Very soon my generation will define what the world will be like. It is up to us to make it a better place. I don’t want fame or fortune. I want to do something meaningful. I want to inspire my community. I want to make a difference. The best way to help shape the future is to become a teacher. My dad barely graduated elementary school and my mom earned a high school diploma, but my parents never truly realized …

Athletes have to be strong from the neck down. Competitors need healthy minds, too. Unfortunately, professional sports organizations have been surprisingly slow to make the mind-body connection. Stress, pressure and brutal challenges await young professional athletes, and many need support for their psyche they cannot get on the training table. America’s sports landscape is littered with the sad stories of gifted athletes who crumbled in the spotlight. Mental health can take a beating in the brutally competitive arena of professional …

It swells, leaks, folds, expands and absorbs. It’s the biggest sexual organ on the human body and it reacts to everything we see, feel or think. Its sensitivity is rivaled by no other part on the human body, and no two are alike. It indicates to the world that we are alive, grows with life or shrinks with cold, expands, retracts, stiffens and relaxes. If you’re thinking about a penis, you might be sorely disappointed. I’m talking about skin. Skin is comprised of three layers of cell types and comes in all shades and pore sizes. We paint it, scar it (whether on purpose, accident or to fix something inside), try to shrink it or inject things into it, all …

“Aerodynamically, the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.” — Mary Kay Ash Like most fighters Nick Newell entered the octagon to defend his undefeated record and to compete for the Xtreme Fighting Championships lightweight title with the intention of leaving it all in the cage. When the bell was struck, Newell went quickly to work on his opponent delivering a right-handed shot, then another and another. After choking his opponent out, Newell raised his right hand in victory. Newell’s right hand is his only hand, due to a congenital amputation, a condition preventing his left arm from developing past his elbow. Newell’s success is a strong message for …

Here is an exercise straight out of “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Imagine Southwestern College never existed. Science fiction’s iconic television series”Babylon 5” might not exist, nor any of the brilliant screenplays created by its gifted writer J. Michael Straczynski. Latin music superstar, songwriter and producer Julieta Venegas and her half dozen Grammy Awards might never have found voice. John Fox, a Super Bowl coach, and former Charger’s defensive tackle Ogemdi Sharron Nwagbuo could be selling footballs at Wal-Mart. Seattle Mariners clean-up hitter John Jaso might be sweeping out Taco Bell. Telemundo sports anchor Humberto Gurmilan might never have seen his way beyond his wheelchair. Ayded Reyes would likely have been deported. Luckily this sample of brilliantly talented students began their …

“Aww, hell no! I don’t want any faggots on my team,” said Garrison Hearst, former San Francisco 49ers running back, after Esera Tuaolo, a 10-year National Football League veteran, came out in 2002. Sports reflect culture, popular sports are indicators of a societies’ status. Can the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community coexist in professional sports? Garrison Hearst does not seem to think so. Neither does Jeremy Shockey, Allen Iverson, John Rocker, Todd Jones and Jason Williams, just some of the athletes that have publicly expressed anti-gay views. They are proof that stars can be dim. On deck are a generation of open-minded athletes, ready to bat away lingering, ignorant personalities who fan homophobia in men’s sports. Dozens of former …

Sex is the reason we are all here. It is the reason our parents are here, the reason George Washington, Amelia Earheart and Anne Frank ever existed. Sex is the desire and drive that keeps our species, and every species on this earth, in a constant state of growth. Attraction is in the eye of the beholder and we spend billions each year improving what is beheld. Americans have different beauty standards than the rest of the world, but when one’s view is generally focused on derrières and breasts all day, one tends to get a very different perspective on what’s hot and what’s not. I have done many lectures on disability sexuality – coined “gimp sex” by those comfortable …

Without truly knowing all the origins of my genealogy, I am certain that the blood of many cultures runs through my veins. That is what makes me American. I am a self-contained mixture, a melting pot of immigrants and Natives blended during our country’s short life. My father was in the military and I was born in Stuttgart, Germany. We returned to my grandparent’s home in Tennessee when I was a toddler. My first recollections of life are from a much simpler place in time. Farm life shaped many of the characteristics that I have carried through life. Even at the age of three there was work to do. Everyone contributed to the home, safety and care of the family. …

Politics is in the air. Every other commercial, e-mail or snail mail is crying out for our votes. Surprisingly, one of the biggest topics in this campaign season is rape. Not surprisingly, it is a by-product of a topic that seems to play into every election, abortion. Americans who are pro-life or pro-choice are scratching their heads over a senate candidate’s gaffe about “legitimate rape.” During a “legitimate rape” a woman’s body automatically “shuts down” the reproductive system so the woman cannot become pregnant, according to Missouri Republican Todd Akin. Wow! Really? Rape is rape is rape, and it should be defined as such without caveat. A pregnancy from a rape is no more or less rare than a pregnancy …

Suicide grimly reaped an average of 100 Americans each day over the past year. More than double the number of homicides reported each year and the third leading cause of death, suicide knows no boundaries. Suicide claims the rich, the poor, young and old, and people of every race and culture. Last year alone, more than 8 million people thought, planned or attempted suicide. Emergency rooms treated more than 157,000 for self-inflicted injuries and every day thousands more never seek help. It is a paradox of the human race. Numbers are staggering, yet shame still prevents society from having an open discussion on the subject. Suicide is on the rise for active duty military, veterans, gays and lesbians, and college-age …