Gayle Carper

I’m a pessimist, and I've been feeling gloomy about the future of our region with the bad news from Western Illinois University.  There are fewer students, more jobs lost and the sudden, unexplained defunding of this NPR affiliate, Tri States Public Radio.  Faculty, staff and community members feel left out of the decision-making process. There is a rolling negative effect outside of the university campus on Macomb and the region and the people living here.

But I’ve been hanging around some optimists.  They have made me look beyond WIU to find the good things happening in our community.

April 10 was Equal Pay Day. This is the date representing how far into 2018 women have to work in order to catch up to what men were paid in 2017.  Equal Pay day shows the gender pay gap between men and women.   As a group, women make about 80 cents for every dollar earned by a man. For women of color, that number drops: 63 cents for black women, whose Equal Pay Day isn’t until August 20, and 54 cents for Latinas who must work until November 1 for their Equal Pay Day. The gender pay gap exists in every profession, every occupation, at every level of education, in every country. 

I am delighted by the response to the movies Wonder Woman and Black Panther.  Both are inspiring to children. Both movies show powerful role models for women  and people of color as leaders with strength and compassion.  Both are celebrations of the importance of representation in pop culture. It really does matter to see someone just like you in the role of hero.

If I were a man, I'd be embarrassed and insulted right now. 

Over the past few months, thousands of women have spoken publicly about what's been done to them - sexual assault, physical and verbal harassment, derogatory comments -because they are women. 

Since I promised to do these commentaries, I decided to use the opportunity to organize.

Once again, we are in a news cycle where powerful, famous men's sexual assaults are being made public.  The men say the sex was consensual, meaning, of course, that no one forced them to do anything they didn't want to do.  The men say they now know their conduct was unacceptable.  Scores of courageous women disclose private, humiliating, and hurtful events. Then we have a national conversation about what women should do to avoid sexual assault and sexual harassment, because, you know, men are men.

In October, most people look forward to Halloween; as a lawyer, I look forward to the start of a new United States Supreme Court term.  Starting now and working through next spring, the Court will decide over 40 cases. Some of these decisions will have significant effects on the value of our votes, our cell phone privacy, marriage equality, union membership, education for disabled kids, police use of force, transgender rights, deportation and many more issues.

I doubt that many people would disagree with me when I say big governments – those in  Washington DC and Springfield -  have not been working very well in the past few years.  Washington and Springfield seem to have a very difficult time doing anything. 

There’s some debate over how the city of the Macomb should spend its share of profits from Spring Lake Park.

An Art and Gift Market in Macomb will feature locally produced works in a variety of mediums: photography, jewelry, yarn crafts, wearables, upcycled art, and more.

The Al Sears Jazz Festival and the Gazebo Art Festival will team up again this year for a day of music and art in Chandler Park.  The jazz fest will also feature other performances throughout the weekend.

Holiday shoppers looking for gifts that are not mass produced might find what they’re looking for in Macomb.

The leaves on the trees in Macomb’s Chandler Park have not yet started changing colors, but there will nonetheless be plenty of color in the park on Saturday, September 21.