Go After It

For all the times I have heard people say that becoming a parent will change your life, I am still surprised by how that phrase has proven true. I used to think they meant the practical things, like quantity and quality of sleep, etc. I am realizing now that, as love has the tendency to do, the parent/child relationship not only changes your lifestyle, it changes you. The instinctual desire for the very best for our child carries with it the weight of responsibility to be better ourselves (hopefully).

In the spirit of these musings, my hubby, RM, coined his latest motto: “Go after it.” His zeal is inspired both by the fact of our daughter and her unique person. Her existence has motivated a kind of urgency to examine who he is and what he wants to be doing with his life, but he also sees in her potential for something that he wants to exemplify. From the moment she arrived, he has described her as “scrappy” which, roughly translated, is some combination of passionate, resourceful, tenacious and, yes, a little rugged. While I failed to see how she could possibly have demonstrated this quality (still learning to hold her head up at the time), he confidently made his prophesy, as a father will do. His hope for her is that she unapologetically will go after the things that God has given her the passion, desire and ability to do. In turn, he is newly motivated to do this in his own life.

Being a fearful fence-sitter myself, I am convicted that while it is easy to express well-intentioned desires for our children, our true values are demonstrated by how we live. So, I am praying for the scrappiness of faith that I may truly “go after it”, whatever It may be.

KFM

There are two kinds of books in the world–

–those which can be read on the metro and those which cannot.  Joyce’s Finnegans Wake falls in the later category.  This I discovered after the first ten pages.  It went something like this:

R sits down after catching the Blue line.  Opening to the first page, she places her finger on the line,

“riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.  Sir Tristram, violer d’amores, fr’over the short sea, had passencore ….”

A couple seats away, a woman shifts slightly.  R looks up, considers the woman’s hair, notices a smudge on the window, reads the headlines on the newspaper being read across the aisle.  Several stops closer to Long Beach, she looks back down at her book.

“The fall (bababadagharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner- ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!) of a once wallstrait oldparr …”

Wait.  R is not sure if she’s read this or not.  She begins to search the page, but is distracted by a couple who has sat down in front of her.  The woman has a piecing on her cheek.  Finally R decides that this is indeed the right place on the page.

“–konnbronntonnerronntuonn”

Wait.  No.  She moves her finger.

“–denenthurnuk!) of”

Yes.  That’s right.  Okay.  We’re making progress.

“This station is Imperial/Wilmington/Rosa Parks, transfer point for the Green line.” R stands, book in hand, leaves the train, and climbs the staircase to the Green line.  She finds her place on the page just as the train pulls into the station.  Sitting down she notices a new metro advertisement on the wall.  Then she looks down. Finnegans Wake is still there.  Waiting patiently.

“–the humptyhillhead of humself”

No.  That can’t be right.  R sighs.  The Green line is pulling into Norwalk.  Oh well.  Maybe another day.

————————————

After several similar attempts, I made a command decision to leave Finnegans Wake with its brilliantly layered waterway references and nearly unintelligible words (which I think would be best read aloud, sounded out like a brand new reader) for the quiet of a leisurely Saturday morning.

On to Walker Percy.

R. Card Hyatt

“Offshoring: The Next Industrial Revolution?”

For my global economics course, we were assigned an article by Alan Blinder from Foreign Affairs, March/April 2006. His thesis is that as information technology improves, developed nations will outsource their impersonal service jobs to the cheapest vendor (this practice is called “offshoring”) but will necessarily retain their personal services. This massive shift in labor will result in significant social changes which wealthier nations would do well to consider and prepare for now. What follows is my broad-brushed summary of his argument. – C.S. Doemner

Blinder contends we are entering the third Industrial Revolution.  The first and best-known Industrial Revolution was the 19th century migration of jobs from agriculture to manufacturing (a result of increased productivity in farming technology). The second was the 20th century shift from manufacturing to service industries (a result of increased productivity in manufacturing technologies). Although neither of these resulted in mass unemployment, nor the abolition of agriculture and manufacturing in rich countries, both resulted in massive social changes – how and where people lived, how they educated their children, organized their businesses, as well as how governments were formed and operated.

The “next” Industrial Revolution will be facilitated by technological advances in communications and transportation. Information will become the primary traded commodity. Unlike former distinctions between highly-educated/skilled labor and less-educated/skilled labor, the distinction will be made between personal and impersonal services, which don’t necessarily correspond to distinctions in education and skill. Personal services cannot be delivered electronically, or that are notably inferior when so delivered; personal, face-to-face contact is either imperative or highly desirable. Impersonal services can be delivered electronically over long distances with little or no degradation in quality.

As mentioned above, the distinction between personal and impersonal services is not directly tied to either education or skill – cab drivers will not be at risk, radiologists probably will be – but instead to how future technologies will affect particular industries. This makes it difficult to make predictions about how much of the labor market will be affected and how to take precautions against the oncoming “revolution.” Also, as impersonal jobs are offshored, wages and prices will drop; however, personal services’ wages and prices will increase.

William Baumol’s “cost disease” involves a rise of salaries in jobs that have experienced no increase of labor productivity in response to rising salaries in other jobs which did experience such labor productivity growth. The rise of wages in jobs without productivity gains is caused by the necessity to compete for employees with jobs that did experience gains and hence can naturally pay higher salaries. [See: Wikipedia] This means that personal service jobs will become more expensive over time. The only thing which might offset this trend is the number of workers who will be looking to transition out of impersonal service jobs into personal services. It must, otherwise the demand for these services will shrink also, leaving richer countries scrambling to make some major readjustments.

Blinder recommends several things for developed countries. First, they must avoid protectionist barriers against offshoring despite increased political pressure to do so. Second, they should specialize in the delivery of services where personal presence is either imperative or highly beneficial. Third, they must rethink how they educate children, since “more education” will not adequately address the problem. Emphasizing people-skills and creativity will be increasingly important. Young people making career choices will want to focus their attention towards occupations which require a face-to-face presence, are “high-touch”, are high trust, or are necessarily location-specific. Interpersonal skills (emotional intelligence) will become a more important quality for job-seekers to develop. Fourth, countries must improve their programs for trade adjustment assistance, which will provide a social safety net for transitioning laborers.

We are only beginning to see the tip of the offshoring iceberg whose implications will take decades to unfold, and it is difficult to make predictions when so many factors are involved. Perhaps this shift will result in less alienation and greater job satisfaction for citizens of rich countries. In any case, one can trust offshoring will prove to be much more than business as usual.

Introducing…

Rebecca and Caitlin would like to welcome their good friends, Danielle and Katie, as co-authors to the EastofMina blog. We are excited to have their brilliance and wit infuse our conversations with renewed vitality and diversity.

Chug’n'Jugs

mis·hear — \ˌmis-ˈhir\

Origin: bef. 1000; ME misheren, OE mishīeran.

transitive verb : to hear wrongly
intransitive verb : to misunderstand what is heard

______

Last night, I was reading in my bedroom.

His friends being otherwise engaged, Nathan came in to hang out. He noticed my Mason jar half-filled with water, picked it up and started gulping it noisily down.

When he finished, he set it back down with a thud and a gasp, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He looked at me and said, “It would’ve been nice if you’d said ‘Jug’.”

I looked up from my book. “Jug?”

“Yeah, you know… Like, ‘Jug! Jug! Jug! Jug!’” he chanted.

CSD

I work 56.3 miles away from home.

This is not as bad as it sounds. Really. First, I get to live where I want to, and second, I spend two hours on the Metro every day. Spending two hours daily in public transit translates into long stretches of reading time. At the moment I have been tackling James Joyce and Walker Percy, with a brief foray into Jonathan Safran Foer (five years too late, I think). I’ve finished those in italics …

James Joyce
The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Exiles
Finnegans Wake

Jonathan Safran Foer
Everything is Illuminated (2002)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005)

Walker Percy
The Moviegoer (1961)
The Last Gentleman (1966)
Love in the Ruins (1971)
Lancelot (1977)
The Second Coming (1980)

More thoughts to come regarding particular books.

R. Card Hyatt

Homemade Bread and Soup

You would think that in a desert I would be safe from things like precipitation. Particularly snow. But you’d be wrong.  Last week we got several inches, and although it’s melted by now, the chill has remained, and consequently yesterday, I craved soup.

I went into my cupboard thinking I’d grab Top Ramen or Campbells, but out I came with lots of cans. Here’s the “tortilla soup recipe” I came up with. Just put everything into a big pot at the same time. The nice thing about my recipes is they’re hard to mess up. This is an Add-Whatever-Sounds-Good-and-Happens-To-Be-On-Hand Soup.

1 can each of:
- diced tomatoes
- chicken broth
- green chilis
- corn
- chickpeas
- black beans

ADD:
- whole onion, chopped
- 4 or 5 cloves garlic, diced
- 2 dried red peppers
- whole chicken breast
- large dashes of cumin, salt, black pepper
- smaller dashes of chili  powder, thyme, oregano, coriander seeds (crushed), chipotle powder (a little goes a long way!)

Add water as needed to get the consistency you prefer (2 cups?) with corresponding amounts of chicken bouillon for flavor.

Cover, bring to a boil, then drop to a simmer. Cook until the chicken breast is shred-able and flavors meld, 2 – 5 hours.

Serve and garnish with any of the following items: tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, cilantro, avocado.  Pairs well with Shiraz or Zinfandel.

If you’re ambitious (or, like me, procrastinating from something else) feel free to make some bread to accompany the meal! Here’s a recipe for Classic White Bread from Martha Stewart Living’s February Issue (makes two loaves). It came out nicely.

1 Tbsp. plus 1.5 tsp active dry yeast
2 1/4 c. warm water (110 F)
3 Tbsp plus 2 tsp honey
4 Tbsp unsalted butter melted, plus more for bowl, pans and brushing
7 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface (I substituted 2 cups of whole wheat flour for 3 cups of all-purpose flour)
2 Tbsp coarse salt

1. Sprinkle yeast into 1/2 cup water.  Add 2 tsp honey.  Whisk until yeast dissolves.  Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Transfer to mixer with paddle or dough hook attachment. Add butter and remaining 1 3/4 cups water and 3 Tbsp honey. Whisk flour with salt; add 3 cups to yeast. Mix on low speed until smooth. Add remaining 4 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing until dough comes away from sides of bowl and forms a ragged, slightly sticky ball. Butter a large bowl.

2. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic but still slightly tacky, 5 – 10 minutes. Shape into a ball. Transfer to prepared bowl; cover with plastic wrap.

3. Let dough stand in a warm place until it doubles in volume (it should not spring back when pressed), about 1 hour. Butter two 4.5 x 8.5 inch loaf pans. Punch down dough. Divide in half.

4. Shape 1 dough half into an 8.5 inch long rectangle (about 1/2″ thick). Fold long sides of dough in to the middle, overlapping slightly. Press seam to seal. Transfer dough, seam side down, to pan. Repeat with remaining dough. Brush each loaf with butter. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Drape loaves with plastic. Let stand until dough rises about 1 inch above tops of pans, 45 – 60 minutes. Reduce over temperature to 400. Bake, rotating pans after 20 minutes, until tops are golden brown, about 45 minutes. Transfer to wire racks. Let cool slightly; turn out loaves. Let cool completely before slicing.

Yum!

CSD

Test of Blogging Through Word

I just discovered that Microsoft Office 2007 lets me create a “New Document” or a “New Blog Post.” I’m still not sure how to process this revelation, so here I am, trying it out.

And if it works, I might as well add that Becky and I are in the processing of making some positive changes to our blog. Unfortunately, my life has gotten significantly busier in the past two weeks and Becky doesn’t have internet at her new apartment yet. So be on the look out for us in February.

CSD

<January 24th addition: I think the option of “New Blog Post” right next to “New Document” caught me off guard because it made me realize just how ubiquitous blogging has become. I mean, Microsoft thought that enough people would value the “New Blog Post” feature to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars figuring out how to match it up with a variety of blogging sites so that you can blog without even getting online. Boggles the mind.>

In so many words.

Rebecca married. Yay!

School started. Yikes.

Working part-time. Whew...

Art project up-coming. Gulp.

Bye.

CSD

Less than four days …

Carsten and I are now the happy renters of a lovely flat (built in the 1920s) in Los Angeles. Due to the help of our family and friends, all our possessions are in boxes on the floor of our third story apartment (and no, there is no elevator– Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park, anyone?)

The above photos were taken by Shannon Leith a couple days before Christmas (successfully celebrated with two families).

R