How Dazzling!

    Pile on the praze for Zebras! Not the wild ones eluding hunters in Africa, but the      enterprising business startups that gathered this week in Portland, Oregon. It seems that the magically successful tech companies like Facebook and Uber are known in the business world as Unicorns. All the venture capitalists want to invest in the next Unicorn.  But the more realistic, fixer companies are known as Zebras and they are having a little more trouble attracting investors. Since a gathering of Zebras is called a Dazzle, these enterprising businesses held a Dazzlecon this week  to look for ways to make these community minded companies, often founded by women and minorities, more Dazzling to magic-minded investors. Now that's a story of a different stripe!

Success? You want fries with that?

I  find inspiring stories in the strangest places. Today I was inspired by the smiling face of Carl Wiseman looking up at me from my tray at McDonald's. Carl, whose company Wiseman LLC/Management owns seven McDonald's in West Michigan, is being featured in the company's Best First Job campaign. He started out working a shift  in Muskegon and worked his way up to management and then ownership. It's an American Dream story that seems impossible these days. I never thought of McDonald's as a career opportunity, but Carl showed me I was wrong. Praze to Carl for his hard work and Praze to all those young kids hoping their first job will open doors.

Songs of the Centuries

     
Psalms is the heart of the bible. Not only is it smack dab in the center of the book but the 150 psalms or songs express all the emotions: praise, faith, fear, gratitude, lamentations.This month all 150 psalms are being presented in a dozen one-hour concerts at the Lincoln Center in New York. The Psalm Experience, which began Nov. 2 and continues through Nov. 11,  includes the work of 150 composers. What a great idea! Praze to everyone who helped make this happen!

Welcome water

          Praze to Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua who has become known as the Water Man in Kenya where he delivers tankers of water to dried up watering holes for thirsty wildlife. I discovered great pics of Patrick on my Facebook this morning. But fearing the story sounded almost too good to be true, I poked around on the Internet and discovered it goes back to a story posted last February on Dodo, an animal lover website. That story filled in some blanks, such as where the money comes from.  Additional Praze for three American women and their Go Fund Me campaign.

Classroom hero

Have you read about Lt. Col. Bryan Forney, a new teacher this year at Innovation Central High School in Grand Rapids? Forney was severely injured in a helicopter crash four years ago. After retiring from the marines last summer he signed on to teach math and science. Praze for a man who keeps on going despite injuries, and shares lessons that only life can give. And extra praze to Tom Rademacher and Dianne Carroll Burdick for capturing his story so well for the School News Network. 

Always a mum

Some days it is hard to find praiseworthy stories to think about. When that happens I consult a good news website like Sunny Skyze. Today it featured a darling story about Ada Keating,  a 98-year-old mother who moved into the assisted living facility where her 80-year-old son Tom has lived since 2016. She tucks him in at night, greets him in the morning.
"You never stop being a Mum," she says. 

Window on the future

Imagine every window in every skyscraper was collecting solar energy. Imagine how quickly that would change the viability of solar power. Well that day may not be far away. Michigan State University has announced highly transparent solar cells that could replace window glass, cell phone screens, headlights.  The product isn't on the market yet -- efficiency needs to be improved -- but it is only a few years away. Go Green!

She leads in lead

Praze for 11-year-old Gitanjali Rao who was recently named America's Top Young Scientist for inventing an inexpensive device to easily test for lead in water. Although she lives in Colorado, Rao had read about lead contamination in Flint, Mi., and was inspired to come up with a way for people to test the safety of their own drinking water. A big thank you to the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, Minn., for sponsoring the Young Scientist Challenge.

Erasing lunch debts

Philando Castile is still helping to feed school kids more than a year after he was killed by a policeman during a routine traffic stop in July 2016. Castile supervised the nutrition program at a Minnesota school. A recent fundraising campaign to honor his memory raised $84,000, enough to wipe out the student lunch debt for every school in the district. Nice way to honor his memory and raise awareness about school lunch debts.

Keep on keepin' on

 Lenora Olson is a human resources director -- even after the hotel where she was employed burned down in the California wildfire. Instead of standing in the unemployment line, she set to work finding jobs for the hotel staff using social media. Thousands of people at various northern California businesses lost their jobs to the fire so Lenora could be busy. Well done, Lenora!

"We were humans!"

You've probably heard the story of the human chain that rescued 9 swimmers last July at Panama City Beach. But I just heard a great interview on NPR about that rescue and it's a real two-hanky tale that will touch your heart and restore your faith in people.  Extra Praze for Derek and Jessica Simmons and all the people who joined that chain.

A million served

Hats off to Chef  Jose Andres. His World Central Kitchen hit the million meal mark Tuesday.  That's the number of meals his relief organization has served in Puerto Rico since Sept. 25, about double the number of meals delivered by the Red Cross. World Central Kitchen receives funding from FEMA and  volunteers make the miracle happen. Good job!

Golden shower

Two stars collided showering the universe with particles of gold and platinum and other heavy metals. Although the event happened 130 million years ago (and 130 million light years away) astronomers on earth were able to hear and see the collision a couple of months ago on Aug. 17, according to reports released Monday. Praze to the glorious universe and a humble bow to the great minds that are able to comprehend anything so vast

Fire friends

Let's hear it for firefighters from 17 states, Canada and Australia who are heading to California to fight a deadly wildfire. Never enough praze for  the men and women who risk their lives for others.

Praze the Energy

The parking lot at my gym is packed.  The senior strength class is overflowing. Every tennis court is taken.The enthusiasm and energy in the air is electric. Thank God for healthy days, for that spark of energy that takes us to gyms and gets us out walking. Let's channel that energy into good works.

Lend a hand

Praise to the 275 union workers who volunteered to go to Puerto Rico and help that hurricane-ravaged island. Pilots, nurses, teamsters...all sorts of workers gave what they know best: their experience, their talents, their time. In the end it's always the workers who get 'er done.

The glorious ping

After being without cell service for weeks some people in Puerto Rico recently heard that welcome ping of text messages coming through after Vanu Inc. installed some emergency cell towers. The New York company partnered with a satellite dish company to set up the connection and voila! Cell phones pinging all around! Praise to great minds willing  to share great work.

Good News from the NFL

Pulling my Praze Craze blog out of mothballs to highlight the good news I find emerging from the bad. Like this video interview with NFL commissioner Roger Goodall. Sounds like the NFL has been doing a lot more than taking a knee. They've been working with players and communities to better understand the problems and solutions to racial injustice and they are on the verge of announcing their next play.