University of Chicago Move-In Day, or I'm Nerdier than these Noobs

So, today, upper-classmen move back into University of Chicago housing, which means two things for me.  First, the neighborhood is about to get a lot more crowded.  Second, I get to do the traditional alumnus activity of claiming that the University of Chicago is on the slipperly slope to the mainstream, and this year's students are less nerdy than my cohort.  At this rate, we'll be just another Harvard in 5 years.

So, this year, the University of Chicago tied for 5th place in the US News and World Report ranking of best colleges.  Through artificially increased selectivity through the adoption of the common application, we boosted our rankings.  We have also increased the percent of alumni donors, a much needed step towards building a University community.  But, through our efforts, despite my want to call the younger nerds not nerdy because they spend even more time on Facebook than I do, they aren't really less nerdy, just nerdy in different ways.  Nerdom, like most cultures, is continually evolving.

The University spends a lot of effort trying to increase its ranking, but the whole ranking system is skewed.  CalTech and MIT also got 5th this year, but for very few people would find that CalTech, MIT, or the UofC would give them the 5th best educational experience of any University in the US.    Harvard, which almost always ranks number 1 on these things, was my least favorite of all the schools I visited.  Instead of students competing to go to "the best" college and colleges competing for "the best" students, the process should be tailored to the particular advantages and interests of schools and students.  Why can't the University of Chicago reject the stupid game play and acknowledge openly that it creates the best atmosphere for a particular kind of nerd?  Why can't it just cater to that type of nerd?

In the 1980s, my mother gave a talk at the University of Chicago.  Her talk in mathematics was supposed to be in Eckhart, but one of the frats was blasting music and they had to move the talk to Ryerson.  What music? The theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey.  If that doesn't seem humorous or homey to you, the University of Chicago is a wrong college choice, no matter how highly ranked.  On the other hand, if the fact that the only time campus gets crazy is for a very nerdy scavenger hunt appeals, Chicago is a better place to go than anywhere else.  If you are choosing a college, keep in mind that rankings represent the choice for some sort of "typical" student, and that they tend to discriminate against public schools.  The best public school in the country, which is on par with any Ivy League is the University of California - Berkeley.  Its ranking? 21.   Make a ranking of your top choices based on your own criteria, because you are anything but typical.

Three cases, three responses

I want to talk about cases of three different prisoners.  Sorry, in the time since I first conceived of this post, the opening has to be amended.  I want to talk about two prisoners and one man who was executed.  The three people are Jonathan Pollard, Alan Gross, and Troy Davis, may he rest in peace.

First, I'll review of the cases.  Troy Davis was executed at 11:08 local time in Georgia last night.  Troy Davis was accused and convicted of killing Mark MacPhail, a police officer from Savannah, on the basis of eyewitness testimony from 9 people.  No physical evidence was produced at the time of his trial or since.  No DNA evidence has been produced to support his conviction.  Since his trial in 1991, seven of the nine witnesses have recanted their testimony, several citing police pressure to testify originally.  Davis's lawyers pursued his case to higher courts asking for stays and a chance to prove his innocence.  Many pushed for him to be granted clemency due to the doubt surrounding his guilt.  But, the judicial branch of the government sentenced him to death and the US government murdered him.

Alan Gross has been convicted of subversion in Cuba for smuggling phone equipment to Jewish groups in the country.  Cuba has sentenced him to fifteen years in prison.  The United States has requested release and sent dignitaries to negotiate it.  Gross has lost approximately 100 lbs in prison in Cuba in the last year and a half.  There is currently a push to release him from prison on humanitarian grounds.  Only the severity of the punishment is at issue in this case, not Gross's guilt according to Cuban law.

Jonathan Pollard was convicted of espionage for an allied country without intent to harm the United States.  He passed intelligence information to Israel while serving as a US intelligence officer.  He pled guilty to the crime and is serving (contrary to his plea agreement) a life sentence without parole for his crime.  It is the longest sentence anyone has served for espionage for a US ally.  His health been failing, and none of his requests for parole have been granted despite his long sentence, his good behavior as an inmate, and assurances that he can never pass such secrets again.

I do not think any of these sentences are deserved for the crimes in question, but I must say it is rather hypocritical for the US to call other justice systems oppressive and unjust given its current state.

Kevin McCarthy: Community Organizer?

So a while ago, I was listening to Fresh Air at work.  This was at my previous job (my current one doesn't allow the radio).  The program featured the author of a book about the current House of Representatives, with a particular focus on the 87 Republican freshmen.  The author was particularly focused on analyzing the relationship of the House GOP establishment and the new Republican contingent.  He thought that Kevin McCarthy, the majority whip, was the key player in the conversations between the GOP political insiders and their Tea Party colleagues.  As I listened to how Kevin McCarthy made the House freshmen feel heard even though their demands are rarely met, it seemed as though he was employing the same techniques as many community organizers.  Organizing: it's not just for Democrats any more.

Jew Cool, Politics, and Eric Cantor

I don't know when it started to be cool to be Jewish.  But somehow, the stereotype of the Jewish comedian has morphed from the nebbish Woody Allen to the cool Jon Stewart and Sarah Silverman.  Jews have gone mainstream.  This is progress.  No longer sidelined as much, maligned by the mainstream, or ridiculed, Jews have the opportunity in modern America to be cool. (Just ask Drake if you don't believe me.)

Growing up as this transition was happening, I was taught to appreciate the successes of fellow members of the tribe.  Most notably, this appreciation is codified in Adam Sandler's Chanukah Song, but it extends to other industries as well.  When a Jew gets a promotion or gets elected, I am supposed to be proud, simply because I am also a Jew.

However, this acceptance of Jews into the mainstream allows Jews to feel a part of that mainstream.  Which means?  Jewish Republicans.  And I am supposed to be proud that a Jew is House Majority Leader.  I am supposed to say "look at our progress" when a Jew is on the frontline of the fight to deny Americans basic rights?  I'm sorry, but I can't feel proud of that.  It's a shonde.

Amy Winehouse

Sorry this post is so late.  I don't often post about random popular culture, but here goes.  In the hours following the death of musician Amy Winehouse, the media frenzy went forward on two fronts.  The first question they examined was whether the singer had overdosed, and the second question they examined was  whether the singer's family's desire to have a Jewish funeral for their daughter was appropriate.

Amy Winehouse is the Jewish girl that gave Jewish girls the ability to not be so nice.  She was always open about her background and never apologetic that her life was not beholden to halachah.  Adherence to Jewish law is not the only factor that makes a Jew, and Winehouse's parents and family should have been free to bury her in a fashion they saw fit (assuming she had no documentation indicating otherwise) without question.  In Judaism, caring for the dead is considered the highest mitzvah because the deceased cannot bury themselves.  And whether the person in question followed the commandments is not at issue.  The burial does not become more or less kosher based on the actions of the deceased.

Not all Jews are observant, and not all who are not Orthodox lack all observance.  So someone who was not a nice Jewish girl can be buried as soon as possible according to Jewish custom without a contradiction.

September 11th

September 11th is my generation's national unifier. My parents' generation remembers where they were when Kennedy was shot, my grandparents' America was defined by World War II, and their parents' by the Great Depression and World War I. My generation won't look back at the Great Recession, or even the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, as the formative experience in the formation of our America. We will forever be changed by the world stopping on one day ten years ago. When we're old, we'll tell the stories of where we were on that day, what we were doing when we heard the news or saw the Twin Towers collapse. And we'll talk about how that day changed the course of America forever. We may then mention, if we remember, what we were doing in May 2011 when Osama bin Laden was killed, and most of us will have forgotten that the Navy Seal team that killed him suffered casualties in Afghanistan shortly after.

But somehow, the emphasis that we place on 9/11 seems out of place. Perhaps it's the appropriation of the phrase "Never forget" as the mantra of "hunting down" the terrorists so they don't attack us again on "our soil." Growing up Jewish while there was an extreme push to get Holocaust survivors to tell their stories before they pass away, "never forget" is associated in my mind with the systematic massacre of 13 million people by the Nazis. And while the loss of life on 9/11 was a great tragedy, it doesn't register to me on the same level as the extermination campaigns of Adolf Hitler.

We are living in a time that we don't understand. The only constant is uncertainty, and we try to make meaning out of things by making analogies to previous things. We compare bin Laden to Hitler, we compare the Great Recession to the Great Depression, and we compare the technological boom with the industrial revolution. But the truth is we are living in the shadow of things past. And for me, the New Yorker cover Art Spiegelman made as a commemoration is still the most moving memorial of the events. So it is fitting that it later became the cover of his book In the Shadow of No Towers.

Unreasonable Expectations

New York legalized same sex marriage, and religious leaders across the state had a range of reactions to the news. One of the most intriguing reactions was the reaction of the Episcopal Bishop of Long Island, who demanded that priests in his diocese in same-sex relationships needed to marry their partners now that it was legal. Otherwise they would be living in sin. There is a 9-month grace period. after which partners must either marry or the layperson in the couple must move out of church property. This is perhaps the most intriguing implication of the policy for devout practitioners.

First, not all people involved in long-term relationships want to be married. Some couples I know do want to be married but refuse to marry until the federal goverment would recognize marriage of all pairs of consenting adults. Second, I understand that the Episcopal church privileges marriage as an expression of sanctified love and a recognized family unit within the church. However, I feel that for some people who have not yet had the opportunity to consider and evaluate either the legal or spiritual implications of their marriages, to rush them into marriage, even if they are already in a long-term committed relationship. Forcing marriage in a 9-month period seems coercive to my mind, even if the overall goal is in line with Episcopal theology. Pressuring people to marry seems antithetical to any moral philosophy, and I would hope that either the grace period is extended or the church will provide adequate counseling services for both partners in these relationships.