Digest, 3/5/2023: Fire Moonwalk with Me
Digest, 3/5/2023: Fire Moonwalk with Me
the eighty-fourth digest post
I appeared on the Nostalgia Trap podcast with David Parsons, talking about the 90s and digital culture. The podcast is for Patreon supporters only for now but he says it will go free eventually.
This Week’s Posts
Monday, February 27th - The YIMBYs and Social Capture
My concerns about a group that’s right on the merits but increasingly captured by the demands of being a social group rather than a political movement.
Reggie Fils-Aimé’s Disrupting the Game Is About as Underwhelming as a Wii U
Our second runner-up for the Book Review Contest, by Luke Harrington.
Wednesday, March 1st - The Left Has Never Stood for No Rules or Expectations on Personal Behavior
No, people shouldn’t smoke on the subway, and no, it’s not right-wing to expect them to follow the rules.
EDIT: My brother wants to inform you all that he’s a police abolitionist.
Friday, March 3rd - Being Offensive is an Essential Part of Roald Dahl's Books (subscriber only)
Roald Dahl’s books taught children how to feel about their bad thoughts.
Saturday, March 4th - I Cannot Stress Enough That Grade Point Average is Racially Stratified Too
The case against the SAT continues to make no sense.
From the Archives
Song of the Week
Non-Garbage Online Reading
Ben Thompson on what the NBA could learn from Formula 1.
Book Recommendation
The Witches of Worm, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, 1972
A creepy and atmospheric depiction of loneliness and the temptations of the dark side. Jessica, a girl serially neglected by her mother and estranged from her old best friend, has grown increasingly sad and withdrawn over time. When she discovers an abandoned kitten, nearly dead from neglect himself, she naturally becomes a devoted caretaker. But something is wrong with Worm, as she calls the cat… or maybe something’s wrong with Jessica. As with a lot of Snyder’s work, the ending is anticlimactic, and there’s another direction she could have taken the story that would have been more fun for me. But I get that she’s working under the dictates of Young Adult publishing here, and as is this is a masterwork in terms of portraying unease and the slow descent into darkness. Recommended.
Comment of the Week
It's pretty straightforward. If you're an elite, Ivy institution whose brand is all about mingling with "future leaders" and the ruling class of tomorrow, the rise of poor and working-class Asian children of immigrants who've been absolutely crushing the SATs presents a big problem. If something like half of an incoming class is composed of these students, it makes it difficult for admissions offices to include enough children of the current (largely white) elite, who will go on to be in influential positions in politics, media, finance, etc. in the next generation (and will be donors, influential alumni, etc.). This is not only *not* about admitting more poor black and brown kids, it's about keeping the "merely" bright kids of laundromat and bodega owners from diluting the social capital of the Ivy league "experience." It is deeply classist on an axis that is also, alas, racist. It is also about keeping elite college presidents from having to testify in front of the Supreme Court (reputation management -- like stock price -- being the obsessive goal of any executive board or body). - Tardigrade_Sonata
That’s it. I’ll do better tomorrow.
"EDIT: My brother wants to inform you all that he’s a police abolitionist."
Hmm. What's the zip code of his residential address?
“I don’t feel the need to explain my art to you Warren.”