Category: Living in Society

Politics mostly social commentary.

Categories
Work Life

On Worker Engagement

Garlic Planter
Garlic Planter

LAKE MACBRIDE— Being fully engaged at work is important. Without it, things start to slip. We get distracted, our morale slumps, and the benefits of a job are reduced to working for wages in a way close to enslavement. It’s better for us and for our employer when workers are fully engaged. This is not new. The idea of worker engagement as a business management concept developed during the early 20th Century.

In our local food system, the work requires full engagement. The size of the operation and community in which we live is such that if we don’t do something, or if we cut corners, the impact would have tangible results. If customers see an inferior vegetable selection in their weekly share, they have options. Their business could be lost the following season. If one person fails to turn off the irrigation, someone else must do it because some farm jobs have to get done. The need for worker engagement exists at every small business. It helps build the sense of being part of a team, which adds to the value of the enterprise.

If willingness to align worker interests with those of a business is important, there is a down side. Being fully engaged at work suppresses engagement in other things. In the case of seasonal or temporary work, worker engagement can use energy that should be spent finding work during the next season. As the author has experienced, lowly paid work at a number of companies can consume many hours during the week. The result can be feeling tired and worn out at the end of each day.

The better engagement is in our community. To the extent community life provides a means of economic support, we are better prepared to contribute and reinforce shared values. Worker engagement serves a purpose, yet broader engagement in the community of which we are a part is what we should be after. It is possible, but not easy.

Employment at a job has an arc of existence from getting hired until moving on to what’s next. There is always a what’s next, and the longer we are in the workforce, the better understood is the importance of full engagement. Experienced workers know we are the less if our focus has become the monetary income associated with our work.

As fall weather turns colder, and the garden activity is extended due to a late frost, the seasonal work for others comes to an end. It is a time to be thankful for community and the support it provides during the interregnum until the next paid work is found. It is a chance to re-engage in life for a while, and for that we can be thankful.

Categories
Social Commentary

A Minimum Standard of Living

Blog Action Day GlobeLAKE MACBRIDE— If there is a right to a standard of living in the United States, one wouldn’t know it. In vague cultural terms rests an idea of fairness, that each of us will have an opportunity to pursue our dreams as individuals. For so many, threats against our personal security, lack of economic means, and inadequate access to food, shelter, clothing, medical care and social services prevent the pursuit of anything but survival. For some, that has to be enough.

Government helps, but is constrained by what is politically achievable. During this year’s state of the union address, President Obama called for an increase in the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 per hour. He said, “we know our economy is stronger when we reward an honest day’s work with honest wages.  But today, a full-time worker making the minimum wage earns $14,500 a year.  Even with the tax relief we put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below the poverty line.  That’s wrong… We should be able to get (an increase to $9 per hour) done.”

It hasn’t happened yet, and in any case, what a slap in the face. While raising the minimum wage would provide some help to people who are working poor, not enough help to reach a standard of living one expects in a nation like ours. Change the hourly amount to a so-called living wage, or a family wage, and it would not be much better. These things are intellectual constructs that have little to do with the way people live, and in any case there is more to life than wages in a system rigged to benefit the wealthiest among us.

According to Article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”

In our country, government imperfectly picks up part of the responsibility for a minimum standard of living, and there are those who say government provides too much. That leaves provision of a standard of living up to each of us and to those we hold dear. As we consider standard of living as a human right we first have a duty to ourselves. It is to provide for ourselves so we can provide for others.

If you are reading this post, consider that you have a standard of living enabling you to give something to others. Give of yourself, to someone who needs it, be they family, friend, neighbor or stranger. We would do this not for ourselves, but to lift us all up in community. A place where standard of living would be measured by what we do together.

Categories
Reviews

Breakfast at the American Legion

American LegionSOLON— The twelve hour weekend work days must be catching up with me, as I slept in until 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning and left home to work at the newspaper before having breakfast. The workload was light, so when I had a half hour before having to depart for job number two at the orchard, I went to the Solon American Legion for a quick breakfast.

I ordered a cup of coffee and three breakfast tacos, which were soft flour tortillas filled with a mixture of egg, sausage, cooked onion and pepper, and topped with cheddar cheese and a mild salsa for $5.50. Two would have been enough, and the total bill came to $7.48 plus tip, which seems like a lot for breakfast.

At least one of the people who opened the breakfast operation a year or so ago was present, indicating continuity. Regrettably, he was outside, idly leaning against the railing and looking bored when I drove up. It was a beautiful morning, but still.

The menu is standard Midwestern breakfast fare of eggs, potatoes, onions, peppers and breads done up in a variety of expected combinations. Almost forgot the meats, which appear to be typical food service fare. Like everything served, the food is made to order and appealing for palates acculturated to small town cuisine.

At 9:15 a.m., three other tables had patrons, with more expected after church let out. The decor was legion patriotic, with service flags mounted on one wall and a variety of other decorations occupying most places on the exposed walls. There was a notice of a flag disposal service and I considered bringing one of my faded and worn flags for disposal.

The legion is a place to grab breakfast from 7 until 11 a.m., and talk with a business associate or friend over coffee. It has been the most popular place to have breakfast in town, but since then a new restaurant opened for breakfast, will have some competition. The menu is not posted on line, and there was a sign indicating the full menu service is now available from 5 until 9 p.m. It is worth checking out if you need a bite to eat in town. The legion website is here.

Categories
Reviews

Nomi’s Asian Restaurant

Nomi's Asian Restaurant
Nomi’s Asian Restaurant

SOLON— The first stop on our restaurant crawl was Nomi’s Asian Restaurant, 101 Windflower Lane in Solon. Nomi is the cook, and most nights her husband is the server at this Asian fusion restaurant. Nomi’s incorporated on Feb. 10, 2009, and by restaurant industry standards, having made it past year one, it seems well on their way to becoming a permanent fixture in town. Our family and friends have been regular customers since Nomi’s opened. It is one of the few restaurants in town that offers vegetarian entrees on the menu, and it is the only Asian cuisine in the area. They have an active take-out business, with a drive through window.

Both my spouse and I currently work on Saturdays, so when we don’t feel like cooking, Nomi’s is our first choice. When we arrived around 7:30 p.m., we were the only customers inside, although the drive-up window was busy. She ordered Vegetable Tofu, a mixture of broccoli, snow peas, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, carrots and tofu priced at $9. I ordered the traditional Korean dish, Chap-Chae, which is clear sweet potato noodles tossed with celery, carrots, green onions and pork, with steamed rice on the side, also for $9. Nomi’s offers a small selection of bottled beers and saki, and I ordered a Tsingtao to accompany the meal. A Golden Dragon® fortune cookie was served when the bill came.

The dining area is simple tables and chairs with three large flat panel television screens positioned in corners of the space, each tuned to different sports programs or stories about fishing and pawn shops. The restrooms were clean and handicapped accessible. The space is efficiently organized given the constraints of a strip mall space. What makes the restaurant is Nomi and the great food she prepares.

For more information about Nomi’s Asian Restaurant, check out their Facebook page, which includes a current menu, here.

Categories
Environment Home Life

Storm Cleanup Continues

Work Station
Work Station

LAKE MACBRIDE— After completion of the Sept. 19 storm cleanup, the monetary cost will be $230.50, including hiring an arborist to tend to two trees and a construction company to repair the fascia on the southwest corner of the house. It was not much, and a lot less expense than others in the neighborhood experienced.

I avoided the cost of disposing of the fallen branches by cutting them into two types: firewood to be sold, and brush to be burned. The cost is in time, with one or two more four hour sessions of cutting ahead, and at least two more burns when the wind dies down. We’ll evaluate the condition of the damaged trees and lilac bushes and make adjustments after the burning is finished. With pruning, the lilacs can be saved.

Burn Pile Site
Burn Pile Site

Beside our checking account and labor, and a share of the bill for the damage in our subdivision, another toll from the storm lingers— the idea that this worst in 20 years weather event, coupled with recent severe drought and terrible flooding, is just the beginning of the effects of climate change on our lives. Whatever severe weather we might have had was intensified by the effects of global warming. That a monetary value can be assigned is a sign of things to come.

Farm and newspaper work continues over the weekend, so the cleanup will wait until next week. Cleanup displacing other things to be done to advance our socioeconomic status in Big Grove. The storm cleanup reinforces the idea that climate change is real and happening now. We need to do something to protect what we hold dear, we can’t be effective alone, and the time to act is now.

Categories
Home Life

Autumn Days

Turnip Green Soup Stock and Tomato Juice
Turnip Greens Soup Stock and Tomato Juice

LAKE MACBRIDE— As cleanup from the Sept. 19 storm continues, the weather has been almost perfect for outdoors work. The plants in the yard have come alive, and the garden generated a burst of food (collards, Swiss chard, turnip greens, arugula, herbs, tomatoes and peppers) as the first frost approaches. Days like these are as good as it gets.

Roof Damage
Roof Damage

Slowly… systematically, evidence of the storm diminishes. Yesterday I cut up the locust tree and spread the branches in the back yard for easier final cutting. Today a construction worker comes to repair the corner of the house. All that’s left is to finish with the locust tree and replace one of the downspouts damaged during the storm. Then to glean the garden, mow the lawn, and collect the clippings for mulching the garden over winter.

What then?

Much as we relish our moments of sunshine in brilliant autumn days, there is work to do before the final curtain falls and we join the choir invisible.

Writing About Apples
Writing About Apples

My writing will continue. It has become subsistence, a part of me, like blood production in the marrow, a way to breathe life sustaining oxygen in an unsettling and turbulent world. It is not expected to contribute much financially.

Farm work and gardening, participation in our local food system will continue at a subsistence level. There is inadequate income to be generated in working for someone else, and farm work will always be lowly paid.

There is family life, but little role for that in the blogosphere. We depend on our families, and little more need be said here.

Mostly, life will be living as best we can during moments of brilliance and trouble. Like these days in early October, when worry seems far away, and life so abundant.

Categories
Work Life

Starry Morning

Apple Harvest
Apple Harvest

LAKE MACBRIDE— The sky was a dome of stars as the newspaper delivery truck made its way down the street. Outside to take the trash and recycling bins to the street for pickup, it was hard not to stop and gaze into the limitless space above. My clothing fit loosely from working low wage jobs this year, and the cool air found its way under the cotton knit and invigorated me, awakening possibilities. It lasted only a few moments, after which I grabbed an apple and ate it in Eve’s bower— forbidden fruit no more. The stuff of dreams and hope.

The remaining apples fall into five categories. A bowl of Cortland for apple crisp later today, a bushel of apples collected after the Sept. 19 storm blew them from the tree for apple sauce, a bin of the best apples for out of hand eating, and another bin of less perfect apples from the final pick, for a variety of purposes. A lot of the lesser Golden Delicious apples on the tree. They are available, but one suspects they will end up food for wild animals and insects, or as compost. The end of this year’s apple season is in view.

The plan for today is more chainsaw work in the yard. At least two more eight hour shifts will be required to finish cleaning up the fallen branches. A contractor is stopping by to estimate the roof repair from the Sept. 19 storm. The plan is to harvest the turnip greens and make soup stock, and finish gleaning the first garden patch, maybe the second. All of this is subsistence work, unpaid except that there is a buyer for the firewood I make, and food for our table.

As dawn begins to break, it’s time to leave the comforting glow of the computer screen and get to work. Just a few more keystrokes, and then off into the garden, seeking life, and redemption.

Categories
Social Commentary

Navigating Health Insurance Change

Wellmark PhotoLAKE MACBRIDE— As a self-employed writer and farm hand, having health insurance means buying an individual policy in the marketplace. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) health insurance exchanges and initial open enrollment beginning Oct. 1 was a precipitating event for me and for others. There will be changes and some of them have little to do with the ACA.

There is a pent up demand in business to shed the cost of providing health insurance for employees, or to make it a fixed financial benefit. Already after Oct. 1, there is anecdotal evidence that small businesses are pulling the plug on group policies, and large businesses, like Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, are changing the rules for insurance benefits to exclude part time employees who are currently covered. If there is a way to stabilize or reduce the cost of having employees, businesses will find it, and the ACA appears to be providing the whipping post for moving forward to meet this long-standing want. Corporations and small businesses appreciate the opportunity this major cultural event represents. The days of employers providing health care to employees as a basic benefit are ending, if not over.

Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Iowa’s largest health insurance provider, decided not to join the Iowa health insurance exchange during the first year. The expectation is the company will apply to be part of the exchange beginning Jan.1, 2015. In an interview with the Cedar Rapids Gazette last July, Wellmark CEO John Forsyth said, “the company was concerned about the lack of information available and the roll out of the exchange in Iowa.” Forsyth was skeptical of the federal government’s ability to implement the ACA smoothly. In addition to some website glitches in early October, some of the rule-making is incomplete. Wellmark’s decision is understandable from a business perspective, and the impact is that the network of health care providers available in the exchange during 2014 may be significantly reduced without Wellmark’s participation.

What’s a person with an individual health insurance policy to do? Wait. First, wait until December to look at joining the exchange on Jan. 1, 2014. Perhaps some of the details like provider coverage will be better identified to make the consequences of changing more understandable. Second, someone who has a grandfathered plan (no changes in policy since President Obama signed the ACA), may not want to change until there is more certainty about the outcome. The open enrollment period goes through March 2014 during the first year. Take advantage of that extra time. Third, resist the efforts of Wellmark and other providers to rush a decision to remain the same, or lock in rates. Whether or not the Iowa insurance exchange will offer lower rates for equal coverage is uncertain. No reason to make a decision until one gets enough facts about the rates and coverage, and compares apples to apples.

There were five insurance company sales representatives in a health care reform seminar last week, compared to yours truly as the only member present. Organizations who sell health insurance have a lot to lose with implementation of the ACA, and the move to a marketplace. These insurance agents answered all of my questions, and the information provided will help in making a decision about health insurance. Getting facts and working through them, as I did, is essential in navigating change in health insurance, and there is no hurry to make a bad decision.

Categories
Home Life

Caesura

Silhouette on Parched Ground
Silhouette on Parched Ground

LAKE MACBRIDE— It’s 50 degrees at 4:30 a.m. with a slight chance of precipitation around lunchtime. There is a break in the narrative— caesura.

Intense activity with local food producers during recent months engaged me fully. Suddenly, expected, it is over. The pause is welcome. It’s time to reflect, catch up on neglected work and renew efforts to sustain our lives on the Iowa prairie.

Today will be a day of building a to-do list. When the sun rises, it’s outside to cut up the locust tree and fallen limbs from the Sept. 19 storm. The garden gleaning needs completion. The house needs repair. The list builds already. During this pause, there is much to do to prepare for winter, and before long, life will reengage my energy and attention. Already it leaks in. I’ll resist for another hour, and then embrace it again… until the next caesura.

Categories
Work Life

Attire at Work

Work Clothes
Work Clothes

LAKE MACBRIDE— There was a time when wearing a suit to work was de rigueur. While commuting to the Chicago loop I wore and wore out countless suits purchased to fit into the corporate culture of 200 East Randolph Street, the Illinois Center and the Prudential building. Those days are over. Silk ties hang on a rack in the back of the closet, lined up behind woven plaid shirts purchased long ago. There are only one or two decent dress shirts on hangers until a funeral or formal presentation wants the attire.

My work clothes on the farm have become blue jeans, a T-shirt and a pair of Justin boots purchased while working in west Texas. No collar, indicating the meaninglessness of so-called blue or white collared work. Most of the people I know in the local food system are either working on a degree, have a bachelors, or have done postgraduate work and have a masters or doctorate. Some wear collars, and some do not. Clothing is functional and long lasting if it is anything— less a symbol of an arbitrary status or social class.

While writing, it’s the same attire, sans shoes with white socks. After buying cheap tube socks for decades, I switched to a heavy cotton sock purported to be for wearing with steel-toed shoes. They are deluxe. The cost of one of my Chicago suits could have purchased a lot of them.