Live Life...Today; Tomorrow is Promised to No One

By T. R. Shaw Jr.

            Middle Age is a challenge in more ways than one.  The past few weeks have been especially challenging for me as I’ve lost two fraternity brothers who are both my age.

            Tom Hardie was my college roommate and Sigma Chi pledge brother at Central Michigan University.  After college I rarely stayed in touch with him as we went our separate ways.  Quite honestly I lost track of him altogether.  Ironically, I inquired about him at a fraternity gathering about a month ago, and nobody had seen or heard from him in years.  About ten days later, word spread through our networks that he had died.  Apparently, he had a long struggle with muscular dystrophy none of us knew about.  His death was as mysterious as what he did after college, all of us regret not keeping up with him.

Then one morning recently, I received a call from pledge brother Kurt Feight informing me brother Tim Brockman died suddenly this morning.  My heart sank.  Tim Brockman was the type of person who would never slow down, a hard-charger in everything, driven and motivated to be successful, and constantly coping with a great deal of stress like many of us are today trying to stay on top of everything.

Tim was a “Townie” in Mount Pleasant, Michigan and Sigma Chi legacy.  His father was a CMU professor and a Sigma Chi at DePauw University.  Tim, who grew up in the college town was a local entrepreneur and business leader.  He owned a popular college eatery, Max and Emily’s which he modeled after the famous Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor.  As a local alumni he was also the Sigma Chi financial advisor and worked closely with the active chapter and fellow "Townie" Kurt Feight, a childhood friend.  Feight chairs the fraternity's House Corporation. 

We all had lunch a week earlier at his restaurant as we discussed fraternity business.  We were all working on the upcoming 50^th Anniversary of our beloved Sigma Chi chapter.

The walls of Max & Emily’s are adorned with NFL and NBA jerseys from former CMU football and basketball players.  The day we met, a big, burly guy came in and sat down near us and Tim said, “That’s a great place to sit!”  The guy looked up and said, “You bet it is!”  I didn’t recognize him, but it was former Chippewa star and Cincinnati Bengal and San Francisco 49er lineman, Brock Gutierrez who is now retired from the NFL and a regular figure in the Mount Pleasant community.  He sat at the table under his framed jersey.  I eventually made the connection.  Something you don’t see every day…unless you are in a college town! 

Brockman at Max & Emily’s Eatery in Mount Pleasant.  Some of the jerseys

Can be seen in the background. (Courtesy of Mount Pleasant Morning Sun)

I’m the communications chairman and newsletter editor for the fraternity alumni chapter.  Kurt Feight, in a very somber voice called me with the shocking news. I was devastated. He asked me to “put the word out” about his death.  Needless to say, I was shocked and saddened but felt obligated to write up something quick and eloquent for social media before word got out.  I was humbled and honored to do so.

  About a year earlier I wrote an alumni feature story on Tim for our fraternity newsletter.  I really got to know him well and was impressed with what he was doing in the Mount Pleasant community. The story wrote itself.

Tim had started a summer street concert series in front of his restaurant that featured regional artists and raised money for great causes.  Sundays he opened his restaurant for free meals for struggling seniors and the area’s homeless in an organization called “People Helping People.”  He worked hard to earn catering contracts from the university and was a familiar face at nearly every event at the school.

Tim was a great mentor and example for students and fraternity brothers.  He hired a lot of them at his restaurant.  He was inspired to “go big” with his business, but instead followed the mantra of staying small…but great!  He turned down offers to expand his business, preferring instead to “stay local.” 

Unbeknownst to him, he was to be recipient of the Mount Pleasant Chamber’s “Citizen of the Year” award.  The presentation was being kept a secret and would have presented two days after his death.  He will receive it posthumously. 

He was one of those rare leaders everyone wants to see and be like today, but like many of us the price of success is often sacrificing much of your personal well-being.  The food business is tough, really tough.  It requires you to be there all the time and make sure everything is perfect.  It takes a special breed to succeed in any culinary field today.

I spent nearly 30 years in the funeral business before selling my funeral home to pursue new passions.  Many think funeral directors become immune to death and tragedy, we don’t.  We struggle with “having a life” like many in high-level service intensive occupations.

I left the funeral business for many reasons, but among the biggest was the fact that longevity under the stress was not in my DNA.  My great grandfather died at 52, my grandfather at 56, and my dad at 65.  Point is, life is short.  Sometimes you have to look at the big picture and put everything in perspective.  As Steve Harvey said in his most recent book, sometimes we have to JUMP!

I’m in the process of writing a book entitled “DEFY THE IMMEDIATE” which deals with life’s struggles and challenges, based on many of my own.  In the funeral business I grew weary of seeing fellow fifty-somethings on the embalming table.  I came to realize that life is “just too damn short” to not be living your destiny, developing your God-given talents and pursuing your dreams. 

Life is far too short to worry about your finances; to be stuck at a job your heart’s not into just for the paycheck; to be in toxic relationships and generally be miserable.  You have a choice, there is more to life!  It takes courage to see that and do something about it, courage many of us struggle to find.

The recent deaths of brothers Tom and Tim reinforce the fact that every day is a gift from God.  If we are not living every day to fulfill our destiny, then we aren’t living!  We all have talents and if money wasn’t an object what would we be doing?  That’s the question we all have to ask ourselves. 

They say winners never quit, but quitting something you hate for something you love isn’t quitting, it’s living!

What are you waiting for?  Life was meant to be lived, Today!  Tomorrow is promised to no one!

T. R. Shaw Jr. is CEO of Shaw Communication in Battle Creek, Michigan.  He is a former funeral director and Navy public affairs officer, Writer, Columnist, Speaker and Aspiring Author. He blogs at:  The Reluctant R(L)eader at www.read-mor.blogspot.com

Space and the Sea; We still have a long way to go!

By T. R. Shaw Jr.

Space X 9 Falcon Rocket lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at
Kennedy Space Center, Saturday, February 18 carrying a resupply
mission to the International Space Station.  This is the same pad which
launched Apollo 11 to the Moon and most of the Space Shuttle Flights.
This is also where our Voyage to Mars will begin.

            

            Being a former Navy Officer, I have to return to the sea occasionally for a re-baptism of salt water and to think deeply about life with warm sand between my toes. Apparently it’s something in my DNA.  

When you are on a beach it seems easier to entertain deep cerebral thoughts you don’t otherwise have.

            I recently visited the Atlantic coast of Florida.  On this trip we stayed a few miles South of Cape Canaveral, an area known as the “Space Coast.”  The Kennedy Space Center is ground zero for space exploration and Launch Pad 39A is where Apollo 11 began man’s first trip to another celestial body.  This is where our Mission to “Occupy Mars” will begin.

That same pad just launched the Space X Falcon 9 mission to resupply the International Space Station and became the first time a reusable rocket booster “relanded” near the pad.  We are now recycling our space hardware which is a good thing!

I had hoped to see the launch, along with thousands of other people on the beach that day, all of us looking North at 10:01 A.M., on a crystal clear Florida day, but it was a “no-go” at the last second.  Unfortunately, we were airborne on our way home, the next day when it finally lifted off.  I missed seeing history by twenty-four hours.  I can’t get a check-off from my bucket list of seeing a live launch.

            Getting back to pondering, I’ve found it fascinating that our Space Port is so close to the ocean.  It’s there for a number of reasons, primarily safety and latitude.  But the comparisons to space and the sea dominated my thoughts that day.

            Both the sea and space are, and have been frontiers of great exploration.  While we attempt to master space, have we mastered the sea?  The answer is absolutely no!

            Throughout our human existence, mankind has attempted to master the sea.  We’ve always wondered what’s over the horizon and have been eager to get there.  For most of our human existence we have been sea-faring people.  The great age of exploration involved great risks on the high seas; long voyages with unknown dangers, dangers we couldn’t possibly imagine.  The sea is a powerful force to be reckoned with.

As we now move into a new age of space-faring, we face the same unknowns and dangers as our ancestors who first crossed the oceans.

            The closest anyone has come to “mastering” the sea is likely Great Britain.  For years the tiny island nation stretched out across the globe, colonizing on, and near every continent.  For years, it was said that the Sun never set on the British Empire and it was true.  They became master sea-farers, but could never truly master the sea.

            Water is a powerful force.  Tidal waves destroy miles of coastlines in seconds.  We are presently witnessing what a deluge of water is doing to California and the threat of rising ocean levels may see much of our Earthly coastal habitat disappear in the distant future. 

Humans foolishly believe we are masters of our domain, but water is something we will never master.  We can control it and redirect it temporarily, but eventually water always wins. 

In our quest for life in space, our benchmark has always been water.  Where there is water, there is life we hypothesize.         

As I walked down the beach and looked back at my footprints behind me, I watched them disappear with about two wave sweeps.  To me that was a metaphor of just how insignificant we are next to the power of water.

I was excited to learn that NASA wants to return to the Moon soon to begin an outpost in preparation for the Mars mission, it’s becoming more science than science fiction.  In fact NASA wants to send a manned mission into lunar orbit in 2018 on the 50^th Anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission which first circled the Moon.  It’s a bold first step to getting back to manned space flight and may happen if we can muster the will to do it.  I hope we can.

While we look to the heavens to break free from the “surly bonds of Earth” we cannot forget that the ocean still holds the greatest mysteries of our planet.  While we attempt to master space, we must continue attempting to master the sea.  The salvation of this planet will likely come from the sea, not necessarily from space. 

We have to keep exploring both.  We will never fully understand the Cosmos until we fully understand the “Inner Space” of our Oceans.  Our future is ironically tied to the understanding of both frontiers.  It’s time we got back in the game of exploration.

T. R. Shaw Jr. is CEO and co-founder of Shaw Communication in Battle Creek, Michigan.  You can read his blog, The Reluctant R(L)eader at www.read-mor.blogspot.com

Jump; Take the Leap of Faith to Achieve Your Life of Abundance

Jump;

Take the Leap of Faith to Achieve Your Life of Abundance

By Steve Harvey

Harper Collins

196 Pages

"That moment of crisis isn't happening to you---it's happening for you."

           Steve Harvey is a household figure and a television icon, but he’s one of those “celebrities” who snuck up on you.  He’s been around a long time, you know about him, but you may not have known his entire story which he lays out in his new motivational memoir, Jump.

            Before I get too far into this review, I have to say I’m a little jealous.  Harvey’s book is a model for the book I’m writing, entitled Defy the Immediate.  In some way’s he’s “stolen my thunder” but I also have many unique stories which hopefully you’ll be reading soon.  I'm not as high profile, but my stories are just as compelling.  I’m in search of an agent and publisher and I can use this book to help get mine out there.  In many ways his book is perfectly timed to parallel mine and something I can use as a model and great example!  Harvey doesn’t know it, but he’s given me something to shoot for.

            I’ve come to know Harvey through television and his public persona.  I really didn’t know much about his background until reading this book.  I discovered we are both Mid-American Conference brethren, he went to Kent State and I went to Central Michigan.  He tells the story of his less-than-stellar performance at KSU where he eventually “flunked out” but that experience opened other avenues and galvanized his faith to pursue his real dreams of someday being on television. 

Faith in God, confidence and self-motivation toward his destiny “jumps” out of this book.  He unashamedly lays out his witness to the power of God which took him from flunking out, losing a good job with Ford Motor Company, working several others dead end jobs, then “jumping” to pursue entertainment and comedy.  He lived from gig to gig in his car until things started to fall into place and God led him to his destiny and he realized his “gift” that everyone is born with.  It wasn’t easy and he didn’t become a celebrity overnight. 

Harvey waffled in and out of jobs and was selling insurance when the dream of entertainment and comedy forced him to jump.  He went from an unfulfilling existence to pursuing his dreams with an unbridled passion.  As he quoted Einstein, “Imagination is Everything,” it’s a preview of the future.

He shares stories of pursuing comedy and taking any gig, anywhere.  Often, he would drive hundreds of miles and sleep in his car.  He was often tired and hungry, but his drive was overpowering.  He’d make enough in a show to get some food and gas for the car and move on to the next gig.  He set up a phone line in his parents’ home connecting it to an answering machine which he checked often.  That was his “home” office. 

One day he was in the South he got a call to do a show at the Apollo Theater in Harlem which would be televised with other major stars performing.  This was to be his big break and what he’d been shooting for.  Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough money to get a plane ticket to New York and not enough time to drive.  Fortunately, he got a gig in a club in Florida that night which paid him enough to get a plane ticket to New York the next day and he made it to the theater where he got his big television break.  Things greatly improved after that.

Along with success came responsibility and hard life lessons.  Newly married and after a series of great jobs and successes when things were going well in all aspects of his life, financially, professionally and beyond, he learned his accountant died suddenly.  He was deeply grieved at first to learn of the death of one his closest advisors.  However, the death revealed a terrible secret he never saw coming or knew about.  His accountant had failed to file and pay Harvey's taxes in more than seven years.  

Harvey was devastated.  He owed more than eight-figures in back taxes and penalties when they figured it all out.  His new financial advisor deduced it would take at least twelve years get out of that hole.  As a person of great faith, Harvey went to work immediately, working harder than he ever had, living under the fear of losing everything and possibly going to jail.  He took every contract that came along, even if it was less than what he was worth.  Everyone around him feared he would burnout, but he was driven.  He humbly regressed to his days of living from paycheck to paycheck out of his car, but his faith in God carried him through and he made it back.

Throughout his career, he had been an entrepreneur.  He invested and built comedy clubs for aspiring comedians and wisely made other good investments.  The opportunity came to sell some of those assets and that put him within reach, not entirely getting out of debt.  The remainder of the debt was manageable.  God lead him though this dark time again and he never doubted God’s plan in all this.

   

            He goes into a great deal of detail on his experiences and humiliation with the Miss Universe pageant where a team mistake messed up the crowning of Miss Columbia when she was actually first runner up.  It created a social media firestorm and Harvey became the butt of late night jokes and even faced death threats.  But, he took full responsibility for that mishap, even though others would have “handled” it later.  He summoned the courage to do the right thing and take responsibility for mistake on the spot.  He couldn't have lived with himself if he hadn't.   The furor that ensued for weeks would have destroyed a lesser man.  He alienated the entire Latin world by setting it straight after Miss Columbia “won” but his tenacity got him through it and everyone is better off for what happened.  It is a great life lesson in courage, humility and honesty.

The title of his book Jump, is his personal philosophy.  In order to reach our destiny and use our gift, we have to jump and take chances even when it doesn’t feel right.  We cannot stand on the cliff of life and watch it go by.  If we don’t jump, our parachutes will never open.  Everything that happened to him was a jump of faith.  He lays out the case that you cannot move forward in life by standing still, whether it’s leaving a job you hate, getting out of a bad relationship or dealing with a life event out of your control.  You have to jump if you want to truly live and not just exist. 

Jump is full of motivation and life stories that will make the reader truly Jump after reading it.  It gives you a whole new perspective of someone who now appears to “have it all.”  His story and message is riveting.  He is not where he is today by luck or chance.  He worked hard and stayed faithful to his passion and idealism.  Something that runs counter to today’s “I want it now” mentality.

I first learned of his Jump message in a viral video he did with his Family Feud audience following a show taping in early 2016.  I’m really not sure if it’s a carefully planned and crafted promotion for his book or a spontaneous talk which led to this book, but it really doesn’t matter, his message does.  I encourage you to watch this video and read this book.  If you don’t Jump at some point in your life you are not living, but merely existing.

Every Successful Person Has Jumped, Family Feud, January, 2016

Take the Jump and read this book.  It’s the motivation you need for the difficulties you are presently facing.  Few books have inspired me more than this one has.

Maple Syrup Time; Michigan's Sweetest Time of the Year!

By T. R. Shaw

Maple Syrup is Michigan's oldest agricultural enterprise,
and the first crop "harvested" each year.

            My affection for all things Maple, began in my youth when I spent time at my grandparent’s orchard and farm market in Athens, Michigan.

 

Wayne and Lillie Smith operated the Smith Orchards in Athens. They spent their lives growing and selling apples and cider, mostly from their barn market in the fall and sold apples commercially to larger buyers such as Gerber Baby Foods and area supermarket chains.

            In the very early spring, just as winter was breaking a mysterious thing would happen.  Townspeople came around, drilled holes in the maple trees, which line every street in the village, and attached bags which filled up with water on warm days.  Not sure what that was all about, my grandmother would take some of that tree water, bring it into the kitchen and boil it down showing us how it becomes maple syrup.  My sister and I were amazed by the process and learned to love and appreciate pure maple syrup.

            On the other side of the village, several volunteers were busy collecting the sap, and boiling it down to syrup to sell in an annual community fund-raising project dating back to 1950.

 

Since then, volunteers of the Athens Youth Council, who maintain the annual tradition, have generated more than $275,000 for the community.  Their annual labor of love has benefited the village immensely, including helping the Boy Scouts, supporting athletic teams, buying equipment and providing local scholarships.  The funds have also purchased a Jaws of Life for the Athens Fire Department.  Some of the funds have been set aside to replace aging maple trees and upgrade the processing equipment.

 

The syrup is sold at various locations around the village, but usually doesn’t last long.  For many years, the founder of the project, Les Snyder, sold it from his front porch.

In the beginning, sap was boiled down in a wood-fired still which took a lot of time and attention.  There is a fine line between, sap, syrup and sugar.  You had to be careful not to over boil it.  Today, the operation has a state-of-the art computerized gas-fired evaporator built in Vermont, which makes the process fairly simple and efficient.

  

Sap collection is still labor intensive and determined by the flow.  Sometimes it’s a daily pick-up, other times it may take a few days.  Through a robo-call volunteers are notified when they need to help collect.  There is seldom a shortage of volunteers.  It takes about ninety minutes to get around the village and fill the mobile tanker.

Athens has had friendly competition with neighboring Union City whose Rotary Club has done the same project in their community for decades.

 

The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi also partakes in the annual rite of spring on their reservation.  In fact it was Native American’s who introduced Europeans to the art of maple syrup production.  The craft and lore dates back hundreds of years in Native American culture.

            Maple syrup is big business in Michigan according to the Michigan Maple Syrup Association.  It is the oldest agricultural enterprise in the United States and the first crop “harvested” each year.  Michigan has about 500 commercial producers and approximately 2,000 groups like Athens, Union City and the NHBPI Tribe, along with many hobbyists.  Michigan ranks 5^th in the nation in Maple Syrup production at about 90,000 gallons which, seasonally brings in $2.5 million according to the Association website, 
www.mi-maplesyrup.com.

  

            Maple syrup activities have also become part of Michigan’s burgeoning “agri-tourism” sector with two major Maple Syrup Festivals each year one in Shepard and another in Vermontville.  This year, the Association will host a Maple Syrup Weekend in the North, Middle and Southern parts of Michigan.  March 18-19 is slated for Southern Michigan.  Information on events and educational activities can be found at www.michiganmapleweekend.com.

            According to the Athens Youth Council their best year, which typically begins in late February, was 695 gallons in 1984; their smallest was 129 gallons in 2000.  Mother Nature determines the length of the season and amount of production.  Last year they only collected sap for 10 days as the weather warmed quickly and the trees budded, changing the sugar content of the sap.  A good sap run requires a period of cold nights below freezing, with significant warming in the day.  It also has a lot to do with barometric pressure.  In a good year, the sap run goes for 3-4 weeks.  Much of maple syrup production and quality is based on luck, timing and weather rather than pure science.

            So, if you want to shake off winter and witness an annual rite of spring in Michigan, visit a Maple Syrup operation and bring your kids.

 

The Athens Maple House is located at 310 W. South Street in Athens and welcomes visitors when they are operating, mostly during the month of March.  For their operating hours or to help collect, contact Syrup Chairman J. R. Brunner at (269) 317-7593 or visit www.athensyouthcouncil.org.

           

Don’t miss out on one of the greatest and sweetest times in Michigan, but you’d better hurry, it doesn’t last long!

Collecting sap in front of my grandparents home and
former Farm Market in Athens in March 2016

John Glenn; A Hero for the Ages

By T. R. Shaw, Jr.

            New Year’s Eve has always been bittersweet.  It represents the end of another year; another trip around the sun, that we humans measure in our lives by.  It’s sad because we may not have accomplished all we wanted to.  A New Year offers hope, new challenges and excitement that the next year will be even greater.

            Annually, media outlets look back on the famous and infamous people we’ve lost in the past year.  We honor and recognize high profile public life.  Some we profoundly mourn, others not so much.

            Many of those departed celebrities touched us in various ways.  Some through music, the movies and pop culture; others through bold leadership and courageous acts.  Some deaths were expected, some were tragic, but they’ve all left their mark on us.

            On December 8, 2016 we lost John Glenn, my first true American hero growing up.   I was astounded to realize he was 95 years old.  It seemed he was immortal.

            Glenn was one of the original “Mercury 7” Astronauts, all of whom deserve hero status.  While he was the third American in space, he became the first to orbit the earth on February 20, 1962 in Friendship 7, taking the first bold step into space exploration.

            If you’ve never seen the movie The Right Stuff, based on the book by Tom Wolfe which chronicles our first steps in space I urge you do so.  The film takes a little literary and comedic license and won four Academy Awards.  I watched it again the night Glenn died, it was my way of mourning.  Glenn definitely had The Right Stuff!

            While Alan Shepard became the first American into space and Gordon Cooper was the last to fly solo completing 22 orbits in the Mercury program, it was Glenn who captured the world’s attention and became the best known representative of America’s space program. He was the hero we needed at the time.

            In the post-World War II Cold War era with the Soviet Union, America was in a heated “space race” with the goal of gaining the high ground of outer space and the moon.  President John F. Kennedy didn’t mince words when he declared we are going to the moon before the decade was over and we did.  His admonition created and inspired a generation of achievers, thinkers, and doers like no other generation before them.  Going to the moon became a “Team America” effort which touched hundreds of industries and disciplines.  The Mercury 7 astronauts were the “new pioneers” in a dangerous and complex effort to explore the unknown.

 

Glenn, a decorated Marine, “All-American” combat and test pilot from WWII and Korea, became the charismatic face of America’s greatest venture.  Glenn was an inspiration to a new generation of Americans, including the present NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden who followed in his footsteps.  Bolden graduated from the Naval Academy in 1968, became a Marine aviator and test pilot like Glenn and eventually made his way into the Astronaut corps flying four Space Shuttle Missions, one of which launched the Hubble Telescope.  In 2009 Bolden became the first Astronaut and African-American, to head NASA and is presently laying the ground work to “Occupy Mars.”

            Following his space career, Glenn entered politics and represented his home state of Ohio as a U. S. Senator.  His political career included a great deal of political sparring and an unsuccessful bid for President, but it would have likely tarnished his image as an American Hero.

            In his final act of courage, Glenn became the oldest human to fly in space in October 1998 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery at the age of 77.  While some ridiculed it as a publicity stunt and political favor, it was a fitting tribute to America’s Astronaut and the pinnacle of an amazing career and life, solidifying his place in history.

            One commentator recently, said there will never be an American hero greater than John Glenn.  I’ve got to agree.  While others have made great contributions to our society and mankind, Glenn will always be known as America’s Astronaut and true pioneer.  He set the standard of what an astronaut and hero should be and lived his life accordingly.

The world needs more John Glenn’s in the future.  Those with the courage and vision to face danger and explore the cosmos.  Space is not the Final Frontier!

            Godspeed John Glenn, your Mission is complete!

T. R. Shaw Jr. is CEO of Shaw Communication in Battle Creek, Michigan.

            

I'm taking a little time to opine.  Although, I've not posted a book review recently, I have done a great deal of reading and serious study.  I will get back to reviews soon. I'm also in the process of writing a book.

I'm posting a column I recently wrote on the upcoming presidential election.  

I've been avoiding political discourse, but the historian in me is getting anxious and I felt I needed to remind people we are living in historical times.  So here it is.

An Election for the Ages

By T. R. Shaw Jr.

The upcoming presidential election is certain to be a watershed in American history.  It will likely go down as the most dirty, divisive and ugliest campaigns of our time.  It’s a difficult time where neither choice of candidates is truly palatable to the average American.  As one commentator said over the weekend, we have a choice between a buffoon and a criminal.  It’s hard to disagree with that assessment.

Although I’m not a parent, the thought occurred to me, “What should we be telling our children about this today?” 

If I was a history professor, “What would I be telling my students today?”

After thinking about that, I decided we should be telling our youth to become great observers. 

As an historian, I’d urge our youth to take in everything they can over the next several months because you are walking through and living in real-time history today.  This era, no matter the outcome, will be studied, analyzed and rewritten far into the future.  We should be telling our youth to soak it all in as future generations will look back in amazement of what we are going through and dealing with.  We are truly living in an episode of “You are There!”

This election also offers true teachable moments where we can discuss ethics, integrity and morality with living examples of good and bad characters and institutions.

 So, instead of sticking our collective heads in the sand and refusing to deal with the harsh realities, we should be relishing this time as a pivotal moment in our lifetimes.  If you are of a certain age with a great deal of perspective, educate youth on idealisms that are important to you.  Use this time as a positive time and stop avoiding the inevitable.  The sun will rise in November and the world will go on, although it might be a very different world than it is today.  Nobody can predict the future.

I have no idea what the next four or possibly eight years will bring to this nation, but whatever happens we will have to live with the consequences of our actions today.

We need to think, act and do those things our sense of morality dictates.  We need to educate and empower ourselves and our youth because the world is changing before our very eyes.

T. R. Shaw Jr. is CEO of Shaw Communication in Battle Creek, Michigan

Back in the Saddle

Wow, I can't believe it's been a year since I last posted a review.  Much has happened, I recently sold my business and began a new career and life has been hectic to say the least.

I've been reading, but nothing you'd probably be interested in knowing about, basically motivational and specific subject and research material.  I'm still in the process of writing my own book, it's coming slowly but surely.

Rest assured, I'll bet something up shortly, I've got a lot of material to review and will get to it soon.  Some of the reads include John Bacon's new book, ENDZONE and IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING, a political thriller written by Battle Creek author L. D. Beyer.  There may be few other surprises.

Best wishes and keep on reading!

Raisin Bran and Other Cereal Wars; 30 Years of Lobbying for the most Famous Tiger in the World

Raisin Bran and other Cereal Wars;

30 Years of Lobbying for the most Famous Tiger in the World

By George Franklin

iUniverse

144 Pages

George Franklin is a friend of mine and a familiar face around Battle Creek. For many years he was the face of Kellogg and in the forefront of any local and national event the cereal giant has been involved with.  He's been the Government Relations business for Kellogg for 30 years and worked with at least five CEO's and almost became an aide for former CEO and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Guterrierz when he was selected for the post but was denied the job for entirely political reasons.  He gets into that entire episode in the book.

 

Franklin became the "Lobbyist" for Kellogg after serving as a staffer in Washington and becoming involved in the lobbying business after Kellogg's lobbyist was caught up on federal charges of dealing with organized crime. CEO Bill LaMothe took him on to operate the new Kellogg Government Relations office in Washington.  The timing couldn't have been better for the 29 year old poitical junkie.  

 

One of his first battles in Washington was with the Federal Trade Commission's unreasonable quest to breakup the food industry, namely, Kellogg, General Foods and General Mills, claiming they held a "Shared Monopoly" in the cereal business.   I remember that episode well and how absurd the notion of was of a shared monopoly, a true oxymoron.  I remember someone saying that's sort of like "common uniqueness."   Much of the book was a trip down memory lane as the details of the big issues Kellogg faced as I grew up came flooding back.

 

During those days of the Carter administration, the FTC was out of control and thought they could use the cereal business as a first stop in a campaign to break up big businesses and punish success.  As the case went on, Franklin cut his teeth on this issue.   The stories are fascinating of dealing with Congress and the press and the absurdities of their anti-business legislation.  The factor that terminated the issue was the election of pro-business president, Ronald Reagan who put the brakes on an FTC attempting to over regulate free enterprise and success.

 

Another story, Frankin discusses is understanding the connections between food producers and the sugar lobby and how how the cereal companies got caught up in more absurdities.  As the food program for schools, women and children (WIC) and other such nutrition programs were developed, many of the Kellogg products were excluded because of the bias against sugar.  Raisin Bran was excluded from the program because the added raisins increased the sugar level.  The absurdity was other propaganda the government published encouraged people to add fruit to their cereal and even had a raisin program they subsidized in California.  It made no sense that many of the Kellogg's products were excluded and Franklin teamed up with others in the food industry to fight the sugar bias.  This problem has been resurrected by the Obama administration in the recent Farm Bill and the First Lady's nutrition campaign.  This is an issue that pays lobbyists kids college bills he quipped.

 

One of the refreshing aspects of this book is the reminder of how great a leader CEO Bill LaMothe was.  LaMothe had the courage to do what was necessary on many occasions.  One of the greatest stories was his adamant stance on remaining in South Africa and opposing Apartheid when the U.S. Government was urging all American business to leave.  LaMothe would not abandon the workers at the Kellogg Plant by bowing to the political pressures to leave.  The driving force in Congress was our very own Congressman Howard Wolpe who he locked horns with on several occasions.  Wolpe, an academic, was the leading authority in Congress on Africa and believed all American companies should leave the troubled nation.  LaMothe belived Kellogg was a force for good and employed people of all races.  Leaving would simply create unemployment and chaos..  

 

One of the great stories in the book are about the politically active Kellogg South African Union Leader Christopher Dlamini.  To the South African government he a terrorist, to the African National Congress (ANC) he was a hero and freedom fighter.  One day, the plant manager called headquarters and said Christoper was missing.  Sure enough, he had been abducted by government and his life was in great danger.

 

LaMothe went directly President P.W. Botha and demanded he be released unharmed and gave Botha an ultimatum.  If he didn't release him, he would hold a press conference in Battle Creek, the heart of Howard Wolpe's district, and announce Kellogg was leaving South Africa.  It worked and Dlamini was released.  Throughout all this, Franklin had to facilitate the communications which was not an easy task.

 

The book has a lot of interesting stories about dealing with government and representing the company at the highest levels of government in both the U.S. and abroad.  One espisode I really enjoyed was the call Kellogg received from Rudy Guilani a few days after 9/11.  The mayor knew Muhammad Ali, was living in Benton Harbor and he contacted Kellogg asking if they fly him out to New York City to uplift the spirits of the recovery team AND quell some of the anti-Muslim sentiment that was plaguing the city.  Kellogg agreed and Franklin got to escort the Champ to NYC in a whirlwind tour that was humbling, enlightening and unforgettable.  Something Kellogg never really publicized, but a tremendous gesture.

 

There are many other interesting stories of dealing with the good and the bad in politics and government.  Franklin's book is concise, easy to read and offers a great deal of advice and insight for anyone studying leadership or working in government relations. 

 

Franklin points out, and rightfully so, that lobbying is an vital part of government and looking out for not only business interests, but consumer interests as well, is vital to our nation.

 

For me it was also a reminder of how much influence a company and town like Battle Creek, Michigan has had on the world.  Kellogg has produced some of the greatest business leaders in the nation.  The global reach of the company is improving the health of the world and providing employment and stability in nearly every continent of the globe. 

 

Franklin's insights are honest, insightful and fun to read.  This is a book that should be in every public relations and political science class.  I can't recommend it enough.

 

The History of Michigan Wines; 150 Years of Winemaking along the Great Lakes

By Lorri Hathaway & Sharon Kegereiss
The History Press, 2010
157 Pages

When you dine in a great restaurant anywhere in the United States today and review the wine list you are overwhelmed with the selection of California and foreign label wines.  Occasionally, and more frequently, you are finding at least one Michigan wine on those lists.

The Michigan Wine Industry is coming of age and its products are starting to get noticed as well as winning major awards.

Hathaway and Kegerreis took their passion for wine and researched all of Michigan's wineries.  But the book is more than a wine guide.  It's a geographic, agricultural and social history of everything surrounding wine in Michigan.

What most people don't know is that Michigan has a long history of wine making dating back more than 150 years.  That history, which is both economic and cultural, is extremely fascinating and parallels the tumultuous history of the state itself.

Geographically, they examine Michigan's place in the Great Lakes as the perfect setting for fruit growing.  The Lake Michigan shore provides the proper atmosphere for fruit with Michigan's "Fruit Belt" running nearly the entire length of Michigan's Western shoreline.

The Grand Traverse region in the Northwest lower peninsula, rests on the 45th Parallel.  If you look at a globe the 45th runs through the great wine regions of Germany and France and the hilly moist atmosphere is nearly identical to it's European protege.  The Grand Traverse region is well known for it's German style Riesling wines.

Historically, they examine how everything started.  It didn't all start where it is now.  You'll be surprised to learn that wine making began in Monroe County on the shores of Lake Erie.  French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de la Salle, more commonly known as "LaSalle" (who later had a winery and a car brand named for him) first took note of the geography when he was exploring the Great Lakes in the 1670's.  When he went up a tributary off Lake Erie, he was astounded by the amount of wild grapes growing it's banks.  Appropriately, he named it the "Grape River" or in French "River Raisin," which is still named today.  The River Raisin has become famous for the War of 1812 Battle of The River Raisin and today hosts the only National Park for a War of 1812 battlefield.

As European settlers began moving Westward, Detroit became the center of the frontier.  Europeans brought their wine making (and beer) traditions to the New World, much of it was out of necessity as distilling wine was much safer and healthier than drinking water.

They go into great detail on all the era's of Michigan wine making.  Detroit and Windsor became home to many wineries in the early years and a brisk trade developed as the population of Europeans moved into the era and throughout the state.

Around the turn of the 20th Century, winemakers discovered the bounty of Michigan's West side and the area's temperate climate for fruit production.  Vineyards were being established all over the Lake Michigan Shoreline, feeding grapes and fruit products to vintners in Detroit.

As the Temperance Movement gained traction, the 18th Amendment was ratified in 1919 and ushered in the era of Prohibition, intended to completely shut down all liquor, beer and wine production in the U.S.  The chapter on Prohibition is the most fascinating chapter in the book.

Alcohol production and bootlegging became the most productive enterprise in America and was likely the greatest thing to happen as the "Roaring 20's" saw wine, beer and liquor skyrocket.  In Detroit and throughout Michigan wine and liquor were flowing freely.   The Detroit River became a freeway of commerce between the U.S. and Canada and there were few who observed Prohibition and many saw it as a nuisance or an opportunity.  European descendants felt wine and beer making were their birthright and would have nothing to do with it.   Farmers in West Michigan grew more grapes and hops than ever feeding a state full of home vintners and brewers.  In Detroit, they claim prohibition never really happened.

Many fruit farmers went into non-alcoholic juice production during Prohibition.  In Paw Paw, the Welch's Grape Juice Company flourished and created a whole new product in the marketplace.

When Prohibition was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment, Michigan was the first state to ratify it.  Now that the ban was gone, it created the perfect storm for wine making.  The depression in 1929 had slowed things down and there was a huge surplus of grapes at rock-bottom prices.  Within days of the repeal, Canadian vintners were flocking to Michigan to set up shop and take advantage of a new "legal" market.  One of them was Mariano Meconi who set up shop in Detroit as the Meconi Wine Company.

Most all of the grapes coming into Detroit were grown in Michigan's "fruit belt" on the shores of Lake Michigan.  In 1936 Meconi visited the West side and decided to move operations to Paw Paw to be closer to the grape supply and the Chicago market.  He became one of Michigan's largest winemakers under the name of Italian Wine Company, honoring his Italian heritage, and was making upwards of 350,000 gallons of wine annually.  In 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked and we entered WWII he feared a fascist backlash and changed the name to San Guliano, the patron saint of his hometown in Falieria, Italy.  Still fearing fascist overtones, he Anglofied the name and called it St. Julian which is still one of Michigan's largest commercial wineries.  There are many more stories like this throughout the book.

The book details the history and circumstances of many Michigan wineries following Prohibition and reviews every one of them operating today.  The book is full of stories on survival and the entrepreneurial spirit.

They discuss agricultural development of the state and how Michigan State University has played a role helping create the fruit and wine market.  MSU has played a huge role in horticulure by creating grape varities that have helped Michigan compete well in the global wine market.  They explore the impact the wine industry has had one nearly every facet of life in the Great Lakes.

The stories of each winery are too numerous to mention here, but is a fascinating read and you'll be captivated by the inside stories of several of Michigan's vintners.

If you want a book that encompasses political, economic, agricultural and social history, this book has it all.  You will learn things you never knew about Michigan's booming wine industry and take a look into one of the fastest growing movements in Michigan... Agri-tourism.   Since the publishing of this book, dozens of new wineries have opened and prospered in Michigan.

Once you learn all this cool stuff about Michigan and our agricultural bounty, you will want to visit Michigan wineries, with friends of course, and have a greater perspective on where they all came from and how important they've become to Michigan and the Midwest.

Oh yes, you will be looking for Michigan wines on the wine list next time you are in a great restaurant and will be pleased to see a few of them there.  Michigan is slowly gaining respect and producing world-class wines that are being noticed.

Enjoy.  In Vino Veritas!

FOURTH AND LONG; The Fight for the Soul of College Football

FOURTH AND LONG 

The Fight for the Soul of College Football

by John U. Bacon

Hardcover 339 Pages
Published 2013
Simon & Schuster

            I had the opportunity to meet author John U. Bacon recently.  He spoke to the Michigan Funeral Directors Association annual convention in Kalamazoo, Michigan as the keynote speaker.  Bacon, who is the official biographer of University of Michigan’s legendary football coach, Bo Schembechler, spoke on Bo’s Lasting Legacy and his personal character.  He gave an awesome speech and apparently absorbed some of Schembechler’s speaking skills with his enthusiastic and high-spirited excitement.  There is no greater advocate for college football; especially Big Ten football and even more especially, University of Michigan football than Bacon.

While some might think it’s odd a sports historian and commentator would speak to a gathering of funeral directors.  As it turns out, Bacon, an Ann Arbor native and now history professor at U of M, was high school classmates with MFDA’s President Dutch Nie at Ann Arbor Huron High School.  Nie now owns the Nie Funeral Home  in Ann Arbor and has been close to Bacon and the University all his life.  Bacon’s remarks on Bo’s character fit right in with the atmosphere and character of the convention.

Bacon and I shared stories on our family history.  My father and some of his friends chaired the Michigan Day Golf Outing in Battle Creek for more than 25 years and my family has been “True Blue” for decades and at least three generations and have been assiduous supports of college football.  We hit it off well.

With Author John U. Bacon

at the MFDA Convention in Kalamazoo, Michigan, May, 2014

****

Fourth and Long is a great read for any red-blooded American college football fan, regardless of your loyalty to a particular school.  As you pick up the book, the dust cover is pigskin brown with raised dimples and a lace that makes it feel you are holding a football.  Brilliant packaging from the designer and publisher!

 Bacon, a huge advocate and promoter of University of Michigan football is also a staunch defender of college football itself and the Big Ten.  The book takes a broad look at all college conferences and delves deep into the history of the Big Ten and each member school.

Bacon, a professor of sports history at Michigan, is also a professor at Northwestern University and has spent a great of time around the Big Ten.  He has been close to all the athletic directors, coaches, players and even Presidents in the Big Ten.

Fourth and Long focuses primarily on four of the legendary programs in the Big Ten; Michigan, Ohio State, Northwestern and Penn State.  He even includes a chapter on Michigan State and the contributions MSU has made to the conference since joining.  He was especially generous with his praise of former MSU President John Hanna who built the school with the GI Bill following WWII, getting veterans on campus.  Hanna was also one of the biggest advocates of MSU football and made it into Ripley’s Believe it or Not by attending every MSU football game, home and away, during his tenure as President.  He also explains why there is so much rivalry and tradition in every state between the University of _______, and ______State University, something the common college football fan hasn't really pondered.

Not to worry Fighting Irish fans, there are also several quips, history an anecdotes on Notre Dame and the great rivalries they've had with the Big Ten over the years.

Early on, he writes about how the Big Ten conference came to be and why it was formed in 1896 (when the President of Purdue, James Smart, called a meeting of several presidents in Chicago to gain control of college athletics) -- the first name of the conference was actually Conference of Faculty Representatives of Midwestern Universities. No wonder they shortened it to Big Ten.  It was the nation’s first athletic conference. It was a collection of Midwestern schools, centered around the Great Lakes, who were alike academically.  The University of Chicago was an original member, but dropped out when they abandoned athletics altogether and focused on being a purely academic school. 

He also points out how important the City of Chicago is to the Big Ten.  He makes the point that no other conference has a city where alumni of each of the conference schools gather.  It seems everyone in the Big Ten gravitates to Chicago and that makes it the “Capital of the Big Ten.”  You can go into a bar in Chicago and meet up with graduates of nearly every Big Ten college.  An observation I never really made.

For a good part of the book, Bacon embedded himself in the Penn State program immediately following the ugly Jerry Sandusky travesty and chronicles the first season back following the NCAA sanctions and the effort to maintain and rebuild the great Penn State traditions.  He got close to everyone in the program, especially the players who he credits the most for saving Penn State’s great traditions.

Following the Sandusky and Paterno tragedies, the NCAA pretty much declared “open season” on Penn State players.  They were free to go anywhere they wanted and coaches could pursue the players with no limitations.  Bacon gets to the heart of the matter and that Penn State mattered to the student-athletes.  Only a small handful left the program.  Most of the team valued a Penn State education and, refreshingly, that’s what they came for, most of them wanted to be part of the new Penn State and preserve the great traditions of the past.  Above all, they sought a Penn State diploma.  Those players elevated the status of student-athlete by staying put, something the major sports media has failed to recognize.

Getting Bill O’Brien, or any coach, to Penn State was no easy task.  It was a hot potato and with bowl bans and restricted scholarships who would want it?   But as fate would have it, he was the right person at the right time.  Bacon chronicles how O’Brien had to win the confidence of the team and get the alumni and supporters back into the fold it wasn’t easy.

Without going into too much detail, Bacon had many frank conservations with the Penn State student-athletes and was privy to many tense meetings with the team and experiences all the emotions surrounding the “comeback.”  It was compelling to peek inside one of the biggest comebacks in college football.  It left you feeling good about what college football is all about.

Bacon also spent a great deal of time with Ohio State and their former coaches Earle Bruce and John Cooper.  He got close to Urban Meyer, an Ohio son who stepped into another troubled program as OSU faced sanctions following the departure of Jim Tressel under very bad circumstances.  Bacon also documented the history of Ohio State, revealing many facts about their traditions and history that most college football fans never knew.  I probably learned more about OSU than any other Big Ten program and it made me respect the Michigan-OSU rivalry even more.  Or should I say TTUN (That Team Up North) as the Buckeye faithful refer to Michigan.

Northwestern is an anomaly in college football, but fits well in the Big Ten.  As a private school, it has different problems than its conference brethren.  Undoubtedly the most academic school in the conference, it has always had trouble attracting good players who can cut it in the classroom.  For a while, they just didn’t take football seriously.  He alluded to the ten year stretch where they won only six games.  During that time he stated that only one team in America had a worse record than NU, the Washington Generals who were paid to lose to the Harlem Globetrotters!  He talks about how they got their groove back and made it to the Rose Bowl with a lot of insightful stories.

While discussing all the football programs and traditions, Bacon also discussed the structure of each Big Ten school and how their governance has affected athletics over the years.  It was an interesting study in the fact that if the president isn’t behind it, they just didn’t succeed.  He parlayed that into the present day dilemma where the football coach has grown more powerful (and better compensated) in the institution than the president and how that has affected the school.

Tradition is a huge talking point in each of the school’s he chronicles throughout the book.  The location on a college campus, not in a big city make it special.  Stadiums are set in lush green campuses and not in a sea of concrete.  The college stadiums are built over time and reflect the identity of the school and its traditions.  Unlike the NFL who typically build stadiums at the tax payer’s expense with little or no traditions and tear them down and rebuild in twenty years.

He has quite an oration on how college football is superior to pro football which I especially enjoyed!

Some of his observations are; Colleges are a connecting place to multi generations and something you have in common with your great-grandparents.  No NFL football team has a marching band.  No NFL team has a true rival and parity has given any franchise a shot at the championship.  College has no pre-season and every game matters.  Pro players are inaccessible.  You run into college football players in class or at the bar.

Bacon also devotes a great deal of time and effort to other college traditions which make college football so special.  He even devotes quite a bit of time to the “trophies” in college football; the “Little Brown Jug”, the “Paul Bunyan Trophy;" the "Old Oaken Bucket" and about a 150 other seemingly irrelevant items rivals play for and the traditions and stories behind many them.

The parting thoughts of his book deals expressly with the growing menace of money in the college game.  Too many of the storied programs are driving away fans and especially students, and pricing them out of the market.  Television is now driving much of the game scheduling and creating problems for the fan.  Having to endure twenty TV time outs destroys the pace of the game and drives fans (in attendance) crazy.  Every Big Ten game is now televised and the Big Ten Network has grown into a behemoth which jeopardizes all the traditions everyone has built over the years.  Talking heads yuck it up at halftime rather than showing an outstanding band performance.

Maryland and Rutgers were recently added to the Big Ten so the network could reach an “Eastern” market.  The two schools have nothing in common with the geography or traditions of the Big Ten.

He’s made it his personal crusade to preserve the game of college football with all its traditions.  We are rapidly turning it into a big business that will go bust because they have sold out the essence of what made it great in the first place, a Saturday afternoon game between rivals which means something to everyone involved.

Bacon continues to turn up the heat with his columns and has taken UM’s AD Dave Brandon to task for killing off the student support at games and making it inaccessible for the longtime fan.  He talks about a friend who’s giving up attending games because it’s now a $500 event to take his family to each game.  It’s easier to watch it on TV with friends in a comfortable setting, every game is now broadcast.

            Bacon is compelling in his argument that college football is an institution worth saving and leaves you longing for crisp fall afternoons watching your team take your rival to the cleaners. 

No book has ever captured the spirit, history and traditions of the college game better than Fourth and Long.  It’s a must read for those who truly care about game and reminds us of not only what makes college great, but also what makes education great.