One of the best stories – maybe the best – to emerge from Flint in recent years has been that of “T-Rex” – aka Claressa Shields, the tenacious teen who rose from Vehicle City obscurity to become a pioneering Olympic boxing champion.
You better watch out! You better not cry! You better not pout – I’m telling you why … that’s right! It is Christmastime again, and that means lots and lots of shopping! It’s estimated that $79.4 billion will be spent shopping online this holiday season. That is a 13.9% increase from the 2014 numbers as measured by statista.com. Many of us are deciding to buy more and more of our Christmas goods online to avoid the rush and the crowds associated with the big box retailers; a buying behavior that is creating an amazing opportunity for consumers this year.
I blame the American fascination with castles. I think because we don’t have any bonafide royal palaces in the States, we’ve developed an extreme obsession with them when touring countries abroad.
I was recently in an intense discussion – is there any other kind about movies? – regarding the millennial generation’s equivalent to the Star Wars films in terms of popularity and influence. This was an intense discussion not only because it was about movies, but because I, as a hipster-wannabe college student in 1977, so vividly recalled being caught up in the Zeitgeist of the original Star Wars.
What is the best Christmas gift you have given or received from someone? To me, the best gifts aren’t fancy or expensive. They are what I call, “gifts from the heart.” A memorable gift I have given that comes first to my mind is a book I gave to my youngest grandson, Noah, when he was about four years old. It was a book with a recording, so when he turned each page, he would hear my voice reading it to him. I will never forget the baffled look on his face when he realized that it was his grandma’s voice he heard! He put the book down and opened his other presents. But later that Christmas Day, I saw him sitting in a chair in the corner listening to the book over and over again.
As we hunker down for the back stretch of 2015 and enjoy our pumpkin spice lattés, break out our sweaters and root for our local Top 20-ranked football teams, we have much to be thankful for. Reflecting on the recent news brought to light regarding Volkswagen, I am also very thankful that we, residents of Genesee County, can hold our heads high and be proud of the local men and women who are in charge of engineering as well as assembling some of the best made, most fuel efficient and environmentally safe vehicles in the world! GO FLINT! GO GM!
I live in Houston, Texas, so I usually take air conditioning for granted. Everywhere I go – from the car to the grocery store, back to my little townhouse – is excessively air-conditioned to the point of necessitating socks and a sweater in summertime. It’s always hot here, even in the “winter,” when we might only see three days when one can non-ironically wear a jacket.
In this month of gratitude, I cannot help but feel grateful for all of the great mentors I have had in my life. Most of us have a teacher, friend, aunt, uncle, dentist … someone who taught us something that made us better in our careers, or in life, in general.
Is there a veteran in your life? The veterans in my life are my father, Jim Dennison, who served in the Air Force during World War II and my brother Joe, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. My father died three years ago and even though I had asked him to, he would never talk to me about his experiences during the war. Much of what I know has been learned since his passing. The only thing he did tell me years ago was that because of his time in service, he would never fly in an airplane again. And I’ve since discovered why.
