ELKHART Granger-based investment company Wait Industries LLC announced on Thursday plans to invest $3 million in its Elkhart plant.

The company will purchase $1 million worth of equipment, including the addition of a tube laser, CNC tube bending, robotic welding and upgraded power coasting capabilities.

The rest will be used to purchase the nearly 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility to allow for the opportunity to make the building the way the company wants, according to Doug Wait, president of Wait Industries.

Wait Industries owns Voyager and M-3 and Associates, which both operate under the same facility at 2500 Ada Drive in Elkhart.

Founded in 1987, M-3 produces trailer ramp spring assist lift systems and pioneered the use of dual-spring systems. The company also distributes components and parts to the enclosed trailer and recreational vehicle markets, as well as HVAC, steel and aluminum pieces and other custom metal products.

Voyager was founded more than 40 years ago and specializes in high-quality steel fabrication. The company provides parts for many sectors, including medical, RV, automotive and furniture while serving clients nationwide. Voyager also has expertise in laser cutting, welding, metal forming, stamping and powder coating.

This investment will allow us to serve our existing customers with a more consistent and higher quality process and it improves our cost and should give us the capability to reduce our cost for our existing customers, Wait said.

The investment will be completed within six months.

The plant will still operate as new equipment is brought in, Wait said.

View original post here:
Wait Industries to invest $3 million in Elkhart plant - The Elkhart Truth

HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Hartford announced its policy on insuring and investing in coal and tar sands. The company will no longer insure or invest in companies that generate more than 25 percent of their revenues from thermal coal mining or more than 25 percent of their energy production from coal. In addition, the company will also stop insuring and investing in companies that generate more than 25 percent of their revenues directly from the extraction of oil from tar sands.

The world needs affordable, accessible energy to support global economic progress and, at the same time, action is needed to mitigate the impact such activity has on our climate, said The Hartfords Chairman and CEO Christopher Swift. Extreme weather affects peoples lives and businesses and the risks are getting worse. As an insurer and asset manager we recognize the growing cost of this crisis, and were determined to use our resources and influence to address the challenge. Thats why we have taken a position on coal and tar sands.

The policy parameters include:

About The Hartford

The Hartford is a leader in property and casualty insurance, group benefits and mutual funds. With more than 200 years of expertise, The Hartford is widely recognized for its service excellence, sustainability practices, trust and integrity. More information on the company and its financial performance is available at https://www.thehartford.com. Follow us on Twitter at @TheHartford_PR.

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., (NYSE: HIG) operates through its subsidiaries under the brand name, The Hartford, and is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut. For additional details, please read The Hartfords legal notice.

HIG-C

Some of the statements in this release may be considered forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We caution investors that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ materially. Investors should consider the important risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ. These important risks and uncertainties include those discussed in our 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-Q, and the other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update this release, which speaks as of the date issued.

From time to time, The Hartford may use its website and/or social media outlets, such as Twitter and Facebook, to disseminate material company information. Financial and other important information regarding The Hartford is routinely accessible through and posted on our website at https://ir.thehartford.com, Twitter account at http://www.twitter.com/TheHartford_PR and Facebook at https://facebook.com/thehartford. In addition, you may automatically receive email alerts and other information about The Hartford when you enroll your email address by visiting the Email Alerts section at https://ir.thehartford.com.

View post:
The Hartford Announces Its Policy On Insuring, Investing In Coal, Tar Sands - Business Wire

For a few windy days in early October, I was one of 200 people who dropped off the map. I told my friends and family I was going to Philadelphia the terms of my registration prohibited me from telling them where, exactly and disabled my phones location services. It was here, at an ultra-exclusive three-day meeting organized by a Marine veteran, where we discussed an issue of obsessive importance to all assembled: low-cost index mutual funds.

These conference-goers werent the high-rolling stock market fanatics you see in movies, staking their fortunes on one big bet and agonizing over short-term market misfortune. Instead, these were mom and pop investors drivers ed instructors, doctors and web developers by day who embrace long-term commitments to broad, boring investments. Known as the Bogleheads, these investors follow the teachings of John Bogle, who founded the pioneering investment firm Vanguard in 1975. I had joined them to learn about passive index fund investing, a strategy far removed from the glitz and glamor of picking individual stocks but one that research says works.

Bogle is widely regarded as the father of index investing, a strategy that functions best when investors sit on their hands for decades. The investments the Bogleheads choose, low-cost index mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), are designed to mimic stock or bond markets, not beat them. Bogleheads core belief stay the course is so essential to their investment strategy that mentioning it while booking your hotel room for the Boglehead Conference unlocked a discounted nightly rate.

For this group of zealous investors, the promise of spending three days with kindred spirits was well worth the $325 cost and the scramble to snag one of just 200 spots that sold out in less than a day. While talk about Schwab and Vanguards most compelling offerings might make friends and family tune out, the Bogleheads had a captive and eager audience in each other.

The best part is that no one rolls their eyes, says Paul James, a former PR professional who traveled from his home in Orlando to attend the conference. Theres a reason this meeting of investors sells out every year: the annual conference is a chance to match faces to message board usernames and discuss (or commiserate about) the market in person. The Bogleheads Conferences have been operating for nearly two decades, having grown out of an online community once called the Vanguard Diehards. Now based on the Bogleheads.org forums, the community is a place where investors can ask questions and share advice about everything from 401(k)s to health insurance.

Some of the events exclusivity and security can be explained by the groups former frequent guest of honor: Jack Bogle himself. The champion of the average investor attended almost every annual Bogleheads meet-up, says Mel Lindauer, president of the John C. Bogle Foundation for Financial Literacy and the events organizer. A Marine veteran, Lindauer knows a thing or two about security hence the vague directions and GPS precaution.

In 2019, the security measures were still in place, even if, as Lindauer puts it, this is the first year we know, in advance, that Bogle wont attend. He died in January, and in place of his traditional Thursday morning fireside chat, this years panels kicked off with a celebration of the Vanguard founders life as shared by two of his daughters and a group of former assistants.

While Bogles absence marked a notable shift from previous conferences, it didnt stop attendees from traveling to Philadelphia from as far away as Germany to attend panels that touched upon everything from behavioral finance to ESG indexes, or so-called Environmental, Social, and Governance investments focused on social responsibility or sustainability neither of which I had ever given much thought to, personally.

At a conference of expert investors, I was a complete beginner which, as it turns out, wasnt as much of a problem as Id anticipated. While the folks who attend the conference year after year have an enviable grasp of investment knowledge, they didnt look down on me for asking how to get started. In fact, they were happy to share some tips to get me on the right track. Here are the Bogleheads key tips for beginners:

Story continues

Sure, you want to make the best moves you can with your money. But dont get overwhelmed with your options and let decision paralysis keep you from saving now. While its important to have a well-researched plan for the long haul, you should at least be contributing to your 401(k). Why? The magic of compound interest, that property that Albert Einstein called the eighth wonder of the world, where your money grows that much faster because you keep earning interest on your interest. To illustrate their strategy, attendees often stressed that a person who starts investing small amounts in their early 20s will be better off than someone who starts later and invests larger amounts later to catch up.

If you thought investing was about picking individual stocks, well, youre not necessarily wrong. Thats one approach, and theres a certain drama to taking a big gamble on a small stock or watching the market fluctuate throughout the day. But for the Bogleheads, the best way to play is through passively-managed index funds like those pioneered by Vanguard. That way, while your investment will rise and fall with the market, youre not a victim to any particular companys misfortune.

Investing in passively-managed funds is a core Boglehead tenet and research shows the strategy is a sound one. The majority of actively-managed funds have underperformed the stock market for nearly a decade, CNBC reports, citing the annual S&P Dow Jones Indices report. In other words, trying to pick winners doesnt work; simply riding out the markets ups and downs does.

Yes, you can check in on your investments throughout the day to see how theyre doing but does that do you any good? If you ask the Bogleheads, the answer is no.

At the 2019 Bogleheads Conference, a common question among attendees was do you peek? That is, do you check in on your investments, even though you intend to leave them alone for years to come?

While various Bogleheads do cop to peeking every so often, a few times a year they know they shouldnt react to market fluctuations. The key is, as one attendee mentioned to me, to set it and forget it that is, once you know what youre investing in, leave it alone, let the market do its thing and try not to worry.

As someone who already feels like I have a lot to worry about, this was music to my ears. When I got home from the conference, I did peek, just once, to make sure my 401(k) contribution was sufficient and invested in a broad index fund. Satisfied with what I saw, I logged out and havent been back since.

View post:
There's a Super-Secret Conference Dedicated to Investing Legend Jack Bogle. Here's What It's Like on the Inside - Yahoo Finance

The Defiance Next Gen Connectivity ETF (FIVG) ticker symbol FIVG launched earlier this year. The fund is a passive index fund that is based on the BlueStar 5G Communications Index. That means that there aren't managers actively picking stocks, per se.

But BlueStar will use several quantitative and qualitative rules to select which stocks make the index, says Paul Dellaquila, president of Defiance ETFs. So an element of stock picking will exist.

Dellaquila said that BlueStar is looking for telecom equipment companies, service providers and chip manufacturers that all have significant amounts of their businesses tied to 5G.

Dellaquila explained to CNN Business that the idea for a 5G fund came about when Standard & Poor's shook up its sector classifications last year.

"Many institutional clients didn't like this," Dellaquila said. "They were already overweight the FAANG stocks and wanted a pure telecom fund. There also was an overwhelming interest in 5G."

So the content companies are not in the new 5G ETF even though many of them will benefit from the wider rollout of faster 5G networks.

Increased 5G adoption is clearly a bigger deal for the service providers and the legion of tower, chip and equipment companies that make the infrastructure that is the backbone of these advanced high-speed networks.

The deployment of 5G is helping companies like Ciena, a networking equipment firm that is part of the ETF. Ciena reported a strong 2020 earnings outlook earlier this month, news that sent its stock surging.

Smith added that companies like Ciena are also benefiting from the 5G boom because many telecom customers have concerns about being too dependent on buying equipment from China. Smith said those fears started even before the US ban on equipment from leading telecom firm Huawei.

Still, even though 5G is expected to be a big trend in 2020 and beyond, the fund has actually lagged the broader market since it began trading in March. It's up less than 5%, compared to a more-than 15% jump in the S&P 500 during the same time frame.

But Dellaquila, whose firm also has specialty ETFs catering to sustainable food trends, esports and quantum computing, isn't too concerned yet. He said that many of the tech companies in the fund were hurt by concerns about tariffs from China but that many of those worries may now subside following the Phase One trade deal.

"Chip stocks and network equipment providers definitely got caught up in China trade talk concerns," Dellaquila said. "But the future looks much brighter as these companies will benefit from the future global rollout of 5G."

He added that there has been strong interest in the ETF so far, even though it has underperformed. Dellaquila said it launched with about $2.5 million in assets under management and now has nearly $135 million.

Some dynamic companies currently not in the ETF could be eventually added when the fund rebalances, which it does every June and September, Dellaquila said.

"Samsung is not in the ETF. We would love to have them in the portfolio but it would be way too expensive," Dellaquila said.

See original here:
5G is coming. Here's one way to invest in the telecom boom - CNN

Markets enter a new week clinging to hopes that a Phase 1 trade deal between the U.S. and China will hold together.

Analysts note that some sticking points and questions surround the tentative trade agreement, and cautious optimism seems the byword for Monday as stock futures creep higher.

Its been a pretty rewarding year for many investors, and no one wants that derailed at the last minute by trade hiccups. Double-digit percentage gains for stock markets arent just limited to the U.S., with Europe and parts of emerging and Asian markets also having enjoyed a solid year.

Think international going forward, says our call of the day from Raj Sharma, a private wealth adviser at Merrill Private Wealth Management. Hes been on Barrons list of Americas Top Financial Advisors for 16 straight years through to 2019, and can also be found on Forbess 2019 Top 100 U.S. Wealth Advisors.

The emerging consumer is a very durable investment theme, says Sharma, who notes that the developed worlds population is shrinking and getting older, but emerging markets hold huge opportunity given the vast numbers of younger people.

He points out that India has over 1.2 billion people and 65% of the nation is under 35 years old. Investors can do well in these markets by figuring out what those consumers need to improve their lifestyles, and the items they will buy, such as billions of cars, he says.

To do well consistently over time you have to be a bit contrarian in the way you look at things. If you always follow the hard dot, youre likely to be disappointed, Sharma says, noting that international stocks and emerging markets are selling at over a 30% discount to the U.S.

The Dow DJIA, +0.28% , S&P SPX, +0.49% and Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.42%, while European stocks SXXP, +0.80% have surged and Asian markets ADOW, -0.26% had a mixed day. The dollar DXY, +0.31% is weak and the British pound GBPUSD, -0.0692% is up after last weeks victory for the Conservative Party.

Our chart from Jeff Desjardins, editor of the Visual Capitalist blog, shows the S&P 500 SPX, +0.49% over the past 30 years, using data from Macrotrends. If you invested $100 in the U.S. market on November 26, 1990, you would have over $1,000 today, he notes.

Shares of PG&E PCG, +0.64% are down over 20% as Gov. Gavin Newsom of California demands changes to the utilitys plan to pay wildfire victims and exit bankruptcy.

Food flavoring group International Flavors & Fragrances IFF, -0.44% is merging with conglomerate DuPonts DD, -0.63% nutrition unit in a $26.2 billion deal.

Boeing shares BA, -1.65% are down after the Wall Street Journal reported that the aircraft maker may stop or further cut production of the 737 Max, involved in two fatal crashes. A Boeing spokesman told the Journal that the company is working with regulators on the planes safe return to service.

Im absolutely confident that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything ... living standards and outcomes. Barack Obama, the former U.S. president, speaking in Singapore.

A busy data week kicks off with the Empire State Manufacturing index in the New York region, which came in below expectations. The Markit manufacturing and services purchasing managers indexes and a home builders index are still to come. (Data preview.)

Hallmark Channel to reinstate same-sex-wedding commercials after boycott threats

Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein says women should be thanking him

Another big winter storm is sweeping across the U.S.

This photo of two mice fighting on the London Underground is everything

Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. Be sure to check the Need to Know item. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.

Follow MarketWatch on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.

See the article here:
Best investments for 2020 and the next decade, according to a top U.S. financial adviser - MarketWatch

Since The Utah Review started publishing in 2014, the emphasis on the Utah Enlightenment has dominated the coverage of what is new and original in the arts and culture landscape locally. Utahs natural beauty always has appealed strongly as a branding asset. But, as we have covered the arts and cultural scene, there is no question that when it comes to arts and culture, Utah has many strengths and on a per capita basis, the evidence confirms that the Salt Lake City metropolitan area is punching well above its weight (population) class.

Heading into 2020, several general characteristics can be identified with the Utah Enlightenment:

The Utah Enlightenment also lost a titan this year, when playwright Eric Samuelsen died in September at the age of 63 after a long illness. As The Utah Review noted in a tribute published earlier, he epitomized and clarified how this spiritually abstracted movement of creative expression arising from Utahs unique sense of place and meaning could be defined. Samuelsen did more than create extraordinary plays for the purpose of art for arts sake. His plays elevated the contemporary experience with the sum of its tensions, problems, conflicts, disappointments and crises to an enthralling sensation of healing and empowerment.

The following are the top 10 moments of the Utah Enlightenment for 2019, as presented in no particular order.

One of the strongest performing arts collaborations of the year occurred last winter with theRirie-Woodbury Dance Company, theFlying Bobcat Theatrical Laboratoryand the Red Fred Project in a work that evoked a vibrant, colorful, innocent, joyful, poignant and glistening landscape. For the Red Fred Projects young authors and their curator Dallas Graham,the live creature and ethereal thingsconcert was like an animated film made full in flesh and character. It heightened the senses evoked in the stories created by their young authors, who have rare diseases and chronic illness and who are mentored by Graham. The young authors creative voices are naturally poetic, full of innocence and vivid imagination. On stage, the six dancers were transformed into the bird characters of the Jolly Troop, joined by Robert Scott Smith, the narrator, who asked the audience if you could tell the world story, what would it be. Smith and Alexandra Harbold from Flying Bobcast guided the theatrical contributions to the production. The transformation was complete with the delightful costumes created by Jared Gold that accentuated dancers pitch-perfect character movement and the musical score by John Paul Hayward. A reenvisioned version of this shimmering world of fantasy and innocence will be presented in Allegory, Ririe-Woodburys winter season concert (Jan. 31-Feb. 1).

Julie Jensen is the most frequently produced playwright from Utah with her work being presented not just in the state but also nationally and internationally. For its season-opening production,Pygmalion Theatre Companypresented JensensTwo-Headed, directed by Fran Pruyn.

Written two decades ago, with previous productions in Utah as well as in other locations including New York City and the U.K., the play opens on the day in 1857 when the Mountain Meadows Massacre occurred. A decade after Mormons arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, a wagon train of 127 immigrants from Missouri and Arkansas were slaughtered in southern Utah by Mormon zealots. Seven were spared: all children. The specific reference to time anchors the play, as four decades pass through each scene and the memory of that horrific event is permanently etched in the minds of both characters, Lavinia and Hettie, who are 10 years old at the start of the play.

The production was stellar in every aspect and it communicated the poetic streams of Jensens writing to maximal effect. Most importantly, Haley McCormick Jenkins as Hettie and Brenda Hattingh as Lavinia delivered dynamite performances, particularly in their subtle mannerisms that evolve as they move from the ages of 10 to 50 in 75 minutes.

Plan-B Theatresefforts in inclusion and diversity establish an undeniable position as leader in the artistic community. Two of this years top 10 moments come from this extraordinary small theater company. The first comes from Olivia Custodios short play Drivers License, Please, that premiered last season as part of Of Color, featuring four short works by playwrights of color. A writer with natural comedic gifts, Custodio delivered the productions most audacious, ribald moments, riffing handily off the classically unpleasant experience of renting a car, the setup for a scene as women get justice for the wholly obnoxious behavior of a chauvinist male. Likewise, her short play Bombastic Blue with three characters in an underground shelter after a nuclear bomb attack brought roars of laughter in late August at the 8thannualRose Exposed!show.

The second moment from Plan-B comes from this seasons stupendous world premiereof Camille WashingtonsOda Might. The play, with superb examples of subtle foreshadowing, commanded absolute attention from the audience. The simplest description is that Oda Might is about two black women sitting and chatting at a table in a therapy session at a mental health institution in New York City. But, listen closely. The session starts conventionally enough, reflecting the sensitive, careful research the playwright conducted to fortify the credibility of a superbly crafted narrative. There are subtle ripples throughout the play that shake our expectations about the charactersa brief moment of nonverbal frustration in reaction to a spoken line, eye contact or a raised eyebrow reacting to an unexpected utterance, the growing sense that a puzzle is nearly completed but still missing the most critical piece or two.

WashingtonsOda Mightconfronts and takes command over the consequences of sadly familiar, condescending displays of casually tolerant inclusionary rhetoric and stereotypes that have engendered more negative than positive impact. The characters negotiate the narrative through the frequent intersections of contemporary culture, entrenched racism and black womanhood.

It is important to reiterate a point The Utah Review made earlier this year about Plan-Bs Of Color: For a critic who sees the creation of art, in its broadest terms, as framing difficult questions that pull us out of our comfort zones, creative expression that is fearless in taking risks becomes the most meaningful to consider. In Utah, we put a premium on civility, politeness and gentility that tacitly signals restraint and not just among conservatives but also many others of different sociopolitical stripes.

Likewise, Salt Lake Acting Company (SLAC) has advanced significantly the goal of inclusion and diversity. This season saw the premiere of Charly Evon Simpsons Form of a Girl Unknown, an outstanding work Tapped for a top 10 moment this year is SLACs production Will SnidersDeath of a Driver, with riveting performances by Patrick J. Ssenjovu and Cassandra Stokes-Wylie and directed by Alexandra Harbold.

Ssenjovu, a native Ugandan, was electrifying in his unquestionably credible portrayal of Kennedy. Stokes-Wylie equally was just as authentic in her role. The acting chemistry in this magnificent chamber theater piece was superlative.

Another top 10 moment came with the remarkableSackerson theater companys productionABrief Waltz in a Little Room: 23 Short Plays about Walter Eyer. This play opened in the late summer and continues through December with sold-out performances.

As The Utah Review stated in its review, the play is one of the most incisive renderings of the consequential meanings and impact of a sense of place in Utah. In breaking from practically every standard logistic of theatrical convention,A Brief Waltzpresents the unorthodox opportunity frankly, brilliant beyond expectation to transform what has been destructively judged as and perceived to be a moral failure into an emancipating expression of self.

However, the most extraordinary part of this experience is that each individual is immersed and, in fact, steps into the realm of becoming Walter Eyer, a forty-something Mormon man of familiar circumstances and conventional means but also who is embroiled in his own identity crisis.

The audience, limited to just 10 members for specific reasons that gives the performance its full spectrum of emotional impact, is introduced to Eyer (Robert Scott Smith) at the beginning with a short film projected on a wall in the back of theUrban Arts Galleryof the Utah Arts Alliance atThe Gateway, the shows venue. The audience convenes together in only three brief instances: the opening, the entracte and the conclusion.

Playwrights Morag Shepherd, Matthew Ivan Bennett and Shawn Francis Saunders wrote the 23 scenes. Its a dance that all of us might engage in, at one time or another, particularly when a consequential event or life decision faces us.A Brief Waltzopens a door for each of us to confront the collisions of superficially bright surfaces and dangerous undercurrents in our own lives.

Sackerson excels at innovation. Having secured support from the Utah Division of Arts and Museums and the Salt Lake City Arts Council, the company will hold its inaugural Micro Immersive Theatre/Experience Festival in June.

Age, indeed, is just a number for the Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT). Now in its 54th season, the nations oldest repertory dance company is as revolutionary as ever. RDT and Ririe-Woodbury enjoy international reputations and connections par excellence.

RDTs dance artists has delved quite successfully in the Gaga movement language, a specialty developed prominently by many Israeli-born choreographers. Danielle Agami, an Israeli native who directs theate9 dance companythat she founded in Los Angeles, has adapted the intense physical demands of Gaga movement as an effective story-telling device for dance. Agami returned last season to restage Theatre, a 2016 work.

In its restaged form,Theatresizzled and dazzled, as the dancers relished Agamis new take on the work. As The Utah Review noted in its review: In the intervening three years, one senses how both choreographer and the ensemble have matured to make the latest interaction ever more meaningful and confident. Gaga is not a choreographic style but it reorients the dancers to push themselves to new levels of stamina and physical possibilities all while truly enjoying themselves. Theatrebubbled with clear portrayals of the characters who happen to be RDT dancers. Like Plan-B, RDTs leadership in the mission of inclusion and diversity has been revolutionary.

For a moment it appeared that the Red Desert ensemble, the duo project of clarinetistKatie Porterand composer/percussionistDevin Maxwell, was set to leave Utah for other venues to continue its pioneering efforts in showcasing contemporary music. Porter and Maxwell emphasize how new music actually is accessible and approachable and offers as compelling and enriching a listening experience as any other music. The duo, however, are still in Utah, thanks to an artistic residency at Westminster Colleges school of music.

Last spring, at a concert at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Red Desert presented a glorious jam session featuring the musical village possibilities in Salt Lake City. Porter and Maxwell gathered an assemblage of local musicians gathered for a performance of Terry Rileys In C masterpiece. As previously mentioned in The Utah Review, the work is the global villages first ritual symphonic piece, as described by critic Janet Rotter. This Red Desert performance emanated with that precise spirit.

Salt Lake City has gained a unique reputation for one of Rileys most well-known compositions. In Cis based on a concept with stunningly deceptive simplicity. Each performer works from sheet music with the same set of 53 short musical phrases that range anywhere from a half-beat to 32 beats. As with any traditional musical composition, each performer begins on the first phrase repeating it an undetermined number of times before moving on to the second phrase and so on. The work has been rendered marvelously on a combination of electronically synthesized sounds and tones accompanied by electric and acoustic instruments, especially in a highly esteemed recording by the Salt Lake Electric Ensemble.

The Red Desert performance grounded the works sprawling soundscape with a cavalcade of acoustic touches. More importantly, it underscores the adventurous spirit that highlights Red Deserts educational and performing efforts this season. In the upcoming spring, the duo will premiere works that they have commissioned from various composers.

Last spring, just ahead of the Utah Pride Parade and Festival in downtown Salt Lake City, the inauguralQueer Spectra Arts Festivalwas held. Artists and speakers addressed the impetus and inspirations for the queer creative aesthetic or, as one organizer described, the chicken-or-egg question of which comes first when queer artists create. At a closing performance in the evening, featuring works by local and national artists, it was a good glimpse into the multifaceted nature of the queer aesthetic. The point was clear: there is no one stylistic definition for how queer artists and performers express their desires, presence or empowerment. The boundaries of their visibility can overlap into the larger mainstream or remain exclusive in a niche where perhaps an audience or community might appreciate the outcome more sincerely or genuinely than others.

One of the most memorable examples wasA Politics of Desire, a literary performance by Alborz Ghandehari. He weaved aspects of desire and longing from various dimensions of his personal narrative based in Iranian roots: the revolution 40 years ago that brought about the Islamic Republic, his sexual yearnings, the experience of an immigrant now living in the West, regrouping from a loss of national identity and the pains of war and conflict. Ghandeharis gift was an elegant synthesis, which flowed so seamlessly that one truly could be awed by how within such a terse, concise frame he developed so many rich narrative textures..

Rounding out the list for 2019 Top 10 moments of the Utah Enlightenment is the Utah Museum of Fine Arts fascinating exhibition titledPower Couples: The Pendant Format in Artthat closed earlier this month. Curated by Leslie Anderson, who now is the director of collections, exhibitions and programs at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, Power Couples featured 60 works representing 36 pairs, including several new acquisitions and a handful of works borrowed from other museums. Many of the works come from the UMFAs existing collections of European, American and regional art and 28 had not been seen since the UMFA reopened two years ago after major renovations were completed.

The concept of pendants for the exhibition was ingenious, as Anderson not only curated it to exemplify the representation of gender roles and social status but also to highlight arts potential intellectual, philosophical and story-telling powers. As mentioned in The Utah Review earlier, Power Couples was a first-class example of how museums can sharpen the relevant connections to contemporary audiences. Andersons innovative approach invites exhibition visitors to a fluid, expansive conversation that dramatically shortens the distance between the past and the present. The pendants inPower Couplesoffer a mirror, allowing us to see the extraordinary history encompassed in this exhibition and connect it to our own complexities and in our own relationships. Anderson curated the exhibition so that contemplating the emotional and spiritual paradoxes, as they are displayed, is less intimidating and more accessible. The historical background and contemporary contexts are clarifying, invigorating and enlightening.

The exhibition underscored a thrilling year for UMFA, including the current showing of four masterpieces on loan from the Smithsonian and Art Bridges collections.

Excerpt from:
Fascinating, innovative, collaborative: Top Ten Moments of the Utah Enlightenment for 2019 - The Utah Review

If youve only been reading news lately, youd be forgiven for thinking that the world is falling apart. News is how adults continue learning about the world we make our home. But news also has a strong bias toward highlighting the problems we are facing, rather than noting the incremental but important progress we continue to make.

Steven Pinker has an antidote in his 2018 book Enlightenment Now. The Harvard professor and prolific author of bestselling books says that reason, science, and humanismideals of the 18th century period called the Enlightenmentcan be used against the forces like populism, nationalism, and militarism that threaten to turn back human progress. The book has become a bestseller and received rave reviews from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

In a conversation with Quartz, Pinker spoke about why he wrote the book, what he would have changed in hindsight, and how to gain a more realistic picture of the world we live in. The interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Quartz: Enlightenment Now comes after your previous book The Better Angels of Our Nature. What inspired this follow-up?

Pinker: One motive was the realization that the kinds of progress that I had documented in Better Angels, namely the reductions of violence, were part of a larger picture of improvement in the human condition, such as longer lifespan, reduction in poverty, more leisure time, more education, more literacy. The story was not just that life had gotten more peaceful, but also longer, healthier, safer, and richer.

The other motive was that to remind people that there is a system of beliefs and values that is easy to take for granted. Thats not authoritarian populism, religion, or reactionary nostalgia for a golden age, but its the use of knowledge and science to improve human well-being. I call these the values of the enlightenment, just as a term for them.

I am certainly not arguing that we should go back to 18th century thinkers and do exactly what they recommend. I think a lot of people already are committed to these values, but they dont know what to call them. I was trying to articulate a set of values that had been left in the background.

You write in your book that these enlightenment values are under attack. What do you mean?

Note the rise of populism, militarism, and nationalism in many developed countries, including the United States with the election of Donald Trump. There is also a denigration of organizations of international cooperation, like the European Union, the United Nations, and the Paris Climate Accord. Were seeing a neglect of science. From the political right, it is in the form of denial of the evidence for climate change. From a lot of the academic left, there is a tendency to blame science for pollution, racism, and war. Both of which I think are wrong. There is often a denigration of reason, and of using logic and evidence in favor of gut feelings and intuition. For these reasons, a defense of reason, science, and humanism is timely and important.

What can turn the momentum against populism?

There are several forces that will naturally push back. One of them is urbanization. Populism is much more popular in rural regions and the global trend is for people to move to cities. Second is education. People who are more educated tend to be less sympathetic to authoritarian populism and there is a trend for people to get more education. But the most powerful trend is generational turnover. Populism is more popular among the baby boomer generation and the World War II generation than it is among the millennials and generation Z. As the elder generations die off and are replaced by younger generations, there will probably be a movement away from populism.

Enlightenment Now was published about 18 months ago. Has anything since then made you want to change something in the book?

I would not change anything major at this point. It hasnt been out that long. None of the trends have gone into reverse. I might have added some of the negative news that has come out about the environment and on species extinction. I did have a major section on climate change, but since I wrote it, the news has gotten probably a bit worse with more severe warnings on climate change. So I wouldve perhaps altered that.

Bill Gates saysEnlightenment Nowis his favorite book of all time. You have also talked about having a speaking relationship with Gates. How much of an impact did Gates have on the book while you were writing it?

Not directly. I had long recognized that Gates efforts have been a major force for human improvement. According to one estimate, the efforts of his foundation may have saved 100 million lives. But his approach would be an example of how an evidence-based focused attempt to improving human life can succeed.

Back in 2009, I had, almost as a joke, asked readers who is more moral. Mother Theresa, Bill Gates, or Norman Borlaug. This was before Gates had been famous for his philanthropy. Most people still thought of him as just the founder of Microsoft. The fact that almost everyone would say Mother Theresa is the most moral it shows how the human moral sense works. Namely we are impressed by super signs of austerity and self sacrifice. Whereas the amount of actual good that Mother Theresa is far less than what Gates has done through his philanthropic efforts. And both of those are less significant than the achievement of Norman Borlaug, who practically no one has heard of. Borlaug was the father of the Green Revolution. He did win a Nobel Peace Prize. He is credited with saving one billion lives but no one has even heard of him.

Why are you optimistic about the future?

The word optimism does not appear in the subtitle of the book. The argument that progress has taken place is not an argument for optimism. Its an argument for basing ones understanding of the world on trends and data rather than on headlines and stories. The rate of extreme poverty has declined by 75% in the last 30 years or the rate of death in war has fallen by a factor 20 since the early 1950s its not a question of optimism. Its a question of being aware of facts that most people are unaware of.

Its not optimism to know that fact, its being knowledgeable. The argument that I make in the book is that progress has taken place. It can be measured. Most people are ignorant of it because if you understand the world through news rather than through data, news gathers all of the worst things that are happening anywhere in the world on any given day and presents them to readers. And therefore provides a highly biased picture of the world.

The many positive developments consist of nothing happening, like a country that is not at war or a city that has not been attacked by terrorists. And many positive developments consist of gradual changes, such as a continuous but gradual reduction in extreme poverty. They never make the news, theyre not headlines.

There is an opening for optimism in the sense that since we have solved problems in the past, it reminds us that its possible to solve problems in the present. So it can encourage some degree of optimism, but what will happen in the future depends entirely on what we do now. And that depends on strengthening the values of what I call the Enlightenment, namely reason, science, and humanism.

How could journalism change to provide a fuller picture of the world?

All of news should borrow some of the practices used by those covering sports, business, and weather. All of which report quantitative indicators of the world. Not just things going wrong. So in the business section, if the stock market goes up, its reported. If the stock market goes down, its reported. If the stock market stays the same, its reported. Same with sports. The sports section doesnt just report when the team loses. They report whatever the team does and reports the standings of the whole league every single day.

There should be far more coverage in the news of weekly or annual indicators of data such as the rate of violent crime, rate of death in war, carbon emissions, literacy, school achievement scores. And then I think that it should be a part of the practice of journalism that any report of an incident that has some chance of affecting peoples impression of which way the country is going, be accompanied by a short summary of which way the trend has gone.

So if there is a plane crash, it should be accompanied by statistics on how dangerous plane travel is and whether its gotten safer or more dangerous. Likewise if there is a school shooting, it should be in the context of how many people are killed in school shootings versus other types of murder that dont get as much attention but they kill far more people. And for that matter, whether the trend has been going up or down. Better still, if its accompanied by an actual graph. Now of course, not every story can be accompanied by a graph, but if people were presented with graphs, say in the week in review section, theyd have a better understanding of the world than if they simply had isolated stories. Which is the current practice of journalism.

There is an opinion among many journalists that the responsibility in journalism is to report what goes wrong. That what goes right is corporate public relations, its government propaganda, its feel-good stories. This in particular would be easier to counter because it really is a philosophy, an attitude, a mindset. Just knowing the corrosive effects of negativity in journalism might encourage journalists to realize that reporting positive developments can be a progressive move.

Read the original post:
Steven Pinker on how to use reason, science, and humanism to fight today's problems - Quartz

.

All images by Chris DeCicco for Yellow Scene Magazine

.

.

What is the path to enlightenment?

Trevor Hall asked this question of his guru and shared the story at his Nov. 29th 2019 Boulder Theater concert. The path to enlightenment is through feeding and serving the people, says the guru. Thus the seed was planted and the vision started. Figuring out how to feed the people has been incubating since that conversation. The plan finally came together with the help of friends and the folks at Conscious Alliance, the non-profit that works with artists and festivals to collect food at concerts and distribute them to the needy.

Trevor and friends came together for the first of what he hopes are many such events like the Conscious Alliance community meal at the Sacred Heart Church in Boulder. The team over at Arcana, including chef Samuel McCandless, put together a simple meal to warm the hearts of fans and the unhoused alike. Trevor mingled with everyone taking selfies and being the humble dude that he is.

Friday nights concert kicked off with an opening by his close friends, originally from Hawaii, Amber Lily and Tubby Love. Their sweet mix of reggae island vibes and message of unifying the people and being a catalyst for change was well received by the Boulder faithful. They are now based here in Boulder along with Trevor, injecting a welcome infusion of conscious music to the local scene.

Trevor came out barefoot and excited to play in front of his hometown and started off with a slow building beat that reached its peak just as the crowd did. His voice is like butter and his songs are straight from the heart. For those not familiar with his music, many of the songs have a mantra based chorus that is intentionally repetitive to help everyone connect with that highest part within all of us. When you sing along and let the words flow it can put you into an ecstatic state of oneness, if you let it. Trevor invites you to take a journey into your spiritual life along with him and find internal peace.

It was Trevors birthday the day before and his Dad was in the house. He was introduced and brought up to play drums with the band. Just seeing the bond between the two of them and the joy they shared on stage was worth going for. They played a couple of Blues based jams to the surprise and delight of the audience.

What touched me the most was Trevor sharing about his ongoing struggles with depression and anxiety. He joked with us and through his own vulnerability was able to help normalize the ups and downs we all go through. It made me think about all the rock stars and famous people who we have lost way too early to similar illnesses masked by addiction and the idea that we are all supposed to be happy on the outside and hide our pain. The real change comes from sharing your inner world with others and Trevor did that beautifully.

Trevor then brought out Tubby Love and Amber Lily to accompany him on a few more songs and their island connection and affection for each other made the song, O haleakala that much more potent. We heard some of Trevors biggest hits, including The Lime Tree, The Mountain, Green Mountain State, and some brand new tunes like Storm Clouds. The band is tight and each player brought their best, especially on the encore where we got to hear the individual magic of the musicians. The lead guitarist brought a fiery end to the show with a bluesy electric trippy sound that everyone seemed to love.

Trevor will be back at Red Rocks on May 1, 2020, with Citizen Cope and Rising Appalachia after a sell out show earlier this year. Hopefully they will be able to team up with Conscious Alliance again to bring the feeding people theme by serving up another community meal. Dont forget to bring canned food and non-perishables to donate.

All images by Chris DeCicco for Yellow Scene Magazine

Follow this link:
The Path to Enlightenment with Trevor Hall | Review December 17, 2019 North Metro Diversions North Metro Diversions - Yellow Scene

In the Ayn Rand Institutes 2019 annual report, Onkar Ghate explains how ARI is uniquely positioned to succeed in the worldwide battle for individual freedom. Alone among pro-freedom institutions, Ghate observes, ARI understands that philosophy determines long-term trends in any culture. Thats why the Institutes activities, including New Ideal, are aimed at making a difference in the long game, by injecting the right philosophic ideals reason, individualism, capitalism into our civilizations lifeblood. Join us. You can support our work by becoming an ARI Member.

When the Ayn Rand Institute was established in 1985, its founders understood they were playing the long game. ARIs founding documents quote Rand herself: The present state of the world is not the proof of philosophys impotence, but the proof of philosophys power. It is philosophy that has brought men to this state [of cultural bankruptcy] it is only philosophy that can lead them out. (For the New Intellectual, 1961)

ARI is the only institution fighting for freedom in the world today that understands this fundamental truth.

To the extent the world has moved forward since the 18th century, it has done so by implementing, however imperfectly, the ideals of the Enlightenment: reason, science, individualism and a government limited by the principle of individual rights. To the extent the world has stagnated or retrogressed, it has done so because of the ascendency of opposite philosophic ideas: mysticism, dialectical logic and other pseudo-scientific approaches, collectivism/tribalism, and unlimited government given the power to sacrifice the property and lives of individuals, when doing so is said to be in the public interest.

Rand viewed her new philosophy, Objectivism, as putting the Enlightenments ideals for the first time on a fully rational, fully defensible foundation.

Rand viewed her new philosophy, Objectivism, as putting the Enlightenments ideals for the first time on a fully rational, fully defensible foundation.

ARI exists to inject that philosophy into the lifeblood of civilization. The Institutes progress, accordingly, is not measured in days, but in decades. Perhaps the clearest sign of progress is that Rands ideas are following a trajectory similar to what J.B.S. Haldane outlined for the acceptance of radical ideas: first the idea is dismissed as worthless nonsense; then it is regarded as an interesting but perverse point of view; then it is regarded as true but unimportant; then it is said to have been everyones viewpoint all along. Arguably, we have moved into the second stage, as evidenced by the growing worldwide interest in Rands ideas, by how often her ideas are mentioned in the media and in ideological discussions, and by the growing difficulty of simply dismissing her ideas as nonsense.

This change over the last thirty-plus years is in large part due to ARIs activities: our essay contests, books to teachers program, educational talks, conferences and courses, media appearances, and published essays and books. We are trying to change peoples fundamental convictions and to normalize discussion of Rands radical ideas.

Our focus on the long-range dissemination of philosophic ideas does not mean there are no shorter-term successes. But it does mean that these successes are created through the impact we have on other individuals and organizations. For instance, one of ARIs long-standing, vital activities is educating individuals about Rands ideas and their application. Many of these individuals go on to do impactful work. We have helped train individuals who are now teaching and publishing at universities, are involved with legal think tanks like the Pacific Legal Foundation, the Institute for Justice, and the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property, and have founded organizations like the Center for Industrial Progress and Higher Ground Education. We need thousands more individuals like these who are knowledgeable about Rands ideas and are working to apply them to forge a new culture.

Its an exciting journey, in which I hope you join us. If you already have, thank you for your support.

Become a member of the Ayn Rand Institute, starting at $10 per month, by December 31, and receive an invitation to an exclusive online Q&A session with New Ideal writers.

Share this article:

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin

email

View original post here:
Fuel the Fight for Reason, Individualism and Freedom - New Ideal

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday invoked the nations birth in defending her decision to delay sending impeachment articles to the Senate. Our Founders, when they wrote the Constitution, they suspected that there could be a rogue president, she said. I dont think they suspected that we could have a rogue president and a rogue leader in the Senate at the same time.

The accuracy of that observation depends on how one defines the Founders. The Anti-Federalist opponents of the Constitution certainly predicted that the new Constitution would encourage the sort of corrupt behavior of which President Trump is guilty. But the Anti-Federalists were the losers, not the winners, in the struggle over the Constitution. The Federalist victors likely would have agreed with Pelosi.

The Federalist framers of the Constitution understood that it was vital to endow the new government they created with broad powers, but they recognized that this grant itself posed great danger. It was for precisely this reason that the Constitution was built on a system of check and balances. By creating coequal branches of government, the Framers hoped that ambition would be made to counter-act ambition.

These words, quoted by Pelosis colleague Congressmen Adam Schiff, point to the Founding generations Enlightenment faith in the human capacity for rational self-interest. Each of the three coequal parts of our government, the Founders believed, would seek to preserve its powers and authority, and the new Constitution thus would offer a means of checking the designs of demagogues and the sycophants and rogues who followed their lead.

Continued here:
Could Americas Founders Have Imagined This? - The New Republic