Monday

Greatest Poems of All times, Health Prevention, and The Environment

What I learned this week:
Sometimes old behavior patterns are difficult to change. Each time I get angry I have to remove myself from the situation, calm down and then respond. That's just Living Smart "ly"

What I am grateful for:
I have learned to forgive myself when I mess up and choose to be happy rather than to
"be right. "
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here’s a sneak-peek into what’s on Living Smart and Latina Voices this week!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Living Smart: *Chitra Divakaruni and the Greatest Poems of All Time"
Green segment on Rain Water Harvesting with Steve Easton

Award Winning Writer Chitra Divakaruni shares some of the greatest poems of all time. We'll discuss poems by Rumi, Khalil Gibran, Elizabeth Browning, Chitra Divakaruni herself and many others. My favorite poem is by Khalil Gibran on raising children. "Your Children are not your children, they are the children that belong to life, You are the bow, they are the arrow." Wow when you hear it you will love it!
here is one of my favorites. A poem by Pablo Neruda I read when my boyfriend gave it to me. I was only 15.


Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example,'The night is shattered
and the blue stars shiver in the distance.'

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me sometimes, and I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is shattered and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight searches for her as though to go to her.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another's. She will be another's. Like my kisses before.
Her voide. Her bright body. Her inifinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my sould is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.

Pablo Neruda



(Sun, 3:00 PM, date—Repeats following Friday at10 PM)

Latina Voices: Smart Talk
Disease prevention is one of the ways to keep healthy. Hear what Nationally recognized Internist, Dr. Carlos Rivera, says will help you stave off diabetes, obesity, cancer, and other chronic conditions. Also, Texas To Go.com is a new place to go to get up to speed on latest Apps and technology to stay on top of your business. Learn from Texastogo.com CEO Sahnya Schulterbrant.
(Sun, 2:30 PM, date—repeats Wed, 11:30 PM)



Click here to see more of your favorite Living Smart shows!


Town Forum on "The Environment, Energy and The Economy: Making It Work. "
October 26th 7pm by Patricia Gras


The energy industry is the engine of our Houston Economy. Even our national economy relies heavily on oil and gas produced in the gulf of Mexico. How do we keep our vibrant community without harming the environment.

According to a Rasmussen poll report, and even after the catastrophic oil spill, 47% of voters continue to support deepwater drilling. Thirty-one percent (31%) say deepwater drilling should not be allowed, but another 22% are not sure. They still express concern about the environment but jobs tend to be a priority. A new Gallup poll also points that Americans now prioritize energy production over environemntal protection for the first time in its 10 year history.

The economy is still struggling and recently Senate Democrats abandoned the effort to pass an energy/climate bill that would begin to regulate greenhouse gases that cause global warming and promote renewable energy. Republican Senators had no plans on voting for the bill either.

What are the health, political and economic ramifications of our national, state and local energy policies? How do we make it work? That will be the topic of our town forum and we want to hear your ideas, thoughts and concerns. Let us know what you think.

Tuesday

Money and Success, and the life of a retired Olympian

What I learned this week:

For me, it is essential that I get out of my comfort zone every now and then, so I can learn to expand my brain and my soul.

What I am grateful for:

All the people who help me get my work done.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Here’s a sneak-peek into what’s on Living Smart and Latina Voices this week!
---------------------------------------------------------------
Living Smart: Money and Success
By Production Assistant: Shelby Cole
(Sun, 3:00 PM, July 25—Repeats following Friday at10 PM)


No matter what your belief system is, money and religion have gone hand in hand since the earliest days of human history. Whether your place of worship is funded by tithes, donations, fundraisers, or even the pillaging of the Crusades, religious orders of all types have relied on the uses of finances to fund their practices. Church, while typically charitable and virtuous, has a business face as well. Such is the nature of the beast.
Tithing has been around since religion’s inception. Tithing exists in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and even Scientology. Essentially, being a part of a religious tradition means that, at some point, you will be asked to give of your finances to help keep your place of worship up and running.
What of the guilt that is typically associated with money, though? We’ve had it beaten into our heads that having money is bad. Over time, we’ve become conditioned to associate guilt with wealth. That is old school.
Living Smart explores this topic with Dr. John Demartini. Dr. Demartini has over 40 books including the recently titled “How To Make One Hell of a Profit and Still Get To Heaven, and Secrets to Financial Success.”
What are your thoughts on money and religion? Leave a comment below, and make sure to tune in to Living Smart this Sunday!

Click here to see more of your favorite Living Smart shows!

Latina Voices: Life Post Ski-Skating
By Production Assistant: Shelby Cole
(Sun, 2:30 PM, July 25—repeats Wed, 11:30 PM)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/)

Olympic Speed Skater Chad Hedrick takes a Bronze Medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and announces his retirement. Now what? The Olympian chats it up with the Latina Voices Ladies about his sport, his new life and his promising future. And, the new Entrepreneur Broadcasting Company (EBC) has launched with programming appealing to business owners and entrepeneurs. You’ll learn what you need to know to succeed!


Current Events: Haiti Today...Effective Aid or Not?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/

By: Lorís Simón Salum (Production Assistant)

After the disaster in Haiti this January, little has been said about what has been going on these days. Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized the president and Prime Minister of Haiti on their lack of initiative to accelerate Haiti’s recovery. He reported that there are superfluous “bureaucratic obstacles at a time when Haiti cannot afford to delay.” According to an article in the Yahoo News , “In all, just 2 percent of the $5.3 billion in near-term aid pledges have actually been delivered, up from 1 percent last week,” so it could become a debatable matter when it comes to Haiti’s efficiency.
On the other hand, the Clinton Foundation has donated 141 trucks, 40 pieces of heavy equipment, $300,000 worth of seeds, portable classrooms, educational supplies, flashlights and lanterns, street lights, 68 generators, tents, large tents, community water purification systems, bottled water, medical supplies and medicines, latrines, clothing, stoves, whistles, a mobile command center, and educational needs since Janurary 2010. The Clinton Foundation, through the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, along with the Fundación Carlos Slim, found a $20 million fund to help instigate small to medium businesses for Haitian entrepreneurs with no profits intended. They believe it will help create more jobs and facilitate the economy. Carlos Slim commented, "Employment is the way to fight poverty and dignify a human being."
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), informed that as of May 31, Haiti relief received about $122 million in public donations. On that same day, MSF spent $71.5 million, where more than $14.8 million went to surgery, $5.4 million to maternal health (MSF delivered 3,700 babies) and over $11 million in providing shelter. MSF has predicted that $120 million will be spent on helping the Haitian population alone by the end of 2010. “The publicly disseminated Action Plan for Reconstruction and National Development of Haiti, produced by the government of Haiti with inputs from the U.N., European Commission, the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and civil society, has assessed Haiti’s reconstruction needs over the next three years at $11.5 billion.”

Monday

The Oil Spill and what YOU can do

Current Events: BP Oil Spill

(http://lavalleybeat.com/)

By: Production Assistant Jennie Kamin

Since April 20, 2010, the British-based global energy powerhouse, British Petroleum (BP), has grown continuously synonymous with the words “oil spill.” Nearly eighty days and at least 200 million gallons of crude oil later , the gulf coast is facing the greatest environmental disaster in American history.

One website, if itwasmyhome.com , allows internet-surfers to visualize the spill by placing a black murky image scaled to the size of the spill over a map of their home city. As gulf-coast neighbors, Houstonians need not view the image of black oil spanning a radius from Lufkin to Freeport in order to capture the magnitude of this disaster. On the contrary, in order to witness the devastation firsthand, Houstonians merely have to look in their own backyards, (or at least just beyond the horizons of their beachfront Galveston getaways).

Millions are aware of the damages, but as the world grows frustrated, the question remains: What can gulf coast residents do to help? One multinational organization, ACS Industries, Inc. sought an answer to that same question. ACS Industries, Inc. manufactures knitted wire mesh technologies. Their separations and mass-transfer division is located in Houston . As the original designers and manufacturers of oil/water separators mounted in the hull of MSRC vessels, ACS’ claim to fame is engineering and manufacturing 32 units for oil clean-up responder ships. If you are like me and do not follow engineering jargon, in layman’s terms, this design enabled massive clean-up efforts in the 1989 Exxon-Valdez oil spill. For this, ACS won the Vaaler award .

The separators mounted on the MSRC ships were designed to run 550 gallons/minute each. This means that each ship has the capacity to separate over 1,000 gallons/minute of oily water. Despite their positive track records with the Exxon-Valdez spill, ACS’ units have been unused in relief efforts for the gulf-coast spill. In fact, ACS contacted BP’s Chief Operating Officer of Exploration, Doug Suttles, members of the Obama Administration and other officials, offering their support. As ACS understands it, the oil in this particular spill cannot be separated in their units. In order to help the cause, they have designed another vessel that could be manufactured very quickly. This vessel would potentially be able to separate the oil from the water at a combined rate of 600,000 gallons per hour. All ACS would need in order to process these vessels are samples of the oil to test. Getting samples has been impossible and none of the company’s 10 ships currently in the gulf are being used.

I contacted BP’s general answering service to ask why they have not responded to ACS’ offer. To this the agent with whom I spoke replied, “…we have tons and tons of submissions..20,000 thousand in one day...there is a chance they haven’t gotten to it yet.”

In search of more answers on how gulf coast residents can do their part, I contacted the Sierra Club and asked about volunteer opportunities. As hazmat work requires a significant amount of professional training, hands-on volunteer opportunities are better left to the professionals at this point. The Sierra Club did recommend, however, that civilians spend time writing letters and urging the Obama administration to move away from oil and into alternative energy. In addition, donates made to the Sierra Club will aid campaigns that lead us to such alternative energy sources .

Another organization, the National Audubon Society , provides multiple ways in which gulf coast residents, or anyone for that matter, can help. By following the steps provided on their website, volunteers and concerned citizens can donate, stay informed and even lend their support through volunteering. By filling out information on experience and interest, the Audubon Society works to match concerned parties with relief organizations related to wildlife rescue. Their website also provides an easy step-by-step form for citizens so they can
send email letters to members of Senate urging them to fund gulf coast restoration. Regardless of political preference, gulf coasters can agree that the devastation caused by this spill is tremendous. As such, a few organizations are working to answer the question: what can we do to help? There are a few things that residents can do in order to channel their frustration into taking action. In addition, ordinary citizens should follow the advice of the Sierra Club and insist that their representatives endorse alternative energy. After the moratorium is lifted on offshore drilling, we can also urge the government to continue to put pressure on oil companies to fortify their safety measures so that this kind of disaster never happens again.

The Master of Love and Cyberbullying

What I learned this week:

When I am tired. I have to get more sleep! Most of us don't realize the importance of sleep. It can be more important than what you eat.

What I am grateful for:

I watched many World Cup soccer games with my family and had a blast!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here’s a sneak-peek into what’s on Living Smart and Latina Voices this week!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Latina Voices: Bullying 101


(http://www.edgalaxy.com/)


By Production Assistant: Jennie Kamin

(Sun, 2:30 PM, July 18—repeats Wed, 11:30 PM)


This week, we hear about an issue plaguing many adults: arthritis and how you can survive. We also hear from Anti Defamation League affiliate, Dena Marks on an issue pertaining to a younger generation. Today’s youth are said to possess qualities and aspirations unlike any preceding generation. Labeled “Generation Y” by AdAge Magazine, we are defined by the Internet and social media culture that expanded and grew alongside us, as it also proved what we are capable of achieving . Now deemed “Generation Z” or “The I Generation,” today’s school-kids are well versed in digital media, especially cell phones. Although these advances in technology have shaped the personality of today’s youth, they have also caused unprecedented issues for parents and teachers alike. Ask any cell-phone-using, computer-wielding kid, and they will certainly know the meaning of digital jargon such as “LOL” and “OMG.” Versed in a language of their own, the growing connectivity of youth today also poses a growing issue in schools: Cyber-bullying. What makes this form of bullying exceedingly more troublesome is it’s near impossibility to monitor . While kids are now able to communicate with greater ease and speed than ever before, they are also able to do so without their parents or teachers every hearing the content of their conversations. Despite the opportunities that technology has offered to today’s youth, it is also exacerbating one of adolescence’s toughest issues and is even linked to an alarming increase in teen suicide . Last year, a Massachusetts teenager, Phoebe Prince hanged herself after being the victim of cyber-bullying . Following the indictment of six alleged bullies, the teenage suicide led to the enactment of strict anti-bullying laws in Massachusetts . In addition to making illegal any acts of bullying, these laws also mandate teacher education on how to prevent bullying. While the threat of cyber-bullying lingers in school hallways and classrooms, it seems that the best defense is education for teachers, parents, and students.

Living Smart: Personal Transformation



By Production Assistant: Jennie Kamin

(Sun, 3:00 PM, July 18—Repeats following Friday at10 PM)

In addition to the threat of cyber-bullying, the growth of technology has also led to other lifestyle challenges. In an increasingly digitized world, it is becoming easier to lose oneself in the Internet and lose sight of spirituality. This week, on Living Smart, Don Miguel Ruiz shares his tools for people to achieve personal transformation and the Mastery of Love. Raised in rural Mexico, Ruiz comes from a long familial line of healers based in the Toltec tradition. In spite of his roots, Ruiz sought a more Western path and practiced as a surgeon after attending medical school. He later reached out to his ancestral calling and decided to focus on spiritual healing. Along the way, Ruiz became a speaker, teacher and author after he created his practical-tool box for transformation, which he calls The Four Agreements and tips on finding true love.

Click here to see more of your favorite Living Smart shows!

Sunday

Reflections on World Soccer, The Body's Wisdom, and Latino Students' Challenge

What I learned this week:
To truly win or succeed, you have to lose and fail many times.

What I am grateful for:

After rainfall, the sun always comes out.
------------------------------------------------------------

Germany's crushing defeat of Argentina
Since I was a little girl, I never truly understood the lure of soccer in Argentina. I remember the quiet Sunday afternoons where families would eat their "asado" and watch their favorite soccer team at play. Then the children would go out to the streets and continue playing with whatever ball they could find. As I grew older and went to my first world cup in 1978, I lived a thrilling experience when Argentina won and then in 1986 when Maradona's hand of God led the team to the final. I however became very leery of the injustices committed by referees and the refusal to use instant replay to make fair decisions. (I didn't much care for the Maradona goal with the "hand of God.)" On Saturday we watched as Argentina got clobbered by Germany and I realized there is so much that the soccer players from the country show us about Argentine idiosyncracies in victory as well as defeat.
Diego Maradona is Argentine's best known export. He was very poor as a child and quite misguided in his life. No one doubts a great, brilliant unique soccer player, but with too many personal challenges to mention. For many Argentines, he is considered a genius, a god, with almost superman qualities. No one remains indifferent to him. He is either adored or reviled. Everyone knows however that a good player does not a good coach make! Maradona is not a technical coach but I will let the experts better explain why. Some examples of his failures are: He never called on his best international defense players and as a result had a weak back field. His midfield players failed to control the game when most needed. When a clear change was needed he didn't make it, but here is why I don't blame him.

Maradona is not God and he is not a coach and he could not make a team with the highest paid players in the world work as a team simply because he doesn't know how.But here is what Argentines tend to do, They either treat him like a genius or like an idiot. I don't believe he is totally to blame for the loss to Germany. He did the best he could. I blame those who chose him to be coach based on his celebrity status. That's right. He was never or ever will be a good coach. The reason the Argentine team did so well in this tournament is because individually most of the players are very good and very well paid thank you, but that does not make a great team. There is so much more to it than that.

They love their country and probably get along very well, but when it comes to soccer as in life you must know your strengths and weaknesses. Argentina for instance may have one of the best forwards and strikers in the world but in this tournament, Maradona chose a very ill prepared defense. Maradona had no strategy or the technical capacity to make the right changes.Do I blame him? No way. We in the United States know about celebrity culture. Heck we had to watch Paris Hilton in a ranch for weeks. There was nothing real about that! Now we had to watch a soccer player, suddently become a world cup award winning coach. Maradona did what he knew best. He was his old self, funny, emotional, loving, erratic, arrogant and somewhat bewildered. He was not ready for that particular job. We may love to watch him at work, but if we want a winner, we must find a coach with winning qualities. Let bygones by bygones. It is time for change. Argentina must realize that they can't win with the same belief system that they have had in the past 24 years. Do you want a winning coach? Get one. As a player Maradona may have won for Argentina, but as a coach, you are asking for way too much.

I want to thank him for entertaining us and for the players for their commitment. As for Messi, please stop picking on the guy or questioning his patriotism. He's used to playing with a team that absolutely knows how to play as a team and posesses very few weakneses. Barca is one of the best if not the best club team in the world. Messi did as well as he could. It has nothing to do with his love of country but it does have to do with the idiocyncracy of many in a nation who believe Diego is God!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here’s a sneak-peek into what’s on Living Smart and Latina Voices this week!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Living Smart: The Body's Wisdom

By Production Assistant: Shamsa Mangalji

(Sun, 3pm July 11th-- Repeats following Friday at 10pm)


Obesity. Depression. Marriage Problems. We know all too well how much these issues plague our society. This week’s Living Smart guest, Dr. Kimerer Lamothe, will give us a devastatingly simple solution to solve all of our problems: (drumroll please…) Listen to our bodies! Lamothe believes that one’s body is the best doctor.
In America, we’ve made it a habit to prioritize mind over body. Most of us live our day-to-day lives by quelling our true desires for food, sex, and spirit. More often than not, we fall victim to outside forces like advertising to dictate what we need:
Though companies will swear that (blank) food and (blank) sex position will ‘make you happy’, don’t listen to them; our lack of awareness of our inner selves leads to unhappiness and debilitating habits.
We don’t want to raise those horrifying health statistics even more. Learn how to help yourself on this week ‘s ‘Living Smart’ show with Dr. Kimerer Lamothe!

Our
green tip segment for this show is about glass recycling with Mark Austin.


Click
here to see more of your favorite Living Smart shows!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Latina Voices: Latino Students' challenge

By Production Assistant: Shamsa Mangalji

(Sun, 2:30 PM, July 11)

Multiple studies have shown that Latinos lag far behind any other ethnic group in pursuing higher education. Experts deem poverty and engrained cultural beliefs as key factors contributing to this issue. Researchers also point to serious faults in schools’ institutional structures; many Hispanic students feel socially excluded and underrepresented in their high schools.
A UTSA research report stated that high school history classes painted an overwhelmingly negative picture of Latinos in general; the classes failed to showcase Mexican/Chicano’s achievements and contributions to U.S. society. Stereotypes and discrimination reign supreme in many institutions.
This week on Latina Voices, listen to top educators Dr. William Flores, the President of University of Houston Downtown, and Dr. Guadalupe San Miguel, Mexican-American Studies Professor break down sad numbers of Latinos seeking at higher education, and discuss promising solutions.

Saturday

Current Events: Want a mosque to be built by Ground Zero...?







By: Production Assistant, Shamsa Mangalji


Recently, the chairman of a Muslim organization proposed building a community center near Ground Zero in New York City. The chairman, Imam Feisal Abdul Raif, envisioned a center that would enrich Lower Manhattan; it would house sports facilities and discussion rooms. An auditorium would serve as a venue for shows and art exhibitions. And, a space would be reserved for Muslim prayer.
News editors eagerly latched on to this last proposition and began to publish stories about the ‘mega-mosque’ that would be built by Ground Zero. Word spread quickly; this propaganda catalyzed an intense, passionate reaction from both supporters and protestors of the plan.
The ‘mosque’ proposal enraged families affected by 9/11 and reinvigorated the actions of ardent Islamophobes worldwide. Many protestors believed the building of a mosque so close to Ground Zero would glorify the ‘Muslims’ who attacked the World Trade Center. People marched around Ground Zero wielding signs emblazoned with phrases like, ‘A Mosque at Ground Zero is a Monument to Terrorism‘. And that was a tame one. Houston’s very own radio talk show host, Michael Berry, declared that the mosque should not be built, and stated, “if you do build a mosque, I hope somebody blows it up...I hope the mosque isn't built, and if it is, I hope it's blown up, and I mean that."
Various New York politicians, however, have supported the idea of building a ‘mosque’ by the site. In a radio address, Mayor Bloomberg emphasized that everyone had the right to construct a ‘religious house of worship’ in whatever place they desired..’if somebody was going to try to build a church or a synagogue on that piece of property, no one would be yelling..”
Simply by interchanging the words, ‘community center’ and ‘mosque’, news media has incited the world audience. This issue is fostering the pervasive misunderstanding about Islam everywhere.
Personally, I believe that this proposed ‘community center’ should be a completely secular space in which people can discuss issues that cultivate terrorism. Research has shown that terrorists act out of misinformation, feelings of depression, and/or a desire for a better standard of living. If we address these complex problems in a holistic way, we may deter future acts perpetrated by terrorists.
People must learn to disassociate the words, ‘Muslim’ and ‘terrorist’. Building a Muslim house of worship so close to Ground Zero would not promote this initiative, but further foster this dangerous misconception. As a Muslim, I feel it is my duty to break this stereotype, and promote the development of mutual understanding worldwide.

What do you think about this proposal? Is the community center promoting a positive view of Islam, or is it a slap in the face to 9/11 victims' families?

Post below!