Equality Monitor

Artists

2006-05-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

Doug Munsch's site, woohoo!

http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/june2011/02blue/

Minor League Ballplayers

2006-05-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

My site focuses on the tough lives of people involved in Minor League Baseball. It gives the viewer some backround on the minor leagues by providing History and Leagues pages, but the main purpose is to show the struggles of minor league players, umpires, and families. Although the skill difference from the Minor Leagues to the Major Leagues is not all that different, the life style certaintly is. Minor league players are paid extremely low wages compared to those of Major League players and even other normal Americans. Even the most touted minor league players are lucky if they make $30,000 a year. The vast majority of players and umpires make less that $20,000 a year, with many hovering around the $10,000 a year mark. Most players are forced to find alterate occupations in the off-season just to put food on the table. But not only is it a tough life during the playing days, but after as well. Most players do not have college educations, therefore it is hard to get a job that allows them to sustain a carreer . But not only is there information about the players on this site. It also covers the hardships of umpires and the players families, as well as provides a tribute the famous minor league movie "Bull Durham"

http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/mfata/

Although Minor League ball players may not be the first people you think about when discussing low wage life, they certaintly fit into the category. Please browse my site to find out more.--Geno Fata

Restaurant Servers

2006-05-24T08:12:00.000-07:00

My website discusses what the living wage is and how food servers are affected by it. My biggest influence on the content of the website was Barbara Ehrenreich's book Nickel and Dimed: on not getting by in America. Her book, as well as my work as a server over the summer, inspired me to do my living wage webpage about that particular line of work. I touched on many aspects of the job definition and how as well as why many servers fall under the low wage category. Parts of my site go through with great detail the life of a server and how many things go along with that life that many people do not expect. For anyone, being a server is a straining and draining job, and only making minimum wage from that tends to be frustrating.

http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/creid/home.html

What is more frustrating is that for some people, it's the only choice. I feel like it gives a good cross view and could be an eye opener to anyone who doesn't know much about the living wage situation and servers, just as Ehrenreich's book is to me. --Francine Reid

Living the low-wage life: Wal-Mart workers.

2006-05-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

Through much research, study, and interpertation, I have came to the conclusion that there is a major problem with the way Wal-Mart treats their employees. From sexual discrimination to unfair pay, employees have united to form protests and campaigns that reference specific unfair treatment. Wal-Mart has over 3,500 hundred stores, millions of customers, but more importantly, 1.4 million workers. The workers demand dignity and respect. Wal-Mart has caused multiple cases and law suits to be brought up, including the biggest sexual discrimination suit against any company in the history of the United States. Each of my pages has facts that conclude Wal-Mart is involved with illegal activity. "Horror" stories have been told in order to gain the readers interest and heart. These stories involve some sexual discrmination, as well as other inappropiate and illegal behavior by Wal-Mart executives and general managers. Wal-Mart employees are fighting against not only their sex or pay, but their health care as well. Only 48% of Wal-Mart employees are covered by health care, and there pay is substantially less then the minimum to run a three person family. However, this web page descibes both sides, the accusations and beliefs of the workers, as well as the benefits and policies of Wal-Mart, coming directly from their main site. In this site, you get a well-rounded perspective on the issue, seeing offensive and defensive statements, which all entails you to leave my site with an educated understanding and opinion on the issue at hand.

Here it is, have fun!

http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/yellow/

Women in Islam

2006-05-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

For my site I have chosen to discuss the lives of women in Islamic societies and how religion and culture affects them. The opening is a click-thru sequence of pictures of women in traditional dress and statements that are meant to make the viewer consider how they perceive Islamic women. The background is done in black with coral text to show the contrast between oppression and femininity present in the life of these women. I have not included much text at this point because I have chosen a topic separate from our original prompt, but I have completed a review of the literature and an annotated bibliography. I have done quite a bit of research both online and in concrete documents, I just need to incorporate the information I have accumulated into additional pages in the site. http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/apowers/

Farm Laborers

2006-05-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

"It's ironic that those who till the soil, cultivate and harvest the fruits and vegetables, and other foods that fill your table with abundance have nothing left for themselves." - Cesar Chavez.
Have you ever really thought about the fresh produce that you buy in the grocery store? Everyday there are thousands of people picking, sorting, packing, and shipping the fruits and vegetables that we eat everyday. Farm labor makes a very important contribution to the agricultural industry, and provides labor during busy production periods. Although important to agriculture, hired farmworkers continue to be one of the most economically disadvantaged groups in the United States. These workers receive low wages and seasonal employment while working hours upon hours of heavy labor. Farmworkers have the second highest unemployment rate, and on average bring in only 300 dollars per month. Low-wage workers are defined as individuals 25 years or older who make less than the official U.S. weighted poverty threshold for a family of four. This amount is around $17,500, which explains why 48% of all farmworkers are classified as low-wage workers. This site is dedicated to informing individuals of the challenges of being a farm laborer.

Http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/wkamada

Daily Life in Israel

2006-05-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

Perhaps no piece of land has ever had more blood spilled over its control than the territory that today comprises the state of Israel. Even today the situation in the Middle East is seen as a hot topic, with passionate debate on both sides of the conflict fills newspapers, television shows, and weblogs aruging over the political question of who should get the land and who should control the holy sites in Jerusalem and throughout the state. Terrorist groups have capitalized on the furor to initiate attacks against the civilians of Israel through rockets, gunfire, and most notriously suicide bombings. This site seeks to explore the daily life and the impact on the ground of terrorism in Israel, while providing some background context to the reader as to what the issues are and the characteristics of the groups and organizations involved. Although it is impossible to discuss Israel and the Middle East without delving into the political issues, the goal of this site is to humanize the victims of terror, and to make plain that the violence against civilians is not the means to a lasting peaceful resolution to the conflict. Hopefully my site will give you an understanding of the nature of the conflict through the eyes of the average citizen, rather than through the broad spectrum of the geopolitical issues emanating from the global media.

http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/bhamlin/israelhome.htm

Commission Salespeople

2006-05-23T20:15:00.004-07:00

This website reports on the low wage life of unsuccessful commission salespeople. Its analysis is based primarily on numerical data; for example, the Direct Selling Association reported that $29.73 billion dollars of goods were sold by 13.6 million salespeople in the United States in 2004. That averages out to about $2,200 in sales per salesperson for the whole year! While some, if not most, salespeople included in that total are very part-time employees, and some salespeople earn fantastic incomes, but the fact remains that many salespeople are earning commissions that approach minimum wage. In addition to factual evidence, the website features interviews of several people living the low wage life of an unsuccessful salesperson. The author also shares his personal experience working in the sales industry, where he testifies to dichotomy that can exist between reps who sell well and earn an excellent income and other reps who work for what works out to be something near minimum wage. The site focuses on the following main ideas: the actual numbers and an interpretation thereof (how many salespeople are earning low wages, what do the averages really mean, etc.); the effect of the salesperson's financial brokenness on sales performance; the effect of the salesperson's financial brokenness on the customer's buying experience; and specifically, how students and young people in general experience low wage sales jobs. The site URL is: http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/cdelasoujeole/

Furniture Movers

2006-05-23T20:15:00.003-07:00

My website is about the struggle of the furniture movers living in high-cost areas, such as the bay area. People who are employed as furniture movers as a career face several difficulties during their working lives. The first point is that furniture movers don't make that much money, that is to say that they live a fairly low wage life, centered around the fact that they may struggle to work a consistant amount of hours a week. The second point is that they have a incredibly high risk of injury on the job, which may incapacitate them periodicly, or cut their entire careers short. A third point is the invisible hand that keeps many people in these low wage, non specialized jobs because they lack the education or experience to escape into a more lucrative career field. And finally I look at the effects of retiring after living a life on low wages, limited savings, expenses for injuries that may have been incured, and living off of social security, as well as reasons for differences in wealth in all retired people. In my website, I also have a complete transcript of an interview I conducted with a person who worked during the summer months as a furniture mover, this shares his insights about the profession, as well as gave me a good new understanding of what it was actually like to life as a furniture mover.
Here is a link to my site:
http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/esatre/

Hotel Housekeepers

2006-05-23T20:15:00.002-07:00

The low-wage workers that I propose to discuss are housekeepers in hotels. Their jobs are laborious and demanding paying around $7 an hour on average. Housekeepers are often not respected and looked down upon by other workers in hotels and by the guests staying in hotels. Housekeepers do all the "dirty" work and clean up after people they do not even know. In a 7 ½ hour shift housekeepers are expected to clean between thirteen and nineteen rooms which leaves about a half an hour for each room and leaves little time for breaks from the constant physical labor of scrubbing, mopping, picking up towels and making beds. Little education and skills are required for this job and therefore people to whom English is not a first language are employed as housekeepers. This site is intended to examine the lives of hotel housekeepers and hardships they endure in order to make a barely living wage.

http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/kimada/home.html

Aspiring Musicians

2006-05-23T20:15:00.001-07:00

My website is about aspiring artists, in particularly musicians. Aspiring musicians make very little money and it is often hard to find work. Being a professional musician requires many hours of practice and lots of money invested into gear and lessons. My website shows just how hard it really is to make a living as a musician. I looked into whether it is possible to support a family as a musician, and what most people do if they do not get enough money. Almost fifty percent of all musicians are self employed, they find there own venues to play at, and have to build there reputation on their own. All professional bands hire agents to build their reputation and popularity for them. However, agents can be very expensive and bands that are just starting do not have the money to spare. They need to use any extra money to buy instruments and any other essentials a band might need. In my website, I have an interview with one of my friends who is trying to make a living as a musician. I also have talked with my aunt who is an Opera singer in New York who has gone through this struggle already. She talks about her strugle while she was starting her career and some of the hardships that she still faces living as a profetional performer.
http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/jabraham

Immigrant Construction Workers

2006-05-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

My website, entitled "Immigrant Construction Workers: Living the Low-Wage Lifestyle", is going to focus on the life of immigrants (both legal and illegal) who have moved to America in search of a better life. Unfortunately, for a multitude of reasons, this dream is often sacrificed when the migrant people realize just what it takes to support one's family in America. My website will delve into the often destitute life these people find themselves living in the United States, with specific emphasis on those who go into construction work as a way to support themselves and their families. My website will include an Annotated Bibliography page, a Literature Review page, my Learning Essay as well as a more Printer Friendly page, a page focusing on the statistics behind immigration life (specifically construction laborers), and a page on my Inspiration for the site. As for my essay, I will lean heavily on research to back up what I am saying. The greatest problem I foresee is that most people do not fully understand the plight of immigrants, only the latest headlines about whether they should be criminalized, allowed to get licenses etc. My website will seek to mend this barrier between "us" and "them" while also exposing the rough life of immigrants who take jobs on construction sites. http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/alane/MySite/

Child Labor in China

2006-05-23T20:14:00.003-07:00

The reason I chose China as my focal point is because Asia holds 61% of the world’s children who are working full-time for minimal or no pay. This subject of child labor is important because it’s a worldwide problem that affects everyone. Even we as teenagers in the United States have bought something made by a child laborer in the form of name brand clothing at one point or another. Child labor was brought to my attention because they are possibly one of the lowest paid people in the world, and because of the fact that they’re children working because they can’t afford to do anything else. Daily these children fight for their lives, while we sit here in the comfort of our homes.

In my website, I discuss the reasons behind why children are forced to go into child labor at such young ages, the conditions that these children are exposed to at the work place, stories about real life child laborers who had lost their lives, and ways to help and get involved. What I had uncovered in my research was startling. It’s unreal how these are four to fourteen year olds who are working, sometimes physically straining, jobs that could potentially cost them their lives. The fact that bothered me the most that I had realized while doing my research was that even though it’s an obvious problem in China, especially in the rural areas, the laws that forbid child labor aren’t reinforced. These children are losing their education, and turning it in for a labor intensive job. It’s amazing how China survives through the generations, and continues to be one of the more powerful low-cost manufacturing powerhouses.

http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/wkwok/

Inequality in Freedom of Speech

2006-05-23T20:14:00.002-07:00

My project analyzes and discusses the problem associated with inequality regarding freedom of speech. As Americans, we are supposedly guaranteed the right of freedom of speech, yet is everyone given the same amount of freedom. Although the nature of the idea may be make sense, the truth is freedom is very unequal amongst Americans. My paper uses prisonors in jail as an example of people who are not granted the same opportunities in freedom of speech as other people. People whose opinions are advertised through newspapers, magazines, television, and other forms of media have a huge advantage in expressing their opinion over those people who don't have these opportunities. Politicians and other people who have high position jobs also have an advantage in having their opinions heard over other people. Is this still considered freedom of speech? There are many questions regarding this topic. Should convicts be given freedom of speech? Convicts technically are still Americans though they are in jail, so theoretically they should still have freedom of speech. Should freedom of speech include equal opportunities to express speech? All of these questions and others I have adressed within the site. The link to this project and my project addressing low wage can be found through the link below.

http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/zyoung/

Low Wage Life: Bus Boys

2006-05-23T20:14:00.001-07:00

My website is dedicated to those who work as bus boys in the service industry. It is designed to bring information and unrecognized facts to the public. The first page is a single image that is designed to attract and hook the reader in. As you enter the site, you can see a description and purpose. From there, the navigation bar brings many options to the viewer. I decided to create a navigation bar in this fashion because I believe it brings the information to the viewer faster than any other technique. It is clear on where everything is, as well as easy to get to. The "Life" link describes some expenses accrued by bus boys and how they are hard to cope with while earning a minimum wage. On this page there is also an internal link describing the issue of drug use found in the service industry. I put it in this section because drugs are an addition expense that almost become necessary for bus boys to get satisfaction out of their job and be able to function working more than 12 hours a day. Drug use is also something that most people don't think about when their receiving their food. After this the other pages detail my experience as a bus boy and bring up the issue of immigrant exploitation. Their is an interview of a bus boy and also detailed source information. The review of the literature can be found in the source area. This was a great project and it made me think more about the wage disparity in this country. The website can be found here: http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/jcarbaugh/

Low Wage Migrant Farmers

2006-05-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

One thing that I think is unique about my site is that I do not use navigation bars on all the pages. I chose to have a main page that links to a contents page. I used the home page to present a picture and small introduction to the topic. From the contents page, viewers can select a variety of categories. I chose to focus my site on low-wage migrant farm workers. I originally tried to focus on mainly Hispanic workers but the research I did really only applied to low-wage migrant farm workers as whole. My site contains a history of migrant farm workers as it started with the Bracero program. There are also pages describing the current situation of the low-wage migrant workers as well as a whole statistics page that points out various aspects of low-wage migrant farm workers. I then chose to include current issues that were facing both the migrant workers as well as their employers.Lastly, I wanted to include a page that points out programs that were trying to help low-wage migrant farm workers as well as my own opinion about how to increase their living standards. In my site I tried to point out how the United States is exploiting these workers and how oddly enough we depend on them. I still have 2 things that I will be adding to my site. I will be adding a page about how low wages affects both individuals AND families. I will also include a page that takes excerpts from the biography of a mexican woman that grew up with her family as migrant farmers.

My site can be found at: http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/ebreen/

Vietnamese Nail Technicians

2006-05-23T20:13:00.001-07:00

For my living the low-wage project I have decided to focus on the occupation of Vietnamese Nail Technicians. I decided to do this topic because I was always curious how much money they earned and why the nail salon industry in California is dominated by Vietnamese employees. Through my research I learned that the Vietnamese influence has dramatically changed the nail salon industry. Due to their willingness to work for low wages, the cost of getting ones' nails done has dropped dramatically. Because of this many other nail salons have been put out of business. I also found it very important to report on the working conditions. Although the low wages were the main focus in my project I could not overlook the employees' health. Research has shown that those who work in nail salons are much more prone to having serious health consequences. In order to investigate this job thoroughly I divided my website into several different pages which would display the information in a clear and concise way. My first topic was why Vietnamese employees are attracted to this job. From that page I branched off into another topic regarding Immigration since that is one of the main reasons for their place in the industry. I then went on to talk about the job description, low wages, workplace ( the dangers of it), qualifications of becoming a nail technician, and finally useful statistics. Hopefully through my website it will bring to light a occupation that is often dominated by a single ethnic group that suffer low wages, long and hard work, and dangerous working conditions.

http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/orange/

Sweatshops in the U.S.

2006-05-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

Do you wear Nike? Ever wonder where your clothes come from? Or who made it? Not many people do. Ever heard of a sweatshop? How about a sweatshop in the U.S.? Many Americans are unaware of the existence of sweatshops in the United States. However there are approximately 600,000 sweatshop workers employed in the states. Los Angeles and New York are common sites for garment factories. The workers endure harsh conditions and low pay. The owners of such factories continuously exploit immigrant and women workers. Many find it quite shockng that the U.S. houses such factories. Most people think of Indonesia and China when the word sweatshop is mentioned. However the Department of Labor is working on regulating these illegal sweatshops. The goal of this website is to educate people about sweatshops in the United States. To do so I have researched the History of sweatshops as well as experiences that people had with sweatshops. It is also important to know how to help so there are sections on the laws, who have been caught and what people can do. After browsing through this website people will be more aware of working conditions in the U.S. and how people are affected by them. Awareness is the first step towards taking actions against the injustices committed by sweatshops. To take the first step enter my site: http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/shoopii/

Gas Station Attendants

2006-05-08T23:24:00.000-07:00

I will be writing about gas station attendants, a hard life that many people throughout America live. They have to deal with the low wages, hard working conditions and with it now making one of the lists of the most dangerous jobs in the United States. There are very few benefits associated with this job besides the tiny paycheck received on a regular basis. In the long term of this job there are many risks to the health and sanity of the worker. Yet many people still seem to live out this life everyday. My site will explore the hardships of the low wages and how it affects the lives of these workers and along with that the lives of their families. Not only will I explore more of the dangers of the job that many people do not think about or even realize there workers go through. I also plan to touch on what would happen to the family of the worker if one of these dangers actually happened to them and what the family would have to do to survive. I know a lot about this profession through personal experience since I worked at a gas station as an attendant for a year. But I will not just be using my personal experiences for this but the experiences of many co-workers that I have known. But I will not have just the perspective of the workers but also the bosses who decided how the life of the worker will be. This is so I can incorporate the whole spectrum of these lives so that you can come to fully realize what these people do every day of there lives just to survive and feed their families.

here is my site:
http://itrs.scu.edu/faculty/mbousquet/en2spr6/rfrench/

Parking Lot Attendants

2006-03-08T17:25:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
Here is my site http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21cain/

The Low-Waged Life of Inmates Working in the Prison Industry

2006-03-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

Hi all! Heres my site on Prison Labor:

http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en184win5/22Ftajik/index.html

Dominic

Janitors and Custodians

2006-02-24T12:32:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,
I have completed a version of my hypertext essay (without the bibliography). It is about the low-wage life of janitors. I did library research, internet research, blog reading, and perswonal interviews to gather my information. I have really tried to portray what it would be like to live the life of a janitor, but I know I still have work to do. So far I have used statistics, stories, and personal information to try to get my message across. I plan to make a more direct connection with the feelings of janitors and really show you what it would be like. I also still need to center my tables on the page (i think they show up on the right side of the page right now). I am happy with my design and style, except some background difficulty. I am trying to put a background on a few pages (that applies to the content of the page) without making the page look too busy to focus on the text. I hope you all enjoy reading my website, and if you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks. Here is the URL: http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21Nshelger
-Elyse

Senior Low-income housing

2006-02-22T01:55:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,
I appologize for being a little tardy with this post but I figured much of what I initially wanted to portray on our websites was already outlined in class on Thursday. I understand the necessity to create a more personal aspect of my site regarding living the low income life and the site is under construction to attend to those issues. I am have already added the personal testimonies of patients and a third person interviewer that compare and contrast two assisted living facilities, one low income focussed, and the other catering to a higher income clientele. Check out the link, tell me what you think. Im always looking for suggestions, internet based design is not a specialty of mine.

http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en184win5/22fuentes/

PS:I started a blog on blogger.com thats intended for college students to interact and input thoughts, ideas and recommendations on their favorite types of music. The blog name is "College Music Forum" and I have sent the blog to many of my friends who hopefully should input some interesting information on underground bands and related information. All types of music preferences are welcome so post your favorites or whatever you might feel.

I also found some cool sights online that have blogs that I found both informational and interesting. The first was at the northwest progressive institutes blog found at http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/ . Pardon the emphasis on Washington oriented politics but the issues they are dealing with are nationwide concerns and activities. After spending some time on the site I realized the extensive amount of information displaying the progressive parties interests and direction.

For the business interests of us english majors I suggest the EasyStreet Business blog found at http://blog.easystreet.com/archives/36.html . Most postings are related to business strategy but the article titled "blogs will change your business" is perticularly interesting and thoroughly shows how an interactive forum can improve the accessibility of your products.

Hope you enjoy them.

Prison Industry (Convict Labor)

2006-02-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

I chose inmates as the subject for my research project because, whether we know it or not, most of us know someone who has been in this particular situation. Commonly, prisoners are not the topic of conversation in a college environment, so I wanted to bring to light this growing concern in our society.
Though my project provides only limited information on the prisoners, themselves (something that I hope to change in the near future), it does provide quite a bit of information on the system of Prison Industry and what it is about. I think that the background information on the system is very important for an understanding of the situation of US prisoners. I hope that you all find this topic as interesting as I do. Enjoy!
http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21Eturnbull/home.htm

Living the Low Wage Life as an Extra on a Movie Set

2006-02-17T21:45:00.000-08:00

I'm finished with the "first draft" of my website on Living the Low Wage Life as an Extra on a Movie Set. I wanted this site to be informative, factual, but also have information about my personal experience as a goalkeeper-extra in the soccer movie Her Best Move. Last summer I was asked to work on the set, and I accepted and received low wages. I faced longgg hours in the summer heat of Northern California. The difference between being an extra and an actor/actress is huge. There is a big misconception that being an extra will get you stardom, but honestly, the chances of this happening is little to nothing! This website outlines what exactly an extra is, and the "does and don'ts" while being on set. It also has other people's personal experiences. My site describes what an extra would be going through on a given day on the set. It's more than tiring to work a full twelve hour day, and pretty dissappointing getting $8.33 an hour. I describe how a low wage job as an extra leaves you with an unreliable source of income. People often think Hollywood+ movies=MONEY and fame, but really for extras on the bottom part of the movie business it would be difficult to survive on a yearly income in this particular field. http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21KMcCray/

youth service sector

2006-02-15T23:43:00.000-08:00

This is a very rough draft and right now does not really have a specific focus. It is fairly broad just talking about youth low rate jobs.. but I plan to narrow it down a little to just the youth service sector (ie. food, retail, entertainment). I know this is still somewhat broad but I already made this website so its just gonna have to work! Some of this site is still in progress, but most of the pages are completed. I include a lot of interesting statistics but mainly just try to inform young workers of their rights and provide them with valuble information, along with other options to better their situation. In this research I realized that there are a lot of factors that lead to low wage jobs; mostly including demographics and education.

I had difficulties finding sources and information outside of the internet and surveys. I guess since young workers are not really considered a high priority in the business world there has yet to be a book written on it. But I do believe that young workers play a large role in society and tend to be overlooked just because their work doesn't seem significant. Majority of the service sector is of the youth population, think about what older person would want to flip burgers at In-N-Out, be a cashier at abercrombie, or rip ticket stubs at the movie theatre? When I think about these jobs I think about a young person doing them. Although it may not seem the case, some kids have to support themselves and live off several low wage jobs. Juggling these jobs may seem hard, but include the pressures of school and this lifestyle sometimes seems unbareable!

I plan to do more research and revise my website a lot! I know that further researching this topic is going to be somewhat difficult, but I'm up for the task. If anyone has any suggestions on the design or just comments, please let me know! Thanks and enjoy!

Heres the link. http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21NPotts/

"Living....as an Ex-Convict

2006-02-15T17:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have finished the first of I think many drafts of this research hypertext essay. I found it difficult to find reliable and relavent statistics so I am still working on getting those. Also, so far, the interview process has been scarce, but I have put e-mails out and hopefully I will be able to provide at least two more real sources through interviews.

Ex-convicts, like other Americans, deserve a chance to improve, a chance to be free. Unfortunately, ex-convicts face discrimination of freedom after they have served their time to society. One main problem they face is finding a job to support not just themselves but also their family. Within this website, I plan to introduce my research and my personal analysis on the difficulty ex-convicts have in finding work after their freedom.

http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21AHarding/

Taxi Drivers

2006-02-15T17:26:00.000-08:00

http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21Ndoherty/taxi_index.html

I finally have my site ready...or at least I think I do. I published it to the web site so it should be available for you to see. I decided to do my project on taxi drivers living the low-wage life. Taxi drivers are one of the most neglected occupations in terms of people not understanding the risks and dangers acompanied with their occupation as well as the often unfavorable treatment they receive on a daily basis from their customers.

Taxi drivers barely make ends meet and have to rely heavily on tips. They have the most dangerous occupation in North America based on the homicide rates. I created my web site in hopes of discovering if it is possible for taxi drivers to survive on such a low-wage occupation and if they can support their families too. I also wanted to better understand why people choose this occupation if it is so dangerous and the wages are so low. I hope you enjoy my web site, it is not comlpletely finished but a work in process. Please let me know of any suggestions to better improve my site.

Babysitting Website

2006-02-15T14:24:00.000-08:00

I think I finally figured out how to join Electronic Monitor.
I decided to do my site on baby-sitting which I am sure that you all know, as I heard that it was discussed in class last Wednesday. But just to do a quick overview of my website and my train of thoughts with this project. As earlier, I have written on Google Groups about my reasoning for choosing babysitting as my topic. I have been a babysitter all my life and will continue to do it as a part time job throughout my college years. I have just recently figured out why I decided to do this. I do not like taxes. One of the biggest perks of this job, is that it is completely tax free. I get a personal check or cash at the end of each week or day, (depending on the situation). There is no such thing as messy paperwork and a bunch of numbers to worry about for me. Realizing that this a huge benefit and a major reason of why I like babysitting that much more.
Other than that, babysitting has just been a part of my life. Throughout my research, I taught myself some things as well. Babysitting is a tough job that not everybody is capable of doing. It is an intense job and holds some extreme responsibility. Being a mother is a tough job, some may say it's the toughest job in the world. Of course, it is one of the best, but it is down right tough. A baby-sitter has many responsibilities that the mother has...and one other very important one, SHE IS TAKING CARE OF THE MOTHER'S most precious possessions in life. Talk about a huge detail!!!
This past weekend one of my very best friends went to see her baby cousin. On the background of her computer screen is this tiny, beautiful baby girl. Just looking at that baby your heart melts. The fact is that something so beautiful and innocent requires a lot of attention and love. Leaving it with a babysitter has to be the hardest thing for a family to do. TRUST is a huge issue. I wanted to show the options for families when it comes to finding a babysitter. With that, I also wanted to show that constantly more babies are born, more mothers are joining the workforce, resulting in more babysitter needed!
Babysitting is a position in this world that I feel will never go out of business. Isn't this an interesting thought. A business...a company...an individual...entreprenuer...what is babysitting? It could be considered an enterprise, one that cannot fail. It is true that on an individual basis one person might make more than another, or have a different experience as another; the point being that babysitting will never go out of business.
Anyways, I didn't want to write the same proposal about my topic as I did on google groups, so I just wrote what I was thinking about as I heard about the responses to my website and just general thoughts. I hope you like it, even if you only like a little. See you all in class!

http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21Esigler/

Politics of Poverty

2006-02-15T12:40:00.000-08:00

My site is up right now for you all to look at. I am still adding and Modifying the content, so I would really appreciate some comments and some ideas about content or info you would like to see up here. I would also like to hear any navigation/stylistic tips you could offer. The site generally deals with the issues, speeches, and legislation surrounding the poor in america. Hope you enjoy it!

http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en184win5/22MSwanson/

Day Care Workers

2006-02-15T10:38:00.000-08:00

Bridgett O'Brien's site devoted to day care work is in progress at
http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/solidarity/december2010/en184win5/BOBrien/

Musicians

2006-02-14T01:07:00.000-08:00

http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21WVonder/

Okay, I posted this Saturday night, realized that I forgot to actually include my link (my site has been up since Wednesday) and now, I was looking through blogs and realized my blog I though I posted wasn’t even there.

Anyway, this is what I said before…

Here is my site. It's pretty much a decent rough draft, although I want to integrate more pictures and maybe some flash to embellish the design. As to the content, I hope to gather more sources from the library because most of my work is internet research and interviews with my dad. I've also had considerable experience myself, having made trips to New Orleans and Austin purely for the sake of music, not to mention Oakland and San Francisco. I do hope to get some more solid info, but I think I'm working along the right track. Any feedback is welcome. I know some of the text gets lengthy, and I was hoping to address that problem on my first revision. Hit me up with comments.

And I planned on revising it a little to include a description of my site and my aim so you guys get an idea of what I was doing.

Basically I cover my own experience as a musician, and a lot of my dad’s info, which I found invaluable because he’s been playing gigs for around 30 years. I also found some blogs and stories, and I included the one I found the most descriptive, and that really demonstrated what it was like to get your first gigs…

I found some statistics about musicians and wages, and I also looked up pricing on equipment on some sites….

That’s about it…

Again, I’m sorry it came out so late, I was sure I had posted Saturday night, but I guess it never went through…

Hit me up with comments.

Laundry Workers

2006-02-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

Monica Valle's website on workers in the linen trade is in
progress at:
http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en184win5/22amado/index.htm

Youth Workers at Retail Chains

2006-02-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

Meagan Snell's site, inspired by her work at Big 5, is up at
http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21Lsnell/

Migrant Farm Workers

2006-02-12T03:36:00.000-08:00

My site discusses the life of a Migrant Farm Worker within the United States and Canada. I include Canada because I feel as though it is important to recognize that the exploitation of cheap migrant labor is not just a problem of the United States, even though it would be able to make it seem that way. The life of a migrant farm worker was first brought to my attention when one of my friends went on an immersion trip to Immokalee, Fl where she lived and tried to work with the mostly Mexican workers for a week, and came back changed forever.
The low wage life is not something that most of us consider on a daily basis, if we do at all; but, it is the trip to the grocery store, the late night in the drive-thru, and the simple ease with which we consume produce that should make us think about how this food has made it from the ground and into our mouth.
What I have found is that there are many facets to the life of the people who make this possible. In my site I discuss this through the avenues of racism, activism, family life, daily life, previous life, and the possible life of a migrant farmer. The findings of my research and interviews are startling in that this life resembles more of modern day slavery or indentured servitude than the euphemism of farmer. Workers are beaten, neglected and treated as property by the people who employ them. Laws that protect American citizens from abuse do not apply to workers because they are seen as less than, and are not regulated because they are illegal. The legality of this practice is another sticky issue because if workers had to be legal then prices would raise for the average consumer due to the necessity to raise wages.
My site attempts to construct the life of a migrant farm worker through the multiple avenues which they must continually compartmentalize just to make it through the day. The one thing that I have found for sure is that migrant farm workers are an integral part of America, and also of every first world country, thus making the issues that surround their lives important as well as very scary.
http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en184win5/22quixote/

McDonald's

2006-02-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

Here is the link to my site: http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21Jbarrantes/ Right now, it has all the content, but not much of the formatting. I'm working with someone in regards to creating templates so that my pages look consistent and are user friendly. Once I finish, some of the pages may be split into more than one based on the layout. Let me know if you have any suggestions in regards to content.

Employed and Homeless: ohhhh, we're half way there

2006-02-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

So as much as I love dreamweaver, it seems not to love me. The menu bar doesn't work on any of pages.
Anyways, I’m in the process of editing my website remembering what we talked about in class. Originally, I had the five pillars approach with a menu bar. I took out the menu bar... step one: check. I'm working on ideas to tie the whole site together and I’ve got a few running around my head. So here's what i have so far... which is pretty much the meat of the five pillars without a coherent way to navigate it. Hopefully I’ll have the site updated by tonight, but realistically that may not happen until tomorrow. But I figured I’d put this much up, because I’m sure you're all anxiously awaiting my site.

So here's the sneak preview:
http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en184win5/22MKlausner/

Cashier vs Lumberjack Living the Low Wage Life Could Mean Two Different Things

2006-02-11T10:25:00.000-08:00

Here is my site. Please take a look and enjoy. I am hoping to maybe come up with a new title for my site which contrasts one low wage job (a cashier) with another (a lumberjack). http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21chandler

Low-wage Life: Funeral Attendants

2006-02-09T04:01:00.000-08:00

My website examines the low-wage life of funeral attendants. They are assistants to undertakers and mostly work in funeral homes for an average of $9 an hour. They have multiple responsibilities to ensure that funerals run smoothly, and their physical and interpersonal strengths are crucial requirements. In addition to transporting caskets, driving hearses, and managing paperwork, they must be excellent communicators; on a daily basis, they speak with grief-stricken and emotionally unstable clients. For a job looked grimly upon by the public, it’s one of the most critical occupations. Death is a guarantee, and funeral workers tend to the dead to comfort the living. My site offers different modes to investigating the funerary world, in the attempt to elicit from viewer a clearer perception of funeral attendants.

http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en184win5/22borges/index.htm

living wage at SCU

2006-02-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

So my site is almost done with the draft stage. I hope to polish it and write the conclusion to my findings this evening. I may have dug up some interesting dirt on our university's policy with regards to living wage. The more i got into my research, the more people i interviewed, the more questions i had. It became a bit complex. To really find out what is going on, i will have to meeting with high up university faculty, and i could not get a meeting in before my paper was due...
but here it is so far!!! Do i need more pictures? also, how do you get all those sweet buttons?
Beth

http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21Mtellman/index.html

My Project: Taxi Drivers

2006-02-08T16:44:00.000-08:00

I was having trouble on Monday with the internet connection in my dorm. Thankfully, it was fixed and I was able to start posting my site to the web yesterday. My site is basically complete missing a few parts of it. Let me know what you all think of the design and content. I am glad to be almost complete with the project. Once I am done a lot of stress will be taken off my shoulders. My site is about the low wage life of taxi drivers. I still need to complete some more research on the NYC medallion system, but once that is done I will be able to finish up my project.

http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21MParnell/index.htm

My Project: Temporary Labor & the Low-Wage Life

2006-02-08T08:50:00.000-08:00

My site is about temporary workers and the agencies that sell their labor. More specifically, it is about the transnational company Labor Ready, which is one of the largest temporary labor agencies in the world, and about the experiences of people who have worked through Labor Ready, including me. In my site I tried (and am still trying) to do several things. I wanted to communicate my own and others’ experiences of the problems of temporary labor. I also wanted to relate these very personal experiences to broader social and economic realities (see the page “Labor & Capital”).

I chose the homepage image of the imprisoned worker because I wanted to structure the site around the theme of class solidarity. The homepage image says, “We are in here for YOU, you are out there for US.” As I hope to show in the site, the phrase “We are in here for YOU” is correct: temporary laborers are stuck in the low-wage life at least partially because the economy as a whole, as well as its individual members (us), benefits from the work performed by low-paid, temporary labor. I also believe that my role, as someone who was able to leave Labor Ready and find more permanent employment, is to provide a space for people still stuck in the low-wage life to speak the truths of their lives.

The site is only about 70% complete. I still haven’t done my interviews with Labor Ready workers.

Hope you like it!

http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en184win5/22Jramirez/index.htm

wow

2006-02-07T20:30:00.000-08:00

your website is kind of amazing. Mine is so much more boring so far.....than yours is at any rate! Perhaps you are inspiring me to make mine more interesting. I love the color changes, the tables, and pictures. I also think the links are very helpful and useful.
Way to go!

babysitting and child care

2006-02-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

Remember, to add your thoughts about revision or post links to your own projects, you have to accept the invitation to be an Equality Monitor team member.

This from Cat Sigler:

Take a look at my website. Hope you all like it.

http://itrs.scu.edu/haymarket/en2win5/21Esigler/

It's good to be done with this part of it. I really enjoyed making it,
a little stressful at times but extremely happy with the results.

Right Education

2006-01-07T21:57:00.000-08:00

Today's thought: can we really hope for the "right sort" of education to make equality? Or do we have to make equality in order to have the right sort of education?