Eleanor Arnason's Blog, page 117

From Bob Herbert's column in today's New York Times:A nat...

From Bob Herbert's column in today's New York Times:

A national survey of jobless workers by a pair of professors at Rutgers University shows just how traumatized the work force has become in this downturn. Two-thirds of respondents said that they had become depressed. More than half said it was the first time they had ever lost a job, and 80 percent said there was little or no chance that they would be able to get their jobs back when the economy improves.

The 1,200 respondents were jobless...

Comment Posted at New York Times 9-14-09

Reproduced with some small changes in punctuation, grammar and spelling.

*** The Situation on the Ground ***


Folks: there is a huge misleading preconceived notion here in US: Presidents, such as Bush, Obama direct or influence situation on the ground, nothing further from truth. The situation on the ground or domestic affairs influence Presidents' decision making.


Our nation has changed rapidly since 1980s. Look:
 1 in 8 Americans experience Food Insecurity, 48% of homeowners are or near...

The Federal Hudson at Anchor

This is a salt water vessel or salty. You can tell because it's comparatively short. Long ocean-going ships, such as oil tankers, can't get through the Seaway locks. The lake boats only have to get through the locks at Sault St. Marie and can be as much as 1,000+ feet.

Cormorant on Lamp Post

The cormorant is looking away, so its yellow/orange beak is not visible.

Duluth

Patrick and I drove to Duluth yesterday. The day was sunny and warm, with a lot of haze in the air. Pat thought the haze might come from fires out west.

The trees have begun to turn colors, also the sumac, so there were flashes of red and yellow in the woods as we drove north; and goldenrod was blooming along the highway margins.

We saw two adult bald eagles soaring over Interstate 35 -- not together, but separately.

Coming into Duluth, the haze was so thick that it was difficult to see the l...

New Pen and Pencil

The carpets in our apartment were cleaned on Thursday, so Patrick and I had to spend the day away from home. We went to the Mall of America, because it's cool inside and there's lot of space for walking.

As always, we stopped at the Apple store and imagined buying new computers. Then we went on to the fancy pen store.

I bought a Faber Castell roller ball pen and a mechanical pencil. They are for children -- "zum Schreibenlernen" -- for learning to write, both made of brightly colored plastic, e...

Signs of the Times

A friend of mine was going in for her annual mammogram. She got an appointment really quickly and asked how this was possible.

The staff person said, "It's the economy. A lot of women have lost their health insurance and can't afford a mammogram."

My friend found this pretty disturbing.

Unemployment is 9.7% right now. That's one person in ten.

September

It's been a lovely summer -- on the cool side with many bright, clear days. Too little rain, though some fine thunder storms. I have mostly wasted it by obsessing about the health care bill going through Congress.

Patrick's had sciatica all summer, which has made him miserable. As a result, we haven't gotten out of town much. One of the ways I keep sane is to go on rides in the country -- up to Duluth to look at Lake Superior or south along the Mississippi to look for eagles.

So, a beautiful...

Going Out

After saying that I need to get out more, I wimped on going to a poetry workshop in Mankato, about two hours from the Twin Cities, this weekend. It seemed too far, especially since I am feeling mildly under the weather.

However, I did get to the Y today and then went to a local coffee shop to write. The sirens went off as I arrived at the coffee shop. A tornado had been spotted in Minneapolis. I took a table away from the windows, set up my computer and input changes to the beginning of my very

On the Plus Side

-- I have probably said this before, but I am reminding myself to cheer myself up -- I have two chapbooks coming out next year, and a novel, if I finish revising the novel. My agent has three stories to sell, and I have another two stories done except for final revisions.

I've been asked to contribute to an anthology, so I've started a story for that.

And I have two essays almost done, and the start of YA fantasy. The essays already have homes.

For me -- the world's slowest writer -- this is prett