Posted by Elena del Valle on December 14, 2012
Unselfish World book cover
For ten years Richard Sasso, chief executive officer, MSC Cruises of Fort Lauderdale, Florida had an idea he wanted to develop. He wanted to encourage others to pay attention to their surroundings. Doing so would help them realize all people share a common bond and lead them to be giving, he thought. Last year he brought his idea to a wide audience with the publication of UnselfishWorld (self published, $27) and the establishment of a non profit foundation and related website.
Sasso believes that although the human instinct is to be selfish it is possible to counter our instinct in order to be unselfish. Becoming unselfish, he says in the Forward of the book, can make a difference in the world “to the protection of our homes, our families, and even reach for the possibility of world peace.”
The 83-page hardcover book is divided into 15 chapters where he addresses the main questions of Why, Who, What, When, Where, How and goes on to explain his overall concept. He believes when we do kind things we should not do them seeking a reward but says that “life has some interesting was to reward us, even when we least expect it.”
The mission of Unselfish World, listed as a non profit organization with a Miami address on the website, is “to create an environment for you to become the most unselfish person you can be. Once you change your own behavior, you can also help others do the same.”
Visitors to the website are invited to sign up, share unselfish acts, contribute (two corporate sponsors are listed) to benefit three organizations, purchase the book and related stickers. Sasso, a cruise industry veteran with 40 years of experience including founding and leading cruise lines, believes his life has been nearly perfect. According to the book’s bio, his priorities are his family and friends and his passion to see his new project succeed.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on December 10, 2012
Phil Cooke, author, One Big Thing
Photo: Phil Cooke
A podcast interview with Phil Cooke, author, One Big Thing is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, he discusses discovering your purpose in life with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Phil has been an agent of change for millions of people through his work in television and the media. He lectures at Yale University, UC Berkeley and UCLA, and spent the past 30 years advising many large organizations. He has appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN and Fox News, and his work has been profiled in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He is also the author of Jolt! Get the Jump on a World that’s Constantly Changing (Thomas Nelson, 2011). He blogs on change, disruption, culture, and media.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Phil Cooke” click on the play button below or download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the December 2012 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on December 7, 2012
Looking for Esperanza book cover
Photos: Benu Press
While watching the news the attention of Adriana Paramo, an author and anthropologist, was drawn to a story about an immigrant mother who had carried her dead daughter’s body with her through a tough desert journey from Mexico with her family. Perhaps because she is an immigrant herself or because the plight of others touches her the woman’s case drew Paramo. She spent 18 months searching for Esperanza, the woman in the news, immersing herself in the world of undocumented workers in the small town where she thought Esperanza might live.
Across Florida, in vegetable fields, citrus groves, ferneries, and packing houses, she encountered “an underground subculture of hungry undocumented women, a hidden world of wage slaves, a microcosm of false names, false Social Security numbers, and false hopes.” During that time, she met many people and heard about many unfortunate women and their sorrow filled stories.
She stopped writing following the death of her mother due to her extended bereavement. Eight years after she began her search for Esperanza Looking for Esperanza: The Story of a Mother, a Child Lost, and Why They Matter to Us (Benu Press, $24.95), a 142-page softcover book about her experience, was published. The book chronicles the plight of undocumented women living in Florida who took great risks hoping for a better life for those they love.
Adriana Paramo, author, Looking for Esperanza
“Although I write almost exclusively about women, I hope my readership is comprised by both men and women. Anyone with a beating heart, anyone with a shred of humanity in them, anyone with hope for a world where justice and equality rule our immigration policies and our relationship with food, is a good target for my book,” said Paramo in response to a question about the target audience for her book.
She believes the book “has brought awareness to the appalling living and working conditions of our undocumented farmworkers” and has also “created a sort or urgency, a need for the reader to say ‘what can we do?’ or ‘how can we change this?’” Two college professors plan to use the book in their classroom.
“My biggest challenge was to accept my limitations as an anthropologist. As a social scientist all I could do was to observe, document and report. With each story told to me, I wanted to do something tangible and immediate; I wanted to have the power to find them better housing, better food, to give them access to the same resources I have access to. It was very hard to realize and accept my own helplessness,” said Paramo when asked about challenges and rewards of writing the book. “To have the book published. Holding the book in my hands makes me feel that I have done something relevant, that Paulina, Laura, Griselda, Rosa, Cristina and Esperanza are no longer faceless, voiceless wetbacks, but women like me.”
Paramo, a non fiction writer born and raised in Colombia, won the 2011 Benu Press Award for Social Justice for this book. She is a resident of Florida.
Click to buy Looking for Esperanza
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Posted by Elena del Valle on December 6, 2012
T-Mobile USA is a leading national provider of wireless voice, messaging, and data services.
The Director Marketing, Multicultural and Subprime will be responsible for developing the strategy and creating programs / initiatives for the business. The Product allows consumers with less than perfect credit to access the Postpaid Wireless experience click to read the entire Director Marketing, Multicultural and Subprime ad
Posted by Elena del Valle on December 3, 2012
U.S. GDP Growth 2013-14 – click to enlarge
Assuming fiscal cliff issues are overcome the economy will continue a steady recovery over the coming two years, according to researchers at Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Our GDP is projected to grow 2 percent next year and 2.8 percent in 2014. Compared to Europe, estimated to remain in a recession and contract through the end of 2012 and into 2013 before reaching a GDP growth of 1.3 percent, the projections for the United States seem positive. Even when compared with GDP growth across the OECD of 1.4 percent for 2013 and 2.3 percent for 2014, the expectations of the United States appear promising.
“The world economy is far from being out of the woods,” said Angel Gurría, secretary-general, OECD during the Economic Outlook launch in Paris last week. “The US ‘fiscal cliff’, if it materialises, could tip an already weak economy into recession, while failure to solve the euro area crisis could lead to a major financial shock and global downturn. Governments must act decisively, using all the tools at their disposal to turn confidence around and boost growth and jobs, in the United States, in Europe, and elsewhere.”
With 50 million jobless people in the OECD area, according to the Outlook it’s no wonder the OECD head expressed concern. The report indicated continued high in employment with a possible rise in many countries “unless structural measures are used to boost near-term employment growth.”
Some developing countries, on the other hand, show desirable growth for the coming twenty four months. China is expected to grow at 8.5 percent next year and 8.9 percent the year after that. Other countries expected to grow at healthy rates are Brazil, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa.
Slides of the presentation are available at http://www.slideshare.net/OECD/oecd-economicoutlook92%20 on the OECD website. The mission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
