Well dear readers I'm having so much fun being in a cranky mood I think I'll stay that way.
I decided to look up a few things about where the CMwD assembly is going to be. I'm not thrilled. So here's the next thing I'm asking for.
CAN WE NOT HAVE DISTRICT ASSEMBLY IN THE MOST EXPENSIVE SUBURBS??????
This year the assembly is in Frontenac, a ritzy suburb of St. Louis. Last year the assembly was in Oak Brook, one of the ritzy suburbs of Chicago. Not only do these suburbs have class issues, these suburbs also have racial issues. Why are we picking places like these? Aren't there hotels that fit the district's requirements that are in places other than Frontenac and Oak Brook? Or are we really trying to send subliminal messages to those in lower socio-economic classes and to people of color that we don't really want you?
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3 comments:
No argument there. Seems to be true of mine, too--this year.
GKgmail:Why are we picking places like these? In would not be the least bit surprised to learn that oh so white and oh so upper middle-class U*Us really are trying to send not so subliminal messages to those in lower socio-economic classes and to people of color that U*Us don't really want them. . . I have also pointed out in the past that the anti-Christian bad attitude or broader anti-religious intolerance of many U*Us (mostly fundamentalist atheist "Humanist" U*Us) sends far from subliminal messages to most people of color, and indeed many people in lower socio-economic classes, that U*U "Welcoming Congregations" are anything but genuinely welcoming to them.
First of all, at least in my area, we have lots of people of color in the suburbs, partially because of all the diplomats and partially because suburban Washington DC is a pretty progressive area. I get that you're not meaning to imply that people of color don't have money, but let's make the distinction between issues of class and race a bit clearer.
Secondly, to review, you are angry that:
1. When everybody insists on having his or her own hotel room, things get expensive.
2. You can't feed a youth for the weekend and pay for a conference for $45
3. When people insist on eating three $15-$20 hotel meals instead of getting a $5 salad or a ten dollar burrito a block away, things get expensive.
4. When people are doing something that requires conference rooms, they often like to stay in hotels that have conference rooms. Such hotels are usually located in places where business travelers go.
Two minutes of googling turned me up a La Quinta Inn that's five miles away and has a free breakfast. So if you absolutely must have your own room and eat at your hotel, stay there:
http://www.lq.com/lq/index.jsp
OK, if you're getting the student rate of $45 and you have two nights by yourself in La Quinta Inn, we're up to $155. Your breakfasts are free. Assuming you insist on eating your other two meals at the Hilton, you're up to $245.00 for the whole conference plus travel.
Meanwhile, CC as a college student would have paid $45, and then split a $109 hotel room with, say, four other people. I would have brought peanut butter and breakfast bars from home at a cost of $10 (probably less if my rommates were on the same meal plan.) And I would have gone out once with my friends and get steak and shrimp fajitas and a couple of beers.
I'm at $130 for the whole conference for college-age me, and if I really wanted to skip the fajitas and beer and squeeze a few more people in to the room, I could have done it for under $100 provided I made the people who slept on the floor pay a full share, which I didn't always.
How much less do you expect a conference to cost? Who is supposed to pay to make it cheaper? Is it so unreasonable to expect people who are not paying the full amount to try to do things as cheaply as they reasonably can? If you don't eat out every meal at home, why do it at a conference?
CC
who is well past needing to pay what college students do and still has never stayed by herself at a conference and tends to skip breakfast when she can't get it for free.
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