News Cut: January 28, 2009 Archive

News Cut on Campus: MCTC

Posted at 5:29 AM on January 28, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: News Cut on Campus

It's Wednesday and so News Cut on Campus is back at work. Our two-month initiative aims to talk to students at several MnSCU schools around the state, getting a feel for how they fit into the economy and an idea of their personal journey.

This week, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., I'll be set up -- somewhere -- at Minneapolis Community & Technical College. And I'll write up some profiles later in the afternoon.

Previous profiles -- based on visits to Century College in White Bear Lake and Vermilion Community College in Ely -- can be found here.

Next Wednesday, by the way, I'll be at Winona State University.

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To the victors go the...

Posted at 7:46 AM on January 28, 2009 by Bob Collins (19 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

Sen. President Barack Obama knows how to send a pointed message. On Monday, he granted his first interview to a news organization in the Middle East. On Tuesday, he made his first visit to the Capitol to reach out to congressional Republicans in an effort to get some traction for his stimulus package.

Republicans aren't ready to jump on the bandwagon, yet. But a 'tweet" (a message on Twitter) posted by one of the Republicans who attended -- Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan -- would at least appear to usher in a general spirit of working together.

"Very impressive session with Republican House members.If President carries this on it does open door for a new tone!Let's hope! Nice job!"

President Obama, himself, said all the right things:

"I hope I communicated a sincere desire to get good ideas from everybody," he added. "My attitude is this the first major piece of legislation we've worked on, and that, over time, some of these habits of consultation and mutual respect will take over, but old habits die hard."

That phrase -- old habits -- could've been referring to any number of things, but one wonders if it refers -- at least somewhat -- to Democrats, especially given the comment of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she was asked why there are virtually no suggestions from Republicans being included in the House version of the stimulus package.

"We had an election which was about our differing views. The American people agreed with us."

So much for the "we represent all Americans" cliche. Never mind that 22 of 50 states voted for Republicans, or that the difference between winning and losing for Democrats in 3 of 4 battleground states was 2 percent of the vote.

That, of course, led to a question for the speaker about what her comments say about bipartisanship.

"It says that some of us have heard the voices of the American people and their desire for change..."

And some have not?

To turn this around a bit, Gov. Pawlenty won an election, too. And yesterday he announced several initiatives including eliminating help for people with traumatic brain injuries and disabilities, as well as older people at risk of nursing home placement, according to a Star Tribune assessment.

Maybe you agree with that. Maybe you don't.

Does an election make the question moot?

Program alert: At 11 a.m. on MPR's Midday today, House Republican Minority Leader Marty Seifert and Senate Assistant DFL Majority Leader Tarryl Clark will join Gary Eichten to respond to the governor's budget proposal.

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On Campus: The art teacher

Posted at 4:05 PM on January 28, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: News Cut on Campus

Pearl Madryga makes a lot of money working at a high-end boutique in Edina; more money than she'd ever make as an urban teacher. Pearl wants to be an urban teacher, a passion that brought her to Minneapolis Community and Technical College, this week's stop on the News Cut on Campus Tour.

She teaches part-time at Whittier Elementary and has taught some high school. She knows the age group she wants to teach -- second and third-graders. Her reasons for not teaching kids older than that are sobering.

"Fourth or fifth graders have felt the harshness of reality," she said. "It's over. They're already so mean."

She wants to teach art and younger kids are more willing to express themselves. Any older than that and they're too concerned "with doing it right."

She's still got years to go before she's a full-time teacher, but it's still not a great time to specialize in art, a subject that's being cut from schools all over America. "But it's my passion," she says. "I also have other elements of my life I want to pursue as well. Whether it's working for a non-profit arts organization or traveling -- I've done a lot of mission work -- if you don't have the passion there, nothing's going to work anyways."

She knows the economy is going to get worse. "Every other day I hear about a friend's parents losing their job and it's affecting everybody; it's not just one sector of the community. It's capitalism. If you're going for a profit, you're going to fail. It's bottom line. It's not going to go up forever," she said.

"I'm just really grateful to be living in this moment," she said of the era ushered in last week.

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On Campus: The nurses' friends

Posted at 4:43 PM on January 28, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: News Cut on Campus

Shamsa Idle (left) and Lily Saenz (right) have plenty in common. Shamsa came to the United States from Somalia in the mid-'90s and Lily emigrated from El Salvador in 1989. Both fled their country's civil wars for a chance at a better life. Both were nurses back home and are studying to be nurses again. They're best friends, and both are convinced better days are coming. I spoke to them during my stop on Wednesday at Minneapolis Community & Technical College.

Shamsa is pursuing child development courses and sees the value of early childhood education, something Americans take for granted. The lack of it is one of the reasons her country is at war with itself. "They are fighting because they have no education . If they get education early like Americans, the base is already built. If they have no early childhood education, the child is learning outside and nobody teaches in a positive way how to interract with others. Here, (it) is a big country and people live safe because they listen to each other," she says.

Lilly and her husband moved to Los Angeles first and then to Minnesota. "It's been a very tough journey, especially in the first years. We lived in Los Angeles for two years, and moved to Minnesota in 1991 without knowing what a wonderful people they are."

She works with Way to Grow, a school readiness program.

It's true, the present economy is nothing like surviving a civil war and moving your family to another country, but both have nothing but sympathy for growing victims of a dying economy.

"I see my co-workers getting laid off," Shamsa says. "We have to be patient. If we work together and be patient, we can improve. America, 40 or 50 years ago, I want to go back to that. I think they will create more jobs. I love this country. Education is free in America. Even if you're not working, you can get benefits to get a degree to get another job."

Both received scholarships in December from the MCTC Foundation. Both are looking to pay it back in their own way. "I see that enthusiasm and determination on so many areas, not just the immigrant community. What we're facing right now, we can move on if we help each other, if we think of different ways to work. We need time, we need to help each other, there are people who are helping us and hopefully they will see the fruit -- in the future we can help somebody else," Lily said.

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On Campus: The forensic accountant

Posted at 5:34 PM on January 28, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: News Cut on Campus

Timothy Bonner, originally from Brooklyn and now a Minneapolis resident, knows firsthand the woes of the mortgage industry. He was the guy who called potential customers for a mortgage company until the company went bankrupt and tossed him out of his job.

"I always felt, not just the mortgage business but the economy as a whole was getting too big," he said, rattling off a list of recessions he's weathered over his 42 years.

So he's trying to get a degree in business administration, taking general courses at Minneapolis Community and Technical College before transferring, he hopes, to the University of Minnesota.

He's been trying to pay for college by working a minimum wage job. "I had to let the job go. Thanks to the school I qualified for a scholarship and I just have to concentrate on being ready when the economy does recover, having the skills and resources necessary for this recovery. I don't just want to do sales over the phone, I want to do things that are more meaningful."

One area he'd like to concentrate on is one area that should be in big demand: forensic accounting. "It's just like a forensic will look at a crime scene, a forensic accountant will find things that maybe you don't want to be found," he said.

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On Campus: The moviemaker

Posted at 6:03 PM on January 28, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: News Cut on Campus

Sammy Sarzoza of St. Paul says he's proud to be an American. "I love this country, it's the greatest country in the world. The fact that I was born in America, puts me a leg up over 99% of everyone else in the world. I feel lucky and blessed to be an American."

That introduction makes the punch that follows hurt even more. He's pessimistic about the future. And not just in the short term.

"It's not going to change tomorrow...or even in the next 10 years," he told me during my stop at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

He didn't stop there.

"It's going to take a lot of time; it might take 20 or 30 years."

Or there.

"It might even take another generation," he said.

No matter. He's willing to put in his time, he said. Just like the parents of babyboomers struggled during the Great Depression on their behalf.

"If we have to struggle to make it better for them, that's the way it's going to have to be," he said.

Sarzoza is a moviemaker; he's enrolled in the cinema program, which he says is "one of the best in the country." He's looking for a career producing films, screenwriting, working with lighting, and telling "American stories," as he calls them.

"The new president can fix a little bit but he can't fix all of it. I'm willing to make art forms that are on the cusp of hope," he said, pointing out that the violent movies of recent years "reflected the time we were living in. I'm willing to put forward good stories."

It might be the perfect job for his generation. There's very little job security. "It's the artist lifestyle. You have to be a bit of a Bohemian so I try to keep myself with as few strings as possible and be ready to go at the drop of a hat."

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On Campus: The graphic and Web designer

Posted at 6:26 PM on January 28, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: News Cut on Campus

You have to wonder if we'd be in this economic mess if Jan Russell still had one of her old jobs.

She worked in real estate. "I worked with some non-profits and did home-buyer education because for a while in the late '90s, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and HUD were giving grants to first-time homebuyers if they underwent some education."

She says foreclosure rates fell by 70 percent among those with homebuyer education. But the programs disappeared and we are where we are. Maybe there's a connection; maybe not.

She met and married, and moved to Denver when her husband was transferred there. When he was laid off in Denver in 2006, they moved back to Minnesota. They were unable to sell their home in Denver. They still own it and rent it to pay most of the mortgage. Now that they're back in Minnesota, they don't yet have enough confidence to buy a home.

Her most recent job -- working part-time creating marketing material for other real estate agents -- disappeared last year. So she figured it was a good time to go back to Minneapolis Community and Technical College to finish the education she started in the early '90s. She's studying graphics and Web design, figuring that the "real estate world" is heading to the Web, she can work from home in her own business.

Her husband's job (he's back with the company that laid him off) is stable enough, she says, to allow her to be back at school. Her kids are small and there's still time to save for college. And she and her husband don't plan to retire for 20 years.

"I am really lucky. I know that I'm incredibly fortunate, but we're trying to live smaller. I clip coupons. There's a whole group of us who pass clothes from our kids. Those little things are the only things I can think of to do," she said.

"We're not people who live big anyway. We save for college. We've saved for retirement. We're savers, which is not real popular," she says. In Denver, her friends kept talking about buying bigger and bigger houses. "And I thought, 'How are you going to pay for it?'"

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News Cut: The human service activist

Posted at 7:12 PM on January 28, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: News Cut on Campus

When you talk about the economy -- as I did yesterday when the News Cut on Campus Tour stopped at Minneapolis Community and Technical College -- the discussion intersects with politics.

It did when I talked to Aaron Westendorp of Edina, who wants to go into human services, a target this week of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who released his proposed budget with significant cuts in human services, and quite possibly programs that benefit Aaron.

"Pawlenty is doing the exact same thing that got us in this mess in the first place... the same thing he did in '03," he typed on a keyboard. It's how he communicates. He suffers from a brain stem lesion which causes a partial paralysis from the eyes down.

But that's where politics ends in his career path. He says he's most interested in inspiring others and being inspired by others. "What about us inspiring each other?" he said when I asked him about the future.

He says he's inspired by people "who strive to go up against popular culture and actually help us advance," he said. "People who rebel."

But he says he's neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the direction of the economy. "I'm somewhat in between," he said. "I believe in balance."

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