My letter in Newsweek and the response from the mag.
Basement Treasure
Yesterday I found a new treasure in the basement where I’m clearing out files and boxes. In 1983 I wrote a letter to Newsweek about an article they’d published. They printed my letter and sent me a lovely note!
The editor said my letter was so interesting that they decided to publish it in the international edition. They usually send copies to writers when their letters are published. But they’d run out, so could only send me a copy of the page!
My letter said, “I would like to point out an inaccuracy in your article on Nigeria’s elections. Contractors do not demand bribes in order to start work on projects, as you suggest. Rather, they are asked to pay bribes to government officials before they receive the funds they need to begin a project. . . And even after a job is finished, contractors must often pay bribes to get the certificates needed for final payment.”
Clem was running his company Freeman Engineering at the time. I heard about this difficulty first-hand!
Rosa Parks’ Two Weeks of Transformation
We remember Rosa Parks for her refusal to give up her seat on the Montgomery bus. But she had been a civil rights activist for years before that incident.
Parks had become acquainted with liberal whites in Montgomery. They realized Parks, who was president of the local youth branch of the NAACP, was discouraged by her inability to effect change.
Because of her efforts to promote civil rights, they encouraged her to attend a 1955 two-week workshop entitled “Racial Desegregation: Implementing the Supreme Court Decision” at Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. They even helped pay her way.
For the first time she became comfortable in an integrated setting where black and white participants shared daily activities.
Though she was reluctant to speak up during the two weeks, it was after that experience that she took her stand in Montgomery. Some of those who knew her at the Highlander were surprised, given how quiet she’d been!
The Highlander, now called the Highlander Research and Education Center, is still a center of civil rights work. It is home to history and many historic documents.
On March 29 the main building was destroyed in a fire.
White-Power Movement To Blame?
A symbol of white supremacists was found in the parking lot. The article in New York magazine about the fire said, “Ash-Lee Henderson, a native of east Tennessee and the first black woman to become Highlander’s executive director, believes the incident may be connected to a ‘growing’ global white-power movement.”
I was led to the story about the fire from Beacon Broadside, where I read the article about Rosa Parks. That article came from a book The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, published by Beacon Press, a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Beacon Press has published many “ground-breaking classics,” including The Pentagon Papers, and recently Robin diAngelo’s White Fragility.
Reparations?
We’ve begun to hear talk about reparations, that is, some form of payment to descendants of slaves.
Why should we pay? One argument is that we should compensate them for the 200 years of unpaid labor their ancestors provided that made many white families wealthy.
Students at Georgetown University just voted to “raise tuition at the school by $27.20 per semester to provide reparations to the descendants of 272 slaves owned and later sold by the school in the 1800s.”
What’s your opinion?
President Buhari at World Economic Forum
http://247ureports.com/2019/04/buharis-speech-at-the-world-economic-forum/
It wasn’t Davos. This was the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa.
Buhari said his solution for the ills of today is inclusion – both social and economic. I hope he is able to encourage economic inclusion for the many young people without jobs in Nigeria today.
He said that Nigeria is today’s investment destination. Having more foreign investment to build companies that can employ Nigerians would be a good step.
My Classmate Elwyn Berlekamp
I was sad to learn that my high school classmate Elwyn Berlekamp died a few days ago. After completing his PhD at MIT in 6 years after graduating from high school, he went on to “become one of the world’s leading mathematicians.”
His work was used by the Jet Propulsion Lab, NASA, and the Hubble telescope.
You can watch a video about him. It’s fascinating.
Mr. Deering who speaks about Elwyn was our senior English teacher as well as Elwyn’s 8th grade science teacher. He was the favorite teacher for many of us. I stayed in touch with both him and Elwyn over the years.
Elwyn loved games and game theory. Toward the end of the video you can see his demonstration of the game Dots and Boxes.
He hired me to undertake a consulting project for his company Cyclotomics in 1988-89, just after I finished my MBA. He was seeking international markets for his products. That’s what led me to be in Berlin when the Wall was coming down.
Photo by Robin Singer from Dan’s blog
Strike at Super Stop & Shop
We have several choices for our food shopping. The local Super Stop & Shop is the largest. I go occasionally and I also order from their Peapod service for delivery.
Two days ago the workers in three New England states went out on strike for wage, health care coverage, and retirement benefits.
Dan Woog wrote about it in his blog. Many people commented. Only one said she crossed the picket line because she had “time constraints.”
Could you cross a picket line?
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