Workin’ for the Weekend #2: School Wars, Substack Progress Report, and Campus Rape Supplementals

How we doin', gang?

Shall we take stock here on Day 11 of our Pivot to Substack? We’ve posted one free episode, unlocked a second, done two Members Only bits, wrote the first installment of a book-recommendation series, sold out a live show in about 16 hours, produced what is now your second weekend roundup thingie, and we will hopefully be hopping on a group call w/ the Founding Member subscribers later today for our inaugural “Second Sunday” recording. Getting your money’s worth yet? Especially you in the cheap seats? As well as those legacy subscribers still holding back on your credit card info? Let’s try a different Subscribe button just to make sure….

Now to the bullet points….

* First off some additional supplementary material for Lara Bazelon’s great appearance in #357. Re: Lara’s pre-Betsy DeVos specialty of playing defense in the due-process-challenged system for adjudicating campus sexual assault cases, see Emily Yoffe’s three-part Atlantic series in 2017, starting with “The Uncomfortable Truth About Campus Rape Policy.” Reason was ahead on the issue, w/ a groundbreaking 2014 cover story from Cathy Young headlined: “Guilty Until Proven Innocent: How the government encourages kangaroo courts for sex crimes on campus,” plus another cover story in 2015 by Elizabeth Nolan Brown that among other things debunked some of the widest-cited campus-rape stats. And a reminder for those who haven’t already: You should go see our friend Nico Perrino’s great 2020 documentary on former ACLU legend Ira Glasser, Mighty Ira, at least some versions of which have included a tack-on 25-minute interview w/ me and Mr. Glasser.

* Kmele’s then-controversial New York Times Op-Ed co-write on anti-Critical Race Theory laws was included in a big & useful new collection from Ballotpedia titled “Hall Pass: Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics.” (To re-live our exchange with anti-CRT popularizer Chris Rufo, consult #322.) Speaking of schools, beloved former guest Mary Katharine Ham (#345) had a fine piece Thursday for CNN Opinion headlined “Democrats’ Support for School Closings Comes Back to Bite.” I had a snarly piece of my own this week about the Biden administration idiotically restricting charter-school funding, plus a video podcast w/ Nancy Rommelmann about how the kids are all messed up, and another piece barking about New York City’s comptroller office pressuring Wall Street boards to conduct race/ethnicity/gender checks.

* Final quick housekeeping note: We’re still kicking the tires on this site, too, and will be finding/addressing various bugs & opportunities for improvement, while also, you know, preparing live shows and so forth. Feel free to populate the comments section of this post with suggestions!