Sabbath, June 16, 2013

[On Sundays, this blog looks beyond work and career in “Sabbath.”]

Craft Beer and Choices

In today’s Chicago Sun-Times, brewer Ben Minkoff is profiled in the “Grid” section.  Minkoff, at the tender age of 25, is leading the effort to change the identity of Berghoff beer.  His family owns the brand and is updating the way its beer is being brewed and marketed to fit the craft craze that many beer drinkers, including me, enjoy and support with our dollars.

Craft beers reflect a larger trend in American culture and taste.  Consumers are willing to pay more for locally produced and artisan products.  In turn, they reject the cheaper offerings of mega-corporations that often cut corners on ingredients to save themselves and shoppers a few nickels.  I buy craft beer and locally roasted coffee because I like the taste.  I also appreciate that the people selling these products live near me.  Some of them support the same local schools and other causes that I do, which makes me happy to dig a little deeper to pay for their beer, coffee, bread, pork, and eggs.

Farmers Markets are part of this trend.  Where the grocery store offers consistent, unblemished fruits and vegetables.  Goods at a farmer’s market will often be of different sizes and shapes.  Sometimes, they will even have a little black or brown on a peach or apple.  So what?  That’s how people ate before agri-business developed factory farming.  I’d rather cut a bad spot out of a tomato and enjoy its taste rather than eat a perfect red globe with no flavor.  People roam and choose their products at a farmers market.  We are able to meet the growers and ask them questions about how food comes to our tables.

The craft-local movement has educated consumers that real choice means more than the best price.  Brand loyalty is now a matter of knowing who makes your food and drink. Rather than a flashy logo and advertising campaign, we look to personal relations and local connections.

Will craft beer ever put Budweiser and Miller out of business?  I don’t think so.  Will my friend Crystal Nells of C.D. Farms shut down Smithfield, one of the world’s leading pork producers?  Never.  That would defeat the purpose.  Small and local needs to stay small and local.  Some people, out of choice or necessity, will buy the cheaper mass market products.  Some of us are able and interested in an alternative market, one where the maker cares as much about his or her product as about profit.  It’s good to have these kind of choices.

Sabbath, June 2, 2013

[On Sundays, this blog looks at issues beyond careers and jobs in “Sabbath.”]

Fighting for Justice and Public Schools

The primary role of public schools has been to give every child a chance to improve his or her life.  Americans claim to value meritocracy and opportunity.  However, when we look at the state of public schools in big cities, it seems like they really want a fixed game where a few students are trained for Ivy League schools and the rest are prepared to work at low wage jobs.

Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities called out this problem more than 20 years ago.  More recently, Diane Ravitch challenged current education “reform” in The Death and Life of the Great American  School System. I value both of these books for opening my eyes to a system that helped me.  I graduated from Cleveland South High School in 1979.  Most of my teachers were excellent, and their lessons have stayed with me over many years.  Today, the common attitude is that big city schools are “failing.”  People with little to no background in education have proposed solutions that often do more harm than good.

Barbara Miner’s book Lessons from the Heartland: A Turbulent Half-Century of Public Education in an Iconic American City looks at her home town of Milwaukee and how it has grappled with urban education.  Miner is not a disinterested scholar.  She grew up in the city and sent her child to its public schools.  She has lived through battles over desegregation, charter schools, and vouchers.

Miner writes in a casual manner, yet she guides the reader in understanding complex problems that are too often simplified in today’s debates over public education.  From the 1950s into the 1970s debates over public education focused on fair access related to racial segregation.  Since the 1980s, the language has changed.  The key word has become choice.  Miner outlines economic and political factors that drove this change.  Cities like Milwaukee lost their industrial base at the same time that white families left the city for the suburbs, where no one complains about paying for quality schools.

As city schools faced greater challenges, many of which were related to poverty, reformers offered answers like charter schools and vouchers, reforms that promised to let families choose better education options for their children.  These mechanisms have done little to improve the quality of urban education.  Instead, they transferred public wealth to private hands.  The story of the voucher program is especially instructive of this “reform” model.  Starting as a way to give poor families the option of sending their children to private schools, the voucher program has been expanded to provide public funds that let families of greater means send their children to religious schools that offer no accountability for performance.

While Miner writes about a city she knows well, she frequently puts Milwaukee’s story in a national context.  She examines key Supreme Court decisions, including Milliken v. Bradley that have gutted Brown v. Board.  She also looks at the roles of American billionaires and their foundations in reshaping the debate over education so it focuses on the stereotype of bad teachers, rather than factors like poverty and racism.

I strongly recommend Lessons from the Heartland: A Turbulent Half-Century of Public Education in an Iconic American City to anyone who cares about American public education.  Miner provides great local examples that supplement claims of reform critics like Diane Ravitch.  What both of these writers demonstrate is that some of the loudest voices claiming to want to make public education better are actually planting the seeds of its destruction.  If we believe in a country where every child has a chance, if want America to be a true meritocracy, we need to listen to people like Diane Ravitch and Barbara Miner who value public education.

Sabbath, May 19, 2013

[“Sabbath” is this blog’s Sunday feature that looks beyond careers to the broader work of life.]

Music for the Masses

I live in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood, a community that values the arts. We have several theater groups, musicians, and artists that hold frequent performances and exhibitions.  Yesterday, I was fortunate to attend “Let’s Do It,” a performance by the Edgewater Singers.  The program ranged from traditional folk songs to modern jazz and pop standards.  I’m not expert on vocal music, but, to my ear, the program was outstanding.  Later today, I’ll attend a concert by the International Chamber Artists (ICA), a local chamber music group.  This program will include works by Dvorák, Plog, Bozza, and Beethoven.

While the music in these programs is very different, they have this in common: no charge.  Both music companies want to offer high quality art to neighbors who can’t afford it.  Many people, including me, happily offer donations to support the programs and artists.  But others can’t.  They are out of work or low paid.  These people could never attend similar concerts held downtown or at suburban venues.  Companies like the Edgewater Singers and ICA do a real service to their community by offering free concerts.

I appreciate the opportunity to enjoy great music in a community setting.  Both groups hold their concerts at local churches.  I am more thankful that hard working people, some of whom are professional musicians and singers, donate their time to entertain and enrich the lives of their neighbors. What they are doing is truly good work.

Sabbath, June 12, 2013

[On Sundays, this blog explores diverse issues.  Today we think about life when there is no work.]

The Real Job Killer

As humans, we want to be in control.  When something goes wrong, we look for a cause, and – too often – we blame other people.  One of the areas where this is most prevalent is job loss.  In the current debate about immigration, opponents of reform claim that undocumented workers are taking jobs from Americans.  To some degree that claim might be true.  However, it’s equally true that immigrants have traditionally done the work that nationals don’t want to do, menial tasks with low pay.  We also blame outsourcing to other countries.  Again, this is a piece of a bigger problem, an important piece and one that should be addressed by politicians in Washington (Buy American!).

The real job killer is something we all love and can’t do without: technology.  From the invention of the wheel to the iPod, humans have looked for a better way to work and more ways to live comfortably.  In the age of the computer and advanced technology, those same innovations have led to work processes that need fewer and fewer people.  Think about the self-service options we now have.  Whether you’re pumping your own gas, ringing up your own groceries, or buying tickets for travel or a movie tickets online, you’re doing work that an employee once did.  Similarly, automation has led to incredible efficiencies in manufacturing.  In one of his State of the Union speeches, President Obama pointed out that steel mills that once needed 1,000 workers to operate now only need 100.  Great for technology and profit, not so good for working people.

Technology moves forward like a steamroller.  It doesn’t go backward.  Jobs can be brought back to the U.S. from China or Mexico.  We cannot undo automation or the ability to work remote via our computers and smart phones/tablets.  Social scientists once predicted this trend and thought it would mean people would have more leisure time.  They were wrong.  Instead, too many people, especially those who are poorly educated, cannot work in the new system.

What can be done about this problem?  I don’t see a simple or fast solution.  Too many people are making money off the current system.  Too often those most affected are poor and powerless.  We blame them and label them as “takers.”  I believe the first step to a solution will be to stop blaming people and really analyze the problem:  How can we enjoy the benefits of our technology and still have work for people?

Sabbath, March 31, 2013

[On Sundays, this blogs explores a diverse topics beyond the world in “Sabbath,” a title inspired by the similarly titled poems of Wendell Berry.]

Here Comes the Sun

Yesterday was a great day.  For the first time in several months, I put aside my winter coat for a much lighter jacket.  Yesterday and today, the sun has been out and so are people, who have clogged sidewalks in my neighborhood.  Spring is here – finally!

Where last winter was unusually mild, this winter was average in its temperatures, cold but not too cold.  This year’s winter, like an unwanted guest, would not go away.  We had no warm, sunny March days.  Tomorrow, April 1, which is opening day here in Chicago for our American League team, will go back to being cold, but that is just the way April tends to be: a few good days, a few bad days, and a few really cold, gray, rainy days that almost make one wish for the dry, sunny cold of February.  The real good news is that Spring is here and the worst is over.  It will be five or six weeks before we get to the next stage of the season: complaining about how hot it is.

Today is also Easter, a day of hope and change.  I’m not religious, but I do enjoy seeing people going to and from church.  This holiday invites bright colors and an equally light spirit.  For those of us who follow a more secular bent, it’s the start of the summer game, a new baseball season.  The teams I root for most, the Indians and the Cubs probably are not going to be contenders.  However, the joy of spring brings hope for a miracle.  Fans, like church goers, are people of faith, especially those who root for the Cubs, a team that hasn’t won a World Series in more than 100 years.

A few blocks from my office, two new businesses are opening, which follows a national trend for an improved economy.  2008 taught us that anything can happen in a large, complicated economy, but recent news has been more upbeat.  Hopefully summer will bring more jobs, higher home prices, and businesses that are making money.  I’m a little worried that we are seeing a new real estate bubble, but that worry is tempered by warm weather and bright sun.  Tomorrow’s problems will come tomorrow.  Today is a good time to smile.

Enjoy this fine day and those that will follow.  I’ll close with a few words from Wendell Berry’s 1982 Sabbath poem III:

The flock, barn-weary, comes to it again,

New to the lambs, a place their mothers know,

Welcoming, bright, and savory in its green,

So fully does the time recover it.

Nibbles of pleasure go all over it.

Sabbath, March 24, 2013

[On Sundays, this blog explores diverse issues in Sabbath.”]

School Closings in Chicago – Reform or A Trojan Horse?

Today’s Chicago Sun-Times features a great analysis on school closings in Chicago.  A chart that accompanies the article shows that students from over 1/3 of the will be moved to schools that are ranked no better or even worse than the ones they are leaving.  The chart also indicates that several of the schools have met performance goals.  Is this how education is “reformed”?

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is featured in a separate article in the paper.  Unlike those officials who say the schools are being closed because they are “underutilized,” the mayor only talks about giving students more opportunity:  “We look at it and viewed it as what we can do to have every child have a high-quality education regardless of their neighborhood, regardless of their circumstances, regardless of where they live.”

If the mayor is sincere in these words, he should be very troubled by the information put forth by the Sun-Times.  While some students will be moving to much better schools, many more are moving to schools with similar performance ratings.  There is also a question of cost.  According to the mayor’s most vocal critic Karen Lewis, head of the Chicago Teacher’s Union, it will cost the system $1 billion dollars to close the schools, which is the same amount the system claims is its current deficit.  Lewis and her colleagues contend that this round of school closing is a Trojan horse that the mayor and his allies are using to open even more non-union charter schools.

No one wants children in poor performing schools.  No one wants to waste money heating and maintaining schools that are half empty.  However, it’s hard to trust politicians in any city when we see how charter schools can be new tools for the connected to wash each other’s hands.  Over the past few months, the Sun-Times has published several articles about conflicts of interest at Uno, Chicago’s largest charter school organization.  Uno’s head was a key player in Mayor Emanuel’s campaign.  Will Uno benefit from the school closings?  That would be an interesting question to have answered.

Here’s another question:  Why can’t Chicago fund its schools?  I grew up in Cleveland and saw that great city’s decline first hand.  Over the last two years, I’ve been to Detroit twice and have experienced to a small degree that city’s challenges.  Those cities have an excuse to close schools.  They embody the rust belt and millions of lost jobs that have left northern industrial cities.  Chicago doesn’t have that excuse.

I attended a production at Chicago Shakespeare Theater yesterday.  Before going to the play, a friend and I rode Navy Pier’s Ferris wheel, which offers a magnificent view of the skyline, a panorama of skyscrapers that are filled with business that are making money.  I could also see large condo developments in the south Loop, all of which were built in the last 10-15 years.  How can schools be poor in a city that is so rich?  Why can’t we have schools with small class sizes if our city has so much wealth circulating in it?  We need to ask the mayor and his staff some of these questions.  All children do deserve equal opportunity.  Whacking at schools with an axe doesn’t seem to be the best answer, just the most simple answer.

Sabbath, March 10, 2013

[On Sundays, this blog explores topics beyond the work world in “Sabbath.”]

Detroit and Democracy

I wanted to do more to prepare more to write this post, but I’ve had work responsibilities this week and weekend that would not let me dive into research and numbers.  Even so, I feel a need to express my less than informed opinion on a vital topic – the impending takeover of Detroit.

It’s not the big media story I thought it would be.  It’s taken as a given that Detroit is “bankrupt” and “something has to be done.”  I’ve even heard that claim in progressive media.  Is Detroit in trouble?  Of course, it is.  So are many other large American cities that have lost their industrial base.  No one seems to be asking if there are alternatives to taking power from the hands of elected officials and putting it in the hands of an unelected Emergency Manager.  Governor Rick Snyder presents this solution that he has introduced in other cities as the only way to save the state’s biggest city.

Let’s take a minute and ask some questions:

1.  Is the situation as bad as the governor claims?  Why is Michigan the only state in the nation where such action is taking place on such a scale?  Is the governor really concerned about helping cities, or is he working off an ALEC playbook strategy to transfer public wealth into private hands?  Is there any evidence that Emergency Managers in other cities have made a long term improvement in local conditions – long term, not a simple give away to the connected class?

2.  Where is the wealth?  Throughout America, central cities are surrounded by suburbs that conduct business in and take their identity from the urban hub.  Could some system be devised where those who benefit from the hub pay their share for its upkeep?  Why not tax suburbs that have a surplus?  Why not introduce county wide or regional taxes that would help revive great American cities?

Here in Chicago we’ve had similar claims of impending ruin.  One of Mayor Daley’s chief aides used the term “Doomsday” in talking about the state of the city’s school system and public transit system.  Both systems were cut in the face of such claims.  Mayor Daley also transferred public assets of parking meters and a public toll road to private interests.  The city’s finances are not better.  In fact, by the end of the contract, the city will lose money on the parking meter contract.  Now Mayor Emanuel want to close over 100 schools because of a pending billion dollar deficit.  Is this a real problem or a way to move students from public to “charter” schools?

Whenever a politician claims a situation is an emergency, we need to ask for better evidence and transparency, not solutions that make the original problem worse and benefit only those who are the most wealthy.  We need to ask harder questions about our leaders and their solutions, especially those that deal with privatization.  The fate of Detroit and other cities in Michigan need to seen as a sign of things to come.  Will the U.S. live up to its promise of being a democracy that offers opportunity to all of its people, including the poor?  Or will the country further devolve into an oligarchy of the wealthy, by the wealthy, and for the wealthy?

Postscript: On this weekend’s Smiley and West radio program, Cornel West said: “You can’t love money and love poor people.” He was criticizing political leaders, both Republicans and Democrats.  I can only respond with one word: Amen.

More:  Laura Clawson of Daily Kos weighs in on the consequences of a Detroit take over and what has happened in other Michigan cities that have lost their democratic rule.

Sabbath, March 3, 2013

[“Sabbath” is this blog’s Sunday feature that looks beyond jobs and career.]

NPR – One-sided on Detroit?

I was listening to NPR’s Weekend Edition this morning, and what I heard upset me.  The program featured two stories on Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s decision to appoint an Emergency Manager [Financial Dictator] for its largest city, Detroit.  Snyder was given ample time to defend his decision, which he did using rhetoric that combined strong leadership and sunny optimism.

The only challenge host Scott Simon put before the governor was the sad, softball question, “Why now?”  Snyder answered with a list of numbers and story about a consent agreement.  The most impressive number was a $14 billion long term debt.  This was a clear point that should have been challenged.  Yes, pension funds, among other things, have caused governments on all levels to have huge long term debts.  These debts are real, but is Snyder’s plan the only way to address them?  Similarly, Synder said that the city did not meet the terms of a consent agreement it signed with the state.  Host Simon did not ask the governor to outline any of those terms, nor did he interview any other guests who might have a different point of view.

Rather than do this Simon asked questions about politics and race, given that Detroit is run by Democrats and its population is mainly African American.  Snyder said his motives have nothing to do with politics or race.  I’ll grant that this is probably true.  Privatization campaigns are all about taking revenue from public sources and transferring them to public hands.  That’s the question Simon should have asked.  A son of Chicago, he should know what our Democratic Mayor Richard M. Daley did in leasing the Skyway and parking meters.  Neither of those deals has helped the city.  The only winners are those investors who now benefit from what was a public good.

After the interview, there was a follow up report on the Detroit’s financial crisis and why it merits the appointment of an Emergency Manager.  Several times the report raised the fear of Detroit going bankrupt.  In fact, one guest was a specialist in municipal bankruptcy.  The question not raised was: So what?  If there are experts in municipal bankruptcies, it must mean that this circumstance happens.  Why is the Emergency Manager needed?  Also any recent change in the level of the city’s debt was not discussed.  Over the last two years, the American auto industry has boomed.  One would imagine that the city’s revenues have improved along with the auto industry.  Does that assumption have any merit?  Is the city worse off today than it was in 2010?  Journalism should ask questions, not rewrite press releases or enable politicians to make unchallenged claims.

My biggest problem with this story and Governor’s Snyder’s action is that they fall into a pattern of rhetoric used by government officials for over a decade.  Naomi Klein calls it the “Shock Doctrine.”  Governments proclaim a crisis and based on that claim assume emergency powers.  Is Detroit any worse off than Cleveland or Gary?  How much worse is it than Chicago or Atlanta?  Every level of large government has debt obligations.  The question is how to meet them while still providing services people need.  Intentionally or not, NPR and Scott Simon have given into shock doctrine thinking.  They did not ask if the crisis in Detroit is based on legitimate financial data, nor did they seek out any possible dissenting voices like Lansing Mayor Virg Benaro or former Governor Jennifer Granholm.  We often hear corporate journalists crying that “both sides” are the same.  Too often, as in this case, they present stories that only give one side.  That’s not journalism.  It’s P.R.

Postscript:  Groups in Detroit are rallying in opposition to the governor’s actions.  What is at stake?  If an emergency manager is put over Detroit, more than half of African Americans in the state will be living in cities run by unelected managers.  How can anyone – including the governor [or Scott Simon] – call that democracy?

 

Sabbath, February 24, 2013

[“Sabbath” is this blog’s Sunday feature that explore topics outside of the job world.]

Politics and the Oscars

There are three films nominated for this year’s Academy Award for Best Picture that fascinate me: Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, and Argo.  All tell stories that the public knows: the 13^th Amendment was passed, Bin Laden was killed, and the hostages were released.  Even so, these films spin narratives that keep the audience engaged.  We are taken into worlds that make us feel what the characters are feeling, which is one hallmark of great art.

I’ve met some people who found Lincoln too slow, too detailed.  For me, the film was rich in its context and narrative.  I’ve read several books about Lincoln, but none of them gave me the same feeling for the man and his struggles.  Spielberg depicts Lincoln as the folksy wise man that every school child knows.  However, he also shows the president as the pragmatic politician who will make deals to achieve his end.  We see a human Lincoln who has to navigate a mess democratic system during a civil war.  I believe that this film will be as influential as any biography of its subject.

Zero Dark Thirty holds the audience with its narrative, but, for me, its content and ethics are problematic.  This film centers on one character Maya who resembles Ahab in her pursuit of Osama Bin Laden.  She holds to her pursuit of Bin Laden even when her superiors tell her to move on.  As we all know, the mission was successful.  My problem with the movie, as it is for other viewers, is that torture is a “tool” used by agents to obtain information.  It’s not pro-torture, but the depiction of “advanced interrogation” is problematic.  Viewers are left to wonder if the ends don’t justify the means, a darker pragmatism than that practiced by Lincoln.  I do believe that the CIA and other law enforcement agencies mean to keep us safe.  In fulfilling this mission, their methods must never go beyond the law if we are truly to be better than those who threaten our country.

I just saw Argo last night, and, of the three films, it is the most suspenseful and best made, which is a high order.  For my money (all two cents of it), it is the best film I have seen this year.  Ben Affleck has taken a little known, forgotten story of the hostage crisis and brought it to life in a way that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats while challenging us to think.  We see how Americans came to be trapped in the American Embassy in Tehran.  Six escaped to the Canadian Embassy.  Tony Mendez, a CIA agent, devises a scheme to sneak them out by creating a fake film called Argo and having the six Americans be his team for site selection.  While the film shows the brutality and zealotry of revolutionary Iran, it also calls out the U.S. and the CIA for their role in installing the equally brutal Shah.  It also shows Mendez as a moral man who won’t follow an order to leave the six behind.  I found this film much more realistic and impressive in this regard than Zero Dark Thirty.

While these three films all have some relevance to our current political reality, they are also movies, stories that can be shaped by a writer and refined by great directors.  Real politics – as Lincoln’s story demonstrates – is much messier.  The press and members of Congress would frequently challenge Lincoln to state his policy.  He would respond: “My policy is to have no policy.”  He understood that simple answers don’t work in a complex world.  At the same time, he knew how and when to be strong and make bold decisions.  Would a great leader like Lincoln be able to manage today’s world of political divisions, sensational (and simplistic) media, and a disengaged citizenry?  I don’t think so.  Until things in Washington sort themselves out, we will need more good movies.

P.S.  Sam Husseini, a writer at Common Dreams, has a very different, very negative take on Lincoln.

Sabbath, February 17, 2013

[On Sundays, this blog looks beyond work and careers in “Sabbath.”]

Feeling Another Person’s Pain

Today it was my pleasure to attend a performance of Rebecca Gilman’s play Boy Gets Girl at the Raven Theater in Chicago.  Simply put, the play is about a stalker and how he ruins a woman’s life.  However that description is far too simple to describe this fine play.

The main character Theresa Bedell meets Tony for a blind date.  After a second date, she informs Tony that she doesn’t want to see him again.  He sends flowers and calls and calls and calls.  Tony is not on stage for most of the play, but his presence lingers, ever more threatening.

The first half of the play speculates on why the stalking is happening.  Characters debate the meaning of relationships between men and women and how each gender sees the other differently.  The second half is much darker as Tony’s obsessions becomes more violent.  This section of the play is also more human as Theresa’s co-workers come to her support and open their lives to her.  Gilman’s power as a playwright is to make us feel a range of emotions.  For a play about stalking, she delivers many laughs and light moments.

I’ve been to several plays at Raven Theater.  It is a community that deliver outstanding performances and intriguing sets.  These qualities are present in Boy Gets Girl.  While the acting is great, I am especially impressed by the set and how effectively it uses a small space to move Theresa from her office to meetings with a film maker to a hospital room and to a raised section which was her apartment.  While there is no physical violence in the play, what occurs in the apartment brings home what it must be like to live under threat from a stalker.

One local critic suggests that the play makes Tony the “winner” because Theresa has to leave town to escape him.  On a surface level, that might be true.  However, the play also shows how a crime can bring people together and let them share feelings.  Theresa is a stronger character at the end of the play, more human even under threat.  Gilman has created a story and characters far deeper than the Lifetime stalker films she mocks during the play.  She forces the audience to think about relations between men and women.  And she reaffirms that most people are good, even when the end is not happy.  If you live in Chicago, this production runs through March 2.  It will be worth your time.