Over at www.ohmygov.com, YACers have been hitting the comment boards big time urging Senator Obama to co-sponsor S. 960, the Academy bill on the Senate side.  Thank you ohmygov.com for being a “proud supporter” of the Academy!

Help us out by commenting here and also getting in touch with Obama’s Senate office.   Call his Senate office TODAY! 202-224-2854 and ask to speak to the aides who handle Homeland Security issues (our bill has been referred to that committee).  Tell them you heard the Wesleyan speech and know about the Academy and want his support.  And tell everyone you know in Illinois to call twice!

While driving to work today, running through the endless to-do lists knocking around my brain, one of which was writing a post for today, I settled in on an email conversation I recently had with a colleague.  I mentioned to her that I am a graduate of San Diego State University since her office is in San Diego, and I wanted to compliment her on my love of my college town.  Turns out she was an Aztec too, and we bantered back and forth about women going to college.  She is my mom’s age and said her parents looked at her as if she had three heads when she announced she wanted to go to college.  They assumed her only reason to go was to land a husband!  Yikes!  Today, her two daughters have since gone on to college, at UC San Diego and Univeristy of Southern California respectively.

Sensing an opportunity, I brought up public service and told her I was a teacher for several years, and I considered it my effort to give back to the public school system that had given me so much, from Kindergarten through college.  She told me that she is a Rotarian and her club matches seniors with kids who need an adult buddy whether the kids are underpriviledged, have only one parent, or have one parent serving in the military.  I love the idea of the cross-generational relationship and she said it is a huge success kids and seniors.  Naturally, I told her about the Academy, and naturally she flipped!  I steered her to our petition (and will be sending another email reminding her to sign) and have been invited to come to her Rotary meeting next time I am in San Diego.

Everyone can serve.  Everyone can make a difference.  And everyone can talk to strangers and find common ground about the need for the Academy.  So today and everyday, TALK IT UP!!

At the end of February, nearly three dozen Academy supporters gathered at the beautiful Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wisconsin, to lay out the vision for the institution’s future. Though winter’s chill whipped around them, conference participants generated plenty of their own energy. Among other topics, they set ambitious goals for Academy recruitment, curriculum, student life, post-graduation placement, funding, and outreach. Academy leaders called the weekend “a turning point” in the institution’s brief history, and the ideas generated at Wingspread will no doubt be debated and discussed for years to come.

Those are the basic facts about the conference. Now we want to hear from you!

For those of you who attended the USPSA weekend at Wingspread, what were some of the defining moments of the gathering? Can you give us a sense of the Academy’s direction and momentum?

We’re also looking for a confirmation or denial of the rumor that everyone’s talking about: Did notoriously hard-core Academy co-founder Chris Myers Asch really plunge into the icy waters of Lake Michigan, thereby becoming an honorary member of the Polar Bear Club? Inquiring minds want to know.

As always, we welcome your comments and questions.