What’s Up? with Merlene

I called Michael J. Phillips last week to ask what he plans to talk about with parents and students this Friday and Saturday.
Phillips, a computer consultant, has been tutoring students of all ages in Shreveport, La., for several years while holding down technology positions at AT&T and with Caddo Parish. I didn’t quite understand how [...]

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 [...]

Autumn officially begins this afternoon, signaling a need, at least for me, to hibernate.
Holing up in my house, eating whatever doesn’t run away is an ­ideal fall and winter for me. Of course, that means by the time the new year rolls around I am quite vulnerable to weight-loss ads that promise to make my [...]

The Salvation Army is recruiting bell ringers for the coming holiday season to volunteer in its annual Red Kettle Campaign. Yes, they know it’s only September.
“We could use thousands of volunteers,” said Maj. Debra Ashcraft, co-coordinator of the Salvation Army’s Central Kentucky service area.
The campaigns runs 41 days this year, with kettles stationed in 31 [...]

One thing I will remember about the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and will appreciate him for is how he overcame the arrogance of wealth.
Despite his numerous servants and the luxury of owning a sailboat or two, Ted Kennedy understood the needs of blue-collar workers, of the poor and of the disenfranchised.
Eula Hall, founder of [...]

Two years ago, all Don Carberry wanted to do was clean up the bad credit he had garnered after a failed marriage and an affair with the bottle that lasted too long.
“One day I woke up and said this isn’t working out,” Carberry said. “I was living out of my car.”
After coming [...]

These are difficult times for parents needing help paying college tuition for their children or for displaced workers seeking better opportunities by returning to school.
Lump-sum tuition payments, or even securing a loan, can push that desired education into the realm of broken dreams.
But along with scholarships, grants and loans, another option seems to be taking [...]

Since Michael Jackson’s sudden death in Los Angeles on June 25, I’ve watched in amazement the number of black people who have rolled out of the woodwork waxing eloquent about him and claiming him as one of our own.
Yes, he was an exceptionally talented entertainer and should be honored for the influence he has had [...]

Thanks to economic stimulus package money and the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, Phase 4 of the Newtown Pike Extension road project — the leg that was supposed to be last — has been promoted to Phase 1.
Providing easier access to the Bluegrass Airport and Keeneland Racetrack from the Kentucky Horse Park for the [...]

Although Betty Allen is among the greatest black opera singers America has produced, she died in Valhalla, N.Y., on June 22 without the name recognition she deserved. She was 82.
Nonetheless, the mezzo-soprano, a favorite of conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, has had significant influence on voices molded and heard right here in Lexington.
University of Kentucky [...]