"It's the Wages, Stupid" - Minimum Wage Hike Helps Colorado

There is little denying that higher wages are better for communities and society in general. They are aligned with more stability, less crime, higher education, fewer social ills, etc. The reality is that where people earn a good living, they live a good life. Which takes us to the complicated issue of raising the minimum wage. This proposal is generally supported by liberals and Democrats and opposed by conservatives and Republicans. The left argues that if you want higher standards of living and more stable homes, you must pay people well enough to support those goals. And, the right argues that raising jobs will force small business - and even large ones - to lay people off.

In Colorado, a proposition on the ballot this fall sets the stage for raising the state's minimum wage to $12 by 2020. Now, knowing what I know about wages and the cost of living, that doesn't seem at all unreasonable to me. Hell, from what I understand you can make $11 an hour working the line at Arbys or Good Times Burgers. I can't fathom how this is undoable by businesses if fast food can do it. And now the voters of Colorado have some evidence. A new study by DU indicates that hiking the minimum wage will help, not hurt, the state's economy:

Lifting Colorado’s minimum wage from $8.31 an hour to $12 an hour would pump $400 million into the state economy and raise living standards for one in five households — all with minimal impacts on inflation or total employment, according to a study released Tuesday from the University of Denver. “It doesn’t get people to self-sufficiency, but it is an important step in that direction,” said Jennifer Greenfield, an assistant professor at the DU Graduate School of Social Work and co-author of the study, which was a collaboration between the Colorado Women’s College at DU and the Women’s Foundation of Colorado.

America "Mistrusts" the Media - and that's dangerous

Liberal media. Mainstream media. Media bias. Drive-by media.

As the son of a newspaper editor and feature writer, I am so bothered by the negative perception that Americans have of "the media." For the most part this is a predominantly right-leaning bias fueled by media personalities such as Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly. Strangely, these media icons have used television, radio, the internet, and print news to criticize "the media" and turn large numbers of Americans against the vast array of news sources available to them. Over the years, research shows that Americans get their "news" and information from a smaller and more narrow base. And, that's not good. The most recent and troubling example comes from a report in the Washington Times of a Gallup poll finding that American "trust" of the media is at historic lows.

A major pollster has some stark news: “Americans’ trust and confidence in the mass media ‘to report the news fully, accurately and fairly’ has dropped to its lowest level in Gallup polling history, with 32 percent saying they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media. This is down eight percentage points from last year,” writes Art Swift, an analyst for the Gallup poll, which first asked the nation to weigh in on the press in 1972.

What has happned to us? Journalism is the life's blood of democracy, and since the days of Jefferson we have known that an educated and informed electorate is the foundation of our republic. Yet, fewer people are reading newspapers, and those who do seek to stay informed are getting their information from a widening range of informal news sources. Now, as a blogger and tweeter, I certainly don't oppose those forums. But I am not a member of the media. And I am not a trusted and credible source for news. I'm not a journalist. However, I do read and watch numerous news gathering organizations. Sadly, I realize that people don't actually "mistrust" the media. They just mistrust any news source that disagrees with or challenges their biases.

And that's not good.

Read Aloud - Great for All Students

There is little doubt among educators, education researchers, school leaders, politicians, business people, and parents that reading is fundamental to the development of children.  Almost without fail, successful students tend to be readers, and the importance of reading to children at an early age is indisputable.  Even as a high school teacher, I know that reading aloud to kids is important.  And, the idea of read-alouds is significant to the adoption of the Common Core standards, as speaking and listening skills are a primary goal.  Children of all ages love to be read to, and I have made a habit of reading to my students regularly for as long as I have been a teacher.

One of my favorite activities to begin class is to read short pieces at the bell.  These pieces - helped by my strong voice - quickly engage kids in listening and often kick off some wonderful discussions to start the class.  One of my favorite sources is the work of Robert Fulghum whose classic work All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten kicked off a read-aloud habit among people and an interest in short essays nearly twenty-five years ago.  Fulghum's work begs to be read out loud, and his "uncommon thoughts on common things" are great discussion fodder.

One of the best resources for information on read-alouds is Jim Trelease whose Read Aloud Handbook has been positively contributing to parenting and education in this country for nearly twenty years.  Trelease offers a treasure trove of reasoning behind the read-aloud practice, and the book contains countless titles and recommendations.

Everyone loves to be read to - and there is no reason that it can't be part of any classroom.  In fact, it may be an imperative.

It's Never Going to be "OK"

"Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."

Each year at the start of school, I share a shocking revelation to my new class of high school juniors: "It's never going to be OK," I tell them. This discussion begins when I "book talk" a nice little bit of self-help from Dr. Phil's son Jay McGraw called Life Strategies For Teens. One of McGraw's best little tips is the revelation that "Life is managed: it is not cured." The message in that is an authentic bit of wisdom - there is never going to be that moment when all is well and there's nothing to worry about. It just doesn't work that way. As writer and speaker Andy Andrews has so aptly put it: "Everyone is either in a crisis, coming out of a crisis, or headed for a crisis."

I advise my students to stop setting benchmarks and expectations for when they will have it all figured out. As kids, we start doing this about middle school age. When the pressure and drama and disappointment start to get to us, we say, "Everything will be better when I just get to high school." And, of course it's not. Some things are better - others are not. And there are new challenges we never wanted. Soon we tell ourselves, "It will be better once I can drive. When I have some freedom and control, then I'll be happy." But it doesn't work out that way. Eventually, we tell ourselves, "If I can just get out on my own, get to college, get out of the house or out of this town, then it will be better." But it's not better - or at least not for long. It's just different.

It won't be better "once we get a job" or "once we get that promotion" or once "we get our own place" or once we get some more freedom or responsibility or money or space or .... anything. It's never just "gonna be OK," because in reality it has always been OK. Ups will become downs, and downs will become ups, and the best year of your life is always the current one. Because you're living it. And living it is certainly prefereable to not. And if some time in the past or some time in the future is the best time of your life, then you're doing it wrong.

Don't wait for it to be OK. Revel in the OK-ness of now.

Knowledge Matters - especially in the Age of Google

"We can always look it up."

That sense of complaceny about acquiring knowledge is at the root of our most serious educational challenges, and it poses risks far beyond what most people would expect. From literacy to institutional knowledge to "knowing history" so you don't repeat it, having a sense of core knowledge is essential to being a well-educated person - a person on whom nothing is lost.

I've given more thought to this idea of core knowledge recently after reading Scott Newstock's great piece for The Chronicle, How to Think Like Shakespeare. Newstock and other educational and cultural leaders like Dan Willingham know that "the more you know" the more you can know. The brain makes sense of new information by connecting it to old knowledge. The brain likes patterns and departments of information from which it can compare and connect and extrapolate. This is the foundation of ED Hirsch's ideas of "cultural literacy" and the role that knowledge and allusions play in our ability to learn. And, along those lines, it is worth promoting the Knowledge Matters Movement, developed and promoted by Robert Pondiscio of the Fordham Institute.

There is much to said for simply "knowing stuff" and not always believing it's enough to be able to "look it up."

September is the real New Year

Labor Day is a great way to bid farewell to summer - and it's a starting point for getting down to the business at hand. I always think about this weekend the same way I do spring cleaning - it's a fresh start before I head into the busy time of fall and the start of the school year. Writer Andres Martinez had the same idea, which he wrote about last September noting how "The Real New Year Starts in September." I really liked that sentiment, especially because it reminds me of all those things I want to do but haven't got around to doing yet. There is much to read and write, and there are many plans to be made for next summer. Here's some of Martinez's ideas about the real "New Year."

In college, I used to love picking up the books for each course (well, except for having to pay for them) and I’d make the most of our initial “shopping period,” when you could wander in and out of any class, as if sampling a grand buffet, before finalizing your semester schedule. The possibilities were endless. But fall isn’t only about going back to school. Every workplace I have ever worked at has treated the fall as the true beginning of the year, when new projects are launched. Fall marks the start of a new football season (both of the American and English varieties), a new TV season, and a new budgetary year for the federal government. It marks the arrival of new fashions (check out how fat those magazines are!), new car models, and of more purposeful movies and weather. In certain latitudes, the fall brings a crisp air that chides you into reaching out for your long-neglected sweater or jacket — but without the malevolence of winter.

I have every intention of going into next June with plans to avoid "the Summer of George."

Professor Scott Newstok Urges Students to "Think Like Shakespeare"

OK, this is brilliant. And so necessary.

Professor Scott Newstok of Rhodes College urges students to "build a bridge to the sixteenth century" and learn to "think like Shakespeare." This reminds me of a recent Facebook meme that encourages men to "Ditch the man cave and bring back the study."  I can't explain this better than Newstok, so it's worth taking a look at his entire piece which is beautifully written and so important. The basic idea is about the idea of becoming a better human being by cultivating culture and knowledge and wisdom.

So how can you think like Shakespeare?


His mind was shaped by rhetoric, a term that you probably associate with empty promises — things politicians say but don’t really mean. But in the Renaissance, rhetoric was nothing less than the fabric of thought itself. Because thinking and speaking well form the basis of existence in a community, rhetoric prepares you for every occasion that requires words. That’s why Tudor students devoted countless hours to examining vivid models, figuring out ways to turn a phrase, exercising elaborate verbal patterning. Antonio Gramsci described education in this way: "One has to inculcate certain habits of diligence, precision, poise (even physical poise), ability to concentrate on specific subjects, which cannot be acquired without the mechanical repetition of disciplined and methodical acts." You take it for granted that Olympic athletes and professional musicians must practice relentlessly to perfect their craft. Why should you expect the craft of thought to require anything less disciplined? Fierce attention to clear and precise writing is the essential tool for you to foster independent judgment. That is rhetoric. Renaissance rhetoric achieved precision through a practice that might surprise you: imitation. Like "rhetoric," "imitation" sounds pejorative today: a fake, a knockoff, a mere copy. But Renaissance thinkers — aptly, looking back to the Roman Seneca, who himself looked back to the Greeks — compared the process of imitation to a bee’s gathering nectar from many flowers and then transforming it into honey. As Michel de Montaigne put it: "The bees steal from this flower and that, but afterward turn their pilferings into honey, which is their own. … So the pupil will transform and fuse together the passages that he borrows from others, to make of them something entirely his own; that is to say, his own judgment. His education, his labor, and his study have no other aim but to form this." The honey metaphor corrects our naïve notion that being creative entails making something from nothing. Instead, you become a creator by wrestling with the legacy of your authoritative predecessors, standing on the shoulders of giants. In the words of the saxophone genius John Coltrane: "You’ve got to look back at the old things and see them in a new light." Listen to Coltrane fuse experimental jazz, South Asian melodic modes, and the Elizabethan ballad "Greensleeves," and you’ll hear how engaging with the past generates rather than limits. The most fascinating concept that Shakespeare’s period revived from classical rhetoric was inventio, which gives us both the word "invention" and the word "inventory." Cartoon images of inventors usually involve a light bulb flashing above the head of a solitary genius. But nothing can come of nothing. And when rhetoricians spoke of inventio, they meant the first step in constructing an argument: an inventory of your mind’s treasury of knowledge — your database of reading, which you can accumulate only through slow, deliberate study.

Broncos Should Keep Mark Sanchez

Now that the Broncos have declared Trevor Simian the game-day starter, and they have made it clear that Paxton Lynch is the Broncos QB of the future, and they've made it clear that they don't value Mark Sanchez and might cut him, the organization has no choice but to keep Sanchez and either pay him what he's owed at $4.5 million a year, or try to convince him to take a pay cut to stay with a potential Super Bowl team. At one point, with the big losses of starting quarterbacks in Dallas and Minnesota, the Broncos could have dealt Sanchez and not lost a draft pick or any cash. But now that they've played their cards, both Dallas and Minnesota know they can pick up Sanchez cheaper if they just wait for the Broncos to cut him. And the Broncos should only cut him if they have a solid lead on a veteran journeyman QB whom they can trust and not pay too much. Mark Sanchez is that guy - for the money he's owed is below or at what most adequate back-up QBs are making anyway. Not to mention, the Broncos are already saving huge money at the position, and they just cleared out a $3 million hit with the release of punter Colquitt. So, just suck it up, John. You and Kubs screwed up by naming Simian before knowing if you could deal Sanchez. And, the financial hit is minimal for what Sanchez can provide in peace of mind with two rookies on the bench.

Is Parenting Hard? Young Mom's Confessional on FB Goes Viral

We've all seen young kids behaving uh, poorly, in public. It may be the temper tantrum in the supermarket. It may be rudeness at the park or playground. Whatever it is, we are all inclined to pass judgment on the parent of the little troublemakers. And sometimes that is clearly deserved, and other times we should probably remember the frustration when kids are acting like, well, kids. That issue regularly comes up in parenting blogs and Facebook posts, and the most recent example comes from a young mom named Aly Brothers whose post about her very bad day went viral and was written about by Gina Mei for Cosmopolitan's lifestyle section.

She writes about the frustration and tears that followed a disasterous trip to the store, and she explained simply that "This is motherhood."

This is motherhood. No fancy filters, no good lighting, no new lipstick. It's messy hair that's wet from the rain, yesterday's makeup that I was too tired to wash off, and tears. Motherhood is HARD. Single-motherhood is HARD. These tears started as the cashier of Giant Eagle handed me my receipt and continued for the entire drive home. Tears that were passed on to my oldest in the backseat because he doesn't like to see his mommy cry. We know how much boys love their mothers. 

And, I guess the question we have to ask is: Is it? Really?

Her goal and her advice was obvious and reasonable. She was asking for a bit of empathy, and encouraging a judgmental public to show a bit of understanding when witnessing parents having a difficult time with their children in public. Truly, I don't disagree with that. In fact, I've even been moved to simply and politely ask a frustrated parent, "Is there anything I can do to help?" But sometimes you just need to let people deal with it, understanding that these are not rational but instead emotional moments that a child just needs to work through. Fair enough.

However, I think we need to scrutinize these ideas a bit in the abstract and theoretical. Is parenting really that hard? Or are a lot of these upsetting confrontational public moments a result of poor parenting decisions prior to that moment. My general reaction to a lot of behavior I see in the store is that our current crop of parents are doing a really weak job of parenting. In fact, we might argue that they are parents, but they are not "parenting." From dietary choices to passive response to agressive behavior to a tendency to laugh off behavior that isn't funny at all, many of my Gen X peers with young kids are simply not "raising" their kids. They are co-habitating with these young people, and they are deferring to children decisions that should be made by adults. One of the most respected voices in child psychology, Leonard Sax, agrees and explores this situation in his book The Collapse of Parenting.

Is parenting hard? I don't think that's the right word. And if it is, you're probably not actually doing much parenting.

Give All Students Extended Time on Tests

Obviously, schools have long put time constraints on students taking assessments. That reality extends to standardized tests like the PSAT, SAT, & ACT, and those tests are taking on a greater prominence than ever before, especially when it comes to accountability. Those of us in the education world know all about the term "extended time" because some kids with learning challenges require additional time to be able to compete on those tests. Sometimes they use it, sometimes they don't. But it's a necessary condition for many young people. And when it comes to college entrance exams like ACT and SAT, that's of upmost importance.

It's especially true in reading. I've long been a critic of the time limits placed on the reading test for ACT. The constraints are, in my opinion, a bit ridiculous. Students are asked to read four passages and answer forty questions in thirty-five minutes. That means averaging 8 minutes and 45 seconds per passage. That's not reading - it's a sprint. These passages are read "blind" with no prior knowledge or prep, and the obscurity of the passages can by quite challenging. I can't imagine how offering the kids an additional fifteen minutes would be bad. It's true that some kids can answer all questions correctly in the short time - but is that really so important or more impressive than a kid who would take longer. Seriously. When in our adult lives are we given such ridiculous time-constrained tasks. Occasionally, I'm given work to finish in a day. Never am I given completely new information to digest and comprehend in forty minutes. 

Why shouldn't all kids have extended time if they want it. I hated when I was proctoring the ACT or SAT and I had to deliver those dreaded words: "Stop Working. Put your pencils down and close your test booklet." How cruel for that kid struggling to finish the last few bubbles. Time constraints are arbitrary and completely unnecessary. I don't care how long it takes a kid to finish the reading. Give him two hours. Give him all day. If he needs that time to get the right answers, then give it to him.

If ACT and SAT really want to revise and reform their tests, they need to develop a way to allow all kids the time they need to demonstrate knowledge and skills.

LunchSkins are a Great Product

RE-PRINT: Views on the Village, 2013

As summer comes to a close, and school is just around the corner, many parents are kicking into their back-to-school purchasing mode.  And one product that is going to be filling the pantry again is plastic lunch bags for all those snacks.  It's usually a no-brainer for those of  us who send our kids to school with home-packaged lunches and snacks.   However, it doesn't have to be a waste of money or un-friendly to the environment.

LunchSkins are reusable and washable packages that are the perfect product for packing snacks for school lunches, or really anytime.  We discovered them last fall at the Cherry Creek Farmer's Market, and we are really pleased with how easy and convenient they are.  The "lunchskins" are little pouches with a colorful cotton fabric pattern on the outside and a "food safe" polyurthane liner that  keeps food  fresh for the trip to school.  With a velcro flap to keep them closed, they are dishwasher safe and really convenient.

Put LunchSkins on your Back-to-School list.

Jay McInerney - Novelist & Wine Critic

RE-PRINT - Views on the Village, 2012

Most people who have heard of Jay McInerney know him as a literary author, most famous for his classic 1980s novel Bright Lights, Big City.  However, these days he has as much of a reputation - maybe more so - as a wine critic who writes a regular column for the Wall Street Journal.  McInerney always had the voice of a magazine writer, albeit a literary one, and his columns on wine read like engaging stories, using the narrative of experience to open the world of wine to the novice and afficiannado alike.  Since developing a column for House and Garden - and then moving on to the WSJ - McInerney has published several works of non-fiction focusing on the wonders of the fermented grape.  I enjoyed Jay's fiction, and I'm developing a newfound enjoyment of his taste in vino.

In his most recent piece for the WSJ, McInerney spends some time with Steven Tanzer whose popular wine newsletter - International Wine Cellar - has been published since 1985.  Tanzer's newsletter has taken on additional prominence recently after the news that iconic wine writer Robert Parker sold a controlling interest in his newsletter the Wine Advocate.  Apparently, there seems to be some question to the credibility of Parker's information if it's not coming directly from his palate, or is potentially influenced by investors.  And, there is also a difference in the personalities and reputations of these men.  According to McInerney, Tanzer is a wine expert who favors "finesse over power" or more aptly, a pinot over a cabernet.  Favoring the cold climate delicate pinots is definitely my taste in wine, though I can enjoy a nice meaty cab on occasion.