Is the Film Industry Good For Michigan??

I am personally rooting for it. I LOVE movies! Having owned a Video Store for 10 years when video renting was at its peak I have a personal interest in this industry. There is nothing better in my opinion than losing yourself in a great movie. It takes you to places that you can only conjure up in dreams. A good love story can touch you deeply,a good comedy can ease your troubled soul. I personally can not even imagine a life without this great art form.

I have read several reports pros and cons over the last couple weeks since the governor proposed his plans to cut the incentives. Most of the studies done have been favorable in stating that a movie being made here does indeed stimulate the economy and boost up the local areas business. Tourism also increases where movies are made. Mackinaw Island can testify at how much the filming of Somewhere In Time boosted people who visited the Grand Hotel since it was made. All in all most studies done have been in the positive vein. I do feel as with any type of breaks for business's this one included that there should be stipulations. Hiring stipulations,example,A certain percentage of the film crew should be filled by locals. Also local governments should NOT be allowed to get into joint building ventures with proposed film studios.
Since we are giving such huge financial breaks to the Industry we should not risk local government spending on joint ventures.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I can not see how pulling the plug on this now is a service to Michigan.

Communication,easier said than done

Communication. That is the key to success in ALL relationships. But oh how hard it is to do at times. Miss communication is the number one problem in the breakdown of friendships, marriages and between parents and children. It can go bad before you know it.

How to stop this from happening? Well I am no expert by any means. But I have raised a successful daughter in an environment that could have been toxic. Not that it was perfect and there isn’t a residual effect but over all I feel the communication between my daughter and myself was key to our success.

We have a mutual respect for each other as women that makes our relationship one of the most successful in my life. I wanted my daughter to become a strong woman. I wanted her to have pride in herself and be able to stand securely on her own two feet. Not to have to depend on a man to support her financially only to join with a man for love and companionship. The key to that was education and belief in herself. Many obstacles fell in the way of her path toward achieving these goals. And they were HUGE obstacles. None I could have ever foreseen happening. I had to make sacrifices for her that I wasn’t prepared for and she had to make sacrifices that she should have never had to make. When her father got so gravely hurt and she became his caregiver it would have been easy for her to abandon her goals of education and try to get a small paying job to help while she caregived him.

I was adamant that NOT happen. You must continue your studies I said. What do you do when in five years your father is not here and you are left with nothing for yourself? I said to her. There was one thing her father and I did agree on and that was this girl had the smarts to achieve whatever she put her mind to. It was a brain that should not go to waste. She just had way too much to offer. I knew I had to help to make sure that she could go on and get her education. Easy?? A big fat NO ! It was hard work for her. She almost lost her mind many times throughout the course of her studies. And so did I. I was running the race with her. Helping with her father as much as I could. Working long hours to help with expenses. Trying to talk with my daughter and COMMUNICATE. Never stop talking. Take the time.

The same with your spouse. So easy to fall into the day to day. So easy to think you’re on the same page and then all of a sudden to find out your not. Make that time to just really listen to each other and really understand what that person you share your life with really is feeling. Even if at times you don’t think they will want to hear your feelings, you still must listen. Not in judgment but with understanding.

These are lessons I continue to learn. Easy to go off the path. But much easier when you get back on the right path. The riches that you can share when you communicate in all your important relationships are so abundant!