January 2025 – Whoopsie Piggle

Last year, much political hay was made of grocery prices, particularly eggs. It didn’t matter that inflation was up worldwide after the COVID pandemic, nor that the United States had managed to slow it down better than any other country. The price of eggs was the talk of the nation, emblematic of consumer frustration.

My income is limited. Two months each year when I do not teach, I am eligible for food stamps. Thus, I am well aware of the price of eggs and yet dubious as to why it got so much attention. The week before Election Day, NPR aired several stories on consumer anxiety that included a clip of a man complaining that “eggs cost $6.99 a dozen at Seven-Eleven.”

Prices at Seven-Eleven are not representative of average costs. Convenience store prices are high because their hours and locations are convenient — it’s right there in the name. Fancy brown eggs, supposedly from hens fed better grain and allowed to run around, were just $3.49 a dozen at Acme this week. While some grocery prices are higher than they were before COVID, the percentage of my budget spent on groceries seems the same. My income is slightly higher and, like many, I buy differently when prices go up.

But there is one budget item skyrocketing like Lex Luthor trying to outpace Superman: homeowners insurance.

I own two side-by-side homes, living in one and renting out the other. In April of 2020, while COVID had us sheltered in our homes, a major hail storm hit Akron. In its aftermath, Akronites described 2020 on social media as cursed in biblical proportions. For me, however, the hail proved a blessing. Liberty Mutual covered the cost of a complete new roof for my rental home and the replacement of the porch roof of my residence.

I soon learned, however, that insurers commonly raise rates after a claim. The premiums for my residential home increased from roughly $1,400 to $1,700. I responded by switching to an independent insurance agent who found a policy with Cincinnati Insurance that not only lowered my premiums to $1,200 (less than before the claim), it also increased my coverages.

In the fall of 2023, my residential home’s premium again went up to $1,700 while my rental property’s premium stayed about the same. My agent told me it had to do with inflation as the costs of rebuilding homes had increased given the increased costs of materials. I kept the policies.

Last fall my rental property’s insurance increased slightly, but my residential home’s premium jumped to $2,620. That’s more than double what I paid just three years earlier on a home for which I have made no claims during that time. My agent told me the latest increases were due to the high number of claims nationwide resulting from natural disasters.

This time I sought competing quotes from other companies. My auto insurer, Geico, was $600 less for my residential home, but $400 more for my rental while all the coverages were much lower than what I have now. Multiple independent agencies came within $100 of my existing policy premiums, and gave the same reason for the high prices — recent heavy losses due to natural disasters.

According to Forbes Magazine, in 2023 homeowners insurance increased by 10% or more in over 25 states. The cumulative increase between 2018 and 2023 for nine well-known insurance companies was between 32% (Allstate) to a whopping 55% (Progressive). A 10th company, State Farm, was the list’s outlier as their rates went up only 14%.

Unlike the Gulf and Atlantic Seaboard states, in Northeast Ohio we mercifully do not suffer hurricanes. Nor do we have ravaging wildfires and destructive earthquakes like California. And while it’s not true of the entire state, in our part of Ohio tornadoes are infrequent and seldomly devastating. For my homes, the elevation of the land they’re built upon means flooding will never be a concern.

Yes, insurance is a pooling together of premiums so when disasters occur the funding exists to rebuild. But does it not seem reasonable that regions like ours — where the chances of it being declared a federal disaster area are close to zero — should have insurance rates markedly lower than in regions prone to natural disasters?

In three years time, the monthly mortgage payment on my residential home has risen by more than $200, more than half of which is because of increased insurance premiums. Unlike groceries, this markedly effects my limited budget. Politicians can’t do much about the price of eggs, but they can pass legislation that regulates premium increases for homeowners insurance. And should NPR call me for a quote, I’ll give one far better than the Seven-Eleven egg man.

This was first published in the Akron Beacon Journal on Sunday, January 5, 2025.

Many parents know the particular stress of boarding an airplane with a baby, a toddler or, worse yet, both. Packed at the ready are pacifiers, snacks, favorite toys, iPads with downloads for the toddler. When my children were still of nursing age, I wore loose shirts so I could face plant a whimpering infant to my bosom in T-minus three seconds.

Having nowhere to go with a noisy child, parents on an airplane become like low-expectations party hosts. They aren’t trying to make everyone’s flight great, they just don’t want people to have a bad time. The parent holding a fussy, noisy baby is keenly aware of each sideway glance, shaken head, grumbling and, occasionally, outright nasty comment.

If you’ve ever been that parent on an airplane, you pretty much know how it feels to take a child with an intellectual disability to a live performance. We want to share the experience of concerts and theatrical productions with our children, but do not want their behavior to compromise the event for other audience members.

Each year there is no shortage of festive performances in Akron in December. My youngest son, Leif, is 14 and my only daughter, Lyra, is 12 and, as regular readers of this column know, she has Down syndrome. The first event we attended, along with their father, was Handel’s “Messiah” performed by Apollo’s Fire at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Most know the “Hallelujah Chorus” of what is an otherwise beautiful but long opera. Lyra and I missed the “Hallelujah Chorus” because it occurs after the intermission.

From the beginning, Lyra, who sat between her brother and me, fidgeted, flopped around in the pew in the back balcony and made quiet comments. Two people offered us cough drops when she began fake coughing. Lyra enjoyed the music, but with little to look at the performance is challenging for children with or without intellectual disabilities. As Lyra and I put on our coats at intermission, people seated near us said, “Please don’t leave on our account!” I felt a sense of relief that caused me to realize how stressed I’d felt trying to keep Lyra quiet and still.

In mid-December we attended Ohio Shakespeare Festival’s “Every Christmas Story Ever Told” at Greystone Hall. It is reminiscent of “The Complete Works of Shakespeare” in that it smashes several stories into one athletic performance involving frequent instances of audience participation. Seated in a front row of the thrust theater, Lyra was engaged by the actors’ antics and it was impossible for her laughter and movement to bother anyone.

Lyra Christensen with her brother Leif after Akron Symphony's performance of Bruckner's "Symphony No. 4." — Lyra and Leif after Akron Symphony’s performance of Bruckner’s “Symphony No. 4”

Less formal than the Handel opera, but more so than the play, we also attended Akron Symphony’s holiday pops concert at EJ Thomas. Lyra is a pro at the concerts because last year my then-boyfriend and I had season tickets for us and the children. Akron Symphony is an arts gem in our community that, in my opinion, does not get the attention and plaudits it deserves. The concerts are varied in many and often surprising ways, while the conductor, Maestro Christopher Wilkins, marvelously engages the audience between pieces.

Children with intellectual disabilities commonly also have sensory issues, which manifest differently. Some desire sensory input and want to wear tight-fitting clothes. Others, like Lyra, are the opposite. At a symphony concert last March, Lyra chose to wear sparkly blue leggings under her dress. Seated in the center balcony, Lyra soon began rubbing her legs. “They’re itchy, ” she whispered. After asking three times if she wanted to remove her leggings, Lyra agreed.

While the symphony’s talented musicians transported the audience with the heavenly sounds of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 “Romantic,” Lyra and I performed something a little more Gypsy Rose Lee. From our seats I removed each of Lyra’s shoes. She then lifted her bottom and slid the leggings down. I pulled one, then the second leg off of her before slipping back on each shoe. Though we were stealthily quiet, anxiety sweat beaded up on my brow.

At the recent Holiday Pops concert, we walked past a young girl and her family to get to our seats in the same row. The child had fidget toys, was waving her arms and wouldn’t put down her legs. “Don’t worry, I’ll step over them, my daughter with Down syndrome is seated just ahead with her brother.” The girl’s mother mentioned her daughter’s autism.

The girl make a sound or two during the fun concert, but when I looked down the row during the final sing-along the family was gone. I found them in the lobby after the concert and went to tell them that their daughter was not disruptive. If someone can’t hear a child happily hoot during “Sleigh Ride,” it is perhaps they who should skip the concert.

All children learn proper public decorum by being in public, whether it’s how to act in a restaurant or a live performance. Yes, if my child becomes truly disruptive, I will remove them. Most parents of children with disabilities err on the side of caution because we fear anger and rejection are close at hand.

The audience at St. Paul’s for the “Messiah” production modeled the behavior of acceptance and grace. I encourage everyone to do the same, and not just passively. Display with smiles and words that all are welcome. For remember, we are all on the path to disability.

This was first published in the Akron Beacon Journal on Sunday, December 29, 2024.