December 7 2021 Update

I really appreciated the opportunity to see about 475 or so of you today at our little holiday shindig featuring the legendary J-Dawg.  It is always fun to connect with members of the Provo family and have a chance to interact.  And I really appreciate our Mayor's Office staff and the facilities team for making it all work!

I was reminiscing a bit this week about the passing of Senator Bob Dole.  Our flags are appropriately flying at half-staff in honor of his service.  I first met Senator Dole when he was the senior senator from Kansas when I was the city manager in Merriam, Kansas and we were working on some federal funding issues.  He was a legend in Kansas and had just a few years before been President Gerald Ford's running mate.  He later ran for President in 1996.  He was the consummate gentleman, and had a knack for working across the aisle with his democratic colleagues to get good things done.  Among his many credits were saving the social security program from impending doom in the 1980's and sponsoring and securing passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  He had a bit of a hard edge to him occasionally, but my impression was that that edge came from politics and not how he generally interacted with others.  And while there remain many questions about whether the republican party has "moved on" from the Bob Dole republican model, I really miss the days when partisanship never stood in the way of statesmanship.  

I thought I would share a link to Senator Dole's last column written for USA Today about three weeks ago.  I think you would appreciate, as I do, his take on the nation's challenges today and what might begin to make a difference.

UPCOMING CITY EVENTS

Learn It: Holiday Menu and Meal Planning I December 7 7:00 pm

Teen Writer's Group I December 9 7:00 pm

Emergency Home Power Presentation I December 11 8:30 am

Holiday Recipe Swap I December 11 1:00 pm

Conversaciones/Conversations I December 14 7:00 pm

Holiday Paint Night I December 15 7:00 pm

Teen Dungeons & Dragons Club I December 16 6:30 pm

A Christmas Carol I December 20 7:00 pm

Teen Book Club: Beehive Award Nominees I December 23 7:00 pm

Teens Talk: Share Your Hobby I December 30 7:00 pm

Countdown 2022 Party Animals I December 31 7:00 pm

Teen Volunteer Board I January 6 6:30 pm

The Alibis I February 7:30 pm 

NEWS YOU CAN USE

• A real life "Moby Dick," has been spotted off the coast of Jamaica. Sailors aboard the Dutch oil tanker Coral EnergICE glimpsed the ghostly cetacean and after confirming with experts that the whale was indeed a sperm whale, shared a brief video of the elusive whale.
• Senator Bob Dole passed away at age 98. After overcame disabling war wounds, he spent 36 years on Capitol Hill and ran for president 3 times. In 1945, he was hit by a shell fragment that crushed two vertebrae and paralyzed his arms and legs. He never regained the use of his right hand. His later years were devoted to the cause of wounded veterans.
• Doctors recently found autism rates among Utah children are higher than they previously thought. Researchers speculate that improvements in testing and diagnosing autism could be one reason for the increase.

PROVO SOCIAL MEDIA

YOUR VOICE

Have any exciting news? Birthdays, babies, weddings, fur-babies, graduations? Share about it in the section on the right --> and upload pics below!

UPLOAD PICTURES HERE!

TUESDAY TIP

Checkout this podcast called The Art of Giving Good Feedback

https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/podcast-the-art-of-giving-good-feedback

FUN STUFF

We are now on the countdown to Christmas, so I thought you might enjoy this new addition to the large catalog of Christmas music.  So this is Ariana Grande, Megan Thee Stallion and Jimmy Fallon with It Was a Masked Christmas!

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Hope you have a great day.  And thanks again for dropping by at noon today! 

Wayne