptly live in an urban style suburban makeover until they realize that suburban life has yards, better schools and people just like them who cannot bar hop and trivia game anymore.   It is basically lather rinse repeat of their childhood.  There is one thing Millennial do better is re brand what already existed.  Taxi anyone? Whoops I mean Uber.

As I am ready to run for the door I laugh at the five units sold in my dump of an Apartment building, all millennial, all couples other than the one black man who should have asked about why it went condo in the first place.   But owning is one thing when taking money from anyone dumb enough to overpay for these units.

Millennial’s  cannot be told no. They don’t know that words existence and they want to erase any vocabulary or concepts that offend them. We have gender neutral pronouns, the elimination using adjectives and verbiage that could offend or upset anyone.  Wow how vanilla!   I really loathe talking to Millennial’s and the nice thing is that the ones moving here are not smarter, better, brighter or any more liberal than their parents as most of them come from conservative religious homes.  Lather, rinse repeat.

Nashville is delusional like many Southern cities believing that people will come here and love it enough to overlook the batshit crazy laws and behaviors in the Legislature.  And yes they will if they are largely poorly educated underemployed and young. These are not active individuals engaged in the community.  Neither are working class families as they just want a decent school and an affordable open space concept home with a garage to put their SUV in.   Lather rinse repeat.

What they do is their version of activism that they started on college campuses, destroying professional lives and stifling free speech.  As the two Professors at Harvard just found out recently. The irony that they were the fist Black Professors ever to be hired on campus and next week the same students will have a diversity rally to hire more faces of color.  Meanwhile the culture of Harvard carries on.  Lather rinse repeat.

Meanwhile over at a sister Ivy League school, Yale, another Professor lost their gig over an email regarding Halloween costumes.   Then suddenly he is award winning.  Okay then I see that this is a priority clearly to the young privileged students. 

Or the odd Professor from Mizzou, which is where? Missouri home of the S&M Governor and now the fetal heartbeat law. Hey ya think the same Professor in the video is facing down the Legislature the same way she did with the reporter? 

And there are dozens of stories about Professors fired from their positions after ranting for or against some issue or another, using language in classrooms that for one is acceptable for another not so much.  I am sure we need to edit or burn Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Beloved, Gone with the Wind or well a lot of books.  I found this from 2011 and I agree in context it is a teachable moment unless you are a precious snowflake.

The Word ‘Nigger’ Is Part of Our Lexicon
Jill Nelson

Jill Nelson is the author of “Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience” and, most recently, “Finding Martha’s Vineyard: African Americans at Home on an Island.”

The New York Times January 6, 2011,

I live in a city where I probably hear the word “nigger” 50 times a day from people of all colors and ages, though primarily from young people on public transportation. It is a salutation, a term of affection, occasionally an epithet, but most often, I think, verbal filler, a younger generation’s equivalent of their elders use of “like” or “you know.”

Like it or not, and you know, that’s another conversation, the word is part of our public and private lexicon, and the notion that contemporary readers of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are surprised or offended by the word seems questionable. Yet even if they are, one of the intentions of art is to provoke and unsettle. Surely Mark Twain did not intend the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” to have the equivalent effect on readers of Margaret Wise Brown’s lovely and lulling children’s classic, “Goodnight Moon.”

There are vast differences between calling a character “nigger” and calling them “slave.” They are not interchangeable. Writers choose their words thoughtfully. Our words create, color, layer and texture and contextalize the stories we tell. The notion that one can change one of those carefully chosen words — much less 219 of them — to suit their perception of contemporary mores and eliminate the possibility of hurt sensibilities is an abdication of a teacher’s responsibility to illuminate and guide students through an unfamiliar and perhaps difficult text. What’s next? Substituting orange for red in a painter’s work because some observers find red too aggressive?

Meanwhile these same adorable children will move to Austin, Houston, to Nashville, to Atlanta, to Charlotte, Charleston and other hip cool cities that the State Legislature is passing hate crime bills.  As in pro hate.

Texas just found the Transgendered woman who was beaten and spoke out about taking on haters has been found shot to death.    While simultaneously their State Legislature is passing the Chick-fil-A bill.  Good times for those who are not of the “norm.” 

Meanwhile the spokesperson of the Millennial mindset, Mark Zuckerberg, is working to fix his source of hate and lies to be less so. Get right on that!

We cannot have a world where only people of color can say or write or draw people of color. That white people are only to be apologetic and liberal and vanilla.  We cannot have a world where we speak only one language, practice on faith and fuck the opposite sex who is the same color, class and genetic makeup as each other.  Saw how well that worked out on Game of Thrones now!

Change comes from those willing to fight it. No, Amazon will not do the heavy lifting for you.  You will not see the corporate leaders take a position on social issues that will ultimately affect its bottom line unless people are willing to really boycott, really stand up and advocate and what? Lather, rinse and repeat these arguments until real systemic change has been met.  I have never touched a Chick-fil-A food item, never eaten a Papa Johns pizza and I go out of my way to avoid paying sales tax on items to not fund anything beyond my basic needs – food and booze (I live here I need to drink).  I rent cars and rent a home.  I have made sure my footprint here is very light and I have no desire to extend my stay here beyond the day I am done.  The schools here I call a volunteer job with a per Diem.  I don’t have one good thing to say about Nashville so I don’t veil my loathing with such vague words as interesting, different or fascinating.  I go: I hate it here and this right wing religious shit being shoved down my throat is making me hate myself.   They don’t even bother with the passive aggressive “Bless You’re Heart” anymore as they know I don’t give one fuck about their opinion.

So young folks what are you going to do about the hate, the oppression from sexual freedom to voting rights to women’s choice?  Not a goddamn thing as it takes work and time and you have to post your shit on Facebook and Instagram to those who don’t actually give a shit. I don’t I care about the bigger issues in the bigger picture, yours is small like your attention center.

Mother and Child

This is the woman who is the giver of birth to the maniac who drove his vehicle into a crowd in Charlottesville on Saturday killing Heather Heyer. Yesterday she was concerned and confused about her son. Today this is the same son that abused and threatened her to call 911 on two separate occasions. Funny how when the family is white on a safety check this one did not end up with someone dead. Well that certainly would have changed not one but two outcomes.

This is Heather Heyer’s  Mother who herself appears to live in a Manufactured Home so no White Privilege there.

These two Mothers lives intersected as did their Children on Saturday and yet despite the similarities in income and race they are disparately different people under the umbrella of America.

You wonder why today such issues exist and why today in this time the supposed era of color blindness that led to the election and re-election of a man of color, he himself bi-racial and a child of one whom came from another country, where he met a woman in of all places the heart of America and in turn had a child who would become the ultimate goal for any Parent of any American child – President of the United States.

I am the product of said union.  My Grandfather on my Paternal Side came to America and married a woman who had a child and in turn My Mother came to this country and married that same child and had a child.   I am one of many similar unions and the product of many off springs that better or for worse are all part of the American Dream.

I grew up in a home that was during the 60’s and 70’s where both turmoil and upheaval marked the society and the change that resulted and yet the work was never done but it seemed possible and it seemed so tangible and real and then it wasn’t.   I remember when the 80s came and the crash and burn that changed the landscape which had been crashing and burning but in a positive light for the last decade and now it was dark.  I don’t recall anyone being blamed or anyone pointing fingers but gradually the drug wars began, it was at first just say no. Then it was AIDS and the issue of a disease that killed primarily Gays and Drug Addicts.  But it was a White child, named Ryan White of all things that made AIDS a disease of everyone and then it mattered.  All the Acting Up aside it took a white boy to die to make this disease relevant.

Then the 90s and blow jobs and lies and not lies and the Contract with America and the growth of the prison industry, the varying acronyms and expressions  – NAFTA, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Defense of Marriage Act and it all seemed to implode the same day two buildings and four planes crashed on a day in September that led to Freedom of Information Act that did nothing about making information free but instead changed that dial tone to the party line.  And somewhere along that journey we all started to have Stranger Danger and if we saw something say something and now we were all Gladys Kravitz, the nosy neighbor who was never Bewitched but bothered and bewildered she was.

The Baby  Boomers began to die and in turn be blamed and with that came Gen X and in turn they gave way to the Millennials who were to be as addicted to their phones in the same way they were progressive, elite, privileged and above all of that which defined and divided us.  They were the now and we were the past.  Funny of late I am not sure I recall any of my Generation doing more than actually fighting in wars and taking to streets to bring positive change.  My Mother and her Peers marched to attain equal rights, civil rights, gay rights.  They had opposition and saw many get gunned down, beaten down and still they rose.

I ask you whoever you are what you are? Not who – what?   It seems for all that we have attained what we have become is something that I thought we fought for and in turn stop from ever happening again.   I am rarely wrong but this time I am quite sure I am right that we are fucked.

Since my relocation to Nashville, what is about city’s that have “ville” at the end?  Yikes they are anything that said suffix connotes and as a result an “l” should be eliminated and thereby making it more appropriate. And I laughed when I read an absurd letter from the Superintendent of Schools who has lived here for a year, in the same year I arrived, sent a letter on how to discuss the issues with students. For a black man living in Nashville in the South he was clearly out of touch. And the irony is that few if any Students would bring this up and if so this is just another attempt to pretend you care. They don’t or they would educate these children better. And that to me is the ultimate in oppression.

To think that the current generation is more “woke” or whatever term is au courant is absurd. Recent data shows otherwise. And in turn we have as much social, racial and more important economic isolation that furthers the concepts of “they” “them” and “those”. It are those pronouns that elected the current Supremacist in Chief.

I watch the local news and it is crime stopper news and that is firmly down racial lines. They cover crimes in other cities and states to fuel paranoia and in turn suspicion on outsiders. And depending on whose outside your inside with that runs the gamut of Whites hating Blacks/Mexican/Gays/etc to Blacks hating Whites/Gays/Mexicans/Whoever. The idea is to divide and in turn segregate. By enabling people to remain in social and economic isolation it enables a better control of the 99%. For our numbers alone are larger but manipulating people to fear the “other” you enable them to do it themselves. Saves time and money. And it is always about money.

Then we have the idea that somehow we can transcend racism. We can? How? Never.Going.To.Happen. There is racism and division within even sub-groups that define on skin tone or family name, and this can include the idea that we can put any individual into a single classification put a hyphen after that and call them American, then you need to meet some “African” and “Asian” and “Hispanic” Americans. And the LGBT community has many issues that often are about race and in turn gender identity.

As “they” say – It’s complicated.

Two Mothers that will never meet. Each have a story about their child and is anyone less important?

Could Be Worse

Well this sums up the world it is all Millennial all the time.  The Boomers gave us fast food and there is not a country where you cannot find a McDonald’s next to a Starbucks so why not craft beer? This is the new generation and the new world economy.

I find this an interesting reflection about how a place like Vietnam that we last recall turning into chao and Communism when the Americans bailed and established John McCain as an American hero or not depending upon who you ask and now in a renaissance; a  place the asshole Anthony Bourdain goes on one of his food craw with a local guide to sip noodles from a cart to discuss the power of pork and the fall of Communism.  Yes that is what his show is supposed to be about but what it really is is a pretentious dude who is  one step from falling down drunk (in some cases falling down drunk) eating street food that the local citizenry have been consuming for decades.   The premise is as if it is new delight just invented for white people with a Passport.  Plus for travelers who find the local food intimidating and confusing this makes it much easier!  It is a win-win! 

 ** FYI when I travel the first thing I do is order a club sammie.  No matter where you go they are uniquely the same with some minor flair and that is my travel comfort food.  I learned that from my Mother who said when you are new somewhere or just arrive order something you know and love and it  makes someplace new less so and then once that is done you can jump in.  We were never a fast food family so going to the Mickey’ Ds or even the Starbucks I would not do as I actually like coffee.

There is of course the issue of cultural appropriation that the Millennial are so keen to point out but in this case it is Vietnamese taking white people hipness and having the audacity to copy the concept in Ho Chi Minh city!   How dare they.

Hey we all need a good beer now and then.  Next up the Vietnamese version of Diners and Dives 

Why hipster culture is the new globalisation – and it’s taking over the world
One of the biggest interior design trends of recent years, experts now say it’s on its way out

Craft beer and artisan coffee is leading to homogenised cities the world over, says Helen Coffey

Helen Coffey
Independent UK

I’m sitting in a craft beer microbrewery-slash-bar-slash-warehouse. You know the scene – stainless steel bar, exposed light fittings, trendily grungy brickwork visible in painstaking patches on the otherwise white walls. “Industrial chic”, I believe they call it. A splash of colour comes in the form of some street art-esque graffiti; the waiters all sport achingly cool facial hair and tattoos. I sip my tasting porter, made even more unbearable by the “notes of coffee and black liquorice”, and feel a deep sadness that has nothing to do with the unsatisfactory drink in my hand.

Read more

The hideous new travel trend on social media is flashing your bum

It would be alright if I was in Brooklyn or Portland – although even in those seemingly more appropriate zip codes there might be questions about whether local businesses had been driven out by the ceaseless onslaught of gentrification – but I’m not. I’m in Vietnam; and I can’t help but notice how, thanks to the hipster culture that has swept relentlessly from West to East, everywhere I go feels the same these days.

Step outside, and the reams of mopeds and sweltering night air give away the fact I’m in Ho Chi Minh City rather than New York City. But skip around the corner, into the French-themed all-day brunch place that serves smashed avocado on toast and features a carefully curated boutique shop-cum-gallery downstairs, and I’d be rudderless again, lost in a sea of characterless trendy.

Globalisation used to be synonymous with big chains making everywhere feel homogenous, killing off the local flavour of a neighbourhood store by store. A McDonald’s in the Vatican. A Starbucks in a Japanese ski resort. A Domino’s Pizza in Milan.

But now the opposite creates identikit cities. The businesses in question may be staunchly independent, yet they all look and feel the same: hip, quirky and very, very Western.

That’s the main problem. These “off-beat” brands are often the brainchildren of loveably enthusiastic foreigners, who can’t wait to introduce the joys of artisan coffee/bespoke distilled spirits/an underground speakeasy with a password (delete as appropriate) to whatever new town they’ve decided to call home.

The idea is fine in principle, but there never seems to be any effort to imbue the local culture into these enterprises; to create a harmonious fusion of East and West; to, heck, let the whole concept be inspired and shaped by the place where it is set.

I am part of the problem, of course. Tourists like me love finding that “hidden gem” of a local street-art walking tour or the so hipster-it-hurts vegan café, and consequently these places spring up and thrive, outshining the traditional shops and restaurants with their pleasing familiarity and flattering fallacy that we have become that little bit cooler just by stepping inside.

I, too, fell for their charms at first. But now, when I look down at the exquisite coffee art on the top of my latte, or the perfectly crafted cocktail in front of me served in – what else? – a mason jar, all I feel is empty inside.

Because what’s the point in travelling half-way around the world for the exact same experience you’d get at home?

Back at the craft beer microbrewery-slash-bar-slash-warehouse, I down my porter, feeling vaguely sickened by its hipness and the way it seems to epitomise the stifling of one culture for the glorification of another. Hipster-isation: it might seem innocuous but it’s taking over the world, one craft beer at a time.

State of Denial

I am burned out on Nashville’s self obsession.  If I hear the infamous “85 people a day are moving here” one more time I will stab them in the eye.

There is little to substantiate that actual number as it is pulled out of someones ass as a way of validating the rising costs of living here without raising pay.  Seriously they believe that the 5%, another vague number coming from the Chamber as cited as the “cost of living is 5% less here,” explains that.   They don’t bother to explain 5% less from where – Cincinnati?

For a town with as many Universities that surround it,  they are hideously bad with numbers.  To have 85 people a day MOVE here that would  be over 31,000 people a month; this would mean over 372,000 people are moving here annually.  Really, I see, says the blind man.

Okay so I read this article which in convoluted fashion sort of kind of negates that figure:

But in the view of Nicholas J. Lindeman, economic and systems data analyst with Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, that 85 people a day estimate doesn’t present the complete picture.

His analysis of five years of census data through mid-year 2015 shows a net migration of roughly 58 people a day into the Nashville region. That’s based on total population growth of 159,449 people across the 14-county region in the past five years, which includes a net migration of 105,958 plus a net natural increase of 51,809 people taking into account both births and deaths.

At the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Vice President of Research Garrett Harper cites a rate of 71 people per day as the most recent figure based on last year’s net growth of more than 26,062 people moving in and out of the Nashville region. Add the number of people born or who died here and that number would increase to nearly 100 a day.

“While the 100 per day is the highest in numerical terms in recent years, it’s not quite the highest in percentage terms,” Harper said. “What we’re experiencing now is comparable to what we were experiencing in 2006 and 2007. It’s not very different in level of growth for those two years.”

In Davidson County, the total population growth trend has varied from year to year, according to Gross’ analysis that shows 27 people moving to the county daily last year versus 26 the previous year and only 21 between 2010 and 2011.

Meanwhile, on average more than half of migration into Davidson County over the past five years — more than 60 percent last year — has been international migration. Also, just over one out of five of the net migration into the overall Metro area has come from overseas.

“We’re becoming more diverse in terms of our art and culture, in terms of the labor force and the types of services we provide,” Gross said. “It’s affecting all different parts of our lives.”

As an undergraduate economics major in college, one of the first lessons I learned is that statistics is never an exact science. “It’s not about the actual numbers, it’s about direction of the numbers — are they going up or down?” economics analyst Wald said.

So the reality is that we have a mixed migrant issue that includes births and relocations from other counties in the region.  Note they don’t count the immense amount of students who “relocate” here for the duration of their education and there is little data to indicate if they in fact remain in the region or leave upon completion of their degree.  Again, we are a little vague with facts and figures here as that would require well truth and logic, two elements sorely lacking here; note the final comment from the economic analyst – numbers are not actual. HUH?

Last night a local broadcaster ran a Town Hall.  Now when I think of a Town Hall I think of a panel of experts and officials meeting the town and responding to questions from both the moderator and the town. Well no.  This is Nashville so this meant a motley crew of legitimate officials and some whom I have no idea who they are and their relevance to the subject regarding the Growth of Nashville.  However, one essential element was missing – the actual members of the town.  Okay, then.

Mostly it centered on the favorite subject here in Nashville, “whose gonna pay for it?” query which beings and ends any question or demand for change.  We want low to no taxes and if that means having no sidewalks, mass transit, clean water and decent schools then so be it!!

In this non town town hall they did discuss mass transit  but I have no idea what else they discussed as they kept going back to taxes and that Tennessee is a no income tax state.  Yes so was Washington but we did not charge tax on food and we did vote by “county” to fund schools, buses and other matters of import such as gun control. This is a concept new to the area and something they are exploring.  What that means is unclear as well this is Tennessee and details are for well later.

The area is full of “dis”information as very little of the local news is actually news. I have never heard any international coverage and national coverage is also fairly non existent.  They do however love their crime reports.  And yes I watch all three networks in an attempt to gouge any semblance of journalism of which I can safely say – no.   And yes the focus is largely on black crime and when they do profile a white criminal my first thought is that it must of been a low crime day.

The news rarely reports “investigations” and when they do they speak to only business executives or politicians who spout their standard fare.    When they do speak to the general public I am not clear where they found these people and if this is again a selective opportunity to explain Darwinism at its most tragic.

The move of Bridgestone to the “downtown” corridor of Nashville is again a triumph and statement of growth.  There is no discussion that the downtown of Nashville is next to non existent.  That aside from the issues of infrastructure dominate, the services and businesses of the area are also non existent, unless you drink a lot.   That is the second announcement, whatever new bar or honky tonk is being opened or is to open as if that is another example of the jobs being created in Nashville, service ones.   They never ask specifics on the nature of jobs when speaking to the already two major players here in the area – Bridgestone and Nissan – with regards to average salaries and growth potential to encourage higher degrees and long term commitment to both the company and the community as they actually believe low wages and low unemployment are fine as the real benefit is living in Nashville.  Health care? Who needs that? Ah irony as that is the biggest employer here, Vanderbilt with well over 120,00 employees, yes in actual real numbers.  And those are not all Doctorates or Doctors as they would raise the median wage as well as the number of residents holding post secondary degrees. 

People with well paying jobs have a tendency to stay.  Those with jobs that are highly mobile are more transient and  those too are the same jobs that are cut when business changes and profit ranges are not met.   And this will happen to the largest employment sector in Nashville now that the ACA is being decimated.   These are lab techs, technicians and others who are not as essential to serve their customers/patients, there is already a shortage of Primary care Physicians in this country so who do you think screens and treats you first?  Well that appointment might be awhile maybe I can go to Canada and have less wait time?  (Remember that threat/con?)

I have often joked but  that Nashville should expand past the wedding industry which drives a great deal of the hospitality trade that dominates and instead expand into medical tourism.  There is no shortage of medical treatment facilities and guess what both insurance and hospital trades dominate our real largest corporate employer.  The ACA generated a lot of jobs as it required everyone to be insured and in turn people actually went to the Doctor.  Well not here in Tennessee as that in Nashville we have large portion without health insurance and in turn needed health care.  We passed on the Medicaid aid and the Governors plan (TennCare) which is the irony as  more of those covered with heavy subsidies and Medicaid used said services.  For people like me who fell into a whole new donut hole met the obligation of the law but with high deductibles and premiums but I am barely covered.  Then add to this we have few choices if we use Healthcare.gov as the declining amount of providers  led many to have to find new Physicians and/or in turn limit visits.   But that money maker starting today is coming to an end and no new ideas are forthcoming except put it to the States. And again, where do I live? 

 Medical care has always been well before the ACA a boondoggle, growing at fast rates, with huge costs, contributing to a significant amount of our GDP and in turn leading to more personal bankruptcies than any other industry – 60%.   Welcome back said the newly excited bankruptcy class Attorney.   Today personal injury lawyers are going well we still have a business as people will need us more than ever to pay increasing medical bills.  It is a win win for Lawyers regardless.  And that is our fourth largest industry – Lawyers.  Both in civil and government related work.  We are the Capital and that will never change.

Living in the red sea does provide one with an odd sense of security.  We are so off the radar and so unimportant that little will actually change here thanks to the lowest education rates in the nation, the rising opioid crisis and the heavy duty dose of Jesus that dominates.  That enables a large culture of compliance and duplicity to work in tandem without recourse.  If Churches are serving the community why should the Government?

Nashville is a town of dreamers and be they in Music or some other profession, people here are less attractive versions of those in the movie LaLa Land.  The reality is that educated intellectual professionals have no reason to migrate here unless they have secured a job already and in turn significant salary in which they use to live outside of the city and not have to worry about the day to day issues that those who do reside here deal with.  When a Dollar General store rebrands itself DGX and becomes a high end bodega to sell food and drugs,  as no major other retailer has any desire to do so in the city confines, it says welcome to Nashville.  But hey we have the Gulch!!

This is a city that defines walkable as the ability to walk to one restaurant to the other.  What more do you need?  Isn’t that all millennial’s want?  And hence the obsession with the Gultch, the high priced condos and apartments and tons of bars and restaurants with some expensive retail and an organic bodega, called the Turnip Truck.  This is their crown jewel here in Nashville and they are going to build a walking bridge to get there despite that free buses and the ability to walk to it already exists but who needs sidewalks and buses?  The poors. Fuck the poors!

 And that is somewhat a shared view in the Northwests as they go out of their way to court the Millennial class as they are all that matter in many cities, Seattle and Portland and are all but on Match.com to attract them, but they also don’t have to.  Both cities have large industries and businesses, walkable communities and more important largely liberal tolerant and diverse major cities.     And shockingly they use mass transit, walk and bike to work.   They have many many oversea residents as the analyst likes to point out and thriving International Districts which is acclaimed, centralized, accessible (by buses, a trolley and light rail)  and well used.  Yes gentrifying but it is still where many work and shop.

And Nashville simply doesn’t.   We are very segregated here in many ways and those whom are educated and in turn want to be well compensated (again few and far between here)  will drink a few craft beers then realize they are in a State where they are creating a law that defines  the biological order/gender definition of a family;  have a law that permits Therapists to refuse service if the patient is of alternative sexuality; the bathroom mishegoss is still on the table as is vouchers, I don’t see that conversion therapy working with regards to the new liberal class.

The new class, the millennial class,  live on the coasts for a reason and that is not just the jobs or the taxes (again Washington State no income tax, Oregon, no sales tax)  – yes it is the politics.  And they like that part they also don’t want to deal with the heavy lifting that it would take to change that dynamic.  Change to these people means well let’s vote for Trump he can’t do that badly, can he?

Ah denial it is a large sea in which to swim.   Ever seen Jaws? 

Pack and Go

Once again I read an article that somehow gives the impression that Millennial’s have utterly re-invented the wheel and by god it works!

Self moving has been around a better part of a decade. There are U-Pack, PODS, Door-To-Door and a few others that enable individuals to pack their own containers and have them relocated where they can have them unpacked at their leisure versus hiring a professional moving company to do it all. You can hire local movers to load/unload and or simply deliver goods to a location for a flat fee versus hourly, although that is still the most common method.

Estimation of moving companies are done vaguely and verbally. That is something that can be changed and easily validated and verified. Google Maps can tell you travel time estimation and you can expedite the loading and unloading by having everything ready and tipping the movers upfront. But you still need to know weight and the costs if going transcontinental and that is the true weight of the matter. 

What this article says is that most millennial seem clueless about the subject and of course once again need hand holding and walk abouts/self talking and whatever else they do to confirm their beliefs/actions/skills. And it all must be done via the magical 3×5 card they hold incessantly.

The moving industry could use some disruption and despite the belief that there is increasing regulation there is not as moving companies have the upper hand when it comes to moving. There are more complaints about moving companies across the country than any other industry and I am one of them.

Allied Van Lines quoted in the article is the agency that ripped me off when I moved across country. There is little recourse and legal means in which to seek restitution. If you use Allied or their local partners (such as Hanson Brothers in Seattle) you are fucked. It is that simple.

When I read how Atlas scans and bar codes items to have an accurate list, estimate weight and in turn costs upfront that is the company I will use in the future. Locally I go to Better Business, Consumer Reports and even Google/Yelp to find those businesses that are well reviewed. In Seattle I always used Adam’s Moving Company as they often over estimated to err on the side of caution but came in well under and that was also because I was prepared to expedite the process, tipped up front 20 bucks and another 20 upon completion of load. So for 40 bucks or so I had an easy delivery/moving. (You also tip according to your belief of load time/work ethic etc, so the bigger the move the bigger the tip) 

I cannot say the same for Hanson Brothers or Allied. If you want to get ripped off use them. Allied has immense complaints and I relied on Hanson which had positive reviews not realizing that their partner did not. Again that is my problem and that I did not take the extra insurance which I doubt they would have paid regardless as they are thieves. That is their business, theft.

So using Bellhops or Upakt does what exactly? Adding a middle man to an already complex industry. The real change needs to come in regulation and laws that will protect consumers. Think of the banks and how even the little done by the Consumer Protection Agency that Il Douchebag wants to eliminate has done for the financial industry if that was extended to the moving industry.

That is the real change and disruption the industry needs.

Start-Ups Seek to Take Some of the Pain Out of Moving

By GLORIA DAWSON
THE NEW YORK TIMES
DEC. 24, 2016

Adam Pittenger, who has moved six times in six years, shares his home in Hoboken, N.J., with his girlfriend and a roommate. With his frequent firsthand experience as a guide, he started a company this year to help make moving less of a chore.

His company, called Moved, is one of several that hope to shake up the nearly $17 billion moving industry with new technology and on-demand services. Meanwhile, traditional moving companies are coming up with their own innovations as more consumers prefer to conduct their business on computers and smartphones.

Through a mobile app that incorporates chat features, Moved can help customers through a laundry list of responsibilities: selling furniture, donating goods, ordering boxes, changing addresses and finding packing, moving and storage services.

Moved’s “concierge” services — locating and coordinating with service providers — are free; customers pay for what they use. Moved makes money through referral fees from its partners, which it says are vetted. All of the moving companies it works with are licensed and insured, Mr. Pittenger said.

“We’re the experience layer in between consumer and service provider, so consumers don’t have to spend the time researching and coordinating,” said Mr. Pittenger, 27, the chief operating officer of Moved, which is based in New York. “When they are busy at work and going about their day, moving tasks are getting done in the background.”

Mr. Pittenger is part of a younger generation who are renting and living with roommates rather than purchasing homes; they move more often as a result. Adults ages 18 to 34 have the highest rate of migration, according to the United States Census Bureau. While they made up about 34 percent of the total population of the United States from 2007 to 2012, they accounted for over 43 percent of people who moved.

After a slump during the recession, the industry as a whole has returned to growth, and revenue is expected to continue to grow for the next five years, according to IBISWorld, a research company.

“I think people are less stuck in the homeowner mentality,” said Cameron Doody, a founder of Bellhops, a company in Chattanooga, Tenn., that provides moving services. People are “valuing mobility more than ever before. We’re seeing a big shift in people that are holding out longer to buy homes for the flexibility of being able to rent.”

Mr. Doody, 30, who has moved five times in the last four years, focuses on a type of mover he thinks the larger companies have left behind.

“Traditionally, customers have been bucketed into two categories,” he said. “You’re either the do-it-yourselfer, where you’re renting a truck and begging your friends to help you, or you go to professional moving companies,” frequently for a large home move.

As Mr. Doody sees it, the frequent do-it-yourself mover would hire a professional if it weren’t so costly. Bellhops uses algorithms to make small-scale moves — typically involving local moves of apartments and small homes — more affordable, he said. A typical two-bedroom apartment move with Bellhops costs under $400, according to the company.

Bellhops’ moving services are available in Kansas City, Mo.; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Athens, Ga.; and about 50 other towns and cities with major universities.

Mr. Doody’s company works with school organizations to find students to work as movers. The company performs background checks on them through a third party. Customers receive a biography of their “bellhop” when they schedule a move. Once the move is complete, customers rate the movers much as a passenger would rate a driver after an Uber ride.

Companies like Moved are what Lesli Bertoli, vice president and general manager of Allied Van Lines, calls lead generators. These companies “need someone else to go to the house and do the work,” she said.

Customers of Allied work directly with one of the company’s members, who consist of 350 independent moving companies.

Deciding whether to use a start-up “really depends on what you’re moving and where you’re moving,” Ms. Bertoli said. “If you were moving your entire house and leaving the state, I’m not sure I want to leave that to someone from an app.”

Scott Michael, president and chief operating officer of the American Moving & Storage Association, a trade association with 3,500 members, urges customers to do a thorough background check on any moving company they work with.

“Just because someone says something on the app or website doesn’t ensure that its true,” he said. “It might be better to select a mover yourself so that you can do the research” on that company.

Other companies are working with traditional movers but use their own technology to streamline the process. Unpakt, based in New York, lets customers compare bids and reviews from numerous companies. The hope is to make moving easier for consumers while helping traditional companies grow.

Ghostruck, a Seattle start-up, works with licensed, professional moving companies that pick up work during downtime. Its name is the term for a truck that comes back empty from a delivery.

Customers plug in their moving details and snap a few photos of their possessions, and Ghostruck offers a rate.

Many of Ghostruck’s customers are using professional movers for the first time, but they don’t want to haggle. They definitely don’t want to make a phone call. The company allows customers to price and book a move completely online with no human interaction.

“We frequently have people booking at midnight or 2 in the morning,” said Nathanael Nienaber, the chief executive. He said the company was best suited for small apartment moves. Customers often book about three days before they intend to move, and the average cost is $250 to $450.

Jack Griffin, the chief executive of Atlas Van Lines, which has nearly 500 movers in the United States and Canada, has been approached by start-ups and says he applauds their thinking. But he cautioned that the moving industry was complicated.

“Our business is highly regulated and getting more so,” Mr. Griffin said. There are regulatory measures, including safety and cargo protection, that companies must comply with. Companies moving single items or traveling intrastate may have more luck breaking in, he said.

Atlas, like many other traditional moving companies, is not ignoring new technologies, though. Atlas agents apply bar codes, scan and itemize customers’ goods to prevent loss; use an online system to calculate weight and estimate a moving price immediately; and have automated their claims process.

“We spend a lot on technology to try to smooth out a stressful life experience,” Mr. Griffin said, adding that these investments may help the moving industry avoid the fate of other disrupted industries. After all, he said, “I’m sure taxi drivers thought they weren’t threatened by Uber.”

The Gap Economy

I have long lamented that MEllinnals are well Baby Boomers only younger and with the confirmation that they are in fact the largest population cohort in the United States, it will go again to say “everything old is new again.”  And with the MeMe’s I think it is an accurate assessment. 

How do I see MeMe’s as rebranded boomers?  Well the facial hair and bizarre feminization of men’s hair..recalls long haired freaky people need not apply; then we have the face piercings, tattoo wearing, underarm hair as the form of protest or contrarianism to the more Docker Button Down wearing predecessors of Gen X – the lovers of Reagan. 

Their politics that is a hybrid of Libertarianism, meaning legal drugs and sexual identity merged with the faux Socialism of Bernie Sanders, which his too is well not Socialism in the conventional/traditional sense, it too is a form of re branded populism; then we have the urban dwelling, density issues in crowding of cities in an attempt to be greener, (of course liberal leaning coastal dwelling, not ones less hip or cool and in need, such as Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia);  less car owning home owning suburb frequenting domestication; the ## social awareness/media campaigns marked by Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter that began online and ended in the streets.. ah yes conventional protesting still matters. 

To not that they are part of the success of the Courts ruling on Gay Marriage  that much can be noted but  it was overlooked that it was conventional money with gray haired Lawyers with political alliances that verged conservative  that accomplished this fete, but who cares as it was now time to celebrate free love or in this case conventional love for once unconventional people.  But that was irrelevant for it was legal marijuana that truly mattered to the MeMe set… ah yes the drug of choice for those hippies too.  See we have come full circle.

My encounters with the MeMe are largely via the service sector, the next wave of protest that began in all places that many MeMe’s loathe, the fast food sector. This is provenance for largely poor, immigrants and minorities whose voices and protests brought change while MeMe’s raged about college debt, an option far removed from those other service sector workers in every sense of the word.

The service sector too has its heirarchy and the idea that one is working there is a temporary setback and for many that is the reasoning they return home or marry sooner vs later, its hard out there alone and communes have been replaced with podments.  Same thing only costs more… that is one the MeMe’s are good at – raising prices. 

And this too is another oddity how to measure the service trades and productivity as it means toward the overall GDP and financial growth.  We have no idea and despite the best efforts of those STEMMERS we are still not understanding where job growth is coming from without productivity and what does it mean for the long term stability of the economy. 

And despite the reality of the generation of hippies they became the most well educated and mobile of our generation at the time. From Hippies to Preppies to Yuppies, from camps to  suburbia, there was an immense level of productivity that brought us here.  And no few if any had STEM degrees let alone computer tech backrgrounds when the Valley was just a town called San Jose. 

So when I read today two articles about the Millennials, I was not surprised.   They of course reject the Republican party and embrace Socialism aka what Democrats used to be until the birth of the Technocrat, that is until they too get jobs.  Oh wait, haven’t I heard that before, Glenn Beck anyone.

The reality is that Millennials talk the talk, have the app but the game is the same. They are just playing it differently.   The first article is by Catherine Rampell of The Washington Post with regards to their rejection of mainstream Republicanism and the other is about the idea of Socialism and its embrace and simultaneous rejection.  Neither are shocking, I know!

I sometimes realize that we failed them, coddeled them to the point that they actually believe Marijuana is medicinal, that having multiple sexual identities will lead to equality or inner happiness, that having a college degree in STEM means they will have a good job and that global climate warming is killing us.. well one out four on which we agree.

I recognize the anger, the indigination and the demand and I recognize the passivity and subjugation that occurs when rejection is the end result.  I see the anxiety and the passion it just comes in waves over largely money.  The obsession with status is palable and largely due I believe to the widening income inequality that has put the concept of meritocracy firmly out of reach. 

They and their peers have no concept of the boom years in America and for many their parents were Gen X ers or Tail end boomers who did not reap what had been sewn as the result of the New Deal or the Great Society. They got the War on Drugs and the War on Poverty, gee they have had a lot of wars, we acutally only had one Vietnam and we too fought for its end the hard way – on the streets not online.

This also may explain their bizarre version of meritocracy via the sharing economy.  Part aspirational part explotative it offers the idea that someone else will loan you their home, drive you around,pick up your laundry, your groceries, run your errands and not be your paid servant or mother and do so for minimal costs and salary.  Sure that is working out well.  Next up do it yourself surgery and compounding to save medical and drug costs!  I am not sure if it is the costs of Obamacare or the belief in invincibility that contributes to their failing to enroll? I suspect both given the weird shit that comes out of the Valley.

And that is my last comparison for at this point is where the generations do divide, the ability to access media and read, watch or listen to comprehensive competitive journalism that provided information, took risks, told stories and found truths.  Today’s media is a shallow trough on which to drink so the MeMe’s use Gawker, Reddit, Politico, Facebook and Twitter as their source.  YouTube is what they gather around versus us watching Sunday’s 60 Minutes or the 6 o’clock news with … fill in the blank.

Our talk shows had information, talk and were diverse as they were entertaining. From daytime to nightime one could feed one’s head and soul to Merv, Mike, Dick, Johnny, Phil as in Donahue not the Doctor and even Oprah in her heyday was must watch TV.  I was never short of Top Chef’s from Julia to the Galloping Gourmet to the lighter fare that including many women – Dinah, Virginia, Joan. Talk radio was shocking with Howard Stern, he did do it first and the reality is that we had interesting smart people who were often controversial regardless of their politics they just were.  I heard more writers speak in my youth and could not wait to read their books. Magazines filled our coffee tables from home making to news making.  The MeMe needs to read only that which fits on their magical 3×5 card and that is texted, tweeted or liked on the pages that they use to communicate. Talking and debating not their strong suit.

Much of this is our dilapidated education system, broken thanks to the neo-liberal philosophy of the Reagan years; Note the word “neo” as the prefix to liberal as it masks what it is – conservative policies.  The new branding is now charters and the push to end the last bastion of what is socialist – free public education.

And yes many MeMe’s are sure that charters are better as they had horrible public education so bad they were not educated as to why.  A recent study came out and found that Public Education Teachers wages have been stagnant to declining since the 90s as this study from North Carolina found and it is not just NC, ground zero for hideous in this country.

With that comes the decline in free press and affordable free television and journalism. The reality is that with the internet came a massive adjustment and “disruption” that has now enabled some of the larger dinosaurs to survive and some have become fossils. Even where magazines and journals exist online, the MeMe’s who came of age in downloading, bittorrenting are loathe to pay and in turn subscribe to either a daily, weekly or monthly, let alone costly cable TV.   This does bode well for the progeny of the supposed information age.

It truly bothers me to hear the level of ignorance and the obstreperousness that marks their beliefs. They are often buried in quasi fact, rumor or misguided notion with little ability to disseminate, dissect or even remotely digest larger articles, books or ideas that cannot be summarized to a blurb.  It makes it difficult when I talk to anyone of any age and they are so fucking oblivious  to simple events within their community, it turns the notion of living in a bubble to a new level of being an Ostrich who lives in a bubble.   And that seems to cross the age spectrum regardless yet I meet Millennial after Millennial, degree no degree, who are utter idiots.  And I am in the public schools everyday so I should know.

And when I look back at the boomers, I see the bad with the good, the failures and the successes but I see a broad spectrum of which to be both impressed and horrified.  I am not sure I see the same with the Millennial sect. This is the new Generation Gap.

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Marry Marry Quite Contrary

The other day at my local coffee shop I chatted with one of the many millennial who work there and we frequently share our perspectives and observations on the social milieu that comprise the Seattle hipster crowd.  And on this day it was the breeding patterns that I had noticed and she confirmed was clearly the new accessory du jour among the pierced tatted set.

I remarked that it was because many of those same 84 million are in a baby boom of their own choosing. Why? Because that same cohort came out of divorce and that lack of substantive family legacy, history, tradition is what the hip crowd so desperately needs, wants for a multitude of reasons.  The main one is that void, that missing link to show that out of the ashes can emerge a singular familial unit.  I also note that this does mean more than one child as you are seeing the double strollers in earnest among that same set with a plan for at least one to two more, the new mini Walton’s, Eight is Enough, the Brady Bunch and other multi sibling families popular in my generation are now divided in half.

I am not sure that we are seeing more of this here due to the tech incomes that enable the affordability of said family or that simply they are just willing to have kids fairly quickly after marriage. The home owning is a later must as of course the requisite move to the suburbs when the realization that living in city is not the ideal for a family who needs to chauffeur kids to school, to sports, to other social events that dominate the family after the baby enrolls in school. That and the reality that urban schools are largely dominated by “poors” and the cost of private school is a cost that takes away from further aspirations, as Euro Disney (what hipster would have the audacity to take a child to the one in Anaheim only the French will do!) or attain other markings of the aspirant class, such as a Nanny or Cleaner.  Yes this group will create an app for that if they have not already.  They want the same things the upper class has while doing so wearing Converse and sporting purple hair, that is their version of alternative independence.

So while the meme class is moving into downtown chic gentrifying hoods, slurping craft beers and eating artisan breads the same way their grandparents downed the champagne of beers and Wonder Bread, the end result is the same – conventionality.  So they will move to the suburbs rebuild the decaying malls and in turn become the families that they lost, never had or will duplicate only now with a 3D printer vs a Xerox machine.  Ah modern times!

But for those who are single, who do divorce the scarlet letter “F” will be yours. Bill Maher the other week  on his show was discussing the way “singles” are perceived as with a type of suspicion.  Yes we are the same generation that gave you Bridget Jones “singleton,” Sex and the City, Sex and the Single Girl, and That Girl, are now those old creepy people who we either fear or pity.  Even Playboy has stopped with nudes and the mansion is for sale. Ah the end of an era.

I suspect we look upon singles of a certain age with fear I suspect more with regards to men and pity when it comes to women.  The need to pair off skipped many of us and we are the largest cohort of unmarried and living alone than any other age and as they say “we have been there done that read the book and seen the movie;” around 29% of us when surveyed in 2012 have any desire to do so again.

The good ole days of the Elizabeth Taylor concept of multiple spouses some of whom you remarry seems to have gone to the grave with her.  As I watched the documentary about Gloria Vanderbilt and her son Anderson Cooper she is truly of another generation of women whom marriage was not optional nor negotiated it was expected and repeated as necessary until one got it right.   And it appears that this is true for the remaining 70%.  Ahh the good old days are the new days!  People in America are afraid to be alone or at least unable to be alone for long.

 So when I read the article below I laughed and thought once again not surprising and utterly wrong. This generation of supposed free independent thinkers are anything but, they are quite provincial and yes conventional.  I know few frankly if any who are alone and not living with a “partner” “significant other.”  I know few who do anything alone and feel uncomfortable doing so.  If not attached at the hip to another they are attached at the wrist with another.

Right now many Millennial are called Hipsters as we who rebelled were the Hippies, then we were the Prepsters who became the Yuppies, so I am not sure what they will call themselves when they enter that phase,  they will have to figure it out by simply cutting and pasting. As everything old is new again they just rebrand it.

Americans are becoming more socially liberal — except when it comes to divorce

 By Catherine Rampell Opinion writer
The Washington Post April 1 2016

Contrary to popular belief, marriage isn’t dead. It’s not even dying. The institution is probably more respected and admired than ever before — just not in a way that encourages millennials to partake in it.

 You can see this in national survey data, recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about Americans’ views of various family arrangements. At first glance the report suggests that Americans may indeed be less devoted to the sacrosanctity of marriage — or at least that we’ve become more tolerant of once-stigmatized non-marital sexual behaviors .

In 2002, for example, slightly more than 6 in 10 Americans said they thought it was okay for a young couple to live together without being married. By 2011-2013, the period of the most recent survey, the share had jumped to more than 7 in 10. Similarly, the report finds that Americans have gotten more accepting of women who bear and raise children out of wedlock, of unmarried 18-year-old couples who decide to have sex and of same-sex couples who adopt children.

On these and other familial and procreative arrangements, Americans have become measurably more liberal. But on one crucial measure, they have become much more conservative. Respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement that “Divorce is usually the best solution when a couple can’t seem to work out their marriage problems.” In 2002, about half of Americans disagreed.

Within a decade, the share had risen to more than 60 percent. In the most recent data, younger Americans — a cohort with the lowest marriage rates on record, mind you — were especially likely to perceive divorce as an unacceptable response to marital strain.

How is it possible that Americans are simultaneously getting more traditional about marital commitment and less traditional about non-marital relations? How did we become more judgmental of divorce and less judgmental of people who “live in sin” or have children out of wedlock? The answer lies in our evolving views of marriage itself. Earlier generations saw marriage as a sort of foundational milestone, laid relatively early in life, that would help couples go on to achieve familial and financial stability.

Today, it is seen more as a crowning achievement, appropriate and available only after lots of other boxes are ticked off first. And this brass ring ought to be indestructible by the time it graces your left hand. Marriage has, in other words, gone from being a cornerstone achievement to a capstone one.

Marriage rates may have plummeted in recent decades, but the vast majority of never-married millennials still say they aspire to get hitched someday. They just want to get their ducks in a row first — and my, are those ducks multiplying. A survey from last fall found that young Americans believe they should wait to marry until they have a stable job, have reduced their debt levels or accumulated savings, have a college degree, have successfully cohabitated with their future spouse, have had previous serious relationships and even own their home.

We millennials still want our happily-ever-afters, but with an emphasis on the after. Meanwhile, many of those intermediate milestones we now see as connubial preconditions have moved further out of reach. Mounting student loan debt, falling youth homeownership rates and stagnant or declining job opportunities are disqualifying many young Americans from this apparently elite institution, or at least turning them into less eligible bachelors and bachelorettes.

 Wedlock is a luxury good that young Americans want, but view themselves — and just as important, their potential spouses — as too poor or otherwise unprepared to buy.

 It is the layering of these two concurrent forces — the idealization of marriage, plus the declining marriageability (real or perceived) of so many of its would-be participants — that has ground down marriage rates, especially for lower-skilled Americans. And so young people put off marriage, though not necessarily the other milestones that used to almost exclusively follow marriage (such as childbearing). It’s unclear why marriage has been elevated to such a high pedestal.

 Perhaps it’s the traumatic legacy of earlier decades of high divorce rates, which make today’s young people fear creating their own broken homes. Or perhaps it’s the increasing association of marriage with wealthier, better-educated people. Elites have also adopted the capstone view of marriage and actually found it useful for forming more stable, successful, enduring unions.

So keep this in mind if you ever feel the temptation to urge some broke young couple to hurry up and get hitched already: Chances are they’re dragging their feet not because they don’t take marriage seriously but because they do

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeosie

 When I heard of this I was at my coffee shop and one of the Baristas’ was discussing this girls’ story.  And then I came home read this article and actually read the missive and many of the comments which followed.   Buried in the comments was a collection of this girls tweets and instagrams showing her baking and cooking prowess, sitting watching cable with the cable dude, having Bourbon delivered all of which  I found quite riveting and more honest than her self serving wine.. whoops I mean whine.  The individual who exposed her bullshit you can see those for yourself here.

But even the  comments at the Washington Post now over 1000 are equally divided.   And there are no shortage of articles and updates on this young girls current status.  So I was unsure if I should bother to comment any further on this issue but  there is no question that the irony of a food reviewer and encapsulation of society who professes to be an arbiter in “changing the world” is doing exactly what their predecessors did – underpay wages and refuse to examine the cost of living in the regions that they do business as a way of determining pay.  That used to be provenance of unions but today that is supposedly the idea of negotiation. Well for entry level jobs frankly who is in the position to do that and to come in to a company with required expensive skills and laden with debt to acquire said skills seems counter intuitive.  

But what was most distressing was her seeming oblivion to the throwback. Honestly air your dirty laundry in public and you may get some shit on it.   No wonder this generation wants to restrain free speech, their feelings are like their skin – easily damaged and too thin.  Maybe that is from being so hungry all the time. 

The Yelp employee who wasn’t making enough money to eat

By Lindsey Bever
The Washington Post
 February 23 2016
 

Talia Ben-Ora, 25, wrote an open letter to Yelp’s chief executive about her low wages. Soon after, she lost her job. 
 

The Yelp employee who said she was fired after she blogged about the financial pressures she felt while working for the multibillion-dollar business said Monday that her breaking point came one night when she went to sleep — and woke up “starving” two hours later.

Talia Ben-Ora posted an open letter Friday afternoon to Yelp chief executive Jeremy Stoppelman, saying she wasn’t earning a living wage while working in customer support at Eat24, Yelp’s San Francisco-based food delivery arm.

She was out of work hours later, she said.

“They knew that I was picking up pennies and that I was having trouble sleeping and that I was cutting back on every single possible thing I could think of,” Ben-Ora told The Washington Post. “But I was still working as hard as I could — and being as good as I could possibly be at the job.”
In her letter to Stoppelman, which she posted on Medium, she had expressed concerns about how Yelp treats its employees.

“So here I am, 25-years old, balancing all sorts of debt and trying to pave a life for myself that doesn’t involve crying in the bathtub every week,” she wrote. “Every single one of my coworkers is struggling.

“They’re taking side jobs, they’re living at home.”

Ben-Ora said she earned about $733 biweekly.

On that salary, she wrote in the letter, she simply could not survive on her own in the San Francisco Bay Area — where the cost of living is indeed soaring.

She didn’t have enough cash for groceries, she said, and had to live 30 miles from work to afford the rent — $1,245 per month, plus gas and electric.

“Your employee for your food delivery app that you spent $300 million to buy can’t afford to buy food,” she wrote. “That’s gotta be a little ironic, right?”

In 2015, San Francisco was ranked the third most expensive urban area in the United States, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research’s cost-of-living index.

Expatistan estimates that a furnished apartment in a “normal” area in San Francisco costs more than $3,400 per month. Public transportation runs $80 a month and whole milk sells for $1.25 a liter, according to Expatistan.

The minimum wage in the city is $12.25 an hour.

Ben-Ora said she had talked to her managers about a raise.

Then, she said, she decided to go public with her concerns.

“At first I sent a couple of tweets to Stoppelman,” she said. But she realized it “wouldn’t effectively show him it was something I was serious about. So that’s why I decided I should write this out so that he understands the situation I’m in and the aspects of that that runs throughout the company.”

In her nearly 2,500-word letter, Ben-Ora explained the complaints she had with Yelp, including how she was required to work for a year in customer service before she could move into another position.
“A whole year answering calls and talking to customers just for the hope that someday I’d be able to make memes and twitter jokes about food,” she wrote.

Since Ben-Ora aired her concerns, her complaints have brought on a barrage of both comfort and criticism.

Stefanie Williams, 29, a writer based in New York, replied to Ben-Ora in her own open letter, saying she was once in a similar situation but survived “with some grace and a lot of humility.”
“I paid my dues. I did what I had to do in order to survive, with the help of my family,” Williams wrote. “I was gracious and thankful and worked as hard as I could even if it was a job that sometimes made me question my worth. And I was successful because of that.”

Williams warned Ben-Ora about managing her own expectations.

“Work ethic is not something that develops from entitlement. Quite the opposite, in fact,” she wrote. “It develops when you realize there are a million other people who could perform your job and you are lucky to have one. It comes from sucking up the bad aspects and focusing on the good and above all it comes from humility. It comes from modesty.

“And those are two things, based on your article, that you clearly do not possess.”
After Ben-Ora posted her letter Friday afternoon, she said, her work email was disabled.
She said she called her boss and told him she thought she had been fired — and why. He looked into it, she said, and when he called her back, he was on the line with a representative from human resources.

“They said, ‘Because of this letter, we think it’s better that we separate ties with you,’ ” she said.
Ben-Ora said on Twitter she was fired because “the letter violated Yelp’s ‘Terms of Conduct.'”

Stoppelman, Yelp’s chief executive, responded over the weekend to Ben-Ora’s accusations, saying that although he agreed with her that the cost of living in San Francisco is “far too high,” she was not fired because of the letter.

However, he did not explain the impetus for her firing. He only noted that there are two sides to every story.

“Twitter army,” he wrote, “please put down the pitchforks.”

Yelp said in a statement Monday that it does not comment on personnel matters. But the company echoed Stoppelman’s sentiment.

“We did agree with many of the points in the Medium post and thought it served as an important example of Ms. Ben-Ora’s freedom of speech,” the company said in a statement to The Post. “We agree with her remarks about the high costs of living in San Francisco, which is why we announced in December that we are expanding our Eat24 customer support team into our Phoenix office where we will pay the same wage.”

Ben-Ora said she did not think she’d lose her job by speaking out.

“Obviously, in hindsight, I should have expected to get fired,” she said, adding: “The whole point was to say, ‘This is how I’m struggling.’

“It’s not a unique issue,” she added. “I was hoping [Stoppelman] would see what needs to be done — not just with me but with everyone.”