Blogs

When we turn our calendar pages on Thursday to September from August this year, many of us will find it unbelievable when we focus on the fact that THE September 11th was 10 years ago! This was an event that was to have forever changed our lives, our patriotism, and our sense of what is really important to us. As Danny Barnes says in his tribute song Nine Eleven written later that evening, “as we watched it all unfold before our eyes, it forced our hearts to see it all and be part of the pain. The sadness, the madness, the sorrow took over our lives”. Please give yourself some space and time to quietly look back and reflect on just what changes you have made in your own lives since that fateful day. (PLEASE CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO CONTINUE READING.)

As I am writing this newsletter, my wife is leading a delegation of junior high school students to visit two villages in the mountains of El Salvador, her eighth such visit. For these students, it is language and cultural immersion as they live with local families, share meals, play with and teach the children. One year we raised the money to buy the materials for - and actually help clear the land and build - a community center. Each year, money is raised to provide scholarships for students to attend regional high school and university, which are not available within the communities. Without these funds, most of these children would not be able to continue their formal education. The first scholarship recipients are now just graduating college! (PLEASE CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO CONTINUE READING.)

Nearly a year ago I wrote about the inadequacy of the words used by the media to describe the horrendous environmental disaster that would “spill” what I then estimated as 100 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. That estimate too was inadequate – the total volume of oil that gushed into the gulf over a three month period was 172 million gallons! Federal law requires the U.S. government to document a spill’s environmental damage in a process is called a Natural Resource Damage Assessment. (PLEASE CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO CONTINUE READING.)

Late in the evening of Sunday, December 16, 2007, I was fortunate to have been visiting the central coast of California. I remember that night vividly. I was walking back to my room, the air crisp. In that region the climate is interesting, alive. The hills breathe in the moist sea air during the night, only to exhale the warmed air back to the sea during the ensuing day. Unlike the stale, salty air of the eastern coast with all its bays, this air is fresh, sweet. I especially enjoyed the aroma of eucalyptus, cedar and jasmine. The clouds, swirling above and riding the coastal breezes, muted the light from the moon, around which there was a ring. Immediately to my mind came the words to a Dan Fogelberg song, a song I have heard hundreds of times. (PLEASE CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO CONTINUE READING.)