Feb. 28 , 2005

The DigestWhat’s Happening at KVCC

What’s below in this edition KAFI on horizon (Pages 1-3) Focus on diversity (Pages 8/9) The Michigan 19th (Pages 3/4) Gemini concert (Page 10) ‘Teens in Distress’ (Pages 4/5) Medicaid basics (Page 10) Choke the smokes (Page 5) Museum movies (Pages 10/11) Fad diets (Pages 5/6) ‘Chill Nights’ (Page 11) Job fair (Pages 6/7) ‘Coliseum’ (Pages 11/12) New-media seminars (Page 7) ‘Color of Water’ (Pages 12/13) Book-discussion group (Pages 7/8) Safety tips (Page 13) Executive training (Page 8) And finally (Pages 13/14)

☻☻☻☻☻☻May’s animation festival taking shape

Professional animators, students interested in entertaining careers, and families who enjoy the fun of cartoons will gather in Southwest Michigan for the third Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI) in mid-May.

Three days of seminars, competitions that are attracting entrants from around the world in five divisions, and screenings of both classic and contemporary cartoons – many of these events free and open to the public -- will turn downtown Kalamazoo into “Toon Town” May 13-15.

KAFI’s benchmark event, the “Cartoon Challenge,” will again draw 10 teams of animation students from colleges and universities across North America.

During the four days prior to the opening of the festival, they will test their “under-the-gun” animation talents to create a 30-second, public-service announcement for television. Not knowing the topic until the competition begins, the teams will work “24-4” to complete their projects in time for a weekend showing.

The 2005 edition of KAFI will feature tracks of events targeted for four groups: college students interested in careers in animation, educators who teach animation in its various forms, those already in the profession who want to polish their skills, and youths 14 to 18 who want to sample this medium of artistic creativity.

In the last edition of KAFI in 2003, more than 330 student and professional animators from nine nations -- India, France, Germany, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom,

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Canada, Japan, China, and throughout the United States -- entered juried competition and vied for $15,000 in prize money

The deadline to enter the 2005 competition and vie for this year’s prize money is March 1. There are no entry fees.

Among the free special events that will be spread over the three days are:● “Saturday Morning Cartoons,” a showing of some of the classics of animation

that have entertained youngsters for decades.● a Sunday-afternoon “VeggieTales” sing-along at the State Theatre featuring

such cartoon characters as Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato in animated parables that deliver moral and spiritual messages.

● a Friday-afternoon “School’s Out” showing of award-winning animated films for children.

● Illustrator David Small’s review of the sketches he made and the research he did in creating his children’s book, “So You Want To Be President.”

● A comprehensive history of animation worldwide in the 20th century in both lecture and video format.

● Showings of 10 animated 3-D productions entered in the 2005 KAFI and designed to be used by Digistar II planetarium systems. There are 50 such Digistars in the world and one is based at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

● The awards ceremony and screenings that cap off the 2005 festival, including the 10 spots created in the “Cartoon Challenge.”

● displays of the original artwork that served as the foundation for cartoon characters in the animated commercials produced for marketing Kellogg’s cereals.

A three-day “early bird” pass for the festival is $85 prior to March 15. After that, the cost is $100. There is a discounted fee of $50 available for students. Day passes costs $40 and $20, respectively. Tickets for individual events are $10 and $5, respectively.

These festival passes and day tickets are needed to gain entry into the professional-development seminars, training sessions for students, the conference targeted for educators, and eight 90-minute special screenings of the KAFI 2005 entrants and of the best animated features produced around the world.

Animators from San Jose State University, the Vancouver Film School, and Sheridan College in Toronto, as well as professionals from Sony Picture Imageworks, Disney, Toonz India, Pixar Animation, Sympatico Productions, Digital Video Services, Nickelodeon and Calabash Animation will be guiding the seminar and workshop sessions.

Among the topics will be: the art of storytelling; animation’s software and computer resources; what it takes to get into the animation business; animation’s ongoing impact on motion pictures, television productions, and planetarium shows; the secrets for creating effective and compelling DVDs; animation’s current and coming technologies; life inside one of the world’s most famous computer-animation studios; and the concepts of armature and clay animation.

There will also be some festival features aimed at older audiences. One of these will be a midnight showing of the 1982 film, “Pink Floyd: The Wall,” at the State Theatre where tickets will be available. There will be a $6 admission charge for that.

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The festival, regarded as the first of its kind in the Midwest, is again being organized by the college, the Center for New Media and the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, with the assistance of Downtown Kalamazoo Inc. and the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo.

For the third time, Kalamazoo’s Irving S. Gilmore Foundation is one of the prime sponsors of the salute to cartoons and the art of animation.

This year’s “Cartoon Challenge” is being sponsored by a grant from the Arcus Foundation Gay and Lesbian Fund. A grant from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation is sponsoring an animation workshop for Kalamazoo Public Schools’ students enrolled in the Maple Street Magnet School for the Arts. The project includes a pre-festival visit to the school by animator Melissa Bauman to prepare them for the workshop.

Other supporters include Gateway Corp., the Dorothy U. Dalton Foundation, Plaza Arts Circle, WWMT-TV Channel 3, the Kalamazoo County Convention and Visitors Bureau, J. B. Printing Co., the Little Cities gallery, and the Millennium Restaurant Group.

KAFI is now a biennial event sharing the every-other-year format with the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival that brings world-famous performers to downtown Kalamazoo for two weeks in May of even-numbered years. The lion’s share of the KAFI activities and events will be clustered at the museum, Center for New Media, and Anna Whitten Hall. The major screenings are scheduled for the State Theatre.

Nuts-and-bolts information about the KAFI events and activities, the “Cartoon Challenge” guidelines, deadlines, prizes and awards, and other details are available at this web page: kafi.kvcc.edu. The festival’s office number is 373-7883. David Baker, the

festival’s director, can be contacted at extension 7923 or dbbaker@kvcc.edu. Marching with the Michigan 19th through Georgia

A retrospective on the Michigan 19th that fought in the battle for Little Round Top at Gettysburg and also took part in Gen. William Sherman’s “March to the Sea” is the next Kalamazoo Valley Museum presentation tied to its current national exhibition about the Civil War.

Dr. William Anderson, director of the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries, will tell the story of the state’s infantry regiment that was organized in Kalamazoo in 1862 in “The Soldiers’ Perspective” as part of the museum’s “Sunday Series” on Feb. 27.

The 1:30 p.m. program, scheduled for the Mary Jane Stryker Theater, is free. There is also no admission charge for touring “Liberty on the Border” that is on display at the museum in downtown Kalamazoo through May 30.

Anderson, the retired president of West Shore Community College in the Mason County community of Scottville, has published two books on his specialty: the regiment’s history in “They Died to Make Men Free” and “We Are Sherman’s Men: The Civil War Letters of Henry Orendorff.”

Anderson, an alumnus of Central Michigan University and Southern Illinois University, drew his information from the diaries of 14 individuals and the letters of more than 1,600 Civil War soldiers. These documents allowed him to trace the

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regiment’s journeys from being mustered into military services, to their initial skirmishes, and through their participation in the some of the war’s bloodiest and most important encounters.

A Michigan native who was raised on a farm, Anderson was a commissioned officer who served with the Army’s 4th Armored Division in Germany. Before assuming the presidency of West Shore, he was the chief administrator for Carl Sandberg College in Galesburg, Ill. In all, he’s written five books about the Civil War.

Artifacts depicting the roles the people of Kalamazoo and Southwest Michigan played in events leading up to, during and after the Civil War are complementing the nationally touring exhibition.

Called the nation’s most seminal experience by documentarian Ken Burns and still resonating a century later in the Civil Rights Movement, the Civil War era comes alive through interactive exhibits, re-enactors, documentaries, movies, role-playing, hundreds of photos and documents, touchable replicas, audio and musical effects, and hands-on activities.

Created by the Cincinnati Museum Center, “Liberty on the Border” made its debut in April of 2003. While the carnage of the Civil War and the human devastation it inflicted are part of the backdrop, the focus is on the nation’s journey to rid itself of slavery.

The exhibit chronicles how northern and southern states viewed slavery, as well as the perspectives of residents of such border states as Kentucky who were equally divided in their opinions about the concept of liberty. That was illustrated by their actions leading up to Fort Sumter, the four years of war, and how the nation tried to heal its wounds in the following decades.

Also booked as part of the museum’s “Sunday Series” are:

● March 20: Paul Millikan, a retired Kalamazoo Valley Community College history instructor and Civil War collector, on the weapons technology of the 1860s.

● May 1: Mitch Kachun, a professor of history at Western Michigan University, who will talk about the emancipation of African-Americans and the Jim Crow Era. Conference on teen literature at KVCC

The Kalamazoo Public Library’s third annual “Teen Literature Conference,” scheduled for Friday, March 18, will again be hosted by KVCC at the Texas Township Campus.

While there is a fee for participants, KVCC students are entitled to attend the conference at no charge. However, all must register for the day’s events that run from 7:45 a.m. through 3:30 p.m.

The 2005 edition will feature presentations by two winners of the Printz Honor Award -- Laurie Halse Anderson and Terry Trueman.

The theme of the March conference is "Hearing the Silent Scream: Detecting Teens in Distress," and will focus on learning how to identify the warning signs exhibited by teens in distress and ways to steer them toward the help they need.

Anderson and Trueman will discuss how they revealed the "silent screams" of characters featured in their award-winning novels, “Speak” and “Stuck in Neutral.”

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Other speakers will include librarians and two specialists teen-age literature, Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan, who will identify resources that can be used to help teens deal with their problems.

Also getting some lectern duty will be Robin Shackelford, a suicide-prevention specialist at the Gryphon Place in Kalamazoo.

The workshop is targeted for people who work with teens - librarians, teachers, college students, youth-group leaders, and parents.

The price is $20, with students (other than those attending KVCC) charged $5.Books will be available to purchase. Continuing-education units are available. Lunch is not provided. More information and a registration form are available on this website:

http://www.kpl.gov/teen/TeenLitSeminar2005.aspx. The conference is co-sponsored by KVCC, Friends of the Kalamazoo Public

Library, the Kalamazoo Public Schools, Western Michigan University, the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home, Greater Kalamazoo's Youth United Way, and the Jean E. Lowrie Endowment Fund.

Questions can be directed to Kevin King at 553-7807 or kevink@kpl.gov.

Weeding ‘weeds’ from your lifeNow is the time for smoking KVCC employees and their spouses to take the fire

sticks out of their grills for good.The college’s Employee Wellness Program has added a smoking-cessation

initiative to its roster of services. As it does the health-risk screenings and appraisals, Holtyn & Associates has been retained by KVCC to coordinate this component.

The college will pay the $120 cost for each full-time employee or spouse. There is one caveat, however. This is a one-time-only opportunity – meaning that you better be ready to quit because there will be no second chance.

“Research literature indicates that the greatest success comes with persons who are committed to quitting,” said Jim Turcott in announcing the program.

Those interested should contact Linda Howard of Holtyn & Associates at 324-2393 or lhoward@holtynhpc.com.

“If you are at the ‘just-thinking-about-quitting’ stage,” Turcott said, “it is recommended that you do not start the program until you are committed to quitting. Also, when Linda returns to do the next round of wellness health screenings in March, she will be happy to talk to individuals who may be interested in the smoking-cessation program.”

For more information, contact Turcott at extension 4113.

Fad diets and their false promisesExploring the myth of fad diets – nutritional weight loss’ version of “there is no

such thing as a free lunch” – will be the topic of a presentation this week in the Commons Theater.

Dietician Krista Hampton will speak on “The Myth of Fad Diets” on Wednesday, (March 2) at 9 a.m.

Hampton is a clinical dietician whose eight years of experience includes the fields of long-term care and child nutrition. Currently an in-patient and out-patient dietician at

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Bronson Methodist Hospital, she has also worked on an Indian reservation, specializing in diabetes prevention and nutrition in that post.

Following her interactive presentation will be a question-and-answer session. The programs are open to faculty, staff and students.

Hampton said she will review five of the main “fad diets” to which most Americans are paying homage. She will talk about their shortcomings, what they promise but fail to deliver, and why some are impractical.

“I will also explain how to spot a fad diet,” she said, “and what the recommendations are for a safe, healthy weight loss and weight management, based on the new dietary guidelines for 2005. I’ll also cover some of our most frequently asked questions.”

A graduate of Western Michigan University, she served an internship in her specialty in St. Paul, Minn.

60-plus job providers at Employment Expo This year’s KVCC Employment Expo on the Texas Township Campus is

scheduled for Tuesday, March 15, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.“This is a no-cost opportunity,” said organizer Karla Jewell, “for students, KVCC

alumni and residents of Southwest Michigan to visit with representatives from area businesses and industries, from health-care organizations, law-enforcement agencies, and units of government to discuss current and future employment opportunities.”

Nursing, retail merchandising, hotel management, law enforcement, human services, recreation and amusement, health care, public employment, communications, hospital work, the military, finances and banking, and the construction trades will be among the career opportunities in the spotlight.

The representations will talk to participants about their organizations, the employment prospects, and the chances for internships and volunteer service, both of which look good on a resume.

Also the prospective employers who have indicated they will be available in the Commons during the four-hour event are:

Stryker Instruments, Advantage Private Nursing Services Inc., the Radisson Plaza Hotel and Suites, Sears Roebuck and Co., American Winding Co., Marquette General Health System, First Community Federal Credit Union, the Grand Rapids Police Department;

Humphrey Products, InterCare Community Health Network, Kelly Home Care Services, Lakeland Regional Health System (in Berrien County), The Laurels of Sandy Creek, Primerica Financial Services, The Ark for Youth, UPS/United Parcel Service;

The Michigan State Police, the YMCA Sherman Lake Outdoor Center, the Benton Harbor Police Department, K & M Machine Fabricating Inc., the Kalamazoo Air Zoo, the Kalamazoo Family Independence Agency, Little Caesar’s Pizza, MPI Research, National City, Phoenix Properties LLC, the U. S. Air Force, Wil-Care Nursing Referral Agency Inc.;

WWMT-TV Channel 3, the Borgess Health Alliance, DLZ (a problem-solving firm for engineering, architectural and environmental issues), Gryphon Place, Harold Zeigler Auto Group, Residential Opportunities Inc., South Haven Community Hospital, The Buckle (fashion stores);

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Lakeview Community Hospital in Paw Paw, DMS Inc. (clinical and medical-care staffing resources), the Battle Creek Police Department, Elkhart General Health Care in Indiana, Kelly Services, Life Care Center of Plainwell, Rite Aid Pharmacies, U. S. Army, Vector Marking Corp.;

D & W Food Centers Inc., Manpower, the Kalamazoo County Road Commission, Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, the Kalamazoo Parks and Recreation Department, FedEx, Hope Network South (that serves people with developmental and mental-health disabilities), Kalamazoo Joint Apprenticeship and Training, SemperCare Hospital, the U. S. Navy;

The Employment Group, Heritage Community of Kalamazoo, Holland Hospital, Mary Kay Skin Care and Cosmetics, the Marine Corps, the Veterans Administration Medical Center, WQXC-FM and WZUU-FM, WSI Health, and YMCA Camp Eberhart.

Jewell can be contacted by both prospective employers and employees at extension 4640 or kjewell@kvcc.edu.

“Volunteers are needed to help make the Expo a success,” she said. “We are looking for volunteers who can give anywhere from an hour on up between the hours of 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The volunteers can be students, staff or faculty.”

New-media software topics of one-day seminars Three one-day seminars that teach industry-standard skills with web-design,

animation, illustration, print-layout, and multi-media software are being offered by the KVCC Center for New Media over the next two months.

The cost per course, which will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on its scheduled Friday date, is $350. Each instructor will come from “the world of work and professional experience” in each area of expertise.

Here’s what is available:● “Adobe in Design CS” March 11.● “Dreamweaver MX” on March 18.● “Macromedia Flash MX” on March 25.For more information, contact Standish at nstandish@kvcc.edu. To register,

contact Makida Cunningham at 373-7800 or mcunningham@kvcc.edu.

He’s a real ‘Nowhere Man’ in novelThe KVCC Diversity Book Group will be discussing its reading of Aleksandar

Hemon’s “Nowhere Man” on Wednesday, March 16, at 5:15 p.m. in Zazio’s, the Radisson Plaza Hotel’s new restaurant in downtown Kalamazoo.

Hemon’s previous work, “The Question of Bruno,” was hailed as one of the most celebrated debuts in American fiction. Both it and “Nowhere Man” feature the mind- and language-bending adventures of protagonist Jozef Pronek.

Pronek left his home city of Sarajevo in the former Yugoslavia for a visit to the United States in 1992, arriving in Chicago just in time to watch the news footage on television of war in his homeland. While stranded in relative comfort, he becomes a perceptive observer – and participant – in American life.

As an “accidental urban nomad,” Pronek encounters his adolescence, sexuality, he face of rock ‘n’ roll, minimum-wage living, and enrolling in an English-as-a-Second-Language course. The character’s experiences are both familiar and out of the ordinary.

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According to one reviewer: “But the story of his life is not so simple as a series of global adventures. Pronek is continually haunted by an unseen observer, his movements chronicles by narrators with dubious motives – all of which culminates in a final episode that upends many of our assumptions about Pronek’s identity while illustrating precisely what it means to be a ‘Nowhere Man.’”

It is called “an engrossing narrative” with “engaging warmth and refreshing humor.”

Notre Dame’s management program at M-TECThe University of Notre Dame’s prestigious “Certificate in Executive

Management” program is again being offered at the KVCC M-TEC.The first half of the two-part series, a 10-week session, will begin March 7 and

conclude May 9. The second half will run from Sept. 12 to Nov. 14.Enrollees take part in the program through live, interactive, two-way sessions

with experienced Notre Dame business faculty based in South Bend. The program provides insights into such core areas as executive leadership, management, corporate ethics, strategy, economics, marketing, accounting, finance, and the parameters of international business.

Notre Dame describes the certificate-granting, executive-management program as a resource “to provide the latest business information to meet the fast-paced challenges of today’s competitive global environment.” Each topic is couched in real-world experience and specific examples so that what is learned in the evening can be applied on the job the next morning.

Each three-hour session on consecutive Mondays will meet from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Among the topics covered during the full series are: problem solving and decision making; marketing; two sessions on negotiations; financial analysis; global business; financial planning; capital budgeting; a pair of sessions on strategic planning; introduction to financial statements; personality types and team building; the relationships among cost, volume and profit; budgeting; activity-based costing and federal taxes; macro-economics; human-resources management; managing for results; ethics; and leadership.

The full-series fee for instructions, materials, books and refreshments is $5,195. Enrollment is limited and the deadline to apply is March 3.

For more information about the Notre Dame executive-management sessions, call Cindy Buckley, assistant director of training and development at the M-TEC, at extension 1250.

Civility, tolerance part of diversity conferencePfizer Inc., Schupan & Sons Inc., and the Educational Community Credit Union

have stepped forward to co-sponsor KVCC’s annual spotlight on diversity and its issues.The 2005 edition, scheduled for Wednesday, March 23, from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.,

will again be free and open to the public in the Commons on the Texas Township Campus. This year’s theme will be “Diversity: Can You Relate?”

Among the presenters and their topics will be:▼ “Unintentional Intolerance: What Nice People Need to Know” – Steve

Robbins of Grand Valley State University.

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▼”Doctor, No Hablo Ingles” – MonaLisa James, diversity liaison for the Bronson Healthcare Group.

▼ “Move It Forward with Civility and Respect” – a theatrical production by SST Communications.

▼ “The Incivility of Poverty” – a panel discussion.▼”Perspective and Civility: Requirements for a Diverse Society” – Von

Washington, director of Western Michigan University’s Multicultural Theater Program.While most people are disgusted by prejudice, they may also subliminally show

signs of intolerance. In his 9:15 a.m. presentation, Robbins will raise awareness about this unintentional behavior and demonstrate how to avoid actions that might deliver a message of intolerance.

James will detail at 10:45 a. m. an American Medical Association study that reported 60 percent of whites surveyed were satisfied with the health care they receive; the corresponding figure for nonwhites was 46 percent. She will discuss the relationship of culture and ethnicity in the treatment and recovery of patients, and how the health-care profession communicates with clients whose primary language is not English.

In its performance at 12:45 p.m., SST Communications will theatrically present a four-point strategy for calling attention to biased behavior in a respectful manner. The scenarios will also explore tactics for accepting constructive criticism from people who regard your actions and behaviors as biased.

The 2 p.m. panel discussion will take a look at the discrimination that often comes because of a lack of personal income. The topics will include the lack of resources and services in geographic areas associated with low income and the resulting hardships. Common misconceptions about the homeless and the incivility often directed toward them will be analyzed

Panel members will also take a look at the working poor, and the difficulties in providing a safety net for less-fortunate citizens because of the current political, social and cultural environment.

Among the panelists will be: ● Mattie Jordan-Woods, executive director of the Northside Association for

Community Development; ● Ann Lipsey, director of Loaves and Fishes; ● Sherry Thomas-Cloud, director of the Family Independence Agency in

Kalamazoo County. Using the U. S. military and America’s educational history as a backdrop,

Washington at 3:15 p.m. will outline steps that should be taken to insure civility and equality in a diverse society. Successful institutional practices will be presented as well examples of multicultural insensitivity.

KVCC President Marilyn Schlack will welcome the attendees to begin the conference.

Both a continental breakfast and a box lunch will be provided for the participants.Pre-registration is required by either visiting this web page --

http://diversity.kvcc.edu -- or by calling Robyn Robinson at extension 4870.For more information about the conference topics, contact Nancy Taylor at

extension 4142.

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Musical duo to entertain pre-schoolers, familiesThe Ann Arbor-based twosome, Gemini, is the next booking in the Kalamazoo

Valley Museum’s series of free Saturday concerts and performances for pre-schoolers and families.

They will deliver a pair of performances on March 5 at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater.

There is no admission charge and limited seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Twin brothers Laszlo and Sandor Slomovits bring to their performances a stage full of instruments, original songs, and traditional music from around the world. For more than 30 years, Gemini has performed in schools, concert halls, festivals and with symphony orchestras across the country.

Its recordings have received awards from the American Library Association, Early Childhood News, and Parents’ Choice magazine.

The live performances targeted for pre-schoolers are sponsored by the family of Burton Henry Upjohn, the Kalamazoo-born entrepreneur who died in November of 1988. The museum’s Children’s Landscape, which houses educational programs with constantly changing themes for infants and toddlers up to 5 years old, is named for Upjohn.

Tickets for free events can be reserved by calling (269) 373-7990 or (800) 772-3370 on the day before the event, beginning at 9 a.m. Free tickets are limited to four per household or group. Seats that are not occupied by 10 minutes before show time will be released to other guests.

For more information about the performance series, contact Annette Hoppenworth at the museum at extension 7955.

Basics of Medicaid is series wrapupKalamazoo Valley Community College’s series designed to help people care for

aging relatives will conclude on Thursday (March 3).The “Caring for an Aging Relative” series is being held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in

Room 4380 near the cafeteria on the Texas Township Campus. Each has a $15-per-person fee and will be taught by Andrea Heerdt, director of the Covenant Senior Day Care Program in Portage.

Here’s the final session:

●“Medicaid Basics for Older Adults”: Medicaid, as the primary provider of care for older adults in nursing homes, has eligibility requirements that people should be familiar with before facing a situation requiring a higher level of supervision for the elderly. Spousal protection available to married couples will also be discussed.

Movie billings at museumNext in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s movie series are “Closely Watched

Trains,” a 1966 film made in the Czech Republican, and the 2004 independently made French film, “Raja.”

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The 93-minute “Trains” is being shown in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater on Saturday (Feb. 26) at 7 p.m. and Sunday (Feb. 27) at 3 p.m. There is a $5 admission fee. “Raja” is the following weekend’s attraction, same times, same location, and same ticket fee. It runs for 115 minutes with sub-titles.

During its 2004-05 season, the museum is rotating its features each weekend in the big-screen, high-definition, state-of-the-art sound-system of the Mary Jane Stryker Theater – award-winning independent movies, the best from international film festivals, American film classics, and the works of Michigan film makers.

Advance purchase of tickets for fee-based events can be made in person at the museum or by phone with a credit/debit card. Call (269) 373-7990 or (800) 772-3370. No refunds will be made on advanced tickets.

Kalamazoo film-maker Dhera Strauss, who works at Kalamazoo College and has produced shows that have been aired by the Community Action Center, will be in the Stryker Theater spotlight the weekend of March 12-13. There is no charge for these showing.

The museum returns to its Hollywood classics on March 19-20 with one of John Wayne’s signature movies, “The Quiet Man.”Brother2Brother, Focus Program dialogues

Brother2Brother, the college project tailored to assist African-American males in their classroom achievement, has scheduled three “Chill Night” dialogues in March.

Next will be “Brothers in Education” on Tuesday (March 1) from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Commons Forum. Scheduled to take part in the dialogue are African Americans who have chosen the profession of teaching as a career.

“University Life” will be the theme on Monday, March 14, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Commons Forum. Western Michigan University students and graduates will be the panelists for a discussion.

Del Rhoden, a KVCC communications instructor, will talk about “Dressing for Success” on Tuesday, March 29 – same time, same station.

Brother2Brother is being funded by a two-year, $150,000 grant from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation,

Quo vadis? Whither goest the Roman EmpireThe civilizations that have populated this planet are being explored in a series of

free documentaries at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum through April.Episodes of “Secrets of Lost Empires” will be screened at 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays

in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater.Next in view on Feb. 26 is “Coliseum,” a look at the rise, expansion,

deterioration, and disappearance of the Roman Empire.Scientists, anthropologists and historians use both old and modern technologies to

recreate pre-Industrial Age engineering marvels and rediscover how these ancient peoples in humanity’s greatest cultures lived, and died.

Here’s the titles of the rest of the episodes: March 12, “Pyramid;” March 26, “Easter Island;” April 2, “China Bridge;” and April 9, “Medieval Siege.”

This will be followed by a two-part program on “Secrets of the Pharaohs.” Examining such questions as who built the pyramids at Giza and whether these ancient

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workers had to use drugs to perform their difficult and dangerous tasks, “Tut’s Family Curse” is the title on April 16 and “Unwrapping the Mummies” is set for April 23.

Then, also in the Stryker Theater, “Secrets of the Dead” will take center stage. This three-part documentary follows scientists who use cutting-edge technology to recreate some of history’s most intriguing and morbid events.

“Search for the First Human” will be shown on April 30, followed by “Mystery of the Black Death” on May 7 and “Tragedy at the Pole” on May 21. All of these

episodes will begin at 2:30 p.m. on those Saturdays. There is no admission charge. Who’s Reading Together at KVCC?

"The Color of Water,” a black man's tribute to his white mother, is the chosen volume for the 2005 edition of Kalamazoo’s “Reading Together” initiative.

The community-wide reading program is focusing on the critically acclaimed memoir by award-winning author and composer James McBride.

“Reading Together,” led by the Kalamazoo Public Library with funding from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation's Better Together Initiative, invites people of all ages, from all walks of life, to read and then discuss important issues raised by a single book.

Jim Ratliff, director of libraries at KVCC, reports that sociology and English students at KVCC have the book as a required text or optional reading. The KVCC libraries have four copies. He recommends doing a title search at: http://valleycat.kvcc.edu/ to check their availability. The KVCC Bookstore has new copies in stock at $14.95.

McBride will visit Kalamazoo on March 9-10 for author readings, book signings, and a special jazz performance.

A reception is set for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9, in the downtown library and be repeated for McBride on March 10 at 4:30 p.m. at the Portage District Library, 300 Library Lane.

The Fresh Fire AME Church at 302 Academy St. will host a book talk with McBride on March 9 at 7 p.m. His title is “A Meditation on Identity.”

McBride and his jazz quartet will be in concert at the First Baptist Church, 315 W. Michigan Ave., on March 10 at 7 p.m.

Free tickets for the dialogue and the concert were available, but all have been scooped up already.

A graduate of New York City public schools, McBride studied composition at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio and received a master’s in journalism from Columbia University at age 22. McBride has written for The Washington Post, People Magazine, Boston Globe, Essence, Rolling Stone and The New York Times.

For more information on the reading campaign or to learn how to organize a book discussion with your neighbors or friends, contact Reading Together coordinator Joan Hawxhurst at 553-7913 or email joanh@kpl.gov.

Ratliff is available at extension 4326 or jratliff@kvcc.edu if KVCC’ers are interested in attending a book-discussion session or if they want tickets to the upcoming McBride events.

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“If you'd like to share your personal copy of the book with another employee or if you'd like to borrow a copy,” he said, “please send me an e-mail and I'll facilitate.”

There are three primary ways to participate in the program, he said:1. Read the book. The official community reading time is through March.2. Attend an event. Go to the web site: www.readingtogether.us and look at the calendar. 3. Attend a KVCC book-discussion session. “We will likely have a discussion session around lunch time at both campuses,”

he said. “I'm working on the details and will let the college know when they are finalized. If you would be willing to lead a brown-bag book discussion at KVCC, please let me know. I have reader discussion guides available.”Safety FYI – hazardous materials, emergency response

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are prepared by manufacturers or importers.They contain information about a chemical’s characteristics, physical and health

hazards, primary routes of entry, exposure limits, precautions for safe handling and use, emergency and first-aid procedures, and the manufacturer’s contact information.

MSDS for all chemicals can be accessed online via the college’s safety website at http://home.kvcc.edu/hrmain/Safety/safety.htm. Hard copies can be requested from the Office of Human Resources.

KVCC staff and employees can help reduce the risk of dangerous spills and injuries by becoming familiar with the MSDS for the chemicals in their workplace.

They are advised to check out this website and place the link to MSDS on their computer desktops for quick retrieval.

New maps highlighting "Emergency Exits and Shelter Areas" for the Texas Township Campus have recently been posted in all classrooms, office areas, and public meeting rooms.

These new maps reflect additional designated shelter areas. Employees should review and note any changes in their area.Contact Institutional Safety -- Amy Jeffrey, extension 4576 or Matt McCain,

extension 4471 -- with questions.

And finally. . . More word games for confusing our comprehension of the

English language.Screwy pronunciations can mess up your mind.For example, f you have a rough cough, climbing can be tough

when going through the bough on a tree.‘And Finally’ has pointed these out in the past, but they are

worth repeating in this context.There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither

apple nor pinein pineapple.

English muffins weren't invented in EnglandQuicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea

pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

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And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham?

You can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one

of them, what do you call it?Why do you park in a driveway and drive in a parkway?If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?

Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

Your house can burn up as it burns down, you fill in a form by filling it out, and an alarm goes off by going on.If Dad is Pop, how come! mom isn't Mop?

Editor’s note: I received these beauties in response to last week’s item: The boarder planted a border of azaleas before he went back across the border.I baited the hook with bated breath.

☻☻☻☻☻☻

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