Month: January 2013

You may have heard the recent story about the remote Native American reservation in Oregon called Umatilla that is east of Pendleton. Apparently shrieks in the night are being heard there and the community is split between whether it is just wolves and foxes or if it is Bigfoot himself. The possible Media Space NYC Platinum Pia nominated online magazine project called “Bigfoot Zombie” has been looking into it. They claim that there is a possible connection to Sasquatch Undead sightings as far away as Inwood Manhattan. The folks at “Bigfoot Zombie” believe that the loud animal screams in Oregon are from a Bigfoot Zombie who got separated from his family. Just as there were rumors last year in Northern NYC where some residents believed that Sasquatch Undead has made his way from Oregon and is now residing in the natural caves in Inwood Hill Park.

Do you have a solution? A solution to a problem? In the end entrepreneurs are solving some kind of problem for others. Solving other people’s problems can sometimes seem easier than solving your own. Can you be a solution provider for yourself?

There are a lot of problems in the world – this is no news flash – so when we are solution oriented we have more of an opportunity to possibly make a difference. Those with empathy are some of the first to be likely to work toward solutions. But those with empathy can also be the most sensitive. And in the onslaught of all the challenges that are thrown at us, if we are sensitive we are also susceptible to a dampening of spirit.

So back to solutions – when we solve our own problems we become more likely to help others solve theirs.

Every December the Platinum PIAs occur. It is the community awards ceremony of education and the beauty arts. December 2012 was one of the best PIAs yet.

The mission of the Platinum PIAs and the monthly Lights Camera Read NYC Workshop programs leading up to them is to engage the community, businesses and artists in a collaborative educational process for individual success and that of the economy.

The workshops at the library are always free and the speakers are volunteers.

I am happy to report that yesterday we had the January workshop and it was a success. We had an inspiring speaker who spoke about his dual career as both a firefighter and an actor.

This year in the build to the Platinum PIAs 2013 we will be honoring a different New Yorker each month who will speak about his or her unique way of making a living.

In turn the students do art, writing and video projects based on the message of the the speakers. These projects become eligible for Platinum PIAs nominations.

If you live in Northern NYC and have a child going into kindergarten next year, chances are you are currently going through or have gone through the seeking of admissions process.

Or, if you have a child a year younger than this, there’s no time like the present to start looking for solutions.

“Manhattan Kids Guide” recently came out with an article featuring Susan Herman, Director of Early Childhood Services as the YM & YWHA of Washington Heights & Inwood.

In this article Susan details of the procedure for embarking on the transition to Kindergarten for your child.

There are some who have already given up on their New Year’s Resolutions and others who have forgotten them. Why is it that sometimes keeping a goal in focus and acting on it seems so hard? We live in a society that in many ways worships easy. Is this wrong? Is it actually true that things take hard work? Or is it really a matter of…perspective?

If it really is about point of view then when something appears difficult why not think to yourself “It’s very easy”? Is this dangerous? Or are things often more simple to do than they appear? Clearly there are objectives that many of us would find too tough, but then maybe the easy solution is to get someone else who is qualified in that area to help us.

As an experiment I made a list of things big and small that I wanted to accomplish. I then read each entry and repeated to myself “It’s very easy”. Looking at that list from the perspective “It’s very easy” began to lighten the barriers between me doing these things versus not.

Could it really be this easy?

It’s very easy!?