October Facets

FACETS

October 2019

The magazine for women.

Reducing your risk of Breast Cancer Wall mural coming soon to downtown Ames

Phillips brings message of kindness to MGMC event

FACETS 2 | FACETS | OCTOBER 2019

The magazine for women.

Contributors

MARLYS BARKER RONNA FAABORG DAVID MULLEN KYLEE MULLEN ROBBIE SEQUEIRA

ADVERTISERS To advertise in Facets magazine, contact Mary Beth Scott at (515) 663-6951

Design

CHELSEA PARKS

ADDRESS 317 Fifth St. Ames, IA, 50010

Tribune Editor

EMAIL news@amestrib.com

MICHAEL CRUMB

PHONE (515) 663-6923

ONLINE www.amestrib.com/sections/ special-sections/facets Facets is a monthly publication of GateHouse Media Iowa Holdings.

Crystal Stone received the special award for first-time entrants in the Iowa Poetry Association’s 74th edition of “Lyrical Iowa,” an annual poetry anthology.

Photo by Kylee Mullen/GateHouse Iowa see PAGE 14 & 15

ON THE COVER

Nicole Phillips Photo by Ann Fredricks Photography see PAGE 21-23

FACETS Table of contents Features 6

Nevada mom

9

Your Fence is Broken

has started a ‘hobby business’ with lots of growth opportunities

Nicole Phillips

21 Phillips brings message of kindness MGMC event

Spotlight 4 ACCESS raises funds 5

Iowan’s with disabilities gain independence

11 Wall mural coming to downtown Ames 14 Ames poets 18 Breast cancer: Reducing your risk 20 Breast cancer: When to call a doctor

FACETS | OCTOBER 2019 | 3

Spotlight

ACCESS raising funds for Ames shelter repairs

By Kylee Mullen GateHouse Iowa

ACCESS Assault Care Center is raising money to repair one of its shelters in Ames.

The fundraising campaign, called Frame Our Future, is to replace and repair windows and a sliding-glass door that were incorrectly installed, causing rot and other damage.

ACCESS will run the campaign and subsequent repairs in two phases.

Kristen Daily, ACCESS assistant director said the damage became apparent during an inspection. The fundraising campaign will help to not only fix the issue but prevent future damage from taking place.

“We didn’t know it when we bought it, but there’s a lot of dry rot and damage because of the water,” she said. “Every little bit that folks can give helps.”

The first phase of the campaign, addressing the most immediate needs of replacing already-rotten windows, seeks to raise $9,000 by Oct. 31. The organization has, so far, received a $1,000 donation toward that goal from the Saint Cecilia’s Parish social justice committee.

Daily hopes to start and complete the first phase this fall.

The second phase, Daily said, is a “larger goal” to raise $40,000 to replace all of the windows that were not already rotten and the sliding glass doors. She said the repairs during this phase are “more preventative,” and they will begin fundraising for that goal in the spring with hopes to complete the final repairs by fall 2020.

According to ACCESS, the organization’s mission is to “address the roots and impact of domestic and sexual violence through services that enhance safety, empower survivors, and promote understanding and social justice” within the community.

The organization provides a variety of services to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, including counseling, housing and shelter assistance, support groups and crisis response services. ACCESS serves Story, Boone, Greene, Tama and Marshall counties.

All shelter locations are confidential, and are part of a scattered-site shelter model developed by ACCSES in 2016.

Daily said this provides families in need more privacy. They have three shelter locations in Story County and one in Marshall County, with 18 beds available.

“We are really hoping that people will help us with supporting the shelter, whether that be help financially through donating to the campaign, or we are open to other creative solutions if people are willing to donate materials or labor. We would be open to having that conversation, as well,” Daily said.

For questions, information or to make a donation, Daily said people can call the center at (515) 292-0500 or visit the organization’s website at www.assaultcarecenter.org.

The fundraising campaign, called Frame Our Future, is to replace and repair windows and a sliding-glass door that were incorrectly installed, causing rot and other damage. Photo by Kylee Mullen/GateHouse Iowa 4 | FACETS | OCTOBER 2019

Spotlight

Pilot program aims to help Iowans with disabilities gain independence With an estimated 18 percent of Story County residents suffering from a disability, Ames-based Iowa Able Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing financial and everyday assistance for Iowa’s disabled — will be launching a pilot program in Story County designed to help alleviate the financial burdens for Iowans with disabilities in need of assistive technology.

The program will be launched in January 2020, and counties, Black Hawk and Polk will also be among the first three counties to participate in the program.

Assistive technology is defined as any item, piece of equipment or product system, used to increase, maintain or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities — including but not limited to wheelchairs, hearing aids, ramps.

Anna Magnusson, executive director for IowaAble said that clearing financial barriers for Iowans with disabilities is an ever-present challenge but a chief goal for the foundation.

“There are so many obstacles facing Iowans with disabilities, and when you consider how hard it is to maintain a financial or individual independence — there is an area where IowaAble is finding a way to serve those in need, best,” Magnusson said.

The one-year pilot program aims to improve the loan process by expanding loan options for Iowans with disabilities, adopting a sliding-scale interest rate and forgivable loan option for assistive technology, as well as, implementing a program that coaches clients through a financial empowerment program.

Currently, Iowa Able assists clients with home and vehicle modification for those with physical disabilities, access to support animals, self-employment options and credit building.

“For people with disabilities, including the aging, having the appropriate assistive technology can mean more independent and productive lives,” said Page Eastin, Iowa Able Foundation board member and Vision and Mission Committee Member. “We know that locating funding often creates a barrier to acquiring needed assistive technology devices and services. This is why we are so excited about creating an Assistive Technology forgivable loan option for those who qualify.”

The program aims to diversify its applicant pool as well, looking to serve any Iowans from disabilities from veterans to single-parents to refugees to the aging population.

“Our goal is to provide a service for anyone struggling with a disability to find a service through this program,” Magnusson said. “The struggles that are affecting Iowans with disabilities range from not having enough income to get through the day to being denied financial assistance due to a bulk of obstacles. We want to find a way to break those down and provide comfortable access for residents in Story County.”

Iowa Able Foundation is seeking community input and support during the planning and implementation phases

of launching the pilot programs in January 2020, and Magnusson hopes to iron out some wrinkles before the January launch date.

“We are going to take an extensive look at all of these programs, fine-tune them, and make sure that before launch, that are serving the needs of those who need it,” she said. “Our main mission is to serve as many Iowans with disabilities as possible and not have to say no to anyone based on affordability.”

By Robbie Sequeira GateHouse Iowa

Access to assistive technology, including wheelchairs, hearing aids or ramps, can be limited for Iowans with disabilities in tough financial situation. Iowa Able hopes their pilot program that launches in Story County in 2020 can help break down those financial hurdles.

Photo by Robbie Sequeira/GateHouse Iowa

FACETS | OCTOBER 2019 | 5

Feature

Angie Fritz stands in her “U-Pick” flower garden that is located on her property south of Nevada. The flower garden is one part of her new Half-Thyme business. Photo by Marlys Barker/GateHouse Iowa

Nevada mom has started a ‘hobby business’ with lots of growth opportunities

By Marlys Barker GateHouse Iowa

Out in the country, just over a mile south of Nevada, something exciting is growing.

It’s a new type of business model that is also a much-loved hobby. Angie Fritz, 40, a native of Colo and a graduate of Iowa State University who works full-time as the Director of Finance for Emerson in Marshalltown, has started Half-Thyme Company.

“Half-Thyme Company is really kind of a garden-to-home lifestyle company,” she recently explained. “My vision is for it to have a couple of different legs.”

One of those legs is a “U-Pick” flower garden that sits out in front of the beautiful home that her husband, Jeromy (who also grew up in Colo) and his brother, Matt, who have Fritz Builders, constructed.

The garden this year contains 40 varieties of annuals. “I have a lot of zinnias, sunflowers, some cosmos… those are the popular ones,” she said.

“It’s designed to be self-sufficient with an ‘on your honor’ pay system,” Fritz said. “We have a stand set up with all the tools needed to cut fresh flowers. We have pitchers, and it’s all the flowers you can fit 6 | FACETS | OCTOBER 2019

in (a pitcher) with water.”

People are asked to pay $15 each time they come to cut fresh flowers.

That payment can be deposited into a fully secured money box near the garden or people can pay online.

The peak season for the flower garden, which is open to people from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. seven days a week, is mid-July through mid-September, but there still may be time for some beauties this year. “It all depends on weather conditions,” as to how long flowers will be available, Fritz said.

Another “leg” of Half-Thyme is holding garden-related workshops.

“That started this past spring,” said Fritz, who is a certified Story County Master Gardener. She took the Extension class with her mom, Sharon Wilson, back in 2006.

So far, she said, “I’ve taught all of the workshops.” But, she will consider bringing in others to teach certain topics in the future.

Her first two workshops, taught this past spring, were on building a fairy garden and herb gardening. Some of the workshops that are coming up this fall include flower arranging and a workshop called

NEVADA MOM, continued from page 6

Feature

This sign sits along 19th Street, about 1 1/2 miles south of Nevada, at the entrance to the Angie and Jeromy Fritz property, where a U-Pick flower garden is located and where other workshops on gardening have and will continue to be held. Photo by Marlys Barker/GateHouse Iowa “Succulent Pumpkin,” where Fritz will show attendees how to make a decorative fall pumpkin centerpiece.

Fritz said she was introduced to gardening by her grandfather, Richard “Short” Wilson, who had a big vegetable garden in Colo.

Tomatoes and potatoes were some of his biggest crops, but he grew a little of everything, she said. “My mom also had a vegetable garden when we were younger.”

As a busy career woman, Fritz said gardening is a great escape.

“I have found gardening to be this relaxing thing that I can do,” she said. And she grows her vegetables in 11 raised beds in her back yard.

“We have a lot of walnut trees out here, and they let off a toxin… so having raised beds allows me to control the soil.” Good soil means everything, she added.

The idea of turning her favorite pastime into a business has been on her mind for years, she admitted. “I love just connecting with people, and as a businessperson, I love the idea of building something.”

She started by marketing online and on social media, and it’s worked.

“We hosted a grand opening event recently and I was so tickled with the turnout … probably 50 people stopped by during the event,” she said.

She hopes that little by little, word will spread and she’ll catch the eye of more people. A video she did online already caught the eye of people working on the 2020 Home and Garden Show in Des Moines.

“I was contacted to be a stage presenter in February,” she said.

Her “hobby business” has her constantly thinking of new ideas. “I’m planning to launch an online gardening club this coming year in late winter, early spring. I would like to structure it with a subscription model.” She encourages people to watch for more information about this in the near future.

Fritz is excited to see where the hobby-business journey takes her. As a mother of two teenagers — Hannah a junior and Dylan a freshman — she knows that her empty nest years will be coming before long and that this is something she can continue to work on and enjoy. “The current (business) model isn’t changing our lives,” she said, yet she knows there is a lot of room for this business to grow. “I’d like to see it become something worthwhile… I really want FACETS | OCTOBER 2019 | 7

people to come out and see what it’s all about.”

People can learn more about what’s going on at Half-Thyme by following her page on Facebook and following Half-Thyme on Instagram. You can also email her at: info@half-thymecompany.com.

This cart, near the flower garden at HalfThyme, provides everything needed for customers to come and pick fresh flowers any day of the week. The cost is $15 each time you visit, and there’s a secure cash box to deposit cash into or people can pay on the company’s website, www. half-thymecompany.com. Photo by Marlys Barker/GateHouse Iowa

8 | FACETS | OCTOBER 2019

Feature

Nicole Phillips’ GoldenDoodle, Dakota, stretches out on a couch in the Phillips family’s home.

Photo by Ann Fredricks Photography

Your Fence is Broken

By Nicole Phillips

When we moved into our house four years ago, we hired a company to install an underground invisible fence in our yard. We wanted to keep our beloved GoldenDoodle, Dakota, safe from cars on the road and we wanted to keep our neighbors’ yards safe from Doodle doody.

We put a special collar on Dakota and walked her slowly and gently around the yard, demonstrating where she could and couldn’t venture.

She’s a smart dog and got the gist of the game in less than an hour.

Four years later, when she’s wearing her special collar, she knows she can’t leave the yard. Not even if a super exciting squirrel is provoking her from a forbidden tree. She’ll stand there and bark, but she won’t leave our yard.

But here’s the thing, the fence is broken. It hasn’t worked in about two years and I’m too cheap to get it fixed, because Dakota doesn’t

know it’s broken.

When we put on her special collar, she still believes she will get hurt if she goes beyond the boundary.

I’m wondering if you have an invisible fence in your yard. Not your real yard, but the yard in your mind. Is there something someone once told you you couldn’t do and now you blindly believe them?

Maybe that person told you “no” to keep you safe, or because it was best for them or because they were flat out mean. There are lots of reasons people set up fences for us.

I had an art teacher in third grade who returned my brilliant watercolor with a big red C at the top. Now, more than 30 years later, I still believe I’m terrible at anything artistic. I don’t even try anymore.

It’s my invisible fence.

FACETS | OCTOBER 2019 | 9

Feature

YOUR FENCE IS BROKEN, continued from page 9

Friend, the fence is turned off. It’s broken. If there is something you’ve always wanted to try, go for it. The space beyond the yard is wide open and it’s waiting for you to frolick.

I think I’ll pull out my colored pencils today and create something magnificent. How about you? ^ Nicole J Phillips is a champion for using kindness to overcome all of life’s difficulties, including her own battle with breast cancer.

She spreads the message of the healing power of kindness as host of

“The Kindness Podcast,” and through her weekly column, “Kindness is Contagious,” which runs in newspapers in North Dakota and Minnesota. She is also the author of two books, “Kindness is Contagious: 100 Stories to Remind You God is Good and So are Most People” and “Kindness is Courageous: 100 Stories to Remind You People Are Brave + Kind.” Phillips will speak at the Evening of Bliss event at Mary Greeley Medical Center on Thursday, Oct. 10.

Nicole Phillips’ GoldenDoodle with family. Photo by Ann Fredricks Photography

10 | FACETS | OCTOBER 2019

Spotlight Asphate Woodhavet’s murals. Photo contributed by Asphate Woodhavet

The eastern wall of Morning Bell Coffee Roasters at 111 Main St. in downtown will soon become the home of a wall mural. Photo by David Mullen/GateHouse Iowa

Asphate Woodhavet.

Contributed photo from Ames Community Art Council

Wall mural coming soon to downtown Ames

By Kylee Mullen GateHouse Iowa

Even before opening the doors to Morning Bell Coffee Roasters in 2016, the owners always envisioned their building would eventually become the home to more than just the smell of coffee, and a place for laughs, but also the home of wall art.

Nadav Mer and Dara Wald, the owners of Morning Bell, have always been inspired by and love art. However, it was not until the couple lived in downtown Phoenix for a few years, where their residence was surrounded by murals and public art, that the two gained a true attachment to the work.

“We love the vibrant nature of them, taking faces that seem sterile and giving them color, life and depth,” Mer said.

“So for us it’s just natural, and Ames needs more of it.”

Three years later, Mer and Wald’s vision is inching closer to a reality with the help of the Ames Community Arts Council (ACAC) and City of Ames Commission of Art (COTA).

On Tuesday, the arts council announced Asphate Woodhavet as the artist that will bring a mural to the coffee shop at 111 Main St., during the Ames Artists Studio Tour, being held Oct. 12 and 13.

The mural will be on the east side of the building, which is visible by all commuters driving on South Duff Avenue, and will be seen by people using the drive-thru at Vision Bank.

“I’ve wanted to paint in Ames for awhile, and this is the first opportunity that I’ve had,” Woodhavet said. “I’ve painted all over the state, and my crew has all over the country, but the more I can do in state, the better.”

Woodhavet, a Des Moines native, is a member of Scarce Elementz Mural Crew, and specializes in wall art. He has worked on projects all across the country, including in cities like Denver and Phoenix. He’s also worked on projects in his

hometown of Des Moines along with Ankeny.

Although there were plenty of candidates from various states that applied for the job, to many in the ACAC, including its director, Jennifer Brockphaler, Woodhavet stood out.

“All of the applicants were really strong, and it was really cool that we had this type of choice,” Brockphaler said. “(Woodhavet) stood out for a few reasons, he has a background as a mural artist, he also is a graffiti artist using the spray paint, which really appealed to the business owners to give it an urban feel, so that appealed, and most of all the pieces that he presented to us were just stunning.”

Woodhavet has been learning and mastering a graffiti style of calligraphy for 13 years, eight of which he’s been applying his knowledge and expertise of the calligraphy onto large scale murals.

Throughout the process of learning the art, he began working on freight trains, and underground murals, but shifted to commission murals, Woodhavet said.

In ideal weather conditions a wall mural would take anywhere between one to two business weeks, and the plan is to hold a celebration on Oct 12.

“We’re not going to cover the wall, and we’re hoping people come and watch him do the work,” Brockphaler said.

Besides being one of the very few wall murals in Ames, many involved in this project hope this begins a new movement to bring more wall art to downtown Ames and across the city.

Mer said he hopes that businesses who see the new mural will realize the art council can help make it a reality.

“Hopefully this is the beginning of the back alley gallery project and we have many more murals in Ames,” Mer said.

FACETS | OCTOBER 2019 | 11

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FACETS | OCTOBER 2019 | 13

Spotlight

Ames poets selected for publication in Iowa Poetry Association anthology The Iowa Poetry Association recently announced its 74th GateHouse Iowa edition of “Lyrical Iowa,” an annual anthology of poems by writers of all ages from across the state. Among the 381 poets selected from 1,854 entries to be published, 29 call Story County home.

The collection, according to the IPA, calls on readers to “writhe with animals through paintings, or maybe race with them across Iowa landscapes; they lament loss, replenish hope, give voice to what is not easily shared.”

Marilyn Baszczynski, editor of the anthology, said poems are selected from a competition held each year from Jan. 1 through Feb. 28. The publication has existed for as long as the IPA itself, and is intended to “promote interest in poetry and encourage people to improve in the writing of their poetry.”

Ten Ames poets, including adults and students, received special recognition for their work.

“These come from all kinds of people from all over, and they tell so many amazing stories about their losses, their heartaches, what they love, what brings them joy,” Baszczynski said.

Adult division: poetry as a form of healing Dennis Maulsby, of Ames, has been writing poetry for roughly 30 years. He has submitted a poem to “Lyrical Iowa” for approximately 20 of those years, and, this year, was awarded first-place in the haiku category.

Maulsby said he was first introduced to poetry in high school, and had “written some primitive efforts at that time.”

However, it wasn’t until years later he discovered poetry as a way to deal with trauma, when he “experienced a lot of things that shook me” after being subject to the draft.

“I was in Vietnam in 196768, and I was there for Khe Sanh and the Tet Offensive,” he said. “When I came back, I found that one of the ways I could deal with that experience, and those demons, was to do things that were creative. I tried a lot of creative things — painting, sculpture, furniture

By Kylee Mullen

14 | FACETS | OCTOBER 2019

design — and they were all useful but short lived. What I finally found was writing.”

Maulsby said haikus — three-lined poems with five syllables in the first and third lines, and seven syllables in the second line — are one of his specialties. He also writes free verse poems, short stories and novels. He is a past president of the IPA and has been published in various books and journals.

However, being a seasoned writer has not diminished the importance of every publication he is accepted into.

“Having your poetry published, or having it win awards, is a validation,” he said. “Writers are always the worst judges of their own work, and so you get to the point where you can’t really tell if your work is any good.”

Crystal Stone, of Ames, said she also got a sense of validation when her poem was accepted into “Lyrical Iowa.”

She received the special award for first-time entrants for her poem titled, “Sunrise Pantoum with a Shrinking Sister.”

Similar to Maulsby, she often uses poetry as a way to heal. Her winning poem, for example, explored her feelings toward her sister’s eating disorder.

“I really think that one of the reasons I write is so I can explore how I’m feeling about a situation, and to understand it better,” she said. “For this (poem), it was really weighing on my mind that my sister has a problem; and I can’t really do anything to help her.”

Stone, a creative writing and environment M.F.A student at Iowa State University, said she has used poetry as a way to handle difficult situations since she was young. However, she also spent many years ignoring her interest in the art form.

“It’s always been a part of my life, but I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to deny poetry because other people didn’t find it valuable,” she said. “I learned how to shift the question, so instead of saying ‘how can I be something that people already find valuable?’ I started asking ‘how can I show people why poetry is valuable, important and practical for their lives?’”

Other poets from Ames who received special recognition in the adult division, according to an IPA media release, include Allison Justus, second place in the general category, and Phyllis Harris, first honorable mention in the national/ world events category.

School division: the next generation of poets Miya Krueger has been writing poetry for longer than she can remember. She said she occasionally discovers slips of paper in old boxes with poems scribbled on them, and it has remained a part of her life as she has navigated elementary school.

Krueger, a sixth-grader at Ames Middle School, is also proud to say she is already a published poet. She had a poem printed in a separate publication last year, and looks forward

Spotlight AMES POETS, continued from page 14

to seeing her poem, “Inspiration,” in “Lyrical Iowa.”

“It’s really exciting, knowing that you have your words out there and people can read it,” she said. “It also makes me happy because it means that I’ll probably have stuff published later on, too.”

In addition to having her poem published, she also received a first honorable mention in the upper grades category.

She wrote her poem while part of the Extended Learning Program at Sawyer Elementary School. Her teacher, Mark Royer, led a poetry unit encouraging students to explore the art form, be creative and express themselves through poetry.

Royer, the program’s teacher at both Sawyer and Edwards elementary schools, said he has led the unit for the past four years. He always gives students the choice of entering their poems from the class to the IPA competition.

“I like to see where they were at the start of the process, and then where they end up at the point where they send in their poems,” he said. “A lot of the kids just don’t think they have the ability to put something together that is going to be meaningful to them or to a reader, but then, all of a sudden, it’s like a light bulb goes off and they realize they’re doing something pretty significant.”

Other poets from Ames who received special recognition in the school division, according to the media release, include: Ian Williamson, Sawyer Elementary, second honorable mention in the upper grades category; Sam Hostetter, Edwards Elementary, third

honorable mention in the upper grades category; Zaylin HardenBarrow, Edwards Elementary, third place in the lower grades category; Brendan Stanley, Edwards Elementary, first honorable mention in the lower grades category; and Corwyn Evans, Edwards Elementary, second honorable mention in the lower grades category.

Dennis Maulsby was awarded first-place in the haiku category in the Iowa Poetry Association’s 74th edition of “Lyrical Iowa,” an annual poetry anthology.

Contributed photo

Crystal Stone received the special award for first-time entrants in the Iowa Poetry Association’s 74th edition of “Lyrical Iowa,” an annual poetry anthology. Photo by Kylee Mullen/GateHouse Iowa

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Spotlight

Iowa Poetry Association President Jerry Narland with Crystal Stone, Dawn Sly-Terpstra, Robert Tremmel and Dennis Maulsby. Photo courtesy of the Iowa Poetry Association

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Spotlight

FACETS | OCTOBER 2019 | 17

Spotlight

Breast cancer: Reducing your risk

By Ronna Faaborg GateHouse Iowa

One in eight women in the United States will develop breast cancer during her lifetime. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so this is a great time to review how a healthy lifestyle can help decrease breast cancer risk.

According to BreastCancer.org, the best advice in the fight against developing breast cancer is: Avoid tobacco Maintain a healthy body weight Eat a well-balanced diet that is lower in fat and high in vegetables and fiber Staying active throughout life Tobacco risks Smoking causes a number of diseases and is linked to a higher risk of breast cancer in younger, premenopausal women.

Research also has shown that there may be link between very heavy second-hand smoke exposure and breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women.

Smoking also can increase complications from breast cancer treatment, according to BreastCancer.org. It can cause damage to the lungs from radiation therapy. It can make healing after surgery and 18 | FACETS | OCTOBER 2019

breast reconstruction more difficult.

Tobacco use can also increase the risk of blood clots in women who take hormonal therapy medicines.

Maintain a healthy weight Weight gain, especially following menopause, tends to increase the risk for breast cancer. The key is to maintain a healthy weight.

Keep a weight scale at home and monitor your weight weekly. If you need assistance for weight management, seek out a dietitian to help determine a healthy weight and to provide guidance.

Eat more fruits and vegetables There’s still research that needs to be completed to determine if specific foods and their nutrients can lower the risk of breast cancer.

The best advice at this time is to eat whole foods as part of an overall healthy diet, with special emphasis on controlling calorie intake to help get to, and maintain, a healthy weight.

There also is an easy method to help determine what to eat at meals. Simply use your plate to guide you by filling it half-full of fruits and vegetables, one-quarter with whole grains and beans and one-quarter with lean meats such as chicken breast, turkey, seafood, lean pork and lean beef.

Spotlight BREAST CANCER: REDUCING YOUR RISK continued from page 18

When choosing fruits and vegetables, think of color variety, as colorful vegetables and fruits contain natural healthpromoting substances called phytochemicals. Choose lower-fat milk and dairy products, as well as lean meats to keep fat intake adequate, but not excessive. Reduce the amount of fat in your meals by using a lower-fat cooking method, such as baking or broiling.

Engage in regular physical activity Making physical activity a part of your lifestyle can help you maintain a healthy weight and a healthy heart.

For most healthy adults, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity.

Moderate aerobic activity includes brisk walking, dancing and leisurely bike riding. Vigorous activity includes jogging, running, swimming and circuit weight training.

Make a personal commitment to yourself and your health by finding physical activities you enjoy. Try a brisk walk, a good hike, a bike ride or an exercise class or circuit training session at the local fitness center.

Limit Alcohol The general recommendation — based on research on the effect of alcohol on breast cancer risk — is to limit to less than one drink per day as even small amounts increase risk. A drink of alcohol is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1½ ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits. Women with a higher risk of developing breast cancer may want to consider avoiding alcohol all together..

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Spotlight

Breast Cancer: When to Call a Doctor

By Ronna Faaborg GateHouse Iowa

Call a doctor if you have: • A painless lump in your breast or armpit.

• A change in the size or shape of the breast.

• Changes in the skin of the breast, such as a dimple or skin that

looks like an orange peel.

• A change in the nipple, such as scaling of the skin, a nipple that

turns in.

• A change in the color or feel of the skin around the nipple.

• Swelling of all or part of a breast

(even if no distinct lump is felt) • Breast or nipple pain • Nipple discharge (other than breast milk) * According to Mary Greeley Medical Center and the

American Cancer Society

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Author Nicole Phillips sits on the exam table during a doctor’s visit to discuss her breast cancer fight.

Phillips will speak at the Evening of Bliss event at Mary Greeley Medical Center on Thursday, Oct. 10.

Photo by Ann Fredricks Photography

Feature

Nicole Phillips family. Photo by Ann Fredricks Photography

Phillips brings message of kindness to MGMC event

By Ronna Faaborg GateHouse Iowa

Nicole Phillips is a champion of kindness. She’s an author, podcaster, columnist, mother of three, wife of a college men’s basketball coach. And Phillips has battled breast cancer.

But the thread that weaves itself through all of Phillips’ roles is her belief in the power of kindness.

Phillips will be the keynote speaker at Mary Greeley Medical Center’s “An Evening of Bliss” on Thursday, Oct. 10.

And her message will focus on how kindness helped her battle cancer and how it can help other people through challenging times.

“There is a bridge between living life and loving life, and I feel like people are stuck on the living life side. And I want them to be with me on the loving life side,” Phillips said. “The bridge to get there is kindness.”

Although kindness is an act we do for others, the life that we transform with kindness is our own, she said.

“We think that kindness is about what we’re doing for other people and what we’re sacrificing,” Phillips said. “We think it’s about what we’re budgeting into our time and our energy and our finances.

“But it’s 100 percent what we get when we step out of our comfort zone.”

Recently, Phillips had someone tell her on her show, “The Kindness Podcast,” that they had said to a stranger, “You have a beautiful smile.”

“And that stranger reached out to them later and said: I was going to kill myself. And I ran into you, and you said, ‘You have a beautiful smile,’ and it changed my day,” Phillips said.

As a proponent of kindness, Phillips hears these stories all the time.

“Kindness will reroute someone’s day. Whether we’re giving it or receiving it, it’s just constant fluid motion. But it’s FACETS | OCTOBER 2019 | 21

Feature

Nicole Phillips Photo by Ann Fredricks Photography not cotton candy, and it’s not rainbows and unicorns.

“It has teeth. And when we can hold onto those teeth of kindness, then we get it and we don’t ever want to live life without this grand adventure of kindness.”

If we are surrounded by people who love us and support us, sometimes we forget that we live in a world of people who are not seen and loved and supported.

“So when we see them and we hold open the door, it is not a little frivolous thing for that person,” Phillips said.

When we compliment another person, those words can really matter.

They can say: I see you and you matter.

Kindness was key for Phillips herself when, on her 40th birthday in 2015, she received a breast cancer diagnosis.

“Kindness saved my life during breast cancer,” Phillips said. “And I don’t mean that lightly.”

She jokes that most days she was pretty good at cancer because she’s a glass-half-full kind of person. She’s a positive person. She likes to look for the silver lining.

“But cancer will bring you to your knees,” Phillips said. “Breast cancer will take every ounce of positivity out of you.”

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Days when she woke up with a dark cloud over her head were the days she knew she had to go out and do something intentionally kind.

For example, one day Phillips was at a gas station and decided to run in for a big bottle of Mountain Dew for one of her neighbors, a grandmother living in poverty who loved that particular soda. So she bought a twoliter and took it to her.

“It was a small thing, but it got me out of my own way,” Phillips said. “I stopped looking internally at myself and got my eyes onto someone else.”

Phillips was intentional and systematic about doing acts of kindness on days when she needed a lift.

Kindness was something that had helped Phillips out of a tough place before her breast cancer battle.

“I was an alcoholic, a smoker, a drinker, an overeater. I was angry all the time,” she said. “And I really felt like life was mundane and passionless.”

That’s the mood she was in eight years ago when she was sitting in a dark spot of depression. Even being on anti-depressants didn’t help.

One day, Phillips was at the public swimming pool with her kids when she happened to have a conversation with a young mom — a 16or 17-year-old mom wearing a shiny gold bikini.

She wondered what in the world she could have in common with this young mother, but as they began to talk, Phillips was reminded that everyone has a battle. This woman’s battle was being a young, single mom.

“When we walked out to the parking lot that day, I just felt an overwhelming need to give her some money,” Phillips said.

So she gave the young woman the cash she had with her, which was three 20-dollar bills.

“I got into my car with a high unlike anything I had ever experienced from any bad decision I had ever made,” Phillips said.

Phillips’ career revolves around kindness. She spreads the message of the healing power of kindness as host of “The Kindness Podcast,” and through her weekly column, “Kindness is Contagious,” which runs in newspapers in North Dakota and Minnesota. She is also the author of two books, “Kindness is Contagious: 100 Stories to Remind You God is Good and So are Most People” and “Kindness is Courageous: 100 Stories to Remind You People Are Brave + Kind.”

Phillips has her Broadcast Journalism degree from the University

Feature of Wisconsin and has worked as a television anchor and reporter in Milwaukee, Wis., Madison, Wis., and Fargo, N.D. As Miss Wisconsin 1997, she spent the year touring the state talking to kids and adults about overcoming crisis.

She lives in Aberdeen, S.D., has three children and is married to Northern State University men’s basketball coach, Saul Phillips.

Nicole will speak at Mary Greeley Medical Center’s Evening of Bliss event on Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Iowa State University Alumni Association, 429 Alumni Lane. Attendees will receive a goodie bag that will include a copy of Phillips’ book, “Kindness is Courageous.”

Tickets are $10 and seating is limited. Tickets are available at www. mgmc.org.

Nicole Phillips family. Photo by Ann Fredricks Photography

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