Olympic Agora 2020-2021
I was extremely honored to be chosen as an artist for the first-ever Olympic Agora commemorating the cultural aspect of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Orchestrated by the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage (OFCH), the program took place from 1 July to 15 August 2021 throughout Tokyo’s historic Nihonbashi district. The Olympic Agora featured […]
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Heavy Lifting
Graduating from college, my first job was at the Colorado Outdoor Education Center for the Handicapped. Though I’d hoped to mentor young people with physical disabilities on how to navigate and appreciate nature, the majority of our students were those with intellectual challenges. In my first week on the job, I recall a teenage man […]
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2022 Beijing Olympics
As the Olympic flame goes out in Beijing, I celebrate the men and woman who have raised the bar and our collective spirits. Complaining about the Olympics is an easy sport, as so poignantly highlighted in the 1910 speech of Theodore Roosevelt, “It is not the critic who counts… the credit belongs to the man […]
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Fourth
Everybody loves a winner! The world showers gold and praise on those who come in first. Even the runner up receives silver and sponsorship deals. And we still cheer and bestow bronze on those who come in third. What then is left for fourth place? During my Paralympic swimming career, I had the pleasure and […]
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Aiming 4 Paris 2024
The Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games have come and now gone. Despite the pandemic and empty venues, records were set and there was victory on and off the field of play. Athletes and organizers threw the kitchen sink into their efforts to outdo themselves once again. As the flag is now passed to the Mayor […]
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Self-Actualization and Empty Stadiums
During my motivational talks, I often stress the importance of self-actualization, maximizing who we are not for external gain but for internal satisfaction. Over my 17-year swimming career I certainly tried to win medals and would not have turned down a Speedo sponsorship deal. But I felt that achieving personal best times and improving myself […]
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Heavy Lifting
Mick Jaggar and the Rolling Stones proposed that, “We can’t always get what we want… but we get what we need”. I see this as a positive assessment of reality. Since the onset of Covid19, everyone has taken hits. Plans and populations have been decimated as circumstances beyond our control shaped our lives. Economies and […]
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Surfing Through Limitations
I see surfing as an analogy for life. I paddle into the chaotic white-water made by in-coming waves in order to get beyond the impact zone. Once outside I wait for the right wave and once chosen, I paddle like crazy to catch the wave (I’m on a foam boogie board so its harder and […]
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Artist-in-Residence
Backpacking alone overland by bus and train through China, Tibet, Nepal, India and Pakistan for 16 months with a total monthly spend of $100 was possible in the 1980’s. Noodles and naan were inexpensive and sleeping in train or bus stations was free. Carving a line through Asia, I managed to do a lot with […]
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