I am reading a book called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and I ran across this passage:

Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.

Do it or don't do it.

It may help to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don't do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me. You hurt the planet.

You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts...

Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution.

Give us what you've got.

I hope you are not offended by the evangelical fervor, but hey, folks, we're in a time of great opportunity and great need for public education. People in charge are making changes at multiple levels in the laws and funding that define not only what we can do, but also whether we are going to be able to do it. America needs new and effective approaches to education and to collaboration that will help us be leaders in the world, raise the quality of life for future generations and save life as we know it on this planet.

Which, of course, leads us to the NEOEA Summer Leadership Conference for 2009. We are holding it on July 22 and 23 at Lakeland Community College. We are still working on getting speakers for the session on how to cure cancer. We're still waiting for the folks on the Environmental Concerns Committee to let us know about that cracking cold fusion thing. But this year, we do have a lot of offerings that will help you to educate the people who just might accomplish those tasks in the future. You can join educators from all over northeastern Ohio who will gather in the relaxed atmosphere of the Lakeland CC campus to train new leaders, kick off the new school year with association leaders, and update our "seasoned" leaders about new challenges and possibilities. We will be honored to present Connie Shultz, the author and columnist for the Plain Dealer, as our keynote speaker on Wednesday evening after dinner.

We will also have sessions that are designed by practicing educators to meet the needs association officers, new leaders, beginning activists in professional and association activities, advocates for better public school, contract enforcers, mentors, negotiators, treasurers, campaigners, and members who are just interested in what is going on.

The friends and contacts you make during the social activities are as big a part of the conference as the knowledge gained for the formal workshop sessions. You will meet colleagues who work in MRDD units and higher education, teachers, and ESP including first-timers and those looking forward to retirement. There is a choice of 28 workshops addressing the concerns of all these diverse members of NEOEA. Support professionals and teachers from all kinds of locals will be able to find workshops that meet their personal, professional, and leadership needs. There will be training for local association treasurers, bargainers, and grievance chairs. There will be workshops that will inform beginners about how associations run, and roundtables where veterans of all facets of local activities will discuss their perspectives and share their wisdom. This year you will find an emphasis on the effects that our political leaders have on education and how we can have an effect on who our political leaders are. We will provide details about local association meetings, including elections and ratification votes, and procedures that will help to keep things running smoothly. We will be discussing OEA's support for local levy and school board campaigns.

The local associations that are our strongest and most successful advocates for their members are those whose leaders and members reach out to learn from the experiences of others and to share their strengths with others. Members who attend leadership conferences begin a cycle of involvement that is contagious and makes them better educators and makes their locals and the entire profession stronger.

Dozens of members of the Summer Leadership Committee as well as many others have worked tirelessly throughout this whole year to bring you the best conference possible. We have something for everybody. New teachers and mentors of new teachers will find workshops that will help to prepare them for the rigors of starting a new career. School support professionals will find workshops addressing their work and association needs. Educators near retirement, those in districts in financial crisis, those starting to bargain a new contract, and those near decisions on ratifying or striking will find expert help. MR/DD and special educators, political activists at the local level, education support personnel and those interested in member benefits will find their niche in the conference. We will have discussion sessions with leaders who will inform you what is going on in their levels and listen to your concerns.

Attending the 2009 Summer Leadership Conference can help new leaders, leaders with new challenges, and members who want to know more about the operations of their association. Find the registration forms in the News & Views, check at www.neoea.org on the web, or call the NEOEA office for registration and scholarship information.

We know that people are busy and not everyone will be able to attend Summer Leadership. You may be curing cancer or cracking cold fusion on those days. More power to you. Let us know how that's coming along. For the rest of us, we look forward to seeing you at Lakeland in July.

It will help you to be a more effective leader and educator, and it may just be the beginning of a new more creative and more effective phase in your career and your life.

Hey, give us what you got.

Our keynote speaker: Connie Schultz

Connie Schultz is a nationally syndicated columnist for The Plain Dealer and Creators Syndicate. She won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for columns that judges praised for providing "a voice for the underdog and the underprivileged."

Also in 2005, Schultz won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award for Commentary and the National Headliner Award for Commentary. She was a 2003 Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing for her series, "The Burden of Innocence," which chronicled the ordeal of Michael Green, who was imprisoned for 13 years for a rape he did not commit. The week after her series ran, the real rapist turned himself in after reading her stories. The series won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Social Justice Reporting, the National Headliner Award's Best of Show and journalism awards from Harvard and Columbia universities.

In 2004, Schultz won the Batten Medal, which honors "a body of journalistic work that reflects compassion, courage, humanity and a deep concern for the underdog." Recently, the Urban League of Greater Cleveland awarded Schultz the Whitney M. Young Humanitarian Award.

During the 2008 presidential race, Schultz was a frequent guest on The Charlie Rose Show, and has also offered her Midwesterner's perspective on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show, HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher and C-SPAN's Washington Journal.

Schultz is the author of two books published by Random House: "Life Happens -- And Other Unavoidable Truths," a collection of essays, and "...and His Lovely Wife," a memoir about her husband Sherrod Brown's successful 2006 race for the U.S. Senate.