History of Welfare Reform as discovered by Winston Burton and Miriam Berg
Once there was a kindly old elf named Santa Claus, who knew when everyone was sleeping, who knew when they were awake and who knew whether they’d been bad or good, and would leave them a gift if they’d been good, and nothing if they’d been bad. Thus he was the one who set up the first welfare performance-based contract. This kindly old elf also noticed that the elves were happy-go-lucky; living...
Something To Look Forward To
When I went to the first meeting of the Alameda County Base Conversion Homeless Collaborative my wife was pregnant with our first child. I kissed her on the forehead as I was leaving and said, “Honey, I’ll be back in a couple of hours, this shouldn’t take long.” When I went to the last meeting of the Base Conversion Collaborative, where we finally received a settlement to help homeless...
Aloha Rachel Rupert
So people make things happen. So people watch things happen. Some people say, “What happened!” A ball rolls down a hill because it has no sides or angles and offers no resistance. People on the other hand have many sides and often have to choose sides. It makes us vulnerable! We can be hurt by words and comments as well as by sticks and stones. To me, this past year has been somewhat...
Colorblind
I turned on the TV and there was a black boxer fighting a white boxer. I had the sound turned down and was blasting a Jimi Hendrix record while I was watching the fight. I had never seen or heard of either fighter before and didn’t know a thing about them. I found myself enthusiastically rooting for the black boxer to win. The only thing that distinguished one fighter from the other was the...
This Time Next Year
I was in Atlantic City, New Jersey at my aunt’s 95th birthday party. Her name was Pricilla, but everyone called her “Ant Gussie.” She had outlived all of her friends and contemporaries, and was the matriarch and Griot (oral historian) of our family. She was the one who passed down to us not just our own history, but what it was like growing up in a racially divided America, living as a black...
Line Rage
Line Rage Before you read this article take a five count. Slowly inhale through your nose for five seconds, hold your breath for five seconds and than slowly exhale through your mouth counting to five. Who needs a road or a vehicle to be in a rage, a shopping cart can do just fine. Some people seem to think that by pushing their shopping cart in your behind in the check out line the cashier will...
“Taxi! Taxi!”
“Taxi! Taxi!” I was recently in downtown Berkeley near Berkeley City College and I saw a line of cabs with their drivers standing around talking in four different languages waiting for fares (passengers). It did not resemble the cast of the TV show “Taxi” at all! People who are looking for work and have little experience often seek my advice on getting a job. Many of them say they want to work...
Don’t Follow the Leader
I write this because my kids have asked me, “Dad, why didn’t you go to Viet Nam!” I told them, “I’m not good at playing Follow the Leader! Once upon a time the leader used to be at the forefront of the action, the first one into battle – thus the name leader. After awhile the leader stayed at the rear so he could observe the battle unfold and dispatch support where needed. Eventually, the leader...
Where’s Robin Hood?
For many years I thought that the Robin Hood Syndrome (taking from the rich to give to the poor) was a no- brainer. It wouldn’t make sense to steal from the poor to give to the rich, would it? The wealthy have the resources and the money, so who would waste their time robbing people who have little to give to the rich who have more than they need? Seems logical, right? Boy, was I naïve! It seems...
