A Different Story about Israel

Nearly everything we ever hear about Israel has to do with its relationship with the Palestinians.  No doubt, that’s a complex, contested, frustratingly difficult topic.  Yet it’s not the only story to be told about Israel.  Nor is it the only complex, difficult issue facing the country.  As Dr. Galia Sabar explains in our interview, Israel is facing a challenge that is more familiar: how to deal with immigrants who enter illegally in search of economic opportunity.  Like the US, Israel is a country of immigrants, with a strong commitment to providing a safe haven not only for Jews from around the world but also for other refugees.  And much like here, migrant laborers in Israel, including many Africans whose experiences and conditions are the subject of Galia’s research and activism, do difficult types of work for low wages, thereby contributing to the economy, while also facing discrimination and fear from the mainstream society. 

What’s most refreshing about Galia Sabar’s discussion of these issues, for me, anyway, is her willingness to acknowledge the contradictions inherent in the problem.  On the one hand, she acknowledges the presence of racial prejudice in a country that was built as a response to the Holocaust, one of the most notorious cases of racial prejudice taken to the extreme in the history of the world.  She sees the paradox her country faces over granting citizenship to non-Jews: how can Israel continue to be a Jewish state, as is its mission, while also being a democratic state, especially if non-Jewish immigrants become a large proportion if not the majority of voters?  There are no easy solutions for Israel.  At the same time, the story of African immigration provides an interesting opportunity to expand our understanding of the issues Israel faces and how that country is changing. 

Smart about the Arts

Like many others, I spent hours as a kid playing piano or guitar, going to dance classes, acting in children’s theater productions, and drawing. I was a complete klutz, and I didn’t like sports. I think I may actually have been kicked out of gymnastics in first grade. But the arts? That was home. So whenever I hear that schools are cutting back on the arts, or when I think about how many families can’t afford to provide the kinds of opportunities I had, I get frustrated. I know from experience how much difference music, dance, theater, and visual arts can make in a child’s life.

But that’s only one reason I’m blown away by SMARTS, YSU’s Students Motivated by the Arts project. Yeah, they provide free – yes, free – arts classes for kids (click here for an application). And students from kindergarten through high school have opportunities to sing and perform together. But consider this: much of that is possible by a whole other set of opportunities SMARTS offers: chances for YSU students studying arts education (and other fields) to develop their own teaching skills. That means that students who are being motivated here are not just kids but also soon-to-be-teachers.

And consider this: Becky Keck, who runs SMARTS, leads the program with a clear vision that always takes in two levels. On one level, she’s sharply focused on providing high-quality arts programming for local children. But she’s also always thinking about the place of the arts, and the place of non-profit organizations, in the community. In other words, she’s a true believer in the full, complex value of what she does. The more human assets we have like Becky, the better off this community will be.

Want to help support SMARTS? Come to Mad About the Arts, February 25, at the McDonough Museum of Art on the YSU campus. The event will raise money for both SMARTS and the McDonough. For details or to reserve tickets, call the SMARTS office at 330-941-2787.

Making Heart Surgery Simpler -- and Making Medicine More Complex

Heart surgery turns out to be one of those things that’s hard to describe without images.  Dr. Timothy Hunter from Humility of Mary Health Partners made a good effort, and better yet, he explained well how this benefits patients and changes the nature of surgery for doctors.  If you want to find out more about how it works, you can watch an online video, aimed at patients, that explains the procedure.  You can also read more about what Dr. Hunter is doing in this piece from the Youngstown Business Journal. 


What I found most thought-provoking about our conversation was the idea that changes in medical practice are so closely connected with industry.  That shouldn’t surprise us, but Dr. Hunter’s comment about the role of industry draws our attention to a part of the medical landscape that we usually don’t talk about.  We pay attention to doctors, hospitals, patients, insurance policies, and to national health care policies, but we rarely talk about how new ways of doing things are supported and promoted by companies that develop, manufacture, and sell very expensive equipment.  We like to imagine that medicine is not market-driven, that it’s not a business in the same way as other fields.  And in many ways, it isn’t.  But every new technique comes from somewhere, and good ideas are often transformed into profitable ventures via industry.  The question is, as I discussed with Dr. Hunter, how do we balance the costs of technology with the benefits of good health care?  That’s not always easy.

How Technology Is Transforming Learning

One of the things I appreciate about Gardner Campbell’s approach to technology in education is that he doesn’t focus on a specific cool new thing.  He wants us – teachers, students, administrators, as well as everyone else – to be thinking about the bigger picture, about how technologies of all kinds shape the way we think and the ways we teach and learn.  And he wants us to imagine the changes that technology makes possible not as a set of prescriptions about what we must do but about a set of possibilities.  That’s why instead of teaching faculty how to use online discussion boards or blogs, he begins by inviting teachers to learn about how new media is changing culture and all the myriad things it can make possible. 

But as he knows, as we all know, thinking about all of that can be overwhelming.  Change, and especially change that takes us in directions we can’t yet imagine, is scary, and for all the ways education can be a place of innovation it can be equally resistant to change.  The basic structures of education, at all levels, have not changed significantly over the last century, even though knowledge, what we know about learning, and the array of resources available for learning are constantly changing.  Because most education happens within institutions, thinking about large-scale restructuring can seem like a waste of time – no matter how important we think it is.  On the other hand, because teaching has long been a fairly private activity – teachers control their own classrooms, and we don’t talk all that much about what we do inside those rooms – we have the flexibility and power to make change from the classroom up.  A look at Gardner’s work on the EDUCAUSE website, and some exploration through the rest of that site’s Learning Initiative materials, can give you a glimpse of what’s possible. 

Telling Youngstown's Stories on Stage

One of the pleasures of talking with Rob Zellers, beyond the fact that he’s such a great storyteller, is hearing the story of his own reinventions. As he notes in our interview, he came to playwrighting late in life, and it’s really his third career – teacher, non-profit staffer (though still with a focus on education), and now writer. Perhaps it’s because playwrighting is still a relatively new endeavor for him, but his passion for his work is palpable, and he seems almost surprised to have had so much success.

The two plays he’s had produced so far, The Chief, a one-person play about the life of Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney, and Harry’s Friendly Service, set in Youngstown in the late 70s, should both appeal to local audiences. Many of us missed the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s staging of Harry’s Friendly Service last year, but you can still get a look at The Chief. It’s been made into a film, and you can read about it and order a copy online.

Zellers has written a third play with local connections, The Happiness They Seek, set in Youngstown in the 90s. Wouldn’t it be great to see one of our local theater companies do a play about Youngstown?

Optimistic Realism: Hoping for Change in the Valley

Earlier this week, I had a conversation with a couple of energetic, committed young professionals who have recently moved to this area, people who seem to want to get involved in the community but are also looking for reasons to feel good about being here. They asked me some rather blunt questions: Why am I committed to this place? Do I think things are really getting better?

Part of my response is rooted in the things I discussed with Bill Mullane in this week’s interview – a general sense that there’s been a shift in how people are working to improve the economy, neighborhoods, and quality of life the Mahoning Valley. Like Bill, I’m not blind to the real problems we face, including those that we create ourselves, nor am I the cheerleader type. I can’t pretend that everything is fine, or even that we’re clearly on the path to fine.

At the same time, the work that Bill and his colleagues at the Raymond John Wean Foundation are doing is one of the reasons why I feel more optimistic than I did a decade ago. Wean’s approach to creating change has been significant. Not only did the Foundation change its way of operating, offering hyperlocal models that are strengthening neighborhoods and developing new leaders, it has also played a leading role in helping local non-profits to do their work better. Wean’s projects aim to foster grassroots work while also facilitating the efforts of long-standing organizations. The Foundation has been realistic about the need for grassroots efforts to be connected to larger structures and processes.

We are making progress, slowly. Wean’s work has not led to sweeping changes, at least not yet, but the atmosphere for community organizations in the Valley has improved, I think, as Wean has brought people together, offered practical support as well as a different vision, and pushed for new ways of doing things.

After three years of very active work, Bill suggests, Wean is ready to move into a “maintenance phase,” to let things settle a bit. They’re hiring a new director, and that, too, will bring some change. I look forward to watching what Wean and its related enterprises do over the next few years.

New Leadership for Youngstown's Schools

The Youngstown City Schools needs the new leadership and vision that Dr. Connie Hathorn bring, and I was excited to get to talk with him about his plans. His focus on communicating better with teachers and parents, professional development, and tracking students’ learning long before they take the annual state exams all makes sense. And having someone with no history with this community, and thus no associated baggage, should be helpful.

Yet I have to admit that I had hoped our conversation would be more concrete and specific. Perhaps it’s just that he’s still finding his way, exploring the conditions in the community and the schools, and developing strategies. Maybe he’s just not ready to make public statements about his plans. Still, I want to hear more. I want to know how the professional development he wants to offer will differ from what’s been done before. I want to know what it will take to implement his plans for constant assessment. I want to know how he plans to create change in how teachers, principals, and school staff members interact with parents and the community. Call me impatient, but the problems in Youngstown’s schools are serious, and we need to make real change.