Wednesday, July 29, 2009
CWCW goes to Brushton
Armed with microphones, cameras, and our newly printed business cards, the CWCW team ventured to Brushton, NY.
Brushton is the poorest town in terms of household income in Franklin County: To give you an idea, the median household income in Brushton $23, 326, whereas in Malone the median household income is $31, 031. Only about five hundred people live in Brushton, and it’s populated by an older group of people, the median age being forty years. The unemployment rate in 2008 was 4.8%, and the residents living below poverty level is 14.6%.
With these figures in mind, I wasn’t too hopeful about what we would find in Brushton. Besides a Stewarts (which was pretty hoppin’ when we stopped for lunch), there didn’t seem to be much there. However, despite the gloomy statistics, Brushton was not, as I’d expected, entirely dead to business. Don Barney, the eighty-year-old mayor said, "At one time we counted around the village here, now I don’t remember the exact amount, but it was twenty-some small businesses that were mom and pop businesses in the village."
Unfortunately, in the last six months, many of those mom-and-pop businesses have closed. A Fort Covington man named Guy Soucia had converted the closed high school into a "mini-mall" with several small businesses. Unfortunately, we arrived to find the mall shut down, the businesses moved and the building empty and locked. Mayor Barney told us the building is in the process of being sold, and Soucia already has a hopeful buyer. He closed the building in hopes of opening something geared more towards young kids.
We left our business cards at various places around the town: at the bank, a local wood shop, and Stewarts. We then gave our cards to the newest entrepreneur in Brushton, Shawn Taylor, who opened his new tattoo shop "Taylored Tattoos" just three days ago. When we told Shawn we’d be discussing entrepreneurial spirit in hard times with our project, he agreed that opening a business in today’s economy is not an easy feat. I asked him, if opening a business is so tough these days, why did Shawn decide to do this (in Brushton, of all places)?
Shawn had a lot of tattoos of his own, and sat on the stoop of his building, in front of dozens of tattoo drawings taped to the windows. He was friendly and easy to talk to, really open to our questions and hearing about the project.
He seems to represent a type of business he feels is declining in the North Country, one where the focus is on caring for customers rather than simply making a dollar. Shawn told us it’s got to be about getting the job done well- not just about getting it done. "People don’t wanna see change," he said. "I know a lot of people who drive by here and they see a tattoo shop- people already in their mind have made up 'Well that is gonna be a lot of bad people around,' or things of that nature and its just not like that." What gives him the will to try to defy this stereotype he feels exists, that tattoos bring the wrong crowd? "I’ve bucked the system my whole life," he said. "Why not bring something in here and do the same thing- but do it for the good. Reverse the role."
Perhaps he won’t have too difficult a time defying the stereotype he feels exists about tattoos, as it seems everyone is getting them these days. Shawn told us older people are getting them as well as young, "teachers, probation officers, cops, it doesn’t matter." And he may be right- CWCW elder Ruth Garner recently got a tattoo of her own, a shamrock on her shoulder for the Zootoo fundraiser in Potsdam.
I left our talk with Shawn feeling pretty optimistic about Brushton, this little town I’d driven through so many times but never really given much credit. Sure, times are hard and businesses seem impossibly difficult to start. But having a will like Shawn's changes the game. You’ve just got to have be in it for the right reasons, serving other people to help them, rather than simply worrying about gaining a profit.
Labels: Brenna, Brushton, Business, Depression, Entrepreneurship, geofeed
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
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Zelda at 95
Zelda Thomas sat looking expectantly at me, her large glasses magnifying the wrinkles on her face. I thanked her for letting me talk to her as I squeezed a grey, rusted folding chair onto a section of hard concrete floor between the aging card table and another group of elders whose canes stuck out dangerously into aisles.
Zelda Thomas was born in 1914 and raised by her grandparents on their farm. She became a teacher at a one-room schoolhouse in Russell. "We made soup at school," she remembered. Students would have potatoes for lunch and then bring soup home for their families. For Zelda, the Depression happened so slowly she hardly noticed it. Living on a farm, her family was more self-sufficient than others who lived in town. "We had cows, pigs, chickens. That's what we must have eaten" she said.
Zelda is 95 years old and doesn't hear so well. Each time I asked her a question, she would lean in closer to me with her eyes closed, then lean back and open them as she answered. But not hearing well also has its advantages. Zelda's friends always want her to drive them around, because she never gets distracted by their talking.
Zelda Thomas was born in 1914 and raised by her grandparents on their farm. She became a teacher at a one-room schoolhouse in Russell. "We made soup at school," she remembered. Students would have potatoes for lunch and then bring soup home for their families. For Zelda, the Depression happened so slowly she hardly noticed it. Living on a farm, her family was more self-sufficient than others who lived in town. "We had cows, pigs, chickens. That's what we must have eaten" she said.
Zelda is 95 years old and doesn't hear so well. Each time I asked her a question, she would lean in closer to me with her eyes closed, then lean back and open them as she answered. But not hearing well also has its advantages. Zelda's friends always want her to drive them around, because she never gets distracted by their talking.
Labels: chelsea, Depression, geofeed, Norfolk, Observation, Picnic, Russell
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]