Author Archives: annandmeg

California Coastline — Driving Hwy 1

Posted on by annandmeg

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving getaway down to the beach near San Luis Obispo. On our way down, we decided to take Hwy 1, which is quite possibly the most beautiful drive on the planet. I had the chance to take in a lot of beautiful views and a good number of photos! You know me and my pictures of the ocean. Here are a few of my favorites. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Just south of Carmel, this was a lookout point that offered a framed view of the ocean.

And a few miles further, this was a beautiful view looking South.

More to come….it was a beautiful couple of days!

More Wall Art from Kansas City’s East Side

Posted on by annandmeg

Meg and I agree we have a lot to celebrate.  Today I want to celebrate and share more of Kansas City’s graffiti.  My weekly adventures often provide we opportunities to find new murals throughout our urban community.  These paintings were found just barely Southeast of downtown.  The artist or artists plying their trade on this freshly painted wall obviously love color.  There were at least half a dozen individual paintings extending from one building well into the alley just East of Grand within a 7 minute walk to our center city.

“Feminines” is almost certainly the artist’s signature on this wonderful rendition of a mythical bird.

While renditions of death are very unusual on wall art, this skull seems to smile from the wall.

The shocking pink on this final mural adds to the festive nature of this block in Kansas City.

Live in a city?  Hope you enjoy the wall art where ever your route takes you.  It is, in the best sense, the people’s art.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on by annandmeg

It has been a wonderful year and here at Shifting the Balance we have a lot to be thankful for. I’ve had an exciting year working on the campaign. Our kiddos (the dogs) are all in good health. Mum and Terry are happy and healthy. Two of my cousins welcomed healthy baby girls. All of my friends are enjoying their lives…..the list goes on.

A Thanksgiving [1] memory to share: Keeping with Mum’s recent photo of Greece, I thought I’d share my Thanksgiving memory from 2004. I was studying abroad in Leicester, England, and I didn’t really have anyone to spend Thanksgiving with. So who came to my rescue? Freida, of course. Freida and George are two of our friends from Kansas City growing up. They were both from Greece, moved to the States when they were first married, and then decided to retire back to a beautiful little village about a year or two before I was studying abroad. Well, Freida invited me to stay with them for Thanksgiving, and it was the most wonderful trip. Seeing Freida and George was such a delight, and even more heartwarming was the fact that Freida sought out the makings of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. For me! In Greece! [2] We had turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans. She even found pecans. It was a perfect Thanksgiving, and for that experience, I will always be grateful.

Wherever you’re spending your Thanksgiving, I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember to be thankful for those around you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Meg and Ann

[1]  Photograph thanks to “blogs.citypages.com”

[2]  Terry’s painting by Mike Savage, reminds us of times in Greece, overlooking the Mediterranean

Life Lived Simply: Greek Islands

Posted on by annandmeg

I know nothing about this boat’s past or its future (if any).  I took this photograph on the second of two visits to Greece. We sailed in the area of the islands near Samos.  We sailed by day, spent the afternoon touring a variety of small, sparsely populated islands, and spent our nights on board our slightly larger sailboat–before continuing our adventure through the islands.  My memories of Greece are all about the islands, the sea, and the simplicity of the lives of the Greeks we met.  The boats of the islanders are simple wood boats, constructed, to every outward appearance, in the same form as Greek fishing boats for hundreds of years.  Practical if not elegant, they are nothing like the power boats and sail boats that arrive at every Greek harbor of any size throughout the tourist season.

Terry and I happened on this boat when we stopped at a taverna inches from the sea.  Definitely the worst for wear, it symbolizes for me both the beauty and the simplicity of the Greek islands.

Mums The Word

Posted on by annandmeg

Think Fall, Think Yellow.  Mums are a cheery way to celebrate autumn.

Hope you are having a wonderful few days before the beginning of the holiday season.

It’s Show Time

Posted on by annandmeg

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is an architectural marvel.  Located in the heart of Kansas City, at 16th and Broadway, it is named for Muriel Kauffman, whose vision made the center possible. Mrs. Kauffman selected architect Moshe Safdie to design the building. A world renown cultural center, it is home to the Kansas City area’s premier performing arts organizations featuring theater, opera, ballet, the symphony and, our personal favorite, the Independence Messiah Choir.

Beautiful in day-light, its elegance is even more fully experienced when the building lights up the sky.

The Power of Nature

Posted on by annandmeg

I have just completed a major chapter in my life. Working on a campaign is both exhilarating and exhausting, but besides the amazing work experience, I learned a lot about myself through the process. One of my favorite pastimes remains the same… I still love sunsets overlooking the ocean.

Just before the last push of the campaign season, I posted a few photos of my “zen” places. Well, yesterday I went back to one of my favorite spots on the California coast: Bodega Headlands. My visit felt bittersweet. It wasn’t my first visit, and I’m sure won’t be my last, but it had a different feeling about it. Having just finished this incredible experience, my world suddenly feels like it has a huge hole in it. But as much as I am unable to see a clear picture of the immediate future, I felt a wonderful sense of peace. I had warm surroundings, a beautiful view, and of course, my camera in tow.

No matter what I have going on in my life, I will always be humbled by the beauty of nature, and the ocean in particular. It is so powerful, so artistic. Here is what I captured.

And as the sun begins to set…

After it sank below the horizon, the clouds were perfectly aligned to paint the sun’s fiery colors….

Want To Make A Difference? Join A Board

Posted on by annandmeg

For months our national focus has been on the elections.  Now, whether your candidates won or lost, the elections are over.  The campaign focused on issues important to all of us:  job development, improved education, better and more efficient health care, services to those in need. While we may still be deeply divided politically, these issues unite us as we search for brighter tomorrows.

In the next weeks and months, Congress and the President will conduct serious negotiations on issues such as the budget crisis and the “fiscal cliff”.  Most of us will have no role in those negotiations. But we can all help.

As individual citizens, we can participate in significant ways in improving our corporations, educational system, delivery of health care, and searching for local solutions to national problems. So, do you want to make a difference?  Consider joining a board!

Colleges and universities, charities, corporations, banks, even neighborhood associations are generally governed by boards of directors.  There are a wealth of organizations with a need for educated, committed board leadership.  My personal board involvement has focused on education and the legal/judicial system. Whatever your particular passion: providing food for the poor, adult literacy, you name it, there is an organization just waiting for your help. Are you focused on business, entrepreneurship, job creation?  Join a board.  Is your interest related to health, the needs of the poor or the needs of neighborhoods and communities? Join a board. Businesses, civic and charitable organizations everywhere aalways on the lookout for highly skilled and motivated individuals who will “answer the call” by offering their talents and wisdom for board service.

But board leadership is not just about a willing heart.  It requires wisdom, passion, and an understanding of the responsibilities and rewards of board service. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to participate on a board to learn about board service: what it entails and what particular challenges confront members of any board. My husband just gave me a great book, Answering the CALL: Understanding the Duties, Risks, and Rewards of Corporate Governance. It is one of many great books that can guide an individual in whether to serve on a board, as well as how to provide meaningful support with minimum risk.  Co-authored by attorneys Lynn Shapiro Snyder and Robert D. Reif, it is a helpful guide to any board member.

Answering the CALL begins Chapter 2 with a basic description of the role of corporate boards: “to promote the best interests of the corporation”, “to provide general direction for the management of the corporation’s business, to be involved in major corporate decisions, and to bear the ultimate responsibility for the company’s business and affairs.”  It distinguishes service on non-profit boards which requires directors “to remain faithful to the charitable mission and purposes of that organization.”

Because the authors are attorneys, it is not surprising that they focus on specific federal statutes that codify the responsibilities of corporate directors/board members: for example, Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, an amendment to the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and various provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.  The authors describe board members’ fiduciary responsibility to follow the law, describes what constitutes due diligence, and explains how to protect corporate funds, avoid improper conflicts of interest, and protect against violations of corporate loyalty.  While these obligations vary based on the nature of the organization, the overriding principles apply generally to both profit and non-profit boards of directors.

The book was published by Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation in 2003 and is now in it’s third edition.  While it is designed in part to encourage and support expanding board diversity, particularly for women, [2] the responsibilities of board service are “equal opportunity”.

But seriously.  If you are willing to commit your time and talents to board service, find an organization that you believe is consistent with your expertise and go to work. Be sure that as you begin your service, and through the years you continue to serve, you take to heart the wisdom set forth in Answering the CALL.  You will be doing your community and all of us a great service.

Get started.  Join a board. There is much to do!

[1]Sarbanes-Oxley was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002, as an effort to prevent scandal and restore investor confidence in publicly traded companies.  Amy Borrus, Learning to Love Sarbanes-Oxley, Business Week 126 (November 21, 2005), describes Sarbanes-Oxley as “the equivalent of a root canal”.

[2] Don’t short change the discussion of the benefits of service, particularly for women as well as their analysis of the importance of diversifying boards.

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The opinions in this blog are our own.  They do not represent the opinions of our families, our friends or our employers.

I Am Malala: Honoring A Young Girl’s Struggle

Posted on by annandmeg

On October 9, 2012, a Taliban gunman shot Malala Yousafzai [1] as she rode home on a school bus with her friends.  Malala survived.  She was shot in the head.  The bullet lodged in her neck near her spine. Unconscious and near death, with the assistance of the Pakistani military, Pakistani surgeons removed the bullet in Pakistan and, once stabilized, she was flown to England.  She is now recovering in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.  Eventually she hopes to return to Swat to resume her studies.

Malala was born in July 1997.  Named Malala after a poetess and warrior, she was born to lead.  Her Muslim family is from a large Pashtun tribe in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.  As the rest of us bemoaned the treatment of women and girls in Taliban controlled areas of the Muslim world, Malala did something about it. At the tender age of 11, in 2008, with the support of her educator father, she spoke to the press club in Peshawar and asked “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education”.  Her advocacy of her right to an education began and has continued throughout the next 4 years.

When the Taliban threatened and burned schools, Malala continued to attend school.  When the Taliban closed schools, she studied until they reopened. While she initially dreamed of becoming a physician, she changed her ambition to a career in government and politics.

By 2009 she was wrote a blog for the BBC, focused on daily life of a girl living under the Taliban.[2]  She continued to write in her blog even as Taliban and the military fought in the streets.  She continued her work even as her father received death threats.  She agreed to interviews within her own country and with the international press.  When her identity became publicly known, she began appearing publicly on television to advocate for female education. She appeared on a UNICEF supported program as chair of the District Child Assembly Swat in support of children’s rights.

In October 2011, Malala was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize.  She received Pakistan’s first  National Youth Peace Prize in December of that year.  She was international recognized for her advocacy for education, by the tender age of 15.

A the time Malala was injured, she was fully aware of the risks she was facing.  She may not have known that the Taliban had voted in the summer of 2012 to have her assassinated, but she had received death threats on her FACEBOOK Page and through notes placed under the door of her home.  She went to school anyway.  She spread her message anyway.  She had to know that these threats were not silly acts of bullying by other children.  These threats were real.  But she continued her campaign in favor of her right, and the right of every girl and woman, to obtain an education.

Malala was not a victim of a random bullet.  She was the target of the attack. The Taliban shooters asked for her by name. Undaunted, she continues her recovering, vowing to return to Swat to be educated. Will she return?  I don’t know.  Will she continued her education?  Without a doubt!

As powerful as her early life has been, her attempted assassination has also furthered her cause of universal education.  President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon have all spoken out against the Taliban’s actions, while acknowledging her courage.  Former First Lady Laura Bush described her as “a modern Anne Frank”. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the new U.N. Special Envoy for Global Education, adopting the slogan, “I am Malala”, has initiated a petition drive to demand that no children be denied an education.

As of today, her attackers have not been caught. More than 50 Pakistani Muslim clerics have denounced the shooting. Pakistan has honored her by renamed schools in her name.  Malala’s face and message have spread through tweets, Facebook posts, t-shirts and posters.   The slogan “I am Malala” rings throughout Pakistan and beyond. Her life continues to be a symbol of hope, commitment and courage.

I am Malala.

[1]  Photograph by  “123 people.co.uk”

[2] For her safety her blog was written using a pseudonym.

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The opinions expressed on our blog do not represent the opinions of our families, our friends or our employers.

Vietnam: Honoring Our Veterans

Posted on by annandmeg

Today is Veteran’s Day.  For most of us it represents a holiday: a day without the responsibilities of work, a day to spend with family or friends.  But it is, really, so much more.  In a time when our nation is at war in Afghanistan, and when our soldiers are being killed in action, or returning home with serious physical and mental injuries, it is important to honor their service.  We must also respect the sacrifices they have made for us and to always, always remember the human cost of our countries decision to go to war.  As a result, Veteran’s Day is, and should remain, a day of reflection, a day of sadness and a day of loss.

 The memories of each war are different.  The few remaining veterans of World War II have a different experience than those of the Gulf War, the Korean War and every other war of our time.  To fully understand Veteran’s Day you must, almost necessarily, have served in the military or been close to someone who has served.

Kansas City’s Vietnam War Memorial, located at 43rd and Baltimore, is dedicated to the men and women who lost their lives in the Vietnam War.  The memorial wall includes the names of 385 Kansas City area servicemen who lost their lives during that war.

This wall is personal to many Kansas City residents.  For me, the name  John Igert says it all.  Johnny was a friend, a classmate and a casualty of the war. He graduated from William Chrisman High School in 1964, and attended Central Missouri State College, in Warrensburg, Mo., before entering the military in 1967.  He died in Gia Dinh, Vietnam, on August 17, 1968, just three months after he should have graduated from college.  He was only 22. He was an easy person to know.  He was fun, he was a good man, though only barely a man when he began his military service–and when he died.

Each of the 385 servicemen whose names are carved in the granite of the monument has a similar story.  Each name represents someone who is remembered by family and friends, who loved him when he was alive, and love him still.  Each name represents a life lost.

Kansas City’s Vietnam War Memorial honors our soldiers who fought, died and missing in action.  The memorial acknowledges that the war deeply divided our country and that in the middle of the dispute were the men and women who fought and died in the war.

The memorial is based on a series of pools and fountains.  The separation of the pools is designed to acknowledge the deep divisions within the country over the war. The fountains represent the healing and cleansing power of water in restoring our national spirit.

The words on the granite summarize a message of hope.  “Only by remembering can we assure it never happens again”.  Wishful thinking?  Repeatedly.  But the message of hope sustains us and causes us to search for better solutions to the challenges of our times.