Daily Archives: March 4, 2017

Restaurant-backed campaign enters minimum wage debate – Southwest Journal

Posted: March 4, 2017 at 1:10 am

Dozens of bar and restaurant owners are lining up behind a campaign to phase-in a citywide minimum wage of $15 an hour while making an exception for workers who earn tips.

Supporters of the Pathway to $15 campaign who between them own more than 100 Minneapolis bars and restaurants back a proposal that would treat most bartenders and servers who work in the front of the house differently than the cooks and dishwashers in the kitchen.

For back-of-the-house staff, the minimum wage would rise steadily to $15 an hour over a period of three to seven years. Meanwhile, their tipped co-workers would see gratuities factored into the wage calculation; bartenders and servers could be paid just $9.50 an hour, as long as their combined earnings from wages and tips totaled at least $15 an hour over the course of a shift. If not, their employers would have to make up the difference.

Thats whats known alternately as a tip credit or tip penalty. Mayor Betsy Hodges chose the latter term recently when she described her reasons for opposing the two-tiered system, which she said would unfairly penalize women, who make up the majority of tipped workers.

Supporters of Pathway to $15 counter that the proposal simply recognizes the total taxable income of tipped workers. The alternative, they say, is layoffs, higher menu prices and the loss of Minneapolis businesses that close or move.

Under the Pathway to $15 proposal, the minimum wage increases to $15 by 2020 for large employers, those with more than 250 employees. Small employers have until 2024.

Locally owned franchises of larger national chains, like McDonalds, or regional chains, like Davannis, could count as small employers if they have fewer than 250 employees based in Minneapolis.

The proposal also creates a separate wage tier for youth workers. Minimum wage would be $8.50 for those under 18.

Its a plan theyre taking to the City Council, which is expected to vote on a municipal minimum wage in the late spring or early summer. The details of a proposed ordinance are expected to be made public in May.

Targeting tips

David Benowitz, CEO of Craft and Crew, a restaurant group that includes Stanleys Northeast Bar Room and The Howe, estimated that extending the $15 minimum wage to his tipped employees would increase expenses at the two Minneapolis restaurants well over $200,000 per year, per store.

Thats a very scary number for us because we operate on very thin margins, Benowitz said. Thats well over our profit for the year, so we would have no choice but to change the business model for how we do business.

He said those changes would likely include raising menu prices by 1520 percent. Thats significantly higher than the less than 5-percent increase predicted by the economists who simulated the effects of a minimum wage hike in a City Council-commissioned study.

Without a carve-out for tipped employees, Benowitzs Minneapolis restaurants would likely adopt a no-tipping policy; he said it would be easier for customers to swallow the higher prices if they didnt have to tip on top of the check. Benowitz said his servers currently average about $24 an hour after tips, and the prospect of maxing-out at $15 means many of them support Pathway to $15.

Thats why veteran server Sarah Norton supports Pathway to $15. Norton, a mother of three who lives in St. Paul, currently totals roughly 40 hours a week between shifts at Jefe in Northeast and Jun in the North Loop and takes in additional income teaching voice lessons. Norton earns $9.50 an hour at her serving jobs, but she said her take home pay averages closer to $30 an hour with tips.

Norton, who runs the Facebook group Service Industry Staff for Change, said she was offended by Mayor Hodges comments on tipping. Echoing Saru Jayaraman of the Restaurant Opportunities Center, who in February spoke in Minneapolis, Hodges wrote in a blog post that tipping as an institution is rooted in the history of slavery and it originated as a substitute for a decent, fair, and equitable wage.

Shes coming after the tips, Norton said. In my experience, somebody is always coming after our tips, somebody always wants our tips, somebody always thinks were making too much money.

One fair wage

Other servers see $15 an hour as a pathway to financial stability, including Destiny Davis, a 24-year-old with five years of restaurant experience. Davis was most recently employed 2030 hours a week as a server and bartender at the Oak Grill inside the downtown Macys, where her take-home earnings varied significantly from one shift to another.

Davis earned $10 an hour behind the bar, but could take home $200 in tips on a good night. Another night, she might struggle to afford bus fare home after a slow shift waiting tables.

There have been days when Ive clocked in for four hours and I havent made a dime in tips, she said. Then, two weeks later, my check is for $65.

Davis, who is African-American, said she has experienced overt racism on the job, including customers who ask to be waited on by a white server. Its not just the whims of her customers that create uncertainty in her earnings; a sunny day would draw customers away to restaurants with patios, and a holiday would clear workers out of downtown.

Davis, who lives in South Minneapolis with her partner, said she was living close to the edge financially. If she wasnt in a relationship, shed consider moving back in with her mom.

If Im making $15 an hour plus tips, I can take a little breather, she said.

Advocates on both sides of the tipping debate agree that phasing-in higher wages would blunt the impact on business owners. A phase-in was included in the charter amendment 15 Now Minnesota attempted to put on the ballot last November.

15 Now Minnesota lost their fight in the courts, and afterwards advocates for what is often described as one fair wage shifted their focus to influencing the shape of the municipal wage ordinance now under development.

Ginger Jentzen, a longtime server who recently stepped down as executive director 15 Now Minnesota to run for City Council in Ward 3, said creating an exception for tipped workers would require restaurants to track the fluctuating pay of individual serving staff from shift-to shift.

It puts it on the individual worker to negotiate with management constantly about what their wages were for the shift, Jentzen said, adding the system opens the door to intimidation and wage theft.

She described the threat of a no-tipping policy as a scaremongering tactic that comes from the National Restaurant Association, an industry group that advocates for tip credit policies. Jentzen found the idea that restaurants might flee Minneapolis and their customer base similarly far-fetched.

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VIDEO: Street cleaners fight for London Living Wage from … – Wandsworth Guardian

Posted: at 1:10 am

Wandsworth street cleaners took to the streets to protest rates of pay and slashed hours for two days this week.

Staff at Continental landscapes went on strike on February 28 and March 1 because their employers pay 7.50 per hour when the London Living Wage is 9.75.

The staff on strike, 18of the workforce, have appealed to the council to help their cause.

In the video Paul Grafton, a full time official at trade union GMB, said: "The council have completely ignored our pleas.

"[Continental Landscapes] earn huge amounts of money. The turnover is 13 million a year for these contracts.

A spokesperson for Wandsworth Council said: "This is a dispute between our contractor and their workforce.

"We expect services to be provided in line with the terms of the contract."

GMB representative Pat Duggan said: "From April Wandsworth Council made a half a million pound cut."

He said the council made "eight people redundant"leaving the cleaning staff with extra work, no extra pay and an hour less a day to do the work.

Mr Grafton said: "The directors of Continental Landscapes are simply promoting modern day slavery within Wandsworth and yet the Wandsworth Council show no interest and appear to be happy to see the staff earning so little."

He added: "Since Continental Landscapes have taken on the contract the staff have suffered not only in having their hours slashed but also the rates of overtime reduced at weekends and evenings.

"Some staff will also be losing a further 150 a month as a result of the continual cuts on the contract."

Councillor Fleur Anderson, Labour spokesman on Community Services, said: "Residents in Wandsworth already get a bad deal when it comes to street cleaning services which have been cut back by the Council to the point where bins have been removed and collections cancelled to save money."

Continental Landscapes have been contacted for comment.

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VIDEO: Street cleaners fight for London Living Wage from Continental Landscapes – Your Local Guardian

Posted: at 1:10 am

Wandsworth street cleaners took to the streets to protest rates of pay and slashed hours for two days this week.

Staff at Continental landscapes went on strike on February 28 and March 1 because their employers pay 7.50 per hour when the London Living Wage is 9.75.

The staff on strike, 18of the workforce, have appealed to the council to help their cause.

In the video Paul Grafton, a full time official at trade union GMB, said: "The council have completely ignored our pleas.

"[Continental Landscapes] earn huge amounts of money. The turnover is 13 million a year for these contracts.

A spokesperson for Wandsworth Council said: "This is a dispute between our contractor and their workforce.

"We expect services to be provided in line with the terms of the contract."

GMB representative Pat Duggan said: "From April Wandsworth Council made a half a million pound cut."

He said the council made "eight people redundant"leaving the cleaning staff with extra work, no extra pay and an hour less a day to do the work.

Mr Grafton said: "The directors of Continental Landscapes are simply promoting modern day slavery within Wandsworth and yet the Wandsworth Council show no interest and appear to be happy to see the staff earning so little."

He added: "Since Continental Landscapes have taken on the contract the staff have suffered not only in having their hours slashed but also the rates of overtime reduced at weekends and evenings.

"Some staff will also be losing a further 150 a month as a result of the continual cuts on the contract."

Councillor Fleur Anderson, Labour spokesman on Community Services, said: "Residents in Wandsworth already get a bad deal when it comes to street cleaning services which have been cut back by the Council to the point where bins have been removed and collections cancelled to save money."

Continental Landscapes have been contacted for comment.

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Slavery ‘lieutenant’ jailed for ‘heinous offences’ – Bradford Telegraph and Argus

Posted: at 1:10 am

A KEY member of a ruthless slavery gang that trafficked vulnerable victims to Bradford to plunder their pay packets has been jailed for four years.

David Zielinski was an able and willing lieutenant for the family firm Zielinski and Sons that trawled the streets of their native Poland to find poor and desperate people to exploit in the UK.

But dreams of a better life in Britain contrasted sharply with a reality of sleeping on the floor in crowded, unfurnished accommodation and scavenging on the citys streets.

Zielinski and his family bought a luxurious villa in Poland from the proceeds of forced labour by men and women from their homeland, Bradford Crown Court heard. One man had 8,000 stolen from him and others were left with just 5 a day from their wage packets. The heating was turned off at addresses in Leeds Road, Thornbury, Lower Rushton Road and Nottingham Road, Bradford, and food was scarce. Victims had to relieve themselves in the garden because of inadequate bathroom facilities.

One man said he was treated like a dog and others spoke of severe beatings if they attempted to escape. A terrified victim was told he would be killed and buried in the woods if he ran away again. Zielinski was convicted by the jury of two offences of trafficking under the 2015 Modern Slavery Act and a charge of conspiracy to require another person to perform compulsory labour.

During the 12 day trial, the court heard from six victims of Zielinski and Sons. Nine other men were mentioned in the evidence by first name only and so could not be traced by the police.

Judge Jonathan Rose said Zielinski, 24, of Enfield, North London,was involved in the deliberate exploitation of fellow human beings.

We heard evidence of the luxurious villa your family owned in Poland, financed no doubt by the forced labour of these men and women. And this, of course, was the object of the exercise the enslavement of vulnerable men and women for your own financial greed, Judge Rose told Zielinski.

He continued: You were not the leader of this conspiracy, although I find you to have been an able and willing lieutenant who would profit no less than other members of your family.

Judge Rose made a ten year Slavery Trafficking Prevention Order when jailing Zielinski. He said the sentence was both to punish him and to deter others.

After the case, Detective Chief Inspector Warren Stevenson, of the Protective Services (Crime) team, said police had worked extensively with agencies across the country and in Europe to get justice for the victims of what he branded heinous offences.

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Heart of Smartness – Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription) (blog)

Posted: at 1:10 am

So you think youre so smart?

Somewhere in one of his novels, David Lodge gave us the game of Humiliation. You know, the one where people who are supposed to have read everything (yes, Im talking about you people in literature) have to admit to what they havent read.

Think Truth or Dare, the Doctoral Edition.

There are lots of Important Books that we dont read. And I mean those of us in the Reading Business (dont worry, Ill run out of capital letters soon), whatever our fields. But there are works that speak with such what to call it? continuous urgency, that not to read or have read them cuts a hole where we imagine our brains and hearts to be.

So heres my confession for today (and my list is long, let me tell you): The Souls of Black Folk, by W.E.B. Du Bois. Du Bois published it in 1903. Its the famous document in which he enunciated one of the great truths of American modernity: that the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color line.

Im reading it now, for the first time, and with two calendars in my head: one set in 1903, one in 2017. I want to recover, if I can, Du Boiss sense of immediacy this was a great mind thinking about race four decades after at least the official abolition of slavery in the United States while also reading it as a document written today.

Im not a Du Bois scholar. Im barely a Du Bois amateur. Yet Im turning the pages with an electrifying sense of the books appositeness to the damaged world of 21st-century America.

The problem of the color line may be Du Boiss most famous phrase, but the essay-chapters of The Souls of Black Folk present us with even more of what teachers and students want, namely, language to think with.

Let me bring up just one phrase: Du Boiss characterization of America specifically white America as a dusty desert of dollars and smartness. Two familiar potentially generative obsessions, and then that dusty desert speaks volumes.

Du Boiss perception about dollars has lost none of its punch. But smartness? Now that cuts close to the academic bone. Surely smartness is that quality we in universityland prize above everything.

Washington Irving may have given us the phrase the almighty dollar in the 1830s. (As far as I know, nobody has deployed the phrase almighty smartness or should.) But those of us who work in education know far too well our own almighties the obsession with measurables and deliverables, with calibrating scores, with winnowing and sifting, even long after the agricultural metaphor has lost its cultural potency.

Du Bois was writing about African-Americans caught then they are still caught now, as so many other Americans also are in a place where dollars and smartnessconverge.

Its no coincidence that Du Bois, the first African-American to earn a doctorate at Harvard, spoke to the necessity of the humanities and humanistic inquiry.

Whatever it is, humanistic inquiry is surely something beyond the literature classroom. Its a way of positioning oneself in relation to ideas, to people, and to the world, and that means it can happen in any field, from astrophysics, microbiology, and nursing to politics, music, and anthropology.

If you think Du Bois is a historical curiosity, youre partly right. He wrote of a moment and is a window onto it, for those of us who are curious about the urgencies of the past and the living problems of our own modernity.

So why read him? You dont work in Afro-Am, you say? I dont either. And thats my point. A celebrated and surely underread, century-old text can bring us back to important questions, like casting smartness in an ethical perspective.

Why were teachers.

Why thinking like a humanist is critical to using our intelligence.

And why being brainy is as least as much an obligation as a gift.

Follow me on Twitter @WmGermano

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Krejci named 2017 Woman of Achievement – Southernminn.com

Posted: at 1:09 am

OWATONNA When Cheri Krejcis name was called, she was speechless.

As she made her way from her table where her family and friends were seated in the soft lighting of Jefts Library on the Pillsbury College Prep and Camp Friday evening those in attendance stood in applause.

Well, I dont even know what to say, Krejci said, garnering chuckles from the audience. There are great women up for this award and I dont feel that I should be the one picked, but thank you to everybody.

Krejci, a longtime Blooming Prairie resident and community advocate, was named the Owatonna Business Womens 45th annual Woman of Achievement in the presence of more than 100 individuals at the organizations scholarship awards and fundraiser celebration.

She was chosen from five finalists who live or work in Steele County and exemplify the groups mission to promote personal empowerment, professional development and political awareness who were announced in February.

Other nominees for the award were Linda Hoffman, manager of Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute and Penny George Institute for Health and Healing at Owatonna Hospital, part of Allina Health; Kim Schaufenbuel, executive director of United Way of Steele County; Amy LaDue, director of teaching and learning for Owatonna Public Schools; and Kellyanna Moore, a family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology physician and surgeon at Mayo Clinic Health System Owatonna.

Tonight not only do we celebrate the success and achievements of five wonderful women of what we see of the tip of the iceberg, but more importantly, we celebrate everything below the surface: their stories, why they give, the sacrifices they have made, their dedication to their careers, their families, their communities, the countless hours of speaking, donating, fundraising, baking and all the other things that they do because this is what truly makes them all women of achievement, said Katie Glaser, Owatonna Business Women president.

Krejci, who has been the office manager at Krejci Ford in Blooming Prairie for more than 30 years, is responsible for managing payroll, accounting, titles and inventory control, attended Faribault Technical School and continued her education through the Ford Accounting School in office management.

But probably most notable, if youve met Krejci, is the work she does outside of the confines of her dealership office. Thats because there is plenty.

Krejci, a seven-year breast cancer survivor, has been a member of the Blooming Prairie Cancer Group since 2005. The organization was started in 2000 to raise money for the annual Eagles Cancer Telethon in Rochester that funds research, and in 2010, the group started the community fund to provide assistance to individuals and their families and they go through cancer treatment.

As a cancer survivor, Cheri is always willing to lend a hand, her heart, her time or a shoulder to cry on, Glaser said.

She has also served as a 4-H leader, Girl Scouts leader, volunteer at the Homestead Hospice House and the stewardship secretary and volunteer at First Lutheran Church of Blooming Prairie. However, Krejci has been pitched in to help with fundraising efforts for the Boys and Girls Club of Blooming Prairie and the Stix of Fury, a Blooming Prairie-based drumline and color guard. She was the founding member of the Blooming Prairie Education Foundation and the Blooming Prairie Quarterback Club.

Krejci has previously been recognized as the 2007 Blooming Prairie Citizen of the Year, 2014 Boys and Girls Club Awesome Advocator and the 2013 Minnesota Twins Honorary Bat Girl, where she had the honor to throw the first pitch at a Mothers Day game.

The judges, three women from out of town who met with the candidates Feb. 25 for one-on-one interviews, described Krejci as a silent leader who people want to follow and a kind and gentle servant.

Also honored Friday were four scholarship recipients and the Owatonna Business Womens Young Careerists and Pioneer Woman.

This years scholarship recipients, funded in part by ticket sales and silent auction of the evenings event, were Ashley Gilbertson and Britta Gantert, who were this years senior scholarship recipients, and Michelle Miller and Vikki Ebenhoh, who received the aspiring woman scholarships. All four women were praised for their impressive involvement in the community.

The Young Careerists, up-and-coming young business women selected for their accomplishments so far in their careers and to highlight their future promise, are Ryan Gillespie, a mortgage loan officer at Bremer Bank; Kate Harthan, operations director at Corporate Recognition; and Janie Rolloff, accounting management at Federated Insurance, who were announced by Steele County District Court Judge Karen Duncan, who is also 2009 Woman of Achievement.

The Pioneer Woman, which is presented to a Steele County woman over 60 years old who has carved footprints in the community and world at large, is Marlys Mickelson.

Over the last several decades, she has impressively cultivated a flexibility to respond to an ever-changing environment for women, juggling a family and motherhood, professional work and civic stewardship, said Jennifer Frazier, who introduced Mickelson.

Mickelson moved to Owatonna in the mid-1960s, where she and her husband, Phil, raised two sons. Since then, shes been a friend of the Owatonna Arts Center and Steele County Historical Society and actively volunteers at the Steele County Food Shelf, delivers Meals on Wheels and recruits and works countless hours to care for the Homestead Hospice House grounds, provided support as an Owatonna Aquatic Center steering committee member, volunteers for the hospital auxiliary and Trinity Lutheran Church.

Repeatedly, Marlys shares her talents within our community and has become an essential ingredient, Frazier said.

On behalf of women, Mickelson advocates the message that issues matter regardless of whether it is city, state or national. She was employed by Lyle Mehrkens, a former Republican Minnesota senator, worked to elect Cal Ludeman, a former Republican Minnesota representative, to the state governorship and Congress. She continues to advocate and support Democratic candidates and current issues today, and serves as an election judge.

I am pleased and grateful for this honor. Grateful to the person who nominated me. Grateful to the selection committee and the [Owatonna Business Women] organization who enrich our community with honors and scholarships, Mickelson said. I am also grateful that I live in Owatonna. There are many opportunities to become involved in our community and I encourage you to do so.

Krejcis award was announced at the end of the event, which consisted of appetizers, a silent auction and a program, where she was introduced by last years Woman of Achievement and this years keynote speaker Carol Belmore, a social worker at Owatonna Junior High School.

I believe each one of us has the ability to make a difference in the lives of others, to inspire others to do great things and to help others discover and appreciate the gifts they have been given, Belmore said during her keynote speech.

Reach reporter Ashley Stewart at 444-2378 or follow her on Twitter.com @OPPashley

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Electing Caliban: Assessing Civic Health in Post Truth America – Huffington Post

Posted: at 1:09 am

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love. -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky (from The Brothers Karamazov)

To many Americans, the election of the forty-fifth president is an ongoing punch in the gut. To others, it remains a profound relief. The question is: for how long?

The original sorting mechanism for voters in this election cycle was the deft appeal not to reason and facts, but to emotion and tribalism. This, of course, is the oldest kind of politics; it discloses the roots of partisanship and shouldnt surprise anyone. Still, what a distance there is between tribe and truth. In an era so completely saturated with information (information that traffics freely and instantly through the screens and minds of so many Americans) it is shocking to behold, even after the election, the growing chasm between information and veracity. In an era where a library far superior than any ancestor ever dreamed of can be held in ones hand, it is astonishing to witness the many ways that reason and wisdom can be so brazenly cast aside, the many waysmore concerning to methat truth can be no match for ignorance.

Speaking specifically in terms of the recent electionand the many chaotic days that have followed in its wakeits easy to provide an orienting example. As a campaign strategy, the sustained petition to the shared misery and fears of the disenfranchised (and largely white) voter by an individual who is clearly no champion of the disenfranchised white voter is a living expression of the post-truth age in which we now suddenly dwellan age that is hosting the most serious moral and existential crisis this country has faced in a generation.

Trumps love for the poorly educated voter and his campaign teams decision to fraudulently capitalize on the pain of this group in order to get votes will be a topic for scholars of politics and ethics to sort through long after we all (including the poorly educated) awake from this nightmarish convulsion of history. To make impossible promises to any group of peopleespecially those who have faith that candidates are at least conscious of some shred of truth outside of the wink-wink hyperbole of campaign rhetoricis truly what merits the term deplorable in this election year. Lies, in any season, never create fertile moral or civic terrain; and to spit them out so brazenly, pathologically, and enthusiastically reveals a profound illnessnot only in the person who does the lying (and who, unchained by those who should rein him in, is upping his game at every turn), but also in the culture that elected him. And this means everybody.

In this sense, Trump is a kind of Caliban of modern politics. He was created by a crass, consumerist, reality TV culture and has revealed himself, like Caliban in Shakespeares last play, to be the living embodiment of base appetites. Appetites, of course, power the engine of consumer culture; they are implacable, need to be fed, and Trump is certainly hungry. But it is also becoming increasingly clearespecially to those who have not had the time or inclination to focus more sharply on this global train wreckthat Trumps appetites are not only malformed and disordered, but are insatiable and endless in their need. He is hungry not for service, but for attention; he desires not truth, but power; he wants not the common good of the many, but the narrow good of the few. Appetites can spread through the hive of society like an emotional contagion and its effects are without boundary. As Marilynne Robinson wisely counsels "Fear operates as an appetite or an addiction. You can never be safe enough"an insight that seems particularly apt in this case. The appetites Trump possesses are neither original nor unique; but they are out of joint in a president and disrupt the best of American tradition. More pragmatically, they will not engender any semblance of peace, justice, and polity either at home or abroad.

In this way, Trump is best understood not as a dialogical response to Hillary Clinton (and, even against Clintons errors in leadership, this opposition reveals another species of moral injustice and social degradation), nor even as a foil to the goodness and civility of President Obama (and one need not agree politically with President Obama to acknowledge the unimpeachability of his personal character). No. These now ancillary antagonists in the unfolding drama are no longer on the spectrum of opposition when it comes to naming the toxic defects of Number 45. We have moved well beyond the distracting plot points of identity politics and are into new territory here. The battle now (as ever, really) is a moral one; and Trumps team will side step this reality by concocting a series of adversaries to keep the public occupied in a fake drama. This is what is meant when critics of all parties and stripes assert that Trump and the brain stem of his team are building an administration based on cock-and-bull deception and propaganda. Hubris, boorishness, and lassitude best characterize this presidential skill set and the enabling pack of Trumpian yes-people sell it to the public as political rectitude. As much as hell tell us otherwise, it is Trump (and those who are pulling his strings and running the larger game) who are making a colossal mess. It is Trump, a worse angel of our nature if there ever was one, who parades in front of the Lincoln Memorial in a sick parody of presidential possibility. It is Trump who defiles the integrity of the Oval office in a pageant of puerile tweets, unprecedented incompetence, and epic narcissism.

How elitist and ignorant it would be, though, to cite Shakespeare and then indict the poorly educated as singularly complicit in the mess we are in. This is not the point and I will not facilitate such an injustice. Shakespeare simply understands humanity as well as anyone ever has. One could even argue, as Harold Bloom does, that Shakespeare created modern notions of humanity and this is no small thing. Shakespeare not only understood reason and facts, but the many ways that reason and facts can be distorted and abusedespecially by those in power. In my experience, the poorly educated of any stripe always sit up in their chairs and are transformed when they encounter the Bard in his native habitat (i.e. the stage). Why? Because Shakespeare writes the truth and it explodes in our consciousness when we are confronted by its compelling majesty. The Tempest is all about Prospero getting woke to his mistakes and he rightly takes the blame for the poor leadership, deception, and lack of care that created Caliban. In the last act, Prospero admits culpability for Caliban, this demi-devil--For he's a bastard onethis thing of darkness! Acknowledge mine.

I have little respect for elitists; and they, like me, have their problems. So many elitists are also poorly educated and are as guilty as compromising personal integrity and the common good as anybody. Still, to bring it home with the Bard, All the worlds a stage and in our unfolding human drama the greater virtue is in mercy than in vengeance. We all have blind spots, think errantly at times, and are in need of correction. To live and dwell in the truth is difficult which is why its so profoundly valuable. To engage in any journey towards the truthin the many shapes and educational paths this journey takes is hard work. It is the highest drama of human existence and remains the central value of any evolved culture. Moreover (or more practically, if youd like), it is as important to national and global security as anything else.

So when an administration moves to muzzle the media or when it moves to curtail funding for the humanities and scienceswhen it moves to increase suppression of the truth telling mechanisms of societyyou can be sure that the lions will roar and defend their dens. If youd like to trace the origins of the Post Truth age, look no further than the gutting of the humanities in education and culture. Speaking as an educator, this development is most important to me and it transcends, as it should, my tribal political commitments and values. The robust humanities programs that resurrected culture in the aftermath of World War II were nurtured and cultivated for a reason. Humanities education not only gives a society the very tools it requires to fashion a just state, but also engenders personal empowerment and the collective will to shine a light on its lies. As Flannery OConnor observed, The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it. Trumps error is that, aside from having no sense of history, he does not respect his base enough to come clean about this. This not only compromises his personal credibility, but the credibilityand the safetyof America.

Dear reader, like Shakespeares wise Gonzalo you may say that the truth you speak doth lack some gentleness/And time to speak it in. You rub the sore/ When you should bring the plaster. And youd have a point to score against this Catholicespecially during the penitential season of Lent. However, it is deception that is out or order in any season and it must be called to rights. Clearly, Trumps whoppersor what Newt Gingrich calls campaign deviceshelped get him into the White House; but what will this unfortunate penchant for alternative facts and habit of (un)conscious fabrications mean for civic and global health in the days to come? We are already seeing scandal upon scandalall having to do with one lie or another and this simply unsustainable. As Buddhist wisdom reminds us: Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

Pope Paul VI wrote fifty years ago For the lover of Truth, Dialogue is always possible and people of good will are always ready to dialogue. But how does one dialogue when there is such a symphony of mendacity and self-promoting misdirection in play? Thats easy: tell the truth. The difficult part is that you have to love the truth in order to tell it.

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The Jamaican Women of Florida, Inc. (JWOF) elected a new Board of Directors – Jamaicans.com

Posted: at 1:09 am

The Jamaican Women of Florida, Inc. (JWOF) elected a new Board of Directors on February 25, 2015 at their fourth annual general meeting. The new president is Ms. Camille Edwards an administrator with the Broward County School Board. Ms. Edwards has previously served as the Presidents of the Immaculate Conception High School Alumnae Association and Broward Alliance Of Caribbean Educators (founder). She hails from Montego Bay, Jamaica and holds Masters of Science and Bachelors of Arts degrees from St. Thomas University, Miami, FL and York University, Toronto, Canada.

The newly Elected Vice President is Mrs. June Minto Marketing Consultant and Managing Partners with Jamaican Jerk Festival & Jamaque Paridis Magazines. Rounding out the new Board are Secretary Tamara Wadley; Treasurer Dale Telfer, CPA who is returning for her second term in the position; Director-At-Large Ann Marie Clarke, Esq. and Legal Director Hilary Creary, Esq.- who previously served as the associations Secretary.

JWOF was launched in April, 2013 with twenty founding members and saw their membership triple since. Currently they have 46 paid members and continue to seek members to strengthen the group. The non-profit was founded as an organization to provide an outlet for Jamaican women in Florida to empower themselves through charitable and educational endeavors, personal development and mentoring. The goal of JWOF is to engage Jamaican women in Florida and to give back to the next generation of young women by assisting in the development of leadership and personal skills to operate in a global environment.

Membership is opened to everyone, and since launching they initiated several measures to accomplish their goals. These include the annual Womens Empowerment Conference & Scholarship Luncheon; the Powerful WomenNext Generation scholarship, the annual Health & Wellness Conversation, and the adoption of Melody House Girls Home in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Members of JWOF have made several trips to Jamaica to visit Melody House and have supported the girls home financially over the years. The organization has also helped several Jamaican women and families in Florida in need and continue to live up to their mission of helping the community.

We the new board embrace JWOFs mission and vision and are dedicated to the organizations continued growth over the next two years says JWOF President, Camille Edwards. We have some big shoes to fill but with the guidance of the outgoing board we will strive to provide avenues to empower the now gen and the next gen , said Edwards.

To celebrate their fourth anniversary, JWOF is again hosting the popular Jamaican Women of Florida Empowerment Conference & Scholarship Luncheon, on Saturday, April 8th, 8:00AM 4:30PM at Jungle Island in Miami, Florida. The days events will include three panel presentations focusing on their mission Empowerment; personal growth and development; and mentorship; the annual scholarship awards luncheon to benefit a female high school senior and a rising second, third and fourth year college students. Sponsorship and vendor opportunities are available.

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The Jamaican Women of Florida, Inc. (JWOF) elected a new Board of Directors - Jamaicans.com

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Paul Ryan’s Misguided Sense of Freedom – New York Times

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New York Times
Paul Ryan's Misguided Sense of Freedom
New York Times
He went on to argue that Obamacare abridges this freedom by telling you what to buy. But his first thought offers a meaningful and powerful definition of freedom. Conservatives are typically proponents of negative liberty: the freedom from constraints ...

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Paul Ryan's Misguided Sense of Freedom - New York Times

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Charlottesville marks first Liberation and Freedom Day – The Daily Progress

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A jubilant procession of a few dozen people marched through University Avenue and West Main Street on Friday evening to commemorate the moment when more than half of the populations of Charlottesville and Albemarle County were freed from slavery.

Carrying a large banner that said Let Freedom Ring and another reading Black Lives Matter, the procession sang freedom songs and lifted other political signs as they moved from the University of Virginia Chapel to the Jefferson School City Center as part of the citys first Liberation and Freedom Day celebration.

Last month, the City Council declared that March 3 would commemorate the historic moment in 1865 when Union military forces arrived in the city and liberated approximately 14,000 African-American slaves.

This is a commemoration of the most important day in Charlottesville history when 52 percent of the population was freed from slavery. said Claire Hitchens, a UVa graduate and singer-songwriter who volunteered to assist in organizing the procession Friday.

Also in attendance was Jane Clarke, the wife of a university professor emeritus, who felt motivated to participate in political rallies focused on social justice due to all the hate crimes and violence that is occurring against minorities.

As for the new holiday, she said: I think its great. We had never heard of this before. I know it was just recently created, but weve lived in Charlottesville for years and weve never heard of the liberation of the slaves.

Although the procession included only about 50 people, the first Liberation and Freedom Day celebration included well over 100 people, as the processional bridged an interfaith service at the UVa Chapel and a program at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center that lasted for more than an hour.

In addition to remarks from local community activists, city officials, historians, as well as musical performances, the event included the recognition of several community members, including Zyhana Bryant, the Charlottesville High School student who called for the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue last year.

Two other community members, Deidra Gilmore and Eddie Harris, also were awarded the inaugural Freedom Fighter award.

During the program, Councilor Wes Bellamy read a statement from Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who recognized the new holiday and offered his regards.

This commemoration reminds members of the Charlottesville community, and all Virginians, of our enduring fight for human rights, the statement said. We have come a long way, but there is still work to be done. I commend your persistent efforts to create a community of inclusion, dignity and equality.

UVa President Teresa A. Sullivan also spoke at the event, recognizing the universitys role in surrendering alongside city officials when the Union forces arrived.

As we look back on that day, Liberation and Freedom Day should be a day of reflection. But it should not be a day of somber reflection. It should be a day of victorious reflection because we are celebrating a moment in the history of our community, and of our nation, when freedom won the battle over bondage, she said.

Linda Perriello, mother of Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Charlottesville native Tom Perriello, also spoke to honor the new holiday and promote her sons campaign.

All of you who marched, all of you who are here, send a message loud and clear: no more. No more to racial injustice and its corollaries of economic injustice, criminal injustice and even environmental injustice, she said.

The idea for the new holiday came as a recommendation from the citys Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces, which was convened last year to address calls for the removal of the citys statue of Robert E. Lee.

Its just such an amazing journey that this city has been on, and I feel very proud, said Grace Aheron, a UVa graduate who also helped organize and lead the procession Friday.

It felt good today to celebrate rather than protest something, she said.

To see this day celebrated, not mourned it symbolically begins the retelling of the citys history, said John E. Mason, a UVa professor and member of the commission. Most people here celebrated the day and didnt see it as defeat, he added. That moment was the dawn of freedom.

Although a great deal of controversy has surrounded the commission and the City Councils decision to act on its recommendation to relocate the Lee statue, city officials and community members saw Fridays event as a moment to celebrate a new paradigm in how the city remembers the legacy of the Civil War.

Gary Gallagher, director of UVas John L. Nau III Civil War Center, said most communities throughout the South have only recognized the Confederacys memory of that period and that other strands of history have been glossed over.

Citing the 240 African-Americans from the area whom the Nau center has identified as having fought for the Union, he said he thinks its just as appropriate to commemorate those people just like the community historically has recognized Confederate veterans and ancestors.

One part of the historical memory thats been left out is African American men from Albemarle County who put on blue uniforms. They were absolutely invisible, he said. I think itd be a mighty damn fine idea if we put a monument with their names on it.

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Charlottesville marks first Liberation and Freedom Day - The Daily Progress

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