Lisa gave me the most amazing birthday present ever she enrolled me in  Machine Shop Basics for some personal development.  I have always wanted to learn how to run a lathe and a mill, I love the feel of metal, the clean lines and the glimmer of stainless steel.

SO I get there today and there are 90 people crowding around a small classroom listening to the instructor talk about the vocational training that City College offers.  She spoke about Electronics Assembly, Electronic Testing and Machine Shop.  She mentioned that this was the largest group that she had ever seen in her years of working for the district and that spaces were limited.

She asked for a show of hands on how many people were planning on the machine shop class and about 30 people put their hands up.  Now this was really the most motley crew you have ever seen, people of ever age and every walk of like united by the one reality – that they needed a skill to get a job.  Man, there were people there with some hard luck stories, people who needed bus tokens to get to school and subsidized textbooks.

The instructor said that there were only 12 open spots for the class and that there was just no way for everyone to get in.  They decided to hold a lottery and 1/3 people would be accepted.   This is when I walked to the front of the class, let her know that I was not going to take the course – I wanted someone to take it to build a better life rather than me who wants to build door nobs!

She was really appreciative – but man….I have really not seen just how hard people have been hit by this economy – until today.