One of the pleasures of meeting a member, volunteer or supporter of the Northwest Neighbors Village family is listening to the interesting and often surprising stories that helped shape their lives. You may have wished to have a more in-depth conversation with them than a casual social event can provide. NNV has initiated a new program to make those deeper conversations possible.

Our first "Village Voices" session was held at the home of Sal and Andrea Selvaggio back in March. These gatherings were conceived with the intent of having small groups of individuals meet in a relaxed setting to share the stories and experiences they felt were important to them. For this initial meeting, four folks (and a guest if they wished), participated.

Paul Levi recounted how he was the composer who was chosen to write the musical catchy tune in the 1970's to proceed any PBS show. Paul brought with him a computer and demonstrated how he constructed the tune, and musical choices he made to have this short piece become the introduction to the show that followed. It made us realize that many of the sounds and sights we take for granted in our lives have a creative mind behind them. (Read more about Paul and listen to his iconic PBS logo tune on his website here.)

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Benita Lubic told us about her fascinating life story of how she balanced family life with the start of a successful and globetrotting travel business. It was inspiring to hear how she decided to "go for it", and proceed ahead with a leap of faith based on her abilities and sense of adventure.

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Wilbur Wright's career with the State Department placed him at pivotal moments in our nation's relations with Egypt and other countries. He told us amusing and behind the scenes stories about how he, through a combination of being at the right place at the right time and being a savvy official, was able to advance the interests of the United States. (Read more about Wilbur in this article from our Quarter 3 2023 newsletter here - see p.3.)

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Sy Rotter's life was and is… amazing. His many careers, ranging from representing various U.S. initiatives to developing countries, to being an award-winning producer of documentaries (He actually learned how - no fooling - by reading Filmmaking for Dummies) was an example of how to live a full and meaningful life on Earth.

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I think you will find participating in these get togethers a lovely way to get to know each other better.

Our next Village Voices will be held on Tuesday, June 24^th. Read more about it on our calendar here. If you are interested in participating as either a speaker or a listener, please email Leslie at lpace@nnvdc.org.

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