A REVIEW BY LAURIE SAVRAN
At the book launch for her friends and neighbors at her Cedar Lake Home for her book “Stop Screwing The Middle Class,” Penny Jacobs held court just like she did when she was a teacher for Minneapolis Public Schools, for 37 years, and asked the crowd questions such as what caused the collapse in 1929 and which President is known for starting Social Security. Penny read excerpts from her book about how Amazon Employees called “pickers” have very stringent work goals which cause high stress with low pay and very tight breaks and lines for the bathroom. The crowd agreed that one of the most harmful decisions by SCOTUS is that corporations are people.
When Penny, who will turn 89 in August, isn’t writing books (this is her third), she is roller blading the lakes, riding her bike, swimming or ice skating and skiing in the winter. At night she attends movies, plays and concerts. Most of her friends are quite a bit younger since her contemporaries can’t keep up with her.
When Penny was teaching, she would often organize her students to march against the war or to make posters to keep Lake Calhoun clean. Sometimes the parents or administration were not supportive, but that didn’t stop Penny from educating her students about injustice. Actually, nothing stops Penny from doing what she feels will encourage peace and justice and care for the environment.
Three years ago she started reading articles to use in her book. She did the research the old-fashioned way by cutting out articles from various magazines and journals including The Wall Street Journal, StarTribune, Freeport Press in Maine (where her daughter lives), Progressive Magazine, City Pages, the NYT, Harper’s, Jim Hightower from Lowdown, the 1963 World Book Encyclopedia, and the movie “Inequality for All” by Robert Reich. The book is organized into many chapters called “Lots of Content.”
Penny never went on a computer or to a library or interviewed anyone for her book. She bought herself a typewriter for $127 and typed out the manuscript herself. This may be the last book ever written on a typewriter.
Penny’s book has many examples of CEOs who earn millions and even billions of dollars while their employees have no pensions or sick leave or even rest periods. She feels that the corporations are not paying their share of taxes and the middle class has to make up for it.
Her favorite chapter is on what we all can do. At the book launch, she encouraged everyone there to contact their elected officials, including Obama.
The book is $20. For information on how to purchase, please email me at [email protected].
