The Whitewater Schools now have an interim district administrator, and the district is looking to hire a permanent replacement. At the most recent school board meeting of 1.27.20, there was a brief discussion of community involvement in the selection process (see meeting video). The school board president and vice president (having each been on the…
Culture
Bigotry, Culture, Trump
Acculturation – or its Absence – Begins at the Top
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s a story in the Washington Post about a school meeting in Saline, Michigan entitled ‘Then why didn’t you stay in Mexico?’: A Latino dad was interrupted by a white man at meeting about racism in schools. The meeting was meant to address racism in schools, but it did not go smoothly: On Monday, he [Adrian…
Babbittry, Boosterism, Culture, Economy, Education, School District
Whitewater School Board, 1.27.20: Palmyra-Eagle & Competition Between Districts
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
?? On Monday night, Whitewater’s school board met first in closed session, and about an hour later in open session. (A video of the open session is embedded above.) Part way into the meeting, after a summary of the latest developments concerning the nearby Palmyra-Eagle School District, a candidate for that school district’s board spoke…
America, Culture, Fortitude, Language, Rhetoric
Roosevelt’s Speech at Madison Square Garden (10.31.1936)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
So this libertarian doubts the economic effectiveness of the New Deal, in its first and later iterations during the Roosevelt Administration. And yet, and yet… I admire Roosevelt greatly, as he was a courageous man who described the conditions of his time honestly (if the solutions not so well). His speech on 10.31.1936, announcing a…
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Boosterism, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Culture, Development, Economics, Economy, Local Government, Trump, WEDC
‘But Not in Conditions of Their Own Choosing’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
It’s a truism to say that all people make history, but not in conditions of their own choosing: Admittedly and sadly, the local boosterism of the pre-Trump years is now in retrospect worse than one might have initially believed: across America boosters who peddled false descriptions & junk solutions during the economic hardship of the…
CDA, City, Culture, Local Government
More Predictable Than an Atomic Clock
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
If one read beforehand the agenda for last night’s common council meeting (1.21.20), one would have seen the applicants for various boards (particularly the Whitewater Community Development Authority). Seeing them, and knowing what the last ten years on the CDA have been like, one could have confidently predicted which candidate would be recommended for appointment.…
City, Culture, Ethics, Philosophy, Religion
Perspectives Narrow or Wide
by JOHN ADAMS • • 7 Comments
One of the hopes for small-town living is that, among the residents of such a place, one will commonly find plain speaking and humility. Perhaps there are places like this, but sadly small towns, by themselves, are not enough to overcome unworthy pride. On the contrary, within such places, sometimes a tiny faction – confusing…
Art, City, Culture, Local Government
Newnan, Georgia & Whitewater, Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
One reads, in the New York Times, about How 17 outsize portraits rattled a small southern town (‘Not everyone was ready for what they saw’). After a white-nationalist rally in Newnan, Georgia, that town put up 17 large-scale banner portraits, images of the ordinary people who make up the town. They hang from the perches of…
CDA, City, Culture, Politics
Local Candidacies in Whitewater, 2020
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There are six public seats up for election in Whitewater this spring (three on the Whitewater Common Council and three on the Whitewater Unified School District’s board.) It seems there are six candidates for these six offices (five incumbents and one former officeholder). This is what one would expect of government in Whitewater over these…
Culture, Newspapers, Politics
‘Bothsiderism’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Gina Overholser, a writing about a liberal paper, remarks of the New York Times that Its investigative and enterprise work rises to today’s unprecedented challenges. But in day-to-day political reporting, the Times is hopelessly stuck in the past. Its proud allegiance to presenting “both sides” in a time of political breakdown renders it a handmaiden…
Culture, Education, Local Government, School District
On Changes at the Whitewater Unified School District
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
One reads this morning that the Whitewater Unified School District’s administrator, Dr. Mark Elworthy, has taken a position with the St. Francis School District, and will be leaving shortly. One wishes him, and his family, truly the best in his new role. It would be tragic for this district – and a call to action…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Crime, Culture, Distraction, Newspapers, University, UW System, Wisconsin
Truth-Telling and Tale-Weaving
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
In conditions of real injury, in which truth-telling is important, tale-weaving about irrelevant matters is worse than wasteful: it’s a misdirection from the significant to the insignificant. Three recent stories illustrate the critical difference between these approaches. As a truth-telling story, Hope Kirwan of Wisconsin Public Radio reports ‘Students Deserve To Be Heard’: UW-La Crosse…
City, Culture, University
Integration of University and Community
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
In Whitewater, where a campus of the UW System represents a majority of the city’s residents, the integration of campus and community is an obvious need. One thinks of this when reading Deborah and James Fallows, The Choices Facing Community Colleges. (These authors are describing two-year programs, not a comprehensive four-year program as with UW-Whitewater,…
Culture, Mendacity, Technology, Video
‘Deep Fakes’ in a Deeper Context
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In the video Op-Ed above, Claire Wardle responds to growing alarm around “deepfakes” — seemingly realistic videos generated by artificial intelligence. First seen on Reddit with pornographic videos doctored to feature the faces of female celebrities, deepfakes were made popular in 2018 by a fake public service announcement featuring former President Barack Obama. Words and…