On Jun 1, 2011, at 3:45 PM, Michael Smith wrote:
> Yeah, you must be up against that one these days,
> aren't you? It was bad enough when I was
> trying to negotiate it -- my youngest
> is 18, so the worst is over. I hope.
>
> It must be an unspeakable horrorshow these days.
> As Bluto says in Animal House, You should be
> drinking heavily right now.
Liza has done most of the work, and she's done it ver well. (Ivan's going to a crunchy progressive public school, The Brooklyn New School, in the fall.) But it is very hard. We're both journalists and know how to do research. We know how to schmooze. Plus we've got a lot of flexibility in our work schedule. I don't know how people with no flexibility, no research skills, and no familiarity with chatting up teachers and bureaucrats do it. They guess, I suppose. Or take what they're given and hope for the best. When I made this point to Terry Moe, he accused me of patronizing the poor. Faux populism makes me want to scream.
Doug