I was so happy to see one of my collaborators and a great friend to the work of Covenant House Novometro get some attention in the local press. It’s ironic that a story in the Oakland Tribune sums it up that most newspapers have been cutting their local coverage and leaving people without information. It’s also telling that they say most newspapers are putting more stories online. Um, not to be mean or anything but there have been many a day I’ve missed their print version ”top story” because it doesn’t even make it in their online version.For more information go here.
Leadership January 3, 2008
The most recent issue of the Oakland Globe is out with my article on the front page.You can check it out here.
Happiness in the New Year January 2, 2008
And so here we are in the 2008!Happy New Year!I find the beginnings of the year to be particularly auspicious times even if the change is a human creation. I’m not one for resolutions by I am one for personal resolve. Last year I made a commitment to write down what I ate and increase my exercise and I lost 30 pounds from January 1 to early April. That was about ten pounds a month. Add on to that 2 marathons in ‘07, a new building for homeless kids in Oakland’s luxurious Jack London Square and dozens of mentions in the local press about my various efforts and I realized that truly anything is possible if you set an intention to it. The word Intention has been bandied about a bit more in recent years. PBS fixture and self help guru Dr. Wayne Dyer even wrote a book about it and its themes resonate in his work. I’m a big Dyer fan.Somehow, this Dr./counselor unlike other popular “doctors” on TV doesn’t feel the need to yell at you and tell you how your “screwing up yer darn life” like other refugees from Oprah’s show. He is actually interested in healing and inspiring.I became an even bigger fan when I learned he was abandoned as a child and grew up in orphanages and foster care. Having dedicated my life to working with abandoned youth seeing how he has transformed his life is motivating to me when I see what he uses his life to do. And really, while a change in the calendar can be the motivating force for re-creating what one does with their life, it needn’t be the only thing. You can decide at any point that “this is it” and “this is what I will do now”.So it’s with this spirit that I am looking forward to 2008. For those inclined towards resolutions I’m partial to this list over at the Huffington Post.
