rpoydock

SEL and the Culture War

A new front in the culture war is social emotional learning. The folks who are banning books without reading them and disrupting school board meetings over critical race theory are calling SEL a gateway to CRT. All in the name of “parent’s rights”. What is SEL, you may ask? Social emotional learning consists of fiveContinue reading “SEL and the Culture War”

Share Your Pronouns

At work, we are switching from WebEx to Zoom and the profile settings for Zoom have an option to show your pronouns. I’ve been listing my pronouns for awhile even though only a few other people have. The company where I work has a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative, so I’m comfortable listing myContinue reading “Share Your Pronouns”

Cathonomics

This is the season of Lent, which is usually a time for reflection as Christians prepare for Easter. In a Facebook post, someone was asking for suggestions for spiritual reading. My suggestion was “Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy” by Anthony M. Annett. Professor Annett begins his book with a historicalContinue reading “Cathonomics”

Non-Inclusive Language

I’m a member of Toastmasters and I have been using an AI app called Yoodli when rehearsing my speeches. With Yoodli, you record your speech and it provides you with an AI analysis of the audio portion. (It does not analyze your gestures or body language, but you can watch yourself on video.) Yoodli listsContinue reading “Non-Inclusive Language”

Inspire Change

I stopped following football for several years after Colin Kaepernick was blacklisted for kneeling during the National Anthem. I considered this kerfuffle as a culture war wedge edge issue after the Former Guy started talking about it at his rallies. I personally dislike the Star-Spangled Banner mostly for musical reasons: 1. It is not suitableContinue reading “Inspire Change”

A Name Change

I often refer to the things that I care about as my Three Es: Equality, Environment, and Economic Justice. After some thought, I have decided to change the name of my blog to Equity, Environment, and Economic Justice. As I have learned more about DEI, I realized that treating everyone the same is not goingContinue reading “A Name Change”

Labor Day Thoughts

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Abraham Lincoln, First Annual Message, December 3, 1861 To many Americans, Labor Day is an end-of-summer longContinue reading “Labor Day Thoughts”

Hard and Soft Infrastructure

After summer recess, Congress will get back to work on two infrastructure bills. One will deal with hard infrastructure (roads and bridges) and will have bipartisan support. It’s certainly needed because the American Society of Civil Engineers report card has given us a C-. While we have been busy burning up $2 trillion dollars inContinue reading “Hard and Soft Infrastructure”

Four Americas and Equal America

I recently read an essay in the Atlantic by George Packer on how America has been fractured into four tribes: Free America, Smart America, Real America, and Just America. Free America is Reagan’s vision of America and is built on a religious faith in markets. Smart America is the meritocracy, well-educated experts, the coastal elites.Continue reading “Four Americas and Equal America”

Bad Advice from “The Graduate”

There is a famous line from the 1968 film “The Graduate” where Mr. McGuire gives Ben (played by Dustin Hoffman) one word advice about the future: “Plastics”. Plastic packaging and consumption has certainly grown over the last fifty years. The milkman doesn’t deliver milk in glass bottles and kids don’t collect pop bottles for candyContinue reading “Bad Advice from “The Graduate””