A Diversity-promoting Hobby

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Clarissa

September 30, 2018

More than with any diversity statement, I contribute to diversity with my “selling gewgaws on FB” activities. Only today, I had 3 buyers come over to get stuff I sold them. People often drive from very far away to get here. One of the buyers today drove over 100 miles. Then they meet me and realize that immigrants with weird names who speak in weird accents are kind, sweet, smiling, polite people. And that’s a great thing because nothing breeds acceptance more than familiarity.

I sold $600 worth of gewgaws today, and by the way, I pay taxes on all of my cash sales. Just in case people wonder. Between the ages of 17 and 22, I was an unrepentant, conscious and stone-cold sober tax cheat. Since then, however, I’ve been scrupulously honest on my taxes. I tally up everything I make outside of my official job down to a cent. So I don’t know what you can conclude about me today based on my tax transgressions of 20 years ago.

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4 responses to “A Diversity-promoting Hobby”

el

September 30, 2018

Diversity is everywhere today:

Kavanaugh and Gorsuch Went to the Same Prep School, But Their Yearbooks Couldn’t Look More Different
…
Having said all this, I do have a quick side question: Why does anyone think it’s a good idea to put two white men who attended the same prep high school on the Supreme Court? Shouldn’t we have some diversity in life experiences on the court? Wouldn’t that make sense, for a body that makes decisions for all Americans?

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2018/09/kavanaugh-and-gorsuch-went-to-the-same-prep-school-but-their-yearbooks-couldnt-look-more-different.html

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1. Clarissa
  
  September 30, 2018
  
  These are positions that require an enormous breadth of knowledge that people spend a lifetime building. You don’t have anything even remotely approaching this breadth of knowledge with a bunch of degrees from Podunk U at Podunksville. “Life experiences” don’t help anybody memorize hundreds of pages of case law or develop superior language skills. Which is what a jurist at this level needs.
  
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  1. el
    
    October 1, 2018
    
    One of problems is that attenting this prep school does not guarantee one has acquired “this breadth of knowledge” or developed any language skills. Who is responsible for checking professional ability? You said Kavanaugh seemed not to be acquainted with a widespread legal term, and the nomination sounds so political that I am afraid nobody cared too much about his abilities.
    
    I also think there are more possibilities than Podunk U at Podunksville vs. this one very special prep school for future high Supreme Court judges. Aren’t there many good schools except the top 5 or 10 in the entire US? If you got a PhD at another place, wouldn’t you have become a successful academic anyway?
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      October 1, 2018
      
      People don’t get to the Supreme Court directly from the prep school, though. They have a long career that consists of many components. Kavanaugh told at the hearing that his mom was a talented prosecutor who talked to him about her cases at dinner table every day. She’s obviously a shitty mother in every other way but it definitely helped him to build a career as a jurist. Just like my father teaching me languages since birth helped me. Nobody is preventing anybody from talking about something intelligent at dinner instead of staring at a screen. And that’s number one predictor of academic success outside of any school.
      
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