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  • Building Character; A Lesson From Six Children

    By Elizabeth Berniershopping with children

    When I saw a family member’s request for an essay on building character, I thought of my six adult children.

    I know they are people of good character but how did it happen? I’m quite sure they were not born with it.   So I decided to ask my daughters and my sons, to give a response about what they thought helped developed their good character. What an eye opener this became for me.

    One son said that negative energy was redirected toward positive things. I had to laugh because what came to mind was a picture of my children sitting on the couch or the floor watching PBS. After about a half an hour or so, someone would elbow the next sibling and a fight would break out. My solution: everyone had to run around the house outside until they were tired. They could then come back into the house. It worked every time! They went back to watching the show on PBS. No more fights.

    Photo from Wikipedia from garycycles

    One daughter said, as the oldest, she learned how to treat brothers and sisters from watching Mom and Dad. She said she learned to not leave anyone out and to be aware of other peoples’ feelings. As the oldest of six, she had many responsibilities which made her aware of the needs of others and built character.

    She learned the responsibility to help others, notice the suffering of others from observing her parents. In the 4th grade, she saw a girl being picked on, thought it was not fair and knowing there was power in numbers, brought together her friends to stop the injustice. That girl was never bullied again. She had learned that one person could make a difference.

    She remembers learning independence and mentioned the time she bought milk at the 7-11 store.  I remember that, too. I had a station wagon full of kids and needed to run into the store for a gallon of milk. My daughter teased and teased me to let her go in and get the milk. She was only 6  and a half years old. Finally I agreed and gave her the money. With great trepidation I watched her go into the store where adults were coming in and out. At last, I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw her walk out toward the car, holding a gallon of milk, her face lit up with a big smile.  She did it!

    Each child, as they came along, picked up a piece of candy when we were going through the checkout at the grocery store, unbeknownst to me until we hit the car. Each child had to go back, with Mom, to the cash register person and return candy with apology; a learning experience in honesty. It never happened a second time. 

    Several children recall asking me how to spell a word. I would tell them to go look it up in the dictionary. They learned how to use tools to answer their questions.

    They remember having the freedom to explore outdoors in all kinds of weather; to experiment and explore who they were as persons; developing a sense of adventure and daring. One remembers feeling sorry for the kids across the street who couldn’t come out because it was raining, or too cold, or too much snow.

  • Floor Action, Hearings & Bills Introduced: Terrorist Financing; Terrorist Sanctuaries, Threat to US Homeland & Sexual Violence

    This Week:Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

    House Committee on Foreign Affairs (http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/live-video-feed)

    Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, (R) representing Florida’s 27thCongressional District, member of Foreign Affairs Subcommittee; Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa

    Hearing: Women and Technology: Increasing Opportunity and Driving International Development — Nov 17, 2015 in Washington, DC

    Subcommittee Hearing: Terrorist Financing: Kidnapping, Antiquities Trafficking, and Private Donations — Nov 17, 2015 in Washington, DC
     
    Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade | 2200 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 | Nov 17, 2015 2:00pm to 5:00pm

    Witnesses: 
    Mr. John Cassara, (Former Special Agent, US Department of the Treasury)      

    David Andrew Weinberg, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

    Ms. Diane Foley, Founder, James W. Foley Legacy Foundation Inc.

    Michael D. Danti, Ph.D., Academic Director of Cultural Heritage Initiatives, The American Schools of Oriental Research

     Joint Hearing: The Rise of Radicalism: Growing Terrorist Sanctuaries and the Threat to the U.S. Homeland — Nov 18, 2015 in Washington, DC

    Floor Action:

    Health — This week, the House is scheduled to consider  S. 799, the Protecting Our Infants Act. 

    Mark-Ups:

    Employment/Violence Against Women —  OnWednesday, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will mark up several bills, including S. 2206, the Na tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sexual Harassment and Assault Prevention Act. 

    Hearings:

    Veterans — On Tuesday, the House Veterans Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on several bills, including H.R. 1603, the Military Sexual Assault Victims Empowerment Act. 

    International — On Tuesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing, “Women and Technology: Increasing Opportunity and Driving International Development. 

    Human Trafficking — On Thursday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the committee’s human trafficking investigation.

    On November 10, the Senate approved S. 2280, the Pro bono Work to Empower and Represent Act.
     
    On November 10, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed several bills, including the International Megan’s Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking (H.R. 515) and a resolution condemning the ongoing sexual violence against women and children perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants (S. Res. 310).

    Read more

    Health

    S. Res. 312— Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)/Judiciary (11/10/15)—A resolution designating the week beginning November 8, 2015, as National Pregnancy Center Week to recognize the vital role that community-supported pregnancy centers (also known as pregnancy care and pregnancy resource centers) play in saving lives and serving women and men faced with difficult pregnancy decisions.

    International

    S. Res. 310—Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)/Foreign Relations (11/9/15)—A resolution condemning the ongoing sexual violence against women and children from Yezidi, Christian, Shabak, Turkmen, and other religious communities by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants and urging the prosecution of the perpetrators and those complicit in these crimes.

    Tax Policy

    S. 2264—Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO)/Finance (11/10/15)—A bill to strengthen the child tax credit.

    Violence Against Women

    S. 2280—Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK)/considered and passed (11/10/15)—A bill to promote pro bono legal services as a critical way in which to empower survivors of domestic violence.

    S. 2270—Sen Al Franken (D-MN)/Judiciary (11/10/15)—A bill to address voluntary location tracking of electronic communications devices, and for other purposes.

    Courtesy of Women’s Policy, Inc.


  • Have You Heard the Term Daesh for ISIS, ISIL? Terrorist Designations of Groups Operating in Syria

    Media Note

    Office of the Spokesperson
    Washington, DC
    May 14, 2014
     

     The Department of State announced the amendment of the designation of al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity under section 1(b) of Executive Order (E.O.) 13224 to add the alias Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as its primary name and remove all aliases associated with al-Nusrah Front (ANF). Additionally, the Department of State announced the designation of ANF as an FTO under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity under section 1(b) of E.O. 13224.

    The Department will also add the following aliases to the ISIL listing: the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), ad-Dawla al-Islamiyya fi al-‘Iraq wa-sh-Sham, Daesh, Dawla al Islamiya, and Al-Furqan Establishment for Media Production. Furthermore, under the same authorities, the Department of State designated al-Nusrah Front as a standalone FTO and SDGT.

    The consequences of the FTO and E.O. 13224 designations include a prohibition against knowingly providing, or attempting or conspiring to provide, material support or resources to, or engaging in transactions with these organizations, and the freezing of all property and interests in property of the organizations that is in the United States, or come within the United States or the control of U.S. persons. The Department of State took these actions in consultation with the Departments of Justice and Treasury.

    These adjustments do not represent a change in policy. Both ISIL and ANF have been designated domestically for several months. In December 2012, the Department of State amended the FTO and E.O. 13224 designations of AQI to include ANF as an alias. Since that amendment occurred, differences over management and tactics have led to an increase in violence between the two groups. Tension peaked in early 2014, when al-Qa’ida (AQ) leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released a statement dismissing ISIL from AQ. Therefore, we have amended the AQI designation to better reflect the change in status of both ISIL and ANF. We review our designations regularly and, as needed, make adjustments to ensure we remain current with nomenclature and other changes.

    Editor’s Note: Sec. Kerry also released this statement:

    November 13, 2015

    I share President Obama’s outrage and sadness over the terrorist attacks tonight in Paris.

    Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this assault on innocent people, going about their lives. And I am deeply concerned by ongoing reports of hostages.

    These are heinous, evil, vile acts. Those of us who can must do everything in our power to fight back against what can only be considered an assault on our common humanity.

    Our embassy in Paris is making every effort to account for the welfare of American citizens in the city, and in the days ahead we stand ready to provide whatever support the French government may require. France is our oldest ally, a friend and a vital partner. We stand with the French people tonight, as our peoples have always stood together in our darkest hours. These terrorist attacks will only deepen our shared resolve.

  • Law Professor Melissa Murray on the Darker Side of Marriage

    Marriage — modernly — is seen as sort of unalloyed good, says law professor Melissa Murray. “Everyone would like to get married, or most people would like to get married. Certainly, most people’s mothers want them to get married.”

    >

    Murray teaches family law at UC Berkeley. She says the marriage equality movement has built up the idea that marriage is this wonderful thing that everyone should want. And there are a lot of benefits to being married in the United States. People who are married have better financial outcomes than people who aren’t. They are often healthier (especially men), and they have access to a range of public and private benefits, like Social Security and shared employee health and other benefit plans.

    Melissa Murray is a professor of law at  University of California, Berkeley. Photograph by Anne Brice

    Melissa Murray

    But she says there’s a darker side to marriage that’s been overlooked.

    “What the marriage equality movement really did not think about is that there is a kind of normalizing process that goes on in marriage,” says Murray. “Marriage signals that these people — the sexual relations that they have — are respectable, are valued, are worthy.”

    And she says, you can’t make that kind of claim about one set of people and their intimate lives without illuminating what is disreputable about other people’s sexual relationships.  “Getting more people into marriage actually highlighted that other people were outside of it and therefore, undisciplined, unregulated and problematic.”

    To really understand Murray’s view on marriage, it’s important to take a look at the rather complicated history of marriage.

    In the mid-1800s, women had very few rights, and marriage was necessary for the economic provision of most women who were not working outside the home. And, although it may surprise modern readers outside of marriage was a crime. As Murray, explains, the criminal regulation of sex made clear that marriage was the licensed site for sexual activity.

    “Marriage was where you had sex,” says Murray. “That’s an important aspect of it. Marriage interacting with criminal law for regulating sex. For identifying certain kinds of sexual acts as productive and valuable and other kinds as unproductive, destructive, and indeed criminal.”

    Marriage worked as a kind of state-imposed sexual discipline. Those having sex within marriage were literally ‘in law,’ while unmarried people having sex were sexual ‘outlaws.’

    The close interaction between criminal regulation of sex and marriage meant that marriage could even be used as a form of punishment for certain sex crimes. If a man seduced an unmarried woman of ‘chaste disposition’ with the promise of marrying her, and then didn’t follow through, the man could be charged and sent to prison for up to 20 years in some states.

    “Interestingly, there was a defense for it,” Murray says. “The defense was simply that the man could get out of it by marrying the woman. So, there are these amazing scenes where all of a sudden this site of a trial was transformed into a wedding. No one thought the defendant was getting away with something by being married. If he was married, he literally had a ball and chain. He had someone he had to support. He would likely have a family to support. He would have to be sober, enterprising, productive and if he was abiding by his marriage vows, sexually faithful.”

    Although a man can’t be prosecuted for a crime of seduction anymore — such laws fell out of favor in the early 20th century — marriage recently was prescribed as a sort of cure for bad behavior.

    Just a few months ago, in August 2015, after a man got into a barroom brawl, a Texas judge ordered the man to marry his girlfriend or spend a few nights in jail. Scared that he’d lose his job if he took the jail time, the defendant reluctantly agreed to get married.

    Although marriage has changed over the years, and people have more freedom to define the boundaries of their own marriages, Murray says there is a lot that hasn’t changed.

    “I think if you ask anyone who is married, there is still a very stark gender differentiation in the amount of household labor that women do. And there certainly remains a persistent gap in caregiving that falls along gendered lines in most marriages. So, we’ve changed a lot, but in some ways, we haven’t changed at all.”

    Marriage isn’t for everyone, Murray says, and there should be a variety of alternative options for those who wish to be in a committed, recognized relationship, but don’t want to be married for any number of reasons.

    Ironically, the marriage equality movement may signal the death knell of efforts to promote a wider range of relationship recognition options. Already, the State Department has announced that it’s phasing out domestic partnership benefits. Now that marriage is available, same-sex couples — like straight couples before them — are expected to get married in order to receive benefits.

    “I think one of the questions going forward is will we think more seriously about what to do about those kinds of relationship forms. Or will marriage really be a one size fits all kind of model for everyone.”

    Melissa Murray has written extensively about marriage. You can find her 2012 article “Marriage as Punishment” in the Columbia Law Review, and her latest piece “Obergefell v. Hodges and the New Marriage Inequality” will be published in the August 2016 issue of the California Law Review.

  • Unveiling the Planning for Retirement Tool By the Consumers Financial Protection Bureau

    Editor’s Note: We have shortened Director Cordray’s remarks, bolded some text and provided additional links to noted sources.Frances Perkins on the cover of Time

    Time Magazine cover of Frances Perkins, August 14, 1933

    Before you claim Social Security, explore the CFPB’s Planning for Retirement tool

    http://www.consumerfinance.gov/retirement/before-you-claim/

    Frances Perkins was named Chairman of the Committee on Economic Security, established by FDR in 1934 to investigate social insurance and report on its findings in 6 months. That report recommended unemployment insurance and old-age insurance, but omitted health insurance only because, in the words of Frances Perkins, “the experts couldn’t get through with health insurance in time to make a report on it.” After the Report of the Committee, she campaigned for social security until its passage.

    A portion of prepared remarks by Richard Cordray; Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

    “Millions of Americans are likely to face financial insecurity in their retirement years,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Deciding when to start claiming Social Security benefits is one of the most important financial choices a consumer will make. The CFPB’s ‘Planning for Retirement’ tool can help consumers clearly see their options.”

    Our Office for Older Americans has done much great work around retirement security.  Our team has traveled the country listening to seniors.  Based on what we heard, we have issued studies, guides, and advisories to arm older Americans and their caregivers with the information and tools they need to protect themselves and their precious retirement savings.  The work that is focused on older Americans is in addition to the tools and resources we are developing for all consumers.  For example, for those who feel disempowered by the confusing explanations offered by many financial products, we have created our Ask CFPB tool.  This interactive database has over one thousand answers to questions most commonly asked by consumers.  When you encounter a particular issue, you can go to Ask CFPB to learn more about it and understand your rights.

    Today we are adding to this set of tools and resources with Planning for Retirement, which is an interactive, online tool designed to help people as they decide when to claim their Social Security benefits.  The tool, built in collaboration with the Social Security Administration, gives consumers the information and confidence they need to make a well-informed choice when it comes to deciding at what age they should elect to begin taking their payments.  Millions of Americans are likely to face some amount of financial insecurity in their lengthening retirement years.  To a consumer, when to start claiming Social Security payments is one of the key decisions they can make about their retirement.  Because this is a one-time choice, it is imperative that consumers can properly weigh their options with all the relevant information and factors in mind.

  • Pet Peeves (Yes, Again!)

    Moleskine notebook

    by Rose Madeline Mula

    I’ve written about pet peeves often.  So many times in fact that you’d think I would have run out of things to be peevish about by now.  But no.  New irritations keep popping up.  Maybe I’m just becoming more peeve-prone as I grow older — which is one of my new pet peeves.  

    Moleskine notebook by Pava; Wikimedia Commons

    Getting old.  I absolutely hate it.  There is nothing positive about the so-called golden years.  Even all the senior discounts can’t begin to compensate for all the disadvantages — the aches and pains, the wrinkles, the unflattering shoes my bunions force me to wear, the fact that all the names in my little black book have ‘M.D.’ after them, the fact that I still have a little black book because I can’t figure out how the calendar on my smart phone works.

    But at least I do have a smart phone.  Even though I don’t really know how to use most of its features, just pulling it out impresses the heck out of people. “Oh, look at you!” they gush patronizingly, apparently amazed that someone my age owns such a high-tech marvel. They wouldn’t be more astounded if an infant suddenly flung her pacifier across the room and started reciting Hamlet’s soliloquy.

    Another downside of getting older is the increasing number of visits to all those doctors in my little black book. You know the drill.  You show up on time for your 10:00 AM appointment and are instructed to take a seat in the waiting room where you can watch reruns of The Price is Right on TV or rifle through six-month-old issues of People featuring stories of celebrities and the spouses they have long-since shed.  At 11:10, when your derriere has become numb from sitting, a nurse finally comes to summon you.  “Thank heaven!” you think, as you follow her into a small examining room where she takes your  now-elevated blood pressure, tells you a huge lie (“The doctor will be right with you.”) and leaves, shutting the door behind her.  Usually that is the last human contact you will have for at least 45 minutes.  Eventually the doctor does arrive.  But she’s running late (no kidding!).  She has time for only a very brief, cursory examination and no time at all to answer questions.  You’ll have to make another appointment for that.

    Next on my list of peeves are mail order catalogs, whose number increases daily.  I  found a website that’s supposed to honor catalog cancellation requests.  In the last few months, I have supposedly cancelled 48 catalogs.  I’m still receiving all of them a couple of times monthly, in addition to several new ones every week from companies I’ve never heard of.  I haven’t ordered anything from a catalog in ages, because I’m convinced that whenever I do, my name and address are sold to dozens of other purveyors of an eclectic mix of stuff in which I have zero interest.  And yet new catalogs spill out of my mailbox daily and go directly to my trash bin unopened (along with the deluge of charity solicitations which are also increasing exponentially).  I grieve for the rain forests being destroyed to feed the printers of all this rubbish.

    Equally annoying are all the glossy high-fashion magazines I receive.  Why?  Did I ever actually subscribe to any of them?  Maybe.  Especially if they offered a free tote bag with a new subscription.  Again, why?  I seem to have an obsession with tote bags.  My closets are cluttered with more than I’ll ever use in my lifetime. Yet I can never resist the offer of a new one, even though it means subscribing to yet another high fashion magazine.

    You know the ones I mean — the thick, glossy tomes where you need a Table of Contents to find the Table of Contents because it’s buried in page after page of outlandish ads for products that are unidentifiable:  A full-page close-up of a face … a model wearing a lace dress and combat boots with long, dangling untied laces … a woman in a multi-color, horizontally-striped dress, a huge floral pocketbook; sky-high — heeled shoes and polka-dotted ankle socks…  And even though each of those full-page ads undoubtedly cost more than I paid for my condo, none of them have any product-identifying  copy or any other obvious hint about what we’re being enticed to buy.  It can’t be hair care stuff because all the women pictured look as though their spiked, disheveled tresses had been cut with a lawn mower and hadn’t been conditioned — or even  washed — in a millennium.   

    Even more ridiculous are the photo ads with captions identifying locations; i.e., photographed at Machu Pichu, Copacabana Beach, the Great Pyramids of Giza, or countless other exotic locations.  Can you imagine how much it costs to transport models, crew, and photographers with their expensive equipment to these sites?  Yet, the backgrounds are so out-of-focus and blurred, the pictures could well have been taken at any Walmart parking lot with a cell phone camera.

    As for those ads for frayed, holey jeans, don’t get me started!

    And how about Julie Andrews?  Yes, I used to love her, too; but that was before she and her daughter (along with dozens of other celebrities) started writing children’s books and getting free promotional appearances on all the network talk and variety shows.  They don’t need the publicity — I do!  But because I never pranced on an Alp proclaiming it was alive with the sound of music, I have a file drawer full of unpromoted, unsold manuscripts.

    Enough!  I’m beginning to sound like one of those cranky old women I can’t stand.  They’re one of my pet peeves.

    ©2015 Rose Madeline Mula for SeniorWomen.com

    Editor’s Note:  Rose Mula’s most recent book is Confessions of a Domestically-Challenged Homemaker &  Other Tall Tales, available at Amazon.com and other online book sellers.  Grandmother Goose: Rhymes for a Second Childhood is available as an e-book on Amazon.com for the Kindle and at BarnesandNoble.com for the Nook at $2.99; the paperback edition is  available for $9.95. Her books of humorous essays, The Beautiful People and Other Aggravations, and  If These Are Laugh Lines, I’m Having Way Too Much Fun can also be ordered at Amazon.com or through Pelican Publishing (800-843-1724).  Her website is rosemadelinemula.com.  


                          

  • Stories of Service: Debt of Honor on PBS, November 10

    Debt of Honor

    Image: An American soldier collapses in his hands from the strain of fighting along the Taegu front, South Korea, 1950. (credit: courtesy of Bettman/Corbis)
     

    PBS presents Debt of Honor: Disabled Veterans in American History, a new documentary film by six-time Emmy Award-winning director Ric Burns, will premiere nationwide on Tuesday, November 10, 2015, at 9 p.m. (check local listings), as part of PBS’ Stories of Service. In an effort to share the film with the largest audience possible, including military personnel and veterans and their families, the National Endowment of Humanities is partnering with PBS and Washington, DC, public television station WETA to hold a series of screenings in schools and with other organizations to highlight local stories of disabled veterans. 

    Debt of Honor examines the way in which the American government and society as a whole have regarded disabled veterans throughout history, beginning in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War and continuing through today’s conflicts in the Middle East.  The film combines personal stories, told by distinguished disabled veterans, with history narrated by leading scholars in the fields of disability studies, history and psychology to illustrate the human cost of war and the enormous sacrifices of military service. These sacrifices are brought to life through hundreds of curated still images and archival footage from across the country.

    “The goal of this film is to try to understand the realities and challenges that disabled veterans have faced throughout history and continue to face today,” says Burns. “There is a real necessity to bridge the gap between civilians and those who have served in the military. It is our hope that the film will encourage a candid discussion in communities across the country, and create understanding and awareness of the sacrifices involved in military service.”

    Beth Hoppe, Chief Programming Officer and General Manager, General Audience Programming, PBS, said, “PBS has broadcast numerous documentaries and programs that highlight the reality of life in the military, as well as in-depth shows that focus on some of the challenges confronted by returning veterans. We look forward to sharing the film with all Americans timed to this coming Veterans Day.” “As a Vietnam veteran, I believe this initiative will help in bridging the divide between the military and public,” says NEH Chairman William Adams. “NEH is committed to projects that use the humanities to inspire public discussion of the important issues of our time, and this new film offers a compelling way to open up meaningful dialogue about the service and sacrifice of disabled veterans.”

    Lois Pope, a noted philanthropist and the film’s underwriter, says, “This film is about the human costs of war. It should serve to remind and educate all of us about the courageous men and women who have sacrificed parts of their bodies and minds fighting for our country.”

    Marine at Vietnam MemorialMarine at Vietnam Memorial, 1975. By Meutia Chaerani – Indradi Soemardjan; Wikimedia Commons

    A poignant tribute to the history of disabled veterans in the US, Debt of Honor is an unflinching portrait of the realities of warfare and disabilities. The program features illuminating interviews with some of the country’s most prominent disabled veterans, including US Representative Tammy Duckworth (Illinois); former US Senator and Veterans Affairs Administrator Max Cleland (Georgia); former Garrison Commander of Fort Belvoir, Col. Gregory Gadson; and actor, motivational speaker and Iraq War Army veteran J.R. Martinez. Gadson, a double amputee veteran of the war in Iraq who shares his experiences on camera, calls Debt of Honor  “one of the most accurate and balanced productions I have ever seen. It should be mandatory viewing for all high school civics classes.” 

    The diverse group of scholars and military and medical experts who have participated in the film includes Beth Linker, University of Pennsylvania professor and author of War’s Waste: Rehabilitation in World War I America; David A. Gerber, director emeritus of the Center for Disability Studies at the University of Buffalo, State University of New York; Dr. Charles Marmar, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at New York University and director of the PTSD Research Program at NYU Langone Medical Center; James Wright, president emeritus of Dartmouth College; and David Blight, professor of American history at Yale University. Admiral Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provides a thought-provoking perspective to the film.  

    DEBT OF HONOR: DISABLED VETERANS IN AMERICAN HISTORY is a production of Steeplechase Films.  Directed by Ric Burns.  Produced by Ric Burns, Bonnie Lafave and Nat Rosa. Co-producer, Josh Woltermann. Edited by Mikaela Shwer. WETA is the presenting station. Funding was provided by Lois Pope. National Outreach supported by a grant from The National Endowment of Humanities.

    Editor’s Note: Department of Interior film

  • Why Individuals Tend to Be Paired with Partners Who Have Similar Physical, Behavioral and Psychological Characteristics

    The Stolen Kiss by Fragonard

    Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806), The Stolen Kiss (1786). Oil  on canvas; The Hermitage Museum

    Partners who become romantically involved soon after meeting tend to be more similar in physical attractiveness than partners who get together after knowing each other for a while, according to  findings published this past summer in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

    “Our results indicate that perceptions of beauty in a romantic partner might change with time, as individuals get to know one another better before they start dating,” says lead researcher Lucy Hunt of the University of Texas at Austin. “Having more time to get acquainted may allow other factors, such as another person’s compatibility as a relationship partner, to make that person appealing in ways that outshine more easily observable characteristics such as physical attractiveness. Or perhaps another person might actually become more attractive in the eyes of the beholder by virtue of these other factors.”

    Hunt and colleagues Paul Eastwick (UT-Austin) and Eli Finkel (Northwestern University) were interested in understanding why individuals tend to be paired with mates who have similar physical, behavioral, and psychological characteristics — a well-documented phenomenon psychological scientists refer to as ‘assortative mating.’

    One explanation for this pattern in pairing comes from a competition-based perspective: an individual’s success in the mating ‘market’ is limited by his or her own desirability. People who are physically attractive tend to be seen as very desirable and are, therefore, better able to win over highly-desirable partners themselves.

    Hunt and colleagues hypothesized that the length of acquaintance between partners may shift the dynamics of this sexual competition. Their prior research showed that, as people get to know each other more intimately and across various contexts, their opinions about the other person’s desirability change, making objective physical attractiveness less relevant in determining whether the two individuals become a couple.

    “Having the time to interact with others in diverse settings affords more opportunities to form unique impressions that go beyond one’s initial snap judgments,” says Hunt. “Given that people initiate romantic relationships both with strangers and acquaintances in real life, we were interested in how time might affect how similarly attractive couple members are to one another.”

    Hunt, Eastwick, and Finkel hypothesized that partners who had known each other a short time before dating were likely to be similarly attractive, while partners who were well-acquainted before their romantic involvement might show a greater mismatch in physical attractiveness.

    The researchers looked at data collected from 167 couples — 67 dating and 100 married — who were participating in a longitudinal study of romantic relationships. The couples had been together for as few as 3 months and as long as 53 years, with an average relationship length of 8 years and 8 months.

    As part of the study, the couples were videotaped talking about how they had changed over the course of the relationship. Using these videos, independent, trained coders used rating scales to indicate the physical attractiveness of each partner; the ratings were strongly correlated among the coders, suggesting a high level of agreement on the physical desirability of each partner.

    The results revealed that the longer the romantic partners had known each other before dating, the less likely they were to be matched on attractiveness, just as the researchers hypothesized. For example, the pairing of an unattractive woman with an attractive man was more likely to emerge if the partners had known one another for many months prior to dating.

    Partners who began dating within a month of first meeting each other showed a strong correlation for physical attractiveness. But the correlation was much lower for partners who had known each other for a long time before dating. A similar pattern emerged when the researchers looked at whether pairs were friends before they started dating — friends-first couples were less likely to be matched on attractiveness than couples who were strangers before dating.

    Interestingly, the level of match on attractiveness was not associated with relationship satisfaction for either men or women in the study. That is, both friends-first and stranger-first relationships seem approximately equally happy years later.

    Hunt and colleagues note that the research will need to be replicated across more diverse samples and contexts, but these findings suggest that length of acquaintance can influence whether we perceive someone as being a desirable partner:

    “There may be more to the old saying than was previously thought:  Maybe it’s the case that beauty is partially in the eye of the beholder, especially as time passes,” Hunt concludes.

  • CultureWatch Review, The Marriage of Opposites: Magic Realism Imbuing Emotion and Presentiments With An Exotic Setting

    Two women in St. Thomas

    Camille Pissarro, Two Women Chatting by the Sea, St. Thomas, 1856. oil on canvas. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon; National Gallery of Art

    The Marriage of Opposites
    By Alice Hoffman
    Simon & Schuster e-book

    Reviewed by Joan L. Cannon

    ‘Magic Realism’ is a recent arrival (in terms of literary history) in readers’ lexicons. For me, it tends to suggest a chore. Not really my thing, despite the stellar reputations of authors like Marquez. Alice Hoffman’s version was a happy surprise.

    Beginning early in the 19th Century on the island of St. Thomas, the story is centered around Rachel Pizzaro. She is a member of a segregated European community of mostly French Jews in a time when women were barely accorded the status of citizens, both in Jewry and in European law. Encouraged by her friendship with a mixed blood girl of the servant class called Jestine, Rachel grows into a formidable woman.

    Even in childhood she reveals a determination to follow her own wishes that leads to recurring problems for the rest of her life, and that carries over to the lives of children who follow her. She is not only willing, but committed to love regardless of the sacrifices that she might be called upon to make.

    The histories of St. Thomas, both political and natural, are profound and inescapable influences on the people who live with them. Hoffman’s rich language combined with the eye of a visual as well as a verbal artist make for a uniquely vivid read. Color, temperature, atmosphere cling to a reader like a special scent long after the last page is turned. The magic parts that imbue emotions and presentiments with color as well enhance the exotic setting.

    When an individualist like Rachel  — intelligent and passionate — falls in love, she is not to be denied. Rachel pursues her heart’s desire without regard for the consequences. Against formidable odds, she eventually marries the love of her life, and lives long enough to comprehend the opposite side herself when her own son rebels over his parents’ objections.

    In the background of all the Caribbean scenes is a ghost image of Paris as the place where the characters think their lives can come full circle and fulfill their greatest dreams. The colors of the subtropics are paled and chilled by the continental climate and culture of Europe, but lose nothing in brilliance in Hoffman’s descriptions.

    A clear irony is fully developed when Rachel finds herself reliving her own parents’ insistence on controlling the future of her most loved child. Like her parents before her, she is defeated by the drive of youth and the demands of talent when her beloved son turns into a painter. In time, the family’s surname is re-spelled as French — the Zs replaced with Ss. He becomes one of the fathers of Impressionism as Camille  Pissaro. How I wish that some of his work from St. Thomas were available to compare with the familiar serene and atmospheric landscapes painted in France.

    I have a small objection to the title of the book because it seems inaccurate in light of the story line. A little research reveals that ‘opposites’ is a term used by alchemists. In that context, in a story full of the superstitions and traditions of colliding cultures, the alchemical notion that all things must contain their opposites for successful potions then makes sense.

    For a reading experience that is fuller than the average, with resonances well beyond the type on the page, A Marriage of Opposites provides nuanced, layered, sensual images of a time and of people completely out of ordinary 21st Century experience. A real delight.

    ©2015 Joan L. Cannon for SeniorWomen.com

  • Capitalist Culture in Bond Film Songs: Representations of Greed, Lust, Luxurious Lifestyles and Shaken Martinis

    Sam Smith and Spectre

    By Angela Becerra Vidergar

    In the lead-up to Spectre, the latest film in the decades-long James Bond spy thriller franchise, much of the recent buzz has centered on another long-running 007 tradition — the title song.

    Amidst all the speculation about who would sing the new Bond song, Stanford scholars Adrian Daub and Charles Kronengold wrote a breakdown of the potential crooners, correctly naming Sam Smith the ‘consensus candidate.’

    Daub and Kronengold had an edge over other predictors. They share a fascination with the 007 pop music canon that they’ve channeled into a new book, The James Bond Songs: Pop Anthems of Late Capitalism.

    In the book, they tackle decades of “disposable pop music with a tradition,” as Daub calls the Bond songs.

    Through an exhaustive analysis of the musical and production qualities of the compositions, Daub says they found “examples of music reflecting societal trends, especially in regards to material fulfillment.”

    Kronengold notes that whether they were great or awful, the Bond songs “reflect and influenced feelings about such topics as masculinity, race, money and aging,” through references to iconic representations of greed, lust, luxurious lifestyles and, of course, shaken martinis.Daniel Craig, Casino Royale, Venice

    An assistant professor of musicology, Kronengold says five decades of music makes the Bond canon “an interesting target for humanistic inquiry.” He says the odd allure of the Bond music is that it maintains an underlying sameness “in an age when everything is changing faster than you can imagine.”

    Actor Daniel Craig, while making his first Bond film, Casino Royale, in Venice

    Daub, an associate professor of German studies and author of several books on the place of music in society, says the paradox of change and consistency in the Bond songs makes them valuable tools for understanding the “changing conceptions of capital but also of labor” in capitalist society from roughly the end of World War II on to today.

    The ’60s Bond songs portray work as a means of changing the self while the ’70s songs portray it as a job — you just show up and do it, Daub says. And by the ’80s, “its basically — you show up and do it and you hope nobody notices that you’re totally unqualified to do it.”

    To show how the Bond songs echo our changing relationship with work, the scholars looked closely at how artists and producers approached the task of making Bond songs.

    In particular, Kronengold and Daub found that the creation and production of Bond songs offers a unique perspective on an aspect of the capitalist system called ‘affective labor.’

    In everyday terms, think of the idea of ‘service with a smile.’ Kronengold explains: “Affective labor is something that is bought and sold in the same way that other kinds of goods and services are bought and sold. So having to smile, to be charming, to kind of make people aware of your effort and appreciate it, is something that becomes equally important to the service that you’re actually paid to provide.”

    Kronengold points to a story about Tom Jones singing the title song for the 1965 Thunderball film and “passing out in the studio at the end of the song because he held a high note for too long.”