Auburn freshman shot; police find Blazer - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
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Finally, a Rattlesnake
5 years ago
Monday, April 20, 2009
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the shootings at Columbine High School, in which two young men killed 12 of their peers and one teacher before turning their guns on themselves and committing suicide.
This morning there was a shooting at my alma-mater high school, just 2.7 miles from my home. While this particular shooting was an act of gang violence it is disturbing and alarming to see that children are still bearing arms, and doing so at an alarmingly increasing rate.
This morning there was a shooting at my alma-mater high school, just 2.7 miles from my home. While this particular shooting was an act of gang violence it is disturbing and alarming to see that children are still bearing arms, and doing so at an alarmingly increasing rate.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Fun with numbers
Judging by the latest trend of Tea Parties taking place across the country it seems history class has long been forgotten. What we do actually remember can apparently be manipulated to suit our needs. Economics is another subject that has been on the chalk board lately but that too can change depending on where you sit in the classroom. Politics, government, and social science have also become frequent victims of the edit and rewrite desk. The one subject that remains off limits is that factual, finite topic of numbers. History deceives us. Politics amuse us but numbers do not lie.
The first number we look at today is 200.
200 is the number of protesters who showed the city the full thrust of their movement by marching from the Rockford Public Library to City Hall, eventually throwing their tea away in a garbage can on the east side of the State Street bridge. 200 is the number of protesters who held various signs reading "I am not your ATM" and "No Taxation Without DeLiberation". 200 protesters stood outside the local newspaper building yelling "Tell the Truth". 200 protesters were reminded that they needed to remain on the sidewalk and stay out of the street because of their lack of permit. 200 protesters showed us all how angry they were about what their signs called "Generational Theft". Two hundred.
The next number we look at is 168,138.
As of 2006 the population of the city of Rockford was estimated to be 168,138 people. This estimate made it the third largest city in Illinois, after Chicago and Aurora. That brings me to the next number...
0.12
0.12 is the percentage of people in Rockford who turned out to protest taxes. Zero point twelve. 0.12 % of 168,138 people said to the government that they were "not going to take it" and that they did not stand behind the current stimulus package or the money needed to make the stimulus package effective. 0.12% of people in Rockford feel that they should not have to pay to fix their roads, they should not have to pay for better educations for their children, they should not have to pay for more public safety and they should not have to pay for basic tax-funded health and human services. 0.12 % of the city's population took a stand.
14
14% is the current unemployment rate in Rockford. 0.12% of people in Rockford don't feel that the 14% should receive an extension of their unemployment benefits. 0.12% of people in Rockford don't believe that the 14% should receive a 65% reduction in cost of COBRA health insurance. So when the 14% are done spending most of their unemployment benefits on health insurance the 0.12% want them to do without. When the 14% have exhausted their unemployment benefits the 0.12% want them to remember their fun slogans and cool signs and how they came to downtown Rockford to throw tea in a garbage can. The 0.12% do not want to pay for the 14%. They don't care about their successes or failures. Of course 0.12 is less than 14.
1011
1,011 foreclosed homes are listed for Rockford right now at 1:08am. 0.12% of people here don't want expanded funding for the city's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), which helps to mitigate the problems caused by foreclosures, high-risk mortgages, and high numbers of abandoned or vacant properties. The "0.12 percenters" don't want to protect people left behind in these half empty neighborhoods to receive additional law enforcement, prevention and education, drug treatment programs, and support services and advocacy groups for victims of crime and domestic violence. The 0.12 percenters don't want victims to receive assistance money. The 0.12 percenters don't want money spent on improving our local justice system but of course, remember the cool colonial style hats they wore?
Remember math class? 0.12 is a little, almost insignificant number. It's not even a whole number! It's not even 1. The bigger numbers are (14%) those unemployed here, (.60%) those whose homes are recently foreclosed here, (13.8%) those in Rockford living below poverty, and finally $19,781, the 2006 estimated per-capita income here.
I ask the 0.12 percent of the cities population to tell the 14% what they should they do when their unemployment benefits run out. Maybe bring them a comforting cup of tea.
The first number we look at today is 200.
200 is the number of protesters who showed the city the full thrust of their movement by marching from the Rockford Public Library to City Hall, eventually throwing their tea away in a garbage can on the east side of the State Street bridge. 200 is the number of protesters who held various signs reading "I am not your ATM" and "No Taxation Without DeLiberation". 200 protesters stood outside the local newspaper building yelling "Tell the Truth". 200 protesters were reminded that they needed to remain on the sidewalk and stay out of the street because of their lack of permit. 200 protesters showed us all how angry they were about what their signs called "Generational Theft". Two hundred.
The next number we look at is 168,138.
As of 2006 the population of the city of Rockford was estimated to be 168,138 people. This estimate made it the third largest city in Illinois, after Chicago and Aurora. That brings me to the next number...
0.12
0.12 is the percentage of people in Rockford who turned out to protest taxes. Zero point twelve. 0.12 % of 168,138 people said to the government that they were "not going to take it" and that they did not stand behind the current stimulus package or the money needed to make the stimulus package effective. 0.12% of people in Rockford feel that they should not have to pay to fix their roads, they should not have to pay for better educations for their children, they should not have to pay for more public safety and they should not have to pay for basic tax-funded health and human services. 0.12 % of the city's population took a stand.
14
14% is the current unemployment rate in Rockford. 0.12% of people in Rockford don't feel that the 14% should receive an extension of their unemployment benefits. 0.12% of people in Rockford don't believe that the 14% should receive a 65% reduction in cost of COBRA health insurance. So when the 14% are done spending most of their unemployment benefits on health insurance the 0.12% want them to do without. When the 14% have exhausted their unemployment benefits the 0.12% want them to remember their fun slogans and cool signs and how they came to downtown Rockford to throw tea in a garbage can. The 0.12% do not want to pay for the 14%. They don't care about their successes or failures. Of course 0.12 is less than 14.
1011
1,011 foreclosed homes are listed for Rockford right now at 1:08am. 0.12% of people here don't want expanded funding for the city's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), which helps to mitigate the problems caused by foreclosures, high-risk mortgages, and high numbers of abandoned or vacant properties. The "0.12 percenters" don't want to protect people left behind in these half empty neighborhoods to receive additional law enforcement, prevention and education, drug treatment programs, and support services and advocacy groups for victims of crime and domestic violence. The 0.12 percenters don't want victims to receive assistance money. The 0.12 percenters don't want money spent on improving our local justice system but of course, remember the cool colonial style hats they wore?
Remember math class? 0.12 is a little, almost insignificant number. It's not even a whole number! It's not even 1. The bigger numbers are (14%) those unemployed here, (.60%) those whose homes are recently foreclosed here, (13.8%) those in Rockford living below poverty, and finally $19,781, the 2006 estimated per-capita income here.
I ask the 0.12 percent of the cities population to tell the 14% what they should they do when their unemployment benefits run out. Maybe bring them a comforting cup of tea.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Nostalgia at the cost of reality
Reality seems to have a different meaning to many these days. To some reality is waking up to a piece of toast and coffee before the morning commute. To some reality is taking care of a family and paying a mortgage. To others, reality is waiting for the phone to ring with that job offer or waiting in line for that one hot meal of the day. Still to many reality is too harsh to acknowledge... too dispiriting to live. Whatever the distortion or perversion of reality in these formidable times it is imperative that we do not extort history to advocate our cause.
It's easy to indulge in a Norman Rockwell experience now a days. The idea of a family sitting around the radio laughing while their dog licks the father's face is a warm, friendly vision of life in America. The children's lemonade stand and the school bake sale that covered the Saturday Evening Post for so many years make looking back in time fun and easy. However, these are paintings, art to be appreciated and enjoyed, not a record of history. Norman Rockwell himself had a different sense of reality from some of the very "everyday" men he painted. After all, his father was Jarvis Waring, a prominent and wealthy businessman. After earning a consistent place with the Saturday Evening Post Rockwell made around $40,000 a year... even during the Great Depression, something unthinkable for most artists, or most anyone for that matter.
At the age of sixteen, Rockwell was a bored teenager transferring from one art school to another. Meanwhile, the supreme court was ruling case after case of attempted labor laws unconstitutional, in an effort to maintain laissez-faire economics, thus continuing abusive work practices. When Rockwell was seventeen he made his living painting pictures for "Tell Me Why" children's stories while across town 146 young immigrant workers, all women, died needlessly in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire caused by dangerous working conditions and deplorable labor standards. At 38 Rockwell painted illustrations for new editions of Mark Twain classics. This is while tanks rolled into veterans camped outside the capital. They were protesting homelessness, the lack of viable employment and an unpaid bonus for their service; owed to to them by the United States government. That day, July 28, 1932 ended with the deaths of unarmed veterans and even children, at the hands of 400 U.S. infantrymen. Norman Rockwell was painting Huck Finn.
Now this is not an indictment against Mr. Rockwell by any means. A man is not to be faulted for his successes and to his credit he used his platform to aid the war effort during WWII. I simply think it's important that we don't look to Norman Rockwell paintings and movies about days gone by for our history lessons. Rockwell lived in volatile times. Yet, his art reflects a world of Anglo-Saxon joy... one with paper routes, not paper fueled fires... one with children playing, not children suffering under oppressive labor conditions or dying in factories. Rockwell's dream world is a comforting one, to be certain, but we shouldn't look to those days as better times because they were actually some of the most volatile times we as Americans had ever known.
The idea of fishing with "grand-pappy" is a simple, easy-living concept. Unfortunately, a lot of our grandfathers couldn't even fish. In 1931, people were starving. They were unemployed, living in make-shift shelters and scrounging for scraps to sustain themselves. In New York the state's Temporary Relief Administration arranged for jobless men on relief to get free fishing licenses. The demand for food was so great that the state's office was overwhelmed with men clamoring for the opportunity to fish for their food or maybe make a profit selling fish. Thousands of men rushed the state Conservation Office, resulting in violence and disorder. Even something as deceivingly simple and homespun as the idea of one's grandfather fishing can be distorted to support or disprove some argument here or there.
It seems interesting that many of the people who are attempting to discredit the New Deal and Roosevelt's economic policies are some of the same who look back nostalgically to a simpler time. When the least people have becomes the most they ever know their reality becomes dreams, ideals and stories, but that is it. When we look back for life's lessons learned we cannot use tunnel vision. We owe it to ourselves and our children to see history accurately.
History does, in fact, repeat itself. A statement stands out these days when we look back to the election. Republican candidate John McCain said "The fundamentals of the economy are strong." Less than one month later the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was brought into law. This was after a series of prominent bank collapses and failures. The other man to have uttered the very same statement was Herbert Hoover. He said the very same words to a reporter in 1931, not even 18 months after the stock market crashed and brought the nation to its knees. How sad that we have forgotten the heavy costs of apathy and denial. Hoover's comment reflected his reality, just as John McCain's comment reflected his. One man lived in the White House and dined on seven course meals each night. The other man longed for the White house but didn't really need to crash there. After all, he had so many homes he couldn't keep count! Reality on the other side of either man's comment was a growing fear that life as we know it may very well have ended.
The word "history" derives from the Greek word historia, meaning inquiry. History, even at its origins, is not about telling as much as it is about asking. The key is to ask someone whose answer is steeped in reality, not their personal reality but the collective and unadulterated reality, lest we be manipulated into believing lies and taking refuge in pictures of an idealized past. After all, even Napoleon had the idea. He said "What is history but a fable agreed upon?". I should hope in the end we all agree the fable we will tell our children, when discussing these times, will be the one with facts, significance and reality.
It's easy to indulge in a Norman Rockwell experience now a days. The idea of a family sitting around the radio laughing while their dog licks the father's face is a warm, friendly vision of life in America. The children's lemonade stand and the school bake sale that covered the Saturday Evening Post for so many years make looking back in time fun and easy. However, these are paintings, art to be appreciated and enjoyed, not a record of history. Norman Rockwell himself had a different sense of reality from some of the very "everyday" men he painted. After all, his father was Jarvis Waring, a prominent and wealthy businessman. After earning a consistent place with the Saturday Evening Post Rockwell made around $40,000 a year... even during the Great Depression, something unthinkable for most artists, or most anyone for that matter.
At the age of sixteen, Rockwell was a bored teenager transferring from one art school to another. Meanwhile, the supreme court was ruling case after case of attempted labor laws unconstitutional, in an effort to maintain laissez-faire economics, thus continuing abusive work practices. When Rockwell was seventeen he made his living painting pictures for "Tell Me Why" children's stories while across town 146 young immigrant workers, all women, died needlessly in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire caused by dangerous working conditions and deplorable labor standards. At 38 Rockwell painted illustrations for new editions of Mark Twain classics. This is while tanks rolled into veterans camped outside the capital. They were protesting homelessness, the lack of viable employment and an unpaid bonus for their service; owed to to them by the United States government. That day, July 28, 1932 ended with the deaths of unarmed veterans and even children, at the hands of 400 U.S. infantrymen. Norman Rockwell was painting Huck Finn.
Now this is not an indictment against Mr. Rockwell by any means. A man is not to be faulted for his successes and to his credit he used his platform to aid the war effort during WWII. I simply think it's important that we don't look to Norman Rockwell paintings and movies about days gone by for our history lessons. Rockwell lived in volatile times. Yet, his art reflects a world of Anglo-Saxon joy... one with paper routes, not paper fueled fires... one with children playing, not children suffering under oppressive labor conditions or dying in factories. Rockwell's dream world is a comforting one, to be certain, but we shouldn't look to those days as better times because they were actually some of the most volatile times we as Americans had ever known.
The idea of fishing with "grand-pappy" is a simple, easy-living concept. Unfortunately, a lot of our grandfathers couldn't even fish. In 1931, people were starving. They were unemployed, living in make-shift shelters and scrounging for scraps to sustain themselves. In New York the state's Temporary Relief Administration arranged for jobless men on relief to get free fishing licenses. The demand for food was so great that the state's office was overwhelmed with men clamoring for the opportunity to fish for their food or maybe make a profit selling fish. Thousands of men rushed the state Conservation Office, resulting in violence and disorder. Even something as deceivingly simple and homespun as the idea of one's grandfather fishing can be distorted to support or disprove some argument here or there.
It seems interesting that many of the people who are attempting to discredit the New Deal and Roosevelt's economic policies are some of the same who look back nostalgically to a simpler time. When the least people have becomes the most they ever know their reality becomes dreams, ideals and stories, but that is it. When we look back for life's lessons learned we cannot use tunnel vision. We owe it to ourselves and our children to see history accurately.
History does, in fact, repeat itself. A statement stands out these days when we look back to the election. Republican candidate John McCain said "The fundamentals of the economy are strong." Less than one month later the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was brought into law. This was after a series of prominent bank collapses and failures. The other man to have uttered the very same statement was Herbert Hoover. He said the very same words to a reporter in 1931, not even 18 months after the stock market crashed and brought the nation to its knees. How sad that we have forgotten the heavy costs of apathy and denial. Hoover's comment reflected his reality, just as John McCain's comment reflected his. One man lived in the White House and dined on seven course meals each night. The other man longed for the White house but didn't really need to crash there. After all, he had so many homes he couldn't keep count! Reality on the other side of either man's comment was a growing fear that life as we know it may very well have ended.
The word "history" derives from the Greek word historia, meaning inquiry. History, even at its origins, is not about telling as much as it is about asking. The key is to ask someone whose answer is steeped in reality, not their personal reality but the collective and unadulterated reality, lest we be manipulated into believing lies and taking refuge in pictures of an idealized past. After all, even Napoleon had the idea. He said "What is history but a fable agreed upon?". I should hope in the end we all agree the fable we will tell our children, when discussing these times, will be the one with facts, significance and reality.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Tea Parties featured on the Rachel Maddow show
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Rockford's WPA Projects and my thoughts on the word "hateful"
In a recent email Rockford Tea Party organizer David Hale called my blog "hateful". While this did not bother me too terribly much it did get me thinking and searching for any hateful words in my blog. Alright, I will admit that it may not have been the nicest thing to write when I mentioned that I would rather have my email box inundated with porn, ads, and requests for money from "Nigerian kings" than notices from that crackpot group. I apologize for that comment. Requests for money from Nigerian kings are seldom legitimate and I'm sorry for writing that I prefer them over invites to attend misdirected protests with ill-informed protesters committing possibly illegal acts.
As I looked through my various blog entries I could not find this "hateful" tone to which Mr. Hale is referring. In fact, I created my blog with a deep love for the people around me and a deep sense of pride and passion for my hometown. I have to thank David Hale and the Rockford Tea Party, not for their plan to dump tea in the Rock River, but for calling to my attention some aspects of Rockford history of which I was not previously aware. It is because of them that I am now even more proud of "the forest city" and that I am even more excited about the current stimulus plan.
Last night and this morning I visited the local history room of the Rockford Public Library. They have records on just about any local topic and records putting a local spin on any number of national topics. I requested to see any information they had regarding the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the Rockford area and I received three files of information. I wanted to see just how much of Rockford was built up by a previous large stimulus package. They had original WPA paperwork, listing the heads of various departments within the WPA. They had paperwork highlighting each division of the WPA, listing what projects were to take place, the order in which they were to take place and the funding available to each project. The library also had one large file full of newspaper clippings spanning from 1934 - 1943. I thought I knew a little about The New Deal and FDR, the CCC and the PWA but what I learned in the library today thrilled me. Our town was at the epicenter of tax funded economic stimulus during the great depression. The papers I reviewed are a direct reflection of our city's history of hard work and community effort.
In 1935 headquarters for all Northern Illinois WPA, with the exception of Cook County, was located in Rockford, Illinois. Northern Illinois WPA Lead Administrator Robert J. Mogens Ipsen set up his office in our Federal Building. This Rockford native was in charge of the 21 surrounding counties, including Winnebago. His initial goal was to find and submit projects to the government for those on relief in our area to have at least one year of work while improving our overall quality of life and infrastructure. The first three projects he submitted and had approved for work were the widening of 18th st between 7th and 9th avenue, extensive sidewalk construction throughout the city, and a massive sewer project that brought the first working sewers to people in Loves Park.
Not only did the unemployed of Rockford take up shovels and begin work on these projects as soon as money came in for supplies and labor, (1935), but many people here who had been unemployed and on relief began working in school cafeterias and day cares. Some of them worked at a sewing factory, that, at one point, employed 300 workers who sewed clothing for people on government relief and materials for other WPA projects. 35 people in Rockford worked as teachers; teaching free courses in literacy, music and art, citizenship and naturalization, parent education, photography, crafts and first aid. They had 850 students as of September 1936.
I hear the worry, by David Hale and his ilk, that this stimulus package is socialism. It's nothing like socialism. First of all, this is a bill that elected officials passed. Yes, some voted against it, but those of you who are constantly mentioning how great our country is must surely respect the democratic process that led to the stimulus bill passing. Second, this stimulus package won't take over. It is to stimulate... get things moving. FDR enacted The New Deal legislation and even after the government employed 8,500,000 people at one point or another from 1935 - 1943... even after all those people worked for "big government"... we still have private industry. Somehow, we are still (still!) not a socialist state. So, what is the worry? Such a massive spending plan didn't turn us socialist or communist or red back then and it won't now. In fact, by 1943 most people who were once employed by the WPA found private sector employment.
For those of you who are still worried about the big scary threat of socialism hiding beneath the President's stimulus package I submit to you that the Socialist party repudiated The New Deal. They felt it only laid the ground work to maintain capitalism. Those of you living in Rockford might find it interesting to know that in July of 1935 Socialist party candidate Norman Thomas visited Rockford, where he held a rally at Lyran Hall and spoke against the WPA. Incidentally, the rally was brought to an end when someone threw a tear-gas bomb through the window thus wreaking havoc. No one was hurt and attendees were told they could pick up any left-behind jackets or items at the home of Rockford's first socialist alderman, Oscar Ogren. Just imagine, we managed to pass a massive spending bill to stimulate the economy, the government managed to employ millions and create jobs as well as infrastructure, a socialist visited Rockford, and yet we are still a democracy.
I know. There's that other worry... the one about (how did it go again?) something about paying for your neighbor's second bathroom? We're simply not in this crisis because everyone ran to Home Depot and updated their homes. Social welfare is something long neglected. In this "every man for himself" race to the top we forgot that if society declines there will come a point when no one will move... not up, not forward, not at all.
If we allow the decline of our city and the decline of our country to continue who will want to live in our city? What will be left? If so many of our houses are foreclosed on and so many of our citizens are in shelters who will be left? I volunteer at a homeless shelter and I see people who have had all kinds of problems in their lives: drugs, domestic violence, generations of poverty... you name it. But I also see people who had always been one catastrophe away from devastation. Often times they are people with medical injuries not covered by their insurance. Sometimes they are people who simply just cannot find work. We have to use tax dollars to bring some of these people out of their state of misery. It makes them more productive to us and it makes us more important to them. A society where everyone matters... how's that for hateful blog rhetoric?
I also submit this to you bathroom tea dumping protesters:
You have work right now, but nothing is certain in this global economy. If you lose your job today will you proudly refuse unemployment benefits? If you lose your health insurance today will you remain principled in your anti-tax, tea dumping belief and refuse COBRA for yourself and your family?
Many Rockford white-collar, professional workers felt that way in 1935. They felt excluded from work projects and frustrated that they would have to "dumb down" their skills to participate in WPA projects. Ah, but wait, that guy Ipsen, always on top of things, recognized that concern and called on a guy named Robert McKeague to take on the responsibility of finding work for white-collar relief workers. A dignified wage and job was offered to all under WPA funding. White collar-workers in Rockford were teachers, health care providers, symphony orchestra musicians, writers, legal clinic workers and so much more. Actually, it was a group of white-collar professional WPA workers who undertook the task of organizing and analyzing the City Clerk and City Collector records. They found that oftentimes the city clerk records were off on figures as much as 35%! This is huge! A government sponsored, tax-funded program brought a hault to a government inefficiency.
My research tells me that Rockford, like many cities all over the country, has proven what tax stimulus money can really do for a community. In 1938 as many as 88,000 people in 21 counties enjoyed WPA recreational activities every week. 1100 Rockford workers worked on the WPA project constructing a $1,835,220.00 sewer project for the city and the surrounding area and last but most certainly not least WPA money and workers helped keep the Rockford Public Library alive.
I ask those of you who plan to dump tea in the Rock River as part of a protest against taxes to please turn around and look at the Rockford Public Library, where you plan to meet. This is what you are against. Walk down a mile or two and look at the Sinissippi Rose Garden. That too enjoyed funding and labor from big tax stimulus dollars. Walk down even further to the Auburn Street Bridge. You guessed it.... more tax dollars.
There's nothing hateful about wanting to preserve the institutions that have made our city great. It is, however, terribly sad that those dumping tea into the Rock River this Tuesday do not see the work just two generations ago that was put into the very spot they will stand.
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As I looked through my various blog entries I could not find this "hateful" tone to which Mr. Hale is referring. In fact, I created my blog with a deep love for the people around me and a deep sense of pride and passion for my hometown. I have to thank David Hale and the Rockford Tea Party, not for their plan to dump tea in the Rock River, but for calling to my attention some aspects of Rockford history of which I was not previously aware. It is because of them that I am now even more proud of "the forest city" and that I am even more excited about the current stimulus plan.
Last night and this morning I visited the local history room of the Rockford Public Library. They have records on just about any local topic and records putting a local spin on any number of national topics. I requested to see any information they had regarding the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the Rockford area and I received three files of information. I wanted to see just how much of Rockford was built up by a previous large stimulus package. They had original WPA paperwork, listing the heads of various departments within the WPA. They had paperwork highlighting each division of the WPA, listing what projects were to take place, the order in which they were to take place and the funding available to each project. The library also had one large file full of newspaper clippings spanning from 1934 - 1943. I thought I knew a little about The New Deal and FDR, the CCC and the PWA but what I learned in the library today thrilled me. Our town was at the epicenter of tax funded economic stimulus during the great depression. The papers I reviewed are a direct reflection of our city's history of hard work and community effort.
In 1935 headquarters for all Northern Illinois WPA, with the exception of Cook County, was located in Rockford, Illinois. Northern Illinois WPA Lead Administrator Robert J. Mogens Ipsen set up his office in our Federal Building. This Rockford native was in charge of the 21 surrounding counties, including Winnebago. His initial goal was to find and submit projects to the government for those on relief in our area to have at least one year of work while improving our overall quality of life and infrastructure. The first three projects he submitted and had approved for work were the widening of 18th st between 7th and 9th avenue, extensive sidewalk construction throughout the city, and a massive sewer project that brought the first working sewers to people in Loves Park.
Not only did the unemployed of Rockford take up shovels and begin work on these projects as soon as money came in for supplies and labor, (1935), but many people here who had been unemployed and on relief began working in school cafeterias and day cares. Some of them worked at a sewing factory, that, at one point, employed 300 workers who sewed clothing for people on government relief and materials for other WPA projects. 35 people in Rockford worked as teachers; teaching free courses in literacy, music and art, citizenship and naturalization, parent education, photography, crafts and first aid. They had 850 students as of September 1936.
I hear the worry, by David Hale and his ilk, that this stimulus package is socialism. It's nothing like socialism. First of all, this is a bill that elected officials passed. Yes, some voted against it, but those of you who are constantly mentioning how great our country is must surely respect the democratic process that led to the stimulus bill passing. Second, this stimulus package won't take over. It is to stimulate... get things moving. FDR enacted The New Deal legislation and even after the government employed 8,500,000 people at one point or another from 1935 - 1943... even after all those people worked for "big government"... we still have private industry. Somehow, we are still (still!) not a socialist state. So, what is the worry? Such a massive spending plan didn't turn us socialist or communist or red back then and it won't now. In fact, by 1943 most people who were once employed by the WPA found private sector employment.
For those of you who are still worried about the big scary threat of socialism hiding beneath the President's stimulus package I submit to you that the Socialist party repudiated The New Deal. They felt it only laid the ground work to maintain capitalism. Those of you living in Rockford might find it interesting to know that in July of 1935 Socialist party candidate Norman Thomas visited Rockford, where he held a rally at Lyran Hall and spoke against the WPA. Incidentally, the rally was brought to an end when someone threw a tear-gas bomb through the window thus wreaking havoc. No one was hurt and attendees were told they could pick up any left-behind jackets or items at the home of Rockford's first socialist alderman, Oscar Ogren. Just imagine, we managed to pass a massive spending bill to stimulate the economy, the government managed to employ millions and create jobs as well as infrastructure, a socialist visited Rockford, and yet we are still a democracy.
I know. There's that other worry... the one about (how did it go again?) something about paying for your neighbor's second bathroom? We're simply not in this crisis because everyone ran to Home Depot and updated their homes. Social welfare is something long neglected. In this "every man for himself" race to the top we forgot that if society declines there will come a point when no one will move... not up, not forward, not at all.
If we allow the decline of our city and the decline of our country to continue who will want to live in our city? What will be left? If so many of our houses are foreclosed on and so many of our citizens are in shelters who will be left? I volunteer at a homeless shelter and I see people who have had all kinds of problems in their lives: drugs, domestic violence, generations of poverty... you name it. But I also see people who had always been one catastrophe away from devastation. Often times they are people with medical injuries not covered by their insurance. Sometimes they are people who simply just cannot find work. We have to use tax dollars to bring some of these people out of their state of misery. It makes them more productive to us and it makes us more important to them. A society where everyone matters... how's that for hateful blog rhetoric?
I also submit this to you bathroom tea dumping protesters:
You have work right now, but nothing is certain in this global economy. If you lose your job today will you proudly refuse unemployment benefits? If you lose your health insurance today will you remain principled in your anti-tax, tea dumping belief and refuse COBRA for yourself and your family?
Many Rockford white-collar, professional workers felt that way in 1935. They felt excluded from work projects and frustrated that they would have to "dumb down" their skills to participate in WPA projects. Ah, but wait, that guy Ipsen, always on top of things, recognized that concern and called on a guy named Robert McKeague to take on the responsibility of finding work for white-collar relief workers. A dignified wage and job was offered to all under WPA funding. White collar-workers in Rockford were teachers, health care providers, symphony orchestra musicians, writers, legal clinic workers and so much more. Actually, it was a group of white-collar professional WPA workers who undertook the task of organizing and analyzing the City Clerk and City Collector records. They found that oftentimes the city clerk records were off on figures as much as 35%! This is huge! A government sponsored, tax-funded program brought a hault to a government inefficiency.
My research tells me that Rockford, like many cities all over the country, has proven what tax stimulus money can really do for a community. In 1938 as many as 88,000 people in 21 counties enjoyed WPA recreational activities every week. 1100 Rockford workers worked on the WPA project constructing a $1,835,220.00 sewer project for the city and the surrounding area and last but most certainly not least WPA money and workers helped keep the Rockford Public Library alive.
I ask those of you who plan to dump tea in the Rock River as part of a protest against taxes to please turn around and look at the Rockford Public Library, where you plan to meet. This is what you are against. Walk down a mile or two and look at the Sinissippi Rose Garden. That too enjoyed funding and labor from big tax stimulus dollars. Walk down even further to the Auburn Street Bridge. You guessed it.... more tax dollars.
There's nothing hateful about wanting to preserve the institutions that have made our city great. It is, however, terribly sad that those dumping tea into the Rock River this Tuesday do not see the work just two generations ago that was put into the very spot they will stand.
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Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Rockford Register Star, Chuck Sweeny and WPA
Rockford Register Star's senior editor Chuck Sweeny wrote an Op-Ed piece on the Rockford Tea Party.
The Register Star's Op/Ed piece
Also, I spent some time inside the library today, rather than behind it dumping tea, and I learned the library was one of many projects in Rockford to benefit from WPA funding. How funny is it that these "tax objectors" will be protesting publicly funded economic stimulation in front of a building kept alive by public funds. I hope to post more on that soon.
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The Register Star's Op/Ed piece
Also, I spent some time inside the library today, rather than behind it dumping tea, and I learned the library was one of many projects in Rockford to benefit from WPA funding. How funny is it that these "tax objectors" will be protesting publicly funded economic stimulation in front of a building kept alive by public funds. I hope to post more on that soon.
Just started following this blog? Click here to get caught up.
Emails between myself and the RTP Coordinator
Now that I've had time to establish my blog I have decided to take my correspondence with the the Rockford Tea Party coordinator and organize it into one post. My emails are in blue. His emails are in red. I cut and past the emails as they were received. One email is from the neighborhood watch leader, the person who initially sent me notice of the protest. Her email is shown in green.
I got an email back from the Rockford Tea Party organizer.
It simply reads
"Do you work for the city of Rockford?"
I will respond no, which is the truth, tomorrow when my laptop battery is not dying.
I have emailed David Hale at rockfordteaparty@gmail.com to be sure he has the proper permits for the Rockford TeaParty. He did request in his email and on the blog that the tea be loose and not in bags. There is also a bus going to Chicago on April 15th for that tea party.
This is a copy of the email I sent in response to her response. I also wonder this... if we are allowed to dump loose leaf tea in the river, as long as there are no bags, should coffee grounds be dumped in the river? Maybe coffee houses could pay less in sanitation costs by saving their grounds and dumping them in the river. According to this "there's no bag- there's no litter" mentality we could dump oil, paint, old food, coffee grounds... anything loose into the river. This seems unacceptable to me. Once again, I understand they are doing this to recall the Boston Tea Party protest but the economic and political climates were just a little different and the reference is a stretch at best.
There are no permits for littering. The ordinance is clear about dumping and discarding any garbage... unused food... waste item improperly. Tea is not native to the Rock River ecosystem.
Also, tea parties are being held around the country. Did you read that people are being ticketed at such parties when the police are able to do so?
Thanks for passing the info on to Mr. Hale. I also did so but it probably never hurts to reinforce our laws, right?
Please see my new blog regarding the topic. I'm also including a few links regarding the Boston Tea Party FYI.
http://noteaparty.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party
The Boston Tea Party was about taxation without representation. We have representation. There are many legal ways to protest taxes and government involvement... without dirtying a city that already needs to be cleaned up.
This is my response to the Rockford Tea Party coordinator's email asking me if I work for the city of Rockford.
I am not an employee of the city of Rockford, but I am always working for the city of Rockford in an effort to make it a better place to live.
Here is the response to my emailing telling the RTP coordinator that I am not a city employee:
Then I won't take your threats to fine the Rockford tea party $100,000 seriously despite your brazen attempt to frighten us out of exercising our constitutional rights to free speech and we will continue to speak out constitutionally about what we belive as American citizens. You are welcome to join us in that effort to make the city of Rockford a better place to live.
This is what I wrote back:
Sir I make no threat to fine you. I was simply attempting to bring your attention to the city ordinance regarding littering. The $100,000 comes from the fine listed in the ordinance multiplied by 1000. (protesters)
I got an email back from the Rockford Tea Party organizer.
It simply reads
"Do you work for the city of Rockford?"
I will respond no, which is the truth, tomorrow when my laptop battery is not dying.
This is a copy of the email sent to me by the neighborhood watch leader in response to the email I sent her regarding the littering ordinance and my request to be removed from her mailing list.
The tea party email out as an FYI.
The tea party email out as an FYI.
Tea Party's are happening all over the United States as a protest to the much higher taxes we, our children and our children's children, will be having to pay because of the passage of recent spending Bills in Congress and the planned tax increases here in Illinois by our new Governor Pat Quinn. The Rockford tea party is symbolic and referencing the history of the first tea party in 1773.
This is a copy of the email I sent in response to her response. I also wonder this... if we are allowed to dump loose leaf tea in the river, as long as there are no bags, should coffee grounds be dumped in the river? Maybe coffee houses could pay less in sanitation costs by saving their grounds and dumping them in the river. According to this "there's no bag- there's no litter" mentality we could dump oil, paint, old food, coffee grounds... anything loose into the river. This seems unacceptable to me. Once again, I understand they are doing this to recall the Boston Tea Party protest but the economic and political climates were just a little different and the reference is a stretch at best.
There are no permits for littering. The ordinance is clear about dumping and discarding any garbage... unused food... waste item improperly. Tea is not native to the Rock River ecosystem.
Also, tea parties are being held around the country. Did you read that people are being ticketed at such parties when the police are able to do so?
Thanks for passing the info on to Mr. Hale. I also did so but it probably never hurts to reinforce our laws, right?
Please see my new blog regarding the topic. I'm also including a few links regarding the Boston Tea Party FYI.
http://noteaparty.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party
The Boston Tea Party was about taxation without representation. We have representation. There are many legal ways to protest taxes and government involvement... without dirtying a city that already needs to be cleaned up.
This is my response to the Rockford Tea Party coordinator's email asking me if I work for the city of Rockford.
I am not an employee of the city of Rockford, but I am always working for the city of Rockford in an effort to make it a better place to live.
Here is the response to my emailing telling the RTP coordinator that I am not a city employee:
Then I won't take your threats to fine the Rockford tea party $100,000 seriously despite your brazen attempt to frighten us out of exercising our constitutional rights to free speech and we will continue to speak out constitutionally about what we belive as American citizens. You are welcome to join us in that effort to make the city of Rockford a better place to live.
This is what I wrote back:
Sir I make no threat to fine you. I was simply attempting to bring your attention to the city ordinance regarding littering. The $100,000 comes from the fine listed in the ordinance multiplied by 1000. (protesters)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Something better to do on a Tuesday afternoon
Ahh... a relaxing cup of tea! That's what I fixed for myself when I came home from a five-day trip (I'm a flight attendant- more on that later) this evening. Little did I know that tea would be on my mind for the rest of the evening, and no, not because of the caffeine content. I'm actually writing about modern-day tea parties.
I received an enthusiastic email from the woman who runs my neighborhood watch two days ago inviting everyone on her mailing list to a Rockford tea Party. Apparently a group of people in Rockford, IL, a place I proudly call home, are planning to organize and dump tea into the Rock River on April 14. The email then included an exciting offer to join an even larger group renting a bus to go dump tea in the Chicago river. All this for only $20! Oh... plus the cost of tea. Needless to say the email filled me with such anger and disgust I decided to take action.
Here is a copy of the invite.
THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT HAS GONE TOO FAR AND TAKEN TOO MUCH. We are Tax Objectors not tax avoiders nor tax cheaters. We pay our Taxes. We pay too much. Taxes must be reduced.. Government waste, fraud and abuse must be reduced. We will be heard on April 14, 2009 at the RockfordTeaParty and make our grievances known not only here in Rockford but also to the United States Government. Our Objections to the American Tax Code will be presented to various leaders peacefully. We are looking for 1000 people who also object. Join the RockfordTeaParty.
So after I vented a little rage I responded to this woman's email. I told her times must be ok if she had enough money to throw tea into the river. I also asked her to please remove me from her mailing list. I want nothing to do with this crackpot group. I would rather have my email inbox flooded with porn, ads, forwards and requests for money by Nigerian kings than this crap. I felt disgusting.
Writing her back wasn't enough to satisfy me. I still felt so sad and appalled. I was beginning to worry that people in Rockford may actually join this group. People from Rockford may actually think they are protesting higher taxes by dumping tea in the Rock River. I went to the city of Rockford website and looked up the ordinances regarding littering. Rockford city ordinance 25 prohibits littering and section c specifically mentions bodies of water. I will post it in a different blog. I forwarded the Rockford Tea Party invite and a copy of the ordinance to the neighborhood watch leader, the mayor, all of my friends and family and the chief of police. In the email I mentioned that hopefully they will be able to get the 1000 people they are trying to get. That would mean up to $100,000 in fines for the city!
I began to feel a little better. I felt like I was taking action but still it was not enough. That's when I decided to start this blog. I think it's important for the other side to be as vocal as the tea dumpers. I find huge fault with the whole tea party protest in general, The protest they are trying to make is nothing like the Boston tea party. Also, at a time when food pantries are overwhelmed and families are stretching their grocery budgets I think it's inappropriate to waste food for protest. Finally, it bothers me that this group is taking something as near and dear to Rockford as our Rock River and using to showcase their selfish, anti-community, anti-middle-class agenda.
The Boston Tea Party took place December 16, 1773 when officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain. The colonists were so incensed that they began dumping the tea into the Boston harbor. They were saying that they would rather dump the precious, expensive tea and waste it all rather than pay a tax to someone other than an elected official. This became a movement. It was not necessarily a protest against taxes. It was a protest against taxation without representation. There of course is so much more to the event, but without giving an American revolution lesson I feel that's the relevant info. One could look into the Tea Act of 1767, regarding huge import/export taxes of Tea, an agreement between one of the largest tea companies in the world and the British Parliament and a surplus of black tea with no buyers. To me, the important thing to know here is times were dire. People were paying taxes to a government that was not representing them. They were funding a monarchy.
Our taxes do not fund a monarchy. We just had one of those pesky little elections. You know, the thing that TV focused on instead of Britney Spears for a few months? So first of all, we have direct representation. We hold sovereignty. Second, we don't pay taxes to fund a monarchy or to help some queen's cousin's company stay afloat. We pay taxes because we have decided to have a society and in a society everyone works for a somewhat common goal. You may not want to drive where I want to drive but I bet you want to use roads to get there, right? Taxes pay for roads. You may not want to live in the same kind of house or apartment as me but I bet you want firemen to come save you if it's on fire, right? Taxes pay for firemen. Taxes pay for police. Taxes pay for schools... for maintenance of our infrastructure... for unemployment... for social security... for parks... for West Nile spraying... for pest control... and so on and so forth. With the number of things taxes are spread to cover it's a wonder we haven't paid more from the start.
I'm not for careless spending. I think our taxes should be kept as low as is possible but i also have a profound belief that it's necessary for everyone to contribute to this whole society idea if it is to work. Some are opposed to paying taxes in general. To those people I offer the idea of Haiti. Go to Haiti. No taxes. Of course, there are no roads, barely any homes, massive poverty and starvation and an overall desperate situation, but no taxes for you in Haiti. You can go and live a relatively isolated life and not have mess those pesky sewers or schools or anything.
Others are ok paying taxes but have a problem with where their tax dollars are going. To those people I suggest movement. We have representation here... now.... We can write to our congressmen, our senators, our alderman, the mayor, the governor, the president. If writing doesn't work we can call. If calling doesn't work we can vote for someone who will listen to us. If no such person exists we live in a nation great enough to allow us the chance to run for office ourselves. The options to be heard are endless but they do not begin by violating the law.
That brings me to another reason I am against the whole tea party protest. It is unlawful and unproductive, I know that tea is not in high demand. Homeless shelters may not need it. I volunteer at a homeless shelter and I know we would not really have use for large batches of tea. The greater point for me is that we are cultivating an atmosphere of waste and carelessness. Why dump any food into the river? It also seems contradictory to the argument that people have no money for taxes. You must have a little money if you are dumping it into the river! At least the tea meant something when the colonists did it. They didn't go home and round up a bunch of salt or sugar and bring it to the harbor to dump. The tea was direct from England and dumping it was relevant. Maybe an equivalent would be to dump a Chrysler in the river? I'm not sure on that one.
It upsets me to no end that this group has decided to dump tea into the Rock River. The Rock River is actually the name sake of Rockford. When early settlers came here they had to ford across certain sections of the river and the bottom of it was covered with rocks. That's where Rockford gets its' name. The recreation path along the Rock River is one of my favorite parts of the city. It's close to the historic downtown district and near many of our most beautiful and treasured landmarks. I'm offended that this group has decided to take a symbol of hard work, cooperation and community and use it to aid in their "every man for himself" agenda. When my grandmother's grandparents moved here from Sweden they had to help build the street in front of their home. They did so gladly because they were proud to help build up their own city. They wanted to live in a neighborhood in which they were vested. Using the Rock River, essentially a symbol of community organization and responsibility to make such selfish, individualist points is an insult to everything our town founders help dear.
In closing, I have one thing to say to those who wish to dump tea into the Rock River on April 14th: Bring your tea to me. I will thankfully take it. I love tea. I spend about eight dollars a week on tea and I could use the bailout!
Thanks for reading my blog. I will keep it going because I feel that it is imperative that we do all we can fight for the middle class. The stimulus package is flawed, to be sure, but an anti-community, anti-tax and anti-government mindset will only lead us further into civil unrest and despair. I love my city and my country and I want to make them better, not just for me but for the people around me.
I received an enthusiastic email from the woman who runs my neighborhood watch two days ago inviting everyone on her mailing list to a Rockford tea Party. Apparently a group of people in Rockford, IL, a place I proudly call home, are planning to organize and dump tea into the Rock River on April 14. The email then included an exciting offer to join an even larger group renting a bus to go dump tea in the Chicago river. All this for only $20! Oh... plus the cost of tea. Needless to say the email filled me with such anger and disgust I decided to take action.
Here is a copy of the invite.
THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT HAS GONE TOO FAR AND TAKEN TOO MUCH. We are Tax Objectors not tax avoiders nor tax cheaters. We pay our Taxes. We pay too much. Taxes must be reduced.. Government waste, fraud and abuse must be reduced. We will be heard on April 14, 2009 at the RockfordTeaParty and make our grievances known not only here in Rockford but also to the United States Government. Our Objections to the American Tax Code will be presented to various leaders peacefully. We are looking for 1000 people who also object. Join the RockfordTeaParty.
So after I vented a little rage I responded to this woman's email. I told her times must be ok if she had enough money to throw tea into the river. I also asked her to please remove me from her mailing list. I want nothing to do with this crackpot group. I would rather have my email inbox flooded with porn, ads, forwards and requests for money by Nigerian kings than this crap. I felt disgusting.
Writing her back wasn't enough to satisfy me. I still felt so sad and appalled. I was beginning to worry that people in Rockford may actually join this group. People from Rockford may actually think they are protesting higher taxes by dumping tea in the Rock River. I went to the city of Rockford website and looked up the ordinances regarding littering. Rockford city ordinance 25 prohibits littering and section c specifically mentions bodies of water. I will post it in a different blog. I forwarded the Rockford Tea Party invite and a copy of the ordinance to the neighborhood watch leader, the mayor, all of my friends and family and the chief of police. In the email I mentioned that hopefully they will be able to get the 1000 people they are trying to get. That would mean up to $100,000 in fines for the city!
I began to feel a little better. I felt like I was taking action but still it was not enough. That's when I decided to start this blog. I think it's important for the other side to be as vocal as the tea dumpers. I find huge fault with the whole tea party protest in general, The protest they are trying to make is nothing like the Boston tea party. Also, at a time when food pantries are overwhelmed and families are stretching their grocery budgets I think it's inappropriate to waste food for protest. Finally, it bothers me that this group is taking something as near and dear to Rockford as our Rock River and using to showcase their selfish, anti-community, anti-middle-class agenda.
The Boston Tea Party took place December 16, 1773 when officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain. The colonists were so incensed that they began dumping the tea into the Boston harbor. They were saying that they would rather dump the precious, expensive tea and waste it all rather than pay a tax to someone other than an elected official. This became a movement. It was not necessarily a protest against taxes. It was a protest against taxation without representation. There of course is so much more to the event, but without giving an American revolution lesson I feel that's the relevant info. One could look into the Tea Act of 1767, regarding huge import/export taxes of Tea, an agreement between one of the largest tea companies in the world and the British Parliament and a surplus of black tea with no buyers. To me, the important thing to know here is times were dire. People were paying taxes to a government that was not representing them. They were funding a monarchy.
Our taxes do not fund a monarchy. We just had one of those pesky little elections. You know, the thing that TV focused on instead of Britney Spears for a few months? So first of all, we have direct representation. We hold sovereignty. Second, we don't pay taxes to fund a monarchy or to help some queen's cousin's company stay afloat. We pay taxes because we have decided to have a society and in a society everyone works for a somewhat common goal. You may not want to drive where I want to drive but I bet you want to use roads to get there, right? Taxes pay for roads. You may not want to live in the same kind of house or apartment as me but I bet you want firemen to come save you if it's on fire, right? Taxes pay for firemen. Taxes pay for police. Taxes pay for schools... for maintenance of our infrastructure... for unemployment... for social security... for parks... for West Nile spraying... for pest control... and so on and so forth. With the number of things taxes are spread to cover it's a wonder we haven't paid more from the start.
I'm not for careless spending. I think our taxes should be kept as low as is possible but i also have a profound belief that it's necessary for everyone to contribute to this whole society idea if it is to work. Some are opposed to paying taxes in general. To those people I offer the idea of Haiti. Go to Haiti. No taxes. Of course, there are no roads, barely any homes, massive poverty and starvation and an overall desperate situation, but no taxes for you in Haiti. You can go and live a relatively isolated life and not have mess those pesky sewers or schools or anything.
Others are ok paying taxes but have a problem with where their tax dollars are going. To those people I suggest movement. We have representation here... now.... We can write to our congressmen, our senators, our alderman, the mayor, the governor, the president. If writing doesn't work we can call. If calling doesn't work we can vote for someone who will listen to us. If no such person exists we live in a nation great enough to allow us the chance to run for office ourselves. The options to be heard are endless but they do not begin by violating the law.
That brings me to another reason I am against the whole tea party protest. It is unlawful and unproductive, I know that tea is not in high demand. Homeless shelters may not need it. I volunteer at a homeless shelter and I know we would not really have use for large batches of tea. The greater point for me is that we are cultivating an atmosphere of waste and carelessness. Why dump any food into the river? It also seems contradictory to the argument that people have no money for taxes. You must have a little money if you are dumping it into the river! At least the tea meant something when the colonists did it. They didn't go home and round up a bunch of salt or sugar and bring it to the harbor to dump. The tea was direct from England and dumping it was relevant. Maybe an equivalent would be to dump a Chrysler in the river? I'm not sure on that one.
It upsets me to no end that this group has decided to dump tea into the Rock River. The Rock River is actually the name sake of Rockford. When early settlers came here they had to ford across certain sections of the river and the bottom of it was covered with rocks. That's where Rockford gets its' name. The recreation path along the Rock River is one of my favorite parts of the city. It's close to the historic downtown district and near many of our most beautiful and treasured landmarks. I'm offended that this group has decided to take a symbol of hard work, cooperation and community and use it to aid in their "every man for himself" agenda. When my grandmother's grandparents moved here from Sweden they had to help build the street in front of their home. They did so gladly because they were proud to help build up their own city. They wanted to live in a neighborhood in which they were vested. Using the Rock River, essentially a symbol of community organization and responsibility to make such selfish, individualist points is an insult to everything our town founders help dear.
In closing, I have one thing to say to those who wish to dump tea into the Rock River on April 14th: Bring your tea to me. I will thankfully take it. I love tea. I spend about eight dollars a week on tea and I could use the bailout!
Thanks for reading my blog. I will keep it going because I feel that it is imperative that we do all we can fight for the middle class. The stimulus package is flawed, to be sure, but an anti-community, anti-tax and anti-government mindset will only lead us further into civil unrest and despair. I love my city and my country and I want to make them better, not just for me but for the people around me.
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