American Resource Center Newsletter U.S. Embassy Helsinki September 2014, Issue 8 1 Announcing the ARC Grant 2014 The American Resource Center is once again inviting applications for the ARC Grant. Applications are accepted until November 28, 2014. The American Resource Center’s annual scholarship provides a grant of 1,000 Euros to support Master’s degree work on studies of the U.S. Applications are invited from students of Finnish nationality, enrolled at a Finnish university, and who are currently working on a Master’s Thesis on a topic related to the United States. More at http://finland.usembassy.gov/arc_grant.html, including details of how to apply and a list of the previous years’ winners. Meet the Moderator of the Great Decisions Discussion Group Starting at the ARC Soon James operates a specialised consulting company based in Espoo whose focus is the internationalisation of Nordic SME’s in selected Asian markets & technology segments. Prior to moving to Finland in 2011, he established the successful India presence of a major European defense & transportation systems company. He has also lived in Beijing, New York, Boston, and Atlanta. He is a 1999 graduate of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA. The ARC will be hosting Great Decisions, a discussion group on U.S. foreign affairs, for the first time in Finland this fall. The group is moderated by Mr. James Gardiner.
Transcript
American Resource Center NewsletterU.S. Embassy Helsinki
September 2014, Issue 8
1
Announcing the ARC Grant 2014
The American Resource Center is once again inviting applications for the ARC Grant. Applications are accepted until November 28, 2014.
The American Resource Center’s annual scholarship provides a grant of 1,000 Euros to support Master’s degree work on studies of the U.S. Applications are invited from students of Finnish nationality, enrolled at a Finnish university, and who are currently working on a Master’s Thesis on a topic related to the United States.
More at http://finland.usembassy.gov/arc_grant.html, including details of how to apply and a list of the previous years’ winners.
Meet the Moderator of the Great Decisions Discussion Group Starting at the ARC Soon
James operates a specialised consulting company based in Espoo whose focus is the internationalisation of Nordic SME’s in selected Asian markets & technology segments. Prior to moving to Finland in 2011, he established the successful India presence of a major European defense & transportation systems company. He has also lived in Beijing, New York, Boston, and Atlanta. He is a 1999 graduate of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
The ARC will be hosting Great Decisions, a discussion group on U.S. foreign affairs, for the first time in Finland this fall. The group is moderated by Mr. James Gardiner.
Disclaimer: The views expressed on these websites are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect U.S. Government policies. These links are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or approval by the ARC or the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki, nor can we bear any responsibility for the accuracy, legality, functionality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links.
American Life
All Roads Lead to Willie Nelson: Rolling Stone’s Definitive Profile of the Country Icon by Patrick Doyle. Rolling Stone, September 2, 2014.He is one of America’s greatest songwriters, a hero from Texas to San Francisco, a hippie’s hippie and a redneck’s redneck. But does anyone really know Willie Nelson?http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/all-roads-lead-to-willie-nelson-rolling-stones-definitive-profile-of-the-country-icon-20140902
Caught in the Act by John Lahr. The New Yorker, September 15, 2014.What drives Al Pacino? Nearly fifty years ago, when Al Pacino was at the start of his career, Marlon Brando gave him two pieces of advice: don’t go to court and don’t move to Los Angeles. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/15/caught-act
How LEDs Are Going To Change The Way We Look At Cities by Ucilia Wang. Forbes, September 29, 2014.Streetlights everywhere are going digital, cleaning up the night skies, saving billions in wasted energy - and offering major windfalls for those who embrace the gold rush. http://www.forbes.com/sites/uciliawang/2014/09/10/bright-lights-big-profits/
Same-Sex Marriage: A Legal Background After United States v. Windsor by Alison M. Smith. Congressional Research Service Report, August 15, 2014.The issue of same-sex marriage generates debate on both the federal and state levels. Either legislatively or judicially, same-sex marriage is legal in more than a dozen states. Conversely, many states have statutes and/or constitutional amendments limiting marriage to the union of one man and one woman. http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/231264.pdf
Economy & Politics
Confirmed: Tipping Is a Terrible Way to Pay People by Lucia Graves. Atlantic, September 15, 2014.A new analysis finds eliminating the “tipped minimum wage” would reduce poverty rates and narrow the wage gap.http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/09/confirmed-tipping-is-a-terrible-way-to-pay-people/380204/
The Financial Habits of Millennials in Four Charts by Peter Bell and Nancy Cook. National Journal, September 3, 2014.Pity the millennial generation. At times it seems that a whole industry of marketers, economists, corporations, and journalists is scrutinizing and diagnosing millennials—a group of people, born after 1980, who came of age during the worst recession of the last roughly 75 years—to determine exactly how dire their financial futures will be.http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-economy/solutions-bank/the-secret-financial-habits-and-economic-prospects-of-millennials-20140903
The Myth of the 40-hour Workweek by Ariana Ayu. Inc, September 16, 2014.40-hour workweek? Does anyone still do that? And is that good or bad? Gallup recently released the data from their 2013/2014 Work and Education Polls, which states that only 50% of “full-time” workers in the US work 40 hours or less (on average). Of those surveyed, 50% of salaried workers actually worked 50+ hours a week. But what about outside the USA? http://www.inc.com/ariana-ayu/the-myth-of-the-40-hour-workweek.html
Third Time’s the Charm by Robert C. O’brien and Hugh Hewitt. Politico Magazine, September 11, 2014.Mitt Romney should run in 2016. He could win.http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/09/mitt-romney-2016-110870.html?ml=m_u1_1#.VBLnwfl_tVQ
The Top 10 Percent of White Families Own Almost Everything by Matt Bruenig. The American Prospect, September 8, 2014.The Federal Reserve released the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances on Thursday. The overall wealth distribution picture is grim and getting worse.http://prospect.org/article/top-10-percent-white-families-own-almost-everything
Global Challenges
California Just Banned Free Plastic Bags. Hold the Rejoicing by Katie Rose Quandt. Mother Jones, September 15, 2014.For a paper bag to be better, you have to use it three times.http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/09/california-bans-plastic-bags
Can a “Firewall Strategy” Keep Big Energy Out of Climate Talks? It Worked for Fighting Tobacco by Alexis Goldstein. Yes! Magazine, September 19, 2014.Kicking the polluters out of the negotiations may sound like wishful thinking. But there is a precedent: the global effort to regulate the tobacco industry.http://www.yesmagazine.org/climate-in-our-hands/the-firewall-strategy-a-plan-to-beat-climate-change-by-banning-polluters-from-negotiations
Climate Comeback: A Grassroots Movement Steps Back Into the International Arena by Jim Shultz. Yes!, August 26, 2014.Three major international meetings about climate change are on the horizon. Is this the moment to fix the failures of Copenhagen?http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/climate-comeback-international-arena
The Coming Era of Unlimited — and Free — Clean Energy by Vivek Wadhwa. The Washington Post, September 19, 2014.It isn’t just solar production that is advancing at a rapid rate; there are also technologies to harness the power of wind, biomass, thermal, tidal, and waste-breakdown energy, and research projects all over the world are working on improving their efficiency and effectiveness.http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2014/09/19/the-coming-era-of-unlimited-and-free-clean-energy/?tid=pm_national_pop
The Entrepreneur Who Wants to Save Paradise by Diana Saverin. The Atlantic, September 15, 2014.Douglas Tompkins—the founder of Esprit and The North Face—is using his fortune to build massive national parks in Chile and Argentina. But what he sees as philanthropy, local ranchers see as meddling.http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/09/the-entrepreneur-who-wants-to-save-paradise/380116/
Gore: Fracking Won’t Solve Our Climate Crisis by Tim McDonnell. Mother Jones, September 18, 2014.“Natural gas can’t be a ‘bridge fuel’ unless we crack down on methane leaks,” Al Gore tells Mother Jones’ Climate Desk.http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/09/al-gore-climate-obama-clinton
Should You Fear the Pizzly Bear? by Moises Velasquez-Manoffaug. New York Times Magazine, August 14, 2014. As climate change alters habitats, once-disparate animals are shacking up, creating hybrids that challenge our notion of what it means to be a species.http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/magazine/should-you-fear-the-pizzly-bear.html
We’re Fishing the Oceans Dry. It’s Time to Reconsider Fish Farms by Maddie Oatman. Mother Jones, July 2, 2014.Aquaculture has gotten much greener, with American innovators leading the way.http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/07/aquaculture-feed-algae-nuts-mcfarland-springs-kenny-belov
International Relations
A Conservative Defense Policy for 2014: Look to Eisenhower by Jerry Hendrix. The National Interest, September 15, 2014.Recent discussions amongst Republicans regarding U.S. Defense force structure have revealed an ongoing disagreement between two camps within the party. http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/conservative-defense-policy-2014-look-eisenhower-11281
Endless 9/11s: How the Bush-Cheney Response to the World Trade Center Attack Shaped Today’s Terrors by Robert Kuttner. The American Prospect, September 11, 2014.Non-state terrorism was a bewildering foreign policy and military challenge in 2001, and even more so now.http://prospect.org/article/endless-911s-how-bush-cheney-response-world-trade-center-attack-shaped-today%E2%80%99s-terrors
The Eternal Collapse of Russia by Paul Starobin. The National Interest September/October 2014.Russia, it is often said, is a country that is barely able to stumble out of bed and put on matching socks in the morning. The interesting question, then, is what lies behind this unbalanced mindset-what might be called the “Russia Is Doomed” syndrome. What is the source of such stubbornly exaggerated thinking-and why is Russia chronically misdiagnosed in this fashion?http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-eternal-collapse-russia-11126
The Fight of Their Lives by Dexter Filkins. The New Yorker, September 29, 2014.The White House wants the Kurds to help save Iraq from ISIS. The Kurds may be more interested in breaking away.http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/29/fight-lives
Israel’s Worst-Kept Secret by Douglas Birch and R. Jeffrey Smith. Atlantic, September 16, 2014.Is the silence over Israeli nukes doing more harm than good?http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/09/israel-nuclear-weapons-secret-united-states/380237/
The Most Wanted Man in the World by James Bamford. Wired, September 2014.The untold story of Edward Snowden.http://www.wired.com/2014/08/edward-snowden/
Revolution and Intervention: A Delicate Balance, Destroyed by David C. Hendrickson. The National Interest, August 28, 2014.International law has typically forbidden one or the other, seeing their combination as volatile. Yet current American foreign policy rests on both at once.http://nationalinterest.org/feature/revolution-intervention-delicate-balance-destroyed-11130
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Did You Know?
Hispanic Heritage Month - Mes de la Herencia HispanaSeptember 15 - October 15, 2014
During National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15) we recognize the contributions made and the important presence of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United States and celebrate their heritage and culture.
Hispanics have had a profound and positive influence on our country through their strong commitment to family, faith, hard work, and service. They have enhanced and shaped our national character with centuries-old traditions that reflect the multiethnic and multicultural customs of their community.
Hispanic Heritage Month, whose roots go back to 1968, begins each year on September 15, the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico, Chile and Belize also celebrate their independence days during this period and Columbus Day (Día de la Raza) is October 12.
The term Hispanic or Latino, refers to Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race. On the 2010 Census form, people of Spanish, Hispanic and/or Latino origin could identify themselves as Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or “another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin.”
http://www.hispanicheritagemonth.org/
The Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2013, was 54 million, making people of Hispanic origin the nation’s largest ethnic or racial minority. Hispanics constituted 17 percent of the nation’s total population. (Source: Census Bureau)
Columbus Day is a celebrated on the second Monday in October. The day commemorates October 12, 1492, when Italian navigator Christopher Columbus landed in the New World. The holiday was first proclaimed in 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
This year Columbus Day is celebrated on October 13. The U.S. Embassy is closed but the ARC remains open.
The ARC’s thematic month shelf includes many works by notable Hispanic Americans - all available for home loan. Welcome to visit!
