If you know a child in a single-parent home, that child is most likely being raised by Mom. According to the latest U.S. Census figures from November of 2009, 84 percent of the custodial parents in the 13.7 million single-parent households in the U.S. are mothers. Only 16 percent of custodial parents are dads. Many fathers blame the court systems, which they believe favors the mothers in most cases, but one expert believes that men have more control over that paradigm than they might think.
“When it comes to deciding who gets the kids, it’s natural for judges to want to place them with the parent who is nurturing and sensitive,” said Michael Taylor, motivational speaker, life coach, and author of A New Conversation With Men (www.coachmichaeltaylor.com). “Let’s face it. In most cases, it’s difficult to cast most fathers -- even the good ones -- in that light. But I don’t think it’s out of reach for any man to become that person, and to exude it in his daily life.”
Taylor believes that the greatest challenge we have in our society right now is to redefine masculinity.
“Most men are tired and frustrated with their lives and are looking for something new and different,” he said. “Men want to learn to be genuinely happy with their lives but most of them do not know how to accomplish this. They are sold on the bill of goods by the past generation that men are aloof and authoritarian, and that’s part of being a man. The first thing we need to do is discard all the media and culture madness that has created the problem in the first place. I believe that every man can learn to be a great husband, a great father and a trusted friend. To get there, we need to break the bonds of a culture that has taught us all the wrong things about what it means to be masculine, and embrace a new paradigm of masculinity that empowers them to reach their full potential.”
The cornerstone for this new paradigm, according to Taylor, includes developing stronger connections to the ideas of love, compassion, understanding, acceptance and forgiveness.
“These qualities are not signs of weakness,” Taylor said. “They are actually signs of strength, and when men reject these aspects of themselves, it leads to all sorts of dysfunction and unhappiness. We’ve grown up in a culture that teaches men that marriage is a prison, and that being monogamous is somehow not manly, when in fact, the successful and happy husbands and fathers out there know that to be the opposite. If we can reverse these beliefs, I believe we will begin to see a dramatic reduction of issues like high divorce rates, high school dropouts, domestic abuse and high incarceration rates.” – Word by Coach Michael Taylor
About Coach Michael Taylor
A proud father of three grown children, Coach Michael Taylor is happily married and resides in Houston, Texas. He is also a self educated entrepreneur, author, personal coach and radio show host. Taylor has been facilitating workshops and seminars for more than 15 years and has reached thousands through his books, seminars and radio show.
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In the coming decade, it won’t be enough to teach kids how to read and write. If they’re not financially literate, they’ll be lost. That’s the advice being offered by The National Financial Educators Council (NFEC) (www.FinancialEducatorsCouncil.org), organizers of Money XLive – one of the nation’s largest financial literacy event that brings together celebrities and sport stars to provide youth a practical financial education in an MTV award show style environment.
According to a survey from CollegeGrad.com, 80 percent of all college graduates in 2009 moved back in with their parents after graduation, a three percent increase from 2008 and a 13 percent increase from 2006.
“It’s tough out there, and it isn’t getting any better,” said Vince Shorb, president of the NFEC. “I’m reading studies that are saying as many as 80 percent of college grads have to move back home after graduation. The trend is rising, and it’s not getting any better. Living independently is getting more difficult with each new generation of graduates, and one of the key problems is that we aren’t equipping these kids with a good sense of how to run their finances.”
The NFEC, which helps educators, not-for-profits, schools, community organizations and parent groups assemble financial literacy programs, offered some tips on how to teach children financial literacy. They include:
1. Relate Money to Lifestyle. Today’s youth are not focused on just “money.” It’s what money “allows them to do” that motivates our children to pick up financial literacy skills. Uncover their personal dreams and find out how they want to live their day-to-day life. Then relate their aspirations to how having a financial education can help them reach their goals faster.
2. Help Them Recognize Opportunity . Even though many people are going through financial challenges now, it is important that we teach our children how to recognize opportunity. When the economy is in bad shape is when many financially savvy people are making investments that will increase their long-term net worth. A simple financial literacy lesson like a practical understanding of market cycles gives them the knowledge of how to take advantage of future trends can have a profound impact on their life.
3. Savings Plan. Getting your child, teen or young adult in a habit of setting financial goals and saving money as soon as possible is an important financial literacy habit you can help them develop. Since today’s youth are comfortable with technology it is highly recommended you teach them to automate their savings and budget plans.
4. Build a Solid Financial Foundation. Make sure your child has their checking, savings, Roth IRA and brokerage accounts open as soon as possible (even if they do not have money to put into their brokerage or retirement accounts right now). People that have these accounts open are more likely to save their money and begin investing at a young age.
5. Power of Compounding Interest. Youth gives our children a huge advantage when it comes to their financial health due to compounding interest. If you are over 60 years old, if you would have invested $100 per month in the S&P 500 index starting at 18 years old, you could be a millionaire now. Don’t you wish you fully understood compounding interest and how to take advantage of it when you were 18 years old?
6. “Let’s face it,” Shorb said. “The next generation will be without the advantages of pensions and Social Security to protect their futures. If we’re going to deny them those tools, we should at least teach them how to better manage what they earn. That’s why the NFEC was created, and that’s the mission of the organization.” – Press Report by Rachel Friedman
The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City
When the last emperor of China, Puyi, left the Forbidden City in 1924, the doors closed on a secluded compound of pavilions and gardens deep within the palace. Filled with exquisite objects personally commissioned by the 18th-century Qianlong (pronounced chee’en lohng) emperor for his personal enjoyment, the complex of lavish buildings and exquisite landscaping lay dormant for decades. Now for the first time, 90 objects of ceremony and leisure — murals, paintings, furniture, architectural and garden components, jades and cloisonné — will be on view at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts. The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City will reveal the contemplative life and refined vision of one of history’s most influential rulers with artworks from one of the most magnificent places in the world.
A model of international cooperation, the exhibition was organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in partnership with the Palace Museum, Beijing, and in cooperation with World Monuments Fund (WMF). The Emperor’s Private Paradise willtravel to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Milwaukee Art Museum in 2011. “This is a very exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our visitors to see the contents of this extraordinary Forbidden City complex before it opens to the public at large in 2019. Our collaboration with the Palace Museum and World Monuments Fund underscores PEM’s commitment to showing ambitious, world-class exhibitions and to our ongoing cultural exchange with China,” said Dan Monroe, Executive Director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum.
A garden of elegant repose
A jewel in the immense Forbidden City complex, the Qianlong Garden had remained untouched for more than 230 years when in 2001 the Palace Museum and WMF began the restoration of the 27 buildings, pavilions and outdoor elements including ancient trees and rockeries. Built when China was the largest and most prosperous nation in the world, the garden complex was part of the emperor's ambitious commission undertaken in anticipation of his retirement. Buddhist shrines, open-air gazebos, sitting rooms, libraries, theaters and gardens were interspersed with bamboo groves and other natural arrangements. In the garden’s worlds within worlds, the Qianlong emperor would retreat from affairs of state and meditate in closeted niches, write poetry, study the classics and delight in his collection and artistic creations.
“The Qianlong Garden project is the centerpiece of our conservation work in China. World Monuments Fund is honored to be part of both the history and the future of this important site, and delighted to be working with the Peabody Essex Museum and bringing the Qianlong Garden to a public audience,” said Bonnie Burnham, President of World Monuments Fund.
The Emperor’s Private Paradise includes a film and other interactive elements highlighting the conservation process undertaken by the Palace Museum and WMF, as well as the gifted artisans who restored the objects and architecture to their original condition. A computerized walk-through will offer visitors a vicarious experience of one of the principal structures, the Juanqinzhai building, conservation of which has just been completed. Museum-goers will be able to try their hand at calligraphy with a touch station that will lead them through the brush strokes.
An emperor of exceptional influence
Reigning from 1736 to 1796, the Qianlong emperor led China to sweeping administrative, military and cultural achievements while far surpassing European monarchs of his day in wealth and power. As the fourth emperor of the Qing (pronounced ching) dynasty to rule China, his 60-year reign spanned the American and French Revolutions, and the reigns of a veritable parade of Georges, Fredericks and Catherines of Europe. The Qianlong emperor was a multi-faceted monarch — an aggressive military conqueror of vast territories and a passionate patron of the arts. Many of our impressions of imperial China’s splendor date from the 18th-century, and owe much to the tastes, fashions and style of the Qianlong court. While incorporating classic Chinese design features such as elements of nature and expressions of Confucian morality, the Qianlong emperor also added new concepts from European painting styles. His desire to innovate within the Chinese aesthetic touched the objects, architecture and landscapes that he commissioned, transforming what we recognize as Chinese art.
Objects of imperial contemplation
The artworks crafted for the Qianlong emperor echoed and supported his dedication to Buddhist spiritual pursuits, Confucian morals, love of literature and reverence for nature. “Visitors to this exhibition will be invited to walk through our galleries the way the Qianlong emperor would have strolled through his rooms and gardens. Around each corner are opportunities to encounter objects of beauty and exceptional craftsmanship,” said Nancy Berliner, exhibition curator and curator of Chinese art at the Peabody Essex Museum.
A spectacular hanging Buddhist shrine painted on silk (shown left) evokes a paradisiacal realm, radiant with color and glittering with gold. The work is a mandala, a Buddhist cosmogram depicting a portion of the universe with deities and other supernatural beings arranged in a ritually auspicious design that can aid the meditation of initiated worshippers. In an innovative combination of two and three-dimensional formats, painted figures sit nestled in glass-covered insets, dotting the piece like set gemstones. The emperor, a devotee of a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Mongolia, is depicted in gold as the Bodhisattva Manjusri at the center.
The magnificent throne (shown right) exemplifies the exceptional craftsmanship of artisans engaged by the emperor to furnish his private world. This piece was carved from zitan, a wood so hard and dense that it sinks in water. Techniques including gold painting on lacquer, bamboo thread marquetry, fine wood carving, and jade and hardstone inlay contributed to the elegant solidity of the piece, which likely took well over a year to complete.
An impressive sight for Buddhist devotees or art connoisseurs is the monumental jade-and- lacquer screen (shown left) of 16 luohan, or enlightened beings –– the celebrated, quasi-legendary disciples of the Buddha. Each character is depicted in a surprisingly grotesque manner after an earlier painting by a master who saw them appear this way in a dream. Visually arresting in black and white, the reverse side of the screen is equally striking, with glorious botanical images painted in gold. Long hidden from view due to its orientation flush with a chamber wall, the reverse images were a great discovery for Palace Museum and WMF conservators working on the project.
Also included in the exhibition is one of the rare extant examples of imperial trompe-l'oeil mural painting, a fifteen-foot-wide work depicting women and children in a palace hall celebrating the New Year. The mural is one of only six such surviving 18th-century works. Painted by Chinese court artists who had been trained by a European artist, the mural reflects a successful blending of European and Chinese traditions.
Other objects range from the quietly personal to the flamboyantly crafted and hued. Calligraphy written in the emperor’s own hand conveys a sense of his refined thinking and brush technique. Panels carved in semiprecious gemstone or rendered in brilliantly pigmented cloisonné are as vibrant and pleasing as the day they were created.
China and the Peabody Essex Museum
PEM’s relationship with China extends nearly to the Qianlong emperor's reign, and is the longest of any museum in North America. Dating to the close of the 18th-century, PEM’s holdings in Chinese art and Asian export art represent some of this country's first efforts to reach outward and establish mutually enriching, lasting exchanges with other nations.
The Emperor's Private Paradise is the next step in PEM’s ongoing commitment to bringing new discoveries in Chinese art and architecture to the public. Yin Yu Tang, an 18th-century merchant’s house acquired by the museum in 2003, is the jewel of the museum’s collection and the only example of historic vernacular Chinese architecture in North America. The building was meticulously dismantled at its original site in southeastern Anhui province, and re-constructed piece by piece at the museum in Salem. Yin Yu Tang remains a great source of pride for the museum, a deep and abiding connection to China and a rare trove of living scholarship.
Power-Up with the Peabody Essex Museum at www.pem.org.
LAEDC Mid-year Forecast Shows Improving Economic Picture and Job Growth in 2011
Play By Play News On Art, Culture And Global People News
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How To Teach Kids To be Financially Literate
Did The Recession Make Us A Nation of Tightwads? Expert Reveals How The New Economy Is Spawning a New Frugality
We don’t spend as much as we used to, and we are keeping an eye on our debt. That’s what a new Associated Press study says about the spending habits of U.S. consumers in the wake of the recession that pummeled the economy in 2009. The new AP Economy Survey asked 44 leading economists whether the recession created a "new frugality" among consumers that will outlive the recession. Two-thirds said yes.
This is good news for Donna Every, an MBA who is also a former Ernst & Young chartered accountant and author of the financial advice book What Do You Have in Your House? (www.donnaevery.com).
“The recession blindsided us and forced us to take stock of all of our assets because we were at risk for losing them all,” Every said. “In the aftermath of the recession, we are still taking stock of our assets, but this time it’s because we are beginning to realize we can be content with what we already have.”
Many blame the financial markets and unscrupulous brokers who sold sub prime loans and offered credit to unqualified customers for the crisis, but Every thinks consumers are coming to their senses about their role in the recession.
“Sure, brokers were giving insane amounts of credit to families that should never have qualified for it, but it was the consumers who were signing up for those loans and credit cards in record numbers,” she said. “Just because the offers were out there did not obligate Americans to take advantage of those offers. It’s just that the idea that we could live beyond our means was so attractive and seductive. Now that we are emerging on the other side of that tunnel, we are realizing that if we want to avoid the tough times in the future, we need to be far more careful about how we spend, how we save and how we make use of the assets already in our possession.”
Every still recommends that consumers look “in their house” to ensure they are making the most of their assets.
“Half of the equation requires us to spend our money more wisely, and distinguish the difference between our needs and wants,” she added. “The other half is taking a second look at what we already own to ensure that we are making use of the things we have. So many of us still have items in our garage that we could make use of in our daily lives, but they don’t do anyone any good just sitting in the dark, gathering dust. Maybe we don’t need to buy new items if we have comparable older items lying around that still have years of use in them.”
The next step, according to Every, is to set financial goals for ourselves, and then work every day to achieve them.
“About 90 percent of the task of getting out of debt comes out of making a conscious decision that you’re going to make it a priority,” she said. “The other 10 percent is coming up with a plan to eliminate it and sticking to it. An important part of that plan could be to start using the often overlooked assets of our gifts, skills and abilities to earn extra income to help reduce our debt faster. It’s within our grasp, but we have to plan to work for it, and then work the plan.”
About Donna Every
Donna Every has a degree in Mathematics from the University of the West Indies and is a Chartered Accountant and an MBA. She worked with Ernst & Young Barbados as an auditor and then as a consultant for ten years before starting her own business in 1998.
Expert Reveals Five Tips On How To Teach Kids About Money
On view at PEM September 14, 2010 – January 9, 2011
Los Angeles County’s entertainment, tourism and international trade sectors will lead a “measured recovery,” but housing remains an issue
In a new report released today, the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) projects the U.S. economy will grow by 3.1 percent in 2010 and by 2.9 percent in 2011 after contracting by 2.4 percent in 2009. The report also shows that employment will grow through year end 2010, and the nation’s unemployment rate will decline slowly, reaching the nine percent range by the end of 2011. According to the “2010-2011 Economic Forecast and Industry Outlook: Mid-Year Update” report produced by the LAEDC’s Kyser Center for Economic Research, California’s recovery will be led by tourism, international trade, technology, and television and film production.
“We are seeing a measured recovery under way,” said the Kyser Center’s Chief Economist and report co-author, Dr. Nancy Sidhu. “Automotive and housing-related purchases and business investment in equipment will contribute to the recovery as well, but consumer spending holds one of the keys to the overall economic outlook.” Tourism will see an increase in 2010 and 2011, as more people visit the region and stay in hotels in the area. The outlook for the Los Angeles region’s large tourist industry is improving, albeit slowly. Most local theme parks, such as Universal Studios Hollywood, Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventures, have new attractions opening this year or plans for major park improvements. With the opening of the new hotels at L.A. Live, the City of Los Angeles has booked several major business shows. In Los Angeles County, the hotel occupancy rate is about 69.7 percent compared with 65.5 percent in 2009.
The region’s famed motion picture/television production industry got off to a good start this year as well. Domestic box office receipts were up strongly over the year, the state film production incentive plan was well received, and television networks, both broadcast and cable, produced a number of pilots and series. Jobs in the entertainment industry started to rebound at the end of 2009, and for 2010, an increase of 16,900 jobs is estimated in the motion picture and sound recording sector in Los Angeles County.
L.A. County’s large international trade sector is also poised to lead the economic recovery with two-way trade values into the region expected to rise by 12 percent and exports by 16 percent. Other activity such as the Port of Long Beach’s expansion project will also boost employment. Its 10-year, $3 billion program to expand marine terminals and infrastructure will create an additional 14,000 new jobs and nearly 1,000 construction jobs annually.
However, downward drivers for 2010 and into 2011 include non-residential/commercial real estate, housing and local and state spending. In California, home construction activity declined to 36,421 units in 2009, the lowest level since before 1963, due in part to the unemployment rate. In Southern California, industrial and office vacancy rates remain on the whole still very high and will continue to remain elevated for the rest of the year and into 2011, though there will continue to be marked differences between counties such as Riverside/San Bernardino County having a particularly high 11.3 percent industrial vacancy rate versus Los Angeles County’s extremely tight industrial vacancy rate of 3.3 percent. And despite the federal stimulus plan, revenue growth constraints mean that state and local spending—even for infrastructure—will be flat in the near future. – Press Report George McQuade
