LMU Holiday Newsource
This year’s holiday season comes wrapped in a shiny economic downturn with a red- hot recession on top. As retailers brace for a Dickensian sales season brought on by this year’s Grinch-like Christmas stealers — layoffs, stock market losses, dwindling 401Ks and higher food prices — shoppers may zip up their wallets and go off in search of cheaper, more soulful forms of Christmas cheer.
So how are members of the media to keep track of it all? With the LMU Holiday Newsource, experts are as close as a phone call to the LMU Media Line, 310. 258.INFO (4636).
Shopping in the Time of Recession
How are consumers approaching this gift-giving season and what can retailers do to lure them into their stores?
Renee Florsheim
Associate Professor
Marketing Department, LMU College of Business Administration
Florsheim teaches marketing principles, marketing management and consumer behavior. Her research interests are human values and services marketing. She has published articles in the Journal of Consumer Research and Psychological Reports. She is a member of the American Marketing Association and the Society for Consumer Psychology.
And what about those-oh-so-convenient gift cards? Should you buy them or just send cash?
Jennifer Pate
Assistant Professor
Department of Economics
This year the decision to gift card or not to gift card has an added wrinkle: Is the store you’re buying the card from going to be in business after the holidays? Circuit City is in bankruptcy, Mervyns is liquidating and others may soon follow. Pate, an expert on gift cards and whether they hold their value, warns that where you buy that gift card may be more important this year than how much it’s worth.
The True Meaning of the Holidays
With tighter budgets and fewer gifts, this holiday season might be the one where people really do return to the spiritual meaning of their celebrations. Reporters preparing stories on the different holidays in December and January – Advent, Christmas, Hanukkah, the hajj, Kwanzaa, and the Feast of the Epiphany–can find knowledgeable experts on what our holidays mean and how they began.
Jeffery Siker
Professor
Department of Theological Studies
Siker is the chair of the Department of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. His specialty is New Testament studies; he can also compare and contrast the various holiday traditions.
Advent
Randy Roche, S.J.
Director
Center for Ignatian Spirituality
Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu
Assistant Professor
Department of Theological Studies
Advent is a season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. It begins four Sundays before Dec. 25 and is the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church’s liturgical year. For many, it is a time of preparation and waiting when they focus on what they can do for others. Father Roche, director of the Center for Ignatian Spirituality, and Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, assistant professor of Theological Studies, can discuss the significance of Advent and its spiritual relevance to the celebration of Christmas.
Hajj
Amir Hussain
Associate Professor
Department of Theological Studies
Hussain’s area of research is on the study of Islam, specifically contemporary Muslim societies in North America. His book, “Oil and Water: Two Faiths: One God,” explores the differences between Christianity and Islam, as well as the many things these two enduring faith traditions have in common. Hussain is available to speak about the Muslim pilgrimage that begins on Dec. 6, ending on Dec. 9.
Hanukkah
Arthur Gross-Schaefer
Chair
Department of Marketing and Business Law
Rabbi Arthur Gross-Schaefer is the co-chair of the Department of Marketing and Business Law at Loyola Marymount University. Gross-Schaefer also is part of the Campus Ministry staff and coordinates Jewish celebrations. Hanukkah, or Festival of Lights, is an eight-day celebration that begins Dec. 21 and ends on Dec. 29.
Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany
Father Dorian Llywelyn
Assistant Professor
Department of Theological Studies
Father Llywelyn teaches Christian Spirituality, specializing in the area of Catholic faith and culture. He can discuss the importance of Christmas (the birth of Jesus) celebrated Dec. 25, and the Feast of the Epiphany (the visitation of the Magi) which is celebrated in the Eastern Christian churches each Jan. 6.
Kwanzaa
Cheryl Grills
Professor
Department of Psychology
Grills is chair of the Psychology Department at Loyola Marymount University. Her research interests include African history and culture, African psychology, African concepts of consciousness, altruism and compassion research and research on traditional medicine in West Africa. Kwanzaa is celebrated Dec. 26 through Jan. 1.
