Category Archives: Awesome People

Sally Ride as a Role Model…..

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I was sadden to see the news that Sally Ride died of cancer at only at 61. Although she was the first American female astronaut, a number of women in aviation should have had that honor before her. That, however, was a matter of timing, and from what I understand, she knew that. The love and exploration of space and sharing that excitement was far more important to her than an entry in the history books. I don’t know how many girls and young women she inspired (or boys and young men), but I hope it was hundreds and perhaps thousands.

I’ve written in this blog before about the empowerment of teaching children about science and math and the wonder of space is one of those vehicles we can use. Notwithstanding children who are born with learning challenges, a child’s science and math ability is not determined by family background or their parents’ lack of science and math skills. One of the greatest boosts to give a child is not to make math and science scary. Encourage these skills through whatever means you can and don’t be reluctant to admit that you may not understand it, but that doesn’t mean he or she can’t. And no, not all children have an aptitude, but far more do than pursue math and science because when they first have difficulty with either subject, people have a tendency to say. “Oh, don’t worry about it.” That may be the correct answer, but before giving up on math or science, see if you can find someone to help. Technology has done wonderful things for our standard of living and allowed us to do incredible things like space exploration. Allow kids as often as possible to look at science and math as fun and excitement rather than something to worry about.

Food as a Career….

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Cook at a popular local BBQ restaurant.

In the last post I wrote about lawn care and landscaping as a good example of how someone could start with virtually nothing and move up through a series of steps to build a substantial business. Another example is a career in food preparation and the culinary world. It too, is a hard business with a lot of competition, yet again, a field where the entry level can lead to great things or you can find a comfortable spot in between.

I’ve done a number of restaurant stories for the local weekly paper, with a view to the story of how the restaurant started rather than simply as a review of the food and atmosphere. In addition, I recently became aware of a local adult education program that is really quite comprehensive. It is made even more so because the woman who is in charge of the program understands that in the food world, your background matters far less than your passion and willingness to work hard. And hard work it is. There’s no question about that. And yet, if you talk to a lot of people who own or manage restaurants, see how many of them started out bussing tables and washing dishes.

Even the celebrity chefs who have cooking shows, books, go on tour – yes, they got some incredible breaks along the way, but a number of them did not attend a prestigious culinary school initially. And many of them who own restaurants keep an eye open for employees who show the desire to move up within the culinary world. They often take employees who start out in an entry level, see the promise of a chef-to-be, and either mentor the individual or provide other training.

The big chain restaurants and even a lot of fast food chains usually have management trainees programs for employees that demonstrate interest and work ethic.  And while flipping burgers in a fast food place may not be glamourous, it can definitely be a building block. Aside from restaurants, there are the tens of thousands of “cafeteria ladies”, people who work in food preparation for schools, hospitals, and other institutions. The point of the adult education program that I am talking about is that food preparation and culinary arts can be an entry level career when you are starting out, or as a later career. It is something to consider if you are, or someone who know, is  at a crossroads.

 

A Local Adult Education Center runs a Food Preparation and Culinary Arts Program where students learn not only about food, but also how to set up and manage a restaurant.

 

 

A Story of Faith, Talent, and Hard Work…..

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No, I don’t mean faith as in a specific religion, but rather faith in the concept of hard work combined with talent. In this particular case, it is gymnastic ability. We have a  young man here who made the U.S. Olympic team over the weekend after having progressed through winning medals in a number of different national and world-wide competitions. It is breathtaking to watch him on the rings, the bars, and even his floor routines are strong, but it is the backstory that is especially intriguing. I haven’t asked permission to use the names in the post, so I’ll simply tell the story.

The young man’s mother and stepfather, both nationally rated gymnasts, fled Cuba when the child was very young. They were not people of means and came here seeking what so many others do – a dream. They worked at building a new life, the stepfather taking jobs in a car wash and in fitness centers, always with the fervent hope of owning his own training gym someday. Not surprisingly, the child did show talent that they carefully nutured. The couple managed to scrape together the funds to open a gym as they wanted and made their goal quite simple. They would provide instruction and the opportunity for youngsters to reach for national and world championships, for the Olympics. When you find this tucked away studio, it doesn’t compare to a powerhouse university, but hanging against the back wall is a huge banner depicting the Olympic rings; a goal that every single student is told is attainable. Not every student has the talent of course, nor is every student willing to put in the hours and hours of work required to hone their skills to that level. Many of the students, however, have won regional awards, and others have taken national prizes. And now, it has happened, one of their own will travel to London to compete on the U.S. Olympic team.

When the weekly paper that I write for was told of the story by a parent whose child trains at the studio, I had the pleasure of going to speak with the young man and the stepfather immediately prior to a major competition that was a stepping stone to the Olympic trials. In the course of the interview, the stepfather smiling dismissed the people who told him his dreams of creating Olympic champions was foolish. Heart, faith, hard work, and a good teacher was his formula; a formula that he offers to each student that comes through his door.

I don’t know how the young man will fare at the Games, but I wish him well. Even if he doesn’t bring home a medal, he has already attained a goal that only a small percentage of athletes ever do.

 

Monkeys Amid the Foliage……

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Monkey Jungle, near Homestead, FL, is approaching their 80th year as both a habitat for primates and a tourist attraction.

Many of us have a habit of not always checking out the sights in our own backyard so to speak, and my plan for all those “day trips” in tourist attraction-heavy Florida became bogged down in everyday activites. Certainly I scoot out to dive when I can and we have made it around to a number of places. Some we save for when we have visitors, but others are still on the “get around to it” list. Monkey Jungle is one of those places and when I dashed out the other day to do a interview, I returned home and told my husband that we really needed to go back.

It is a fascinating story that began in the 1920s when an artist in New York, Jospeh DuMond, decided to follow his dream of studying primates. He packed his family into a Model-T and in the latter part of the 1920s, the Redlands of South Florida was far removed from New York by more than geography. It really did resemble a jungle and Joe’s idea was that the climate was conducive to monkeys establishing a territory for themselves. He started with 6 Java monkeys and as he predicted, they quickly made themselves at home in the lush foliage. He wanted to expand his work, but money was hard to come by in the middle of the Depression. He started giving tours and while that brought in money, the monkeys didn’t like the intrusion. DuMond hit on the idea of screened-in walkways for the visitors, giving rise to the tagline of, “Monkey Jungle – Where Humans are Caged and Monkeys Run Wild”. The pitch worked and he was able to expand to 30 acres; his son later collaborating to create an Amazon Rainforest. There are 400 primates today of more than 30 species, to include a project helping restore the population of Golden Lion Tamarins.

The grandaughter, Sharon, is the third generation and although her brother is also involved, she is the very hands-on person. She was delightful to interview and it is an intriguing place. Most leading primatologists have studied at or visited this uncaged habitat. As Sharon said, they strive to educate through entertainment and they have a variety of programs to interest all ages. Their website is http://www.monkeyjungle.com

 

A Charming Slice of History……

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Cauley Square is an enclave of historic homes converted into shops and restaurants on Highway 1 S (S. Dixie Highway) between Miami and Homesetad, FL

As part of my freelance career, I usually do one or two articles for our weekly local newspaper with my focus on human interest and restaurant reviews. Those two aren’t actually as dissimilar as they may seem because what I look for is the story behind the restaurant with the food in a supporting role. Although the town and surrounding area has grown considerably in the past ten years (caught in the housing bubble burst, but grown nonetheless), there are still small-town elements that are appealing to we non-city dwellers. With that said, the town is coming up on our centennial celebration (if I have any readers from places like Williamsburg, Philadelphia and Boston, you can quit snickering now), and so I’ve been out gathering stories from residents about families and places of historical interest. Again, for those of us who have strolled the streets of Paris, London, Rome, etc., a hundred years of history is a blink of an eye, but it is a fun project for me.

The other day I was sent to Cauley Square, a charming enclave of shops and restaurants set within ten acres of beautifully landscaped grounds. It’s origins began in 1903 with a railroad siding where a wealthy farmer (William Cauley) literally created a village to support shipping operations for his produce. According to the stories, it wasn’t charming back then and a series of events caused it to fall into decline until the county planned to demolish it. Mary Anne Ballard, a woman who had built her own Interior Design business, and was an advocate for the arts and history, stepped in and purchased the property. In addition to saving the original two-story stone building, she had the idea of gathering a number of the wooden houses that had been hand-built by early families and converting those into shops and a restaurant.

She did that with great success and worked to get Cauley Square declared as a Historical Site. After her death, however, financial problems loomed, and now comes a delightful development. Frances Varela, a woman who came from Honduras 42 years ago, spent her life in construction. She grew to love the area so much that she decided to buy all of Cauley Square and spent ten years making it even better than it was. There are 25 structures, mostly these old houses that are now shops, with two restaurants and a pleasant outdoor Latin Cafe. Frances made certain that the sidewalks were wide enough for wheelchairs and it is truly a lovely place to meander. I take visitors there all the time and I loved hearing how two women from completely different backgrounds were the ones who created and have kept the place going.

Cauley Square is on Highway 1 (South Dixie Highway), en route to Homestead and the Florida Keys. That’s Cauley Square at 22400 Old Dixie Highway, Tel: (305) 258-3543; www.cauleysquare.com

Searching for Women Veterans…….

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One of many exhibits at the Women in Military Service of America Memorial

I make no secret that I think the U.S. military is a great opportunity to empower women, be it for a career or a single term of service, notwithstanding the continuing state of hostilities around the globe. That, however, is not the actual point of this post. I was not personally present, but an individual that I trust was in a meeting in the early fall of 1990 when the U.S. was working to establish the coalition that would take offensive action to recover Kuwait from the Iraqi occupation. In the course of discussing the size and composition of the U.S. Army forces that would be brought from Germany, allegedly the question was posed as to if it would be possible to have all male forces in deference to the Arab culture. The immediate response by a very high ranking officer was along the lines of, “No, women are too intergal a part of the Army to even consider that.” That declaration was accepted and the discussion continued.

For the record, that same country later contributed to help establish the Women in the Military Service of America Memorial that is on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetary. It is a lovely building with a wonderful chronology of women in the military and is a place that I highly recommend you visit when you are in Washington, D.C. One of the important aspects of the museum is their database of women who have served, or are serving in the military, but a lot of women don’t know about this. That is especially true for those women who may have served in WW II or Korea. You might also be surprised if you check into your own family history to discover female relatives who served in different capacities, and who are eligible to be entered into the database. I used a vignette from a dear friend about one of her relatives to develop a scene in my novel Irises to Ashes that dealt with women who were trained as pilots to ferry aircraft overseas in a non-combat role. While the scene was fictional, that historical aspect was accurate.

You can check into the museum through their web site of http://www.womensmemorial.org/, and please do consider adding the museum to your next trip. If you live in the Washington, D.C./Northern VA area and haven’t been, be sure to put it on your list.

Crippled Legs, Not Spirit……

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As a stringer for our local weekly paper, I have agreed to a fairly narrow focus and human interest pieces are right up my alley. I was called on to cover a guest speaker at the Rotary Club and that was another of those occasions when I was so touched by the strength of the human spirit that I was grateful to be capturing the story. In this case, it was Nichole Rider, a woman who at age 22, was a trim, athletic college student and basketball team member who had been raised in Wyoming with a love of sports and outdoor activities. She had only a few seconds warning before the automobile accident that broke her neck and damaged her spinal cord plunged her into unconsciousness. When she finally awoke, unable to move, her parents and twin sister had spent sleepless hours not knowing if she would live.

The prognosis was grim – little more than a five percent chance that she would gain movement below her shoulders. In the months that followed, Nichole endured extraordinary pain as she battled the odds, determined to regain as much of her body as she could. The nerve damage that affected her hands was too severe to allow her to play wheelchair basketball, but wheelchair rugby was another matter. Adaptive skiing – sure, she did that, too. Although she spent many hours on the local lakes in Wyoming both growing up and after her accident, it was a trip to Miami where she became involved with Shake-a-Leg, Miami, and fell in love with sailing thanks to adaptive seating and special rigs. Nichole has not only participated  in more than a dozen competitive regattas since then, but also developed sailing and kayaking clinics that she teaches. She is engaged in numerous other activites and supports causes that are too many to list here, but her inspirational story can be accessed at a shared web site of http://www.cleverpig.org/NicholeRider/

Her slide presentations are sprinkled with messages such as, “Say Yes to Life,” and when you watch her deftly manuever her wheelchair (that’s after she’s driven herself in her adapted van), you can’t help but admire her. Nichole is headed back West for a few weeks and then plans to relocate to South Florida where she has a much longer boating season.

 

Considering a Community Support Agriculture Arrangement…..

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Sample of produce from Teena's Pride CSA

I’ve posted before about the richness of agriculture in this area and a couple of weeks ago I attended a luncheon to honor a woman who is one of the local pioneers in community support agriculture (CSA). She did not come from a farming family, but married into one. Tragically, her husband died young and she was left with two toddler sons and 500 acres that she had not remotely considered running. She was determined, however, to try her best and what she accomplished was pretty incredible. One of the things she did was develop a line of miniature vegetables and later expanded into Community Support Agriculture, an effort that her youngest son now operates as she has moved more into an advocacy role. Her passion is genuine and she provided the gorgeous heirloom tomatoes for the luncheon. We have a few Farmers’ Markets around and fruit and vegetable stands dot the roadsides, but I really wasn’t knowledgable about CSA.

I confess that my vegetable likes are significantly more limited than my husband’s and I am not certain that we would be able to consume the quantity of vegetables that come with the weekly box. If, like me, you are not familiar with a CSA, you buy a certain size “share” from the CSA, then receive an assortment of what they grow each week for the duration of the growing season. In some cases they deliver to individual homes, although in this case, you can either pick up from them or from a designated grocer. The farm is not too far from where we live, so that is what we will do if we decide to give it a try. The other thing is that if we don’t need a pick-up for a particular week, they will contribute our portion to Farm Share, and we appreciate the work that they do.

I’m leaning in this direction, so if any of you have tried this, please do let me know about your experience.

 

Healing Horse Therapy……

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Good Hope Equestrian Training Center near Homestead, FL provides therapy for spcial needs adults, children, and wounded veterans

Whether you use the proper term of equestrian therapy or the casual term of “horse”, this is another of those alternative programs that does not always, but can have healing, or at least greatly beneficial theraputic results depending on the individual. I previously posted  about the amazing Island Dolphin Care therapy program and a couple of weeks ago I went to the Good Hope Equestrain Training Center to speak with two wonderful women who are working to spread the word about the programs they conduct. Like many organizations, these programs have seen a reduction in funding levels and they are planning two fund raisers; a Family Day and concert March 31, 2012 from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m., and a golf tournament on April 14, 2012 with registration beginning at 11:00 a.m.

I met with Peggy Bass, the Executive Director, and Betty Quinn, a woman who helps find employment for special needs adults, the day that I was at the Good Hope Center. Their commitment and compassion were palpable and I was amazed at the variety of programs they offered for special needs children, adults, and wounded veterans. I haven’t been on a horse since I was a kid visiting my grandfather’s farm, but I did used to take Dustin to riding lessons. Peggy, who has personally developed several of the programs, explained the mechanics of some of the therapies and Betty talked about the positive impact she has seen in participants and family members.

They took me for a stroll where the 12 specially trained horses are stabled and I watched the excited interaction with a class of adults who were helping groom two of the horses. There was no mistaking the delight on the faces of the group or the patience of the staff members. It was a rewarding afternoon and if you are in a situation where a special needs child, adult, or wounded veteran requires therapy, perhaps there is an equestrian center near you that you may not be aware of.

 

History of Diving Museum…..

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History of Diving Museum, Islamorada, FL

As I mentioned in my last post, the continuing wind during our company’s visit kept us out of the water. We did go down to Key Largo for lunch at Mrs. Mac’s Kitchen, then over to look at the Wyland Wall, and in to buy snorkel gear for their upcoming trip to St John. We had plenty of time and so headed to the History of Diving Museum in Islamorada. I first visited the museum when researching Islands in the Sand: A History of Artificial Reefs in the USA. The museum had only recently opened and it has been a pleasure to watch the growth.

You can read more about the background of the museum at their website of http://www.divingmuseum.org but in essence, Drs. Joe and Sally Bauer of Ohio balanced their medical careers with passion for marine biology, SCUBA diving, and the history of diving. They began collecting dive helmets and other historic equipment, books, etc., and were interested in the evolution of diving from its earliest concept. Their research took them around the world and they became well-known for the depth and precision of their research, pulling together stories that had been almost lost to time. Their collections and reputations grew internationally and they finally decided to bring all of this together in a “retirement” to South Florida. In truth, it was not remotely a retirement, but rather a new career now dedicated to bringing to public view 4,000 years of man’s efforts to exist within the ocean realm.  It was an wonderful endeavor and the museum was opened in 2006 (I think). Sadly, Dr. Joseph Bauer passed away unexpectedly in 2007. His wife, Dr. Sally Bauer, coped with her grief, carried on the dream, and has crafted the museum with its unique collections into  a place where everyone who dives or has any interest in marine/maritime history should visit.

We are members of the museum and take friends and relatives whenever the opportunity presents, as well as attend numerous events throughout the year. The thing that strikes most people is to see the many (and sometimes truly strange) ways in which man attempted to achieve the ability to exist underwater. Most people don’t realize the connections that date back hundreds and even thousands of years. The museum, which also has a lovely exterior mural, has aspects that children also enjoy. It is not a large museum, and no, there aren’t any spectacular shark skeletons, but it is a place where almost everyone learns something new.