Category Archives: Inspirational

How to disagree about the NFL anthem controversy

Inspirational, Legislature, Politics, State government
Jim Hendren Joyce Elliott
Sens. Joyce Elliott and Jim Hendren as he flew her in his plane to Paragould, where they would disagree agreeably about the NFL anthem controversy.

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Jim Hendren and Joyce Elliott come from very different places, which is a big reason why they disagree on many issues including the NFL anthem controversy. But that was OK as they flew together in his small plane to speak about that subject to the Paragould Rotary Club.

How different are their backgrounds? He’s a conservative Republican state senator from Sulphur Springs in Northwest Arkansas. She’s a liberal Democratic state senator from Little Rock. He’s an engineer who owns a plastics company. She’s a retired schoolteacher. He’s the son of a longtime state legislator and nephew of the current governor. She’s the daughter of a single mother who struggled to keep food on the table. He flew F-15 fighter planes, now serves with the Air National Guard, and has deployed several times to the Middle East to fight ISIS. She and her siblings fought their own battle growing up in segregated schools in Willisville in southwestern Arkansas. Soon after forced integration, they were the only black students in an all-white school.

And yet Hendren calls her “one of my best friends in the Senate.” She says, “He’s one of my very best friends as well.” Continue reading How to disagree about the NFL anthem controversy →

How Julie got her daughter back, and her life

Inspirational, State government

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

On Jan. 11, 2013, Julie Johnson’s daughter, Anna, didn’t come home from day care. At first, Julie didn’t know where Anna was, but at least she knew who had taken her: the state of Arkansas.

Before long, she began to appreciate why. She and her estranged husband were meth addicts, and their homes were no longer safe.

Eight months later, Julie (whose name and Anna’s were changed for this story) was getting the help she needed, and Anna was back in her custody. On June 6, 2014, their case closed for good.

How did Julie get her daughter back, and her life? With help from people who cared. Continue reading How Julie got her daughter back, and her life →

What Mister Rogers can teach us today

Inspirational

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Mister Rogers died in 2003, but one of the lessons he can still teach us is that you can believe passionately in something and not be a jerk about it.

Fred Rogers, the host of PBS’ “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” is the subject of the theatrical documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” It’s a revealing look at the man who was a part of so many childhoods. It turns out he really was that nice in real life.

But he also was driven by passion and belief. In one black-and-white clip, he said love was at the root of everything – “love or the lack of it.” An ordained Presbyterian minister, he believed television could be a tool to build up children, but instead much of it was shallow, wasteful and designed to mold them into consumers. He wanted something beyond pies-in-the-face humor. Continue reading What Mister Rogers can teach us today →

For waiting kids, these are the real superheroes

Inspirational
Lauri Currier, Christie Erwin
Project Zero’s Christie Erwin takes a selfie with The CALL’s Lauri Currier at the Walk for the Waiting.

There were superheroes on the field at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock Saturday – Superman, Spiderman, Wonder Woman, some others. And then a lot of real ones.

The comic book characters – those were actors. The real ones were people like Bryan and Stephanie Emmerling, who are adopting their second daughter after fostering her for the past year-and-a-half.

The Emmerlings – he a FedEx delivery driver, she employed by a mortgage company – were among thousands participating in the Walk for the Waiting. The annual event raises money for three faith-based organizations serving children removed by the state from their biological families because of abuse, parental drug use or other reasons. The CALL works with churches to recruit foster and adoptive families. Project Zero connects potential adoptive families with children whose parents’ rights have been terminated. Immerse Arkansas primarily provides support to children who are aging out of the system without being adopted. Continue reading For waiting kids, these are the real superheroes →