May 25, 2009

The DigestWhat’s Happening at KVCC

What’s below in this edition

Athlete achievers (Page 1) KAFI ‘kamps’ (Pages 7/8) Wind ordinance (Pages 1/2) Off to Tunisia (Pages 8/9) Astronomy Day (Page 2) e-cookbook (Pages 9/10) Wind-energy camp (Page 3) PTK national honors (P-10/11)

A plug in D.C. (Page 3) Our racing legacy (Page 11) 9 in ‘Bridges’ (Pages 3/4) Science fiction (Pages 11/12) Remember July 8 (Page 4) Summer places (Pages 12/13) Auto Academy III (Pages 4/5) Relay for Life (Pages 13/14) Camp 9-1-1 (Pages 5/6) Students in news (Page 14) ‘Green Education’ (Page 6) Motown in our town (P-14/16)

Our ‘Mom’ (Pages 6/7) Wash those paws (Page 16) Exercise ‘Opps’ (Page 7) And Finally (Pages 16/17)

☻☻☻☻☻☻2 Cougar squads in line for Academic Team of the Year honors

Two of KVCC’s athletic teams during the 2008-09 season showed plenty of class in the classroom as well.

They have been nominated for “Academic Team of the Year” through the National Junior College Athletic Association.

The women’s basketball team, coached by Ron Welch, earned a cumulative 3.22 grade-point average during its season. The Lady Cougars posted a 27-7 record while capturing a share of the conference championship and finishing seventh in the Division II national tournament in Peoria, Ill.

The softball team won 22 of 32 games in its conference, good for a third-place finish. Overall, the team, coached by Mike Clark, had a 29-17 record and, in the classroom, earned a 3.14 grade-point average.

Oshtemo nears wind-energy ordinanceThe Oshtemo Township Board of Trustees is advancing an ordinance that will

regulate the size and location of wind-energy turbines in its municipality.

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An initial draft had been tabled by the board in late April because board members admitted that they did not know enough about the machines to make an informed decision.

As a result, Trustee James Grace began meeting with KVCC personnel familiar with wind turbines to gain a better understanding when it comes to regulations. The result was a revised, more detailed version. Final approval could come at the board’s Tuesday (May 26) meeting. Debunking space myths part of Astronomy Day Saturday

Getting as close to the universe’s stellar attractions as possible from Starship Earth’s Kalamazoo base, and de-mything and de-mystifying what’s really out there are among the key attractions for Astronomy Day 2009 on Saturday, May 30.

With free activities shared between the Kalamazoo Valley Museum and the Kalamazoo Nature Center, the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society’s annual salute to the stars and all of the other planetary players above and around us will run from 10 a.m. well into the night.

One of the highlights will be a presentation by Dr. Phil Plait, author of “Bad Astronomy” and “Death from the Skies,” at 7 p.m. at the center’s Coopers Glen Auditorium, 7000 N. Westnedge Ave. He will demolish a wide array of scientific misconceptions and debunk the myths that permeate the universe.

Earlier, he will be at the downtown-Kalamazoo museum for a book-signing stint. That is also where actor/educator Michael Francis will portray Galileo Galilei as part of the 400th anniversary of the scientist’s breakthrough use of an astronomical telescope to probe the skies.

His interactive presentations are timed for 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater.

Among its contribution to Astronomy Day, the museum will offer five free planetarium shows about the night sky. They are set for 11 a.m., noon, 1, 2 and 3 p.m.

Beginning at 10 a.m., the society and the museum will set up telescopes in the adjacent courtyard for people of all ages to safely take closer looks at what is overhead.

Members of the society, which was established in 1936 in Kalamazoo, will have displays of telescopes, Galileo’s discoveries, and astrophotography. Youngsters will have an opportunity to construct their own makeshift telescopes.

After 4 p.m., the scene shifts to the nature center for Plait’s presentation. Tickets are available at the museum during the day and those ducats guarantee a

seat in the auditorium until 6:50 p.m. when the doors will be opened for any other people interested in the commentary.

Following that, Plait will offer a 20-minute talk about the planetary and deep-sky objects such as the ringed-planet of Saturn that will be observable through the telescopes of all shapes and sizes set up out there beginning at nightfall.

People are welcome to come there at 8:30 p.m. to take part in the Astronomy Day’s final act.

“Our intent,” said Richard Bell, who is coordinating the signature event for the society, “is to widen knowledge and appreciation of science – particularly astronomy – among families with school-age children.”

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Funding for Astronomy Day 2009 was provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, the Western Michigan University Department of Physics, the Michigan Space Grant Consortium, and members of the society.

More information is available at http://astroday.kasonline.org/

Wind energy focus of summer campBuilding a scale-model wind turbine will be the capstone project at two summer

camps for youths ranging in age from 12 to 16.Slated to be held at KVCC’s Texas Township Campus, the first session will run

from July 13-16 and the second is Aug. 3-6. The fee is $235.Guiding both camps, which will be in action from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on each of the

four days, will be Trevor Stefanick, a physics instructor at KVCC who has a background in theater and is working on a master’s in astrophysics.

Among the camp activities will be learning about testing for wind speeds, what makes an effective, energy-producing blade for a wind turbine, the state’s wind resources, what are the best locations, how to use the electricity produced by a wind turbine, and the keys to installing an effective unit.

The campers will also hear from one of the KVCC instructors who spent six weeks in Germany being trained on the manufacturing, components and electrical technology that go into producing and operating the giant turbines clustered on wind farms. He and a fellow instructor will begin the college’s national training academy for these units in October.

Camp participants, who will number 15 for each session, will also tour and inspect the 145-foot, 50-kilowatt wind turbine now in operation at the west end of the Texas Township Campus.

To register or to receive more information, call the college’s Wind Energy Center based in the M-TEC of KVCC at 353-1253or visit this web site: www.windenergycenter.kvcc.edu.

Stefanick, a 1997 graduate of Vicksburg High School, worked as a stagehand for Miller Auditorium productions at Western Michigan University for a decade, was involved in Whole Art Theater shows for two years, and created a historical character for performances at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. He has bachelor degrees in theater and physics from WMU.Obama: Community colleges are underappreciated asset

Calling community colleges "one of America's underappreciated assets," President Obama has named Jill Biden, spouse of the vice president and an instructor at a community college, to change that perspective.

She will head a national effort to raise awareness about the Obama administration's plans to open the doors of community colleges to the unemployed and undereducated.

Unemployment should be an opportunity to prepare for a better job, Obama said. "Education is the single best bet we can make," he said, stating that every American should have more than a high school education.

The president is calling for programs to allow unemployed persons to return to school and acquire new and better skills.

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9 crossing ‘Bridges’ to careers in the sciencesNine KVCC minority students are taking advantage of an opportunity to sample

careers in science this summer as part of the National Institutes of Health’s “Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program” through the Western Michigan University Department of Biological Sciences.

They are Micah Dwati, Thomas Kuchta, Heather Brown, Talia Harris, Darryl Corley Jr., Samuel Barajas, Marcus Jennings, Benedicte Diatta and Michael Perez.

In addition to the 30 hours of experience that will pay $11 per hour, students could also be assigned up to 15 hours per week during the 2009-10 academic year.

The mission of “Bridges” is to offer minorities enrolled in community colleges the opportunity to relevantly explore scientific fields, enhance their academic accomplishments in science courses, and smooth the path toward a degree in a science field at a four-year university.

Taking part in this kind of endeavor teaches higher-order thinking skills, which is an important component of anyone’s education. “Bridges,” which promotes institutional collaborations between community colleges and four-year universities, is a function of the National Institute of General Medical Studies, one of the National Institutes of Health.

Joining KVCC in taking part in the NIH Michigan Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program at WMU are Grand Rapids Community College, Henry Ford Community College, Kellogg Community College, and Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor.

The WMU experience focuses on careers as biomedical and behavioral scientists who would spend their working years seeking the causes of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, mental illness, and other biologically impacted maladies.

“Bridges” seeks to nurture minority students to consider careers in these fields because of the growing need for trained scientists in one of the fastest-growing industries in the U. S. economy. Similar programs in Michigan are based at Wayne State University and the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids.

The program liaisons at KVCC are chemistry instructors Robert Sutton and Charissa Oliphant.

Once in 1,000 This won’t happen again for 1,000 years, according to the museum’s Tom Dietz.At five minutes and six seconds after 4 a.m. on July 8, setting up this anomaly:04:05:06 07/08/09.

Application process under way for Auto Academy III Just like the high-tech vehicles that it trains prospective mechanics to maintain, the third edition of the KVCC Automotive Academy is being fine-tuned.

The minimally retooled training program will be shorter in duration, smaller in size, and slightly redesigned in instructional format.

The application process, which is under way now for the academy that begins Nov. 2, has been altered and the brunt of the training will be staged in the KVCC M-TEC, located on the college’s Groves Campus off 9th Street along I-94, instead of at the Texas Township Campus’ automotive facilities.

“There will be no textbook either,” said Cindy Buckley, director of training and development at the M-TEC. “Instead, each student will have access to a laptop computer

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that they can use to surf the Internet for the online maintenance services offered by automotive manufacturers and suppliers.”

Under lead instructor Hector Orlandi, there will also be a shift in instructional format. The first two academies, which ran for 42 weeks, featured a third segment that had enrollees, in effect, running their own repair shop under the guidance of their instructors.

“The new format,” Buckley said about the switch to a 33-week program, “will, instead of a separate auto clinic per se, have that kind of training integrated throughout the instructions. When the students are being trained in brake work, that’s the kind of repairs they will be making right then and there instead of waiting to the end.

“Hector believes that will be a more effective and hands-on way of learning and training,” she said, “because the students will be applying that knowledge quickly instead of waiting until later when there could be a tendency to forget.”

Instead of a peak enrollment of 17, the third academy will be limited to 12 enrollees on a first-come, first-interviewed, first-selected basis.

Applications received by May 29 will be subjected to first-round interviews conducted by academy staff and automotive employers. If a dozen have not been selected by then, a second round of interviews will be scheduled for those applicants who submit their materials by June 30.

Among the selection criteria in the competitive process are the quality of the written applications, a “documented work ethic,” interest in and knowledge of automotive technology, letters of recommendation, and driving records.

Within five days of submitting an application, a prospective enrollee will be notified as to whether he/she has met the basic eligibility criteria and be scheduled for an interview. Notification of acceptance into the academy will also be within a five-day period.

The fee for the third academy, which will run through June 28, 2010, is $9,500. This includes uniforms valued at $300 and $7,000 in high-tech tools that automotive technicians need to function.

“The automotive academy is like a job,” said Orlandi, who has more than 25 years of global experience as an automotive-service technical engineer. “We look for students who can make a full-time commitment, not somebody who will skip a class here and there.”

Beginning on Nov. 2, the enrollees will be in class or in the lab from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays. Stressed will be the eight automotive-knowledge areas that are certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence and preparing students to reach those standards.

Financial aid is available, and scholarship funds awardable through the Kalamazoo Promise also qualify for the KVCC Automotive Academy.

A complete description and application can be downloaded at www.kvcc.edu/training. Then click on “Automotive Technician Academy.” Information is also available by calling (269) 353-1282.New camp targets safety, health for 9, 10, 11 year olds

Healthy living, preventing injuries, dodging dangerous situations, and safety issues are the learning goals for a pair of free one-day camps for children 9 through 11 at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum this summer.

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Sponsored by Life EMS Ambulance Service and open to 25 at each session, “Camp 9-1-1” will convene on Tuesday, July 14, and again on Tuesday, July 28, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. To register, call (269) 373-3116.Among the potential topics will be:

• Traffic and bicycle safety• First aid• Home safety• Self-defense • Reacting to an abduction attempt• Internet safety• Basics of CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation)• Fire-prevention advice• Water safety• Avoiding tobacco products• What to know about dogsAssisting EMS Ambulance Service in providing the instructions are the

Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department, the Michigan State Police, members of local fire departments, Prevention Works Inc., the Kalamazoo County Safe Kids Coalition, the American Heart Association, and Sanchin-Ryu Okinawan Karate.

Keeping track of the participants during each one-day camp will be team leaders who are EMT (emergency medical technology) students, or who are chosen by EMS Ambulance Service from high schools, colleges and youth organizations.

For more information, contact Kimberly Caton of Life EMS Ambulance at (269) 373-3104.

Dawson part of ‘Green’ conference in Grand RapidsThere will be a KVCC presence at a “Green” conference in June that is being

organized by Business Review West Michigan magazine in Grand Rapids.Deborah Dawson, dean of business and advanced technology, will guide the

discussion at a roundtable that looks at the topic of “Green Education.”The magazine’s “Moving Sustainability Forward” forum is slated for Wednesday,

June 3, in the Wege Center Ballroom on the campus of Aquinas College from 7:30 a.m. to noon. The fee is $20. To register, call (269) 388-7015 or go to www.regonline.com/sustainability09.

Other topics include “Greening Cities,” “Manufacturing for Green Industries,” “Green Innovations,” “Greening the Workforce,” “LEED for Neighborhoods,” “Financing Green Innovations,” and “Green Auto: What Is Michigan’s Future?”

Other speakers will represent the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Grand Rapids Community College, and several cities in Southwest Michigan.

Bates in Mothers Day spotlightBonita Bates, director of the Transfer Resource Center and its Focus Program at

KVCC, was featured in The Kalamazoo Gazette’s Mothers Day story on the front page of its May 10 edition.

Written by Stephanie Esters, the article focused on Bates’ continuing efforts to enhance the quality of life for her 29-year-old daughter, Jasmine Robinson, who works as

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an office manager in the Special Education and Literacy Studies Department at Western Michigan University and her two granddaughters.

“Everything thing I do,” Bates told The Gazette, “I’m trying to be a good mother. I’m still working on it, but everything I do is out of love for my children. Like all moms, we want the best for our children.”

A summer full of exercise, wellness opportunitiesNow that you’ve pared off a few pounds so that you look good in your bermudas

and swimming togs, you can stay that way through the summer because of a full regimen of drop-in exercise opportunities.

Here is the lineup for faculty, staff and enrolled students:Monday – swimming from 7 to 8:30 a.m.; yoga from 11 to 11:55 a.m., and core

conditioning (until June 8) from 1:20 to 2:15 p.m.Tuesday – swimming from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; pilates from 11 to 11:55 a.m.;

and body sculpting from noon to 12:55.Wednesday – swimming from 7 to 8:30 a.m. and core conditioning (until June

10) from 1:20 to 2:15 p.m.Thursday – swimming from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and body sculpting from

noon to 12:55 p.m.Except for the obvious site for swimming, these exercise opportunities will be

based in Room 6040 in the Student Commons. Shelia Rupert will be leading the pilates and core-conditioning sessions, Lu

Cannon and Sheri Shon will be sharing body sculpting, and Mark Duval is the yoga meister.

Duval has taught forms of yoga since 1989 at the Kalamazoo Center for Healing Arts and the Portage YMCA. He served as president of the Michigan Yoga Association from 1998 to 2002.

In offering three styles of yoga to participants, Duval will help KVCC’ers build their core strength, improve their flexibility, reduce stress, improve balance, slow the aging process, and speed up recovery from injuries.

Camps for future animators, video-game designersElementary, middle-school and high-school students who were energized by the

creative medium of animation that was showcased at the fifth Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI) and by the lure of video games can sign up for “do-it-yourself” workshops this summer.

Designed for interests and skills of children as young as 9 and through the upper teens, the 13 KAFI Academy workshops will all be held in the KVCC Center for New Media in downtown Kalamazoo beginning June 22.

Costs for the multi-day series of instructions and hands-on activities range from $150 to $275.

Here’s the summer-camp schedule: ● Audio Lab – June 22-25, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., ages 9 and up. This will teach the

skills to manipulate audio, create podcasts and make music.● Graphic Novel and Comic Art Foundations I – June 22-25 from 1 to 5 p.m.,

ages 13 and up. Students will develop characters, create storylines and prepare ideas for production.

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● Graphic Novel and Comic Art Production II – June 29-July 2, from 1 to 5 p.m., ages 13 and up.

● Character and Comic Lab – June 29-July 2, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., ages 9 and up. This workshop will take a look at what makes a good video game, movie and comic strip, with participants giving life to their imaginations.

● Introduction to Video Game Development – June 29-July 2, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., for ages 14 and up.

● Guerilla Filmmaking – July 6-9, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., ages 11 and up. Learning the basics of shooting and editing for the screen.

● Squash and Stretch Lab: The Magic of the Bouncing Ball – July 6-9, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., ages 9 and up. Participants will learn how animation works and how to create it starting with the basics.

● Animation I: Fundamentals – July 13-16, noon to 5 p.m., ages 14 and up.● Animation II: Production – July 20-23, noon to 5 p.m., ages 14 and up.● Animation III: Putting It Together – July 27-30, noon to 5 p.m., ages 14 and

up.● Claymation Creation Lab – July 13-16, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., ages 9 and up.

Participants will learn how to construct characters in clay and animate them. ● Stop Motion Lab – July 20-23, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., ages 9 and up. For

young animators who like to “think out of the box” and explore different modes and forms of animation.

● Filmmaking: The Cutting-Room Floor – July 27-30, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., ages 11 and up. This session explores advanced shooting, lighting and editing skills.

All of the workshops are project-based, and each participant will leave with a finished product to take home.

The week-long workshops are structured to allow participants to continue their efforts at home if they have the required computer software.

For more information and details about each workshop, or to register, call (269) 373-7934 or go to the KAFI web site at www.gokafi.com and click on “events” and “summer academy.”

Sharing the instructional duties will be: Tom Ludwig, who teaches film and video production in the Education for the

Arts program. Aubrey Jewel Hardaway, a full-time instructor of animation at the Center for

New Media and a graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design. Kenjji Marshall, who has taught cartooning and caricature at the College for

Creative Studies in Detroit and has had his work featured in the New York Times and the Japan Times.

Joe Sparks, a faculty member at the Center for New Media and a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design in computer animation.

John Wagner, a major in digital cinema at Northern Michigan University who manages the technology lab for Education for the Arts.

‘From KVCC to Tunisia’ earns some pressKVCC spring graduate Anthony Chase’s upcoming summer adventure in Tunisia

merited a major feature article in the May 19 Gazette.

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The coverage was on the heels of the home-schooled Chase being awarded a U. S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to spend the summer of 2009 in the North African nation flanked by Algeria and Libya.

According to Julia Phelan Sylla, assistant director of the Critical Language Scholarship Program in the department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the scholarship program was established in 2006 to increase the opportunities for American students to be trained in critically needed languages overseas.

Chase will be among more than 500 Americans studying Arabic, Indic, Turkic, Chinese, Persian, Korean and Russian languages. Chosen from 5,400 applicants, they will spend seven to 10 weeks in a dozen nations and be involved in intensive linguistic training.

“The program is part of a wider U. S. government effort to dramatically expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical-need languages,” Sylla said.

Chase, who will be admitted into the University of Michigan’s Residential College in the fall, is planning a career in the foreign service with an emphasis on the Middle East. He is a graduate of the KVCC Honors Program.

He’s getting some practical knowledge about that part of the world and the Arabic language by working part time at the Tiffany Party Store, which is owned by Iraqi-American brothers Saad and Habib Mandwee and is located at the top of West Main Hill in central Kalamazoo.

Chase told Gazette reporter Stephanie Esters that he plans to immerse himself in the language and culture of that part of the world, travel to Carthage, and take a boat trip around the Mediterranean.

Regarding his experience at KVCC, Chase said:“Community college has really gotten a bad rap sometimes, and a lot of students

go there and they just become disillusioned. They don’t feel like they’re going anywhere.“I feel like what I’ve experienced – and what many of my peers have experienced

– is that we can really go in any direction, and community colleges are really incredible institutions.

“And, unlike many of the larger universities, you have smaller class sizes and some really, really incredible instructors at KVCC.”

A new way to get recipes from the pastChannon Mondoux, who specializes as a gourmet chef by recreating cuisines

from history, has gone futuristic in distributing her secrets – an interactive electronic cookbook.

The spouse of KVCC’s assistant director of planning, research and assessment, Dan Mondoux, describes "Celebration at the Sarayi: Reliving a Feast in the Palace of Suleyman the Magnificent" as a multi-media, interactive cookbook  “where you can travel back in time and relive a feast at Istanbul's famed Topkapi Palace.

“You will hear the storyteller's descriptions of the palace milieu,” she says, “see a backdrop of historical images, review the original historical sources and watch me demonstrate techniques for dishes I adapted for a modern kitchen. Then you can print out the recipes and head to the kitchen to create your own fabulous feast.”

It is available in a CD for $24 or as a down-loadable PDF file ($19) online at www.rencuisine.com (go to the E-books tab on the left side of the screen). Another source is www.tecpublishing.com.

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Mondoux’s e-book was featured in a Kalamazoo Gazette article that preceded a May 21 presentation she made at the Kalamazoo Public Library. It features the oldest known Turkish recipes in existence. Local actors are used to tell Arabic stories, musicians do the same, while period art adds to the ambiance.

The e-book won a silver medal from Living Now Book Awards, which recognizes books for their innovation and creativity. She made a similar presentation for the Culinary Historians of Chicago earlier and the Turkish Cultural Foundation will be sponsoring her on a tour of that nation this fall.

Mondoux was a finalist in the $25,000 cupcake competition in The Food Network’s “The Ultimate Recipe Showdown” that was aired last year. Her entry was a 4-inch-in-diameter gingerbread cupcake covered with brandy sauce and whipped orange-flower cream.

Born in Canada, she prepares food at The Fetzer Institute, owns a personal-catering company called Renaissance Cuisine, and writes free-lance articles about her profession for The Gazette.

A cook since childhood and tutored by a grandmother, she was trained by the Canadian Personal Chef Association and completed a variety of classes from Le Cordon Bleu in Montreal.

She also studied under a Lebanese restaurateur, learning the subtleties of Arabic cooking and gaining an appreciation for the foods of the Middle East.

More than a decade ago, she began to study the cuisines of history, which led to recreating famed dinners from the past as part of fund-raising events for nonprofits.

Channon now offers her services as a culinary historian for both private and public events. She is also known for her theories of healthy foods.

PTK chapter honored in TexasKVCC’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter, which organized the May 9 “Green

Revolution” awareness-building event on campus, brought home a pair of top awards at the organization’s 2009 international convention in Grapevine, Texas, last month.

According to adviser Natalie Patchell, the Alpha Rho Nu chapter was recognized as being among the top 100 PTK units in the nation and also received a Leadership Hallmark Award for its activities and community service during the 2008-09 academic year.

Five chapters in Michigan also made the honor roll of 100 – Wayne Community College in Detroit, St. Clair Community College in Port Huron, Macomb Community College in Warren, Schoolcraft College in Livonia and Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City.

The Hallmark is the society's capstone awards competition annually that recognizes excellence in programs that promote scholarship, leadership, service and fellowship. Among the 25 that received the Hallmark Leadership, the only other Michigan chapter is based at St. Clair.

Patchell cited the KVCC chapter’s leaders for its success, mentioning Brie Koster, Andrew Schultz, Stephanie Strong, Megan Lipp, Steve Askew, Allison Walker, Tori Enos, and Joyce Hays.

The international honor society of the two-year college has recognized academic excellence since 1918. The society is comprised of more than 1,250 chapters at community, technical and junior colleges in all 50 of the United States, in Canada,

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Germany, U.S. territories, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Palau and the British Virgin Islands, making it the largest and most prestigious honor society serving two-year colleges.

Membership is based primarily upon academic achievement. The organization offers a myriad of opportunities for scholarships, intellectual enrichment and personal development through programs based on the society's Hallmarks.Kalamazoo’s horse-racing legacy is PMN feature this month

Horse racing, Kalamazoo’s first organized sport, will be traced from its origins to its current trappings in the May segment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s TV show.

Featuring Tom Dietz, the curator of research at the museum, it is being aired by the Public Media Network (formerly the Community Access Center) on Channel 22 on the Charter cable system at 7 p.m. on Sundays, 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. on Fridays, and 11 a.m. on Saturdays.

For a century or so, Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo County was a hotbed of horse-racing enthusiasm. The pioneer village had barely adapted to the change in name from Bronson to Kalamazoo when local men in 1838 laid out a rough race course on the southern edge of what was the community at that time.

The one-mile course was bounded by Lovell, Park, Burr Oak and John streets.That was quickly followed by a second enterprise known as the Axtell or Burr

Oak Track, a half-mile course that was organized by such prominent Kalamazooans as Charles Stuart, Justus Burdick, and Dr. Sylvester Axtell, and hosted harness racing over a 20-year period.

It featured generous purses, lucrative enough to attract well-known horses such as Flora Temple, the most famous trotter of her day.

Springing from the sport’s enormous popularity were even larger, more elaborate racing facilities such as National Driving Park and Recreation Park. The National Horse Association of Kalamazoo was organized. By the early 20th century, Kalamazoo would be an annual stop on the Grand Circuit of harness racing, the “major leagues” of the sport of kings.

Flora Temple broke what was considered the unbeatable mile record of two minutes and 20 seconds at the National Driving Park, a mark that was pooh-poohed on the East Coast because it happened in some place called Kalamazoo.

Most standard-bred race horses (trotters and pacers) share the blood lines of Peter the Great, a famous trotter who was born on what are now the grounds of Western Michigan University.

Dietz’s program will chronicle the fascinating history of horse racing in Kalamazoo and profile the horses that gave the city a national reputation for fine standard-bred horses.

Dietz has been working with the PMN and its video productions coordinator Katie Reid to film monthly episodes that showcase an episode of Southwest Michigan history and the artifacts that help tell the story of this part of Michigan.

Science fiction is course offering in fallScience fiction and fantasy, which often evolves into scientific facts, will be

explored in a new fall-semester course at KVCC.

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Taught by Nicole Bauman from 1 to 4:50 p.m. on Wednesdays, the course (English 217) will delve into Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and C. S. Lewis’ chronicles, as well as short stories by Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke among others.

“We will take an historical survey of some literary masterpieces of science fiction written for both adults and children,” says Bauman, who has been teaching at KVCC since 2006. “We will begin the semester with ‘Frankenstein,’ arguably the first science-fiction novel. From there we will cover a sampling of classic and contemporary works including H.G. Wells’ ‘The Time Machine,’ Lewis’ ‘Out of the Silent Planet,’ Madeleine L’Engle’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time,’ and Orson Scott Card’s ‘Ender’s Game.’

“This course is designed for both the die-hard science-fiction fan and those new to the genre,” said Bauman, who has an undergraduate degree from Hillsdale College and a master’s from Eastern Michigan University. “Because devotees of science fiction will begin the class with their own favorite authors, I will allow students to select a novel or movie to review for their written project. We also will study science fiction as adapted for both movies and television.”

Prior to coming to KVCC, Bauman worked as an assistant director of admission at Northern Michigan University and served as president of the Michigan Association for College Admission Counseling from 2004-2006. Twice she lobbied in Washington for higher-education issues such as increased funding for the Federal Pell Grant. She has also taught at Macomb Community College and St. Clair County Community College.

Famed local resorts next topic in museum’s TV showKalamazoo County’s heyday as a hotbed of summer resorts, amusement parks,

fairs and festivals is the June installment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s TV show.Featuring Tom Dietz, the curator of research at the museum, the episode will

chronicle the major attractions from 1850 through 1950 and will be aired by the Public Media Network (formerly the Community Access Center) on Channel 22 on the Charter cable system at 7 p.m. on Sundays, 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. on Fridays, and 11 a.m. on Saturdays.

A century ago, Gull Lake was filled with resorts, dance halls, hotels, and vacation cottages for rent. Steamboats offered relaxing cruises, often with bands providing musical entertainment in the evening. Dietz will trace some of the early enterprises, including 25-cent rides on the steamboat Michigan.

Vacationers were transported on the interurban light-rail system from both Kalamazoo and Battle Creek and by 1905 more than a dozen resorts lined Gull Lake.

Automobiles as well as the interurban, while providing more people with access to Gull Lake, hastened the end of the public resorts. The construction of private homes replaced both the resorts and cottage associations that offered vacation rentals.

Sherman Lake offered another option for those looking for summer relaxation. In the 1930s, Jesse Graine of Kalamazoo and George Hill of Battle Creek opened Silver Beach for African-Americans on the north shore near today’s public-access site.

In southern Kalamazoo County, Indian Lake was also the site of summer resorts beginning in the 1890s with Lemon Park that in time had its own stop on the Chicago and Grand Trunk railroad.

Lemon Park remained popular until the 1940s as did Adams Park and Munn’s Knoll that opened in the early 20th century.

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Within what are now the city limits of Kalamazoo, Woods Lake offered summer recreational opportunities. Oakwood Park was a full amusement attraction with a roller coaster, skating rink, dance hall, penny arcade, concession stand, and band shell.

Originally known as Lake View, it opened on July 5, 1893, and for more than 30 years Oakwood Park was the “Coney Island” of Kalamazoo.

The Oakland Avenue street-car line brought visitors to the entrance on Parkview Avenue. During the park’s heyday, street cars arrived and departed every 10 minutes. Extra cars were added for special events.

In July 1912, for example, the traveling “Pilbeam’s Great Historical Show” staged a re-creation of the Civil War battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac for five consecutive nights. The show was so popular that the Orcutt Post of the Grand Army of the Republic changed its annual picnic date so that members could attend the program.

Oakwood Park closed in 1925. Relay for Life team still has Sunday-morning vacancies

KVCC is participating in the 2009 Relay for Life, the annual fund-raiser of the Kalamazoo County Chapter of the American Cancer Society, and the Cougar team is looking for at least 60 staff, faculty and students to take part in the quest to raise $3,500.

This year’s event will be staged on Saturday and Sunday, May 30-31, over a 24-hour period from 11 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds, which will be open for the entire duration of the event.

KVCC’ers, along with their friends and family, can camp on the grounds and take turns walking or running the track over the 24-hour period.

Co-captains Mary Johnson, Lynne Morrison and Ruth Baker are also coordinating a returnable-can/container collection as part of the fund-raiser.

“We need one or two walkers at 4 a.m. to 5 on Sunday,” Morrison said. “All other time slots are full but everyone is welcome to come and walk a lap or two any way as well as join the festivities.”

Team members so far include Morrison and family, Johnson and family. Marylan Hightree and family, Ruth Baker and family, Brian Graening and daughters, Sue and Dennis Hollar, Kim Ameluxen, Sue Commissaris, and Robert Sutton.

Other KVCC Relayers include Katie Pitcher, Carolle Haseman, Carolyn Brownell, Mark Sigfrids, Catie West, Laurie Dykstra, LaJoyce Brooks, Diana Haggerty, Amy Triemstra, Haley Crites, Dana Martin, Dave Hughes, Tasia Hayes, Jane Westra, Kellie Hungerford, Ronnie Brooks, Theresa Hollowell, Bonnie Tucker, Sharra Poncil, and Montiella Robertson.

Plus – Karen Harris, Barry Chapman, Ezra Bell, Ann Lindsay, Bonita Bates, Amber Huston, Casey James, Ebba Spyke, Colleen Olson, Lena Marie Cool, and Valerie Jones.

Receptacles for the 10-centers are located in the Texas Township Campus cafeteria, the technical wing, the Student Commons and the faculty lounge.

While the teams are coming together for a very serious issue - - the fight against cancer - - there is a great deal of fun and camaraderie for teams of family, friends and co-workers who choose to camp out for the entire event.

“Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times as a reminder that cancer never sleeps,” Johnson said.

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There is entertainment and family activities, plus the victory lap by survivors and the luminaria ceremony at dusk that remembers those that have faced cancer.

To sign up as a participant and walk with Team KVCC or pick up a donation packet, contact Johnson at extension 4182 or stop by her office in the Student Commons. Morrison can be reached at 4164 and Baker at 4492.

The walking times can be viewed online at http://classes.kvcc.edu/relay.The Relay for Life supports those who have lost a loved one, offers

encouragement to those who are currently battling the disease, and celebrates life with those who have survived.

But most of all, it is an inspiration to all who participate. All dollars raised go toward supporting services for cancer patients and their

families, providing education and early-detection programs, and funding cancer research.Kalamazoo is one of more than 4,000 communities across the continent that stage

Relay for Life events in the fight against cancer. More than $1 billion has been raised. Spotlight on KVCC students

Current and prospective KVCC students and volunteers have been in the news lately.

Cassie Lynn Rowland, who belongs to the college’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter, was among the 25 who received Young Women of Achievement awards from the YWCA of Kalamazoo on May 14. She also tutors elementary-school students at the Portage Community Center and has served as an aide at the Miracle Camp.

Elizabeth Houghton of Loy Norrix High School and Elena Stachew of Portage Central High School were also honored at the annual event. Among their community service is working as volunteers at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

Two future KVCC students were named as their schools’ finalists for the Bernard Family Tennis Scholarships that are worth $2,500. Tricia DeMint of Portage Central High School plans to eventually study dietetics at Eastern Michigan University. Cassandra DeLisle of Vicksburg High School is eying a nursing career. Among the criteria, in addition to being a varsity tennis player, is a commitment to education.

Featured in a Kalamazoo Gazette article in the May 16 City Life edition was KVCC enrollee B. J. Holmes of Kalamazoo. The article chronicled how he is pursuing his love of art with learning the science of metalworking in a program based at the Smartshop, located at 516 W. North St. It is an eight-week program that can lead to an apprenticeship and work on a community-based project.

Exhibit brings bit of Motown to KalamazooRunning through Sept. 27 in the first-floor gallery, the Kalamazoo Valley

Museum’s exhibit of “Meet the Velvelettes” features costumes, memorabilia, and photographs that tell the quartet’s story as individual women, and their historical context as part of Motown’s “Hitsville U.S.A.” phenomenon that brought black music into the mainstream.

“Meet the Velvelettes” is sponsored by the KVCC Foundation and coincides with the 50th anniversary of this genre of music.

While riding a wave of popularity as the Motor City recording company’s No. 1 female singing group, the quartet followed the advice of Motown mogul Berry Gordy. “Where Did Our Love Go?,” a song ticketed to become part of The Velvelettes’

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repertoire, was instead assigned to another group. Diana Ross and The Supremes never looked back.

Yet, neither has any of The Velvelettes. Two of them based in Kalamazoo followed other career paths and gave up the glitz of show business for the strong family values that shaped them.

But they have recharged their singing batteries enough to take their act to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and England’s distant shores.

Barbee-McNeal, raised in Flint and a pianist since the age of 9, formed a singing group with cousins and sang gigs around the community. They even cut a record.

When college called, the group broke up. She chose Western Michigan University because of the reputation of its music school. In the fall of 1962, she and new-found friends won a $25 talent contest on campus as the five-member Velvelettes -- Mildred “Milly” Gill (Arbor), a graduate of Kalamazoo Central High School, and sister Carolyn “Cal” (Street), then a student at Loy Norrix High School; friend Betty Kelley of Kalamazoo, who was destined to be part of Motown’s Martha and the Vandellas; and Barbee-McNeal’s cousin Norma in Flint.

In the audience that evening was a student who mentioned a new recording studio in Detroit might be interested in the smooth style of The Velvelettes. The student was Gordy’s nephew.

In December of 1962, the minister-father of Cal and Milly drove four-fifths of the quintet to Detroit during an ungodly snow storm. It was a cold day and a cold call. They didn’t know where the Motown studio was, and Gordy’s staff had no clue who was stopping by that gloomy Saturday.

A receptionist gave the group the cold shoulder until, walking out the door, Barbee-McNeal encountered the producer who had orchestrated her first group’s record back in Flint. Nothing like being in the right place at the right time.

The Velvelettes, the first act from outside Detroit to be signed by Motown, got into the door because somebody was coming through the door. They began crossing paths regularly with the likes of The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Four Tops, Mary Wells, Marvin Gaye, Jackie Wilson, The Supremes, and a kid named Stevie Wonder. By 1964, The Velvelettes were the typical quartet as Kelley joined Martha Reeves’ popular group.

Gordy’s operation did it all, from booking the shows to buying outfits. Very important was for his performers to pass muster with “The Charm School Lady,” Maxine Powell. As a one-woman den mother, coach, disciplinarian and chaperone, she taught Gordy’s “family” the social graces, how to be in show business, how to act professionally, how to sit, walk, talk and use your hands, and how to be interviewed.

None of the Kalamazoo-based Velvelettes gave up their schooling for a full shot at show business. Bertha and Milly stayed on as WMU students, and Cal completed high school. They were the only Motowners either still in college or high school.

When “Needle in a Haystack” made it to No. 13 in the nation, The Velvelettes jumped to the big time, garnering the ultimate honor — a call from Dick Clark to appear on his TV show. The quartet was also part of one of Clark’s star-studded tours that included Bobby Freeman, Johnny Tillotson, Brian Hyland, The Drifters, and Lou Christie.

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With “Needle in a Haystack” doing well, the group was called into Gordy’s lush office. A composer ticketed “Where Did Our Love Go?” for the Velvelettes, but because The Supremes hadn’t gone up the ladder quite as far, Gordy asked whether the song could be given to the Ross trio. Sure, no big deal.

The focus shifted to The Supremes when the song went to No. 1, the first of five in a row for the group.

After being knee-deep in the Motown thing for nearly five years, show business and its grind started to get a little old for three members. Bertha, Milly and Norma hung up their hip-hugging costumes in 1965, while Cal, who had married one of The Temptations, stayed in the business for another three years.

The Velvelettes each went separate ways — marriage, motherhood, divorce and careers. Cal was working at The Upjohn Co., Bertha was teaching choir in the Kalamazoo Public Schools, Milly was a registered nurse in Flint, and Norma was a marketing director for a hotel in her home town.

However, on occasions, they polished up the act and performed, especially when rock ‘n’ roll’s nostalgia era arrived with the explosion of “Oldies But Goodies” radio stations.

By 1986, they were back in Detroit as part of a retro look at the legacy of Motown, singing with many of the studio’s legends at the splashy Fox Theater. A year later, they toured England with Martha and the Vandellas. The Velvelettes were part of the billing in June of 1998 when Motown brought all of the biggies back for its 40th anniversary. The museum’s new exhibition is part of the

golden-anniversary celebration. Howard Hughes had the right idea after all

With the swine flu hopscotching across the continent, along with all kinds of other microbes that are up to no good, it might behoove all of us to become shadows of the famed eccentric Howard Hughes.

He was maniacally concerned with cleanliness and washed his hands about every three seconds.

Not such a bad idea with water fountains, door handles, desks and telephones teaming with enough viruses to infect an entire company with one person's cold or flu virus.

Not enough people wash their hands to protect themselves and even fewer wash as a courtesy to others.

The Golden Rule should be mandatory in these cases.

And finally. . . “He said that she said that he had halitosis.“She said that he said it’s true for some girls, too.”Remember that TV ditty that promoted Listerine?Well, it might be urban legend or Internet myth, but the sweet-smelling

word is out that Listerine can be pure halitosis on mosquitoes, too. According to one source, a fellow was at a deck party and the dive-

bombers were having a ball stinging everyone. The host sprayed the lawn and deck floor with Listerine, and the little demons disappeared.

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Wanting to verify the results, the witness filled a 4-ounce spray bottle and used it around his outdoor seat whenever he saw mosquitoes. And voila! It also worked around the food table at a picnic and at some standing water.

Supposedly, the stuff we swish around in our mouths kills the little buggers instantly. Gosh, what does it do to our mouth?

Reportedly, a big bottle of the mouthwash costs much less than the anti-skeeter spray you buy at the hardware and its effects last longer.

Caveat -- don't spray directly on a wood door, but spray around the frame. Spray around the window frames, and even inside the dog house.

☻☻☻☻☻☻

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