The storybook words of “once upon a time” usually end with “and they lived happily ever after.” But what if the tale of our lives does not happen this way – what if the narrative of our actions leaves us facing the void of unhappiness? What then of this storybook ending? Sometimes through no fault […]
Letter: Living Her Part
For weeks before opening night, posters had appeared on walls, in windows and on poles trumpeting the arrival of the nation’s most noted actress. Of humble origins, she had worked hard to earn such acclaim. This play would mark another high point in her career. But there was also a decision to be made, and […]
Letter: Mind To Hand Work
The two brother brick layers worked as quietly and smoothly as polished granite – with seemingly little effort and without a word passed between them. While one yielded a masonry hammer in his calloused right hand to trim and clean bricks, the other lifted a trowel in his rough right hand to butter up bricks […]
Letter: A Well-lived Life
He was king with numerous opportunities to rule well during his eight year reign. He had not. During that time he had not achieved anything for his country or people that qualified as a distinguishable accomplishment of merit. Nothing. The people he had ruled were glad when he departed. “He passed away, to no one’s […]
Letter: Clover Park School District Board Rolls Out “Give Six” Initiative
Give Six. On a daily basis, six connections with each student will be made by school district staff which affirm, encourage, compliment, and otherwise single out individual students for special attention constitute this initiative. Introduced at the meeting of the Clover Park School District Board on the evening of February 22, Superintendent Ron Banner said […]
Letter: Not Going Down
Like the nearby pictured green leaf stubbornly standing in a swirl of dirty water, a man of courage and conviction changed the course of history at 4 am on February 24, 1807. On that early morning, the English House of Commons abolished the slave trade by an overwhelming majority of 283 to 16. This occurred […]
Letter: Fear, Dragons And Courage
Fear is a dragon. For many it takes shape as public speaking, snakes, spiders and mysterious sounds, and for others the imagined actions of gargoyles and dragons. Confronting that dragon takes courage. Dr. Calvin Rooney knew something about this. A fictional character in Clive Cussler’s 1986 best-selling novel, “Cyclops,” the good doctor is on a […]
Letter: Bowed, But Not Broken
As the victim read her impact statement in the final stage of a sentencing, a young man in the courtroom bowed his head. His pencil rolled off his notepad and dropped to the floor. As new and inexperienced news reporter, his beat had been to report on crime, cops and courts. But not today; this […]
Letter: The Key To Trust
The case of the Titanic illustrates how often failures result more from a succession of omissions and missteps than one big mess-up. Like the Titanic, the Clover Park School District Board of Directors is navigating treacherous waters and there have been recently what appear to be a succession of omissions and missteps. According to researchers, […]