An Aspie's Journey on the Employment Rollercoaster By Ben: Guest Post from my Mentor Garry Burge

An Aspie's Journey on the Employment Rollercoaster By Ben: Guest Post from my Mentor Garry Burge: This week's post is my first guest post which is written by Garry Burge who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome 1998 by Dr Tony ...

He was innocent, and she believed him.

For the rest of his days, Anthony Graves will never forget Nicole Casarez. 

Graves was on death row in Texas, convicted of being an accomplice to the murder of a woman, her daughter and several of her grandchildren. Anthony swore he was not involved in the crime. The actual murderer, who had initially indicated Anthony had taken part, later recanted multiple times, including on the day of his execution.

Attorney -- and journalism professor -- Nicole Casarez believed Anthony and was determined to see him exonerated. She along with students fome her class at the University of St Thomas worked tirelessly to bring Anthony justice.

Finally in 2010, and after 18 years behind bars, Anthony Graves was a free man.

The story doesn't end there. Anthony was determined to repay Nicole for her dedication, but knew it had to be something special, "I wanted to repay Nicole but I knew she’d never accept money from me," Anthony says, "I thought about giving her an amazing trip somewhere, but I wanted to give her something that would live on."

Instead, Anthony established a college scholarship in Nicole's honor at the University of Texas Law School, which he presented to her at a dinner party.

Back in 2011, Nicole said Anthony's exoneration was proof that we should "never underestimate the power of dedicated people working for good."

Applause to Anthony for his tribute, and gratitude to Nicole and her students for remembering that Everyone Matters
http://goo.gl/rcFvKz

Instead, Anthony established a college scholarship in Nicole's honor at the University of Texas Law School, which he presented to her at a dinner party.

Back in 2011, Nicole said Anthony's exoneration was proof that we should "never underestimate the power of dedicated people working for good."

Applause to Anthony for his tribute, and gratitude to Nicole and her students for remembering that @[295429577163605:274:Everyone Matters]
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"Witches are people too!"

Tom here from Everyone Matters...

As Halloween approaches, let's talk about witches – since you're seeing a lot of them around. Most people only know about witches from TV and movies, the Halloween costumes and caricatures. Two networks are debuting shows about witches -- Lifetime's 'Witches of East End' and FX's "American Horror Story: Coven." 

I always find myself a little amused at the way Hollywood portrays witches: somewhere between sexed-up goth girls or hellfire-infused, robe wearing devil worshipers.

Because, as it happens -- and I am proud to say - I have several friends that are modern-day Witches, Wiccans and Pagans. They are regular people, with regular jobs who happen to practice a different religion than most would be used to -- although arguably their beliefs pre-date many others by a long, long time.

A few years ago, my wife and I were visiting family in Massachusetts, and we stopped in Salem to introduce our boys to some Witches. We went in one of the local stores and explained to the folks working there that we were looking to "break the stereotypes" associated with Witches. The ladies (yes some dressed in black, but some dressed quite conventionally) were all too happy to talk with our little guys, explaining (in terms a kid would understand) what their beliefs were. One young lady giggled and blushed when our one son said, "But, you're so pretty...aren't witches scary with pointy hats?"

So, you may not be aware that Witches, Wiccans or Pagans exist – and still may not believe in it, which is okay - but there are others that do, and who practice it as their form of spirituality.

At Everyone Matters, we believe that everyone has a right to follow their own form of spirituality and belief system (including not believing), as long as it allows others to believe what they believe, equally. 

FYI - Join us at Everyone Matters - where EVERYONE is allowed to BE who they are, and BELIEVE what they believe -(as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else, and they don't FORCE anyone else to believe what they believe!)

FYI - if you're curious about what Wicca is, check out
http://wicca.com/celtic/wicca/wicca.htm

 — with Cindy Loss.