Blog
Author Vince Flynn Teed It Up for the Troops
9/12/17 Vince Flynn never served in the military but he had great respect for those who did. When his own dream of serving as a Marine pilot was thwarted by a history of concussions, he found a different way to serve. He used his platform as an internationally acclaimed author to shine a light on…
Read MoreThe Intriguing Legacies of Vince Flynn
9/10/17 This story appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Vince Flynn was a man with a big personality, a big heart, and a big following. Beginning in the mid-1990s, he created a body of work featuring a counterterrorism agent named Mitch Rapp and plot lines so plausible he captured the interest of readers and…
Read MoreStarkey Hearing Foundation: Connecting Hearts With Hearing Aids
8/13/17 This story appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. On a Sunday afternoon in July, it happened again. Limousines swept into St. Paul and dropped a parade of celebrities off on the red carpet at the St. Paul RiverCentre. It was the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s annual gala, and gawkers and media were snatching glimpses…
Read MoreLisa Bobyak: Living Fully Balanced
7/31/17 Lisa Bobyak wasn’t oblivious to the festering problems in the marriage that spanned two decades. When her husband said they needed to talk, she was prepared to seek help, to bridge the ravine, and to begin anew. She was resolved to enter marriage counseling when reality shattered illusion. The man she thought she knew had…
Read MoreSimon Says Gives and Famous Footwear: Working Together to Repurpose School Supplies
5/25/17 As the school year winds down students are scurrying to clear out desks and lockers. I can picture the books, papers, pens, and highlighters, crammed for months into small spaces, quickly removed in the scramble to leave the school year behind. I remember all those dollars spent on the must have items: the expensive…
Read MoreDear Daughter: Pack Your Roadmap to Resilience
Five years ago my daughter graduated from the all-girls’ high school where she learned more than how to ace exams. She competed for honors with girls who were laser-focused on college. She skated her heart out to make the varsity team before accepting it was beyond her reach. She learned about negotiation and conflict resolution…
Read MoreLife Lessons from Sergio
4/10/17 When he sunk his last putt late Sunday, Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia achieved a personal and professional goal he’d chased through 70 tournaments. His is a familiar story – always the bridesmaid, never the bride. But with his fiance by his side, Sergio changed his story by earning the coveted green jacket. As a latecomer to the game of…
Read MoreAutism: Building Understanding and Helping Families Navigate
April is known as Autism Awareness Month. As the parent of an adult son with autism and a member of the board of Fraser, Minnesota’s oldest and most comprehensive provider of services for individuals with special needs, I took the opportunity to shine a light on a complicated condition and the challenges individuals, families, and providers…
Read MoreAligning Life and Legacy
3/31/17 We’re barely three months into a new year but the losses are accumulating at an unsettling rate. And I’m not talking about the Final Four. Since January more than a handful of people I care about – my family included – have lost loved ones, several to the pernicious disease known as dementia or Alzheimer’s.…
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