Reagan Ranch Leadership Academy

My Reagan Family

2006-07-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take this time to write a special blog. I have spent the past 3 1/ 2 weeks with an amazing group of people. I’ll be saying goodbye Saturday night to most of these, never to see them again. My heart is both hurt and warmed thinking of this group. I want to share my Reagan family with you:

Brian Benjers

I met Brian the day I arrived, the airline had lost his luggage and he was searching all over for it. Brian served our country in Fallujah, Iraq. He is a very strong Christian and shares a lot of the same ideals I have. He also lived next door to me.

Michael Cartier

Michael and I share something in common, neither of us were born during the Reagan years. I was born before and he was born afterwards. Michael is a very sharp individual, he skipped two years of high school and attended Harvard. He will be returning to high school to enjoy a senior year this upcoming semester.

Jeremiah Diacogiannis

Jeremiah is from a family of 10 children. He loves the Lord with all his heart and it shows in his daily walk. He has held a morning bible study for the past couple of weeks that I have yet to make, but I hope to make it before the week is up. He also shared some commonality with me in how he was raised and some experiences of his.

Eric Farb

Eric is my fashion guru. He took me and Nate to Express and fancied us up. I walked out with 3 fitted shirts and Nate was looking quite metro in his new shades. I also found out that Eric was praying for each one of us.

Brianna Fredericks

Brianna just graduated college and is moving to DC for work. After surviving a car wreck on her way here, she headed up our activism challenge project. She did a fantastic job on this. She also has taken me on numerous runs to the grocery store … yah Brianna!!

Leslie Georgatos

I didn’t really get to know Leslie until I went to the beach with her, Jamie, and Henry one night. After that night I often find myself looking for her or Jamie in the crowd if I have to vent on some stress I may be experiencing that day. She did an outstanding job on her persuasive speech and will be one of our speakers on our graduation night.

Nate Griffith

I clicked with Nate from day one. He is a fellow southerner and shares many of the same political ideas that I have. I am sure I will be corresponding with him years after this academy. (Not that I wouldn’t with everyone else though) He will be rooming with me at the east coast conference in DC next week. He also was chosen as one of our speakers for graduation night. Go Nate!

Rebecca Kitchens

I flew into Santa Barbara on the same plane as Rebecca and didn’t know it. She was on my team for designing the totally awesome posters for our activism challenge, even though they changed our title from Tree Huggers vs. Corporate Lackeys to High Home Prices vs Development.

Maia Lazar

Maia thinks I am old. The reason I know this is that she told me in an email before I even came here, then she told me in person, then she even told the New York Times reporter we had here. Maia is a very eccentric person and has maintained her own blog since age 13. She is also the only Jewish student we had in attendance.

Ana Lightle

I knew Ana from the east coast conference of last year. She is one of my fellow students who have both Woo and Communication as her strengths … yes we rock. She also shares my love of country music and can be counted on to control the van’s CD player to the enjoyment of us enlightened ones. She is a huge activist on her campus and I would love to have her running my campaign in the future.

Joseph Lubas

Joseph is our dorm movie supplier. He has a vast collection of films he shares with us from time to time. He is an avid reader and can normally be found walking around with a book in hand. He is also a neighbor of mine.

Matthew McCorkle

Matthew is the person I would want preparing me for an appearance on Jeopardy. He has a great mind for detail. I am glad he is on our side of the fight. If I were president he is one of the few I would want on my staff.

Ashleigh Newton

Ashleigh is a Texan. She has an awesome sense of humor. She makes the most mundane quotes sound funny. She also shares my love of country music. She is one of the most easygoing persons I have ever met.

Christiana Pajak

Christina has a perpetual smile. She is a northerner, but we love her anyway. She had the opportunity to hear from her boyfriend as he called into the radio show that was broadcast here from the center, while we were in attendance.

Chelsea Phillips

Chelsea has a set of pipes on her. I love when she is around on karaoke nights. Her rendition of a Whole New World was beautiful. She like many others here, places a strong emphasis on her Christianity.

Melissa Richmond

Melissa snorts when she laughs, and I hope she never changes that. She has been spending a lot of time with my good buddy Nate. Her motivational speech on the ‘birds and the bees’ was one of the best I have heard. (Trust me, it is not what you think)

Steven Rudy

Steven is our mastermind. He found that to be one of his strengths on our personality test. He inspired me on his growth in his speaking skills. He also shares my love of online computer games and we’ll be playing games in the future.

Alina Sana

Alina is the friendliest, bubbly person I have ever met. She was born in Transylvania and moved with her family here when she was 3. When giving a speech I look for her in the audience to give me strength to carry through. I have learned to always look for my ‘Alina’ in the audience whenever I am speaking.

Darin Schemmer

Darin actually contributed financially to me being here. I got to know Darin a year ago at the east coast conference. I had no idea he was such a funny guy. His quotes have filled our quote wall on our facebook group.

Shane Soderland

This is our ‘rainman’ of nutrition. If you want to know anything about nutrition ask him. He has a very strong outgoing personality. I found out just a few days ago that he shares the same views as I as a young earth conservative.

Henry Teichert

Henry one of the most giving people I met here. He was always offering to take groups of us down to the beach with his car. I don’t think I have ever seen Henry get mad at anyone.

Jamie Ucuzoglu

Jamie was a sweetheart. She took the cutest pictures. She shared some funny date stories with us one including a guy who claimed he had a high position at a prestigious bank when in reality he was a teller. I expect Jamie to do big things in her life.

Seyitbek Usmanov

The day I arrived in Santa Barbara I was standing with Seyitbek and we both saw an attractive girl walk by and loud enough that everyone around us could hear he says “Whoa!” He is originally from Kyrgyzstan and is going to school in Toronto. He is Mr. Karaoke and sings his heart out every time we get together.

Lauren Wilson

Bivins, Lauren, Nashville … she has many names. She is one of the few southerners here. She was on my side when we were debating the reasons behind the War of Northern Aggression. (The Civil War) She lives the closest to me and I’ll probably run into her in the future.

Christine Zoldos

Christine doesn’t like country music but we are still working on her. She shares both my desire and slight apprehension with public speaking. I loved having her in my group when we broke off to video tape our speeches. She has an engaging personality that attracts others to her.

A day of ups and downs

2006-07-24T23:51:00.000-07:00

Today was a character building day, morale is low. I won’t air dirty laundry on a blog that has some of my fellow students reading. But I do like to detail what goes on here be it good or bad.

· Last night I found out that Sydney, my baby niece is sick and may need to go to the emergency room for dehydration.

· We just found out that for the third time our weekly trip to the Reagan Ranch was cancelled.

· We had planned to make tonight a movie night since we had finished our activism challenge this past weekend along with our 3^rd presentation of our persuasive speech today only to be given an essay we had to write for tomorrow.

· We are in southern California in July and there is no air conditioning here nor any fans. I sit around pouring the sweat. I go to bed pouring the sweat. I wake up pouring the sweat.

· We have went 3 weeks eating the same breakfast everyday, sandwiches almost every day, and almost the same supper everyday

· I bombed my speech today. I really wanted to give it my all and I spoke using a new format. My other two speeches were given using my laptop as my notes, today I used printed notes. I got lost on page one and didn’t find my place till page six.

· We need a break, working 13 hour days 6 days a week is starting to take its toll on us.

I could go on but I won’t. We all are going through this. We all are experiencing the overload and stress.

Thankfully this isn’t how our day ended. After compiling this list we had a meeting to discuss the success of our activism challenge. We were awarded enough points to win the secret special prize they have been enticing us with. The prize is a completely free day on the Reagan ranch our last day here. We will have no classes there, no responsibilities, and won’t be rushed. We are going to have another barbeque there. We also are going to see all the parts of the ranch we didn’t get to see last time we were there. And the best part is we get to go horseback riding for an hour and a half along the trails that Reagan used to ride!!

After this debriefing we loaded up the vans and headed over to the Svabodas’ house for a dinner party. Bob and Jean Svaboda were the ones who put this academy together. Bob had a vision of this over a decade ago. They are not only financial contributors but have been with us for all our activities. After walking through the big private gardens we sat down to a meal. (It wasn’t sandwiches!!!!!) I got to spend some one on one time with another colleague and found out he and I had a lot in common. In fact I have a lot in common with many here. After supper Bob and Jean sat down for an interview to explain why they started this academy and how they arrived at their station in life. Their main theme was their reliance on God. I had no idea how much thought and prayer they put into this academy and each one of us until tonight. They made the clear case that they considered us to be their legacy. They felt we were the best investment they could have made with their money. We also took pictures with them they are going to put on their “prayer wall.” They intend to regularly pray for each of us individually. I intend on keeping in touch with the Svabodas over the years and will send letters a couple times a year.

After such an uplifting meal I got the chance to call my sister and check on Sydney. She was doing much better this evening and was even up for being in our county fair beauty pageant tonight. Apparently she stole the show by doing the motions for head, shoulders, knees, and toes on stage, along with covering her mouth and giggling. However I am currently compiling the names and addresses of the judges for retribution since they failed to choose the obvious winner in this competition, Sydney.

So even though my niece was robbed of her trophy and I still had to write a paper tonight, it seems that everything turned out pretty good. God is good.

Get your elbows off the table

2006-07-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

Last night was some night. They tried to teach this Kentucky boy some etiquette at a dinner we had at a private club. I was originally told I would be giving my motivational after dinner speech, but we ran out of time. Earlier this week we were coached on introductions, toasts, handshakes, and general business etiquette, and tonight was focused on the hardest one of all, dining skills. We arrived 30 minutes before dinner and mingled around making our introductions to the guests. We then made our way into the dining room. Each table was assigned a host and a guest of honor. A general rule of thumb is to wait till your host does something before you do it. Once our host was seated we did the same, of course entering our chair from the right side as all cultured people do. Dr. Folsom, our history professor for the week, was seated at our table as well, so it was a treat to be able to sit and talk history with him. Our meal was a five course meal. The soup was the hardest to eat. You start with the spoon close to your body and scoop away from your body. When you reach the bottom you tilt the bowl away from yourself and scoop the remaining soup out. Midway through the meal we were given some sorbet to clean our pallet between courses. Apparently cultured people eat a desert halfway through their meal. It seems the advice from the movie “Titanic” was correct, when you are faced with a massive amount of silverware you should start from the outside and work your way in. We also learned the mnemonic device BMW. Besides being an overpriced car BMW also stands for Bread, Meal, Water, and this is the order of your place setting from left to right. Never again will I worry about picking someone else’s drink up; mine will always be to the right. The main course was one of the best meals I have had here, it was a grilled chicken on a portabella mushroom. It was so good in fact, I would have loved to have finished it, however my waiter had different plans. Depending on where you place your silverware it sends a message to your waiter whether you are simply resting or you are done eating. Clearly my waiter didn’t know these rules. Secondly he didn’t understand the words “I’m not finished,” said 3 times in a row. Figuring flinging my salad fork at his back while he ran off with my meal to be bad form, I decided to see what the next course was. It was probably one of the best desserts I have ever ate. We had a ‘lava’ chocolate cake. It was a chocolate cake with a hot chocolate pudding in the middle. I almost forgot one of the more useful techniques I learned … what do you do when you have something in your mouth you can’t manage to swallow? You simply hold your napkin in front of your mouth with your right hand and then with your left hand remove the offending piece of food. Our host later toasted our guest in a formal toast and in return our guest toasted our host. We were served nonalcoholic red wine, white wine, and champagne, for our toasts. I like nights like this when we get off campus and get dressed up.

Folsom Prison Blues

2006-07-20T00:27:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of extremes. We visited both an air force base and a federal penitentiary. I was awakened at 6:30 am by a group of 25 Japanese doing traditional exercises in our parking lot to some traditional music. By the time I showered and walked to breakfast they had finished. We later made our way to Vandenberg Air Force base. This place was huge. So large, in fact, that our driver provided by the base got lost a few times. We spent a good hour or so in a small museum in the middle of the base. Our guide likened a missile to a UPS truck that had a package (nuclear warhead) that you send from point A to point B on the other side of the marble we live on. This truck was mostly hollow and filled with rocket fuel to facilitate the trip. He only shared declassified information with us, therefore our military has far more capability than what any of us will ever know of. One of the bombs he discussed had more firepower than all of World War II combined. That includes all bullets, missiles, explosives, and the two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. Originally these missiles took 30 minutes to fire. We now have 20 story buildings built underground storing missiles we can fire within 60 seconds. We maintain the peace through our superior firepower and this is only one example of that power. The military was able to build this base in 6 months: 6 months from sand dunes to operational air force base. They routinely test missiles throughout the year to hone their skills and to show our enemies we still have nuclear capability. This tends to be a great deterrent. There was a scheduled missile launch for that evening but sadly our schedule didn’t allow time for that.

The second part of the trip was the Lompoc Penitentiary. Being a rational person I naturally assumed there would be bars separating us from the inmates, I was wrong. No photography was allowed inside so I will rely on the only picture I took while standing outside the gates. Notice the three rows of ‘razor wire’ that separates the inmates from freedom. If any inmate makes it through this wire they are normally found within 50 feet of the fence lying down, bleeding. We were prohibited from wearing khakis on our visit since this is what the inmates wore. Apparently Gap was the official sponsor of this facility. After being screened through and removing my belt, shoes and all personal effects to be scanned, we were split into smaller groups and made our way into the prison. And I do mean into the prison. We were standing mere feet away from groups of over 60 inmates that included murders, rapists, and almost every type of criminal you could imagine. We were led across their grounds and into their living ‘barracks.’ They didn’t have individual cells, instead they had barracks that housed a few hundred together. Did I mention that our guide had no gun? For discipline they rely on their ‘call button,’ to call for assistance if there is a disturbance. The barracks were full when we came by and many inmates were mingling about around us. We then were led into their sign factory. The inmates made signs in this facility and were paid $1 a day for work. This was normally split each day to pay down any fees the inmates were still subject to from the result of their trials. Upon entering this building every eye was on us, or at least the ladies of our group. Along with the stares we received several cat calls as well. In normal day to day life our group of guys would have questioned and possibly corrected anyone who treated the ladies we were with like this, but not so inside the prison walls. A couple of us tried to position ourselves between the ladies and the closest inmates and didn’t really exchange eye contact. We were moved from this building to the cafeteria and received several tame jeers from the inmates standing around the yard. Our guide described some recent changes where several ‘amenities’ were removed from prisons due to public pressure that prisons shouldn’t be treated as ‘day spas.’ The guide described the problems this brought and the increased problems in maintaining order. More than one in our group appeared ready to argue against having any comforts at all for the inmates, while still in ear shot of said inmates. Knowing I didn’t have to outrun the inmates and simply the poor soul who opened their mouth, I wasn’t as concerned at this time.

I don’t think many of our group understood the reason for visiting a federal penitentiary and quite honestly I didn’t either until hearing the dialogue after leaving the facility. I heard protests of only allowing the inmates access to a 5 foot square cell for 23 hours of the day. And although I do believe we should be very tough on crime not only as a punishment and deterrent, but a means of rehabilitation due to a desire of never being locked up again, I do realize these are human beings. Our unpleasant experience only lasted a couple of hours, and we were then allowed to leave that place. I looked into the faces of some men who would never be leaving that facility, ever. I think this was a very valuable experience for those of us who have the possibility of becoming lawmakers in the future. Although I am the last person to say we should be soft on crime, I do believe it is important to put a face to those whose futures we can affect.

This isn’t the first time on this trip that I had a differing opinion than a few around me. (And I apologize to those from my group who are reading this now. This is one of the finest groups of individuals I have ever been assembled with. I simply have a slightly different opinion from a couple of you at times.) The day before I was chastised for giving a homeless man a dollar. He asked me if I had a quarter and although many times I pass these people up not knowing what they would use my money for, I felt the need to give this man a dollar. He stood there with a black eye and real grubby hands. I had a small few yell out as I was doing this and while the man was walking away one very loudly said “Chris! Why did you do that?” I looked at them and said “Because I wanted to.” When I got in the car and was questioned about it I was told you aren’t supposed to cast your pearls before swine. I explained to them that was an example of grossly taking a verse out of context.

Santa Barbara vs. The American Flag

2006-07-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

Apparently the American flag is viewed as offensive to some residents of Santa Barbara. This Monday we arrived at the Reagan Ranch Center at our usual time of 8:30 am. Immediately after stepping off the van Adam and I were accosted by a woman holding a camera. Our dialogue, verbatim, follows:

Woman: “So tell me, when is the banner coming down?”

Me: "I'm sorry?"

Woman: "I need to know what time they are taking that banner down, today."

Me: "Oh, I didn't know they were taking it down." (I am thinking she simply wanted a picture of the building and the taking down of the banner was something the Ranch Center planned on doing after our grand opening was over)

Woman: "Oh yes, it has to come down today."

Adam then begins to talk to the woman a bit and I missed his conversation as I settled my mind on what this woman was telling me.

I then turned to walk into the building when I heard the rest of the conversation.

Woman: "And oh yeah, the flag has to come down as well."

I spin around at this moment.

Me: "Excuse me?" "The flag?"

Woman: "Yes, the flag."

Me: "The American flag?!?"

Woman: "Yes."

Me: "You are telling me we have to take down the American flag?"

Woman: "Yes! It’s too big."

The above few comments were said while Adam was trying to explain something to the woman. Clearly this woman was a trouble maker and thus not worthy of my time, so I spun around and walked back into the building.

Apparently the city deemed the flag was an eye sore and must be removed. The official reason was the flag didn’t meet city code. So on a privately owned building dedicated to a man who epitomized freedom to the world we are told we can’t fly the flag of our country. This transpires while we are spending a month studying the tenants of conservatism and the importance of freedom. Strangely the city has no trouble with flying other flags with less offensive symbols on it such as palm trees. I was also told that the art museum had flown banners the same size as ours. The next day we arrived to a naked building where once stood such a proud display for our country and the man who brought down communism.

Here once again is a photo of the building before its forced defacing:

Communism

2006-07-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

We have had an amazing week studying the historical effects of communism on the world. This section was taught by Dr. Paul Kengor author of God and Reagan and God and George W. Bush It would be impossible to recount everything he taught, but clearly if anyone in our class was wishy washy about the evils of communism before, by the end of week they would rival Joe McCarthy in their loathing and fear of it. I will post a few key points from my notes here. My apologies for not adding details to these notes. I fear I won’t have time to write full blogs until my small amount of free time on Sunday.

1848 Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Engels
October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution brought in Vladimir Lenin
Joseph Stalin 1924 - 1959

Lenin would write letters telling people to go to a certain town and kill no less that 200 Cossacks
Wanted to shoot people who didn't show up to work on Christmas day
20 - 40 million killed under Stalin's reign

1920 abortion legalized in Russia .. These numbers don't count this (8 million a year)
Religion was outlawed
8000 abortion doctors working around the clock
Russia's population would be 500 million if all this killing hadn't happened
Professors hate communist bashers more than communists
These guys made Hitler look like Mr. Rogers
The communists killed more in the first year than the previous 5 tsars combined
1945 - 1949 Eastern Europe

Communist bloc
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and - until the early 1960s - Albania

The "Soviet Empire"
1949 China becomes communist killed 70 million
1949 Soviets get atomic bomb
1950 - 1953 Korea
1960s -1970s hits parts of Asia, Latin America, Africa
1958 - 1961 Cuba
This is essentially what elects Reagan in the 1970s
1989 Communist bloc goes, fall of the Berlin Wall
1991 December 25 Gorbachev resigns

Castro and Che Guevara supported using nukes on us

30 years later we find out there were 162 warheads there

Would have killed 80 million Americans

Then we fire on the USSR and then they fire on us

Even Hilter favored not using WMDs

Cuba takes out $9,784 out of $10,000 the workers make per year, this is 97.84% tax rate of total income
Doctors quitting their jobs and running houses of prostitution
Shortage of hygiene products

You need food first

Elian Gonzalez
was the only one to survive with his group, then Janet Reno sent him back to Cuba
100,000 people have drown swimming to Cuba, 0 people have drowned swimming from the US to Cuba

Communism has killed over 1,000,000 people
If you prevent outsourcing that would mean we aren't in a free economy, and prices will stay high and eventually we will be beat out by other countries
In the US if you don't have the money to afford health care insurance then you are technically eligible for Medicaid

Also hospitals are not allowed to turn people away in emergency rooms

Stalin said "All worship of God is a type of necrophilia"
In North Korea disloyalty is viewed as allowing pictures of their leader to gather dust or to get folded or torn is punished
Our revolution was in 1776 and our constitution written in 1789 … 13 years, and yet liberals are saying the progress in Iraq in taking too long
1995 - 1998 2,000,000 + starved to death in North Korea

Out of a population of 22 million
In the US that would be like losing 35 - 40 million
SK sends food there … air drop

NK removes any indication of where the food came from

Therefore SK started sending the food in packages marked with its origin

NK were eating bark

No nutritional value at all

NK tried to start a 'rabbit campaign'

That would produce 6 pounds of meat a month per family

Widespread reports of cannibalism
The animals are migrating south due to the lack of food there

Our DOD (Department of Defense) has a "two-war posture" defense budget

So we can simultaneously fight 2 wars at once
They were going to scrap this in the 1990s
With a 13.1 trillion GNP we can definitely afford this

Yawn

2006-07-13T20:06:00.000-07:00

Classes .. speeches … more speeches .. revising speeches … more classes …. leadership sessions .. 2 out of 3 meals every day being working meals .. meaning we had lectures during them and had to take notes …. All our study time /free time erased… chicken for almost every meal of the day … coming home to blog but only wanting to sleep .. working on our activism challenge in between all the classes … Sleep …must sleep!!

More later.

I leave you with three hot guys.

Leadership Vision

2006-07-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

We had a change of pace these past few days. Starting on Sunday night we had Michael and Brian from Leadership Vision work with our group. After a week of us wearing business clothes these guys show up in jeans and wrinkled shirts. Brian looked like Jon Bon Jovi. A couple of months ago we were required to take an online Meyers-Briggs test and a strengths quest test. They arrived on Sunday with the results of those tests, knowing more about ourselves than we do. When we were asked to stand up and tell about ourselves they were discussing between themselves when they saw the themes from our tests show through on our personalities. It was creepy that they knew us so well. Upon receiving my test I found out that I am very high in the extroversion trait. (Surprise) My other traits are sensing, feeling, and perceiving. The second test, the strengths finder test, is a scientifically verifiable tool. It measures 34 different talent themes. They have found that individuals have 5 main themes. Mine ranked in order are Woo, Communication, Maximizer, Strategy, and Competition. The first two were not surprises. The most liberating thing I learned from our sessions is that I don’t have to worry about my inadequacies .. in fact I don’t even have to change them. I simply surround myself with people who compliment me by picking the slack up in those areas. Trying to fit a round peg in a square hole would be fruitless. I loved these guy’s jobs … they literally travel the world (they went to Holland after they left here) and just talk to people about their strengths. What a cool way to make money. Today I had a 20 minute interview with Michael (the big guy who is also a woo, communicator) and I came out feeling like I could take on the world. Although the assessment is only descriptive and not prescriptive, Michael told me my words would motivate thousands. He said my personality showed that I have a desire to be people’s voice. Oh yes .. I was beaming by then. He said that I gain strength by being around people and that I need to talk to people wherever I go. He also said the reason I have problems with long speeches is due to my personality type. I am good at beginnings but I bore and want to move on to something else, kind of how I am in social situations. I like to talk to everyone at the party and only spend a few minutes with each person. I voiced concerns about sounding too ‘folksy’ with my accent for the political arena and he responded with a great quote. “The south may have lost the (civil) war, but the majority of 20^th century presidents have come from the south.” He said to own my accent and my grammar usage, it will help m greatly. Michael also told me he has the same problem I have. If I am talking to a group of people I must have positive feedback or I am in shambles. He was telling jokes the day before and they were crashing .. and it really bothered him – he had told these jokes thousands of times and by durn they were funny! So what he did next was focus on Alina who was giving him great eye contact and laughing at his jokes. This pulled him through the rest of his talk. He told me I had to find ‘my Alina’ when speaking in public.

Reagan’s Ranch

2006-07-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

I really don’t know where to begin when talking about our visit to Reagan’s ranch. I have been excited about our visit all week long and once we got there it exceeded all my expectations. The road up the mountain was laid out like some of ours in Kentucky .. like the surveyor was drunk when he decided to draw the road. Not only that but it didn't look like the road had received service since Reagan was in office. After surviving the trip up we passed a sign on a tree that said Kangaroo Crossing, this was a gift from the prime minister of Australia to Reagan. After having our final lecture from Dr. Devine we broke up into groups for the tour of the house. On the porch we sat at a replica table of the one that Reagan signed his monumental tax cut at, the real table will be displayed in the Reagan Ranch Center in October. I also noticed that President Reagan had a mace hanging on his porch .. our guide had no idea why it was there. Upon entering the front door we were in the small sitting area that Reagan met heads of state and reporters in. They were not allowed in the main area of the house, the president was very adamant in having a private place away from all the hustle of his job. In the front sitting room Reagan’s books were still displayed on the shelf. We were able to look at the books that shaped the mind of the leader of the free world. Along with philosophical works of conservative authors, Reagan also had many books about the west. In the corner of this room was the small table that he and Nancy ate at. The window to Reagan’s back gave a view of the hill that reporters used to photograph the president from. Throughout the house you will not find fancy gifts from heads of state, instead you find simple gifts given by everyday folk, for example the bedspread they used was sewn by a grandmother who sent it as a gift. The kitchen was furnished with General Electric appliances that Reagan received while working for their company. Also of note in the kitchen was the Jackalope, the president loved telling stories and was always asked by visitors about this mythical creature. The next room was rarely seen by anyone except the immediate family. This is the main part of the late 1800 house. He had a painting on the wall given to him by Ed Meese. Ed had no idea what the president did with the painting until seeing it here after the president’s death. He had no idea he placed it in such an important place. Our group was one of only the few people to ever be photographed in this room. This and all the other pictures will be posted later. We were not allowed to take personal pictures inside the house. The next room was the bedroom. In the closet the Ron and Nancy’s clothes were still hanging. There was a jacket that had Mr. President embroidered on it along with his cowboy hats and boots. On the table was the cap he wore when working on the ranch .. it was still dirty and had sweat stains on it. Nancy hated the hat. None of these items were behind glass cases but right there in the open where we could touch them, which we didn’t out of respect of course.

Next we had a western BBQ that was so good you had to take your shoes off to eat it so you could wiggle your toes. The cook was a donor to the ranch who happened to be from Kentucky. He is going to email me the recipes he used … good stuff.

We later heard from John Barletto, the secret service agent who was assigned to Reagan when he took his horse rides. He shared several stories with us that I will be blogging later. He got a close, intimate view of Reagan that most never saw. He was also the one who had to tell Reagan he could no longer ride horses anymore due to his Alzheimer’s progression. The President, always looking to comfort others, simply put his hands on John’s shoulders and said .. “I know John, don’t worry.”

After this we saw the only secret service building left on the ranch. Reagan wanted his ranch to go back to its original condition and had the helipad and various other buildings removed. Inside this last building we saw wall charts listing Rawhide’s (President Reagan’s codename) bloodtype and allergies. We also saw the ‘red phone’ which was a hotline for the president to talk to his secret servicemen anytime he needed them.

Finially we saw the view from the top of the mountain. From here I could clearly see why an actor and president chose an old 1,500 square feet ranch home with no central air or heat. You could see the entire valley, the mountains in the distance, and the ocean. The view was breathtaking.

I feel very fortunate to have visited the ranch. It isn’t open to the public, only to donors and a few select people.

My first draft of the speech I have to give several times this month

2006-07-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

We are a society that lives in cars. Now we don’t literally spend our entire day in the closed confines of our vehicle, but we go through life with the illusion that we travel alone. We’re not concerned if our actions offend or hurt others around us in the same way we don’t care to rudely lay down the horn when we think the person driving in front us is sitting too long at a traffic light. Some of us have no problem with even flashing an obscene gesture. This is something we would never do while standing face to face with someone, or is it?

I remember an event that happened to me, while attending the University of Kentucky. I lived in a coed dorm at the time and was dating a girl who lived on the women’s floor. And I was in ….. love, or at least my semblance of love that I had at that time. This girl had it all … attractive, outgoing, fun and most importantly she was a very strong Christian…. She was the type who attracted others to her. Her roommate… we’ll call her Elise, because … that’s her name (pause) was her exact opposite. Elise wore all black, painted her fingernails black, and frowned a lot…. basically the kind of person who repelled people from her. Anytime I spoke to Elise she would grunt at me and shortly after leave the room. I’m not sure whether it was due to a jealousy of others happiness or just a general sour disposition. I was told by my girlfriend and her friends I should give her a wide girth, in fact their exact words were, “she hates you.” Well, I just couldn’t have that so I was determined to make her smile. It actually became a game for me. Anytime time I saw her I would say “Hey Elise … did you miss me?” Or, “Come on over here and give me a hug Elise.” To which she would grunt out a no and leave the room. This continued well into the semester, and I felt I wasn’t making any headway. Then came Christmas break and the big break up. The girl I thought I loved was gone. I was bummed. I moped around the house and basically lost my smile for a while. Things got better when I returned to campus and was busy once again. I moved on. I decided to take a break from dating for a while and along came the most dreaded day to most single people … Valentine’s Day! Not dating anyone, I didn’t expect to receive anything that year. I came in after a long day of classes and saw a small card slipped under the door. It was the type that kids normally give to each other … had a cartoon on the front. It wasn’t the picture on the front that was of note, but the words on the back, and the reason I have kept this card on my refrigerator to this day. It was written by Elise, the all black wearing roommate. It read

Chris,

To the nicest guy on the first floor, thanks for helping my time of need, I will never forget it. I hope you have a wonderful Valentine ’s Day.

Elise

You must remember what type of gesture this was for her. This was like doing cartwheels and wearing all pink. It was so unlike the Elise I knew the previous semester, and that’s how I knew it was sincere. Apparently my words had an effect on her. I learned a lesson that day. I had no idea she was going through a hard time. But I determined from that day forth that I would treat my words as gifts and not as weapons. It would have been so easy to return her dislike of me. I had done it so many times with other people. But I was fortunate this time.

Not knowing what troubles those around us are experiencing we should err on the side of caution and treat them better than they may be treating us.

I leave you with a quote from (Prov. 18:21). “Death and life are in the power of the tongue" The implication is that the choice of how to use the tongue, for good or for evil, is our own.

Day 4 = Eye opening

2006-07-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

My blog will shift its focus from time to time from being a journal of my daily activities to focusing on individual insights I have received on my trip. Today was a huge eye opener for me. If I had to leave the academy early I could still say it was worth all the work it took to get here, because what I learned today.

Dr. Guiliano made the statement that “we have a moral mandate to spread the truth.” Another word for mandate is command; we are commanded to spread the truth. He also said we are mandated to be as effective as possible in spreading the truth. For some time I believed this meant I should be prepared to win any argument I was faced with. If I was able to obliterate the opposition with my words, that was a victory. This is exactly what I have done in some recent online debates. I was so proud of the zingers I threw at my opposition. The reality is that even though I may have won the argument I accomplished nothing more than solidifying the opposition’s position against me. I hadn’t changed hearts. I need to be persuasive and not only right. He recommended a book called Civility by Stephen Carter. This book asks the question of why do people show poorer manners today than in previous ages? How did we come to confuse rudeness with self-expression and acting on our "rights"? One answer to this is found in the analogy of driving a car. In cars people don’t have to be civil, in fact they will sometimes honk their horn or flip off a person for an offense they would never thought twice about had the incident occurred during walking. Heck, sometimes we even pass gas in our cars. We are basically a rude people while driving our cars. Carter argues that we are a society that is living life in cars. This predisposition we have tends to make us less civil in debates, which is counter productive to our desired results, winning hearts and minds to the truth. He advises that it is possible to passionately argue for truth and leave your audience feeling respected and taken seriously. A person shouldn’t feel like they have lost by agreeing with you. This is such a paradigm shift from my previous way of thinking. It has caused me to ask the question … do I want to be a Rush Limbaugh or a Ronald Reagan?

I will close out my blog with a couple of pics.

Surprise from my baby niece

2006-07-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

I had hoped my baby niece would be saying my name once I returned in a month and I just recieved the following email from my sister:

I brought up your Reagan ranch page and Sydney was standing next to me so she wasn't in a real good spot to see the screen. As I scrolled down the page, I came to the picture of you shaking hands with Reagan's son (I think that is right - I had to skim over the entry). Anyhow, as I approached that picture, Sydney pointed to the screen and said "who's that". I lifted her up to look at the screen and she said "Kiss" (translation: Chris). I then told her to give Uncle Chris kisses and she made her "mmmm" noise and kissed the computer screen. (Oh yeah, she bumped her head in doing so and then was rubbing her forehead). She then went on to blow you kisses.

I just now asked her to tell Uncle Chris bye-bye and so she waved at the screen.

I thought you might want to know this little bit of info. Knew it would definitely bring a smile to your face.

Day 2 = More Exhaustion + Fun

2006-07-05T00:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am now beginning to think that this ’blogging every day idea’ was a stroke of madness. It is now 11:30 pm, we left at 8:30 am and just arrived back to the dorms. Today was mind blowing. It started out fairly slow for me. Dr Devine was lecturing on Socrates and philosophy, two things I have studied nothing about. There were a couple of walking encyclopedias in the room that made me feel vastly inferior during this session. (No offense to you if you are now reading my blog, but I was greatly impressed) I really wanted this session to end. Before I continue I must discuss two incidents I had with Dr. Devine. Upon arrival at the airport I was teasing the staff member who picked me up because she was carrying the Young American Foundation sign upside down. I took it from her and was walking around with it while talking to my dad on the phone when an older gentleman, well at least older than the other students I was looking for, stopped me and said he was Dr. Devine. I was more interested in my conversation. I almost bypassed him and then it hit me who he was. I spun around and said .. “Oh yes, Dr. Devine .. right this way.” This man ran Ronald Reagan’s campaign and I basically ignored him. That was day one. On day two I was in mid conversation with another student, wildly talking with my arms which I am prone to doing. All of a sudden I knock someone’s coffee out of their hands. That someone was Dr. Devine. Yes, two strikes against me. And today I sit trying to fight sleep as I listen to him, not a good track record. Then something happened. His later section was a very basic analysis of the Constitution. It was like someone lit a fire under this man. I have never heard someone speak so passionately about the constitution. He made more sense in that short session than anyone has ever done so explaining the constitution to me. He had me whipped into a frenzy as well, I almost wanted to jump up at the end and yell “Amen brother!!!”

Here is the picture of the dreaded hot seat I mentioned yesterday. Today we learned that almost all the great communicators are also great story tellers. This brought me hope. I can tell stories, so this means I can be a great communicator. Later we had to give introductions to a room full of financial supporters to the Reagan Ranch, basically a room of millionaires or near millionaires. I was thinking, what can a country boy from Kentucky say to a crowd like this. I felt like I slaughtered my brief introduction and sat down a little depressed. Later that evening I had one of the supporters come up to me and tell me they really liked what I had to say, that I was very articulate and entertaining. I was surprised and pleased, I told her that was something I really wanted to work on .. my communication skills. She told me I would have no problem in that area. So for the rest of the night I was beaming.

Then came Michael Reagan. I have no way of putting to paper, or screen as you would have it, what this man’s visit meant to us. It is obvious where he received his sense of humor from. He told us that since he and his wife are both republicans that his wife’s vote cancelled out Ron’s and his vote cancelled out Patty’s. (His half brother and sister who later become democrats) He shared several stories of his father, but the most memorable was his account of the assassination attempt on President Reagan and the familys’ emotions that day. When Michael arrived at the hospital his dad told him if you ever plan on being shot don’t wear a new suit. Michael asked him why .. president Reagan said “Well I just bought this suit yesterday, and I would have thought .. being the president and all they would have allowed me to take it off …. But there it lays in the corner, in shreds where they cut it off.” Just as his comment of “I forgot to duck’ calmed the nation, his use of humor calmed his family, during a very serious crises. After meeting Michael following the speech he promised to come back this month and do his radio show with us.

We then ate supper with the sponsors. That was a real treat. I wished I had a stack of resumes on me. I was able to spend some time with some very wealthy business owners who appreciated workers with the backgrounds the academy was giving us. It was also enjoyable to speak politics with them and thank them for their generous gifts to the foundation.

After supper we went to the roof of the center for live music with a country band. A few of us got some line dances going and later waltzed and swing danced. After an hour or so of this the fireworks show began. So my night ended standing on a building dedicated to one of the most patriotic men of the 20^th century, with 25 of the most patriotic colleagues I have ever been around along with the supporters and staff, enjoying the southern California air .. in view of the ocean, watching a fantastic fireworks display. What more could I ask for?

Day 1 = Exhaustion

2006-07-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

I sit here tonight with writer’s block trying to figure out where to begin explaining to capture what went on this day. I didn’t realize it was possible to fit that many activities in one day. To the left you see the ton of materials they gave us upon arrival. It’s obvious that I will be shipping a box home on my return flight since these materials alone would put me over my limit.

“There’s a spark in each of us, and if struck at just the right moment it will illuminate the rest of our lives.”

- Ronald Reagan

We started the day out with a prayer and the pledge. We then recited the American’s Creed:

The American’s Creed

Adopted by Congress, April 13, 1918

“I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

“I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support is Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”

After our initial introductions it was time for our communications section. We are required to speak a lot this month. Our coach Dr. Mike Giuliano uses the concept of ‘the hot seat.’ This is a red stool that we are required to sit on when randomly called upon for an impromptu speech. He has a tailor made curriculum for each one of us based upon our initial testing and our ongoing speech presentations. Some will have longer exercises for homework than others will. We also have two non-negotiable requirements. 1) We must give honest but civil critiques of our colleagues and 2) our critiques are non-negotiable. We must listen, consider, and then apply. This will give us quite an edge over those without this training. I will have a room of 25 others helping me reach my speaking goals. At the end of this week we will be giving our first formal speech entitled “What I believe.” This speech will be videotaped. We will give this speech from different angles throughout the month and the last three days we will compare our finial speech to our first videotaped one. I am both excited and terrified by this concept. However this is a beast I will tame. We will be far better speakers when the month is over.

Coach Giuliano proceeded to stomp on my toes with the following statement. A few years ago he was the coach of a debate team and his students were getting very good at winning arguments however they were not changing minds towards the truth. In fact, their opponents were leaving more opposed to their ideas than they initially were. I am guilty of this. I love stinging someone on an online debate, and really haven’t cared about the end result. I need to work on not only winning a debate but winning others to my side of thinking.

I will detail our time with Dr. Devine, our second speaker on a future date since it is almost midnight and I have a ton of reading due for tomorrow.

We finished the night out with a dinner honoring actress Norma Zimdahl. She had financially contributed to the Reagan Ranch Center and has a classroom and museum named after her inside. She had a television contract with CBS, toured with the Fred Waring Orchestra, and partnered with Sid Caesar. I have never seen a more animated speaker. Her speech patterns were that out of the golden age of Hollywood. I would love to retell the stories she shared with us tonight, but sadly I lack the flair she had for spinning a yarn.

My mountain of books await …

Sunny California

2006-07-02T21:14:00.000-07:00

Alone. That was my initial feelings at 8:40 this morning. Saying goodbye to my niece was one of the hardest things I have done in a while. I am glad that I spent some extra time with her before I left, but that made the parting that much tougher. Then saying goodbye to my parents capped off the feeling of loneliness. I could feel the apprehension of flying hitting me as I walked through the terminal. God did provide. He placed me next to a kid I talked to most of the way, and the in flight movie was Take the Lead, a new favorite of mine. This helped me immensely.

I had no idea we were so close to the ocean. I wish I had my camera handy when we were landing. The oceanfront house were enormous, all of them in a terra cotta theme. I was surprised to find the airport to be close in size to the one in my hometown … tiny. I did snap some photos once I walked off the plane.

After checking in and oversleeping through supper (I hadn’t slept for 48 hours) I am now sitting on the couch with a bunch of my new friends enjoying Pirates of the Caribbean. I can already tell this will be a good month … I have met some very good people. I’ve also met a lot of Christians here and I look forward to having some good conversations with them.

I am now signing out; we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. I will have plenty to write about in the upcoming days.

I made it!!

2006-06-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

I am proud to announce that I have finally hit the $1800 mark. When I first heard of this trip it was hard to picture making it this far. And here I am. I can't believe my trip is five days away. I have a ton of things to get done before I leave. How does one fit 5 weeks of clothes, including business attire, casual business attire, and everyday wear into two bags? I'll let you know after Sunday. My excitement is coupled with my sadness from leaving. Of course I will miss my family and friends, but mostly I’ll be missing my baby niece. I’m afraid she won’t remember me well when I return. I am spending as much time with her now before I leave. I am hoping they have her saying my name when I return.

It looks like my journey will begin at 4:00 am this Sunday. I know … I had the same reaction. It is still dark out at this time. My parents will be driving me up to Cincinnati for my 8:40 flight. I am not the biggest fan of heights nor enclosed spaces, and at 8:40 this Sunday I will be very very high in the air inside a metal can with wings. I am hoping my lack of sleep will kick in at this time and I’ll wake up in Salt Lake City. I’ll arrive at 10:28 and an hour later will take my last leg arriving in Santa Barbara at 12:36, 2,200 miles from home.

Update

2006-05-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

For visitors new to the concept of blogging, let me take a moment to explain how this site works. As I continue to 'blog' my previous posts will be moved down the page. If you intend on reading this site chronologically, it would be best to start at the bottom of the page. As I raise funding for my tuition I will post updates periodically, once I am actually at the Academy my posts will increase in number.

On to my update…

Great news, I have been given an extension on my deposit due date. The Young American Foundation is willing to do everything in their power to help me make it to the academy. Currently my funds are sitting at $1600. I have no doubt that the money will continue to trickle in and I’ll be in Santa Barbara, Ca. on July 3rd.

I would like to thank the donors who have contributed so far. I hope they will continue to read this site, I want to share this experience with them every step of the way.

Donors

My dance partner, Jeanise Staton
My Cousin, Barbara Emerson
Fellow YAF members, Rachel Becker and Darin Schemmer
State Rep, Lonnie Napier
Uncle and aunt, JS and Carolyn New
Cousin, Barbara Emerson
Mom and Dad, Donna and Bruce Meece
My sister, brotherinlaw, and niece, Shasta, Chris and Sydney Jones

Thank you so very much. I am blessed with the greatest friends and family ever.

My Path to the Reagan Ranch Leadership Academy

2006-04-23T22:32:00.001-07:00

I have been presented with this amazing opportunity and plan on sharing my journey with my family and friends. The past couple of months I have been working through the application process for the first ever Reagan Ranch Leadership Academy. This past weekend I was notified that I was chosen as one of the twelve men and twelve women to attend. The application process seemed to be a huge hurdle, and I am very fortunate to be chosen. My next task is raising the funds for my tuition. I have till this Friday, April 28th to pay my deposit of $900. Currently I have $50. After I meet this goal, I have the remainder of my tuition, an extra $900, due by June 23.
Chris Meece
PO Box 84
Ferguson, Ky. 42533

If sending a check, please send an email telling me of such. I want to be able to update my blog when I have reached the needed amount. Send emails to themeecer@aol.com Any amount would be greatly appreciated. More importantly keep me in your prayers as I raise the funds and while I am in attendance at the academy.

THE GOAL:

The Reagan Ranch Leadership Academy

Monday, July 3-Saturday, July 29

The Mission
The Reagan Ranch Leadership Academy is dedicated to developing leaders in the tradition of President Ronald Reagan. The Academy’s goal is to identify and prepare strong, principled leaders who excel in written and oral communication and who understand and are inspired by the ideas of individual freedom, traditional values, a strong national defense, and free enterprise. The Academy encourages and facilitates a lifelong dedication to and defense of these principles and a serious commitment to assume leadership roles.

The Reagan Ranch Leadership Academy is an intense, month-long “boot camp” for rising leaders. The program is designed to bring out the best in the best, fostering an environment that is both intellectually challenging and focused on practical, real-world skills and applications.

The Academy initially focuses on examining core values and identifying leadership skills. Interactive labs and small-group debate sessions force students to come to grips with what they believe, why they believe it, and how their beliefs affect the rest of their lives. Individualized leadership training and analysis will help students better understand and utilize their natural skills and abilities.

The Academy curriculum includes separate, week-long, uncensored examinations of key issues in World & U.S. History, Economic History & Theory, and Law & Government. More than just classroom lectures, these topics are presented with an emphasis on debate, leading to an understanding of core principles and common threads.

Communication is a running theme at the Academy. Throughout the program, students are challenged to hone their written and oral communications skills while being placed in unique, real-world scenarios including television studios and large-group events.

The Location
The Reagan Ranch Leadership Academy is located at Young America’s Foundation’s exciting new Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, California. Just miles from the Reagan Ranch (the historic property itself is the site of many Academy sessions), the Ranch Center adds a unique component to the Academy experience. Ronald Reagan embodied the characteristics that define a successful leader—that rare mix of personal integrity, confident belief and faith in God, and the ability to communicate with and inspire others. The Academy’s goal is to inspire others by the example of Ronald Reagan, producing leaders able to someday follow in this great man’s footsteps.

The Benefits
At the Reagan Ranch Leadership Academy YOU will:

Become a more effective advocate for your beliefs.
Gain a better understanding of conservative principles.
Receive life-changing leadership training focused on maximizing your unique skills.
Become a more dynamic communicator with specialized instruction and practice in interview, radio, and television settings.
Engage in vigorous debate and discussion as you are trained on key topics facing our nation and the world by a distinguished faculty committed to Ronald Reagan’s conservative ideas.
Become an active part of the Conservative Movement by learning how to become a better campus activist and further the advancement of conservative ideals.
Challenge yourself to develop knowledge and skills in an intensive learning environment.
Hear perspectives on pressing issues not presented on your campuses.
Join an elite group of student leaders, building life-long friendships and important career contacts.