The Thanksgiving Code

There should be a code among retailers for Black Friday. A pledge that commits to allowing employees and would-be customers time with family and friends. For example, my girlfriends and I have a code. We've do not go after the same shoe or the same guy. But retailers like Toys 'R Us are opening their doors at 9:00 p.m. The pressure is on to give up prime time away from the pinochle tournament or testing out the new XBox 360 to trample someone you've never met for a toy your child will play with for all of five minutes before they're on to something else. Target, one of my favorite retailers, will be flinging their doors open wide at 10 pm. My second favorite place to shop, Crabtree Valley Mall, will open at 3 a.m. The worst offender is Wal-Mart who is not even closing on Thanksgiving. Why? Why do retailers feel the need to lure us away from turkey time and one of few company paid long weekends? I'm throwing down the gauntlet-- right here, right now! I'm challenging retailers to not try to one up each other at time when their employees are already paid to little, worked too long and taken away from those that matter far too often. So similar to the Pirate Pledge my good friends in the Shadow Players stage combat pirate troop ask all audience members to recite, I'm asking Wal-Mart, Target, Toys 'R Us and others to take the following pledge: I (say your name), promise to not horn in on my employees' time away from the office/sales floor. I (say your name again) realize my employees deserve a few extra hours with those friends and family who miss their silly touchdown dance, hate that they always get the high score in Wii bowling, and repeatedly show off on the dance floor. I (name again) am pledging to allow my employees to live their Thanksgiving holiday to the fullest and will open my doors at a more reasonable hour after the turkey has been put away. Happy Thanksgiving.

Real Pay, Real Farmers

I live in North Carolina--one of the top agricultural producers in the U.S. I also used to cover the organic food space. You can't write about organic foods, without ever mentioning farmers and talking about farm issues. The latest issue affecting our farmers--part immigration, part a push for jobs for Americans--is the use of illegal or migrant workers for planting and harvesting. A story that appeared in the Kansas City Star newspaper about a month or so ago featured quotes from farmers who say they have to use migrant (read mostly illegal) workers because no American will do such back breaking work. They go on about how they pay to sponsor these foreign laborers, pay to house them and pay them a wage on top of all that. The story is same, whether it's Kansas City or North Carolina. And my gripe is the same: I don't buy the excuse farmers can't find solid American workers--especially in this economy. What they can't find is someone willing to work for nearly nothing. Farmers can and should take the money they would've spent housing, transporting and paying for visas to pay their fellow Americans--neighbors, friends, associates--a living wage. Not the $7 or $8 an hour you want to pay them. That's not enough to feed and clothe families. I would urge today's farmers to start small. Sponsor a few less out-of-towners and put a little more real pay back into your community. That's one way to create jobs.

Stop Pointing the Finger

The U.S. credit rating was downgraded Friday night by Standard & Poor's. Initially, the company said the U.S.'s ">debt ceiling compromise fell short by $2 trillion. Not so, says, an economic advisor in the Treasury department. The ratings agency stood in judgement, acknowedged it's mathematical error, and pointed its finger anyway, saying the nation's politicians took too long to reach a deal.
So which is it S&P? Are you trying to make a point about our ability as a nation to pay our bills or are you you yourself playing politics, the same thing you've accused our D.C. legislators of?
Our great leaders have done enough finger-pointing leading up to the compromise. We don't need some ratings agency, who by the way gave its AAA stamp of approval to risky mortgage-backed securities and crooked financial firms a few years back, to remind the nation there's a great deal of work to be done to further shore up our financial future.
To S&P I say stop pointing the finger and roll in the mud with the rest of us trying to limp through tough financial times.

American-ness

Lately, it’s been suggested that I might not be American enough. The reason? Partly because I am fan of ABC’s daytime television shows—namely soap operas. When I heard the network was planning to cancel two shows I was quite disheartened. I immediately joined the Facebook rally to boycott show advertisers until they threw their support behind keeping the shows on the air. (Thanks Hoover!)

When someone close to me asked why am I spending my free time Facebooking to save soap operas and not say, “other more important problems facing this country” I explained it this way: for 52 minutes a day it’s all about me. I’m not a wife, a friend, a colleague, aunt or anything else to anyone. It’s my time to immerse myself into a world where the drama flows freely and no one ever wears the same clothes twice. In short, it’s not the world in which I live. And I’m OK with that.

So I guess the question I should be asking this person in my life, is what defines an ‘American’ or their 'American-ness?' Is it the causes they support? And what are those important causes? And how do we measure –by what scale—do we rank the importance in how much attention we pay to them? Where does saving the whales, for example, rank on this scale of important causes? What about the national debt? Illegal immigration? Read my November 2010 blog post "NJ Slayings Underscore Need for Immigration Reform." How about mentioning the highest levels of unemployment rates this country hasn’t seen since the great depression? Trust me. Unemployment is high on my list of pet causes since I was once one of those people out of work.

Having listed just a few things I’m currently passionate about, I’m proud to be a soap opera-watching-anti-illegal immigration-save-the-whales-and-reduce-high-unemployment-rates-among-other-issues-AMERICAN!

The Marriage Name Game

A recent Yahoo! blogger flirted with the idea to her current beau that she would keep her maiden name and simply hyphenate with the new surname once she gets married. Said boyfriend was offended and saw it as her not wanting to leave her old life behind and start anew as his wife.
Taking to the web, most respondents agreed that taking on the husband's last name is the right thing to do. Well, I guess I'm way too liberal for my own good, because I'm not doing what's being perceived as right.
I am hyphenated--for a couple of reasons. I started my career as a print journalist and LOVED seeing my name in print and now online. Also, there have been times when I worked as a freelancer and calling/pitching an editor who could review my pre-marriage work was the best way to go.
A friend of mine from college got married a few years ago, and I was sitting at a table during the reception when someone congratulated the new Mrs. X. She said no-no-no. I'm Dr. Y. (She's a PhD.)
Second, I feel like I get to maintain a certain level of self-identity. Speaking for myself and other hyphenates out there (and those who so bravely kept their maiden names), I joined my existing life with your existing life and am melding those experiences into something new and wonderful.
To be fair to friends who have taken on their spouses last names - I ain't mad at you either (especially Mrs. Smith-not the pie lady).

Credit Checks for Care

A close friend of mine back home in New Jersey is recuperating from an emergency liver transplant. It's got me thinking of my own situation--unemployed with no health care plan. I'm also wondering, in light of recent events with the healthcare system here in Johnston County , if I became so ill here would I receive the level of extended care needed to keep me alive? Have we entered an era of credit checks for care?
I ask because, Johnston Health, currently operating at or close to the red, is now running credit checks on patients to gauge how likely the facility is to get paid for their services. While credit checks are nothing new, I thought hospitals' main goal is to heal what ails you.
So does the standard of care here in Johnston County become diminished (apparently you still get treatment even with bad credit) if you don't have the means to pay? And if not, why bother with the credit checks?
My friend's journey to the transplant list goes like this: she went to her local urgent care center where medical personnel couldn't believe she was still walking, let alone driving. Next she went to the local emergency room. Initially she was given the usual level of scorn and disdain for the gall of showing up to this facility seeking treatment, but was eventually admitted. Upon closer inspection of her health care plan, doctors began coming out of the woodwork and even going so far as to call in colleagues from their practice; and running lots of tests. Thank God for those Cadillac benefits!
My friend was then sent up to New York University Medical Center to receive her actual transplant.
So if I find myself in the emergency room here in Johnston County, do I tell you my social security number first or what ails me?

NJ Slayings Underscore Need for Immigration Reform

The decision by a New Jersey Superior Court judge has once again pointed a spotlight on our need to greater control our borders against illegal immigrants. On Thursday, November 4, 2010, Melvin Jovel, 21, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, was sentenced to life in prison for the slayings of three New Jersey teenagers and the attempted murder of a fourth. Jovel received three consecutive life sentences in prison.
Jovel, and five other men, according to prosecutors, lined up the victims against a wall in Newark, NJ and shot each in the back of the head. All of the victims attended or planned to attend Delaware State University.
Jovel, according to newspaper reports, expressed no remorse as he addressed the court in Spanish. The lone surviving victim, angry at first, then calm, told Jovel he inspired her to inspire others to be closer to God.
What angers me most about this story is that Jovel has been allowed to live in this country illegally for most of his life. He has mooched off of the NJ school system and all of the resources at the teachers disposal --even more so since he didn't speak English--to prepare him to someday become a productive member of society. Then as if he hasn't taken enough from the state, Jovel, with the help of his friends, arbitrarily decided to take the life of three of New Jersey's brightest stars. Now the mooching continues as he gets to sit in prison for the rest of his life receiving three hot meals a day and a warm bed at night.
My final complaint is this: when will we decide to stop allowing illegal immigrants to cross our borders and snub their noses at our culture (he doesn't speak English) and our sense of right and wrong?