A few weeks ago, I got to have dinner with Julian Bond. We have a friend in common, who asked me to recommend a play for when “my friend Julian Bond” came to town. “Did you say ‘your friend Julian Bond?’” I squeaked into the phone; whereupon she invited my boyfriend and me to join […]
Kelly Kleiman
Kelly Kleiman is a freelance writer on the arts, feminism, travel, and social justice. Her reportage and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Christian Science Monitor.
Posted inPolitics
Traditional Terrible Customer Service, Courtesy of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois
There’s not much more to my post than the headline: I’ve just concluded my sixth phone call with BCBS of Illinois (having been hung up on the first five times by an automated phone tree which sends you directly to an automated service-satisfaction survey without first giving you any service to be satisfied about). This […]
Posted inPolitics
Philanthropy’s Inequality Problem
Warren Buffett’s son has figured out that the proud towers of philanthropy are built on the rotten foundations of inequality and excessive wealth accumulation. I give him credit for being willing to say this aloud–it’s usually left unsaid, one of those things everyone in the club understands but which might be resented by the polloi […]
Posted inPolitics
What Detroit Means for America
The first thing I thought about Detroit is that the state’s appointment of a receiver demonstrated the Republican governor’s profound indifference to the democratic process of a Democratic city, not to mention a white governor’s profound indifference to a black city. This may be true, but it’s also true that Detroit’s finances are such a […]
