Posts from — April 2008

I posted last week about one of our talented interns winning a scholarship. We’ll last Thursday was the last day for another talented intern, Kari, we’ve had here at canvas.

Kari, a senior at Farmingdale College, joined us in January and jumped in with both feet, enthusiastically taking on each project she was given. She’ll be graduating next month and beginning the next chapter in her life.

She may not have known much about LOHAS, organics or sustainability when she got here, but I think she does now. I hope she also learned that business can be run holistically and still move forward on many fronts.

We learned a lot about Kari too, she wants to take sometime off… good for her. She doesn’t want to do cold calling and she adds zest to any group she’s part of.

We wish Kari all the best and are very fortunate to have made this canvas connection.

Tom Pellicane - Publisher, canvas Magazine

Yesterday I got to watch some of the final round of the Masters Golf Tournament from Augusta Ga. As I watched the players struggle through the round, I found it interesting how much of a metaphor for life golf really is, especially this round. The weather was windy and the course conditions were demanding for the best players in the world.

My interest in the round went beyond who won and where Tiger Woods finished.

It was about watching what appeared to be a simple putt on a hole turn into an extreme challenge for players. We’ve all had those in life right?

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I have posted a few times in the past about the great connections we’ve made through canvas. One of the connections have been the dedicated, bright and talented interns we have had working with us.

One of them, Michele, who is usually in on Monday’s was not with us this Monday, I’m very happy to share she was on the Today’s Show for a segment on New York Women in Communications 2008 Scholarships. Why? Because Michele was awarded one of the scholarships.

We’re very proud and fortunate to work with the people we do and are very happy for Michele. She’s a high school senior who’ll be headed off to college at American University next year. We know from her drive and determination she’s shown us during this internship she’ll be accomplishing great things.

This in this link from the Today’s Show you’ll see Michele near the end.

Congratulations Michele!!

Tom Pellicane - Publisher, canvas Magazine

We had a brief glimmer of spring on Saturday – yea! Enjoying the moments of warmth during the brief periods of sunshine with my family felt good. We got my son Jake outside doing, as he calls it, “whack a bally” (golf). I am longing for more of the Sun’s warmth on my face, my neck, my back on a regular basis.

Before a church service yesterday, I overheard the people behind me describing getting over their “winter illnesses,” telling the person next to them that they’ve basically been sick since “the Christmas holiday.”

When I heard this I thought about our family passing one thing or another back and forth for the past few months. We, apparently, like many others have been battling a variety of things this winter – bronchitis and respiratory ailments seem to be the big winner this year.

I hope with the warmth of spring it all begins to melt away like a passing snow.

Tom Pellicane – Publisher, canvas Magazine

One of our missions here at canvas is trying to provide information to our readers about self development in order to grow as individuals. I find my self at interesting place in my own development at this time in my life cycle. I know it’s a place many before me have been, and many after me will be.

I find my self at mid-life, with a teenage daughter, a junior in high school, facing the realities that she and every junior is faced with. Today we were at her school, meeting with her guidance counselor to discuss college. At one point she had a tough time getting through the discussion and we side stepped, talking about her fears before moving forward.

It’s very hard as a parent to watch her go through these pains growing up. Dealing with the anxiety of going into the unknown. Facing her fears of where she is and who she thinks she wants to be. Not being able to protect her the way I feel I can for my 21 month old son Jake… Candice doesn’t need the same protecting he does.

I also feel handicapped in this cycle. At her age in order to deal with my life situation I went through my teen years pretty numb and don’t know if I ever really dealt with the issues as she is - head on. Images of my parents dealing with it aren’t there to help guide me either, so I feel like I’m kind of winging it. I remember my childhood girlfriend’s parents going through this with her and they seemed to handle it in a way that was pretty good, so I try to think back to those brief glimpses and I hope I am handling it well.

As cliché as it is, the cycle of life is amazing to me. We were our children; we are our parents and will be our grandparents. I work hard every day to take the good lessons I’ve learned in my life, pass them on to my kids and develop the ones that didn’t work out so well.

Tom Pellicane – Publisher, canvas Magazine