Storyteller honored for outstanding contributions The National Storytelling Network (NSN www.storynet.org) recently an-nounced that Jim Dieckmann of Point Loma is the recipient of the Oracle Award for Service and Leadership in the Pacific Region. The award is presented to individuals or organizations who have made a significant contribution to their local or regional storytelling community and/or have used storytelling to make a significant contribution to the larger community in which they live. For more than 25 years, Dieckmann has been spearheading storytelling activities in San Diego. Starting in the 1980s, he began telling stories in the Chula Vista Elementary School District in the classroom, the library and at district meetings. For several years, he hosted a monthly story swap open mic at the San Diego County Office of Education.
He served as a clearing house for requests for storytellers and notification of storytelling events, locally and nationally. He arranged for regular storytelling at a local coffee shop and four times organized the traveling Southern California Story Swapping Festival.
In 1988 Dieckmann and teacher/-media specialist Vicky Reed began a university storytelling class and adult concert series at the University of San Diego, which ran for 25 years and featured performances by the major storytellers around the United States and from many foreign countries. Dieckmann is serving as chairman of the inaugural board of the Storytellers of San Diego group.
Dieckmann was granted the award at the National Storytelling Awards Ceremony on Aug. 3 at the Hilton Richmond Hotel & Spa/Short Pump in Richmond, Va.  
For more information about Dieckmann, visit storytellersofsandiego.org. Aztec football history book written by local man Just published in time for football season is a book called “Go Aztecs!” It covers one fan’s view of the 731 San Diego State University games he has seen, beginning with the 1946 season.
Author Tom Ables obviously believes in long-term commitments. He and his wife, Nancy, have lived in their same home on Poinsettia Drive for 55 years and they recently celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.
They began going together as freshmen at SDSU in 1946. Ables, just a month out of the engine rooms of the battleship USS Alabama, was sports editor of The Aztec.
Their dedication to Aztec athletics has never stopped and, with a push from their son, Ken, Ables finally put his memories of 731 games into this new book. In addition to his stories, there are many photos, most of them taken by Ernie Anderson, longtime action photographer of Aztec sports.
The book is available now at the Aztec book store or online at shopaztecs.com, or amazon.com. Point Loman is managing partner of law firm Point Loma resident Christopher Hawkins, a shareholder at Sullivan Hill Lewin Rez and Engel, has recently been named managing partner of the firm’s Executive Committee. 
Hawkins focuses his practice on distressed finance and commercial insolvency, including receiverships, business bankruptcy, assignments for the benefit of creditors, and commercial collections. He represents a variety of receivers, bankruptcy trustees, banks, corporate debtors, trade creditors and asset purchasers.  He has experience practicing in both corporate in-house and law firm environments. 
As one of San Diego’s longest standing business and trial law firms, Sullivan Hill offers a full complement of practice areas and provides full service legal representation to clients, including business transaction, bankruptcy, construction, real estate, insurance and litigation. Headquartered in downtown San Diego with offices in Las Vegas, the firm provides counsel worldwide through Meritas, an international affiliation of independent business and commercial law firms.
“I look forward to continuing to support our clients in meeting their business goals, as well as expanding our own services to support their future needs,” said Hawkins. “To that end, we recognized the growing need for specialized legal services in the aviation sector and have recently expanded our aviation legal team to support that growth.”
An active member in numerous legal organizations, he is a past president of both the San Diego Bankruptcy Forum and the San Diego Receivers Forum.  He is a member of the San Diego County Bar Association, the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California, the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Texas State Bar Association.  He is also a member of the Surfrider Foundation and The Nature Conservancy.
Hawkins is a published author and frequent speaker and panelist on topics related to bankruptcy, receivership, assignments for the benefit of creditors and other insolvency matters. He re-ceived his Juris Doctor from the University of Texas in 1993 and his Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University in 1990. He is licensed to practice before the United States District Courts for the Central and Southern Districts of California and the Western District of Texas.
 
Local author offers class on writing travel journals If you want your travel memories to be a feast of stories instead of faded threads, join facilitator Shelley Miller for her new class, “How to Create a Terrific Travel Journal,” on Saturday, Oct. 19 from 9 a.m. to noon at Liberty Station. Miller and her family have enjoyed 15 home-exchange vacations over the last 13 years; they entrusted their memories to travel journals. Miller has written a memoir, “Priorities of the Heart,” using the family journals as an outline. She is currently searching for a literary agent.
The travel journal class will be a morning of practical tips, including five things to think about when you journal, when is it best to begin journaling, what to write about, forming good journal habits and what goes in the journal other than words.
The class will be held at Inspirations Gallery, located at 2730 Historic Decatur Road, Barracks 16, Suite 204. “How to Create a Terrific Travel Journal” is sponsored by San Diego Writers, Ink, a nonprofit that nurtures writers and fosters a literary community. The class fee is $45 for members and $54 for non-members. Registration is required. For details, visit sandiegowriters.org/1019-how-to-create-a-terrific-travel-journal-with-shelley-miller. Hansen elected president of SD ASID
Point Loma resident Kimberley B. Hansen, Allied ASID, has been elected president of the San Diego chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) for the 2013-14 term. Hansen, owner of Burgess Hansen Design of San Diego, is an award-winning interior designer who specializes in the design of custom residences and commercial properties.  Before establishing her own firm in 1999, she enhanced her expertise by working for a Los Angeles design firmin retail display, retail management and government-procurement contracting.
Her work has been published in San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles and U-T San Diego and she has been honored for her commercial design with a Design Excellence Award from the ASID San Diego chapter. She has been involved with ASID throughout her career and served as director of professional development and programs in 2007-2009, and director of membership in 2011.     
Hansen earned a BS degree in clothing, textiles and merchandising from San Diego State University and associate degrees in applied arts and interior design from San Diego Mesa College.  As a student, she was honored with ASID’s prestigious Deborah Thomas Outstanding Student Leader Award.
The San Diego Chapter of ASID has more than 500 professional and allied members and is part of the oldest and largest organization of professional interior designers in the world. Professional membership is earned through accredited education, years of qualifying experience and postgraduate examinations.  ASID helps protect the health, safety, and welfare of consumers by encouraging and requiring members to keep abreast of evolving technologies, regulations and safety issues.  For information on ASID and chapter events, visit ASIDSanDiego.org, or call (858) 274-3345. Wright earns highest from legal peers Kirby Noonan Lance & Hoge, LLP, a law firm based in San Diego for more than 35 years, has announced that all of its partners have earned the coveted AV Preeminent Peer Review status, Martindale-Hubbell’s highest possible attorney rating for both ethical standards and legal ability. Among the honorees was Christopher T. Wright of Point Loma, who joined the rest of the partners at this elite level.
 “An AV rating is a nationally recognized acknowledgment of an attorney’s accomplishments and skills, and honors attorneys who have reached the highest level of professional excellence,” said managing partner Charles T. Hoge. “We are especially proud of all our partners, as this rating is an objective indicator — generated from evaluations by other members of the bar and the judiciary throughout the U.S.”
 Wright focuses on civil litigation with particular emphasis in professional liability, commercial business disputes and class actions.
For more information, visit http://www.knlh.com/.