Social Bowl XLVII: Why You Should Move Your Money to the Web ...

We all know that the Super Bowl is the Super Bowl of, well, Super Bowls.? It?s even MORE super for mega-brands with colossal marketing budgets, fancy Hollywood contacts and burping frogs.? But not everyone is a Coke? Or even a Pepsi.? Consequently, if you?re a mid-sized business looking to maximize your advertising dollars this Sunday, the place to spend that cash isn?t on TV, but online.

Say you?re Shasta.? Or Thrifty Car Rental.? Or Kettle Brand.? Sure you have an ad budget, but at $3.8 million per 30 second TV spot, those dollars are burned in a half-minute.

But social media is different.? There?s a lower financial barrier to entry and seemingly endless opportunities to improve your ?bang for the buck.?? So rather than blow your budget on 30 seconds, small businesses and mid-sized concerns should stretch their Benjamins across Twitter and Facebook.

As Portent?s President Steve Gahler says, ?You can?t own the Super Bowl, but you can own the space where everyone talks about the Super Bowl.?

Here?s how you, too, can put some points on the board during the biggest media marketing event of the year.

The Game Day audience

Last year, 111.3 million people watched the Super Bowl ? the largest audience ever.

And according to NBC (last year?s broadcaster), 2.1 million people watched the game live online.? Yes, a much (much) smaller market, but potentially a more tech-savvy, higher-income one as well.? Add that number to the masses following the game on social media and you have a nice chunk of engaged fans to market to.

This year?s broadcaster CBS will be streaming live on their site, as will nfl.com.

TV ad costs

Up, up and away:

According to Forbes:? ?Current reports plug [Super Bowl XLII?s] ad price at $3.8 million, up from the $3.5 million that companies paid for a spot at [last] year?s game, and that is just the cost of air time. Ad budgets for Super Bowl commercials can run as high as $5 million per 30-second spot.?

So, potentially $8.8 million for 30 seconds.? Yes, it?s the biggest media event in the world, but?

Super Bowl ads don?t work for everyone

According to NBC News:? ?Most of the top 10 [Super Bowl] spenders are perennial also-rans. Yum! Brands, owner of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, spent $67 million over the past 10 years. Meanwhile, McDonald?s, the indisputable market leader, spent less than half that amount and is not a top 10 spender. Similarly, E*Trade, well-known for the talking baby campaign, spent more than any other online brokerage firm, yet remains fourth in the industry.?

Most mid- to-small-size companies can?t afford to blow $9 million on a spot that doesn?t guarantee a great ROI.? And for all their hype, Super Bowl ads don?t.? For example, check out this graphic from nfl.com?s Football Freakonomics:

Social media and television: Partners in engagement

According to the latest Nielsen Social Media Report, ?As of June 2012, more than 33 percent of Twitter users had actively tweeted about TV-related content. Some 44 percent of U.S. tablet owners and 38 percent of U.S. smartphone owners use their devices daily to access social media while watching television.?

And those numbers are an aggregation.? Super Bowl engagement is even higher.

But does social really convert?

Even the NFL is using social media to evaluate Super Bowl ads? ROI.? The NFL?s Head of Sales Seth Winter says social media improves an ad?s TV value, allowing them to charge more.? So why not start with social if you can?t afford the TV kit and caboodle?

Where to spend your money: Twitter

In the final moments of last year?s game, Twitter interaction was averaging over 12,000 tweets per second.? PER SECOND.? And the grand total for Super Bowl related tweets?? 13.7 million.

From Zander Lurie, SVP, Strategic Development at CBS:

They refer to it as a ?second screen? experience: the audience watches conventional media while using new media to comment on / interact with it.? Take a look at this graphic by Nielsen:

And for social proof, do you know who?s monitoring Twitter on Super Bowl Sunday?? All of those enormous in-game advertisers? For real time feedback, they turn to the social media network.

(Interesting aside: With social media, you may not even lose an impression due a pit stop: according to the Nielsen report, 32% of people use social networking in the bathroom.)

Option 1: Promoted Tweets

A tip from Twitter?s advertising department: ?Leverage real-time intent: Run Promoted Tweets in search to target relevant [timely] terms that have trended in the past on Twitter and are likely to once again spark high levels of discussion.?

A Promoted Tweet looks like this:

I could obviously do with some more followers? Hint.

And just in time to collect your Super Bowl dollars, Twitter made improvements to Promoted Tweets:? You can now target negative keywords.? Their example: ?If you sell bacon, you can now keep your campaigns more than six degrees apart from Kevin Bacon by using ?Kevin? as a negative keyword.?

You can also target your promoted Tweets to geographic regions (a great advertising option for brick and mortar businesses), existing follower base and gender.

But the best thing about Promoted Tweets?? You only pay when people play.? From Twitter: ?Promoted Tweets are priced on a Cost-per-Engagement (CPE) basis, so you only pay when someone retweets, replies to, clicks or favorites your Promoted Tweet.?? Pretty sweet deal for someone with a small ad budget.

Option 2: Sponsored hashtags

Also known as Promoted Trends, a sponsored hashtag will appear at the top of Twitter?s Trending Topics list at the left of a user?s feed.

Anecdotal evidence of their efficacy ? at least for bigger brands ? is positive.? For example, Coke used a promoted tweet during the 2010 World Cup and snatched 86 million impressions with a 6% engagement rate.

Today, the price tag of a 24-hour sponsored hashtag is around $120,000, though Twitter is expected to hike that cost for this year?s Bowl.? It?s a bargain at even twice or three times that figure, however, when you consider that your brand will stay in the spotlight for 24 hours (compared to a 30 second, $3.8 million TV spot).

Sponsored hashtags also appear on iPhones, Android mobile devices, Tweetdeck and Hootsuite, making them a good choice for folks tweeting in front of their flatscreens.

A caveat: As with any social or viral marketing campaign, you do not control the interaction.? It is important to consider that the hashtag, once created, takes on a life of its own.? Some of your feedback may be negative. For example, check out the Republican National Committee?s #AreYouBetterOff debacle.

And for those of you truly looking for a bargain, you can get ahead of the game and capitalize on tags that you KNOW will be trending; in 2013, #ManofSteel, #IronMan3 and #Hangover3 are all pretty safe bets.? You can also check out hashtag search engines like Tweet Archivist or Tweet Charts to see what people are talking about most.

Option 3: Promoted accounts

While a promoted account won?t necessarily be visible on everyone?s Twitter page, it allows for greater targeting of potential customers. Twitter?s algorithm recommends a user follow your account only if they fit a specific profile, resulting in less wasted coverage.

Like Promoted Tweets, you only pay for interaction ? specifically when someone follows your account. You decide how much you want to spend per day or new follower, and you can geo-target.

Our in-house social media guru Doug Antkowiak also suggests: ?Promoted accounts target people based on who the target account is already following.? If you want to be seen by a specific niche, you need to go follow those people first.? Followerwonk is a great place to start.?

Where to spend your money: Facebook

Are people really looking at their Facebook pages during the big game?

Allfacebook.com studied the wall posts of more than 1,400 brands during game time and found that engagement during the Super Bowl soared 60%.

Not unexpectedly, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg maintains advertising on Facebook is better than advertising on television.? More unexpectedly, she had this stat to back it up:? Facebook?s daily traffic is over three times greater than Super Bowl viewership.

Option 1: Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads allow you to select a page or piece of content you?d like to promote.

Facebook has greater targeting dexterity than Twitter, allowing you to select from a number of demographic categories, including location, age, gender and interests.? You set your campaign budget and are charged every time someone sees your ad or sponsored story.? Then choose whether you?d like to optimize for engagement, impressions or clicks.

If a mid-sized business elects to go with Facebook Ads, it may want to create some pieces of quality Super Bowl-centric content to promote on Game Day.? Craft the message for your target market and select the demographic filters that correspond.

Option 2: Facebook Apps

More expensive but great at brand building, Facebook apps allow you to more fully engage with a potential customer base, often via a contest, game or service.? It also enables an advertiser to control a corner of the social media juggernaut, increasing user engagement rates.

With highlights like automatic bookmarking, newsfeed stories and a notifications API, Facebook apps are front and center for engaging potential customers.? Once you reach 10 active users, your app will be automatically included in the Facebook search index.? Facebook Insights also allows you to accurately track user engagement and referral traffic.

In fact this year, Doritos is using a Facebook App to choose their network Super Bowl commercial as the latest incarnation of their popular ?Crash the Super Bowl? promotion.

While posting your app to Facebook is free, building it can cost anywhere from $500 to tens of thousands of dollars.

Your Game Day playbook

1. Start with content.? Create something relevant to the Super Bowl, but not necessarily about football.? Think of your target market and generate a campaign that connects your product or service to the event in a way that engages them.? For a conventional media example, the Puppy Bowl entertains Animal Planet?s demographic (pet owners) with a silly, cute ?game? that is relevant enough to capitalize on the Super Bowl?s PR, but distant enough they can carve their own niche.
2. Capitalize on Twitter trends through promoted tweets and sponsored hashtags.? Also take advantage of some ?free? promotion with Tweets using hashtags that are certain to be popular.
3. Anything that is cost-per-whatever, consider using.? You?re only paying for people who have seen your Facebook ad/Promoted tweet/account/etc.? No wasted coverage.
4. As always, monitor and measure.? Improve.? You?ll have another shot next year.

The takeaway

?Playing your own game? is about forging a relationship with your customer base on your terms.? Small- to mid-sized businesses should grasp the opportunity to capitalize on a trending, water cooler topic like the Super Bowl, but they must do so strategically, for the right price, and be able to measure the result.

For anyone who?s not Coke (or even Pepsi), the smart money?s online.? There you?ll have time to build a brand identity? One that stands a chance against a talking gecko and some Clydesdales.

Ultimately, you can spend $3.8 million on 30 seconds of TV which may or may not catch fire? Or you can become part of the excited, week-long dialogue that surrounds the big game, engaging potential consumers on a topic they are already vested in.

Now it may be too late to implement a strategy for the Super Bowl ? it IS on Sunday ? but there?s still a little time to capitalize on the Female Super Bowl: the Oscars air on Sunday, Feb. 24.

Am I missing any other viable social media ad outlets for Super Bowl Sunday?? Should we bet on YouTube?? Pinterest? (Hint: not them.)? Let me know in the comments below.

Source: http://www.portent.com/blog/internet-marketing/social-bowl-xlvii.htm

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Herschel finds past-prime star may be making planets

Jan. 30, 2013 ? A star thought to have passed the age at which it can form planets may, in fact, be creating new worlds. The disk of material surrounding the surprising star called TW Hydrae may be massive enough to make even more planets than we have in our own solar system.

The findings were made using the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Telescope, a mission in which NASA is a participant.

At roughly 10 million years old and 176 light years away, TW Hydrae is relatively close to Earth by astronomical standards. Its planet-forming disk has been well studied. TW Hydrae is relatively young but, in theory, it is past the age at which giant plants already may have formed.

"We didn't expect to see so much gas around this star," said Edwin Bergin of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Bergin led the new study appearing in the journal Nature. "Typically stars of this age have cleared out their surrounding material, but this star still has enough mass to make the equivalent of 50 Jupiters," Bergin said.

In addition to revealing the peculiar state of the star, the findings also demonstrate a new, more precise method for weighing planet-forming disks. Previous techniques for assessing the mass were indirect and uncertain. The new method can directly probe the gas that typically goes into making planets.

Planets are born out of material swirling around young stars, and the mass of this material is a key factor controlling their formation. Astronomers did not know before the new study whether the disk around TW Hydrae contained enough material to form new planets similar to our own.

"Before, we had to use a proxy to guess the gas quantity in the planet-forming disks," said Paul Goldsmith, the NASA project scientist for Herschel at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "This is another example of Herschel's versatility and sensitivity yielding important new results about star and planet formation."

Using Herschel, scientists were able to take a fresh look at the disk with the space telescope to analyze light coming from TW Hydrae and pick out the spectral signature of a gas called hydrogen deuteride. Simple hydrogen molecules are the main gas component of planets, but they emit light at wavelengths too short to be detected by Herschel. Gas molecules containing deuterium, a heavier version of hydrogen, emit light at longer, far-infrared wavelengths that Herschel is equipped to see. This enabled astronomers to measure the levels of hydrogen deuteride and obtain the weight of the disk with the highest precision yet.

"Knowing the mass of a planet-forming disk is crucial to understanding how and when planets take shape around other stars," said Glenn Wahlgren, Herschel program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Whether TW Hydrae's large disk will lead to an exotic planetary system with larger and more numerous planets than ours remains to be seen, but the new information helps define the range of possible planet scenarios.

"The new results are another important step in understanding the diversity of planetary systems in our universe," said Bergin. "We are now observing systems with massive Jupiters, super-Earths, and many Neptune-like worlds. By weighing systems at their birth, we gain insight into how our own solar system formed with just one of many possible planetary configurations."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Edwin A. Bergin, L. Ilsedore Cleeves, Uma Gorti, Ke Zhang, Geoffrey A. Blake, Joel D. Green, Sean M. Andrews, Neal J. Evans II, Thomas Henning, Karin ?berg, Klaus Pontoppidan, Chunhua Qi, Colette Salyk, Ewine F. van Dishoeck. An old disk still capable of forming a planetary system. Nature, 2013; 493 (7434): 644 DOI: 10.1038/nature11805

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/Vqb4sehg5j0/130130135905.htm

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'Taken' Director Pierre Morel Pursues New Action Franchise

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Pierre Morel, who launched Liam Neeson's second act as an action star in "Taken," is in talks to direct "Prone Gunman" for Silver Pictures and Studio Canal.

Sean Penn will star in the film, based on Jean-Patrick Manchette's novel about an international spy betrayed by his own organization. Peter Travis adapted the book, and Silver Pictures' Joel Silver and Andrew Rona will produce.

Silver Pictures and Studio Canal, which is financing the film, are hoping they have a new action franchise on their hands.

Morel, left, who started his career as a cinematographer, made his debut as a director with "District B13," an adrenaline-filled film about the plot to blow up an area of Paris filled with the city's least savory characters. He then directed "Taken," which spawned a sequel and helped turn Neeson, long a respected actor, into an international action star.

Though he won an Oscar for playing a violent father in "Mystic River" and earned a nomination for playing an ex-convict in "Dead Man Walking," Penn has not appeared in many strictly action movies.

The film aims to begin production in Spring 2013 across Europe.

The Hollywood Reporter first reported news of Morel's potential involvement.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/taken-director-pierre-morel-pursues-action-franchise-180347685.html

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Mayor took bribes, headed to prison The former mayor of the City of Cudahy was...

Mayor took bribes, headed to prison

The former mayor of the City of Cudahy was sentenced Tuesday to one year in federal prison for taking cash bribes in exchange for supporting the opening of a ?medical marijuana? store in the city. David Silva, 62, ?

Source: http://www.facebook.com/CalCoastNews/posts/10151323363369823

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President strikes Louisiana pay

The A-54 well was drilled to a depth of 2865.1 metres with logs successfully identifying 9.14 metres of pay, the company stated on Wednesday.

The well has been cased and lined and a workover rig is currently being mobilised for its completion.

Production is expected to start in about four weeks, President said.

Meanwhile, at the company?s South American operations, a three-well fracture stimulation programme is expected to resume in Argentina shortly, following the end of the wet season.

President said the initial results from this programme were anticipated around the end of the first quarter, subject to weather.

In addition, more than 450 kilometres of line clearing have been completed in Paraguay, in preparation for a 780-square kilometre 3D and 100-kilometre 2D seismic survey.

The shoots are expected to begin by about the end of March and be completed in June, with initial results expected in the first part of the fourth quarter, according to President.

?President is confident that the 3D seismic programme will successfully enable us to high grade and more accurately assess the volumetrics of the first prospects for the drilling programme commencing in approximately 12 months,? the company said in a statement.

Source: http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article1315416.ece

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The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM!

RIM? RIM. RIM RIM RIM, RIM RIM RIM RIM. RIM RIM. Some other stuff happened this week, too, but let's be honestly, we're going all RIM all the time. If you've been playing a BlackBerry-based Engadget Podcast drinking game, you're going to sit this one RIM. Out, sorry, we meant to say out. Oh, and it looks like we'll never say "RIM" again. So there's that.

Update: Sorry, guys, looks like our chat client is having some issues. We're gonna have to rely on the comments for now...

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/L6mwtc0pL5c/

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Video: Storm dumps 2.5 feet of rain on eastern Australia

>>> first to that deadly flooding in australia. sarah james is in brisbane for us this morning. s sarah, good morning.

>> reporter: good morning, savannah. the floodwaters here in brisbane -- and i'm on the banks of the river, have peaked and are starting to recede, but the crisis here in queensland, australia, is far from over. the juggernaut of the storm, which dumped 2 1/2 feet of water on the region, lashed towns across eastern australia all the way down to sydney. a storm so terrifying and bizarre. churning up monster foam from the ocean that entertained children, but bewildered drivers, and taxed resources to the breaking point. even thunderburg's hospital had to be evacuated. rescue workers pushed patients on carts to waiting helicopters. others plucked from rooftops from a team of civilians, remnants of cyclone oswald. tiny evac eevacuee. hundreds of men and women and children rushed to safety. this fashionable neighborhood two miles outside the center of brisbane flooded in 2011 , a once in a century flood, but two years later, it happened again. andrew brady just moved here.

>> also it can't happen again.

>> reporter: last flood he volunteered to dig out others. now they're calling to return the favor.

>> you add in the desert, this is our flood phone, samsung flood phone.

>> reporter: those friends, those volunteers worked so hard and got so dirty in the cleanup that they got nicknamed the mud army. you can bet the platoons of them will be back in action this year, those volunteers. and they'll be needed. it's going to be a massive cleanup, savannah.

>> that, it is, sara james

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50624843/

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Virginia considers dropping ban on unmarried couples cohabitating

Virginia may soon be for lovers, even unmarried ones (Virginia.org)Like its travel slogan says, Virginia is for lovers. But if said lovers are cohabitating outside marriage, they are currently breaking the law. But there?s good news for those lawless lovebirds: State officials in the commonwealth are considering a bill that would legalize cohabitation.

Florida, Michigan and Mississippi have similar laws banning cohabitation.

In 2011, a Florida lawmaker attempted to revoke the Sunshine State law, which carries a penalty of $500 or up to 60 days in jail.

As the Washington Post reports, a Virginia law dating to the 1800s states that it is illegal for ?any persons, not married to each other, [to] lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together,? though officials say the law has not been enforced for decades.

However, as recently as the 1990s, prosecutors attempted to use the law to take away a day care license from a childcare provider.

Darlene K. Davis, 73, told the Post a state inspector attempted to take away her day care license after learning that Davis had been living with her boyfriend for 16 years. ?She said, ?You live in sin,?? Davis said.

Still, state Sen. Adam Ebbin and Delegate Scott Surovell, both Democrats, say they plan to leave one part of the 19th-century law in place: a provision banning sex in public places.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/virginia-considers-dropping-law-banning-unmarried-couples-living-225954598.html

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NASA rocket to paint the sky red, tune in tonight starting at 4:30PM ET (video)

Decades ago, NASA would frequently light up the night sky with chemical trails as part of its measurements of upper atmosphere behavior. While those moments are increasingly rare, we'll get a rare chance to enjoy one of them this evening. The agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is launching a suborbital rocket that will generate (and test) a pair of trails of red-tinted lithium as it flies above Eastern US coastline -- trails bright enough that large parts of the seaboard may get a first-hand look as the rocket gains altitude. If you fall outside of that range, don't fret. NASA will stream the whole affair starting from 4:30PM Eastern, with a hoped-for takeoff over an hour later. Catch the feed below when the launch is live, and hit the source links for more about the mission itself.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Via: Space.com

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J.J. Abrams And 'Star Wars': What Do 'Star Trek' Fans Think?

'Some fans are upset,' TrekToday.com's Bonnie Malmat tells MTV News about Abrams' other 'Star' franchise.
By Josh Wigler

J.J. Abrams
Photo: Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700868/jj-abrams-star-wars-star-trek-fan-reactions.jhtml

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Work-in-Progress: Do Writers Need an MFA?

While busy with something else, I ended up re-reading this post I wrote in?January 2011, about whether a writer needs an MFA. It seemed surprisingly smart to me and still relevant, so I'm reposting it:

I'm often asked, do you need an MFA to be a writer? Of course you don?t; to be a writer, you need to write. That?s misleadingly simple. I like to answer the question with a list (naturally) that also includes some questions to ponder and some unsolicited advice. So, here goes:

What to think about when you think about a graduate program in writing:
--I had some amazing teachers that saved me a lot of time by showing me a path through the thicket of writing. Not all of those teachers were in my MFA workshops, so there are excellent teachers everywhere. But, yes, teachers really can teach you quite a bit!

--While many graduate programs have ?famous? writers you revere and admire on the faculty, being a ?famous? writer doesn?t automatically make one a good teacher. So when you?re considering plunking down the $$ to go to a graduate program, do your homework and check out the faculty.

--Doing your homework means:
A) Reading the work by the core faculty. If everyone on the faculty is writing in a traditional style and your writing is more experimental, it probably isn?t a good match.
B) Speaking to students who are in the program or who recently graduated. This is how you can find out about the teaching. Facebook can be a good resource for finding students, or you can ask the program director for some students to chat with.
C) Show up, if you can. Go to a reading sponsored by the program and get a feel for the place: is the atmosphere friendly and welcoming? Do the faculty attend the reading? Are the questions in the Q&A lively? Or, if you?re at a conference, talk to the writers who teach and ask them about their schools.

--Don?t expect that you?ll automatically get a teaching job after you graduate. If you want to teach?and be sure that you really do want to; it?s not a requirement to being a writer, and may even be a detriment!?you will need a graduate degree. But, to teach creative writing, you will most likely also need a published book (or some amazing, New Yorker-like publications). The degree is no guarantee, and don?t make a mistake imagining that it is. (If you want to teach, try to get some experience while you?re in school. And expect that you?ll be teaching mostly comp while a TA and probably after you graduate and perhaps even for the rest of your life.)

--Think about money. Will attending graduate school put you in debt for the rest of your life? Are you okay with that? There's value to the idea of devoting time/energy/resources to learning to be a better writer--good teachers can help you leapfrog ahead of yourself in terms of writing progress. Will knowing that you?re spending all this money (and time and making the other sacrifices needed) make you take your writing more seriously? There is always going to be a higher standard for critique and study in a graduate program?not to mention the more rigorous reading requirements. Do you want/need someone else to impose those standards upon you; at what price?

--Perhaps the greatest benefit of a graduate writing program is the community, during and after. Maybe you will meet people who will be friends for life, or who will read and comment on your work for life, or who will become high-powered editors/writers who can help you. Maybe. At the least, you?ll be surrounded by a group of people who care deeply about writing/literature and who want to follow the same path of artful pursuit you do.

--Probably this should be a whole separate discussion because I won?t do it justice here, but think about what you want to write. If all you want to write is science fiction (or romance) or some other genre, you WILL learn to be a better writer in a graduate writing program. But your path may be rougher and more challenging than if your interests were more literary. Again, do your homework: How does the program feel about less ?literary? writing?

Unsolicited advice I have for all MFA students:
--Read the books your teachers have written. Ask your teachers questions about their work: how did you handle dialogue? Why did you decide to give the main character 6 brothers? Etc. Talk!

--Make the most of every opportunity. If your teacher offers individual meetings/office hours, go. If your teacher/peers hang out after class for booze or coffee, and it?s within your realm to attend, go. If your teachers/peers are reading their work, go. If the ?famous? visiting writer needs a ride somewhere and you can offer one, go. In short, just go-go-GO!

--Write things down. If your teacher mentions a book/journal/article that was influential to him/her, write it down. Look it up. Think seriously about reading it, if not immediately, at some point. Teachers don?t say these things for no reason, you know!

--Be organized and timely. Get your work done. Try not to be a problem.

--Don?t suck up. Instead, be a nice, interested, interesting person, and you won?t need to suck up. Ask questions instead, and don?t talk only about yourself and your own projects. Be involved in the larger world.

--Be the person in your program who organizes, whether it?s a potluck or a new online literary journal or a fun night bowling. It takes effort to keep your community connected, so pull an oar.

--Thank your teachers at the end of the semester, even the teachers you didn?t like. You probably learned more from them than you think you did.

--Don?t race your way through the program. This is probably the only time in your life where you have all these smart people devoted to you and your writing?take your time and enjoy it.

What about the Low-Res MFA?
Unique advantages to the low-res:
--You don?t need to move and/or uproot your life to go to school.
--There?s a nice mix between workshop interaction and individual, devoted attention to your work.
--Speaking as a fiction teacher, I think it's easier to work on the novel form since you have one mentor for a solid chunk of time who can read a good amount of your work in a sustained way.
--The residency location can be a plus: i.e. if you like the mountains, choose a low-res program located in/near the mountains!
--The reading list can be self-directed so you're reading materials that resonate with you.

Disadvantages to the low-res:
--That word above, "self-directed": this type of program would be a disaster for a certain type of person, who's a totally disorganized procrastinator. In the low-res, you really have to make yourself do the work.
--Things are changing, but typically there are fewer fellowship and funding opportunities available at low-res programs, so the onus of finding a way to pay for the program comes from the student: savings, student loans
--There may be limited TA opportunities.

Disclosure: I teach at the Converse College Low-Residency MFA Program and at the more traditional Johns Hopkins Master of Arts in Writing Program.

Source: http://www.workinprogressinprogress.com/2013/01/do-writers-need-mfa.html

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Chuck Siegel: The Return of Charles Chocolates to San Francisco ...

Chuck Siegel owner of Charles Chocolates.

All Photos: Wendy Goodfriend

Mission Creek in San Francisco will soon get a new 7600-square foot chocolate kitchen and retail space from San Francisco resident Chuck Siegel and his sweet company, Charles Chocolates. The open kitchen will allow guests to see their confections being made and enrobed, and Siegel has crafted new items and mendiant-style chocolate bars while bidding adieu to less popular creations (looking at you, marzipan and marmalade). The caf? offers an extension of the menu done for Outside Lands: hot and frozen hot chocolate, ?a cake or two,? tea, pastries, cookies, brownies and s?mores. Because Siegel has always fancied helping young chocolatiers, he plans on also sharing his space as an incubator for fresh talent.

Siegel was in business for over six years until March 2011, when his shop in the Westfield Mall and the overall company closed in an unexpected and dramatic turn of events. Siegel regrouped and opted for a Kickstarter campaign with 400 backers (including this writer) to successfully raise over $53,000 and get a lease for space at 535 Florida Street. The site used to house the Potrero Brewing Company and still has heat lamps that no doubt make typical San Francisco chilly days more pleasing. Siegel said he was able to buy glass shelving units from the Betsey Johnson store on Fillmore Street before it went out of business. The shelves will get prime real estate in the retail space. ?My wife and daughters kept going to the sales there before it closed and the last day, I was able to buy these shelves. My family loves that I got them there.?

Charles Chocolates sign at new facility on Florida Street

Getting the Kickstarter infusion of capital allowed Siegel to buy back vital company assets which were acquired by a former investor. It ultimately meant Siegel could at last return to making his beloved small-batch chocolates and confections.

Dried Apricot Plaques

Charles Chocolates are made with premium stuff, by hand: organic herbs, fruits and nuts as well as organic cream and butter. Siegel, who is self taught, won a Good Food Award in 2011, nabbed a Sunset Magazine?s ?Best of the West? award, as well as accolades from 7?7 and the East Bay Express. His most exciting creation may be a signature edible chocolate box which creatively doubles the eating experience in a novel way. Because Siegel is due to open the new space as early as this Friday, I wanted to see what?s new.

Siegel?s Kickstarter update on Monday January 28 detailed the final details: ?Once the painting is finished tomorrow all that stands in the way of us opening the kitchen and store is laying an epoxy floor, installing the glass walls that separate the kitchen and retail store and a half a dozen inspections (it?s not as bad as it sounds!).? I interviewed Siegel at the new site and his comments have been edited for grammar and content.

Bay Area Bites: Kickstarter was a big part of your move to return. What was that process like? Is it a unique Bay Area success story?
Siegel: It?s not unique to the Bay Area to use Kickstarter. I think the Bay Area uses it more because we have a greater awareness. I actually participate in food and chocolate campaigns that are all over. For us it was a wonderful way for us to raise the money and I love the concept of crowd funding. We were also able to re-engage with our fan base and we already had their information from our newsletters. None of our fans stopped eating chocolate for the last year. So I need to reengage them. We know they love our products but Kickstarter lets us relaunch and all those participants are getting a box of our chocolates.

Bay Area Bites: Tell us about the caf? menu. What are the highlights and how did you come up with the items?
Siegel: I decided to look at what was selling and not selling and pare things down. Maybe not keep things that only I love. Like marzipan?ours is really unique. We cooked it with Meyer lemon or blood orange, so it?s very strongly flavored. We had some really dedicated followers but just not that many of them (laughs).

I?ve had a year to play and try to find perfection with my ganache, which is silly given how simple ganache is. I am also doing small ganache that I call pave. It?s named after paving stones. It is very very simple ganache but also not so simple to get just right. I?ve been making these for years.

Charles Chocolates Ultimate Fruit and Nut Bar

I?ve expanded the bar line because they are really fun. Everyone knows I like bars with a lot of stuff in them. I?ve made some smaller bars, like the mendiant, which has different fruits and is very French. Mendiants are always pretty but silly as a product to me because it?s really hard to eat and get more than one thing in your bite. One has fresh roasted almonds, sultanas and comes in bittersweet and milk chocolate. The other bar has candied lemon peel, pine nuts, pistachios, hazelnuts and sultanas. The idea is to get really strong bursts of fruit and nut with the chocolate. The chocolate has to lead and I don?t want the flavors to overpower the chocolate; the key is to make it complimentary. I played with hundreds of bar combinations and these two are the ones I think are great. Right now I am calling them the ultimate fruit and nut bar because when I was little I loved the Cadbury fruit and nut bar.

Like in Emeryville, the kitchen here is designed to be watched. We wanted to have things folks can hang out and enjoy.

Bay Area Bites: You had a factory in Emeryville but are reopening in the Mission. Why be in SF? And the Mission?
Siegel: We moved to Emeryville for convenience and cost. I actually love Emeryville. I started my first company, Attivio Confections over there.

Our new place is in Mission Creek. I love this neighborhood. It?s had a lot of really interesting food spots opening: Cana for Cuban, Heath Ceramics, and flour + water. We?ve been eating at Slow Club for 20 years. Walk three blocks and you?re at Mission and Valencia streets.

I did an interview with Tamara Palmer and she called the new space ?Potrero Hill? and people corrected that it is actually located in the Mission. That was the only thing they commented on for the story. There is a Mission Creek Merchants Association and we are in it.

I wanted to be in the city because I live here and have done so since 1986. For retail, SF can?t be beat. When we needed 7400 square feet, I knew it wasn?t going to be found on Valencia. Or at least be affordable.

Triple Chocolate Almonds in Heath Ceramic bowl

Bay Area Bites: What?s different this time?
Siegel: So much? the opportunity to do more with retail because we?re in the city. It?s opened up a lot of opportunity. I?ve been doing this for 25 years so now get an opportunity to take everything I?ve learned in terms of kitchen, layout, equipment, and products. We will incubate young chocolatiers ? because there?s nothing cooler than seeing someone make chocolates on their own and do it well. I get almost a feeling of parental pride from seeing that. I have always done it, but informally. We hire them, they learn skills and they go off on their own. This time, we will formalize it and make it more of a program so they get a stronger knowledge of how to sell, market and package and what are the laws. They?ll have a slightly easier time of it.

Bay Area Bites: Who are your mentors?
Siegel: When I first started my first company Attivio Confections, I called Joseph Schmidt and Alice Medrich. It?s classic how good things come from the Bay Area. Both were remarkably generous with their time and expertise. Alice especially was patient. I called her one night when my ganache was broken and she helped me figure it out. If it wasn?t for them, I probably would?ve never made it. That?s why I like to teach and help. It?s really great to have them to turn to.

Paves- Classic French Truffles and Dried Apricot Plaques

Bay Area Bites: What are the best and worst things about working with chocolate and selling a food product?
Siegel: The best: it?s chocolate. I really don?t know if there is a more universal food item. There?s something really fantastic about making something and seeing the enjoyment in their face. It?s an absolute kick to make something that everyone enjoys. Chocolate only exists to bring joy and we eat it for pure pleasure. There can be a real intellectual part to it too, with what?s going on in the bean to bar market now. Some folks are using traditional technique and some are not; that?s one of the most exciting things about the industry now.

The worst part is that chocolate is remarkably temperamental. Even now, I?ll have things happen with chocolate that completely floors me. I know how to use it in confections and pastry. But at times it?s confounding. Most of our confections are very perishable. We use nuts that are prone to rancidity and cream and butter that are perishable. We?re actually making food but it?s food made with chocolate. When you buy a fresh truffle, it?s meant to be eaten fresh. It doesn?t age like a bottle of wine. It will help folks understand what we do.

Bay Area Bites: Where do you eat and drink when you aren?t working?
Siegel: I eat mostly at home. One of the best things about this neighborhood has an amazing number of places to eat. I?ve always loved flour + water. I?m not a huge drinker but I love fun and inventive cocktails so I love Trick Dog. It?s become one of my instant favorites and they make really wonderful drinks. It?s become a place to go to after work.

Tartine is one my favorite places for lunch. Their sandwiches are awesome.

Or I?ll just go to El Farolito. My wife danced Brazilian samba. She?d dance and I?d walk around the Mission and then go have a burrito.

French fries are my favorite food in the world. I love Zuni and am a complete and total sucker for their burger and fries. I also love steak frites so I love Bouchon.

Bay Area Bites: What are your suggestions for Valentine?s day? How will you celebrate?
Siegel: I can?t say how I?ll celebrate because then my wife will know (laughs). I love the fact that Valentines revolves around chocolate but it bothers me too. I?ve never quite understood why it happens to be chocolate. The most fun way to celebrate may be our edible chocolate boxes, which is a really unique way of presenting chocolates. Velour hearts were never something I could wrap my head around. We did them a couple of times and then I had 1/2 a pallet left. We gave away to another chocolatier because I promised myself I?d never use them again. I love flowers for Valentine?s, too.

Related Information:
Charles Chocolates
Address: Map
535 Florida St.
San Francisco, CA 94110

Twitter: @CharlesChoco
Facebook: Charles Chocolates

Related posts

Tags: Charles Chocolates, chuck siegel, featured, Kickstarter, Mission Creek, mission district, Mission District food scene, Valentine's Day

Category: baking and bakeries, bay area, chefs, dessert and chocolate, food and drink, holidays and traditions, local food businesses, restaurants, bars, cafes, san francisco

Source: http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2013/01/29/chuck-siegel-the-return-of-charles-chocolates-to-san-francisco/

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92% Amour

All Critics (139) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (128) | Rotten (11)

As remarkable as Haneke's films are, not a one has been as transcendently generous as Amour, which is nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and best foreign-language film.

"Amour" isn't just a great movie, it's a movie that may actually do you some good.

Shot in long, static takes, Amour stares directly into the indignities of old age and the curse of a slow death.

Each actor draws on a lifetime's worth of experience, performing with grace and rare, uncompromising realism.

There's nowhere to hide: The film cuts no corners and stings with the authenticity of life's fragility.

One of the ten best films of 2012.

Amour may not inspire the kind of emotional epiphany that similar illness-driven dramas tend to, the results are still riveting.

Death is part of love's bargain, and Haneke lays this fact bare.

It is hard to recommend Amour. Austrian director Michael Haneke's film cannot justly be described as entertaining, and it will likely leave you sad and weary. But it is a film you must see.

"Amour" isn't easy to watch, but its rewards are many.

"Amour" isn't a fun time out at the movies, and I kind of doubt I'll ever see it again. But it's an amazingly act, absolutely heartbreaking film.

A viewer may want to watch Amour, because it is a work of art.

Relativamente doce para os padr?es de um cineasta acostumado a torturar seu p?blico e a encarar a humanidade com imenso ceticismo, representa uma experi?ncia dif?cil por nos lembrar o tempo inteiro de que todos dividiremos o mesmo desfecho.

A bitter, pitiless piece of work. We can admire its components, but we're repulsed by its vision.

Haneke's self-indulgent approach is getting old to me. His devoted fans will like it, but others will most likely be scratching their heads trying to figure out how this got a Best Picture nomination.

It's upsetting material lined with lead by Haneke, who searches for the meaning of love but can't help but dwell on the details of decay.

Amour is as heartbreaking and real as it gets.

Tough and beautiful, it secures Haneke's reputation as one of the world's best.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/771307454/

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Bipartisan Senate group proposes immigration plan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has agreed on an immigration reform plan that would provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States but only after borders are better secured.

The plan, unveiled a day before President Barack Obama is to outline his immigration reform proposals, tackles the most explosive issue - how to deal with the millions of people living in the United States illegally.

Under the group's proposal, undocumented immigrants would be allowed to register with the government, pay a fine, and then be given probationary legal status allowing them to work.

Ultimately, they would have to "go to the end of the line" and apply for permanent status, according to the document drafted by eight Senators including Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida, John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Robert Menendez of New Jersey.

They have scheduled a news conference for 2:30 p.m. (1930 GMT).

Under the plan, no one would be given more permanent legal status until new measures were implemented to stem the flow of immigrants across U.S. borders, a critical concession to conservatives and border state members of congress.

The path to citizenship would also be contingent on a new enforcement measure to track the status of immigrants who may have overstayed visas, the document said.

The proposal resembles previous immigration bills - including a 2007 measure that died in Congress in part because of disagreement over the timing and balance of border-enforcement measures versus granting citizenship to the millions of undocumented immigrants.

Democrats have considered future citizenship for undocumented immigrants a "bottom line" for a bill, as Schumer said Sunday at a news conference.

Republicans, in turn, have tended to stress border security.

While the framework released Monday includes something for all these groups, translating the four-page outline into legislation with a chance of passing is likely to prove challenging, notwithstanding the bi-partisan makeup of the group and support that came early Monday from U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

SUPPORT FROM CONSERVATIVES

Rubio's involvement has helped give the plan credibility among some Republicans. His proposals have attracted support from influential conservatives, including former vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan and TV commentator Bill O'Reilly.

Last year, Rubio had a hard time getting conservatives on board for allowing "dreamers" to stay here - children of illegals, many of whom have spent most of their lives in the United States, are in the country through no fault of their own and attend U.S. schools.

Rubio is a Cuban-American who is often mentioned as a presidential contender. He is a favorite of the Tea Party conservative movement.

In addition to the path to citizenship, the Senators' proposal outlines three other legislative goals: retaining and attracting highly qualified workers; creating a system to prevent identity theft and the hiring of unauthorized workers: and establishing a way to bring in unskilled labor while providing them with workers rights.

The immigration issue was largely pushed aside during Obama's first term as he tackled healthcare and the economy. But the president, who had overwhelming support from Hispanic voters in his 2012 re-election, cited it as part of his agenda when sworn in for a second term last week.

Immigration has been among the toughest issues confronting Congress over the past two decades, in part because so many powerful interest groups have a stake in it, from business organizations in need of skilled labor to the trade union movement, which worries that a flow of immigrant labor unprotected by U.S. workplace laws could depress wages.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has made immigration reform a priority this year, expressing particular support for provisional visas for lesser-skilled workers and expansion of green cards for foreign nationals who receive advanced degrees from U.S. colleges and universities.

(Reporting by Rachelle Younglai and Richard Cowan; Editing by Fred Barbash and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bipartisan-senate-group-proposes-broad-immigration-plan-103529891.html

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TV veteran developing news show for Fuse

This undated image released by Fuse shows Rick Kaplan. The Fuse television network has turned to news veteran Rick Kaplan, who has run CNN and MSNBC and produced programs like "Nightline," to develop a music news program aimed largely at people some 40 years younger than him. "Fuse News" is set to debut Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. ET with pre-Grammy Awards coverage. The half-hour show, originating from Fuse's studios across from Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, will be repeated at midnight. (AP Photo/Fuse)

This undated image released by Fuse shows Rick Kaplan. The Fuse television network has turned to news veteran Rick Kaplan, who has run CNN and MSNBC and produced programs like "Nightline," to develop a music news program aimed largely at people some 40 years younger than him. "Fuse News" is set to debut Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. ET with pre-Grammy Awards coverage. The half-hour show, originating from Fuse's studios across from Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, will be repeated at midnight. (AP Photo/Fuse)

This undated image released by Fuse shows Rick Kaplan. The Fuse television network has turned to news veteran Rick Kaplan, who has run CNN and MSNBC and produced programs like "Nightline," to develop a music news program aimed largely at people some 40 years younger than him. "Fuse News" is set to debut Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. ET with pre-Grammy Awards coverage. The half-hour show, originating from Fuse's studios across from Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, will be repeated at midnight. (AP Photo/Fuse)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The Fuse television network has turned to news veteran Rick Kaplan, who has run CNN and MSNBC and produced programs like "Nightline," to develop a music news program aimed largely at people some 40 years younger than him.

"Fuse News" is set to debut Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. Eastern time with pre-Grammy Awards coverage. The half-hour show, originating from Fuse's studios across from Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, will be repeated at midnight.

"A lot of people are covering music in different ways," said Mike Bair, president of MSG Media, Fuse's corporate ownership. "But not a lot of people are covering it deeper and in a respectful way. We thought there was a real opportunity for us."

Fuse, available in some 70 million homes, is overshadowed by MTV, but unlike its competitor has kept its focus on music and is looking for a signature show.

Kaplan, 65, walked through a busy newsroom with TVs tuned to a Fuse countdown of sexy rap videos one recent afternoon. The 47-time Emmy winner had most recently produced Katie Couric's "CBS Evening News" and Christiane Amanpour's stint on ABC's Sunday morning and has formed his own consulting company.

Bair reached out to Kaplan through a mutual friend to gauge interest, and the idea intrigued Kaplan.

"While he's not in the target audience for Fuse (the network's median age is around 27), I think he also saw the opportunity," Bair said.

A whiteboard in Fuse's office already lists story plans for the first month. The collapse of the traditional music industry has made for many changes ripe for examining.

One future story will talk about bands scalping tickets to their own concerts, another about the sound quality issues behind the resurgence of vinyl. If "Fuse News" was on the air last week, it wouldn't treat the story about Beyonce lip-synching at the inauguration as a joke, but rather look into how widespread the practice is, Kaplan said.

"I want it to be a place where if you're involved in the industry in any way ? and that means anybody with a headset ? this will be the place where you will want to go," Kaplan said.

Kaplan's tastes run to the Eagles, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Now he's learning about electronic dance music, and even liking some of it. Liz Walaszczyk, a 28-year-old producer and contributing correspondent on "Fuse News," is gently introducing her boss to bands like the Xx.

And he's introducing her to the news.

Walaszczyk, who booked bands for Carson Daly's NBC show before joining Fuse, said that she finds blogs like Pitchfork and Stereogum helpful but that there's a void in serious music journalism. Kaplan is teaching her the importance of detail in every question asked and picture selected for her stories.

"I hear his voice and I think, 'This man has spoken to so many legends,'" she said.

Co-anchors for the show are Alexa Chung and Matte Babel. Former Gawker writer Elaine Moran and Jack Osbourne are contributing correspondents.

Yes, the news producer who once worked with Walter Cronkite is telling Ozzy's kid what to do.

Kaplan brushed aside a question about whether some people in the television news business might consider his current gig a comedown.

"Oh, God no," he said. "By no means. People who say that don't get it. It's a great privilege to be asked to do this program. It's the only serious program in this industry. It's a serious attempt to report on music in a credible way."

He said he's having a blast.

"In many ways, what Fuse is attempting to do with this show is more cutting edge than what any of the networks are doing," he said. "We're not starting a magazine show. We're not tinkering with the evening news."

The show will also have studio guests and music performances. Kaplan has hired Audrey Gruber, a former CBS News and CNN producer, to eventually take over for him when the show is up and running.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-01-28-TV-Fuse%20News/id-a52f2539ce0d443687871f99240a4bca

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Republicans, Democrats ready for broad immigration reform (Los Angeles Times)

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Hostess picks Little Debbie maker for Drake's

NEW YORK (AP) ? Hostess has picked the maker of Little Debbie as the lead bidder for its Drake's cakes.

According to a filing in U.S. bankruptcy court, McKee Foods has offered $27.5 million in cash for the cake brands, which include Devil Dogs, Funny Bones and Yodels. The fate of Twinkies and other Hostess cakes are still being negotiated with other bidders.

Hostess also said United States Bakery Inc. agreed to pay $28.9 million for its remained bread brands, which include Sweetheart, Eddy's, Standish Farms and Grandma Emilie's. That offer includes four bakeries, 14 depots and equipment. Earlier this month, Hostess picked Flowers Foods, which makes Tastykake and Nature's Own and Bunny bread, as the lead bidder for six of its major bread brands, including Wonder.

The "stalking horse" bids set the floor for an auction process that lets competitors make better offers. A judge would have to approve any final sales.

McKee Foods, based in Collegedale, Tenn., makes a variety of snack cakes under the Little Debbie banner that compete with Hostess cakes at a lower price. For example, its Cloud Cakes resemble Twinkies and its Devil Cremes resemble Devil Dogs. A representative for McKee Foods, Mike Gloekler, said the company didn't plan to scrap any brands as a result of the deal.

"Our intent is to produce like products as they are since they have different packaging and formulae," Gloekler said in a statement.

McKee's bid includes some equipment but not the Drake's bakery in Wayne, N.J. Gloekler said McKee hoped to make Drake's products at its plant in Stuarts Draft, Va. since Drake's cakes are best known in the northeast region.

When asked about the fate of the Drake's bakery, Hostess spokesman Tom Becker said the company continues "to market all remaining assets."

Hostess has said in court previously that it needed to move quickly in selling off its brands to capitalize on the outpouring of nostalgia and media coverage prompted by its demise. The company repeated the sentiment in its court filing Monday, noting that there is no advertising or marketing for Drake's brands, which also include Ring Dings, Sunny Doodles and Yankee Doodles.

"The longer Drake's products stay off the shelves, the more likely it is that consumers will begin to use competitors' products," the filing said.

McKee generates about $1.1 billion in sales a year, with its Little Debbie cake division accounting for $800 million of that, according to the company. In recent years, McKee has seen its sales remain flat or fall as eating habits have changed.

Hostess Brands Inc., based in Irving, Texas, has been plagued by even greater problems. The company announced in November that it was shutting down its business and selling its breads and snack cakes. Its demise came after years of management turmoil and turnover, with workers saying the company failed to invest its brands. Hostess filed for its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy in less than a decade this January, citing costs associated with its unionized workforce.

After declaring that it was going out of business, Hostess had solicited bids for its brands by a Dec. 10 deadline. The company said in its filing Monday that it had received one bid for "substantially all" of its assets. But Hostess said the bid was not as valuable as the combined total for of the bids it received for individual brands. In addition, Hostess said the bidder that made the offer for conducted "very limited diligence."

___

Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-28-US-Hostess-Snack-Cakes/id-736f89bd30574da4988b10b08efdd9ad

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Let's get Serious about Relationship Weaving and Increase the ...

by Shellie Dickstein

While research today is pointing to the power of social networks and relationships to influence behavior, many of our Jewish educational professionals, including those in the field of early family engagement, have not yet shifted their thinking and approach.

The 2011 study conducted by Mark Rosen on Jewish Early Engagement in New York commissioned by UJA-Federation of New York, states that, ?Social networks play an important role in parental decision making. Parents? choices are often influenced by friends ? they seek recommendations from peers and go where their friends go.? And the recent UJA-Federation 2011 Jewish Community Study of New York finds ?a very close and powerful association of Jewish social connection with level of Jewish engagement.?

In order to build on the findings from the 2011 research conducted by Mark Rosen, our Early Childhood and Family Engagement team at The Jewish Education Project, wanted to gain a deeper understanding of how beginning Jewish families experience this new life stage, how they form relationships with other parents, and about their relationship to Judaism. To find out, we spoke to those parents who normally do not talk about their Jewish lives. Under the leadership of our Associate Director for Strategic Research and Insights, we conducted a series of parent focus groups this past summer with ?unengaged? Jewish moms with 1st children ages 0-2 from Manhattan and Brownstone Brooklyn. We recruited participants by posting on parent and neighborhood listserves, and in facebook groups, by standing in front of baby clothing stores, and through word of mouth. Our final group of 35 moms varied in age from 20?s to 40?s. Some worked full time and some part time; there were one or two single moms and some had non-Jewish spouses ? all were raising their children Jewish.

When we spoke to the moms, we were struck by their profound desire for intimate peer relationships (they compared finding friends to dating for spouses); their deep interest in experiencing food, ?fun? and celebration; and their focus on managing and navigating their challenging transition to parenthood. We heard loudly and clearly that these new parents primary focus is not on increasing their Jewish connections or practice, but on being the best parent they can be and on finding relationships that support them. They often spoke about seeking and finding meaningful connections in ?organic? ways ? meaning, not too controlled or contrived by others. Here is what two moms shared with us that suggest this approach:

?I think if there were a website where somebody could sign up to cook on this day or that ? if you have within a neighborhood a group of people who do not have a physical space but want to have dinner every few months? there could be a community aspect to this website. Something for cooking on Friday nights or holidays.? Park Slope mom of 22 month old

?And you could find other Jewish families [on this website], because for me, it?s hard to find other Jewish families. I would like to have some Jewish friends where we can get together on a Friday night and have Shabbat dinner?. ?Upper West Side mom of a 15 month old

We also found that some moms had a sense of the community they might like to belong to but not sure how to find it or achieve it. Another mom said, ?Growing up in a Jewish community, everyone is kind of there for each other? I have never seen that in any other community?. For example. I have friends that live in Englewood, NJ. When they had their babies, they had a calendar of who is going to cook for [the mom] who just gave birth and all their meals are taken care of for a while. In the city I asked my friends, where is my dinner? Upper West Side Mom of 14 month old

Source: http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/lets-get-serious-about-relationship-weaving-and-increase-the-potential-for-communal-change-in-family-engagement/

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Frontiers publishes systematic review on the effects of yoga on major psychiatric disorders

Public release date: 25-Jan-2013
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Contact: Gozde Zorlu
gozde.zorlu@frontiersin.org
Frontiers

Yoga on our minds: The 5,000-year-old Indian practice may have positive effects on major psychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, ADHD and sleep complaints

Yoga has positive effects on mild depression and sleep complaints, even in the absence of drug treatments, and improves symptoms associated with schizophrenia and ADHD in patients on medication, according to a systematic review of the exercise on major clinical psychiatric disorders.

Published in the open-access journal, Frontiers in Psychiatry, on January 25th, 2013, the review of more than one hundred studies focusing on 16 high-quality controlled studies looked at the effects of yoga on depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, sleep complaints, eating disorders and cognition problems.

Yoga in popular culture

Yoga is a popular exercise and is practiced by 15.8 million adults in the United States alone, according to a survey by the Harris Interactive Service Bureau, and its holistic goal of promoting psychical and mental health is widely held in popular belief.

"However, yoga has become such a cultural phenomenon that it has become difficult for physicians and patients to differentiate legitimate claims from hype," wrote the authors in their study. "Our goal was to examine whether the evidence matched the promise."

Benefits of the exercise were found for all mental health illnesses included in the review, except for eating disorders and cognition problems as the evidence for these was conflicting or lacking.

Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke University Medical Center, US, and author of the study, explained that the emerging scientific evidence in support of the 5,000 year old Indian practice on psychiatric disorders is "highly promising" and showed that yoga may not only help to improve symptoms, but also may have an ancillary role in the prevention of stress-related mental illnesses.

The review found evidence from biomarker studies showing that yoga influences key elements of the human body thought to play a role in mental health in similar ways to that of antidepressants and psychotherapy. One study found that the exercise affects neurotransmitters, inflammation, oxidative stress, lipids, growth factors and second messengers.

Unmet need among mental health patients

Depression alone affects more than 350 million people globally and is the leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). On World Mental Health Day last year, the WHO called for improved access to treatments.

While there has been an increase in the number of medications available for mental health disorders, many of which can be life saving for patients, there remains "a considerable unmet need," according to Dr. Meera Balasubramaniam, lead author of the study, who is also based at Duke University, US.

Poor compliance and relapse as well as treatment resistance are growing problems, and medications are expensive and can leave patients with significant side effects.

The Primary Care study, carried out by WHO, found that 60% of patients were still depressed after a year of being treated with an anti-depressant and a National Institute of Mental Health funded research showed remission in only one-third of patients.

"The search for improved treatments, including non-drug based, to meet the holistic needs of patients is of paramount importance and we call for more research into yoga as a global priority," said Doraiswamy. "If the promise of yoga on mental health was found in a drug, it would be the best selling medication world-wide," he added.

There are many benefits associated with practicing yoga for improving mental health, including, fewer side effects, relatively low cost, generally good access and the improvement of physical fitness, added the authors.

The authors also note that while the results are promising, the findings should be viewed as preliminary because all studies of yoga to date have consisted of small samples, and more rigorous research will be needed before the exercise can be applied to help patients with mental health disorders.

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Researcher Contact:
Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy
Duke University Medical Center
murali.doraiswamy@duke.edu

Article Information: Yoga on our Minds: A Systematic Review of Yoga for Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Authors: Meera Balasubramaniam, Shirley Telles and P. Murali Doraiswamy.

Front. Psychiatry DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00117

For online articles, please provide full citation and a link to the study, which is available for anyone to read free of charge. The study will be published when the embargo lifts on the following URL: http://www.frontiersin.org/Affective_Disorders_and_Psychosomatic_Research/10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00117/abstract

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Public release date: 25-Jan-2013
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Contact: Gozde Zorlu
gozde.zorlu@frontiersin.org
Frontiers

Yoga on our minds: The 5,000-year-old Indian practice may have positive effects on major psychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, ADHD and sleep complaints

Yoga has positive effects on mild depression and sleep complaints, even in the absence of drug treatments, and improves symptoms associated with schizophrenia and ADHD in patients on medication, according to a systematic review of the exercise on major clinical psychiatric disorders.

Published in the open-access journal, Frontiers in Psychiatry, on January 25th, 2013, the review of more than one hundred studies focusing on 16 high-quality controlled studies looked at the effects of yoga on depression, schizophrenia, ADHD, sleep complaints, eating disorders and cognition problems.

Yoga in popular culture

Yoga is a popular exercise and is practiced by 15.8 million adults in the United States alone, according to a survey by the Harris Interactive Service Bureau, and its holistic goal of promoting psychical and mental health is widely held in popular belief.

"However, yoga has become such a cultural phenomenon that it has become difficult for physicians and patients to differentiate legitimate claims from hype," wrote the authors in their study. "Our goal was to examine whether the evidence matched the promise."

Benefits of the exercise were found for all mental health illnesses included in the review, except for eating disorders and cognition problems as the evidence for these was conflicting or lacking.

Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke University Medical Center, US, and author of the study, explained that the emerging scientific evidence in support of the 5,000 year old Indian practice on psychiatric disorders is "highly promising" and showed that yoga may not only help to improve symptoms, but also may have an ancillary role in the prevention of stress-related mental illnesses.

The review found evidence from biomarker studies showing that yoga influences key elements of the human body thought to play a role in mental health in similar ways to that of antidepressants and psychotherapy. One study found that the exercise affects neurotransmitters, inflammation, oxidative stress, lipids, growth factors and second messengers.

Unmet need among mental health patients

Depression alone affects more than 350 million people globally and is the leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). On World Mental Health Day last year, the WHO called for improved access to treatments.

While there has been an increase in the number of medications available for mental health disorders, many of which can be life saving for patients, there remains "a considerable unmet need," according to Dr. Meera Balasubramaniam, lead author of the study, who is also based at Duke University, US.

Poor compliance and relapse as well as treatment resistance are growing problems, and medications are expensive and can leave patients with significant side effects.

The Primary Care study, carried out by WHO, found that 60% of patients were still depressed after a year of being treated with an anti-depressant and a National Institute of Mental Health funded research showed remission in only one-third of patients.

"The search for improved treatments, including non-drug based, to meet the holistic needs of patients is of paramount importance and we call for more research into yoga as a global priority," said Doraiswamy. "If the promise of yoga on mental health was found in a drug, it would be the best selling medication world-wide," he added.

There are many benefits associated with practicing yoga for improving mental health, including, fewer side effects, relatively low cost, generally good access and the improvement of physical fitness, added the authors.

The authors also note that while the results are promising, the findings should be viewed as preliminary because all studies of yoga to date have consisted of small samples, and more rigorous research will be needed before the exercise can be applied to help patients with mental health disorders.

###

Researcher Contact:
Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy
Duke University Medical Center
murali.doraiswamy@duke.edu

Article Information: Yoga on our Minds: A Systematic Review of Yoga for Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Authors: Meera Balasubramaniam, Shirley Telles and P. Murali Doraiswamy.

Front. Psychiatry DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00117

For online articles, please provide full citation and a link to the study, which is available for anyone to read free of charge. The study will be published when the embargo lifts on the following URL: http://www.frontiersin.org/Affective_Disorders_and_Psychosomatic_Research/10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00117/abstract

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/f-fps012213.php

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