† You Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover: The Christian Science Monitor ponders a blog post by Robert Canfield, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, who calls Susan Boyle’s talent show performance “great cultural moment” and likens its effect on our collective psyche to Elian Gonzales, who “[s]imply by arriving on the shores of Florida, alone, his mother and others lost at sea as they desperately fled Cuba in a fragile sea craft … provided nothing more than his own presence into which people from many persuasions could invest their opinions about the Cuban question”:

Buried within the human psyche are feelings, yearnings, anxieties too deep for words, usually. Only sometimes do we see it in ourselves. Always it is something outside ourselves that touches us, somehow, where we feel most deeply. At such moments we remember that we are humans - not mere living creatures, but human beings, profoundly and deeply shaped by a moral sensibility so powerful that it breaks through our inhibitions; it can burst out, explode into public view, to our own astonishment. And sometimes that objective form - a person, an event, an object, a song - embodies deeply felt sensibilities for a lot of us at once, so that we discover how much we share in our private worlds, worlds otherwise inaccessible to anyone one else. It becomes a social event, so we can all rejoice, and weep, together.

But for some, including the Washington Post’s Robin Givhan, superficiality trumps moral sensibility (“[t]he tale of Susan Boyle will not be complete until the shy spinster blossoms”):

As a culture, we don't just want to be successful, we want to look the part as well. Success is beautiful - literally. …

Boyle would not be mesmerizing if she were not an ugly duckling. Her success is fueled by the fact that everyone assumed she was going to be a loser because she looked like the standard version of one as defined by the collective archives of movies, TV and literature. …

Some people argue that if Boyle gets a makeover, she will have lost the very characteristics that made folks love her, that made them believe that fairy tales can happen to ordinary people. Boyle has charmed millions, in part, because she comes across as unpretentious and pleasant. But she's hardly Everywoman. She's an odd duck, a bit of a loner. She's a character. And she's living out a fairy tale.

Transformation is always part of a good story. Cinderella didn't go to the ball in hand-me-downs. She went looking her best in a glorious gown and won the heart of the prince.

The “ugly duckling” transforms into a swan before our very eyes when she sings. The beauty of her soul comes out in her talent. Why must we tart her up instead of allowing her to initiate a paradigm shift in what society considers beautiful, just by being herself?  

† Gays Do Not Tolerate Dissent: Part II (second item): Did Miss California Carrie Prejean lose the Miss USA crown because of her views on gay marriage (video link)? Or, as irate judge Perez Hilton contends, because of the way she expressed her views (video link)? Is there a difference? Yes ... and no.

A person with “half a brain” would have answered the question of whether other states should follow VT’s lead in legalizing gay marriage like this, according to Perez, so as not to alienate people:

Hmm. Perez, that’s a great question.  That’s a very hot topic in our country right now, and I think that is a question that each state should decide for themselves, because that is how our forefathers designed our government. You know, the states rule themselves and then there’s certain laws which are federal.

Before going any further, The Stiletto must disclose that Perez Hilton’s Web site is a guilty pleasure. He is wicked funny - which is a sign of a superior intellect - and it stands to reason that his answer would be better thought out than hers. On the other hand, the degree to which Prejean is prettier than Perez is much greater than the degree to which Perez is smarter than Prejean. And there is also that pesky First Amendment right she has to disagree with him on gay marriage (as does the state she represented in the beauty pageant). Bottom line: Perez came off as the closed-minded bully, especially after Prejean responded to his diatribes by turning the other cheek.   

† Global Warming Is A Vegetarian Plot (third item): Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi notes that for environazis, “[w]hen it comes to the Earth's demise, no one is innocent”:

Take, for instance, the recent story about a group of scientists who are wagging their scrawny fingers at our rotund brothers and sisters …

You see, eating more means humans must produce more food - and more carbon dioxide. It means we must raise more soon-to-be juicy steaks that have a tendency to emit greenhouse gases that reek. …

[B]ecause the EPA can regulate CO2, it can have a say in nearly everything we do, with little regard for silly distractions, such as economic trade-offs.

We're not talking about your cars or soon-to-be-extinct trucks; we're talking about your scooters and toasters, your dryers and pets (do you really need two dogs? Come to think of it, do you really need two children?), your coffeehouses and Subaru dealerships and organic-produce collectives.

It's not going to be easy. Climate change is the cause of - and caused by - everything. Reputable news pieces regularly allege, without any evidence, that climate change is the culprit in hundreds of dreadful events. From the decline of outdoor youth hockey to the scourge of teenage drinking to the massacre in Darfur, you guessed it; global warming is often the boogeyman.

Who knew that a shift of 0.04 degrees Celsius in a decade could be so terrible? 

† Living In These Mad, Mad, Madoff Times: Writing in The Awl, Chris Lehmann recounts his “ill-starred tenure at New York magazine,” which the public school educated writer (this happens to be significant in his tale) describes as “a crash course in the staggering unselfawareness of Manhattan class privilege” at a “scheming hovel of status”:   

Sure, there was the magazine’s adoring, casual fascination with the “money culture”- a term deployed in editorial meetings without the faintest whiff of disapproval or critical distance. But more than that, there was the sashaying mood of preppy smugness that permeated nearly every interaction among the magazine’s editorial directorate - as when one majordomo tried to make awkward small talk with me by asking what it was like attending an urban public high school …

New York has been hosting its own months-long encounter group for the super-rich laid low - the revolt of the “are nots,” if you will, protesting a world where they are neither especially elite nor powerful.

And like any encounter group leader, the magazine’s editorship traffics in a comforting jargon - a sort of class privilege all its own. The operative terms in its reckoning with the fallout from the last decade’s pillaging always describe subjective moods and feelings, not actual privation or suffering. In place of mass layoffs, repossessions or hijacked pensions, there is diffuse “envy,” “resentment” and “rage” - moods that with the proper forensic understanding can somehow be channeled, one senses, back into reassuring class deference, in much the same way that a clumsy faux-pas could be passed over at the court of Versailles. …

And this week’s special cover package on the “Rage of the Rich” neatly distills all these editorial impulses into one handy ur-Text. Gabriel Sherman’s lead piece, “The Wail of the 1%,” (subtitled - wait for it - “As the privileged class loses its privileges, a collective moan rises from the canyons of Wall Street”) recounts the raw anger of today’s cohort of investment honchos deprived of what they see as their hard-won fair wages.

Editorial Note: New York magazine is the only publication The Stiletto subscribes to in print format, but only because reading articles on its hyperkinetic Web site is too annoying. That said, she may soon drop her subscription to the magazine, which would more accurately be titled “Manhattan And The Hip Parts Of Brooklyn” since only a small part of New York City’s geography appears to fall within New York’s scope of coverage. Plus she hates those “bargain” fashion finds where a knockoff of a $5,000 designer shoe is a “steal” at $900. To the magazine’s staffers – who get plied with all manner of haute freebies by publicists, which really stretches that paycheck - $900 for a pair of shoes is a mere fillip. 

† Don’t Know Much About History, Don’t Know Much Foreign Policy: The Financial Times of London asks (wryly, one hopes): “Who can fail to be impressed by Barack Obama’s energy, or a little stunned by his self-confidence?”:

Show this man a financial crisis, sufficient to occupy or overwhelm an ordinary president, and he sees the chance to “remake” – as he puts it – the entire US economy. You might dismiss that as rhetorical exuberance, but it becomes ever more apparent that his ambition is real. For good or ill, he means to do it.

In foreign policy, one sees the same disposition – the same appetite, the same willingness to bring new thinking to old problems. In recent days, the administration has conceived a spate of new approaches and initiatives. …

In domestic policy, an organising principle directs the innovation. Mr Obama wants to shove the US in the direction of a more social democratic - Americans say “progressive” - social contract, with universal healthcare and a tax and benefits system much more attuned to reducing inequality. Whether this is wise, feasible or what the country even wants is questionable, but the connecting theme is clear.

Is any such theme emerging in foreign policy? Can one begin to talk of an “Obama doctrine”? …

Though it is much too soon to write off Mr Obama’s friendly overtures, you could hardly describe them so far as a notable success. He travelled to Europe this month and received ovations at every step; presidents and prime ministers jostled like giddy teenagers to be photographed with him. Yet he went away with nothing: no co-ordinated fiscal stimulus; no meaningful commitments of new military support in Afghanistan. Judged by the outcome, could his predecessor have done much worse? 

† Updates To Previous Posts (fifth item, Madoff’s Victims: Gullible Or Greedy?): There is a legal tug of war going on over Bernard Madoff’s ill-gotten gains. Days after Southern District Judge Louis Stanton allowing the appointment of a Bankruptcy Trustee to divvy up the Ponzi-schemer’s assets amongst the victims according to the provisions of the Bankruptcy Code, Southern District Judge Denny Chin “gave prosecutors the upper hand” by placing a restraining order on the personal assets of Madoff and his wife, Ruth, reports New York Law Journal. Prosecutors argue that they will ensure distribution of Madoff’s assets to victims on a pro rata basis, as opposed to a bankruptcy judge who would distribute those assets based on a hierarchy of claims. 
 

† Updates To Previous Posts (Garbage In, Garbage Out: Part II): A report by America's Promise Alliance finds that some big cities have lowered their high school dropout rates, but the problem is getting worse in others, reports The Associated Press:

[T]he overall situation remains dismal, as more than one in four kids drops out of high school nationwide.

Still, Philadelphia, Tucson, Ariz., and Kansas City, Mo., made huge gains over the past decade, boosting graduation rates by 20 percentage points or more, the study found.

In all, 13 cities saw double-digit improvement in their graduation rates, according to the study released Wednesday by America's Promise Alliance. …

Urban schools still have a long way to go. On average, only half the kids graduate in the 50 biggest cities, the report said. Those cities are home to half the country's population and are driving a national graduation rate that is estimated at 70 percent.

And while most big cities are making gains, 19 have lost ground. Las Vegas saw its graduation rates plummet 23 percentage points to 44.5 percent. The graduation rate in Wichita, Kan., dropped 18 percentage points to 54.5 percent, and in Omaha, Neb., it dropped 15 percentage points to 50 percent.

The report measures progress from 1995 to 2005, the most recent year for which comprehensive data was available from the Education Department.

For kids who don't finish high school, the future is bleak. High school dropouts are the only segment of the work force for whom income levels shrank over the past 30 years, the report said.

The 2005 graduation rates in the the 50 largest cities, finds that a hair over half of students in NYC (50.5 percent) got a high school diploma. Three cities in AZ (Mesa, Tuscon and Phoenix all have higher graduation rates - 76.6 percent, 71.6 percent and 58 percent, respectively), as do six CA cities (San Jose leads the pack with a 73.3 percent graduation rate and Fresno brings up the rear at 51.9 percent; Oakland, CA, is tied with NYC and L.A.’s graduation rate is an even more abysmal 44.4 percent). 

According to American Federation of Teachers data, during the 2006-2007 school year, CA had the highest average rate of teacher pay, $63,640; in NY, teachers earned $59,557 on average (the highest salary tier for teachers in NYC is now $100,049); and in AZ, teachers were paid an average of $44,700. Considering CA’s ranking amongst the top 50 cities, one could argue that the state’s investment in teachers’ salaries has paid off. Not so for the over-taxed citizens of NYC – AZ teachers got paid 25 percent less than their counterparts in NY (and less than half of what the highest paid teachers in NYC make) yet Mesa and Tuscon had graduation rates that were roughly 50 percent higher than NYC’s.