Many thanks to the Alaska Children's Trust and their executive director, Trevor Storr, for sponsoring the showing of Paper Tigers in Juneau, Alaska, on October 26th. I was able to attend after my meeting for the day ended. During the private discussion period after the public discussion period, I was able to speak to two members of the Alaska State House of Representatives about the possibility for introducing legislation mandating the consideration of trauma in development of new programs. Washington State and California have early iterations of legislation, and Rhode Island has been working on theirs. I am excited about the prospect for having a more public dialogue on this topic in Alaska.
This work does not lend itself to being successful overnight. I have been writing and talking about ACEs since 2008. If you and I are stuck in an elevator, you will hear one of two elevator talks: Lean Thinking (management) or ACEs. Be thankful you haven't been stuck in an elevator with me.
Paper Tigers was great, and the educators present were extremely interested in the topic of ACEs. I am gratified to see how far the knowledge has spread since that day in 2011 when I asked the president of the Anchorage School Board and its Superintendent to examine Jim Sporleder's work and consider adopting it into Alaska.
By the way, one of the principals in attendance was quite enamored of Robert Redford's "Brother" and said he could film her anytime. I didn't have the heart to mention that James Redford is the son. He is in the right age range through, but he appears to be happily married.
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