source: http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/01/10_years_later_no_child_left_behind_ignores_plenty.html
Thanks, Occupy
I stopped by Burnside Park yesterday with some coffee and took away some Occu-debris. Then I went to First UU, like Paul Revere (sort of). Get on downtown and join the cleanup!
Amazing what they did, working till 1:30am. The tents are down, materials in neat stacks. The ground is raked, the fountain clean.
All of us who support the call of economic justice for the 99% have our work cut out for us. Emmanuel House can use our support. General Assembly will continue to meet twice a week. The City of Providence has declared a ten-year plan to house all its residents and end homelessness. This can happen if we keep on track.
Follow Occupy Providence on Facebook for locations of GA.
Richard Salit from the Providence Journal covers the park cleanup and departure, not online yet- but on the front page of the print edition today.
Thank you to everyone who braved the cold and the uncertainty. You are an inspiration. The work is just beginning.
Today, Sunday 29 January, volunteers are needed at Burnside Park to pack up the tents and leave the space clean.
If you have a truck, even better.
Parking is awful. Bring your love energy. Providence has created the best Occupation nationwide– let’s show the world that we are ready for the next step– taking the General Assembly statewide, to hear the voice of the 99% in Olneyville, Central Falls, Woonsocket and all our cities and towns.
UPDATE: I went by about 7pm. Cleanup is still in progress, neat open space between tents being taken down. Lots of stuff still to move. I’m taking a load to Johnston Landfill tomorrow in my tiny car. If you are inclined to lend a hand, there’s still time.
UPDATE II: As of 8:30, looking good. One truck on site, tents mostly packed, some still there. I don’t know if Occupy will be able to complete the move by dawn, but much neater, more organized than even a couple of hours ago.
The Reason for the Protest
General Assembly, the decision-making body of Occupy Providence, meets daily in Burnside Park. Monday I was there at the invitation of Artemis Moonhawk, who has been a member of the Occupation since its beginning. In the big tent, sitting in a circle in the light of an LED lantern, about 20 members of the General Assembly heard testimony from Colleen Scanlon on the crisis at House of Compassion in Cumberland.
House of Compassion, well known to Rhode Islanders as a residence for people with HIV/AIDS, has struggled since its start. Early opposition from homeowners fearful for property values, has given way to acceptance as the residents proved themselves good neighbors. Chronic lack of funding is a more persistent problem– one that now threatens eviction for the people living there.
Water and sewer bills are due, and a basement fire destroyed their furnace leaving the house without central heat.
There was no money to spare. In a time of budget cuts and competition for resources, a small program is at a disadvantage. House of Compassion has struggled to find funding. The AIDS crisis that sparked its founding has become one of chronic disease management. The housing crisis that threatens many who are one accident or illness away from missing the rent has worsened year by year.
Scanlon, the non-profit organization’s Executive Director, came to Occupy Providence to ask for support in bringing public attention to the crisis. She estimates the residence will need $16,000 in the next three months to buy a new furnace and pay the bills.
Artemis spoke of her time working for the House of Compassion, “I worked there for over ten years, saw twenty-seven people pass away. I’m not going to see it go under for a sewer bill.”
The General Assembly debated whether to extend the Occupation beyond Providence. The philosophy, scope and strategy of Occupy was debated. Sending people and resources to Northern Rhode Island will require the time and energy of people who have sustained the community at Burnside Park. In the end, the vote was 21-0, a unanimous, ‘yes’.
Said Jarod, “Fighting eviction–this is unquestionably an issue of the 99%. They spend a million dollars on one bomb, and we have folks being threatened over a few thousand dollars.”
Ten people call House of Compassion home. Ms.Scanlon is looking to a combination of state grants, some relief from the Cumberland Water Board, and private donations from businesses and individuals.
House of Compassion, she says “was recognized in 2003 all over the country as a model of care.
House of Compassion was warmly praised in 2007 in a State House ceremony…
STATE HOUSE: House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox and Rep. Richard W. Singleton this week presented a $10,000 legislative grant to the House of Compassion, a Cumberland home for men and women with HIV and AIDS.
The grant will help defray operating expenses for the home, which operates out of a historic house on Cumberland’s Mendon Road.
‘I have profound respect for the work of the House of Compassion. Many people suffering from AIDS or HIV struggle with housing and medical treatment. This organization not only helps them with their physical needs, it gives them a supportive home environment filled with people who understand what they’re going through,’ said Majority Leader Fox (D-Dist. 4) of Providence.
‘I’m honored to be able to deliver this grant to the House of Compassion,’ said Representative Singleton, a Republican who represents District 52 in Cumberland. ‘The House of Compassion is a very worthy organization that helps people who often don’t have anyone else. I’m proud that they call Cumberland home, and I wish them continued success.’
Now the success of this small but vital resource is threatened by budget cuts and the need for emergency repair of the house heating system.
Occupy Providence was never about tents in Burnside Park, it’s about throwing light on the pain that so many suffer alone. It’s about bringing people together to recognize our common claim to economic justice, affordable health care and housing. People gather and stay in the park in the cold, bringing attention to the crisis of homelessness that we have come to accept as normal.
The Occupation is expanding. Occupy Providence will stand with the House of Compassion for decent and dignified housing for all.
by any name is just as pretty
Last night I began my Christmas shopping. I survived a trip to the Providence Place Mall without getting foul-tempered. The trick was avoiding the parking garage, where cars were gridlocked coming and going, and inside shoppers were waiting in long lines to get their parking receipts.
I saw a rack of Obey T-shirts at Nordstrom. It’s the assimilation of bad-boy Shepard Fairey into the Mall. You can still see Obey Giant stickers around Providence from when he gave it away for free, and I’m not knocking that a guy’s got to make a living. Especially an artist– whose best ideas are prey to being stolen and making someone else rich.
Shepard Fairey is writing about Occupy on his site.
I stopped by on my way to the bus and was invited into the tent where the General Assembly was in progress. The tent looked bigger inside than out, with a community room and a library. Burnside Park is still unusually neat and the Occupation is still ongoing.
All of us who support the people there with their call for economic justice will have a project to work on now– a safe place for homeless people to get out of the cold. This is do-able, and would provide a hub for social services that address the problems that cause people to lose their housing in the first place.
An article in Alternet sheds some light on why there is such good cheer in tents in the park…
Here is a modest proposal to cure obesity, loneliness and holiday blues…
“Overwhelmingly, growth is seen as the solution to all problems, but growth is failing,” says Herman Daly, a former World Bank economist who is also known as the father of “ecological economics,” an offshoot of the same field that spawned Adam Smith three centuries ago but challenges many of the assumptions that classical economists hold dear.
And further…
Another reason to believe degrowing the economy, while not painless, may make us happier in the long run is a growing body of research comparing health and wellbeing across national borders and economic classes. As a billion poor people around the world already know and many Americans have found out as unemployment has spiked in this country in the last four years, money enough to ensure a roof over one’s head, a full belly and other basic needs is very important to well-being. Beyond a certain subsistence level, however, some provocative research suggests money won’t buy you love.
In their 2009 book, The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, epidemiologists Richard G. Wilkinson and Kate Pickett argue that a society’s overall happiness is linked to income equality. Not only do they argue that equality — not more income or more consumption — make us healthier and more contented, their research shows that less equal societies like the United States have higher rates of anxiety and illness, violence, teenage pregnancies, obesity, drug abuse and eroding public trust. And they tend to consume excessively, among other negative effects.
I took General Science in high school, and the teacher explained a positive feedback loop. It is a bad thing. Where a negative feedback loop is like your thermostat–turning down the heat when it gets too warm; a positive feedback loop is like global warming– where the polar ice melts and the open water absorbs more heat, melting more ice.
Basing an economy on endless growing consumption is unscientific and not reality-based. I think, too, that the passion for things can be tempered as you get older. Young people need more things, old people need more shelves. I need more family time and parties– this holiday season is going along good for that.
Funny thing, when I left Occupy to get on the #42 I had to wait until Santa Claus got off the bus. He had his beard pulled down, but it was definitely Santa, unless red suits with white trim and sacks of presents are this year’s look in men’s wear.
My resolution for the New Year is to live in the present. I have lost so many good people this year that it’s impossible not to recognize that life is short. Though I am by nature a good girl, comfortable going with the flow, I resolve to pay attention so that I know when the right thing to do is to dis-obey.
Elaine Hirsch, Kmareka’s West Coast correspondent, sends us a disquieting post about the hard realities of the high cost of college. Thanks, Elaine for the research and for dealing with a tough topic–
Statistics of Student Loans
For many students enrolling in college, student loans are the only viable payment method that allows them to attend. Student loans can be subsidized (awarded on the basis of financial need without interest accrual during school) or unsubsidized (when interest is charged as soon as the money is lent out). In either case, many undergraduate and masters degree students often go thousands of dollars in debt just to receive an education. Yet is the cost really worth the outcome?
The National Center for Education Statistics reports that since 1987 the average cost of attending college has risen by 360 percent, or from about $3,599 to $12,979, based on national averages. In the 2003-2004 school year, about 35 percent of all undergraduates took out some form of loan, with an average amount of about $7,336, which adds up to a little under $30,000 in debt for the full four years. In the 1992-1993 school year, roughly the same percentage of students took out federal loans (about 32 percent), but the average amount taken out was substantially lower, at about $3,884 (transposed to $15,000 for four years).
For graduate students, the amount borrowed is substantially higher. In 2008-2009, an average of 56.4 percent of all graduate students took out loans, with higher numbers for medical and pharmacy students (about 82 percent). The average amount borrowed was $40,000, with some medical degree-seekers taking out loans in the upward range of $119,000.
Since 2002, the average amount of student debt has increased at a steady rate of about 5.6 percent, almost double the average rate of inflation. According to FinAid, the total current student loan debt exceeds $950 billion, which is slightly higher than the amount of credit card debt in the county. Student loan debt supposedly increases at a rate of about $2,850 per second. With so many students graduating with loans (some estimate about two-thirds), and with such a large outstanding balance of debt, many people are pressed to fully repay their debts. As a result, the rate for students defaulting on student loans rose drastically to about 8.8 percent in 2009, up from 7.0 percent in 2008.
Furthermore, the Economic Policy Institute points out the job market for graduating students under the age of 25 is competitive, with the unemployment rate rising to 9.3 percent, up from 5.4 percent in 2007. For the average student who borrows roughly $26,000, the average monthly loan payment is $275, which is a difficult sum to accumulate without a job. Thus, the Department of Education explains, roughly 14 percent of all students default on their loans within three years of their first payment period.
For students looking to minimize student loan debt, the clear choice is to shop smarter. Schools and education should be viewed as businesses, especially in terms of debt. If students find themselves borrowing more than $10,000, they should switch schools. They should also take out federal loans first, as these usually have better rates and payment plans, and are usually subsidized. Likewise, students should not borrow more for the full cost of their education than their anticipated starting salary, since any more than that will be difficult to repay. Finally, students should learn to live more sparingly and borrow less in other aspects of their lives. By cutting credit card spending and living more humbly, students can greatly ease the amount that needs to be repaid after college.
Whether or not going to school is worth being in debt is dependent on the student as well as their intended occupation. For instance, it seems that it’s more worth it to go $100,000 in debt to become a doctor than a kindergarten teacher. However, more and more frequently, students find themselves overloaded with debt that they are unable to repay. Thus, for some people, going into debt to get an education is the newest form of monetary slavery. Again, whether or not a student goes into dept depends entirely on the student’s anticipated career path, but if a student shops around they can still receive a good education while avoiding extensive debt.
I’ll just post a link since Kristin says it all…
My name is Kristin Rawls. I am thirty-one years old. I am not a drug user. I am not an alcoholic. My crime is that I went to school, and then I got sick. Today, I cannot even rent an apartment on my own without a co-signer. And the way things are going—the more things are deregulated—I’m not optimistic that that will always be enough.
‘I Cannot Eat Your Prayers’–how student debt changed one woman’s mind on Christian charity.
Christine Rousselle has given the Republican Party an early Christmas present, wrapped in anecdotes, with a ‘Welfare Queen’ bow. She published an essay called, ‘My Time at Walmart: Why We Need Serious Welfare Reform’.
Rousselle, a 20 year old student at Providence College, worked summers at a Walmart in Maine, and discovered that the public can be hard to work with. She transformed the trials of service work into an opinion piece on The College Conservative that got her major blog hits and five marriage proposals according to the Providence Journal.
With a sharp eye to who was using food stamps and what they bought, Ms. Rousselle exposed the rudeness, bad dietary choices and apparent abuse of the system she had to witness from her stool behind the cash register. If any poor working families were stretching their food budget by shopping at Walmart, grateful for the food assistance, Ms.Rousselle doesn’t mention it.
That left-wing rag, the Bangor Daily News, ran this article last summer…
AUGUSTA, Maine — While there are indications that Maine’s economy is slowly rebounding from the recession, the federally funded food stamps program is growing significantly, helping more poor families get food and, in some ways, the state’s economy as a whole.
“It’s really a combination of factors that are causing this increase,” said Barbara Van Burgle, director of the Office for Family Independence. “One is that we have a lot of families where a parent is working but they do not make very much and are still eligible for the food supplement programs. That is 45 percent of the families.”
The latest statistics indicate there were over 248,000 Mainers — up 7.5 percent from a year ago — benefiting from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which used to be called the food stamp program. That is nearly 128,000 Maine households. The average monthly benefit per person is $129.17.
“This is a supplemental program” Van Burgle said. “It is not meant to be the only source of food for a family.”
The federal government pays for all of the benefits and half of the cost of administering the program. Any person with income less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level is eligible for the food assistance program.
The federal poverty level is $10,890 a year for an individual and $22,350 for a family of four. Van Burgle said in a poor state such as Maine, a lot of families with working parents are eligible for benefits.
“We have a lot of families in this state where the parents are working hard, some at two jobs, but they just do not make a lot of money,” she said.
Van Burgle said another factor in Maine’s numbers is the state’s demographics. She said more than 10 percent of those on the program are over 65 years old and retired. She said as more Mainers retire without adequate retirement incomes, the more will qualify for food assistance.
Maybe Ms. Rousselle didn’t notice the old ladies. We used to have lurid stories in the recession of the 70′s, about widows surviving on cat food. Ms. Rousselle is appalled that ‘Nearly 30% of the state is on some form of welfare’. The worst recession in thirty years seems to have escaped her notice. Some day her own parents might depend on welfare. We call it Social Security.
The minimum wage in Maine is $7.50/hr., which gets you $1200 a month if you work 40 hours a week. Maine recently voted not to increase their state minimum wage, which is a lavish 25 cents above the federal. This puts a full time, low wage worker in line to get food stamps.
So, speaking of wages, how does Walmart, our nation’s largest employer, stack up?
According to Walmart, pretty good.
As of October 31, 2011 (End of Q3), the average wage for regular, full-time hourly associates in Maine is $13.10 per hour (Walmart Discount Stores, Supercenters, and Neighborhood Markets). Additionally, eligible associates receive an annual incentive based on the company performance.
Payscale.com lists a lower rate, $7.50-$10.55 for cashier. Since Walmart has pharmacies, I wonder if they are including pharmacy techs or even pharmacists in their ‘average’? This is very unclear. There are other ways to game the labor market, such as hiring part-timers who don’t qualify for benefits. From Caitlin Kelley at Reuters.com…
The median retail wage in 2010 was $8.90 for a cashier and $9.86 for a sales associate – down from $9.50 an hour in 2006, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. More than three-quarters of retail workers are older than 25, contradicting the popular belief that only teens living at home work retail for a little extra pocket money.
One-third of all retail workers are the sole income for their families, working for poverty-level wages. Many of them want to work full-time, but retail employers, who clearly have the upper hand in an era with few other available jobs, consistently and increasingly offer them only part-time positions without benefits. Part-time workers earn a third less than those employed full-time, despite the physical and emotional labor — and the skills and product knowledge that retail work requires — being identical.
With wages remaining so low, many full-time retail workers need food stamps to boost their incomes.
Did Ms. Rousselle ever talk to her co-workers who were not just there on college break?
Maybe things are different in Maine, but here in Rhode Island I work with people who are on assistance, I guess you could call it welfare. They made bad choices. They raised children and married men who worked hard and died, leaving their widows on Social Security and yes, food stamps. They married and had children with health problems who needed expensive medical care. They got themselves hit by cars or afflicted with illnesses. They struggled in school and found themselves stuck in low-wage jobs. They lost their jobs in the recession.
Anecdotal evidence is compelling, but it’s only what you see. Ronald Reagan won the Presidency with colorful stories about welfare queens and drunks buying orange juice for their cocktails with food stamps. The stories were so good, they just had to be true, and Reagan was a performer, after all.
Still, anecdotes are biased toward the exceptions, the compelling dramas.
Imagine if we took this approach to, say, Providence College. There are about 3800 students attending, and most of them are hard-working decent kids, but let’s not dwell on that.
Let’s look at something more alarming. Underage drinking and lawlessness.
The College Atlas named PC as one of the top ten beer-drinking schools. And according to the Providence Police, they don’t pay much attention to legal age.
In fact, GoLocalProvidence rates PC as one of the most dangerous colleges and universities.
If we were to collect anecdotes from some of the bars in Elmhurst, and bartender’s stories about obnoxious customers, how would PC shape up?
I know that some years ago, the modest working-class neighborhood that surrounds PC was having to petition the city for relief from loud parties, vandalism and crime coming from PC, and the college was not very responsive. The administration really had an attitude. Kind of like a twenty year old smirking at the people who have to use food stamps. But that’s opinion, I admit.
Christine Rousselle is correct that welfare can be abused and needs reform. Every big system needs reform just like every big complicated machine needs maintenance. Welfare is a poor substitute for jobs, and jobs are what every state has lost in the recession. I’d go for a new Works Progress Administration myself, but the Republican party opposes any stimulus that comes from government, and Walmart is not picking up the slack. Who’s to blame? Bring on the Welfare Queens, it worked in the 80′s.
And some of what Ms. Rousselle says she saw does sound like fraud. Fraud is a bad thing. This is what the government wants you to do about fraud…
Assistance Fraud
Residents who know of, and wish to report fraud or abuse of the cash assistance, food stamp, Medicaid or any other benefit program provided by the Department of Human Services, should call the 24-hour hotline for fraud at (202) 673-4464 in the Office of Program Review, Monitoring and Investigation (OPRMI). Anonymous calls are accepted. Callers who give their names can request confidentiality at (202) 671-4496.
I don’t think there are government sanctions against being a lousy customer, service workers just have to put up with that. But Ms. Rousselle claims that she witnessed “massive amounts of fraud and abuse.” That would make Walmart an accessory to fraud. I’d like to know if Ms. Rousselle called the hotline, and if not, why not?
Having slept on this, I wake up thinking that Walmart Corp. might not be as totally delighted by Ms. Rousselle’s internet success as she is. Would you shop at a place where the clerk is watching what you buy with your EBT card so she can expose you on the internet? Good publicity for Ms. Rousselle, but not so much for Walmart.
I stopped by after work, and the tents are still there, people staffing the information booth and people in the park. It didn’t seem quite as cold there as I expected after feeling the chill all day.
Dave said it was pretty intense getting through the rainstorm last night but morale is holding up.
Occupy Providence website is here.
Their Facebook page is here.
And live, in real time, they are camping out in Burnside Park tonight.
And now, a public service announcement from friend, Phil–
15th Annual BUY NOTHING DAY
WINTER COAT EXCHANGE
If you have a coat to give, please drop it off.
If you need a coat, please pick one up.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25 10-2PM
State House lawn (directly across from Providence Place mall)
rain/snow site: Cathedral of St. John, 275 N. Main St. Providence.
Pawtucket Visitors Center, 175 Main St. Pawtucket
On November 25th 2011 – the busiest day in the American retail calendar and the unofficial start of the international Christmas-shopping season – thousands of activists and concerned citizens in 65 countries will take a 24-hour consumer detox as part of the annual Buy Nothing Day, a global phenomenon that originated in Vancouver, Canada. Some see it as an escape from the marketing mind games and the frantic consumer binge that has come to characterize the holiday season, and our culture in general. Others use it to expose the environmental and ethical consequences of over-consumption. In Providence as part of International Buy Nothing Day, we hold a winter coat exchange on the lawn of the State House directly across from Providence Place mall. In Pawtucket the transfer of coats takes place at the Blackstone Valley Visitors Center with . There are many partners for this event: community organizations, places of worship, civic, and environmental groups. Volunteers are needed to help with this life-affirming event.
Contact information: Providence – Greg Gerritt: 331-0529 gerritt@mindspring.com
Phil Edmonds: 461-3683 philwhistle@verizon.net
Pawtucket: Blackstone Valley Visitors Center, 175 Main St.
Arthur Pitt 369-1918; kingarthur02940@yahoo.com
Newport – St Paul’s Church 12 West Marlborough St. Maggie Bulmer 849-3537.
Wakefield –St. Francis Church, 114 High Street, 10AM to noon Tom Abbott 364-0778
Barrington Bayside YMCA 70 West St Connie Ganley (508) 837-0467 mcganley@comcast.net
Locations in Wakefield, Pawtucket, and Barrington will be accepting coats all week during business hours.
Buy Nothing Day
Buy Nothing Day began in 1992 by Adbusters Media Foundation in Vancouver, Canada as a way to resist the advertising industry that abets over-consumption by causing people to feel unfulfilled with what they have. Since then, Buy Nothing Day has evolved into a global phenomenon creating awareness of how entangled we are in the web of consumerism.
Most Americans would not consider themselves “wealthy” compared to the upper class in the United States. True, there is an enormous inequality in the U.S.A. But that doesn’t change the fact that the average American consumer spends twenty times more on products – with many products coming from overseas – than the average person living in South America, Asia, or Africa.
Overconsumption might be a recipe for ecological disaster, but until it shows up as red ink on corporations’ balance sheets, it’s full steam ahead. Everything we buy has an impact on the environment, Buy Nothing Day highlights the environmental and ethical consequences of consumerism. The United States, with only 5% of the world’s population, consumes about one-third of the world’s natural resources that are used, produces half of the world’s non-organic waste, and generates nearly 30% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Go ahead and blame the corporations, Wall St., and the system of profit, if you like. But our dollars are the oil that keeps this hurtful, wastefuly economy running.
These are heavy facts to digest and can leave one despondent, but, there are signs that our consumer habits could be changing. With the current recession, some people have no choice but to cut spending, and now, are slowly beginning to question this consumer-globalized economics way of life realizing we are not as happy as we thought we were, and as a result, are thinking about ways of living that might lead to more genuine satisfaction.
While critics of the day charge that Buy Nothing Day simply causes participants to buy the next day, Adbusters states that it “isn’t just about changing your habits for one day” but “about starting a lasting lifestyle commitment to consuming less and producing less waste.
What we choose to buy, where we choose to shop, even whether we choose to be part of campaigns…all this is not a homage to some weighty obligation; it’s a celebration of the world we want…My choices as a consumer used to feel so small, but now I’m convinced they have real power. Together we are a sleeping giant and, awakened, we can really stir things up. -Frances Moore Lappe and Anna Lappe, Hope’s Edge
The focus of Buy Nothing Day is to “stir things up” – with a clear message that we no longer will be duped by the endless advertisments telling us the way to happiness.
Come join us on the State House lawn on November 25h in a celebratory spirit of sharing and re-affirm our commitment to curb out spending habits so that the generations to come may have a liveable planet. Or attend any of the other four Buy Nothing Day Coat Exchange sites around Rhode Island.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving all, and don’t do anything that’s not fun.
