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National Handwriting Day: Monday January 23, 2012-Celebrate Your Unique Signature

 

Monday January 23, 2012 is National Handwriting Day (National Handwriting Day occurs every January 23 in conjunction with John Hancock's birthday. Hancock was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, and is famous for his large, bold signature).

Handwriting allows you to be an artist and individual during a time when we primarily communicate via computers and email.

Your signature belongs exclusively to you. Write it often with pride. 

Expressing yourself through the handwritten word conveys sincerity and individualism.

Use National Handwriting Day as an opportunity to re-explore the power and purity of handwriting.

Visit the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association to learn fun facts about National Handwriting Day, including:

• Why are pencils yellow? 
• Who is the world's most famous pen collector?
• Do left-handed pencils exist?

 

Green Mama by Tracey Bianchi-Environmental Book Review-Climate Change, Purchasing Power and Greening Celebrations

Do you have an interest in the environment and the effects climate change is having on your family and future generations?

If so, you'll want to read Green Mama: The Guilt-Free Guide to Helping You and Your Kids Save the Planet by Tracey Bianchi.

Tracey Bianchi is a married mother of three young children, living in Chicago. Her concern for the environment and its growing global challenges inspired her to write Green Mama: The Guilt-Free Guide to Helping You and Your Children Save the Planet.

Bianchi earned a master of divinity degree and is a frequent speaker and writer on topics of Christianity. Regardless of your religious beliefs or denomination, and whether or not you have children, Green Mama will enlighten you to the Earth’s environmental plight. 

Besides climate change, Bianchi highlights various green topics, including exerting your purchasing power and greening your celebrations. 

To discover more about climate change, and the other above-mentioned concerns, you can read my Green Mama book review published on EzineArticles.com.

Current Affairs Book Review: The Next American Economy by William Holstein Technology Clusters and Ecosystems

June 2011 U S Department of Labor unemployment statistics site 9.2 percent of Americans that have been jobless long-term (six months or longer). 

That number remains consistently high, as millions of Americans struggle to find work.

What will it take to re-employ America?

William Holstein, author of the new book, The Next American Economy-Blueprint For a Real Recovery," believes the answer lies in technology clusters and ecosystems.

Read how our nation is reinventing itself with advanced robotics in Pittsburgh, and simulation and modeling in Orlando, to name a few.

Holstein was in Cleveland on April 25 to share his perspective. Cuyahoga Community College hosted him at a complimentary breakfast at their Unified Technology Center.

To discover more about Holstein's perspective, you can read my book review published on EzineArticles.com.

The first person to acknowledge this blog post (tim@timzaun.com) will receive a hardcover copy of "The Next American Economy." Good luck! Tim

 

 

 

Canning: Celebrate National Can-It-Forward Day August 13 2011 and August 16 in #Cleveland Ohio

Are you interested in learning the ease of preserving fresh food?

If so, plan to celebrate National Can-It-Forward Day on Saturday August 13, 2011.

Canning isn't just for your grandmother or great grandmother anymore. It's a national foodie trend, as people yearn for more authentic eating experiences.

Here is your downloadable guide: Getting Started Canning.

Read Canning Party and view the slides in the August issue of Bon Appetit magazine, featuring master canner, Kevin West.

West's blog is Saving the Season. His new book will be published in June 2012.

If you're in the Cleveland, Ohio area, plan to attend the free Freezing and Canning Workshop, Tuesday August 16 at the Strongsville Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library. Registration is required.

To enhance your daily eating experiences, consider learning the classic art of canning; and begin the celebration on August 13, 2011.

 

 

 

Drying For Freedom: International Clothesline Week June 4 to June 11, 2011

Saturday June 4, 2011 begins International Clothesline Week.

International Clothesline Week encourages people to line dry their clothes instead of using gas or electricity.

• Over 80% of households use a clothes dryer which draws huge amounts of energy.
• If every household participated for even one day, significant amounts of energy and money would be saved.
• Results would include less pollutants and less health consequences associated with coal driven electricity.
• Healthier mentalities, relationships and earth would also appear.
• Ideally, commit to making line drying a lifetime practice.

Hang clothes to dry, and:

• Save up to 10% residential energy. Running a dryer 20 hours a month costs, on average, 100 kilowatt hours. Clotheslines incur zero operating costs.
• Enjoy better smelling (sun and air), and better feeling clothes.
• Extend the life of your clothes (less wear and tear from dryer's tumbling and heat).
• Experience therapy- Hanging clothes allows time for reflection on you, your family, earth, etc.

Is hanging clothes allowed? Maybe not!

• Many municipalities/regions/builders ban line drying clothes in the interest of aesthetics.
• Call your city's zoning and building department to inquire about the regulations. Brainstorm how you may be able to change the law.

Drying For Freedom (DFF) is a documentary that will be released later in 2011.

It chronicles our love affair with energy and the people who are campaigning against it.

DFF explores the rules society has created to sustain energy consumption and the destruction it is causing the planet.

To learn how you can help bring Drying For Freedom to fruition by making a donation and/or securing a screening in your community, friending on Facebook or following on Twitter, visit Drying For Freedom.

Cleveland Author Visit: Pulitzer Prize-Winner Isabel Wilkerson-Author of The Warmth of Other Suns Enriches Cuyahoga County Public Library/Maple Heights Branch Audience

Pictured: Isabel Wilkerson and Tim Zaun

On Thursday, February 24 2011, the Maple Heights Branch of the Cuyahoga County Library hosted Isabel Wilkerson.

Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, discussed her new book entitled, "The Warmth of Other Suns." The New York Times Book Review named it one of the top 10 releases of 2010.

"The Warmth of Other Suns" chronicles the decades-long (1915-1970), migration of almost 6 million black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities in search of a better life. 

Wilkerson herself is a product of the Great Migration. Her parents emigrated from Georgia and southern Virginia to Washington, D.C., where she was born and raised.

Her 15-year project garnered over 1200 interviews to complete the book.

During the Great Migration in the South, three of the many injustices blacks endured included:

• In courtrooms, black citizens were sworn in using different Bibles from white citizens.
• Blacks could not pass white motorists on the road, no matter how slow they were driving.
• Every four days, a black person was lynched.

The Great Migration exemplified a defection from a caste system that offered little hope of a better life. It's beauty lies in such facts as:

• The Great Migration was leaderless, initiated instinctively in their hearts. 
• It was a tough decision to leave the South, no politicians, ministers, etc. were there for direction. 
• Their exodus offered no guarantee that they'd ever again see their relatives and friends left behind. 

Wilkerson reminded the audience that the Great Migration was a human experience that transcended black culture exclusively. All peoples today are influenced by the Great Migration, including talents from all walks of life.

She concluded, stating that the Great Migration has much to teach all of us. It holds the answer to any questions we face today. If 6 million downtrodden African Americans took the risk for a better life and faced the unknown, there is nothing we can't accomplish today.

Explore future author visits sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Public Library at one of its 28 branches. And, if you appreciate premier literature, be sure to read "The Warmth of Other Suns."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Grammar Day: Friday March 11, 2011-A Celebration of Words

Friday March 11, 2011 is National Grammar Day.

It's easy in today's instantaneous digital age to compromise correct grammar. Don't.

Using proper grammar can give you a competitive advantage in the job market, making you appear articulate.

To explore more about the day's meaning, visit the above link. Here, you'll find

• A Grammar Devotional-Daily Tips for Successful Writing from Grammar Girl.
• All Tips from the Grammar Girl.
• Ten Grammar Myths Exposed.

Third World America by Arianna Huffington-Current Affairs Book Review-Middle Class USA Economic Meltdown

 

Tough economic times, record number of home foreclosures, and an ever-widening divide between the nation's wealthy and middle class, drive the message behind Arianna Huffington's new book entitled,Third World America.

Arianna Huffington is founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, the sixth most popular online news source.

To learn who's killing the American dream, you can read my book review of Third World America, published on EzineArticles.com.

Christmas Fiction Book Review: An Amish Christmas by Cynthia Keller- " To Be, Rather Than To Seem"

If your spouse was downsized from a high-paying job and didn’t tell you for three months, could you forgive him or her?

If they also secretly gambled away the family fortune, forcing the sale of your house, withdrawal of your children from private schools and moving in with your parents in another state, could and would you forgive them? That’s the premise of Cynthia Keller’s new book, An Amish Christmas.  

It’s easy to dismiss An Amish Christmas as another feel-good story about simple living, based on the book’s cover art depicting a bucolic setting and silhouette of an Amish woman in a white bonnet. Don’t.

To learn more about Keller's message, please read my book review published on EzineArticles.com.

 

 

#Aftershock: The Next #Economy And #America's Future by Robert B. Reich-#Book #Review #Published

America's economic Crash of 2008 is often blamed solely on Wall Street.

Former Secretary of Labor in President Clinton's administration, Robert B. Reich, argues differently.

He believes America's economic challenges are more structurally-based.

The rich are getting richer as the middle class falters.

Reich's new book is entitled, Aftershock: The Next Economy And America's Future.

To learn more about Aftershock, visit Ezine Articles for a book review I wrote detailing his message.