Newfangled Dad

One day last week, I was waiting at the bus stop with my son before school when we heard that sound. You know the one. Crunching plastic and metal that is characteristic of a crash. When we looked down the street, a sporty make/model had been trying to make a left turn out of the alley with parked cars blocking the view. This is exactly the situation we've been trying to prevent with the new traffic light which is due for installation any day (supposedly) at the next intersection down where we were standing. But it was a long, winding process from the time our local business association asked that the Right Turn Only restriction be removed to the approval of the new traffic light. That initial meeting predates my almost-three years on the Transportation Commission. There's been fighting with the state over the design and funding. The the lowest bid was double what was expected at the time of approval. And my sinking feeling as I watched the drivers sort out their informat

It would be too easy to say "for my kids" and leave it at that. When thousands gather to March for Science in Chicago on Saturday, we're marching for progress for humanity that only science can bring. It seems fairly obvious that nearly every aspect of modern life is deeply influenced by our past investment in evidence-based policy, education, and research. From the cell phone in your pocket to the moon landing, America does science better than anyone. And many (most?) of our best accomplishments in science came via government support. If we expand our vision slightly, science has also given us our national parks, preserves our history, and keeps our economy thriving. But there are cracks in America's science program. There are those willing to sacrifice our clean water and air. They deny climate change. They deny that vaccines are one of our best medical techniques for saving lives. They wish to lower the amount of research dollars given to important studies.

As I've written about previously here on the blog, I'm looking for work now that my kids will both be back in school next fall. I started in January and have had fairly wide-ranging experience so far. I've had interviews, seen a few scams, joined a few offbeat websites, and found my favorite places (and keywords) to browse. I've had contact with a few jobs where the details s-l-o-w-l-y trickle out and I have to politely decline because the fit wasn't right. That wastes both my time and theirs. And I've developed a few pet peeves. Employers, I'm sure you have just as many complaints about employees. I don't want to turn this post into me just griping. So, instead, I thought I'd offer a few helpful pieces of advice on how to attract better candidates. If you want to hire somebody amazing, you need to know what appeals to that kind of worker. In no particular order, 10 suggestions for employers about what potential employees want to see in your jo

My hometown in Ohio had what I thought was a heartwarming story about preschoolers who were upset with fracking in the state's only national forest. So they sent drawings to officials involved with the process to be included in the public record. (A chilling testimony for the future, if you ask me.) It was a great piece on young minds caring about the world. Then I read the comments. I wasn't surprised that many of the people leaving messages blamed the parents for brainwashing. Or worse. They painted the preschoolers in the story as innocents who could not possibly understand the complicated economics of natural gas extraction. To the internet, these idealistic kids were being used by adults for political purposes. It never occurred to these cynics that a 5 year old could have their own moral compass or their own ideas. I'd seen it during the campaign to pass our local school referenda. When students organized to march and hold a rally asking voters to protect their