Schools and Theories...

aC. Sidebar

I really don't know why people get into a fuss about between the theories of creationism, intelligent design, and evolution, except for the religious and scientific community. I do know that all of their arguments invest a lot of antagonists and protagonists. Now the issue is that Bush would like to introduce Intelligent Design into the curriculum of grade school.

There's a lot of criticisms and educational value to Intelligent Design. I do not know a lot about Intelligent Design. From my research, Intelligent Design's main argument is to discredit how traditional fact finding science is flawed to find solutions, answers, and theories on certain research, theories, and problems. A couple of these problems are from the big-bang theory and the creation of man, or the chicken or the egg dilemma.

As a person who hates fundamentalism and how people really go beyond criticism and straight to fanaticism, I do not endorse Intelligent Design. All I'm saying is that ID should be closely looked at and considered. You may say why?

According to dictionary.com, science is defined as:
1) The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena.
2) Methodological activity, discipline, or study.
3) An activity that appears to require study and method
4) Knowledge, especially which gained through experience.

In theory, ID is a theory. Intelligent Design is a theoretical explanation of phenomena, so that could explain man and hopefully about women as well, but never-the-less ID is an explanation. Specifically, look how the definition of science as a correct observation or a precise, accurate methodological activity.

This is where I think people get all ruffled up. As much as I love precision, correct and accurate information, room for error will always occur. Look at the last space shuttle launch. Look at the Titanic. Look at space, we're finding more "planets" and galaxies that we originally thought there were. My point is that science is not suppose to be precise, because if everything in this world is precise, then why study it? We don't live in Utopia and man is certainly not perfect and known to err. Just ask any women about her spouse.

So we are not perfect, and that means that we have to strive towards precision and perfection. That is why we study. I mind, it is for this precision and perfection of information, from the lost city of Atlantic, to the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Olmec, Mayan, and ancient civilizations along the Fertile Crescent, Indus, Nile, and Amazon River valleys. We study these examples because they spark our interests, but also there isn't perfect information. Relics only tell specific stories and answer few questions. Generations of stories of oral traditions are faded and blended with lies, fantasy, fiction, and hyperbole.

I could say something about the Bible right now, but that's another blog. Mr. McCollough was my favorite teacher of all time. He said that history is a pack of tricks played upon the dead. We can't rely on textbooks just to tell us the truth and facts about the past. The best research is primary source information, but what if this information has been dead for thousands of years? Well, then that is why we research. That is why we have science to initiate the solution or explanation of phenomena.

We should teach ID, not because people we say that we shouldn't, but because students need to research and have resources, theories, and information available to them as possible to better find answers for themselves. Yes, I'm talking about self-actualization and truth. Not for the censorship of free ideas, thoughts, and explanation for precision and search for precision. If we can have the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, then we should be able to pursuit what we want for what we want for the name of science. I really don't think people realized that, but now do you and our President may have realized?

You've Probably Never Seen Her...

aC. Girl Denise

You've probably never seen her unless your on the West Coast. This model is a contributing member of Sports by Brooks Girls. A model/event agency that was started by a sports commentator. The girls of the agency go around bars, clubs, and around the world promoting that California women are hot, but also sports trivia with whole entertainment. Here's to you Denise!

Topic of the Day...

Comparative Value (Worth) or Pay Equity.

The doctrine of comparable worth states that women and men should receive equal pay for jobs that are deemed to be of equal value. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 guarantee that men and women who perform the same job will receive the same wage from an employer. Proponents of comparable worth argue that the same principle should apply across professions. If a male-dominated vocation and a female-dominated vocation are of "comparable worth," then members of those professions should receive the same salary. For example, if working in a laundry is as difficult and important as driving a truck—and if laundry workers are mostly female and truck drivers are mostly male—then laundry workers should earn the same as truck drivers.

In 1974, the state of Washington conducted a pioneering study of wage inequities in its civil service. Researchers assigned "worth"-points to 121 different jobs according to four categories: knowledge and skills necessary, mental demands, degree of responsibility, and working conditions. Salaries for predominately (at least 70 percent) male jobs were compared with predominantly female jobs of equal point value. Electricians, for one, were measured against secretaries since both jobs were "worth" 197 points. (The rating system had its quirks: Fisheries patrol officers were deemed to be worth 382 points, more than biologists and civil engineers.) The study found that in the Washington civil service, workers in female-dominated professions earned 20 percent less than those in male-dominated professions of comparable worth.

By 1989, about 20 states (including Washington) had tried to restructure their civil service pay scales according to the principle of comparable worth. That typically meant that the state would devise its own rating system and the state legislature would earmark millions of dollars to bring the salaries of underpaid female professions to the level of their male counterparts. The results were mixed. A follow-up study in Washington found that the wage gap had shrunk significantly. Job segregation remained unchanged, though, and many male civil servants moved to the private sector.

The issue gained national significance in 1983, when a federal judge ruled that Title VII protections applied to different jobs of equivalent value. (The 1983 decision was overturned on appeal two years later; comparable worth now seems to be a dead issue in the courts.) Comparable worth thus became a campaign issue. Presidential hopeful Walter Mondale endorsed it; the Reagan administration, including John Roberts, opposed it.

Critics of the policy argued (and continue to argue) that it's impossible to measure the true value of a job since economic conditions are so variable. Important factors were also left out of the rating systems, like a given job's prestige, how much fun it is, or its value to a specific community. Instead of creating a continually updated table of wages, critics say, the government should let the free market determine the relative worth of different jobs. (Slate Magazine, What's Comparable Worth?, Aug. 22)

The supporters of comparable worth point to the relatively depressed wages of those in largely female professions, such as health care, child care, and elementary education, compared to the wages of those, such as truck drivers, parking lot attendants, and vocational educators, in mostly male professions. In virtually every case, they claim, jobs that demand comparable skill, education, risk, and responsibility receive vastly different salaries, depending entirely on whether the jobs are filled mostly by men or by women. (Santa Clara University, Comparable Worth, Spring 1990)

For example, in Minnesota, state jobs were rated according to required level of education, training, stress, customer or client contact, and responsibility. To cite just one example of the findings, registered nurses and vocational education teachers were each rated the same, but the salary for nurses, who were mostly women, was only $1732 per month, while the salary for vocational education teachers, who were mostly men, was $2260 per month. Numerous other studies show that the greater the concentration of women in a job, the lower the wage employers pay that job.

Such sex-based pay discrepancies, say the advocates of comparable worth, are unjust because society has an obligation to treat people equally in the absence of any relevant differences in their situations.

Advocates of comparable worth claim that women have been victimized by a socialization process that unjustly steers them towards precisely those fields that are the least lucrative. It is true that gradual shifts in society have allowed more women to enter higher paying fields. But the supply of jobs in these occupations is far too small, social and economic barriers to women attempting to enter such occupations continue to exist, and women who have been in their careers for many years find it difficult to shift to new occupations even when institutional barriers are removed.

For the most part, the adjustments to civil service pay scales that were made in the 1980s were never repealed, but they haven't been updated, either. To ensure that jobs of comparable worth continue to earn equal pay, states would have to study the wage gap at regular intervals and adjust the pay scale appropriately.

Addition Links
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa038.html
http://www.cis.org.au/IssueAnalysis/IA2.htm



aC. Sidebar

I do believe there is a gender pay gap. I don't have to read it off the internet or from the advertisements on the "L" trains telling me about it. I know it exists. I have a many friends, male and female with lucrative and non-lucrative jobs. Regardless, in the non-lucrative jobs, the pay isn't substantial. Come on, you can't tell me that a dishwasher, gardener, and other manual labor position will rake in 6-figures. Well, unless your gardening Diddy's plush condo in Boca Raton. Do you know how much cheerleaders make? I believe NFL cheerleaders make practically next to nothing. I do know that pay for being a Luv-a-Bull is meager.

The call for comparative worth is no louder than this, when you have a multi-million dollar quarterback, pitchers, and shooting guard making obscene amount of cash, while the cheerleaders, WNBA players, and the professional Fastpitch Softball players combined do not add up to equal to those of the weed-smoking, 19-year-old raping, steroid-abusing male athletes that dominate the covers of SI or ESPN Magazine. Don't get me wrong here, I'm no feminist, but I do agree with them that we all live in a male dominated society. I'm a guy, do I feel bad? Yes. Is there something I can do about it? May not as a student, but possibly as a business owner or politician I can.

The whole issue of comparative law doesn't merely surround the concepts of employment and labor laws, but beyond to sociology and history. Anthropological review should be considered of society’s relations between human and other humans, especially in dealing with the relationship of male and females. With this requirement, research, and interpretation, maybe that's why comparative worth, pay, equality is so hard to come by.

Is it our own greed? Does it come down to pure humanistic characteristics and traits interacting? Maybe. I can tell you where the economic hand of capitalism is; To the Abercrombie models, Diddy's Pepsi commercials, and 2:00 am Carlton Sheet's infomercials for the temptation for a "better" future and life for Americans. So can there be something done? Well, maybe, but we as a society may have to change individually and collectively, regardless of changing just the civil service structure. I think Reagan had it right; there are too many variables and Smith's hand in economy that affects the economy of employment and labor. You can certainly pay women more, but if we as a society can not appreciate every female on an objective basis, rather than meat, than comparative worth will fail and respect for ourselves as a society.

Well...

Yours Truely, has just paid off $3.36 dollars off his tuition. I used the remaining amount from a cash card to pay off my $2,145 tuition. I'm so smart!

Dumb People in the News...

Va. Laptop Sale Turns Into a Stampede
Associated Press

A rush to purchase $50 used laptops turned into a violent stampede Tuesday, with people getting thrown to the pavement, beaten with a folding chair and nearly driven over. One woman went so far as to wet herself rather than surrender her place in line.

"This is total, total chaos," said Latoya Jones, 19, who lost one of her flip-flops in the ordeal and later limped around on the sizzling blacktop with one foot bare.

An estimated 5,500 people turned out at the Richmond International Raceway in hopes of getting their hands on one of the 4-year-old Apple iBooks. The Henrico County school system was selling 1,000 of the computers to county residents. New iBooks cost between $999 and $1,299. Officials opened the gates at 7 a.m., but some already had been waiting since 1:30 a.m. When the gates opened, it became a terrifying mob scene. People threw themselves forward, screaming and pushing each other. A little girl's stroller was crushed in the stampede. Witnesses said an elderly man was thrown to the pavement, and someone in a car tried to drive his way through the crowd.

Seventeen people suffered minor injuries, with four requiring hospital treatment, Henrico County Battalion Chief Steve Wood said. There were no arrests and the iBooks sold out by 1 p.m. "It's rather strange that we would have such a tremendous response for the purchase of a laptop computer — and laptop computers that probably have less-than- desirable attributes," said Paul Proto, director of general services for Henrico County. "But I think that people tend to get caught up in the excitement of the event — it almost has an entertainment value."
Blandine Alexander, 33, said one woman standing in front of her was so desperate to retain her place in line that she urinated on herself.

"I've never been in something like that before, and I never again will," said Alexander, who brought her 14-year-old twin boys to the complex at 4:30 a.m. to wait in line. "No matter what the kids want, I already told them I'm not doing that again."

Jesse Sandler said he was one of the people pushing forward, using a folding chair he had brought with him to beat back people who tried to cut in front of him. "I took my chair here and I threw it over my shoulder and I went, 'Bam,'" the 20-year-old said nonchalantly, his eyes glued to the screen of his new iBook, as he tapped away on the keyboard at a testing station.

"They were getting in front of me and I was there a lot earlier than them, so I thought that it was just," he said.


aC Sidebar...

Geez, I didn't know that Apples were that popular. The video can be seen on MSNBC. If you watch it, or if at home, MSNBC or CNN, you can clearly see that these people weren't of the typical Apple user or demographic.

I do commend the school system for raising funding by doing things like these. Which is putting on sales of used computers, not mob events. People need to be smart and better prepared. Decency and generousity should accompany this as well. The schools were nice enough to do this, I think respect and civility isn't too much to ask for.

Wait...I forgot where I am. America. Land of the free, and the idoitic. Come on, we produced Michael Jordan, but screwed up with Michael Jackson. George Washington is our symbolic dollar billed hero, but there will always be those Benedict Arnold. For every Joe Montana, Dan Marino, or Troy Aikman, there will always be the Nate Newtons. For every great thing, there is will be a fuck-up. So America...here's your sign.

Cowboy and Indians...

Honestly, is there anything wrong with naming a team "Warriors". After all, the origins of this word is Old English/French. Now what about the Fighting Irish or the 49ers? Do these original people have rights too? Come on America; stick your head out of your ass. There is nothing damaging about Indian tribe, slang, or other names representing a sports team. In fact, the Seminole tribe of Florida has actually gave approval for Florida State University for it's mascot. Now the only thing I find offensive are white college boys decked out in tribal uniform and attire and tiring to do the cabbage path slash rain dance celebration. If Ford decided to name a car after an Indian name or term then that's an atrocity too.

Think about it? What would we cheer for? Syracuse, Orange? Marquette Golden? They both have a good basketball teams, but I wonder if they will next decide to name themselves a colored M&M. So in a politically correct sports world; what would we have? Pittsburgh Ship Captains? Oakland Treasure Seekers? Now how about these more appropriate names, the Washington Lobbyists, Atlanta Felons, Chicago Hired Truckers, San Diego Border Patrollers, San Francisco Rainbows, but I’m still trying to attach names like; Wifebeaters, Rapists, Alcoholics, and Ron Mexicans.

So if the times are changing, then we seriously need to change to more appropriate names that are the sign of the times and offensive to "innocent" people.

Gas Price Update

Cheapest: Citgo on State and 13th in Lockport and Marathon on Naperville Rd. and Lincoln Ave. in Westmont @ $2.49 (Unleaded)

Expensive: Mobil on Ogden and Western in Chicago @ $2.89 (Unleaded)

Another girl you may or may not have heard about...

aC. Girl Monica Bellucci

If your Italian and you know it clap your hand. This Italian icon started out in law, but earning money for school by modeling. A million photos later she roled in movies, like Dracula and last two Matrix movies, and now the graceful pages of this blog. Her measurements are,35C-24-35. She's a classy lassie that gives Italians due justice. Bella Italiano!

"Her classic good looks are matched by an equally sophisticated and refined fashion sense. Being a European woman, Monica Bellucci knows how a real woman should dress, and always steps out in elegant gowns and haute couture suits. You wouldn't catch her in a Juicy sweatsuit or ripped jeans, even if she were just lounging around at home." --- AskMen.com

3rd Year?

Some Question Third Year of Law School
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Now a corporate lawyer, Jennifer Leong fondly recalls her third and final year of law school. A job secured, she traveled frequently. Her courses included feminist jurisprudence and a half-semester bankruptcy seminar -- each carefully chosen to get her weekend started by Wednesday afternoon.

''A lot of beer and softball,'' recalled Leong, who got her University of Virginia law degree in 2000. ''Third year was probably the best year of my life.''

At many top law schools, the third year is famously relaxed, a halcyon interlude between rigorous introductory courses and the long hours that await graduates at law firm jobs. There is research and volunteer work, but also a lot of bar-hopping and little studying: 15 hours per week, according to one survey at 11 law schools, compared to 33 hours for first-year students.But if it's an extended vacation, it's pricey: $30,000 or more at top private schools. And at many law schools, grads can't count on the six-figure salaries awaiting many at the most prestigious programs, so an extra year of debt is a big burden.

Some educators want to see the third year beefed up, arguing the law is more complex than ever and future lawyers need more preparation, both for the bar and exam and for their careers. But others want it dropped.

Critics say there's so much law that students will learn most of it on the job, anyway. They see the third year as a revenue racket, a full-employment scheme for faculty that comes at the expense of non-elite school students and discourages them from taking public service jobs.It's a periodic debate in legal education, and with tuition going ever higher, there are signs it's heating up again.

The American Bar Association recently updated its accreditation guidelines for law schools to require more total minutes of instruction, but offering schools more flexibility in how that's structured.

That prompted the University of Dayton to announce a program starting this fall designed to help students earn a J.D. in two years, including summer work. It has no fewer requirements and doesn't charge less, but it saves students a year of living expenses.

Dayton was trying to reach out to students like Melinda Warthman, a 33-year-old mother of two who will start the program next year. Warthman teaches communications at Dayton but wants to boost her credentials with a law degree.

''I think for a lot of people looking at law school, they read the requirements, it's sort of off-putting,'' she said. ''If you're married and you have a mortgage and you have children and you have a job, that just seems like, 'That's not something I can do right now.'''

But two years of school, instead of three, is a sacrifice that Warthman thinks she can make. Dayton officials predict other schools will follow their lead.

If so, it could encourage less-indebted new lawyers ''to pursue some ideal other than the highest pay,'' said Harvard Law School graduate William Strauss, who has spoken out against the third year. According to the ABA, the median debt for 2004 graduates of private law schools was $98,000; at public schools it was $67,000. The organization has concluded two-thirds of law graduates cannot afford to take lower-paying public interest jobs.

But there are also signs the third year is as entrenched as ever. The ABA's requirements are still stringent. The legal profession wants to keep quality -- and in some critics' eyes, salaries -- high, so it doesn't want to make it too easy to become an attorney. Also, the legal recruiting process is built around a three-year schedule; summers are when law students earn money and take the internships that lead to jobs, so many will be reluctant to give them up.

Besides, many third-year law students do work hard. Increasingly, they are getting hands-on training in legal clinics. In the classroom, some educators say third year is when students learn the law they most need to know. University of Chicago Law Dean Saul Levmore says students there are more likely to suggest adding a fourth year than dropping the third.

Jeff Lewis, dean at St. Louis University, says he's pushing for more rigor and specialization in the third-year curriculum. He also says the final-year course he teaches is packed with attentive students -- though that may be unusual.

David Wilkins, a Harvard Law professor, recalls struggling to conduct a survey of third-year law students because so few showed up to class. In a paper about the third year titled ''The Happy Charade,'' three scholars, including prominent UCLA professor Richard Sander, estimated that the 1,100 third-years he surveyed attended no more than 60 percent of their large classes.About two in five agreed with the statement ''the third year of law school is largely superfluous.''

For Jennifer Leong, however, it was a heck of a good time. She says some of her classmates worked hard, but many did not. As for the debt, she says, ''once you get past the $40,000 barrier, what's another $20,000?''


aC Sidebar

It is to my belief that one should go for a full 3 years of law school. The time and training spread-out during this time is both important and relaxing. I know law school can be expensive, but that's the same for undergraduate colleges for a lot of students. Law schools have a prestige as well as law firms. Law firms, public and private companies, and other ventures law students head into demand quality teaching and quality students. This is reflected on the student, but as well as the institution from which he or she can from.

Law is changing. Not dramatically, but as times; culture, technology, events, and things happen around law and society. Students of this field have to be ever aware and knowledgeable of these happenings. A rigorous fundamental foundation of core knowledge and competencies are not something that is expected to be taught and learned just for one year of law school, but ethics and procedures that have to be learned from various course throughout college. They're cornerstone to every facade of a successful law vocation.

Yes, once you enter the law firm, corporate counsel of a private corporation, public interest channels, and other outlets for graduating law student, things will change. You'll have to learn their culture and learn their knowledge. You'll have to learn their ways, their writing styles, and their litigation practices, but one thing is for sure. You have to come in competent. No, this isn’t no Apprentice.

Close, but law school is your apprenticeship. It will house you in resources, networks, and environments to challenge your mind and develop you into a tour de force. Do you really want to just go for 2 years of law school, be spit out and expect to become something right away? Hmm...if this is true than I'm worried if I ever need a lawyer.

I want a competent lawyer. Not some fancy dressed, hot shot snob, with the title "Esquire" embossed fancy on his fabric business card. I really feel for those students that watch Legally Blond and think, "Hmm, let me signup to go to law school." Because really, do these people even deserve to go to law school? Do they pick law schools because they didn't know what they want to do after undergraduate? Do they pick law schools because it offers them a fancy car and a fat paycheck?

Boy, reality is a bitch. It's not like what you see in a David E. Kelley mini-series or movie with Pierce Brosnan as a hot shot litigator. No, it's a lot of work and dedication. It's vocation that blends love, hate, lust, and insanity with a topping of coffee breath and a nicotine patch.

I always said do something you like and love to do. I have this friend, and let’s call him Ty. He's a great friend, human, and loves the women and booze. He's smart, funny, and pretty much a genius if he puts his mind to it, but Ty doesn't have the work ethic in undergrad since his GPA is just higher than a lead pencil. Do you really want Ty as your lawyer? The past is the past and a Zebra can change its stripes. Maybe three years of law school might change him. Maybe I'm too critical and expectant of law students. Maybe the ditty about Jack and Diane can make their law dreams come true with just 2 years of school. If life could only go on, at Cougar, Hall, and Oats LLC.

The Cure...

As a tribute to Peter Jennings, below is the link to the American Lung Cancer Association Donation page. As a member of society, humor juxtapositions, quips, and laughs are just a few of my contributions, but another contribution I have to society is my generosity and my humanitarian nature.

I believe in small government and the "invisible hand" of economy. Specifically, I believe also in in the invisible hand of friendship. If I can help, assist, do, or participate in something important for someone, I'm there. Not just for my family, friends, 9/11, birthdays to wakes, or weddings to breakups, but for any needed moment that my presence can truly help a cause.

Lung cancer takes several lives every year. This year, it claimed one of the brightest and contributing members of our society, Peter Jennings. He wasn't just an anchorman or your news reporter. He was your voice that kept you up-to-date information in what was going on, on 9/11. He didn't just report the news, but gave you the humanity in the news. I attribute a lot of my inquisitive nature to the Big Three; Brokaw, Jennings, and Rathers. They were my Three Amigos during my childhood when I would be glued to the television. Yes, I did watch a lot of cartoons, but my dorkyness and current events savvyness is attributed to the style and nature of how they presented news and stories into my RCA every night. Do you remember Tiananmen Square in 1989? Do you remember the Persian Gulf War? Do you remember the assassination of Itzhak Rubin?

You probably do. You may not know that I consider Peter Jennings as my generation's Walter Cronkite. Seldom do we owe thanks for our news. With what happen in the 2000 General Elections and CBS's 2004 Rather-gate fall-out, do we really get to appreciate the media any more? Tabloid news, gossip, reality-news and "Access Hollywood" may seem to have dumb down the media and news, but not to Mr. Jennings. Mr. Jennings had my attention in every election, story, and event. You became an adult with newsmen like Mr. Jennings.

Thank you Mr. Jennings. Thank you for giving me the desire to learn about the Middle East, but importantly about my country. You made me consider the importance of history to people like El Sadat, Moubarak, Qadhafi, and Ayatollah Khomeini. You didn't just report the news, you handed it off like a baton and I ran to with it and learned.

For Mr. Jennings, I’ll contribute to the American Lung Association. My invisible hand wants to help find a cure. Cancer has touched my family before and the search for the cure is my long-life mission. I alone can not make a difference, but my action speaks volumes. Together we can make a difference. Let’s help someone that’s on the line. It’s too late for Mr. Jennings, but it’s not too late for an aunt, uncle, friend, or the person right next to you. Quite frankly, probably yourself too.

http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=22556

Job of the Day (2)

In UK...

A council has created a £30,000 job for someone to make sure all the lights are switched off. Staffordshire County Council created the job after locals complained that lights and computers are left on all night reports The Sun. Bosses at the council have defended the post and says their power bill will rise by £1 million in three years and the job will be cost effective. Councillor Robert Simpson disagrees with the job he said: "It's common sense to just tell people to turn of the lights. This is a lot of taxpayers' money and the post needs to more than pay for itself to be considered a success."

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1487195.html?menu=

As of 8/5/2005 4:47 PM eastern time:
30,000 pounds * 1.779 US Dollars/pounds = $53,970 US Dollars

Job of the Day

Directing...(film, television, print, or internet)

You get to manipulate with creativity and fun. Below are three examples of what directing and utilizing directing managment and creativity can do with a few business sense thrown in. Oh, they're pretty entertaining as well.

http://students.depaul.edu/~achan7/video/remixLonelyHeart.wmv
http://students.depaul.edu/~achan7/video/two2Pablo.wmv
http://students.depaul.edu/~achan7/video/photocopyCommercial.wmv

(Must have Windows Media Player or RealVideo Player)

As of Aug 5th 2005, the average salary (base) for a director (film, state, television) is: $27,194

(salary.com)

Random Headlines

Yahoo Sports Headline Reads...

NHL
Isles trade Peca to Oilers, sign Satan


aC Sidebar

Wow, I didn't know Satan played hockey. Who knew under the depths of hell, there would be ice? I mean, Satan could be a big draw in the Big Apple. After a cancelled season, NHL would do anything to bring back fans, including murders, rapists, sadomasochists, and maybe even Michael Jackson. So, now that another New York sports team has made headlines with the signing of the Prince of Darkness, will he double sports as the likes of Dion and Bo? Seriously, the Yankees and Mets pretty much sold their payrolls and souls already, so I'm expecting Satan to play second base or the entire outfield. Humorously, I would like to hear a Satan to Satan to Satan, 4-6-3 double play.

On the flipside, anybody routing for the Angels right now? Apocalyptic playoff possibility anyone? I got 7 to 1 one odds on the Angels in this showdown of Armageddon.

The New Have-It-All Myth

(MSN.com)

Young women are shockingly naive about how easy it'll be to hop on and off the career track. Have we sold them an impossible dream?

By Sylvia Ann Hewlett

What Women Want

So many of our daughters, bless their optimistic hearts, are certain that, when their time comes, they'll have this whole work/life balance thing under control. And why shouldn't they think that, when we raised them to believe that they could accomplish anything? In 1977, when my oldest girl was born, "Free to Be...You and Me" was all the rage, and she and I listened to Marlo Thomas together endlessly. Like so many other mothers, I learned that I was supposed to encourage and celebrate my female child -- to a fault. Just how big a fault became apparent when I spoke with college-age women -- many of them the product of a similarly rosy-hued upbringing -- after the publication of my book Creating a Life: What Every Woman Needs to Know About Having a Baby and a Career (Miramax Books, 2004).

Their confident, ambitious energy was impressive; they couldn't wait to hit the job market. It didn't occur to them that anything could stand in the way of success on their own terms. After all, the barriers to entry had been toppled long ago. As one coed told me flippantly, "Back then -- when there were dinosaurs -- people just did bad stuff to women."

These students planned on becoming wives and mothers as well as high-earning professionals, but they had no idea how hard this can be. Perhaps having watched us wrestle, they didn't buy into the having-it-all myth of our early careers. But their vision of the future was clouded by a new kind of pipe dream, one filled with fantastically enlightened employers who would make work/life balance a breeze. The vast majority of women students I informally polled at Washington and Lee University, for example, wanted what they called "in and out careers." Their dream scenario went something like this: a loving, lasting marriage and a high-paying job, with a two-year career break for the first child, a three-year break for the second.

And maybe then a reduced-hour schedule -- with a telecommuting arrangement on Fridays -- while the kids were in grade school.

Er, come again?

Transitions

This admittedly unscientific sampling left me reeling. Had the American workplace transformed into a family-friendly utopia that we midlife mothers, executives (and, yes, professors and book authors) somehow failed to notice? I decided to undertake some new reality-check research to find out how many talented women do, in fact, take an off-ramp, and whether such career interruptions come with a price. With funding from Ernst & Young, Goldman Sachs, and Lehman Brothers, I did a national survey of 2,443 women age 28-55: highly qualified women (those with graduate degrees and high honors undergraduate degrees), with results published in the March 2005 Harvard Business Review.

More than a third had stopped working for some period of time; 25 percent more took "scenic" routes (flexible or reduced-hour options). Almost 60 percent described their careers as "nonlinear," and childcare wasn't the only reason they'd left their jobs -- 24 percent off-ramped because of an eldercare crisis. As for the ease of these transitions, well, here's where the dream begins to curdle. While 93 percent of the women surveyed had every intention of going back to work after their time out, only 74 percent actually did so (and among those, less than half returned to full-time, mainstream careers). They off-ramped for an average of 2.2 years -- the same time frame the college students envisioned for themselves. But this little detour cost women 18 percent of their earning power, and that figure leapt to a staggering 37 percent if they took three or more years off.

And I'm not just talking dollars here. Nonlinear female careers often lead to a downsizing of ambition, as well -- especially among respondents age 41-55 who'd taken time out. They saw that they lost traction in the job market, and downsized their expectations accordingly.

Judi Pitsiokos, 48, graduate of a top-ten law school, spent several ambition-fueled years in the securities department of a prestigious law firm until reality -- her own, and that of the workplace -- intruded. "After my first child was born, I imagined I would go right back to work, but my son needed more than the average amount of care, and so I decided to take 'a little' time off.

Instead, I took a little more time off, and had a few more children, remaining extremely active in my community and a variety of not-for-profits. Now my firstborn's in college, and I'm still working on my own, doing real-estate closings, etc. I am bored and angry -- with myself, and with the law firms who won't even look at my resume, not even for bottom-rung positions. When I have heart-to-heart talks with legal recruiters or partners at major law firms, they say, 'Why would we hire you when we can get a kid right out of school?' Why? Because I am very smart, very well-educated, have experience developing my own business, am done with childcare and ready to work long hours. They laugh. Literally. "I am now in the process of reinventing myself as a not-for-profit fund-raiser. But I wonder what is wrong with a society that leaves smart women adrift when they choose to take time off to raise their children."

What's the Answer?

So what's the answer? After my '04 survey, I created the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force to try to find solutions everyone could live with. Nineteen global corporations have signed up so far, and they've identified several critical ways to keep talented women of all ages on the career highway. The fact that more companies seem ready to have this conversation, and even begin to make changes, is an encouraging sign. The next generation of working women can help make this happen by voting with their feet and seeking out employers that offer support on the work/life front. But they can't solve problems they don't see. Clearly, it's time we midlife mothers, sisters, friends, and colleagues did more in the way of truth-telling. What really tripped us up, and what got in the way of us realizing our potential?

Looking back, I know I didn't do a stellar job preparing my daughter for the barriers ahead, and probably contributed to a powerful idealism. Now, if we could just make sure these young women see the roadblocks as well as the road, maybe they'll be likelier to use that idealism to drive real change for us all. Economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett is director of the Gender and Public Policy Program at Columbia and heads the Center for Work-Life Policy in New York.

Off-Ramp Options to Keep You on Course.

Here's what some companies are doing to promote work/life sanity: Offering "flex-careers" as well as flex time. Booz Allen Hamilton, the management and technology consulting firm, now offers a "ramp up, ramp down" program that allows workers to "unbundle" projects, separating chunks that can be done by telecommuting or short office stints. International law firm Sidley Austin Brown & Wood keeps reduced-hour associates on the partnership track by offering client assignments that are smaller in quantity but comparable in quality to those tackled by full-timers.

Removing the stigma.

Ernst & Young has made flexible work programs so varied and accessible that 27 percent of female senior managers -- that's one step away from partner -- now participate. "There seems to be a tipping point," says Carolyn Buck Luce, an E&Y senior partner and co-chair of the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force. "Once a policy is used by more than 25 percent of employees, it transforms the corporate culture." Nurturing ambition over the long haul. Only 5 percent of highly qualified women looking for on-ramps are interested in rejoining the companies they left. That's why firms like Deloitte & Touche and Goldman Sachs offer a formal alumni program. "Old girl" networks developed by GE, American Express, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, and Time Warner help all women -- including those with nonlinear careers -- gain momentum and "encourage more women to aspire to leadership positions," says Time Warner executive VP Patricia Fili-Krushel.


aC. Sidebar

This was an interesting story today from msn.com. As a night-student at DePaul, I constantly hear about difficulties of balancing work, children, relationships, and his or her personal life. I certainly believe that the inner-child in us all are still telling us that we can still be firemen, Presidents, businessmen, and business women while balancing a family, two car garage, with two chicken in the stockpot. Then, BOOM! Reality hits. Gone is image the cookie-cutter, white-picket fence home dream. Our goals and ambitions are at conflict with our personal lives. Ever really think about how comfortable and easy it would be for your friend that talks about having 6 to 8 children to have or maintain a prominent political, business, or other "prestigious" careers? Basically, if you want to raise kids today and "leave" work for a period of time or the allocated maternity leave, your spouse or yourself- if your single-parent- would have to supplement an income of at least $120,000.

You will need that kind of money to pay for your house, your mortgage, your car or van, your insurance, your utilities, your child’s college, and etc. I'm not saying that I personally do not want to produce an offspring to carry my DNA for generations. I'm certainly not saying there is a certain natural selection of only the smart, the gifted, or celebrities are the only ones that can make a lot of money, have children, and continue success for the rest of his or her life. I think Britney’s son or daughter will be given everything he or she wants for the rest of his or her life. What I'm saying is that there is a certain reality and awareness one has to prepare for and to acknowledge. Too offend, as the writer of the article underlines, that I meet, know, conversate, or come across women that are pretty naive. These pre-college to post-graduate student level colleagues feel a certain entitlement for their future career, family, and personal life.

Why should it be that only my night class acquaintances should have hindsight 20/20? Can't we say, hey lives pretty shitty, because when we're born, we cry, poop, cry again, and then the real world smacks us in our little hinny. I think the reason why we were called children is because only as adults can we comprehend adulthood.