First, be careful how much news you watch , all news is designed to be depressing because bad news sells. So I think it is best to limit your exposure , especially if you want to keep your sanity. I am also reminded of the ‘sales truism’ that all people can be motivated by fear and/or greed and we have a lot of that going around. So, the moral is “if you want to be manipulated less, don’t read too much news.”
However, there is a truth about our troubling economy. Our nation is in a period of transition. Unemployment has nearly doubled in my county this past year and we are supposed to be one of the ‘lucky’ counties in California with economic recovery slated for sometime in 2012; however, with major metropolitan areas like Los Angeles viewed darkly until ‘2014 or beyond’ the impact will be here for longer than most will accept.
Obviously, the real secret to staying ahead of the big challenges is to have a job… and the best jobs are those that are likely to be in demand even in tough times. Some young people fall in love with smaller communities and fool themselves into believing they can stay by holding multiple ‘joe jobs’, but having two or three jobs is meaningless if all of them are equally vulnerable to elimination. The young need to go where the better jobs are. If I were to give unsolicited and unwanted advice to any young person, I would tell them:
1) They need to get the better skills needed to help them compete in our new world. This means they need to look honestly at what type of education will have value in the future marketplace.
2) I would caution them that if they didn’t have a great job, the cost of a good party might be beyond their reach. 😉
3) Lastly, I would suggest they look at careers and parts of the county and the world to start their life that they might not have considered before.
4) The world still is for those who can adjust to change and have the courage to move forward whether at 20 or 70.
Look honestly at the world, then you’ll know what to do.
American Marinara has so many wonderful uses, it is the ‘mirepoix’ of Italian Cooking! What is great about making your own Marinara sauce is that it becomes a great ‘shortcut’ for Lasagna, Spaghetti and makes a great dip for bread sticks! Our Marinara sauce is not a short cut and the list of ingredients is long, it takes a long time to make… but it is well worth the effort.
Today, I wanted a slightly meatier Marinara (without meat) and that requires a small amount of ground nuts. In the photo above I am ‘testing’ the sauce with a bread stick… yummy!
“Buona sera, ti invitiamo a godere della nostra famiglia ricetta”
Well, maybe it was the cold winter… or maybe the superior job of apple tree pruning back in January… but whatever the reason, we are having a wonderful crop this year!
Karen has already said that she has this wonderful recipe for a Dutch Apple Turnover that she became quite fond of in Amsterdam… they call it an Apple Flap. Karen felt that the filling had more of an apple pie taste with many spices and a nice sauce. This ‘snack size’ is high on our baking list this year.
Of course, we will have plenty of Kristin’s favorite apple pies and Mom has dedicated one entire freezer to keep HER apple sauce. Now, all we need are the apples… and they are taking their time getting ripe.
Okay, the financial problems of the California State University system, in particular, look all too easy to address. As someone who has taught many places over many years, I feel it is safe to say that the CSU — Cal Poly in particular — has lost its way and forgotten it’s basic mission and pursued a program of questionable expansion that has put the universities at the brink of disaster.
If you take a look deeper, one can only wonder how the CSU administration’s most recent actions are consistent with their mission? Here are a couple of obvious conflicts:
1) ARE ALL JOBS EQUALLY RELEVANT IN TODAY’S ECONOMIC REALITIES?
Each of the three functional units (faculty, staff and administration) of a university are being treated as being equally central to the university mission but each area contributes differentially and some functions are clearly more central to the core objectives than others.
Observation:
A) Clearly, although every individual employee values their own job, not all jobs have an equal contribution to the university mission. To meet the budget, some jobs can be combined while others could be eliminated as a luxury of a previous era.
B) Currently, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has taken the approach by reducing the number of instructors as their quick and easy solution. However, this has caused some obviously unforeseen consequences resulting in the closing of classes, reduction in courses and delaying graduation. One Dean was quoted by a student as saying in desperation that they would sign anything (substitutions, et cetera) in order to get a student to graduation. Although this is admirable on one level, is this the was we should be doing business?
C) One work group has grown unchecked for almost three decades … and just since the 1980’s alone, Cal Poly’s administration has grown exponentially and one wonders what effect — if any — this dramatic increase in warm bodies has had on meeting the educational mission. There are titles and positions that didn’t exist just 20 years ago ( provosts, vice provosts, vice presidents, etc.) I can’t help but wonder if returning to the 1980 staffing levels would mitigate the entire budget deficit all by itself?
2) SHARE THE PAIN?
An across the board approach to cost savings is the strategy being employed by the CSU and Cal Poly in budget cuts. Before we look at this question, I have to ask: who is more needed than a professor in meeting the educational mission?
Observation:
In an other worlds, when costs seem out of bounds, the solution most often presented successfully is ‘consolidation’ first, elimination second. Here are a few ideas:
A) Couldn’t the administrative offices of a university run more than one university?
B) Shouldn’t university executives be writing their own emails and letters as happens in the rest of the university? Aren’t floors of secretaries a relic from a bygone era?
C) Shouldn’t University Executive perks (company cars, car allowances, expense reports, special health care benefits and junkets) be eliminated first?
D) Why shouldn’t every administrator ( many hold Ph.D.’s) be assigned one class to keep in touch with what is going on within the university setting? I have made this suggestion many times before. We need to get more value from the assets we already have and if we can’t, then they should go.
E) As an aside, many university presidents have been rightfully accused of pretending to be royalty… this sets a bad example… one wonders why any university president should have university employees over to his home to do any home improvement projects? Most would also question the educational purpose of a wine cellar, the President’s car allowance, and what many might call extravagant living. Here’s a small peek.
“ Carly Baker, the president’s wife, championed construction of a modern and pricey kitchen for the stadium boxes, including the president’s suite, so that his private chef can prepare gourmet meals during a portion of the six annual home games. Cost of the extreme kitchen? Between $300,000 and $400,000…”
As you can see, meeting the educational mission and making sensible cost reductions are not conceptually difficult… it’s not rocket science and — by the way — reductions starts at the top.
Today lunch, we’re having some sandwiches made with homemade Pastrami and I thought a little soup would be grand. One of my favorites is Split Pea, but not the way you probably have enjoyed it. Our pea Soup is very hearty and a bit more interesting, but well worth the effort.
The history of soups is the proper care and use of leftovers in new recipes. Time is resplendent with stories of famed taverns dishing up one pot soups and stews offering the traveler a consistent and delicious meal made from what ever was at hand. Although we might wince today at the practice, in olden days, these continuously fed pots would be cleaned out only once a year or so.
I love soups and stews made that way.
However, by design, I throw in two cups of our Marinara Sauce as it already contains the pureed ingredients that many folks throw into their extended Pea Soup Recipes ( onions, celery, peppers and , yes, tomato).
Well, maybe it was the cold winter… or maybe the superior job of apple tree pruning back in January… but whatever the reason, we are having a wonderful crop this year!
