Book Notes | 'Nomadland'
The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies reported in a study released in May 2020 that only 40 percent of baby boomers had $250,000 or more saved for retirement. A staggering 19 percent of baby boomers in this study had less than $25,000. Due to recent declines in the stock market, this situation has most likely worsened. What does the life of some of the poorest retirees look like?
Jessica Bruder, in her book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, chronicles the lives of some of these retirees. For several years, she followed a group of retirees who lived in their vehicles, everything from small cars to worn out RVs, as they tried to piece together a subsistence lifestyle. They worked as camp hosts for the National Park Service, labored at the American Crystal Sugar's beet harvest in Minnesota, and took jobs during the busy season at Amazon warehouses, called fulfillment centers.
These organizations and others take full advantage of this demographic for their work ethic and ability to pass a drug test. The book chronicles the challenges, the hardships, and the community these modern nomads create for themselves.
Houseless, not homeless
Overall, UMRA Book Club I members thought the book was important and they appreciated reading it. Several members commented on the fact that the people in the book saw themselves not as homeless but “houseless,” and created a caring community of people who willingly shared their knowledge and skills.
Book Club members expressed concern about how, as a society, we can allow people to work full-time while not earning a living wage. Also, how workers are responsible for saving for their own retirement years without being given the most basic skills to understand how to save. Many of us wondered what happens when these people get too old or disabled to work at physically demanding jobs.
A couple members drew parallels between this book and the 2001 book Nickeled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. The situation has not changed. Furthermore, many of the people living like this are hiding in plain sight. We just don't see them, even though they may be camped in a secluded parking lot nearby and/or working as the clerk checking us out at our local Target.
The book was adapted into the 2020 film of the same name, which was awarded the Academy Award for Best Picture.
—Laura Ericksen, UMRA Book Club I member
Book Club I to meet February 17
Fri, Feb 17, 2023, 2pm
Laura Ericksen will lead the discussion of Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder when the UMRA Book Club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, February 17.
Email Pat Tollefson for more information, including suggestions for starting a new book club.
Upcoming Events
Morris Campus Retirees will host a Zoom meeting. Morris Campus Retirees are part of the University of Minnesota Retiree Association (UMRA). The group has already held two meetings in its first year of existence.
Peter Moe, retired Minnesota Landscape Arboretum director and UMRA member, will be leading a hiking tour of the Arboretum again this year. The amazing tulip display was at its peak for our hike last year, and we will undoubtedly enjoy seeing many spring-blooming trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and perennials. Plan to stay for lunch together (optional) after the hike at the Rootstock café in the Oswald Visitor Center.
UMRA’s Family History Interest Group will meet via Zoom on Wednesday, May 7, for an open discussion of ideas, insights, questions, and issues related to family history, and to discuss topics for next year’s meetings.
We will revisit the University of Minnesota Archives, with its major holdings largely tucked away in two huge underground caverns along the Mississippi River under the West Bank campus, holds the essential records of our University of Minnesota’s past. University Archivist Erik Moore will interpret the holdings and bring out a sampling of what it holds. We will also get a tour of the caverns (Minnesota Library Access Center), revealing where these precious materials are housed, including the original tapes of KUOM, now Radio K.
Cancer has touched all of us. If you are willing to share your cancer journey or talk about your experience with a person you have supported, please consider attending the May 8 UMRA breakfast gathering at The Original Pancake House in Roseville.
You are cordially invited to this presentation by Andy Whitman, Professor, Attorney, Volunteer Financial Planner. He will discuss investments for your grandchildren.
The UMRA Photo Club is having a photo shoot at the Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul on Tuesday, May 13.
Financial scams are a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, and learning how to spot and avoid scams is more important than ever to your financial health. For UMRA’s May workshop, Jay Haapala, leader of AARP’s Fraud Watch Network, will share with us the latest criminal trends in scamming and how to avoid them.
The UMRA Book Club will discuss The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon when it meets via Zoom on May 16.
.Wood Lake Nature Center is a peaceful 150-acre cattail marsh, woodland, and restored prairie that is a haven for migrating birds and waterfowl. This UMRA hike is a great opportunity for those who would like a shorter, easier hike. The trails are dirt, grass, and woodchip, with some bridges and a bit of paved trails. Only a couple small hills to navigate, the park is mostly flat.
University of Minnesota Regent Penny Wheeler, MD, will be the featured guest for the UMRA luncheon forum on May 20. In place of the usual speech format for our forums, Regent Wheeler will be interviewed by UMRA member and liaison to the Board of Regents John Finnegan, professor and dean emeritus of the U of M School of Public Health.
I, Claudius by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934, will be up for discussion when UMRA's Fourth Friday Book Club meets via Zoom on May 23.
The UMRA Book Club will discuss The Great River by Boyce Upton when it meets via Zoom on June 20.
Learn about writing memoirs, technology for seniors, campus architecture, and more at the fourth annual Age-Friendly University Day to be held in the McNamara Alumni Center on the Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis on Monday, June 23.
Catch up with friends and former colleagues, meet new UMRA members, enjoy delicious food, and participate in the third annual UMRA Summer Social Quiz at the Como Lakeside Pavilion in St. Paul on Wednesday, June 25.