PicoBlog

Before we get to today’s piece, go vote on the next round of the We Are 90s Babies Tournament! Let’s see what’s the most 90s Baby thing ever. 90s Babies Sweet Sixteen! The 1990s witnessed an era of significant cultural and technological transformations, yet it remains a period marred by the portrayal of women in the media. Despite considerable strides made towards gender equality, the media of the 90s perpetuated harmful stereotypes and inadequately represented women.

Last week, Matt Barnum reported in Chalkbeat that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is laying off dozens of staff members and pivoting away from the personalized learning platform they have funded since 2015 with somewhere near $100M. CZI’s shift in approach marks something of a coda to an era when various advocates and funders believed that computer-based “personalized learning” could dramatically improve education. Summit, CZI’s pet project, has not spread as far as once hoped, and there’s little evidence that it or similar efforts have led to the large learning gains that Zuckerberg envisioned.

Georgism faces something of an image problem. A common perception is that it’s a “crank” movement unsupported by credible authorities in economics. Georgists often try to counter this by citing the widespread support land value taxation enjoys among economists. While helpful as a start, this generally doesn’t go very far. Many modern economists are happy to call LVT the best or “least bad” tax but aren’t actually Georgist in any deeper sense.

1999’s Superstar has the distinction of being the first, last and only Saturday Night Live movie with a female protagonist and a female star.  Some folks ignorantly claim that 1994’s It’s Pat was cowritten by a woman who also portrayed the title character but the hilarity of Pat comes from the fact that NO ONE knows the character’s gender. On a similar level, no one can ever know the gender of Julia Sweeney, the funny person who breathed life into that most timeless and least problematic of comedy icons.

After Cindy died, we all started to notice the same thing play out over and over. We’d sit down to watch a movie together and as soon as the opening credits stop rolling, we’d learn the mother is dead. Hollywood can be terribly unimaginative in the scripts they approve. Nothing tugs on the heartstrings like a dead mom. It’s also true that, based on our family’s experience, we’re primed to notice the “Dead Mom” storyline more than someone who hasn’t lost a wife and mother.

Louis-Marie de Castelbajac (LDMC) is a friend of WITI and a French designer and entrepreneur. His Armagnac brand is growing in Asia, and he’s always got an interesting collaboration or passion project brewing. We are delighted to have him with us this week. -Colin (CJN) Tell us about yourself. I am a designer and Armagnac maker, passionate about bridging the gap between tradition and modernity. I have a background in fashion and art direction and have designed a workwear collection in France known as Lafont, the pioneer of French workwear, originating 20 years before Levi's.

Molly Hawkins (MH) is the creative director for Harry Styles and a woman of many talents. We’re happy to have her taste on the page this week. Enjoy the run-up to the holidays. -Colin (CJN) Tell us about yourself. My name is Molly Hawkins, I’ve been working in music since I was 18 in one way or another and I’m about to turn 40.  For the last eight years I’ve been Harry Styles’ creative director which means I help him conceive album art and music videos, I direct the live show with a huge team of talented people and generally oversee all visual communication.

Nathaniel Ru (NR) is a friend (and reader) of WITI and the co-founder of Sweetgreen. We loved their recent rebrand, as well as Naomi Osaka collaborations, and asked him to share what he’s paying attention to lately. Have a great week. -Colin (CJN)  Tell us about yourself. I’m Nathaniel, and I grew up loving food and music.  I’m half Mexican, half Chinese - born and raised in Los Angeles.  I went to college in DC and met two friends who are now my business partners (and still friends).

On Sunday, the New York Times ran a massive piece detailing all of the ways that the various indictments against Donald Trump have helped his political standing in the 2024 Republican presidential race. There’s a lot of good stuff in it but one quote, from a Trump supporter, stood out to me. Here it is: For many of Mr. Trump’s supporters, the details of each successive indictment have blended together into a generic attack on the former president, creating something of a background noise they are largely tuning out.