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In late 2008 singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke released “The Works,” an album of songs with lyrics from the Woody Guthrie Archives and Foundation in Mount Kisco, New York. Woody Guthrie’s family encourages songwriters to come to the foundation to research Guthrie’s written poems, notes, lyrics, journal entries – the ones that were never set to music. Although many have taken the foundation up on this proposal, Brooke is the first artist to record an entire album of songs from the archives. The lyrics are from Guthrie, while Brooke supplies the melodies, arrangements and vocals. The result is amazing. Brooke’s take on Guthrie has a modern, sassy sound that’s timeless, eloquent and supremely endearing.

“The Works” has been lauded by critics far and wide for Brooke’s modern, sassy take on Guthrie. The songs on the album are that’s timeless, eloquent and infinitely endearing. Standout cuts include, “My Sweet and Bitter Bowl,” “All You Got to Do is Touch Me” and “New Star.” These songs are truly a testament to Guthrie’s soul and to Brooke’s depth as an artist. “Jonatha’s antennae honed in on Woody’s love songs, which are still relatively unknown,” says Nora Guthrie, the late folk legend’s daughter, in a statement at the foundation’s Website. “Some are sweetly childlike, others more spiritual. They all swirl around Woody’s broad concept of love, as a completely theme in and of itself.”

The 2008 economic crash prompted many banks to reach out to customers to help them understand how to save money and take more control of their own finances. Although it’s true that bank executives were part of the systematic problem that created the recession in the first place, it’s also just as true that banks need to be – indeed have to be – part of the healing of our collective financial dysfunction. If you want to find out how to manage you money better and don’t have the money to hire a financial advisor, your local bank can likely help you out with free services. That means if you’re a bank customer you can get some level of financial advice for free.

Since the onslaught of the recession, many banks have added products that pay you back for saving money or that give you a one-time break on interest rates on CD’s. There’s also flurry of new financial literacy classes that take banking to the workplace or to the community-at-large. Classes cover everything from avoiding foreclosure to strategies for the sophisticated investor. Classes are usually free. Some banks have introduced a customer assistance program to individuals and families in financial distress. This program helps participants reduce or restructure problematic loans. These banks through the new program have helped about 12,000 people nationwide avoid foreclosure.

The Internet has not always been around. When it was created, it changed the way people communicated. Before the Internet, one of ways people usually communicated was through the U.S Postal System which was created in eighteenth century. Mails and packages were initially carried by foot and horseback until the other transportation services such as the steamboat and railroads evolved (About.com). Though the steamboat and railroad provided faster mail delivery for people, the creation of the Internet established such an efficiency for communicating that one can instantaneously with the click of one, two, or maybe three buttons, be in direct contact with a loved one. For example, Facebook, a social networking site, allows millions of its users to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones (Facebook). One specific feature that Facebook offers is the Instant Chat Application. When my cousin who lives in Lagos, Nigeria comes online, I am able to click the application and communicate with her immediately as opposed to sending a letter to her which takes about two weeks! Because Facebook connects people who reside in different cities, states, countries, and continents, it can be referred to as a world connector or world culture. Furthermore, Facebook, being a product of the Internet, can dissipate the issue of delayed responses between loved ones and thus enhance communication.

On the other hand, by-products of the Internet such as AOL or Yahoo messenger can produce emotional damage. According to the Government Security.org, instant messaging allow users to freely transfer potentially virus-ridden files and to conduct unencrypted chat sessions that are a virtual open book to any reasonably knowledgeable hacker. Also, it enables peer-to-peer file sharing among members of a messaging group. In other words, all users in an IM club can potentially access the disks of the other members of the group. Thus, the hard disks of unprotected IM users are potentially at the disposal of any would-be hacker during an IM chat session (Government Security.org). Therefore, a hacker could frame his victim by posing as the victim and destroying all the meaningful relationships established.

Time Magazine recently devoted the bulk of an entire issue to the theme “The Future of Work.” The issue, published May 25, 2009, is an extremely educational read. So many relevant work-related topics are covered you feel like you’ve read a book by an expert. But you can easily read the articles in an hour. In essence, the issue is a primer to help people understand the radical changes happening at the workplace. You can plug into it at any level, whether you are an aging Baby Boomer facing an more years of work than you bargained for a Generation Y free-spirit who thinks the traditional way work as been structured is at best ineffective and at best insane.

Here’s the bottom line: The traditional workplace as we know it is disappearing rapidly. It’s becoming clear that many in the work force are on their own when it comes to retirement and health care. Most of us will need to think like a self-employed entrepreneur if we’re going to stay afloat in the new world of work. But the trends are not all bad. Some point to a smoother integration of work and home life and a deeper appreciative for creative problem solving. Looking for ways to cut back, more and more companies are experimenting with reduced hours, unpaid furloughs and lateral moves. Because the work/life balance in America had gotten so out of whack, many workers are relieved that they now have creative options, even if it means a smaller paycheck.

Nashville is a hub for bluegrass, a place with the artistry, commerce and culture of this distinctly American form of music come together. At no time is that more evident than when the city holds its annual World of Bluegrass conference and festival sponsored by International Bluegrass Music Association. The conference has been said to have an economic impact on the city of more than $3 million. Dan Hayes, executive director of the International Bluegrass Music Association, believes bluegrass is at a rare time in its history because there are so many young people involved in the form.. The often take it to a new level of improvisation and performance. He calls it the “golden age of bluegrass.”

The International Bluegrass Association helps bluegrass musicians build relationships with event producers, broadcasters and other media, retailers, record labels and agents and others in the music industry. It is also busy raising the profile of the genre. Although there are hundreds of professional bluegrass groups, about 80 percent of the thousands who play the genre don’t make a full-time living at it. A typical bluegrass CD can sell from 10,000 to 40,000 copies, not counting much higher numbers posted by widely known bluegrass stars such as Allison Krauss or Nickel Creek. Recent industry research shows more than 15 million people list bluegrass as their favorite musical style. The number of radio stations playing bluegrass has increased dramatically to more than 800. There are thousands of bluegrass bands all over the world, including countries such as Sweden, Japan, Brazil, Russia, Great Britain and Switzerland. According to bluegrass experts, there are more bluegrass bands in the Czech Republic than in Kentucky.

According to the American Cancer Society, about 1.4 million people will receive a cancer diagnosis in 2009. Over 20,000 cases will be diagnosed in Middle Tennessee. Medical experts say reaching out to survivors is an emerging trend. More and more people are surviving cancer, and that means the survivors will need expanded medical services in the future. Long-term medical needs of cancer survivors can include anything from the services of a psychologist to a nutritionist or a physical therapist.

Many things have changed about cancer care – and for the better. For example, the majority of cancer treatments are now conducted on an outpatient basis. In fact, in Middle Tennessee alone there are over 200,000 cancer outpatient visits a year. In general, cancer is no longer a death sentence, especially when detected early.

One example of the investment being poured into local outpatient services it the new 18,000-square-foot Vanderbilt Breast Center at the VanderbiltHealth 100 Oaks campus. The new center more than doubles the space of the Vandy’s previous center on 21^st Avenue South. The Tri-Star Health System, owned by local hospital giant HCA, is in the midst of a $20 million expansion of the cancer center at Centennial Hospital in Nashville. The expansion of services includes 92 inpatient beds, including 11 for bone marrow transplants, 14 for leukemia and lymphoma patients and 20 general oncology beds.

The daVinci Surgical System is a robotic device that is used for minimally invasive surgery. With this remarkable instrument, the patient is spared much of the “cut-and-open” that comes with traditional under-the-knife surgery. A trained surgeon can manipulate the hand controls of the device to make incisions that go beyond the capabilities of the human hand. Minimally invasive surgery often referred to as MIS, is surgery that is usually performed through small incisions rather than large ones. It results in shorter recovery times, fewer complications, reduced costs of hospitalization and reduced patient trauma.

The da Vinci costs $1 million or more and are designed to perform completely autonomous movements after being programmed by a surgeon. It’s a computer-enhanced system that interposes a computer between the surgeon’s hands and the tips of the micro-instruments. It can’t be programmed on its own to move without the surgeon’s technical instructions. The da Vinci is being used in procedures world-wide, mostly in urologic, cardiac, bariatric, colorectal and gynecologic surgeries. Its impact is becoming undeniable. It is now used in medical major centers in the United States, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, the Netherlands, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Australia and Turkey.

Dr. Thomas Frist is one of Nashville’s most prominent health care leaders and entrepreneurs. He could be considered the founding father of Middle Tennessee’s burgeoning health care industry, which has grown to include over 300 companies that generate more than $50 billion in revenue yearly. At 70, he’s more active than most 25 years old men. Frist co-founded The Hospital Corporation of America over 40 years ago. He is chairman emeritus of HCA, still maintaining an office there. In 2008, Frist entered a major business venture in China along with his son-in-law. The duo is planning a 550-bed hospital near the port city of Ningbo, China. The structure will replace an existing hospital and could help create a new blueprint for health care in a country of 1.5 billion.

Frist is about more than traditional business accomplishment or corporate wealth. He’s quite an adventurer and a passionate philanthropist. For example, he recently went bungee jumping in New Zealand, and also flew a single engine plane across the Atlantic Ocean. He is also the founder of United Way’s Alexis de Tocqueville Society, one of the nation’s most successful charitable funds. Frist’s model, which he created to encouraged philanthropic contributions of $10,000 or more to United Way, has been embraced by 398 United Way chapters nationwide. The results are amazing. The fund attracts over $400 million a year in contributions.