Saturday, February 18, 2023
The American Bar Association is considering whether to keep requiring the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) for entrance to law school.
Many schools already allow the substitution of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), also applicable to non-professional graduate schools generally. While they are both too distant in the past for me to make a meaningful comparison, both tests rely on reading comprehension and analytic ability. Test opponents, looking at the racial imbalance in the legal profession (https://www.americanbar.org/
My view is colored by my own experiences. In high school and college, I was a lackluster student, easily diverted and inconsistently serious. However, I did well on the standardized tests and that usually allowed me to progress. When I took the LSAT in 1998, I had been out of school for over three decades. The good results that I achieved spoke loudly to me as well as to the Cardozo Law School admissions office. After all that time, I maintained sufficient cognitive ability and sitzfleisch (the capacity to remain seated in a chair for an extended period of time) to endure law school. The precise LSAT subject matter -- 5 kids go to the movies and choose their seats in an elliptical fashion -- may have been far removed from contracts and torts, but it was right down my problem solving alley. This time, my classroom work was commensurate with my test scores.
Sunday, February 19, 2023
"Approximately nine out of 10 metro markets registered home price gains in the fourth quarter of 2022 despite mortgage rates eclipsing 7%, according to the National Association of Realtors®’ latest quarterly report."
Increases in the top 10 markets exceeded 14.5%; seven of those markets were in Florida and the Carolinas. California remains the most expensive state overall, but saw some contractions -- metropolitan San Jose -5.8%; metropolitan San Francisco -6.1%. In addition to the general increase in home prices, the doubling of mortgage interest rates during the year was an important disincentive to purchases, so plan on having your brother-in-law sleeping in your basement for the indefinite future.
. . .
The death of William Greenberg, Jr., was just reported. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/
I first sampled his baked goods in the late 1960s, when he had a shop on East 8th Street in Greenwich Village. Even then, his prices were as elevated as his craft. His family sold the business in 1995 and it seemed to disappear from my view for many years. Recently, however, a William Greenberg Desserts shop opened at 285 Amsterdam Avenue, formerly occupied by the saintly Jacques Torres. "Jr." is gone and the prices soar above most competitors. Sentimental fool that I am, though, I bought a heart-shaped petit four for my favorite Valentine last week.
Monday, February 20, 2023
On this Presidents' Day, another way to avoid reminding the South that it lost the Civil War, we Jews continue to manifest our ethnocentricity with a quiz on the relation of U.S. Presidents to Jews. https://forward.com/
Least surprising was Richard Nixon's hostility.
. . .
This afternoon, we welcomed 15-year old grandson Boaz for a short stay. We are delighted to have his company and he received an outstanding Holy Land welcome. Since he arrived by train at Penn Station, we conveniently had dinner at Ben's Kosher Delicatessen Restaurant, 209 West 38th Street. He had a brisket/corned beef combination sandwich ($22.99) and I had a roast beef/tongue combination ($23.99). Boaz is a healthy eater, befitting an energetic teenager, however he didn’t take to the chopped liver that his adoring grandmother offered from her sandwich ($14.49). He was more receptive to the potato knish that we shared ($4.99).
Then, he and I went to Madison Square Garden to see the New York Rangers play the Winnipeg Jets or get played by the Winnipeg Jets. An unsatisfactory conclusion to the evening.
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
The three of us went to the Tenement Museum, 97 Orchard Street, for a presentation on the contrasting lives of immigrants, post-war Jewish refugees and the Puerto Ricans following them. We sat in the actual apartment they occupied, furnished as they knew it. Let me note that the Museum’s bookshop has an excellent selection of books and materials dealing with New York City, the Lower East Side and the immigrant and minority experience.
. . .
Looking for a convenient place for a quick supper, we went directly across the street to the Sweet Dreams Cafe and Blue Moon Hotel, 100 Orchard Street. What appears to be a simple Italian cafe turns out to be part of a serious reclamation project for Randy Settenbrino, an observant Jewish artist and his family. He has turned a five-story tenement into an eight-story boutique hotel with 22 rooms. Much of the furniture and fixtures throughout the building were salvaged from the abandoned apartments. In the street level cafe, there are several large montages composed of newspaper and magazine pages also dating back to earlier residents, as well as Settenbrino’s paintings.
Oh, the food. We were in a bit of a hurry, so I got a bowl of very good cream of mushroom soup and a tuna panini (together $20). Besides the surprising story of Settenbrino’s enterprise, which is not evident from the street, the cafe has its own surprise — strict adherence to Kosher laws, once a given in this neighborhood, but now as rare as a local resident without a tattoo.
. . .
We arrived uptown in time for the curtain at “Kimberly Akimbo,” a show that wanders from a serious theme into some silly plot lines, but worth seeing for a masterful performance by Victoria Clark, a Broadway veteran.
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
“You had to be there.” This
comment usually follows an obscure joke or an opaque description of an
event. In a broader sense, it's how some people regard
cultural appropriation and authenticity, objecting to straight men portraying gay
men, Whites writing about Blacks, comfortably housed people documenting
the homeless and the like. An example in the newspaper is a question
to two Korean filmmakers: “[D]id either of you have reservations about
making a film about adoption and not being adopted yourselves?”
Think of how much art would not survive the authenticity test. While
galleries would be full of self portraits and libraries full of
autobiographies, works of imagination would disappear. People should be
allowed to tell their own stories, but not only their own stories.
Thursday, February 23, 2023
The superintendent of a Texas
school district resigned after he left his gun in an elementary school
bathroom where it was found by a third-grader. https://news.yahoo.com/texas-
The official reacted with the cool demeanor of a Texas gunslinger: “There was never a danger other than the obvious.”
Friday, February 24, 2023
Yesterday, the Tennessee legislature passed a bill banning drag shows in public. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tennessee-takes-lead-republican-effort-restrict-drag-shows-2023-02-23/
Meanwhile, it ranks 40th in health care for its residents regardless of how they are dressed. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/health-care
Boaz. Lucky kid.
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