A Night to Remember with Peter Buffet
“Everyone has a story worth listening to.”
– Susan Buffett –
The lights dimmed, and the audience – composed of the Buffett family, top executives from around the country, local young professionals, donors, United Way representatives from around the world, and students – looked to the side door as Peter entered the stage.
He took a seat at the Steinway and began sharing stories about what it was like growing up in the Buffett household, showing images of old family photos and even a Google Maps Street View of the home he grew up in. He focused on an adage that he remembers his mother, Susan, saying when he was young – “Everyone has a story worth listening to.”
With his performance being focused on philanthropy, and such a diverse audience in attendance, it made a lot of sense to focus on those words from the late Susan Buffett. Everyone does have a story worth listening to, and it’s our job to build a world where that happens, and where everyone is treated with respect and dignity…
Two Teams, No Winners: Are Americans Willing To Let Go Of Partisanship?
There are 10 seconds to go, and it’s not looking good.
Seemingly untouchable in the first half, the Minnesota Vikings are now down by one point against the New Orleans Saints — and I’m getting nervous. Not because I’m particularly passionate about them winning, but because I know my boyfriend Matt will sink into temporary depression if they lose this playoff game.
…Of course, at the time, I didn’t know they would get stomped the following week, but I digress…
As you may know, miraculously, a Vikings player leaps into the air for the ball, and barely holding it together he sprints to the end zone, snagging a touchdown just as the clock runs out. Even I had to admit it was pretty awesome.
And then came the phone call from Matt:
“Oh my god I can’t believe it! We won! I was so sad, and then I was, like, losing my mind, and then we won! I think I’m having a heart attack or something! I can’t even explain this feeling right now and I’m freaking out and — I have to go.”
Click.
Ironically, while watching the end of the game and receiving this call, I was in the middle of reading an article titled, “The psychology of why sports fans see teams as extensions of themselves…”
How Can We Help Houston?
As groups assess the damage and determine what they need, we may need to be patient.
Like many of you out there, our team has been feeling the heartbreak the city of Houston and surrounding areas are experiencing right now, and wondering if there’s anything we can do to help those areas pull things back together.
We’ve seen the uplifting video where there’s a seemingly endless line of trucks pulling boats to go help search for and rescue citizens, and more locally we know of Omahans who have signed up with the Red Cross and decided to deploy down to flooded areas of Texas.
It offers so much hope to see that when disaster hits, people move and they move quickly to offer their helping hands.
OUR MINDS HAVE BEEN PARTICULARLY FOCUSED ON THE STUDENTS IN AND AROUND HOUSTON.
When will classes start up again? How long will it take to repair schools? How long will it take to repair homes, and how many students will even have a home to come back to?…
How do we know when technology is helpful or harmful?
As an educational program that relies on technology to function, the impact that our software has on students is something we, well, sometimes worry about. And for good reason.
Research shows that certain interactions with tech devices raise dopamine levels significantly, and impact the frontal cortex – or part of the brain that helps control impulse – in the same way cocaine does. In essence, it has the power to create an unhealthy addiction that can cause even young kids to lose interest in the sports they play, reading or playing outside.
Children may also display difficulties with following multistep directions, problem solving with peers, and attending to task; all of which are necessary skills in the classroom and at home.
That’s pretty scary, especially when it’s difficult to tell when technology in education is empowering a student to learn something new in a more interesting way, or when it’s actually changing the way they think in a way that could be harmful.
A lot of times, it’s a bit of both…
Literacy & civic engagement: Preparing kids for the role they can play in society
Politics. It’s the last thing many people want to talk about, especially after a divisive election. To be clear, we’re going to spare you from another think piece on where the country is headed. Instead we’re digging into the links between literacy, civic engagement and kids. How can our communities better involve youth in issues and create opportunities for them to develop solutions?
Kids are small, may not quite have stellar vocabularies, heck, they might still need help opening their milk cartons during lunch at school – but they are not helpless. If we can show them how much power they hold, kids can do some pretty cool things. Just watch this 2nd grade class take ownership of their reading.
And ask Adam Morfeld, Senator in Lincoln, Nebraska and the founder of Nebraskans for Civic Reform (NCR), a nonprofit dedicated to increasing civic engagement and providing opportunities for youth to get involved in their communities and fix what they see is broken.
“By starting at an early age and engaging them in issues they care about, then showing they can have an impact and walking them through the processes, it normalizes that behavior and their view of world and of them having a positive impact in that world…”
A vitamin vs. a pain pill: Why do we wait for kids to fall behind?
In the late 1800s, Joseph Malins, an English activist, wrote a poem about a cliff, a fence and an ambulance. The gist: There’s a cliff that’s very pleasant to walk on, so many people in the town nearby venture close to its edge. Some slip and fall into the valley below, and the town decides something has to be done.
They become divided when they must decide whether to build a fence or keep an ambulance down in the valley. The majority claim it’s most important to send an ambulance to care for those who are injured. A fence still may not stop them from slipping or falling, they argue, but an ambulance will ensure their injuries can be mended.
The last segment goes like this:
Better guide well the young than reclaim them when old, For the voice of true wisdom is calling: “To rescue the fallen is good, but ’tis best To prevent other people from falling.” Better close up the source of temptation and crime Than deliver from dungeon or galley; Better put a strong fence round the top of the cliff. Than an ambulance down in the valley...
The Book Mirage: An Illusion of Endless Reading Opportunities for Kids in Omaha
Picture two 1st grade students. Their classroom is filled with books that line several different book shelves, which they will pick out and read independently. They spend the day going over sentence structures, they take a spelling test, they visit the library. Essentially, between 8:50 AM and 4:05 PM, both students had the same opportunities to grow their reading skills.
But then the students go home, where they spend over half their day during the school week, and two very different stories begin to form.
- Student #1 Has a bookshelf filled with good reads, and she picks one to read with her family every night. She’s always been surrounded with books and supported to read them, so she’s fostered a love for reading at a very young age. She visits the public library almost every weekend. Reading is her favorite subject and she excels at it.
- Student #2 has a handful of books, but most are either too easy or hard to read. Sometimes she will read with her family, but her dad works most nights and her mom is usually busy taking care of her two younger siblings. She rarely gets new books because her family barely makes enough to pay the bills. She has only been to the public library once because her family doesn’t have a car. She struggles in school because she has a hard time reading and understanding directions.
Student #2 lives in what we call a “Book Desert…”
Luxury brands shower attention on well-heeled Chinese students in U.S.
Sellers of Western luxury brands eager to capitalize on the new wealth of Chinese consumers are showering attention on mainland students in the United States, even as sales in China falter.
The strategy is paying off for some, such as the Los Angeles Beverly Center mall, which sends buses to pick up Chinese families at the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Southern California at the beginning of the year, when parents drop off their children, and at graduation.
“We aren’t just dabbling here,” said Susan Vance, the Beverly Center marketing and sponsorship director. The mall sponsors Chinese student groups with roughly 45,000 members in what she called one of its most successful marketing plans…
Retailers give shoppers new reasons to use mobile phones in stores
At some Macy’s outlets this holiday season, shoppers who download the retailer’s app will be able to use their smart phones to guide them through the store to products they’re seeking.
At JCPenney, customers will be able to take a snapshot of, for example, boots worn by a person passing by and quickly find out if the store has similar ones in stock. And Staples is testing an app that will allow sales clerks to let customers know how the store’s prices match up against Amazon and other rivals.
Hoping to claw back market share from online rivals – and tired of watching customers use their phones to find better deals than those offered in stores – brick and mortar retailers are trying to give shoppers different reasons to use their phones while doing holiday shopping…
U.S. startups aim to help seniors ‘age in place’
Shari Cayle, 75, called “Miracle Mama” by her family ever since she beat back advanced colon cancer seven years ago, is still undergoing treatment and living alone.
“I don’t want my grandchildren to remember me as the sick one, I want to be the fun one,” said Cayle, who is testing a device that passively monitors her activity. “My family knows what I’m doing and I don’t think they should have to change their life around to make sure I’m OK.”
Onkol, a product inspired by Cayle that monitors her front door, reminds her to when to take her medication and can alert her family if she falls has allowed her to remain independent at home. Devised by her son Marc, it will hit the U.S. market next year.
As more American seniors plan to remain at home rather than enter a nursing facility, new startups and some well-known technology brands are connecting them to family and healthcare providers…
Americans want Medicare to help negotiate down drug prices: poll
A vast majority of Americans say the Medicare health program for the elderly should be able to negotiate with drug companies to set lower medication prices, a practice currently prohibited by law, according to a survey released on Friday.
The poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 87 percent of people surveyed want Medicare to have the authority to press drugmakers for greater discounts. The skyrocketing prices for crucial medicines have hit both health insurers and consumers, who are being asked to cover a higher proportion of their medications’ cost.
“People don’t understand why these drugs cost so much, and they don’t understand why, in America, you can’t negotiate for a better price,” said Mollyann Brodie, executive director of public opinion and survey research at Kaiser Family Foundation…
Gay marriage ruling leaves U.S. firms unclear on spousal benefits
The Supreme Court was definitive in its decision to legalize gay marriage nationwide, but what is far from clear is whether U.S. companies must offer corporate benefits to same-sex spouses.
Many large and mid-sized employers are self-insured, which means their benefits are governed by a 1974 act that has no language on preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act allows companies to bypass differing state laws that complicate healthcare options for employees spread out across the country.
In a Reuters survey of 60 large U.S. employers, nearly half said they were already providing benefits to same-sex spouses before the Supreme Court ruling last month, including 13 that are based in states where gay marriage was illegal…
Special Needs: What parents think others should know
At the PIN Bureau, we asked people across the country “What is one thing that people should know about having a child with special needs?” For Margaret Enos, a 62-year-old retired history teacher, her “one thing” is that sometimes her experiences are just like those other families go through.
Sometimes the biggest predicament is whether a child wants vanilla or chocolate ice cream.
And just like mothers who are raising a high school senior, Enos is helping her bluegrass-loving, 21-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy prepare to start a new life. Again, like for most 21-year-olds, the age is a golden one…
Women launch line of stylish concealed carry handbags
Faith Kohler wears skinny jeans, ankle boots, chunky bracelets and cropped jackets. She wasn’t about to settle for a handbag that didn’t fit her style.
And that was the problem: She couldn’t find a purse that would fit her wardrobe and also her handgun.
After years of wearing her firearm on her hip as a federal agent, Kohler, 44, was looking for an option that would give her more versatility: a concealed carry handbag. So she’s created her own handbag company, Been & Badge, with Milwaukee-native handbag designer Jodi Been, who lives and works in Los Angeles.
“For me it’s second nature to carry a firearm,” said Kohler, a New York native who graduated from Marquette Law School and lives in Milwaukee. “I looked, and I couldn’t find something that was really ‘me…'”
Berghoff Brewery plans for expansion, more sales
When it comes to beer, the almost 27-year-old owner of the 127-year-old Berghoff Brewery believes that old trumps new any day.
“No one wants your dad’s beer, (but) having grandpa’s beer is cool,” said Ben Minkoff, whose family owns General Beverage Distributors and acquired the Berghoff brand in 1994. “We had this history and legacy that people know. We want to bring back that nostalgia.”
The problem with Minkoff’s vision when he took control in 2011 was that the “nostalgia” of the Berghoff name had been tarnished as the brand changed hands and recipes were altered over the years.
So some sprucing up was in order, including restoring its image as a premium brand…
Phoenix developer on mission to save historic buildings
Michael Levine, 45, loves history, but what he loves even more is sharing it.
Levine is a downtown Phoenix developer; his mission is to save as many historical buildings as possible in the city’s warehouse district.
For more than 20 years, he has returned numerous warehouses to commerce, including those that now house the Bentley Gallery at Bentley Projects and the Duce restaurant, bar and clothing store.
In a city where demolishing deteriorating structures has been the norm, Levine became one of the first to start buying old buildings for the sole purpose of preserving and transforming them.
The work is not for the faint of heart…
Kylie R. Gumpert 