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The Oakville BeaverGuest Column467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on thecondition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be chargedEmergency preparednessfor, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of theOakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.NEIL OLIVERVice-President and Group Publisher,MARK DILLSDirector of Productionbegins with a personal planMetroland WestMANUEL GARCIAProduction ManagerDAVID HARVEY Regional General ManagerCHARLENE HALLDirector of DistributionGary Carr, Halton Regional ChairJILL DAVISEditor in ChiefSARAH MCSWEENEYCirc. ManagerROD JERREDManaging EditorWEBSITE oakvillebeaver.comhether its a chemical spill, power outage, or a natu-DANIEL BAIRDAdvertising DirectorWral disaster such as a tornado, we all need to beThe Oakville Beaver is a division ofRIZIERO VERTOLLIPhotography Directorprepared because emergencies can happen any timeSANDY PAREBusiness Managerand any place.In Halton, emergency response partners work togetherRECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY:Ontario CommunityCanadian Community Suburban Newspapersto assume a co-ordinated approach. Newspapers AssociationNewspapers Associationof AmericaHalton Region, the Halton Regional Police Service, theGary CarrTHE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR:municipalities of Oakville, Burlington, Milton and HaltonHills, plan together to address emergency managementissues.United Wayof OakvilleOur goal is to ensure Halton is a disaster-resilient community. ATHENAWe are prepared. AwardHowever, while governments and partners at all levels work hard to keepresidents safe, individuals also have an important role to play.Are you prepared? Emergency preparedness is a shared responsibility. Emergency preparedness starts with you. Take steps to protect yourself and your family.Step 1. Know the Risks.Although the consequences of different disasters can be similar, knowing therisks in your area can help you better prepare.Step 2. Make a Plan.You and your family need a plan to know what to do in case of an emergen-cy. Your family may not be together when an emergency occurs. Set 3. Get a Kit.In an emergency, you will need some basic supplies.Make a Go-Kit for your house, car, pets or service animals in case you needto evacuate.Emergency Preparedness Week is May 1-7. From April 29 to May 31 , visit www.ontario.ca/beprepared and Take theChallenge.Lets see if we can beat last years record of 321 entries and show we are theMICHELLE SIU / OAKVILLE BEAVERmost prepared community in Ontario.LOCAL HEROES: Recently, the Canadian Red Cross, Oakville held a volunteer appreciation dinner at AdonisVisit www.halton.ca/beprepared to learn how to deal with emergencies inMediterranean restaurant in Oakville. Among those to pick up volunteer appreciation awards were Hugh Marks,Halton and minimize the impact to your family.left, a volunteer of 11 years, and John Chance, right, a volunteer of 25 years. Now the Red Cross is involved inBeing prepared really is your best defence.educating the public about emergency preparedness for Emergency Preparedness Week (May 1-7). The Red Cross,As always, feel free to e-mail me on regional programs and services at gary.Oakville Branch is located at 1400 Cornwall Rd. For information, contact 905-845-5241or oakville@redcross.ca.carr@halton.ca.Could this be dawning of The Age of Ego and Entitlement?ccording to recent reports, researchers are coming to attire (seriously: string bikinis on According to the head of that study, Dr. Nathan DeWall, a psy-the conclusion that the day most users of social media first Facebook: this is how you want your par-chologist at the University of Kentucky: Late adolescents andAlog on to Facebook or Twitter or Blogville and take a curious ents, or future employers to see you?); or, college students love themselves more today than ever before.look around the cyber landscape: narcissism is on the rise. We are alternatively, close-up headshots.Now, as The Times story noted, Defining the personality of aliving in an Age of Entitlement. And we are experiencing an ego You know, there is an entire genera-generation with song lyrics may seem a bit of a reach. epidemic.tion out there that has no idea how to look But DeWall says people are also scoring higher on all kinds of Or, to put it another way: increasing numbers of people have an natural. If theres a camera (or cell phone) narcissism testing. Despite the music studys findings, and theincreasingly inflated sense of their own importance, their own in sight, they are all wax-faces and phony, results of testing, some psychologists remain skeptical. Theyabilities and their own fabulousness. They believe they are, as the frozen smiles. Or, pouty duck-lips.believe young people of today are no more self-centered thanAndy Juniperkids used to say back in the '90s, all that and a bag of potato Not surprisingly, research has shown young people of yesteryear.chips. that social media attracts both narcissists It is possible that todays youths are not more self-absorbed Hence the constant TMI (too much information) tweeting and people with low self esteem. People who over-value or under-they just have more available outlets in which to display theirabout ones self wherein tweeters feel compelled to announce to a value their self-worth. People who adore attention or are anxious typical, inflated sense of self-importance and their overall fabulous-breathlessly-waiting world: Im having a cheese sandwich! Or, I for affirmation. The narcissists fanatically monitor their friend-ness. eat a lot of cheese sandwiches! Or, Boy, I think Im constipated count. While those with low self-esteem use online opportunities If other generations had Facebook, Twitter and blogs, they mayfrom all the cheese sandwiches! to compensate for a lack or face-to-face social contact.well have come off the same way. And, hence the incessant status-updating on Facebook wherein A story in The New York Timesthis week reported that ego and Nutty and narcissistic. Although, surely, sans the pouty duck-a Facebook fanatic posts a new picture every three minutes for her narcissism are flourishing in contemporary music. A computer lips.(or his) 5,000 closest friends. And the pictures being posted are analysis of three decades of tunes revealed that the words I and Andy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, found either Photoshopped self-portraits with the subject making the me (usually combined with anger-related words) have usurped on Facebook http://www.facebook.com, or followed at www.twit-ubiquitous, pouty duck-lips, and wearing altogether inappropriate we and us (and expressions of positive emotions) in lyrics. ter.com/thesportjesters.www.insideHALTON.com OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, May 5, 2011 6