As we complete the second full month of the Barefoot School in Cité Soleil, Haiti, our staff administers tests – midterms, if you will – to the hundreds of students who comprise our student body. The original 100 children we planned to serve has swelled to as many as 300 and we keep our doors …
Author Archives: tVM
Sportsmanship
Sportsmanship – fair and generous behavior and treatment of others – has been as important an aspect of my participation in athletic competition as an athlete and as a spectator as any other aspect of the game. In fact, good sportsmanship supersedes every other feature of the game in any sport and at any level. …
Love of Country
Fifty-one years ago – nearly to the day – I read Leon Uris’s novel of Berlin in the aftermath of WWII, Armageddon. I still retain that first edition though the dustcover no longer exists. I read the book over a weekend in the spring of my senior year at the United States Air Force Academy. …
I Hate When…
I first shared this video five years ago when I was somewhat active on social media. Far less active today, the video popped up as a ‘memory’ yesterday. I was compelled to share it again. In recent weeks, Mrs. tVM reports that grocery shelves are not stocked as we have become used to seeing them …
True, Good and Useful
This post first appeared a decade ago, in March 2012. Since then – from my perspective – things have only gotten worse. Forty years ago, I habitually read The New York Times from cover to cover. I trusted the writers who were committed to writing the truth and to attributing their facts to sources. Today, …
Let’s Talk Prostate
I am willing to share this personal story because I know there are people who can benefit from it, people just like me who tend to ignore warning signs and pull the covers over their heads hoping ‘it will go away.’ Sometimes it won’t! Health is maintained by practicing three essential and interdependent disciplines: Prayer …
Wildness
Nearly 200 years ago, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.” In his essay “Walking,” Thoreau encourages people to be ‘wild,’ which he likens to ‘absolute freedom’ in contrast to ‘limited freedom,’ which we all experience 24/7 in civil culture. My longtime and perennial friend Dwight and I experienced ‘wildness’ …
And Still They Come…
When my friend first suggested that each of us ‘needs a break,’ I blew him off. He’s right – as he usually is – but each of us has so many things to do that effect so many people. Still, the more he talked about it, the more I felt like it would be good …
First Day of the Barefoot School
After months of study, research and planning, I am pleased to announce that our friends at the Guepard Boxing Club in Cité Soleil opened the Barefoot School this week. While we still have much work to do, we are very grateful to the families and individuals who have opened their hearts and purses to help …
First Responders Rising
Within hours of posting our plea earlier this week to support the Barefoot School – our learning center in Cité Soleil, Haiti – I received a call from Gail Megaloudis Rongen, Chairman of the Board of the Nicole Megaloudis Foundation. I am more than pleased to announce that Gail has authorized the Nicole Megaloudis Foundation …