Update: Alex Hermann’s perfect bracket ended in the third round when Butler upset Syracuse. He got the other three games right. Still pretty amazing! Congratulations to Alex Hermann of Chicago, an autistic 17 year old, who is the only person in the country with a perfect bracket after the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament. Quite the feat in a contest full of … Continue reading Autistic Kid with Perfect NCAA Bracket
This blog was born so that I could post to my friends, family and anyone else interested from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Now on the eve of 2010 Olympics, as I prepare to board an airplane for British Columbia, I find myself blogging again and reflecting on the only other time I was in Vancouver. I was 10 years old and my great uncle … Continue reading Greyhound Bus to Vancouver
My 11 year old son, Blair, wants to be a movie director when he grows up and asked if he could attend Denver School of the Arts so he has a better shot at getting into a good film program someday. The audition process was as grueling as getting into college. He needed a 2:00 film, an essay, a resume, a storyboard and examples of … Continue reading The Audition Tape
Esther Heller tells me she used to be a dancer. She says she won competitions in Paris and Athens and even Kamchatka (although she no longer is certain where that is.) She used to teach dancing in Denver. Waltzes and Polkas and Fox Trots. She did it for free so people could learn to move their feet. But now Esther’s feet have betrayed her. Until … Continue reading Esther’s Last Dance
This very well written article is by a senior named Scott Martin at Cherry Creek High School in Englewood, Colorado. In his guest commentary for the Denver Post he sums up the intense competition and pressures of youth sports and all the things adults do to take the fun out of it. As the mother of an athlete I think he hits the ball out … Continue reading Youth Sports: Enough Already
My son, Kyle, was born with a bump on his head and it terrified me. As a first time mom I was certain he would become gravely ill and I would not be able to hang on to him. Perhaps it was the postpartum imbalance of hormones but I found myself crying in the shower. Then and there I surrendered. I conceded I could not do … Continue reading The Faith Club Part 2
When I produced the daily talk show, Kaleidoscope, at KAKE TV in Wichita, Kansas, I learned you could discuss just about any issue but abortion. It was too polarizing. People would talk until they were blue in the face, raise their voices and get angry but neither side would budge from their position. No matter how compelling the arguments for or against, those who were pro-life and pro-choice just dug their heels in … Continue reading Wrong Answer to Abortion
Malcolm Gladwell, author of “The Tipping Point,” “Outliers” and “Blink” has an article out this month in The New Yorker. It’s called “How David Beats Goliath” and with his deft storytelling and character development Gladwell makes the case for effort over ability. He tells about Vivek Ranadive and his basketball team of 12 year old girls in Redwood City, California. To overcome a lack of talent they … Continue reading How David Beats Goliath
For parents struggling to communicate with their teenage children I recommend… drum roll please… American Idol (http://www.americanidol.com.) Like many parents I am often at a loss about how to have a meaningful conversation with my 15 year old son, Kyle. He loves sports and is a promising athlete himself so he and his father never run out of things to discuss. Patching up an argument is easy … Continue reading American Idol and the High School Male
Has it been 10 years already? The anniversary of the deadly shooting at Columbine High School is less than a month away and as I dive back in to the story I’m flooded with memories of that Tuesday. I haven’t really thought about Columbine much over the last few years, except on the painful occasions when another disturbed youth goes ballistic and takes it out on … Continue reading Columbine Revisited
Vicky Collins Online 