50in50: When are you outspoken, and when are you not?

What’s this? I’m trying to blog once a day for 50 days! Inspired by Forking Mad and Lou Plummer.

On what subjects are you outspoken and on what subjects are you mostly mute?

In my mind, I am outspoken on a lot of things, but in person, I’m outspoken on very little.

I would say that I am an unambiguous outspoken advocate of higher education. When I was in high school (and before that, and after), there was a lot of rhetoric around college being a waste of time and money. Honestly, it is hard for me to disagree when you only look at college as a four-year-or-more commitment to a small, private school where you will go potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. In fact, in high school, I really wanted to be one of those people! But alas, I was admitted to my “safety” school, UMD, and only had the best time of my life and met my lifelong friends. Oh, the humanity!

I think that there is a societal bar that we collectively decide to raise everyone to, and education is how we do it. Not everyone needs to go to a four year research institution - yes, even state schools for which I am a big advocate are not the best fit for everyone! But there are thousands of publicly funded higher education institutions doing good work every day to provide a way for everyone to better themselves and their families.

And on what subject am I mostly mute? Politics. There is a perception that tech is full of left-leaning people. I would argue that it is not tech that is that way, it is the cities and the coasts, which is where tech people gravitate towards. Nevertheless, I am a flaming progressive - a coffee-drinking, T-shirt wearing, Pod Save America and NPR paying supporter who votes in every primary and frankly I am proud of it. Even so, in person, I am unlikely to bring this up, because I am not The Most Tiring Person You Know^TM and I have no interest in picking fights - but you’re not going to change my mind that government can be good (and we can make it better!), education should be funded, and immigration benefits everyone.