Juvenile Justice Blog | "For these are all our children. We will all profit by, or pay for, whatever they become." James Baldwin

Classmate Tamar Birkhead has started a new blog.  Check it out by clicking on the link below.  Very interesting.  (By the way, it is added to the blog roll on the left . . . so you can follow Tamar's posts from here.)

I graduated from law school twenty years ago, and after clerking for a state court appellate judge, I have practiced as a public defender ever since — in both state and federal court, representing both adults and juveniles.  As those of you in the trenches know, the work is not easy, there are very few “wins,” and there is little or no societal (or even professional) recognition for what we do.  Yet, we find ways to keep ourselves going — whether through the support and camaraderie of our colleagues, a strong commitment to defending the underdog, or those infrequent moments when we sense that we just might — maybe, hopefully — be making a difference.

Juvenile Justice Blog | "For these are all our children. We will all profit by, or pay for, whatever they become." James Baldwin

Guest Posts

You may have noticed that we have a contributor to the blog . . . we are, indeed, accepting guest posts.  Please send your post to me at happado@hotmail.com.  It should be in a easily pasted format (ideally Word), rather than a pdf.  So, fire up your imagination and send us something to post.  We would love to hear what you have to say!

A Post for other Yale College Classes Trying to Establish a Web Presence

5 Tips for Launching Your Class Presence on Twitter & Facebook

By Margie Smith Whiteleather TC ‘87

Don’t wait until your next Yale class reunion.  Help your classmates connect to each other right now and at the same time build these new communication channels for announcing your events.  On Twitter especially, the discovery of other Yale groups and people is easy and fluid.

1.Use a general name for your class year, not something date specific.

Use just your class name, such as Yale1989 or YaleCollege84. If you want to recognize a special event, you can change your profile photo to reflect that. Facebook will NOT let you change your page name after you have more than 200 followers.  (On Facebook set up as a “page” versus a “group.”  Read the details in their help section.)

2.Start listing your Twitter and Facebook accounts in all your communications.

Spell out the precise Twitter handle, and Facebook name. Put them in everything:  class notes in the Yale Alumni Magazine; bulk emails; paper communications; on signs at check-in tables at special events.

3.Announce a hashtag for use in Twitter.

In your bio blurb list your hashtag, such as #Yale87, and use it frequently in your tweets. Watch for other Yale event hashtags so that you can connect to those conversations, such as #YaleReunion.  By clicking on a hashtag you will find other people referencing that same topic, which is how you discover people you wouldn’t have known, or known to look for, on Twitter.

4.Follow (on Twitter) and like (on Facebook) other Yale alumni organizations.

This alerts them that you exist; they may follow you back. Log in to your account regularly to read your newsfeed, because these organizations are a great source of news to “retweet” or “share” to your classmates and followers.

5.Plan an editorial calendar for your posts.

Think about the events in the next twelve months and jot down ideas for items to post. Start with recognition of basic Yale alumni seasons: Yale Day of Service (@YDOS), reunions, class events, Feb Club Emeritus (@febclub), plus shout-outs for classmates’ projects. You’ll find you have more to say than you realized.

Start today and you’ll build a strong following before your next reunion. Discuss this with your class leadership group, and then have a volunteer who’s familiar with the social media platforms run with it.  Share the Twitter password with a few people, and set up more than one person as Facebook page administrators so that you will have back-ups in place who have access to your accounts.

YaleWomen | Global network of Yale women alums

Have you heard about YaleWomen?  Many haven’t yet, but they will.  Organized by some amazing Yale alumna, YaleWomen is a shared interest group for all Yale women alums.  Click below to learn more.

Our Mission

Our mission is to create a vibrant, engaged community of alums, drawn together by the common thread of our Yale experiences, that is committed to advancing women's voices and perspectives and to enriching and inspiring one another, Yale, and the world.
Here is the link to the full strategic plan.

Our Structure

YaleWomen is:

• The first global network of Yale women alums
• A vibrant, engaged community of women – drawn together by the common thread of our Yale experiences
• Focused on advancing women’s voices and perspectives and enriching and inspiring one another, Yale and the world
• Dedicated to connecting women both in-person and online

• Organization

  YaleWomen was formed following the 2010 Celebrating Yale Women: 40 Years in Yale College, 140 Years at Yale event held on the Yale campus. YaleWomen is a shared interest group for all Yale women alums. We consider all Yale women alums to be members of YaleWomen, and welcome the participation of alums who want to get involved. Help us to spread the word about YaleWomen. You can connect with us via our website, by joining our Facebook and LinkedIn groups, and following us on Twitter. Join an existing regional chapter – or start one in your geographic area – or start one based on an interest area of yours. Together, YaleWomen can change the world.

YaleWomen | Global network of Yale women alums

Neighbors Recall Living Next to James "Whitey" Bulger

Here is an interesting piece – produced for radio, by our very own Gideon Brower.

Despite being wanted on suspicion of murder and managing to elude authorities for dozens of years, former Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger was a typical neighbor, often having friendly interactions with those in his Santa Monica apartment complex, neighbors said Tuesday.

"They were the most regular, nice, decent couple in LA," one neighbor said Tuesday on KCRW's "UnFictional."

One neighbor recalled, "I miss them," and another said, "I miss their presence."

Many of the neighbors saw the infamous mobster and his girlfriend daily, claiming they took walks together in the evening and occasionally performed random acts of generosity. Building manager Josh Bond said that Bulger allowed him into his apartment and they drank alcohol together.

Bond said he considered Bulger a friend.

The episode, entitled "The Couple in 303," was produced by Gideon Brower, a screenwriter who lived across the street from the couple.

Bulger, 82, and longtime girlfriend, Catherine Grieg, were arrested June 22, 2011, by the FBI in a quiet neighborhood in a Santa Monica apartment complex on Third Street.

Bulger, who was on the lam for 16 years, is awaiting trial on suspicion of 19 murders. Grieg was sentenced to an eight-year prison term for aiding in his hiding.

Neighbors Recall Living Next to James "Whitey" Bulger | NBC Los Angeles#f5683ee8

Why Women Still Can’t Have It All - The Atlantic

In our circles, I am often known for throwing parties, sending copious amounts of e-mail, and being a cheerleader for our class.  Guilty as charged.  I am also a litigator, so people expect my professional side to about combat.  Often, it is.  However, one of my deep interests in my professional life is figuring out how to attract and retain women at the highest levels of the legal profession.  This is not an easy task.  This week’s Atlantic magazine article highlights the issues.  Please give it a read, along with the Harvard article below.  Once you do, consider if we want to have a broader discussion as a class about this.  (On this point, I would welcome guest posts.)  Click on the links to read the articles.  Please let us know what you think.

Eighteen months into my job as the first woman director of policy planning at the State Department, a foreign-policy dream job that traces its origins back to George Kennan, I found myself in New York, at the United Nations’ annual assemblage of every foreign minister and head of state in the world. On a Wednesday evening, President and Mrs. Obama hosted a glamorous reception at the American Museum of Natural History. I sipped champagne, greeted foreign dignitaries, and mingled. But I could not stop thinking about my 14-year-old son, who had started eighth grade three weeks earlier and was already resuming what had become his pattern of skipping homework, disrupting classes, failing math, and tuning out any adult who tried to reach him. Over the summer, we had barely spoken to each other—or, more accurately, he had barely spoken to me. And the previous spring I had received several urgent phone calls—invariably on the day of an important meeting—that required me to take the first train from Washington, D.C., where I worked, back to Princeton, New Jersey, where he lived. My husband, who has always done everything possible to support my career, took care of him and his 12-year-old brother during the week; outside of those midweek emergencies, I came home only on weekends.

Magazine - Why Women Still Can’t Have It All - The Atlantic



"Having It All" Is Not a Women's Issue - Stew Friedman - Harvard Business Review
Now, I know that this is a Yale-related blog, so Harvard stuff is not typically called for. However, I found this article interesting, too.

The resonance of Anne-Marie Slaughter's Atlantic article is testimony to how far we've come since 1987, when I began talking about work and family in my Wharton School classes. Back then, many students — men and women — flat-out resented it. "We're here to learn about business, not family," they said. And when I started the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project a few years later, I got some strange looks, for it was odd to be a man talking about work and family at a business school known mainly for its strength in finance. "Why," some of my colleagues wondered, "are you focusing on this women's issue?"
But this is not a women's issue; our increasingly shared understanding is that this a critical social issue with great economic consequences.

"Having It All" Is Not a Women's Issue - Stew Friedman - Harvard Business Review

Fiction Review: Bad Little Falls by Paul Doiron.

Check the review of Paul Doiron’s latest book.

 

The excellent third novel from Edgar-finalist Dorion featuring game warden Mike Bowditch (after 2011’s Trespasser) finds Bowditch in Maine’s equivalent of Siberia, depressed Washington County, to which he was transferred after he became an embarrassment to the powers-that-be by shooting a murderer in self-defense. Bowditch’s strict approach to enforcing licensing regulations soon earns him the enmity of some locals, one of whom affixes a coyote’s pelt to his door as a warning. One winter night, while driving home through a blizzard, the warden receives a call from the man at whose house he just had dinner, veterinarian Doc Larrabee, who needs his help with a person suffering from a severe case of frostbite. Larrabee reports that the victim of the cold, who appeared at a neighbor’s house, managed to communicate, despite his grave condition, that he had a companion. The search for that missing companion involves Bowditch in a murder case with some truly wicked twists. Dorion matches strong characters with effective prose and subtle characterizations. Fans of Steve Hamilton’s Alex McKnight series, likewise set in a remote region close to Canada, will find a lot to like

Fiction Review: Bad Little Falls by Paul Doiron. Minotaur, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-55848-2

"That Way Madness Lies..." by Sandra Luckow — Kickstarter Request from Classmate

Classmate Sandra Luckow has a new project and is look for some support.  Please click below to read about her project and how you might help.

...That Way Madness Lies.

My name is Sandra Luckow and I need your help to continue my ascent into "Madness."
You think it can't possibly happen to you or anyone you care about. And, certainly, if fate dealt such a blow, it would be more manageable in the shadows. But the odds are not in your favor. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 or older--or about one in four adults -- suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.  Even though mental disorders are widespread in the population, the main burden of illness is concentrated in a much smaller portion of about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 who suffer from a serious mental illness.  In addition, mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and Canada for ages 15-44.  (The Kim Foundation) 
"That Way Madness Lies"... (a line from "King Lear," Act III, Scene IV) is a feature-length documentary film about my brother's rare late-onset paranoid schizophrenia told, in-part, from his point-of-view with a collection of iPhone video clips he made before being committed to 180 days at the Oregon State Hospital in Portland. His illness has been an unpredictable, hellish journey through a landscape including his friends and family.

"That Way Madness Lies..." by Sandra Luckow — Kickstarter

The Art of the Wedding Toast - NYTimes.com

Check out Bruce Feiler’s latest NYTimes piece on the art of the wedding toast by clicking on the link below.

MY friend was distressed. His brother was getting married this summer, and he knew he would be expected to give a toast. Not just any toast, but one that would be funny, heartfelt and memorable.

But there was a problem. My friend had a complicated relationship with his brother. He didn’t much care for his future sister-in-law and he wasn’t comfortable speaking in public. Desperate, he turned to me one night over dinner. “Help!”

June means the arrival of summer wedding season. For many, this is a time of anticipation, filled with the promise of joyful dancing, flowery bouquets and Champagne trysts with old college flames. But for an equal number of people it’s a time of dread, weighed down by pouffy dresses, ill-timed rain showers and cringe after cringe spawned from lame toasts.

So how do you avoid embarrassing yourself at a loved one’s wedding or, worse, humiliating the bride and bridegroom? Here are some helpful hints for what not to say in a wedding toast, with a few a tips on what to say.

The Art of the Wedding Toast - NYTimes.com

Yale Alumni Service Corps -- Nicaragua

The Yale Alumni Service Corps has two service trips this year.  One was to Nicaragua this past March.  It was a tremendous trip -- with 60 Yale alums partnering with 24 Yale Nursing School students and professors to work in an impoverished community in Nicaragua.  You can see an inspirational video about the trip by clicking here.

This summer, YASC will be heading to Ghana -- with Kathy Edersheim and Darcy Troy Pollock playing key roles in making the trip happen.  Can't wait to hear about all they accomplish.

Next year, look for YASC to expand, with 2012 trips to Nicaragua and Ghana and, we hope, some domestic service trip opportunities.  This year's trips have sold out quickly, so I will make sure that the Class if 87 knows when to sign up.

As you know from last year's blogs about the YASC trip to the Dominican Republic, these trips change lives -- the lives of those who go and the lives of those we serve.  Please think about participating.

Amelia Earhart, Found and Lost

Classmate Jane Mendelsohn wrote an interesting piece in this past weekend's New York Times.  Click here to read it.  Here is how it begins  . . .

THERE was a picture of Amelia Earhart in the newspaper. Actually, it was in this newspaper. I read the accompanying article while riding on a train from New Haven to New York when I was in my mid-20s. Although I had graduated a few years earlier, I was still living in the town where I’d gone to college. New Haven was cheap, and book reviews paid money back then. This was in the early ’90s. The train was quiet. No one had a cellphone. The article in the newspaper said that a search party believed it had found a piece of Earhart’s plane on an atoll in the Pacific. And maybe a piece of her shoe.


I didn’t know much about Amelia Earhart, but the idea of her surviving on a desert island, even if only for a little while, appealed to me, sang to me, waved furiously to me from a great distance. Perhaps this was because I felt at the time as if I were flying hopelessly around the world and searching for land, longing for one of those islands of stability some of us keep looking for in our 20s, a braceleted wrist held up to the face, hand shielding our eyes from the harsh sun of adulthood, not realizing that we will have to build that island for ourselves. Whatever the reason, I was certainly not the first person to be fascinated by Earhart’s disappearance. Nor the last.

Class Council Call on June 12

On Tuesday, June 12, at 5:00 P.M.  We will be having our first Class Council conference call.  All are welcome to participate.  To get the dial-in information, please sign up by clicking here.

The purpose of the Class Council is to help our class connect with each other, engage in the life of the Yale community and participate in social, service and (perhaps) scholarly activities.

Here is our tentative agenda:

I.  Welcome and Overview

II.  Class Survey

III.  Local Class Social Activities
      A.  What kinds of events would classmates like?
      B.  Where should we hold social events?

IV.  Class "Field Trips"
      A.  Are classmates interested in doing short and affordable social/educational trips together?
      B.   What kinds of "field trips" would classmates like?
      C.  Where would classmates like to travel together?
      D.   Are there travel companies with whom we can partner to organize class trips?

V.   Service
      A.   Are classmates interested in community service projects together?
      B.   Is there a way to help classmates support the service work of others in the class?
      C.   Is the class interested in doing its own Yale Alumni Service Corps trip?

VI.  Involvement at Yale
      A.  How do we best catalog the opportunities for classmate involvement at Yale?
      B.  How do we best inform classmates about the opportunities for classmate involvement at Yale?

VII.  Social Media
        A.  How can we improve communication to classmates?

VIII.  Other Business

YaleNews | A look at Yale’s musical globetrotters

 

In what has become an annual tradition, many of Yale’s a cappella groups and other performing ensembles take off for summer singing tours as soon as the academic year is over.

All told, Yale’s singing ambassadors — the Alley  Cats, Spizzwinks(?), Whiffenpoofs, Whim ’n Rhythm, Out of the Blue, and Schola Cantorum — traveled to five continents. Here’s a look at their adventures as they sang their way across the globe.

Click the link below to check out what these groups are doing, where they’re going and when you might be able to see them!

YaleNews | A look at Yale’s musical globetrotters

Another thank you note to the Class

Dear Classmates,

Our Reunion was not only a huge success on the fun and friends front, it was also a huge success on the fundraising front. Our Class was remarkably generous in its support of Yale and the exciting things happening at the University. Reunion Gift Co-Chairs Susan Forst, Jason Reese, and Gavin Wellington, and their 19 member Gift Committee along with the Class Agents would like to thank everyone who has participated in the reunion gift effort.

Some of our classmates were so enthusiastic about what they saw and experienced during Reunion that they have decided to add to their already generous gifts to Yale. One creative classmate added $8,725 to the gift -- a thoughtful and touching gesture.

For those of you who have asked about whether there is still time to contribute to our Class Gift, the answer is simple: there is still time! And, we are very close to hitting our Class Alumni Fund goal by June 30th. We only need $33,000 more in unrestricted dollars -- and the University would really benefit from the continued generosity of the Class of 1987. If you have not participated in our gift effort yet, they ask that you please consider making a gift to the Alumni Fund to help us achieve this goal! Please reach out to Kerry Smith [kerry.smith@yale.edu], our Yale staff liaison, if you would like to make a gift or go to the following link: www.yale.edu/giveYC.

Thankfully,

Susan Forst, Jason Reese, and Gavin Wellington

Sex in the Bible and preaching hate – Bruce Feiler on Anderson Cooper 360

 

You saw him last week on a Reunion panel.  Now, check out Bruce on Anderson Cooper 360:

A child singing an anti-gay song for his church gets a standing ovation. His church says he was only singing what’s in the Bible. But are they cherry-picking sins? “Walking the Bible” author Bruce Feiler weighs in.

Sex in the Bible and preaching hate – Anderson Cooper 360 - CNN.com Blogs

Reunion Write Up For Yale Alumni Magazine

What a great Reunion. Our Class rocked -- people started rolling in on Thursday afternoon and the excitement built all weekend. By the end, we had well over 1,000 classmates and their guests join us for a weekend of connecting with old friends friends of long standing, hanging out, dancing, singing, thinking, eating and just plain old enjoying ourselves.

The highlights of the weekend included classmate panels on what it was like to work at the White House, the future of the novel, the human mind, being a professional athlete, getting your child through the college admissions process, the economy, and much more. One exciting panel – the Long and Winding Road – highlighted the different paths people have taken to get to this spot in their lives. All great stuff.  For a video of the highlights, please click here.

Another highlight were the evenings under the big tent on Old Campus. People stayed up late talking to their friends and rekindling old relationships. Saturday night included a die hard group on the dance floor who were not pleased when the music stopped at 1 AM.

At the end of the day, our Reunion was really not about discussing our personal list of accomplishments and achievements. It was about how our four years together impacted us. How the shared Yale experience we joked about 25 years ago at Class Day has shaped our lives. And it most definitely has shaped our lives -- not just through the classes we took, the things we learned, and the majors we declared but through the friends we made: the friends who have cheered us on, the friends who have counseled and consoled us, the friends who have inspired us, the friends who have challenged us and set us straight, the friends we laugh with, and the friends we came back to New Haven to see.

As we leave our 25th Reunion, there was a palpable sense of connection with the Class and a desire to participate in Yale’s vibrant community. Those interested in joining in can do so a few ways:

Class E-newsletter We have a monthly class e-newsletter (which I will be giving a rest for a little while). If you’d like to get the newsletter but you’re not, just send me an e-mail at happado@hotmail.com and I will be sure to send it your way.

Class Facebook Group For pictures from Reunion, for updates from your friends, you can find it on the Class Facebook Group.

Class Twitter You can follow class news via twitter: @YaleCollege1987 or #yale87.

Class Council   We are forming a Class Council – a clearinghouse of ideas and initiatives. Let's work together to solve some of the problems we, as a class, might be uniquely positioned to solve. And, let's learn about and support each other's passions. We have such a talented group of people who have already done so much. Imagine how much more full the next five years of our lives will be if we live them with a common purpose. You can get more information by clikcing on the Class Council tab at the top of the page or by clicking here.

The last five years have been transformative for our class – many of us have become active in the AYA and Yale more broadly. Let’s take that involvement to a new level during the next five years, so our 30th Reunion will be even better!

Thank You

Dear Classmates,

Thank you so much for coming in droves to Reunion!  The panels were great.  The Day at Yale was fun.  The meals were terrific.  But, what made the weekend so wonderful were all the classmates who flew, drove, and trained their way to New Haven.  We missed those of you who could not make it, and we are so grateful to those who took the time to come.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

To show our appreciation for the tremendous turnout, your Reunion Committee has made a "Thank You" Video.  Click and enjoy:


See you at the 30th!

Your Reunion Committee

P.S.  We are still seeking additional pictures -- especially those that might be funny or heartwarming.  We will add pictures as they role in.

Yale Summer Arts Institute

The Yale Black Alumni Association and the Association of Yale Alumni invite you to be part of an enriching service opportunity this summer.

Register today to join fellow alumni and friends in providing Arts programming to middle school students in the Bronx, NY.  Many of the students we encounter have never had the benefit of music or Arts classes in their public schools.

We need volunteers to:

Mentor -- Provide guidance and support throughout the day to students who may need extra help with the curriculum or who just need a positive influence.

Provide and/or Assist with Creative Workshops -- Are you an instrumentalist, singer, dancer, actor or all of the above? Do you have a creative workshop topic that might be a fit for 6th grade students? Please let us know as we are developing afternoon workshops led by Yale alumni and friends to enrich the morning curriculum.

Field Trips/Chaperone -- Do you have ties to an arts organization, theater or museum that would welcome middle school students?

Donate -- Like many other organizations, SIA has felt the reality of these challenging economic times. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding, we have cancelled our summer program in Los Angeles  but hope to offer enrichment opportunities during the school year for children in the L.A. area. Any  financial support would help to further our programming!

And if you just want to give back to your community, whether you are a concert violinist or don't know a whole note from a half note or the color blue from cerulean -- we need you! This is an opportunity to volunteer in the summer and maintain your mentoring connection with students throughout the year.

For further information, to register and/or donate please click here  

Marina Keegan and the gift of time - Opinion - The Boston Globe

Our own Janet Wu writes a moving piece in the Boston Globe, putting our Reunion in context.  Well done, Janet.  Click below for the whole article.

One week ago, I was rushing across the Yale campus to catch a panel on the presidential election and life in the White House. As was often the case during my undergrad years, I barely made it.
At that very same time a young woman, who had just graduated from Yale days before, lost her life in a car crash on the Cape. She was not speeding.

Marina Keegan and the gift of time - Opinion - The Boston Globe

The Ivy Ode from Our Class Day -- Classic

New Book by Bronwen Hruska

Right before Reunion, I learned that Bronwen Hruska is about to publish a new book.  I added to the magical "wheel of books" on the right hand side.  Here is a little bit more information about the book:

“Bronwen Hruska's Accelerated is a smart, sexy thriller balanced on top of a real-life horror story: the irresponsible over-medication of our children by our schools." (Madison Smartt Bell, author of The Color of Night)

“A fast-paced, crystal-clear, and funny exploration of a subject that, thanks to Hruska, can finally be openly talked about. A kind of Kramer v. Kramer meets Erin Brokovich in a dark dystopia with baby pharmaceuticals packed in lunch boxes set in the most treacherous world there is: New York City private schools.” (Jennifer Belle, author of High Maintenance and The Seven Year Bitch )

A single dad and his son discover what lies beneath the gilded facade of a tony Upper East Side private school—an endemic of over-medicated children 

            Every afternoon Sean Benning picks up his son, Toby, on the marble steps that lead into the prestigious Bradley School.  Everything at Bradley is accelerated-3^rd graders read at the 6^th grade level, they have labs and facilities to rival most universities, and the chess champions are the bullies. A single dad and struggling artist, Sean sticks out like a sore thumb among the power-soccer-mom cliques and ladies-who-lunch that congregate on the steps every afternoon.  But at least Toby is thriving and getting the best education money can buy.  Or is he?

            When Sean starts getting pressure from the school to put Toby on medication for ADD, something smells fishy, and it isn't the caviar that was served at last week's PTA meeting. Toby's "issues" in school seem, to Sean, to be nothing more than normal behavior for an eight-year-old boy. But maybe Sean just isn't seeing things clearly, which has been harder and harder to do since Toby's new teacher, Jess, started at Bradley. And the school has Toby's best interests at heart, right? But what happens when the pressure to not just keep up, but to exceed, takes hold? When things take a tragic turn, Sean realizes that the price of this accelerated life is higher than he could have ever imagined. 

Bronwen Hruska, the publisher of Soho Press, has worked as a journalist and screenwriter for twenty years. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, More Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Cosmopolitan, the Village Voice, and the San Francisco Chronicle. She has sold an original screenplay to Columbia Pictures and original television pilots to NBC, CBS, Lifetime, and Sony television. She lives in Manhattan with her two sons. Accelerated is her first novel. It will be published by Pegasus Books October 2012.

Parenting Guru: When kids “catch” stress

David Code was at reunion and a lot of people were talking about his latest book.  Click below to read an interview David gave recently.

David Code, Episcopal minister, father of two and author of Kids Pick Up on Everything: How Parental Stress is Toxic to Kids, explains why when it comes to children’s health, the real toxin is your tension, because kids pick up on the "vibe" you give off.

Parenting Guru: When kids “catch” stress