Category: Living in Society

Politics mostly social commentary.

Categories
Work Life

Dealing with Low Wages in Iowa

At Sunset
At Sunset

In adding my congratulations to Mike Owen for his promotion as executive director of the Iowa Policy Project, I also suggest readers check out his latest blog post titled, “We promise: We won’t cook burgers.” It is about the spurious advice of Visa® and McDonald’s®, that their lowly paid workers should become financially sustainable by working a second job. Iowa Policy Project is one of the few Iowa think tanks that has done substantial work studying living wage, low wages, and minimum wage. It is a subject close to my interests, and Mike and his team’s work at Iowa Policy Project have informed some of my thinking on low wage workers. It will be good to have Mike as executive director.

With regard to the Visa® and McDonald’s® suggestion of securing a second job, it seems a bit reactionary to me. Another low wage worker employer, Walmart, has been consistently hammered by progressive writers (see Thomas Stackpole at Mother Jones) for advising their employees on how to leverage the governmental social safety network of energy assistance, SNAP, Medicaid and other programs. The second job suggestion is an alternate version of the Walmart story: we won’t pay a living wage, so employees are on their own to sustain financial viability.

There is more to working a low wage job than pay. There has to be because the cost of living, including health care, transportation, food, shelter, and interest on debt, is more than low wage jobs pay, even two of them. Little would change if the minimum wage were raised to over $10 per hour as some propose. Low wage jobs fall short of a living wage, so people have to adapt, and one of the ways they do is to take advantage of governmental assistance programs. Beside government programs and working additional jobs, what else is there?

Another payday for low paying work is building a social network to help meet basic economic needs— one based in direct human contact, unfiltered by electronic media. A host of services are available because of work relationships in a low wage job. A tattoo artist offers his ink at a discount, people of means offer loans, and gardeners offered to exchange vegetables and baked goods. There is ride-sharing, child care and a network of discovery of ways to escape low paying work for something better. Human society in low wage work places is like a living coral reef, where everyone’s needs can be met at a certain level. These things have little to do with the progressive argument about wages, but they are every bit as important.

The tone deaf suggestions of Visa® and McDonald’s® demonstrate a lack of understanding of how people operate. Namely, if the company articulates the deceit, people may start believing it, maybe they will stay with the company a bit longer, and the cost of employee turnover can be reduced. A cynical view? Not really.

Working two jobs may be a necessity for many, but if we are on our own, as corporations want us to be, life becomes less about the job and more about who we know that can help us when we need a hand. Thanks for the suggestions and financial planning tools corporations, but no thanks, we can get by with a little help from our friends.

~ Written for Blog for Iowa

Categories
Living in Society

It’s a Gatsby Kind of Summer

Larry Hedlund
Larry Hedlund

The story about the termination of Special Agent in Charge Larry Hedlund of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation won’t be going away soon. Ryan Foley of the Associated Press picked up the story, which is garnering some national attention. Read Foley’s story here.

The governor’s speeding around Iowa typifies the kind of reckless behavior present in his administration. Maybe Hedlund’s termination, and the governor’s flagrant disregard for public safety shouldn’t be the poster child.

With Director of the Iowa Development Authority Debi Durham’s poor negotiation of the Orascom fertilizer plant deal, her failing to connect the dots between China’s desire for self-sufficiency in corn and soybean production and sales of Iowa commodities to China, and her recent joke about the governor’s speeding while on a European trade mission, perhaps she should have been the one terminated for her negative and disrespectful comments.

On that German Autobahn trip, Governor Branstad and Ms. Durham remind one of Tom and Daisy Buchanan, characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby.” Fitzgerald wrote, “they were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money, or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

Special Agent Hedlund appears to have been performing responsibly in this instance, and his wrongful termination lawsuit will be in the news. Taxpayers will likely pay for the administration’s defense.

While it is the state’s right to fire their employees, voters should take the reckless ones to task at the polls in November 2014, beginning with Governor Branstad. He has made his mark on Iowa. Isn’t that enough?

~ Written for Blog for Iowa

Categories
Environment Home Life

Dealing with the Heat

Summer Day
Summer Day

LAKE MACBRIDE— During childhood, our home had no air conditioning. We had four mature trees, two pine and two maple, on the south and west sides of the house. There was an exhaust fan on the upper landing of the staircase that led to our bedrooms on the second floor. During the summer heat, we slept with windows open and the exhaust fan on. When temperatures cooled as night progressed to dawn, our parents turned the fan off. On good days, we woke to the sound of songbirds in the predawn hour. It wasn’t so bad.

During my military service I became a morning person, craving coffee and exercise when I woke. Some of the exercise was provided at 6 a.m. at our battalion commander’s direction. I would dress in my VOLAR (for volunteer army) sweatsuit, pile into my pickup truck and drive past the white asparagus fields and vineyards to the caserne for a several mile run. Ours was an infantry unit, so we worked in whatever weather presented itself— exercise being part of our work. The caserne had no air conditioner either.

We didn’t have central air conditioning in our home until we moved here from Indiana and sold the two window air conditioners we had accumulated. Central air was a luxury we have come to depend upon during the heat spells of Eastern Iowa.

Last summer’s drought was the worst. Continuing days of extreme heat had us penned up in the house, with the air conditioner hum drowning out the exterior world. I have learned to get outside more during the extreme heat, to tend our garden in the morning light, to work under shade trees grown mature from saplings, and to take a break when feeling overheated. Partly, this is adaptation to changing climate, and partly the behavior reflects a need to be useful in life. Both are important.

As the sky turns gray this morning, I’ll finish this post and have first breakfast. There are green beans to pick, garlic to check, and onions to dig, all while the temperature is in the 70s. After that, the perennial question of what to do with the remainder of my life, something wanting an answer despite best efforts to focus on this moment.

According to the weather forecast, there are about three hours before the temperature hits 80 degrees. It’s time to get on the gardening, after some locally prepared food for breakfast. The beginning of another day, presenting just as much opportunity as any day every did. A time for action to improve the sustainability of our life on the Iowa prairie. Part of that is dealing with the Iowa heat.

Categories
Work Life

An Iowa Temp Worker Bill of Rights?

Fairness for Temp WorkersLAKE MACBRIDE— In a strip mall in Cedar Rapids, a temp agency opens at 6 a.m., ready to place workers in temporary jobs. A registered applicant can enter the waiting room, sign in on a clipboard at the counter, and wait for placement in a job in construction, hospitality or warehouse work— often the same day. There is no talk about careers or perquisites, and some days a person gets placed, others not. Every time I entered, someone was waiting for a placement— there seemed to be no shortage of labor. In a society where people need paying work, this is one place they find it.

Managing the bottom line for a large or small company, the cost of human resources stands out as a high percentage of expense. Owners and executives seek to manage these expenses— their argument is they have to to remain viable in the marketplace. They will do what is legal and necessary to optimize the dollars spent on people. One of the ways they do this is to transfer the risk and expense of having employees to other entities, like the companies that employ temp workers.

We hear a lot about outsourcing and off-shoring, but until lately little attention has been paid to temp workers: that group of low-paid people that works in our community, doing office work, construction, hospitality, light manufacturing, property maintenance and more. Large corporations have become masters of outsourcing, and when we ask where have all the jobs gone, some of them went back into the community in the form of subcontractors that use temp workers, and take expense off the bottom line.

Mike Grabell wrote an article in ProPublica titled, “The Expendables: How the Temps Who Power Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed” which is worth reading. He wrote, “the people […] are not day laborers looking for an odd job from a passing contractor. They are regular employees of temp agencies working in the supply chain of many of America’s largest companies– Walmart, Macy’s, Nike, Frito-Lay. They make our frozen pizzas, sort the recycling from our trash, cut our vegetables and clean our imported fish. They unload clothing and toys made overseas and pack them to fill our store shelves. They are as important to the global economy as shipping containers and Asian garment workers.”

Massachusetts passed a temporary workers right to know law that requires temporary staffing agencies to provide basic information about jobs offered to temporary workers. Essentially, it is a temp worker bill of rights.

Perhaps Iowa should consider a similar law, even if groups like the American Staffing Association and the American Legislative Exchange Council would be expected to fight it.

On the other hand, Iowa is a state where organized labor has struggled to pass any initiative in the legislature, notably the recently failed campaigns for fair share and choice of doctor. This when Democrats, the party that received substantial political contributions from organized labor, controlled both chambers of the legislature and the governor’s mansion.

Temp workers are here to stay in Iowa. The protections they have are the bare minimum provided by the law. Companies push the envelope of the law to keep their bottom line expense of workers very low. For progressives, helping protect temp workers in Iowa should be on our short list of priorities. The situation lies mostly below the radar and is calling for justice.

~ Written for Blog for Iowa.

Categories
Social Commentary

Reggie’s Weenies is Gone

Reggie's Weenies
Reggie’s Weenies

SOLON— Word is out that another Main Street restaurant is gone. Reggie’s Weenies of Solon shuttered their doors last week. I noticed the for lease sign, then it was taken down, then the lights were off during the breakfast service and people started talking. Telltale signs of the end in a small town.

Partly, the restaurant never took off. Every time I dined there, either mine was the only table with customers, or maybe one other. The menu may have been part of the problem. One morning while I was having breakfast, Reggie mentioned how popular biscuits and gravy are among the breakfast crowd. He had no wait staff but himself, and had to tend to the gravy, so he couldn’t elaborate.  He sold a lot of biscuits and gravy— but not enough.

While “weenies” is in the name of the place, and Reggie got his start selling Chicago-style hot dogs at Nile Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City on game days, he expanded the menu beyond hot dogs and was a skilled chef. The dishes I tried were tasty and had plate appeal. Word about the menu didn’t get around town, despite Reggie’s marketing efforts.

Part of the problem may have been a dispute with one of his original business partners, which caused people to line up on sides. There was an informal boycott of the place for a while, but that wasn’t the reason for the problems.

When Smitty’s Bar and Grill closed before Reggie remodeled the space, the cook and wait staff moved to a new breakfast operation at the American Legion down Main Street. The legion became the place to have breakfast in Solon, leaving Reggie and his investment in the lurch.

Since we moved to the area, there have been at least six different restaurants in that space. Maybe the building has a restaurant curse on it. Reggie tried to make it, as entrepreneurs with an idea do. The new microbrewery opening this summer across the street, with chefs trained in culinary school, may have been the final straw. No one was at Reggie’s Weenies when I knocked.

Reggie was a friendly guy. I hope he lands someplace good. Good people usually do.

Categories
Milestones

On Toshi Seeger

SeegerLAKE MACBRIDE— One of the few letters I received from a celebrity was from Toshi Seeger. During the early 1970s, while seeking where to purchase a copy of Pete Seeger’s book, “How to Play the 5-string Banjo,” I sent him a note. She wrote by return mail, “Peter returns your greetings and thanks— he’s off giving benefits and I’m left with six months of mail.” She sent me five copies of the book to use in music lessons. It was an unforgettable act of generosity. Toshi Seeger died this week.

Singout published an obituary which can be read here: http://singout.org/2013/07/10/toshi-seeger-passes/. Whether you are a fan or not, you should read it. There were not many people like her in our history.

When we talk about the progressive movement in the United States, there is no better example than Toshi Seeger. She will be missed.

Categories
Home Life Kitchen Garden

Transition Kitchen

Morning Shade
Morning Shade

LAKE MACBRIDE— Scum is forming on the surface of the crock liquid, and that’s a good thing: a sign of bacteria working the cucumbers, transforming them into pickles. Sounds kind of gross, but hopefully fermentation is going as it should— there are only so many times one can check the progress in a day, then it’s time to move on to something else.

Saturday’s weather was hot, but otherwise gorgeous. The work outside was invigorating and sweaty. The pest du jour was swarms of gnats which, upon arrival in the garden, were a reminder to apply repellent. An application of imitation vanilla around my nose and mouth took care of the annoyance, and unintentional ingestion of gnat protein.

The main garden task was to turn over soil where the spinach and radishes were to plant lettuce seedlings. It seems hot to be planting lettuce, but with the shade of the locust trees protecting the plot in the morning, I am hopeful of another crop. Much of gardening consists of experimentation and my newly found ability to start seeds in the garage has me doing more of it this year.

I cleaned up the plot, removing the fence to cut the grass, weeds and small trees growing around its base. Then I picked a bushel of lettuce from the previous plantings, and sorted, washed and dried it to make two bags for salads. There were a couple of small turnips, one of which was later grated onto a dinner salad. When the work was done, the garden plot looked well groomed.

As the kitchen fills with food, it is time to process the new and do something with the old. I separated the leaves from the stems to make a quart jar of dried oregano for winter cooking. I cleared some space in the freezer by removing bags of last year’s Anaheim, Jalapeno and red and green bell pepper and cooked them in a Dutch oven in a cup of white vinegar. When they were tender, I ran them through a food mill and put the resulting green hot sauce in a Mason jar in the refrigerator to use in Mexican-style dishes.

Using four pounds of yellow squash and zucchini, I made a casserole, which will keep for a few days. The idea was to use the squash, and I made a large recipe with the idea of following the chef’s instructions to produce the desired result. Next time, and it won’t be long, I’ll scale it down to portions for a household of two.

How many kohlrabi can a person eat in one season? I intend to find out. I made mashed potatoes for dinner using leftover roasted turnips and two kohlrabi cut into half inch dice and cooked in a separate pan. When the potatoes and kohlrabi were cooked, I added them to a large bowl with the turnip and mashed them. Once the blend seemed right, I added some salt, butter, sour cream and chopped fresh rosemary. It seems wrong to mixed potatoes with cruciferous vegetables, but what came out passed the taste test.

After dinner, I inspected and watered the garden. The new lettuce will need watering more often, and there is more to harvest Sunday: zucchini, green onions, herbs and broccoli. Chard and collards are plentiful, but there are enough leafy green vegetables in the refrigerator, so they’ll stay in the garden for now.

Septoria Leaf Spotting blighted some of the tomato plants. The ones with the first cherry tomatoes look like they will make it to harvest, but not much longer. I noted the last planted tomatoes have not shown evidence of the disease. Will observe them as the season progresses to see if any conclusions can be drawn. We are a week or two away from some ripe cherry tomatoes.

This is how it goes in a kitchen garden. A constant activity that is not tremendously exciting, but a template for living and eating well on mostly locally grown food and the work of our hands. Life could be a lot worse than this.

Categories
Social Commentary

Independence Day

Memorial Day Flags 2012We hear a lot about the founders today, and the truth is who they were, as people, is clouded in the river of time. One admires the portrait of John Adams written by David McCullough, and particularly the personal risk to which Adams put himself on his trip to France in the winter of 1777. In Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia one can find a guide to living that serves in the 21st Century, with the notable exception that labor to maintain a lifestyle, once provided by slaves, must now be sought elsewhere through mechanization or wage laborers.

The more we study the opening of the Old Northwest Territory, and the land speculation related to it, we realize that Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and other founders who participated in this could easily have fit in with the gang on Wall Street that nearly brought down our global economic structure in 2008. But as was said, seeing who they were as people is a murky endeavor at best, so on Independence Day were can refrain from making judgments and be thankful for what we have as a nation.

What can be said is we often neglect to recall the dispossession of the natives in Iowa and further east, which amid today’s flag waving is equally important. Would Black Hawk and Poweshiek have ceded the land of the Black Hawk Purchase if they had fully understood what their signatures meant? We don’t know that either.

So what we are left with is history and documents from the times, all of which have their ideological outlook or viewpoint, or as Howard Zinn might have called it, “their politics.” Of interest is the following account of an Independence Day celebration in Jones County, Iowa shortly after settlement. Members of our family settled in Jones County shortly after the Black Hawk War, so this is a personal history as well. Happy Independence Day from On Our Own.

An Excerpt from The History of Jones County, Iowa, published Chicago, Western Historical Company in 1879.

“A grand county celebration of the Fourth of July, took place in pursuance of the resolutions and suggestions of the Board of Supervisors, made at their June meeting in 1861. The celebration was on Thursday, the 4th of July. 1861.

The perilous condition of the country brought men of all parties together to observe the anniversary of our national birth, and to repeat anew their vows to freedom. Early in the morning, teams, singly and in companies, began to throng from all parts of the county toward the point which had been designated by the Board of Supervisors, near the center of the county. At 10 o’clock, A. M., the scene was the strangest of the kind ever encountered in the West. The road ran along a high ridge, and on both sides of it and on each of the wide and gently sloping spurs, shooting out every few rods, were horses, wagons, buggies, carriages, men, women, children and babies by the thousands; and, in every direction, the American flag floated in the light and refreshing breeze, which, with the shade of the sufficiently abundant oaks, tempered the heat of a warm summer day. Such an assembly in a city is common enough, but this was an assembly in the wilderness. Not a house, not a sign that man had touched nature here was visible, save in the few brief days’ labor of the Committee of Preparation. It was a fitting place wherein to assemble on such a day and for such a purpose, when the nation was in its life and death struggle for existence.

The Committee of Arrangements had done as well as could be hoped for in the short time allowed them, and better than could have been expected. On the rather steep slope of a spur, north of the road, a staging had been erected facing up the slope, and, in front of this, seats sufficient to accommodate, perhaps, one thousand persons. Back of the stage, and at the bottom of the ravine, a well had been dug some ten or more feet deep, and, at the bottom, a barrel fixed. It was a comical sort of a well, but it served the purpose, in a measure, for some hours.

On another ridge and back of the wall, stood the six-pounder, manned by the Wyoming Artillery Company, in gray shirts, under Capt. Walker. The other military companies were the Canton Company, Capt. Hanna; they wore red military coats, were armed with rifles and were fine looking; the Rough and Ready?, of Rome, Capt. L. A. Roberts, with blue military coats, white pants and glazed caps, sixty-five men, also fine looking; Carpenter’s Company, Rome. Capt. Carpenter, eighty men, with gray coats, likewise made a fine appearance; the Greenfield Company, mounting eighty men, John Secrist, Commander: these were in frock coats and wore white plumes; they, too, showed well, and still more in drill and fitness for the most desperate fighting; the Scotch Grove Guards, from Scotch Grove. Capt. Magee, formed a large company; these wore no uniforms, but their appearance indicated they were the right men for fighting. There were six companies of young men, all formed and drilled, in the space of three months. It appears that all these entered the army in due time and did good service.

The proceedings at the stand were patriotic and entertaining. During the reading of the Declaration of Independence, the general attention was close, and the responsibilities of the hour seemed to impress all minds. The singing with the Marshal waving the star-spangled banner to the words, was very effective. The address was by a Mr. Utley— a good Union speech, and was very generally approved. Music by the various military bands was abundant and lively. The picnic that followed was much enjoyed by all who partook of the dainties provided for the occasion. The military went through with some of their exercises and then the proceedings of the afternoon began, which consisted of speeches from different persons, when, owing to a want of an abundant supply of water, the vast assembly was dispersed at a much earlier hour than it otherwise would have been.

It was evident that the loyalty of Jones County could be relied upon, and that her citizens were ready to do their full duty in crushing out treason.”

Categories
Home Life Kitchen Garden

Making Pesto and Other Things

Fresh Kale
Fresh Kale

LAKE MACBRIDE— Summer’s harvest has been bountiful and we are less than two weeks in. Keeping up with the vegetables we grow and get from the CSA, has been a challenge of cooking, preserving, refrigerator and freezer space, and rotation. Thus far, little that was brought into the house spoiled. We are thankful to have enough food to eat in a society where so many people go hungry. Even our small town of 2,037 souls requires a food bank, making adequate food for everyone a tangible, local issue.

Yesterday was the first pick of green beans and we steamed them for dinner. Over the years Asian aphids have been a pest for this annual favorite— to the extent I quit planting them for a while. This year they were pristine in the basket. Not sure what happened, but I suspect row-crop farmers didn’t care for the damage to soybeans, and “did something” during the past few years.

I picked broccoli for dinner, and some Swiss chard. Spinach is ready to harvest, the last before the fall planting. There is also lettuce ready to go and plenty of herbs. The apple trees are still looking good: no sign of dreaded Popillia japonica, or Japanese beetle, which during previous years had made its debut by the first of July. Last year was a horrible year with them, and they are sure to arrive soon.

A summer indulgence is to make pesto. The process is simple. Into blender put a cup of first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, with equal amounts of chopped garlic scapes, basil leaves and kale leaves with the stems removed. Blend the mixture, adding enough olive oil to make it a liquid, or additional garlic and basil to thicken it. Then add a handful of pine nuts, half a cup of Parmesan cheese and salt to taste. Blend until the mixture is a thick puree. The recipe produced enough to fill Mason jars with pesto for the freezer. I reserved some for immediate use, of course.

The thing about pesto, is it can be made with a number of summer greens and herbs. It’s a way to preserve the summer harvest. The other thing is a person can consume only so much of the delicious spread/sauce at a time. For now, we’re living the high life and contemplating dishes, other than just spreading it on bread, in which to use it. Pesto pasta will definitely be one dish on the menu.

Once one is plugged into the local food system, there is little cost to make pesto, except for the olive oil, which is always a luxury. During the summer harvest, a gardener and cook can live in the lap of luxury, even on a limited budget.

Categories
Home Life

Garage Day

Buckets Drying
Buckets Drying

LAKE MACBRIDE— Proofreading the newspaper didn’t take long this morning, so after making the smoothie mentioned yesterday, I inspected the cruciferous vegetables and found very few green caterpillars. Either the sunlight chased them away, or they were gone. I picked ten cucumbers, but my focus was on cleaning the garage.

Things had gotten spread out, rendering the garage space unusable. My car has been parked outside since spring began, and nothing seemed in a place when it could be found. By the end of the afternoon, the trash cart was full, there was room for both cars inside, and serious progress was made getting rid of things.

Walnut Logs
Walnut Logs

Some sections of walnut tree trunk have been sitting on the radial arm saw for a while— a long while. Time has come to either make something from them or get rid of them. I harvested them in the 1990s in Ames after lightning struck the tree and felled it. I cut them into 16 to 28 inch pieces to haul them around in our Plymouth Horizon. We got rid of the last Horizon in 2002, so that’s an idea of how long they have been in the garage. Too long.

Buckets, Plates and Flower Pots
Buckets, Plates and Flower Pots

The buckets for gardening had gotten disreputable, so they all got washed. Same for the flower pots and vases. I re-seeded some cucumbers that didn’t germinate in the tray and watered the four trays of seedlings. They will get planted this week.

On a bulletin board near the work bench were pinned a number of magazine clippings of Adirondack chairs. The images were to be the inspiration to build a couple of our own. Like so many ideas, its diaphanous suggestion was torn asunder by a life occupied by a career. I took the clippings down and put them into the recycling container.

With a clean board, I pinned a poem by Wisława Szymborska, translated as “A Man’s Household”— a Polish poet for a descendent of Poles. A few other photos were already in the garage, a photo of our daughter at Lake Michigan, a post card of some textile workers holding a large 48-star American flag, a photo of my father when he was a toddler, a photo of my maternal grandmother and her second husband. It is the beginning of something hopeful— a place to make dreams into something tangible.