"Helping YOU Take Center Stage"!

DRUMMERS ROCK! What can I say - I ran out to Newbury Comics and bought an REO Speedwagon Greatests Hits CD. Yup - just really wanted it and have been listening on my MP3 Player in my blue Aveo Chevrolet for a few weeks. An interesting fact about REO Speedwagon - the name came from REO Speed Wagon , a flatbed truck and fire engine , manufactured by the REO Motor Car Company . ("R.E.O." are initials of the company's founder, Ransom Eli Olds , who also founded Oldsmobile , once a division of General Motors .) Hey - I loved REO back in my earlier days and still do! One of my favorites is TIME FOR ME TO FLY - REO Speedwagon Great version for audio! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak6fZrkjWoA&feature=related This link shows the Band - but the sound sound quality - well....eh.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8qukmiymUQ&feature=related My eleven-year-old daughter, Sabrina likes KEEP ON LOV'N YOU - yup But I can only rock out when she is NOT in the car - unless ...

“ Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish. ” John Jakes The Spark Committee from North Shore Community College sent me this letter below. I submitted four of my poems for consideration and three were chosen for publication. Spark! Magazine - A Literay & Artistic Review Dear Sherri Raftery, Congratulations! Your Literary Work(s), I Love You The Yellowist , Life Under Water and Sebastian Sand have been chosen for inclusion in Spark! Spark is a Literary & Artistic Review that will be a work comprised of both student literary and artistic submissions. This publication is an opportunity for North Shore Community College's skilled and talented writers and artists, such as you, to showcase their work utilizing an interesting and visually dynamic format. We recevied a large number of wonderful submissions and it was challenging to narrow the selection down, but space was limited. Onc...

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month “Child abuse casts a shadow the length of a lifetime.” Herbert Ward I recieved this email today from the MSPCC and am posting it to my BLOG. I was a victim of child abuse and neglect at a time when getting hit was used as a form of "discipline". ''It wasn;t the hitting that was so bad (but when any adult hits a child it hurts!) as much as the intention to be cruel and neglectful and very self serving by the very person who should have loved me and provided for me and my siblings - my own biological mother. But to say that it was just my biological mother would only be giving half the story - she allowed her male partner to live in our home from the time I was four -years-old until I was nine-years- old. I lived in fear daily from the abuse but nightly I was even more afraid for my life. I am thankful to the Department of Children and Family Services formerly known as the Department Social Services in Massachusetts for removi...

"Energy and persistence conquer all things". Benjamin Franklin This is my good friend Dick Elliot, A.K.A - Dr. Ben Franklin. Dick is an actor here in Boston, MASS and has been in many movies, commericals and even the Suffolk University Marketing Material and what a treat that was when I was thinking of applying there for law school and I handed hime the copy. Dick studied for two years at Suffolk for Law School. Ben/Dick's wife makes his clothes (nicely done I might add) and he walks around the streets of Boston and especially Boston'sFanuiel Hall/Quincy Market Place greeting many tourist who travel ALL around to visit our famous historical city Massachusetts. They also love to get their photo taken with Dr. Ben Franklin. I REALLY admire Dick/Ben for living the life he wants to live as an actor and performer. Dick also gets many speaking invites to local schools about the life and times of Dr. Ben Franklin and he knows all of the history some of it even parallels hi...

"Cead Mille Failte" - One Hundred Thousand Irish Welcomes! From the Dublin Penny Journal, Vol. 1, No. 7, August 11, 1832 It is perhaps not generally known from whence the famous expression of Irish hospitality, Cead Mille Failte, was taken. It occurs in the concluding stanza of Eileen a Roon, and is thus translated by Furlong:- A hundred thousand welcomes, Eileen a Roon! A hundred thousand welcomes, Eileen a Roon! Oh! welcome ever more, With welcomes yet in store, Till love and life are o'er, Eileen a Roon! There are two songs entitled Eileen a Roon, Ellen, the secret treasure of my heart. The old version, from which the above stanza is taken, bears internal evidence of antiquity. The first line of the second stanza of it, "I would spend a cow to entertain thee," proves that it was composed before coined money was in general use. The following is esteemed the most probable account of the circumstances which gave rise to it. THE IRISH CLADDAGH RING The Claddagh ...

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." William James North Shore Medical Center North Shore Children's Hospital Educational Series in Collaboration with Mass General Hospital. Family Rounds - A monthly series for parents and professionals On Thursday April 16, 2009 between 12:00 noon and 1:30 PM I will be speaking at North Shore Medical Center Children's Hospital in the Lynch Conference Room during the Family Rounds Session. I am sharing my personal story as a former Little Wanderer of the Home for Little Wanderers . http://www.thehome.org/ The title is : Breaking the Cylce - A Former "Little Wanderer" shares her story" Sherri Rafery, M. Ed. 2008 Home for Little Wanderers Honoree. Here is a copy of the flyer that is being sent out to members in the community. http://nsmc.partners.org/cmsLibrary/documents/FRCFlyer_WinterSpring09.pdf I am excited to have the opportunity to share my story with members and parents in the medical community...

"Courage to Conquer" Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations. Headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, the organization has nearly 235,000 members in 11,700 clubs in 92 countries. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people of all backgrounds become more confident in front of an audience. Our proven educational program is self-paced and affordable. If you are one of our members, congratulations! "The unprepared speaker has a right to be afraid." - Dr. Ralph C. Smedley, Founder, Toastmasters I copied this message from the Toastmasters International Members Group on Face Book "Answers to Governance Reshaping Questions" that was posted by the Toastmasters International Executive Director, Daniel Rex. "Dear Toastmasters", "In past weeks, we have received feedback from a few of our members expr...