I’m No Superstar

I’m No Superstar is a blog for people like me who want to make a difference in the world but know they aren’t activists. Each post contains a social action idea that most of us could do, a book that’s worth reading, or a link to a website that offers other ideas. Oh, and it’s all introduced by a sometimes quirky story from my life.

When Your Water Makes You Sick

I’ve written about the worldwide issue of clean water on this blog before, most recently in 2015, with “Planeloads of Children Killed by Water” (arguably NOT my best headline ever). Water is a necessity for life and yet so many people do not have access to clean water. This past week I was made to

On Being (and Voting) Fully Pro-Life

I am pro-life. Fully pro-life. Because I am fully pro-life, I want to prevent babies from being killed while still in their mothers’ wombs. Because I am fully pro-life, I want to stop 8600 children from dying today and tomorrow and the day after and the day after that from poverty-related diseases (that’s 3 million

Let’s Talk Toilets

I kind of giggle every time I enter the Panera Bread ladies’ room in Wyomissing. It didn’t used to be that way. But this past year the Paneras around here added two-flush toilets. Flush up for a little water, down for a lot. And in the Wyomissing Panera, they added these informative little plaques: Just in

Planeloads of Children Killed by Water

A jumbo jet fell from the sky at 7 a.m. over the Atlantic. There are no survivors. Orphaned children from Africa made up the passenger list. All lost to the vagary of the water. Inexplicably, horrifically, at 11 a.m. it happens again. Another plane, more children, this time from Southeast Asia, down in the Pacific.

How $1 Can Save Someone’s Life

People can go up to 8 weeks without food. I seem to have trouble going 8 minutes. Water is a different story. Without it, the max most people would live is 5 days. Yet a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean water. Unsafe drinking water is the biggest killer of children

Celebrating Women the World Over—Including Lancaster

Reading Marie Curie and Her Daughters, by Shelley Emling, this week, I found out that Irene Curie, Marie’s daughter and a Nobel Prize winner in her own right, was the main speaker at an International Women’s Day event in London in the late 1940s. It resonated with me . . .

Fight Poverty—What Works

I keep a running to-do list. I put things on it and only cross an item off when it is done. I don’t rip off the pages until everything on the page has been completed. The pages get ratty. When I get toward the end of the year, I look at some of the things

Well, That’s a Deep Subject

“The hurrier I go, the behinder I get” is one of those “Amish” sayings you find on trivets sold at tourist traps here in Lancaster County. There are days (weeks? months?) when I feel the sentiment is true. I let things slide (like timely blog posts, for instance). The magazines I receive go in a basket

Picture Perfect

I’m not much of a photographer. I took some photos with my phone when I was at the Ghost Ranch in New Mexico last year. Les made fun of me because most of them have my finger in them, as you can see in the photo at the right where it looks like a giant

 

Have Carol Speak For Your Group

An accomplished and flexible speaker, Carol tailors her topics to fit the theme and timeframes of your meeting, conference, seminar or retreat.