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Not only French citizens but citizens of the world
gasped to see the iconic cathedral of Notre Dame
ablaze yesterday.
Yes, emotions run deep for many who look to the
famous edifice as both soldier of the Catholic faith and as grand silhouette of the Parisian sky.

Yet only 24 hours later, there is great hope that all is not lost, in part because many grand facets of the cathedral were spared. And there is also the perspective that this monument, throughout its 850 year history, has never been a permanent, static structure.

There was a collective heartbreak when the big spire
toppled yesterday. But we perhaps forget that many
Parisians were dismayed by the addition of that spire
in the 19th century, the claim being that it was not at all in keeping with the original medieval architecture.

It will no doubt be several years, with input from all kinds of historians, scholars and architects, but despair not.
Notre Dame will be rebuilt, as that project was already at least in part under way, and it will be more glorious than ever.

Just think of the magnificent historic structures destroyed in recent times by terrorists. ISIS militants have turned several of the beautiful avenues and arches of the ancient city of Palmyra to rubble, never to be resurrected.

Notre Dame Cathedral has suffered grave injuries, but she lives on. She stands strong. And one day she will exhibit both her past and her future splendor like never before 📷 @teribocko @ Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris ... See more

The wonderful theater of Key West, The Studios, has invited
me to perform a one-night engagement of my one-woman show “The Courge to Fail”.

If you just happen to be in the magical southernmost city of the U.S. this Wednesday, April 3, I’d surely love to look out into the audience and see you there.
Link to tix below. https://tskw.org/the-courage-to-fail-an-evening-of-storytelling-with-diana-nyad/ ... See more

Sportscaster Tracy Wolfson is exactly
my height.
She’s standing next to University of Central
Florida basketball player Tacko Fall, 7’6”.
I watch peoples’ faces when I show them this
photo…every time, eyebrows hit the hairline
and eyes pop open like Tweety Bird. Wow. ... See more

News professionals say it every day. The list
of immoral vulgarities spoken by our president
since he took office is so long, so egregious, they
would be hard put to select the most offensive,
the most inappropriate among them.

But this week’s lashing of John McCain has to rank
among his foulest remarks. Go ahead and argue
against Nancy Pelosi’s proposals. Poke fun at
Beto O’Rourke’s hand gestures. But what is the
impetus for expressing adamant dislike and blatant
disregard for an American senator, a war veteran,
who has recently passed away?

With all the pressing issues of the office, why would this president spend a great deal of valuable time this week digging up his previous hateful vitriol against a dead man many Americans categorize as a hero?

Trump is a zero class individual. Didn’t his parents
teach him the basics of decency? And isn’t a factor of great leadership behaving in an exemplary, principled way? Are these the kinds of words, is this the fibre of character we want from the supposed leader of our nation?

It is imperative that we remove this vile creature from the White House. Impeachment be damned. It’s complicated and takes too many tributary twists to achieve. Let’s ride a bold current right through the Oval Office door and elect a dignified individual come 2020. ... See more

Are you in South Florida? Join us April 1st-5th for EverWalk Key West!

Become part of Diana Nyad's health-promoting EverWalk in Key West — thanks to an inspirational invitation to readers from the legendary endurance athlete, who in September 2013 became the first person to swim from Cuba to Key West without a shark cage. Diana and her Cuba Swim expedition leader Bon... ... See more

Your dialogue on the ‪Varsity Blues‬ case has been robust and you all seem to be in accord on two basic themes. And I am with you on both.

First, and most important, yes, this scandal folds into the broader, literally centuries-old syndrome of class money privilege.
Is it right, that a kid who cannot justifiably qualify for entrance to a fine school be automatically admitted because his grandfather’s name is chiseled into the facade of the campus library?
Have most of the Olympic Games cities won those bids on the back of bribing the selection committee? Do children of privilege wind up with plum internships and high entry-level jobs, while the rest of their peer group go through the normal application processes, with usually a poor chance of success?

The list could go on ad infinitum. But we the court of public opinion smells out an even higher level of offensive entitlement with cheating on entrance exams and paying an athletic director to admit a water polo player who has never and will never play water polo.

The legal spider web starting to fan out now will be complicated. Class action suits are being filed by parents whose children worked legitimately but were denied acceptance to some of these schools where the illegitimate kids gained dishonest acceptance. Are the schools themselves responsible?
Deciphering which of a student's parents were the culprits is in play.

And that brings us to the second point with which I agree with you.

Many of you criticized me, as well as most news sources, for attaching only the two actress celebrity photos accused in the case.
Why not post images of their husbands, each of them also celebrities? What about shaming any of the other 40 or so of the privileged accused? I agree 100%. The celebrity status of these two individuals, their gender status, has nothing to do with the crimes committed. This is an issue of the abuse of money and privilege. Period. ... See more

The ultimate parental irony—parents thinking they are helping their children by cheating to get them into top colleges they couldn’t qualify for on their own merits.

Isn’t it a parent’s priority and duty to teach their children ethics? But for these parents, paying for higher SAT scores and fabricating sports prowess to get their kids into Stanford and Yale outweighed having their kids earn their honest way into the right schools to match their actual accomplishments.

So far, it is said the students won’t be prosecuted because most of them were unaware of their parents’ scams. Really? A kid recruited for the crew team, once on campus, declares injury but in fact never touched an oar in her life?
Many of these kids knew just how they sneaked in to these elite scools. And if they didn’t know at the time, they do now.
They will carry forever the dark shame of cheater, not to mention in some cases the guilt of having taken some other fully qualified student’s place in that freshman class.

How in the world did these parents ever twist this idea around into believing they were carving out a better future for their children? ... See more

International Women’s Day gets me thinking about that dinner party game where you’re asked:
If you could have lived in any other era, what would you choose?
And my question back: As a woman?

Name me a time, a place, that has offered a life replete with opportunities, equality, and respect for women.

We’re not even there yet today, in these modern United States of America. When we look in horror to much of the Middle East, where women in some places are still stoned to death for having sex out of marriage, to much of Africa, where women are raped as part of land control, we American women can certainly feel strong about our societal position.

Yet, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobushar and Hillary Clinton can run for president at the same time 2/3 of qualified women in the military are sexually assaulted and equal pay for equal work is still nowhere near de rigeur in our country. #InternationalWomensDay
Yes, as a woman, I would only choose this time. And yet this time still begs a mountain of work before we achieve true equality.

Today we celebrate, eyes open to creating the first ever era when it will indeed be a good time to be a woman.

Onward toward justice for all, my sisters—and brothers ... See more

Let’s talk pain, chime in by commenting below and join the conversation...

Millions of people live with chronic pain. I don’t know how they do it.
Me? I am suffering a broken wrist. It was a nasty break yet there is no reason for me to worry that I won’t be 100% healed a few months down the road.

How can I own up to the pain of the past couple of weeks, pressing at a perpetual 9-10, day and night, when one friend faces a bone marrow transplant, another undergoes radical treatment for a brain tumor, another is on a gradual decline toward paralysis, and yet another cannot seem to reach a solution for a debilitating form of leukemia?

I have a broken bone. It will heal. I will soon be swimming and playing tennis.

Yet my leukemia friend asks about my wrist and tells me there is no ownership of pain. I am not grappling with a dire medical circumstance. But my life right now revolves around this broken wrist and I must say it has been downright excruciating, one extenuating factor my being allergic to most pain meds and all antiinflammatories.

I was tough when the searing rip of the box jellyfish hit. I swam all through the night,
tentacles wrapped around the neck and biceps. I dug down to true grit and pushed through. But that was survival mode. A case of will needing to prevail. No hyperbole that death lay in the balance of those often fatal stings.
But this wrist is everyday life.

I’m curious. Do you know pain? Chronic pain How do you summon the attitude to get you through? How do you live your own life and refrain from comparing yourself to others? Does the perspective of others suffering more than you assuage your own suffering?

Talk to me.
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