Archive for the 'Money' Category

“It’s About Love” — and a whole lot of money

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on April 12, 2004
in All Saints Pasadena, Christianity, GLBTQ, Money and Music
. 19 Comments

Last week, I got this invitation in the mail. (It’s a PDF file). The invite was from Claiming the Blessing, a small organization within the Episcopal Church (based out of All Saints Pasadena, where I volunteer as a youth leader) which advocates for full inclusion of gay and lesbian folk in the life of the church. The invite is for “It’s About Love: A Celebration of Music, Faith, and Equality” to be held at All Saints on May 2. The program is eclectic; the honoree of the event is the new bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop within the Anglican Communion. But here’s where it gets weird. In addition to the words of the good bishop, the invite promises:

Dr. Maya Angelou will send special video greetings. Norman Lear will introduce video highlights from his fabulous television career. Dionne Warwick will sing one of her best-loved songs. Brooke Adams, Jane Kaczmarek, Tony Shalhoub and Bradley Whitford will be on hand to welcome you to this special evening celebrating love and justice.

What an odd and eclectic group that is! But wait till you see the ticket prices, listed here:

General seating (with an obstructed view): $100.
General seating (no obstructions) $200
Bronze reservations (includes the show and two tix to the pre-concert reception): $1000
Silver (includes five tix to the same): $2500
Gold (twelve tix to same): $5000
Platinum: (includes twelve tix, plus two seats at dinner with Gene Robinson at the Ritz-Carlton): $10,000

Oh yeah, with the $10,000, you also get valet parking at All Saints.

Hey, I rejoiced when Gene Robinson was elected in New Hampshire. But I’m offended by this fund-raiser, which is as slick and secular as it could possibly be. I know the Episcopal Church has been hurting for funds lately as a result of conservative disappointment at Robinson’s election (see the regular coverage at Kendall Harmon’s blog), but this strikes me as a boldly cynical way to address the problem. The church is not a university or a hospital, and it shouldn’t ever, ever raise funds the way other charities do.

To give access to a bishop — under any circumstances — based upon donation levels is an obscenity, and it’s things like this that remind me why I’m happier as a Mennonite.

The curse of the golden egg

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on April 12, 2004
in Holidays, Money and Youth
. 6 Comments

Well, I am home from the Easter weekend. Yesterday morning, I ate four hot cross buns at one sitting, and followed it with obscene amounts of chocolate and jelly beans. As the sole hider this year for the family egg hunt, I hid no fewer than five dozen hard-boiled eggs (all colored, of course), and two dozen plastic Easter eggs filled with goodies.

But my real battle with my family revolves around the “golden egg”. Five years ago, in 1999, my beloved aunt decided that it would be fun to have a “golden egg” (a regular plastic egg filled with cash instead of chocolate) as part of the traditional hunt. Of course, the results have been predictable ever since. While the very small children (under five) remained enchanted by bright and shiny objects in the grass, the slightly older hunters (who range from six to twelve) are obsessed with finding this one particular egg. Once it has been found, they lose all interest in searching for the remaining hard-boiled or chocolate eggs. The other adults in my family seem to find the enthusiasm that the golden egg generates to be cute; I find it infuriating.

I know full well that Easter egg hunts (as they are conducted in this country these days) are an amalgam of a variety of pagan traditions. (Any detailed search on the web will provide you with all you need to know about the origins of the holiday). There is certainly nothing Christian about the egg hunt. But somehow, to me at least, hunting for a $5 or $20 bill seems, if possible, less Christian than hunting for other sorts of eggs. I suppose I am rapidly becoming one of those sentimental types who wants to avoid particularly crass displays of materialism even while participating in what is an inherently materialistic and crass event!

In any case, I was able to limit the number of golden eggs to one (some in my family wanted multiple golden eggs) and to limit the amount within to $5 (the lowest ever). Small satisfaction, yes, but satisfaction nonetheless!

“As if a child could eat prayers”

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on April 6, 2004
in Christianity, GLBTQ and Money
. 7 Comments

I understand that disappointed and frustrated conservatives in the Episcopal Church USA might withdraw their financial support from the institution in the aftermath of the consecration of the openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson. But this is going too far:

Orphans in Honduras may have become political pawns in a dispute within the Episcopal Church over the recent appointment of a gay bishop in New Hampshire.

Bishop Leo Frade said this week that a girls mission founded by his wife has “taken a big financial hit” after some conservative parishioners withdrew their financial support for the program to retaliate against him for voting to confirm Gene Robinson, who became the first openly gay Episcopal bishop last August.

Since September 2003, the mission has lost $30,000 in donations, which is about 12 percent of its revenues, Diana Frade said. Several people called or sent e-mails specifically saying that they were withdrawing their support because of Bishop Frade’s vote to confirm Robinson, she said.

“Some of them said they could no longer support a ministry whose chairman was ‘going against the word of God,’” Diana Frade said.

“One person wrote a letter saying he would continue to pray for the child but would not send any more money. As if the child could eat the prayers. It was shocking that someone who was supposedly praying and supporting a child would then withdraw their support out of retaliation and anger, without really thinking of the consequences.”

Look, I don’t like the Salvation Army’s stance on gays and lesbians. But I also know that the Salvation Army is uniquely positioned to reach the marginalized, and so I give them money regularly. Sheesh.

The name of the Frade’s fine charity is
Our Little Roses
P.O. Box 464, Somerset, VA 22972.

Yes, you can give online.

3 strikes

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on March 5, 2004
in Money, Politics and Race
. 5 Comments

The Times this morning has this devastating assessment of the impact of the “Three Strikes” law on California. Entitled “Three Strikes Law Has Little Effect”, the article opines:

A decade after it was enacted, California’s three-strikes sentencing law has had little impact on violent crime while costing taxpayers $8 billion to imprison tens of thousands of felons, most of them for nonviolent offenses, according to a study released today.

The report by the Washington, D.C.-based Justice Policy Institute also found that blacks have been imprisoned under the three-strikes law at 10 times the rate of whites, while the rate for Hispanics has been almost 80% greater than for whites.

That $8 billion sure could come in handy these days. One of the scandals in this state is that law and order conservatives fail to admit that their demands for more and more prisons and more draconian sentences are a significant (perhaps the significant) cause of what Gov. Schwarzenegger calls our state’s “spending problem.”

Car Tax Refund

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on March 2, 2004
in Money and Politics
. 2 Comments

Yesterday, I found Governor Schwarzenegger’s car tax refund in my mailbox. It was a surprisingly significant sum, which certainly could have been better spent on public services than upon returning it to the likes of me.

I’ve pledged to give the money to charity, specifically to those that help my brothers and sisters here in California who are most vulnerable to the sort of draconian cutbacks that our state government has imposed. I’m splitting the money this time between two splendid organizations, the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women and the Union Station Foundation, which serves the homeless right here in Pasadena.

I know that we are supposed to give in secret. But while I think the public trumpeting of one’s generosity (especially when it includes dollar amounts) is vulgar, I also think that we need to have honest and open discussions about which charities we support and why. I also, quite deliberately, want to challenge those of my fellow California bloggers who are receiving car tax refunds, and who are in some way perhaps as undeservedly fortunate as I, to put every cent of that money back into their communities.

They raised enough…

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on February 28, 2004
in Food, Fun, Money, Photos, Vanity and Youth ministry
. 9 Comments

hugo_buzzed.jpg

It’s Saturday night, I am home from 30-Hour Famine, and I am completely bald. The photo above (of me with one of the kids from church) was snapped on a camera phone, but it shows the colored mohawk I was given last night by my youth group. I challenged them to raise $5000 for World Vision; they raised $7900 and change.

I decided the mohawk could not stay. So, after half an hour with the razor in the shower, I am balder than on the day I was born. Next year, I’m going to challenge them to raise at least $10,000!

Odds and ends

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on February 27, 2004
in Blogging, Clothing and Fashion, Food, Money, Politics and Youth ministry
. 6 Comments

The 30-Hour famine fast began a few minutes ago. After some quality time this A.M. with my gal and Matilde the chinchilla, I went on a quick 14-mile run from my place, traveling down through the Arroyo Seco and up into the Monterey Hills neighborhood of L.A before making my way back. I have made quick trips to Noah’s Bagels and Jamba Juice to refuel, but from noon today until 6:00PM tomorrow, nothing more. I’ll be off to church in a few hours, to help check in the kids (we think we might have over 35 show up tonight), count the money, and prepare for a sleepless night with hungry and rambunctious teens. Whether or not they will have raised enough to shave my head remains to be seen; I’ll report.

I got some nice props last night from Rudy Carrasco; he linked to my post below on my feminist cred, and he wrote:

Hugo is one of the more fascinating characters you will come across. As the self-described only Evangelical male in America to teach Gay and Lesbian studies, he is absolutely and literally in a class of his own.

Very cool. Thanks, Rudy!

As I gather with the kids this weekend, I will be praying for Haiti. Almost no one seems to want to “blog Haiti” this week! Here we all are, Christians devoted to social justice and non-violence, and we are all far more riled up about a movie than we are about this horrific and tragic situation unfolding right here in our hemisphere. Is it because the problem seems too intractable? Is it because there is no opportunity to issue thundering and self-righteous orations? Writing about Haiti just isn’t as sexy as writing about marriage or the Passion. I am as guilty as everybody else. I have no answers. But I do have prayers.

Also, I am praying for the grocery workers of the UFCW as they vote this weekend on whether to accept the latest offer from the supermarket chains. I am definitely looking forward to being able to shop once again at my neighborhood Vons. I am tired of the high prices I’ve been paying at Gelson’s, the unionized (but pricey) grocery store that is just down the street. By the way, I am trying to decide if I want to buy “Union Jeans“, sold on the UFCW website. I like the idea of wearing only union-made American stuff. On the other hand, I love good clothes. I spend far too much on dressing myself (lately, I have been buying a lot of stuff from Lucky Brand), and most of what I buy is not union-made. I think I have some room for growth there.

Time to focus on the famine!

30-Hour “Famine”

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on February 25, 2004
in Class, Food, Money and Youth ministry
. 2 Comments

This weekend, I will be participating (for the fourth consecutive February) in World Vision’s 30-Hour Famine fundraising program. For those unfamiliar with 30HF, it is an annual event during which church youth groups go without food from 12 noon Friday until 6:00PM Saturday. Saturdays are usually spent doing community service, and participants raise funds from sponsors. A few hundred thousand American youth — and their hardy adult leaders — participate each year, and millions of dollars are raised for relief projects like this one.

I love doing overnight retreats with the teens, but I am especially fond of 30-Hour Famine. There’s nothing like the temporary deprivation of food and sugary drinks to create insta-community! The service project involves a trip to Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, where my mostly privileged teens travel from street to street, tent to tent, meeting with and offering food to the homeless. Most of my kids (for that is what I call them) have never touched a homeless man or woman before; during the service project, they often shake hands and even embrace folks whom they would normally avoid. It is initially a frightening, and even repellant experience for some of the youth — but without exception, they become excited and deeply moved as the day wears on.

I do have some problems with the whole weekend. For one thing, I have always hated the name “30-Hour Famine“. I can’t help but feel (as I have told a couple of people who work for World Vision), that calling a voluntary 30 hour period a famine somehow trivializes the horror of that word. The kids may learn compassion in a new and visceral way, but they are not enduring famine in any way remotely similar to those who are really suffering from malnutrition. I wish we called it “30-Hour Fast”. But that sounds less ringingly dramatic, and I guess it ain’t the biggest issue in the world. Doug Pagitt shares a similar thought today.

I also know full well that sending a group of largely well-off, largely white teenagers into the heart of the poorest neighborhood in L.A. can be read as a token gesture. Most of these teens will not regularly return to feed the homeless and to be involved in the work of charities and shelters who serve the poorest of the poor. (Thankfully, a few teens will get more permanently involved). The food that we will distribute this Saturday will make no long-term difference. In reality, the service project is more designed for the spiritual enlightenment of our kids than it is for the homeless folks whom we meet and feed. I have no doubt as to which group will remember it longer!

But in a very real sense, the work of 30-Hour Famine, despite its unfortunate appellation and patronizing tendencies, is still gospel work. And I do love doing it so! And, as a closing note, I have told the group that if they raise $5000, they get to do whatever they like to my hair — shave it, give me a mohawk, color it, and so forth. I’m a little bit nervous, especially as my gal and I have tickets to the opera on Sunday night!

God and Caesar and H&R Block

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on February 6, 2004
in Christianity and Money
. 5 Comments

Yesterday afternoon, I filed my state and federal tax returns. As usual, I went to H&R Block. My return is not terribly complicated, though I do itemize deductions. I bought a condo last year, so I can write off mortgage interest and property taxes; I also can write off my gifts to the church and other charities.

The tax preparer who helped me was named George, and he was a bit more helpful than I had anticipated. George saw his job as helping me to get as much money back as possible, while I saw his job as merely taking care of a lot of tedious paperwork. I guess I hadn’t noticed this in previous years to this degree, but George was very aggressive about wanting to explore every possible opportunity to “write something off.” And though nothing he was proposing was illegal, I realized when I left the office that I was a bit discombobulated. Make no mistake, I want as much money back as possible! Uh, well, at least, the greedy part of me does.

I know that though my taxes do fund things I don’t like (such as the war in Iraq) they also build bridges, schools, and pay for the sort of social programs I do support wholeheartedly. As a community college prof, taxes pay virtually 100% of all of the money I have made in my life. Though I wish I could direct my tax money towards specific programs for social justice, and away from defense and prison budgets, I know that it is my moral — and biblical — obligation to pay taxes to Caesar regardless of how he spends the money. I just intend to spend time and money lobbying Caesar to improve his priorities! For me, taxes are a reflection of our interconnectedness as Americans. As I make more, I should pay more (and believe me, I both made and paid more this year). I give more to the church and other charities because I believe that churches have a huge role to play in bringing about social change in our country — but they don’t have the only role.

I am first and foremost a repentant sinner who is a citizen of the kingdom of Christ. I am secondly a citizen and resident of the USA. I owe time and money and allegiance to both, always in that order. I don’t try and get out of my obligation to give money to my church (and indeed, I strive to give more each year) — and I don’t think I should try and avoid my obligations to the state.

But anyhow, I’m getting a refund. And frankly, George convinced me to claim some things yesterday that as of now, on sober reflection, I just don’t feel right about. So I’m going to be tithing on the refund.

“A tempest in a C cup”

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on February 6, 2004
in Age, Aggression and violence, Body, Clothing and Fashion, Feminism, Money, Music, Race, Sexuality and Sports
. 0 Comments

It’s always gratifying to have others whom you admire agree with you. On Monday, I wrote this about the halftime incident. In today’s Times, Joan Brumberg (whose books I use in several of my gender studies classes) wrote this about Janet, Justin, and the breast:

… this was not just any breast. This was a single breast that symbolizes a cross-fire of issues that touch the lives of a huge swath of Americans.

Janet Jackson is a black woman. Justin Timberlake, a white male. The fact that both thought it was acceptable to have him rip off Jackson’s clothing suggests that both desperately need a short course in U.S. history. A million rapes of black women by white owners flashed before the eyes of Americans who understand the brutal sexuality associated with slavery. Jackson is also an aging woman in a business that celebrates young bodies. Was the exposure deliberately choreographed to boost sales of her upcoming CD among younger audiences likely to be “thrilled” by her flamboyant sexuality? Jackson obviously understands that images of the female body are used to drive billions in sales of all kinds of goods. Women in this society pay a price for this unrelenting, often violent, objectification.

Excellent. The bold emphases are mine.

The way to spend the winnings

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on February 2, 2004
in Money, People and Sexual ethics and transformation
. 0 Comments

Rudy at Urban Onramps gets the tip for the story of Tom Walsh, former US senate staffer and recent Jeopardy champion. After winning more than $186,000, Walsh used the money to go to Thailand, to work with International Justice Mission, which focuses on the victims of sex trafficking. He has a new blog, and on it, he has the following explanation of his choices:

When you get an unexpected, undeserved windfall like I did, you have to ask yourself, “Why?” For me, this trip helped put my Jeopardy exploits in perspective, & provided ideas for what to do with the money — the stewardship of which I take as a serious responsibility. I plan to direct much of it to help people in situations like those I saw overseas. I particularly want to help small, indigenous ministries with low overhead — ones that have little access to American resources, & which of necessity stretch a dollar as far as it can possibly go to meet human needs.

Look, I didn’t hit the jackpot when I won on Jeopardy, I hit it when I was born in America. Like most of us fortunate enough to live in this country, I already have food, a house, a car, the things I need. One Bible quote that didn’t come up on Jeopardy was Jesus’ remark, “To whom much is given, much is expected” (Luke 12:48). Exactly what that means in my new situation is something I’m working out, as are we all in our unique situations.

Tom is my hero of the week.

Urgent Plea to Nader: Don’t Run

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on January 31, 2004
in Money, People and Politics
. 6 Comments

Oregon Green Party activist Harry Lonsdale had this editorial yesterday, begging Ralph Nader (for whom he and I voted in 2000) not to run this year. Here are some excerpts:

It’s too soon to tell whether the 2004 election will be close, but with the country so evenly divided about the Bush presidency, it could well be. And Nader is thinking of running again. Should those of us on the left encourage him to do so?

I’m a huge Nader supporter. I voted for him in 2000 and sent him money. Anyone who has examined his record of public service over the past 35 years would have to admit that he has done more — or attempted to do more — for the American people than virtually any other living American.

Whoa, Harry, easy on the hyperbole. But after pouring on this praise, Lonsdale comes to his thoughful conclusion:

Nader has sent out a letter to his major 2004 contributors, seeking their advice on his 2004 candidacy. (Knowing Nader’s integrity, I believe he was honestly seeking input and not just campaign contributions.) My advice to Nader was to not run. There are many ways to promote his issues and the Green Party platform besides another run for president: Raise money for a regular radio or TV show or a nonstop speaking tour or start a grassroots democracy organization. Had he chosen to, he could have received a ton of free air time for many months by running in the Democratic primaries.

But I’m one of the ABB persuasion — Anybody But Bush — and so is just about every progressive I know. Maybe we’re all overreacting by talking about leaving the country if Bush is re-elected. But the Bush imperial presidency has shaken us down to our heels. This is no longer the country we thought we knew and loved.

Well, I may not be shaken down to my heels. But I am happily in the ABB category, and share Harry’s sentiments. Ralph, stay home.

My beloved union does its job

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on January 28, 2004
in Money, Politics and Teaching
. 0 Comments

Peter Schrag has an article in this morning’s Bee about the fascinating details of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s proposed K-12 budget for California. It looks like my union (to which I pay almost $1000 a year in voluntary dues) did very, very nicely in negotiations with Arnold. Yes, we community college profs are mostly represented by the same union that takes care of the primary and secondary teachers — and this is one of the those cases where it is decidedly to our benefit. Here’s how Schrag’s piece starts:

Barbara Kerr is proving that you can be president of the CTA, the muscular California Teachers Association, and a nice person at the same time.
But in her press conference earlier this month with the equally muscular Arnold Schwarzenegger, she looked less like the primary schoolteacher she used to be and a lot more like the cat that swallowed the canary.
Her description of the deal her union made with the governor as “fair” immediately became a candidate for understatement of the year.

Nice.

Lotteries

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on January 27, 2004
in Addiction and mental illness, Class, Faith, Money and Politics
. 4 Comments

Jay Voorhees, whose blog I have recently discovered, had this post last week about his fight against the coming of the Tennessee Lottery. He coordinated the United Methodist Church campaign against the initiative establishing a lottery; of course they lost, and as of last week, the lottery tickets went on sale in Tennessee. His words are better than mine:

Everywhere I turn I see lottery machines and tickets. And I hear folks talking about buying tickets, and how much money they are going to win from the lottery.

My heart is breaking. Oh, I know that there are kids that will go to college on these funds. But I also know that addicted persons will be the primary funders of these scholarships. I know that pre-school programs will be started. But I also know that lotteries prey primarily on the poor. I know that it’s all in fun. But I also know that bankruptcy rates rise when gambling enters a state — and that Tennessee already has one of the highest rates of bankruptcy in the state.

I’m not going to protest, carrying signs and screaming that folks are going to burn in hell if they buy a lottery ticket. In fact, I don’t really think that. But I do think that it’s an unjust system of funding government, and it makes me sad to realize that most folks don’t have a clue as to what we’ve gotten into.

I was passionately opposed to the coming of Indian Gaming to California. I haven’t bought a lottery ticket since I became a Christian; it strikes me as perhaps the worst form of regressive taxation imaginable. Here’s a link to an old Sojourners article on gambling; eight years later, it is still sadly relevant:

Put aside questions about gambling’s potentially negative effects on local economies, families, and society as a whole. From a faith perspective, a more basic reason to oppose gambling will remain: It is a spiritual parasite.

Gambling feeds off of resources, energy, and hope that could be turned toward the common good, and spawns false understandings of what is of true value. The meaning of words like “play,” “excitement,” “courage,” “winning,” “risk,” and “security” become distorted and empty. Gambling may sometimes bring what seem like concrete benefits to individuals or communities, but an exorbitant price in soul and culture is paid. And, despite gambling industry claims of easy gain and wealth to share, there is evidence that most often the monetary cost is exorbitant as well.

Yup.

Friday Night Small Group

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on January 24, 2004
in Christianity and Money
. 1 Comment

Last night, I went to my regular (bi-weekly) church small group. We meet regularly for a simple potluck dinner (or supper, as most Midwestern-bred Mennonites call it), followed by a time of prayer and discussion. Since tomorrow is our Consecration Sunday (where we make our financial pledges for the coming year), the topic was stewardship and simplicity. We had a great conversation, and I walked away at 9:00PM convinced once again that my life is far too cluttered!

I’m still struggling to get back to where I was just a couple of years ago, which was giving 10% of my gross income to the church. My pledges for 2004 will put me at about 6.8% of my estimated gross income for this year; more than most secular folks might imagine ever giving to charity, but far less than I feel called to give. This isn’t the place to list all the reasons why I am not willing or able to make a larger commitment, but I can note that I am slowly returning to an earlier level of giving. I also need to give myself a break. I only made my first stewardship pledge to a church a few years ago, when as a new and uncertain Christian, pledging 1% seemed more than sufficient! Progress not perfection…