Population Matters-USA

Immigration
© Richard Grossman MD, 2009

Immigration is an important part of the study of human population. It is a part that I have tried to ignore because I have strong, but conflicted, feelings about it.
In December 2007 a large package arrived from our son Bryan and daughter-in-law before Christmas. They were here for its opening—and what a surprise it was! We marveled at a copy of a ship’s manifest dated August 28th, 1906, showing the names of my father (age 4 years) and grandmother. They had traveled to Ellis Island, New York aboard the SS Potsdam.
My father didn’t talk much about his childhood. Growing up an Orthodox Jew, he was disowned by his family when he married my mother, a Christian. Despite their rocky start, my parents were together sixty years. I am happy that our country had an open immigration policy last century.
Our family received another benefit from immigration when our son Bryan e-mailed us that he was “the luckiest person in the world.” Previously hesitant to share details of his personal life, he had just met Ianina, his future wife. He traveled to Ukraine partly because that is where “Papa Lou” (his grandfather) had been born.
Bryan returned to Ukraine a few months after his first visit with an engagement ring. It took several months to negotiate our country’s immigration laws, but Ianina received a 90-day fiancée visa. She flew alone to New York, where Bryan greeted her at the airport. It was the first time she had ever been on an airplane, and the first time outside of her native land.
The first time we talked with Ianina we knew why Bryan considered himself so lucky. She had just started to study English and still had a heavy accent, but she was outgoing and charming. In those first weeks in New York, Ianina improved her English by traveling around the city with a camera. She would stop strangers on the street and ask them to take her picture, and then strike up a conversation.
Immigrants coming to the USA bring with them many wonderful characteristics. We are lucky to be able to enjoy many different authentic foods and other aspects of diverse cultures. Recent immigrants perform much of the menial work that citizens are loath to do; just look in the kitchens of Durango restaurants. People who leave their native lands often are more enterprising than those who stay behind; my father was a good example. You can thank (or curse) him if you have ever had a root canal done, because it was he who perfected that technique.
Many rich countries are facing a problem caused by decreasing population growth rates. They lack people to do strenuous labor, and some countries even import “guest” workers for this reason. Although our government doesn’t approve of illegal aliens, parts of our economy depend on them.
There are several categories of foreigners who are granted legal admission to the USA. They include children coming to be adopted, a family member rejoining a family, people with needed skills (such as physicians), refugees and asylum seekers, and spouses or fiancé(e)s such as Ianina.
The down side of immigration to the USA is that already we are the most overpopulated country in the world, in a sense. We are not able to nurture all the people who would like to move to the USA. Yes, the land can hold more people, but our extravagant consumption has made our numbers unsustainable. The Ecological Footprint of the average person in the USA is the largest for any country, and it is many times that of a person in a developing country.
When people move to our country they usually increase their consumption, thus their impact increases. Fortunately, they also tend to have smaller families than they might in their home country.
Allowing some immigrants to enter the USA certainly serves our country’s purposes. Currently over a million people enter the country legally every year, and perhaps the same number enters illegally. What is the correct number of immigrants? I don’t know, but it is certainly fewer than the current million. The last time I wrote on this subject was 1998 when we allowed in 800,000 immigrants. I suggested that 300,000 would be a reasonable limit, and it still seems that way.
The United States does not have a population policy, but it clearly needs one if we are going to live within sustainable limits. Slowing immigration would be an important part of such a policy.

This article may be copied or published but must remain intact, with attribution to the author. I also request that the words “First published in the Durango Herald” accompany any publication. For more information, please write the author at: richard@population-matters.org.

Sing
© Richard Grossman MD, 2009

“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”
“Practice, practice, practice” – Old joke

There is evidence that singing, especially in a chorus, is good for one’s health. My wife and I joined the Durango Choral Society shortly after moving to Durango. Recently members of DCS had the chance of a lifetime to sing in Carnegie Hall!
The reason we sing has little to do with health benefits, although they are a welcome side effect of doing what we enjoy. Health advantages include decreased blood pressure, better posture and breathing, improved immunity and the release of “feel good” endorphins. These effects help account for several advantages noted in a study of elderly singers. These seniors, averaging 80 years old, had fewer doctor visits, took less medication and were less depressed than age matched control subjects who did not sing or participate in music or art.
When I was in high school I was chosen to sing in our school’s select choir. I am not all that great a musician, but Miss Brewer must have seen some unrealized promise in me. She gave me a good start as a choral singer.
Diane Estes VanDenBerg was the conductor of DCS for many years. One of the most amazing experiences of my life was to sing two exciting performances with the great jazz musician Dave Brubeck. I can still remember the thrill of seeing Dave, seated at the piano, turn to the chorus while we were singing “To Hope” and beam us a beatific smile.
Dr. Linda Mack Berven, professor of music at Fort Lewis College, is the group’s current director. Although she is as an accomplished pianist and a superb soprano, her forte is teaching vocal music. She wrote her doctoral thesis on leading community choral groups, which she does with great skill and infectious enthusiasm.
Part of our conductor’s success is her candor. Yes, she is technically excellent and demands a lot from us. But what makes her so successful is that she lets the love and enthusiasm that she feels for the music show. This openness is refreshing, and has encouraged us to improve constantly. We also know that she knows and cares about each of us individually, and delights at the improvement of each member of the chorus.
Linda points out that singing is a very personal extension of an individual’s ego, and that we allow ourselves to be more vulnerable when we sing than when playing a musical instrument. Fortunately members of the choral society have a feeling of community that counteracts this vulnerability. Friendship is an important part of any community chorus, and is strong in DCS. Each individual feels supported by the whole team as we share our joys and grief.
We are amazingly lucky to have Dr. Mack Berven in Durango. I have feared that she would be lured away by a prestigious university, but she reassures me that she loves teaching in a smaller school. From little Durango she has built a national reputation, having sung several times at Carnegie Hall, led the Desert Chorale in Santa Fe and sung with the famous Robert Shaw Chorale in Europe.
Linda got her musical start from nuns who taught her piano at Catholic school in Chicago. Her first teaching job was in high school, where some of her students were on fire for music. She knew that she wanted to prepare and inspire music teachers, so she went on to graduate school.
Dr. Mack Berven has inspired lots of college students to be music teachers during her 27 years here. We have gotten to know many` of them since they have sung with the DCS. Several were with us during the arduous rehearsals preparing for our trip to New York.
There we were at Carnegie Hall, looking out at a full house. The decorations were beautiful and the acoustics perfect. The orchestra and soloists sounded first rate. Our conductor was John Rutter who rehearsed us carefully over the prior two days. An internationally famous British choral conductor and composer, we were initially anxious if we were up to Rutter’s high standards. We knew that we had succeeded when the performance received a standing ovation—unusual at Carnegie Hall.
Rutter later wrote us “Congratulations and thank you all for what turned out to be a splendid performance of the Mozart Requiem.” Linda talks frequently about “raising the bar.” Indeed, she has raised the level of performance of the Choral Society by many notches since she has been leading it.

This article may be copied or published but must remain intact, with attribution to the author. I also request that the words “First published in the Durango Herald” accompany any publication. For more information, please write the author at: richard@population-matters.org.