By Jesika Fleming CPT
Photography by Lauren Avila

When we are in our twenties, we feel invincible, as if we were somehow immortal. But by the time our thirties and forties roll around, we start to feel a slight stiffness in the joints, detect some unsightly bulges, are not as nimble on our feet as we used to be. When did all this start to happen, we ask ourselves as we peer into the mirror. As we age, humans experience a muscle tissue loss as great as 30 percent between the ages of 30 and 80. And that’s not all: significant bone loss and weakening of our ligaments and tendons occur. It’s important to understand, however, that this is mostly from atrophy, and not the result of “getting old.” When it comes to maintaining a healthy and fit body, it’s a simple matter of use it or lose it. Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated that the human body can still maintain and build lean muscle tissue at any age through resistance training. The payoff: higher bone density, stronger ligaments and tendons to protect and strengthen joints, and a faster, more efficient metabolism. You know the phrase fat-burning machine ? That’s what a faster metabolism is. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t want it?

So, let’s get started with seven very simple resistance-training exercises that you can do anywhere. To begin, all you need are a couple of pairs of dumbbells that suit your current strength level. You can up the weight in your dumbbells when they start feeling too light and the exercises take less effort to do. For each exercise, make sure your abdominals are tightened to protect your spine, do twelve repetitions for each exercise, and hold the muscle contraction for four seconds on each rep.

Warm up Take ten minutes, doing an easy walk or jog in place. This prepares your cardiorespiratory system, muscles, and connective tissue for resistance training.

1.    Lunging Back Row Place right leg forward, lean your back forward. With left hand, row the dumbbell in a controlled upward motion, and slowly relax down. Tip: make sure the knee on the forward-positioned leg is in line with the ankle; keep your spine straight and neck elongated. Focus on using back muscle, and not the arms, to lift the weight.
2.    Push-ups for the beginner Place hands and knees on flat surface. Lower your upper body downward, push back up. Tip: keep spine straight, abs tucked in, neck in line with your spine. Arms should be at roughly 90-degree angles.
3.    Push-ups for the advanced Place hands on flat surface. Instead of having both feet on floor, slightly raise one leg up. Lower body, push back up. Tip: keep spine straight, abs tucked in, buttocks slightly raised and neck in line with spine. Arms at roughly 90-degree angles.
4.    Split squat with overhead shoulder press Get into a lunge position with right leg, grip dumbbells with arms extended at 90-degree angles. Squat down and push up with legs, at the same time pressing the dumbbells straight overhead. Lower your trunk and arms to beginning position again. Repeat the set on the left leg. Tip: keep knee in line with ankle on the forward leg and focus on pushing your body weight up with the forward leg. Don’t let elbows drop below shoulder line.
5.    Bicep curl with toe raises Place feet shoulder width apart, grip dumbbells with palms facing out, slowly raise your body up until you stand tiptoe, lower yourself down, curl dumbbells up to a 90-degree angle, then slowly lower them. Repeat from the beginning. Tip: keep elbows strictly in place throughout bicep curl, no swinging arms back and forth.
6.    Tricep kickback Lunge forward with right leg, grip dumbbell in left hand. With your arm bent at a 90-degree angle, extend it completely outward, bend back to starting position. Repeat on other side. Tip: keep wrist straight throughout exercise. Keep arm straight and taut, no swinging back and forth. Focus on squeezing the tricep muscle at the extension. Keep knee in line with ankle.
7.    Ab oblique crunches Lie flat with right leg propped on left knee. Cradle neck in hands and point right elbow to the inside of right thigh. Crunch up, come only halfway down, crunch up again. Repeat set on other side. Tip: focus on drawing your abdominals in toward your spine when you crunch up to work the transverse abdominus. Do not let your lower back come off the floor.

Repeat this routine three times a week on nonconsecutive days for maximum benefit, and see and feel the change in your body and health. I hope you had a great workout!

By Matt Sheker

Whenever I hear the title of this article spoken by one of my customers, I have to ask the question “What bottle did it for you?” I can then anticipate a detailed conversation about the wine—maybe the meal that accompanied it, or the specific occasion that changed a wine lover into a wine enthusiast. Still, many people will argue that a ten-dollar bottle of wine is just as good as a fifty-dollar bottle. I would bet, however, that these people have never experienced a bottle of Silver Oak Alexander Valley or Napa cabernet, a Cakebread chardonnay, a Shafer merlot, or a Silverado SOLO cabernet.

First, we must distinguish the cost categories of wine. A cheap wine is classified as a bottle sold for seven dollars or less. These are wines made in mass production for grocery stores and other large-quantity outlet stores. Usually the shelf life of these wines is brief and the balance inconsistent. Once in a while, you can find discounted wines in this price range, but they are usually past their prime and ready to be used for cooking. An inexpensive wine is categorized as ten to fifteen dollars per bottle, while expensive wines are priced fifteen dollars and over. According to the AC Nielsen reports, expensive wine buying has increased 41 percent since January 2004.

So, what has changed over the last five years to make people spend more money on wine and demand higher quality? Growth in consumption has come from the millennial generation—the roughly 70 million Americans between 21 and 28—who are fast becoming the wine connoisseurs of tomorrow. The health-conscious baby boomers have a significant disposable income and have acquired discriminating palates; therefore, purchasing the pricier wines has become part of their lifestyle.

“The November studies from the Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging garnered significant positive attention for red wine,” says Danny Brager, vice president of client service at Nielsen Beverage Alcohol. “Our latest figures show that the extensive coverage, including the February 2006 cover of Fortune magazine, which proclaimed ‘Drink Wine and Live Longer,’ may be impacting consumer choice within the wine category. As consumers search for products that promise better health and guard against aging, it would be reasonable to assume that recent favorable press has tipped some decisions toward red wine.”

Is there really a difference between a seven-dollar bottle of wine and one that costs upward of fifteen dollars? The real decision is always in the eyes of the beholder; however, premium grapes that make higher-end wines that come from specific award-winning wine regions are obviously more expensive. If you have an opportunity, purchase a fifty-nine-dollar bottle of Silver Oak Alexander Valley cabernet sauvignon—just once. Take notes about the wine—like the fragrance, the clarity, the taste, and the finish—and forget about the price for a second. Then purchase a seven-dollar bottle of wine and take similar notes. After comparing the two, I believe you will be able to argue that life is too short to drink cheap wine.

By Meaghen Ng

For some, motivation to hit the gym, take an exercise class, or do any other form of working out is as simple as envisioning oneself in a two-piece barely there bikini. Not the best mental picture. Yes, this is most often the best incentive to drive oneself to exercise; this year, however, with a focus on fashion sportswear, we now can add a healthy dose of fashion into our fitness regime.

Summer makes navigating your local gym parking lot onerous—all the more reason to bike or jog there. Once inside, lengthy gym lineups make it easy to blow off the elliptical in favor of hand-to-mouth repetitions on sun-filled city patios. To the extent that many of us are health conscious, we’re also prone to staying indoors once the weather becomes undesirable. If we do manage to scrape ourselves off the couch, usual exercise apparel may consist of old college sweats and oversized tees that doubled as nightgowns.

At least, it used to be. Stella McCartney has recently launched a sportswear line for Adidas, and she has followed the trend to design casual counterparts for the sophisticated set wanting to look their best at lunch-hour workouts. There are many innovative athletic apparel pioneers, and mangy gym gear just doesn’t cut it anymore. Our elevated standards demand the right fit, function, and fabric, all part and parcel to our healthy lifestyle mantra. Recently, there has been a shift in designing activewear, whereas years past saw fit and function take precedent over fashion.

Perhaps because of our lifestyles that are active in every sense, being busy requires style collections to take us from exercise class to afternoon tasks without a wardrobe change in between. At the forefront of this shift are styles to suit every body. For men and women of all ages and every shape and size, athletic ateliers have answered the bell.

Start with quality fabrics in sustainable options: hemp, organic cotton, soy, and bamboo are excellent picks for activewear. Surprisingly, they’re also luxuriously soft and can add a feminine flair to a largely masculine-centered field. With natural abilities to breathe better than what processed fabrics have, they’re fast drying and wick away moisture, and also have antibacterial properties that are resistant to mold and mildew. In addition, ecofibers are hypoallergenic, biodegradable, and UV resistant—great for outdoors summer activities.

Invest in quality basics (trainers, pants, sports bras) and supplement with funky accessories, tees, and tanks. Yes, the ’70s short-short is back, but only sport this trend if you’re actually sporty. Summer also means the start-up of beer leagues and baseball. This could be the time to let your inner fashionista shine, even if your baseball swing doesn’t. Don’t be afraid to step up to bat in a creation all your own. Headbands, wristbands, knee-high socks, whatever—the key is to have fun.

In building a good gym wardrobe, look for styles that suit your lifestyle. At the very least, looking the part may help to get you to the gym (and bypass the beach). If all else fails, at least you’re dressed appropriately.

By Andrew Z

A comment that I often hear in my jewelry store is “Your jewelry looks so nice and sparkly. Is it because of special store lighting?” I’m sure that the lighting helps, and of course, fine gem quality is where the beauty originates. But the simple fact that everything is clean and polished is what allows the fine gems to sparkle and show their brilliance.

Here’s the obvious truth about keeping your jewelry at its finest: If you take good care of your jewelry and keep it clean, polished, and in good condition, it will look as good as it did when it was new—as nice and sparkly as in a jewelry store. Jewelry care is pretty simple if you know what to do and what not to do. Here are a few tips to help you.

Knowledge Know what you own, and be aware of any limitations. Are the gems soft or relatively brittle like opals and emeralds? Are the prongs thin or worn? Does the clasp open and close nicely? Is your watch waterproof, or just water resistant? Are stones loose? A good home test for loose stones is to shake your ring near your ear and listen for any rattling.

If you feel you need help answering any of these questions, find a competent jewelry professional and ask his or her advice. Use the Internet for gemstone information. You can log on to my Web site for information on a number of gems.

Environment Chemicals, extreme temperature variations, and dry air are some examples of environmental factors that may have a negative effect on certain types of jewelry. Home-cleaning products such as abrasives, adhesives, and harsh cleaners can damage or dull gems and precious metals. Even personal-care products like hairspray and lotions will cause buildup and dullness. Chlorine will damage gold, especially at higher temperatures, like those in a hot tub. Chlorine can cause porosity and brittleness in the gold solder that is holding the prongs around your diamond. Once the solder becomes brittle, it doesn’t take much of a blow to break it right off! Chlorine can also blacken silver. Extreme temperature shifts and hot, dry air can cause certain gems—opals, for example—to crack and craze.

Storage Because we know that some gems are harder than others are, it makes sense that tossing multiple pieces of jewelry with gemstones into a single bag or drawer will eventually cause scratching or chipping. This will definitely put a damper on brilliance and sparkle. Use common sense when storing your valuables. Provide individual pouches or some type of separator so they won’t touch one another. Also, consider the environmental factors like heat, cold, and moisture. This applies to your costume jewelry as well, especially if the stones are glued in place. This may seem funny, but I know some men who take better care of their cigars in a humidor than their wives do with their diamonds.

Cleaning Have your jeweler periodically inspect and professionally clean your jewelry. In between these visits, you can mix up a simple cleaning solution of warm sudsy liquid for removal of light surface dirt and oils. Commercial jar cleaners can also do a very good job, but I suggest using only a brand that your jeweler carries. Make sure to read the directions. Some cleaners are too aggressive for certain gems. A jeweler’s polishing cloth is a great thing to keep handy. It can impart a nice shine to dull gold or silver.

Final Tip My final tip is to wear and enjoy your jewelry. If you follow the tips I’ve given you, you should have bright, clean, and sparkly jewelry in good condition that wants to be worn and enjoyed. And if you bring one of your pieces into my store under the lights, I will put on my sunglasses!

Andrew Z owns Andrew Z Diamonds and Fine Jewelry in Anthem. For more information on tips for caring for your gems and jewelry, visit andrewzdiamonds.com.

By Kailie McNabb

1.    Diminish the clutter Cleaning the clutter around the house means taking down all old picture frames, personal items, and collectibles, and cleaning and organizing common living areas. This will help the potential homebuyers see the space, and visualize it as if it were theirs. Any disorganization in the home can make or break a sale.

2.    Staging To stage a home means to prepare a house that might be empty. It means accessorizing and furnishing as if somebody were living in it, as with model homes. The key to staging is preparing certain focus areas like the kitchen, family room or great room, master bedroom, and bathroom. In doing this, you will create a sense of warmth and comfort as well as an opportunity for the potential homebuyers to see how to efficiently utilize the space. This is why hiring a professional designer can be a great asset in selling your home.

3.    Neutralize the home If your home has many different concepts or themes throughout the rooms, this can distract potential buyers. Painting the entire home a neutral color allows for more creativity and incorporation of the buyer’s tastes. It also creates a visual openness in the home, which can be great if the dwelling is small or has low ceilings.

4.    Lighting This is probably the most important detail in getting a home ready to sell. Lighting is the key to overall ambience. Setting a mood for an open house or showing can be a key element in the design of the home. Taking out fluorescent lamps and fixtures and replacing them with recessed lighting can update a home while being cost-effective. You can also light candles to establish that warm and inviting feel (be sure that someone’s at home while the candles are lit). This will help to create a good first impression.

5.    Curb Appeal This is the most missed stage in preparing a home to sell. If you have weeds, dead plants, and unswept walkways, people will be deterred from stopping and looking. Take the time to plant new flowers in your flowerbeds, repot trees and bushes, and make sure all weeds are pulled and all grass is short. Add a delightful welcome sign, too. Remember also that painting the house makes it look new and fresh.

These are all easy ways to lure buyers into your home. Create that cozy atmosphere before they take their first step inside.

By Martin Haworth

How Nature’s Skin Care Ingredients Can Work for You

Botanical skin care products are carefully created from plant extracts—pretty much as pure and natural as you can get. And that’s their secret: users are moving away from the “manufactured” and “artificial” that have become the norm in modern times. So, what are the benefits?
With a tendency away from manufactured and artificial products, especially for use on or in the body, the time has come for organic purity. Many people, men and women alike, are seeking alternatives to the chemically created ingredients that have transformed our lives.
As our societies become more affluent, we can afford to be more choosy. And that’s what millions of people are now becoming: selecting natural ingredients and, indeed, getting back to basics.
Botanical skin care ingredients and products fit the bill perfectly. After all, nothing can be perceived as more natural for your skin than something that has come from the very heart of nature.
Here are some key aspects of why botanical skin care makes the difference:
•    They are carefully extracted from plants in their purest form.
•    Many—although you might have to check this out with individual products and ranges—have zero artificial ingredients.
•    Because they are natural, they are less likely to cause irritation, though sensitive skins may always suffer some problems with whatever you use.
•    Botanical skin-care products are often sourced in ways that benefit those who need it most, sometimes in third-world countries that need the income.
•    Natural products are less likely to harm the environment when you are finished with them.
•    Botanical skin care products are now becoming available everywhere, so even the biggest and most convenient stores carry them.
•    There is a huge online market with all sorts of niches developing, which is great for small business, and possibly the economy as a whole.
•    Finally, these natural ingredients have stood the test of time. Many of them have been used through the ages with remarkable consistency, so you can be assured that they do their job—and safely, too.

Got the message? Botanical skin care is a solution that benefits almost everyone. With the choice available now, you have every opportunity to benefit yourself, others who need support—and the environment too!

What could be a better result for everyone than the growth in availability and variety of botanical skin care products worldwide? Time to take a look around and give them a try!

By Leona June Christensen
Photos courtesy of UMOM New Day Center

Numbering yourself among the homeless may be only two paychecks away.

“A lion’s share of our population is in a precarious position,” says Jacki Taylor, executive director of the Phoenix-based Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness (AZCEH).

An alarming number of families in the North Valley and across America are living paycheck to paycheck without a safety net. A twist of the unexpected—an illness or loss of employment—may be all it takes for that family to join the ranks of millions of Americans who struggle to survive without shelter.

“About 60 percent of the households in Maricopa County are literally two paychecks away from being homeless,” Taylor says. “The disparity between the cost of living and the increase in wages has continued to grow. Wages have not kept pace with the cost of living. We know the gap between those who have and those who have not continues to grow significantly. Poverty is on the rise, so that’s a very scary statistic.”

According to the AZCEH, the annual “Point-in-Time Street Count” calculated 14,960 homeless people in Arizona, including 7,300 homeless people in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Among those counted, 56 percent were living in shelters or transitional housing, with the remaining 44 percent living on the streets or otherwise unsheltered. About 18–24 percent of them are veterans.

About 41 percent of Arizona homeless are families with children. These children are twice as likely to go hungry as are their peers. The National Alliance to End Homelessness reports domestic violence as one of the most frequent causes of homelessness for families.

While there are no easy answers, the AZCEH says the solution to end homelessness is everyone’s responsibility. From politics to compassion, each person can be part of the answer to one of the community’s most heartbreaking problems.

“The first challenge is changing political will,” Taylor says. “It’s only through the voter constituents that we can impact our legislators. Once we start influencing policy and funding, we decide as a state that affordable housing is a priority for all people, even the chronically homeless that are mentally ill or substance abusers. The second is doing your part, whether that is supporting legislation that moves toward the end of homelessness, advocacy, donating money and getting involved in fund-raising for affordable housing or shelter services.”

The nonprofit organization helps ease the homeless crisis throughout Arizona by supporting the efforts of local communities to provide social services and shelter to men, women, and children, and to increase awareness of the plight, as well as support advocacy.

A vigilant watchdog, the coalition works tirelessly to help pass legislation that would help relieve the conditions that cause homelessness, keep track of bills that other organizations are trying to pass, and monitor the impact of those bills.

“[Acting as] watchdog is watching for those things that may sneak up on us,” Taylor says. “If you are not really watching what is happening at the Legislature, you are never going to know that strikers are happening.”

Strikers are bills in which language is struck and then replaced with new verbiage that may differ from its original intent. During the previous legislative session, there was an unexpected introduction of a striker that the AZCEH learned was being introduced to dissolve statewide homeless trust funds. The advocacy group was able to draw awareness among its statewide members that the striker was in progress. Thanks to their timely intervention, each organization serving homelessness received financial support rather than one group garnering another’s share of funding.

“The legislative process is cumbersome, complex, and very time-consuming,” Taylor says. “Most of our members who have a concern about what is going on at the Legislature are so involved in providing direct service to homeless people that they don’t have time to monitor what is going on. The AZCEH is there to raise the red flag when it needs to be raised, and say that we need your voice now.”

During the 2007 legislative session, the Coalition advocated for an increase in funding to the Department of Economic Security homeless line item. Those funds had not been increased in more than a decade.

“The Legislature, at the end of the day, approved the allocation of up to [a] $1 million increase in that funding,” Taylor says. “The funding doubled. That was a positive outcome, very much a win for homelessness. It was wonderful! We [still] need to do more.”

Each year, the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness hosts a conference that educates attendees on the issues that surround homelessness. The fourteenth annual conference, “Weaving the Community Web,” is slated for October 15–16, at the Black Canyon Conference Center located at 9440 N. 25th Ave. in Phoenix. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.

“To end homelessness, every segment of the community needs to pull together and be involved—individuals, the business sector, the faith community, nonprofits, and government,” Taylor says. “We all need to join hands, if truly we want to end this phenomenon in our state.”

This year’s keynote speaker highlights Denver’s Road Home, a ten-year plan to end homelessness. By uniting the community, Denver has generated 500 affordable-housing units within two years and decreased the number of homeless families by that number.

“Denver is proving that housing and support services are the key,” said Taylor. “Support services help individuals and families stabilize long-term to sustain their self sufficiency. Their success phenomenally excites us. We can learn a lot.”

Despite staggering statistics, Taylor remains optimistic.

“I believe we can end homelessness,” says Taylor. “We have the capacity to address the needs of every homeless person in our state, if we have the political will. One of the first big hurdles is for each Arizonian to truly embrace in their heart the belief that homelessness is not acceptable for any person in our state.”

For more information to help end homelessness, or to attend the conference, log on to azceh.org.

By Cassaundra Brooks
Photo courtesy of The Pedalman

Golf carts have taken on an entirely new role in Anthem. With a child a year away from driving age and a concern for the number of alcohol-related car accidents, Kevin Mathieu and his wife decided to make a way for people to enjoy the local bars without wrecking their cars—or themselves. If hitting the bar scene is on your evening agenda, instead of putting your foot to the pedal, call The Pedalman of Anthem. Seven days a week, beginning at 7:30 p.m., free pickups and drop-offs are available to and from any local Anthem bar, courtesy of North Valley Magazine and a host of Anthem businesses. The current list of sponsors who make such a valuable service possible include:

Ace Hardware
At Anthem Window Cleaning and Sunscreens
Air Options Respiratory Care
Anthem Roadside Towing
Americana Mortgage Company
ALTS, etc.
Asiana Kitchen: Japanese & Chinese Cuisine
Auto Zone
Baskin Robbins
Barks-N-Bubbles Mobile Dog Grooming
Bugsy Pest Control
Covenant Painting, Inc.
Curves of Anthem
Creative Landscape and Design
Creative Castle Preschool and Kindergarten
Copperstate Carpet & Tile Cleaning
Dazzle Dentist
Dollar Store
Electrical Handyman Clint Hoag
Hometown Threads
Learning Express
Lee Myles Transmissions
Life Maid Easy
Maricopa Spas and BBQ
Mobile Detail Service
North Valley Magazine
PostNet
Rick Hall’s Ultimate Imports
Realty Executive Gina Delgado
Street of New York Pizza and Subs
Soon’s Tae Kwon Do
Sylvan Learning Center
Taco Del Mar
Qwest Communications

Six electric golf carts sit ready and waiting, so let the Pedalman provide your transportation—and allow these businesses to provide you with everything else.

To schedule a free pickup and drop-off, call The Pedalman at (602) 403-3997 or (623) 551-9588.

The Art of Teaching , Jay Parini, Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, 2004, 176 pages, $17.95

By: Ben Miles

Jay Parini has blessed pedagogues of all stripes with his most recent book The Art of Teaching . Parini, himself a professor of English at Middlebury College, in Vermont, offers a taut and elegant glimpse into the teacher’s craft.

In five chapters, distributed over a mere 160 pages, Parini’s economic and often poetic use of language provides a plethora of compact lessons for those who are teachers, or for those who aspire to that noble vocation.

In a particularly memorable passage, Parini states that successful teachers he’s known are very much aware that they have to don what he calls a mask when they present themselves as teachers. He maintains that “one must get over the foolish notion that a mask is not ‘authentic,’ that there is something shameful about ‘not being yourself….’ Authenticity is, ultimately, a construction, something invented—much as a suit of clothes will feel authentic, or inauthentic, given the context.”

Quoting poet Pablo Neruda—“myselfs are many”—and evoking Virginia Woolf, who believed that “a biographer is lucky to pin down a half-dozen selves in a good biography,” Parini asserts that a being has thousands of selves, and warns that a beginning teacher needs to try on several masks before finding one that fits.

Parini’s premise is situated in the assumption that the classroom is a type of theater and that the teacher is a performer. In fact, Parini acknowledges that teaching is “a conscious act of self-creation, [a] self-performance.”

Parini shares his thoughts about parallels between the crafts of writing and teaching. Using the example of Irish poet Seamus Heaney, Parini illustrates Heaney’s connection to the impressive poets who preceded him—“the sprung rhythms of Gerard Manley, and the compressed, visionary lyricism of William Butler Yeats.” Parini indicates that the mature voice of Heaney has swallowed up and digested these precursors, but they remain a part of him, ingredients of his own voice. It is no stretch, then, when the author writes that the same applies to teaching.

Parini is convincing in his statement that “you learn to teach by listening closely to your own teachers, by taking on their voices, self-consciously or not, by imitating them, digesting them to the point where they become part of your own voice and persona.” The Art of Teaching is more than fluid analogies and instructional metaphors, however. Though not quite a step-by-step handbook for the classroom teacher—it’s a more elegant creation than that—Parini’s work still offers plenty of practical advice for frontline instructors.

For instance, one subsection is titled, “By Their Clothes We Shall Know Them: On Academic Dress.” The contention offered by Parini is that “clothes have their own syntax and vocabularies.” Citing his acquaintance with novelist and Oxford Fellow Iris Murdoch, Parini pegs Murdoch as “the most poorly dressed academic” he ever knew. “She often had dinner at my house,” writes Parini, “and invariably look[ed] disheveled, in a heavy wool skirt and baggy pullover.” Nevertheless, Murdoch’s was an apparently accepted collegiate fashion statement; Parini states that he noticed a lot of female academics dressed quite similarly in Oxford as well as in other academic institutions.

The Art of Teaching is a subtle and moving treatise on a profession that is singularly sublime, as well as essential to the transmission of culture and knowledge. Although the book is aimed mainly at higher educators, everyone who teaches anyone will undoubtedly benefit from Parini’s pedagogical wisdom.

By Dee Dees
Photo provided by Toastmasters International

About 2,000 people are expected to attend the annual convention of Toastmasters International, the world’s leading nonprofit organization promoting communication and leadership skills. The convention takes place August 15–18 at the JW Marriott at Desert Ridge. It will be the first time since 1981 that the convention will be held in the Valley.

Author and TV personality Barbara DeAngelis will receive the Golden Gavel award at a luncheon during the convention. The award is presented to a non-Toastmaster to recognize excellence in communication. Some past recipients have been Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, and Art Linkletter.

The convention features sixteen breakout sessions on topics such as Positive PR, the Inside Scoop, Twisting Attitudes, Not Arms, and Going Pro—Making the Move to Paid Professional Speaking.

One of the most anticipated events is the International Speech Contest. Considered the “Olympics of Oratory,” the contest is a runoff of the top ten speakers in the world, each vying for the title of World Champion of Public Speaking.

For more information about Toastmasters International or the convention, visit toastmasters.org.