Post-Secondary Education at a Glance- 

                                  The degree, deconstructed

                                Tuition stock image; courtesy of Allegheny Financial

In the present day, many people across a wide demographic backdrop find themselves struggling to decide whether a degree is a worthwhile opportunity or a financial burden. But in most cases, it doesn't have to be about breaking the bank.

Now more than ever, college is not just for the youth, but for those looking to expand their window of opportunity and career advancement. To boot, we've seen technology give rise to new learning platforms that defy cultural, socio-economic, and geographic parameters.

The degree has been brought quite literally to our doorsteps. For most, however, a college education can and does hang suspended in the balance between financial responsibility and the perception of the outcome. The last decade or more has seen a slower rate of entry, though subsequently, there is still a rather wide college-educated wage premium in the job market, according to The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's vice president, Jaison R. Abel. We can reflect on this recent report that even with college costs rising, the return on a degree is still quite high in most cases. Still, this doesn't answer quite exactly the question of how people go about deciding whether or not college is worth the financial burden.

Let's take a look at three decades of college tuition for a local Maine school: The University of Maine at Presque Isle. The below figures reflect college tuition (for in-state residents) through 1999-2000, 2009-2010, and 2019-2020. 

1999-2000- tuition rang in around $101.00 per credit hour

2009-2010- tuition was elevated to $201.00 per credit hour, reflecting an exact $100 dollar uptick over a decade. 

2019-2020- tuition rises once more at $239.00 per credit hour, reflecting an additional $38 dollar difference.

We see the reality of tuition costs climbing with inflation, though for this particular school it is only a $138 jump in thirty years. While you would still need to consider housing costs, food costs, and other fees, the major bulk of college tuition goes into the degree itself broken down into credit hours. 

It's important to note that selecting a college has everything to do with the facility. Private and public institutions will have substantially different price tags, allowing for informed decisions about tuition costs as well as funding options. These prices, as shown above, can aid in the deciding factor. College is no doubt an expense, but it can be a well-budgeted one all the same. Going to an ivy-league school may be appealing, but when it comes down to obtaining a degree and putting it to good use, there is room for opportunity along a large spectrum of cost-effective options. 

In most cases, college tends to yield not just further education, but resources and tools to apply oneself to the workforce in new, successful ways. It can be invaluable. Determining if a degree is right on an individual basis in an ever-changing world and a fast-shifting global economy has everything to do with accessibility and is, in most cases, underscored by cost-effectiveness at the root. 

Notes: I've included a link to the report aforementioned, for further analysis on the number breakdown in college trends in relation to the job and labor market in the U.S. 

Despite Rising Costs, College Is Still a Good Investment - Liberty Street Economics (newyorkfed.org)

 Writing about Speeches, Meetings & Conferences-

The Maine Agriculture Tradeshow Conference 2022

Photo courtesy of WGME News, Maine Ag Tradeshow

I'd like to preface this blog post by saying that agriculture holds a place very dear in my heart and the annual Maine Agriculture Tradeshow Conference is an important event I have attended both in person and via the internet for a couple years now. My family and I have been directly involved in organic farming for a few years. This event is a wonderful forum for farmers and the public alike to come together and gather important and accurate data. It is a place to ask questions, develop stronger opinions, and be in the thick of state policy as it's unfolding. Food doesn't just have to do with our farmers, but all of us. We all eat, we all rely on food systems. 

This year I was unable to attend in person but watched via Zoom and then today, I went back and caught up on the January 14th, 2022 presentation that I had previously missed. This particular conference was put on by three knowledgeable state leads on the subject matter with many other important figures also present. We hear from Nancy McBrady, who is the director of the Bureau of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Resources; Susan Miller, who is the director for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection- heading Remedial Waste Management; and lastly, we hear Dr. Andy Smith weigh-in from his position as State Toxicologist for the Maine CDC. The content was exceptional and the cadence was just right. We start out hearing from Nancy McBrady, who defines the PFAs contamination crisis in Maine as the agricultural world begins to deal with the fallout and Maine takes the national forefront for handling the issue. She relays carefully and concisely the importance of testing and addresses very key public concerns surrounding testing and the consequences it poses for landowners and homeowners alike. 

Susan Miller follows with a breakdown of state-level implementations and resources. She highlights the state funding available under new legislation and breaks down the teams that have been assembled to handle PFA contaminated sites over the next few years. She states that where Maine is currently leading the crisis and how it is being handled, we face the issue of not having current federal guidelines and advisories. So while she is providing clean, concise information, she is also posing the realistic side of things where we are still quite in the dark about the issue. There is no misleading content or inaccurate analysis involved. This gives those following along the ability to understand where the information is sourced from and how we should utilize it based on merit/validity. 

Andy Smith comes in third with empirical data that is available in regards to current assessments of land, water, plant uptakes of PFAs, product contamination, as well as formulations and chemical structures for this chemical family. He includes a segment on what we currently know and what we hope to know in the near future. 

Overall, the conference is eye-opening not just to farmers or land stewards, but to the general public. There is a strong emphasis on expanding access to knowledge of this crisis since it affects everyone. The bottom line is that we truly don't know a whole lot yet, and the next few years will be crucial not just in public support and forum, but in developing the science and research available to know even more. The state is currently building an inter-agency website to address concerns and regulations and inform the public from one concise and data-derived initiative. This conference was not only crucial in the sense of what it delivered for data, knowledge, and the assessment of public opinion and concern, but in the manner of inclusivity. By the end of the two-hour speech segment, callers can weigh in with questions and concerns of their own and the panelists take turns answering to the best of their ability. This is heavily utilized, creating an atmosphere where questions are addressed first-hand in correspondence with the data and information, and accurate answers are doled out or fleshed out even if they cannot be answered to any deep degree at this moment in time. We can glean as citizens and stewards of the land, water, and airways in our state that collaboration is a paramount and ongoing process between several departments as well as cooperative extensions like UMaine, Maine Farmer's and Gardener's Association, and Maine Farmland Trust. This effort takes a community. Where we can discern that activity is high in this crucial matter, we can also find that advancement of science and legislation is important to providing the developing and ongoing framework that will deliver practical guidance for landowners and homeowners. Beyond that, developing good public knowledge and engagement. This conference highlighted key crucial issues in relation to public opinion, brought together a collaboration of three prominent members working on the issue to create an atmosphere of state bureaucratic cooperation, and created a network or platform upon which a lot of the future data and policy surrounding PFAs will come into the light and play out beyond the state level. This will be projected nationally. Where I utilized this in my own life would be interviewing a local farmer on PFAs contamination. She shared with me her own work here, including her trip across the country to speak on PFAs publicly in the western region. What we are doing here on a state level matters not just to other states, but in getting the federal government to take initiative and also provide valuable work and funding to continue the efforts and develop regulatory guidelines for an issue that is critical to food safety, drinking water safety, and the agricultural industry as a whole.  

I highly enjoyed this conference and the deliverance of content versus reality. There was an emphasis on what we do know and how to source that information at the same time that there was a clear emphasis on what we still do not know and how we can expect that to develop in the future. It was relevant, concise, informative, and engaging. I would encourage everyone to get involved with PFAs, even if that's just educating on what exactly they are and how they are used widely in our culture. Education and literacy are our first tools and exercises in broadening public policy and shaping the values of our American democracy. We need edible landscapes to survive, public health to be prioritized, and regulations to be placed on manufacturers so that there is a sustainable future for generations to come. Conferences like this connect us all at a base level. We might learn something and then again, we may just also come up with more valuable questions to help shape future innovations and collaborations. Journalism is all about questions. I would go so far as to say that beyond journalism, life and culture are also heavily shaped by the questions we pose as a society and how we go about articulating and defining them. Journalism and life are synonymous with investigating. When we ask questions, read, and expand our awareness and exposure to ideas and possibilities, we are participating in our world and tapping into our higher potential. 

Thanks for listening in. See you next time!

The following link will take those interested directly to the conferences covered on January 14th, 2022:

(150) January 2022 Maine State Agency PFAS Update - YouTube

The following link will take you to the Maine Ag Tradeshow homepage for more information:

State of Maine Agricultural Trades Show: Maine DACF

                     Comparing & Contrasting Leads; Effectiveness

                          Canine Journalist, looking rather sleuth-like. Image from clipartbest.com

Lead One- National Public Radio

The U.S. may force companies to disclose climate risks, marking historic change

David Gura & Rafael Nam- March 20, 2022

"How much do companies contribute to climate change and how are they impacted by it? Those questions are at the heart of a major announcement expected on Monday from the Securities and Exchange Commission."

This is an example of a question lead.

At first glance, it is 34 words in length, provides an element of who, what, and when, and addresses subject matter for the body of the story in a concise manner. 

While question leads run the risk of creating more work for later, they can occasionally grab attention and effectively hook readers. I think the above does that for a particular audience, probably likely one that already has a lot of context information or interest in climate news. It poses a thoughtful question concisely. I myself like to be challenged to think differently or outside of the box when it comes to new and familiar topics alike. While I don't typically want to experience this for all news platforms, I like what the authors have done here so far. This could have been executed less effectively if they had simply forgotten to tie the question into a relevant context and set it up firmly in time (this announcement is happening on Monday and these questions are important). The article went on to fulfill the promise of explaining and analyzing climate change and the subsequent causation and consequence in relation to businesses. It contained information that readers would appreciate for being concise, knowledgable, and relevant.

After finishing the rest of the article, my only complaint or con would be the fact that, like question leads tend to do, this opening lead results in rather busy second and third sentences to backtrack and reflect more deeply on what exactly is going on and what the major elements of the story are. Major conclusion- it could have been done more effectively, but it works. 

Lead Two- Kennebec Journal

Augusta Public School budget up 6%, but officials say it won't cost city additional monies

Emily Duggan- March 24, 2022

"AUGUSTA — The Augusta Board of Education unanimously approved a proposed budget of $35.5 million for next school year that officials say will not cause the city of Augusta to contribute more money than last year, despite there being a 6.47% increase in this year’s budget."

This is an example of a summary lead.

Unlike the above question lead, this article poses a summative representation of what the article entails. It's lengthier but utilizes who, what, when, where, why, and poses local relevancy. It's long- coming in at 44 words. It's not very intriguing unless readers are picking up on the relevancy, which is the driving factor here. Anyone who cares about the school budget in Augusta or pays taxes, etc. is going to be interested in what this article has to say about budgets and money and how it affects them. It's effective enough, and the remaining article is shaped very well by this lead. I think it could be more intriguing, maybe less wordy. Maybe more verb use or a more active engaging lead. Overall, I think it hits the major context perfectly and would have anyone in the specific demographic likely to hear what the article will share in regards to the school budget going up and just why it's not going to affect the cities' contribution. 

Lead Three- National Public Radio 

Reporter describes an astounding amount of military hardware going in to help Ukraine

Terry Gross- March 24, 2022

"On a recent reporting trip to cover Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Time reporter Simon Shuster visited an airbase on the Polish side of the Ukrainian-Polish border. Watching as U.S. planes brought in loads of weapons for Ukraine, Shuster felt like he was standing on the brink of something massive."

This is an anecdotal lead.

While lengthy, this lead offers a personal portrait of the crisis through experience from the perspective of a reporter. It sets a mood and a tone that is indicative of what is to follow in the body of the story. Sure enough, it delivers a vibrant picture and a perspective that shifts readers from harrowing and constant breaking news to a more first-hand account that transports them right there at the scene. It refreshes what has already been done countless times and will continue to be many more times as this huge crisis unfolds. It's likely assumed most readers are already in possession of quite a bit of context on the issue and instead it works to shift focus or refresh through a different angle. I think it's done well, though it could probably be less lengthy. I think the final sentence really drives home and sets up relevance and promise of what is to unfold in the body of the article. I think this is very useful in articulating the depth of a major event through the human scope. Anecdotes have the power and voice to bring us closer to the reality of a given situation. 

Each of these leads tends to answer the major question, comparatively, of what the subject matter is going to divulge. In other words, they outline intention. They all do it in different ways, and some are more appealing or engaging than others. In comparison, the summary lead tends to answer a question about the effect of the budget increase on the city and community, which would draw in a lot of readers by way of local importance. The question lead sets readers up to already be thinking about businesses and their effect on climate change before the article begins. The anecdotal lead, at least for me, raises the question of what this reporter is experiencing and transports us there. Readers that are questioning what the article entails gather from the lead that this is a story reflecting a first-hand account of the Ukraine crisis and that it is likely to present information that is unique and diverges from what they have already heard through the same headlines across the nation and beyond. In summary, all of these leads hold their own elements of effectiveness. We can also see areas in which they might improve from my perspective. This all leads me to look more closely not only at news leads but at my own writing and how I can improve communication through a journalistic lens. 

Local versus National News Coverage

 "The first essence of journalism..." John Gunther

 

    In perusing the Portland Press Herald this week, I took care to analyze just how coverage unfolds in a national sense as well as a local one. I also was careful to think about how I tend to seek out news myself on both a national and local scale. I concluded that while the local lense tends to condense bigger categories like politics and environment as they relate to the voices of individual communities, issues, and interests, national news tends to include a wider lense with the opportunity to attract a much more diverse audience. The national news isn't just targeting one demographic, but the multiplicity of readers across the country and potentially beyond. The above quote seemed to stick out to me because both types of news coverage have different priorities when it comes to scope. Locals are going to paint a much different picture than a collective body of sources from a national perspective. In this sense, journalists are utilizing this ability to seek out the "who" behind the story. Perspective has everything to do with quality journalism. national and local are both necessary perspectives to the whole of communication and effective journalism. 

In terms of similarities, both national and local news produce relevant content that engages the public in different ways. The local apparatus for politics tends to highlight crucial issues/voices and essentially gives off a sense of how readers are impacted and can engage more deeply. Whereas national news tends to highlight key events and promote understanding but not so much the deep sense of engagement that local news offers. 

For instance, if we look at the political section of the Portland Press Herald, we find categories of local and national scale. Just a brief glance at the local headlines we see the following: "How Maine's members of Congress voted last week," or this, "Rep. Pingree meets with Romanian leader on Ukrainian Humanitarian Crisis." Here is an example of political issues being applied to a local scale. We know about the Ukraine crisis, and the article articulates how our local representatives are involved. It's not just about the Humanitarian Crisis, but also highlighting how our local rep. Pingree is engaged in the matter.

National news headlines on the Portland Press Herald that stuck out were "Biden to rally Western allies: What to Know," and "How Europe is responding to Ukrainian Refugees." These articles both stuck out to me as examples of how national news operates in a broader playing field. Readers can expect to glean major national or international coverage, often with a breakdown of what it means, but not so much a depiction of these major events projected onto a local demographic. 

Aside from the diverse audience and lens capacities national and local news coverage support, there is the element of sources to be considered. Local news seems to have far fewer sources that its' national counterpart. This is rather expected, considering that local news holds a more general or communal view and often relies on the voices of members within the community and local government. National news, in contrast, tends to have more sources and paints a broader picture that necessitates many more avenues of exploration in order to tie it all together more broadly. They are essentially responsible for zooming out but still providing relative content to a wide array of people. In observing this, I imagine that national news has to cover a lot more ground to be important and intriguing on a bigger scale and thus requires a wider range of subject matter to focus on and pull together. 

Overall, both modes of coverage have their similarities and provide relevant content that attracts respective audiences and provides different modes through which active readers can gather a sense of the world and how it relates to them/why they should care or listen. Both scopes can be positively used to collectively achieve social and civic engagement while stitching together people and places through the fabric of journalistic integrity and focus. 

 A Day in The Life- Reflections on Interviewing like a Journalist

...And fresh-baked bread! Who doesn't love warm, buttered bread on a windy spring day??

I must admit right off the bat that my first experiences with interviewing were a real challenge. I am much more familiar with writing in the sense of articulating my own thoughts on paper. To add the elements of taking and recording notes, formulating appropriate questions in order to draw forth compelling answers, and generating good conversation is a huge area of newness for me. After conducting three interviews and requesting others, I find myself appreciating news articles and stories with a much more appreciative eye for the elements that go into being a good and strategic journalist. I am by nature a rather introverted person with a deep desire to acquire stronger interpersonal skills that will benefit future communications. 

At its' core, communication is the ability to draw compelling conclusions from provocative questions. Stories engage others by providing this format. We need to lay out the basics of the topic, but beyond that, readers also want to get a sense of how the story might relate to them and perhaps something in the way of a new, unheard perspective that deepens/enhances the overall picture and the voices we hear from. I've noticed that there are instances where stories take shape around unlikely sources. While it might make sense to interview a farmer about issues surrounding renewable energy encroaching on Maine farmland, for instance, it also makes great sense to reach out and hear from solar developers, too. No story has a single side and I believe it is integral where journalism is considered to account for all sides to the best of our investigative ability. We cannot paint whole pictures without seeing the whole landscape.

Overall, I found myself agonizing for a long time over questions beforehand, and then during the interviews I found myself to be more comfortable with flowing along with the conversation rather than sticking to the rough "script." I found that I could have been better about the scattered notes I took, relying less on recordings and more on better-articulated notes directly following interviews. 

Things I enjoyed about the experience were getting to know people in the community on a deeper level and from all brackets of society, so to speak. We think of the world so often in terms of how we see it or the people we relate to. To hear multiple responses and sides weighing in on one issue is where the magic of communication unfolds. As the interviews took shape I found myself really painting a picture of the issue in a more broad sense. My major conclusion is that journalism has everything to do with the qualities of listening and engaging people and allowing a story to unfold naturally from there. These interviews are the major marrow behind any good story. I look forward to conducting more interviews in the future with this newfound sense of understanding for the process. 

 

I am going to share with you today an introductory blog story about blisters, infinite worlds, and childhood hiking expeditions that may seem rather irrelevant to the big picture or the busy, fast-paced world we live in. It’s not that blisters are memorable in and of themselves, but sometimes it is the littlest of things that remain in our memories long after the pains and joys of growing up fade. First, I want to encourage you to think on the notion that we humans seem to come back around to the same places, metaphorically speaking, time and time again... blisters notwithstanding. Sometimes we return simply because we have yet to gather some deeper understanding and we find ourselves caught or suspended in this place once more. Still other times, we return and find that we are entirely changed. We may be in the same woods, the foundations of who we are, but we find that those forests grow dense and altered. I bring this up now because no matter how many times we return to these places, or memories, or blisters of old, there is a deep resonance with where we are now, where we came from, and how we got here. Our perspectives shift all the time, and we hold within our capacity the ability to look back on old memories with refreshed understanding. There is a certain raw beauty involved with growth, with discovering self, and the permeating sense of communication we cultivate from the maps of all the places we have been and have yet to go. On the topic of blisters once more...

Some of my fondest memories were as a young girl, growing up in rural Maine and enjoying family trips to Moosehead Lake all year long. All of my early recollections hold in common a deep appreciation for and awareness of nature. There was no sense of abstract time in my childhood. Days were for enjoying, lakes were for swimming, the grass was for tickling the soles of bare feet, camping outside was for admiring a smattering of distant stars in a sky so astoundingly vast. Nothing had to be scheduled, only welcomed into the day. I could spend whole days outside, lost not in body but in my mind, where stories tended to unfold deliciously with the natural world for inspiration.

I can draw forth now the image of one particular camp trip with its’ usual excitement, the long car ride, the music emanating from the truck speakers. On one such occasion, around ten years old or so, I remember we made plans to hike Mt. Kineo. There was always a lot of excitement that went into hiking Kineo since we would take a motorboat to reach the banks of this lovely emerald peak. The whole trip there the mountain would stare with ancient eyeless expectancy, or perhaps more likely the many stares of its’ watchful inhabitants.

By the time we would reach the bank, everyone was eagerly spilling out of the boat, mooring, and dividing out the backpacks strategically. By the time we were well on our way around the winding bluff, there was always a charged excitement on my behalf to get to my favorite part of hiking; the plotting and planning of stories in my head. For as long as I can remember, my strongest mode of communicating with and interpreting the world has been through words. These early stories, though often long forgotten, left lasting impressions of who I was and who I one day hoped to be. Words, characters, and worlds spun from the well of imagination, possibility, and the desire to connect with the world in some meaningful way made up a large portion of my quiet, introspective playtimes.

By the time my stories had begun to unfold on this hiking excursion and the mountain had begun to grow steeper, there was a nagging blister on my right heel. It grew in intensity until every chaffing motion was hard to ignore. I eventually stopped, angry and distracted with the slow, limping progress and the annoyance of this seemingly meager blister. By now it was a gigantic entity sucking me out of that creative place. By the second break, I decided the only course of action, much to the chagrin of my parents, was to remove my socks and shoes entirely. I stowed them in my backpack and continued on. At this point, it would be a lie on my behalf to tell you there was no complaining involved. I’m rather certain there was, though, like the stories, these details did not stick with me into the present.

I grumbled for a while until I began to realize that the sensation of dirt, brush, and roots was not altogether an unpleasant experience. Instead, I began to tune in to the feeling of toes against the earth and the connection that came in doing so. I was not just hiking the mountain now, I was part of it. Now, you might pause here to say wait a minute, that’s a rather wild idea. But let me briefly explain that in my ten-year-old imagination, and still resolutely with me to this day, is the sense of unity and joy I found at being ungoverned in this way. Just by taking my shoes off, the door to the natural world and the creative one inside me seemed to merge. The hike proceeded with a greater sense of connection and resolution to never forget just how close we as humans are to the natural world. I felt that most acutely on that particular day, and I can still close my eyes and envision it now.

By the time we had reached the peak and climbed to the top of the infamous metal tower, there was a great sense of achievement. Not in the regular sense so much as in the acceptance that we cannot make our blisters disappear, but there is always our animate ability to shift perspective and see the importance of the trek itself. The power to return to places we’ve been not with the same eyes but with a deeper sense of understanding. Communication is like a blister at times. We stumble over words. Sometimes the frustration that the words don’t feel the same as they do when you conjured them is as acutely annoying as a physical wound. Sometimes words feel raw, chaffing, overused, dissolute. But ultimately, life and communication are rewarding not for the ending point, but the journey you took to arrive at some great peak or story. That hike lives on in my heart and my imagination, fueling the fire of creativity and desire to communicate and connect deeply.