Great Big Thank You

Two thanks in this note — to Stephanie Kilstein for the amazing work she’s doing in my home town and to Tom Hoerr, head of New City School, for introducing Stephanie to me.

Stephanie’s story follows:

After Stephanie Kilstein told me her life story yesterday, I asked, “Are you going to write a memoir?” She smiled and replied, “Not unless I could find a way for it to help others.”

Cynics might dismiss such aw-shucks selflessness as an act. But Stephanie Kilstein is the real deal. She grew up in suburban New Jersey in a broken home. By 15, she was skipping school, stealing, drinking, and leaving home for long stretches. Her father intervened and sent her to rehab programs in New Jersey and then Florida. She’s been sober since January 2001.

She got her GED and enrolled in a small college in college at age 16. She graduated two years later.

Since then, she has worked for Teach for America, teaching economically disadvantaged kids in Phoenix and  volunteered to help teachers and work with orphans in Malawi — among other things. In May, at age 22, she earned her Masters of Social Work degree at Washington University in St. Louis. Soon after, she established the Shearwater Education Foundation in St. Louis.

Shearwater’s mission: “…to provide disconnected youth in the City of St. Louis — those who are aging out of foster care, homeless, adjudicated, or out-of-school — with a quality education, and the chance to grow and thrive both socially and economically, so that they can experience great success in adulthood.” The foundation will fund and operate a year-round high school, set to open later this year.”

I live in the City of St. Louis, and I understand how much we need people like Stephanie to lead and inspire. I’m glad I can thank Stephanie now, and I hope I can help Stephanie later.

It’s John Fox Arnold’s birthday today — a good day to say thank you to him.

John married my mom in on March 3, 2003 (03/03/03). Mom’s first husband (my father, Wallace Ruwitch) died of colon cancer about 13 years earlier, on March 7, 1990. He was 51. Mom was 50.

For a 50-year-old who recently lost her husband, the road ahead must have seemed, at times, so long and so lonely. And then along came John.

John and my mom began dating in 1992, and they’ve shared a happy life together ever since.

Our family can never fill the void that Dad’s death… Continue reading

This blog would probably not exist if not for Clara Fieselman.

She was my seventh-grade English teacher at John Burroughs School. By the time I arrived at Burroughs in 1977, she was a legend, a 30+ year veteran who was nearing retirement. She was old-school, the kind of teacher who didn’t care whether her students liked her but who cared passionately about whether who students learned from her.

I learned more from her than any teacher before or since — and most of what I learned was about writing. I learned how writing is a process. I learned how writing requires dedication… Continue reading

In February 2005, my friend Chris Hobler died after a three-year battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). He was 39, and he left behind a wife and three children. Chris was a dreamer. He inspired me to think big and to believe that we can live the life we choose. For that, I will be forever grateful. The following is the eulogy I delivered at his funeral. I think of this as my great big thank you note to Chris…

We define some by their talents — by their feats on the playing field or the notes they play.

Chris Hobler was… Continue reading

I planned to get up early this morning, create this blog, and post my first great big thank you note before breakfast. The flood changed my plans. Hurricane Ike blew through Texas and Arkansas yesterday and arrived here in Missouri overnight. The stormed dropped several inches of rain in a few short hours. I woke to four inches of water in my basement and two inches of water in my garage where a new desk for Melissa’s (my wife’s) office is being stored. Meanwhile, Melissa could barely move because of back trouble.

Madeleine and Jacob to the rescue. Continue reading