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Immigrants Turn to Farm Work Amid Building Bust
Growers Regain A Source of Labor; Wage Gap Narrows
By MIRIAM JORDAN
June 13, 2008; Page A4
The building bust is turning out to be an unexpected boon for another industry, agriculture, as many Hispanic immigrants who lost construction jobs return to the fields in search of work.
In recent years, the ranks of farm workers had been thinned by a crackdown on illegal immigration coupled with the lure of better-paying construction jobs. That left farmers scrambling to find workers to harvest labor-intensive crops. Now, growers and labor contractors from Florida to California are reporting that former carpenters, dry wallers and painters are returning.
"We had seen the labor supply dwindling year after year," said Richard Quandt, president of the Grower-Shipper Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. This year, "we are surprised to have a lot of workers." The area grows strawberries, greens, broccoli, grapes and other vegetables and fruits.
DOI: 10.1177/0096144205284400
© 2006 SAGE Publications
Neither Fight Nor Flight
Urban Synagogues in Postwar Philadelphia
Jordan Stanger-Ross
University of Victoria
This article uses case studies of two Philadelphia synagogues to argue that postwar cities remained places of opportunity for creative local institutions and that the geographic flexibility of synagogues did not necessarily entail flight from declining urban areas. After their North Philadelphia Jewish residential enclave dissipated, Mikveh Israel and Rodeph Shalom recast the meaning of community and membership to accommodate their dispersed congregations. Rather than remaining neighborhood synagogues, Mikveh Israel and Rodeph Shalom connected members dispersed across the metropolitan area who were committed to preserving their religious institutions at the center of the city. Postwar Jewish community at these two synagogues developed metropolitan contours.
Key Words: Jewish • synagogues • North Philadelphia • urban decline • geography
from wiki on - Psychogeography is "the study of specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organised or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals," according to Guy Debord's Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography.