April is autism awareness month. As such, I would like to bring to your attention an incredible person, Temple Grandin. She is the USA Today 2025 recipient of the Colorado Woman of the Year Award. She is also autistic. Autism and the award might seem an unlikely pairing, but they are not. For decades, Temple…
Life is full of stigmas. They are everywhere, and most of them are untrue. Short, cute, blonde does not equal cheerleader. Cheerleader does not equal unintelligent. Depression does not equal crazy. A behavioral health center is not an insane asylum. Stigmas are labels of judgment that have no merit. I have a friend who suffers…
Ask any child, and they’ll happily reveal who their hero is. Not surprising are the superpowers possessed and capes worn by childhood heroes. To a child, a hero is someone almost other-worldly. The notion that someone worth looking up to can be a regular person is a foreign concept to children. When a sliver of…
How many times have you said or heard, “Things aren’t like they used to be” or “My how times have changed?” These are common sentiments that aren’t untrue. Life has and will continue to change, but certain principles would serve society well if we maintained them. Young George Washington had the right idea when he…
Years ago, a friend gave me a card that read, “I am fairly certain that given a cape and a nice tiara, I could save the world.” With or without princess attire, I’ve never had illusions of saving the world, but damn, if I don’t try to make the world a better place through acts…
Tone of voice is to words what a visual impression is to sight. It’s an underestimated aspect of communication. Whether written or spoken, tone of voice reveals itself. A message can take on a very different meaning depending on the tone of the delivery. Emotions are conveyed, and moods are influenced by how something is…
On Thursday, as you sit around the dinner table and dish up more food than your appetite calls for, think about applying that mentality another way. Go heavy on the gravy for the day and heavier on the gratitude every day. Thanksgiving is a sentimental holiday that reinforces the idea of gratitude, but gratitude is…
This week, I’m going to share the words of others in a short Pink Elephants playlist: Pink Elephants Playlist Everyone can benefit from the words of some very talented musicians. Please know that the songs selected do not reflect the political views or opinions of the musicians themselves. I have no idea how they cast their…
The Junior-Senior T.P. Wars are a part of the Homecoming traditions at my daughter’s high school. Every evening during homecoming week, the 11th and 12th graders hit many of the opposing classmate’s houses. Hundreds of toilet paper rolls are tossed into trees, wrapped around plants and furniture, torn into tiny bits, and strewn across the…
Tomorrow marks a day in American history that no American will ever forget. Most people cannot recall what they ate for breakfast, but on 9/11, no one can erase the details of that day. Where you were, what you were doing, even what you wore is probably on total recall. For some, there is no…