By Beverly Kievman Copen
Sedona AZ (July 2, 2020) – In the early 2000’s, visionary educator and community leader, Dr. Mel Copen, clearly saw the opportunity for uniting The Village with a common vision. As a result of Mel’s inspiration, the Sedona Village Partnership was created in 2012. Rooted in our core ideals; Connect, Educate, Respect, Collaborate, and Accomplish, our Mission is “To serve as a catalyst to inspire thought leadership and action in our community, to forge collaborative relationships, to build trust, to exchange ideas and information, and to find solutions for Village challenges as well as our dreams.” This is aptly summed up in our Vision Statement, “Connecting the Community.”
The community held numerous fundraisers that first year, honoring Mel and giving rise to our organization. During the Partnership’s eight year history, a variety of events have taken place to foster a greater sense of community such as a “December Holiday Piano Concert” at the Hilton Sedona Resort at Bell Rock, “Movie Under the Stars” at The Collective Sedona, co-sponsored with the Sedona International Film Festival, and “Star Party” co-sponsored with the Verde Valley Astronomy Club also held at the The Collective Sedona. Other activities have included a matching grant for the International Baccalaureate program at Big Park Community School and scholarships for its less-advantaged preschool students. Last fall, we co-sponsored the Verde Valley Forum on Land use and have organized the upcoming Fine Dine Wine fundraising dinner at J Wine Bistro for our new community preschool, Sedona Village Learning Center. In addition, we awarded the preschool a grant to assist with startup costs and we continue mentoring as needed.
Recently we have been successful in expanding membership of our Board of Directors so that we become younger, gender balanced, and ethnically diverse. Two positions remain to be filled as we continue to search for the right people to round out the Board. We have also created a “Partners” category of membership to increase the number of community-focused people and like-minded organizations to join in planning, organizing, and executing events and activities which will benefit our community and its residents. This is especially critical now to unify and strengthen The Village. Our president, Dr. Don Groves, has repeatedly said, “I believe our community is stronger when we define it by what unites us rather than by what divides us.”
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3 Comments
Mel would have been so pleased to see the good work that this organization has accomplished. He felt the Village was a special place, and I know he would have whole-heartedly supported the focus on community unity and strength, particularly as we navigate these challenging and unprecedented times. Thank you all, and especially Bev, for your efforts and for honoring Mel Copen in such a perfect way.
Consider this Trump comment on the Iran nuclear deal during a campaign rally in South Carolina on July 21, 2015. Try to follow the train of thought here:
“Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, okay, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, okay, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I’m one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it’s true! — but when you’re a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what’s going to happen and he was right — who would have thought?), but when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it’s four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it’s all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don’t, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us.”
Makes you want to cry
If you hear in 131 days from now, at some point in the night or early morning: ‘We can now project Donald J. Trump has been re-elected the 45th president of the United States’—let’s talk,” said Hannity. “What’s at stake in this election as you compare and contrast, and what are your top priority items for a second term?”
Trump’s reply did not address the question but rather devolved into a rambling series of non sequiturs about sleeping in Washington and his distaste for former National Security Advisor John Bolton:
Well, one of the things that will be really great, you know, the word experience is still good. I always say talent is more important than experience. I’ve always said that. But the word experience is a very important word. It’s a very important meaning. I never did this before—I never slept over in Washington. I was in Washington I think 17 times, all of the sudden, I’m the president of the United States. You know the story, I’m riding down Pennsylvania Avenue with our First Lady and I say, ‘This is great.’ But I didn’t know very many people in Washington, it wasn’t my thing. I was from Manhattan, from New York. Now I know everybody. And I have great people in the administration. You make some mistakes, like you know an idiot like Bolton, all he wanted to do is drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to kill people.
“This isn’t a man with a plan or who cares about Americans’ wellbeing,” tweeted progressive activist Melanie D’Arrigo. “He’s a 140 decibel megaphone amplifying the GOP’s hateful agenda.”
The president’s reply did not shake Hannity, who immediately changed the subject as if nothing had happened. But for critics of Trump, the response was another example of how out of touch the president is with his actual electoral prospects and the stakes of the contest—and raises ongoing questions about his mental sharpness.