Taking Back Our Lives in the Age of Corporate Dominance

Foreword
Acknowledgments

Part I How Corporate Structures, Products, and Processes Impact Our Work and Personal Lives
Introduction
A Time of Turbulence--when too much information keeps us from knowing the truth
The Gift That Keeps On Taking--how the bottom-line mentality is bottoming out our lives and the planet
The Hidden Costs of Competition--the heavy price we pay to win
This Is Entertainment?--TV as purveyor of a culture of disrespect and promoter of a passive populace
Media, Girls, and Body Image--how impossible images of physical perfection are making our girls sick
The Best Government Big Money Can Buy--can a corporate-sponsored democracy serve the people?
What Do World Trade Agreements Have to Do with Me?--globalization means equalizing down to the lowest common denominator
Time: A Nonrenewable Resources--why we aren't finding time to live

Part II Fresh Choices: Saying Yes! to a More Expansive Life
Change and the Comfort Zone--embracing risks that have been foisted upon us by life
What's an Inner Life and Who Needs It?--trading fear for trust and planting seeds of loving-kindness
Flashpoints--how our stresses play out in the family crucible, damaging those we love most
Nurturing What Is Precious--finding new ways to communicate and connect with our loved ones
Meaningful Work--livelihoods both personally satisfying and earth-friendly
Giving Time, Getting Joy--life as a banquet for the servers
Together We Are Whole--new ways to create a support network while beating the high cost of living
Paring Down Our Lives--how less can be much more
What Is and What Can Be--starting from wherever you are with a passionate consciousness
Way More Fun than TV--surefire ways to release your playful spirit
Bibliography
Endnotes
Resources
Index
About the Authors

Schwartz is the executive director of Invest in Kids, which she founded in 1998 to provide scholarships and mentors to low-in- come, at-risk youth. An earlier nonprofit she created raised public awareness about the entertainment industry's negative influence in shaping children's desires, behaviors, and values. Schwartz has spoken in over 160 venues on these issues and been interviewed for dozens of newspaper and magazine articles, radio shows, and television programs. For this work, she won the Thread of Hope Award in 1996, and the Women of Achievement Community and Human Services Award in 1997.
Stoddard's high-energy approach to creating community has included team-building in the corporate realm and donating numerous hours as a tutor, mentor to young people, and board member of Invest in Kids. An English and citizenship instructor at a community college, Stoddard worked as a marketing consultant at Pacific Gas and Electric from 1990 to 1996, where she founded and edited an inter-utility newsletter on energy conservation and promoted volunteerism through employee channels. From 1988 to 1990, Stoddard facilitated workshops in the former Soviet Union for Russian and Ukrainian teachers of English, and established pen- pal relationships between Russian and American children.