Huang Family Newsletter, September 2012

Crazy month for the Huangs.  We got Aaron enrolled in kindergarten at the 11th hour, making all logistical arrangements in the nick of time, and so he is now at Lea while Jada started 2nd grade at Penn Alexander.  They are both taking gymnastics at the Main Line Y on the weekends.  We set up our front and back porches.  Amy and Lee had crazy work schedules.  We are all tired . . . and happy.

The New Metrics of Sustainable Business Conference

For the next two days, I'll be at Wharton for the New Metrics of Sustainable Business Conference.  Looking forward to hearing from thought leaders in this field, such as Bart Houlahan (B Lab) and Judy Wicks (White Dog Cafe, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies), and seeing what's what in this world, in terms of insights, terminology, metrics, and players.  (I'm not sure I ever mastered the old metrics of sustainable business, so good that I'll be picking up the new ones!)    

Driving in Reverse

First The Atlantic and now The Economist are talking about unprecedented declines in driving and car ownership, especially among youngsters scarred by the recession and high gas prices, living in transit-oriented cities, and more mindful of the environmental consequences of unbridled driving.  Whether cause or effect, the romance of the car is no longer there: who now waxes philosophical about making their first car purchase, feeling the wind through their hair on a long ride, or getting some action up on Make-out Point?

We still have a long way to go, in our individual attitudes and in our government policies, to put driving in its place in terms of balancing its convenience with the ecological, land use, and geopolitical impacts it generates for all of us.  But we've come a long way, too, in a relatively short period of time - think of how entrenched constant driving was a mere seven or eight years ago - and I have to think that there is even more progress still to come. 

Where Does The Time Go

This tweet of mine got some resonance among my social media connections:

Weekends are perfect: 1 day for chores, 1 day for activities, & 1 day for relaxing. Oh wait, you only get 2 days. Ugh...

Where does the time go?  Here's an anatomy of a typical weekend for me, for the 62 hours between the time I get home with my kids at 6p on Friday to the time I leave the house with them at 8a on Monday:

24 hours of sleep - 7 hr x 3 nights, + 3 hr of naps
8 hours of meals + clean-up - dinner, breakfast, lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and breakfast
6 hours of chores + errands - vacuuming, compost, house stuff, et al
4 hours of church - morning service, Sunday School, meetings, admin
4 hours of YMCA - swimming with kids Sat early morning, kids' gymnastics classes Sat late morning
4 hours of Amy time - 2 hr x 2 nights of catching up and watching TV
2 hours of sports - watching taped football games (3 x 30 min), looking at scores/articles online (30 min)
2 hours of personal prayer and Bible study - 30 min Sat and Mon, 1 hr Sun
2 hours of work - catching up on emails, setting my schedule, taking notes on my projects
2 hours of computer stuff - email, bills, reading, blogging
1 hour of grooming - 10 min x 6 mornings/evenings
1 hour of bedtime stories - 20 min x 3 nights
1 hour of phone calls - family, friends
1 hour of grocery shopping

What about you?  How do you spend your weekends?  I'm always curious. 

Lazy Linking, 78th in an Occasional Series

What I liked lately on the Internets:

78.1. Megan McArdle on Romney's tax returns: (1) he earns a lot of money, (2) he gives a lot away, and (3) he actually paid more in taxes than he needed to (because he deducted only $2.25M out of his $4M in charitable giving).

78.2. "I’ve long maintained that Republican legislators do not hate high taxes, they only hate having to vote for high taxes."  Could it be that an Obama re-election, with the R's retaining Congress, is the only one way to really do deficit reduction right? 

78.3. Ta-Nehisi Coates has no time for games because his work has taken up both his time and his creative energy. 

78.4. The difference in tax burden between Philly and its suburbs is narrowing.

78.5. Worlds collide: the guys that run the coffee shop across the street from my house are now going to run the coffee shop across the street from my work.

Hell of a Question

Having kids means answering tough questions.  The latest is Jada inquiring about her friends who are Jewish or Muslim or atheist: "Will my friend go to hell?"  There are two knee-jerk responses:

(in a soft, sweet voice) "Of course not, sweetie, that would be a hateful thing to believe."

(in a Southern twang) "Of course, so long as they don't believe in Jee-sus."


I don't like either response.  And I never liked the term "go to hell."  So I decided to start my answer there, which is to say that the Christian narrative says that all people - devout Christians, people of other religions, souls all around the world - live in active rebellion to our Creator, whose supreme authority, perfect righteousness, and absolute goodness render all paths "hell" that aren't humble submission to Him.

In other words, we're not at a fork in the road, with heaven on the left and hell on the right.  Rather, by our disobedience, we're well into hell, with no hope on our own for making ourselves right again.  It is only by God's unwarranted and unmerited favor that there is a way back at all. Or, to say it another way (with thanks to my former pastor for describing it thus), it's not about are we good or bad, for, because of our sin, we are dead, and the dead don't have much hope.

A worldview that says all religions are fine may make for a good bumper sticker and seem to offer the prospect of universal harmony, but it is not necessarily true and it is not necessarily satisfactory for the big questions of our soul.  Sadly, Christians, whose very salvation narrative ought to engender profound humility and reverence, seem to be worst among all religious folks in terms of blind, arrogant, and insensitive portrayals of God and salvation.We're not doing God any favors in His broadcasting of good news by the way we often act and think. 

Yes, we have a distinct, mutually exclusive answer to the question of our eternal destinations and of what we can do to influence them.  We ought to hold fast to and speak forth on that answer, with boldness and yet with the delicacy, humility, and gratitude that those beliefs warrant. 

Hell is no joke.  It is real.  And it matters what we believe and how we believe it.  I realize this is weighty stuff for a seven-year-old.  I gave her an age-appropriate response.  But she asked a tough and meaty question, and I think she wanted a tough and meaty answer. 

Monetary Policy

For those of us in the upper middle class, it sometimes takes into your late teens to realize just how rich you are.  Your schools and neighborhoods are fairly economically homogenous, so your wealth is not that conspicuously different from that of the people you interact with, so you start to think everyone's like this.  Then you volunteer in a soup kitchen or do a service mission overseas, and are overcome with the starkness of crushing poverty.  This is a not unfamiliar arc for many in the upper middle class, including me.

One of the benefits of living in a big city is exposing your kids to a wide range of walks of life.  My kids, though only 5 and 7, already realize how fabulously well off we are in the grand scheme of things, and I think that is a good thing, and I am happy about that.

Look, we're not filthy rich nor do we act like it: we own one car and one computer, we bought our house for less than $100,000, and we don't splurge for fancy things ever.  But nor are we slumming: Amy and I have well-paying jobs, we have retirement and college savings, and by dint of not having school loans or credit card debt are in the black when it comes to net worth.  I am aware of our material abundance, especially in a city, country, and world in which there are so many who have so little.

And, by living in a big city, my children are aware of this as well.  Where Aaron goes to school, 91 percent of students are considered economically disadvantaged.  Both kids have done day care at places that have had more subsidized families than families paying full freight.  They regularly walk down blocks where the houses are more run-down and the sidewalks more cracked than ours.  They know we are fortunate and they will tell you if asked.

But that's only half of the lesson.  It's good to know you have it good, but it's better to know the importance of being generous with that abundance.  This lesson, I think, will take more time.  Kids are inherently self-centered, and while I'm glad to see signs of gratitude in their hearts, a mindset of sharing and not hoarding and of sacrifice and not comfort will take some instruction on their parents' part and some refining on their God's part. 

This is the harder but more important lesson.  So it's good they got the first lesson, but I'm still working with them on the second.

Welcome to the Blogosphere, Councilman Oh

David Oh, City Councilperson at Large here in the great City of Philadelphia, has a new website, with blogs.  If you want to follow a hard-working public servant as he creates a conducive climate for business in Philadelphia, particularly in the arena of international trade, I suggest you check it out.  Kudos to Councilman Oh; I am honored to be considered a friend and supporter!

Recommended Reads, 11th in a Series

Stuff I'd recommend from the past few months:

Raceball: How the Major Leagues Colonized the Black and Latin Game (Ruck).  We all know about Jackie Robinson, but there was a lot more in here that I wasn't aware of. 

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Levitt/Dubner).  Love these guys but had never read their book, until now.  Good stuff.

Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood (Lewis).  Michael Lewis, who deciphered bond trading and sabermetrics, tackles a much more complex topic, that of raising little kids.

Winners Never Cheat: Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May Have Forgotten) (Huntsman).  The elder Huntsman (think Huntsman Hall at Wharton, not his son who recently ran for president) tells us honesty really is the best policy.

The General Book of Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know is Wrong (Lloyd).  I love this kind of stuff.  Especially good pool-side reading.

Libertarianism from A to Z (Miron).  One of libertarianism's main voices breaks down the philosophy from, well, A to Z.

Lazy Linking, 77th in an Occasional Series

What I liked lately on the Internets:

77.1. One of my favorite writers (Michael Lewis), on one of my favorite reading topics (Barack Obama)?  Yes, please.

77.2. Higher gas taxes are much better than higher fuel efficiency standards in getting us to become more fuel efficient.  Too bad we're moving further away from being able to propose that.

77.3. Not only do the Raiders suck, but their approach to punting is statistically inferior.

77.4. Incredible images of San Francisco from 1906 and today blended together.

77.5. In defense of the Chicago school economics: you don't have to think that markets work all the time, just that governments work worse.

School and the Urban Parent

I've blogged about a lot of things in this space.  But according to my Blogger stats, four of my top ten most read posts, including by far my top two, have involved getting my son Aaron registered for kindergarten. It helped that West Philly News had this tweet on Friday night:

West Philly's @leehuang Shares His Experience Registering His Child for Kindergarten... http://fb.me/13kN2cl4H

It's not like I would have guessed that my most read posts would be about the Oakland A's, gas taxes, or church community.  Still, it's telling that its education that has gotten so many hits. 

It tells me that school is so central to the urban parent's thoughts, and that the issues swirling around school are so grave, so confusing, and so rich that there's a deep interest there for information and for commiserating.  I'm glad to have made my contribution to the communal information pool, and humbled by the kind words of so many who have thanked me for sharing.

There is such diversity in my neighborhood - socio-economic, racial, religious, pedagogical, interests - and yet there is such resonance about the topic of education.  Not that there is sameness of opinion.  But there is a shared sense of the depth with which we care about our own children's well-being, about the system being fair for all, and about this being a topic that touches so many other topics.

At the same time, I am mindful of the fact that I am advantaged in relation to many of my neighbors, for whom a two-hour wait in a crowded lobby is a common occurrence and not cause for huffiness, and who, when faced with no attractive school options, can mull over private school, with the attendant increase in cost and time.  Some may read my words and roll their eyes or worse at my spoiled attitude and inability to understand true hardship, and they wouldn't be wrong for feeling that way, although as noted above we have things in common also so we're closer than might first appear.

I'm not sure I'm ready to look back and say this is how I would have mapped it all out, or to know exactly what God has planned for our family in all of this.  But I must say it has been interesting, to say the least.  I'm glad I've been able to be interesting to others in the process.  Thanks for reading so far.

PS

Yesterday I reported the facts related with our process in registering our son for kindergarten.  Today I want to share some of my background thoughts and inner emotions. 

First, I’m a little sad that Aaron won’t be at Penn Alexander right away, even if he may only have to wait a year or less to get in.  Both of my kids have developmental delays, and Jada soared as a result of kindergarten at Penn Alexander (thanks, Ms. Silver!).  Aaron could have really used the help.

That said, Lea is a pretty darn good school, and by all accounts a school on the rise.  A lot of kudos go to the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools for galvanizing parental involvement and pushing for improvements.  I and the families of Aaron’s kindergarten classmates are the grateful beneficiaries of those tireless efforts, and I don’t doubt that Aaron will have a very good educational experience.

I have a special affinity with Lea, as it was one of two schools I used to run a tutoring program at.  (Drew, which was recently closed, was the other.)  Being in the main office filling out paperwork brought back a flood of memories, mostly positive. 

I took my kids past Lea last month when we were walking home from summer camp at the Y one evening, and pointed the school out to them as a possible landing place for Aaron.  Jada noticed how grungier the building was and how much smaller the playground was, and she couldn’t quite understand how there could be such a difference between this school and her school.  Talk about a complicated topic to discuss with a five-year-old and seven-year-old.

Lea and Locke are actually quite similar in terms of demographics, test scores, and behavioral incidents.  (While I was in the Lea office filling out paperwork, a mother and her 1^st grade son came in and, when asked by the secretary how she could be helped, said, “My son was kicked in the penis yesterday, and that was on the third day of school, and that’s a problem.”  Yikes!)  But I was much more nervous about Aaron going to Locke than Lea.  My world is so small that two blocks away feels much more manageable than one mile away, especially since Locke is ringed by several housing projects. 

When I thought we would end up at Locke, Amy and I started exploring some private school options.  My first call was to St. Francis de Sales, since Aaron’s after-school program does pick up from there.  The person who picked up the phone there couldn’t have been nicer.  Tuition was dirt cheap.  Aaron would look cute in a tie.  And there were openings.  But Catholic schools don’t have the same schedule as public schools, so juggling Aaron and Jada would have been tricky.  Ultimately, we’re happier with Lea than with de Sales.  But it was interesting to explore it for a minute.

I felt very conflicted about taking the initiative in calling and then going to Lea to get Aaron enrolled, rather than waiting for the District to make its placements.  On the one hand, it felt really good to do something positive for a boy who could use the help and who I love dearly and want to see happy and thriving.  On the other hand, it felt like I was cutting the line, and in doing so cheating someone else out of a spot that they deserved but did not get because they were not as connected or savvy or available as I was.  For as cutthroat and capitalist as I am, I am so only if you’re talking about playing fields that are level and within a set of rules that is fairly applied to all.  So while I am happy about our personal outcome, I lament that others may not be so happy about their outcome, and even worse that that their loss was directly correlated with my gain. 

As a Christian, I firmly believe God is in control, and that sometimes we are asked to risk valuable things and we don’t always get an immediate or satisfactory answer.  In a sermon I preached last month at my church, I talked about three personal examples: letting go of my career aspirations, worrying over my wife’s health issues, and wondering about where Aaron would end up at school.  I am not in a position to judge others, because I don’t know their situations, but I am disappointed in us Christians (myself included) when we opt out of being bold in our faith in certain aspects of our lives, unfortunately oftentimes the most important aspects of our lives.  We’ll be faithful to God in most things, but it’s clear from our actions and mindsets who is ruling over our jobs or our schools or our love life or whatever else we exclude God from and choose to be our own gods over.  Look, I’m not talking about being bad parents and sacrificing our children in pursuit of lofty ideals.  But if we are to be people of faith, that faith ought to pervade the totality of our lives, and especially those very things that are hard to trust God with.  Like where our children will be going to school. 

It’s been stressful to go through all this, but there have been positives.  I have felt more calmness about uncertainty than is normal for this hyper-planner.  I have had ample opportunity to share my faith perspective with others.  And I am more keenly aware of my idols, the things I elevate over God when it comes to where I derive my peace, my purpose, and my power.  These are all unqualifiably good things.  But I will be glad for the weekend and for the chance to sleep soundly.  Fellow parents of Lea kindergarteners, see you all starting on Wednesday!

Registering My Son for Kindergarten in the Philadelphia Public Schools: A Timeline

Many thanks to all who prayed and helped over the past week as we’ve tried to get our son registered for kindergarten here in the Philadelphia public schools.  For your update and my future remembrance, I am recording the process, which (to spoil the ending) has culminated in him being enrolled at Henry C. Lea Elementary. 

·         2010 – We registered Jada at Penn Alexander on the first day of kindergarten registration.  I got in line 90 minutes before registration opened and got the last spot. 

·         January - Fast-forward two years and the waiting has increased to 24+ hours.  Since Penn Alexander no longer guarantees enrollment for grades 1 through 8, getting into kindergarten has become that much more valuable, because if you get in, you’re in, and if you don’t get in, you may not be able to get in for several years.  We were 65^th in line that day.

··         April – It is announced that University of Pennsylvania will pay for Penn Alexander to have afourth kindergarten class.  All kindergarten classes will be capped at 18, which means 72 spots.  The question is now how many of those spots will go to Penn Alexander Head Start kids (who didn’t have to line up in January), children and grandchildren of Penn Alexander employees, and the politically connected. 

·         May – The answer to that question is “13.”  We got notice that Aaron did not get a spot in Penn Alexander, and that we should come in to fill out a form to get him assigned to another school in the District.  When I went into the office to do this, I was told that Aaron was 6th on the wait-list.  That means 59 people that waited in line in January got spots, which means that 13 people that didn’t wait in line got spots.  We get notice later that month that our form has been received and that the District will tell us in August where Aaron has been assigned.  As someone who likes to play way in advance, this is uncomfortably close to the start of the school year.

·         August – I call Penn Alexander to get a status on whether Aaron has moved up on the wait-list.  He has not.  However, they say they will be calling all kindergarten families to confirm they are still enrolling next month.  They also inform me the District is likely not to assign Aaron until right before the start of the school year.  As in, the week before the first day of classes.  Again, uncomfortably close.  On a positive note, I’m told the wait-list rolls over, so we don’t have to wait in line again for Aaron, and will just have to wait until six kids leave so that there’s space for him. 

·         Monday – I call Penn Alexander to get an update on the wait-list.  Aaron is now #4.  I mentally budget that Aaron will have a spot sometime towards the end of the school year or else the beginning of 1^st grade.  I then call the District to see what school Aaron has been assigned to.  They say they can’t release that kind of info over the phone, for privacy purposes, and that I need to come into Headquarters to find this out. 

·         Tuesday early morning – After I drop off the kids and have a meeting, I head to Headquarters, go to Student Placement, sign in, and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  The waiting area grows from about 10 people to over 30.  Ninety minutes later, I look at the sign-in sheet and notice that my name has been skipped, and three or four people have been helped ahead of me.  I point this out to the sign-in person, and she apologizes profusely. 

·         Tuesday late morning - I’m brought to the back to wait some more, and finally see the person who handles these kinds of placements.  She tells me placements will take place later that evening, and then letters will go out.  She then looks up Aaron in the system and can’t find him, in fact can’t find any Penn Alexander wait-list students.  A quick call to Penn Alexander yields the fact that the forms, which Penn Alexander says were faxed in on August 15, were never received by Headquarters.  The placement person asks for those forms to be refaxed immediately.  (I wonder what would have happened had I not come into the office to inquire about this.  What would have happened is that I and the other wait-listers from Penn Alexander would have been persona non grata to the District: none of us would have been assigned a school, and kindergarten would have started with none of us aware of what to do or where to go.) 

·         Tuesday early afternoon - The placement person also tells me Penn Alexander kids are assigned to Lea or Locke, that Lea is almost full, and that there is no possibility of transfer to another school (except to request it this year to take place starting the year after).  While I would be happy with Lea, because it’s close and I know some folks there, Locke is far less attractive.  And with Lea almost full, I begin to explore non-District options.  Amy suggests Spruce Hill Christian School.  I put in a call to St. Francis de Sales to get instructions on registration.  My head is spinning at this point, between having to budget for tuition, figuring out how to enroll, managing the morning commute, and getting Aaron from school to after-school program each afternoon.

·         Tuesday late afternoon – It is suggested to me by a colleague that I contact Lea directly to see what they can do about enrollment.  I call over to the office there, and they ask me to come in the next morning with all the papers and they’ll get me in.  Well that was easy. 

·         Tuesday evening – I share my story at my Spruce Hill Community Association board meeting, at the request of their Education Committee chair.  She also shares that registration for grades 1 through 8 at Penn Alexander in August involved not one but two nights of waiting in line (!), and that none of those poor families got spots in any of those grades, because all the grades that folks were looking to place their kids into were full and had wait lists. 

·         Wednesday morning – After dropping the kids off, I make a beeline to Lea with my papers.  I am given a big stack of more papers to fill out, and within minutes have been given a spot, assigned to a classroom, and introduced to Aaron’s kindergarten teacher.  She is nice enough to do an orientation for me right then and there, and walks me to a counselor who may be able to help me find an older student who I can hire to walk Aaron from Lea to PIC.  I am in and out in about 45 minutes, and book it to the subway station to make a 9:00 meeting downtown.  I call Amy on my way to the station to let her know what’s up, and we make plans to finalize after-school pick-up, figure out school clothes (we’ve had to wait until now to buy them, since every school has a different color scheme), and buy school supplies (I was given a list of things Aaron will need on his first day).   We hang up, I hop on the subway, put my earbuds in, and get myself back into work mode for a long work day ahead.  Thankful to have a spot for Aaron, after all the waiting and stressing.

These are the facts.  Tomorrow I’ll post some commentary.

Aging in Asia

With entitlements playing a role in Europe's financial crisis and America's presidential election, it's instructive to consider how they'll play out in Asia, by far the world's most populous continent.  Kudos to The Economist (loving my new subscription) for coverage on this momentous issue: "Asian Welfare States: New Cradles to Graves."  A booming population and high economic growth now, but tough decisions ahead to balance safety nets with the mechanisms to pay for them, and to reform government structures to make sound decisions to put these plans in place.  Stay tuned.

To My Favorite News Magazine: I Econo-Missed You

I hate paying for magazines but like reading them, so I load up on free trade journals, borrow used copies from co-workers, and use up soon-to-expire frequent flyer miles as needed.  Over a year and a half ago, I wrote about taking a break from my favorite news magazine, The Economist, to try Time for a while.  I finally got myself back on a subscription to The Economist, and the first issue arrived this past weekend.

I was giddy with delight.  Not only do I appreciate the coverage and the perspective, but there is a certain rhythm to the magazine that I enjoy reading through.

What I'm trying to say is, it's good to be back in The Economist.  And crazy to think how much is going on in the world that wasn't aware of.

The Candidates on Science

Click here to find out which presidential candidate said this: "I am not a scientist myself, but my best assessment of the data is that the world is getting warmer, that human activity contributes to that warming, and that policymakers should therefore consider the risk of negative consequences."  Overall a good review of Romney's and Obama's positions on a bunch of science-related issues. 

Seeking a Cynic-Free Election-Year Climate

Just because I've become worldlier and savvier as I've aged doesn't mean I still don't ache over the cynicism and arrogance that marks our nation's election-year politics.  With a historic vote just around the corner, it seems everyone - from candidates and parties to neighbors and colleagues - have amped up the bile.  Twisted truths, offensive statements, smug rejoinders - and these are just my Facebook friends.  (Just kidding.  Kind of.)

Deep down, I wonder if we all realize our own hubris.  Maybe we do, but care too much about the ends to be more thoughtful about our means (e.g. "I know I'm being a jerk, but I just can't fathom what'll happen if the other side wins").  Or, worse, we are unaware of how poisonously close-minded and taunting our positions have become.

Look, I realize that Republicans and Democrats have fundamentally different perspectives on the world, on foreign policy, on economics, and on the role of government.  There is a very real choice in our political preferences, and what a country we live in that we can express those preferences and can vote our person in or the other person out.

But (and I have read President Obama say this numerous times), we share much more in common - in terms of where we're coming from and what we want - than our bickering and zingers would seem to indicate.  Sure, if we want to consider our elections purely as competitions - and what is America if not a series of competitions - then smear the other guy, mock the ignorance of the other party, and take in only the messages that jive with your existing worldview.

But if you care about, I don't know, the real world, in which we're all trying to advance and in which people suffer and in which what we do today in America will influence the rest of the world for the rest of our lives, well maybe we ought to be a little bit more humbled.  After all, none of us know all the answers or have all the resources for the struggles ahead - no one person and no one party.  We've got a lot to do, and instead we're bickering like the bickering is the most important thing.

Again, I get that it's fun to make fun of the other side, or to throw up your hands in righteous indignation at the ignorance of those who don't share your perspective.  And, I'm not suggesting that it's inappropriate to respond in outrage to outrageous statements or positions or behaviors.  I just want to say a word of caution - including to myself - to not become either smug about our beliefs or closed about others'.  In doing so, many of us are flying dangerously and unknowingly close to the sun.