Category Archives: Make a Difference

Projects that are making a difference, improving lives, and building communities.

Authors A-H, Books, Holocaust, Social Issues

Broken on the Inside: The War Never Ended – by Simon Hammelburg

HammelburgBroken on the inside – The War Never Ended by Dutch author and journalist Simon Hammelburg is based on 1200 interviews with Holocaust survivors and their children. The book reads like a novel but is based on facts, some of which have never been revealed before, disclosing insights of the psychological aftermath of survivors as well as the post-war generations and the traumas that are passed on for over six generations.

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Authors R-Z, Politics, Social Issues

From Paris: Strategies For The Age Of Trump – By Andrew Scharf

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The world was stunned by the election of Donald Trump. People and pundits alike are debating with each other -How could this happen? – What does this mean for the rest of the world? The answers are as complex as the reasons Trump was selected by the Electoral College. As an entrepreneur living abroad in Paris, France I can tell you that recent events over the past year or so have this place spinning with dread, anxiety, and uncertainty.

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Authors R-Z, Social Issues

Immigrants, Inclusion and the US Military – by Fiona Citkin

Post-election days are filled with heated conversations wherever you go: Starbucks, farmers’ market, grocery shop, or friendly get-togethers—and it seems people just won’t let it go. Immigration and Inclusion are among the hottest topics. In a campaign interview with CBS “60 Minutes” Donald Trump said we are getting the people who are criminal out of the country, “probably two million, it could be even three million.” Campaign over, I wish our new President would be aware of the fact that the overwhelming majority of immigrants, both legal and undocumented, are so eager to earn the US citizenship that their heroism and sacrifices on the battlefield often demonstrate it.

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Authors A-H, Social Issues

President Elect Donald Trump! I didn’t see it coming – by Terry Howard

As we wove our way down Route 15 through rural Virginia on Sunday, I can honestly say that I was unable to “see” past the hundreds of “Trump /Pence” signs posted on well-kept green lawns. I failed to recognize the rural folks and not to be ignored sentiments behind those signs.

Those are the voices who spoke loudly last night!

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Authors R-Z, Go Green

GECM: Ghana Environmental Concern Meter Update

A Study by The Centre for Environmental Research and Policy Analysis (CERPA)

The Ghana Environmental Concern Meter (GECM)  is a scientific and objective assessment of public concerns on various environmental issues and challenges affecting the lives of the Ghanaian people. It is also a detective and reporting tool for environmental problems in communities in Ghana. Further, the GECM seeks to bring these environmental problems to the knowledge of the public to encourage self-help, responsibility, and environmental ownership among the Ghanaian people.

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Authors R-Z, Politics, Social Issues

Asian Americans and Politics – by Jonathan Yao

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There has been a recent and burgeoning trend towards materialism in Chinese cultures, perhaps coinciding with recent economic booms. I witness this anecdotally whenever I walk down 5th Avenue in Manhattan and see a disproportionate number of Chinese people outside luxury retail stores. After perusing through some studies, I confirmed my intuitions and discovered that 68% of people from Chinese feel a lot of pressure to be successful and make money and that 71% of people from China are most likely to measure their success by what they own. Both of these numbers are the highest among all countries surveyed. Chinese consumers have now overtaken Americans to become the world’s largest buyers of personal luxury items.

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Authors R-Z, Politics, Social Issues

Filipino Americans: Be Aware, Active, Present in Politics – by Alicia Soller

As a Filipina-American born in an apolitical Florida suburb, I was not raised to be politically involved. Surrounded by predominantly white peers, I did not find my second-generation Asian American identity wholly represented in the southeast. It also didn’t help that my parents had a natural distrust of politicians having come of age under Ferdinand Marcos’ martial law.

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Authors A-H, Social Issues

Personal Odors in a Diverse Workplace – by Terry Howard

“Hey, Terry, how about a mint?” my wife offered. I paused for a second before declining. But back to that further down. First here’s a challenge, old and new, that put her mint offer into context.

Years ago, I managed a group of 120 support staff personnel. One of them, Alice, stopped by one day to warn me about a person in the group who allegedly had an offensive body odor and everyone expected me to deal with it. “No problem,” I responded.

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Authors A-H, Wellness

When Eye Rolls are Appropriate – by Carolyn Daitch, Ph.D.

The Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times,” seems to be active today, activating our anxiety. Globally. The news sounds more and more like the most alarming drum roll. In the past few weeks, the world has been gripped by reports of terrorist plots and attacks in the US, in France, in Bangladesh, in Istanbul, in Baghdad, in Munich. Refugees from Syria are drowning by the hundreds as they desperately seek a safe foothold. Everywhere the number of the dead mounts.

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Authors A-H, Social Issues

They protested, did they not? Just asking. – by Terry Howard

When it comes to courageous writing, it doesn’t get much better than James Ragland. He constantly serves up a menu of thought-provoking lines that allow for wannabee writers like yours truly to do some free cherry-picking.

“And when did civil protest — of any form, really — become the object of scorn in America, even when it’s not hurting anyone except the guy whose butt is on the line? You may not like what Colin Kaepernick is doing, but fighting for what he believes in is about as American as it gets.”
–James Ragland, Dallas Morning news

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