Dunham Family and My Stroke Story!

I have often thought about my “limits.” Before my strokes, I might’ve been too arrogant to realize that I do have limits.  I just thought I could handle everything. I thought I could do whatever I wanted in this world.  In the “Merry Wives of Windsor.” Shakespeare reflected my old life: “Why, then the world is my oyster,  Which I with sword will open.” It seems my oyster has a bitter aftertaste. I simply tired of fighting battles that I can’t win anymore.  It was different when I knew I could conquer every hurdle. I could multitask and solve every problem wit h ease. Since my strokes, everyday is a challenge. And I am happy that from the outside, people I think that my recovery is complete. Mainly because I’m not paralyzed, But often I am paralyzed with a fear of failing. I am paralyzed because of my aphasia. Being a high-profile person in the community, I have a fear of making mistakes when I speak. “Word finding” is a problem especially ...

CWI Library was recently awarded an Excellence in Academic Libraries Award, which is the academic library equivalent of winning an Academy Award. The award is given by the Association of College and Research Libraries ( ACRL ) to honor an  outstanding community college, college, and university library each year. It is a great achievement! That day included a College of Western Idaho training session for our innovative faculty. I listened to a presentation about new technologies and how to reach out to the new generation of students. I thought about my first experience teaching. I was in adjunct speech teacher at Boise state. I was 23 and nervous. It was a night class. When I introduced myself, several people seemed shocked. “You’re the teacher! You look like you’re in high school.” In the early 80s, technology consisted VHS tapes, old educational videos, and one old decrepit podium. I made sure that I used every available technology to engage my students...

This afternoon, I dropped my son off at tennis practice at Julia Davis  Park. I crossed the Boise River and entered the Boise State campus.  My long history of higher education  when I was an adjunct faculty member at Boise State teaching speech communications in 1985.  I only taught one semester.  10 years later  I was asked to be on the Board of the Boise State Alumni Association. I served as the president of the association in 2001.  In 2003, the State Board of Education asked me to be on the search committee for a new Boise State president. Ultimately, the state board hired Bob Kustra. A year later, President Kustra asked me to change my career and work for him. For 2 1/2 years, I was the Director of Government Relations and ultimately the Interim Vice President of Institutional Advancement at the University.  I resigned because I didn’t want to deal with the "silos" in a university setting.   In addition, ...

There is an old saying resonates with me now: "Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully." I’ve been focusing a lot on flooding after brain injury. Here’s a concise definition: There is the issue of mental flooding after brain injury flooding occurs after brain injury because the brains filters. Often the brain no longer work properly. These filters normally allow us to sort through everything that comes into the brain sounds. sights touch smells movement questions problems demands etc. I sense the flooding is more frequent now. But perhaps I’m more aware of it because I’ve researched a lot because of my aphasia class that I chair. I’ve tried to research to see if the flooding gets worse over time. However I have not found anything definitive about flooding over time. Nevertheless, it certainly seems that it has gotten worse for me. I often lay in a dark room surrounded in silence after any activity that stre...