Common Wealth, Common Wisdom

Outreach in Potsdam

2009-10-23T22:59:00.003-04:00

Chelsea and I recently held two CWCW outreach events in Potsdam. The first, at the museum in town, saw a small crowd, but all had a great time listening to CWCW's stories whilst eating delicious pumpkin doughnuts and drinking New York apple cider.
We also attended Potsdam High School's open house and met with a lot of young people interested in NCPR and CWCW.

Keep an eye out for our next CWCW event. Come and hear our stories for the first time or listen again!

Madelyn Ball listens to CWCW stories; photo by Hui Yang.

Benjamin Stone and Corina Simonelli show their enthusiasm for CWCW; photo by Hui Yang.

Outreach Event Wednesday 10/14 in Potsdam

2009-10-09T09:18:00.008-04:00

Next Wednesday, October 14th, Brenna and I will be heading over to the museum in Potsdam (next to the Potsdam library) to showcase our work from this summer. Four interns each worked with an elder who grew up during the Great Depression, getting tried and true advice on how to survive the recession. This event starts at 6:30 pm and is open and free to everyone; refreshments will be served. Two more outreach events this fall will follow this one.

CWCW, Pt 4: Ruth Garner: travels as a young girl shape a political career

2009-09-29T10:27:00.004-04:00

A new audio feature from the project aired this morning on NCPR's morning news program The Eight O'Clock Hour.

CWCW, Pt. 3: Looking the Great Depression in the Mirror

2009-09-15T10:02:00.005-04:00

A new audio feature from the project aired this morning on NCPR's morning news program The Eight O'Clock Hour.

Where Have the Jobs Gone?

2009-09-12T18:56:00.008-04:00

Everybody is talking about the economy these days- it's a topic of instant distress for people of all ages across the US, but especially for teens. Something all of my friends are wondering is: how will I pay for college? It's not an easy question to answer. While college tuition is increasing, the job market is decreasing, as illustrated by this article in The New York Times, which notes that teen unemployment is at its highest point ever. The article says that over a quarter of teens looking for work were unsuccessful this summer. I can't say I'm surprised, knowing how hard it is to find work in the North Country. It's weird to think that teens, usually stereotyped as wanting to laze around and watch t.v. all day, are actually trying to get jobs, and aren't working through no fault of their own.

Jobs are getting harder and harder to get for people my age- it's a domino effect. College graduates, young and old, are having an impossible job of finding work that meets their qualifications, and they have to take the work usually reserved for people my age- restaurant jobs, fast food joints, working at gas stations, etc. And what's left for us? Nada, because what is left is grabbed by local colleges kids, and considering there are four colleges within a twenty minute radius of me, there are a whole lot of them to be hired. Moreover, a large portion of the jobs young people get in the North Country are acquired through knowing the owner or already having your best friend work there.

What does this mean for people my age?

It means we'll have an even more difficult a time paying for college. Universities are starting to turn people down because they just don't have the resources to provide students with sufficient financial aid. We need jobs in order to go into our first year without totally floundering. SATs, ACTs, and AP tests aren't cheap; AP tests are $86 each, and like a lot of people I know, I've got four or five to take in the spring. Colleges charge between fifty and seventy dollars to just apply. And we can't just rely on our parents to cover these costs, as they're having a hard enough time getting and keeping jobs.

Jobs are getting increasingly difficult to get after one graduates from college as well. And then what happens with that massive college debt? If a person can't get the high paying job they expected, because those jobs just aren't as readily available any more, that debt sits, grows, and becomes almost impossible to pay off.

Interviewing Ruth Garner this summer, I realized just how privileged my life is. During the Great Depression, kids were lucky if they had more than a few different outfits and usually just had one pair of shoes. A job for them was helping a neighbor garden or cleaning someone's house and earning ten cents. Though the work was sporadic and low-paying, purchases were few and far between. The majority of high school graduates didn't go to college and so didn't have to pay outrageous tuition. Furthermore, while my peers feel entitled to own the latest iPod and xbox, teens in the Great Depression didn't have those things to buy. And in our instant gratification society, it's not a matter of just wanting it anymore, owning those things has become the norm. But what happens when we can't afford them anymore?

Will the economy miraculously improve soon, and the job market open up?
Will those "gotta have it" items get less expensive?
Will we simply stop caring about owning absolutely everything?
Or will we continue without jobs?

It's impossible to predict the future, but with so few jobs available, I think we can predict a rise of teens who look at their skill set and create their own work- a rise in entrepreneurship. When people are down and out of luck, creativity is at its best.

CWCW, pt.2: Baseball, old and new

2009-09-07T10:01:00.000-04:00

A new audio feature from the project aired this morning on NCPR's morning news program The Eight O'Clock Hour.

Maggie Wood, Creator of "Frankenclothes"

2009-09-02T09:03:00.014-04:00

In addition to her feature piece about Ann and Roger Huntley, Jenn Sibert chose to profile local entrepreneur Maggie Wood, age 17. Jenn says: "Maggie's story and creative genius is unique and it was such a pleasure to interview her. At an early age she discovered her passion for crafting jewelry and clothes from recycled materials. She goes through great lengths to connect with her surrounding community despite living in a small town and taking online classes instead of attending the local high school." Listen as Maggie explains her sources of motivation, inspiration, and her life as a young entrepreneur.

Roger and Ann

2009-08-31T08:45:00.001-04:00

They say that behind every hard working man is an even harder working woman. Behind Roger Huntley, who just retired after four decades as an auctioneer, is the tireless and indominable Ann Huntley. The Huntleys just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. In this piece, produced by Jennifer Sibert for the Common Wealth Common Wisdom project, Roger and Ann take us back to the day they met, through a lifetime of collaboration on the farm and under the auction tent.

You can see photos of Ann and Roger Huntley and and hear the rest of the stories in this series at ncpr.org/cwcw.

Seniorama

2009-08-26T09:42:00.006-04:00

Starting our string of outreach events, the CWCW team went to the state-wide Seniorama festival in Hogansburg last week. For these outreach events, we will be visiting places around the community to present what we've done these past few weeks, as well as listen and possibly record peoples' stories.

Held at a bingo palace, we arrived to find the place full of energy. The right side of the building housed slot machines, while the left had bingo and was full of red-and-white decorated booths of all varieties- there was one for sleep apnea equipment, a stand promoting Assemblywoman Addie Russell, and another giving away cinnamon rolls. Chelsea and I stopped by the booth of two retired teachers selling coffee to raise money for scholarships, who said sales that day had been slow; they think a better selection is needed for next year.

When we talked with the man in charge, Robert Miller, he informed us that the Seniorama has been running strong for eight years. He said it's for senior issues, to give help to seniors and have vendor tables for products they may need, though many people are under the impression that the Seniorama is out to get their money, where it really just wants to help them earn it.

Regarding the economy, Mr. Miller told us that some counties, such as Lewis and Jefferson, are having a hard time and are less likely to go to the Seniorama. Though he said the crowd from St. Lawrence County is still strong, not stopped by the heat or the slow economy. The place was booming with bingo and "Crazy Catz" slots, and we had a fun time meeting everyone, even running into a few friends from our first CWCW voyage to the Norfolk Senior picnic.

And after talking to Mr. Miller and the other participants at the Seniorama, I realized that maybe the poor economy is having sort of a domino affect on people. While St. Lawrence County came out, the other nearby counties weren't really represented, presumably because of high gas prices and the like. And when people can’t attend events like Seniorama, something that wants to help participants save money, they might be missing out on some helpful ways to save money.

A Day at the Fair

2009-08-18T10:03:00.001-04:00

Last week, the Common Wealth, Common Wisdom team spent a day at the St. Lawrence County Fair in Gouverneur. When we managed to pry ourselves away from the games, the animals and the maple sugar candy, we set up an informational booth and conducted interviews with some local entrepreneurs.

Ruth Garner on Gender Equality

2009-08-12T18:35:00.010-04:00

Today's economy is a point of obsession- talked about by every news station, and worried about by nearly every person in the country. But when I follow recession news, there's one big question on my mind: How are women being affected differently than men?

In today's recession, more jobs are being lost by men than women. This is because more jobs are being lost in the construction field, where the typical worker is male, and because it costs less to keep a woman on as they are payed less. To give you an idea, the median annual income for an unmarried woman is $12, 900 and $26, 850 for a man. This is part of the reason single mothers need more government assistance, such as food stamps, than single fathers.

However, while men are losing more jobs, women are still having a harder time in the recession. People are falling back on savings when they can't pay the bills with a paycheck, and women have less savings because they make less. To this day women make only 76% of what men make, and face discrimination in the workforce when applying for jobs. A decrease in salaries across the board isn't helping: Men's earnings are down .5%, and women's down 3%.

It's shocking to read these facts knowing the progress we have made-- why is it so hard to make the final leaps towards equality? Why is equal pay still a problem in today's modern society? But I think the bigger question is, in the face of statistics like these, why have women's rights become such a tired topic?

Ruth Garner tells me that when she started thinking about a career in the 1930s, a woman could be only a teacher, secretary, or nurse. And while those continue to be the most common jobs for women, they are no longer the only options. However, being allowed to apply for the same job as a man does not mean gender doesn't play a role. Look at the new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and how much focus was put on the fact that she is a woman, instead of simply her ideas.

One thing I realized when talking with Ruth is that we have made immense progress in the past seventy years. Ruth has broken the glass ceiling three times over: She opened a hairdresser's business, a funeral home, and became mayor.

Click on the audio player to hear a story about unequal pay from Ruth's life. And to hear more of Ruth's story, come to our final event on Friday at the Silas Wright House from five to eight p.m.

Save a Dollar, Be Creative!

2009-08-12T08:25:00.000-04:00

We asked passers-by at the Gouveurneur fair to share the creative ways they like to save money in tough times by writing or illustrating their technique on a 3x5 index card. We were pleasantly surprised by the number of contributors who had something to add to the pool of common wisdom, (with colored markers, no less!) and so we’ve compiled a slide show of the best of these tips for all the penny-pinchers out there. Click on the photo to see them all.

Audio feature: Sharing ideas about surviving tough times

2009-08-11T13:29:00.001-04:00

A new audio feature from the project aired this morning on NCPR's morning news program The Eight O'Clock Hour.

Drafted to Serve: Bill Cullen's Stories From the War

2009-08-05T16:59:00.000-04:00

"These Hands Have..." Audio Slideshow

2009-07-30T17:02:00.002-04:00

CWCW goes to Brushton

2009-07-29T16:36:00.006-04:00

Armed with microphones, cameras, and our newly printed business cards, the CWCW team ventured to Brushton, NY.

Brushton is the poorest town in terms of household income in Franklin County: To give you an idea, the median household income in Brushton $23, 326, whereas in Malone the median household income is $31, 031. Only about five hundred people live in Brushton, and it’s populated by an older group of people, the median age being forty years. The unemployment rate in 2008 was 4.8%, and the residents living below poverty level is 14.6%.

With these figures in mind, I wasn’t too hopeful about what we would find in Brushton. Besides a Stewarts (which was pretty hoppin’ when we stopped for lunch), there didn’t seem to be much there. However, despite the gloomy statistics, Brushton was not, as I’d expected, entirely dead to business. Don Barney, the eighty-year-old mayor said, "At one time we counted around the village here, now I don’t remember the exact amount, but it was twenty-some small businesses that were mom and pop businesses in the village."

Unfortunately, in the last six months, many of those mom-and-pop businesses have closed. A Fort Covington man named Guy Soucia had converted the closed high school into a "mini-mall" with several small businesses. Unfortunately, we arrived to find the mall shut down, the businesses moved and the building empty and locked. Mayor Barney told us the building is in the process of being sold, and Soucia already has a hopeful buyer. He closed the building in hopes of opening something geared more towards young kids.

We left our business cards at various places around the town: at the bank, a local wood shop, and Stewarts. We then gave our cards to the newest entrepreneur in Brushton, Shawn Taylor, who opened his new tattoo shop "Taylored Tattoos" just three days ago. When we told Shawn we’d be discussing entrepreneurial spirit in hard times with our project, he agreed that opening a business in today’s economy is not an easy feat. I asked him, if opening a business is so tough these days, why did Shawn decide to do this (in Brushton, of all places)?

Shawn had a lot of tattoos of his own, and sat on the stoop of his building, in front of dozens of tattoo drawings taped to the windows. He was friendly and easy to talk to, really open to our questions and hearing about the project.

He seems to represent a type of business he feels is declining in the North Country, one where the focus is on caring for customers rather than simply making a dollar. Shawn told us it’s got to be about getting the job done well- not just about getting it done. "People don’t wanna see change," he said. "I know a lot of people who drive by here and they see a tattoo shop- people already in their mind have made up 'Well that is gonna be a lot of bad people around,' or things of that nature and its just not like that." What gives him the will to try to defy this stereotype he feels exists, that tattoos bring the wrong crowd? "I’ve bucked the system my whole life," he said. "Why not bring something in here and do the same thing- but do it for the good. Reverse the role."

Perhaps he won’t have too difficult a time defying the stereotype he feels exists about tattoos, as it seems everyone is getting them these days. Shawn told us older people are getting them as well as young, "teachers, probation officers, cops, it doesn’t matter." And he may be right- CWCW elder Ruth Garner recently got a tattoo of her own, a shamrock on her shoulder for the Zootoo fundraiser in Potsdam.

I left our talk with Shawn feeling pretty optimistic about Brushton, this little town I’d driven through so many times but never really given much credit. Sure, times are hard and businesses seem impossibly difficult to start. But having a will like Shawn's changes the game. You’ve just got to have be in it for the right reasons, serving other people to help them, rather than simply worrying about gaining a profit.

The Positive Mind Leading Brushton

2009-07-29T16:05:00.004-04:00

photo taken by Kolby Weaver

Sitting on his patio in downtown Brushton, Mayor Don Barney shares some of his accumulated wisdom with the CWCW crew. The eighty year-old retired Agway representative shares his circumstances growing up on a farm in Malone during the Great Depression. Don says that although his family was poor, "we never went without."

Don pauses, considering what he's about to say. "I usually don't tell people this," Don says, "but I don't have a high school education." In a household of five children, Don explains, "If there was work to be done at home, you stayed home and you done it… Most of the time we made our own money. We might have gone out to nearby farms and we'd pick corn and pitch hay and we'd do anything to make a dollar." He grew up with a notion of hard work and independence as his family "raised everything on the farm."

Don's self-reliance has taken the place of education and I begin to understand how, in combination with education, that character trait can lead to great economic prospects. "I don't think in life I really could've done any better if I had a high school education or college. But I had the experience and the good reputation to be able to get one of the best jobs."

It was inspiring to learn that Don served on various school and town community boards despite his lack of formal education. He reminds us that education "opens doors but doesn't solve all the problems." Many youth today are choosing education as a safe-haven from the reality of living independent, but having a college degree doesn't automatically ensure success. Don Barney's emphasis on education in combination with will power is powerful advice for young people today. The current economy of may appear bleak but Don says with a grin, " I think you gotta have that positive attitude, that’s all. Yeah, and a little bit of luck of course."

These hands have... audio feature

2009-07-28T11:06:00.001-04:00

A new audio feature from the project aired this morning on NCPR's morning news program The Eight O'Clock Hour.

Our First Work Efforts: Spirits and Solutions

2009-07-23T15:49:00.009-04:00

Our First Work Efforts: Spirit and Solutions

Sharing Canton Farmers' Market peanut butter cookies and coffee, the CWCW crew sits in a circle, as if around a campfire. We begin at the roots of our own entrepreneurial lives by sharing our first memory earning a dollar. Roger Huntley leans forward with a grin and asks, "Maybe these two elderly ladies remember a Reverend Charles McVay of Crary Mills?" At this Ruth Garner and Mickey Williams erupt into a fit of laughter. "Yea…I thought maybe," Roger says. His first job weed-whacking the Reverend’s lawn earned him ten cents, and with his money Roger walked a mile and a half to the Crary Mills grocery store to buy a candy bar. "I put my ten cents on the counter and he gave it right back to me; it was a Canadian!"

Intern Chelsea Ross remembers building her first lemonade stand with a friend. "I'm not sure if we really did make money," she begins with a laugh. After Chelsea and her friend put in the designated man-hours brewing lemonade for profit she admits, "We actually didn’t have a lot of people and then when the mailman or any sort of person working went by we gave them free lemonade because they were working - we felt bad for them."

As I wonder if any of our stories will result in actual profits, Bill Cullen tells the group about his first job as a very un-ambitious paperboy. "With my bicycle I peddled around and delivered papers every day. My job, on top of delivering more papers, was to get more customers." In Bill’s eyes I see a hint of resentment toward his long lost part-time profession. And the task of getting more customers? "I could not get one," Bill exclaims, "I was no salesman, it was terrible. So, sooner or later they sent another representative of the [Watertown] Times to get more customers. They went right at the job and got them of course so I had more people to deliver papers to."

Our stories are exchanged freely and are surprisingly similar to one another. Despite our different ages, all our stories easily could belong to any member of the group. As youth we all enjoyed working and being rewarded for that work, now the value of that labor is dwarfed by a complicated financial mess among banks, hedge funds, and financial groups. If we were to revert back to the spirit of our first work effort, and combine that simplicity with the technology of the future, would we prevent future depressions and recessions?

Things They Remembered

2009-07-22T15:49:00.008-04:00

Today Brenna and I spent another afternoon with Ruth and Mickey. Ruth told a story about a carved pine chest that she had inherited from her grandmother. Her grandmother put sheets in the drawers, and would put orange peels between the sheets. Even now the drawers smell like oranges. "You may not be too sentimental about certain things, but they remind you of your youth," she said.

Ruth and Mickey complained about how poorly things are made today. Ruth has a couple of music boxes that she has had for decades that still work. I found this surprising since I can barely get my iPod to last more than two years. "I hate buying new things!" Ruth said. "I would rather just get them fixed."

"These hands have..."

2009-07-21T17:15:00.002-04:00

Bill Cullen's hands have conducted a speech choir, Ann Huntley's have nursed a baby calf, and Jenn Sibert's have laced figure skates. As we went around the room, talking about what our hands had done, the conversation turned nostalgic. Ann Huntley pulled out a black and white photograph of her large family standing in front of a house. She remembered daring her little brothers to stick their tongues against a cold pipe in winter, and I felt a strong sense of family. Even as she talked about dark periods of her life, about death and hard times, I felt at ease and happy to just be in the room with them. Listening to Roger recounting snowball fights at school and walking seven miles into town to see a movie, I felt a sense of peace. It felt like the natural order of things for us to be listening as he relived his childhood. And I felt sad in a way too, that in our society, it took a paid internship to bring us here, listening to our elders at last.

As our discussion ended, the Huntleys' packed away their memories in a small, white envelope. I didn't have time to feel longing to look at them further; the whole group was ushered into a circle, hands in the middle. Young and old laughed and talked, our hands touching. The camera flashed. I laughed as Ruth started singing the hokey pokey. Our group broke up as arrangements were made to meet again. Already, I couldn't wait to hear more stories.

The end of an auction era

2009-07-20T10:28:00.003-04:00

The first audio feature from the project aired this morning on NCPR's morning news program The Eight O'Clock Hour. The piece featured CWCW elder Roger Huntley, presiding over his last public auction.

Roger Huntley's Last Auction

2009-07-16T16:18:00.002-04:00

In a firehouse in Hannawa Falls, Roger Huntley led his last auction. Photos by Gregory Warner.

Click Photo to View Slideshow

Our Journey Begins: A Photo Diary

2009-07-16T16:13:00.007-04:00

On July 15, 2009 in a sunroom on the St. Lawrence University campus, elders and interns of the Common Wealth, Common Wisdom crew met for the first time. After having lunch and becoming acquainted with each other, four interns met individually and interviewed five senior citizens. Kolby Weaver (Canton, NY) met with Mickey Williams (Canton, NY), Chelsea Ross (Potsdam, NY) met with Bill Cullen (Potsdam, NY), Jennifer Sibert (Canton, NY) met with Anne and Roger Huntley (Crary Mills, NY), and Brenna Rice (Potsdam, NY) met with Ruth Garner (Potsdam, NY) to collect details about the seniors' lives before, during, and beyond the Great Depression. Photos by Mike Sauter

Click Photo To View Slideshow

Getting to Know Each Other

2009-07-16T15:26:00.009-04:00

It was our first meeting with the elders we'll be seeing regularly for the next five weeks - Bill, Mickey, Anne and Roger, and Ruth. We met them outside and helped them each get into the sunroom and seated. The sandwiches soon arrived and the sound of clicking plastic containers filled the air. We went around the circle, repeating our names and saying a fruit that started with the same letter as our name- Gregory grapefruit, Kolby kiwi, Anne apple, Mike melon, and so on. We laughed as we went around the circle, trying to remember the names that had already been said.

We paired off and sat down to have a short chat about their lives. I spoke with 93-year-old Deputy Mayor Ruth Garner. She told me that women in her time had only three career options: nursing, teaching, or secretarial work. Ruth was the first woman in 140 years to be on the Potsdam town board. People told her she couldn't do it, but she knocked on doors in Potsdam and got the support. Later, she became mayor. Now, she said, over half the mayors in New York are women. Ruth is ready to change with the times. She showed me a shamrock tattoo she'd gotten just a few months earlier. The tattoo was for the Zootoo fundraiser in Potsdam.

When we got back together as a group we played another game, this one harder than the one before. Our partner would close his or her eyes, and we had to transport them to another place using only sounds. It wasn't easy, but it was definitely fun. I heard bells from Ruth and went to a church, Anne went golfing with Jen, and Laura took Greg to Montreal. Bill, who flew planes in World War II, took Chelsea on a plane ride. He put her hands on pretend controls and she says it was easy to visualize being in a physical plan and in the air. "I had a bumpy landing," she said.

We ended by talking about entrepreneurship. Everybody gave three words that represented entrepreneurship to them. Creativity, risk, resourceful, leadership, independence, and courage were a few of the words used. Some mentioned unexpected words, like "dependence." Ruth talked about the importance of "brevity," saying that to be an entrepreneur meant not just coming up with ideas but listening to others, too.