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MontgoMery
Celebrating Midlife and BeyondPrimeFebruary 2011
INsIden Make a Plan for
Landscapingn Cooking withYour
Heart in Mindn DVDs and much more!
MattersHeartof the
Fat Tuesday FunMardi Gras Festivities of
Mobile and Elton, Louisiana
FREE
Features
18 Let the GOOd times ROLL
Though New Orleans is more well-known for its Mardi Gras merrymaking, Mobile, Alabama and Elton, Louisiana have bragging rights all their own. By Andrea Gross
10 datinG (and LOve) afteR 50
Meeting that special someone at 50+ can produce the best romance and companionship of your life. Here are a few suggestions on how to meet new people in this age bracket and tips on what you might expect. By Jennifer Kornegay
22 bLess yOuR heaRtTwo stories to inspire you to start or continue an exercise routine. By Lenore Reese Vickrey
26 GivinG the past a futuRe
Give your family a legacy that will be cherished for generations. By Andrea Gross
primeMontgoMery
Celebrating Midlife and Beyond!
February2011
Financial
13 Off the beaten pathA grown-up’s guide to squirrel hunting.By Niko Corley
09 aROund mOntGOmeRyIt would be a tragedy if you didn’t even try to discover this mystery locale.By Jake Roberts
Entertainment
16 a GRaciOus pLentyValentine’s isn’t just about being good to your sweetheart; be good to your own heart as well.By Patsy Smith
Lifestyles
20 discOveRinG yOuR pastDocumenting African American family history in Alabama. By Nancy Dupree
27 yaRd ‘n GaRdenYou gotta have a plan, Stan.By Ethel Dozier Boykin
Medical
On the COver
MontgoMery
Celebrating Midlife and BeyondPrimeFebruary 2011
INsIden Make a Plan for
Landscapingn Cooking withYour
Heart in Mindn DVDs and much more!
MattersHeartof the
Fat Tuesday FunMardi Gras Festivities of
Mobile and Elton, Louisiana
FREE
Richard and Sue Morris.Page 10. Photo by Heath Stone.
26 mOvinG fRee with miRabaiWhether you call it cardio or aerobics, the result is good for your body. By Mirabai Holland
Health/Nutrition
14 mOneywiseConsider these 5 C’s when choosing any type of professional advisor.By Alan Wallace
08 febRuaRy events caLendaRGet to know your community better by attending one of this month’s fun events.
34 puzzLes
More challenging puzzles to keep you on your toes.
21 in eveRy LifeKeep an eye on those valves to stay young at heart.By Arlene Morris
31 pRime diveRsiOns
Check out these newly-released movies on DVD from the comfort of your couch.By Mark Glass
15 maRci’s medicaRe answeRsMedicaid’s coverage of preventative health services.
31
09
17
Twenty-five years ago this month my mother had a heart valve replaced. In the waiting room, nervous about her recovery, I learned it was American Heart Month. The night prior to her surgery our family took the manda-tory Cardiac Intensive Care Unit tour where we learned of the post-op, deathlike pallor patients exhibit imme-diately following a lengthy, open heart procedure.The tour only increased that foreboding sense of dread we all feel when encountering our own, or a loved one’s, mortality.
Fast forward nine years and our family is at the hospital once more, this time with my father – again for heart surgery. His five clogged arteries were causing problems familiar to anyone who has suffered with, or through, similar heart issues -- shortness of breath, lack of stamina, etc. By now we were heart surgery veterans, but this time my father’s overall good health made us more confident of the outcome and his recovery.
In the few years between my mother and father’s hospitalizations dramatic improvements in heart surgery and care were readily apparent, and many more have taken place since then.The second time around, perhaps less fro-zen by fear, I realized how lucky we are to live at this point in time in medical history – particularly if, like me, you’re faced with the prospect of less-than-stellar heart genes.
This month’s Prime provides concrete information regarding heart health (page 22), including the importance of family history in predicting heart disease risk. Lenore Vickrey reminds us of the value of physical exercise in improving our overall well-being (especially as it relates to “the old ticker”) through the personal stories of River Region residents who’ve taken to the gym. And, if you need clarification on major heart disease terms, we have a list of definitions from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to de-mystify the medical jargon.
Prime’s consideration of matters of the heart doesn’t end there. In this Valentine’s month, writer Jennifer Kornegay offers a glimpse into the world of dating after 50 for Montgomery area singles (page 10). Jennifer shares infor-mation on new methods and old familiar stand-bys that might help mid-lifers (and those beyond that mark) reduce some of the trauma involved in seeking new friendships that may, or may not, lead to romantic involvement.
For those who don’t mind venturing out of the area for some seasonal fun, Andy Gross’ story on Mardi Gras (page 18) focuses on the celebrations in Mobile and Elton, La., where regional authenticity abounds. Andy, who splits her time between traveling and recording the memories of family elders, also shares insight on the significance of creating a family history in Giving the Past a Future (page 26).
Stay warm, and have a hearty and healthy February!
Sandra PolizosEditor
editOR’s nOte
primemOntGOmeRy
Celebrating Midlife and Beyond
If you’re 50+ and on Facebook, become a fan of PRIME Montgomery!
February 2011Volume I, Issue 10
PUBLISHERBob Corley, [email protected]
EDITORSandra Polizos, [email protected]
ART DIRECTORCallie Corley, [email protected]
WRITERS Andrea Gross, Jennifer Kornegay,
Lenore Reese Vickrey
CONTRIBUTORSEthel Boykin, Tina Calligas, Niko Corley,
Nancy Dupree, Mark Glass, Mirabai Holland, Arlene Morris, Jake Roberts, Patsy Smith, Alan Wallace
PHOTOGRAPHERBob Corley, Heath Stone
SALESBob Corley, 334-202-0114,
[email protected] Capilouto Sommer
334-233-2621, [email protected]
Prime Montgomery7956 Vaughn Road, #144Montgomery, AL 36116
334-202-0114www.primemontgomery.com
ISSN 2152-9035Prime Montgomery is a publication of The Polizos/Corley Group, LLC. Original content is copyright 2010 by The Polizos/Corley Group, LLC., all rights reserved, with replication of any portion prohibited without written permission. Opinions expressed are those of contributing writer(s) and not necessarily those of The Polizos/Corley Group, LLC.
Prime Montgomery is published monthly except for the combined issue of December/January. Information in articles, departments, columns, and other content areas, as well as advertisements, does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Prime Mont-gomery magazine. Items relating to health, finances, and legal issues are not offered as substitutes for the advice and consultation of health, financial, and legal profes-sionals. Consult properly degreed and licensed profes-sionals when dealing with financial, medical, emotional, or legal matters.
We accept no liability for errors or omissions, and are not responsible for advertiser claims.
news yOu can use
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Vitamin D Deficiency Damages Patient Recovery
Almost 50 percent of patients under-going orthopedic surgery have vitamin D deficiency that should be corrected before surgery to improve patient out-comes, based on a study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City.The report, appearing in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, shows Vitamin D is essential for bone healing and muscle function and is criti-cal for a patient’s recovery.
Celebrex May Help Prevent Some Skin Cancers
Slathering on sunscreen and wearing protective clothing may not be the only way to prevent skin cancer in the future.
A new study out of the University of Alabama at Birmingham published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggests that the NSAID Celebrex may help protect against some non-melano-ma skin cancers.
Celebrex is currently FDA-approved for the treatment of pain, swelling, and tenderness caused by various forms of arthritis. But the drug also demonstrated
the ability to keep people with pre-cancerous skin lesions known as actinic keratoses from developing full-fledged skin cancer.
At present, there are no FDA-ap-proved drugs for prevention of skin can-cer, and most people rely on sunscreen to help protect them from the disease. More than two million people are diag-nosed every year with non-melanoma skin cancer. It is hoped that this research may pave the way for opening a new class of skin cancer prevention drugs.
Researchers Identify Factors that Lead to “Successful Aging”
Researchers from the New Jersey Institute for Successful Aging (NJISA) have recently unveiled new findings that clarify what it means to age success-fully, and point to modifiable factors that could help more people remain healthy as they age.
The researchers found that people are more likely to age successfully if they are educated, have never been incarcerated, are married, consume only moderate amounts of alcohol and either work for pay or do volunteer work.
“What you do before age 50 really will generally have the bigger impact on how
well you age,” said lead author Rachel Pruchno, Ph.D. The findings appear in The Gerontologist.
Level of Frailty Predicts Surgical Outcomes in Older Patients
A simple, 10-minute “frailty” test ad-ministered to older patients before they undergo surgery can predict with great certainty their risk for complications, how long they will stay in the hospital and — most strikingly — whether they are likely to end up in a nursing home afterward, new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.
The key is a means of measuring frailty using a five-point scale. It includes loss of 10 pounds or more within the previ-ous year, weakness as measured by a handheld dynamometer, exhaustion, low physical activity and slowed walking.
On the scale, one point is given for each problem. Scores of 4 or 5 mean that patients are considered frail; 2 or 3 mean they are considered intermediately frail. In a study reported in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, the frailty test was administered to patients over age 65 who had elective surgery.
Results showed that patients who were frail were 2.5 times as likely as
w w w . m o n t g o m e r y s y m p h o n y . o r g • 3 3 4 / 2 4 0 - 4 0 0 4
Outdoor Pops ConcertBroadway Under the Stars - September 16 • 7:30pm/ Blount Cultural Park
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Season of Discovery
Classical SeriesOctober 11, 2010
November 22, 2010December 14, 2010February 14, 2011
May 2, 2011
Fellowship SeriesNovember 2010 to
May 2011
Classical SeriesOctober 11, 2010
November 22, 2010December 14, 2010February 14, 2011
May 2, 2011
Fellowship SeriesNovember 2010 to
May 2011
MSOMONTGOMERY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Season of Discovery
those who were not to suffer a postop-erative complication, 1.5 times as likely to spend more time in the hospital and 20 times as likely to be discharged to a nursing home or assisted living facil-ity after previously living at home. It is hoped that the test can help surgeons and patients undergoing elective proce-dures make more informed decisions.
At a minimum, providers who use the frailty score will be alerted to spe-cial needs and risks of older patients. Having the information up front may enable providers to decrease the risk of complications in frail patients through closer monitoring and attention to hydration, nutrition and mobilization.
Exercise May Affect Depression in Breast Cancer Patients
Breast cancer patients who exercise on a regular basis may be less likely to suffer from depression than other patients, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncol-ogy. Researchers found that all types of exercise decreased the risk for clinical depression.
Those who exercised for two or more hours per week, and those who expended more energy during exercise were 42 percent less likely to report
overall depression than women who did not exercise.
New Hope for RepairingMultiple Sclerosis Damage
Researchers at Cambridge and Edin-burgh have discovered a way for stem cells in the brain to regenerate myelin
sheath, which is needed to protect nerve fibers, reports BBC News.
The studies, performed on rats, are exciting because they offer new hope that in the future, the damage done by multiple sclerosis could be repaired and physical function lost by patients could be restored.
TheaTre
Faulkner U. Dinner Theater. Steel Magnolias. Feb. 10-12, 17-19, 24-26. 334-386-7190. Visit [email protected].
Millbrook Community Players, Mill-brook Theatre, 5720 Main St. The Mousetrap. Feb. 10-12, 17-19, 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 13, 19, 2 p.m. Call 334-782-7317.
Red Door Theater, 101 N. Prairie St. Union Springs. Country Songs. Feb. 17-19. Call 334-738-8687; [email protected]
Theatre AUM, Taylor Center. ART, Feb. 17-27. Call 334-244-3632.
Wetumpka Depot Players, 300 Main St. First Baptist of Ivy Gap, Feb 3-5, 10-12, 17-19, 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 6, 13, 2 p.m. Second Samuel, Feb. 25. Call 334-868-
1440; www.wetumpkadepot.com
Dance
Montgomery Ballet, Davis Theatre. The Rites of Spring, Feb. 18, 19. A Midsummer Night’s Dream/ Papillon, Feb. 20, 2:30 p.m. Call 334-409-0522; www.etix.com.
MusicClef Works, RSA Center. Fireworks Ensemble. Feb. 26, 28, 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 27, 3 p.m. Hampstead Farms (free). Info www.clefworks.org.
Old Alabama Town Jam Sessions (Free). Feb. 12 , 26, 9 a.m.-noon. Call 334-240-4500; oldalabamatown.com
Saint James School, Montgomery. Cabaret 2011: The New Broadway, Feb. 3-5, 7 p.m.; Feb. 6, 2 p.m. Call 334-277-8033; www.stjweb.org.
hisTory
Alabama Dept of Archives & History, 624 Washington Ave. Jet Williams: My Father, Hank Williams. Feb. 17, noon. Free. Bring lunch. Call 334-242-4435; archives.alabama.gov
MarDi Gras FesTiviTies
Prattville “Let the Good Times Roll” Parade, Feb. 19, 12-4 p.m. Parade be-gins at 3 p.m. Live jazz music.
Millbrook “Laissez Les Bon Temp Rouler” Parade and Festival, Feb. 26, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Parade kicks off at noon. Arts and crafts, classic Cajun and traditional fare, and “the largest Mardi Gras celebration in central Alabama.”
Wetumpka “Krewe of Toulouse An-nual Mardi Gras Parade,” March 5, vendor booths open 10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Parade begins at noon.
February Community events
aROund mOntGOmeRy
The graceful arc towers two stories, multiple frosted window panes bending in an elegant curve like the neck of a swan. Clear, circular
openings, portholes on a land-bound ocean liner, offer a view of wind-rippled water. Listen closely to distant honks and quacks; the language of resi-dent waterfowl.
A pastoral scene spreads out below the arching doorway, through which enter the patrons of a bard long gone. You may not be able to get inside for a photo, but don’t despair, an exterior shot, with you in it, of course, is your audition for a cameo role in an upcoming Prime Montgomery.
Hark, noble photographers! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, where this stately structure stands.
Send your photo and contact information to [email protected].
By Jake Roberts
all the world’sa window
Congratulations to Tyrone and Carol Crowley (above) of Prattville, and Susan McNeal of Montgomery, for sleuthing out the Around Montgomery site pictured in the December/January issue. The lady with the Horn of Plenty graces the side of the Schloss & Kahn building, 121 Coosa Street.
www.primemontgomery.com | February 2011 9
featuRe
D ating after 50 means no more asking to borrow dad’s car or tiptoeing up the stairs five minutes past curfew. But
no matter your age, butterflies in the stomach and awkwardness remain part of the search for Mr. or Miss Right. Maybe you’re not search-ing for forever, but just looking for new friends and companionship. Here are a few success stories and tips from folks “in the know” to help you navigate the sometimes treacherous, but always interesting, world of dating after 50.Happily Ever…After 50
Sometimes you meet that special someone and you don’t even know it. Sue Morris, age 50, wasn’t looking for a husband, but did want the chance to interact and enjoy social outings with other singles her age. She wasn’t inter-ested in the bar scene, but there weren’t many other opportunities outside of church func-tions to hang out and have fun.
“Dating after my divorce was awful,” Sue said. “It was difficult to connect on anything other than surface level. I didn’t want to go to bars, so I helped create River Region Socials. We plan events for people looking for a wholesome environment in which to meet people.”
Sue was involved in a Bible study for older single adults, and they held a few social outings. “I helped them start holding more events on a regular basis and get more singles involved.”
“As you get older, your established circles get smaller, so if you don’t meet someone in those circles, you’ve got to take a chance and widen your circle,” Sue said. “If you want to meet someone, sometimes you’ve got to be proactive.”
After one of River Region Socials’ events, Richard Morris, also 50, needed a ride home. “He has a degenerative eye disease and can’t drive at night,” Sue said. “Since I was kind of the organizer of the event, he asked me be-forehand if I would drive him home.”
The two had met a few times at the Bible study and chatted at previous River Region Socials events. Sue considered him an ac-quaintance. According to Richard, on the drive to his house that status changed. “We really talked that night, and for the first time it was
Dating and Love after 50By Jennifer Kornegay
Sue and Richard Morris met through River Region Socials, a group Sue helped organize to provide a healthy, positive environment in which to meet people. 10 February 2011 | www.primemontgomery.com
more than an acquaintance,” he said.Sue recalls waiting for a phone call the next day. “We sat
and talked for hours after we got to his house,” she said. “Then the next morning he called and asked me out on a real date. I felt like a teenager again.”
The couple were married in No-vember, and Sue sounded like a giddy schoolgirl describing their bliss. “He is definitely my happily-ever-after,” she said. But if neither had been involved in River Region Socials, the two may not have crossed paths.
Anyone in the area can join River Region Socials’ Facebook page (260 members so far) and find out about the group’s activities and events, such as bowling, hiking, bonfires and din-ners.
There’s even a cruise planned in April. But the events aren’t designed to instantly pair up people. “It is not a dating service, just a social atmosphere,” Sue said. “Most of the members are 45 or 50 and up to 75 years old.”Details, Details
After Janette Reiter’s husband died, her daughter convinced her to create an e-Harmony account and give internet dating a try. “The service matches you with people based on multiple compatibility standards,” she said. “I was matched pretty quickly and started chatting online with a man named Roy.”
Both Roy and Janette had put Montgomery on their profiles, yet when the chatting progressed to a phone call, Roy seemed surprised to hear Janette’s sweet Southern drawl. “After just a minute he said, ‘Where are you from again?’ I told him Montgom-ery, Alabama. Before that, he had thought I was from Montgomery, Illinois, where he lived.”
The two had a good laugh at the mix-up, and despite the distance kept talking, later deciding to meet. Janette flew to Illinois to see Roy and says she wasn’t at all concerned.
“My daughter thought I should be more careful, but I felt like I truly knew him,” she said. After she met Roy and his family, a week later, he journeyed south to meet her clan. “Everybody liked every-body,” Janette said.
Janette outlined the differences in dating at her age. “When you’re older, dating someone seems instantly more serious, but, at least for me, it was more relaxed.”
It was certainly serious for these two. This June Roy and Janette celebrate their third anniversary. “I’m not sure about
other dating services, but I think e-Harmony really works,” Janette said. “ I felt like I already knew him when I met him, and that made me very comfortable.”How to Swim in a Shallow Pool
Kathy Cooper, minister to single adults at First Baptist Church in Montgomery, has heard numerous conversations about the ins and outs of dating later in life.
“The complaint I hear most often is that there is no one out there,” she said. “The dating pool is shallower. People become set in their ways and don’t put themselves out there like they did when they were younger.”
Kathy sees many older singles, men and women, who are interested in dating but still hesitant. “They seem more intimidated,” Cooper said. “I compare it to a dance. The older you get, the harder it is to do, but you should still dance.”
Yet she advises older singles to be careful about just diving into the shallow pool. “You shouldn’t feel like it is now or never. Be as choosy and use the same criteria you did when you were dating in high school and
college.”Virginia Holmes, who works with the singles’ ministry at
Frazer United Methodist Church agreed. “Take it slow,” she said.
Picking from an already thin selection can make the idea that much more daunting, but places do exist where you can meet people who’ll measure up. “Church is obviously a great
place,” Kathy said. “At First Baptist we have Bible studies, fellowships and lots of other activities specifi-cally for adult singles, and many other churches in town offer similar things.”
Virginia praised Frazer’s “Tues-day Night Together” events for singles. “It starts with a small group meeting, some are divorce recovery groups or Bible study groups. Then we share a meal followed by a program. We just started offering line-dancing classes after the program. It’s re-ally fun.”
Kathy mentioned the 301 Dance Club, which offers a short group dance lesson (6:30 to 7:30 p.m.) followed by a dance social every
Friday night at Dexter Avenue United Methodist Church. “It’s great fun, and it is a wholesome atmosphere,” she said.
Virginia pointed to volunteering as another option. “Volun-teering at church or for another organization is a great way to meet new, like-minded people,” she said. “It is a group setting
Roy and Janette Reiter met over the Internet.
Kathy Cooper heads up the Adult Singles Ministry at Mont-gomery’s First Baptist Church.
www.primemontgomery.com | February 2011 11
so it should be safe, and you already know that the other volunteers there are giving people.”
Kathy agreed. “When we need volunteers, it is my 45-55 age group Sunday School class that really pitches in, so volunteer opportunities often draw a lot of people in the older age groups. And volunteering with someone is a good way to see who they really are.”
As for internet dating, Kathy offered this advice. “Online dating can be a healthy and positive thing, but use the same criteria as you would in any other dating situation.”Find Out Fast
If you want to meet a group of older singles quickly,
consider speed dating. It has some real benefits, according to Kim Traff, president of Montgomery’s RSVP Events and pub-lisher of RSVP Magazine. “It’s non-threatening because there is no obligation,” she said. “The event is closed to the public so there won't be any spectators. And everyone at the event is in the same age demographic, is single and ready to meet others. Two of the couples that met through our speed dating got married and many others have built great friendships.”
At RSVP’s speed dating events you experience “mini-dates” with up to 12 people. You have a card on which to jot your impressions. If you felt you connected with any of your “dates,” or need a little more time to find out, check “yes” on the card. If, on the other hand, you were less than impressed, check “no.” About a day after the event RSVP emails you a list of who would like to hear from you again, and it’s safe and confidential; only the professionals at RSVP have your contact information.
RSVP is holding a special speed dating event for the 45-plus age group February 22, 6 p.m. at Ham and High restaurant in the Hampstead neighborhood.
river regiOn SOCialS — Check out the group’s page on Facebook. Search “River Region Socials.”
301 DanCe Club — Check out this group on Facebook too. Search “301 Dance Club -Montgomery Alabama,” or you can find them at http://301club.blogspot.com/. Admission is $5 for the lesson and the dance.
FirSt baptiSt ChurCh, MOntgOMery — Kathy Cooper, Minister to Single Adults, 241-5125.
Frazer uniteD MethODiSt ChurCh, MOntgOMery — Vir-ginia Holmes, Singles Associate, 272-8622.
SpeeD Dating — Visit www.rsvp-montgomery.com.
Virginia Holmes, Frazer UMC.
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Off the beaten path
In this era of ultra high-powered hunting rifles, range compensating scopes and an “only bigger is better” mentality invading
our every outdoor pursuit, it’s refreshing to get back to basics every now and again.
While many of us cut our teeth hunting bushy-tails, most of us have by and large forgone squirrels for larger or more exotic game. One morning in the woods behind a good squirrel dog, however, will have you itching to chase tree rats like a kid every weekend.
Folks who hunt squirrels with dogs fall into two main categories, defined by the type of dog with which they hunt. On the small end of the scale is the “feist,” a dog resembling a Jack Russell terrier and characterized by a lean, chis-eled physique. Coloring can vary widely from chocolate and tan to red and white. These dogs originated in England and were bred to hunt fox, badger and rats.
Local squirrel hunter Josh Pierce, along with brother Jacob and fa-ther Jack, has used feists to hunt squirrels his entire life. Pierce says feists make not only great hunting dogs but also great family dogs.
“Feists are as loyal and gentle toward their masters as they are persistent and tenacious toward squirrels,” Pierce said.
At the other end of the spectrum are the midsized-cur breeds, which are larger-bodied and are similar in appearance to some va-rieties of hounds. Like feists, curs were also bred to hunt a variety of game. With their long gait and athletic build, curs are lightning quick in the squirrel woods.
“If you are hunting with a cur be prepared to glide like the wind through the woods,” Pierce said.
With a couple of good dogs, good friends and a “honey hole,” it is not uncommon to bag 15 or 20 squirrels over just a few hours. Regardless of breed, Pierce says prospective squirrel dog owners should examine the puppies’ parents thoroughly and hunt with them if possible. As with any hunting breed, a good bloodline can make training easier and eventually hunting more enjoyable.
When training a squirrel dog pup, Pierce likes to take freshly killed squirrels and freeze them for scent work later, similar to freezing bird wings for a retriever. Two to three times per week he will take one of the frozen squirrels out and drag it around the yard, up tree trunks, etc.
“Make it a game,” Pierce said. “Before you know it, your squirrel dog will be barking up a storm!”
One of the many joys of hunting squirrels with dogs is that the
dog hunts for you as you and your friends tramp through the woods enjoying each others’ company and following the dog, which is sometimes dozens or even hundreds of yards ahead. At its core, squirrel hunting is about camaraderie – something you just don’t get sitting alone in a tree stand.
One minute, it’s eight in the morning and everyone is standing around pickup trucks gripping coffee mugs and formulating the morning’s strategy, the next you are tearing up a hillside after a distant bark that you know means the dog has treed a squirrel. Those moments and all the ones in between spent with friends and family in the woods are what make squirrel hunting with dogs so addictive.
With Alabama’s liberal squirrel season, you could hunt tree rats from October through February every weekend if you wanted, but many hunters like to wait until the leaves are off the trees before taking to the squirrel woods. Some restrictions apply on public lands regarding when and where you can chase squirrels with dogs and game laws should always be followed to the letter.
Habitat wise, the same kinds of hardwood bottoms, hillsides and thickets where you would stalk squirrels as a kid will likely pro-duce tree rats given the food and shelter they require are present. And just like when you were a kid, a handful of .22s or a half-box of #7s will be more than enough to bring home dinner as long as the marksman does his (or her) part.
Speaking of dinner, when it comes to divvying up the fruits of a hunt, some hunters are all too quick to pass on squirrel. Fried crispy and smothered in gravy with a side of hot biscuits, squirrel makes a fine meal.
While doggin’ squirrels may not be the norm it was once was, all it will take is a good bark on tree to let that kid inside you real-ize he (or she) never did give up on squirrel hunting after all.
Niko Corley is an avid sportsman, spending his free time hunting, fishing and enjoying other outdoor activities. In this column, he covers a range of outdoor recreation activities in central Alabama and beyond.
Niko Corley
Doggin’ Squirrels
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mOneywise
When you need advice about a financial issue, where do you turn? Whom can you trust?
Five criteria should be considered in seeking counsel, whether the help you need is legal, accounting, insurance, or related to investments. By evaluating your options according to these five attributes, you should wind up relying on good resource people.
characTer: Does the person have a reputation for integrity and trustwor-
thiness? Do you have experiential personal knowledge of his character, or can you verify the person’s honesty over a reasonably long period of time? Has she ever “paid a price” to make something right? Even if a potential advisor meets the other four criteria, a lack of character is reason enough to find somebody else. If Bernie Madoff did nothing else, he made this point abundantly clear.
coMpeTence: Does the person have the requisite education and experience to speak with authority on the questions you have? Does he recog-nize and acknowledge his limitations and fallibility? Does she have a reputation for wisdom? Competence involves not only technical understand-ing, but the ability to rightly discern what course of action is most likely to accomplish your individual goals without undue difficulty.
conGenialiTy: Every person on the planet is unique. Some people are unique in ways that make it easy for certain people to relate to them, while others do not connect with them very well. You have, no doubt, encountered people with whom you find it difficult to communicate, reach an understand-ing, or be in harmony. Relational friction or tension may be the result of a brief episode or momentary irritation, but it may come from interacting with someone whose personal-ity is toxic to you. In seeking advisors, congeniality is a key to establishing and maintaining a harmonious and fruitful working relationship.
convenience: Where is the advisor located? Will he only
meet with clients at times and places of his choosing? Will you have to conform to his model of service, or is he flex-ible enough to adapt himself to your needs? If his services are fairly structured, is that structure suitable to you? While convenience is certainly less important than the three prior considerations, it is still significant. For instance, you probably do not want to rely on an advisor whose office is multiple time zones away and is available to you only by phone for three hours a day, twice a week.
conTinuiTy: What happens to you if the person you rely on is unavailable (on vacation, out sick, becomes disabled, or dies)? Who steps in to help you? Do you have to go some-where new and start all over again seeking help for the same type of issues, or are you working with an organization (large or small) that assures you that one or more equally capable professionals is available to assist you? Most people like the
stability of dealing with the same person or set of people over the long run, people we have come to know, trust, and like. Change is unset-tling. For that reason, you need to think about continuity and back-up if your key contact is out of ac-tion, temporarily or permanently.
While the five criteria—character, competence, conge-niality, convenience and continuity—apply particularly to finan-cial advisors, they are certainly appropriate for choosing any ser-vice provider. (We all value an honest auto
mechanic!) Note that the biggest issue we typically default to in selecting a service provider, cost, is not one of these crite-ria. Why? Because most of us have learned that, “You get what you pay for.” Although it never hurts to comparison shop, if you are being served by a competent and congenial person of character who is convenient to you, the price you are paying is probably competitive.
Take care that a desire for economy does not lead you to rely on an unsuitable resource in a way that costs much more in the long run.
Alan Wallace, CFA, ChFC, CLU is a Senior Financial Advisor for Ron-ald Blue & Co.’s Montgomery office, 334-270-5960, [email protected].
For Professional Advice: Look for the 5 C’s
Alan Wallace
14 February 2011 | www.primemontgomery.com
heaLth
Marci’s Medicare Answer february 2011 Dear Marci,I am 65 and just became eligible for Medicare. How much will I pay for preventive services? — PaulDear Paul,
Starting in 2011, consumers who have Original Medicare will no longer pay coinsurance or a deductible for certain preventive care services recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Recommended services, which are 100 percent covered, include:n diabetes screeningn medical nutritional therapyn blood tests for heart diseasen bone mass measurementn screening mammogramsn pap smears, pelvic exams and clinical breast examsn colon cancer screening (fecal occult blood test, flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy)n prostate cancer screening (PSA test)n flu shotn pneumonia vaccinen hepatitis B vaccinen annual wellness visit
If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, deductibles and copays may apply to these preventive services in 2011. How-ever, private plans cannot charge you anything for the flu or pneumonia vaccine.
In addition, Medicare Advantage plans cannot require that you get a referral in order to get a screening mammogram or a flu shot. Check with your plan to see how it covers preven-tive services.
Be sure to follow the Medicare guidelines for receiving these services in order to ensure that Medicare will cover them. Some are covered only once every few years, and oth-ers are covered only if you meet specific criteria.
Marci’s Medicare Answers is a service of the Medicare Rights Center (www.medicarerights.org), the nation’s largest independent source of information and assistance for people with Medicare. To speak with a counselor, call (800) 333-4114. To subscribe to “Dear Marci,” the Medicare Rights Center’s free educational e-newsletter, simply e-mail [email protected].
To learn more about the services that Medicare will cover and how to change plans, log on to Medicare Interactive Counselor at the Medicare Rights Center’s website at www.medicareinteractive.org.
By Jeffry L. ChastangFeb. 18 – March 20
By Elyzabeth Gregory WilderFeb. 4 – March 19
Save the Date! Southern WriterS’ Project
FeStival oF neW PlayS May 13-15 www.southernwritersproject.net
World Premiere PlayS baSed on real PeoPle
and eventS.
Al AbA m A ShAk e Spe Are Fe StivAlmontgomery, Alabama 1.800.841.4273 www.ASF.net
One hundred fifty years ago in
Montgomery, Alabama
a store owner with a secret, a slave
guided by love, a fiery politician,
and a divided family took sides
and took a stand.
Their story is your story.
a GRaciOus pLenty
Be good to your sweet-
heart, and be good to your own heart this month with this very satisfy-ing recipe for Chicken Picatta. If you are like me and are trying to stick to your list of resolu-tions for the new year, you are prob-ably trying to develop a mindset to eat healthy. My resolve stays strong as long as I have a delicious dish like this one that seems indulgent, but keeps me on track with good pro-tein, low sodium, low carbohydrate meals.
The recipe has proven to please. I’ve entertained with several small dinner parties recently in my home, and after serving this dish the first time to rave reviews from my guests, my husband requested it again and again when we entertained other friends. It has not disappointed. Eco-nomical and easy to pull together, it has become a delightful staple in our menus.
Serving Suggestion: Serve with ½ cup pasta and steamed broccoli, salad, or other green vegetable. Candlelight optional.
For your own scrutiny, I am pro-viding nutritional analysis provided by NutritionData.com for the ingre-dients listed in the recipe.
Patsy Smith, a Montgomery native, is the author of two cookbooks, A Cook-book for My Southern Daugh-ter and A Southern Daughter Entertains. They may be purchased at Capitol Book and News, Rosemont Gardens, Southern Homes and Gardens, Jo’s Hallmark, Richardson’s Pharmacy, and other fine book and gift stores, or through her website at southerndaugh-tercookbooks.com.
Patsy Smith
Your (Sweet)Heart
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 t. Mrs. Dash
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, for dust-
ing chicken2T. olive oil1/4 c. dry white wine
1 t. minced garlic, from jar
1/2 c. low sodium chicken broth
1/2 fresh lemon, juice only
1/2 fresh lemon, sliced thin
2 t. capers, drained
2 T. butter or margarine
1 T. chopped, fresh flat-leaf parsley
Per serving: calories 376; fat 18g (sat 4g, trans fat 0); protein 21g;
carb 30g; fiber 1g; chol 47 mg; sodium 229 mg; sugar 21g
Chicken Picatta
Yield: 2 servings
Wash chicken breasts and pat dry with a paper towel. Place chicken be-
tween 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Using meat pounder, lightly pound chicken
to 1/4-inch thickness. Season chicken with Mrs. Dash, and dust lightly
with flour.Grease a non-stick pan with olive oil. Saute’ chicken, on medium heat, 3
minutes on one side. Turn chicken over and saute’ 3 more minutes on the
other side, with pan covered. Remove chicken to a plate.
Place minced garlic and wine in pan and cook until garlic is lightly
browned and liquid is reduced by half (about 2 minutes.) Add chicken
broth, lemon juice, capers, butter, and parsley. Return chicken to pan and
cook on both sides, heating through.
Place chicken on serving plates and drizzle with the sauce from the pan.
Place thin lemon slices and a few capers on top of chicken as garnish.
benefiting the Joy to Life Foundation
Fun for the whole family including music, food & drinks!
Day of registration begins at 6:30am
8:30am • Tallapoosa St. between Renaissance Hotel & Embassy Suites Hotel
Register or Volunteer Now! Online at joytolife.org
Call for more information
334.284.LIFE
Saturday, April 16, 2011 }}
proud 2011 sponsor of
the Joy to Life Foundation
is a
celebrating
years
* Walk application and fees must be received by Joy to Life Foundation on March 31, 2011 – paper registration via mail on 3/31/11 or online at joytolife.org by midnight on 3/31/11. Must be 19 or older to enter. Winner does not have to be present to win. Winner is responsible for all taxes and title fees. See joytolife.org for full details.
from Hyundai of Auburn and The Joy to Life Foundation!*
Register for the Walk by March 31st and you’ll be entered to
win a 2011 Hyundai Elantra
Race begins at
Out & abOut
Mobile Co. Sheriff ’s Posse prior to inaugural parade in Montgomery. L-R Phillip Moody, Jack Byrd, Billie Parsons, George Wulff, all of Mobile.
At a Mtgy. Chamber of Commerce coffee at the new Henig store onChantilly Parkway are (L-R) Randee Drumwright, Michael Henig, Jr., Colin Jones, Mike Henig, and Wanda Kennessey.
Rodney Clark, center, with State Arts Council Director Al Head and his wife Judy, following Clark’s performance as the lead in Bear Country at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
Mtgy. Hearing Loss Support Group attendees listen to a cochlear implant wearer discuss the device. The group meets at 4 p.m.the second Thurs. of the month at Mtgy.’s First Methodist Church.
featuRe
Above: Toomey’s, in Mobile, has one of the world’s largest collections of Mardi Gras wonders.
Above: Cajun Mardi Gras traditions center on horses rather than floats. Below: Mobile’s Carnival Museum showcases outstanding royal costumes.
Let the Good
Elton, LA and Mobile, ALMardi Gras Deux
Times Roll:
By Andrea GrossPhotos by Irv Green
18 February 2011 | www.primemontgomery.com
It was 6:30 a.m. on a warm, slightly muggy morning in Febru-ary. I was surrounded by nearly a dozen men, each clad in bright, loose-fitting coveralls edged with hand-torn fringe.
Most had tall conical hats, dunce caps layered with beads and paint. There was music, beer, and off to the side, a neighing horse. For a minute, I thought I was dreaming.
But no, I was just at the other-worldly celebration known as Courier de Mardi Gras or, more commonly, as a Cajun Coun-tryside Run. By 7:30 more than 100 people and a few dozen horses had gathered and were ready to begin a mad dash from house to house, during which they'd beg their neighbors for something — rice, sausage or, best of all, a live chicken — to put in the communal gumbo to be devoured that night.
The homeowners would make the riders jump through a series of real and proverbial hoops in order to collect their donations. They’d cheerfully perform a dance, chase a chicken or climb a tree, and the result was a combination of Hallow-een and frat party ribaldry.
At first this celebration, which took place in Elton, Louisi-ana at the southwest part of the state, seems a far cry from the more familiar urban Mardi Gras, the kind that features glamorous kings and queens, glittering balls and parades with lavishly decorated floats. But the two styles of merrymak-ing evolved from the same roots — a desire to enjoy the pre-Lenten weeks that culminate on Fat Tuesday (the English translation of the French words Mardi Gras). In short, Mardi Gras, whether it's in the country or the city, is the last chance for folks to let loose before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.
The following year my husband and I opted to visit Mobile, Alabama in order to learn about the royal-style Mardi Gras. While New Orleans has the largest (and by all accounts, the liveliest) Mardi Gras celebration, Mobile's is the oldest. The first Mardi Gras parade in the New World took place in
Mobile in 1830, ten years before New Orleans followed suit.Mobile's Carnival Museum honors the city’s preeminence
in Mardi Gras history with four videos and 14 galleries filled with regal splendor — trains in gold velvet edged with Swarovski crystals, crowns encrusted with sapphires and rubies.
My favorite gown belongs to the 2009 Mardi Gras Queen, Louise Vass McClelland. Her dress is a magnificent creation with an 18-foot train of antique ecru satin, yards of beaded embroidery, hundreds of jewels and sequins. With its coordi-nating collar, it weighs 36 pounds.
I do a quick calculation. Attending a ball in this outfit would be like dancing with a four-year-old child hanging from my shoulders. I'm in awe that someone would wear such a thing.
But many people do. Mobile residents own more formal regalia per capita than any place in the world, includ-ing Los
Angeles.While Mobile’s royal balls, which are invitation-only events,
start Thanksgiving weekend, the real celebration — the one composed of more than 30 parades — traditionally begins two-and-a-half weeks before Fat Tuesday. This year’s festivities begin February 18 and culminate on March 8, which is Fat Tuesday.
During these two-plus weeks, more than 30 organizations will sponsor parades, and masked revelers will ride gloriously deco-rated floats and toss “throws” (trinkets, beads, candy and coins) to the party-goers who line the streets.
For most people the Joe Cain Parade, which takes place March 6, is the most fun. The tradition dates back to 1866 when Mo-bile resident Joe Cain decided to resurrect Mardi Gras festivities, which had stopped during the Civil War. He decorated an old coal wagon, hitched it to his mule, dressed up in Indian clothes and staged a one-man parade down the street.
Today this parade is an all-inclusive, family-friendly event. All that’s required is a float — which may be as simple as a shopping cart decorated with crepe paper streamers — a smile, and a desire to participate in the na-tion’s oldest Mardi Gras celebration.
As they say in Mardi-Gras country, “Lais-sez les bons temps rouler.” [Let the good times roll.]
Note: The best place to get streamers, as well as beads, masks, banners and crowns, is Toomey’s, a 70,000 square foot warehouse of Mardi Gras wonders.
Andrea Gross is a former contributing editor for Ladies’ Home Journal. She and husband Irv Green split their time between travel writing and helping people write their personal and family stories. Gross and Green can be reached through their website: www.andreagross.com.
It’s Good To Be KingMontgoMery’s own Mardi gras royalty
Mobile residents own more formal regalia per capita than any place in the world, including Los Angeles.
www.primemontgomery.com | February 2011 19
While many people dream of becoming royalty, in 2008 that dream became a reality for one former Montgomery resident.
That’s when the Mobile Carnival Association selected Chad Slaton, son of Montgomery residents Crawford and Gillette Slaton, to serve as king of the city’s Mardi
Gras festivities.At a Coronation Ceremony on
the Saturday before Fat Tuesday, King Chad (who reigned as King Felix III) was crowned and robed, along with his queen. Mardi Gras debutantes and their knights were also presented at the ceremony.
“For king, they [the Mobile Carnival Association] generally pick someone a few years out of college, someone who’s active in the community, “ Slaton said. “They pick someone whom they think will represent Mardi Gras and the City of Mobile well.”
Being a part of the Mardi Gras festivi-ties was nothing new for Slaton. He had previously served as a page in the parade, and years later was selected to be a knight.
“It’s a great way to meet people,” Sla-ton said. “And those who participate do so for the joy of it. We care about Mardi
Gras and want to promote the carnival and the city. Be-ing a member of the Association and serving as king is about promoting community.” And what did “King Felix” enjoy most about his reign? “Riding in the parades,” he said. “It’s just a thrill and the king gets to ride twice. We have 70-year-old Association members who still ride.”
Above: King Chad Slaton and his knights ride on a float for the Knights Parade during Mobile’s Mardi Gras in 2008. below: Slaton, with mother Gillette, at the Coronation Ceremony.
By Callie Corley
discOveRinG yOuR past
In 1976, Alex Haley published his book, Roots, The Saga of an American Fam-ily, sparking great interest in African
American genealogy. Always rich in oral history, African
American family history often lacked substantive evidence which records can provide, so this new interest in genealogy inspired many African Americans to get down to the business of documenting their family history.
Beginning African American family his-tory research requires the same steps as researching families of other ethnic backgrounds.
Check for records at home. Interview older family mem-bers. Then begin with yourself and work backwards, using census records to form the branches of the tree, and county, military, and other government records to add leaves to the tree.
There are some twists to be aware of when doing African American family history research, including the common use of nicknames; changing surnames; the research process devi-ates a bit if your African American family was enslaved.
The following may also prove helpful when delving deeper into your African American roots.
n The 1870 federal census was the first U.S. census to enumer-ate newly emanci-pated African Americans by name. Free blacks were enumerated
in previous U.S. censuses.n The 1866 Alabama State census, schedule #2 or Colored
Population schedule, was the first after the end of slavery, but lists only heads of households, often by just a first name.
n If the family was enslaved, few records prior to 1865 were created naming slaves. Those created after 1865 are often designated as “Colored” and are in separate volumes.
n Slave schedules were created in 1850 and 1860, but name only the slave owner. They list the slaves by age, gender, and color. There is also a category for manumitted and runaway slaves.
Nancy Dupree
Tracing African American Roots in Alabama
n Newly emancipated slaves often took the names of their slave owners, but not always. If you know the name of the slave owner, or a possible slave owner, and the slave owner died before 1865, you may find that slaves are listed by name, age, and value in the will, estate records, inventory, or probate records of the slave owner.
n The 1867 Voter Registration Records and Loyalty Oaths were the first records created in Alabama after emancipa-tion listing African American males 21 years or older.
n In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the penal system in Alabama was used as a means of social control. Prison records provide a wealth of information and are a poten-tial source of family history information.
For more information visit the Alabama Department of Archives and History’s African American research brochure at www.archives.alabama.gov/research/african_american_re-search_guide.pdf.
Nancy Dupree is Senior Archivist at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. If you have a question for Nancy, email us at [email protected]. Photo courtesy ADAH.
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Visit our websitewww.primemontgomery.com
in eveRy Life
Arlene Morris
Thoughts often turn to hearts in February! It is amazing to real-ize that our hearts beat about 70
times a minute (4,200 times an hour; 36,792,000 times a year, etc.). This hard-working muscle usually goes unnoticed unless a problem occurs. Changes occur in the heart due to the aging process, various diseases or medications, the en-vironment, and lifetime health behaviors. Changes in the heart may occur in the following areas:
n the four chambers (or hollow areas) of the heart through which blood is pushed as the heart muscle contracts
n the three layers of the heart muscle itselfn the valves between the chambers that keep the blood
flowing in a forward directionn the blood supply to the heart (by way of the coronary
arteries)n the electrical impulse for the chambers to contract (or
the conduction of this impulse)n the amount of blood flowing through the heart and to the
body ( cardiac output)
This month we will consider changes in the valves. The valves are attached by thin strands of tissue to the muscle of the heart chambers which may become thicker or stiffer, lead-ing to incomplete closure of the valve (allowing some blood to flow backward). Or, the opening of the valve may become narrowed or rigid (stenosis), allowing less blood to flow through the valve to the next area in the circulation pathway. These changes may be heard as a murmur by your healthcare provider.
Causes of the thickening or stiffening may be changes within the cells of the valves (fibrosis or decreased elasticity from the aging process), accumulation of lipids (fats), or inflam-mation from infection. Infection may be caused by bacteria (most commonly staph or strep), fungi, or viruses which flow through the heart and infect the surfaces of the valve or the supporting structures of the valves.
The source of the infection may be from an illness such as a skin, respiratory (flu), or urinary tract infection; from inser-tion of an intravascular (IV) device; or from dental, surgical, or other invasive procedures accompanied by bleeding. The valvular damage associated with rheumatic heart disease is an example of a complication usually two to three weeks follow-ing an infection caused by streptococcal bacteria in the nose or throat.
Although you can’t stop changes within your cells that oc-cur with aging, you can help prevent damage to the valves of
your heart by the following suggestions:n Discuss your blood lipid levels with your healthcare pro-
vider and make any needed diet or medication changes.n Maintain oral hygiene daily, with regular dental visits.n Avoid contact with those who have infections.n Avoid increased activity (exercising) during an infection
to decrease the risk of organisms lodging in the valves or supporting structures.
n Consult your healthcare provider to determine if you are at risk for infections due to the structure of your heart or any other pre-existing conditions.
n Consult your health care provider if you experience prolonged low-grade fever or chills, weakness, fatigue, de-creased appetite, sore throat, cold, flu, or cough symptoms.
n Discuss with your healthcare provider the possible benefit vs. risk of antibiotic therapy prior to any planned invasive procedure (including dental visits such as for teeth cleaning) for your individual situation.
Happy American Heart Month, and keep a healthy heart!
Arlene H. Morris, RN, Ed.D. is a Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor in the Auburn Montgomery School of Nursing, where she enjoys teaching content regarding gerontology and professional nursing issues. Email her at [email protected]
“Although you can’t stop changes within your cells that occur with aging, you can help prevent damage to the valves of your heart.”
Keeping Heart Valves Healthy
www.primemontgomery.com | February 2011 21
featuRe
Roy Kiser works out four days a week, accompanied by his wife Doris (background).
22 February 2011 | www.primemontgomery.com
Bless Your Heart - Exercise!
Here’s a list of common conditions that fall under the broad category of “heart disease.”
Acute Coronary Syndrome: A term used to describe conditions, ranging from unstable angina to heart at-tack, that suddenly reduce blood flow to the heart.
Angina: Chest pain that results when atherosclerosis narrows coronary arteries enough to limit the supply of oxygen and blood to the heart.
Arrhythmia: An irregular or abnormal heartbeat.Atherosclerosis: Atherosclerosis is the underlying
cause of heart disease in most people. It occurs when fatty deposits (plaques) build up within walls of the coronary arteries. (Atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis both refer to the same abnormality.)
Cardiac Arrest: An abrupt loss of the heart’s ability to pump blood, usually due to a heart rhythm abnormality. (Cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack.)
Cardiovascular Disease (CVD): CVD refers to any disease that reduces the blood supply from the arteries to the heart and other organs. The most common ex-amples of CVD are coronary heart disease, peripheral artery disease, and cerebrovascular disease.
Congenital Heart Disease: “Congenital” means pres-ent at birth. This form of heart disease is an abnor-mality in the structure or function of the heart that develops before birth.
Coronary Heart Disease (CHD): CHD occurs when the arteries that supply blood to the heart are nar-rowed by the buildup of plaque (atherosclerosis). CHD is also referred to as coronary artery disease (CAD).
Heart Failure: Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs.
Hypertension: Chronic hypertension, or high blood pressure, can lead to heart failure, stroke, and kidney disease by increasing the demands on the heart.
Myocardial Infarction: Commonly known as a heart attack, a myocardial infarction occurs when a blood clot at the site of a plaque in a coronary artery blocks blood flow to a portion of the heart and results in death of heart muscle.
Myocarditis, endocarditis, or pericarditis: Acute in-flammation of the myocardium (heart muscle), peri-cardium (the membrane surrounding the heart), or endocardium (the inner lining of the heart).
Provided by University Health Publishing and Johns Hopkins Medicine, May 2010. To sign-up for free health alerts delivered via e-mail visit
http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/.
Language of the Heart A lexicon of terms
“My doctor told me I could stop [smoking] and live, and
I took the living part.”
By Lenore Reese Vickrey
When Roy Kiser first entered the Montgomery Cardiovascular Associates (MCA) Fitness Center, he could hardly put one foot in front of the other.
“I could barely move my feet,” said the veteran of two heart attacks and three heart surgeries. “They walked with me around the track so if I started to fall they could help me. I was on a walker and used a cane.”
Despite receiving the frightening news he might not walk again, Kiser didn’t give up. That was 11 years ago.
Now 84, Kiser goes to MCA Fitness Center with his wife Doris four days a week, loves to exercise on the bicycle and handbike, and walks by himself “wherever I go,” a literal walking example of the benefits of regular exercise for your heart health.
“We go even when we don’t feel like going,” says Kiser, a retired state Revenue Department employee. “You’ve got to have determination to keep it up,” he says.
This attitude is exactly what Wilson Scott, executive direc-tor of MCA Fitness Center, wants to see in everyone who comes through his doors. “If someone comes in and says, ‘I want to get healthy,’ I love to hear that,” said Scott.
Kiser was a smoker while he was younger, but believes he-redity played a big part in his predisposition to heart disease. “My doctor told me I could stop [smoking] and live, and I took the living part,” he said. He also tries to watch what he eats and takes medicine to control his blood pressure and cholesterol.
American Heart Association statistics indicate almost 40 percent of people over the age of 55 do not participate in any leisure-time physical activity.
Yet regular cardiovascular exercise is one of the key ways to pro-tect your heart. Experts recom-mend at least 30
minutes of aerobic activity, ideally five days a week, to help protect coronary arteries.
Physical activity helps maintain a healthy weight, and can reduce the chances of developing other conditions that can damage the heart, such as high blood pressure, high choles-terol, and diabetes.
Exercise can also protect against colon cancer, depression and anxiety. Active persons with these diseases are less likely to die prematurely than inactive people with these condi-tions, according to the Heart Association.
“When you exercise your heart is pumping more blood, and your arteries have to dilate to allow for that pushing against the blood vessel walls,” said Scott. “As you cool down, your blood volume drops and the arteries have less pressure. Exercise keeps them elastic so they don’t get hardened. If
you wait too long (without exercising), the arteries can get so stiff they lose that essential elasticity.”
Although MCA Fitness Center is open to the public and has a diverse membership, about half have had a heart attack or open heart surgery, Scott said. Rehab for those patients is not mandatory, but strongly encouraged. Patients have their blood pressure checked before and after exercise.
“We start out with slow walking, maybe 10 minutes,” he said. Some patients, like Kiser, can barely get around the center’s indoor track when they start. But gradually, they im-prove. Exercise time is increased with each visit, building up to an hour. Those with hip or knee problems and even those who’ve had strokes or are in wheelchairs, can get excellent exercise benefits on the recumbent total body workout machine, which allows low-impact exercise without pounding the skeletal system.
“After the first day, you will feel better and it snowballs from there,” he said.
If you practice a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise, you can minimize heart problems that come with aging. But even healthy people can be unaware of dangerous heart condi-tions.
Jimmy Jehle, 60, was the picture of health, working out regularly at Wynlakes Country Club and at Fitness Solutions with owner Jon Cook.
Two years ago he felt a sore place in his back. A bone scan showed calcium deposits around his heart, and a stress test indicated abnormalities. A heart catheterization revealed 98 percent blockage in his main artery, and in early 2008 he had a successful quadruple bypass.
After four days in the hospital he went to Baptist Medical
Jimmy Jehle, 60, works on his fitness level with cardio and strength train-ing, including a weighted exercise ball seen here.Center Cardiac Rehab. Within four weeks, according to Jehle, he had doubled his strength. He’s since returned to Fitness Solutions for cardio and strength training.
“I’ve never had a problem since,” he said. “My experience scared so many of my friend they got checked out, too. My advice is, if you feel you have a problem, go to the doctor. It’s much easier when you don’t have a heart attack first.”
“I had no shortness of breath or anything before that,” said Jehle, vice president of Dixie Electric Co. But had he not been a regular exerciser, the results could easily have not turned out so well.
“Walking for us heart patients does the most good,” he says. “I watch everything on my diet. I live with two vegetarians so I
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A Montgomery Cardiovascular Associates Facility
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MCA member Kay Gillgetting a workout on the
Sci-Fit Arm bike.
MCA_Ad_7.10_Prime_Layout 1 7/23/10 12:52 PM Page 1
Did your mother or sister have a heart attack in her 50s? Did your brother or father need bypass sur-gery in middle age? If so, you might want to take some extra steps to protect yourself from heart disease.
Here’s what you should know.Doctors have long known that
people who have a first-degree relative (a parent, sibling, or child) with early coronary heart dis-ease are at increased risk themselves. But new research suggests that the risk of heart disease may be greater than previously thought — especially if you’re a man whose broth-er or sister was diagnosed with heart disease before age 60.
Having a family history of prema-ture heart disease (heart disease in a father or brother younger than age 55 or in a mother or sister younger than age 65) is considered a risk factor for heart attacks.
And people with a family history are encouraged to estimate their risk of a heart attack in the next 10 years using a system called Fram-ingham risk scoring, which takes into account five major heart dis-ease risk factors: age, systolic blood pressure, smoking status, total cholesterol level, and high-density
lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level.But according to research from
Johns Hopkins, the Framingham risk score may lead to a significant un-derestimate of heart disease risk in some people with a family history.
The study followed 784 healthy, middle-aged people who had a brother or sister who was hospital-ized for angina or a heart attack before the age of 60.
Over the next 10 years, 20% of the men and 7% of the women had a heart attack or other heart-related event.
But when the researchers calcu-lated the participants’ heart disease risk based on their Framingham risk score, only 12% of the men and 6% of the women should have had a cardiac event during the study.
The Hopkins researchers con-cluded that knowing that a brother or sister has had a heart attack, particularly if you are a man, might turn out to be one of the most important factors in determining heart disease risk.
What To Do — If you have a sibling or parent with early heart disease, talk to your doctor about what steps you can take to reduce your own risk.
For example, you may need to lose weight, improve your diet, and start exercising more.
Your doctor may also want you to start taking cholesterol-lowering medication, aspirin, and blood pres-
sure medication — even if your Framingham risk score indicates that you are only at low or moder-ate risk.
You should also ask your physician about a few ad-ditional tests to refine your
risk. For example, a computed tomog-
raphy (CT) scan to look for calcium buildup in the coronary arteries and a blood test for C-reactive protein (CRP) that measures in-flammation may provide additional risk information for someone with a family history but a Framingham score that indicates only low or moderate risk.
Provided by University Health Pub-lishing and Johns Hopkins Medicine, March 2010. To sign-up for free e-mail health alerts http://www.johnshopkin-shealthalerts.com/.
estimate Your Heart Risk
“People who have a first-degree relative (a parent, sibling, or child) with early coronary heart disease are at increased risk.”
try to watch what I eat really carefully. I do what they tell me to do.”
Maintaining a healthy weight and eating a heart-healthy diet are other important factors in preventing heart disease, says Mary-Aileen McLemore, a personal trainer at Fitness Solutions. Exercising helps the body build muscle, which is a denser tissue and takes up less room than an equal weight of fat.
“Though it may take you a few weeks to see measurable changes, you begin to put on muscle and burn calories form the moment you start exercising,” she says. “The muscle weight you gain also beefs up your metabolism which, in turn, helps you to burn off more fat. Talk about a win-win situa-tion!”
For a heart-healthy diet she recommends following guide-lines published by the Mayo Clinic, which recommends foods low in saturated fat, cholesterol and salt, together with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products.
Not all fats are bad for you, however. Healthy fats, such as omega 3 fatty acids found in salmon, mackerel, and nuts, are actually good for your waistline, she says. “People are always surprised that as small as I am, my diet consists of a few hundred calories a day from nuts, which is a lot of fat.”
An abundance of information on keeping your heart healthy is available from the American Heart Association at http://www.heart.org, and the Mayo Clinic at www.mayoclinic.com. Check with your physician before starting any exercise program.
www.primemontgomery.com | February 2011 25
mOvinG fRee with miRabai©
Exercise has always been trendy. From Jack LaLanne to the latest Wii technology, I’m sure you can fill
in the blanks decade by decade. I’m not particularly upset by that. Trends drive the industry.
Some trends are downright wonderful as is the case towards softer workouts like yoga and pilates.
One thing that does bug
me, though, is the trend to-wards doing only yoga and pilates. They do little or nothing for your heart.
I love these forms of exercise but not at the expense of the basics.Remember aerobics? (It’s trendier to call it “cardio” now)
And since February is Ameri-can Heart Month, what better way to celebrate than to break a little sweat.
In case you forgot, aerobics is any exercise using your large muscle groups to increase the body's need for oxygen over an extended period of time. Low impact cardio dance, brisk walking, jogging, biking, and swimming are all good forms of aerobic exercise.
According to the National Institutes of Health a half-hour
of moderate aerobic exercise a day can reduce risk of heart attack by 50 per cent and have a positive effect on most of the problems associated with aging.
Cardio energizes your body from the inside out. Your heart is pumping like mad. Your lungs and arteries are hard at work delivering the oxygen that you need to keep going.
Your muscles are getting a great workout carrying your body around. You’re burning a bunch of calories and if you keep it up for 30 minutes or more your natural mood en-
hancers –the endorphins–kick in and you get the exerciser’s high.
You can see why you'd want to get a daily dose of aerobic exercise.
It goes a long way towards reducing your risk for disease, managing your weight, and light-ening your mood, to help you stay fabulous forever.
So dust off your sneakers. Mirabai Holland M.F.A. is a leading authority in the Health & Fitness industry, and a public health activ-ist specializing in preventive and rehabilitative exercise for women. Her Moving Free™ approach to exercise is designed to provide a movement experience so pleasant it doesn't feel like work. Send your Ask Mirabai questions to: [email protected]. Visit her website at www.movingfree.com (c)2011.
Mirabai Holland
Ristorante
6268 Atlanta HighwayMontgomery, AL 36117
334-365-4662
Montgomery’s FinestHomemade
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Exercise from the Inside Out
yaRd ‘n GaRden
Each of us functions off some type of plan, even if it's just the plan for that day. Having a plan gets us one
step closer to obtaining the outcome we desired. When we go on a trip we have a map that guides us to our destination. The same thing is true for landscaping at home. Having a plan to determine where things are planted will help you achieve the beautiful environment you’d hoped for. Whether you live in a home with a completed landscape, or one that needs a
total re-do, you’ll be pleased with the results from a design plan.
Your existing landscape can benefit from a plan of plant removal or plant reduction. With time, landscapes often become over-grown and/or unhealthy. When I am called to an older home/landscape I consider both the needs and desires of the home owner and the overall ap-pearance of the plants.
Sometimes a desired look can be achieved by taking a bold approach to existing landscape. Old shrubbery can be redesigned for a new look just by pruning. Good fertilization is another im-portant step in achieving your de-sign plan because it strengthens your plants and helps them ward off disease. An old landscape can also get a new look by adding some new plants in with the old. Knock Out roses are currently a popular choice, because of their long blooming period. With their fabulous burgundy foliage, lorop-etalums, too, show up everywhere. (The 'Purple Pixie' was introduced last year and it performs beautifully in small spaces because it stays pixie-sized!)
Starting out with a new landscape design can totally change the look of your home. A landscape plan can put plants in their proper place, so the need to prune disappears.
Unfortunately, most landscaping is done at the time a house is constructed. Often the plants were bought and placed without thinking about the size of the plant at maturity. I of-ten go to homes where young shrubs, planted in front of the windows of a new house, have now grown to four feet tall. (Guess that prevents the need for draperies!) This is the best example of the wrong plant in the wrong place. With a design plan specifically drawn for your home by a horticulturist, you should get a plan for you or your installer to follow that will have the desired outcome.
Just like the carpet wears out and needs to be replaced,
plants also sometimes need to be replaced. One of the most amazing discoveries I made recently was finding an Aunt's in-voice for landscaping done in Arlington, Va. in the 1950s. It was amazing to see that plant costs have stayed almost the same in all these years. There was a $2.00 difference in the cost of three-gallon shrubs, from then to now. In my 12 years back in Montgomery I have seen no increase in plant costs, which is
certainly not something I can say about other purchases. When you look at the cost of design, new plants, soil, and straw, it seems like landscaping gives you lots of bang for your buck.
With Spring around the corner, the urge to get out and do something outside will soon hit. Be ready, with a plan in-hand. Go ahead and do the clean-out work in February, so your empty beds will be ready for new plants. And, if you’re putting your home on the market, the extra curb appeal will entice buyers to look at your home. If the yard looks good, it stands to reason the inside will be great also.
Cold days are great for getting a plan ready. Happy planning and happy planting!
Ethel Dozier Boykin, a Montgomery native, owns Art in the Garden, a landscape design and consult-ing company in the Capital City.
Contact her at 334-395-5949, or by email at [email protected].
“Having a plan to determine where things are planted will help you achieve the
beautiful environment you’d hoped for.”
What’s Your Plan?
Ethel Dozier Boykin
Eastbrook Flea Market & Antique Mall425 Coliseum Blvd. • Montgomery, AL 36109
334-799-0709 • [email protected]
Kynard Korner’s Reinvintage Boutique
vintage apparel & accessoriesfor every occasion
Mardi Gras • costume parties • filmsplays • proms • balls • cotillions
featuRe
Giving the Past a FutureWriting Your Story
By Andrea Gross
Note: Names have been changed to protect the privacy of the storytellers.
It's a familiar scenario. The family has gathered for a big celebration — perhaps a birthday, a holiday or a summer vacation. Dinner is finished; the family is sitting near the fire
in the living room. Grandma starts to tell a story. "I remember when I was a child," she begins. "We lived up north, and the snow would get so deep we couldn’t see out the windows. My father had to build a fire, but…."
"Careful," says Uncle Jack, as three-year-old Jason toddles over to pet the cat.
The cat snarls, Jason cries, and Grandma never finishes her story.
That's how it goes all too often. The family gets together, the older folks start reminiscing. Then something happens — the soup boils over, the dog gets loose, the kids get tired. The stories don't get told. And that's a shame, because if there’s one thing that boomers and their parents agree upon, it's this: the real family legacy is the family stories, not the family sterling. (Harris Poll, 2005)
Now, as their parents get older, it’s panic time for the boomers. They left home for college and often settled far from the communities in which they grew up. They weren’t around for rocking-chair conversations with their grandparents, and now they’re so busy raising a family and building a career that they don’t have time for long, probing talks with their parents. Their stories are being lost — one generation at a time.
For most families, the problem isn’t a matter of having the will, it’s a matter of finding the way.
Diana Bennett is typical of many seniors. She knew her children wanted her stories, and she wanted to tell them. So she enrolled in a local writing workshop and enthusiastically be-gan writing about her childhood. After ten months, she had a big stack of paper but precious little read-able prose. “I don’t know…. This is nothing that would hold the interest of my granddaughter, or even my daughter,” she says dejectedly.
Modesty aside, Bennett is probably right. While people want their family stories, they don’t have the patience to plow through lengthy tomes of rambling prose. If people want their stories to actually be read, they must be sure that they’re well-written and attractively presented. Otherwise they’ll simply be shoved in a drawer.
Virginia Carlson, age fifty-five, was determined to get her
mother’s stories down on paper, but as a single mother with a full-time job and two young children, she had no time to sit down and conduct a formal interview. So she did what so many folks do: she gave her mother a book with a list of questions: “Who was your first grade teacher? What was your favorite song in high school?”
Her mother returned the book. “This is like be-ing back in college,” she snapped. “And anyway, I’m tone deaf. I didn’t have a favorite song in high school!”
Sometimes it’s the seniors, but often it is the adult children who instigate the process of getting a family history. They realize that if they don't get it now, someday it'll be too late.
And without those stories, they'll never know all the little things that make their families — and themselves — unique.
A two-year study at Emory University shows that passing on these stories is essential. The study found that preteen children who had been told stories of their parents’ and grandparents’ early lives rated higher in emotional well-being than those who were ignorant of their family history.
Children benefit most, according to the research, if the tales show life in all its complexity. By learning about the struggles of their ancestors, they develop strength to deal with their own.
In a similar vein, more and more folks are honoring deceased loved ones by weaving input from friends and relatives into a life story. John Jameson lost his 61-year-old wife five years ago. Now he, his three adult children, his wife’s sister, mother and several friends have combined to write the story of his wife’s life. “Jane may be physically gone, but she still lives in our hearts, and we want her grandchildren and great-grandchildren to get to know her,” he says.
This desire on the part of people to preserve their past has spawned a new profes-sion, that of personal histo-rian. Once only the rich and famous hired ghostwriters to help them write a mem-oir. But today, with families too far apart and individuals too busy for rocking-chair conversations, ghostwriting has gone mainstream.
While stories can be preserved digitally or in print, books remain the most frequently used method. Quite simply, if books are printed and bound prop-erly, they'll last forever, while there's always a danger that changing technology will make today's CDs and DVDs obsolete. Books also allow the storyteller to go into greater depth and explore personal thoughts without risking a surfeit of on-screen emotion. On the other hand, video biographies capture body language and facial expression and bond people at family gatherings.
While some family histo-ries are based on historical and genealogical research or old family documents, the great majority include the personal recollections of family elders. Like Ms. Ben-nett, most people are better story-tellers than story-writ-ers, and they prefer to talk their story to an engaged questioner.
Professional interviewers come with a built-in advan-tage over a family member who, however well-inten-tioned or even well-trained, will have a difficult time collecting the detailed stories that are the foundation of a good memoir.
People speak in familial shorthand when talking to relatives; they omit details because they correctly as-sume a degree of previous knowledge and understand-ing. But those details are exactly what future readers will need to fully understand the story.
An older couple signing soft cover copies of their book for their nephews and nieces. A family history volume will be cherished by all family members for generations to come.
If you undertake the process of record-ing your own family stories, there are good resources available to guide you. What questions do you ask? What techniques will get the best results? How do you make someone feel at ease?
Many of these resources offer sample questions you can use as-is or adapt to your own circumstances. However, secur-ing the stories that helped shape your fam-ily boils down to Two Inescapable Truths.Truth No. #1 — tO get anSwerS, yOu have tO aSk queStiOnS.
And you have to ask a LOT of ques-tions. In my opinion, the best way to ask questions is to visit the person and talk face-to-face. Sounds simple, but therein lies the biggest challenge you’ll face. Here are two sites that can help you get more information out of your interviews: How to Interview a Relative, http://genealogy.about.com/cs/oralhistory/ht/interview.htm; Interviewing Your Family Members, http://life.familyeducation.com/family/genetics/29659.html#ixzz1AU2vRUwq.
Your challenge, however, is not the ques-tions themselves, or the equipment you’ll use, not even how to deal with a taciturn
subject. It’s what they tell incoming college freshmen regarding the secret to a suc-cessful college experience, and the second of our Two Inescapable Truths.Truth No. #2 — yOu have tO ShOw up.
The biggest mistake we make regarding capturing family stories is putting it off, delaying the visit based on a pitifully inad-equate list of excuses -- bad weather, too much work, tired, kids sick, no batteries for the tape recorder, etc. The sad truth is that the people you most need to interview for your family stories are those least likely to be here in ten years, or five years, or even next year. Having a wide range of tactfully worded questions is worthless if you’re not there to ask them.
Whether it’s a formal, pre-arranged in-terview with a tape recorder or camera, or a loose plan to capture stories as they’re told around the dinner table, do not put off starting the interview process. Start now. Regardless of how ill-prepared you feel, how uncomfortable your family member appears, or how little information you wind up with from that initial interview, what you will have when the conversation is over is more than you had when you
If You Are The hIsTorIAn...By Bob Corley
www.primemontgomery.com | February 2011 29
In addition, people are often more comfort-able talking to an outsider because they know that secrets inadvertently revealed will remain just that — secrets.
All professionals guarantee confidential-ity and make sure that the storyteller is the first to see and edit the manuscript, regardless of who has commissioned the memoir.
Assuming the end product is a book, the interviews will be recorded on tape, transcribed to paper, edited and, to various degrees depending on the wishes of the client, organized to make a compelling story.
Once again, an outsider has an advantage. Because he or she comes to the project without preconceived ideas or prior information, he's able to see the themes that run throughout the storyteller's life and, if requested, weave them through the manuscript.
At this point the book moves into the production phase. The text is proof read, photographs chosen, format selected, pages printed and bound. Results range from simple stapled booklets to multi-volume sets crafted in heirloom leather.
This all takes time, lots of time, and hiring a professional can
be expensive. Depending on the complexity of the proj-ect and the experience and expertise of the biographer, a memoir can run from several hundred dollars to more than twenty thousand. Most personal historians also hold work-shops for confirmed do-it-yourselfers or will coach individu-
als on a private basis.Is it worth it? Ask the seventy-five year old woman who
said, "You can't imagine what it's like for someone like me, an ordinary person, to see my face on the cover of a book. It's awesome!"
Ask a sixty-year old man who read the words of his mother. "Now I understand her — and me — so much better," he said.
Or ask a nine-year old boy who finished reading the story of his great grandfather's immigration to the United States. "I'm proud," he said. "That's all. I'm proud to be me."
Andrea Gross, co-owner of Legacy Prose (www.legacyprose.com), is a personal historian who works with clients throughout the United States. She can be reached at [email protected] or 303-394-9339. For ten years she was contributing editor of Ladies' Home Journal and has written articles for TIME magazine, the Washington Post and other leading publications.
started. And that’s progress.Our own family has a wide assortment of stories from
both sides, some on video tape, some in notebooks. But even with that we have lost enough family history to fill a couple of books, all because we were too busy or it wasn’t convenient or we thought tomorrow or next week or next month or Thanksgiving or Christmas would be a better time. This isn’t one of the Two Ines-capable Truths (since we’ve already used two), but it is something to ponder: tiMe iS noT On yOur SiDe, nOr iS it yOur FrienD.
Time will fool you into thinking you have enough of it. But you don’t, and there’s nothing you can do about it because that’s what time does. It passes. That’s its job. Each minute you put off a family interview, another tick from your watch and another tock from the kitchen clock moves us all down that road toward the destina-tion that awaits us. And there are no interviews granted in heaven or, for that matter, elsewhere.
This isn’t meant to depress you, but rather to stress
the immediacy of what you’re trying to do, and the consequences of not doing it. You will secure a few more stories each time you talk with your family members. Regardless of what happens to them, your efforts will have captured pieces of your own history that might otherwise have been lost, and which will be remembered long after we’re history ourselves.
Along with interviewing of family members, another thing to start immediately is sorting through those shoe-boxes and sock drawers full of old photographs. You’re not doing these photos any favors by keeping them in the attic, or the basement, or in yellowing, acetate albums. You are, in fact, slowly destroying them.
Next month we’ll offer tips for preserving old pho-tographs and a list of resources to assist you. We’ll also show you how a shoebox of Korean War photographs were transformed into a family treasure that will be handed down from generation to generation, and how you, too, can turn your old photos into a family heirloom book.
Top left: Hard and soft cover editions of the same book.Bottom Left: Personal history books come in all shapes and sizes. Above: A grandmother reads her personal story to an attentive great-granddaughter.
30 February 2011 | www.primemontgomery.com
pRime diveRsiOns
The Social Network (PG-13)
If anyone doubted the genius of Aaron Sorkin scriptwriting (The West Wing, A Few Good Men, Sports Night, Charlie Wilson’s War, to name a few), the fact that his rapid-fire, high IQ dialog kept me fascinated for two hours in this fact-based account of the genesis, startup and tangle of litigation surrounding the phenomenon known as Facebook should cinch the case. That’s a remarkable achieve-ment, considering this praise comes from a reviewer who never even considered joining that, or any other, Internet social site, and whose savvy about computer programs and functions ranks only marginally above the average Amish person of comparable age.
Jesse Eisenberg stars as a brilliant, though socially inept, Har-vard undergrad who starts the site under questionable circum-stances and motivations. At first it may hold the key to popular-ity with women and acceptance by the cool guys in the elite campus clubs. But he winds up creating a far greater entity than anyone suspected, with the possible exception of Justin Timber-lake’s character, Sean Parker, who’d started Napster before latch-ing onto Jesse’s Mark Zuckerberg, helping him make this into a global staple with astounding financial value.
Their stories unfold in spurts, as deposition testimony in the suits and countersuits among those who were variably involved in the early stages trigger flashbacks to the events that spawned the legal clashes over the billions of dollars at stake. Sorkin cov-ers personal, technical and psychological ground with surprising deftness that even keeps non-techies mostly in the loop, despite the foreign-language effect of the characters’ cybertalk. Those who understand the lingo and appreciate the product from actu-ally using it should find this film even more fascinating. Eisen-berg’s performance is another asset worthy of mention, showing brilliance, inner pain partially masked by arrogance, yet remaining enigmatic as to just what he thought and felt in almost every relationship along the way. Be ready to concentrate to reap the rewards of the tale. (1/11/11)
Red (PG-13)The film is mindless fun,
with a suitable reduction in mayhem levels, since Willis and the others are hardly up for Die Hard-style action at this stage of their lives. Presumably, the Energizer Bunny will slow down when it’s time for Lipitor, too. Malkovich provides the most amusement value as the looniest of the lot. He’s their Murdock. Ours, too.
Here’s an action comedy that combines The A-Team with
Grumpy Old Men, as Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and (no kidding) Helen Mirren play a bunch of over-the-hill spies forced back into action for one more mission. Someone framed them for an as-sassination, and they’re the only ones who can prove who done ‘em wrong, while dodging all the current cops and Feds who think the geezers were the perps. (1/25/11)
Secretariat (PG) To get the obvious comparison out of the way, this is an excellent film, even though not quite as compelling as 2003's Seabiscuit (7 Oscar nomi-nations, 4 wins), which outpaces this one on period production values, and cultural context of the former’s iconic status during our Great Depression of the 1930s. Apart from that qualifier, this fact-based drama about the last horse to win the coveted Triple Crown (1973), and the determination and imagination required to get there makes for a first-rate story and movie. One need not be a fan of The Sport of Kings to appreciate either of these sagas. Both trade heavily on the characters of the people who owned, trained and rode the stellar steeds, as well as the inner qualities of the eponymous animals. In this case, Di-ane Lane portrays a housewife whose life had taken her far from her roots in the thoroughbred business. But when it counted, she still carried enough of her father’s DNA instincts to realize the potential of a foal more clearly than the experts around her. She had to make plenty of sacrifices to keep her family’s Old Kentucky Home and stables going, but the results are the stuff of legend. John Malkovich adds some of the film’s most amus-ing and otherwise gratifying moments as the colorful trainer, Lucien Lauren, she persuaded to guide her colt to glory. The action sequences are so superbly shot and edited that the only room for improvement might have been to allocate the time to more of the horses running, and less of the humans talking. (1/25/11)
Mark Glass is an officer and director of the St. Louis Film Critics Association.
The Social Network, Red and Secretariat Recent DVD releases
Mark Glass
In less than a year, Charlotte Evans has established herself as a
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Crossword CluesACROSS 1 Hold fast 6 Pilgrimage to Mecca 10 Racetrack figures 14 "Peanuts" character 15 Sea eagle 16 Suitor 17 State bird? 19 Legendary 20 Dry ravine in Africa 21 Want __ 22 Watery impact 24 Call from baby 26 Seat 27 Boxing great 29 Iniquitous 32 Scot's cap 35 Medicated 37 Declare 38 Rounds or clips 39 State bird? 42 Part of the eye 43 Speech subtlety 44 Dunkable treat 45 Bird's beak
46 Integrity 48 Attempt 49 Muslim holy men 51 Building wings 53 Caspian sturgeon 55 Period of note 57 Particle 60 Revise text 61 State bird? 64 Feed the kitty 65 Hawaiian port 66 Of an ecological sequence 67 Calendar units 68 Lambaste 69 Prepared to propose
DOWN 1 Talon 2 Robert M. Pirsig novel 3 Irrelevancy 4 Region on the Nile 5 Org. founded by Juliette Low 6 Foremost position 7 Circle parts
8 Genetic letters 9 Twangy instrument 10 Old manuscript symbols
11 Emporium 12 Raised platform 13 Of this kind 18 Queen's address 23 Buddy 25 Skirt style 26 Thin pancakes 27 Govt. in power 28 Longest river of France 30 Bricklayers 31 Sheeplike 33 Love affair 34 "__ Python's Flying Circus" 36 Superman's letter 38 In the past 40 Shows intestinal fortitude 41 Pastoral poem 46 Shrew 47 Rip 50 Muffles 52 Heavily burdened 53 Rosary piece 54 __ St. Vincent Millay 55 First lady of scat 56 Sufficient space 58 Roundish shape 59 Thaw 62 Lubricate 63 Inquire©2011 TRIBUNE MEDIA
SERVICES, INC.
Crossword answers, p. 26Sudoku answers, p. 31
