Working Class Plight Calls for “Opportunity-Creating” Policies, Authors Tell Gousha

Nick Kristof grew up in Yamhill, Oregon, a small town about 30 miles southwest of Portland, where the economy was based on agriculture, timber, and light manufacturing. Among those who rode on the same school bus he did were kids from a family that was doing well.

But over time, the economy of the area declined, many jobs disappeared, and that family lost its stability.

Kristof, who is now 61, went on to become a Pulitzer Prize winning author and New York Times columnist. But all five of the children in that family and a quarter of the kids who rode that childhood school bus with Kristof died what Kristof calls “deaths of despair,” including from drug overdoses and alcohol abuse.

That’s part of the reason why Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, wrote a book, Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope. The bigger reason, though is that they found, as they researched the book across the United States, that what had happened to people in Yamhill was similar to what had happened to millions of working class people in urban, suburban and rural communities and of all races and backgrounds.

Continue ReadingWorking Class Plight Calls for “Opportunity-Creating” Policies, Authors Tell Gousha

A Is for Activism — Or, Want to Know What’s Going on in Milwaukee During the Election Season?

One of the best parts of my new position with the Institute for Women’s Leadership at Marquette is getting the opportunity to meet and work with amazing faculty across campus. Working with our steering committee since last spring, we had planned to have a great conference focusing on suffrage and innovation—how was women’s intellectual empowerment linked to gaining the right to vote; and how the activism behind gaining the vote and then fighting for voting rights is imbued with innovative thinking and acting.

The good news is that the entire conference has gone virtual and our amazing speakers all taped their sessions in August. (You can watch my trailer here.)

This is now available on our incredible website which has all of the speakers, a really cool interactive timeline (with original documents and then discussion questions a teacher can use for class), voting resources, and more.

Continue ReadingA Is for Activism — Or, Want to Know What’s Going on in Milwaukee During the Election Season?

Lessons Learned in April Will Lead to Smoother Voting This Fall, Election Administrators Say

There were upsides to the tumultuous Wisconsin election in April. At that time, there was an unprecedented flood of absentee voting, with some significant missteps related to mail service. Many of the usual polling places were closed, leading to long lines at those that were available, amid extensive precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A photo from one Milwaukee polling place of a voter holding a sign proclaiming the situation “ridiculous” circulated around the world.

So what was that upside? A lot was learned about what to do and what not to do, the challenges of running an election in today’s circumstances were clear to the public, and there is a good forecast for an election this fall that will be well run, with good options for voting and good reason to be confident the results will be reliable.

That was the picture painted Wednesday by three people involved in overseeing how the election, featuring a presidential choice, is shaping up. Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe, Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall-Vogg, and Brookfield City Clerk Kelly Michaels spoke with Mike Gousha, Marquette Law School’s distinguished fellow in law and public policy, during a virtual “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program.

Continue ReadingLessons Learned in April Will Lead to Smoother Voting This Fall, Election Administrators Say