Mudlark Tales

Problem #1: Unemployment is skyrocketing in the US and has been for the last year and a half.

Problem #2: Companies can find cheaper labor overseas, so they outsource a lot of work that used to be done by Americans, leaving the unemployed with the need to find another way to fit into the labor pool.

Problem #3: A lot of the existing jobs require certifications that are expensive to obtain, but not time-intensive.

My Solution: Why don’t Cisco, Microsoft, Six Sigma and some of the other credentialing agencies partner with state departments of labor to create a program in which the unemployed pay a small fee to enroll in a credentialing course? Even if the department of labor covers a couple hundred dollars of the cost, they’ll pay fewer months of unemployment benefits, saving money in the end.  Their expenditure might even be billable to the participant once he or she gains employment.

What the DOL gets out of it: Lowered unemployment statewide, saving money and resources.

What the unemployed participant gets out of it: Highly recognized credential that makes him or her much more marketable in the job field.

What Cisco and/or Six Sigma (and others) get out of it: Stellar PR for responding to the needs of the job market, and a more highly qualified job pool with greater diversity of skills.

I know, this is a lazy post. But, being that I’m a creative person and being that my children have unwittingly sapped my creative energy today (read: whined the sanity right out of me, till I nearly broke my toe on a chair while walking through the house), I thought I’d point you to a couple creative people out there.

There’s this music video. How can you not like it?

And these wedding invitations.

And then there’s this company – pretty remarkable in the way they tackle problems.

I get my news in the morning on Twitter. And this morning the news says that protesters will be out this morning in force, bearing flowers. I suppose the flowers are a sign of peace (hearkening back to the 1960s flower children?). Twitter also gives links to video reports online – a military general giving his opinion of the president, hospital interviews from victims of police brutality.

Other than that, life goes on as normal for most of us. Bean and Little Man have been told to stay home from school today because they were coughing yesterday. Other than the cough, they’re the perfect picture of health. But apparently we sent them to school one day not bundled well enough, so conventional wisdom says that they got the draft and they’re sick. Allergies and asthma? Those are really superfluous here. My kids caught the draft. So even though they’re healthy the nurse has asked us to keep them home. (Because even if they don’t look sick now, they will in a few hours… because they caught the draft) We’ll see about that.

The good news is that we now have a forced family vacation day. We’ve been informed that there will be power outages today – for 5-6 hours today in our region. So when the power goes out we’re going to load everyone up and go to ‘dinosaur park’ – the park in town where archeologists are digging up bones of a mastodon.

That’s it for today’s news. Flower children in Chisinau. Non-asthma, non-allergy draft-cough in 2 kids. Jurassic park.

credit: Tanya Van Horne

Bean has English class at preschool. It’s kinda funny because her English is better than the teacher’s. I got to sit in on the class last week for parents’ day, and Bean didn’t disappoint me – she’s always a great source of entertainment. The class went something like this:

Teacher: Stefan, Vot color iza zis cap?

Stefan: Eet. eez. blue.

Teacher: Yes, eet. is. Rebecca, Do you like to ee-at bananas?

Rebecca: Yes. I. do.

Teacher: Good.  Sofia, zis ees a keevee. (kiwi) Do you like to ee-at keevee?

Sofia: Nu stiu. (perfect Romanian, for “I don’t know.”)

And how would she know? Just because someone put it in a book of English language doesn’t mean that all English speakers eat ee-at keevee. Keevee eez expensive at Kroger, much more expensive zan somesing like ore-an-ges or strohberries or leemons. And, of course, while every other child in the class answered the questions in the correct form (yes, I like them zem.), Sofia was your typical American think-outside-the-box type of student who answered the question honestly, even if in the wrong language and the wrong answer.

Sometimes when you read the news you wonder what’s wrong with people. Sometimes it seems like everyone’s messed up. You look at the headlines and wonder what this world is coming to.

But sometimes things go right. Hubbs took me out to breakfast this morning for Valentine’s Day. When we came home we went about our (very hectic) business – packing to move overseas in 3 days. And then this evening I couldn’t find my purse, but no worries. I figured it must be hiding under a box or stack of something or other – after all, with no furniture left in the house there are stacks and piles  of ’stuff’ everywhere. We got a call around 9PM from Starbucks, where we had breakfast. They’d found my purse and wanted to return it, and they’d tried all day to find a way to contact me. When we went to get it do you know what I found? Everything. $80 cash in the wallet. My Ipod. My daughter’s toddler bling necklace. My credit cards. Another $20 in a pocket. People are good.

Over the past week my friends have come alongside me to help me pack. They’ve packed for me. They’ve moved furniture. They’ve hauled away my Goodwill donations. People are good.

Friends have loaned us pack-n-plays, shopped second-hand stores for suitcases and snow boots, brought us food, fed us in their homes. Strangers have helped us settle my in-laws in their new digs. People are so good.

This experience of moving across the world has been so good. We’ve seen people come together and shower us with kindness. It’s heart-warming. Thank you to all the people who have come alongside us and helped smooth the transition. It’s been a blessing.