March 1, 2010

The DigestWhat’s Happening at KVCC

What’s below in this edition

Project update (Pages 1/2) Angelou film (Page 15) Artists Forum (Page 2) Our early hotels (Pages 15/16) “About Writing’ (Pages 2-4) Poets and history (Pages 16/17) Diversity Conference (Pages 4/5) No. 300! (Page 17) Change your race (Pages 5/6) Swap Meet (Pages 17/18) ‘Fret’ play-in (Pages 6/7) Festival of Health (Page 18) Singer Joe Reilly (Pages 7/8) John Herbon (Page 18) ‘Cedars’ events (Pages 8-10) Go to Mars (Page 18) Income-tax aid (Pages 10/11) Internships (Pages 19-21) ‘Transformers’ (Pages 11/12) Need a dozen (Page 21) Career chats (Pages 12/13) Vehicle repairs (Pages 21/22)

‘Robots’ events (Pages 13/14) Newspapers (Pages 22/23) And Finally (Page 23)

☻☻☻☻☻☻Campus expansion taking shape; take a look

With the steel skeleton just about in place, the KVCC construction project and renovation on the Texas Township Campus – the Student Success Center wing – is showing its ultimate dimensions.

Dan Maley reports the structural steel is framing the 30,000-square-foot expansion on the west end of the campus adjacent to the A gymnasium. It’s the college’s first major construction initiative since the Student Commons in 2001.

KVCC’ers can take a look for themselves by going to the college’s home page and keyboard in up at the top – home.kvcc.edu

It will house the Student Success Center (on the second floor) and the Office of Admissions, Registration and Records, the Office of Financial Aid, the Office of Institutional Research, and Central Receiving on the first level.

That should be done by next September or October. Financial Services and the Pay Station should be ready to move into their new digs by early April, but that, Maley says, is contingent on the construction schedule.

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Once their previous space is vacated, work will begin on a new, multi-purpose science lab. That is slated to be completed by mid-May.

Maley also reports that planning is also under way to map this summer’s construction modules, along with the office moves that will be required. Stay tuned.

Set to be equipped with lighting is a new parking lot for 220 vehicles at the northwest corner of the campus and O Avenue on the other side of the ring road. Its lighting under consideration would feature a wind-solar-powered system.

Additional spaces have already been added by extending the lot that serves the technical wing.

As part of a layered construction process, some of the Student Success Center functions – career services, counseling, the Focus Program – will temporarily move their operations into the Student Commons.

The construction schedule calls for their current offices to be converted into five new classrooms that will be ready for the 2010 fall semester.

Also part of the blueprint during the summer months is remodeling, upgrading and restoring the existing geology and physics labs as well as one nearby classroom. That’s also when the major reconfiguration of the faculty-office area will begin, but that timetable is still a bit sketchy.

The faculty-office area will be expanded into four existing classrooms. In addition, the entire area will be “opened up with natural lighting to help it be more student-friendly.” It will also include student-waiting space and additional conference rooms.

In all, KVCC will lose eight classrooms and gain 10, plus the 150-seat mini-auditorium/lecture hall in the new expansion. The Student Success Center will revert to serving as The Gallery.

Dollars for such projects are banked in capital funds by the state and by the college, and are not part of each’s general fund. Michigan’s formula for higher-education projects has not changed from past years. Each community college and the state provide 50 percent of the costs.

The Kalamazoo architectural firm of Eckert Wordell is designing the expansion and remodeling, while the Miller-Davis Co. is serving as construction manager.

The Digest is working in conjunction with Maley to present project updates. Contact him at extension 4298 with any questions or concerns.

Circle your calendar for Artists Forum datesMarch 20 and April 17 are the dates for this year’s Artists Forum concerts.Scheduled to perform on those two Saturdays in Dale Lake Auditorium are the

John Jorgenson Quintet and solo act Darrel Scott, respectively.Jorgenson, a Grammy-winning guitarist, will bring his Nashville-based fivesome

to Kalamazoo and introduce the audience to hearing what is called “gypsy jazz” live and in living color.

Scott, the April 17 booking, is an instrumentalist who has also written compositions for the Dixie Chicks, Travis Tritt, Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

Details about ticket costs and dates to purchase are forthcoming.

Mortician/poet to wrap up ‘About Writing’

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A funeral director whose poetry explores the mysteries of life and death isthe final attraction in the college’s “About Writing” series for the 2009-10 academic year.

Thomas Lynch, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Times of London, will be on the Texas Township Campus on Monday and Tuesday, March 22-23.

The “About Writing” presentations in the Student Commons are free and open to the public. He’ll talk about the craft of writing at 10 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. on March 22 and do a 2:15 p.m. reading on March 23.      Lynch teaches in the graduate program in creative writing at the University of Michigan, lives in Milford, and has been a funeral director since 1974. His commentaries have broadcast by the BBC and NPR. His wordsmithing has been assisted by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Michigan Council for the Arts, the Michigan Library Association, and the National Book Foundation.

Lynch has brought his message to audiences throughout Europe, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. He is a regular presenter at conferences that target funeral directors, hospice workers, medical-ethics professionals, members of the clergy, and educators. That has also garnered exposure on C-SPAN, “The Today Show,” and Bill Moyers’ series on PBS, “On Our Own Terms.”

The author of three collections of poems and three books of essays, Lynch has two other publications due this year – a book of stories, “Apparition & Late Fictions,” and a new collection of poems, “Walking Papers.” His work has been the subject of two documentaries. PBS Frontline's “The Undertaking,” aired nationwide in 2007, won the 2008 Emmy for “Arts and Culture Documentary.” Cathal Black's film, “Learning Gravity” and produced for the BBC, was featured at the 2008 Telluride Film Festival and the sixth Traverse City Film Festival in 2009 where it was awarded the Michigan Prize by Michael Moore. Lynch keeps an ancestral cottage in and in Moveen, County Clare, Ireland. It was the home of his great-great-grandfather, which was given as a wedding gift in the 19th century. He traveled to that country for the first time in 1970.

“The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade” was a winner of an American Book Award and finalist for the National Book Award. It is a chronicle of small-town life and death told through the eyes of a poet who is also an undertaker.

"Every year I bury a couple hundred of my townspeople” is the opening line. Most poets seem inspired by death, but Lynch, unlike others, is also hired to bury the dead or to cremate them, and to tend to their families in a small Michigan town.

In the conduct of these duties, he has kept his eyes open, his ear tuned to the indispensable vernaculars of love and grief. In 12 pieces, his is the voice of both witness and functionary.

Lynch, as poet to the dying, names the hurts and whispers the condolences and shapes the questions posed by this familiar mystery. There is homage to parents who have died and to children who shouldn't have. He talks about the lessons for life that mortality teaches.

His “Bodies in Motion and at Rest” offers a reflection on time and its treasures, on love and its power, and on birth, death, and, most importantly, what comes in between.

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The New York Times hailed him as "a cross between Garrison Keillor and William Butler Yeats” as he offers glimpses of ordinary people and the ways they approach their own mortality. Lynch, born in Detroit in 1948, guides his readers from the womb to the tomb with a brand of wit and humor. He graduated from Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills and then mortuary school, taking over his father's funeral home in Milford. He is the father of La daughter and three sons.

For more information about “About Writing,” contact English instructor Rob Haight at extension 4452 or at rhaight@kvcc.edu.

7th Diversity Conference slated for March 26KVCC’s seventh annual Diversity Conference on Friday, March 26, has booked a

keynote speaker, an entertainment package that delivers a message, and a panel discussion.

Under this year’s theme of “Educating Ourselves and Others,” attendees from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. can listen to the perspectives of Greg Forbes Siegman (8:15), enjoy, a performance by Kinetic Affect (9:45), and take part in a panel discussion entitled “How I Got Here” (11 a.m.).

The latter will address family structures, how people grow up, the culture/environment of each person’s childhood, experiences with education, and the challenges and obstacles facing people as they try to move forward when it comes to tolerance.

Free and open to the public, the conference events will be held in the Dale Lake Auditorium on the Texas Township Campus. Remarks from KVCC President Marilyn Schlack will open the annual gathering.

The Portage-based Kinetic Affect, the duo that won the recent “Kalamazoo Has Talent” competition, are two spoken-wordsmiths who joined forces in the summer of 2007 after being fierce competitors at local poetry slams.

Gabriel Giron and Kirk Latimer have created a new kind of verbal experience that has seen them perform for a variety of local, regional and national organizations and audiences. They conduct youth workshops, give benefit performances, and participate in kickoffs, awareness raisers, and fund-raisers.

Giron’s Latino background and hip-hop influences collide on stage with Latimer’s Native American heritage and academic nature. Despite apparent differences, they exhibit similarities, not only in the power of their combined voices, but also in the impact of their messages. They challenge beliefs, push boundaries, embrace differences, and seek to increase awareness of local and global issues.

Giron admits to a difficult and angry past, vacillating from class bully to class poet. After lazily making his way through high school, he felt oddly drawn to the military. Eight months into his enlistment, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and underwent cycles of chemotherapy and several surgeries over three years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The cancer-free Giron said days spent wondering whether he would live or die gave him a new-found perspective on life. He is majoring in film and creative writing at Western Michigan University.

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Though he never intended to share his past experiences and poetry with anyone, Giron said he discovered that his words connected powerfully with other people. The process became a way for him to cope and learn from his own experiences.

His reflection on cancer survival, military experience, and family relationships enabled him to write on topics with unique vulnerability not commonly explored or spoken by others. By sharing his stories and commenting on what he sees around him, others can be inspired to share their stories, making poetry real, honest, and accessible regardless of age, class or gender.

Now dressed in slacks, dress shirt and tie, Latimer had a history of fighting both inside and outside the ring. He turned his anger from his color-trunked opponents toward himself, resulting in his arrest at the age of 16. He continued a cycle of vengeance and retribution until his senior year of high school when five of his friends and classmates committed suicide. It took him nearly six months to change his approach to life.

Once on the right path, Latimer transformed from a violent boxer to a highly awarded English/education major at Western Michigan University where he began to write poetry. His style of writing evolved from his dedication to academics, the explosive power required of a boxer, and the unique juxtaposition of a prankster loving nature.

An acting coach and an English teacher in high school, Latimer discovered a way to convert his inner turmoil and aggressiveness into a passionate and impacting learning experience. Through sharing himself and past experiences, he seeks to change minds and hearts, while also challenging our outdated educational system.

One of Kinetic Affect’s recent performances of the spoken word was “Speak It Forward” that chronicles an artistic narrative of the human journey from birth to death with a simple goal: to inspire others by sparking conversation.

The former poetry-slam competitors challenge stereotypes and provide a forum to individuals who have become too comfortable with allowing their voices to remain silent. Their first production entitled “Word Weavers” confronted male stereotypes, such as the need for men to portray themselves as a dominant force that must remain independent and refrain from overly expressing emotions of love and sadness.

More information is available by visiting the KVCC Diversity Committee’s web site at http://diversity.kvcc.edu . People should register in advance for the 2010 Diversity Conference on the college’s home page. What would I look like if I belong to a different race?

A week’s stay of the Human Race Machine on the Texas Township Campus will complement the college’s seventh annual Diversity Conference this month.

From March 22 through March 26 in Room 4380, the magic of computer software will allow people to see what they would look like if they were of a different race. Participants will use their own image to gain a sense of their appearance as a member of six different races

The exhibit is based on the scientific finding that the DNA of any two humans is 99.97 identical and that there is no gene for race, adding substance to the premise that in a foxhole everybody is the same color – red.

In addition, throughout the week in the exhibit area, there will be showings of the PBS documentary, “The Illusion of Race.”

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As with a similar format for the sixth conference in 2009, the plan is to open the experience to the public, which is why several KVCC’ers stepped forward to serve as volunteers to monitor the exhibit. It will be open to the public Monday through Thursday (March 22-25) from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Friday (March 26) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  There is no charge.

The cadre of volunteers includes Nancy Taylor, Russ Panico, Dan Maley, Sue Hills, Janet Alm, Jackie Howlett, Melissa Farris, Karen Steeno van Staveren, Ruth Baker, Colleen Olson, Joyce Tamer, Marie Rogers, Bonita Bates, Mary Johnson, Kate Ferraro, Laura Cosby, Mike Collins, Kandiah Balachandran, Leona Coleman, Marion Melville and Marylan Hightree.

10 acts to play for ‘Fret Fest’ gig Touching about every genre of music, 10 acts have earned the right to take part in a play-in contest to win a gig at the fifth annual Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival.

Judges have chosen them to play sets of up to 10 minutes at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday (March 5), which will be part of the monthly Art Hop in downtown Kalamazoo.

The same judges will select one of them to play a 60-minute concert on Saturday, March 20, during the three-day festival.

The March 5 “play-in,” as well as all festival events, is free and open to the public.

The contestants are: The bluegrass music of Deadwood, featuring founding members Cork

Babcock and Steve Carroll, both of Mendon, Gary Meadors of Grand Rapids, and Ron Sanford, also of Mendon

Michigan Country Music Hall of Fame members HighWay 94, featuring Matt and Sheila Schwartz (Kalamazoo), Ron and Ellen Gallegos (Battle Creek) and drummer Douglas Willet.

Blues and folk performers Jonas Ridge whose members are Steve Boling, Christee McNeil, Rick Triplett, and Bill Van Liere.

Papa’s Front Porch Blues – father/daughter duo David and Gretchen Ross placed second in the 2009 play-in contest.

Ninth Street Bridge – a 12-instrument bluegrass bunch featuring Brett Riggins, Marty Fine, Allen Bates, Scott Lehmer and Matt Sypian.

Scott Gardner, the One-Man Cover Band – he’s a retired science teacher in the Comstock School District who specializes in the oldies from the 1950s and ‘60s.

The country-rockers Small Town Son with Kris Hitchcock, Dan Anspaugh and Ian Szarafinski.

The seven-member Wasepi Bluegrass Gospel Singers who have been singing in their home church since 1974.

Pop guitarist Betsy Lucas Twenty-Three, a quartet featuring Dan Simon from Allegan, Larry Allen

and Scott Smith, both from Niles, Dean Worthington from Dowagiac, and Indianan Chere McKinley with a repertoire of both secular and gospel music.

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The only restriction for applying to compete in the play-in was that an instrument with a fretboard must be among the person’s or group’s arsenal. Performers who have been booked for concerts at the museum or KVCC were not eligible.

The Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival is sponsored by the Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC) Foundation.

In addition to “frettin’ their stuff” at the 2010 festival later in the month, the play-in winner will be booked to perform as part of the museum’s concert billings during the 2010-11 season. That’s what happened to the 2009 selectee, Carmea, a trio featuring guitarist Catherine Ellis of Kalamazoo, cellist Rachel Alexander of Lansing, and mandolinist Alma Muxlow of Kalamazoo.

From Friday, March 19, through late Sunday afternoon on March 21, the 2010 Fretboard Festival will feature performances by stringed-instrument virtuosos, instructional workshops for people who want to learn to play, and family-friendly activities.

This yearly salute to all stringed instruments -- and especially those that are crafted in this part of Michigan -- will be staged in the museum and the college’s Anna Whitten Hall next door.

The festival, which takes its name from the portion of a stringed musical instrument that allows a variety of notes to be played, will spotlight guitars, banjos, hammered dulcimers, and mandolins, as well as the artists who make music on them and the craftsmen who manufacture these instruments.

Concerts and workshops will again take center stage. Specific sessions are designed for those with exceptional, moderate and beginning skills.

The festival was conceived as a celebration of Kalamazoo’s long history of stringed-instrument design, manufacture, and performance. While guitars have been a vital component of this history -- primarily through the legacy of Gibson guitars -- adopting the moniker of “fretboard” allowed planners to consider all forms of crafted instruments that create harmonious sounds in all genres of music.

For more information, contact Jen Austin, special-events coordinator at the museum, at (269) 373-7990 or jaustin@kvcc.edu.

‘Touch the Earth’ with singer Joe Reilly March 6The songs of Michigan environmental educator Joe Reilly will be the theme of a

family-oriented concert at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum on Saturday (March 6). Reilly will share his tunes about Michigan’s lakes and natural places at 1 p.m.Admission is $3 for the performances in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater.Performing for more than 12 years across Michigan and the Midwest, Reilly

traces his musical roots to his parents who were proficient in both classical and liturgical compositions. From that he concluded that music could be healing, celebratory and prayerful.

A self-taught guitarist, he also trained at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. Of Italian, Irish and Cherokee ancestry, Reilly grew to encompass many genres of music, ranging from Native American to blues to jazz, and all of the stops in between. Academic studies led him to become interested in environmental justice and racism.

He’s written more than 30 songs and recorded three albums. While he does perform for social-change activists, for families, and for at-risk youths in after-school programs, Reilly has also been known to travel the bar-tavern-mainstream concert circuit

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to deliver versions of his messages in Ann Arbor, Petoskey, Traverse City, East Lansing, Grand Rapids and East Lansing. He’s also performed at Kalamazoo’s The Strutt.

He’s performed in the Concert of Colors in Detroit in 2004 and the Chicago Cultural Center in 2005. From 1997 through 2001, he sung with the Native American drum group, Treetown, performing at powwows and ethnic gatherings around the Great lakes.

After going solo for a short time, he co-founded the Long Hairz Collective trio that ventured into hip hop, folk, blues and the spoken word in their songs.

His “Children of the Earth” album features 23 environment-related songs for that age group. As they entertain, the compositions deliver messages about environmental science and ecological stewardship.

Reilly and his topics have earned some air time on National Public Radio’s “Living on Earth” and have been featured on the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Environment Report.

Says Reilly: “My tours and performances are organized in ways that bring people together and build community across diverse lines of race, class, gender, age, religion, ability and music genres.”

Following his Kalamazoo appearance, Reilly will set off on a West Coast tour with performances in Chico and Berkeley, Calif., Bend, Ore., and Bainbridge Island, Wash. It’s a repeat of a similar junket he took in January of 2009.

‘Snow Falling on Cedars’ events under wayTimed to coincide with a fall major exhibit on race booked for the Kalamazoo

Valley Museum, one of the most acclaimed books about prejudice is the Kalamazoo Public Library’s 2010 Reading Together selection.

“Snow Falling on Cedars” by David Guterson was the winner of the 1995 PEN/-Faulkner Award for Fiction and the 1996 American Booksellers Association Book of the Year.

Scores of special events/programs are preceding Guterson’s appearance in Kalamazoo on March 17. Those are continuing this week.

Also in advance of the author coming to Kalamazoo is a showing of the 1999 film version of “Snow Falling on Cedars” that starred Ethan Hawke. That is scheduled for the Kalamazoo Valley Museum on March 12.

“Cedars” is set against the backdrop of a courtroom drama in the Pacific Northwest when a Japanese-American man is charged with the murder of a local white fisherman. It is steeped in the World War II forced internment of these citizens, an interracial love story, and post-war politics.

Here are the upcoming events: Toward Wholeness and Community – Sundays through March 28 from

9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 212 S Park St. Throughout history, great literature has contributed to change in society. What can the themes of “Snow Falling on Cedars” teach about living peacefully in a community?

A Conversation About Race – Tuesday (March 2) from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Kalamazoo Public Library. A discussion of “Snow Falling on Cedars” and a facilitated conversation about racism led by the Kalamazoo YWCA’s program on eliminating racism.

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“For the Sake of the Children” -- March 5 through April 14 in the Kalamazoo Central Library. This photography exhibit documents four generations of Japanese-American life on Bainbridge Island in Washington and inspired Guterson to write the book. Exhibit hours – Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m.; Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“Go for Broke” – March 5 through April 14 in the Kalamazoo Central Library. This photograph exhibit from the National Archives contains images of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The largest Nisei unit during World War II, the 442nd is the most decorated combat unit of its size in the history of the U. S. Army. Its story has been told in several Hollywood movies. Exhibit hours – Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m.; Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Book as a Literary Classic – Tuesday, March 9, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Kalamazoo Public Library. Nicolas Witschi, a Western Michigan University associate professor of English, looks at the rich characterization, imagery, plot and setting — all qualities that make “Snow Falling on Cedars” an engaging classic.

Festival of Japanese Films – Wednesday, March 10, at 7 p.m.in the Little Theater on Oakland Drive. “I Just Didn’t Do It” is about a young man falsely accused of groping a girl in high school. As his parents and friend help an attorney defend the case, they face this fact – criminal trials in Japan result in a 99-percent conviction rate for the accused. No admission charge. With English subtitles.

“Snow Falling on Cedars” movie – Friday, March 12, at 7 p.m. in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. Admission fee is $3.

Shodo – Japanese Calligraphy – Tuesday, March 16, at 6 and 7:30 p.m. in the Kalamazoo Public Library. Shodo is the Japanese version of calligraphy, using ink and brush. Participants will learn to write their names in this precise art form. This is one of a series of events on Japanese culture being organized by the Soga Japan Center at Western Michigan University. Adults only. Space is limited; Registration required. Call 553-7913.

KVCC’s Jim Ratliff is a member of the 24-member, communitywide committee that makes the choice of a Reading Together volume.

This year’s book selection was driven in part by a request from the Race Exhibit Initiative of Southwest Michigan, which asked the library to choose a book that could help foster discussions about race in advance of an October 2010 unveiling of the traveling exhibition “Race: Are We so Different?”

The exhibition features photographs, movies and interactive displays — all of which explore the history of race in America, the biology of race and experiences of living with race. It will be on display at the m museum from Oct. 2 to Jan. 2, 2011.

A novelist, short-story writer, poet, journalist, and essayist, Guterson earned his master’s from the University of Washington, where he studied under the writer Charles

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Johnson. After moving to Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound, Guterson taught English at the local high school and began writing for Sports Illustrated and Harper’s magazine.

“What I like about the book is that many people, when they talk about race, focus on black and white issues,” Zarinah El-Amin Naeem, coordinator of the Race Exhibit Initiative that is housed in Western Michigan University’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, told The Kalamazoo Gazette. “Because this book brings in a segment of Asian-Americans, it helps to broaden the discussions by moving it outside of the discussions of black and white.”

Naeem said Kalamazoo will be the smallest community to host the exhibition, and organizers hope that it can “be a catalyst for social transformation in Kalamazoo and southwestern Michigan as a whole rather than an exhibit that just comes and goes.”

Previous “Reading Together” titles were: “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury in 2003; “Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich in 2004; “The Color of Water” by James McBride in 2005; “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien in 2006; “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon in 2007: “Animal Dreams” by Barbara Kingsolver in 2008; and New York Times columnist Rick Bragg’s trio of memoirs this year.

Reading Together invites people of all ages from all walks of life to read and then discuss important issues raised by a selected book. Thousands of county residents have participated in seven previous Reading Together programs.

The Kalamazoo Public Library leads Reading Together with the collaboration of libraries, educational institutions, health and social service agencies, cultural, civic and religious organizations, businesses, the news media, and local governments throughout Kalamazoo County.

The Kalamazoo Community Foundation helped the library launch Reading Together with funding for the first three years with grants from it Better Together initiative. The library now provides major support for the program. Foundation grants, gifts and contributions from collaborating organizations make it possible to offer Reading Together to all of Kalamazoo County. The Fetzer Institute has stepped forward to help support this year’s edition.

The book-selection process continues Reading Together’s tradition of democratic community participation. Community members consider dozens of titles gathered from last year’s evaluation process, suggested by library patrons, staff, and community leaders, and recommended by librarians and educators.

Committee members read and discuss the suggested titles with these guidelines in mind. A good Reading Together book features:

● an author who will come to Kalamazoo during the Reading Together period;● availability in multiple formats such as large print, audio recording, Spanish;● reading level, vocabulary, length, and subject matter that appeals to adults as

well as high school and college students;● treatment of social issues relevant to our community.

Income-tax-filing aid still available for staff, studentsWith the deadline looming for Americans to make good their income-tax IOUs to

Uncle Sam, free return-preparation assistance is being made available at KVCC for students and staff whose individual or family incomes were $49,000 or less for 2009.

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Working in conjunction with the Kalamazoo County Tax Counseling Initiative’s “Helping You Keep Your Money” program, the college's Student Success Center is hosting the assistance that is supported by the Internal Revenue Service, which provides the software, training, and certifications needed to operate these sites.

As of Jan. 15, people could dial 211 on their telephones to get details on items and information to bring, the locations throughout Kalamazoo County including KVCC, assistance in setting up an appointment, and tax-preparation times.

The tax assistors will be on the Texas Township Campus from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on these Fridays: March 6, March 26, April 2 and April 9.

Another way to schedule an appointment is to go online at www.gryphon.org and click on “tax calendar.” That will take the user a list of locations, dates, times, and items to bring.

The service is provided by IRS-certified community volunteers from the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. E-filing will be available at all locations.

In addition to KVCC, partnering with the Kalamazoo County Tax Counseling Initiative are:

The American Association of Retired Persons, Bowers Manufacturing, Goodwill Industries, the Greater Kalamazoo United Way, Guardian Finance and Advocacy Services, Gryphon Place, the Kalamazoo County Community Action Agency, the Kalamazoo County Department of Human Services, the Kalamazoo Public Library, the Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo, and the W. E. Upjohn for Employment Research.

Among what must – or should – be brought to an appointment to assist in the process are a copy of the 2009 return, a photo ID, Social Security card for the filer and dependents, all W2s and/or 1099s (Social Security), and information about student loans. A full list of documentation is available on the web site.Sci-fi flick, Fret play-in next for ‘Friday Night Highlights’

The “Friday Night Highlights” booking on Feb. 26 at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum is the 2007 blockbuster science-fiction movie, “Transformers.”

Tickets to that 7:30 p.m. showing in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater are $3. Next on the billing on March 5 is the Fretboard Festival play-in competition. “Transformers” is the tale of two “species” – Autobots and Decepticons – that

battle in an alien civil war over a mystical talisman that would grant unlimited power to whoever possessed it. When the smuggled talisman is tracked to the planet of Earth (circa 1850), one of the group’s leader, with a reckless desire for power, plunges into the Arctic Ocean. The sheer cold forced him into a paralyzed state. Sounds like a plot line right out of the original movie, “The Thing,” in the early 1950s.

His body was later found by Capt. Archibald Witwicky and, before going into a comatose state, the leader used the last of his energy to engrave a map, showing the location of the talisman, into the captain's glasses, and to send a transmission to his home planet. He is then carted away by the captain's ship.

A century later, grandson Sam Witwicky buys his first car. To his shock, he discovers it to be an Autobot in disguise who is to protect him because he bears the captain's glasses and the map carved on them.

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But the “car” is not the only Transformer to have arrived on Earth. In the desert of Qatar, the Decepticons attack a U.S. military base, causing the Pentagon to send its special Sector Seven agents to capture all "specimens of this alien race."

Earthlings find themselves in the middle of a grand battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons, stretching from Hoover Dam all the way to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, within the depths of Hoover Dam, the cryogenically stored form of the leader who crashed into the icy waters of the Arctic awakens. And the story goes on, another evil-versus-good epic.

Touching about every genre of music, 10 acts have earned the right to take part in a play-in contest to win a gig at the fifth annual Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival.

Judges have chosen them to play sets of up to 10 minutes at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday (March 5), which will be part of the monthly Art Hop in downtown Kalamazoo.

The same judges will select one of them to play a 60-minute concert on Saturday, March 20, during the three-day festival.

The March 5 “play-in,” as well as all festival events, is free and open to the public.

The contestants are: the bluegrass music of Deadwood, Michigan Country Music Hall of Fame members HighWay 94, blues and folk performers Jonas Ridge, Papa’s Front Porch Blues, the Ninth Street Bridge, Scott Gardner, the One-Man Cover, country-rockers Small Town Son, the Wasepi Bluegrass Gospel Singers, pop guitarist Betsy Lucas, and Twenty-Three.

Also part of the "Friday Night Highlights" attraction is an 8:30 p.m. showing of the planetarium show featuring the music of U2. That has a $3 admission fee.

With a laser-light show in full color streaming across the planetarium's 50-foot dome, the 35-minute production will feature the classic hits of the Dublin, Ireland, combo that has earned 22 Grammys, sold 146 million albums, and warranted induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its first year of eligibility.

The U2 show will continue at the planetarium through March when it will be replaced by a similar presentation featuring the music of Pink Floyd.

Here is the “Friday Night Highlights” schedule of movies, concerts by local combos, and special events through the first third of 2010:

March 12: “Snow Falling on Cedars,” the film version of the book chosen to be the 2010 Reading Together selection.

March 19: Fretboard Festival kick-off concert. March 26: “Star Trek Generations.” April 2: “Terminator.” April 9: Embarr in a concert of Celtic music April 16: The pop/rock music of We Know Jackson. April 23: Performer Rob Vischer and his California style April 30: Concert by Waverland (topic/acoustic/alternative). May 7: The 1979 movie “Battlestar Galactia May 14: The rock and blues music of Branden Mann and the Reprimand May 21: The 1984 comedy “Ghostbusters.” May 28: The improv comedy of Just Panda.

Career roundtables begin at Texas Township Campus

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KVCC students are invited to a month-long series of “Career Roundtables” being organized by the Student Success Center’s Career and Employment unit.

Career adviser Joyce Tamer will be leading the discussions that begin on Tuesday (March 2) and continue on each Tuesday throughout March from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the Student Commons Forum.

Instructors are urged to inform their students about these sessions that will cover topics related to exploring careers of interest and mapping a path toward such a career.

“The purpose is to have an informal setting with minimal structure to allow the students to explore career issues that are of concern to them,” Tamer said.

In addition to conversations about a variety of careers, the participants will also learn about of value of networking and keys to finding and keeping a job.

Special events kick in for robot exhibit Robots designed, created and programmed to be as human as possible and how

humanity can use them to extend its capabilities – that’s the thrust of the current nationally touring exhibit at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

“Robots + Us,” fashioned by the Science Museum of Minnesota, opened on the third floor of the downtown-Kalamazoo museum Feb. 13 and will be on display through May 9.

Blending robotics, computer science and biomedical engineering, the exhibition for visitors of all ages probes whether machines will ever be “alive,” whether they can be crafted to extend the competence and potential of humans, and whether today’s homo sapiens are – in fact – already some kind of a machine.

To complement the new exhibit, the museum will tailor some of its programming to fit the theme.

For example, the Saturday (Feb. 27) offering of free, hands-on activities, experiments and arts and crafts for youngsters is titled “Robots on the Move.” They run from 1 to 4 p.m. on that Saturday.

The sci-fi blockbuster movie, “Transformers,” will fill the Mary Jane Stryker Theater screen on Friday (Feb. 26) at 7:30 p.m., while “Terminator” is the billing on Friday, April 2. Tickets are $3

Through hands-on activities and games, “Robots + Us” examines the boundaries of humanity and the increasingly life-like machines that populate the world, and that have been fantasized about in science fiction, movies and television for about a century.

Some believe that the first attempt to create artificial life can be traced to the initial puppet makers.

The exhibit’s topics are both machine-oriented and human in nature, based on the premise that this high level of technology can shed light on the potential of people and can change their daily existence.

In that regard, “Robots + Us” focuses on both the technical challenges of building life-like “things” -- and on the attributes of living things to which the artificial systems are inevitably compared.

In addition to a welcoming area that sets up the exhibit’s themes, there are four sections – “Moving,” “Sensing,” “Thinking” and “Being” that contain components and activities aimed at understanding human capabilities and the machines that would emulate them.

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Here are some of the subjects: Why humans can recognize faces, but machines find that challenging. Thanks to a colony of live ants, it is shown how simple rules govern the behavior

of these insects and how ant-like computer systems are utilized to solve difficult problems. “From the Minds of Ants” charts the movements of the colony as it searches for food, and how this is then related to the workings of the human brain and how robotics come into play.

Cockroaches are shooed out of a house or smashed by a shoe, but this insect inspired the design of robots designed to explore Mars and search for earthquake victims.

Designing, assembling and modifying a “walking machine” using biomechanics dynamics.

At the “Android Café,” visitors will gain a grasp of the concept of artificial intelligence, which might enter the realm of reality when a person can no longer tell the difference between a conversation with another person and one with a machine.

Comparing your limb’s speed, precision, versatility, and judgment with that of an industrial robot arm in the assembly of a simple puzzle.

Gaining insights into the latest robotic technology that is being derived from some of the basics of biology.

Screen-based simulations demonstrate the principles of locomotion. Participants can design their own robots and leave them behind as part of a digital zoo.

“How much is that robotic dog in the window?” deals with synthetic companionship and how easily a person can sense an emotional response to relatively simply mechanical “life forms.”

“Jeremiah” is the face of an oversized digital character that responds through sounds and facial expressions to the motions of visitors.

“Artificial Eyes and Ears,” explores how digital electronics might lead to the restoration and repair of a person’s missing or damaged sensory apparatus. In some cases, designers of artificial-vision systems know that too much information can be as much of a problem as too little, and that concept is illustrated in “Change-Blindness.”

An interactive device demonstrates the difficulties of producing life-like artificial speech, especially when played against the ambiguities inherent in the English language.

“RoboTuna” examines how researchers are developing robots to explore oceans.According to the Science Museum of Minnesota, “Robots + Us,” the exhibit’s

experiences are based on the application of technology, on human physiology, and on the questions posed by the prospect of living with ever-more-lifelike machines.

Flashing back to science fiction’s accounts of “creating life,” such as “Frankenstein’s monster,” components use these legendary artifacts to flash forward to what might be in the future. There is just as much unfinished science and technology as there is what has been done and what is already known. Angelou film, substance-abuse effects are topics

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KVCC instructors should be alerting their winter-semester enrollees about the upcoming events planned by the Student Success Center that are designed to energize academic accomplishments and expand educational horizons.

A movie based on the life of poet Maya Angelou will be shown on Monday (March 1) at 11 a.m. in the Student Commons Forum to mark the beginning of Women in History Month. Free and open to the public, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” stars Esther Rolle as one of the nation’s most famous poets.

A workshop to help students become familiar with the college-application process and to learn about scholarship opportunities is set for Monday (March 1) from 3 to 4 p.m. in the Student Commons Forum.

A “Soft Skills Workshop” is scheduled for Wednesday (March 3) from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Student Commons Forum. Students will learn about the interpersonal skills and professional appearance that are essential in finding meaningful employment that fits their career plans.

A transfer forum for nontraditional students will be held in the Texas Township Campus cafeteria on Wednesday (March 3) from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Students can learn about the debilitating effects mentally, physically and socially when alcohol and substance abuse enters their lives. That session is booked for Thursday (March 4) at 11;30 a.m. in the Student Commons Forum.

For students who are contemplating transferring to a four-year school, KVCC’s Transfer Resource Center are orchestrating trips to the Saginaw Valley State University campus on Friday (March 5) and to Michigan State university on Friday, March 12. To make arrangements, call 488-4779 or go to Room 1364 on the Texas Township Campus.

Kalamazoo’s early hostelries is TV topic A flashback to the early days of Kalamazoo County’s hospitality industry is the

March installment of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s TV show. Tom Dietz, the curator of research at the museum, will talk about the hostelries

and inns that welcomed visitors to the community in the 19th and early-20th centuries. The episode will be aired by the Public Media Network (formerly the Community

Access Center) on Channel 22 on the Charter cable system at 7 p.m. on Sundays, 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m. on Fridays, and 11 a.m. on Saturdays.

Hotels provided a variety of important services in Kalamazoo during the 19th century. The Kalamazoo House, built in 1832, was a center of fevered activity during the boom days of the western Michigan land speculation of the mid-1830s.

“Anxious buyers crowded every square inch of floor space to sleep while they climbed through windows to buy meals in the hotel’s dining room,” Dietz says.

Other prominent 19th-century hotels included the Exchange Hotel, the American Hotel, and the Burdick House. They hosted travelers, traveling salesmen and physicians peddling their wares and services from a temporary office, and provided meeting places for clubs and organizations.

Dances and other social functions were staged in their ballrooms. Several hotels offered public-bathing facilities for those who lacked full bathrooms in their homes.

Dietz discusses the 19th-century hospitality industry, exploring not only these well-known establishments but lesser known hotels including the International Hotel, Burke’s Hotel, and the Sheridan House. He will talk about the men who owned, built, and operated these facilities as well as the many purposes that the hotels served.

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Hotels were often located where travelers would arrive, notably around the several railroad depots. The River House was located near the bridge over the Kalamazoo River, hoping to attract arrivals coming via the old Territorial Road.

The Burdick House, which opened in 1854, stood on Main Street (now Michigan Avenue), where the Radisson Plaza Hotel and Suites now stands, making that block the site of at least one hotel for more than 150 years.

When the Burdick House went up in flames on an arctic-like, bone-chilling evening in 1909, it earned a distinction that remains to this day – one of Kalamazoo’s greatest disasters.

Originally known as the Cosmopolitan Hotel, what burned that night opened its 80 to 100 rooms, which could accommodate up to 150 guests, in the spring of 1853. The contractor was Frank Dennison and he attached bathing salons to the four-floor, brick building that had dimensions of 100-by-70 feet.

Dennison didn’t launch the project. Work was started in August of 1850 by Alexander J. Sheldon, a shaker-and-do’er who is given credit for literally lifting the village out of the mud by installing the first planked walkways.

In June of 1855, the hostelry, built for $12,000, became the Burdick House -- named for Gen. Justus Burdick, an influential early settler.

Known for its “elegant arches,” one was described as “magnificent. . .(sitting) like a majestic queen with her children ranged on either side.” Broad “winding, spirally” stairs took guests to the upper floors.

A 45-foot “elegantly finished” tower on the roof reached for the sky, while the window sills were white marble from Vermont. An arcade of shops eventually filled the ground level. It was heralded as the “largest and best constructed hotel in western Michigan.”

Flames took their first crack at the Burdick House in October of 1855 when wooden buildings in an adjacent block caught fire. While fast work by fire fighters saved the day, the hotel did sustain damage to furnishings because water was thrown into rooms to prevent any kind of ignition.

As the village’s social hotspot and one of the finer inns in the region, the Burdick added stables to serve the transportation medium of most guests. The barn that could house up to 200 horses cost $3,000. Flames consumed it in 1876, but the main structure was again spared.

Not so in December of 1909 when the then half-century-old building was reduced to rubble, looking like the results of a World War II bombing.

Poets in ‘Sunday Series’ spotlightKalamazoo poets and the places they have waxed eloquent about are the theme of

the next installment of the Sunday Series at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.The sixth in the annual “Poetry Artifactory” presentations is scheduled for Feb. 28

in the Mary Jane Stryker Theater. With Curator Tom Dietz digging into the community’s past, all of the 1:30 p.m.

programs are free and open to the public. Schedule to read at “Poetry Artifactory VI” are retired KVCC communications

instructor Marion Boyer, Maria Bahlke, Janet Ruth Heller, Elizabeth Kerlikowski, Gina Betcher, Gail Martin, Nina Fereir, and Gerhard Fuerst.

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According to Dietz, their poems will reference such places as Galesburg, Kleinstueck Preserve, the Farmers Market, the museum, and Upjohn Park.

Here are the “Sunday Series” programs through spring: “Kalamazoo’s Argonauts: The Lure of California Gold in 1850” – March 14 “The Ladies Library Association” – March 28 “Play Ball! – Baseball in Kalamazoo” – April 11 “Kalamazoo’s Musical Heritage” – April 25.For further information, contact Tom Dietz at 373-7984.

Welch registers 300th win as Cougars coach A victory over Glen Oaks Community College last month brought Coach Ron Welch his 300th victory as a KVCC Cougar cage mentor for the women’s basketball team.

In October of 2007, Welch was saluted at the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan (BCAM) Hall of Fame Awards Banquet in Lansing. He was chosen the BCAM “Coach of the Year” in women’s basketball at community colleges. At that time, Welch had already notched more than 400 victories in his coaching career that dates back to 1964. Welch, who was raised in Michigan’s Thumb and was a four-sport performer in high school, attended Central Michigan University, playing basketball and baseball for the Chippewas. His coaching stops in Southwest Michigan have included Nazareth College, Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Central High School, and Comstock High School.

He joined the KVCC coaching staff in 1995. In the majority of his last 11 seasons, his women’s teams have won at least 23 games, allowing the Lady Cougars to take part in regional and national tournaments.

Serving on his staff this year as assistant coaches are Maureen Brown and Terry Gillette.

‘Swap Meet’ – our eBay and want adsThe Office of Human Resources’ web page contains a want-ad system to link

KVCC folks with their colleagues in the sharing of talent, knowledge, skills, goods and services. There is also the technology to attach a photo to what you want to market.

It could be thought of as KVCC’s e-Bay shopping center, and it works. Just ask Larry Taylor and Scott Eberstein.

The “KVCC Swap Meet” provides a forum to barter goods (made or grown) and to post information about services that can be provided -- painting, sewing, computer assistance, etc.

It can also be used to post an announcement about services or goods that are being sought.

There are four categories on the site: Services for Hire, Goods Wanted, Goods for Sale, and Miscellaneous. This site is for KVCC employees only and is intended as a way for employees to network with each other for trade or sale purposes.

KVCC will not be responsible for any transactions or the satisfaction of either party, and will not enter into dispute resolution. “KVCC Swap Meet” is housed on the Human Resources website under Quick Links.

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To post a service or item, just click Post Ad, select the appropriate category, complete the online form and click submit.

Co-workers will be able to view the posting by the next business day. It is requested that the postings be made during non-working hours.

Among the services for hire are music combos for events, interior and exterior painting, drywall repairs, deck staining, landscaping, and light-maintenance tasks.

For sale are two saddles, an oak office desk, audio books, an oak bench, a wall clock, a mini air compressor, military camouflage uniforms, an entertainment center, and a dining-room table and chairs for up to 12 with a matching hutch.

Wanted are a used treadmill, checkerboards and sets of checkers, brown eggs, and goods for Denise Miller’s “Fire” project.

Under the Miscellaneous category is hosting an international student.

Festival of Health coming March 13Coming into shape is the programming for the annual Festival of Health that is

staged at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum each winter semester.Slated for Saturday, March 13, from noon to 4 p.m., the event features health-care

professionals offering tips and advice for getting in shape, staying in shape through exercise, using healthy nutrition to improve quality of life and academic success, the benefits of a proactive approach to health to ward off disease, and therapeutic messages.

For more information contact Annette Hoppenworth at extension 7955 or ahoppenworth@kvcc.edu.

Ceramicist John Herbon on campus two daysKVCC’s ceramics program will play host to potter John Herbon at a two-day

presentation on the Texas Township Campus.Presentations and demonstrations are slated for Friday (Feb. 26) from 10 a.m. to 5

p.m. and on Saturday (Feb. 27) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.The fee is $40 for one day and $75 for a two-day pass. The program is free to

KVCC and Western Michigan University students. More information is available by calling (269) 488-4373 or e-mailing

valleystudentartists@hotmail.com.Herbon’s creations are described as “distinctive – classic shapes with soft matte

glazes and realistic animal embellishments such as fish handles on a covered jar or an applied lizard on a vase.”

Observers say that the age of his pots is hard to pin down because they are so realistic. A Herbon creation might be mistaken for something spun in the 1920s or produced by a ceramicist somewhere in Asia, somewhere in time.

Get up close and personal with MarsNone of us has experienced the stark, barren and not-completely-inert surface of

Mars. Until now.Welcome to the Digistar 4, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum’s new, full-color, 109-

seat planetarium technology that is now open to the public and offering these three shows on a regular basis.

There is a $3 fee for planetarium shows, although admission to the museum and its exhibitions are free.

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As with its predecessor Digistar II, which was among the attractions when the downtown-Kalamazoo museum opened its doors in February of 1996, the newest $1.3 million version is among the handful in operation around the world.

The show “Invaders of Mars” makes it easier to accept that none of us will ever make it to that planet because, thanks to the Digistar 4 technology, we’ve already been there.

“’Invaders of Mars’ is the featured program through the end of March,” says planetarium coordinator Eric Schreur. “Mars reached opposition in late January and, while it shines at its brightest, the planetarium show will reveal the discoveries made through telescopes and the space probes that have orbited and landed on the next planet out from the sun.”

“Invaders of Mars” will be shown daily at 3 p.m. It is a 25-minute program that offers up-close-and-personal looks at great chasms, canyons and volcanoes from orbiting spacecraft. The robotic landers explore the icy caps and dust storms that sweep across the Martian surface.

Schreur says the planetarium’s family program through the first three months of 2010 is a converted version of a regular feature, “Sky Legends of the Three Fires.”

Southwest Michigan Native American storyteller Larry Plamondon explains how a coyote scattered the stars into the sky, how a turtle race resulted in the Milky Way, and how a bear hunt resulted in The Big Dipper.

This feature will be shown weekdays at 11 a.m., on Saturdays at 1 p.m. and on Sundays at 2 p.m.

With the U2 sky concert continuing at 8:30 p.m. on Fridays through the winter months, a program about finding constellations and planets in the winter nights will be shown on Saturdays at 2 p.m. This backyard-stargazing presentation is titled “Winter Nights.”

More information is available at the museum’s web site at www.kalamazoomuseum.org.

Winter-semester internships continue to growThe college’s Community Partners Internship Program has arranged for five

winter-semester placements for students to give them a leg up in future searches for employment.

Lois Brinson-Ropes, the internship coordinator for the Student Employment Services unit in the Student Success Center, reports the finalizing of these workforce-development connections that can be life-and-career changing:

David Curtis, a graphic-design major – Paw Paw Wine Distributors Graphic-design/illustration student, Amy O'Donnell -- Wraps & Signs By

Trim It Brittany Bauman, another graphic-design enrollee – The Strutt Morgan Wellman as an administrative assistant -- Abies Chiropractic

Clinic Chelsea Spencer, a business-administration major will do a marketing

internship at Global Clinical Connections, which is located in the M-TEC of KVCC and sponsored a graphic-design intern during the fall semester.

Brinson-Ropes said placements are pending for a drafting student at The Outerwears Co. Inc. in Schoolcraft, another intern at Global Clinical Connections, a

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computer-programming student at the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency, an accounting student at the Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, and another accounting student at the Borgess Medical Center.

Discussions are under way for a computer programmer at Brave Industrial Fasteners in Otsego, a graphic-design major at Market Grasp Media, a marketing major at Treystar, and a heating-ventilation-air conditioning student at AIM Corp.

“It is such an involved process,” Brinson-Ropes said, “to find the companies, then the perfect student, then send the resumes, wait for the student to connect with the company, get all the paperwork signed and have the student register. Not complaining at all because it is a blast.”

Funded for a three-year period by the KVCC Foundation, the $100,000 project seeks to place at least 55 students over a three-year period with enterprises interested in a grow-your-own-workforce alliance.

The bulk of the grant funds is being used to pay up to 50 percent of the wages for each intern, with the companies they work for providing the balance. The program will last through December of 2011.

Salary terms are established on a case-by-case basis and agreed upon prior to the commencement of the internship. The pay can range from the minimum wage of $7.40 to $12 per hour.

An internship usually lasts 15 weeks, but students can apply at any time and be assigned year round.

“We see this internship program as the college’s wish to join forces with Southwest Michigan employers to produce and retain a highly talented and trained workforce,” Brinson-Ropes said.

And there may be more help coming along the way.A Jan. 14 article in Business Review West Michigan magazine reported that

organizations are making progress on growing internships across the state.The West Michigan Strategic Alliance conducted a survey in November that

showed employers had created 450 new internships in the region during 2009, and that might be a conservative number. The alliance’s goal is to assist in the creation of 3,000 new internships throughout West Michigan by the end of 2011.

Meanwhile the Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce is continuing its internship-outreach project by sponsoring workshops for both employers and students. It has held these workshops in conjunction with Western Michigan University’s engineering, business and communication schools. It reports that consideration is under way to stage a workshop at KVCC.

For many enterprises -- and not just those in emerging businesses -- the No. 1 factor for achieving success is finding the right people to fit the right jobs. Internships are tried-and-true ways to “grow your own” and identify prospects with high potential.

Instructors should tell students that can apply when they have achieved the skills and education required by the company offering the internship, and when they have completed 50 percent of the course work in their respective majors.

They will also be required to complete pre-employment-skills training provided by the center’s Student Employment Services.

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This training will include resume writing, effective cover letters, interviewing skills, professional attire, personal hygiene, promptness and dependability, communication skills, and non-verbal behavior.

Each company can request an intern based on the area of study, skills needed, duties expected, hours of work, and when the person is needed on the job. Each will select an intern based on the organization’s existing hiring methods and criteria.

Instructors can direct interested students to Brinson-Ropes in Room 1356 on the Texas Township Campus. She can be contacted at extension 4344 or lbrinsonrop@kvcc.edu.

Dozen pairs of old tennis will fill third boxIf those tennis/gym shoes you are wearing are due to be replaced soon, don’t junk

them.If there is any wear and tear left in them, some folks in the Dominican Republic

would certainly appreciate the chance to completely wear them out as they engage in their passion of baseball and other sports.

The KVCC Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) chapter has already shipped two boxes to the Caribbean nation, and a third box will follow as soon as a dozen pairs are donated, according to chapter adviser Dick Shilts.

KVCC folks can dropped off their donations in Shilts’ office. Financial gifts are also being accepted to help defray shipping expenses that are about $135 a box. Shilts says another $50 to $60 will do the trick for the third shipment.

Shilts’ contact is Nancy Willmore, a former KVCC basketball player who runs the Willmore Christian Foundation there.

“She explained to me that most of the youngsters who love to play basketball at her foundation do some barefooted,” Shilts said. “After we discussed this at our FCA meeting, it was agreed that we would do whatever little bit we can to make some youngsters in the Dominican Republic enjoy the game a bit more.

“The tennis shoes may be more than slightly worn,” Shilts said, “just so they are useable. We'll send whatever number of boxes we can come up whenever we fill one throughout the 2009-10 academic year.”

Automotive Academy source for engine repairsThe KVCC Automotive Academy is available to perform repairs on the

automobiles operated by administrators, faculty and staff as part of its instructional curriculum.

The latest emphasis will be on repairs on the mechanical systems of engines. As in the past, truck work is not included in this opportunity. Nor are engine overhauls or work on automatic transmissions.

The KVCC Automotive Academy is not a business for profit. It seeks customers willing to allow their vehicles to be worked on by students with no expectation of timeliness or correctness of the repair.

Academy instructors strive to inspect all repairs and supervise diagnosis of concerns but cannot guarantee that the repairs are correct or the diagnosis is accurate.

The academy, now based in the M-TEC of KVCC, seeks certain types of repairs at different times throughout the semester, and cannot guarantee that the repair a

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customer is seeking fits into the same schedule. This means it could be a long period of time before the vehicle would be considered for repair.

People who are dependent upon the use of a vehicle should seek a different option. But if a customer can do without the use of a vehicle for a long period of time and the repair fits into the academy curriculum, bingo!

To be considered for a repair, visit http://www.mteckvcc.com/autoacademy.htm and click on the request-a-repair link. The PDF can then be faxed or e-mailed to the address given.

There is no charge for labor and potential customers must pay for parts needed for repairs.

Future of Michigan newspapers in the spotlightWith too many newspapers shrinking, going bankrupt, or going digital, a March

27 “Conference on the Future of Michigan Newspapers and Society” in Kalamazoo will open a dialogue about what may be regarded as a crisis for the essence of a democracy.

Slated to be held on that Saturday in the Fetzer Center on the campus of Western Michigan University, the conference will feature a slate of presentations and will begin at 8:30 a.m.

“This conference is probably the first of its kind in the nation,” said Andrew Targowski, the event’s chairman and a staff member of WMU’s Center for Sustainable Business Practices. “We hope it will serve as a model for similar forums at other universities and colleges in the state.”

With a subtitle of “Can an Educated Society be Sustained Solely by Digitalization?” the keynoters and the titles of their presentations are:

• “Credibility, Incredibility, and the Demise of Objectivity, Civility and Wisdom” - Cal Samra, a former Associated Press and newspaper reporter

• “Digital Media and News: Reinventing the Newspaper Future” - Richard Gershon of the WMU School of Communication

• “Saving Paper Papers” - Cheryl Kaechele, president of the National Newspaper Association

• “Can Democracy Survive in the Google Age?” - Thomas Kostrzewa of the WMU Department of Political Science

• “The Future of Reason in the Digital Civilization” - Targowski.“Newspapers are a national treasure,” Samra said. “A paper paper is the glue that holds a community together. Newspapers survived the Great Depression. They survived radio and television. They survived shoppers. But can they survive the Internet?”

Members of the public, as well as current, former and future journalists, are invited to take part in dialogues that will address such questions as:

• Can paper papers be saved?• Should newspapers give themselves away free on the Internet, or should

they charge for Internet access to their daily or weekly editions?• Are we entering a new era of digital journalism?• Is there a place for both paper and digital media?The conference will also explore ideas aimed at improving editorial and business

practices at newspapers, and promote communications between journalists and technologists.

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The conference is also calling for papers, with cash prizes given in each of three categories - faculty, student and professional journalist.

Additional information on the conference, registration and call for papers is available at http://www.wmich.edu/business/sustainability/newspapers.

The $20 fee includes lunch.The co-sponsors are the National Newspaper Association, the WMU Haworth

College of Business, the WMU Center for Sustainable Business Practices, the WMU College of Arts and Sciences, and the Haenicke Institute for Global Education.KVCC’s Tom Thinnes has been asked to assist in the staging of the event.

And finally. . . In honor of the approach of the IRS and baseball seasons, here

are a couple of chucklers.Joe didn’t know what to expect, or what federal prison he’d end up in,

when he was notified that an IRS auditor intended to stop by and pay his respects. Sitting at his desk, Joe wondered if the feds would grant clemency and take a check. No need for that, it turned out.

The auditor held up Joe’s tax return and asked, “Why didn’t you fill out the form completely?”

“Huh!”“Yea, you left this part blank, the part that asks, ‘Are you the head of the

household?’”Relieved but adamant, Joe said: “Are you kidding? My wife and I have

been battling about that for more than 25 years.”A first-grade teacher explained to her class that she is a Chicago Cubs

fan. She asks her students to raise their hands if they are Cubs fans, too. Not really knowing what a Cubs fan is but wanting to be liked by their teacher, all hands fly into the air -- except for Charlie’s.

“Why?” she asks."Because I am a proud Chicago White Sox fan!" boasts the little boy.“Why?” she asks.“My Mom and Dad are White Sox fans, so I am, too.”Slightly perturbed, the teacher loudly dispelled that reason in front of her

class. "What if your Mom was a moron, and your Dad was an idiot, what would you be then?"

"Then I'd be a Cubs fan."

☻☻☻☻☻☻

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