EL SEGUNDO HERALD August 20, 2020 Page 3
Burkley Brandlin
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George Visger: former NFL Defensive Lineman, fighting TBI
George played with the 49ers (1980-81) when he sustained a concussion and treated during
the game. In the following 1981 Super Bowl season, George developed hydrocephalus and
underwent 3 emergency VP shunt brain surgeries in 8 months at age 23. After a multi-year
legal battle to get medical bills paid, he was the first NFL player to win a Workers Compensation
case. In 1986, he returned to school and survived 5 emergency brain surgeries before earning
a Bachelor’s in Biological Conservation. Despite developing dyslexia and major short-term
memory deficits, he began a new career, endured a 9th brain surgery, and founded The Visger
Group, a Traumatic Brain Injury Consulting firm. He’s been featured on CNN, NPR, ESPN
Outside The Lines, and media in England, Germany and Brazil and consults in the medical field and government
on legislation to reduce TBI in football. Mr. Visger is an author and motivational speaker, with the release date
of his anticipated new book “Facing Giants: My 38 Year Battle” soon to be announced, and “Out of My Head;
My Life In and Out of Football,” co-authored with Irv Muchnick available as ebook.
Lauren Mahakian: “the Alzheimer’s Whisperer” Speaker, Practitioner
LAUREN has dedicated her life to the memory care community. More than a decade ago, after
seeing mistreatment of memory impaired individuals, the SoCal native founded Family Connect
Care, LLC, to enhance the quality of life for those she calls ”the chronologically gifted.” FCC
provides professional, empathetic care management & placement services for those with
cognitive impairments and their loved ones. She owns and operates 3 state-of-the-art boutique
memory care homes in Torrance. LAUREN, called “the dementia whisperer” for her astonishing
communication skills, also offers free support groups, frequent
public speaking engagements on a variety of dementia topics and
a successful podcast “Unlocking the Doors of Dementia with LAUREN.”
Certified Dementia Practitioner
Nat’l Council of Certified Practitioners
Care Manager/Elder Care Specialist
Certified Validation Therapy
HCO#194700543
Dear Neighborhood Therapist,
What am I doing here? I am single and my
parents live in another state. Lately it seems
like all my friends are skipping town and
maybe not coming back. Every time I hear
about this I wonder if I should join them too.
I’ve been working from home and I don’t
think that’s going to change anytime soon.
I can’t do so many of the things I used to
love to do. I can’t see the people who I really
want to see who live close to me. I’m still
paying the high cost of living and I’m still
far from several of my loved ones.
- Should I Stay or Should I Go?, El Segundo
Dear Should I Stay or Should I Go,
You raise an interesting question. What
keeps us in a place and what influences us
to move on?
Places are the settings in the stories of our
lives, and they play an important role. In some
ways, our relationships with places are similar to
our relationships with people. We can love them
or hate them (but we usually feel something in
between). We can long for a place, or avoid a
place at all costs. Some places comfort us in
spite of themselves. For me, stepping into the
hot, swampy midnight air of my native New
Orleans after a long flight from California says,
“Welcome home!” - but most people just want
to take a shower.
If you read this column with any regularity
you will know that I’m not going to tell you
whether or not you should stay or go. Any
time we make a change we are accepting some
degree of uncertainty. Only by considering
how much you value the things that a place
provides you - and this includes the intangibles,
like a sense of community - will you be able
to assess whether or not the risk is worth it.
There will come a day when you will be able
to go back to doing the things that you loved to
do, and see the people that you loved to see. We
don’t know when that’s going to be - nobody is
going to ring a bell and say “we’re all back to
normal now” - but there’s a reasonable chance
that that day is in the not-so-distant future.
So put a value on it: how much do you
value those things that you love to do? Are
they specifically important to you, or might
you trade them for other activities elsewhere?
Are the people that you spend time with the
people who are most important to you, or are
your loved ones somewhere else? Has your
relationship with the place you live changed?
Have your priorities changed?
Changing the setting of the story of your
life can feel dramatic, but maybe the stakes
are not quite so high. There is an upside to
relationships with places that we do not always
get with people: if we break up with a place,
it will always take us back.
Tom Andre is a Licensed Marriage &
Family Therapist (LMFT119254). Please
text to 310.776.5299 or write to tom@
tomandrecounseling.com with questions about
handling what is affecting your life, your family,
the community or the world. The information
in this column is for educational purposes
only and nothing herein should be construed
as professional advice or the formation of a
therapeutic relationship. •
By Gregg McMullin
One of the great memories of going to
high school is the many different activities a
student can be involved in. They can immerse
themselves in classroom studies, get involved
in club activities, play sports, play in the band
or sing in the choir. Lucas Schwarz checks
off most, if not all, those activities. Lucas,
who goes by Lucky, is one of those wellrounded
excellent students who also happens
to be an athlete and excels in other areas like
singing in the school’s award-winning choir.
Lucky has enjoyed his first three years of
high school and says he’s done things and
had experiences that he’ll remember forever.
He said, “My favorite part of high school has
to be either being a part of the choir or on
the cross country team.” He says both have
been filled with fun experiences and lots of
good memories. Before graduating, he’d like
to mentor the freshmen and newer singers
and runners, “I want to give them the same
experience I did when joining those programs.”
Lucky doesn’t involve himself with the
political aspects of high school life but does
get involved with his class’ activities. He stays
involved by helping to build Homecoming
floats each year. Lucky was an important
part of the junior class float that won last
year’s class competition.
When you ask Lucky his favorite class,
he ponders over the many different courses
he’s had over the first three years. He is
successful in each class and will take a
lofty cumulative 3.8 GPA into his senior
year but insists his favorite hour of the day
is his choir time. “It’s my favorite period of
the day because it changes the element of
working from heavy studying and lectures
to a more creative dynamic.”
It’s no surprise that Lucky’s favorite teacher
happens to teach his favorite class. Mrs. Gianna
Summers has taught choir for many years
and is regarded, by her students, as one of
the school’s best teachers. Lucky said, “Mrs.
Summers has influenced me to get my work
done and be ahead on assignments, so I am
prepared for what’s next to come. She’s not
only a great teacher but a mentor too.”
Lucky’s family moved from Las Vegas
to El Segundo before starting high school,
so he didn’t have many friends to start. He
joined the choir as a freshman and gained
lots of connections and friendships over the
first three years. “My favorite part of the
choir, in general, is traveling with all my
friends to sing at different places in front
of so many people.”
At the end of each concert, the choir sings
‘Stand Together,’ and Lucky says,’ nothing
else beats the feeling when we sing Stand
Together. “This is the song that we sing at
the end of every concert with our alumni and
it is a very special moment for all of us.” He
hopes that when he graduates, he can come
back again to sing as an alumnus.
Being a good student is demanding enough,
but add extracurricular activities such as joining
the choir could be challenging. Lucky is
an extraordinary student with plenty on his
plate; he is also a standout athlete too. Lucky
has been playing tennis competitively for the
past eight years and helped the Eagles to a
league title as a sophomore. He says that
playing tennis has been a passion and hopes
to play at the University of Oregon, the college
he intends on attending after graduation.
Lucky took up cross country to initially
make friends when he first arrived at school.
Residential Life East of PCH?
By Dr. Don Brann
Having covered the El Segundo borders
and boundaries, I want to now write about
the land use within the City of El Segundo.
The El Segundo (the second in Spanish)
Land and Improvement Company laid out the
town in 1911. The second California refinery
was being developed years before the City
began in January 1917. Essentially, three
sections were created—refinery, residential
and industrial/commercial or agrarian. About
75% of the land use was reserved for work,
with 25% available for shelter.
Over 100 plus years later, that’s still the case.
While the refinery comprises roughly 25%
of the land use, the residential section is
also about 25%. Residential use of land was
relegated to the City’s northwest quadrant.
The remaining half, east of PCH (originally
Arizona Street, then Sepulveda Blvd.) was
designed for growing crops, establishment
of factories, manufacturing, ranching, etc.
Does it still make sense in the 2020s to limit
residential land use to west of PCH? That’s
a conversation my former Council colleagues
refused to have as I recommended it annually
(eight times) during Strategic Planning.
What are the advantages and disadvantages
of residential life east of PCH? How will
we figure that out if our civic leaders are
hesitant to discuss the matter?
The reasons why there should not be housing
between Aviation and PCH, Imperial and
Rosecrans, that I have heard listed are basically
bogus. Like, because the students would be
in another school district (Wiseburn). So?
That’s not to say I support east of PCH
residential development, but I continue to
want the matter studied.
For example, how much of this 50% of
the City’s land is really available for housing?
How much is not due to environmental
issues? It may turn out that there really
isn’t that many acres that feasibly could be
developed. Why not find out? Employers,
developers and employees all want to have
the choice to live close to their workplace
and avoid long and difficult commutes. The
expansion of telecommuting may mitigate
that desire somewhat, but still, additional
dwellings would further ease lifestyles.
Interesting that as the demographics of El
Segundo change, there is less opposition or
resistance from new residents to building
homes east of PCH. They question why a land
use barrier exists today. Does the prohibition
still make sense? While many long term
residents support the compartmentalization
of residential life within the City because
that’s all they have known and it would be
a change, newer residents often don’t harbor
the same viewpoint.
Here’s hoping that our City leaders will
be strong enough to finally tackle this topic.
The concept of residences built east of PCH
in El Segundo would make an interesting
conversation for a townhall meeting.
It’s long overdue! •
School Spotlight
It’s Good to be Lucky
ABC Doc
Your Neighborhood Therapist
Lucky Schwarz was voted the tennis team’s Most Valuable Player
as a sophomore
“Happiness depends upon ourselves.”
– Aristotle
See Lucky, page 5