Before I forget– early voting has started a lot of places! VOTE! Make a plan to vote. Tell your friends to vote. And tell your friends to vote against fascists. Find out what the local candidate positions are and vote against any school board candidate who is in favor of banning books or who hates LGBT people or thinks if we just don’t talk about racism it will go away (or even worse, wants to people to be encouraged to be openly racist).
Hey! Have you requested your federal financial aid debt relief? Everyone says it is super simple and easy to do/easy to see if you’re eligible.
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
October 22, 2022 at 12:03 pm
On the intensive parenting article, I mean — meh? E.g. the “neighborhoods” article is actually a county-level analysis, and yeah, that probably does make a difference. And should a parent think through, “Should we get life insurance, and how much?” I mean — yes.
I’m entirely with the author on the point that we as a nation should be investing in the education, health, and well-being of children (rather than leaving this to individual parents), but what he describes hardly sounds to me like “intensive parenting.” It sounds like parenting, albeit including many (valuable) particulars that are out of reach of many families.
On other topics, I’m excited about what I now anticipate as the upcoming “Ask the Grumpies,” based on the comments on the last post. So many excellent suggestions! And DH and I voted Thursday. Early voting in my state is up by noticeable amounts (more people are doing it), though the comparison is (appropriately) the last midterm, and as we know that many people voted using different mechanisms once the pandemic started, it’s hard to know whether the increase reflects a change in behavior driven by a commitment to voting per se, or by a change in perspective on the best way/time to vote driven by the pandemic. Regardless, it indicates, well, voting, which is excellent.
October 22, 2022 at 10:27 pm
My ballot is right here on my desk, waiting for some info from a political analyst friend to help me over the hump on a few of the items before I check the boxes. Trying to be an informed voter shows a woeful amount of gaps in my knowledge, thank goodness I have at least a few friends who are more knowledgeable in these areas.
Intensive parenting: I’m torn between hoping that the stuff we do focus a lot on DOES improve the kids’ chances for a happier and healthier life, that the things we can’t focus on isn’t to their detriment in any significant way, and that there is a reasonably healthy planet for them to live in for the next 100+ years because if we don’t, the first two points are moot.