Mustache Wisdom

Mustache of the Week: Steve Prefontaine. American middle distance runner. Born and raised in Coos Bay, Oregon, Prefontaine was an abnormally short runner who broke American records and became a sports phenom of his era. He helped inspire the "running boom" in the 1970s and was known for "gutting out" races. And had an amazing mustache. He died too young at the age of 24 in a car accident.

Think College Now fact of the week: 66% of the students at Think College now read at grade level in 2009, up from just 8% in 2003. 81% do math at grade level, up from 23% in 2003.

This amazing little elementary is changing lives and defying the odds against under-resourced public schools. "Gutting it out" as Steve Prefontaine would have said.

You and I are making a difference by helping them get critical school supplies and technology into the classroom. Please help this amazing educational story and all the kids who benefit from it! You can contribute through the link on the sidebar-- it only takes three minutes!

Me and my mustache thank you!

10 days in

10 days into this growing season and my mustache is looking, well... like something starting to resemble a mustache. Just enough to get sideway glances at the bus stop and quiet nods from hardy men who share in this age old facial hair tradition.

I notice mustaches all over the place now-- a bit like when you buy a new car of a certain type and see then start seeing that type of car all over the place.

More importantly than the mustache tomfoolery, thanks to 17 friends and family, we've raised $797 so far for the classrooms of Think College Now. Thanks to each of you who have donated. You are making a difference. We still have a long way to go to raise enough funds for the technology we want to help put in the classroom, but we also have over 25 days left.

Depressing fact: Only 1 in 20 Oakland students graduate from high school eligible to attend a University of California school.

Uplifting fact: 81% of TCN students perform at or above grade level in math (up from below 30% just five years ago). Math is often what trips students up from high school graduation and college, so this is a huge fact.

So join the cause, make a difference, and go shake the hand of a man with a mustache.

The Growth Commences!

Friends, Family, Countrymen:

I've just embarked on an epic journey of facial hair creation. Not a beard, lambchops, or those one of those ubiqitous 'soul patches.' Nope. I'm growing an honest to goodness mustache. Think Teddy Roosevelt. Emiliano Zapata. The Iron Sheik.

For vanity? For glamour? To get a rise out of co-workers? None of the above.

I'm sprouting the stache to raise money for the best little elementary school on the planet: Think College Now. Funny name for a school you say? We'll, here's the deal. It's an elementary school started by parents and teachers in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland. It's a public school, but part of the grassroots "small schools" movement in Oakland. 94% of students are on free and reduced lunch, 68% are english language learners. Since it opened in 2003, it has raised student achievement at a shocking rate. From less than 25% of students achieving at grade level to more than 75% achieving at grade level.

Check it out yourself! http://www.thinkcollegenow.org/

Contributing to my mustache-a-thon will go toward funding classroom technology that will help students continue to achieve these amazing results. We are helping them launch a career toward college! I'm growing with honorable bretheren throughout the country.

http://mustachesforkids.org/

Thanks in advance for your consideration!