My friend SG forwarded this email…thought I’d share it with my readers.  If you have suggestions, please add them in comments, below. If you originated it, please let me know and I’ll link to you. Thanks! Anita

Senior Discounts

(If you’re not a senior, please pass this on to someone who is!)

As I was waiting in line behind an older gentleman at Wendy’s recently, I heard him ask for his senior discount. The girl at the register apologized and charged him less. When I asked the man what the discount was, he told me that seniors over 55 get 10% off everything on the menu, every day.

Being that age myself, I figured I might as well ask for the discount too. As I waited for my turn, I thought about the consequences of doing so. If the employee asked me for I.D., it could be embarrassing having to show my license. But if she didn’t ask for proof, I would get depressed that I really did look “old” and that I didn’t need to prove it. Since I always like to save money, I boldly asked for the discount, and sadly she just rang up the discount (even though I am convinced I don’t look a day over 54).

Anyway, this incident prompted me to do some research, and I came across a list of restaurants, supermarkets, department stores, travel deals and other types of offers giving various discounts with different age requirements. I was actually surprised to see how many there are and how some of them start at the young age of 50.

This list may not only be useful for you, your friends and family, but it might also be appreciated by your clients. You might consider sending them an e-mail about it and link to our site in the e-mail, or maybe include it in your newsletter.

Dunkin Donuts gives free coffee to people over 55. If you’re paying for a cup every day, you might want to start getting it for free.

Restaurants

Applebee’s: 15% off with Golden Apple Card (60+)
Arby’s: 10% off (55+)
Ben & Jerry‘s: 10% off (60+)
Bennigan’s: discount varies by location
Bob’s Big Boy: discount varies by location (60+)
Boston Market: 10% off (65+)
Burger King: 10% off (60+)
Captain D’s Seafood: discount varies on location (62+)
Chick-Fil-A: 10% off or free small drink or coffee (55+)
Chili’s: 10% off (55+)
CiCi’s Pizza: 10% off (60+)
Culver’s: 10% off (60+)
Denny’s: 10% off, 20% off for AARP members (55+)
Dunkin’ Donuts: 10% off or free coffee (55+)
Einstein’s Bagels: 10% off baker�s dozen of bagels (60+)
Fuddrucker’s: 10% off any senior platter (55+)
Gatti’s Pizza: 10% off (60+)
Golden Corral: 10% off (60+)
Hardee’s: $0.33 beverages everyday (65+)
IHOP: 10% off (55+)
Jack in the Box: up to 20% off (55+)
KFC: free small drink with any meal (55+)
Krispy Kreme: 10% off (50+)
Long John Silver’s: various discounts at participating locations (55+)
McDonald’s: discounts on coffee everyday (55+)
Mrs. Fields: 10% off at participating locations (60+)
Shoney’s: 10% off
Sonic: 10% off or free beverage (60+)
Steak ‘n Shake: 10% off every Monday & Tuesday (50+)
Subway: 10% off (60+)
Sweet Tomatoes: 10% off (62+)
Taco Bell: 5% off; free beverages for seniors (65+)
TCBY: 10% off (55+)
Tea Room Cafe: 10% off (50+)
Village Inn: 10% off (60+)
Waffle House: 10% off every Monday (60+)
Wendy’s: 10% off (55+)
White Castle: 10% off (62+)

Retail And Apparel

Banana Republic: 10% off (50+)
Bealls: 20% off first Tuesday of each month (50+)
Belk’s: 15% off first Tuesday of every month (55+)
Big Lots: 10% off
Bon-Ton Department Stores: 15% off on senior discount days (55+)
C.J. Banks: 10% off every Wednesday (60+)
Clarks: 10% off (62+)
Dress Barn: 10% off (55+)
Goodwill: 10% off one day a week (date varies by location)
Hallmark: 10% off one day a week (date varies by location)
Kmart: 20% off (50+)
Koh‘�s: 15% off (60+)
Modell‘s Sporting Goods: 10% off
Rite Aid: 10% off on Tuesdays & 10% off prescriptions
Ross Stores: 10% off every Tuesday (55+)
The Salvation Army Thrift Stores: up to 50% off (55+)
Stein Mart:: 20% off red dot/clearance items first Monday of every month (55+)

Grocery

Albertson’s: 10% off first Wednesday of each month (55+)
American Discount Stores: 10% off every Monday (50+)
Compare Foods Supermarket: 10% off every Wednesday (60+)
DeCicco Family Markets: 5% off every Wednesday (60+)
Food Lion: 6% off every Monday (60+)
Fry’s Supermarket: free Fry�s VIP Club Membership & 10% off every Monday (55+)
Great Valu Food Store: 5% off every Tuesday (60+)
Gristedes Supermarket: 10% off every Tuesday (60+)
Harris Teeter: 5% off every Tuesday (60+)
Hy-Vee: 5% off one day a week (date varies by location)
Kroger: 10% off (date varies by location)
Morton Williams Supermarket: 5% off every Tuesday (60+)
The Plant Shed: 10% off every Tuesday (50+)
Publix: 5% off every Wednesday (55+)
Rogers Marketplace: 5% off every Thursday (60+)
Uncle Guiseppe’s Marketplace: 5% off (62+)

Travel

Alaska Airlines: 10% off (65+)
Alamo: up to 25% off for AARP members
American Airlines: various discounts for 65 and up (call before booking for discount)
Amtrak: 15% off (62+)
Avis: up to 25% off for AARP members
Best Western: 10% off (55+)
Budget Rental Cars: 10% off; up to 20% off for AARP members (50+)
Cambria Suites: 20%-30% off (60+)
Clarion: 20%-30% off (60+)
Comfort Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)
Comfort Suites: 20%-30% off (60+)
Continental Airlines: no initiation fee for Continental Presidents Club & special fares for select destinations
Dollar Rent-A-Car: 10% off (50+)
Econo Lodge: 20%-30% off (60+)
Enterprise Rent-A-Car: 5% off for AARP members
Greyhound: 5% off (62+)
Hampton Inns & Suites: 10% off when booked 72 hours in advance
Hertz: up to 25% off for AARP members
Holiday Inn: 10%-30% off depending on location (62+)
Hyatt Hotels: 25%-50% off (62+)
InterContinental Hotels Group: various discounts at all hotels (65+)
Mainstay Suites: 10% off with Mature Traveler�s Discount (50+); 20%-30% off (60+)
Marriott Hotels: 15% off (62+)
Motel 6: 10% off (60+)
Myrtle Beach Resort: 10% off (55+)
National Rent-A-Car: up to 30% off for AARP members
Quality Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)
Rodeway Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)
Sleep Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)
Southwest Airlines: various discounts for ages 65 and up (call before booking for discount)
Trailways Transportation System: various discounts for ages 50 and up
United Airlines: various discounts for ages 65 and up (call before booking for discount)
U.S. Airways: various discounts for ages 65 and up (call before booking for discount)

Activities And Entertainment

AMC Theaters: up to 30% off (55+)
Bally Total Fitness: up to $100 off memberships (62+)
Busch Gardens Tampa: $3 off one-day tickets (50+)
Carmike Cinemas: 35% off (65+)
Cinemark/Century Theaters: up to 35% off
U.S. National Parks: $10 lifetime pass; 50% off additional services including camping (62+)
Regal Cinemas: 30% off
Ripley�s Believe it or Not: @ off one-day ticket (55+)
SeaWorld Orlando: $3 off one-day tickets (50+)

Cell Phone Discounts

AT&T: Special Senior Nation 200 Plan $29.99/month (65+)
Jitterbug: $10/month cell phone service (50+)
Verizon Wireless: Verizon Nationwide 65 Plus Plan $29.99/month (65+).

Miscellaneous

Great Clips: $3 off hair cuts (60+)
Super Cuts: $2 off haircuts (60+)

I have already been told that A&P supermarkets offers 5% off to people over 55 every Tuesday. If you know of any other senior deals that aren’t on the list, please let me know.

*

[Again–this list came to my attention via email; happy to credit whoever compiled it]
Anita Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the award-winning  Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA,  specializing in PR 3.0 for clients in health, science, technology and energy, worldwide.

It’s not that often that a nationally-known journalists public admit to suffering from  post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but last week at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation, Today Show Co-Anchor Ann Curry  did exactly that.

In delivering the Joe Alex Morris Jr. Memorial Lecture on foreign report,  Curry described both the importance and trauma of foreign reporting–saying that while she and her crew sometimes wonder if  their coverage of wars and international disasters make a difference, she believes that by calling attention to wrongdoing and suffering,  journalists do help make the world  more empathic place.

In the lecture, Curry, who has made 72 reporting trips to 48 countries since 2000,  told an audience of journalists that that  any correspondent covering such areas who says s/he  doesn’t have PTSD} ” is either lying or doesn’t realize it.”   For journalists, the disorder is often first evidenced “when you don’t care,” any more.  Signs  and symptoms include emotional rigidness, avoidance, and an uncharacteristic lack of empathy, Curry said.

Curry and her team members “talk things out” when they’re experiencing  those signs and some undergo counseling, she said.   As a foreign reporter, “You need to be an emotional athlete to deal with trauma, with emotions…to see past the differences in languages, to look at people as if they’re your own mother, brother, sister, your own child. When you don’t do that, you’re not effective as a reporter, you appear elitistist…It’s  crucial that you care, that you try to understand the experience and point of view of the people you are writing about, she said.  ” Because if you don’t care, your viewers won’t care, either.

“When my team gathers, we often ask ourselves, why are we doing  this,” Curry said.  ”They can’t pay you enough to take the physical and emotional risk this requires.”  Not only are crews frequently threatened with violence, but “you’re leaving your family; there’s the maddening reality that it’s a battle [with news organization]  to get there. But there’s the sense of mission, the hope that some good will come of what you do. It’s an act of faith in the future.”

Curry said that she has a mission “to report on stories no one cares about”  sand asked, “If more reporters had paid attention to what the Nazis were doing in 1941, would so many people have died?”

In answer to a question posed for former Nieman Curator Robert Giles, Curry  said that in the current economic downturn, the US audience is less interested in foreign coverage than it had previously been–and that with cutbacks in news organizations, it’s more difficult now to convince news directors to send teams abroad.  Where once NBC had crews on the ground in many places,  she said, “now we travel  abroad from here.” But despite the difficulties, she will continue to cover difficult stories–in part because, if she and others don’t, aid organizations will not receive funding donations from the American public.

Curry brought tears to my eyes when she described  a 16-year-old Congolese girl who saw her parents killed, was chained to a tree,  raped, and when she couldn’t walk, was left for dead. Men from her village carried  her to a hospital. She was pregnant, and the baby died.   Two years later, in  2008,  when Curry interviewed her in an operating room and touched her hand; the young girl said she didn’t want revenge. “Instead she said ‘All I want is to rise out of this bed and thank the people who saved me and cared for me. I want to praise God, and I want to feel a mother’s love again.’

“Now, the cause of women in the Congo has been taken up by people in the US; there are  4K races to protect people from the violence,” Curry said. “As a reporter, you want to feel that some good has become of what you’ve done.”

But, she pointed out, wars and violence do not end.

In another village, in the Sudan, Curry said, men strafed a village, then lit arrows on fire and shot them at thatched roofs. When people ran out of their burning homes, the men shot at them,  shouting epithets.  Curry said she interviewed one woman– a mother– and her children. “She was just one of tens of thousands…

“After five trips to Sudan, ” she added, “I do sometimes wonder whether any of this works makes that much difference to people back on the ground. Sudan is the new Darfur, she said. People are living and dying in displaced person’s camps…”

Rather than become discouraged, Curry said,  ”We need to step back and look at the value of reporting with a wide view, through the scope of human history.  And you can’t help but realize that human empathy is growing.

“Where once, rape was a fact of war,  rape is now an international war crime.  The idea that it is wrong is wildfire. Information, truth,  lit this match, igniting wildfires across the world.

“I have no doubt that we’re evolving into a world of greater empathy.  If you can work through the PTSD, if you can raise your sword and report these stories,  you allow truth between nations and I encourage you to lift your sword.”

After the talk, the ever-versatile and inspiring Curry, who had donated her $1000 honorarium to Doctors Without Borders in Somalia, left –wearing the highest pair of heels I’ve ever seen–for a flight to Indianapolis, to cover the Superbowl.

Anita M. Harris

Anita Harris, a former national journalist, is president of the Harris Communications Group, a strategic communications firm in Cambridge, MA. \

The Morris Lecture honors Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent Joe Alex Morris, Jr., who covered the Middle East for 25 years before he was killed during the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Two years later his family, friends and colleagues founded the annual lecture by an American foreign correspondent or commentator.

Speaking at the British Consulate in Kendall Square, last week,  Morgan Stanley Chief Market Strategist David Kelly predicted slow (3%) growth for the US economy in 2012–unless  there are no major disruptions  like  last year’s  Arab Spring, the European Debt Crisis,  the Tsunami in Japan or  what he termed a “home grown” crisis like the one created when Congress allowed this country to hover on the brink of default rather than raise the debt ceiling.

While the deficit is cause for concern, he said, a default would have thrown the nation into a true “great depression.” In diminishing its debt,  the US should proceed slowly. Both tax and entitlement reforms are needed, he said, and moving bit by bit can lead to a balanced budget within 7 years (?) whereas trying to change everything all at once could lead to disaster.

Despite the crises of  2011,   he pointed out, the Standard and Poor’s Index ended up  just .003 percent lower than it had been  at the year’s start. The coming year will  be one of uncertainty, but “the US economy can grow through that, ” he said.

According to Kelly,   factors in several areas will  likely lead to growth:

Housing:
-The  current very low level of housing starts, low inventories and  rising rents will lead to greater demand for homes, especially as consumer finances continue to improve.

-With mortgage rates at 3.8 percent, consumers are refinancing their homes, which means that consumers now have 14% disposable income, compared with 11% in 2007.

-This is the most affordable housing market “ever. ” Mortgage payments now account for  just 10 percent of average household income–which means that people have more money to spend elsewhere.

Automobile:  

-The age of the average vehicle in the US has risen from 9.8 several years ago to ten years;  as cars break  down, sales will go up.

Capital Spending
-Companies have held back on capital spending; as confidence rises,  spending will increase.%.

The key to it all, he emphasized, is confidence that the economy will improve.  Still, he said, he wished that  Ben Bernacke and the Federal Reserve Bank would take the year off “to work on their golf game” instead of telling people that interest rates will remain low for the next few years–which encourages people to put off spending.  What is more, he said,  keeping interest rates low will discourage banks from lending–because they do not want to be locked in to low rates for thirty years, when they know that rates are likely to rise a few years from now.

A link to Morgan Stanley’s  Guide to the Markets for Q1 2012     is available at

https://www.jpmorganfunds.com/cm/Satellite?pagename=jpmfVanityWrapper&UserFriendlyURL=insidemarket_browsetheguide

—Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, a strategic PR firm specializing in integrated marketing communications, thought leadership,  media relations and social media for companies in health, science, technology and energy, worldwide. 

 Local AFL-CIO Insulators, Tin Kinockers and Pipefitters from Cambridge Local  use a large inflatable rat to make clear how they feel about the use of non-union, non-Cambridge workers by PH Mechanical for work currently underway at 302 Third Street in Kendall Square.  “They don’t conform to community standards; they are unlicensed, and they have no apprentice program,” said one union member who declined to give his name. He said he expects that Cambridge City Council will be discussing the issue at its next meeting, possibly this evening.

Photos C. Anita M. HarrisInsulators, Tin Knocker, & Pipefitters Local AFL-CIO unions protest use of non-union workers at 302 3rd St.

—Anita M. Harris

Anita Harris is a writer in Cambridge, MA.  New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group,  a marketing and public relations firm based in Kendall Square, Cambridge.

It’s not that often that I leave an art exhibit with a new way of  seeing the world, but that’s what happened after I visited the ICA’s dance/draw exhibit, last weekend.

As described in an ICA press release, the show, ” organized by  ICA Chief Curator Helen Molesworth,  traces the journey of the line from changes in drawing in the 1960s to its explosion off the page and into three-dimensional space—ultimately finding itself in the realm of dance.  It  features  some 100 works—including video, photography, drawings and sculptural objects and  live performances.”

Based on the ICA Website’s  rather  formal description ( “In both dance and drawing, the line, as an independent means of expression, was liberated from the historical ideal of perfect form, to become a  mobile, open-ended element used to explore history, memory, and the expressive potential of the body”)   I thought the show would  dry and difficult–which is why I managed to avoid seeing it until just before the exhibit closes- on January 16.  And am I sorry!  Because what I found was a  refreshing new way of experiencing both dance and drawing–as well as objects and movement in the real world–that I’d like to go back to again and again.

One section of the exhibit shows how artists used body parts and objects rather than traditional drawing implements to make art. For example,  Janine Antoni used her eyelashes and mascara to make patterns on canvas;  Trisha Brown’s superimposed  tracings of her feet show motion in themselves; John Cage drew with plants and seaweed; David Hammons bounced a basketball covered with dirt onto a white background,  and Mona Hatou, below, drew with her own hair dipped in hair dye.   Photos and the works themselves document the artmaking processes–which often  involved dance-like  movement. 1.

In another room, a section called “The Line in Space” includes works in which  thread, string, or wire were used to form line–off of paper or canvas.  Of this group, I especially liked the mesmorizing simplicity of  Fred Sandback’s “Untitled Sculptural Study”   hung  in space.

If I recall correctly, a thread red  acryllic yarn hung up and down from ceiling to floor to the left, blue from the wall to the red thread, and yellow parallel on the floor–forming a three-dimensional representation of a Mondrian-like grid.

I also got a new perspective on  charcoal drawing  when I encountered Cornelia Parker’s  Hanging Fire (Suspected Arson)  sculpture, which is part of the ICA’s permanent collection. Composed of chunks of charcoal hung from the ceiling on wire mesh, in this new context, the piece becomes a charcoal drawing– in space.

A third section, “Dancing,” explores challenges to traditional modern dance as dance performances were moved off the stage into  the “real world”  of streets, mountains, the subway and such.  “Babette Mangolte’s photographs and films of Judson dancers Trisha Brown and Lucinda Childs show us the dancing body, in its entirety, rigorously defining itself as a line in space…. Juan Capistran’s break dancing in a museum (below) “similarly engages dance to defy protocols of normative behavior. “2.

Finally, in the section “Drawing,”  younger artists demonstrate “how movement, performance, and drawing are ineluctably mixed… ” . 3. For example, Tseng Kwong Chi photographs  Bill T. Jones Body Painting with Keith Haring; Fiona Banner copies  life-drawing manuals, in which the figure often appears to be in flight; Silke Otto Knapp  traces photographic images of dancers  onto luminous silver-painted canvases, and  Helena Almeida has herself photographed while she is drawing.                                                         4.  

I loved these and  many other works in the exhibit–and can’t do justice to them all.   But my favorite was a video in which dancer William Forsythe explains and shows  how he as a dancer moves– over, under and around electronically superimposed lines and shapes –forming new lines, shapes and volume.    5.

The day after seeing the show, I could not help but notice  lines, shapes and volume in relation to individuals’ movement everywhere in my life.

Draw/Dance will be at the ICA through January 16, 2012, with major support  fromThe Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Ronald and Ronni Casty, the HBB Foundation, and Jacqueline Bernat and Adam Hetnarski.

Credits:

1.Janine Antoni (Bahamian, born 1964)
Loving Care, 1992-96
Color video, sound; 35:50 minutes
Performance on January 7, 1996, MATRIX
Gallery, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art,
Hartford, CT
Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine,
New York

2.Helena Almeida (Portuguese, born 1934)
O Atelier/The Studio, 1983
Black-and-white photograph
67 3/8 x 48 7/8 in.
Framed: 69 ¼ x 50 ¾ in.
Exhibition copy, courtesy of the artist

3.Juan Capistran (Mexican, born 1976)
The Breaks, 2000
Inkjet print
40 x 40 in.
Collection of the New Museum of Contemporary
Art, New York, The Altoids Curiously Strong
Collection, Gift of Altoids
4.Tseng Kwong Chi (Chinese, 1950-1990)
Bill T. Jones Body Painting with Keith Haring,
1983
Gelatin silver selenium-toned photograph
20 x 16 in.
Muna Tseng Dance Projects / Estate of Tseng
Kwong Chi and Courtesy of Paul Kasmin Galler

5.William Forsythe (American, born 1949)
Lectures from Improvisation Technologies, 2011
Color video, sound; 9:54 min.
The Forsythe Company and ZKM, Karlsruhe,
2011

–Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, a public relations firm located in Cambridge, MA.  Harris, its founder and president, also blogs there.

My friend Bill Lichtenstein is working on what’s certain to be a wonderful nonprofit documentary film about WBCN–a groundbreaking Boston radio station deeply involved in the political and cultural changes of the 1960s.  He’s seeking funding through Kickstarter: an innovative fundraising mechanism that will be of interest to entrepreneurs of all stripes–in order to help change the future.

The film, entitled  “The American Revolution: How a Radio Station, Politics and Rock and Roll Changed Everything”  documents Boston radio station WBCN from 1968 (when Bill, as a 14-year-old high school became the station’s youngest DJ) through 1974.

As reported in the Boston Herald (Dec. 5, 2011), during those years, Bruce Springsteen did his first radio interview ever on WBCN;  Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir,  of the Grateful Dead, and  the Allman Brothers’ Duane Allman stopped into the studio at 2 AM and jammed for an area. When Nixon invaded Cambodia, “BCN got local college kids to strike.

WBCN  “had tremendous national impact both musically and politically,” Lichtenstein told the Herald. “We changed the world one time,” Lichtenstein says.  And, with this film,  “we can do it again.”

Lichenstein, who has produced TV news and documentaries for ABC and PBS, has gathered more than 50,000 documents, photos,  and tapes–which include performances by Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground.

He has also garnered some $50,000 in contributions–but needs to double that amount by Dec. 19 to complete the film.

He’s  seeking $104 thousand in donations via Kickstarter–a nonprofit that allows contributors tax deductions–but gives fundraisers just a month to get the entire bundle.That is, Kickstarter takes an all or nothing approach:  Lichtenstein must  bring in all $104K by Dec. 19–or he gets nothing.

After three weeks of fundraising, he’s  now almost at the halfway point, with just a week to go.

More info and the film trailer are available at  www.KickstartWBCN.com.  Lichtenstein and Kickstarter will be featured on Boston’s WCVB-TV  “Chronicle”  on Dec. 13, 2011.

——Anita Harris

Anita M. Harris is president of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning public relations firm located in tyhe Cambridge Innovation Center in Kendall Square,  Cambridge, MA.   Anita  is a former national journalist who got HER start in the alternative press–as a founder of the Harrisburg Independent Press and writer for  the The Real Paper and Phoenix in Boston, MA.