What’s Up? with Merlene

Jonathan and Cynthia Austin got what they had hoped for. And much more.
The couple made plans to take their four children to the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, to show their children how blessed their lives are in Lexington and how great the need is for children in other parts of the world.
“We told them, ‘This [...]

If you are looking for a women’s club with members who are concerned with shopping trips, beauty tips, and parties, the Suburban Woman’s Club of Lexington, Inc., is not for you.
“These are people who roll up their sleeves and get to work,” said Joanna Walsh, first vice president in charge of membership.
When I called Wednesday [...]

Outside the yellowish five-story, castle-like school building on the west side of Chicago, violence, drugs and prostitution are nearly as prevalent as pollen. The school was on lock-down twice this month because of the violence occurring nearby.
Inside that building, however, enveloped in strict discipline, demanding rules and hard work, every student who has graduated in [...]

I belong to the group of people 50 and older who thought our job seniority was ­assurance that we’d work until retirement age.
Now, though, as we watch co-workers in our age bracket pack up personal belongings and leave a workplace after decades of service, we no longer believe that.
Even more unsettling is that older workers [...]

It won’t be exactly like an episode of American Idol, although there might be some folks who sing better in their minds than they do in our ears.
Still, First Baptist Church Bracktown’s “Kentucky’s Sunday Best Voices” gospel music competition promises to be just as entertaining as that TV reality show.
Based on BET’s Sunday Best talent [...]

My friend and I were saying last week that 60 is the age to dread. That’s how old our grandparents were when we were young, and we always saw them as ancient.
We obviously need to spend more time with Catherine Ledford Duff of Lexington and Alexander (Al) Feher of Lynch. Duff told me she is [...]

We often hear of organizations holding this event or that one, trying to raise awareness for a particular cause. Most of the time, many of us ignore the pleas.
In 2005, Yolonda Kelsor Clay had planned to do the same thing: ignore the efforts of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Lexington, to make Central Kentuckians [...]

A friend and former neighbor of mine, Marjory Woolery, 88, always says she must have her cup of coffee and her newspaper to get her day started right.
Because I earn a living in the newspaper business, I love hearing that.
But what about those people who, like Woolery, love in-depth looks into the news, but who, [...]

John and Vivian Nash, owners of The Nash ­Academy of Animal Arts, a dog-grooming school in Lexington, have a home in Brighton, Jamaica, and have visited the small village in St. Elizabeth parish for 25 years.
They grew to love the Jamaican people and to hate the poverty that ensnared one generation after another.
So, John Nash [...]

Although Vertner ­Woodson Tandy was born in Lexington in 1885, he made his mark in New York, where he became the first registered black architect in the state.
Local members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the black fraternity Tandy helped establish in 1906, want people in Lexington to remember Tandy.
The ­fraternity will unveil a ­Kentucky [...]