Diversity, equality and equity are the latest buzzwords used in academia and the media. Today, everyone is expected to achieve the American dream, no matter who you are, where you come from, or what you do to get there. According to their calculations, equality of opportunity equals equality of outcome, and if that's not the case, rig the formula to make it so. I read a few articles on nj.com recently. In one, a Rutgers-Camden public policy professor published a study that found that more poor people are concentrated in small and midsize cities today than a decade ago. OK, the economy has collapsed and the housing market has collapsed: the poor have always lived in crummy neighborhoods with other poor people, and the rich live in posh neighborhoods with their fellow 1%ers. . But the professor believes that this is not fair and advocates moving the less fortunate to the suburbs in order to alleviate the difficulties of cities which are disparately affected. This isn't new: The New Jersey Supreme Court required suburbs to provide their fair share of low-income housing in the 1975 Mount Laural decision, and the federal government followed suit in 1977 with its law. on community reinvestment which was designed to "encourage" banks to lend money to people they would normally kick out because they didn't think they would be repaid, or perhaps because of their lack of cultural sensitivity. The other article published the results of Camden's latest college assessment test: only three students were college ready... that's right, three, not three percent or three out of ten. Three. The "invincible city", with 80,000 residents and two public high schools, can only offer three students who can...... middle of paper ...... Avenue and east of 3rd Street. I knew a guy who lived in this neighborhood forty years ago, a little east of Fishtown. He was trying to get by at the time. Today, it is a gentrified “mixed-use” neighborhood of renovated townhouses, old warehouses, and new townhouses. Its working-class residents have been replaced by artists and professionals attracted by its location close to the city center and its more affordable real estate. I checked the prices of available homes on Trulia and realized I was about 15 years too late. Today, the average house costs between $400,000 and $500,000. Since I can't afford to live in places like Morristown and Haddonfield where the New Jersey Supreme Court justices reside, I'm going to have to relax, have a beer, and hang out in the neighborhood with my homies until until I hit the lottery. Merry Christmas everyone, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Kwanza and Festivus.