On  Mother’s Day, I was intrigued as 39 year old Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte took the mound for his long awaited come back after a year and a half in retirement.   He also recently gave testimony again in the perjury trial of his charismatic mentor and longtime teammate Roger Clemens. The soft-spoken Pettitte admitted using steroids in 2008.  His latest testimony against his friend backed off from the certainty of his original assertion that Clemens told him he was using steroids as well.  Some questioned whether that hesitation would hurt the trial or damage Andy’s image with fans.  Yet even though the final score in that Sunday’s emotional game against the Seattle Mariners went against him 6-2, the crowd gave the legendary winner of five world series titles a standing ovation as he left the mound.  That sounded like unconditional love to me.

I don’t think Yankee fans will ever forget the stunning Game 6 victory Pettitte gave his team in the 2009 World Series and then his emotional retirement.  But now Pettitte is being given the chance to save the Yankees’ suddenly endangered pitching line up this year.  In a time of so much uncertainty, I think we need more Andy Pettittes, and not just in baseball.  Back in 2008 sports blogger Richard Justice wrote that “Andy is a man of such decency and humility that it’s impossible not to admire the things he has attempted to stand for. He admitted his mistakes and asked for forgiveness. What else can he do?”  Let’s hope he continues winning and inspiring us to do the same.

I was back in Birmingham, Alabama in April for the annual Forum in honor of my late husband Tim Robinson at Samford University http://www.samford.edu/, where he got his undergraduate journalism degree.  I was looking forward to joining Tim’s family and friends in hearing the presentation by Gene Policinski, Senior Vice President and Executive Director of the First Amendment Center. I was amazed however, to learn that he was focusing on the need to reinvent legal journalism.

Tim had in fact been one of the early pioneers of the legal journalism beat during his years at the Washington Post and was acclaimed for his coverage of the Watergate trials, which led to a fellowship at Yale and a degree in Law Studies, followed by a legal column and then the editorship of two legal journals.  However, Policinski explained to the students in the audience that cutbacks on our nation’s newspapers has led to the demise of the legal beat at many media outlets and courts are being covered by general assignment reporters, who often are unsophisticated on the nuances of law.

Policinski’s solution was to challenge journalism schools to incorporate the study of legal journalism into their curriculums, so that students get an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of court coverage.  He argued that it would give students an edge in getting their first journalism position by arguing their competence in reporting on complicated legal decisions.

I was proud that this annual Forum at a top southern university was continuing to find ways to address the challenges of today’s media age. Last year Washington Post sports columnist Jason Reid challenged students to insist on the same rigorous journalism standards for news bloggers online as the mainstream media set for their reporters to limit the amount of inaccuracies currently prevalent in the new media.

For more information on the Timothy Sumner Robinson Forum and this year’s speaker, you can read the coverage  in Sanford’s student newspaper, the Samford Crimson at http://samfordcrimson.com/2012/policinski-speaks-on-future-of-legal-journalism/

Carolyn is targeting international locations like the Amazon River that represent a diversity of natural environments and cultures to demonstrate, in her words, “that this is indeed a global epidemic.”  She started her current travels in Costa Rica, where she first visited two permaculture farms started by concerned citizens working to restore Mother Earth’s Greenery. This was a fun-filled side-trip showcasing heroic farming efforts by volunteers from the U.S. and other countries to thwart climate change.  She then chronicled her visit to the threatened Monteverde Cloud Forest.  This usually misty forest has environmentalists concerned, she says, because it is being affected by warming temperatures which are causing its vital clouds to form higher up in the atmosphere, decreasing the number of misty days during the dry season.  She has amazing photographs of the flora and fauna in the forest that are already being affected, and she especially loves the beautiful orchids.

Her next posting was even further south in Antarctica, where she reported that ice is melting more in this region than anywhere else in the world and the rate of melting is accelerating more rapidly than was initially thought. Ninety percent of the world’s ice and about 70 percent of the world’s fresh water is contained in Antarctica, she warns.  Despite the subzero cold, Carolyn can’t find enough superlatives to describe the beauty of the scenery as she eagerly photographs it. She also issues an alarm about the consequences facing the rest of the world if this rate of melting continues.

As Carolyn heads into the seventh month of her journey, I hope you won’t want to miss the opportunity to share the drama of her latest explorations, including her dramatic photographs of the Amazon Rainforest, on her blog at http://witnesstreephotography.wordpress.com/ .  Carolyn’s Witness Tree Project is both an incredible educational experience and a tribute to the power of one individual in our global media  age.

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I learned about the book when my friend economist Mary Barcella alerted me months ago that it was coming out in March.  Her daughter  Laura had convinced a number of other successful writers to join her in a collection of stories about Madonna’s influence on their lives.  I’ve met Laura and I knew this would be no star-struck ode.  She’s a strong-minded freelance writer based in San Francisco who specializes in pop culture, lifestyles, feminism, and music.  I sensed this collection would offer a great insight into the mindset of today’s serious young women.

It also challenged my own ambivalence about Madonna.  By the time the Material Girl appeared on the pop music  scene in the early ’80s, I was a young professional in the New York book publishing world, excited by all the possibilities unfolding for women.   I was intrigued by Madonna, especially since she came from my home state of Michigan, but the feminist, trailblazing women I most admired then were more likely to be novelists, journalists and business or political leaders, rather than rock stars.  Just a month ago, I admit I didn’t know what to expect from Madonna’s half-time performance at the Super Bowl, which proved her lasting star power by drawing almost as much attention as the upset by the New York Giants.  Madonna is clearly an on-going cultural force to be reckoned with — on an international level, no less.  She wears her 50s well.

This collection reveals the impact Madonna had on so many young girls, showing  how her bold music and “life without regrets” helped them escape what is often an agonizingly painful trip through their school years and even beyond. You can read an excerpt written by Laura Barcella on “How the Queen of Pop Saved Me from Choosing the Wrong Guy” on the Huffington Post at  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-barcella/madonna-and-me-queen-of-pop_b_1323630.html

According to Daily News reporter Ralph Vacchiano, Giants Coach Tom Coughlin’s speech to his entire team the night before the Super Bowl went over three themes he had been repeating since their first meeting back in July – Finish, Belief  and Love.  http://nydn.us/xg6RHS

Coughlin started the season by showing the Giants a video of a high school cross-country runner from California named Holland Reynolds, a female athlete who courageously crawled across the finish line after she collapsed to secure a medal for her team. Coughlin replayed the video before they left for Indianapolis to reinforce that each player needed to finish everything they started, both in practice and in the game. It‘s a stirring video for everyone to watch, so I’ve put in the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqBerM9FPwA

Reynolds, in subsequent interviews, talked about her determination: “It never occurred to me that I might not finish.” http://bit.ly/zm35Zs

Coughlin’s last presentation, according to Myers, was not the usual fiery pre-game speech, but came straight from the heart, and covered the last two parts of his mantra – belief and love.  He told them how their belief in themselves had inspired thousands of fans and he declared “I love every guy in this room.” His inspiration resulted in incredible plays by the entire team, including wide receivers Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham, who made a spectacular fourth quarter catch.

No matter what your career struggles are, it’s good to remember that competition does not have to feel like a relentless battle.  Instead, a combination of  ‘finish, belief and love’ for the  team around you–whether it’s business colleagues,  friends or family –can carry you over the finish line a winner, just like Holland Reynolds, and just like the Giants!

UAW’s President Bob King added, “I hope people look at the auto industry as a model of what should be happening across America. Here’s government and management, business, labor and community all working together and look at the results; everybody is further ahead.”   I also never thought I’d hear such a positive report from America’s autoworkers.

I grew up in Detroit, a child of the UAW and proud of it in my youth!  My father worked for Chrysler for more than 30 years and my mother was at GM almost as long. Yet by the 80s, I was in public relations in New York, representing  industry consultants Oliver Wight Companies  http://www.oliverwight.com/ and publicizing their books about the rise of quality control on production lines and why Japanese automakers understood it and Detroit’s corporate arrogance was in the way.

I’m still sad that it took bankruptcy to get Detroit’s Big Three back on track, especially since their troubles so heavily devastated my hometown.  But I hope you’ll take a moment to look over the CBS story at http://bit.ly/zSseg6  and hear the resounding agreement from managers and employees:  Detroit’s auto industry has made a dramatic U-turn and is coming back. It’s a reaffirmation of the triumph of quality and teamwork.

I had experienced the special joy Martha and Gerald shared with others through their clown company, Carrousel of Clowns, when my late husband and I lived in Los Angeles.  I was especially honored back then in the early ’90s when they asked me to help them create a brochure and invited us to many of their events, including cheering up the elderly in nursing homes and sick children in hospitals, as well as clowning at festivals and parades and private parties.  But I didn’t realize that the clowning began so early in their marriage – and that Gerald had already discovered his lifelong avocation before they met.

Carman George, a reporter for Sierra Star, a local newspaper, captured the joy that clowning brought to their lives and to those around them in a half page article before the event that seemed to set the tone for the actual day.  She also was there that day to chronicle the fun and laughter shared with their friends.

As we entered the community hall, each guest was quietly given a squeezable red clown nose to hide In a pocket so that everyone could surprise the couple before they cut their anniversary cake.  More than 80 people crowded the hall. I sat next to three generations of a family involved in my relatives’ clown company, which is still active in Los Angeles.  They talked about what great role models Martha and Gerald were for them as they shared their love of clowning.

Finally it was time for the toast and Gerry and Martha were asked to close their eyes while everyone put on the red noses.  We toasted the surprised and delighted couple and laughed at each other’s funny faces.  Thank you, Luther and Molly( their clown names), the revelers seemed to be saying, for taking your magic and  laughter to Coarsegold and brightening up the lives of yet another community!!  They love you for it!

SierraStar-smaller

Yet that day we all knew that part of our strength was the ability to trust our vulnerabilities and celebrate the risks we were taking in challenging times.  We also toasted our past victories and laughed together at the joy of being so fearless* that day.

Throughout the holidays, I have encountered equally courageous and innovative leaders from all sectors — corporate America, non-profits,  cooperatives , arts organizations and unions (I recently joined the National Writers Union in time for its 30^th anniversary celebration) and government.

No one knows yet what 2012 will bring, but I hope all those courageous leaders  across the country with bold new ideas and the willingness to take risks will take us in the right direction.  Maybe it will be you!

* I salute my friend Jacqueline Wales for launching an event to celebrate and encourage  “fearless” women leaders! (www. fearlessfactor.com/)

I had just moved to Los Angeles with my late husband Tim Robinson and one of the first big projects at my new job with Braun Ketchum Public Relations was as part of a team coordinating publicity for the concert.  I grew up with Orbison’s haunting, sometimes heartbreaking, operatic rock music and so was not surprised that the evening event brought together so many rock icons who were friends and also influenced by his talent, including Bob Dylan, David Crosby,  Bonnie Raitt, k.d Lang, BB King, John Fogerty, Emmylou Harris, John Lee Hooker and so many more.  On youtube, you can listen to “Only the Lonely” performed by the entire ensemble of super stars and hear Patrick Swayze talk about how Orbison’s friendship  and music changed the actor’s life – songs that he told the audience were about cracking open the shells of our lives and letting other people in (just google “Patrick Swayze at Roy Orbison Concert”).

Because of the work of Barbara Orbison, new generations have been exposed to Orbison’s powerful music and beautiful  lyrics about connecting.  I was saddened that this beautiful woman, like her husband, has left us too soon.  The Orbisons were entrepreneurs and artists who knew how to give back – that memorial concert was also a benefit for the homeless — and the music reminds us to reach out to each other.  What a great message for this season of giving. I’ll never forget the power of that night in Los Angeles and I thank Barbara Orbison for impacting so many lives by sharing her love.

Frank Capra and “Meet John Doe”:

Despite his growing fame throughout  the 1930s, the screwball comedy genius Frank Capra also wanted to establish himself as a serious filmmaker.  Subsequent films like “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” with Jimmy Stewart, which he produced in 1939, still did not approach the  success of “It Happened One Night,” a 1934 romantic comedy by screenwriter Robert Riskin that featured Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable.   “It Happened One Night” garnered all five top Oscars, including Best Picture – a feat that was not matched until 1975’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and later in 1991 by “Silence of the Lambs.”  Capra was determined to produce another script by Riskin with a populist theme that reflected his views on America and the fate of the common man during the depression; but  to finance this one, Capra had to first mortgage his house.  The film was “Meet John Doe” with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck in the starring roles, which premiered in 1941 and was an immediate hit. It also earned him another Academy Award nomination for best screenplay and has remained a highly regarded film.

As I watched it recently on PBS, I thought of the lingering hardships in this economic cycle and wondered how many brilliant works of art, new inventions or breakthrough ideas are out there waiting for the dreamer to take a huge economic risk in this stagnant economy.

I remain hopeful that the solution to our present malaise is a new wave of innovation, ready for launch, including creating new green products and industries to fight global warming – and new ideas for solving the lingering environmental impact of disasters like the BP Oil spill. I only hope those young innovators have the courage of Frank Capra.

There’s another message in this film.  It was about a young woman reporter about to be fired by her editor as they streamline staff during hard times – she dreamed up a story about an angry common man threatening to jump off a building on Christmas eve and presented it to her editor as her parting shot.  He loved it, even when she admitted that she had invented John Doe, but argued he would be easy to find – she was right.  The movie’s ultimate theme was that people needed to reach out to their neighbors during the depression and help each other – and the result was a political movement of “John Doe” clubs, making sure no one was battling joblessness or foreclosure alone. It’s a message that is timeless and I wanted to share it again.  Thank you, Frank Capra, for the courage to keep sharing your serious side.