zn 082513 b010...yet for all that and in spite of her size, lola can be a handful. at times, she...
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It doesn’t apply to the Corgi, though she tries her best (some-times) to talk.
Like her sister, she has a big butt, but it’s not as big as Bel-la’s.
Interestingly, Lola has ad-opted Milly as a role model, fre-quently shadowing the older dog.
She follows Milly around the house, runs behind her into the yard and walks alongside her on the lead.
Yet for all that and in spite of her size, Lola can be a handful. At times, she gets a gleam in her eye and does something bad. A few seconds later, you wouldn’t know it; she’s loving all over you.
Like the other Corgis, Lola gives Ducky a wide berth, but she isn’t hesitant about stand-ing up for herself if the occasion demands it.
We met Bella and Lola on the same day. It was after a rain, and our fi rst sight of the sisters was a couple of damp black schnozzes sticking under a tall wooden fence that surrounded the yard where they played.
Bella went home with us that day and Lola about a year later.
Yet they took right up where they left off, romping boister-ously with each other as soon as Lola got settled in here.
It didn’t take Lola long to do that. She’s very smart. In a cou-ple days, she’d learned about her new food; taking walks with
the other dogs (but otherwise steering clear of Ducky); even about getting in the back seat of the car (our Corgis have a special way of doing that).
And over the past few weeks, Lola has even learned from Milly how to stick her schnozz up under your arm to get petted more.
She may not be the youngest chronologically, but her size makes her the baby among our Corgis, and a lot of people treat her accordingly.
That doesn’t mean that Lola always acts like a baby, how-ever.
We were out walking as dawn broke the other day, and I heard a buzzing nearby. I guessed correctly: It was a summer ci-cada, going through whatever they go through when they come out of the trees and land on the asphalt.
Then the buzzing grew muted. I looked around and saw that our lit tlest Corgi had quickly scooped up the big bug in her mouth.
“Lola!” I said. I couldn’t imag-ine man or beast (Andrew Zim-mern excepted — did you see the segment he did in Birming-ham on eating the pounding hearts of frogs?) mouthing a live cicada.
She instantly dropped the big, ugly insect and walked ahead, as if nothing had hap-pened.
But the gleam in her eye was unmistakable.
Ben Windham is retired edito-rial editor of The Tuscaloosa News. His email address is [email protected].
WINDHAMCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
Jones said he’s applying for the job with a 14-year resume of volunteer work.
“My platform begins with a community base,” he said, “because it starts in the home fi rst. I believe we need to ad-dress concerns of the parents, of neighborhoods, of the kids, then seek the support of the superintendent.
“I think the most profound thing said in the three (cam-paign) forums is that the board is very limited in what it can do, by state law. If you look at 100 percent, say the fi rst 50 percent is what you can do as a board member, following procedures and policies. If I am elected, the other 50 per-cent will be out into the com-munities, seeing what chal-lenges the kids have in our neighborhoods, and the par-ents addressing their con-cerns.”
Jones advocates incentives and pay raises for teachers, he said, “because I think the pro-fession of teaching has be-come more diffi cult in the past 20 years.”
Simmons said he’s been try-ing to run on the issues at large, and focus on progress that the city schools have made.
“Obviously there’s money on that side,” he said, “And un-fortunately, there’s been a lot of misinformation that’s been given about our successes. Some of their ads have not been telling the truth. For in-stance, they’ve been suggest-ing that we’re tying the hands of our superintendent, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
“The advertising has sug-gested we’re indecisive and slow to move, which is not true as well.”
To combat that, Simmons has been working a “ true grass-roots campaign,” going door-to-door to talk with the residents of the community, as
well as utilizing social net-working, to stress the “tre-mendous strides” of the past few years, which he said in-clude making schools safer and stronger and better, even through the tragedies of the 2011 storms, the creation of the only STEAM elementary school in the world, the newly opened Tuscaloosa Career and Technology Academy, the falling dropout and expulsion rates, and the robotics pro-grams, which are now in all of the city ’s middle and high schools.
“Over the last four years, I’ve learned to be more patient,” he said. “I’ve always been patient, but I realized we couldn’t get
everything we wanted done in the time frame that we were given. Having said that, we’ve established a lot of foundations to build on.”
If re-elected, Simmons said he would like to continue to move forward on those founda-tions and to help level the play-ing fi eld so some of the schools’ advantages can be replicated throughout the system.
“At Skyland Elementary, for example, some of the parents are wondering how we can in-corporate the STEAM pro-gram there,” he said.
STEAM teaches math, read-ing, science, language arts and social studies in hands-on, real-life situations.
ERSKINE E. SIMMONSBirthdate: ■ Jan. 18, 1970Birthplace: ■ TuscaloosaEducation: ■ Central High
School, 1988; attended Ala-bama A&M University; associ-ate of arts in business, Uni-versity of Phoenix, 2009
Occupation: ■ Production manager, ARD Logistics Alabama LLC
Other employment history: ■ Warehouse manager, JIT Services; 13 years as a restau-rant manager (Cypress Diner Restaurant Group, Tuscaloosa, Applebee’s and Chili’s)
Political background: ■ Four years in Tus-caloosa City Board of Education District 7 seat
Website/email address: ■ www.electerskinesimmons.com, [email protected], [email protected]
RENWICK JONESBirthdate: ■ July 24, 1962Birthplace: ■ GadsdenEducation: ■ Gadsden High
School, 1980; bachelor of sci-ence degree in broadcast journalism, Alabama State University; master of arts de-gree in communications from Auburn Univer-sity
Occupation: ■ Owner, VelBess Consulting Inc.
Other employment history: ■ Stillman College, Alabama State University and Au-burn University
Political background: ■ First-time candi-date
Website/email address: ■ www.renwickjones.com, [email protected]
throughout the United States and abroad.
Alabama has two groups, one in Tuscaloosa and one in Madison.
Hamm, moderator of the Tuscaloosa area group, said the program is always look-ing for new members.
The group meets at 5:30 p.m. every Tuesday.
The location of the meet-ings is not given to ensure the group’s confi dentiality.
“Our doors are always open to anyone assigned to recov-ery from alcohol or substance abuse,” Hamm said.
The program is centered on 13 statements that encour-age emotional and spiritual growth, Hamm said.
She said women fi ght de-pression and low self-esteem and that these 13 statements can help change a woman’s thought process:
I have a life-threatening ■problem that once had me. I now take charge of my life and my disease. I accept the responsibility.
Negative thoughts de- ■stroy only myself. My fi rst conscious sober act must be to remove negativity from my life.
Happiness is a habit I ■
will develop. Happiness iscreated, not waited for.
Problems bother me ■only to the degree I permitthem to. I now better under-stand my problems and donot permit problems to over-whelm me.
I am what I think. I am ■a capable, competent, caring,compassionate woman.
Life can be ordinary or ■it can be great. Greatness ismine by a conscious effort.
Love can change the ■course of my world. Caring becomes all important.
The fundamental object ■of life is emotional and spiri-tual growth. Daily I put mylife into a proper order, know-ing which are the priorities.
The past is gone for- ■ever. No longer will I be vic-timized by the past. I am a new person.
All love given returns. I ■will learn to know that otherslove me.
Enthusiasm is my daily ■exercise. I treasure all mo-ments of my new life.
I am a competent woman ■and have much to give life.This is what I am and I shallknow it always.
I am responsible for my- ■self and for my actions. I amin charge of my mind, mythoughts and my life.
“It’s given me my life back,” Hamm said of the Women for Sobriety program.
ELECTIONCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
WOMENCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
10B SUNDAY , AUGUST 25 , 2013 | THE TUSCALOOSA NEWS