I’m pleased that my new job affords me the possibility of using my skills as an educator. Among my first duties, I visited with a group of St. Olaf Students in the capitol for a government/policy class they are taking with Professor and former legislator Don Ostrom. It was a pleasure to talk with them about my experience being a candidate and their political aspirations. Many of them have worked on campaigns in the past and most see them selves continuing in the future. Afterwards one of them signed on to my staff as a volunteer intern. (photo taken by house staff)
Committees are just getting started and most are hearing from various agency experts about initiatives and policy decisions. Rep. Rukavina, chair of the committee, has scheduled a series of hearings with students from across the state to hear first hand how the financial aid system is working for them.
Many of the students we heard from this week are non-traditional students with admirable aspirations to improve themselves and contribute to society only to find the huge debt they have taken on may make the realization of their dreams impossible. What a loss for the state of Minnesota.
My week was bookended by visits from to groups of school children. One hundred and twenty some sixth grade students form Belle Plaine met me in the Rotunda along with Sen. Neuville. They were there barely long enough for us to say
hello and answer a few questions. I caught a few of them with my digital camera and one student and teacher posed with me.
On Friday the Northfield Middle School arrived at 9:45am and crowded around. Again they were in too much of a hurry for a group picture, rushing off to the History Musuem. But this time I planned ahead and my intern got a few shots.
Today is Martin Luther King’s actual and celebrated birthday. I have mentioned before the impact this great man had on my life. I read through his Nobel Peace Prize speech before going off to a radio interview with KYMN radio. (I give a weekly interview Monday mornings at 7:40am, I hope you listen in.) I was impressed how much of it was still relevant for today. At 35 he was the youngest person to receive the peace prize. He donated all of the money he received to further the cause of civil rights. When I think about how much he accomplished at such a young age I am humbled. He spoke so eloquently about the damage that is done to individuals and our society by three great challenges: racial divisions and injustice, poverty – world wide and in our nation, and finally the allusion that violence and war can make any of these problems better. We have made some progress but there remains much work for us to do.
On war and violence here is what he said,
"Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers."