June 28, 2004



Dec. 19, 2005 | |

|The Digest |

|What’s Happening at KVCC |

What’s below in this edition

⎫ Board breakfast (Pages 1/2) ⎫ ‘The Fitz’ sequel (Pages 6/7)

⎫ Police scholarship (Pages 2/3) ⎫ Movies at museum (Pages 7-9)

⎫ Food-service hours (Page 3) ⎫ PTK event (Page 9)

⎫ Smoke-free zones (Page 3) ⎫ Mother Goose (Page 10)

⎫ Grants for M-TEC training (Page 3) ⎫ Caring for aged (Pages 10/11)

⎫ Joel Mabus (Pages 3-5) ⎫ Our river (Pages 11/12)

⎫ Digital artwork (Page 5) ⎫ Reading Together (Page 13)

⎫ Printing needs (Page 5) ⎫ Caricature exhibit (Pages 13/14)

⎫ Workplace injuries (Pages 5/6) ⎫ Fire drills (Pages 14/15)

⎫ Holiday thievery (Page 6) ⎫ A warm thanks (Page 15)

⎫ And finally (Page 15)

☻☻☻☻☻☻

Board breakfast honors longevity

Seventy employees will be recognized for their years of service to the college as part of the annual breakfast hosted by the KVCC Board of Trustees to launch the winter semester.

The breakfast is timed for 8 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 6, in the A gym on the Texas Township Campus.

Eligible to attend are full-time faculty, full- and part-time support staff, and administrators. Part-time instructors are not eligible.

At the head of the class are the latest members of the 35-year club: Carol Campsmith, Lee Marsh, Terry Coburn, Steve Louisell, Dick Kabat and John Holmes. Wanda Scott is the lone representative in the 30-year camp.

Reaching 25 years are Grace VanderBerg, Roxanne Bengelink, Curtis Townsell, Nancy Conrad, Ron Tenant, Sue Egan, Frank Gregory and Pat Farquharson.

Steve Cannell, Cindy Wilson, Ron Cipcic, Tangy Smith, Joyce Eager, Eric Schreur, Sandy Fletcher, Pat Norris, Don Konopa and Carol Heeter are in this year’s 20-year group.

Registering their 15th year of service are Ron Adams, Tim Welsh, J. P. Talwar, Nancy Bouters, Joe Smigiel, Marylan Hightree, Ken Lattin, Nick Meier, Ken Rakoski and Chris Robbins.

The 10-year team includes Jim Ratliff, Sherri Adams, Jolene Osei, Tom Bowers, Deborah Bryant, Mike Burton, and Brian Maurig Jr.

The freshest of these faces in the five-year group are:

Denise Baker, Lanette Ballard, Bob Bechtel, Kristin DeKam, Mary Dey, Vikki Dykstra, Nate Hartmann, Tom Hughes, Maurice Huss, Keith Platte, Mary Kay Pobocik, Judy Rose, Cindy Buckley, Jermaine Clark, Nancy Clemmens, Daniel Cunningham, Brian Flintoft, Jane Geschwendt, Kathy Godin, Andrew Greig, Marianne Lancaster, Karrol McKay, Sue Nemedi, Marsha Nemer, Linda Rzoska, Larry Sandt, Mike Schuring, Rannah Scott, and Tim Stebbins.

Cookbook fund-raiser nets nearly $2,100 for scholarships

The WKZO-sponsored cookbook sale for the Scot Beyerstedt Memorial Scholarship Fund raised $2,095 on Dec. 3.

The memorial scholarship was established at Kalamazoo Valley Community College in honor of the Mattawan police officer who lost his life in the line of duty last summer. It was among the chosen beneficiaries of this year’s holiday cookbook fund-raising project sponsored by the local radio station.

Don Verhage, chief of the Mattawan Police Department, was notified by Fairfield Broadcasting that the scholarship would be included in Lori Moore’s “Potluck Palapalooza!,” which is this year’s installment of WKZO’s annual “A Holiday Dish to Pass” cookbook sales to raise funds for community projects and organizations.

The scholarship’s day in the fund-raising spotlight was from 10 a.m. to noon at Heaven Scent Floral, 52887 Main St. in Mattawan.

In the wake of the 21-year-old Beyerstedt’s death on July 25, Chief Verhage and the KVCC Foundation joined forces to establish a scholarship that will be awarded to students who are accepted into the Regional Police Training Academy based on the college’s Texas Township Campus. Beyerstedt was a graduate of that program.

According to Michigan State Police investigators, Beyerstedt was most likely killed when flying debris struck him in the head as his vehicle spun out of control and crashed during a high-speed chase. He was traveling 90 to 104 mph when his vehicle dropped off the road at a curve in the 49000 block of 24th Street in Van Buren County and spun 180 degrees. The cruiser was going backward when the back end crashed into a tree.

On the department for just two weeks, Beyerstedt died at Bronson Methodist Hospital the day after the crash. His training officer, 30-year-old Daniel Scott Hutchins, was treated at Bronson and released.

A jury of five men and seven women found Mark Wood, 43, of Kalamazoo guilty of fleeing and eluding resulting in death. Wood was arrested Aug. 7 by state and local police at New Horizon Village off of Gull Road. The felony carries up to a 15-year prison sentence, but Wood faces a possible life sentence because of his prior criminal record.

Steve Doherty, director of the KVCC Foundation, said that anyone interested in contributing to this new scholarship may send a check to the KVCC Foundation directing it to the Scot Beyerstedt Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Food-service hours

The Texas Township Campus cafeteria begins it holiday food-service schedule next week.

It will be open Monday through Friday (Dec. 19-23) from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

After being closed the week of Dec. 26-30, the holiday-time hours will again be in vogue the week of Jan. 2-6 – 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The coffee shop in the Student Commons will be closed from Dec. 16 through Jan. 8.

Both will resume normal operating hours on Monday, Jan. 9.

Smoke-free zones established

If smoke gets in your eyes, it’s going to happen a lot further away than before on the Texas Township Campus with the coming of the new year.

That’s because, effective Jan. 1, smoke-free zones will be the order at six entrances on the Texas Township Campus. A smoke-free zone means that lighting up your firestick is not allowed within 50 feet of the doorways.

The six smoke-free zones are at the entrance to the Technology Application Center, at the two entranceways for the Student Commons, the entrance to the dental-hygiene clinic, the main entrance leading to the bookstore and the Student Service Center, and the north entrance to the lower floor in the vicinity of the faculty offices.

Smoke-free-zone signs have been posted at all six locations.

M-TEC to provide federally funded workforce training

Nearly $87,000 in federal employee-enhancement funds available through the Kalamazoo-St. Joseph Michigan Works! initiative will pay for training programs provided at the KVCC M-TEC.

Some 213 employees of eight companies/organizations will be taking part in the training upgrades that must be completed by next June.

The eight include: American Metal Fab, 55515 Franklin Drive; Borgess Medical Center; HECO Industrial Services, 3509 S. Burdick St.; Heritage Community of Kalamazoo, 2400 Portage St.; International Paper Co., 2315 Miller Road; Landscape Forms, 283 S. Van Bruggen; Prima Communications Inc., 8585 Portage Road; and Select Millwork Co., 383 East D Ave.

The funds will pay for classes/courses in shop-floor management, lean manufacturing, supervisory and leadership training, basic electricity, fundamentals of front-line leadership, basic and advanced vibration analysis, critical-thinking strategies, problem-solving skills, basic hydraulics and pneumatics, welding, and computer skills.

Joel Mabus booked for museum concert

Renowned folk singer, songwriter and instrument virtuoso Joel Mabus will launch the 2006 edition of the “Music at the Museum” concert series on Thursday, Jan. 12.

The Kalamazoo Valley Museum began the Thursday-evening concerts last fall for those who like their musical performers to be up close and personal. Each performance is booked in the 84-seat, surround-sound Mary Jane Stryker Theater.

While tickets for each of the previous 7:30 p.m. performances cost $5 -- $3 for students with ID – the Mabus concert carries a $10 fee for admission.

Mabus, whose latest release is titled “Parlor Guitar,” will perform century-old music arranged for that instrument as well as audience favorites.

Mabus’ ancestors have been playing fiddles and banjos for generations. In the 1930s, his parents performed in traveling editions of the WLS Barn Show out of Chicago. A Mabus duo fiddled old-time country songs at barn dances, medicine shows and small-town radio stations all over Illinois and the lower Midwest before World War II.

Mabus was born in the southern Illinois town of Belleville on Sept. 13, 1953, a birthday he shares with bluegrass icon Bill Monroe. By age 9, he was singing gospel songs in his hometown Pentecostal church and the old-time songs at home with his family.

A fourth-grade music teacher, impressed with his fine ear and long arms, urged his mother to allow the boy to play the trombone in the school band. The family was too poor to afford the rental on a band instrument, especially when there were perfectly good fiddles and banjos around the house.

As a consolation, the boy was handed his first instrument – his older brother's Silvertone mandolin. Guitar, banjo, and his dad's fiddle came soon after.

While Mabus "cut his teeth" on old-time and bluegrass music, his horizons soon expanded. A teen in the turbulent 1960s, he explored blues and jazz, Celtic music, and the folk-protest songs of the era.

He began to write poetry and tried crafting his own songs, delving into new traditions while maintaining the tie to his own roots. Armed with a National Merit Scholarship, he attended Michigan State University where he studied anthropology by day and played music by night. After four years of college, this generation of Mabus set aside academics and began performing full-time in 1975.

Mabus has traveled over most of North America, playing for audiences large and small at music festivals, folk clubs, concert halls and radio shows. He has shared the bill with such luminaries as Joan Baez and John Prine. He’s performed at major folk festivals in Philadelphia and Vancouver, guested on Garrison Keillor's first incarnation of "A Prairie Home Companion," and provided the theme music for public radio’s syndicated "Folk Sampler with Mike Flynn." He’s recorded nearly 20 solo albums since 1978.

As a songwriter, his anti-war song, "Touch A Name On The Wall" has been performed by decorated veterans and jailed protesters alike. He was among the first artists chosen to showcase for the North American Folk Alliance in Chicago.

Commented one reviewer: "It's hard to imagine another artist on the folk scene

who combines the same concise, deceptively understated, lyrical insight and sometimes devastating wit with such world-class instrumental prowess."

Said another: "It's not just a wealth of musical styles or his smooth and expressive voice that have made Mabus such a fine artist. His songs, which range from thoughtful to silly to poetic, show that he knows his way around the English language and American culture just as well as he knows his way around a fret board."

Wrote one critic at the Vancouver Folk Festival: “He has a style we will always associate with Will Rogers or Mark Twain, and a great sense of humor that compliments, rather than contradicts, some very serious material. He has perfected the art of being entertaining without pandering, he teaches without lecturing, and does it all with great style."

“Music at the Museum” on Thursday evenings will continue with:

♫ The jazz and Brazilian music of the Holly Holmes Quartet – Feb. 9.

♫ The folk music of Seth Bernard and Daisy May – March 9.

♫ A second installment of the music of Kalamazoo-based songwriters – April 13.

For more information about the concert series, contact Jay Gavan at extension 7972 or jgavan@kvcc.edu. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 373-7990.

Digital artwork on display

The Center for New Media in downtown Kalamazoo is hosting KVCC’s eighth annual Electronic Art & Design Showcase that runs through Jan. 23.

On display are the juried creations of students enrolled in KVCC’s Center for New Media courses. The exhibit will be divided into eight categories: fine art, graphic design for print, illustration, digital photography, 2-D (character) animation, 3-D animation, motion graphics, and web design.

There is no admission charge.

Fifty pieces fill the galleries in the center while the animation shorts are featured on the six large plasma screens in the center’s Arcus Gallery.

Viewing hours for the showcase through Jan. 23 are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

For more information, contact Valerie Eisenberg at extension 7883.

Winter-semester printing needs

Printing Services at the Texas Township Campus would like to help staff and faculty members prepare for the winter semester.

They are invited to submit their first two or three weeks of printing to Printing Services before they leave for the holiday break.

What to do if injured on the job

While most of us will be going “over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house,” some members of the KVCC staff will be on the job during the last week of December and into the New Year before the college re-opens.

In the unlikely occurrence that somebody is injured on the job in that time period, safety coordinator Amy Louallen wants people to be aware of the availability of emergency services.

So remember this: the following offices will be closed Dec. 26 and Jan. 2 -- Bronson ProHealth at 820 John St. in downtown Kalamazoo and Bronson ProHealth in the Groves.

“If you are in need of services these days,” she says, “Bronson Vicksburg Hospital at 13326 N Blvd. will be providing routine and scheduled services in addition to emergency services.” Its telephone number is 649-9127.

She also stressed it is important to contact KVCC security at extension 7854 on the Arcadia Commons Campus and extension 4576 on the Texas Township Campus.

During the college’s regular schedule, medical attention for employees for non-life threatening injuries is available at these locations:

☼ Bronson ProHealth, 820 John St., Suite 102: five to seven minutes from the Arcadia campus south of Bronson Methodist Hospital between Vine Street and Crosstown Parkway; hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; 341-8938.

☼ Borgess at Woodbridge, 7901 Angling Road in Portage; five to seven minutes from the Texas Township Campus; hours Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; 324-8400.

Watch your belongings!

With the holiday season rapidly approaching, it is time to increase awareness about some precautionary measures regarding protecting one’s belongings, reports security coordinator Jeff Roseboom.

“Petty thefts always increase during this time of year because of the tendency to carry more money in purses or wallets,” he advised. “This is generally accompanied by our desire to pay cash for a lot of Christmas gifts that are purchased.

“To avoid the unnecessary loss of Christmas money, a couple of simple practices should be followed,” he suggested. “Never leave your articles unattended. If you leave the office, always lock them away out of sight in a desk along with securing the area when you leave.

“A little extra time and awareness will make the holiday season more enjoyable,” Roseboom said.

‘Fitzgerald’ sequel next in Great Lakes series

“Edmund Fitzgerald: Past and Present,” is the title of Sunday’s (Dec. 18) Great Lakes documentary at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater.

The Sunday showings are free and begin at 1:30 p.m.

This 60-minute segment contains underwater footage from two separate expeditions to the wreck site at a depth of 530 feet.

When the Edmund Fitzgerald, a gigantic and thoroughly modern ore carrier, sank in Lake Superior during a fierce storm in November 1975, one of the biggest mysteries in Great Lakes maritime history was born.

♦ How had the 729-foot vessel, known for its rugged durability, and piloted by one of the most respected and experienced captains on the lakes, gone down without so much as a call for help?

♦ What tremendous forces were responsible for its disappearing so suddenly and without a trace?

♦ What, exactly happened on Lake Superior that fateful night?

Since there were no survivors , numerous theories abound regarding what caused the ship to sink.

The "Edmund Fitzgerald: Past and Present" provides some new information and rare footage. While "The Mystery of the Edmund Fitzgerald" video concentrated on the Fitzgerald's history and final voyage, the sequel explains the theories with authoritative, in-depth interviews.

The 60-minute sequel features new interviews, rare photographs, paintings and original artwork, archival news clippings, computer graphics, the underwater footage from two dives to the wreck, and the ship-to-shore radio communication from the ship following the Fitzgerald.

Also included are accounts of recent Fitzgerald activities, including the retrieval of one of its anchors, lost in the Detroit River in 1974, and details of a 1995 return to the wreck during which an engraved bell replaced the ship's original.

Documentaries and presentations about the Great Lakes are complementing the museum’s nationally touring exhibition.

“The Great Lakes Story” is on display in the Havirmill Special Exhibition Gallery on the museum’s third floor through Jan. 15 and chronicles the fresh-water treasures that were forged by geological and glacial forces across eons, how they have been threatened by humanity’s technological advances, and how that same technology is being used to preserve them.

Here are the rest of the bookings of Great Lakes documentaries:

● “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” on Jan. 15.

● “Great Stories of the Great Lakes” on Jan. 29.

Holiday staple, family films at museum

The last booking in the classic-film series for 2005 at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater. is “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 17-18).

American classics, award-winning international and independent films, and holiday movies targeted for children are among the attractions booked for the museum through the end of the calendar year and through the spring of 2006.

The movies are scheduled for weekend showings at 7 p.m. on Saturdays and 3 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults, and $3 for students and children.

The family-oriented movies during Christmas week have a different price structure and times, as detailed below.

If there’s such a thing as America’s favorite Christmas movie, it’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” although “A Christmas Story” (you don’t want a B-B gun, son, you’ll shoot your eye out) is evolving into a close second.

Regarded as director Frank Capra’s best film, “It’s. . .” is warm, charming, and a feel-good experience. James Stewart plays a small-town businessman who dedicates himself to the welfare of others.

When he decides to end it all because he thinks he’s a five-star failure, a guardian angel intervenes as Stewart is about to jump into a cold river.

In a kind of twist to the storyline of “A Christmas Carol,” the visitor from above takes Stewart on a what-if trek – what would have happened if Stewart’s character had not been born. The 1946 cast includes Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Ward Bond, and Gloria Grahame.

Stewart and Capra both earned Oscar nominations for this film.

Booked for Christmas week are showings of six family-oriented films:

♫ Dec. 26: “Pinocchio” at 1 p.m. and “Mary Poppins” at 3 p.m.

♫ Dec. 27: “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” at 1 p.m. and “Little Big Man” at 3 p.m.

♫ Dec. 28: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” at 1 p.m. and “The Wizard of Oz” at 3 p.m.

♫ Dec. 29: “Pinocchio” at 1 p.m. and “Mary Poppins” at 3 p.m.

♫ Dec. 30: “The Wizard of Oz” at 1 p.m. and “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” at 3 p.m.

♫ Dec. 31: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” at 1 p.m. and “Little Big Man” at 3 p.m.

The admission charge for these features is $3.

Here’s the schedule for January of 2006:

♦ Jan. 14-15: “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

♦ Jan. 21-22: “Double Indemnity.”

♦ Jan. 28-29: “Campfire,” a 2004 Israeli film.

Walt Disney’s 1940 “Pinocchio” is considered to be his studio’s greatest achievement. Based on the story by Carlo Collodi, the plot involves a poor, lonely woodcutter who builds a puppet that spring to life, only to fall victim, like many a young person, to a bad crowd that gets him into trouble.

When Pinocchio mends its ways, it becomes a real boy. The animation is colorful and lively, and the story brims with energy and charm. Its title song, “When You Wish Upon a Star,” won two Oscars.

Hollywood snubbed Julie Andrews when casting the female lead in the movie version of “My Fair Lady,” but she had the last laugh when the Disney folks cast her in 1964’s “Mary Poppins.”

A delightful fantasy, this 139-minute film is about two English children under the care of a strict but energetic and wondrous nanny who has magical powers and can take them on exciting adventures.

The combination of animation and live-action sequences again elevated the Disney studio into a league of its own.

Coming with “a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down” was a message amidst all of the fun and games – children need love and attention to truly make them happy as opposed to only wealthy surroundings.

Dick Van Dyke co-stars with Andrews. The splendid class includes Glynis Johns, Ed Wynn, Elsa Lanchester and Arthur Treacher. By the way, the best-actress Oscar went to Andrews that year.

“Little Big Man” rates right at the top as one of Dustin Hoffman’s finest performances. The 1970 episodic western, complete with one of the greatest makeup jobs in the history of the movies, is told through the experiences of 121-year-old Jack Crabb, the sole survivor of Custer’s ill-fated encounter at the Little Big Horn.”

A compelling film based on the novel by Thomas Berger, it offers a grand tour of a portion of American history with liberal doses of satire and pathos.

Made during the Vietnam War, it became a milestone film because it subtly criticized America’s imperialistic policies by using this nation’s treatment of the American Indian as a metaphor for aggressive action in Southeast Asia. “Little Big Man” is history from the Native American viewpoint.

The complex plot climaxes with Custer’s defeat at his last stand. Co-stars include Martin Balsam, Faye Dunaway, Richard “Soap” Mulligan, and Chief Dan George, who was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor.

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was Disney’s first full-length animated feature in 1937. Still fresh and delightful, the production features superb filming and wonderful songs that tell the story of a beautiful maiden and her seven short friends who confront an evil queen. It is based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

While “The Wizard of Oz” has become a regular let’s-welcome-in-spring on both network and cable television, there is still nothing like seeing the 1937 classic on a big screen.

The film, a favorite of millions around the globe, did a fine job of typecasting its stars – Judy Garland, Frank (“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain”) Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, and Margaret Hamilton, whose portrayal as the wicked witch set the bar so high nobody has even come close since.

Garland is Dorothy, the Kansas farm girl who is spirited off to the Land of Oz. Though based on L. Frank Baum’s novel, the 101-minute movie has taken on a life of its own.

The scenes that take place in Kansas as a tornado is about to strike were shot in black and white. The magical Land of Oz comes across in what was then the magic of “Technicolor.” “The Wizard of Oz” gave Garland her career’s and her life’s theme song, “Over the Rainbow,” which won an Academy Award for best tune.

“Oz” was nominated for best picture but failed to win. Garland was presented a special Oscar for her performance as a screen juvenile.

Advance purchase of tickets for fee-based events can be made in person at the museum or by phone with a credit/debit card. Call (269) 373-7990 or (800) 772-3370.

No refunds will be made on advanced tickets.

Can these speed merchants drive to the hoop?

Faculty, staff and students are invited to suit up in Cougar blue-and-whites to represent the college during a fund-raising basketball doubleheader on Saturday, Jan. 7, that is being organized by the Phi Theta Kappa chapter on campus.

KVCC’s Alpha Rho Nu Chapter has joined forces with the Race For Kids’ Sake initiative for the fun and games in the KVCC main gymnasium. The Children’s Leukemia Foundation of Michigan will receive a portion of the money that is raised.

Lynne Morrison, the chapter’s co-adviser, is looking for staff, faculty and students to suit up against a team made up of area race-car drivers.

That game is pegged for 6 p.m. The second half of the doubleheader will pit the drivers’ team against a squad representing WWMT-TV Channel 3 at 7:30 p.m.

The ticket price for the doubleheader is $5.

For more information or to join the KVCC team, contact Morrison at extension 4164 or ptk@kvcc.edu.

The Cougar roster so far includes Peter Pacheco, Dustin Walter, Sean Westley, Greg Hoese, Katie Pitcher, Enrique Luzuriaga, Gavin Snyder, Kyle Gohlke, Thyra Walls, Nate Clements, Kevin Owens, Sommer Hayden and Steve Baser.

Special concerts for preschoolers

Mother Goose comes alive in the form of Mary Ellen Clark on Jan. 7 in the next installment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s series of free Saturday concerts and performances for pre-schoolers.

Each performance is set for 10 a.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater on the museum’s first floor. There is no admission charge and limited seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

The museum’s live performances targeted for pre-schoolers are sponsored by the family of Burton Henry Upjohn, the Kalamazoo-born entrepreneur who died in November of 1988. The museum’s Children’s Landscape, which houses educational programs with constantly changing themes for infants and toddlers up to 5 years old, is named for Upjohn.

The Upjohn series will continue in 2006 when singers Julie Austin and David Mosher make a return engagement to the downtown museum on Feb. 4.

Carrie Wilson’s music, movements and stories will fill the Stryker stage the morning of March 4 and the puppets of Greg Lester close out the series with their performance of “Jack and the Beanstalk.”

For more information about the performance series, contact Annette Hoppenworth at the museum at extension 7955.

Tickets for free events can be reserved by calling (269) 373-7990 or (800) 772-3370 on the day before the event, beginning at 9 a.m. Free tickets are limited to four per household or group. Seats that are not occupied by 10 minutes before show time will be released to other guests.

Caring for aging relatives

KVCC’s four-topic series designed to help people care for aging relatives will be offered over a three-month period at its Texas Township Campus from January into early March.

The “Caring for an Aging Relative” series will begin on Thursday, Jan. 19, with each of the four sessions set for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Room 4380 near the cafeteria on the Texas Township Campus.

Each has an $18-per-person fee and will be taught by Andrea Heerdt, director of the Covenant Senior Day Care Program in Portage. There is a discount rate for those who enroll for all four of the presentations.

“Nearly 90 percent of the nation’s Baby Boomers,” says KVCC training coordinator Ron Campbell, “list the taking care of their parents among their top three priorities in life. This series provides a wealth of practical information on care-giving for seniors and their families.”

Participants will learn how planning can ease some of the care-giving situations and avoid being overwhelmed by a crisis. “Organizing important documents will be covered,” Campbell said. “Those taking the courses will learn when this information may be needed in helping put a parent’s affairs in order.” The sessions will also address local resources, agencies and programs that are available.

Here’s the 2006 schedule:

● “Resources for Older Adults: Linking Caregivers to Help” — Thursday, Jan. 19: Living as independently as possible in the community may be challenging for older people as they deal with declines in mental and physical functioning. This session will examine the resources that can be tapped for assisting in elder care, as well as the housing options for senior living, including nursing homes.

● “Planning Ahead with the Elder in Your Life” -- Thursday, Feb. 2: This will stress the value of organizing and obtaining important documents, and of being informed about the variety of tools that exist to handle legal and financial affairs of the elders being cared for.

● “Medicare Basics: A Guide for Caregivers” -- Thursday, Feb. 16: When parents, grandparents, elderly relatives or friends face health-care decisions, Medicare can be an important factor in making those decisions. This session will cover the basics of that program as well as what is not covered. Prescription-drug coverage will also be a topic.

● “Medicaid Basics for Older Adults” -- Thursday, March 2: Medicaid, as the primary provider of care for older adults in nursing homes, has eligibility requirements that people should be familiar with before facing a situation requiring a higher level of supervision for the elderly. Spousal protection available to married couples will also be discussed.

Heerdt has a degree in secondary education with an emphasis in social studies from the University of Iowa and a master's in gerontology from the University of Northern Colorado. She developed gerontology courses and taught them at KVCC. Prior to joining Covenant Senior Day Program, she served as director of elder-care resources at Senior Services Inc.

For more information or to register for sessions in the series, contact Campbell at 373-7801 or rcampbell@kvcc.edu.

River’s role in settlement is ‘Sunday Series’ topic

The Kalamazoo River and how it affected the settlement of this part of Michigan is the next installment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s “Sunday Series.”

“The Kalamazoo River and the Settlement of Kalamazoo County” will be chronicled on Jan. 8 by Tom Dietz, the museum’s curator of research, at 1:30 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater. All “Sunday Series” events are free.

“The river provided more than an identity for the settlement that grew from village to city,” Dietz said. “It also provided food, drinking water, transportation, and water power. Not surprisingly, the pioneers clustered around the river near where the Arcadia and Portage creeks fed into it.”

Dietz’s presentation will explore where and how the native Potttawatomiese used the river, how they were ushered out of the area, and what role it played in attracting Titus Bronson in the summer of 1829 and his later decision to plat a village.

He’ll cover the river’s saw-mill era, the ferry services that evolved, its history of bridges, how it was used as a source of energy, and the scores of grain mills that were established.

“To provide further water power,” Dietz said, “a millrace was dug across what was then a large bend in the Kalamazoo River. The (Amillrace, is a narrow channel through which part of a river is directed, in order to increased the speed of the river’s flow and generated greater power. Over time, the bend of disappeared and the river’s course follows the millrace.”

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Exploiting the energy of the river and the tributary streams and creeks that flowed into it throughout Kalamazoo County was not limited to Bronson’s town.

Comstock, Augusta, and Galesburg also took advantage of this natural source of power. In 1874, despite the advent of steam power, there were still 13 flour mills and nine sawmills operating on water power in Kalamazoo County.

The Kalamazoo River was never a major artery for freight transportation for the early merchants and pioneers. It had been quite useful to the Native Americans and the fur traders in their lighter canoes.

Dietz will trace the efforts of prominent businessmen in the late 1830s and into the 1840s to ship produce from Kalamazoo to Lake Michigan and from there by lake boat around the Lower Peninsula to Detroit.

The river and its main creeks continued to play an important role in the economic development of the region for many years. The Kalamazoo Paper Co. built the first paper mill on Portage Creek in 1866 and over the years other factories, foundries, and mills located along the river for its water and energy resources.

Sadly, too, Over time, the river and the creeks were used thoughtlessly for unregulated disposal to dispose of sewage and industrial wastes. That started to be corrected by the mid-1960s. Efforts continue to help the water system recover from the past industrial abuse and fspur the renewal of downtown Kalamazoo.

Future “Sunday Series” topics are:

● “The Townships of Kalamazoo County: Portage Township” on Jan. 22.

● “The History of Kalamazoo Township” on Feb. 5.

● “Where the Streets Got Their Names” on Feb. 12.

● “Kalamazoo Artifactory” with the Friends of Poetry on Feb. 26.

● “Where the Streets Got Their Names – The Sequel” on March 19.

● “From Celery Pickers to the World Series – Baseball in Kalamazoo” on April 2.

● “Music Makers of Kalamazoo: Delos Phillips, Orville Gibson and Burton Fischer” on April 23.

● “And the Band Played on: Kalamazoo’s Musical Heritage” on May 7.

● “Summer Fun: Resorts, Amusement Parks, Fairs and Festivals in Kalamazoo County from 1850 to 1950” on May 21.

For further information, contact Dietz at extension 7984.

Tales of GIs in ‘Nam’ is Reading Together pick

"The Things They Carried," a collection of short stories about the war in Vietnam, is the 2006 “Reading Together” book for the Kalamazoo community, and KVCC will once again be a part of the initiative.

Organized by the Kalamazoo Public Library and funded by a grant from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, Reading Together includes a series of events and programs in February and March to focus on "The Things They Carried,” Tim O'Brien's true-life tales about being a foot soldier in the Vietnam War.

“Reading Together invites people of all ages from all walks of life to read and then discuss important issues raised by a single book,” says Jim Ratliff, KVCC’s director of libraries and a member of the program’s planning committee.

“The Things They Carried” depicts the men of Alpha Company, including the author's character who survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of 43.

As told in anecdotal accounts, the soldiers battle the enemy -- or maybe more the idea of the enemy -- and occasionally each other. In their relationships, readers see their isolation and loneliness, their rage and fear.

They miss their families, their girlfriends and buddies; they miss the lives they left back home. Yet they find sympathy and kindness for strangers, such as an old man who leads them unscathed through a mine field and a girl who grieves while she dances.

They have a love for each other because, in Vietnam, they are the only family they have. In their dialogues, they tell stories about others, which in essence are stories about themselves.

Reviewers have called “The Things They Carried” a testament to the men who risked their lives in America's most controversial war. It is also a mirror held up to the frailty of humanity. The stories call to order the courage, determination, and luck needed to survive in a shooting war.

Segments of "The Things They Carried" are included in a textbook being used by some KVCC English instructors.

Contact Ratliff at extension 4326 or jratliff@kvcc.edu for more information. Caricatures from the ‘Age of Immigration’

Mirroring their times, caricatures have been current and creative, contemplative and contemptible, comical and cruel.

That has especially been true when this art form reflected diverse ethnicities at a time when the United States underwent its greatest era of immigration.

Through March 12, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum is telling part of that story as it hosts “Immigration and Caricature: Ethnic Images from the Appel Collection” in the first-floor gallery. Admission to the downtown-Kalamazoo museum is free.

A product of the Michigan State University Museum, the exhibit uses a variety of popular print media – cartoons, postcards, trade cards and prints – from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of World War I (when nearly 30 million immigrants came to the United States) to illustrate the role of caricature and stereotype in making this the most ethnically diverse country in the world.

Both thought-provoking and disturbing to today’s citizens, the collection offers insights into the history of American cultural attitudes.

The question of who should be allowed to come to the United States and who should be excluded has persisted in the history of American immigration, and still exists.

Until the last decades of the 19th century, immigrants had come primarily from Great Britain, Germany and Scandinavia. As the effects of the Industrial Revolution spread, Italy and the multiethnic empires of eastern Europe began sending their masses.

The first wave of Chinese came with the discovery of gold in California in 1849, but that spawned legislation that kept Asian immigration low throughout the period of mass migration that began in the latter half of the 19th century. Following World War I, laws set annual quotas for each emigrating nation.

At the peak of immigration, advertising became a common medium for the perpetration of ethnic stereotypes. Cartoonists drew exaggerated images that were based on popular notions of cultures. Some of those exist to this day in the form of “ethnic jokes.”

A stereotype might contain “a kernel of truth,” but that kernel evolved into a full-blown ludicrous distortion that was rigidly applied to an entire group and freely appeared in the public sector.

As the diversity of the immigrants broadened, attitudes about ethnic groups began to change. Earlier, the perspective had been predominantly one of Anglo-conformity – rapid and complete assimilation into the English-speaking core. Progressive thinkers then offered “The Melting Pot Model” – that each group of immigrants contributed to the creation of a unique American culture.

With the growing dominance of “ the melting pot,” editorial writers, essayists, politicians, and authors began to reflect on the positive contributions made by immigrants. As these ethic groups became “Americanized” and moved up the social and economic ladders, the caricatures also started to reflect that.

America as the land of opportunity came to prevail over the earlier view of America as a land of refuge. Some cartoonists even presaged the multicultural model of the United States that would in time replace the concept of “the melting pot.”

John Appel, a professor of American thought and language at MSU and adjunct curator of the university’s museum, started his collection of immigrant and ethnic images in the popular media in the mid-1960s.

From his original motivation to illustrate his lectures on the history of immigration in the United States, Appel and his wife, Selma, branched out into collecting print materials that were produced during the 40 years when the nation’s population increased significantly primarily through the gates at Ellis Island. The couple donated their 4,000-item collection to the MSU Museum.

The ‘why’ of fire drills

There’s a reason they are called “drills.”

What should be done in the event of a fire should be drilled into one’s head, that the reaction should be “second nature, like breathing out and breathing in.”

That’s the word from Amy Louallen in the Office of Institutional Safety.

“It's important to have an escape plan so that everyone knows what to do in the event the fire alarm sounds,” she said. “Time counts in a fire emergency and confusion can be dangerous.”

The college is required to conduct a fire drill in each of its classroom buildings at least eight times per year. The M-TEC and the Kalamazoo Valley Museum are excluded from this mandate.

“Due to the disruption this will cause,” she said, “we will consider schedules and special activities to avoid creating any major inconvenience.”

She encourages all college employees to map – in advance -- two potential escape routes from their office, classroom, or work space, noting the location of fire extinguishers and fire-alarm pull stations. A plan of action should be discussed with students and co-workers regarding routes and where to meet so that nobody is left behind.

Contact her at extension 4576 for any additional information.

Thanks for sharing some warmth

The Focus and Brother2Brother programs wish to thank the college community for the generous donations of winter apparel.

The gently used winter wear for men, women and children was delivered to the Kalamazoo YWCA’s Domestic Assault Shelter, Ministry with Community and the Rickman House.

Because other items were still coming in, another delivery was slated for late Friday afternoon.

And finally. . .

In the name of political correctness, blondes – both real and chemically enhanced – do not have to read any further.

Two sisters, one blonde and one brunette, inherit the family ranch, but after just a few years the encounter financial trouble.

To keep a bank from repossessing the ranch, they must purchase a bull so they can breed their own stock.

Before heading to make the purchase, the brunette tells her sister: "When I get there, if I decide to buy the bull, I'll contact you to drive out after me and haul it home."

The purchase is made and she heads for the nearest town to send a telegram. She is told by the telegraph operator that the cost is 99 cents per word.

Problem: The bull cost $599 and she only brought $600 with her. How will she be able to notify her sister to hitch the trailer to the pickup truck and drive to the purchase site?

Because she realizes she'll only be able to send her sister one word, she tells the telegrapher to dot-dash out "comfortable.”

The telegraph operator shakes his head. "How is she ever going to know that you want her to hitch the trailer to your pickup truck and drive out here to haul that bull back to your ranch if you send her the word, ‘comfortable?'"

The brunette explains: "My sister's blonde. The word's big. She'll read it slow. - - - - "com-for-da-bull.”

☻☻☻☻☻☻

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