You Ask, I Answer - A Whole New Look - Letter #11
Another way to share knowledge and experiences.
I’m trying something new. I was previously using Postcards to craft my newsletters and sent it out via Mailchimp. It was working fine.. until it wasn’t. I didn’t have the luxury to include pictures or customize to my liking. Pictures convey a thousand words they say, and they’re right. I’m switching to a new service called Substack. It lets me publish content on the web as well as send it out as a newsletter to you all. Hopefully you’ll like this too.
What to expect in a newsletter?
First, let me share with you the feedback I got. Half of you asked for the newsletter to be sent once every two weeks. My plan is to keep it once a month, unless I get a lot of questions from you in which case I’ll send out another newsletter addressing them.
Most of you wanted to know more about the books I’m reading followed by topics on technology and products.
So, keeping that in mind I wanted to incorporate the following structure:
Answer the top question(s) I received in those weeks
Talk about a product or technology that I use or that interested me - in the future, I want to expand on this by critiquing a product
End with a brief synopsis of the books/articles I’m reading and other moments from life
This newsletter is mainly for you to gain value. If you feel like that’s not happening, I’m failing in my task. So keep telling me what you’d like to see.
Question: How does the new visa rule change affect international students?
A very good question. For those of you who aren’t aware, the Trump administration released a new rule a week ago that increases the restrictions for immigrants around obtaining a green card. I would first recommend that you do not panic - the media tends to sensationalize any news related to immigration, and this isn’t any different. When I see such news, I first triage my sources. I check out a few publications that I trust nationally and locally: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Washington Post, etc. Next, I look for similarities in them. Finally, I take a quick look at the summary of the rule itself (in this case, it’s a ~900 page document).
Here’s some more information on the rule: Previously, they considered depending on cash assistance and government funded long-term care as a “public charge” but now that’s being extended to include a few more factors such as using food stamps, non-mergency Medicaid, and housing vouchers. The rule does not include Pell Grants and other forms of educational assistance among the types of benefits that immigrants will be penalized for receiving.
Here’s some background: It started with The Immigration Act of 1891. It was one of the country’s first moves to regulate entry into the country from abroad, which permitted the exclusion or deportation of people deemed to be a burden on the public purse. It referred to “idiots, insane persons, paupers, or persons likely to become a public charge.” The current rule should come as no shock after Trump’s constant push towards entry based on merit over family connections.
My opinion is this: In my two years so far in the U.S., I have never had the need to use food stamps, Medicaid, or housing vouchers. When you come here for your higher education, your insurance would be covered either by the University or you would be asked to get a private insurance. You would look for housing on-campus or sublet in the nearby area. You would eat at local restaurants and the campus' dining hall. Ideally, this should not be affecting you directly. Anyone who comes here has to have sufficient funds regardless, hence foregoing these benefits should not change much for you.
Immigrants from Europe and Canada are least likely to face problems under the new regulations, according to one study, which found that, by contrast, nearly three-quarters of recent arrivals from Mexico and the Caribbean have relatively modest incomes that would jeopardize their chances at a green card. - The NYT
And, over 60 lawsuits have been filed to block the public charge rule, including by New Mexico, Colorado, Rhode Island, Maine, Maryland and Massachusetts, said James during a press conference Tuesday morning.
For now, don’t worry about this. If you think you’re currently enrolled in a public program or getting funded by the government on something, check with the local non-profit in your city that helps immigrants. Otherwise, you should be fine.
Product: Elpha
In February of 2018, I got introduced to this platform called Elpha. At first the name caught my eye. It sounds like Alpha with an E. Why the E? For those of you who know French, Elle means She in French. Ahhh.. you see where I’m going with this. Just like the name, the founders of the company did a great job with the platform. Here’s a glimpse into the backstory from the co-founder herself:
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Cadran, and up until today I’ve been a Tech Lead at Y Combinator. For years, I looked for a place where women in tech could openly talk with one another online, but never found one. So in 2017, I decided to build it myself. With the support of YC, I started Leap as a side project with the goal of building a community for women in tech. I worked on Leap mostly on nights and weekends, and I’m proud that there are 7,500 incredible members in this community.
If you want to join the platform, use this invite link. It’s invite only.
Three reasons why I like Elpha as a Product Manager:
It solves a tangible social issue: If I am overtly sexually harassed by a male co-worker and my manager does not seem to understand the gravity of the issue, what do I do? I would want to talk to someone. A woman, preferably. Where do I go? If I’m a 65 year old women working on my own startup and the Head of Marketing says I should not expose my face to the public as the Founder, what do I do? If I’m a medical student who wears eye liner and my Professor comes up to tell me to not wear it anymore because it distracts the other students, what do I do? These are not fictional problems. They are very real. These are the kind of questions you can ask on Elpha - consider it a virtual safe space for women to talk.
It’s designed with ease in mind: I like the sparsity of the site. When you go on to the site, three things pop out: ‘Write a post’ button, the #topics on the left side, and latest posts on the right which takes up 2/3rd of the width. That’s all you need anyway. You can start writing a post, dig deeper into a topic, or check out the latest discussion all in one page.
It’s free (and always will be): The co-founders have mentioned that the platform is designed to be free for everyone to use. I assume in the future their revenue plan would be to let companies advertise job opportunities, however this is just speculation.
I’m excited to say that I reached out to the co-founders to write an article and they’ve agreed. So you can expect an in-depth look into the company soon!
Book & Article
The Prize by Dale Russakoff
If you are like me and want to understand the U.S. education system and read a book that was written after spectacular research, this is it. Dale has done a perfect job of conveying a large amount of information without making you feel like you’re drowning in it by incorporating equal amounts dialogue and action.
An unbelievably long and engaging read on feminism
I was listening to a podcast by Sam Harris where he invited Caitlin Flanagan, a journalist at The Atlantic. A segment of the show discussed a controversial article she wrote back in 2004, and of course me being me wanted to read it right away. It took me one hour to finish reading the article: but it was worth it. She talks about how upper-class working professional women took a step back in feminism while trying to take one forward. Give it a shot.
Moments from life:
I recently began learning the guitar again and it’s been great so far (except for my fingers which weep at night). I’m practicing my first song: Wonderwall by Oasis :)
If you want to ask something, simply shoot an email to ask@bsoundarya.com. I check all emails. Here’s my Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Medium, and Quora accounts.
In the meantime, tell your friends. Aaand.. you’re awesome. Don’t forget that.