No the title of today's blog is not an attempt of a humorous poke at the rural area of North Carolina where I am currently residing. If any of my fellow U2 fans are reading this, you may have noticed the famous song title included with in the title.
"Where The Streets Have No Name" is one of most famous U2 songs, one of their many hits and the first songs of what many critics and fans call their best albums, The Joshua Tree. I have a hard time picking out a favorite album much less a favorite song, but this last Sunday I had an intellectual, philosophical and perhaps even spiritual revelation thanks to the always great U2.
While driving to Chapel Hill for my day off I was again surrounded by gorgeous deep green trees on all sides and above me was a clear blue sky. Every so often their was a pond or some small watering hole and all I couldn't stop thinking that while I doubt I could make North Carolina my home, another visit to these beautiful landscape would not be protested.
Surrounded by this beauty the car was filled with its own beauty, the man-made art of music. About a year ago my brother gave me a CD called Strung Out on U2, a CD I highly recommend. As you can tell from the introduction, I love U2 and think very highly of both the members and the music. Strung Out on U2 is an a CD of two different string quartets performing a large handful of U2's hits.
Although I do not consider myself a classical music fan, through exposure by my mom during my childhood and my experience in the Plano I.S.D. humanities program, I can say that I appreciate and enjoy some classical music even if overall I prefer to listen to something else. In the string compositions of these songs, everything in a U2 song was performed by string instruments. Even the vocals were replaced by a violin.
With my love of U2 I eagerly embraced this collection of string music and have fallen completely in love with this version of my favorite songs. The many times I have listened to the originals and my knowledge of their lyrics probably helps, but the string versions really help me to travel to that world of ideas and lose myself in the meaning of the songs.
Back to my drive on Sunday. So as I was driving through this natural beauty the song "Where The Streets Have No Name" in the its string quartet form was being played loudly enough to fill the car and take my attention hostage. From something my brother once told me and my own interpretation of the lyrics, "Where The Streets Have No Name" is at the same time about places so poor and isolated that their streets have no name, but also for the hope for a world free of divisions such as those that lead to war, a world with no name streets.
Let's just look at one stanza:
I wanna feel sunlight on my face
I see the dust cloud disappear without a trace
I wanna take shelter from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name.
Here we have a very positive image of sunlight which is almost universally identified as positive in artwork. Then the hopeful image of a dust cloud disappearing. In my opinion a dust cloud seems to be an image that brings about feelings like uncomfortable and inconvenience. So a dust cloud disappearing without a trace is hopeful within itself, but also enables the sunlight to seen and felt.
So far the lyrics refer to a positive image and a negative image disappearing and becoming positive. Then Bono writes/sings "I wanna take shelter from the poison rain." While the idea of shelter is positive, poison rain at its face value can represent a world messed up by pollution or more symbolically war, famine, illness and the many other reasons for sadness in the world.
So we start off with hope, a negative image quickly turning into hope and then the search for hope in the midst of despair. I decided to reproduce the lyrics, but to make it easier for those who just want me to get to the point I will wait until the end of the entry.
Back to my story... as I was listening to the string version of this song and driving through nature, I couldn't help but close my eyes for a brief second. I would've enjoyed to absorb all this longer, but it is hard to enjoy the beauty of the lush green around me with my eyes closed and more importantly it is much harder to drive!
What finally came to me during this drive was the answer to questions I have been asked and have asked myself repeatedly in the last few years. Why do I put such a premium on a social consciousness? Why am I so dedicated to living a social justice lifestyle? Why am I so passionate on pursuing a career focused on social justice?
Thanks to the influence of my brother and his music collection, the first real song I really embraced was "Mysterious Ways" on the Achtung Baby album of U2. I used to play it over and over whenever he was not home. It was fun, got me going and had a quality to it that made me think about things more deeply than I ever had. I think I was 8 or 9.
The first album/cd I ever bought or really had someone in my family buy for me was U2's Pop (which many fans and critics think is the weakest of all U2 albums. They have a point, but still fantastic music with some incredible melodies and lyrics).
What occurred to me was that I had been growing up with social justice in my ears, brain and my heart since that first day I started to listen to "Mysterious Ways" over and over.
Of course I still factor in my parents' insistence on watching the news and some excellent guidance of teachers, I think I have finally figured out the answer to those questions.
We are the the products of our childhood and the latter part of the childhood was filled with beautiful music that seduced me into thinking about the world around me.
Sound like a good explanation or am I just trying to hard to be artsy about my life?
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Who is there to do in a small town?
No the title is not a typo, I meant to write who not what. Let me explain:
After a typical long day at work yesterday I came back to my hotel room to watch some mindless television and eat some left over pizza. While I settling into this most exciting of routines I heard a knock at my door. I thought it was my co-workers Megan, but was puzzled since up until this point she has only been to my room three times and each time she called first.
Being the lazy bum that I am, I groaned and got off my bed and walked toward the door. Not being certain who it was I went ahead and used the peep hole and didn't see anyone. Cautiously I opened the door and a small built black woman was standing out there. She asked if someone was there, I believe the name was Jack. Luckily I get a cozy hotel room all to myself and so of course there was no Jack in my room.
She then added a little bit of sadness to her tone and said she was just dropped off from Asheboro to visit an old friend who was staying at the hotel. She claimed he was part of a construction crew that was staying there. I told her the only construction crew that I knew had already left a few days ago.
Claiming that this man, Jack, was staying at the room next door to me, she asked if I could use my phone. While I know it wasn't a good idea, I probably have too kind of a heart sometimes and let her in. She used the phone and talked to the confused guy next door, thanked me and left.
At this point I was still trying to nice and believe the story, as of that moment it sounded odd. But there was no reason for me to question her and so I accepted it, and went back to watching the ending of the Daily Show. Just as the Colbert Report was in full swing and I was getting excited to watch the pending showdown between Stephen Colbert and Tom DeLay, there was another knock on my door.
Hoping that is really was a coworker this time, I crept back to the door and opened it up. Again with the almost genuine sounding of disappointment in her voice she said that it wasn't her friend Jack and asked if she could use the phone again. She didn't steal my kidney the first time, so I sighed and let her back in.
She went on talking about how she was dropped off and had no idea what to do. She asked if I was driving. Just as I started writing this I looked up the distance from Siler City to Asheboro and it turns out it is only about half an hour away. Last night I thought Asheboro was a good two hours away. Either way I was tired and my kindness has limits, there was no way I was driving this stranger to Asheboro in the middle of the night.
She asked if she could leave her purse in exchange for some money to get a cab back home. This seemed a little bit more agreeable to me, even though I didn't much like the idea. The problem for her was that I had been reliable on my debit card and had no physical cash on me except for the change on one of the hotel room tables.
I reminded her that she was welcome to use the phone, she thought about it, ask me again about the change on the table. After finding out that I had less than a single dollar in change she commented about not having anyone to call. I again apologized for not being to help more, gave her a frown to indicate my sincerity and wished her luck.
She left and I really started questioning the origins of the woman traveling over 20 miles to visit a friend who is a construction worker staying at a hotel in a city of roughly 8,000 people. Not much I could do to help her so I went back to my night time ritual except now it was my turn to be disappointed. I missed the showdown between Colbert and DeLay!
This morning at the office, my coworker Rene I was talking about a visit from a woman last night. I only picked up the conversation midway through and chimed in that I was visited by the same woman.
Turns out the woman used the old friend/telephone ploy to enter rooms and solicit sex to men who were alone. Obviously she did not discover that Rene was as physically broke as I was, but being a married man with four children and probably a myriad of other reasons he said no to her solicitation.
So I had an encounter with a prostitute and for one reason or another she either believed that I was sincere about being broke or she did not approach me with the same offer.
Either way she'd be walking away disappointed, I wasn't interested nor do I have that kind of disposable income! Not much to philosophize here... only one question left to ponder: Do I feel pity for her, tickled by the random course of events, honored that she chose to leave me alone or disappointed she so easily left me alone? I think I'm going to feel pity, a little bit of tickled and mostly indifferent about this strange evening.
All I can be certain of... it was the most interesting evening I've had in Siler City in the near two weeks I've been here!
After a typical long day at work yesterday I came back to my hotel room to watch some mindless television and eat some left over pizza. While I settling into this most exciting of routines I heard a knock at my door. I thought it was my co-workers Megan, but was puzzled since up until this point she has only been to my room three times and each time she called first.
Being the lazy bum that I am, I groaned and got off my bed and walked toward the door. Not being certain who it was I went ahead and used the peep hole and didn't see anyone. Cautiously I opened the door and a small built black woman was standing out there. She asked if someone was there, I believe the name was Jack. Luckily I get a cozy hotel room all to myself and so of course there was no Jack in my room.
She then added a little bit of sadness to her tone and said she was just dropped off from Asheboro to visit an old friend who was staying at the hotel. She claimed he was part of a construction crew that was staying there. I told her the only construction crew that I knew had already left a few days ago.
Claiming that this man, Jack, was staying at the room next door to me, she asked if I could use my phone. While I know it wasn't a good idea, I probably have too kind of a heart sometimes and let her in. She used the phone and talked to the confused guy next door, thanked me and left.
At this point I was still trying to nice and believe the story, as of that moment it sounded odd. But there was no reason for me to question her and so I accepted it, and went back to watching the ending of the Daily Show. Just as the Colbert Report was in full swing and I was getting excited to watch the pending showdown between Stephen Colbert and Tom DeLay, there was another knock on my door.
Hoping that is really was a coworker this time, I crept back to the door and opened it up. Again with the almost genuine sounding of disappointment in her voice she said that it wasn't her friend Jack and asked if she could use the phone again. She didn't steal my kidney the first time, so I sighed and let her back in.
She went on talking about how she was dropped off and had no idea what to do. She asked if I was driving. Just as I started writing this I looked up the distance from Siler City to Asheboro and it turns out it is only about half an hour away. Last night I thought Asheboro was a good two hours away. Either way I was tired and my kindness has limits, there was no way I was driving this stranger to Asheboro in the middle of the night.
She asked if she could leave her purse in exchange for some money to get a cab back home. This seemed a little bit more agreeable to me, even though I didn't much like the idea. The problem for her was that I had been reliable on my debit card and had no physical cash on me except for the change on one of the hotel room tables.
I reminded her that she was welcome to use the phone, she thought about it, ask me again about the change on the table. After finding out that I had less than a single dollar in change she commented about not having anyone to call. I again apologized for not being to help more, gave her a frown to indicate my sincerity and wished her luck.
She left and I really started questioning the origins of the woman traveling over 20 miles to visit a friend who is a construction worker staying at a hotel in a city of roughly 8,000 people. Not much I could do to help her so I went back to my night time ritual except now it was my turn to be disappointed. I missed the showdown between Colbert and DeLay!
This morning at the office, my coworker Rene I was talking about a visit from a woman last night. I only picked up the conversation midway through and chimed in that I was visited by the same woman.
Turns out the woman used the old friend/telephone ploy to enter rooms and solicit sex to men who were alone. Obviously she did not discover that Rene was as physically broke as I was, but being a married man with four children and probably a myriad of other reasons he said no to her solicitation.
So I had an encounter with a prostitute and for one reason or another she either believed that I was sincere about being broke or she did not approach me with the same offer.
Either way she'd be walking away disappointed, I wasn't interested nor do I have that kind of disposable income! Not much to philosophize here... only one question left to ponder: Do I feel pity for her, tickled by the random course of events, honored that she chose to leave me alone or disappointed she so easily left me alone? I think I'm going to feel pity, a little bit of tickled and mostly indifferent about this strange evening.
All I can be certain of... it was the most interesting evening I've had in Siler City in the near two weeks I've been here!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Where in the World is Leran?
I hope everyone got the allusion in my title. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? is one of my favorite games from my childhood as I know from talking to people my age, it was among their favorites too.
Tough competition from Oregon Trail, but a few weeks ago while avoiding studying for exams and packing up my apartment I downloaded and played one of the older Carmen Sandiego games. Really this is becoming a long rambling justification for why I titled my blog entry the way I did, I thought it'd be interest in witty, but I'll just cut to the chase:
Where in the world am I? North Carolina. Yes, you heard (read is more like it) that right. I'm smack in the Middle of Nowhere, North Carolina... otherwise called Siler City, North Carolina.
As the school year started, I had the dreams and goals of traveling abroad OR being in Washington D.C. this summer and sadly neither of those plans worked out. First, I decided to hold off on going to London for a Maymester in social justice issues through the lens of social work. Part of my decision was financial and the other part was the uncertainty of doing such a program through the point of view of social work majors.
I know many social work majors and they are great people that do amazing work. I just wasn't positive that the point of view they have on social justice was one that would be truly beneficial to my future career plans. The experience would have still been positive and very beneficial, but I thought it would be best to save money and do either the Normandy Scholar's program or another travel abroad opportunity in 2008.
So then I began to explore the Washington D.C. option. I thought early in the Spring semester was too late for paying gigs in D.C., but the Liberal Arts Career Center at UT told me I still had time. Between my internship at the Texas Capitol, White Rose Society, school work and my typical disorganization, the time ran out and I did not hear back from anyone and did not make much of an effort to get a paying D.C. gig.
So that left me with one final option... going to Israel. While this was a "final" option, it was certainly not that way in my heart. With only two grandparents left (the two grandfathers) and one of them having just recently turned 94, I really wanted to visit him. Additionally as my last entry pointed out, my brother and my sister-in-law are there for about another six months. All in all a great time for me to go back to a country I love.
Being a poor college student I looked for some of the trips directed at students and found a really cheap, but also extremely excited opportunity. Livnot is an Israeli organization that does the typical Israel tour coupled with a handful of work days helping rebuild the country's most devastated areas after the war last summer. Having completed an alternative spring break in New Orleans in March, I was really excited for this opportunity to help and visit all my relatives. This time I did not make the personal decision to not go as I did with London, but I simply was rejected from the program on the basis of giving other people an opportunity to revisit Israel for a 2nd time rather than a 10th or 11th time.
I was sad, but not much I could do. The question lingering in my mind was: what am I going to do this summer?! With it already being May and none of the exciting plans coming to fruition I was preparing to suck it up and just work at whatever well-paying desk job I could receive in Dallas for the summer. The only comfort was being able to spend time with my mom, having relaxing weekends, catching up on reading and being able to help the Dallas community with their Darfur advocacy efforts.
I'm as far as you can be from religious as they come and I don't believe in fate...but something seriously just fell in my lap. I guess I do believe in friendship and I have come to be a believer in the beauty of networking. My friend Hannah, an incredible person in her one right, forwarded me an e-mail from her professor about a job in North Carolina.
Here we are... the point of this long entry. I gave all that background to prove one point, I never imagined myself working in North Carolina. I'm careful not to say visit because I truly believe everywhere has its beauty and I would love to visit every state and many of the nations/regions across the world. North Carolina definitely qualifies as beautiful in the nature department. Hills, green trees and ponds EVERYWHERE. I've been told there is so some good rock climbing around and if you travel to the east, there's the Atlantic Ocean!
Yet, I never imagined spending my summer here. Disbelief aside, I was finally convinced to board a plane on May 17th (2 days after my last exam) at 6:10 a.m. (5 minutes before take-off!) and make my way to North Carolina to take a job that was still mostly unclear at that time.
So a bit about the job. What I've told people who have asked: I'm doing data management (data entry) for union organizers who are trying help immigrant workers at poultry plants to unionize in order to improve their working conditions. That's a mouthful, but it only gives you a general idea of what I'm doing.
What I do: I input data and help locate data within a database for the organizers I'm helping. In the next few days I will also be running reports and producing new house call sheets for the organizers. Glamorous data entry, but at least it is for a good cause and the pay is good. I'm missing being lazy in Dallas (never thought I'd say that), but I'm exploring the unknown... or at least the southern part of the east coast.
Why the organizers are here: My brother stumbled across a good article about the situation here. The basic rundown is that the plant here is run by mostly immigrant workers. I don't know the breakdown, but yes some are illegal, while others have legal status. Regardless of their legal status these workers have been exposed to a number of unfair conditions including:
I've been here about a week and we'll see if the work continues to be something I can manage. I am given a few days off about every 2 weeks and I also receive a plane ticket back so those days off can be spent in Dallas with my mom and my friends. The first break is May 31st to about June 3rd. Look forward to seeing you then!
Tough competition from Oregon Trail, but a few weeks ago while avoiding studying for exams and packing up my apartment I downloaded and played one of the older Carmen Sandiego games. Really this is becoming a long rambling justification for why I titled my blog entry the way I did, I thought it'd be interest in witty, but I'll just cut to the chase:
Where in the world am I? North Carolina. Yes, you heard (read is more like it) that right. I'm smack in the Middle of Nowhere, North Carolina... otherwise called Siler City, North Carolina.
As the school year started, I had the dreams and goals of traveling abroad OR being in Washington D.C. this summer and sadly neither of those plans worked out. First, I decided to hold off on going to London for a Maymester in social justice issues through the lens of social work. Part of my decision was financial and the other part was the uncertainty of doing such a program through the point of view of social work majors.
I know many social work majors and they are great people that do amazing work. I just wasn't positive that the point of view they have on social justice was one that would be truly beneficial to my future career plans. The experience would have still been positive and very beneficial, but I thought it would be best to save money and do either the Normandy Scholar's program or another travel abroad opportunity in 2008.
So then I began to explore the Washington D.C. option. I thought early in the Spring semester was too late for paying gigs in D.C., but the Liberal Arts Career Center at UT told me I still had time. Between my internship at the Texas Capitol, White Rose Society, school work and my typical disorganization, the time ran out and I did not hear back from anyone and did not make much of an effort to get a paying D.C. gig.
So that left me with one final option... going to Israel. While this was a "final" option, it was certainly not that way in my heart. With only two grandparents left (the two grandfathers) and one of them having just recently turned 94, I really wanted to visit him. Additionally as my last entry pointed out, my brother and my sister-in-law are there for about another six months. All in all a great time for me to go back to a country I love.
Being a poor college student I looked for some of the trips directed at students and found a really cheap, but also extremely excited opportunity. Livnot is an Israeli organization that does the typical Israel tour coupled with a handful of work days helping rebuild the country's most devastated areas after the war last summer. Having completed an alternative spring break in New Orleans in March, I was really excited for this opportunity to help and visit all my relatives. This time I did not make the personal decision to not go as I did with London, but I simply was rejected from the program on the basis of giving other people an opportunity to revisit Israel for a 2nd time rather than a 10th or 11th time.
I was sad, but not much I could do. The question lingering in my mind was: what am I going to do this summer?! With it already being May and none of the exciting plans coming to fruition I was preparing to suck it up and just work at whatever well-paying desk job I could receive in Dallas for the summer. The only comfort was being able to spend time with my mom, having relaxing weekends, catching up on reading and being able to help the Dallas community with their Darfur advocacy efforts.
I'm as far as you can be from religious as they come and I don't believe in fate...but something seriously just fell in my lap. I guess I do believe in friendship and I have come to be a believer in the beauty of networking. My friend Hannah, an incredible person in her one right, forwarded me an e-mail from her professor about a job in North Carolina.
Here we are... the point of this long entry. I gave all that background to prove one point, I never imagined myself working in North Carolina. I'm careful not to say visit because I truly believe everywhere has its beauty and I would love to visit every state and many of the nations/regions across the world. North Carolina definitely qualifies as beautiful in the nature department. Hills, green trees and ponds EVERYWHERE. I've been told there is so some good rock climbing around and if you travel to the east, there's the Atlantic Ocean!
Yet, I never imagined spending my summer here. Disbelief aside, I was finally convinced to board a plane on May 17th (2 days after my last exam) at 6:10 a.m. (5 minutes before take-off!) and make my way to North Carolina to take a job that was still mostly unclear at that time.
So a bit about the job. What I've told people who have asked: I'm doing data management (data entry) for union organizers who are trying help immigrant workers at poultry plants to unionize in order to improve their working conditions. That's a mouthful, but it only gives you a general idea of what I'm doing.
What I do: I input data and help locate data within a database for the organizers I'm helping. In the next few days I will also be running reports and producing new house call sheets for the organizers. Glamorous data entry, but at least it is for a good cause and the pay is good. I'm missing being lazy in Dallas (never thought I'd say that), but I'm exploring the unknown... or at least the southern part of the east coast.
Why the organizers are here: My brother stumbled across a good article about the situation here. The basic rundown is that the plant here is run by mostly immigrant workers. I don't know the breakdown, but yes some are illegal, while others have legal status. Regardless of their legal status these workers have been exposed to a number of unfair conditions including:
- Low pay-the pay is actually pretty good considering it is above minimum wage, but the employer has been proven to tamper with time clocks in order to extend hours and decrease the amount of pay. Additionally simple safety supplies that are necessary for workers to do their job safely are not being provided to workers, but instead are subtracted from their paycheck. Not surprising that the employer has also found any excuse to nickel and dime employee pay so that while the work stays the same or increases, pay stays the same or decreases.
- Unsafe conditions-While the company continues to claim otherwise the people I work with have collected many accounts and autopsies of death and serious injuries due to the work at the plant. Additionally things like line speed are increased with the bottom dollar sign line in mind while ignoring the increased workers at the line.
- Lack of medical care-When injuries happen at the plant only confirmed legal employees receive assistance from the company due to the fear of lawsuit. Illegal workers and legal workers with unconfirmed status on the other hand are left injured, without medical care and the plant either fires them or puts them back on similar or worse job than before.
- Lack of bathroom breaks-Through my studies of international development I could imagine such scenarios in many places across the world not receiving bathroom breaks. I could even imagine a work place with purely illegal workers within the United States being deprived of this simple right. In any situation (legal, illegal or third world) the simple allowance of a person to urinate during the work day should be accepted as an obvious right that a worker should receive. It is a gross abuse of a person's dignity to be forced to work to the point of urinated and even defecate on themselves. Here in Siler City, North Carolina and the neighboring poultry plants in Sanford and Pittsboro this basic abuse of dignity is occurring on a regular basis.
I've been here about a week and we'll see if the work continues to be something I can manage. I am given a few days off about every 2 weeks and I also receive a plane ticket back so those days off can be spent in Dallas with my mom and my friends. The first break is May 31st to about June 3rd. Look forward to seeing you then!
The Birth of A Blog
My brother is one of my best advisers, friends and overall influences. If you don't know him, his name is Oren and he is currently in Jerusalem with his wife Suzanne, an almost equally valuable friend of mine.
The two of them have started an interesting blog about the adventures in Israel. I recommend it, it is an interesting read and most recently has featured picture of their cute dog, Choomy.
The two of them have also told me over and over that I should start a blog and continue blogging. If that wasn't enough, my sister, Karen in California has also stumbled across my old blog and given me some exaggerated compliments on my writing and expressed interest in seeing me continue in this endeavor of blogging. Sadly she doesn't have a blog for me to share, but don't fear, I will put up a picture of her cute daughter, my niece, Maya!
Ok, I guess I will wrap up this Minc family tree lesson and sum this up: the public has spoken and I thought it could be fun to rekindle the writing fires. So here goes nothing, the new blog is born!
As I have in past blogging attempts, I will avoid recapping any mundane details of my life, but will fill everyone in on anything interesting, funny or what I think my pass as though provoking. This is a practice in thinking, expression, columnist-style writing and broadcast blogging journalism. As such, I hope to occasionally receive feedback, comments and I invite disagreement, discussion and your own thought provoking responses to my ideas.
Here goes nothing... let the blogging commence!
The two of them have started an interesting blog about the adventures in Israel. I recommend it, it is an interesting read and most recently has featured picture of their cute dog, Choomy.
The two of them have also told me over and over that I should start a blog and continue blogging. If that wasn't enough, my sister, Karen in California has also stumbled across my old blog and given me some exaggerated compliments on my writing and expressed interest in seeing me continue in this endeavor of blogging. Sadly she doesn't have a blog for me to share, but don't fear, I will put up a picture of her cute daughter, my niece, Maya!
Ok, I guess I will wrap up this Minc family tree lesson and sum this up: the public has spoken and I thought it could be fun to rekindle the writing fires. So here goes nothing, the new blog is born!
As I have in past blogging attempts, I will avoid recapping any mundane details of my life, but will fill everyone in on anything interesting, funny or what I think my pass as though provoking. This is a practice in thinking, expression, columnist-style writing and broadcast blogging journalism. As such, I hope to occasionally receive feedback, comments and I invite disagreement, discussion and your own thought provoking responses to my ideas.
Here goes nothing... let the blogging commence!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
