Emerge Maine

Shenna Bellows, Emerge Maine Class of 2010, is biding her time, looking for the right race. She considered a run this year for the U.S. House of Representatives when it appeared Chellie Pingree might run for Senate, and her Emerge contacts “pitched right in” to help, Shenna said. “Emerge gave me the confidence to know that I CAN run for office someday, and I will.”

The 2012 Edition of the report from the AAUW. Read it at this link!

http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/simpletruthaboutpaygap1.pdf

My holiday season has filled with the usual series of long family dinners, and the long family conversations that accompany them. Various topics would wind their way through every meal, but by the time wine glasses had been emptied and dessert has been served, the conversation inevitably circled back to that most irresistable subject - the state of world affairs.

One of my favorite year end rituals is watching the photojournalism pieces that appear on various news programs between Christmas and the New Year. These visual reminders replay the year’s highs and lows and cause us to pause to honor those we lost. Sadly, this year I felt heaviness as I viewed many of the images reflecting back at me. I couldn’t help but think of the following quote from Gandhi who believed that there are seven deadly societal sins.

I have breakfast every Friday morning surrounded by fifteen children. Not my own children, but 8, 9 and 10 year olds at Mast Landing School in Freeport, Maine. These are a group of kids who sit with me or another adult volunteer every week. This particular program serves children from all walks of life. Though some choose to come because they might not have had time for breakfast at home, there are also those who are subsidized. These children are hungry because they didn’t have breakfast at home. In fact though, some of these children might not have even had dinner the night before.

Maine has lots of people for a pro-business mural.

If Gov. LePage's intent is to make Maine's Department of Labor equally "friendly" to business and labor, why not commission a Maine artist to create a mural commemorating the contribution of someMaine business heroes to exhibit in the halls of the Maine Department of Labor along with JudyTaylor's returned mural?

When I think of all the wonderful people in my life and my physical and financial comforts and security, I don't think I am blessed. I am not just lucky. I am thankful.