Eija Väliranta's blog

I have been collecting book recommendations along my journey. Here are the top 10:

1. Paul Krugman: The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008

2. Thomas Friedman: That Used To Be Us

3. John Pring: Longcare Survivors - The Biography of a Care Scandal

4. Robert Reich: Aftershock: The Next Economy and America´s Future

One of my weak points in journalism is that I don´t understand economics. Well, I do understand my own microeconomics quite well and that a Gucci store is a no-no. And a five star hotel is out of questions when I go on a holiday.

On Friday the 30th of September we happened to walk by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago when we saw a group of demonstrators gathering around the main entrance. They were standing together against corporate greed.

I was handed out a paper which said "We are the 99%" and Occupychi.org."

Yesterday we visited the Obama Campaign office in Chicago. This visit was eagerly expected, so we were very disappointed when we were told that this meeting was "off the record". WHAT? Why do you invite ten journalists around the world to visit and then announce something like that?

Tommies started their football season today here at the St. Thomas University and because we WPI Fellows always seem to find ourselves in the most happening places, me and Ethar disguised ourselves as sport journalists. First we had to buy Tommy T-shirts so that no one would notice that we are foreign.

What a day! We still have sore feet, stomach full of corn, fries, hot dogs and three different kinds of deep fried munchies. But it was worth it!

Please take a ride with us:

We got back from Iowa 20 minutes ago. The weather was quite bad when we were driving back and Andra did really good job getting us home safely. Thank you!

We got a crash course on agriculture in Iowa. Yesterday Mr. John Heisdorffer told us about soybeans.

In Ely there is this fantastic lakeside lodge called Burntside. Our host Anne Swenson took us for dinner there and it was quite a treat to eat Walleye while the sun was setting. The fish was Canadian, since in Ely it is illegal to fish Walleye for commercial purposes.

The first roadtrip of WPI 2011 was a success. Or at least we want to think so. We were all set to go on Sunday Aug 21st at 10.

First stop was at the Gooseberry Falls State Park. They used to call this place Gitchi-Gami.

The WPI 2011 fellows have just finished their three day seminar with Mr. John Ullmann, the former executive director of WPI and Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). What did we learn from this 66-year-old goalie trainer, who has made an astonishing career in our field?

Well, for example that numbers have no meaning, if we don´t give them a meaning. And that we should find the hidden web. Mr.