June 16, 2008

March 15, 2010

The DigestWhat’s Happening at KVCC

What’s below in this edition

Fretboard Festival (Pages 1/2) Turkey talk (Page 12) Job, ‘vol’ expos (Pages 3/104) Meet ‘Cedars’ author (P 12-15) Thomas Lynch (Pages 4/5) ‘Cedars’ movie (Pages 15/16) Project update (Pages 5/6) Job-expo prep (Pages 16/17) Festival of Health (Pages 6/7) Career roundtables (Page 17) Salute to vets (Page 7) Gold seekers (Pages 17/18) Flu shots (Page 7) Dress for Success (Pages 18/19) Deaf performer (Pages 7/8) Plagiarism (Page 19) The Jorgenson 5 (Pages 8/9) Pioneer hotels (Pages 19/20) Human Race Machine (Pages 9/10) ‘Paper’ papers (Pages 20/21) Wellness screens (Pages 10/11) Old cooking oil (Pages 21/22

Teaching, race chats (Pages 11/12) And Finally (Pages 22/23)

☻☻☻☻☻☻Kalamazoo reigns as ‘Fretboard Capital’

Every string will be attached and they will all pass over fretboards in a musical way when the Kalamazoo Valley Museum hosts its fifth annual Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival March 19-21.

Free to the public and nothing to fret about, the annual salute to the community’s legacy of “pickin’ ‘n’ singin’” will feature concerts, workshops, hands-on activities for children, vendors, and presentations over the three days.

The trio Four Finger Five will kick off the festival on Friday (March 19) with a pair of concerts at 6:30 and 8 p.m.

The celebration of Kalamazoo's history of stringed-instrument design, manufacture and performance continues on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. with a full day of concerts and workshops. Sunday, designated as Family Day, runs from 1 to 4 p.m. with three hours of hands-on crafts, workshops and more performances.

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Participants can meet instrument designers, learn about their trade, watch some of them in live performances, and pick up some tips on how to play the guitar, mandolin, banjo, and other fretboard instruments.

It is sponsored by the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Foundation. The events will be held in both the downtown-Kalamazoo museum and the college’s Anna Whitten Hall next door.

Following the opening-night music of Four Finger Five, among the other performers on Saturday and Sunday at this mecca for stringed musicians will be:

♫ Brothers Kalamazov, one of whose members, Jay Gavan, originated the first festival while a member of the museum staff.

♫ Portage-based Joel Mabus, the nationally known fretboarder and veteran of past festivals with his alluring repertoire of bluegrass and folk originals.

♫ Patricia Pettinga and Bill Willging and Friends, who specialize in traditional blues and folk music.

♫ The duo of String Cheese with Ali Haraburda and Diana Ladio on the fiddle and cello .

♫ Gerald Ross of Ann Arbor, a virtuoso on the traditional Hawaiian steel guitar.♫ Ren Wall and Friends (Richard Butler, Don Bradford, Rod Wall and James

Bradford). ♫ Celtic Roots. ♫ Mark Sahlgren and Friends.♫ Two Track Mind♫ Kalamazoo Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra.The new wrinkle for the 2009 festival – and repeated for the fifth – was a “play-

in” competition in which local musicians vied for a chance to perform as part of the festival line-up of concerts. The “play-in” was held March 5 at the museum.

The winner of that was the country-and-Southern rock sounds of Small Town Son, a Kalamazoo-based quintet featuring Kris Hitchcock, Dan Anspaugh, Ian Szarafinski, Billy Justice and Susan Belliel.

Several of the performers will double up as leaders of workshops on their specialty instruments, including the dulcimer, upright bass, bass guitar, bottleneck slide, mandolin and classical guitar.

In between workshops, performances and demonstrations, visitors will be able to view exhibits.

Among those sharing their knowledge and their wares will be professionals who make brands of stringed instruments such as the Big Bend, Mark Ferenc Guitar, Swavson, Charters, and Bloom’s Old Time banjos.

The first festival in May of 2006 attracted about 800. It was switched to a March date in 2007 to avoid competing with the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International and future conflicts with the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival.

The 2007 turnout that packed the museum and Anna Whitten Hall led to the decision to move to being a two-day event. Now expanded to three days, the festival has tripled its attendance.

Participants are also invited to bring their instruments for some impromptu jamming with others who appreciate the genres of music created by fretboard instruments.

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For more information and events scheduled for the fifth Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival, call (269) 373-7990 or visit this website: www.kalamazoomuseum.org. Information is also available at the festival’s Facebook page.

Volunteering can lead to full-time employmentBecause volunteering leads to jobs and vice versa, KVCC for the second

consecutive year is blending two of its annual events designed to aid students and serve the community.

Its Volunteer and Community Services Fair and Employment Expo for 2010 will be held in tandem on the same day – Friday (March 19). Both are free and open to the public as well as to KVCC students. No registration is required.

From 1 to 4:30 p.m. in the Student Commons on the Texas Township Campus, representatives of human-service agencies will be joined by their counterparts from the business world in search of some new, energetic blood for their organizations.

Co-organizers Karen Phelps and Lois Brinson-Ropes of the KVCC Student Success Center report that past expos have attracted more than 80 prospective employers and scores of nonprofit organizations.

“There will be various community organizations present to speak to students about volunteering as a method to increase their career opportunities while benefiting the community,” said Phelps, the center’s work-experience coordinator.

Representatives from the companies and enterprises will talk to participants about their organizations, the employment prospects, career opportunities, and the chances for internships and volunteer service, both of which look good on a resume.

To help students and alumni prepare, the Student Success Center is presenting a Monday (March 15) workshop from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. to deliver some tips and expertise on effective resumes, cover letters and interviewing skills. Individual appointments can also be scheduled by calling (269) 488-4272.

“Past expos have attracted more than 1,000 job seekers,” said Brinson-Ropes, the center’s coordinator of student employment and internships. “Participants are urged to bring along resumes, a preparedness to be interviewed, and be appropriately attired.”

“This is “a win-win experience for the agencies and for students,” Phelps said. “The organizations will be in the market for a cadre of new volunteers to help them achieve their missions, while students will able to expand their networking among professionals in their career fields as they give something back to the community.

“Part of the college's mission,” she said, “is to produce well-rounded students and future members of the workforce who are more than willing to give back to their community and to invest in the human-service agencies that all serve us well.”

The KVCC Employment Expo, Brinson-Ropes said, “is a no-cost opportunity for students, alumni and residents of Southwest Michigan to visit with representatives from area businesses and industries that span the spectrum of occupations.”

Among the volunteer agencies taking part will be the American Cancer Society, Greater Kalamazoo Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, Borgess Medical Center Volunteer Services, Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo, Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kalamazoo, The First Day Shoe Fund, Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan, Housing Resources Inc., the Kalamazoo Communities in Schools, Heartland Hospice, Kalamazoo County Poverty Reduction Initiative, Ministry with Community, Big Brothers-Big Sisters

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of Greater Kalamazoo Inc., Guardian Finance and Advocacy Services, Local Initiatives Support Corp., and the YWCA of Kalamazoo.

Among the prospective employers who have indicated they will be available in the Commons during the event are:

Stryker Instruments, Kazoo Inc., Kalamazoo Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee, Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial Services, Advance Employment Service, Greenleaf Hospitality Group, Radisson Plaza Hotel & Suites, Holiday Inn West;

Trillium Staffing Solutions, the U. S. Army, radio stations WQXC and WZUU, Employment Group, Reliv International, Right At Home, Residential Opportunities Inc., Bankers Life and Casualty, Flagstar Bank, FEMA Corp., Friendship Village, Michigan Blood;

Michigan Civil Service Commission, Army National Guard, National City Bank, the Oakland Centre, the Portage Community Center, Progressive Alternatives in Schoolcraft, Progressive Residential Services and Alternative Choices, Q3 Technologies;

Sears Roebuck and Co (parts and repairs), the U. S. Navy, Primerica Financial Services, Snelling Personnel Services, Speedway Superamerica, the Michigan Department of Community Health, the Michigan Department of Corrections, the University of Phoenix, and Western-Southern Life Insurance Co.

For more information, contact Phelps at extension 4795 or [email protected] or Brinson-Ropes at extension 4344 or [email protected].

Funeral director/poet here March 22-23A funeral director whose poetry explores the mysteries of life and death is

the final attraction in the college’s “About Writing” series for the 2009-10 academic year.Thomas Lynch, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire,

Newsweek, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Times of London, will be on the Texas Township Campus on Monday and Tuesday, March 22-23.

The “About Writing” presentations in the Student Commons are free and open to the public. He’ll talk about the craft of writing at 10 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. on March 22 and do a 2:15 p.m. reading on March 23.      Lynch teaches in the graduate program in creative writing at the University of Michigan, lives in Milford, and has been a funeral director since 1974. His commentaries have broadcast by the BBC and NPR. His wordsmithing has been assisted by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Michigan Council for the Arts, the Michigan Library Association, and the National Book Foundation.

Lynch has brought his message to audiences throughout Europe, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. He is a regular presenter at conferences that target funeral directors, hospice workers, medical-ethics professionals, members of the clergy, and educators. That has also garnered exposure on C-SPAN, “The Today Show,” and Bill Moyers’ series on PBS, “On Our Own Terms.”

The author of three collections of poems and three books of essays, Lynch has two other publications due this year – a book of stories, “Apparition & Late Fictions,” and a new collection of poems, “Walking Papers.” His work has been the subject of two documentaries. PBS Frontline's “The Undertaking,” aired nationwide in 2007, won the 2008 Emmy for “Arts and Culture

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Documentary.” Cathal Black's film, “Learning Gravity” and produced for the BBC, was featured at the 2008 Telluride Film Festival and the sixth Traverse City Film Festival in 2009 where it was awarded the Michigan Prize by Michael Moore. Lynch keeps an ancestral cottage in and in Moveen, County Clare, Ireland. It was the home of his great-great-grandfather, which was given as a wedding gift in the 19th century. He traveled to that country for the first time in 1970.

“The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade” was a winner of an American Book Award and finalist for the National Book Award. It is a chronicle of small-town life and death told through the eyes of a poet who is also an undertaker.

"Every year I bury a couple hundred of my townspeople” is the opening line. Most poets seem inspired by death, but Lynch, unlike others, is also hired to bury the dead or to cremate them, and to tend to their families in a small Michigan town.

In the conduct of these duties, he has kept his eyes open, his ear tuned to the indispensable vernaculars of love and grief. In 12 pieces, his is the voice of both witness and functionary.

Lynch, as poet to the dying, names the hurts and whispers the condolences and shapes the questions posed by this familiar mystery. There is homage to parents who have died and to children who shouldn't have. He talks about the lessons for life that mortality teaches.

His “Bodies in Motion and at Rest” offers a reflection on time and its treasures, on love and its power, and on birth, death, and, most importantly, what comes in between.

The New York Times hailed him as "a cross between Garrison Keillor and William Butler Yeats” as he offers glimpses of ordinary people and the ways they approach their own mortality. Lynch, born in Detroit in 1948, guides his readers from the womb to the tomb with a brand of wit and humor. He graduated from Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills and then mortuary school, taking over his father's funeral home in Milford. He is the father of La daughter and three sons.

For more information about “About Writing,” contact English instructor Rob Haight at extension 4452 or at [email protected].

Office moves on horizon in expansion projectWith progress on the two-level, 30,000-square-foot expansion advancing

smoothly, the move of college offices and function begins to loom.The new wing will house the Student Success Center (on the second floor) and the

Office of Admissions, Registration and Records, the Office of Financial Aid, the Office of Institutional Research, and Central Receiving on the first level.

That should be done by this September or October. Financial Services and the Pay Station should be ready to move into their new

digs closer to the new wing by early April Once their previous space is vacated, work will begin on a new, multi-purpose

science lab. That is slated to be completed by mid-May. Project manager Dan Maley reports that planning is also under way to map this

summer’s construction modules, along with the office moves that will be required.

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As part of a layered construction process, some of the Student Success Center functions – career services, counseling, the Focus Program – will temporarily move their operations into the Student Commons.

The construction schedule calls for their current offices to be converted into five new classrooms that will be ready for the 2010 fall semester.

Also part of the blueprint during the summer months is remodeling, upgrading and restoring the existing geology and physics labs as well as one nearby classroom. That’s also when the major reconfiguration of the faculty-office area will begin.

The faculty-office area will be expanded into four existing classrooms. In addition, the entire area will be “opened up with natural lighting to help it be more student-friendly.” It will also include student-waiting space and additional conference rooms.

The renovation will be in two phases – the tentative completion of the first will be Aug. 20; Dec. 31 for the second.

Construction is scheduled to begin at the end of the winter semester on rooms 7520, 7530, 7540 and 7550 to convert them into offices. The area in and around rooms 7450, 7325 and 7320 will also become office space.

Those affected faculty members assigned to summer-semester teaching will be temporarily based in rooms 7140 or 7150. Those affected instructors who will not be teaching over the summer are being asked to pack their office belongings. Those boxes and other materials will be moved to storage pods that will be located in the faculty parking lot over the summer. They will not be accessible during the summer.

Scheduled to begin around Sept. 1 will be conversion of rooms 7140, 7150, 7160, and 7170 into additional office space. By New Year’s Day, everything should be in place and back to normal.

In all, KVCC will lose eight classrooms and gain 10, plus the 150-seat mini-auditorium/lecture hall in the new expansion. The Student Success Center will revert to serving as The Gallery.

Dollars for such projects are banked in capital funds by the state and by the college, and are not part of each’s general fund. Michigan’s formula for higher-education projects has not changed from past years. Each community college and the state provide 50 percent of the costs.

The Kalamazoo architectural firm of Eckert Wordell designed the expansion and remodeling, while the Miller-Davis Co. is serving as construction manager.

The Digest is working in conjunction with Maley to present project updates. Contact him at extension 4298 with any questions or concerns.

This is the college’s first major construction initiative since the Student Commons in 2001.

KVCC’ers can take a look for themselves by going to the college’s home page and keyboard in up at the top – home.kvcc.edu.

2010 Festival of Health to fill museumThe soothing therapy of a massage, the healthy care of skin, how proper footwear

is a path to health, and entertaining ways to keep poisons from the mouths of youngsters are all part of the 2010 Festival of Health on Saturday (March 13).

Slated from noon to 4 p.m. at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, the event features health-care professionals offering tips and advice for getting in shape, staying in shape

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through exercise, using healthy nutrition to improve quality of life and academic success, the benefits of a proactive approach to health to ward off disease, and therapeutic messages of the face, neck and shoulders.

Among the attractions will be a shoe clinic, a look at skin-care treatments and skin-age analyses, a puppet show that delivers messages about poison prevention, the fingerprinting and identification of children for their protection, and tips on eye care and vision protection. The value of having children immunized will also be stressed.

For more information contact Annette Hoppenworth at extension 7955 or [email protected].

KVCC to salute vets with Appreciation/Resource Day With a 16-foot silhouetted wood sculpture of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima leading

the salute, KVCC will pay homage to those who have and are serving in the U. S. armed forces on Wednesday, March 31.

The KVCC Student Success Center is hosting an observance of Veterans Appreciation Day in the Student Commons on the Texas Township Campus from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Linked to it will be a chance for veterans to tour the campus and learn about the training and education resources that are available to them.

On hand will be representatives from the college’s admissions, counseling, employment and internships, financial-aid, and veterans-service units to provide information about what is available and how to take advantage of those opportunities. Veterans-service organizations from around the community will also be taking part.

At 10 a.m., Sgt. Maj. Stephen Balczo of the Marine Corps will make a presentation titled “Yesterday’s Warriors – Tomorrow’s Leader” in the Student Commons. All of the events are free and open to the public. He is the son of Janice White, an accounting instructor at KVCC.

On display that day will be an exhibition by Lest We Forget Our Vets Inc. of Portage. Established in 1999 by a Vietnam War veteran and dedicated to those who have served their countries in the military, the showcase spans more than 50 years of uniforms, medals, patches, magazines, photos, maps and souvenirs.

The mission of the organization’s “Military Road Show and Traveling Museum” is to educate and inspire people of all ages by bringing military history to life. Among the artifacts are a 1940 World War II motorcycle and uniforms dating from that conflict through contemporary times. It also features a “Vietnam Wall” that contains the names of 53 Kalamazoo County residents who died in that war.

More information is available by contacting Colleen Olson at extension 4744 or [email protected].

Flu vaccine available twice this weekKVCC is hosting vaccination clinics for the H1N1 flu vaccine on Tuesday and

Wednesday (March 16-17).The Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Department will be

providing this free vaccination to all populations with no requirements regarding age or health condition. Health insurance is not needed. The Tuesday clinic is set for Anna Whitten Hall in Room 128 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., while the Wednesday session is at Texas Township Campus in the Student Commons Theater from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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For more info, go to http://www.kvcc.edu/safety/pandemic/

Deaf performer can tell stories for allTrix Bruce, a deaf storyteller who features visual-gesture movements in her stand-

up and theatrical performances, will offer her distinct style of creativity on Friday (March 19) at Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s Texas Township Campus.

Bruce’s show will begin at 7 p.m. in the Dale Lake Auditorium. General-admission tickets for adults are $7 if purchased prior to Thursday (March 18) and $10 at the door. Admission is $5 for children under 12, for students, and for those over 65. Tickets are on sale in the KVCC Bookstore.

Patricia “Trix” Bruce, who hails from Seattle, Wash., and who has been profoundly deaf since she was six months old, is regarded as one of the most talented ASL performers on today’s scene.

Her KVCC presentation, “Tales of a Mad, Mad, Mad ASL World,” artistically demonstrates the spectrum of ASL skills through audience interaction.

Through her creative storytelling, Bruce brings into play various handshakes, 3-D representations, personification, and role shifts.

It is described as a “roller-coaster ride through ASL poetry, storytelling and folk tales.”

As a child, she experienced oral, mainstreaming classes for the deaf and later online education training.

Bruce has been involved in the performing arts since 1980 that has taken her to roles in films and national stage productions of “West Side Story,” “Carousel,” Macbeth, “The Wizard of Oz,” “Snoopy and His Friends,” and “The Miracle Worker.”

Bruce has taken part in the annual Michigan Story Festival, crafting a performance about the experiences of a deaf person in a hearing world.

Earlier in the day, she will be conducting a storytelling workshop titled “ASL (American Sign Language) Role Shifting: He Said, She Said” for current and past ASL students from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Room 4380.

Sponsoring Bruce’s performance and workshop are the Instructional Development Advisory Committee at KVCC and Kalamazoo chapter of the American Sign Language Honors Society.

For more information about Bruce’s appearance in Kalamazoo, contact KVCC instructor Su Cutler at (269) 488-4482 or [email protected].

Artist Forum concert is Saturday nightIf you don’t have a clue as to what American gypsy jazz is, the Sherlock Holmes

of that genre of home-grown music is coming to Kalamazoo to shed light on the mystery.The John Jorgenson Quintet, whose Grammy-winning guitarist leader is regarded

as a pioneer of that jazz style, will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 20, in Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s Dale Lake Auditorium.

Tickets for the fivesome’s concert are $15 and are available at the college’s bookstores on the Texas Township Campus and in downtown Kalamazoo’s Anna Whitten Hall.

Artists Forum is co-sponsored by KVCC and the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation of Kalamazoo. The series began with the 1987-88 academic year.

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The college’s two-concert Artists Forum series for 2009-10 will conclude with a performance by instrumentalist Darrell Scott, who has composed chartbuster songs for Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Keb Mo, Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt and The Dixie Chicks.

Formed in 2004, the quintet also features jazz violinist Jason Anick, rhythm guitarist Doug Martin, bassist Simon Planting, and percussionist Rick Reed.

Gypsy jazz was made famous by French guitarist Django Reinhardt. In the 2005 movie “Head in the Clouds” that featured Reinhardt’s music and starring Charlize Theron and Penelope Cruz, Jorgenson, who also plays the clarinet, portrayed the Frenchman.

Jorgenson was a six-year member of Elton John's band. Artists ranging from Barbra Streisand to Bonnie Raitt to Earl Scruggs have sought out Jorgenson's guitar work that has been described as “dazzling.”

Whether playing his own compositions or classic standards, Jorgenson and his musical mates John make music that is “equally romantic and ecstatic, played with virtuosity and soul.” Jorgenson’s articles and lessons on gypsy jazz have appeared in prominent guitar magazines. He has given master classes around the country, and has performed with some of the most respected European proponents of this style. His “After You've Gone” CD is a collection of Reinhardt- and Benny Goodman-styled 1930s swing.

Growing up in Southern California, Jorgenson was playing both the piano and the clarinet by age 8. At 12 he got his first guitar and practiced voraciously while continuing to study classical music on woodwinds. By age 14, he was playing professionally.

Learning first to play rock guitar, Jorgenson absorbed other guitar styles as quickly as he discovered them. This broad musical palette has enabled him to play with artists as diverse as John, Luciano Pavarotti, Raitt, and Goodman.

Jorgenson first came to national prominence in the mid-1980s with the Desert Rose Band, which he co-founded. The band earned five No. 1 singles and Jorgenson won the Academy of Country Music’s "Guitarist of the Year" award three consecutive times.

Following the Desert Rose Band, he formed another award-winning group, the virtuosic guitar trio The Hellecasters. Originally conceived as a "one off" gig for fun, the group went on to produce three CDs and a live video, winning both "Album of the Year" and "Country Album of the Year" from the readers of Guitar Player Magazine in 1993.

In 1994, British rock legend John called and invited Jorgenson on an 18-month world tour. The 18 months stretched into a six-year period that included not only sold-out world tours, but also recordings, television appearances, and collaborations with many other artists including Sting and Billy Joel. In addition to acoustic and electric guitars, the Californian was also featured on saxophone, mandolin and vocals.

Although well-renowned in the pop, country and rock world, gypsy jazz is the style of music closest to his heart. His “Franco-American Swing” is full of infectious gypsy jazz music and co-features the Nashville Chamber Orchestra from Jorgenson’s home port in Tennessee.

In addition to gigs up and down all of California, the Jorgenson fivesome has taken part in “Jammin’ Java” in Vienna, Va., has played with the Les Paul Trio in New York City, been booked into the Hilton Hotel in “The Big Apple, and been the headline act for the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in Anchorage.

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Upon leaving Kalamazoo, the quintet will head for booking in Philadelphia, Boston, Germany, Scotland and London. Jorgenson describes himself as “a proud patron of the only dedicated gypsy-jazz venue in the world” in London.

32 'vols' sign up for ‘Human Race Machine’ – 1 more neededA week’s stay of the Human Race Machine on the Texas Township Campus will

complement the college’s seventh annual Diversity Conference later month.From March 22 through March 26 in Room 4380, the magic of computer software

will allow people to see what they would look like if they were of a different race. Participants will use their own image to gain a sense of their appearance as a member of six different races.

The exhibit is based on the scientific finding that the DNA of any two humans is 99.97 identical and that there is no gene for race, adding substance to the premise that in a foxhole everybody is the same color – red.

In addition, throughout the week in the exhibit area, there will be showings of the PBS documentary, “The Illusion of Race.”

As with a similar format for the sixth conference in 2009, the plan is to open the experience to the public.

However, that will require KVCC’ers to step forward to serve as volunteers to monitor the exhibit in one-hour shifts that week from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and nine more are needed to make all of that happen.

Those who would like to serve as monitors for an hour or more can contact Nancy Taylor at extension 4142 or [email protected].

In addition to Taylor, Gail Fredericks, Kristine Goolsby, Rob Kilkuskie, Candy Horton, Lynne Morrison, Jean Snow, Deb Bevis, Robyn Robinson, Anora Ackerson, Carol Head, Ken Barr Jr., Russ Panico, Dan Maley, Sue Hills, Janet Alm, Jackie Howlett, Melissa Farris, Karen Steeno van Staveren, Ruth Baker, Colleen Olson, Joyce Tamer, Marie Rogers, Bonita Bates, Mary Johnson, Kate Ferraro, Laura Cosby, Mike Collins, Kandiah Balachandran, Leona Coleman, Marion Melville and Marylan Hightree have committed to helping the college open this experience to the public. Some have signed up for multiple stints.

The last remaining vacancy is the Friday, March 26, slot at 9 a.m.“In addition to employees and students visiting the exhibit,” Taylor said, “we are

also expecting K-12 class trips as well as the general public. The primary responsibility is to monitor the room and the machine, and to start up a DVD player when necessary.”

Employee-wellness assessments begin this weekSue Avery, a registered nurse assigned to KVCC by Holtyn and Associates, will

be conducting free wellness screenings and counseling from Thursday (March 18) through Friday, April 16, for full-time KVCC employees and their spouses who are both new to the college’s program or continuing participants.

KVCC’ers and spouses can booked their own appointments through their own computer instead of making a telephone call. This can be done by going to the Holtyn website: www.holtynhpc.com. and following the directions.

Appointments span 30 minutes, meaning the available time slots are on the hour and half hour.

Here are the Texas Township Campus dates and times, all in Room 6044 in the Student Commons:

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Thursday (March 18) – 12:30 to 6 p.m. Friday (March 19) – 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday, March 22; Tuesday, March 23; Wednesday, March 24; and

Thursday, March 25 -- 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, March 26 – 8:30 a.m.to 3:30 p.m. Monday, March 29; Tuesday, March 30, and Wednesday, March 31 – 9

a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 1 – noon to 6 p.m. Monday, April 5; Tuesday, April 6, and Wednesday, April 7 – 9 a.m. to

4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 8 – 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Avery will be at the Arcadia Commons Campus for employees in Anna Whitten Hall, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum and the Center for New Media on these dates:

Monday, April 12 – 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 13 – 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 14 – 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, April 16 – 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

For those appointments, Avery will be based in 325 Whitten Hall.While payoffs in the past have focused on one’s personal and individual health, it

is now starting to pay off in the pay checks of employees.The one-on-one appointments include a glucose analysis, an HDL and cholesterol

evaluation, a blood-pressure check, a body-composition reading, an assessment of cardio-respiratory fitness, an overall health survey, an individual fitness assessment, and a personal consultation.

The 30-minute screenings can be done on work time. For more information, contact Avery at (269) 267-3712 or [email protected]. She can be contacted for assistance in enrolling in the wellness program for the first time and in registering spouses.

All full-time staff, faculty and administrators – and their spouses -- are encouraged to sign up for this college-sponsored program, even if previous screenings had not identified any health risks.

Participants should wear comfortable, loosely fitting clothing. Short-sleeve tops are recommended. Fasting is not required, but it is advised not to consume caffeinated beverages two hours prior to the assessment and to refrain from smoking.

The testing is paid for by the college.

Dialogues on effective college teaching, race on tapThanks to a KVCC Foundation grant of $2,200 grant, dialogues on race, diversity

and teaching at the community-college level are under way.It is co-funding a three-hour workshop for faculty on “What the Best College

Teachers Do to Promote Inclusion.” Instructor Jan White is leading those sessions at 4 p.m. in the lower level of the Center for New Media on Tuesday (March 16) and again on April 20.

The grant also led to the purchase of 50 copies of Beverly Tatum’s book titled “Can We Talk About Race?” Instructor Marie Rogers will be leading those talks according to the following schedule:

Friday (March 19) at noon in Room 7334 on the Texas Township Campus

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March 24 at 7 a.m., same location March 25 at noon in the lower level of the Center for New Media March 25 at 3 p.m. in Room 7334 April 14 at 7 a.m. in Room 7334 April 15 at noon in the lower level of the Center for New Media April 15 at 3 p.m. in Room 7334. April 16 at noon in Room 7334.

KVCC’ers interested in participating in the “Can We Talk About Race?” sessions can obtain a copy of the book through Nancy Taylor.

All these discussions orchestrated by the Faculty Success Center will help lay the groundwork for the Kalamazoo Valley Museum hosting a major exhibition on race in the fall of 2010. The exhibit will be the focal point for a communitywide examination of the racial issues that too often tarnish the nation’s democracy and Constitution.

For the 2009-10 academic year, the KVCC Foundation established funding-request deadlines for internal grant proposals.

Those faculty and/or administrators seeking financial support from the foundation must make plans in advance and adhere to the established deadlines.

Here’s the schedule for the final round this academic year:Proposal deadline: April 23; decision, May 7 by the KVCC Foundation Board of

Trustees.For more information, contact Steve Doherty, KVCC director of development and

foundation executive director, at extension 4442 or [email protected].

Turkey in spotlight as global series continuesStudents, faculty, staff and the public will be able to get a passport full of

information about 11 nations, their people, cultures and food without leaving the community during the second half of the 2010 winter semester.

The KVCC program in international studies has booked a series of presentations about the countries featuring presenters who have been there for a variety of reasons – as citizens of the country, as students, as visitors, or as workers.

All of the presentations will be held in either Room 4370 or 4380 off of the cafeteria on the Texas Township Campus.

All are free and open to the public. Here is the itinerary, the dates, times and the presenters:

Turkey – Wednesday (March 17), 3:30 p.m.; Britt Hartenberger. Germany and Austria – Wednesday, March 24, 2 p.m.; Nick Goodman. Palestine – Wednesday, March 31, 1 p.m. – Shadia Kanaan. Latvia – Wednesday, April 7, 11:30 a.m.; Svetlana Stone. Rwanda and Tanzania – Thursday, April 8, 11:30 a.m.; Barbara Ciufa. Ecuador – Monday, April 12, 2 p.m.; Jarek Marsh-Prelesnik. Russia – Wednesday, April 14, noon; Theo Sypris, director of the KVCC

program in international studies. Haiti – Monday, April 19, 3:30 p.m.; KVCC biology instructor Jack Bley. Vietnam – Wednesday, April 28, 12:15 p.m.; Huan Le and Thuc Thi

Tran.Earlier in the semester, China, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Argentina were

“visited.”

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‘Cedars’ author at Kalamazoo Central WednesdayTimed to coincide with a fall major exhibit on race booked for the Kalamazoo

Valley Museum, one of the most acclaimed books about prejudice is the Kalamazoo Public Library’s 2010 Reading Together selection.

“Snow Falling on Cedars” by David Guterson was the winner of the 1995 PEN/-Faulkner Award for Fiction and the 1996 American Booksellers Association Book of the Year.

Scores of special events/programs have preceded Guterson’s appearance in Kalamazoo that is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday (March 17) in the Kalamazoo Central High School Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.

Also in advance of the author coming to Kalamazoo is a showing of the 1999 film version of “Snow Falling on Cedars” that starred Ethan Hawke. That is scheduled for the Kalamazoo Valley Museum on Friday (March 12).

“Cedars” is set against the backdrop of a courtroom drama in the Pacific Northwest when a Japanese-American man is charged with the murder of a local white fisherman. It is steeped in the World War II forced internment of these citizens, an interracial love story, and post-war politics.

A novelist, short-story writer, poet, journalist, and essayist, Guterson earned his master’s from the University of Washington, where he studied under the writer Charles Johnson. After moving to Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound, Guterson taught English at the local high school and began writing for Sports Illustrated and Harper’s magazine.

Guterson was born in Seattle in 1956, but his undergraduate degree was awarded by the University of Wisconsin. In addition to “Snow Falling on Cedars,” Guterson has published novels “East of the Mountains,” “Our Lady of the Forest,” and “The Other.”

In 2002, Guterson co-founded Field’s End, an organization for writers through which he has continued to teach. He also mentors writers from the University of Washington’s Creative Writing program. The David Guterson Endowed Fund in Creative Writing supports an award for an master’s fiction student at the university. Guterson has been a judge in literary competitions, including fiction awards for the National Endowment for the Arts.

His father, Murray Guterson, is a criminal defense attorney. “One of the things I heard from him early on was to find something you love to do — before you think about money or anything else,” Guterson said. “The other thing was to do something that you feel has a positive impact on the world.”

Here are other upcoming events: “For the Sake of the Children” -- Through April 14 in the Kalamazoo

Central Library. This photography exhibit documents four generations of Japanese-American life on Bainbridge Island in Washington and inspired Guterson to write the book. Exhibit hours – Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m.; Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“Go for Broke” – Through April 14 in the Kalamazoo Central Library. This photograph exhibit from the National Archives contains images of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The largest Nisei unit during World War II, the 442nd is the most decorated combat unit of its size in the history of the U. S. Army. Its story has been told in several Hollywood

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movies. Exhibit hours – Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m.; Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“Snow Falling on Cedars” movie – Friday (March 12) at 7 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. Admission fee is $3.

Toward Wholeness and Community – Sundays through March 28 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 212 S Park St. Throughout history, great literature has contributed to change in society. What can the themes of “Snow Falling on Cedars” teach about living peacefully in a community?

Shodo – Japanese Calligraphy – Tuesday (March 16) at 6 and 7:30 p.m. in the Kalamazoo Public Library. Shodo is the Japanese version of calligraphy, using ink and brush. Participants will learn to write their names in this precise art form. This is one of a series of events on Japanese culture being organized by the Soga Japan Center at Western Michigan University. Adults only. Space is limited; Registration required. Call 553-7913.

Book Discussion – Tuesday (March 16) at 10 a.m. in the Portage District Library and repeats at 7 p.m.

Japan and Modern History – Thursday (March 18) at 6 p.m. in the Fetzer Center at Western Michigan University. Speaking about “Past Obsessions: World War II in History and Memory” will be Carol Gluck, professor of history at Columbia University.

Book Discussion – Friday (March 19) at 6:30 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Library in central Van Buren County.

Understanding Diverse Cultures – Sunday, March 21, at 2 p.m. in the Portage District Library. “Snow Falling on Cedars” isn’t alone. In round-table discussions, area book groups will talk about additional titles that continue to spark spirited conversations about multiculturalism, ethnicity, and diversity. Attendees may visit each table to hear book groups’ suggestions. This is co-sponsored by the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society.

KVCC’s Jim Ratliff is a member of the 24-member, communitywide committee that makes the choice of a Reading Together volume.

This year’s book selection was driven in part by a request from the Race Exhibit Initiative of Southwest Michigan, which asked the library to choose a book that could help foster discussions about race in advance of an October 2010 unveiling of the traveling exhibition “Race: Are We so Different?”

The exhibition features photographs, movies and interactive displays — all of which explore the history of race in America, the biology of race and experiences of living with race. It will be on display at the museum from Oct. 2 to Jan. 2, 2011.

“What I like about the book is that many people, when they talk about race, focus on black and white issues,” Zarinah El-Amin Naeem, coordinator of the Race Exhibit Initiative that is housed in Western Michigan University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, told The Kalamazoo Gazette. “Because this book brings in a segment of Asian-

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Americans, it helps to broaden the discussions by moving it outside of the discussions of black and white.”

Naeem said Kalamazoo will be the smallest community to host the exhibition, and organizers hope that it can “be a catalyst for social transformation in Kalamazoo and southwestern Michigan as a whole rather than an exhibit that just comes and goes.”

Previous “Reading Together” titles were: “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury in 2003; “Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich in 2004; “The Color of Water” by James McBride in 2005; “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien in 2006; “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon in 2007: “Animal Dreams” by Barbara Kingsolver in 2008; and New York Times columnist Rick Bragg’s trio of memoirs this year.

Reading Together invites people of all ages from all walks of life to read and then discuss important issues raised by a selected book. Thousands of county residents have participated in seven previous Reading Together programs.

The Kalamazoo Public Library leads Reading Together with the collaboration of libraries, educational institutions, health and social service agencies, cultural, civic and religious organizations, businesses, the news media, and local governments throughout Kalamazoo County.

The Kalamazoo Community Foundation helped the library launch Reading Together with funding for the first three years with grants from it Better Together initiative. The library now provides major support for the program. Foundation grants, gifts and contributions from collaborating organizations make it possible to offer Reading Together to all of Kalamazoo County. The Fetzer Institute has stepped forward to help support this year’s edition.

‘Cedars’ movie is this weekend’s ‘Friday Night Highlight’The March 12 billing for “Friday Night Highlights” at the Kalamazoo Valley

Museum is a showing of “Snow Falling on Cedars,” the film version of the book chosen to be the 2010 Reading Together selection.

Tickets to that 7:30 p.m. showing in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater are $3. The March 19 attraction will be a pair of kick-off concerts for the Kalamazoo

Fretboard Festival by the trio Four Finger Five at 6:30 and 8 p.m. in the Stryker Theater. Each is free and open to the public.

Also part of the "Friday Night Highlights" agenda is an 8:30 p.m. showing of the planetarium show featuring the music of U2. That has a $3 admission fee.

With a laser-light show in full color streaming across the planetarium's 50-foot dome, the 35-minute production will feature the classic hits of the Dublin, Ireland, combo that has earned 22 Grammys, sold 146 million albums, and warranted induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its first year of eligibility.

The U2 show will continue at the planetarium through March when it will be replaced by a similar presentation featuring the music of Pink Floyd.

Released in 1999, “Snow Falling on Cedars” was nominated for an Academy Award for best cinematography.

It is set on the fictional San Piedro Island in the northern Puget Sound region of the state of Washington coast in 1951. The plot revolves around the murder trial of a Japanese American accused of killing a respected fisherman in the close-knit community.

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The trial occurs in the midst of deep anti-Japanese sentiments following World War II. Covering the case is the editor of the town's one-man newspaper, a World War II veteran who lost an arm fighting the Japanese.

Torn by a sense of hatred for the Japanese, the reporter struggles with his love for the accused man’s wife, whom he knew as a child and prior to Pearl Harbor, and his conscience, wondering if her husband is truly innocent.

An underlying theme throughout the trial is prejudice. Several witnesses testify that the fisherman was killed for racial and personal reasons. They represents the part of America that persecuted Japanese Americans during World War II. This stance is not without irony. The accused is a decorated war veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and experienced prejudice because of his ancestry following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The one-armed journalist’s search of the maritime records reveals on the night that the fisherman died a freighter had passed through the channel where he had been fishing shortly after midnight. The reporter concludes that he was thrown overboard by the force of the freighter's wake.

Despite the bitterness he feels by the rejection of the Japanese-American wife, he comes forward with the new information. Further evidence is collected in support of the conclusion that the deceased had climbed the boat's mast to cut down a lantern, been knocked from the mast by the freighter's wake, hit his head, then fallen into the sea.

Among the cast are Ethan Hawke, Sam Shepard, and Max Von Sydow.Here is the “Friday Night Highlights” schedule of movies, concerts by local

combos, and special events through the first third of 2010: March 26: “Star Trek Generations.” April 2: “Terminator.” April 9: Embarr in a concert of Celtic music April 16: The pop/rock music of We Know Jackson. April 23: Performer Rob Vischer and his California style April 30: Concert by Waverland (topic/acoustic/alternative). May 7: The 1979 movie “Battlestar Galactia May 14: The rock and blues music of Branden Mann and the Reprimand May 21: The 1984 comedy “Ghostbusters.” May 28: The improv comedy of Just Panda.

Workshop can prep students for job, volunteer exposWith spring break over for another year, KVCC instructors should be alerting

their winter-semester enrollees about the upcoming events planned by the Student Success Center that are designed to energize academic accomplishments and expand educational horizons.

To help them prepare for the Friday (March 19) KVCC Employment Expo that has once again be combined with the Volunteer and Community Services Fair, a get-ready workshop is planned for Monday (March 15) at 11:30 a.m. in the Student Commons Forum.

In addition to demonstrating how each individual student’s personal strengths can be used to his/her advantage in making a good impression, staff members will be on hand to critique resumes, offer job-search strategies, and show how to polish interviewing skills.

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Slated for Tuesday (March 16) at 12:30 p.m. in the Student Commons Forum is another edition of the “Career Roundtables” series that provides students with networking tips and covers effective ways to find, land and keep a job. They can stick around for a “Women in History” speaker timed for 2 p.m. in the same location.

“Mid-Semester Meltdown” will give students an assessment of their body/mind stress and provide suggestions to ease the tension in healthy and productive ways. One of the factors is a positive attitude. The “Meltdown” will be held on Wednesday (March 17) in rooms 4370 and 4380 off of the Texas Township Campus cafeteria at 11 a.m. through 2 p.m.

Wrapping up the week following spring break is a workshop to help students avoid the trap of falling into debt because of abuse of credit-card privileges and other behaviors. That session will be held on Thursday (March 18) at noon in the Student Commons Forum.

March 22-26 is designated as “Strengths Week” during which students will identify their individual talents and strengths, and learn how to use them as they strive toward their educational and training goals.

Also scheduled for that week is a workshop designed to take students through a step-by-step process in applying for admission into a four-year institution and how-to techniques involving scholarships. That session is set for Tuesday, March 23, at 5 p.m. in the Student Commons Forum.

Career roundtables under way at Texas Township CampusKVCC students are invited to a month-long series of “Career Roundtables” being

organized by the Student Success Center’s Career and Employment unit.Career adviser Joyce Tamer is leading the discussions that are continuing on each

Tuesday throughout March from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the Student Commons Forum. Instructors are urged to inform their students about these sessions that will cover

topics related to exploring careers of interest and mapping a path toward such a career. “The purpose is to have an informal setting with minimal structure to allow the

students to explore career issues that are of concern to them,” Tamer said. In addition to conversations about a variety of careers, the participants will also

learn about of value of networking and keys to finding and keeping a job.

Kalamazoo’s 49’ers in Sunday Series spotlightJust like plagues of cholera and outbreaks of the flu that swept the nation in its

224-yar history, Kalamazoo was subjected to its share of “gold fever.”That’s the theme of the next installment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s

“Sunday Series” on March 14.“Kalamazoo’s Argonauts: The Lure of California Gold in 1850” is the topic of

curator Tom Dietz’s flashback to community history at 1:30 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater. All presentations are free.

When President James K. Polk confirmed in his 1848 State of the Union address that a substantial deposit of gold had been discovered in California, the floodgates were open and torrents of get-rich-quick wealth-seekers headed West.

“Gold fever” was contagious and, as returning “Forty-Niners” returned with tales of easy wealth, more than a few men from Kalamazoo County succumbed to the lure.

Several groups of young men left Kalamazoo in early 1849. One made its way to

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Salt Lake City and then took a southern route by way of Las Vegas. Crossing both Death Valley and snow-covered mountains, they nearly died before arriving in Los Angeles two days before Christmas.

A fellow named Sherman Hawley wrote home saying that most of the men he saw were discouraged and would return east if they could afford to do so.

The Kalamazoo Gazette published a letter that a Mr. A. Dunn wrote to his wife. Having arrived in mid-October, he and the three men in his party, Dunn claimed, had gathered $2,000 worth of gold dust (about $50,000 today).

In the spring of 1850, the Gazette reported the departure of close to 50 including a couple of well-known entrepreneurs.

John T. Clapp headed west with horse and wagon in March. Having failed to find gold, he returned east and published the story of his adventures that he called the “hardships and privations” of the cross-country trek.

He describes wildlife and the terrain. Buffalo herds are in the distance and Clapp fears the wolves that prowl at night. He comments about storms and torrents of rain. He described it as “the flash of terror, and the din of rage.”

In crossing the deserts of western Utah and Nevada, the party encountered abandoned wagons and equipment, and the decaying carcasses of pack animals. It took nearly five months to reach California’s gold fields in late July.

While Clapp’s quest for gold was not successful, others from Kalamazoo were more fortunate. Perhaps the best known was William Gibb who went there in 1850 with his father, John.

The younger Gibb not only found gold but brought it back to Kalamazoo hidden in the secret pockets of a cloth vest he made to protect his treasure. That vest is now one of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s prized artifacts.

After three years, Gibbs returned home. He took a ship to Panama, crossed the isthmus, and then sailed to New Orleans. There he converted his 14 pounds of gold into 164 $20 coins at the U.S. Mint. His gold, then worth about $3,300, would be valued at $150,000 today.

With the gold, he purchased 240 acres of land in northern Portage Township near the I-94/U.S.131 interchange. He farmed there until retirement. Western Michigan University’s College of Engineering is located there.

Many who had succumbed to the gold fever eventually returned to Kalamazoo. Others stayed in California and became successful in business even if they had failed in their hunt for gold.

The lure of quick wealth would remain strong, however. A half-century later, the fever would again draw men to challenge the wilderness when gold was discovered in the Alaskan Klondike region.

Here are the “Sunday Series” programs through spring: “The Ladies Library Association” – March 28 “Play Ball! – Baseball in Kalamazoo” – April 11 “Kalamazoo’s Musical Heritage” – April 25.For further information, contact Tom Dietz at 373-7984.

‘Dress for Success’ coming to Whitten March 25Students in Valerie Jones’ marketing class at the Arcadia Commons Campus are

working together to stage a “Dress for Success” event for their peers at KVCC.

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They have been assigned to a variety of teams that are working together to organize and stage the program from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 25, in Room 128 of Anna Whitten Hall.

“The objective is to help students understand the importance of proper dress as it relates to interviewing and business situations,” says Student Success Center career adviser Diane Finch, who is helping to organize the initiative.

She cites surveys by the National Association of Colleges and Employers in which 92 percent of those surveyed state that “a candidate’s overall appearance influences an opinion of that candidate. Even if students are very skilled in their field, if they don’t make a good first impression, it could cost them the job.”

“Dress for Success” will include presentations on learning the importance of proper attire, dressing tips for men and women, how to make a good first impression, and interviewing strategies.

Among the presenters will be Brian Parson and Wilma Wilder of the Goodwill Career Academy, while J. C. Penny will be providing clothing for student models.

Finch can be contacted at extension 7864 or [email protected] for more information.

Ethical aspects of plagiarism is topic “Plagiarism and College Culture” is the topic this week as the Western Michigan

University Center for the Study of Ethics in Society continues its lecture series during the winter semester.

Free and open to the public, the presentation is slated for 4 p.m. Thursday (March 18) in Room 2028 of Brown Hall. The presenter is Susan Blum of Notre Dame University.

She will examine whether plagiarism is a new phenomenon or whether it is an enduring problem. She’ll explore whether it should be combated by rules, by moral exhortations, by punishment, or by education. In her publications and presentations, she has pointed out that students and instructors view plagiarism differently.

Kalamazoo’s early hostelries are TV topic A flashback to the early days of Kalamazoo County’s hospitality industry is the

March installment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s TV show. Tom Dietz, the curator of research at the museum, will talk about the hostelries

and inns that welcomed visitors to the community in the 19th and early-20th centuries. The episode will be aired by the Public Media Network (formerly the Community

Access Center) on Channel 22 on the Charter cable system at 7 p.m. on Sundays, 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. on Fridays, and 11 a.m. on Saturdays.

Hotels provided a variety of important services in Kalamazoo during the 19th century. The Kalamazoo House, built in 1832, was a center of fevered activity during the boom days of the western Michigan land speculation of the mid-1830s.

“Anxious buyers crowded every square inch of floor space to sleep while they climbed through windows to buy meals in the hotel’s dining room,” Dietz says.

Other prominent 19th-century hotels included the Exchange Hotel, the American Hotel, and the Burdick House. They hosted travelers, traveling salesmen and physicians peddling their wares and services from a temporary office, and provided meeting places for clubs and organizations.

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Dances and other social functions were staged in their ballrooms. Several hotels offered public-bathing facilities for those who lacked full bathrooms in their homes.

Dietz discusses the 19th-century hospitality industry, exploring not only these well-known establishments but lesser known hotels including the International Hotel, Burke’s Hotel, and the Sheridan House. He will talk about the men who owned, built, and operated these facilities as well as the many purposes that the hotels served.

Hotels were often located where travelers would arrive, notably around the several railroad depots. The River House was located near the bridge over the Kalamazoo River, hoping to attract arrivals coming via the old Territorial Road.

The Burdick House, which opened in 1854, stood on Main Street (now Michigan Avenue), where the Radisson Plaza Hotel and Suites now stands, making that block the site of at least one hotel for more than 150 years.

When the Burdick House went up in flames on an arctic-like, bone-chilling evening in 1909, it earned a distinction that remains to this day – one of Kalamazoo’s greatest disasters.

Originally known as the Cosmopolitan Hotel, what burned that night opened its 80 to 100 rooms, which could accommodate up to 150 guests, in the spring of 1853. The contractor was Frank Dennison and he attached bathing salons to the four-floor, brick building that had dimensions of 100-by-70 feet.

Dennison didn’t launch the project. Work was started in August of 1850 by Alexander J. Sheldon, a shaker-and-do’er who is given credit for literally lifting the village out of the mud by installing the first planked walkways.

In June of 1855, the hostelry, built for $12,000, became the Burdick House -- named for Gen. Justus Burdick, an influential early settler.

Known for its “elegant arches,” one was described as “magnificent. . .(sitting) like a majestic queen with her children ranged on either side.” Broad “winding, spirally” stairs took guests to the upper floors.

A 45-foot “elegantly finished” tower on the roof reached for the sky, while the window sills were white marble from Vermont. An arcade of shops eventually filled the ground level. It was heralded as the “largest and best constructed hotel in western Michigan.”

Flames took their first crack at the Burdick House in October of 1855 when wooden buildings in an adjacent block caught fire. While fast work by fire fighters saved the day, the hotel did sustain damage to furnishings because water was thrown into rooms to prevent any kind of ignition.

As the village’s social hotspot and one of the finer inns in the region, the Burdick added stables to serve the transportation medium of most guests. The barn that could house up to 200 horses cost $3,000. Flames consumed it in 1876, but the main structure was again spared.

Not so in December of 1909 when the then half-century-old building was reduced to rubble, looking like the results of a World War II bombing.

Future of Michigan newspapers in the spotlightWith too many newspapers shrinking, going bankrupt, or going digital, a March

27 “Conference on the Future of Michigan Newspapers and Society” in Kalamazoo will open a dialogue about what may be regarded as a crisis for the essence of a democracy.

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Slated to be held on that Saturday in the Fetzer Center on the campus of Western Michigan University, the conference will feature a slate of presentations and will begin at 8:30 a.m.

“This conference is probably the first of its kind in the nation,” said Andrew Targowski, the event’s chairman and a staff member of WMU’s Center for Sustainable Business Practices. “We hope it will serve as a model for similar forums at other universities and colleges in the state.”

With a subtitle of “Can an Educated Society be Sustained Solely by Digitalization?” the keynoters and the titles of their presentations are:

• “Credibility, Incredibility, and the Demise of Objectivity, Civility and Wisdom” - Cal Samra, a former Associated Press and newspaper reporter

• “Digital Media and News: Reinventing the Newspaper Future” - Richard Gershon of the WMU School of Communication

• “Saving Paper Papers” - Cheryl Kaechele, president of the National Newspaper Association

• “Can Democracy Survive in the Google Age?” - Thomas Kostrzewa of the WMU Department of Political Science

• “The Future of Reason in the Digital Civilization” - Targowski.“Newspapers are a national treasure,” Samra said. “A paper paper is the glue that holds a community together. Newspapers survived the Great Depression. They survived radio and television. They survived shoppers. But can they survive the Internet?”

Members of the public, as well as current, former and future journalists, are invited to take part in dialogues that will address such questions as:

• Can paper papers be saved?• Should newspapers give themselves away free on the Internet, or should

they charge for Internet access to their daily or weekly editions?• Are we entering a new era of digital journalism?• Is there a place for both paper and digital media?The conference will also explore ideas aimed at improving editorial and business

practices at newspapers, and promote communications between journalists and technologists.

The conference is also calling for papers, with cash prizes given in each of three categories - faculty, student and professional journalist.

Additional information on the conference, registration and call for papers is available at http://www.wmich.edu/business/sustainability/newspapers.

The $20 fee includes lunch.The co-sponsors are the National Newspaper Association, the WMU Haworth

College of Business, the WMU Center for Sustainable Business Practices, the WMU College of Arts and Sciences, and the Haenicke Institute for Global Education.

KVCC’s Tom Thinnes has been asked to assist in the staging of the event. Before dumping used cooking oil, check with Charlie

If you’re thinking to dispose of that well-used oil as the outdoor-cooking season nears, think of what’s cookin’ in the automotive-technology lab and ask Charlie Fuller whether his supply is low.

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Through the magic of chemistry under the lab manager's supervision, bio-diesel fuel is being converted from vegetable oils that had been used to cook fondue foods, chicken strips, perch, turkeys, mushrooms, French fries, and jalapeno peppers.

Larry Taylor, the coordinator of the automotive program, launched the initiative to convert cooking oil into bio-diesel fuel for two major reasons.

“The No. 1 reason,” he said, “is to take a re-usable source of energy that is normally thrown away and make a fuel that can power some of the college’s fleet of vehicles and machinery, which is a money-saving venture.

“The second big reason is to use what is called the ‘Freedom Fueler’ as an educational resource,” Taylor said, “and that is already become a reality for those who are enrolled in the program in chemical technology.”

The unit, with all of its bells and whistles, filtration system, fittings, nozzles, and pumps, costs $4,400.

So what’s the payback?The used vegetable oils - from soybeans, peanuts, seeds, etc. - have been donated

by KVCC staff members and by restaurants. The automotive program has to buy methanol and sodium hydroxide - which is

basically lye - to catalyze the concoction.To 50 gallons of cooking oil will be added eight to nine gallons of methanol and

about 100 grams of the other chemical. The result is an 80-percent conversion, or about 40 gallons of bio-diesel. When all the math is done and the costs are figured, KVCC comes out about $150 to the good with each batch. The chemistry produces biodiesel fuel and glycerin. Those two are allowed to settle and be separated.

However, the bio-diesel still needs to be “cleaned” of suspended glycerin and other “nasties,” and that cleaning is done by water out of the tap.

The water cleans the fuel and takes the suspended solids down to the bottom of the container. After a day or two, the liquid is crystal-clear bio-diesel. The congealed stuff at the bottom is basically soap, and can be flushed down the drain. But it also can be used in back-yard composting and as a cleansing agent.

And finally. . . A nun walks into the mother superior's office, plunks down into a chair,

and lets out a frustrated sigh."What troubles you, sister?" asked the head nun. "I thought this was the

day you spent with your family." "It was," she sighed, “and I played golf with my brother. You know I was

quite a talented golfer before I devoted my life to Christ.""I seem to recall that," the mother superior agreed. "So I take it your day

of recreation was not relaxing?" "Far from it," snorted the golfing nun. . "In fact, I even took the Lord's

name in vain today!" "Goodness, sister!" gasped the mother superior, "You must tell me all

about it!""Well, we were on the fifth tee, a monster 540-yard par 5, with a nasty

dogleg left and a hidden green,” the nun said. “I hit the drive of my life. I

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creamed it. The sweetest swing I ever made, and it's flying straight and true, right along the line I wanted. Then it hits a bird in mid-flight!"

"Oh my!" commiserated the convent leader. "How unfortunate! But surely that didn't make you blaspheme, sister."

"No, that wasn't it," admitted the younger woman.. "While I was still trying to fathom what had happened, this squirrel runs out of the woods, grabs my ball and runs off down the fairway."

"Oh, that would've even made me blaspheme,” sympathized the mother superior.

"But I didn't,” she said. "I was so proud of myself!. And while I was pondering whether this was a sign from God, a hawk swoops out of the sky, grabs the squirrel and flies off, with my ball still clutched in his paws.”

"Ahah,” said the head nun with a knowing smile. “So that's when you cursed.”

"Nope, that wasn't it either," she said, "because as the hawk started to fly out of sight, the squirrel started struggling. The hawk dropped him right there on the green. The ball popped out of his paws and rolled to about 18 inches from the cup.”

The mother superior sat back in her chair, folded her arms across her chest, fixed the young nun with a baleful stare and said...

"You missed the @#$%$#@#$$%&*&^%$#%^& putt, didn't you?"

☻☻☻☻☻☻

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