African Heroes – Coming soon!

Welcome to our newest segment, African Heroes. It is an historical series that will be fronted and narrated by Anita Otchere. She will take you along on her journey of learning more about Africa’s history, in particular about the people that have made a significant impact on the continent. Anita believes that it is important for Africans living both at home and abroad to embrace their heritage and learn more about Africa’s importance to the world. If we don’t know and tell our own history, other will, as they have been doing, tell their own, wrong version of our history to the world. This is even more so as in today’s world, it is easy to believe that the Western perspective is the true way to look at Africa.

During Anita’s upbringing in the Netherlands and especially while studying, the African continent was only discussed in a negative light. “At that time this made me ask the question; if Africa is seen as unimportant and poor why are there so many countries across the globe so eager to have her under their control? Why are they queuing up to at least share her resources?”

Well in this series, she is going to take you on a historical journey by shedding light on this puzzle. She is going to examine some of the heroes of Africa since independence, their legacy and impact on the shaping of our beloved continent.


Benefits to Swimming Competitively

Benefits to Swimming Competitively

For many swimmers, swimming lessons can be a great introduction to the competitive world of swimming. If you’re interested in pursuing swimming as a sport, you can look forward to the following benefits.

Provides a Versatile Training Environment

Competitive swimming can be done both solo or on a team, which makes it a unique sport. Depending on what you’re looking to get out of competitive swimming, you can choose the training style that best suits you.

Solo swimming can provide a reprieve from daily-life and gives you time to just yourself and your thoughts. On the flip side, competing as part of a team opens you up to a more social atmosphere and allows you to enjoy the friendships that come with the sport.

Keeps You in Top Shape

Swimming involves almost all the muscles throughout the body, which gives you an excellent full-body workout. Swimming also provides great cardiovascular exercise, promoting a healthy heart and lungs. Also, due to waters high buoyancy, swimming allows us to workout without any impact on our joints.

Allows You to Enjoy Your Food

Swimmers can burn over 3000 calories daily. So, if you enjoy eating, swimming enables you to eat tons of food, due to the massive amounts of energy required in gruelling workouts and meets.

Promotes Self-Discipline

Competitive swimmers have to learn how to coordinate their workouts, practices, meets, with other life commitments, such as work or school, and still make sure they’re getting enough sleep! Having multiple commitments will force you to stay organized and learn to prioritize, so you can complete what you need to do and what you want to do.

Competitive swimming is a great thing, and for the right person can be a great addition to their life. If you’re seriously interested in growing as a swimmer and willing to put in the work, this is just some of what you can look forward to!


Sightseeing in Salt Lake City.

The main attraction in downtown Salt Lake City is the Temple Square, Three city blocks make up this group of buildings owned by the Mormons and is the most popular tourist destination in the area. Brett and I spent some time there before heading to the airport to fly home. The morning we were there, 3 weddings were taking place so there was a lot of foot traffic around the main temple. Visitors cannot go inside but can see a model of it at the visitor’s center.

Reflections on the pool in front of the temple.

There are a few building you can enter including the Tabernacle. While we were not able to catch the choir practicing, we did hear the organ playing.

SkyWatch Friday

A little bit of history

More sculptures in the park.

The statue of Martin Luther King Jr.

Roses next to the Four Spirits statue.

Linking to Wednesday Around the World.


Sophia Addison

Sophia is an enthusiastic blogger and marketing manager. She maintains the keen interest in progress and development in the marketing and business space. She also provides consultancy to small and medium-sized companies to build their brands online, design and execute their online marketing strategy to propel business growth.
Sophia Addison published a journal entry
6:57am - 29 May 2018Public

Why Customer Care Is Important In Ecommerce

Ecommerce is a field that has been growing vastly in the past decade or so. Almost everybody tends to shop online at some point in their life and if they like what they get they may even never go back to the real kind of shopping where you visit stores in person again. Shopping online brings the


Minimum Wage

The federal minimum wage was established in 1938, as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), to ensure that all work would be fairly rewarded and that regular employment would provide a decent quality of life. Congress makes periodic amendments to the FLSA to increase the federal minimum wage; however, since the 1960s, Congress has adjusted the federal minimum wage infrequently, enacting raises that have never been adequate to undo the erosion in the minimum wage’s value caused by inflation. This decline in purchasing power means low-wage workers have to work longer hours just to achieve the standard of living that was considered the bare minimum almost half a century ago. The decline in the value of the minimum wage has contributed to wage stagnation, and is directly responsible for widening inequality between low- and middle-wage workers.

In light of Congressional inaction, many states, cities, and counties have enacted their own higher minimum wages, with EARN groups providing the key research and analysis evaluating proposed minimum wage increases. In doing so, they are taking steps to help workers afford their basic needs, bring them closer to the middle class, and ensure that even the lowest-paid workers in their jurisdictions will benefit from broader improvements in wages and productivity.

Hour Crisis: Unstable Schedules in the Los Angeles Retail Sector

schedules endemic in the retail industry mean these benefits become inaccessible
realize full and healthy lives.

review of existing policy and academic literature on the topic.

Senate Ways & Means chair blocks a bill to raise minimum wage to $15 an hour

A Hawaii state senator is blocking a bill that would increase Hawaii’s minimum wage after a series of pay hikes that was enacted in 2014 came to an end this year.

As of Jan. 1, the state minimum wage stands at $10.10.

Arianna Espinoza says with that rate, she’s barely getting by working at a retail store in Ala Moana full time, while also attending college full-time.

“Not only am I paying for my own rent, I’m paying my own insurance,” the 20 year old said.

proposed bill would bump up the minimum wage to $12.25 per hour in 2019, then to $15 per hour in 2020, but the chair of the Senate Ways and Means committee is refusing to give it a hearing without more research.

A new way forward: 10 ways to support Ohio’s working people

Gradually raise minimum wage

In January 2015, Hawaii’s minimum wage increased by 50 cents in the first of four annual increases that have lifted the floor on hourly pay here to the current rate, $10.10. State lawmakers are now weighing whether it should be bumped up again — but there’s more cause for caution today than there was in the minimum-wage debate four years ago.

Senate Bill 2291 would raise the wage to $12.25 next January, and to $15 in 2020.

Supporters of the push toward the $15-mark (roughly $30,000 annually for a full-time employee) assert that bigger paychecks could help workers make financial ends meet and boost the economy by giving some consumers more money to spend.