Malisha Roark Hodges lost her battle with cervical cancer at age 28. She showed remarkable courage in facing her battle leaving behind a young family. The stories of courage and resiliency in the face of odds beyond which most of us can comprehend is the world I wish to explore. One of those is the courage to use whatever tools are available to us to work toward positive health outcomes. To that end, in the case of just one disease and with just one great opportunity to change the course of the past, a rally will be held in the Capitol Rotunda at noon on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 to raise awareness of cervical cancer. It is a cancer where screening and newly discovered vaccine can eradicate a horrific disease. Why would we not seize the opportunity when in general cures for cancer are elusive. I have attached an opinion piece I have prepared for distribution to the media as well as a press release announcing the event. I hope you will attend and demonstrate not only support but the power of people to make a difference and see the possible in what may seem to be harrowing times.

S.A.V.E Womens Lives!
January 5, 2011
Capitol Rotunda
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601

(S)creen (A)nd (V)accine equals (E)limination – all this adding up to how we together can S.A.V.E. Women’s Lives beginning in January 2011, the officially designated Cervical Cancer Month. On January 5, 2011, the Kentucky Cervical Cancer Coalition (KCCC) will sponsor a rally to be held in the Capitol Rotunda of the Commonwealth of Kentucky beginning at noon. Guests include advocacy groups focused on cancer elimination and women’s health, state leaders and many others across the Commonwealth.
“We have an opportunity to eliminate cancer of the cervix through proper screening. In addition, this is one of the few cancers for which a vaccine is available that can eliminate the disease in coming generations – - “we should not hesitate to seize this opportunity,” observed Dr. Robert Hilgers, retired Louisville GYN-Oncologist and founder of the KCCC. His experience dates back to caring for over 1,000 patients with cancer of the cervix.
Kentuckians should take a particular interest in eliminating cancer of the cervix. It is proven that jobs will be created in communities that are productive, healthy and educated. Currently, Kentucky ranks 5th for cervical cancer incidence compared to other states and the District of Columbia. The cervical cancer incidence in the US is 8.3 per 100,000 women with Kentucky ranking 9.4. In the Appalachian region of Kentucky where poverty rates and low literacy prevail, the rate is 11.1. (from the CDC United States health Statistics and the Kentucky Cancer Registry.)
Invited speakers at the rally include First lady Jane Beshear who has made advancement of women’s health issues one of her priority issues, Sylvia Lovely, President of the KCCC, William D. Hacker, M.D., Commissioner, Kentucky Department of Public Health, and Jill Wilson, a thirteen year survivor of cancer of the cervix. A special recognition will be made of Melisha Roar, a London native and mother of two young children, who lost her battle with the disease at age 27.
“There is no reason why Kentucky should not sprint to the finish line to conquer cancer of the cervix – no other cancer can lay claim to the possibility of elimination. Let’s rally to the cry – S.A.V.E.! ” says Sylvia Lovely, President of KCCC.

Contact:
Dr. Robert Hilgers
502-727-6963 (cell)
Robhilg@aol.com

Sylvia Lovely
859-229-9044
Sylvia@sylvialovely.com

Cervical Cancer

It was, as they say, a defining moment. And, it arrived unexpectedly as those moments often do. My mother suddenly announced that she could not urinate. The OB-GYN Oncologist walked out of the examining room having relieved her of what he said was a horrific pain. “What is wrong with her,” I asked, in shock. With a look of one who has seen too much , he uttered these words– advanced cervical cancer — and then he quickly looked away.
With my hearing impaired 81 year old father at my side, I violated a cardinal rule not to ask that to which you do not know the answer. I didn’t ask — I blurted — “how in the world did she get that”! His reply? “It is a sexually transmitted disease.” I reeled. He looked desperately sad. In an anxious voice, my father didn’t ask, he begged: “What did he say”! My reply? “Nothing daddy, he said nothing, ” A white lie, they call it – -and one proudly perpetrated in the instant it took to resolve taking that information to my grave.
But, to do that is selfish. Nearly, ten years hence, my father at 90 wouldn’t hear a freight train if it roared through the house and with his eyesight so bad that he can no longer read his beloved newspaper, I feel safe revealing the secret. The truth is my mother and my father were married over fifty years – and both — I’ll bet my life on it — were as pure as driven snow.
My mission? As chair of the Kentucky Cervical Cancer Coalition I am going to take the opportunity in January, designated Cervical Cancer month , to educate others about an important campaign called S.A.V.E. S.A.V.E. stands for (S)creen, (A)nd (V)accine equals (E)limination of a dreaded cancer. And, I must ask, why not embrace the campaign when elimination of the disease is so clearly within our reach.
First of all, the disease is, of course, horrific in its final stages and particularly for modest and chaste women like my mother – the “bottom” of you literally falls out. But there is more: cervical cancer can be prevented through early screening- – a pap smear; and moreover, cervical cancer can be eliminated in future generations through a vaccine that is FDA approved and widely available. Few cancers can claim such conquerors.
So why have we not moved forward in a sprint to eliminate this disease. After all, Kentucky’s abysmal health statistics are reason enough to eliminate just one. And, cervical cancer takes a particular toll on Kentucky which ranks 5th in its incidence compared to other states and the District of Columbia. The Appalachia region of Kentucky where poverty rates and low literacy prevail, the rate is 11.1 per 100,000 women as compared to the US statistic of 8.3 – - leading to an incidence rate that is 33.7 percent higher than the rate for the U.S. (from the CDC United States Health Statistics and the Kentucky Cancer Registry.) These statistics alone paint a picture of bleakness and waste of human potential.
My mother was a textbook case: born in eastern Kentucky to poverty and lacking even a high school education, I can only imagine at her reluctance to report a problem — especially one as “embarrassing” as cervical cancer was to her. So why not embrace S.A.V.E. and eliminate this disease?
Alas, an elephant is in the living room. A grandfather told me that he wouldn’t allow the vaccine to be administered to his granddaughter because it would encourage promiscuity. I barely conceal my rage at an argument that is absurd and deserves no answer; secondly, my mother’s situation proves that we have only begun to understand how disease is transmitted. Finally, and most importantly, no one deserves to die because of so called promiscuity.
On January 5, 2011, the KCCC will hold a S.A.V.E. rally in the Capitol Rotunda beginning at noon . We will be surrounded by heroes of our past, as embodied in the statues of those who stood tall with courage and bold action, along with the heroes and leaders of today as we seek to raise awareness of our S.A.V.E. campaign.
But, lest we look too far afield for heroism, let us remember those brave women who have died too young, leaving children and families to grieve and ask “why did this have to be.” I point out only one- – Alma Crystal Ross Leach, my mother. Despite her precipitous descent into cancer’s hell, she was able to provide a steady curriculum of life lessons for us left behind to ponder our human fate.
Near the end, when asked by the hospice doctor who was charged with adjusting her medication to enable her to live comfortably to the end, she replied in a low but strong voice: “I want to do little things.” She didn’t want much — she didn’t need to suffer so.
Let’s unite in the S.A.V.E. campaign. It is the only option that makes any sense.

I hope to bring you some tips and provocative questions in the coming issues. In each edition, I will bring you two to three topics and hope that you will comment on or answer questions that may be posed in them. I want this newsletter to have opportunity to both inform and allow you to have a say in some important issues relating to building resiliency in leaders, organizations and communities. From time to time I will update you on my very interesting health journey. It is reflective of our time and of resiliency because it involves a prescription drug, a horrific leg break and a growing network of people across the country who have suffered the same injury and are banding together in solidarity. That just about covers the waterfront of issues on the front burner in our world today. Social media, Listserv’s and connections to what otherwise have been strangers has changed our lives.

Notes from the Flyover Zone

I wish I had invented Obama’s book title, The Audacity of Hope I have not read the book and thus am only familiar with its content from what I have heard from others.  I confess that my interest comes from just having adopted that great word:  ”Audacity” in my speaking and writing.   Audacity says a lot.  It is a word that describes the events and the relentless pursuit of democracy in Egypt by those who did not give up on their dream despite the odds against success.  But, the word audacity also has a dark side that some say borders on “arrogance” or engaging in fantasy to believe that anyone can dream big and make that dream come true.

If you are born and bred in Kentucky, you are all too familiar with that “attitude,” particularly from outsiders.  Or, we can be our own worst enemy.  As my mother, hailing from eastern Kentucky and harboring a lifelong inferiority complex rooted in poverty and being opportunity deprived would put it — “don’t get above your raising.” I even overheard my father provide my son David with a life lesson of despair — “don’t worry about things not working out …  they never do.”  Let’s be clear:  Audacity isn’t about “smarts”; it is about believing in something bigger and more important than day-to-day living and getting by.

So, I’ve decided to become more audacious and defy my roots!  I use the word audacity in an oped piece submitted to the Lexington Herald Leader for publication.  It is a response that provides some texture about the NewCities Institute, a 501 c 3 nonprofit, established by the Kentucky League of Cities, and now apparently either put on hiatus or ended, to engage citizens in building better communities.   There is some amount of audacity to believe Kentucky cities can do better by engaging citizens.  It is audacious to believe that Kentuckians can be on the cutting edge of engaging in transformational thinking about the future.  But, I’ll let you judge for yourself.

Ground Up:

At the risk of sounding a bit xenophobic, I’ll continue on the theme of “outsiders” and audacity. Herald Leader columnist Tom Eblen’s article of February 14 profilesSaul Kaplan, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. He was invited to Lexington to talk about creating an entrepreneurial economy.

Being a student of new trends in economic development, I am aware that there is quite a bit of activity in this arena by Ron Hustedde at the University of Kentucky as well as Ernesto Sirolli – not to mention the Kentucky Science and Technology Council and Kris Kimel and others.   What it boils down to is that we have to grow our economies from the ground up and not from the top down. This fellow is actually pretty smart about that and what communities must do to be better in the future and compete for talent and jobs of the future.

But, has he said anything new or anything we have not already heard?  His favorite words are “connect, inspire, and transform.”  I cannot help but say “duh.”  In talking to a good friend and well known local futurist guru, he and I agreed that using words those like with audiences is the surest route to glaze over eyes and blackberry/I-phone “checking.”  Now, with younger groups, there is excitement but little in the way of “traditional” power on their part that translates into established policy.  Hmmm.  Does Egypt hold yet another clue to the power of youth if they so choose?

So what are we to do who have the “audacity” to believe that people can learn to think differently and begin to internalize certain important concepts.  When will we have the audacity to truly understand and internalize that which we need to learn in order to lead in transformational ways.

I believe that to be the great leaders of tomorrow, we have to get our heads out of the sand and that in and of itself is transformational.  It is to realize that old style, hierarchical organizational structures are yielding to interlocking networks of ideas; that the information age is becoming the connected age; and that in an era of “new localism” people are eager and desirous of change.  Call them inspired; call them audacious.  All they need is the connective tissue.  Perhaps it will come out of a lecture or two from the outsiders brought in to inspire us to action … but only if the tipping point is already near.

We have what it takes to audaciously take on the task of transformation … if only we will.  Unfortunately, the background noise of our transformative age is threatening our sense of innovation.   It is in the combination of recessionary times that has brought on loss of security, a loss of faith in American governmental and business institutions, scary times when one’s reputation can be killed in a heartbeat, and a certain murkiness about governance structuring for all institutions — public and private, that we find ourselves retreating and not willing to look up and outward.  Are we willing to balance risk with increased vigilance and realize that the two are not mutually exclusive.  Are we ready to be audacious?

80/20:

How do you lead in an 80/20 world?  How do you develop the audacity to lead with humility knowing that as leaders we don’t ever stop learning — while at the same time exhibiting the self confidence that keeps us on the cutting edge of innovation?  What do I mean by 80/20?  In a nutshell, let’s say that twenty years ago, five percent of what happened to you in your professional life was outside your ability to “exert control” and today that number is probably up to twenty percent.  That leaves 80 percent that you can do something about as a leader.

Indeed, most people (mostly men) went to work right out of college and stayed in the same job for 30 or more years – receiving that obligatory gold watch on the way out the door.  Today, due to a number of factors, including a media that is more about you and me with a megaphone than traditional newspapers, and the ability to broadcast anything anywhere, we find ourselves cowering instead of standing tall.  Confusion reigns as we give up on separating truth from fiction.

What of the 80 percent that is controllable?  Again, the seven guideposts for leadership under the rules of the “new normal” and success are (1) Communicate and articulate your story; (2) Operate under the banner of openness and transparency to stakeholders; (3) Marry a strong sense of innovation with proper governance rules; (4) Pay attention to people; recognize their right to be involved; (5) Adapt your planning to future goals and realize that trends matter; (6) Strategically review your alliances and partnerships both within and outside your organization or community and determine that which promotes the best you can offer your constituency.  Finally, (7) Serenity comes in knowing you did the best you could at the highest of ethical standards even if you find yourself in the 20 percent.

In a series that takes each guidepost and develops it further, think about #3 – Marrying a strong sense of innovation with proper governance rules.  It is important that leaders retain an innovative spirit that is not stifled but enhanced by adopting appropriate governance standards.  Too often, I have heard leaders express concerns on one end that executives have too much authority and the board is too inactive to the other end of the continuum that the board seeks to micromanage in order to avoid any mistakes.  You can begin with clarifying the roles of every part of the governance structure.  Over-reaching executives are as bad as micromanaging boards.  Both undermine the organization’s health.

The challenge is that we are in the midst of a “governance revolution.”  The questions become how to structure governance in a way that meets the increased need to be transparent.  To whom do you owe a duty.  The expectations of the public that were demanded of BP Oil were identical to those demanded of government regardless of their status.

The fact is that we cannot ever completely eliminate risk.  We can only anticipate and plan for its occurrence.  And, there is plenty that can be done if we approach the management of risk as doable and important.  It must be done with “process” in mind.  You don’t learn to lead with one lecture or one luncheon speech.  You become a leader by constantly reviewing yourself and understanding that moving forward — especially in such challenging time — is both exhilarating and satisfying.  If only you have the audacity to believe.

That is quite a list but is only the tip of the iceberg.  I am what they call a serial flipper if I ever get time to watch TV – and time is exactly what I had plenty of (pain meds make books difficult).  Sometimes I would watch with the volume down and only in the early wee hours, light of a hospital or the blood lady or the blood pressure lady or … well you get the picture – all designed to keep me awake confronting my fear and plotting my escape despite the kind treatment I received.  At other moments, I listened with interest if not fear.

Hoarding!  Is apparently, an affliction for millions of Americans.  When I thought of my home office and the upstairs “storage” bedroom, I began to worry.  But, maybe it is like when you forget someone’s name and you believe you have Alzheimer’s and quickly are assured by those “in the know” that memory loss like that is perfectly normal.  OK, I think. I want to believe you Ms. Expert; therefore I will.  I have to concentrate on one crisis at a time.

So what is the bottom line?  I discovered a whole new world over this past week.  In my own quest for resiliency, I worked hard to find the silver lining.  I tried hard to learn more about the dedicated young people who mostly cared for working two and three jobs trying to get through school, raise families, stay married and sane.  I’m determined more than ever to kick this wheelchair in the leg lifts – throw off my walker and get back to work.  But, only on doctor’s orders – I never want to go through this again. As enlightening as it might be.

Welcome to the world of Seth Godin for some good thinking on our times.  http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/ I realize that I have the luxury of reading “thought” books and that my life is charmed compared too many others who are suffering so at this time.   But, Godin is onto something that has to do with my passion, – building personal and professional resiliency in a crazy age.  It is clear to me that we have entered a new age and it isn’t all bad.  The world of work at one time consisted of management and labor only.  Today, there is a third team – the linchpins.  Those are the dedicated “artists” whose passion for their work drives them to success.

It is Godin’s premise that we can choose to be linchpins or we can live by the old rules and continue to be miserable in feeling the shackles of just taking orders from the imperial boss.  Of course, the difficult part is that we live under old rules with credit card debt out the wazoo and 30 year mortgages.  That is in his opinion only an excuse for not taking on the “establishment” but I am sympathetic.  I think there is much pain in today’s world as it goes through the shifting of tectonic plates.  But, soldier on, we must.

In his latest book – Tribes - Goden urges us to step out front and become leaders on behalf of our beliefs in what is important.  He also urges something that is endangered with all the publicity about “missteps” and that is about making some mistakes along the way.  Only by taking risks and reaching for the stars can you achieve your goals.  You will make mistakes – just learn from them.  For sure, playing it safe is important and a balancing act must be achieved.    But … don’t give up on starting something new and incredible that can be a breakthrough for the world.  The beauty of our world today is that virtually anything is possible from nearly anyone – heroes are all around us in every walk of life.  Take a look around – I assure you that you will be humbled by what you see.

The former director of the Kentucky League of Cities says the organization she departed at the end of last year was largely misunderstood.

Sylvia Lovely stepped down after the state auditor’s office found hundreds of thousands of dollars in extravagant spending. Lovely now runs a consulting businesses and makes public speaking appearances. She says the KLC was successful under her leadership, but it was treated like a governmental agency, when it shouldn’t have been.

“We operated as a trade association,” she says. “Nobody said anything about that or objected to it. We built relationships. We had a full-service insurance company. We were complex, maybe too complex, but we served our cities well.”

The KLC does collect dues from cities for membership, and offers cities various services. Lovely says she thinks many of the auditor’s findings were misrepresented in subsequent reports. Lovely writes about the KLC investigation and reputational risk in the latest issue of the Lane Report business magazine.

He looked hurt and confused at my sudden outburst.  I think I know why.  My father has built up his psychological immune system (evidenced by being in pretty good shape at age 90) by believing that it is ok that he is not one of “them,” nor does he want to be.  He has no need to be politically correct and be with people with whom he does not “belong.”

So, how do we change the culture of just accepting one’s lot in life.  Certainly there are those who need to do so.  My anger and indignation about the unfairness of the world no doubt takes years off my life, not to mention contributing to a lesser quality of my personal life.  There is a balancing act I suppose and my father has found it.  He was able to eke out a good living as a blue collar worker and has no inkling of how others with similar backgrounds to his are suffering in today’s world where his story — of little education but when good paying jobs were still within his reach — is likely not possible.

Let’s hope that we can all find the balance and resilience to live a good life, but to also remember that others are coming behind us who need for us to step up to the plate and lend a helping hand. Being a change agent is a hard life.  Sometimes we need that but sometimes we need more like my father.

As is the phenomenon across the world where there is a great divide between the urban haves and the rural have nots, the poor and rural are pouring into the major cities – swelling El Alto from 80,000 thirty two years ago to over one million today with two million expected in 15 more years.  Sebastian realized right away not only the plight of being poor but also the plight of the “loss of roots.”  By building churches, he restores the sense of belongingness.  He says of the parishioners, “in the churches they find a spiritual home in a new culture, a mix between the country and the city.” He notes that the loss of roots can mean a slide into crime, alcoholism or worsening poverty.

Sebastian is a connector, a trait that is desperately needed in the cold and un-nurturing world of the 21st century.  His specialty consists of connecting people to their culture — a need often neglected in our technology-as-savior drenched society.

The song selection was the famous – “God is Watching us.”  It is about viewing earth from a distance when the colors are blue and green, where there is harmony and where you look like my friend even though we are at war — but only at a distance.  And, of course, the refrain:  God is watching us … from a distance.  In other words, we are left to contemplate our lives as we honor those who gave all to keep us safe and as we on earth endeavor to do better in their honor.

The families were gathered under a tent with only the slightest hint of joy:  no officers had been killed in the line of duty during all of 2008 or 2009.  That joy was shattered with the death on April 29, 2010, of 27 year old Officer Brian Durman in Lexington, Kentucky in a “hit and run.”  It provided comfort that this was the first death of a Lexington officer in 20 years.  Looking at his young widow, however, it was clear that any loss was a loss too many.

With the advent and growth of training programs — much of it done in the Department of Criminal Justice Training where the Memorial sits — the number of deaths have hopefully declined.  But, we must do more.  We must strive to honor even more those who give their lives to keep us safe. We must do more than honor.  We must give respect to those who choose this profession, support them and work to make the world better.  Remember, God is watching us.

The “rich people Kroger” is of course much larger.  It has a Starbucks with abundant seats that he observed made it look like a church.  (He didn’t say if that was good or bad but I know that when the preacher visited our house as I was growing up he would always head out the back door!) It is, I have to admit, more homogeneous and in my opinion in an admittedly unscientific observation:  a lot “whiter.”  When he couldn’t find the items he wanted (how could you find groceries in a church!), I gave in and took him to “his” preferred Kroger.  As we tooled around — he leaning on the shopping cart, I realized that indeed it was a different cultural experience.  For one thing, I didn’t feel nearly as self-conscious sharing with every shopper in the store at the top of my lungs the location of milk, ice cream and orange juice — all announcements directed to my hearing-challenged father and coming directly off his shopping list.

I noted the tendency of the “bag” guys to tell their life story, if given half a chance .  In the bathroom I was  delightfully detained as I heard the trials and tribulations of one employee’s attempts to find her Kroger logo’ed shirt at 5:00 a.m. after the alarm had failed to go off on time and the kids had to be dressed and her husband need to get to work and … well you get the picture.

The “rich people Kroger” is different indeed but is that a fair label — it sounds negative, doesn’t it?  I don’t know.  I know my father grew up poor in eastern Kentucky.  He loves Wal-Mart and Meier so that size doesn’t exactly explain his choices.  I could spend precious time trying to figure it all out but likely to no avail.  In the meantime, I don’t plan to mess with him any time soon.  At ninety, he can go anywhere he wants for any reason.  I’ll gladly escort him there.

She notes that Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, and Warren Bennis, leadership guru, in his book Judgment, talk of the growing popularity of storytelling as a tool that cuts across the lives of both individuals and those who lead them. Without a cogent narrative of your past, your present and your future, you cannot be successful as a leader.

Sylvia has taught storytelling to audiences at the National League of Cities and the International City Managers Association and others. She wants to launch the “Chronicles of the Chevy S-10” to both share her stories and hear yours.

For that reason, I am going to continue writing but not as a “blogger.” What do I mean by that? Well, I call it “The Chevy S-10 Chronicles”. Now, that begs explanation. First of all, why Chevy S-10? I’ll get to that in a moment but let me first observe that I had this truck long before Scott Brown arrived on the scene and won the Massachusetts primary. I’d put my truck and likely the authenticity of how I came to acquire it up against his explanation any day.

But, onto the story. When my company- owned car went away (for reasons too complicated to go into here), I was in a quandary. I had not owned a car in 20 years.  I had been provided a company car as a part of my compensation package.

Out of the blue, my 89 year old father called to tell me that it was time to come pick up the truck — he simply could not allow himself to drive anymore. With a mind perfectly sharp yet increasingly hemmed in with degenerating hearing and eyesight, he had come to know with some urging from his children that he posed a threat not only to himself but more importantly to others.

As I took delivery in his driveway, I could see the pain he felt of giving up freedom — driving was a symbol to people of my father’s ilk of not only freedom and independence but of prosperity. Oh how I remember those shiny Buicks we would acquire every few years and how much pride he had in them.

But, the 2001 Chevy S-10 truck, complete with stick shift, unadjustable seat, no cruise control and crank windows, was not just any truck and this was not just any circumstance. I have had what can only be called an “interesting” year where my integrity and set of core values have been called into question — setting me off on a very introspective, contemplative time in my life.

When I step into the truck, I step into his shoes. He and my mother were born poor in Appalachia Kentucky. Like many of their cohorts, he tried to farm the land — my parents on a small rented farm where I-64 now crosses through. He like thousands of others finally gave up and packed their only possessions in a beat up pickup truck (a precursor to this one).  He, my mother, brother and I (ages two and three months) followed a ribbon of a road to the promised land — in this case Dayton, Ohio. He tells of begging for a job, getting it and of his pride of earning a good middle class living when you still could with an eighth grade education. But, like the others of that era, in another cataclysmic world change, he lost his job with little to show for the years of loyalty.

Today, he is a proud man. He is frugal to a fault, buying his clothes at garage sales. He is my adviser and the muse for many of my stories. He is a man of integrity. Though he will not share his finances with anyone — not even me or my brother- – he steadfastly clings to the notion that a man should pay as he goes.  As he once told me in answer to my inquiry of whether he was ready to pay $2,000 for a special injection to stem the tide of his failing eyesight or seek financial assistance that had been offered him, “I’m not going to lie ; I can pay for it.”

The truck is an important reminder of something — as the man observed to his neighbor when he visited his wife who was stricken with Alzheimer’s and in a nursing home,- “Why do you continue to visit her day after day when she doesn’t know who you are”? The reply? “Because I know who I am.”

The Chronicles? They will be my observations and musings about what I see out there that informs us of our lives. Do I hope people will pay attention and read? Of course; that would be nice. It would be nice in the sense that perhaps others will share the stories they see unfolding in front of them. There is a hint in the air that the value of stories is gaining currency. I would like to see that.  I am at heart a builder of community and a steadfast believer in the power of a strong story narrative to bring people together to do great things.

The day after I took over the responsibility for my father’s truck, I drove it to Wisconsin to see my first grandchild,  Simon Walter Lovely (the middle name being that of my father). I might note for those who advised against my adventure — even the former Mayor of Mt. Sterling Bert May, who will drive anything anywhere, suggested I might want to rethink my adventure .  I am proud to report the engine light only came on once. The timing was right. I drove through sturdy farm country where for miles around there were only corn fields being harvested and small towns ever so often looking like they had seen better days.

Bernie reminded me why cornfields are therapeutic in the midst of chaos. With their neat rows and sameness, they bring order to the vast expanse of the countryside. They represent our “raging need for order” that, despite our best efforts, eludes us most of the time.

Trying not to lament the “over glorified” good old days, I thought and marveled at my own small journey to Wisconsin “writ large” to my larger life journey. Seeing Simon and his parents , Ross and Emma, awaiting me in the parking lot of the University of Wisconsin Student Union, my musing was abruptly stopped. It was time to embrace Simon and build a new generation of stories.