by Marlene Bumgarner | Mar 16, 2015 | Community, Grandparenting
This week I begin six weeks of volunteering as a writing assistant in a fourth grade classroom. I have been looking forward to the experience for months, but as the time grows closer, I find myself waking up in the middle of the night with a mixture of anticipation...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Mar 9, 2015 | Community, Grandparenting
I’m in Washington, D.C., where 5 inches of snow fell in the hours just before my plane landed at National Airport. A long-time friend and her husband took me to to several nearby sights and cultural events, beginning with Fort Ward (crunch, crunch, crunch...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Jan 26, 2015 | Community
The Annual Report of the Santa Cruz Food What? youth empowerment program arrived in my mailbox this weekend. Last fall a friend invited me to their annual fundraiser, and by making a modest donation (how could I not, after that delicious dinner prepared by the youth...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Jan 5, 2015 | Community
Before Christmas, I was invited to visit the UC Santa Cruz Life Lab during a children’s field trip. It had been raining the day before, but as I drove up the hill through the main University entrance I had my window open and I inhaled deeply of the sweet moist air. ...