Flip Saunders Had Everything But Time!

I met Flip at an event on the University of Minnesota campus called Campus Carni shortly after he had been named the head coach at tiny Golden Valley Lutheran College. Of course, he was with his then girlfriend, Debbie Hoeft, his constant companion until yesterday.

For those of you who were around the University in the 60's, 70's and into the 80's, you probably remember Campus Carni. It was a big Greek fundraising event with lots of loud music; scantily clad dancers and an eight-minute skit between the loud music and dancing. It was a fun time for all and Debbie was dancing with the University's Dance Line.

I worked up the courage to go up to Flip and congratulate him on his new position. I also volunteered to be an assistant coach if he liked the idea. He told me he was interested in learning more about me as we had a great conversation.

The next three years during my assistant coaching position at GVLC were a lot of fun. I made some lifelong friends and learned to play backgammon and chess from Flip and his roommates, Dave Winey, Mike "Bones" Cervony, Brad Cosgriff and Kevin McHale.

I am attaching our first team picture when we had the youngest college coaching staff in the country! Flip, Bones and I were only twenty-two, and Dan Kosmoski was only twenty-one! One of our players, Doug Moore was twenty-three and fresh out of military service. All of the coaching staff were still in college ourselves!

As always, click on the image to make it larger:

Bones is in the back row right behind Flip and Kos is immediately to the left of Bones. Several of those players went on to become very successful businessman in their own right and Dan Kosmoski has been the head basketball coach at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota starting his twenty-second year. Last year he took his Oles to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Basketball Tournament for the first time in school's history!

I am proud to say we never lost a game in that tiny gymnasium that was overflowing an hour before each game to watch our pregame, synchronized warm-up program inspired by Bill Musselman in Flip when he played at the University of Minnesota.



Flip told me once, that he believed outside of the University of Minnesota's college basketball team, we were the greatest draw in the area for college basketball! I think he was right! It was fun being in that tiny gym for the three years I helped develop some fine young men. Two of them became All-American Junior College players and number 11; Hurdis Burns led the nation in scoring most of his sophomore year! He ended up in second or third averaging just less than thirty points a game. That was before the three-point shot!

Later that year, we won one game 144-68! Our last five players scored 44 points in 10 minutes because we were already at 100 and let them play for an extended period of time.

It was a fun time for me because I knew I was learning from a good coach who was on his way to the NBA one way or another. He took a long way in getting there, but Flip finally was putting the pieces in place to make the Minnesota Timberwolves a contending team.  He was putting together a winner he just needed a little more time.

He took a chance on me and I loved every minute of it. Flip's favorite story about me he has told many times was in one game he was arguing at an official's call and the referee told him to sit down and not argue anymore calls. If he stood up one more time the referee was going to throw him out of the game!

Flip turned to me and said, "If I get upset again, you go out and argue with the ref because you can't stand up!" He laughed every time he told me that story. 

I never thought I would be writing this blog because Flip was one of those coaches who was going to retire late in his life after the fire in his belly was gone. I do not think that fire would have ever left him. I know he was excited about his new draft choices, returning veterans and trades he had made.

I know Sam Mitchell will be a very good replacement. It will just not be the same.

I believe this picture Kevin Garnet posted says it all when he stated, "Forever in my heart."

As always, click on the image to make it larger:

My best wishes go out to Debbie and their four children. It is still hard to believe he is gone!

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Is Intelligent Conversation Dead?

I put a post up on my Facebook page the other day and I received several comments telling me they love to engage in intelligent conversation! One friend, Deborah Roberts posted, "I totally rock on a stimulating convo. I find it completely absorbing to find a conversationalist who keeps my interest piqued and my brain engaged. Talk with me about my favorite things and we could go for days. …"

Another person Shared my post and wrote, "But its so rare. We have gotten to the point that if we dont agree then we cant be friends. Its BS"

To which the person who Shared it, replied, "True Buck, plus it is harder all the time to find an intelligent conversationist."

I replied, "It's too bad you guys feel that way because I get into intelligent conversations all the time and they can last for hours! I met a friend on Facebook and one day we talked on FaceTime for six hours and the time flew by. The very next day we talked for four hours! We talk on FaceTime all the time. Whenever I talk to a friend from the past we can talk for hours and the time flies by! I'm convinced you get out of anything what you put into it. It's all about your attitude. I run into people all the time who want to talk to me and we can talk for 15, 20 minutes or longer before they have to go. I had this conversation with my acupuncturist last week, and he didn't want to leave. He had patients to go to, but he said, "It's you Mike, people are interested in what you have to say and they want to share what they have to say. You're willing to listen and its conversations like this that makes you fun to be around." It was spontaneous and I'll see him again on Monday and we won't want to end our conversation again. Just sayin'!"

The interesting thing about these two who were putting down my post was their grammar and spelling was terrible. I am sure they did not think of thing about what they were writing!

Here is my post:

Click on the image to make it larger:

My contention is that anyone will get back what he or she puts in to something. I can tell you story after story after story about how I get into live, telephone, Facebook, FaceTime and Skype conversations that can last for hours.

My first FaceTime intelligent conversation was with a woman I had never met, Laurie Thiboutot and I chatted for six hours the first day and had another intelligent conversation for four hours the second day. Her husband, Peter came by several times and introduced himself and got so enticed by all the time Laurie was having fun on FaceTime and all of the other activities she was doing with Facebook, he decided to join himself. Now, they are both on Facebook and I FaceTime with him as well! I have never met either one of them and we carry on great, intelligent conversations!

If you read my last post when I talked about my Uncle Bob and how he liked to tell stories you know whenever he would tell stories, I got a few of mine in as well.

I believe I got my storytelling abilities from both sides of my family. The Smith side came from Bob, his uncles and father, and I would have loved to have heard my maternal great-grandfather, William Young tell stories. Unfortunately, he died three years after I was born. There are some incredible stories from him my uncles have told me about how he used to tell living through and after the Great Depression.

Here is a photograph of him in his liquor store that was adjacent to his barbershop which had a back room and high-stakes poker games took place after hours and the windows were covered with black sheets so no one could see the games that involved high stakes as deeds to farms. Grandpa Young took home several of those deeds and gave one to each of his children. That is how my maternal grandmother, Erma got the farm Uncle Bob owns now!

Again, click on the image to make it larger:

My Patrick side of the family had great uncle Stanley. He used to tell me incredibly detailed stories about how he accumulated farms during the Great Depression and never admitted to it, but he was also a great beneficiary of the Great Depression because he knew how to play the system.

Here is a wonderful photograph of my paternal grandfather, Benjamin (far right) going from right to left in the lower row were my great-grandmother, Mabel, then my great-grandfather Thomas and lastly, Stanley. The back row from right to left are Hazel, Mabel, then Florence and Alice. The children are all in birth order.

 

This is a very large photograph. If you decide to enlarge it, be prepared to wait a while because of its size:

My grandfather, Ben was killed by lightning in 1942. He was only thirty-seven years old! My great Uncle Stanley used to tell me incredibly detailed stories. His goal was to live to be one hundred. He reached that goal and three weeks later passed away. He had reached his goal and it was if it was time for him to join the rest of his family.

I can only guess he got his storytelling abilities from his father, Charles! I wish I could have listened to stories my grandfather Ben would have had. I'm sure great-grandfather Tom would have been quite a storyteller in his day as well.

Like I said earlier, I get my storytelling abilities from both sides of my family. I have tried to carry on a tradition I love to tell. As many of you know, I tell stories that can last for quite some time; just like this blog post!

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

My Uncle Bob

By the time many of you will read this the Memorial Day parades will be over, the speeches will have been given, the memorials at the cemeteries will have been concluded including the twenty-one gun salutes, President Obama will have visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and all that will be left is the fireworks tonight.

However, I want to write my own special tribute which will be different than all the ones people are writing about their tributes to veterans and current military personnel and tell you about one special veteran to me.

My mom is the oldest of ten children. Her seven brothers all served in the military and deserve our thanks for their service. Between the seven of them, they have served a total of eighty-three years, which I think is extraordinary for one family!

Uncle Bob has served the most with twenty-six years of Naval experience. He retired as a Lieutenant Commander from the Civil Engineering Corporation (CEC) United States Navy, which if I understood him correctly is an E8 which is one step short of an E9 and that is as high as a noncommissioned officer can get in the Navy. After he reads this, he will probably call me and correct me on that point!

I spoke with his wife, Linda, who is in their home in Gulfport, Mississippi, and a good friend and fellow Navy veteran, Joe Ruffino and Bob yesterday for over three hours to get a few stories correct about his assignments. I enjoyed our conversations and learned a lot from different perspectives from all three individuals.

I want to start off by showing you this picture of Bob painting the barn he is restoring at the family farm. He promised his father, Joe Smith, he would restore the barn one day and for the last several years he is turning the barn into a hunting lodge for the annual pilgrimage of many family members to his own private game preserve. He has turned the one hundred sixty acre quarter section of land into his own private pheasant hunting paradise. It is also home to deer, wild turkeys, and who knows what other wildlife occupies his little corner of the world? This picture was taken in 2007.

 

Click on the image to make it larger:

When I talked to him yesterday, he was in a store buying supplies for the project he is working on this summer. He has planted several apple trees and had taken the protective barrier fence from around the trees to keep them from the deer eating the apples and branches. He had trimmed around the bases of the trees, sprayed some Roundup to kill the thistles and was in the process of replacing the fencing with new, higher fencing.

He also told me about a wealthy, retired professor from Brookings who had been driving by his farm and was interested in buying it. He liked what Bob had done in making it a small, private game reserve. He wanted to know what Bob wanted to sell the farm.

Bob told him the farm was not for sale. The gentleman then pulled his checkbook out, laid it down on the hood of the truck and said, "Everything is for sale for the right price."

Bob said in so many words, "I told my father I would never sell this farm as long as I'm alive. So, you can put your checkbook back in your pocket and leave my property."

The farm is not for sale!

He has also rented the house, which he had my second cousin from my other side of the family do some renovations preparing for new tenants who will be moving in to the farmhouse July first. He told me Jeremy had the house looking better than it has in many years! It made me feel good to know Jeremy Patrick has learned well from his father, Dale who taught him how to do construction and remodeling work. Working with your hands to build or repair something is a skill I really miss. 

He gave me some details I only had sketchy memories of his involvement in the 6.2 earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua on December 23, 1972. At the time of the quake, he was stationed in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic working with three other men and four bulldozers. Within 24 hours of the quake, they got a call to take the bulldozers to Managua to make mass graves and move earth around to help in the massive cleanup after the complete devastation.

They did not have visas to travel to Nicaragua. The State Department rushed their visas through and later that day they made their first mass grave with roughly six thousand Nicaraguan citizens as night fell. Bob told me to a the hardest things about making the graves were keeping the grieving people out of the graves who wanted to identify their loved ones before they were covered up and dodging his own people who were spreading fifty pound bags of lime over layers of bodies to help them decompose faster and keep the stench down.

I will never forget on Christmas 1973 as my dad and I were preparing to go to Berkeley in a few days, we had Christmas dinner for my grandpa and a couple of my mom's brothers. Bob and I were talking in the kitchen and he talked about what he was doing a year ago on Christmas day. I will never forget him telling about being in Managua and the tasks they were assigned to do when he started to cry just a little bit.

I remember thinking how horrible it must have been for my big, strong uncle Bob and how that must have affected him to the point where he shed a tear over what he was doing the year before. It could not have been easy to have spent the time they did in Nicaragua.

I asked him about when he was born and where. He told me Grandma and Grandpa moved to the farm in November 1943. He was born in the hospital in Hendricks, Minnesota, which was less than twenty miles away on January 24, 1944. Although, he likes to tell the story how he was born in the farmhouse and dropped on his head before he hit the ground! He had a nice chuckle after he told that story!

Bob served two tours of duty in Vietnam. The first tour he was in country for nine months. Home for three months, and back for six more when he got a call from the State Department that his mother had died and he was able to go home for the funeral.

There is one more a story I want tell you about his experience in Vietnam. They had reports of a tiger that had attacked and dragged off into the jungle a Marine. Without thinking about their own safety and well-being, they want to look for this tiger. They found him in a cave and shot him. Inside the cave where remains of several smaller people and two larger ones complete with fatigues and boots, as well as two sets of dog tags!

I can only assume the tiger had gone mad with the effects of napalm and Agent Orange  and losing his habitat to the constant shelling of his hunting area, which drove him to seek human prey. That tiger was not only going crazy, but hungry as well!

I want to end this very long post with a picture of why I love to go to the farm when Bob is there. This was taken several years ago one summer when he was up there planting trees. My mom and I were at the annual Pioneer Days celebration in White and we went out to the farm to spend some time with Bob and listen to a few stories.

 

As always, click on the image to make it larger:

I know I have made this a long post. However, I believe my uncle Bob at 71 deserves for me to tell some of his story. After my conversations yesterday, I could have written a lot more. However, I will stop now and let you enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day!

God bless America and all the people who have fought and died for our rights to live in the greatest democracy the world is never known. Remember people, our country and the principles it was built on has never been tried and worked before. The United States of America is an experiment and we the people are making it work! That is exciting to think about!

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Is Another Canal Necessary?

I have always contended I never know where my inspiration will come for my next post. This is another classic example! I saw an article on Smithsonian.com about building a new canal connecting the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea across Nicaragua, and it struck my interest. 

I started reading about the pluses and minuses of building a canal that is a 173-mile artificial waterway — which is three and one-half times the length of the Panama Canal. There are many advantages and disadvantages on both sides of building such an enormous project through dense rain forests, wetlands and Lake Nicaragua.

Without going into a lot of the details, suffice it to say, it is a very controversial project that is scheduled to start next month!

Here is a map of the proposed canal:

Click on the image to make it larger:

History.com has another great article on the Panama Canal, its rich history and the expansion that was started in 2007 and will bring it to a point where it will handle most of the large ships going through the proposed Nicaraguan Canal. That project will be finished in 2015. The new Panama Canal will have more locks, deeper and wider navigational channels.


The thing that struck me about building an all-new canal through Nicaragua, besides the environmental effect, is the area is a large hurricane area, which is prone to dramatic hurricanes, which could cause significant damage at any time! 

Like every project of any size it all boils down to money! When the United States turned over complete control of the Panama Canal to Panama in 1999, all of the tolls went with it. It is a significant amount of money each ship must pay to travel through the canal. Tolls for the largest ships can run $450,000! One can only imagine what the cargo on that ship must be worth.

I am positive that kind of money could help Nicaragua, which is one of the, if not the poorest country in Central America. It is an interesting dilemma.

Personally, I believe we should stay with the current Panama Canal with its new updates that will allow most mega ships through.

One last interesting fact I got from the History.com article: "Some 52,000,000 gallons of fresh water are used each time I ship makes a trip through the Panama Canal. The water comes from Gatun Lake, which was formed during the canals construction by damning the Charges River. Within area of more than 163 square miles, Gatun Lake was once the world's largest man-made lake."

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Kennedy Ng’ang’a Inspires People

Kennedy Ng’ang’a is a true treasure. I first learned of him through Facebook when he sent me a request to be his Facebook friend. Before I friended him, I looked at his page a bit and found an extraordinary individual.

He broke his neck in 1992 diving and has been a high level quadriplegic ever since. He has created quite a career for himself and many people around him through his painting and the foundation he started in honor of his dear mum who passed away two years ago. It is called the Mama Kennedy Fund and helps supply much-needed supplies to people in his community of Mombasa, Kenya.

He has an electric smile that tells me he is happy and enjoying life. Lesa Ann Weller wrote a very nice piece on her blog "SHE WRITES" dated May 30, 2012 you may read by clicking here.

Despite having hired an unscrupulous distributor who stole hundreds if not thousands of his prints and tens of thousands of dollars, Kennedy has forgiven this individual and moved on to create even more wonderful pieces of art.

He is very trusting by nature. You may order his prints or even have a piece commissioned by him by going to his Facebook page and perusing his albums. One thing I found particularly refreshing was the fact you do not pay a dime until you receive your painting. To reach his Facebook page, simply click here. He will ship anywhere in the world.

There is one more article I would like to share with you written by Deborah Davis at Pushliving.com. You may reach her excellent article by clicking here. She too, has some amazing stories and paintings to share.

I had fun researching and learning about this young man and his story. In one Facebook message he wrote to me, "I was an inspiration to him."

I would like to take this opportunity to reply to that statement and say, "Kennedy, you are an inspiration to me as well."

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Help Me Celebrate Ed Roberts

If you know me, or have read my book, you know I went to the University of California at Berkeley in 1974 through June 1975. It was not a long time, but my time in Berkeley changed my life. The week between Christmas and New Year's 1973, my dad flew with me to Oakland where we were met by the Physically Disabled Student Program's van (PDSP). the van already had two riders. They were Hale Zukas and Ed Roberts.

They were both actively involved in the Independent Living Movement on and around the  campus. I just read an article about Hale who is still active in the movement today.

However, we lost Ed in 1995. Ed Roberts was literally the first person I met when I moved to Berkeley. Little did I know what a huge impact he would have on mentoring me and becoming an international advocate for civil rights for people with disabilities. There is a nice piece on Ed's contribution to the movement on the California.gov's website. You may read it by clicking here. There is even a fully accessible building located in Berkeley called the Ed Roberts Campus which is home to several disability-oriented, non-profit organizations. You may learn more about it at their website by clicking here.

Ed and I became fast friends and spent a lot of time together watching sporting events including several baseball games, football games and the 1975 USA–USSR track meet. I talk about Ed and his influence on me in my book I Still Believe In Tomorrow and how much our friendship meant to me.

The reason the California Department of Rehabilitation is celebrating is it is its 50th Anniversary and they are making a list of their fifty most notable people in their history. Guess who the number one person on that list is?

When Ed first applied to go to school at Cal, he was denied entrance because he he did not get a high school diploma. He did not receive a diploma because he failed to take and pass two classes, physical education and driver's training. Through his persistence of never backing down or allowing the system to say no, he eventually earned an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley. He became the first student with a severe disability to ever be admitted and graduate from the University California at Berkeley! He certainly was an amazing, inspirational person!

Once Ed got in, that opened the doors to more students. At the time, I did not realize when I went out there the residence program I lived in the first year was only a few years old. Had I known that, now I wonder if I would have even gone. I tell people the second best thing I ever did was going to Berkeley. The inevitable question comes back then, "What was the first?" 

My response is always, "Coming back to Minnesota." 

Berkeley was a great place to go to school with an ever-expanding accessible campus, but I got homesick and came back to Minnesota where I eventually earned my bachelors degree in School and Community Health Education. 

I want to close this post after telling you one more Ed Roberts story. Besides helping to coordinate PDSP, form the first Center for Independent Living, of which there are about six hundred of them now around the country, he was also instrumental in forming the World Institute on Disability (WID). Its work is now reaching worldwide communities. Shortly after I left Berkeley, Governor Jerry Brown named Ed to head California's Department of Rehabilitation. I have always found great irony in the fact the department that once refused to help pay for his college education was later being run by him.

Here is a picture of Governor Brown making the appointment:

Click on the image to make it larger:

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

The Book is here! The Book is here!

Okay, I know I told you I would only post about once a week, but I am busting at the seams to share my good news. 

I received my first paperback copies of I Still Believe in Tomorrow today and they are ready to ship! If you want your own book you can hold in your hand, you can order it from all the major booksellers, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc., but please order them from me because I get a bigger royalty.

For example: I only get about $3.00 if you order from Amazon! Let's just say, I get a little more if you order from me. Eventually, I'm going to set-up a unique website for the book complete with a page for comments, it's own blog and the ability to pay with PayPal and credit cards. Until that happens, please send your checks to:

Patrick Communications, Inc.

619 Lafayette Road North, #304

St. Paul, MN 55130-4444

The price is $14.95 per book plus $5.00 for shipping for up to ten books. I'll give you a quote on shipping if you want more. I'll send your books once your check clears.

I'm going to be moving in mid-August, and my new address will be:

Patrick Communications, Inc.

10100 Lyndale Avenue South, #104

Bloomington, MN 55420

Please contact me with any questions and/or concerns. By all means, please share this post and help me spread the word! FYI: I quote several of you and your comments to my previous blog posts.

A very heartfelt thank you in advance to everyone who buys "I Still Believe in Tomorrow."

Remember, it makes a great gift!

Later,

Mike

Definition Of Disability

I was going through some comments on my Facebook Wall today and was introduced to the following video with a definition of disabled:



If your browser does not show the whole frame of the video, click here to see it.

Her first definition came from Webster's Thesaurus 1982. I have always tried to live despite my disability, rather than regards to it. I believe Aimee Mullins has that same attitude. There are so many comments I could make on this video, but I will refrain and let you tell me what you think.

I am happy to report Dictionary.com's version is better today. It just goes to show we are making some progress in the way society looks at people with disabilities.

My favorite quote of hers is, Our language affects our thinking. I believe those five small words speak volumes. My next favorite quote is, The human ability to adapt is our greatest asset.

Here is a comment from the hundreds of comments after the video. I particularly like the way the person emphasizes the word capabilities.

Thanks folks at TEDtalksDirector, & amp; of course a standing ovation to Ms Aimee. To hear her articulate her points is an inspiration in itself. She has a motivation beyond anything you read, in motivational books. I thought I had a tenacious disposition but Ms Aimee blows me away!
For all who believed in the human race — Ms Aimee is a fine example of the human spirit embracing adversities as an opportunities for us to learn ( "DANCE," she said — I love that verb!) about our own capabilities.

I look forward to your comments

Later,

Mike

You Never Know ...

I do not usually post this close together, but this email just came across my cyberdesk and I need to share it:

Hello Mike,

I just read about you in the Star Tribune and realized you came to speak to my class back in the Fall of 1982. I can still remember to this date how you described the tackle that lead to your injury. It is something that will always stay with me. Back then I didn't take a lot of stock in what you were saying, but as the years go on I realize how lucky I have been not to face the challenges you have over the years. 

What I find interesting is I saw your address on your website. I must have lived right next door to you back in 1994-95. I lived in a duplex at 3231 Emerson Avenue. If this is true, we live in such a small world. Two years ago our family left Minnesota for Connecticut for my wife to pursue a new career. It was a great opportunity to really try something new and expand our horizons.

However, I now find myself in a very difficult position in my life as I am looking at getting a divorce.  Today just happens to be our 11th wedding anniversary. I know this cannot even remotely compare to your situation, but it is something I was not prepared for. I have two young children ages 9 and 8 and they mean the world to me. For the first time in my life, I am feeling as if the world I live in is being torn apart and I am "paralyzed" with fear for what the future holds. Maybe happening across your story was divine intervention to get me to look inward and understand I cannot just give in or give up. You are an inspiration and I applaud you for the beautiful life you have made. 

Thank you and God Bless You!

David Johnson

--

Wow! It just shows us how our lives can intersect and not even realize how we affect each other. I have no idea how he happened across my story in the paper or why it took him this long to write to me. Our paths first crossed almost thirty years ago and now here we cross again. I am going to give this to my editor and see how it might fit in the book.

And the beat goes on ...

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Finally, A Post Not About Me

In most of my recent posts, all I have been addressing is me. It is time to change that. I want to introduce you to a teaching website about positive values. I believe the lessons are relevant and good reminders for people of all ages. It is called Values.com.

For you teachers, there is a lot of good information you may find useful in your classroom. Positive attributes like leadership, friendship, courage, honesty and respect, to name just a few are featured throughout the site. There is also a great deal of information for the rest of us. I know I have spent quite a bit of time already perusing the site. I even see a few potential handouts for future schools, conferences and possible pages for my Materials page on my website.

I first learned of them while watching television in these last long months of being bedridden; and seeing this commercial several times. You can watch the commercial by clicking here:

I do not think I would have handled the situation the way this young man did. For you student/athletes, what would you have done in this or a similar situation? For everyone else, what would you have done in this or any of the other scenarios they show?

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Adam Bender The Left-handed Catcher

When you watch this video, you immediately notice there is something different about young Adam Bender. He is left-handed! Rarely do you see a left-handed catcher. It is an almost an unwritten rule that catchers throw with their right hand. If you are not a baseball player or fan, you probably wonder why that is. The reason is most hitters are right-handed and it is easier for the catcher to throw back to the pitcher or one of the bases if there is not a batter in front of them.


Oh, there is one more thing you notice about young Adam. He only has one leg. He had his left leg amputated when he was one because of cancer. It is another wonderful story about a young person with a disability who is not letting his disability keep him down. They seem to be everywhere.

This story was originally published in the Lexington Harold Leader on May 31, 2008. You can watch a great video and read the entire story about young Adam by clicking here.


Adam has also played football and soccer. He has overcome adversity to do what he wants to do. I admire that. And to think he was only eight years old when this story was done. I looked around a bit to find out how he is doing and could not find any updates. Whatever he is doing this summer, I am sure he is having fun. He certainly has the heart of a champion and a good attitude. We all know how important it is to have a good attitude!

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Creativity In Education

I do not go looking for these stories; they just keep falling in my lap! I have another cool school story to share with you. In my June 19th post, I told you about a great school doing wonderful things in the Nation's largest school district, New York City. Let's travel across the country to the second largest district and see what creative project the Los Angeles Unified School District is doing in ninety of their school campuses.

I happened to be at my mom's house today in the middle of the afternoon and she was watching CNN. In between stories on the BP Oil gusher in the Gulf and the Elena Kagan hearings, they ran this wonderful story on the greening of ninety campuses in the LAUSD.

To view the video, click here.

Check it out and tell me if you do not agree they are doing a wonderful thing. Besides the free solar energy they are utilizing, taking their schools off the energy grid, saving the District a lot of money, and providing organic vegetables for local restaurants, they are teaching low-income, racially-diverse, young students some valuable lessons. I could make a long list of positive lessons these students are learning, but after watching the video, I think you get the idea.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Later,

Mike

Public Education Done Right

Once again we see what education can accomplish when done properly. Thursday night the CBS Evening News chronicled the success of one Washington, D.C. public charter school, Thurgood Marshall Academy. TMA not only graduates 100% of its students, but also guarantees each one will go to college! Then, they assist their alumni to assure they graduate with a post-secondary degree. You can learn more about Thurgood Marshall Academy by clicking here.

Check out the story, and see what is happening:


Watch CBS News Videos Online

If the video will not play, you can watch it by clicking here.

I love watching what young people accomplish when given an opportunity and support they need to succeed! It is an inspiration to me to see a young man cry when he achieved something not even he thought he could do. He not only graduated from high school, but college as well. Now he plans to go to graduate school and earn a Ph.D. Watch him succeed at that too.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Later,

Mike

Geoffrey Canada Is Making It Happen!

Once again, 60 Minutes has run a piece I just have to share. Last night they showed us what Geoffrey Canada is doing at the Harlem Children's Zone's Promise Academy in the middle of Harlem. If you missed the show, watch what is happening:


Watch CBS News Videos Online

According to the video, the achievement gap has closed for primary school students many adults had already given up on. It is always inspiring to watch what young people can do when given the opportunity to succeed.

Now, skeptics might say, "Everybody doesn't want or need to go to college." Others say things like, "This is nothing more than a private school for black children." To see some interesting viewpoints, read the comments by clicking here. In reading the comments, it amazes me how some people can see a positive story and turn it into a negative.

I think they miss the point. As I see it, the point is about taking a negative situation and helping young people turn their lives around by giving them an opportunity to get an education to work their way out of poverty. How can that be bad?

That being said, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

The Problem Isn't The Issue ...

If you've ever heard me speak, you've heard me say, "The problem isn't the issue. The issue is how you deal with the problem." Well, I want to introduce you to a young man who is the living embodiment of that quote. His name is Nick Vujicic, and he is from Melbourne, Australia.

Nick is twenty-five and building a very successful speaking business. He travels the globe speaking to groups of all ages. One theme is his very strong Christian faith. From the looks of his schedule, he's really racking up the frequent flyer miles. You can check out more about him by going to one or both of his websites here:

Life Without Limbs

or

Attitude is Altitude

There's one more thing, he was born without arms or legs. A couple friends sent me a video of him recently, and when I went to play it today, it had been pulled off YouTube for some copyright infringement. No problem, I know how to Google! There are dozens of videos on Nick and I'd like to share this one with you. Enjoy, and be prepared to get inspired!



In this season of giving thanks, I hope Nick's story gives you pause to think about the reasons you have to be thankful.

Comments are always welcome.

Later,

Mike

Max Warburg Courage Curriculum

Max Warburg was another young Max who has left an amazing legecy for a child who died from leukemia at age eleven in 1991! The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum was developed by his parents, Stephanie and Jonathan Warburg, who worked with the Boston Public Schools, a team of doctoral students from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and educators from across the country. It is inspiring youngsters in sixth grade classrooms to be courageous in the face of the problems they face. You can learn more about them at their website by clicking here.

Also, learn how Max's courageous fight affected his classmates and everyone his short life touched in this 1992 video:



I also found this story very moving. It was written by his mother Stephanie and Charlotte Harris. You may read it by clicking here.

As always, feel free to comment.

Later,

Mike