We seldom lock our vehicles that we park in the driveway behind our house. That's how safe we felt about the relatively small and lovely southern city (with a major state university) where we have been living for the last 25 years.Until today! As I was trying to leave to go to a neighboring state for a family business trip, I noticed that the door was not well closed. For a second, I thought that I or my spouse might have forgotten to shut the door all the way the night before!Then I noticed th

The Last Month I just spent the last 2 weeks hosting 13 colleagues and 23 students from 10 countries who came down south of the US for the 15th annual international comparative rural policy studies (ICRPS) summer institute. You see, ICRPS is a consortium of 12 universities from the US, Canada, Europe and South America, with interests in the role of governments and policies they espouse (at all levels) in taking care of their citizens, in particular those from the poorer communities and rural a

Let’s me start by wishing all the fathers (at least here in the US) a Happy Fathers’ Day!Overall, I give myself a B. A solid B, that is. And how do you score yourself as a father? The Criteria: I have come to believe now that the roles of a father are to Protect, Love and Guide children, in that order, at least, at beginning of their lives. Protect means to provide physical presence, shelter, clothing and food. Love means to proclaim, feel and consistently exhibit those feelin

Parkinson’s Disease (PD)! Why is that difficult to communicate about one’s specific health conditions?The Genesis I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in June of 2015, right after I turned 65. I can remember when my family doctor suggested that I might have PD. He hesitated to be the first one to say those words. Although PD was suspected from our readings and family discussions during the week leading to the visit to my doctor, the first reactions were those of