Allison LaFave

Bio

A veritable tumbleweed, Allison grew up in South Dakota and graduated from Harvard College in 2010 with a B.A. in Comparative Religion. Her postgrad employment has run the gamut of super-liberal jobs, including legal assistant to a police misconduct lawyer; third grade teacher in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn; and jack-of-all-trades at an education nonprofit. Allison's first big concert was Willie Nelson (take that for what it's worth), and she prides herself on her ability to make wicked mix CDs à la 1993. When she's not aggressively Googling panda videos, Allison is asserting the superiority of South Dakota over North Dakota. (Naturally.)

Shira Tarrant, "Unconventional Feminist," Takes On the Politics Of Porn

By Allison LaFave

Shira Tarrant is an associate professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at California State University, Long Beach, who has written extensively about the male role in the gender justice movement, the power of personal…

5 Reasons to Help Fight Chicago School Closures

By Allison LaFave

On March 21, Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett announced the district’s plan to close 52 schools and 61 school buildings before the 2013-14 school year; two more schools are set to close by 2014-15, for a total of 54. The Chicago Board…

Sequestration is Hitting Native Americans the Hardest

By Allison LaFave

Last week, the New York Times editorial board took a firm stance on behalf of Indian country: "The federal government cannot use its budget nihilism to avoid its moral and legal obligations." These "moral and legal obligations" include a range of…

Aaron Swartz Said Elite Schools Are Intellectually Dead: He's Wrong

By Allison LaFave

A recent Quora comment thread has reignited a decades-old, navel-gazing question that understandably most interests a privileged few: Is intellectualism dying at Ivy League universities? This heated debate ( … among 10 or so people) was spurred by…

VAWA 2013: House Must Reauthorize to Protect Native Women

By Allison LaFave

“To doctors without clues, for say-nothing neighbors, do-nothing attorneys, and quiet parents with no memories, thank you…we couldn’t fail these women without your help.” - Excerpt from “To the Indigenous Woman” by the 1491s. There are times when…

College Selection: How to Pick the Best School For You

By Allison LaFave

“You check,” she said, scribbling out her email password. “I can’t do it.” Ten seconds later, the composed, 17-year old in front of me cried the happiest tears I’ve seen outside of a romantic comedy. She got in. A full ride to Wesleyan University.…

Student Loan Debt in the U.S. Approaches $1,000,000,000,000

By Allison LaFave

Three days ago, I submitted the last of my graduate school applications. I was elated. I was relieved. I was … scared as hell. In January 2012, President Obama lamented that, for the first time in history, Americans have incurred more student loan…

Romney Loves Teachers: What Teacher Evaluations and Tests Really Mean for American Teachers

By Allison LaFave

During Monday’s final presidential debate, Bob Schieffer spurred a collective American chuckle when he cut off Romney’s long-winded brown-nosing with the knee-slapper, "I think we all love teachers..." I'd love to believe Mr. Schieffer, but as…

George McGovern: Remembering the Politician who Won South Dakotans Over by a Landslide

By Allison LaFave

The critics said he was too decent to be president – too soft, too compassionate, too good. They saddled him with the mantra “amnesty, abortion, and acid” and discredited his anti-war stance, in spite of the fact that he was a decorated war…