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

Mr. Newlin's son on Mount Rainier, Dad took photo A while back I was fortunate to pin down an incredible Dad, Philippe Newlin. He has constantly transitioned and transformed himself across his life and I wanted to share a segment of his life, as well as his thoughts on skateboarding with the public. In and of itself, skateboarding helps us practice important life skills, which can be extrapolated across our life far away from the Olympic sport of skateboarding. Mr. Newlin’s story is quite interesting in that he has steadfastly kept up his mental prowess over the years, catapulting from one endeavor to another without skipping a beat.  Soft skills (which are ‘abstract’ life skills, like humility, perseverance, grit, tenacity) and cognitive executive function skills flexed in his youth on the streets of Manhattan seem to not have lost their mental-muscle power over the years. Mr. Newlin, manages a wine importing business in the United States for a family-owned compa...

“A vision is best taken on by the culture of a people when it is not forced,” I say to Fidel. In Spanish, they told the two young teenage sisters to take off all their clothes. The two girls refused. A standoff ensued at the Jose Marti International Airport in Cuba.The authorities said they needed to check if they were carrying ‘contraband.’  Their mother and father had looked to get them on a flight out of the country after the new, ruling leadership had ordered these girls and many others to work in the sugar cane fields under the Cuban sun. The girls were adamant in their position and refused to comply. Anything could have happened at that moment. Ultimately, the authorities relented and allowed the young girls to board the flight to American soil.  My maternal grandfather and grand uncle had a thriving law practice in La Habana. Life was good for my family but it came to an abrupt end when Fidel Castro and his band of visionary rebels forcibly took over ...

What will be the answer to the gun violence that continues on our American streets? How will we navigate protecting the second amendment and also keep the guns out of the wrong hands? Even with the toughest background checks it is not wholly unrealistic to assume that guns will end up in the wrong hands. Doing away with guns altogether is not the answer, yet an armed populace is an important counter balance to a very well-armed national government.  As the most armed country in the world we actually practice a great deal of responsible gun ownership when you consider the amount of weaponry owned by individuals compared to the level of gun violence that is perpetuated.  A 17-year old youth was shot in point-blank range in his temple in New York City this last weekend, another was gunned down in front of over forty police officers. The New York Post sais that, as with this case, even with a phalanx of police officers presence, even with flood lights ligh...

A holocratic organization has been purposefully established at Scalzi Skate Park, in Stamford, Connecticut. Our particular form of holocratic organization is rooted in the concept of leading through service to others and decentralizes leadership allowing the company to be led by any team member. The Scalzi Originals Skateboarding Company has a co-founder base that retains full ownership of the company, yet ideas and tactical leadership implementation from any person in our organization is encouraged, discussed and followed-upon. Everyone matters. The individual strengths of each team member is unique and is integrated supporting increased operations management. What We Do With clarity of purpose, we focus on toning executive function skills, social-emotional skills and cognitive-physical synchronicity by teaching skateboarding to typical youths, as well as those with special needs, like autism and Downs syndrome. Why We Do It We want to serve our community in dynam...

A holocratic organization has been purposefully established at Scalzi Skate Park, in Stamford, Connecticut. Our particular form of holocratic organization is rooted in the concept of leading through service to others and decentralizes leadership allowing the company to be led by any team member. The Scalzi Originals Skateboarding Company has a co-founder base that retains full ownership of the company, yet ideas and tactical leadership implementation from any person in our organization is encouraged, discussed and followed-upon. Everyone matters. The individual strengths of each team member is unique and is integrated supporting increased operations management. What We Do With clarity of purpose, we focus on toning executive function skills, social-emotional skills and cognitive-physical synchronicity by teaching skateboarding to typical youths, as well as those with special needs, like autism and Downs syndrome. Why We Do It We want to serve our community in dynam...

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Solomon in proverbs 25:11 #theBronx African, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Hatian, Irish & Italian Fordham University Caucasian and Asian #theBronx A melting pot filled with flavor and sazon Fordham University All salt and no pepper! ……… So goes my poem created yesterday at the White Castle on Holmes Street. Just yesterday I ventured in to technicolor borough of the Bronx in New York City. It is a fascinating land filled with action, sound and bustling. As many of us know, it has a beautiful botanical garden deep in its heart providing the opportunity of respite to all who want to move away from the concrete for a change. Past it is the door to its ‘downtown’ area with Fordham University’s sprawling campus which is also serene and expansive in its own right. It is Jesuit school like the one I graduated from, Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. I am we...

Today is Monday, November 2, 2015. Am I concerned like others about the health of the charter school education culture at ‘Failure Academy’ in Fort Greene, Brooklyn?… I mean ‘Success Academy’ as they call themselves? Let me begin by venturing forward that the onus is on the educators, on the education culture and the system that stems from it to adapt and morph to the students, rather than the students to it. It is the mark of a true clinical educator to humble themselves to the ground, if it must be, in order to support the complete growth of the student. Not the students to the education system. This is how the best of us do it. This is empathy with all pistons firing. This is what it means to be ….#HotterThanFireforOthers. Yet, it appears that high-mindedness and apathy rule the day in the overly-principled halls of madness existent in the minds of the administration of these Brooklyn charter schools. This foundational truth is lost on people such as: CEO of t...

When you think of Special Education, do you think of a classroom? Do you think of kids with impairments? What do you think of? If you are a parent with a child in Special Education, do you think of those wonderful team meetings? Do you think about the passage of time and the lack of progress with your child? How about if you use to receive some kind of special education? Do you feel like you have untapped potential? Do you feel like your child can do much more? Are you frustrated? Are you angry? Are you near your 'wits end,' and don't see a good light at the end of the tunnel? What if I told you that there is at least one private Special Educator out there with a drive for performance? The performance of your child to go above and beyond. There is a private special educator in America that wears his heart on his sleeve for his students to see, and challenges them to new heights completely outside the zone of what parents think feasible or attainable. No other Special Educat...

In my line of work, a part of my heart takes on a part of the grief of parents who have children with more severe special needs, like autism. I empathically feel some of the pain expressed by the mothers. Their tears can become my tears eventually, and some of their energy gets replicated and carried by me. I in turn channel it (as best I can) into my work, and my advocacy for the disadvantaged individuals.  Apparently, I should channel more effectively because there is a fire in my bones. I can regulate and modulate and have multiple outlets for my energy, but the grief of some of these parents is monumental. I recognize injustice. Children with autism are not usually born autistic. It is after we plug them over and over again with the nasty preservatives, like barium, strontium, formaldehyde, mercury, aluminimum ( a metal last time I checked), and cancer-causing viruses. Read up on the work of Dr. Russell Blaylock (who has not been completely sidelined by the Big Pharma-vaccine l...