9: Putin

How Would Harvard Talk About My Kids? in order to maintain a vaguely defined notion of “diversity,” the schools’ admissions officials bumped up the chances primarily of Black and Hispanic applicants by undermining opportunities of another historically disadvantaged racial group — Asian Americans........ elite colleges’ affirmative action programs seemed “designed for a racially binary America” and “never got meaningfully updated for today’s multiracial democracy.” He argues that much of the public debate about the court’s decision seems stuck in that binary, too. ........ The Asian category could include applicants whose ancestors hailed from places as different as China, India, South Korea, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Japan. An applicant who identifies as Hispanic could be a white person whose family came from Madrid, a Cuban immigrant from Miami or a person of Guatemalan Mayan descent. ............ Where do these categories come from? Gorsuch puts it pithily: “Bureaucrats.” ......... the records suggests that Harvard also treated racial categories quite like stereotypes: Applicants of Asian descent were more likely than members of other racial categories to be labeled “standard strong,” meaning that admissions personnel determined they were academically qualified but otherwise unremarkable. ........... Harvard’s use of such subjective criteria to curb the number of Asian students admitted smacked of its efforts a century ago to keep out Jewish applicants it deemed unworthy of its “character and fitness” standards. ........... affirmative action mattered most for only a small group of the most selective colleges ......... “The ruling provides America with an opportunity to redirect the conversation from a relatively small number of schools and instead direct urgently needed attention to the vast middle and lower tiers of postsecondary education”

Making Them Laugh, and Swoon A year ago, Matt Rife was just another struggling road comedian. Then he blew up on TikTok. ....... Buoyed by his online success, Mr. Rife sold 600,000 tickets for his upcoming tour in 48 hours......... “Last July, I was in Montreal for a festival I was not invited to,” he said. “I had to fly myself out, put myself up for no pay. I was sitting there at dinner with my friend and my manager. I’m about to post this video of crowd work. I was watching it, and I was like, This is so stupid. Why am I even doing this?” ......... During the exchange, Mr. Rife learned that the woman’s ex was an emergency room worker. “Oh, I’m sorry — you broke up with a hero?” he said, to roars of laughter. Despite his reservations, Mr. Rife posted the two-and-a-half-minute video on TikTok, which he had joined a few months earlier. He titled the clip “The Lazy Hero.” ....... “That video did 20 million views in two or three days,” he said. “It became this massive chain reaction and an explosion of an audience. From then on, every video I posted went viral.” ......... Over the next few months, Mr. Rife, 27, racked up 15.6 million TikTok followers. The online success allowed him to leap ahead of his fellow club comics, making him a significant draw. ........ When he announced his “ProbleMATTic World Tour” last month, he sold out 260 dates in North America, Europe and Australia in 48 hours. The flurry of sales — 600,000 tickets in all, each ranging between about $50 to $95, according to Live Nation — crashed the Ticketmaster website. Some resale tickets cost more than $500. .......... Although Mr. Rife has developed an easy stage manner, thanks to the countless hours he has spent at the mic, his popularity may have as much to do with his cheekbones as his comedic chops. ....... Mr. Rife is something rare in the comedy world: a heartthrob. ........ “This time last year, I couldn’t sell out one show in a town,” Mr. Rife said. “It’s still so new and exciting that I’m, like, ‘OK, you need to do everything.’” ......... his fondness for smaller markets. “They’re so nice and they’re so there for the show.” .......... Mr. Rife said his sex appeal, like his career surge, is relatively new. He described himself as a late bloomer and, indeed, photos from a few years ago show a gangly-looking youth whose strong jaw, high cheekbones and Jagger-esque lips had yet to coalesce into a pleasing whole. ......... “I was so ugly for so long,” Mr. Rife said on his “Only Fans” special. As a result, he continued, “I spent the first 22 years of my life building a personality. For what? You think I need to be funny now?” ............ Mr. Rife missed his junior and senior proms — he was on the road, doing gigs. Then came a decade of grinding. ........... and riffed on how, despite his online fame, he hates social media. ............. “It’s garbage, dude,” he said. “I’m canceled three times a week, bro.”

@matt_rife Not all heros are overachievers. #comedy #standup #standupcomedy #funny #crowdwork #improv #breakup #relationship #americanairlines ♬ original sound - Matt Rife