We are on the return flight home from Los Angeles, and I still can’t believe it. Three weeks ago, the idea that anyone, let alone rap mogul Eminem, would  fly me and 200 other unemployed United Auto Workers to a Hollywood, Calif. concert did not exist in my realm of possibilities.
Nowhere in my mind was the thought that we would ever be staying at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa, looking at the famous Hollywood sign up on the hill.
Some of my fellow UAW members are temporarily laid off due the Chrysler bankruptcy, but many come from plants that have closed, moved or are in the process of shutting down.
Now 200 production workers whose future was at best unforeseen share in the dream of an all-expense paid trip out west for a live taping of a “Jimmy Kimmel  Live!” show and an Eminem concert. I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but it doesn’t feel like I am living my life. Everything, from the first-class warm towelette for all passengers on the flight out, to the king-sized bed with seven pillows (with a triangle-shaped one that I’m not sure what it’s for), to the handing out of $60 cash to spend has been surreal.
Everything exceeded expectations and was replaced by something better.
As we stood in line waiting to enter the ABC studios for the start of the show, everything finally made sense. This is a dream-come-true experience.
Even though the cash reserves were low, and the economy will probably get worse before it gets better, for this day I could not feel bad about the circumstances in my life at this moment.
The thought, “something good is happening to me,” which hasn’t popped in for many of us in a while now, invaded every cell of my entire being. Life was better than good.”
Not that I want to trade in the place I call home for the hustle and bustle of the Sunset Strip, but if the idea was to help auto production workers escape from the reality of their less-than-desirable future, the mission was accomplished.
Many thanks to Eminem, Jimmy Kimmel, the UAW, ABC and all those who helped to make this life-changing experience possible. As all of us who shared the experience now know for certain, even if the future looks bleak, anything is possible.
And to top it all off, they just handed us all tickets to Eminem’s “Relapse” release event  in Detroit.

Jon Michael Zapf is laid off from his job at O.M.M.C. as a parts supplier to the Jeep Wrangler. Zapf volunteers his time to host “Reflections, The Wisdom of Edgar Cayce” radio show on CBS radio’s www.psychiconair.com.

Elton John. Billy Joel. Ray Charles. Jerry Lee Lewis. Tom Jones. Willie Nelson. Michael Jackson. Neil Diamond. Mick Jagger. Barry Manilow. Jimmy Keys imitates them all.
But the British piano player and singer does have a favorite.
“I like doing Joe Cocker because he’s so funny,” Keys said during a phone interview from Southampton, Bermuda.
It’s all there. The facial grimaces. The odd arm and hand movements. The voice.
“I tend to stick to the classic people, especially because I do a lot of my shows in Florida where there’s an older crowd; they want to see people they know, so it’s hard to put in anybody modern,” Keys said. “Although there’s not the characters like there used to be, it seems to me. A lot of the classic guys are such characters, they’re fun to do.”
The comedian even did one imitation right in front of the superstar — and made him laugh.
“Rod Stewart. I was doing a party at one of the mansions in Palm Beach down here in Florida and he was at the party, right next to me, in fact,” Keys recalled. “That was quite a lot of fun. At the time, he had his hair darker; I think I looked more like him than he did.”
The musician/comedian will bring his cast of characters to the Ramada Hotel Westgate, 3536 Secor Road, for a dinner show June 5. Doors open at 6 p.m., dinner will be at 7 p.m., and the show will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $55 and include a dinner buffet and one drink. Reservations are required: (419) 535-7070.
“I do a real variety show, I call it, a bit of dying art, I guess,” Keys said. “I do the comedy, I do
the characters, I do a couple of Broadway pieces.”
He may sport a sequined suit emblazoned with the union jack.
“I use [the suit] now for Prince Charles. I got to meet Princess Anne when she was in Bermuda. I’m glad she didn’t see me doing an impression of her brother. She might have taken my passport away,” Keys quipped.
He hopes people in Toledo are ready to have fun.
“People send me e-mails and say with the economy the way it is, they love to come and forget about all their problems when they’re watching me. Everybody says laughter is the best thing and it really is; it’s a cliché, but it really is.”

On the web: visit www.jimmykeys.com and click on links for more information.

Editor’s note: This is a continuing series on Toledo International Youth Orchestra’s planned trip to Tanga. Toledo Free Press Special Sections Editor Brandi Barhite plans to travel to Africa with the group.

A Monroe woman is making last-minute plans to travel with the Toledo International Youth Orchestra (TIYO) to her homeland in East Africa.
Sandy Tejura was born and raised in Tanga, Tanzania, which is Toledo’s sister city. Tejura moved from Tanga to London when she was 11, eventually coming to the United States after marrying a Ugandan man she met in London. Her husband, Manhar, is a local cardiologist.
“This is more home to me than anywhere else,” Tejura said of the past 30 years. “Toledo is my home.”
That’s not to say she doesn’t remember her days in Tanga. Tejura’s great-grandfather first came to Tanga as a boat merchant from India.

Sandy Tejura

“My father was in advertising and had a retail shop … I was blessed. I went to a private school,” she said.
The last time Tejura was in Tanga was five years ago, and she described the people as “very, very poor.” She told TIYO parents who gathered May 17 that their children should not give anything to people on the street because they will be swarmed. Tejura also gave a brief lesson in Swahili, the language of those living in Tanga.
“They appreciate you knowing a little bit of Swahili,” she said, though many of them speak some English.
TIYO is traveling to Tanga and other parts of the region as part of a musical mission. The group leaves June 28. The students already raised money to build a music classroom for the Toledo Secondary School in Tanga. They are also bringing instruments to teach the young Africans how to play. When the orchestra performs, TIYO parents will play percussion instruments because the string orchestra is playing some native music that requires that sound, said orchestra manager Liz Villarreal.
It will be considered winter when TIYO is in Africa, but Tejura said it is still quite warm and warned against wearing jeans and dark colors that attract the sun. When TIYO swims with the dolphins, the females will have to wear a cover-up.
“Nakedness is not appreciated,” said Sally Russ, secretary for the nonprofit.
Those on the trip will not be allowed to wear shorts either because of the country’s Muslim influence, she said, or open-toed shoes because the roads are unpaved.
“If it rains, it usually rains at night and cools down the day,” Tejura said.
The main diet in Tanga includes yaka, bananas, red kidney beans and corn, she said. The people use their hands, not silverware, and it is considered offensive to use your left hand because that is for personal hygiene, Tejura said.
It is also prohibited to take photos of government offices or airports, and travelers should ask permission before taking pictures of people living in the area. If they agree, Tejura said give them a tip because that is how they make a living.
When TIYO goes on safari, Tejura prepared them for unbelievable sights that will include giraffes that are a bright red brick color. Tanzania is the “Land of Kilimanjaro,” and the mountain can be seen from the distance. She also warned about the dust that blows throughout the country, as well as the mosquitoes. Russ said all the hotels that TIYO will be staying in have mosquito netting.
Tejura said Tanga has changed since she lived there. People have moved away because of the Uganda exodus, and the form of government, which is now republic, affects people’s decisions to remain, she said.
She found out about TIYO recently when she met Russ’ husband at a school function, and he asked her origin. When she said mentioned Tanga, the memories started flowing.
“Now, I am going to visit,” she said excitedly.

Aries (March 21-April 19)
Real or illusion? This is a good week: people cooperate, plans start to move forward, and conflicts fade. You’re feeling pretty successful as the weekend arrives. Celebrate with friends or take a relationship to a new level of intimacy.
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
A gift in time. The mental fog thins and options get clearer as the week progresses. A significant conversation on Tuesday points you in the right direction. As the weekend arrives, lost items or money owed turns up. Next week will be even better.
Gemini (May 21-June 21)
Hope for tomorrow. Powerful orators move hearts with inspirational words as the week begins. Ideas are easy; the trick is putting them to work in practical ways. Confusions of the past few weeks get cleared up as the weekend arrives. Restore order to your world.
Cancer (June 22-July 22)
Happy endings. This is a good week to make transitions with positive conclusions. Push hard through Wednesday. The pressure eases after Thursday, and you’re in a contemplative mood on Friday. A phone call on Saturday relieves worries.
Leo (July 23-August 22)
Source of stability. You’re ready for unlimited action and adventure this week. Cutting edge ideas fire your imagination. Not everyone is ready for this, but you are. Some career decisions or resolutions are in place as the weekend arrives.
Virgo (August 23-September 22)
Shopping for possibilities. Planned activities flow easily all week. Some tricky exchange on Tuesday goes off without a hitch. After Thursday, new equipment or skills can be put to work. Saturday is a special day — your loved ones are thriving.
Libra (September 23-October 22)
Change of place. You may be on the verge of moving, changing jobs or shifting some other major factor in your life. This is a great week for taking bold steps. Sort out the little details over the weekend. Good news comes from many mouths.
Scorpio (October 23-November 21)
Change of pace. Inspiring, inventive creative juices are bubbling from your inner core. While your head is in the air, make sure your feet remain solidly on ground. Drive carefully. After Friday, your attention turns to social gatherings and formal ceremonies.
Sagittarius (November 22-December 21)
A glimmer of light. People are interested in your ideas and opinions this week. Sparks of attraction may be igniting as well. Networking in groups or associations is highly productive. Worries or pressures fade away as the weekend arrives.  It becomes annoying to spend time with people who are depressed.
Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
Full powers. You’re asked to spearhead a project and make the pleasant discovery that you’re very good at it. This might be the start of a whole new career. The weekend focuses on celebrations that honor achievements; loved ones are a source of pride.
Aquarius (January 20-February 18)
Baby talk. You unleash your special abilities this week without interference. Keep the vision clear; don’t overcomplicate it, and results will be excellent. Take a well-deserved journey with your significant other over the weekend.
Pisces (February 19-March 20)
Life’s little luxuries. The new moon inspires beautification in your home, garden or work space this week. Calls on Tuesday give you something to look forward to. You dress up for a date on Friday night and dress down for a cookout on Saturday.

In this day and age, there are few if any of us who have not purchased something either online or from a catalog. At the end of the purchasing process, when it comes time to pay the final bill, inevitably we are faced with some additional charges added to the total of the items that we have purchased. They are traditionally called handling charges, and are required by those that we buy from in order to process the paperwork that goes with our order, gather together the products or services that we have purchased, and get our purchase out to us. No one is particularly happy to have these additional funds added to the bill, but most understand that there is always a cost to doing business that must be met.

This is not the only place where such practices occur however, and few of us seem to recognize either the situation when it happens or the consequences of such occurrence. Take taxes for example, when we give our money to the government (OK, let’s be more accurate and say when government extorts our money from us at the point of a gun). There is paperwork to process here, ledgers to be kept, and checks to be written by the various government agencies using that money. There are also government employees (bureaucrats) to create specifications for the purchase of everything from toilet paper to tanks, more to make sure that those specifications are followed, still more to make sure that the amounts are correct, even more to supervise the transfer of funds from the agency collecting it to the agency spending it, and if all of that were not enough, even more to keep track of each of the funds in each account. Let me tell you people, that’s a lot of handling!

What this means to you and I, is that when we turn more and more of our money (and the power that goes with it, of course) over to the government for the purpose of purchasing these goods and services required for its ever growing encroachment on our lives, that the requisite handling charges cost a great deal of the money that we give them. Government is in fact staggeringly inefficient in the purchase of anything, and always has been. Some estimate that it may in fact cost as much as $1.30 for the government to make a purchase of $1.00. If we factor level of waste and incompetence into the trillions of dollars in government purchasing that now occurs on a local, state and federal level each year, you are looking at quite a staggering sum some for these additional charges.

Now consider the almost mind numbing consequences of the current rampant expansion of government going on. It will be government that oversees purchasing in the banking industry, the auto industry, and (if the Administration has their way) the Medical industry. Based on its current track record of faulty specifications, waste, and overpayment (even in the face of frequent contract non-performance), and added to the incredible amount of the national economy that will fall under government purchasing purview as part of the “stimulus package”; we are talking about handling charges going forward that can only be calculated on a Biblical scale.

So try to remember this as you look at the next shipping invoice that you get for one of those remotely made purchases, and remember it too as you watch the government extend its intrusion and control into ever more aspects of our every day lives. Look closely as our legislatures on every level as they take more and more of our money and a greater percentage of the national economy into their grasp, turning it over to those paragons of purchasing inefficiency to execute their desires. Look carefully at the bottom line of your tax bills as our government continues to increase its level of participation on your behalf on a scale that has never been seen before in this country’s history, that just as it has in fact been for you in the past, handling charges do apply.

Tim Higgins blogs at http://justblowingsmoke.blogspot.com.

To mark the passing of another National Train Day, we’ll start with a quote coined by our UK correspondent, Keith Fletcher, that we found tacked up on his office door.
“The train you are waiting for is always late. The train you are running for is always on time!”
After commuting to London by train from his Hertfordshire home for the better part of 12 years, Keith probably knows what he’s talking about.
He also sent in a fascinating report of a trip he made recently to Kew Gardens — 300 acres of plants, trees and architectural delights — alongside the River Thames, just 10 miles west of central London.
While still primarily a scientific research center, the Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew’s official moniker) is also a major tourist attraction with more than 1 million visitors a year.
In fine weather, it makes for a perfect out-of-London day trip, especially if you follow Keith’s lead and take the river launch from Westminster Pier (next to the Houses of Parliament) for the 90-minue up-river ride to Kew.
“The weather was sunny. The clouds were high. And a nice breeze was blowing …” Keith said.
Kew is currently celebrating its 250th birthday. But sadly, when Keith and his wife arrived, they discovered that the queen had been there just the day before … to cut the birthday cake.
Despite this short-lived disappointment, they found “the plants and trees amazing, particularly some of the original ones from the mid-18th century which are acclaimed “champion trees,” being the largest and best specimens in the British Isles.
“Most impressive, however, was an exhibition near the main gate of giant sculptures of seeds illustrating the wide diversity of seed form. These sculptures were woven in willow by Tom Hare, who is running willow-weaving workshops at Kew this summer,” Keith said.
More information at www.myspace.com/tomharewillow. Kew’s Web site is www.kew.org
So if you have a botanical bent or just want to take a beautiful boat ride, this would certainly be the perfect time to:
“Go down to Kew in lilac time
(it isn’t far from London!)
And you shall wander hand in hand with love in summer’s
wonderland”
(Alfred Noyes 1880-1958)
n Our Black Forest-based correspondent, Stephen Dodds, advised us recently that the beautiful Austrian city of Linz is this year’s “European Capital of Culture” — and lots of appropriate activities and celebrations are being planned.
Nicely situated near Prague, Vienna and Munich, Linz makes a perfect base from which to explore these world-class cities.
n 2009 also marks the 20th anniversary of the end of the Cold War and German reunification. Stephen writes that there are all manners of events along the former border to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 8 and 9.
Most of these, he said, are centered on Leipzig and Berlin and include permanent exhibitions and tours highlighting private and political life in a divided city.
With the passing of time and the popularity of movies like “Goodbye Lenin” and “Sonnenallee,” Stephen said there’s been a growth in nostalgia for the former East Germany.
Christened “Ostalgie,” it has resulted in a new market for products formerly available only in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and a yearning for a simpler life.
“So, if you’re visiting Berlin this year, want to get “nostalgic” and find out what it was like to live through those times, you can visit some of the museums depicting life in the GDR, take a ride in a Trabant, enjoy a tasty Vita Cola and munch of Spreewald pickles,  but sadly not at 1989 prices.” he said.
The Web site: www.germany-tourism.de/ENG/culture_and_events/fall_of_the_ wall.htm
We had our own experiences of life in East Germany when we visited Erfurt, Weimar, Dresden and Berlin in December 1989. And it wasn’t a pretty sight.
The country was overhung by a thick smelly yellow fog caused by high sulfur coal, two-stroke Trabant engines and the burning of tires for heat.
Restaurants were few and far between. The service was dismal everywhere. And our hotels had to be preapproved and prebooked by a wretched woman in the East German Embassy in New York.
That said, the unique insights we got into life behind the Iron Curtain and the chance to attend that particular New Year’s celebration at the Brandenburg Gate, with millions of Germans on both sides of the still-intact wall, will never be forgotten.

E-mail comments for Holliday Travels to letters@toledofreepress.com.

If you examine the words cascading over us today — crisis, catastrophe, fear, panic, recession, depression, losses, fraud, malfeasance — it is no surprise our confidence as a country has been shaken.
In a recent edition of USA Today, I counted 282 uses of one of those words in the stories that day. Well, big surprise that consumer confidence is at all-time lows and the uncertainty about what will happen over the next year weighs on nearly all Americans in a way that we have not felt as a nation since the 1970s (See how easy it is to be negative!).   Many believe that this deluge of media cynicism around our nation’s economy has actually deepened the speed and severity of the decline.
Think about 2008. After an extended period of prosperity, we have hit some very rough water. This created an immediate slowdown in consumer buying behavior.  That led to a breakdown in confidence, which ratchets down consumption further, which escalates fear; well, you get the point. What we need now is to stop perpetuating the cycle of negativity, take account of the realities of our situation and then react with the resolve and courage of the great nation we are.
Since when are Americans afraid of a challenge?
Borrowing from another adviser I know, my new response to negative aspersions is “Yes.  I have heard there is a recession going on; I am choosing not to participate.” I, for one believe that it is time to stop the madness, take a stand and push back on those who want to sell us on apocalypse theories.
Yes, I realize that these problems are real, but this decline is ultimately about a loss of confidence in our economic system.  I greet that opinion with open defiance.  Our system has fostered the single greatest economic force ever seen in the world.  At nearly $14 trillion in output, the U.S. economy is not just the largest in the world; it is larger than the next four countries combined. Most countries rely on our stability more than they know.   Even some who thought that they might benefit from a U.S. downturn, like China and France, have quickly seemed to recognize how dependent they are on the health of the U.S. economy.
I wonder if we collectively decided to simply refuse to be baited into doomsday thinking, if that might be in itself the stimulus we need to accelerate a recovery.  Speaking as a jury of one, I will not convict my country for its mistakes.  I believe that this environment provides us a great opportunity to re-connect with the  entrepreneurial spirit that is at the foundation of our system.  We can and should flourish once more — but it will require courage.
Of course, if you have recently lost your job or your home, acting with courage is decidedly more difficult — and more important.  Interestingly, many of the most successful people I have ever met have struggled mightily at some point in their lives, having dealt with illnesses, bankruptcy and the loss of employment.  Most of them point to that period of struggle as an asset to them.  Some describe it as the very source of their current success.
The root of the word “courage” comes from the French word, coeur, or heart. So when you act with courage, you’re acting from the heart, or put another way, you trust your inner instincts.  Mark Twain famously wrote, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to act in spite of it.”
What matters most is to personally believe in our system and in our country.  Regardless of your position in society, courage is always an individual action.  It always starts with you.
So when you’re feeling uneasy, anxious or frightened about what your next move should be, remember this handy formula: When C > F=S.  Defined, this means, when courage is greater than fear that equals success.  Keep in mind however, success is this context is a verb — it requires you to take action and when you do, I believe great things will happen for you.
Put a different way, an individual can approach today’s circumstances by being bitter — or by being better.  I’m in the camp of better.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a five-part series about the New Schools, New Neighborhoods coalition, a mostly volunteer, private- and public-sector effort to revitalize the city of Toledo by focusing on the neighborhoods impacted by Toledo Public Schools’ Building For Success construction. From the initial April 5 overview story through a detailed look at the first four schools and neighborhoods on which the NSNN is focusing, Toledo Free Press will review progress made since late 2002 when the effort began and report on the coalition’s next steps.

The Sherman Elementary School neighborhood is one of four Toledo Public Schools neighborhoods targeted by the New School, New Neighborhoods (NSNN) initiative. The NSNN initiative was started in 2002. It’s a volunteer, private- and public-sector effort designed to revitalize the city of Toledo by focusing on the neighborhoods impacted by TPS’ Building For Success construction.
The new Sherman Elementary School, which has a neighborhood population of 2,400, opened with the 2008-09 school year. It includes students in grades kindergarten through third grade, while the previous Sherman School still houses students in grades four through six. By the start of the next school year, all students are scheduled to be in the new Sherman School, according to Principal Anthony Bronaugh.
Trish Soto has lived in the Sherman neighborhood for more than 40 years and lives across the street from the new school.

First grader Dontae Mitchell gets help from power-hour instructor Alicia Lawson at Sherman Elementary.

“It’s nice to have something new in the neighborhood,” she said. “New houses are being built, and it’s making the neighborhood a lot more homely. We just need people to move in to them.”
Already, the Sherman community has several programs and achievements in place to demonstrate itself as a “neighborhood of choice.”
“Our goal is to be a neighborhood of choice. Just like people may choose to go to Perrysburg or Sylvania, we want people to choose to go to Sherman School, Chase School or Woodward High School, which will be a beautiful school,” said Terry Glazer, executive director of Lagrange Development Corporation, the development organization overseeing the Sherman neighborhood.
Glazer also is CEO of NorthRiver Development Corporation, which with Lagrange is in the process of merging into an umbrella group called United North. The United North organization also includes Chase Elementary School, as well as Woodward in its community. In all the United North organization represents about 30,000 residents, or about 10 percent of Toledo’s population.
Glazer said the community growth and support foundation in the Sherman Elementary district — and in much of the north Toledo area — has been in place for some time. Since the 1990s, for example, the Lagrange Development Corp. has been involved in more than $10 million in new and renovated housing construction in the Sherman School neighborhood.
“One thing that separates the Lagrange community from others is an active Lagrange Village Council, and it works closely with neighborhood residents in the area,” Glazer said.
As the new Sherman School was taking shape, so were other programs and partnerships designed to build on the community’s existing foundation.
‘Fulfills our mission’
David Wehrmeister, executive director of the Toledo Boys & Girls Clubs of Toledo, said the group’s board started exploring a partnership with a community organization and talked with Glazer in the fall of 2000.
As the Build For Success plans were evolving, Wehrmeister said the Boys & Girls Clubs made TPS aware of its desire to be part of the project, as it didn’t make sense for the group to embark on its own new construction when other cities like Milwaukee had proven a club-schools partnership could be effective.
Prior to the opening, Wehrmeister said he expected 80 to 100 kids participating in the Boys & Girls Clubs’ services. That expectation was exceeded as 140 to 150 boys and girls that regularly take part in the after-school activities at Sherman.
“The response from Sherman School kids has been very well received,” Wehrmeister said. “Being part of Sherman definitely fulfills our mission. There’s no doubt the kids are receiving a positive experience.”
The Boys & Girls Clubs occupies 2,510 square feet of the new Sherman School, and shares another 12,000 square feet of space. The club is open Monday through Friday, 3 to 7:30 p.m., and has two full-time staff members on site, plus volunteers and part-time staff who oversee the various departments and activity areas.
The Boys & Girls Clubs dedicated and shared areas include an art and craft room, a technology/computer room, an educational activity center where students receive homework assistance, a café where upward of 90 hot suppers are served daily Monday through Friday, and a game/activity center, as well as the school’s gymnasium.
Lacee Tharp has two children, Anthony, 10, and Malaya, 12, who take advantage of the Boys & Girls Clubs at Sherman.
“The club has done a great job with my children and helps make sure they do their homework. My kids would rather be here than at home,” Tharp said.
She added that having a place for her children to go is helpful as her work schedule varies, and she is comforted that they have “a safe place for them to be.”
Once the school year ends, the club will remain open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and provide lunch.
While details can’t be publicly disclosed, Wehrmeister said the club is looking at similar partnerships with two other TPS schools, and planning a capital fundraising campaign.
Another recent program in place is a mobility program — designed to help students stay at Sherman School even though they have to move out of the district. It’s also active in the Chase School neighborhood. The mobility pilot program will continue through the 2009-10 school year.
Morale, quality improve
Sherman Principal Bronaugh said the changes around and inside Sherman school have paid dividends.
“Overall, student morale, the pride in the school and quality of students’ work, along with pride in the community has dramatically increased,” he said.
He also said the discipline problems and absenteeism are down.
Bronaugh said there’s been an effort to get more parents involved and to encourage students. Examples include reading and math nights and days programs.
Those programs are intended to show parents what the students are being taught, along with information on how the topics are taught, which is often different than when they were in school.
He said two years ago, he started giving a “State of Sherman” address, and working with partners like NSNN to maintain or enhance other programs.
Recently, before the students took the Ohio Achievement Test (OAT), Sherman had a pep rally for the students to get them excited and feeling good about taking the OAT they had studied for. During the week of the OAT test, not one fifth-grade student was absent, and the school had a 97 percent attendance rate — which was “phenomenal” for a school with more than 500 students, Bronaugh said.
“There’s been a whole paradigm shift at Sherman,” he said. “We have all these community resources, and the parents know they can come here to get information about them. During the past two years, parents have become more comfortable about coming in to learn about programs that can help them.
“With all of these things in place, from the NSNN, Boys & Girls Club, the mobility project, combined with the teachers all are contributing to the success at Sherman,” Bronaugh said.

Amy Schak was only 17 when she found out she was pregnant. Just entering her senior year at Northview High School in Sylvania, she had spent the entire summer hanging out with friends. Lately, she had been spending a lot of time getting sick. That’s when it dawned on her — she was pregnant.
“I cried,” Schak remembers. “I couldn’t believe it and didn’t know how to tell my parents.”
Her pregnancy became reality when she saw her child’s beating heart on her first trip to the doctor.
“My dad was disappointed at first, which to me was worse than anger,” she said. “Adoption, adoption, adoption was his message to me because it’s really hard to be a single mother”
The teen finished her senior year of high school early, but even that was a challenge. Schak tried to hide the pregnancy from her classmates, but most of them could tell she was expecting and the gossiping and name-calling began.
Even teachers proved to be two-faced by breaking confidentiality rules and talking about it among themselves.
The courageous teen weighed her options and decided she wanted to take on the challenge. Just before her 18th birthday, her beautiful baby boy was born, and Schak’s young life changed forever.
“Being a mom is so much harder than you can ever imagine,” Shack said. “Once the baby was born, I had to grow up right then and there.”
Thankfully, Mom’s House, a nonprofit organization in Downtown Toledo, helped her. Mom’s House provides free day care for teen mothers while they attend school. Most importantly, they offer counseling and teach responsible parenting. Their motto, “hand up, not a hand out” says it all.
In return for their services, young moms must attend school full time, maintain passing grades and volunteer at Mom’s House each week. Between Mom’s House and her helpful family, Schak’s baby is well cared for. This makes it possible for her to work toward a nursing degree at Mercy College, which she is on track to complete this fall.
Unfortunately, Mom’s House can’t take care of the hundreds of teens who get pregnant in Lucas County every year. According to the Ohio Department of Health, Lucas County had an estimated 875 pregnant females ages 10 to 19 in 2007, the highest number among all counties in Ohio.
“I am afraid that we’re seeing a trend,” said Lisa Perks, CEO of Planned Parenthood. “Toledo is experiencing what a lot of urban cities are experiencing — it’s a cycle that’s difficult to break.”
Many Toledo teens follow parental examples, often keeping them in poverty. Perks said it takes an entire community to change a complicated problem, and unfortunately the problem keeps getting more complicated.
“These days kids are bombarded with sexual images, much more so today than years ago,” Perks said. “The world has changed; kids have easy access to information on the Internet, even sexual images.”
As the world changes, so should education methods. Perks said she believes schools can’t talk just about how the body changes during puberty. She also said teaching an abstinence-based curriculum isn’t effective because it doesn’t prepare students for the real world.
Toledo Public Schools is trying to combat these statistics. Teachers are helping students deal with peer pressures through a curriculum called Reducing the Risk. Junior high and high school health classes throughout the district are learning alternative ways to avoid unprotected sex.
However, according to Planned Parenthood, the reality is that young people also rely on their parents for information.
“I think we should talk to them at younger ages and explain that you may think you’re in love, but you won’t find your soul mate at age 14,” Schak said.
According to tips from www.plannedparenthood.org, children learn about sexual behavior from their parents.
“If you find it difficult to start a conversation, just use everyday occurrences to prompt one,” Perks said. “For example, ask them what they think about a family member or friend getting pregnant or ask them how old they should be before they start dating.”
In honor of Pregnancy Prevention Month, push aside any fear you have and muster up the courage to talk about sex. Even though it’s hard to believe, your pubescent and sometimes squirrelly teen really does want to have an open discussion about the birds and the bees.
Did you know?
Almost 19 million new STD infections occur every year in the United States.
Get Fit Toledo Events:
June 13: 50+ Sports Classic, for People 50 years of age or older.

Lauren Amstutz is media relations director of Get Fit Toledo.

Links:

FOX Toledo profile.

FOX Toledo concert report.

Michael S. Miller column: “A Good Place to Call Home”

Song:

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The members of Empire Drift wanted to write the best song they could before the Song of Toledo contest deadline. They also wanted to shine a positive light on Toledo and show it as a “little big city” just right for them.
On May 20, Empire Drift was crowned the winner of the inaugural Song of Toledo contest. The band was selected by nine judges and glorified with recording time at Strawberry Fields Recording Studio, stage time at Smoke on the Water — Ribs for the Red Cross and at the Michigan International Speedway.
Empire Drift’s guitarist, Rick Shugarman, said the band was “excited and thrilled” to win the contest and believes it will give them momentum going into summer — especially considering the competition they faced.
“There was a lot of competition, and we respect the other bands that were in there,” he said. “And a lot of the songs were great, too.”
Shugarman said he is looking forward to preparing for Smoke on the Water and other opportunities.
“We have been growing as a band, maybe for the past year and a half or so, the four guys have been working very hard and some of them have full-time jobs,” he said. “I’m really proud of them for how hard they’ve been working and sometimes it can pull your relations and it can pull at your job and everything, but the chemistry has remained good.”

EMPIRE DRIFT celebrates after its May 20 Win, with Dave Pfenning’s son, Austin.

The winning song
David Pfenning’s voice woos listeners into Empire Drift’s winning song, “A Good Place To Call Home,” as he sings that he doesn’t want 40-minute drives or six-lane highways. David, the lead vocalist, along with twin brother Michael on bass, Shugarman on guitar and Allen Spencer on drums, managed to use the song to showcase the best Toledo has to offer.
“We tried to make no mention of anything negative,” said Shugarman, also the band’s manager. “Some of the songs are kind of talking defensively about Toledo. Our intention was not to defend Toledo but talk positively about it.”
With the Walleyes, Mud Hens and concerts at Promenade Park, Shugarman said you get big-city stuff without big-city crowds — the focus of the song.
“The basic theme of the song is to present Toledo and focus on how great it is because of how balanced it is. You have this incredible balance between big-city things — like all the national food chains,” Shugarman said. “We get all the P.F. Chang’s and for the girls they get their Coach and designer stores in the mall. But you also get your little-city feel with the fact that you’re not in Chicago: You’re not waiting 40 minutes to drive five miles.”
For David, who has a 2-and-a-half-year-old son, a line less than a minute into the song rings true.
“I just like how you can raise your family here; it’s a good family city,” he said. “I grew up here and had all my friends in town.”
Typically, the band creates a song with a single inspiration and can spend as long as a year writing, practicing and recording.
“We kind of just say everybody is writing everything,” Shugarman said. “But actually, it will start when somebody will have a seed and brings it to the band, and the band together waters it and it grows.”
When the Song of Toledo contest was announced in Toledo Free Press March 8, the band had less than 26 days to produce a song.
Spencer said he had a friend who moved away from Toledo for six months, and when he returned a year ago, he told Spencer that Toledo needs pride.
“That’s one thing Toledo really lacks a lot of. So many people are so quick to rag on Toledo and put it down,” Spencer said. “My buddy, he’s involved in music, and he said, ‘Someone needs to write an awesome song about Toledo.’ And a year or so later, this competition popped up. I couldn’t believe it because it was the second time in a year someone was like, ‘We need to write a song about Toledo.’ ”
“We were reading Toledo Free Press and looked at everything it was talking about for writing the song and we just thought, ‘Let’s try it out,’ ” David said.
Spencer said the band got right to work: Shugarman spent an “enormous amount of time” creating lyrics and listing Toledo’s attractions. After a night of practice, and incorporating David’s guitar riff, the band had a song. They moved into a week of practice and then headed to Big Sky Recording in Ann Arbor where they recorded the song over two sessions.
Empire Drift has plenty of Toledo pride. Shugarman said he would love to hear their song playing at the Toledo hot spots such as the Mud Hens stadium or when the Walleye play.
“I’d love to play it live at a Mud Hens game,” Spencer said.
Upon hearing the song, with its shout-out to her, longtime Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur said, “I’ve listened to the song twice and now I’m singing along with Empire Drift. I’m honored to be included in their bouncy score, which aptly describes our community as a wonderful place to live. Again, the arts lift us and speak for us.”
The exposure from winning has already paid off, according to Shugarman. The band was invited by Kaptur’s office to play their awarding-winning song during a visit from the “auto czar” May 21. Ed Montgomery, who was picked by President Barack Obama for the position, toured the Glass City and listened to the entire song, Shugarman said.

EMPIRE DRIFT with 'Auto Czar' Ed Montgomery and Rep. Marcy Kaptur on May 21.

“It was really an honor,” Shugarman said of the train station performance for the czar. “I keep using the word ‘honor,’ but that is what it was. I felt we were representing Toledo.”
Shugarman said the band hoped opportunities like this would arise after winning the contest, but never imagined the day after they would be playing for Obama’s go-to man.
“In a way, I felt close to Obama,” he said.
The winning band
David and Shugarman had played together for eight years when they started Empire Drift as an acoustic duo in summer 2007. In September 2007, Spencer joined.
“Literally, the first or second practice with him, he could just play everything; he was a really natural fit,” Shugarman said.
They played as a three-piece acoustic electric band until February 2008, when Michael Pfenning joined because they entered the 2008 Regional Superstar Competition.
Michael had played with David and Shugarman in Exhibit A in 2005, a band that lasted a year. Michael said he picked up his first guitar at age 14, began playing seriously at 18, and since then, it’s filled a void.
With his help on bass, Empire Drift won the regional competition, a recording contract and played at the biggest show Club Bijou hosted for unsigned bands in April 2008.
Next, Empire Drift conquered The Blade’s Battle of the Bands by co-winning and, in 2009, were voted runner-up for best rock band in Toledo City Paper.
Shugarman said the band has given away 17,000 CDs and will send anyone an album if they e-mail their address to freecd@empiredrift.com.
“We play all kinds,” David said. “There’s great variety between the 25 originals, everything from soft acoustic love songs to modern alternative rock-type sounds. People might label us, but between the variety in songs we write and the cover songs we play, we try to hit everything at once.”

On the Web: visit www.empiredrift.com.