Schools been out for a bit over a week now and I am still too busy for words. It makes it difficult to carve some time out to post my thoughts, but this is what I have been thinking about. First of all, I’m still working on that “school stuff”. I haven’t really checked out of my art room even though it’s basically ready for the summer because I still have to turn in my orders for next year. Anyone that is an art teacher can tell you how that goes. I put together what I want on a spreadsheet and low and behold I have to make cuts. You would think I’d get better at this after all of these years; but I’m too busy trying to get the best bang for my buck. I’m also taking two technology courses online that I want to finish by the middle of July. They are self paced but that is a lot to accomplish by the goal date I have set as there are many written assignments that accompany each of them. I have to say that I have really enjoyed all of the courses I’ve taken this year, even though I whine about the work load to anyone that is prone to listen to me!
The other day I came across this editorial written by President Carter. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/08/earlyshow/living/money/main20070028.shtml?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.1
It’s nice to finally see some sanity about our drug laws expressed by a person that could be actually taken seriously. I highly suggest reading the piece and even reading the initiative put together by the Global Commission on Drug Policy. The link is there. I glanced through it and got what I needed from it. I have talked with many students that have a parent incarcerated for drugs. Most of them are drug users. It has never made any sense to me why we have put so many people behind bars for using drugs. They are taken out of being a productive member of society and then we, as taxpayers, end up having to take care of them and their children too. There has to be some sanity brought to this issue. If you read through President Carter’s editorial the number of people in prison has gone up so drastically in the last thirty years that it is really alarming. I also know that prison has become a profitable business. This article from a few years ago is interesting. http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/41481
Here is a piece from the article that I think kind of tells it all:
“Prison analysts say contract prison labor is poised to become one of America’s most important growth industries. Many of these prisoners are serving time for non-violent crimes. With the use of tough-on-crime mandatory sentencing laws, the prison population is bursting at the seams. Some experts believe that the number of people locked up in the U.S. could double in the next 10 years. According to Prison Watch, the expansion of the number of prisoners will not only increase the pool of prison labor available for commercial profit, but also will help pay the costs of incarceration.”
Imagine that! We have an industry that is actually growing in our country! Thinking about all of this, earlier in the week I got an email about healthcare and single payer. Attached to it was this cover of a book. 
Of course I was thinking I should know who Tommy Douglas was, but I wasn’t sure. I looked him up online and of course I remembered he was the man that brought Medicare to Canada. I’ve known about him for years and that his grandson is Kiefer Sutherland and that he was voted the “greatest” Canadian. When I was looking him up I realized that I really want to watch “Prairie Giant the Tommy Douglas Story. I have put it on my Netflix but it seems to be unavailable. For the moment I am settling for snippets from Youtube. You must watch this and think about our own politicians here in the United States.
I think we must be living in Mouseland because we keep voting in CATS! In our case we have red and blue cats but they are still cats. They tell us they want to help all of us mice out but truthfully they just keep helping the fat cats. I think we need to get more mice in office. Why do we keep electing a government made up of fat cats anyway? I cannot think of many senators or representatives that live like most of the people I know. Our very own representative, Rep. Fred Upton, has a net worth of somewhere between 7 and 25 million dollars. While he greets us at meetings in a sweater that looks like it belonged to Mr. Rogers, he is far wealthier than he appears! He may want us to believe he is one of us, but his wealth shows another story. You can check out “Open Secrets” and see where he is getting his campaign money from. http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00004133&year=2009 It’s interesting. His alliance isn’t necessarily with the mice that are his constituents.
Tommy Douglas was a minister and he did have a gift for storytelling. Here is another story that is really interesting with a good analogy.
His story will make you laugh, but it is a good analogy. All of us at the middle and bottom of the economic ladder need to stop fighting with each other. Maybe we would then be able to get representation that is more like us mice and less like the cats! Maybe if we can start listening to each other, we can all get a little bit of that cream.
I also came across this piece which kind of sums up my week. Here is one small business owner just trying to make a living. We all know how everything seems to be made in China these days. This one takes the cake!
Hopefully, I’ll leave you on a happy note because it looks like she may be back in business. I think we all have to keep pressing on to do what we can to solve the economic problems of the 21st Century global economy. The competition is steep especially when China can make some little trinket for next to nothing. As an artist, I know what it takes to create something. I value that. Most people just see an object and don’t really understand the whole creativity thing. I’m a potter, but my favorite mug I bought last summer from a couple of guys at the St. Joseph Art Fair. I could be drinking my coffee out of a three dollar mug from China. I prefer the $22 mug from the two men I met. They are the Pottery Boys. You can see more of their work here. http://www.potteryboys.com/
My favorite coffe mug made with a labor of love.
When I cradle my mug I have a sense of connection to another human being that threw it on a wheel. It’s not plastic. It’s special. I can feel the caresses the artist gave it when he decorated the sides of it. He may have done it on a thousand other mugs, but this one is mine and it is original! The glaze crawls gracefully down the side in an imperfect pattern which adds to its beauty. I encourage all of you to visit an art fair this summer and buy something from an artist. If an artist is doing an art fair, more than likely, that is how they make their living. This is a part of commerce that we all can partake in. You make be going to the art show to be entertained. They are there to make a living. They are a part of the small business world that most people don’t even think about. Keep these artists in business by buying their wares. You won’t regret it. You will remember the artist and enjoy the beauty of what you have purchased and you will be doing something to help the economy!