Greater Milwaukee Men

I have been saving this one for a slow period. June will kick up in he next two weeks with the official weeks of Great Outdoors Month and Men's Health Month, but the first week here is light on men's activities. We all know that Mr. Rogers was a 'good neighbor' on his show - showing kids how to live well - but an article on Fred Rogers lists  15 reasons he was good  off-camera as well. All of them are examples of him being Compassionate, Decisive, Enterprising, and Sincere. Esquire also did an article on him which is currently posted  here . In addition to being just an all around good guy - tolerant, color-blind literally and figuratively - he was also a perfectionist about his show and even his health. Twice he spoke to congress , once about about public television and also about the ability to record on the VCR, both times turning around the plans with just his words. Personally, being on the quieter side myself, I learned a big lesson from Mr. Rogers - that y...

This week a teacher I had in High School - over twenty years ago in Cedarburg, WI- passed away. Michael Trost was one of the really great ones. Though I did not stay in touch since leaving school, I never forgot him.  One of the classes I took with him was Early English Lit and studying works from Shakespeare back to Beowulf opened me up to language beyond the standard fantasy novels I had been reading. He made learning fun and easy - I will never forget Henry's wives fates: Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived. In a time of my life when I pushed the envelope socially and stylistically, and I am sure many teachers though I was an odd duck, I never felt anything but respect from him. He even insisted we call him 'Mike', placing us more on equal levels. Thankfully, Facebook allowed me to reconnect with him now when literature and language has become one of the important pieces of my life as I work towards a novel. If FB did anything good for me - besides ...

Apple stores have developed a great program to get iPads to teachers. Guys and gadgets, they go together well. The problem is, as we fuel our need for new gadgets, our old ones have to go somewhere.  This can add up quickly to the landfill issue, and it is even worse as many electronics have toxic elements - especially the batteries. Luckily there are programs to recycle or turn in those old electronics for proper disposal or even reuse - the EPA has a list of ways to do this. Well, Apple now has a program where you can turn in your old iPad (most likely due to you getting a new iPad - but maybe a Droid or other OS tablet) at their Apple Stores and they will donate it to Teach For America for us in classrooms where they are increasing as study aids . Now, isn't that a great excuse to upgrade? "But honey, I have to give my old iPad to teachers - you know - to teach kids."