This is one of the best descriptions of microaggressions that I've come across. It also explains well the idea of unintentional-but-still-harmful; I love the comparison to accidentally stepping on someone's foot, and will totally use that as an example in future.
This is a great move, and I really appreciated the point made in the article that while it won't necessarily affect all women in a uniformly positive way, it does help to remove a an male advantage based on stereotypes.
It's really interesting that the marketing is so moms-heavy; that doesn't come through very clearly in the Globe article. The article does mention neighbourhoods and moms briefly, but VarageSale's landing page is way more obvious... the co-founder as "Chief Mom", for example.
Great article you posted, lots to think about. I can really see online footnoting being a great approach for university textbooks (which are often already long), particularly because undergrads seem less likely to be engaging thoroughly with the notes anyway. For monographs, where more readers are more likely to be reading the notes along with the rest of the text, I'm less sure about moving to online. Definitely a conversation worth having! Thanks for sharing the article.
Thanks for your reply! I admit that I've spent the last 10 years teaching, TAing, and being a student, and I'm probably a tiny bit skeptical about what it's possible to get students to do, which coloured my initial reaction. Anyway - hopefully Clay is right and the learning process improves screen-free! :)
That's fair - the intentions of the no-screens policy are really good, and I hope that students do respond favourably and end up getting more out of their classes because of it.
"So I don't know what the right answer is. I think a minimal step in the right direction is to encourage people who use computers for other things than work to sit towards the back, and encourage those who want to pay attention to sit towards the front. That said, second-hand distraction is reduced (you can't see the screen of someone sitting behind you) and the teacher is motivated by what they see in the front row."
Totally agree with you - that's basically what I came up with, too. Screens to the back seems like an easy enough guideline to follow.
"I’m coming to see student focus as a collaborative process."
To me, this statement feels deeply condescending. I would much prefer to treat students as people making their own choices - for good or ill - so that they can deal with the consequences. If a student chooses not to pay attention in class to their disadvantage, they have every right to do that! I hope professors aren't pressured to become babysitters.
True & Co.'s model is so vastly superior to other intimates companies, in terms of actually working to make sure garments FIT customers. The way they're using data to inform the products they create and offer is really interesting, especially because bra fit is such an individual and impactful thing.
I may have missed something, but it seems like this only deals with the potential effect or lack of effect of eating breakfast (or not) on weight loss. What about the effect of eating breakfast on mental alertness, productivity, etc? Are there studies on that?
Is there an alternative that you think is better? Also, is their "version" of feminism a problem since they're so clear about what it is? It doesn't seem like they're hiding their perspective at all, so readers can decide how to interpret based on that knowledge.
> "When communities grow to a certain size, people no longer expect to interact in the future, and thus are more likely to defect – to be petty, mean, aggressive..."
Wow. I can't say whether this is true or not, but how depressing. Instead of counting on this behaviour, what if we tried to change it? Kindness, respect, and general "give the other person the benefit of the doubt" attitudes could make a huge difference. I just can't get around the idea that not interacting with the same person means you can not care how you treat them... that's crazy.
This is a great question - and I'd love to hear people suggestions for how to serve these needs at smaller museums & historical sites with small budgets, too.
I totally agree. Of course climate change and its newly announced irreversability is alarming. It's really hard, though, to figure out what immediate, effective action one can take.
That can definitely help! I do work with some students who have learning challenges or other issues with writing, physical or otherwise, for whom writing by hand isn't an option. Freewriting is a good idea whether by pencil or by keyboard, though!
This is a super interesting idea. I work with a lot of undergraduate students who struggle with the writing/editing divide, and I will absolutely be recommending that they try this tool.
It's great that a list like this exists, to start, but it would be even better if it provided some info about the educations and backgrounds of each woman listed. That would really help younger women or those not yet involved in startups & tech to find out about paths they could follow.
Well, I don't quite qualify - I have a BA in French and I'm working on a PhD in another humanities discipline - but I disagree pretty strongly with the idea that a physicist could do what a French literature specialist does but not vice versa.
Or, maybe Barbies are way more damaging because they're aimed at children. While celebrity culture and photoshop are hard to escape for adults looking at most media, children are learning what ideal bodies look like not only from those sources but also from toys like Barbies and Bratz dolls.
The untenured position is really a sessional instructor, which I'm sure also goes by different names, but involves zero job security and extremely shitty pay. It's not a salaried position, it's a "per course you teach that semester" position.