March 23, 2009

The DigestWhat’s Happening at KVCC

What’s below in this edition Terry Tempest Williams (Pages 1-4) ‘Diversity’ Friday (Pages 14/15) Howard Dean (Pages 4/5) Give blood (Pages 15/16) R & B at Lake (Pages 6/7) Save Earth speeches (P-16/17) Vol-Job Fair (Pages 7/8) The Funk Brothers (Page 17)

Turbine talk (Pages 8/9) Why invest? (Pages 17/18) Peru on campus (Page 9) ‘Red Light District’ (Page 18) Art teachers wanted (Pages 9/10) Prepping for jobs (Pages 18/19)

Student art show (Page 10) Reading Together (Pages 19-21)

6 in ‘play-in’ (Pages 10/11) Thanks, vets (Pages 21/22) 12 ‘Fret’ concerts (Page 12/13) ‘Eat-locally’ talk (Page 22) ‘Faces of Success’ (Page 13) Intern$hip$ (Pages 22/23 Wellness screens (Pages 13/14) And Finally (Pages 23/24)

☻☻☻☻☻☻Author, environmentalist here two days this week

Terry Tempest Williams, naturalist, writer and the face of major environmental protests against oil and natural-gas probes on public lands in the West, will return to KVCC’s Texas Township Campus Monday and Tuesday (March 23-24).

Her two-day appearance, part of KVCC’s “About Writing” series, will feature dialogues, exchanges and a reading for students and community residents.

Williams will talk about her writing at 10 a.m. Monday in the Student Commons Theater, repeat the process at 2 p.m., and deliver a reading at 7 that evening in Dale Lake Auditorium. On the following day, she will talk about writing at 10 a.m. in the Commons Theater.

All are open to the public. Williams, who chronicles how nature, wildlife, environmental and wilderness

issues impact humanity’s physical and mental health, visited the KVCC campus in early April of 2004.

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One of the featured commentators in “The West,” Stephen Ives’ nine-part PBS documentary, Williams was in the vanguard of protesting the federal government’s bid to allow petroleum and natural-gas explorations in the public part of White River Canyon in northeastern Utah, which is her home state.

The fifth-generation Mormon grew up in Salt Lake City near the lake. Williams launched her writing career during a 15-year stint on the staff of the Utah Museum of Natural History. She said she quit that job because “I was getting too comfortable. I was getting to be an exhibit.” Williams and her husband moved to a small hamlet near Moab in Utah’s canyon country about a four-hour drive from the capital city.

Inducted into the Rachel Carlson Honor Roll and acknowledged by the National Wildlife Federation for her conservation efforts, Williams first dented the national psyche in 1991 with “Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place.”

In “Refuge,” she chronicles the rise of the Great Salt Lake and the flooding of a sanctuary for migratory birds with her mother’s diagnosis of ovarian cancer in the early 1980s.

She believes her mother’s disease stemmed from radioactive fallout from the nuclear tests conducted in the Nevada desert in the 1950s and 1960s. It was critically acclaimed for being a “testament to loss and the earth’s healing grace.”

In response, Newsweek magazine identified Williams as a person likely to make “a considerable impact on the political, economic and environmental issues” facing the American West in the 1990s.

With the new millennium, she seemingly branched out in her writing genre in “Leap: A Traveler in the Garden of Delights” that offered her spiritual and mental insights into a 500-year old painting by Flemish artist Hieronymous Bosch.

While those who have followed her career wondered what all this had to do with her crusading for the American West and its remaining wildernesses, closer scrutiny showed that “Leap” was all about restoring one’s connection to the land, to what is sacred, and to each other.

That’s not too surprising when she cites as her favorite book, John Steinbeck’s “To a God Unknown,” that she says explores the relationships between Americans, their landscape, and their faith.

Her expedition into spiritual journaling in “Leap” prompted trepidation that she might incur the wrath of the Church of the Latter Day Saints and its hierarchy. Married nearly 30 years ago in the great Mormon temple in Salt Lake City, she and her husband marked their 25th anniversary by burning the parchment of their betrothal certificate on the lake’s shores and tossing their wedding bands into the water. That’s because she began to paint a distinction between faith and religion, especially the need to break free from limiting orthodoxies.

Asked to comment about any connections she sees between what Bosch created in his painting and contemporary America, she said: “Both eras are marked by a striving to break free from orthodoxy. I see that today in the ideological war between the old West and the new West over public lands, a conflict that could lead to an ecological reformation akin to the religious reformation during Bosch’s time. The list of such orthodoxies is endless: the fundamentalist religions, the TV networks, and now the big media mergers. I really do trust the voices of the people in reaction to these forces.”

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Williams must have survived any official pillorying because an honorary doctorate of humanities was presented to her by the University of Utah. The Utne Reader selected her as one of the magazine’s 100 visionaries, defining a visionary as a person who could change another person’s life.

Along the way, Williams says she has constantly contemplated whether her liberal, activist and questioning beliefs might lead to her excommunication from the faith of her family and forbears.

To prepare for Williams’ second visit to KVCC, said English instructor Rob Haight who organizes the “About Writing” series, faculty, students and staff have been reading her latest book, “Finding Beauty in a Broken World.”

“Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place” weaves the author's personal experiences with observations of nature and humanity’s often-destructive impact on it. The new book also combines seemingly disparate elements -- her apprenticeship in mosaic design, the challenges facing the Utah prairie dog, and the genocide in Rwanda.

Commented Jennifer Sahn, editor of Orion Magazine: “’Refuge’ was an amazing book for what it did to bring the story of human health and the story of environmental health together in a really passionate way. No one had done that as passionately since Rachel Carson, and I think Terry is the most prominent woman nature writer since Carson."

Williams’ connection to nature was forged as a young girl. Her father ran a family pipe-laying business and took her out on jobs with him all over the American West. It was on these trips that she learned to pay close attention to the natural world. That skill came in handy when she was researching “Finding Beauty in a Broken World.”

"I watched prairie dogs every day, rise before the sun, stand with their paws pressed together facing the rising sun in total stillness for up to 30 minutes," she said in an interview with Caitlin Shetterly of NPR. "And then I watched them at the end of the day, take that same gesture 30 minutes before the sun goes down. They would press their palms together in perfect stillness.

“I don't mean to anthropomorphize,” she told NPR, “but when you look at a creature that has survived over the millennium begin and end each day in that kind of stance, it causes one to think about one's own life and speed and rapidity in which we live."

That family that she observed is one of the last remaining Utah prairie-dog communities on protected land. In 1973 the Utah prairie dog was put on the endangered species list, but, after lobbying from developers and ranchers, it was demoted to a threatened-species status. Most westerners see them as pesky rodents - more suited to extermination than protection.

In the last section of “Finding Beauty in a Broken World,” Williams makes what some might consider a wild leap from the extermination of prairie dogs to the genocide in Rwanda.

"She's not saying a prairie dog is a human being,” commented one reviewer. “She's saying we're killing everything from the bottom to the top with no culpability, no accountability, no emotions, no considerations. She's just bearing testimony to the things she loves about life and about being alive."

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Williams' decision to go to Rwanda followed a harrowing period in her life. Her brother had just died of lymphoma, a death she also believes is tied to nuclear testing. She had also been studying the prairie dogs' demise. Williams says she thought she couldn't handle any more death or pain.

"You know, I look at the plight of the prairie dogs," says Williams. "I look at my brother's death from lymphoma as a down-winder and I look at the causes that underlie any war, and I think if we look deeply enough, closely enough, we see the same symptoms. It's about power, it's about greed, it's about certain elements of the population that are expendable."

For Williams, it's this mosaic that needs to be pieced together so that humanity can learn from what it has done and repair what is broken.

Howard Dean booked for scholarship fund-raiser

Howard Dean, a onetime front-running presidential candidate who is credited with sowing the political seeds that sprouted into the 2008 election of Barack Obama, will keynote the KVCC Foundation’s fifth annual Opportunities for Education (OFE) fund-raiser on Wednesday, May 20.

The banquet, designed to raise scholarship dollars and underwritten by National City Bank, will begin at 6 p.m. at the Radisson Plaza Hotel and Suites in downtown Kalamazoo.

Dean, a physician advocate of health-care reform, parlayed a dozen years as the governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 into the early lead for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2004 that eventually went to Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

One of the fruits of his candidacy, which sought the support of America’s younger population through the Internet, was to be appointed the chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), a post that he held for four years beginning in 2005.

His “50-State Strategy” was designed to make his party competitive in each state, including those in which Democrats had fared poorly, and ignore the “red-blue” factors in past presidential elections.

Shortly after announcing that he would be seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination and opposing the supposedly shoe-in Hillary Clinton, Obama and his political camp began taking advantage of the party infrastructure that Dean had built. Working with DNC organizers in all 50 states, the Obama campaign gained momentum in the primaries, was nominated, and went on to win the “red” states of Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana last November of his way to the White House.

He actually began his professional life as Dr. Howard Dean, having earned his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City in 1978. After completing his residency in a medical center in Vermont, he began his internal-medicine practice in Shelburne, Vt.

In the early 1980s, Dr. Dean began his path to becoming Gov. Dean. After chairing his county’s Democratic Party in the early 1980s, he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives. That led to a trio of two-year terms as lieutenant governor. When the sitting governor died, Dean was elevated to the state’s chief executive and subsequently was elected to five two-year terms.

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His gubernatorial tenure was marked by Vermont getting out of debt and building a $100-million surplus, a health-care plan that provided coverage to 96 percent of the state’s children, prescription-drug assistance for Medicare recipients, and a statewide learning network that wired almost of Vermont’s high schools.

He and his wife, Dr. Judy Steinberg, are the parents of two grown children.Supporters were hoping that Dean would be appointed Obama’s secretary of

health and human services in the cabinet and he has expressed his disappointment that the post, after a false start or two, went to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. But that did not stop him from favorable comments about the new president’s health-care initiatives that he believes will get “get rid of the socialized medicine stuff.”

“The budge was an important first step,” Dean told The Huffington Post, “and now the question is the substance of the bill. . .President Obama is not proposing a new plan that the American people won’t understand. What he is proposing is if you want what you have, you can keep it. If you want to have private insurance, you can. If you want to have Medicare, you can have that, too. There is no boogeyman in this plan.”

The KVCC Foundation was formed in 1980 and has accumulated $7 million in assets. Its mission is to enhance educational opportunities and the learning environment at the college by supporting the academic, literary and scientific activities of KVCC students and faculty. Its assists the college’s Honors Program, minority enrollees and non-traditional students through scholarships and awards grants that promote innovative approaches to learning.

“Because KVCC’s tuition is among the lowest of the state’s 28 community colleges and fees are practically non-existent,” said Steve Doherty, executive director of the KVCC Foundation, “scholarship dollars take students a very, very long way toward their goals. We want to help even more in the coming years, now that state and federal sources of scholarships are either drying up or are in jeopardy because of budget cuts.”

In a typical semester, the foundation is able to assist about 250 students, with scholarship and grant assistance averaging around $350,000 an academic year for tuition, fees, books and supplies, as well as for the child-care and transportation costs that students face in pursuing a degree or a new career.

“That represents a minimal fraction of the dollar value of scholarships that are available through the KVCC Office of Financial Aid,” Doherty said. “That type of assistance has federal and state sources that carry restrictions. So do some of those scholarships established by organizations or individuals. And all of those are very important.

“Ours, however, are more open-ended, less restrictive, and available to a broader representation of students who choose to attend KVCC,” Doherty said. “They are what our ‘Opportunities for Education’ event is all about.”

While the unprecedented, nationally recognized gift to this community that is The Kalamazoo Promise is a blessing to families living in the Kalamazoo Public Schools district, Doherty said, during a typical semester no more than 15 percent of KVCC’s enrollment are Kalamazoo graduates. That means a large segment of the other 85 percent still need various levels of scholarship assistance.

Tickets for Opportunities for Education are $125 per person. A corporate sponsorship for a table of eight is available for $1,500. About 80 percent of the cost is tax-deductible.

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For more information about Opportunities for Education, how far scholarship dollars go at KVCC, and tickets for spending an evening with one of the nation’s most effective politicians, contact Doherty or Denise Baker. Co-sponsoring the event is AM 590 WKZO and Paw Paw Wine Distributors.

Lake hosts Tate, Soul Band SaturdayVocalist Howard Tate and His Soul Band, whose brand of soulful rhythm and

blues reaches back into the 1950s and ‘60s will the Saturday (March 21) Artist Forum attraction.

Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. concert are $20, and are on sale at the KVCC Bookstore, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, and at the Lake ticket booth the night of the performance.

Co-sponsored by the college and the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, the remaining Artists Forum bookings are:

♫ Guitarist Chris Smither, who plays folk, roots and blues as he spins stories – Saturday, April 4.

♫ The roots rock of the Dave Alvin Duo – Friday, April 24.Tate, 69, was born in Macon, Ga., and moved with his family to Philadelphia in

the early 1940s. In his teens, he joined a gospel-music group that recorded rhythm-and blues-sides for Mercury Records and later for Verve Records.

“Singing just interested me from as far back as I can remember,” Tate said. “I started to sing around the house. My father became the assistant pastor at a Baptist church in Philadelphia. He asked me at about 8 years old, 'Why don't you learn a song and you can sing in the church before I give a sermon.'”

Deeply influenced by the greats of gospel music, his soul-music renditions of the late 1960s are regarded as some of the most sophisticated of the era with Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and B. B. King performing his “blues-drenched” compositions. Tate went on to work with Lloyd Price and Johnny Nash.

He also traveled the country as Bill Doggett’s vocalist in the decade’s earlier years. Over the next 10 years, he performed with Joe Tex, The Drifters, Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett, Sam Cook, Little Anthony and the Imperials, James Brown, The Temptations and other future members of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

After recording a single for Epic Records and a few songs for his own label, Tate retired from the record business in the late 1970s. He sold securities in the New Jersey and Philadelphia area, and in the 1980s developed a dependence on drugs, ending up living in a homeless shelter.

In the mid-1990s, Tate began counseling drug abusers and the mentally ill, and worked as a preacher. In 2000, a Jersey City disc jockey discovered Tate's whereabouts, and in spring of 2001 Tate played his first date in many years, in New Orleans. He was back in the business.

From Georgia to Philly to a church combo to R&B groups to solo fame to mob-land murder to retirement and disappearance to rediscovery, Tate has led quite a life.

Still preaching in his own church in New Jersey, Tate came back from virtually nowhere after having his fans and associates search for him for 20 years, a comeback that has included a European tour.

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Talking about his early days, Tate said “I had the big voice but I didn't know what to do with it. I was hitting falsetto everywhere in the songs. It would become monotonous. Now I know when to hit it and when not to.”

His single of "Ain't Nobody Home" mushroomed to the top of the charts overnight. “I was doing construction work as a mortar mixer supplying bricklayers, making good money,” Tate recalls. “I came home from work with mud all over my face and clothes, just filthy.” That’s how he got the news that the record reached No. 1 and he had to catch a plane to Detroit.

But he didn’t have time for a shower. He was given $1,000 for a plane ticket and clothes money. Tate would be picked up in a limo by a Verve Records promotion man who would take him to the theater where he would perform with Marvin Gaye at the top of the marquee. He still doesn’t know how he was ever allowed to board the plane.

From mixing mortar for 15 bricklayers working like maniacs to sharing a stage with Gaye in one day – that’s show business and Tate has lived it on the way up, and on the way down. Now he’s on the way up again.

For more information about this concert and others in the Artists Forum series, contact Dave Posther at extension 4476 or dposther@kvcc.edu.

Finding a job and volunteer opportunityBecause volunteering leads to jobs and vice versa, KVCC is blending two of its

annual events designed to aid students and serve the community.Its Volunteer and Community Services Fair and Employment Expo for 2009 will

be held in tandem on the same day – Wednesday (March 25). Both are free and open to the public as well as to KVCC students.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Student Commons, representatives of human-service agencies will be joined by their counterparts from the business world in search of some new, energetic blood for their organizations.

Co-organizers Karen Phelps and Lois Brinson-Ropes of the KVCC Student Success Center estimate that about 72 prospective employers and some 25 nonprofit organizations will be taking part.

“There will be various community organizations present to speak to students about volunteering as a method to increase their career opportunities while benefiting the community,” said Phelps, the center’s work-experience coordinator.

Representatives from the companies and enterprises will talk to participants about their organizations, the employment prospects, career opportunities, and the chances for internships and volunteer service, both of which look good on a resume.

“Past expos have attracted more than 1,000 job seekers,” said Brinson-Ropes, the center’s coordinator of student employment and internships. “Participants are urged to bring along resumes, a preparedness to be interviewed, and be appropriately attired.”

“This is “a win-win experience for the agencies and for students,” Phelps said. “The organizations will be in the market for a cadre of new volunteers to help them achieve their missions, while students will able to expand their networking among professionals in their career fields as they give something back to the community.

“Part of the college's mission,” she said, “is to produce well-rounded students and future members of the workforce who are more than willing to give back to their community and to invest in the human-service agencies that all serve us well.”

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The Employment Expo, Brinson-Ropes said, “is a no-cost opportunity for students, KVCC alumni and residents of Southwest Michigan to visit with representatives from area businesses and industries that span the spectrum of occupations.”

Among the volunteer agencies taking part will be the Hospice Care of Southwest Michigan, American Cancer Society, Greater Kalamazoo Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, Borgess Medical Center Volunteer Services, Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo, Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency’s Croyden Avenue School, Douglass Community Association, The First Day Shoe Fund, Girl Scouts of the Glowing Embers Council, Heart of Michigan, Housing Resources Inc., GIVE Faith in Action Program, In Home Support Volunteers, the Kalamazoo Department of Parks and Recreation, Kalamazoo Communities in Schools, Heartland Hospice, Kalamazoo County Poverty Reduction Initiative, Kalamazoo Free Clinic, Kalamazoo Gospel Mission, Ministry with Community, Sindecuse Health Center at Western Michigan University, Southern Care Inc, Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Greater Kalamazoo Inc., and the U. S. Tennis Association’s Boys 18 and 16 National Championship held at Kalamazoo College. .

Among the prospective employers who have indicated they will be available in the Commons during the four-hour event are:

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Firekeepers Casino, Griffin Pest Solutions, Progressive Residential Services, Q3 Technologies LLC, Sear Roebuck Product Repair Services, State of Michigan, United Nursing Service Inc., the Marine Corps, LOC Enterprise, Progressive Alternatives, Uncle Ed's Oil Shoppe;

Stryker Instruments, Kazoo Inc., Kalamazoo Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee, AFLAC, Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial Services, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, Advance Employment Service, Greenleaf Hospitality Group and Radisson Plaza Hotel & Suites;

Trillium Staffing Solutions, the U. S. Army, radio stations WQXC and WZUU, WWMT Channel 3, T-Mobile, Cumulus Media, Consumers Credit Union, EmploymentGroup, Medical Resource Management, Reliv International, Right At Home, State Farm Insurance,

Michigan Indian Employment and Training Services, Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc., Residential Opportunities Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Accretive Health, Advantage Private Nursing Service In., The Air Zoo, Alliance on Healthcare, Bankers Life and Casualty;

Best Buy, Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department, Michigan Civil Service Commission, Clarion Hotel, Comcast, Life EMS Ambulance Service, Home City Ice, Lowe’s, Army National Guard, Michigan Works!, Micro Machine Co., National City Bank, Option Energy;

L. Perrigo Co., Pirates Island Aquatic, Primerica Financial Service, Robert Half International, Accountemps, OfficeTeam, Snelling Personnel Services, Speedway, the state of Michigan, Tendercare Kalamazoo Skilled Nursing Home, South Haven Hospital, Tradehome Shoes, the University of Phoenix, UPS, USANA Health, and Workforce Strategies.

For more information, contact Phelps at 4795 or kphelps@kvcc.edu or Brinson-Ropes at 4344 or lbrinsonrop@kvcc.edu.

‘So You Want to Install a Wind Turbine’ seminar set

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KVCC’s experience in planning, installing and commissioning a wind turbine will fill a half-day seminar on Tuesday, April 21, at the M-TEC.

“So You Want to Install a Wind Turbine?” will run from 9 to noon on the KVCC Groves Campus.

The three-hour case study, to be presented by Kathy Johnson, the director of the KVCC Wind Energy Center, is targeted for businesses, educational entities, and community organizations that are considering the installation of a commercial-sized wind turbine, similar to the 145-foot, 50-kilowatt unit now in operation at the west end of the college’s nearly Texas Township Campus.

Prospective turbine investors should consider a variety of topics regarding the process and procedures for converting wind into electrical energy, and Johnson will cover them all:

● Wind resources in Michigan● The best site for a wind turbine● Potential neighborhood issues● How to use the electricity that is produced by a wind turbine● Zoning requirements● Site preparation and the installation process● Components for a successful wind-energy projectTime willing, seminar participants will be able to inspect the college’s wind

turbine that was erected in late January.For more information, to download a flier, or to register online, visit the M-TEC’s

website at www.mteckvcc.com. Click on “Training” and then “Current Offerings.” A view of Peru

The South American nation of Peru will be in the spotlight in a presentation sponsored by the KVCC International Studies Program scheduled for Wednesday (March 25) at 3:30 p.m.

Jarek Marsh-Prelesnik will present his Peruvian perspectives in Student Commons Forum on the Texas Township Campus. His remarks are free and open to the public.

Marsh-Prelesnik is an alumnus of the KVCC program in international studies and received a scholarship in 2003 to study the Spanish language in Ecuador for three months. After graduating from Goddard College in Vermont in liberal arts with a focus on Latin American studies, he enrolled at Western Michigan University to seek a graduate degree in public administration and economics.

Three years ago, he returned to Ecuador, which is adjacent to Peru on the Pacific Ocean side of the continent, for a five-month stay. His wife is an Ecuadorian and they plan on returning to that nation later this year.

April 1 deadline for ‘Jump to Japan’ art gigTo help preview the opening of the next nationally touring exhibition about Japan,

its culture and art forms, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum is looking for people willing to lead some instructions in drawing.

As part of the third annual “Night at the Museum” on Friday, May 8, that will kick off the opening of “Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture Through Popular Art,” a cadre of art instructors – or people who feel comfortable teaching folks to draw – will

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lead informal classes in animation and “manga” (the Japanese version of comic-book art). The free drawing classes and a tour of the exhibit will run from 6 to 9 p.m.

Prior to the evening, the volunteer instructors will be schooled in how to guide children, families and individuals in teaching these two forms of artistic creative expression.

The deadline to apply is April 1. The contact person is Jennifer Austin, special-events coordinator at the museum, at 373-7970 or jaustin@kvcc.edu. Each prospective volunteer must submit a portfolio.

“Jump to Japan” will begin a four-month stay at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum on May 9.

Jointly developed by the Minnesota Children’s Museum and The Children’s Museum in Seattle, “Jump to Japan” showcases that nation’s amazing culture through activities based on animation, manga, woodblock prints and traditional scrolls.

Student art to be in spotlight at 7-day showKVCC students will be showcasing their best efforts in calligraphy, drawing, oil

and acrylic paintings, watercolors, mixed media, ceramics, sculpture, in black-and-white, color and alternative-process photography, and digital graphics at the college’s annual art show on the Texas Township Campus in April.

The 2009 Student Art Show will open for public viewing with a reception for the artists, family and friends from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Student Commons Forum on Wednesday, April 8, and conclude on Thursday, April 16.

The deadline to enter the juried show is Monday, April 6. Students should drop off their entries in the Forum between the hours of 4 and 6:30 p.m. that day. To be eligible to submit art work, students must have been enrolled from August 2007 through this April.

They will be vying for prizes for best-of-show, and for first-place, second-place and honorable-mention selections in each category. Faculty will also be choosing recipients of merit awards for students who have demonstrated growth in ceramics, photography and two-dimensional art.

Guideline sheets for entries can be picked up from any art or Center for New Media instructor. Each piece to be entered must have its own entry form. The limit is two entries per student.

For more information, call 488-4505. Refreshments will be served at the opening reception.

Fretboard Festival’ ‘play-in’ taking shapeWith a booking to play in the fourth annual Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival as the

prize, six bands and performers so far have entered a play-in competition that will kick off the 2009 event this weekend (March 27-29)

Performers of all genres of music have been invited to apply for the festival’s new wrinkle. The only restriction is that an instrument with a fretboard must be among the person’s or group’s arsenal.

Chosen to play gigs of up to 10 minutes at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Friday (March 27) are:

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♫ Belfast Gin, a six-member group that plays Celtic, folk rock and Indie music. The Kalamazoo group includes Laurie Laing, Geoff Stockton, Allen Geise, “Rudeman” Callen, Richard Koontz and Aaron Miller.

♫ The St. Joseph duo of Waverland featuring Justin McIver and Ryan Kuhnlein.♫ O’Possum, a trio that includes KVCC Student Success Center advocates Diana

Haggerty and John Chapman.♫ Soloist Micalea Kingslight of Kalamazoo.♫ Carmea, a trio featuring guitarist Catherine Ellis of Kalamazoo, cellist Rachel

Alexander of Lansing, and mandolinist Alma Muxlow of Kalamazoo.♫ Papa’s Front Porch Blues featuring Gretchen Ross.The Friday-night “play-in,” as well as all festival events, are free and open to the

public. It is sponsored by the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Foundation.To enter, musicians and musical groups must submit a demo tape, CD or weblink

of their work, along with a brief biographical sketch. Up to 10 acts will be picked to perform a live set on that Friday. Selected by judges, the winner must be able to do a 45-minute gig on Saturday.

Haggerty describes the repertoire of O’Possum – an “underground garage trio” as “eclectic” as in “pseudo-Celtic, folk, rock and blues.” She does the vocals, plays a Gibson 12-strong and handles the shaker. Chapman uses an inventory of Gibsons of all ages. The third member, Doug Dykehouse, plays an Ovation guitar and jazz bass. Dykehouse and Chapman are both retired from the staff of the Van Buren Technical Center in Lawrence.

The entry form is available online via the museum’s web page. For more information, contact Jen Austin, the museum’s special-events coordinator at (269) 373-7990 or jaustin@kvcc.edu.

Through late Sunday afternoon on March 29, the 2009 Fretboard Festival will feature a dozen performances by stringed-instrument virtuosos, instructional workshops for people who want to learn to play, and family-friendly activities.

This yearly salute to all stringed instruments -- and especially those that are crafted in this part of Michigan -- will be staged in the museum, the college’s Anna Whitten Hall next door, and - weather willing - the courtyard of the Arcadia Commons Campus.

The festival, which takes its name from the portion of a stringed musical instrument that allows a variety of notes to be played, will spotlight guitars, banjos, hammered dulcimers, ukuleles, and mandolins, as well as the artists who make music on them and the craftsmen who manufacture these instruments.

Concerts and workshops will again take center stage with even more choices than were available at the third festival that attracted some 2,500 people. Specific sessions are designed for those with exceptional, moderate and beginning skills.

The festival was conceived as a celebration of Kalamazoo’s long history of stringed-instrument design, manufacture, and performance. While guitars have been a vital component of this history -- primarily through the legacy of Gibson guitars -- adopting the moniker of “fretboard” allowed planners to consider all forms of crafted instruments that create harmonious sounds in all genres of music.

The museum’s website (www.kalamazoomuseum.org) contains details about performers, locations and times, and how to enter the “play-in” competition.

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Dozen concerts booked for Fretboard Festival The Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s salute to the local legacy of “pickin’ ‘n’

singin’” will feature a pair of outdoor concerts, weather willing. Free to the public and nothing to fret about, the fourth annual Kalamazoo

Fretboard Festival will host a dozen concerts, 17 workshops, hands-on activities for children, vendors, and presentations on Saturday, March 28, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, March 29, from 1 to 5 p.m.

It is sponsored by the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Foundation. The event will be held in both the downtown-Kalamazoo museum and the college’s Anna Whitten Hall next door.

However, another new wrinkle for the 2009 festival is a Friday-night “play-in” competition when local musicians vie for a chance to perform as part of the Saturday line-up of concerts. The “play-in,” to be decided by a trio of celebrity judges, is set for Friday, March, 27, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Among the other performers on Saturday and Sunday will be:

♫ Brothers Kalamazov and headliner Steppin’ In It are the Saturday-afternoon outdoor bookings slated for the courtyard between the museum and Whitten Hall.

♫ Joel Mabus, the nationally known fretboarder and veteran of past festivals.

♫ Rachael Davis, as both an individual musician and with her family group, Lake Effect.

♫ Gerald Ross, a virtuoso on the traditional Hawaiian steel guitar and ukulele.

♫ Patricia Pettinga and Bill Willging, who specialize in traditional blues and folk music.

♫ The country-and-western twang of The Two Choices Band.

♫ Bluegrass music from The Mossy Mountain Band.

♫ the duo of String Cheese.

♫ Jordan Lunardini.

♫ Friends of the Kalamazoo Folklife Organization.

♫ Celtic Roots. Several of the performers will double up as leaders of workshops on their

specialty instruments, including the hammered dulcimer, upright bass, cello, violin, banjo, dobro, acoustic guitar, and ukulele.

They will be joined by Miles Kusik (classical guitar), guitarist Mark Sahlgren, Jackie Zito (mandolin), Rock Bartley (clawhammer banjo), Nathan Durham (bass guitar), and David Bunce (banjo).

Mabus, nominated for the top award of the International Folk Alliance, will demonstrate how techniques of playing with a flatpick or with fingers produces different style of music on the acoustic guitar. Ross will show how to play a jazzy, swing style of ukulele.

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Zito, co-founder of the Kalamazoo Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra and a library assistant at KVCC, will span the history of her instrument in her workshop, while String Cheese’s Ali Haraburda and Diana Ladio will show how their specialties – the fiddle and cello – can become the melodic instruments for an entire band.

Sunday’s concerts and workshops are targeted for families. In addition to sessions that will demonstrate the skills needed to begin to play a fretted instrument, there will be a special “Songwriting for Kids” workshop led by Tiyi Schippers.

Another will focus on an instrument “petting zoo” and getting young children involved in these genres of music. Hands-on activities for children 6 to 12 are part of the Sunday attraction.

Also booked for Sunday is a presentation by Tom Dietz, the museum’s curator of research, about Orville Gibson and the beginnings of the Gibson Guitar Co. in Kalamazoo.

In between workshops, performances and demonstrations, visitors will be able to view exhibits.

Among those sharing their knowledge and their wares will be professionals who make Heritage, Kingslight, Big Bends, SVG and other brands of stringed instruments.

The first festival in May of 2006 attracted about 800. It was switched to a March date in 2007 to avoid competing with the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International and future conflicts with the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival.

The 2007 turnout that packed the museum and Whitten Hall led to the decision to move to being a two-day event last year.

For more information and events scheduled for the fourth Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival, call (269) 373-7972 or visit this website: www.kalamazoomuseum.org. Information is also available at the festival’s Facebook page.

‘Faces of Success’ is Women’s History Month topicIn celebration of Women’s History Month, the Arcadia Campus Student Success

Center will be hosting a “Faces of Success” presentation and a six-person panel discussion.

It will be held on Tuesday (March 24) from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Room 128 of Anna Whitten Hall. It is free and open to the public.

The woman-to-woman discussion panel will consist of KVCC staff, students, and community members.

Among the presenters will be: instructor Maryann Lavender; Tamiko Garrett, a KVCC alumna who is the program director for the Kalamazoo Boys and Girls Club; Ola Johnson, academic support counselor at the Arcadia Commons Campus; counselor Heidi Stevens-Ratti; Makida Coulter, secretary for the ACC’s Student Success Center; and Robyn Robinson, office specialist for The Focus Program.

Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact student-success advocate Brandy Thompson at extension 7865.

Employee-wellness assessments under waySue Avery, a registered nurse who is the new wellness coach and coordinator for

Holtyn and Associates, is conducting free wellness screenings and counseling through April 21 for full-time KVCC employees and their spouses who are both new to the college’s program or continuing participants.

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The scene will switch to the Arcadia Commons Campus on March 31, April 1, April 2 and April 3 for employees in Anna Whitten Hall, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum and the Center for New Media.

Beginning with the 2008-09 initiative, two key changes have gone into effect:● KVCC’ers and spouses can book their own appointments through their own

computer instead of making a telephone call. This can be done by going to the Holtyn website: www.holtynhpc.com. and following the directions.

● Appointments now span 30 minutes instead of 20, meaning the available time slots are on the hour and half hour.

The Texas Township Campus appointments began on March 11. While payoffs in the past have focused on one’s personal and individual health, it

is now starting to pay off in the pay checks of employees.The one-on-one appointments include a glucose analysis, an HDL and cholesterol

evaluation, a blood-pressure check, a body-composition reading, an assessment of cardio-respiratory fitness, an overall health survey, an individual fitness assessment, and a personal consultation.

The 30-minute screenings can be done on work time. For more information, contact Blake Glass, manager of the college’s Employee Wellness Program, at extension 4177 or bglass@kvcc.edu or Avery at (269) 267-3712 or savery@holtynpc.com. She can be contacted for assistance in enrolling in the wellness program for the first time and in registering spouses.

All full-time staff, faculty and administrators – and their spouses -- are encouraged to sign up for this college-sponsored program, even if previous screenings had not identified any health risks.

Participants should wear comfortable, loosely fitting clothing. Short-sleeve tops are recommended. Fasting is not required, but it is advised not to consume caffeinated beverages two hours prior to the assessment and to refrain from smoking.

The testing is paid for by the college.“Our employee-wellness program has been successful in helping to control

health-care costs for the college and in assisting staff members achieve their personal goals,” Glass said.

‘Not So Subtle Messages’ is Diversity topic FridayThe clout of the media in shaping perceptions and the not-so-subtle messages that

enhance negative stereotyping highlight KVCC’s sixth annual Diversity Conference that is slated for Friday (March 27) from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Free and open to the public, the conference in the Dale Lake Auditorium on the Texas Township Campus has been designed under the theme of “Diversity: Perceptions and Realities.” This year’s co-sponsors include the Educational Community Credit Union and Eaton Corp. All 450 reservations have been taken.

During the four days prior to the half-day conference, the public will also be able to visit the “Hateful Things” exhibit, a collection of “routine” artifacts that portrayed and fostered negative stereotypes whether intentionally or subliminally. They will be on display in Room 4380 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday of that week.

The two keynote presentations are:● “Impact of the Media on Perceptions” – Jane Tallim, co-executive director of

the Media Awareness Network, will discuss the influence of the media in shaping a

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person’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors about members of both genders, gays and lesbians, racial and cultural groups and persons with disabilities. She will speak at 8:15 a.m.

● David Pilgrim, chief diversity officer at Ferris State University, will speak on the topic of “Not So Subtle Messages.” He believes that Martin Luther King, Jr. was right when he said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," and that diversity is more than a racial issue. His presentation will begin at 9:45 a.m.

Pilgrim will trace these messages from posters advertising the sale of slaves, to caricatures in cartoons to portrayals of Barak Obama as a monkey in his candidacy for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. An editorial cartoon printed in a recent edition of The New York Post is the latest example of a racist image.

Pilgrim will also oversee a showing and discussion of the “Hateful Things” exhibit, which is based in the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia that he established on the Ferris State campus. It includes artifacts of everyday household items -- salt/pepper shakers, ash trays, advertisements, T-shirts -- that portray African Americans in a stereotypical or degrading manner, from Aunt Jemima to the board game called “Ghettopoly.”

“Anyone who understands or studies the social development of children and young people,” Tallim says, “knows that attitudes, values and self-esteem are well-developed by the teen years or even earlier. What young people see and here in the media shapes how they view the world and what is valued in society.”

Pilgrim said the “Hating Things” exhibit is designed to advance the museum’s mission of stimulating the scholarly examination of historical and contemporary expressions of racism, as well as promoting racial understanding and healing.

More information is available by visiting the committee’s web site at http://diversity.kvcc.edu .

Blood clinic booked April 1 at KVCCKVCC faculty, students and staff can take part in the winter-semester American

Red Cross blood clinic on Wednesday, April 1, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. on the Texas Township Campus.

Prospective participants must have a photo identification, a driver’s license, or a blood-donor card. Donors must also know the exact names of the medications they are taking or have taken during the last month.

Those who are at least 17, weigh a minimum of 110 pounds when fully dressed, and are in good general health may be eligible to donate blood at this clinic, which is sponsored by KVCC’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter.. To schedule an appointment, type in www.givelife.org and plug in “kvcc” into the sponsor code. Walk-in donors are also welcome.

Every 12 seconds, someone in the United States receives a life-saving transfusion. In Michigan, that translates to about 2,000 units of blood a day. A pint of blood is truly the gift of life.

The process, which can be repeated every eight weeks, takes about 75 minutes, most of which involves registering, taking a donor’s medical history, and staying in the refreshment area. The actual blood-donating part takes between six and 10 minutes.

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The donor gives a little less than a pint of blood. The typical blood transfusion in a hospital amounts to 3.4 units (pints) of blood. The average adult has eight to 12 such units flowing through his/her veins.

It is recommended that donors eat within four hours of donating. Donors should also drink extra water and fluids prior to rolling up their sleeves to

replace the volume being donated and to prevent low blood pressure. Keep up the process after the donation.

Coffee and tea really don’t cut it because their caffeine causes the body to lose more fluids than taken in by consuming those liquids.

Eating foods loaded with protein and carbohydrates (bread, cereal, fruit and lean meat) makes the process more comfortable.

No fooling, here are a few more reasons for rolling up your sleeve on April 1:♦ Volunteer donors are the only source of blood products for hospital patients.♦ Approximately 20 percent of the blood used in the United States is donated by

students.♦ One donor can save as many as four lives with a single donation because each

donation is divided into its component parts - platelets, plasma and red cells.♦ All donated blood is tested for transmitted disease.♦ You cannot contract the HIV virus or any other infectious disease by donating.♦ Those with sickle cell anemia, cancer, heart disease, leukemia and other major

illnesses may need blood transfusions to survive. Some 22 percent of the people who need transfusions are over the age of 65 and

consume 52 percent of the donated blood. About 5 percent of the U. S. population donates blood.

According to the Red Cross, a “reasonable” supply of blood needed for emergencies is a three-day inventory in each region.

There are some days when this part of Michigan can bank on only a half-day’s backup. The inventory must be constantly replenished because blood’s various components each has a shelf life.

Blood transfusions are also needed for life-saving medical responses, hip and knee replacements, heart surgery, hysterectomies, and treatments for many chronic conditions. Thus, the chances are great that members of all families will someday need this gift of life.

The American Red Cross also reports that a potential donor might be thwarted because of a low iron level, which impacts one’s red-cell count in the blood.

The answer is to take supplements or eat more high-iron foods - red meat, fish, poultry, liver, fortified cereals, beans, raisins, and prunes.

Consuming Vitamin-C-rich foods enhances iron buildup in the blood. Citrus fruits, broccoli and tomatoes can do that job.

Protecting the planet topic for speech contestFormer and current communications students are eligible to take part in a speech

competition that focuses on the environmental health of Earth. Organized by the KVCC communications faculty, the “Going Green” competition

will culminate with public presentations on Tuesday, April 7, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Student Commons Theater.

The top four finishers will share $500 in prize money.

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The competition is open to the first dozen students – presently or formerly enrolled in a Communications 101 class -- who submit applications by the deadline.

The participants will each take a global or grassroots perspective and present a speech – five to six minutes in length – to introduce the audience to “environmentally sound processes, products and/or practices.”

The April 7 event will be open to students, staff and the public. The deadline to enter is March 31.Visual enhancements using props and software are encouraged. Each

presentation will be judged for creative and innovative content, effective delivery, and the quality of the visual enhancement. The winner goes home with $200.

Applications are available by contacting instructors Patrick Conroy or Steven Ott.

Motown’s unknowns next offering at Stryker TheaterFans of the Motown Sound know the hits of The Supremes, Martha and the

Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, and other big-name performers based at Detroit’s “Hitsville USA.”

But the foot-tapping, groovy music in the background was, for the most part, produced by a combo that nobody ever heard of or remembers.

The long-overdue spotlight will be turned on April 9 as part of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s Thursday-night series of international and independent films.

“Standing in the Shadow of Motown” will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater. There is a $3 admission fee. Financial support for the series is provided by the KVCC Foundation.

In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. gathered the best musicians from Detroit's thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company. Over a 14-year period, they were the heartbeat on every hit from Motown's Detroit era.

By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more No. 1 hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music.

They called themselves the Funk Brothers. Forty-one years after they played their first note on a Motown record and three decades since they were all together, the Funk Brothers reunited back in Detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story, with the help of archival footage, still photos, narration, interviews, re-creation scenes, 20 Motown master tracks, and 12 live performances of Motown classics with the Funk Brothers backing up contemporary performers.

Released in 2002, “Standing in the Shadow of Motown” is the true story of the greatest musicians who performed almost anonymously. .

Including American-made films that relate to museum exhibits that will be on display at the time, here are the film bookings in the Stryker Theater through spring:

April 16 – “Eldorado” (Belgium) April 23 – “The Five Heartbeats” April 30 – “The Violin” (Mexico) May 21 – “Marion Bridge” (Canada).

Why save and invest these days?A second installment of “The Importance of Investments and Savings” will be

presented on Thursday (March 26) in the Student Commons Forum.

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Free and open to the public, the session will run from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.Returning will be the “Part 1” presenter, Greg Smith of National City Bank, as he

offers details, techniques and strategies that can be keys to individual financial success.

‘Sunday Series’ to turn on city’s ‘Red Light District’As many American cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries did, Kalamazoo

had its own infamous “Red Light” districts, and those eras will be relived in the next installment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s “Sunday Series.”

“The Sins of Kalamazoo Were Scarlet and Crimson” on March 22 recounts the city’s red-light districts and speakeasies during Prohibition.

The presentation by Tom Dietz, the museum’s curator of research, is set for 1:30 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater. All “Sunday Series” programs are free and open to the public.

In story, song and legend, there were places where businessmen, factory hands, and transient workers could find the kind of entertainment that civic leaders, ministers, and social reformers condemned as immoral and unhealthy.

From the mid-1880s through the 1920s, Kalamazoo’s den of iniquity was in the area bounded roughly by Kalamazoo Avenue and Edwards, Harrison, and North streets where a number of factories were based and four railroads intersected within a few blocks of each other.

Consequently, it attracted enterprises that would not have been welcome in residential neighborhoods. Some of Dietz’s material comes from “Fifty Years of Medical Memories,” the memoirs that Dr. Rush McNair, a Kalamazoo physician, published in the 1930s. Dr. McNair described his experiences as a doctor for nearly 60 years in Kalamazoo, including treating women who worked in the brothels.

After World War I, the Kalamazoo Police Department set up a unit to enforce prohibition and other violations of public morality. Officers Orville Sternbergh and Fester Kuilema were among those assigned to the unit that worked throughout the downtown area.

Sternbergh kept a personal diary of his work in addition to his regular police reports. Sternbergh reports they made arrests for bootleg alcohol, raided “speakeasy” nightclubs including one where the Corner Bar is now located, and broke up parties in gambling houses.

He also notes numerous arrests for prostitution in locations around downtown, including cheap hotels near the railroad stations. Sternbergh’s journals covered most of the decade of the 1920s until he left the police department.

Dietz will wrap up his current edition of the “Sunday Series” with “Red Terror in Kalamazoo: The 1948 Shakespeare Strike” on April 26.

For more information, contact Dietz at 373-7990 or visit the museum’s website at www.kalamazoomuseum.org.

Students can prep for employmentThe Student Success Center’s line-up of events and activities through the end of

the winter semester includes seminars on preparing for employment and steps for surviving a job layoff.

“Preparing for Employment” is slated for Tuesday (March 24) at 1 p.m. in the Student Commons.

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The merging of the college’s annual Employment Expo and the Volunteer and Community Services Fair is set for Wednesday (March 25) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Slated for April 15 will be Chris Palmer’s presentation on “Surviving a Job Layoff.” The representative of GreenPath Debt Solutions will speak at 2:30 p.m. in Room 4370 on the Texas Township Campus.

A pair of resume workshops are slated for April 22-23, each from noon to 1 p.m. in the Student Commons Theater.

For more information about these and upcoming workshops for students during the winter semester, contact Pamela Siegfried, the center’s life-resources coordinator, at extension 4825.

2009 Reading Together event booked for WhittenThe 2009 Reading Together selection of the Kalamazoo Public Library, a trio of

memoirs of a New York Times columnist who is still based in his southern roots, is the focus of a series of special events, and one of this week’s offerings will take place in Anna Whitten Hall.

Kalamazoo's annual community-reading program will bring Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg to town for a free presentation on Tuesday, April 14, during National Library Week.

KVCC’s Jim Ratliff is a member of the selection committee that chose Bragg’s “Ava’s Man,” “The Prince of Frogtown, and “All Over But the Shoutin’.”

Here’s what is booked for March:● Saturday (March 21) from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Portage District Library.  This is

the second in a “Write Your Life” series of presentations.  Author Michael Steinberg will offer strategies, techniques, and examples to help memoir writers discover the stories they most urgently need to tell.  Registration is required by calling 329-4542, extension 600.

● Monday (March 23) from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Portage District Library, 300 Library Lane – “Fried Chicken and Chess Pie” explores the rich tradition of food in the culture and culinary history of the American South with three Southern cooks.

● Wednesday (March 25) from 7 to 9 p.m. in Anna Whitten Hall – “The Book as Literature” explores Braggs’ books through the perspectives of KVCC instructor Isaac Turner and Lisa Minnick of Western Michigan University.

● Thursday (March 26) from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Kalamazoo Public Library downtown – a discussion of Braggs’ three books.

● Friday (March 27) from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Kalamazoo Public Library downtown – The “Genealogy Lock-In” will invite those interested in tracking one’s ancestry to probe the resources of the library’s Local History Room.

● Monday, March 30, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Oshtemo Branch Library, 7265 W. Main St. – a discussion of Braggs’ books.

With colorful language and emotional honesty, Bragg recounts in “All Over But the Shoutin’” a turbulent and poverty-stricken childhood in rural Alabama that gave rise to a career in journalism that led to the profession’s No. 1 prize for reporting.

It is described as “a sensitive but never self-pitying look at the fruits of his father’s abuse and abandonment of the family, and at his mother, who bore the brunt of the pain.” Bragg’s mother absorbed the cruelties of an alcoholic husband haunted by his

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service in the Korean War, and gave her life, in endless cotton fields, to make a living for her three sons.

In “Ava’s Man,” Bragg celebrates his maternal grandfather, Charlie Bundrum, a heroic figure whose life was symbolic of a people and way of life nearly gone today from the Southern landscape. It is also a study of the history and culture of the rural South, richly seasoned with all-but-forgotten lore and language.

“The Prince of Frogtown” completes the cycle of Bragg’s stories about his childhood. Bragg was convinced the last thing he wanted was to become a father. Now married and suddenly step-father to a young boy, Bragg looks back to move forward. Through conversations with people who knew his father, Bragg builds a picture of who Charles Bragg really was, searching for shreds of goodness in him. Stories about his father alternate with chapters about the developing relationship with his step-son.

Copies of the three books are located in KVCC’s libraries. Reading Together invites people of all ages from all walks of life to read and then

discuss important issues raised by a selected book. Thousands of county residents have participated in six previous Reading Together programs.

The Kalamazoo Public Library leads Reading Together with the collaboration of libraries, educational institutions, health and social service agencies, cultural, civic and religious organizations, businesses, the new media, and local governments throughout Kalamazoo County.

The Kalamazoo Community Foundation helped the library launch Reading Together with funding for the first three years with grants from it Better Together initiative. The library now provides major support for the program. Foundation grants, gifts and contributions from collaborating organizations make it possible to offer Reading Together to all of Kalamazoo County. KPL program specialist Lisa Williams coordinates the program.

The book-selection process continues Reading Together’s tradition of democratic community participation. A group of community members considers dozens of titles gathered from last year’s evaluation process, suggested by library patrons, staff, and community leaders, and recommended by librarians and educators.

Committee members read and discuss the suggested titles with these guidelines in mind. A good Reading Together book features:

● an author who will come to Kalamazoo during the Reading Together period;● beautiful prose that fosters an appreciation of literature;● availability in multiple formats such as large print, audio recording, Spanish;● reading level, vocabulary, length, and subject matter that appeals to adults as

well as high school and college students;● treatment of social issues relevant to our community.The trio of books was chosen for 2009 because Bragg’s memoirs of home and

childhood are related but not linear. They sufficiently connect so that readers could start with the newest book, “The Prince of Frogtown,” and then move on to one of the others.

Bragg says he learned to tell stories by listening to the masters -- the people of the foothills of the Appalachians. They talked of the sadness, poverty, cruelty, kindness, hope, hopelessness, faith, anger and joy of their everyday lives, and painted pictures on the very haze of the early evening when work faded into storytelling.

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Bragg was born in Alabama, grew up there, and worked at several newspapers before joining The Times in 1994. He covered the murder and unrest in Haiti while a metro reporter there, then wrote about the Oklahoma City bombing, the Jonesboro killings, the Susan Smith trial and more as a national correspondent based in Atlanta. He later became Miami bureau chief for The Times just in time for Elian Gonzalez's arrival and the international battle for the little boy. He is now a roving correspondent based in New Orleans.

Bragg received the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1996 for his stories about contemporary America. He has twice won the prestigious American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award, and more than 50 writing awards in his 20-year career. In 1992, he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. He has taught writing in colleges and in newspaper newsrooms.

He lives in a shotgun double house not far from the levee and the train tracks in uptown New Orleans where he says he has cultivated several fine weeds in his back yard. He likes to fish when he can find the time. He has not fished in two years.

“Ava’s Man” recounts the story of Bundrum, a roofer, a carpenter, a whiskey-maker, a fisherman who knew every inch of the Coosa River, made boats out of car hoods, and knew how to pack a wound with brown sugar to stop the blood. He could not read, but he asked his wife to read him the newspaper every day so he would not be ignorant. To Bragg, e was a man who took giant steps in rundown boots, a true hero whom history would otherwise have overlooked.

In the decade of the Great Depression, Bundrum moved his family 21 times, keeping seven children one step ahead of the poverty and starvation that threatened them from every side. He worked at the steel mill when the steel was rolling, or for a side of bacon or a bushel of peaches when it wasn’t. He paid the doctor who delivered his fourth daughter with a jar of whiskey.

He understood the finer points of the law as it applied to poor people and drinking men; he was a banjo player and a buck dancer who worked off fines when life got a little sideways, and he sang when he was drunk, where other men fought or cussed. He had a talent for living.

His children revered him, Bragg wrote. When he died, cars lined the blacktop for more than a mile to say goodbye to “Ava’s Man.”

Veterans Appreciation Day here March 31The KVCC Student Veteran Association will be hosting an observance of

Veterans Appreciation Day on Tuesday, March 31, in the Student Commons from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

It is being held in conjunction with the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth.

While KVCC students who are veterans will be treated to lunch, members of the public are invited to take in the programs and presentations that can assist veterans in their pursuit of an education and in their adjustment to civilian life.

On campus that day will be representatives of service organizations for veterans that can provide information about employment opportunities and job placement.

KVCC officials will be there to talk about admissions, counseling, advising, financial aid, support services for veterans, and assistance that is available through the

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Student Success Center. They will be joined by their peers from Western Michigan University, Kellogg Community College and Lake Michigan College.

Tentatively on display that day will be an exhibition by Lest We Forget Our Vets Inc. of Portage. Established in 1999 by a Vietnam War veteran and dedicated to those who have served their countries in the military, the showcase spans more than 50 years of uniforms, medals, patches, magazines, photos, maps and souvenirs.

The mission of the organization’s “Military Road Show and Traveling Museum” is to educate and inspire people of all ages by bringing military history to life. Among the artifacts are a 1940 World War II motorcycle and uniforms from that conflict through contemporary times. It also features a “Vietnam Wall” that contains the names of 53 Kalamazoo County residents who died in that war.

More information is available by contacting Colleen Olson at extension 4744 or colson@kvcc.edu.

Olson reports that boxes will be placed in the faculty lounge, counseling office, the Student Success Center, the Learning Center and in the Texas Township Campus cafeteria so that students, staff and instructors can drop off thank-you notes and state their appreciation for the service of U. S. veterans.

Buy, eat locally is ‘food for thought’ TuesdayThe economic and health-enhancing sense of consuming locally grown food is the

topic of a “Lunch and Learn” session set for noon Tuesday (March 24) in the Student Commons Forum.

The presenter will be Kylie Schultz, a part-time instructor in the KVCC Wellness and Physical Education Department.

She will discuss what edibles are grown in Southwest Michigan, where they can be purchased, why doing business with the growers catalyzes the regional economy, and how such locally produced food can be a boon to personal health.

Schultz is a board member of Fair Food Matters, a Kalamazoo nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about local foods.March 30 deadline for top-dollar intern$hip$, $cholar$hip$

KVCC students are again eligible for a high-tech internship program offering major scholarship dollars and priceless job experience that will enter its third year of existence in 2009.

In its first two years, five KVCC students took part in the joint venture between Southwest Michigan First and the Kalamazoo-based Monroe-Brown Foundation.  The train-your-own, workforce-development program awards each student at least $6,000 and as much as $8,800 in revenue to apply to their college educations. 

Of the 25 internships, 24 are still available with a March 30 deadline.It is open to eligible KVCC, Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo

College students.  In KVCC’s case, students must be entering their second year of studies.  They

will be exposed to valuable networking opportunities and valuable on-the-job training in their chosen fields.

Details of the 2009 edition of the program, the participating companies and the types of internships available are posted on the Southwest Michigan First website.

Signed up so far for the internship program so far are: the Kalamazoo-area engineering and construction firm of CSM Group, Landscape Forms, the life-science

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enterprise of Proteos, Workforce Strategies Inc. that places manpower in jobs, Treystar Holdings Inc. Jasper Clinical Research and Development, BASIC, the Wolverine Pipe Line Co., the Getman Corp., TEKNA Inc., American Village Builders Inc., Pfizer Animal Health, Southwest Michigan First, Skanska USA Building, Great Lakes Aviation, and Access Medical. The Pfizer Animal Health deadline was March 9.

The 25 available internships attracted more than 300 applicants in 2008, 56 of those being affiliated with KVCC.

Each intern will work for the employer for a minimum of 400 hours from May through September. 

The interns are paid at least minimum wage.  The 10-week post is regarded as full time, but it can be customized to fit the needs

of each company and intern.Upon successful completion of the internship - as decided by the company and the

foundation -- each of those parties will pay the intern a $500 bonus -- a total of $1,000. On top of that, the foundation will award a pair of additional payments of $2,500

at the beginning of each of the two semesters following the internship.                       Said Ron Kitchens, president and chief executive officer of Southwest Michigan First: “It is designed to keep the talent that we train here in our part of the state.  Companies learned whether they could be getting quality employees.”

The reasoning for the initiative called the Southwest Michigan First Talent Network is simple -- one of the key components to sustained economic development in high-tech fields including manufacturing is “lots of smart people.” 

The interns receive great experience for their careers. They will build a valuable network of business leaders and fellow interns while

earning significant funding for their educations.  “We hope that they not only learn more about what they want out of life,”

Kitchens said, “but that they begin to see Kalamazoo as a place where they can grow from student to young professional.”           

For many enterprises -- and not just those in emerging businesses -- the No. 1 factor for achieving success is finding the right people to fit the right jobs. 

Internships are tried-and-true ways to “grow your own” and identify prospects with high potential.           

It’s the classic win-win equation:  great experience for those who are selected as interns and a no-strings-attached arrangement on the part of the employer because internships are basically akin to temporary jobs.           

The employer gets essentially a low-cost look at a potential permanent employee who could either be somebody who would not be a good fit or somebody who has “the right stuff” to be a future leader.           

In order to find that out, interns -- while supervised and operating within a structured work environment -- should be given enough autonomy and enough leeway to determine their own direction. 

That allows the employer to evaluate the person’s judgment, how he or she works with other people, and work habits. 

Few one-on-one interviews provide those types of measurements.

And finally. . . Does this scenario sound familiar?

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“I decide to water my garden.As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look at my car and decide it needs

washing.As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch that I brought from

the mail box earlier.I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.I put my car keys on the porch table, drop the junk mail in the garbage can

under the table, and notice that the can is full.I decide to put the bills in the mail back on the table and take out the

garbage first.But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the

garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.I take my check book off the table and see there is only one check left.My extra checks are in my desk in the study so I go inside where I find the

can of Pepsi I'd been drinking.I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Pepsi aside so

that I don't accidentally knock it over.The Pepsi is getting warm and I decide to put it in the refrigerator.As I head toward the kitchen with the Pepsi, a vase of flowers on the

counter catches my eye--they need water.I put the Pepsi on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I've

been searching for all morning.I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the

flowers.I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and

suddenly spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.I realize that tonight -- when we watch TV -- I'll be looking for the remote,

but I won't remember it's on the kitchen table,I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the

flowers.I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the

spill.Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.At the end of the day: the car isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, there is a

warm can of Pepsi sitting on the counter, the flowers don't have enough water, there is still only one check in my check book, I can't find the remote,, I can't find my glasses, and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day, and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.”

Friends, welcome to AAADD – Age-Activated Attention-Deficit Disorder.

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