Columnists

“Kids don’t stay with you if you do it right. It’s the one job where, the better you are, the more surely you won’t be needed in the long run.” –

When is being risk-averse too risky for the sake of your retirement?

It is that time of year when the sounds of “Pomp and Circumstance” fill our educational institutions’ fields and halls. Proud families will be gathered to cheer and rejoice in their child’s passage to adulthood. For those who have had a successful school experience, the hard work and long study hours has paid off.

Santa Clara County is one of the nation’s most prosperous areas. Highly paid Silicon Valley workers have supported an economy featuring luxury cars, expensive homes and high-quality social amenities. Our South Valley area, however, is not so fortunate. Gilroy trails the rest of the county, having high rates of poverty, unemployment and schools struggling to meet the needs of their students.

“Mary Poppins” was written by P.L.Travers, a native Australian who spent most of her life in England. Disney made an entrancing movie, with Julian Fellowes adapting the story for the stage with the award-winning Sherman Brothers supplying the music and lyrics. Their delightful music and words fascinated and gave the world a charming gift.

Kurt Drückler was a heavy smoker. For many years, the German gentleman ran a tobacco shop on the corner of Alexandrinen and Sebastian streets in the heart of Berlin. A few months after I was born, he died from emphysema. This lingering and painful disease, caused by years of inhaling tobacco smoke, prevented him from traveling to the United States in 1966 to see me, his newborn grandson.

As an Arts and Culture Commissioner for the City of Gilroy, I look forward to the enthusiastic interaction of commissioners and student representatives at monthly meetings. For the past two years, Julianna Vanni has represented Christopher High School, reporting the school’s art activities with enthusiasm and passion.

The many thousands who regularly use the state’s large and varied park system were among the most distraught of Californians when legislators and Gov. Jerry Brown last year imposed cuts and closures on the system, with 70 parks scheduled for shuttering early this summer.

In January of 2011, I shared data from the Search Institute indicating that 35 percent of 4th to 6th graders in Santa Clara County felt the adults in their communities valued children and youth and only 18 percent of our middle and high school students felt valued by the adults in their communities. I urged community members, “let’s ask ourselves what we can do to build positive relationships with our youth.” I am very happy to report that many of our community members and organizations have answered the call.