Forbes Failed in Predicting the Future

Back in the mini-boss year of 2016, I read a short article by Forbes regarding the best and worst Masters degrees.  I flipped through the tedious 21-webpages ranking each major out of curiosity.  I felt insulted that my concentration was the worst. 

I know it’s been four years, but I can not help looking back at a Forbes article that foretold my Masters Degree would be the downfall of my career.  As time goes on, I laugh at how inaccurate it was. 

Now in 2020 with the viral empire of this global pandemic, I am completely regretless in my choice of pursuing a career in Criminal Justice.  I run criminal background checks from the comforts of my home, and I earn enough money to pay the bills without roommates or a husband.  With over 40 million Americans left unemployed, I realize how privileged I am to have a job in the midst of the economic devastation.  I utilize my privilege to help millions of Americans.  Earning my Masters in Criminal Justice was one of the wisest life decisions I have ever made.

The short article by Kathryn Dill and the ranking were based on data obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Payscale, a compensation software company.  Methods of data gathering were not mentioned.  There is mention of data indicating job satisfaction, stress, and meaningful work, but how is that measured?  Moreover, only the monetary values were displayed per rank.  While the data may be from reasonable sources, financial glory is not the only motive when selecting a career path.

My role in this pandemic is pre-screening job applicants who hope to become pharmacy and healthcare workers, as well as factory employees who produce ventilators.  I belong to a team of professionals who empower HR managers to hire the best people in a time of crisis.  If that isn’t meaningful work, Forbes, then what is?

Even before I landed this stellar job, I still enjoyed my previous position as security officer regardless of pay.  I investigated internal theft, employee drug use, and other illegal activities on the expansive premises of wind turbine factory and warehouse.  I was proud to guard the ~70 acre property that was worth roughly $60 million at the time.  Situated in an industrial park, I saw sunsets without an interrupting skyline.  Patrols were like long walks.  I appreciated different colors of dragonflies during exterior patrols on an EZ-Go kart.  The stressful aspects of my job made it more adventurous.  I worked through Hurricane Sandy, dealt with trespassers, and encountered growling wildlife.  These experiences add vigor to my career history.  Despite moving on, I still miss my team and colleagues.  I worked with interesting people, and my boss was a calculus teacher in his primary job.

Overall, I am happy with my career and I still do research pertaining to my Masters degree concentration, post-graduation.  I publish research projects on criminological topics in my crime blog, free for the public to read.  It is possible that I am an outlier in the statistics from BLS, but I would never trade in my Masters Degree in Criminal Justice for anything else.

*     *     *

If you are curious about the rankings but do not want to click through 21 pages of spam, here are the results from the Forbes article.  If your major is one of the worst, don’t feel discouraged.  They were wrong about me.

Best:
10. Software Engineering
9. Occupational Therapy (OT)
8. Physician Assistant Studies
7. Computer Science (CS)
6. Management Information Systems (MIS) (MBA)
5. Physical Therapy
4. Communication Sciences and Disorders
3. Speech-Language Pathology
2. Statistics
1. Biostatistics

Worst:
10. Architecture
9. Theology
8. Elementary Education
7. Taxation
6. Art History
5. Journalism
4. Library Science
3. Construction Management
2. Sports Management
1. Criminal Justice

Dill, K (2016).  The 10 Best and Worst Masters’ Degrees For Jobs Right Now.  Forbes.com.  Retrieved from:  https://www3.forbes.com/leadership/the-10-best-and-worst-masters-degrees-for-jobs-right-now/?utm_campaign=Best-And-Worst-Masters-Degrees-For-Jobs-mbl&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=referral&fbclid=IwAR38f565eDndmXHGzl57o2XBAr8KNOw3UsHbekXIAc6pPSLziPs5pCUClUk

Feminism Divided Between The Waves and Body Parts

 There was a Facebook page I liked for its insightful posts.  It was a few years ago, and I forget the original post that inspired me to click like, but I later found out that the page represented a full length documentary, Miss Representation, which was all about feminism and how the media distorts women.  Luckily it was on Netflix, so I finally had the chance to watch it.  I have various arguments for and against the points in the film, but I came to the conclusion that today’s feminism is divided, and different feminists suppress each other, stunting progress.  Feminism is comprised of various causes, but I’m focusing on two clashing groups of feminists, which I dare to coin, that significantly influence the movement.

1.  Cerebral Feminists – Championed by the aforementioned 2011 film, they focus on women’s accomplishments, intellectual abilities, creative skills, and strive to break sexualized stereotypes that create blanket assumptions about women.  They promote the idea that women are able to be more than domestic servants, baby-making machines, and voiceless humanoid sex toys.  They believe women can do any job, and demand equal work for equal pay.  They fought against workplace sexual harassment and firing pregnant women.  Because of these feminists, more women are bosses, lawyers, professors, doctors, firefighters, etc.

2.  Sexual Feminists – They focus on a woman’s right to express sexuality without shame.  They also want to have bodily autonomy with healthcare and birth control.  They don’t want to be sexually objectified, but they want to be in control of what they reveal and be freely allowed to express themselves.  They feel like they should be able to wear whatever they want, and people should respect their boundaries.

There may be an overlap between the two types, but they still conflict.  Can you be sexual without sexually objectifying yourself inadvertently?  Cerebral Feminists fought to repeal societal ills of sexual stereotyping, and Sexual Feminists seem to be pushing back that hard earned progress.  Nowadays, there is more emphasis on sexual organs, orgasms, and sexual identity, and less on women’s brainy achievements.  This can send a regressive message to young girls.  The narrative that a girl could grow up to be anything has been reduced to, “You can grow up to be anything, even a stripper!”  Though, who is the sender of that message, Sexual Feminists or the masculine version of “the system” called the patriarchy, or both?

The second and third waves of feminism seem to be an ocean apart with the changes between them.  The former marched in pants and skirts for equal pay, and the latter wave shows up for protests wearing vagina costumes to protest the President grabbing it.  (Okay, not all contemporary feminists have a vagina costume in their closets, but my point is that women are more than just a composite of body parts!)  Third wave feminists are against slut-shaming, but they organize “Slut Walks,” to flaunt their looks in the face of cat-callers, who are probably not deterred by seeing more of what they want.

Do women want to be “sexy,” or were they brainwashed by the patriarchy-owned media into wanting to be sexualized?  The usual excuse is, “Well, women can look beautiful too,” but is “sexy” the only kind of beauty they are exposed to?  They say women can wear whatever they want, but what they want was marketed by men for years.  Men are not being sold crop tops or short-shorts, but women still love to gaze at new fashions in magazines, despite displaying a fraction of available designs.

Surprisingly most big name women’s magazines that promote sexism are currently run by women!  This includes Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Redbook, Allure, Marie Claire, Glamour, and Women’s Health.  While it may seem like an advance for feminism to have female Editor in Chiefs, those female executives were influenced by generations of sexual stereotyping – and are printing the same repetitive themed material with SEX in 72-sized font on their front pages.

It’s possible that Cerebral Feminists pushed too hard to intellectualize women that evading the sexualized extremity awakened its succubus sister, the Sexual Feminist, over time.  The expectation for women to always be celibate and for men to somehow become heterosexual conquistadors without women’s participation is ridiculous. 

Sexual Feminists own their sexuality.  They say that women want sex, and that part can not be marketed, because it’s a human carnal urge that knows no gender.  The sexism exists in the aftermath of intercourse.  If a man has sex, he is congratulated, while a woman sacrifices her dignity for his pride.  It should not be that way.  Either both are proud or both are shamed, because both parties did the same deed.  Since it’s a normal part of nature, maybe the reactions should be neutral?

There needs to be a balance.  We can not have only one voice representing a whole chorus.  There needs to be an equal representation in the two types of feminism named.  History’s pendulum swings between different time periods of expecting women to be sterile prudes or flat-bellied swimsuit models.  Presently, the bias toward Sexual Feminism could swing us back to a time where women are perceived as anti-intellectuals who just want to be sex goddesses, leading us to deal with more sexual harassment.  Skip burning bras, and read more books.

Trump Paradelle

Last November, I wrote a paradelle about Trump’s statements in regards to the Ukraine scandal.  Since Trump’s mode of speech is repetitive, this type of poem was perfect for him.  I will probably write another.  If you would like to write your own paradelle, see the format below.  Another good example is another political paradelle, Donald Rumsfeld Paradelle.

11-23-19

Trump Paradelle

What do you want from Ukraine?

What do you want from Ukraine?

I want NOTHING!

I want NOTHING!

Nothing from Ukraine, I want.

I want Ukraine from nothing.

There was no Quid Pro Quo.

There was no Quid Pro Quo.

You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history.

You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history.

Greatest witch hunt was quid pro quo from American history.

You are American history witnessing Quid Pro Quo.

Where is the fake whistleblower?

Where is the fake whistleblower?

I am a stable genius!  Covfefe.

I am a stable genius!  Covfefe.

The fake genius is where covfefe is.

The whistleblower is stable.

American history, you want nothing

fake from the political hunt, you are witnessing

the greatest American-Ukraine Quid Pro Quo in

political history.  Stable whistleblower, you are

single, witnessing what there was.

Covfefe genius want NOTHING!

*****

Paradelle Format

1A

2A

3B

4B

5 mix A and B

6 mix A and B

1C

2C

3D

4D

5 mix C and D

6 mix C and D

1E

2E

3F

4F

5 mix E and F

6 mix E and F

1 Mix A through F

2  “

3

4

5

6

Analyzing the Media’s Racial Bias for the Quadruple Murder Case in Bucks County

Three years ago, four young men were murdered in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  I wrote about this case and created an illustrated timeline in my crime blog, Caroline's Chronicles of Crime.  The Investigation Discovery Channel produced a short documentary on the incidents.  These crimes happened within miles of my home.  It was surreal for my parents to see someone from the gym mourning her son on the television screen.

The young lives that were cut short were portrayed as purely innocent despite that the murderous conflicts involved drugs.  Anyone murdered becomes innocent regardless of their past.  However, I can not help but wonder if this case happened a few miles away in Philadelphia and everyone involved was African American, would the media portray the black victims in the same light?  Would the case have been turned into an hour-long feature on Investigation Discovery?

The white skinned serial killer, Cosmo DiNardo, murdered four white males, but had DiNardo and his four victims been people of color, would the story have been told differently on the news?  No one is calling the case, “white-on-white crime!”

The sad reality that is somewhat taboo is that the murder victims were attempting to buy marijuana in wholesale amounts.  Since marijuana has a reputation as a soft drug, it is possible that the victims did not perceive the business to be as dangerous as dealing heroin or cocaine.  The victims most likely wanted to make some extra cash from selling it to friends.  Jimi Patrick, who was college bound, probably intended to make a few sales and become popular with partiers in his first semester.  Although it is saddening for these men to be brutally and coldly murdered, the victims were not perfectly innocent lambs.  If the victims were black men from North Philly, the wording would be changed in the columns.  Instead of “Four murdered in Bucks County,” the headline would probably read, “Four Drug Dealers Killed by Philadelphia Drug Lord.”

Regarding the victims, Jimi Patrick was straight-laced and clean cut with no criminal record, but Dean Finocchiaro was a rowdy boy who had a few run-ins with the cops for joy-riding.  The ID program treated his past as forgivable, and his father said he was “just a little immature.”  If Dean were African American, would the media downplay his rap sheet?  Would he be just a mischievous kid or would he be painted as a juvenile delinquent whose life led him to a deadly drug deal?

Don’t get me wrong.  These were horrific crimes no matter who fell victim.  Cosmo drove a tractor over Thomas Meo’s body while he was still alive!  Cosmo ran out of bullets and intended to stop Meo’s screams so distant neighbors could not hear.  Meo was paralyzed from the waist down from being shot, and there was nothing he could do but curse as he was run over.  He died next to his friend, Mark Sturgis, who was shot multiple times.  Cosmo DiNardo morbidly premeditated the murders, telling by how calculated his cover up scheme was.  He used the family’s backhoe to bury three of the victims six feet deep in a large, metal pig roaster.  Cosmo and his accomplice cousin, Sean Kratz, perpetrated the murders on an isolated estate belonging to their affluent family.

Despite the fact that everyone involved was Caucasian, privilege still played a role due to socioeconomic differences.  The murderer, Cosmo DiNardo, came from a wealthy family who owned a cement contracting business.  All four murders took place on DiNardo’s second property, a farm in Solebury Township.  When Cosmo was first taken into custody, Daddy DiNardo posted his $100,000 bail, setting a suspected murderer free to roam.

The last time Dean Finocchiaro spoke to his father, he said he would be “back in 15 minutes.”  I believe he was telling the truth.  Surveillance showed DiNardo’s silver Ford pickup truck driving away.  Drug transactions take a few minutes in a parked vehicle, but Cosmo had other plans for him.  DiNardo probably suggested on driving to a separate location for the transaction or that the marijuana was kept at the farm.  In less than 15 minutes, Dean was gone, and all his father would have were memories.

It’s vicariously heartbreaking to see the surviving parents grieve as they tell their stories.  Though do we get to share the heartache of black parents who mourn their late sons lost to drug and gang violence?  It doesn’t matter if it happens more often in one neighborhood or another.  Murder victims are human beings regardless of skin color, and their surviving families feel just as much agony.  At the end of the documentary, Mrs. Sturgis said she wished she could pick up Mark’s dirty socks one more time.  Don’t black mothers want to pick up those socks one more time too?