The Active Age - Wichita, Kansas

Kathy Adkins

If you want accurate information about aging and elder care, the monthly Active Age is the ONLY want to go!!! So many great articles and information on every aspect of senior care you will be amazed. Dave Gear is such a super person to represent the business to the Wichita public, honest, kind, caring and super helpful. Kathy RN Dementia Specialist

Marsha Nelson Carr

My husband and I belong to an organization entitled Air Capital Active People (A.C.A.P.) and our mission this year was to plan day trips around Kansas for people who live in Kansas to discover things about our state that have long been overlooked. Our group recently had a presentation from author and travel writer, Marcy Penner, who just published a second book about discovering Kansas to encourage us to go looking for the small towns and the small businesses in Kansas.

Kansas has long been the focus of comedians, Mayors from New York City, journalists and even movies that disparage the qualities of Kansas. Granted there are many things we do not have in Kansas... but, we have a people who are resilient, strong, willing to relocate and rebuild their lives, feed people all around the world, provide planes, training and technology that help people globally, exhibit the ability to withstand the weather that very few other states have, and we have the right to be proud of our state.

How is pride possible when people keep putting us down. It is very difficult to raise the morale in OUR state when we are constantly hit in the face with negative news. We've been the butt of people's jokes for as long as I can remember. We've been called the "flyover state" which has morphed into the " drive straight through state" , we're often called Doodah which is also not a very polite term. I would be willing to wager a guess that close to 95% of the people outside of Kansas that refer to Kansas any way do so in a derogatory way.
We have colleges and universities that have produced some of the best entrepreneurs in the world. We have quality athletes, teams that are known worldwide, and hundreds of products that have been produced in Kansas that people use every day.
In the past my husband and I have traveled all around the world for business or pleasure and I can guarantee you that when we touch down at the airport in Wichita, Kansas we are glad to be home where there's no more smog, there's no more traffic pollution, there are no armed guards at the airport screening people coming in -- all of which are common place in other parts of our world. By the way, people in Japan and Singapore are aware that Kansas is the home of the fictional "Wizard of Oz" and they celebrate that knowledge.

There are plenty of things that need to be changed, but there are many things that could be celebrated. We need to teach our people to be proud of who we are and where we are and to be confident that our state is as good as any other.

We've all had enough bad news in the last 10 to 20 years to last a lifetime. Could we take an opportunity for you to do our part in spreading good news. News that elevates, not stories that denigrate our home state.

Sincerely and hopefully,

Marsha Nelson Carr
2902 W River Park Drive
Wichita, Kansas 67203

Native Kansan born and raised.
One of the Travel directors for A.C.A.P.

Joan Diehn

Carrie Parcel