Category Archive: People

Real BFF’s: Judith Wright & Me (and a Book Giveaway)

Judith Wright An old friend from high school. We’re both a long way from the self-consciously confident students we once were, “Judy” and I still keep in touch.

Judy Sewell, a bookish student involved in publication, orchestra, marching band, and student council, says she was a plain chubby girl searching for something, unaware what she was missing and unable to identify her dreams.  The year Judy graduated from high school, at least one high school teacher, Bonita Ansbaugh, knew that Judy stood head and shoulders above her peers and recognized her for outstanding achievement in publication.  Perhaps this small vote of confidence helped Judy have the self-assurance to put effort into identifying and pursuing her dreams.  On September 20, 2008, Swartz Creek High School honored Judith Wright (Judy) with the Outstanding Alumni Award.

Judith Wright is a recognized and sought after personal coach and self-help expert. She appeared on over 50 television programs including

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Gloria Feldt: No Excuses from this Gal

Photo by Maryanne Russell

Gloria Feldt’s most recent book, No Excuses, haunts me.  It is beautifully crafted and written.  Her call to political action is compelling.  After all, as Stephanie McNulty points out in The Philadelphia Inquirer,

women are finally gaining a foothold on political power through the Americas-except in one nation…the United States.

Ms. Feldt, Gloria, wants to change that.   I had an opportunity to sit down and listen to her vision, and her call to live a life with intention.

Gloria learned at an early age what it felt like to be an outsider.  The only Jewish family in small-town Texas, she also learned a respect for

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Ranier Andres: One Lucky Guy

cuba

“Last year, we sent sheets to Cuba.  My wife’s grandmother had surgery, and the hospital had no sheets.”  Rainier Andres  (Ray) is an American citizen who came to these United States with his mother.  He has no brothers or sisters and his father is still in Cuba.   Ray reminds me of a documentary I saw last Fourth of July:  “Citizen U.S.A.:  A 50 State Road Trip,” by Alexandra Pelosi.  These new citizens brought tears to my eyes.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCjsw9zwAgg

Ray was a teenager when he came to America, he was too naïve, or perhaps too filled with machismo to understand the dangers.   Ray considered

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Amy Ferris: A New Friend

Amy Ferris, Truthsayer and Author

“A penny for your thoughts.”   What if we donated a penny for each Tweet or Facebook post we put out there?  Let’s ask people for a penny in exchange for their thoughts on a topic; politics, the Gulf oil spill, Afghanistan.  Think of the money we could raise.  Just think of the good you could do.  We could provide books to every child.  We could feed the hungry.  Amy Ferris leaves

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