The Sanford Berenberg Experience: Message of the Day

Good Morning,

I have been in a funk recently, bringing my writing to near non-existent, and severely impacting my reading as well. This weekend, I prayed for inspiration to find something that I both felt should be written about and what I could write about.

This morning, it happened. I was bring that dad who brought his daughter and friend to a local area Anime Convention, Chiisaicon. They luckily had parent-only passes for those who were only going to look around, ensure things were safe for the kids and then head out.

This convention is run by local librarians who, in their third year, had taken up part of a new convention center, and look to fill it all next year. The kids keep coming, and they have a lot of fun, in a safe environment. As an old hat in conventions, my first was in 1985, and since then, I have attended nearly 100 science fiction, star trek, comic book, gaming, horror and anime conventions. As I walked around, I started talking to the vendors who were in the dealers room. A convention with a good dealers room can make a big difference in the overall performance of the show.

The first table I stopped at, was a vendor, Anonymous Woodsprite (http://www.etsy.com/shop/woodspriteanon), selling costume accessories and art. That is one thing that you will find in every Anime Convention is the costumes. The vendor, Amber, turns out to be a physics teacher. During the summer months she does the anime convention circuit. I was deeply impressed with this lady.

As you know, I like to thank all teachers. They shape the future of our world. They are the ones who help guide our future generations from childhood to adulthood through their loving efforts to help their students.

Additionally, our nation is need of more women in the sciences, and for anybody in Engineering and the sciences. In the past, students from other countries would come to America and learn science and engineering and stay here to work. Recently, this trend has shifted toward students coming to America for their studies, but then heading back to their native lands with the knowledge they learned. This is leaving an even bigger gap in America in the science and engineering fields.

Amber is a great asset to our nation, in her role as a teacher, and as a role model for children, especially young women, that it is cool to get into the sciences and engineering. That she is an Anime and Sci-Fi fan, going to conventions outside of the school year, and writing fan fiction, shows that she values being connected and educating our youth both in and out of the school year.

I was very happy to meet such a wonderful person who has been and will continue to be an inspiration for others to strive for what some consider improbable, if not impossible, more women in the sciences and engineering.

For this, I consider her one of our everyday heroes, who through her everyday work, strives to make our world better, one class, one convention, one student at a time.

Thank you Amber and thank you teachers all around the world for helping make a positive difference in our lives.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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