Welcome back to my column, dear reader! You know that I’ve been covering end of life if you've read my latest submissions. It’s been a tough time. I have good news – this column is happier! This will be a complete send-up of my thought processes and subsequent actions (or lack thereof). If you’ve ever [...]
Brace yourself, readers! For a change, I will utilize this column for its original purpose – to promote the Center for a Vital Community’s work in our community. Crazy, eh? No personal blog post today, folks. Instead, I’m here to explain why the CVC has been called the Chamber of Commerce for Nonprofits. When you [...]
I was just in Peoria, IL, right after my niece’s extraordinary wedding because my dad had another major stroke in mid-September. He’s currently in a fantastic rehab/skilled nursing facility and doing a lot of physical, occupational, and speech therapy. I don’t know if he will ever leave, but at least they’re doing everything they can [...]
As a practice, I try to craft my Community Perspectives columns focusing on the CVC's work. After all, we are the Center for a Vital COMMUNITY, and this is our (my) perspective. Often, my personal stories, insights, and experiences enhance this focus. Once in a while, I go completely off community topic, and the Press' [...]
My first involvement of being involved with a nonprofit was somewhat unconventional. About a year after I moved to Sheridan, my brother was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Scared and wanting to do something proactive, I met another Sheridanite who had fought and was beating the same disease. His family and a few other passionate friends [...]
Ah, personality quizzes. In bygone days, one took these in magazines. My favorite story about magazine quizzes was when a friend and I went to our newly married friends’ house for Thanksgiving. While they were preparing for dinner in the kitchen, Mark and I idly picked up a Cosmopolitan lying nearby and paged through it. [...]
The first summer I worked at the CVC, I contemplated the prospect of CampFIRE (it was then called CiViC Leadership Camp. See the need for re-branding?). The program consists of five days at a remote camp in the Bighorn Mountains with 30 or so thirteen-year-olds. If that prospect doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of [...]
A picture is worth a thousand words. I’ve always credited Kodak for that, but perhaps I should dig deeper for attribution. Regardless, I have found that so much meaning is instantly conveyed by images, as opposed to mere words. And you know how seriously I take my words. The CVC hosted our first Essential Photovoice [...]
I was not an early adopter of exercise. When I say not an early adopter, I was more of an active dissenter of the whole concept for a couple of decades. My biggest exertion for the first 12 years of my life was walking across the street to get the mail. My mom had to [...]
Did everyone survive Thanksgiving a few pounds heavier but with familial relationships mostly intact? ‘Tis the season for ugly political discussions over the big bird. There’s nothing quite like mixing alcohol, simmering resentments, buttery carbohydrates, and long-term misunderstandings to make for unfortunate dinner conversations featuring raised voices and pounding fists. Here at the CVC, we’ve [...]
