Dean’s Column
The Dean of the North Shore Chapter of AGO writes a monthly column for our newsletter, Overtones. Those messages will appear here, along with any other posts or articles from the Dean between editions.
Dean’s Column | April 2022
Dear Friends, In Harvard Business School professor Arthur Brooks’ new book, From Strength to Strength, he suggests that we need three things to be happy: faith, friends and meaningful work. In light of that, I couldn’t help notice what Ukraine’s President Zelensky...
Dean’s Column | March 2022
Dear Friends, In my lifetime, I’ve been told to worry about: overpopulation, nuclear war, acid rain, holes in the ozone, an impending food shortage, an impending water shortage, an upcoming ice age, nuclear waste, soil erosion, the death of bumblebees, the collapse of...
Dean’s Column | January 2022
Dear Friends, I hope you are surviving the normal challenges of this season, combined with the left turns of Omicron. I also hope that you are filled with hope. I highlight “hope” because I suspect that more than a few of you are fighting the fatigue of this pandemic,...
Dean’s Column | December 2021
Dear Friends, My daughter face timed me last week and the first thing I noticed was the Christmas tree. Just so you don’t feel behind (or offended that she broke an unwritten rule of ‘no Christmas before Thanksgiving’), all the decorations were not complete. She...
Dean’s Column | November 2021
Dear Friends, I know it is a bit early to think about Thanksgiving, but it is November now, and a great time to not only consider travel plans and culinary recipes, but to take a moment to initiate the ritual of giving thanks. Long before scientists devised...
Dean’s Column | October 2021
Dear Friends, In this month’s Overtones, you will find pictures throughout the articles. To me, this speaks to a narrative of one of our chapter’s high values - intentional relationships. Though the pandemic has naturally changed some of the ways we have...
Dean’s Column | July 2021
Dear Friends, Perhaps as I did, you expected warm and sunny days ushering in the month of July. Instead, it wasn’t just wind blowing through Chicago recently, but flash floods joined the tornado warnings and severe thunderstorms. Unless you were cleaning...
Dean’s Column | June 2021
Dear Friends, I have long been a fan of the late USC philosophy professor, Dallas Willard. His insights were profound and his demeanor disarming and engaging. Few insights seem as prescient as his argument that we must “ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our...
Dean’s Column | May 2021
Dear Friends, The AGO Committee on Membership Development was recently tasked with the project of creating a webinar to be used as a resource for local chapters such as ours. Titled “Re-igniting, Re-imagining and Re-emerging from COVID-19,” eleven AGO chapters from...
Dean’s Column | April 2021
Dear Friends, Suez Canal Last week, a sandstorm caused the cargo ship Ever Given to run aground in the Suez Canal, blocking it completely. The canal sees 10% of the world’s daily shipping traffic, but is only 300 feet wide in places. Ever Given is ¼ mile long,...