Sheila Blinoff and Carole Stimmell From the Beach Metro News

One of the central organizations in the Beach is Beach Metro Community News, a non-profit, non-partisan community newspaper founded in 1972 that is distributed throughout major portions of East Toronto. The newspaper is available throughout the entire delivery area at various merchants and public access points, and more than 23,000 families receive the newspaper delivered to their front door for free.

My request for an interview was graciously answered by Sheila Blinoff, the General Manager, and Carole Stimmell, the Editor for the Beach Metro News. We sat down around a big table in their premises near the intersection of Gerrard and Main Streets. Sheila explained that the Beach Metro Community News originally started in 1972 when a group of volunteers got together to fight the Scarborough Expressway that was supposed to cut a swath through all of East Toronto. This issue galvanized the entire neighbourhood, and a group of volunteers started publishing a free newspaper from the offices of the East City YMCA at 907 Kingston Road.

The community had come together to rally against the construction of the Scarborough Expressway, and their collective efforts were successful. The dreaded construction of a major highway that would have destroyed over 750 homes between Coxwell and Victoria Park was averted. Today the Beach Metro Community News is a non-partisan paper that does not feature editorials. A copy of the paper goes to almost every business and residence in an area that extends from Lake Ontario to a few streets north of Danforth Avenue, and from Coxwell Avenue in the west to Midland Avenue in the East.

Of the 30,000 papers delivered, 7000 are delivered to libraries, churches and other public institutions while the rest goes out to private homes. An extensive network of about 400 volunteers looks after free delivery, with each volunteer donating their time and effort. Every second Tuesday just after publication a team of about 30 volunteer captains receives dozens of bundles of newspaper which they then distribute among their individual neighbourhood volunteers who in turn take the paper and deliver it street to street, house to house.

The volunteer stories are amazing. Sheila and Carole recounted so many fascinating tales of individuals who dedicate their spare time towards delivering the community news. The oldest of these volunteers is 96 years old and enjoys the opportunity to interact with neighbours and make a connection. Another delivery volunteer had a baby in the morning, and the same afternoon she delivered the Beach Metro Community News, just as she would any other second Tuesday. Another female delivery volunteer requested to get her papers early on Tuesday since she was going to have a Cesarean delivery the very next day on Wednesday. An elderly man once called in and said he would not be able to deliver the paper this time since his wife had just died, but he promised to be there to deliver the next edition of the Beach Metro Community News.

Sheila added that her co-workers and the volunteer carriers not only help with the production and distribution of the paper, they are also her eyes and ears in the community, resulting in a network of hundreds of volunteer news gatherers. Carole summed it up by saying that "not a leaf falls in the Beach without us knowing about it".

I needed to find out more about these two women who are the driving force behind the Beach Metro Community News and asked them to tell me more about their own personal history and connection to the Beach. Carole admitted that she is a relative newcomer to the Beach as well as to the Beach Metro Community News: she has lived and worked here for "only" eleven years. Originally from Wisconsin, Carole Stimmell moved to Toronto in order to complete a Ph.D. in archeology at the University of Toronto. She and her husband had met at the Washington Post where Carole was completing an internship, and they decided to jointly move to Toronto to complete their postgraduate studies. Carole's husband studied communications with Marshall McLuhan, the famous Canadian educator, philosopher and scholar who coined the expressions "the medium is the message" and the "global village".

Carole's first impressions of Canada were that it is vastly different from the United States: Canadians are more accepting, more reticent to judge as compared to the more dogmatic and aggressive stance of people in the United States. She added that Canada's liberal outlook suits her personally very well, and it would be hard for her to move back to her birth country.

After completing her doctorate Carole worked on archeology projects for 20 years; these assignments took her to Japan, the Arctic and the United States. Her archeology projects in Toronto included digs at Trinity Bellwoods Park, in Leslieville and at the Ashbridges House, the original homestead of the Ashbridges family who had come from Pennsylvania and become the first settlers in Toronto's Beach neighbourhood. For several years Carole was also the editor of the Canadian Journal of Archeology.

Her connection with the Beach Metro Community News came about because she was originally a volunteer carrier for the paper. When the long-term editor of the paper retired, a new editor came in and started taking the paper into a tabloid-like direction with a strong focus on crime and negative news. Carole and many others did not like this new slant and felt that the Beach Metro Community News was about positive news stories and an emphasis on the good things that were going on in the community. This editor did not last long, and Carole threw her hat in the ring for this position. In the process she beat out 50 other candidates and succeeded in getting the job because she understood what the paper was all about.

Today Carole still has an interest in history; she was vice chair of the Toronto Historic Board, and she now sits on the board of the Ontario Archeology Society. She also has an extensive collection of historic post cards of the Beach; these photos are sometimes featured under the heading of "Deja Views" in the Beach Metro Community News, juxtaposing historic streetscapes with a current photo of the same location.

Sheila Blinoff came to Toronto from Great Britain in the 1960s and married into a German-Canadian family. She and her husband moved to Balsam Avenue in 1969, making her a bona fide Beach resident for almost 40 years. In 1971 Sheila had her first child, and when the Beach Metro Community News started in 1972 Sheila connected with the paper since they were in need of a volunteer typist. Sheila offered her services and also started helping with the volunteer delivery of the paper. Several months into her assignment, the paper received three local program grants that enabled them to hire three people for six month. Sheila figured she could do the job and beat out 30 people who had applied.

Around that time Sheila had her second child; the grant meanwhile had run out of money. Sheila continued working on the paper for six months from home without pay. Finally a fundraiser generated $7000 which enabled the paper to pay two staff members - Sheila, and Joan Latimer who was the editor for 22 years. Advertisers came on board, and the Beach Metro Community News finally had a viable economic base. Several more employees were hired over the years.

In the early years the entire production of the paper was a community affair. Several interested neigbours would come together and jointly handle the manual cut and paste layout of the paper. They would also decide which stories should go into the paper, and opinions would often diverge widely. Sheila concedes that trying to reconcile these viewpoints was often tough going.

Several years into the publication the name was changed from the original name "Ward 9 News" to "Beach Metro Community News". The official administrative name of the Beach neighbourhood had changed from Ward 9 to Ward 32, so the original name of the newspaper was no longer applicable. For Sheila and many other "oldtimers", however, this publication will always be the "Ward 9 News".

With years passing by the paper became more professional, and specialized employees were hired to take over advertising sales, accounting, photography, and news and entertainment reporting. Since the 1980s the organization has been doing its own typesetting. Sheila's eyes light up when she says that she has met so many wonderful people through her work with the Beach Metro Community News; she adds that she has truly seen "the good side of human nature".

One of her favourite experiences has been her opportunity to participate in the selection committee of a contest to name five streets in a new housing development that went in on the former Woodbine Race Track premises, just west of Woodbine Avenue and Queen Street. The new street names were to have a local or historical connection with the area. As the secretary of the contest committee, Sheila had the best job of all, inputting all 660 suggestions into the computer and then verifying the accuracy of the historical background of the submitted names. Sheila chose the name "Sarah Ashbridge" in honour of the Quaker widow and United Empire Loyalist from Philadelphia who settled in the Beach in 1793 and obtained a Crown land grant in 1799 for a farm. "Northern Dancer" honoured all the horses that ever raced at the Woodbine Race Track. "Boardwalk Avenue" was chosen for the area's proximity to the famous East Toronto waterfront promenade.

Both Carole and Sheila love their neighbourhood, and they proudly told me that Queen Street East in the Beach was chosen the Best Main Street in Ontario by TV Ontario. One of the judges summarized it like this: "The Beach is an all-round winner. A fantastic inner-city neighbourhood with a great retail market, a great place to visit and a fabulous festival", referring to the Toronto International Beaches Jazz Festival, one of Toronto's largest music and entertainment events.

The importance and influence of the Beach Metro Community News cannot be understated. After all, the individuals running the paper had a major hand in stopping the Scarborough Expressway. Extensive coverage of dredging in Lake Ontario at the foot of Beech Avenue also resulted in an outcry in the community, and the government cancelled the project. Coverage of the Ashbridges Bay Incinerator also mobilized many concerned citizens in the neighbourhood, and their collective action resulted in the closure of the unwanted incineration facility. Stories of important local issues are kept in the public eye, and the community starts rallying around these issues.

What makes this neighbourhood really special are the people and organizations that donate so much of their time to the community. Sheila and Carole recounted a multitude of community initiatives that illustrate that the spirit of charity and neighbourly assistance is strong in the Beach. One example includes a major fire a few years ago at the eastern end of Queen Street where two people died and several others were rendered homeless. Several fundraisers were held for the affected families, and money was raised to help them pay for their first month's rent and furniture in their new apartments.

When the big Indian Ocean Tsunami struck in 2005, Centre 55 immediately set up a fund to collect money for the victims and thousands of dollars were sent to the affected areas. The local Balmy Beach Club raised money for school computer labs when the government cut back its educational budget. Together with strong parent volunteers at each school in the area, initiatives like these make a huge difference in the community.

In the Beach community spirit manifests itself in many different ways. The annual "Carolling in the Park Event'", held at the local Glen Stewart Ravine, attracts more than 2000 people for a holiday sing-along. Flashlights and candles in the ravine create a magical atmosphere and an event that the community loves.

Carole adds that there are so many interesting people in the Beach; a collection of media people, artists, actors, entrepreneurs and other eclectic people provide a lot of fodder for interesting and inspiring stories. Sheila mentions the example of a local man who owns the world's largest typewriter collection. Another young man from the community, a gifted musician, had attended the Julliard Music School in New York City and recently debuted in a big concert at Carnegie Hall. The Beach Guild of Fine Arts is a large group of artists who hold shows twice a year. Musicians, actors, painters and artists of all kinds are well represented throughout the Beach community and provide many story opportunities throughout the year.

The philosophy of the Beach Metro Community News is to provide news of interest to local residents and businesses. All revenue comes from advertising, which is kept affordable so that local merchants and tradespeople remain able to advertise their products and services. Sheila and Carole are selective as to which advertisements they accept, and sometimes advertisers have to wait to get into the paper.

One of the key community initiatives of the Beach Metro Community News is the "Citizen of the Year" award which is a joint initiative with Community Centre 55 and the Beaches Lions Club to honour volunteers who have made a significant difference in the community over a number of years. The Citizen of the Year is honoured with a plaque on the Beach Walk of Fame in the Community Garden in Woodbine Park. They also get a special space in the Beaches Lions' Easter Parade. People such as Gene Domagala, Glenn Cochrane, Arie Nerman and Marie Perrotta have all been honoured with this exclusive distinction.

But not only does the Beach Metro Community News bestow awards upon others; its contribution to the community has also been noticed and gotten recognition. In 2002 Sheila and Carole were themselves honoured with the Queen's Jubilee Medal as part of Queen Elizabeth's 50 year anniversary as the Queen. At this occasion every Canadian riding awarded medals to its top volunteers and community builders, and Sheila and Carole were honoured together with other prominent Beachers.

As a non-profit organization, the Beach Metro Community News donates some of its excess revenues right back into the community. In 2006 the organization donated more than $14,000 to a wide range of organizations, including the Arthritis Society, the Beaches Easter Parade, the Churches by the Bluffs Food Bank, the Share-A-Christmas Program run by Community Centre 55, the Glen Rhodes Food Bank, Malvern High School Scholarships, the Pegasus Community Project, Senior Link, the Toronto East General Hospital Foundation, the Woodgreen Red Door Shelter for Women and many more.

The Beach Metro Community News not only covers the local news, it also makes news: as a volunteer organization that acts as the virtual glue of the community, as a champion of important neighbourhood causes, as an organization who identifies and honours volunteers who make the community work, and as a significant donor that contributes much-needed funding to important neighbourhood organizations

Proposition and Bilingual Education

In the months leading up to the public vote, between January 2000 and November 2000, the two largest newspapers in the state, the East Valley Tribune and the Arizona Republic, produced a combined 73 articles that directly focused on Proposition 203 and/or bilingual education. An examination of these newspaper articles reveals certain stylistic and rhetorical features that were brought to bear on this controversial issue in favor of the ballot measure.
It is possible to discuss the potential influence of newspapers by looking at this specific context from multiple vantage points. Factors such as the slant of an article, the wording of a headline, the specific text in an article, and inherent variations between newspapers play a significant role in the construction of social opinion. Some brief examples of these features will demonstrate the complexity of their relationship in the portrayal of bilingual education and language minority students.
Reading an article with a critical eye allows researchers to discern whether the information is being presented in a straightforward manner or whether there is a particular slant either for or against the issue at hand. This is most obvious when comparing news stories with editorials. Articles that convey basic information (e.g., dates, times, locations) are generally straightforward or politically neutral.
Even in news stories, however, journalists may include their own opinions or value-laden statements. At this point, the news article starts to take on the characteristics of an editorial even though it was slated to be a news story. Out of the 73 articles involved in the Proposition 203 campaign, only 9, or 12%, could be considered neutral by researchers (i.e., they did not place value on either side of the debate).
It was found that the remaining 64 articles had a clear slant. With a total of 48, or 66%, the vast majority of the articles took on a negative slant (i.e., denigrating the opposition's perspective). The remaining 16, or 22%, conveyed a positive message concerning either the value of bilingual education or English immersion. When the slanted articles are broken down according to their portrayal of bilingual education, it is easy to see the potential impact on public opinion: Of the 64 slanted articles identified, 41, or 64%, contained negative depictions of bilingual education.

Currency Trading Education

Currency trading education is all about getting the right information but most traders believe myths or base their trading strategies on logic which is not correct and lose. Here we look at some common mistakes, you must avoid to enjoy currency trading success...
One of more of these mistakes are made by the majority of novice traders so lets take a look at them, there in no particular order of importance to avoid - there all important!
1. Forex Robots and Expert Advisors make Money
You have seen them advertised, promising to double your money each month with no effort and all you do is pay a hundred dollars or so for an income for life.
They don't work and if you use one these systems you will lose very quickly. If making money was as easy as the robot vendors claim, no one would work and everyone would trade for a living.
2. Day trading and scalping Work
All short term volatility is random and there is no way you can get the odds on your side and win because of this. Trading short term moves is a loser's game - it looks low risk but you are guaranteed to be wiped out.
3. Markets can be Predicted
Prediction is hoping or guessing and you won't get far doing that in any venture in life and that includes Forex. The far out investment crowd love the theories of Elliot and Fibonacci which claim they can predict the future - but if they can do this, why do they ever get a trade wrong? Never predict, trade the reality of price change and you will have the odds on your side.
4. You can Trade breaking News Stories
News is discounted by the market instantly.
The news itself is not important it's the investor's view of the news which is and everyone may see the same facts but they all draw different conclusions from them. Markets always fall when the market is most bullish and rally when it's most bearish so never trade news stories.
5. Working Hard or Being Clever Guarantees Success
Forex trading suits a simple approach as it's an odds based market. Over complicate your trading and your Forex trading strategy will have to many elements to break. Don't work hard, work smart - effort may make you more money in a normal job but not in Forex.
6. Leverage is the Key to Big Gains
Yes it is but more novice traders wipe themselves out due to over leverage than any other reason. You can get 200:1 leverage with any broker now but novices should start with NO leverage at all, until they are comfortable with there trading and use no more than 10:1 after that.
Work Smart and Win
The above are all common and avoidable mistakes, so if you want to enjoy currency trading success, avoid them and get a good solid currency trading education which is based on sound logic and avoids the myths of Forex.

With Education

A War on Terrorism? Conventional war being brought on an unconventional enemy is ineffective out of date. Building these countries up to a certain level of stability, and allowing them to take over and govern themselves is part of the Presidents plan. If we think the need help getting to build a stable and profitable country in the world market, than let's say what we mean and just do it. Weapons of mass destruction if we had enough evidence to invade Iraq we should have hit those sights first and had those weapons in the first days. Oh, they must have hidden them, well how did we know about them in the first place. It has been more than two years since the bold and terrible attack on the World Trade Towers, and we are chasing shadows here and there. The American Military, the greatest fighting force on the planet, can only find a couple of the main targets. We cannot win a war like this. The US Navy, Marines, Air Force and Army are the best trained and most well equipped fighting force in the world. But for all of their advanced weaponry and the technological advantage they have; they still seem like a lumbering giant searching for the little Indian jumping from tree to tree. Just to use an analogy, I am not prejudice let's get that out of the way right now so I don't have to apologize to every race I may happen to mention. The subject of prejudice would take a whole paper of its own. So let's get back to the subject at hand. How can we stop Terror?
The suicide bombings keep coming. Why do these people hate or fear us so much? I believe that the root cause is a combination of jealousy and a lack of education. Most of our terrorist threats come from impoverished nations that are jealous of the standard of living in America. The lack of education comes into play because it is easy to manipulate uneducated minds. When the majority of citizens in a country cannot even read and the best way to spread news is by recorded messages you can fill people's minds with all manner of things. This lack of education contributes directly to their country's stagnant economy. They do not have sufficient numbers of the skilled people necessary to build and run factories, powerplants, water treatment, tourist industries, etc. Some of the things that we take for granted and yet that are so necessary to the economic success of this country. We fight to win a war indeed, but the military aspect is only the beginning.
To win this war we must take a look at our history and what made this country great. How did we become the nation we are today? This country's roots are founded in education, industry and innovation. Innovation brought industry and industry brought financial wealth providing for widespread education. The well-educated mind in turn spurs on industry with yet further innovation. To win this war we must teach those countries less fortunate than us, help them to develop systems that will lead them to the national prosperity that the US, Britain and most of the rest of Europe enjoy. We give billions a year away in foreign aid. Why not build some schools, hire some teachers, open some trade schools, teach them how to build a nation, and help them do it. Showing these nations the tools to build better governmental, educational and economic systems will enrich and add value and meaning to the lives of their people. It will then not be so easy for some "militant wacko" to persuade followers to give up their lives to kill the evil Americans. They will be able to better care for their families; dying in the name of Allah will no longer be the best way to assure their family will be cared for. If they have no way to read and study their religion for themselves then they must rely on the Spoken words of others. The power of religion to motivate is amazing, and a topic that could take it's own paper entirely. So again I will get back to the topic at hand. Stabilizing these countries, means to bring them into the world market, I believe that in the big picture this will be the most efficient way to fight terror. Show them the dream that has lit fire in the eyes of a nation for generations leading America to where it is today. Everyone is born with the potential to change the world.
This will not have the lightning fast results that our country demand after the catastrophic loss of life in the World Trade Towers. Nor will it have the shock and awe we all witnessed on TV to beginning with Iraq. This proposal will take time and resources. Time and resources we have already committed. Let the military continue rooting out the elements that will undermine a happy and peaceful society. The president has already told us that this will take years. So let us use these years. At the same time how long does it take to educate a child to change the next generation? I am not proposing a quick fix to these problems, but I we must begin now, with the knowledge and faith that our action now will mean that the 5 year old looking at our soldiers in confusion will not grow to become the man or woman that flying a plane into what will be the work places of our nations children.
Changing education and life on a global scale is a grand and hugely overwhelming proposition, bordering insanity but what marvelous insanity to know that you did something to change the world for the better. People dream of world peace, I know I do. Peace begins with mutual respect for all mankind. Toleration and love for all people together regard for race religion or appearance. All of these qualities are found in this country, the news concentrates on the bad because it sells, but by and large the majority in this nation live in harmony. I envision a world where all nations have equal standing and the betterment of the global quality of life becomes the driving force of every nation. Think of the potential for innovation in medicine, technology, space travel, food production, and use of natural resources we have not even discovered. When we increase the population of educated minds in the world we unlock the potential for genius.

Surprising Opinions of Top Anchors

KIDS AND THE NEWS
More than ever, children witness innumerable, sometimes traumatizing,
news events on TV. It seems that violent crime and bad news is unabating.
Foreign wars, natural disasters, terrorism, murders, incidents of child abuse,
and medical epidemics flood our newscasts daily. Not to mention the grim
wave of recent school shootings.
All of this intrudes on the innocent world of children. If, as psychologists
say, kids are like sponges and absorb everything that goes on around them,
how profoundly does watching TV news actually affect them? How careful do
parents need to be in monitoring the flow of news into the home, and how can
they find an approach that works?
To answer these questions, we turned to a panel of seasoned anchors, Peter
Jennings, Maria Shriver, Linda Ellerbee, and Jane Pauley--each having faced the
complexities of raising their own vulnerable children in a news-saturated
world.
Picture this: 6:30 p.m. After an exhausting day at the office, Mom is busy
making dinner. She parks her 9-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son in front
of the TV.
"Play Nintendo until dinner's ready," she instructs the little ones, who,
instead, start flipping channels.
Tom Brokaw on "NBC News Tonight," announces that an Atlanta gunman
has killed his wife, daughter and son, all three with a hammer, before going on
a shooting rampage that leaves nine dead.
On "World News Tonight," Peter Jennings reports that a jumbo jetliner with
more than 300 passengers crashed in a spinning metal fireball at a Hong Kong
airport.
On CNN, there's a report about the earthquake in Turkey, with 2,000
people killed.
On the Discovery channel, there's a timely special on hurricanes and the
terror they create in children. Hurricane Dennis has already struck, Floyd is
coming.
Finally, they see a local news report about a roller coaster accident at a New
Jersey amusement park that kills a mother and her eight-year-old daughter.
Nintendo was never this riveting.
"Dinner's ready!" shouts Mom, unaware that her children may be terrified
by this menacing potpourri of TV news.
What's wrong with this picture?
"There's a LOT wrong with it, but it's not that easily fixable," notes Linda
Ellerbee, the creator and host of "Nick News," the award-winning news
program geared for kids ages 8-13, airing on Nickelodeon.
"Watching blood and gore on TV is NOT good for kids and it doesn't do
much to enhance the lives of adults either," says the anchor, who strives to
inform children about world events without terrorizing them. "We're into
stretching kids' brains and there's nothing we wouldn't cover," including
recent programs on euthanasia, the Kosovo crisis, prayer in schools, book-
banning, the death penalty, and Sudan slaves.
But Ellerbee emphasizes the necessity of parental supervision, shielding
children from unfounded fears. "During the Oklahoma City bombing, there
were terrible images of children being hurt and killed," Ellerbee recalls. "Kids
wanted to know if they were safe in their beds. In studies conducted by
Nickelodeon, we found out that kids find the news the most frightening thing
on TV.
"Whether it's the Gulf War, the Clinton scandal, a downed jetliner, or what
happened in Littleton, you have to reassure your children, over and over again,
that they're going to be OK--that the reason this story is news is that IT
ALMOST NEVER HAPPENS. News is the exception...nobody goes on the air
happily and reports how many planes landed safely!
"My job is to put the information into an age-appropriate context and lower
anxieties. Then it's really up to the parents to monitor what their kids watch
and discuss it with them"
Yet a new study of the role of media in the lives of children conducted by
the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation reveals that 95% of the nation's children
ages 8-18 are watching TV without their parents present.
How does Ellerbee view the typical scenario of the harried mother above?
"Mom's taking a beating here. Where's Dad?" Ellerbee asks.Perhaps at work,
or living separately from Mom, or absent altogether.
"Right. Most Moms and Dads are working as hard as they can because we
live in a society where one income just doesn't cut it anymore,"
NBC News correspondent Maria Shriver, the mother of four--Katherine,
13, Christina, 12, Patrick, 10, and Christopher, 6--agrees with Ellerbee: "But
Moms
aren't using the TV as a babysitter because they're out getting manicures!"
says the 48-year-old anchor.
"Those mothers are struggling to make ends meet and they do it because
they need help. I don't think kids would be watching [as much TV] if their
parents were home organizing a touch football game.
"When I need the TV as a babysitter," says Shriver, who leaves detailed TV-
viewing instructions behind when traveling, "I put on a safe video. I don't mind
that my kids have watched "Pretty Woman" or "My Best Friend's Wedding"
3,000 times. I'd be more fearful if they watched an hour of local news.That
would scare them. They might feel: 'Oh, my God, is somebody going to come
in and shoot me in my bedroom?'"
In a move to supervise her own children more closely since her husband,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, became Governor, Shriver
scaled back her workload as Contributing Anchor to Dateline NBC and set up
her office at home: "You can never be vigilant enough with your kids," she
says, "because watching violence on TV clearly has a huge impact on
children--whether it's TV news, movies, or cartoons."
This view is shared by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry, which states: ""TV is a powerful influence in developing value
systems and shaping behavior...studies find that children may become immune
to the horror of violence; gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems;
and resort to anti-social and aggressive behavior, imitating the violence they
observe."
Although there are no rules about watching TV in 49% of the nation's
households, TV-watching at the Schwarzenegger home is almost totally
verboten:
"We have a blanket rule that my kids do not watch any TV at all during the
week," she notes, "and having a TV in their bedrooms has never been an
option. I have enough trouble getting them to do their homework!" she states
with a laugh. "Plus the half hour of reading they have to do every night.
According to the Kaiser survey, Shriver's household is a glaring exception to
the rule. "Many kids have their own TV's, VCR's and video games in their
bedroom," the study notes. Moreover, children ages 8-18 actually spend an
average of three hours and 16 minutes watching TV daily; only 44 minutes
reading; 31 minutes using the computer; 27 minutes playing video games;
and a mere 13 minutes using the Internet.
"My kids," Shriver explains, "get home at 4 p.m., have a 20-minute break,
then go right into homework or after-school sports. Then, I'm a big believer in
having family dinner time. Some of my fondest memories are of sitting at the
dinner table and listening to my parents, four brothers, and my grandmother,
Rose. We didn't watch the news.
"After dinner nowadays, we play a game, then my kids are in bed, reading
their books. There's no time in that day for any TV, except on weekends, when
they're allowed to watch a Disney video, Sesame Street, Barney, The Brady
Bunch, or Pokemon."
Beyond safe entertainment, Shriver has eliminated entirely the option of her
children watching news events unfolding live on TV: "My kids," she notes, "do
not watch any TV news, other than Nick News," instead providing her children
with Time for Kids, [Teen Newsweek is also available], Highlights, and
newspaper clippings discussed over dinner.
"No subject should be off-limits," Shriver concludes, "but you must filter
the news to your kids."
ABC's Peter Jennings, who reigns over "World News Tonight," the nation's
most-watched evening newscast, emphatically disagrees with a censored
approach to news-watching: "I have two kids--Elizabeth is now 24 and
Christopher is 21-- and they were allowed to watch as much TV news and
information anytime they wanted," says the anchor. A firm believer in
kids understanding the world around them, he adapted his bestselling book,
The Century, for children ages 10 and older in The Century for Young People.
No downside to kids watching news? "I don't know of any downside and I've
thought about it many times. I used to worry about my kids' exposure to
violence and overt sex in the movies. Like most parents, I found that although
they were exposed to violence sooner than I would have liked, I don't feel
they've been affected by it. The jury's still out on the sex.
"I have exposed my kids to the violence of the world--to the bestiality of
man--from the very beginning, at age 6 or 7. I didn't try to hide it. I never
worried about putting a curtain between them and reality, because I never felt
my children would be damaged by being exposed to violence IF they
understood the context in which it occurred. I would talk to my kids about the
vulnerability of children in wartime--the fact that they are innocent pawns--
and about what we could do as a family to make the world a more peaceful
place.
Jennings firmly believes that coddling children is a mistake: "I've never
talked down to my children, or to children period. I always talk UP to them and
my newscast is appropriate for children of any age."
Yet the 65-year-old anchor often gets letters from irate parents: "They'll
say: 'How dare you put that on at 6:30 when my children are watching?' My
answer is: 'Madam, that's not my problem. That's YOUR problem. It's
absolutely up to the parent to monitor the flow of news into the home."
Part of directing this flow is turning it off altogether at meal-time, says
Jennings, who believes family dinners are sacrosanct. He is appalled that the
TV is turned on during meals in 58% of the nation's households, this according
to the Kaiser study.
"Watching TV during dinner is unforgivable," he exclaims, explaining that
he always insisted that his family wait until he arrived home from anchoring
the news. "You're darn right they waited...even when my kids were tiny, they
never ate until 7:30 or 8 pm. Then we would sit with no music, no TV. Why
waste such a golden opportunity? Watching TV at mealtime robs the family of
the essence of the dinner, which is communion and exchange of ideas. I mean,
God, if the dinner table is anything, it's a place to learn manners and
appreciation for two of the greatest things in life--food and drink."
Jennings is likewise unequivocal in his view of junk TV and believes parking
kids at the tube creates dull minds: "I think using TV as a babysitter is a
terrible idea because the damn television is very narcotic, drug-like. Mindless
TV makes for passive human beings--and it's a distraction from homework!
"My two children were allowed to watch only a half an hour of entertainment
TV per night--and they never had TV's in their bedrooms.It's a conscious
choice I made as a parent not to tempt them...too seductive..."
Adds Ellerbee: "TV is seductive and is meant to be. The hard, clear fact is
that when kids are watching TV, they're not doing anything else!"
Indeed, according to the National Institute on Out-of-School Time and the
Office of Research Education Consumer Guide, TV plays a bigger role in
children's lives now than ever before. Kids watch TV an average of14 to 22
hours per week, which accounts for at least 25 percent of their free time.
"Dateline NBC" Anchor Jane Pauley, intensely private, declined an interview
to discuss how she and her husband, cartoonist Garry Trudeau ("Doonesbury")
handle TV-watching with their three teens, two of whom are fraternal twins.
But in a written response, she agreed that kids need to be better protected
from the onslaught of violence: "I was a visitor at a public elementary school
not long ago, and was invited to peek in on a fourth-grade class on 'current
events.' The assignment had been to watch the news and write about one of
the stories. Two kids picked the fatal attack on a child by a pit bull and the
other wrote about a child who'd hanged herself with a belt! They'd all watched
the worst blood and gore 'News at 11' station in town. The teacher gave no
hint that she was as appalled as I was. My response was to help the school get
subscriptions to "Time for Kids" and "My Weekly Reader." People need to be
better news consumers. And tabloid TV is very unhealthy for kids."
On this point, Ellerbee readily agrees:"I really do believe the first
amendment STOPS at your front door. You are the boss at home and parents
have every right to monitor what their kids watch. What's even better is
watching with them and initiating conversations about what they see.If your
child is watching something terribly violent, sit down and DEFUSE it. Talking
makes the ghosts run...and kids can break through their scared feelings."
Adds Pauly:
"Kids," she maintains, "know about bad news--they're the ones trying to
spare us the bad news sometimes. But kids should be able to see that their
parents are both human enough to be deeply affected by a tragedy like
Columbine, but also sturdy enough to get through it...and on with life. That is
the underpinning of their security."
"I'm no expert on the nation's children," adds Jennings, " but I'd have to say
no, it wasn't traumatic. Troubling, shocking, even devastating to some,
confusing to others, but traumatizing in that great sense, no.
"Would I explain to my kids that there are young, upset, angry, depressed
kids in the world? Yes. I hear the most horrendous stories about what's going
on in high schools from my kids. And because of the shootings, parents are
now on edge--pressuring educators to 'do something.' They have to be
reminded that the vast majority of all schools in America are overwhelmingly
safe," a fact borne out by The National School Safety Center, which reports that
in l998 there were just 25 violent deaths in schools compared to an average of
50 in the early 90's.
Ellerbee adds that a parent's ability to listen is more important than
lobbying school principals for more metal detectors and armed guards: "If
there was ever a case where grown-ups weren't listening to kids, it was
Littleton. First, don't interrupt your child...let them get the whole thought out.
Next, if you sit silently for a couple of seconds after they're finished, they'll
start talking again, getting to a second level of honesty. Third, try to be honest
with your kid. To very small children, it's proper to say: 'This is never going to
happen to you...' But you don't say that to a 10-year-old."
Moreover, Ellerbee believes that media literacy begins the day parents stop
pretending that if you ignore TV, it will go away. "Let your kid know from the
very beginning that he or she is SMARTER than TV: 'I am in control of this box,
it is not in control of me. I will use this box as a useful, powerful TOOL, but will
not be used by it.' Kids know the difference.
"Watching TV," Ellerbee maintains, "can makes kids more civilized. I grew
up in the south of Texas in a family of bigoted people. Watching TV made me
question my own family's beliefs in the natural inferiority of people of color.
For me, TV was a real window that broadened my world."
Ironically, for Shriver, watching TV news is incredibly painful when the
broadcast is about you. Being a Kennedy, Shriver has lived a lifetime in the
glare of rumors and
televised speculation about her own family. Presenting the news to her children
has therefore included explaining the tragedies and controversies the
Kennedys have endured. She was just eight years old when her uncle, President
John F. Kennedy, was assassinated: "I grew up in a very big shadow...and I
couldn't avoid it," she admits. "It wasn't a choker, but it was a big
responsibility that I don't want my own children to feel." Yet doesn't her 15-
year marriage to megastar Schwarzenegger add yet another layer of public
curiosity close to home? "My kids are not watching Entertainment Tonight--no,
no, never! And I don't bring them to movie openings or Planet Hollywood. I
think it's fine for them to be proud of their father, but not show off about him."
How does she emotionally handle news when her family's in it? "That's a line
I've been walking since my own childhood, and it's certainly effected the kind
of reporter I've become. It's made me less aggressive. I'm not [in the news
business] to glorify myself at someone else's expense, but rather to report a
story without destroying someone in the process. A producer might say: 'Call
this person who's in a disastrous situation and book them right way.' And I'm
like: 'Ahhhh. I can't even bring myself to do it,' because I've been on the
other side and know the family is in such pain."
A few years ago, of course, the Kennedys experienced profound pain, yet
again, when Shriver's beloved cousin, John F. Kennedy, Jr., was killed in a plane
crash, with his wife, Carolyn, and sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette. A blizzard of
news coverage ensued, unremitting for weeks. "I didn't watch any of it...I was
busy, " Shriver says quietly. "And my children didn't watch any of it either."
Shriver was, however, somewhat prepared to discuss the tragedy with her
children. She is the author of the best-selling "What's Heaven?" [Golden Books],
a book geared for children ages 4-8, which explains death and the loss of a
loved one. "My children knew John well because he spent Christmases with us. I
explained what happened to John as the news unfolded...walked them through
it as best I could. I reminded them that Mommy wrote the book and said:
'We're not going to see John anymore. He has gone to God...to heaven...and we
have to pray for him and for his sister [Caroline] and her children."
Like Shriver, Jennings is personally uncomfortable in the role of covering
private tragedies in a public forum: "In my shop, I'm regarded as one of those
people who drags their feet a lot at the notion of covering those things," he
explains. "During the O.J. Simpson trial, I decided not to go crazy in our
coverage--and we took quite a smack and dropped from first to second in the
ratings. TV is a business, so when a real corker of a story like Princess Diana's
death comes along, we cover it. I think we're afraid not to do it. We're guilty of
overkill, and with Diana, we ended up celebrating something that was largely
ephemeral, making Diana more than she was. But audiences leap up!
"I was totally opposed to covering John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s funeral, because I
saw no need to do it. He wasn't a public figure, though others would say I was
wrong. On-air, I said: 'I don't think the young Mr. Kennedy would approve of
all this excess...' But we did three hours on the funeral and it turned out to be
a wonderful long history lesson about American politics and the Kennedy
dynasty's place in our national life.
"Sometimes," Jennings muses, "TV is like a chapel in which we, as a nation,
can gather to have a communal experience of loss.We did it with the
Challenger, more recently with JFK Jr.'s death and we will do it shortly, I
suspect, though I hope not, with Ronald Reagan. It's not much different than
what people did when they went West in covered wagons in the last century.
When tragedy struck, they gathered the wagons around, lit the fire, and talked
about their losses of the day. And then went on. Television can be very
comforting."
In closing, Ellerbee contends that you can't blame TV news producers for
the human appetite for sensational news coverage that often drags on for days
at a time:
"As a reporter," she muses, "I have never been to a war, traffic accident, or
murder site that didn't draw a crowd. There is a little trash in all of us. But the
same people who stop to gawk at a traffic accident, may also climb down a well
to save a child's life, or cry at a sunset, or grin and tap their feet when the
parade goes by.
"We are NOT just one thing. Kids can understand these grays...just as
there's more than one answer to a question, there is certainly more than one
part to you!"

Math Education Checklist

You need a math education. You want to enroll in an online school to get that education out of the way. The good news is that, in general, most of the mathematics courses that you will need to take are available to you on the web. The other bit of good news is that you can find a variety of schools providing a variety of educational curriculum for you to study. The bad news is that you still have to do the math work that goes along with learning this type of education. Nevertheless, one of the most important things you need to do before you enroll in this type of program is to know what to look for in a school providing you with your math education.
The following is a checklist of qualifications you want to look for in a school to ensure that you can achieve the goals that you have.
1.    Is the school accredited? It should be state wide or nationally accredited to provide the best level of education for you.
2.    Does the math education taught to you in this program fulfill any type of need that you have in another program? Do you need a specific type of math education and if so, does the school you are considering offer it?
3.    IS online education available from the school? If so, find out the process works as well as who teaches the education.
When it comes down to it, getting a math education on the web makes sense and it is quite possible to do. However, most students will need to ensure that the school they choose is going to provide them with the right level of education for however they plan to use it. There is a different from one school to the next and every student needs to understand what their options really are.

6 Resources for Business Intelligence News and Information

Despite Business Intelligence becoming an increasingly widespread practice, there appears to be relatively little to choose from in terms of good quality news and information resources. From monitoring several discussions on LinkedIn, we saw the same names tended to crop up over and over again.
1. Perhaps the most widely recognized for BI content was TDWI.org. The Data Warehousing Institute™ provides education, training, certification, news, and research for executives and IT professionals across the world. Founded 15 years ago, TDWI is the premier educational institute for business intelligence and data warehousing. Home to Wayne's World Blog, written by Wayne W. Eckerson, the director of research and services, it provides readers with anything from online conferences, to whitepaper downloads, to industry reports.
2. Frequently cited by several LinkedIn members, Information Management was another popular resource people turned to for BI news. It claims to be "the educated reader's choice for the latest news, commentary and feature content serving the information technology and business community", and with its relaunch last year, it offers original reporting, online radio programming, informative Web seminar programming, white paper resources and online education to professionals in the field of IT. Providing daily informative newsletters on a variety of content, it is understandable why info-mgmt.com has carved a strong position in the BI domain.
3. The BeyeNETWORK™ provides global coverage of the BI ecosystem. It supplies industry coverage and resources on business intelligence, performance management, data warehousing, data integration and data quality. B-Eye-Network also includes BeyeUNIVERSITY, a comprehensive curriculum covering all areas of the business intelligence ecosystem. These certificate programs are taught by experts who are nationally and internationally recognized as leaders in their respective fields, and best of all, are completely free!
4. The name Ralph Kimball cropped up on more than one occasion, although perhaps not soley in reference to BI. He is known worldwide as an innovator, writer, educator, speaker and consultant in the field of data warehousing. He has maintained his long-term conviction that data warehouses must be designed to be understandable and fast. His books on dimensional design techniques have become best sellers in data warehousing. To date Ralph has written more than 100 articles and columns for Intelligent Enterprise and its predecessors, winning the Readers' Choice Award five years in a row. Some of his books include "The Kimball Group Reader: Relentlessly Practical Tools for Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence" and "The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit: Practical Techniques for Extracting, Cleaning, Conforming, and Delivering Data".
5. Similarly to Ralph Kimball, Bill Inmon was another name that graced discussions quite regularly. Inmon, a world-renowned expert, speaker and author on data warehousing, is widely recognized as the "Father of Data Warehousing". In addition to authoring more than 50 books and 650 articles, Bill has been a monthly columnist with the Business Intelligence Network, EIM Institute and Data Management Review. In 2007, Bill was named by Computerworld as one of the "Ten IT People Who Mattered in the Last 40 Years" of the computer profession.
6. Howard Dresner is an industry acclaimed expert, noted author, thought leader and lecturer for Business Intelligence, and Enterprise Performance Management. He spent 13 years at Gartner, where he served as lead analyst for Business Intelligence. Today as President and Founder of Dresner Advisory Services, he focuses his energy on creating and sharing thought leadership for Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) and Business Intelligence (BI) and speaks at forums around the globe. He has written two books: "The Performance Management Revolution: Business Results Through Insight and Action" and "Profiles in Performance: Business Intelligence Journeys and The Roadmap for Change".