Parental Outsourcing

Econ power couple Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers were profiled in the New York Times last month.  I like both of their writings so I read the article with great interest.  I noticed in particular their choice to outsource many of life's mundane to-do's so they can maximize time for making money and enjoying leisure, which is surely a logical response to their scarcity of time and their earning power.

As parents, Amy and I do our fair share of outsourcing, most notably having our kids in school from 8 to 6 since they were each about 1 year old.  That's a lot of hiring out someone else to care for, nurture, and educate our children!  But it comes not only from freeing up our time to have careers, but also from conserving our energy for the few hours we do get to spend with our kids, as well as from giving them access to professionals who are better than us at care and nurture and education.

Notably, though, there are a number of other things that we don't outsource, and it's not just because we make far less than Drs. Stevenson and Wolfers.  We do all our own chores because it helps us feel like masters of our own home, and because we want our kids to learn the value of doing chores too.  (Somewhat sheepishly, I add here that Amy and I actually enjoy some of these chores, too.)  And we do all of our shuttling of kids from home to school and from activity to activity, because we find these mini-trips to make for meaningful and intimate moments with them.  (See my post here on that subject.)

I want to stress that we are no different than Stevenson and Wolfers in valuing our time and responding to its scarcity.  It's just that we value different things differently.  For us, chores and shuttling are actually valuable activities, which are part of our valuing our kids, whereas they are not valuable activities for Stevenson and Wolfers and so are outsourced so they can conserve themselves for different activities that are a part of valuing their kids.  In this case, no one's values are superior to the other's; their differences reflect the fact that different people value different things. (Some may disagree here, say, uplifting stay-at-home moms over working moms, or vice versa; but as for me, I see both as equally valuable, and dependent on individuals' preferences.) 

Parents out there: what do you outsource, and why?  Do you think some parental duties are inherently less noble to outsource?  I'd like to know.

In Spite of Us

1“Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven, 2a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ 3“Know therefore today that it is the LORD your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD has spoken to you. 4“Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. 5“It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6“Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people. 7“Remember, do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

If it wasn't so common or so tragic, Christian self-righteousness would be funny.  We who confess the need for God's mercy on a daily basis, who base our salvation on His work and not ours, yet somehow turn around and puff up our own sense of goodness before ourselves, within our holy huddles, and to those around us who do not share our beliefs.  I'd like to say that it's because all people have a desire to be self-righteous, so that Christians are really no different than others in this regard, but the evidence I see with my own eyes (including a pointed evaluation of my own behaviors) suggests that we are in fact worse than the world on this issue.

If there is any consolation, it is that the Bible records such behavior as having taken place long before we were ever around, and yet tells of a God hanging in there with His people and still working on their behalf in spite of their God-dishonoring self-righteousness.  I read the passage above earlier this month in my morning personal Bible study time, and, after I had gotten a triple shot of the message, "it's not because of your righteousness that you've gotten this far" (verse 4, and then 5, and then 6), I wrote in my Bible, "OK, God, I get it!"  I felt like my son Aaron feels when I harangue him over and over again about something.

Only, however much Aaron deserves to have to have things repeated to him by me, more so do we by God.  It would be comical, except that it is sad and wrong, our repeated urge to find satisfaction in our holiness and lord our rightness over others.  In fact, it is doubly sad and doubly wrong.  First, we do in fact stand only on the basis of God's mercy in our lives, as even a shallow examination of our walks with Him should bear out.  Second, because of that fact, any hope to plead our case to others around us who are similarly in need of mercy is lost if the focus of our goodness is ourselves (which is not only false but also of no help to them) rather than a God who can forgive us of our sins, cleanse us of our righteousness, and love us unconditionally throughout. 

In spite of us, God continues to shine through.  Much as we try to muddy it up with our self-righteousness, God is still at work for us and through us.  Would that we unclench from our sense of having worked our own way to His favor, receive unconditionally what has been unconditionally offered, and shine a bright light on others that they too might emerge from any of their dark parts into the same place of unmerited favor and overwhelming love.

Sunday Snooze

I did something really productive yesterday afternoon. I took a nap.

The past four Sundays I have had church meetings - mediating a personnel dispute, attending a leadership meeting, voting in a new pastor, and then coming to an ad hoc leadership meeting she called after the end of her first week in office - and have otherwise not had any good weekend afternoon time to do what I have needed to do, which is to fall hopelessly and blissfully asleep in the middle of the day and not wake up to an alarm or a crying kid.

As my life complicates, I have found myself cheating bedtime back - chores need tending to, work requires a few emails get read and sent, kids aren't quite cooperating, and my mind races for longer and faster into the evening than before - but morning and its to-do's still arrive at the same time without fail. The sleep deprivation has added up, so it felt really good to make a big dent in the deficit yesterday afternoon. Is there anything better than a Sunday snooze?

Color Commentary

Race in America is alive and well as a pervasive discussion topic. Whether we are handicapping the upcoming presidential election, tracking what's trending on Twitter (Jeremy Lin, Whitney Houston), or having any number of conversations around the water cooler about practically anything else in our lives (schools, work, money), there's often a racial angle, and sometimes it is quite a prominent angle. I say that in neither a positive nor negative sense, I'm just being descriptive.

As parents, it is easy to think that so long as we put our kids in a multicultural setting, we can check off "dealt with race" on our big to-do list in life. After all, it's an important issue for our kids to learn, and it's awfully hard to actually talk about directly, so all too often we decide that all it takes is for us to work hard to make sure our kids live lives in which they are regularly in contact with all races and ethnicities of people.

To be sure, living in a cosmopolitan setting and being intentional about putting your kids in places where they will mix with a diversity of people is a good thing, better than cloistering them in homogeneity, where their only contact with people of different races and ethnicities might be through mass media. However, it doesn't absolve us of actually talking to our kids about race, race relations, and racial tension. Kids are in fact aware of race, and in the absence of direct instruction from someone I trust (such as, say for example, myself), I'm leaving their take on an important topic up to chance.

Of course, what you can cover with a 15-year-old and 17-year-old is different from what you can cover with a 5-year-old and a 7-year-old, as I have. So I have decided to keep things pretty simple. Over breakfast one morning this week, I simply told them, "I like that both of you have all kinds of friends. You have friends who are white, friends who are black, and friends who are Asian, and that's good. It's good that you have friends whose parents are from countries outside the United States, and who speak languages besides English at home. That makes me really happy, because it's important that you can have all kinds of friends like that. Did you know that some grown-ups don't have all kinds of friends like that? Even worse, some grown-ups don't like certain people just because they're white or black or Asian or come from another country or speak another language, and that's really mean.  So it's good that you can have all kinds of friends, and I hope you always do.  And I hope that if any of your friends ever gets teased for being white or black or Asian or from another country or for speaking another language, that you will be nice to them and stay their friend."

I talked long enough, and in a serious enough tone, that they knew that I was trying to impart some life lesson. But the lecture was over soon enough, and they were back to their fruit slices and their Cocoa Crunchies. Still, without doing overkill, I do want to be direct with my kids about race in America, because it's an important topic, and one I'd rather trust myself to be their main influence on rather than leaving it to chance.

Happy 7th Birthday to Jada

How far it feels, in geography, time, and so many other ways, that tiny Chinese village where Jada was born, abandoned, and brought to the provincial orphanage seven years ago.  Parents rightly divide their lives into before and after becoming parents, as becoming a parent changes everything.  Perhaps I am stating the obvious, but the demarcation in our lives is not only the assumption of new responsibilities and rhythms, as distinct as they are from our childless days, but also the introduction of a bright new life into our lives, without whom we can hardly imagine our lives, and who we get to see grow up before our very eyes.  Such is the case with our Jada, who we thank God for every day.  Happy birthday to you!

Econsult is Now on Twitter

#Econsult is now on Twitter: follow us at twitter.com/econsultcorp for updates, headlines, and other coverage.

Random Musings Too Lazy to Tweet

In lieu of a regular post, I give you some random musings I've had this month that I was too lazy to tweet:

1. For Valentine's Day, I got my wife a greeting card from the dollar store, and she thought it was too much.  Have I told you how much I love her?
2. Speaking of Valentine's Day, it plus Mardi Gras together seem to have become the February version of Halloween.  
3. Time Magazine quoted an Asian-American saying of Jeremy Lin, "he's our Obama."  In the sense of someone being an absolute credit to his race, I co-sign.
4. Has Facebook saved or ruined the reunion industry?  My friend and I disagree, and I'd like to know your take.
5. And one I did tweet about - the A's signed Manny, and now I want them to go get Bonds, Canseco, and McGwire, too.  2012 matters again!

God Rules

You know that I am teaching a Sunday School class for adults in which we are watching and then discussing Pastor Tim Keller's DVD series, "The Reason for God."  The series is six conversations Pastor Keller has with a group of non-Christians about thorny questions that often cause people to reject Christianity, such as "How can you say there is only one way to God" and "How can a good God allow suffering."  I never know who's going to attend the class, but it usually ends up being a good discussion and a diverse group.

Yesterday's class was about "Why are there so many rules," since Christianity is often known by its rules and Christians by their insistence on universal adherence to them.  One participant on the DVD, an earnest young man, notes his opposition to rules given by his parent without proper explanation; i.e. the quintessential "because I said so."  Indeed, it is appropriate for rule-givers, whether parents, employers, or policymakers, to provide suitable context for the rules being given, so that the recipients of the rule understand the importance and benefit of the rule. 

But it is sometimes appropriate for a rule-giver to say "because I said so."  Sometimes that's a cop-out by a parent who is too lazy to offer an explanation at the moment (can't tell you how many times I've been there myself!), but sometimes it's acceptable and even necessary.  Check out the video I've posted below, of my friend's daughter's birthday party. 



Pinatas and little kids are, of course, simultaneously a ton of fun and a poked-out eye waiting to happen.  Sure enough, at around the 0:21 mark of the video, my Aaron comes sauntering right through the swing zone, with the birthday girl blindfolded and raring to go, no less.  With my right hand I am holding my cameraphone, and as I see Aaron enter the screen, I grab him with my left hand, a little too roughly in retrospect but I wanted to make sure I got him out of trouble.

This is probably an imperfect parallel, but it did make me think of Sunday School from earlier that day.  Aaron cried because I grabbed him by the shirt and scratched him on the neck.  He didn't know what I knew, which was that he was in the swing zone and he could've gotten hurt if I hadn't moved him away.

Sometimes rule-givers say or do things we just can't understand at the time.  In fact, it can seem harsh and confusing.  But if we trust the rule-giver's knowledge of the situation we're in and his or her care for us, however much we might cry at first we will eventually come to trust and wait for the rightness of the rule to take its course. 

I can't say that I understand all of God's rules or His reasons for giving them, and I certainly can't say that I follow them or even want to at times.  But I can say that I trust Him, and am learning to wait on Him.  I believe in His right to set rules, and in His goodness in the rules.  If I, imperfect and finite as I am, know to jerk Aaron away from possible danger, how much more does a loving and omniscient God know when it is right to rein us in when we are trouble?

Carbon-Free Kids

It turns out there's someone even more car-free than me living right under my own roof.  As much as I try to avoid driving, my kids are in a car even less.  And it's not like they're homebodies: they go to school, have extra-curricular activities, and attend all sorts of social events.  But largely they do so on foot or by public, whether it's walking to school, taking the bus to the Y, or grabbing the subway downtown.

Since it was snowing last Saturday, I decided to use the car rather than public to get the kids to swim class at the Y.  It occurred to me, as they were buckling themselves in, that it was three whole weeks since they had last stepped foot in a car.  (Well, with the exception of our visit to the Auto Show, as pictured above.)

Truly this is a drastically different way of life than kids who are shuttled to and fro by their SUV-driving suburban parents to school, dance class, and piano lessons.  Maybe Amy and I can get away with not being pestered by Jada and Aaron as soon as they turn 16 about getting their driver's license and buying a car?

Sing, Girl

Out of the many things that make up her life, is it possible that church is Jada's favorite?  Let me be more specific: worshiping in church is her favorite.  And why not?  It combines three things she adores: reading, singing, and snuggling with her dad.  I can't tell you how good it makes me feel to have her next to me and to hear her sing out the words projected up on the wall up front.  Good times.

Not Mean Girls

Last weekend was Jada's 7th birthday party.  We let her invite eight of her closest girl friends, and seven were able to make it.  (I had a lovely conversation with the mother of the one girl who couldn't make it.  She was nice enough to call me directly to express her daughter's lament that she couldn't attend, due to a prior family obligation involving the celebration of her husband's birthday.  Yup, my daughter and her friends are at the age that even their own father's birthday party can't hold a candle to a friend's.)

It was a lot of fun watching Jada and her friends interacting with one another.  Fun, and also refreshing.  Maybe because we've all seen so many TV shows and movies in which young women get ruthlessly sorted into cliques: the popular elite, the artsy crowd, the misfits, et al.  (Did I mention I've started watching old episodes of Glee?)  So it was sweet to see eight little girls just having fun together, not cutting each other up or calculating how they could climb up in the pecking order or worrying about differences in physical beauty or verbal talent or social skills.

Here's my favorite example.  At one point, one girl was about to tell a story to the group when she realized it might be potentially embarrassing to one of the girls.  So she quietly asked that girl if it was OK to tell the story.  The other girl shyly shook her head, so she said, "never mind," and soon enough they had changed the topic to something else.  How's that for being sensitive, discreet, and kind?

I realize that the day is nigh that life will get more complicated for my little princess.  She'll start to like boys, get her heart broken, and wrack her brains trying to figure out how to navigate teenagerdom.  Until then, I will enjoy this innocence and I will be thankful she has such good friends.   

Vegas, Baby

So much is made of the amenities offered at tech firms that it borders on the absurd; I mean, if I told you that the Google site in Ann Arbor has a special room for nursing mothers that includes a refrigerator for storing breast milk, you'd shrug your shoulders and say, "yeah, I believe that."  (It's true, by the way.)  So it may seem strange for the much-acclaimed CEO of a darling dotcom to take the opposite approach, as his business' growth has necessitated new digs, and offer almost nothing in the way of on-site resources.  Even more contrary, employees have been given less office and meeting space than in their previous location. 

It may sound idiotic, but it is actually brilliant.  The CEO in question is Tony Hsieh and the company he founded is Zappos, which many of you may be customers of.  According to this article in Business Week, Hsieh had considered an enclosed corporate campus like Apple or Google, but then decided that what he wanted was for his employees to get out of the office and interact with their immediate neighborhood, a section of downtown Las Vegas that Hsieh is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to revitalize. 

It's a big gamble, from the standpoint of real estate development (many far more savvy than Hsieh have tried and died in Vegas) as well as of employee satisfaction (you know his employees have friends at the other places who dine daily on fresh sushi and soy chai lattes prepared by in-house experts).  But it speaks to the vibrancy that high density places inherently generate, and Hsieh is correct in wanting to tap into that.  Zappos, after all, is legendary for its customer service, which involves putting yourself in others' shoes (literally, in Zappos' case).  So why would you want to have a work environment in which you are cut off from everyone except your own people? 

If Hsieh succeeds in continuing to delight his customers with great shoe finds, unparalleled convenience, and dogged service, maybe you can thank the living organism that is downtown Las Vegas for providing the spark.  In this case, what happens in Vegas goes to the ends of the earth.

Econsult is Hiring

Econsult is currently seeking a full-time research analyst.  Position description below if you are interested or know someone who might be.

Job Opening:  Research Analyst

Economic Consulting Firm, Philadelphia PA 19102

Job Description

·        Create and manipulate spreadsheets for economic and fiscal modeling

·        Conduct econometric and other statistical analyses of economic, financial and demographic data

·        Draft and edit reports and prepare materials for presentations

·        Conduct technical research on economic and fiscal issues

·        Conduct spatial analyses of data and produce maps and other visuals

Qualifications

·        Competence in spreadsheet modeling, cost/benefit analysis and regression analysis

·        Basic working knowledge of STATA or SAS, competence in working with large datasets

·        Competence in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel and PowerPoint

·        Competence in Geographic Information Systems (e.g. ArcView GIS) and in spatial analysis techniques

·        Competence in HTML to update company website

·        Ability to thrive in collaborative, project-oriented setting with small groups of professionals

·        BA or BS in any of the following majors:  Economics, other Social Sciences, Statistics or Mathematics

·        Technical research experience

Job Type/Compensation

·        Full-time position with competitive salary and excellent benefits

Benefits of Employment

·        Team-oriented work culture

·        Exposure to important economic and policy issues facing the Philadelphia region

·        Opportunity to learn from the experience and expertise of the partners and consultants, many of whom have appointments at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University

Submit Cover letter, resume and writing sample to Sandi Timmons, Administrator:

BY REGULAR MAIL:                                                          BY EMAIL:

Job Opening (Specify ANALYST)                     jobopenings@econsult.com

Econsult Corporation

1435 Walnut Street – Suite 300

Philadelphia, PA   19102

Woodland Has a New Pastor

It's been almost ten years (!), but we have a permanent full-time pastor at our church again.  Today is her first official day on the job.  Her name is Julia Pizzuto-Pomato, and she is absolutely dynamite.  (Her husband and her 9-year-old triplets ain't bad, neither.)  She also teaches at Palmer Theological Seminary, and previously pastored a church in South Jersey.  You'll want to check her out some future Sunday morning. 

It's been quite a time for our congregation these past ten years.  Interim pastors, temporary pastors, a pastor who was forced out because of sexual misconduct . . . yup, we've seen a little bit of everything this past decade.  It's a testament to the resilience of these people, and to the strange but sure ways of our God, that good stuff has happened in the midst of and even through some of the more painful chapters in our personal and corporate life.


With the arrival of a new senior pastor and head of staff, it is not time for the congregation to relinquish its role as the true ministers of the church.  But we are thankful to have a new leader, and ready to submit to her, work with her, and see how God uses her gifts and ours to do a new thing in this particular time and place.  Big ups to our pastor nominating committee for all their hard work in seeing this recruitment process to its successful conclusion, and to all congregants who pitched in these past several months when we were far less staffed than we usually are. 

Happy Valentine's Day

My wife and I aren't real big on having to celebrate holidays exactly on that day. Closest weekend will suffice, or even a week or three before or after. Weekdays are such fire drills in our house, who has time to drop something special into that mix?

Valentine's Day has never been a big deal for us, either. We agreed long ago that there wouldn't be any gift exchanging, capping our purchasing at a nice card, if that.

But of course that doesn't mean we don't love each other, or that we don't enjoy expressing that love. So, until we have time and space, I dedicate today's post to my baby, and I embed videos of two songs below that make me think of her. Smooches.

(Both songs are produced by YouTube wunderkind Kurt Schneider.)

The Myth of the Model Minority in the Coverage of the Rise of Jeremy Lin

Let me preface this post by saying that I am enjoying the Jeremy Lin show.  I'm not hating on him or on anyone who's covered him or rooted for him.  What I'm going to write is influenced by what I've recently read but it is not a direct reply to any of it; I'm simply using the recent coverage to touch on a few points that I think warrant mentioning, as it relates to how many Americans view successful Asians in their midst.

The notion of Asians being the "model minority" is one that is fraught with hidden meaning and misunderstanding.  What could be wrong with being singled out for such praise?  Without delving too deeply on the topic (I recommend Frank Wu's "Yellow" if you want to read more), the tag is triply problematic.  First, it assumes all Asians are all right, covering over our vast differences and absolving us of dealing with any segments within the Asian community that might require additional exploration and assistance.  Second, it pits Asians squarely against other minorities in a combative and unhelpful way.  Third, the compliments come with a limit: we are allowed to succeed, but we still must be kept in place, for our success is seen as being in technical areas, and we are implicitly told we should be satisfied with those arenas and not think we belong in other tracks (most notably the highest echelons of leadership).

Again, I'm not suggesting that I know the intentions of those who have recently written or raved about Lin.  But it strikes me that some common themes about how his incredible story has been told can be misconstrued in ways that feel very similar to the myth of the model minority. Consider any article you've read about him in the past week or so.  Did it hit on any or all of these themes?  (I'm skipping out-and-out racist stuff, like the picture at the top of this post, which I actually think is kind of funny, but that's just me, because I could never figure out why people thought Asians were bad at driving.)

1. He's hard-working.
2. He has great court intelligence.
3. He came out of nowhere.
4. He's humble.
5. In regards to his faith, he's not as mouthy as Tim Tebow.
6. And for the ten millionth time, he's sleeping on the couch in his brother's Manhattan apartment.

These all sound like great things, and they are.  I mean, geez, what could be wrong with praising Lin for his work ethic, his brains, and his humility?  At the risk of sounding like a hater, a lot.  Subconsciously, are these coded messages (whether what the writer subconsciously wants to say or what the reader subconsciously wants to hear) that reinforce the myth of the model minority?  Are these compliments backhanded ways of insinuating that Asians lack raw athletic ability and can only dare compete at the highest level of athletic competition through hustle and savvy?  That we are automatically supposed to be deferential, avoiding the spotlight and letting our actions speak instead of words?  (Interestingly, there is a Japanese analog to the English aphorism, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease," which is "the nail that stick out gets hammered down.")  Or that the limelight, the big bucks, and the scrutiny that comes with it all is meant for someone else?

You may accuse me of race-baiting.  You may not be wrong, if what you mean is that I am trying to inject race into a conversation that clearly has racial elements to it.  Jeremy Lin's Asianness is not the only angle to his remarkable story, and it may not be the biggest angle.  But it is nonetheless a window into how many Americans view successful Asians in their midst.  And while the coverage, the compliments, and the fawning are certainly wonderful, there is cause to believe there are some misconceptions in the midst that may be innocently held but are no less dangerous to foster.  And so I hope we won't be afraid to bring out those themes, assumptions, and prejudices, have an honest and open discussion of the implications of some of our statements and beliefs, and be better for it as people and as a nation. 

Lazy Linking, 67th in an Occasional Series

 
What I liked lately on the Internets:

67.1.  Imagine a world in which there is no football.  (100 years from now, will people similarly struggle to imagine our world, in which there was football?)

67.2.  200,000 tons of deadly nuclear waste needs to be stored somewhere.  New Mexico says, "YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard)!"

67.3.  We're a long way from peak oil after all.  But just because fossil fuels aren't scarce doesn't mean they're not costly.  The solution, of course, is a carbon tax, which I assume will be implemented once politicians no longer have jellyfish for spines.

67.4.  The exact moment capitalism was born in China.

67.5.  The problem with the birth-control mandate is not moral but rather economic.

I'm Fine with Timeline

Well, I've gone and done it: I switched over to Facebook Timeline. In addition to a more visually appealing interface, Facebook Timeline is a fascinating way to present yourself to your social media friends and to the outside world. Your most recent random musings are de-emphasized in favor of a broader sweep of the totality of your life, stretching all the way back to your birth year.

I haven't gone back and filled in photos and facts from the past year, choosing to let Facebook populate my page with things I've already posted. But I'm sure others have taken the time to carefully curate their onscreen presence with all sorts of autobiographical snippets. And why not: if you can create an online persona with your current photos and statuses, you can cultivate an even more textured description of yourself by introducing time as a dimension, and offering your viewers the highlights of your life over the years.

One of the lovely quirks of Facebook is the way it serves to reconnect people. For example, I have had more contact with many of my high school classmates in the past two years, since everyone joined Facebook, then I had in the previous 18 years combined (and I haven't really even been trying, either). Allowing us to reach back to past years provides even more potential contact points for far-flung friends, family, and acquaintances to reminisce: about that crazy perm you had when you were 10, about the hellish job you had three careers ago, or about that singing group you were part of so many years ago.

While Facebook itself is fun to interact with, I prefer to see it as a tool for something more important, which is to interact with others. And in that regard, I think Facebook Timeline is a step forward. Now if I can just find those baby pictures of myself during that really brief period of time when I was actually cute . . .

Balling, Calling

In case you were wondering, I too have been stricken by a case of Linsanity.  I am referring, of course, to New York Knicks wunderkind Jeremy Lin, who has taken the basketball world by storm in his first week as a starter, ringing up 20-point games with regularity after being cut by multiple teams and riding the far end of the bench the rest of his time in professional hoops.  I mean, 38?!?  Against Kobe, in the Garden, on a Friday night, on national TV?!?

I cannot help but live out my long-shattered NBA dreams through him, given that we are both from the Bay Area, went to Ivy League schools, are of Taiwanese descent, and are outspoken Christians.  He even has the same game I once aspired to – fearless drives to the basket, a pass-first mentality – and I swear I rocked his haircut in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. 

Sportswriters are agog probing this bright new story line for new angles.  There’s the Harvard angle, the Asian-American angle, the benchwarmer angle, the “I sleep on my brother’s couch in Manhattan” angle, and, of course, being that we are now firmly in Year 1 of our Hero Tim Tebow, the “I am a practicing born-again Christian” angle. 

As to that last angle, I forget where I read this (probably ESPN), but Lin is quoted on the subject of his faith as wrestling with what it means to be “a basketball player for God.”  Meaning that if God has called him to this profession, it is incumbent upon him to figure out how to live out his faith in that profession.

There is, of course, an important first order of business, which is that we make sure we are in fact where God has called us to be.  Sometimes, we choose on our own what we want our job to be, and then we try to ask God how we can be faithful in that job.  To which God might reply, “I have no instructions for you in that job, because that’s not the job I want you in.”  So first, the right job, and then the job the right way. 

That said, I have no insight as to whether Lin is called to hoop.  Let’s assume he is.  He is right to think about how God can make the most of where he is.  And we ought to do the same, whether we are lawyers or metalworkers or professors or stay-at-home parents.  In this sense, while the younger version of me might innocently aspire to be like Lin, the current version of me does not and should not, nor should I envy others’ station in life: as they have been uniquely stationed in a certain place, and are wrestling through what it means to be faithful in that place, so should I worry about my own faithfulness in the place where I feel God has put me.  (Unless, of course, God is calling me to a new place.  But that’s a story for another time.)

China Isn't the Enemy, and Neither Are the Machines

Angry Asian Man correctly calls out as racist a recent ad by Michigan Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra featuring an Asian woman speaking broken English.  I wanted to point out that the ad is also wrong because it incorrectly vilifies China for stealing our jobs.  Machines are to blame for the decline in manufacturing jobs, not China; as Tim Horford points out, even China is losing manufacturing jobs.

Despite the rugged and patriotic Super Bowl ads by GE, we cannot expect manufacturing to generate enough jobs to sop up all of the currently unemployed and underemployed.  Part of the reason Rust Belt cities struggled in the second half of the last century is that they were making the painful transition from manufacturing hubs that cranked out products for the world and housed factories that employed thousands of people to service economies that could survive in a globally connected and technology driven world. 

Michigan is still in the midst of that transition, but the mystique around American manufacturing and the easy scapegoat China serves in an election year threatens to derail that transition. Never mind that even as the auto industry recovers, it is transforming itself from an old-school maker of steel boxes to a new-school provider of technology and services that happen to be packaged in a vehicle.  No matter: the myth of "built in America" and the opportunity to take a swipe at those sinister Chinese are impossible to resist. 

Michigan (and America as a whole) needs leaders who can articulate a way forward that acknowledges that mechanization and globalization are our friends, but that they impose unique challenges as we seek to move ourselves towards full employment and equitable participation in the fruits of progress.  It begs a grown-up discussion between competing philosophies of how to get us there.  Too bad I don't see a whole lot of such leaders and a whole lot of such discussion when I turn on the TV or open the paper.

On the Other Hand

Recently, I was invited to a discussion on a topic I have a great amount of interest in and a little bit of experience studying. (When I say "recently," I mean within the last 12 months; I've blurred some details because I'd rather you not know which event I am talking about.) I arrived mid-program, and quickly surmised that this crowd was looking for red meat. Here there was no one but true believers, ready to give all for the cause and fed up with the numbnuts in charge who were holding progress back.

As is often the case when I'm asked to contribute to such settings, I shared about a recent study my firm did on the subject. (It's fun to work for a consulting firm that gets to study all the interesting topics du jour.) And, as is often the case when I set the setting for our studies, I made it clear that we approached the topic and the study from as flat and objective a position as possible, to inform the discussion with raw data, balanced analysis, and level-headed commentary rather than take a position or grind an ax. And then I proceeded to run through my slides, my numbers, and my takeaways as I had practiced. My colleague, who had invited me to the gathering and who had briefed me on what I was to cover, nodded in approval from the back of the room.

Sadly, his affirmation was the minority opinion. People in attendance did not seem to like that I took such a dispassionate approach to a topic they felt so passionately about. It wasn't that I didn't care; I do, about the topic and about studying it carefully. It seemed that it was because I didn't share their enthusiasm for their side of the topic. One presenter who went after me even went so far as to practically insult me by being dismissive of "data and charts" as being unnecessary and distracting to the fight at hand, waving madly at me as he made the point so as not to confuse anyone as to whose "data and charts" he was scorning.

I realize people can get so worked up about an issue that it is hard to retain objectivity and sanity; I feel this way about a lot of things myself. But I never understood why, if you really wanted to make progress on an issue, you didn't take the time to get educated about how the other side felt, let alone how an impartial consultant viewed things. Truly, we all too often have made up our minds not only that we are right, but that those who are wrong and even those who are neutral are uncaring, ignorant, and dumb.

Leave aside for a minute the possibility that there is no absolute right or wrong on such issues, or that God forbid we are actually absolutely wrong sometimes. Even if I'm convinced in my heart of hearts, by data and experience, that I am absolutely right, I should want to make sure that I give room for those who are against me to state their case. I for sure should not have any beef with anyone who would try to apply a cold hard analytical approach in the hopes of informing the discussion with pure and unadulterated facts. People, however strongly we feel about things, and we really ought to feel strongly about things, let's give room for some discussion and keep our minds open to learn something from others.

Summer at the Y

This past weekend, I nailed down our two week-long summer trips (San Jose and Poconos) and locked in summer camp registrations for the kids for every other week. Yes, it is the first week of February. Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. I can't help it: I'm a planner, and I like things settled early.

One twist that is relatively new to my forward thinking is that the kids will be spending the majority of their summer at the Y. Last year, Aaron was at the Caring Center all summer, and Jada transitioned from going to Parent Infant Center (PIC) after school to going to its summer camp. This year, we have decided to send the kids to seven weeks of summer camp at the West Philadelphia Y. We can drop off as early as 7 (!) and pick up as late as 6, so that works for my work schedule.

It will be a slightly longer commute, as we will take a quick bus ride to and from the Y, rather than our two-block walk from PIC, but I can live with that for the cheaper price and the opportunity for our kids to mix it up with their Y friends all summer long. So just when you thought we couldn't extract more value out of our Y membership - it keeps us in shape, watches our kids while we exercise, and gives them fun classes like basketball and soccer and ballet and swimming - we will be spending even more time there. (And in two years, don't doubt that we won't be giving a good hard look at sleep-away camp.)

How to Get to the Head of the Class

On and off (sadly, mostly off lately, due to being over-committed), I have been following and assisting the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia’s World Class Greater Philadelphia initiative. Earlier this month, the Economy League released its Focus 2026 report [warning: large pdf], which synthesizes two years of discussions into a set of goals for the region and recommendations for leaders to work towards those goals. The “2026” comes from the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, when all eyes will be on Philadelphia; it’s a year far enough away to dream big dreams, but close enough to lend a sense of urgency.

A recent Philadelphia Inquirer article on the report’s release rightly identified Philadelphia’s failed bid in 2006 to host the 2016 Olympics as a catalyst for this current initiative. My firm worked with the Economy League back then to assemble some economic impact numbers associated with the before, during, and after of landing the world’s biggest sporting event, but more so than the brute force economic stimulus of playing host to all nations, such events galvanize regions to put their best foot forward and elevate themselves into the pantheon of world-class regions.

We all know how competitive, interconnected, and fast our world is, so it is very much true that we (Philadelphia) are not only competing within ourselves (city vs. suburb, one school district vs. another) but with other metropolitan regions within the US and around the world. The smartest, most productive, and most innovative people, firms, and industry clusters are increasingly mobile, and increasingly combing the globe for new places to invest and grow. And, rightly or wrongly, although it is changing ever so subtly, Philadelphia isn’t yet seen in the same way as New York or DC or Chicago or LA. But we want to get there.

Some of that is going to take pure marketing: mass media, social media, word of mouth, staying on message, promoting tourism, managing our image. But some of this is going to come from the far less sexy but even more important hard work of governance and politics and teamwork: figuring out a clean, efficient, transparent, and mutually reinforcing process by which a variety of leaders and institutions can come together, with their disparate agendas and diverse strengths, and figure out how to allocate resources, prioritize projects, and make meaningful progress on big and hairy challenges.

How do we increase our high school graduate rates, retain more of the smart kids that go to all of our universities, support entrepreneurs trying to create the next generation of high-flying businesses, and get complex infrastructural investments completed? Obviously, this is a job for not one person or one entity or even one sector. Sure, we need money and we need brains. But we also need a shared way forward, and a cohesive process by which we can slog through. So kudos to the Economy League for providing some of the much-needed blueprint on this.

Church and State

In a rare weeknight out, I attended a reception and panel discussion at the National Constitution Center earlier this week hosted by my alma mater, the Fels Institute of Government. The content was presented in a very Felsian manner, as befits a topic like transportation, with experts opining on the role of the federal government in dictating state and local policy goals, the process by which funding allocations should be determined, and the possible ways forward to break through Washington gridlock.

It occurred to me as I was sitting in the audience that I was burning precious capital with my wife, who would have to do school pick-ups, dinner, and bedtime solo, for the privilege of sitting through a wonky back-and-forth on transportation policy, and that that surely indicated that I was all sorts of nerdy. And yet this sort of stuff genuinely interests me.

I have written often in this space, in hallowed and hushed tones, of my affection for the American political process, a never-ending dialogue about the ways in which free people make decisions to allocate resources and advance the greater good in a world of scarce resources, partisan allegiances, and naked self-interest. As much mythology as has been built up over America's rugged individualism - from our frontier days to our modern free-wheeling capitalists - at the core of our American narrative is this notion that there really is such a thing as "we the people," and that there is a place, even as we go about seeking our personal gain, for figuring out how to organize around issues and choices that affect us collectively. (It won't surprise you that what I appreciated the most about President Obama's recent State of the Union address were his repeated reminders that America is strongest when America is working together.)

The cynics among us will say that there is little of this actually going on in Washington (or Harrisburg or City Hall). And that is probably true. But it doesn't mean that the ideal isn't worth cherishing, pursuing, and pushing towards.

If there is any place that could and should set the pace in this way, it would be the church. Here is an institution whose founding documents speak of "there is no Jew or Gentile," of "the priesthood of believers," and of "so that the body of Christ may be built up." If any place has a reason and an ability to subsume personal gain for greater good, it should be the Church with a capital C. Alas, here there is probably just as much if not more cynicism. But, again, it does not negate that that is where we should be, where we should aspire, and where we should move towards.

Neither church nor state need intrude on every aspect of my life. But, as a single component of both groups, I acknowledge that there are things that are worth taking up at a higher and more collective level. Those things are often the really important things, and because of their significance and the difficulty of working together, those things are often the harder things to pull off. We may never get it just right, but let us not lose heart and stop trying.

38 Special

Earlier this week, I went to the Please Touch Museum for a business meeting. (I joked with the woman at the check-in desk that I had been there dozens of times but never in a suit.) I decided to take the 38 bus, since it goes from a few blocks from my office to right in front of Please Touch.

Riding the 38 brought back memories of riding it often when Aaron used to go to Caring Center, which is also on its route. The 38 is actually one of the more interesting bus routes, as it spans from the Wissahickon Transfer Center all the way in the northwest to Independence Hall in the heart of the historic district. Along the way, it meanders through the Art Museum parking lot, gets close to the Philadelphia Zoo, and makes a loop on the doorstep of Please Touch. It also runs up the Ben Franklin Parkway, which is always a nice view, and cuts through some pretty run-down neighborhoods in West Philadelphia, like Mantua. As a result, it is of use to a whole spectrum of users: low-income folks who have few other transportation options, commuters with downtown jobs, and tourists going from one institution to another. (And businessmen with meetings at Please Touch.)

I had my nose buried in a business magazine for most of both trips, but every once in a while I would look out, and every time it was a different scene. I realize riding the bus may be inconvenient for some, but you ought to do it every once in a while just to mix it up.

Tweet, Tweet

Well, it looks like there are two tweeters under this roof now. That's right: my wife is on Twitter. Her tweets toggle between psych drug posts, links to Glee sing-alongs, and the usual snarky life observations. In a short time, she's finding her groove in this medium: she is a lot wittier than me, has mastered the hashtag, and is accumulating real followers. I have to say: I am impressed. Love that big sexy brain of hers.

Huang Family Newsletter, January 2012

Yet another crazy month for the Huangs. We had a late Christmas celebration with Amy's family, combined with Aaron's birthday. Invites went out to Jada's bestest friends for her birthday party next month. Jada had a tiny bout of lice, but Amy was able to contain the damage. The kids started swim lessons at the Y, which they like. Lee waited in line overnight to get Aaron registered for kindergarten at Jada's school; likely he'll be waitlisted and we'll have to sweat things out well into the summer before we find out if he's in or not. Amy is really hitting her groove at her new job, while Lee is busy as always at his job.