quiddities and agonies of the ruling class - a rolling new york times thread

Voteronpaul spoke in class today
Voteronpaul spoke in class today
clearly I remember
picking on the boy

thank you, weve decided gang education will be best for them

speaking of names I came across the apparently 100% real name "Winthrop Cashdollar" today

I think public school in nyc can be a lot of different things, there are def some fine schools and elite magnet schools even and there are some v. overcrowded schools. in any case the value of going to a private hs isn't limited to 'the education' or class sizes.

as w/ 'we need a house big enough that every kid gets 3 rooms', 'I want the best education for my children' is a cool way to 'care about your kids' and pimp your social status at the same time.

http://por-img.cimcontent.net/api/assets/bin-200909/2d3501ba43eead18b55ce8a026727d81.jpg

l-r lag∞n, voteronpaul wood

idk i went to 3rd-8th grade in supposedly 'one of the best' public school systems and by whatever standards im sure it was super but it was just kinda imo an uncool scene

tho i visited my niece n nephews school and they had an organic garden and other cool shit and it seemed alright so im sure things have changed over the years

I mean of course many public school systems have trouble serving many kinds of kids.

but then there's the QuidAgs acting like sending their kids to public school (in rich neighborhoods in NYC!) would be like tossing them into an alligator pit. Full of poor alligators.

many rich neighborhoods in nyc are like 2 blocks from very poor neighborhoods

rich people do it on purpose so they can feel even more rich, I think

tbf isn't there an "open enrollment" type of thing in NYC where you can send your kids to another school in the city by applying? I'd imagine that they'd have to be really picky, though

the idea of using kids as part of your status-chasing makes me kinda ill

also don't get why they don't let the gov't provide their kids with a free education and use the money saved to buy a golden statue of themselves or something if they're so concerned with status

more durable investment, u know those kids are just gonna end up doing coke and flunking out at Vandy or whatever

well that's the thing, you don't get to make the rules of this social game, buying a golden status of yourself is v. uncool at the moment, but spending money in equally absurd ways isn't always

the idea of using kids as part of your status-chasing makes me kinda ill

― Nicholas Pokémon (silby), Wednesday, February 29, 2012 3:41 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

you've never seen a baby in baby gucci shoes?

http://i.imgur.com/865HF.jpg

some people have kids just so they can relate to other people with kids and have shit to do post age 30

"oh, I got a stable job and a house and a car and spouse and it's boring and my friends have kids!"

I used to find it weird that every single luxury brand sold luggage, then it made sense, you want to show all the hoi polloi at the airport that you are going to the bahamas, they will stare enviously at you and your LV luggage as you traipse down the first class express line

wish we could have av's here

some people have kids just so they can relate to other people with kids and have shit to do post age 30

no one does this

i think it definitely depends on the specific school etc but i wouldn't underestimate the importance some parents place on the private school as being not only a way to express their social status, but also for being a resource, like the other parents are an appendix to the your own professional network. "our kids go to school together." or the perceived educational value of raising your own child among other rich, privileged children.

Don't get me wrong, few do. But I've met some! xp

I mean, I also have friends who have a kid and have said that yeah, if they had the decision to make again they probably wouldn't have a kid. Not that they don't love their kid, who is pretty great, but they feel that they'd have done things differently.

I think we can all agree that there are many different reasons people have kids, but as far as rich manhattan people go you can probably assume that whatever the worst reason was, that was the one they went with

the best reason to have a kid is to have more things to have opinions about

lagoon OTM, it also makes your opinion more important and valid than other opinions

all the married people with kids ever talk about at the office during the warm months is taking kids to soccer practice

i used to go to soccer practice as a kid so i feel like my perspective on talking kids to soccer practice would be especially profound

xps to dayo Louis Vuitton started as a luggage company, I learned this from Pawn Stars

the best reason to have a kid is to have more things to have opinions about

― lag∞n, Wednesday, 29 February 2012 20:52 (8 minutes ago) Permalink

Well people without kids sure seem to have a lot of things to have opinions about..

BAM

never enough

i hear that having kids, like, gives your life so much meaning, and that you are changed forever? like, you never knew what love was before? idk that sounds p cool

haha can we start a board called I hate people-makers

tbf its not that hard to get a kid i see them all over the place

I think it would be unethical for me to have a child for a number of reasons but that'd be another thread.

but maybe its also unethical for you NOT to have a child think abt it

having kids means you get the BEST new excuse to act like a shitstain

How is private school a basic good to these people? It's not like the neighborhoods they live in are going to have bad public schools, right? Is there some New York public school truth bomb that is gonna get dropped on me here?

― Nicholas Pokémon (silby), Wednesday, February 29, 2012 2:39 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's not simple -- "brownstone Brooklyn" neighborhoods often have one good public that doesn't have enough spots for everyone and then a bunch of mediocre or downright bad schools. Of course it would help if more affluent people sent their kids to public schools and got involved in them.

but maybe its also unethical for you NOT to have a child think abt it

i know someone who will fervently argue this point to me while citing 'idiocracy' as trenchant social commentary, 'smart people need to have more kids' style

well we need some people to e around to make food and electricity for us when we are old but other people are already doing a good job at making those people, so

people to e around = people around

feel the vibe

thanking u for new dn

we need a plur around

okay, i found a recent restaurant review that belongs here:

All around, displayed like portraits against the wood paneling, were the residents of the East 80s, confident that for as long as their dinner at Crown lasted, the tiny flames and gentle wattage and dark lampshades would conspire to cast them and their jewelry in the kindest possible light.

Then a firefly would flash in a corner of the room and the portraits would be thrown into relief: a row of identical teeth, hair with an amethyst tint, an unyielding tightness in the flesh around the eyes.

Mr. DeLucie, the chef and proprietor, has cheerfully called his cooking here “comfort food for millionaires.” (And for their pets; the kitchen once prepared a côte de boeuf for a regular’s dog.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/dining/crown-nyc-restaurant-review.html?ref=dining

You will not get your first taste of sea buckthorn airlifted from Denmark, nor a plate of prosciutto from a boar the chef tracked and killed with a homemade crossbow. Like the work of the best Upper East Side caterers, most of the cooking at Crown is agreeably dull, with occasional pockets of excellence amid some patches of unalloyed boredom.

I'm going to believe this article is deliberately tongue-in-cheek b/c otherwise I can't countenance it.

I'm going out on a limb here, but doesn't this describe like 50% of the restaurants on the UES?