May 8th, 2014 Edition

St. LouiS AmericAn

Black students make demands of SLU

Brittany Kendrick of Saint Louis University’s Black Student Alliance spoke at a press conference on Tuesday night, along with Kimberly Turner and Jonathan Pulphus of the alliance.

Naming the unknown soldiers

Genealogy society recognizes ‘Colored Infantry’ at Jefferson Barracks

By Bridjes O’Neil

The St. Louis American

A bronze plaque will be erected at the burial site of the 56th United States Colored Infantry at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. Unlike the monument that currently stands identifying the soldiers as “unknown,” the plaque will list the names of all 118 soldiers buried in the mass grave.

n “Y’all didn’t know their names. We’re going to read their names every time so they’re not forgotten.”

– Sarah Cato

The regiment of former slaves served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Most died of cholera in August 1866.

The recognition is the result of lengthy lobbying by the St. Louis African American History and Genealogy Society.

When society member Sarah Cato visits Jefferson Barracks, she said, she is bothered by a particular sight.

“I see the pointed headstones that distinguish Confederate dead from Union dead,” Cato said. “Then I go to the mass grave where the men of the 56th are buried, and I see tombstones that say ‘Unknown’ with no recognition of these men at all.”

It was Alfred Katzenberger with the Jefferson Barracks Chapel Association who informed the society of the situation last March. Cato said she and other members were appalled. Soon after, they formed a research committee to investigate the matter. Members sent letters to U.S.

See SOLDIERS, A6

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

Black students at Saint Louis University demanded on Tuesday that administrators respond to the campus’ recent hate crimes by increasing recruiting efforts of black students and faculty, as well as making curricula more inclusive.

On Saturday night, someone accessed the computer connected to a projector in the Busch Student Center at SLU and changed the text on the large screen to read, “Nazis rule f*** niggers and fags.” The week before, students discovered a swastika arranged

n “Students of African descent at Saint Louis University have been repeatedly subject to acts of racism, and in turn, receive idle resolutions.”

– Christopher S. Walker Jr.

out of tealight candles outside the Marguerite Hall dorm. SLU’s hate messages follow behind a recent shooting at two Jewish community centers in Kansas City, where three people were

of demands” to administrators.

“These actions do not reflect Saint Louis University’s hope for inclusiveness, but instead gives light to the reality that many students of African descent face while at Saint Louis University,” said Christopher S. Walker Jr., president of the alliance. “Students of African descent at Saint Louis University have been repeatedly

On Friday students from Roosevelt High School’s shop program helped to unload pews from Temple Israel in Creve Coeur donated to the school with the assistance of Home Works, a teacher home visit initiative. Next semester, the students will carpenter the pews into desks with bookshelves to be given to the families of SLPS children who need them.

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

Kenyun Robinson, 16, a sophomore at Roosevelt High School in the St. Louis Public Schools, has a desk and bookshelves at home.

But he knows that many students do not, and that is why he was eager to work on a project that the Home Works organization brought to his school on Friday.

Home Works, a teacher home visit program that works with SLPS, facilitated the delivery of a truckload of pews that were donated to Roosevelt’s shop program by Temple Israel in Creve Coeur, which also paid the movers.

n “This will help younger children in St. Louis Public Schools. If we supply desks and bookshelves, it will increase their reading skills.”

– Kenyun Robinson

Robinson and the school’s other shop students, under the direction of teacher Bart Adastra, will carpenter the pews into desks with bookshelves.

Starting next term, Adastra said, students

will work in teams to turn the pews, which vary in length from 10 to 30 feet, into what he estimates will be 30 new desks with bookshelves. They will be donated to elementary school students working with the Home Works program that lack desks and bookshelves at home.

The Roosevelt students were well aware of the purpose of the project, as Karen Kalish of Home Works, who came up with the idea and organized the donation, met with them and explained the project in detail.

“That’s why it’s so important and such a

Of

Photo by Wiley Price

Photo by Wiley Price

Rich Homie Quan suffers seizures on video set

Rapper Rich Homie Quan suffered backto-back seizures on the set of his new video earlier this week.

According to TMZ he was in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park yesterday filming the video for his next single when he suffered two seizures and smashed his head on the concrete after falling to the ground.

Paramedics were called to the scene and Rich Homie Quan was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment.

Rich Homie Quan’s reps told TMZ the rapper was suffering from heat exhaustion.

Apollo pleads guilty in money fraud case

Apollo Nida, husband of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” co-star Phaedra Parks, has pleaded guilty in a massive

money fraud scheme after allegedly stealing the identities of more than 50 people and laundering more than $2.3 million.

Prosecutors say beginning in 2009, Nida and co-conspirators stole and obtained checks, filed fraudulent tax returns and made fraudulent claims against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the victims’ names in at least 11 states.

Prosecutors say the group also took out phony auto loans and created fake documents and websites to secure them.

fraud. Sentencing is set for July 8. Apollo is facing up to 30 years in prison.

Nida’s alleged co-conspirator Gayla St. Julien – who called herself his “right hand [b-word expletive]” –received a five year sentence.

Lamar refusing to sign Khloe’s divorce papers

According to the US Attorneys’ office, Feds pounced on Nida last year after he and a group of co-conspirators cashed tons of stolen U.S. Treasury checks, and checks from the Delta Airlines

They then allegedly laundered the money through bank accounts in the names of people whose IDs he also

Feds claim Nida bilked even more cash by filing fake tax returns and obtaining bank loans against cars he didn’t own. He pled guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to commit mail, wire, and bank

Nearly five months after Khloé Kardashian filed for divorce from Lamar Odom, she’s still a married woman. RadarOnline.com says she’s telling friends that it’s entirely his fault — because he hasn’t filed a response in their divorce!

“It has been ages since Khloé has been going to clubs and just having fun,” the source told Radar. “While Khloé is very happy with French, she isn’t fully able to enjoy it because Lamar still hasn’t submitted a response in their divorce proceedings.”

The split should have been simple, since the couple has a pre-nup. But ever since Kardashian filed, “Lamar hasn’t been returning phone calls and text messages from Khloé regarding the divorce,” the source said. “He is disappearing for days at a time again, and hanging out with ‘shady’ people.”

But that doesn’t mean he’s cut off contact entirely.

Odom had reportedly been “blowing up her phone” lately with “desperate calls” in hopes of

a reconciliation, and Kardashian is not pleased. Now that she’s been spotted out with rapper Montana on the heels of her public partying with The Game, the source claims Odom is getting jealous.

T.I. takes marriage woes to ‘The Worst’ remix

T.I. uses his feature on an R&B hit to confirm the highly publicized rumors regarding the recent road bumps in his marriage to Tameka “Tiny” Harris. On the remix for Jhené Aiko’s “The Worst,”

T.I. raps, “Well maybe I’ma just go spend $4 mill on crib/All the kids wanna know where they little brother’s at/[expletive] I ain’t even told my mother yet/Yeah, I know I was clowning/I know you wasn’t just going to take that laying down/ and I’ll be the first to say it/I was dead wrong/ But if it isn’t worth shooting me in the head don’t take to social media to try me/Putting folk all in our B/ all on IG/Nah, I don’t believe it/ I don’t wanna see it/Maybe I wake up tomorrow it’ll be deleted/You out the country in bikinis on beaches/While I’m in the studio doing features

Better apart, says Greendale mayor

‘We’re not merging, but we’re doing wonderful things together’

By Jason Rosenbaum

Of St. Louis Public Radio

Greendale is home to about 700 people in north St. Louis County. The primarily residential community features stately brick houses along seven wellmaintained streets. It contracts with nearby Normandy for police service. Its big-ticket expenditures include cleaning streets and trimming trees.

It is one of the tiny St. Louis County municipalities that have been subjects of conversation – and contention –regarding regional governance. With 90 municipalities, St. Louis County has the most incorporated cities, towns and villages in the state.

Some see this as a positive, giving residents more access and clout to change things in their communities. But others recommend consolidation, contending that the current state of affairs is inefficient and fragmented.

Better Together, an organization studying the possibility of ending the “Great Divorce” between St. Louis County and St. Louis, recently observed that some St. Louis County municipalities haven’t issued bonds to undertake critical public works projects.

“Fragmentation really is a problem in terms of governance,” said Jim Buford, the former head of St. Louis’ Urban League and a board member of Better Together.

But efforts to merge municipalities have failed dramatically in the past. And similar efforts are likely to run into opposition today – including from officials like Greendale Mayor Monica Huddleston.

“Why should we change just because someone outside of here thinks that there are too many municipalities? What’s the benefit to our quality of life to merge with some larger entity?” Huddleston said.

During a St. Louis University symposium on the city-county merger, Buford detailed a Better Together report

Watch the Supreme Court

Public expression of racial animus can distract from the far more serious legal reverses equal rights has suffered.

First we had the rancher and conservative folk hero Cliven Bundy embarrassing himself and his right-wing allies with his foolishness about “the Negro,” suggesting that African Americans might have been “better off as slaves.”

Then we had the tape of the loathsome and unprintable rant of L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling telling his girlfriend, “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people.”

Affirmative action, ironically, was the mildest reform measure. It was proposed instead of reparations and instead of quotas. Where African Americans had been locked out of colleges, factory floors or executive suites, where the informal networks of association and advantage excluded them, affirmative steps had to be taken with real effect to open doors.

showing that 49 cities in St. Louis County had no debt. While he says that might seem like a good thing, Buford says smaller cities aren’t issuing bonds to provide critical public services like police protection or street repair.

Emphasizing that that people within the towns would make the decision themselves, Buford said, “If these municipalities were to come together, they could create the size, the ability to create the debt, the ability to service their people better, better governance, better security, the whole bit.”

Huddleston said that Greendale hadn’t issued any bonds until after she became mayor in 2003. The city eventually passed a capital improvement tax to pay off the debt, but she emphasized that bonding is “not a concept that is comfortable with everyone or wellknown enough by some of the smaller municipalities.”

“Unfortunately in the St. Louis area, with our history here, it is racial to a great extent and it is class to a certain extent. There’s always been this battle of

perceptions with regard to ‘if it’s black and if it’s north, it’s got to be worse.’

And it’s not just not true,” Huddleston said.

“You can drive around any of our municipalities. You can hang out in any of our municipalities and see that it’s not true. The problems are just not magnified like that. They’re magnified in the eyes of those who have preconceived notions with regard to race and with regard to class in a lot of cases.”

Since Beyond Housing formed 24:1 to tackle problems within the Normandy School District, cooperation has increased among the 24 municipalities that make up that school district.

“We support each other. We share services. We contract with each other for services. We bid on contracts together so we can save money for our taxpayers,” said Huddleston. “We’re not merging. But we’re doing wonderful things together.”

Reprinted with permission from news. stlpublicradio.org.

The views of these two clowns are generating a flood of press, TV commentary, satire, late night humor and more. It is important that these statements be challenged. But what Sterling or Bundy say or believe doesn’t much matter in the scheme of things.

We have to keep our eyes on what is happening to the law.

The gang of five conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court has disemboweled the Voting Rights Act, making prior review more difficult. This comes as right-wing governors and legislators are passing harsh laws designed clearly to make voting harder .

The Supreme Court majority is continuing to roll back affirmative action, most recently endorsing a state ban on affirmative action in Michigan. The inevitable result is that African-Americans will have less access to higher education and a harder time getting through previously locked doors.

In Washington and state legislatures, the assault on the safety net and on opportunity continues. Twentyfour states have refused to expand Medicaid even though the federal government will pay all the costs in the first years. People of color are disproportionately the victims.

Republicans just passed a budget out of the House that targets more than twothirds of its drastic cuts from programs for poor and lowwage workers. And if they have their way, in 10 years, 40 million people would be deprived of health insurance – from repealing Obamacare, privatizing Medicare and gutting Medicaid.

Policing the remarks of the likes of Bundy and Sterling is necessary. We don’t want openly racist views to be acceptable in this society. But we should not focus only on two nutty postmen and lose sight of what’s going on at the post office. Bundy and Sterling embarrass themselves. The Supreme Court and Congress are making changes in the law that will deprive millions of opportunity and equal justice.

Columnist Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.

Greendale Mayor Monica Huddleston and Greendale Alderman Alex Herman were sharply critical of Better Together’s report. “Our residents want the same quality of life and quality of service delivery that they have today. And if anything threatens that, then we don’t want it,” Huddleston said. Photo: Jason Rosenbaum/St. Louis Public Radio

Editorial /CommEntary

Bargaining for Normandy Schools

The proverbial camel of school reform already has its nose poked under the tent of public education in Missouri. The school transfer law passed by the Missouri Legislature in 1993, and upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court in 2013, has left the Normandy School District on the brink of bankruptcy, which threatens to start a domino cascade of lapsing school districts. To save Normandy Schools – and, many fear, ultimately, the state’s public education system – the legislature must revise the 1993 school transfer law. Now.

Missouri Commissioner of Education Chris Nicastro, among others, has been pushing for a reduction in tuition that unaccredited districts such as Normandy are mandated to pay to accredited districts that accept their students as transfers. If a “tuition fix,” as it has been called, is not passed this session, then at the end of June the Normandy district will lapse. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) would be faced with more than 4,500 students – many of them under-performing – with no school district. DESE officials have looked at the data that result when these students are sent to neighboring school districts, which are already struggling, and it looks bleak. This, in fact, is the fate that befell Normandy when the Wellston Public School District lapsed and its students were sent to Normandy Schools. If Normandy now fails and its students are sent to, say, St. Louis Public Schools, “at some point you reach the end of

that game,” Nicastro told The American For this reason, elected officials who represent Normandy – particularly, state Sen. Maria ChappelleNadal and state Rep. Clem Smith – are bargaining with the Republican leadership in the legislature to pass a tuition fix. The looming crisis in Normandy is what put the nose of school reform under the tent, and forced Chappelle-Nadal – a University City school board member and longtime critic of school reformers like Rex Sinquefield – to the bargaining table. ChappelleNadal has been widely quoted as saying there will be no education bill passed this session without a concession to school reformers. This is not her personal mandate, but rather her assessment of the political reality. Nicastro and Smith, among others, share her assessment. Chappelle-Nadal was taken to task in a PostDispatch editorial, where she claims she was quoted out of context. Further, she said, a pious defense of the absolute virtue of public education, such as the Post offered, is beside the point in the political reality of the Missouri Legislature where she must pass a bill. Now.

Senate Bill 493 offers a “tuition fix” by capping transfer tuition reimbursement at 70 percent. It also allows students who live in unaccredited school districts to transfer to an accredited non-sectarian private school in the same district, with tuition for the students paid out of the district’s locally generated funds. While this

provision does not amount to a “tuition voucher” per se, without question it would move the camel’s nose deeper into the tent and would be celebrated as a significant victory by school reformers.

Gov. Jay Nixon has said he would veto an education bill that allows for tax relief for families that send their students to private schools. ChappelleNadal is already gearing up for that veto override – and talking tough. She remembers Nixon’s filing to end desegregation in St. Louis, for which Nixon was punished politically. “If we pass a bill that saves Normandy Schools and the governor vetoes it,” Chappelle-Nadal said, “that will be the second time he turned his back on black children.”

In chastising ChappelleNadal, the Post struck a high-minded note that ignores political reality. The Post said the local private option in SB 493 “has nothing to do with helping fix the transfer situation” and should be considered separately. That is true logically, but beside the point politically. In reality, school reformers within the Republican Party have seized an advantage created by the Normandy crisis to combine the two provisions. We might wish for a more fair-minded politics, but wishing will not save the Normandy School District. Only bargaining with Republicans can do that. And while Chappelle-Nadal’s strategy does allow more of the camel’s nose into the tent, it may be the only way to save the school district in its present form.

As I See It - A Forum for Community Issues

Expelled students need alternative education

By Amanda Schneider Guest Columnist

For students who have been expelled from school, an alternative education is critical to getting them back on track and moving forward to a brighter future. Statistically, expelled or suspended students often end up on the wrong track, derailed and facing a bleak future filled with uncertainty, false starts, frustration and possibly a life of crime or drugs.

A case in point: a 13-yearold student was expelled by the Hazelwood School District.

At home for six months with no educational options and an unemployed mother who could not afford a private alternative education for him, the seventh grader was in serious jeopardy until Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (LSEM) and its Children’s Legal Alliance program stepped in.

Alleging that the Hazelwood School District’s refusal to provide an alternative education violated the student’s right to a free public education (as guaranteed by the Missouri Constitution and citing the district’s statutory obligation under 167.164 RSMo), LSEM filed a lawsuit against Hazelwood.

LSEM further alleged that the refusal to provide an alternative education violated the student’s right to equal protection under the Missouri Constitution. Currently, the state provides an alternative education to children who become involved in the juvenile court system and to children who are certified as adults and incarcerated in Missouri prisons. Yet the student, who had

not been charged with any crime, was not receiving any alternative education. Named as co-defendants in the lawsuit were the State of Missouri, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Missouri State Board of Education. The lawsuit was subsequently settled. In addition to changing it policy, the district agreed to pay for the student to attend an off-campus alternative education program called ACE. At ACE, the teenager is flourishing academically while his mother, who was previously unemployed partly because of her son’s expulsion, is back to work. While the case was

n If left alone or not adequately supervised, the child could become susceptible to gang or other delinquent or criminal activity.

successful, it remains to be seen whether the settlement will put the spotlight back on a recurring problem: the failure of Missouri school districts to provide expelled students or those under long-term suspensions any alternative education.

Contending they have no legal obligations to provide alternative options, many school district leaders and officials refuse it even though districts would receive the same amount of funds from the state as it does for a traditional classroom education. This denial of education is unfortunate.

Underlying research clearly demonstrates that offering alternative education to suspended or expelled pupils

benefits them and society as a whole. Without an alternative, bad outcomes can occur.

Without day care or other arrangement options, the parent is often forced to quit his or her job to stay at home with the child. If left alone or not adequately supervised, the child could become susceptible to gang or other delinquent or criminal activity. And the child will not graduate from high school, all but eliminating postsecondary opportunities.

The positives of providing alternative education include a chance to return to high school and graduate while reducing delinquency and school failure. It’s also more cost-effective to society to educate these teens or children rather than kicking them to the curb, where welfare and prison costs are steep and crime and drugs reside.

Recently, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education published guidance in response to reports that children of color and children with disabilities are disproportionately suspended or expelled from school. That guidance concluded that children be removed from school only as a last resort, and if removed, they should be given an alternative education and returned to the regular education classroom as soon as possible.

It’s too early to tell whether other school districts will take note of LSEM’s lawsuit and, like Hazelwood, change its policy of refusing alternative education to all expelled students.

Now is the time for all Missouri education leaders and stakeholders to reconsider this outdated and ineffective approach that ultimately harms students and society long after the final bell has rung.

Amanda Schneider is a staff attorney at LSEM’s Children’s Legal Alliance.

Commentery

No humane way to kill

No one who supports the death penalty should have the slightest problem with the way Clayton Lockett died.

Lockett, a convicted murderer, spent 43 minutes in apparent agony Tuesday night as the state of Oklahoma tried to execute him by injecting an untested cocktail of drugs. Instead of quickly losing consciousness, he writhed in obvious distress and attempted to speak. Witnesses described what they saw as horrific.

Prison authorities halted the procedure – they were going to revive Lockett so they could kill him at a later date, presumably in a more aesthetically pleasing manner – but the condemned man suffered a heart attack and died.

The state postponed a second execution that had been scheduled for the same night, but I wonder why. We fool ourselves if we think there is a “humane” way to way to kill someone. Sure, the second inmate, Charles Warner, probably would have suffered an equally agonizing death. But isn’t this the whole point?

Lockett brutalized and murdered an 19-year-old woman who had graduated from high school just two weeks earlier, shooting her and then burying her alive. Lockett and his accomplices also beat

and robbed a 23-year-old man and raped an 18-year-old woman. The crimes took place in 1999; Lockett has been awaiting execution since 2000.

Warner, the other man who was to die in the Oklahoma execution chamber Tuesday, was convicted in 1999 of raping and murdering an 11-month-old child who was the daughter of Warner’s livein girlfriend. The baby suffered unspeakable abuse.

The question is not whether Lockett and Warner deserve to die; clearly they do, as far as I’m concerned. The question is whether our society, acting through the instrument of government, should kill them. I believe there is no way to impose capital punishment without betraying the moral standards that our justice system is theoretically designed to uphold. Put simply, when we murder we become murderers.

Perhaps the most powerful argument against the death penalty is that it is irreversible.

Sometimes, judges and juries make honest mistakes and innocent persons may be condemned to death. Some studies have shown an apparent racial bias in the way capital punishment is meted out, with blacks who kill whites more likely than other defendants to end up on death row.

Put all this aside for the moment and assume that both Lockett and Warner actually committed those heinous crimes and that each was convicted in a scrupulously fair trial. The judgment of the state

Letters to the editor

Why the death penalty?

Why is Governor Nixon in such a hurry to continue the death penalty? In Missouri, the Department of Corrections is buying a questionable execution drug from an unregulated pharmacy with much secrecy against its law already put in practice for businesses.

The legislature has introduced a flurry of bills for a one-year moratorium on the death penalty, studies of lethal injections protocols, establishing execution protocols and a comparative study of the cost of the death penalty.

Reforms to criminal procedures in the state will require time and study. Reforms will decrease false convictions and all the inhumanities of the death penalty. Hopefully, Missouri will join the six states who have repealed the death penalty.

Ava Jordan, St. Louis

Coddling Nicastro

Your softball interview with Chris Nicastro was a disappointment. It is obvious she would like to avoid discussion of what is needed to improve public education, to remand argument to a simple either/or scenario with no alternatives. There are more possibilities than school reformers who want to destroy public education versus status quo-ers happy with the way things are. There is what has never been tried in Missouri: democratic models of school reform that engage the entire school community, empowering parents, teachers and students as well as stakeholders.

Nicastro pretends she is trying to bridge a gap between reformers and people who she claims don’t want change, when she appears to be clearly biased in favor of what so-called reformers define as school choice. This relegates parents who choose to send their children to their neighborhood school no choice at all, because neighborhood schools are being financially undermined by the funding they lose when a minority of their students choose not to attend them.

For The American to allow her to get away with that tearjerker line about telling parents their children don’t

of Oklahoma is that both men must die. How, then, are they to be killed?

The general idea of lethal injection is to give the condemned a powerful sedative followed by one or more lethal agents. But the sole manufacturer of one of the commonly used drugs stopped making it in 2011. Drug makers in Europe, where the death penalty is considered barbaric, refuse to export drugs to the United States for use in executions. As a result, there have been shortages. Oklahoma was using a new, unproven cocktail to kill Lockett.

Reportedly, Lockett’s vein “blew” shortly after the execution began, meaning that he was not getting the full doses. But his was hardly the first lethal injection execution in which the condemned showed visible signs of great pain.

I would argue that there’s no reason to believe lethal injection is a more humane way to end a life than electrocution, poison gas, hanging, firing squad or even guillotine. Of course, we’ll never know. We can tell ourselves any story we want about how quickly and painlessly death arrived, and the one person who could prove us wrong will never speak again.

But why even pretend? Clayton Lockett was a bad man. Those who believe it was right to kill him have no reason to be ashamed of the way he died – and no right to look away.

deserve a good school simply repeats the lie that a brand new untried charter school is better than district schools. The closed Thurgood Marshall, Paideia, Can Academy, Ethel Hegeman Lyle, Shearwater, Jamaa and six Imagine schools ought to be enough of a reminder that the promise of charter schools is not automatically fulfilled.

She was not asked whether she supports Governor Nixon’s call for fully funding the foundation formula. If she would be as loud an advocate for adequate funding as she is for choice, it might help her credibility. She appears to prefer to coddle those who would weaken public education than advocate for adequate funding to ensure good schools for all of our children.

Susan Turk, St. Louis

Alive and kicking

In light of news like the rants of Donald Sterling and Cliven Bundy, my heart bleeds. I’m saddened because racism is so very alive and kicking. I’m sorrowful because so many black people live willing to believe that racism is a thing of the past. I’m frightened for my grandson. I’m hopeful that things and times will be better.

I’m sorrowful for the state of this country and its disproportion of wealth, a country whose bountiful earth is colored by the blood of my ancestors. I’m sorrowful for the state of this country, my country, where I still am not enough to be seen as equal. My skin color will never change. Will America change?

Deborah Allen, Via email

Commendable Koster

Attorney General Chris Koster sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 requesting offsite testing for the nuclear weapons related radioactive material at the West Lake Landfill. The recent realization that haul routes between Latty Avenue in Hazelwood and the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton have never been tested further increases the need for offsite testing.

We commend Koster’s leadership by calling on EPA

Region 7 to conduct offsite testing near the radioactive West Lake Landfill. People around the landfill have been asking EPA Region 7 to do this for a long time and hopefully Koster’s letter will help make it happen.

Ed Smith, Safe Energy Director, Missouri Coalition for the Environment

Columnist

Eugene Robinson

Columnist

Amanda Schneider

New playground for Garrett Elementary

After two years of fundraisers and planning, students, parents and staff at Garrett Elementary School officially opened their new playground. Amanda Davison, a fifth grade teacher at the school, first proposed the idea of building a new playground after seeing the equipment at Walker Elementary, another school in the Hazelwood School District. The Parent Teacher Association raised funds for the project.

Sorority scholarship

luncheon on June 7

The Madison County graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. will hold its popular Hattitude Scholarship Luncheon on Saturday, June 7 at Louis & Clark Community College in Godfrey, IL. The annual event, in its fourth year, will honor area high school students with college scholarships for their high scholastic achievement.

The organization’s president, Mary Nicholson, will speak about the importance of education and encouraging and supporting our youth. SLU professor Stefan Bradley will deliver the day’s address. Channel 4 news reporter Brittany Noble will serve as mistress of ceremonies.

Free hospice volunteer training

VITAS Innovative Hospice Care of St. Louis, Missouri is hosting three opportunities to be trained as a hospice volunteer. The free orientation classes will take place on May 16 from 1 to 5 p.m., May 17 from 8 a.m. to noon and May 23 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the VITAS Office, 1801 Park 270 Drive, Suite 150, St. Louis, Missouri, 63146. Training materials and meals are provided for free.

VITAS needs volunteers to serve in the following areas: spiritual care volunteers to comfort patients at the end of life, Memory Bear volunteers to sew stuffed teddy bears, relief care volunteers to allow caregivers to run errands, Paw Pal volunteers – well-behaved pets and their owners – to visit patients and provide unconditional love, musical and visual artist volunteers to play a musical instrument, sing, or help a patient paint a picture; vigil volunteers to provide support during the active end-of-life phase.

Pre-registration is required. To reserve your space, call VITAS Volunteer Services Manager Angela O’Hara at 314-682-3434 or email Angela.Ohara@vitas.com. For additional information about VITAS, visit www.VITAS.com.

North City Farmers’ Market opens June 7

The North City Farmers’ Market will kick off its 8th season on Saturday, June 7 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Offerings will include fresh produce, local crafters and baked goods. The market is located at the intersection of St. Louis Avenue and N. 14th Street (across from Crown Candy Kitchen). The market accepts payments by EBT, cash, debit and credit cards. The market will be open every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 7 through October 18.

Make the most of summer

By Lydia Douglas For The St. Louis American

Congratulations, students, you have almost made it through this school year.

When school is out for the summer, take time to focus on your next move, either your next grade level or your first year in college. Look as far in the future as you can.

Remember, this is your life. The decisions and choices you make will affect you and your future. Your choices do have consequences. And they will affect you first, so take this time to put your life on your priority list and work it.

Make the summer a great time for you. Do something good for others. Or get a job and that will keep your mind on good things.

If you have some ideas, put them into action. Otherwise it will be just an idea.

Always reach for higher heights.

Whatever your goals and dreams are, they are waiting for you, but you have to put some action behind it.

Always remember that education is the key that will open any door in any direction that you want and choose to go in.

Remember, your thoughts, dreams and goals are yours and it is very important to fine the path for you.

Since education is your key, watch your manner of speech, dwell on the positive not the negative. Once this change takes place, your days will be more peaceful and confirming. Your attitude determines your altitude.

With the above being said, keep the school year in focus. Hold yourself responsible and to a higher standard than anyone expects of you, even yourself.

Morals, values, and attitude are the fundamental ingredients to success.

One’s mind, once strengthened by new ideas, new visions and aspirations, never regains its original dimensions. Once you act on one idea, you will be compelled to go on to the next.

Always be curious, because knowledge does not or will not seek you, you must put forth the effort for yourself. And before you know it you will be doing the impossible.

Look back on your accomplishments and see what you have accomplished (the positive, not the negative) up to this point. Tell yourself, “I am powerful beyond all measures.”

The balance of this year will be even greater than before. From this point on release your fears, re-kindle your purpose and embrace the challenges in your life.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with a great deal of excellence.”

So do not allow the summer time or free time to be in vain. Use it to your best ability.

The sacrifices you are making or about to make are immeasurable when you measure them up against lifetime. Once you get your education, it will be yours for a lifetime.

Lydia Douglas

Continued from A1

great idea,” Robinson said.

“This will help younger children in St. Louis Public Schools. If we supply desks and bookshelves, it will increase their reading skills.”

Robinson clearly is an attentive student, as this was exactly what Kalish had explained to his class.

n When alerted of the source of lumber, Adastra and his students built a mock-up of a desk with bookshelves, starting with pews. The pews were delivered on Friday.

“I read an article that said that families that have bookcases have children who do better in school,” Kalish said. “We know from teacher home visits that many of our families don’t have bookcases, and some don’t have tables for the kids to do their homework on.”

Several of the youth unloading the pews on Friday said they did not have bookshelves at home.

Kalish, a “social entrepreneur” and founder of the Estelle W. and Karen S. Kalish Foundation, secured the cooperation of SLPS Superintendent Kelvin Adams, Roosevelt Principal Crystal Gale and Adastra, who said he “jumped at the opportunity.”

Lois Caplan, who writes a column in the Jewish Light, received an email from Kalish

SOLDIERS

Continued from A1

seeking donations of lumber. Her piece in the paper was noticed by Rabbi Amy Feder at Temple Israel, who came forward with the donation of the pews. When alerted of the source of lumber, Adastra and his students built a mock-up of a desk with bookshelves, starting with pews. The pews were delivered on Friday, and students helped to professional movers store them in an unused classroom for next semester.

Adastra’s students are looking forward to helping younger students with materials that will benefit their studies.

“We’re trying to help the community,” said Chris Foggy, 17, a senior at the school.

The students also are going to learn the craft of making furniture, if they stick with Adastra’s program. Next semester his 10th grade introduction to construction course will roughcut the pews, he said, and his 11th grade construction trades students will assemble the product. His seniors will bid and budget the job.

Robinson, who sees construction as a possible career path, is anticipating the work experience.

“My daddy often asks me what I am going to do with myself,” Robinson said, “and I tell him this is why I am taking this class.”

Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt and U.S. Reps. Wm. Lacy Clay and Ann Wagner. Cato said Wagner, whose congressional 2nd District includes Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, has been supportive of their efforts. Wagner spoke at the society’s inaugural memorial ceremony for the regiment held last August at Jefferson Barracks. Society members also

County NAACP kicks off Freedom Fund dinner

information: www.stlcountynaacp.org or 314-389-1552.

reached out to Brion Moore with the National Cemetery Administration at the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. Moore said the VA is required by law to appropriately mark each grave in a national cemetery. Society members ran into

issues when they attempted to add the names of 55 soldiers whose remains were deemed unrecoverable to the plaque. Cato said the remains were likely buried along the banks of the Mississippi River. Moore said the law currently stipulates that only next of kin

can request a memorial when remains are unrecoverable. He said the National Cemetery Administration is currently working on revising currently “restrictive” regulations and revisions would be published in the federal register. Society members were given until May 31 to locate a descendant of at least one of the 55 soldiers. They found George Abington. Abington was conducting his own genealogical search when he sought help from the St. Charles County Historical Society. When the St. Louis African American History and Genealogy Society hosted a general meeting, Cato was approached by a member from the St. Charles County Historical Society.

“She pulled me to the side and said, ‘I have a descendant that I’ve been in contact with,” Cato said of Abington. “We found him and talked with him.”

Abington is the greatgreat-great nephew of Private Granville Avington, who is

believed to have been 18 or 19 years old when he died of cholera aboard the Steamer Continental. Cato said the society recently submitted paperwork with Abington as a descendant to the VA. She hopes the new plaque will be installed before this year’s memorial ceremony in August. Abington attended last year’s memorial ceremony and was presented with a triangularfolded flag (traditional at military funerals) in honor of his ancestor. Society members will meet at Jefferson Barracks on Memorial Day at noon where the soldier’s names will again be read.

“Y’all didn’t know their names,” Cato said. “We’re going to read their names every time so they’re not forgotten.” The St. Louis African American History and Genealogy Society meets on every third Saturday of each month at the Missouri History Museum.

Follow this reporter on Twitter: @BridjesONeil.

Ameren Corporation recently hosted the St. Louis County NAACP’s Freedom Fund Leadership Dinner Kick-Off

Reception and Rally. This year’s recipient of the Margaret Bush Wilson Lifetime Achievement Award is NAACP board chair Roslyn M. Brock. The 2014 Game Changer honoree is Warner Baxter, president and CEO of Ameren. This year’s Advocacy Award for Health & Public Safety will be presented to Heat Up St. Louis Inc. and Cool Down St. Louis. The St. Louis American also will be presented with a Game Changer Award. First row: Melanie

DiLeo, board chair, Heat Up St. Louis, and Esther Haywood, president St. Louis County NAACP. Second row:

Lance LeComb, board president, Cool Down St. Louis; Donald M. Suggs, publisher of The American; John Gaskin III, Freedom Fund chair and NAACP national board member; and Warner Baxter, president & CEO of Ameren. The Freedom Fund Dinner will be held Tuesday, June 3 at the Clayton Ritz-Carlton Hotel. More

Photo courtesy of Ameren

This time it was a white guy

African-American elected officials and other political professionals know that the line is always shorter for them at the Republican tent. The Republican Party has not had much to offer blacks in recent decades, so very few blacks have voted for its candidates, and that is why each and every black defector is so valuable to the GOP – and why the party is seen as being willing to pay, in one form or another, for black support.

This dynamic has given the EYE plenty of opportunities over the years to hurl invective at black sell-outs, frequently in Jefferson City, who take the short line to the Republican tent end up with a nicer office in the Capitol and (it is presumed) a little something-something after they leave office – which won’t be long, in these revolvingdoor days of term limits in the legislature.

This time, however, it was a white guy.

State Rep. Keith English (68th District – Democrat), a former councilman from Florissant, was the lone Democrat in the House who crossed party lines on Tuesday to vote with the Republicans in overriding Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of Senate Bill 509, the Republican’s latest tax-cut scheme.

Republicans needed 109 votes in the House to override Nixon’s veto and save their toppriority legislation, but have only – only! – 108 Republican members of the House. English made all the difference. (The Senate voted along party lines, 23-8, to override the governor’s veto on Monday.) It was the most telling defeat of Nixon’s

second term.

While the Republicans (and their new ally English) were blowing party favors, Nixon was foretelling worse days ahead for public education (and other public services) in Missouri, given that SB 509 is projected to cut the state’s revenue by about $620 million a year when fully implemented.

“Senate Bill 509 fails to prioritize or adequately protect public education at a time when quality public schools are more important than ever to our ability to create jobs in the global economy,” Nixon said.

Nixon previously said that any tax cut bill he would sign must fully fund the state’s K-12 foundation formula and overhaul state tax credits (a perennial Nixon target), but a version of the bill that would have satisfied Nixon did not move in the Republicancontrolled legislature. Also, tax credits tend to be a bloody battlefield where electoral allegiances fall apart.

Senate Bill 509 would phase in a reduction in the individual tax rate to 5.5 percent from the current 6 percent, while phasing in a 25-percent deduction on business income reported by individuals. The cuts would begin in the 2017 budget year – if (this is the bill’s much-discussed “trigger”) the state sees income growth of at least $150 million a year.

As the Missouri Budget Project points out, for an economy the size of Missouri’s to expand $150 million per year does not amount to significant economic growth.

Nixon and others also predict Missouri is headed for a downgrade in its credit

rating, as this week Moody’s downgraded the State of Kansas, which passed similar tax cuts, citing the sharp loss in revenue as one reason why the state was less credit-worthy.

SB 509 has that “trigger” that requires at least $150 million in revenue growth for these tax cuts to take effect, however, which Missouri Republican claim will shield the state from the fall Kansas took while making Missouri businesses more competitive against neighboring states, like Kansas, that have cut taxes (and then cut services as a result).

Nixon’s sense of doom stems, in part, from a provision in the bill that he claims will eliminate state income taxes on income over $9,000 a year, which would cut the state’s general revenue by 65 percent. Republicans deny that this provision would force such a dramatic cut.

If Nixon is right and the Republicans are wrong, we can blame one person – Keith English – when Moody’s puts up a new, lesser credit rating for Missouri, or the state goes bankrupt altogether.

English would get one asterisk with his goat head. Last month another Democrat, state Rep. Jeff Roorda, voted

State Rep. Keith English (68th District – Democrat), a former councilman from Florissant, was the lone Democrat in the House who crossed party lines on Tuesday to vote with the Republicans in overriding Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of Senate Bill 509, the Republican’s latest tax-cut scheme.

women from Spanish Lake and Lewis & Clark Townships, according to Reed. A weighted voting system was used, giving Spanish Lake Committee persons 138 votes and Lewis & Clark committee persons 38 votes. Green received a total of 274 weighted votes, the party said.

This puts Green in the very weird position of having to win the same seat twice on the same day, albeit for different terms.

for SB 509 in the House. On Tuesday, Roorda downgraded his support to “present.” St. Louis Public Radio notes that Roorda – best known in St. Louis for his grandstanding on behalf of the St. Louis Police Officers Association –is running for a state Senate seat in Jefferson County and probably doesn’t want a target on his skull from fellow Democrats right now.

Green must win same seat twice

Longtime Democratic operative Alan Green has been selected by the Missouri Democratic Party’s nominating committee to serve as its candidate to fill a vacancy in the 67th District in the Missouri House of Representatives. Former state Representative Steve Webb (D – 67th District) resigned the seat in December 2013 after being accused of stealing $3,000 in campaign funds.

A spokesperson for the Missouri Democratic Party said the nomination meeting was held on April 23 and chaired by Gwen Reed. The committee was comprised of elected committeemen and

In a special election to be held August 5, Green will face Republican Dwayne A. Strickland and Libertarian Jeff Coleman to succeed Webb for the rest of his term, which expires January 2015.

Also on August 5, Green will face Sylvester Taylor II, Larry Davis Jr. and Tony Weaver for the Democratic nomination to serve the 67th District in the next term.

The Democrat who wins the primary will face Strickland and Coleman in the November general election.

In other words, if Green wins the special election on August 5 against Strickland and Coleman – which is almost certain in the overwhelmingly Democratic North County district – he will serve until January. However, if he loses the primary on August 5, then the Democratic nominee will serve the next term, if he beats Strickland and Coleman in November, which is almost certain.

Green, a North County resident of 32 years, has served as special assistant to the director of the Missouri Department of Social Services, director of Missouri’s Office of Equal Opportunity, staff member for two St. Louis County county executives and director of Lutheran Family and Children Services.

Webb pleaded guilty March 20 and was sentenced to five years’ probation, in addition to a 45-day jail sentence that ends May 15, followed by 45 more days of home detention.

Party for Mavis

Kim Banks, Jerryl Christmas, Derrick Dunn, Kay Gage, Steve Harmon, Shevon Harris, Leta Land, Chalana Oliver, Inez Ross, Charles Smith, Naeem Whitaker and Hope Whitehead are hosting a Happy Hour Fundraiser for License Collector Mavis Thompson 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, 2014 at El Paisano Restaurant, 5916 Delmar Blvd. Thompson is the Democratic incumbent appointed by Gov. Nixon after Michael McMillan stepped down to accept to lead the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. She has been challenged by fellow black Democrat Jeffrey Boyd, the 22nd Ward alderman. Boyd’s early declared supporters are the ungainly trifecta of Mayor Francis G. Slay, Sheriff James Murphy and the St. Louis Police Officers Association.

Slay’s early support of Boyd’s challenge to a black incumbent has many in the city’s black political community gunning for this race as a proxy fight against Slay. If you can’t beat Slay – and certainly no black challenger has come close at the polls – then there may be some satisfaction in pushing back Slay’s reach for more political power via black proxy. That is the thinking in trying to motivate people to care who gets to be the next license collector.

Deltas donate books

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.-St. Louis Alumnae Chapter recently donated more than 400 books to Jana Elementary School in the Hazelwood School District as part of the sorority’s Dive into Books with Delta service project. Through its donation, the sorority hopes to encourage students to develop a love of reading. Shown here with the sorority members are Jana students and school principal Sheilah Fitzgerald (center).

Obituaries

Constance “Connie”

Orr Harding

Constance “Connie” Orr

Harding (nee Brown) went home to rest on April 24, 2014. She was the most loving, giving, caring, kind, sincere and compassionate mother to me for my entire life. I was extremely blessed to have spent the majority of the last four years of her life with her, day and night. She was the strongest woman I have ever known. Mom, you will always be in my heart; never will a day go by that I won’t think of you. She touched everyone who knew her.

Connie is survived by her loving, devoted and dependable son, James Robert Orr and extended family: Daisy Lomax, Henrietta Parram, cousin Joyce Rogers and a huge number of very close friends and associates. A private service is

being held in her memory. Mom, may you rest in peace until we meet again. I will always cherish the wonderful times and memories shared. Love eternal, Jimmy

Paul Morris Brown Jr.

Paul Morris Brown Jr., also known as June to family and P.M. to friends, was truly a Drum Major for Recovery. For nearly 22 years he committed his life to helping many men and women, young and old, in learning to live a new life, clean and sober from the use of drugs and alcohol. Although Paul was known to engage in long conversations with friends, discussing theories about recovery, of greater importance, Paul took action helping others. Yes, Paul shared vital information about letting God be the head of one’s life, but of greater weight, he practiced what he preached. Under the direct motivation of God’s Spirit, Paul freely gave time, energy, rides, food, snacks, spiritual literature, recovery coins and money with

a seemingly endless passion. People who really knew Paul, knew he was a channel for money. He was either getting it or giving it away. He poured his life into uplifting what he called “despairing spirits.”

Paul would let many people know that they were on his prayer list. His words “I’ve been praying for you,” still echo in many hearts today and he would tell his friends (at the Baden Facility), who was “first out” on the list. He was a gift from God and truly a gift that gave all the way to the end. As the saying goes, “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime,” Paul gave and he gave... and he gave and he gave. And in doing so, Paul taught us to give lovingly and unconditionally to one another, which is actually God’s desire for us all. Paul was witnessed to be an intensely committed family man, introducing them to his recovery friends. He especially invited his father and son (Skipper) to many of his recovery gatherings and would take recovery friends to church where his brother Al was the Pastor or share spiritual literature he received from his sister Paulette with others. Paul would also host card parties bringing people,

from all walks of life, together. Paul worked diligently to provide experience, strength and hope to those in need of recovery while maintaining loving relations with his family. He was proud of his personal recovery and sought every day to share this hope and way with anyone he encountered. Paul, as noted by one friend was a “distinguished gentleman,” choosing many days to wear a shirt and tie. And although he was a retired Railroader, Paul seemed to be on the job for God every day. He remained on his post until the very end. He completed the race and kept the faith!

So to the entire Brown Family, we the recovery friends (especially at the Baden Facility) of P.M. Brown Jr., give thanks to God and to you all for supporting Paul’s efforts. And although a few names are listed here, please know that Paul touched and positively affected many lives with words and actions. So to the family of Mr. P.M. Brown Jr., especially his father Mr. P.M. Brown Sr., his siblings and his children we say thanks once more and as P.M. use to say, “May God Bless and Keep You!” From Friends of P.M. in celebration of his Home Going on May 31, 2013.

Constance Harding

Richard H. Franklin awarded Dean’s Medal

First African American to study architecture in day program at WUSTL

By Charles Brown

For The St. Louis American

“Coming from the neighborhood where I grew up, there was an expectation of excellence,” Richard H. Franklin told an audience of colleagues, friends and family at Palladium Saint Louis recently, when he was awarded the Dean’s Medal from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University, the school’s highest honor.

Franklin – the first African American to study architecture in the day program at Washington University – credits his blueprint for success as an architect to his upbringing in The Ville neighborhood of North St. Louis.

“Growing up around the likes of world champion tennis player Arthur Ashe, civil rights activist Dick Gregory and jazz great Clark Terry, I could not do any less than my contemporaries,” Franklin said.

Franklin earned his Bachelor of Arts with a major in architecture (1970) and Master of Architecture and Urban Design (1974) at Washington University. He said several faculty members – Joseph Passonneau, Dinos Michaelides and Leslie Laskey – influenced his approach to the profession and personal mission: to employ

design in every aspect of planning, architecture and construction and to create environments that enhance people’s lives and strengthen communities.

Shortly after leaving the university, he formed Franklin Associates, Architects/ Planners and became deeply engaged in urban design in North St. Louis. The practice produced a series of community-development plans, including the first community-based plan adopted by the City of St. Louis in 1980. He also worked on other communitybased housing and healthcare facilities. During this time Franklin set a course for other notable St. Louis architects whose early careers began with his firm: Karl Grice, Bill Watkins and James Smith. In 1985, Franklin moved to

with Chief Architect Robert Davidson on some of the Port Authority’s most significant public projects, managing the design of portals into and around New York City such as the Lincoln Tunnel Toll Plaza, the AirTrain airport rail, The Battery Park City Ferry Terminal and the Jamaica Station project.

n “Coming from the neighborhood where I grew up, there was an expectation of excellence.”

– Richard H. Franklin

New York and spent 17 years at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, serving first as a senior manager and later as assistant chief architect. He worked closely

Later, New York architect Max Bond encouraged Franklin to become an associate partner with Davis Brody Bond, where he led the design team for

the award-winning Strivers Gardens residences, as well as the restoration of the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Franklin’s crowning professional achievement was as acting senior member of the architectural team that developed Michael Arad’s design for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and managed its construction.

Currently, Franklin has re-established Franklin Associates and is also a partner in Sabir, Richardson & Weisberg Engineers, both in New York.

In his 40-year career as an architect, Franklin said, he learned three critical lessons: architecture is about teamwork, every detail of an architectural project is significant to the whole, and architects have a responsibility to improve society.

New charges against Alorton cop

Some people seem to literally get away with murder, time and again. Others are like the Schleprock character from the old Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm cartoons, where misfortune seemingly follows them around like an ominous thunder cloud of gloom and doom.

In the case of Alorton police officer, William T. Miller IV, who has been twice charged, then acquitted of murder, it’s difficult to determine which profile he most closely resembles.

To actually be a lawman himself, his personal brushes with the law are numerous, but not as extensive as the layer of Teflon which is seemingly affixed to his backside, allowing Miller to avoid any significant damage to his employability within the Alorton police department.

James Ingram

Back in 1975, Miller was charged with the murder of his girlfriend, JoAnn Hubbard, with Miller claiming self-defense. The first trial ended in a hung jury and in his retrial he was acquitted.

In 1992, another wife, Ruthie Miller, was shot in the back of the head at the Miller household in Alorton. In this case Miller was charged with first-degree murder. A St. Clair County grand jury did not indict him and that case was dismissed.

Now Officer Miller has been recently charged with allegedly choking his wife (identified as “H.M.” in court documents).

Miller was arrested and, subsequently, released after posting a $5,000 bond.

So there’s no doubt in my mind that the “T” in Miller’s middle name must definitely stand for Teflon, because nothing, seemingly, sticks to him from a legal standpoint. Or could it be that Miller, like Schleprock, is just simply unfortunate when it comes to women.

We should note that former Alorton Mayor Randy McCallum hired Miller after Miller was fired by the Centreville police department back in 2007.

Current Mayor JoAnn Reed commented, regarding Miller’s arrest, that “I believe our officers acted professionally and responsibly.” That statement was reinforced by St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly, who stated, “Frankly, in the past the Alorton police department might not have handled it this way but they should be commended for acting in a sensitive, professional manner…” Reed and the Alorton PD should be given credit for being transparent and accountable in this matter. My hope is that this will usher in a new day of credible, professional and competent leadership for that community.

We as citizens expect our law enforcement community to be above reproach when it comes to so-called issues of misconduct.

Let’s wait and see whether “Teflon Bill’s” latest charges stick this time.

Miller was also accused, in 1985, of taking $400 from a man while on duty as an Alorton police officer. And although he was charged with felony theft and official misconduct, the charges were eventually dismissed.

Richard H. Franklin with Charles Brown, a fellow undergraduate and graduate alumnus of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University.

Photo by Mary Butkus/WUSTL

n “We said we were going to win this with our defense. Clean block at the end.”

—Paul Pierce, after his game saving block on Kyle Lowry, to give the Nets a Game 7 victory over Toronto

Sports

TRaCk & FIeld noTebook

With Earl Austin Jr.

Long toss

By Palmer L. Alexander III

The moment the St. Louis Rams finished their second straight season with 7-9 record, I excitedly flipped my calendar to view the date May 8, 2014. Because that’s the first day of the 2014 NFL draft. And it’s here.

This may be the most important draft in the Jeff Fisher and Les Snead regime. Why? Because, they’ve pushed their chips into the middle of the table on Sam Bradford and haven’t wavered at all about their support of their quarterback. On a recent podcast with Rich Eisen of NFL Network, Snead said Bradford is the quarterback of the present and future for the Rams.

Road to state

Class 1 and 2 district competition begins

The road to the state championships in Jefferson City begins this weekend for Missouri small schools as district competition begins at the Class 1 and 2 levels.

Area Class 2 teams will be competing at the District 2 meet at Lutheran St. Peters in St. Charles. The top finishers at the district meet will advance to the Sectional meet on Saturday, May 17 at Principia. The Class 1 Sectional meet will also be held at Principia on May 17. Class 2 area schools include Barat, Brentwood, Cleveland Naval Jr. ROTC, Lutheran St. Charles, Maplewood, Metro, and Principia.

Earl Austin Jr.

sophomore Sophie Rivera of Brentwood. Wells is the top small-school sprinter in the state while Rivera is a top thrower.

Wells won four gold medals at last year’s state championships in the 100-, 200-meter dashes and both sprint relays. Rivera won the shot put and discus last year.

Tremendous performances

always done. None were more spectacular than the show that Cardinal Ritter’s Charles Jones put on in the 800-meter run. The senior middle distance star turned in a winning time of 1 minute 50.19 seconds to break his own meet record of 1:51.43. It is also the top mark in the nation to date as well. Jones has his sights on breaking the 1:50 mark as a senior as well as the overall state record, which was set by Springfield Parkview’s Billy Rainey in 1987.

Mike Wells of Cleveland finished first in the 200-meter dash with a winning time of 21.58 seconds.

Lutheran South girls’ standout Maya Cody

n Sam Bradford has never been given an elite downfield threat like Sammy Watkins.

There are a lot of quarterbacks available in the draft, and thanks to Snead’s making big move in 2012 the Rams are still enjoying the spoils from the RG3 trade with the Washington Redskins. In return the Rams added Isiah Pead Daryl Richardson, Chris Givens and Brian Quick to give Bradford weapons. That season the offense finished 25th in scoring (18.7 points per game) and the team had a respectable record of 7-8-1, with large contributions from Chris Givens and Daryl Richardson. In the following draft in 2013, the Rams added Stedman Bailey Tavon Austin Stedman Bailey, Zac Stacy and Bennie Cunningham. And the offense did improve some, but not fast enough to keep up with the rest of the NFC west. The offense ranked 21st in points, 27th in passing and 30th in yards. Givens’ play dropped off from his rookie season. Austin and Bailey showed promise. Stacy muscled the running back job from both Pead and Richardson.

I predict the Rams may see if there is a trade partner for the number two pick, which could

Mayweather win tougher than expected

There are plenty of names I can think of to call a NBA player with averages of 32 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. Outstanding, amazing, lethal, sick, remarkable and downright dominant are a few fitting names that immediately come to mind. “Mr. Unreliable” is not. Of course that’s what The Oklahoman dubbed Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant after he posted a few subpar games (for Durant) in the team’s first-round matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies. Keep in

Among the top athletes at the Class 2, District 2 meet are defending state champions Mike Wells of Cleveland Naval Jr. ROTC and mind, subpar for Durant (15 points, 13 rebounds in Game 4 and 26 points, 8 rebounds in Game 5) would still be considered a heck of a day for most other NBA ballers. Durant bounced back with two 30+ point games to ouster the Grizzlies and some idiot editor in OKC is probably patting himself on the back for inspiring Durant’s magnificent return to dominance. The reality is, KD has been a beast all season long and has finally been rewarded with his first NBA MVP Award. Durant made winning

The Marion Freeman Clayton Invitational featured some tremendous performances as it

Unreliable’ wins MVP

Kevin Durant locked up the MVP award and the scoring title during his 41 consecutive games streak with 25 or more points. The streak is was the third-longest in NBA history. He also dropped 40+ points on 14 different occasions.

the award look as a midrange jumper as he collected 119 first-place votes. LeBron James, who finished second, earned the remaining six first-place votes. The MVP award wasn’t the only title Durant earned this season, as he locked up his fourth scoring title in the past five years. Like the MVP race, the scoring crown was never really in doubt. Durant locked both awards up during his 41 consecutive games streak with 25 or more points. The streak is was the thirdlongest in NBA history. He also dropped 40+ points on 14 different occasions.

The fact that The

n The MVP award wasn’t the only title Durant earned this season, as he locked up his fourth scoring title in the past five years.

Oklahoman had the gall to call out its superstar in the midst of such a remarkable season shows that many journalists are more interested in salacious, link-bait style headlines than sensible reporting. It doesn’t take many senses or much sense to see that Durant had the best statistical season of his stellar career. He put the Thunder on his slight shoulders while Russell Westbrook missed nearly half the season with various injuries. This shouldn’t be Durant’s first time accepting MVP hardware, but since it is, let’s give him the kudos

See CLUTCH, A12

Ishmael H. Sistrunk

Photo by Wiley Price

During Friday’s final in the discus at the Marion Freeman Invitational at Clayton High School Cecilya Johnson from Lutheran South won with a throw of 138 ft.

Palmer L. Alexander

Claib’s Call

With Mike Claiborne

You think the NBA has race problems?

Just when you thought you may have heard it all when it comes to the Donald Sterling comments, think again, because the National Hockey League has a problem that is falling on deaf ears. P.K. Subban is a defenseman for the Montreal Canadiens. He won the Norris Trophy last season as the league’s best defenseman. He is considered one of the better players at his position in the league. He also happens to be black.

Subban is a flamboyant player who plays with a swagger that has rubbed some in the game the wrong way. Cheers go up when he is checked by an opposing player, but on most nights he is hard to hit.

Subban scored the gamewinning goal the other night in Boston to win game one of their playoff series. With that comes the normal chorus of boos form the hometowners. Par for the course.

What was out of bounds were the 17,000 racist tweets he received and were posted on the internet. That was in less than 24 hours. Yes, 17,000 tweets and messages aimed at Subban solely because of the color of his skin – and not one word from the National Hockey League. There was a statement released by the Boston Bruins trying to distance themselves from the haters. But if you look back to 2012, they issued a strikingly similar statement just after they were eliminated by an overtime goal from Joel Ward who (you guessed it) happened to be black. Again, no word from the league.

I am an avid fan of the sport, but for this issue to go unchecked is an embarrassment to the league and to those who cover it. Locally, you never heard a peep out of anyone, as once the Blues check out, hockey as we know it is dead. There is no room for this sort of racism in the sport. This is not European soccer, where they still throw bananas at black players, but if the league does not check this situation, it will not be long.

CLUTCH

Continued from A11

he deserves. Tell the folks in OKC if they keep up the namecalling, not to be surprised if the next time they decide to call Durant anything, they’ll have to dial a new area code.

Mayweather win tougher than expected

Saturday night Marcos Maidana proved many people wrong (myself included) by giving pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. all he could handle over 12 rounds. Maidana spent much of the fight bullying Mayweather against the ropes and unleashing hard and awkward combinations onto his opponent. Mayweather eventually made the necessary adjustments and showed enough accuracy and elusiveness to eke out a majority decision, but for the first time in quite a while, Mayweather was forced to earn his money the hard way. Though my scorecard read 114-114 (a draw), those screaming robbery or controversy can do so upon deaf ears as they clearly don’t understand the concept of a close fight. On the undercard, Amir Khan looked spectacular in his dismantling of Luis Collazo Before we get too hype though, keep in mind that Collazo does not pack much power and Khan’s weakness is his Humpty Dumpty chin. Collazo couldn’t crack it, but I’d still like to see Khan beat another legit opponent before I’d toss down the ducats to see him in

In an predominantly white sport, some would feel this is not that big of an issue. If you do not like a player because he plays on another team, so be it. To hate because of a player’s skin color, there is no room for it at any level.

As for Boston, the pride themselves on this whole “strong” moniker. I commend them for their unity on the bombing issue. How about showing some unity on how to treat a human being? The city’s track record on that matter has been detailed dating back to the days of the great Bill Russell and black Boston Celtic players like him. The next move is on the city of Boston and their fans as well as the National Hockey League.

Wake up NHL, you are already low on the totem pole. There is no reason to find yourself buried.

the ring with Mayweather. Speaking of toss downs, Adrien Broner continued his quest to become the King Joffrey of boxing (GoT reference) aka “Mr. Most Hated” as he slammed his opponent, Carlos Molina Jr., en route to an easy but fairly dull decision victory in his first fight in the 140-pound division. He then gave one of

Shams, shame and Rams

Well, here we go again.

Another draft that sees the Rams pick early in the first round. Another draft where the Rams need just about everything.

Before you start to say, well, what about a pass rusher? I will remind you that you have Robert Quinn and Michael Brockers. That’s it! Everyone else is either unproven or able to play in the NFL but not at the playoff level. As for the rest of the defense, they have shown the ability to play hard to try and get to .500. A nice try but we have seen that act much too long. When it comes to the offense, where are the Rams mentioned as league elite?

General Manager Les Snead and Head Coach Jeff Fisher have tried to fix a mess that has gone on well before they got here. After three years, it’s time

the most annoying post-fight interviews in modern history, only rivaled by other Adrien Broner interviews. In the ring, he clearly doesn’t have the power he carried as a monster in the super featherweight and lightweight divisions. On the mic, he has less sense than the editors at The Oklahoman Maybe Broner is sponsored by mute button repair men;

for a change of direction. Meanwhile, so-called “draft experts” throw names and terminology around as if they really have a clue. I always felt that someone should go back and see how many mock drafts they conduct over the course of the year, as well as how they fared the previous year. You may learn a lot. As for the locals who claim they cover the sport, most are solely concerned with the offense. Quarterbacks and receivers are the pick by most because they are the easiest to recognize on the field. Others want a receiver because there may work well on next year’s fantasy team. In all, most of it has turned out to be a sham, and shame on them for feeding us this annual yarn. So who do the Rams take in the first round? They need dire help in the offensive line. Their so-alleged best player in tackle Jake Long is getting long in

otherwise someone should pull him aside and teach him how to shut up. For the full post-fight story, visit www.stlamerican.com Follow this columnist on Twitter @IshmaelSistrunk. Tune in to In the Clench, our weekly boxing Hangout on www.youtube.com/ stlamericanvideo and on Google+.

the tooth as well as recovering from a season-ending knee injury. If you can name the rest of the offensive line for the Rams, you may be smarter than many that cover the team. Some think quarterback Sam Bradford is washed up, shell-shocked and all the other reasons that some would even suggest drafting Johnny Manziel. If the Rams do not fix the offensive line, he will take a beating. There are some exceptional players out there and good teams are not made solely on the first round. The Rams will have a lot of picks so they need to make everyone count. So here we go again. Another year of hope and need of luck. Another year of asking, “What did you think of the first selection?” Another year of waiting three years to see if this guy can play. Another year ...

to win game one of their playoff series, he received 17,000 racist tweets in less than 24 hours – and not one word from the National Hockey League.

Fun with the NBA

Never has the NBA had five game sevens in a weekend, and never has the league been able to show its game off with most games coming down to the wire. Yes, the NBA is now BIG FUN. This league dealt with the antics of an owner only to overcome it with some incredible games that had fans on the edge of their seats on most nights. The stars, young and old, showed up. Even without an NBA team, the NBA ratings will be better than the NHL in St. Louis where the Blues reside. For those who think that is enough to get our own NBA team, think again. NBA teams are all in good spots, with new arenas and leases to go with them. Leagues like the NBA, WNBA and NHL do not award franchises because of attendance and TV ratings.

Mike Claiborne

After P.K. Subban of the Canadiens scored the gamewinning goal against Boston

inSide SportS

With Earl Austin Jr.

SLPS honors 473 student-athletes

PHL athletes who maintained a GPA of 3.25 or higher

On Wednesday, April 30, I had the opportunity to spend part of my day at the Third Annual St. Louis Public Schools Scholar-Athlete Luncheon. The event is the baby of SLPS Athletic Director Travis L. Brown Sr., a former PHL star basketball player at Sumner in the late 1960s. The event recognizes the PHL athletes who have maintained a grade point average of 3.25 or higher. Brown’s vision of having a special event to celebrate the academic and athletic achievement of our young SLPS athletes has turned out to be a home run, a slam dunk. Each year, the event gets bigger as more kids are getting honored. Last week’s event honored 473 studentathletes, which was 61 more than 2013 and 161 more than the inaugural event in 2012. As more kids continue to get it done in the classroom, they are going to have to find a bigger room in the Missouri Athletic Club to hold this annual event. I was honored to be a small part of the event as a table role model. My St. Louis American colleague Wiley Price, the Hall of Fame photographer, was also a table role model. It was a pleasure and an honor to sit with and enjoy some time with some special young kids and learn about them and their plans for the future.

TRACK

Once again, congratulations to Travis Brown and all of the folks at the St. Louis Public Schools for putting on a great event that celebrates the achievements of young people.

Drafting Desir

The National Football League will be holding its annual draft, which begins tonight and runs through Saturday. As an alum of Lindenwood University, I am looking forward to hearing Pierre Desir’s name called. The former Francis Howell Central standout cornerback will become the first player in our school’s history to be selected on Draft Day. This is truly exciting. LU has had players make it to the NFL, but all were undrafted free agents. Also, best of luck to former Hazelwood East standout Walter Powell, who is looking to be drafted after a stellar career at Murray State as a wide receiver and return specialist.

Signed, sealed Edwardsville High guard Shawn Roundtree signed with Missouri State University. The 6’0” Roundtree was a member of the St. Louis American “Fab Five” First Team after leading the Tigers to a fourth-place finish in the Illinois Class 4 state tournament. Roundtree averaged 17 points and eight assists a game as a senior. Belleville East standout Darreon Reddick signed with Tennessee State University. The 6’4” Reddick averaged

Continued from A11 as she edged Belleville West standout Jasmine Berry to take the victory. Lewis’ teammate, Mariya Hudson, won the 400 in 57.5 seconds. Host East St. Louis won the team championship behind the performances of middle distance performers Jamella McGraw (first in 800-meter run) and Jada Marshall (first in 1,600-meter run).

took home the sprint triple as she won the 100 in 12.19 seconds, the 200 in 25.27 and the 400 in 59.57. She also anchored the Lancers’ 4x100meter relay to a second-place finish. Teammate Cecilya Johnson won the discus with a throw of 138 feet. South’s Letetor Menah won the long jump with an effort of 17 feet 5 1.4 inches.

Cahokia edged Kansas City area power Blue Springs for the Orange Division title. Sophomore Ja’Mari Ward won the long jump and triple jump and senior Gary Hickman won the 100-meter high hurdles and 300-meter intermediate hurdles to lead the Comanches to the team title.

Putting on a show Cahokia High junior Raynesha Lewis put on a show in winning three events at last week’s St. Clair County Meet at East St. Louis. Lewis won the long jump with a leap of 17-9 and the triple jump with an effort of 38-0. Lewis also won the 100-meter high hurdles

13.7 points a game in leading the Lancers to a 20-10 record and an Illinois Class 4A regional championship.

Metro High girls’ standout Tayler Miller signed with Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill. The 5’10” Miller was one of the most versatile players in the St. Louis metro area. As a senior, Miller averaged 18.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 4.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game. She finished her career with 1,621 points and 1.002 rebounds, which is No. 1 on Metro’s career leader’s list.

Francis Howell Central standout guard Tre Curry is headed to Benedictine (KS) while University City point guard Karvon Owens signed with William Penn (IA).

Famous boxers

The St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation recently inducted 15 individuals into the Gateway Classic Boxing Hall of Fame. The individuals inducted were Tony Pruitt, Kirk Douglas, Jr., Steve Bowen, Mike Stocker, Harold L. Kaid, Ulysses Martin, Robert Goliday, Radford Beasley, Sylvester Kennon, Caesar Forrest, Peter Vaccaro, Mike England, Mercie Mendoza and Boris Powell. Also, Arthur Tyler, Jr. was the recipient of the “Gary Bess Award” for his outstanding contribution to the St. Louis community and amateur boxing. More than 300 people were in attendance at the induction ceremony and dinner.

Conference meets on tap

Several conference meets will be on tap this week. The Suburban North Conference meet will be held on Thursday at McCluer North. The Suburban West girls meet will be held on Thursday at Fox. The Southwestern Conference meet was held on Wednesday at O’Fallon.

Prep Athletes of the Week

Kristen Dowell

Edwardsville – Girls Track

The senior standout was one of the top individuals at last week’s Collinsville Invitational.

Dowell won three events in leading the Tigers to a second-place finish in the team standings. She finished first in the 100-meter high hurdles, 300-meter low hurdles and the long jump.

Dowell’s winning times were 15.35 in the 100-meter hurdles, 46.56 in the 300-meter hurdles and her winning jump was 16 feet 10 ¾ inches. She finished third in the 300-meter hurdles and seventh in the 100-meter high hurdles at last year’s Illinois Class 3A state championships in Charleston.

Dowell will be attending the University of Nebraska on a track scholarship next year.

John Moten

John Burroughs – Boys Track

The junior sprinter led the Bombers to the Blue Division Championship at last weekend’s Marion Freeman Clayton Invitational.

Moten won the 100-meter dash and anchored the Bombers to victories in the 4x100- and 4x200-meter relays. His winning time in the 100 was 10.9.

A two-sport standout, Moten was one of the area’s top running backs as he led the Bombers to the Class 3 state semifinals in the fall. Moten has recently committed to Northwestern University on a football scholarship.

RAMS

Continued from A11

be either Jadeveon Clowney or Sammy Watkins. Wouldn’t that be a pleasant surprise if Clowney was still available at number two? I just don’t see the Rams drafting Greg Robinson at number two; maybe if they moved down like six or even seven in the first round. But, if they stay at number two then they need to call Watkins.

Bradford has never been given an elite downfield threat like Watkins. He’s thrown to guys like Danny Amendola, Mark Clayton and Brandon Lloyd, and out of those three only Lloyd has posted a 1,000yard season at wideout.

The Rams go into the draft with 12 picks, starting with that number two pick. None of the tackles are worth being drafted that high. If you’re not drafting a tackle like an Orlando Pace or Jonathan Ogden, then you take the best player available at that number: Watkins.

With 11 picks remaining, the Rams would be in a great position to fill needs on the team with depth on the offense line and even at quarterback. It also could give team more flexibility when looking for veterans during free agency. On a personal note, I want to wish my oldest daughter Kynnedie Alexander a “Happy Birthday!” She is turning nine. For more Rams Roundup, subscribe to our page at youtube.com/stlamericanvideo.

Earl Austin Jr.

NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION

Planting the Seeds for Success!

SAINT LOUIS SCIENCE CENTER

SAINT LOUIS SCIENCE CENTER

We specialize in making science fun!

We specialize in making science fun!

Harry’s Big Adventure:

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

Investigate and explore over 700 interactive exhibits and take in a film 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/nie3

for you from our library. We even designed a cool poster you can hang in the classroom!

Exercise

Nutrition Challenge:

Once you’re out of school, many of you may have a lot of extra time on your hands to be snacking. Resist the urge to eat sweet, salty, fried and high-calorie nonnutritious snacks this summer.

As the weather gets warmer, there are many ways that we can enjoy ourselves outdoors and stay healthy over the summer. Some naturally active things you can do include:

> Help with yard work: planting, weeding, etc.

> Walking to the store when possible.

> Wash your parent’s car.

Harry’s Big Adventure: My Bug World! presented by Terminix® is a multisensory experience that immerses you into the world of bugs. Harry the Chinese Praying Mantis and his bug friends will lead you through freestanding and interactive habitats in a hands-on, fun way!

Harry’s Big Adventure: My Bug World! presented by Terminix® is a multisensory experience that immerses you into the world of bugs. Harry the Chinese Praying Mantis and his bug friends will lead you through freestanding and interactive habitats in a hands-on, fun way!

My Bug World! presented by Terminix® is a multisensory experience that immerses you into the world of bugs. Harry the Chinese Praying Mantis and his bug friends will lead you through freestanding and interactive habitats in a hands-on, fun way!

slsc.org/hbanie2

slsc.org/hbanie1

slsc.org/hbanie4

We’re here to help you succeed, and there are even scholarships available. Just visit stlzoo.org/teachers or call us at (314) 646-4544 to learn more.

PRESENT: Healthy Kids is a weekly series that focuses on nutrition, exercise, safety and more.

Healthy Kids Kids

snacks and meals for the summer. Delicious juicy, ripe fruits are all around and are healthy for you too! Make it your goal to come back to school in the fall healthier and happier!

Review: What are some nutrition tips you learned by following The St. Louis American’s Healthy Kids page this school year? Send your answers to nie@stlamerican.com.

Create a Smart Summer Eating plan with your parents. Ask their help in finding nutritious

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 5

> Play, play, play outside as much as you can!

Staying active, getting your heart rate up and opening your lungs will help you start off next school happier and healthier!

Review: What are some exercise tips you learned by following The St. Louis American’s Healthy Kids page this school year? Send your answers to nie@stlamerican.com.

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH

consider ways to relieve the stress in our lives.

focus on stress management. This means that we’ll

Again as a class, talk about different methods for stress relief: Time management, coping, speaking with trusted adults, exercising, journaling, etc. Now looking at your stressors list,

Where do you work? I work for Our Little Haven, an agency that provides different services that help children and families.

Where did you go to school?

I have a bachelor’s degree from Washington University. I also have a master’s degree in Minority Mental Health from Washington University and a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois in Champaign. What does a clinical psychologist do? There are many different types of psychologists, and I am a Clinical Psychologist. Clinical Psychologists are specialists who treat persons who are having problems with behaviors, thoughts, or difficult feelings. To be a psychologist, I am prepared to use tests that help me understand patients’ difficulties, how to diagnose these difficulties, and how to choose and use the best treatment methods.

Why did you choose this career? As a young person, I noticed people in my community who were hurting from events that had occurred or from difficult feelings and thoughts. At that time, my community did not talk much about this, but I felt a need to help. What is your favorite part of the job you have? My favorite part is seeing relief and positive changes happen in a person’s life because they sought help!

Learning Standards: HPE 6, NH 3

Hazelwood,

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT

Robinwood Elementary School 5th grade teacher

Cellie Boyd helps students Bryan Ferris, Farrah Dampier, and Delaney Orlando use their sense of smell to identify food products as a STEM lesson. The school is in the Ferguson-Florissant School District.

SCIENCE CORNER

Photosynthesis comes from the combination of two Greek words “photo,” which means light, and “synthesis,” which means to put things together.

Photosynthesis is the process that plants use to create their food. Plants put together light, water, and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and other organic compounds. It is an example of how people and plants help each other. People breathe in the oxygen produced by the plants and exhale carbon dioxide, which the plants need in order to survive.

The process of photosynthesis begins

SCIENCE EXPERIMENT

What Is Photosynthesis!

with the absorption of water into the roots of the plants. Xylem carries this water to the leaves. Carbon dioxide in the air enters the plant cells that contain chlorophyll. Chlorophyll allows plants to use the energy in light to convert carbon dioxide to their food. Oxygen is released into the air during photosynthesis.

Learning Standards: I can read nonfiction text for main idea and supporting details.

Create your own museum with a collection of seeds from different types of fruits and vegetables.

Materials Needed:

• Paper Towels • Large Glass Jars • 2 or More Packets of Different Fast-Sprouting Seeds (such as lima beans, zucchini, radish, sunflower, zinnia, radish, lettuce, marigold, chives or basil) • Labels

• Pencil or Marker • Aluminum Foil

What To Do:

q Label the jars to identify the different types of seeds used.

w Moisten the paper towels with just enough water to make them damp and place them inside the jars.

Make a Seed Museum!

r Cover the outside of the jar with aluminum foil and keep the jar in a warm, dry place.

e Carefully place each type of seed between the damp paper towel and the side of the glass jar. You should be able to observe the seeds through the glass.

t Every day, remove the foil and observe the seeds. Keep the paper towels moist, and replace the foil after you finish your observations.

y Compare the ways in which the different types of seeds sprout.

Variation: You can repeat this procedure using the same type of seed in 5 different jars. One jar can be kept in the light, one in the dark. You can add different levels of water, etc. With this method, you can evaluate how the variables affect the seed growth.

Learning Standards: I can follow sequential directions to complete a procedure. I can make observations and analyze results.

“Plant” a solid foundation of math skills

You can use a garden area to review several math concepts. Number and Operations. Plant lettuce seeds and carefully keep track of the number planted. As the seeds begin to grow, count the number of seedlings. Use these two numbers to calculate the germination rate (number of seedlings divided by number of seeds planted, multiplied by 100).

Algebra. Use algebraic formulas to compute ratios, such as the amount of fertilizer to add per quart or liter of water. (You will need a fertilizer package with directions so you can convert the information.)

Attributes. Collect various dry bean seeds or plant leaves, and sort them by size, shape, color, and number. Geometry. Complete a scavenger hunt in a garden. Look for objects representing different geometric shapes such as circles, squares, cones, cylinders, and triangles.

Learning Standards: I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide to solve a problem. I can sort items by similar attributes.

SCIENCE STARS

AFRICAN-AMERICAN AGRONOMIST & PROFESSOR: Gebisa Ejeta

Dr. Gebisa Ejeta was born and raised in a small, rural area located in west central Ethiopia. In 1973, he earned his bachelor’s degree in plant sciences from Alemaya College. Ejeta then moved to the US to attend graduate school at Purdue University, earning a degree in plant breeding and genetics. Six years later, he went to Sudan to research sorghum, which is a major source of grain that is also used to make a sweetener. Many African regions depend on this crop to feed their people and their livestock.

In 1984, he returned to Purdue as an assistant professor in the agronomy department. Agronomy is the science of soil management and crop production. From there, he moved on to the agriculture faculty, focusing on African agricultural research and development, particularly sorghum. He developed different types of sorghum that could tolerate drought (lack of water), cold temperatures, weeds, and various diseases that can harm plants.

Ejeta has served on many research and review panels and committees, such as the International Agricultural Research Center, Rockefeller Foundation, Food and Agricultural Organization, and United Nations. He has also received several awards, including the 2009 World Food Prize and the National Medal of Honor from the president of Ethiopia.

Learning Standards: I can read a biography of a person who has made contributions to the fields of science, math, and technology.

MAP CORNER

Use the newspaper to complete these activities to sharpen your skills for the MAP test.

Activity One —

Describe It: Clip ten adjectives from the advertising section of the

Paste these onto your paper and beside each write one synonym and one antonym. (Alternate — instead of cutting/pasting, you can list each word and page number on a sheet of paper to do this exercise.)

Activity Two — Types of Sentences: Find two examples of each of the four kinds of sentences: interrogative, declarative, exclamatory, and imperative.

Learning Standards: I can use the newspaper to locate information. I can identify adjectives, synonyms, and antonyms. I can identify the four types of sentences.

Teachers, if you are using the St. Louis American’s NIE program and would like to nominate your class for a Classroom Spotlight, please email: nie@stlamerican.com.

The tiniest tree in the world is the Dwarf Willow, found in Greenland. Its size is about two inches.

The saguaro cactus of the Arizona Desert grows less than one inch in its first 10 years.

Ejeta receiving the World Food Prize in 2009.

Robert Joiner retires from STL Public Radio

Veteran has been editor of American and reporter and columnist for Post

By Margaret Wolf Freivogel Of St. Louis Public Radio

Robert Joiner, St. Louis Public Radio’s health reporter, is not the kind of person who calls attention to himself. At staff meetings, he speaks sparingly. He chooses words carefully.

It’s worth paying attention to what he thinks.

And especially this week – his last before retiring – it’s worth paying attention to what he’s done. I’ve known Bob since the 1970s when we shared a desk as young reporters at the St. Louis PostDispatch. Over the years, as the challenges for journalism have deepened, my respect for Bob has soared.

When some Post-Dispatch ex-pats started the St. Louis Beacon six years ago, we immediately recruited Bob for the staff. As the Beacon’s first political reporter, he shared a wealth of knowledge about power, personalities and issues – plus a fierce commitment to explain how all of that affects people.

That same commitment shaped his work as a health reporter at the Beacon and at St. Louis Public Radio. Bob’s career also has included stints in the Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau, as a P-D editorial writer and P-D columnist as well as editor of The St. Louis American. But you can’t measure Bob’s value only by titles. Rather, you need to consider the character and insight he’s brought to his work.

While many reporters recount what happens, Bob has aimed to explain what’s really going on. While many build connections with elite sources, Bob also has built a picture of the world from the bottom up. While many ignore the context of current issues, Bob has revealed the cross-currents of history and experience that shape our world.

A great example of what makes Bob’s work so valuable can be found in his occasional profiles of African Americans in St. Louis who excelled despite segregation and fought to end it. These pieces evoke a transformational era that laid the groundwork for what has –and has not – happened since. They help to explain why race continues to affect almost every regional issue. Bob brought these stories to life.

At a time when celebrity journalism is on the rise, Bob lets his work speak for itself. But he did agree to reflect on what he’s proudest of and on the role of news organizations. His answers might inform your own thinking about what makes for great reporting.

On the ground experience:

“Some of my proudest work in recent years has focused on health and the challenges residents face in trying to stay fit. I wanted

readers to appreciate some of the factors beyond will power that explain why obesity is more prevalent in some places than others. I tried to use words to paint pictures of largely deserted neighborhoods of crumbling sidewalks, gun violence, and other conditions that have made those left behind feel less comfortable about engaging in the simple pleasure of going for a healthy walk.”

Luck:

“Some assignments that seemed boring at the time turned out to produce surprises. On a slow news day many Sundays ago, for example, I was asked to drive to the airport to interview a politician nobody knew much about. Sounded like just another guy begging for an audience during a layover at Lambert. His name was Jimmy Carter. Meeting him turned out to be a nice coincidence because I would eventually become a Washington correspondent assigned to cover part of his administration.”

Fairness:

“Now more than ever, reporters and news organizations should feel a responsibility to hold themselves to high standards

Robert Joiner reporting for the Post-Dispatch in Apartheid-era Soweto, South Africa, in 1977.

Poor black kids can and do learn

It’s time to stop experimenting on our poor children, on black and brown children. If we know anything, we know what it takes to educate children. In 2014 a district that’s still “trying” stuff to see what works is either incompetent or thinks that the paying public is not paying attention. Most of the people calling for these failed methods don’t have children in the district and have no stake in their young lives.

of accuracy and fairness in what they print and broadcast. This challenge took on added importance with the ever emerging sources of information, thanks to the internet and social media. We are conditioned to do our best to break stories ahead of the competition. That’s certainly a worthy mission, but what’s the point of breaking a story a minute ahead of the competition if the information turns out to contain inaccuracies?”

Bridging divides:

“As the St. Louis region becomes more diverse, one big challenge for reporters and news organizations is how to cut through generalities and make information meaningful to more potential readers, listeners and viewers. We should always strive to add a little context to what we report. When we note that a murder occurred in the Fountain Park neighborhood, for example, it would help the outsider if we made references to landmarks and other community characteristics that offer a sense of place and help people remember the neighborhood for something more than the site where a body was found.”

Edited for length and reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org.

I could go back centuries for examples of black children excelling in spite of challenges before them – from laws making it illegal for slaves to be educated to navigating through separate but unequal schools. So I’ll fast forward to the last 40 years.

tools they need to participate fully in the world around them. And for students coming from backgrounds that affect those outcomes, they should receive the necessary extra supports they need.

From Marva Collins’ Westside Preparatory School to Dr. Steve Perry’s Capital Preparatory School and all in between, we have plenty of proof that poor, black kids can and do learn.

Collins took in many students from the Chicago Public Schools who had been branded as learning-disabled and turned them into scholars. Since its first graduating class in 2006, Capital Prep has sent every one of its predominantly lowincome students to four-year colleges.

I have issues with whose interests are served by schools like these, but that’s a philosophical question. The bottom line is that the capacity of African-American children to achieve academic excellence is thwarted only by nonbelievers. Ultimately, the needs of children are universal. Schools should be safe and welcoming. They should have committed and innovative teachers who have the support and resources they need to be successful in the classroom.

The curriculum should be challenging and engaging so that children develop a love of learning as well as get the

Before St. Louis Public Schools jumps from the frying pan into the fire, it should first look inward instead of outward. SLPS has a history of ignoring problems and not going to the root, of implementing policy that doesn’t correct the situation. It’s like having appendicitis and being given cough syrup to clear it up. I see the selection of principals as key to this process – who that educational leader is will tell you a lot about a school. School principals must be able to establish a professional and nurturing environment for teachers; students thrive when teachers thrive. Principals must work for mutual respect and promote collegiality among the staff, building the consensus necessary to achieve educational goals.

Too often, the assignment of principals – especially to schools already burdened with low morale and academic issues – is based on cronyism, favoritism or nepotism and not skills and competencies.

Being a principal is not the equivalent of a dictator with the edict “it’s my way or the highway.” Tyranny breeds mutiny and there have been too many insurrections at the building level that have compromised stability and harmony, pushing out great teachers to other districts or to alternative professions.

Let’s stop looking for quick fixes. Let’s stop hooking up friends and family or friends of friends and family. Let’s stop experimenting with the lives and futures of our children.

Let’s embrace the embrace the tried-and-true holistic education of children in public schools by any means necessary.

Guest Columnist Jamala Rogers

YouthBuild transforms homes – and youth

Program guides struggling students to renovate rundown buildings

By Rebecca Rivas

Of The St. Louis American

In spite of rain and a tornado threat, St. Louis YouthBuild managed to celebrate the ribboncutting on a north St. Louis County home they had been renovating for the past six months.

As part of the St. Louis YouthBuild program, low-income youth, 18 to 24, work with journeyman carpenters to transform rundown houses throughout the St. Louis area into rental homes for low-income families.

“We have been able to help to improve a number of neighborhoods by building new housing or renovating abandoned houses,” said Julia Tibbs, St. Louis YouthBuild executive director.

n “YouthBuild showed them how to get off the streets, go to college and earn a living to support themselves.”

– Julia Tibbs, St. Louis YouthBuild

“We also have been able to assist so many young people who didn’t have hope for the future and were on the wrong path. They are now doing positive things and giving back to the community.”

About 75 percent of program participants are high-school dropouts or face academic challenges. By going through the full-time program, following an 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily schedule, students earn the equivalent to a high school diploma. This year, there are 33 students participating.

Over the past 19 years, the program has helped more than 500 young adults, improved about 150 homes and awarded more than $150,000 in scholarships for

YouthBuild Executive Director Julia Tibbs has a laugh with Recardo Hutton, a 2011 graduate from the program who is now a union carpenter, and Danyelle Adams, director of Social Services for YouthBuild, at the inaugural National YouthBuild Day Celebration in North County recently.

advanced education to its students.

The recent ribbon-cutting on a three-bedroom home in Glasgow Village fell on National YouthBuild Day, when the local youth celebrated with more than 270 other YouthBuild programs across the nation.

“We stepped out together, stepped up to tell our stories and let our collective light shine to help expand the American Dream to low-income

opportunity youth across America,” Tibbs said.

YouthBuild USA was started informally in 1988 and incorporated in 1990. There are now 264 YouthBuild programs in 46 states, Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands. Over 120,000 YouthBuild students have built over 22,000 units of affordable, increasingly green, housing since 1994.

Several alumni attended the event as well – some who have gone on to earn their masters and doctorate degrees.

“YouthBuild showed them how to get off the streets, go to college and earn a living to support themselves and families,” Tibbs said. “It was a great day to celebrate these young people’s success.”

Court’s ruling threatens MBE inclusion programs

Preferential treatment to minority businesses is now banned in Michigan

Eric E. Vickers

For The St. Louis American

Although the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Michigan’s affirmative action programs focused on minority student inclusion in the state’s university system, the ruling poses an imminent threat to minority businesses here in Missouri and every state. This is because the ballot initiative passed by Michigan voters, which the Court upheld, banned affirmative action in more respects than the state’s university admission process. The ballot proposal put before Michigan voters in 2006 was in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in 2003 upholding the affirmative action program of the

Michigan law school. It was called Proposal 2, and it passed by a margin of 58 percent to 42 percent, thereupon becoming a provision in the state constitution. This new constitutional provision broadly banned “preferential treatment … in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”

Thus, with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the case styled Schuette v. BAMN, under the newly amended Michigan Constitution, any state or local government laws or programs providing so-called preferential treatment to minority businesses – such as those that establish minority goals – are now banned in that state.

n “The amount spent on state-level initiative and referendum campaigns in 2008 eclipsed the $740.6 million spent by President Obama in his 2008 presidential campaign.”

– Justice Sotomayor

To bring it closer to home, if such a ballot initiative was to pass in Missouri, the City of St. Louis’ minority business program, including the Mayor’s Executive Order requiring 25 percent minority business inclusion on city contracts, would come to an abrupt end. Such a ballot initiative would also preclude Missouri having any state minority goals or program –such as what is expected to be the outcome of the disparity study currently being conducted by the state. In an intellectually blistering and lengthy dissent, Justice Sotomayor

Rhonda Broussard has been selected as a 2014 USA Eisenhower Fellow. She will travel to New Zealand and Finland to explore models of education, professional development and accountability practices. She plans to impact the St. Louis community through her design of an immersion teacher residency model. She is president of St. Louis Language Immersion Schools. Tim Nowak, executive director of World Trade Center St. Louis, also was selected.

Dedric Carter has been appointed to the newly created position of associate provost and associate vice chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship at Washington University. He will serve as a catalyst for cross-university initiatives in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship, facilitating connections with members of the entrepreneurial community on the local, regional, national and global level. Most recently he was associate dean for international education and research.

ripped her brethren for a decision she pointed out allowed the white majority to in essence “suppress the minority’s right to participate on equal terms in the political process.” She pointed to the ease with which the majority could trammel on the rights of minorities through the ballot initiative process, noting that “the amount spent on state-level initiative and referendum campaigns in 2008 eclipsed the $740.6 million spent by President Obama in his 2008 presidential campaign.”

The Missouri minority business community would be wise to begin preparing for and strategizing to prevent a ballot initiative similar to Proposal 2, which would pose an existential threat to all state and local minority business inclusion laws and programs. In Michigan, the organization BAMN fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to stop Proposal 2, and it would be good if the Missouri minority business community understood that BAMN is an acronym: By Any Means Necessary.

Melissa Chambers has joined Youth In Need as vice president, Head Start East. She will oversee Youth In Need’s St. Louis City Head Start and Early Head Start program, which serves nearly 650 children from birth to age 5 and their families with early childhood development services. She has 15 years of experience in early childhood education, including 12 years with Head Start and Early Head Start.

Angel Ramos is the new assistant director of engineering for Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. He manages a team that oversees all design and construction programs for airfield and facility projects. Most recently he was an aviation civil engineer at Spirit of St. Louis Airport in St. Louis County. He has also managed major runway and airfield projects at Miami International Airport and Bishop International Airport in Flint, MI.

Aliah E. Ptah-Butts graduated from basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, San Antonio, Texas as Air National Guard Airman. She is the daughter of Sonya Ptah of Maryland Heights and Clarence Butts of Gaithersburg, Md. She is a 2012 graduate of Lafayette High School. She completed an intensive, eightweek program that included training in military discipline and studies.

Mike Hayes was elected to the Executive Committee of the St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers. He is a project manager at BJC HealthCare. The council is the owner organization promoting the region through collaborative leadership to improve the efficient delivery of construction projects. It provides education, shares next practices and advocates change to achieve best value and a competitive marketplace. On the move? Congratulations! Send your good professional news and a color headshot to cking@stlamerican. com.

Rhonda Broussard

Dedric Carter

Melissa Chambers

Angel Ramos

Aliah E. Ptah-Butts

Mike Hayes

Photo by Wiley Price

Eric Vickers

Personal finance

Help mom get organized

By Jason Alderman

Mother’s Day is May

11. If you’re wracking your brain for ways to show your mom appreciation for all the sacrifices she made while raising you, here’s a thought: Why not offer to spend some time helping to sort through her financial, legal and medical paperwork to make sure everything is in order?

While flowers and candy offer immediate gratification, I’ll bet your mom will truly appreciate the long-term value of getting her records in order now so that she – and you –will be able to take appropriate actions later on, should the need arise.

Some of the areas you might want to organize include: Retirement income sources. Gather these documents so your mom will have a better idea how much income she’ll have available throughout retirement:

• Register your mom at mySocialSecurity (www. socialsecurity.gov/myaccount) to gain access to personalized estimates of retirement, disability and survivors benefits, lifetime earnings records and estimated Social Security and Medicare taxes paid.

• You’ll also need your dad’s statement to determine any potential spousal or survivor benefits for which she might be eligible, so sign him up as well.

• Annual statements for pension, IRA, 401(k) or other retirement savings plans for which she’s eligible. (Check your dad’s statements too in case she’s eligible for spousal death benefits.)

• Bank statements for checking, savings, money market and CD accounts.

• Company stock and bond certificates, and statements for other investment accounts. Outstanding debts. Also gather monthly statements and outstanding balances owed for major expenses including: home mortgage or other property loans, home equity loan or line of credit, car loan or lease, credit cards, medical bills and personal loans. Other important documents. Your mom should have documents instructing how she’d like her affairs to be handled, both while she’s living and after death. Look for:

• Medical, homeowner/

renter, auto, life, disability and long-term care insurance policies.

• A will (and possibly a trust) outlining how she wants her estate managed after death.

• Durable power of attorney and health care proxy specifying who will make her financial and medical decisions if she becomes incapacitated.

• Also, a living will tells doctors which medical treatments and life-support procedures she does or doesn’t want performed.

• Birth certificate, marriage license, Social Security card, funeral plans, safe deposit box information, etc.

• Contact information for professional service providers (doctors, pharmacy, lawyer, financial advisor, bank, insurance companies, etc.) Also give these providers your own contact information in case of emergencies.

Review these documents regularly and make updates whenever her situation changes. For example, make sure that designated beneficiaries for your mom’s will, life insurance and retirement plans accurately reflect her current wishes.

If you need help guiding financial discussions, Social Security has created a special website for women (www.ssa.gov/ women) that provides information on retirement, disability and other issues – in English and Spanish. They also have a Retirement Estimator (www.ssa.gov/ estimator) that enters her earnings information from their records to estimate her projected Social Security benefits under different scenarios (age at retirement, future earnings projections, etc.)

Another good resource is the Women’s Saving Initiative, a program jointly developed by Heinz Family Philanthropies, the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) and Visa Inc. This program features a free book called “What Women Need to Know About Retirement,” which you can download as a PDF or audio file at www. practicalmoneyskills.com/ resources.

If you need professional help, consult a licensed financial planner who can design a personalized retirement strategy. If you don’t know one, try the Financial Planning Association (www.plannersearch.org).

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

Business Briefs

152,335 Missourians enroll in Health Insurance Marketplace

Nationwide, enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace surged to eight million at the end of the first enrollment period, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced last week. In Missouri, 152,335 individuals selected a Marketplace plan. The final enrollment reporting period spanned from October 1, 2013, to March 31, 2014, and includes enrollment activity reported through April 19, 2014.

Of the 152,335 Missourians who selected a plan, 55 percent are female and 45 percent are male; 36 percent are under age 35; 30 percent are between the ages of 18 and 34; and 85 percent selected a plan with financial assistance.

Foundations donate $15K to Sweet Potato Project

The World Wide Technology and the Steward Family foundations have donated $15,000 to the Sweet Potato Project, a program operated by the North Area Community Development Corporation.

The program teaches marketing, branding, leadership development, conflict resolution, website design and product development. The program’s food-based product sold so far has been two varieties of sweet potato cookies made with help and supervision of St. Louis University’s Department of Dietetics & Nutrition.

Its 2014 program will begin in late May with the planting of sweet potatoes on newly acquired lots. Sylvester Brown Jr., executive director of the Sweet Potato Project, plans to expand the program by leasing and purchasing vacant lots starting in the Greater Ville area.

Saigh Foundation $1.5M gift endows Zoo’s Director of Education

The Saigh Foundation gave $1.5 million to the Saint Louis Zoo to endow the position of the Fred Saigh Director of Education. The endowment will provide support for the leadership of the Zoo’s Education Department. Now in its 50th year, the Education Department is led by the inaugural Fred Saigh Director of Education, Louise Bradshaw. One of the nation’s largest zoo-based education departments, it was established by the legendary Marlin Perkins and was one of the first of its kind. Connecting the Zoo’s conservation efforts in the field to the work done on the Zoo’s 90-acre campus, the department offers 3,900 programs and typically reaches more than 1.7 million visitors each year.

Banker, volunteer puts family first

Alisha M. Rooks is branch manager for First Bank in Brentwood

By Erica R. Van Buren

For The St. Louis American

Alisha Marie Rooks is the branch manager at First Bank’s Brentwood office. Rooks joined the First Bank organization in October 2001. Her responsibilities include supervising day to day branch operations, providing the necessary training to new and existing staff, and maintaining monthly controllable expenses to ensure that the branch stays within budget. In 2012 she received the “Branch Manager of the Year” award. Her immediate ambition is to remain in this position of

authority.

“In the near future I still see myself working for First Bank as a branch manager,” she said. “I will continue to volunteer for internal projects within the company.”

n “I’m the happiest when I’m surrounded by my family. I learn a lot from the elders of my family, and I enjoy hearing about their times growing up together.”

– Alisha Marie Rooks

Volunteerism is important to her. Her volunteer history includes Ready Readers, a St. Louis-based nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring preschool-age children from low-income communities to love books and to prepare them for Kindergarten. She also helps out at Marion Middle School by serving as the banker for their events, especially the Annual Women’s Event – Girls Night Out. In the past she has

donated her annual charitable branch contribution to assist them as well.

Another organization where she offers her time is the Little Bit Foundation. The foundation assists disadvantaged school-age children by creating a positive impact for personal growth, increasing self-esteem, and encouraging a more focused and active learning environment. She helps out with its annual Music Trivia Night. She is also involved with Community Women Against Hardship, Junior Achievement and the Youth Learning Center.

giving your time to others. This is often more valuable than a cash donation. This principle of giving has always been a part of my life.” She embraces the love and warmth that comes with being close to her family.

Her parents, Farrell Rooks Sr. and Anita Rooks, live next door to her.

“I’m the happiest when I’m surrounded by my family,” she said. “I learn a lot from the elders of my family, and I enjoy hearing about their times growing up together and how close they were and still are.”

“I am a person whose grandmother, Geneva Rooks, taught me to always give back and share what God has blessed me with,” Rooks said. “She taught me the importance of

She considers her greatest achievement to be providing a positive role model for her niece, Annamarie Jones.

“I have shown her that if you stay focused on your goals and dreams you can

achieve anything you desire,” Rooks said. “You don’t have to conform to your environment or peer pressure. She accomplished one goal by graduating from Anthem College in March and now she has a full-time job as a phlebotomist.” Phlebotomists draw blood for tests, transfusions, research, or blood donations.

Rooks said she most admires her mother, Anita Rooks. “Although she became a mom at a very early age, she has always stayed committed to raising her family and supporting her husband for the past 45 years,” Rooks said. “She is the true meaning of a loyal person.”

She recently enjoyed Easter with her family and her “new guy,” Chontel Stanburry and my family.

“My grandmother’s sisters, Joan Johnson and Shirley Hagens, came over and we ate dinner and watched basketball.

This meant so much to me because they have interesting stories to share about their past,” she said.

“Most are hilarious and you would never think that these ladies partied the way they did and still have energy today to get out on the dance floor and have fun. I love them so much. We lost their youngest brother, William ‘Butch’ Jackson, to cancer and it has been difficult, but they remember the good times and that keeps us laughing.”

With the dancing and laughing, it comes as no surprise that listening and dancing to “old-school” music from the 1960’s and ‘70s is a passion of hers. However, one of her new pastimes comes as something as a surprise for a banker and volunteer.

“My new-found hobby,” she said, “is target shooting at the shooting range.”

Ameren Missouri goes solar

O’Fallon Mayor Bill Hennessy, state Rep. Robert Carnejo, Missouri Public Service Commissioner Scott Rupp, state Deputy Director of Energy Llona Weiss, Missouri Public Service Commission Chairman Robert S. Kenney and Ameren Missouri President and CEO Michael Moehn participated recently in the ceremonial installation of the first solar panel at the O’Fallon Renewable Energy Center The plan calls for 19,000 solar panels spanning an area approximately the size of 19 football fields. It is scheduled to begin delivering electricity to customers by the end of 2014. Ameren said it will be Missouri’s largest solar facility operated by an investor-owned utility.

Alisha Marie Rooks

Photo: Ameren Missouri

Street named for Austin Layne Jr.

Dedication for mortuary director attended by clergy, dignitaries

See

By Bridjes O’Neil

Of the St. Louis American

The community filled pews at the Layne Renaissance Chapel at 7302 West Florissant Ave. in Jennings on Saturday, May 3. They were not mourning the loss of someone special. They were celebrating “a real hero and champion in the St. Louis community,” District Elder Ronald E. Stephens said of Austin A. Layne Jr.

In March, the Austin A. Layne, Jr. Way honorary street sign was installed at West Florissant Avenue and Jennings Station Road. A second sign is located further down the street near Sunbury and West Florissant avenues.

“The purpose of a street sign is to tell you where you are and where you’re going,” Stephens said. “The purpose of a street sign is to draw customers to your business. The purpose of a street sign is to stabilize the value and culture of a community.”

Stephens, Layne’s pastor at Temple Church of Christ, defined a hero as someone who is admired for great or brave acts. He said Layne (and his good deeds) will never be forgotten.

It was Susan E. House’s vision to recognize Layne, a gesture she said was long overdue. House served as chair and organizer of the Austin A. Layne, Jr. Way Committee. House’s vision became a reality after several months of challenges and opposition from some in the community,

she said. She thanked County Councilwoman Hazel Erby, who was in attendance, for being instrumental in getting the signs.

House glanced directly at Layne when she said, “Not only do you make a difference, you are the difference. A true giant is not measured by height. A true giant is measured by footprints. And Mr. Layne, you are a true giant.”

Other church leaders in attendance included Pastor B.T. Rice of New Horizon Seven Day Christian Church, the Rev. Robert C. Scott of Central Baptist Church and Father Bob Gettinger of St. Augustine Catholic Church. Layne was visibly moved

n “A true giant is not measured by height. A true giant is measured by footprints. And Mr. Layne, you are a true giant.”

– Susan E. House

and could be seen dabbing at tears with a handkerchief during the two-hour long program. Layne was pleasantly surprised and said he never dreamed that someone would honor him in such a way.

“You never know what you’re thought of until somebody lets you know,” Layne said. “I tell my staff all the time, ‘Be careful! You never know who’s watching.’”

Layne established the

Austin A. Layne Mortuary, Inc. in 1979, after serving as funeral director and embalmer for the Wade Funeral Home. He independently owns two additional facilities: the Layne Renaissance Chapel and Layne Normandy Chapel. His business ensures gainful employment for AfricanAmerican men and women and has generated significant tax revenue for the county and state.

Layne has served citizens (black and white) throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area in their time of need. Several people, such as long-time staff member Pat Miller, spoke of Layne’s compassionate nature. Miller shared the story of a young lady who was going to use her scholarship money to bury her mother, but Layne wouldn’t take the money. Layne received proclamations Governor Jay Nixon, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay and County Executive Charlie A. Dooley, to name a few. Dellwood Mayor Reginald Jones expressed love for Layne.

“And, yes I have the biggest proclamation today,” Jones

Austin A. Layne Jr. was joined by his brother Simeon A. Layne Sr., friend Loretta Harvey, wife Eneazer Layne, Bishop J.A. Johnson and many other clergy and dignitaries at the Layne Renaissance Chapel on Saturday for a ceremony dedicating a portion of West Florissant Avenue in his name.

joked. Jones’ mother, Ann Jones, served as co-chair on the committee that organized the effort.

St. Louis Alderman Chris Carter, 27th Ward, said Layne was a personal friend of his grandmother, the late state Senator Paula J. Carter. Even at a young age, Carter said, he was aware that he was in the presence of a “prestigious individual.” Carter thanked Layne for his devotion to his family.

“We have been through so much together. He buried my uncle right here,” Carter said, referring to former 27th Ward Alderman Gregory J. Carter. Follow this reporter on Twitter: @BridjesONeil.

Photo by Wiley Price

Speaking Ruby’s truth

Cynthia Bond, daughter of former St. Louis Community College Chancellor Zelema Harris, will sign and discuss “Ruby” 7 p.m. Thursday, May 15 at St. Louis County Library Headquarters.

Author Cynthia Bond to discuss debut at County Library

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

From the reader’s first introduction to “Ruby,” the debut novel by Cynthia Bond, there is evidence of literary magic. The care Bond takes to describe the disheveled appearance of the tortured soul that is the title character will spark intrigue and empathy in the way that is often associated with the giants of prose.

“People of Liberty Township wove her into cautionary tales of the wages of sin and travel,” Bond wrote. “She wore gray like rainclouds and wandered the red roads with bare feet – callouses thick as boot leather, hair caked with mud and nails blackened as though she had scratched night.”

In that moment, Bond draws the reader in. What drove Ruby Bell to go from a girl with the fortitude to pack up and leave her small Texas town for New York City only to return and eventually become a feral woman version of the town lunatic? With its debut late last month, “Ruby” set the literary world ablaze. St. Louis audiences will have the opportunity to hear insights on the process of weaving Ruby Bell into book form and the surprising local connection when Bond signs and discusses the book at the County

See LAVELL, C4

By Danie Rae, Style Broker For The St. Louis American

Mother’s Day is right around the corner, so we here at The American wanted to show a well-deserving mom how to get glammed up without a whole lot of fuss. Many moms never truly get an opportunity to be selfish and think about themselves. They always have to consider the children first when making choices, decisions and sacrifices. And they very seldom choose to pamper themselves over ensuring that the children are swagged out.

Our lucky mom is Kenyatta Madison of St. Louis. She is the mom of a 3 year old daughter, and 6 month year

old baby boy. I’ve been knowing Kenyatta since grade school, and she has always been low key about her approach to style and glam.

She works as a construction liaison at Lowe’s, so she really has no time to get gussied up when her day to day look consists of a hard hat, steel toe boots and cargo pants. But she’s one of those girls that will always be pretty (inside and out). Her skin is flawless, and even though she says she has to get used to filling out her newfound “mom curves,” her natural aura makes her beautiful at any size.

But like many new moms that have put on weight during their pregnancy, adjusting to a new body can be challenging, and at times dreadful. Most have to learn what type of clothing compliments their new size.

Joyful bridal shower

A joyful bridal shower for Erika Jane Williams was held Saturday, April 26 in the home of Michael and Jeanne Gore Roberts. “Pretty Lingerie” was the theme. Erika is the daughter of Judy Woods-Williams and Michael C. Williams Hostesses were Jeanne Roberts Johnson Stephanie Evans Roberts, Jeanne Gore Roberts and Gail Allmon. Out of town guests were Groomto-Be Christopher O’Neal Hickman (Toledo, OH), his parents, Bishop and Mrs. Robert F. Hickman (Piqua, OH) and Christopher’s Aunt, Mrs. Willa Garrett (Clarksville, TN). Guests were greeted with champagne cocktails as they mingled in the pool area. Later, guests were led to the Roberts’ Ballroom, beautifully decorated with hues of lavender, purple, silver and rhinestones (the bride’s wedding colors). Gorgeous gladiolas and brilliant candles topped the beautiful satincovered tables. John Dunn catered the scrumptious meal. The dessert, breathtaking to view and delicious to eat, was prepared by African-American pastry chef Simone Faure. It was a replica of a

I picked out a transitional, day to night look for Kenyatta, including hair, makeup, and wardrobe, to show her how she can be easybreezy and stylish at the same time.

Style Broker’s Mommy Makeover Guide

Many moms have the challenge of trying to find and maintain a look that is conducive to their lifestyle. I showed Kenyatta how to achieve an effortless look that’s not only chic, but also easy on the pockets.

Hair Hair is like a delicate flower, it needs to be cultivated and maintained. If it’s neglected it will

definitely look dead. Kenyatta was faced with the challenge of making her hair easy to maintain. Her hair was healthy, but just needed an actual style. She has relaxed hair, which as we all know can cause more damage to the hair than if it’s in its natural state. I recommended that she start on the journey back to natural tresses.

To complement and elongate her facial features, I cut her hair into a gradual bob shape, being sure to still leave her enough hair to put into a ponytail. I also added a pop

See STYLE, C4

Novelist

Dana G. Randolph

pastry chef at the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans and St. Louis. Chouquette is a sweet boutique and tea room located in St. Louis’ Botanical

Heights neighborhood. Guests next enjoyed a series

See POTPOURRI, C4

WITH DANA G. RANDOLPH

Stephanie Roberts, Jeanne Johnson, Erika Williams, Judy Williams, Gail Allmon, Jeanne Roberts celebrated Williams’ bridal shower.

Photos: Lawrence Bryant Hair, makeup and wardrobe: Danie Rae, Style Broker

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

Thurs., May 8, 8 p.m.,

The Sheldon presents “An Evening for Hope” with the Marcus Roberts Trio. All proceeds from the Evening of Hope will benefit the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sat., May 10, 7 p.m., Super Fresh Hip Hop Fest feat. Too Short, Doug E Fresh, Naughty By Nature, Mc Lyte, and more. Chaifetz Arena, 1 S. Compton Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.ticketmaster.com.

Sat., May 10, 8 p.m. (7 p.m. doors) Majic 100.3 FM welcomes Ledisi, The Pageant, 6161 Delmar. For more information, visit www. thepageant.com.

Sun., May 11, 5:30 p.m., The Sheldon presents Denise Thimes and Friends Mother’s Day Concert. The events will benefit The Mildred Thimes Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer. The concert features Cyrus Chestnut, piano; Tom Braxton, saxophone with John King, bass and Demarius Hicks, drums. 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

May 14-17, Jazz at the Bistro presents Jane Monheit. An extraordinarily gifted vocalist whose sincere and romantic interpretations of exceptional songs have made her a favorite in both the jazz and cabaret worlds. Her first album, Never Never Land, was voted Top Debut Recording by the Jazz Journalist’s Association and stayed on the Billboard jazz chart for over a year. 3536 Washington Blvd., 63101. For more information, visit www. grandcenter.org.

Sat., May 17, 6 p.m., The Peabody Opera House presents Cabaret for a Cause,

starring local jazz favorite Erin Bode, 1400 Market St., 63103. To learn more about all the ways Lutheran Senior Services helps older adults, visit LSSLiving.org/Giving today.

May 17, 7 p.m., Black Out Circuit Christian Concert featuring FLAME, KB, THI’SL, V. Rose & DA’ T.R.U.T.H. also featuring SPEC and MIKEREAL, The Ambassador, 9800 Halls Ferry Rd (63136). For more information, visit http:// blackoutcircuit.com.

Sat., May 17, 8 p.m., St. Louis Ink presents Nappy Roots and DJ Needles. 4243 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, call (314) 531-5700.

Wed., May 21, 7:15 p.m., Chuck Berry Night at the Ballpark as The St. Louis Cardinals host the D’Backs, Busch Stadium. For more information, visit www. stlcardinals.com.

Thur., May 22, 3:30 p.m. & 8 p.m., The Pageant presents Danity Kane. 6161 Delmar Blvd., 63112. For more information, call (314) 7266161.

Mon., May 26, 8 p.m., The Ambassador presents Future. 9800 Halls Ferry Rd., 63136. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

local gigs

Sat., May 17, 6 p.m., Thundagrownd presents Journii Walker – Rhythm & Words. Advanced tickets are required. 2701 N. 14th St., 63106. For ticket information, visit http://www.eventbrite. com/e/thundagrowndpresents-journiiwalkerrhythm-words-tickets10793923917?aff=zvents

Mon., May 19, 9 p.m., Broadway Oyster Bar hosts Soulard Blues Band Open Jam. 736 S. Broadway, 63102.

For more information, visit www.stlblues.net.

May 23 – 24, JazzU with special guest Terell Stafford. JazzU places talented middle and high school musicians in small jazz combos, which meet weekly between September and May. This competitive program selected 60 emerging musicians for seven groups from a pool of 115 who auditioned for the 2013-14 season. Jazz at the Bistro, 3536 Washington Blvd., 63101. For more information, call (314) 534-3663.

Sun., May 25, 8:30 p.m., Net Work In presents their All White Party featuring Pieces of A Family and Nikko Smith (10 p.m.), Hosted by DeAndre Whitner with Dirty J C and performance by Te’Mari, Harry’s Restaurant and Bar, 2144 Market. For tickets or more information, CALL BENO @ LOOP AUTO (314)726-1785 OR (314)5688227.

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

special events

Fri., May 9, 7 p.m., The Kwame Foundation and Harris-Stowe State University Don & Heide Wolf Jazz Institute present Living the Dream Concert. Featuring Brianna Brown and Her Trio. Dr. Henry Givens Jr. Administration Building, Harris-Stowe State University, 3026 Laclede Ave., 63103. For more information, call (314) 340-3342.

Sat., May 10, 10 a.m., Crowne Plaza- St. Louis Airport hosts Mother’s Day Off – Spa Party. Enjoy a rejuvenating day of relaxation, shopping and great food. Free buffet served from noon until 1:30pm. The first 50 women to register will receive a free gift bag filled with goodies. 11228 Lone Eagle Dr., 63044. For more information, visit www. mothersdayoffspaparty.com.

Sat., May 10, 10 a.m., District 9 Machinist Hall hosts Glitz & Glam Mother’s Day Gala. These are just 2 of mom’s favorite things... Shopping & Fashion. At 3 p.m., there will be an “All Eyes on Mom” Fashion Show. Give mom what she really wants this Mother’s Day.

The St. Louis Cardinals will present Chuck Berry Night at the Ballpark as The St. Louis Cardinals host the D’Backs. See SPECIAL EVENTS for details.

12365 St. Charles Rock Rd., 63044. For more information, visit asyougoevents.com.

Thurs., May 15, 11:15 a.m., The Ritz-Carlton hosts 2014 Women of Achievement Luncheon. The St. Louis Women of Achievement Award is the oldest, ongoing program in the area whose sole mission is to honor and recognize the volunteer service and leadership of women. Women of Achievement recognizes the 2014 Class of Honorees, which includes Ida H. Early and Eva Frazer. 100 Carondelet Plz., 63105. Reservations can be made by contacting Sarah Thorowgood at MAC Meetings & Events at (314) 421-2005 or sthorowgood@macmeetings. com.

Fri., May 16, 7 p.m., Rumble Time Promotions presents Evolution: Live MMA. Featuring the Pro debut of one of the hottest amateur MMA fighters in the business, Jake Roberts. Also on the card: Marissa Smith, Kain Royer, Eric Irvin, Jimmy Donahue, Hugh Pulley plus many more of the top fighters. 1 Ameristar Blvd., 63301. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Sat., May 17, Concordia Lutheran Church hosts 6th Annual Anthony Smith 3on3 Memorial Tournament. Anthony Smith and his twin brother Antoine graduated from Kirkwood High School in 2001. Anthony died of Leukemia at the young age of 24. The aim of the annual Smith 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament is to encourage

and inspire young athletes, and to support the Leukemia &Lymphoma Society and other local outreach organizations. 505 S Kirkwood Rd., 63122. For more information, visit www.keepwatching50.org.

Sat., May 17, 9 a.m., The Humane Society of Missouri and Purina ONE® present Bark in the Park. The largest dog festival in the Midwest. Grab your favorite furry companion for a fun family festival, which features a 5k run, 1-mile walk, and pancake breakfast, all benefiting the Humane Society of Missouri Animal Cruelty Fund. Registration includes an official Bark t-shirt. The annual event will be held at Cricket Field in Forest Park. For more information, visit member.hsmo.org.

Sat., May 17, 6 p.m., St Peter AME Church hosts Send a Student to College. Katara Scholarship Foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships to students with learning disabilities. Katara Scholarship Foundation is having its first annual charity dinner and the guest speaker will be Michael McMillan, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Urban League. Applications are still being accepted for anyone with a learning disability for high school seniors planning to attend college. The deadline for application is April 30, 2014. 4730 Margaretta Ave., 63115. For more information, visit http://katarascholarfoundat. wix.com/katarascholarfound or contact Tamara Walker at (314)537-0785 or Keilah Evans at (314) 683-3188.

Wed., May 21, 11 a.m., Doubletree Hotel St. Louis at Westport hosts St. Louis Career Fair. Multiple employers will be at the National Career Fair Job Fair and are looking to fill hundreds of local positions immediately. Company recruiters meet with attending job seekers on a oneon-one basis which increases your chances of being selected quickly for a great new job. Attendance is free for all job seekers. 1973 Craigshire Rd., 63146. If you are interested in exhibiting as an employer or recruiter at a National Career Fairs event, call 1-(702)-6149537.

Sat., May 24, 11:30 a.m., St. Louis Morehouse Parents Annual Scholarship Luncheon, The Frontenac Hilton. All proceeds benefit scholarships for St. Louis

area young men attending Morehouse College. Tickets can be purchased online through May 21st at www. stlmcparents.eventbrite.com.

Thurs., May 22, 4:30 p.m. Lafayette Square hosts Cocktails on the Plaza. The event features over ten of St Louis’ finest restaurants and Wine and Cocktail lounges offering complementary signature cocktails and wines as well as appetizers. There will be live music and a chance to win assorted gift baskets. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Lafayette Square Business Association Beautification Program. Park Avenue between 18th St. and Vail Place in Historic Lafayette Square, 63104. For more information, visit www. lafayettesquare.org.

Sat., May 24, 7 a.m., Cardinal Ritter College Prep HS hosts CDM Mind and Body 5K Health and Fitness Event. The third annual CDM Mind and Body 5K health and fitness event, hosted by Christ Deliverance Ministry challenges St. Louisans to implement lifestyle change with a 5K race through midtown’s historic Grand Center, challenge themselves to a boot camp, and learn about leading their best life through healthy living seminars. 701 North Spring Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www. cdmmindandbody.org.

Sat., May 24, 7 p.m. UMSL University presents First Annual Variety Show. The showcase will be featuring live performances from the New female band “DNA” along with Fashion Show, Dancing, Gospels artist and more. This event will be for all ages so bring out the entire family for fun and excitement. 1 University Blvd., 63121. For more information, contact Mill (314) 276-7619.

Sun., May 25, 8:15 p.m. (7 p.m. doors) MILDS presents All Gold Everything Male Stripper Show, Blackmon’s Plaza, East St. Louis IL. For

more information, call (314) 651-1679 or (314) 685-5339.

comedy

Fri., May 9, 7:30 p.m., Chaifetz Arena presents Mother’s Day Comedy Jam. Comedians include Lavell Crawford, Lil Duval, Sheryl Underwood, Tony Roberts, Luenell, and Michael Blackson. One S. Compton Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. thechaifetzarena.com.

Sat., May 24, 7 p.m., Lumiere Casino presents D.L. Hughley. 99 N. Second St., 63160.

theatre

Through May 11, The Fox Theater presents Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. One of the most enduring shows of all time is the irresistible family musical about the trials and triumphs of Joseph, Israel’s favorite son. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www.fabulousfox.com.

Sun., May 11, 3 & 7 p.m., The Peabody Opera House presents The Color Purple. 1400 Market St., 63103. For more information, visit colorpurple.com.

May 13 – 18, The Fox Theater presents The Wizard of Oz. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz is an enchanting adaptation of the all-time classic, totally reconceived for the stage. 527 N. Grand Blvd., 63103. For more information, visit www. fabulousfox.com.

literary

Thurs., May 15, 7 p.m., St. Louis County Library welcomes Cynthia Bond, author of the critically acclaimed novel Ruby, St. Louis County Library

Headquarters 1640 S. Lindbergh. For more information, call (314) 9943300 or visit www.slcl.org.

Thur., May 15, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books hosts author Corban Addison, author of Garden of the Burning Sand A young human rights lawyer, Zoe Fleming has made a life for herself in Zambia. When a girl with Down syndrome is sexually assaulted in a Lusaka slum, Zoe joins Zambian police officer Joseph Zabuta in investigating the rape. Piecing together clues from the victim’s past, they discover a violent connection between the girl, Kuyeya, and a powerful Zambian family that will stop at nothing to bury the truth. 399 Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, call (314) 367-6731.

Sat., May 17, 2 p.m., Missouri History Museum hosts Light and Liberty: Reflections on The Pursuit of Happiness. Eric Petersen spent ten years studying Jefferson’s reflections in reports, state papers, speeches and twenty thousand letters.

Majic 100.3 FM welcomes Ledisi to The Pageant. For more information, see CONCERTS.

He will share Jefferson’s vision, expressed so eloquently in those documents, on religion, human rights, foreign affairs, and more. 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, call (314) 7464599 or visit www.mohistory. org.

Mon., May 19, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books hosts author Aaron McMulling, author of Invisible Hands. In this oral history collection, electronics manufacturers in China, miners in Africa, garment workers in Mexico, and farmers in India reveal the human rights crises occurring behind the scenes of the global economy. 399 Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, call (314) 3676731.

arts

Sat., May 17, 7 p.m., Contemporary Art Museum hosts Apocalyptic Wonderland. The premiere event in the Fête series, the exhibition will be a transformative journey

through darkness, limbo and light via performing and fine art, high fashion and music. Featured artists include avantgarde accessories designer Erica Dunk of Hyper Haute, fashion and costume designer Michele Sansone of Sansone Designs, and more. 3750 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. FeteEventSeries.eventbrite. com.

Through May 18, The St. Louis University Museum of Art presents Tradition Redefined: The Larry and Brenda Thompson of African-American Art. The Thompson collection includes the work of notable artists, as well as those by artists who have been considered emerging, regional or lesser known and has typically not been recognized in the traditional narratives of African-American art. 3663 Lindell Blvd., 63108.

Fri., May 30, 6 p.m., Clayton Fine Art Gallery presents The Blooming Artists Project. This initiative pairs talented students from elementary to high school with professional artists and allows for the exchange of perspectives and techniques. Students share original artwork with their mentors who in turn, create their own piece inspired by their counterparts. 21 N. Bemiston Rd., 63105. For more information, visit www. claytonfineartgallery.com.

lectures

Tues., May 20, 8 a.m., COCA presents COCAbiz Artful Speaker bizLAB Intensive. COCAbiz teaches business skills and strategies through participatory, creative activities. Artful Speaker is for anyone that must communicate complex ideas clearly to create understanding and inspire action. Participants will improve their public speaking skills – at every step from preparation to presentation –and gain confidence in front

of an audience as they learn how to create and deliver an effective speech. 524 Trinity Ave., 63130.To register and for more information, call (314) 725-6555 or visit www. cocabiz.com.

Sat., May 10, 8 a.m., Community Women Against Hardship 10th Annual Walka-thon and Health Fair, Tower Grove Park. Choose 1k, 3k or 5k. The event provides health information from a myriad of physicians and health care providers. Come and enjoy Food, Fitness and Fun. Volley Ball Games, Hula Hoop Contest, Arts & Crafts, Face Painting, Line Dancing, and much more. For more information, visit www.cwah. org, or call 314-289-7523.

Sat., May 17, 11 a.m., Christ Community United Methodist Church presents We Survive...We Thrive Women’s Complimentary Luncheon & Panel Discussion in conjunction with National Women’s Health Week, 8841 Old Lucas & Hunt, Jennings, MO 63136. RSVP: (314) 3881211.

Sat., May 10, 11 a.m., First Baptist Church of Chesterfield presents their 11th Annual Hattitude and Hankie Tea, Norwood Hills Country Club, 1 Norwood Hills Country Club Dr. For more information, call (636) 5378748 or email crc@firstbcc.org.

Fri., May 16, Belle opens in theatres nationwide.

Fri., Jun. 20, Think Like A Man Too starring Kevin Hart, Regina Hall, Megan Good, Romany Malco, Gabrielle Union, Gary Owen and more opens in theatres nationwide.

RUBY

Continued from C1

Library Headquarters next

Thursday, May 15. Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine likens “Ruby” to the work of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winner Toni Morrison.

“Ruby enchants not just with its powerful tale of lifelong quests and unrelenting love, but also with its exquisite language,” famed author Edwidge Dandicat says. “It is a treasure of a book, one you won’t soon forget.” Bond never lets the reader go as she details the family history for which their fair skin is looked upon as a generational burden because of tragic outcomes as a result of their hue.

Ruby’s mother not only prayed for her daughter to have brown skin, she ate brown eggs from a black hen to make it so. And while there would be no “passing” for Ruby, her complexion didn’t make life any easier for a child who would ultimately be sold – by a preacher, nonetheless – into the sex trade.

Over the course of the novel, Ruby seems to be caught in a revolving door that rotates her from sufferer to survivor and back again.

As she teeters on the verge of sheer madness to the point of no return, it is an unyielding love that has the capacity to bring her back from the edge of the world.

Ruby’s local connection

There is plenty of truth to “Ruby.”

“There are moments, spices, that have been stirred in slowly, from my life and from the stories of others,” Bond said of the book.

Some of the narrative

comes courtesy of the more than 15 years Bond, a PEN/ Rosenthal Fellow, has spent teaching writing to homeless and at-risk youth throughout Los Angeles.

But for other elements of “Ruby” there is a family connection – one with links to St. Louis.

She has woven experiences of her mother, former St. Louis Community College Chancellor Zelema Harris.

“She grew up in this very small town in Texas. Her family would be picking cotton, and they pointed to a hill and said, ‘See that hill up there? That’s where your sister Carrie was killed,’” Bond told Connie Martinson when discussing real-life sources of “Ruby.”

“This story is a story that has been in my family for years and my mom had wanted to write about it,” Bond said. “But once I did, she said, ‘Now I don’t have to write about it. My whole life I just wanted that story to be told because the injustice of it was so great.’” Cynthia Bond will sign and discuss “Ruby” at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 15 at St. Louis County Library Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh. For more information on the event, call (314) 994-3300 or visit www. slcl.org.

STYLE

Continued from C1

of color with extensions to frame her face.

Make up

Like a lot of moms who also work, Kenyatta doesn’t have time to put on a full face of makeup every day. And due to her line of work within the construction industry, it really doesn’t make sense. When she steps out on the weekend, she likes to add a little pop of color to her face, but really has no clue as to where to start.

I walked her through a basic natural face that she can easily replicate at home. I started off by penciling in her eyebrows with a natural tint using “Sephora’s” eyebrow pencil in Chestnut. I then applied a “Make Up Forever” concealer that was one shade lighter than her natural skin tone, to highlight her eye area. I began to apply a natural base tone shadow to give the eye a natural glow.

Then I went in with a deep brown shade applied to the crease of her eye to pop her eyelid. To top the eye area off, I applied a copper rouge hue to accent her light brown eyes. To finish off her face, I applied a loose powder foundation that matches her tone and a rose powder blush to accentuate her cheek bones.

Wardrobe

POTPOURRI

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of games including “Dress the Bride.” Potpourri Correspondent Gwen Key along with the Bride-to-Be Erika and Stephanie Griffin won coveted prizes designed by Jeanne Roberts Johnson, Esq (“GiGi”). Erika received an array of beautiful gifts. The unique parting souvenir was bottled water with a photo of the bride and groom-tobe. According to Gwen, the afternoon was akin to being in an enchanted forest. A few close friends and family in attendance included Thelma Cook, Frankie M. Freeman, Esq., Peggy Proctor Pat Sanders Bonnie Gipson, Lynn Kennedy, Rosalee Johnson Joyce Price Judge Paula Perkins Bryant, Laura Bryant, Dr. Eva Frazer Robin Smith Gwen Pennington, Jeanne Gore, Delores Roberts, Patricia Reed-Boswell Dottie

Kenyatta’s whole outfit was purchased from “Forever 21” all for under $100.

basically at any

and still be complementary to her shape. For her day time look, I put her in a pair of dark wash skinny jeans. These are a mom staple. Not only are they stretch-friendly, they also are comfortable enough to chase the kiddos around during the day. For her night time look, I opted to

New moms can sometimes get overwhelmed when it comes to finding clothes for themselves. They have maternity clothes that are too big, and pre-pregnancy clothes that are too small. This leaves for them to have to do a wardrobe overhaul.

Kenyatta faced some of those same issues. She is still adjusting to her post-pregnancy body, and she just doesn’t

Pennington Fannie Bohlen and Stephanie Griffin A few of St. Louis’ prominent Lady Lawyers are looking forward to summer and decided to kick off spring with a Ladies Night recently.

The evening began with dinner and ended with an evening of rollicking fun at Trainwreck in Westport Plaza. Super Soulful band “Dirty Muggs” was in the house. The Sharp Barristers who traded their law books for dancing shoes Saturday night were Attorneys Hope Whitehead Annette Slack, Inez Ross, Felicia Ford Maylin Mahoney Joan Miller and Nanette Baker Smart Setters celebrated their spring kick-off with a recent celebration at Highway 61 Roadhouse and Kitchen in Webster Groves. This unique downhome restaurant offers shrimp and grits, live jazz and blues bands live with a very New Orleans feel. Who better to select this venue than Xavier University grad Ingrid Taylor, M.D. Members enjoyed a yummy Southern brunch, a live jazz/blues quartet, great friendship and a personal book-signing by Charles A. Shaw, Esq., author of Watch Everything Hostesses for the day were Deborah Berryman Johnetta

Mary

Douglas

Delores Roberts

Robin Smith Stallworth and Ingrid. The group is looking forward to re-visiting this joint, if only to study the eclectic blues- jazz memorabilia and artwork. News from Los Angeles: Martin Luther King Community Health Foundation Board Chair Linda Griego and Board Member Candace Bond McKeever received the Second Supervisorial District’s Women of the Year award at a recent luncheon. Griego and Bond McKeever, a native St. Louisan, were honored for their outstanding work as advocates for their vision and guidance on the foundation board. As board members, they play a crucial role in building a deep base of support for the LA’s new MLK Community Hospital. They were instrumental in raising more than $600,000 for the new hospital at the Building the Dream luncheon earlier this year. Kudos, Candace! dgrandolph@live.com.

Craig, M.D.

Riley

Jeralyn James Alison Nash Dula, M.D., Mary Olivia Polk, M.D.

,

Candace Bond McKeever, a native St. Louisan, was honored for her board service to the L.A.based Martin Luther King Community Health Foundation.

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Farmers in the ‘hood

Sweet Potato Project aims to bring agribusiness to North St. Louis

By Sylvester Brown Jr. For The St. Louis American

I was born at a pivotal time in history when civil rights legislation came to fruition.

African Americans won equal access to education, jobs and housing. The downside of these monumental victories was that millions of middle- and working-class black families left areas where they or their parents had built and supported schools, businesses and neighborhoods.

The young people we dismiss today didn’t create the mess we left for them.

It’s not their fault that the poverty rate in majority-black neighborhoods has basically remained the same for almost 50 years. We live in a society that has snoozed while the majority of minority children end up in poverty, with many selling or using illegal drugs, ending up in prison or destined for early graves.

The answer to saving young people and building safe, sustainable neighborhoods is to bring community back to longignored communities.

Toward this end, I co-founded the Sweet Potato Project with the North Area Community Development Corporation in 2012. Each year, we recruit groups of inner-city youth (ages 16-19) to plant sweet potatoes on vacant city lots. For 10 weeks during the summer, they “earn while they learn” to grow food, market, package and sell products made from produce grown in their own neighborhoods.

Giving youth the tools to become urban entrepreneurs is not enough. If we are to change the trajectory of social and economic dysfunction, we have to build environments for success. We have to create an economic inner-city engine that involves and engages youth as well as adults, creates jobs and stirs new business development.

This year, the Sweet Potato Project will introduce the community development portion of its program. Imagine driving along Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and

“I

think owning lots, growing food and having a place in the neighborhood where fruits and vegetables can be packaged and processed is a great idea,” said Briana Taylor.

seeing acres of vacant land transformed into vibrant farms.

Imagine seeing young people and residents tiling soil and planting produce. On that same plot, imagine a facility built to package, process and distribute produce locally and food-based products nationally.

All this is taking shape, starting in the Greater Ville area of the 4th Ward. The Sweet Potato Project has been welcomed by Alderman Sam Moore.

“Most of us came from the South, and our parents or grandparents knew how to farm,” Moore said. “Nowadays, a lot of us have this phobia about our past, but farming is still a positive means to beautify neighborhoods and generate income.”

Moore did some math.

“We have over 1,900 vacant lots and 2,300 empty buildings in our ward,” he said. “We have 41 confectionaries, but no vegetable stands, no pharmacies, Laundromats, clothing and shoe stores. We want and need economic variety.”

Moore, with the assistance of the Greater Ville Neighborhood Preservation Commission, is helping the Sweet Potato Project secure about four acres of vacant property on MLK Blvd. from the Land Reutilization Office.

In addition, we’re working with Gateway Greening and inviting some of its members and public schools with gardens to grow sweet potatoes that we will purchase in the fall.

Through our unique partnership with Saint Louis University’s Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, we’re seeking to build a working farm and food-processing facility. If all goes as planned, our program will teach our

students, other teens and adult residents how to purchase vacant land, engage in large-scale farming, harvest and prepare their yield for production and distribution.

“I think owning lots, growing food and having a place in the neighborhood where fruits and vegetables can be packaged and processed is a great idea,” said Briana Taylor, 18, a Sweet Potato Project student.

Darryeon Bishop, 19, who lives in North St. Louis, agreed.

“There are too many corner stores selling unhealthy foods packed with fat and sugar,” Bishop said. “With the new program, more people can grow their own fresh foods and maybe create jobs and businesses in poor neighborhoods like mine.”

Inner-city food-based initiatives across the country (and in parts of St. Louis) have pumped new, fresh foodbased revenues into poor and developing neighborhoods. Our extended project, with a foodprocessing facility, also would support other gardens and gardeners throughout St. Louis.

We are still in fund-raising mode, but our program is slated to begin in June. If we meet our goals, our youth will be surrounded by adults with an economic incentive to bring their hearts, minds and resources back to North St. Louis.

“We need to stop talking doom and gloom about empty buildings and lots,” Moore said. “Let’s purchase them.

Let’s build new homes, let’s farm and become entrepreneurs in our own neighborhoods. Let’s dominate and maintain our community with healthy living. It’s time to control our own destinies.”

Surreal search for self

Dail Chambers presents ‘Itshanapa’ exhibit

By Olubukola Gbadegesin

For The St. Louis American

Several months ago, St. Louis artist Dail Chambers decided to find her grandmother’s grave in Washington Park Cemetery, an overgrown, historically black burial ground in Berkeley, MO.

Although she did not find the grave, this search for ancestral history represented an important part of her own journey of self-discovery that she presents in her exhibit “Itshanapa: A Surreal Sankofa Experience.”

In the exhibit, Chamber reflects on history of slavery, her family history, and her own life. She creates original assemblages by putting together bits and pieces of the past – family relics, bricks, plants, and photographs. In one assemblage, a cluster of pottery shoes, photographs and letters stand as a tribute to her late grandmother.

Plants that Chambers has collected over the years are placed in the corners and along the walls – symbolizing the organic, ever-evolving, living energy behind these artworks. Clusters of woven copper wire mesh hanging from the ceiling allude to the conductive power of copper for electricity and the functioning of the human body. Even her fantastic, surreal landscape paintings are sprinkled with traces of copper that underscore the transformative, pulsing life energy that runs through the whole show. With all of these

“Portrait” by Dail Chambers from “Itshanapa: A Surreal Sankofa Experience”

assemblages, she generates an inventive record of the past and uses this past to imagine a future identity for herself: Chambers assumes the alias, “Itshanapa.” As for “Sankofa,” it is drawn from the West African Adinkra symbol that conveys the need to look back in order to plot a path forward.

“As a woman of African descent I am weighed on the thread thin division line of my autonomy and your govern,” Chambers writes in an artist statement.

“The objects and imagery in my work act as physical representations of this

identity. They stand as a display of my presence and experience and as that of my foremothers and ancestors. I see each work as an individual, engaged in conversation with the viewer. Through action implied in text of the titles, the object’s request is made to the viewer.”

“Itshanapa: A Surreal Sankofa Experience” closed recently at Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts but remains on view at Dail Chambers’ studio. For more information, contact dailchambers@gmail.com.

Anniversaries

Happy first anniversary to my daughter and son in-law, Willena and Chris Ford on May 4! One year down and a lifetime of martial bliss to come! Love, Mom

~ Celebrations ~

Willie and Kather Cogshell will celebrate 60 years of marriage on May 8. They are the proud parents of eight children, 11 grands, 15 great-grands and three great-great-grands.

Willie retired from McDonnell Douglass in 1993 after 36 years of service. Congratulations from your family and friends!

Library 7606 Natural Bridge. For more information email bhsco1968@att.net or call 314-869-8312.

All reunion announcements can be viewed online!

Beaumont Class of 1968 46th Reunion Weekend: Happy Hour, Friday, June 6 and Picnic, Saturday, June 7. Meetings to wrap up plans for the weekend will be Saturday, April 26, 3-5 pm with final meeting May 24, 2014 2-5 pm, both at STL County

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. Contact Rochelle Williams at rochellewilliams001@yahoo. com.

Normandy High School Class of 1994 will hold its 20th Reunion Weekend, August 22-24, which will include a

May 12 marks the two-year wedding anniversary of high school sweethearts Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan E. Taylor. The couple also has two other reasons to celebrate: Jonathan’s birthday is May 11 and DeMorris turns 41 on May 16!

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

Riverview Gardens High School Class of 1994 is planning its 20th reunion. Please join us via Facebook: Riverview Gardens Senior High Class of 1994. Please email your name, address, telephone number and/or email to rgclassof1994@gmail.com

Soldan will host its 5th AllClass Alumni Skate Party on Saturday, May 24 at Skate King, 6100 Natural Bridge Rd., Pine Lawn, MO 63121 from 9 p.m. - 12 a.m. Open to

Retirement

Congratulations to Annie Sue Preston who is retiring from AT&T after 30 years of service.

Birthdays

Happy birthday to our beautiful and loving mother, JoAnne East, who will turn 61 on May 6. Thank you for being the amazing mom that you are. We love and appreciate you!

all skaters 18 years and older. Tickets are $5 in advance/$7 at the door, skates included. For more information call: (314) 413-9088.

Soldan class of 1969 is planning its 45th reunion on June 6-8, 2014. Please contact Bennie Robinson at 314243-6441 or Barry Taylor at 314-520-1179. For more info visit us on the web at www. soldancwc1969.com.

Sumner Class of 1964 can still let us know if you want to attend the 50th Class Reunion. Contact Patricia Wells Shelton at (314) 839-2214 or via email at patricia.shelton@att. net and/or Carol Strawbridge at (314) 524-8504 or via

email at strawu@aol.com for information regarding this upcoming event the weekend of June 13-15.

Sumner Alumni Association hosts its 7th Annual Scholarship Awards Luncheon & Fashion Show Saturday, June 7, 2014 at the Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel, noon–4 p.m. This year we are honoring former Track Coach, Mrs. Lynn Mitchell and we are seeking all former Track Members 1972-1983. All alumni are welcome. The cost is $50 per person w/complimentary parking. For more info, contact B. Louis at 314.385.9843 or sumneralumniassn@yahoo. com.

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

Clergy Coalition supports SLPS plan

Calls for week of prayer against violence to begin May 26

By Tim Lloyd Of St. Louis Public Radio

A coalition of clergy from more than 40 metropolitan area churches is backing the school transformation plan put forth by St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams.

“We acknowledge there are components that people are unhappy about, unsure about and uncompromising about,” said the Rev. Earl Nance Jr. of Greater Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church.

“We honor the concerns that people have. At the same time, we believe that it’s worth a try.” Nance delivered that message during a recent press conference at New Northside Missionary Baptist Church. Flanked on either side by fellow members of St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition, he highlighted the plan’s focus on chronically low-performing schools as a reason for their support.

“It is a commitment to serving our lowest-performing schools with all options considered,” Nance said.

Adams introduced the plan during a Special Administrative Board (SAB) meeting in March. Intended to serve as a roadmap for earning back full accreditation for the district, it calls for funneling roughly $6.4 million to 18 lowperforming schools to pay for

tutors, added social workers and teacher training. If one of the 18 lowperforming schools fails to show improvement during the coming school year, a nonprofit operator could be brought in during the 2015-16 school year and would have control over hiring staff and setting curriculum. That provision has drawn criticism from members of the elected but disempowered school board and the teachers’ union. Clergy meet monthly with district officials and Nance said the merits of Adams’ school improvement plan were discussed during their most recent gathering. Nance said the coalition of religious leaders felt compelled to voice their support when Adams’ plan was compared to William Roberti’s school turnaround project more than 10 years ago, which

resulted in job cuts and closed schools.

“This is different,” Nance said. “This is the superintendent’s initiative with a clear plan of how to effectively turnaround and support the 18 lowestperforming schools and bring them up to par.”

The coalition also announced plans for a week of prayer to begin on May 26 to raise awareness about violence.

Rev. Rodrick Burton of New Northside Missionary Baptist Church asked those who have been affected by violence to step out their front door on Memorial Day at 9 p.m. with a candle or flashlight in their hand “so that we can all see the impact that violence is having on our community.”

“Our vision is that from the north of St. Louis to the south of St. Louis, the city will be

unified in prayer,” Burton said.

The coalition also said it plans to spread the word about what resources are available for children and families struggling with hunger.

“Hunger relates to and impacts both education and violence,” said Rev. Traci D. Blackmon of Christ the King United Church of Christ. “If you’re hungry you cannot think. If you’re hungry, you cannot act appropriately. If you are hungry, you are desperate.”

With many poor students relying on meals provided at schools, Blackmon said, hunger is especially pressing as summer break approaches. Blackmon encouraged other religious leaders and community organizations to take advantage of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program.

“To parents out there, you are not alone,” Blackmon said. “We are not going to leave you by yourself.”

Edited for length and reprinted with permission from news. stlpublicradio.org.

Revival at Gregg Chapel

Gregg Chapel A.M.E. Church will host an Anointed Holy Ghost Filled Revival 6:45 p.m. nightly May 12-14 at the church, 4437 Elmbank Ave. The revivalist will be Rev. Dr. Timothy Tyler, pastor of Shorter A.M.E. Church of Denver, Colorado, former pastor of Wayman AME Church in St. Louis and the son of Bishop Carolyn E. Tyler Guidry, presiding prelate of the 8th Episcopal District of the AME Church. The host pastor is Kevin Jacques Sr.

Because of recent events in my life, I had to revisit something that has played a powerful role in my understanding of my relationship with God. As most things do, this started in church and my interpretation of the message again revealed a truth that God does not play games. My actual thought at the time was God was saying “I’m tired of playing games with you.” Now this becomes more insightful as I was asked by a close friend if I thought God answered prayer.

“Absolutely!” The answer just rolled off my lips without any thought at all. I believe God answers prayer when and how He wants to, when prayer is sincerely offered out of the belief that He really can. I also believe we waste our time making entreaties to God out of habit or tradition.

If so, I call that false faith.

That’s the kind of stuff we do to each other. We play each other way too much. We constantly show each other the face – or faces, if you have two – of polite political correctness in an attempt to get over. We expertly manipulate people and circumstances to our desired end.

God ain’t having none of that. It’s like what my mother used to say to me when I was young and stupid”

“Who you think you talking to? One of you little friends out there in them streets?” After swallowing and hoping I could get my little behind out of that particular conversation, I heard what Mom was actually saying. She was tired of my lame excuses and the potential lie that she could hear before I even opened my mouth. No prayer is probably better than false prayer. No prayer is probably better than “it can’t hurt prayer.” It’s that “I’m tired of playing games with you” thing. Either you’re in a faith struggle of monumental proportions, and God recognizes you really believe in His magnificence. Or, you just can’t get your act together. You need to recognize who you talking to. Faith is or it isn’t, don’t you know? And don’t you know that God knows? “Do you believe that I am able to do this? Yes Lord, they replied. Then He touched their eyes and said, According to your faith will it be done…” Matthew 9:28-29. What will be done in God’s name for you today? I happen to be convinced God can do anything He desires. The trick is to make sure when He asks “You talking to me?” that the answer is loud, clear and emphatic.

The American is accepting Inspirational Messages from the community. Send your column (no more than 400 words) as a Word document and pasted text to cking@stlamerican. com and attach a photo of yourself as a jpeg ile. Please be patient; we will run columns in the order received.

James A. Washington

Rev. Earl Nance Jr. (left) and Rev. C. Jessel Strong (right) listen as Rev. Traci D. Blackmon speaks at a recent St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition press conference. Photo by Wiley Price

Celebrity Swagger Snap of the Week

Poetry grows at the InSpot. The weekend kicked off for me Thursday night when I made my way to Mocha Latte’s Got Lyrics monthly open mic event at the InSpot. I hadn’t been in a while and I must say that I had an amazing time. It was like Love Jones: The North St. Louis Edition. I made it just in time for the featured artist, National urban poetry slam champ (and St. Louis native) Chris Ware. His poetical take on relationships, racism, religion and whatnot really had the folks snapping their fingers and making that “mmm” noise (as in the “that’s deep” mmm). And while I must personally say that I was thrilled with his Negro Spiritual about how a story in the St. Louis American saved his wrestling team when Mocha shouted us out for being in the building, the black to the basics had a collective “okay, now get back to the poems” look on their faces. He was really good, too, and the whole evening had a great energy to it. Next time I’m not going to take so long to visit Got Lyrics again. It goes down the first Thursday of every month and it’s a cute alternative to the usual suspect club action.

Coco Soul’s Ode to Erykah farewell. On Friday night I made my way over to Lola for her farewell tribute concert before leaving St. Louis for Atlanta this summer. I forgot that in her last incarnation Erykah Badu had channeled her inner Wilona Woods, but Coco didn’t. She nailed it as she pulled out her best “That 70s Show” dress and a perfect replica of Erykah’s Afro Wig from “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party,” and did that thang (yes, I said thang). I thought I would have to wait until ESSENCE Festival to hear my favorite jams from the high priestess of Neo Soul. “Danger,” “Kiss Me (On My Next),” “Stay”…all of it. I got my life, do you hear me? And Duane “Jingo” Williams had these hips channeling my inner African goddess by the way he was beating on those drums. I wish Coco the best as she makes her move.

First round of a Marquee triple header. It seemed like I spent my whole weekend up in the all new Marquee. And when I took the time to think about it, I realized that I actually did. Things popped off Friday night with a “Pretty Girls Rock” event featuring model Phi Tran and “celebrity” designer Janice I didn’t know that theme was still in style. It was actually quite regular as I watched a handful of ladies who appeared to have recently retired from the pole twerk with invisible glow sticks from the upper level VIP. Speaking of style, who knew orange Gloria Vanderbilt stretch jeans would be all the rage for the quietly ratchet spring wardrobe must-have? I saw about five pair in lengths that ranged from pedal pusher and capri to boot cut…I guess. I still had a ball as I helped my girl Nicole Miller (sorry girl, I don’t know your new name) say farewell to the single life before she jumped the broom on Sunday at the Chase.

The Money Team’s close call. Oh, come on now…y’all know that Nelly and Miss Jackson clearly got in Floyd Mayweather’s head, because even though The Money Team fans will deny it, Maidana (My-Dana) got some good licks in. They’re still saying Maidana was swinging at the air, but the truth is Floyd was fighting his feelings and Maidana was making the most of “The moment!” Get it…that was the theme of the fight. You know what, never mind. Anyway, I always forget what a boxing fan I am until the fight comes on, and I thought Saturday’s “The Moment” bout was quite interesting. For me, the only for-real low blow of the evening came from Tyrese during his National Anthem offering. He sounded well enough, but plugging his social media in the middle of paying homage to our nation in song was a straight up thirst move! I was expecting some falsetto as his glorious tenor runs as a grand finale. What I got instead was, “…For the land of the free…and the home of the…follow me on Facebook at backslash Tyrese…” Help.

Fight party TKO. Now what’s the point of fight night without fight night parties? And the undisputed champion of the Mayweather vs. Maidana watch party was…wait for it…The Marquee. I told y’all I was perched there all weekend, didn’t I? But I still managed to stop at three other places (The Rustic Goat, The Coliseum and The Loft). I was shocked, too, because for the whole two years or so that The Coliseum has been around, they seemed to have the sporting event themed party game on lock. But they couldn’t hang with the Marquee’s grown, sophisticated vibe – or the fact that the marquee had screens everywhere except the bottom of drinks, so you could watch from every angle.

Let the Day Party season begin. My residency (just kidding, but not really) with Melanie and Dre at The Marquee concluded on Sunday as they hosted the first Day Party of the Spring/Summer season. I had decided that it was going to be a weird experience to go into a nightclub during the day and talk about how nice the weather is outside. I had decided to tell y’all that it should be illegal for a place with no outdoor kicking-it space to host The Day Party. Before I arrived I was like “they don’t even have any windows.” I must say that I stand utterly corrected! I had never been there when it was light outside and had no idea that they have some great skylight action to offset that concrete jungle struggle patio situation and was giving all kinds natural sunbeams, but without the heat beating down my back. They also attempted to bring some of the spring outdoor elements inside by having all the waitresses dress in matching yellow skirts and floral print tops. It was like floral beds with sew-ins taking bottle service and food orders. I surprisingly caught life – and so did the line of folks who were on deck before the day party even started! Everybody and their mama – I mean from preachers (your secret is safe with me Minister _____) to professional athletes were in the building recycling their Easter outfits. It would be a waste of time to even begin to name names, but just know anybody who is (or was) somebody on the young, black and fabulous, reformed ratchet and grown and sexy scene was getting their life Sunday afternoon.

Mr. “BFree St. Louis” himself Teddy Blackett and the lovely Makeda Crane kicked their weekend off Cabana Club style Friday night @ Soho

It was a girls’ night out as Nicole Miller reveled in her final days as a single lady Friday night @ The Marquee

Andrea and Gordon enjoyed the cuisine and caught the Mayweather vs. Maidana fight Saturday night @ The Rustic Goat

Jayce and Ticilia took advantage of the wonderful weather by heading to the Day Party Sunday afternoon @ The Marquee

St. Louis Surge Owner Kaliah Collier and her team revved up for their new season with a special kickoff party Friday @ The Ramada Inn Photo by Arlis Davis

Young Ro and Roland of Black Pearl enjoyed some father and son time during the Mayweather vs. Maidana fight Saturday night @ The Coliseum

Liquid Assets Leading Ladies Rachael and Mellissa helped welcome Memphis rapper Project Pat Tuesday night @ The Sound Bar Photo by Christopher Hawkins

Shadress and Asia stepped out for the 2014 kickoff of Day party season Sunday afternoon @ The Marquee

Sisters Teresa, Mocha and Catrisha enjoyed the fight Saturday night @ The Coliseum

Tah of 3 Way Productions brought in model Phi Tran and Designer Janice to the Marquee for the Pretty Girls Rock event Friday night @ The Marquee

Rob Hughes and Keith Harris and St. Louis Rams players TJ McDonald and Austin Pettis were just a few of tastemakers who mixed and mingled Sunday at The Marquee for the first day party of 2014.

Photos by Lawrence Bryant