Walking east on Girard to the El and random thoughts bounce off the pavement like hailstones. There’s always baseball to take your mind off things.
They set aside their paper goods, glass bottles, plastics and wonder about the energy used when it all gets recycled.
Oil rigs the world over employ people and transform the planet and give us the stuff we’re built to need.
You worry about man-made disasters until tornadoes destroy Southern and Midwestern cities. Survivors count their blessings, their lives forever changed. Easy on the east coast to read the headline and watch the news and think about it for a while and feel safe ‘cause it’s not you, but what if?
She takes SEPTA to school every day but now it won’t be free. Can’t afford the daily bus fare so might just be a cutter. Parents could be prosecuted but money’s tight so they don’t know what to do.
Budget cuts. Teachers stressed about keeping their jobs and it’s last-in-first-out so the youngest ones lose. He finished his masters and got certified but when and where and who and what and how will he teach? Arlene Ackerman will make $500,000 this year, though. That’s fair.
Turning the corner by Trax where the clerk was killed during a 3:00 am robbery a while back. Two bucks buys a train ride to the ballpark. Cliff Lee’s pitching. I hope it doesn’t rain.
(Click here for a brief blog post from PhillyNow on Arlene Ackerman's 2011 compensation)
I didn't even know who Ackerman was without the link. All politics being local, as they say, confuses us outsiders. I can see why people would be ticked off, though.
ReplyDeleteStrong points being made here, the state of the planet, unemployment, crime, and an underlying sense of unfairness. Over the past few years we have witnessed massive bonuses paid to under-achieving superiors, while many people watch their own livelihoods, and quality of life crumbling away.
ReplyDeleteHi John, sorry for the confusion, the style of the piece (random thoughts) was such that I didn't think I could include any background info on Ackerman prior to mentioning her, and this is why I decided to use that link to the PhillyNow blog post at the end. Do you have any suggestions for how I could've included some info on her in the body of the story? I suppose I could've just included her title. . . .
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steve, for your comment highlighting some of the issues presented in the story. Sometimes there are just so many problems and injustices being reported, I become numb as I read or watch the news.