Tuesday was Simone's first day on the job at her summer internship with Allegheny County Economic Development in Pittsburgh. Likewise, I spotted a handful of new faces in The Oregonian newsroom as the first wave of college students, including some newly minted graduates, arrived to provide summer help.
Yesterday I completed work -- or, more accurately, enough work -- on a database of potential community blog partners to move ahead on a long-planned new initiative to bring more voices into the mix on OregonLive.com. Looking forward to ramping up, pending a green light from higher-ups.
The most uplifting development, however, came this weekend with the return of my colleague Elizabeth Hovde to her familiar spot on the Sunday Opinion op-ed page. Elizabeth's column had been missing from The Oregonian since she was seriously injured in a skiing accident on Jan. 11. She suffered a coma and a traumatic brain injury and was hospitalized 36 days.
"Being a brain trauma victim is a weird thing," she writes. "You go from being someone people can tell you about but whom you can't imagine being (and don't remember being), to learning almost everything over again -- walking, eating, handwriting. The death of your dad."
I knew Elizabeth's dad had passed away last year, so the thought of her having to re-learn that was not only chilling, it gave me a better understanding of what it means to suffer a traumatic brain injury.
Elizabeth writes movingly about the therapists, doctors and nurses who nursed her back to health. And I take to heart the inspiration she offers with the opportunity to reboot her life.
"I'm about four months out from my ski accident and coma now and have been home since mid-February. Every day there is a new discovery and a new challenge."Image: vtusoul.wordpress.com/
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