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Goldfish Syndrome??
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the average attention span of a human being has dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2015. This is one second less than the attention span of a goldfish.
Wait? What was that?
The following post is presented as the result of a delightful contact I received via email from Kelly Allegretti of GoodSearch. Content detials provided by Valerie Greene of GoodSearch. Because of the local connection with Mt. Tabor High School - I thought it worthy of sharing.
“GlamourGals was my gateway to working with the elderly, which is something I now spend 15 hours a week doing, and something that has changed my life and view on old age for the better. Through my time with GlamourGals, I have learned that old age is not something to fear, the residents I have been able to work with have shown me that one can be just as vibrant at 78 years old than at 17 years old.”
The words above by Jennifer Oberlander, Daniel and Lucille Valerio Outstanding Volunteer Award winner, senior at Ardsley High School who will be attending Quinnipiac University in the fall to study nursing, are indicative of the kind of positive experience GlamourGals is about. What is it?
Bright, young women around the country are bridging the generational gap with makeup and manicures. Fashion savvy high school and college students work with the nonprofit GlamourGals to organize makeover events at local senior homes. 70% of seniors residing in senior homes are women. 66% are widowed and 46% have no living children. As people age, the amount of meaningful contact they experience decreases, particularly for those residing in eldercare facilities. . Beauty care provides a common ground to start conversations, alleviate elder loneliness, and spark lifelong friendships. The events allow elderly women to share their stories and have physical contact with another person, while the young women learn leadership and communication skills. It is a life changing experience for everyone and helps some students, like Jennifer Oberlander choose their career path.
Every year, GlamourGals holds “The Glammys”. It is a pink carpet event to celebrate the outstanding, entrepreneurial young women making a difference in their communities. There are six individual award winners whom will each receive a $1,000 scholarship funded by the W.H.O (Women Helping Others) Foundation. Four winners will receive the “Glammy Award Scholarship” and two other winners will receive The Daniel and Lucille Valerio Outstanding Volunteer Award and The College Chapter Glammy Award, respectively. The ceremony will take place on Saturday May 30th from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at the JW Marriott Essex House, located at 160 Central Park South, New York, NY 10019.
The Glammy Award Scholarship winners are Sarah Sandler from Sanford H. Calhoun High School, Ny, Evan Millican from Mount Tabor High School, NC, Janice Hur from Island Trees High School, NY, and Mathis Yaeger from Sanford H. Calhoun High School, NY. The Daniel and Lucille Valerio Outstanding Volunteer Award will go to Jennifer Oberlander, Ardsley High School, NY and The College Chapter Glammy Award designates a $500 scholarship to Carly Roman, Chapter President, University of Pennsylvania, PA and $500 to her chapter.
If you can’t attend the event? You can still help makeovers happen with through the shopping site called Goodshop. They have donated over $500 to Glamour Girls and will donate even more every time you shop at stores on their website. I haven't used the site, but it looks simple enough. Just signup and select GlamourGirls Foundation to raise them free donations. It looks like you can also snag some deals at stores, like e.l.f. cosmetics, BaubleBar, and Amazon.
Are you thinking something to do with rain, snow, sleet...?
Contrary to popular belief, the U.S. Postal Service has no "official motto."
The familiar sentence you are thinking of is this:
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
This is commonly misidentified as the creed of our mail carriers, but actually it is just the inscription found on the General Post Office in New York City at 8th Avenue and 33rd Street.
Here's how the official Web site of the U.S. Postal Service describes the origin of the inscription.
This inscription was supplied by William Mitchell Kendall of the firm of McKim, Mead & White, the architects who designed the New York General Post Office. Kendall said the sentence appears in the works of Herodotus and describes the expedition of the Greeks against the Persians under Cyrus, about 500 B.C. The Persians operated a system of mounted postal couriers, and the sentence describes the fidelity with which their work was done. Professor George H. Palmer of Harvard University supplied the translation, which he considered the most poetical of about seven translations from the Greek.
Making some changes...planning for something different... being intentional...and then I was reminded of this wonderful song.
I was speaking to a room of business owners and referred casually to a chronic problem as the 'Achilles Heel' of many sales professionals. I noticed a few tentative, confused expressions among the attendees.
Later I spoke privately with one of them and ask if she had a concern with my referring to that particular problem as significant. She said no. However, she wanted me to explain what an Achilles Heel meant.
I grew up on ancient mythology. I read The Odyssey in elementary school. I watched Sunday afternoon movies about Hercules and Ulysses. I was surprised that this individual and as it turned out, three other people in the group admitted to not knowing the reference. Another person "got it" only because he had seen Brad Pitt play Achilles in the movie Troy.
It makes me wonder if the lessons once so commonly learned from classic literature are being neglected and thus lost? I've written before here on the value of myth for our learning and understanding of life perspective.
Do you know the story of Achilles? Does Cerberus make you tremble? Ask a 'kid' about one of these ancient heroes and see if they've heard of them. I'm curious.
Just to save the world from confusion... THIS is what the Fox says...!
...and if you are wondering why this is an issue... join the 40+ million other people who have been wonderfully mislead...
Sometimes, you just have to say Rumpelstiltskin! Dare you...say it right now...and...comment about it.
