Local philosopher and sociologist Dr. Bernard Phillips, along with retired sheriff lieutenant and an ordained minister Thomas J. Savage joined minds to co-author Creating Life Before Death: Discover Your Amazing Self. The self-help book, released in 2020, will now have its ideas shared and expounded upon by the authors who'll be organizing and presenting a first-of-its-kind seminar in human development beginning June 7 at Plymouth Harbor on Sarasota Bay. “Just as biological evolution has moved from the one-celled organism to the human being over billions of years, personal evolution has the potential to take the individual to heights so far not even imagined,” explains Phillips. “It's really all about how we can develop ourselves to our full potential.”

As a resident at Plymouth Harbor’s continuing care retirement community, Phillips will be incorporating fellow residents as well as staff, administrators and managers to be the first to conduct an experiment with the efficacy of this approach to human development. The 12-week seminar will test to what degree it is possible to teach people to develop their human capacities by taking control of their personal evolution. 

“Nothing like this type of education has been attempted. It incorporates the best of the self-help literature while integrating the most important discoveries of the social sciences, humanities and biophysical sciences,” says Andy Plotkin, another one of the seminar’s consultants and the third co-author of Creating Life Before Death. “Overall, the seminar will show the participants how to apply the scientific method to develop all aspects of their personalities in order to continually achieve more fulfilling lives.” Phillips, Savage and Plotkin believe that such growth will occur during this seminar and concludes, “When we learn to take our evolution into our own hands, we will be in a position to contribute to the mitigation of some of the world’s most pressing problems," says Phillips. "We should settle for nothing less.”

So, SRQ sat down with the principal co-author of the book and leading organizer for the event to dive deeper into each individual person's own set of awesome intellectual, emotional and problem-solving potentials, which, Phillps shares, are actually powerful language tools in our everyday. 

SRQ: Where did the idea for this seminar spark from? 

Phillips: I'd written many tweets with lots of readers (@Skinofourteeth). But it hadn't resulted in interest in my recently published book with the thorough interdisciplinary ideas necessary to help people actually develop the evolutionary self-images needed to really solve personal and world problems. I slept on the problem of how I can really get people to take seriously the full range of ideas in the book. Then I woke up with the idea: Why not teach a seminar where I'm living at Plymouth Harbor? I've been a professor all my life, so that thought was natural.

SRQ: Do you feel Sarasota is an ideal place, compared to other US cities, to "create a life before death?" How so? 

Phillips: The fantastic arts community illustrates the importance of leisure here.  Retirees have the time to develop themselves, and others are interested in that as well. The Ringling College might well be interested in doing a documentary, and New College is a great school that might well be interested in helping to reverse the trade-school mantra of present-day higher ed and move back to the importance of liberal arts.  But my ideas can be used by the entire population of the world, for every single individual has incredible potential. My colleagues and I can provide the key to unlock that potential.  We are not kidding about the power of our unique interdisciplinary knowledge (no one else has ever published anything like it, as conveyed in the book and two recently published articles in Contemporary Sociology, one forthcoming in a Routledge reader on Mills and the new paper on democracy I've just submitted. We are after nothing less than changing the world. 

SRQ: What is your advice for locals to best live a meaningful life in a world of escalating problems? 

Phillips: The first step is to move from pessimism toward optimism, a very difficult but possible thing to do. Reading some books might help a bit, such as Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now and my own book and Maxwell Maltz's The New Psycho-Cybernetics. But, most important is action, even if it's just lighting one little candle—it could be anything at all, depending on a person's interests—with family and friends, charity, even doing better on one's exercise and diet. Also, getting involved in politics can help—letters to the editor, op-eds, even running for office. People who are interested in my ideas should feel free to write me. They may be able to help me, and vice-versa.

For additional information, photography and interviews, contact Bernard Phillips, Ph.D., at bernieflps@aol.com or 941-361-5426. 

Photo courtesy of Plymouth Harbor on Sarasota Bay

Banyan Pediatric Care Centers, the leading provider of Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care (PPEC) services, is now open at 3251 17th Street, Ste. 200 in Sarasota. Banyan provides skilled nursing for medically fragile and medically complex children ages birth to 21 in a childcare setting. 

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 New College Foundation recently received a $20,500 Equity and Access Grant through the James Franklin Warnell & Dorothy J. Warnell Fund and the McCauley-Brown Fund of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. The Community Foundation’s Equity and Access Grants support programs that serve local populations facing systemic barriers to education and health care services. The funds will be directed to increasing mental health access for LGBTQ+ and other minority students at New College by offering after-hours care through the college’s Counseling and Wellness Center.  

The Sarasota is a fast-growing nonprofit that helps city’s mentally ill homeless population of adults get off the street and back on their feet by securing them housing and self-sufficiency to reenter society. Unlike many other organizations, Second Heart Homes provides permanent and transitional homes, daily supportive services and skill-building workshops tailored to clients’ individual needs. 

County Judge Erika Nikla Quartermaine recently joined Second Heart Home Inc.’s board of directors, announced by board Chairman David Welle. "We are honored to welcome Judge Quartermaine to the Second Heart Homes board,” said Welle. “Over the years, she has demonstrated a deep commitment to helping the community, especially with mental illness and how it is handled in the judicial system. We are excited that she chose Second Heart Homes to help us improve quality of life for our clients while reducing homelessness and its impacts on community resources.” Quartermaine, a Sarasota native who has helped create local court programs aimed at reducing homelessness, will serve on a board that includes Welle, Kurt Bonner, Jim Doyle and Leslie Travis.

“As a judge, I have come to recognize that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to helping homeless people with mental-health issues,” Quartermaine stated. “Second Heart Homes has an innovative, individualized approach to addressing the complex needs of this vulnerable population. As a board member, I would like to help the organization replicate its model on a larger scale.” 

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Recent funding from Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation strengthens organizational capacity to support emerging needs in the community and provides more equitable access to healthcare and arts experiences. Including, addressing the Shortage of Diagnostic Services and Treatment for Children with Autism :A three-year grant of $421,500 to Easterseals Southwest Florida to provide support for the creation of the Autism Center of Excellence. Healing the Impact of Trauma: A $125,000 grant to Resilient Retreat to build capacity and provide trauma-informed care training and therapies for groups and individuals in the community and expanding Access to STEAM Education: A $50,000 grant to Suncoast Science Center will be used to increase funds for scholarship opportunities and increase the Center’s free outreach to nonprofits and Title 1 schools. 

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Sunshine from Darkness, a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization dedicated to the funding of mental health research and local mental health services and programs, announced its 2021 Inspiring Hope Dinner and Journey to Wellness Symposium events on November 12 and 13. “The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted our plans for these events in 2020, leading to their unfortunate cancellation just days before they were to take place,” said Sunshine from Darkness President Jeffrey Peterson. “We’re still feeling the effects of the pandemic and research is showing that the impacts on mental health have been significant. We know that the mental health research and the services we support are needed now more than ever.” 

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SunCoast Blood Centers, 107.9 WSRZ and Badger Bob’s Services are teaming up to co-host the 13th Annual Pints for Play blood drive on Thursday, May 27. This year’s event will be headquartered at SunCoast Blood Centers’ Lakewood Ranch location, 3025 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., Suite 111 in Bradenton, with donors being welcomed at all SunCoast donor centers, including Downtown Sarasota on Mound St., Bird Bay Plaza in Venice, Bayshore Gardens in Bradenton, the newest center in Port Charlotte at Charlotte Square, and in Sarasota Square Mall next to Costco. All locations will be open from 6am to 7pm.  

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Jewish Family and Children’s Service of the Suncoast’s (JFCS of the Suncoast) Stand Down event for homeless veterans returns to the Sarasota Fair Grounds on Saturday, June 26. The 2020 event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, however in previous years, the Stand Down event has attracted over 100 local homeless veterans to the event. Over 25 community organizations partner with JFCS of the Suncoast to provide direct services such as physical exams, haircuts, Veteran Affairs benefit reviews and amnesty court.  

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A Sarasota circuit judge has awarded nearly $1.5 million to four Nokomis financial advisors following a three-week trial. The court found that Scott Aabel, Antonio Gomes, Gary Didonna and James Protigal were given negligent compliance advice which led to a regulatory investigation and subsequent bad press that cost them tens of millions of dollars in lost customer accounts and the revenues that those accounts would have generated. 

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On Monday May 24, 2021, DSDG Architects design for The Collection broke ground. The project is in the heart of Downtown Sarasota. The Collection is Sarasota’s finest example of boutique style luxury condominiums with twelve units. With only twenty units available, this new nine-story residence offers a combined total space of nearly 54,000 square feet of robust living space. The design team at DSDG Architects integrated modern amenities with a harmonious environment creating an elevated living experience, with a backdrop of breathtaking views capturing the spirit of the Sarasota bay. 

In an effort to strengthen its education outreach program, Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe has hired Jim Weaver as its new education director/artistic associate. WBTT patrons may recognize Weaver’s name – he has directed productions including “Caroline or Change,” “Raisin,” “In the Heights,” “Fences” and “Purlie,” to name a few. In his new role, Weaver will oversee and grow adult and youth programs such as the WBTT Voices Community Forum, the Jazzlinks and Rhythm & Tales school outreach programs, Stage of Discovery summer musical theater intensive program, and new workshop opportunities as well as direct shows and staged readings. 

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Although the format changed from in-person to virtual this year, Hershorin Schiff Community Day School’s spring “Learning on Display" was an overwhelming success as students gave presentations on classroom projects and showed parents and grandparents their growth as students and citizens. On May 11, all K-8 classes were livestreamed for family members near and far. Topic areas and activities ranged from environmental stewardship, a modern take on Renaissance art and the Humanistic Movement, and Great Depression poetry, to a celebration of authors, Hebrew singing, and an open mic poetry slam. 

Pictured: Second graders Elise Morgan, Evangeline Wong and Charles Van Vliet perfect the creation of a non-Newtonian fluid.

Dr. Stephanie Callaway has been named Director of Elementary Curriculum for the School District of Manatee County and will begin her duties on July 1, 2021. 

The School District of Manatee County is announcing the following promotions and administrative transfers for the 2021-2022 school year. The new positions are scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2021 pending School Board approval. The new Assistant Principals are: Craig Page has been named Assistant Principal at Southeast High School. Laura Gonzales has been named Assistant Principal at Braden River High School. Kali Anges has been named Assistant Principal at Louise R. Johnson K-8. Administrative Transfers: Jillian Bieber will become Assistant Principal at Parrish Community High School. Travis Cochran will become Assistant Principal at Manatee High School. Kathleen Brown will become Assistant Principal at Palmetto High School. Irene Nikitopoulos will become Assistant Principal at Lincoln.