Saturday, March 3, 2007
Wage Events
Coincide With Author's Visit
By Polly Summar
Journal
Staff Writer
A well-educated white woman with a bank account, IRA, health insurance and a home
decides to explore life as a low-wage worker and write about it.
The premise would almost be insulting, except that it would
take that kind of pedigree to get such a book in print. It worked, with Barbara
Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed:
On (Not) Getting By in
"It put a face to the working poor," said Marv Lachman, whose Friends of
the Library book club read "Nickel and Dimed"
as part of its regular schedule.
Discovering that Ehrenreich was
speaking here at a fundraiser for the Living Wage Network was just the impetus
the city needed to pull together a series of events on issues like a living
wage, the cycle of poverty, housing, access to health care and nutrition.
"Usually, getting the speaker is the hard part,"
said Laura Banish, public information officer for the city of
Ehrenreich agreed to speak here
because of the efforts of
"We had a very persistent member of the coordinating
committee who kept calling and wouldn't take no for an answer," said Carol
Oppenheimer of the network. But once the contact was made, Ehrenreich
told the
"She's coming for free to help us," Oppenheimer
said. "We've had tons of people donating money to make her talk at the Lensic affordable to the public."
Just one problem: Ehrenreich's
March 11 talk is now sold out.
"But we're trying to regather
tickets from people who aren't going to be using them," Oppenheimer said.
"We are pretty confident we will have tickets at the door."
When the city discovered that Ehrenreich
was coming to town, it decided to marshal forces and put together a variety of
forums— from a community read to panel discussions and films— to coincide with
her visit.
Mayor David Coss, known as a strong supporter of the
ordinance, characterized the events as a way to help Santa Feans
better understand the issues of poverty and injustice here. "There will be
a vote sometime in the fall about raising the minimum wage from $9.50 to
$10.50," Coss said.
In the meantime, Coss said the city has been gathering and
disseminating information on issues including living wages, affordable housing,
homelessness, sexual violence, domestic violence, teen issues and food
security.
But the main intention of the events is to provoke
conversation.
"We even have the Chamber of Commerce participating in
the panel discussion Thursday," Coss said of the March 8 event from 6:30-8
p.m. at the New Mexico Film Museum (formerly the Jean Cocteau Cinema), 418
Montezuma Ave. "They would absolutely be against an increase in the
minimum wage, always have ... but I do want the dialogue to occur."
Coss said he's planning to meet with Ehrenreich
and a group of activists during her visit here.
"I got myself invited," he said, "and I'm
hoping the brainstorming will be good."
The effort was pulled together rather quickly. The city
library system had seven copies of "Nickel and Dimed"
when the mayor came calling, but quickly ordered more. Now, 23 copies are
checked out, and seven people are on the waiting list. Pat Hodapp,
director of libraries, said, "The mayor knew we were looking to do a
community read this fall, and when this opportunity came along, they approached
the library and said, 'Do you want to be involved?' and we said, 'Absolutely.'
"People want to live here, to be creative and get
by," Hodapp said, adding that she hopes the
community read will help in looking at ways that goal can be accomplished.
Collected Works bookstore has ordered more than 100 copies,
many to be taken to Ehrenreich's talk. Bookseller
Peter Greene said interest has been pretty strong.
"It's not Hampton Sides' 'Blood and Thunder'— we've
sold hundreds of that— but it's pretty good," he said.
Living Wage Events
Today— showing of locally produced films and documentaries about
economic struggle; tickets are free and available at
· "La Marcha: Working for Economic Justice"— 12:50 p.m.— the
story of the Santa Fe "living wage" campaign, to build a coalition of
community organizations supporting teamwork, fairness, opportunity and respect.
· "Gary and the Angels"—
· "Salt of the Earth"—
· "Cinderellas
of Santa Fe"— 5:30 p.m.— a film about "creative types" who earn
a living as cleaning ladies, waitresses and bartenders; question-and-answer session
with director Vanessa Vassar follows.
· "American Waitress,
Tuesday— 6-8 p.m.— Student and Youth Film Contest— screening
of short films by youth on "getting by" in Santa Fe, followed by a
question-and-answer session with the filmmakers.
Thursday— 6:30-8 p.m. panel discussion— 8-8:30 p.m.
reception— Mayor David Coss and a panel of community members will discuss the
complexities of poverty in Santa Fe related to the issues discussed in
"Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in
America."
Sunday, March 11, 7 p.m.— Talk by author Barbara Ehrenreich at the Lensic
Performing Arts Center, 225 W. San Francisco St; tickets, $10 and $5 for
students, are sold out, but no-shows are expected, so some tickets may be
available at the door.
Tuesday, April 10,
All film events and the March 8 panel discussion for Santa
Fe's first Community Read of "Nickel and Dimed:
On (Not) Getting by in America" will be held at the New Mexico Film Museum
(formerly the Jean Cocteau Cinema), 418 Montezuma Ave., and are free.
Excerpts From the Book
"My aim here was ... just to see whether I could match
income to expenses, as the truly poor attempt to do every day."
"There are no secret economies that nourish the poor;
on the contrary there are a host of special costs. If you can't put up the two
months' rent you need to secure an apartment, you end up paying through the
nose for a room by the week."
"What surprised and offended me most about the low-wage
workplace ... was the extent to which one is required to surrender one's basic
civil rights and ... self-respect. I learned this at the very beginning of my
stint as a waitress, when I was warned that my purse could be searched by
management at any time."