Appreciating Every Nickel and Dime

          In the elections coming up in only a few weeks, for senator and governor of Wisconsin, there is a great debate regarding whether, Scott Walker and Tom Barrett or Ron Johnson and Russ Feingold will improve Wisconsin's job opportunities and contribute to the American government. Running for Governor, Tom Barrett, plans to create dairy processing jobs, to support what Wisconsin is known for. He also wants to cut the red tape around jobs and get new construction jobs forming. This would improve the unemployment rate weighing down on Wisconsin. He also supports middle class families being able to afford their healthcare.

         Running for governor, conservative Scott Walker, has a plan to create 250,000 new jobs in the state of Wisconsin. He also plans to decrease the taxes in the state of Wisconsin that burden many families living paycheck to paycheck. He also plans on decreasing taxes for businesses that create a burden for them when hiring new employees. Both senators have in mind that many people in Wisconsin, and the entire nation are counting their pennies and aren't making the most plentiful paycheck. Barrett and Walker's views both relate to the scenario presented in Nickel and Dimed. Finding a job and living on a minimum wage salary is stressful and uncomfortable for many individuals and families of different sizes. Barbara Ehrenreich had such a difficult time even getting a call back from many of the jobs she tried applying for. Both Walker and Barrett know that living off a small paycheck isn't easy and creating job opportunities and cutting taxes will take a burden off the hard workers of Wisconsin and America.

           Nickel and Dimed changed my views  of the length and power of the minumum wage paycheck. When the author/journalist Barbara Ehrenreich placed herself in the roles of various minimum wage jobs and left behind her cushy paycheck for an experiment. The challenges she faced were alarming. Her coworkers could barely scrape by every month, and even had to live in cars for periods of time until they saved up money. This situation relates to the millions of people living in America every single day.
           After reading of her experiences first hand, I understand how really valuable every penny is. When deciding which senator or governor I believe will benefit Wisconsin, Nickel and Dimed brought to my eyes how living on a limited paycheck affects your life. Every dollar made determines that kind of lifestyle that you can live. This can determine if you can live out and achieve the true definition of the American Dream and take advantage of the liberty of the America.

What is an American?

The simple question, What is an American?, is one that requires an extensive answer. With being an American many privileges and rights of freedom are given to a citizen. This past week in class, reading What Is an American?, by Micheal-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur, I was able to understand and remember the rights that the people of America are given, that citizens in other countries do not get. "Formerly they were not numbered in any civil list of their country, except in those of the poor, here they rank as citizens." (What is An American?, 70) Concepts like these are what important American documents, such as the Declaration of Independence had some of its main components based upon.
The Declaration of Independence enforced an idea of the American dream. It brought about the ideas that living in America you can get the freedom to live a life that was not possible in other countries. This document is still a basis for American freedom even today, even though some of the concepts of it, for example ho w it excludes women and some races, the Declaration is still the basis of American freedom and helped to develop the idea of the American dream. Immigrants long ago came to America with the same hopes for freedom and achieving the American dream as they do today.

"Don't end your life wishing you lived out all your dreams"

Communities

• What is a community and how do they form?

A community can be described as one of many situations. A community can be a social group, large or small, that share a similar culture or heritage. Communities develop when a certain group of people live around each other for a long period of time, then forming the same culture and having to survive around the same area.  That's just the general definition of a community, they can be as small as being a student in a school, an employee in a workplace, being part of your town or even being as large as the country you live in. An example of a large community developing over time would be the Pilgrims. This group of people originally from England, came to America seeking a brighter future and religious freedom. They were forced to start from the ground up and build their life from nothing. The Pilgrims then began to live around the same area, work together and survive with the help of one another. They shared the same religion from the beginning and had similar cultural values. Over time they formed a community that was able to last for many years.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/community

http://www.mbeinstitute.org/America/PilgrimsPlymouth.JPG