Is the great depression almost upon us, again?

Well the economy is starting to play an interesting game with the people. Each and every day people are hearing the same thing whether it's on the news, in the newspapers or on the internet about how the economy is hurting and how things could be as worse as if not more than the Great Depression.

But then on the other hand gas prices have dropped tremendously over the past month and a half going from the $2.65 to $2.85 range down to around $1.89 and in some places around here a little less. Nice to see it's a little easier on the wallet and I'm sure that many people are glad to see those few extra dollars lying around.

An interesting story in the Arizona Daily Star talks about the Tucson Community Food Bank and how it is experiencing an increase in the number of people coming in needing food.

This isn't the only place that is experiencing the same thing. In Durango, Colo., my former hometown, the same thing is going on. The shelves are going empty fast and some interviewed in the article say they are worried about the holiday season and how it is usually a time when the amount of food needs to be doubled.

So how does a situation like this play out? Will food at the supermarket continue to raise in price causing families to cut out other areas in the budget just to afford to feed themselves?

Another story out of Colorado talks about how the owner of a farm allowed people to go onto his land and take your pick of the bunch in terms of food. Apparently over 40,000 people showed up looking for whatever they could find. The article talked about cars snaking through the nearby streets and people walking all over the place. It must have been a scene similar to Woodstock when cars and people were lined up for miles around the dairy farm in New York.

When I sit back I think about how lucky I am when it comes to have a cabinet full of food including the essentials such as fruits, vegetables, milk and meat, I can't imagine what it's like for those who want to provide a good meal for their families but are not able to do so.

With Thanksgiving just a few days away and the holiday season rapidly approaching, maybe it's best to think of others and if possible provide a little help in terms of a donation.

Yeah it sounds kind of corny, but with the economic hardships that families all over the country are feeling right now, wouldn't it be nice to help someone? Plus maybe if you help someone else possibly in the future it could pay off in some way.

Credit for the cabinet picture

Credit for the Woodstock picture

Preview of our interview with Ted Estrada

Well since last week I talked about my experience at the St. Andrews Children's Clinic and what I remembered most about it, this week I thought I would look at how Executive Director Ted Estrada helps the clinic run, getting donations and trying to keep afloat in an economy that is struggling.

During our sit down interview with Estrada, which can be viewed on the Borderbeat website within the next week or so, we asked him how the clinic goes about getting donations, why he chose to work in the medical field and what the future holds for the clinic.

When talking about where the clinic gets its donations from Estrada talked about the generosity of the people who volunteer at the clinic once a month. He said some donate just a few dollars and some go as far as donating thousands of dollars.

When talking about some of the people who have donated money since he became executive director back in May he said, "I've always said that these are retired persons. To sit down and write a check for three dollars, for $50, $100, or $50,000 like we have received, you have to be motivated by something." He asked us both before we entered into the clinic and during our interview with him to find out why people volunteer at the clinic and see what reasons they give.

Estrada's work in the health care field is an interesting one because of his background and where he came from to where he is right now. He said he grew up wanting to be a doctor but growing up in Texas in a large family that he described as being poor. He worked his way through college going to the University of Texas-Austin. While there he took some anatomy classes and had a rather interesting beginning to his desire to enter the health care field.

"I took a couple of anatomy courses and I fainted at one of them," Estrada said. "But it appealed to me after awhile not so much as a practitioner but more of an administrator."

When working as a hospital administrator in California, Estrada said he used to tell his employees that his job was like "running a small city."

As for the future of the clinic, Estrada hopes that instead of using the church as the site for the clinic a new building could be used specifically for the clinic. He also hopes that maybe there would be a time where two or three doctors could be permanently employed by the clinic so that children who come to the clinic over the year or longer would be able to see the same doctor.

I'll stop here for now because I don't want to give away the rest of the story just yet. But be sure to visit the Borderbeat website to read and view the video of our interview with Estrada.

Trip to Nogales clinic provides an interesting experience

On Thursday our journalism class took a trip down to Nogales, Ariz., to visit the St. Andrew's Children Clinic. The trip was made because it is the focus of a special project many of us are doing which includes not only writing text for a story but also including audio, video and photography.

At first I was hesitant about going simply because it was very difficult to grasp what could be done in preparing the week before the trip. Trying to figure out what to write on and who to talk to was tough enough. I took some time to read some of the previous stories done by the class before us and felt a little better knowing what the clinic is and some of those who visit it for care.

All I can say about my time at the clinic was that I spent the entire time walking back and forth through the church looking for people to talk to, photos to take and audio and video to record.

On the ride back to Tucson I was then able to truly understand the stories and the people we in the class covered. As the other two passengers in my car were catching up on lost sleep from the early start to the day, I tried to go over the most interesting part of the experience in my head and came away with the one that I remembered the most.

It was meeting Doug McQuiggin, an 83-year old from Green Valley, who was volunteering at the clinic in the waiting area. He was sitting at a small table with some of the children playing with big Lego blocks. He would help the kids build up the blocks as high as how many pieces were available at the table and then would help them tear down their creation and start the process over again. What was so interesting about talking with McQuiggin was that he didn't know very much Spanish, only some key words like asking the children about their name and their age.

As some kids came and went from the table, McQuiggin continued to help those at the table build up some blocks, tear them down and start all over again. Few words were exchanged between him and the children. A 4-year old named Francisco Javier Lerma, he is building the blocks in the picture, came over to the table as I was taking pictures. McQuiggin tried asking him what his name was and his age but he didn't respond. Francisco just sat there building the blocks as high as he could. But after awhile he began to open up and started smiling at McQuiggin and the other children at the table.

McQuiggin said to me after he saw what took place: "He came over here five minutes ago and now look at him. He is opening up, smiling and playing with the others."

Earlier I asked him how he was able to communicate with the children since he didn't know much Spanish. McQuiggin said, "We get along mostly by smiling."

Why was this so interesting?

Maybe it's because McQuiggin is 79 years older than Francisco or that not much was said between him and the children.

I guess maybe it just goes to show you that a smile can really go a long way.

UA, ASU and the state of Arizona: All down for the count?

As the long road of the 2008 presidential election finally comes to the exciting conclusion on Tuesday night, hopefully more attention will be focused on how things are going not only in Tucson but across the state of Arizona as well.

In the last week alone there have been some interesting stories that should be talked about more but the presidential election is something that comes only once every four years. But after the election life must go on for all and things right now are not looking so great in the state as far as the economy is concerned.

The first story I found looks at the upcoming layoffs and the reorganization efforts on the campus. The $1.2 billion that makes up the entire budget of the UA is astonishing when you take the time to think about it. The possibility of research grants not being offered to researchers on campus is a problem that could keep people from coming to the UA and that is not something the university needs.

The second story I found talks about some of the services being cut by the city of Tucson due to the budget shortfall of $51 million. The cutting back on hours of recreation centers, swimming pools and reassigning staff workers involved with the Community Food Banks are some of the topics listed in the story. I understand the need to cut certain things from the budget but cutting back the hours during the day that a recreation center is open is not really the best idea out there. Taking away a place for people of all ages to go to is a recipe for disaster.

The third story I found looks at the economy of the state of Arizona and how it is being affected by the lower amount of spending. The biggest part of the story is not any money figure thrown out there about how much the state is in the red. Instead the most notable part of the story is from Gov. Janet Napolitano. The governor is looking for the federal government, in the event of another round of stimulus checks, to have them sent to the state instead of the individual taxpayer. I think it would be very interesting to see the reactions from people who may not have heard of such a possibility.

The last story I found looks at how Arizona State University is also struggling in the economy and is being forced to make cuts to its faculty and budget. As if class sizes, outside of our journalism department, are not big enough, think again. While as a UA I could bash ASU and laugh about the situation, but it's not worth it. Most people, including myself, have to pay a decent amount of money to go to school and the last thing needed is to be in large lecture classes for most of the lower level courses.