December 2015 | Coachella Valley Beacon

By Bill MarcheseThere was a time when Mike Diab of

Palm Desert had to work for food. As a 21-year-old immigrant from Lebanon with al-most no ability in English, he cleaned theparking lot at Wendy’s in exchange for ahamburger. He was not qualified to flipburgers at the restaurant. He did janitorialwork at a gym on exchange for a cot tosleep on in the basement.That was 28 years ago. Today in Palm

Springs as a successful entrepreneur, Diabhas 25 employees on his payroll, and heplans future expansion of his business.As living proof of the American dream,

Diab said, “Don’t give up, and don’t wait forsomeone to make it happen for you.” Diab tells his story. Lebanon was engulfed

in a civil war in 1984. “My father was killedwhen a rocket bomb hit his car dealership.He was in his office at the time,” Diab said.The dealership was collateral damage, not atarget. Diab was just a teenager.He admired his father, who started as a

taxi driver and moved up to become thelargest used car dealer in Lebanon.As a youth, Diab was a national black belt

karate champion in Lebanon and wanted tocontinue to study martial arts in America,so he traveled to Plano, Texas, a karate cen-ter. Karate means “open hand,” Diab said,a style of self defense treated like an artform. It would later serve him well when hewas facing a robber with a knife at a gas sta-tion.“I practiced karate all my life. Now my

two girls, twins age 10, are learning karateand so is my son, age 5.” One of the girls isnumber one brown belt champion in Cali-fornia.

From Texas to CaliforniaDiab lived in Texas for one year, where

he did janitorial work and taught karate atthe gym by day. At night, “I rode a bicyclefor two hours one way to the library to takeEnglish classes.” Through a friend, he wasoffered a job in California to work at a gasstation as a cashier. While employed in Palm Springs at a gas

station, he went to College of the Desert tostudy English and to a management train-ing school offered by the Shell gas com-pany. He also worked part time, starting at5 a.m., delivering newspapers for The

Desert Sun, and later in the day at the gasstation as a cashier.His karate training came in handy when

a knife-wielding robber came into his PalmSprings gas station early one morning anddemanded all the money from the register.Diab, cashier at the time, took the metalcash tray from the register and dumped themoney on the robber, then quickly twistedthe knife from his hand and dropped himto the floor. “I held him down with my footon his neck until the police came,” he said.“You can’t have a black belt in karate un-

less you can take down three or four guys,”which takes a lot of confidence as well astechnique, Diab said. That scenario played

out at another gas station when “three bigguys tried to rob me, and I had to put themdown.”He has been shot at in other gas station

robbery attempts, he said, “but I have nobullet holes yet.”

Persistence paysDiab speaks modestly about his martial

arts skills and his business success. Heowns gas stations now, including the Union76 station at the Smoke Tree ShoppingCenter in Palm Springs.His education comes mainly from the

More than 40,000 readers throughout the Coachella Valley

COMPLIMENTARY

VOL.4, NO.12

I N F O C U S F O R P E O P L E O V E R 5 0DECEMBER 2015

Realizing the American dream

See MIKE DIAB, page 22

I N S I D E …

The Coachella Valley

Mike Diab fled Lebanon for the United States in the 1980s. Since then, the PalmDesert resident has created a network of businesses in the desert.

FITNESS & HEALTH 4k Can meds make you depressed?k Medicare covers end-of-life counseling

LAW & MONEY 12k Retirement target-date fundsk Investing in startups

ADVERTISER DIRECTORY 22

PLUS BEACON BITS & MORE

ARTS & STYLEA tribute to Ed Sullivan’s“really big shooo”; plus, Gloria Steinem on her life ‘on the road’

page 20

LEISURE & TRAVELNatural and celebrity attractionsabound in Monterey; plus making affordable phone callsfrom overseas

page 16

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Here at the Beacon Newspapers, we arealways on the look for ways to enhance thelives of our readers. That’s thefocus of our family of publica-tions and events aimed at theage 50-plus audience.In addition to our monthly

Coachella Valley Beacon andyearly Beacon 50 + Expo, wealso publish an annual re-source guide. The free, 48-page Coachella Valley Seniors’Resource Guide offers lists ofhundreds of businesses andagencies important to seniors.The variety of products andservices included range from adult daycare centers to government agencies tomovie theaters. Other subjects includephysicians, pharmacies, senior centers, so-cial services and utilities. A special focuspinpoints caregivers, assisted living and in-dependent living.Topics are presented alphabetically and

printed in large, bold easy-to read type. Anindex lists all the included businesses by page

number. An advertiser indexoffers even more information. By the way, our advertisers

make this publication possible.Please let them know you sawtheir ads here and that you ap-preciate their support. We do!The guide’s 5 ½-inch- by 8-

inch-size makes it handy tokeep by the phone or yourbedside. Our readers have asked for

and supported this guide.True case in point: One of the

Coachella Valley Beacon’s readers calledand asked us to send a copy of the guide toher children in Oregon. “That way,” shesaid, “if something happens to me, they willknow what to do, who to call.”We have just distributed 15,000 copies of

the 2016 guide. Where can you find it?Among the more than 400 locations are

Eisenhower Medical Center, Desert OasisHealth Care, the valley’s senior centers,Mary Pickford Theatre, the Alzheimer As-sociation, and numerous assisted living fa-cilities and in-home care agencies. The Resource Guide is also always at your

fingertips online at www.thebeaconnewspa-pers.com and www.ontargetmedia.net.(You’ll also find archived copes of theCoachella Valley Beacon here.) We double check to ensure the accuracy

of the lists. However, phone numbers andaddresses do change. If you find any, pleaselet us know, and we will correct them in theonline versions. Call us at (760) 668-2226 orsend an email to: [email protected]’s our pleasure to bring you this com-

pilation of useful information. We hope itstrengthens your life in the CoachellaValley.

2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com DECEMBER 2 0 1 5 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

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Resource Guide aims to help seniors

Letters to the editorReaders are encouraged to share their opinion on any matter addressedin the Coachella Valley Beacon as well as on political and social issues ofthe day. Mail your Letter to the Editor to The Coachella Valley Beacon,

1001 S. Palm Canyon Dr., Ste 217, Palm Springs, CA 92264 or e-mail to [email protected]. Please include your name,

address and telephone number for verification.

MOVING ON DESPITE PAINLearn how to return to a health and active lifestyle not limited bypain at a free talk at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16 by Dr. Jeff

Smith of Eisenhower Medical Center. “The Seven Deadly Sins of Pain Manage-ment” is scheduled to be held at the Palm Springs Public Library, 300 S. SunriseWay, Palm Springs. Palmspringslibrary.org, (760) 322-7323

HOW TO DEAL WITH DEPRESSION, STRESS“Proactive Approach to Depression and Stress” will be the topicof Anthony Bassanelli, M.D., from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan.15 at Joslyn Senior Center, 73-750 Catalina Way, Palm Desert.

Certified in general adult psychiatry, he is medical director of the Eisenhower Out-patient Behavioral Health Clinic. The talk is free and light refreshments will beserved. Joslyncenter.org, (760) 340-3220

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Jan. 15

COACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — D E C EMBER 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon 3

Be on the lookout for mood swings,sleeplessness and anxiety when startingcertain medications.We all get the blues from time to time.

But if signs of depression, such as pro-longed hopelessness or trouble concen-trating, seem to come out of nowhere, thecause may be in your medication regi-men. “I think most patients are not aware that

some medications can cause depression,”said Dr. Laura Carr, a pharmacist at Har-vard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hos-pital. “This side effect can be missedbecause sometimes patients hesitate to telltheir doctor they are experiencing depres-sion symptoms.”

Common culpritsA wide variety of medications can affect

your mood and lead to depressive symptoms.One example is benzodiazepines, such as al-prazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium), lo-razepam (Ativan) and temazepam (Restoril),which are used to treat anxiety and insomnia. “Benzodiazepines are central nervous

system depressants. These medicationscan build up in the body, leading to side ef-fects that can manifest as depression symp-toms,” explained Carr. She said olderpeople are more likely to experience theresidual effects of these drugs becausetheir bodies metabolize medications moreslowly.Other medications that may have a side

effect of depression include• antibiotics such as levofloxacin (Lev-

aquin) and ciprofloxacin (Cipro)• prescription painkillers such as oxy-

codone (Oxycontin) or fentanyl (Abstral)• hormone replacement therapy such

as estrogen (Premarin)• corticosteroids such as prednisone

(Deltasone) and triamcinolone (Aristocort)• beta blockers such as metoprolol (Lo-

pressor) and carvedilol (Coreg)• statins such as simvastatin (Zocor)

and pravastatin (Pravachol)• anticholinergic drugs such as dicy-

clomine (Bentyl)• anticonvulsant drugs such as gabapen-

tin (Neurontin) and topiramate (Topamax).Paradoxically, two medicines that are

sometimes prescribed for severe depres-sion can produce depression: aripiprazole(Abilify) and quetiapine (Seroquel).Not surprisingly, said Carr, “the risk for

developing depression as a side effect ofmedicines is greatest in people with a his-tory of major depressive disorder, prior de-pression episodes, a family history ofdepression, or prior episodes of drug-in-duced depression.”The symptoms of drug-induced depres-

sion are the same as for any kind of depres-sion: feeling hopeless, irritable, anxious orangry; loss of interest in work, family oronce-pleasurable activities, including sex;extreme fatigue; trouble concentrating;trouble sleeping; aches or pains,headaches, cramps or digestive problems;trouble keeping up with responsibilities of

work, family or other important activities;or increase or decrease in appetite orweight.

What you can doIf you suspect that a medication you’re al-

ready taking may be causing depression, don’tbe shy about reporting your symptoms. “When I counsel people about their med-

ications, I encourage them to speak openlywith their doctors, and ask if their symp-toms could be a side effect of the medica-tion,” said Carr.If you’ve just started a new medication,

be proactive about tracking symptoms thatdevelop. Keep a journal, and note the day,time and type of new symptoms you expe-rience, such as mood swings or sleepless-ness. And be on the lookout for newsymptoms in the first month.“With most medications, the onset of de-

pression symptoms would generally occurduring the first weeks or month of starting— or even stopping — a medication,” saidCarr.Report new symptoms immediately. Your

doctor will help you figure out if a changein dosage or a new medication might helpresolve them.Remember, too, that depression has

many causes, and your medication may notbe to blame. That makes it all the more im-portant to talk to your physician, addressyour symptoms and find some relief.

© 2015, President and Fellows of HarvardCollege. All Rights Reserved. Distributed byTribune Content Agency, LLC.


HealthFitness &CODES AND QUALITYMore precise medical codes can helptrack quality and health trends

AN ELEPHANTINE QUESTIONWhy is elephant cancer rare? The answer might help treat humans

HOW OLD IS YOUR HEART?A new report warns that your heartmay be aging faster than the rest of you

PUNCHING UP FITNESSBoxing provides aerobic exercise, improved coordination and more

Are your meds making you depressed?

EXERCISE FOR CANCER SURVIVORSLucy Curci Cancer Center, 39-000 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mi-

rage, holds walking classes for cancer survivors from 8 to 8:45 a.m. Fridays. In-

cluded are stretching, brisk walks, cool downs and tips about walking. Those

interested should RSVP at (760) 834-3709. www.emc.org

NO STANDING IN THIS WORKOUT Lynn Simonson, a certified senior fitness instructor and jazz

dance instructor, teaches “Seated Wellness” from 9:15 to 10:15

a.m. Thursdays at Mizell Senior Center, 380 S. Sunrise Way, Palm Springs. The

class blends yoga, breath work, strength building and brain charging exercises.

Cost is $4 per class for members and $7 per class for non–members. Mizell. Org,

(760) 383-5689

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Ongoing

By Nancy FerrariTwenty years ago, you probably wouldn’t

have been able to name any of the numerousprescription medications available to you, letalone think to ask your doctor for a particularone by name. Today, the average (even per-fectly healthy) consumer is barraged by hun-dreds, if not thousands, of “direct-to-consumer”advertisements for prescription drugs.In 1997, the U.S. Food and Drug Admin-

istration (FDA) created specific guidelinesfor broadcast advertising related to prescrip-tion drugs. Ever since then, drug companieshave taken advantage of this opportunity topromote their medicines for a wide range ofconditions — from Alzheimer’s disease tolow white blood cell counts due to cancertreatment, not to mention the myriad ads forover-the-counter products.

Glossing over side effectsDirect-to-consumer ads must, by law, in-

clude information on a drug’s risks and

side effects as well as its benefits. Often,the former comes in the form of a rapidlyrecited list of potential problems. But be-cause it is difficult if not impossible to coverall potential risks in a brief television spot,these ads must also point consumers tomore complete information listed in a printad or on a website. This information is usually a lengthy and

technical text compiled by the drug compa-nies. Consumers have complained that the in-formation is so unclear and hard to read thatthey barely bother. In response, the FDA is now calling for a

Drug Facts box that summarizes the mostimportant risks of each drug, using plain Eng-lish, color schemes and easily readable fonts.Critics complain that the proposed box

could still leave out a lot of valuable infor-mation.Aside from any “black box” warnings and

“contraindications” (situations in which a per-son should definitely not take the drug), the

only guideline is that the box must list the“most serious and most common” side effects. Meanwhile, the American Medical Asso-

ciation is calling for a ban on direct-to-con-sumer ads for prescription drugs andimplantable meidcal devices, saying thatthey contribute to rising drug costs and pa-tients’ demands for inappropriate treatment.

Don’t pressure your doctorInforming consumers about new and po-

tentially useful drugs is not necessarily abad thing. However, a truly informed con-sumer should not rely solely on direct-to-consumer drug ads before making thedecision to try a new one. Buyer beware: A new medication will un-

doubtedly be more expensive than older

medications that can do the job just as well.If you see an ad for a drug that you

think might help you, or be an improve-ment over medication you’re already tak-ing, talk with your doctor. Be sure youunderstand the potential risks and side ef-fects, both short- and long-term (and beaware that these are not as well under-stood in brand-new drugs). If your doctor says “no,” be prepared to

hear her or him out. No matter how inno-vative a new drug might be, it may not bethe right drug for you. And if you’re still in-terested after a while, you can always revisitthe issue down the road.

© 2015. President and Fellows of HarvardCollege. All Rights Reserved. Distributed byTribune Content Agency, LLC.

FDA calls for clearer warnings in drug ads

COACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — D E C EMBER 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health 5

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By Lauran NeergaardIf things are a bit tense in your doctor’s

office, some behind-the-scenes red tapecould be to blame. On Oct. 1, the nation’s physicians and

hospitals had to start using a massive newcoding system to describe your visit on in-surance claims so they could get paid. Prior to that, U.S. health providers used

a system of roughly 14,000 codes to desig-nate a diagnosis, both for reimbursementpurposes and in medical databases. To getmore precise, the updated system hasabout 68,000 codes — essentially an ex-panded dictionary to capture more of thedetails from a patient’s chart. How precise? Get nipped feeding a bird,

and the codes can distinguish if it was agoose or a parrot. Have a bike accident withone of those horse-drawn tourist carriages?Yep, there’s a code for that, too.

An early warning systemUnusual accidents aside, the govern-

ment says the long-awaited change shouldhelp health officials better track quality ofcare, spot early warning signs of a brewingoutbreak, or look for illness or injurytrends. Under ICD-10 — the 10th edition of the In-

ternational Classification of Diseases —there are codes that flag novel strains of flu,for example, and even Ebola and its cousins. With increasing focus on sports concus-

sions, the codes can reflect how long pa-tients lost consciousness, and if theyneeded repeat care. “ICD-10 has the potential to create many

improvements in our public health system,”Andy Slavitt, acting administrator of theCenters for Medicare and Medicaid Serv-ices (CMS), told health providers in a re-cent conference call. But might patients also see an uptick in

insurance denials for coding errors that re-quire the doctor’s office to refile the claims?Dr. Robert Wergin, president of the Ameri-can Academy of Family Physicians, is opti-mistic that providers are ready enough thatpatients shouldn’t feel an impact. “Sitting in the room with a patient, I don’t

think you’ll notice anything,” Wergin said. His 10-doctor practice has updated the

electronic medical records of patients withchronic diseases, so the next time the dia-betic with early kidney disease comes in,that new code is one less thing to check. Most doctors’ offices only use several

dozen codes anyway, to match each spe-cialty’s typical diagnoses, Wergin noted. “Re-ally, I probably live in a world of 140 codes.”

Tracking trends Why are codes so important? It goes beyond documenting that the bill

is accurate (for example, no reimburse-

ment for a wrist X-ray if the diagnosis wasfor knee pain). With medical care gone digital, more

precise diagnosis codes could allow re-searchers, even doctors themselves, to geta closer look at trends in one office or theentire country, Wergin said. A search of anoffice’s data could show how, say, all preg-nant women with a urinary tract infectionin the third trimester fared. The new codes, already used in many

other countries, indicate if it’s a first visit ora repeat one. A spike in repeat visits for strepthroat might indicate that a more worrisomestrain is spreading. This kind of data also isused by insurers and other organizations tohelp determine quality of care. While there has been some concern that

not all health providers were ready for thecoding switch, the industry has had yearsto prepare. The U.S. postponed the dead-line twice. Still, responding to concerns from doc-

tors, CMS has promised some flexibility inthe first year of assessing claims, if the cod-ing is close. “There will be bumps and challenges,”

CMS’ Slavitt said, as he appointed an om-budsman to be the contact for healthproviders who experience them. Read more about the new coding system

at http://tinyurl.com/opbbf29. — AP

6 Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com DECEMBER 2 0 1 5 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

More precise medical codes track quality

WORK OFF THOSE HOLIDAY CALORIESShip Shape Seniors exercise program is offered at 9 a.m. Tuesday

and Thursday at Cathedral Center, 37-171 W. Buddy Rogers Ave., Cathedral City.

Cost is $3-$5. Cathedralcenter.org, (760) 321-1548

WATCH THOSE NUMBERSTOPS holds private weigh-ins from 8:15 to 9:25 a.m. every Friday

at the Indio Senior Center, 45-700 Aladdin St., Indio. A meeting

follows at 9:45 a.m. in the center’s multipurpose room. Indio.org, (760) 391-4170

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Ongoing

By Lauran NeergaardMedicare will soon start paying doctors to

help patients plan what kind of care they wantat the end of life, an idea more broadly acceptedtoday than six years ago, when it touched off apolitical uproar about “death panels.” The policy change was urged by numer-

ous physician and health groups. Somedoctors provide this “advance care plan-ning” to their patients without getting paidfor the counseling time, and some privateinsurers already reimburse for it. But the Obama administration’s policy

change could make the talks more com-mon among about 55 million Medicare ben-eficiaries. The rule, proposed last summer and final-

ized in October as part of broader doctor-payment regulations, takes effect Jan. 1. Thecounseling is entirely voluntary, and couldtake place during seniors’ annual wellnessvisit or during regular office visits. “As a physician and a son, I personally

know how important these discussions arefor patients and families,” said Dr. PatrickConway, Medicare’s chief medical officer.“We believe patients and families deservethe opportunity to discuss these issues withtheir physician and care team.”

Too much invasive careMost Americans say they’d prefer to die

at home, with treatment to free them frompain. But the landmark “Dying in America”report from the prestigious Institute ofMedicine found the reality too often is un-wanted invasive care and not enough com-fort — in part because too few people maketheir wishes known to their doctors andloved ones. The movement toward what’s called ad-

vance care planning also reflects that thisisn’t just an issue for people who already areseriously ill, but a process that may promptdifferent decisions at different stages of life.Involving a doctor in those decisions canhelp people fully understand their options. For example, a relatively healthy person

might want all-out efforts to resuscitate themafter an accident, but if diagnosed with ad-vanced cancer might make different deci-sions as their health gradually worsened. Medicare decided not to limit how often

such counseling could take place, Conwaysaid, in part because of feedback from doc-tors and the public that people may need re-peat counseling as their health needschange. “If you made a choice and you become

more ill, you might want to have the discus-sion again,” Conway explained. “For somepatients, it may need to occur multiple timesin a year if they’re quite ill and their circum-stances change. For other patients, they may

not need this service at all in a year.” Medicare’s new policy “is a turning point

in end-of-life care,” said Oregon Demo-cratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a longtimecongressional proponent of coverage forsuch counseling. He said next steps include helping en-

sure that advance directives for all patientsare easily accessible and updated fre-quently, and that doctors are trained tohave these difficult conversations. “Ultimately, the care provided must align

with the patient’s stated goals, values and in-formed preferences,” Blumenauer said. About three-quarters of the people who

die each year in the U.S. are 65 and older,making Medicare the largest insurer at the

end of life, according to the Kaiser FamilyFoundation. For years there had been bipartisan con-

sensus about helping people to better under-stand their end-of-life choices. A 1992 lawpassed under Republican President GeorgeH.W. Bush requires hospitals and nursinghomes to help patients who want to prepareliving wills and advance directives. Momentum stalled with political outcry

over including end-of-life conversations inPresident Barack Obama’s healthcare law,which some opponents termed “death pan-els.” The concern was that pressure wouldbe put on older patients to agree to foregocostly treatments that might extend theirlives. — AP

Medicare to cover end-of-life counselingCOACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — D E C EMBER 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health 7

EXERCISE ON THE LAWNSunnylands Center and Gardens hosts free Tai Chi on the GreatLawn for an hour starting at 10 a.m. every Saturday. Sessions are

open to all ages and experience levels. Sunnylands is at 37-977 Bob Hope Drive,Rancho Mirage. Sunnylands.org, (760) 202-2234

EXPLORE THE MOUNTAINSFree guided hikes are offered from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Thursdays andSaturdays at the Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains NationalMonument Visitor Center, 51-500 Highway 74. Hikers should wear

close toed shoes, carry water and wear sunscreen, and hats. Desertmountains.org,(760) 862-9984

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Elephants mayhold clues tocancer cure

Cancer is much less common in elephantsthan in humans, even though the big beasts’bodies have many more cells. That’s a para-dox known among scientists, and now re-searchers think they may have an explanation— one they say might someday lead to newways to protect people from cancer. Compared with just one copy in humans,

elephants’ cells contain 20 copies of a majorcancer-suppressing gene, two teams of scien-tists report. The gene helps damaged cells re-pair themselves or self-destruct when exposedto cancer-causing substances. The findings aren’t proof that those extra

p53 genes make elephants cancer-resistant,but if future research confirms it, scientistscould try to develop drugs for humans thatwould mimic the effect. Dr. Joshua Schiffman, a pediatric cancer

specialist at the University of Utah who ledone of the teams, began his research afterhearing a lecture a few years ago aboutPeto’s paradox. That refers to the fact thatlarge mammals, including elephants andwhales, have comparatively low cancer

rates even though they have many morecells than smaller species. Cancer involvesuncontrolled cell growth. The lecture speaker mentioned that ele-

phants seemed to have extra copies of the p53gene. Schiffman’s patients include childrenwith incomplete p53 genes because of a con-dition called Li-Fraumeni syndrome, whichgreatly increases their chances of developingcancer. So Schiffman sought to find cluesfrom the blood of eight elephants — RinglingBros. circus animals and local zoo animals. His team, as well as a second group of

scientists, pinned down the size of the ele-phants’ surplus — 20 copies. The secondteam found many other species have onlyone copy, just like humans. Schiffman and his colleagues compared

how elephant cells reacted to radiation, com-pared with cells from 10 healthy humansand 10 patients with Li-Fraumeni syndrome. The elephant cells self-destructed at twice

the rate of healthy human cells, and morethan five times the rate of cells from patientswith the syndrome. Cells that don’t self-repairor self-destruct when exposed to carcinogensbecome prone to developing cancer. The work was published in the Journal of

the American Medical Association. Dr. Judy Garber, director of cancer ge-

netics and prevention at Dana-Farmer Can-cer Institute in Boston, said the research isintriguing but preliminary.While the research won’t lead to any im-

mediate treatment for humans, progressagainst cancer can come “from unexpecteddirections,” said Dr. Ted Gansler of theAmerican Cancer Society. He noted thatstudies of eyelid and tooth development inmice led to drugs used for colon cancer,throat cancer, and several other cancers.

— AP

Calcium andvitamin D don’tprevent colon

polypsA major study finds that taking calcium or

Vitamin D pills does not help prevent growthsthat can lead to colon cancer in people whohave had at least one polyp in the past. It’s the latest setback among many for ef-

forts to prevent disease through vitamin sup-plements. The calcium finding was especiallydisappointing — three previous studies sug-gested calcium would help, but the new one,a more rigorous test, found no benefit. “That was a big surprise. We thought we

understood calcium because the data wasreally quite, quite strong,” said Dr. JohnBaron of the University of North Carolinaat Chapel Hill. He led the new study, published in the New

England Journal of Medicine. The NationalCancer Institute sponsored it, and Pfizer Con-

sumer Healthcare provided the pills. The study involved 2,259 people recently

diagnosed with polyps — precancerousgrowths removed during a colonoscopy.They were assigned to take either 1,000 in-ternational units of vitamin D3, 1,200 mil-ligrams of calcium, both, or neither. Women could choose to get calcium and

then be given either real or dummy pills ofvitamin D. “We did that so that women con-cerned about bone health would feel com-fortable taking part,” because they wereensured of getting calcium if they wantedit, Baron explained. Followed up three to five years later, 43 to

45 percent of all study participants had devel-oped a new polyp, regardless of whether theytook calcium, vitamin D, both, or neither.Even when researchers took age, genderand other factors into account, supplementuse made no difference in the results. Higher doses of vitamin D might make a

difference, but this would have to be testedin a new study, and this one already testeda higher level than the 600 IUs a day (800for people over 70) that the Institute ofMedicine recommends, Baron said. Aspirin is thought to help prevent polyps

and colon cancer with long-term use, but itcan also cause serious bleeding. Anyoneconsidering long-term aspiring use is ad-vised to talk with a doctor about the risksand benefits.

— AP

8 Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com DECEMBER 2 0 1 5 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

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By Mike StobbeYour heart might be older than you are. A

new government report suggests chrono-logical age is just a number — and perhapsnot a very telling one when it comes to yourrisk of heart attack or stroke. The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-

vention (CDC) report takes a new approach totry to spur more Americans to take steps toprevent cardiovascular disease. CDC scientistsestimated the average “heart age” of men andwomen in every state, based on risk factorslike high blood pressure, obesity, and whetherthey smoke or have diabetes. Then it com-pared the numbers to average actual ages. The results? Nearly three out of four U.S. adults have

a heart that’s older than the rest of theirbody, according to CDC calculations. For U.S. men on average, the predicted

heart age was nearly eight years greaterthan their real age. For U.S. women, it wasabout five-and-a-half years. “This is alarming. Heart disease is the

nation’s number one killer,” said the re-port’s lead author, CDC scientist QuanheYang. “But the bottom line is you can dosome very simple things” to becomeyounger at heart, he said.

The leading cause of death Each year, one in four U.S. deaths is due

to heart disease. Many are heart attacks andstrokes. The average age of first heart attackis about 64 1/2 for men and 72 for women,according to the American Heart Associa-tion.The nation’s heart disease death rate has

been falling thanks to advances in preven-tion and treatment, including drugs to con-trol blood pressure and lower cholesterol. But heart disease remains America’s

leading cause of death, and health officialshave been pushing to get more people tocontrol their weight, quit smoking, and takeother steps to help their heart and bloodvessels. The CDC is leading a “Million Hearts”

campaign, launched in 2012, to prevent 1million heart attacks and strokes by 2017.CDC scientists were intrigued by a heartage calculation developed by other re-searchers who were conducting a largestudy in Framingham, Massachusetts. Some research has indicated that Fram-

ingham heart age calculations have res-onated more with patients than have moreconventional medical warnings, so CDC re-searchers used the Framingham model —and CDC national survey data — to producethe first report on heart age across the na-tion.“It gives a stark, simple picture of your

future risk of having — or dying from —

heart attack or stroke,” said CDC DirectorDr. Tom Frieden. The estimates were specific to adults 30 to

74 who have not had a heart attack or stroke. Utah and Colorado had the lowest propor-

tions of people with a heart age five years orgreater than their actual age, followed byCalifornia, Hawaii and Massachusetts. The study also found that for blacks na-

tionally, heart age was 11 years greaterthan actual age. The gap was much smallerfor whites and Hispanics.

Find your own heart ageCDC also officials shared the Framing-

ham study’s online heart age prediction cal-culator for individuals to assess themselves.People have to know their systolic bloodpressure — the higher of the two measure-ments — to generate an estimate. The CDC report is available at www.

cdc.gov/vitalsigns/heartage/index.html.Calculate your heart age at bit.ly/

calculate_heart_age.— AP

‘Heart age’ reveals risk of future problems


Stay connected with us! (760) 398-2651 www.cvwd.org

For a complete list of restrictions visit www.cvwd.org/

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Water restrictions updateCoachella Valley Water District’s updated

water-use restrictions are listed as follows:

Fines could be imposed for not complying

Outdoor irrigation is prohibited on Mondays and Thursdays, from Dec. 1 through March 31.

Repair broken sprinklers within 24 hours of noti!cation.

Serve water in restaurants only upon request.

Use a hose with a shut-o" nozzle when washing your vehicle or windows.

Fix or adjust irrigation systems that cause water runo".

When you think of boxing, you may pic-ture greats like Rocky Marciano duking itout with Jersey Joe Walcott. But boxing isn’t just a spectator sport

anymore. It’s also a popular way to stay fitamong older adults, through a versionknown as fitness boxing.There’s no getting into a ring or taking

any punches, so there’s no risk of headtrauma. Instead, fitness boxing has adaptedthe movements of the sport into exerciseroutines. “This kind of boxing has many health ben-

efits, because it constantly requires you tothink, change your position, and change yourposture,” said physical therapist Linda Ar-slanian, director of rehabilitation services at

Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’shospital.Unlike traditional boxing that requires you

to spar with a partner, fitness boxing for olderadults involves throwing punches at the airor at a punching bag, usually in a class.

Boxing set to musicThere are two main types of these exercise

classes. In one, you follow a leader and do aseries of boxing moves all choreographed tobouncy music, similar to an aerobics class.The moves include a combination of large,sweeping punches (crosses, hooks, upper-cuts); smaller punches (jabs); squats (ducks);and short, quick steps forward and back. The other type of exercise class involves

strength training, stretching, and hitting apunching bag.Don’t have the strength to stand and do

boxing moves? Both types of classes are avail-able for people who wish to remain seatedwhile punching at the air or at a punching bag.There’s no proof that fitness boxing is su-

perior to any other type of exercise, but it doeshave many health benefits. One is strength.“You’re swinging your arms, moving the

muscles of your arms and shoulders, in-creasing your upper-body strength,” saidArslanian.“And when you’re in the boxer crouch

with a wide stance, with your knees slightlybent, you’re strengthening your core mus-cles, back and legs,” he added. Strongermuscles make it easier to get up out of achair or carry a bag of groceries.

Excellent aerobic benefitsFitness boxing is also a great aerobic ex-

ercise. Aerobic exercise gets your heartpumping, and helps lower the risk of highblood pressure, heart disease, stroke anddiabetes. It can also strengthen bones and mus-

cles, burn more calories, and lift mood.Furthermore, aerobics can boost your en-durance, which helps you climb stairs orwalk farther, and is associated with im-provement in certain brain functions. Arslanian said boxing in particular is well

known for improving eye-hand coordination,especially if you’re sparring on a bag, hittingpadded targets, or even “shadow” boxing. “There are studies that show trying to hit

a target with your hands improves eye-hand coordination and possibly makes you

feel more alert and attentive,” she ex-plained. Better eye-hand coordination mayalso translate into an easier time picking upa pill or a pen.And one last benefit of fitness boxing, if

you are able to stand while doing it: betterbalance. “You’re changing your position and chal-

lenging your balance. The more you do that,the better your balance reaction becomes,”said Arslanian. “If you encounter a crack inthe sidewalk, you may be more successfulprotecting yourself, because your strengthand reaction time may have improved.”

Before you startDespite all the benefits, fitness boxing is

not for everyone.“I’d say you’d have to be very careful if

you have osteoporosis or osteoarthritis ofthe hands. In that case, you should con-sider shadow boxing only, and make sureyour hands don’t make contact with a tar-get,” said Arslanian. Also, as with any activity that is poten-

tially aerobic, you should check with yourphysician before starting.If you’re interested in trying this exercise

to change up your routine, you’ll likely findclasses at health clubs, community centers,or your local YMCA. And if you do sign upfor a class, remember to take it slowly.“You’ll want to start at a comfortable level

of intensity and gradually increase, and stickwith it,” said Arslanian, “It’s not about highintensity. It’s about consistency.”

© 2015 President and Fellows of HarvardCollege. All Rights Reserved. Distributed byTribune Content Agency, LLC.

Fitness boxing punches up your exercise10 Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com DECEMBER 2 0 1 5 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

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By Nellie S. HuangTarget-date funds — mutual funds designed

for people planning to retire in a particular year— are more popular than ever these days, inpart because they have become standard fea-tures of workplace retirement plans. But the best thing about target-date funds

is that the managers take care of everything.They craft a portfolio of stocks, bonds andother assets that are appropriate for your timehorizon. And over time, the fund managersrebalance regularly and gradually shift theasset mix to a more conservative blend. But not all target-date funds are created

equal. Three features, it turns out, canmake the difference between a good target-date fund and a bad one:The so-called glide path — the proportion

of stocks and bonds in the portfolio and howit changes over time as the target date ap-proaches (and passes) — is one factor. Another, of course, is the innards — the

quality of the funds that fill the portfolio. (Tar-get-date funds are usually made up of severalother funds from the same fund family.) Finally, expenses matter. As with any in-

vestments, the less you pay in annual fees,the better.

Taking those factors, as well as a few oth-ers, into consideration, we found four tar-get-date series worthy of mention that keepworking even after you retire. (All returnsare as of Oct. 21, 2015.)

American Funds Target Date As a rule, Kiplinger doesn’t recommend

funds that levy sales charges. And that’swhy we don’t often write about the Ameri-can Funds, which offers many fine prod-ucts but charges a load if you buy the funddirectly or through an adviser who is com-pensated through commissions. But investors generally don’t pay a load

to buy shares in American target-date fundsif the funds are offered in their workplaceretirement plan. American is one of the biggest and oldest

fund firms in the country. Many of its fundsare among the biggest, by assets, and havesolid track records. Such outstanding fundsas New Perspective (ANWPX) and Washing-ton Mutual (AWSHX) fill the Target Date se-ries, which is one reason we like it. Other positives: Low fees, and a glide

path that shifts quarterly and continues todo so for 30 years after a fund has reached

its target date.Most of the funds in the American Tar-

get Date series rank in the top 10 percentof their peer groups over the past fiveyears. American Funds 2030 Target Date(AAETX), which launched in early 2007,has outpaced most of its peers in every cal-endar year except 2010. The fund returnedan annualized 10.3 percent over the pastfive years, ranking among the top 3 percentof 2030 target-date funds.

Schwab TargetSchwab’s target-date series has been

around since 2005. But with just $3 billionin assets, it’s tiny compared with the likesof Vanguard and T. Rowe Price, which have$178 billion and $122 billion in assets, re-spectively, in their target-date products. Even so, Schwab investors haven’t been

disappointed. With a mix of actively managedand index funds from Schwab, as well as fromDodge & Cox, Loomis Sayles, MetropolitanWest and Wells Fargo, among others, this se-ries has racked up an impressive trackrecord. Over the past 10 years, for instance,Schwab Target 2020 (SWCRX) has returned5.9 percent annualized, which ranks amongthe top 5 percent of its peer groupSince being named manager in February

2012, Zifan Tang has made several changesto the target-date portfolios, according toMorningstar. Tang altered the glide path in2013 to boost the funds’ exposure to U.S.bonds and lessen the exposure to foreignbonds. In 2014, she boosted the funds’ hold-

ings in U.S. stocks while trimming the allo-cation to foreign stocks. Last September, Tang abruptly removed

Pimco Total Return from the Schwab lineupwhen Bill Gross resigned — also abruptly— from Pimco. And this year, Tang re-moved all Treasury inflation-protected se-curities (TIPS) from portfolios with targetdates running from 2030 through 2055.We like the series’ below-average fee

schedule (the Target 2030 (SWDRX) fundcosts 0.72 percent in annual expenses, ac-cording to the fund’s prospectus, which iswell below that of the typical 2030 target-date fund, at 0.99 percent). And we like the glide path, which starts

out aggressively — with more than 90 per-cent of assets in stocks when you have 40years to go before you retire — and endsconservatively — as the fund shifts for an-other 20 years after it reaches the target year,to an ultimate mix of 25 percent stocks, 66percent bonds, and 9 percent cash.

T. Rowe Price RetirementT. Rowe’s flagship Retirement target-date

series has won high marks from many, in-cluding Kiplinger. The obvious reason is thefunds’ above-average allocation to stocks. Forexample, Retirement 2030 (TRRCX), whichis designed for those who expect to retirearound 2030, devotes 77 percent of its assetsto stocks; the average 2030 target-date fundholds 70 percent of its assets in stocks.


MoneyEARN TOO MUCH FOR A ROTH?There are ways to get around incomelimits on Roth IRAs, such as convertingtraditional IRAs and opening a spousal account

IN ON THE GROUND FLOORThe Security and Exchange commissionwill soon allow startups to sell stock online. How you can invest

Law &

Target funds that work longer than you do

See TARGET FUNDS, page 15

By Rachel L. SheedyWant to put money into a Roth IRA, but

can’t because your income exceeds thethreshold for contributions? There’s a“backdoor” strategy you can employ.That’s how Paul Missel is building a tax-

free pot of retirement money. Missel, 59,works for a pharmaceutical company inFort Worth, Tex., and his income is toohigh to make direct contributions to a Roth.Instead, he makes nondeductible (after-tax)contributions to a traditional IRA, and laterconverts the money to a Roth. There are noincome limits for conversions.Missel is a big Roth fan because the

money grows tax free, and he will not haveto take required minimum distributionswhen he turns 70 1/2, as he would with atraditional IRA. “It’s the tax liability ofRMDs that’s driving me forward doingthis,” he said.Singles with adjusted gross income of

more than $131,000 in 2015 (more than$193,000 for joint filers) cannot contributedirectly to a Roth IRA. Taxpayers who areyounger than 70 1/2 can contribute to a tra-ditional IRA — up to $6,500 in 2015 forthose 50 and older. You can convert contri-butions at any age.Because those nondeductible contribu-

tions already have been taxed, the moneycan be converted tax free. But there’s a

hitch if you also have deductible IRA con-tributions, said Wade Chessman, of Chess-man Wealth Strategies, in Dallas. In thatcase, the “pro rata rule” comes into play,permitting only a portion of the Roth con-version to be tax free.

The rule and the work-aroundHere’s how the pro rata rule works: You

must figure the ratio of your nondeductiblecontributions to the total held in all of yourtraditional IRAs. Only that percentage of aconversion will be tax free. So if, for example,you have $10,000 of nondeductible contribu-tions and $90,000 in deductible contributions,just 10% of a conversion is tax free. You willowe ordinary income tax on the rest.But some workers may be able to cir-

cumvent the pro rata rule with what finan-cial planner Kevin Reardon calls a “401(k)rollup.” If you participate in a 401(k) planthat allows you to roll IRA money into it,you can move all your deductible contribu-tions and any pretax earnings into the401(k). Because employer plans only accept pre-

tax money, just the nondeductible contribu-tions will be left in your IRA — and you cando a tax-free conversion of that to a Roth,said Reardon, founder of ShakespeareWealth Management, in Pewaukee, Wis.Reardon said the 401(k) rollup is an ideal

move for investors who’ve made nonde-ductible contributions over the years. Per-haps you own one IRA with $50,000 ofnondeductible contributions that havegrown to $80,000. The $30,000 of pretaxgrowth would go into the 401(k), and the$50,000 of nondeductible contributionscould be converted to a Roth tax free.Those who are self-employed can do thisstrategy, too, with a solo 401(k).

Your spouse can helpAnother way to sidestep the pro rata

rule: If your nonworking spouse doesn’thave a traditional IRA, you could makenondeductible contributions to a spousalIRA for her. She can then convert themoney to a Roth tax free. Because IRAs are not joint accounts, the

husband’s traditional IRAs aren’t countedwith hers when tallying up the wife’s tradi-tional IRA balances, said Michael Kitces,the director of planning research at Pinna-

cle Advisory Group, in Columbia, Md.Whatever way you use the strategy, you

want to show that each move is independ-ent of the other — and waiting between thetwo steps is a way to do that. But advisers differ on how long you

should wait. Kitces said he advises hisclients to hold off for a year. However, thelonger you wait, the more the account maygrow, which will increase your tax bill onthe earnings when you convert. But assum-ing you plan to keep the money in the Rothfor a number of years, Kitces said, “the factyou waited a year is irrelevant.”Jeffrey Levine, IRA technical consultant

with Ed Slott and Co., suggests waiting onestatement cycle. The paperwork will showthe money was put into a traditional IRAfirst, and you can get the money into a Rothsooner for tax-free growth.

All contents © 2015 the Kiplinger Wash-ington Editors, Inc. Distributed by TribuneContent Agency, LLC.

COACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — D E C EMBER 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money 13

How high earners can contribute to a Roth IRA

Please tell our advertisers, “I saw you in the Beacon!”

By Marcy GordonFor years, artists, charities and entrepre-

neurs have used the power of the Internet togenerate money for projects. It’s called“crowdfunding,” and lets members of thepublic financially support those who are en-gaged in potentially worthwhile or profitableendeavors. However, the money sent is nottechnically invested: donors get no stock and

don’t share in any resulting wealth. But a new form of crowdfunding is coming

soon that will allow startups to raise money byselling stock to Main Street investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission

recently adopted rules implementing a 2012law that opened the door to securities crowd-funding. The vote was 3-1 at a public meeting.

An opportunity, but riskyStarting in mid-2016, businesses will be

able to offer investors a piece of their com-pany by legally selling stock online. For in-vestors, it’s a chance to make a small profitand possibly get in early on the next Twit-ter, Instagram or Uber. But it also entails high risk, given that a

majority of startups fail. About half of allsmall businesses shut down within the firstfive years. Some critics also warn that in-vestment crowdfunding is ripe for fraud. The new SEC rules won’t prevent the

types of fraud that can arise in conventionalonline scams, said Mercer Bullard, a lawprofessor at the University of Mississippiwho is a mutual-fund investor advocate. “You can embezzle someone’s money in

the guise of making a securities offering,”Bullard said in a telephone interview. With an eye to protecting investors, the

crowdfunding securities offerings can onlybe made through brokerage firms or newInternet funding portals that must be reg-istered with the SEC. The portals will be ex-pected to provide investors with materialsexplaining the process, investment limitsand resale restrictions. To reduce fraud risks, the portals are

charged with vetting the companies and theprospective investors. SEC Chair Mary Jo White said before

the vote that agency staff “will begin imme-diately to keep a watchful eye on how thismarket develops.” They will assess whatkinds of companies use the new crowdfund-ing offerings, how closely they follow therules, and whether the new practice pro-motes the raising of capital while also pro-tecting investors. The SEC proposed the crowdfunding

rules two years ago. Waiting at the startinggate for the final rules to take effect: legionsof startups in areas such as packaged food,medical and biotechnology, restaurants andreal estate. Lisa Fetterman, the founder and CEO of

cooking equipment startup Nomiku, sees apotential opportunity “because banks aren’tgoing to give [startups] money,” she said.The company sells machines for sous-videcooking — a sort of vacuum method meantto cook evenly and seal in moisture — toboth home cooks and restaurants. Nomiku has raised about $1.3 million in

the past few years through conventionalcrowdfunding on Kickstarter. Now with theSEC rule change, Fetterman sees about a50-50 chance her company will plunge intoinvestment crowdfunding. Key factors arethe quality of funding portals and the extentto which they can vet investors, she said.

Investing in startups will soon be easier14 Law & Money | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com DECEMBER 2 0 1 5 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

See STARTUPS, page 15

STAY IN THE LINESAll materials are provided for a free coloring class for grownups at

2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16 at the Palm Desert Public Library, 73-300 Fred Waring

Drive, Palm Desert. Rivlib.com, (760) 346-6553

NOTHING IS CUTER THAN YOUR DOGAnimal Samaritans benefits from Paws ‘n’ Claus, photo sessions of

your pup with Santa from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 19 at the

Gardens on El Paseo, 73-545 El Paso, Palm Desert. Cost is $15. (760) 862-1990

TRUTH BEHIND THE STORY A free lecture, “Alexander Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe,” will

present the true story of this castaway and how his story evolved

into Daniel Defoe’s famous 1719 tale. Presenters are professors John and Donna

Mollan from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12 at the Welwood Murray Memorial Library,

100 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. Welwoodlibrary.org, (760) 323-8296

BEACON BITS

Dec. 16

Dec. 19

Jan. 12

Investments are cappedUnder the new rules, people with annual

income or net worth up to $100,000 will beallowed to invest a maximum of 5 percentof their yearly income or net worth, or$2,000 if that is greater. Those with higher incomes can invest up

to 10 percent. But an individual can’t invest a

total of more than $100,000 in all crowdfund-ing offerings during a 12-month period. Investors generally will not be able to re-

sell their crowdfunding securities for oneyear. Under current rules, only “accredited in-

vestors” who meet certain wealth thresholdscan fund startups. They must either have anet worth of $1 million, excluding the valueof their primary home, or have generated in-come of $200,000 or more in each of the last

two years. For their part, companies will be allowed

to raise a maximum of $1 million a yearfrom individual investors without register-ing with the SEC. Companies will have to provide informa-

tion to investors about their business planand how they will use the money they raise,as well as a list of their officers, directorsand those who own at least 20 percent ofthe company.

— AP

Even Price’s Retirement 2015 fund, with54 percent in stocks, is more aggressivethan the typical 2015 target-date portfolio,which on average has 45 percent in stocks. The series’ underlying funds have pro-

vided some oomph, too. Among the 18funds in Retirement 2020 are T. Rowe PriceValue (TROW), a member of the Kip 25, aswell as MidCap Growth (RPMGX), NewHorizons (PRNHX) and Small-Cap Stock(OTCFX). Not surprisingly, the high stock alloca-

tion means above-average volatility. In 2008,when the S&P 500 plunged 37 percent, themost popular T. Rowe target-date funds in

401(k) plans landed in the bottom half oftheir peer groups. But the good times have outweighed the

bad, as demonstrated by the funds’ resultsduring the subsequent bull market. Thanks totheir strong results in a blistering stock mar-ket, all but one fund in this series boasts a 10-year return that ranks among the top 1percent of its respective target-date peer group(the exception, Retirement 2005 (TRRFX),ranks in the top 2 percent of its peers).Interestingly, this is a series with which

you can truly grow old. The series’ glidepath continues to reposition the stock-bondbalance more conservatively for 30 yearspast the target year. From the first year ofretirement, when you own a fund that has45 percent in bonds and the rest in stocks,

your mix will shift over the next threedecades to 80 percent in bonds and 20 per-cent in stocks.

Vanguard Target Retirement This low-cost target-date fund series

keeps things simple, and that’s why we likeit. Each fund, no matter what target year isin the name, holds just four or five funds. For most of the series’ glide path, Vanguard

uses just four of its most popular index funds:Total Stock Market Index (VTSMX), Total In-ternational Stock Market Index (VGTSX),Total Bond Market Index (VBMFX) and TotalInternational Bond Index (VTIBX). When afund gets within five years of its target year,Vanguard Inflation Protection Securities(VIPSX), an actively managed fund that in-

vests in short-term TIPS, joins the mix. (Sym-bols are for the “investor” share class.)Index funds have done well over the past

decade and so, not surprisingly, have Van-guard’s target-date funds. The 2015 (VTXVX),2025 (VTTVX) and 2035 (VTTHX) funds, eachof which has a 10-year record, rank among thetop 9 percent of their respective peers overthat period. Glide paths are important while you’re

saving and after you retire. With Van-guard’s target-date series, the stock-bondmix continues to swing to a more conserva-tive stance for another five years after thefund reaches its target year. Thereafter, thestock-bond mix stays fixed at 30 percent instocks and 70 percent in bonds.

© 2015 The Kiplinger Washington Editors.

COACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — D E C EMBER 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money 15

Target fundsFrom page 12

StartupsFrom page 14

SINGING IN THE SEASONSixty voices with a chamber orchestra are featured in the Califor-nia Desert Chorale’s 22nd Holiday Concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec.

20. The concert will be held in the Indian Wells Theater at Cal State University,San Bernardino, Palm Desert Campus, 37-500 Cook St., Palm Desert. Reservedseats are $40. (760) 347-4933

LEARN HOW TO SAVE FAMILY PHOTOSA librarian will give a free lecture, “Simple Preservation Practicesto Preserve Your Family Photos and Papers,” at 6:30. p.m.Wednesday, Jan. 13 at the Palm Springs Public Library, 300 S.

Sunrise Way, Palm Springs. Palmspringslibrary.org, (760) 322-7323

BEACON BITS

Dec. 20

Jan. 13

By Barbara RubenOn a crescent of rock-strewn coast that

juts from central California, John Steinbeckset one of his most acclaimed novels, ClintEastwood was once mayor, Doris Day ownsa hotel where dogs are revered guests, andactors like Bill Murray and Ray Romano teeoff at a world-renowned gold course.While the Monterey Peninsula has a

celebrity pedigree, it is also famed for someof the state’s more spectacular coastlineand home to some non-human icons aswell, including back-paddling sea otters,barking sea lions, and cypress trees thatthrive on moisture from coastal fog duringthe area’s long dry spells.Located 120 miles south of San Francisco

and 345 miles north of Los Angeles, theMonterey Peninsula includes four primarytowns: Carmel-by-the-Sea, Pebble Beach,Pacific Grove and Monterey, each withtheir own personalities and attractions.

Cozy Carmel-by-the-SeaLocated at the southern end of the penin-

sula, the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea looks asif it sprang to life from a book of fairy tales.Cottages with peaked thatched roofs, curv-ing eaves, rounded doors and asymmetricalstone chimneys designed by Hugh Com-stock in the 1920s dot the town. The first twocottages, fittingly, were named Hansel andGretel.While some are private residences, others

house stores and restaurants, like TuckBox, a tiny stucco restaurant with flowerboxes and a red and white striped awningthat serves lunch and afternoon tea. TheLilliputian House of Sweets, with stuccowalls and a mossy roof, sells homemadefudge and licorice imported from Australia,Holland, Finland and many other countries.Clint Eastwood served as mayor of the

3,800-resident town from 1986 to 1988.However, he wasn’t the one who enactedsome of its idiosyncratic laws. For instance, wearing high heels over

two inches requires a permit. While thelocal police do not cite those in violation ofthe ordinance, this peculiar law was au-thored by the city attorney in the 1920s todefend the city from lawsuits resultingfrom wearers of high-heeled shoes trippingover irregular pavement distorted by treeroots. No chain restaurants or stores arepermitted within town limits. Early leaders wanted the village to avoid

becoming “citified,” so there are no housenumbers or streetlights. Those seeking di-rections receive hints like “fifth house onthe east side of Torres Street, green trim,with a driftwood fence.” (The city of Carmelstarts at the borders of Carmel-by-the-Seaand does not have the same restrictions).Canine residents are king in Carmel.

They can run leash-free on the beach at theend of Ocean Avenue, which slopes steeplyout of the business district down to the sea.

They are welcome at some of the town’s 60restaurants (by law they can’t be in themain dining area, but can hang out withtheir owners when they dine outside, in thelobby and lounges). Many business owners keep water bowls

outside for thirsty pooches. More than 500poodles from across the country descend onCarmel each October for a poodle parade,in which many dogs are dressed to thenines, from sunglasses to feather boas.Animal lover Doris Day, who started a

foundation devoted to all creatures greatand small, has co-owned the Spanish re-vival style Cypress Inn in Carmel-by-the-Sea for the last 30 years. Movies, such asPillow Talk and Please Don’t Eat theDaisies, play on the TV in the bar.“We firmly believe that pets are an inte-

gral part of the family,” the home page ofthe inn’s website states. “Pets may jointheir humans throughout the hotel, in thecozy living room for afternoon tea, or in ourcharming courtyard for breakfast orevening appetizers,” it continues.

Home to writers and artistsCarmel has also been a haven for artists

and writers for the last century. Poet Robin-son Jeffers built a house on Scenic Drive,

which curves along the windswept edge ofthe ocean, using granite boulders from theshore of Carmel Bay. It was here he wrotemost of his major works, and today, 65years after Jeffers’ death, Tor House isopen for tours. Writer Jack London also lived in Carmel

for a time, as did singer John Denver, whodied here in 1997 when his single-engineplane nosedived into the ocean after takeofffrom the Monterey Regional Airport.The craggy coast also drew landscape

photographer Ansel Adams, who moved toCarmel Highlands a few miles south oftown and lived there for 20 years, until hisdeath in 1982. Renowned early-20th century photogra-

pher Edwin Westin extensively pho-tographed Point Lobos, now a state reservejust south of Carmel, with gasp-worthyviews of crashing waves, sun-bathing seaotters, twisted, flat-topped cypress treesand hiking trails.The work of both photographers is on

view and for sale at the Weston Gallery, oneof more than 90 galleries in town. There’seven a gallery devoted exclusively to theart of Dr. Seuss.

That’s some water hazard at the Pebble Beach Golf Links! The course — one ofthree that overlook the Pacific Ocean in the area of Monterey, Calif. — has hostedfive U.S. Opens and will host the next in 2019. It was ranked number one on GolfDigest’s list of America’s Greatest Public Courses this year.

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Carmel-by-the-Sea is home to more than 20 cottages that would look at home in abook of fairytales. Some are residences, and others house businesses, such as theSoiled Doves Bath House, which sells soap and other bath products.

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Monterey: natural and celebrity attractions


TravelLeisure &

Learn how to affordably phone homefrom overseas. See story on page 18.

See MONTEREY, page 17

Golf courses with a viewJust north of Carmel, the unincorporated

community of Pebble Beach is best knownfor its three golf courses that overlook thePacific Ocean: Spyglass, Poppy Hills andPebble Beach Golf Links. They are consis-tently ranked among the top ten courses inthe nation. In 1919, green fees at PebbleBeach were $2 for men and $1.50 forwomen. Rates now range from $350 to $400per 18-hole round.The AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-

Am each February draws a host of celebri-ties for its last day of play. Last year, singersMichael Bolton and Huey Lewis took park,

along with actors Craig T. Nelson, Bill Mur-ray and Chris O’Donnell, not to mention for-mer Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.Pebble Beach is also at one end of 17-

Mile Drive, which hugs the shoreline andis considered by some to be one of the mostscenic drives in the world. It is also one of only nine private toll roads

in the country, and the only one west of theMississippi. It’s worth it to pony up the $10per car to drive a slow arc along the road,which ends in Pacific Grove. Between theviews, which seem to get more spectaculararound each bend, and the tourists (espe-cially in the summer), be prepared to spendwell over an hour on the drive.The often photographed Lone Cypress

tree, located near the Pebble Beach end of

the drive, is nearly 300 years old. The Mon-terey Cypress is a species native only to thisregion, and can live up to 4,000 years.

Aquatic lifeMonterey dates back more than 400

years. Spanish merchant Sebastian Viz-caino was the first European to set foot onthe Monterey Peninsula in 1602, and chris-tened Monterey after the viceroy of NewSpain, Count de Monte Rey. After changing hands a few times, the

city of Monterey eventually served as the

original capital of California when the stateconstitution was signed here in 1849.The city’s biggest draw is the Monterey

Bay Aquarium, which attracts nearly 2 mil-lion visitors each year to view the 300,000 ma-rine plants and animals to be found there.One wing has a million gallon tank that de-picts the open ocean. A three-story “kelp for-est and deep seas” display features creaturesnever before brought to the surface. Outside, the Monterey Bay National Ma-

CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — D E C EMBER 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Leisure & Travel 17

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MontereyFrom page 16

See MONTEREY, page 19

CELEBRATE SINATRAFrank Sinatra is being honored on his 100th birthday with a cele-bration at the Westin Mission Hills. Join Sinatra impersonator

Steve DiTuillo and friends from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12 for a dinnertheater performance that will take you back to the days of Sinatra’s greatest hits.The event will be held at the Oasis Ballroom at the Westin, 71-333 Dinah ShoreDrive, Rancho Mirage. The cost is $69 for an individual, $119 per couple. Reser-vations are required at (760) 770-2150 or [email protected].

PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALNow entering its 27th year, the Palm Springs International FilmFestival is one of the largest and most well-respected film festi-

vals in North America. Its culturally diverse program of 200+ films from more than60 countries has earned the festival an enthusiastic audience of nearly 137,000.It will be held Friday, Jan. 1 to Monday, Jan. 11. The schedule of this year’s filmswill be available Dec. 18, and the general public can start purchasing tickets Dec.21. For more information, call (760) 778-8979.

BEACON BITS

Dec. 12

Jan. 1+

ONGOING TOO CHILLY?Need to escape cold weather? The Indio Senior Center serves as

a warming center for seniors 50+ from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Monday through Friday. The center is at 45-700 Aladdin St., Indio. Indio.org,

(760) 4170

RAIN OR SHINE, IT’S ART TIME!Artists presenting newly created works in painting, glass, ce-

ramic, jewelry, wood, sculpture, photography, fiber, and mixed

media will gather for Art Under the Umbrellas from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday,

Jan. 16 in Old Town La Quinta. Patrons will be entertained by the Steve Madaio

Band. Admission and parking is free. lqaf.com, 760-564-1244

OUTDOOR SHOPPING IN ARIZONAIndio Senior Center is planning a bus trip on Wednesday, Jan. 20

to Quartzsite, one of the largest open air flea markets in the na-

tion. The Arizona spot, a few miles beyond Blythe, has 2 miles of aisles holding,

gems, rocks, arts and crafts, jewelry, silver, antiques, coins, food and more.

Cost is $25. Sign up at the Center, 45-700 Aladdin St., Indio. Indio.org, (760)

391-4170

BEACON BITS

Ongoing

Jan. 16

Jan. 20

Even if you don’t intend to call home reg-ularly when you’re outside the country, youmay well need to be availablein case some problem arises,either where you are or athome. You probably already know

that using your regular wire-less phone can run up a hugebill: Even with an “interna-tional” package, you’ll pay closeto $1 a minute each for both in-coming and outgoing calls —plus, maybe, a connect charge. Of the big wireless providers,

T-Mobile offers no-charge foreign roaming inCanada and Mexico, and its Simple Choiceplan lets you call from Europe and other pop-ular destinations for 20 cents a minute. Butwith the other carriers, using your regularphone can be expensive.Of course, if you plan to use your phone

only in emergencies, paying $1 a minute orso may not be a deal-breaker. But if youwant to talk a bit more than that, and staywith your current carrier, you still havesome options. I’m currently testing the two most likely

approaches while on a trip to New Zealand.

Local or global SIM cardLots of experts say that the best approach

is to unlock your phone (disconnecting itfrom your current service provider) if it isn’t

already unlocked, and then buyand install a SIM card that ei-ther provides you with a localnumber in the country you arevisiting, or functions globally.(A SIM card is a removablememory chip inside a cellphone that has an identificationnumber unique to the owner. Itstores personal data, includinginformation about your cellphone carrier and plan.)I’m testing a global SIM

card from Telestial.com that I obtained andinstalled before I left home. With this pack-age, you get two phone numbers: onebased in the United States, and a globalnumber based in the UK. Rates to call the U.S. are 15 cents a

minute from most of Europe; 45 cents aminute from New Zealand. Incoming callscost nothing through the global number; 15cents a minute from the U.S. number, allwith no connecting fee. Costs for text mes-sages are about the same. Local calls withina foreign country cost the same, or some-what more.The Telestial SIM card cost me $29, and

that includes $20 of phone credit. I canarrange for automatic replenishment of

credit through a credit card. (You can alsobuy a local SIM card on arrival at most inter-national airports. That option may becheaper.)The big advantage to inserting a SIM

card into your unlocked phone is thatyou’re always available, as long as you’re inan area with wireless service. People cancall you 24/7. (You may have a problemwith Apple phones, which can be difficultto unlock.)

VOIP app For a serious phone habit, you can’t beat an

Internet-based calling program. As long asyou’re connected to a Wi-Fi network, you cancall anywhere in the world for 2 to 3 cents aminute. And calls are free to and from otherfolks who have the same app as you do.I’m testing the system from wirelesstrav-

eler.com, but several others provide a similardeal. Costs per minute are based solely on thecountry you’re calling; not the country fromwhich you place the call. Calls to the U.S. cost2 cents a minute from most of Europe, and 3cents a minute from New Zealand. Most in-coming calls cost 3 cents a minute.

You download the free app, for either An-droid or Apple smartphones, install it, selecta payment system, and you’re ready to go. You get a U.S. number, which people can

use to call you as if they were making alocal U.S. call. Ease of use and voice clarityare a bit better than with the SIM card. Sev-eral travel companies offer their own “pri-vate brand” version of WirelessTraveler,with preinstalled connections.The big problem with VOIP calling is

that you have to be logged onto a local Wi-Fi network to make or receive calls. Andlogging in can be a bit cumbersome, at leastfor someone with a fat thumb who has lotsof trouble entering network names andpasswords from one of those tiny “key-boards” that mobile phones provide. Still,you can’t beat the low rates — especiallythe fact that calls are free to others on thesame system.The takeaway is that both approaches

work as advertised. Pick your preference— or go with both.

S e n d e - m a i l t o E d P e r k i n s a [email protected].

© 2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Phone home from overseas affordably

TRAVEL TIPSBy Ed Perkins

18 Leisure & Travel | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com DECEMBER 2 0 1 5 — CO ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON

California Mentor is seeking adult foster families with a spare bedroom to support an individual with special needs. Receive a generous monthly stipend and ongoing support.

As a Mentor you become a teacher, an advocate and a friend.Information sessions are held weekly.

ADULT FOSTER FAMILY

Maria | (760) 565-5584www.MentorsWanted.com

DESERT MOUNTAIN ART FAIREThe monthly Desert Mount Art Faire will next be held on Saturday,Dec. 12 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Support local artists, and find unique

gifts and desert mementos. The fair is held at the National Monument Visitor Cen-ter, 51500 Highway 74, Palm Desert. Artists interested in attending the Art Faireas a vendor should contact Judy Colgero at (760) 862-9984 for more information.

ART TALK“Still Life: A Conversation with Artist DJ Hall” offers the public achance to talk with the artist about her work. The event will beheld on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 5 p.m. at the Palm Springs Art

Museum in Palm Desert, 72-567 Highway 111, Palm Desert. For more informa-tion, call (760) 346-5600.

BEACON BITS

Dec. 12

Dec. 16

rine Sanctuary covers 5,312 square miles —one and a half times the size of the largest na-tional park in the continental U.S. At its cen-ter is an underwater canyon twice as deep asthe Grand Canyon.It was in Monterey that native son John

Steinbeck wrote Cannery Row. The novel isset in Monterey during the Depression, ona street lined with sardine canneries. In re-ality, nearly 250,000 tons of sardines wereprocessed here in 1945, the year CanneryRow was published. Preserved one-room cabins where the

workers lived can be visited near the aquar-ium. The National Steinbeck Center, a 37,000square-foot facility, is believed to be the largestfacility devoted to a single American author. Other cultural attractions include the

widely acclaimed Monterey Jazz Festival,which takes place each September and isthe longest continuously running jazz festi-val in the world.

Butterfly City USA Laid-back Pacific Grove lacks the glit-

terati of Carmel and Pebble Beach, as wellas the busy streets of Monterey around itsworld-famous aquarium. But here, you can visit the beach on a

summer afternoon and only have to shareit with maybe a dozen others. Also, there are many hotels just a few

blocks from the ocean (updated from their1950s motel origins) that are much less ex-pensive than ones in surrounding towns.And the center of town boasts numerousVictorian homes, some of which are bed-and-breakfasts.Each October, the population of the city’s

non-human inhabitants swells by tens ofthousands as monarch butterflies cluster inpine and eucalyptus trees to spend the win-ter at the Monarch Grove Sanctuary. Thesanctuary is run by volunteers and open tothe public. It was created after residentsvoted on a butterfly tax to fund its upkeep,earning Pacific Grove the nickname Butter-fly Town USA.

If you goPalm Springs is 425 miles from Monterey.Flights to the tiny Monterey Regional

Airport (within a half-hour drive of all fourtowns) start at around $275 roundtrip onUnited from Palm Springs in mid-January. Or visitors can fly into San Francisco and

drive two hours along the Pacific Coast High-way to the Monterey Peninsula. The least-ex-pensive flights start at about $125 roundtripon United.There is an abundance of lodging through-

out this tourist destination. In Carmel-by-the Sea, Tradewinds Carmel

has Asian-accented décor, including antiqueand custom designed furniture from Bali andChina, fresh orchids and bamboo fountains.Some rooms have fireplaces and partial oceanviews. The hotel has been featured in Archi-tectural Digest. Rooms start at $259 a night.See www.tradewindscarmel.com or call (831)624-2776.

The building that houses the Casanovarestaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea once be-longed to a cook for Charlie Chaplin. Din-ers can eat in a warren of dining rooms, orin a central indoor-outdoor room with a treegrowing through the ceiling. The most in-triguing room holds just one table — dinedat by Vincent Van Gogh in his final days andimported from France.The restaurant serves Italian specialties,

such as a melt-in-your-mouth spinach gnocchienveloped in parmesan cream sauce, and fet-tuccine with lobster, clams, mussels, prawnsand white wine. Dinner entrees are $22 to $53.For more down-to-Earth prices, try one of

the many hotels in Pacific Grove. SunsetLodge (www.gosunsetinn.com, 831-375-3529)is just a block from the beach and starts at $99a night, while ocean-front Lover’s Point Inn(www.loverspointinnpg.com, 831-373-4771)starts at $119. The107-acre Asilomar Conference Ground

(www.visitasilomar.com, 888-635-5310) over-looking Monterrey Bay includes both modern

and historic Arts & Crafts style lodging builtbetween 1913 and 1928. Rates start at $159 anight.While the hotel choices are abundant in Pa-

cific Grove, restaurants are not. Head a fewmiles up the coast to Monterey for a varietyof food in a range of prices. Hula’s Island Grillis a throwback to the tiki restaurants and barsof the ‘50s and ‘60s, popular with locals andtourists alike. Try the blackened ahi tuna

steak sandwich with sundried tomato pestoaioli for $17. To learn more, see www.hu-lastiki.com or call (831) 655-4852.Additional travel information is available

from the Monterey County Convention andVisitors Bureau at www.seemonterey.com or1-888-221-1010. Also see the tourism website for Carmel-

by-the-Sea at www.carmelcalifornia.com orcall 1-800-550-4333.

C O ACHE L L A VA L L E Y B E A CON — D E C EMBER 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Leisure & Travel 19

MontereyFrom page 17

A MUSICAL CHRISTMAS CAROL

The Desert Theatreworks presents a new, music-infused adapta-

tion of Charles Dickens’ ghost story of Christmas. A Christmas Carol will be on

stage at the Arthur Newman Theatre Dec. 11, 12, 18 and 19 at 7 p.m. and Dec.

12, 13, 19 and 20 at 2 p.m. The theater is located at the Joslyn Center, 73-750

Catalina Way, Palm Desert. Ticket prices are $24 for seniors and $26 for general

admission. Tickets can be purchased online www.dtworks.org, in person at the

Joslyn Center: and by phone at (760) 980-1455.

BEACON BITS

Dec. 11+

By Jorie ParrIt was a fun finale to the weekend, gath-

ering around the TV set Sunday nights at 8,gazing at the tiny screen at some of thegreatest talent in the world. Who wouldn’tmiss the Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971)?

Standing in front of a plain curtain, hisdeadpan demeanor unaltered by the won-ders of his entertainment triumphs, Ed Sul-livan announced his great “shooo.” Short ofstature — they had the tall swim star Es-ther Williams sit on a stool so she wouldn’ttower over him — he was a giant in the in-dustry.

Celebrating this phenomenon, a vaudvil-lesque Broadway-style production, ”A Re-ally Big Shooo,” debuts at the AnnenbergTheater at the Palm Springs Art Museumat 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27. Followup dates are Wednesday, Feb. 24; Thursday,March 17 and Wednesday, April 13. Ticketsare $59.

Professional tribute performers reprise“The Beatles,” Sullivan’s biggest scoop,scoring 73 million viewers Feb. 9, 1964,along with Elvis Presley, Tina Turner,Diana Ross, Joan Rivers and more. And fora hometown link, a cadre of Fabulous PalmSprings Follies alums also will be on theboards.

Producer Melinda Marinoff gets the

spirit of Sullivan’s heyday. “I was part of thego-go boots Beatles generation,” she said.

Now living in Palm Springs, she haslaunched decades of tribute-type perform-ances in Times Square, New York City. Shemaintains headquarters there to this day.

Innovative programMarinoff filled us in on some Ed Sullivan

history. A lifelong journalist, in print he ri-valed Walter Winchell, he had an ace nosefor news. He structured his television pro-gram with the lead act not last but first, re-flecting the inverted pyramid of a newsstory. And he believed in live actionfronting a real audience.

Sullivan set an example for a countryemerging from the darkness of racism. Onhis show he held hands with singer/come-dienne Pearl Bailey. He treasured hisfriendship with Louis Armstrong. He intro-duced to television land many otherAfrican-American luminaries, like Nat KingCole, Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis, Jr.and Ella Fitzgerald.

“He had a penchant for [promoting]African-American female groups like DianaRoss and the Supremes,” Marinoff says.

Furthermore, he fed rural America’shunger for culture. The impresario pre-sented the Bolshoi Ballet for the first time

on the little screen. Bythe way, he took hisshow to Moscow, duringthe cold war.

Featuring Folliescast

George Thomas ofLos Angeles plays Elvisin the current produc-tion, singing the famoushound dog number toa puppet dog. Marinoffsays that when the ac-tual Elvis appeared onthe Steve Allen show in 1956, a real bassethound was placed on atable to block the king’snaughty gyrations.

A few months later,Charles Laughton, thedistinguished characteractor — talk about con-trasts — introducedPresley on the Ed Sulli-van show. Sullivan wasrecuperating from anauto accident.

As for the Foll iestroupers, the lineup in-cludes chanteuse Judy Bell, plus TerriOlsen, Jill Gordon and Dan Westfall. Theladies will sing their hit number, “Ten-nessee Waltz.”

A new puppet has been created to emcee

the Follies bit. Marinoff won’t say who thatpuppet represents, but to Follies fans he’llbe instantly recognizable.

For tickets to “A Really Big Show,” callthe Annenberg box office Wednesdays-Fri-days, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., (760) 325-4490.

Arts &Style Gloria Steinem’s new book, My Life onthe Road, looks at her travels, fromBotswana to N. Korea. See story on facing page.

20 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5 — C O A C H E L L A VA L L E Y B E A C O N

Ed Sullivan tribute coming to the Annenberg

Please patronize our advertisers.They keep the Beacon free!

By Jocelyn NoveckYes, she’s a driving force behind the

women’s movement that transformed thelives of millions. But Gloria Steinem doesn’t,er, drive.

As in, doesn’t even have a license. Steinem devotes a chapter to this inter-

esting fact in her entertaining new memoir,My Life on the Road, a chronicle of her itin-erant life.

Though she has a wonderfully lived-inManhattan home, chock-full of mementoesfrom a life of advocating and organizingaround the country and across the globe,she spends only half her time there, atmost. The rest is, well, on the road. But notbehind the wheel.

And there’s a reason. “I would misssomething if I drove,’’ Steinem said.

It’s about communication. She loves talk-ing to taxi drivers anywhere in the world,or arriving at a university for a speech andbeing driven by her hosts, who tell herwhat’s going on around campus. “That’s re-ally crucial time,’’ she said. “I would notwant to miss that.’’

Steinem, now 81, has been working on hermemoir for a good 20 years, on and off. Trav-eling wreaks havoc on one’s writing schedule,

not to mention how it helps one procrastinate. And when we say travel, we mean to

places like Botswana, where she spent her80th birthday riding elephants. Or to NorthKorea, where, in May, she was part of agroup of peace activists crossing the Demil-itarized Zone by bus. In fact, Steinem said,she travels more now than ever before.

Don’t call it a memoirWhich is why she decided to not write a

traditional memoir, but a road book. “Thatword ‘memoir’ sounds pretentious, anyway,’’Steinem said with a smile, settling into herliving room sofa with her cat nestling con-tentedly in her lap for an interview.

“Also, I’ve been writing books and arti-cles and essays this whole time, but itsomehow dawned on me that I was writingleast about what I was doing most. The factthat I was on the road more than half of mylife was invisible.’’

But it’s not just about recounting herown experiences; Steinem wants to encour-age others — especially women — to headout, “because the road doesn’t belong towomen, and it should. Women aren’t ‘sup-posed’ to go out on the road.’’

She also, incidentally, would like politi-

cians to live up to their claims that theyknow the country. “They ought to be forcedto go on the road for two years for everyterm they’re in office, because then theywould stop saying ‘the American people’ asif there’s one,’’ she said. “Because it’s justso wildly diverse.’’

There’s yet another reason for the on-the-road theme. Steinem fears that in our in-creasingly digital world, we may beforgetting the value of in-person communi-cation. “Not to diminish the importance ofthe Web,’’ she said. “But it should be alsoobvious that people can’t empathize witheach other unless we’re in the same room.’’

Unexpected encountersAnd so Steinem’s anecdotes — and there

are many — are often about chance encoun-ters with people who made piercing obser-vations, or lent unexpected support.

She said she and her co-founders neverwould have started Ms. magazine, for exam-ple, if not for traveling the country. “Every-body in New York said starting a magazinelike that was hopeless,’’ she said. But speakingwith women across the United States con-vinced her that “the women’s movement was-n’t just 12 crazy ladies in New York and LA.’’

It was also a woman in an audience whomade Steinem laugh — then, and now —when discussing the constant problem ofbeing judged by her looks. She points outin her book that she’d been called pretty be-

Gloria Steinem, on her life ‘on the road’C O A C H E L L A VA L L E Y B E A C O N — D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Arts & Style 21

Gloria Steinem received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. Her new bookchronicles her wide travels.

See STEINEM, page 22

22 Arts & Style | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5 — C O A C H E L L A VA L L E Y B E A C O N

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fore she became a feminist, and suddenly,as a feminist, she was called beautiful. Thesubtext, she said, was that feminists aren’tsupposed to be attractive, and also that ifshe could get a man, why would she need

equal pay? But an elderly woman stood up in an au-

dience one day and told Steinem: “Don’tworry, honey. It’s important for somebodywho could play the game — and win — tosay, ‘The game isn’t worth (expletive).’”

Because of her status among women,Steinem is often asked where she stands po-

litically, especially in election season. She sup-ported Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Dem-ocratic nomination in 2008 — a decision shesaid she made purely on the basis of Clinton’sexperience in Washington versus that ofBarack Obama, whom she wholeheartedlysupported in the general election.

In 2008, she didn’t think America wasready to elect a woman. Now, she said, “Ithink we’ve been able to see more womenin authority in the public world. And part ofthat has been changed by Hillary herself asSecretary of State.’’ Hopeful as she is, shewarns it won’t easy: “The campaign is goingto be hell.’’

Steinem, who’s been a writer all her life,said the process was still difficult. “If you’rea writer and you really care about writing,you put it off,’’ she said. “You wax the floor.’’

Once she’d written her draft, she handedit to “two friends with machetes’’ who cut atleast a third. Still, every day she thinks of a

story she should have included. “I could fol-low each copy to the bookstore with a pen-cil in my hand,’’ she jokes.

There was, for example, the elderly Chi-nese man crossing the street who suddenlyturned and asked what she thought of thelate Margaret Thatcher. (Not much, shetold him.) She was delighted by the ex-change, which she sees as a reward ofbeing open to new experiences — a way tobe “on the road’’ without traveling.

Or her recent experience in a taxi. Shesaw a billboard with an image of Dracula,and remarked that she “didn’t understandthis bloodsucking thing.’’

And then the driver informed her that hewas from Transylvania — and gave her anentire education in the origins of the Drac-ula tale.

You see? This is why Gloria Steinemdoesn’t drive.

— AP

SteinemFrom page 21

school of hard knocks, where he learned to“Chase your dreams… don’t just followthem.” He believes in working hard, usuallyabout 80 hours a week, and dogged persist-ence.

“My boss at Wendy’s said to me, ‘You canlead a horse to water, but you can’t makehim drink.’ My English was weak at the

time, and it took me years to understandwhat that really meant.”

“America is a wonderful country. I loveit. My kids have opportunities here theywould not have anywhere else.” It is notLebanon, where his childhood and familymemories still live. “Palm Springs is homenow.”

Future plans for business expansion arestill in his dreams. “Probably a used cardealership,” he said.

Mike DiabFrom page 1

KEEPING TRACK OF THE DAYSCity of Palm Desert is distributing free 2016 calendars. Titled “Palm

Desert: A Natural Beauty,” the calendars feature photos by desert nature photogra-

pher Tom Brewster. They are available at Palm Desert City Hall, the Historical Soci-

ety of Palm Desert, Palm Desert Library, Joslyn Center, Palm Desert Area Chamber of

Commerce and Desert Willow Golf Resort. (760) 776-6380.

LEARN ALL ABOUT OLD BLUE EYES The Palm Springs Historical Society is showing an ongoing ex-

hibit, “Frank Sinatra in Palm Springs.” Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Wednesday-Saturday and noon-3 p.m. Sunday. 221 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm

Springs. Admission is free. Pshistoricalsociety.org, (760) 323-8297

A DESERT HOLIDAY TRADITIONA stroll through the “Tunnel of Lights” puts the topper on the holiday

season at the Living Desert, festooned with nearly one million lights

from 6 to 9 p.m. on selected nights through Thursday, Dec. 31. WildLights also of-

fers refreshments, entertainment and visits with Santa. The Living Desert is at 47-

900 Portola Ave., Palm Desert. Cost is $10. Livingdesert.org, (760) 346-5694

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