By Ken Walker – If you have never read the amazing inspirational story of Castaway Kid, I highly recommend you pick up a copy. It is the memoir of Rob Mitchell, a stockbroker in Greensboro, North Carolina who grew up in an orphanage after his mentally unstable mother placed him there at the age of…
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By Ken Walker – After weighing in recently on the folly of legalizing marijuana sales, I observed a spate of new news stories about pot, including the state of Washington’s initial foray into retail marijuana sales. Although Washington was supposed to issue up to 20 retail license this week, on the eve of this step…
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By Ken Walker – My wife and I recently attended the graduation ceremony for nine men who had completed a drug treatment program that lasted anywhere from 12 to 18 months, depending on their circumstances. The most fascinating story came from the man who wound up living on the streets because of his addiction. Desperate,…
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By Ken Walker – A grandson who works at Amazon is my resident tech expert. When I wanted to download Skype three years ago so I could interview several people overseas, I called him to help me with the task. When I experienced problems following a recent upgrade to Windows 7 after Microsoft stopped supporting…
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By Ken Walker – At my doctor’s recommendation, after my first two heart stents nine years ago, I started getting a flu shot every autumn. That typically helps me make it through the winter flu season unscathed. However, since then I twice survived the worst of the cold weather, only to come down with some…
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By Ken Walker – While it isn’t likely to attract national media attention, the Try This Conference at West Virginia Wesleyan College June 6-7 is a remarkable story of the grassroots awakening of healthy lifestyles in the state. One of the most tangible signs is the conference selling out in advance. The 350 attendees already…
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By Ken Walker – Only those who have juggled multiple writing and editing projects on deadline can appreciate the kick in the gut I felt recently when an editor kicked back a devotional I had written. He said it didn’t quite fit theme and he wanted a new version. At the time, I was behind…
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By Ken Walker – In an online world filled with countless ways of marketing one’s services and establishing an identity as an expert, one piece of advice that routinely appears is to never list your age. Consultants say you will quickly be pigeonholed and shunted aside for younger, “hipper” people who are more attuned to…
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By Ken Walker – I mentioned in my last blog that Huntington, West Virginia had recently regained the ignominious honor of reclaiming the #1 spot as America’s fattest city. This came on the heels of another insult. Namely, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index ranking our city the lowest in the nation. Unfortunately, this morphed into the…
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By Ken Walker- May brings more good news to the city that entered the national spotlight four years ago through Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. Indeed, there are so many encouraging developments that Huntington, West Virginia serves as a model for communities everywhere hoping to attack obesity problems. As I write this, the Wild Ramp is…
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