Killing Baby Elephants

Son No. 1 directed me to CNN to read a story documenting the tactics of rogue debt collectors. Anyone who has lost their job and can’t pay their bills knows the relentless nature of the phone calls – it is truly awful. So I linked up to CNN to read the article only to be assaulted with the phrase “Ranger: Even baby elephants to die.“

It got me.

I have a deep and abiding respect for elephants. About 7 years ago I picked up a book on the half price table at a local bookstore. It was cheap and I needed a read. The book, Barbara Gowdy’s The White Bone is about a family of elephants struggling to survive poachers and a killing drought. The narrator is one of the family and Gowdy invents a language to convey how the group experiences the world. Reading this story affected me deeply; their fear was visceral and awful. The loss and grief when one of the clan died, unbearable.

There is truth to Gowdy’s story. Elephants are self-aware. They live in a structured social order. They even grieve. So the reason for killing the baby elephants is to avoid trauma after their kin are killed. Sounds a lot like murder to me. Animal rights activists assert the culling is really killing for ivory. My heart hurts as I ponder my action or acquiescence in this matter.

I ask you to visit Gregory Colbert’s Ashes and Snow virtual exhibit. The photographs of elephants and people are not a trick of the camera, rather actual interactions. Things about the natural world all too often float on the periphery of our existence – I am asking that you take a few minutes to think about not only the natural world, but also our interaction and place within it.

For Every Person The Perfect Job

From my favorite design blog Shape + Colour comes this surprisingly uplifting ad for Monster.com. Made me smile and feel better about my job search.

So, what’s your perfect job?

Globalization Causing Silicon Valley to Lose Its Middle Class

Interesting article by Deb Perelman at eWeek.com “Silicon Valley Losing Its Middle Class” offering statistics demonstrating globalization’s impact on mid-wage jobs:

In 2006, only 46 percent of the jobs in Silicon Valley were midwage, paying between $30,000 and $80,000 a year, down from 52 percent in 2002, according to the 2008 Index of Silicon Valley, sponsored by Joint Venture, a public-private partnership, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a nonprofit.

Meanwhile, the percentage of higher wage jobs remained relatively stable at 26 to 27 percent, while low-wage jobs grew from 22 to 27 percent in the same period.

White collar jobs lost included “secretaries, clerks and customer service representatives.” Gains were reported for blue collar jobs “such as electricians and plumbers and white-collar jobs such as computer support technicians …”

School Boards/community colleges/parents are you paying attention?

Post Debate Headache – Updated

Jill Miller Zimon, Cleveland Blogger (Writes Like She Talks) offered me a metaphorical Advil this morning for my post debate headache in her comment to this post.

Thank you Jill – I followed your link to blogher and got some stress relief. The first few paragraphs of the post “Obama, Hillary and the Jews” was more of what I am hearing in the neighborhood, however, in a discussion thread to be commended on its civility, there is much important information. Check it out.

Further reading:

I Have Some Questions for Tim Russert

I have been reading various media reports focusing on Obama’s response to Tim Russert’s question on Louis Farrakan ’s support of Obama’s candidacy. I thought he responded appropriately and honestly. Hillary pushed that his statements were not strong enough. Some of my neighbors agree; agree to the point that when asked about a McCain/Obama contest they didn’t know who would get their vote.

They are “afraid” of Obama’s candidacy because of Farrakan’s outrageous statements. This issue was addressed by Barack Obama to the satisfaction of the ADL in January when Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen took him to task:

In this morning’s Washington Post, columnist Richard Cohen took Obama’s church, Trinity United Church of Christ, on Chicago’s South Side, to task for giving an award last year to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The church, through its magazine, bestowed on Farrakhan its Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award — named for its pastor — saying Farrakhan “truly epitomized greatness.”

“Maybe for Wright and some others, Farrakhan ‘epitomized greatness,’ Cohen wrote. “For most Americans, though, Farrakhan epitomizes racism, particularly in the form of anti-Semitism.”

The column caught the attention of the Anti-Defamation League, which was preparing to publicly press Obama to distance himself from the award and from Farrakhan. But Obama’s campaign, before the ADL could act, put out a statement doing just that.

“I decry racism and anti-Semitism in every form and strongly condemn the anti-Semitic statements made by Minister Farrakhan,” Obama said in a statement released by his aides. “I assume that Trumpet Magazine made its own decision to honor Farrakhan based on his efforts to rehabilitate ex-offenders, but it is not a decision with which I agree.”

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL’s national director, welcomed Obama’s words.

“Issues of racism and anti-Semitism must be beyond the bounds of politics,” Foxman said in a statement. “When someone close to a political figure shows sympathy and support for an individual who makes his name espousing bigotry, that political figure needs to distance himself from that decision. Senator Obama has done just that.”

The Anti-Defamation League was satisfied with his answer, but my neighbors are not.

Digging deeper I found substantial commentary detailing Obama’s understanding of the Israeli/Palestinian issue and a deep commitment to Israel.

He has led the effort in the Senate to pass legislation that would assist U.S. states that choose to divest from Iran. His top Middle East adviser is Dennis Ross, who had the job during the Clinton administration and who since has principally blamed the Palestinian leadership for the failure of the Oslo peace process.

Ron Kampeas for JTA, Global News Service for the Jewish People

Additional reading:

Jill Miller Zimon’s Obama Clinton campaigns tackle Cleveland Jewish Community

Why Obama is good for the Jews

Obama’s response on Farrakan goes public

Adam LeBor

The Lending Crisis

This election season the sheer amount of information available is overwhelming. After my morning news update I head over to Brewed Fresh Daily and Psychobilly Democrat to get a read and concise summary on the hot issues of the day. It should come as no surprise that predatory lending is often at the top of the list.

It is also not surprising that this issue is on Obama’s radar. Mark Alexander, Senior Adviser to Obama’s campaign, will attend will attend the City of Cleveland’s Fighting Foreclosure and Abandonment Forum the day after the debate. To bring home the importance of this issue Psychobilly Democrat points us to photographs of a devastated Slavic Village on erieblu’s blog.

The photos are grim to be sure, but what caught my eye was erieblu’s very poignant “TOTAL DISCLOSURE”

i myself have lost my house, although not in a cleveland urban area. IN 2002, i bought my dream home in Lakewood after saving for 10 yrs and steady work history for several years( not easy for an artist in cleveland) one yr after 911, six months after buying my home my spouse & i found ourselves laid off and scrambling for jobs with incomes we had worked so hard to achieve…after yrs of working EIGHT different jobs since then, we finally lost it to the sheriff exactly five years from the day we got the key..

you cannot work with the bank or a nice nonprofit to help save your home with payments you can’t make with no income….no job-again, today i am laid off, homeless with no prospect of a real job for a college educated white kid who busted her ass trying earn a slice of pie from this american dream flavored dessert.

i have two cokes left, a borrowed computer & a busted painful ankle……so,right now i feel for this neighborhood, these people who also left what they had because you got nothing

She tells the story that proves that this is not just a “lending crisis.” Subprime lending is not why erieblu no longer has her home. She no longer has her home because she and her husband no longer have jobs. And that is the problem.

When jobs move offshore everyone suffers. Years ago in a bar in Youngstown, Ohio a friend of mine predicted that NAFTA would be the downfall of the middle class. He was right. He reminded me of this last week as he a related an even more chilling tale. We had been talking about, what else, jobs. I am looking for one. I told him about an advertisement on Craigslist directed to lawyers, selling offshore legal work done by lawyers – in India. I told him I was stunned that what I studied, paid dearly for and was licensed to do by the State of Ohio, could be replaced by lawyers not licensed to practice law in the United States.

He told me he had an even better story. He had been to the Emergency Room late one evening. He needed an X-ray. When he was told that the radiologist left at 11 pm. He asked when the xrays would be read; the nurse casually replied, “oh, we transmit them to India electronically and they are read there.” I checked and it is true; hospitals have been doing this for years.

I was dumbstruck.

So what are we, the educated middle class, to do? We did all the right things, we studied hard, worked hard, paid our taxes only to find our daily work gone. The desperation in erieblu’s post is heart wrenching and she speaks for many of us.

Poverty is working it’s way up our society. The middle class, the innovators, the men and women whose work provided the daily beat of life to this country, is disappearing. What is left is a rarefied class system. If you get to the top you hold onto it at any price, and if you fall from grace for whatever reason, getting out is almost impossible.

I read once that it takes a first class intellect to bring change; you must believe both the absolute gravity and hopelessness of the situation at the same time you believe you can change it. I want to believe Obama possesses this quality of intellect.

So Obama, if you are listening trade, bankruptcy, credit reporting and banking reform must be accomplished in short order, all while convincing American business to bring the jobs home. We are dying here in the rust belt.

And to erieblu, I applaud your courage in putting it out there. Thank you.

This post is also available on mybarackobama.com.

Arjewtino: A Cautionary Tale

Ohio’s primary is March 4th – don’t forget to vote. Failure to vote can result in shaming, shunning and McCain in the White House.

Arjewtino, legendary blogger of my people, forgot to register – read the whole ugly story here, then get your voting house in order so it doesn’t happen to you.

Voting information - Cuyahoga County.

The Web’s Secret Stories

In 2007 story teller and internet anthropologist Jonathan Harris premiered his newest graphic interface, Universe, at TED. One in a series of works constructed by mining data footprints we leave on the web, Universe is dazzling and poignant, showing both the unique and mundane nature of life -everywhere.

It got me thinking about the footprints I walked in this week – mine and others – and how what was shared affected who and what I am. Here is the recap.

I learned what a meme is and what it means when it “jumps the fire line.”

I learned that my life is lived both in the real, and virtual, dimension.

I learned that job searching is a full time job and that no one website can search for me.

I learned that there is a woman who calls Obama – “Barack Obama Bin Laden” and Clinton – “Hillary Comrade Clinton.” I don’t think I will ever invite this woman to dinner.

I learned that a 26 year old mid-western woman lost her struggle with bipolar disorder and alcoholism. I know she was loved by her family and her friends. I know that she had children who are blessed to have a community who will tell them, when it is time, that their mother was a remarkable woman. I know that if I could, I would invite all these people to dinner and that it would be a rockin’ good time.

I learned that a baby was born into a family constellation that is both complex and scary.

I learned that a man lost family and friends in the storms down south and that he believes you need to tell your family you love them, especially if you haven’t spoken to them in a long time. I learned that my heart listened to his message and then broke a little bit because my family doesn’t play by those rules.

I learned that there are many women who have wonderful husbands who support them even when they are crabby and unreasonable.

I learned that I still dream about my husband and that my heart hurts.

I learned that an Illinois man took 5 people to their death and his own, while his elderly father was spending an unremarkable day in Florida. I learned, again, the lesson that pain has so many levels it is a wonder you can breathe.

I learned that criticism and angry words abound in the political arena and it is only February and my head hurts.

I learned that my mother watches CNN all the time, never misses Larry King, but that sometimes she forgets to call me even when she promises she will.

I learned that there are local folks who connect virtually and meet in real life to work for change and that it is the same as everywhere else – it takes time to belong.

I learned I still worry about people I meet being anti-Semitic.

I learned that a professor in New Jersey runs in the park, is multilingual and a kind person.

I learned that when you are unemployed, your friends tend to stay away, not because they are unkind, but because they are too kind.

I learned that the soundtrack to the new apple laptop commercial is a song by a Jewish woman who born in France.

I learned that my hometown, which I denigrated for years, is filled with remarkable people who do every sort of amazing thing and I probably should issue some sort of formal apology to the Mayor and my mother.

I learned that no matter where you live, you still are from your hometown.

I learned that I am not the only person who keeps their netflix dvd’s for three months.

I learned that I do not want to return to work that steals my soul, that there are plenty of folks doing things I would be a rock star at and they get paid, therefore, chances are good that I will find my dream job.

I learned that I am a “zero gravity thinker” and that this is a good thing.

I learned that I am grateful for all that is shared.

Thank you.

Explore Jonathan Harris – at TED -Number 27 -Universe – We Feel Fine

Marseille and Why French Rappers Can Teach Us About Community

Have a listen while you read – performing is Keny Arkana, a Marseille rapper of Argentinian heritage:

I blogged a few weeks ago in “I am a Clevelander” that there is no solution to urban violence without the understanding that whether you live in the suburbs, or in the city, you are a Clevelander. When you are invested and committed to your community, if problems occur you are more likely to seek conciliation, rather than confrontation. A recent New York Times article, In Marseille, Rap Helps Keep the Peace, offers a model well worth following.

The young adults of Marseille face many of the same challenges as their American counterparts in Cleveland (or any rust belt city). Unemployment (40 percent unemployment is some parts of the city, 13 percent citywide), racial tension, multicultural neighborhoods and a gritty history are the fabric of their lives, yet violence is conspicuously absent. When asked why, the residents talk about belonging to the city. The poor are not isolated and the affluent aren’t shielded.

Comparing Marseille to Paris, where youth violence is on the rise, one rapper observed:

the neighborhoods are rough … but there’s not violence here without meaning … like in Paris. I lived there for a while,” he said, meaning in the isolated suburbs outside the capital … “Here there is a culture of respect,” he said. “We’re all Marseillais.”

They may belong to different neighborhoods or gangs, but the rappers of Marseille put differences aside to share their music. It isn’t about getting out and getting famous, it is about belonging to the city. Respect is earned, and given, within a shared urban experience.

Police patrols will never create this sense of community. True community is lots of people, creating and sharing a variety of experiences in the same place, without the need for a neighborhood watch. The first step to restoring this true sense of community is to give the arts sufficient support, space, staff and funding, to take hold and blossom. If you build it they will come.

Art and music programs are often the first to go when school funding is cut. Neighborhood community centers struggle to keep their doors open amid the myriad of hoops they have to jump through to maintain funding. Current philanthropic wisdom targets preschool programs as most worthy of funding. There is merit to the wisdom, but without focused intervention and programming for this current generation of adolescents, what will be left?

Ellen, Pammy-Girl’s Roommate and My Mom

I regularly read Pammy-girl’s blog even though she, by her own admission, attracts men over the age of 50, thus reducing the potential dating pool for Five Husbands. I have to keep reading to see if she is tossing back any potential suitors. Note to Pammy – not interested in today’s toss. But I digress – I checked in the other day expecting to experience my normal level of envy (she’s young, she’s beautiful, she’s one hell of a writer) and instead was sucker punched between my two very green eyes.

Pammy-girl’s roommate hit the jackpot on Ellen. Pammy wins by association and by the tell-tale swag.

I have been watching for years, scheming for years, from all these miles away, to get on the Ellen show. I even submitted a pitch featuring my aging mother in an amaturish photo/drawing collage hoping to catch someone’s eye.

No luck. Nada. Sigh. I didn’t watch the roommate’s appearances – a person can only take so much disappointment.

Returning to Earth

Months ago I picked up Jim Harrison’s latest novel, Returning to Earth. It languished for months on my night table together with Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, Elizabeth Berg’s Eat, Pray, Love, A.J. Jacobs’ The Know it All, Bill Walsh’s The Elephant’s of Style and assorted books of poetry. Divorce has a way of stealing joy from life’s simple pleasures, even reading, so I contemplated shelving all these books. But I didn’t, I started reading Returning to Earth.

Death and life – side by side, as it is meant to be, is the story’s central theme. There is much written about the deleterious effects of the way we live our lives – divorced from community and nature, experiencing everything second hand. We watch the weather, we don’t walk in it. We IM, email, or communicate via our blogs avoiding face to face encounters. We observe death from a comfortable distance whenever possible. If it touches our lives, it is out of sight, mind and mention, within a few short days.

Life, family and community are meant to be lived and experienced in all their messy, rich and poignant glory. Life takes time to live; death takes time to grieve. Sometimes life is so hard there is no explanation for how we go on; sometimes death is so cruel that it is a miracle life goes on at all. Harrison clearly knows this.

An interview with Jim Harrison in the New York Times: Pleasures of the Hard-Worn Life