In Rust Belt, a teenager’s climb from poverty

Excellent article about personal obstacles, perseverance, and driving your destiny by escaping the path which molded you...

In Rust Belt, a teenager’s climb from poverty
The Washington Post, By Anne Hull, Published: December 8

Week after week, the mailman climbed the steep hill of Shenango Street to the house with the busted porch steps. “Dear Miss Rouzzo,” the letters began, or “Dear Tabitha Rouzzo.” The college catalogues barely fit in the mailbox. They stuck out like gift-wrapped presents against white aluminum siding gone dingy from decades of wear. On the porch were three new Linen Breeze decorative candles — a nice try, thought the actual Tabitha Rouzzo, who came walking up the hill every afternoon with her mind on the mailbox....
Tabi shared the rental house with her mother and sometimes her mother’s boyfriend. Her four older siblings were grown. None of them had graduated from high school. They wore headsets and hairnets to jobs that were so futureless that getting pregnant at 20 seemed an enriching diversion. Born too late to witness the blue-collar stability that had once been possible, they occupied the bottom of the U.S. economy.

Continue reading
In Rust Belt, a teenager’s climb from poverty
Read the last paragraph to see where her career path has started.

Is Actual Innocence “Capturing the Friedmans,” 25 Years Later?

Jesse Friedman served thirteen years in prison for crimes he claims that he did not commit.  He is currently registered as a Level 3 sex offender.

Is Actual Innocence “Capturing the Friedmans,” 25 Years Later?
by Perry Binder
The Huffington Post 

On November 25, 1987, I was sprawled out on my parents’ couch, when my favorite high school teacher appeared on the TV news.  Arnold Friedman was a retired NYC instructor who taught computer classes in his home for local kids.  I watched as he and his 17-year old son, Jesse, were handcuffed and hauled away for horrific child molestation crimes occurring in their basement.  I fell off that couch in disbelief.
Continued below...

Bayside High School yearbook picture of Arnold Friedman

(Perry Binder, student, is pictured in the background, on the left)

The author took Organic Chemistry and Nuclear Chemistry high school courses with Arnold Friedman.  The latter class included a discussion of the effects of radiation on human and animal life.  With that fact in mind, Mr. Friedman wrote the following beside the above yearbook photo:

Article continued:

Arnold and Jesse Friedman each pled guilty to avoid a trial, and Jesse learned of his father’s prison suicide in 1995.  Since his release in 2001, Jesse has attempted to clear his name, so he no longer must register as a Level 3 violent sexual predator.  In 2003, new facts about his case emerged in the Oscar-nominated documentary, Capturing the Friedmans, which examined the evidence against the Friedmans and questioned whether any of the allegations against them were truthful.

On August 16, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found "a reasonable likelihood that Jesse Friedman was wrongfully convicted" and that "the police, prosecutors and the [trial] judge did everything they could to coerce a guilty plea and avoid a trial."  That November, the Nassau County District Attorney appointed a panel of four experts to review the evidence against Jesse.  To date, the panel has not released its findings.  On November 18, 2012, a Great Neck, N.Y. town hall was convened to present a 75-minute new evidence reel, with Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling, director and producer respectively of Capturing the Friedmans, civil rights attorney Ronald Kuby, and Jesse Friedman in attendance.  (I previewed the video for this article.)

Continue Reading in The Huffington Post:

Is Actual Innocence “Capturing the Friedmans,” 25 Years Later?
by Perry Binder

New Book Reviews of 99 Motivators for College Success

As an avid reader, I've enjoyed interacting with fellow readers on GoodReads.com.  In addition, this site has given me a great forum as an author to interact with readers of 99 Motivators for College Success.

If you read my blog, please consider friending and/or following me at
Perry Binder on GoodReads 

1- GoodReads Reviews for 99 Motivators for College Success 
(4.83/5.0) - 6 Ratings

- Right now I am a high school student and I'm going to be taking a Law Studies class my Junior year and I think this book will be very useful.

- Received this book in a giveaway, but its advice is WAY more valuable than that might hint. The one that really sticks out (and could have saved me a lot of wasted time) is how you should choose a vocation (pays well!) versus an avocation (hobby; little or no pay!).
- The book is divided into three sections: how to adjust to college, how to succeed in class, and how to properly apply your degree to your future career.  Of the career section, the best advice numbers came with the bureau of labor statistic inserts, allowing an influence and perspective into the quote or advice. In succeeding in class, the most helpful pages had advice on mentors and how to properly write an essay or take a multiple choice test. The Adjusting to college had a huge emphasis placed on making friends and overall enjoying life because that is what one should be doing at college.  Overall, it was a great book. Only problem is that I am now freaking out over my career prospects. Oh well!

2- Amazon Reviews (5.0/5.0) - 3 Ratings

- I have enjoyed reading this book. It was quite helpful in getting me motivated for the right reasons. I would definitely recommend it for other college students.

- Fantastic book and a quick read. Perry is a motivating professor; which is carried forward into his writing. Purchase the book you will be satisfied.
- Perry Binder really knows how to make the apprehension that surrounds such a daunting period easy to overcome using his logical and common sense view points. Although this is a short read, the wisdom found between the covers provides insight for everyone and will keep you coming back as a source of inspiration and motivation for years to come. Having been fortunate enough to experience his teaching first hand, I know these motivators are based on real world experiences that he has gained as a practicing attorney and professor. His gift is his ability to break down complex issues into their simplest common denominators so they can be easily analyzed and resolved. Perry is able to provide thoughtful insight to the seemingly obvious or create that "aha" moment that the reader will find humorous and enlightening. As with all of Professor Binder's books, the reader will discover that the truth will set you free and leave you with a smile on your face.

Amazon: 99 Motivators for College Success

3- Perry's Former Students - Testimonials on Perry's Classes

Justice Served? Jesse Friedman Panel is Taking Two Years for a Ruling

Jesse Friedman Update - I'm writing a case update in two weeks for The Huffington Post.  It is now going on two years that a panel was appointed (November 2010) by the Nassau County DA's Office to review this case.

July 2010: Nearly two years after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit took the unusual step of urging a "complete review" of what it suggested could have been the wrongful conviction of an innocent man in a notorious case of mass child molestation, the defendant and his lawyer have become frustrated at what they say is the secretive way in which the Nassau County District Attorney's Office is conducting the probe.
New York Law Journal

Click here for Case Review Panel Members

Click below for my Huffington Post article (August 2010):

"Capturing the Friedmans" Dad was my Unforgettable Teacher: Apply His Classroom Lessons to Set his Son Free by Perry Binder

Excerpt:
I don't know if Jesse is innocent, but I do believe he was pressured into accepting a plea deal and his guilt cannot be proven "beyond a reasonable doubt."  At the moment, his status as a sex offender is in the hands of prosecutors, who hopefully can apply Arnold Friedman's classroom lessons of compassion, rather than implicate Jesse by default for his father's sins.

Guest Blogger Jason Aldrich on "Career Rock Climbing"

Jason Aldrich is the Executive Director of the Career Management Center at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business. (where I teach)

Jason's article is a terrific look at how career building is no longer about ladder climbing.  He offers:
SEVEN CAREER ROCK CLIMBING PRINCIPLES: A NEW STRATEGY FOR THE 21st CENTURY

I particularly like:

Principle # 5 – Strategic sideways moves are smart…Keep moving!  The quickest path to the top may no longer be straight up.  Just as true rock climbing often requires lateral moves, 
so does career rock climbing. The worst thing you can do is freeze up because it drains energy and wastes time.

Career Strategy – A strategic sideways move may actually accelerate your growth in the long run.

Actions
- Your firm is launching a new product, has a major problem, or wants to expand a department. This is your chance to make a strategic lateral move if it helps you move in a new direction, build competencies for the future, expands your network and raises your profile in the organization or community.
- Even if you have to take a lateral move or a step back, the key is to keep moving. For example, a friend of  mine lost his job in 2005, took a job at Starbucks to get out of the house, and less than a year later he was a regional manager with 12 stores and he’s been there ever since.
- Don’t allow organizational restructurings or interpersonal conflicts derail you.

Read the article (pdf):
Career Rock Climbing: How the Career Ladder Became a Rock Wall and What You Can Do About It