Social Justice Favorite Topic

Posted on September 28, 2020 by Polly

When I worked for the City of Sauk Rapids, two female coworkers and I filed claims of sexual discrimination based on pay against the city and AFSCME Union with the department of Human Rights and they found probable cause. We prevailed with the city and because they settled with us, the union did not have to pay anything to the two of us who were in AFSCME. This was in 2002 and it spanned a few years to settle. This was before the real dawning of the internet. The newspaper was online but most people still had it delivered and many would comment on the articles online. We endured so many comments about wanting to get paid as much as men. I was shocked then, and now I have grown weary of knowing it is just a reality. I got hate mail from anonymous people. Our fellow union brothers told us that we didn’t need to be paid the same because we were married and we weren’t the bread-winners. It was just unbelievable. I quit my job there right before filing, one woman was wrongfully dismissed, and the other woman stayed working there for a number of years before filing another claim and prevailing. Part of her settlement was quitting her position. I found it hard to get support from hardly anyone except my husband. When friends and family heard about the claim, they were not that supportive even when I prevailed. At times I felt guilty of being greedy but I know deep down that is not the case. It was one big case of gaslighting. I think there are a lot of women out there who are not getting the pay they deserve and they will never stand up for themselves because of the treatment they might receive. I think their stories about how earning less money for most of their careers and lives should be told and how it affected their ability to provide for their families.

Social Justice ideas

Posted on September 28, 2020 by Polly

I am interested in all social justice topics but I feel like my knowledge on any one is limited. Two that interest me the most are equal rights for women and the Black Lives Matters movement. I am interested in equal rights for women because I am a woman and because I have a daughter. Growing up I had no idea women were paid less and treated differently than men. My mom worked as a part-time nurse and my dad was a social worker and they never talked about money or working conditions. I know that my mom did not like her job because she worked at the hospital and since she was part-time, she worked evenings, weekends, and overnights and she thought she missed out on family events. Looking back, I didn’t think she missed anything but now that I am a mother, I can understand that I want to be there for my kids even if it is the everyday events. I think that I have always been paid less because I am a woman. I have a story about my work at the City of Sauk Rapids where I was discriminated against in regard to equal pay.

I am also interested in the Black Lives Matter movement but other than what I have learned from the news, I do not know much about it. I am interested because it is another form of discrimination people face for their entire lives, it doesn’t go away and it can affect how they live their lives, where they live and work, and the opportunities or lack of opportunities they have. I know some wonderful people of color and I feel the guilt of the system for the inequities they have had to endure. I would like to see more equity and inclusion in the government, at work, in schools, and in society. I have a few stories about the people of color that I have met throughout my life that would be interesting to share, although brief.

Basement Art Museum

Posted on September 6, 2020 by Polly

Back in March when we started staying at home, my daughter Molly taught me how to paint with acrylics on canvases. We had a trip planned on March 17 to Bavaria and Tuscany, but it was cancelled, and we were pining for the art galleries and museums we planned on visiting. The time between the stay-at-home order and when classes resumed (it was a few weeks due to the extension of spring breaks as universities and schools worked on their remote plans) Molly and I had quite a collection of paintings. Molly taught me to look on Pinterest for ideas, inspiration, and even step-by-step tutorials. At the end of spring break, we displayed our works of art in our basement and then Molly taught me another amazing thing, how to make an iMovie! We made a movie of our gallery opening and displayed it for our friends on Facebook.

Early Technology

Posted on September 3, 2020 by Polly

When I graduated from high school, I got a typewriter from my parents as a graduation gift. It was for college. They knew I liked to write, and they envisioned that I would be typing papers. As an English major I wrote my share of papers. The process was much different than it is today. I would write an outline and then I would write a rough draft, or several rough drafts, and then I would type up the paper. Making mistakes was not an option really. I had a correction tape, but it was good for a letter or maybe a word, but not an entire line.

I liked the typewriter. It was fun seeing the finished product. None of my papers were that long. The longest paper was maybe 15-20 pages. Switching to word processing was not as smooth as I would have imagined considering I liked to write. I had to learn how to use the computer options. This was before YouTube and it was trial and error. It also seemed like when I first started using a computer to write with that the word processing program, whatever that might have been at the time, would crash or end. The biggest fallout from that was that I did not always remember to save my work as I went along.

Now I love writing on the computer. I also like to write some things down like notes, grocery lists, and packing lists. I think writing has its place still today. I think the laptop is revolutionary because it is so compact and easy to move around. I had several desktop computers that seemed like they became obsolete long before I was ready to discard them. The last desktop I had was an eMachine and it came with the whole set up including a printer. I also got my dad the same computer so I could help him troubleshoot if necessary. The computer had a good life and lasted about eight years before Windows XP was no longer being updated and it became a security risk. By that time, my sons had used the computer and we were ready to move on, but my dad still loved his and he could not grasp that just because a program was no longer being supported that a perfectly good computer all of sudden became junk.

After that desktop, I had a HP laptop that also lasted a very long time. I had it from 2009 until last year when Windows 10 needed to be installed. The laptop was too old and after that I moved to a MacBook. I like the MacBook, but I have had my share of struggles with the photos and the photos application. I also use a MacBook for work and that has been convenient.

Next blog I want to talk about technology at work.

Facebook and politics

Posted on August 31, 2020 by Polly

At times I would like to expand my social media presence beyond Facebook, but I do not know where to start. I use Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends, mostly people that I have not seen in a while. But I also have my close friends, my immediate family, neighbors, and my kids’ friends’ parents on my friend list. My usual posts are about my family. I post photos of my kids, their accomplishments, our trips, funny experiences, etc. I really try to stay away from getting political because it can get so polarizing. I have some conservative friends—mainly from high school or family friends—that even though I do not agree with them, I’m not willing to take on their beliefs.

Not all my liberal friends feel that way. Some of them have told me they have lost friends due to their political posts. I have been known to hide a few conservative friends, so I don’t have to see their posts. Sometimes I feel like that is cheating.

My son was home for several weeks over the summer and we talked a lot about the state of politics right now and about how not saying something makes us feel bad, but we don’t know where to begin. I make very light-hearted posts about how we counted 21 Trump signs on our way to the bike path and only one Biden sign, so we decided to stop there, with a photo as proof. I would like to be bolder and say in my posts what I truly believe and stand up for my beliefs. I do not know if I can. We live in such a weird time.

Many years ago, maybe in 2002 or 2003, I worked with a women whose son went to St. John’s Prep and chat rooms were new. As a student he wrote to another student something to the effect of “we should maybe get guns and take them out” speaking about other students who didn’t agree with their liberal beliefs. The student who got the message was scared and told the authorities and the student who wrote the phrase was charged with terroristic threats and kicked out of school. At the time I was appalled. I had two young sons and had no idea of what they might get up to in the coming years no matter how much direction I tried to give them. Afterall we were living in the “Jack Ass” age as well. When I was young, kids got a break, whether it was good or bad, and second chances. No tolerance was unheard of.

As the election approaches, I do not know what I will do. I will make sure the world knows I did not vote for Trump but whether I will have the nerve to say more, time will tell.

Pre-writing Questions for Technology Literacy Narrative

Posted on August 28, 2020 by Polly

I feel as if technology did not exist when I was growing up like it does today. Sure, we had a wall phone with a very long spiral cord, TV, and a stereo phonograph, but compared to today, the gadgets were not as significant in daily life as technology is today, especially while we are in a pandemic. Growing up I can remember my dad playing 8-track tapes of polka music in the garage. TV was limited. We had very basic channels and when cable came along, with MTV, it was a whole new world. The phone is by far the greatest advancement if you ask me. I can remember in 1994 when I moved home from Germany and my parents had a cordless phone. Wow! No cord. I would have done anything when I was a teenager to have a cordless phone.

My parents do not have stories about technology, but I have stories about them and technology. My dad is a smart guy, but he has yet to grasp wireless, Wi-Fi, internet, etc. He uses them but he cannot wrap his mind around how it works. He is 81 and uses his Gmail password to try to get into everything that requires a password. I am his backup security email, so I get notifications at least once a week that he changed his Gmail password, of course accidently. Also, he thinks his Gmail is exclusive to his iPad. He does not grasp that he can sign into it just about anywhere. However, I think that having information at his fingertips has been useful for him. Over social media (that will a different post!) he is able to stay in touch with friends and family all over, and that has been really great. My mom died in 2006, and I often think about how much she would have loved technological advancements like Facetime and being able to see who you are talking to.

I have a MacBook Pro, iPad mini, iPhone 8, and Apple watch. At work I use a desktop PC. I am not too concerned about having the latest and greatest, but I like my technology to be up-to-date. If it slows down or cannot be updated, that’s about the time I start looking for a newer model. In our family we have a system where we pass on our old technology onto the next person. For instance, my husband gets my old phones because he just doesn’t care. I’ve also passed on some phones to my son, Sam, who is 23. He has broken and lost so many phones that he is not concerned about having a new phone. My 12-year-old daughter has the newest phone, surprise, surprise!

I like to learn about new technology, but I need to be in the mood for it. We have a new website at work that I update. I used to use Dreamweaver and now it is web-based through Square Space. I have been dragging my feet and there are so many things I need to update. One day I will get the motivation and I will get it done, but it takes that motivation to get there. It is the similar with iTunes. It changes so often that I have lost interest in keeping up-to-date. But one day I will get the motivation to update my gadgets and I will learn all the new features.

At work we do all of our meetings over Zoom now, and I often witness miscommunications. I have also seen this in the university Town Halls. Someone will have a question in the chat, and it is misinterpreted and they either accept the wrong answer or give up. As a bystander, I can see it happening but I’m not in the position to join in and try to clear it up. I have also seen this happen face-to-face, so I think the questions have to be concise when they are on the spot.

When it comes to social media my technology literacy is somewhat limited or stalled. I use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family all over the world, but it stops there. I have Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat accounts but rarely use them or check them. For me it a matter of time. I have made time in my life (usually in the morning over coffee) for Facebook, but after that, I do not find that I have time for it. In the summertime I like to be outside and ride my bike and now I have my classes and very little free time. If I have free time, I like to spend it with my husband or daughter. I would imagine that younger people might have more time to spend time with social media and maybe more interest. Online dating was before my time. I think that would require a lot of time devoted to corresponding online. Both my husband and daughter love YouTube. For me it is a tool to learn how to do something, usually a frustrating experience! I do not care for video instruction. I would prefer to read it.

I don’t know who the most technological person in my life is. I think there are different degrees. My oldest son who is now 27 used to love technology. When he was home this summer, he told me hadn’t updated his MacBook for years. I was a little shocked. My husband is motivated to learn about some technology, for instance he taught himself InDesign watching YouTube videos for a project at work, but he never updates his phone and his Gmail account is where email goes to die. He never checks it. Then there is my daughter Molly, the 12-year-old; she heard me talking on Zoom for work about infographics. None of us knew how to do them and we were discussing our options. When I hung up, she said I should try Google Slides for infographics and sure enough that worked. She may be the most technologically advanced.

I think technology gets a bad rap. I cannot tell you how many memes talk about how everyone is always on their phone. My son, a history PhD student, told me long ago that the novel when new was like the mobile phone today. It was shunned and criticized if people read in public. People were rotting their minds and turning into antisocial loners. A bell in my head rang when I read our textbook this week and Gutenberg came up. I think that technology is in its heyday with the pandemic. I work online remotely, I order my groceries online, I do my banking online, I read online, I stream TV, I have telemedicine appointments, I am learning online, and if ever there was a time to have technology up-to-date it is now. Thanks to my husband’s time in the military, we have gadgets to keep in touch. Thanks to an employer who let me work at home when my daughter was young, I have a good set up at home. And thanks to being a graduate student, my husband purchased a new wireless printer and office chair for me last fall. I feel for students and for families who do not have technology at this period in time.

pollychappell

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Basement Art Museum

Early Technology