Dover-Foxcroft, Maine

A backlog of pictures! Now posted here. Includes pictures from Notre Dame, Thanksgiving (New Hampshire and Boston) and Charleston.

Economists on the loose in Columbia bars: "An economist solves the mysteries of dating." in Slate

Ms. Booher-Jennings is all over the ed policy world this week! See this commentary in Education Week (and its "Talk Back" section) and this article in Education Next that leads with a quote from Jen's 2006 paper. Go Jen Go!

Saw Sufjan Stevens at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival. Sufjan was commissioned to write the BQE, "a 30-minute symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City's infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway" and performed this piece with his band, a 31-piece orchestra, and five hula-hoopers. The BQE was not bad--it definitely had its moments--but the real treat came after intermission when Sufjan played his "hits" with a full orchestral accompaniment. You can read the NYT review here and a great Pitchfork article here.

Spotted in front of us on the way out: Keri Russell. (And earlier in the day at ABC Carpet and Home: Julianne Moore).

Attended a talk with Natalie Portman and William Easterly on FINCA at NYU's Skirball Center to learn more about (ahem) microfinance in Africa:

This weekend (Oct 19 - 21) a short trip to Ithaca and Cayuga Lake, NY to see the fall colors. We were a bit early but the colors were beautiful, nevertheless. Here are the pictures!

Stephen Colbert makes a NYT op-ed appearance. And on the serious side of the page, Thomas Friedman crafts a terrific contrast of Gore and Bush.

October 12-14: in Boulder, Colorado for the Education Policy Research Unit / Education in the Public Interest Center (EPRU / EPIC) annual fellows meeting.

Tonight: saw a wonderful new production of Lucia di Lammermour at the Met, featuring the best soprano on the planet Natalie Dessay.

Childrens do learn...

Was there for Barack Obama's speech in Washington Square Park, along with 24,000 other people. Some of my pictures can be found here.

Sea Bright II - the return to the Jersey Shore, September 6-14. See pictures here.

8 D.C. Catholic Schools may convert to charters (Washington Post); article on Mitchell Stevens new book in Inside Higher Ed

Slate's coverage of a Lavy and Schlosser paper on gender peer effects in in Israeli classrooms.

Great answer, Miss South Carolina! Miss Teen USA contestant talks about maps, schools, other things

Amazing article on the NYC Teaching Fellows, in the Village Voice.

An update on the Lott v. Levitt lawsuit in the Chronicle for Higher Education.

Trip to boston for Jeff and Katie's housewarming in Arlington, Mass (pictures here). Also spent 3 days at the NBER mini-course "what's new in econometrics?" Apparently (X'X)-1(X'y) is not all that new.

My trip to Kansas (July 15 - 19). See some photos here!

Please remove your concealed weapon when reading this blog post.

Quickie trip back to the Jersey Shore (Point Pleasant Beach, to be specific) for dinner at Red's Lobster Pot--not to be confused with Red Lobster--and skee ball on the boardwalk.

Miscellaneous writings on the Supreme Court desegregation ruling: initial New York Times coverage, Edweek coverage (see background here), a discussion on Slate, Molly Hunter editorial in ACCESS, a statement from the Public Education Network, fallout in Lynn Massachusetts, an editorial in the Baltimore Sun by Chemerinsky and Clotfelter, another editorial by Colbert King in the Washington Post, yet another by Jonathan Kozol in the New York Times, an article on integration by income in San Francisco, etc.

View the Supreme Court opinion here.

Dental Plan - Lisa Needs Braces

June 28th - July 3rd: my visit to Maine. Visited Sebec Lake, Monhegan Island, and Pemaquid Point. You can view some photos here.

Someone's dissertation is described in paragraph 5 of this front-page Washington Post article--but unfortunately we won't know whose ("a 2004 study by University of Maryland economists").

Tonight: saw the Original Tito Puente Orchestra perform at Lincoln Center's Dancing Under the Stars.

See pictures from our week in Sea Bright, NJ here.

Wish you were here:

Pictures from Dad and Kenda's visit to New York, June 15-18. Even more pictures here.

Tonight: Korean BBQ at Dae Dong in Koreatown

This weekend - in a New Jersey state of mind. Spent Saturday evening in Trenton and Sunday-Monday on the Jersey Shore in Belmar.

Papers from an AEI conference on "The Politics of Knowledge: Why Research Does (or Does Not) Influence Education Policy"

In the Times (5/17): New Demographic Racial Gap Emerges

New York Dept of Ed guide to "Fair Student Funding"

Tonight: saw Björk live at the world famous Apollo Theater in Harlem. A weird, fantastic show, attended by equally weird fans. Somehow I ended up with one of the best seats in the house (1st row balcony).

As in her SNL appearance, Björk was accompanied by an all-female brass section (see video clips from the show here, here, and here). Best part: her little "thank you"s at the end of each song (e.g. clip 3).

WHICH CHILDREN BELONG IN SPECIAL EDUCATION? Many children in special education classes may not belong there, the government says.

Had one of my best meals ever in nyc at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village, with Tom Romer.

Raise the building height restriction in D.C. - washingtonpost.com

Saw the phenomenal Yo La Tengo at Webster Hall. This show rocked.

Some responses to the New Republic article by Noam Scheiber arguing that "Freakonomics" is ruining economics, from Steve Levitt, Greg Mankiw, Josh Angrist, and Alex Tabarrok. My favorite line is probably that of Mankiw:

"It could be especially problematic twenty years from now, when President Chelsea Clinton looks for an economist to appoint to head the Federal Reserve, and the only thing she can find in the American Economic Association are experts on game shows and sumo wrestling."

Tonight at the Met: saw the Franco Zeffirelli production of Turandot. There were two outstanding voices: Erika Sunnegårdh as Turandot, and Liping Zhang as Liu. Calaf (Richard Margison) was solid, but your run-of-the-mill Puccini tenor. But with a lavish production like this, who needs great voices? (Read the NYT review here).

Billionaires Start $60 Million Schools Effort - New York Times - Gates and Broad plan to promote national curriculum standards, a longer school day and school year, and merit pay for teachers

Tonight: symposium and dinner celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Russell Sage Foundation, at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel (check out the video on their website). Keynote speakers at the symposium included Richard Freeman, Douglas Massey, Richard Thaler, and others.

Phenomenal dinner and wine at Dennis Foy (313 Church Street, Tribeca) celebrating Bill Evans new position at Notre Dame.

Three countertenors for the price of one... at the Met's Guilio Cesare. Featured the unrivaled David Daniels in the title role, and the two fine countertenors Lawrence Zazzo as Ptolemy, and Michael Maniaci (who is technically a male soprano) as Nirenus. As Cleopatra, Ruth Ann Swenson brought the house down--a nice snub to the Met and Peter Gelb, who apparently "no longer want her services" after two decades of performing.

All graphs should be this cool.

Tuesday - Thursday in Chicago for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting.

With Dave and Joy in town... spent Friday night at the Dean and Britta show at the beautiful Hiro Ballroom in Chelsea with after-show drinks at Coffee Shop. Saturday was devoted to much shopping, improv comedy from Mother at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, and dinner at Chumley's (whose interior wall--tragically--collapsed on April 6). More and more Soho shopping on Sunday. A good time was had by all.

A visit to the Department of Economics at Lehigh University in lovely (no, I'm not kidding) Bethlehem, PA where I gave a talk on the politics and economics of charter schools.

As busy-ness goes up, blog entries go down...

March 22 - 24 in Baltimore for the American Education Finance Association annual meeting. A highlight: crab cakes at Mother's, Federal Hill and a dinner at Brewer's Art.

See the results of the American Institute of Architects survey of America's favorite architecture.

Allen Fieldhouse, March 3, 2007:
Today: KU vs. Texas at Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence KS. KU wins, 90-86, for the Big 12 championship. Visited the Booth Family Hall of Athletics after the game. Ate burgers at the Westport Flea Market and Bar in KC, MO. Thanks, Scott! (see pictures from the game here).

On Friday night: saw Charlie Murphy with Freeze Love at Improv Comedy Club at the Majestic, Kansas City, MO.

A lovely evening of jazz at the Manhattan School of Music... and Ethiopian food.

Some pictures from Rochester, President's Day weekend. Not much to do in the cold except watch dogs sleep and sing karaoke...

Tonight: Janáček's Jenůfa at the Metropolitan Opera, featuring Karita Mattila as Jenůfa. Lush, intense, dramatic, and beautiful (especially Acts II and III).

See the Prince Superbowl Halftime Show on YouTube: Part One and Part Two. Even cooler--his press conference from a few days earlier.

Attended the New York Philharmonic, under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen. This was a marvelous program...Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin, the conductor's own brilliant Piano Concerto (with soloist Yefim Bronfman), and a Pictures at an Exhibition that blew the roof off.

Attended a Slate-hosted screening of the forthcoming film The Situation, a fictional account of a young, beautiful (and apparently emotionally stunted) American journalist on the ground in Iraq. Generally speaking, the good elements of this film outweighed the bad (which included moments of groan-inducing dialgoue). My favorite line from the NY Times review on the journalist's love interest: "...and an appealing slab of Iraqi masculine sensitivity, Zaid...who comes with an insinuatingly large camera."

Saw the Knicks take on the LA Lakers (sans Kobe). Knicks won an exciting game, 99-94. Some of the requisite celebrities in attendance: Christian Slater, Mos Def, Jon Stewart, Donald Trump, and (of course) Spike Lee.

Tonight: saw Doug Aitken: sleepwalkers at the MoMA... dinner at Wondee Siam II in Hells Kitchen (yum).

In a departure from usual mega-million luxury condo stories, Greenbelt, Maryland makes the Times' Real Estate section.

from the washington post 10/04/06: Rationing Education by Jennifer Booher-Jennings

A *great* day!

It takes the (East) Village...
to prepare for the village idiot

Tonight: saw Dean and Britta at Mo Pitkin's House of Satisfaction, and had a requisite stiff drink before the State of the Union address. Dean and Britta were fabulous as always. A partial set list (from memory):

Singer Sing (from the new album)
Since I Lay My Burden Down (from the Words You Used to Say EP)
You Turned My Head Around (new one--a Lee Hazelwood cover--not so great)
The Sun is Still Sunny (new one--excellent)
White Horses (new one)
Say Goodnight (?)
Night Nurse (from L'Avventura)
Knives from Bavaria (from L'Avventura)
Hear the Wind Blow (from L'Avventura)
Bonnie and Clyde
Ginger Snaps (encore)

Livingston can now add his classic student excuse to his CV: You're Never Gonna Believe This One

An item from tne New York Post on the future New York City consortium: Education Dept. Becomes an Open Book, by David Andreatta

Has U.S. Income Inequality Really Increased? by Gary Burtless

New report from NORC/General Social Survey on American's Spending Priorities

January 5-7: trip to Chicago for the Allied Social Sciences Association meeting. On Friday, had dinner at Coco Pazzo (delicious) and on Saturday saw the Chicago Bulls play the Detroit Pistons at United Center (Bulls won 106-89). See some pictures from a grey day at Millenium Park.