community

Don’t Forget to Vote in School Board Elections

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Many of us forget about School Board Elections.

They are in a strange time of year, the middle of May, as many of us are thinking more about our summer plans, rather then critical questions of local government spending. School board elections, as local elections, are poorly covered by the news, and often are uninteresting. You may no longer attend high school, and you may not have kids in school. Yet those are not good reasons for not voting.

School Board Elections, School Budget Vote, and Library Budget Vote are all important things to vote on for several reasons including:

  • Low turn out, local elections mean your vote can change results easily.
  • Your decision hits your pocketbook directly, especially if pay property taxes.
  • Only chance to directly comment on government spending — should we invest more in our public schools or further increase the crushing tax burden on working folk?

None of us have perfect information. Many years when I vote in school board elections, I don’t even know whose running for school board, and leave those ballots blank. If your concerned about government spending and waste, or think schools and the students being educated are getting cut too much, then either vote Yes or No. It’s that simple.

Don’t Forget to Vote!

Why I’m Thinking Of Going Back to College Eventually

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For the past couple of months I have been looking at going back to school eventually to some formal training in geographic information systems, or computers more generally. I have a bachelors of arts degree in Political Science, and what I view to be a pretty good liberal arts education. I read a lot, and are always looking for new information and facts.

But what I lack is any kind of technical training or knowledge. I am a generalist at everything I do. I understand big picture things, and have a vast knowledge of how political systems work, but no specific technical knowledge. I would like to be an expert as something fo ronce, have soe real skills, and not just be a generalist at everything I do.

East Through Tower Window

I like my job and it pays really quite well. I like having the money and a very nice truck for getitng out of town on the weekends. I like having the ability to travel and experience things. It sure is nice to able to catch the bus in on snow and icy and days, and keep my truck nice. And hell, I like my run down apartment.W In many ways I sould be happy about things.

But I really aren’t that happy. I don’t really like living that much in the city, not having much place of my own. I may live on te outskirts of urbanized area in Delmar, but it’s nothing like a rural community. Albany is nothing like a small city, it’s problems seem greater and impossibly difficult to address. Politics and policy are so much more complex in the big city…

Burn, Baby, Burn

I really want to escape the city, move out to rural hinderlands, in a state with a lot more freedom then NY State. I don’t want to work my whole life to pay taxes, and have restrictions on everything I do. I want to be able to shoot guns off my porch, burn stuff in my backyard. I want land, I also want to be able to get to similiarly great public lands to hunt, fish, and camp.

Albany is fine for now. I need to save a lot more money up for college. I probably can’t seriously think about going back to school, and moving to a more rural community until I have $20,000 or $30,000 in the bank. But then I want to have the freedom to disassociate myself from the big city, live out in the country, and live only in the sphere of a small city where people are far more connected to the land, and not dominated by clueless urban folks.

Halloween is for Kids, Community

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Everybody knows Halloween is a fun holiday for kids, to get out, meet some of their neighbors and have a good time in the fall. Giving out candy when visiting neighbor’s houses inspires community and less of a fear of neighbors.

Too often today our society has become isolated from one individual to another. Halloween is one such chance to get back together, and spend sometime as a community talking to our neighbors. At least for one night a year, the people you live so closely to are not so isolated from your life.

I do not understand why the religious right is so anti-Halloween. It’s a fun holiday, one more about community then the worship of daemons or fears. It’s meant to peak one’s sweet tooth at least for one night, and enjoy some candy. Most kids do not know or understand why they dress up and knock on neighbor’s doors, but the sense of community it brings is invaluable.

colorrdturn

It is more concerning how some adults choose to partake of this holiday. Some older people now want to join kids in the celebration of the holiday. These big kids, often go tricker-treating or have parties. But shouldn’t adults have enough community experience, and know their neighbors well enough to not need to celebrate the holiday.

There also needs to be a de-commercialization of the holiday. Too often, it’s easy to get a Halloween costume for $20 or $30 dollars from a store, in about any commercially popular character that you want. All made out of toxins, proudly imported by China. Reinforcing commercial messages, encouraging children to excessively consume.

All in all, this high-fructose corn syrup holiday is a fun diversion from our everyday life. It’s a great chance for our young to meet our neighbors, and learn that they are not the scary people that the mass-media so often portrays them to be.