Coffee

I’m not addicted to coffee. I never drank it until the Army. You have to drink it there, or at least you used to.

And coffee is a big thing if you are a lawyer.

Then, they started saying that coffee is bad for you. Blood pressure.

But now they say drinking coffee is good for you. Makes you live longer. I am serious. 

Well, fine. Drink it.

So now they are saying it’s an endangered species. Climate change. I am serious. 

No question about climate change here.

If we’ve got to fix climate change to get coffee pinned down, then get busy.

The uncertainty is killing me.

Tarboro produces best running back in NFL, undefeated high school football champions — place is sans pareil

The Washington Post brands Tarboro’s Todd Gurley “the ideal modern NFL running back.” Says he “may be the most dynamic offensive weapon in football.” 

The Raleigh News and Observer credits Tarboro high school as a “football dynasty” as it rolls up another state championship and a second, consecutive undefeated season.

Both papers affirm Tarboro coach Jeff Craddock and a unique culture in Tarboro. 

Nothing said about what’s in the water. MidLaw has been saying. Everybody there drinks it. Do they put it in the beer at Tarboro Brewing Company?

World seems to be orienting itself to the program at Guilford College

Axios Future is reporting that creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability and time management are the skills most in demand in the workplace. Axios cites the LinkedIn Learning Blog which in turn is based on LinkedIn’s 2018 Workplace Learning Report.

LinkedIn in goes on to identify the 25 most needed hard skills, as well.

It’s right remarkable how both sets of skills line up with the Guilford Edge at Guilford College. And see how that lines up with this recent post and the one after that.

Learners will inherit the earth

First graders this year will graduate in 2030.

By 2030 up to 800 million workers around the world will have lost their jobs to automation.

In a presentation at Westtown School recently, New York Times journalist and Westtown graduate Kevin Roose said, “Things are going to keep changing rapidly… People who are able to adjust to [new industries] rather than clinging to the old way of doing things are going to have a big advantage.”

Eric Hoffer famously said,

In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exits.

In 2030, today’s first graders will need competencies such as creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, adaptability, and empathy.

Next fall, Guilford College will bring forth “The Guilford Edge.” It is designed precisely to develop the learners. Learners first, learned later.

Sports and arts at Guilford College

Guilford College has very strong arts and very strong athletics. Right now, both are being re-imagined and newly resourced there.

Dana Giola, the Poet Laureate of California and former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, once commented

I don’t like sports, but you’ve got to admire the energy, creativity, and innovation that goes into sports. And it’s very similar to arts. It’s a way of focusing human energy to create these symbolic encounters which have enormous emotional resonance to audiences

Guilford’s got’em both.

Giola’s comment affirms Guilford’s thinking. The student experience at Guilford crosses traditional boundaries. It finds connections, focuses energy, teaches the importance of symbolic encounters. It’s creative.

These are elements of a life lived well. Both sports and arts teach those things HANDS ON at Guilford College.

I’m amazed continually at how often people who spent their college years at athletics and arts and literature (and other such endeavors) turn out to have the chops to get things done.

Athletes make great executives; French majors make the BEST lawyers.