Posted by Elena del Valle on August 20, 2010
The Secret Side of Anger
Placing blame on others for our actions and feelings is a common misconception of where the blame should really be, according to Janet Pfeiffer, author, The Secret Side of Anger (Tate Publishing and Enterprises, LLC, $12.99). She believes that taking responsibility for our own feelings and how we deal with them is empowering and the best approach and that finding inner peace is the ultimate goal.
“Most of us believe that other people or situations have the ability to make us angry. This is a big misconception,” said Pfeiffer. In her book she shares the wisdom about anger she has acquired over the years through personal situations and professional experiences coaching others.
Mixed in with jokes, personal and professional anecdotes and occasional references to God, Pfeiffer presents readers with tips on reducing anger that she says have made her personal and professional life better. In the 190-page book Pfeiffer explains that: thoughts lead to feelings and feelings are our choice; it is up to each person to choose the thoughts and feelings he or she has and how to deal with them; and it is up to each individual to take responsibility for his or her life.
“No individual or event has the power to make you mad. Anger is actually a choice, one that occurs depending on that person’s perception (thought). What we choose to think about an experience we’re having or the person we’re involved with determines how we feel. For instance, if someone criticizes you, you can think ‘She’s so mean!’ Or, you can choose, ‘How unfortunate someone could be so insensitive.’ The former evokes anger, the latter, sadness. The truth behind her actions matters little. You only need to concern yourself with how you choose to perceive her and allow her behavior to affect you.”
Pfeiffer, described in promotional materials as a certified violence counselor and motivational speaker, believes unresolved anger leads to resentment and bitterness and can damage a person’s relationships, health, career, and happiness. She is convinced that feeling anger is not in and of itself bad. What’s important is how people handle the feeling and what they do about it, she says in the book.
She believes that only if mishandled in a destructive or violent way does anger turn negative. She asserts that anger is an important and useful emotion that people can take advantage of to change their lives. An example of positive results that may follow anger is when someone witnesses an injustice in society which fuels his or her anger and eventually leads to the creation of new laws.
Anger, by definition, she says, is a feeling of distress born of feelings of helplessness or powerlessness. When people feel victimized it is because they feel others are controlling them but in reality power and control come from within. Regaining our personal power eliminates feelings of helplessness and anger. Others no longer have the ability to push our buttons and make us mad, she says.
Her tips on reducing anger include: Put everything into perspective. Ask yourself if the situation is worth getting upset about. If not, let it go. If it is important, identify what needs to change and create a plan to accomplish that. Switch your focus (thought) from the problem (negative) to the solution (positive). The moment you feel anger well up inside you, remember SWaT: Stop, Walk and Talk. Stop what you are doing. This prevents the situation from escalating. Next, Walk away. Creating distance allows you to calm down and cool off. “Out of sight, out of mind.”
Third: Talk yourself calm. Discuss your feelings and situation with a neutral party, seeking deeper understanding and guidance. If no one is available, talk to yourself. Repeat calming statements such as “I am fine. I am calm. I can handle this is an intelligent and rational manner.” Create a “Peace Plan”: daily activities to engage in that will naturally reduce your levels of anger. Each of these naturally replaces stress and anger with feelings of peace and serenity. Even a simple act such as deep breathing or smiling will help alleviate anger, she believes.
Pfeiffer, president and chief executive officer, Pfeiffer Power Seminars, LLC, is a motivational speaker, an instructor at a battered women’s shelter, personal coach, columnist, and founder of The Antidote to Anger support group.
Click here to buy The Secret Side of Anger
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Posted by Elena del Valle on August 19, 2010
We recently found out by a comment from an audience member and then an email reply to Harald Vogt’s email address of his passing. The email said, “Caroline Pieper-Vogt and the family of Harald Vogt regret to inform you of Harald’s recent passing. All Scent Marketing Institute projects, newsletters and events are on hold until further information is available. The Vogt family thanks all for their help and support.” Although a phone call was unanswered we confirmed the news online at Tributes.com, http://www.tributes.com/show/Harald-Vogt-89044965
Earlier this year Harald contributed two Guest Articles to HispanicMPR. In addition HispanicMPR is a Media Partner to The Scent Marketing Institute’s Scent World 2010 event November 17-19, 2010 on Miami Beach, Florida. We extend our condolences to his family and friends.
Posted by Elena del Valle on August 18, 2010
Spanish language signage at a cell phone store
Photos: AT&T, Sony
A bird’s eye view of Latinos across the country reveals lower use of technology than that of non Latinos. Also, age and language preference are indicators of technology use. Older Latinos rely on technology less than young ones. Spanish dominant Latinos use of technology is lower than that of English dominant and bilingual Latinos.
More than two thirds (78 percent) of non Latino adults (18 and older) go online compared to 64 percent of Latinos of the same age; and 86 percent of non Latinos use cell phones while 76 percent of Latinos use cell phones.
At the same time, when it comes to the use of technology not all Latinos are equal. United States born Latinos use of the internet and cell phones is higher than that of foreign born Latinos. Latinos born in the United States are much more likely to use technology, especially the internet, than foreign born Latinos, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report released recently. The report, written by Gretchen Livingston, senior researcher, Pew Hispanic Center points to a significant difference between the two groups. The Pew Hispanic Center is a research organization that seeks to improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population.
For example, 85 percent of Latinos 16 and older born in the United States rely on the internet while only 51 percent of their foreign born counterparts surf the digital world. When it comes to cell phone use the difference is less marked: 80 percent of United States born Latinos use a cell phone while 72 percent of foreign born Latinos do so.
Sony Vaio J computer
If we look at technology use among young people in the United States the difference is also clear. Nearly all (96 percent) non Hispanic youth between 18 to 25 years of age surf the internet while only 77 percent of Hispanics go online. Eighty-two percent of non-Hispanics ages 16 and 17 use a cell phone while 72 percent of Hispanics of that age do so. Ninety-four percent of non Hispanics aged between 18 and 25 use a cell phone compared with eighty percent of Hispanics.
If we look at technology use among people 55 and older, there is still a difference between Latinos and non Latinos. Among non Latinos 75 percent use cell phones and 57 percent use the internet while only 60 percent of Latinos in that age group use cell phones and 42 percent use the internet.
When it comes to going online language preference is a key factor. A majority of English dominant (87 percent) Hispanics 16 and older and bilingual (77 percent) Hispanics are more likely to use cell phones than Spanish dominant Latinos (35 percent).
This report was based primarily on the 2009 National Survey of Latinos, conducted from August 5 through September 16, 2009 among a randomly selected, nationally representative sample of 2,012 Hispanics ages 16 and older. The survey was conducted in English and Spanish on landline and cellular phones.
Posted by Elena del Valle on August 17, 2010
WiredLatinos Directory, owned by Mygritomedia LLC, a new online directory offering paid and free listings, added HispanicMPR.com to its directory. WiredLatinosDirectory.com was launched by WiredLatinos.com.
According to the website, the directory is edited by humans. Company executives hope to compile “the most comprehensive list of Latino owned, managed, targeted and community serving websites.” See the HispanicMPR.com listing at http://www.wiredlatinosdirectory.com/hispanicmpr-com/
Posted by Elena del Valle on August 16, 2010
Reading, math scores by race/ethnicity – click to enlarge
Chart, photo: Center on Education Policy, CommunicationWorks
A colleague pondered out loud the other day: “In future decades how will marketers target America’s increasingly large emerging markets?” Although Asian American students are doing better than their emerging market counterparts, reading (and math) proficiency is low among Latinos and blacks compared to other students. If the young adults of the future can’t read will general marketing emphasize the visual and audio formats that they are able to consume?
In spite of some modest gains in test scores among Latinos in recent years, education gaps appear to be a serious problem that is not going away anytime soon. According to a recent report on Latino performance in school, in California, the state with the largest Latino enrollment, Latino students were the lowest-performing subgroup in reading at all grade levels.
On the last day of June 2010 the Center on Education Policy (CEP) released a series of reports on the performance of Latino, African American, Asian American, Native American and white students on state reading and math tests. The reports also examine the implications of CEP’s findings about achievement for each ethnic/racial subgroup.
Although Latinos still perform well below Asian American and white students on state tests and many issues remain to be resolved when it comes to education, especially in states with a high percentage of Latinos, according to the results of the reports, some Latino students are performing better on state reading and math tests than in the past.
Between 2002 and 2008 for grades four, eight and the high school grade assessed for the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act the performance of Latino students on state reading and math tests improved in most states.
At the same time according to the report as a group, African American students were often the lowest-performing racial/ethnic subgroup in 2008 on state reading and math tests at grades four, eight, and the high school tested in the majority of the states with sufficient data, as well as in the nine states with the highest numbers of African American test-takers. In contrast, as a group, Asian American students often outperformed other racial/ethnic subgroups in reading and math at grades four, eight, and the high school grade tested. In high school reading, however, white students did better than Asian American students in most states with sufficient data and sufficiently large Asian subgroups.
Despite gains, the Latino subgroup still remains among the lower-performing racial/ethnic subgroups on state tests. Across all states with adequate data, median percentages proficient for Latino students in reading and math in 2008 were well below those of the Asian and white subgroups. For example, in grade eight math the medians were 55 percent for Latino students, compared with 86 percent for Asian students and 77 percent for white students. Latino students were somewhat above or similar to medians of African Americans at 46 percent and Native Americans at 54 percent.
Jack Jennings, president and CEO, CEP
In 2008, Latino students were the lowest-performing racial/ethnic subgroup in at least one subject/grade combination in 11 states with sufficient data for the study. The achievement for Latino students in 2008 was slightly more negative in the five states that together enroll more than 70 percent of the nation’s Latino students California, Texas, Florida, New York and Arizona.
“These increases in test scores for Latino students are encouraging, but the achievement level of Latino students is nowhere near where it has to be,” said Jack Jennings, president and chief executive officer, CEP. “Latino students are the largest ethnic minority group in many states and are the fastest-growing nationally, and therefore it is crucial to improve achievement for these students.”
CEP analyzed 2008 state test results and trends since 2002 in the Latino-white achievement gap and in the percentages of Latino students reaching various achievement levels. Their findings were drawn from test data, gathered by CEP, from all 50 states.
The Latino student report indicates that states with increases for Latino fourth graders since 2002 outnumbered states with decreases at the basic, proficient, and advanced achievement levels. Latino students have also improved achievement at grades four, eight, and the tested high school at a fast enough rate to narrow gaps in the percentage reaching proficient in reading and math in a large majority of the states with sufficient data. Since 2002 gaps narrowed more often than they widened, according to the mean test scores results.
The researchers concluded that the “relatively low performance of Latino students, who in less than a generation will comprise roughly three in ten American children, is an urgent issue. The nation’s economic and social well-being will be compromised without efforts at all levels of government to develop policies to increase achievement for Latino young people.”
Based in Washington, D.C., and founded in January 1995 by Jack Jennings, the Center on Education Policy is “a national, independent advocate for public education and for more effective public schools.” According to a press release the Center represents no special interests. The Center strives “to help citizens make sense of the conflicting opinions and perceptions about public education and create conditions that will lead to better public schools.”
Posted by Elena del Valle on August 13, 2010
Hispanic New York A Sourcebook
In June, Columbia University Press published Hispanic New York A Sourcebook (Columbia University Press, $29.95), a book edited by Claudio Iván Remeseira, founder and director of the Hispanic New York Project which is hosted by Columbia University’s American Studies Program, about the Hispanic history of the city and its Latino communities. It may also be published in Spanish by a Latin American publishing company.
The book was designed as an anthology of scholarly, literary, autobiographical, and journalistic writings for high school and college students and based on a seminar taught by the editor and Roosevelt Montás, a colleague at Columbia University. It was meant to be a companion book to Hispanic New York: A Cultural Guide, a title that is still under production.
In addition to Remeseira the 547-page softcover book is the work of fourteen men and nine women: Jack Agueros, Theodore S. Beardsley Jr., Paul Berman, Dionisio Cañas, Ruby Danta, Margarite Fernández Olmos, Frank M. Figueroa, Gabriel Haslip-Viera, Carmen Dolores Hernández, Orlando José Hernández, José Marti, Ed Morales, Antonio Muñoz Molina, Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, Luis Pérez-Oramas, Milagros Ricourt, Clara Rodriguez, Virginia Sánchez Korrol, Roberto Suro, Bernardo Vega, Walt Whitman, and Ana Cecilia Zentella.
Claudio Iván Remeseira, editor, Hispanic New York A Sourcebook
“Since the moment I had the idea of producing this book to the moment it reached the bookstores, it was almost three years. But I started collecting the material that eventually made up the book around 2001. So you can safely say that the book took almost a decade in the making, and the last three years of that period to come into fruition,” said Remeseira by email when asked how many years the project required.
The book is divided into two main sections, People and Communities and Cultural Hybridizations, and 23 chapters: Introduction, The Evolution of the Latino Community in New York, A Vindication of Cuba, Memoirs of Bernardo Vega, Halfway to Dick and Jane, New York Teetering on the Heights, The Hispanic Impact Upon the United States, In Search of Latinas in U.S. History, 1540-1970s, The Spanish Element in Our Nationality, Racial Themes in the Literature, The Emergence of Latino Panethnicity, Creole Religions of the Caribbean, New York City Center and Transit Point for Hispanic Cultural Nomadism, Puerto Rican Voices in English, Spanish in New York, Spanish in New York a Moving Landscape, New York’s Latin Music Landmarks, The Story of Nuyorican Salsa, Mariachi Reverie, The Art of Babel in the Americas, The Life and Passion of Jean-Michel Basquiat, A Splendid Outsider, and Carlos Gardel in New York.
Click here to buy Hispanic New York: A Sourcebook
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Posted by Elena del Valle on August 11, 2010
Photos: Babyspot.com, Todobebe.com
Our nation’s birth rate has declined in the past 20 years. During that time period new mothers have become more likely to be older, better educated and less likely to be white. Fewer white women are having babies while an increasing number of babies are born of Hispanic moms, according to a recently released report. One in four births in 2008 was to a Hispanic mother. Although white women still represented more than half of mothers of newborns that year that was less than the 65 percent of white women who gave birth in 1990.
More than half of mothers of newborns in 2006 had spent some time in college which was an improvement over the 41 percent of women who had some college education in 1990. Older mothers of newborns, those 35 years of age and older, were much more likely to have some college education (71 percent).
James Rivera, co-founder, Babyspot
“I do see evidence of your findings, our site agrees with most of your data. Our traffic has increased in the last year, it’s around 30 percent increase,” said James Rivera, co-founder and chief executive officer, BabySpot, Inc. when asked if he sees evidence of these trends.
Women are also waiting longer to have babies than they did twenty years ago. While in 1990, teenagers had a higher share of all births (13 percent) than did women 35 years of age and older (9 percent) by 2008, the reverse was true with 10 percent of births to teens and 14 percent to women ages 35 and older. This increase in older mothers held across ethnic groups.
More unmarried women by far (41 percent) had babies in 2008 than in 1990 (28 percent). Black unmarried women were the most likely to have babies compared white and Hispanics.
“There are 4M (million) births per year and 1M (million) are to Spanish speaking parents, 25 percent of the newborns. This has been a constant for the past two years and is based on U.S. Census Live Birth Statistics,” said Cynthia Nelson of Todobebe.com. “We have a 20 percent increase in moms that join Todobebe in the past year and about 55 percent of our moms are pregnant at any one give time. There is no one month during the year that there are more births with the exception of the slight increase in September (December holidays trigger this event).”
In 2008, there were 4.3 million births in our country slightly more than in 1990 when there were 4.2 million. Between 2003 to 2007 the number of births increased each year and then declined by about 66,000; the researchers believe the decrease is the result of the economic downturn.
Immigrants tend to have higher birth rates than the native born although those rates have declined in recent years. The share of births to foreign-born mothers, 15 percent of U.S. births in 1990, grew 60 percent through 2004. In 2004, births to foreign-born women represented the majority of Hispanic (61 percent) and Asian (83 percent) births.
Although it is hard to think about our nation’s demographic profile in 40 years, according to Pew Research Center population projections and assuming current trends remain steady, 82 percent of the nation’s population growth through 2050 will be produced by immigrants who arrived in our country after 2005 and their descendants. The researchers estimate 142 more million people will fuel our population between 2005 and 2050; of these 50 million will be the children and grandchildren of new immigrants.
The report, The New Demography of American Motherhood, was written by Gretchen Livingston and D’Vera Cohn of the Pew Research Center based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the Census Bureau. It also included the findings of a national Pew Research Center survey about parenthood.
Posted by Elena del Valle on August 9, 2010
Steve Haase, partner, ThoughtLead
Photo: ThoughtLead
A podcast interview with Steve Haase, partner, ThoughtLead is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, Steve discusses how to grow your online presence with free events with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Steve, who is passionate about copy writing, social media, and entrepreneurship, is striving to establish himself as an up and coming voice in online marketing. Prior to working with ThoughtLead, Steve was a member of the United States Navy Band, where he served as a trumpet instrumentalist for five years.
Steve’s business experience also includes growing two small enterprises from the ground up, as a founder of the Prism Brass Quintet and an independent contractor with Vector Marketing. Steve earned his masters degree in music from the University of Maryland, College Park; and his Master of Arts degree in Conscious Evolution from the Graduate Institute in Milford, Connecticut.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Steve Haase” 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 August 2010 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on August 6, 2010
Facebook Marketing: Designing Your Next Marketing Campaign
Photos: Que Publishing
In July 2010 Facebook announced it has 500 million users (although on another page of the Facebook website the company’s own description listed the day of this writing 400 million users who have returned to the site in the last 30 days). Founded in February 2004, Facebook is described in the About Facebook heading of the Press section of the company website as “a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers. The company develops technologies that facilitate the sharing of information through the social graph, the digital mapping of people’s real-world social connections. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment.”
The Statistics page of the Press section of the Palo Alto, California based company indicates 70 percent of its users are outside the United States. At the same time it seems to be popular with big companies: Two-thirds of comScore’s Top 100 websites in the United States and half of comScore’s Global Top 100 websites have integrated with Facebook, according to the data on that same page.
Perhaps as a result it seems everybody is thinking about, wants to, or has a business page on Facebook although curiously in the company’s own description the utility is for “friends, family and coworkers.” At the same time whether for personal, business or combination profiles there have been a number of concerns over the life of the website and especially recently about privacy and the company’s efforts to bank on member data to make a profit.
Author Justin Levy
Earlier this year Facebook changed its default privacy settings to allow third-party partner websites described as partners to access information from user profiles whenever they wanted to unless users went back to their profiles after the new policy was announced to block that use. Millions of users were said to have complained and as many as 25 million were thought to have closed their accounts in protest before the company responded.
As director of Business Development, Marketing and Client Relations at New Marketing Labs Justin Levy makes his living with Facebook, in part. The company he works for offers consulting services to middle and large sized companies that want to leverage their social media presence. According to his bio, his clients include Sony, Microsoft, Citrix Online, SAS, and Molson Coors. Earlier this year, he published the second edition of Facebook Marketing: Designing Your Next Marketing Campaign (Pearson Education, Inc., $24.99).
In the 195-page softcover book he discusses his thoughts on Facebook as a social media business tool. He addresses establishing a presence, creating ads on Facebook, privacy, using Facebook Connect and Live Stream Box to reach potential customers outside Facebook, reputation monitoring, widgets and apps, and sweepstakes to build traffic.
The book is divided into 11 chapters: From Dorm room to Boardroom: The Growth of Social Networks, Getting Around Facebook: The Basics, Establishing a Corporate Presence, Extending Facebook into the Interwebs: The Power and Reach of Facebook Connect, Facebook Advertising: How and Why You Should Be Using It, Extending the Experience with Facebook Apps, Addressing Privacy Concerns, Developing a Facebook Marketing Strategy, Using Facebook to Develop Communities, Best in Class, Shaking the Crystal Ball: What’s Next for Facebook.
Click here to buy Facebook Marketing
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Filed Under: Books
