Day 21 March 27, 2003
1.
Names. Talk about things to come: let’s see Roger
and Me, I think it fits a lot better with what we’ve been doing, plus
Talk some about poster sessions, esp. for those who are doing tutoring. See this as prep. for your final paper, which should connect your tutoring experience to some issue of your choice: education? crime? violence? drugs? alcohol? Plan to do some research, not huge amounts. Also, again, see syllabus.
2. In the News: The war goes on, so does the rest of life. Gwynne Dyer pointed out some parallels between Saddam and Stalin this morning: both were widely hated, but when the Germans invaded, people rallied to the country’s cause even though they hated their leader.
3. Last day on Nickel and Dimed. Some clips from your journals today, as ways into the book and what’s going on with our responses to it. Questions:
A. What is her purpose? Is it personal, or larger?
B. How much, and how, does our personal experience of class, money, poverty, or comfort affect the way we react to this book?
C
What (if anything) should be done
about the social conditions that she describes?
Excerpts from Student Responses:
Perry:
“I definitely respect what she is trying to do, because I would not be able
to do it. I would
give up and go back home to a comfortable home and my
normal life. I am
impressed that she was able to keep this up for as long
as she did. I would
not have been able to live without knowing where I was
going to live or how I was going to eat.”
Adam:
I get mad because it seems while she does this project she looks down on the
people she works with and I don't like it because I have lived like the people
she refers to
in this book. I know
what its like when you come home from school when you are 9 years old and have
to sit in a dark house for a couple of days because your parents didn't have
enough money to pay the bill. I don't
think she realizes that the people she is working with have that problem, she may think they do, but she will never
understand what it feels like. I became
extremely mad when she left the Maid job and told everyone that she was just a
writer trying to write a book about the experience she is had. This makes me mad because I have lived like
that and I think it is a slap in the face that she can just leave the job no
problem and doesn't realize that when she got that job someone she could have got
the job over someone who actually needed it.
This book is hard for me to read because the emotions that I feel when I
read it.
Becky:
“Why couldn’t she just start a new life
wherever she wanted?
Raudel: Whining does not solve anything. The solution in my opinion would be to do something that makes you happy, or releases the stress gained from the job. The author seems to go on and on about how horrible her experience was, when really she should get over it and realize that she was able to live like that for a brief period, and not live like that for survival as other Americans do.
Ryan: The government is supposed to look out for its people and at times it does, but when it comes to give out money they turn their backs, but boy do they to spend our tax money. That would be a good proposal: taxes goes to minimum wage workers or help for minimum wage to go up so people can start making progress instead of regressing to poverty status.
Jenny:
I must admit that I was not
thrilled about reading this book, probably due to the fact that reading about
the plight of people in the struggling, poor class tends to make me feel
incredibly guilty. Guilty about the fact that my family never worries all that
much about issues involving money or the fact that I have nice clothing and
possessions that I hold dear such as my piano when others are forced to live in
vans while working two jobs just to put clothes from the Salvation Army on
their backs.
Laura:
My favorite line in
the book is on
page 215 when she is talking about coming back to her own world and makes the
comment "Here, sweat is a metaphor for heard work, but seldom is its
consequence." Which
I find to be one VERY true statement.
Andrea: Barbara barely got by on her money by herself let alone with having children to take care of. The book makes the point that while she and many other people can get by on minimum wage there is absolutely no way to get by on this if a disaster happens. I feel that is the area that we have to remember and focus on, because we often say that they are making it just fine on their own. And this may be true but they will run into problems at some point and that can set them back much farther then we can even imagine.
Caroline:
While reading Nickel and Dimed I often felt very angry about what is going on in
the world today. This book is the true story of who we often call ‘welfare
people’. Barbara Ehrenreich, the author, joined them
to experience what kind of life the million Americans live that work hard, all
day long, year-round, for poverty-level wages. Ehrenreich
does a wonderful job in portraying the hardship of so many in this country. She
gives the reader an insight on how things really are and changes the reader’s
idea of certain stereotypes associated with ‘low-wage
Sections worth noting:
124 ff on tests, psych. and drug. 135—to limit mobility?
131 Caroline, living on the edge of middle class, a “success” story.
136 the Filter Queen guy.
140 on the housing/rent crisis
141 Menards
143 the Cult of Sam; 145 against unions
148 Negotiating?
150
Clearview
154 and ff.: work at Walmart
165 hating the customers
184 ff.: agitating for union
“Evaluation”:
193: she did ok at the work, but failed at the economic level (196 ff.) 198: “Something is wrong, very wrong. . ..”
195: not knowing too much or working too hard.
203: employers and resistance to pay raises
204: why not more counterpressure from workers? 205: “friction.” 206: information.
208: cooptation by identification, and by surrender of civil rights and self-respect—searches, drug tests, rules against gossip and talking. 210: not free nor democratic.
212: how much repression costs: managers and drug tests soak up money that could go to wage increases . . .
214: poverty as a sustainable condition, or as acute distress, a “state of emergency”?
215: return to the top 20%, to the “magical world.”
216: again, the invisibility of the poor. 219: poverty not stemming from unemployment, but from jobs that don’t pay enough to live on. People who work hard and sink deeper into debt.
220: what do we think of the working poor? “Disapproval and condescension no longer apply, so what outlook makes sense?” Guilt? Shame? The working poor, she suggests, “are in fact the major philanthropists of our society.” We can buy stuff cheap at Wal-Mart because they put it on the shelves for us. Hmm?
Full Student Responses:
After
reading the section about her settling in
question this woman's sanity. I do not understand what caused her to turn
down an 11 hour shift at Menards,
that would probably have paid higher than
Wal-Mart. She also
admitted to making a mistake when turning down the
apartment in the basement, because she then had to stay at a
rundown hotel.
I
definitely respect what she is trying to do, because I would not be able
to do it. I would
give up and go back home to a comfortable home and my
normal life. I am
impressed that she was able to keep this up for as long
as she did. I would
not have been able to live without knowing where I was
going to live or how I was going to eat.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/890520_asp.htm
http://www.msnbc.com/news/890523.asp?0cv=TB10&cp1=1
Perry Leatherman
Becky Leatherman
Response #5
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-health-pneumonia.html
This article is
about a mysterious illness that has killed at least 34 people in
I really like
reading the book, Nickel and Dimed. I do not have a problem with the way Ehrenreich conducted her experiment. She is very honest and states that she is not
exactly like the people she is working with.
I could see if she did not state that and she was deceiving the reader,
but she states many times that she is not an example of the working class, she
is just trying to see if she can make it apart of the working class. Her point of the book is not to see if she
can change classes whenever she wants, her point is to show that in
Raudel Hermosillo Jr.
Issues
Response 5
Nickel and Dimed
is a book that single handedly endeavors to make
aware of the low paying jobs and how people who “slave” for
these wages
live. I have not yet been able to figure out what the book
is trying to get
across. Is the book trying to come up with a solution for
this problem, or
is the book just trying to inform
I
commend the author for taking the hands on approach, but do not commend
the complaining and whining. I personally do not enjoy
reading whiny
complaints. I believe that if something is terrible whining
is not the
answer but adds to the problem. Whining does not solve
anything. The
solution in my opinion would be to do something that makes
you happy, or
releases the stress gained from the job. The author seems to
go on and on
about how horrible her experience was, when really she
should get over it
and realize that she was able to live like that for a brief
period, and not
live like that for survival as other American’s do.
The
current issue I will discuss is one that has been exhaustedly used. The
issue is the singer of the Dixie Chicks statement. I believe
that the radio
stations are not punishing the band by not playing their
music, but rather
conducting their freedom of speech, in the form of symbolic
speech, i.e.
boycott, which last time I checked is also protected by the
first amendment.
A
student in class questioned why punish the Dixie Chicks for exercising
their First Amendment Right, I would ask why look down upon
a radio station
that is practicing their own freedom of symbolic speech?
Ryan Whitaker
While
I read Nickel and Dimed I can't help but find myself
getting mad. I
get mad because I think what the author is doing is wrong
because she really
doesn't see what these people are going through when she
does this project
for her book. I am
not even talking about how she comments how she has a
credit card to help her out if she really needs it. I get mad because it
seems while she does this project she looks down on the
people she works
with and I don't like it because I have lived like the
people she refers to
in this book. I know
what its like when you come home from school when you
are 9 years old and have to sit in a dark house for a couple
of days because
your parents didn't have enough money to pay the bill. I don't think she
realizes that the people she is working with have that
problem, she may
think they do, but she will never understand what it feels
like. I became
extremely mad when she left the Maid job and told everyone
that she was just
a writer trying to write a book about the experience she is
had. this makes
me mad because I have lived like that and I think it is a
slap in the face
that she can just leave the job no problem and doesn't
realize that when she
got that job someone she could have got the job over someone
who actually
needed it. This book
is hard for me to read because the emotions that I
feel when I read it.
http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2003/0326/1529697.html
I
chose this article first and foremost because i think
it is a change of
pace from all the war article i
see everywhere. This article is about
the
the showcase for all the top prep basketball players in the
nation, but even
more this is one of the last shots to the Lebron James play before he goes
pro. So i guess what i would say about
this article is that i think the
game is a great idea, i also think
it is part of the problem that is arising
in ametuer athletics. Because the more these athletes are on
television the
more the people are trying to give them money, not go to
school and get an
education. I just
think that people need to remember these players are
still kids and you shouldn't put this much pressure to win
on them. Adam Meekhof
I thought the book was pretty good. I know in class a lot of people say she is cheating and she is not going about it in the right way, but really if you think about even though she has that back up cash and she would have to resort to it then really she is showing how hard an unfair it is to be working for minimum wage and still trying to support a family. I think some things she does not go all out and does slack on a few things, but also she admits it and does not try and hide which I think is good cause it shows she wants to be truthful about her work.
This book brings up many good points and arguments about the content. First of all the book shows how hard it is to
live in
Website:
http://m1.mny.co.za/MBLabour.nsf/Current/C2256907002CDE5342256A3700405222?OpenDocument
I must admit
that I was not thrilled about reading this book, probably due to the fact that
reading about the plight of people in the struggling, poor class tends to make
me feel incredibly guilty. Guilty about the fact that my family never worries
all that much about issues involving money or the fact that I have nice
clothing and possessions that I hold dear such as my piano when others are
forced to live in vans while working two jobs just to put clothes from the
Salvation Army on their backs. I think that the reason issues involving poverty
are not easily solved is because it is easier for those who are able to help
the situation to ignore the fact that it exists than to actually fix it. I can
honestly say that we, as Americans with every possible luxury and freedom at
our disposal, tend to delude ourselves into thinking that when our own lives
are going well, everyone else in the world must be living well too. It is for
this very reason that problems in underdeveloped countries as well as in our
own have not been solved, even when the resources to solve them are available.
I found this book to be extremely
thought provoking in the sense that not only did the author show us the
monetary struggles of the working class but also the emotional and
psychological issues that are involved since she performed the experiment
herself. I think that it was the emotional aspects involved that made the
information in the book really stick in my mind because instead of thinking
about statistics and numbers I found myself thinking about the people involved.
This is what I believe her purpose for the experiment was.
Jenny Lehman
I must say that Barbara Ehrenheich deserves some kind of credit for even attempting
to do what she did. It is something that
I never really went through, but I was friends with people who were going
through it. It is definately
something I don't want to have to try.
The only thing I really have an issue with the the
amout of time she was at one place. A month isn't really that long. If she would have stayed a little longer then
maybe she might have experienced the fear of rent raise, or being fired for
cheaper labor. She does however mention
this point in her evaluation, " ... if I had
attempted to continue for a few more months,
because sooner or later I would have had to spend something on Medical
or dental." (197) I still think
that the fear of hearing "I'm raising your rent from $517 to $567" is
a big part of the experience, not that she
would have heard it, but there's always this "fear" which that bomb
will be dropped on you.
My favorite line in the book
is on page 215
when she is talking about coming back to her own world and makes the comment
"Here, sweat is a metaphor for heard work, but seldom is its
consequence." Which
I find to be one VERY true statement.
My job as a photographer, or photo editor for the student paper, was
hard work... but it never caused any type of sweat. But when I worked at a factory making
windows, the work was very hard, and there wasn't a day I left without being
all sweaty.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/technology/circuits/27warr.html
This article talked about
how recent video games are becoming very realistic in their portrayal of
war. They focused on a group of teens
who played the game Socom: US Navy Seals, which is an
online stratgey war game. A lot of the teens said that they didn't even
think about how closely the game can resemble the war in
Laura Prickett
I am really enjoying Nickel and Dimed and all the
issues that it brings to my along. I know that we have talked many times about
the reality of Barbara’s experience but there are a few things I want to say
about that. I really think that one area that we never looked at was the issue
that she does not have any children. Barbara barley got by on her money by
herself let alone with having children to take care of. The book makes the
point that while she and many other people can get by on minimum wage there is
absolutely no way to get by on this if a disaster happens. I feel that is the
area that we have to remember and focus on, because we often say that they are
making it just fine on their own. And this may be true but they will run into
problems at some point and that can set them back much farther then we can even
imagine.
One thing that the books touches on towards the end
of the book is the idea that a worker does not want to "know too
much" (195). The idea behind this is that if one knows too much then they
will be expected to perform more tasks or at least with greater accuracy. I
find this just fascinating because in the jobs that I have worked at I always
want to do my best and show the boss that I can do really a good job. I think
this is the way most people work because they want to get a promotion or at
least have the respect of the elders at the company.
I was really surprised by how seriously Barbara ended up taking her job at
Wal-Mart. At all her previous jobs she despised what she did (especially
cleaning) and while she complained she did not try to change anything. By the
time she was working at Wal-Mart she seemed to be feeling more like she was one
of the working class. This is apparent by the fact that she tried to change the
rights they had or should I say lack of. I think that the research she did was
justifiable and should be looked at closely when determining minimum wage laws.
I think the quote on page 199 says it all, "wages are too low and rent is
too high".
I found the article titled "Live but not Reality" on the website http://slate.msn.com.id/2080748/.
This was an article that basically said that if we were going to have coverage
of the war then it should be everything and realistic. It makes the point that
we have received more live coverage in previous wars. The author makes the
point that while it is good that we have the equipment for soldiers to call
home that technology should be used to show us what is really going on. The
article thinks that we should be shown live shots and the POWs but that we
should block out people’s faces like they do on cops. The article also states
how NBC spends 10 million a day on coverage but usually the only coverage we
see is that weird green scene where nothing is going on. I think this is huge
waste of money.
Andrea Lehman
A response to Nickel and Dimed.
While
reading Nickel and Dimed
I often felt very angry about what is going on in the world today. This book
is the true story of who we often call ‘welfare people’. Barbara Ehrenreich, the author, joined them to experience what kind
of life the million Americans live that work hard, all day long, year-round,
for poverty-level wages. Ehrenreich does a wonderful
job in portraying the hardship of so many in this country. She gives the reader
an insight on how things really are and changes the reader’s idea of certain
stereotypes associated with ‘low-wage
Media
Now
the reason I sometimes get so mad when reading Nickel and Dimed, is also the subject of
the article ‘Senate Approves $2.2
Trillion Budget’ by David E. Rosenbaum. I do not understand how the
American Government uses its money. On the one side,
Caroline Moons