Congratulations: 2020 College Graduates
Yes, it is a bummer, the likelihood of a Zoom virtual graduation ceremony. Nothing can emotionally replace that magical moment in a traditional ceremony when your name is announced, you walk across the stage, shake hands with whichever college biggie is there for the photo op, and then descend the stairs a somewhat different person. […]
A Dark Vision
Background: to state the obvious, different people are reacting to isolation in different ways. An 11 year-old near and dear to my heart said to me, “I am so disappointed in myself; I am starting to curse.” My outlet is writing, whatever comes to mind, even if it is a crazy mixture of satire, realism, […]
How I Did It
For a quarter-century, I have been facilitating the pursuit of higher education by young people. To succinctly describe the context, here are some data points: of the several hundred students who have been assisted, an estimated 90% have been Hispanic, probably 95% financially challenged, maybe 10% undocumented or DACA, some 90% first generation, and perhaps […]
Thought Processes
A Given: DEMOGRAPHICS: Rising non-white population; nation as one of multiple minorities Which means: transfer of power is inevitable. A Fact: INCOME and WEALTH DISPARITIES: record levels, with accretion happening daily Which means: the current verbal pushback will intensify. A Fact: FINANCIAL DISPARITIES overlap with ethnicity Which means: race is always an […]
Brave New World 2019
Safety is a priority for me, after the accumulation of wealth that is, and I want control of my time as well. My husband Sigmund, whom I met through FindaMate4.me, put in a spy system at our house which gives me a view of everybody who comes to the front door, or the back entrance, […]
Question and Answer
A QUESTION … AND AN ANSWER Should this industry be dismantled, then redefined and restructured? It is an interesting business: highly fragmented, with well over a thousand entities selling similar products. Marketing to prospective customers is rather unique. It is primarily not done by industry participants; rather it is society in general which has strongly […]
One Goal
ONE GOAL: MULTIPLE PATHS Even if we tend to forget the truism in a country characterized by both unprecedented affluence and huge disparities in income, everybody, student and non-student alike, wants the financial ability to meet basic needs: a roof over one’s head, some clothes (let’s not have a debate here about “needs” versus “wants”), […]
Dear Andrea
Dear Andrea: I cannot express how proud I am when telling people that my lawyer was a member of our foundation’s very first education program, which means we have interacted since your eighth grade. And I now disclose to you everything pertinent to my multiple activities. My joke that includes a great deal of truth […]
Immigration Dialogue
TWENTY-ONE TOPICS FOR AN IMMIGRATION DIALOGUE If you happen to stumble into a discussion about immigration, may I make a suggestion. Establish this as a ground rule: when person A states something, person B cannot use “but” in his or her response. Note: Ducking any foolish thought of prioritizing the points below, I have put […]
Blame the Adults
Ah yes, it’s a wonderful idea, long overdue in fact. Wait, it’s actually simply business. With the pool of affluent white high school graduates about to peak, those non-accountable entities known as colleges and universities now are trotting out their long-hidden (i.e., virtually non-existent) commitment to diversity and inclusion (t-shirts and bumper stickers available at […]