So, my writing challenge this year has been a spring cleaning from A to Z in my Searching for EMWA world. One of the things I’m trying to do is clean out my old drafts with some revisions and post them. This post was started in March 2015 when winter was wrapping up here in Chicago. I […]
Category Archives: Being Active
For the majority of the past 20 years, I have worked in extremely challenging positions within educational institutions. Many of the students I have worked with have been ‘at-risk’, growing up in environments that are economically challenged and that poverty which they are born into places special demands on each of them. Their needs are […]
My parents were elementary school teachers in the most formative years of their careers, years that happened to coincide with raising their children, and so they channeled that knowledge and understanding into how they raised us. One of the things they always said, is that if a child doesn’t get enough positive attention, they will […]
Back in the late 1970s, my Grandpa Cooper was able to take retirement from his work with the City of Detroit on the early side and planned to spend it living year-round at the newly winterized Cottage on Lake Charlevoix with Grams. He swore that he never wanted to visit Florida and he definitely didn’t […]
One of the most brilliant pieces of advice I have ever received was given to me as a newly sworn in PCV by our Associate Peace Corps Director, Ms. Elnora Lake. Her advice? “Find Your Bridges.” The 1992-3 school year had started and while I lived in the Antiguan village of Willikies, I taught at […]
As I’ve written before, last year was a bit of a challenge. Turned 50 at the beginning of the year in the midst of one of the most fiscally austere points of my life. Let go from a meaningful, rewarding job in an extremely humbling, demoralizing way. Exhausting issues in other areas of my life. […]
“What really are the odds of finding this group, perfect for you, while walking your dog?!” This is what my friend Kelly asked when she found out 4 years ago about my new involvement in this super cool rowing team for women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. What were the odds?? While the […]
