Garage Sale on August 13, 2022

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Not yet pictured are two backpacks, some books, as well as an artsy ceramic chess set.

Black Arts: The $800 Million Family Selling Art Degrees and False Hopes

Academy of Art University expose:

“…Stephens has plenty to celebrate. Since taking over as president of the family-owned Academy of Art University more than two decades ago, she’s transformed the 86-year-old for-profit institution from a regional operation into America’s largest private art university. Under her watch enrollment has skyrocketed from 2,200 to 16,000, generating an estimated $300 million in annual revenues, heavily subsidized by federal student loans. The Stephens family has turned that pile of art-school tuition into one of the largest real estate empires in San Francisco, with more than 40 properties in prime areas, including a historic former cannery on Fisherman’s Wharf and a 138,000-square-foot office building steps from City Hall. In all, the real estate is worth an estimated $420 million, net of debt, and the family pulls in tens of millions of dollars each year leasing these buildings back to the Academy of Art for classrooms and dorms….”

More at Forbes

La Belle Ville de Paris

I’ve returned to Paris after many years away for one day after heading onward on my vacation.

Here’s some of what I saw:

The photos include anti-eviction activists camping in Place de la République, the Porte Saint-Dénis, the staff of an excellent, informal, organic, vegan restaurant called Sol Semilla, gay bars including Cox and Open, a building at one point occupied by the Knights Templar, and various grafitti and art.

Art Display Pulled From Maryland School After Complaints

“Honors students at Oxon Hill High School were given an assignment to create a display that shows what social justice means to them. The exhibit was in the school’s lobby for weeks. It was taken down on Monday.

The display featured a white police officer reading an obituary section. Next to that was a figure of a black man in a blood-stained shirt with his hands up.”

More at Fox 5