Grocer to the Lower Ninth

Hurricane Katrina formed as Tropical Depression Twelve over the southeastern Bahamas, ten years ago today. Five days later, shortly after Katrina was upgraded to a Category Five storm, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin ordered the first-ever mandatory evacuation of that city. He called Katrina "a storm that most of us have long feared." The devastation was unbelievable, in several regions, but especially in New Orleans. Some estimates say that 80% of New Orleans evacuated, and in the Ninth Ward, return has been slow. Until recently, there were no stores in the Lower Ninth, and with no place to shop for simple groceries, it was difficult to attract residents.

Meet Burnell Cotlon and his wife Keasha. They wanted to make a difference, and so using their life savings, and with the help of a GoFundMe campaign, they opened up a market last fall. It was an immediate hit! There was nowhere else to shop in the neighborhood, and many who life there don't have cars or enough money to pay taxi fare every time they need to buy basic items like milk, bread, or rice. The Coltons have filled a need and they aren't finished yet. They want to expand their store and fill it with just about anything their neighbors might need. They even ask for suggestions. Oh and they want to open a Laundromat too, since there is no place for people there to wash their clothing. They are hoping that the success of their business will cause others to want to return to an area that the rest of New Orleans seems to have forgotten.

When I first heard about these wonderful people I couldn't help but smile. It's always nice to see neighbors helping neighbors. It's great to see a business with a heart! That they keep wanting to do more is so encouraging too. It is costly to start such an endeavor though and so they have set up a new GoFundMe campaign, specifically so they can expand and bring in refrigerators for more food, as well as washers and dryers. You can help. Click HERE to go to that campaign and donate any amount. Let's all pitch in and help the "Grocer to the Lower Ninth," do even more!

A very real debt we can't ignore

Debt. Nobody likes it. It becomes particularly hard to get out of debt. We all need to live within our means. In this case, we need to live within the earth's means. Today is a commemoration, but not a day of joy and celebration. Today instead should be a day of action. Today is Earth Overshoot Day.

So what's it all mean? Well, each year our planet is only able to produce a certain amount of natural resources — trees, wetlands, lakes, and such. Today we go in debt to the Earth. Yes, today is the approximate time when our consumption for the year exceeds the earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources this year. Yikes! That to me sounds pretty scary! Of course we don't run out, because we borrow from what we don't even have yet, from our future generations.  Of course if we end up borrowing too much, then they end up with nothing!  The idea of course if to consume less so that we don't exceed what the earth is capable of producing, and also to replenish by helping out our planet and cleaning up our waterways and planting trees.

When scientists first started computing this, the overshoot date was in December, but the past few years it has been in August, and it gets a little earlier every year. The still is time to do something though. There still is time to get out of debt, but we have to want to. We have to get involved. Become more aware. A good place to start is the World Wildlife Fund: http://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/overshoot-day

 

This is a very real debt we can't ignore folks.  We need to do something today and I urge you to get others involved as well.  Talk to your family, friends, and coworkers.  Write to your government officials.  Help save the earth!

The Guitar Song

Bill Anderson III is a beloved songwriter, country music singer, and television personality. Some forty years ago I had the great pleasure of seeing him perform at the Grand Ole Opry back when I lived in Nashville, Tennessee. Anderson did a lot of game shows back then too. You may recall seeing him on Match Game or Password. Oh and he also appeared for several years on the daytime drama, One Life to Live. Well good old Bill Anderson just did something that was extra special.

It seems customer pawned a guitar a few months ago at Bell Road Pawn Shop in Phoenix and the pawn broker saw the name "Bill Anderson" etched inside the guitar's sound hole. Well he knew who Anderson is, after all, he's pretty famous. So he contacted Anderson's secretary and told her about the guitar. The guitar meant something to Anderson. It was old, but was his for may years as he was writing and singing those early hits. The pawn broker wanted him to have it too, so he simply gave it too him. How amazing in an age when greed seems to color so much of what folks do. Anderson was thrilled and flew the pawn broker and his wife to Nashville and then invited him to present the guitar on the sage of the Grand Ole Opry. For the pawn broker, it must have been the thrill of a lifetime!

One person did a good deed and another rewarded him for it. How wonderful! Of course just doing the deed can be reward enough. Seriously. What a good feeling it is to know you have done something so great for another person.

Of course Bill Anderson is already one of those special people we write about here. He's been making people happy for many years.  Oh and one more thing.  Anderson co-wrote "The Guitar Song," which he sang that night at the Opry and it's about a guitar that is gathering dust in a pawn shop!  Oh my!

You warm my heart

There have been so many heart-warming stories in the news lately, I am truly joyous! Just when you are ready to scream because of all the negativity, along comes some inspiring stories that remind you that there is a lot of good in our world. We need not give up or run out of hope. I know that it is hard, but try to see the complete picture.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show is such a great source for those "feel good" kinds of stories and I am thankful that this wonderful woman is such a giver. My local newscasts have been looking at the good side of things more and more, and I am really encouraged by that. Time was when gloom and doom was the mainstay for tv news programs. Oh and then there is Go Inspire Go. I know I have mentioned that many times here, but there is always something heartwarming from them. Check out their website at http://goinspirego.com/ and you can see on their homepage how you can also follow them on twitter and facebook.

The story I told you about country great Bill Anderson, and the news of Frank Gifford's passing and all the love in that family, and a local restaurant here in town that is helping a huge amount of people harmed by a devastating fire, all examples of things I have heard lately that have truly warmed my heart. What have you heard lately that has been heartwarming for you? Have you also noticed a lot of inspiring tales? Please share some of them with us in the comments section below!

Death of a Giant

Anyone's death is of course a sad occasion, but when we learned yesterday that Frank Gifford had passed away at the age of 84, a particular kind of sadness fell over me, because here was a man I had known about my entire life. He was an NFL superstar and then we went on to broadcasting where he also excelled, and he was a very public husband and father whom we frequently heard about from his wife. Yes there was a bit of a scandal or two, but it really wasn't our place to judge, because his family moved forward.

Everything I ever heard about Frank Gifford on the football field or in the broadcast booth, was positive. To say that what I heard about him from wife Kathie Lee or his two youngest children (he had three other children from his first marriage) Cody and Cassidy, was positive, would be the biggest understatement. People gushed with love for this man, and it seems that the feeling was mutual. Frank was also a big supporter of the Dana’s Angels Research Trust and other charities and helped create Cody Gifford House and Cassidy's Place, named for his children.

"How would you like to be remembered?" he was once asked, during an interview. His response: "First and foremost, as a good father. Who had a job to do and he did it well. A better husband this time than I was the other time. Somebody who cared passionately about playing the game, reporting it properly, kept my life in the right perspective. Never believed I was something I wasn't. And rarely believed I was what I was."

Seems like a great way for any of us to be remembered! With love to your family and friends who more, I want to say thanks for the memories Frank. Rest in peace.

Another mass shooting

It happened again last night: a mass shooting. During a showing of the comedy Trainwreck at a movie theater in Louisiana, a lone male gunman killed two people and wounded at least nine others, before turning the gun on himself. Just last week another man was convicted for the massacre during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, CO in July 2012.

 

I remember back in 1989 in Stockton, CA at the Cleveland Elementary School there, when a gunman killed five children and wounded 32 others including students and a teacher. He then killed himself. Mass shootings like that were uncommon back then. This one stands out in my mind because it was one of the first, and because my mom lived in that city at the time.

Since then there has been a very long list including the University of Iowa in 1991, the Luby's Cafeteria shootings in 1991 in Killeen, TX, and the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 where 15 died and 21 others were wounded. Every day we pick up the paper and see more accounts of hate crimes, school massacres, workplace killings, and other violent acts, including those who have died at the hands of police officers. To say that I am horrified and outraged, would be an understatement.

Nothing seems to happen.  I vividly remember the mass shooting that took place in July of 1993 in San Francisco's 101 California Street Building. I reported on it. Nine died and six were injured and scores of people were touched by fear and panic. People vowed that nothing like that would ever happen again, but of course that has not been the case. The Jack Berman Advocacy Center to lobby and organize with regard to gun control and violence reduction, was formed after this incident.  Berman was an attorney working in that building, and one of those killed.  Some laws were also passed as a result of the shooting, but they expired ten years later, through the operation of a sunset provision in the legislation.

This will be a major story in the news today, but sadly, it will likely disappear in a few weeks.  Why do people have to be killed?  Why can we not stop these mass shootings?  Now I won't pretend to have all the answers.  I do know that Americans are not stupid people.  There is a way to stop the killings.  I think it all begins with caring.  We need to get involved and stay involved until we see change.  We CAN change the world.  First though, we have to want to.

The speech of a lifetime

So much has been said already about Caitlyn Jenner, and sadly so much of it has been negative. I've even heard other members of the transgender community say things like “she is selfish and doesn't care about others.” Last night she was center stage at an awards show and to say she gave a powerful speech would be an understatement, and I've already heard people say that she changed their minds.

“If you want to call me names, make jokes, doubt my intentions, go ahead. I can take it,” she said last night in accepting her Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYS. “But for the thousands of kids coming to terms with who they are, they shouldn’t have to take it.” Caitlyn spoke after a video presentation that showed her life from her earliest days. through her Olympic victory and her decision to come out as transgender. Among the many interviewed in that documentary was her mother, who also accompanied her to the award show and who displayed the biggest supportive smile I have ever seen.

The audience in the theatre seemed to show respect, bursting into applause several times during Caitlyn's speech. World Cup champion Abby Wambach presented the award during last night's telecast which was closely watched to see the various sports awards, but also because so many had been talking about Caitlyn Jenner. I was watching and afterward closely monitoring comments in the media and on facebook and twitter. So many people have been supportive since then, and how wonderful is that?

I was the speech of a lifetime. “Trans people deserve something vital,” she said. “They deserve your respect. And from that respect, comes a more compassionate community, a more empathetic society and a better world for all of us.” Indeed. Talk about changing the world!  Thanks Caitlyn for your courage and for helping to change the world!