Welcome!

by admin

Please stay tuned for the forthcoming announcement on how to purchase my new book entitled Discovering Lake Superior and the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Sales benefit the Friends of the Porkies, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, a favorite cause of mine.

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Summer is here and along with it the nice challenge of balancing our lives in Beloit, Wisconsin and Ontonagon, Michigan. During the spring we traveled to Virginia and the Carolina, the Canadian Rockies, and Minnesota in short order … great fun with friends and relatives, but hardly enough time to catch our breaths after one before the next one began.

Then it was our first drive to Lake Superior to open and get re-acquainted with our cabin. This year is special regarding that part of the world because my book Discovering Lake Superior and the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan is just out and in the early stages of promotion. Sales of it benefit the non-profit organization called Friends of the Porkies, a group that works for and sings the praises of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park which we see to the west from our beach. I will soon post details regarding how it can be ordered.

Please look through sub-categories of this website (my opportunities), especially the writing projects.  My earlier one explores golf in Rockford, Illinois, and the effect of Tiger Woods on me and that town, invites a new reading since Tiger’s public image dramatically changed in November of last year.  Over the Holidays I advertised it in some Rockford shops as being about “…Tiger before the fall.”

And the infant book number three, Newswriting, is bouncing around in my head.  Alive.

I find endless fascination in these projects: golf, Lake Superior and  journalism, but of course I am still a learner.  That’s where you could come in.  I want your reactions to what I have done or am doing, and I’d love it if you would share some of your ideas.  By the way, I’m also interested in  toy trains, travel, Roy Chapman Andrews (the explorer), Cameroon, religion, crossword puzzles, and grandfatherhood.

Please take a look at what I have included under projects,  interests,  and photoblog, and get back to me with  your responses or questions.

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Writings from prisoners, lifers who have no hope of getting out.  ”By no means do we desire to gain personal glorification, nor do we intend to benefit from a bad situation. We stand accountable and only hope that our efforts to redress our bad decisions were not made in vain.”

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Beloit Junior Golf Association

BJGA History

Established in 2000, the Beloit Junior Golf Association (BJGA) is a local non-profit (501c3) organization formed to introduce youngsters to the many physical, social, and economic benefits that can come from playing golf.  The Association is especially devoted to helping underrepresented youth get to know the empowering possibilities of this game.  While golf is the BJGA’s vehicle for relating to youngsters, it is the non-golfing benefits that are the most important.

Executive Committee

David Botts, Mardie Farr, Martha Mitchell, Thomas Quillins, Milton Thompson, Spencer Waite, Tom Warren, Shirley Williams, Cecil Youngblood

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The Beloit Junior Golf Association (BJGA):

I am a founding member of this organization whose purpose is to introduce golf to youngsters from underrepresented groups. The BJGA grew out of the Tiger Woods Foundation clinics in Rockford and Beloit in 2001 and 2004.

BJGA

Beloit Junior Golf Association

Fund-raising appeal

Please become a Friend of the Beloit Junior Golf Association.

The Beloit Junior Golf Association, commonly known as BJGA, wants to stay in business helping underrepresented kids get exposed to the many benefits of golf.  We need about $3500 to operate each year.  Please help.  Suggested levels of participation follow:

Sponsor:  $250 & up

Partner:   100 – 249

Caddie:      50 – 99

Galleryite:   25 – 49

Pal: 1 – 24

Background

Established in 2000, the BJGA is a local non-profit (501c3) organization formed to introduce youngsters to the many physical, social, and economic benefits that can come from playing golf.  The Association is especially devoted to helping children who have historically been under-represented in the game.  While golf is the BJGA’s vehicle for relating to and empowering these youngsters, it is the non-golfing benefits that are the most important in the long run.

Our budget for a given year includes expenses for equipment, practice, food, instruction, and prizes.  We want our income to at least meet our expenditures, which has not happened the last two years.

Please send your tax-deductible check to:  BJGA; 659 Milwaukee Road; Beloit, WI 53511

Thanks much.

Sincerely,

The BJGA Executive Committee

David Botts, Mardie Farr, Martha Mitchell, Thomas Quillins, Spencer Waite, Tom Warren, Shirley Williams, Cecil Youngblood

Summary of Accomplishments

(Some of what we do and what we have done.)

•  Provide individual and group instruction to about forty youngsters each year, and expose golf to hundreds via and additional opportunities.

•  Support the efforts of four youth social service agencies at no cost to them: Girl Scouts of Wisconsin-Badgerland Council, Help Yourself Programs of Beloit College, Merrill Community Center, and Stateline Boys & Girls Clubs.

•  With Rockford co-sponsor two Tiger Woods Foundation Clinics.

•  Sponsor Beloit youngsters at the Greater Milwaukee Open and at the Futures Tour Ladies Professional Golf event held at Geneva National Golf Club.

•  Serve as a training ground for competitive golfers who ultimately participate in high school, college, and beyond throughout their lives.

•  Work with three skilled and generous golf professionals who always have the best interests of children in mind.  They are Milt Kodl III of the Country Club of Beloit, Marianne Floberg Kaiser of Red Barn, and Rob Vega of Glen Erin Golf Club.

•  Host exhibitions by the University of Wisconsin Women’s golf team.

•  Co-sponsor an annual fund-raiser called “Go Fore the Green” in collaboration with the Girl Scouts.

•  Sponsor an annual all groups competition.

•  Sponsor annual an annual recognition dinner & celebration for present and future BJGA participants.

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The Help

by admin

Authored by Kathryn Stockett in 2009, this is a 1960′s look at the relationship between upper-crust white home owners in Mississippi and their domestic help.  The Atlanta Journal Constitution praises Stockett’s “…attention to historical detail, dialect and characterization as she creates a beautiful portrait of a fragmenting world.”  I found its subject matter biting and tickling, and her approach creative.  I suggest watching John Fiege’s 2007 film Mississippi Chicken as a companion piece. John Fiege’s website.

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