Feldman's Faves: May 30, 2022

GOOD MORNING

What happens when you jump on two bandwagons that are about to collide? Having become a Warriors fan and a Celtics fan this playoff season I find myself in quite a dilemma. Not easy being me…

I hope everyone had a great weekend. This one really felt like summer and it was just glorious. I also want to wish Mark and Sari Spiro a Mazel Tov on the marriage of their lovely daughter Ariella. Wishing you and your family all the very best.

No real theme this week – just interesting stories.

COMMON GROUND: A TURBULENT DECADE IN THE LIFE OF THREE AMERICAN FAMILIES By: J. Anthony Lukas – In a week where the NBA decided to call the Eastern Conference MVP prize, the “Larry Bird Award”, the timing of this book review is ideal. This Pulitzer Prize winning book (from 1986) comes highly recommended from Steve Halperin, so I had to read it. On the surface, Common Ground ostensibly tells the story of the busing crisis that took place in Boston from 1974-1976 in response to the legislature’s attempt to desegregate the public school system. What is most interesting about this book is how it traces the history of Boston through the history of three very different families (that were ultimately involved in the crisis) and the history of how they ended up in Boston, how different races and classes of Bostonians developed over the years and why this particular crisis ultimately transpired. Like no other book I’ve ever read, Common Ground is really the biography of a city that shows how the roots and establishment of a city can influence and direct the policy and life of its people for generations to come. Class and race and upward mobility form the part of any great city and this book is the ultimate case study in showing how this all plays out. There are so many interesting characters and stories – my favourite chapter is one on the evolution of the various newspapers of Boston, their affiliations, political leanings and means of gaining readership over the years. As one reviewer describes it, “'Common Ground' deals with Boston during the decade from 1968 to 1978. It begins with local reactions to the shooting of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and then ranges across that 10-year span. Its focal event is the Boston school integration crisis of the middle 1970's, but it is the portrait of a city, the portrait of a time. Standing in the foreground of that portrait are the members of three families whose lives figure prominently in Mr. Lukas's account - a young Yankee couple named Joan and Colin Diver who became deeply involved in the problems of the city, a struggling and devoted black mother of six named Rachel Twymon, and a young widow of Irish extraction, Alice McGoff, trying to raise seven children in her community of Charlestown, which is largely made up of working-class whites in the old part of town, the site of Bunker Hill. Behind those families in the portrait are several of the principal players in the school crisis - Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr., who issued the famous court order mandating busing; Kevin White, the Mayor of Boston; Thomas Winship, editor of The Boston Globe; Richard Cardinal Cushing and his successor Humberto Cardinal Medeiros; and Louise Day Hicks, a member of the Boston School Committee who became a symbol of opposition to busing far beyond the municipal boundaries of Boston. And behind them - the key figures in the piece - are all of the neighborhoods, parishes, institutions and other clusters of people that together constitute the cells of the living city.” If you want to understand the history of race and class relations in any major US city, Common Ground is a great place to start. Here is an informative review and summary from the Columbia Journalism Review - https://archives.cjr.org/second_read/uncommon_ground.php

How I Built This with Guy Raz - HIBT Lab! ClassPass: Payal Kadakia – Payal Kadakia is the legendary founder of ClassPass, which prior to the pandemic was a major unicorn of the last tech wave. Class Pass was in great danger of failing during the crisis but instead was acquired by MindBody and ended up being a homerun for Kadakia. This story is well known, and now Kadakia has written a book to discuss her experience and how to lead with resilience, which is the focus of today’s interview with Guy. Here is an excerpt from the PODCAST itself: “When Payal Kadakia first appeared on How I Built This in June of 2020, the future of ClassPass, a subscription service for in-person exercise classes, seemed very uncertain. The pandemic had shuttered gyms and fitness studios across the world, and ClassPass was relying on virtual events and wellness offerings in order to stay afloat. This week on How I Built This Lab, Payal returns to talk with Guy about leading ClassPass through the worst of the pandemic and eventually selling the company to Mindbody in October 2021. Plus, Payal discusses her unique method of goal setting and her new book, LifePass: Drop Your Limits, Rise to Your Potential”: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?i=1000559629690

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation.

And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon