Apt. 11D

Spreadin' Love 506

Does NYC need more taxis? Answer: NOOOOOOOO!

This Lehrer story is just so depressing. Here's what Jayson Blair has to say about  it. I've been trying to read Moynihan's original article on Tablet magazine for two days, but the website is completely fried. 

A sweet story about love and care giving. 

More Daniel Craig!!!

Oh, here's a better trailer! 

 

Conference Going

This week, I've been simultaneously writing about a conference and preparing to attend it. I'm going to BlogHer conference in Manhattan for the last few days this week. 

My article was about the business side of mommyblogging and women blogging in general: why businesses want to work with women bloggers and what the women bloggers get out of it. I think it needed one more edit, but it's out of my hands now, so I'm going to try to forget about it. (Ugh. I'm obsessing.)

Getting ready for this conference is much, much nicer than the old academic conferences that I used to attend. I'm not trying to prove myself, so there's absolutely no pressure. In the old days, I wouldn't sleep for a few days before the conference, so I showed up all jittery and weird. This conference will be full of floral dressed women; that conference was full of suited old men and younger men in Docker's. At this conference, business cards will include pictures of children; at the other conferences, business cards featured university crests printed on cheap white paper. 

I might squeeze out one more article about this conference. There's a lot to talk about. Martha Stewart and Katie Couric are keynote speakers. Even President Obama will address the women, via a live video feed. 

My conference prep chores have included buying a new floral dress (must fit in!) and a keyboard for my iPad so I can jot down notes more easily. I'll get a hair cut the morning of the conference (an old trick), so I'll have nice, straight conference hair. I need to map out a plan for the sessions that I want to check out. 

I've been snooping around the Internet seeing what the conference-goers are saying. They're excited to get some free stuff and meet people whom they've chatted with online. They hope to spy a few superstars. They want to learn more about SEO and twitter. They want to get away from their children and the daily chores. It's entertainment! It has nothing to do with getting tenure! Neat. 

Adventures in Home Schooling

From Quinn Cummings in the Wall Street Journal:

Today in the U.S., some two million children are home schooled, growing at an annual rate of 7% to 15% for over a decade, according to the president of the National Home Education Research Institute. The term "home schooler" once implied "isolationist religious zealot" or "off-the-grid anarchist who makes her own yogurt." Today, it also means military parents who hate to see their kids keep changing schools; or the family with a future Olympian who ice skates five hours a day; or your cousin whose daughter is gifted but has a learning disability. The average home schooler is no longer a sideshow oddity.

UPDATE: Thanks to Melissa for reminding that Quinn Cummings in the Quinn Cummings from the Goodbye Girl. I worshiped her when I was in middle school. She was that tough urban chic that I admired so much. Now she's an expert on home schooling and has a cute blog. As Melissa said, "Damn her." 

The Shame of For Profit Colleges

The Chronicle of Higher Ed has an excellent article on the Senate report on for-profit colleges. Data stolen from the article: 

• More than half of the 1.1 million students who in 2008-9 were enrolled in colleges owned by the examined companies had withdrawn by mid-2010.
• In 2010 the for-profit colleges examined employed 35,202 recruiters, compared with 3,512 career-services staff and 12,452 support-services staff, which amounts to more than two recruiters for every student-service employee and 10 recruiters for every career-services staff member.
• Colleges owned by a company that is traded on a major stock exchange had 2008-9 withdrawal rates nine percentage points higher than the privately held companies examined. Among the 15 publicly traded companies, 55 percent of students departed without a degree, compared with 46 percent of students at the 15 privately held companies.
• In the 2009 fiscal year, the colleges examined spent:
    $4.2-billion (22.7 percent of all revenue) on marketing, advertising, recruiting, and admissions staffing.
    $3.6-billion (19.4 percent of all revenue) on profit.
    $3.2-billion (17.2 percent of all revenue) on instruction.
• 96 percent of students at for-profit colleges take out student loans, compared with 13 percent of community-college students, 48 percent of students at four-year public colleges, and 57 percent of students at four-year private nonprofit colleges.

In case you were wondering, here's a list of for-profit universities and colleges. 

Cooking Vegetables

I'm cooking up a ton of new things this summer. We're trying to make vegetables the star of the dinner with simple grilled meat and a small pile of boring carbs that will fill the kids' bellies. 

Last night, I made this ginger carrot soup. There are more complicated recipes out there for this soup, but simple is good, too. If you feel fancy, you could add a potato or yogurt to thicken up. More flavor can be added with curry powder, honey, thyme, orange juice, or bourbon. 

Instead of making meatballs with the standard pork-veal-beef combo, I went with turkeymeatballs. I didn't really need a recipe, but I tried out Giada's version of turkey meatballs. I thought grating the onion, instead of chopping it, made the meatballs a little watery. It needed more bread crumbs to pull it together. 

Eggplants are arriving in my CSA today. Eggplants are problematic, because Steve and I LOVE them and the kids won't touch them, so I'll be cooking two meals every night. Mark Bittman's grilling suggestions for eggplant are fantastic. 

Boys

If you love HBO's Girls, then you'll love Boys. 

Trash Blogging

So, what do I read on the Internet when I have only 30 minutes of free time available? I read gossip blogs. I'm not proud. 

That's how I know all about Jennifer Garner's one piece bathing suit. I also know about Kristen Stewart's shocking affair. (Apparently, it went on for months.) I'm trying to guess which A-list actress is being smothered by her boyfriend. 

In writing gossip news, Jonah Lehrer just resigned from the New Yorker for making up Dylan quotes in his book. Is it too late to return the book to Barnes and Noble? 

For those who didn't get enough of Daniel Craig in the Olympic Opener, check out the trailer for the next movie. 

Olympics Blogging

I finally finished one of my two articles that I'm cramming to finish up this week. I have about 40 minutes before I have to make turkey meatballs, sauce, and ginger carrot soup. So, LET'S BLOG! 

Like everyone else, we did some serious Olympics bingeing this weekend. I can't wait until Track and Field starts. I will become completely insufferable when that happens. Just warning 'ya.

Because Steve and I spent long hours debating about what Olympic sports are totaly stupid, we really loved Kieran Healy's chart on this topic. 

UPDATE: Every single person in America is pissed at NBC's coverage of the Olympics. Totally. 

The GROSS-ery Store

As Ian munched on his waffles this morning, I babbled while making a list of food that we needed from the supermarket. When Ian couldn't talk, we talked constantly for a few years until he got the hang of it. That habit of constant speech stuck, and now I talk to myself like an insane person. 

"Yogurt. Granola. Eggs. Cheese. Ian, I need a lot of thing from the grocery store." 

Ian picked his head up from his breakfast and said, "The grocery store. You have to go to the GROSS-ery store? You have to buy gross stuff? Eeeew. That's yucky!" Then he laughed at his own joke until tears came out of eyes. 

There are scientists who say that kids on the spectrum are incapable of having a sense of humor and lack creativity. Those scientists are GROSS. 

 

Related: A lovely post - Strange Love Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Kid