What's Up? with Merlene

Two years ago while attending my first Ms. Fix-It Fair, I sat in on the “Granny’s Home Remedies” session led by Cheryl Steenerson. She taught the class so many common-sense, down-to-Earth, cheap and environmentally friendly health and cleaning fixes, I thought my brain would shut down.
I perked up, however, when Steenerson mentioned an inexpensive way to keep flying insects out of the house during warmer months. She said if we fill a baggie with water and hang it outside near the doorway, most flies and mosquitoes will be turned away.
When I heard that, I thought the woman was nuts, and I told her so recently when I called about her presentation at this year’s fair, the sixth annual one sponsored by the Bluegrass Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction.
But when I filled the bags with water and hung them, it worked, much to my surprise. I had maybe 10 flies all summer that dared to cross the threshold. Neither Steenerson nor I can figure out why.
“I know it works,” she said. “I just don’t know exactly why.”
Steenerson will be one of several presenters this year whose goal is to make us less fearful of handiwork and help keep more money in our pockets. Steenerson will give several uses for apple cider vinegar including a conditioner for our hair, whitener for our teeth, and as a bug spray to keep crawling insects out of the house.
Also, white vinegar, she said, kills 99.9 percent of all bacteria and germs as a household disinfectant.
“It is better than bleach for our environment and a whole lot cheaper than the store products,” she said.
A librarian at the Anderson County Library, Steenerson calls herself an old hippie who earned a degree in natural resources before heading off to Arizona to become a park ranger for 18 years.
She now has an organic farm in Mount Eden, where she grows vegetables and popcorn.
“It is a lifestyle that I didn’t see any downside to,” she said. “I live close to the Earth, and I raise my own food.”
She will lead a session on “Organic Gardening Solutions,” too, in which she gives time-saving tips “for people who don’t think they have time for gardening,” she said. That would be me, as well.
The fair will feature several 45-minute classes at Spencerian College, 1575 Winchester Road, which is a new site.
Melanie Anderkin, chairwoman of the event, said the early March date is more than a month earlier than usual to capture our attention before spring arrives and we get started on gardening, decorating or repairs.
Sessions include basic plumbing and electrical repairs, how to work with tile, drywall and automobile repairs, home weatherization, gardening, and fire pit construction. For a complete list of classes, visit Bgnawic.org. You can come for one session or stay all day.
Established in 1955, NAWIC is a professional association of women working in construction and related industries. The local chapter was chartered in December 2001.
For some women and men, home repairs and tasks can be intimidating, Anderkin said. The purpose of the fair is to take away that fear and empower us.
“Do you ever get tired of waiting for someone to do something for you or trying to fix something yourself and doing all the wrong things?” Anderkin said. “This is to empower women and let them know they are just as handy and there is no reason we can’t do this ourselves.”
Joan Markwell, who was the first female journeyman and master plumber in Kentucky, will be conducting two sessions on plumbing. She said women need to know there are repairs they can do on their own.
“A lot of women, nowadays especially, are living on their own,” she said, “and times are tough. They can’t take time off from work to wait on a repairman.
“I’m just trying to give women and men the confidence in themselves to try something,” said Markwell, who once owned Allied Plumbing. “That means a lot to me.”
In her Plumbing 101 class, Markwell will ask participants to take apart faucets and put them back together.
“If you mess up, that’s fine,” she said. “You can’t learn by watching.”
“I’ll show you how to get a handle off,” she said, “and once we get it off we can figure out what kind of innards we’ve got.”
In Plumbing 102, she will demonstrate simple toilet repairs like how to stop one that is running continuously and how to replace a handle. If time allows, she will show us how to take off a trap and clear a clog under a kitchen sink and maybe how to replace a disposal. OK, I’ll be the first to admit that terrifies me.
Markwell has assured me that I shouldn’t worry. And neither should you.
“I love it when someone comes back to me and says, ‘I did it.’ They are so excited,” she said.

Ms. Fix-It Fair
What: Home-repair classes and demos sponsored by Bluegrass Chapter of ­National ­Association of Women in ­Construction
When: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. March 3. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.
Where: Spencerian College,
1575 Winchester Rd.
Cost: $15 cash or check at door. Lunch available for purchase.
Information and class schedules: Bgnawic.org.

In the current political climate, positive discussions of government assistance and community need in the same breath are frowned upon. Much more welcome are talks of program cuts and deficit reductions.
But what seems to get lost is that when those cuts are implemented on the federal level the effects are felt locally.
Prime examples of local repercussions from cuts in Washington are the Homeless Prevention Program at the Lexington Rescue Mission and Divine Providence Way, which is run by the Catholic Action Center.
Laura Connell, development director at the Rescue Mission, said her program and 10 others didn’t receive any money from FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program last fiscal year, money used locally to help families avoid utility shut-offs and evictions.
It was the first time EFSP bypassed Lexington in 24 years.
“Not only were we hurt, but a lot of other charities were hurt, too,” Connell said.
Ruslyn Case-Compton, director of Catholic Charities Diocese of Lexington, which had distributed the EFSP grants locally, said the funds are awarded according to a formula based on U.S. Department of Labor data for unemployment and poverty statistics from the 2000 U.S. Census, and population.
Award amounts were determined by dividing available money by the number of unemployed people in a district. On top of that, Congress cut funding for EFSP last fiscal year by 40 percent, leaving $120 million instead of the $200 million the agency had received before.
Lexington didn’t make the cut, although Kentucky received nearly $1.4 million.
The Rescue Mission received $22,000 of $161,000 in 2010 given to Fayette County to provide emergency assistance with rent, mortgage and utilities. That money helped supplement rent payments for 112 families and helped with utilities for 105 others, Connell said.
“We help with $100 toward the bill and help them work with other agencies to come up with the rest,” Connell said.
The mission, which has received EFSP monies for five years, also gives $100 toward utilities, which sometimes can cover the entire bill.
“This last year was a big shock for us,” she said.
Ginny Ramsey, co-founder of the Catholic Action Center, said her agency’s share of the money would have helped a lot at Divine Providence Way, a housing program that includes job training, vocational rehabilitation and social services for homeless men working toward self sufficiency. Their loss was about $5,000, she said.
“We constantly keep the beds filled whether there is money to cover them or not,” Ramsey said.
Fortunately, “the community is wonderful when they know there is a need. I believe firmly that we as a community do have to respond,” when government funding is cut, she said.
The Rev. Troy Thomas, president of the Black Church Coalition, agreed.
He said the organization had to cut back the amounts it granted and stopped accepting applications. The charity “cut off the fax machine on the fifth or sixth of the month during August, September and October,” he said, because the requests for help outpaced its funds.
But in November the organization made a big push for funds, which has helped this year, as has mild weather.
Mandy Brajuha of God’s Pantry said that food bank had received $18,000 in 2010.
“We have been reaching out to donors to make up those dollars,” she said.
And now, that is what the Rescue Mission hopes to do.
The mission’s fifth annual Walk for Warmth on Feb. 25 will have an added urgency this year, Connell said. “We are really going to rely completely on the walk,” she said.
She hopes at least 500 walkers, who have raised at least $50 each, will join in the one- or two-mile walk through downtown Lexington, starting at Phoenix Park. The University of Kentucky men’s basketball team will have a game at Rupp Arena at noon that day, “but we are hoping people will recognize the importance of what we are doing,” she said.
So make plans to walk before the game, doing your part to fill the gap left by deficit reductions in D.C. and a growing need in Lexington. Your time is needed just as much as your money.
And if you’re interested in helping in other ways, Ramsey is hosting a training session for those looking to serve the homeless. The session will be held at the Community Inn 2-4 p.m., Sunday at 824 Winchester Road.
“This is to let people see that they can be a part of the solution and not just with their pocketbooks,” she said.

If You Go:

Walk For Warmth, a fund-raiser to benefit the Homeless Prevention Program at the Lexington Rescue Mission
When: 10 a.m.- noon, Feb. 25. There is no registration fee, but participants are encouraged to raise at least $50 in sponsorships.
Where: The 1-mile and 2-mile walks begin and end at Phoenix Park at East Main Street and South Limestone. Free parking at the Annex Garage.
Information: Lexington Rescue Mission, (859) 381-9600, Ext. 227.

The one problem with being a columnist with a boatload of opinions is that, sooner or later, ­someone will ask my ­opinion on a topic and I won’t have one.
That’s what’s ­happened at first with this fake furor about the ­federal ­government under President Barack Obama trying to impose its beliefs on the Catholic Church.
“And this is what happens when the government tries to take over health care and tries to interfere with your religious beliefs,” said our U.S. senator Mitch McConnell.
What happened was that on Jan. 20, Health and Human Services Secretary ­Kathleen Sebelius announced that religious-based institutions must provide employees with health insurance plans that ­cover ­contraception. Churches, synagogues, mosques and the like were exempt, but other religious institutions such as hospitals and colleges were included.
So, when Catholic Church leaders said that requirement would go against the church’s opposition to contraceptives, Obama said OK and changed the mandate to have insurance companies pay for it to avoid ­stepping on the religious beliefs of employers or employees.
Some Catholic groups applauded. ­Catholic bishops and most Republicans called the ­mandate an attack on religion.
I was asked what I thought. I could see merit in both arguments before the compromise, but after the tweaking, I truly don’t see what all the fuss is about.
If I were Methodist and an X-ray technician at a Catholic hospital, I would hope to get the same health care coverage as I would if I worked at a Baptist ­hospital. Why is it fair for the ­Catholic hospital to impose its beliefs on me, when I’m not Catholic?
And what if that hospital is the only one within 50 miles of where I live? Should I be forced to move to get affordable health care?
I was speaking with my friend Cara Richards, a ­retired anthropology ­professor at Transylvania ­University, about this. She wasn’t at all pleased with the political spin on this issue.
She said the U.S. ­Constitution doesn’t allow the government to support any particular religion, but it actually does just that when religious-based ­hospitals take federal ­funding. “We ­shouldn’t be giving ­government money to the hospitals that insist we have to abide by their religious views,” Richards said. “We are helping to enforce ­Roman Catholicism on those who are not Catholic.”
Richards isn’t anti-Catholic by any means. “I am perfectly happy for them to have their beliefs,” she said. “But if I go to a public hospital, I don’t expect to be forced to abide by their religious beliefs.”
She then said something that gave me pause.
What if the hospital were Muslim-supported and forced everyone to fast during ­Ramadan? Would we be happy if Jewish hospitals served only kosher foods?
“I don’t think a hospital would be foolish enough to do that,” Richards said.
What I don’t understand is why the religious freedom of the institution trumps a non-Catholic employee’s religious freedom?
According to The De­Paulia, the student ­newspaper at DePaul ­University, the ­largest ­Catholic university in the ­nation, that institution ­already offers contraceptives in its fully insured HMO and self-insured plans. Several other universities do as well.
DePaul’s president, the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, told the newspaper, “DePaul fully supports the bishops’ stance, but has offered ­(contraceptive) benefits ever since both Illinois and the federal government required us to do so several years ago.”
No one accused ­Illinois of ­trampling on ­religious ­freedoms. Why are ­Republicans trying to make hay now?
Most women, Catholic and non-Catholic, want ­access to contraceptives, and an overwhelming majority of sexually active women take them.
With all the talk about too many food-stamp recipients and “blah people” on the dole during this ­presidential ­campaign, it would seem ­better family planning would be something the ­Republicans would champion.

Toward the end of her freshman year at Tates Creek High School, Kiearra Brown began slacking off at school, and her grades reflected it. Fortunately, the school has a step team, which served as a life preserver that not only pulled Kiearra, now a senior, back on track but has kept her there.
“The threat of being kicked off the team made me bring my grades up,” said Kiearra, 17. “If there was no step team, I don’t think I would do anything. This is me. It fits my personality.”

Tates Creek High School Step Team- photos by Mark Cornelison

The Tates Creek High School step team, formerly called The Untouchables, is an extracurricular activity that gives some students a reason to connect with their school, just as an academic team or a drama club can. Members must meet certain grade and attendance policies to participate. Established in fall 2001, the team, one of many in Lexington, is open to all students, but it seems to appeal particularly to black students and to girls.
“I love to step,” said Tates Creek junior Brandi Lindsey, 17. “It is different. You get a chance to dance and put scenes together and can tell stories with the routines.”
Thirteen middle school and high school teams, and possibly some collegiate squads, will do just that on Feb. 25 for the 10th annual TCHS Step Show Extravaganza Exhibition, hosted by Tates Creek High. The middle school division will feature five squads, from Cincinnati, Louisville and three from Lexington. The high school division will have three programs from Lexington, two from Louisville, and one each from Richmond, Owensboro and Versailles.
Tates Creek’s team sponsor, David Clark, a social worker at the school, said collegiate teams were contacted to attend but none had confirmed.

Sponsor David Clark- photos by Mark Cornelison

Stepping was first noted in 1922 at the first Inter-Fraternity Conference in Washington, D.C., for black Greek organizations. It was characterized by rhythm and precision. Later, a militaristic style was credited to soldiers returning from World War II before being adopted by fraternities and sororities.
Some people, however, think the roots are far deeper, stretching back to the ­cadence kept by some tribes in Africa as they marched to war.
Regardless, the appeal of stepping has moved from college campuses to the school grounds, where it is readily accepted as yet another arrow in the academic quiver to narrow achievement gaps and engage students.
The TCHS step team will perform at the Lexington Public Library-Tates Creek Branch on Feb. 21 for a Black History Month program in which the importance of stepping in black culture will be explored.
Mastering the complicated routines — which use hands to clap or slap the body or the floor, feet to stomp and voices to chant — requires teamwork and acting as a unit. Various kinds of people must work together.
Once that is accomplished, self-esteem grows, and members become part of something bigger than the individual.
“I have, over the past five to eight years, had the pleasure of having many of the step members in my geometry class,” said Bo Lankster, a math teacher at Tates Creek. “I absolutely notice a difference in their pride in their schoolwork and for our school.
“When they are out there performing and chanting, ‘I love my Tates Creek,’ they really have to feel that,” he said. “It brings a sense of pride to all our students.”
Another math teacher, Charmaine Hill, agreed.
“The children seem to have a certain confidence about themselves,” she said. “I have a young lady I’m almost sure would be struggling and probably would have lost her focus by now. I think it gives her an incentive, being on the step team, to keep her studies up. She likes the attention.”

TCHS Step Team - photo by Mark Cornelison

Clark, who has been the team’s sponsor since its inception in 2001, said the concept was so popular with students that at one time, all the public high schools and many of the middle schools had step teams, many with multiple squads.
Tates Creek now limits its one team to 25 students and a minimum of 10, Clark said. Because of grade and attendance restrictions, those numbers can ebb and flow during the school year. Currently, there are 15 consistent members on the squad.
Clark, who also runs the school’s Transition Program for at-risk students, checks attendances and grades regularly, and members know they risk being suspended from the team if either comes up short.
At Tates Creek, students must be passing four out of eight classes and attending school daily to be on the team. If students want to perform outside the school during school hours, they cannot have more than one grade lower than a C.
Senior Kiana Davis, 17, said the restrictions work. “It helps me keep my grades up,” she said. “I’ve been on the team for three years and it helps me stay on track.”
Most of the steps that the team performs were created by Kiearra and Kiana, the team leaders. Because of their leadership with the team, both received a Partners for Youth/Toyota Scholarship to encourage them to continue their education.
Clark said the step show will be an exhibition as opposed to a competition. He said he changed the format a few years ago to avoid the rivalries of the collegiate Greek competitions, which could turn negative.
“In high school, there is no competition. It is an exhibition,” he said. “Everyone walks away with something.”
Especially the members of the step teams. They walk away with new outlooks on life.
“I am grateful for Mr. Clark,” Kiearra said, “for helping me and for having this step team.”

IF YOU GO
TCHS Step Show Extravaganza Exhibition: Non-competitive show with 13 middle and high school teams from Cincinnati, Owensboro, Richmond, Versailles, Louisville and Lexington, and possibly teams from area colleges. 4-6:30 p.m. Feb. 25. Tates Creek High School gym, 1111 Centre Pkwy. $5, free for ages 7 and younger. Contact David Clark, (859) 321-3725.
TCHS step team performance: Part of Black History Month program on stepping. 5:30-6:30 p.m. Feb. 21. Lexington Public Library-Tates Creek Branch, 3628 Walden Dr. Free.

When the pressure builds to the point your mind can’t contain it, art sometimes serves as a release valve.
“It helps me stay out of my head,” said Travis Miles, a client of The Hope Center’s George Privett Recovery Center. “It distracts me when I get to thinking too much on things that control me.”

Baby Angel by Travils Miles

For Andrew Lampkin, a former recovery center client who still works at the center, art “clears my mind in a way because I focus on each item in each drawing. I consider it part of my meditation.”
Pieces of their artwork will be displayed in an exhibit at the John G. Irvin Gallery of Central Bank. The display features drawings, paintings, poetry and sculpture of seven men and one woman recovering from alcohol or drug addictions.
“It shows the journey from addiction toward recovery,” said Carrie Thayer, director of development at The Hope Center. “And it is not always pretty. Some of the stuff they have been through is tough stuff.”
Miles, for example, moved to North Carolina to live with his aunt and uncle after his mother died when he was 10 years old. He became addicted to heroin, which led to scrapes with the law and finally incarceration.
He moved to Lexington to be near his daughter, Kylie Alaunna Miles, and got in more trouble after relapsing. He entered the center’s program through Drug Court.
“I sketch occasionally to relax,” said Miles, 23. “I’m not looking for a career. It is just a side thing. I’ve sketched here and there, and then it lays dormant.”
He submitted a pencil drawing, Baby Angel, which is a portrait of his daughter.
“I hope the people enjoy our artwork,” said Miles, who plans to study to be a paralegal.
Lampkin, on the other hand, draws frequently in colored pen with the help of a magnifying glass because of a visual impairment.

A Quiet Place by Andrew Lampkin

He has central serous retinopathy in both eyes, which creates blurred spots and distortions of straight lines. He said it was diagnosed in his right eye in 1991, but he didn’t seek treatment because he didn’t want to hear the doctor lecture about his drinking.
“I’m a chronic alcoholic,” he said. “I just said, ‘Oh, well. I still have one good eye.”
In 1997, the condition set up in his left eye as well, so now he has a “fuzz ball” in his right eye and the left eye is even more distorted.
Lampkin, who has his doctorate from the University of Georgia, is a former high school biology teacher and was a functioning alcoholic for more than 20 years. He entered the recovery program in 2007, failing twice before successfully completing it.
“He has artwork posted all around the building,” Thayer said. “He did one piece that is hanging that everyone loves.”
That drawing is an interpretation of a National Lampoon magazine cover, showing a fork in a road. One side leads to drunkenness, drugs, prostitution, paranoia, shame, remorse and dread. The other leads through the 12 Steps Program to honesty, courage, security, fellowship and a spiritual awakening, Lampkin explained.
Thayer reproduced the piece of art in a newsletter and it caught the eye of Patricia Wheatley, marketing specialist at Central Bank.
“I saw the pain in recovery, the way to surrendering, and a working in his life,” she said. “He is helping other guys to get through this.”

Hope by Andrew Lampkin

Wheatley asked if there was any interest at the center in displaying the works of the clients in the bank’s gallery.
“I think it was God-inspired,” she said. “I saw the newsletter and started to imagine what these men go through. I don’t understand addiction, but I know it is real for a lot of people.”
It is for Lampkin and Miles, but so is treatment.
“I feel positive about myself when I’m creative,” Lampkin said, adding he is reminded of that every time he opens his eyes and sees double because of the impairment.
“I consider it a positive reminder,” he said. “It reminds me of what I allowed alcohol to do.”

‘Hope-Inspired Art:’ an exhibition
Where: John G. Irvin Gallery of Central Bank, 300 West Vine Street
When: Artists’ reception is 4:30-6 p.m. Feb. 17. Regular gallery hours are 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday until March 9
Cost: Free

The death of Don Cornelius, ­creator and host of the dance show Soul Train, caught many by surprise. The surprise turned to shock when it was revealed he apparently had ­committed suicide.
Why would anyone who seemed to have success on a leash take his life?
There are plenty of theories and danger signs, but no sure answers. And our youth and military service men and women seem to be the most vulnerable.
According to the Kentucky ­Suicide Prevention Group, suicide is the No. 2 cause of death among young people in this state. Accidents are first.
Plus, according to the ­Department of Veteran Affairs, a veteran takes his or her life every 80 minutes. ­According to a report released in November by the Center for a New American Security, former service members represent 20 percent of the nation’s suicides, but only 1 percent of the population.
Those statistics startled Kathryn R. Abernathy of Lexington. She had attended Operation: Headed Home, a conference for veterans, family members and health professionals that addressed the needs of ­military personnel with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress syndrome.
She decided the ­information could ­transcend the military and help other families as well. “I am ­hoping it is a good program for the community as well as military families,” she said.
That program is “Do You Have 90 Minutes to Save a Life?,” a ­training ­session taught by Jan Ulrich, the state suicide ­prevention ­coordinator with the Department for ­Behavioral Health, that can help parents, friends, ­ministers, co-workers and others to recognize a ­person in crisis.
Aimed at people 18 and older, the session teaches participants to question, persuade and refer, three steps to recognizing the warning signs of a suicide, offer hope and find help. It’s referred to as QPR.
“Think of it as CPR,” Ulrich said. “We teach basic techniques until a ­professional can come in.”
In QPR, participants learn to do a lot of ­listening for clues that people might be in ­crisis, she said.
“The most important thing to know is suicide is preventable,” she said. ­“Early intervention is important, and the person most likely to offer that is someone that the person in crisis already knows.”
The situation in ­Kentucky is improving, Ulrich said. Kentucky has gone from having the 10th-highest incidence of suicide in the nation in 2007 to being 23rd in 2009.
“It is slowly ­declining in the state while it is ­increasing across the ­nation,” she said. ­“Something we’re doing is better.”
Abernathy asked to bring the program to her church because when she lived in another state, a respected church member took his life. She wondered whether she could have done something to prevent that tragedy.
To help others be more aware of danger signs, the free QPR training is being offered.
Ulrich limits the ­sessions to no more than 30 ­participants, so reservations are required by Feb. 18. If more people are interested, she said, she would set up another session at another date.
“I want people to come to this and learn something that will help their families,” she said. So do I.

If You Go:
“Do You Have 90 Minutes
to Save a Life?”
A training session to help families and friends recognize the warning signs of suicide and to question, persuade and refer people at risk of suicide.
When: 9:30-11:30 a.m. Feb. 25.
Where: Faith Lutheran Church, 1000 Tates Creek Rd.
Cost: Free, but reservations required by Feb. 18.
Information: Contact Kathryn Abernathy by email at kykara@insightbb.com or (813) 833-3608.

During the past few years, I’ve not been shy about my personal protest of Black History Month.
In my own casual research, I have found many interesting black history facts that aren’t acknowledged in schools, because, I guess, it is much easier for students to rehash essays about the usual suspects: the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Harriet Tubman.
While those legends are definitely worthy of study, they are not the only icons students should admire. But apparently there are not enough days in February to squeeze in other people or additional information in the curriculum.
So I was very interested in previewing More Than a Month, the next KET Community Cinema documentary about one man’s efforts to end Black History Month.
Black filmmaker Shukree Hassan Tilghman crisscrossed the country for a year exploring the good and bad aspects of having a month dedicated to the history of black Americans.

Shukree Hassan Tilghman

Through humor and hard facts, Tilghman shows us how difficult it would be to end an observance that started in 1926 when Carter G. ­Woodson initiated Negro History Week.
Tilghman asked his parents, who are former social activists and public school teachers, whether they agreed with his premise.
His mother, Eleanor Vernice Siyon, said she would like to see black history mainstreamed, but she doubted schoolchildren would know of the contributions of blacks if the month disappeared. That’s a ­legitimate concern.
In the film, Tilghman courageously dons a sandwich board on which “End Black History Month” is painted in bold lettering on the front, and “Black ­History is American History,” is on the back. He stood in New York City’s Times Square asking passersby to sign his petition.
After hours of trying, he had 47­signatures, which he admitted, was more than he had anticipated.
We must remember that Black ­History Month gained prominence because the history of black people was not being taught. And that is not good.
Lexington author Frank X Walker, who also has seen the film, said that as long as black history and other ­important histories are left out of American history, “we must continue to look for ways to remind young people of color that they are connected to a vibrant and rich history.”
Plus, he said, learning about black history helps white students “have something to challenge the negative stereotypes that dominate mass media.”
But is separating black history ­another form of segregation?
In the film, James Sidanius, a ­professor at Harvard University, said the separate month “exceptionalizes” black Americans by having teachers spend a brief period on black history and then return to “serious” American history.
But Tilghman notes that February is not the only month designated for the history of a minority. March is Women’s History Month and Irish American Heritage Month. May is designated for the heritage of Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and Jewish Americans. Those of Caribbean descent have June to look forward to, and October is a time to learn about the Polish and Italians. ­Hispanics have mid-­September to mid-October, and November is ­dedicated to Native Americans.
And several Southern states ­celebrate Confederate History Month. One woman at a Confederate gathering Tilghman attended for the film said control over your own history is power, and history is about power.
In Philadelphia, Tilghman notes, completing a two-semester black ­history course is a mandatory ­graduation requirement, although one student wanted the interesting ­information she learned incorporated in the American history curriculum.
“Having Black History Month is fine,” Tilghman said in the film. ­“Needing it is a problem.”
I agree, but I also know we are not ready to blend the history of all ­minorities into U.s. history despite our claims of being a melting pot.
So, until we do, I’ll highlight ­interesting black people from history during the other 11 months.

If you go
More Than a Month, a documentary that questions the need for Black History Month, is the next KET Community Cinema film from the Independent Lens series. The showing will be followed by a panel ­discussion.
When: 6:30 p.m. Feb. 16.
Where: ArtsPlace, 161 N. Mill St., Lexington
Cost: Free
On TV: The film will air at 2 a.m. Feb. 17 on KET2; 3 a.m. and 10 p.m. Feb. 19 on KET2; and 1 a.m. Feb. 19 on KET.
Information: Email Sara O’Keefe at ­sokeefe@ket.org

To the casual observer, the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden seems to be a plot of land at Third Street and Midland Avenue noted only by an occasional fleet of brightly colored flags or a lighted Christmas tree.
But there is movement afoot.
Beginning Feb. 10, all of us will get to help decide which signature piece of art will define that space. Artists from Lexington, Ohio, California and New York have ­submitted scaled models of pieces they hope will be chosen as the magnet to draw visitors to the area to explore Murphy’s life and those of ­other black jockeys who aren’t ­prominent in history books.
Those five works will be on ­display at Land of Tomorrow Gallery for two weeks to allow us to view and comment on them. ­Community ­comments will be taken into ­consideration when the ­selection is made.
David Cozart, president of the memorial park board, said the group wanted something different, something personal, at the park.
“We know we want to be unique and not like any other place,” he said. “But we won’t risk integrity.”
The nine-member board joined with LexArts to solicit pieces from artists ­nationwide. The park, which has been stalled for several years, is intended to be an entryway to the East End, a historic black ­neighborhood, and to honor Murphy, who rode the winner in three Kentucky Derbys.
The call for art went out in October, and the works came in last week.
The five proposals “are all really different,” said Steve Austin, vice president of the Bluegrass Community ­Foundation. “Each tells a story of the Thoroughbred industry.”
A part of the Legacy Trail project, which is overseen by the Bluegrass Community Foundation and stretches from the Kentucky Horse Park to Third Street and Midland Avenue, the park now has enough money for construction and to seed the art pieces, Cozart said.
“We are really beginning to put this all together,” Austin said.
The artists who ­submitted proposals —  Garry R. Bibbs of Lexington; Neal and ­Tiffany Bociek of San Diego; Willis “Bing” Davis of Dayton, Ohio; Stacey Farley of Garrison, N.Y.; and LaVon Williams of Lexington — visited the site of the park and learned about the East End community, the Legacy Trail and Lexington before creating their pieces.
■ Bibbs, an associate art professor at the University of Kentucky, said he was ­inspired by the juxtaposition of Murphy and the era in which he lived.
“This man is ­winning his first race after ­Reconstruction, 40 years after the Civil War,” Bibbs said. “I wanted to take into consideration the impact of a winning jockey ­maneuvering through the ­major racial issues of the times.
“He is racing two races all the time,” he said, “and also has two victories at the same time.”

By Garry R. Bibbs of Lexington

The sculpture, A Race to the Finish, is displayed along a curved wall and uses three metals. “I want to make good art, but I want it to contain the truth,” Bibbs said.
■ The husband-and-wife team of Neal and Tiffany ­Bociek are using Murphy’s ­image in their work, My Home Is a Horse and a Track.
“Because there is an interest in knowing who and what Isaac Murphy was, I didn’t want to do something abstract,” Neal Bociek said. “You will know who he is immediately.”
Their proposed piece features a silhouetted ­image of Murphy racing on a horse that intersects with ­another, to contrast Murphy’s ­gentleness with the power of a race horse. Rising above the horses is a circular disc bearing Murphy’s image that can spin 360 degrees.

By Tiffany and by Neal Bociek of San Diego

The piece is meant to show Murphy looking over his property and the nearby community that once ­included the Kentucky Association Racetrack, Neal Bociek said.
“It is not just about the art, but it is really about the community,” Tiffany Bociek said. “We were inspired by a whole lot of YouTube videos about the Legacy Trail. We were really inspired by that energy those videos gave off. We kind of felt like it was a great place to be.”
■ William “Bing” Davis got that same vibe when he walked the land and visited African Cemetery No. 2 on East Seventh Street and the Kentucky Horse Park.
“I became familiar with Lexington and watched some of the dig at the park and put my hands in the dirt,” Davis said. “It just filled me up and totally changed my idea from what I had envisioned.”
Davis submitted a sleek sculpture in which rider and horse appear to be one. The piece will be made of a composite material that is light, he said, but as strong as steel. Portions of two bridges in Dayton are made of the composite.
The finished piece, ­covered with three to five coats of a synthetic fiberglass and painted with ultraviolet auto-body paint, would be

By Willis Bing Davis of Dayton, OH

5 feet by 3 feet and sit atop a pedestal.
Davis named the piece, which he describes as an abstract of a horse and rider working as a unit to become winners, Jah Aswon, which stands for “jockey and horse as won.”
■ Stacey Farley’s works are installed at train stations, museums, gardens and parks in the form of ceramic tiles. She has been working with tiles for 25 years.
Farley’s proposal includes transferring an image of Murphy onto a giant tile that will be the backdrop for a three-sided shelter containing a bench.
“You can see it from far away but, when you get closer, you will learn more information,” she said. “You can see him in the context of U.S. history.”
On one short wall, there will be a time line that ­features Murphy’s Derby wins, constitutional ­amendments and the Civil War, she said. On the other short wall there will be a poem by Frank X Walker.
“I am interested in people who are anonymous or who got lost along the way,” Farley said. “Here is a very ­important person who disappeared from the history books. It is right up my alley to tell that story. I was drawn to

By Stacey Farley of Garrison, NY

it.”
Whether she wins or not, Farley said, she enjoyed doing the research. “It was a great ride.”
■ Noted woodcarver and former UK basketball player LaVon Williams first heard of Murphy from his father, a schoolteacher who taught young people about little known men and women in black history, he said.
“Murphy was my father’s hero,” said Williams, who grew up in Florida.
Although his principle ­medium is wood, Williams said he would sculpt the Murphy piece in metal so it would withstand the ­elements.

This piece by LaVon Williams of Lexington is one of the scaled models of five proposals for signature art at the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden. The Land of Tomorrow Gallery is hosting an exhibit that will open with a reception on February 10th from 5:30 7:00 pm and run through Friday, February 24th. Photos by Charles Bertram.

The three pieces he ­created are meant to cover the back and sides of a bench that would be in the park.
One side, Lucy, would ­acknowledge Murphy’s love ­for his wife, Lucy, to whom he would give a rose or flower every day. Another, Race Man, is a tribute to Murphy as a jockey with innate skills, winning without using a whip. And the last, American Style, depicts his original riding style, which was straighter, and how Murphy learned other styles, using whichever best suited his mount.
“It is a piece that ­welcomes everybody,” said Williams, a member of the 1978 UK team that won a national ­championship. ­“Murphy brought people together. He was gracious and kind.”
Construction of the park should start in early spring and include a range of art created by children, said Austin. Construction of the signature piece will begin when the artist is available.
Also on display with the proposed works will be artifacts uncovered during a recent archeological dig and historic markers about ­Murphy and the East End that will be placed in the park.

If you go
Opening reception for five proposals for signature art at Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden
Where: Land of Tomorrow Gallery, 527 E. Third St.
When: 5:30-7 p.m. Feb. 10. Proposals on ­display through Feb. 24. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

About this time of year, ­organizations and foundations look for qualified candidates to give scholarships to.
Let that sink in for a minute.
These folks are trying to give you or your child real money to ease the ever-increasing burden that a higher education puts on your wallet.
Being a parent who has had to stand over college-bound children while they applied for financial aid, I feel obliged to let others know when I hear of scholarships that might not be on their radar.
The Lexington Clinic ­Foundation’s Fergus Hanson ­Memorial Scholarship just might be for you. It is awarded to students enrolled in allied health-related training programs such as nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy or maybe a clinical lab technician, said Ginny Van Horne, ­community liaison for the foundation. ­Students hoping to become ­dentists, veterinarians or ­medical doctors are not eligible.
The foundation awarded 11 scholarships last year, ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 each, divided over two semesters, Van Horne said.
“We are looking for people who will stay in Kentucky,” she said. “We are ­targeting students in Central and Eastern Kentucky because, traditionally, Lexington Clinic serves that area.”
There is no age limit, so I encourage displaced ­workers who are pursuing careers in allied health to join high school seniors in ­applying. Or maybe the ­scholarship would be just the life preserver needed to keep a student in school. ­Applicants can be full or part-time students.
“The deadline — March 9, 2012 — is fast ­approaching,” Van Horne said. The ­scholarship is sent directly to the student’s school to be used for tuition, she added.
Here are the scholarship requirements. Applicants must:
■ Be ­residents of Central or Eastern Kentucky and plan to work there.
■ Have a high school diploma or equivalent.
■ Show evidence of need and academic promise.
■ Desire a career in a health-related field.
■ Provide evidence of good character and a ­willingness to help others.
“We like to see that they have volunteered,” Van Horne said.
The application, ­requirements and reference questionnaire can be found at Lexingtonclinicfoundation.org.
The scholarship is named for Lexington Clinic’s second and longest-serving ­administrator, who served from 1956 to 1978, Van Horne said. Hanson was honored for his devotion to the advancement of medicine and technology, she said.
Formerly called the Health Scholarship Program, it was established in 1993 and administered by the clinic until the foundation took over the responsibilities in 2003. Scholarships have been awarded to 160 students since then, Van Horne said, adding that 51 students applied last year.
I think the possibility of fulfilling a dream is worth the effort it takes to complete an application.

Fergus Hanson
Memorial Scholarship
Deadline: 4 p.m. March 9.
Application and information:
Lexingtonclinicfoundation.org

Although Kentucky’s unemployment rate is decreasing ever so slowly, the jobs that are and will be available might not be the ones that were lost during the economic downturn.
Many people of my generation could support a growing family on a high school diploma. That doesn’t appear to be the case going forward, however.
High school graduates and workers displaced by layoffs need to find skills or earn degrees in order to survive. No group needs to understand that more than racial minorities.
Kathryn H. Hunt had always wanted to be a physical therapist, but she ­attended a school that didn’t give her the training she needed. Later, she ­postponed that dream in favor of marriage.
Four years later, while ­working as a physical therapy aide, Hunt realized she wanted more. She enrolled in the former Lexington Community College, now Bluegrass Community & Technical College, and got the encouragement and direction she longed for.
“They put me on the right track to learn how to study again and how to take tests again,” she said.
She graduated in 1989 and, with the encouragement of counselors, Hunt transferred to the physical therapy program at the University of ­Louisville, where she became the first black to graduate from the program. She now works at Drayer Physical Therapy Institute.
From 2001 to 2009, 150,000 ­bachelor’s degrees were awarded by ­Kentucky colleges. Black students claimed less than 10,000 of those and Hispanics only 1,331.
To help change that, the ­Kentucky Community & Technical College System is hosting its second Super Sunday event on Feb. 12.
The 16 KCTCS colleges and the KCTCS System Office are joining forces with black churches and community ­leaders hoping to present a united front in changing how ­minorities see higher education in Kentucky.
“We, as educators and community leaders, need to work together and teach our youth there is a vision,” said Erin Howard, the Hispanic/Latino Outreach coordinator at BCTC.
National statistics show minorities are not enrolling in college at the same rate as their white peers, she said, and they are not graduating at the same rate if they do enroll.
By changing that, by ­increasing the number of college graduates, “we are improving the entire ­community,” Howard said. “We are building ­communities.”
Last year, the first year for the event, 4,000 people listened as officials and ­pastors discussed the ­importance of a higher ­education and the need for early planning, and invited them to a college fair where they could speak directly with a college administrator.
The Super Sunday event is based on a ­successful initiative at California State University, which has hosted its fair since 2005. California State started with only 23 churches and has ­partnerships with more than 100 now.
And that’s what KCTCS wants to do, said Charlene Walker, vice president for multiculturalism & inclusion at BCTC.
Last year, 400 ­prospective students signed up for more information at the 23 churches that took part in the event statewide. About 80 prospective students were in Lexington alone.
This year, she said, 42 churches are involved. “We are trying to double our efforts, bringing in more churches,” she said.
While they targeted larger churches last year, ­organizers are focusing this year on churches in rural areas where the need might be greater, she said.
The Kentucky event will be held in churches in the communities where the ­colleges are located. The BCTC fair will be at ­Consolidated Baptist Church, 1625 Russell Cave Road, Lexington; St. James AME Church, 124 East Walnut Street, Danville; and First Baptist Church, 37 North Highland Avenue, ­Winchester. BCTC has ­campuses all three cities.  KCTCS is hosting an event at Evergreen Baptist Church, 749 Florida St., in Lexington, and First Baptist Church in Versailles.
“We want to make sure they are aware of the ­possibilities and let them know that college is ­accessible to everybody, no matter where you are,” Walker said.
Hunt agreed.
“No goal is impossible,” she said. “Continue to strive for what you can and want to do. At the community college level, they treated me like I was their family and they pushed me to thrive for more.”
For a list of Super Sunday event sites, times and the ­local contacts for each ­college, go to Kctcs.edu/
supersunday.

If you go
Super Sunday event, sponsored by the colleges of the Kentucky ­Community & Technical College System
When: Various times Feb. 12
Where: In cities where the 16 colleges of KCTCS are located. For more information, go to Kctcs.edu/supersunday