The Years Prior to Montreal 1976

During the years prior to Montreal I worked in our family business in NJ and after that the islands of Kauai and Oahu became home. (This year, my daughter, who attends the U. of Hawai'i, was awarded a fellowship at the East West Center.)

I worked for film agent, Gregg Kendall, taught English and attended the University of Hawai'i. Went out to the island of Kauai to assist a film company from California and later, with Mr. Harris, started the first Hawai'i State Film Bureau. My Oceanography class was taught by John Craven and my Cinematography class was taught by Jackie Paul. Both classes led to interesting adventures. The Importance of the Sea project enabled me to attend the Law of the Sea Conferences at the United Nations in New York. And because of the cinematography class, Jackie Paul, Shauna Uperesa and I started the first Public Access Station in the state of Hawai'i at Oceanic Television. Later, that led me to CBS.

As the years approached the '76 games I knew that I must do my best to somehow find a way for my mom to experience the Olympics. She came to Hawai'i and any time we spoke of the olympics her eyes would light up. She had an incredible sense of awe about most of life and she knew by this time she was ready to experience the olympic games, "at least one time".

I returned to the mainland and drove across our 200 year old country during that festive year of 1976. Visited family and friends at the Jersey Shore then headed to Old Town Montreal in Canada early to scout and prepare...

...this time for others.

The Spirit of Holy Spirit High Lives On

In this fragile world of ours I sometimes wondered where all the good, honest, ethical folks had gone during the months following my summer in Beijing at the 2008 Olympics...greedy hedge fund managers, the huge appetite globally and locally for mortgage backed securities and naughty banks. The charts and grafs looked like the cliffs of Dana Point! I was beginning to wonder about humanity. Then came 2009. The summer of many reunions brought balance into my life.

One of the many things I did last month during my high school reunion at a country club in South Jersey was to stop, step back and just feel the great vibrations from being in a large room filled with good people.

We grew up together. We went to a school where we had to do the best that we could with what we had. We laughed, learned and sweat it out together. We had a good sense of belonging and we learned how to create our own fun. And now so many are joyfully giving back to society!

What an incredibly reassuring feeling it was! Yup, the spirit from Holy Spirit High School does live on.