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American Success Features

Rhonda Sciortino: Empowering Survivors

(Jennifer Schneider for American Essence)

I went from homeless to millionaire, but it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t overnight. Here’s my story.

I was homeless when I was 8 years old as a result of an uninsured fire in the little shack where I lived with my mentally ill grandfather and alcoholic and addicted grandmother. My parents were both long gone.

That time of being homeless made a powerful impression on me. When I think about it now, decades later, I can still feel the emotions of being scared, dirty, and hungry. I went to school every day for months, through fall and into winter, wearing the same filthy little dress and dime store flip-flops that I was wearing on the day of the fire. We slept in the back of our old pickup truck usually at a nearby lake. We fished and we dug around in trash cans for something to eat. When someone gave us a box of used clothes, some of which almost fit me, I was so excited. For me, it was like someone had handed me a million dollars. I didn’t know it then, but I can see clearly now that there was dignity in that box.

When I was 15 years old, I read that I could become an emancipated minor. Wow! No more living in filth (or staying with people who didn’t want us there), being screamed at, or being hit for any reason or no reason at all. I got a ride down to the courthouse, and I asked anyone who would speak to me how to get emancipated. I didn’t know that you were supposed to go with a lawyer or a social worker. My social worker had closed my case years prior, labeling me “unadoptable” because, she said, “no one wants to adopt school-aged children.”

After hours of hanging around the courthouse pestering people, a bailiff had mercy on me and escorted me back to a judge’s chambers. I stood outside the door while the man in the uniform went in and spoke to the judge. When he came out to get me, he said, “You’ve got 5 minutes.”

I told the judge that my parents had been gone for years, and that I wanted to be emancipated. “I can do it, your honor. I know how to take care of myself.” To my surprise, the judge didn’t summarily dismiss me and have the bailiff escort me out. Instead, he said, “OK, if you want to be emancipated, here’s what you’ll need. You might want to write this down. You’ll need to bring me a paycheck stub showing that you have a steady job, a lease for an apartment and a utility bill in your name showing me that you have a place to live, the registration for a vehicle to prove that you have a way to get to school and work, and passbooks for both checking and savings accounts.” I think he thought he’d never see me again.

I left there so excited! I went back to the ROP (Regional Occupational Program) office at the high school where I attended and asked them to help me find a job. They sent me on two job interviews—one at a bank and one in a little insurance office. I didn’t get the bank job, but the insurance agent hired me on the spot. Of course he did, because every time he asked me if I knew how to do something, I told him I was an expert at that! Most of what he asked about was a complete mystery to me, but I figured that I would learn and work hard and have a good attitude, and that all those things would make up for what I didn’t know how to do.

When that insurance agent taught me about homeowners insurance, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was stunned to hear that this thing called “insurance” existed, which would have rebuilt our little shack, replaced our clothes and furniture, and put us up in a house while they were rebuilding our place after it had been destroyed by fire. It was like this man had lit an unquenchable fire in me. I became passionate about selling homeowner insurance because I never wanted anyone to go through what we had gone through. The only problem was that I was 16 years old and unlicensed.

I filed my application for an insurance license and was turned down. The rules were that applicants had to be at least 18 years old before they could take the test. I was completely dejected. I had taken everything the judge required for emancipation down to the courthouse, and had been declared an emancipated minor. I felt like I could do anything! But the Department of Insurance burst my bubble. My boss, the man who had lit the fire in me, prompted me to appeal. After all, as an emancipated minor, I could be tried as an adult if I committed a crime! So I appealed. I was declined. I appealed again. I was declined again. On the sixth appeal, my boss suggested I write a letter to the then sitting Insurance Commissioner saying that I was going to be at his office every morning when he arrived until he allowed me to take the test. I was approved.

(Jennifer Schneider for American Essence)

Successful Survivors

I passed that test, and I spent the next 40 years in insurance. Most of that time I was in my own business, Child Welfare Insurance Services, an organization that was founded solely to protect and defend the good people and organizations that care for children who have been abused. In that business, we educated the insurance industry on how to properly rate premiums for child welfare organizations that had previously been charged premiums as though they were hospitals or insane asylums. As a result, we put millions of dollars back into the budgets of the organizations we served. That was money that was spent on children rather than insurance.

I sold my company and decided to spend the rest of my life helping other people succeed because of what they’ve been through. That was exactly what I had experienced.

I realized that the most painful experiences of my life became the stepping stones to personal and professional success. The abandonment I experienced when my parents left taught me self-reliance. The poverty I experienced taught me how to manage money and how to appreciate even the simplest things like warm running water, clean sheets, and food in the pantry. Child abuse gave me an empathy for victims of abuse that can be acquired only through lived experience. Being homeless as a result of an uninsured fire gave me a passion for the very thing that would be the vehicle through which I could help hundreds of nonprofit organizations, and indirectly, thousands of wounded children.

I founded an educational nonprofit, Successful Survivors Foundation, for the purpose of helping others create their own successful lives. We launched the Love Is Action Community Initiative to encourage people in neighborhoods to come together to help to eradicate social isolation and the societal ills that emanate from it, including child abuse, domestic violence, human trafficking, substance abuse, suicide, and all the others.

In this second half of my life, I’m trying to help as many people as possible. Because I can only be one place at a time, I began to write. And I launched a podcast called Empowering Resilience. I’ve written 14 books, the most recent of which, “30 Days to Love,” is scheduled for release in November 2021. I’m working on turning my Your Real Success curriculum into a series of micro-learning courses, in the wild aspiration of helping millions of people to find and fulfill the purpose for which they were born and perfectly matched.

And the most recent fun I’m having is doing the interviews for the American Success segment of American Essence Magazine. There are so many truly remarkable people throughout our great country who live quiet and peaceful lives of service to others. In their own unique way, each one is making the world a better place. It’s such a privilege to be able to tell their stories. I hope you’ll check in with me monthly for the next story. And who knows, maybe one of these days, the story will be about you.

(Jennifer Schneider for American Essence)

What challenges or hardships have you faced and overcome?

“I’ve overcome abandonment, abuse, poverty, and many other adversities. The most important aspect of facing challenges and hardships is discovering the truth that despite how difficult or painful it may be in the moment, suffering is optional. We can choose to be positive, be good to others as best we can, and expect good things to happen. This is my formula, if you will, for turning our adversities into our advantages. Adversities give us priceless opportunities to develop character traits, such as empathy, and learned abilities that we cannot acquire any other way.”

Tell us about the life that you live now.

“I am happily married to my husband of 30 years, Nick Sciortino. When I married him, I got a great, big Italian family as part of the package. Their acceptance of me helped to love me into wholeness when I was still rough around the edges. I used to be skeptical of people, almost expecting them to hurt me. But I understand now that when people don’t behave well, it’s because all is not well for them. Now, instead of being skeptical and defensive, I try to approach people with kindness, mercy, and love.

I have a wonderful daughter and son-in-love and amazing grandchildren. I can honestly say that I now have what I call Real Success, which is a balance of five separate facets, including good relationships, good health, peace, joy, and financial provision. That’s what I want for everyone.”

(Jennifer Schneider for American Essence)

What are three things that you do for others?

“Through my writing, speaking, podcast, and media, I do my best to share the wisdom that I’ve acquired along the way. I’ve tried to learn from everyone I know. (Sometimes I’ve learned how NOT to behave—still, it’s all valuable.) So I pass along tips so that others can build on what I know and go farther than I ever will. On a personal level, I share my faith and values. In my journey from homeless to millionaire, I’ve learned what works to move us toward fulfillment of our purpose and the real success that accompanies it. I’ve also learned what doesn’t work. Those things that do not work distract us from the good life we were born and fully equipped to live. I share what I know to help others save the precious time of their lives that can never be retrieved.”

Some favorite quotes: 

“You can have anything in life that you want, if you’ll help enough other people get what they want.” —Zig Ziglar

“Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.” —Teddy Roosevelt

“The harder you work, the luckier you get.” —Samuel Goldwyn

A book that inspired you:

“The Body Keeps The Score” by Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk

“Man’s Search For Meaning” by Viktor Frankl

“Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis

Best advice:

“Forgive those who have hurt you. Be kind to everyone. Show love to others every opportunity you have. When you do those things, your life will be filled with kindness, love, and mercy. It doesn’t get any better than that!”

Rhonda Sciortino is the author of “Acts of Kindness,” “The Kindness Quotient,” and “Love Is Action,” among many other books. She hopes to nudge people toward Love.

Categories
Entrepreneurs

Consuelo Lippi: A Woman in a Man’s Hatter World

Consuelo Lippi at the Panama Hat Company store. (Courtesy of Panama Hat Company)

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Consuelo Lippi would stand at the counter of her hat store in St. Augustine, Florida and tell the suited-up salesmen of the hat trade that she was indeed the owner of the Panama Hat Company.

They would look her up and down and declare, “No, no, no. You are the missis. I need to talk to the owner. I need to talk to your husband. You are the missis.”

She would respond and say, “Yeah, I’m the missis, and I’m going to pay you for your merchandise.”

She said it took a number of years to establish her credibility because, at that time, the hat trade was dominated by men.

“I had to fight really, really hard with businessmen, but I did eventually gain their respect. Later on, they would come and be more open with me because they knew I understood what they were talking about.”

(Courtesy of Panama Hat Company)

Lippi understood because she had thoroughly researched the process of making Panama hats in her native Ecuador. And yes, Panama hats are not from Panama—they only bear that name because they were sold in vast quantities through the country of Panama to the world. In Ecuador, they’re more correctly known as sombreros de paja. They’re woven from the leaves of the Carludovica palmata plant, known in Ecuador as the toquilla palm.

The plants are evergreen shrubs that grow to around 12 feet tall on the western side of Ecuador. The stems yield a unique fiber that is then woven into varying degrees of coarse or ultra-fine material referred to as the “hat body”—a floppy dome of palm fibers that is then shaped and blocked by experts to produce a finished Panama hat.

The toquilla palm plants are in decline in Ecuador, along with the number of weavers. There are only around a dozen Panama hat artisans left who know how to weave a “super fino” Montecristi Panama hat. Many of the weavers have left Ecuador for higher rates of pay in other countries. Lippi stated that the genuine Panama hat might be extinct by the middle of this century.

As someone who has fallen in love with Panama hats and was tremendously pleased with the quality of the hat that I purchased from Lippi’s son, Tony, I found her prediction dismaying. I sincerely hope that the Ecuadorian people can save the Panama hat.

Although there are many companies selling Panama hats in America, the small shop in St. Augustine stands out, not just because of its location in a historic town founded in 1565, but because of the quality of its merchandise, its extremely loyal customer base, and the unique story of its founding, growth, and results.

In 2016, in the Boathouse in Central Park, New York City, the 112-year-old Annual Headwear Association gave their prestigious Retailer of the Year Award to the Panama Hat Company. The vote by the Board of Trustees was unanimous. One of the criteria for the award was the volume of merchandise sold in relationship to the store’s size. Lippi and her eldest son, Tony, received the award and were joined at the event by Lippi’s husband, Chuck, their younger son, Danny, and their daughters-in-law, Cat and Braiden.

The Lippi family at the 108th Annual Headwear Association Dinner in 2016. From left: Chuck and Consuelo, Danny and Catherine, Braiden and Tony Lippi. (Courtesy of Panama Hat Company)
Consuelo and her son Tony Lippi, a co-owner of the store, at the balcony of the Arrivas House. (Courtesy of Panama Hat Company)

Tony had joined the business in 2003 as a co-owner with his parents and now manages the store for Lippi, who is still going strong in her seventies. Their clientele includes a broad and interracial base of people who love Panama hats and is highlighted by famous names like the trombonist Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg and His Excellency Ramón Gil-Casares, the Spanish Ambassador to the United States who came to St. Augustine in 2015 for the city’s 450th commemoration of its founding.

After 36 years, the Panama Hat Company is a success. It employs between 15 and 20 people and is a fixture in St. Augustine. But, like many family-owned businesses, its birth was unexpected, and its growth was not guaranteed.

Lippi and her husband, Chuck, had arrived in St. Augustine in the 1980s. They met at a Peace Corp conference in Ecuador in 1968 when they were in their 20s. Chuck was a Peace Corps volunteer, and Lippi was a high-school teacher from the town of Ambato in the central province of Tungurahua, hired by the Peace Corp to teach Spanish to the volunteers.

They fell in love, married, and came to America, where Chuck established a career as an arborist, and Lippi expanded her career, teaching Spanish and the theory of teaching languages at Flagler College in St. Augustine. She also taught technical and conversational Spanish at the Mayo Clinic and continued teaching at Flagler for almost 20 years.

Consuelo and her husband Chuck Lippi fell in love and married after meeting in Ecuador in 1968. (Courtesy of Panama Hat Company)

St. Augustine and its rich Spanish history spoke to Lippi, and in 1985 she decided to rent a room in the Arrivas House, a historic landmark dating back to the mid 1600s. She purchased a number of Ecuadorian items, including some Panama hats, and offered them for sale. She was surprised at how quickly they sold and was even more astonished when Robert L. Gold, at that time the executive director of the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board, offered to rent her the entire building, on the condition that she maintain the quality of her merchandise.

It was a significant honor that Lippi deeply appreciated and one that produced a certain amount of panic since she wasn’t quite sure how she would maintain a much larger venture.

Built in the 17th century, the Arrivas House has been home to Panama Hat Company since 1985. (Courtesy of Ldmarion)

The next day she was on a plane to Ecuador to research and procure products in the famous market town of Otavalo. She walked through the market, following American tourists, and watched what they purchased. She then bought similar items to bring back to the Arrivas House, to her new business that would become the Panama Hat Company.

Many research and investigative trips to Ecuador followed over the years, with Chuck and Tony driving on broken, dusty roads deep into the interior of Ecuador to reach the remote villages where the toquilla hats were woven. Lippi and Tony learned from the experts how to block the hat bodies into high-quality Panamas and eventually brokered an arrangement with a hat blocking company in America so that they could scale their merchandise for volume.

Consuelo and her eldest son, Tony Lippi, travelled to remote villages to learn the art of blocking Panama hats. (Courtesy of Panama Hat Company)

It’s been a long journey of hard work and commitment for Lippi, a woman who started a business in a world where hatters were mostly men. She has done that work for something much more important than money. She told me:

“I don’t value the dollars as much as I value the praise that we get from my customers when we sell them an item that is genuine and is something that they will remember from my country, Ecuador. I am extremely proud to sell something that I know they are going to enjoy for the rest of their life.

“I have so much respect for the two countries that have been so gracious to me, and so generous—my country Ecuador and the United States. And… we have the best customers and the best employees, ever.”

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Camping Entrepreneurs The Great Outdoors

How to Pack Your Backpack for an Overnight Trip

(Presley Roozenburg/Unsplash)

Backpacking can seem like a daunting undertaking if you’ve never done it before. So, I almost always recommend a short overnight trek or a weekend outing for people wanting to try it out for the first time. That’s just enough time to experience backpacking without the intensity of an extended adventure.

If you’ve never gone backpacking before, then it is likely you also need to get some of the gear. Before you jump to buying everything you might need for an overnight backpacking trip, borrow or rent first. These options are more affordable since they give you the chance to try out the activity without the pressure of financially investing fully. Renting or borrowing gear from a friend also gives you a chance to try out different gear options before investing in your equipment as well.

Eventually, you’re going to want a few of your own things. And a great starting point for beginner backpackers is first to get your backpack.

Choosing a Suitable Pack

While the best option when starting any new activity is to start with what you have, even if you have a backpack for school or commuting on your bike around town, the chances are that it isn’t suitable for a backpacking trip.

Standard backpacks for day-to-day travel can work when you first start day hiking, but as you graduate to backpacking, you need more room and better support. Most backpacks we use for daily activities only have shoulder straps, have limited organization, and have no back support. On the other hand, backpacking packs are designed to help you comfortably carry heavy loads over long distances.

There are three main areas to look at when choosing the right backpack for your trip needs:

  • Size
  • Features
  • Fit

The size of the backpack you need will depend on the length of your trip and what you need to carry. For instance, if you are backpacking in the summer, a smaller pack could work, but in the winter you need to carry more layers, bulkier sleep gear, and maybe more fuel for cooking.

When looking at backpacking packs, the size is labeled in liters. For an overnight or weekend trip, a 30-50L pack should work just fine. For overnights specifically, a pack less than 35L can work. Liters are the standard measurement for backpacks because it discloses the volume of the bag. An easy way to think about the size of a backpack then is to imagine a standard Nalgene water bottle. One water bottle is one liter. So, a 35L backpack hypothetically should be able to hold 35 Nalgene’s worth of water. I don’t recommend pouring water into your pack though, that’s for visualization purposes only.

The features of your pack will vary depending on the style of the bag and the intended use. That’s why backpacking specific bags work best. They’ll have more features like exterior attachment points for gear, a frame to support the weight, various pockets for organization and easy access, a hydration reservoir, padding on the back and straps for comfort, and a hip belt to take most of the weight off of your shoulders. There are other possible features and additional accessories, so when shopping for a bag, look at all options to see what works best for your needs.

Finally, the fit of the bag needs to be specific to your body. They make male and female-specific backpack designs to better fit differing anatomy like broader shoulders or wider hips. There are also unisex options. Going to a gear shop to try on backpacks is recommended, even if you don’t buy them there. Most sales associates in those stores are trained to help customers find and fit backpacks to their body types and size. Although backpacks may be labeled as gender-specific, don’t let that stop you from trying them. For example, I am a female but use either male or unisex backpacking packs because I have broader shoulders, and female-specific bags don’t fit my body as well.

Renting backpacking equipment can also help you find the right bag for you as the outfitters will help find and fit a backpack to your body. Not all outfitters will have the same options, but if there is one with several brands and styles, try on a few and see which ones feel best. That way, you essentially get a test run of a bag before you buy it.

What You Need to Bring

This is an overnight or weekend trip, but the basics of any backpacking trip will require similar gear. How much of each thing and the type of gear will depend on the length of your trip, the climate/weather, and your personal needs. I’m not going to break down each type of gear in detail, but instead, provide a brief list so you have an idea of what you’ll need to fit into your backpack while you’re packing.

Items to include on a backpacking checklist:

  • Hiking shoes
  • Season-appropriate clothing
  • Tent (or other shelter)
  • Sleeping bag
  • Sleeping pad
  • Stove + Fuel
  • Other camp kitchen supplies
  • Enough food for the length of trip
  • Water bottles + reservoir
  • Water treatment supplies
  • Personal hygiene products
  • First-aid and emergency kit
  • Repair kit
  • Headlamp

Other items can be included or even necessary to bring pending the type of terrain you encounter, the time of year you’re hiking, and to fulfill other personal needs.

How to Pack Your Backpack

Even though the list above isn’t exhaustive, it can still seem like a lot to fit into a 35L backpack! You’ll be surprised how much you can carry comfortably as you start to pack and hit the trail.

When packing your backpack for any trip, the first thing to do is gather all of your supplies and lay them out on the floor. This gives you a great visual to ensure you have everything you need. You can go down your checklist and double-check that it is all there. Then, you can begin packing your bag.

The Zones

Bottom zone: usually a sleeping bag compartment, this zone is designed to fit bulkier gear items that you won’t need until you get to camp.
Core zone: this is the middle of your pack, above the bottom compartment. Pack heavier items here like your food, bear canister, and camp kitchen.
Top zone: near the top of your pack is where you can store items that may be somewhat bulky, but may still need while hiking. These items include extra layers, a water filter, a toilet bag, and your first aid kit.

There are other usable areas on the backpack, like the accessory pocks and any exterior attachment points. Some packs have straps designed to attach a foam sleeping pad to the base of your pack, and others will have a brain with pockets that sit on the top of the pack.

These accessory pockets and lash-on points are ideal for items you need often or in an emergancy. They could be front pockets, hip belt pockets, water bottle holders, side pockets, or brain pockets. Each backpack will have varying designs. Examples of things often kept in accessory pockets include a map, snacks, pack rain cover, compass, headlamp, or your ID.

Don’t be afraid to pack, unpack, and repack your bag multiple times or change things around when you are on the trail. You want the pack to feel comfortable and be easy to carry.

The last thing to do before you put the pack on after it’s packed is to compress things as much as possible. Most backpacks will have compression straps to help press things together and make the bag more compact and easier to carry.

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Features

José Mayoral’s Escape from Socialism

(Jason Leung/Unsplash)

José Angel Mayoral III is a man who lost his country. Born and raised in Venezuela, he grew up in a family of entrepreneurial business owners in Caracas. His Puerto Rican grandfather went to Venezuela as a salesman for Goodyear Rubber and Tire and decided to stay. His grandfather and father worked hard and created a GM car dealership, among many other ventures. One of them was the Fiesta Candy Company, which specialized in chocolates.

José became a part-owner and the Director of Production, and after his father opened a division of Fiesta in Spain, José was appointed as the overseas production director as well. He traveled back and forth between the two countries until 1993 when he and his wife decided to immigrate to the United States.

Venezuela was swirling with turbulence in 1993. President Carlos Andrés Pérez had just been impeached for corruption, and Hugo Chávez had initiated two coup attempts the year before. Doing business in Venezuela was hampered by graft and the constant greasing of palms to get anything done.

In José’s experience, Spain in 1993 was also a terrible place to do business. Felipe González Márquez was the Prime Minister and the Secretary-General of the dominant Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). The environment was decidedly unfriendly toward business. Business owners were seen as the oppressors, and local legislators, officials, and unions were frequently in opposition.

There were three unions, run by the socialists, the communists, and the anarchists. José recalls:

We had a constant barrage of strikes, sabotage, all sorts of problems. They would sue us constantly. The judges were always siding with the unions because they were afraid. The police would not enforce the laws and break down the pickets. On any particular day, you would arrive at the parking lot to get your car and find that everybody’s tires had been slashed. It was very negative.

The anarchists were the only ones that you could negotiate with because all they cared about was, “Hey, are you going to pay me more money?”

The others wanted all sorts of concessions. Whatever dictum came from Moscow; that’s what they wanted.

In that hostile environment, José and his American wife Laurie decided to move to the United States. José was fortunate to find a position as the Sales Director for Latin America and the Caribbean for Lamb Weston, which at the time was part of ConAgra Foods. They moved to Boca Raton, Florida, since José had to travel south so frequently. He was deeply impressed with the people who ran Lamb Weston and said:

They were fantastic people. I was so surprised to see the level of professionalism and the human quality that these people had. The way they ran the company was absolutely in a Christian way. They treated people like souls. They were incredible people, and the company was fantastically successful.

Jose Mayoral giving a speech on the dangers of socialism. (Peter Falkenberg Brown)

In 1997, the same year that Hugo Chávez founded a democratic socialist party called the Fifth Republic Movement, José and Laurie moved to York, Maine, and established a branch of the Fiesta Candy Company across the border in Rochester, New Hampshire. It’s now called Great Bay Chocolates1 and employs six people.

As Venezuela was collapsing under the Chávez regime, and as José’s family businesses in Venezuela with their many employees were going under, José and Laurie were building a new business in an environment that was proof positive that the American system of free enterprise worked better than totalitarian socialism.

José was astonished and grateful at the friendly attitudes and substantial help that the citizens and town officials in Rochester extended to them. The town helped with loans and did everything they could to get the candy company off the ground. The differences between his experiences in America, Spain, and Venezuela were enormous.

The chocolate factory. (Courtesy of Jose Mayoral)
(Courtesy of Jose Mayoral)

He reflected about the standard of ethics in Venezuela and America, and the refusal of local officials in America to take bribes, and their genuine desire to help others.

Every time the fire alarm goes off in the building and the cops come over, and you try to give them a bag of candy, they refuse it. These people do their jobs and try to help you. The health inspectors are here to help. The mayor wants the business to thrive. I haven’t seen any corruption whatsoever.

Don’t make me look like a hero because I’m not. It’s the country of America that is the hero. It’s the town of Rochester and the local officials that basically run the day-to-day and the people that make it easy to get businesses going.

José’s father sent them $50,000 worth of equipment from their factories in Venezuela and Spain under a long-term loan. The Fiesta Candy Company in Venezuela was taken over by the government, and the company’s branch in Spain eventually went bankrupt. But the company lives on in a small town in New Hampshire. José and Laurie have two sons, and one son works at the company, continuing the family tradition.

When José talks with his relatives in Venezuela, he’s deeply saddened by the increasingly grim news about the tragedy of socialism. His two cousins, Diana and Federico, are still there, taking care of the GM car business that has no cars. Now, it only does repairs. They’ve informed José that the people who are left in Venezuela have become resigned to their fate. The political opposition to President Nicolás Maduro is ineffectual. Millions of citizens have fled: to Columbia, to the United States, and other locales.

José Angel Mayoral did indeed lose his beloved country of Venezuela, once the wealthiest country in Latin America. His solace is that he has been blessed with a new one. His gratitude toward America is profound, and his experiences send a clear message to his adopted country: Don’t become like Venezuela.

Peter Falkenberg Brown is a writer, author, and public speaker. One of his recent books is titled “Waking Up Dead and Confused Is a Terrible Thing: Stories of Love, Life, Death, and Redemption.” He hosts a video and podcast channel called “The FalkenBrown Show” at his website peterfalkenbergbrown.com

Categories
Features Hidden Gems

Dancing Spirit Ranch: ‘The Peace of Wild Things’

Exploring Dancing Spirit Ranch's expansive grounds. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)

The Montana mountain air was cool and fresh, and as I breathed it in, something inside of me awakened: evasive like magic or childhood. I pulled on my rain boots and walked quickly to keep up with my daughters, who had already raced off the porch and through the mud to the purple sky in front of us.

Alpenglow was a word I never heard before my trip to Dancing Spirit Ranch, but it’s one I won’t soon forget. As the sun sets, mountains exposed to the direct sunlight undergo an optical phenomenon and assume a color wheel of orange, yellow, and finally violet, creating an illusion of the air being tangible enough to reach out and grab a handful of it.

Enjoying the mountain views in northwest Montana in good company is a pastime at Dancing Spirit Ranch. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)
The Alpenglow effect of late-day sunlight bouncing off the mountains, clouds, and lake at Dancing Spirit Ranch. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)

In the northwest corner of Montana, at the edge of the Mountain Time zone, it was half-past eight in the evening in the middle of March and I could still see my parents, children, husband, and sister walking around the water in a hazy pool of light that reflected off the mountains behind them.

I paused, scanning the jagged horizon formed by movements in the earth’s foundation, punctuated by swans taking off in unison from the small pond in front of me. After a year of far too few visits with my family, we were together again, lost not in worrisome, despairing talks about our nation or the pandemic that have become commonplace in the past year, but simple, soul-filling wonder.

Birds in flight with the mountains in the background at Dancing Spirit Ranch. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)

Dancing Spirit Ranch is a family-owned retreat center and vacation rental outside of Whitefish, Montana, America’s playground for skiers, nature lovers, hikers and fly fishers. On the edge of Glacier National Park and boasting 150 acres of gardens, ponds, walking trails, and mountain views, the ranch is a place layered with beauty.

Dancing Spirit Ranch is a retreat and event space owned and operated by the Cross/Singer family. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)

Katherine and Gordon bought the ranch nearly 30 years ago, but only in the past few years has it been opened up for retreats and vacations. Guests can stay in three of the carefully built or renovated houses on the property. The Bunkhouse, a perfect accommodation for a larger family reunion, sleeps up to 14 in high-end rustic style, while The Schoolhouse is perfect for a couple or solo retreat.

From our windows in the Cedar House, a four-bedroom cabin on the edge of a 14-acre pond, we watched birds and deer navigate the early Montana spring against the stunning backdrop of the mountain range.

Executive head chef Ananda Johnson prepares a meal for guests at Dancing Spirit Ranch. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)

The food at Dancing Spirit Ranch sits in a league of its own. Ananda Johnson, the head chef, has a seemingly endless repertoire of healthy, delicious, plant-based recipes: rosemary paleo biscuits, garden lasagna, made with layers of zucchini, butternut squash, and eggplant between lentil brown rice noodles, oatmeal energy bites, and buckwheat granola, to name a few.

Enjoying a meal in front of the fire in the Barn at the Dancing Spirit Ranch. (Courtesy of Shalee Wanders)

Prepared and served with gracious hospitality as we ate in the dining room of the Barn, next to a crackling fire while the sun beamed through the large windows, Ananda—full of humor, stories, and warmth—made us feel like old friends by the end of the week.

There are more food plans in the works. By the end of 2021, Dancing Spirit Ranch hopes to be completely farm-to-table. They’ve built gardens and greenhouses to this end, thoughtfully arranged in geometric patterns. Dancing Spirit Ranch takes pride in its working relationship with the land—caring for the soil correctly and planting sustainably so that the ground remains fruitful for years to come.

Enjoying the fire pit, s’mores, and family time at Dancing Spirit Ranch. (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)
Family time around the fire. (Courtesy of Rachael Dymski)

We could have gone the entire week without leaving the property of Dancing Spirit Ranch, enjoying the bubbling of the Whitefish River, the first signs of buds along the walking trails, sitting around the large communal fire pit where we enjoyed s’mores after dinner in the sunset, the white, sugary fluff of the marshmallow sticking to my daughter’s chin.

Gordon Cross, owner of Dancing Spirit Ranch enjoys spending time teaching his grandson to fish at Dancing Spirit Ranch (Courtesy of Dancing Spirit Ranch)

We did venture off, to ski Whitefish Mountain, which still had an ample snow base of 100 inches in March, and then to Glacier Park, where we drove 10 miles alongside the clear waters of Lake McDonald. But every time we turned back toward Dancing Spirit Ranch, it was with the anticipation of coming back home.

Venturing off property for some spring skiing at Whitefish Mountain Resort in northwest Montana. (Courtesy of Shalee Wanders)
Skiing at Whitefish. (Courtesy of Rachael Dymski)

Katherine told me that the ranch has a way of bringing in the people who need it, a sort of magnetic pull. That might be true, but I think equally crucial to the equation is the way visitors are received when they arrive at Dancing Spirit Ranch. I think it matters that Dancing Spirit Ranch is family-owned and -operated because the staff and owners know inherently what visiting families and guests most need.

After so much time apart, my family craved a beautiful, relaxed setting to enjoy one another and the world around us, and the ranch delivered tenfold.

The serenity of the ranch is a balm for the soul. (Courtesy of Rachael Dymski)
The serenity of the ranch is a balm for the soul. (Courtesy of Rachael Dymski)

Watching my dad swing my daughter up onto his shoulders as they walked through the grass in the evening light, my mom laughing with my youngest as they ran in circles, my husband and sister standing together, talking about how good their dinner was, I decided that Dancing Spirit Ranch was a place I could return to again and again.

To quote the poet Wendell Berry, the place is full of the “peace of wild things.”

The author was a guest of Dancing Spirit Ranch.

Rachael Dymski is an author, florist, and mom to two little girls. She is currently writing a novel about the German occupation of the Channel Islands and blogs on her website, RachaelDymski.com

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Features Your Stories

What We Had to Offer

Linda Zhao for American Essence

The Smithsonian Magazine labeled 1968 as “The Year that Shattered America.” It seemed that each evening, Walter Cronkite began the CBS Evening News with reports of marches; protests; bloody clashes; and even assassinations happening across the world, in our nation, and in cities not too far from home. It was in the late summer of that year that Vilna, a foreign exchange student from Venezuela, entered my former high school—Monroe County High, in Monroeville, Alabama—a small school located in south Alabama.  It was probably the worst time for a young high school girl from a foreign country to come to study in the United States, in the South, and especially in the Deep South.

In Monroeville, the fear of potential racial unrest ran down the streets like syrup spreading on a dinner plate. Old men who met to play Dominoes on the town square gathered more to hear the news of what was happening in Clausell Quarters than to play their favorite game. They also whispered how Nelle Harper Lee’s book had just stirred the pot for upheaval in the town. Although her book “To Kill a Mockingbird” had been published five years earlier, the blame for some of this agitation, they surmised, could certainly be placed at her feet for bringing attention to their hometown. The locals knew that Maycomb was a fictitious name for Monroeville.

I, however, was more interested in knowing why my former high school was chosen as the host school for a foreign exchange student.  Monroe County High School wasn’t noted for its superb programs of study or for its state-of-the-art facilities. What was the appeal to the committee of the international study program? Surely, other schools in the South or even in Alabama could put their best foot forward to host foreign students.

If I was puzzled about the choice of Monroe County High School, I was totally baffled when Miss Norris, the faculty sponsor of the new International Exchange Program, asked Mother and Daddy to help host Vilna on weekends during her year of study. We didn’t even live in the city limits of Monroeville. Our little community was six miles away from town. Our family vacations took us to the Great Smoky Mountains and Florida beaches—not international destinations.

Maybe Miss Norris knew that in our small, rural community of Mexia, our home was the “welcoming center” for newcomers to Mexia Baptist Church and that our house was the central hub of activity for our unincorporated, rural town. Mother hosted more showers, club meetings, and social events at our home than most country clubs. So, it wasn’t surprising that Sherry, my sister who was a senior like Vilna, asserted her fine-tuned hospitality skills in welcoming her wholeheartedly into our home.

I knew that my sisters and I would learn much about Vilna’s culture as a result of her stay, and we did. However, it was my parents’ quiet and out-of-step actions from their normal routine that revealed lasting lessons for life.

In the 1960s, our family could have been considered as the model family for Southern Baptist home life. Daddy’s fingerprint was on all aspects of church service at Mexia Baptist Church—deacon, trustee, chairman of numerous church and associational committees, and teacher. Mother served in almost every role allowed to women in the denomination. If the church doors were open, my sisters and I were there. It was against this religious backdrop that Vilna, a devout Catholic, crossed the threshold into our Baptist world.

In our young, unworldly minds, the word “Roman” implied foreign and strange, and certainly all things Catholic were in direct opposition to Baptist doctrine. Leading up to the 1960 presidential election, Daddy and Mother were adamant that they would never vote for John F. Kennedy, because a Catholic president would “take orders from the Pope.” Mother and Daddy were asked by the Bethlehem Baptist Association in Monroe County to serve as delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention in 1960 when then-presidential candidate Kennedy addressed the convention with these words: “But if this election is decided on the basis that 40 million Americans lost their chance of being president on the day they were baptized, then it is the whole nation that will be the loser in the eyes of Catholics and non-Catholics around the world, in the eyes of history, and in the eyes of our own people.” What was the impact of those words on my parents’ political views? Who did they cast their vote for in the election? Vilna’s stay at our home lends me a clue. Out of respect for Vilna and her religious heritage and culture, Mother and Daddy, the staunch Baptists, drove Vilna to and from Monroeville every Sunday so that she could attend Sunday Mass, thus altering their own worship routine drastically.

Advances in technology over time have erased some of the ordinary ways of living in ways we can now take for granted. In 1968, to call a friend who lived just 25 miles away meant a long-distance charge was added to the monthly phone bill. I didn’t call home but once each week from college because of the additional charges, but Daddy and Mother never said no when Vilna requested to call her parents in Venezuela.

Vilna’s interest in Alabama history resulted in the family and Vilna taking short road trips to visit historical sites on Saturdays. Like a choreographed routine Ginger, Sherry, Debbie, and I would pile into the backseat of our Buick, while Vilna sat up front between Mother and Daddy. Daddy would pull the car off the road at every Blue Star Memorial marker in Monroe County, and each stop became a history lesson not only for Vilna, but also for us. History books and local lore tell of the ghost town of Claiborne, which is located only five miles from our home. The only evidence of this once-thriving city of 5,000 people are the graveyards that sit on bluffs above the Alabama River. When we stopped the car and walked among the crumbling tombstones, the inscriptions told a haunting story of the massive toll of the Yellow Fever pandemic of 1873. Grandmother Jaye had often told us stories of how our great-grandmother had attended the glorious gala given to welcome Marquis de Lafayette to Alabama at the Masonic Lodge in Claiborne. As we toured the building, which had been moved up the bluff to Purdue Hill to escape the swampy waters that bred the carriers of death that caused the pandemic, we could almost see the ladies swirling and twirling to the music as they enjoyed welcoming the handsome and noble Frenchman to their new state of Alabama. The faded and almost forgotten images of Claiborne, the ghost town, came alive to us that day.

When the local radio station in Monroeville announced that Jose Feliciano was going to perform at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, Sherry wishfully asked if Vilna and she could attend the concert. Surprisingly, Mother and Daddy agreed, and even more shocking was that they would let Sherry, a 16 -year-old, drive 150 miles to Auburn. As Sherry took control of the wheels of the car, it rolled along toward Auburn with two teenage girls singing loudly to the music of the Spanish-born performer. When Jose climbed the steps onto the stage playing his acoustic guitar and singing “Light My Fire,” Sherry still recalls Vilna’s expressions of joy. “She was in heaven, pure heaven.”

My parents’ actions of welcoming Vilna to our home revealed some universal truths that connect us all. It’s what you have to offer, rather than what you have, that matters. Religious divides aren’t as big as they appear. And let hospitality permeate your actions, for it’s the essence of following the great commandant of “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Gwenyth McCorquodale has been teaching since the age of 7, when she taught her three younger sisters the letters of the alphabet. Gwenyth retired from Judson College in Marion, Alabama, where she served as professor of education and head of the department of education. She has written books, articles for national and international journals, and for her hometown newspaper The Monroe Journal.

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Charming Towns Features

Jim Thorpe: A Wealth of History Tucked in a Charming Small Town

A statue of Olympian Jim Thorpe, 1888-1953, one of the most accomplished all-around athletes in history. He is buried and memorialized in a town with his name, Jim Thorpe, PA. (Karen Lee Ensley)

Crowned one of the “most beautiful small towns in America,” Jim Thorpe could also be called one of the most fascinating historical small towns in the country.

Visitors to this eastern Pennsylvania town will be charmed by its exquisite Victorian mansions, quaint shops, and old-fashioned passenger railroad. Yet Jim Thorpe is sure to thrill the history lover with fiction-like melodrama and an intriguing mystery.

Picturesque town of Jim Thorpe, PA. (Karen Lee Ensley)

Originally founded in 1818 as Mauch Chunk (pronounced Mock Chunk), meaning “bear mountain” in the native Lenni Lenape language, the small boroughs of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk merged and adopted the name Jim Thorpe in 1954.

A Famous Namesake

Intended to attract tourism, the town’s new name honored the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States. Though he likely never visited Mauch Chunk, his third wife, Patricia Thorpe, in a controversial move, arranged to have his body memorialized in this town.

James Francis Thorpe, a member of the Thunder Clan of the Sac and Fox tribe, was fittingly called Wa-tho-huck, meaning “Bright Path.” Born in May 1887 or 1888 in Oklahoma Territory, he was a direct descendant of the famous warrior Chief Black Hawk. But it was his athletic skills that made Jim Thorpe famous. When he attended Carlisle Indian School, a vocational school in Pennsylvania, he excelled in a diverse range of sports, including basketball, billiards, bowling, figure skating, golf, gymnastics, handball, hockey, lacrosse, rowing, swimming, tennis, and track and field. He even won a dance competition.

Thorpe Football Monument, Memorial Park, Jim Thorpe, PA. (Karen Lee Ensley)

But, he was best known for his football skills. After his team handily beat the No. 1 ranked Army team at West Point, Army’s left halfback, Cadet Dwight D. Eisenhower, described Thorpe: “He was able to do everything anyone else could, but he could do it better. There was no one like him in the world.”

His accomplishments were numerous. He played baseball for the National League champion New York Giants and football for the world champion Canton Bulldogs. He was the first president of the American Professional Football Association, the forerunner to the National Football League.

Harry Packer Mansion in Jim Thorpe, PA. (Karen Lee Ensley)

One of Thorpe’s greatest and most famous achievements was during the 1912 Olympics. He spectacularly won the five-event pentathlon and the 10-event decathlon by wide margins over his competitors. The king of Sweden, Gustav V, presented the gold medals, proclaiming, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world!”

A Wealth of History, a History of Wealth

Beyond the famous namesake, the town of Jim Thorpe has a wealth of history. It also has a history of wealth, including millionaires whose legacies are still seen in the opulence of its Victorian mansions.

The 100-year old Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, Reading & Northern Railroad now takes passengers into Lehigh Gorge State Park. (Karen Lee Ensley)

The town was founded when the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, headed by Josiah White, began work on the Lehigh River to transport coal. Along with business partner Erskine Hazard, White created the 49-lock ascending and descending Lehigh Canal, a civil engineering feat of its time. They also opened the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway to transport coal from the mines. By 1873, this gravity-powered railway was converted to passenger use and became one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. President Ulysses S. Grant and Thomas Edison were two of the famous adventurers to brave the hair-raising ride through the mountains. The Switchback predates the Coney Island, New York, roller coaster known as the Switchback Gravity Pleasure Railway by 11 years.

The economic boom generated by the coal company interested carpenter and farmer Asa Packer, who moved to the town and used his carpentry skills to build canal boats. Over time, he believed there was a better way to transport the coal. He risked financial ruin when he purchased nearly all the controlling stock for an unfinished railroad. Later, the line became the prosperous Lehigh Valley Railroad.

Asa Packer Mansion, an example of Italianate architecture, Jim Thorpe, PA. Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the foreground, 1886. (Tito Slack/Shutterstock)

A philanthropist, he founded Lehigh University, donated millions of dollars, and left an estate valued over $54 million. Today, visitors can tour the family’s elegant three-story, 18-room Italianate villa, complete with original contents. Approaching the mansion, visitors pass Gothic window arches and gingerbread trefoil motifs trimming the verandah. Inside, guests are treated to fine woodcarvings by European artisans and glistening stained-glass windows. Designated a National Historic Landmark, the mansion sits on a hill overlooking a picturesque view of Jim Thorpe.

Harry Packer Mansion in Jim Thorpe, PA. (Karen Lee Ensley)

Nearby is the former home of Asa’s son, Harry Packer. The mansion is currently a historic luxury inn decorated in the elegance of the Victorian era. Surprisingly, it has a most unusual claim to fame. The exterior of the home was the inspiration for Walt Disney World’s “Haunted Mansion.”

Secret Society

On another hill in Jim Thorpe is a supernatural mystery. The story reads like fiction but is true.

It begins in the coal mines. The same coal mines that brought great wealth to the region also brought hardship and danger. Conditions in the mines were terrible. Boys as young as 6 years old worked picking slate. Families lived in poor company-owned homes. They were paid in company money, which was worthless except in company stores. Foremen frequently abused workers.

A secret organization retaliated against the coal and railroad companies. Between 1861 and 1875, there were arsons, violent assaults, and murders blamed on the secretive Irish-American group known as the Molly Maguires. A Pinkerton detective infiltrated the group, befriended the members, and then betrayed them. Seven Irish coal miners proclaimed their innocence but were hanged in the Old Jail. But that was not the end of this story. Before his hanging, one miner placed his dirty hand on the wall, saying, “This handprint will remain as proof of my innocence.” Despite washing, painting, and replastering, the handprint has remained to this day.

Plenty to Do

Today, Jim Thorpe is a charming small town. Many of the Victorian buildings have been renovated and turned into shops, eateries, museums, and galleries. Adventurers enjoy the walkable downtown, biking and hiking through scenic Lehigh Gorge, or whitewater rafting.

Historic hotel. Jim Thorpe, PA is also known as “The Switzerland of America,” or “The Gateway to the Poconos.” (Karen Lee Ensley)

Theater lovers attend live performances at the historic Mauch Chunk Opera House, one of America’s oldest vaudeville theaters.

Delightful events lure visitors year-round. There’s a Running Festival with 7-mile, half-marathon, and full marathon options. Winterfest brings horse-drawn carriage rides, ice carvings, and a luminary stroll, while autumn brings the Fall Foliage Festival, featuring arts, crafts, children’s activities, and ghost tours. It’s the perfect time to enter the Old Jail Museum and see the mysterious handprint.

Afterward, visit the Molly Maguires Pub & Steakhouse on Hazard Square. Enjoy a meal while relaxing on the outdoor heated deck. Listen to the nearby 1893 courthouse clock tower chime, and watch the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway depart the historic downtown station. Riders on the narrated round trip are treated to views of Pennsylvania’s woodlands. In autumn, a tour is a visual feast of colorful foliage.

Be sure to wander to Josiah White Park and see a 15,100-pound piece of anthracite coal. The enormous black diamond is a monument to Josiah White and Erskine Hazard. Have a seat in the quaint gazebo overlooking the park. Then, with the setting sun, watch the strings of lights sparkle as they decorate the nostalgic train station. Jim Thorpe truly is a charming small town with an extraordinary wealth of history.

Karen Lee Ensley is a writer and photographer. Her work has been published nationally and internationally in books, magazines, newspapers, brochures, and calendars. Find her work at KarenLeeEnsley.Pixels.com
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Features Entrepreneurs

It’s a Bivalve World

Oysters grown by Mike Arguelles, in the waters off of Deer Island, Mississippi. (Jill Dutton)

On a warm yet cloudy day in late May 2021, Mike Arguelles and his helper, Tim Brown, were on their typical voyage of four-and-half miles by boat from Biloxi, Mississippi to Arguelles’s oyster farm off of Deer Island. On that particular day, they harvested 900 oysters for nine local restaurants. After lifting the cages from the water and spraying them off, muck flying across the boat, the oysters were spread out and counted by hand to fill each bag. Each oyster was inspected and dead oysters, which had opened, were tossed. What started out as a hobby has become a thriving business, the French Hermit Oyster Co., providing boutique oysters to distributors, restaurants, and shuckers.

It started with the introduction of a training program to teach off-bottom oyster farming—the practice of cultivating oysters via mesh containers that are held above the seafloor. With harvestable reefs depleted due to natural occurrences such as hurricanes, the need to educate oyster farmers on off-bottom oyster farming became critical to ensure the viability of oyster aquaculture.

A Local Business

Mike Arguelles on a trip to his oyster farm. (Jill Dutton)

Mike Arguelles always has a good story. He’s enthusiastic about harvesting oysters and is quick with a hearty full-belly laugh and a sparkle in his eye that reveals his playful personality. Arguelles said he was “Biloxi born and raised,” but spent about 10 years in Memphis where he met his wife, Anita. In 1999, the couple moved to Biloxi. Arguelles wasn’t working at the time, so he put his skills to work building the couple’s home on the river. This led to a marine contracting business called Arguelles Marine Contracting, Inc., building piers, bulkheads, and boathouses, which is still in business. Anita works as a marketing and communications specialist at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Marine Education Center. Even though they both were employed at this point, Arguelles said, “When we had the chance to take the oyster aquaculture class put on by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources in 2018, we were among the first to sign up to learn about off-bottom oyster farming at the Deer Island Commercial Aquaculture Park.”

After completing the class, they were given 12,000 seeds (tiny oysters) to fill their cages and wait for them to mature. These seed oysters are different from wild oysters, as they are hatchery-reared. The education and the chance to lease water from the state created a rewarding opportunity for the Arguelles. “It’s very rewarding when you can go and feel like you really accomplished something. I get excited every time we harvest because once they’re bagged and tagged, I know we’ll be feeding the best boutique oysters to diners.”

Mississippi’s Oyster Industry

Mike shucks an oyster from his off-bottom farm. (Jill Dutton)

Utilizing some federal funding to launch the boutique oyster industry, the state of Mississippi created programs to educate potential and current oyster farmers about off-bottom farming. The goal was to give participants the opportunity to operate and maintain these oyster farms which were both economically and environmentally sustainable, increasing Mississippi’s annual oyster harvest.

Although oysters are traditionally grown on reefs, because water quality would drop and reefs would be closed, the industry trend started to shift toward off-bottom oyster farms. To facilitate the introduction of off-bottom oyster farming, an area between two rivers was selected for its better quality of water for growing oysters.

The Arguelles, like other oyster farmers, completed a class through the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources to get a commercial oyster license for off-bottom aquaculture. The couple leased one acre of water from the state of Mississippi. Twenty participants per year take part in the two-phase training program. Phase one consists of both classroom and field education that includes aquaculture, business operations, and other necessary skills for operating the business. The second phase gives participants hands-on training to practice farming methods.

Benefits of Off-Bottom Oyster Farms

Whereas wild oysters on reefs often become prey for mammals, off-bottom oysters grow in meshed cages that keep predators out, while allowing space for the oysters to mature. Growing them off the bottom also keeps the oysters from burying in sediment. It’s a method that allows oysters to grow in waters where they wouldn’t normally survive.

Oysters, like wine, are known for the flavor they derive from their habitat. The bivalves are affected by a variety of factors including “currents and tides and the rainfall, temperatures, and the mineral content of the region,” Anita said. Even the same oyster species, if grown using the same techniques, will have a different flavor dynamic based on where it is grown. The Arguelles believe their delicious boutique oysters are a result of tender care and the salty, nutrient-rich waters of the Mississippi Sound.

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Features

Horse Power

(Jeff Perkin for American Essence)

“There is no better place to heal a broken heart than on the back of a horse.”
—Missy Lyons

“When I’m in the saddle, I feel peace that I know nowhere else. I feel a different part of myself come forward.”
—Brooklyn Contrera, 15, Equestrian

The bond between horse and rider is close to mythical in American folklore. Our history is brimming with tales of amazing feats of bravery conducted on the back of a horse. In fact, when the history of the railroad, of pack-horses, and of the gold-rush era are factored in, one wonders if there would have been an America at all, had it not been for the humble, majestic horse.

(Jeff Perkin for American Essence)

While many believe that the horse has been relegated to the glories of classic western films, others will tell you the joys of riding one. Still others will tell of the amazing physical and mental recoveries gained while on the back of one of the most enduring animals in the United States.

While “Equine-Assisted Therapy” has roots in antiquity, its use as a physical therapeutic treatment only dates back to the 1960s, and the modern use of horses for mental health treatment dates back a scant 30 years or so. The following modalities (therapies) are some of the more widely used in the field, though not every school or academy offers every service listed.

Therapeutic horseback riding involves the use of a team to help an individual either ride or work therapeutically with a horse.
Hippotherapy is extremely intensive and involves an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist, or a speech/language therapist working with a client and a horse.

Equine-assisted learning is described as an “experiential learning” approach that promotes the development of various life skills.
Equine-assisted psychotherapy doesn’t necessarily involve riding: It may include grooming, feeding, and ground exercises. Mental health professionals work with one or more clients and one or more horses in an experiential manner to help the clients explore their own emotional landscape.

(Jeff Perkin for American Essence)

Interactive vaulting involves vaulting activities in a therapeutic milieu. In equine parlance, vaulting is described as gymnastics on horseback: It combines the skills of both gymnastics and horsemanship.

Therapeutic Carriage Driving involves controlling a horse while driving from a carriage seat or from a wheelchair in a carriage, modified to accommodate the wheelchair. Equine-Assisted Activities incorporates all of the above activities plus horse grooming, stable management, shows, parades, and demonstrations, among other things.

Each center specializes in only a few of the treatments, and parents and end-users are urged to ask their center which services are offered.

While many studies have proven the overwhelming success of this form of therapy, many towns aren’t even aware of the existence of such programs in their midst. A case in point is the tiny town of Hemet, California.

T.H.E. (Therapeutic Horsemanship Equestrian) Center, or simply, “The Center,” was founded in 1984 with one student, two horses, and the support of the entire community. The Center offers Therapeutic Horseback Riding, Interactive Vaulting, and Equine Assisted Activities. The community has long-cherished its services.

“It’s that sense of community backing that we want to bring back to the center. So many people have either forgotten we were here or have never heard of us, and I knew that this was one of the first things I had to change,” said Becky Polk, the new director of The Center.

(Jeff Perkin for American Essence)

To date, The Center has served more than 2,500 students and provided in excess of 95,000 hours of services to the community.

“It used to be just disabled children and vets, but that’s changing: We’re going to be bringing in able-bodied people as well,” Polk said.

Since its founding, The Center has been dedicated to improving the cognitive, physical, and psychological abilities of individuals through their nurturing therapeutic horsemanship program, and it’s continuing that mission under Polk’s new leadership.

“I’ve been in this valley for 31 years. I’ve worked for organizations as large as United Way, and many other businesses in the area, so I have been able to know and work alongside many of our community leaders,” she said. “We’ve been trying to re-invigorate The Center in their minds and let them know that we’re still here and that we’re thriving. We’re partnering with local organizations like The Rotary Club, Kiwanis, and local businesses that have taken a special interest in what we do so we can spread word of The Center and its mission. I became the director of The Center in April, and I am thrilled with the direction in which we are headed. Our mission is to continue working with the students, the volunteers, the parents, and the community! We have a precious gold mine right at our fingertips.”

Various therapies and modalities are fine for classroom discussion, but it’s in the field, where families see their loved ones healing, that equestrian therapy really shines.

(Jeff Perkin for American Essence)

“Horses have a very calming effect on the rider. I train horses for my autistic brother, who’s two years older. I know for me, it’s very special to be able to get away from the stress and anxiety of my regular day: it’s like another expression of my soul.” 15-year-old Brooklyn Contrera said.

Brooklyn’s mother, Lisa Contrera agrees with her daughter. She has seen the changes in both her children.

“I’m very afraid of horses actually, but when the doctors and the occupational therapist said that this was essential to my autistic son’s health, I decided to try it,” Lisa said. “Brooklyn was 3 and my son Sean was 5 … and other therapy centers were really hesitant to allow her to ride because of her age. After a year, they allowed Brooklyn to take part.”

Brooklyn took to the horses and the training immediately.

“I’ve been riding from age 3, and I’ve trained rescue horses which were subsequently ridden by my brother … and I’ve seen how he is able to relax on his horse.”

When asked what the therapy has done for her son, Lisa said, “It’s been amazing for him to develop his core. Most autistic kids do what’s called, ‘combat crawl,’ because they are so weak. They’re not able to develop their core, and on a horse, they’re able to develop their form and their core.”

“It’s so relaxing. I love the peace I find atop a horse,” Brooklyn said.

For those wishing to donate, contact T.H.E. Center at www.TheCenterRanch.org or contact the National Center for Equine Facilitated Therapy at NCEFT.org

A native of South Philadelphia, Mark Lentine has written for and helmed publications on both coasts. He now resides in Hemet, Calif.

Categories
American Success Features

Dreams and Determination

(Jessica Bodas Photography/Courtesy of Jacqueline Thompson)

Jacqueline Thompson is living her dream life in Newport Beach, California, but it was a long, difficult journey to get there. As one of 12 children in Vietnam, her parents dreamed of getting their children to the land of peace and freedom—the United States. But in the 1970s, it wasn’t easy to get from their war-torn land to the United States.

(Courtesy of Jacqueline Thompson)

Jacqueline’s parents owned a thriving business that they had built from the ground up by hard work and sheer determination. They scrimped and saved every penny to get to the United States, and through the help of a college professor in southern California, they found a Catholic church that sponsored them to enter the United States.

There was a small house behind the church that had been donated, and the priest let them move in. Jacqueline and her 11 brothers and sisters, her mother and father, her aunt and uncle, and their three children, 19 people in all, moved into the tiny house behind the church. And despite the fact that they had only the clothes they were wearing, they couldn’t have been more grateful to finally be in the United States.

There was just one little problem. None of them spoke English. Jacqueline’s parents and her older brothers and sisters, who were already in their 20s, had been well-respected, educated members of their community. Now they were depending on the kindness of others, the generosity of the church, and for a short time, the government, to keep them all fed and clothed.

Jacqueline and her siblings all quickly learned English, got jobs, and applied themselves in getting educated. Can you imagine being in your 20s and learning a new language and getting a job in a new country? They never complained. Jacqueline’s older siblings did just that. They kept focused and stayed the course so they could support themselves their parents, and the younger children.

Jacqueline’s mother learned the new language and new ways along with her children; however, her father did not. Sadly, Jacqueline’s father didn’t adapt well to the new place, new ways, and new way of living. He passed away just a few years after arriving in the United States. As the second to the last of the 12 children, Jacqueline was still a very young girl when her father died.

Acceptance didn’t always come easily. “My family experienced discrimination back in those days, but it never deterred us from our focus. My family are devout Buddhists. We all get our compassion and acceptance of others from our parents,” she said. “Growing up, I never knew the difference between Asian, Anglo-Saxon, or African American, as no one in our family ever made racial distinctions. My first exposure to the idea that I was somehow different from others was in the 1st grade when a boy looked at me and used his index fingers to pull the corners of his eyes up so that they looked slanted. I wondered why he did that. I truly didn’t know. I went home and looked in the mirror for hours and still did not understand why he made his eyes look like that. I thought my eyes looked fine!”

Jacqueline wanted to work like her older brothers and sisters, so she went to work after high school every day with the first company that would hire her. She finished high school when she was 16 and was accepted into the University of Southern California. To support herself and to pay for her education, she started a line of cosmetics specifically for Asian women. Her company thrived, and so did she. By the time she graduated with a business degree, she had decided that she wanted to go into real estate.

That the Southern California market was extremely competitive was not a deterrence in her mind. “We arrived in Southern California in the fall of 1979. I was a little child when we came to the U.S. The United States of America is the only country I know, and I am very patriotic. I have always felt that part of the American Dream was to own a home. For me, for as long as I can remember, my dream was always to live in Newport Beach, California. I thought that real estate would be the best vehicle for helping me to achieve my goal while helping others attain their piece of the American dream too.”

As a result of hard work and determination, Jacqueline Thompson is now living her dream life in Newport Beach, where she helps people own their piece of the American dream by owning real estate. She has sold over $1.3 billion in residential real estate since starting in the business in 2005.

When she arrived in Newport Beach with no real estate experience and no connections, Jacqueline knew that she could succeed despite what she lacked because of the exceptional work ethic that she had learned from her family. She worked every day (yes, seven days every week for many years) to make it in the highly competitive Orange County, California, real estate market. She worked open houses every weekend for almost ten years straight to build her clientele. Even with her remarkable success, she continues to work 12 to 15 hours per day to ensure that her clients have the service they have come to expect from her. She doesn’t complain—she loves her work. Helping people attain their own American dream isn’t work, Jacqueline says. “It’s my joy to see people move to this beautiful area that I love so much.”

Rhonda Sciortino, author of 13 books, including “Succeed Because of What You’ve Been Through,” used the coping skills from her abusive childhood to create personal and professional success. She built two successful businesses, then turned her attention to helping others to find their purpose and real success.

Categories
Giving Back

Colombian Immigrant Draws on Childhood Experience to Mentor Florida Youth

Erika Obando is a speaker, author, and advocate for at-risk youth. (Courtesy of Erika Obando)

Erika Obando, 47, was 5 years old when she was smuggled from Colombia through the Bahamas to Miami by her parents. The family was subsequently detained. At the time, however, Obando recalls that police officers did their jobs with empathy and compassion.

The first photo of Erika taken in the United States. (Courtesy of Erika Obando)

“They saw where we came from,” Obando said. “These were officers who were arresting families en-route, so I guess being part of that experience moves you in a way. I have no idea what’s going on today but there is definitely a lack of empathy.” Back then, Obando said children were not separated from their families when they were caught illegally entering the U.S.

“We stayed in a facility that catered to families where the women and children stayed on the first level and the men, whether they were fathers of a family or single, lived on the second and third floor,” Obando said in an interview. “Twice a day, we had the ability to meet in the courtyard with my father. We were also allowed to eat all three meals with both my parents present.”
Obando became a resident in 1987 during Ronald Reagan’s amnesty program and eventually a United States citizen in 1997. The family settled in Elizabeth, New Jersey where Obando faced another obstacle.

Erika at age 8. (Courtesy of Erika Obando)

“I was beaten quite often by my mom,” she alleges. “She was a severe hoarder and so the conditions of the home were detrimental. My mom and dad would fight all the time because my dad didn’t want those conditions and my mom had an illness, which turned into severe depression. The living conditions were atrocious and I would receive the brunt of her anger.”

Obando escaped at the age of 14 after confiding in a friend who was becoming a nun about her home situation.

“I didn’t want to tell the authorities because I was afraid of what would happen to my parents,” she said. “My friend told me about a home next door to a convent that catered to women who didn’t have anywhere to stay.”

The nuns who managed Home of Nazareth, which was located less than a mile from Obando’s family home, offered Obando shelter after she explained the situation.

Sister Filomena from the Nun’s House. (Courtesy of Erika Obando)

“My dad ended up signing me over for the nuns to rightfully care for me on a temporary basis and to stay at their house,” she said. “I lived there for two years.”

Obando graduated from high school, married and had a child. Today, she lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and works as an author, lecturer, and advocate for at-risk teen girls with organizations such as the Pace Center for Girls Broward, Women of Tomorrow, Johnson & Wales University, Lynn University, and Junior Achievement of South Florida.

“I feel like I have a responsibility,” she said. “I didn’t go through all that to say it at a party or at a bar. I went through that because there is a purpose for me at the end of the day and that is for me to give back and help empower people who feel like they just can’t keep going. I’m here to show and tell them that ‘Yes you can go on.’”

Erika with her partner Dwayne Norman and her son Cristian Chavez. (Courtesy of Erika Obando)

Obando uses the book “Without a Voice: A Woman’s Journey to Resiliency,” which she wrote and self-published in Nov. 2020, to teach during coaching sessions with others.

(Courtesy of Erika Obando)

“I empower the youth,” she added. “I am part of a lot of nonprofits here that particularly cater to young women in at risk situations. They bring me in as a mentor so I can help them through different challenges like depression or anger management and I teach life skills.”

Categories
Features

When Imagination Perseveres

JV Hart, (SAM Photography)

James Von Allmen Hart, lovingly referred to as “JV” by his family and protégés, is the creative force behind several of our nation’s most prominent family films, including “Hook,” “Tuck Everlasting,” “Dracula,” and “August Rush.” Well before he began his career as a Hollywood screenwriter, he grew up on drive-in movies and Saturday matinees in Fort Worth, Texas. His whimsical childhood adventures and deep connection to his family helped to shape him into the great creative that he is today.

In 1952, when JV was 5 years old, his father built a two-story Cape Cod house overlooking several acres of land, called “the field” by him and his brother. “It became our fantasy world, our Neverland,” said JV. “We built forts, tree houses, slayed dragons, buried and unburied treasure. It was literally a field of dreams for the imagination.” It would be the place where, at only eleven years young, he would film his first eight-millimeter movie.

Every Saturday at 10 a.m., JV’s mother would drop him and his brother off at the Gateway Theater, a classic Art Deco style cinema with a large marquee and tall neon sign. “For 25 cents we got a truckload of cartoons, two serial installments like Flash Gordon and Commando Cody, and then a double feature,” said JV. These Saturday mornings would serve as the foundation for his future creative endeavors in the film industry.

There is something so extraordinarily authentic about the characters that JV dreams up. “There is always part of me in everything I write,” he said. Though JV attributes this iconic authenticity to letting his characters, rather than his pen, take the lead, it is obvious that there is a tremendous connection between writer and character. Take, for example, Peter Banning of Hart’s quintessential swashbuckler adventure film, “Hook.” When asked which character in the picture he relates to most, it’s no surprise that it is Peter Banning, the grown-up version of Peter Pan. Banning’s childlike wonder is nearly a mirror image of JV’s own disposition.

(SAM Photography)

“Certainly the grown-up Peter Banning who pursued success at the expense of his family came from my personal fears about losing [my] imagination as an adult and missing [my] children’s milestones.” This idea deeply resonated with Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, and Bob Hoskins, who marvelously acted in “Hook,” and Steven Spielberg, the film’s director.

Always on the lookout for a good idea to turn into a story, JV credits his family with providing him with the most inspiration. After all, it was a game of “What If” in 1985 at the dinner table with his son, Jake, then 6 years old, that inspired JV to develop “Hook.”

“This is now part of our family mythology as Jake, now grown up and one of my writing partners, claims he does not recall this evening. It went something like this:

Jake: Hey Dad, did Peter Pan ever grow up?

Dad: Now that’s a really dumb question. (Good Parenting.) Of course he didn’t grow up. He was the boy who couldn’t grow up.

Jake: (Defiant.) Yeah, but what if Peter Pan grew up?”

As soon as he asked the question, something clicked. Jake had unlocked the code of the Peter Pan story that so many talents in Hollywood had been trying to crack.

“We cobbled together the story based on Jake’s innocent and brilliant question. Captain Hook would kidnap grown-up Peter Pan’s kids and force the adult Pan to return to Neverland with all his adult hangups, and having forgotten how to fly (since all adults do), and having to face his old nemesis Captain Hook in order to save his kids.”

The next day, JV wrote a story treatment and called his agent, who then shopped the project around. Every producer and studio passed. The following years were misery for JV as “Hook” was, in his own words, “the best idea [he] had ever stolen from [his] kids.” His family remained ever supportive; they tried lifting JV’s spirits by gifting him with Peter Pan themed presents at holidays and birthdays.

Finally, the year 1989 brought a break. A producer read the script and believed it to be one of huge potential. The script was then taken directly to Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman, who attached themselves immediately. And the rest is history.

“Hook” went on to generate over $300 million at the box office and is globally known as one of the most exemplary American family films of all time. He explains, “I never would have written ‘Hook’ had I not been a father with Jake and Julia to inspire me.”

JV is constantly preparing new content and brainstorming new ideas in order to bring more joy to the world. Of all the lines he has ever written, one of his favorites is, “Music is proof that God exists in the Universe.” This comes from his Oscar nominated film, “August Rush.” The picture traces the life of a boy (played by Freddie Highmore) who uses his musical talent as a clue to find his birth parents.

When reflecting on the important themes that are artistically woven into his works, JV believes Americans should pay most attention to “Tuck Everlasting.” The story of Winnie Foster, a girl on the cusp of maturity who must ultimately decide to live forever or let her life continue as planned, instills in the audience a sense of the importance of a life well lived on one’s own terms. “Don’t be afraid of death, be afraid of the unlived life,” said JV. “You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live.”

JV Hart with filmmakers Rachael (R) and Laura Doukas. The Doukas sisters are working on turning their award-winning short into a feature film, “The Ryan Express.” The story is about a boy with autism who loses his right to play on his little league team after a violent outburst, working on building a time machine in his bedroom so he can go back in time and apologize.  SAM Photography)

Rachael Doukas and Laura Doukas are sisters and filmmakers currently working their first feature film, “The Ryan Express,” based on their award-winning short, “Rocket Man.”