About Me and My Family
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My name is David Cary. I am a northern California high tech robotics executive and engineer. I have worked with just about every imaginable industry on some truly amazing products and projects. I get to see what is coming and the impact of technology years before it makes the news. I have given great thought to creating jobs and prosperity in an ever more knowledge centric and automated world. I contend most of the pundits have it wrong, that the Great Recession was largely preventable, and we are experiencing something much bigger. I call it, The Great Transition (discussed in Pimping The Poor).
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I am blessed to be the son of two loving Great Depression era parents who taught me, and my three older brothers, the value of hard work and a great education, early in life. Because of a love of basketball, I was surrounded by All American coaches, mentors, teammates and competitors. ESPN's The Last Dance was very nostalgic for me. It gave me the chance to reminisce, and see a couple of old friends. Basketball gave me the unique opportunity to grow up in two worlds: a mostly white, working-class suburb; and the mostly black, playgrounds and projects downtown. It was a unique, but truly All American childhood.
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I married way up! She is my college sweetheart, a true beauty, and a brilliant renaissance women. She was Misty Copeland, before Misty was born. I first laid eyes on her when she opened for jazz great, Ramsey Lewis. We met about a week later at a party and danced the night away. She went on to get her Masters from New York University, became a professional ballet and jazz dancer, and got to star in productions at historic venues like the La Mama Theatre, and with world renown stars like Mic Jagger and The Rolling Stones in one of their '80s hits, The Harlem Shuffle. Today, she is our rock, and a college professor who teaches business, real estate, web design, ballet and ballroom.
If it matters, we are in an interracial marriage, and have two "All American Boyz," who are now in their 20's. Both graduated from The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. It is great to watch them become men. Like all of us, they are finding their way through today's confusing times. If we are lucky, they will choose to use their talents to contribute to this, or some other great cause, as well. |
I never thought I would become involved in an effort like this. I thought my way of paying it forward was BlackBelt Basketball, a local life-skills and sports camp we founded when our kids were in middle school. With the help of my family and dozens of good people in the community, we put together a truly special place for kids to make friends, get better at ball, and simply have fun. If you would like to see for yourself, two videos from 2003 and 2004 are still posted below and on YouTube. It is easy to see why we fell in love with the kids, and why we are so committed to making sure they have a better tomorrow.
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We redirected our efforts from the camp when our school district completely failed fiscally (receiving the largest per capita bailout in state history) and academically (less than 15% of their high school freshmen attended college). While not mutually exclusive, a great education is a lot more important than a good jump shot; so, I instead focused what spare time, energy and resources I had on improving our K12 education system.
After trying repeatedly, without success, to get our district to think differently, I set out to start an unparalleled new charter, NewERA Schools, largely outlined in The Formula For A Revolution. I traveled the country, visited the winners and did a ton of research. While unsuccessful in raising the money necessary to open a school, I learned more than I ever could have imagined. The lessons learned from my 10-year journey are detailed in my new book, A Nation At Even Greater Risk. It upends just about every piece of dogma you have heard about K12 education, school reform, and how to help children succeed as never before.
I am not sure how or exactly why I started writing the content for my books. I think it largely grew out of a few letters to the editor I wrote during the early stages of the Great Recession. In the end, I pursued the effort out of my great love of our country, and the desire to help all our kids, and America's poor succeed. I understand many of the positions I take, may make me the target of many. Unfortunately, these issues are too important to ignore. We cannot sit idle.
After trying repeatedly, without success, to get our district to think differently, I set out to start an unparalleled new charter, NewERA Schools, largely outlined in The Formula For A Revolution. I traveled the country, visited the winners and did a ton of research. While unsuccessful in raising the money necessary to open a school, I learned more than I ever could have imagined. The lessons learned from my 10-year journey are detailed in my new book, A Nation At Even Greater Risk. It upends just about every piece of dogma you have heard about K12 education, school reform, and how to help children succeed as never before.
I am not sure how or exactly why I started writing the content for my books. I think it largely grew out of a few letters to the editor I wrote during the early stages of the Great Recession. In the end, I pursued the effort out of my great love of our country, and the desire to help all our kids, and America's poor succeed. I understand many of the positions I take, may make me the target of many. Unfortunately, these issues are too important to ignore. We cannot sit idle.