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Exercise proves to be ineffective against care home depression

Public release date: 2-May-2013
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Contact: Luke Harrison
luke.harrison@warwick.ac.uk
University of Warwick

Researchers at the University of Warwick and Queen Mary, University of London have shown that exercise is not effective in reducing burden of depression among elderly care home residents.

Exercise is a low risk intervention that can improve mental health but the findings of a National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme study, published in The Lancet, conclude that there is a requirement for alternative approaches to reduce the burden of depression in frail, very elderly, care home residents.

The large randomised controlled trial sought to discover whether an intervention that combined a twice-weekly, moderately intensive exercise sessions over the course of a year and promotion of physical activity by care home staff would reduce depression. Over 1,000 residents were recruited from 78 UK care homes. Nearly half of the frail elderly care home residents recruited to the study were suffering from depression. The intervention was well received in the homes, and popular with residents but it had no effect on depression, or residents' general quality of life.

Martin Underwood, Professor of Primary Care Research at Warwick Medical School, who led the research team, said, "We are disappointed that this exercise intervention had no effect on the serious problem of depression with the care home residents."

"We already know that antidepressants are effective for more severely depressed patients, while preventive strategies such as increased social engagement and psychological stimulation are promising but as yet unproven. New approaches are clearly needed to address the major burden of depression in this most needy population."

"I would stress that these results only apply to care home residents and only to depression; there is no doubt that exercise improves fitness and physical health in younger people and in fitter elderly people."

With the number of people needing residential care predicted to continue rising year on year, it is ever more important that residents have access to effective interventions to improve their mental health.

Stephanie Taylor, Professor in Public Health and Primary Care at Queen Mary, added, "While the intervention was unfortunately not effective in reducing the presence of depressive symptoms in this population, with nearly half of the residents in our study showing depressive symptoms we are hopeful that this will spur further research around understanding and improving the lives of older people in care homes."

###
Notes:
For further information, or to arrange interviews with Professor Underwood, contact Luke Harrison, Press Officer, on +44 (0) 2476 574255/150483 or +44 (0) 7920531221, or by email on luke.harrison@warwick.ac.uk

To arrange an interview with Professor Taylor, contact Katrina Coutts, PR Manager at Queen Mary, University of London, on +44 (0) 20 78827943 or +44 (0) 781 7989532 or by email on k.coutts@qmul.ac.uk
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Exercise proves to be ineffective against care home depression Public release date: 2-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Luke Harrison
luke.harrison@warwick.ac.uk
University of Warwick

Researchers at the University of Warwick and Queen Mary, University of London have shown that exercise is not effective in reducing burden of depression among elderly care home residents.

Exercise is a low risk intervention that can improve mental health but the findings of a National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme study, published in The Lancet, conclude that there is a requirement for alternative approaches to reduce the burden of depression in frail, very elderly, care home residents.

The large randomised controlled trial sought to discover whether an intervention that combined a twice-weekly, moderately intensive exercise sessions over the course of a year and promotion of physical activity by care home staff would reduce depression. Over 1,000 residents were recruited from 78 UK care homes. Nearly half of the frail elderly care home residents recruited to the study were suffering from depression. The intervention was well received in the homes, and popular with residents but it had no effect on depression, or residents' general quality of life.

Martin Underwood, Professor of Primary Care Research at Warwick Medical School, who led the research team, said, "We are disappointed that this exercise intervention had no effect on the serious problem of depression with the care home residents."

"We already know that antidepressants are effective for more severely depressed patients, while preventive strategies such as increased social engagement and psychological stimulation are promising but as yet unproven. New approaches are clearly needed to address the major burden of depression in this most needy population."

"I would stress that these results only apply to care home residents and only to depression; there is no doubt that exercise improves fitness and physical health in younger people and in fitter elderly people."

With the number of people needing residential care predicted to continue rising year on year, it is ever more important that residents have access to effective interventions to improve their mental health.

Stephanie Taylor, Professor in Public Health and Primary Care at Queen Mary, added, "While the intervention was unfortunately not effective in reducing the presence of depressive symptoms in this population, with nearly half of the residents in our study showing depressive symptoms we are hopeful that this will spur further research around understanding and improving the lives of older people in care homes."

###
Notes:
For further information, or to arrange interviews with Professor Underwood, contact Luke Harrison, Press Officer, on +44 (0) 2476 574255/150483 or +44 (0) 7920531221, or by email on luke.harrison@warwick.ac.uk

To arrange an interview with Professor Taylor, contact Katrina Coutts, PR Manager at Queen Mary, University of London, on +44 (0) 20 78827943 or +44 (0) 781 7989532 or by email on k.coutts@qmul.ac.uk
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/uow-ept050213.php
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Obama to pitch immigration overhaul in Mexico

FILE - In this April 30, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama answers questions during his new conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. The president aims to assure Latin America that the U.S. is serious about immigration reform when he travels to Mexico and Costa Rica, beginning Thursday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is headed to Mexico with a domestic ambition at the top of his travel agenda. To sell his immigration overhaul back home, he needs a growing economy in Mexico and a Mexican president willing to help him secure the border.

Obama was to fly to Mexico City on Thursday to meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto, eager to promote Mexico's economic success and the neighboring country's place as the second largest export market for U.S. goods and services. Mexicans will be hanging on the president's words, but Obama also has in mind an important audience back in the United States.

Though the role played by Latino voters in last year's U.S. presidential election gets much credit for the current momentum for changing immigration laws and providing a path to citizenship for 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally, another reason for the change in attitudes is that stronger border protections and the recession have been disincentives to cross into the U.S. As a result, illegal immigration has declined.

"With Mexico, first and foremost, they are critical to our ability to secure the border," said Ben Rhodes, an Obama deputy national security adviser. "All the immigration plans that have been contemplated put a focus on securing the border as an essential priority and starting point for immigration reform."

Even better than a strong border is an economy that keeps people from fleeing.

"If the Mexican economy is growing, it forestalls the need for people to migrate to the United States to find work," Rhodes added.

Eager to focus on the economy and immigration, the administration is downplaying Pena Nieto's recent steps to end the broad access Mexico gave U.S. security agencies to help fight drug trafficking and organized crime under his predecessor, Felipe Calderon. Still, the changes are likely to be a subject during the two leaders' private talks. Obama said this week he wouldn't judge the new moves until he heard directly from Mexican officials.

Pena Nieto took office in December, and for Obama the trip is an opportunity to take his measure of the Mexican leader early in his tenure.

"It's really important to go there while this new president is forming his own plans and judgments about what he's going to do about the border, about where he's going to be on immigration, about where he is on trade," U.S. Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Thomas Donohue said in an interview.

The chamber long has worked to improve U.S.-Mexico trade, noting that now about 6 million U.S. jobs depend on commerce with Mexico.

Striking the right note on border security is key, Donohue said, because it is a central to winning support in Congress for the rest of the immigration legislation.

"That's what everybody wants to hear, and we have to do that in a way that makes these guys down there feel like we're doing it in conjunction with them and for them, so we can do this thing on immigration well, so we can expand our trade, so we can deal with our political issues as they are trying to deal with theirs," Donohue said.

Still, with 33 million U.S. residents of Mexican origin, Obama's message in Mexico is also bound to resonate in the U.S., where Latinos could increase pressure on Congress to act.

"It helps keep these passions alive as far as an issue to promote for the administration," said Carl Meacham, a former senior Latin America adviser on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But Meacham, now director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, cautioned that despite some bipartisan support to create a path to citizenship in the immigration bill, there is skepticism in Latin America. "They've been brought to the altar so many times by different American administrations that there's a little bit of a lack of trust," he said.

For Pena Nieto, Obama's visit is a chance for him to showcase his country's economic gains. After suffering along with the U.S. during the recession, its economy is now growing at a better clip than that of the U.S. Per capita income has gone from an annual $7,900 two years ago to $10,146. But Diana Negroponte, a Latin America expert at the Brookings Institution, says corruption remains endemic, human rights are still a problem, and efforts to change and improve the judicial system have been too slow.

"There is concern on our side of the border that greater help needs to be given in order for Mexico to reform its system," she said.

Pena Nieto's changes in the security relationship with the U.S. have prompted some U.S. officials to speculate that the new president might be embracing the policies of his Institutional Revolutionary Party, which long has favored centralized political and bureaucratic control.

Among those watching the new steps is Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who has held up $228 million sought by the Obama administration for Mexico under a security cooperation agreement. Under the agreement, known as the Merida Initiative, Congress has already given Mexico more than $1.9 billion in aid since 2008.

But Leahy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the State Department budget, has been a critic of how the money has been used and with the results.

"Congress has been asked for a significant new investment, but it's not clear what the new Mexican government's intensions are," Leahy said in a statement to The Associated Press. "We're in a period of uncertainty until we know enough to be able to reset that part of our relationship. I'm not ready to sign off on more money without a lot more details."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-02-US-Obama/id-ef50c2e686414c47a178eaa532f81406

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MediaTek's new chip offers entry-level smartphones a dual-core SoC with HSPA+ on the cheap

As glad as we are that MediaTek ushered in affordable, quad-core SoC designs with the MT6589, even that silicon can only go so far in making smartphones accessible. The company's new MT6572 might be frugal enough to lower some of those few remaining barriers. The all-in-one part mates a cheaper dual-core, 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A7 processor with HSPA+ 3G, China-focused TD-SCDMA, Bluetooth, GPS and WiFi, dropping the construction costs beyond what even the chip's quad-core sibling can manage. While the MT6572 can only handle up to a qHD display, a 5-megapixel camera and 720p video, that's more than enough to improve baseline features in a category where many recent entry-level phones still tout single-core CPUs and WVGA screens. Its rapid arrival in the marketplace may be crucial, too. MediaTek expects the first phones based on the MT6572 to roll out in June -- just in time to keep the world's transition to smartphones moving at full steam.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: MediaTek

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4Mr0YHfz3bs/

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The Guantánamo Memoirs of Mohamedou Ould Slahi

U.S. Navy guards escort a detainee after a "life skills" class held for prisoners at Camp 6 in the Guantanamo Bay detention center on March 30, 2010 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In this file photo, U.S. guards escort an unnamed detainee after a "life skills" class for prisoners at Guant?namo Bay in 2010.

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images

The violent interrogation of Mohamedou Ould Slahi dragged on through the fall of 2003. He remained in complete isolation in Guant?namo?s Camp Echo. When representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross visited the base in October, Guant?namo commander Gen. Geoffrey Miller told them Slahi was ?off limits? ?due to military necessity,? but insisted that Camp Echo was not being used for violent interrogations?as the ICRC delegation suspected?but as a facility where detainees could have private conversations with their attorneys. Slahi writes that he remained in ?the secret place? until August 2004.

I was interrogated [ ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?]. It was so rude to question a human being like that, especially somebody who is cooperating. They made me write names and places [ ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?]. I was like, what ruthless people!

?Show him no mercy. Increase the pressure. Drive the hell out of him crazy,? said [ ? ? ? ? ?]. And that was exactly what the guards did. Banging on my cell to keep me awake and scared. Taking me out of my cell violently at least twice a day for cell search. Taking me outside sometimes in the middle of the night to make me do P.T. that I couldn?t do due to my health situation. Putting me facing the wall several times a day and threatening me directly and indirectly.

?You know who you are?? said [ ? ? ? ? ?].

?You are a terrorist,? he continued.

?If we kill you once, it wouldn?t do. We must kill you 3,000 times. But instead, we feed you!?

In a matter of weeks I developed gray hair on the lower half of the sides of my head. In my culture, people refer to this phenomenon as the extreme result of depression.

Then, slowly but surely, guards were advised at the same time to 1) give me the opportunity to brush my teeth, 2) give me more warm meals, 3) give me more showers. [ ? ? ? ? ?] was the one who took the first steps, but I am sure there had been a meeting about it. Everybody in the team realized that I was about to lose my mind due to my psychological and physical situation. I?d been so long in segregation.

?I brought you this present,? he said, while handing me a pillow. Yes, a pillow. I received the present with a fake overwhelming happiness?not because I was dying to get a pillow, but because I took the pillow as a sign of the end of the physical torture. We have a joke back home about a man who stood bare naked on the street, and when asked, ?How can I help you?? he replied, ?Give me shoes.? And that is exactly what happened to me. All I needed was a pillow!!!

I had nothing in my cell. Most of the time I recited the Quran. The rest of the time I was speaking to myself and thinking about my life and the worst-case scenarios that could happen to me. I had been counting the holes of the cage I was in: There are about 4,100 holes. When they gave me a pillow as a first reward, I kept reading the tag over and over.

?Get up! Get your hands through the bin hole!? said the unfriendly-sounding guard [after a weekend without interrogation]. After they shackled me, they took me outside the building to where the [ ? ? ? ? ?] were waiting me. It was the first time for me to see the daylight. Many people take daylight for granted, but if you are forbidden to see it, you will appreciate it. The brightness made my eyes squint until they adjusted. The sun hit me mercifully with its warmth. I was terrified and shaking.

?What?s wrong with you?? asked one of the guards later on.

?I am not used to this place.?

?We brought you outside so you can see the sun. We will have more rewards like this.?

No matter how bad your interrogators are, a family-like relationship develops. This family relationship is just a family relationship, no more, no less, with all the advantages and disadvantages.

The family comprises the guards and your interrogators. Yes, you didn?t choose your family, nor did you grow up with it, but it is a family with all the qualities.

?I am going to leave soon,? [ ? ? ? ? ?] said a couple days before he left.

?It?s about time. But the other [ ? ? ? ? ?] is gonna stay with you.? That was not exactly comforting. I was startled, and couldn?t really think of an argument to convince [ ? ? ? ? ?] to stay. But it would have been a futile argument because the transfer of military intelligence agents is not a subject of discussion.

?We?re gonna watch a movie together before I leave,? [ ? ? ? ? ?] said.

?Oh, good!? I still hadn?t digested the news yet.

[ ? ? ? ? ?] left and showed up a couple of days later with a laptop and two movies.

?You can decide which one you?d like to watch.? I picked the movie Black Hawk Down; I don?t remember the other choice. The movie was both bloody and sad. I paid more attention to the emotions of [ ? ? ? ? ?] and the guards than to the movie itself. [ ? ? ? ? ?] was rather calm. He paused the movie every once in a while to explain to me the historical background of certain scenes. The guards almost went crazy emotionally because they saw many Americans getting shot to death. But they missed the fact that the number of U.S. casualties was negligible compared to the Somalis who were attacked in their own homes. I was just wondering how narrow-minded human beings can be. When people look at one thing from one perspective, they certainly fail to get the whole picture, and that is the main reason for the majority of misunderstandings that sometimes lead to bloody confrontations.

After we finished watching the movie, [ ? ? ? ? ?] packed his computer and was ready to leave.

?Eh, by the way, you didn?t tell me when you?re going to leave!?

?I am done, you?ll not see me anymore!? I froze as if my feet were stuck on the floor. He didn?t tell me he was going to leave that soon. I thought maybe one month, three weeks, or something like that, but today? In my world, that was impossible. It was as if death was devouring some friend of yours and you just were helplessly watching him fading away.

?Oh, really, that soon. I am surprised! You didn?t tell me. Goodbye. I wish everything good for you.?

?I have to follow my orders and I leave you in good hands.? And off [ ? ? ? ? ?] went. I reluctantly went back to my cell and silently burst into tears, as if I?d lost [ ? ? ? ? ?] and not somebody whose job was to hurt me and extract information in a the-end-justifies-the-means-way. I both hated and felt sorry for myself for what happened to me.

?May I see my interrogator please?? I asked the guards, hoping that they could catch him before he reached the main gate.

?We?ll try,? said [ ? ? ? ? ?].

I retreated back in my cell, but soon [ ? ? ? ? ?] showed up at the door of my cell. ?That is not fair, you know that I suffered torture and am not ready for another round.?

?You haven?t been tortured. You must trust my government. As long as you?re telling the truth, nothing bad is gonna happen to you!? Of course [ ? ? ? ? ?] meant The Truth as it?s officially defined; I didn?t want to argue with [ ? ? ? ? ?] about anything.

?I just don?t want to start everything over with new interrogators,? I said.

?It?s not gonna happen,? [ ? ? ? ? ?] said. ?Besides that, you can write me. I promise I?ll answer every email of yours,? he continued.

?No, I will not write you,? I said.

?OK,? [ ? ? ? ? ?] said.

?Are you all right?? [ ? ? ? ? ?] asked.

?I am not, but you may leave.?

?I am not leaving until you assure me everything?s all right,? [ ? ? ? ? ?] said.

?I said what I had to say. Have a good trip. May Allah guide you. I?ll be just fine.?

?I am sure you will. It will take at most a week and you?ll forget me.? I didn?t speak after that, instead I went back and laid myself down. [ ? ? ? ? ?] stayed a couple of minutes, repeating, ?I am not leaving until you assure me everything is all right.?

?I heard yesterday?s goodbye was very emotional. I never thought of you this way,? [ ? ? ? ? ?] said the next day. ?Would you describe yourself as a criminal??

I prudently answered, ?To an extent.? I didn?t want to fall in any possible trap, even though I felt that he honestly and innocently asked the question when he realized that his evil theories about me were null.

?All the evil questions are gone,? [ ? ? ? ? ?] said.

?I won?t miss them,? I said.

Today [ ? ? ? ? ?] had come to give me a haircut. It was about time! One of the measures of my punishment was to deprive me from any hygienic shaves, teeth brushing, or haircut. Today was a big day; they brought a masked barber. Though scary looking, he did the job.

Although the rest of the world didn?t have a clue where the U.S. government was incarcerating me, I knew since Day 1 where I was, thanks to God and the clumsiness of the [ ? ? ? ? ?]. During my incarceration in the secret place, from August 2003 to August 2004, [ ? ? ? ? ?] let slip some words giving away the location. ?When I was in [ ? ? ? ? ?],? I said.

Detainees jog inside a recreation yard at Camp 6 in the Guantanamo Bay detention center on March 30, 2010 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Detainees jog inside a recreation yard at Camp 6 in Guantanamo Bay in 2010

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images

?Over there?? he said, gesturing with his fingers in the direction of [ ? ? ? ? ?]. He rapidly took his hand back and continued his conversation, but it was too late to take it back. Another time during [ ? ? ? ? ?]'s visit, he said, ?Here in GTMO ? uh, I mean in the Caribbean ?? When everybody gave him a startled look, he tried to repair the irreparable.

?You know you are in one of the Caribbean islands??

?Yes, you are.? I always acted as if I hadn?t known any clues about my whereabouts. Guards had been trying to figure out my knowledge about the place, and repeatedly commented that I was ?in the middle of nowhere.? But I always responded, ?All I know, I am being detained by the DoD and the place doesn?t matter, does it??

[Finally] [ ? ? ? ? ?] came to me, ?I have to inform you, against the will of many members in our team, that you are in GTMO. You?ve been honest with us and we owe you the same.? I acted as if this was new information. But I was, at the same time, happy because it meant many things to me, to be told where I am. At the time of writing these lines I am sitting in the same cell, but I don?t have to act ignorantly about where I am, and that is a good thing.

Shortly after that the International Committee of the Red Cross was allowed to visit after a long fight with the government. It was very odd to the ICRC that I had all of a sudden disappeared from the camp as if the earth had swallowed me. All attempts of the ICRC to see me or just to know where I was were thoroughly flushed down the tube. The ICRC has no real pressure on the U.S. government; ICRC tries, but the U.S. government doesn?t change its path, even an inch. If they let the ICRC see a detainee, that means the operation against that detainee is over.

Nevertheless, I was happy when I saw [ ? ? ? ? ?] and his colleagues in around September 2004, and so were they. The ICRC was very worried about my situation. They couldn?t come to me when I needed them the most, but I cannot blame them, they certainly tried. [ ? ? ? ? ?] categorically refused to give the ICRC access to me.

[ ? ? ? ? ?] tried to get me talking about the time they couldn?t have access to me. ?We have an idea because we talked to other detainees who were subject to abuse, but we need you to talk, so we can help stop further acts of abuse. We cannot act if you don?t tell us what happened to you.?

?I am sorry! I am only interested in sending and receiving mail, and am grateful that you?re helping me in doing so.? [ ? ? ? ? ?] brought a very high level ICRC [ ? ? ? ? ?] from Switzerland, who had been working on my case. [ ? ? ? ? ?] tried to get me talking, but to no avail. ?We understand your worries. All we?re worried about is your well-being, and respect your decision.?

We detainees know that meetings with the ICRC are monitored. Some detainees were confronted with statements they made to the ICRC and there was no way for the [ ? ? ? ? ?] to know them unless the meetings were monitored. Many detainees refused after that to talk to the ICRC and suspected them to be interrogators disguised in ICRC clothes. I know some interrogators who presented themselves as private journalists. But to me that was very naive; for a detainee to believe such a thing and mistake a journalist for an interrogator, he must be an idiot, and there are better methods to get an idiot talking. Such mischievous practices led to tensions between detainees and the ICRC. ICRC people were cursed and spit on.

However, in the summer of 2005, I voluntarily confessed to [ ? ? ? ? ?] a bland rendition of the abuse I had been subject to. [ ? ? ? ? ?] asked whether or not he should share the information with the [ ? ? ? ? ?] and I answered positively.

?I was afraid of telling you the story because of possible retaliation. But since [ ? ? ? ? ?] was here the other day virtually threatening me; I don?t seem to have anything to lose.?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=746bd46d29288ade949dbbaa26928f87

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বুধবার, ১ মে, ২০১৩

Switzerland shuts the door on EU migrants: A new 'us vs. them' in Europe?

News that Switzerland is capping residence permits for Western Europeans reached the Monitor's Europe bureau chief as she was having her own intolerable immigration experience.

By Sara Miller Llana,?Staff writer / April 25, 2013

A cafe is seen in Zurich is seen in this photo taken April 18.

Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters/File

Enlarge

The anti-immigration class across Europe has found many new adherents as of late, especially in the most economically devastated countries, like Greece and Italy. But now these Europeans might themselves become the unwelcome migrants, at least in Switzerland.

Skip to next paragraph Sara Miller Llana

Europe Bureau Chief

Sara Miller Llana?moved to Paris in April 2013 to become the Monitor's Europe Bureau?Chief. Previously she was the?paper's?Latin America Bureau Chief, based in Mexico City, from 2006 to 2013.

Delightfully Tacky: investing locally

investing locally

I feel like a newb here in Tacoma, though I've lived here for about two and a half years. ?Despite still feeling like I'm getting my footing in my new city, I find myself fiercely defending it and the people who make it great. ?I felt the same way about Spokane when I lived there. ?So many college folks transplanted from the Seattle area would complain about how lame Spokane was. ?I still love Spokane and love hearing about the great things that people are doing to invest in the community and make Spokane a better place. ?When people have a negative attitude about the place they live it never does anything except create a feedback loop of disappointment and dismissal. ?Disappointment that the town isn't better, and then dismissal at any assertion that you should invest in the town because you don't want to invest in a "lame" place. ?It's like cultural brain drain. ?People with the means to make a real change want to leave and go to somewhere better and cooler, rather than investing in the community where they already live. ?I saw it happen in Anchorage, with kids graduating from high school and wanting to "get outside" (aka: go to the lower 48). ?

dress (similar) + top/courtesy of modcloth :: shoes/minnetonka :: jacket/lulu's bag/courtesy of rouge & whimsy :: necklace/courtesy of adorn by sarah lewis Not that it's always bad to leave a place. ?It can be necessary to get out to gain a new perspective, and sometimes you really do need to leave to live the life you want to live. ?But it's disappointing to me when people leave a place because of a cultural anorexia without ever doing anything to feed that local culture. ?Tacoma, Spokane, Anchorage... they won't ever be New York City or even Seattle or Portland. ?They have their own history and culture to offer. ?Comparison is the thief of joy, they say, and while this is good advice for individual people, it's also sound advice for our local communities. ?Tacoma isn't Seattle and we shouldn't try to be more like Seattle, we should try to be a better Tacoma. ?The best Tacoma. ?Instead of pining to be more like Portland, which is a great city in and of itself, we should shift our gaze to our own communities to see how we can invest here and now. ?It can be hard and overwhelming, which it why I imagine so few people feel up for the task. ?I myself feel ill?equipped having lived here for only a couple years. ?I feel like I lack the history and knowledge of this place that more long-term residents have. ?But I realized that someday, assuming we stick around, I will be a long term resident and I'd better start investing in this place now if I want it to be better by the time I've lived here for a while.

Source: http://www.delightfully-tacky.com/2013/04/investing-locally.html

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Candice Bergen producing film on her famed father

FILE - This Sept. 30, 1978 file photo shows dummy Charlie McCarthy crossing his legs on the lap of actress Candice Bergen as her father, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, points at Caesar's Palace Hotel in Las Vegas at Edgar Bergen's farewell performance before his intended retirement. He died in his sleep later that night. A spokeswoman for Candice Bergen says the actress is developing a film about her late father. Spokeswoman Heidi Schaeffer said Tuesday, April 30, 2013, that the big-screen project will be based on Candice Bergen's 1984 memoir, "Knock Wood." (AP Photo, file)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Candice Bergen is producing a film about her late father, the famed ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The big-screen project will tell the story of Bergen's dad and his ventriloquist's dummy that became an unlikely celebrity, spokeswoman Heidi Schaeffer said. The movie will be based on Candice Bergen's 1984 memoir, "Knock Wood."

In a statement, "Murphy Brown" star Bergen said her father was overshadowed by the 3-foot-long wood character named Charlie McCarthy, who got the best lines while the reserved Edgar Bergen played straight man.

"This creation took over and eclipsed the creator," Candice Bergen said. "It was the dummy that wouldn't die. All the fan mail initially went to Charlie. And Edgar wasn't really welcome at parties in the beginning unless Charlie was with him. It was totally surreal."

James Francis Trezza and Pam Widener, who are producing the film with Bergen, said they want to introduce a new generation to the early days of American show business, from vaudeville through the birth of TV, and explore how Bergen navigated its changes.

Barbara Turner, who worked with Trezza and Widener on the Oscar-winning Jackson Pollock biographical film "Pollock," is writing the script.

Charlie "was truly Bergen's alter ego and, perhaps more interestingly, he was America's alter ego," producer Widener said in a statement. "At a time when manners and standards ruled the airwaves, Charlie said the unsayable and got away with it."

A flirtatious radio exchange between Charlie and sexy actress Mae West in 1938 drew NBC's ire, but the popularity of Bergen and his sidekick was unaffected.

"I find it endlessly fascinating that a reserved man, a man who had difficulty expressing his feelings, fell into the profession of a ventriloquist on radio," his daughter said. "And that the person he created was this devil-may-care, no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners dummy."

Edgar Bergen died in 1978 at the age of 75, after beginning a farewell series of performances in Las Vegas. Charlie McCarthy found a home at the Smithsonian Institution.

A release date for the film, titled "Charlie McCarthy," was not announced.