Susan Swern aka Dinkerbelle

By day, Philanthropic Partnerships Officer at Global Greengrants Fund. Co-owner of Lavender Pickleball Club all other times.

[Nnimmo @NnimmoB]

You should join this Conversation. It is about food. It is about culture. The threats are real.
We will have Mariam Mayet on this Conversation. It will be outstanding!
Register here — https://t.co/prnYihFUeP

@EcoHomef @AfricanBiodiv

[Susan Swern aka Dinkerbelle @SwernSusan]

@gtconway3d The movie Idiocracy fictionalized this kind of actual lunacy

[Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️ @tribelaw]

So touching

[Jim Kwik @jimkwik]

The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue. ~Antisthenes

[The Mindfulness Meditation Institute @TrainingMindful]

“The black sheep is sometimes the only one telling the truth.”

[GMO/Toxin Free USA @GMOFreeUSA]

Just what we need. A drove of biotech bananas sitting around on shelves for longer than normal.

[EnviroNews @environewsng]

Styrofoam ban: Group urges govt to replicate Lagos action to save environment https://t.co/8QebnkThux via @environewsng

[EnviroNews @environewsng]

COP28: African CSOs demand increased renewable energy, adaptation finance to continent https://t.co/LnopTegnaj via @environewsng

[Nnimmo @NnimmoB]

Land grab alert! Nearly half a million hectares of land is targeted annually in Africa for monoculture plantations for extraction of fictional carbon credits. This has to stop! #COP28 ⁦@GFC_forests⁩

[Alliance For Action on Pesticide in Nigeria (AAPN) @AAonPesticideNg]

Nnimmo Bassey: Pesticides and our right to life https://t.co/8chRXwIlKZ via @environewsng @NafdacAgency @VMAP_NAFDAC @FmardNg @TradeInvestNG @Nig_Farmer @PesticideCollab @PAN_UK @SilkeBollmohr @gifsep4climate

[Senator Adam Schiff @SenAdamSchiff]

When a would-be dictator tells you what he would do to take your rights and freedoms away, believe him.

[Susan Swern aka Dinkerbelle @SwernSusan]

@EVargasTV Fact check: it's Matthew not Mathew.

[Jennifer Bendery @jbendery]

Good morning. ☕️

Mike Johnson's wife runs a counseling service that compares being gay to bestiality and incest.

The new House speaker and his wife, Kelly, have long intertwined their political and business lives. https://t.co/vDyKDl5exT

[Susan Swern aka Dinkerbelle @SwernSusan]

@TanaSW73 @TheJohnnyp21 @SteveSchmidtSES Did you also read that Hamas decapitated infants and toddlers in a kibbutz in the northern part of Gaza? And they killed 260 music fest fans? I bet you didn't...

[Susan Swern aka Dinkerbelle @SwernSusan]

If #Trump is so supportive of #Israel, how come the American flag at Trump Links isn't at half mast? The Whitestone Bridge's was.

[Susan Swern aka Dinkerbelle @SwernSusan]

@gtconway3d Next: Brooks is canceled from PBS since his credibility as a trustworthy journalist just went down the toilet.

[Boyd Myers @boydmyers]

Today in pickleball, a lady brought her 13 year old special needs son out with her.

She made it a point to let us know that he didn’t want to play, but it was pretty obvious that he was fascinated by the game. He stood right by the court, running back and forth, watching every shot.

He would congratulate us on good shots, and bump us up if he was close. I loved his energy.

After a few games, I asked him if he wanted to play and he said “I can’t. I am not good”.

I told him “Of course you’re good. And you’re my partner.”

We played a couple of younger guys and they weren’t taking it easy on him. I am sure he didn’t want them to, but they went after him with any shot they could.

So when I had the chance, I went after them. Hard.

My partner (Alex) was doing the best he could. He had said he had never played and a lot of his balls either went into the net or sailed way long.

I didn’t mind. I just wanted him to have fun and realize he COULD do anything he wanted.

Still, eventually some how we were tied at 9 (game to 11) and I was serving.

On the first serve, we volleyed for a few seconds, when one of the other guys popped a lob up to Alex.

He absolutely crushed it straight between them for his first point. We all kinda looked at each other like “Where tf did that come from???”

He celebrated as if he had just won the US Open. It literally gave me a chill, but we still had one more point to go.

I told him “Let’s get one more, buddy.”

I served again, very similar sequence, and then one of the guys hit a soft dink to his left. I honestly assumed it was going to be good and the serve would go back to their side.

Alex chased it down, and was able to hit the a backhand just hard enough to catch the top of the net and barely roll over for the game winning point.

He absolute exploded after the ball bounced and we had won. I was shocked. I walked over to tell him great shot, and this 13 year old kid hugged me like I had never been hugged, literally picking me up off the ground and holding me there for a couple of seconds.

To be honest, this was one game that I didn’t care if we won or lost, but I have zero doubt that Alex will never, ever forget how those few minutes felt.

I can be an absolute ruthless competitor. Hell, I can be a dick. I mean, I don’t let my 5 year old daughter win at Candyland. But this morning, I remembered why I fell in love with sports to begin with, and the sheer joy one can attain from competition.

I stick out like a sore thumb in our Saturday morning group. I look like a linebacker playing with a bunch of skinny college kids, retired teachers, dentists, and bankers.

But when his mother mouthed “Thank you” to me, I couldn’t hide the tears that poured out from under my sunglasses.

Truth be told, those few minutes did as much for me as they did for Alex.

Y’all have a great Saturday.

[Susan Swern aka Dinkerbelle @SwernSusan]

@EarthGives @GreengrantsFund Rhonda and the EarthGives team, we are proud to be part of this effort to move funds and awareness of all the great U.S. and global organizations who know there is no Planet B. #environment #climateaction #philanthropy #environmentaljustice #EarthGives #greengrants

[Susan Swern aka Dinkerbelle @SwernSusan]

Fundraiser by Dotti Berry : Pickleball at the Highest Elevation on Earth https://t.co/JEHLS5tum4