The Art of Value

Paul Knutson is Rice County’s Assessor; his job is to go to each property in Rice County and declare how much value each property has. When asked what method he used to measure “value,” Paul responded, “What I do is not a science. It is an art. You might tell me that the house across the street from here is worth $100,000. But I’d tell you that it’s worth $150,000. Value is completely subjective.”

Not an Intruder – Just an Intern

"“Ma’am, don’t leave your post!” the bailiff nearly shouted into the phone. “I think we’ve got an intruder. Don’t let him leave, and don’t you dare let him take anything out of that backpack!”"

Life's "Important Questions"

In his essay "Ave Atque Vale," Donald Kagan laments the current state of liberal education in the U.S., comparing it to the education received by English gentlemen in the eighteenth century, which "prized sociability over the solitude of hard study." According to Kagan, liberal education has abandoned its quest of knowledge as an end in itself, failing to provide undergraduates with a common philosophical and historical foundation upon which to discuss life's important questions.

Kagan, the Liberal Arts, and the Environment

In his writing, Kagan states very clearly that, "we must all think about our values, responsibilities, and our relationships with one another and with the society in which we live. This is the purpose of a liberal arts education. He goes on to include possible studies like history, philosophy  and the arts. He also importantly notes the importance of a moral and civic education. However, there is one key part missing from all of this: The environment.

Pride and Precedent

“Having little or no sense of the human experience through the ages, of what has been tried, of what has succeeded and what has failed, of what is the price of cherishing some values as opposed to others, or of how values relate to one another, they leap from acting as though anything is possible, without cost, to despairing that nothing is possible.”

Liberal Arts in a Financially-Driven World

"As Professor Kagan noted, we no longer live in a world driven by the inculcation of values, nor by the quest of pure knowledge. Rather, we, as a society, understand freedom in a financial sense. In that way, liberal arts institutions do indeed promote freedom for their students – in that its students are free to make money in whatever way they choose. At St. Olaf, evidence of this abounds."

A Brief Conversation about Leadership

Leaders are the face of organizations. In the social impact sector, we believe that leaders hold the role to make connections with people, offer support, and become involved with the people who can help create change. Good leaders should have a strong sense of the organization’s culture and values that they bring into practice in daily life, they should be humble yet conscious about the power they hold, and always look for innovative ways to reach their goals. 

What Makes You Happiest?

In his article "The Way to Produce a Person," David Brooks relates the story of Jason Trigg, a Wall Street hedge fund manager who lives well below his means and donates the majority of his earnings to fighting malaria. Brooks urges caution to anyone thinking of doing the same, outlining three main concerns.

A Myth: Social Change without Personal Change

"Perhaps you are a better person than I am. I hope you are. But, if you’re like me, take this moment to remind yourself: we are parts of the problems in this world. We acknowledge that we are part of a broken society, yet we are participants in this brokenness, and we are fools if, even in our activism to change it, we separate ourselves from it."

One Banana Only, Please!

Banana is one of the cheapest fruits available in grocery stores nearby. It is our house-fruit, mainly because of two reasons: healthy and budget friendly. With approximately $135/weekly budget for dinner and shared food such as bread, milk, peanut butter and jelly, and banana (of course), we really need to be wise on deciding what to buy. Buying bananas is definitely a win-win solution so we do buy them every week. Here comes the problem though:  bananas are usually gone by Wednesday. Thus, we keep buying more, but seriously, how many bananas are too many? We can't just fill the whole shopping cart with bananas because then the other people will lose the opportunity to keep their budget low (not the actual reason).

Getting Schooled in Early Childhood Family Education

This past week I had a few opportunities to volunteer at some of the early childhood family education (ECFE) programs in Northfield, as well as participating in Fairbault’s Mondays’ in the Park. I believe my participation within these programs and discussing early childhood programming with Professor Gross and Gina have given me a beginning sense of the programming differences and struggles between Northfield and Fairbault.

Responsibility and Community

Our house conversation last week got me thinking about the role of responsibility in a community. Members of a household community, for example, may have simple, specific responsibilities such as washing the dishes, taking out the trash, buying groceries, or cooking dinner.

Learning from Lice

As some of you know, the Northfield house has been struck by an infestation of these gorgeous creatures:

Conversation and Community in the Northfield House

After a draining and nit-picky week, many of our internships and research positions were finally coming to fruition. Matthew started his position at the Arts Guild, and many of us now felt more comfortable in our new experience.

Coming out of an intense Twin Cities seminar, many of us had the idea of community on our minds. What is community? What does it mean? What’s the goal of a community? What makes a good community? 

A rousing conversation followed.

Pickles, Northfield House, Social Change ...?

Our refrigerator has a paper with a running tally of quotes on it. Some of them came from our time cooking, some from excursions outside the house, but one thing remains constant: all our quotes came from extensive conversations with our housemates.