Ethicist Michael Josephson spoke at the Dillon Lecture Series at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas on November 9. He founded "Character Counts" in 1993 to teach students and others integrity. More than 7,000,000 students have been involved with the program based on six pillars of character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship.

He offered many summations I thought were worthy of note. Some were funny and some more thoughtful. I jotted down some of them to share here.
We are all building our own houses.
If you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to get what you're getting.
I want to be thin... when I'm not hungry.
You don't have to be sick to get better.
When you really believe something you want to share it.
Kids don't care what you know until they know you care.
Everyone has a label that says, "Make me feel important."
Someone who lies for you will lie to you.
First and foremost you're an individual responsible for your own actions.



He spoke about rational decisions and rationalization. He said the rational decision process is that you reason first and come to the conclusion. Rationalization is when we reach the decision then come up with the reasons for it. He said, "Rationalization is an anesthetic to the conscience."

He shared numbers from a  recently released report on values and conduct of American Youth that included 43,000 students.
55% of boys and 33% of girls had been bullied in the past 12 months
53% of students said they have hit someone because they were angry
28% of Seniors had five or more drinks in the past two weeks
26% of Seniors have used illegal drugs at least once in the past month
18% of boys and 12% of girls have had sex with at least four different partners
11% of girls have been forced to have intercourse at least once in her life
14% of girls have been pregnant at least once
64% have cheated on an exam in the last year (67% of athletes)


He said the true test of integrity is, "my willingness to do the right thing even when it costs more than I want to pay."

Some schools in the area participate in the program, and one of them mentioned at the luncheon that they just started the program last year, but a disciplinary standard they're tracking went from more than 300 last year, to 13 so far this year. Josephson says the idea is to make character part of the DNA of a community or school.

At the luncheon, someone asked if this program could work without the parents being involved and Josephson said it certainly did. Sometimes parents are part of the problem, he said, "Parents are a mixed bag," and represent all the behaviors possible. He said sometimes they're, "reprogramming kids from some of the problems."



Someone asked if this was a religion-based program. Of course, it's not, since it's used in public schools. When he was questioned more about religion in schools, he gave a great answer that it was best to keep them separate, because not everyone shared the same faith - he is Jewish for example, and he wanted the program to be able to reach the most people. He went on to say that character and religion were not tied together, saying, "There are people of character who have no religion."

Another question was about what is legal. He said legal is the bare minimum and "ethics is much broader than the law."

He spoke about politics saying "I think most people in politics are much better than their campaigns indicate." He asked an important question, "Why did compromise become such an ugly word? Democracy requires compromise." He said he wants people who can change their minds. That means you can receive new information. He said, "Thinking people disagree."

The Character Counts program is about starting with a notion of core values and a common language. He said we need to institutionalize continuity so regardless of who the mayor or superintendant is the program continues.

Hutch Haunts was Great Experience

Saturday night I attended Hutch Haunts, a partnership of the Kansas Underground Salt Museum (KUSM) and the Hutchinson Theatre Guild. They were kind enough to invite me so I could write about the evening. It was a very full, and very fun, evening.

We started at KUSM with a welcome from Director Linda Schmitt, and heard an overview of the findings of paranormal investigators from Kansas City and Hutchinson. In a nutshell, they found no activity at Armstrong's Antiques or Fire Station Number 1, but found much activity at the Reno County Museum. They pointed out it didn't mean there was nothing there, just that nothing happened when they investigated.

Our next stop was Eastside Cemetery, where the theatre guild was doing its fourth annual presentation of "Talking Tombstones."

It was a perfect fall evening activity.









We then convened at the Reno County Museum and began a tour of the downtown spots the investigators went to. Our group finished at the museum, but we got a bit of history about it from a vantage point across the street at Memorial Hall as we started our tour.



Next we toured Armstrong's Antiques.



I'm afraid this ghostly flag flapping in the breeze was the most mysterious thing I photographed all night. And that wasn't too mysterious.

Next on our tour was Fire Station Number 1, which has been occupied 365 days a year since the early 20th century. At one time it housed the police station, too, and they showed us the two cell jail, which was interesting.



They even played a song for us, sung by Nancy Sinatra, written by someone who spent some time in the non-climate-controlled jail. It was called, "It's Cold in the Hutchinson Jail."

One of my favorite parts of the night was hearing a ghost story from Firefighter Casanova.



I could have listened to him talk about his experience for a long time. It was a highlight of the evening. Our timing was very good, too, because just as we were leaving an alarm went off and the firetruck was on its way to an emergency.

Our tour group wrapped up at the museum. I didn't know anything about ghost hunting, but apparently the approach is to go into any investigation trying to explain away anything that has been reported as unusual.

The ghost hunters shared their findings at each place, including some photographs they took the night they were investigating.



The blue room below was one of the "hot spots" in the museum. My photo, unfortunately, has nothing unusual about it. It's just a blue room.



We then went back to KUSM for a special underground tour through non-public areas. It was too dark for me to get photos during that tour, but suffice it to say that it was amazing.



Myron Marcotte, who oversees the mining operation, led us on a hike through the underground area, and shared some stories with us about miners who've died. I really, really enjoyed his tales of Lloyd Lightner.

Everytime I'm down in the salt mine I want to explore more and more. I've written about it before. We're so very fortunate to have it and the Cosmosphere in town - two world-class attractions right here.

When you walk in the door at the Cosmosphere, the Blackbird is hanging overhead. It was America's first "stealth" plane, although its greatest defensive technique was its speed - literally faster than a speeding bullet.







Bill also worked on the T-38 to get it ready for this weekend.



It's interesting to walk under these every day at work.

When you walk in the door at the Cosmosphere, the Blackbird is hanging overhead. It was America's first "stealth" plane, although its greatest defensive technique was its speed - literally faster than a speeding bullet.







Bill also worked on the T-38 to get it ready for this weekend.



It's interesting to walk under these every day at work.

Henry Winkler spoke at the Dillon Lecture Series at Hutchinson Community College Monday morning. Best known for his role as "The Fonz" on Happy Days, Winkler is also an activist and co-author with Lin Oliver of a series of children's books.

The son of German Jews who emmigrated to the US and believed strongly in education, Winkler's academic showing was a disappointment to his parents. They referred to him with a German phrase that translated means, "dumb dog."



Winkler learned at age 31 he had dyslexia and it explained the difficulty he had had in school. He said he defined dyslexia for himself as being one-third figuring out school, one-third figuring out why you can't figure out school, and one-third covering the shame and humiliation.

When it was time for college, Winkler applied to 28 schools before getting two to accept him. He went to Emerson College in Boston and said he nearly flunked out his first year but he took so many tours around that they gave him another chance.

At the luncheon afterward he said he got through college by reading each word separately, and outloud. He learned scripts the same way.



He eventually was accepted into the Yale School of Drama. At this time he said, "I was tired of continually hearing negative thoughts about everything." He realized that's how he was talking to himself and he learned a technique that whenever a negative thought started he would mentally say, "I'm sorry. I've got no time for you now."



He said, "Don't put a period on the end of a negative thought." That way it can't grow into a negative sentence, a negative paragraph or a negative thesis. Winkler finished Yale, and was one of only three asked to join the professional acting company.

Winkler has an affinity for children, and spoke directly to the young people in the audience today. He said, "You all have greatness in you. Every single one of you has greatness. Your job is to figure out what your gift is. How we learn has nothing to do with how brilliant you are."



He spoke about auditioning for his famous role as "The Fonz" in Happy Days. He said he got the call he had the role on his birthday, when he had run out of money. He mentioned the large amount of fan mail he got during those years, including the many gifts. There's one he says he still has on his wall today, that he has had visible since 1975 - a metal cutting that says, "If you will it, it is not a dream."



He said, "There's no reason you can't live your dream." He reminded the children, "You have an amazing amount of power inside you. Your job is to figure out what to do with that power."

Winkler's parents were not impressed when he got accepted to Yale. They were not impressed when he got the role of "The Fonz." But, once the show became popular, and for the 10 years it ran, they referred to themselves as, "the co-producers of Henry Winkler." He joked people were always telling him they had his parents' autographs.



Winkler said we all have to make the most of ourselves because:
1. each of us has unique qualities
2. we need to help someone else, and if we don't something mportant will remain undone
3. we can help people at the beginning of life before damage is done
He went on to say, "This city, this state, this nation rests in very little hands."



He admonished the crowd that the "prejudice between intellectual and vocational pursuits has to be erradicated." He went on to say that the great scientist will be living in a house built by a contractor.

At the luncheon afterwards, he spoke briefly about education and said teachers are expected to teach the brightest student and the one having difficulty the same material in the same amount of time. He said, "It is Herculean, and almost impossible."



The short section he read from one of the books today was about him trying to take a spelling test and the frustration that led to him banging his hand on his head.

Winkler ended his speech by saying, "Thank you so much for listening, because my parents never did."



Afterwards he spoke with people and shook hands for quite awhile, getting to the patron luncheon much later than usual. I didn't mind at all, even though we had very little time with him at the luncheon. It was nice to know lots of people got to connect with him.








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"Five Women Wearing the Same Dress" is being performed at the Hutchinson Art Center this weekend and I urge you to take it in. It's one of the best community theatre productions I've seen.






It's, as you might guess, about five women who are bridesmaids.



Some of the characters are "drowning their sorrows" in various vices throughout the play.





It's really funny - I mean, laugh out loud multiple times kind of funny.



There are adult themes in the play, so it's not for the kiddos.





These "antenna" on their headbands were just the perfect topper to the dresses. I think they captured the idea of bridesmaid dresses and hats.





I can't urge you strongly enough to take it in. It's Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 at the Art Center at 5th and Washington. It's really good. And a bargain at $8.



My congratulations to:
Jaden Bowman as Frances
Casey Walker as Meredith
Tobie Henline as Trisha
Michele McCartney as Georgeanne
Meredith Miller as Mindy
Matt Montgomery as Tripp

and Director Shannon Knipp









This was a production of the Hutchinson Theatre Guild.





At the end of the play they all pose for a photo. Very convenient for me.



"Five Women Wearing the Same Dress" was written by Alan Ball. Make plans to attend.