Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The environmental ethics literature—and the environmental movement in general—have long praised Aldo Leopold's essay, "Thinking Like a Mountain," as among the movement's canonical works. Leopold pleads for empathy with the geological, with the earth itself. If we practice the exercise of thinking like a mountain, we might extend our empathies (and our political and moral support) to causes that might not live at our human pace.

But "thinking" has many modes and perspective is fraught with potential power issues. As John Berger argued (and Simon Schama elaborated), there are ways of seeing, and that "perspective" can represent power relations in not altogether expected ways. We gaze at the mountain, wishing its approval, identifying with its power and aspiring to partner with such a permanent co-conspirator. These potential confusions (or even pathologies) reside alongside Leopold's entirely laudable empathy.

The classic American national parks offer innumerable opportunities to ponder this puzzle. Elevated to near sacred status, they offer promises at the scale Leopold pursues, and the parks work at a democratic scale, too, capturing the imagination of a remarkably broad swath of the American public. From Moran's Teton paintings to Muir's poetic descriptions of Yosemite, moral grandeur is in play, even if it is also tested by the crass commercialism and banality of everyday American life. In its highest modernism, America could carve a mountain so we could see its very eyes, which at least seem to gaze back at us, tolerating our presence at the mountain's "foot." Struggles have formed around that gaze, sometimes along surprising lines. But more is at stake than the odd American spectacle of carved mountains. As the environmental movement continues to sort out basic elements of its political thought, these visions of mountains that see and hear reflect a larger effort to assess how "nature" (including natural sites) function politically in American culture, both generally and in the specific—and currently controversial—context of American environmental politics.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: A historical look at Wisconsin's only Jewish hospital, which opened in 1903 and merged with other urban hospitals in 1987. This paper examines both the changes in Milwaukee's urban environment and the changes in health care funding for the poor.

While it was built to care for the growing Jewish population in Milwaukee, this research shows that Jews never patroned the hospital in large numbers, Mount Sinai served more Non Jewish patients over the course of its history. Despite this lack of utilization, Mount Sinai continued its mission of serving the urban poor, despite radical changes in funding and costs after the creation of Medicaid. This paper illustrates some of the challanges this urban hospital faced as it struggled to continue the mission of caring for poor people, while healthcare costs increased and funding decreased. In light of the increased scrutiny of its operations and the decreased reimbursment for care, the hosptial was forced to merge in order to continue its operations in Milwaukee's inner city.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The quest for work life balance is a critical goal for workers age 45 – 74, but is more so among racial/ethnic minority workers. This is one of the major findings in Staying Ahead of the Curve: The AARP Work and Career Study, conducted by AARP in 2002. The telephone survey was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 1,500 employed respondents age 45-74 and over samples of 400 each among African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians.

Asians and Hispanics are most likely to agree they are seeking better balance between work and family (84 percent- and 82 percent- respectively). Three-quarters of African Americans agree they are seeking better balance, while 70 percent of whites agree.

Perhaps there is a greater desire for better work/life balance in the racial/ethnic minority community because more minorities than the general sample experienced major life changes over the past five years. While 29 percent of whites say they began caring for a parent within the last five years, the incidence is 36 percent among African Americans, 46 percent among Asians, and 51 percent among Hispanics. In addition, African Americans and Hispanics are more likely than whites or Asians to say that in the past five years they had an adult child move back home or began providing childcare on a regular basis.

This paper offers an overview of the results and focuses on ethnic differences in the pursuit of better work and personal life balance. As the working population ages, the implications for employers demand work place changes to help workers in their quest for balance between their work and family care giving needs.

Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: The environmental ethics literature -- and the environmental movement in general -- have long praised Aldo Leopold’s essay, “Thinking Like a Mountain,” as among the movement’s canonical works. Leopold pleads for empathy with the geological, with the earth itself. If we practice the exercise of thinking like a mountain, we might extend our empathies (and our political and moral support) to entities and events that seem to resist or even contradict the human pace and lifespan.
But “thinking” has many modes and perspective is fraught with potential power issues. As John Berger argued (and Simon Schama elaborated), there are ways of seeing, and that “perspective” can represent power relations in not altogether expected ways. We gaze at the mountain, wishing its approval, identifying with its power and aspiring to partner with such a permanent co-conspirator. These potential confusions (or even pathologies) reside alongside Leopold’s laudable empathy.
The classic American national parks offer innumerable opportunities to ponder this puzzle. Elevated to near sacred status, they offer promises at the scale Leopold pursues, while still working at a democratic scale, too, capturing the imagination of a remarkably broad swath of the American public. From Moran’s Teton paintings to Muir’s poetic descriptions of Yosemite, moral grandeur is in play, even if it is also tested by the crass commercialism and banality of everyday American life. In its highest modernism, America could carve a mountain so we could see its very eyes, which at least seem to gaze back at us, tolerating our presence at the mountain’s “foot.” Struggles have formed around that gaze, sometimes along surprising lines. But more is at stake than the odd spectacle of carved mountains. As the environmental movement continues to sort out basic elements of its political thought, these visions of mountains that see and hear reflect a larger effort to assess how “nature” (including natural sites) function politically in American culture, both generally and in the specific -- and currently controversial -- context of American environmental politics.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Despite decades of research, the precise causal mechanism of relationship between schooling and civic engagement remains uncertain. The extant observational data touting this connection fail to adequately resolve two critiques: overreporting of individual turnout data and the possibility of unobserved heterogeneity obscuring the true relationship between education and civic engagement. One means of exploring the possibility of unobserved heterogeneity is to use instrumental variables to test for spuriousness in the relationship between schooling and civic engagement. This analysis focuses on educational interventions – one randomized field experiment and one natural experiment. The results of this investigation lead to the preliminary finding that education does indeed have a strong independent effect on various measures of civic engagement, voter participation in particular.