Worcester

By Rosalie Tirella

We know Elizabeth Warren is in the midst of a Native American heritage poop-storm, but she IS the better candidate! Konnie, please reconsider! Support Liz and not US Senate incumbent Scott “Pretty-Boy” Brown!

Worcester City Councilor Konstantina Lukes has come out and endorsed Scott Brown for US Senate. We love Konnie for her independence and no-bull attitude, but she has got to know that Brown is nothing more than a (hot) empty vessel. Elizabeth Warren is the problem solver and she is so much brighter than Pretty-Boy Brown! MA needs Warren! So does America! The Dems in DC need that Democratic vote to pass legislation.

I mean … look at our senator. Sexually abused (came out with that bit of news when his book came out; of course, he broke his story on 60 Minutes), standing for nothing, voting against extending unemployment benefits over and over again. This guy will say and do anything to stay in the limelight.

Konnie, Konnie, Konnie …

(And yes! Konnie was in our SWIMSUIT ISSUE, but she wasn’t naked, naked, naked!! Is there some weird connection?)

By Rosalie Tirella

Spring is here! Sunny days! Warm nights. croquses jutting out of the grassy squares we Worcester three decker dwellers like to call our front and side yards. Winter is brutal in new England – it seems more and more brutal with each passing year. Chalk it up to our creaky joints or … the sad, sad fact that too often folks in Worcester are just plain rude, unfriendly. They carry a perpetual wintertime of the soul.

Twenty or so years ago it didn’t used to be this way!

I used to say the people of Worcester were “real,” gritty but decent; rough around the edges but always ready to lend a hand … nice. It was as if all the churches we belonged to, all the factories we worked at, all the ethnic social clubs we belonged to took the edge off our urban living, even poverty. Those days seem to have evaporated in the spring sun. I chalk it up to reality TV, and the culture of quasi-porn lots of Americans embrace as they listen to the filth spewed by radio hack Rush Limbaugh and his ilk, watch Paris Hilton and Snookie bare all (body and hollow soul!) on R-17 reality/cable TV shows …

I remember a former boyfriend wanted to take a photo of my breasts to carry around in his cell phone. I said NO WAY! His new girlfriend (a few weeks into the relationship) let him take a cell phone photo of her boobs (the boob) and they proudly sit on his cell phone today (not as the phone wall paper). He told me, “If I asked her to take out her tits in public, she would.”

Glad he’s found someone who “embodies” what it means to be an American in 2012.

So goes the whoring of America, which, I believe, leads to the anything goes attitude of America, which leads to the if anything goes, then we can be in your face rude and obnoxious. We can wear clothes that make us look like whores – we can even dress our little daughters in clothes that sexualize them because these are the outfits stores (taking the cue from Paris Hilton) sell these days.

So, for me, it no longer surprises to see people run red lights and give fellow drivers the finger while they cut folks off/break the law. It no longer shocks me to read about gun play in the middle of downtown Worcester, a downtown I used to love shopping in with my mom and two kid sisters in the 1960s/early 1970s. I accept the fact that Worcester/society has broken down. All the police details and all the community meetings where neighborhood activists declare that we will all take back our neighborhoods can’t put this Humpty Dumpty city back together again.

Still, there are a few glimmers of hope in Wormtown – Worcesterites who – despite the snow, sleet , rain, and undercurrent of selfishness – manage to be polite. Courteous at all (or most) times. Ready with a smile and a kind word. As sunny as spring – no matter how wintery Worcester gets. Even in May.

By Michael True

“If there are Seven Wonders of the World, the eighth is the Peace Abbey,” according to one of its benefactors.

Since Worcester admirers agree, a recent announcement that the Peace Abbey, based in Sherborn, may be closing was a sad moment hereabouts.

Founded and directed by Lewis Randa, with Meg Randa and Dot Walsh, the Abbey has flourished since Mother Teresa visited there in 1988. In time, it has become a significant memorial for peacemakers throughout history, a resource for education and action by activists resisting war and injustice, and a major conference center for peace studies faculty and students at neighboring schools, colleges and universities.

Dedicated to creating innovative models that empower individuals on the path of nonviolence and peacemaking, it has enriched the community far beyond its borders, with a steady stream of visitors from throughout the U.S. and foreign countries.

A public event, “Occupy for Change,” sponsored by the New England Peace Studies Association, was held Saturday. Although in a rather financially precarious position, the Abbey conference center and guesthouse will remain open for weddings, retreats, meditation, and other activities.

ORIGIN AND OUTREACH

Inspired by his participation in the Day of Prayer for World Peace during the UN International Year of Peace in 1986, at the Basilica of St. Francis, in Assisi, Lewis Randa brought back Prayers for Peace to the Life Experience School for special needs students, which he founded as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War.

After Mother Teresa visited the school and students in 1988, the Abbey compound, in the town’s historical district, was expanded to include a guesthouse and multi-faith chapel, with artifacts of the world’s religions,

Central to the peace movement in New England, its programs have involved local citizens, volunteers and interns from Wellesley College, Andover Newton Theological School, Clark and Brandeis universities, among others. Abbey staff have taught peace studies courses at Stonehill College and in area schools, focusing on successful nonviolent movements around the world. Musical and theatrical events, and protests have also involved a community of talented and committed persons of all ages.

The nine-foot statue of Mohandas Gandhi is a focus point of the Pacifist Memorial surrounded by plaques with quotations from ninety peacemakers, from the Buddha to Dorothy Day. Well-known visitors over the past three decades include, Howard Zinn, Elise Boulding, Maya Angelou, and Father Daniel Berrigan. The 150 peacemakers honored by the Abbey with its Courage of Conscience Award include the late Stanley Kunitz, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, and Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

WORCESTER

Since it was initiated, Worcester residents have benefited from and contributed to the life and outreach of the Abbey in numerous ways. The New England Peace Studies Association, founded by Glen Gersmehl at Clark University in the 1980s, has its home base there, for regular meetings and annual conferences.

Students and faculty in the peace studies programs at Clark, Assumption, and Holy Cross gather there each semester, some helping with the Registry for Conscientious objectors, housed at the Abbey. A Clark student, Emily Luhrs, has prepared a Resource Packet on the significance and content of the Registry, available on the internet.

One of the memorial plaques honors peacemaker Annabel Wolfson, co-founder of the Inter-faith Center for Draft Information, Worcester. Joseph de- Rivera, emeritus professor, at Clark, is one of several Worcester benefactors who have helped to sustain the Abbey over the years.

STONEWALK

The Abbey’s staff and compatriots have engaged in a variety of events involving peacemakers over the years. They include major events in Boston involving well-known activists and STONEWALK, a series of pilgrimages across hundreds of miles in Asia an Western Europe, as well as United States.

Initially, the Abbey consecrated a Memorial for Unknown Civilians Killed in War in Sherborn on May 14, 1994. Calling attention to the 2,174 victims of war daily, none out of ten civilians and half of them children, the stone was placed on private grounds adjoining the town’ÿs Vetera’∞ÿs Memorial.

Then from 2000 to 2005, members and friends of the Abbey pulled a similar memorial stone on a caisson from Dublin to Belfast, in Ireland; from Liverpool to Coventry in England, and from Boston to New York City, and from Sherborn to Cambridge, and another to Arlington Cemetery, Washington D.C. Each journey highlighted the human cost of war, particularly victims and conscientious objectors, with a message of healing and remembrance.

During Stonewalk USA 2004, Bruce Nichols, described his experience, as he and others “propelled the stone on its journey toward a peaceful tomorrow.” It represented, he added, the many hearts silenced by the untimely intervention of conflict and war“_ Hearts full of hope and aspiration. Millions of hearts and their stories, now mostly unknown and lost when they were prematurely stilled.”

In 2005, the Japan pilgrimage included members of Families for Peaceful Tomorrow, relatives of residents killed in the September 2001 terrorist attacks. After flying to Tokyo, they walked 280 miles to mark the 60th anniversary of the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Warmly welcomed by Japanese officials and the Hibakusha, survivors of the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, who shared their goal of eliminating nuclear weapons and their message, “War is not the answer.”

In 2007, the Japanese built their own caisson and cut a stone with the same message to bring to Korea to apologize for the occupation and the war. Peace Abbey members joined this journey.

EMILY AND ANIMAL RIGHTS

The Abbey’ÿs commitment to animal rights was responsible for one of its most widely publicized activities. Having rescued a cowfrom the slaugherhouse the staff gave sanctuary to the animal until her death as a result of cancer.

Over the next two years, hundreds of visitors visited Emily the Cow and her barnyard buddies at the Abbey. She reserved a special greeting for the many children who came to have their picture taken. Howard Lyman, “the Mad Cowboy” and former Nationafarmers Union staff member paid homage to Emily while barnstorming across Massachusetts to educate people about Mad Cow Disease and the benefits of sustainable farming, with an appearance also at Tufts College of Veterinarian Science in North Grafton and on WCCA-TV 13, Worcester.

As he unveiled the Sacred Cow Animal Rights Memorial, Lewis Randa acknowledged the Life Experience School and the Peace Abbey’ÿs long dedication to animal rights. Today, a statue of Emiliy the Cow, by an internationally known Georgian sculptor, Lado Gudjabidze, stands near the bronze plaques honoring the world’ÿs pecemakers.

OCCUPY BOSTON

In the most recent initiative, in support of activists addressing injustice, the Abbey took the Gandhi to join hundreds of protestors at the Occupy Boston camp in Dewey Square, Boston. For nine weeks, it served as a focal point for the demonstration.

Fulfilling Lewis Randa’ÿs faith in the crowd, the unsupervised statue remained safe,“except for the temporary displacement of Gandhi’s eye glasses and a broken thu”b,∞± according to Wicked Local Dover-Sherborn newspaper. In addition, “Gandh’∞ÿs likeness was used to block the entrance to the nearby Goldman Sachs offices, which Randa regarded as a more appropriate place for the protest.”

FUTURE PLANS

The potential sale of the Peace Abbey comes at a time when it faces a large debt and a monthly payment of $3,000. According to Dot Walsh, program coordinator and chaplain, the Middlesex Savings Bank has been generous in extending various deadlines, since it was first put up for sale. Although the asking price for the total property is $999,000, buildings on the two-and-a half-acres, including the guest house, the conference center, and the barn can be purchased separately.

Recent plans suggest that University of Massachusetts, Boston, will be the beneficiary of artifacts, personal papers, conscientious objector files, and books, to be archived with its social justice collection. A peacemakers table, which serves as a focal point for an introductory ceremony for visitors to the Abbey, will be housed on the fifth floor of the library.

The statue of Gandhi, a bronze statue of Emily the cow, and Conscientious Objectors Hill of Remembrance will be retained at the present site. Meanwhile, a physician affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, has expressed interested in exploring the relationship between nonviolence and healing, in courses and programs on peacemaking, health and well being.

Whatever its future manifestation, the Peace Abbey will undoubtedly continue its imaginative witness and faithful commitment to building a peace culture and cultivating a just social order.

By Lindsay Pollard-Post

For most of us, the unusually warm spring that much of the country is experiencing is a welcome relief from winter. But for people who work in animal shelters, it signals an early start to the most dreaded time of year: kitten and puppy season.

Dogs and cats reproduce year-round, but early spring through late fall is prime breeding time—especially for cats, whose heat cycles are triggered by increased daylight hours. People who thought they could wait “just a bit longer” to have their cat spayed are often surprised to find out their kitten has become a mother herself. Female cats can go into heat every two to three weeks and can become pregnant while they are still nursing kittens—which means that one cat can give birth to multiple litters over the course of a single season.

Where do all these kittens and puppies go? Some end up on the streets, where many die young and in pain after being hit by cars, succumbing to diseases, starving or crossing paths with cruel people. Others pour into animal shelters across the country, leaving them scrambling to accommodate the surge of kittens and puppies. One shelter near Atlanta reported that it typically takes in 400 to 500 stray kittens each month during kitten season.

Baby animals may be cute, but their overabundance leaves shelters in an ugly situation. With 6 to 8 million animals entering U.S. shelters every year, most are constantly filled to capacity. In order to accommodate the deluge of baby animals during kitten and puppy season, open-admission shelters (those that never turn animals away) must euthanize other animals who have been at the shelter for a while to make room for the newcomers.

Playful kittens and puppies tend to steal the show (and people’s hearts), making it even less likely that the gentle, affectionate adult animals who have been waiting in shelters for homes will ever be adopted. But with so many litters flooding shelters, not even adorable kittens and puppies are guaranteed a home. Every day, caring shelter workers are forced to hold animals in their arms and euthanize them—including those whose lives have just begun—simply because there aren’t enough good homes for them all.

This tragedy could end if we all spayed or neutered our animals. Sterilizing even one cat or dog can prevent thousands more from being born only to end up on the streets, in the hands of abusive people or in shelters. Without spaying, one female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 dogs in six years, and one unaltered female cat and her descendants can lead to a staggering 370,000 cats in only seven years. Male animals contribute to the overpopulation crisis even more than females do: Just one unsterilized male animal can impregnate dozens of females, creating hundreds of unwanted offspring.

Sterilization also has many health benefits for animals. Female cats and dogs who are spayed before their first heat cycle have one-seventh the risk of developing mammary cancer. Spaying eliminates female animals’ risk of diseases and cancers of the ovaries and uterus, which are often life-threatening and can require expensive treatments, including surgery. Neutering eliminates male animals’ risk of testicular cancer and reduces unwanted forms of behavior such as biting.

By having our animal companions sterilized and helping our friends, family and everyone we know understand why it’s so important for them to do the same, we can save lives and make spring a season of hope instead of sadness for animals and the people who care about them.

By Parlee Jones

Peace, Worcester People! I am delighted to write this article about a friend of mine who has one of those jobs that is so very important, but at the same time, nobody really notices. Anyone who has traveled along Elm and West Streets first thing in the morning or in the afternoon when school is letting out has probably seen my friend Helen Sakovich. You may not notice her, but she is noticing you. She is making sure you see the kids crossing the street. She is making sure the children get to Elm Park Community School and back home again in safety. She has been there for 25 years making sure the children of our community make it to and from school daily.

A little history. Helen grew up on Greenwood Street where her dad built a home for her mom as a wedding gift. She remained there until her 20’s. Her mom Eva was born here and dad Jack was from Belarus, Russia. Her dad passed away when she was twelve and her mom raised 4 children in the home built from love. Helen’s sisters are Annie and Sonia, they are the lights of her life. Her brother Dmitri passed away in 1984. Her parents were married for 14 years when Jack passed away.

Helen was raised in a home of love and her parents were kind. Helen went to Quinsigamond grammar school and Grafton Street Junior High School. She graduated from North High in the Class of ’69, “the real North” as she calls it. When I asked her if any teachers stand out from back then, she says she remembers Mrs. Sherrin from the 5th grade in 1958. Helen’s one pride and joy is her daughter Andrea Lynne who turns 40 this July.

Helen started working as the cross guard at Elm and West on September 21, 1987. Keeping Helen company all these years on the corners of Hogg Square is the monument to Pvt. Robert H. Hogg who was born on September 2, 1883 and killed in battle in Chavignon, France on March 18, 1918. I looked for more information on this person, but could not find it.

When asked why she has stayed so long in this job, Helen says that she loved this job from the beginning. She enjoys watching the kids growing up from year to year. “It’s nice to watch the kids start off in kindergarten and then to see them on their way to sixth grade graduation. I’ve seen a lot of children in this neighborhood.” “My job fulfills me, I love children.”

Helen has also seen her kids who have grown up now come back with their own children, some attending the same school as their parents and still living in the same neighborhood. “In the last week I must have seen 10 kids that have grown come back with their kids.” Sometimes the kids that have grown up will come back and say hi. Thanking her for kind words in the morning and afternoon.

She is very protective of her children. Down to the point where she has asked a dad for ID because she had only seen the child with mom and she did not know who he was when the child was going to get in his car. Dad was appreciative after Helen told him, she was just looking out for his child’s best interest.

“When summer comes I miss my job. I start counting down the days once they start showing the back to school commercials. I have had all cultures of kids and I love it. If you love what you do it’s easy. I love children.” “Another thing I enjoy is watching the moms walking the little ones to school on the first day. Sometimes the moms are crying and sometimes the kids are crying.”

“Elm Park is one of the greatest schools. The staff at Elm Park is incredible. Teachers, volunteers and administration. I have seen them come and go for the past 25 years.“ “Ruth Ann Melanson was my longest boss. She is an incredible woman.” Two teachers ~ Mrs. Menard who was at Elm Park Community School for thirty seven years and Mrs. Debra Dennison who was there about just as long are role models for Helen. “They were major reasons that I stayed. I saw the love they had and the thirst they had to want to teach the kids. I learned from them how to be patient, and take time with people.” Helen says it takes an angel to teach these kids. She doesn’t realize that she is an angel. A guardian angel that continues to make sure children make it to and from Elm Park Community School safely.

Helen has no plans to retire. Again, she says that she “loves to see the kids on the first day of school with their little bow ties and pretty shoes. Some clinging to mom and some running from mom.” She truly enjoys seeing the loving moms cry as they leave their babies for the first time. “I love to see the looks on their faces.”

I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Helen Sakovich at Abby’s House. She has been a friend of Abby’s House since 1996 when Abby’s was helping a friend of Helen’s named Cheryl. (Went to 5th grade together.) She joined Cheryl at the women’s center and has been coming ever since. Helen says “Abby’s gives not only with their heart but the body, mind and soul. Volunteers and staff. It’s like an energizer bunny. Also a refuge for me. On days when I was feeling down I could go to Abby’s and come out feeling better.” Helen says Abby’s is an incredible place filled with love and patience.
“Helen has a big heart! She remembers kindness and moves past the negative.

There’s never a day Helen misses a visit at Abby’s and she takes time to say more than “hello”. Women who’ve been part of our staff or who have been long time volunteers know Helen. She has always pitched in to help. In the Women’s Center, Helen talks to everyone, spreading good will, a good word and a very good attitude. Besides devotion to her “kids” at her Elm Street corner, Abby’s is definitely part of Helen’s daily routine.” Annette Rafferty says of Helen.

Tess remembers Helen from over on Elm Street from around that 1996 date when she was driving and went a little too close to the cross-walk. Helen gave her a stern look. A little later that day, Tess ran into Helen again in the Women’s Center. “Ah, you again!” A mutual laugh and they have known each other ever since. But Tess makes sure she stops where she should around all schools!

Helen is a true Worcesterite. “I love Worcester, I have been here all my life. It’s been good to me.” “My favorite thing about Worcester is my cross-walk and soul music.” Marvin Gaye is a favorite, along with the Stylistics, (who will be at the African American Juneteenth Festival this June 23rd at Institute Park.) Other Worcester fav’s include Great Wall Chinese food downtown and Hoy Toy, 30 years ago. “When I was 18 and down town was down town, people would say Merry Christmas and mean it. I remember the Denholm’s windows. Worcester has always been good to me!” Helen wants to shout out her best friend, Sandra Smith-Silverman. A friend who has always been there for Helen and Helen will always be there for her.

I look forward to seeing Helen on her weekly visit to Abby’s. I also love seeing her doing one of her favorite things, crossing the kids from the Elm Park Community School on her corner at Elm and West. It’s one of the things that make Worcester home. The comfort of knowing she is there. Helen pulls no punches. She tells it like it is. And she is a piece of the fabric that makes up Worcester.

Let’s get moving, Worcester! Here is former Worcester City Councilor Barbara Haller’s informative piece on rasing chickens in Worcester! – R. Tirella

Responsible Chicken Ordinance perhaps coming to Worcester soon: An answer to the age old question: Which came first – the chicken or the egg?

By Barbara Haller

In the interest of full disclosure, I once raised chickens. In one case it was while living at a farm-school in Pettigrew, Arkansas and in the other it was while raising my family in the town of Holland, Massachusetts. I love chickens. My kids love chickens. And I can’t wait to raise chickens once again.

Right now it is against the law to have chickens in Worcester. This means that if you go ahead and raise some and someone complains you will be ordered to get rid of them. It also means that if some city person comes to your home or a nearby neighbor for some other reason (noisy party, barking dog, wellness check, etc.) and the chickens are seen that you will be ordered to get rid of them.

The idea of making chickens legal in Worcester has been around for a long time. But nobody got serious about it till a couple of years ago. Kristi Chadwick contacted me and asked for me to help get an ordinance effort going. We now call her the Mother Hen. Kristi did mounds of research about other communities’ ordinance successes and failures. She crafted a draft ordinance, and revised it, and revised it, over and over, as we worked to come up with the best chicken ordinance ever. We wanted a Responsible Chicken Ordinance, one that could get enacted and that protected quality of life for chickens and neighbors.

For many of us, this is not about if we get a chicken ordinance, but rather when we get one. This is happening across the country as more citizens want to participate in growing and controlling their own food, increase quality of their food, reduce transportation pollutions, and educate their children about where food comes from. On top of this, many find this kind of grassroots agriculture as fun and healthy.

Los Angeles, Rogers AK, Key West, South Portland ME, Madison, New York City, Portland OR, Seattle and Spokane WA, San Antonio, Oakland and San Diego and San Francisco CA, Austin, Memphis, Baltimore, and many, many more towns and cities now allow chickens. Providence passed her ordinance last fall.

Along the way, word got out about this effort and others joined in. My Clark intern in 2010, Lilly Denhardt, did some research. Mayor Joe O’Brien joined. Regional Environmental Council (REC) joined. Casey Starr joined. Joe Scully joined. Liz Sheehan Castro joined. Peggy Middaugh joined. By this spring, the effort definitely had momentum and it was time to move it into the Council process.

A group of us met with the Commissioner of Public Health, Dr. Dale Magee, and the Director of Public Health, Derek Brindisi, and went over the proposed ordinance, section by section, and listened to concerns raised. More revisions were made; the text was put in cleaner ordinance format.

Our ordinance allows for up to 5 chicken hens. No roosters, no slaughtering, no selling. Property owner’s permission is required. Backyards only. Annual license. City-approved coop. Outside only. At least twenty feet from neighbor’s house. Fenced enclosure.

Word continued to spread. More people joined in support. On June 14, 2011 Mayor O’Brien and I filed a council order requesting that the City Manager provide council with language similar to our draft ordinance which would allow for the keeping of chicken hens in Worcester. The request was sent to the Council’s Standing Committee of Public Health and Human Services for further discussion and recommendation. Councilor Phil Palmieri chairs this committee; the other two members are Councilor Konnie Lukes and myself.

The process is likely to be as follows: Councilor Palmieri schedules a hearing. Testimony is taken from the public, from city officials from Animal Control, Public Health, Planning Department (land use), and the Law Department. There may be more committee hearings scheduled, depending on the issues raised. At some point the committee will make a recommendation back to the full council: in favor, opposed, or in favor as amended by committee. Then the council will take a vote to support the committee’s recommendations or not. Six votes are needed. Members of the council could raise additional questions, could hold it for a week or forever. If we get the votes we need, the ordinance would be published for additional comments and then the final vote taken.

So, we have a way to go yet. But with strong advocacy and engagement we could have spring chicks 2012. (Rule is: Spring chicks, September eggs.) Hopefully we will soon answer the question “which came first.” For Worcester, many of us want the answer to be “the chicken.”

I believe that we have crafted a responsible and workable ordinance that will make Worcester a better place. If you want a copy of the proposed ordinance, want to join the effort, have questions or want to let me know how you feel, get in touch!

Cluck on!

Finally! Fantastic story in The New York Times! – R. T.

Many US Native Americans live in federally recognised tribal areas plagued with poverty, alcoholism other social problems. Photograph: Jennifer Brown/Corbis for The New York Times.

“The UN is to conduct an investigation into the plight of US Native Americans, the first such mission in its history. …

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/22/un-investigate-us-native-americans

OTHER GREAT STORIES. CLICK AWAY!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/us/vatican-reprimands-us-nuns-group.html?_r=1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17675816

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-weiner-youth-revolt-economics-20120411,0,6994951.story

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/19/sagira-ansari-india-cigarettes_n_1361786.html

By Deb Young

During spring time, it’s not only the flowers that come back to life. Fleas, ticks and intestinal parasites appear, creating a health hazard for our pets.

Fleas and ticks that were no problem in the cold of winter, will rear their little heads again in spring. Fleas can cause a series of health complications. It’s important to treat your dog and cat with flea & tick prevention when spring starts. A single female flea can lay over 50 eggs a day and certain tick species carry and transmit the bacteria that cause Lyme disease.

So take preventive measures to protect your dog and cat and your home from an infestation as the warm Spring weather starts.

Help protect your pets, Vaccinate annually against lyme disease and apply a topical flea and tick control product monthly.

Spring is when most pets pick up intestinal parasites. Tapeworms are contracted from fleas, when a pet licks the flea bites, and roundworms and hookworms are easily contracted as well. Intestinal parasites are easy to contract. Luckily, they are also easy to prevent. By placing your dog and cat on worm prevention medication when Spring starts, you can keep them healthy all season long. And many worm prevention medications also include Heart Worm prevention, which is ideal.

Dogs are more active in the Spring when the weather is mild and prolonged exercising outside becomes possible.

Exercise can easily be overdone. You never want to nag, holler or wear out your dog.
Warmer weather means we all feel friskier. It is normal for dogs to store fat in winter, but a heavier dog needs to begin spring exercise gently. Just as you may want to ease back into an outdoor exercise routine, your dog also needs to take it slowly at first. Increase walks and runs steadily, but gradually.

Set up and follow a schedule that breaks up your dog’s exercise: in the morning before you leave for the day and again in the afternoon or early evening when you get home. Dogs like the predictability of a schedule, and you’re more likely to stick to a routine. Try developing two 15-minute exercise routines for your dog — one for days when you have less time, and a longer routine for less crowded days.

Pets want nothing more than to enjoy Spring. I think the least we can all do is take a few steps to make sure they make the transition to warm weather with no worries!

By Parlee Jones

By now we have all heard the terrible injustice that has happened in Sanford, Florida. A 17-year-old young man named Trayvon Martin going to the store for snacks during half time of the NBA All-Star Game. Returning back to his dad’s girlfriend’s house in a gated community. Assaulted and shot by 28 year old self appointed neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman. Trayvon was wearing his hoodie, this is what made Zimmerman see him as “suspicious”, the hoodie and the color of his skin. I’m not going to go into all the details, but one of the things that hit’s me hardest is the fact that Trayvon’s parents were not notified for three days, even though, the Sanford police had his cell phone.

My heart and soul weep with Trayvon’s parents, and all parents who have lost children to violence, perpetrated by whomever!

The one positive thing to take away from this terrible situation is how the WORLD COMMUNITY came together to voice their objection to Zimmerman not being arrested. How incredible to see all this support! Change.org is up to 2 and a quarter million signatures. It humbles me. It gives me hope. Hope for a brighter future.

Leaving us open for a real dialog ~ a dialog of truth.

No judgment ~ fact.

No shame ~ Acceptance.

Some people have suggested that we “teach” our kids how to react to “these types of situations”. What is the situation? Walking home from the store or walking while Black?

I feel what our children need is to know the Afrikan experience from the time we hit the shores of America. Not the text book version, which they are trying to water down even more, through curriculum renewal, but the real deal. As an old African Proverb states, “Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter”. Knowledge of self to better yourself.

Middle Passage ~ Willie Lynch ~ Jim Crow ~ Tuskegee Study ~ Labor Camps ~ Cointelpro ~ Fred Hampton ~ Emmet Till ~ Rosewood ~ Amadou Diallo ~ Rodney King ~ Abner Louima ~ Sean Bell ~ Jermaine Carter ~ Burning of Black Wall Street ~ James Anderson ~ James Byrd ~ I could go on and on!

We need to acknowledge these histories! Only then will our children know the ills that they are up against. Only then will they know how to react to the “situations” they find themselves in. Hmmm.

I stand here as a mother, sister, auntie, cousin to Black boys and Men. I stand here for the grandmothers of Black boys and men. I write this for our girl children too. You know why, because we came to these shores together in the bowels of the slave ships and have suffered through the same trials and tribulations. I am a strong believer of Sankofa ~ and adrinka symbol which means go back and fetch it ~ knowing your past to move on in the present and prepare for the future. Yes, people, it is that deep!

It’s that deep that our children must be awakened from this mental slavery.
From what they put in their minds and what they put in their bodies, we have to show them our glory and our pain. Maybe we can put it in a hip hop video. Maybe we can design a new line of clothing, but I digress!

Some friends and I are putting together a homage for Trayvon and our Boys and Men of Color. We will have living testimonies of experiences here in Worcester living as a Black man or boy. We will show a history of what has transpired since Plymouth Rock landed on us, as El Hajj Malik El Shabazz has said. We will talk about supporting our young people of color by being there to listen to and believe them. More details to follow soon!

I leave you with the words to Redemption Song by Robert Nesta Marley who pretty much sums up the experiences I refer to!

Old pirates, yes, they rob I. Sold I to the merchant ships. Minutes after they took I from the bottomless pit. But my hands were made strong, by the hands of the Almighty. We forward in this generation, triumphantly. Won’t you help to sing these songs of Freedom, for all I ever have is a Redemption Song. Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind. Have no fear for atomic energy, for none of them can stop the time. How long shall they kill our CHILDREN (prophets) while we stand aside and look? Some say it’s just a part of it, we’ve got to fulfill the book. Won’t you help to say, these songs of freedom, is all I ever had ~ Redemption Song!

These are my thoughts. No disrespect to anyone intended.

EISENHOWER: THE WHITE HOUSE YEARS

By Jim Newton

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” – President Dwight D. Eisenhower, from his Farewell Address to the nation, January 17, 1961.

The older I get, the more I like Ike.

Jim Newton has written a masterpiece about Eisenhower’s years in the White House, in a book destined to be a classic. When we compare Eisenhower’s careful, balanced approach to the domestic and foreign policy of George W. Bush, Eisenhower’s greatness shines out.

Like George Washington, Eisenhower’s Presidency was the personification of restraint. Eisenhower sought “balance” in everything he did.

Deficit hawk

Eisenhower was the first “”deficit hawk” of modern history. When he took over the Presidency January 1953 the country was facing a $9.9 billion shortfall. In this he faced the opposition of Senator Robert Taft Jr., a Bush like asshole who wanted to cut taxes while there was still a deficit, with a war raging in Korea.

Taft, who had opposed Eisenhower in the 1952 Republican primaries, “blew up” in 1953 when Eisenhower’s first budget proposed cutting the deficit in half without reducing taxes. Taft complained “that it would allow no tax cuts..and suggested that it would doom the party in the 1954 elections” A stunned Eisenhower in reply said the country had financial commitments due to Korea and other security issues, adding: “The nation’s military security will take first priority in my calculations.”

The two core men in Eisenhower’s cabinet were Attorney General Herbert Brownell and Treasury Secretary George Humphrey.

“If you’re going to live a good life,” Newton quotes Humphrey as saying, ”you’ve got to live within your income.”

“Through his time in office he [Humphrey] insisted that the government do just that,” writes Newton. “He fought profligate spending, irritating liberals, and imprudent tax cuts, to the annoyance of conservatives.”

The economy boomed after Eisenhower eliminated the deficit, just as it boomed in the late 1990s after President William J. Clinton balanced the budget. The 1950s were later to be remembered as a golden age, “Happy Days” when peace and prosperity reigned.

Kansas upbringing

Newton briefly traced Eisenhower’s life before be became President in 1953. He credited much of Eisenhower’s personality – the restraint, the conservatism, the values – to Ike’s Kansas upbringing in a large family. He goes on to detail how Eisenhower befriended George Marshall after joining the army, rose to lead the allied invasion of North Africa in 1942, and supervised the June 6, 1944 D-Day landings in France. All these experiences formed and shaped the Eisenhower who became President.

Newton skillfully deals with the underside of Eisenhower’s Presidency:

· Foremost among Eisenhower’s failings was his inability to understand and vigorously promote African American civil rights. Newton shows how Eisenhower appointed closet liberals as judges, such as Earl Warren, whose legal rulings made much of the civil rights advances possible.

· The overthrow of governments in Guatemala and Iran, left both countries with legacies that haunted future American Presidents for decades.

· The failure to confront right wing demagogue Joseph McCarthy.

· The promotion of Richard M. Nixon’s political career. Eisenhower did try to get Nixon to step down as Vice President in 1956, but had to keep him on to satisfy “the conservative base”.

Waging peace

But history is judging Eisenhower in a new light, from the perspective of the American experience in the fifty years after he left office. Eisenhower is now seen as a man who kept the country at peace. As Newton concluded: “Dwight Eisenhower left his nation freer, more prosperous and more fair. Peace was not given to him; he won it.”

This book review began with a quote from Eisenhower’s farewell address about the military industrial complex. Newton singles this out for as Eisenhower’s most prescient prediction. He notes the ascendancy of Dick Cheney to the Vice President after presiding over defense contractor Halliburton: “[I]raq ballooned into a war longer and costlier than World War II; by the time the last combat brigade left Iraq in 2010, the war had killed more than forty-four hundred soldiers and drained the national treasury of more than $750 billion, much of it spent on private contractors – one Halliburton division alone, KBR, was paid more than $1 billion for its work from 2002 to 2004; overall, private contractors were paid as much government money as the initial estimates for fighting the entire war.”

Newton has written a compact, highly readable and sensible book about one of the great Presidents of our time.