Please explain this sentence, with “collective bootstraps” in particular: “The guys who made up Aerosmith pulled themselves up by their collective bootstraps and climbed to the top of the rock world ...

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Idioms mean what idioms mean. I get that. So at this point, “pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps” means to improve one’s situation or succeed through one’s own efforts, without outside help. But ...

It’s impossible, and yet the bootstraps narrative drives out good policy. By Nicholas Kristof Opinion Columnist Back in the 1800s, the expression “pull oneself up by the bootstraps” meant the opposite ...

Texans understand boots. So that’s a great metaphor to help us find some common ground on many of the social and political differences dividing America these days. Most Americans believe everyone ...

In this op-ed, Rakeen Mabud, the director of the Roosevelt Institute’s 21st Century Economy and Race and Gender programs, joins Roosevelt Institute fellow Andrea Flynn to deconstruct the "pulling ...

I think a lot about the ‘bootstraps’ narrative. You know the one – someone who assumes personal responsibility, works hard, and has strong core values can ...

There’s a longstanding tradition of prizing “merit” in deciding which students get access to the best educational opportunities in America. The narrative goes that a merit-based system allows anyone ...

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is the first in a four-part series for Wicked Local Beverly's annual Gifts of Hope campaign. Being a single parent of four children can be a very tough task. And it can be ...