Middle Class and Donations

With over a decade working in the non profit sector my souse and I have recently cross the threshold into middle class. We still have debt, both of us work full time jobs and we pay rent. But now see our bank accounts growing a clear sign that its our opportunity to start to support our community.

Prior to this year finical donations were not a possibility, our give back to the community was the work we did as non profit employees sprinkled in with volunteer days and of course the routine donation of used items that we gave to Salvation Army and Goodwill.


Now that we have crossed the threshold to Middle Class life making donations was clearly going to be part of our new life.

So during year one of entering into the finical donors realm who did we give to?

- Big Brothers, Big Sisters - Both of us have signed up to be bigs with this organization and recently attend a restaurant give back night benefiting the organization.

- The United Way - In my new position it is an unwritten expectation that I will donate to the United Way, who in turn gives a significant amount back to my organization.

- The American Red Cross - This cornerstone of the american non profit landscape needs our support. This year we attended a restaurant give back night benefiting the ARC.

- Innocence project of Texas - After reading Orange is the New Black,  I knew I wanted to do a small part to help change our penal system. I was excited to find this project that had strong ties to the community we are living in.

- Pet Smart animal shelter program - we were guilted into purchasing a few cans of cat and dog food during a routine trip to stock up on supplies for our kitty.

- Covenant Health Systems - To help with a capitol campagin and Ian wanted a T-shirt.

- Rotary - I have joined the local Rotary, my club has a monthly monetary donation in support of the local food bank.

As the holiday season approaches I would not be surprised if we find ourselves giving to a few additional programs who make appeals that speak to us.

We enjoy donating and as we enter into our second year of middle class life we might start to think about a strategic giving pattern ones that are in line with our core beliefs, are well rated on charity navigator and will increase our personal brand across our community, but for the next 5 months impulse giving is fulfilling our philanthropic interests. 

Declaw for health

Just over two years ago my husband and I adopted a cat from the local shelter. We LOVE our cat. My husband has been in nursing school during this time and as school drew near the end we started to wonder if we should get our furry friend declaw-ed. We were worried that since my husband and the cat play a lot and frequently the cat will catch him with his claws causing open scratches on his arms that we were putting my husbands health at risk sending him into hospitals for 40+ hours a week.

We did some research but everything we found was very polarizing. Animal rights advocates in strong disagreement with those who are wanting to save their furniture. We talked with some people we knew and they said their cats survived the process. I even found one other person who had done it for health reasons after her child contracted cat scratch fever. She supported the idea that we had, as much as we love our cat it is not worth risking my husbands long term health and career.

So I called the vet and asked if they did the process. They said yes and we set an appointment.

Two days after the appointment my cat came home with bandages on his paws. I felt like an awful cat mom. That first night he got one of the bandages off. Four days latter he got the other one off. It was the weekend and the 2nd paw was looking very swollen and had blood. Of course my cat would not leave it alone. On Monday when I got home from work I brought him back to the vet. They had to keep him, the next day the called and said they were going to have to remove some of his paw because the skin cells were dead. They kept him a few more days and had to put stitches in. He came home and lived with a bandage for 10 days, we would periodically take him back to the vet for a fresh bandage.

On Monday I brought him in and they wanted to keep him so that they could get the bandage off. I got him back on Friday and his paw is gone, all that he has is the pad where his thumb should be. Yesterday it started bleeding so we went to the emergency vet who put him back on antibiotics and re-bandaged him. She said that in the 10 years she has been doing this she has seen this happen enough that she is not shocked by it and we were just the unlucky ones.

I feel like a horrid person now. I am upset that my vet did not warn us, I am upset that the polarizing information on this practice prevented us from having accurate information. I am upset that my cat has had the worst month of his life and so long as nothing else happens will be slightly amputated for the remainder of his days.

Selecting to have your pet declawed is a personal choice and one you and your family must make. There is a strong voice that says this is an inhumane practice. There is another voice that says they are our pets and we have to make choices so they can be part of our family. Because of these two opinions the practice continues on. Complications do happen. It happened to us and I will never declaw an animal again. I ask that you think about the real chance of something going wrong before you decide if declawing is what you and your family want to do.

Cars & Values

I could write a lot about our experience with cars.

To keep things simple we had spent the majority of our relationship with 1 or 0 cars between the two of us.

About 2 years ago we found ourselves living in East Texas without options for public transit to get us from home to work/ school and with unsafe (highways) walking/ bicycling choices for these same locations.

Realizing the need for a second car and our limited social support network as well as the need to have reliable vehicles with fixed expenses we decided that a new car was the right choice for our current situation.

So we started looking and looking and looking. During the process we talked a lot about what we believed in. Low environmental impact, social statements, supporting the move to smaller alternatives. We went test driving, SMART, Scion IQ, Chevy Spark, Toyota Yaris and Fiat 500.

The fiat felt right, it had that small car look that we wanted to integrate into our community, managed to have 5 seats, felt some what roomy, reportedly good gas mileage, the price was right and the bright blue captured my husbands heart.

We are not crazy about the Fiat, its maintenance has been annoying as it needs special items that our service stations don't carry for routine things such as oil changes. The vehicle is somewhat cheaply made so things come loose and rattle around annoyingly. But I am getting side tracked.

Two years ago we had not seen another Fiat in our town, small cars were non existent, SMART cars were on display at Ford lots with windups attached to the back to make them look like toys. People drove trucks, the bigger the better, If you were too poor for a truck you drove an old poorly maintained sedan.

We got asked constantly about the Fiat, how the gas was, did it feel too small, what the price point was, how it did on the highway, did we like it?

Slowly, about 4 months into owing the Fiat we started to see a few more small cars take to the streets. Local businesses started to drive Fiats as their company cars plastered with marketing materials. 7 months into ownership Teenage girls begun to be seen driving Fiats (teen new car ownership is a common place in oil communities). 18 months in we started to see an increase in adults driving small cars during morning commutes.

Now we cant say with certainty that the slow shift to an increase of smaller cars and Fiats was because of us. Still less than 3% of the vehicles we in our community see are smaller cars, but the change is tangible.

About two months ago a friend of ours car broke down for the last time and he needed to buy a new car. He got a Chevy spark, in a bright blue. When we asked him about it, he did not do it for any value based region. He was not trying to demonstrate option to his community. He did it because he had been a passenger in ours so much, he enjoyed the above average gas mileage, the nimble handling of a small car and the low price for a new vehicle.

We know for a fact that we opened up conversations and consideration of smaller cars in our community and that at least one person who in the past would have bought a truck opted to buy a small car because of our role modeling small car living in a big truck world.

Weekend Trip to Chicago - Christmas Time

Christmas Time in Chicago is lots of fun. It is also lots of cold. Indoor activities are really spectacular. While living in Longview TX, I traveled to Chicago for a long weekend to spend some quality time with some extended family.

An uncle of mine is was excited to visit the Driehaus Museum, and it being cold and me being interested in being indoors went along to see what the house had to offer.

Just stunning. Not something that is a top place to visit on any travel site but the home was perfect in every detail from the holiday decorations,

to the woodwork within the home 

and of course the highlight of the Tiffany glass every where you turned.

Racism in our judicial system with a sprinkle of sexism

Yesterday I participated for the first time in jury the jury selection process. I did not go into this process overly excited (I was missing an important meeting for work) or with the expectation that I would encounter discrimination.

I live in Gregg County Texas where (according to Wikipedia) 22% of population is African American, and 70% Caucasian.

The initial pool I would guess was around 100 people all who were called randomly by some computer program that pulls residents in to serve. I would estimate that 20- 40% of the 100 were African American.

33 of us were randomly selected by a computer program to appear for a civil case panel selection. Of the 33 of us I would say 10-15 were African American.

Already in the court room to support the jury selection process:

Judge - Caucasian (Male)

Courtroom assistant - Caucasian (Female)

Court recorder - Caucasian (Female)

Lawyers (3) - Caucasian (Male)

Defendant - Caucasian (Female)

Plaintiff - African American (Female)

Legal assistants (2) - Caucasian (Female)

Bailiff - African American (Female)

Observers (2) - Caucasian (Female)

Of the 13 non jury's in the court room, 2 were African American (about 15%). This slightly below average ratio could be explained by looking at the systemic challenges that face minorities creating a higher bar of entry into legal professions.

I was in the first 10 juror candidates a process randomly done by a computer program. 7 of us were Caucasian, 3 African American, a split reflective of the county demographics. 

The selection process was to select 6 jurors plus one alternate done by the legal teams (not a computer program). Of the first 10, one Caucasian and all three African Americans were dismissed, creating an all white jury with the only African American in the jury box the alternate who was the 11th candidate. 

My conclusions yesterday: 

- Computer programs do not make decisions with any racial motivation, people do.

- Racism is a real problem in our judicial system. Its deep and impacts all levels (think about the Supreme Court case this fall)

- systemic barriers for minorities to enter into the legal profession compounds the poor racial representation in a court room
- The power structure remains overly male dominated creating a sprinkle of sexism. 2 of the 7 selected jurors were female. The only woman in authority was the bailiff, all the other women in the court were in supporting roles for the men

Today we deliberated a decision, it was not unanimous as I felt strongly that the plaintiff was being under compensated. The other 5 jurors (all white & over 40) expressed sentiment that the compensation should be at a lower amount than I was comfortable with. Would the decision have been different if there was at least one African American in the room? Or another minority represented? What if one of the lawyers had been female or we had another female in the jury? In complete speculation I believe that the plaintiff would have been awarded several thousands of dollars more if a jury that was more reflective of the community had been chosen.

What are your experiences? what do you think?

Caddo lake

This is not my first trip to Caddo Lake, but every time I go I am amazed by how much there is to explore and how much I fall in love with it all over again.

The giant salvinia that have infested the lake remain creating a sharp color contrast withing the lake while adding a strange element of feeling that your on land while in your canoe,

 

Did I mention that there is no better way to explore this lake than with a friend in a canoe (can be rented from Johnsons Boat Rentals)

A map is a must is you plan to go very far, there are trails and islands and turns all over the lake, that even with a map can be a bit complex to navigate.

Spanish Moss and Cypres trees are a stunning experience and a must do it you can get here.

Port Aransas - Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi is not close to Longview/ Kilgore. In fact you would have approximately a 6 hour drive. But as a Minnesotan its much closer than I was as a child. This past Easter I went down and spent a long weekend exploring Mustang Island State Park at Port Aransas.

White sand and blue water made the gray skies fade from observation.  The city has things to offer but I would suggest that you plan to spend the vast majority of your time on the beach. A state park, national seashore and local parks give you lots of choice of where you can spend your days.

From Longview you can drive down on a Friday and get there with time to see the gulf before finding dinner. Saturday and Sunday can be spent enjoying the sand, dips in the gulf and adventures in the dunes. Monday you drive back and have time to unpack and do laundry before bed. Back to work by Tuesday with a lightness that only comes from the ocean.

Longview Hot Air Balloon Festival

East Texas is host to the National Hot Air Balloon Finals. This makes for a great week to be moving about the Longview area as for the whole week the sky is dotted with balloons.

At the end of the week a balloon festival takes place. 

It is more amazing than you think.

Arrive early to see the grounds and to check out the shops.

As the sun starts to set the balloons start to go up and your whole world becomes magical

Chimp Haven

I first heard about Chip Haven 3 years ago. I was reading about research chimps and the somewhat new legislation that says when they have reached the end of the time having research done on them they need to be given a safe place to live out the remainder of there lives. The article stated that only a few facilities in the United States were currently licensed to do this and one was just outside of Shreveport LA

I knew that I had to go visit. It turned out to be much more complicated than I expected. Chimp Haven believes strongly that their service to the chimps is not a zoo and as a result have very limited public access days. Advanced planning is a must, but the experience is well worth it.

Chimp Haven is a huge facility tucked behind a public green-space giving it the feeling of being even more secluded than it is. During public access days the chimps are lured to the viewing side with an excess of toys and treats, giving you as the visitor a really great animated experience.

Will I go again? Yes if I can make the schedule work

Advice for those living in east Texas: Visit Chimp Haven and pay extra for the hay ride. Plan a trip to visit the park outside Chimp Haven, bring your bike and enjoy the trails. If your like me and love to volunteer check the web site to see if you can be a parking attendant on public access days as a chance to give back to this really wonderful haven,

Hugo Lake State Park, Oklahoma

Water marks across the whole park

Late December I made the journey to Oklahoma for a day of exploring Hugo Lake State Park.

Oklahoma has experienced historic flooding over the past 12 months and the signs of this could not be overlooked

Sand on the sidewalk

Somehow this made the park more still than normal, silence broken only by the occasional rifle shot from deer control hunt going on in the land adjacent.

Water in a low area by a picnic pavilion 

The park itself has some fabulous infrastructure with pavilions, swim areas, cabins, tent sites, RV pads, boat docks, nature trails and play areas.

Debris in the parking lot

I spent about 4 hours exploring the different sections of the park mesmerized by the bleak experience of it all.

Well worth a visit, not worth the drive.