Not Just Another Day

It's great to see that St. Vincent's College in Pittsburgh has established The Fred M. Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media. Also in the works from Hyperion is The World According to Mr. Rogers: Important Things to Remember. Just as Fred emphasized that each person is unique, so is each day.

Today is my now
It is special
Today is my now
It is special to me
Only this day is just like it
Like this day now, I like it

In the daytime
In the nighttime
Anytime that you feel's the right time
The moment is now, you see
It means the world to me, special
Today is my now
It is special to me
There's only today in this wonderful now
It is special

(adapted from You Are Special)

If you want some instant perspective on the value of a good day, or even a few good minutes, take a look at Dan's Cancer Weblog. I visited Dan yesterday afternoon. He was having a pretty good half hour in a pretty good afternoon on a pretty good day -- all of which you appreciate when you've had a day when you couldn't eat anything and even sitting up in bed felt like climbing a mountain.

Confidential to Dan: You've got a lot of people sending good vibes your way---your associates at the Eccles Broadcast Center, your freinds, fans, and family---we're so proud of you. We rejoice in your progress. We admire your strength and attitude. We hope you can feel this energy, this spirit, this encouragment during the tough days. We're praying for you, buddy.

After Work Ride

Emergent Leadership

"From Shakespeare's Henry V to Winston Churchill, the world is full of people who were assumed to have no leadership qualities, yet at the right time turned in spectacular performances. The opposite can also be true."
--Harold Hodgkinson, demographer

Smiles and Tears for Two Joes

Such a happy and sad day. The great news: It's our son's 24th birthday. Congrats, Joe! The sad news: I learned of the death of my friend and colleague Joe Campbell. He passed away yesterday. Both are such great guys. Both have had such an impact for good in so many lives.

Campbell's helped Utah education numerous ways. Here are just a few of the projects Joe helped improve and made more visible to Utah educators.

• C-Forum
  
• Weather Report
  
• Seven Questions for Every Citizen

Before the Bobsled

Survived my descent down Salt Lake's famed Bobsled mountain bike trail Friday night. On the way up City Creek Canyon I got this shot of the University of Utah. Looks like a pretty nice place to work, doesn't it?

Reconnecting with Winners

One of this morning's e-mails was titled "RTNDF - Reconnect with a Winner." It began, "Recently we sent a packet to all scholarship and fellowship winners to find out about your recent activities and to find out where your path has taken you since you were selected an RTNDF winner."

I immediately thought of my long-time mentor Barney Oldfield, former treasurer of the Radio and Television News Director's Foundation.

We didn't get the annual Oldfield Christmas Card this year, but I knew he'd established an incredible website a few years ago so I googled it and there was the news: Barney Oldfield, age 93, died on April 29, 2003 at Cedars-Sinia Medical Center. Here's what the AP wrote:

"Barney Oldfield, a retired Air Force colonel who was a publicist and press agent for stars such as Errol Flynn, Elizabeth Taylor and Ronald Reagan during their Hollywood years, died Saturday in Los Angeles, a friend said."

Barney and his wife Vada had no children, but cared enough about future generations to set up more than 100 scholarships including the one I received. How did a retired military man have the means to establish millions of dollars of scholarships?

In his words, "For those who have never given scholarship establishment serious thought, thinking it beyond their grasp and resources, let nothing deter you. By using the cumulative method and taking one's time, it's relatively easy to do; and there's hardly anything equal to it in satisfaction when it materializes and becomes operational."

That's true. Barney's example and counsel were instrumental a dozen years ago when I served as executor of a friend's estate. With a single legal document we put a long-term plan in place. It took about a decade to accumulate, but now interest from his gift enables the Hanna Boys Center in Sonoma, California to award the Richard K. Gaskins memorial scholarship each year.

Thanks, Barney. Without you I might not have chosen my first career as a journalist. I definitely wouldn't have had that four year RTNDF scholarship to the University of Utah, and I certainly wouldn't have thought it possible to help endow a scholarship.

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