5.29.11
This is an Archival Site
There is now a new Rogovoy Report home
5.18.11
Weekend Preview May 19-24
Bob Dylan tributes, Deborah Voigt, Tom Paxton, Bill Kirchen, John Kirk and Trish Miller
5.18.11
Celebrating Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday in Style
Paying tribute to the greatest rock songwriter ever
5.17.11
FILM REVIEW: In a Better World and Of Gods and Men
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.17.11
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5.12.11
Deborah Voigt Headlines Mahaiwe Gala
Opera star to sing arias, show tunes on Saturday, May 21
5.15.11
Famed Spiritual Teacher to Speak on Nonviolence
Mother Maya in free talk at Sruti Yoga in Great Barrington, Mass., on Friday May 20 at 7pm
5.12.11
Special Effects Wizard to Be Honored by Film Festival
Doug Trumbull to be Feted by BIFF
5.11.11
Weekend Preview May 12-16
Cultural Highlights of the Berkshire Weekend
6.4.09
Talk about a small world
Elaine and I grew up together, but only just recently met....
5.8.11
Berkshire Living to Cease Publication
A Farewell from Publisher Michael Zivyak
5.8.11
twiGs Branches Out
Lenox boutique launches new e-tail site
5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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Immigrants power local workforce
6.19.05
"Red Lion Inn helps itself by helping bridge language gap," a modest article by Ellen Lahr in today's Berkshire Eagle (hidden on page A4, probably because it's too serious a piece to be afforded a front page in the new, dumbed-down Eagle), opens a window on a fascinating bit of contemporary American sociology.
The article is ostensibly about the effort by the Red Lion to provide on-site classes in English as a Second Language free to its growing force of non-English speaking employees.
But a couple of quotes by people in the article speak volumes about everything that's wrong with America -- while offering some hope for the future.
The heroes in this piece -- as they have always been in American history -- are the new immigrants, who even without access to the English language, are pulling themselves up by their bootstraps by dint of hard labor, AND, most importantly, by maintaining strong communal ties within their immigrant groups.
The article [which I will link to, but unfortunately the link will disappear in a few days, since the Eagle, unlike real newspapers like the New York Times, does not allow for permanent links by bloggers] quotes Gosia Lowaczyk, herself a native of Poland who runs housekeeping at the Red Lion, saying, "Now if I need a new employee, I just tell some people on the staff, and the next day I have five applications."
This simple quote speaks volumes, as it portrays a subculture right here in the Berkshires of people who actually go home at night from their jobs and presumably spend time together, talk to each other, share information, help each other out, all in the cause of bettering the group (and undoubtedly also in living a rich, good life with whatever little they have to share, mostly each others' company).
Can you imagine a similar situation among well-established, acculturated native Americans (not the Indian kind, the others), who otherwise come home from their jobs, pop open their beer, wine, or other spirits, and plop themselves down in front of their big-ass TV screens and don't talk to anyone, much less friends or neighbors?
Lowaczyk goes on: "Most of the people who come in have no English, but in no time, they are picking up the language." There is nothing new about this -- my grandmother arrived here at age 16 with no English (she only spoke four other languages fluently -- Polish, German, Yiddish, and Hebrew, and probably knew some French and Russian, too) -- and had to argue her way into being admitted to a public high school [where nowadays they would teach her in her NATIVE language so instead of learning English in four months it would take her four years].
We have so much to learn about what's most important about life, and how to live "the good life," from people like this -- people still rooted to their close-knit, village ways, even when they're thousand of miles away from home.
Interestingly enough, the article also raised the specter of resentment against immigrants "taking jobs that could otherwise go to local people who are out of work," as the author writes. Presumably, and hopefully, she raises that specter simply as a straw man to knock down, and she does give local restaurateur Michael Ballon the last word on the topic -- "The real employment rate around here is in the negative numbers...Anyone who wants to work can work."
Again, it takes an immigrant village to raise our consciousness.....
READ MORE
If you want your Lexus SC400 vehicle to always perform and look at its best, then one of the things that you have to take into mind is the condition of its parts. There are many components that make up the Lexus SC400, and each of these Lexus SC400 parts have a crucial role to play in terms of making your vehicle operate and properly and efficiently. However, these parts can also wear out over time, or get damaged due to an accident or for other reasons. And when any of these components have broken down or is damaged, then it can seriously hamper your vehicle's operation may not even make the car work at all.
8/30/2007
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