Interpersonal EDGE: Is Your Workplace a Tower of Babel?

By Dr. Daneen Skube
Tribune Media Services

Q. Don’t men and women approach communication differently? Are you recommending techniques in your column that work for men better or women?

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Retire Smart: Social Insecurity

By Jill Schlesinger
Tribune Media Services

  With the election year officially in high gear, here are some thoughts on the nation’s safety net from some of the current and former candidates:

  – “We should find a bipartisan solution to strengthen Social Security for future generations.” – President Obama

  – “Social Security is an essential program and we should change the way we’re funding it.” – presidential hopeful Mitt Romney

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Internet Broadcast Company Helps Promote Small Businesses

Below:Dale Schrader from Schrader Environmental Systems preparing for his interview on “The New Perspective” radio show.
 
Left:  Chris Holman and Christina Starks-Clay, owner of Faith Pillows.
TNCP Photo 
 

By Nadine Defensor
 
Entrepreneur Chris Holman always has business in his mind.
 
“I’ve always been a business guy, and have been in involved in business forever,” he reveals. In addition to be entrepreneur, Holman is also a business owner and media personality for 16 years, with his work always consisting of promoting business in the Mid-Michigan community. In early 2006, Governor Jennifer Granholm appointed him as Michigan’s Small Business Advocate.

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Liz Smith: Jessica Pare’s big ‘Mad Men’ hit – on vinyl!

 Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks, from left), Roger Sterling (John Slattery), Lane Pryce (Jared Harris), Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), Don Draper (Jon Hamm), Bertram Cooper (Robert Morse) and Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) are cast members of AMC’s “Mad Men.” 
Photo by Frank Ockenfels/Courtesy AMC/MCT. 

 
By Liz Smith
Tribune Media Services
 
 I WROTE recently about the return of AMC’s great series, “Mad Men” – how the show was morphing to incorporate the impending swinging ’60s.

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Get Your Body Fit with EnVision Pro!

By Nadine Defensor
 
With summer only few weeks away, many of us are determined of getting our beach bodies back once again. Though this can be in a short period of time through calorie restricting crash diets, the weight loss is only temporary and most importantly, unhealthy.

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Excuse me, are you listening? 11-7

Dear Readers, 
 
Passion. Passion. Passion.  I know that I have not been honest with myself.  How many of us actually admit that we have issues?  My issues are ones that I make up myself.  Your issues are probably as negative as mine.  How we may differ is that when I take a mental break I try to make sure I clock back in, in a timely manner.  It is like being late from lunch.  Even though you are only a few minutes late, you are still late!  The guilt may last for an hour.  Your coworkers may look at you as though you came back from lunch with mustard on your shirt.  Your boss has the “silly rabbit you are late” look on her face. 

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April is Poetry Month: Advice from a Dead Man Walking

HBO Def Poet, Amir Sulaiman, pays a visit to the Islamic Center of Greater Lansing for a 
free performance.    Courtesy photo
 

By Dua S. Aldasouqi
 
E. LANSING, MI — Renowned poet and activist, Amir Sulaiman, flew into Michigan from California on April 13 to perform at the Islamic Center of Greater Lansing. He was there to give a short free show. The Center gym was packed with over 150 members of the Center and local Greater Lansing Area residents. Amir Sulaiman is also an accomplished writer, educator, and recording artist. He is a two time HBO Def Poet (an HBO television show, a play off of “Def Comedy Jam” with poets).

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Fast Facts

Official Poetry Month logo on www.poets.org
 

By Public Services Librarian Jessica T.
 
Held every April since 1996, National Poetry Month is a time when publishers, booksellers, libraries, schools and poets celebrate the importance of poetry in American culture. The goals of National Poetry Month are to highlight the legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets, and to encourage people to enjoy the pleasures of reading this unique literary form.

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Wolfgang Puck: Go bananas!

For deep-frying, pick firmer fruit whose peels have only just turned yellow.
 
By Wolfgang Puck
Tribune Media Services
 
  My recipe for Banana Fritters seems a perfect way to raise some smiles at the table.
 
  At face value, bananas are among the funniest of fruits. A cheerful yellow color when ripe, they have a shape that even looks like a smile. Peeling them can be, in itself, a silly process, sort of like a fruit striptease. And the peel itself, of course, is a staple of slapstick comedy – so take care not to drop it on your kitchen floor!

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Your Other 8 Hours: Deducting Hobby Expenses: Think Business

By Robert Pagliarini, 
Tribune Media Services
 
Hobbies are a great way to spend the other eight hours, but they are terrible from a tax perspective. Why? You are not allowed to deduct hobby expenses for tax purposes. This makes sense. If you could deduct hobby expenses, almost everything would be deductible — trips to the zoo, your subscription to Professional Photographer magazine, even that new digital camera you’ve had your eye on.

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