Some context? I was lucky enough to have represented my high school at the 1987 Hugh O'Brian Youth Foundation Leadership Seminar. I returned to be a volunteer a few years later (one "outstanding" year I was the positive-mental-attitude cheerleader -- you probably had to have participated to understand that kind of rush) and this seminar in '93 was the first when I could be a counselor (as I had then finally reached the "responsible" age of 21). This year's event was made even better because it was held on my undergrad college campus at LVC (yep -- that's on the quad right outside of Mary Green).
Upon retrospection, HOBY played a very interesting role in my personal development -- for starters, it was one of the rare times that my father actually stood up to his wife-of-the-time and overrode her decision to keep me from attending (she didn't like his kids to get "perks" like this -- think Carrie's mom in Carrie, but without all the period drama -- and yes, that's in all senses of the word). But that long weekend in '87 helped create my self-esteem for the first time (I was in a state of arrested development -- a late bloomer if you will), as the message of the organization is about the unlimited potential in each of us to do whatever we wanted to do and to be exactly whom we each are. I may not have fully declared my independence until a few years later, but the seeds were planted the weekend I participated in this fine organization.
So that's the context. That's how I got from there to here (well, "here" twenty years ago). And I can't wait to share more photos all month long.
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