Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “active” as “characterized by action rather than by contemplation or speculation.” This period of quarantine during this pandemic has taught me many valuable lessons, but none more important than the recognition of the value that I place on people being active in my life. I have given much thought to the traits that allow me to feel closer to some people than others – loyalty, honesty, kindness, and generosity – just to name a few. Yet if I had to encapsulate what I value in friends more than anything else, it can be found in this one simple idea: I want them to be active. Instead, I find that most people are just “available.” Admittedly,

Some years ago, I was in Florida attending a conference with three of my friends. We needed to get from our hotel to the location of the meeting, but this was before GPS and the map that we’d printed at the hotel failed us. We were lost in the middle of downtown Orlando and there was no place to easily stop for directions. I told my friends that there was no need to worry. I took out my cell phone and called my father. They thought this was strange. My father wasn’t with us – he was at home in Philadelphia. But I knew that he’d be able to help. My father asked for the intersection that I was currently

I was sleeping peacefully a few nights ago when I was awakened by a noise that sounded like an explosion. I sprang from the bed and over to my closet to investigate the problem and discovered that two of the shelving racks in my closet had collapsed. Clothes were all over the floor, powdered with remains of broken dry wall, and items from shelves were scattered everywhere. I straightened up a bit and then contacted the maintenance team at the apartment complex to discover what could be done to repair my damaged closet. The leasing office suggested that I had overtaxed the shelves – that they could not handle the load of clothing and possessions that I was asking them

I was recently told by a student that they didn’t know a lot about me as a person outside of my work at A Better Chance or as a college preparation professional and so I’ve decided to use my New Year’s note this year to share a fact that you may or may not know: I love games. To clarify that statement a bit, I enjoy a challenging game of CatchPhrase, which I have introduced to enough people to qualify for stock options with Hasbro, but I also can be found playing everything from Yahtzee to Phase 10 to Chess to Spades. I just love the thrill of competition: the constant tension between the thrill of victory and the agony

I live in King of Prussia, home of the largest shopping mall on the East Coast. It’s a quiet town for most of the year, but during the month of December, it can be challenging to get home at any time of day. As I was driving earlier, the traffic to the mall added fifteen minutes to my commute and so I took some time to reflect on what was transpiring. All of these people are rushing to the mall with a singular purpose in mind – they want to get gifts for someone. And what’s more interesting than their shared purpose is that many of them are purchasing things that they want other people to have rather than purchasing