Coast Guard Boats at Escanaba Municipal Dock
Re: Francis X. Donnelly’s June 25 report, “Town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula celebrates birthday, harkens back to better times”
Journalists in the comment stream on DetroitNews.com are right to take Francis X. Donnelly and his editors to task for failing to provide a fair, balanced, and complete perspective on Escanaba.
I lived in Escanaba for 8 years and still own a house there. I laughed out loud at the author’s doomsday proclamations about the Upper Peninsula, which were so negative they became absurd. His word choices seemed plucked from a Dickens novel. I half expected Oliver Twist to creep from the shadows and ask for another pasty. Continue reading
Every day people in terrorist cells are carefully trained to carry out acts of terror that kill hundreds, if not thousands of people.
If they don’t have access to a school for terrorism, people can learn to build bombs on the Internet.
Every day, people are bullied for things that make them different. They come to feel worthless, and that their lives have no meaning.
Human beings are social creatures, and we can lead other people to destruction and despair. But we can also lead each other to creation and hope.
Every day, people in startup communities are carefully trained to launch ventures that create jobs and help hundreds, if not thousands of people.
If they don’t have access to a school for entrepreneurship, people can learn to start companies on the Internet.
Every day, people are appreciated for things that make them different. They come to feel they have value to offer the world and they have the power to change things for the better.
That is the promise of entrepreneurship. Let’s start now.
I gave the following speech today as part of the University of Montana’s Innovation and Imagination Day session on Entrepreneurship. I was invited to represent the student point of view as president of the UM Entrepreneurship Club.
When we think of entrepreneurship, we tend to think of it happening in the present and the future. But I am the child of a history teacher, and my dad taught me that we need to also look at our history to understand the context of current events.
History tells us The University of Montana is home to pioneers. Jeannette Rankin graduated from the University of Montana in 1902 with a degree in Biology. In 1916 she ran against 6 men to become the first female elected to Congress (4 years before women in this country were granted the right to vote). Montana is home to pioneers. Continue reading
I’m just back from a business trip to Eastern Montana, the land of oil wells, sugar beets, and championship rodeo teams. I heard a number of colorful stories along the way, but here’s my favorite.
A man in work clothes walked into a Montana bank, tracking in cow manure with every step. A lady at the counter wrinkled her nose at the trail of dirty bootprints and turned to the man in line next to her. “Why do they let someone like that into the bank?” she complained. ”He’s filthy!”
“Madam,” he replied, “he owns the place.”