The Ship of Friends...Now...and Later

When we are seeking someone out there....
....and cannot somehow find them.....

When we are seeking the soul of someone lost....
.....and deeply need to know it will be there....

When we are with near and dear, loved ones...in talk and touch....
.....they are with us....

On the Ship of Friends....

Because it sails for love and closeness, for us now....
....and it will be there later on, waiting in the sun....to welcome us on board....

When we can't find it, or see it, or lose a sense of where our love is....
The Ship of Friends sails on through....it will be there for us....through the fog....

It is part of us now....and will be our carrier later on...........
....it sails safely, smoothly on any sea....in any time....and is ours.
......it is our heritage....and our legacy all in one....

It gives us peace....it asks only one thing from us, ever.......that is love.

Peak Moments for a College President

When I can sit with students who are happy, and relax, and laugh together.....
When I sign a new contract with a great world partner institution....
When I hear from that president by email within an hour of my email to her.....
When a business leader from my California community accompanies me across the Pacific to help me build bridges in Korea....


When we share a fresh seafood lunch at a seaside barbecue in cold wind, but warm sun...
When I discover a colleague is an artist and has an amazing collection...
When it's Friday night, at our house, and students are coming....with food and drink and we plan to have fun...

When there is a warm wind in the sky, blowing the stars around.....when fans and friends are all one....
When people are on the Ship of Friends like this....the moments could not be better...

Yet the best of all moments come when a student signals that he or she wants to go abroad to study...
It is the signal that unfolds a lifetime of new culture and learning and career and maybe lifetime partnership...
Signals....
Our job to spark...
....our job to read....
.......to encourage and enable...

After all...that was our own journey....remember!

The CIBU Family Worldwide

This year takes us to new countries and new markets worldwide.  Through it all, CIBU retains its spirit of family and friendship.  Every single time I meet parents, I just want to thank them for being the guideposts for their sons and daughters to join us here in San Diego, and California, and America.

San Diego has been known for many years as "America's Finest City".  That was then.  This is now: "America's Global Gateway City"!  CIBU is in the heart of the cultural district of this great city.  We aspire to be one of the world's most creative business education institutions, regardless of size and former fame.  We re-energize our spirit and programs daily!  We add value every minute!  We are the place where scientific inquiry meets the forces of creativity unleashed.  This creative collision takes place in a nurturing and supportive environment.  Individuals thrive and talents are put to form.

We are creating a unique institution in time and place.  We are unfolding a true global alliance of colleges and universities with a common core of commitments and values and covenants to creativity and global teamwork.  We envision a Global Gateway campus for CIBU and its partners in this magnificent place where the arms of family, friendship, and scholarship reach to the farthest corners of the planet.

Celebrate this new decade with us.  It is CIBU's second century, its third decade!  Almost eighty countries and several thousand students have made CIBU home and family for a part of their life.  We honor that time together and treasure the promise of the future.  If our modest history is any indication, and our present is even more, then, our future is beyond our dreams.  And yet, it is in our hands every day!

Found Touch...New Life....

Something about this time of year....

I resolved that when I see an act of specialness, if it hurts no one, I will tell that person...
....that I will feed forward....a kind thought....a passage of hope or something that brightens the darkness...

California people are not known for running away...or putting out fires....
....we take our pride in starting not stopping, in lighting fires in darkness....
......if there is openness, we will find it...if there is strength, we will share it...
.......if there is weakness, we will not hide it, and it will......make us stronger...
........because we are who we appear to be....we create, we communicate, we enjoy...
.........we love and live to love another day....

We are the carriers of the torch...
We are the firestarters....
We are the lovers....
We are guardians...and liberators...

California sun rises from the East...with the smell of fresh coffee...
.....and sets with the green flash...on any horizon it can be even imagined...

Lost Touch..Lost Life

OK, folks, how are your connections?
Mine are like this...human touch is there but going to safer places...
..like underground...like where anonymous is better than authentic.

I spend about 1 to 2 hours a day on email and electronic brain interactions..less on touch than ever before..less on deeply sharing moments with true friends

You are OK with this, or am I alone?

What I see happening is a trend toward closeted intimacy...the world is so tough, we cannot be able to express our trueness of friendships, from a kiss on the cheek to a high five.

No way here I will effect a change, just to spark some comment.

Here is one truth...song lyrics, paintings, play scripts express what the human pulse is trying so desperately to find..in each other

Say what you feel today...tell that person you find something in them...we must keep on trying..

Coffee in the morning...see you there...

Taste Fresh in Winter

Can you imagine...
Sitting where the ocean and hills are at your feet....
...the sky is deep blue....
.....the air is so cold...with wind about 10 degrees F
......now just taste this...

You are with dear friends of 50 years....laughing....
....you all are so hungry...

You are sitting inside a porch sheltered from the outside cold
...yet you have the warmth of the sun....

The smell of charcoal is everywhere...

Now...on your table comes these fresh jumbo scallops....
...and Kimche....and dried fish...and local rice wine....

The taste was so fresh, the memory lasts forever....
....the friendships are even stronger....they will last longer than forever....

Everybody Thought it Was Funny When I Said "Cute"

In fact, Sam's sister is downright cute.  Doesnt' matter if she has 70+ years.  She is high energy, attends to every detail.  Takes care greatly her husband and her brother Sam, my friend and me, his guest.  They made me feel very honored, yet they have other doctors in this family who are far more important than me.  They took us to a beautiful place for dinner, a true cultural landscape restaurant, south of Seoul.  The food was bountiful.  The warmth was amazing and the artictecture was fabulous.

Sam's sister was so much the organizer.  When we went home to their flat, she served tea and fruited persimmons, a natonal treasure.  She had fun being the cheerleader of this party.  I was so tired, I may have missed important flashes, but I got the whole picture....she is "cute" in any terms....she provided a motherly and fun spirit...this was one of the most beautiful dinners of my life.  Thanks, Sam and family!