Tragedy @ MindSay 
love
Program Date: September 25, 2009
Program Time: 2100 hours, Pacific
Topic: Joy after Tragedy
Listen Live:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement/2009/09/26/Joy-after-Tragedy
About the Guest
Sharon Knutson-Felix has served as Executive Director of the 100 Club of Arizona since 2001 but her first experience with the 100 Club came several years before, in 1998, when Sharon’s husband, DPS Officer Doug Knutson, was tragically killed in the line of duty. She received a check from an amazing organization that’s mission was to support the families of public safety in times of tragedy, which she found out was the 100 Club of Arizona. Having been a recipient, Sharon truly understands what the 100 Club’s benefits, both financial and emotional, mean to a public safety family in a time of crisis. She has become a passionate advocate of the 100 Club since becoming its Executive Director and has been instrumental in its recent growth.
Sharon’s experience in dealing with public safety and her commitment to supporting its men and women position her as the ideal leader for this public safety non-profit. Since being elected as the Executive Director, Sharon has led the organization to create and launch six new benefits and programs, including the non-line of duty death benefit and the safety enhancement stipend program which provides equipment to public safety agencies in an effort to prevent or minimize tragedy. Yearly benefits given out have increased from $100,000 in 2001 to over $800,000 in 2008. Membership has more than doubled and corporate sponsorships have increased phenomenally, including securing the largest corporate sponsorships in the history of the 100 Club.
Before coming to the 100 Club of Arizona , Sharon served two years as President of Arizona Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS) which provides resources to help families of law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty rebuild their lives. She has also served, and continues to serve, in many community support groups. For the past nine years, Sharon has been a part of the Arizona Critical Incident Stress Management Team (CISM), a group that provides emotional support for public safety officers (and their families) who have been injured in the line of duty so that they may continue to serve their community in a law enforcement capacity. She has also been a part of her church support group, Soulcare Ministry, for the past four years that provides a system of peer support for people in the community dealing with difficult issues and tough life decisions.
Knutson-Felix is also the author of the successful book, Gifts My Father Gave Me: Finding Joy after Tragedy that is part memoir and part grief advisor. Sharon is also a sought after speaker and grief counselor. She is the wife of DPS Executive Officer David Felix, the loving mother of two children, and grandmother of five grandkids.
About the Watering Hole
The Watering Hole is Police slang for a location cops go off-duty to blow off steam and talk about work and life. Sometimes funny; sometimes serious; but, always interesting.
About the Host
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster was a sworn member of the Los Angeles Police Department for 24 years. He retired in 2003 at the rank of Lieutenant. He holds a bachelor’s from the Union Institute and University in Criminal Justice Management and a Master’s Degree in Public Financial Management from California State University, Fullerton; and, has completed his doctoral course work. Raymond E. Foster has been a part-time lecturer at California State University, Fullerton and Fresno; and is currently a Criminal Justice Department chair, faculty advisor and lecturer with the Union Institute and University. He has experience teaching upper division courses in Law Enforcement, public policy, Public Safety Technology and leadership. Raymond is an experienced author who has published numerous articles in a wide range of venues including magazines such as Government Technology, Mobile Government, Airborne Law Enforcement Magazine, and Police One. He has appeared on the History Channel and radio programs in the United States and Europe as subject matter expert in technological applications in Law Enforcement.
Listen, call, join us at the Watering Hole:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/LawEnforcement/2009/09/26/Joy-after-Tragedy
Program Contact Information
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
editor@police-writers.com
909.599.7530
If you're going to read it for yourself, then leave, because I'm going to throw out a spoiler here.
....PRETTY MUCH ALL THE CHARACTERS DIE. DDD: It's was so depressing! Some were even my favourites, too! DX
But it was a really beautiful and well-written play. I loved it.
And, I find that when I'm reading one of Shakespeare's plays - I get so absorbed in it that I forget that I'm actually reading. It appears in my mind that it's all actually happening... And with Shakespeare, I really grow to love the characters. Not that I don't like characters when I'm reading a novel, but in a play, it just seems like I'm more involved. Like I'm actually in it, or something.
Well... It's not a wonder they call it a tragedy. Another curtain closes. I'm sad it's over, but glad it's finished - like Much Ado About Nothing. I feel weird. Maybe it's because nearly everybody died, but. I feel sad, but happy at the same time. I feel like I don't know what to do, really. It's really... Odd.
Anybody else ever feel that way? When a character you've grown to really like just dies? When that happens, what do you feel...?
Well... The good news is I've now read three Shakespearean plays. Romeo & Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, and Hamlet. Tragedy, Comedy, Tragedy...
Guess what, though? A comedy is next! The Merchant of Venice! :3 I can't wait to start it. ^^
Eh...
What now?
Thia passed last Tuesday
gimme some time to catch up
I am an enrolled member of the Lummi Indian nation that is located in the Pacific Northwest, just off of Bellingham Bay in the beautiful Puget Sound. For generations my family and ancestors have lived near the sound and followed the Salmon, Dungeness Crab, Halibit and other water creatures. The traditions of the Native American have been constantly purged by the ruling social class of America and even though our history includes times when we were forbad to practice our spiritualism, we have survived and the Lummi people have found a strength that has for generations been attacked. We are one of the many treaty indian tribes that have rights that were guarenteed to them by the United States government, and even though they tried to make farmers of us, we have survived and even today fish the waters of the Puget Sound and continue to raise our children with the beliefs and culture that have been passed down by our ancestors.
If you are interested in seeing some native artwork that is done by my thousands of relatives then you would want to go to www.ebuynativeart.com, many of my cousins have been gifted with the ability to carve in the tradition of the Coastal Salish Indians, and pass on these gifts to other family members to keep our spirit alive. I can recall when I met on of my cousins, Jewell James, he was standing next to a rather large log and looked at me with all seriousness and said "there is a bear in here!" I was not sure what he was talking about but a couple of years later I was amazed to see a perfect carved black bear and two cubs that he had carved. If anyone recalls the prayer pole that was taken across country to the park for the families affected by the tragedy of September 11, he and his group were the ones who carved the totem pole and delivered it complete with prayers and blessings for all of the families especially the children who lost parents in the tragedy that fateful day.
We as a nation also were affected by the tragedy of September 11, as our entire tribal council who were divided in half, were on their way to the World Trade Center and also to the Pentagon as the tragedy happened. Thankfully to the Creator he held them in the palm of his hand and kept them safe. It was several days before we actually heard from them to know that they were not included in the lists of missing, and our entire tribe gathered at the Community Building to comfort the families and wait on news as to their whereabouts. We have always had a great faith in the Creator and find peace in being thankful for the gifts and miracles that we have all experienced. Living on a Native American reservation is not an easy task, but for many generations we have continued to survive and raise our families on land the government says is ours. At one time our reservation encompassed the entire region from the Bellingham Bay to the top of Mount Baker. Our tribe owns one of the last natural rainforests in North American as the keepers of the Arleco Ancient Forest region. We also have a salmon hatchery where each year we release thousands of baby salmon into the rivers as they make their way on their three year journey across the pacific ocean to the shores of China and then return to the waters of the Nooksack river to spawn.
Even though the government of the United States would like to have conquered us a century ago that is not the way that things happened. We are a free people and even though we have learned all of the bad from the Indian Agents the government sent in the 1800's, we are starting to find our way out of the quagmyer and push ahead to a future that someday will be plentiful with our traditional values and culture. I am a recognized bead artist for my people and display my wears at traditional gatherings and Pow Wows in the midwest where I live, my family may be thousand of miles away but I am able to keep in contact with them and share good and bad news with them. I was adopted or stolen when I was an infant and was raised by a non-Native famliy and educated in public school. After graduation in 1971, I enlisted in the US Army and served my country until 1976. So I am not only an honorable Native American woman, I am also a honorable Veteran/warrior and also live with my husband in the midwest as a disabled veteran.
My interests today include discovering my land and the remarkable miracles on it and enjoying the peace and quiet of rural country life. We had a small garden last summer and I learned how to can. We are trying to find alternative forms of energy to use on our land and enjoy just being on our own. It has not been easy to grow up as a Native American and believe me prejudice and racism are alive and well in America. I have found that most people see others for the outward appearances instead of recognizing the inner more realistic person.
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