Thursday, July 23, 2009
Our First Work Efforts: Spirits and Solutions
Our First Work Efforts: Spirit and Solutions
Sharing Canton Farmers' Market peanut butter cookies and coffee, the CWCW crew sits in a circle, as if around a campfire. We begin at the roots of our own entrepreneurial lives by sharing our first memory earning a dollar. Roger Huntley leans forward with a grin and asks, "Maybe these two elderly ladies remember a Reverend Charles McVay of Crary Mills?" At this Ruth Garner and Mickey Williams erupt into a fit of laughter. "Yea…I thought maybe," Roger says. His first job weed-whacking the Reverend’s lawn earned him ten cents, and with his money Roger walked a mile and a half to the Crary Mills grocery store to buy a candy bar. "I put my ten cents on the counter and he gave it right back to me; it was a Canadian!"
Intern Chelsea Ross remembers building her first lemonade stand with a friend. "I'm not sure if we really did make money," she begins with a laugh. After Chelsea and her friend put in the designated man-hours brewing lemonade for profit she admits, "We actually didn’t have a lot of people and then when the mailman or any sort of person working went by we gave them free lemonade because they were working - we felt bad for them."
As I wonder if any of our stories will result in actual profits, Bill Cullen tells the group about his first job as a very un-ambitious paperboy. "With my bicycle I peddled around and delivered papers every day. My job, on top of delivering more papers, was to get more customers." In Bill’s eyes I see a hint of resentment toward his long lost part-time profession. And the task of getting more customers? "I could not get one," Bill exclaims, "I was no salesman, it was terrible. So, sooner or later they sent another representative of the [Watertown] Times to get more customers. They went right at the job and got them of course so I had more people to deliver papers to."
Our stories are exchanged freely and are surprisingly similar to one another. Despite our different ages, all our stories easily could belong to any member of the group. As youth we all enjoyed working and being rewarded for that work, now the value of that labor is dwarfed by a complicated financial mess among banks, hedge funds, and financial groups. If we were to revert back to the spirit of our first work effort, and combine that simplicity with the technology of the future, would we prevent future depressions and recessions?
Labels: Crary Mills, economy, Jennifer, jobs, paperboy, Reverend Charles McVay, Watertown Daily Times
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Things They Remembered
Today Brenna and I spent another afternoon with Ruth and Mickey. Ruth told a story about a carved pine chest that she had inherited from her grandmother. Her grandmother p
ut sheets in the drawers, and would put orange peels between the sheets. Even now the drawers smell like oranges. "You may not be too sentimental about certain things, but they remind you of your youth," she said.
Ruth and Mickey complained about how poorly things are made today. Ruth has a couple of music boxes that she has had for decades that still work. I found this surprising since I can barely get my iPod to last more than two years. "I hate buying new things!" Ruth said. "I would rather just get them fixed."
ut sheets in the drawers, and would put orange peels between the sheets. Even now the drawers smell like oranges. "You may not be too sentimental about certain things, but they remind you of your youth," she said.Ruth and Mickey complained about how poorly things are made today. Ruth has a couple of music boxes that she has had for decades that still work. I found this surprising since I can barely get my iPod to last more than two years. "I hate buying new things!" Ruth said. "I would rather just get them fixed."
Labels: Brenna, Depression, Kolby, Mickey Williams, Ruth Garner, Sentimental
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
"These hands have..."
Bill Cullen's hands have conducted a speech choir, Ann Huntley's have nursed a baby calf, and Jenn Sibert's have laced figure skates. As we went around the room, talking about what our hands had done, the conversation turned nostalgic. Ann Huntley pulled out a black and white photograph of her large family standing in front of a house. She remembered daring her little brothers to stick their tongues against a cold pipe in winter, and I felt a strong sense of family. Even as she talked about dark periods of her life, about death and hard times, I felt at ease and happy to just be in the room with them. Listening to Roger recounting snowball fights at school and walking seven miles into town to see a movie, I felt a sense of peace. It felt like the natural order of things for us to be listening as he relived his childhood. And I felt sad in a way too, that in our society, it took a paid internship to bring us here, listening to our elders at last.
As our discussion ended, the Huntleys' packed away their memories in a small, white envelope. I didn't have time to feel longing to look at them further; the whole group was ushered into a circle, hands in the middle. Young and old laughed and talked, our hands touching. The camera flashed. I laughed as Ruth started singing the hokey pokey. Our group broke up as arrangements were made to meet again. Already, I couldn't wait to hear more stories.
Labels: Billcullen, chelsea, hands, Roger Huntley
Monday, July 20, 2009
The end of an auction era
The first audio feature from the project aired this morning on NCPR's morning news program The Eight O'Clock Hour. The piece featured CWCW elder Roger Huntley, presiding over his last public auction.
Labels: audio features, Brenna, chelsea, geofeed, Jennifer, Roger Huntley
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