[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9VT_NBIVfs?rel=0] I had a particular interest in this panel because I grew up in a single-parent home. My dad walked out when I was infant and I was reunited with him when I was 19 years old. So, I guess it’s natural that I tend to keep my ear to the ground to discover new statistics in that area. Here are some stats from the press briefing: – 29% of youth globally are without dads – 33% of American youth are without dads – 3 in 4 suicides are from those raised in a fatherless home – 90% of homeless youth and runaways are from fatherless homes – Fatherless youth are seven times as likely to drop out of school – 85% of incarcerated youth are from fatherless home – 75% of youth in chemical abuse centers are from fatherless home “Twenty-four million children will go to bed tonight fatherless,” said former NFL star Eddie Kennison. “It’s easier to walk away from your marriage than your mortgage, think about that,” said Sportscaster Phil Stone. I didn’t watch the screening of Courageousbut it didn’t get very high marks from most of my colleagues. I hopeful though, that it will at least raise awareness of this issue.
Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of SpokaneFāVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Assistant Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.
Memorial Day was first established after the Civil War to honor those Americans killed in service to their country. Since the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, about 7,000 American service members have been added to the rolls of dead. As I watched families laying flowers on graves, it occurred to me that every American family in some way has been touched by war.
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