Citizen at Large

No Man is an Island

2009-08-10T21:32:23-04:00

Paul Simon warbles “I am a rock, I am an island,” in his immortalized 70’s hit, contradicting the oft-cited adage, “no man is an island.” I think he’s being ironic (!). Well, some people may want to be islands, and maybe some merely peninsulas, but in my recent summer travels, it seemed to be that no man really is an island in the Isle of Man. Cute, cute, I know.

Have you heard of this place, the Isle of Man? You may have, if you ever saw the movie, Waking Ned Devine, which besides the clever plotline, mainly stands out because it features two old men riding on motorcycles, naked, on the Isle of Man.

Eastern coast of Isle of Man

As it turns out, I have an ancestor that was born there (in 1811 to be exact) and my husband has many lines of ancestry originating from the Isle of Man. So we went on a trip there this summer with my husband’s family, a sort of visit to the ancestral homeland.

The Isle of Man is situated between Ireland and England, and is currently an independent but-still-sort-of-part of-the-United-Kingdom-Commonwealth state. Only about 75,000 people live on this tiny island, which has an area of just 221 square miles.

The Isle of Man is a most beautiful place to visit. But beyond its luscious green landscapes, picturesque Victorian boardwalks, and cool medieval castles, I was most struck by the Manx people. They were some of the friendliest, unpretentious lot I’ve ever met (and I’ve been to nearly 50 countries and about 30 states—telling you that is pretentious, I know!). The cabbies there, instead of rounding way up from what their meter reads in citing your fare, round DOWN (which incidentally made us want to tip them much more)! Museum guides show you the best parts of their digs without even asking for admission, just for the sheer pleasure of it. Bus drivers don’t mind taking you up a street or two off of their designated route so you can be closer to your destination. Old men (not naked, however!) having an afternoon drink together share treasured Manx stories with you, unsolicited; strangers open up their home so you can view a peak of your 18^th-century ancestor’s residence. Everywhere we went people were as friendly and as accommodating as could be (and no, I am not getting paid to write this by Isle of Man’s Office of Tourism!).

The rolling hills of Isle of Man

So what does it take to have such a culture of mutual trust, respect; one that is unconfined by formal rules, abiding instead by unwritten rules of courtesy, honesty, and kindness?

My armchair-sociologist answer? Community, and the empowerment of that community.

Tiny as it is, the Isle of Man has a fascinating history. The Celts were among the earliest settlers, followed by the Vikings. During medieval times, the Isle of Man mostly just changed hands between the Brits and the Scots, until finally resting in the hands of the British (it still exists as a British Crown dependency, although it operates autonomously).

Tynwald Hill, Isle of Man

What most interested me was that somewhere between 850 and 950 AD, the Viking settlers established Tynwald, the oldest continuously-running parliament in the world (contrary to popular lore, the Vikings—at least some of them—were actually civilizers, not just marauders). Tynwald Hill is a terraced mound of earth, originally built by the Vikings, and formed with earth brought from all sections of the Isle of Man to symbolize its representative nature. Officially known as the High Court of Tynwald, it now convenes in an actual building, but every year, on Tynwald Day, government officials meet on Tynwald Hill to promulgate laws and hear special petitions.

Modern-day Tynwald Building, Isle of Man

So there sits tiny Isle of Man, in the middle of the Irish Sea. I think the smallness of the island—both in geography and population—has a lot to do with its agreeable culture. In a community so small, it’s easy to know many people personally and be connected to the rest by only one or two degrees of separation. When people are connected like that, they are more likely to be friendly and courteous to each other (both for “stick” reasons: you don’t want to anger someone with whom your neighbor might be close, and for “carrot” reasons: you know people, genuinely like them, and want to be agreeable.) There is also a sense of bond and loyalty—“we are all Manx, and we love all things Manx, and everything Manx is good.” I also believe that the empowerment of this community—and the early (we’re talking 9^th or 10^th century!) empowerment of this community is important; when people feel their grievances are being heard and opinions are represented, they are more satisfied with, and content to live with, each other.

It is in our own interest, as well as our community’s interest, to be connected to one another. And it is in the government’s interest to empower its people as well by giving them a voice. The Isle of Man has figured this out. But even if we’re not fortunate enough to live on this idyllic island, we can build small communities all around us, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, and in our churches. For no man should be an island!

What kind of community do you live in?

What does your community do to foster a sense of connectedness (town fairs, 4^th of July fireworks show, community pools, etc.)

Have you witnessed anything that contributes to negative-community building?

What have you done to contribute to your community?

P.S. So speaking of community, I have recently been appointed to our town’s Planning Board, which I anticipate will take up a lot of my “citizenatlarge” time, so I probably will be post even less frequently than I do now, if at all, for the next little while. Thanks for reading!

Zero Population

2009-06-16T23:07:00-04:00

Today I rebelled. I dropped my daughter off at Kindergarten at the back door which opens right into her classroom. Can you believe it? I did this instead of taking out of the car all four of my small children—including one infant in one of those impossibly heavy car seat carriers, corralling them across a busy parking lot, going through the front door, signing my daughter in, walking down a flight of stairs and down two long hallways to get her to the “proper” drop-off door. A teacher seeing my illicit deed yelled at me from across the playground, “You need to check your child in.” I yelled back, “I’ve got three other kids in my car and I’m not going to check her in.”

My daughter had missed the bus to school, so I had to quickly pile my kids into the car—clicking each car seat one by one—and rush down to the school. On previous occasions I had dropped her off at school I used the back door because it was just a few steps away from where I could park my car and frankly, there seemed to be no reason not to use it. I simply knocked on the locked door and the teacher let my daughter in. Easy. But then we parents received notice that we were not supposed to use that back door at all. I have racked my brain as to how using the back door would somehow endanger my child or others, be inconvenient for the school, or otherwise be a problem. I could think of none—except perhaps that it just was too easy.

This is not the first time I’ve encountered frustrations with Kindergarten pick-ups and drops-offs. When my daughter switched mid-year to afternoon Kindergarten, taking the bus home would have made her too late for her weekly violin lesson, so I decided I would have to pick her up. Well, because she is in Kindergarten, the school requires me to go inside the principal’s office and sign her out. Once again, I was facing the same corralling-multiple-small-children-across-the-parking-lot problem. I asked the school to make an exception for me—just let my daughter walk out of the school and meet me in my car—but they wouldn’t budge. I was not surprised—only frustrated. I am used to the major “hassle-factor” in having small children.

In fact, a couple of years ago my husband was given the option of relocating our family to a remote island in the South Pacific for work purposes. I was generally not very excited by the idea because I felt it would be too isolating—but one thing appealed greatly to me, almost enough to make me do it: the island is small enough that cars are not necessary—and no cars means no car seats! (My husband is convinced that the 90’s boom in big gas-guzzling cars was driven almost solely by car seat laws. His parents use to cram five kids and themselves into a Volkswagen Rabbit to drive to church, he fondly tells me.)

Source:Istockphoto.com

It has never been easy or convenient to rear children and certainly technological advances have made some things about having children easier than ever before (indoor plumbing, disposable diapers, easier meal preparation, a zillion toys to distract them when one needs a minute to oneself, etc). But I’m convinced we’ve also encroached on parents’ ability to manage children well by being so obsessed with safety.

Did you hear about the lady who left her kids in the car while she dropped off some film in an OUTSIDE photo drop-off box at a Costco? She was arrested for child endangerment. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve left my kids in the car for trips like that (I would probably just do it at my daughter’s school too, if I didn’t fear complete social disapproval and a possible arrest.) Just recently, my sister’s close friend, super pregnant and unwieldy, left her two sleeping kids in the car for a 1-minute errand—came back, the cops were there, and she now faces trial.

It seems lately that attention is being drawn to the well-below-population-replacement birth rates in Europe and the barely-above-population-replacement birth rate in the U.S. . And these rates continue on a downward trend. Why aren’t people having kids in the richest and most developed places in the world? Surely there are many and complex reasons for this phenomenon, which I won’t expound on here. But being in the small-child phase of life right now, I think the effect of burdensome child safety laws as well as general cultural over-concern for child safety is a non-trivial factor.

And as a closing aside: what’s even more amazing? We arrest mothers for leaving their children unattended—but buckled in car seats in locked (but ventilated!) cars—for 2 minutes, but courts in this country continue to equivocate over whether or not child pornography is a crime.

Let’s be reasonable, people.

How should we determine the right balance between child safety and parental sanity?

If you have or have had small children, what have been your experiences with managing this balance in your own family?

A Reader's Community Engagement: Melissa Loose

2009-05-12T23:11:49-04:00

Melissa Loose has a child in school in South Carolina where she resides. Her school district is threatening to increase class sizes due to apparent budget cuts. Melissa has strong objections to this tactic to save money. So she wrote a letter to present in person at her local school board’s meeting. What I like about the letter is that before she cites her concerns, she first acknowledges the hard work that teachers and school administrators have done to educate her son (which reflects well on the school board). In addition, instead of simply complaining, she asks very specific questions that are embedded with very specific suggestions of how the school board might go about solving the fiscal crisis in a different manner. Melissa definitely goes beyond the facile “handwringing” and voices complaint as well as constructive suggestions. We’ll hopefully hear from Melissa in a comment about what how things turned out for her at the school board meeting.

Post a comment about your experiences with engaging in your community, or, if you have a written document of something you did, email it to me and I’ll feature it as a blog entry. bussehome@comcast.net

Melissa’s Letter

Dear [School] Board Members,

I am a deeply concerned parent of an elementary school student at North Augusta Elementary. Due to the hard work and countless unseen hours contributed by both his teachers and administrators, my son is receiving an education comparable to that of many of my friends’ children living in other, higher-ranking states. However, all of that is about to change overnight, especially if classroom size increases and many of these same teachers and administrators are forced to leave.

I request your diligent consideration and response to the following questions asked honestly as means to further the discussion about our current educational crisis. I realize that our funds are limited, especially now that we are tied to a low-cap on property taxes and the use of sales tax for major educational income sources.

Considering the good of the whole student population and not just the current, blessed situations of a few, will you have the courage to reconsider the viable need for low-enrollment schools operating with full staffs in our district and the apparent cost implications for continuing their use as they are now constituted?

At a moment when we are looking at losing valuable resources like our retired S.C. teachers who have come back to the classroom, why are we not more closely scrutinizing the need for and the performance of retirees from other states who are protected by contract and continuing to work in our system – including our own top retiree, Dr. Beth Everitt, who has retired from at least one other system outside of our state? As so many large corporate entities fall, we are seeing the heads of those same entities fall and be held accountable. Why are we not doing the same for our school district, a large fiscal entity that is also financially failing? What measures are being taken to re-evaluate the performance of high-ranking responsible parties who have led us in the direction of desperately low funding reserves?

If given the autonomy to do so through Joint Resolution H.3352 now in the state senate, are you prepared to renegotiate salaries with the at-risk, at-will retirees? As a short-term measure, will you consider your proposed autonomy through this legislative measure to furlough both teachers and administrators? Will the District take the time to utilize basic technologies, like e-mail distribution lists, and poll teachers, administrators, and staff to get their general preferences on whether or not they’d consider participating in such a solution that would potentially help them maintain their current classroom sizes for the short-term while other solutions are sought?

There are other districts in our state who are not having to take such drastic measures as increasing classroom size and cutting programs like IB. What are they doing better than we are doing? Have you compared notes with those districts and looked at options that they are exercising that we might not be doing at the present, including changes to maintenance and transportation schedules?

What measures are being taken to expand virtual instruction opportunities and reduce classroom-usage costs?

Please openly consider these questions and the answers that they may bring. Please do not continue to hide behind executive sessions and discuss the why’s and why not’s solely in those meetings. With that said, I respect your need for some of these sessions, due to possible security needs and a disgruntled audience. However, the citizens of our county elected you, and we deserve to hear your voices on our behalf. So, I ask that you consider holding public forums to discuss your philosophies and reasoning behind the hard decisions you are having to make. Perhaps these could be held in the various areas of our districts with local school board members and responsible legislators.

As a parent, I beg you to reconsider your proposed solution of classroom size increases. It has taken so many years to reduce this and make our district attractive for growth – the very same growth that we are now only allowed to tie funding outlet increases to. Please consider all other options, present these to the public, and listen for our responding voices in this matter.

Respectfully,

Melissa P. Loose

Town Meeting's Ayes and Nays

2009-04-17T12:52:52-04:00

Town Meeting’s Ayes and Nays

So last week I attended our Town Meeting, which for those of you who don’t live in New England, is an opportunity for all town citizens to come vote on a docket of issues that town leadership presents for approval. Virtually all of the items up for a vote concern the usage of town money, with the town’s operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year being the main issue.

In this town meeting, a group of concerned citizens had proposed an amendment that would effectively reduce the town’s budget it by about $2 million (thereby lowering property taxes). As I explained in my last post, for the past several weeks and even months, there had been a fair amount of contention between this citizen’s group and the town leaders over the budget issue. When the issue came for a vote, a chorus called out “Aye,” affirming the town leadership’s budget, but the “Nays” were loud enough to force a standing vote. Ultimately, the budget amendment proposed by the citizen’s group failed, but I was glad at least there had been some real debate on the issue and a worthy fight. I was, however, a little disappointed because I felt some town folks seemed quite resentful of the citizen’s group for proposing the amendment at all. To that end, I submitted the following letter to the editor which was published yesterday in our local newspaper.

Letter to the Editor

We Need Both the Aye’s and Nay’s

I attended Town Meeting last week and came away remarkably invigorated and proud to be a [town] citizen. I recognize that some of the articles voted on this past week were particularly divisive and that the conversation leading up to Town Meeting had become somewhat cantankerous, particularly regarding the budget articles. But as I listened to the different groups presenting on both sides of the budget issue, I felt a great appreciation for all the energy and thought that had gone into preparing the presentations. The town leaders had clearly put much effort into formulating a budget and a plan for our town. In addition, two citizen-led groups, the [Town] Voters Group (TVG) and Together For the Future of [our town] (TFFT), which both presented their perspectives on the budget articles, also demonstrated the considerable effort they had made in preparation. Both groups had valid viewpoints: TFFT representatives showed their support for town leadership’s proposed budget, arguing that it already reflected deep and painful cuts; TVG representatives didn’t think the cuts went far enough, given that the town’s proposed budget would still increase property taxes by nearly the maximum allowable amount of 2.5%, and so were proposing a smaller budget along with ideas to further cut costs.

Both TVG and TFFT are comprised of concerned citizens who, by all accounts, love living in [our town] and feel they have a right and responsibility to express their viewpoint. I was impressed that these folks who were not obliged to do anything at Town Meeting came to present to us for the benefit of further educating town citizens about the issues and, in the case of TVG, giving voters a choice on the budget issue. Having clear, legitimate choices and respectful debate around them is at the heart of a healthy democracy. And so regardless of how I personally felt about the budget issue, I was glad that when the vote on the budget article was taken, it wasn’t just a “unanimous” outcome. Indeed, I would feel very concerned if I attended Town Meeting where the outcome of every vote taken simply echoed all the “Ayes” that had come before it. We need the “Nay’s” too, and we got them. This is why I left Town Meeting feeling proud to live in [our town].

Have you written a letter to the editor before? What have been your reasons? Please share!

Handwringing is Not Enough

2009-04-06T15:32:30-04:00

About six weeks ago, I gave birth to my fourth child (Isabel Blanche Busse, to be exact). As you might imagine (or have experienced first-hand), things are a little crazy around here. And this started to become my excuse for ignoring some of the information coming at me regarding our recent town elections and our upcoming annual town meeting (at which all town citizens can vote on such things as the budget for the next fiscal year, conservation issues, etc.). “I can’t engage—I’ve got too much else going on.” (Yes, me, the blogger of Citizen At Large!) And yet my husband and I continue to grumble about high property taxes. But my handwringing was the end of it.

A prominent religious leader, Robert Wood, declared, “For too many, responsibility seems to end with hand-wringing and exclamations of dismay. Yet talk without action accomplishes little. We need to be vigorously engaged in the world."Read article here

So then I noticed I was receiving several emails from friends making the case for a certain way of voting on the budget in our upcoming town meeting. But the cases they were making seemed to be one-sided (and specifically on the side of increasing taxes). I couldn’t claim to be an expert on the issues so I didn’t want to email back my ideas in ignorance. I decided instead to email the group of folks who are presenting an alternative (read: lower) budget plan and get their viewpoint. They gave me their explanations, and I summarized their points in an email sent to a group of friends—in a non-advocating way, it should be noted. I received several responses from folks saying they appreciated being presented with the other side.

Our town meeting is tonight, and there is bound to be an interesting showdown about the budget (so stay tuned for my next post!). As for me, I’m still not sure of how I’ll vote on the pending budgetary issue, but I’m glad I decided to engage—to find out more, and to let people know what I found out.

Call for Stories of Political Engagement!

I’ve posted the text of my email below, as an example of how easy it is to simply engage in the process. Do you have examples of when you’ve engaged in the political process in some way? If so, post a comment on the blog, or better yet, consider emailing me the story of how you’ve engaged, especially if it includes a written piece of some sort (a letter or email). I would like to start posting other people’s examples of how they have engaged in the political process. My email is bussehome@comcast.net.

Email Text:

Hey all—So I was curious about this [Town] Voters Group’s (TVG’S) proposal to reduce the town’s budget (and therefore potentially the schools’ budget), so I emailed the folks at TVG to get their response. I got responses from a few different folks from there, and I thought I would summarize their points, for what they’re worth:

1) The TVG is NOT proposing a reduction in the town’s budget, but simply a budget less than what the town is proposing. Regardless of which budget one supports, it still amounts to an increase in our town’s budget.

2) The TVG is proposing a budget less than what town officials are proposing because its members believe that there is a significant amount in the budget that can be cut or reduced (they cite, for instance, $600,000 worth of retirement bonuses given to teachers retiring—which amounts to the salaries of 8 full-time teachers; a $185,000 excavator; the 85% the town pays as a contribution for the healthcare costs of its employees, which could be reduced to a more reasonable 75%);—items that they believe are not necessary, especially when they are being paid for by taxpayers in tough economic times.

3) Several months back, the town Finance Committee (which, along with the Selectman and School Committee, formulate the budget) sent out a request to citizens for ideas to reduce costs. From the suggestions they received, they compiled a list of potentially $6 million worth of savings if these ideas were implemented. However, now the Finance Committee is saying that they are going to use the next six months to evaluate these suggestions, which irks the TVG, since that will cause the town to miss another budget cycle in which these savings could have been implemented, and because some of the suggestions on the list have been things the TVG has been advocating for three years now, and also because some of the suggestions are things that could easily be implemented right now.

4) The town is now proposing a 2 1/2 % increase in taxes as part of the budget, but is also relying on utilizing some of the town reserves so that it will not have to ask for the Prop 2 ½ override. But once the reserves are depleted, then town residents will be asked for the override, or possibly face layoffs of some sort, and so TVG believes a better course is to reduce costs in an orderly fashion now, instead of having to face the painful choice of an override or layoffs in the future.

5) Members of TVG feel that in their experience, town officials like to use class size as a “scare tactic” whenever people don’t want to support tax increases. Apparently, the budget that the town is now proposing is actually less than what TVG proposed back in October (at the special town meeting) and at that point, the town said that implementing that October TVG budget would lead to school lay-offs, but the town’s proposed budget now, being less than the October TVG budget, does not include any school layoffs; this is all to say that the TVG feels that some town officials are being disingenuous about saying that the budget that TVG is now proposing would inevitably lead to teacher layoffs.

6) On the issue of needing to add an additional Kindergarten section because of the unexpectedly high enrollment for next year, one of the folks that emailed me back said that he understood that this issue was going to be taken up perhaps the second night of Town Meeting and that officials were looking to perhaps fund this section with stimulus money that they believe is on the way (so it’s unclear if this is part of the official budget or not—guess I need to check the warrant.)

7) Finally, TVG folks say that our town has the ninth highest tax rate in the state, and that it’s been moving up the list, and they are trying to get it to move down the list.

So I don’t know how I’ll vote at Town Meeting next week; I’m just starting to wade through my town warrant now so I can understand more fully what I am voting on, but I did find it helpful to understand better what the [Town] Voters Group’s viewpoint is. Thanks to everyone for engaging on these important issues for our town.

Best,

Margaret

"Readthestimulus.org": Stimulating Reading!

2009-02-11T21:36:49-05:00

Hey all--Just a quick note of follow-up to my last post about the stimulus package. There is a great website that is encouraging everyday citizens to actually read what is in the stimulus package--and it actually has the text on the website, with spreadsheets breaking down the proposed spending and all. The website is officially encouraging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama to publish the full text of the compromise bill (being formulated now in conference) and give the American people the opportunity to read it and contact their legislators with their opinions on it. Check it out at www.readthestimulus.org.

The Approximately $800 Billion Stimulus Package

2009-02-04T21:57:59-05:00

All the talk of the impending ~ $800 billion stimulus package has stirred up discussion about what are our town’s “shovel-ready” projects that could be funded by mere millions from this potential federal payout. Our local newspaper listed the top ten most expensive projects that have been submitted by town officials to the state to possibly be funded by the stimulus package. Some of these include: $42 million to fund a solar farm, $24 million to create a system of rail trails, and $15 million to fund an arts center. I don’t know enough about the details of any of these projects to be able to fully evaluate their merits. But I do know that for a town of roughly 20,000, these sound like really big numbers—especially big numbers for projects that certainly seem optional. I suppose that is the point of the exercise, though, for town officials: submit pie-in-the-sky proposals and hope one or two get funded from the anticipated massive windfall from the government, er, that is, the American taxpayer, er, that is, the American taxpayers of the future.

As I’ve listened to all the banter amongst the various viewpoints of the stimulus package what frightens me the most is that I myself have become so accustomed to the massiveness of the $800 billion number that it seems irrelevant if it’s increased to $850 billion or lowered to $750 billion. And so I’m a little afraid that this is what’s happened to many of us, including our elected officials given the authority to make it a reality.

Behavioral economists (those economists who will acknowledge that humans actually may behave irrationally at times) have noted this strange (“irrational,” they call it) phenomenon amongst consumers that causes us to evaluate price & cost in terms of percentages, instead of absolute values. So for instance, if I go into the drugstore and see that one box of diapers is $30 and another box of diapers of similar quality is $20, I will certainly choose the one costing $20. Why? Well, of course, why wouldn’t I want to save $10? But if I walk into a ski shop (which is exactly what I did last night) and am evaluating which pair of skis my husband should buy, a $10 difference in price on a set of skis in the $400 range wouldn’t motivate me in the slightest towards which skis I should purchase. After all, we’re talking about a paltry $10, just 2.5% of the overall cost. In the box of diapers, $10 was a whopping 33% of the costlier diapers—a seemingly much more compelling savings! But economists would say, $10 is still $10, so why wouldn’t a rational consumer want to save $10, regardless of the overall price of something?

From my observation, borrowing money especially seems to lend itself to this phenomenon. When I was attending Harvard Business School, the majority of my classmates were funding their very expensive educations through student loans, most through Citibank’s student loan program called CitiAssist. What I noted was that because many people’s loans were already so huge, they would have no problem laying out $100 on a nice meal here, $300 on the big holiday formal there, and tens of thousands of dollars on big adventurous trips to Africa, Thailand, and Turkey. The term “CitiAssist” became virtually synonymous with cash. But the problem was, it wasn’t cash. And another $1000 in debt was still another $1000 in debt that would have to be paid back, with interest. But $1000 just didn’t seem like much compared to the $200,000 of debt with which many were graduating. (To be fair, when taking out these loans, many of these folks were anticipating exiting business school with very high-paying jobs, which they, in fact, did.)

This is why the $800 (or so!) billion stimulus package frightens me. It’s so easy for lawmakers to add a few hundred million dollars here or there, and we taxpayers hardly yawn—it all sounds about the same to us. But in fact, every billion dollars, every million dollars, every thousand dollars, is that much more debt to lay on ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren.

Whoops! I just read in the New York Times that the estimate of the stimulus package is up to $900 billion—just another $100 billion or so….

What are your thoughts on the size of the stimulus package and about what kinds of things are being included in it?

I didn’t even touch on the overall question of will this kind of stimulus actually work? Are you a Keynesian, and think it will work to help our economy recover, or do you align yourself with the Milton Friedman-style of economics, and think that we need to rely more on natural market forces to do the job?

Note: It may be awhile for my next post because I am expecting to give birth to my fourth child any day now (hence, the reference to the box of diapers!) Please continue to post comments on this post or on any ideas you may have. I will need to be “stimulated” too!

"Any Sentence Begun"

2009-01-21T19:41:46-05:00

I watched the Inauguration yesterday with some degree of awe and some degree of skepticism. Probably we all feel that way when it comes to public servants, and, depending on which political party they belong to and which one we belong to, the degree of awe and skepticism fluctuates. After President Obama’s inauguration speech, the poet Elizabeth Alexander read her stirring poem, entitled “Praise Song for the Day.” Three words stuck out to me as being particularly prescient: “any sentence begun.” Despite the many parties clamoring for promises to be fulfilled and other parties already criticizing actions not yet taken, President Obama, in his first day of office today, has the opportunity to begin any sentence.

Elizabeth Alexnder, courtesy Poets.org

This is perhaps true of him in particular than any president or world leader in recent memory. With breathtaking popularity at home and abroad, large majorities in both houses of his political party, and a mainstream media overwhelmingly enamored of him, President Obama can, indeed, begin any sentence he chooses. Within this much enthusiasm for the President, there is risk, of course. We all know the old adage—“power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I am both scared and a little excited about what President Obama will accomplish. I personally disagree with many of Barack Obama’s articulated policy positions, but I don’t want to alienate myself from the political process because of it. I went to Obama’s recently revamped website, www.whitehouse.gov and learned that I also agree with some of his policy positions. I also learned that he is willing to receive any comments or feedback on his proposed policies. And so, for the moment, I am willing to believe the inspiring words that surged from his mouth today.

Some of those inspiring words include:

“Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.”

“…as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.”

“To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”

“But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.”

“Let it be said by our children's children that …we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”

The New President Obama, courtesy CNN

I am going to take President Obama at his word. I’m going to give him my opinion and feedback on www.whitehouse.gov. I’m going to do my best to make an honest assessment of his performance. I’m going to be involved with the political process, however disagreeable I find certain policies. I will not let alienation and apathy set in, as so often happens when we disagree with our elected leaders. So just as President Obama is starting something new today, so we all can; indeed any sentence can be begun by us, starting today.

What moments from the inauguration inspired you?

Do you feel yourself more committed to staying involved in the political process?

“All I want for Christmas is some Thai food!”

2008-12-31T21:17:50-05:00

Have you heard about Portland, Oregon? Probably not, unless you live near there. The whole country has gotten hit so hard with severe weather in the last couple of weeks, nobody is paying much attention to weather stories outside of their local areas. I guess that’s why I hadn’t heard much about it—here in the Boston area we had a severe ice storm that left over a million people without power in the New England area and then a week later, got two and a half feet of snow.

Well, on December 25th I called my sister-in-law in Portland to wish her a Merry Christmas. Her first sentiment was, “All I want is some Thai food!” Apparently, she’d been holed up in her apartment for nine days—unable to get out to work, the grocery store, or friends’ houses, let alone to any Christmas festivities. Her food supply, her enjoyment of her DVD collection, and her patience with city officials were all running low. And she was not the exception. Apparently, all Portlanders were being told to not venture out into the streets, at all. The whole city had simply shut down; there was no garbage pickup for two weeks, and no mail delivery for a week in some areas.

Downed branch in Portland

The problem? Portland had been hit with a 1-2 punch of snowstorms—giving them a total of a foot and half of the menacing white stuff. But wait a minute, here in the Boston area we got two and half feet, and the next day, people were at work. Likewise, cities all over the country had gotten their share of snow as well, and seemed to be able to move their economies forward in spite of the weather. What in the world was going on in Portland? Well, a few things. Portland rarely gets snow, so city officials simply had no contingency plans for a big snowstorm; only a handful of snowplows were on hand to help clear the snow. Portlanders are also famous environmentalists, which is admirable, but in this case, translates into a complete rejection of using any kind of salt, sand, etc. for minimizing the dangerous icy road conditions.

The solution that Portland city officials kept telling its constituents? Well, we’ll just have to wait for a thaw. Until then, stay in your homes, except that you are required to shovel your walks (Does anyone else see some irony here?). Ok, so I know Portland is known for rain, not snow, but it’s not like it’s in the tropics—snow simply cannot be dismissed as unlikely and therefore not planned for. I can understand not wanting to invest in hundreds of snowplows for the once-in-ten-years snowstorm, but city officials can certainly draw up contingency plans for what to do when the severe snowstorm does hits—perhaps jointly invest in many snowplows with other nearby cities and also stockpile materials to reduce icy road conditions (I can’t imagine salt and sand actually go bad and become unusable after a few years, so it should last). As for the environmental concern, here in the Boston area, people are also pretty committed environmentalists, but there is also the reality of icy roads; using salt to clear roads of ice is the chief way to reduce dangerous conditions and allow people to continue with their work and life plans. We’re talking about a major US city that essentially shut down for two weeks due to weather, leaving hundreds of thousands without an ability to go to work, attend to vital health needs, or replenish food supplies, much less celebrate the holidays with their loved ones. Portland’s economic losses must have been vast, much like pouring salt (no pun intended!) into the deep wound of the current economic crisis.

My sister-in-law's car, with more snow still to come

And what happens when something a lot more serious happens? A major earthquake or, heaven forbid, a terrorist attack? I can tell you, I wouldn’t want to be living in Portland for one of those. What would the response be then? Just wait until the wind blows all the rubble away?

All I can say is, right now, it’s snowing outside here, and I can hear that blissful sound of scraping snowplows. Happy New Year!

Has your area been hit by severe weather? What has the response been by your local officials?

Some Holiday Cheer

2008-12-21T21:16:28-05:00

Ingesting the latest news headlines I have felt less than cheery: the incomprehensibly volatile stock market, the ever-increasing unemployment rate, the astonishing case of investment manager Bernard Madoff, and the not-even-contrite, ultra-corrupt Rod Blagojevich, governor of Illinois. At a more local level, our state, like many others, is in a fiscal downward spiral—slashing the state budgets, then announcing possible tax increases, then revising tax revenue estimates downward, and then slashing the budget once again.

Fortunately, we recently acquired a new vehicle, one that features XM-Sirius radio programming. Right now, I’m only listening to the “Holiday Pops” station (normally I am an NPR junkie). As a self-defined optimist, I just can’t bear listening to the news at the moment.

And yet, I must admit that some headlines are giving me fresh hope. Although I was not an ardent supporter of Barak Obama, many of the actions he’s taken as he prepares to take over the Oval Office have inspired me with holiday cheer, despite the gloom that abounds. For instance, Obama’s cabinet choices seem to display a sense of pragmatism, fairness, and valuing expertise over ideology. President-elect Obama has shown a willingness to reach out to former rivals and folks with a diversity of opinions (cabinet appointments include: Hilary Clinton, Tom Vilsack, and Bill Richardson, and conservative evangelical pastor Rick Warren has been selected to give the invocation at Obama’s inauguration).

And even better, it seems that the majority of this nation (which therefore must include many in the middle and even on the right), while pessimistic about the economy, are in fact optimistic about the future Obama presidency. That’s a good place to start for Obama, even if he is facing possibly the worst economic downtown since the Great Depression alongside a chorus of other serious problems.

And I just read that the tradition of Christmas caroling is making a comeback in Boston. Now that’s some holiday cheer.

I am sanguine.

Given the recent headlines, what is your current mood these days?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!