By Stephen C. Schultz The dew around the window was starting to bead up. In a classic case of chaos theory, the little beads of water gave way to gravity and randomly bounced and bumped their way to the window sill like a steal marble in a pinball game. There was a small pool of water in the cracked and peeling beige paint. I sat facing the window, staring at the small engraved stone nestled in the flower beds. There weren’t many flowers at this time of year. Mostly rhododendrons and Oregon grapes reaching skyward from the damp bark mulch that covered the planter area. The month of January in Eugene Oregon was filled with days and days of mist and fog. In fact, pretty much from October through June was filled with fog, rain, mist, showers, freezing rain and occasionally snow. The local weathermen didn’t bother with predictions about the chance of precipitation; they took pride in developing new adjectives to describe the type of precipitation and how much you can expect.
By Stephen C. Schultz The international pandemic has created a need for a thorough list of self help books! Over the last few months, most people recognize that the COVID-19 Pandemic has seriously disrupted life as we knew it. From sheltering in place to academic shut downs to economic down turn and unemployment...it is obvious there has been an emotional toll on everyone. Over 53% of adults in the United States report that their mental health and substance use has become worse since the start of the pandemic due to stress, anxiety and simply worrying about COVID-19. Many also report having problems with sleeping, eating and increased use of alcohol. This information and more can be found at this link that contains data concerning the impact on mental health. In my position at Discovery Academy , I have been speaking with parents who are struggling with the associated issues of working from home or no work at all...and, their kids out of school trying to be educated online. This is