Is it true…
bicoastal September 16th, 2007
…that Venice, CA is one of the few places in the world where you can live on the beach and be a productive member of a cosmopolitan city?
Can’t avoid that California feeling
bicoastal September 10th, 2007
Today I was biking home on the Venice boardwalk, after having a delicious meal with a delicious friend who grew up in Portland and went to school on the east coast. I couldn’t help but grin.
Kibbutzim go bicoastal
bicoastal September 3rd, 2007
The New York Times had a story (subscription) last week on how kibbutzim have changed in the last decade or so. Kibuttzim were once communal utopias, or at least aspired to be, but according to the article too much communalism caused the kibbutzim to fail. Now, says the NYT, kibbutzim have reemerged as a hybrid of market and socialist organizations.
Now, in a surprising third act, the kibbutzim are again thriving. Only in 2007 they are less about pure socialism than a kind of suburbanized version of it.
On most kibbutzim, food and laundry services are now privatized; on many, houses may be transferred to individual members, and newcomers can buy in. While the major assets of the kibbutzim are still collectively owned, the communities are now largely run by professional managers rather than by popular vote. And, most important, not everyone is paid the same.
Once again, people are lining up to get in.
This is a perfect example of bicoastalism. Neither pure market nor pure socialist (or “altruist”) forms are nearly as appealing as some combination of the two. As one resident explained it, ”Everyone does what they want, we have our independence, but without the kind of competition you find outside.”
Richard Posner and Gary Becker both miss the point of it all. Becker gives the most simplistic spin on the article, describing the new kibbutzim as if they have completely embraced capitalism, when the article makes clear that this is not the case. In the bicoastal kibbutzim the major assets are collectively owned, and residents are taxed quite heavily to support the less able. Becker’s view seems to be based mainly on a visit he had to a kibbutz decades ago, where he stayed with a disaffected friend. Becker concludes that the kibbutzim “ignored the evidence of history that self interest and family orientation is not the product of capitalism, but is human nature due to selection from evolutionary pressure over billions of years.”
In support — Brittan Heller & Heide Iravani
bicoastal March 18th, 2007
The internet, like Yale Law School, has been described as “civilized anarchy” because it runs amazingly well with very few rules. Part of the reason why it can do so, in fine west coast style, is that the community can act quickly to establish unwritten but well known norms to protect itself and its members.
Washington Post article on irresponsible site run by Jarret Cohen and Anthony Ciolli
Brittan Heller — The Pocket Part
Brittan Heller — Teen Jeopardy!
New Leaders Initiative — Heide Iravani
Health Fellowship — Heide Iravani
Earth Island Fellowship — Heide Iravani
Chancellor’s award — Heide Iravani
Free the World — Heide Iravani
(Thanks to Grumblez for the links.)
Curious uses of “bi”
City of Progress March 13th, 2007
When one refers to something as “biweekly”, that is to say it occurs every other week. This is different from “semi-weekly”, which refers to something that occurs twice a week. Thus, biweekly=semimonthly. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Characterizing YLS
bicoastal March 12th, 2007
“When it comes to choosing law schools, students favor Yale for the same reason nondrinkers favor screwdrivers: it’s the most palatable way to swallow something you don’t really want.”
- At the Bar: The Lawyer Who Helped Set the Flag Debate Aflame Calmly Prepares to Go On, New York Times, June 22, 1990, at B5
The world is switching to West coast time
bicoastal March 12th, 2007
I walked into a Swatch store the other day, but promptly walked out when I realized I had absolutely no use for a watch. When I was a kid I loved to buy and wear cool watches, but ever since I got a cell phone I haven’t needed one. Apparently I’m not alone, as a friend tipped me off to a story in Slate on the declining sales of watches.
Although my watch usage is related to the development of new technologies that happen to give the time, like computers and cell phones, I actually took off my watch for the first time in college when a friend, who was a math major who wore shorts and sandals in the winter, explained that she didn’t wear a watch because it freed her from the habit of worrying about time when she didn’t need to.
The time is irrelevant most of the time: it only really matters when you need to be somewhere or meet a deadline. And when you really need to know, there’s almost always a clock within sight. Not having a watch actually makes you more efficient, because you don’t waste time looking at the wrist or worrying about the passing seconds. And, it’s more relaxing because you’re not looking at your wrist or worrrying about the passing seconds.
This, I think, is a particularly west coast approach to a productive life.
And, it’s doubly appropriate because my sandal/short wearing math major friend who discovered this paradox grew up in Pittsburgh, and later moved to Palo Alto.
