See and show how character and leadership matter today
Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States, has spent a majority of this post-presidency addressing world-wide civil rights. Most recently, he has written a book called, “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power. He believes that, “The existing abuse of females is the worst, and most pervasive, and unadressed human rights violation on earth.” His position …
Ten-year-old twins, Carter and Jack Johnson began playing the game, “Battleship,” a few years ago. Their parents took them to the USS Yorktown, a retired battleship located in Charleston, SC, to spark further interest. They eagerly studied the history of this great ship and learned that one of its WWII sailors, Robert Harding, was still alive. The twins began emailing Mr. …
Last week at Oklahoma University (OU), a few students sang a racist song at a fraternity that was degrading to black individuals. This openly racist behavior was recorded and hit the internet, making the rounds on prominent news and entertainment shows. The President of the university, David Boren, quickly expelled 2 identifiable students in the video saying, “We have a …
Joe’s Perspective: While this is not a current event and there is no video to watch (sorry, but you’ll have to read this one), it is a touching story worth re-telling. There have been more than a few in my life who made all the difference. I hope the same is true for you. Enjoy the story and remember to …
Earlier this month Smyrna met Riverdale High School in one of the Tennessee district finals. In a weird twist of fate, the winner would soon meet defending state champion, Blackman. The losing team would be sent to the other side of the bracket, avoiding Blackman until the state championship game, assuming they would win out. Apparently, both teams figured out …
On March 7, 2009, the Kepler Space Telescope was launched by NASA to determine the number of earth-like planets (capable of supporting life) orbiting the 1-4 hundred billion stars forming our galaxy (the Milky Way). The answer was provided on June 30, 2014, “about 20%,” which means 20 to 80 billion stars have earth-like planets in “our” galaxy. By the …
Brian Williams is the long-time anchor for NBC Nightly News. He was respected and entrusted by Americans to tell us the news… night after night… with integrity and without bias. For years he was able to do just that – in 2014, he was named the 23rd most trusted person in America. Last week, however, he slipped to slot 835. …
Raymond Burse, interim president of Kentucky State University, did something I have never heard of before. He donated $90,000 of his own salary to ensure all minimum wage workers on campus received raises of $3 an hour from $7.10 an hour to $10.10 an hour. Mr. Burse was quoted as saying, “I wanted to do something meaningful. I wanted our …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOksW_NabEk (please watch this 3 minute video) The author of the above video uses a jellybean to metaphorically represent each day of a person’s average life span – which is 28,835 days or 79 years. In a clever way, the author breaks up the days of our lives into activities that we spend time doing. Below are his estimates: 28,835 …
A college professor challenged students to create a product that filled “actual needs.” Veronica Scott didn’t know it at the time, but that assignment was going to change her life and the life of many others. Working directly with homeless people in Detroit, Veronica began creating prototypes of a coat that would double as a sleeping bag at night. http://www.empowermentplan.org/ (please …
