Being There
<p>Friends and co-workers know me for a white-knuckle flier. Like Erica Jong’s character in <em>Fear of Flying</em>, I’m convinced the only thing...
View ArticleTaking charge
<p>“Actually, Papa, <em><strong>I’m</strong></em> in charge,” declared my four-year-old niece this summer to her grandfather. He...
View ArticleThe gift of privacy ... or, I've Got a Secret
<p>Following a presentation to a Rotary Club several years ago, I was thrilled to be approached quietly by a club member who informed me that he was going to start a scholarship fund for the...
View ArticleGuilt by comparison
<p><strong>“… more than seven in 10 women (71 percent) say they feel badly they can’t give more to charity this year, compared to 51 percent of...
View ArticleSpring cleaning
<p>So I’ve been doing a bit of spring cleaning in my office . . . and I can already hear the whoops of laughter from my co-workers as I write this. </p>...
View ArticleThe gratitude resolution
<p>Many years ago a famous comedian was a guest on a late-evening talk show. He opined to the host that Christmas was a useless holiday, “as it is only a once-a-year effort...
View ArticleStart Me Up!
<p>Yes, yes, it’s my favorite Rolling Stones song. Something about those first three chords has always been like a good jolt of caffeine to me. Electric and inspirational...
View ArticleWe dare you
<p>I shouldn’t admit this, but I can’t resist a dare. Accordingly, I have eaten my share of dubious “delicacies,” scaled vertigo-inducing trees and roofs,...
View ArticleThoughts from a Casual Gardener
<p><em>“If thou of fortune be bereft, </em><br /><em> and in thy store there be but left</em><br /><em> two loaves, sell one, and...
View ArticleMighty oaks
<p>I live in a wonderful neighborhood of ancient live oaks. Just the sight of these venerable trees dripping with Spanish moss brings me a sense of calm and peace. </p>...
View ArticleDriving philanthropy
<p>An auto manufacturer once donated five new vehicles to an impoverished school in Ghana. Three years later, the vehicles were discovered rusting from disuse in the school driveway. What...
View ArticleLong-playing philanthropy
<p>Baby boomers across America had a love affair with the “LP,” or long-playing record. Whether you were a rock, country, jazz or classical music lover, stacks of LPs and the...
View ArticleGuilt by comparison
“… more than seven in 10 women (71 percent) say they feel badly they can’t give more to charity this year, compared to 51 percent of men.” -- American Red Cross Holiday Giving Poll, October 2011 Each...
View ArticleSpring cleaning
So I’ve been doing a bit of spring cleaning in my office . . . and I can already hear the whoops of laughter from my co-workers as I write this. “Spring cleaning?! Is THAT what you call it? That...
View ArticleThe gratitude resolution
Many years ago a famous comedian was a guest on a late-evening talk show. He opined to the host that Christmas was a useless holiday, “as it is only a once-a-year effort at being cheerful.” The...
View ArticleStart Me Up!
Yes, yes, it’s my favorite Rolling Stones song. Something about those first three chords has always been like a good jolt of caffeine to me. Electric and inspirational – the riff that gets the party...
View ArticleMary Poppins and the Chairman's Challenge
In the classic Disney movie “Mary Poppins,” young Michael Banks is presented with a tough decision: whether to invest his tuppence wisely in the bank, or to use that same tuppence to feed the birds....
View Article20 at 2020
No. NOPE. No way it’s been twenty years, and besides, who’s counting 2020, anyway?! But okay, it WAS August of 2000 when I first arrived at the North Carolina Community Foundation’s office in downtown...
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