By Adrienne Sharp
We are happy to welcome guest blogger Adrienne Sharp to Serene Ambition. Adrienne has over 20 years experience as a producer/writer/director for numerous
broadcast and corporate clients, including The Discovery Channel/CTV, CBC, TSN,
Bravo, Magna International, Canon, Pepsi, IBM and Pioneer Electronics. Her credits
include over 900 successful video productions for sales conferences, tradeshows
and internal
By Jim Selman | Bio
This week is the 40th anniversary of Woodstock.
Can you believe it? It seems not so long ago that we were all about “peace,
love and music”—a generation that was going to change the world. And in many
ways we did! In CBS’s Sunday Morning
retrospective on Woodstock, the theme came through that the ‘spirit’ of that
memorable event lives on in our children at outdoor
By Jim Selman | Bio
This has been a sad week. My partner’s mother died at the
age of 94. Even when the end is expected (and perhaps even welcomed after a
long period of decline), it nonetheless has a powerful impact on those who
cared. All of the clichés aside, there just isn’t much to say to the bereaved
other than “I am sorry for your loss.” As we get older, death and dying becomes
a larger part of our day-to-day reality as we lose friends and loved ones.
By Jim Selman | Bio
Have you ever wondered where the line is between being idealistic versus realistic? I don’t think there is an objective answer. It is one of those questions that each of us must answer for ourselves. The ‘idealistic’ versus ‘realistic’ divide is not the same as ‘optimistic’ or ‘pessimistic’. Optimism and pessimism have to do with how we relate to the future and which crystal ball we’re looking into at the time. Whether the glass is half full or half empty can make for interesting conversation at Starbucks, but at the end of the day doesn’t make any difference. Reality doesn’t care what we think.Being idealistic or realistic has less to do with how we see the future than it does with who we are. It is a choice of how we choose to relate to the world. I am an idealist. That is, I prefer to see the best in people and am committed to winning games worth playing. I see little benefit in arguing against possibility (which is what I generally hear when told I am not being “realistic”). Possibilities are never realistic. If they were, they would be examples. Further, realists
By Kevin Brown | Bio
I had the pleasure of spending last weekend in San Francisco. It has been over 5 years since I last visited the city, and so I was looking forward to experiencing all that it and its people have to offer. From a tourist perspective, my expectations were met in terms of sightseeing, enjoying the variety of restaurants, and taking in some of the museums and art galleries. On this trip, however, my eye turned to the needy, the homeless, and the many people on the street who appeared
At the end of this month, the Elders will be visiting Israel, the West Bank
and Gaza in support of current peace efforts. They plan to meet grassroots organizations, young people, members of
civil society, independent experts, business leaders and others in both Israeli and Palestinian society and listen to the concerns of a wide variety of people who are working hard for peaceful coexistence. The delegation, led by the former president
By Jim Selman | Bio
I am no fan of the far right, but can respect an honest difference of opinion. When the difference of opinion turns into crass and cynical lies and propaganda designed to frighten and deepen the already fragmented population, then it is time to cry “STOP!”. During one of the darker moments of the prior administration, I proposed (with tongue in cheek) the idea of creating a new organization called the “National Organization of Pissed-Off Elders” (N.O.P.E.). Its mission: to step up to the plate and declare that enough is enough whenever and wherever necessary. There is an old maxim that the only thing that has to happen for evil to prevail is for good people to do (and say) nothing.Bob Cesca wrote a brilliant piece in the Huffington Post ("Republicans Lying to Old People about Euthanasia, Robots") slamming the current Republican attempt to defeat health care reform. The Republican attempts are not based on the strength of an argument, but on insane mainstream rhetoric charging that the Bills under consideration were designed