Justifying ourselves to ourselves

A newspaper headline today ("Are there too many of us?") provides me with a good focal point for trying to work through my thought processes with regards to what's going on these days, locally, nationally, and globally, on economic and social fronts. [I feel like I'm phrasing this vaguely, but I can't pinpoint any single thing right now that's causing my head to spin]

Today, students in Arizona are headed over to the state capitol to protest the proposed (pending) cuts to the state University system. The cuts amount to about 40% of ASU's budget and translate into the loss of thousands of jobs plus the associated educational benefit they provide. [And I must wonder, how will I be affected? Will fewer students take their education for granted now?]

I see this as part of a massive social shift--probably one of the most massive changes I'll see in my lifetime. We won't really understand all of the facets of this shift until it is well underway, but a lot of people are now thinking about things like, what is the value of a job? Where does my life lie relative to the (inflated) norms of economic status that are promoted on television? Where will I live? What is happening to the American dream, which pins so many hopes on the promise of education?

This might seem like a strange connection, but I keep reading about the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" as it picks up awards (I haven't seen it), and I can't help but think its popularity is somehow connected to this cultural swirling, in some way. Perhaps Americans will learn humility through some inevitable economic restructuring.

Furlough

The word "furlough" sounds kind of beautiful, like some sort of special vacation with fanfare. Right now, we still don't know a whole lot of details about how this is going to work out, just that our university's president thinks it's the best option, given the available alternatives. I don't even know if I'll be directly affected, but I'm inclined to agree that it's much better to ensure that more people can remain employed than to let some go and others remain with high-paying jobs. We must tighten our belts a bit, folks, and take pleasure in different sorts of things, like creative ways to be frugal and yet still cultured.