June 5th, 2014 Edition

Two teachers win Golden Apple awards

‘Do something now’

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By Chris King Of The St.

“Do something now,” Chanelle P. Hardy, keynote speaker of the “For the Sake of All” community conference, urged a packed auditorium at the Missouri History Museum on Friday morning. Hardy is senior vice president for policy and executive director of the National Urban League Washington Bureau. She was asked to lend national

– Dr. Will Ross

Urban League honors

Anna Maria Horsford

By Bridjes O’Neil

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Actress

Maria Horsford

The Haitian music group Ayati Rara performed at the St. Louis African Arts Festival in Forest Park last week.

Haiti in the park

Photo by Wiley Price

Jason Q. Purnell, assistant professor at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University and leader of

Sake of All” research team

Chanelle P. Hardy, senior vice president for policy

executive director of the National Urban League Washington Bureau

Photo by Wiley Price

Photo by Wiley Price

peAking of fAith

Oprah’s ex-stepmother speaks her mind while being set out

Back in April Oprah Winfrey won a hard fought battle to evict her former stepmother, Barbara Winfrey, from the marital home Oprah purchased for her father as a wedding present 14 years ago.

As she prepares to remove her things from the home Barbara lashes out at Oprah one last time.

“That woman has set out to ruin me, destroy me,” Barbara Winfrey told The Daily Mail. “To take this house away is petty; this has been my home for 14 years.”

Barbara accuses Oprah of being untruthful, claiming she spread rumors about settlement offer between herself and Barbara.

“Oprah’s a billionaire three times over, her help live better than this,” Barbara said. “She said publicly that she offered to sell the house and give me the proceeds, but that’s a lie, she never said that. Oprah

owns property all over the world so there is no reason to sell this house other than to spite me, it’s a personal vendetta.”

Ray J gets cuffed for copping a feel

According to TMZ, singer Ray J was arrested over the weekend after making unwanted physical contact with a female inside the Beverly Wilshire Hotel bar.

told Radar Online. If it weren’t for their kid, he’d want nothing to do with her. He’s happy with Paula and what they have going on right now.”

The source tells Radar that Cook and Barrino speak as little as possible

on Walker and invited him outside. Once outside, Walker claims someone in Epps’ entourage sucker punched him and then the others, including Epps, continued to punch and kick him while he was on the ground.

Ray J insists the touching was accidental but was asked to leave the premises and became belligerent with valet.

Police were called to the scene and Ray J was taken into custody and allegedly kicked out a squad car window and spit on an officer.

Does Fantasia still have it bad for Awntwaun?

Sources claim Fantasia Barrino is still not over her married lover Antwaun Cook going back home to his wife and kids.

“Antwaun’s life is all about his boys right now. He loves those kids more than anything, and doesn’t miss the drama with Fantasia,” a source close to the situation

“Fantasia just hasn’t really moved on, meanwhile Antwaun totally has. He’s back with his family and wife, has a new job and is happy,” the insider revealed But Fantasia’s career isn’t booming and she doesn’t have anything on the table romantically.”

Mike Epps

Did spoof video compel Mike Epps to rough up ATL comic?

According to the Atlanta JournalConstitution, comedian Mike Epps is wanted for questioning in Atlanta after attacking a local comedian who joked that Epps addicted to cocaine.

Reports claim Epps was in Atlanta filming a movie when he stumbled across video of local comedian LaVar Walker spoofing his Twitter fight with Kevin Hart.

Epps reportedly heard Walker was hanging out at the Uptown Comedy Corner and stopped by to confront him.

Witnesses told The AJC that Epps walked up

50 Cent claims Beyoncé checked him on Jay Z’s behalf

In a recent radio interview with Power 105.1, 50 Cent reveals he was shocked when Beyoncé “jumped off a ledge and came running over” to defend Jay Z at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas.

“One time [Beyoncé] jumped off of a ledge and came running over ‘cause she thought me and Jay had issues,” 50 Cent said. “And I’m like, ‘What the [expletive]? Did she really just jump and run up on me like that?’” He said Beyoncé thought things were about to turn physical between him and his rap rival, but they soon laughed off the dispute.

“She jumped out and I was like ‘What?!’ That’s Bonnie and Clyde for real! You try this or what, boy?! I’m here!’”

“She bugged out at me. I looked and Jay starts laughing. He’s like, ‘Yo, you know what it is.’”

Sources: TMZ.com, Instagram, RadarOnline, AJC.com, The Daily Mail, New York Daily News.

Sites needed to provide free summer meals

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

Children from low-income families in St. Louis and across Missouri and the nation are missing free nutritious meals in the summer, and all that is needed to feed them are community organizations willing to sponsor or host sites for the Summer Food Service Program. The program, administered by the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), has funds to provide summer meals for children and youth eligible for free and reducedprice lunches at public schools during the school year. Approximately 400,000 children and youth in Missouri eat free and reduced-price

meals every school day, according to the USDA, but only about 27,000 of them are served through the summer meals program.

Audrey Rowe, administrator for the Food and Nutrition Service at the USDA, traveled to St. Louis from Washington, D.C. recently to call attention to the program and to call for community institutions to sponsor or host summer meal sites. She said churches in particular should be more involved.

“The faith-based community has not been fully engaged in the Summer Food Service Program because they just don’t know about it,” Rowe told The American. “And those who do know about the program don’t know how to engage with it.” The funds are federal, but

sponsoring and hosting meal sites are administered through the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

The direct state contact is Ann McCormack, chief of the Bureau of Community Food and Nutrition Assistance in the department. Call 888-435-1464 or email ann.mccormack@dhss. mo.gov for more information about sponsoring or hosting a summer meal site.

There is some financial risk involved in hosting a summer meal site, Rowe said. Hosts are only reimbursed for meals they actually provide, so accurately

in the House, and Senate Republicans have blocked it in the Senate.

estimating the number of children who will show up for meals is critical.

“If you plan for more meals than you actually distribute, that’s a loss,” Rowe said. Rowe also said the amount of paperwork required to sponsor or host a site can be forbidding to community organizations, and her office is making an effort to reduce the amount of paperwork.

However, program sponsors are responsible for the bulk of the paperwork, she said. There are enough program sponsors in the region to accommodate

Children from the Ferguson-Florissant School District – a district that does provide summer meals through the USDA’s Summer Food Service Program – enjoy a school lunch. To find a site for free summer meals, call 1-866-348-6479.

new hosts of meal sites. Rowe encourages community groups willing to host a summer meal site to contact the state, which can match them with sponsors.

Rising temperatures also pose a problem, since an outdoor meal site may be too hot for children and youth to eat their meals on-site. The USDA is approving more “carry-out” summer meal sites to address this problem, she said, “so children don’t have to eat in the heat or sit and drink milk in the heat.”

However, she said, the program is still constrained by its enabling legislation from 1968 that stipulates summer meals should be provided in a group context that also includes

an academic or physical “enrichment activity.”

Rowe said the simplest solution is to host a summer meal site in tandem with an existing program or activity that groups children and youth together, such as a summer camp.

Eligible summer meal hosts include faith-based institutions, libraries, boys and girls clubs, community action agencies, recreation centers, some hospitals and government agencies. Rowe encouraged any interested groups to contact the state to see if they are eligible.

“We encourage people to become a summer meals site,” Rowe said. “There is no reason for food insecurity to go up in the summer when we have funds to pay to feed these children.”

For more information on hosting a summer meals site, contact Ann McCormack at 888-435-1464 or ann. mccormack@dhss.mo.gov. For more information on the program, visit www.fns.usda. gov/sfsp. To find an existing site for summer meals, call 1-866-348-6479.

Congress will end the month of May without renewing jobless benefits for the longterm unemployed that were cut off at the end of last year.

House Speaker John Boehner rails against the Obama administration for failing to create jobs, but apparently blames unemployed workers for not having one. There is a stark divide between the actions in Washington and the opinions of most Americans. Americans overwhelmingly support broad

sensible reforms that will help working families, including renewing unemployment benefits.

A new study released by the Campaign for America’s Future, “The American Majority is a Populist Majority,” reports on recent polling data. Nearly three fourths of Americans (73 percent) favor increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Republican House Speaker John Boehner won’t let that come to a vote

Three fourths of Americans (75 percent) favor a government job creation program to hire 1 million people. The Congressional Progressive Caucus budget that proposed a large jobs program got less than 100 votes in the House.

Nearly three fourths of Americans (71 percent) favor increasing government investment to build and repair roads, bridges and other infrastructure needs. But Congress has failed even to replenish the Highway Trust Fund that is about to be exhausted.

Congress is near record

lows in public approval. But Republicans who have obstructed virtually every reform seem to be profiting. Pundits now favor them to keep control of the House and possibly take the majority in the Senate.

Rev. Jesse Jaskson Sr.

A big reason for this, we’re told, is the fall off of Democratic voters from the core of the Obama majority — people of color, young people and single women. They were hit the hardest in the economy and have struggled in the so-called recovery. Generally, the party of the president gets more of the blame.

What is missing is an independent moral voice, a movement that isn’t about

left or right, Democrats or Republicans, but is challenging legislators from the moral center. Without that, Democratic operatives tend to extol technique, the techniques they’ve mastered to target, contact and get out their voters.

Republican operatives tend to emphasize money, the money they are able to raise from the billionaire and corporate lobbies that play an increasing role in our elections. Citizen movements with a moral voice transform politics. This was the lesson of Obama’s victory in 2008. He sensibly caught the wave of mass public dismay at the Iraq debacle.

The candidacy of his primary opponent, Hillary Clinton, was in many ways capsized by that wave. His Republican opponent, John McCain,

couldn’t overcome the desire of Americans for change. A populist movement is stirring in the country. We see it in the cities and states raising the minimum wage, not waiting for Washington. We see it in the protests of low-wage workers in the fast food industry, in the Moral Monday’s mobilizations in North Carolina now spreading to other states. We see it even in the rock star status accorded to the French economist Thomas Piketty and his book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” on inequality. Washington political pros tend to focus on the results of polls, but polls are but a snapshot of passing attitudes. Movements don’t respond to polls; movements mold opinion.

Mikki Brewster, PECaD community leader and volunteer Mikki Brewster celebrates her birthday this month. It’s a birthday she almost didn’t get to celebrate. Mikki is a breast cancer survivor and community leader working with PECaD to let women know that yearly mammograms are the key to the early detection and treatment of cancer. Read more about Mikki and screening for breast cancer in today’s “From the Doctor” column in the Health Matters section

African-American women in St. Louis have a higher risk of dying from breast cancer. One of the many reasons is they are diagnosed at a later stage— a mammogram could save your life.

Siteman Mammography Van

Columnist

Editorial /CommEntary

Facing the St. Louis challenge

For those of us waiting for a powerful local institution to take notice of the deteriorating human conditions of black people in the St. Louis region and pledge to take leadership in addressing them, the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University is ready to go to work. “Our commitment to this work is for the long haul,” Edward F. Lawlor, dean of the Brown School, said Friday morning while opening the community conference where the final research report from the “For the Sake of All” initiative was released.

“This work,” in this instance, is addressing the race-based disparities in the St. Louis region that hold the region back. The title of the effort, taken from a lost Scott Joplin song, stresses that this is a report about the health and well being of African Americans, but its intended audience is regional and inclusive. The premise behind this regional inclusiveness should be familiar to readers of St. Louis American editorials. Simply put, there are too many African Americans in this region – 29 percent of the combined population of St. Louis city and county – for the region to compete and grow if the black community is faring as poorly as this study reveals.

Or, rather, as this study reminds us. Dean Lawlor was the first of several speakers at this community forum who confessed to having heard this one before. He said he recently read a 1915 book by George Mangold titled “The Challenge of St. Louis” that was “distressingly very similar” to “For the Sake of Us All.” We commend Dean Lawlor – and one of the Brown School’s junior faculty members, Jason Q. Purnell, who led the study – for refusing to be daunted by this unrelenting challenge of St. Louis. The challenge is the dire need to transform a human landscape where racial background and zip code are destiny. This is not to say that people who are not black or do not live in North St. Louis don’t have their own challenges; of course, they do. But the data in this report are clear: as a group, black people fare far worse than white people in this region by virtually every measure of health and well being, and the least healthy and safe black people live in north city and county.

So what will be done to answer the St. Louis challenge in 2014 that was not done in 1915 – or at any other point in the past century? Purnell said the next step is to simplify the report, which was prepared by himself and six other African-American researchers from Washington University and Saint Louis University, into study guides and distribute its findings as widely as possible. Then, he said, his team hopes to assemble a broad and diverse coalition to pursue its goals and to measure its progress. The recommendations to address these perennial problems are also familiar. The researchers call for greater investment in early

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childhood education, the creation of new economic opportunities for low-income families, the establishment of coordinated school health programs, and an improvement in screening and treatment for mental health problems. All of these policy goals are geared toward the creation of a better-educated workforce that can make St. Louis and Missouri compete for the informationjobs of the future, which really are already the jobs of today – there just aren’t nearly enough of those jobs available here. “For the Sake of All” offers a data-based antidote to the dogma of tax-cut advocates. Investment in education, and better preparing more students for higher education, is more important for growing our economy than cutting taxes. And the data in this study make it painfully evident that the lagging performance of African Americans in this region must be improved if we expect to develop the workforce that knowledge economy employers require.

As the researchers move from data to social change, they will quickly realize why the St. Louis challenge has been so enduring. It can be difficult to persuade someone on the favorable side of a wide disparity that it is in their interest to narrow that disparity. There is the unstated fear that a new focus on improving the conditions of black people from a specific part of the region will neglect and worsen the needs of others. Macroeconomic arguments do not persuade everyone. Apathy, exhaustion and – it must be said – racism also make the challenge incredibly daunting. However, a powerful and credible local institution says its commitment to addressing the St. Louis challenge is “for the long haul.” We’re in too, also for the long haul. How about you?

- A Forum for Community Issues

Textbook scenario for poor education

Sixty-years ago, 13 parents filed a class action suit against the Topeka Kansas Board of Education. The U. S. Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education ruling paved the way for integration and was a major victory of the Civil Rights Movement. A half-century later the issue of racial segregation in public schools has become even more complicated, and nowhere is it more prevalent than in the St. Louis region and the 24 communities that comprise the Normandy School District. For two-decades, the educational attainment for Normandy school children has resembled an underground roller-coaster. Even at its highest point it never saw daylight, remaining provisionally-accredited or unaccredited for more than 20 years. For all the voices of concerned citizens, parents, students and policymakers singing “Normandy strong,” the legal changes, economic realities and shifting demographics were the primary drivers in district’s demise. The same complex patterns producing racially segregated pockets across America have been unfolding in Normandy for years.

A 2012 report from the Pew Research Center suggested neighborhoods are increasingly segregated by income, as inequality has risen. In the case of Normandy and the St. Louis region overall, residential segregation continues to be a decisive factor in determining levels of school segregation.

In the Normandy School

District, the average household income is $32,000 (compared to $58,500 for St. Louis County), with an unemployment rate in the district that is double that of our state and region. Add the foreclosure crisis that devastated the district’s housing stock and crippled its property values, overlaid with race, and you have a textbook scenario for poor educational outcomes.

The differences in educational outcomes and life chances for African-American children in our region is significant. Educational attainment is a driver for important life outcomes –access to careers, income and even health. Attending a high school with a lowsocioeconomic composition (SEC) can result in lifelong adverse consequences.

A 2013 study published in the American Educational Research Journal, titled “High School Socioeconomic Segregation and Student Attainment,” suggested peer influence is an important and underappreciated factor in motivating students to achieve.

“Even after controlling for an array of student background characteristics and school inputs, students who attended high-SEC schools were 68 percent more likely to enroll at a four-year college than students from low SECschools,” reported Gregory J. Palardy of the University of California, Riverside.

The politics surrounding the student transfer law have provided a framework to examine how education and race influence suburban politics, define issues related to increasing diversity, and shape the actions people take.

Implementation of the transfer law has shown that in the less diverse districts the more advantaged residents tend to

Sending drones not divisions

In the post-Cold War era, it was possible to hold grand illusions and chase utopian dreams. As President Obama understands, and his foreign policy critics fail to grasp, that time is past. We live now in a postpost-Cold War world. At West Point last week, Obama attempted to sketch a different kind of U.S. leadership – less messianic and martial, more cautious and collaborative –designed to deal with things as they are, not as we might have hoped they would be.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it was possible to imagine what scholar Francis Fukuyama called “the end of history.” Western-style free-market democracy had triumphed and would spread inexorably around the globe. The ride might be bumpy –we saw ethno-civil war in the Balkans, genocide in Rwanda, terrorism in faraway places – but there seemed no doubt where the world was ultimately headed.

The 9/11 attacks proved reports of history’s demise to be premature. In response, George W. Bush pursued a “freedom agenda” in keeping with the post-Cold War mindset: Using military force, the United States attempted to install pro-Western democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq. We ended up with a corrupt regime in Kabul and a sectarian regime in Baghdad, neither of which is a reliable U.S. ally. Along the way, we managed to make Iran, a hostile adversary, more powerful and secure than it was before we barged into the

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lean towards maintaining the status quo.

By the beginning of the year, over a dozen bills emerged in the Missouri Legislature seeking to fix the school transfer statute, which is a passport to better schools for children in an unaccredited school district. The bills were subsequently combined, creating a hodgepodge of political compromise.

The combined bill preserved the right of children to transfer but ended free transportation to get there and blocked children from transferring to an accredited district next door. It also required children to attend school in their home district for a semester, punishing transient families and children attending private schools or being homeschooled.

The legislation gave voters (in St. Louis and Kansas City only) an option to use local dollars to attend nonreligious private schools within the unaccredited district. If the district stays unaccredited for three years, the option automatically kicks in, thus voters lose the “option” to decide on where their tax dollars go. The Legislature passed the bill, but Gov. Nixon has said he will veto it.

On May 20, the Missouri Board of Education dissolved the Normandy School District, establishing a new district and governing body. This was followed by a Normandy School District law suit challenging the board’s authority and the state’s education-funding formula, and claiming that adherence to the transfer law violated the state constitution. All for the sake of children – maybe.

Pruitt is president of the St. Louis city chapter of the NAACP.

neighborhood. Everything about the post-post-Cold War world –which dawned, we can see in retrospect, on 9/11 – is messy. Sweeping statements of principle do not translate easily into policy.

Look at the upheavals of the Arab Spring. The Obama administration fully supported the right of the Egyptian people to choose their own leaders in free and fair elections – unless those leaders belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood, in which case a coup to remove them could not be called a coup.

Regarding Syria, Obama said

n After a decade of war, polls show virtually no appetite in this country for foreign military adventure.

categorically that dictator Bashar al-Assad had to go – but did not want to give the antiAssad rebels heavy arms for fear they would fall into the hands of terrorists.

It is easy to criticize these positions as situational or ad hoc. I believe that Obama’s “what coup?” policy in Egypt was questionable but that his stay-out policy in Syria has been prudent. But in both cases, I recognize that Obama cared less about rhetorical consistency than about trying to determine what is in the best interests of the United States.

After a decade of war, polls show virtually no appetite in this country for foreign military adventure. The political consensus that supports the most extravagant level of defense spending in the world

etters to the editor

Much more than a poet

I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of my dear friend, Dr. Maya Angelou, one of the most renowned and inspirational voices of our time. In a career that spanned over more than five decades, Maya was a celebrated author, poet, educator, producer, actress and filmmaker. She was a phenomenal woman who shared her wisdom with the world, inspiring countless individuals and teaching us how to reach unity in the midst of division.

Maya was always very generous in responding to requests by her friends to make public appearances. I remember in response to a request from me to make an appearance at the Black Women’s Forum in Los Angeles, she not only honored the request, but thrilled the audience by sharing her life experiences and encouraging the women to reflect on their own lives. Maya was a wise and spiritual woman who taught me valuable lessons about life and did not hesitate to compliment or criticize anyone. Maya was also much more than a poet; she was an influential leader during the Civil Rights Movement. She fought for social and racial justice by promoting the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr. and through her work with the Organization of Afro-American Unity, led by Malcolm X Dr. Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Indeed, she truly left her mark on all who knew her and I know her presence will be missed. Our nation is grateful for the legacy she has left behind and it will live on through her words and actions. My thoughts and prayers are with her son, Guy Johnson, and her entire family during this difficult time.

remains intact, but the coffers no longer are bottomless. History refuses to move in a straight line. Hundreds of millions of people are escaping from poverty in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and in the long run this will make the world safer. Free markets have prevailed, mostly. But the inevitability of Western-style democracy looks less certain. China’s model of autocratic capitalism with heavy state involvement is seen in some developing countries as a plausible alternative.

Nationalism is a deep reservoir of passion that bullies such as Vladimir Putin can use to fuel their ambitions. Religious strife between Sunni and Shiite is being stoked and exploited across the Middle East. Nuclear-armed Pakistan is harboring what remains of the Taliban and often seems on the verge of implosion.

The world economy is so interconnected that sanctions against, say, Putin’s Russia may harm Angela Merkel’s Germany. And the biggest crisis the world faces – climate change – requires a cooperative global solution.

Obama is anything but an isolationist; to the contrary, he has shown that he will use military force whenever necessary and feasible. But he made clear at West Point that his preference will be to send drones, not divisions – and that he will have to be convinced that the use of force will “not create more enemies than we take off the battlefield.”

“To say that we have an interest in pursuing peace and freedom beyond our borders is not to say that every problem has a military solution,” he told the cadets. “Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.”

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Via email

True national treasure

I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Maya Angelou, a true national treasure whom I have admired greatly for many, many years. Dr. Angelou was much more than a literary genius, a chronicler of Jim Crow, and a witness to history. Through her extraordinary work, she captured the tenacity of the human spirit and spoke of harsh realities in the most evocative, moving and lyrical of ways. Over the course of a career spanning some of the most tumultuous decades of the last century, she taught us how to rise above “a past that’s rooted in pain.” She gave voice to a people too often shut out of America’s public discourse. She displayed remarkable courage in the face of tremendous adversity. And she inspired generations to overcome life’s greatest challenges – through her extensive writings, her performances, her advocacy, her educational work, and her principled activism.

For my family and me, Maya Angelou will always be much more than a great American and an icon in world literature. She is the namesake of one of my daughters, who met her as a young girl and celebrated her twenty-first birthday just one day before the elder Maya was lost to us. Although our hearts are filled with grief at the news of her passing – a sorrow made all the more acute by the knowledge that we shall not see her like again – she will continue to be a source of strength and inspiration. She will endure in the singular body of work she leaves behind. And she will live on in the shining example that guides our steps forward and fuels the work that remains.

Columnist Eugene Robinson

Columnist

Adolphus Pruitt

Boy Scouts honor Stewards

David and Thelma Steward were honored recently during the Greater St. Louis Area Council, Boy Scouts of America’s annual Eagle Scout Recognition Dinner. Richard H. McClure, president of Unigroup Inc. and council president, presented the Stewards with the Soaring Eagle Award for their dedication, contributions and passion for the community and scouting.

Growing up in Clinton, Mo., David yearned to join a local Cub Scout pack, but there were no packs in town that allowed people of color. Undeterred, David’s mother started her own pack that allowed all people regardless of color. There David rose through the ranks of scouting and made it all the way to Life Scout.

Pictured: David Steward; Thelma Steward; Ron Green, Scout Executive/CEO Greater St. Louis Area Council; Richard McClure, president of Unigroup Inc. and Greater St. Louis Area Council president.

Earn a free computer at computer camp

North County Churches Uniting for Racial Harmony and Justice is holding its fourth Annual Summer Youth Computer Academy at John Knox Presbyterian Church, 13200 New Halls Ferry Rd., Florissant from June 18, to July 12 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The academy will consist of training students on how to build a computer and use software. There will be a $60 registration fee, but upon completion of the training students will be given free computers. All students entering grades 6 through 10 are welcomed, but students without access to computers within their homes are especially welcomed. Training will once again be provided by the Computer Village company.

Applications are due at John Knox Presbyterian Church by June 6. For further information, contact Dr. Rance Thomas, at 314-238-6828 or Kim Chandler, at 314-921-5833.

Documentary film festival accepting submissions

The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is now accepting submissions for its 12th annual event. The festival will take place February 6-16, 2015 in downtown Missoula, Montana at the historic Wilma Theater, Top Hat Lounge and Crystal Theater. It accepts submissions of non-fiction films of all forms, genres, subject matter, lengths and production dates.

Early deadline is postmarked by July 1. Regular deadline is postmarked by September 1. Final deadline is postmarked by October 14. DVD (any region), Blu-Ray, Quicktime Movie, or secure on-line screeners, accepted for preview. Submit your film at http://www.bigskyfilmfest.org/bsdff/submissions/.

Free lunches at County Library

St. Louis County Library and Operation Food Search are teaming up to provide free lunches to children this summer at select SLCL locations. Starting in June, three SLCL branches will offer a nutritious lunch along with activities for kids from 12-1 p.m., Monday–Friday. Meals will be available free of charge for children ages 2–18.

The free lunch program will begin on June 2 at the Florissant Valley and Weber Road branches. The Rock Road Branch will offer the program beginning June 3. Lunch service will be offered through August 15. Full schedule below.

Florissant Valley – lunches offered June 2–August 15 ay 195 New Florissant Road, South, Florissant

Rock Road – lunches offered June 3–August 15 at 10267 St. Charles Rock Road, St. Ann Weber Road – lunches offered June 2–August 15, 4444 Weber Road in St. Louis.

For more information about the free lunch program, please contact Jennifer McBride at 314-994-3300 ext 2250.

Maya and the ancestors

By Ruth-Miriam Garnett

For The St. Louis American

After publication of seven autobiographies, three essay collections, several volumes of poetry, the amassing of theater, move and television credits, receiving innumerable awards and 30-plus doctoral degrees, Marguerite Ann Johnson, otherwise known as Maya Angelou, has made her transition.

International recognition and acclaim were first bestowed on Ms. Angelou at age 41, following publication of her book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Prior to this, she had spent her earlier adult life immersed in the tapestry of AfricanAmerican artistic, cultural and political life.

Ms. Angelou was both central to and witnessed seismic shifts in consciousness of black people in America. She was led astray briefly by the seamy underbelly of racial oppression and the stifling of creative genius, part and parcel of a circumstance which entails excruciating risk.

Unlike other societies, American poets, writers and other artists are rarely jailed. They do, however, live on the cusps of stability, and too often like Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin or many jazz musicians of international renown, die penniless.

Angelou’s American dream was achieved by a relentless drive to honor a vision of celebration, uplift and witness. Her mastery of all genres she engaged contributed to her consistently captivating audiences, her variegated productivity ensuring that the soil nourishing her endeavor would lie fallow only to replenish itself.

With the recent demise of Sam Greenlee, we see how otherwise black creativity can be made invisible for decades. Maya spoke her truth as boldly as the great Chicagoan, but remained a moving target, so to speak. Just thinking about her is dazzling.

Maya continued speaking her truth, and those who had what Gwendolyn Brooks called a “heart hunger” for poetry remained attuned to her voice, including an American president. Then, too, Maya had the ancestors on her side. She lectured about the metaphoric content of AfricanAmerican spirituals preceding the advent of Modern poetry formulations by Ezra Pound. Pound cited Haiku as his inspiration. Maya pointed out the “objective correlative,” T. S. Eliot’s term, of a green tree bending and a sinful human figure out in the same storm.

We are as African-American artists, like all artists, thieves, and we best follow Maya’s example and not neglect ancestors in cotton fields for our Promethean pillaging.

Ruth-Miriam Garnett is author of “Laelia,” a novel, and two collections of poetry, Concerning Violence and A Move Further South. A second novel, “Chloe’s Grief,” will appear in fall 2014.

Ruth-Miriam Garnett

Photo: Greater St. Louis Area Council

HOLMES

Continued from A1

when God put it on my heart to do it. I got up, wrote down on a piece of paper a proposal, went to work at Express Scripts and added some data and presented it to our chairman, George Paz, that day. And he agreed on the spot.

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One moment I was an executive vice president of a corporation with more than 1,200 people reporting to me, and the next day I was running a little non-profit with 50 employees.

about how amazingly faithful God has been to us.

The American: Tell me one. Michael Holmes: I was praying one day. When we spun off from Express Scripts, we had to make our own payroll – that was one condition. I was praying and thanking God for blessing us and allowing us to be successful and asking that he continue to give us manna on a daily basis.

“Every person deserves access to good health care. I’d love to see Missouri expand Medicaid.”

– Michael Holmes, Rx Outreach

The American: Tell me more about your faith. Michael Holmes: I was raised Christian, and I have grown closer to Christ over the years. As our patients know, our bottle caps say we honor God by serving others. We put Him first here. I don’t use the “CEO” title. God is our CEO, He is really the one in charge. I can give you story after story

HORSFORD

Continued from A1 different projects and see my bust size go from up to down,” Horsford joked of her long-running career. “That’s a blessing that my footprint has been that deep on this planet.” Horsford spoke with The American by phone recently after a day of filming for the sitcom “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” The actress, who is well-connected to St. Louis, had high praises for the still relatively new regional Urban League President and CEO Michael P. McMillan.

“I didn’t know people like that still existed,” Horsford said of McMillan. McMillan created the Salute to Women in Leadership Gala

While I was praying, my phone rang. Obviously, I didn’t answer it. But when I picked up the message, a lawyer in Chicago had called us. At first I thought, “Oh no, what went wrong? A lawyer is calling.” But the lawyer called and said, “You have been recommended to us.” They had money left over from a settlement and wanted to send us a check – and they sent us a check for $500,000.

The American: Jesus kicked the moneychangers out

when he served as board chairman of the St. Louis Community Empowerment Foundation. To date, nearly 100 women across various professions “who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to serve their communities” have received the honor. Last year’s Lifetime Achievement Award went to musical icon Chaka Khan. “The Urban League is proud to give recognition to outstanding women who embody the mission of our organization to help create opportunities for disadvantaged and overlooked individuals and communities,” McMillan said. Horsford supports McMillan in his vision, and said she is looking forward to the direction he will take the organization. At last year’s Whitney M. Young Society event launch,

of the temple. Is Christianity consistent with business practices?

Michael Holmes: We’re a non-profit, so we have no money motive, we have a

Horsford told attendees that the Urban League is needed now more than ever. People still need organizations to protect them and their rights and organizations like the Urban League “have our back,” she said.

n

St. Louis has become “a home away from home” for her, she said. Many of Horsford’s trips to the Gateway City have been at the bequest of fellow Salute to Women honoree Barbara Washington. In her long tenure at MathewsDickey Boys’ and Girls’ Club, Washington established prominent community-wide

service motive. I have not taken a pay raise, though I give raises to our staff because we have to stay competitive. To me, this is my ministry, so my answer is, yes. Even Jesus had a trade

fundraisers, including Clifton Davis’ “Say Amen” Literacy Gala.

“A lot of my friends in L.A. are from St. Louis. There must be something in the water that makes me like all these people from St. Louis.”

– Anna Maria Horsford

Several years ago, Horsford and four of her “Amen” cast members were honored guests at the club’s 20th Annual “Say Amen” Literacy Gala. It was the first time the cast had been together since the show ended in 1991, Horsford recalled. The gala was renamed after Clifton Davis, who played the Rev. Reuben Gregory on the sitcom, the following year. Since then, Horsford has maintained an ongoing relationship with the club

– he was a woodworker. The people who supported him, his disciples, were fishermen, they had careers. They gave them up when they into ministry, but they had careers.

as a mentor to young women involved in its other fundraising events: Sheer Elegance Fashion Show and The Sky is the Limit Luncheon. Last month, Horsford gave out $1,000 college scholarships to 20 deserving students at the club’s 20th Annual “The Sky is the Limit” Luncheon.

“A lot of my friends in L.A. are from St. Louis,” she said. “There must be something in the water that makes me like all these people from St. Louis.”

Other women to be honored at this year’s gala include: Judge Glenda A. Hatchett, from the two-time Emmy nominated syndicated show “Judge Hatchett”; Esther Haywood, president of the St. Louis County NAACP; St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura

The American: Would expanding Medicaid be doing God’s work?

Michael Holmes: Every person deserves access to good health care. I’d love to see Missouri expand Medicaid. I’d love to see every state expand Medicaid. It may mean we would not be needed as much, but that would be okay. If Medicaid was expanded and Rx Outreach wasn’t needed, there are always places to serve.

The American: Who is eligible for your services? Michael Holmes: Eligibility is income-based, so we serve people whose income is up to 300 percent of the

poverty level. If you’re single, that’s a salary of about $35,000 a year. For a family of four, that’s a salary of up to about $71,000 a year.

The American: How does someone access your services?

Michael Holmes: In St. Louis, you would call 314-7961234 or go online and register at Rxoutreach.org.

Follow this reporter on Twitter at @chriskingstl.

Jones; Darlene Davis, principal, Davis and Associates; and Melanie Chambers, senior human resources director for the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. Everybody should do something to uplift their community, regardless of a person’s stature in life, Horsford said. And she said it is better to be honored for the work one does out of the limelight.

“To be humble, you have to understand that things happen for reasons,” Horsford said, “not just because the ego needs touching.”

The gala will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a black-tie reception. To purchase tickets or ads, please call 314-615-3668. Follow this reporter on Twitter: @BridjesONeil.

George and Melissa Paz visited with Michael and Gail Holmes at Rx Outreach’s first

gala on May 10 at Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark, where the organization raised nearly a quarter-million dollars.

Photo by Wiley Price

STUDY

Continued from A1 their white counterparts.

Rather than be paralyzed by all this depressing, impressively presented data, it is important to “do something now” to make it better, Hardy said.

The researchers who conducted the study agree. The report concludes with a set of recommendations for positive change, including: invest in early childhood education, create economic opportunities for low-income families, establish coordinated school health programs, and improve screening and treatment for mental health problems.

Three lively panels of regional experts and community organizers backed up both the researchers’ findings and their call to action. The underlying assumptions of the study title, “For the Sake of All,” are that this is not a black problem and not only black people are needed to address it. More than onefourth (29 percent) of the people in St. Louis city and county are black, and such poor health outcomes – tied to low educational and economic achievement – of blacks hold back the entire region.

Mike Jones, senior policy advisor for County Executive Charlie Dooley, explained this with a characteristic sports analogy.

“This region is not going to be competitive with 25 percent of the players on the bench or not productive,” Jones said. “You’ll never beat anybody playing four on five.”

The connections between education and economic opportunity are central to the study. “The largest single contributor to premature death is behavior,” Purnell said.

“But behavior happens in a context.” That context, he said, is largely determined by access to education and economic opportunity.

Crystal Gale, principal of Roosevelt High School in the St. Louis Public Schools, said undiagnosed and untreated mental health problems are a major contributor to her students’ lagging economic performance.

“Before we can teach them, we need to make sure students are in the right frame of mind to learn,” Gale said. “And teachers need the training to recognize behavioral patterns of mental illness rather than just throw students out of the classroom.”

Joe Yancey, executive director of Places for People, said routine exposure to violence and danger is damaging the health of young people and adults in many St. Louis neighborhoods.

“People know they don’t feel safe,” Yancey said, “but they don’t recognize the impact that has on their physical and, potentially, mental health – and what they can do about it.”

Rev. Rodney Francis, pastor of Washington Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, said that clergy can play a role in addressing the stigma associated with mental illness in the black community. “There is still a stigma, a shame,” he said. “We say that people are ‘touched.’ It is a disease and it needs our care and concern, our passion and not our pity.”

Will R. Ross, MD, associate dean for diversity at Washington University School of Medicine, has seen the effects of poverty on health as a practicing physician. He spoke of seeing a patient after a very long delay due to missed appointments. “He told me he couldn’t afford the medication,” Dr. Ross said,

“so he didn’t want to waste my time.”

Structural solutions

Michael Sherraden, founder of the Center for Social Development at the Brown School, said there has been too much talk of structural problems. “I like to think of structural solutions,” he said.

One such “structural solution” is to help ensure access to educational opportunity for all children by investing in a college savings plan for all children. He is leading a study in Oklahoma that has shown that such savings plans can be created for all children who are offered one through a random sampling. Mothers of those children report higher expectations for their children, he said, which correlates to better educational outcomes. He said these mothers also report fewer depressive symptoms than a control group.

“This shows you can actually put in place better economic opportunities for people, and people will respond to those opportunities,” Sherraden said, “and evidence suggests that as a result people’s lives will be better.”

Locally, Beyond Housing has put a college savings plan in account for children in the Normandy School District as part of its 24:1 initiative. Sherraden said St. Louis Treasurer Tishaura O. Jones is working with him to start a college savings plan in the city.

Kendra Copanas, executive director of the Maternal, Child and Family Health Coalition, said problems associated with maternal health need a structural solution that starts before pregnancy.

“We need to focus our approach across a woman’s life starting in early childhood,” Copanas said. “Our work needs to be coordinated with all other systems that touch families.”

For more structural solutions to structural problems, a number of experts and organizers said, we need a more engaged community.

Susan Stepleton, director of the Policy Forum at the Brown School, has experience advocating for early childhood education as former president of Parents As Teachers.

“The problem is there is too small of a group of child advocates,” Stepleton said, and given that many advocates are teachers they are dismissed as “self-interested.”

The rare and surprising

collaboration between Washington University and Saint Louis University on “For the Sake of All” was noted by one of the researchers, Melody S. Goodman, an assistant professor at WUSTL School of Medicine.

The researchers’ deliberate and intense public engagement on this study also was praised throughout the conference.

n “Next we will call everyone around the table, get to work together and measure our progress together.”

The community needs such engagement from academic experts, according to Sherrill Jackson, founder of the Breakfast Club, a community advocacy group for breast cancer survivors. “Our mobile mammography van was developed with researchers’ input,” Jackson said.

– Jason Q. Purnell

director of the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council, said he started to get better results after he forged partnerships with area law schools. Now those students are lawyers arguing cases, judges writing opinions and law professors teaching the next generation of attorneys – and they understand fair housing law from the community’s perspective.

“Those partnerships have really made a difference,” Jordan said. “They see fair housing is not just the law. It’s what’s right.”

Will Jordan, executive

If the community needs more help from academic and civic institutions, Dr. Ross said, then community-minded

Figure 6 in the report shows that while educational attainment for whites and blacks in the region has increased steadily since 1960, the achievement gap between the groups also has increased. Figure 17 in the report illustrates the most startling evidence that zip code is destiny in this region.

professionals within the academy need more leverage from the community.

“Hospitals and universities need to better align our resources with community needs,” Dr. Ross said. “To hold academic centers and hospitals more responsible for this, we need a greater push from the community.”

To engage the business community, we need to assemble the data that investing in poor communities will improve their bottom line, according to Sandra M. Moore, president of Urban Strategies.

“When you are dealing with funders, you need to make translations for funders,” Moore said. “You have to show how and why you’ll protect their investment. I haven’t seen one yet that is not concerned with a return on their investment.”

Chris Krehmeyer, president

and CEO of Beyond Housing, has succeeded in attracting investment for new banking services, healthy food options and residential stock in Pagedale. He agreed that the structural solution is the way to go, but it is not an easy way.

“We need to do this all together intentionally,” Krehmeyer said. “The reality is that it’s really hard to do. To do this work is really hard and it will make us uncomfortable at times.”

Doing the work is the next step, according to Purnell, who is directing the effort.

“Now we have some common goals and some common metrics,” he said. “Next we will call everyone around the table, get to work together and measure our progress together.”

To read the report, visit forthesakeofall.org.

Pattonville High School sophomore Nile Trice recently celebrated her 16th birthday by hosting a party where she collected more than $1,600 in gifts to be donated to the Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition, which matches gifts with children in foster care on their birthdays.

Youth collects gifts for kids in foster care

Charity event supports Birthday Buddies Program at foster care coalition

By Bridjes O’Neil Of The St. Louis American

Pattonville High School

sophomore Nile Trice recently celebrated her 16th birthday in a unique way. Nile hosted

a party at the Creve Coeur

Ice Skating Rink where she collected more than $1,600 in gifts to be donated to the Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition.

Attendees at Nile’s birthday party earned free admission by

bringing items most frequently requested by foster children –an MP3 player, bath and body products, a gift card or a remote control vehicle. It is a tradition

Nile began when she was in the sixth grade. Within five years, she has raised nearly $5,300.

“The one thing I’ve learned through my birthday charity events is that we all have the power to touch another

person’s life in a positive way,”

Nile said. “You just have to want to do it and not let anyone or anything stop you.”

Because of her efforts, Nile said many people have told her that they plan to host similar birthday charity events.

“We actually had a family that was thinking about adopting a child,” Nile said.

“We’re all very proud of her,” said Pattonville Principal Joe Dobrinic.

Dobrinic said that Nile is a dedicated student and a young lady with outstanding principles. Each year she selects a different local charity to support. This year she wanted to do something more personal in honor of her 9-year-old brother Jadon, who is adopted.

The Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition is a United Way agency. For 25 years, the agency has strived to create permanency in every foster child’s life by recruiting and supporting foster and adoptive families in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Nile donated her gifts to the organization’s Birthday Buddies Program, coordinated by volunteer Fonda Fontroy Richards. The program matches donors with requests from foster children who would not otherwise receive a gift on their birthdays.

Richards, who has volunteered with the Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition for nearly four years, is the adoptive mother of six and the proud grandmother of 15.

“Foster parents are often short on funds but long on love,” Richards said. “They want to give their foster children a gift, but just don’t have the financial means. We are always looking for more donors – especially for older teens who often go without.”

Like Alexis, who will celebrate her 16th birthday in July and is in need of a donor to make her birthday wishes come true. Alexis has been in foster care for about two years. For her 16th birthday, Alexis has requested tickets to a St. Louis Cardinals game, a gift card to Forever 21, or a Fandango gift card that she could use at a movie theater.

According to Shelley Thomas-Benke, director of FosterServe Volunteers, over 50 percent of children in the Birthday Buddies Program are teenagers in transitional or independent living who have high chances of aging out of the foster care system without families.

“They really have no adult in their life close to them who are buying them gifts,” Thomas-Benke said.

Gifts should be donated by July 16 to reach Alexis in time for her birthday. Prospective donors can view the birthday wishes and notify the organization of their desire to fill a request or more. For more information, visit www.fosteradopt.org/BeaBirthdayBuddy. Follow this reporter on Twitter: @BridjesONeil.

Mike Jones on Normandy Schools and killing hyenas

At this moment, Mike Jones is very much the veteran player under pressure in the Finals who was at one time a young man under pressure in the Finals.

Jones came up in the scrum of city politics when black political giants walked the Earth. Black politicians made deals that mattered. They made white politicians make deals that mattered to the black community.

He was a young man under heat when the city had to make deals with tenant rights organizers in public housing. They made deals that mattered to the black community.

Skipping a lot of other deal tables, in more recent years he was a seasoned political operative in county government when city and county chief executives (Jones now works for Charlie Dooley) had their most meaningful conversations to date about consolidating services and cooperating on economic development. Most of those deals remain to be made.

Now he’s a grizzled veteran on the state Board of Education faced with a crisis in the Normandy School District – or, rather, the as-yetnot-fully-defined educational entity formerly known as the Normandy School District –that threatens to destabilize public education in the St. Louis region and possibly the entire state.

He’s the older player, but it’s still the Finals, and he still wants the ball. He talked to the EYE about the game as it looks from the court where it’s being played.

Political EYE: Why did you want to talk now?

Mike Jones: As a black member of the state Board of Education representing the 1st Congressional District where all this is happening, I have a special responsibility to report to report to the black

community my perspective on what has happened, but – more importantly – my thinking for what we ought to do going forward.

I’m doing it now because for the last six months the ball was not in the Board of Education’s court, and I’ve been a politician long enough to know your public opinion doesn’t matter when you don’t have leverage in a given situation.

Political EYE: Where do you want to start?

Mike Jones: Let’s be clear there is no educational crisis in Missouri or St Louis. There is an educational crisis for black children in Missouri and St. Louis, and race and class are major mediating factors in determining what we do or don’t do about it.

Political EYE: Who’s responsible for the crisis?

Mike Jones: The notion that we’re all responsible is both naive and wrong. When everyone is in charge, nobody’s in charge, you end up avoiding accountability. In the case of Normandy, the State Board of Education and DESE own the prime responsibility because the state constitution says so. Now there were structural reasons we were not as effective in dealing with the situation, but that does nothing to change the responsibility. Two years ago SB125 gave the state board more authority and flexibility to act, and we’re now using that authority to execute that responsibility.

Now I clearly understand why people are skeptical of the state board taking this approach because our track record on these issues leaves a lot to be desired and, in fact, there is no evidence that I’m aware of where a state board has taken over a local district and turned the situation around. That being said, the status quo could not be justified and the other options under the statute wouldn’t have

“Think of it like this,” Mike Jones said. “How long would lions survive if adult lions didn’t first protect and then teach lion cubs how to recognize and deal with hyenas? In fact, killing hyenas is one of the prime responsibilities of adult male lions. Well, these children are our cubs.”

been in the best interest of the children of Normandy or the adjacent districts.

The other responsible party is the elected school boards (plural) of the Normandy School District. So while the state board may have permitted the failure of the Normandy School District, they didn’t require it. The district had effective day-to-day control of the education of these children for the last 20 years.

So like in the Army, when there is an unacceptable situation you don’t fire the soldiers, you relieve the commander – in this case, the elected school board.

Now the community does bear one specific responsibility, especially at the leadership level, and that is tolerating a political environment that would permit this kind of institutional failure at the state and local level. And by community and leadership, I’m not just talking about Normandy.

Political EYE: What about the new board for the new entity?

Mike Jones: Let me begin by saying the most important thing we’ve done to date is keep the district intact, and this is critical to Normandy having a real opportunity to turn around.

Now the board should be seven people (I think seven is a better governance number than five) who have the collective skills and leadership qualities the situation requires. They must be a majority African-American board, including the chairman. This

cannot be a neo-colonial takeover like the U.S. in Iraq, and we know how that turned out. The black community needs to see itself as in charge and responsible. Black children need to see black adults taking responsibility for their welfare and their future. Black children cannot and will not be rescued by white people. They will be saved by black adults with the help of progressive white people. So the white response should be, “What can I do to help?”

All the discussion among principally white interest groups, on all sides of this issue, is what to do about black children. There is a noticeable absence of black voices in this discussion, or at least black voices speaking from a black perspective. I think the strategies have failed because their premises are wrong. They assume that the American reality for black children is the same as the American reality for white children. Now America is changing, but it has not changed! White children and black children will need to acquire the same educational skills, but the how and why of that process is totally different. The America that a lowincome black child will have to overcome is totally different than the America that will nurture an upper-middle-class white child.

Political EYE: What do you mean?

Mike Jones: I would say I’m successful in spite of America. When I was born, America’s plan for me was

not for me to become who I am today. However, I was nurtured and educated in a community that understood that and that gave me the wherewithal, not only to survive a hostile environment, but to thrive and even dominate that environment. I’ve always understood education to be both a weapon and a shield that, once you have it, nobody can ever take it from you. So the smarter you are, the more you know, the more dangerous you become.

Political EYE: What does this have to do with Normandy?

Mike Jones: Everything. In the opening of “The Lone Ranger,” the announcer always said, “Returning to the days of yesterday.” I would argue that for children in Normandy (and places like Normandy) to learn, they need their educational instruction based upon the same premise as I had. I can find a country full of old guys from places like Normandy who are wildly successful, not because of the education they received, but because of the frame reference they had for the education they received. Think of it like this. How long would lions survive if adult lions didn’t first protect and then teach lion cubs how to recognize and deal with hyenas? In fact, killing hyenas is one of the prime responsibilities of adult male lions.

Well, these children are our cubs, and the structural barriers that threaten them are the hyenas. Our responsibility – no, really, our duty – is to first protect them, then educate

them to recognize and deal with hyenas and every chance you get kill a hyena.

Our goddaughter graduated from Spelman this year. While attending the various graduation ceremonies, what occurred to me is what made these young women special was not the technical training they received. Every degree that Spelman offers you can get anywhere in the country; there’s nothing unique about the technical training. However, there is something unique about the context of the training. Spelman, like a lot HBCUs, is a mission-driven institution, and the mission is to produce educated black women who will be leaders with a charge to change the world for the better. Now there was a time we provided that kind of context for black students in K-12 education. This is the inherent advantage of an all-black school district, it allows you to give black children what they need to take advantage of the technical training they’re receiving by providing a motivational context that speaks to their reality. While I’ll be the first to sign up for the need for wraparound services, there was a time when teachers and others understood and helped students understand that educational excellence is the cure for economic and social deficits. The greater the deficits, greater the emphasis on educational attainment. What we have to do is find the 2014 version of that approach to children in places like Normandy, Riverview Gardens and St. Louis Public Schools.

www.stlamerican.com

SLPS extends ‘high-dosage’ tutoring

SAB approves $5M in federal money for three outside vendors

By Tim Lloyd Of St. Louis Public Radio

The Special Administrative Board (SAB) for St. Louis Public Schools has approved funneling $5 million in federal money into an intense tutoring program.

The district hired three outside vendors to give the program a try with 2,174 students at 23 schools this past school year. Based on benchmark exams, students who participated in the program on average made greater academic strides than those who did not get the extra help.

“Data also shows that relationship between the tutor and young people was seen as positive by the young persons,” said Superintendent Kelvin Adams.

The program was in place at all 18 schools with chronically low academic performance. These schools will receive more resources, including social workers and counselors, under the district’s school improvement plan. The plan divides the district into four tiers based on academic success, and the 18 schools with the lowest level of achievement are on a level called the Superintendent Zone.

“They’re really working together to focus directly on kids,” Adams said. “One on the social-emotional side, one on the academic side with the tutoring.”

The data are based on assessment tools used by the vendors the district hired to provide the tutoring. It remains

to be seen whether the program will move the needle on state exams. Those numbers are still months away.

Board member Richard Gaines urged caution.

“These statistics don’t mean anything,” Gaines said. “And they don’t mean anything

n “Data also show that relationship between the tutor and young people was seen as positive by the young persons.”

– Superintendent Kelvin Adams

because there’s not enough time, there are no control studies, there’s none of that.”

At the same time, Gaines called the tutoring program one of the most powerful weapons the district has when it comes to improving student success. Adams had asked the board to approve using $4.5 million in federal money available to the district for the program.

The SAB approved the same amount last year, but the program ended up costing only $3.9 million.

In response, Gaines moved to add an extra $500,000 to expand the program next school year and request that Adams come back to SAB to extend it again the following year.

“I absolutely believe that we must do this,” Gaines said.

In some schools, the program did not move the needle, and according to a report presented to the SAB, the key factors in its success included attendance rates and training. The early results also show that the most improvement was seen in mathematics. Those findings are in line with data on a similar program in the Houston Independent School District that was part of school turnaround effort called Apollo 20.

“There were several components to the program,” said Ruth López Turley, who reviewed the program for the Houston Education Research Consortium. “The main component that seemed to be driving the gains was the ‘highdosage’ tutoring.”

She said success ultimately hinged on training and hanging on to the best possible tutors. In the second year of the Apollo 20 program, she said it lost some of the best tutors and a decline in student success followed.

Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

Chuck Berry threw out a ceremonial first pitch at Busch Stadium for Chuck Berry Night on May 21, 2014. Guests who bought the Chuck Berry Night package received a bobble head doll of the legendary rock & roll songwriter, bandleader and guitar player.

Photos UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Chuck Berry at the ballpark

By Melanie Adams

History Museum serves Prohibition exhibit

‘American Spirits’ created by National Constitution Center

With Twilight Tuesday behind us, the Missouri History Museum welcomes visitors to come inside the museum and experience our newest exhibit, American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. This national traveling exhibit looks at the history of Prohibition in a fun and engaging way that is sure to capture your attention.

American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition was created by the National Constitution Center and curated by Daniel Okrent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. If some of the material in the exhibit looks and sounds familiar, it is because Okrent collaborated with filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Nocivk on the documentary, Prohibition which aired on PBS in the fall of 2011. The exhibit includes original ratification copies of the 18th and 21st amendments, the original hatchet used by Carry Nation during one of

her barroom-smashing raids, and fashions from the 1920s courtesy of the Missouri History Museum’s textile collection.

The exhibit is very interactive and provides a “sneaky” civics lesson by explaining how the 18th amendment was turned into law. Using a carnival type game called “Wayne Wheeler’s Amazing Amendment Machine”, the process of turning a bill into a law is played out in a way that reminds me of the old School House Rock programs and is just as entertaining. After learning about the 18th amendment, visitors get to knock on a hidden wooden door and enter the underground world of the speakeasy. With an African American band playing in the corner, the speakeasy includes drinks from the era and even directions on the floor on how to do the Charleston. To help the dance challenged there is also a short period film that shows the dance moves in action.

After leaving the speakeasy, visitors can look through the files of the FBI or move along and play a video game that encourages would be FBI agents to catch rum runners. I’ve played it a few times and I am ok, but a lot of rum would have made it to the shore if I was responsible for stopping

it. Around the corner from the video game is an opportunity to get your picture taken in a line up with gangsters and then e-mail it to your friends and family right from the gallery. No story of Prohibition would be complete without a section about Anheuser Busch. Anheuser Busch is not only the presenter of the exhibit here in St. Louis, but they also worked with the exhibit team to provide a local component that told what the company did to survive when producing alcohol was not an option.

To complement the exhibit, there are many programs that help to tell the story of Prohibition and make a connection to the St. Louis region. The programs associated with the exhibit are listed below. Take some time to get out of the St. Louis heat (and humidity) and check out the American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.

Wetter than the Mississippi: Prohibition in Saint Louis and Beyond

Wednesday, June 18th at 7pm • FREE

Robbi Courtaway explores the lively days of Prohibition with this presentation focusing on her book. Wetter than the Mississippi examines old newspaper stories and oral history accounts of this fascinating period when the St. Louis was awash in saloons and scandals.

Gangs of St. Louis

Tuesday, June 24th at 7pm • FREE

During Prohibition, the major US cities became battlegrounds for organized crime and St. Louis was no exception. Daniel Waugh, author of Egan’s Rats and Gangs of St. Louis : Men of Respect, details St. Louis’ Gangster past.

Empires of Industry: Brewed in America

Tuesday, July 8th at Noon • FREE

Brewing is one of humanity’s oldest activities. This History Channel production offers a comprehensive history of an industry that has long been a mainstay of the American economy.

Equal opportunity in education

By Susan Turk For The St. Louis American

It was strange to read that George Parker equated equality regarding schools with opportunities or options, aka choice.

According to the thesaurus, “equality” means parity, fairness, equivalence, sameness or equal opportunity. Equal opportunity is not the same thing as options or choices.

Equal opportunity in education means that the schools have equal quality in terms of their resources. Options or choice does not guarantee equal resources will be offered in each option or that well-resourced schools would be willing and able to take everyone who wanted to enroll.

Equality in education means that all schools are well resourced. If all schools were well-resourced, who would be concerned about options?

Another said poignantly, “I have no choice.”

And that is the crux of the matter. When given options, the choices some people make prevent others from getting what they choose: a neighborhood public school. Not everyone benefits from school choice. If all of our schools were as well-resourced as we want them to be, choice would not be a concern.

Susan Turk

When my neighborhood SLPS elementary school was closed last year, having lost half its students to a nearby charter school – which DESE closed, because it was one of the lowest-performing schools in the state – I asked my neighbors who sent their children there how they felt.

They all liked the neighborhood school and did not want it to close. When asked where they would send their children in the fall, all were unhappy about losing their neighborhood public school and did not like any of the alternatives. One planned to move to the suburbs so his children could continue to walk to school.

We live in a society which is controlled by people who are determined to prevent our public schools from being equally resourced.

Ensuring educational equality is the civil rights battle of our time.

Dividing up the constituency for public education by syphoning off families into separate and unequal schools – such as charter schools, most of which happen to be more segregated than traditional public schools – so that those who feel better off might no longer be concerned about those left behind (and no longer feel the need to fight for equality), is no way to ensure that every child receives equal educational resources.

Choice divides us.

Communities used to unite behind their public schools. Because the forces who want to prevent equality are wealthy and powerful, it will take unity and years of long, hard effort to ensure educational equality. Those who equate equality with options are misguided. Opting out of the effort to work for equality for all children comforts only the powers that be.

“Mr. Dry” Bar Set, ca. 1920s, on loan from the Museum of American Political Life, University of Hartford, from American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition at the Missouri History Museum.

Two area teachers win Golden Apple awards

Each excelled at teaching with The St. Louis American’s NIE program

American staff

The St. Louis American’s Newspaper In Education (NIE) staff recently surprised two local teachers with Golden Apple recognition plaques and gift cards. The Golden Apple is presented each year to two elementary school NIE teachers who excel in integrating the newspaper content into their classroom lessons.

The St. Louis American’s NIE program, supported by local corporate leaders, provides weekly newspaper delivery, at no cost, to more than 6,300 students in select classrooms in the St. Louis area. These newspapers contain specific, student-friendly educational health and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) content for teachers to incorporate into their lesson plans. Participating teachers have found that their students respond positively to using the newspaper in class, and many integrate portions of the entire newspaper in their curriculum.

This year’s Golden Apple recipients are both from the Hazelwood School District.

Tracy Cotton, 5th grade teacher from Townsend Elementary, uses the newspaper in her class each week to teach science and communication arts. “Our skill of the week dictates how we use the newspaper in our classroom,” Cotton said. “The newspaper content brought about conversations that encouraged critical thinking and reflection, as well as providing real world math lessons using the ads, inserts and coupons.”

In addition, the newspaper provides countless examples of positive role models for her students. “Being able to read articles about African Americans in a positive light, being successful as doctors, lawyers, engineers, educators, etc., encouraged the students to share their dreams and rethink their future,” Cotton said.

Paris Bouchard, 5th grade teacher at Barrington Elementary, was the other Golden Apple recipient. He said using The St. Louis American in his class not only impacted his classroom lessons, but, surprisingly, also spurred conversations and participation at home with parents and extended family members.

“Most of my students went home and worked on the science projects with their family. They would come back the next day and talk about how their whole family participated and how they were even going to the library to find out more about the science topic in the lesson,” Bouchard said.

“In addition, after taking their MAP tests this year, many students spoke about how prepared they felt as a result of having used the newspaper throughout the year. I’m excited to see our test results in some of those specific areas that I know were positively impacted by using the newspaper each week.”

Bouchard’s students enjoyed using the newspaper so much that they actually suggested writing a letter to the fourth grade class (next year’s incoming fifth graders), about how much they learned by using The St. Louis American “As a science teacher, it was so amazing to see the little

Investigate and explore over 700 interactive exhibits and take in a ilm on one of the world’s largest domed screens in our OMNIMAX® Theater. Come, play and exercise your brain! General admission is always free. slsc.org/nie5

light bulb go off in each student’s head as they would grasp and understand the science concepts that were being taught. The St. Louis American helped turn on that light,” he said.

The St. Louis American’s Newspaper In Education program was started in the 2012-13 academic year, and in its first year received the National Newspaper Association’s first place award for Best Newspaper In Education program in the nation among all weekly newspapers. This program was underwritten in the 201314 school year by generous sponsors including Ameren, Ascension Health Care, BJC Health Care, Centene, Emerson, Mercy, Monsanto and World Wide Technology,

along with community partners Missouri Botanical Garden, Saint Louis Science Center and the Saint Louis Zoo.

The program is led currently by Cathy Sewell, an award-winning 21-year veteran of Newspapers in Education, who previously worked at the Post-Dispatch and Belleville NewsDemocrat. Beginning in the 2014-15 academic year, The St. Louis American will expand its program to provide 7,000 newspapers each week, at no charge, to elementary school children in select classrooms in seven area school districts as well as several charter schools, making it one of the largest NIE programs in the country.

What data can do for us

A remarkable report entitled “For the Sake of All” was issued last week at a community conference. Scholars from Washington University and Saint Louis University conducted the research, and a host of collaborators, advisors and community stakeholders helped to shape the year-anda-half process and the final report.

As I sat through the conference and reviewed the “For the Sake of All” publication, I could not help but wonder about how we use data as a society.

“For the Sake of All” is a well-researched report on the health and well-being of African Americans in the St. Louis region. This is nothing new, you might say. What’s different about this project is that it connects the consequences to the entire region. It put forth compelling reasons why the health status of black folks matters to the entire region. Perhaps this has been the missing piece to getting a more comprehensive and adequately funded health plan in place.

Jamala Rogers

life expectancy of St. Louis residents who live in certain adjoining wards. Or the fact that the number of deaths due to poverty combined with those due to the lack of high school diplomas could fill about 7 Metrolink cars per year. This is at a cost of $3.3 billion annually. How do we use data based upon the lived experiences of people to chart a more humane course for the well-being of all? Unfortunately, policy and law makers tend to use a lens based upon race and class, which leads to a judgment about who’s worth the investment. We know the 4th grade reading scores of children are being used as predictors for planning future prison beds. We could just as easily and cheaply use the data to implement a more targeted and rigorous reading program in the first, second and third grades of these children. We choose not to do so. That’s why the U.S. has the highest incarcerated population of an industrialized country and still has low levels of reading scores for poor children.

The other important aspect to the report is that it gives policy responses to problems. It offers some possible solutions that we as a broader community can start discussing and implementing.

There are many known facts in the report. But in some cases, even the ugly facts that we have become comfortable with were cast into a new or different light. The sophisticated graphics also helped to illuminate the facts in sobering, insightful ways.

For example, there exists an 18-year differential in the

“For the Sake of All” gives us a lot of think about, especially about where the region goes from here with the information put into our collective hands. We can’t continue using a lens that looks at people in black and white, at who lives in the city or the suburbs, or at who’s educated and who’s not. If the report does nothing else, it makes it crystal clear that our lives are inextricably linked and that health care is a basic human right. To view the report, go to forthesakeofall.org.

Paris Bouchard, 5th grade teacher at Barrington Elementary School

Tracy Cotton, 5th grade teacher from Townsend Elementary School

Photos by Wiley Price

City/County partnership unveils strategic plan

Merger of economic development entities announces strategy for growth

By Jason Rosenbaum

Of

St.

Louis

Public Radio

The St. Louis Economic Development Partnership unveiled its first strategic plan for St. Louis and St. Louis County last Tuesday.

The 33-page document list the priorities for the agency, which was established last year, when portions of the city and the county economic development agencies merged. Among the goals outlined in the strategic plan are:

• Supporting startups and the entrepreneurial community;

• Increasing foreign trade and investment;

• Advancing redevelopment of “strategic real estate assets,” such as the old Chrysler plant site or areas of north St. Louis County;

• Attracting immigrants to the St. Louis region.

n “If we can implement this fully, it has the potential to be transformative for the St. Louis economy.”

– Partnership CEO Denny Coleman

• Retaining and expanding job opportunities, especially for young professionals.

In an interview, Partnership CEO Denny Coleman said getting a strategic plan together was important, because it provides specific direction for what the agency should focus on for the foreseeable future.

“We think it is dynamic,” Coleman said. “We think that if we can implement this fully along with the rest of our partners in the region,

it really has the potential to be very transformative for the St. Louis economy.” Included in those broad principles are specific goals, such as redeveloping commercial areas in north St. Louis County or building on St. Louis’ Mosaic Project, a program that encourages immigrants to relocate to the region. The report also points out specific tactics, including developing national and international marketing plans to attract immigrant businesspeople and using certain

Employment Connection helps high-risk clients

Agency tries to reverse trend of generational incarceration

By Bridjes O’Neil

Of The St. Louis American

Employment

Connection CEO

Brenda Mahr said there is an alarming new trend that needs urgent attention: generational incarceration. Over a 25-year period, Mahr said, there has been an increase in the number of children with incarcerated parents. And 26 percent of jail inmates surveyed by the U.S. Department of Justice had a mother or father who had been incarcerated.

“Much like you have a whole family of teachers,” Mahr said. She said generational incarceration has created an unmet community need, and it is an issue that Employment Connection plans to address in a way that will impact the community as a whole.

“You’re listening to a dream that I’m just starting to work on,” she said. Employment Connection receives funding from the Department of Corrections to provide services

Research and Employment Connection’s interactions with ex-offenders have shown that it is vital to work with both parents and youth to break the cycle of generational incarceration. Mahr said the agency is searching for a funding source with a holistic approach. Building strong programs is a strategic goal the agency will implement over the next few years, in addition to developing sustainable revenue sources and increasing strategic community partnerships.

David Steward received an honorary degree from Saint Louis University at its 2014 Commencement.

One of the nation’s most successful African-American entrepreneurs, he is co-founder of World Wide Technology Inc., which is among the largest minorityowned businesses in the United States. Ebony magazine has named him one of the “100 Most Influential Black Americans,” while the Small Business Administration has tapped him as a “Top Minority Entrepreneur.”

Thelma Steward received an honorary degree from Saint Louis University at its 2014 Commencement. With her husband David Steward, she is a major area philanthropist who recently gave a leadership gift to Jazz St. Louis for its expansion. She was named 2012 Woman of the Year by Variety the Children’s Charity St. Louis. The Stewards also founded a Bible study program called “Doing Business by the Book.”

‘Do you have kids? If you do, where are they?’”

According to research by the Pew Charitable Trust, there are an estimated 2.7 million youth in the United States under age 18 with a parent currently in jail or prison.

Employment Connection, which was founded 37 years ago with the mission to reduce recidivism through employment for those leaving prison, is a member agency of the United Way of Greater St. Louis. The agency has expanded its services to assist veterans, individuals recovering from substance abuse, homeless and low-income individuals and families, new Americans and at-risk youth. “Services are targeted to high-risk, See CLIENTS, B6

Oliver Lake received a 2014 Doris Duke Artist Impact Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, in partnership with Creative Capital. He will receive an unrestricted grant of $60,000, with possibly an additional $10,000. He is an alto saxophonist and composer who has anchored trailblazing ensembles such as the World Saxophone Quartet, Jump Up and Trio 3 and is a featured artist with the collective Tarbaby.

Jovita Foster was named general counsel to the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. She is a partner in Armstrong Teasdale’s Litigation practice group. Elected to the Urban League’s Board of Directors in 2012, she now serves on its executive committee. The organization’s mission is to empower African Americans and others throughout the region by helping them secure economic self-reliance, social equality and civil rights.

Aeneas Williams was named the honorary chair of the 2nd annual YWCA Metro St. Louis Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, the international men’s march to end rape and gender violence. The walk will be held 6 p.m. June 5, starting at Missouri Athletic Club, 405 Washington Ave. The National Football League Hall of Fame inductee is the founding Pastor of The Spirit of the Lord Family Church.

B. Marcell McClure Williams received an Achieving Excellence: One Step Beyond award from the Confluence Chapter of Top Ladies of Distinction, Inc. She is founder of Jewels, Inc., whose mission is to empower young, urban girls as future leaders through education, training and social activism. It has chapters in Washington, D.C., Chicago, St. Louis and Baltimore, MD. She is an event planner at Faith Church. On the move? Congratulations! Send your good professional news and a color headshot to cking@stlamerican.com.

David Steward

Thelma Steward

Oliver Lake

Jovita Foster

Aeneas Williams

B. Marcell McClure Williams

Photo by Wiley Price

Emily Pitts, a principal at Edward Jones responsible for inclusion and diversity at the firm, spoke in favor of the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership’s new strategic plan last Tuesday at the Cheshire Inn. The plan emphasizes tracking minority and female participation in economic development.

Brenda Mahr, CEO of Employment Connection, visits with U.S. Army veteran Lisa Shelley, a former Client of the Year who now serves on the agency’s board of directors as a client advocate.

Photo by Wiley Price

Don’t fall prey to medical identity theft

By Jason Alderman

By now, most people know about the perils of identity theft, where someone steals your personal or financial account information and makes fraudulent charges or opens bogus accounts in your name.

Lately, a not-so-new twist has been getting a lot of attention – medical identity theft. That’s where someone gains access to your health insurance or Medicare account information and uses it to submit phony insurance claims, obtain prescription drugs or medical devices, or get medical treatment in your name.

Besides its high cost, medical ID theft also can have deadly consequences: Suppose someone poses as you and gets an appendectomy; if you later entered the hospital with abdominal pain, your medical file would show that your appendix was already removed and you could be tragically misdiagnosed.

Here are a few tips for avoiding medical ID fraud and steps to take if it happens: Your medical files are often full of information ID thieves crave: account numbers for Social Security, health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, contact information, email address, etc. All it takes is one stolen employee laptop or an intercepted piece of mail or email to leave you vulnerable.

Sophisticated thieves will also hack computer networks of insurance companies, pharmacies, medical equipment suppliers and others who have access to your medical records. And unfortunately, the black market for stolen information

is so tempting that employees have been known to steal data. Common signs of medical identity theft include:

• Provider bills or insurance Explanation of Benefits (EOB) forms that reference medical services you didn’t receive. (Verify all dates, providers and treatments and look for duplicate billing.)

• Calls from debt collectors about unfamiliar bills.

• Medical collection notices on your credit report.

Just as you shouldn’t hesitate to ask your doctor or nurse whether they washed their hands, so you should feel free to ask what security

precautions their business office takes to protect your information. Here are a few preventive measures to take:

• Never reveal personal or account information during unsolicited calls or emails.

• Be suspicious if someone offers you free medical equipment or services and then requests your Medicare number.

• Never let people borrow your Medicare or insurance card to obtain services for themselves. Not only is this illegal, but it could be disastrous if your medical histories become intermingled (think about differing allergies, blood types, etc.)

• Regularly check your credit reports for unpaid bills for unfamiliar medical services or equipment. This could indicate someone has opened a new insurance policy using your identity and is running up charges.

If you suspect or know your information has been compromised, ask for copies of your medical records from each doctor, hospital, pharmacy, lab or health plan where a thief may have used your information. Also request a copy of their “Accounting of Disclosures” form, which lists everyone who got copies of your medical records.

Next, write them all by certified mail explaining which information is inaccurate, along with copies of documents supporting your position. Ask them to correct or delete all errors and to inform everyone they may have sent records to (labs, other doctors, hospitals, etc.) Keep copies of all correspondence and logs of all phone calls or other related activities.

You can also file a police report and contact the fraud units at the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You may want to place a fraud alert or freeze on your accounts. Visit the Federal Trade Commission’s Identity Theft site for more information (www.consumer.ftc.gov).

Jason Alderman directs Visa’s financial education programs. To Follow Jason Alderman on Twitter: www. twitter.com/PracticalMoney.

Business Briefs

Consortium welcomes 2016 class to orientation program

The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management will welcome more than 400 MBA students and others to its 48th annual Orientation Program and Career Forum June 5-10 in Austin, Texas. The Consortium is a St. Louis-based national nonprofit focused on diversity and inclusion in American business. It links top-tier students, member business schools and corporate partners. The Orientation Program is a forum for the incoming class of 2016 to meet current students, alumni, officials from the 18 member business schools and representatives of more than 70 companies. The schools and companies contribute $25 million per year to support diverse education and business leadership.

Better Together releases report on economic development

Better Together released the results of its Economic Development Study, which examines the role that St. Louis’ local governments play in economic development. Better Together is a grassroots project formed in response to growing public interest in fragmented local government throughout the city and county. The study provides an overview of key economic development programs – from Community Improvement Districts (CIDs) and Transportation Development Districts (TDDs), to Tax Abatement and Tax Increment Financing (TIF). The study found that Missouri’s TIF program is structured with less oversight and regulation than almost any other program in the country. For additional information, go to www.BetterTogetherSTL.com.

Missouri leads its neighbors in new expansions and job creation

Site Selection magazine ranked Missouri first in the North West Central Region for new facilities and expansions. Site Selection is a publication that publishes information for expansion planning decision-makers. More than 125 businesses either expanded their facilities or opened new facilities in the Show-Me State in 2013—an increase of 57 expansions over the previous year. Missouri has been the fastest-growing state in the nation for technology job growth for two years running, and it continues to attract investments from growing hightech companies. Already in 2014, Missouri has also attracted numerous investments from expanding manufacturing corporations, including 3M, Select Plastics and LMV Automotive.

n “The Spurs, they weren’t more athletic than us, they weren’t more talented than us. They just outsmarted us.”

– Kendrick Perkins, after the Spurs eliminated Oklahoma City

TraCk & FIeld noTebook

Cardinal Ritter College Prep’s Charles Jones Jr. won both the 400- and 800-meters during Saturday’s Class 3 and 4 state meet at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.

Hot action in Jeff City

State records set at Class 3-4 championships

By Earl Austin Jr. Of The St. Louis American

The temperatures were hot at last weekend’s Missouri Class 3-4 State Track and Field Championships in Jefferson City, but the action was even hotter. State records and many top performances were the order of the weekend as the best in the Show-Me State put on a great show to close out the track and field season. Here are some of the highlights:

Spectacular finish

Cardinal Ritter’s Charles Jones closed out a spectacular career by winning the Class 3 400meter dash and 800-meter run. He also anchored the Lions’ 4x400-meter relay to victory. Jones turned in times of 47.01 seconds in the 400, 1 minute 50.98 seconds in the 800 and a 46.8 second anchor leg to lead the Lions to victory in the 4x400. The multi-talented Jones will be headed to Texas Tech in the fall. First ever title

McCluer North’s girls won the school’s first ever state title when the Stars won the Class 4 state championship. The Stars scored 65 points to outdistance the competition. Junior Jasmine Barge was tremendous in winning four gold medals. Barge won the 100-meter high hurdles and the 300-meter low hurdles in a state record

Cahokia wins state again

By Earl Austin Jr. Of The St. Louis American

The Cahokia High boys’ track and field dynasty continued last weekend as the Comanches won their fourth consecutive Class 2A state title at the IHSA State Championships in Charleston, Ill.

n It was Cahokia’s second state championship in two weeks as its girls won the Class 2A state title last weekend.

The Comanches scored 90 points to hold off a big challenge from Chicago-area school Maple Park Kaneland, which scored 84 points to finish in second place. It was Cahokia’s second state championship in two weeks as its girls won the Class 2A state title last weekend. Sophomore Ja’Mari Ward and senior Gary Hickman were the Comanches’ top two individuals. Ward won the triple jump with a leap of 47 feet 8 ¾ inches. He was also second in the long jump. Hickman won the 110-meter high hurdles and finished second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles. Cahokia was also tough in the relays as they finished first in the 4x100 and 4x400, second in the 4x200 and third in the 4x800meter relays. The 4x400-meter relay team of Jalon Monigan, Chris McGee, Marlin Brady and Tryan Lyons set a new Class 2A state record with a time of 3 minutes 17.66 seconds while clinching the team championship in the process. Korrion Session was fifth in both the 100-meter high hurdles and 300-meter intermediate hurdles. Jalon Monigan was second in the triple jump while Daniell Akins was ninth in the shot put.

Tigers tie

The Edwardsville Tigers finished in a tie for second place in the IHSA Class 3A state meet. The Tigers were led by senior Craig James, who finished second in the 110-meter high hurdles and fourth in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles. James also joined Isaiah Michl, Fontez Davis and Rene Perry to win the 4x100-meter relay. Michl was also fifth in the 300-meter hurdles.

The 2014 NBA Finals is a repeat of last year’s phenomenal matchup between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. Once again we get to witness two of the NBA’s all-time greats fight to further legitimize their legacies by adding another championship banner.

38-year-old Spurs forward Tim Duncan is looking to once again creep into the Finals unnoticed and swipe his fifth NBA title. It’s amazing how the Spurs could finish with the best record in the league and still be overlooked in terms of title expectations. I was one of many who fully expected Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder to

continue its recent dominance of the Spurs come playoff time. But the Spurs experience, hunger and precision enabled them to oust their Western Conference rivals. On the East side, the Heat advancing to an impressive fourth straight NBA Finals was all but guaranteed. For most of the season, the Indiana Pacers were the only legitimate threat to the Heat in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers’ post All-Star break implosion made it almost a certainly that they would not post as serious a threat to the crown as last year. Anybody holding out for hope for Indy should have known when the Pacers barely squeaked by with a 93-90 victory in Game 5, with LeBron James held to

by

the

by the

n It’s amazing how the Spurs could finish with the best record in the league and still be overlooked in terms of title expectations.

H. Sistrunk

With Earl Austin Jr.

Photo by Wiley Price

Earl Austin Jr.

Claib’s Call

With Mike Claiborne

Donald Sterling’s America

“Only in America” was the well-known line used by boxing promoter Don King after he was acquitted by a court after multiple charges had been brought against him by the federal government. It said a lot about how unique this country can be when it comes to how people can be treated. Little did we know that the term would apply to another person named Don, only this time his last name is Sterling. One of the most bizarre stories of the year only gets more bizarre.

For Donald Sterling, we have seen a person who has all but admitted that he doesn’t get it on any level. He continues to grasp for straws, and yet few are willing to help as we continue to learn he has been a despicable person for many years.

n Mrs. Sterling has gone on to imply that her husband may be slipping a bit mentally and that she wants no part of him.

As a reward of being a louse, he has the chance to turn a $12 million investment in buying the LA Clippers into a sale of the team of more than $21 BILLION dollars. Yes, only in America can this happen where a cad of this nature can profit from his egregious actions. There are more players to profit though. Sterling’s wife smelled smoke early and quickly buddied up with the NBA to make sure that when the law suits started flying, she would be in a good spot. Oh, by the way, while she it is at it, she might as well file for divorce, as the dreaded four letter word in California comes into play: “half.” Again, Only in America.

Mrs. Sterling has gone on to imply that her husband may be slipping a bit mentally and that

CLUTCH

Continued from B3 the finals. Bosh did knock down some big shots and get some key offensive rebounds though that ultimately helped them pull out the series. Behind the ‘Big Three’ the Heat cast if full of old guys, specialists and miscreants. The only player I’d rely on in crunch time is Allen. Everybody else would make me nervous. For the Spurs, they are executing as well as ever. Gregg Popovich has Duncan, all-world point guard Tony Parker and Co. playing at peak efficiency. I haven’t seen anybody read Xs and Os as well as the Spurs since Neo from The Matrix. Danny Green is shooting the lights out again, Manu Ginobili is still streaky but is an ice cold assassin when he’s on his game. The keys for the Spurs will be whether Parker can stay healthy through the entire series and whether Kawhi Leonard (or Parker) can force James to work hard enough on the defensive end that it slows him down offensively. We know that the Spurs will out-execute the Heat, but can they get over the hump and beat them? The Spurs are favored by the bookies in Vegas this season. Still, who cares about bookies and bench play? I’ve picked against James the past few years and I’m not making the same mistake again. LeBron James is just plain better than everyone else. Like Jordan, he can elevate the play of role players in key situations, even moreso

As a reward of being a louse, Donald Sterling has the chance to turn a $12 million investment in buying the LA Clippers into a sale of the team of more than $21 BILLION dollars.

she wants no part of him, as he is being set adrift. Talk about rats fleeing a sinking ship.

Then there is Sterling’s mistress who has yet to be paid in full here. Surely there is a payday in some court for her, although she may have to dodge a few people to get there, as it was reported that she was punched in the face by two men this weekend in New York. No, she could not identify them. Then again, does anyone really care at this point?

As for the NBA, they have to be happy with the results so far. They have rid themselves of a thorn, the owners have seen the value of their teams go up, the L.A. market is even bigger with the Lakers and now

due to his facilitator mindset. Nobody knew that John Paxson or Steve Kerr would nail down such historic shots with Jordan on the court, but they did. James is great enough to carry the Heat on his back when everyone is struggling and unselfish enough to let him flourish when they’re hot. Just like Allen’s series-saving shot in Game 6 last year, someone

the Clippers, and the fans are happy at how swiftly this thing has taken place. Not sure if any other country could have it this way which is why it can only happen in America. Thanks, Don.

The Finals

Speaking of the NBA, yes, the Finals are here. Not sure if I am overly excited, but I will watch as the fundamentals of game will be on display. The best coach in the NBA, Gregg Popovich, will have the task of getting his aging team in the San Antonio Spurs to contend with a real team that features the best player in the game in

other than James will come through when it matters for the Heat. It could be Rashard Lewis, Shane Battier or even Michael Beasley. One of those semi-forgotten, used-to-begood guys will step up when it counts because they don’t want to let down the greatest player on the planet. They all went to Miami to do whatever it takes to win. San Antonio’s momen-

LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Must-watch TV ? No doubt. It’s the Finals, the best of the best. The second-hardest trophy to win in sports, behind the Stanley Cup. No predictions from me on who will win, as each is deserving, only one can prove it though. Enjoy!

Mathews-Dickey

There is a lot going on at the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club these days. The search is on for a new CEO as Mr. Martin Mathews is retiring. A number of names are being thrown around

tum, superior style of play and greater depth won’t be enough to unseat the best player in the game. It’ll get them close, but I’m expecting the ‘Big Three’ era to end in Miami with a three peat. I’m taking Miami in seven.

Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch on Twitter @ IshmaelSistrunk and on Google+

for this position. Thomas Sullivan has done an outstanding job in a variety of roles at the club and certainly warrants real consideration. Those who you would never think would have an interest that will get a look as well. This is an important decision that the selection committee cannot mess up.

Blues in the community

How about the St. Louis Blues? The local ownership group that includes Tom Stillman and David Steward has gotten involved in their community, only it’s north of Lindell. The Blues have

constructed an outdoor street hockey rink at MathewsDickey. As a Mathews-Dickey alum, I could not be more excited and proud to see these two come together and build something that could one day produce a future national hockey leaguer from the area. Or perhaps a young person may develop hockey skills to the point where they could earn a scholarship for a quality education that helps even more in our community. The efforts made by the Blues and Clayco should not be overlooked but rather embraced, for what they are doing might shape some young person’s future.

Mike Claiborne

Randy Reed Jr. signs with Nebraska-Omaha

Standout basketball player Randy Reed Jr. (front, middle) signed a National Letter of Intent to play at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The 6’6” Reed was a National Junior College Athletic Association Division II All-American at St. Louis Community College. He was the NJCAA Region 16 Player of the Year after leading the Archers to the Region 16 championship and a berth in the NJCAA Division II National Tournament. The signing was held at Crossroads School, where Reed was a prep standout.

MISSOURI

Continued from B3 meter dash. Henderson turned in winning times of 11.86 in the 100 and 24.12 in the 200. She also anchored the Hawks to a state title in the 4x100. The Hawks finished third in the team standings.

time of 41.79. Barge was also part of the state-champion 4x200 and 4x400-meter relay teams. The team of Barge, Miche-Ala Woods, Sydney Rogers and Rachel Culberson won the 4x200 in 1:40.2 and the 4x400 in a blistering 3:48.82 Culberson finished second in the 400 while Woods was seventh. Demetria Anderson was seventh in the 100-meter hurdles while the 4x100 team finished seventh.

Gold x 4

Hannah Long of Eureka was also a four-time gold medalist as she won the 800-, 1,600and 3,200-meter runs. Long also anchored the Wildcats to a victory in the 4x800-meter relay.

Repeat champ

Hazelwood Central’s Ashley Henderson was a repeat state champion in the 100- and 200-

ILLINOIS

Continued from B3

State titlists

Collinsville standout thrower Martinus Mitchell won the state title in the shot put with a throw of 61 feet 0 ¾ inches. Patrick Perrier of O’Fallon won the 1,600-meter run and finished second in the 3,200. The East St. Louis quartet of Josh Askew, Roosevelt Davis, Kevin Johnson and Herbert Molton won the 4x400-meter relay in a time of 3:16.59.

Tremendous time

CBC’s 4x400-meter relay team of Dominic Vaiana, Stephen Hickman, Jerrick Powell and Jarrod Pasley won the state title with a tremendous time of 3:14.98, which was just shy of the state record of 3:14.04, set by Hazelwood East in 1986.

2nd place in Class 3

McCluer South-Berkeley’s girls used its tremendous sprint corps to take second place in the Class 3 team standings. The Bulldogs finished first in the 4x100 and 4x400 and second in the 4x200. The 4x100 team of

Kamira Franklin, Octavia Cato, Raven Fletcher and Raheema Westfall set a state record of 47.19. Franklin finished second in the 100 while Cato was third and Fletcher was seventh. In the 200, Franklin was fifth, Cato was sixth and Fletcher was seventh. The Bulldogs also finished second in the 4x800.

Central crew wins

Hazelwood Central’s 4x800 crew of Marcus Davis, Thedrick Daniels, Myles Cameron and Brandon Chunn finished first in 7:47.55, edging out Lafayette for the title. Chunn held off Lafayette’s Dylan Quisenberry, the open 800-meter state champion, at the end for the victory. Davis also won the 400 with a sparkling time of 47.07.

Relay titlists

McCluer’s 4x200-meter

Hazelwood Central – Girls’ Track and Field

The senior sprinter closed out her stellar prep career by winning three gold medals at the Missouri Class 4 state championships in Jefferson City. Henderson swept the state titles in the 100- and 200-meter dashes for the second consecutive year. She also anchored the Hawks to a victory in the 4x100-meter relay and a third-place finish in the team standings. Henderson turned in winning times of 11.86 seconds in the 100 and 24.12 in the 200. She is headed to San Jose State next season on a track scholarship.

Terrell Ramey will be presenting his Rameybasketball.com Summer Skillz Academy Summer Camp during the months of June and July at Jennings High (8950

relay team of Sharvon Gunn, Kevin Spraggins, Raequan Stallings and Henry Jones won the state title in 1:27.57.

Fourth finishers

Lutheran South’s girls finished fourth in the Class 3 team race with 51 points.

Junior Maya Cody finished fourth in the 100, second in the

200 and 400. Cecilya Anderson won the discus while freshman Leketor Meneh was second in the long jump.

Best and next at shot put

Junior Jordan McClendon of John Burroughs won the Class 3 girls shot put with a throw of 43-8 ¾. She was also second in the shot put.

More champs Bryan Boyd of Kirkwood was the Class 4 state champion in the boys’ high jump while Cortez Bolin of Gateway Tech won the Class 4 boys 200. John Moten of John Burroughs was the Class 3 boys’ state champion in the 100.

PLAN

Continued from B1

pots of money, including the Port Reinvestment Fund, to help speed up development projects.

The plan emphasizes tracking minority and female participation in economic development. It also encourages broader collaboration with other organizations, including the St. Louis Regional Chamber, T-Rex and East-West Gateway.

“An example of that is the work that we intend to do in marketing and branding for the region,” Coleman said. “We’ve already begun conversations with the chamber and the Convention and Visitors Commission on how our partnership can join in an effort to really help market the region in ways that have never been done before.” A key aspect of the

CLIENTS

Continued from B1

difficult-to-serve people who have tried other resources that have not worked for them,”

Mahr said.

Coming out on top

U.S. Army veteran Lisa Shelley never thought she would be jobless and homeless. Shelley had been out of the workforce for 10 years after taking an early retirement from AT&T where she had worked for 26 years as a communications technician. At 47, she was too young to collect a pension and worked odd jobs to make ends meet. Shelley said the job skills she had were outdated and that her age prevented her from obtaining full-time employment. She could not afford a place of her own and resorted to staying with relatives, who abused drugs

strategic plan is “performance,” said Coleman, which means actually following through on the priorities.

“Each of our strategies has a major task associated with it and each of them has measures,” Coleman said. “Those measures of success will then be delegated out to our key staff people, so that those measures are looked at quarterly to make sure that we’re on track and achieving our objectives.”

Both St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay strongly endorsed the strategic plan after it was unveiled Tuesday at the Cheshire Inn. Slay said it cemented the idea that the city and county can work together – as opposed to compete against each other – when it comes to economic development ventures.

“For too many years, the city and the county have been competing against other,” Slay said. “There are too many political lines dividing us

and alcohol. She said they would steal her medicine and money.

“I started sleeping in my car to get away from them,” she said. “At that point, I was suicidal and depressed with my situation.”

Hope Recovery, which provides veterans with housing, jobs and mental health programs, referred Shelley to Employment Connection. And with one phone call, Shelley’s life changed. Employment Connection obtained temporary housing for Shelley at Jefferson Barracks VA Hospital until the agency could help Shelley find permanent housing. She now lives in her own apartment. Through Employment Connection’s temp agency, she began working at Barnes-Jewish Hospital as a housekeeper until medical issues kept her from working and she left Barnes-Jewish on disability.

As a veteran, Employment Connection helped Shelley secure funding from the

when it comes to economic development. We’ve long competed against ourselves in the region instead of competing together against the world.”

Both Dooley and Slay said combining parts of the city and county economic development agencies has borne fruit – even before the strategic plan came together. They pointed to the ability to get an incentive package together very quickly to lure Boeing’s 777X as a concrete example of the agency’s dexterity.

“In three weeks, we presented a plan that was second to none,” said Dooley, adding that St. Louis would have had a serious chance at getting some of the project if Boeing hadn’t decided to stay in Washington State. “That put the St. Louis metropolitan area on the world stage and showed we are serious about advancing opportunities for St. Louis.”

Reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

Veterans Administration to continue her education.

She recently graduated from St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley with a certificate in deaf communication studies, and she plans to pursue an associate degree in interpreter education. Mahr said Employment Connection focuses on helping its clients obtain employment that will lead to a career.

Last year, Shelley was named Employment Connection’s Client of the Year and now serves on the agency’s board of directors as a client advocate. She said Employment Connection helps you become a “whole person.”

“Being a person who has gone through the system and come out on top on the other side is awesome,” she said of Employment Connection.

For a complete listing of Employment Connection programs, call 314-333-5627.

Follow this reporter on Twitter: @BridjesONeil.

Financial Focus

By Roger Macon, AAMS

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

“I can’t do it in real life, so I might as well in the movies,” said “Think Like a Man Too” star Regina Hall as she walked the red carpet for a special preview of the film in St. Louis.

Using her razor-sharp wit, Hall provided a bit of a spoiler by revealing that her character Candace and on-screen boo – mama’s boy Michael Hanover (Terrence Jenkins) – will try to jump the broom when the “Think Like a Man” ensemble

reunites in Las Vegas.

Luckily there’s still enough left to the audience’s imagination – thanks to the sequel’s crazy antics – that the jab at her personal life couldn’t have ruined the experience.

Ronnie’s 20 Cine in South County became an unlikely hub for Black Hollywood Monday night as Hot 104.1 FM co-presented a screening of the movie with Allied Integrated Marketing that welcomed Hall and her co-star Jenkins to town.

The film doesn’t officially hit theatres until Friday, June 20. However, St. Louis audiences were

able to partake in building buzz by way of the screening, which featured Hall and Jenkins. They were joined by lucky contest winners, television and radio personalities, local celebrities, members of the St. Louis Rams and other tastemakers as part

of the experience. Rappers Chingy, Murphy Lee and Kyjuan of the St. Lunatics were also among the guests. The line stretched along the

The St. Louis Chapter of Links,

Inc. held their inaugural Celebration of Mothers Luncheon in the Grand Ballroom of the Ritz Carlton Hotel Links representing all three area chapters as well as friends and family helped to fill the beautiful space. In keeping with the Mother’s Day theme guests were asked to don hats, pearls and gloves and they did! Everyone looked beautiful. Link Ida Goodwin Woolfolk served as the delightful emcee. Greetings were offered by chapter President Mary Thomas and by Event Chair Joyce Price Event Co-Chair Leonor Buchanan blessed the occasion. Inaugural awardees for this grand affair were Katrina Williams Addison (co-founder – St. Louis Slammers) for Health and Human Services Lois Ingrum (The Doll Project) – Honoree for the Arts, Patrice Gathings Henderson (AHA Go Red Campaign) – National Trends and Services, Dr. Patricia Wolff (Meds and Foods for Kids) for International Trends and Services, and Dr. Eva Frazer (St. Louis University School of Medicine Health Resource Center) for Health and Human Services

A highlight for many was the presentation of the event’s souvenir program with surprise ads for many Links members from loving family members. The souvenir booklet project was headed up by Link Shanti Parikh

for its new show “The Pawn,” which opened Friday in the

Circus Flora makes its every move together, not in competition

By Chris King Of The

St. Louis American

Chess and the circus arts both demand intense concentration and intricate forethought. Circus Flora invites comparison and collaboration between these two human endeavors with its new chess-themed show “The Pawn,” which opened Friday in the big tent pitched in the Powell Hall parking lot. Musicians and orchestra fans were filing into Powell Hall while the circus crowd was gathering. The physical proximity of concert hall and circus tent begs mention of Circus Flora’s music. On Friday Janine Del’Arte, playing woodwinds, led a world-class circus orchestra through Miriam Cutler’s thrilling original compositions. Cutler and Del’Arte illustrate the circus action so perfectly it’s possible to forget human beings are making the music live inside the same tent. The passionate collaboration that goes into every element of Circus Flora – down to the crew hands, at times panting for breath in the narrow aisles – is where the chess comparison breaks down. In chess, two players compete for mastery. There is a winner and a loser, and

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

Equestrian artist S. Caleb Carinci-Asch returns to Circus Flora after an eight-year absence

big tent pitched in the Powell Hall parking lot.

Photo by Steve Truesdell

Rodger Saffold and Robert Quinn St. Louis Rams presented ‘Think Like a Man Too’ co-stars Terrence J and Regina Hall with custom team jerseys just before a special preview screening of the ilm Monday evening at Ronnie’s 20 Cine.

St. Louis Mixxer Exchange co-founder Patricia Moore closed out the festivities by thanking guests, partners, sponsors and the audience for their efforts in support of the annual style and makeup expo. Photo by BFree Paparazzi

G. Randolph

Photo by Wiley Price

How to place a calendar listing

1. Email your listing to calendar@stlamerican. com OR

2. Visit the calendar section on stlamerican.com and place your listing

Calendar listings are free of charge, are edited for space and run on a space-available basis.

concerts

Fri., June 6, 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m., Lumiere Place Casino & Hotels presents Macy Gray. 999 N. Second St., 63102. Fri., June 20, 8 p.m., The Fox Theater presents The O’Jays and Chaka Khan. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Sat., June 21, 6 p.m., Hot 104.1 FM presents Super Jam 2014 starring K. Michelle, Juicy J., August Alsina and more. Scottrade Center. For more information, visit www.ticketmaster.com.

Sat., June 28, 1 p.m., Plush St. Louis presents SLUMFEST 2014. The St. Louis Underground music festival returns for its 5th year as the biggest Hip Hop Festival in the Midwest that showcases all four elements of Hip Hop under one roof. 3224 Locust St., Ste 101, 63103. For more information, visit www. slumfest.com.

local gigs

Thurs., June 5, 7:30 p.m., The Sheldon presents Brian Owens performing the music of Otis Redding. Brian Owens continues his version of a PhD in classic soul through a celebration of the music of Otis Redding. Donate new boys or girls socks sizes small (xxs) through large (xl) and/or new boys and girls underwear sizes 3/4 through 18/20 to the Little Bit Foundation on the night of show and get $5 off tickets to future Brian Owens concerts. All proceeds from this event will benefit the Little Bit Foundation. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Fri., June 6, 9 p.m., Patrick’s Restaurant & Sports Bar presents Nikko Smith. 342

Westport Plaza, 63146. For more information, call (314) 439-0505.

Fri., June 6, 10 p.m., Ballpark Village Busch Stadium presents Dirty Muggs. 700 Clark Ave., 63102. For more information, visit dirtymuggs.com.

Sun., June 29, 6 p.m., Carondelet Park hosts The Carondelet Summer Concert Series. Admission is free for all. Bring your chairs, blankets, and friends. The Carondelet Summer Concert Series has more than 25 concerts this year in Carondelet’s most beautiful parks. 3700 Holly Hills Blvd., 63116. For more information, call (314) 752-6339 or visit CarondeletEvents.com.

special events

Fri., June 6, 7:45 a.m., Norwood Country Club hosts Community Women Against Hardship Ambassadors Annual Golf Tournament. The cost includes green fees, cart, continental breakfast and lunch. The proceeds are donated to CWAH to assist in providing financial support to implement services to families. 1 Norwood Hills Country Club Dr., 63121. For more information, contact Monica Stewart at s935849@ sbcglobal.net.

Fri., June 6, 7 p.m., Lift for Life Gym presents Senior Success Celebration. With a donation of $25 worth of college dorm and school supplies you can support our Gym Seniors and have fun at the bowling alley with us! 1415 Cass Ave., 63160. For more information, call (314) 588-8921.

Fri., June 6, 8 p.m., Highlands Golf & Tennis Center in Forest Park hosts Night on the Greens. Night on the Greens is a one of kind,

Calendar

glow in the dark fundraiser benefiting the Gateway Area Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Enjoy a glowing outdoor evening featuring food and drinks from Gamlin Whiskey House, music by Phat Kat DJ’s “DJ TooTall”, raffles, contests, lawn games and more. 5163 Clayton Ave., 63110. For more information, visit http:// site118896-1712-1805. strikingly.com/.

Sat., Jun. 7, 8 a.m. (7 a.m. registration) The St. Louis Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Incorporated is hosting its annual Kappa League Scholarship Fund Golf Tournament, Eagle Springs Golf Course, 2575 Redman Road, St. Louis, MO 63136. For more information, call Contact: Christopher Harrell at (314) 477 1482.

Sat., June 7, 9 a.m., Coffee Cartel hosts Monopoly® Tournament. To benefit United4Children. Three Rounds of play (90Min rounds) Grand prize $500 Cash. Come be the king of Monopoly®. #2 Maryland Plaza, 63108. For more information, visit www. thecoffeecartel.com.

Sat., June 7, 12 p.m., Macy’s hosts Step Right Up: Great American County Fair. As part of its American Icons campaign, Macy’s is hosting a fair. Families will be treated to All-American goods, classic games with prizes, family activities and much more. Special performance by Radio Disney’s Megan Nicole. St. Louis Galleria, 1550 St. Louis

Galleria, 63117. For more information, call (314) 7261810.

Sat., June 7, 4 p.m., Youth Learning Center Scavenger Hunt and BBQ. A fundraiser to support scholarships for deserving young people to Youth Learning Center’s Summer Discovery Academy, the Inaugural Scavenger Hunt (use your knowledge of trivia for a more interactive, engaging experience). Teams of up to 8 people will be challenged to solve riddles and complete different tasks for points as they make their way through the northern Central West End on foot. The winning team will receive a $1,000 cash prize! Second place will receive $500, and third place will receive mophies (special phone cases that charge phones). Youth Learning Center, 4471 Olive St., 63108. For more information, call (314) 531-9916.

Sat., June 7, 7 p.m., Gateway Motorsports Park presents Neon Dash 5K. Neon Dash is the Original Nighttime 5k Run and Walk Event that’s been sweeping the Country since 2011. Become a part of the show when you run, walk or dance this 5k course as you’re covered in brilliant Neon Colors. Add to the entire experience by dressing in costumes and wearing anything that blinks and glows. Thousands of glowing Participants will light up. The After Dash Bash filled with UV Backlight, Music, and Entertainment. 700 Raceway Blvd., East St Louis, IL 62201. For more information, visit http://www.neondash.com/

Hot 104.1

FM presents Super Jam 2014 starring K. Michelle, Juicy J., August Alsina and more. See CONCERTS for details.

locations/stlouis/.

Sat., June 7 9 p.m. (8 p.m. doors) Le Syndicate presents Miguel’s Birthday Bash with performance by Flirt featuring No I.D., Mac’s Banquet Room, 315 Belle, Alton IL 62002. For tickets, call Corey at 618.381.2829, Erica at 314.669.1702 or Miguel at 314.732.9955.

Sun., June 8, 6 p.m., S.L.I.M presents Loosecannon Celebrity Basketball Game. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 9775000.

Sun., June 8, 9 p.m., LooseCannon S.L.I.M. B-Day Celebration hosted by Diddy, Coliseum Music Lounge, 2619 Washington Ave. For tickets, visit https:// www.eventbrite.com/e/ diddy-host-loosecannonslim-bday-celebrationtickets-11814951839

Tickets also available at The Coliseum.

Thurs., June 12, 7 p.m., The Safe Connections Young Professionals host Love. For Friends. For Family. For a Cause. The Safe Connections Young Professionals are hosting a swanky summer night out to enjoy some live music and celebrate having healthy relationships with all those we love. The event will feature delicious hors d’oeuvres and an open bar, a local band and exciting silent auction. The event will be held at Olivia’s on The Hill, 4915 Daggett Ave., 63110. For more information, visit

safeconnections.org.

Sat., June 14, 9 a.m., Gateway Arch Grounds hosts Get Outdoors at the Gateway Arch. Jefferson National Expansion Memorial will celebrate National Get Outdoors Day. The day’s free, family friendly activities include a kids’ walk, rock climbing wall, fitness sessions, live music, amateur radio demonstrations, pioneer activities, geocaching, orienteering, a bicycle safety town, solar-powered s’mores cooking, Bobber the Dog, and much more. 200 Washington Ave., 63102. For more information, visit www. gatewayarch.com.

Sat., June 14, 6:30 p.m., The NBMBAA-St. Louis Chapter will host its first trivia night-80’s style!!! “How Far Back Do You Go?” All proceeds with benefit their Leaders of Tomorrow program. The Heights 8001 Dale Ave St. Louis, MO 63117. For more information, contact Dana Townsend or Carrie Sanders trivianight@ stlblackmba.org (636)2302404.

Sat., June 14, 6:30 p.m., National Black MBA, St. Louis Chapter hosts 80’s Trivia Night. Wear your best 80s attire! Door Prizes, 50/50 Rafle, and so much more! Goodies Provided but BYOB is acceptable & encouraged! All proceeds to beneit the NBMBAA Leaders of Tomorrow Program. Richmond Heights Community Center, 8001 Dale Ave., 63117. For more information, call (636) 230-2404.

Sun., June 15, 7:30 a.m., Kirkwood YMCA hosts GO! St. Louis All-American 5K & Fun Run. A father’s day tradition, the popular All-American 5K & Fun Run attracts more than 3,000 participants, and is open to participants of all ages and itness levels. The race starts in Kirkwood and inishes in downtown Webster Groves. The course is primarily downhill, so it’s billed as St. Louis Fastest 5K. Participants receive a t-shirt, inisher medals and lots of post-race treats. Finish in the top three in your age group and receive a McArthur’s apple pie. 325 N. Taylor Ave., 63122. For more information, visit gostlouis.org. Fri., June 19, 7 p.m., 14th Street Artist Community Center hosts Curl Friend Fridays - Youth Poetry Slam.

Curl Friend Friday is a monthly event to celebrate natural hair. During this event you can ask questions, participate in open discussion, and hear from natural stylist around the area. You do not have to be natural to attend. This month Curl friends will host a Youth Poetry Slam to celebrate and honor the youth in our lives and community. Come shop, eat, drink, and be entertained while enjoying this laid back night of the artwork, poetry, music, great items from local vendors, and more. Youth welcome to enter the Poetry Slam event ages 13-20. Three categories include Jr. High, High School & College. 2701 14th St., 63106. For more information, email curlfriendfridays@gmail. com.

Fri., Feb. 20, 1:15 p.m., Gateway Connection Orientation, an orientation to the St. Louis Region for people of color to Introduce people of color who have recently relocated to the St. Louis region; offer a sampling of the area’s major cultural, entertainment and recreational opportunities and venues; Encourage the participants to become involved in community activities and civic groups; Create a shared experience for the participants and allow the participants to meet and network with other professionals of color. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri, 501 N. Grand Blvd #100, St. Louis, MO 63103. For more information call 314.444.1121.

Fri., June 20, 5:30 p.m., The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and the Urban League Guild present 2014 Salute to Women in Leadership Gala. Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel, 800 Washington Ave., 63101. For more information, call (314) 615-3668 or visit www.ulstl.org.

June 28 – 29, Soldiers Memorial Park hosts PrideFest. 1315 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit pridestl.org.

comedy

Sat., July 26, 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. Lumiere presents Tracy Morgan, Lumiere Theatre. For more information, visit www. ticketmaster.com.

Aug. 9, 6 p.m. & 8 p.m., The Four Seasons welcomes Bill Cosby. For more information, visit www.ticketmaster.com

literary

6, 7 p.m., Left

and

Hustle is a familiar species of participatory journalism. A longtime neighborhood poker player, Whitehead was given a $10,000 stake and an assignment from the online magazine Grantland to see how far he could get in the World Series of Poker. 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, call (314) 3676731.

Sat., June 7, 11 a.m., St. Louis Public Library hosts author Heather Webb, author of Becoming Josephine Kingshighway Branch, 2260 S. Vandeventer Ave., 63110. For more information, call (314) 771-5450.

theatre

Through June 21, 1 p.m., Opera Theatre of Saint Louis presents The Elixir of Love. This light-hearted comic gem is illed with magical delights. Nemorino (sung by René Barbera, winner of Plácido Domingo’s Operalia world opera competition) is desperate to win the love of Adina — and thinks that a “love potion” from a traveling salesman can help. He’s prepared to wait for its magic to kick in, until he discovers Adina has suddenly become engaged to his rival. 130 Edgar Rd., 63119. For more information, visit www. ExperienceOpera.org.

Through Sat., June 21, 8 p.m., Opera Theatre of Saint Louis presents The Magic Flute. Mozart’s most enchanting masterpiece returns in an all-new production, directed and designed by fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi. In this fantastic fairy tale, a prince goes on a quest to rescue a beautiful princess. His companion, a bird catcher, hopes to snare true love. 130 Edgar Rd., 63119. For more information, visit www. ExperienceOpera.org.

Through Sat., June 21, 8 p.m., Opera Theatre of Saint Louis presents The Magic Flute. Mozart’s most enchanting masterpiece returns in an all-new production, directed and designed by fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi. In this fantastic fairy tale, a prince goes on a quest to rescue a beautiful princess. His companion, a bird catcher, hopes to snare true love. But in the end, it’s revealed that no one’s magic is ever quite as it seems. 130 Edgar Rd., 63119. For more information, visit www.ExperienceOpera.org.

arts

June 6 – 8, Art and Air Fairgrounds host Art & Air. The 11th Annual Art & Air fine arts fair is set in the grounds of Eden Theological Seminary/Webster University. Supported by the Webster

Community Arts Foundation, Art & Air features on-site food, non-stop live music, and creative activities that draw 25,000 visitors and buyers. 475 E. Lockwood Ave., 63119.

Fri., June 28, 6 p.m., Open Studios STL Kick-off Party

More than 150 artist studios and art spaces open to the public over the course of one weekend. Explore on your own, take guided tours, enjoy special events, and get to know St. Louis’s artists. Enjoy refreshments, chat with the artists, and plan your weekend itinerary. A printed map will also be available at CAM. To view the complete list of participating artist, a searchable map, and more information, visit openstudios-stl.org.

lectures

Fri., June 13, 9 a.m., Fair Housing Seminar: HUD Equal Access Rule and the LGBT Community. Join us for a daylong discussion on housing discrimination in the LGBT community and ways to state and federal law to increase access to fair housing for LGBT people and families. St. Louis County Council Chambers, 41 S. Central Ave., 63105.

Tues., June 17, 7 p.m.,

The Missouri History Museum hosts Green Jobs, Green Justice and Building Capacity in Urban Communities Saint Louis University urban planning professor, Sarah Coffin, explores how urban planning and policy researchers uncover the barriers to green economic development and identify the missing community capacity elements that can

LooseCannon S.L.I.M. B-Day Celebration hosted by Diddy. For more information, see SPECIAL EVENTS.

health

Sat., June 14, 6:30 a.m.,

Downtown St. Louis hosts Susan G. Komen St. Louis Race for the Cure. Help save lives and end breast cancer. The Komen Race for the Cure Series is the largest series of 5K runs/itness walks in the world. The Susan G. Komen St. Louis Race for the Cure® raises funds for the local ight against breast cancer, celebrates breast cancer survivors, and honors those who have lost their battle with the disease. Market St. and S. Tucker Blvd., 63190. For more information, visit www. komenstlouis.org.

artistic presentations, food, giveaways and more. A portion of the proceeds will beneit The Turner Center for the Arts, a non-proit art studio that strives to foster the personal growth of artists with disabilities through creative self-expression. 6128 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit GLoveBoxX. com.

spiritual

Sun., June 8, 8 a.m., Southern Mission Baptist Church (SMBC) Children’s Ministry Annual Day, 8171 Wesley Ave., Kinloch, MO. For more information, call 314-521-3951.

help promote green jobs and green justice. 5700 Lindell Blvd. Forest Park, 63112. For more information, visit www. academyofsciencestl.org.

Sat., June 21 & 28, 9 a.m., Meramec College hosts Starting and Managing a Small Business. Are you thinking about starting and managing a small business in Missouri? Designed for individuals who are considering starting a business, have made the decision to start or who have been in business for less than two years, this program will discuss: The basics of business ownership, planning for success, organizational forms of business, legal and regulatory environment, recordkeeping and information management, marketing, financing and resources. Program is offered in collaboration with the Small Business and Technology Development Center. 11333 Big Bend Rd., 63122. For more information, visit www.missouribusiness. net/calendar.

Sat., June 14, 11 a.m., American Red Cross Blood Drive. The American Red Cross in collaboration Congressman Lacy Clay are hosting a blood drive. Blood is always in demand and just 3 pints can save a life. St. Louis Job Corps Center, 4333 Goodfellow Blvd., 63120.

Sat., June 21, 8 a.m., Delta Dental Health Theatre hosts Plaquey Wacky 5K race. The fundraising event will feature a 5k race, along with a “tooth wizard” family 1 mile run/ walk race and a toddler dash. After the race there will be educational activities regarding health. There will also be bounce houses and music. The event will be held at Wilmore Park Hampton Ave., 63109. For more information, visit http://www.leetfeetstlouis. com/racing/highlighted-races/ plaquey-wacky-5k.

Sat., June 28, 12 p.m., Regional Arts Commission hosts Get Fit 4 Autism: Raising Awareness Through Art & Fitness. The event will feature: Belly Dance, AfroFusion, Salsa & Zumba to a live Afro-Latin band, Silent auction of work by artists on the autistic spectrum, A Get Fit Bar with healthy, but tasty treats, A Be Cool Lounge where individuals can take a moment to decompress from all the happenings, other

Sun., June 8, 12 noon & 5 p.m., New Shining Light HDND Church 2nd Year Anniversary for Youth Pastor Shelonda “Shug” Williams, New Shining Light HDND Church, 740 Broadway, Venice, IL.

Saturday, June 21, 2014 at 2:15 p.m., True Light Missionary Baptist Church Black History Program, “A Taste of Blackness” in Clopton Hall after the Fabulous Fashion & Program.2838 James “Cool Papa” Bell Ave., For more information, call the Church Office at (314) 5311801.

Sun. June 23, 3:00 p.m. St. Matthew C.M.E. Church Women’s Day. “Women Worshiping in Spirit and in Truth” Anointed Guest Messenger Rev. Mary S. Thomas, Pastor of Crossroads Outreach Christian Ministries. 312 Attucks, Kirkwood, MO. For more information call (314) 965-7144.

Sun., June 29, 3 p.m., The Joys of Glory Gospel Singers present Major Day –Childhood Hunger Service Special guests include Ivy Airs, Jordan Airs, Dello Thedford and more. Solomon Temple M.B. Church, 4859 St. Louis Ave., 63115. For more information, call (314) 3551528 or (314) 533-8705.

side of the massive theatre complex, and fans arrived as early as 6 p.m. for the 8 p.m. screening.

“Get ready to laugh,” Jenkins said. “This movie is crazy ... lots of laughs and just a good time!” He and Hall visited St. Louis as part of a select city preview tour that sent members of the “Think Like A Man Too” ensemble cast to hot markets around the nation.

They seemed genuinely thrilled to interact with St. Louis fans, talk about their respective roles and share the experience of stepping back into their characters.

“He’s a much better guy than I am,” Jenkins said of his character.

The film is a follow-up to the box office hit adaptation of Steve Harvey’s best-selling relationship book “Think Like A Man.” In a cast led and narrated by comedian-turned-actor

Kevin Hart, director Tim Story reunites popular urban actors Michael Ealy, Megan Good, Taraji P. Henson, Romany Malco and St.

Louis’ own Jenifer Lewis for a Vegas weekend wedding experience as Hall and Jenkins’ characters prepare to exchange vows. Harvey is an afterthought in the sequel, as the film provides updates on the ensemble that audiences bonded with back in 2012. In Vegas, the odds are stacked against Candace and Michael as they prepare to say “I do.”

Thanks to ill-fated bachelor and bachelorette shenanigans,

Moore said.

Continued from C1

“It’s makeup and it’s fashion – but it’s for everyone,” Shaw said.

As always, a portion of the proceeds will benefit an area non-profit. For Mixxer Exchange 2014, the lucky recipient is St. Louis Crisis Nursery Center.

“It makes no sense to do an event if you’re not helping people,” Moore said. “I know it sounds cliché, but I’m all about paying it forward.”

The notion of helping others goes beyond the monetary gift that is given, the networking opportunities and the showcase of talent.

Moore says that she hopes that attendees can be inspired on all fronts through the showcase of the best and brightest among the style and makeup scene.

“We hope by showing guests that there are people out there continuing to push forward and continuing to believe in their craft that it will stick with them and push them to keep doing whatever it is that they believe in,”

“Whether it’s makeup or fashion – or anything. Somebody always did that for me. They encouraged me and they pushed me, and everyone doesn’t always have that.”

In addition to motivation, this year guests will get an extra special bonus thanks to the visiting makeup artists.

Through Kelly and Jeffries, the Mixxer Exchange audience will be provided with tutorials and handson application tips over the course of the evening.

“I get emails all the time, ‘show me how to do this’ and ‘how do you do that?’” Moore said. “Sometimes it’s, ‘I would love to get my eyes to look like that.’”

The most common questions include blending and choosing the proper color for one’s skin tone. She’s sure her on-site tutors will provide solutions.

Moore and the rest of the team are over the moon about providing professional tips and tools to the audience first-hand – mainly because she sees the power that can be found at the tip of her brush.

“When I do a makeover on a woman, her whole

their race down the aisle feels more like an obstacle course as they commit to getting to their happily-ever-after by any means necessary.

“The chemistry is there because it’s real,” Hall said.

“Coming back to this film is like us meeting up with friends and having fun.”

Think Like A Man Too opens in theatres nationwide on Friday, June 20th. The film is rated PG-13 with a running time of 106 minutes.

confidence level changes,” Moore said. “It’s like you have something on the inside of you that somebody helped you bring out. It went dormant, but just by doing a little touch here or there, and by focusing on those types of things, it does build confidence. It does change your attitude.”

She also hopes that audience members will be inspired to have faith in their inner makeup artist because of what they see next Saturday.

“A lot of people feel intimidated by makeup,” Moore said. “But they can come out and see, and they will be like, ‘Oh, that’s easier than I thought.’ They will feel more comfortable and get new ideas that they can try at home.”

The St. Louis Mixxer Exchange will take place at 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 14 at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar. 63112.

For more information, call (314) 863-5811 or visit http:// www.stlouisconnect.net/ mixxer/

CIRCUS

Continued from C1

beating an opponent is essential to the game. Absolutely nothing could be further from the truth of the circus.

Circus Flora produces the most demanding and dangerous circus acts in the world.

The Flying Wallendas, most famously, balance on top of one another, and on top of bicycles and chairs, sometimes standing on top of their heads. They do these things perched on wires so high above the ground you have to crane your neck to watch them work up there. Everyone in their act has to be a winner – has to succeed at their every intricate move – or they all lose, terribly. On Friday, these geniuses of the high wire were flawless.

The Flying Cortes hurl one another through the empty air from the very top of the big top. They throw one another at the trapezes they leave trailing behind them as they plunge into emptiness, hands outstretched for a partner hurtling their way, hanging by his knees from his own trapeze. The Cortes flying through the air is not competing with the Cortes dangling by the trapeze from his knee joints. They both planned their every move intricately and with the most elaborate forethought imaginable, but they planned their moves together, not in competition.

S. Caleb Carinci-Asch jumps up and down on one leg while standing on a jogging horse. With an assistant, he gets two horses to jog, one behind the other, nose to hindquarters, and then he jumps backwards off of one jogging horse and onto the other. In this act, the intense focus and intricate forethought typical of the circus has an added dimension of a collaboration with another species, but there is no competition between man and horse.

Everyone working on a

circus show is focused with an intensity and degree of forethought found in only a few other endeavors, perhaps in chess, but no one is trying to defeat anyone else in the circus. They are all working against adversaries they have in common.

Gravity is a fierce opponent of the circus artist. Gravity drags down flying people and juggling pins and must be mastered. Gravity gives crushing weight to the mass of people the circus artist balances on his head or shoulders and must be endured.

Time is an enemy that competes against the circus artist down to the fraction of a second. When the St. Louis Arches juggle pins in a daisy chain, any one pass a

n Cutler and Del’Arte illustrate the circus action so perfectly it’s possible to forget human beings are making the music live inside the same tent.

half-second off-beat can drop pins onto the ground all the way down the chain. When a Cortes is supposed to be there, swinging on a trapeze by his knees, for a Cortes flying towards him in the air, he has to be exactly on time.

The human body’s natural systems are an enemy in the ring. Watch how the Cortes playing catch from the trapeze locked between his knees has to make constant adjustments to the sweat forming on his hands as he swings. Pasi – of the Kate & Pasi duo, new to Circus Flora this summer – has to work into his act a comedic excuse to dry his sweaty skull with powder before Kate stands on his head again.

Even the audience –for whose delight all of these tricky, death-defying collaborations are coordinated – can be an enemy. CarinciAsch fell off the trailing horse on Friday night, he told The American, because a child in the front row had spooked the lead horse by shaking a stuffed animal near the animal’s face when the horses passed in the ring.

Time being an enemy – the circus artist only has seconds to make adjustments when anything goes wrong – the skilled equestrian artist never could reestablish the rhythm they had carefully rehearsed. He had to drop that part of the act after a failed second attempt.

The child with the stuffed animal close enough to the action to spook a show horse – that is the way Circus Flora wants it. Circus Flora puts the circus in your face. The audience is part of the action, sometimes to a startling extent. You might look over from your aisle seat and suddenly see a genius of the circus arts breathily heavily in the shadows, waiting and watching for a cue, one bead of sweat away.

“The Pawn” is the final Circus Flora production overseen by founding producer and artistic director Ivor David Balding, who passed away during pre-production. This production was dedicated to him. After the show on opening night, veteran artists from the Circus Flora ensemble had an unusual mixture of emotions as they greeted the crowd. There was the usual thrill at having dared death and delighted people. There was also profound grief at the death of David Balding, who will be missed.

Circus Flora presents “The Pawn” in the big tent in the Powell Hall parking lot through June 22. For more information or tickets, visit www.circusflora. org or call 314-289-4040. E-mail: office@circusflora.org.

St. Lunatics City Spud, Murphy Lee and Kyjuan with singer Telisha Lee at the special preview screening of ‘Think Like a Man Too’ Monday night at Ronnie’s 20 Cine. Photo by Robert Ruger, President of Ethno Nightlife

The St. Louis Arches performed Friday in Circus Flora’s new show “The Pawn.” The Arches are directed by Jessica Hentoff and coached by Warren Bacon, Eric Craft, Richard Kennison, Sariya Saabye, Rosa Yagaantsetseg and Hentoff. Members are Lilly Bowman, Austin Buhr, Donesha Buhr, Kellin Quinn Hentoff-Killian, Chauncey Kroner, Ollie Lloyd, Isabella Majzun, Finn Mateo McNamee, Sally Sneider, Kyran Walton, Mark Wheeler and Maya Zuckerman. Photo by Steve Truesdell

POTPOURRI

Continued from C1

A few of the well-hatted ladies at the Ritz were

Murdock Anyta Wilson Georgia Rusan Lena Rush Belma Givens, JoAnn Adams, Beverly Price Gail Allmon Shannon McMurray, Karen McMurray, Cheryl Young, Teri Bascom Sarah Woolfolk Edwards, Esther Haywood, Villajean Jones, Shirley Kayira Carol Bryant Renee Ewing, Cleodora Ewing, Raquelle Wallace Mary Riley Douglas, Karen Watkins, Lynette Watkins, Esther Beeks Angela Brown Veria Williams, Patreece Broadus, Alicia Smith, Lisl King Watkins Barbara Dorsey and her Mom, Jacquelyn Garrett, D’Anne Shelton Joyce Balls Michelle Williams Neely Williams, Lendell Williams and Louise Frazer Forrest Cinco de Mayo – Take 5! Jeralyn Williams James and Janet Jackson Williams hosted their 5th Annual Ladies Only Cinco de Mayo Soirée

The annual ladies event was held atop the beautiful Clayton on the Park rooftop. Nacho Mommas catered delicious Mexican fare. Eye candy for the evening were hosts William James Aaron Amos and Janet’s nephew. Friends local and from afar enjoyed this remarkable event.

A few senoritas on the roof included Jerda Riley, Ingrid Taylor Dianne Powell Bettye Reed, Gail Holmes, Doodie, Charmaine Manse Simpson Dana Walker Susan Smith Barbara Jackson, Kathy Smith Gwendolyn Key, Lydia Johnson, Christina Bennett, Cathy Broussard, Jan Banks Jackie Hamilton JP, Patrice Greer – Atlanta, Stephanie Russell - Atlanta, Brook Edmonds – Atlanta, Shanti Parikh, Lynn Kennedy, Susan Buford and Erika Sandiford. Congratulations to Malcolm Robinson, University of Missouri at Columbia graduate. Malcolm graduated May 24 with a B.S. in philosophy. Flanked by family and friends those in attendance included Michael and Stacey Hancock Cash, Dr. Zavon and Jackie Kanion Musheer Robinson, Faraji Whalen, Tiffany Kanion Simpson, M.D. and Alan

Kenneth Simpson, Esq., Mandela Robinson Cocores nieces, Misses Caroline and Elizabeth (Lilly) Simpson

The celebratory weekend concluded with a dinner party for the graduate Sunday evening at Caldwell’s in Clayton. Dinner guests included Marilyn Hicks Dr. Michael and Pamela Crittenden, Alexis Crittenden, Charles Crittenden Dr. Joseph and Eleanor Simpson, Ernie and Linda Hancock Ross Dr. Rosalyn Mason Roland and Jeri O’hara Lewis, Edith Granberry Yvonne Chatwell, Dr. Ingrid Taylor, Earciel Canaan, Billie Jean Randolph Yours Truly Jerry Hunter, Inez Ross, Catherine Ross Hilliard Hicks Destin and Kylah Green Alex and Lynn Hromocky, Ken Gorrell Aaron Katz Zelda Goodman, Leland Cash and Kathy Gates

Guests enjoyed a scrumptious Cardwell’s dinner, dancing and a video presentation highlighting some of Malcolm’s memorable college days and fun times with his Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brothers.

Have a great week! Dana Grace: dgrandolph@ live.com.

Mayor Parks’ pipe dream

East St. Louis mayor Alvin Parks is on a mission to bring one of the stops on the new Amtrak high speed train route, from Chicago to St. Louis, to his city, even collecting 10,000 signatures on a petition headed for the desk of Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider.

It’s a good dream, but the nightmare which threatens to derail his Amtrak ambitions for ESL is the specter of crime and the city’s ranking as “the most dangerous city in America.” It’s an unfortunate distinction, bolstered by crime statistics reported by the Neighborhood Scout website, which reports that those in ESL have a 1 in 20% chance of being a victim of a violent crime.

That’s not good for ESL’s prospects, nor is the recent publicity surrounding ESL’s illegal ticketing of motorists by red light cameras and, most recently, the ticketing of motorists speeding through highway construction areas on Interstate 64 (which borders ESL).

publicity for the city on top of the already staggering crime statistics and designation as “the most dangerous city.”

Even ESL native, journalist and MSNBC contributor Goldie Taylor is working on a feature-length documentary on ESL’s dubious reputation titled “The Other Side of Grace,” to be funded via kickstarter.com.

To make matters worse, St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly has asked ESL to stop issuing tickets and instructed those who have received tickets to not pay them because the citations are invalid, as they do not conform to the standards for citations as required by the Illinois Supreme Court.

More specifically, the current tickets are classified as “non-moving violations” (which is absurd), and do not provide the driver with due process (of going to court), which the ticket company cannot provide.

As a result, dozens of motorists who received tickets exceeding $200 a pop are angrily complaining and may have grounds for a lawsuit.

Mayor Parks disagrees and contends that the tickets are, in fact, valid.

Meanwhile, ESL has stopped ticketing motorists, but that does not eliminate the bad

So when a city like ESL has a horrendous reputation for crime and bad public relations driven by a perceived “money grab” through the issuing of bogus traffic citations, how can one have the audacity to believe that the state, let alone outsiders, will feel comfortable with the idea of a high-speed Amtrak stop in good old East Boogie? Believe me, I get it. Mayor Parks has few if any accomplishments that he can boast about after two terms as mayor of ESL. So let’s generate revenue through traffic light and highway cameras. Let’s try to bring a few jobs to the city by demanding an Amtrak station.

If nothing else, it keeps Parks in the news and creates the appearance of proactive advocacy for his citizens.

However, even Alvin Parks understands (when he’s not politicking or looking into a TV camera) that no one wants to build anything in a city replete with high crime, a less-thanwelcoming reputation and the appearance of desperation.

As a native East St. Louisian, a taxpayer, and one who loves ESL with every fiber of my being, no one wants to see the resurrection of East Boogie more than James Ingram. But I’m a realist, and I understand why it’s an uphill (if not nearly an impossible) battle to convince those non-ESL entities to take a chance on a city which is in such dire condition. I don’t like it, but I do understand and, I suspect, so does Mayor Parks.

Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com; Twitter@JamesTIngram.

Above: Link Karen Watkins and daughter Link Lynette Watkins, M.D.

Right: Graduate Malcolm Robinson and mom Stacey Hancock Cash Photo by Michael Cash

James Ingram

Anniversaries

Albert and Ida Walker celebrated 69 years of marriage on May 29. Congratulations and continued blessings to you both!

~ Celebrations ~

Happy 50th Wedding

Anniversary to Joseph & Jessie R. Day Jr., who celebrated this remarkable milestone on June 1. Jessie R. (Green) Day is a retired Medical Technologist for Quest Diagnostics. Joseph Day, Jr. is a retired autoworker for Daimler Chrysler. They have four children: Tammara, Felicia, Jerome and Tyrone and nine grandchildren. We love you and thank the Lord for the blessing of having you two in our lives.

Reunions

Contact Rochelle Williams at rochellewilliams001@yahoo. com.

Central High School Class of 1979 is planning its 35 year reunion for August 29-31, 2014. Please check out our Facebook page, “Central High School Redwings class of 1979” for class updates or call 314-374-8523 or 314-5415645 for more information.

Beaumont High School Class of 1984 is planning its 30 year class reunion for October 3-4, 2014. Reunion dinner will be held Saturday, October 3 at Hilton at the Ball Park. Please check us out on Facebook page “Beaumont Class of 1984” for class updates. The class meets the last Friday of every month.

Jennings Senior High School’s Class of 2004 will be hosting its ten-year class reunion July 26-27, 2014. If you are a member of the Class of 2004 and you would like to participate, please contact your Class President, Alona Sistrunk, at alona724@gmail. com with your name (and

Birthdays

Happy 13th Earth Day to my son Lee’lan Wilder on June 8. He is a member of Junior Black Chamber of Commerce, Character Development Institute, and Sabayet Younger Society. Lee’lan is very creative, an excellent skateboarder, and conscious Prince “light of our lives,” who makes us proud. With love, Mom

Brooklyn Alleana PrestonSchuman celebrated her first birthday on June 1. Love you more, Proud parents, Cameron & Jessica; proud grandparents, Annie Sue, Bessie & Melvin, family and friends

Retired

Congratulations to Ronald Harvey who retired from Barnes-Jewish Hospital on May 30 after 33 years of service.

name at the time of graduation if it has changed), your address, your phone number, and your email address. We will be in touch soon with additional information.

McKinley’s Class of 1984 would like to invite McKinley alumni to come and join them on a three-day, two-night, cruise to the Bahamas to celebrate their 30th year class reunion September 19-22,2014. For Information contact: Ms. Vanessa Thomas (Group Specialist) Mon-Fri 11:30 am-8:30pm at 1-(800)514-9986 Ext: 7565 or email vthomas@ vacationtogo.com

Normandy High School Class of 1994 will hold its 20th Reunion Weekend, August

Lee’lan Wilder

22-24, which will include a Meet and Greet, All White Party, and Ol’ School Field Day. For more information please visit our website at http://nykeawatts.wix.com/ normandy1994.

Soldan Class of 1966 is celebrating with an “Old School Dance” Sunday, June 15, 2014 at Christian Hospital’s Atrium Banquet Center, Derrick Building, 11133 Dunn Road 63136 from 5- 9 pm. Dinner Served at 6 pm, cash bar, $50 per person. For ticket information please contact 314-521-8540.

Soldan High School Class of 1974 will hold its 40th Reunion Weekend, August 15-17, 2014 at Hollywood Casino & Resort, St. Louis. More info to come soon!

St. Matthew Lutheran School Alumni Association hosts its first all class Alumni Reunion, September 12-14, 2014. Please contact Rita Jackson at 5506945 or rjayplus@ymail.com for further details.

Sumner High School Class of 1954 60-year class reunion, August 15-17, 2014 at the Sheraton Westport Hotel, Plaza Tower. For more information contact: Audrey Poindexter - (314) 383-7174; email: ajpoin@charter.net or Marlene May - (314) 567-9629; email: onelene@att.net.

Sumner High Class of 1974

Brooklyn Alleana PrestonSchuman Ronald Harvey

will be having its 40th class reunion, July 18-20, 2014 at the Doubletree by Hilton St. Louis Chesterfield Hotel, 16625 S. Swingley Ridge Road, Chesterfield, MO 63017. Sunday morning services will be at New Beginnings M.B. Church, 4055 Edmundson Road, St. Louis, Mo 63134 at 10 am with a memorial brunch following services. Contact Joyce Bush Cruesoe at 314-484-1552, or Denise Washington Nicks 314-6423366 for information.

Sumner High School Class of 1984 is planning a 30 year reunion for August 22-24, 2014. For more information please contact Priscilla (Ms. Prissy) at 314-556-3944, or Robin Allen at 314-369-9549.

University City Alumni Association invites you to a day of relaxation and listening to the sounds of Tim Cunningham, Saturday August 2, 2014 at Mt. Pleasant Winery, Augusta Mo. $30 per person (Transportation provided by Vandalia Bus Lines.) Seating is a first come basis. Bus accommodates 50 people. This event is open to everyone. (DEADLINE FOR MONEY IS JUNE 17, 2014) More details contact: Denise Weatherford-Bell (314) 4846318.

Do you have a celebration you’re proud of? If so we would like to share your good news with our readers. Whether it’s a birth, graduation, wedding, engagement announcement, anniversary, retirement or birthday, send your photos and a brief announcement (50 words or less) to us and we may include it in our paper and website – AT NO COST – as space is available Photos will not be returned. Send your announcements to: kdaniel@stlamerican. com or mail to: St. Louis American Celebrations c/o Kate Daniel 2315 Pine St. St. Louis, MO 63103 FREE OF CHARGE

Reunion notices are free of charge and based on space availability. We prefer that notices be emailed to us! However, notices may also be sent by mail to:

Kate Daniel, 2315 Pine St., St. Louis, MO 63103

Deadline is 10 a.m. on Friday. If you’d like your class to be featured in a reunion profile, email or mail photos to us. Our email address is: reunions@ stlamerican.com

Vashon High School Class of 1979 has planned our 35th Class Reunion weekend for August 15 - 17, 2014. For more information or to provide your contact information call 314-371-9653 or email vashonclassof1979@gmail. com. Visit our Facebook group: Vashon High Class of 1979 35th Class Reunion, for upcoming activities and updates.

Wellston High School Class of 1994 20th Reunion Weekend: July 25th-27, 2014. For more information, contact Bridgette Lovings at 314-4359534 or bridgettelovings@ yahoo.com or Yolinda Washington at 314-898-2063 or yolinda1225@gmail.com.

Seminary celebrates first graduates

Dwight McDaniels

Theological Seminary founded by San Francisco Temple C.A.

By Angelita F. Jackson Of The St. Louis American

The late Dr. Dwight H. McDaniels Jr., pastor of San Francisco Temple C.A., had the dream to train the people of God throughout the community.

In 2004, he purchased and opened the Dwight McDaniels Ministerial Center at 10201 Halls Ferry Rd. The school was founded as a free seminary for those interested in spiritual growth and biblical classes. In 2011, under the leadership of Dr. Luther J. Blackwell Jr., the name was changed to Dwight McDaniels Theological Seminary and became a fully accredited college.

“My husband, the late Dwight H. McDaniels Jr., always wanted his church members to be profound in the Word of God,” Dr. Marie McDaniels said.

“II Timothy 2:15 states, ‘Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’ With all this knowledge that has been deposited into your life, continue to allow God to lead and guide your footsteps through life’s journey.”

On Friday, May 16, the graduates were graced with the encouraging words “After the licking, it’s better sticking.”

“You have to lick the stamp and put it on the envelope so that it can be sent through the mail,” said Dr. Luther J. Blackwell Jr. “You all had the

ability to hang in there and finish, which means you took the licking. So, no matter where God sends us, we have to stick.

Don’t sell out your purpose and destiny for a dime!”

New 2014 graduates of the Dwight McDaniels Theological Seminary are: Doctor of Theology – Dr.

Ellis.

Nancy Johnson, Devon Morris, Cheryl Ray, Kay Ross, Helena Smith, Paul S. Thompson, Shantelle Williams-Green

Bachelor of Biblical Studies – Clementine Baker, Alayna Boles, Edward E. Harris, Mary L. Hester, Beverly Huddleston, Fred Monson, Yvette ScalesBetts, Gregory C. Warren

n “Don’t sell out your purpose and destiny for a dime!”

– Dr. Luther J. Blackwell Jr.

JoAnn B. Owens, Dr. Cynthia Warren

Doctor of Divinity

Winnetta V. Henderson-Ellis, Cheryl Ray, Paul S. Thompson Honorary Doctoral Degree – Duke DuVall, Dr. Curtis Scarborough, Dr. Michael Shaw Master of Divinity – Willie Mae Barber, James L. Hopkins,

Associate Biblical Studies –Deborah A. Ford, LySanders Ivy, Dorothy J. Savage, Sammie L. Wallace Posthumously Honorary Doctor of Divinity – the late Lynne Henderson.

“The in depth study of the word fed my mind, soul and spirit. To God be the Glory!” said Winnetta V. Henderson-

Dr. Luther J. Blackwell Jr. was the keynote speaker at the Dwight McDaniels Theological Seminary’s 2014 Commencement program held recently at San Francisco Temple C.A.

“I count it a great honor to achieve a goal that will help fulfill my purpose in life,” said Edward E. Harris.

“Settling for average is not an option,” said Dr. Cynthia Warren, executive director/ dean of Academic Affairs.

“Always strive to learn all you can and be the best you can attaining knowledge through Bible education with maximum determination.”

“Congratulations, class of 2014, for performing at your maximum proficiency,” said Dr. George Edwards, provost.

“You are now equipped to master the task of the mission field. The D.M.T.S. staff is very proud of you for what you have accomplished.”

There are a full range of undergraduate and graduate degrees offered. Scholarships are also available. For more information, visit www. dmtsbible.com or call 314-8697193.

Let’s talk a little bit about freedom. I’m referring to the freedom afforded all of us through Christ. There is something quite liberating when you know or realize that you have been “set free.”

Have you ever thought about what that really means?

The word release comes to my mind. Some claim relief is how they understand it. However you want to describe it, the revelation of Jesus as Lord and Savior removes a lot of barriers and obstacles and burdens that we as human beings place upon ourselves. That’s why as people initially come to Christ, they are overcome by a fresh perspective about life, an enlightened one. It has brought many of us to tears.

In a real sense, addictions are withstood, hurt feelings are healed, guilt is removed and insecurities conquered when Jesus enters the picture.

Fears are conquered. And if we’re honest with ourselves, we all have fears. I know I do. It can be the fear of being alone, of being humiliated, of being exposed or ostracized or even the fear of dying. The knowledge of Christ in all of these situations cancels those fears.

That’s what people mean when they say set free. That’s how I’ve come to understand real joy. In that context of

spiritual awareness being blood bought and saved, I have been set free from fear, anger, greed, selfishness and even self doubt. These things have hopefully been replaced with honesty and integrity, hope and truth, the promise of everlasting life and above all love. One of the hardest things to understand in this life, and then act upon, is this love yourself thing. God even commands us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Without Christ in your life, that concept of self love can sometimes be distorted and in many cases become perverted. Love with humility is an awesome thing. When love is set free within you, life takes on a whole new meaning. You no longer have to live in the shadows of pretense; rather, you can now live in the light of truth. I can be who I really am; the person God made and so can you. Then the world will see you as God sees you and not who you think it ought to see. I am who God made. If that’s good enough for God, then certainly it’s good enough for anyone who wants to deal with me, including you. I am free and it is wonderful. Freedom is my gift from

James A. Washington

Photo by Maurice Meredith

Celebrity Swagger Snap of the Week

St. Louis’ own rap star Chingy was on hand for the special sneak peek at ‘Think Like a Man Too’ Monday night at Ronnie’s 20 Cine. He was just one of many STL tastemakers who welcomed the movie’s co-stars Regina Hall and Terrence Jenkins to town

Boogying with Kut. After months of trying, I finally made my way to the Hollywood Casino to see DJ Kut’s monthly set of ripping the tables for the final Friday of every month. I had never been to Hollywood Casino, but thanks to Kut I didn’t even need directions to club Boogie Nights – I just followed the throwback jams as I was leaving the elevator. You can tell the true talent of a DJ by the blend of folks tearing it up on the dance floor – and Kut had the folks in sweatpants and fanny packs scooting over from the slot machines to cut a rug…and that’s serious business. I also laid my eyes on a couple of church deacons (don’t worry, you and your church will remain anonymous) getting it in like regulars. I’m telling you that I got my life from the variety of folks –black, white, young and old – and Kut’s skills on the wheels of steel. I must say that it was totally worth me having to wash the casino cigarette smoke of out of my hair. Be sure to stop through on every last Friday.

Prime Café Soul time. Was it me, or was the spirit of the Lucas Schoolhouse Café Soul in the building at The Rustic Goat Saturday night? Of course it was! Deevine Soundz was slaying on the ones and twos, the band was absolutely smokin’, the energy was on point and the talent was great. One of highest of highlights was Rhoda G’s featured performances of August Alsina’s “I Love it” and Beyoncé’s “Drunk in Love.” Once you hear “surfboard” played in b flat your life will never be the same. Then she held a single note as she walked around the entire venue collecting a love offering as a finale. I’ve decided that she should just go ahead and do a full saxophone rendition of the entire “Beyoncé” album. “Yonce’” and “Partition” jazzed out would be EVERYTHING. Justin Hoskin had the folks jammin with his rendition of “Master Blaster.” Although the evening was not without its “girl, what” moment. I figure it’s the universe’s way of reminding us that Café Soul is an open mic and not a concert. This woman with a body that I had decided was somebody’s fitness competitor steps to the microphone. Without a single ounce of body fat and lean muscle for days, she sparked body envy across the whole club. Too bad the tone of her voice didn’t match her body. She was in need of somebody’s vocal exercises. What? If I had her shape, I wouldn’t care about what anybody said about my singing especially if I couldn’t. I’m sure nerves and a few other things had plenty to do with her botched performance, but she shouldn’t have tried to redeem herself with a performance of “Happy Birthday.” She should have just charged the performance to the game, got her practice on and came back strong next month…or maybe demonstrate how we could all get a six pack so pronounced you can see it through a freakum dress instead. I’m just sayin’.

So long to The City Jason Spain is sending the City Ultra Lounge to that urban nightlife strip beyond the sky and he held a grand finale set on Saturday night. His lovely wife April was on deck as well and folks were indeed pouring out a few beverages for what could be considered The City’s memorial service. The VIP area was crackin’ with plenty of the who’s who from the Lou helping send the City out with a bang…and plenty of popped bottles. Kevin Cunningham, The Starpower team (Abe, T-Luv and Shaki), Justin Gatlin, Darius Miles, Mocha Latte, and Justin Gatlin were just a few of the folks who were getting their life for the last time at the City. I must say that while it was ratchet overload at the end, The City had some shining moments – the first one that came to mind was the Super Jam afterparty when Miguel and Wale had mistresses of thirst quietly scaling the wall to get up in their elevated VIP action. I wish J. Spain the best and will be looking out for his next move.

Eye Candy in heat. If there was a theme for the May Edition of the Eye Candy party it would be the revival of the early 2000s oversaturated slang term “Hot Mess.” Not because of the party…it was the same as always. But my theory that an abundance of beverages and not enough a/c along with designer impersonator high heels don’t mix… proven tried and true as the girls stumbled around the Coliseum Saturday night. Those Dollar Tree stilettos were leaning like kick stands and the girls were barely able to maneuver through the packed house.

Movie magic and bird madness. On Monday night I made my way over to Ronnie’s Cine in South County for a special screening of “Think Like a Man Too” (which opens June 20th) and I’m so glad I decided to perch up with the folks at Hot 104.1 FM and get a first look at the film. Speaking of perch, this little toddler pigeon had the crowd shook as he terrorized everybody in his path and dared you to try and shoo him off. I decided that he’s in the audition phase for the lead role in “Angry Birds: The Musical” and needed video footage to prove he could scare urban and mainstream audiences alike. By the time “Think Like a Man Too” co-stars Regina Hall and Terrence Jenkins made to the red carpet, folks were too exhausted from running for cover to be excited. Regina and Terrence were so awesome – as were the rest of the STL celebs who came through and helped give our city a taste of what a movie premiere feels like….like Chingy, City Spud, Kyjuan and Murphy Lee, the artist formerly known as Seviin Li Telisha Lee Kevin Johnson, plenty of the Hot 104.1 FM fam (Mz Janee, Staci Static, C. Note, DJ Cuddy, Boogie D to name a few), a gang of St. Rams players (Robert Quinn and Rodger Saffold to name a few) and a bunch of other people who are now furious because I left them off mixed and mingled.

I’ve decided that Terrence J is my new near celebrity crush after the way he interacted with fans and constantly gave Boogie D props for kicking his career off during his visit. And a little birdie told me that he brought complimentary Sweetie Pie’s for reporters to enjoy while he and Regina took part in round table interviews. My heart is melting as my stomach growls.

Kersha, Ryan and Dani catch the rest of the show following Ryan’s tribute to Bill Withers Saturday night @ Café Soul @ The Rustic Goat

Teri and her beautiful bar maids could have easily entered the competition @ The May Eye Candy Party Saturday night @ The Coliseum

Topher and Lauren were on deck for the Cabana Club Party Friday night @ Soho

Tammie Holland of Majic100.3 FM and Elemuelle were among the stylish crowd that came to check out Café Soul Saturday night @ The Rustic Goat

Crooner Justin Hoskin and his lovely wife Shannon celebrated her birthday with the sweet sounds of Café Soul Saturday @ The Rustic Goat

April and Jason Spain bid farewell to The City Ultra Lounge with style Saturday night @ The City

Fresco Kane, Shaki and City Spud were just a few of the STL tastemakers in the building for the last hoorah @ The City Ultra Lounge

Rappers Laudie (On the Track) and Luey V catching the tail end of the Eye Candy Face Off Saturday night @ The Coliseum

The World Famous Charlie Chan Soprano of Hot 104.1 FM with Theresa who came to get a pic with her favorite DJ Friday night @ Lola

Birthday girl Precious out celebrating her birthday with Alana, Addy, Tona and Nell Friday night @ The Marquee

that gave the city a special red carpet premiere experience. Photo by Robert Ruger, president of Ethno Nightlife

Photos by Lawrence Bryant

Growing up I often overheard my family discussing how certain aunts or uncles were “nervous” or had “bad nerves.” To this day, some of my relatives, including the educated ones, still use such terminology. In addition, I have also unfortunately heard all too often how people, particularly former veterans, were described as “crazy or odd.” As a child, I had no idea what they meant nor did I ever hear them use words such as therapist, psychiatry, or depression for that matter. It was not until medical school that I realized they were discussing mental illness but in the most rudimentary and crude fashion. Recent events in our nation as it relates to gun violence perpetrated by mentally ill individuals, have caused us as a country to dialogue more about this hot topic.

Depression is a disorder of the brain that affects mostly women and usually begins between the ages of 15 and 30. More than 20 million people in the United States suffer with depression. Individuals with depression do not have fleeting emotions of sadness. Depression interferes with their daily lives and can include symptoms such as low energy, poor appetite, insomnia, lack of concentration, and sometimes, suicidal ideation. Besides women, the CDC reports that people who are unemployed or unable

Mental health checkup

to work, blacks or Hispanics, individuals who lack insurance, or people with less than a high school diploma, tend to be most depressed. In my practice, these patients often times do not even recognize that they are exhibiting signs of depression. They present with somatic complaints such as back or neck pain, inability to stay asleep, or headaches. They are shocked when I ask if they are depressed.

Denise Hooks Anderson, M.D.

In my experience, people of color are often extremely resistant to therapy. “I don’t want people in my business!” “God will deliver me from this!” “So, you think that my pain is in my head?” These are all comments that I hear frequently. I spend a lot of time explaining that mental illness is no different than diabetes or hypertension: it’s a medical condition that needs treatment. A horrible stigma exists in our communities that inhibits active participation in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) which then results in family instability. I speculate that our urban children’s test scores would improve if their parents received regular CBT and obtained the appropriate medication to

treat their various mental conditions and addictions thereby resulting in a home environment conducive to studying. I knew nothing about bipolar disorder when I was younger but I could definitely recognize people in the church who were flamboyant one Sunday but depressed the next and who always seemed to go from 0 to 60 in only a few seconds. Bipolar disorder usually appears in the late teens or early adulthood and is characterized by severe mood swings. However this emotional lability is not your typical everyday highs/lows people feel. Individuals with this disorder have extreme changes in energy, sleep, activity, and behavior. These mood swings can progress from mania to depression causing work and marital conflict. I have known patients, when manic, to spend thousands of dollars within hours and get involved in multiple extramarital affairs.

Typical symptoms during the manic phase of this disorder include racing thoughts, starting simultaneous projects but without completion, and exaggeration of one’s ability. I recall one patient during my training who wanted to quit his good paying job to pursue a career as a professional Frisbee player. This patient would stay up all night and would talk nonstop. He was totally unaware of his strange behavior.

The other aspect of mental illness

that is often overlooked is its effect on our children. For example, when a child’s behavior dramatically changes, something has happened in that child’s life. A home environment disruption, a death of a family member or close friend, sexual or mental abuse, or being the recipient of bullying are all situations that are common occurrences amongst our children. For the most part, kids will not walk up to you and proclaim that they are depressed or hearing voices. The adults around them must recognize the warning signs: a drop in grades, difficulty sleeping, excessive counting or checking locks, withdrawal from social function, or inattention to personal hygiene. Furthermore, anyone making comments about “not wanting to be around anymore” or “life would be better without me in it,” need to be taken seriously. We must not assume they are joking!

If you or your loved one suffers from mental health issues, please seek help immediately. Do not wait until a catastrophe happens. The stigma associated with mental illness will end when we as a community accept the notion that the state of our mental health is no less important than other disease states we may face.

Yours in Service, Denise Hooks-Anderson, M.D. Assistant Professor SLUCare Family Medicine yourhealthmatters@stlamerican.com

Your Health Matters

A bi-monthly special supplement of the St. Louis American June 5, 2014

Your Health Matters provides up-to-date information, from an African-American perspective, about one of the most important subjects in evryone’s life – their personal health.

Donald M. Suggs, President and Publisher

Kevin Jones, Senior Vice President, COO

Dina M. Suggs, Senior Vice President

Chris King, Editorial Director

Denise Hooks Anderson, M.D., Medical Accuracy Editor

Sandra Jordan, Health Reporter

Debbie Chase, Director of Health Strategy & Outreach

Onye Hollomon, Barb Sills, Pamela Simmons, Sales

Michael Terhaar, Art/Production Manager

Angelita Jackson, Cover Design

Wiley Price, Photojournalist

the

Breathing distress from vocal cord dysfunction may co-exist with asthma

By Sandra Jordan

Of The St. Louis American

Shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, throat tightness, hoarseness – could it be sinuses, allergies acting up, or the telltale signs that an asthma attack is on its way?

Maybe none of the above. Notice these symptoms did not involve the chest, as in asthma, which involves airway inflammation. These symptoms are centered in the upper airway, a clue that it may involve something seemingly unrelated to the lungs. Vocal cords vibrate air to make speech and sound. However, in certain people, vocal cords sometimes close shut at inopportune times, which making breathing and speech difficult. It is known as vocal cord dysfunction, or VCD.

The disorder has been known by many different names over the years since it was first identified in 1983 by doctors at National Jewish Health in Denver. The names include facetious asthma, Munchausen’s stridor, pseudo or imitation asthma, functional upper airway obstruction and emotional laryngeal wheezing. Ignorance to the disorder led some health professionals to describe “lying” as a symptom; not believing there was real a physical problem – rather, a psychosomatic illness the person was making up. While its origins are unknown, National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado identified the physical condition and the disorder is now described as paradoxical vocal cord motion (PVFM) disorder, vocal cord dysfunction (VCD) or vocal fold dysfunction.

Triggers for VCD are similar to asthma triggers, including upper respiratory infections, postnasal drip, reflux issues, exposure to airborne irritants, strong odors, perfumes, fumes, smoke, exercise, singing, laughing, temperature changes, heightened emotions and stress, anxiety or tension. However, not all people who experience VCD have asthma, and people with both conditions may be underdiagnosed, receiving treatment only for asthma.

That’s why the inhalers, “puffers” or topographical corticosteroids don’t work for patients this condition, said Dennis Fuller, PhD, CCC/SLP, a speech pathologist and associate professor at Saint Louis University.

“They are meant to dilate your pulmonary system, basically your bronchi in the laryngeal lining,” Fuller explained. “What this disorder is – literally is clo-

sure of the vocal folds. One the classic identification things that I hear and I kind of listen for is: ‘Well, the doctor put me on a puffer and it didn’t work,’ or you’ll say, did the puffer work for you? And the people go, ‘Maybe, but, I haven’t been taking it.’ Which means it doesn’t work.”

Doctors can confirm VCD with two tests. In a laryngoscopy, doctors use a

flexible scope down the throat to observe the movement of vocal cords when the patient is having symptoms. The second is spirometry, a test that measures the airflow of patients as they inhale and exhale. The example spirometry results measured airflow three times, factoring in predicted values based on age, gender, height and weight. Fuller said it is a perfect example of vocal cord dysfunction.

An employee at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado demonstrates for journalists attending the Association of Health Care Journalists annual conference one of two tests that indicate vocal cord dysfunction.

“What I look at is the pattern of flow. The top is the exhale the bottom is the inhale,”

“These should look all the same,” Fuller said. “The bottom one should look like a bell curve upside down or like an upside down ice cream cone. It looks like someone took a bite out of the ice

See BREATHING, page 4

Photo by Sandra Jordan

The jagged edges on the spirometry graph, an airflow test, shows this patient who has allergic asthma also has vocal cord dysfunction. The bottom of the graph should be rounded like a bell curve and overall, the results should look like an upside down ice cream cone.

BREATHING

Continued from page 3 cream.”

Fuller said the percentage values from the spirometry also differentiate VCD from asthma. A person in asthmatic distress would have lower percentages of efficiency of airflow, where in the example, they are in the 95-100 percentile.

• Postnasal drip

• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

• Laryngopharyngeal reflux

• Asthma

• Increased body tension with exercise or exertion

• Chronic cough

• Chronic throat-clearing

• Difficulty swallowing

• Anxiety

Source: National Jewish Health

The good news is rather than medications or invasive measures in extreme cases, many incidences of vocal cord dysfunction can be resolved or managed through speech therapy. Using breathing techniques that have a basis in yoga, therapists teach VCD patients to use breathing exercises to trick the brain to give up its defense mechanism, thus allowing the vocal cords to remain open.

“There is a thousand ways we use our vocal folds,” Fuller said. “In reality, if

there was such a thing as an archeologist for the anatomy, all mammals have this valve … it is not there for voice. It is a pulmonary valve.”

Fuller said coughing is a pulmonary function, and without thinking about it, people close their vocal cords when picking up heavy objects, or close their vocal cords during the “flee, fight” response.

“It’s a motor pattern that you set up,” Fuller said. “What happens if you get in a smoky environment? You begin coughing; and why are you coughing? It’s your brain trying to prevent that bad air from going in.”

For more information, visit National Jewish Health at http://www.nationaljewish.org/healthinfo/conditions/vcd.

People with vocal cord dysfunction may have problems with:

Photo by Sandra Jordan

Resveratrol fails to reduce disease, deaths

A study of Italians who consume a diet rich in resveratrol — the compound found in red wine, dark chocolate and berries — finds they live no longer than and are just as likely to develop cardiovascular disease or cancer as those who eat or drink smaller amounts of the antioxidant.

“The story of resveratrol turns out to be another case where you get a lot of hype about health benefits that doesn’t stand the test of time,” said Richard D. Semba, M.D., M.P.H., a professor of ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the study described May 12 in JAMA Internal Medicine. “The thinking was that certain foods are good for you because they contain resveratrol. We didn’t find that at all.”

Despite the negative results, Semba said, studies have shown that consumption of red wine, dark chocolate and berries reduces inflammation in some people and still appears to protect the heart. “It’s just that the benefits, if they are there, must come from other polyphenols or substances found in those foodstuffs,” he said. “These are complex foods, and all we really know from our study is that the benefits are probably not due to resveratrol.”

The new study did not include people taking resveratrol supplements, though few studies thus far have found benefits associated with them.

Semba is part of an international team of researchers that for 15 years has studied the effects of aging in a group of people who live in the Chianti region of

Italy. For the current study, the researchers analyzed 24 hours of urine samples from 783 people over the age of 65 for metabolites of resveratrol. After accounting for such factors as age and gender, the people with the highest concentration of resveratrol metabolites were no less likely to have died of any cause than those with no resveratrol found in their urine. The concentration of resveratrol was not associated with inflammatory markers, cardiovascular disease or cancer rates.

Semba and his colleagues used advanced mass spectrometry to analyze the urine samples.

The study participants make up a random group of people living in Tuscany where supplement use is uncommon and consumption of red wine — a specialty

of the region — is the norm. The study participants were not on any prescribed diet.

Resveratrol is also found in relatively large amounts in grapes, peanuts and certain Asiatic plant roots. Excitement over its health benefits followed studies documenting anti-inflammatory effects in lower organisms and increased lifespan in mice fed a high-calorie diet rich in the compound.

The so-called “French paradox,” in which a low incidence of coronary heart disease occurs in the presence of a high dietary intake of cholesterol and saturated fat in France, has been attributed to the regular consumption of resveratrol and other polyphenols found in red wine.

Find cancer early: Your life is worth it

Mikki Brewster’s journey with cancer began in 1994, when her diligence in getting yearly mammograms and doing breast self-exams saved her life. The lump she felt was breast cancer, which was treated with a mastectomy and chemotherapy. Thankfully, her cancer remains in remission. Mikki still gets regular mammograms and is determined to help other women commit to getting theirs as well.

Mammograms are essential to catching breast cancer early and will save the lives of women. African-American women in St. Louis have a higher risk of dying

from breast cancer. One of the many reasons is they are diagnosed at a later stage. The Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) works with community leaders like Mikki and health care providers to find new ways to improve access to mammograms and treatment, improve breast cancer prevention research, and spread the word about things you can do to lower your risk of developing breast cancer. Here’s what you need to know about getting a mammogram:

• Don’t let fear stop you. Bring a friend to your mammogram, or talk to someone who’s gotten one already.

• Know your family history. If you’re

at high risk, you may need to have mammograms more often and begin them at an earlier age.

• It’s OK to do breast self-exams, but they don’t take the place of mammograms and clinical breast exams. Any changes in your breasts should be reported to a doctor as soon as possible.

To learn more about lowering your cancer risk or PECaD’s community events, visit: PECaD: http://www.siteman.wustl. edu/pecad.aspx

8 Ways to Stay Health and Prevent Cancer: http://www.8ways.wustl.edu

The Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) at the Siteman Cancer Center is working to eliminate local and regional disparities in cancer education, prevention and treatment through community outreach, research and training. To learn more about cancer or to get involved with PECaD, call 314-747-4611, email PECaD@ wudosis.wustl.edu or write to us at SCC-PECaD, Campus Box 8100, 660 S. Euclid Ave, St. Louis, MO, 63110. Look for future articles in Health Matters.

HealtH Briefs

SLU students run free asthma and allergy clinic

On Wednesdays, medical students will join Ray Slavin, M.D., at the Health Resource Center (HRC) to treat patients battling asthma and severe allergies. The new asthma and allergy clinic at the free facility run by medical students of Saint Louis University offers to diagnose and treat asthma and allergies for people with limited access to health care.

The HRC is located in the Victor Roberts Building, 1408 N. Kingshighway, between Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Page Boulevard.

During the summer, the clinic will be held on June 4 and July 2 between 1-3 p.m. by appointment only. Starting August 20, the clinic will run every Wednesday.

“Asthma is a reversible disease. It’s treatable,” said Slavin, professor, emeritus of allergy and immunology at Saint Louis University. “But often times patients in the inner city can’t make it to a health care facility because of a variety of reasons including limited transportation and affordability.”

For Slavin, the first step is to diagnose a patient. “Many asthmatics are underdiagnosed,” he said.

In older patients, coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath are commonly mistaken as signs of aging, and in children these symptoms are often labeled as chronic bronchitis. But in many cases, it could be asthma, he said.

At the clinic, the patient’s medical history is charted, followed by a physical exam and a a pulmonary function test. In many instances, Slavin will ask students to perform a skin test to determine precise substances to which a patient is allergic.

Slavin’s first treatment approach is to advise patients of environment control, which means reducing exposure to substances that trigger their asthma. His second approach is prescribing medications to treat the condition.

“There are two types of asthma inhalers. One treats immediate reactions but

doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. The others are controller inhalers that are taken daily and reduce inflammation, and help keep patients out of emergency room and the hospital,” Slavin said.

Another important problem Slavin and students wish to address are nasal symptoms that 90 percent of asthma patients experience.

“If you manage nasal symptoms well,

asthma comes under better control,” he said. “At the HRC, we provide nasal sprays, which reduce the nasal symptoms.”

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, which can have a major impact on a person’s professional and social life if left untreated.

“People who are constantly coughing, wheezing and feel shortness of breath

cannot hold jobs,” Slavin said. “They also can’t exercise, because that triggers asthma. As a result they may gain weight, which compounds the problem.”

For more information about the allergy clinic or to reserve an appointment, contact the Health Resource Center at 314-720-1522.

Overweight in childhood a precursor for obesity risk in future years

When researchers at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health followed 7,738 children for nine years, they found that kindergarteners who were overweight had four times the risk of becoming obese by the age of 14 years than normal-weight kindergartners. More than 45 percent of the obesity cases that developed by eighth grade started with those overweight

kindergarteners.

“Now that we know childhood obesity at an early age sets the stage for obesity across the lifespan, we need to ensure even the youngest of our children are eating healthy foods and getting sufficient time to be active. We can’t afford to wait until they are older,” said Dr. Solveig Cunningham, author of the study published in

the New England Journal of Medicine

Last year, several states reported the first ever declines in childhood obesity. Learning from their efforts, other communities are tackling obesity with more proven strategies.

Voices for Healthy Kids, a collaborative initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Heart Association, provides commu-

nities across the country with needed tools and strategies to help all young people eat health healthier foods and be more active.

Nearly one in three kids and teens are overweight or obese. Learn more about the epidemic and how to help turn it around, visit Voicesforhealthykids.org.

A patient gets tested for asthma by breathing into a spirometer.

Tart cherry juice increases sleep time in adults with insomnia

A morning and evening ritual of tart cherry juice may help you sleep better at night, suggests a new study presented recently at the Experimental Biology 2014 meeting. Researchers from Louisiana State University found that drinking Montmorency tart cherry juice twice a day for two weeks helped increase sleep time by nearly 90 minutes among older adults with insomnia.

Insomnia is a common health problem among older adults, impacting an estimated 23 to 34 percent of the population ages 65 and older. Insomnia – defined as trouble sleeping on average more than three nights per week – can be an annoyance for some, but long-lasting sleeplessness can seriously affect health, especially in the elderly.

Insomnia is linked to a higher prevalence of chronic pain, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and a decline of cognitive function, or dementia. Individuals with insomnia may turn to sleeping pills; however, these sedative medications have been found to increase risk of falls in the elderly – which makes it increasingly important to find more natural sleep-aids without these apparent side effects, said co-author Frank L. Greenway, MD, director of the outpatient research clinic at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University.

“Sleeping pills may be an option for younger insomniacs, but for older people these medications quadruple the risk of falling, which can lead to broken hips and, often, earlier death,” Greenway said.

The researchers found that those who drank the tart cherry juice in the morning and at night were able to sleep more than an hour longer each night (averaging 84 minutes) compared to the placebo, and

their sleep tended to be more efficient.

Montmorency tart cherries are a natural source of melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle.

While previous studies have suggested that tart cherry juice has sleep-enhancing benefits, Greenway and colleagues set out to help explain why. They wanted to

understand if the benefits were due to the melatonin content or another component in Montmorency tart cherries.

They believe the ruby red pigments in tart cherry juice, known as proanthocyanidins, also play a role. These natural polyphenolic compounds are especially abundant in Montmorency tart cherries. In the study, tart cherry juice helped to increase the availability of tryptophan, an essential amino acid and a precursor to serotonin that helps with sleep. The juice was shown in cells to inhibit an enzyme (indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase) that degrades tryptophan. Tryptophan degradation is a known predictor of insomnia and is also related to inflammation, said co-authors Jack Losso and John Finley, professors in the School of Nutrition and Food Sciences at Louisiana State University Agricultural Center.

“Even though the amount of tryptophan in tart cherry juice is smaller than a normal dose given to aid sleep, the compounds in tart cherries could prevent the tryptophan from breaking down so it’s able to work in the body more effectively,” Greenway explained. “These compounds may help to improve tryptophan bioavailability for serotonin synthesis, which could have a positive effect on sleep. Increasing serotonin also helps improve mood and decrease inflammation.”

Greenway and his colleagues conclude that drinking a glass of tart cherry juice in the morning and the evening may be a better and a safer way to treat insomnia.

Funding for this research was provided by the Cherry Marketing Institute, which had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis or preparation of the abstract or presentation.

‘For the Sake of All’ proposes changes to improve health outcomes

By Sandra Jordan

Of The St. Louis American

The interconnection between low educational attainment, quality neighborhoods and the well-being of African Americans in St. Louis is poignantly detailed in “For the Sake of All,” a report released Friday, May 30 by Washington University and Saint Louis University. It is the culmination of 14 months of work on the social determinants of health by public health scholars in the region. Social determinants are additional conditions affecting overall

health outcomes, including education, income, neighborhood composition, and access to healthy food, transportation and safe public areas. Social psychologist Jason Q. Purnell, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of the Brown School at Washington University, led the work.

The report maps out racial and poverty concentrations, areas of lowest educational attainment and areas with highest concentrations of preventable illness, like cardiovascular disease and life expectancy by zip code. Residents in zip codes separated by only few miles have up to an 18-year difference

in life expectancy, the report highlighted. Because of residential segregation in St. Louis, many areas with high African American populations are also areas with concentrated poverty and poor health. The report said these neighborhoods often lack resources like healthy foods, safe green spaces for recreation, and convenient access to medical care.

The report recommends changes to make as a region to improve lives and bring about positive economic impact for the area. Those proposed investments are:

1. Quality early childhood develop-

ment for all children

2. Helping create economic opportunities for low-to-moderate income families

3. School health programs for all students

4. Mental health awareness, screening, treatment and surveillance

5. Quality neighborhoods for everyone

6. Coordination and expansion of chronic and infectious disease prevention and management

To read the complete report, visit http://forthesakeofall.org.

Sat. June 7, 4th annual Miles Against Melanoma Walk/5K Run by Fleet Feet Sports at Chesterfield Amphitheatre, 631 Veteran’s Place Drive, Chesterfield, Mo., 63017. For more information, visit www.fleetfeetstlouis.com.

Sat., June 14, 16th annual Komen Race for the Cure in downtown St. Louis. For more information, visit http://www.komenstlouis.org.

Sat., June 21, 8 a.m., Plaquey Wacky 5 K race by Delta Dental Health Theatre at Wilmore Park Hampton Ave., 63109. For more information, visit http://www.fleetfeetstlouis.com/ racing/highlighted-races/plaqueywacky-5k.

Sat. June 28, 12 Noon, Get Fit 4 Autism: Awareness Through Art & Fitness by Regional Arts Commission. A portion of the proceeds will benefit The Turner Center for the Arts, a non-profit art studio that strives to foster

Calendar

the personal growth of artists with disabilities through creative self-expression. 6128 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit GLoveBoxX.com.

Mon., July 7, Ranken Jordan’s 10th annual Golf Tournament at Norwood Hills Country Club. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/1nC7l4Q.

Fri., July 11, 9 p.m., Glow in the Park St. Louis5K Fun Run in Queeny Park, 550 Weidman Rd., St. Louis, 63131. For more information, visit www.glowinthepark.com.

Sat., July 19, 7:30 a.m., The Biggest Loser Run Walk at Six Flags St. Louis, 5K, 10K, Kids 1 Mile Fun Run. 4900 Six Flags St Louis Railroad, Eureka, Mo., 63069. For more info, visit http://www. biggestloserrunwalk.com/SixFlags_St_ Louis_race.

Mon., July 21, 26th Annual AAFA Golf Classic, Persimmon Woods Golf Club, Weldon Spring, Mo. for the St.

Louis chapter of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation. For more information, visit aafastl.org/golf.

Sat., Sept. 6, Be The Match Walk Run, Creve Coeur Lake Memorial Park – Tremayne Shelter (Sai9lboat Cove) 13725 Marine Ave., St. Louis, 63146. For more information, visit http://bit. ly/1nV7YVC.

Sundays, 10 a.m. – Alcoholics Anonymous Group 109 meets in the 11th floor conference room at Christian Hospital, 11133 Dunn Road at I-270/ Hwy. 367. This is an open meeting for alcoholics, drug addicts and their family and friends.

Mondays, 7 p.m. – “Tobacco Free for Life” support group – free weekly meetings at St. Peters Mo. City Hall. Supported by SSM Cancer Care; RSVP initial participation to 636-947-5304.

Tuesdays, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. – Alcohol and Drug Informational meeting,

Christian Hospital, Professional Office Building 2, Suite 401. For information, call 314-839-3171.

Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. – STEPS Schizophrenia Support Group This nationally recognized program provides education and support for those with schizophrenia. Group is facilitated by an experienced STEPS nurse. For more information, call 314839-3171.

First Thursdays, 10 a.m. – Family Support Group by NAMI St. Louis, The Alliance on Mental Illness at Transfiguration Lutheran Church, 1807 Biddle Street. No registration needed; no cost. For more information, call 314-962-4670.

Free psychiatric and chemical dependency evaluations are confidential at the Christian Hospital Center for Mental Health. Call 314-839-3171.

HealtH ResouRces

Behavioral

Christian Hospital offers free and confidential psychiatric and chemical dependency evaluations at the Christian Hospital Center for Mental Health. For more information, call 314-839-3171.

Christian Hospital Key Program offers support and education to patients with chronic mental illness to prevent increased severity of symptoms and to reduce the need for inpatient re-hospitalization. Call confidentially to 314-839-3171 or 1-800447-4301.

Crime Victim Advocacy Center provides no cost support for persons affected by criminal acts. Email peggy@supportvictims.org, visit or call the 24-hour hotline 314-OK-BE-MAD (652-3673) or visit www.supportvictims.org.

Bike helmet safety

The St. Louis County Health Department provides free bicycle helmets to St. Louis County residents between ages 1 and 17 by appointment only. Proof of residency is required. For the location nearest you, visit www.tinyurl.freebikehelmets.

Breast Cancer

Gateway to Hope offers no-charge medical and reconstructive treatment for uninsured breast cancer patients in Missouri. Contact 314-569-1113.

Dental

Free Dental Hygiene Clinic - No charge dental exams, x-rays, cleanings and other dental services for children and adults provided by dental students at Missouri College. Patients needing more extensive dental work (fillings, crowns, etc.) will be referred to local dentists. For information, call 314-768-7899.

Diabetes

SSM St. Mary’s Health Center provides free, Diabetes Support Group sessions the second Tuesday of every month from 6 – 7 p.m. to address health management issues. It’s located at Meeting Room 1 on the second floor, 6420 Clayton Rd. To register, call toll free 866-SSM-DOCS (866-7763627).

Health Partnerships

The Center for Community Health and Partnerships: Building Bridges for Healthy Communities works to develop beneficial community-academic partnerships to address the health needs of the St. Louis. For more information, email publichealth@wustl.edu; phone 314-747-9212 or visit publichealth.wustl.edu.

Information Missouri 2-1-1 offers referral and information on a wide range of social service and helpful resources. Call 2-1-1.

Medical

Boys & Girls Clubs Dental & Vision Clinic at Herbert Hoover Club, 2901 N. Grand, St. Louis. Open year-round for members at no additional fee by appointment only. Teeth cleaning, braces, x-rays, root canals, some extractions; vision mobile unit, comprehensive exam and glasses, if required. Make an appointment by calling 314-3558122.

Salam Free Saturday Clinic, 10 a.m. – 2

p.m. at the Isom Community Center at Lane Tabernacle CME Church, 916 N. Newstead, St. Louis, Mo. for those who are uninsured. For more information, call 314-533-0534.

Nutrition

Food Outreach provides food, meals and nutritional education/ counseling to eligible persons living with HIV/AIDS or cancer in St. Louis. For more information, call 314652-3663 or visit www.foodoutreach.org.

St. Louis Milk Depot - SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital is a breast milk depot for the Indiana Mother’s Milk Bank. Milk Depot staff will store and ship your milk to IMMB. For more information, call (314) 242-5912.

Prostate Cancer

The Cancer Center of The Empowerment Network at 6000 W. Florissant in St. Louis provides information on prostate and other types of cancer, and services and support. For more information, call 314-385-0998.

Prescription Cost Help

Schnucks Pharmacies – now offers certain prescription prenatal vitamins for free and offers no-cost generic prescription antibiotics at select locations.

Wal-Mart Pharmacies – offer select prescriptions for $4 or less for a 30-day supply or $10 for a 90-day supply. View the complete list at www.walmart.com/pharmacy.

Respiratory Health

Free lung function screening - Christian Hospital Breathing Center at Northwest HealthCare, 1225 Graham Rd. For more information, call 314-953-6040.

Free flu shots for patients being treated for an illness or injury at Downtown Urgent Care (314-436-9300), North City Urgent Care (314-932-1213), Creve Coeur Urgent Care (314-548-6550) and Eureka Urgent Care (636-549-2100).

Sexual Health

St. Louis County Health Department offers free, confidential testing, counseling and treatment at the North Central Community Health Center, 4000 Jennings Station Road, St. Louis, MO 63121. For more information, call 314-679-7800.

Q & a

How to take a bite out of mosquito season HealtHy

Q. Is there a way to enjoy the warm outdoors without dousing myself with a lot of chemicals to avoid mosquito and insect bites?

A. The edited answer, with permission, comes from the May 2014 edition of Consumer Reports Health:

So how do you keep the bugs from biting? Our tests over the years have found that certain insect repellents, especially those with the chemical deet, can help keep mosquitoes and ticks away. But our safety experts worry that the products might pose risks to people and the environment.

“Deet and other chemical-based repellents should be used only if other safer methods don’t work for you,” Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D., executive director of the Consumer Reports Food Safety & Sustainability Center, said. “People should first try safer ways of avoiding bugs, such as wearing protective clothing and avoiding scented products when outdoors.”

Here are 15 expert tips on keeping the bugs away without dousing yourself in potentially dangerous chemicals.

For mosquitoes

• Stay inside or in screened-in areas during mosquito hours. The bugs like to come out during sunrise and sunset, and in early evening.

• During mosquito heavy hours, put on long sleeves, long pants, socks, and closed-toe shoes.

• Plug in a fan. It will help you keep cool and keep mosquitoes from landing on you when you’re outside on your deck or patio because the insects are not very efficient flyers, even in wind speeds of as low as 5 mph.

• Buy outdoor LED or yellow bug lights. Use them on your porch and around your house because they won’t attract pests like other lights might.

• Light citronella candles or tiki torches. These standbys work as mild insect repellents.

• Keep mosquitoes from breeding in your yard. Dump out any water-filled containers, such as birdbaths, tires, wheelbarrows, and wading pools. Clear away decaying leaves and ivy on buildings and on the ground, because mosquitoes like cool, dark places to rest during the day.

For ticks

• Wear light-colored clothes. They can help you spot ticks. Also stick with long sleeves, long pants, and closed-toe shoes. Tuck your pants into socks, wear boots, and pull your hair back into a hat.

• Check your clothes and skin for ticks

What not to do

These products either don’t work well or aren’t worth the risk of potential side effects:

• Products with more than 30 percent deet, such as Jungle Juice 100.

• Off Clip-on, a device that attaches to your waistband or belt and uses a fan to circulate a repellent around your body. The active ingredient, metofluthrin, can pose risks to your nervous system, and our tests found that it didn’t work very well anyway.

• Wristbands with repellent claims.

• Garlic or vitamin B1 pills.

• Devices that give off sound waves designed to keep insects away.

• Backyard bug zappers. (They might actually attract mosquitoes.)

• Also avoid tight clothes (which mosquitoes can penetrate), dark clothes (where ticks can hide), and strong scents, which may attract pests.

Source: Consumer Reports Health

when you get inside. They have to be on you for at least 36 hours to transmit Lyme disease. Even if you see no ticks, it’s smart to shower and wash your clothes, or at least toss them into a dryer to kill any ticks.

• Inspect pets, too. Always examine your animals for ticks after they come into the house from being outside.

• Keep your lawn mowed. And try to let as much sun into your yard as possible. Ticks prefer long grasses and shady spots.

• Consider putting up a fence. One way to keep the ticks away is to prevent deer and other large animals that can carry them from wandering around on your property.

• If you opt for an insect repellent, try a plant-based one such as Repel first.

For both pests

Try a plant-based repellent first. Examples include Repel Lemon Eucalyptus (which has a synthetic version of a naturally occurring chemical) and Natrapel or other products that contain 20 percent picaridin (a chemical similar to a compound in black pepper). In our 2010 tests, both worked for at least seven hours, though the Repel product has since been reformulated with less of the active ingredient and so no longer appears in our Ratings chart. The risk of side effects for both is low, but the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says not to use the Repel product on kids younger than 3.

Keep mosquitoes from breeding in your yard. Dump out any waterfilled containers, such as birdbaths, tires, wheelbarrows, and wading pools. Clear away decaying leaves and ivy on buildings and on the ground, because mosquitoes like cool, dark places to rest during the day.

When you use deet, keep levels low. If a product with 15 percent deet keeps bugs away for 8 hours or more, as our tests found, one with 98 percent deet has to be even better, right? Actually, no. Off Deep Woods Sportsmen mini pump spray (98 percent deet) is claimed to provide maximum-strength protection for up to 10 hours. But products with 95 percent or more deet have been linked with serious side effects, including seizures, slurred speech, and coma. It can also cause eye irritation and allergic reactions. Our experts recommend using no more than 30 percent deet, ever. If you’re, say, on an overnight camping trip and need long-term bug protection, reapply a product with 15 percent deet (such as Off FamilyCare Smooth & Dry spray) and use it sparingly. Each application will protect you from mosquito and tick bites for at least 8 hours.

Think twice about using deet if you’re in a high-risk group. Children, seniors, and people with weakened immune systems should use deet only with extra caution. The American Academy of Pediatrics says not to use it at all on infants younger than 2 months. Apply repellents outdoors, and only to clothing or exposed skin. Wash repellents off before you go to bed, and wash clothes before you wear them again. Avoid repellents such as Jungle Juice 100 that are more than 30 percent deet.

Email your health-related question to yourhealthmatters@stlamerican.com. An answer may be printed in a future issue of Your Health Matters.

Three steps to better asthma control

Over 25 million Americans, including seven million children, suffer from asthma. The American Lung Association recommends three simple steps to achieve better asthma control and greater quality of life.

Establish a relationship with a health care provider - Managing asthma requires working with a qualified health care professional. For some, the first step may be obtaining health care coverage. At minimum, people with asthma should see their health care provider once a year. Those with poorly controlled asthma should work with their health care provider to schedule follow-up visits more frequently.

Know the Basics of AsthmaAsthma and allergies often go handin-hand. It’s important for people with asthma to learn the basics of asthma and the steps for daily self-management. Being able to recognize signs and symptoms, and create asthma friendly environments where people live, work, go to school, and play can reduce the severity of an asthma flare-up and even help to avoid a visit to the emergency room.

Have an Asthma Action Plan - An Asthma Action Plan is an individual-

ized worksheet that shows people with asthma the steps to take to prevent their asthma from getting worse. It also provides guidance on when to call a health care provider and when to seek immediate emergency care. The American Lung Association has a downloadable Asthma Action Plan (also available in Spanish) to use in partnership with a health care provider.

The risk of struggling with asthma symptoms without proper treatment can result in irreversible lung damage.

“Asthma is a common disease –affecting one in 12 Americans – and is associated with a number of misconceptions,” explained Barbara Kaplan, M.P.H., C.H.E.S., American Lung Association director of asthma education. “Take for example the myth that children will eventually outgrow their disease. We need there to be greater awareness that asthma is a disease that is episodic, meaning that symptoms may improve over time, but it’s a disease that can last a lifetime.”

A passive approach to managing asthma can lead to chronic absenteeism, poor performance at school or work, and an increased likelihood of hospitalization due to an asthma episode.

For more information, visit www. lung.org.