Life In The USA Magazine |
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Life In The USA Magazine showcases writing by experts on American issues, and is linked to the full
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Life In The USA Content Sections:
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Bozeman, Montana
Public radio stations are typically run by a university or a local non-profit
organization. The stations usually broadcast radio programs from National Public Radio, a
network that distributes high-quality news programs and other offerings. The stations also
usually air programs from two other networks, Public Radio International and American
Public Media.
According to Wikipedia, "A tattoo is a mark made by inserting pigment into the skin; in
technical terms, tattooing is dermal pigmentation." Tattoos are a permanent form of body
modification which involve pain and require care and special attention. Tattoo removal is
possible but much more expensive and painful than getting a tattoo in the first place. As a
person ages, their skin loses its elasticity which can change the original tattoo into one that is
less defined and less attractive. However, with the invention of new inks made from vegetable
oil, tattoos done today last much longer than they did twenty years ago. Also, many new laws
on the sanitation of tattoo shops have minimized the risk of infection.
What stupid crook stories do for me, instead, is make me think of frosted strawberries. In the
United States, people often borrow something from a neighbor. Sometimes it's something like
a pick axe, but usually it's just a stick of butter or a cup of sugar...
But Americans who have served overseas with Peace Corps report that one of most puzzling
concepts for their overseas counterparts to grasp is why they have chosen to volunteer in the
first place. Their colleagues ask them if they are simply unable to find work back home, or if
they are seeking a spouse. Some puzzle over words such as “altruism” and ideas such as “a
call to service.”
Recent statistics from the Federal Bureau of Labor indicate that 70 percent of all jobs are
found in United States through networking. If you ask any entrepreneur in the USA he/she
will confirm that about 90% of clients are found through networking too. This makes sense
because you are more likely to do business with or employ a person who was recommended
to you by someone you trust, i.e. someone from your “network”, rather than take a risk of
dealing with a stranger.
The Gender Earnings Gap
Cheerleading styles vary greatly between the high school, college and professional levels.
Teams that cheer for professional sports team such as basketball and football generally
perform dance routines and do not include tumbling and gymnastics. Some of the most well
known teams are the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders for football and the Los Angeles Laker
Girls for basketball.
College teams not only cheer at some sporting events to help fans show support for the
teams, they may also compete as co-ed or all female teams and are judged on their routines
performed to music. College level cheer competitions incorporate difficult gymnastic skills as
well as stunting; making pyramids and throwing team members into the air and catching
them. Two premier college teams are the University of Michigan and the University of
Louisville in Kentucky.
There is very good education in our schools now about teen sex, the precautions and devices
to prevent pregnancy and STDs (sexually transmitted diseases). But no prevention method is
100% safe. And it is important to know that teen legal rights to engage in all types of sexual
activity is regulated by state. In some states teens are forbidden to have sexual intercourse,
including homosexual intercourse under a specified age. Every state attempts to regulate teen
sex through statutory rape laws. These laws are intended to preserve community standards and
morality. In a few states, some morality laws are still in place to prevent sex between
unmarried adults.
Americans work hard and
play hard, and one reason they attend movies is for entertainment. The other
reason Americans like to attend movies is that the stories on the screen
illuminate truths about life on earth. They tell the truth about a fictional
situation, or in some cases, the truth about our shared history, parts of
history that are not taught in elementary school or even in high school (Dances
with Wolves). We no longer sit around the campfire telling our healing
stories and cautionary tales, and movies now serve that purpose.
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Home Schooling: An Alternative Education Option Lee Ann Rubsam
Yard and Garage Sales Lisa Maloney
Other places to find advertisements for yard sales include the local daily or weekly
newspaper, local bulletin boards, neighborhood newsletters, and the website Craigslist.
York: A Key City in the Keystone State Sue Chehrenegar
During the Revolutionary War an important dinner took place at a home inhabited by General
Horatio Gates. Some of the dinner guests that night were statesmen, men who had had to flee
British-occupied Philadelphia. Like Gates, some of those statesmen entertained thoughts of
replacing General George Washington with a different officer.
Child Abuse Juanita Harris
In the year 2004 there were 872,000 proven cases of abuse in America. The majority of
those cases involved neglect. When you neglect a child, you are failing to provide him or her
with the basic needs & supervision to live a healthy and happy life. 1,490 children died as a
result of physical abuse or neglect in 2004, and more than one third of these deaths were
recognized as a direct result of neglect. The majority of child fatalities involved children
younger than four-years-old. Studies show that in most cases the abuser was the child's
parent.
Poverty in America Jeannine Pitas
Teen Self Esteem Jay LaRico
Some facts: Errand and Concierge Services Angel Wilder
So how do people spend their time wisely when there is a ceiling of 1,440 minutes and they
cannot store any extra time for another day? They buy more time from errand and concierge
services.
Hiring a Nanny For Your Child Steve Lampert
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 5.6 million working moms in the United States, and approximately 51 percent of women who gave birth to their first child returned to work within four months. In record numbers, families are turning to nannies as a solution for their childcare needs.
Hiring a nanny is a serious commitment, and many U.S. parents use a mutual “nanny
contract” to lay out clearly the terms and conditions of employment before the hiring process
is complete.
Home Exchange Helen Bergstein
Home exchange simply means that you agree to exchange your primary or secondary/vacation
home with someone else's for an agreed period of time. No money changes hands, and you
get a clean place to stay that is miles ahead of any hotel room. Negotiating a Business Deal Erin Flynn
Building Your Own House Bill E. Fullington
Life In The USA needs sections and articles on matters as diverse as cheerleading, tailgate
barbecues, folk art, yard sales, the phenomenon of soccer moms, reality TV, body piercing,
outlet malls, celebrity chefs: any area of American life that could use some explaining to
someone coming from another country or culture. Many of the existing sections need revision
and significant expansion. We need articles explaining the part business and civic
associations, service clubs, charities, and other organizations play in American life, and also
articles about specific American regions.
Please see our Submission
Guidelines and Benefits for Contributors page. |
Bozeman is nestled in the Gallatin Valley of South Central Montana, which for thousands of
years was a sacred healing place known as the Valley of the Flowers to many Native
American tribes including the Blackfeet, Sioux and Nez Perce. Today it is home to a broad
spectrum of people from professors, artists and ranchers to outdoorsmen, students and active
retirees. The population is diverse but predominated by descendents of European settlers from
Germany, Norway, Ireland and Holland.
Unlike many countries, the United States does not have a domestic government-run radio
service. However, some radio stations in the U.S. are “non-commercial,” which means they
do not run advertisements and are operated on a non-profit basis. Most are on the FM band
and the stations from 88.1 to 91.9 mHz are reserved for non-commercial use. There are
several types of non-commercial radio stations:
While tattoos are growing in popularity among young Americans, tattooing is still a
controversial subject in America today.
In the USA we relish stupid crook stories. We always are reading about them in the
newspapers. You know, stories about cat burglars who rob jewels from their own
grandmother's house and leave behind a thank you note that says, "You always told me these
diamonds belonged to my mom." That makes it easy for even stupid cops to find them.
In 1996 actor Cuba Gooding won an Academy Award for playing a football star in the
comedy movie “Jerry McGuire.” His signature phrase from that film, “Show me the
money,” has become a popular tag line, and serves to reinforce the stereotype of Americans
as opportunistic capitalists who are self-serving to the core.
Networking is a phenomenon known all over the world but it is especially
well-established in the United States. Whether you are looking for a job, trying to develop
your own business, or seeking to grow the client base for your employing company you will
not get too far without networking.
Since the swinging 60’s it has been illegal for an employer to “discriminate between
employees on the basis of sex by paying wages at a rate less than the rate at which he pays
wages to employees of the opposite sex in such for equal work” (Equal Pay Act, 1963). In
the following year, the Civil Rights Act prohibited “employment discrimination based on
race, color, religion, sex, and national origin”. In the four decades since these milestones in
human rights, has the gender gap closed for earnings and career choice?
I once counseled a young man from England who was biracial; he looked like your average
fair-skinned African-American. If he were sitting quietly you couldn’t distinguish him from
any other 20 something “Black” man in America. The problem was that African-Americans
also couldn’t distinguish him from one of their own, and often seemed to take offense when
he spoke differently and behaved differently from them. He reported reactions ranging from
amusement to hostility when he didn’t dance like African-Americans or listen to the kind of
music they liked or eat the kind of food that they ate. The conflict was not a minimal one,
especially when my client found himself ostracized by the larger black community because of
his differences.
Hollywood is the movie
capital of the world. The American public has assured the film industry of
that distinction by their weekly treks to the movie theater, and their purchase
and rental of videos and DVDs. Nowhere in the world do people watch more movies
than in America. It is estimated that the average American views one movie a
week, whereas in Europe, the frequency is about once a month.
Every office in America has office politics, which is the way people influence
decisions in a company from outside the designated chain of command. The chain
of command seen in most offices requires changes to come down from the top or
laboriously up from the bottom. A worker with an idea has to convince his boss
and his boss has to convince his boss and so on until the idea, possibly now
diluted or distorted, reaches the level where decisions are made. Failure to
follow the chain of command can get a worker fired in a hurry.
Saltwater fishing can be of interest to both visitors as well as residents of the USA. Here in
the USA, fishing has been a traditional pastime and is often a family oriented hobby. My
fishing began when my father and older brother took me many years ago. Since age 6, I have
been addicted to the sport.
Home schooling has been a part of American heritage since the days of the country’s
founding. The first immigrants, as well as the pioneers who moved westward in later years,
home schooled their children by necessity until they were able to establish community
schools. Fourteen of the forty-three United States presidents were home schooled, including
George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson. Inventors
Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, Generals Douglas MacArthur and George
Patton, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and composer Irving Berlin were all
home schooled for at least part of their educational careers.
Yard, garage, tag, moving and apartment sales all refer to essentially the same thing: a private
individual selling personal belongings from their own home. The goods for sale are typically
displayed outside, either in the yard, garage, or driveway. Items may also be displayed inside
the house or apartment if no outside space is available. Sellers advertise by posting small
signs on neighboring streets, directing buyers to the seller's home. Sometimes the signs also
describe what sort of items will be available for purchase.
The history of the United States has repeatedly included mention of York, Pennsylvania.
Beginning in 1750, as thousands of settlers traveled south from Pennsylvania to the
Shenandoah Valley, they passed through York. One of those settlers, Daniel Boone, carried a
rifle designed by a gunsmith with a shop in York.
Every year there are three million reports of child abuse in America. When a parent or
caretaker acts, or fails to act in a way that presents imminent risk of serious harm to a child it
is considered abuse. This includes causing or not preventing serious physical or emotional
abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation and death. Most of the States recognize four types of abuse:
emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect.
For most people in the world- including some in other developed countries- the US is the
paragon of an affluent society, the proverbial Promised Land where millionaires abound and
where even the lower classes are comfortable. This is the image commonly portrayed by
Hollywood movies, in which every family lives in a suburban subdivision or plush apartment
and owns at least one luxury car. On the superficial level, this picture appears accurate
enough. After all, how many other countries have our gigantic supermarkets stocked with
every imaginable delicacy from sushi to tahini, our superhighways crowded with every kind
of vehicle, our whole communities of spacious, beautiful houses with perfectly manicured
lawns? How many other countries have our tradition of social mobility and our treasure of
rags-to-riches tales? Any way you look at it, our country is one of the most affluent in the
world.
Low self-esteem is a critical issue facing teens in America. It has been proven that low
self-esteem affects learning and can lead to such problems as delinquency, unhealthy
relationships, eating disorders, drugs and suicide.
Come midnight, everyone gets to start over with 1,440 minutes in their daily bank account of
time. What they do with those minutes is up to them. Like money, people’s minutes can be
spent wisely or spent frivolously. With Americans having an ever increasing load of tasks and
errands that need to be done, it seems as if they are trying to squeeze every last minute into
the day by multi-tasking. From time to time people have seen the multi-tasker out there who
is trying to drive while eating breakfast, talking to a client on the cell phone, reading notes
for the morning meeting, and making sure his or her hair is in place.
Finding a reliable nanny is a primary concern for working mothers in the United States.
Although airfare and the costs of car travel have been lowered by competition in recent years,
accommodations continue to be a stumbling block for many would-be travelers. Hotel rooms
can add up to hundreds of dollars a night in some of the most desirable locations. Home
exchange, though, lets couples, families, and singles from all walks of life travel the world
and meet exciting people without spending a cent on accommodations. Thanks to the
influence of the Internet, arranging this type of travel is as simple as joining a home
swapping community and exchanging emails with would-be partners.
As a manager, do you know what it
takes to negotiate a successful deal? Can you build an honest and direct
relationship with the other party? Anne Warfield, President of Impression
Management Professional, a Minnesota-based consulting firm, shares her
negotiating expertise:
It is the American dream to own a home of your own. Most people that are really interested
in getting the home of their dreams build their own. Building your own home or having a
home built for you is definitely an adventurous, but most rewarding task. As with any project
or new career that you're interested in exploring, the more education you have and knowledge
you obtain before inception, the more rewards and less risk will be involved.http://www.lifeintheusa.com/magazine/index.html
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