Coach Bill / Dad, Entrepreneur Special Educator, American Political Scientist, Writer, Musician.

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updated 1/31/16 In Afghanistan, Russia fought over a decade on the ground, then America came and fought for way over another decade on its grounds. Now there are children, boys and girls skateboarding on the streets where soldiers, fighter and warriors brandished heavy machinery. The renegades of the heart have come out to play. They are the children of the soldiers and people of the community. All that is in their DNA. In their story. That is why the rise of Skateistan, a skateboarding school in Afghanistan and its popularity amongst girls is astounding and so peculiar also. Almost half a century ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaimed, "Let freedom ring!"  His dream which is a continuation of the dream of all the immigrants that have come to our shores, is a dream shared by the founding members of the United States of America back in 1776.  Every  American should be able to pursue happiness, but that we achieve happiness together as a community, rather than b...

In Flint, Michigan the water is tainted with lead. It is polluted with heavy metals that have been passed down to the community causing a great expense on the health and welfare of individuals and families for decades to come. Safety Before Profit All of the authorities that check for water quality on a local, state and national level are guilty of not doing their business in a prioritized manner that prevents situations like this from happening.  We can’t pass the buck. Their should be independent checking of water quality by all levels of government that are tasked with ensuring water safety. Apparently, rather than own up their mistakes, they are pointing fingers instead. That is not what we teach our children. We teach them to own up to their mistakes. I am owning up to mine. How were the appropriate authorities that check for water quality not aware of the situation and why has it taken so long to rectify the situation?  The cognitive and overall ...

updated 2/11/16 Metacognition, in layman’ s terms signifies how we approach the world through our thinking, to think about our thinking in order to review and edit our thought process so that we can gauge, change, maintain or seek to improve our course of action. Many of the students I work with do not place great value on social norms. Invariably, some of their traits and characteristics get ‘taken on by me.’ This is what happens when you are with someone for so long. Do we take on a bit of each other due to empathy? Are we like open books that we can write or code on each other a bit here and a bit there?  Processing (digesting code).  #theFieldGeneral, who is on the #autism spectrum is processing digested code on a a constant basis. We do it similarly, but ‘faster’  using a completely different cranial physical makeup. That is to say,  our brain is physically made slightly different because of the way we use it to think. The train tra...

updated 1/31/16 I worked the weekend and weathered the storm with #theCowboy.  He did a most excellent job in rocking it to the beat to Queens 'We Will Rock You' and Bruno Mars's 'Uptown Funk.' He also put his shoulder into Johnny Cash's 'I walk the line.' A personal favorite of his. After the storm we were completely snowed in under two feet of snow and we had run out of oatmeal and bananas. There was no way out. There was no orang juice left. Thankfully though Martin, a man of the community, put his shoulder to the electric plow and bull dozed our walkway and area around the stagecoach which #theCowboy rides on. The snow shot out forty feet in the air, and my student, who is on the autism spectrum was simply loving it. We were able to make it to the train station to continue on in our adventure. #ShoulderToThePlow The #Waitress from SoNo who serves the best ‘Atol de Helote' in town told me a story. She told me how she wai...

“Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee; she shall bring thee to honour , when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine headman ornament of grace; a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.” Proverbs of Solomon 4:5-9 How do we change a culture to ensure that powerful forces are used benevolently to serve people and their communities?  What is might and strength good for if it is not used benevolently?  Can it become a hindrance if not used purposefully to do the will of nation-states and its peoples and to operate under God’s universal law written in our hearts to do that which is right and fair?  Surely, might and force has been used in ill-advised ways by individuals, organizatio...

The concept of servant leadership is an ideal. It trumps selflessness and sands down profit-seeking motives to the degree that the concept is exercised in our unique heart and minds. An inspiring way to act is certainly done by putting others first before oneself, yet in actuality this reality is not rampant across the land.  How can we make it an ever increasing reality in our country? What short and long-term value can people find in being of great service to others?  How does our culture help or disregard raising kids with a focus on serving the community creatively? The cultures in which we are brought up and eventually help sustain sees it as a foreign concept. Many of us live in a reality where we must work five to six days a week to make ends meet. There is no time for idealistic dreams when we are struggling to pay the rent or put food on the table. It would be quite a luxury it seems to have a lifestyle of service. Even people who are committed to se...

When I was thirteen years old, my sailor uncle and aunt (a 2nd set of parents) took me sailing with throughout the British and U.S. Virgin Islands. I recall him scuba diving fifty feet below me around the area known as "The Baths" of Virgin Gorda. They were called "The Baths" because that is were the slave ships would stop and unload African slaves to get cleaned up before heading out to the east coast of the United States. "The Baths" are mammoth inclosed rock structures that seem to have been flung together by giants. There are natural pools inside straight out of your most colorful dream. Those who were fortunate to make it across the Atlantic ocean were unshackled for a brief time as they were put into these 'natural holding cells' to clean up from the horrible conditions experienced being tied down inside the ships hold. As many know, hundreds of people were shackled in rows with no bathroom respite and extremely limited mobility given ...

When we meet people, if we let ourselves yield to each other, we open up and our stories can come forth. They can impact us, change our perspective, create empathy and even get us to change our actions. During my last visit to Florida, I met a father and son team straight out of a crocodile dundee movie. The young boy, Will, was very outgoing and met me with a big smile upon my arrival. Two of my sisters and I had visited his 'estate' as guests of his Dad. My eldest sister is friends with him. It is a log cabin home filled with stuffed alligators and mounted heads of hunted stags of the field. This is a man's home, nay a cowboy's home. In the entrance to the property there is a humongous Oak Tree and as my experience that afternoon and night unfolded I would soon learn that I was a guest at the estate of two living Oaks. A Dad Oak and a son Oak, if ever there could be one.  Will's Dad was taking us out on their airboat on the St. Johns River a half hour ...

Ideas like servant leadership when applied to activities that can develop physical health and cognitive development can become a catalyst for others once it is put into action in a consistent manner. To find such an activity that is engaging for people of all ages and still keep it local is hard. Dancing comes close, but we still don't have designated dancing areas at parks, so in the mean time, consider what skateboarding offers and how it is directly connected to Dr. Marting Luther King, Jr. An activity like skateboarding at a skatepark welcomes people from any nationality, ethnicity, or age and is a sport of growth and development for the brain and body when practiced consistently.  From an Special Educator standpoint, skateboarding also happens to be an excellent vehicle as an early intervention tool and strategy for the social-cognitive-physical development of children on the autism spectrum, ADHD, or any special need. Knowing this is not enough though....