Another News Round Up - Silver Lining Poking Through

If you need a reminder that forgiveness and second chances are necessary ... listen to this piece.  It should prove that you cannot always judge a person by the actions.

In my free time, I have been worrying about the starving sea lions in California -- yes, because I don't have enough of my own troubles.  So, I was very happy to read this piece about two little guys who are doing okay ... but just in case, they are monitoring the sea lions' movements.  Do you think they need the ACLU?

The research that shows that libraries are very popular with the young ones (not the babies, the twenty-somethings), and the notice of the demise of reading, in general, was very premature.  I am continually amazed that libraries have figured out how to be relevant to these new and continuing readers, and newspapers cannot do it.  I have some ideas, but I am not sure who to send them to. 

I guess beauty can add a silver lining to much of our troubles... here's a guy that is trying to match beauty with message and create a silver lining ... I am not sure from this report if he is getting the message across, but the beauty seems to be shining through.  Maybe we can just reach for that.

It is harder to see the silver lining on this story as it is heartbreaking, but this young man's resolve and earnest try to do well after not having been well equipped by a school system that gave him A's for effort.  It is a cautionary tale about how we encourage students -- grades should not be an encouragement in and of themselves, they need to be backed up with the skills students need to succeed in (not just get in to) college.  Also, who was counseling this student when he applied to universities.  It is a testament to Berkeley that there were folks there willing to work with and help this young man. I wouldn't have guessed that to be true given my interactions with Berkeley people.  

A happy ending for the puppy found swimming in the middle of the SF Bay.  This is the kind of story I would have sent to my sister... and it breaks my heart that I cannot do that, but I hope that she is looking down at this and smiling.