Author: Matthew Groff

  • Diversity

    Why do I strive for diversity? And for that matter, why do most people my age and younger feel the same way?

    I have been thinking about these questions often, not only for the political environment that we are in now, but also when it come to my child growing up. I want her to be exposed to as many different people as possible. In New York, that was pretty easy, and I might add happily, diversity is California has been wonderful as well.

    I think that this desire for diversity in me comes from attending integrated public schools, from kindergarten to my senior year of high school. That was 13 years of being exposed to kids that were nothing like me, and at the same time, we all behaved like kids. I have a picture from the birthday party where I turned 10, and in that picture are six boys, each of a different ethnic background. And I know that I am not the only person who can say that from where I grew up.

    Sadly, I now realize, the first time that I started hanging out with only white people was when I went to college. University was so completely socially segregated that now it seems odd that no one ever brought it up.

    My point is that I believe that it is vitally important that kids be exposed, and learn with, as many different children as possible. What scares me now is that I see parents, through gentrification, creating segregated schools again.

  • Morality in Economics

    I read David Brooks today, and call me crazy, I think that this conservative guy is slowly becoming liberal. I will thank Trump for that, but more importantly, I welcome David to the party.

    I took the point of his piece, which was that America business needs to get its morality back in check. Think about employees, customers, and the communities they exist in, and not just the bottom line, shareholders, and stock value.

    Is this the first crack in the Conservative love of all things that came out of Milton Friedman’s mouth?

    I have held, and said many times, that Friedman’s approach and the way he viewed capitalism was destructive to all of us. I always felt that Friedman’s failure was rooted in the idea that an individual or corporation would “pay by the rules” in their quest for capital, and no one would cheat. The truth of the matter is that if there is money to be made, someone, inevitably will cheat, and someone gets hurt.

    Also, Friedman thought that governments should get out of the way and let companies do what they do. He thought all companies would want deregulation, but what he missed was that companies want regulation on everyone else, just not them. That’s why there is a weird revolving door with CEOs and executives getting named as heads of regulation organizations. (FCC, FDA, ect…)

    In a philosophical sense, I believe that all economics are based in emotions and not in logic. Economies are not math, it is not a science; it is completely man made, and as such, will behave illogically often to meet its desired ends. To put a morality on top of capitalism is a neat idea, and to do that, you need some agreed upon regulations.

    Welcome to the party, David.

  • Cohen to Testify for Congress; Trump Will Try to Divert

    According to The New York Times, Michael Cohen will now testify publicly for about his work for Trump on February 7th for the House Oversight and Reform Committee. This could be huge. This could be Watergate or Iran/Contra huge. This could impact Trump’s ability to do his job, or open up more investigations, or start an honest and serious debate about impeachment.

    Or…

    And this is my predication…

    The day before, day of, or day after, Trump is going to do something really crazy to try and divert attention from Cohen.

    He has done it before…

    Remember how he tweeted about Obama wiretapped him to make everyone forget about the start of the Russia investigation?

    Remember how he tweeted about NFL player’s protests to make everyone forget about the failure to repeal Obamacare?

    The stock market started to fall, and then he tweeted that the military was leaving Syria. Anyone remember that one?

    This is what Trump does, and it will happen again. What I would hope to see is that the media won’t take the bait. That whatever created controversy that Trump comes up with won’t get plastered all across the airwaves.

    I keep thinking that news editors and produces will see this pattern of sham, and then choose not to go down the rabbit hole of Trump nonsense.

    I keep thinking people are smarter than this…

  • Interviewing

    I have been on a handful of interviews this week and last. (Waiting to hear back. No offers yet.) I have written before that I am very anxious about finding work, at least to just help contribute to the family’s finances. I don’t like feeling useless, like I’m not helping out.

    I don’t think I am good at interviewing to begin with. It reminds me so much of auditioning which, out of all the steps in a theatre production, was my least favorite. I remember a professor in college telling me that I need to find a way to love all the steps in the process, to be a well-rounded and to keep my sanity, as it is a tough business.

    On all the interviews I have been on, everyone has been really nice, and no one is pulling any “gotcha” questions to trip me up. I dare even say that they are trying to make me feel as comfortable as possible.

    The issues are all on my end. I need a job and I don’t want to fuck it up.

    Also, talking about myself feels very weird.

    I feel like as a child I was told so many times to be humble, and not conceded, so when I am put in situations where it is expected of me to speak about myself, I find myself clamming up.

    I have been pushing myself to talk more in these situations.

    Trying to think of it as another opportunity to grow and break out of old bad habits.

    Hopefully, it will lead to a job.

  • What is New is Old Again: Mary Poppins and Nostalgia

    Every family has their own Christmas traditions. In my family, it was going to see a movie on Christmas Eve. The reason for this, my Dad recently told me, was to kill time as kids and Christmas Eve are a dangerous test of patience for the exciting morning to come. As I now have a kid of my own, I have continued the tradition. This year we took our kid to see the new Mary Poppins.

    My daughter loved it. She is familiar with the original and loved the new one. For us the parents, it was enjoyable, and there are a few heart string moments in it. All in all, it killed two hours for us, created a wonderful family memory, and was worth the price of the ticket.

    As we drove home, there was something that didn’t sit right with me. It was the same feeling I had after watching “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and “Star Trek Into Darkness.” They all were a new reconfiguration of the old that was clearly trying to hit the same points of the original.

    There are lots of ways of looking at this, but I think the economics of making movies comes into play. Such as, you can’t make anything too new with old characters because it might turn off the audience, so you have to keep the familiar present to guarantee the return on investment. You don’t need people to love the movie, just not hate it to the point of openly complaining.

    But most importantly, there is the nostalgia factor. These movies, such as the ones named above, are being made for an audience (Gen X, Gen Y and Millennials) who grew up with these movies, and the goal is clearly to try to recreate that felling all over again. My gut tells me this is a futile effort, as nothing can take you back to the time, as it is a feeling, and is specific to each individual.

    It does bother me that there aren’t new stories being created that capture kids’ imaginations. That inspire them explore and go out and create their own stories.

    I would prefer inspiration rather than nostalgic imitation.