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College for $99 a Month by Kevin Carey | Washington Monthly Source: washingtonmonthly.com
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On Parks

I had occasion to go to a city park yesterday evening with my daughter. It wasn't very late, just the hour or two before sunset. An unusual time for me to go, typically I take her in the early afternoon before lunch and this was the latest I'd had her out.

I was struck by what a difference it makes in the composition of people, their activities, and the atmosphere between daytime and evening.

First it was a much more diverse crowd ethnically, economically, and in age. Many more tattoos visible, more people speaking spanish (very few in day time), more parent couples rather then individuals. Also many more young adults using the park for sports and recreation, in daytime it's pretty exclusively the domain of parents (or au pairs) with kids, and the homeless.

The biggest difference was atmosphere- much more energetic and fun. People were relaxed and eager to talk with each other, eager to improvise and blow off steam. The daytime crowd in contrast is reserved, the parents intently monitoring their children's activity.

I think the fundamental driver was that the evening crowd was people coming out after work rather then housewives (or husbands) killing time. The evening crowd was playing, very conscious of not being under the restrictions that govern work whereas the daytime crowd for the most part was AT work, taking care of their kids.

An unexpected experience.

Reading Now: Intervention!

One of the passages that struck me most in Nixon Agonistes was Wills critique of the American obsession with elections, the belief that elections can create something rather then being a mere side effect of existing conditions (free people create elections, not the other way around). And Wilson was the archetype of American naivete, blundering into his own obscure Vietnam south of the Rio Grande. Wanting to know more I pulled the subtly titled Intervention! from the local stacks.

This looks to be a quick read, broadly surveying the cast and principle actions around the entry of American troops into Mexico during the 1910's.

Things to look for:
- Bad judgement by Wilson
- Reaction of Mexicans to foreign troop presence
- Conflict scorecard- what exactly were the Mexicans hashing out?

Nixon Book

I'm almost done with Nixon Agonistes. It's too complex for me to summarize in a review, look here for a good one. I will say that it provided a lot of context about an era I tended to ignore, under the assumption that most people in the 60's were either stupid or confused. Too much confusion, people were trying to build sand castles underwater. What I didn't know was how interesting it all is, how much of what we take for granted now was born in that era. Definitely worth reading.

Anthony Kennedy

I've listened to about half of a Cato discussion with Helen Knowles about Anthony Kennedy's judicial philosophy, interesting enough to flag her book for future reading.

POW: Mia Bay and Pamela Newkirk

The National Constitution Center put up an interesting discussion between journalism professor Pamela Newkirk and historian Mia Bay, on the life and historical memory of Ida B Wells. I think it worth promoting because
1) I consider myself relatively well versed in American history and I didn't know who she was.
2) Her story is the story of Jim Crow, of the rollback of the rights gained after the civil war. This is an era that doesn't get a lot of play in the narrative of American history, it goes against type. The general narrative is the story of progress- rights gained, biases and bigotries outgrown, of freedom gained. The years after Reconstruction saw the reverse- rights lost, terror imposed, freedom lost. It's not surprising people don't like to dwell on it, but they should at least be aware of it.

The biography Mia Bay references is here.

POW: Georgi Derluguian

I found an outstanding lecture from 2004 by Georgi Derluguian, given at the U of C. He discusses Chechnya and the origins of the conflict there. There are a lot of ideas here on how the physical realities of living in a mountain range affect society (multiple languages, isolation) as well as specific details (didn't convert to Islam until late 17th century, the population was built by people fleeing the great invasions crossing the plains to the north, one of the early Chechen leaders was the former Soviet chief of the Air Force responsible for the bombing campaigns in Afghanistan). There is also an idea that the whole region of the Soviet Union went through a reversion, a demodernization process. "Look at the hats!"

Here is his book.