Warm. Gracious. Humble. These are the first words I thought of to describe Alice Walker when I met her on Friday. We were at the Georgia Writers Museum, where several events would be taking place on Saturday as part of an all-day celebration in honor of her 75th birthday. As she walked in, she smiled, extended her hand, and said, “Hi. I’m Alice.” I was able to restrain myself to keep from blurting out, “Yes! Yes you are!” Instead I simply smiled back, shook her [...]
I just bought a guitar. The decision wasn’t totally out of the blue, although it wasn’t exactly on my bucket list, either. I’ve always enjoyed music. I took piano lessons when I was in grade school, and I played French horn in the band from sixth grade through high school. I bought a guitar during my freshman year in college – inspired by a girl in my dorm who played the guitar and offered to teach me a few chords, and the fact that there [...]
I was surprised – honored, but surprised – when a friend and former coaching client contacted me recently and asked if she could interview me for her podcast. I felt honored, because my friend is amazingly accomplished. She has a PhD and is an ordained minister. She is certified in several areas of healing arts, and has a thriving business helping and teaching others to live an authentic, happy, purposeful life. She has published a book, developed a spiritual growth app, and produced dozens of [...]
“Some people give by going,” our pastor told the congregation recently, “and some people go by giving.” He was talking about an upcoming mission trip, and about the different ways people help and support such efforts. Although I had never heard that quote before, I certainly agreed with it. In fact, it made me think of one of my trips to Uganda a few years ago. While we were there, we distributed some items that had been donated by people back in the States – [...]
I had the pleasure and privilege yesterday of working with a young woman to help her prepare for an upcoming speech contest. Her story is an inspiring one of some of the issues and obstacles she had to deal with while growing up, and of how she overcame them – as well as the insecurity and self-consciousness she felt because of them. She expressed gratitude for the people and organizations that helped her along the way, and described how they inspired and motivated her. She [...]
I attended a writing class last weekend at the Georgia Writers Museum. The class was taught by a prolific and best-selling author. I learned a number of things I wish I had known years ago, and that I will certainly make use of going forward. I was impressed with the class even before it started. When I arrived, the room was set up with a table tent for each attendee, already filled out and on the table, along with a colorful notebook, a pencil, and [...]
What do you call a person who speaks two languages? (Answer: Bilingual.) What do you call a person who speaks three languages? (Answer: Trilingual.) What do you call a person who speaks one language? (Answer: American.) It’s an old joke, but there’s probably as much truth as jest in it. I was thinking about that when I was in Uganda, where I am always amazed at the number of different languages that are spoken in a relatively small country, and the number of people who [...]
This post is about one of my favorite days, and favorite memories, out of all my trips to Uganda. I wrote it after my second trip, and the column was originally published in the Chanhassen Villager on 9/27/12. Although it was close to midnight when we got home the night before, we were on the road again at 6:30 in the morning, traveling from Kampala to Iganga for my 9:00 program. I would be speaking to teachers at Buckley High School, which is actually a highly acclaimed [...]
I didn’t know Sheri very long or very well. But it was long and well enough to know she was a very special lady. We first met when I joined our neighborhood book club. At the first meeting I attended, we chatted quite a bit before the book discussion got going, and talked as much about writing as we did about reading. Sheri was an active member of the Georgia Writers Museum, which I was interested in but hadn’t been to yet. Our book club [...]