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Living Hero: George Demas

High school theater was a lesson in teamwork, dedication, focus, perseverance, and "practice makes perfect. George Demas was the extraordinary Mt. Desert Island high school theater director that changed the lives of a generation of teenagers. He cared about the kids, but never hesitated to push individuals to work way outside the boundaries they were comfortable with. He provided the chance for the teenagers to break out of their self-imposed, and group-established personas--to be something… Continue

Added by Jan Eveleth on November 25, 2010 at 2:24pm — No Comments

Living Hero: Barbara Curtis Eveleth

This hero is very special to me--my mom.

My Mom taught me, by example, the most important rules of parenting: unconditional love; listen without judging; let your children be who they are, not who you expect or want them to be; let your children live life and learn their own lessons.

Beyond parenting, my Mom taught not to judge others by anything other than their character--not their skin, not their religion, not who they…

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Added by Jan Eveleth on November 25, 2010 at 12:50pm — No Comments

Living Hero: Bruce Pym

My jobs have always required that I be familiar with a broad range of topics ranging from technical infrastructure to business protocols and procedures. In the early 90s, the new challenge at hand was to decipher, write, and negotiate Internet services contracts. While not as difficult as insurance policies, they were dense and had their own quirky nuances especially since the Internet was at this time just starting to emerge beyond the science & research communities. It was during this… Continue

Added by Jan Eveleth on November 25, 2010 at 11:46am — No Comments

Living Hero: Dr. C.K. Chai

I grew up in Bar Harbor, Maine. Bar Harbor is known mostly as a tourist destination, gateway to Acadia National Park. But it is also home to a world-renowned genetics research lab--The Jackson Lab. Our Bar Harbor neighbors, the Chai's, were here because Dr. Chai worked at the lab. Their daughter, Jean was and remains a best friend of mine. It is Dr. Chai that I am writing about today.

The details of his early life have always been obscure to me. I do know, he was born and…

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Added by Jan Eveleth on November 25, 2010 at 10:54am — No Comments

Living Hero: Father Randall Gardner

Randy Gardner, Episcopal priest and former Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church here on Mercer Island.

Randy was a gifted speaker. His sermons would speak to your intellect, your emotions, and your soul. They were invariably thought-provoking, insightful, often humorous and always refreshing. Church was a truly renewing experience when Randy spoke. He didn't shy away from hard subjects. He could take a stand without belittling anyone else's opinions. He had a unique way of…

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Added by Jan Eveleth on November 21, 2010 at 8:33pm — No Comments

Here come the heros!

Disciplined physical work: control of your body (strength & flexibility)

Disciplined mental work: control of your mind (focus)

Disciplined community work: act responsibly and rightly (compassion, kindness & leadership)

Disciplined self-awareness: know and nurture yourself (balance and mindfulness)

And breathe. Don't forget to breathe.

Working towards black belt has been enlightening,…

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Added by Jan Eveleth on November 21, 2010 at 8:09pm — 1 Comment

Weekly blog about my push for 2nd dan.

Hello, I went to class last night and got to spend a good amount of time with one of my favorite instructors. Thank you KSN.

I am starting to see just how far I have to go to truly be ready for my test. There are times that I feel like a white belt. Trying to wrap my head around what I need to make my body do. Much work to do, much work.

I am a little sore, my right glute and my neck are sore. I think I strained it when we did the frog hops. I like them but I may have tried a little… Continue

Added by eric sams on November 17, 2010 at 11:26am — 3 Comments

Living Hero's

It is my honor to talk about another living hero. She is part of the reason I am here today. My Godmother(Ninang), Friend and Auntie - Rosa Foster.

She was the first on my Filipino side of the family to come to America. A 21 day journey by boat. She dreamed that American dream and then made it happen.

She tells me stories of war time. How she was seperated from her mother, sister…

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Added by Tina Jackson on November 17, 2010 at 11:24am — 2 Comments

Weekly blog about my push for 2nd dan.

Hi, my name is Eric Sams, I am a 1st degree black belt at Mercer Island Martial Arts. I am writing a blog once a week for the next thirteen months until I test for my 2nd degree black belt. The reason behind me writing these blogs is to chronicle my journey to the next step in my training. I will post once a week at least. These will not be books, they may only be a few sentences or a few paragraphs, but they will be what I am going through that week.

I am a little sore from class last… Continue

Added by eric sams on November 11, 2010 at 2:03pm — 1 Comment

Thank you Josu Tina Jackson!

I am pleased to announce and celebrate today Josu Tina Jackson's first year working with us at Mercer Island Martial Arts. Not only has she approached her work here with love and dedication, she has also improved the quality of our service here at the dojang.

She is a friendly and welcoming person. So many have related to me that they always feel great about their interactions with her. Her positive attitude, and respect for everyone is a great representation of our school, and the… Continue

Added by MeLisa Turcott Strongheart on November 8, 2010 at 3:27pm — 2 Comments

More progress on community service!

Spoke this past week with another person at MI Youth and Family Services. At this point, they have my name on a 'to call' list if they have miscellaneous projects they need help with as well as the annual "Giving From the Heart" breakfast, which this year will be at 7am on Wednesday Feb. 9th. In addition, I am now waiting to hear from the exec director about possibly joining the advisory council.

Another idea percolating... need to do some checking to see if it's going to…

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Added by Jan Eveleth on November 7, 2010 at 10:59am — 2 Comments

Proud to share with you one of our community service projects

As some of you already know, we are teaching a great group of kids from the CHILD school. We do so at a significant discount so that they are able to give this training to their kids. We are proud to share with you that we have so far donated over two thousand dollars to the school.

Added by MeLisa Turcott Strongheart on November 4, 2010 at 8:31pm — 2 Comments

Great Report for Teachers Regarding Bullying from the APA

It is a great article, no reason for me to paraphrase it. Here is the pdf: APAbullyingModuleforTeachers.pdf

Added by MeLisa Turcott Strongheart on November 3, 2010 at 4:20pm — No Comments

Master Strongheart wins Photo Contest in Patch

Congratulations to Master Strongheart for winning the photo contest in the Patch Newsletter

Here's the link http://mercerisland.patch.com/articles/halloween-patch-pictures-from-you-and-prizes#photo-2762892

Also, we are still collecting donations for the food bank until Friday, November 5, 2010 if you are interested stop by. We are already have collected almost 500… Continue

Added by Krista Wells on November 1, 2010 at 7:23pm — 1 Comment

GLOW IN THE DARK NUN- CHUCK NIGHT

This is a cool party for the kids.. we feed them, no hassle of finding a babysitter and they get to keep the Glow In The Dark Nun-Chucks.

We only have 25 spots and they are filling up.

Friday Night Nov 5th from 6:15pm - 9pm

Give us a call 206-230-9050 or…

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Added by Tina Jackson on November 1, 2010 at 5:22pm — 2 Comments

Halloween Party

The Halloween Party was super fun.. Everyone had a great time. We collected tons of food for the Youth and Family Services.

Thank you to all the helpers that came to support us.

Added by Tina Jackson on October 31, 2010 at 8:47am — 3 Comments

Great Site for Kids

This site has amazing resources for kids. Here is a link to the page with a whole bunch of kid friendly games from learning about recycling, cyber bullying, safe internet use, and more. It is really cool. http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/funstuffArchives.html#games : Here is one of their tip sheets for kids, and you will find a game corresponding to it.… Continue

Added by MeLisa Turcott Strongheart on October 29, 2010 at 12:01pm — No Comments

progress on community service explorations

Talked with Mercer Island Youth and Family Services. Got names of three more people there to call about volunteering for programs and projects. Left voicemail and waiting to hear back.

Same at UW: waiting to hear back about Combined Fund Drive volunteer work.

In the meantime, am making my own contributions to the Combined Fund Drive (there are over 2000 organizations that you can donate to through this university fund drive). It's easy: comes out…

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Added by Jan Eveleth on October 24, 2010 at 12:27pm — 1 Comment

Humza's Essay on "Why I want to try out to be a Jido"-- way to go Humza!!!!

Added by MeLisa Turcott Strongheart on October 16, 2010 at 3:13pm — 1 Comment

serving the community

First thanks to all who offered suggestions for community service and letting me know what they did to prepare for their blackbelts. All very inspiring!

Here's where I am in my community service quest: I opted to reach out to an organization that I think does wonderful work for the community: MIYFS. They were an instrumental resource for me when I was looking for resources for my elderly father. That email was sent over a week ago and there's been no response…

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Added by Jan Eveleth on October 12, 2010 at 5:35pm — No Comments