Community Support Showered on Yorkville Farmer After Open Heart Surgery
If you live anywhere near Yorkville Illinois who do you call for an extra hand if your hay needs bailing, your field needs tilling, your electricity needs wiring? Family, friends and neighbors in the farming community-turned-to-sprawling-suburb have been seeking Cliff Westphal’s services for years. He is the first to lend a hand at the truck […]
Chillin Out in Switzerland During Europe’s Record Freeze
Last night as I walked down a boulevard in Geneva, a young man passing by nodded his head and wished me a « bon froid » instead of good evening. Can a « good cold  » exist ? We are having a record breaking cold spell in Europe. Parts of the Danube, Europe’s busiest waterway flowing through ten […]
Cross-Country Skiing in Switzerland Precarious for a Flatlander from the Snow Belt
If you grow up in Switzerland, skiing is a birthright. Like riding a bike, no one forgets how to do it. Forget the thrill of school closing for inclement weather. Here we have the ultimate snow day! We even bus kindergarteners up in the mountains for skiing during regular school days and better yet have […]
World’s Oldest, Greatest Vice – Chewing Gum Good for You
As soon as I got my first tooth, I fell in love with gum. At my grandparents’ summer camp, I begged the boys « Got any gum? » Then I swallowed it as fast as I could chew it until my parents forbid campers from giving me another stick. If gum chewing contests existed, I would win. […]
I am
X-Pat, a feisty globetrotter. Teacher, writer, coach, speaker, and trailblazer with the down-to-earth, open-armed persona of The Heartland and a European twist. I have lived in four different countries, speak three languages and raised two bi-cultural kids with one très bon Frenchman. My passion is inspiring courage, breaking barriers, and creating connections.
Down and out? Hopeless and helpless? No matter where you are in your journey, my stories can help pick up your spirits, make transitions, gain new perspectives or just escape the daily grind.
If you deny a woman’s history, you erase her identity. I reveal the athlete’s untold story, from the passage of Title IX through forty years of social change. What makes it different from other sport biographies is the voice of a woman who walks the talk, who dribbled the ball and tells the story. Learn more by clicking here




