Young leaders need encouraging boost

July 18, 2014

I like asking questions. It's a habit I've had to develop, but I do like asking them. That's why when I meet a leader who's effective in his or her field - whether that be in a business, the food industry, or a nonprofit - I try to have a meal with them to ask questions about their passions, their strategy, and their hope for the Valley.In the coming weeks, it's my plan to use some of this column to tell their stories, and to share their visions. I want to show again how great our Valley is and the bright future it has because of these people working hard to make our community a better ...

Are we a couch potato nation?

July 18, 2014

According to a recent study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, exercise data reveals that America has become "a couch potato nation." Edward C. Archer, a nutrition researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, states that "we've engineered physical activity out of our daily lives; and that's causing the health disparities that we have in this country." He goes on to say, "How you spend your day determines whether you store your food as fat, or store your food in your muscles, healthfully."The results of the study were discouraging. Obese women "averaged about 11 seconds a day ...

People in the Valley are more polite

July 16, 2014

Having moved to Ohio for the first time in 2001, and being primarily an East Coast gal, I can tell you there are distinct dissimilarities between the area where I once lived and this one, where I am delighted to be.My background differed from most of the people I knew growing up. My father was blond and blue eyed, from Iowa, and my mother, dark and zaftig, with a heavy accent, from Colombia.When we first moved to New Canaan, Conn., from Chicago, in the early 1960s, my parents and the five of us, all under 10, were the only dark-skinned kids in a very white, middle upper class town.My ...

My quadriplegic friend Sid and Dad, part 2

July 11, 2014

In response to the July 1 column, I received a most touching note from Rolf Nissen, M.D., who provided an epilogue to what the column had talked about. I have received permission from Dr. Nissen to provide you with the note he had written to me dated July 3, 2014. Here it is, reprinted in total. Perhaps this is my adult life equivalent to "What Happened Then":Dear Mr. Mumford,I was surprised when I saw in yesterday's Tribune "Memories of Sid and my dad."I did not know your dad, but I did know Sid. I met him in July 1958 in the library of Trumbull Memorial Hospital, where I had just ...

Spending problems are a moral issue

July 9, 2014

During last year's budget negotiation meetings, President Barack Obama told House Speaker John Boehner, "We don't have a spending problem."When Boehner responded with "But, Mr. President, we have a very serious spending problem,"Obama replied, "I'm getting tired of hearing you say that."In one sense, the president is right. What's being called a spending problem is really a symptom of an unappreciated deep-seated national moral rot. Let's examine it with a few questions.Is it moral for Congress to forcibly use one person to serve the purposes of another?I believe that most Americans ...

Call of Trumbull brings her back

July 8, 2014

I was born and raised in Trumbull County. I lived in a little house on Shannon Road in Girard until I was 3, at which point my family moved to a large house right down the road that had a big garden, woods and plenty of land.I lived in that house, the one filled with my memories and my old toys, until I moved out and got married. But it seems that through the years, I keep coming back to that house, back to where I was raised.I moved away from home was I was 20. I moved back to Shannon Road 20 years later at the age of 40. During those years, I lived in 30 different places, including ...