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KUHF-Houston Public Radio's "This I Believe" with Adam Peña
February 12, 2010
by: Paul PendergraftAdam is a native Texan, born and raised in Corpus Christi. Adam is attending the University of St. Thomas as a graduate student. His passion for learning has given rise to the desire to serve his home community in Corpus Christi. On this path, Adam has discovered the importance and value of gathering knowledge along the way...learning about himself and his world as he explains in his essay for KUHF's This I Believe.
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Adam is the youngest of four children and the only son. He was always a curious person, even as a child. He also says he knew his life would expand well beyond his hometown. He comes from a large-extended family with many relatives. But Adam's maternal grandmother was the person the family revolved around. Adam says she was the "anchor" of the family. When she passed away a few years ago, it dramatically affected Adam, his parents and his sisters. He looks back now and believes that event may have been one of the things that led him on his current path. He's now finishing academic work at St. Thomas and one day, he hopes to return to Corpus Christi. Serving his hometown are motivating factors in Adam's life.
Here's Adam Peña with his essay for KUHF's This I Believe.
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"I believe in learning.
I believe in learning that takes me beyond myself. Learning gives me the opportunity to relive the past and create a future while still physically inhabiting the present.
I believe in learning because it allows me to celebrate, as Dewitt Jones of National Geographic encourages, what is right with the world and yet still recognize what is wrong with it. Learning is like the light needed to play with a kaleidoscope because it highlights the different colors, changing contours, and colliding configurations that the world possesses and offers to me.
With learning, I have, as Emerson suggests, to "go where there is no path and leave a trail for others". Learning provides me the opportunity to question and in my questioning, I am led to new experiences. Echoing the words of singer/songwriter Ben Harper, my soul becomes as open the sky with learning. My passion for learning supplies the continuous creative curiosity that pervades my soul.
I have a passion for learning and here is why. It is quite simple actually; learning is part of who I am. I have grown personally because I have had to learn from my mistakes and challenges. I can be what I want be and choose who I want to be because I have had to learn who I am through life experiences. Learning opens new aspects of who I am and who I am becoming. It constantly cuts fresh facets into my character.
Life is learned. This I believe."
KUHF-Houston Public Radio's "This I Believe" with Tisha Shrestha
February 5, 2010
by: Paul PendergraftTisha is completing her final year in the Master in Professional Accounting Program at the University of Texas. Tisha is a native of Katy, but her parents hail from Nepal. The Nepalese culture is something that Tisha has grown to appreciate and it's the focus of her essay for Houston Public Radio's This I Believe.
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Tisha is the youngest of three children. She has a sister, who is a teacher in Austin and a brother, who is an investment banker in New York. Her parents still live in Katy and that's where the family calls home. Tisha says learning about the Nepalese culture from her grandmother has helped connect her to her roots. Tisha's essay was a part of her college application for UT, and she acknowledges that was also an opportunity to express a deeply held belief that being different is ok, in fact, she says it's a good thing.
Here's Tisha Shrestha with her essay for Houston Public Radio's This I Believe.
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"I believe that acceptance starts with your self. I am brown. When you first meet me, it's obvious, given my Nepalese background. But for the longest time, skin color was the only thing that made me Nepalese. Most of my life, I wanted to be the all-American, blue-eyed, blonde girl, but now I realize that there's more to being brown.
After years of thinking that everyone was the same, I found out how wrong I was during my fourth grade "All About Me'' project. I told classmates that my favorite color was pink, my favorite food was pizza, and I was married to a piece of fruit. Yes, married—to fruit. I know it sounds strange, but to me it wasn't a big deal because the ceremony seemed so natural and normal. My classmates had a different opinion.
"You married a piece of fruit?'' someone blurted out incredulously. I felt my face get warm as people started to snicker. My teacher told me to explain the cultural ritual and its meaning. I just shrugged because I didn't really know. After being humiliated, I decided that I did not want to be different anymore.
Years passed and I forgot about that day until a recent visit to Nepal. My family and I were reminiscing about our last trip when I asked my grandmother about the purpose of my marriage. At that moment, I realized how strange it was that I had taken so long to ask — I guess I just wanted to ignore anything that made me different from everyone else.
My grandmother explained how this marriage is a very special occasion in our Newari culture. Since the Nepalese society looks down on widows, upon entering adolescence, young girls marry a Bettlenut, representing God, so that they never become widows. I had no clue something so strange could be so meaningful — maybe being different wasn't so bad after all.
Now, as a student at the University of Texas, I have started to see the beauty of diversity. Although there are still those girls with the long, blonde hair that I used to envy, I don't have to seek their acceptance anymore. It's taken me awhile, but I've finally realized that the only acceptance I need is from me. Learning about my background and embracing it has helped me to see how special this brown girl really is. This I believe."
I'm Paul Pendergraft, Senior Producer for News and Public Affairs with KUHF-Houston Public Radio. The radio series This I Believe is a national project designed to engage people by writing, sharing and recording their core values and beliefs that guide their daily lives.
This current version of "This I Believe" is actually a revival of a 1950s radio program of the same name, hosted by acclaimed journalist Edward R. Murrow. His program aired from 1951 to 1955.
In creating This I Believe, Murrow said ..."In this brief time each night, a banker or a butcher, a painter or a social worker, people of all kinds who need have nothing more in common than integrity, a real honesty, will talk out loud, about the rules they live by. The things they have found to be the basic value in their lives. We hardly need to be reminded that we live in an age of confusion. A lot of us have traded in our beliefs for bitterness and cynicism. ... Around us all ... is an enveloping cloud of fear. ... What truths can a human being afford to furnish the cluttered nervous room of his mind with when he has no real idea how long a lease he has on the future? It is to try to meet the challenge of such questions that we have prepared these broadcasts."
For five minutes each day, Americans heard from everyday people and many famous ones as well including Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Harry Truman and baseball legend Jackie Robinson.
The original "This I Believe" series has been revived and is now broadcast on National Public Radio and locally on 88.7 FM, KUHF-Houston Public Radio. The hallmark of this program is hearing the beliefs and guiding principles of average citizens...our neighbors, our coworkers and the people with whom we worship.
Just as in the 1950s, this is a time when our beliefs have a way of separating us as a nation. This series is designed to help us express our beliefs, hear what is really being said and find an understanding and a common ground that Edward R. Murrow called ..."the essence of brotherhood and the floor of our civilization."
For more information about "This I Believe," please visit the main site at ThisIBelieve.org.
KUHF-Houston Public Radio's "This I Believe" with Dr. Robert Borneman
January 29, 2010
by: Paul PendergraftDr. Borneman is an educator. It's his life, it's what he loves to do and it's what brought him to Houston in 1984. With a freshly minted degree in Education from Indiana University, He was recruited by Houston I.S.D. After a year, he moved to Cypress-Fairbanks I.S.D., where's been ever since. He's furthered his own education at the University of Houston, where he received a Masters and a Ed.D. Dr. Borneman says his passion for education was first realized as a child as he describes in his essay for KUHF's This I Believe.
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KUHF-Houston Public Radio's "This I Believe" with Grant Shafer
January 22, 2010
by: Paul PendergraftGrant claims Texas and Louisiana as home, but currently, he's living and working in the Washington D. C. area. While living in Houston, he attended and graduated from the University of Houston. Grant says that's where he grew to appreciate the importance of service to others. Grant says serving others helps give his own life a deeper meaning, as he explains in his essay for KUHF's This I Believe.
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KUHF-Houston Public Radio's "This I Believe" with Wayne Gardiner
January 15, 2010
by: Paul PendergraftWayne was born in Boston, Massachusetts and was raised in the northeast, but once he became a geologist, he moved to Texas to work in oil exploration. Wayne did graduate work at Texas A & M University and has lived in Houston since 1986. Wayne and his wife have two daughters and his role as a parent is the focus of his essay for Houston Public Radio's This I Believe.
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KUHF-Houston Public Radio's "This I Believe" with Peyman Pakzaban, M.D.
January 8, 2010
by: Paul PendergraftPeyman Pakzaban is a Neurosurgeon practicing in the Houston area. Peyman and his wife moved to Houston ten years ago and they have two daughters. Dr. Pakzaban says being a physician and a father, he encounters a lot tears. He believes those tears represent much more than pain or joy. He says human tears are proof to him of a human soul.
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KUHF-Houston Public Radio's "This I Believe" with Yuan Ji
January 1, 2010
by: Paul PendergraftYuan was born in China and in 1995, along with her parents, she moved to the United States. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, she moved to Houston to work as an analyst in the oil trading sector. Yuan has many interests including the Argentine tango. In her essay, Yuan recalls a unique encounter in New Orleans that celebrated the romantic dance.
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