Dr. Leigh VanHandel (@[email protected])

Today is the last day for early registration for the SMT conference ... in case you needed to know.

I have never had a talk accepted through the "normal" process of the SMT program committee. Until this year. Twenty-seventh time's the charm, I guess?

I've been going to SMT conferences since 1997. I've submitted a proposal (almost) every year since then. I've been on numerous interest group sessions, in special sessions, given workshops, invited to serve on panels, and have presented posters. I've even given a keynote. But ...

@industrial_book I mean, am I more likely to shop at that store? Definitely. Are they catering to a specific demographic ? Also definitely. But that song is a VERY strange choice.

@industrial_book That seems to have an awful lot of dynamic variations and extraneous sounds (dogs barking, gunshots, etc.) to be played in a supermarket. Also, the lyrics about the minefield, electronic eyes, and shotguns sort of rewrite themselves into the new context, which is disturbing.

On Monday, the Chechnyan Cultural Minister announced that they were banning music with tempos slower than 80 bpm and faster than 116 bpm. I had a chat with @its_adamneely about why this is interesting but ridiculous. youtube.com/watch?v=Q811R6…

I know my research has real-world implications, but I definitely didn't have this one on my bingo card. cnn.com/2024/04/08/eur…

On the one hand, this is a feel-good story about someone doing something nice for others. On the other hand, why do students have lunch debts, and why would school districts think it's a good idea for said lunch debts prevent students from getting their diplomas??

@mschoendorff @ShouldHaveCat This is not our Pigeon! But ours looks very similar and sounds exactly like this!

@ShouldHaveCat @Dr_VanHandel Is this your Pigeon?

THIS CAT IS NAMED PIGEON TURN YOUR SOUND ON

Live your life so you don’t have to stay seated when a president pitches free pre-k

@venteconsultant @SandyBro20th I completed three degrees and paid my loans off myself, and I'm absolutely thrilled when I hear that someone else's loans have been forgiven. The cost of tuition is absolutely ridiculous, and *that's* the thing to be mad at, not that someone else got their loans forgiven.

@venteconsultant @SandyBro20th You should be asking why education in the US is as expensive as it is, why you had to pay a ton of money to send your kids to school, and why people have to take loans to get an education. Higher education is not as expensive in Canada or European countries.

My friend: My friend got an email.. Me: Did she get her student loan forgiven??? My friend: Yes over $170,000 Me: 😳 Me: See this is why you can’t listen to those weirdos on Twitter they love trying to convince Black people nothing is changing for us under the #BidenHarris Administration 🙁 My friend: She said her student loan payment was over $900 a month🙌🏽 Me: That’s awesome. Thank you, #JoeBiden ❤️❤️❤️❤️

@venteconsultant @SandyBro20th And again... You're assuming the high costs. If education was affordable, nobody would be making an "unwise decision" and your "tax dollars" wouldn't be funding anyone else. So the question is still, "Why is higher education so expensive?"

While I agree, it still goes to my point of the original topic. My tax dollars should not go to someone’s unwise decision. I sent my kids to schools within my means. At $170k, thats top schools + grad school. When they took such exorbitant loans, did they speculate that someone else would pay it back or someday they would have to.

@venteconsultant @SandyBro20th Your question assumes that loans are a necessity because higher ed is expensive. And right now, that's true. But if higher ed WASN'T so expensive, loans would either not be a necessity or would be much smaller, and it would be easier to pay for higher ed without loans. Win-win.

@venteconsultant @SandyBro20th So the question isn't, "Why do I have to pay and you don't?", it's "Why do we ALL have to pay so much."

@KaiDaigoji The "why do you get them forgiven when I had to pay" argument ultimately creates a division between folks who believe the same underlying premise -- that college is too expensive.

@KaiDaigoji That's exactly the point. College should be more affordable for everyone, and nobody should have to struggle to pay for college or take out hundreds of thousands in loans that cripple them financially for the rest of their lives.

People who complain about student loan forgiveness often justify it by asking this question. The problem is, that's not the right question. The right question is, "Why did I have to struggle to send my kids to college?"