Baton Rouge Temperature: 92°
Saturday, July 5, 2008

PEOPLE

 
Red, white and blue. It’s a color combination sure to stir whatever patriotic feeling an American has — especially on the Fourth of July. Why these colors? Presumably, Congress could have chosen any combination from the spectrum when it established an official design in 1777. It stayed, however, with the same three used in the British empire from which America was then rebelling, only arranged differently — 13 alternating red and white stripes, 13 white stars on a blue field “representing a new constellation,” according to the Congressional act.

When a tabby kitten named Louie came to live with us a year ago, we noticed that he took a special shine to the dishwasher and fridge, which both hummed so strongly that he counted them as next of kin.

When Lafayette radio announcer T.D. Smith got the idea to take World War II veterans from Acadiana to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., he knew it would be a big project. What he didn’t know was the program would keep growing.

Although Emily Seba had only worked on much, much smaller canvases, she didn’t hesitate when asked to paint a wall mural in a Parkview Baptist School classroom.

Each week The Advocate asks a different “quiz taker” for his or her current favorites in pop culture. QUIZ TAKER: Davis Rhorer, 52, executive director Downtown Development District.

With a firm handshake I bid a fond farewell to my doctor last week. Losing the primary care physician with whom I had a good relationship for decades was a surprisingly jarring experience.

At the Scott dinner table in Shreveport, politics often arrived before dessert. “Since I was a little girl I watched the political conventions,” said Ashley Scott, who at 24 will be one of the youngest delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver Aug. 25-28.

When Jill Rigby’s twin sons were in the first grade, a visit to their school inspired her to teach table manners to the students. A lot has happened in the 16 years that followed.

Army Reserve Pvt. Keosha M. Lundy has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C.

Last summer, Derek Elsey and his friends still drove to malls or other destinations alone and in their own cars. Gasoline cost only about $2.90 a gallon then. “Now, if we go to the mall, or movies or to a party, we’ll take turns driving,” he said.

In this week’s Style File, where we catch people out and about, our subject shows off her retro chic look.

Ochsner dermatologist Monica Trail doesn’t see what’s so healthy about a “healthy glow.”

A rather unusual bus, the Fight Back Express, rolls into town today as part of its six-month journey across the nation.

Samantha Morrison and Wubing Ye, both 2008 graduates of Baton Rouge Magnet High School, have been awarded $1,000 scholarships by the Louisiana Education Loan Authority.

Every time a bicyclist or pedestrian is hit by a car, injured or killed, as was the case early this month on River Road, there’s a lively back and forth between bicycle riders and the city. Then, we slide back into complacency until the next injury or death.

LSU assistant professor Loren Marks was teaching a family studies class five years ago when two students approached him with a question he couldn’t answer. They asked him why there wasn’t any research done on strong, marriage-based black families like the ones they came from, Marks said.

When Baton Rouge insurance agent Fred Hilton is stressed about not selling enough insurance policies, his wife of 18 years, Connie, offers him a reassuring hug. In turn, when Connie, 56, is suffering from the effects of menopause, Fred Hilton, 60, said he “lays out the red carpet” in advance of his wife returning from her job as a receptionist and office assistant at a rehab hospital.

The doctors at Baton Rouge General’s Pennington Cancer Center weren’t exactly playing “pin the tail on the donkey,” but they weren’t shooting fish in a barrel, either.

Prune upward-growing branches on a citrus tree to make harvesting of, in my case, Meyer lemons easier. Prune new growth with hand shears through the year to keep the tree of manageable size, says Ed O’Rourke, retired LSU horticulturist.

From time to time, I’ve looked up from my morning coffee and spotted a large wicker basket of blueprints in the corner of our living room. They include plans for home renovations completed some months ago, as well as drawings for landscaping projects that will have to wait for another day.

Fear of needles kept 18-year-old Youth Challenge cadet Ashton Starkey away from blood donation drives. “I didn’t want to do it at first because I thought it would hurt,” said Starkey, when blood donation recruiters encouraged him to become one of the volunteer donors onboard a mobile bus parked at the alternative school in Carville.

Each week The Advocate asks a different “quiz taker” for his or her current favorites in pop culture. QUIZ TAKER: Jim Stalls Jr., 65, president and CEO of the Baton Rouge Better Business Bureau.

When I was a boy — especially before I started school — my father’s homecoming in the afternoon was a big event in my day. It was a happy event, unless I had been particularly bad.

A.B. Clark, former director of the LSU School of Home Economics, now the School of Human Ecology, taught hundreds of students home management and family economics in her decadeslong career in education.

From the opening number in the orphanage to the final scene in Daddy Warbucks’ mansion, 11-year-old Teddi Page perfectly captures the innocence and optimism of the lead character of “Annie” in Playmakers’ latest production.

When Bob Gullic moved into his Brown Heights home 52 years ago, its carport was fine for its intended purpose, but not for the kind of tinkering he enjoys. So, he built a stand-alone garage. Then, a woodworking shop.

Join Mayor-President Melvin L. “Kip” Holden for a family bike ride along the levee Saturday. This year’s “Family Bike Day,” which also involves the Baton Rouge Police Bike Unit, follows what the Mayor-President’s Office describes as a highly successfully community ride last year.

Would you know if your sister, friend or co-worker is being abused? This session, “Addressing Domestic, Intimate Partner and Dating Violence in Our Community: What is it and What is Our Responsibility?,” could open your eyes to a serious subject.

The first time Bobby Jindal asked his future wife on a date she turned him down because her family was moving. Supriya Jolly was a freshman at Baton Rouge Magnet High School. Bobby Jindal was a year ahead of her, so the two didn’t have any classes together.

Baton Rouge native and award-winning filmmaker Lawrence Cumbo has received another honor, this one halfway around the globe. Cumbo, with his family, was on hand to accept the Sheikh Zayed trophy last month at the first ANASY Best Documentary Festival competition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ANASY Co. for Media Production sponsored the awards, which recognized Cumbo for his contribution to factual films about the Middle East.

As family and friends of a boyhood pal mourn his death on the other side of the country, I walk through the soft morning on the way to the garden and think of Jimmy, the boy I knew.

After years of American churches sending waves of missionaries to evangelize Africa, one mainline denomination is seeing a tide of African missionaries coming here to lead.

The Rev. Fred Wideman’s first sermon at Broadmoor United Methodist Church came in July 1981.

David Sedaris scribbled his name into stock copies of his new book a few feet away from a caterer’s table of red beans and rice, salad and rolls set up in an adjoining room at Barnes & Noble on CitiPlace Court. Employees from three other Barnes & Noble stores busied themselves with schedules and wristbands for the night’s big event — a book signing for about 1,000 fans and Sedaris’ reading from his new book, “When You Are Engulfed in Flames.”

Poison ivy is a year-round problem in the yard and garden in Louisiana, but summer is an especially good time to remember the ditty, “Leaves of three, leave it be.”

Hardly a summer goes by that I don’t dip into the pages of “Robinson Crusoe,” a book I’ve read since boyhood. As a youngster, I reveled in the adventure promised by Daniel Defoe’s classic yarn about a castaway who spends years on a desert island. In my 20s and 30s, I mused more darkly about what the story says about human loneliness.

“All Jokes Aside” offers no elaborate sets or costumes, just “real, straight-from-the-hip” dialogue and telling lyrics to provide a teen perspective on the challenges facing the community.

Each week The Advocate asks a different “quiz taker” for his or her current favorites in pop culture.

Thunder and the feel of an approaching storm have an odd effect on me. Storms have frightened me a couple of times — once when lightning began to strike all around me when I was surf fishing at night and another time when a tornado roared through my yard.

Drink up, kids — that fruit juice might not be as bad for you as mom fears. A new health review co-authored by LSU human ecology professor Carol O’Neil shows that there is no link between childhood obesity and the consumption of 100 percent fruit juice.

Student-made “survivor boards” tacked onto Nicole Scott’s cubicle walls at the Baton Rouge Career Solutions Center on Plank Road tell the stories of dropouts pursuing graduation.

There’s casual and then there’s casual. In this week’s Style File, where we catch people out and about, we get a look at casual chic.

The YMCA is partnering with BREC to operate seven pools this summer, and there just aren’t enough swimsuits to go around. Bring your gently worn suits to any Y during regular operating hours.

While you’re waiting for that new identity protection software to load on your computer, take a peak out your front window. For every criminal mastermind trying to swipe bank account information from an e-mail inbox, there’s likely to be a couple swiping checkbooks or credit card offers from an actual mailbox.

They were often demanding. They were there when needed. They put the family first. For Father’s Day, The Advocate asked prominent area residents to talk about things they learned from their dads that left an imprint on their lives.

Some men object to the greeting card image of Dad as maker of loud, embarrassing noises and wearer of boxer shorts to get the newspaper at the end of the driveway.

It’s a looooong trip — about 18 hours — to Omaha. So what provisions do Tiger fans pack for a College World Series haul? Phillip and Lynette Thibodeaux and their grandson, Brody Creppel, show what will get them from Livonia to Omaha.

Last year, when Oprah Winfrey devoted an episode of her talk show to a woman who was perhaps the country’s worst packrat, my mother’s phone began ringing off the hook.

Hard, black spots on tomato fruit may be caused by a calcium deficiency. Apply a tablespoon of calcium chloride in a gallon of water to the leaves of the plant, says Ed O’Rourke, retired LSU horticulturist.

Each week The Advocate asks a different “quiz taker” for his or her current favorites in pop culture.

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