itYAHfaot I had every, and I mean every intention on not really mentioning or addressing racial issues with our last VALOR expedition in January. Whelp.. I tried. In the great words of Scarface.. "..everytime I think I'm out they pull me back in." Now for the elephant in the room/commonwealth. February 1st or 2nd the… Continue reading The Elephant in the Commonwealth
itYAHfaot I’m writing this from somewhere in West Africa. The ocean obviously helps me create longer run on sentences. I needed to be away to write a blog to describe our Richmond session of VALOR. The session in its time and season was great. I told myself I’m not going to write about any racial… Continue reading The VALOR of Richmond
I can’t believe it is already March…it seems like our VALOR seminar in Richmond was just a couple days ago. Richmond was a great experience. It was awesome to be there at the beginning of session and see how things work. Admittedly, I was not well-versed in state lawmaking, so it was a very informative… Continue reading VALOR Seminar- Richmond
As someone who was not terribly knowledgeable about lobbying, our session entitled “Truth in Lobbying” with Andrew Smith coupled with prior engaging discussions with Mike Aulgur and Stephanie Kitchen helped me to better understand the key role lobbyists play. For instance, those attached to the Virginia Farm Bureau play an important role in helping farmers… Continue reading Lobbying 101
Our January seminar in Richmond featured numerous highlights. Meeting Virginia’s Ag Secretary Bettina Ring and her staff ranked at the very top. Our meeting with Secretary Ring was the first we had with a government official. Virginia agriculture is in great hands with her experience, leadership and team. Secretary Ring graduated from Virginia Tech with… Continue reading Meeting with VA Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Bettina Ring
Growing up in far Southwest Virginia, stories about Pocahontas and John Smith were fairytales and Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Richmond were distant lands of mystery. Traveling to Richmond for the seminar in January was actually my first trip to downtown Richmond and seeing the Capitol. Unfortunately, I had to leave seminar early and did not get… Continue reading Fairytales & Far Away Mystery Lands
"We shouldn't use the word 'test' to describe these assessments," Dr. Crystal Tyler-Mackey said as she was introducing the purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to our class during session three. "The word 'test' makes it seem that there is a right or wrong answer, when, actually, there isn't. These results are just your preference."… Continue reading But does it work in the “real world”?
Back in November our VALOR group had our first “boots on the ground” seminar in Virginia’s Eastern Shore region. It did not disappoint. From peanuts to cotton and pork processing to organic sweet potatoes, we covered a lot of ground. As a Valley guy, I had a lot to learn and soaked in as much… Continue reading Agriculture: A Noble Pursuit (VALOR Blog #2)
I remember three cotton TV commercials with a message of “cotton is the fabric of our lives”. This cotton theme has survived for decades. Visuals from the commercial showed an image of a cotton boll with light breezy clothes blowing gently in the wind hanging on an outdoors clothes line. There were images of people… Continue reading Cotton the Fabric of Our Lives and Cotton is Our Culture
VALOR Adventures Recently the current VALOR class had the rare opportunity to gain an in depth understanding of agriculture in Southeast and Eastern Shore of Virginia with some of the global impact the goods and services produced here offer. The adventure began around peanut, cotton and pork production, the importance of education, recognizing your… Continue reading
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