Counting Crickets

After ten years of getting the run around from the various departments that support the academic community within the university, I've decided that the support staff have better jobs than the academics.

Every year at the university, I have had to deal with mistakes made by paper pushing bureaucrats in ever different department related to making the university function so that teaching and learning can happen. Those departments include: the library, the registrar, the financial aid office, the payroll department and especially the health care department. The people working in these positions get paid and get benefits and have job security even though they make mistakes that take hours and hours of my time every year to correct. The problem is that I don't get paid to amend their mistakes in order to get through my education, get my health care, get my employment documents, or even get my financial aid. If I logged all the hours I have spent in the last decade correcting mistakes of people paid to manage paper work and administrate within the aforementioned departments, I've given them weeks of unpaid labor.

The reason why they have the best jobs is that they get paid no matter how badly they do their jobs and consider mistakes a part of the process. These people keep their benefits and there are no accountability structures established to make these bureaucrats fix the problems they create for people trying to give and receive academic instruction. This is a good job. You can be mediocre, have a secure job and health care benefits and retirement and a nice life. If I would have chosen to just blend into the wood work with my life and taken a job in a big diffuse university or other public bureaucracy, I would have some job security and health benefits that I know would continue from year to year.

Instead, I chose to brave the world of creativity and achievement and have to live with the insecurity of the cost of building organizations that didn't previously exist while I also have to support the nice secure jobs of people who take my unpaid labor to undue the havoc their actions have created in my life. Yes, in the end, I hope to overcome the building phase and reap the fruit of joy from hard work and accomplishments. Nevertheless, I have a real sweet spot developing in my heart for security of people who can screw up, not think twice about the consequences, and get job security and health care benefits for it.

Oil industry fat cats are living on the suffering of families. Something has got to give in this country. How are average American citizen commuters supposed to levy the new cost of living: 1/2 income on rent, 1/4 income on gas, 1/4 income on utilities. Can these citizens just quit their jobs?

"I believe that the price we are paying for gas is awful. Everyone I know has stopped buying gas. We need these prices to go down. It's unreal! . I, as the mother of two boys on a fixed income, cannot afford these prices which means my family suffers in many ways: going to the doctor, going on trips, if late for school, has to miss the whole day, confined to the house. These things cause depression and so on. I could go on all day but I believe you have got the point. "

Tabatha from VA.

On April 5, 2005, several Lifetime parent leaders attended the protest against Arnold, the Governator, in San Francisco last night. The picture shows LIFETIME parents blocking California
Street and sitting on the cable car tracks and yelling "Think Before
You Act, Don't Balance the Budget on Our Backs!

LIFETIME

I'm starting to wonder how long I will be able to drive my truck!

As the owner of a Chevy truck, I use a considerable amount of gas. When gas prices started to rise in 2003, I began complaining about the $50 I spent to fill my 30 gallon tank. Today, I stopped breathing when I paid $75 for a tank of gas. Given that I don't have many options, I feel that my lifestyle is being hijacked.

My options are either: ride my bike or drive my truck. It is a black or white situation. The bus is not an option. It is quicker to take the bike than the bus. The bus system in southern California is terrible. I'm not sure if it is better in other states, but I know the bus system is much worse than the trains I rode in England, Holland, and Paris.

We are really starting to pay the price for the monopoly that took over American transportation so many years ago. Our lifestyles are going to have to change and we don't have the type of public transportation system to accommodate a smooth transition.

We are in the middle of the big gas screw. If rising housing costs wasn't an adequate torture, we are now supposed to spend another third of our incomes on gas. Perhaps this is just another conspiracy by car companies desperate to hold onto their market position. As gas prices increases, the car companies can sell us our only alternative. The car companies will solve our problems by selling us something else - another car. How ironic; the solution to our problem is in another product brought to us by an auto industry company - the hybrid.

Can we get some good public transportation instead? Is there any way we can stop spending money on the so called war and start spending money where we need it - public transportation.

If this is truly a free market, then there is nothing to loose from diversity in a public transportation system. We could have more trains with more destinations and then there could be a whole industry that develops around a train culture. We could have kiosks popping up at local train stations around the country. We could have a new magazine "American Trainsportation." Just think of all the possibilities. There would even be a bonus, those who have been prospering on oil and the environmental tragedies that go along with the oil business would fall from grace and we could get a new mix of power brokers in the U.S.

My landlord has been harassing me and in order to gain proof of her maltreatment, I attempted to tape her in my home.

I moved into a bigger place and thought I was going to have a better experience with a private landlord and a bigger place. I was wrong. My landlord refused to pay me back for purchases I made on the place. I had to write and write her to try and get my money. This was a mistake. Asking for reimbursement made her hate me. As a result, she started telling me I was a bad tenant, bad person, sicko, wacko, etc.... It got so bad, that she started calling me names while screaming at me on the phone in response to a calm request for reimbursement (after 45 days had gone by).

In order to catch her treating me badly, I set up a digital camcorder during an erroneous inspection she tried to perform. When she saw that I was turning on the camera, she said "I called fair housing of Orange County and my attorney and you can't tape me. Turn that off now or I will... I will...I'm going to.... Turn that camera off now." I responded "you need to refer me to the appropriate codes because this is my home." She then left because she didn't want to be taped.

In retaliation, she stated she was going to charge my security deposit for future charges because she "couldn't get in my house" and said I endangered her daughter who stood at the door with her. Luckily, I have everything on tape because child endangerment is a serious accusation. This was certainly a lie on her part.

The good thing that arose out of this situation is that I got a referral to a good attorney. The attorney advised that I have "an absolute right" to video record anyone in my home. Anyone has an absolute right to video record anyone in the home.

My new idea is that we should have "landlord" cams to capture landlord harassment. If nanycams have been so effective, how much more effective will landlord cams be?

Should your product break during set up, do not make one deviation from the directions during assembly or IKEA will not refund your money.

I purchased a book shelf for my son in January. I had my son do the assembly. He's done all other assemblies before and we haven't had any problems. However, this time the product broke before the final step in assembly. When I went back to the store for a refund, they pulled out the assembly directions and quizzed my son about his procedure for set up. When the sales person found out (as did I) he made one deviation from the assembly directions, they refused to give the money back. I ended up arguing that there was no warning on the product that said if you deviate from instructions for assembly in any way, your product is no longer under any warrantee. I ended up getting $75 back out of $108 purchase.

I feel responsible to share this information with the public. If you purchase an IKEA product, do not deviate from the assembly instructions. If for some reason you need to, don't accept the product. Take it back. If something happens, you probably won't get your money back.

"There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now..."

From one mother to others, please see the article I'm linking. There is no glory is death!
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/alert/?alertid=5834001&content_dir=ua_congressorg

We Help Kids Go from Sad to Glad in School

www.ace-ca.org


Access Center for Education (ACE) provides advocacy services to parents of special education students and to parents who think their child might qualify for special education services.

-Specific learning disability
-Autism/Asperger’s
- Developmental disorder
- Orthopedic impairment
- Health impairments
- Emotional disturbance
- ADHD
- Behavioral and discipline problems

- Sometimes the stress of Special Education meetings is too much for parents to handle on their own.
-ACE offers sliding scale advocacy services based on an ability to pay.
- We explain and interpret common educational evaluations like the WISK, WJR, WIAT, and more.
- Our professional staff can prepare for your meeting, make educational recommendations, and attend the meeting with you.

Access Center for Education helps parents become active participants in their child’s education.

(Sacramento) In preparation for a critical budget hearing this Wednesday, May 5th, a group of 30 low-income parents and children with LIFETIME staged a sit-in at the office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last Friday, to protest his proposed cuts to children's welfare benefits that parents warned would take the shirts off their backs – and the diapers off their babies.  LIFETIME is a statewide membership organization of low-income mothers and fathers pursuing education and training as the means to get their families off welfare - and out of poverty - for good.  To make their point, parents brought a case of diapers and a stack of more than 250 jars of baby food to illustrate what the proposed welfare cuts will mean to poor children.  For more than two hours, low-income parents held a tense standoff with state police, who threatened to arrest the mothers and take their children into the custody of Child Protective Services if parents didn’t leave. 
 
The sit-in was in follow up to LIFETIME’s “The Shirts Off Our Backs” event on January 12th, where more than 150 low-income parents, children and supporters marched to the Governor’s office to protest his proposed budget cuts to welfare benefits for the state’s poorest children.  Coverage of the event was broadcast on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and Univision affiliates in Sacramento, the SF Bay Area, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, and featured footage of Costigan promising to meet with parents to discuss how the proposed budget cuts would hurt poor families.  Protestors noted that Costigan broke his promise, and has ignored more than a dozen calls and letters from LIFETIME members to set a date for the follow up meeting he promised. Parents returned to Sacramento on March 15th to make the request in person, only to be told by Deputy Legislative Secretary Jennifer Fitzgerald that they “were wasting their time” if they thought Costigan would meet with them.
 
Fitzgerald’s remarks – and Costigan’s inaction – prompted the sit-in, where more than 20 poor mothers engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience to make their point.  “I’m willing to go to jail to protect my son’s future,” said LIFETIME member Pepper Moore, a single mother and student at Cal State Hayward, “and to make sure our Governor keeps his promise to kids.”  “Costigan promised to meet with us in front of the tv cameras,” said LIFETIME board member Vivian Hain, a CalWORKs student at Vista College in Berkeley, and mother of three, “but that promise has been broken – just like the Governor’s campaign promise to put children first.”
 
The standoff ended only after state officials staged an emergency evacuation drill that emptied the State Capitol building.   Nonetheless, parents and children vowed to return to Sacramento until the proposal to cut children’s welfare benefits is reversed.  Said LIFETIME member Tammy Marquez, a CalWORKs student at De Anza College in Cupertino, “we want the Governor to get our message that we’ll be back for the hearing on May 5th - and we’ll keep coming back – until he keeps his promise to our kids.”
 
Protest organizers noted that the average welfare cash grant to a poor family in California is 53% of the federal poverty line, with little change in benefit levels for over 15 years.  “The Governor wants to slash welfare benefits and suspend Cost of Living Adjustments,” says LIFETIME Executive Director Diana Spatz, “even though welfare benefits are the same level they were in 1989, when I was a welfare mom.”  Even children worry how their parents will make ends meet if the proposed cuts go through.  “I’m asking the Governor to keep his promise to kids,” says nine-year old Jasmine Hain of Oakland, “my family is already poor.  What more does he want?  The shirts off our backs?”

Yours in justice,

Diana Spatz
Executive Director
LIFETIME

Funniest Final Exam Answers

Q: According to the article "Mormonism in France," What were the most compelling reasons given by members for joining the Mormon church?

A: France's strong belief in celibacy

A: Jehovah's Witnesses come to homes to spread the word

A: Members were enticed with food and treats like American chocolate cookies

Q: Explain sacred objects found in a Hindu temple:

A: the Koran is placed in the temple

Q: How does religious deconversion work?

A: downsizing

Q: Describe the features of a Hindu temple

A: Many stained glass windows

A: It faces Mecca

Q: Give examples of female dominated religions

A: Amazons: They worship a goddess named Athena.

Children placed in group homes sponsored by the state are gaining weight at an alarming rate.

After I found out that I student of mine works at a group home, I starting a conversation with her about childhood obesity. I explained that kept in touch with my high school friends and some of them had their children removed by the state and placed in group homes. I described the observations I made about the weight gain among the children after they entered the group home. Each child gained over 30 pounds. In one case, the thinnest boy in one family came home so fat he looked like he needed a bra.

This students said she noticed rapid weight gain in both group homes she worked at. She told me that she works in group homes with teens between ages 16 and 18. She said that one of the girls gained twenty pounds in four weeks. One girl entered the group home at 147 pounds and now weighs 220. This same girl now has to sleep with her head propped up at night because she is so fat that she can't breath while laying on her back. The weight problem is so bad that half of the girls in the group home can't fit into their clothes any longer. The weight gain has caused half of the girls in the group home to miss out on free prom dressed offered by a local business because only half of the girls can fit into the sizes available.

This observation needs to be recognized by the state that is sponsoring these group homes. Extreme obesity is a serious health problem. Extreme obesity is also under the control of the adults who take care of these children. The adults who run the group home need to monitor and control feeding. No child who is already suffering from parental neglect or abuse needs to be put into an equally neglectful home sponsored by the state.

Working with LIFETIME, here I am standing in the governor's office sending a message to conservatives. We were also visiting legislators to gather supporters willing to stop balancing the budget on the backs of California's poor children.

I propose that Americans start riding their bikes, take trains, and ride electric scooters in response to rising gas prices.

I do not believe that it is absolutely necessary to raise the price of gas. I think that the refineries are working together to create a situation much like that of the electricity fraud in California a few years ago. During the electricity defrauding of California, the energy companies were allowed to hike prices. It does nothing for the consumers when investigation results show fraud but still make the public pay for it.

There is no telling what consumers will find out in two years regarding the true cause of rising gasoline prices. The only power consumers have over the gas fiasco is to stop buying this expensive product. By not purchasing gas, we can send a message to corporations telling them that consumers are not pawns in a corporate profit game. Boycotting gas will force corporate fat cats to rethink their strategies in order to recoup losses. The key is to impact the corporate bottom line.

If more people would choose alternative transportation, it would be a win win situation for consumers. On one hand, anyone with a weight problem who chooses to ride a bike would burn calories and increase the quality of their health through exercise. With consistent exercise, these very people might also save money on health care. For everyone who chooses alternative transportation, they will save money on gas. Consumers also win by not allowing oil corporations to dominate the transportation market through over reliance upon automobiles and the gas that fuels them.

When my son hit 13, it was like someone else was living with me.

As a parent I've surpassed the outer limits. My teenage son can't remember anything. How can I manage a home with a son who can't even remember his house key or to turn in his homework. I don't know what to do with this boy. He's wonderful, talented, handsome, kind, and fun to be around. However, he causes so many problems because he can't remember anything and refuses to do anything to minimize the impact of his forgetfulness. As a parent, I feel like I've lost control over my son and my home.

Several times a week we participate in ritual homework debates. The debates center around the he said, she said the homework is/isn't done. The sad thing is that half of the time the homework is done but never turned in. The homework gets lost in the messy room or forgotten after completed. My teenager often starts big fights at home because he doesn't want any consequences for his actions. He wants the academic requirements to change because he forgot and he'll fight with me about why the requirements should change. Meanwhile, as a mother, instead of enjoying my time at home, I'm playing police officer, supreme court judge, probation officer, and dispute resolution official and generally having a really bad time.

Is there something about teenage boys that I'm not getting? Where did this new teenage son come from? Is there some teenage male genetic code that erases the memory?