Diamonds from New York’s East Harlem

Jody Hart, a retired teacher from Utah, handed the aged book to me. “You are going to identify with Leonard Covello.” I took her word for it as well as the book, The Heart is the Teacher, written by none other than Leonard Covello, copyright 1958. Later that day, I…

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Mary Jane Butters: Teaching Organic Farming

Mary Jane Butters is teaching the next generation of farmerettes and young cultivators how to embrace the land and survive. She runs an 80 acre spread in Moscow, Idaho that provides a line of packaged organic foods that she sells online. On this plot of dirt, she also customizes a…

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Gentle On My Mind: Glenn Campbell and Alzheimer’s Disease

A poignant concert at the Rialto Theatre in Joliet, Illinois on January 24, 2012. The “good-bye tour” of country singer Glenn Campbell as he runs out of time in his battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. The show is not about perfection, because Glenn at times stumbles over the lyrics and needs…

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Caped Crusader: Reaching Out to Troubled Youth

The swishing sounds of a full-length cape signal that Addie Mix has arrived. As usual, it’s half an hour before the school’s starting time. The coffee drinking staff already gathered in the faculty lounge to wonder which elegant outfit that the fourth grade teacher predictably wears under the cape. Soon…

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