Opinion & Columns

Hannemann’s Music Corner: Living Things

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on April 12, 2013

Hannemann’s Music Corner: Living Things

By RICHARD HANNEMANN

Friday April 19, from 5-7 p.m., the Karen Wray Studios will present an exhibition entitled “Living Things.”

I will be providing the music, which makes sense given that instruments are living things as well.

Never thought of it that way?

Back in the day, when I lived in the LA Apartments (1971-ish), I had a Lyle classical guitar.

I’ve always been a bit fortunate in the guitars I’ve owned – in terms of the quality of their voice – and this Lyle, my first classical, was no

Help With The Hard Stuff: ‘Resolve if Possible’

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on April 11, 2013

Help With The Hard Stuff

Part 5 (of 10) –“Resolve if Possible”

By GINI NELSON, JD, MA

I ended my last column asking you to remember William Ury’s “third-sider” motto, “Contain if necessary, resolve if possible, best of all prevent.”

In that column we looked at Prevent, and the three prevention roles Ury identified as Provider, Teacher, and Bridge-Builder.

This week we look at Resolve. Remember, Uri’s strategy is to catch and handle conflict as early and constructively as possible, to limit its escalation and destructiveness.

He quotes Shakespeare: “A little fire is quickly trodden out, which, Read More

PEEC Amateutur Naturalist: Turkey Vultures Return to Los Alamos Ice Rink

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on April 11, 2013

PEEC Amateutur Naturalist

By Robert Dryja

The Mission of San Juan Capistrano is known for swallows returning each year.

There even is a website dedicated to this event.

Turkey Vultures are one of Los Alamos’s earliest returning birds, but they’re not quite as endearing as the swallows.

Turkey Vulture. Photo by Bob Dryja

Four Turkey Vultures were seen migrating through the area or returning to their roost high in a tree near the Los Alamos Canyon ice rink on March 16, 2013.

The road by the ice rink forms a loop and heads up the north side of the canyon. A parking area at the top of the canyon Read More

Money IQ: Required Minimum Distributions

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on April 10, 2013

Money IQ

By TAMMY M. THORN

Required Minimum Distributions (RMD)

Several months ago in Money IQ, the focus was on retirement savings, specifically what IRA Savings Plan was best suited for you in reducing your tax bill.

What’s next?

Retirement and Required Minimum Distribution (RMD): The IRS mandates that an individual is subject to a Required Minimum Distribution from Traditional IRA Savings Plans or other retirement plan savings (Roth IRAs excluded) once one attains age 70 and ½.

Definition: RMD is the minimum amount an IRA owner must withdraw from their retirement account Read More

Column: A Gathering of Heroes

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on April 10, 2013

A GATHERING OF HEROES

By Vern Woodward, husband of a Breast Cancer Survivor

As a former member of the elite American Special Operations community, I became accustomed to daily interaction with extraordinary people who had undergone a most intensive examination and evaluation process to identify those individuals who would seek out and address dangerous situations in the interest of American safety and security.

I learned that one could grow casually familiar with astonishingly unique people.

It was not until I entered the civilian world where I met another group of astonishing Read More

Letter to the Editor: An Unhappy Marker of How Far We Have to Go

Submitted by Carol A. Clark on April 9, 2013

Equal Pay Day

(An unhappy marker of how far we have to go)

By Judy Prono and Natalie Markin

Co-Facilitators, AAUW-Los Alamos Branch

Today, Tuesday April 9, is Equal Pay Day. It marks how far into the year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned in the previous year.

The day is an unhappy marker of how far we have to go before we close the gender wage gap. This gap hasn’t budged in nearly a decade, leaving women and their families to suffer the effects of lost wages.

Fifty years ago, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, which requires employers to give women and men equal pay for Read More