- #5SmartReads
- Posts
- #5SmartReads - October 24, 2022
#5SmartReads - October 24, 2022
Dr. Kate on President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, African American vernacular, and how popular cheating scandals
Kate Slater, Ph.D. (also known in this house as Dr. Kate) is a racial justice educator, scholar, and facilitator. She is a national director at an educational nonprofit called BUILD, and she teaches in the department of Education at the University of New Hampshire. She researches white supremacy work culture and systemic racism in higher education. She is a very slow runner, a very ambitious crafter, and a very committed reader.
When President Biden announced his student loan forgiveness plan for borrowers (and specifically Pell Grant recipients, who have the highest financial need of college applicants), he stated that this was a move that would dramatically close the racial wealth gap.
Black and Latinx students on average are more likely to take on student loans to attend college (according to the Student Borrower Protection Center), and they're also more likely to struggle with repayment. And while Biden's plan would wipe out up to $20,000 in student loan debt for Pell Grant recipients, there is a significant number of Black and Latinx students who are left out of this effort.
"There’s a generation of former drug offenders who borrowed to pay for school, but don’t have Pell Grants or federal loans, and won’t have any of their student debt forgiven."
Former drug offenders were ineligible or discouraged from apply for Pell Grants or federal loans, and instead, if they chose to pursue higher education, had to enroll in often-predatory private loans - Biden's plan does not include forgiveness for these private loans.
"How Russian Trolls helped keep the Women's March out of lockstep" (New York Times)
WHY IS NOBODY TALKING ABOUT THIS?
Barry's article examines how in the wake of the infamous 2017 Women's March to protest the presidency of Donald Trump (historically one of the largest-attended international marches in history), Russian trolls sowed the seeds of disinformation in order to discredit the organizers of the Women's March, and the Women's March in general.
This looks at the sinister ways that trolls exacerbated internal divides and stoked rumors and falsehoods to undermine the groundswell against Donald Trump and the GOP.
African American Vernacular English, or AAVE (also known as ebonics), is often ridiculed in schools and classrooms, yet it's also frequently co-opted by non-Black individuals (see examples like 'sis' 'tea' or 'finna').
This is a really interesting examination of the evolution of AAVE, the ways in which it's both celebrated and derided depending on the context, and it brings up the question of why AAVE is not celebrated and respected as its own stand-alone language.
Romano hits the nail on the head with this pithy take:
"Yet a recent string of high-profile cheating scandals, all involving high-profile straight men who cheated on their successful wives, suggests that the public’s relationship to these tropes, and perhaps the celebrities themselves, might be changing. Out: slut-shaming and victim-blaming. In: interrogating toxic masculinity."
This is a nuanced and multi-layered analysis of the public's fascination with cheating scandals and how social media, among other factors, is shifting the narrative and the ways we scrutinize these scandals.
It's Not Funny Ha-Ha, But Funny Queer (Now That I Mention It)
My list of Substack newsletters is spinning wildly out of control, but Meecham Whiston Meriweather's "Now That I Mention It" is the one that rocks my lil toe socks. This review of the queer rom-com "Bros" sent me over the edge. For the love of Pete, subscribe immediately and support this GOLD NUGGET that arrives in your inbox each week.
Reply