His talented daughter Marian is being featured this week on the web in a newsletter exposing her talent to millions. And hopefully this great exposure will urge some new fans to show up at this weekend's Album Release party in Los Angeles.
The Urban Professionals COMMUNIQUE' is a weekly adnewsletter that caters to the lifestyle of Urban Professional People.
MUSICAL TALENT OF THE WEEK ~ Marian Marie
For a taste of Marian's sound click here:http://www.marianmarie.com/music.html
Her voice is as sweet as her face.
Sunday, December 9th, 2007
"Simply Me" Album Release Concert & Party
Doors open at 6:30pm
Show starts at 7:30pm.
The El Rey Theater
5515 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90036
Between Fairfax & LaBrea
323-936-6400
Price: Pre-Sale $15.00 / $20.00 at Door
Party directly following concert.
The second Great Knewz was that Microsoft's Bill Gates is making some very generous gestures to invite African-American youth to study and get more deeply involved in the field of Computer Engineering and Technology.
NEWS - Lack of black engineers hurts U.S., Bill Gates says.
A recent study says that less than 10% of graduates of computer science programs in the U.S. are black -- a fact that will contribute to a shortage of technology professionals in the years ahead, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said. "The United States is not turning out from any group as many of the great engineers as there will be jobs for," said Gates, who added that blacks are particularly underrepresented in the tech industry because high school dropout rates in the black community exceed 50%.
"That is a stunning number ... the trends are very much working against somebody in that situation," said Gates, speaking Friday at a conference hosted by the National Society of Black Engineers at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters.
"There will be a huge number of computer science jobs created over the next 10 years, and the number of people majoring in those subjects is falling short of that," said Gates. According to a study by the National Science Foundation, fewer than 6,000 of the 52,500 computer science graduates in the U.S. in 2004 were black. "The shallow pool of skills is due, in part, to the lack of minorities being drawn into technology," said NSBE executive director Carl Mack, in a statement.
Microsoft, named by the NSBE on Tuesday as the top employer for black engineers, said it's trying to change that by partnering with NSBE and hiring and promoting African-American programmers and engineers. The company also announced a software developer grant to the NSBE that gives its members a three-year membership in the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance.
The memberships give NSBE faculty and students access to a range of Microsoft products and technologies, including Windows Vista, SQL Server, and Visual Studio. ****************************************************************************
"What do you want to be when you grow up? What career will you pursue?"
Do we really listen? Do we watch? Or does society dictate how we mold our own beloved young people, simply to try to ensure them a certain income bracket? How many hearts have we broken, spirits have we doused and dreams have we squashed, ignoring the In Born Gift of Genius that each Life possesses.
We don't do these things maliciously....we're just not sensitive ourselves, and we've been misprogrammed in regards to working with Nature, with Life, with Love.
Please, share the message of Bill Gates' comments and offers with someone. Encourage a young adult to check it out and take advantage of these opportunties. I'm sure you know someone that just loves computer games, Nintendo , XBox , or just hates to be pried away from the computer . Maybe there's a young lady that is always taking something a part, because her creativity wants to know how it works. Instead of getting upset and angry, lets learn to (quietly) pay attention, so as to deepen our understanding of these complex creatures we are given to nurture.
Still can't figure out how or what to do with them? Watch what animals in the wild do. TV/Cable is full of programs that show how the planets most successful parents 'do it'. The creatures of Earth still fortunate enough to live in their natural habitat are excellent teachers of how to support the young into becoming socially functioning mature members of the group.
Once we've got an understanding of the natural creative inquisitive urge that we are witnessing (in a person), we can then start the work to channel that urge. Let's use that attraction, that natural -already present- allure, as a lure to a stepping stone on a path that leads to creative and productive activites.
Working with the interests.....those in-born individual attractions....that one 'thing' that our youth already love, and do well. Then to see deeper than it's surface outplay, so as to identify it's functional significance or aspect in our everyday world. Then we can begin to enable the young person to see how this interest/talent/passion could develop into an expanded Life for them.
And never think that we only have one area of genius, ability, interest or gift. So sometimes the task is to prioritize, or relegate interests and talents to certain periods of time and growth in the continuuim of our Lives. A case in point is Marian's road to her present place in the spotlight. After graduating from UCLA, she worked for Conde Nast Publications, one of the world's major publishers of magazines such as Vogue, The New Yorker, Conde Nast Traveler and Wired. She used the experience gained in the publishing field to bring her closer to her passion, the love of music, when she joined the staff at Vibe Magazine, the publication launched by Quincy Jones. Intelligence, publishing business and music saavy, personality and beauty made marketing Vibe a magazine that covers the urban trends of music, fashion, cars and electronic gadgets, an easy sell for Marian. Working there for 10 years, she rose all the way to the executive ranks as the Northwest Regional Director of Sales, all the while continuing to gig, compose and 'do her thing' as a vocalist/composer/producer.
This as loving adults is our creative challenge. To identify the genius within our youth, and then work with Nature, that it may be manifested. For our part, it takes sensitivity, appreciation and open hearted willingness to discover.
This we do as parents, educators, neighbors, employers....and caring extended family members.
I got to witness and participate in this type of nurturing and parenting thru my extended family. And the proof of it's success hits the stage at the famous El Rey Theater on Wilshire Blvd., Saturday at 7:30 p.m.~
Kentke
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