Book Review: Pelicans, Coconuts & Butterflies – Ani Kaspar
Pelicans, Coconuts & Butterflies
“Pelicans, Coconuts and Butterflies” is a breast cancer survivor’s story by new author Ani Kaspar. I have read dozens of cancer survivor’s books and articles over the last 21 years. When I came across Ani Kaspar’s account on Facebook I had just met with a friend whose wife was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. I noted Pelicans, Coconuts and Butterflies was Ani’s account of dealing with her own personal breast cancer challenge and thought the book may be a great gift for my friend’s wife.
When received I sat down to review Ani’s story prior to posting it off to my friend. I was not prepared for the marvelous personal accounts of diagnosis, facing of daily challenges and the ultimate triumph incorporated into Ani’s story of her struggles. Ani Kaspar’s ability to show her human side, intertwined with the spirituality required in chapter after chapter left me unable to sit the book down. I can only describe her story telling abilities as masterful.
The bonus is after 20 plus years of cancer education I was learning useful medical information without being preached to or taught in a scholarly way. The cancer tips, facts and figures were so skillfully intertwined into Ani’s story that picking them up was second nature. Hopefully, you can tell I’m giving Pelicans, Coconuts and Butterflies my unqualified endorsement and suggesting it be in everyone’s library, cancer patient or not.
Author Ani Kaspar
Excerpt: Pelicans, Coconuts & Butterflies
“Yesterday, my double mastectomy surgery was scheduled. My surgeon is one of the best in the nation, a Susan B Komen fellow, with a resume that would shame Linus Pauling or Nickolai Tesla. I canceled our appointment to radically transform my breasts. Also about a month ago, I canceled the surgery to remove my uterus and ovaries. Michael and I argued for months about my second thoughts, my fearful thoughts of surgery. The eternal feminine prevailed. I changed my mind.
I’ve been told by medical-professional friends of mine I can now look forward to being fired as a patient by both surgeons – both women in their late thirties, making handsomely healthy livings dissecting women’s bodies. Whatever. The day before each surgery, every cell in my body begged for me to cancel. Maybe I am a coward. Maybe I am simply sane. I must listen to my body.
Now, a year after diagnosis, I remain committed to my original plan of action. Natural cancer cure or natural death. How relieved, freed, right I feel. Every cell has stilled itself, relaxed into the rightness of my choice. My loving-life cells could not weather the trauma of such invasive surgery. My femaleness, my very being, cried no. My soul’s shaking won. My heart’s powerful love won. My cell’s wisdom won. I rest in truth. God/dess knows the truth, lives the truth of life, of death, of rebirth. Today I am that victorious God/dess I am God/dess today.”
Pelicans, Coconuts & Butterflies – Conquering Cancer With Life of Soul
10/29/2010
Conquering Cancer With a Soul - Pelicans, Coconuts & Butterflies | Pdazzler
Myspace targets millennials with new redesign | RICG
Earlier today, News Corporation relaunched its social network, Myspace, with a new emphasis on consumers between the ages of 13 and 35. The move comes as rival social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, continue to steal users away from Myspace.
According to company president Michael Jones, the social network originally attracted young consumers who were interested in listening to and discussing music, movies and television. The redesigned site has been positioned to better to emphasize this content, and will focus on getting rid of clutter that has accumulated over the years.
"Over time, Myspace got very broad and lost focus of what its members were using it for," Jones told the New York Times. "Our [new] focus is social entertainment. Niche players have long staying power."
Appealing to a smaller audience may improve the value of the platform to the digital marketing campaigns of entertainment companies.
While Myspace still has more than 120 million members worldwide, its popularity has been declining over the past few years. According to Nielsen, usage of the social network is down 31 percent this year in comparison to 2008, while Facebook and Twitter saw double-digit gains.
Customers 1st: NACCM 2010: How Leaders Must Empower Employees: CareerBuilder.com Focuses on People, Process and Culture
Presented by: Mike Hargis, CAREERBUILDER
-Millennials are 2-3x more accepting to new technologies
-Millennials prefer structure for their day
-Millennials would rather work as a group than as individualsHow do you retain Millennials? Trust, balance and structure
Career builder only keeps people in their call center for 24-36 months, otherwise they get burnt out. Create a fun environment with degrees in psychology, philosophy, then go on and invest in their training. They do at least 3 events a year to build leadership, such as “Extreme Events”. They reward by creating videos. Employees share these videos, and it makes it easy to attract the right type of people to your company.
They’ve created an App to refer candidates on Facebook. By sharing content, they were able to successfully communicate to more people
Babson Entrepreneur Professor: Taking No Risk Is Biggest Risk Of All
-->Page 1 of 9
Dr. Julian Lange Dr. Julian Lange, one of the foremost authorities on entrepreneurship in the country, spoke with CRN Editor News Steven Burke about the entrepreneurial traits that allow companies to succeed in the rapidly changing technology market.
Lange is not only the Craig R. Benson Professor of Entrepreneurship & Public Policy at Babson College, but a successful entrepreneur himself, having worked as president and CEO of Software Arts alongside the the inventor of the personal computer spreadsheet, Dan Bricklin, and VisiCalc spreadhsheet co-developer Robert Frankston in the early days of the PC industry.
Lange has worked with a wide range of companies from startups to Fortune 500 firms on how to drive entrepreneurial skills throughout an organization. He has also written extensively on entrepreneurship and the challenges and opportunities posed by the Internet and is the author of "Entrepreneurs and The Internet." Lange spoke with CRN after delivering a keynote at the Fast Growth Awards event earlier this month.
Where do you see the biggest mistakes being made by companies that were once entrepreneurial and have forgotten to apply those same instincts to move ahead?
Sometimes over time people forget to follow that maxim -- if it ain't broke, break it -- because they have been successful. They rely on some of the things that have made them successful and they can continue doing that and become somewhat shy of taking the risks that they need to take.
NEXT: It's Good To Make Mistakes
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Next >>
SHARE:
Digg
Del.icio.us
Email this article |
Print article | Reprints |
More Channel Programs |
Comments-->You must be logged in to add your comments. Not registered? Register Now.Go to Original Post |
Login to Reply to Original Post -->
COD Receives $166,787 for Center for Entrepreneurship — Glen Ellyn news, photos and events — TribLocal.com
The Illinois Community College Board recently awarded a $166,787 grant to College of DuPage to support the FY 2011 Workforce Development Grant: Business and Industry Services Component. Funding will be used by COD’s Center for Entrepreneurship to support operations of the Small Business Development Center, International Trade Center and Procurement Technical Assistance Center from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011.
The Center for Entrepreneurship provides training and individual counseling services to entrepreneurs and small business owners/managers. The SBDC provides consultation and assistance on topics ranging from financing, management, acquisitions, planning, organizational structure, business launch and other issues critical to business growth and survival. Access opportunities for organizations interested in securing government contracts are promoted through the PTAC, and expert guidance is provided for Illinois companies seeking to export products and services.
Continued funding is contingent in part on success performance outcomes. In FY 2010, 76 entrepreneurship seminars and workshops were conducted for 1,132 participants; 926 individuals obtained management counseling; 432 businesses received counseling services and 407 contracts worth more than $85 million were secured; 602 small businesses were started, expanded or retained in the area, creating 213 jobs and retaining 350 jobs; and employment and training services were provided for 125 unemployed individuals.
In addition, a variety of workforce and economic development collaborations within District 502 were significantly enhanced, including the Minority Small Business Growth Initiative with Northern Illinois University that engaged 300 minority and woman owned businesses in a variety of technical assistance and training activities.
For more information, call COD Grants Director Carol Anglet at (630) 942-2461 or
e-mail anglet@cod.edu.
How Can We Enable Entrepreneurship in Business School? | GroundReport
How Can We Enable Entrepreneurship in Business School?
byRachel Sterne October 28, 2010
In late June, I received a message from the gracious Rajeev Kohli, Chairman of the Marketing Department at Columbia Business School. Contacting me through Meetup, an online platform for self-organization where I run the Future of News meetup, he asked if I had interest in teaching a course on social technology to MBA students.
I discovered later that Professor Kohli had found and watched my TEDx talk on citizen journalism as the fourth estate on YouTube. The eight-minute presentation, which originally streamed live on Livestream, piqued his interest, and he decided to contact me.
Several months later, I'm excited to introduce Social Media and Entrepreneurship, a new course for Columbia MBA candidates in Spring 2011 (read the syllabus).
In this experiential course, content equals structure:
- As they read about Facebook and social networks, students will share thoughts and ask questions on a Facebook group.
- As they learn about successful Twitter marketing campaigns, they will tweet, and follow a Twitter list that is a mandatory component of the syllabus.
- And students will influence the industry and shape the startups they study, through blogs and a course-long 'Startup Challenge' that requires them to design, execute and analyze a social strategy for helping tech companies achieve a specific goal.
The course will apply the fundamentals at the core of GroundReport and my digital consulting work - transparency, engagement, iteration - to the education process, creating a space for students to learn new tools, teach each other, talk to seasoned industry veterans (including Dennis Crowley, Jack Dorsey, Scott Heiferman, Alexa Hirschfeld, and Erick Schonfeld), and ultimately, be entrepreneurial.
With this announcement, I solicit your help. I would like to invite thoughts and questions, fears and hopes, for a course that leverages social technology as it studies social technology. How can we enable disruptive entrepreneurship in a conventional business school context?
Please share your views via GroundReport, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Quora - wherever you feel inspired. I look forward to hearing from you.
Tags: Entrepreneurship , Columbia Business School , Columbia , Social Media
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
