by Lain Kahlstrom and Wendy Visconty via Seattle Free School (Offering free classes in Seattle)

Greater clarity, wisdom, empowerment, fulfillment, sense of belonging and purpose – we all want that. In this class, we’re bringing the works of pioneers in the field of human potential and development into mainstream awareness by introducing a theory of the stages of adult ego development. You’ll learn about the 10 stages, how to recognize which stage you tend to operate from, and how you might continue to develop yourself.

Photo courtesy of Jean-David et Anne-Laure

Many of us have been exposed to different ways of looking at our personality types and preferences (such as Myers-Briggs). Another way people differ from each other, their developmental stage, is as important in understanding ourselves and others, perhaps even more so.

In speaking about human development, we distinguish between lateral and vertical development. Lateral development includes improving skills and learning new material. We go to school, take classes, and get training.

Vertical development is much rarer. It refers to how we come to see the world with new eyes, how we change our interpretations of experience and how we transform our views of reality. The metaphor of climbing a mountain can serve as an illustration of what it means to gain an increasingly higher vantage point.

We’ll share a model of stages of vertical development which was developed by William Torbert and Susanne Cook-Greuter. This framework focuses on how people tend to reason and behave in response to their experience, and how that changes as we develop. Each stage we’ll cover is a coherent and internally consistent belief system that describes how its proponents are likely to think, feel and behave in various life situations. Each stage has its own strengths and vulnerabilities. Here are some benefits of understanding developmental stages:

• Understand ourselves better and increase our capacity to embrace ourselves
• Ability to have compassion and empathy for others
• Appreciate the larger context in which we’ll evolve over time
• Understand when we’re shifting stages
• Become more effective at creating the change we want

Class:
Transform Yourself: An Introduction to Stages of Ego Development

Facilitators:
Lain Kahlstrom- Integral coach and student of human development
Wendy Visconty- CPA, coach and student of human development

When:
11/10/08 – 5:30pm

Where:
University Branch Library
5009 Roosevelt Way N.E.
Seattle, WA 98105

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It is times like these where the great proverb, knowledge is power, rings truer than ever. Not power over others, rather the power to guide our own destinies. The decisions we make today about where to put our money and who to trust to deliver knowledge to our kids on important subjects like business, science, language and arts, depends also on the knowledge we have and share with others.

In Part 1 of “Social Security or Calamity?”, the vulnerability of the Social Security system in America was exposed by its condition of insolvency for future generations, and possibly even the generation of baby boomers preparing to enter retirement today. In this post I will discuss just one of a few solutions to the Social Security crisis. The other solutions and grand conclusion will come in the next two posts.

Privatization

“I don’t understand why the government should tell me how much money I should save for the future, but not tell me how much of my money I can spend for food. And I believe that the current Social Security system is in certain ways fundamentally unjust.” From a 2001 interview with reporter Bill Steigerwald, Milton Friedman expresses his frustration and concern about America’s welfare programs. Friedman gives an anecdote for why he feels that Social Security is not only an economic failure, but also a moral one; “here’s a young man, a man of 35 or 40 who has AIDS and is told that he has got five or 10 years to live at the most. And the government comes along and says, ‘You’ve got to put aside 13 percent or something like that of your income to save for your old age.’ That seems to me to be cruel and unjust.”

Cartoon: Jim Day | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Privatization of Social Security proposes a transition of the current system to Private Retirement Accounts (PRA).  Like an IRA, a PRA allows the individual to make decisions on how to invest their money.  The argument is that payroll taxes should be invested in real financial assets; not government promises to raise future taxes.  The PRA would earn higher interest (8.5%) than non-marketable Treasury securities (2.5%).  Over a 25 year period, a $1,000.00 contribution to the PRA would earn the retiree $6,013.00 more than that same contribution to the pay-as-you-go system.

The major concerns with transitioning to the PRA system are the high cost of starting and managing the new systems (approximately $2 trillion), the windfall profits that Wall Street could earn from managing the investments, the problem of continuing to provide benefits for soon to be and current retirees, and the presupposition that the general public will make the best possible investment decisions for themselves.  Partial privatization is an approach that controls several of these concerns.  Some economists say partial privatization is the only way to phase in complete privatization and save our nation’s retirement system.  Part 3 of this four part post discusses this in more detail.

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Meet Miss Tess. Do you want to learn piano, improve your vocals, and create music compositions? Now you can at a class with Miss Tess. All of her students are also able to compose their own music compositions and possibly have a chance to record them in a professional studio. Tess stumbled upon TeachStreet when she was looking for other avenues to get more students. Previously she was getting students from Seattle Girls Choir, but she didn’t want to rely on that fully — so when she found TeachStreet, it was definitely being at the right place at the right time.  Since she has joined, she’s already gotten 9 new students from TeachStreet, and is looking forward to getting more.

Featured Teacher Interview: Miss Tess

Joseph Sunga: What do you like about TeachStreet?
Miss Tess: It’s super important to me that there is a place where I can show myself as an individual rather than as part of a school or piano studio. It provides teachers like myself to show what I have to offer. Also, it’s also great that we’re able to communicate and talk with the people at TeachStreet.

JS: What do you like about teaching?
MT: I knew I wanted to teach since I was 16 years old. It’s always great to deal with special and wonderful children that are awake creatively. Providing them with the tools to believe in themselves, while being able to create something is amazing. The process of learning and seeing student grow is something I enjoy.

JS: How are you different from other piano tutors?
MT: Students are able to not only learn piano, but they are able to learn to create and compose their own compositions. By teaching them, piano, voice and music theory, they’re able to put that all together. Also, students are able to get a mentor in me when dealing with music. A lot of my emphasis is with young children, so it’s great to become their mentor and help guide them musically while they’re young.

Miss Tess coaching an original composition at a recording session

JS: If you had 1 meeting with 1 student, what would you teach them?
MT: I would somehow implant a strong sense of confidence through some form of median, whether it’s learning piano, learning voice, or learning music composition. I feel it’s really important for student to learn this, especially when they are young.

JS: What advice do you have for students on TeachStreet?
MT: Know what you’re looking for and try to find something that fits you.

JS: What advice do you have for teachers on TeachStreet?
MT: Be real on the site, and definitely get reviews for yourself and start using the TeachStreet Craigslist tool. I’ve already gotten 9 students in the past 3 months from using TeachStreet and the Craigslist tool, so it is definitely helpful.

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It’s a toy shop and a woodworking shop that helps folks feel empowered. The Giving Tree, located in South Lake Union, uses the art of toy making to help provide a sense of purpose for various people in the community. It’s a heartfelt cause supported by their strong group of volunteers coming from different backgrounds from senior citizens, former or current homeless individuals, to youth or adults from the community. Being that they’re a couple blocks away from our offices, we decided to stop by and get a first hand look by speaking with Clare Cronkleton, who runs the shop, and Senior Woodworker, John Webster.

How does the Giving Tree help?

There always is a sense of joy revolving around the Giving Tree and that may be primarily because of the handcrafted toys surrounding the shop. The joy also stems from their very simple goal — to provide folks with a place to learn a trade to give volunteers a renewed sense of purpose.

Salar with Clare Cronkleton of The Giving Tree

With 25 volunteers helping at the shop through the week, they cover a lot of ground with selling, painting or finishing the toys, and even creating the handcrafted toys. The opportunity to be a part of the Giving Tree is opened to everyone, “Anybody can come by and leave their past behind, but I tell each person to remember why they want to volunteer,” mentions Clare. “We like to see ourselves as more of a reminder that good things are happening in the community.”

Clare mentions that they really encourage learning in their community, and that’s a huge reason why they’re a part of the Seattle Free School, where classes are completely free. They’ve opened their shop to the community who want to use their space to teach arts & craft classes or hold community discussions.  They’ve also held workshops for beginning teachers who want to be more involved with the Seattle Free School.

Learning your Purpose at the Giving Tree

The Giving Tree is changing lives. Senior Woodworker, John Webster, mentions “I’ve always had a connection to wood working and the Giving Tree helped me follow through with it,” but he never pursued that curiosity.

John Webster working his magic with a toy car

After joining the military, working at soup kitchens and volunteering at St Martin’s de Porres – an overnight shelter, he got the opportunity to join the Giving Tree and John couldn’t be happier. “Being able to use and play with these machines gave me the chance to live out what I wanted to do,” John proudly mentions. John is one of the Giving Tree’s mangy success stories. With some great experience under his belt, John is now considering opening up his own shop.

John has also been a recognizable fixture for the shop since he sits and crafts his toys right in front of the store window. With his Santa-like beard, he’s definitely an approachable figure which lends well to his favorite part of his days, “Interacting with people passing by and inviting them in to the shop to explain what we’re doing,” he happily mentions. That’s a testament that he feels accomplished each day that ends at the Giving Tree, and one huge reason why he’s been there for over 10 years.

John explaining his love for wood working and the machines at the shop

The real reason why the Giving Tree exists is because of people like John, Clare and the volunteers who keep coming to help this shop run the way it has for the last 19 years. If you would like to help get involved, visit The Giving Tree’s website for more information. It’s really more than just building toys, they try to help build up lives.

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by Coach Stacey, a fitness and nutrition coach, counselor, teacher at Seattle University and owner of C.O.A.C.H. Consulting Services. She teaches group fitness classes, among other things.

Food for Thought

Although I don’t endorse dieting or a specific plan, I know that most people come to a fitness coaching because they are looking for some guidelines on how to eat what to eat, when to eat, etc. So, below, I have provided some food for thought, straight from the coach:

by Marielito

• Eat a minimum of 1,500 calories a day (for women), maximum of 2,500 (for men). Meals should be broken down into five or six smaller meals of 300-500 calories each.
• No dieting! No rules about what you can’t eat, only what you can. (i.e. “I will have a piece of fresh fruit everyday.” “I will drink more water.”)
• Try to eat from a bag or box as little as possible. Foods should be in the most natural state possible: fruits, veggies, seafood, chicken, meat should be your staples. The other crap is okay to eat, just not everyday.
• Always read labels: watch out for anything with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated anything, enriched flour, and trans fat. If you can’t pronounce, try to limit it!
• Limit eating out: it’s more expensive, and you have no idea what they put in that food.
• Be honest with yourself about the real “problem.” I find that most people know what to eat, when to eat, how to eat–but it is drinking, binge-eating or other emotional cover-ups that are the real culprit.
• Most importantly: Take time to enjoy your food. Remember, you are not what you eat. You are MORE!

In Health,

Coach Stacey

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Goblins and Ghosties and Ghouls

Traditions of Halloween and Where They Started

So what is noteworthy about fall? For one thing, the weather is getting colder, inspiring people to pull on warm socks and other cozy knit garments. For another, the light, refreshing foods of summer are being replaced with heartier autumn fare, like stews, chili, and dishes made of seasonal goodies like apple, pumpkin, cranberry and potatoes. The world is exploding into picture-perfect fall color, and in cooler climes, many folks are embarking on some last-minute home improvement projects to batten down the hatches for the coming winter. But what else is cool about fall, besides the weather?

Creative Commons | Halloween Moon

Boo! Gotcha! At the end of October, Halloween is celebrated by people across the United States, and in many other nations including Mexico, Britain, Japan and New Zealand, to name just a few. This international holiday manifests slightly differently from country to country, but there are a few constants. One is the holiday’s focus on the dead; in the US, that emphasis now emerges as cartoon images of mummies, zombies, vampires and cartoon skeletons…In Mexico, it is recognized with altars to dead relatives, all-night vigils in cemeteries and the eating of skull-shaped sweets.

Well, everyone loves a good party, and Halloween costumes are a riot at soirees. Carved pumpkins lit up at night look swanky, and spiderwebs, creepy decorations and “smoking” dry ice punch are all fun too! But where did all these traditions COME from? What was Halloween like for Americans in the past, and what is it like today?

Let’s start with a little information about how the whole tradition got started in the first place. Irish immigrants brought the tradition with them in the 19th century. Before that, Puritan ideals had pretty much prohibited most holidays (though the Spanish had introduced Halloween traditions to Mexico and Latin America some time before). After the Irish potato famine, though, a wave of millions of Irish immigrants to the United States began pushing aside lingering Puritan traditions. Halloween, called Samhain by early Celts, had become a state holiday in Ireland in 837 CE. Ireland, which is now predominantly Catholic, embraced what was then known as “All Saint’s Day”, or “All Hallow’s Day”. One common theory claims that Pope Gregory IV standardized All Saint’s Day so as to overlap with a popular pagan autumn harvest festival, overlaying indigenous Celtic tradition with a palatable patina of Christianity.

Creative Commons | All Souls’ Night

In most of the world today, Halloween has lost much of its religious significance. In 20th century America, Halloween emerged as a children’s holiday (or, for slightly older children, a night of mischief and vandalism). Costumes popular in modern Halloween celebrations, however, are throwbacks to the original holy implications of the festival; outfits like black cats reference old superstitions, costumes such as nuns, monks, angels, and brides or grooms refer to the hallowed nature of the day, while spookier garb like skeletons, vampires, ghosts, mummies, zombies, etc refer to the restless souls of the undead said to rise and walk the earth on the night before the holy day on which all saints were honored. (Remember “Night on Bald Mountain” from Fantasia?)

Other traditions, such as the iconic jack-o-lantern, derived from older traditions of carving faces into potatoes, turnips or other starchy root vegetables, and placing them in the windows of a home to ward off wandering spirits in the dangerous night before the return of goodness at daybreak.

Creative Commons | Halloween Pumpkin

In 21st century America, Halloween has continued to evolve, becoming less of a children’s holiday and a more popular event with adults. While trick-or-treating in costume is still an extremely prevalent practice for young children, many adults and older children continue to dress up on Halloween, attending parties, parades or visiting bars, clubs and other community gatherings in lieu of knocking on doors for candy. Many modern costumes have departed from the more traditional wear, including such outfits as celebrities, political figures, animals, famous artworks, video game or cartoon characters and many other funny, clever, unique or bizarre ideas (some sweet, some cute, some sexy, some weird and some scary or gross). In fact, many Americans even put costumes on their pets for Halloween! No wonder some people’s dogs seem to have rage issues…

Creative Commons | Boston Terrier Halloween

Any way you slice it, Halloween is a holiday with a ton of cool history – ranging from religious history, to immigration history, cultural encounters and exchange, and traditions about autumn harvest and the coming of winter. And more importantly, it’s fun! Really, it’s only once a year you’re really allowed to go to work dressed as Scooby-Doo, or walk around the supermarket wearing fairy wings and waving a sparkly wand at small children. In most circumstances, that would probably result in the cops being called. On Halloween, though, everyone has an excuse to break away from the every day!

So, what are YOU doing this weekend?

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In recent years, the uncertainty about our government’s ability to take care of us in old age has led to a great inquisition and desire to learn about personal financial planning and wealth management in our society–at least we hope.  The due diligence of many economists, financial analysts and politicians in evaluating the Old Age, Survivors, Disability and Health Insurance Act (OASDHI), which will simply be referred to as “Social Security” in this four part post, has uncovered serious concerns about the future viability of our nation’s largest retirement programs.

• How critical is the need for Social Security reform?
• Which approach to reform should be adopted?
• What are the implications of each approach?

Economists have looked at these questions and developed various approaches to Social Security reform from full privatization (Milton Friedman), to partial privatization (George W. Bush: the Commission to Strengthen Social Security 2002; and Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Scott Burns: “The Coming Generational Storm” 2004), and other revenue raising and cost cutting reforms that do not require dramatic changes to the Social Security system.

This blog series presents the research of various advocates and opponents of Social Security reform.  The discussion uncovers various issues threatening the future viability of Social Security, introduces and examines the debate between various suggestions for reform and the economic implications of each, and finally, the evidence presented herein is used to make a suggestion for reform that ensures the most effective and permanent retirement system for the years to come.

Comic: Tom Toles | Washingtonpost.com

What’s Really Going On?

At first glance, the Social Security system today looks to be quite healthy, however, that is far from the truth.  Social Security is commonly referred to as a pay-as-you-go pension system; where the tax revenue from current workers (based on 12.4% of income up to $90,000.00) is used to fund the benefits of current recipients.  The revenue from payroll taxes, or Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes, greatly exceed payments to beneficiaries and represents a hefty $2 trillion current surplus in the Social Security Trust Fund.  By law, any surplus in the trust fund must be invested in long-term non-marketable Treasury securities; proceeds of which are used for government deficit spending.  In essence, the government is borrowing the money citizens pay toward their social security, using the proceeds to fund completely unrelated federal programs, then paying back all the money they borrowed, plus interest, when it is needed by us, the tax payers.  This would be fine if we all agree that the government’s use of that money is creating enough value in our economy, to offset the more than $2 trillion dollars they will inevitably have to add to the government deficit when we need the money back, and most likely by printing more money.  This in itself is another major part of the story I will not elaborate on here.

Total Social Security spending is expected to rise from 6% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 20% by 2080.  In order for the Social Security Administration to cover these obligations without increasing payroll taxes, reducing benefit levels, increasing earnings on the trust fund’s investments or delaying the age at which new retirees are eligible for full benefits, the federal budget deficit will need to rise drastically.  Didn’t we just hit an all time high on national debt?

It is expected that by 2017, nine years from now, tax revenue will no longer exceed benefit payments and the trust fund will be drawn down to cover the difference owed to beneficiaries.  In 2017, as 78 million baby boomers retire, the value of the trust fund is expected to slowly decline; eventually reaching total depletion by 2041.  The major cause for the future insolvency of Social Security is the large growth of retirees relative to the working population which supports their retirement.  This demographic transition is caused by changes in life expectancy and birth rates; birth rates are dropping and life expectancy is rising at unprecedented levels.  By 2017 the ratio of tax payers to beneficiaries will be reduced from 3.3 to 1 to about 2.2 to 1.  In light of the aging U.S. population, future projections show us how vulnerable the current Social Security system really is.  Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Ben S. Bernanke, expresses the urgency for reform in his recent speech to the Washington Economic Club.  “The imperative to undertake reform earlier rather than later is great.  As illustrated by the simulation I discussed earlier, the longer the delay in putting our entitlement programs on a sound fiscal footing, the heavier the burden that will be passed on to future generations.”……TO BE CONTINUED…..

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What happens when you get a room filled of dedicated music teachers at the local piano store in Seattle? You get the monthly meetings of Seattle Music Teachers Association (SMTA). We were luckily enough to get invited by Jeffrey Pettijohn, to share the importance of being online for local teachers who want to get more students at the October meeting earlier this week. It was great to see music teachers getting a better understanding of what we do here at TeachStreet, and having it really resonate. We were also able to connect with local friends like local piano teacher, Anita Manuel, who’s been with us since the beginning.

Photo courtesy of woodleywonderworks

These SMTA meetings are structured to provide music teachers in the community with networking opportunities, music resources and tools to help music teachers. The meeting we were a part of revolved around online resources to get more students and a presentation by Dorothy Fahlman, an accomplished piano teacher, about improving and livening up music classes, both great information for local music teachers. The SMTA really does a great job to help their teachers and give them the opportunities to be more successful in what they do.

If you’re a music teacher in the community, I’d strongly suggest you take a look at a Music Teacher Association in your community, they definitely have a lot of great resources for you to take advantage of. Here are a list of Music Teacher Associations in your local neighborhoods:

Washington:

• Seattle Music Teacher Association
• Snohomish County Music Teacher’s Association
• WSMTA – Eastside Chapter
• Click here for more local chapters

Oregon:

• OMTA – Portland District
• OMTA – Eugene District
• OMTA – Linn Benton District
• Click here for more local chapters

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A couple weeks ago on TeachStreet TV we saw the exciting demonstration of how to steal a penny. This week we have the long anticipated revelation of how to do this magic trick. Try it out on a friend and let us know how it went in the comments section. Interested in learning more cool magic tricks? Check out these great magic classes on TeachStreet.

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by Chris Lewis who teaches Seattle Tennis Lessons

How Most Students Find Teachers

Before last April I had no idea what Search Engine Opitimization (SEO) was. Why would I? I’m a tennis coach, not a computer guy. At the same time though, I realize most people use Google to find just about everything.

So out of curiosity, to see if I’d show up, I did some Google searches that people would use to find tennis lessons. I tried typing in terms like “tennis coaches seattle,” “tennis lessons seattle,” “tennis lessons ballard and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.

My TeachStreet Profile page was on the second page of Google’s listings for each of these terms and several others, too. But being the competitive person I am, this made me ask another question: “How can I rank on the 1st page?”

Check it out! Listing #1 and #2 for “tennis lessons ballard!”

Rank Higher on Google

Being a Guest Teacher Blogger on the TeachStreet Blog has been the single biggest thing that has improved my search engine performance. I love how making these posts make my TeachStreet profile page show up higher on Google.

How Guest Blogging Helps Me Show Up Higher on Google

It’s really pretty cool. I take 20-30 minutes to write an interesting post, I send it over to Joseph (joseph@teachstreet.com), usually in a word doc, and he makes the posts for me. When he does this, being the SEO guru he is, he gives me 1-2 links to my profile page.

I didn’t get why he added these links at first, but now I do, and it’s brilliant. Basically, each link from the TeachStreet Blog to my profile page is an endorsement telling Google my page is a relevant listing to show when someone searches for that term.

In other words, if Joseph links to my page (http://www.teachstreet.com/teacher/chris-lewis-tennis) in a blog post by linking the phrase “seattle tennis lessons,” my page will show up higher on Google when people search for the phrase “seattle tennis lessons” on Google.

The way Joseph explained this to me was by making the analogy that my TeachStreet profile page is like a book and each link from the TeachStreet Blog is like a citation. And the more citations (or links, rather), I get to my profile page, the more crediblity my page is given, and the higher it will rank on Google.

Now that my Profile is on the 1st page of Google, I get students by the dozen!

How to Get Started

Once you have a profile set up, and you’ve gotten a couple students to write reviews about you, I’d say one thing…blog, blog, blog. Write blogs that are interesting for people who love what you teach (hopefully not Tennis!) and e-mail your post to joseph@teachstreet.com.

Happy posting, everyone. And thanks again for all your help, TeachStreet!!!

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