A few weeks ago I was sitting in an auto repair shop waiting room while my car got an oil change. I grabbed the December 8th issue of Sports Illustrated, the one which announced Michael Phelps as SI‘s Sportsman of the Year. I’ve always admired the writing in this magazine, and as an English teacher I probably shocked more than a few reluctant male readers when I assigned them to read and report on an article from its pages. Hey, good writing is good writing wherever you find it, and getting them to read good writing was the goal. The carrot and the bonus was that it was on a subject matter and in a format that would not be intimidating but enjoyable. Anyway, while I leafed through the pages, heading toward that Michael Phelps article, I came across another piece, this one identifying the magazine’s first-ever Sportsman of the Year Legacy Award-winner. Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics just over 40 years ago, is profiled and lauded in Jack McCallum‘s article for being “one of those revolutionaries who saw opportunity where others saw barriers, someone who started a movement and changed a world.” I was 11 when the first Special Olympics event was held at Chicago’s Soldier Field, seven weeks after Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles and only five weeks before the riots during the Democratic National Convention right there in Chicago. I remember those latter two events but knew nothing about the first. Not surprising given the times and the fact that there wasn’t much press about a sporting event that would evolve into an organization that would change the world for so many who had previously been marginalized in our society. If you read nothing else this weekend, I urge you to read “Small Steps, Great Strides” to understand what an enormous contribution Eunice Shriver has made to intellectually challenged individuals all over the world in the 40 years since that July day on the shores of Lake Michigan. I’d been carrying that article around in my head since I’d read it, so I paid attention when I heard this week that Oregon’s 2009 Special Olympics statewide games were being cancelled due to the weak economy. These days lots of nonprofit organizations are finding funds and sponsorships harder to come by, but it seems that Special Olympics Oregon Inc. is making choices that are for the best in the long term. Director Margie Hunt notes that while it is painful to eliminate the three big statewide games which are so popular with the athletes and their families, doing so will allow the 30+ regional competitions to continue year round. These are where 90 percent of the state’s more than 7,000 Special Olympics athletes compete, and these local events don’t require the travel and overnight stays (and resultant added expenses) that the splashier big events do. The hope is that the major events will be brought back in 2010, but in the meantime, it sounds as though difficult decisions have been made to spend donations wisely and in a manner where they can have the biggest effect on the greatest number of participants. It’s reassuring to know that such a valuable program which does so much good will move forward, even in these trying economic times.  Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader