Gary Coleman 1968-2010

Remember the TV show Diff'rent Strokes from the 1980's? I believe the thing many of us remember the most are the problems the child stars had in their personal lives after the show went off the air in 1986.

Gary Coleman died today at the age of 42. He suffered from kidney disease as a child and had two kidney transplants, losing his first one at age five. As an adult, he suffered many medical problems which helped to end his life prematurely.

You can see the Associated Press video obituary by clicking here if the video does not open.



He had many health-related issues his whole life but had a hard time shaking that image we all had of that precocious little Arnold Jackson. According to his filmography on imdb.com, he continued to act up until last year, albeit never with the kind of success he saw as a ten- to eighteen-year-old child star.

The point is: he continued to pursue his passion despite all of his physical, personal, legal and financial problems. I have a great deal of respect for him for doing that.

RIP, Gary Coleman.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Later,

Mike

Music In The Schools

The world is full of very creative and artistic people. Once again, one of my favorite television shows, 60 Minutes, did a piece on one of them tonight. Bob Simon's piece on Conductor Gustavo Dudamel shows what he is doing to give elementary students an opportunity to learn how to play an instrument in an orchestra. As this piece shows, and many experts will tell you, it is all about opportunity.

You can view the piece by clicking here if it doesn't show up on this video:



Watch CBS News Videos Online

As anyone who has anything to do with schools these days knows, funding is being cut in many areas, especially the arts. Often times, entire programs are being cut. My youngest brother is also doing something about it in elementary schools in Southern California. I will write about his program in another post.

Studies show how important involvement in school is for young people. I believe this video shows how this opportunity improves a young person's confidence, self-esteem and personal responsibility. Plus, it teaches them an entirely new set of skills. I cannot say it enough times, "It is all about opportunity."

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

P.S. I am sorry I have missed a few weeks. I just spent another thirty-eight days in the hospital. I am still a little weak, but I am back!

Walking Your Talk

I have written about my friend and colleague, Earl Hipp before, but I want to share with you his latest blog post and what he is doing to help mentor boys become men. I have known Earl for about twenty years and we have shared the stage together, had many long discussions about our speaking topics and watched each other's careers develop to where they are today.

Earl and his wife, Gwen spend about six months a year in Tucson and he keeps busy with his passion of men mentoring boys on their journey to manhood. I received his latest post on Saturday about an event they just held. I want to share it with you. You can read it by clicking here. It is very good!

We all know about the problems today's generation is dealing with and how many of them are not handling those issues very well. It is great to see people like Earl, and all the people he is working with, to help boys become successful young men.

Way to go Earl!

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

A Rose By Any Other Name ...

You have all heard the quote, "A rose by any other name is still a rose." Am I correct? It seems the new terminology for what we referred to people who had extraordinary mental gifts like Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man is no longer Idiot Savant, but rather the politically correct term is to put the person's gift in front of savant and refer to them by their gift. If Rain Man were made today, Raymond would be called a mathematical savant.

This piece ran on 60 Minutes a week ago and it has taken me a while to post. I must say, I despise using the term Idiot to describe anyone, and I believe we should call a rose a rose. According to Healthline.com, Savant Syndrome, (which is what we should be calling this form of autism), is Below normal intelligence combined with a special talent or ability in a specific area. You can read the rest of their piece by clicking here.

That being said, this is truly an amazing story about thirty-year-old Derek Paravicini:


Watch CBS News Videos Online


If the piece does not play, click here.

The human brain is truly unique. We are just beginning to understand it. One has to wonder just how an individual can do what Derek does musically and yet cannot figure out how to button his shirt or hold up three fingers.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Quick History Lesson

I have always said this blog was about learning, and I want to give you a quick history lesson. Many of you are old enough to remember Billy Joel's 1989 song We Didn't Start The Fire. Chances are pretty good you have heard it. If you have never heard the song, it is simply a list of historical events and names from 1949 to 1989. You can read the lyrics by clicking here and see and hear the song by viewing the video.

This page of lyrics comes from a terrific learning website entitled School For Champions. If you are a teacher, you may find many ideas on this site you could use in your classroom. There is something for every teacher! In a matter of minutes, I found several things I will be using. You can go to their home page by clicking here. It is linked in to many cool education websites.

Recently, a friend sent me this YouTube video of the song. The thing I find fascinating about it is how fast the names and images come at you. It is incredible how quickly I had to focus on an image and a name, then move on to the next one, and do it time and time again.



Are we learning anything from getting our information at such a rapid rate? In the new Information Age, is this the best way for all of us to get information? I would like to know what Billy Joel was thinking about the effect his song was going to have on people. I wonder if he saw the song as a teaching tool?

Studies are telling us our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter all the time. Is a history lesson like this song helping to shorten our attention spans?

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Darcy Pohland 1961-2010

If you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and watch WCCO TV, chances are pretty good you have seen one of the only quadriplegic reporters in the United States reporting on a wide variety of stories. Her name was Darcy Pohland.

Darcy passed away in her sleep last night at age 48. Darcy broke her neck in 1983 when she dove into the shallow end on the pool where she lived in the Washington, D.C. area. Like all the rest who have broken our necks or backs in accidents, her life was drastically altered in a heartbeat and became a member of the largest minority in the country — people with disabilities.

A friend in Berkeley referred to the disability community as the Equal Opportunity Minority. He used to say, We'll let anybody in. You can become a member of our group at any time.

Click here for the WCCO report from the evening news:

I will miss watching her reports because I take great pleasure in watching a person with a disability pursuing her or his passion despite his or her disability. It is what I have built my entire career on.

Rest in peace, Darcy.

I welcome your comments.

Later,

Mike

It Is Indian, NOT Native American

I just spent another twelve days in the hospital with complications from the removal of a kidney stone. As she has always done, my mom spent every day for ten to fourteen hours a day sitting in my room, training and supervising new staff, helping me do anything I needed and mostly she read.

One of the books she read was COUNTING COUP, which chronicled one year in the life of seventeen-year-old Sharon LaForge, on the Crow Reservation in Montana. In many ways, it was like reading about a girl living on the Standing Rock Reservation like we did from 1960 to 1963, when my dad taught and coached at the high school in McLaughlin, South Dakota. McLaughlin is a small town of about 750 people in North Central South Dakota, about twenty miles from the North Dakota border.

Mom read several passages that could have simply substituted the word McLaughlin and it would have happened in the 1960's in South Dakota rather than the 1990's in Montana. The part of COUNTING COUP I want to share with you is the Author's Note in the front of the book. Here it is:

Larry Colton, freelance author of COUNTING COUP, a true story of basketball and honor on the Little Big Horn stated, During my fifteen months on the Crow Reservation. I rarely heard a tribal member refer to him/herself as a Native American. They called themselves Indians.

Because our ancestors most likely came across the Bering Sea, we’re not really natives, explained John Pretty On Top, a Crow Sun Dance leader. It's more accurate to call us First Americans.

I have had a problem with many of the so-called politically-correct terms for a long time, and using Indian instead of Native American is one of them. Frankly, all hyphenated American usage bothers me.

On a side note: In Indian tradition, a warrior gained glory by touching his enemy in battle and living to tell the tale. They called it ... COUNTING COUP.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

The Bloom Box

I learn something new whenever I watch 60 Minutes. Last night was no different. Lesley Stahl did this piece entitled The Bloom Box. If you missed it, check it out:


Watch CBS News Videos Online

We now have all kinds of battery power and have had for many years. The story elicits two questions right away. What makes this different from all the other battery ideas? And, how can we make it work? I am sure I am not the only person asking these questions.

There is a great deal of discussion going on now about rebuilding the electric grid. My next question is, will we even need to rebuild the electric grid if The Bloom Box — or something like it — is developed to be the next generation of electric power?

Will we soon see a landscape with no power lines? As we all know, change is inevitable. I believe this is just the beginning of how our children and grandchildren will get their electric power. I find it very exciting!

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Look Ma, No Hands!

In 1975, Bonnie Consolo won an Academy Award nomination for the documentary film A Day in the Life of Bonnie Consolo. I remember seeing it and being amazed at all the things she did without arms. She was truly amazing!

I was a newbie then at only four years post injury, and to watch this woman, drive a car, cut her boys hair, prepare the family dinner and do many other things with her feet was a real eye-opener for me! You can learn more about Bonnie's life and her accomplishments by clicking here. Bonnie passed away in 2005 at the age of 67. Naturally, she was a motivational speaker.

Now, we have another incredible young woman who is making a name for herself who, like Bonnie, was born with no arms. Young Jessica Cox has done Bonnie one better and has become a licensed pilot. Yes, she is the only licensed pilot in the United States who has no arms!

Check out this video from Inside Edition from about a year ago:



What do you suppose is her chosen career? You got it, another keynote speaker! Surprised? Neither am I. You can learn more about Jessica by clicking here. She is another example of a motivated young person making great strides to make the world a better place. I am sure we will hear a lot about her for many years to come. I wish her well.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Modern-day Dinosaurs

We all know what happened to the dinosaurs. Well, here is a list of modern-day dinosaurs we are watching right now:

25 THINGS ABOUT TO BECOME

EXTINCT IN AMERICA

25. U.S. Post Office

They are pricing themselves out of existence. With email, and online services, they are a relic of the past. (Refer to #9) Packages are also sent faster and cheaper with FedEx or UPS. (I’m not sure about this one because you still cannot send a letter or birthday card through FedEx or UPS for only 44 cents. Sure, you can send an ecard, but I do not believe they will overtake Hallmark for a long time yet.)

24. Yellow Pages


This year will be pivotal for the global Yellow Pages industry. Much like newspapers, print Yellow Pages will continue to bleed dollars to their various digital counterparts, from Internet Yellow Pages (IYPs), to local search engines and combination search/listing services like Reach Local and Yodel Factors like an acceleration of the print ‘fade rate’ and the looming recession will contribute to the onslaught. One research firm predicts the falloff in usage of newspapers and print Yellow Pages could even reach 10% this year — much higher than the 2%-3% fade rate seen in past years.

23. Classified Ads

The Internet has made so many things obsolete that newspaper classified ads might sound like just another trivial item on a long list. But this is one of those harbingers of the future that could signal the end of civilization, as we know it. The argument is if newspaper classifieds are replaced by free online listings at sites like Craigslist and Google Base, then newspapers are not far behind.

22. Movie Rental Stores

While Netflix is looking up at the moment, Blockbuster keeps closing store locations by the hundreds. It still has about 6,000 
left across the world, but those keep dwindling and the stock is down considerably in 2008, especially since the company gave up a quest of Circuit City, which is now out of business. Movie Gallery, which owned the Hollywood Video brand, closed up shop last year. Countless small video chains and mom-and-pop stores have given up the ghost already.

21. Dial-up Internet Access


Dial-up connections have fallen from 40% in 2001 to 10% in 2008. The combination of an infrastructure to accommodate affordable high-speed Internet connections and the disappearing home phone have all but pounded the final nail in the coffin of dial-up Internet access. 



20. Phone Landlines

According to a survey from the National Center for Health Statistics, at the end of 2007, nearly one in six homes was cell-only and, of those homes that had landlines, one in eight only received calls on their cells.

19. Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs


Maryland’s icon, the blue crab, has been fading away in Chesapeake Bay. Last year Maryland saw the lowest harvest (22 million pounds) since 1945. Just four decades ago the bay produced 96 million pounds. The population is down 70% since 1990, when they first did 
a formal count. There are only about 120 million crabs in the bay and they think they need 200 million for a sustainable population. Over-fishing, pollution, invasive species and global warming get the blame.

18. VCR’s

For the better part of three decades, the VCR was a bestseller and staple in every American household until being completely decimated by the DVD, and now the Digital Video Recorder (DVR). In fact, the only remnants of the VHS age at your local Wal-Mart or Radio Shack are blank VHS tapes these days. Pre-recorded VHS tapes are largely gone and VHS decks are practically nowhere to be found. They served us so well. 


17. Ash Trees

In the late 1990s, a pretty, iridescent green species of beetle, now known as the emerald ash borer, hitched a ride to North America with ash wood products imported from eastern Asia. In less than a decade, its larvae have killed millions of trees in the Midwest, and continue to spread. They’ve killed more than 30 million ash trees in southeastern Michigan alone, with tens of millions more lost in Ohio and Indiana. More than 7.5 billion ash trees are currently at risk.

16. Ham Radio

Amateur radio operators enjoy personal (and often worldwide) 
wireless communications with each other and are able to support their communities with emergency and disaster communications if necessary, while increasing their personal knowledge of electronics and radio theory. However, proliferation of the Internet and its popularity among youth has caused the decline of amateur radio. In the past five years alone, the number of people holding active ham radio licenses has dropped by 50,000, even though Morse Code is no longer a requirement. 


15. The Swimming Hole

Thanks to our litigious society, swimming holes are becoming a thing of the past. 20/20 reports swimming hole owners, like Robert Every in High Falls, NY, are shutting them down out of worry if someone gets hurt they’ll sue. And that’s exactly what happened in Seattle. Katie Hofstetter, who was paralyzed in a fall at a popular swimming hole in Whatcom Falls Park, sued the city of Bellingham. As injuries occur and lawsuits follow, expect more swimming holes to post ‘Keep out!’ signs. 


14. Answering Machines

The increasing disappearance of answering machines is directly 
tied to No 20 our list — the decline of landlines. According to 
USA Today, the number of homes that only use cell phones jumped 
159% between 2004 and 2007. It has been particularly bad in New York; since 2000, landline usage has dropped 55%. It’s logical as cell phones rise, many of them replacing traditional landlines, there will be fewer answering machines. 


13. Cameras That Use Film

It doesn’t require a statistician to prove the rapid disappearance of the film camera in America. Just look to companies like Nikon, the professional’s choice for quality camera equipment. In 2006, 
it announced it would stop making film cameras, pointing to the shrinking market — only 3% of its sales in 2005, compared to
75% of sales from digital cameras and equipment.

12. Incandescent Bulbs


Before a few years ago, the standard 60-watt (or, yikes, 100-watt) bulb was the mainstay of every U.S. home. With the green movement 
and all-things-sustainable-energy crowd, the Compact Fluorescent Light bulb (CFL) is largely replacing the older, Edison-era incandescent bulb. The EPA reports 2007 sales for Energy Star Cols nearly doubled from 2006, and these sales accounted for approximately 20 percent of the U.S. light bulb market. And according to USA Today, a new energy bill plans to phase out incandescent bulbs in the next four to twelve years.

11. Stand-Alone Bowling Alleys


The U.S. claims there are still 60 million Americans who bowl at least once a year, but many are not bowling in stand-alone bowling alleys. Today most new bowling alleys are part of 
facilities for all types or recreation including laser tag, go-karts, bumper cars, video game arcades, climbing walls and glow miniature golf. Bowling lanes also have been added to many non-traditional venues such as adult communities, hotels and resorts and gambling casinos.

10. The Milkman


According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 1950, over half of the milk delivered was to the home in quart bottles, by
1963, it was about a third and by 2001, it represented only 0.4%. Nowadays most milk is sold through supermarkets in gallon jugs. The steady decline in home-delivered milk is blamed, of course, on the rise of the supermarket, better home refrigeration and longer-lasting milk. Although some milkmen still make the rounds in pockets of the U.S., they certainly are a dying breed.

9. Hand-Written Letters

In 2006, the Radicati Group estimated that, worldwide, 183 billion emails were sent each day, 2 million each second. By November of 2007, an estimated 3.3 billion Earthlings owned cell phones, and 80% of the world’s population had access to cell phone coverage. In 2004, half-a-trillion text messages were sent, and 
the number has no doubt increased exponentially since then. So where amongst this gorge of gabble is there room for the elegant, polite hand-written letter?

8. Wild Horses

It is estimated 100 years ago, as many as 2 million horses were roaming free within the United States. In 2001, National 
Geographic News estimated the wild horse population had decreased to about 50,000 head. Currently, The National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board states there are 32,000 free roaming 
horses in ten Western states, with half of them residing in Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management is seeking to reduce the 
total number of free-range horses to 27,000, possibly by selective euthanasia.

7. Personal Checks

According to an American Bankers Association report, a net 23% of consumers plan to decrease their use of checks over the next two 
years, while a net 14% plan to increase their use of PIN debit. Bill payment remains the last stronghold of paper-based payments — for the time being. Checks continue to be the most commonly used bill payment method, with 71% of consumers paying at least one recurring bill per month by writing a check. However, on a bill-by-bill basis, checks account for only 49% of consumers’ recurring bill payments (down from 72% in 2001 and 60% in 2003).

6. Drive-in Theaters


During the peak in 1958, there were more than 4,000 drive-in theaters in this country, but in 2007 only 405 drive-ins were 
still operating. Exactly zero new drive-ins have been built since
 2005. Only one reopened in 2005 and five reopened in 2006, so there is not much of a movement toward reviving the closed ones.

5. Mumps & Measles


Despite what has been in the news lately, the measles and mumps actually truly are disappearing from the United States. In 1964, 
212,000 cases of mumps were reported in the U.S. By 1983, this figure had dropped to 3,000, thanks to a vigorous vaccination program. Prior to the introduction of the measles vaccine, approximately half a million cases of measles were reported in the U.S. annually, resulting in 450 deaths. In 2005, only 66 cases were recorded. 


4. Honeybees

Perhaps nothing on our list of disappearing America is so dire, plummeting so enormously, and so necessary to the survival of our food supply as the honeybee. Very scary! Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, has spread throughout the U.S. and Europe the past few years, wiping out 50% to 90% of the colonies of many beekeepers — and along with it, their livelihood. 



3. News Magazines and TV News


While the TV evening newscasts haven’t gone anywhere over the last 
several decades, their audiences have. In 1984, in a story about the diminishing returns of the evening news, the New York Times reported all three network evening-news programs combined had only 40.9 million viewers. Fast forward to 2008, and what they have today is half that. 



2. Analog TV


According to the Consumer Electronics Association, 85% of homes in the U.S. get their television programming through cable or satellite providers. For the remaining 15% — or 13 million individuals — who are using rabbit ears or a large outdoor antenna to get their local stations, change is in the air. If you are one of these people you’ll need to get a new TV or a converter box in order to get the new stations which will only be broadcast in digital. (This has already happened.)



1. The Family Farm


Since the 1930s, the number of family farms has been declining 
rapidly. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 5.3 million farms dotted the nation in 1950, but this number had declined to 2.1 million by the 
2003 farm census (data from the 2007 census hasn’t yet been published). 91% of the U.S. farms are small, family farms.


Both interesting and saddening, isn’t it?

*Source unknown

Do you have any items you would add to this list? If you do, please feel free to share.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Chad Patrick, Inventor!

If you have known me a long time, chances are good you know about my little brother, Chad. Chad was born two years after my accident and grew up only knowing me as his big brother who uses a wheelchair. As the Alpha and Omega siblings in our family, we have always had a special relationship. I tease him he will always be the baby of the family and he teases me I'm older than dirt!

All of my siblings have an artistic side. Between Chad's music and my speaking abilities are Kathleen, who is an award-winning author, Rick paints exquisitely, Vicki plays an amazing piano and Tammy has an incredible voice without ever having had a voice lesson. She just released her third solo CD. You can order her CD's by clicking here.

Back to Chad. He is now living in Southern California pursuing his dream and doing well drumming with his band Rolling Reunion, teaching young drummers, and most recently inventing percussion-related products. His Drum Wallet was just released to rave reviews at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show in Anaheim. NAMM is the largest music industry trade show in the world!

Check out this promotional video for Chad's Drum Wallet:



There are a lot of things I am excited about to see what Chad has done, but the most important issue is he saw a problem for drummers, and with several years of critical thinking and being creative in the problem-solving process, he found a very unique solution for a small niche of musicians.

Maybe it is not such a small market. He just told me he has already had inquiries from Australia and Europe!

To learn more about or to place your order for The Drum Wallet, click here.

Have I said yet I am a very proud big brother right now? I never would have thought all of those years of putting up with his incessant beating on everything from the dashboard as we drove down the road to beating on a coffee table while we watched a game on TV together would lead to this, Chad Patrick, Inventor!

I welcome your comments.

Later,

Mike

Patrick Henry Hughes!

I have introduced you to a number of young people who are making a difference, and I want to do it again. Welcome to young Patrick Henry Hughes. Patrick was born without eyes and a condition which made it impossible for him to straighten his arms and legs.

He has an amazing will and inner strength that is difficult for me to describe. Despite his disability, he was playing the piano at nine months! Besides being a student at the University of Louisville, he and his father are members of the Marching Band. Yes, his father! His father pushes Patrick's wheelchair through the routines as Patrick plays his trumpet.

In 2007, his family was chosen to receive a new house from the Extreme Makeover Home Edition television show. He has spoken on four continents and all over the country. He has written one book so far and has two CD's of his piano playing. It truly is an extraordinary story! To learn more about young Patrick, visit his website by clicking here.

I first learned of Patrick when a friend sent me this video which aired on ESPN. Check it out:




What do you think?

I welcome your comments.

Later,

Mike

No Name-calling Week Is Coming

If you are a teacher or a student, you might find this especially interesting. I just learned of the project which was first done in 2004. This year the week of January 25-29 is dedicated as No Name-calling Week in schools all across the country.

You can learn more about the project and what you can do in your school by clicking here.


I know name-calling and bullying are huge issues in schools, and have been for a long time. I am glad to see an organized effort is taking place in American schools to combat the problem. I posted a bullying piece on January 17, 2008 you can read by clicking here. The numbers are truly amazing!

Check out their website and see if there is anything you can do in your school to help address name-calling, bullying, mean emails and aggressive behavior.

Here is another great website full of definitions, games, webisodes, ideas on how to address the issue of bullying and much more for people of all ages. Just click here to check out the Stop Bullying Now website.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Git 'er Done!

A friend sent me these pictures and their story a while back, and I have been wondering how I could use this inspirational story of giving and helping a camp for kids. I think the story is truly quite amazing! In this season of giving, I want to share a story about how a group of Canadian farmers set a world record for harvesting a 160-acre field in just ten minutes and fifteen seconds!

They used one hundred combines, and took just one swath through the field. Notice all the grain trucks ready to take the harvest once they finished.

Click on the images to make them larger:


You can learn more of the specifics on this 2006 harvest by clicking here. The link will also take you to the YouTube videos of the harvest.

I believe there are two reasons I found this story compelling:

1. I love stories of cooperation and communities coming together to accomplish extraordinary things because there were so many stories like this when I got hurt of people in Worthington and the small towns in the surrounding area. People came together and raised a good deal of money which helped pay to put air conditioning in our house, built a ramp into the house, paid for two vans and helped pay for several other items our insurance did not cover.

2. My dad and I helped harvest the small grain at both my grandmother and uncle's farms for several years before my accident, so I have a special affinity for farmers and harvesting. I miss those special times!

To quote John, Paul, George and Ringo, "We get by with a little help from our friends!"

Have a great 2010 everyone!

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Holidays, Teenagers And Pain

According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control, " ... suicide is the third leading cause of death, behind accidents and homicide, of people aged 15 to 24. Even more disturbing is the fact that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for children between the ages of 10 and 14." You can read the report by clicking here.

Another wonderful website full of great information on the causes, warning signs, prevention and statistics of the teen suicide situation in the United States is Teen Suicide Statistics. You can get there by clicking here.

According to the CDC report, as much as seventy-five percent of young people who attempt and/or successfully commit suicide are suffering from depression.

Regarding gender differences, teensuicidestatistics.com states, "Teen suicide statistics show differences in the ways boys and girls handle suicide. While girls think about attempted suicide about twice as much as boys, boys are actually four times more likely than girls to actually die by killing themselves."

I was in a high school that had a rash of suicides and suicide attempts, so one of the issues the principal wanted me to address was teenage suicide.

When I got home, there was an email from a student that day, who wrote in part, " ... I'm in the eighth grade and I thought that I was on earth for the wrong reasons so yes I was going to try and kill myself tonight. Your speech helped me and I just wanted to let you know that you saved at least one life today if not many more."

I understand their pain because I was there for a time after my accident. Fortunately, I was in no position to act on my feelings. I was bed-ridden with a pressure sore, and in the middle of three surgeries over a six-month period. I saw no future in my current condition and thought the best way out was to just end my life. All these years later, I am so thankful I was not able to act on my emotions at the time.

When young people today make it through their own tough times, they tell me they feel the same way.

In this holiday season of giving thanks, emotional highs and lows, and appreciating everything we have, be aware of the people around you who may be having trouble. Please take a little time, reach out and offer a friendly hand or words of encouragement. You never know how they may be accepted by the recipient.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season filled with much love, joyful times and fellowship with family and friends.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

'Tis The Season ...

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkuh, Happy Kwanza, and Happy, Happy to everyone else who does not celebrate any of the above! In this season of giving, I want to give you yet two more options for doing your holiday shopping. That's right, if you have not finished your shopping yet, consider Twice the Gift and Elpis Enterprises.


Twice the Gift is a great little shop located on the street level of the Crystal Court in the IDS Center in Downtown Minneapolis. If you cannot get downtown, and you want to learn about this unique seasonal store and all of the charities and products, check out their website by clicking here.

Their website states, "The 67 organizations participating in Twice the Gift represent an incredible diversity of size, mission, and area of focus. We encourage you to browse through the organizations and learn more about them. You will be sure to find an organization that supports a mission that speaks to you and to those you want to honor."

If you cannot get downtown, you can purchase a gift card online and give it to a friend or family member to help benefit your specified charity with a money gift.

And, Elpis Enterprises just happens to be one of the charities you can help by buying our products and/or a share card. I say "our products" because as many of you know, I am on the board of directors. You can learn more about Elpis and purchase our products by clicking here.

In this season of giving, let us all consider keeping at least some of our gift giving dollars right here and "Buy American!"

Let me know if you have any questions and/or comments.

Happy Holidays!

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

Lost Generation

I received this video from a friend and knew right away I had to post it. We have all heard how the current generation is lost with no hope for the future; and how they are apathetic, shiftless, misguided and lack motivation.

In previous posts, I have given examples of young people who do not fit that stereotype like Dalton Sherman, Severn Suzuki, Quinn Sullivan, Oscar Pistorius and others. Now, I want to share a very creative video that was created by another young person from this so-called Lost Generation. Jonathan Reed created this for AARP's U@50 Video Challenge in 2007. Recently, it has gone viral on YouTube and yesterday it went over seven million views!

Check out this creative prose:



It won second place; and after watching the winner When I'm 50, I have to ask, "Who was judging this contest?" I think they got it backwards!

Personally, I have friends like Eric Chester and Earl Hipp who are working with adults and youth in their own way to help transition this generation into adulthood. I also serve on the board of directors of a small non-profit organization entitled Elpis Enterprises. We are doing our own tiny bit of mentoring a few inner-city youth as they struggle to find their way in this ever-challenging world.

If you are an adult, are you doing anything to help the youth in your community? If you are, that's great! Good for you. If you are a teenager or young twenty-something, are you doing anything to procure and work with a mentor(s)? If you are, what are you up to?

I would like to hear what you are doing. Please feel free to share.

Thank you in advance!

Later,

Mike

It's Up Time America!

Once again, my post just fell in my lap. A friend sent me this video the other day of keynote speaker Kimberly Alyn. It is a three-minute, high-energy flurry of her ideas of what we ought to be doing to make a difference in the world today. She makes a great point about personal responsibility and we are the ones in charge of our own destiny.

I find her energy contagious! If you like the video, you can learn more about her at her two websites by clicking here and here. Her other videos are full of good material as well. But, in my mind, they do not compare to this:



What do you think? Is she right? I think she hits it out of the park! Do you find yourself in any one of her "Up Time" situations? I certainly do. I believe we can all learn from her quick, little lesson.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Jack Rushton Rocks!

I often do a considerable amount of research to find material for a post, and other times, friends simply send me things from which I get ideas to expand upon that I think you will appreciate and hopefully even learn something. This is one from the latter category.

Five years ago, I met a young man at the Virginia Youth Leadership Forum by the name of Matthew Deans. He has an incomplete spinal cord injury and functions at a very high level. I saw him every year when I went to speak at YLF and we have developed a great friendship.

So, as one of my Facebook friends, he sent me this video several days ago with a note that simply read, "Saw this and thought of you." I want to share this video with you, and see if anyone thinks of me while watching it:

I love Jack's self-depricating humor! I appreciate his attitude and his outlook on life. I found this great article on Jack and how twenty years of living as a ventilator-dependant quadriplegic has affected his life and the lives of the people around him. I cannot relate to the ventilator part, but I certainly relate to the rest! You can read it by clicking here.

From what I can find, his health has not been very good recently. If you would like to read some of his interesting and often humorous observations, go to his blog by clicking here.

Jack certainly is correct when he says, "It's good to be alive."

My dad always used to add to that statement by saying, "It beats the alternative."

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

I Hate The Word "Hate"

One word I have come to despise these last several years is HATE! It seems to be used more and more all the time. It bothers me to the point where I am very conscious about how I use it. I do not use it much any more, and when I do, I stop to check myself and ask, "Do I really hate that?"

It gets thrown around everywhere and I wonder if we really think about just what it means?

According to dictionary.com, hate is defined as:

–verb (used with object)

1.	to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest: to hate the enemy; to hate bigotry.

2.	to be unwilling; dislike: I hate to do it.

–verb (used without object)

3.	to feel intense dislike, or extreme aversion or hostility.

–noun

4.	intense dislike; extreme aversion or hostility.

5.	the object of extreme aversion or hostility.

It is the hostility part that bothers me. We saw it demonstrated again in Fort Hood just last Thursday. Almost immediately, the hate mongers came out and started in on how they hate all Muslims. Did we hear the same screams of hatred towards all Christians when Timothy McVeigh bombed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995? If we did, I don't remember it. (On a side note: he wrote a letter telling why he did it. You can read it by clicking here. I found it interesting he sent the letter to Fox News which was published almost six years to the day he bombed the building.)

If you ever have an opportunity to stand on a school playground for any length of time, just listen to the children tell each other how they hate another child because of something they may or may not have said or done. Have you ever had your sweet, little seven-year-old daughter say, "I hate vegetables!" Where did she learn to hate anything?

Is hate a learned emotion? Are we born to hate, or do we learn to hate from the people around us?

Have you ever heard yourself say, "I hate this traffic," or "I hate rainy days," or "I hate the Packers and the Yankees"? Do you really hate or are you just frustrated because you are inconvenienced or disappointed your team lost? Even former President George H.W. Bush said he hated broccoli.

Personally, there are things I hate. I hate war, violence, cancer, poverty, homelessness and racism — to name just a few. I have a much longer list of things I dislike. (He said with tongue firmly planted in cheek.)

Confucius said, "Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny."

Are we becoming, or are we already a country of hate? If we are, what can we do to turn it around, or is it a lost cause?

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

I Love Basketball!

If you know me very well, you know I am a big sports fan. I especially love basketball. In fact, a few years after my accident, a Division II coach told my dad he had a scholarship waiting for me. I had been at his camp for a week the summer between my eighth and ninth grade years. And, as they say now, "He liked my game." Basketball would have given me a free college education.

I follow Tubby Smith and the Golden Gophers religiously, and have had season tickets for more than three decades. A cold Saturday afternoon in February in Williams Arena, or as it's affectionately known around here as The Barn, gets really hot when it starts rockin' during a close Big Ten game. My courtside seats don't hurt either! It's great fun and those nineteen games every year get me through these Minnesota winters! It ranks right up there just a couple of steps behind my passion for speaking.

In fact, my tickets came last week and the Gophers first game is Thursday night. Bring on another season of college basketball!

In 1986, one of my all-time favorite movies came out. Hoosiers was a great basketball story about tiny Hickory, Indiana winning the state high school basketball championship in classic David versus Goliath fashion.

Dennis Hopper was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of "Shooter." If you have seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. If you have not seen it, and like sports movies with a great story line, and many life lessons, you should go rent it. You will not be disappointed.

CNN is reporting that Dennis Hopper has prostate cancer. You can read the article by clicking here. He has made a lot of great movies like, Easy Rider, Apolcalype Now and Speed, to name just three. He often plays the bad guy, but my favorite Dennis Hopper movie will always be Hoosiers. I hope he has a speedy recovery, and can return to his passion once again.

I believe the reason I have such an affinity for this movie is because my dad coached in Minnesota's own version of Hickory: Edgerton, from 1963-1966. Edgerton had won the Minnesota State Championship in 1960 by beating Chisholm, Richfield and Austin in The Barn. All three of those schools had more students in their high schools than Edgerton had people.

Edgerton's population was about 1,000, and there were only 96 students in the high school! And, the community was very passionate about their high school basketball team! I was only in the third through fifth grades when we lived there, but being the basketball coach's son had it's perks! I definitely got the basketball fever of this tiny, tightly-knit, farming community in Southwest Minnesota.

When I am speaking and mention we lived in Edgerton, I will often have an older adult come up afterward and want to talk about their memories of that magical year. Many times, these longtime, avid fans can still name the starting five players!

Last year, the book Edgerton - A Basketball Legend was released and they devoted a chapter to the years following the Championship in which they talk about my dad and his tenure coaching the Flying Dutchmen. By the way, Edgerton has a very Dutch influence! You can visit the book's website by clicking here.

They are going to honor the team this year at the Minnesota State High School Basketball Tournaments as it is the 50th Anniversary of their championship. I'm looking forward to that!

As always, I welcome your comments.

Later,

Mike

Joe Paterno Is Amazing!

If you follow college football at all, you know the name Joe Paterno. He's been coaching at Penn State for sixty years! He's been the head coach since 1966. I started getting Sports Illustrated as a bonus gift for selling a certain number of subscriptions to the Des Moines Register when I delivered it in 1968. I have been a subscriber ever since.

In this week's edition, Joe Posnanski wrote a great article on Joe Pa. People have been calling Coach Paterno Joe Pa for many years. They could just as well be calling him Joe Grandpa since he is now 82! He is 82, has his Nittany Lions at 7-1 and still going strong. He is the winningest coach in NCAA Division 1 history and has something in common with my coach, Milt Osterberg.

They both coached players who broke their necks trying to make a tackle. In 2000, Penn State was not having a good year, and in the fifth game, freshman cornerback Adam Taliaferro dove in to tackle an Ohio State player. He was paralyzed and doctors told them the young man would never walk again. Fortunately, for Taliaferro, his spinal cord was only bruised and eventually he walked again, even leading his team onto the field before a game two years later.

Both coaches shared something else. They changed. Paterno's son, Jay, who is also one of Paterno's assistant coaches, was quoted in the article as saying there were only two times he ever saw his father cry. Jay Paterno stated, "The first time I ever saw my father cry was when his mother died. Then there was the time Adam got hurt."

I didn't write this post to talk about this accident. I posted it so you can read this excellent article about a coach who has committed his life to turning his players into college graduates and fine young men. He has one of the best graduation rates in the country. He has been offered other jobs for more money and has always turned them down. Whatever you feel about him, he has done a great deal of good for Penn State.

Everyone might not agree with me as far as respecting Joe Pa and what he has, and is continuing to do at Penn State, but I have a deeper appreciation for Coach Paterno and what he does for his student/athletes and PSU. You can read the article by clicking here.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike

Here's A Quiz For You

What do you know about our world today? I have always said this blog was about teaching and lifelong learning. If you are a longtime subscriber, you know my subject matter is all over the board. I like it that way. But, I try to teach something with every post.

My life and my speeches are like that. I have often been told I don't have a focus. Well, I respectfully disagree. I believe my focus is on creative problem-solving and critical thinking. If you have ever seen my website or heard me speak, you know I base my speeches on the premise, "The problem isn't the issue, the issue is how you deal with the problem."

That is also the way I approach my life. Somewhere along the way since that night they drilled those two holes in my head, I have developed a problem-solving process to deal with a myriad of other problems. The philosophy I developed a long time ago was if I could lie on that Stryker frame for six weeks and get turned every two hours to avoid any pressure sores, I could handle just about any problem I need to address. People tell me it's about my attitude!

Here is a picture of Nurse Ratched turning me shortly after my accident:


Notice the forty pounds of sand hanging at the head of the bed. The bags were hyperextending my neck so the Crutchfield tongs in my skull were putting traction on my cervical spine, thus immobilizing it and aligning the vertebrae. I grew three inches in those six weeks! See there: I lost my focus again! This post is about a global quiz and I go and make it about me. Shame on me!

Back to the quiz:

I don't claim to know it all, and never will. When I only answered six out of ten questions correctly, I realized I am not as aware of urgent global issues as I would like to think I am.

Take this Global Quiz from the Clinton Foundation by clicking here, and if you are willing to share your results, please do. Who knows, you may learn something? I know I did.

If you are a teacher and want to use this quiz in your classroom, please do. I am sure President Clinton would approve. Also, feel free to share it with your friends. I think that is the whole purpose.

Later,

Mike