change your world Archives

You Can be a Hero
You Can be a Hero

You Can be a Hero

Let’s go back several years, no need to count how many, to the August of my 18th birthday. I had graduated that Spring, moved “away from home”, was legally (almost) an adult (19 is adulthood in the state of Nebraska) and excited to embrace two civic duties now available to me: 1) Vote* 2) Give blood.The first was easily registered, the second wasn’t. Turns out to give blood I had to be 18 and have certain healthy weight and blood pressure qualifications, which I did not. I even tried to negotiate with the nurse, to no avail. I'm asking for two things for my birthday this year, read on to give one.

Mardra2019-08-02T08:33:01-05:00Categories: Change Your World, Grown Ups & Downs|Tags: Be the Change, change your world, Finish the Sentence Friday, Gavin's Gang, Give Blood, my birthday|6 Comments

Getting the Advocate Message
Getting the Advocate Message

Getting the Advocate Message

Marcus and I spoke together at a conference yesterday. The focus of the association and its mission is

to promote, find or create, then continue supported and meaningful employment for people with disabilities. Their theme: “Mission Possible.”

Love it!

We shared a few advocate stories from around the world. Today we are sharing them with you, too. The first one is from New Zealand, where a film company has made eight short films focusing on people in their community. (See “Celeste is Brilliant” here and watch all of them here.)

In this short

Mardra2020-08-08T13:48:42-05:00Categories: Grown Ups & Downs|Tags: Advocate Stories, APSE, change your world, Keynote, sharing online, storytelling as advocacy|1 Comment

The Letter that Rocked my World
The Letter that Rocked my World

The Letter that Rocked my World

Last week Google led me to a letter written by a 5^th grader that rocked my world.

The letter was a state level winner of the Letters About Literature contest sponsored by the Library of Congress. It was written to author Beth Vrabel about her book, Pack of Dorks. I was previously unaware of this chapter book series. Although I don’t know how, because they appear to

Mardra2017-10-30T20:54:25-05:00Categories: Black Day, Grown Ups & Downs, In the News|Tags: #BlackDayBook, Black Day, Black Day: The Monster Rock Band, change your world, Marcus the Author, Marcus' writing, now|3 Comments

Marcus and Moving Mountains
Marcus and Moving Mountains

Marcus and Moving Mountains

PJs and School This last Tuesday Marcus and I travelled to Bennington, NE. We shared the animated short and book Black Day: The Monster Rock Band with the students. The kids were all in their pajamas as it was “pajama day.” And also Dr. Seuss week. So the PTO invited a local author in to tell his story.

Also, with the “big kids” Marcus and I talked about what makes a good story, the importance of set,

Mardra2017-03-05T12:01:35-06:00Categories: Grown Ups & Downs|Tags: advocacy, Affiliate Links Make Life Easier, change the world, change your world, events, Marcus Teaching, now, storytelling|1 Comment

In this short

Last week Google led me to a letter written by a 5th grader that rocked my world.

Title

Last week Google led me to a letter written by a 5^th grader that rocked my world.