Elder
BY NOAH TRISTER | Associated Press
W“New
begins and thousands of football fans yell a heartfelt “LOUISIANA!” when the state’s name is mentioned in the first line of the song. How Garth Brooks, The Killers and Tom Petty became stars of college football Saturdays
Nowadays, Brooks’
See FOOTBALL,
Museum displays holiday tree featuring origami
What is meant by elder mediation?
Elder mediation aims to address conflicting issues in families and in institutions and provides a forum for family decision-making.
Elder mediators assist with difficult conversations among family members, and they help make plans and reach acceptable outcomes to disagreements. When an elder parent or relative, for instance, is hospitalized and needs continuing or rehabilitative care after that hospitalization, new responsibilities are thrust upon the offspring. There are often many family dynamics, i.e., the main caregiver sibling, the out-of-town sibling, the sibling that’s not trusted, etc. Old rivalries among siblings, long buried grudges, past hurts and misunderstandings can interfere with making good decisions about the aging parent. The situation regarding the parent’s future care becomes stressful and uncomfortable, and conflicts arise amid mixed opinions for the parent’s care. Decisions regarding the responsibility and work of caring for an aging parent are involved, as well as looking at finances and long-term care issues. Many times, conflicts occur because one or more of the siblings is trying to gain total control of that care. Elder mediation can work to sift out an amiable solution as the elder mediator facilitates a purposeful and directed conversation with all parties, who are all encouraged to express their opinions and concerns. The forum the mediator facilitates seeks to resolve the problems among the family members for the best interest of the aging parent. This includes allowing everyone to air their disputes, to identify the strengths and weaknesses in each opinion, and to finally agree on a satisfactory solution, a solution that all family members can live with and trust. The mediator has no authority to impose a decision so nothing can be decided until everyone agrees. To get started, the family members having a dispute agree to bring in a neutral person — an elder mediator — and once one is chosen, a date is set to meet in person, or by Zoom or other teleconference methods. The mediator will guide the dialogue, encouraging all sides to work cooperatively and gives everyone a chance to express their differences. Sometimes, the mediator will meet with each family member privately to discuss personal and other issues of concern, and after these exchanges, presents them to the family at large. There may be several negotiations until an agreement is reached; one that is to maintain the best possible quality of life for the aging parent. Once an agreement is reached, the elder mediator will put it in writing for everyone to sign and in that way, everyone has a solid
Garth Brooks performs during his Stadium Tour concert in 2022 at Tiger Stadium. | STAFF FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
Morning sickness linked to hormone called GDF-15
Dear Doctors: My daughter suffered from hyperemesis while she was pregnant two years ago, and it was truly a miserable pregnancy Is there a way to prevent this for future pregnancies? I understand this condition is linked to the hormone GDF-15 and read that the key is to suppress it before it begins.
Dear reader: Hyperemesis is the medical term for extreme and persistent vomiting. When it happens during pregnancy, it’s called morning sickness. As many mothers can attest, even mild morning sickness is no picnic, and the queasy feelings and nausea often extend well beyond the morning hours. Even without active vomiting, it makes getting through the day a challenge.
It’s estimated that up to 80% of women experience some morn-
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“CBR sang at LSU seems more like a war cry than a tradition,” Brooks said in an email to The Associated Press. “I get goosebumps every time I hear them sing it.”
Callin’ Baton Rouge at LSU is just one example of a trend sweeping college football. Pep bands and fight songs still have their place, but now fans at some of the most prominent programs have embraced the stadium anthem as something of a modern tradition. Rock, country hip-hop, electronic dance music different genres can work at different places. Perhaps the most famous of these is House of Pain’s “Jump Around” at Wisconsin, now in its third decade of inspiring Badgers fans to do just that
Others include “Mr. Brightside” at Michigan, “I Won’t Back Down” at Florida, “Shout” at Oregon, “Sandstorm” at South Carolina and “Dixieland Delight” at Alabama. Sometimes fans add their own colorful lines to the lyrics — a good way to get a song banned if you’re not careful.
Even Notre Dame — which still puts generic diagonal lines in the end zones, and where the band plays an iconic rendition of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture has introduced flashing lights and more modern music in recent years
“In the world right now, where you have to play for today and figure out what’s motivating people and what’s getting people genuinely excited about what’s going on at a university, at a team, at a brand, you have to ride that to the full extent you possibly can,” said Columbia University lecturer Joe Favorito, a sports and entertainment marketing consultant. “I mean, who knew that a Killers song was going to become an anthem at the University of Michigan, and how that gets played out? ‘Mr Brightside,’ now you ask kids who go to Michigan, and they’re going there because of ‘Mr Brightside.’ I don’t think The Killers ever had that in mind.”
Some schools are notable for their pregame or postgame tunes — think “Enter Sandman” at Virginia Tech or “Country Roads” at West Virginia — but the break before the fourth quarter has proven an ideal spot for a crescendo. Plus, there’s an extra benefit in waiting until then before playing the
ORIGAMI
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how an asteroid crash some 66 million years ago reshaped life on Earth.
Talo Kawasaki, the tree’s co-designer, said the tree’s theme is “New Beginnings,” in reference to the new world that followed the mass extinction. Located off the museum’s Central Park West entrance, the artificial tree is topped with a golden, flaming asteroid.
Dr. Elizabeth Ko
Dr Eve Glazier
ASK THE DOCTORS
ing sickness during pregnancy In some cases, the condition can become severe, known as hyperemesis gravidarum. Hyperemesis gravidarum is frequent and intense vomiting that can lead to dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and dangerous weight loss. The condition often requires medical care. In some cases, women are hospitalized to receive IV fluids and nutritional support. As recently as 2018, the cause
of morning sickness was unclear But emerging genomic technologies have helped scientists identify growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) as a key contributor This is the hormone you mentioned. The placenta produces a lot of GDF-15 early in pregnancy
It signals to the body that pregnancy has begun and to modulate immune response to tolerate the growing fetus.
GDF-15 also appears to regulate appetite. It may be a protective measure to steer the mother away from potentially harmful toxins and toward nutritional needs. Because concentrations of the hormone are so high and many women are sensitive to it, varying degrees of morning sickness often occur
Several large studies found a correlation between very high
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO BY ALAN YOUNGBLOOD
Florida fans sing Tom Petty’s ‘I Won’t Back Down’ in the fourth quarter of a football game against LIU Brooklyn on Aug. 30 in Gainesville, Fla.
crowd favorite.
“How do you keep students at the game longer and longer? When you’re blowing opponents out, people are leaving,” said Jake Stocker, director of game presentation at Michigan. “If you do Brightside that first break in the third quarter, it’s done and people are leaving. We moved ‘Mr Brightside’ to the third and fourth quarter break just to set it as more of a tradition there to at least keep people in their seats until that point.”
Michigan, of course, has its own famous fight song and a band that’s an important part of game day but in this era of constant (and lengthy) television breaks, there’s plenty of time for everything
“We always know that we have enough time in that third and fourth quarter break,” Stocker said “The band plays Blues Brothers and then we do ‘Mr Brightside.’
Wisconsin’s tradition began in 1998 when tight end
Ryan Sondrup, working an internship in the athletic department while injured, was asked to think of ideas for game day operations. He went to a sports bar while brainstorming with friends and teammates, and they played songs on the jukebox, including “Jump Around.”
Sondrup talked it over with his bosses.
“They were more interested, I think because I was on the football team, in what would get the guys fired up,” Sondrup said.
“We were talking more like before-the-game-type stuff I said, ‘Well, actually, if you could play some of this during the game, like in a key moment or something to get everyone riled up.’ And we’d circled ‘Jump Around.’”
There were some complaints from older fans about the music, but it was a hit among students (and
among some of the visiting teams), and it’s certainly stood the test of time.
“It’s all-encompassing of all people in Wisconsin. Everyone knows Jump Around,’ ” said defensive tackle Erik Waisanen, who was bartending that day of the brainstorm. “It’s been so intertwined with Wisconsin football, Wisconsin athletics. There’s times now where because people know (his involvement), they’ll be at a wedding and I’ll get a video, and the bride and groom are Wisconsin grads and on the video, people I don’t even know will be doing ‘Jump Around’ at their wedding as one of their dances.”
While “Jump Around” had no big connection to Wisconsin, Florida fans have good reason to sing along with “I Won’t Back Down” because Tom Petty was a Gainesville native. “Callin’ Baton Rouge” fits at LSU games for even more obvious reasons.
Brooks, however, went to Oklahoma State. The Cowboys have played his “Friends in Low Places” at games, and Brooks may have a new tune at some point intended for specific use at Oklahoma State games.
“For the last 20 years, I have so wanted to sing a song that would represent my alma mater and the people who make that college the best. I am in the middle of recording a song I would love to pitch to them to start playing if the song turns out the way I hope it does,” Brooks said in the e-mail. “It’s called COWBOY BLOOD. The lyric fits the cowboy life and the music was recorded to fire people up.”
AP sports writers Steve Megargee and Aaron Beard and Associated Press writer Mike Householder contributed to this report.
levels of GDF-15 and the likelihood of developing hyperemesis gravidarum. This has led to the pursuit of targeted treatments. One approach is to suppress production or activity of the hormone during pregnancy This may be risky due to the role GDF-15 plays in regulating immune response so that the body does not treat the fetus as a foreign presence. Another is to desensitize the mother to the hormone before pregnancy begins. Acclimating the body to the hormone before the placenta produces a lot of GDF-15 has emerged as a possible safer approach. These are promising directions for easing the misery and risks of hyperemesis gravidarum, but they remain experimental for now Because pregnancy involves the well-being of both the mother
and her baby, testing any new treatment’s safety, effectiveness and side effects is complex. Women who have had hyperemesis gravidarum can prepare for a future pregnancy by consulting their doctor before conception. A doctor can review medical history and make plans for early interventions if the mother’s health appears at risk. Having good nutrition, starting prenatal vitamins and arranging follow-up care early in pregnancy may help lessen the severity if hyperemesis recurs.
Send your questions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla. edu, or write: Ask the Doctors, c/o UCLA Health Sciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1450, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.
Try shrimp and corn soup for cozy season
BY JOY HOLDEN Staff writer
One of my favorite soups to order in town is shrimp and corn soup. When I got “Chef Celeste’s Louisiana Kitchen” cookbook by Celeste Gill, I turned to the first recipe, shrimp and corn soup, and I felt it was time to finally try it on my own.
I’m also hoping that, by cooking this recipe, I’ll coax the weather into some cooler temperatures that call for a rich and creamy soup.
Detroit native chef Gill came to the “soulful kitchens” of Baton Rouge and integrated Louisiana flavors into her growing repertory of culinary dishes. In addition to cooking professionally, owning restaurants and conducting cooking demonstrations, Gill loves to teach and mentor younger chefs, including students in East Baton Rouge Parish public schools and inmates at local prisons.
“Through the simple act of preparing and sharing a meal, connections are forged, stories are exchanged and bonds are woven,” Gill wrote in her cookbook’s introduction.
For 20 years, until 2023, Gill coordinated the Main Street Market cooking demonstrations in downtown Baton Rouge. She also closed her two bistros in 2024 to shift into teaching through media. This cookbook is one of her media ventures to spread her cooking knowledge. In the introduction, she writes, “I want to empower cooks of all levels to re-create in their own kitchens what I consider remarkable dishes.”
Gill’s shrimp and corn soup recipe is fairly simple.
The only thing I did differently was substitute chicken stock instead of the shrimp stock because I did not have any on hand, nor did I have time to peel any shrimp. I added a smidge of the water I used to defrost the shrimp to the chicken stock for a little depth of shrimp flavor
One other small departure from Gill’s recipe: I used more garlic than she called for and added some garlic salt to the seasonings.
soup.
“We wanted to focus more not so much the demise of the dinosaurs, but the new life this created, which were the expansion and the evolution of mammals ultimately leading to humanity,” Kawasaki explained on a recent visit.
The origami tree has been a highlight of the museum’s holiday season for more than 40 years. Volunteers from all over the world are enlisted to make hundreds of new
Its branches and limbs are packed with origami works representing a variety of animals and insects, including foxes, cranes, turtles, bats, sharks, elephants, giraffes and monkeys. Dinosaur favorites such as the triceratops and tyrannosaurus rex are also depicted in the folded paper works of art.
models. The intricate paper artworks are generally made from a single sheet of paper but can sometimes take days or even weeks to perfect.
The new origami pieces are bolstered by archived works stored from prior seasons, including a 40-year-old model of a pterosaur, an extinct flying reptile, that was folded for one of the museum’s first origami trees in the early 1970s.
Rosalind Joyce, the tree’s co-designer estimates that anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 origami works are embedded in the tree.
“This year there’s a lot of stuff stuffed in there,” she said. “So I don’t count.”
I learned from this experience to prep the shrimp and cut the vegetables before starting to melt the butter in the pot. Doing a couple of steps simultaneously is possible, but I would advise giving yourself about 30 minutes of set up prior to heating up your pot. This way, you can give each task your full attention.
I strongly recommend using fresh sweet corn off the cob for that extra sweetness, but canned corn could work in a pinch. The recipe calls for one cup, and I used two full corn cobs, but I could have used one more, honestly
Here’s to hoping this recipe yields some sweater weather
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plan about each sibling’s involvement in the parent’s care. Elder mediators help families come together, taking over that emotional control so that an effective action plan can be provided for the aging parent. Mediation is successful about 70% to 80% of the time and is less expensive than disputes that escalate into lawsuits or other public displays. Compromise is a way to peace for families in conflict, and an elder mediator is there to facilitate and encourage a positive and working outcome. Dana Territo is an Alzheimer’s advocate and author of “What My Grandchildren Taught Me About Alzheimer’s Disease.” She hosts “The Memory Whisperer.” Email her at thememorywhisperer@
STAFF PHOTO BY JAVIER GALLEGOS
Shrimp and corn soup
Veterans ceremony
Gathered at a ceremony honoring seven U.S military veterans employed by Community Coffee are, far left, Donna Saurage, third-generation CC owner; fourth from left, Matt Saurage Sr., chairman of the CC board; and, in no particular order, veterans Terry Alwood, Lawrence Braud, Edward McGruder, Douglas Miller, Stephen Morgan, Brannon Vaughan and Chris White.
Community Coffee honors 7 with medals for military service
Community Coffee, partnering with the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, recognized seven employees with the Louisiana veterans honor medal during a Nov 18 ceremony at the company’s home office in Baton Rouge.
Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Charlton Meginley, secretary of the LDVA, presented the medals to Community Coffee team members in appreciation of their service and dedication to the U.S. and Louisiana. Medal recipients included Terry Alwood, Lawrence Braud, Edward McGruder, Douglas Miller, Stephen Morgan, Brannon Vaughan and Chris White “As a family-owned company deeply rooted in Louisiana, we are proud to partner with the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs to honor the bravery of our employees who have served,” said Matt Saurage Sr , chairman of the board, who spoke at the event. “Their dedication reflects the values our company has upheld for more than a century: service, community and giving back to those who make Louisiana stronger.”
Light Night
The Elizabethan Gallery hosted its annual ‘Fall Art Show’ in conjunction with White Light Night on Nov. 21. The large show features work from more than 20 artists and in various mediums. Shown are, from left, Carol Creel, Pat Wattam, Cathy Smart, Dana
Connole, gallery manager Heidi Bergeron, Carol
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Hallock, gallery
Liz Walker, Sue Garner, Mariana Lano, Dee Dee Wilbert and Claire Pasqua. Attending but not shown are Keith Douglas, Diego Larguia, Andrea Phillips and Betty Efferson.
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Retirees Club
The LSU Faculty & Staff Retirees Club held its meeting on Nov. 10, with social time, at the LSU Lod Cook Alumni Center Guest speaker was Robin Miller, features writer at The Advocate. Gathered are, from left, Joe and Brenda Hutchinson, Miller and Don Schneider
PROVIDED PHOTO Recognition
Sarah Holliday-James was recognized by Our Lady of the Lake Health System as a 12year breast cancer survivor at the Southern University-FAMU football game on Oct. 25. Shown are, Holliday-James, left, and Larry A James Jr
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‘Revolution’ premiere Standing under the portrait of Spanish Governor Bernardo de Gálvez at the Old State Capitol on Nov. 16 are, from left, State Rep. Mike Bayham, OSC director Mary Durusau, and LPB president and CEO Clarence ‘C.C.’ Copeland. They were among an audience of about 160 who attended the premiere event of the PBS docuseries ‘The American Revolution.’