Other Interests and Travel
I consider myself a lifelong environmentalist. My interest in the environment was influenced greatly by my father’s career as a geologist/publisher and by my grandfather’s avocation as a naturalist and photographer. As a young person, I also had an opportunity to travel throughout the U.S. with my family in conjunction with my father’s work. This introduced me to many state and national parks during my formative years, and my grandfather’s movie footage of the west reinforced my commitment to nature preservation. These experiences then influenced the focus of my university studies culminating in my Ph.D. dissertation on environmental education, my public affairs involvement with Lincoln Memorial Garden in Springfield, and my efforts to establish a green residential community in Missouri.
My experience as a high school foreign exchange student to Switzerland reinforced my appreciation for natural beauty and the beauty of well designed communities that were modern and efficient but preserved many traditional architectural styles. This experience also introduced me to the role the United Nations played in the world since many of its specialized agencies were located in Geneva. I also came to appreciate the peacekeeping role Switzerland has played in international diplomacy through the years.
Returning from the foreign exchange experience, I entertained college majors in either political science/diplomacy or in architecture/city planning. As it turned out, I became a broader social science and education major, but retained an interest in architecture and planning throughout my adult years. As retirement neared, I followed the green building movement closely as well as experiments with clustered, neighborhood-based housing design around the world.
While at SSU and UIS, I taught courses dealing with issues in social and criminal justice, social service programs, and school-community relations and was active in local programs designed to bring school, human service, and criminal justice personnel together with citizens groups in addressing a variety of community problems. While these programs often focused on the education and development of children and families, they also dealt with housing, employment, and substance abuse as well as broader environmental concerns. Knowledge gained in all of these areas will be valuable in addressing problems in Urbana as a City Council member.
Other major interests throughout my life have been gardening and the arts. My step daughter Kate is becoming an accomplished portrait painter, and her mother and I have stayed actively in touch with her development. We visited her in both Italy and Japan while she was studying in these locations, as well as in Philadelphia. Kate was adopted from Korea as an infant, and her mother and I have traveled with her to Korea and later, independently, to China. We have come to love the simplicity of Asian art, architecture, and landscape design. Travel experiences to Central America and the Caribbean Islands have also influenced both our political views and aesthetic tastes.
My interest in gardening has led me to work with the statewide coordinator of Master Gardeners in Missouri, local garden clubs, the Missouri Native Plant Society, and the Missouri Departments of Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources in developing plans for "The Woodland Community" at Lake of the Ozarks.
In closing this section I should mention my active interest in peace and justice concerns here in Urbana during my retirement. I have been active in AWARE, concentrating particularly on bringing notable political writers and peace activist to the community as speakers. I have also been active with the C-U Citizens for Peace and Justice in their Court Watching project and with the Books to Prisoners project. I am also a member of “Urbana Citizens for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)” and support their efforts to enhance democracy through electoral reforms that encourage more citizens to become active in local government as voters or as candidates for office. My decision to run as a Green Party candidate reflects my commitment to broaden political discourse locally and to bring environmental and social justice perspectives to bear on local government decisions/actions.
