Star Tribune
University of Minnesota professor wins award for work on the resilience of children
University of Minnesota Professor Ann Masten has won a prestigious psychology award for her work showing that “ordinary magic” contributes to resilience in children.
Masten’s research found that a child’s ability to overcome trauma can be affected by a number of common factors: such as supportive relationships, a feeling of belonging, self-control, problem-solving skills, optimism and a sense of purpose.
“We have evolved both biologically and over many centuries of cultural change to have a lot of capacity to respond well to challenges,” she said in an interview Wednesday, when she was named one of this year’s winners of the Grawemeyer Awards based at the University of Louisville.
The awards were created in 1984 with a donation from H. Charles Grawemeyer, a Louisville, Ky., entrepreneur who wanted to recognize ideas that have helped improve the world. Each year, the university hands out prizes in the fields of music, political science, psychology, education and religion.
Masten said she was “thrilled, as you can imagine” to receive the Grawemeyer Award, which comes with a $100,000 prize. She said she was still awaiting information about whether there are restrictions on how she can use the money, and that she would love to establish a fellowship for students who are studying resilience.
Her work challenged the conventional wisdom that suggested a child’s ability to overcome trauma could be attributed to some innate quality they possessed, instead showing “you can have experiences and interactions and things in your environment that make it more likely that you will be successful, despite challenges,” said Nicholaus Noles, a professor who oversees the psychology awards.
Noles said Masten’s work has helped shape a wide array of public policies aimed at finding ways to intervene after trauma occurs. It’s been referenced in pediatrics, school counseling, social work and disaster response plans.
Masten came to the University of Minnesota in 1976 to study clinical psychology and to work with Norman Garmezy, whom she described as “one of the pioneers in the study of resilience.” She has studied the experiences of children in urban schools, families experiencing homelessness, and people who escaped the genocidal campaign led by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
“The science of resilience has added important knowledge and evidence to what we understand about human development and what we can do to help people who are facing adversity,” Masten said.
“But at the same time, I think the research has corroborated a lot of ideas that were already captured in our religions, cultural practices, and the stories human beings have told each other for many generations about human capabilities to overcome adversity.”
Masten’s work has helped shaped the responses to natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and she hopes it will be useful as people attempt to tackle larger issues such as climate change.
She said Wednesday that she’s in the process of gradually retiring. “I’d like to see investment in future researchers to understand resilience,” she said.
“The basic rule in Minnesota is you cannot preemptively post law enforcement at a polling place,” he said. “A city can’t say, ‘Wow, Precinct Two, there’s a lot of intensity there, let’s just put a cop at the door.’”
Simon doesn’t go deep into the details on security, though. “I don’t want to give a total road map to the bad guys,” he said.
But testimony at the Capitol last year on behalf of the new law bolstering protections for election and polling place workers indicated there’s room for concern. One election worker was followed to her car by an angry voter; the head of elections in another county was called repeatedly on her home phone during off hours, and an official was lunged at by an aggrieved voter, forcing her to call the local sheriff.
Those who violate the law could now face civil damages and penalties of up to $1,000 for each violation.
The Brennan Center survey indicated more than four in 10 election leaders were concerned about recruiting enough poll workers due to threats of harassment and intimidation. This includes doxing — publishing a person’s personal information online in a threatening manner — and swatting, fake emergency calls that result in an armed response being sent to someone’s home.
“Election officials are working to prepare for everything right now,” said Liz Howard, director of partnership engagement at the Brennan Center. “More than 90% of election officials have made improvements to election security since 2020.”
Star Tribune
Daylight saving time ends next weekend. This is how to prepare for the potential health effects
The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It’ll be dark as a pocket by late afternoon for the next few months in the U.S.
Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time next Sunday, Nov. 3, which means you should set your clock back an hour before you go to bed. Standard time will last until March 9 when we will again ”spring forward” with the return of daylight saving time.
That spring time change can be tougher on your body. Darker mornings and lighter evenings can knock your internal body clock out of whack, making it harder to fall asleep on time for weeks or longer. Studies have even found an uptick in heart attacks and strokes right after the March time change.
”Fall back” should be easier. But it still may take a while to adjust your sleep habits, not to mention the downsides of leaving work in the dark or trying exercise while there’s still enough light. Some people with seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression usually linked to the shorter days and less sunlight of fall and winter, may struggle, too.
Some health groups, including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have said it’s time to do away with time switches and that sticking with standard time aligns better with the sun — and human biology.
Most countries do not observe daylight saving time. For those that do — mostly in Europe and North America — the date that clocks are changed varies.
Two states — Arizona and Hawaii — don’t change and stay on standard time.
Here’s what to know about the twice yearly ritual.
Star Tribune
Harris and Walz will visit all the battleground states in the campaign’s closing stretch
WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will crisscross the United States to visit all seven battleground states in the coming days, part of a final blitz before the Nov. 5 election.
Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, will spend Sunday in Philadelphia, attending church services in the morning and visiting a barbershop. The vice president also plans to stop at a Puerto Rican restaurant and a youth basketball facility.
On Monday, Walz, the Minnesota’s governor who is Harris’ running mate, will campaign in Manitowoc and Waukesha, Wisconsin, before a joining Harris for a rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the singer Maggie Rogers is scheduled to perform.
Harris will be in the nation’s capital on Tuesday to deliver what her campaign calls her ”closing argument” in a speech from the Ellipse, a grassy space adjacent to the National Mall. It’s the same place where then-President Donald Trump spoke on Jan. 6, 2021, when the Republican called on his supporters to march on the Capitol.
Walz is scheduled to campaign Tuesday in Savannah and Columbus in Georgia.
Harris plans to visit North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on Wednesday. The event in Madison, Wisconsin, is expected to feature musical performances by Mumford & Sons and others.
Walz willbe in Charlotte and Asheville, North Carolina, that day.
On Thursday, Harris will be in Nevada for rallies in Reno and Las Vegas, and in Phoenix. The band Maná will perform in Las Vegas and Los Tigres del Norte will perform in Phoenix.
