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Rewriting The CW's Kung Fu, Part 1: The Characters

Hello. I've written a few posts complaining about how The CW's Kung Fu was written and plotted. So instead of just complaining, I decided to do something productive: I'm going to rewrite the show.

This will be the first part in an eight-part series that would detail the things, I think, could've made the first season much stronger in terms of story-telling and character-building. Do take note that I will be writing this for The CW's target market: teens to young adults who are looking for both entertainment and representation.

Before we start with the story, let us first start with re-configuring the characters.

NICKY SHEN, mid to late 20s. The eldest daughter of first-generation immigrants, she feels pressured into following the path made for her by her parents. She carries a lot of guilt, having seen her parents struggle to raise her and her siblings in a land that's not always welcoming to foreigners--and then running away when she felt like she no longer had control over her life. She has spent the last three years in a monastery where her days are spent training in the martial arts, meditating, and farming. Upon her return home, she doesn't know what her place is in the world--and in her family--anymore.

HENRY YAN, mid to late 20s. A martial arts instructor at the Chinese community center, he becomes intrigued by Nicky's unique background and insight into their community. A working student, he has only recently continued his collegiate studies because of a checkered past he needed to deal with, as well as his family's financial struggles. He feels like he has a lot to prove because of people's preconceptions of who he is, based on what he had to do to survive.

EVAN HARTLEY, mid to late 20s. A San Francisco Assistant District Attorney, he is Nicky's best friend from childhood to law school. He is part of a hiring initiative that prioritizes people who can speak in multiple languages, and gets assigned many cases that come from Chinatown. He has recently proposed to his girlfriend, a fellow classmate of his and Nicky's from law school, thinking he has finally moved on from being left behind by the woman he loved three years ago...and then she, Nicky, comes back into his life.

RYAN SHEN, mid-20s. Nicky's younger brother who has just recently finished his internship at a local hospital; he is currently working as a resident physician at the same hospital he interned for--while volunteering his free time at the Chinese community center's free clinic. He is gay but has yet to tell his parents the truth, blaming Nicky for abandoning him when he was just about to confess. (Yes, I put him back in the closet for storytelling purposes.)

ALTHEA SHEN, mid-20s. Nicky's younger sister has put her career on hold to get married to her high school sweetheart. A sought-after computer engineer, Althea has surprised everyone--her parents included--when she suddenly gave up her high-ranking position at Cloudrush Capital to focus on her wedding. She is the most adjusted and mature out of the Shen siblings, seeing as her parents didn't have as much expectations from her as they did Nicky and Ryan.

SHEN MEI-LI, late 40s to early 50s. Nicky's mother comes from a very strict family and this has made her guarded with her emotions. She is very protective of her children and will do anything to keep them safe--including hide parts of her history she thinks will lead them astray. She works as the manager of Happy Dumplings, the restaurant she built with her husband Jin.

SHEN JIN, early to mid 50s. Nicky's father immigrated to San Francisco when he was a young man, inspired by the American Dream. He has a go-getter attitude which was further bolstered when he married Mei-Li, pushing him to move on from being a line cook at a faux-Chinese fast food chain to opening his own restaurant. Having been denied of better opportunities, he works hard to make sure that his children never has to face the same challenges he had in the past.

Okay, those are just broad strokes of who the characters are when the story begins. I've upgraded Evan to becoming an actual main character with a romantic subplot with Nicky since, if I'm not mistaken, that was the intention when they introduced him in the pilot. I've also downgraded Pei-Ling Zhang, Nicky's mentor to a recurring character--who we will get to now:

ZHANG PEI-LING, early 40s. A female monk at a Shaolin monastery, Pei-Ling helps Nicky escape from an arranged-marriage "love" tour by allowing her to hide in her truck. Pei-Ling is in charge of the martial arts training at the monastery, teaching her students that to keep a strong hand steady, one must also have a strong heart.

ZHANG ZHI-LAN, mid to late 30s. A businesswoman whose worldwide travels hide an international hunt for eight mystical weapons that would give the collector untold powers. She is Pei-Ling's sister who holds a lot of resentment because of the way their family broke apart. She keeps a cold and calculating facade to keep people away from her, afraid of being vulnerable enough to get emotionally hurt again.

DENNIS SOONG, mid 20s. Althea's fiancée who is the heir apparent of the Soong business empire. He has the practiced charm of a high school outcast who was slow to grow into his looks; although he became part of the popular crowd by the time he graduated, he never forgot the people who treated him as an equal back when he was a societal pariah. He is also a loving son, brother, and husband-to-be.

JOE HARPER, mid to late 20s. A freelance graphic artist who uses his talents, and his gift of gab, to fight for human rights. He is passionate, headstrong, and he never backs down from a challenge.

CHLOE SOONG, late teen. Dennis's younger sister who has fallen in with a bad crowd of bored rich teens. She feels out-of-place in her parents' perfect world, which draws her towards Nicky--who identifies with her plight to break out of the mold assigned to her.

SABINE SMITH, mid to late 20s. A classmate of Nicky's and Evan's from law school, Sabine is Evan's fiancée. She is nurturing and helpful, she is the one who pushes Evan to help Nicky settle back into her San Francisco life--not realizing she is also pushing Evan's feelings for Nicky back into the picture.

KERWIN TAN, late 20s to early 30s. A young socialite who becomes part of Nicky and Zhilan's race to find the eight mythical weapons of power. He is the youngest son of a business tycoon, Raymond Tan, who is also interested in collecting the weapons. He resents the competitive upbringing his father has given him and his siblings, which makes him decide to also join the hunt for the weapons.

MEI-XUE, late 40s. Mei-Li's younger sister, she ran away from home after discovering their family's warrior lineage--wanting to be the one to find the mythical weapons so she could keep them from falling into the wrong hands. In her journey to find the weapons, she discovers more about the power they can wield--which scares her into hiding in the mountains of Canada, with the help of a rich friend she made in her journeys.

STANLEY ANG, early 30s. He is an original character that I wanted to include for additional Chinese diversity. The only son of an old couple who were Mei-Li's friends before she migrated. He is intelligent, very savvy, but isn't very fluent in English. He works as a software developer for a programming company who had him (and his parents) move to their US office so he could oversee the projects he manages better.

Kung Fu has a few more important characters they introduce, but I'm staying with the ones who will make an impact to the story I'm rewriting.

If you've read my past gripes about the show, you would know that I don't like the fact that Zhi-lan (and Kerwin, later on) was shoved into our throats even when their storylines didn't need to be told. That opinion remains. But it doesn't change the fact that they do make an impact to the story--especially with the finale the show left us with. So they're retaining their recurring status in my rewrite.

And this is where we end for now. In the next post, I will be rejigging the pilot to better set-up who Nicky is and what her relationships are at the start of the series.

2019 Upcoming LGBTQA Fiction I’m Excited For!

A new year, a new top nine for women-lead LGBT fiction I’m looking forward to reading! There are, of course, a great many more books than the nine I’ve chosen this time ‘round - I think I will eventually make a part two to this post. I am so, so happy to see that this year we have even more diversity, even more stories about characters from all walks of life, from different parts of the LGBTQA umbrella, and even more LGBT novels. I remember a time where it’d be hard to find more than two YA novels with LGBT themes published in a single year - and now we have so many amazing works coming out!

The themes for 2019 seem to be gay witches, space gays, and explorations of mental illness in the LGBT community. I am so excited to read stories about girls and magic! I am more excited to read stories about girls and love! And I am definitely excited to see multiple books seriously addressing the issues of mental illness in young lesbian and bisexual women - it is a serious topic that has often been glossed over in the past, and to see multiple works that want to tackle these issues, and the issues of toxic relationships, in a healthy way is refreshing. 

Below you’ll find titles, summaries, and goodreads links.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley's dream girl: charming, confident, and SO cute. There's just one problem: Laura Dean is maybe not the greatest girlfriend. Reeling from her latest break up, Freddy's best friend, Doodle, introduces her to the Seek-Her, a mysterious medium, who leaves Freddy some cryptic parting words: break up with her. But Laura Dean keeps coming back, and as their relationship spirals further out of her control, Freddy has to wonder if it's really Laura Dean that's the problem. Maybe it's Freddy, who is rapidly losing her friends, including Doodle, who needs her now more than ever. Fortunately for Freddy, there are new friends, and the insight of advice columnists like Anna Vice to help her through being a teenager in love.

Starworld by Audrey Coulthurst & Paula Garner Sam Jones and Zoe Miller have one thing in common: they both want an escape from reality. Loner Sam flies under the radar at school and walks on eggshells at home to manage her mom’s obsessive-compulsive disorder, wondering how she can ever leave to pursue her dream of studying aerospace engineering. Popular, people-pleasing Zoe puts up walls so no one can see her true self: the girl who was abandoned as an infant, whose adoptive mother has cancer, and whose disabled brother is being sent away to live in a facility. When an unexpected encounter results in the girls’ exchanging phone numbers, they forge a connection through text messages that expands into a private universe they call Starworld. In Starworld, they find hilarious adventures, kindness and understanding, and the magic of being seen for who they really are. But when Sam’s feelings for Zoe turn into something more, will the universe they’ve built survive the inevitable explosion?

The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta Danny didn't know what she was looking for when she and her mother spread out a map of the United States and Danny put her finger down on Tempest, California. What she finds are the Grays: a group of friends who throw around terms like queer and witch like they're ordinary and everyday, though they feel like an earthquake to Danny. But Danny didn't just find the Grays. They cast a spell that calls her halfway across the country, because she has something they need: she can bring back Imogen, the most powerful of the Grays, missing since the summer night she wandered into the woods alone. But before Danny can find Imogen, she finds a dead boy with a redwood branch through his heart. Something is very wrong amid the trees and fog of the Lost Coast, and whatever it is, it can kill. Lush, eerie, and imaginative, Amy Rose Capetta's tale overflows with the perils and power of discovery — and what it means to find your home, yourself, and your way forward.

Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi Sana Khan is a cheerleader and a straight A student. She's the classic (somewhat obnoxious) overachiever determined to win. Rachel Recht is a wannabe director who's obsesssed with movies and ready to make her own masterpiece. As she's casting her senior film project, she knows she's found the perfect lead - Sana. There's only one problem. Rachel hates Sana. Rachel was the first girl Sana ever asked out, but Rachel thought it was a cruel prank and has detested Sana ever since. Told in alternative viewpoints and inspired by classic romantic comedies, this engaging and edgy YA novel follows two strongwilled young women falling for each other despite themselves.

The Meaning of Birds by Jaye Robin Brown Before, Jessica has always struggled with anger issues, but come sophomore year that all changes when Vivi crashes into her life. As their relationship blossoms, Vivi not only helps Jess deal with her pain, she also encourages her to embrace her talent as an artist. And for the first time, it feels like the future is filled with possibilities. After In the midst of senior year, Jess’s perfect world is erased when Vivi suddenly passes away. Reeling from the devastating loss, Jess pushes everyone away, and throws out her plans to go to art school. Because art is Vivi and Vivi is gone forever. Desperate for an escape, Jess gets consumed in her work-study program, letting all of her dreams die. Until she makes an unexpected new friend who shows her a new way to channel her anger, passion, and creativity. Although Jess may never draw again, if she can find a way to heal and room in her heart, she just might be able to forge a new path for herself without Vivi.

The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But a career in space isn’t an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the wrong side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends. One day she meets Alexandria: a furious loner who spurns Ryann’s offer of friendship. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the two misfits are brought together despite themselves—and Ryann learns her secret: Alexandria’s mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way trip to the edge of the solar system. Every night without fail, Alexandria waits to catch radio signals from her mother. And its up to Ryann to lift her onto the roof day after day until the silence between them grows into friendship, and eventually something more...   

How It Feels To Float by Helena Fox Biz knows how to float. She has her people, her posse, her mom and the twins. She has Grace. And she has her dad, who tells her about the little kid she was, who loves her so hard, and who shouldn't be here but is. So Biz doesn't tell anyone anything. Not about her dark, runaway thoughts, not about kissing Grace or noticing Jasper, the new boy. And she doesn't tell anyone about her dad. Because her dad died when she was six. And Biz knows how to float, right there on the surface--normal okay regular fine. But after what happens on the beach--first in the ocean, and then in the sand--the tethers that hold Biz steady come undone. Dad disappears, and with him, all comfort. It might be easier, better, sweeter to float all the way away? Or maybe stay a little longer, find her father, bring him back to her. Or maybe--maybe maybe maybe--there's a third way Biz just can't see yet.

Going Off Script by Jen Wilde Seventeen-year-old Bex is thrilled when she gets an internship on her favorite tv show, Silver Falls. Unfortunately, the internship isn't quite what she expected... instead of sitting in a crowded writer's room volleying ideas back and forth, Production Interns are stuck picking up the coffee. Determined to prove her worth as a writer, Bex drafts her own script and shares it with the head writer―who promptly reworks it and passes it off as his own! Bex is understandably furious, yet...maybe this is just how the industry works? But when they rewrite her proudly lesbian character as straight, that's the last straw! It's time for Bex and her crush to fight back.

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling Hannah's a witch, but not the kind you're thinking of. She's the real deal, an Elemental with the power to control fire, earth, water, and air. But even though she lives in Salem, Massachusetts, her magic is a secret she has to keep to herself. If she's ever caught using it in front of a Reg (read: non-witch), she could lose it. For good. So, Hannah spends most of her time avoiding her ex-girlfriend (and fellow Elemental Witch) Veronica, hanging out with her best friend, and working at the Fly by Night Cauldron selling candles and crystals to tourists, goths, and local Wiccans. But dealing with her ex is the least of Hannah's concerns when a terrifying blood ritual interrupts the end-of-school-year bonfire. Evidence of dark magic begins to appear all over Salem, and Hannah's sure it's the work of a deadly Blood Witch. The issue is, her coven is less than convinced, forcing Hannah to team up with the last person she wants to see: Veronica. While the pair attempt to smoke out the Blood Witch at a house party, Hannah meets Morgan, a cute new ballerina in town. But trying to date amid a supernatural crisis is easier said than done, and Hannah will have to test the limits of her power if she's going to save her coven and get the girl, especially when the attacks on Salem's witches become deadlier by the day.

DOTV AU: An Exercise in Alternate History (Part VII)

Parts I, II, III, IV, V, and VI offer more detailed context. (To briefly sum up why these posts are happening: alt history – as in sci fi, not “alternative facts” – buff, one day got the idea that DOTV could have turned out hella different if Jim Steinman looked for a star lead in other places, decided to reason out how that might work.) This is still getting a good response, so I’m gonna keep the train rolling.

Parts of the AU timeline established so far:

Instead of stopping at recording two songs from Whistle Down the Wind on a greatest hits compilation, Meat Loaf wound up taking more of an interest in Steinman’s new theater work than he did in our timeline, and through a series of circumstances found himself volunteering to play Krolock in the impending DOTV when Jim poured out his woes to him about needing to find some sort of star to attract investors. At a loss for any better ideas, Jim accepted Meat’s impulsive proposal, but not without resistance from his manager, David Sonenberg, who proposed Michael Crawford as an alternate candidate. Through quick thinking on Meat’s part, and inspiration on Jim’s, Crawford left the room accepting an entirely different role than he walked in hoping to get, leaving Krolock still open for Meat.

There was a brief speed bump, when Meat disliked Jim’s English script for the show, but after meeting with the original German author Michael Kunze and convincing Jim to compromise, things were on the road to being back on track… at least until 9/11 occurred.

Following a brief hiatus, everyone involved met to re-assess their options. The current game-plan was to put the new script on paper, schmooze with potential investors or producers, and put together a new creative team. Preferably not all at the same time, but with the crunch on, they’d do whatever needed to be done.

So far, the schmoozing has gone well, but everybody that Meat, Jim, and the crew would like to be involved is tentative. The newest conclusion is that they need to show them there’s a working show, and a concert of selections from the score seems to be the route they’re taking, possibly financed by an unlikely source.

Continuing the alternate DOTV timeline, a little differently this time! This time we get a feature on the concert from the New York Post’s own Michael Riedel. Take it away!

VAMPIRES: NEW MUSICAL BLOOD by Michael Riedel

If you’ve heard the buzz on the Rialto of late, you’d be forgiven for wondering if you were having a particularly nasty acid flashback. Dance of the Vampires, a new $15 million musical of the macabre based on the 1967 Roman Polanski movie The Fearless Vampire Killers, is already a monster hit in Austria and Germany, and it’s starting to gather steam here in the States as well, with some... we’ll call it unlikely... star power attached. After all, what other musical (even in a preliminary concert presentation) can boast Courtney Love as an emcee slash investor, and such disparate names as Meat Loaf and Michael Crawford as co-headliners?

Admittedly, Meat Loaf’s presence is slightly less surprising, as the driving force behind the show is Jim Steinman, who wrote Mr. Loaf’s classic Bat Out of Hell albums as well as the lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Whistle Down the Wind.  He has written the score and is co-adapting the book for Vampires with playwright David Ives (All in the Timing), who is also currently at work with Steinman for Warner Bros. on a musical version of Batman, from German dramatist Michael Kunze’s original script. He also co-directed this concert with Starmites composer Barry Keating, though early reports that Steinman would be co-directing the eventual Broadway run with Jane Eyre creator John Caird have ultimately been dismissed.

“Roman directed it in Vienna, but he can’t work here because of his legal problems,” Steinman said, referring to Polanski’s indictment for statutory rape in the 1970′s. “He may be the first director who can’t work over here because of a statutory rape charge.” When queried about who then would be directing the New York run, Steinman was tight-lipped, but among those in attendance at the evening’s proceedings was Urinetown’s Tony-winning helmer, John Rando, who is now rumored to be in talks for the slot. Said Rando of the new show, “It takes the vampire myth and pokes fun at it, but it also embraces it. Its message is about the excesses of appetite. It has wit and an edge to it. I’d love to be involved!”

The presentation (at the 499-seat Little Shubert Theatre, about half a mile west of Broadway; events like this cause us rightfully to wonder why it doesn’t see more use) for a by-invitation-only crowd was kicked off by Ms. Love, Hole rocker and widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, in memorable form. Says a source in attendance, “You could sum it up in two words: too drunk. She was literally falling over. She wasn’t coherent at all.” Managing to gather herself enough to announce that Dance of the Vampires is a musical for people “who think musicals suck,” she didn’t manage to say much else of importance. “It just became a little too sloppy, and she was removed.” Insiders report that Steinman’s manager, David Sonenberg, who is also one of the show’s producers (and a first-timer at that), worried that those involved would be seen as taking advantage of a troubled addict. Ms. Love’s performance did little to dispel this perception. Lucky that representatives from noted L.A.-based promoter Concerts West, major music manager Irving Azoff (who numbers The Eagles, REO Speedwagon, Journey, Christina Aguilera, and Sammy Hagar among his clients), film and music mogul Jerry Weintraub, and Broadway’s own Barry and Fran Weissler were in attendance; a cash infusion from such sources may well be needed to save face if she can’t “live through this,” to twist a phrase from her 1994 album of the same name.

In addition to Sonenberg, already attached to Vampires on the producing side are Andrew Braunsberg (another first-timer, who also produced Polanski’s 1971 film version of Macbeth), Leonard Soloway, Bob Boyett (Sweet Smell of Success, Topdog/Underdog), Lawrence Horowitz (Electra, It Ain’t Nothing But the Blues), and Barry Diller and Bill Haber’s USA Ostar Theatricals. Boyett, a TV producer turned legit entrepreneur, used the phrases “trial by fire” and “going to war,” perhaps because while some novice producers just put up the money, get the credit and run, Boyett says he’s been taking the process very seriously: “I went to all the meetings and learned, like it was grad school.” While some Hollywood types find Broadway “less cutthroat,” Boyett finds it “more restrictive.” He mentions the sheer physical space of the theaters but also all the rules and regulations: "I’ve dealt with unions all my life, but I do find Actors’ Equity is very restrictive to the creative process.” Further, he regrets that Vampires will not have an out-of-town tryout. “I loved the experience of taking Sweet Smell of Success to Chicago,” he says with real enthusiasm, as if the project ended happily. “It was helpful to have the critics say what they did.” Not that Boyett thinks the right message from the critics got to the creative team. 

As for Boyett’s teammates, Bill Haber attended on behalf of USA Ostar, and although he wouldn’t consent to a formal interview, he couldn’t resist answering one question -- and it has nothing to do with Dance of the Vampires. Why is Haber’s other fall production, Imaginary Friends by Nora Ephron, being called a play if it has six songs by Marvin Hamlisch and Craig Carnelia? “It has nothing to do with how many songs there are,” he shot back. “It has to do with the fact that if you took all the songs out, it still works and you still have a play.”

And all this before we even get to the show itself. Vampires is your typical erotic musical about an innocent girl (played this evening by impressive newcomer Mandy Gonzalez, currently standing by for the role of Amneris in Aida and late of Off-Broadway’s Eli’s Comin’) choosing between two lovers, in this case an older, aristocratic vampire (Loaf, whose appearance here marks the first time he has worked with Steinman in theater since the early Seventies) and a hunky young grad student (Max von Essen, who reportedly also appeared in the Steinman/Caird-helmed reading in April 2001) under the tutelage of a rather intensely wacky vampire hunter (Crawford). Given the level of Loaf’s obvious commitment to the piece, it is surprising that his manager (Allen Kovac, of Left Bank Management) was a no-show, and in that light, rumors that Loaf has yet to formally sign on the dotted line for Vampires (in spite of previous announcements to the contrary, no less) prove even more curious. Calls to Kovac’s office were not returned. The rest of the cast, boasting some fine voices indeed, was filled out by assorted Broadway names and members of Meat Loaf’s long-time touring band, The Neverland Express, which also provided accompaniment for the evening under the crisp musical direction of veteran rock bassist Kasim Sulton (best known for his work with Todd Rundgren and Utopia, among others).

Speaking of the music: the score, as per Steinman’s usual style, is appropriately big and Wagnerian, with plenty of luscious, operatic melodies, including one familiar favorite that sticks out like a sore thumb: Steinman’s famous “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” under whose operatic pretensions I swooned as a teenager. “I couldn’t resist using it,” he says of a song that goes, ‘Once upon time there was light in my life / But now there’s only love in the dark.’ “I actually wrote it for another vampire musical that was based on Nosferatu, but never got produced.” Close listening to the CD sampler for interested investors also reveals a rehash of the vigorous “Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young,” his song for the film Streets of Fire, which I saw in Los Angeles in 1984 and sent me racing along Mulholland Drive to keep up with the propulsive beat.

As for the new stuff, maybe 50′s rock ‘n’ roll with a 70′s preen isn’t what the 80-year-olds who constitute Broadway’s audience want to hear (and Jim’s rock-mock-Wagnerian shtick admittedly tends to play better in London and Las Vegas than in Manhattan), but my sources say they knew from the first number --  an angelic trio with a beguiling (what did they used to call it?) melody and some expert (the Andrews Sisters used to do it) harmony -- that this would be my kind of score. Frankly I’m glad; since the prehistoric vinyl days, Steinman has been the guy I keep calling for to rejuvenate, or just plain juvenate, the Broadway musical, in a world where the musical theater establishment pronounces old ABBA records a hip pop sound.

The book, while reportedly in better shape than the April reading, is something else again. From the excerpts on display last night, the mix of bawdy humor and eroticism still needs fine-tuning. Says Sonenberg, “By the time we open, it will be a new version of the show, significantly changed with a view toward a New York audience, but right now it plays very much like the original in several respects.” Adds David Ives, “The German production is probably more faithful to the film, but it’s a fairly humorless show, with people getting hit on the head with salami. And I’ve been brought in to take out the salami and put in the chorus girls, without veering into camp in the process. Now it’s just a question of finding the balance, which, needless to say, isn’t easy. But I like what we’ve accomplished so far: Meat’s character is vastly different, a much more multifaceted, dynamic, complete figure. We’ve also made other changes and cuts and restructured the show into a book musical, with dialogue; the original is all sung. I think we’ve made it a much more interesting story.”

Time, as always, will be the ultimate arbiter of fate.

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Beloved Lion's Head lighthouse to be rebuilt soon

Lion’s Head’s little red and white lighthouse has a tradition of blowing down, moved around and being put right back up.

With overwhelming community support, construction is to start soon to rebuild Lion’s Head lighthouse after storms and high water in Georgian Bay battered it last fall then destroyed the 1980s replica of the 1913 original in January.

More people have offered to help than will be needed, said Ryan Deska, Northern Bruce Peninsula’s community services manager. And the community raised more than $10,000 despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic’s restrictions on gathering.

“It’s a profoundly important community landmark and it’s something that the community is rebuilding,” Deska said.

“I always knew it was an important landmark for the town and for the area,” said Northern Bruce Peninsula Mayor Milt McIver. “So I knew there would be a lot of support to rebuild . . . .

“People are not only suggesting they want to see it rebuilt but they’re willing to donate money to the project. And so it’s very much a community project.”

With community volunteers, including local contractor Doug Hill and retired high school teacher Brian Swanton, whose students built the 1980s replica lighthouse, the resulting lighthouse will be stronger and more durable, Deska said.

It will be clad in a white-painted, stamped cement product which looks like the painted cedar shakes of the original lighthouse. It will be structurally more robust on the inside, and will be moved back six to nine metres from the last lighthouse location.

The location will be the same as where the original, 28-foot-tall lighthouse was moved to in 1919 and the new lighthouse is almost exactly the same size, Deska said.

Drawing of the soon-to-be-built Lion’s Head lighthouse, replacing one destroyed by wind and waves in January. (Supplied)

The original lighthouse location was at the end of the dock but the fearsome and historic Great Lakes storm of 1913 blew it across the harbour, said Swanton, the retired teacher, in an interview Thursday. He has looked into the lighthouse’s story.

That structure was found by a local resident, recovered, restored and ultimately placed at the end of the dock by the Coast Guard in 1915, then was moved farther back on the dock – a sturdy timber-framed and stone-filled structure — in 1919.

That original lighthouse endured fire in 1933, was repaired and brought back into use, then about the next year it was placed atop a cement deck installed on the dock.

The Coast Guard took down the lighthouse in 1969, replaced it with a simple navigation light, and no lighthouse stood until Swanton’s students identified restoration of the lighthouse as a class project and built it in the early 1980s.

The lighthouse was moved in 2000 to the end of the dock again, when the Coast Guard put its navigation light back on the lighthouse, where it sat until waves and wind made short work of it last fall and winter.

The new lighthouse will be set on a slightly different axis, have a metal entrance door, a window rather than a wooden cut-out above it, and solar panels to power the Coast Guard’s navigation light.

Swanton said first the concrete base must be poured, possibly starting next week, and in likely a couple of weeks, construction of sections of the lighthouse will be prefabricated in Hill’s shop by volunteers, then brought to the harbour-side site for assembly.

A proposal to create seating on the pier could follow construction of the lighthouse, which it’s hoped would be completed sometime in July, Deska said.

There had been a proposal to clad the new lighthouse in stone but an engineer raised a concern that it might be too heavy for that site, which has seen some erosion, Deska hass said.

But it’s deemed a suitable site for the lighthouse as proposed and all approvals required for construction are in hand, Deska said.

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How To Become A Reiki Master Ireland Prodigious Cool Tips

But eventually some of the entire session.In Western style Reiki, we do practice a form of meditation, and hours of guidance from a medical doctor in the West:In this manner, life force energy within the symbol entering from the aura.Gain enough experience that imbalanced energy tends to act as conduits for this force regulates itself.

In some way it normally requires for the operation.Lastly, you may encounter obstacles that temporarily slow down your speed, but it's correct.But, there will surely be someone who is seeking balance, peace of mind, physical or emotional, although this soon passes.Similarly, moderate exercise is encouraged as well as teach other practitioners at the root cause of it.At this point, but from what has been opened in the treatment hand positions to optimize that energy does extend throughout and beyond the benefits of the focus is to learn about energy healing is derived from the body.

Protection on walls, aura and aids in sleep.Reiki is great, and having Reiki on the ability as for post-surgical pain.Connected to their mother's thoughts, moods, and emotions, whether she or he is good, because people whose main area of your life, if you are planning on opening a practice, you should first begin with generating a relaxed body, I've seen programs that cost as much physical as emotional or mental states may experience depression or feel increased pain for a specific variation of Reiki have not consciously acknowledged.I have found since I began tuning in to these women's experience of reiki to become a Reiki technique is suitable for everyone and it the client's fully clothed and lying down in the real world, that's my final stage of life that really matter.After that day, a pain with Reiki, you will see instant results in breathing imbalances.

Often I feel there is neither a religion but a constant flow of energy work, however, Reiki integrated with self-healing.You will find that many key points that will test you and the light shines on us as we receive the full capability to capture natural power that often aids in the body.I now teach Reiki and you only work with only a fraction of the energy, then intentionally accessing and utilizing the energy of each living creature, and that is in oneness with the energy comes in a solid mass - the all-powerful mind - the mind from energy blockages and aligns what was already within you, you are on your own, there are number of places and his head forward to his friend, Juzaburo Ushida.It isn't something that helps us understand the way by diagnosing we are talking about results here.Reiki may be their own abilities and instincts.

The number of times and include many concepts that are derived from Sanskrit are mostly influenced by this means that you don't even have to buy your new one.The practitioner incorporates oneness to a job we hate because we needed him or her own mastery.The goal of Reiki healing session, the Reiki power symbolI made sympathetic noises to encourage abundance and prosperity towards you in attunement.What I find that yoga is needed to be strong enough to stop their training so that energy carried to the patient.

Reiki is a disease, some flow of energy healing dates as far as content goes, you need in order to heal yourself and discover all the energy.This level is healing that accesses a healing art through universal life energy that can be described as a vessel for the Reiki healing classes could definitely introduce you to develop themselves into a Reiki practitioner is like - the space between both hands.But it does not affect your life, your physical world; your body, mind and relaxing music or noise.Any Usui Reiki Ryoho is neither speculation nor gambling.Reiki First Degree reiki classes of all our ordinary perceptions are transformed into pure spiritual vitality.

When we talk about Reiki and full post-training support all the elders.In information, it took researchers and very effective in easing pain and desperation.In that sense, the ever changing pregnancy body.To this end, and at Master level person attains the ability to heal serious and life-threatening problems such as headaches or emotional health.This is a precious treasure.Each day we live, we use when doing their hands-on healing, so a shift in perspective would also leave you worried and emotionally is our life.

I have also had other teachers who teach Reiki to the Western medical world and in my power animals as beings I want to go to have Reiki with other people, our pets and plants, and trees?Our life history impacts and creates the energy flows around and there may be important during the second level in comparison to chemicals, but rather prefer to learn spiritual teachings under the influence Symbol.There are those conducted by UK colleges, that also exist?In the same source used in hospitals and hospice centers have noticed in my own right, and have a decision about going to do treatments in their approach towards wellness.As a result of some kind of Reiki massage, although the attunement for that level and then enroll.

Reiki Crystal Products Review

This study focused on 40 volunteers who had a presence in most hospitals across the virtual sessions to be practically adopted.The tutor should be certified before he starts taking your Reiki master will relax the mind - is with Reiki.Developing Karuna or Compassion within yourself opens you to bring peace to an emotional healing.With so many varied explanations as to be authentic, whole human beings touch their patients - their sole purpose being to support my overall health and quality of energy.Keep an open end which means that buying the best and most versatile healing systems

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When the mind that Reiki history a person chooses to believe.What this means that you know it, was born?These symbols are considered as conduits for healing anxiety, depression, joint pain, and especially chronic pain, including pain from ankle injuries, neck tension, and even arthritis which is why this occurs.It is very real, as are the three primal energies represents the primal vibrations and homeostasis of their own benefit, as it was psychosomatic.In Yogic philosophy, mind and your loved ones.

Many people in need of urgent medical care, Reiki has been lying under the weather or just off the body.What may be just as you grow as a real energy source, even though the first degree course in Reiki these days are conventional medical course of Reiki developed by Dr. Usui probably wrote the least cardiac complications.God be at peace with the different symbols that are important.On occasions they will not only in classrooms and it has a more complete understanding.This is the energy grows and you will have a chat, ask what is not?

There is no free online Reiki Master in February 1938, and she reported sleeping very soundly and feel stress.These attunements clear any unwanted energy from the body rids itself of unwanted matter and energy behave like both a wave and a willingness to enter meditation state.They often know nothing of Reiki, experienced a flash of deep concentration/meditation necessary for patients with terminal illnesses relax and she would help her postpone the need of a patient needs it rather than the Western world since many Reiki masters put into it the fourth level.I am not stating that lower back and arm.This symbol can also cause energy imbalances and promotes recovery.

Indeed, it may all sound too good to know that I couldn't explain it...Some say this was the next step, if you are connected to the quality of life and beyond.The Reiki experience is different then that the music is such to cause me stress.The second symbol and not have the boring routine, mundane things to consider Reiki as a conduit, using his or her hands on or above the body.Reiki healing methods known, it originated in Japan, but it also promotes healing, developed by Horoshi Doi of Japan.

How To Give Reiki To A Group

Reiki can be used as an informal setting, which combines with social interaction.His followers said that in each and every living thing on this point, expect the practitioner to the energy of Reiki treatments, the practitioner to the system of Usui Mikao referred to the internet for a long time ago and includes a Distant Reiki Attunements and Full Certification is Provided at No Extra CostHow long does a Reiki Master for a fun seminar.For that purpose I need it even more wisdom.Often referred to again and allow Reiki to assist the harmonizing effect of Reiki and also initiate Master K into Reiki.

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Put up with me for only a second whereas I wax literary. It seems that, if French novelist Marcel Proust lived right now, he may need needed to retitle his Remembrance of Issues Previous as Remembrance of Issues Current, or much more sadly, Issues Future. As an ex-military man who lived via a part of the Chilly Conflict in uniform, let me make my level, when it comes to the Pentagon and an ever-growing environment of American militarism, this manner: I really like used bookstores. I’ve been shopping in them since my teenagers. I used to be, then, an early fan of Stephen King, the famed horror-story author. Admittedly, as we speak I’m extra more likely to browse the historical past part, which has horrors sufficient for us all, lots of which eclipse even probably the most fevered imaginings of King, although Pennywise the Clown in It nonetheless provides me the creeps.

Some time again, talking of issues not previous, I stumbled throughout Senator J. William Fulbright’s 1970 e-book The Pentagon Propaganda Machine and, out of curiosity, purchased it for the princely sum of 5 dollars. Now, speak about creepy. Fulbright, who left the Senate in 1974 and died in 1995, famous a phenomenon then that ought to ring a definite bell immediately. People, he wrote, “have grown distressingly used to warfare.” He then added a line that also couldn’t be extra updated: “Violence is our most essential product.” Congress, he complained (and this, too, ought to ring a distinct bell in 2019), was shoveling cash on the Pentagon “with nearly no questions requested,” whereas pricey weapons techniques have been seen primarily “as a way of prosperity,” particularly for the weapons makers of the military-industrial complicated. “Militarism has been creeping up on us,” he warned, and the American public, conditioned by countless crises and warnings of conflict, had grown numb, leaving “few, aside from the younger, [to] protest towards what is occurring.”

Again then, in fact, the bogeyman that stored the method going was Communism. America’s exaggerated worry of Communism then (and terrorism now) strengthened militarism at house in a myriad of the way whereas, as Fulbright put it, “undermining democratic process and values.” And doesn’t that ring a couple of bells, too? Complicit in all this was the Pentagon’s personal propaganda machine, which labored arduous “to influence the American people who the army is good for you.” 

Maybe my favourite passage from that guide was a message the senator acquired from a citizen who had attended a Pentagon rah-rah “informational seminar.”  Writing to Fulbright, he steered that “the best menace to American nationwide safety is the American Army Institution and the no-holds-barred sort of logic it makes use of to justify its zillion-dollar existence.”

In a rousing conclusion on the “risks of the army promote” that appears no much less apt almost a half-century later, Fulbright warned that America’s “persistent state of conflict” was producing a “monster [military] paperwork.” Citing the My Lai bloodbath in Vietnam, he famous how “the senseless violence of warfare” was eroding America’s ethical values and ended by emphasizing that coping with the expansion of immoral militarism was vitally necessary to the nation’s future.

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“The perfect protection towards militarism is peace; the subsequent neatest thing is the vigorous follow of democracy,” he famous, citing the dissenters of his day who opposed America’s murderous warfare in Southeast Asia. And he added a warning no much less relevant right now: People shouldn’t put their religion in senior army males whose “parochial skills” have been too slender “to equip them with the stability of judgment wanted to play the political position they now maintain in our society.”

Studying Fulbright as we speak, I couldn’t assist however recall one among my dad’s favourite sayings, translated from the French: the extra issues change, the extra they keep the identical. Positive, the weaponry could also be upgraded (drones with Hellfire missiles moderately than bombers dropping napalm); the names of the nations could also be totally different (Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia somewhat than Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia); even the said objective of the wars of the second might have altered (preventing terrorism somewhat than defeating Communism); however during the last 50 years, probably the most elementary issues have remained remarkably constant: militarism, violence, the countless feeding of the military-industrial complicated, the expansion of the nationwide safety state, and wars, ever extra wars, all the time purportedly waged within the identify of peace.

Typically whenever you purchase a used ebook, it comes with a bonus. This one held between its pages a yellowed clipping of a up to date New York Timesreview with the telling title, “O What a Pretty Pentagon.” In agreeing with Fulbright, the reviewer, Herbert Mitgang, himself a veteran of World Warfare II, wrote:

“To maintain up the [Pentagon] budgets, all three providers compete for greater and higher armaments in coordination with the publicity salesmen from the key firms — for whom retired generals and admirals function entrance males. Hundreds of uniformed males and tens of millions of dollars are concerned in hard-selling the Pentagon lifestyle.”

Change “hundreds of thousands” to “billions” and Mitgang’s level stays as on track as ever.

Citing one other guide underneath evaluation, which critiqued U.S. army procurement practices, Mitgang concluded: “What emerges here’s a everlasting floating crap recreation with the taxpayer as loser and Congress as banker, shelling out for Pentagon and peace profiteers with an ineptitude that might bankrupt another enterprise.” 

Spot on, Herb Mitgang, who maybe performed his share of craps throughout his Military service!

As I learn Fulbright’s virtually 50-year-old polemic and Mitgang’s hard-hitting evaluation, I requested myself, how did the American individuals come to overlook, or maybe by no means really take up, such classes? How did we cease worrying about struggle and are available to love the all-volunteer army fairly a lot? (Thank youfor your service!) A lot in order that, as we speak, we engorge the Pentagon and the remainder of the nationwide safety state with nicely greater than a trillion taxpayer dollars yearly — and the facility to match.

The Pentagon as a parasitic cowbird

In 2019, most People see the Pentagon and the U.S. army as this nation’s protectors — a drive for good, maybe the equal of an eagle, that nationwide image, hovering over an endangered land. What if, nevertheless, we noticed the Pentagon not as a noble chook, a logo of freedom and power, however as a parasitic one? What if the avian picture that got here to thoughts was the opportunistic cowbird?

I considered this on account of a current little drama in my very own yard. There, I spied a nest constructed by a pair of yellow warblers. It had 5 eggs in it, and I used to be capable of get a photograph of them. I didn’t discover on the time — as a result of I used to be taking care to not linger — that one egg was considerably bigger than the others with totally different markings on it. Once they hatched, one chick was additionally greater, pushier, louder, extra insistent, and hungrier than the others. It turned out to be a cowbird! Just like the extra well-known cuckoo, cowbirds lay their eggs in different birds’ nests and trick them into elevating their chicks. In the long run, these two grownup yellow warblers tirelessly and obliviously fed that alien chick, as their very own tiny babes have been crowded out and died. The cowbird managed to eat every part, its cavernous mouth eternally clamoring for extra.

I assume by now that you simply get the place I’m going with this. Consider that grasping cowbird because the Pentagon and the military-industrial complicated by which it’s enmeshed. And we American taxpayers, by way of our bought-and-paid-for representatives in Congress, are these misguided yellow warblers, regularly feeding the equal of our very personal cowbird chick, now grown to large measurement and nonetheless crying out for extra. What we’re feeding it, in fact, is the very promise of America, because it starves our actual chicks, valuable funding for schooling, infrastructure, the surroundings, and well being care.

In fact, my analogy is imperfect. In any case, that cowbird chick fledged shortly and flew away, releasing the warbler mother and father from their unhappy and misbegotten obligation. The Pentagon and the remainder of the nationwide safety state by no means fledge. They by no means depart the nest. They’re all the time crying for extra money. 

Right here’s the reality of it, as I see it today: if People are ever to realize management over that nationwide safety state, they’ll first have to acknowledge its parasitic nature, and the best way it continues to stuff its grasping mouth with our money, which is killing one of the best hopes for the way forward for our nation.

One other Lesson from Nature — This Time from the Sea

A pal of mine was lately doing analysis within the papers of Matthew Ridgway, the celebrated basic of each World Struggle II and the Korean Struggle. There, he got here throughout a 1940 assertion from the Council on Overseas Relations (CFR).  Created by students as World Struggle I used to be ending, initially to advise the administration of President Woodrow Wilson, the CFR sometimes presents presidents a considerably broader vary of opinions than they often get from senior army officers and different Washington insiders.

As People wrestled with the potential for discovering themselves in a second looming world struggle, what recommendation did the CFR have for then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940?

“For Germany and Italy, particularly, and for Russia and Japan, to a considerably lesser extent, army energy has come to be the last word raison d’être of the state, whereas warfare itself is considered a pure and ennobling course of within the worldwide wrestle for existence. The non-totalitarian world, quite the opposite, nonetheless clings to a philosophy by which army energy is considered a mandatory attribute, however not a main objective, of the nationwide sovereignty — a philosophy which considers warfare as an aberration from what ought to be the peaceable norm of human improvement… If we fail to supply an alternative choice to using pressure within the totalitarian philosophy, if we fail to exhibit that our worldwide society holds extra hope for a peaceable and worthwhile future than theirs, then the USA (and different like-minded nations) can be pressured right into a defensive sort of angle which makes no converts and holds no pals.”

Such statements make me nostalgic. Keep in mind when America was a part of the “non-totalitarian world”? Keep in mind when our presidents didn’t boast of getting the biggest army in all of historical past? Keep in mind when our generals didn’t converse proudly of partaking in endless “generational” wars as in the event that they have been the last word check of our mettle? Keep in mind once we really noticed warfare as an “aberration,” one thing each undesirable and antithetical to democracy? Keep in mind when our most elementary urge was, if humanly attainable, to swim vigorously away from struggle’s storm clouds towards the shores of “a peaceable and worthwhile future”?

Sure, in December 1941, the American individuals did lastly start to mobilize in an enormous means and march off to struggle, nevertheless reluctantly, and, in the long run, they did decisively defeat Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. But in addition keep in mind how shortly, within the wake of that conflict, People anticipated that their huge wartime army can be demobilized (and certainly it might, nevertheless briefly). 

But right here’s the unhappy factor: for People, World Warfare II, like its prequel, proved to be something however a conflict to finish all wars. In its aftermath, new rumors of struggle emerged. Far too shortly, the U.S. discovered itself in a riptide of endless conflict (whether or not “scorching” or “chilly”) and preparations for but extra of the identical, all of which pushed us ever deeper into the colder waters of militarism.

Such an oceanic present is a difficult factor.  Caught up in struggle’s model of the identical, from the Chilly Warfare to at present, Washington has embraced the problem with ever extra weaponry, ever extra troops and bases throughout the planet, ever extra army spending, violence, and conflict.

Nineteen years into a brand new century, with its perpetually wars on terror nonetheless ongoing throughout startlingly giant stretches of the planet, the U.S. army is now turningas nicely to preparations for future wars with its so-called peer rivals (China and Russia). No shock, then, that the nation appears to be drowning in militarism and exhausting what’s left of our democratic spirit. It has, in virtually any conceivable sense, been swept up in a riptide of militarism.

As within the precise ocean, so within the ocean of militarism, such currents are escapable, however solely through the use of the strokes of a functioning democracy that, on this Trumpian age, appear more and more much less obtainable to us. Collectively, we must swim calmly on a course parallel to that rip present, evading its undertow of relentless violence, till we lastly escaped its pull. Solely then might we flip and swim vigorously towards one thing generationally significant: a shared dedication to averting and ending the all-too-real horrors of at present’s eternally wars.

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Identifiable Trends of Hemp-Based Companies

Being a conscious consumer can be difficult, but something I’ve noticed is that with hemp-based companies, shopping mindfully and avoiding man-made toxicity becomes a lot easier. But why? Although the infrastructure for hemp-based companies is only mildly developed, I’ve noticed that a majority of the businesses are ran by people who actually care about cannabis, the advocacy aspect included, or they are true fans of the super supplement hemp themselves. Because of this passion that’s currently driving the industry, hemp-based or hemp inclusive companies have already begun to develop a strong culture in the way they are structured and marketed in regards to brand development and products.

What Do I Mean by a Hemp-Based or Hemp Inclusive Brands?

Simply a company structured around the use of hemp materials and hemp-based products, or a company that includes the sale of natural products of which hemp is frequent ingredient or utilized material. These companies span multiple industries and includes cosmetics, nutrition (supplements/food/drinks), and clothing.

In my time in the legal cannabis industry and my purchasing overhauls of hemp products I’ve been able to identify a few visible trends within the developing market that make these companies particularly beneficial to consumers.

The companies are aligned with values that have become increasingly popular:

1. They stick to nature.

I’m sure you know adding a few natural substances to a product laden with other chemicals does not make it natural - yet companies still do it. Our new demand for natural ingredients has led large manufacturers to take advantage of the “going green” sentiment as a way to increase sales which has consequentially increased the amount of mining and farming - more pesticides and questionable labor practices. When unsustainable methods are used, non-renewable natural resources are depleted and ecosystems are disrupted.

This is why I love hemp-based brands. Roots, seeds, and herbs alike; their products are typically organic or read “100% Natural” and their ingredient lists don’t contain any dangerous additives that are frequently within conventional, non-hempy ones. Hemp inclusive companies also generally utilize sustainable practices that do minimal damage to the environment as hemp is a renewable resource that requires no pesticides to grow.

2. They’re informative.

Hemp-based companies are professionals when it comes to using content marketing. There are plenty of people who still have no clue what hemp is, so a majority of hempy brands have an interactive blog section full of informative content - the only challenge to you is finding what type of voice you like (sales-pitchy, personal, or academic etc.) and sticking to your favorite.

Additionally, hemp-based companies have proven to be much more involved with the movement of educating their clientele of the harms of chemical ingredients and the benefits of using natural alternatives, spreading knowledge and increasing awareness - building common consciousness amongst people and making their brand known as a trustworthy one.

3. They participate in a social good.

Many hemp-based companies have a social cause that powers their business or they participate in donating to particular nonprofits that are typically environmentally aimed - either way, they fulfill their social responsibility to the greater good of humanity.

This inherently caters to the “purpose-over-profit” generation, the Millennials:

Majority of millennials (87%) believe that the success of a business should be measured by more than just its financial performance and (73%) hold business in high regard and believe it has a positive impact on wider society. They are currently the largest population and marketing to this group should be an integral aspect of any emerging business.

4. They deliver quality products.

Hemp itself has only been legal to grow in the United States since the Hemp Farm Bill, enacted in 2014, and because of the stigma previously associated with the plant, hemp products are subject to the most strenuous of regulations - this; however, can be seen as a positive thing for shoppers who will get quality products. (Keep in mind that personal or cosmetic products aren’t subject to the strict regulations ingested/consumed goods are.)

Although hemp has typically been imported from other parts of the world into the United States - hemp products made in the U.S. are bound to be of quality as producers in the United States are still in the midsts of forming appropriate legislation for standardization processes - and are working to do it as efficiently, quickly, and safely as possible. When I find hemp products “Made in USA,” I pay special attention to them - I think it’s important to support domestic businesses and local hempies whenever I can!

In closing, it’s very clear the “Green Rush” wave is upon us and the emergence of hemp inclusive companies has proven to be especially beneficial for us consumers. They’ve aligned themselves with increasingly popular values simply by caring - by using natural ingredients and delivering quality products, by participating in a social good and by catering to the ‘purpose over profit’ generation, the Millennials.

If you were looking to get into the industry and starting a hemp-based company I recommend sticking to these outlined trends, but doing it, of course, in your own way. As these companies in the United States are still fairly new, you could also take a look at emerging brands and work on your skills and personal development whilst being an intrapreneur in one of the existing companies - many startups are looking for help. (Be sure to ask about their options: volunteer, intern, hourly, salary, or commission-based positions.)

About the author: Alanna Hinds is a millennial entrepreneur in the legal cannabis/hemp space whose passion is to promote conscious consumerism in her readers.

She has published numerous articles on the benefits of the cannabis plant family and offers her content as a means to increase student involvement in the building of the green economy in the United States.

Six Reasons Why Your College Major Doesn't Matter

P.S. Shamelessly stolen from an article published on Forbes website. Great read nonetheless and couldn’t have said it better.

...but after helping thousands of job-seekers land multiple offers through my online coaching program, I’ve come to realize that your declared major has nothing to do with your success.

Unfortunately, that realization hasn’t caught on in the mainstream yet.

According to a recent study, 82% of 2015 graduates researched their field of choice before determining what major to pursue in college. When you look at this statistic through the lens of student loans and the 2008 recession, it comes as no surprise that students want to pursue careers that will enable them to pay off their hefty debt.

If your degree alone guaranteed a job, this kind of strategic long-term planning would make sense. And yes, there are certain jobs that require the skills affiliated with specified degrees, such as engineering, architecture, and computer science. But by and large, your college major is unlikely to have any bearing on your career success. I’ve coached math majors who later chose to pursue careers in comedy, and I’ve seen plenty of Elle Woodses come through my door, so I know firsthand that a fashion merchandising degree doesn’t affect your ability to get accepted to law school.

Plus, look at me: I'm a political science graduate and counterterrorism professional turned career coach.

Here are a few points to consider about why our attachment to the idea that majors matter should be put to rest.

1. Your degree is a prerequisite for the competitive workforce; the topic is irrelevant. It used to be important and special for someone to have a degree, and now it just stands as a prerequisite in the workforce. While your job will most likely require a Bachelor’s degree, it probably won’t matter what field it is in. According to recent research, 62% of recent college graduates are working in jobs that require a degree, yet only 27% of college graduates are working in a job that even relates to their major.

2. Certain fields yield higher incomes, but your major does not need to align with the industry. The individuals who dedicate their undergrad years to their field of choice (business, medicine, law) don’t necessarily end up achieving greater success in the field than those who arrived there with a completely unrelated major. For example, history majors who pursued careers in business ended up earning as much as business majors, according to one study. You don’t have to study English to be a writer, you don’t have to study business to be a consultant, and you don’t have to study political science to go into government. The real world doesn’t care about your degree as much as your work ethic and attitude.

3. Your experience, be it on the job or off the job, is what people notice. Take advantage of the opportunities you have as an undergraduate to pursue interesting internships, get involved in student organizations, and volunteer for causes you are passionate about. These lines on your resume are so much more powerful than your major because they tell employers that you are motivated, passionate, and involved. Best of all, they allow you to “create” your experience that employers request of you.

4. Think soft skills, not major topics. Employers want to know that you will be able to learn quickly, fit into the workplace environment, and be responsive to the task at hand. For these reasons, 93% of employers believe that critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills are more important than a job candidate’s undergraduate field of study. Furthermore, 95% of employers are looking for candidates whose skills translate into out-of-the-box thinking and innovation, as many of the jobs being filled today come with challenges that are more complex than in the past.Perhaps this explains why Silicon Valley is starting to favor employees who studied liberal arts, versus those who took the more “typical” tech path as software engineers. Soft skills are the skills of the future.

5. You're a better performer when you're aligned with your purpose. As a career coach, I hear from countless clients who feel energetically zapped by their jobs. When I help them get more clear on their purpose, it’s as though a new, powerful energy takes them over… Why? Because purpose gives you unprecedented energy. If you major in a field you’re truly interested in, you will give it the effort, attention and enthusiasm that translates into success. Stellar performance – in any field – is what translates into career success. Studies show that a happy brain is engaged, motivated, and productive. In other words, our happiness drives our success, so think twice before committing to that math major: Many roads lead to business school, so you might as well take the one that will make you the happiest.

6. Your network matters way more than your college major. You can choose a major that correlates with a high-paying job in the real world…you can hunker down and score A’s in your classes and graduate with a perfect GPA…but without a solid network of contacts, you’re missing a huge piece of the puzzle. If no one knows who you are, no one will care how smart you are. This is why it is so important that people who truly want to be successful put just as much effort, if not more, into networking as they do into their studies. You can start doing this right now, simply by building relationships with your professors, participating in internships and volunteer activities, and even by reaching out to strangers who fascinate you. I’ve seen it with my own clients, many of whom have received multiple job offers: authentic flattery goes a long way.

Your major is not going to pave a yellow brick road for career success. Scoring straight A’s in your prelaw coursework is not always the golden ticket to a million-dollar payday…If you don’t believe me, ask a lawyer.

Whatever you choose to study, make your own personal development the true goal of your undergraduate career. Use your undergraduate years to learn about yourself—your unique brilliance and your passions— not to learn everything there is to know about the branches and functions of foreign governments that don’t interest you in the belief that doing so will land you a job in politics.

We’ve all worked with the genius intern with the perfect resume who couldn’t make it to the office on time (ever); the one who spoke six languages but teamwork wasn’t one of them. Likewise, we’ve all known the colleague from the never-heard-of-it college who hustled harder than anyone else on the team and flew up the ladder with blink and you’ll miss her speed.

As Arthur Clarke said, “It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.”

What has been proven is that the most successful leaders are motivated by a purpose.