Common Wealth, Common Wisdom

A new audio feature from the project aired this morning on NCPR's morning news program The Eight O'Clock Hour.

Labels: audio features, Brenna, Elders, geofeed, Great Depression, Ruth Garner, Travel

Everybody is talking about the economy these days- it's a topic of instant distress for people of all ages across the US, but especially for teens. Something all of my friends are wondering is: how will I pay for college? It's not an easy question to answer. While college tuition is increasing, the job market is decreasing, as illustrated by this article in The New York Times, which notes that teen unemployment is at its highest point ever. The article says that over a quarter of teens looking for work were unsuccessful this summer. I can't say I'm surprised, knowing how hard it is to find work in the North Country. It's weird to think that teens, usually stereotyped as wanting to laze around and watch t.v. all day, are actually trying to get jobs, and aren't working through no fault of their own.

Jobs are getting harder and harder to get for people my age- it's a domino effect. College graduates, young and old, are having an impossible job of finding work that meets their qualifications, and they have to take the work usually reserved for people my age- restaurant jobs, fast food joints, working at gas stations, etc. And what's left for us? Nada, because what is left is grabbed by local colleges kids, and considering there are four colleges within a twenty minute radius of me, there are a whole lot of them to be hired. Moreover, a large portion of the jobs young people get in the North Country are acquired through knowing the owner or already having your best friend work there.

What does this mean for people my age?

It means we'll have an even more difficult a time paying for college. Universities are starting to turn people down because they just don't have the resources to provide students with sufficient financial aid. We need jobs in order to go into our first year without totally floundering. SATs, ACTs, and AP tests aren't cheap; AP tests are $86 each, and like a lot of people I know, I've got four or five to take in the spring. Colleges charge between fifty and seventy dollars to just apply. And we can't just rely on our parents to cover these costs, as they're having a hard enough time getting and keeping jobs.

Jobs are getting increasingly difficult to get after one graduates from college as well. And then what happens with that massive college debt? If a person can't get the high paying job they expected, because those jobs just aren't as readily available any more, that debt sits, grows, and becomes almost impossible to pay off.

Interviewing Ruth Garner this summer, I realized just how privileged my life is. During the Great Depression, kids were lucky if they had more than a few different outfits and usually just had one pair of shoes. A job for them was helping a neighbor garden or cleaning someone's house and earning ten cents. Though the work was sporadic and low-paying, purchases were few and far between. The majority of high school graduates didn't go to college and so didn't have to pay outrageous tuition. Furthermore, while my peers feel entitled to own the latest iPod and xbox, teens in the Great Depression didn't have those things to buy. And in our instant gratification society, it's not a matter of just wanting it anymore, owning those things has become the norm. But what happens when we can't afford them anymore?

Will the economy miraculously improve soon, and the job market open up?
Will those "gotta have it" items get less expensive?
Will we simply stop caring about owning absolutely everything?
Or will we continue without jobs?

It's impossible to predict the future, but with so few jobs available, I think we can predict a rise of teens who look at their skill set and create their own work- a rise in entrepreneurship. When people are down and out of luck, creativity is at its best.

Labels: Brenna, jobs, New York Times, North Country, Teens, Work

Starting our string of outreach events, the CWCW team went to the state-wide Seniorama festival in Hogansburg last week. For these outreach events, we will be visiting places around the community to present what we've done these past few weeks, as well as listen and possibly record peoples' stories.

Held at a bingo palace, we arrived to find the place full of energy. The right side of the building housed slot machines, while the left had bingo and was full of red-and-white decorated booths of all varieties- there was one for sleep apnea equipment, a stand promoting Assemblywoman Addie Russell, and another giving away cinnamon rolls. Chelsea and I stopped by the booth of two retired teachers selling coffee to raise money for scholarships, who said sales that day had been slow; they think a better selection is needed for next year.

When we talked with the man in charge, Robert Miller, he informed us that the Seniorama has been running strong for eight years. He said it's for senior issues, to give help to seniors and have vendor tables for products they may need, though many people are under the impression that the Seniorama is out to get their money, where it really just wants to help them earn it.

Regarding the economy, Mr. Miller told us that some counties, such as Lewis and Jefferson, are having a hard time and are less likely to go to the Seniorama. Though he said the crowd from St. Lawrence County is still strong, not stopped by the heat or the slow economy. The place was booming with bingo and "Crazy Catz" slots, and we had a fun time meeting everyone, even running into a few friends from our first CWCW voyage to the Norfolk Senior picnic.

And after talking to Mr. Miller and the other participants at the Seniorama, I realized that maybe the poor economy is having sort of a domino affect on people. While St. Lawrence County came out, the other nearby counties weren't really represented, presumably because of high gas prices and the like. And when people can’t attend events like Seniorama, something that wants to help participants save money, they might be missing out on some helpful ways to save money.

Labels: Brenna, geofeed, seniorama, seniors

Today's economy is a point of obsession- talked about by every news station, and worried about by nearly every person in the country. But when I follow recession news, there's one big question on my mind: How are women being affected differently than men?

In today's recession, more jobs are being lost by men than women. This is because more jobs are being lost in the construction field, where the typical worker is male, and because it costs less to keep a woman on as they are payed less. To give you an idea, the median annual income for an unmarried woman is $12, 900 and $26, 850 for a man. This is part of the reason single mothers need more government assistance, such as food stamps, than single fathers.

However, while men are losing more jobs, women are still having a harder time in the recession. People are falling back on savings when they can't pay the bills with a paycheck, and women have less savings because they make less. To this day women make only 76% of what men make, and face discrimination in the workforce when applying for jobs. A decrease in salaries across the board isn't helping: Men's earnings are down .5%, and women's down 3%.

It's shocking to read these facts knowing the progress we have made-- why is it so hard to make the final leaps towards equality? Why is equal pay still a problem in today's modern society? But I think the bigger question is, in the face of statistics like these, why have women's rights become such a tired topic?

Ruth Garner tells me that when she started thinking about a career in the 1930s, a woman could be only a teacher, secretary, or nurse. And while those continue to be the most common jobs for women, they are no longer the only options. However, being allowed to apply for the same job as a man does not mean gender doesn't play a role. Look at the new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and how much focus was put on the fact that she is a woman, instead of simply her ideas.

One thing I realized when talking with Ruth is that we have made immense progress in the past seventy years. Ruth has broken the glass ceiling three times over: She opened a hairdresser's business, a funeral home, and became mayor.

Click on the audio player to hear a story about unequal pay from Ruth's life. And to hear more of Ruth's story, come to our final event on Friday at the Silas Wright House from five to eight p.m.

Labels: Brenna, cwcw, Entrepreneurship, gender, geofeed, Ruth Garner

A new audio feature from the project aired this morning on NCPR's morning news program The Eight O'Clock Hour.

Labels: Brenna, Jennifer, NCPR

Labels: Brenna, Brushton, Business, Depression, Entrepreneurship, geofeed

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 put 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

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

It was our first meeting with the elders we'll be seeing regularly for the next five weeks - Bill, Mickey, Anne and Roger, and Ruth. We met them outside and helped them each get into the sunroom and seated. The sandwiches soon arrived and the sound of clicking plastic containers filled the air. We went around the circle, repeating our names and saying a fruit that started with the same letter as our name- Gregory grapefruit, Kolby kiwi, Anne apple, Mike melon, and so on. We laughed as we went around the circle, trying to remember the names that had already been said.

We paired off and sat down to have a short chat about their lives. I spoke with 93-year-old Deputy Mayor Ruth Garner. She told me that women in her time had only three career options: nursing, teaching, or secretarial work. Ruth was the first woman in 140 years to be on the Potsdam town board. People told her she couldn't do it, but she knocked on doors in Potsdam and got the support. Later, she became mayor. Now, she said, over half the mayors in New York are women. Ruth is ready to change with the times. She showed me a shamrock tattoo she'd gotten just a few months earlier. The tattoo was for the Zootoo fundraiser in Potsdam.

When we got back together as a group we played another game, this one harder than the one before. Our partner would close his or her eyes, and we had to transport them to another place using only sounds. It wasn't easy, but it was definitely fun. I heard bells from Ruth and went to a church, Anne went golfing with Jen, and Laura took Greg to Montreal. Bill, who flew planes in World War II, took Chelsea on a plane ride. He put her hands on pretend controls and she says it was easy to visualize being in a physical plan and in the air. "I had a bumpy landing," she said.

We ended by talking about entrepreneurship. Everybody gave three words that represented entrepreneurship to them. Creativity, risk, resourceful, leadership, independence, and courage were a few of the words used. Some mentioned unexpected words, like "dependence." Ruth talked about the importance of "brevity," saying that to be an entrepreneur meant not just coming up with ideas but listening to others, too.

Labels: Brenna, Elders, Meeting, Ruth Garner, Teens

Gordon sat behind a desk surrounded by coolers, selling soda to the other seniors. He was extremely tan, as if he'd he'd spent a lot of time outdoors during his life. He looked down at the table, kind of drawn into himself; when I asked him to share his life story, he responded with a less-than-enthusiastic, "Sure, I guess." Gordon told me about his life modestly, as if he didn't feel what he was saying had much importance. But once he started talking, he kept talking. I never had to prod him with questions.

Born in Lowville in 1938, Gordon didn't have much money growing up, but felt a rich sense of community. He never felt terribly impoverished, as neighbors always took care of one another; they had what they needed. One Christmas his father gave him a ring-toss game crafted from the rubbers of canning jars. Gordon told me it's still one of his most memorable Christmas presents. Gordon worked odd jobs for several years and then raised the union fee necessary to get a job at Alcoa, an aluminum company in Massena. He worked there most of his life before retiring in 2000.

When he retired, Gordon and his wife started traveling. He told me about the places he visited: Of the beautiful string band he'd heard at a church in Hawaii; of the pickpocket in Spain whose attempt to steal Gordon's wallet left him with merely a pack of tissues; of the "candy-cane shaped roads" along the coast of California.

His wife had been sick for a long time with a heart condition, but she never wanted her life to slow down. Finally, last year, she became too sick to travel. Her kidneys failed and Gordon found himself going back and forth between the hospital. She passed away last year. "She lived for life," his soda-selling partner, Shirley, said. Hearing Gordon talk about her, knowing what she meant to him, I found myself wanting to know her, wishing I could have experienced this person who could spark such intense feeling in the man beside me.

Labels: Brenna, Community, geofeed, Lowville, Memories, Neighbors, North Country, Observation, Travel