Note: The following will be published in the November/December Issue of Neighbors of Batavia Magazine. It is reprinted with permission. “At the deepest level, there is no giver, no gift, and no recipient…only the universe rearranging itself.” Jon Kabat-Zinn Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So too are gifts. I …
On the Eve of an Inventure
These words are for an amazing cohort of fellow travelers on this journey we call life. Today more than 40 teens and adults will gather to begin preparing for the Fall 2011 Greater Fox River Valley Operation Snowball weekend in November. If we are open to it, today also offers us an opportunity to begin …
Reflections on 9/11, Ten Years Later
Note: The following is the text of my remarks at Batavia’s memorial on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 Thank you Mayor Schielke, Please join me in also thanking Chief Deicke, Chief Schira and all the men and women of the Police and Fire Departments for the amazing work they do to protect us. …
Kicking & Screaming
Note: The following piece is being published in the September issue of the Batavia Chamber of Commerce newsletter, Batavia Business. I wrote in on my 60th birthday, August 20. When my parents turned 75, I asked to sit with them and capture a few memories. I hoped to wander the peaks and valleys of their journey; …
Spirituality
Last night at Operation Snowball, the evening ended with a conversation about spirituality and how often we find ourselves in a spiritual state. The discussion ended with me. I quoted a friend who, before she died, expressed concern that her life might have been a “throw-away line.” I said I did not want my life …
Footprints
I wrote this piece shortly after my father passed away in 2005. A young friend from Operation Snowball lost her father this week to cancer. I reprint this here in honor of Megan Scott and her father. The footprints you are leaving, Megan, are filled with love and courage. You are very special. …
Sex in a Fishbowl
At Operation Snowball, the teens call the exercise “Sex in a Fishbowl,” but it’s not some weird, erotic game. They divide the room sending males to one side with females facing them from the other. Everyone scribbles questions they would like their counterparts of the opposite sex to answer, and places them into a …
Hellish Graffiti
The following will be published in the next issue of Neighbors of Batavia Magazine. Like a modern day Parthenon, it wore the ravages of time—but this monument to human endurance had no one to defend it against old age, or protect it for future generations. It stood pockmarked and failing, left as nothing more than …
Horton Hears a Who
Note: I first published this in the March, 2011 issue of the Batavia Chamber of Commerce newsletter, Batavia Business. An open letter to Joi Cuartero, Executive Director, Batavia MainStreet. Welcome Joi. I am grateful to the MainStreet Board of Directors for offering you the position as Executive Director. Do you, per chance, recall the book …
Existential Angst
The following piece was published today in Batavia Business, the monthly newsletter of the Batavia Chamber of Commerce. “You were a little snappish” a friend told me, with a smile and glint in her eye, after a recent Chamber Board meeting. She was right…but I was hoping it wasn’t that obvious. While I may owe her …
A Message 500 Years in the Making
Note: This piece is being published in an the July-August issue of Neighbors of Batavia magazine. Reprinted with permission. They laid the first stone April 14, 1434—three hundred and forty two years before American’s Declaration of Independence. It took 50 years just to complete the façade. Inauguration of the nave and aisles occurred in …
…and the pursuit of happiness
A recent Chamber presentation by Mike McKinley entitled “Laughing Your Way to Success & Happiness,” invited more thought about our third unalienable right: the pursuit of happiness. Since we have been in pursuit for 235 years; certainly we’ve made progress. In many industries, the U.S. leads the world in production efficiency and effectiveness. So why not in the …