I must admit I have always had an interest in self-help and advice books.  They are so tempting with their promises of  ”… turn your life around in 30 days” or “become a millionaire in five years.”  Even though I know that none of these things are going to happen to me – at least in the time-frame the title promises, I still figure I can glean a few worthwhile pointers.

Katie Couric's "The Best Advice I Ever Got - Lessons from Extraordinary People" is delicious and filling good food for the soul.

I found a book, however, that doesn’t make grandiose promises yet offers some advice worth remembering.

Even if she’s not your favorite TV news celebrity (actually I like her myself) Katie Couric has a written an advice book worth recommending.  ”The Best Advice I Ever Got - lessons from extraordinary lives” is chock full of juicy tidbits of advice and life lessons from celebrated people you want to hear from – people we all know that are respected in their field, from psychology to sports to chefs to show biz.

Some of the most memorable entries for me were:

Meryl Streep, Empathy Opens Doors

Chelsea Handler, Pay Attention!

Chris Evert, Get Off the Sidelines!

Matthew McConaughey, You were Just Having Trouble

Ina Garten, If You Love Doing It, You’ll Be Very Good at It

The trouble with many advice books is I’m not likely to read the whole tome.  It’s just not entertaining enough, or even interesting.  I find myself jumping around looking for the key points, then getting bored and putting the book down.  Not this one. It’s a quick and easy read that gets its points across without boring or preaching. Often the advice entries from celebrities and luminaries are dished out in one or two pages.  I give Katie Couric‘s “The Best Advice I Ever Got – lessons from extraordinary lives” TWO THUMBS up!

Gift worthy?  Yes – Christmas, birthdays, anytime

Beach read?  Definitely.  

Every year it comes and goes with not nearly enough attention from the mass media. What am I talking about? EARTH DAY. Officially it’s Monday, April 22, although EVERY day SHOULD be Earth Day. Contrary to deniers of climate change, the planet is changing. Whether mankind is wholly responsible for this is something that’s been hotly debated. But, while experts and subsidized deniers do their hot debating about who or what caused it, and whether or not it is a normal cyclical change, it continues to get even hotter, and we still have to deal with droughts, storms, loss of shoreline, loss of species, acidification of the oceans, reduced foodstock from the sea, lack of clean fresh water and more! AUGH!

Ignoring, evading, denying, and mocking the problem is not helping and all this takes precious time and resources away from actually doing something to prepare for the change that IS coming.

Take a look at The Great Disruption by Paul Gilding. It makes sense to me that the planet has a finite amount of natural resources and we could run out ...

The problem for most Americans is that we live our luxurious lives (compared to that of other nations) in air conditioned offices and homes far, far removed from the processes of farming, water purification, and energy resource extraction. We don’t have to get our hands dirty. We are only affected by increased prices. But, this somewhat blissful shelter from the realities of climate change is not going to continue for long for Americans. Soon, it will no longer be a problem for “the poor folks in Africa,” Nope, the problem is going to come home and hit us hard, and not just in the form of an extra dollar per gallon of gas.

Another of my favorite volumes on the subject of "what's coming next ..."

I’ve been reading “The Great Disruption – How the Climate Crisis Will Transform the Global Economy” and I would suggest it be read by everyone. Basically, the author talks about how climate change is just one of many factors that is going to affect the way we live on this planet.

Another good read ... The End of Growth by Richard Heinberg

It’s the kickstarter that people notice, but there are other factors such as the gobbling up of natural resources in the making of “stuff” that is going to change our idea of a successful and productive life. Simply, we won’t have the natural resources to keep making stuff; we’re going to have to recycle to get even the basic materials and everyone is going to have to live with less stuff – particularly less “throwaway” stuff. It’s a good read, but I’ve also added photos here of some of my other favorites.

Take a look; pick up one of these books. Knowledge is power. Sticking your head in the sand will just irritate your eyes so you can’t see the truth. Happy Earth Day everyone!

and yet another of my favorites on the subject ...

See more books and links to Earth Day websites below.

T-Shirts, posters, and my favorite bumper sticker “It’s the GREEN Economy Stupid.” can be found on the home page of http://www.earthday.org

http://www.earthday.org

http://www.epa.gov/earthday/

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/earth-sciences/

Friday, March 8, is International Women’s Day.   It seems to me, unfortunately, that women in the United States do not observe this important date as much as we should.  Maybe it’s because, even with the inequalities that remain in our country, we still have it pretty good — good enough to make us complacent and forgetful even, of how much we have to be grateful for and celebrate.

But as the “lucky ones,” relatively speaking, I think we owe it to our sisters in other parts of the world that don’t have it so well, to observe this day and do something to help those women with less opportunity.

From my travels, experience, reading and just years of life on the planet, three of the things that strike me as core issues for women today, particularly in countries with emerging economies are:

Water (and subsequently health)    

International Women's Day March 8 2013 - will these girls have a future as adult women? Will they even survive to become women?

Literacy / Education

Violence 

Lack of Clean Water – and therefore health

Of the 1.3 billion people living in abject poverty, the majority are women and children. With this poverty, most often comes a lack of access to clean water.  In addition to the physical harm that comes with having to carry heavy loads of water (and its often not even somewhat clean water) long distances, women in poor regions with no access to running water lose a lot of time – time to take care of their children, educate themselves and their children, and time to to spend on a livelihood to improve their lot in life.

But, they also lose their health, which continues the cycle of poverty because they are too sick to work at jobs or raising food.

According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP), “37% per cent of the developing world’s population – 2.5 billion people – lack improved sanitation facilities, and over 780 million people still use unsafe drinking water sources. Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kills and sickens thousands of children every day, and leads to impoverishment and diminished opportunities for thousands more.  

The majority of people living in poverty are women and children.

In fact, every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation. That’s 1.5 million preventable deaths each year.  

Poor sanitation, water and hygiene have many other serious repercussions. Children – and particularly girls – are denied their right to education because  their schools lack private and decent sanitation facilities. Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to illness, health systems are overwhelmed and national economies suffer. Without WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), sustainable development is impossible.”

(There’s more to this blog post – to see entire article click on the Headline  or on Page TWO below …) 

]]> http://aromancerenaissance.com/2013/03/march-8-is-international-womens-day-concerns-about-water-literacy-violence/feed/ 0 http://aromancerenaissance.com/2013/02/gum-spring-library-is-now-open/ http://aromancerenaissance.com/2013/02/gum-spring-library-is-now-open/#comments Tue, 26 Feb 2013 04:19:35 +0000 http://aromancerenaissance.com/?p=1111

A record-setting crowd attended the Grand Opening of Loudoun County's new Gum Spring Library. Over 6,500 people passed through the doors on the first day

There’s no doubt that the big attraction in Loudoun County, Virginia, this past weekend was the Grand Opening of the new Gum Spring Library!  Over 6,500 people came through the door on the first day, Saturday, February 23, setting a new record for library openings in the area.

Lots of people were interested in learning about the non-profit support group for the new Gum Spring Library known as the FROGS - the Friends of the Gum Spring Library.

The day kicked off with a ribbon-cuting ceremony at 11:00 that included welcomes and speeches, a color guard from the local Girl Scouts, and face painting and custom balloon animals for the kids.  Everyone was excited to see the neighborhood finally realize its dream of a gorgeous new library!   

  To help the non-profit Friends of the Gum Spring Library support special and ongoing programs for the library and its community, there are many options.

To purchase a permanent tile in the library with your name on it, please visit:

http://gumspringlibrary.blogspot.com/       

To become a Member of the  non-profit Friends of the Gum Spring Library, visit:   http://gumspringlibrary.blogspot.com/p/become.html

The FROGS - Friends of the Gum Spring Library - had an information table at the Gum Spring Library's grand opening. Seated is Kimber Garland-Homes. Standing from left to right is Deborah Deal-Blackwell, Angie Drews, Nancy Watford, Shriya Awasthi, Bob Lynd, and Karen Montgomery.

   To learn more about the library, visit its web site:   http://library.loudoun.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=113 

 Visit the Friends of the Gum Spring Library’s FACEBOOK page:

CLICK HERE

]]> http://aromancerenaissance.com/2013/02/gum-spring-library-is-now-open/feed/ 0 http://aromancerenaissance.com/2012/04/gum-spring-library-family-fun-walk-is-fun-indeed/ http://aromancerenaissance.com/2012/04/gum-spring-library-family-fun-walk-is-fun-indeed/#comments Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:48:24 +0000 http://aromancerenaissance.com/?p=697

   Last year we braved a cold wind and overcast skies to hold our annual Family Fun Walk for the Gum Spring Library.  But, this year, we got a big reprieve.

There was something for everyone at the 3rd annual FROGS Family Fun Walk on April 21, 2012 for the new Gum Spring Library!

   The storm that would dump several inches just to the north of us, and plow us into 48 hours of (needed) rain, mercifully held off just long enough for the FROGS (Friends of the Gum Spring Library) to enjoy a beautiful day for our 3rd annual event.

Walkers and participants in the 3rd Annual "FROGS" Family Fun Walk enjoyed great weather.

Every year walkers get a t-shirt, a goodie bag stuffed with items from local businesses, fruit, snacks and water.  The moon bounce is always popular and the participants are happy to wait in line for  chance to get their faces expertly painted by our “face artist.”   This year, we even had LIVE entertainment provided by Bach 2 Rock!

Another successful Family Fun Walk for the Gum Spring Library.

    We can’t wait until NEXT year when the library will be open and we can all retire to the stacks after our stride through the neighborhood.

We had a looooong line of walkers! It was quite a sight!

Some of Deb’s random thoughts on creating a Successful Community Event:

• PLAN, PLAN, PLAN way in advance.  The FROGS start working on their April Family Fun Walk event in December!

• Look into what licenses may be needed as far in advance as possible so there are no last-minute surprises that could squash your event
  
  

  Everybody waited patiently for face painting!

• Break down the event into specific tasks and then assign those tasks to reliable people.  Call those people 48 hours beforehand to

make sure they can still carry out their assignments. 

• If you don’t provide specifics for completing a task in advance, don’t nag about  how that task is achieved after the fact.  Volunteers don’t appreciate micro-managing when its too late.  Instead, make a note on how that task should be achieved  for  whoever gets that task next year.    

• Have good signage.  There are always regulations on signage in any community.  Just find out what the those regulations are and do the best you can. (exploit the loopholes if necessary on the day of event, and just take down the signs immediately afterward.)  

Arcola Fire Department Volunteers.

• Take advantage of as many area newsletters, magazines,  newspaper listings and area cable TV listings as possible to get the word out about your event.  

• And make sure you create and utilize an email invitation list of everyone you know.  If you provide a way for the reader to opt out of future emails, they generally will not object and usually will not opt out.

• Don’t forget clean-up.  Leave the area the way you found it.

• Have a post-event de-brief.  Take good notes and keep those notes where they can be pulled out for the next event and read again.

• Think of as many ways as possible to THANK YOUR SPONSORS – that is, only if you want them back next time!

Everybody was in a great mood and enjoyed the event.

And, speaking of sponsors, we’d like to thank those that supported our 2012 Family Fun Walk:

•    East Gate Orthodontics - www.eastgateorthodontics.com
•    HCA Healthcare - www.hcahealthcare.com
•    Stone Ridge Orthodontics - www.smilestoneridge.com
•    Van Metre Homes - www.vanmetrehomes.com
•    Snap Fitness - www.snapfitness.com/stoneridge
•    Kravitz Orthodontics - www.kravitzorthodontics.com
•    Inova Loudoun Hospital - www.inova.org
•    Concept Marketing, Inc. - www.cptmkt.com
•    Aldie Vet - www.aldievet.com 
•    Montessori of Chantilly, Casa dei Bambini - www.montessoriofchantilly.com
•    Curry’s Auto - www.currysauto.com
•    Mathnasium - www.mathnasium.com/stoneridge
•    Family Veterinary Hospital of Stone Ridge
•    Family and Aesthetic Dentistry of South Riding

 

(Note:  This is a private blog. Of course, the comments herein are those of Deborah Deal’s and do not reflect or represent any other member of the Friends of the Gum Spring Library or the Loudoun County library system. All photos copyright 2012 Deborah A. Deal.)

A FROG board member thinks he really IS turning into a Frog now! He's practicing his frog pounce position.

Always have lots of balloons for a Family event.

 

       

Face painting is sometimes even better on something other than the face!

                       

                        

I'd rather have what you're having!