Back in May I interviewed Judi Bonilla, a San Diego gerontologist, as research for my articles about modern old age for Bay Alarm Medical. I also read tons of articles about seniorhood and society’s response to its own greying. These leftover notes have been sitting around on my computer since then, so I figured… let them see the light! I didn’t organize this stuff into an actual article, so your interest may be limited if you’re not already obsessed with aging. If you happen to be writing about this, feel free to use the material! Just link back to me. Or get in touch — whatever.
I don’t think the activists will mind this photo being republished.
I just emailed The Marshall Project. If/when they respond, I’ll add their reply at the end. Update: scroll to the bottom for editor-in-chief Bill Keller’s response.
Dear Marshall Project,
As a monthly donator to The Marshall Project and a former escort, I was profoundly disappointed to see Rachel Moran’s policy suggestions presented so credulously, with nothing more than an offhand mention of other sex workers’ passionate advocacy in favor of true decriminalization. It is especially galling given that this is your first dedicated coverage of sex work. The conflation of sex work — which is undertaken by adults absent coercion — with sex trafficking is lazy. It does a disservice to sex workers and victims of trafficking alike.
I understand that this is a complex issue and people have many different viewpoints. However, I find it troubling that you chose to devote attention to one woman’s self-sensationalized experience rather than the broad international movement that encompasses sex-industry laborers across the globe. It’s telling that you didn’t report on Amnesty International’s recommendation that sex work be decriminalized, and yet Moran’s book tour merits an article. I am sorry that Moran had horrible experiences as a prostitute, but I find it reprehensible that she has the hubris to assume that her experiences are universal.
Bill Keller replied: “We anticipated, when we decided to do the Q&A with Rachel Moran, that it would provoke some strong responses. It was not meant to be our last word on the subject. We will be engaging the issue with our own reporting, and we will invite people with contrary views to make their case.” Then he invited me to write about my own, obviously vehement perspective — we’ll see if anything comes of it.
Update: The Marshall Project published my (lengthened) response. More on that here.
“Most sex workers do it for the reason that anyone does any job: they need money to live or to support their family. Punishing consenting participants in an exchange of money and pleasure does nothing but limit the economic options of someone who likely had few to begin with.”
In my experience as a reader, there are two main types of book. These types span all genres and topics. The first is steady going. I read a few pages every night, maybe a chapter — I plod through. The second type is gripping. I tear through the book. I pick it up (or open the Kindle file) and can’t put it down.
The quality of the book isn’t the distinguishing factor. For instance, I’m working on The Design of Everything Things at the moment. It’s an excellent read in terms of intellectual content, and the writing is accessible. But it’s not a rip-roarer. Who knows why? Probably my reaction is determined by something very idiosyncratic about my personal tastes. And yet, when reviewing a book, I must hope that others share my proclivities, at least a little.
As an opposite example, Boss Life pulled me through quickly. So did Managing to Change the World. The latter is a primer on how to be an effective manager at a nonprofit company, written by Alison Green of the invaluable Ask a Manager blog and Jerry Hauser, who used to be second-in-command at Teach For America. Together they work at The Management Center.
“Fundamentally, a great manager is someone who cares passionately about getting results. And that can’t be faked. If you are truly determined to get results, it becomes the fire that fuels everything you do[.]”
I’m such a fan of Green that I felt confident enough about the book’s probable quality to write this post’s intro before I finished reading it. I was right — Managing to Save the World is very good, and the advice is applicable to professionals outside of the nonprofit world.
In essence, Green and Hauser organize common sense into principles and processes. They are straightforward, presenting various concrete examples and tools. Managing to Save the World is a textbook for professional adults, complete with a summary of key concepts at the end of every chapter.
Here are some of Green and Hauser’s suggestions for managers:
Use time efficiently and effectively to get results. How? Well…
Guide rather than do. Your time should be devoted to tasks that only you can complete.
Learn to delegate and create a culture of accountability…
By supervising and following up throughout every project.
An acronym mentioned in one of the chapters represents the book’s overarching ethos quite well: “SMART goals are strategic, measurable, ambitious, realistic, and time-bound. Goals should measure outcomes rather than activities whenever possible.” Managing to Save the World is definitely a recommended read!
I have never understood the notion that “the exception proves the rule”. The exception proves that the rule is wrong! Or at least that the rule relies on parameters not previously discussed. The exception does the exact opposite of proving the rule.
For example, you could say that Apple is the exception that proves the rule that B2B companies are more valuable than consumer-oriented ones. This is nonsense. B2B companies are more valuable — except in the case where a company peddles a beloved, must-have global product with high margins and luxury branding.
Skipping college is almost middle-class mainstream at this point. For example, not graduating is an oddly inverted rite of passage in the world of tech startups. Of course, working-class people have been going straight from high school to full-time jobs forever. For as long as there have been universities, educated middle-class or wealthy parents — who are disproportionately white and otherwise privileged — have looked down their noses at the less-rich “unwashed masses”.
However, lacking a bachelor’s degree doesn’t incur the same amount of disapproval as being a high-school dropout. Dropping out of high school is like getting an MFA — it guarantees you’ll end up at McDonald’s (if you can believe the snide, faux-pitying comments). Unlike skipping college, dropping out of high school is reserved for losers and astonishing child geniuses who get admitted to Stanford at twelve. If you can believe the widespread perception.
Technically, I dropped out of high school. I skipped senior year to go to Reed — it didn’t work out in the long run, but that’s beside the point — so I took California’s GED test in June, 2012. It was dead easy. I felt cheated out of three years of my life, because I could have passed the test right away at the end of eighth grade. Maybe I would have needed to study a little to grasp all of the math, but I suspect I could have performed much worse and still passed the test. In retrospect, I probably didn’t need to bother taking the GED at all.
Photo by Don O’Brien: “Classmates of mine in the Worthington (Ohio) High School class of 1942. […] I don’t recognize the boy nor do I recall why I took the photo.”I could have spent three years writing and reading and working on interesting projects, instead of enduring the sociocultural hell of high school. Sure, I had a few good classes and a few good friends. But it was mostly tedium. I don’t like to think about how much time and energy I expended doing busywork and memorizing facts I really did not need to be able to recite at the drop of a hat.
(People worry about Google and the instant availability of knowledge making people dumber, because we don’t have to memorize much anymore — Socrates felt the same anxiety when writing and reading were invented. There is no need to refuse to use the tools available to us for the sake of intellectual authenticity or whatever bullshit. Memorization for the sake of memorization is a waste of resources. If you work with information on a regular basis you will memorize it naturally, and if you don’t use the information often, why bother memorizing it?)
Much as I think the current curriculum and organizational structure of high school are crimes against all the budding human minds who are subjected to them, I don’t believe that every single student should skip grades nine through infinity. If you want to be a doctor, a scientist, a lawyer, etc, then you’re stuck. Even otherwise, dropping out will only work if you’re smart and reasonably self-motivated. Creativity and confidence also help tremendously.
Assuming those conditions, going through high school is a colossal waste of time. It doesn’t matter whether you care about attending college later — contrary to what teachers and school board members might want you to think, getting into college is easy if you’re intelligent and work hard to do interesting things.
If your parents won’t play ball and you’re not willing to run away and support yourself — don’t do that unless your parents are actually abusive, not just buzzkills — then you pretty much can’t skip high school. That sucks, but that’s life. However, if you can work on your parents and cajole them into changing their minds, you can escape the terrible and all-too-common fate of lugging textbooks back and forth from your locker in between strictly scheduled boredom sessions.
First off, tell your parents that wanting to skip high school does NOT mean forgoing education. Learning is important and wonderful; putting knowledge into action is even better. Choose and develop a project! A months-long project that will stretch your abilities while occupying your passion. Then study for the sake of working on the project. Build something — a miniature greenhouse for the backyard. Write a novel. Learn how to sew clothes (geometry + art).
And don’t neglect macro planning. Write a four-year outline that predicts what you’ll do instead of high school. Make a budget to match. Then let me know how it goes…
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![Photo by Don O'Brien: "Classmates of mine in the Worthingto (Ohio) High School class of 1942. [...] I don't recognize the boy nor do I recall why I took the photo."](../../../wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2353256422_13b30fa42e_o.jpg)
