Choir competitions are growing with the help of some related reality shows about vocal music and the help of this film, Joyful Noise.  If you like both Pop and Gospel music and want to see Dolly Parton in a food fight, then this is the film you need to see.

How George Lucas Presents the 332nd Fighter Group/US Army Air Corps and the North American P-51C Mustang Red Tails

George Lucas hopes to earn more than his filming budget with this movie about the Tuskegee Airmen. If and when he does, he will proceed on two additional films in a great trilogy. One will be a prequel that looks at the difficult training conditions offered the airmen in the Jim Crow South and the last will be a sequel to the fantastic Red Tails.

With the 70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor passing in December 1941, we are losing vast numbers of our World War II survivors every day. I hope that they see Red Tails or someone takes them to see it and that they will be her to enjoy the next two films in the series.  If you know a WWII veteran, ask him or her if they want to go to the movies.

When Winter Came to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium – A Dolphin Tale

How any of us do not know a Wounded Warrior in our own community that has returned from Iraq, Afghanistan or someplace else with the need for help and understanding? This film shows how a little compassion for sea life and veterans brought a doctor and a team of engineers together in order to help both. Because of them and a baby dolphin called Winter, double amputees can run on two legs now and others compete with gusto in the Paralympic Games. Look for them in London of 2012 right after the Summer Olympics! You’re going to be delighted.

A thorough review of related historic sites in Detroit, Michigan is followed by interesting lesser-known events in history, the settling of the American West by Black Cowboys as well as the usual settlers, political and war-related materials that spotlight Africans and African-Americans in wartime from before the American Revolution to the present,  recipes and ethnic foods, and several sets of coloring pages.

• American History and Culture Resources for Black History Month Projects.

These articles and links are among the best offered across the Internet to help readers understand and discuss the topics related to Black History in America and abroad and they make excellent source materials for school projects and re-enactments.

Black History Month is February.

First, a few employers – or writers pretending to be employers – have offered some very harsh commentary on the Internet,  in emails, and in forum posts regarding employment for 2012.  Some have stated that illegal questions WILL be answered during interviews of job candidates “or else.” I think it is good advice to steer clear of these interviewers and think that the majority of job candidates out there this year will not suffer the inquisition and invasiveness of illegal interview questions.  Contact your local EEO to report such behaviors and ask additional advice if this occurs with you.

Another trend is the statement by some employers, or rather some reporting themselves as supervisors and bosses, that they expect to be able to call employees insulting names, curse them,  belittle them, throw things at them, and diminish them verbally in the workplace, all without consequence. They give the hackneyed excuse that they are either joking or that the target of abuse needs to grow thicker skin. This is not only illegal, but may be a mental illness.  See the links below for more help.

At the same time,  contacts in the UK assure us that name calling is not at all commonplace there, much less throwing things at employees and/or actually hitting them. This information lends even more credence to the fact that verbal abuse in the US workplace is perverse, not healthy.  Let us not permit it to become pervasive as well.  The body of related research and EEO case studies show that verbal abuse leads to physical abuse, even murder in the most extreme of instances. Stop it at the verbal stage by documenting it and speaking up – but not with name calling and profanity.

Bullying can kill a child at school and verbal abuse is a step down the same path in the workplace. Take care.

• Name Calling and Expired Psychological Classifications Have Become Profanity and Abuse

• Do You Know a Bully at Work? How to Handle the Office Bully and Abuse: Financial, Verbal, Emotional, and Physical

• Death In the Classroom – A School Bully Can Kill Your Child

• Sexual Harassment Cases and Results

We often wonder how migration of human groups could occur across the world and across North America. Then we find some of the same traditions both in the Pacific Northwest and in the Northeastern United States. While the Iroquois of the United States and Canada have shared large portions of their culture and histories with us, those of the Pacific Northwest are still rather mysterious and very interesting.

Out of the Silence – A Journey Through Pacific Northwest Villages

Just after World War II, an artist traveled through the Pacific Northwest and Southern Alaska, painting pictures of villagers and village life among the Indigenous Peoples. During the turbulent 1960s, a team returned to these sites for a camera tour. Both journeys are fortunately maintained as among the fine arts in Canadian museums, waiting for visitors.

The Iroquoian In the Diaspora – Oldest Representative Democracy In the World

Did you know that the Cherokee are related to the Iroquois? Read all about this native Confederacy and where they are now.

Ready for start-up in January 2012, Governor John Kasich as seen the striking of deals for business and jobs in the Ohio Oil Boom at an agreed upon $3,250,000,000. This is just the beginning of jobs and business in poverty-stricken areas of Ohio. It is an answer to prayer.

Meanwhile, North Dakota around Williston, New Town, and Bismarck need additional construction of living spaces in order to be able to fill about 3,000 jobs currently open in the northwest quadrant of the state.  Up to 500 new oil wells are expected by 2015.

• $3.25 Billion for Jobs – Top 10 Growing Oil and Gas Jobs and Companies in Eastern Ohio

• Where To Find Housing For the North Dakota Bakken Oil Field Jobs

• Where to Find Bakken Oil and Gas Jobs — 50,000% Increase in North Dakota Jobs Already

• Peppermint Stardust Ice Cream; Champagne Cookies and a Stardust Martini – cinnamon and a taste of chocolate, with glitter! See the first three recipes at Peppermint Stardust Ice Cream, Champagne Cookies and a Stardust Martini
• Mostaccioli Cookies – possibly served on a banquet table with chocolate diamonds for anniversaries. These cookies can be formed into spheres, flat rounds, or rolled and cut into diamonds as well.
• My Favorite Christmas Ice Cream Recipes – Why not try a little more spice?
• Christmas and Holiday Sugar Dusted Spice Cake
• Best Brownie Recipes – Add Fruit!
• The Best French Christmas Recipes

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Did you know that Christmas was once illegal in both the UK and the Thirteen Colonies? — The Irish and others used a code to celebrate anyway and we use it today.

• The Twelve Days of Christmas, An Irish Code and 12th Night

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Have you lost loved ones close to Christmas, making it a sad time of year? You can turn all that arond with some moving tributes to help you remember them:

• Memories of Christmas Past Can Comfort Loss and Create Joy

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Do you like Christmas Films? These are not the ones you’ve seen already 100 times, but they are funny, poignant, and memorable.

• The Meaning of Christmas on Film – A Gift of The Magi Christmas
• Best Books and Films of 2011 – We Bought a Zoo
• From the film critic - Top 8 Favorite Christmas Films of 2011

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How about Christmas Travel? -

• Christmas in Antarctica

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It is the 70th Anniversary of the attack on at least 7 places in the South Pacific; and Hawaii, though shocked, did not fall. Many of these warriors are in the late 80s and early 90s and still remember every minute of the Pearl Harbor attack at approximately 7:55am and that first 24 hours. They will never forget. Let us thank them and offer them kindnesses before they go on to the next life.

Local VFW Posts will likely be holding small special events and you may be able to attend. Some may be televised. VA Offices around the country will likely be doing something in remembrance as well.

World War I did not end all wars as promised. Neither did WWII, nor Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq or Afghanistan. We may hate war, but we support our military men and women and the civilians that go with them. Take a minute or two and thank one of them today if you see him or her.

God Bless  the USA and all the world.

The Pilgrims stayed in England. The poorest of the poor  were sent to America and called themselves “saints.” They brought kegs of beer, according to historic records and eye-witness accounts, and no seed for crops.  They did not plan ahead, thinking everything they’d need would be in the New World,  and their governor was disgusted at one point – although he should have accepted some of the responsibility. His edict of He who does not work shall not eat was not only necessary, but NOT one that would have been used on disciplined and hard working Pilgrims.

Native Americans provided most of the food, along with 90 uninvited guests -  traditions that surprised the 1621  English. The natives provides all of the corn – 10 acres of it. There were no pies, because there was no wheat to grind into flour! Puddings of the day – like pies without crusts – were made instead. The food was good and we have the original recipes form The Ohio State University, whose staff researched the first gathering and the foods.

Please enjoy:

• Original Recipes From 1621 – But There Was No Pie At the First Thanksgiving

• Old Thanksgiving – Pie Nation and The Great Uninvited Guests

• How Mince Meat Became Meatless

Try this recipe and find out what tarragon has to do with a Dragon and the play Waiting for Godot!

A Fresh New Classic – The Little Dragon Alternative

And don’t miss this fascinating and delicious dessert:

Christmas and Holiday Sugar Dusted Tomato Spice Cake – Extra Moist and Delicious!

Brownies are good for any holiday and a lot of everyday affairs:

Best Unique Brownie Recipes for the Holidays – Add Fruit!