Joan L. Cannon writes: There are sadly too few who have had a chance to go where the trout are and spend the hours it takes to succeed in landing one, and then having the special pleasure of releasing it. The essentials of enjoyment for every sense are fortunately still available to almost anybody whose hands are at one end of a bamboo rod with a light reel that suspends the gossamer weight of a lure at the other.
Author: SeniorWomenWeb
-
How Did Older Workers Fare in 2009? The Urban Institute’s Report Doesn’t Paint a Pretty Picture
Unemployment has attracted much attention, but there has been less consideration of how older workers have fared. In past recessions unemployment has remained relatively low for older workers, whose seniority often protected them during rounds of layoffs. However, age might not protect older workers as well as it once did, because workplaces are now less regularized and labor unions are less powerful. And the 2008 stock market collapse, which wiped out trillions of dollars of retirement savings, appears to have raised fears about the affordability of retirement and discouraged many older workers from leaving the workforce.
This report describes how older workers fared in 2009. It focuses on age differences in unemployment rates (the share of the workforce that is out of work and looking for employment), labor force participation rates (the share of the population that is employed or unemployed), employment rates (the share of the population that is employed), the duration of unemployment spells, and earnings. Analyses compare 2009 outcomes with those in 2007, when unemployment fell to its lowest level after the 2001 recession. Data come from the Current Population Survey, a monthly survey of about 50,000 households that serves as the basis for the federal government’s official unemployment statistics.
Unemployment rates for older workers soared in 2009, although they were even higher for younger workers. Older unemployed workers were more likely than their younger counterparts to be out of work for many months.
- On average, 1.5 million workers age 55 to 64 and 421,000 workers age 65 and older were unemployed each month in 2009, more than double the number in 2007.
- The unemployment rate reached all-time highs (since records began in 1948) for older men and women. The 2009 unemployment rate was 7.2 percent for men age 55 to 64 and 6.7 percent for men age 65 and older. For women, the 2009 unemployment rate was 6.0 percent at age 55 to 64 and 6.1 percent at age 65 and older.
- Unemployment rates were much higher at younger ages in 2009. The unemployment rate at age 35 to 44 was 7.9 percent, for example, exceeding the rate at age 55 to 61 by 18 percent and the rate at age 70 to 74 by 30 percent.
- Unemployment in 2009 was more common for men than women of all ages — including older adults — because the recession hit male-dominated industries like construction and manufacturing particularly hard. In 2009, 14.3 percent of construction workers age 55 and older and 10.9 percent of older manufacturing workers were unemployed, well above the overall 2009 unemployment rate of 6.5 percent for adults age 55 and older.
- Construction, manufacturing, trade, and professional and business services accounted for nearly two-thirds of unemployed men age 55 and older in 2009. About two-thirds of unemployed women age 55 and older in 2009 came from trade, professional and business services, health care, manufacturing, and education.
- As in past years, 2009 unemployment rates were much higher among older African Americans, Hispanics, and workers with limited education than other older workers. Among men age 55 to 64, for example, about 11 percent of Hispanic workers and 10 percent of African American workers were unemployed, compared with 6 percent of non- Hispanic white workers. About 10 percent of female workers age 55 to 64 without high school diplomas were unemployed in 2009, compared with about 5 percent of their counterparts with college degrees.
- Older unemployed workers spent more time out of work in 2009 than their younger counterparts. More than two-fifths of out-of-work men age 62 to 69 in 2009 were unemployed for more than six months, compared with just less than one-third of out-of-work men age 35 to 44. In December 2009, nearly half of unemployed men age 55 to 61 were out of work for more than six months.
Other 2009 developments were more positive for older workers. The share of adults employed fell at age 25 to 54 but not at age 62 and older. Also, earnings for full-time workers age 65 and older grew rapidly between 2007 and 2009.
-
Textile Exhibits, The British Quilt, 1700 – 2010 and Japanese Sashiko Textiles
London’s V&A is presenting its first quilt exhibit with earliest examples that include a “sumptuous silk and velvet bedcover, with an oral narrative that links it to King Charles II’s visit to an Exeter manor house in the late 17th century… On loan from the National Gallery of Australia will be the Rajah quilt, made in 1841 by women convicts aboard the HMS Rajah as they were being transported to Van Diemen’s Land (present day Tasmania).
Glimpses into the exhibit are to be read at the Quilts Hidden Histories blog by Sue Pritchard, such as this recent entry:
“Today we started lighting the first section ‘The Domestic Landscape’ — we killed the top lights and Jo Budd’s diptych was bathed in soft light, accentuating the stitches and ripples, the shadows and softly curvaceous contours of ‘Female/Summer’. In ‘Virtue and Virtuosity’, Dinah Prentice was installing ‘Billowing Maenads’, seductively draping and illuminated against the peachy tones of the walls. We have won over the lighting engineers who want to know more about the Mary Parker quilt made from silk ribbons from the 1720-40s. Caren Garfen’s ‘How many times do I have to repeat myself’ reclines enticingly upon its bed, eagerly awaiting the installation of the Brayley and tailors’ quilts next week. “
Another textile exhibit took place in the British city of York, Japanese Sashiko Textiles:
“Until the mid twentieth century it was the traditional method of making work wear in fishing and farming areas throughout Japan. The makers were the cornerstones of communities but their lives passed unrecorded. The historical work in this exhibition dating from the nineteenth to mid twentieth century documents these women’s achievements, perseverance and hardships.”
-
Hollywood’s Gender Equality, Written in Invisible Ink; Where Are the Women in Film and TV?
—The White House Project: Film and TV
- In film, women constitute 16 percent of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers; this represents a slight decrease in their representation in these positions in the last decade.
- Among situation comedies, dramas and reality shows in the 2008-09 prime-time television season, women made up one-quarter of all creators, directors, executive producers and producers.
- Women don’t do much better on screen: across 400 top-grossing G, PG, PG-13 and R rated films released between 1990 and 2006, only 27 percent of over 15,000 speaking characters were female. African American women constitute only 7 percent of characters featured in dramas and situation comedies, Latinas constitute two percent, and Asian women account for less than two percent.
- Women own less than 6 percent of the full-power television stations in the US
Posted at the White House Project site is a New York Times op-ed by By Kim Elsesser, a research scholar at the Center for Study of Women at the University of California, Los Angeles:
“Many hours into the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony this Sunday, the Oscar for best actor will go to Morgan Freeman, Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Colin Firth or Jeremy Renner. Suppose, however, that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented separate honors for best white actor and best non-white actor, and that Mr. Freeman was prohibited from competing against the likes of Mr. Clooney and Mr. Bridges. Surely, the academy would be derided as intolerant and out of touch; public outcry would swiftly ensure that Oscar nominations never again fell along racial lines.”
“Why, then, is it considered acceptable to segregate nominations by sex, offering different Oscars for best actor and best actress?”
-
Joanna Grossman at Writ, Annulments Based on Fraud: What is the “Essence” of Marriage?
The following is edited from Johanna Grossman’s two parts at FindLaw’s Writ (see below). Ms. Grossman is a professor and the John DeWitt Gregory Research Scholar at Hofstra Law School.
“Larry and Joy Farr were married for thirty years — the first time around. Then, in 2007, three years after getting a divorce, they remarried. But this time, their marriage only lasted three years, at which point he filed for divorce and she cross-filed for an annulment — a declaration that their second marriage was invalid from the get-go.”
“According to Joy, she only agreed to remarry Larry based on his representation that he had a terminal illness; she didn’t want him to die alone. But he survived, and she cried foul. The second marriage, she alleged, had been based on fraud — a false representation that he would soon be dead.”
“Is this type of misrepresentation, if proven, grounds for annulment? A Colorado appellate court said yes, in Farr v. Farr. In the first part of this two-part series, I will discuss the traditional doctrine of annulments based on fraud and the ways in which courts kept a tight leash on such claims. In Part Two, I will discuss the shift towards a more lenient definition of fraud that is exemplified by the ruling in Farr, an opinion I will analyze in detail.”
…..
Annulments Based on Fraud: The Traditional Approach
-
Making Movies: Brutal killings are not to be presented in detail; revenge in modern times must not be justified
The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin is hosting an exhibit, Making Movies.
The exhibition is organized into two sections, the first of which explores the responsibilities of the director, producer, screenwriter, production designer, art director, actor, costume designer, hair and makeup artist, cinematographer, special effects designer, editor and music composer. In the second section, the original scripts of iconic scenes from about 10 motion pictures will be displayed alongside production materials for that scene — stills, memos, call sheets, production reports, storyboards, research material, production photos-and digital clips of the filmed scene to give visitors to a clear impression of the number of individuals it takes to realize a few seconds of performance history.
One of the research materials used in the exhibit is the censorship code, A Code to Govern the Making of Motion and Talking Pictures, imposed on the films beginning in the late ’20s:
Murder
a. The technique of murder must be presented in a way that does not inspire imitation.b. Brutal killings are not to be presented in detail.
c. Revenge in modern times must not be justified.
Methods of Crime Must Not Be Explicitly Presented
a. Theft, robbery, safe-cracking, dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings, etc., should not be detailed in method.b. Arson must be subject to the same safeguards.
c. The use of firearms should be restricted to essentials.
d. Methods of smuggling should not be presented.
Illegal Drug Traffic Must Never be Presented
The Use of Liquor in American Life, when not required by the plot or for proper characterization will not be shown.
Among the exhibition’s highlights will be a selection of important screenplays, from The Misfits to North by Northwest, Lord of the Flies and Shakespeare in Love. The exhibition will also feature correspondence, construction drawings and storyboards from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Top Gun, Spellbound, Black Narcissus and others, as well as costumes from Gone With The Wind, An Affair to Remember, Taxi Driver and Casino.
Some of the accessible features are:
-
Shopping for Shoes, Bags and Accessory Treasures
Ped – A San Francisco-based site founded by Dayna Grubb that offers handmade American and European shoes, jewelry,handbags and … treasures. We fell for the Pepita jewelry pieces, which are made of such ingredients as lace, fabric beads, flea market finds, haberdashery stocks, making them into marvelous original creations. Karin Wagner’s Daisy Bracelet is hand-felted in Basel, Switzerland and Sophie Digard’s crocheted scarves, bags, necklaces and brooches are colorful, intricate and good-humored. rain and jack’s knitted items “fuse their two cultures, combining Si’s Japanese appreciation for clean and minimal design with Helen’s British sense of humor and love of all things soft and woolly.” Antipast is the design team of textile designers Emiko and Junko who produce whimsically designed socks, scarves and arm warmers. Since I’m crazy about striped accessories for home and self, I’m attracted to the Mia Zia collection. Of course, Ped is known for their shoes and the styles are comfortable and fashionable at the same time.
-
Medical Radiation: The Excruciating Testimony of the Father of Scott Jerome-Parks
What is the Initiative to Reduce Unnecessary Radiation Exposure from Medical Imaging, and why is FDA launching it?
What types of medical procedures are addressed by the Initiative to Reduce Unnecessary Radiation Exposure from Medical Imaging? What is the timeframe for the actions FDA is taking as part of the Initiative to Reduce Unnecessary Radiation Exposure from Medical Imaging? What is ionizing radiation? Do all medical imaging studies use ionizing radiation? How often are patients who undergo medical imaging exposed to unnecessary radiation? Are patients who undergo mammography at risk for unnecessary radiation exposure? What should providers and patients do to avoid unnecessary radiation exposure? Should members of the public be concerned about radiation exposure from body scanners at airports?
The Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held hearings, “Medical Radiation: An Overview of the Issues”, and heard testimony from James and Donna Parks, Gulfport, Mississippi, among others:
“We are here [to] testify at this hearing to make public our son’s terrible ordeal and death due to a radiation accident. When our son learned that the over-exposure to radiation was to take his life, he felt he had a mission to prevent this atrocity from happening to others. He asked that all of us work to make his suffering and death have some meaning. He confided to us that he was worried about his wife, and must stay alive until he knows she will be OK. After more than two years of hideous agony he let himself die hoping that his ordeal might save many others from the same terrible suffering. Scott’s primary care giver, his wife Carmen, suffered through every moment of every day for over two years as she helplessly saw her husband go blind, and deaf, and lose his teeth with his face contorted with gangrene tissue over his ear and scalp. He suffered constant, acute pain and vomiting every day with constant hiccupping that he had to cope with as best he could. Perhaps unfortunately, his brain was least affected during all but the last stages, and he was aware of all that was happening to his body. The last time we saw Scott, at our Christmas family gathering for him, he was a caricature of what our son used to be. He became a helpless invalid at the end. He did whisper to me that ‘Carmen will be OK. I’m ready to go.’ What we can give you are only snapshots in time since we could visit Scott only every 3 or 4 months. The person who knows every detail of the tragedy is Carmen but she must remain silent because of a gag order tied to the financial settlement. It is the hospital’s way of making serious accidents a guarded secret. Our son’s widow should be here testifying to this panel, but she must remain silent.”