BY LAURIE REESE Community contributor

an a haircut change a person’s life?Judging from my own experience, I’d say yes. Abad one can leave you miserable — and a goodone can make you feel like a whole new person.

But what if you weren’t able to take care ofyour hair?

What if you were a man with a terminal illness whohad short hair his whole life, only to become bed riddenwith the unwelcome side effect of hair that looked likehe’d been stranded on a deserted island for a year?

That’s where Rosa Davalos comes in.A volunteer for Optimal Hospice, Davalos visits termi-

nally ill patients and provides them with free haircuts.“They’re really happy that someone’s there to make

them look the way they were when they were able to goout and take care of their hair,” she said. “They alwayswant to pay and can’t believe that someone is there justbecause they want to be there.”

Davalos cut inches off the grown-out hair of one gen-tleman who said, “I almost forgot how I looked.”

“It was like taking a ton off of him,” said Davalos. “Hefelt more alive.”

Like the rest of us, Rosa Davalos has a busy life. Sherecently opened her own business — Davalos BeautySalon & Boutique on Chester in Oildale — and she has ahusband and four children

When her mother passed away from Lou Gehrig’s dis-ease, she realized how stressful the death of a loved onecan be. So, she carved out time in her busy schedule tovolunteer.

“It makes me feel like I’m still helping, like I’m help-ing my mom in a way,” she said. “I treat the hospicepatients the way I would treat my mother.

“This is how I would do my best for her.”It might seem like visiting dying patients would be

difficult, but Davalos finds it brings her great joy. She isgrateful to be able to give something to someone inneed.

“When people are dying and they can’t get out oftheir homes, the person taking care of them also needshelp,” Davalos said. “One person, or two people, can’tdo it all — and anyone leaving this earth deserves to go

with dignity.”No matter your schedule, there is time for volunteer-

ing.“It’s the most wonderful thing a human being can do,”

said Davalos. “Volunteer what was given to you andshare it with others.”

Maybe the life you’ll change is yours. This is the year that you can make a difference.Optimal Hospice Care is holding a volunteer training

on Wednesday, Sept. 15, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for any-one interested in donating a little time and compassionto those affected by terminal illness in your community.

In addition to more patient family support volun-teers, we are looking for notary publics, hairstylists, pettherapy teams, housecleaning/yard clean up crews —and caring individuals in Bakersfield and the surround-ing communities.

We are especially in need of volunteer assistance inthe Tehachapi, Delano, Wasco, Shafter, Arvin, Taft, Lam-ont and Kern Valley areas.

For more information on our amazing program or toreserve your seat at the training, please call Karen at716-4000 or email her at: kbudnick@optimalcares.com.

Laurie Reese is a volunteer for Optimal Hospice.

“At” is one of those words, apreposition, about which yourteacher was admonishing you.

Please notice, I did not say, “isone of those words your teacherwas admonishing you about —because that would mean I ended asentence with a preposition.

However, “at” is never correct atthe end of a sentence — mainlybecause its object is not even in thesentence.

“Where’s he at?” is heard fre-quently — which is the incorrectway of saying “Where is he?” Hecan be “at the beach” or “at work”but neither beach nor work is in thesentence.

A prepositional phrase needs to

be com-plete; thismeans itneeds tobegin withthe prepo-sition andend with itso b j e c t ,either anoun or apronoun.

Preposi-tions justcan’t dan-gle therewaiting fort h e i r

object. Therefore, we all need to try

hard to protect this little word. Howwe can do this is never use the con-traction “where’s …” but insteadsay “where is…(fill in the blankwith it, he, she, etc.”

If we eliminate “at” at the end ofa sentence, we will have taken a

large step in making our Englishteachers happy— particularly thisEnglish teacher.

Marily Anton is happily enjoyingretirement, grandchildren, and anoccasional substitute teaching posi-tion.

BY USERNAME: SONFLOWERANDGRACE

remain in awe of God’s nature!As Kayla and I recently walkedto a nearby park with my sis-ter-in-law and my youngnephews, we were surround-

ed above by multitudes of dragon-flies.

I could not help but think thatthey must symbolize God — espe-cially having been afforded anamazing opportunity throughoutthe weekend to love and listen aswe visited.

I simply prayed, “Lord, I believethese dragonflies mean something.Please help me to figure it out.”

Later that day, I found a card cov-ered with colorful dragonflies. It ismy intention to pen an encourage-ment to my sister-in-law, using thiscard.

I awakened early this morningand set out to pray and read myBible. As it came time to work onmy correspondence, I googled“dragonfly, Christian.” I found awebsite and what I believe is truly amessage from God.

Dragonfly Ministries is a websitewhich offers encouragement andtools to strengthen our walk withGod as women of God and search-ing for God.

Just as the dragonfly absorbs itspower from the sun — and reflects

and refracts that glorious light intodazzling colors — we may alsoreflect and refract God’s light toone another!

It is my prayer that you’ll drop byand visit— and in the meantime, ifyou happen upon a dragonfly,know that it is yet another of God’swonderful love notes sent just foryou!

May our Mighty God, fromwhom all blessings flow, guide youand comfort you this week in allyour endeavors both great andsmall.

For God is truly a God of power in

our big struggles of health,finances and marriages.

He is also Lord of the “littlethings” in our lives whether they belaundry, toddlers and tempertantrums — or simply getting frompoint A to point B!

“In Him was life and that life wasthe light of men.” John1:4

Do YOU have something you’dlike to blog about? Submittingyour stories,thoughts,events orphotos for The Bakersfield Voice issimple and FREE! Just go to:www.bakersfieldvoice.com,createa free profile,and get started today!

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2 The Bakersfield Voice Sunday, September 12, 2010

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F R O M T H E B L O G S

emember way back to the good old days of Englishclass? (The only reason I do is that I taught English formore than 25 years to seventh graders in Bakersfield.)

Teachers would remind you that you should never enda sentence with a preposition — and you ask “What is a prepo-sition?”

Y O U R S C H O O L S E X T R A ! E X T R A !

Y O U R V O I C E

R

C

Hairstylist changing people’s lives, onehaircut at a time through volunteer work

COURTESY PHOTO

COURTESY PHOTO

Rosa Davalos stands in front of her business, DavalosBeauty Salon & Boutique in Oildale. A volunteer forOptimal Hospice, Davalos visits terminally ill patientsand provides them with free haircuts.

CLIP ART PHOTO

Voice blogger finds inspirationin the flight of a dragonfly!

COURTESY OF CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD

he CSUB HispanicExcellence ScholarshipFund (HESF) will recog-nize 65 academicallyexcellent students with

scholarships totaling more than$100,000 at the 27th Annual Schol-arship Awards Dinner at 7 p.m.Saturday, Sept. 18 at The Double-tree Hotel, 3100 Camino Del RioCourt. A social hour begins at 6p.m. Tickets are $60.

This year’s dinner featuresMoctesuma Esparza, CEO of MayaCinemas North America, as thekeynote speaker. A past CaliforniaState University system trustee,he is an award-winning filmmaker,producer and entertainmentindustry executive. His honorsinclude an Academy Award nomi-nation, an Emmy, a Clio, and aCine Eagle award.

A partner of Esparza-Katz Pro-ductions, his production creditsinclude “The Milagro Beanfield

War” (1988) directed by RobertRedford, “The Ballad of GregorioCortez” (1982) for PBS, and “Sele-na” (1997).

He was named oneof the 50 “Most Pow-erful and InfluentialLatinos” of 2008 byThe Imagen Founda-tion.

Since its inceptionin 1984, HESF hashelped build a tradi-

tion of excellence at CSUB byincreasing access to a college edu-cation for academically excellent,underrepresented students whodemonstrate leadership. The Fundhas supported more than 1,300outstanding students with scholar-ships totaling more than $2.4 mil-lion.

Many of the students are amongthe first generation of their fami-lies to attend college.

Dr. Thomas Martínez, Chair ofthe Public Administration Depart-

ment at CSUB, said the scholar-ship program has been very suc-cessful.

“Due to the growing support oflocal businesses and individuals,the CSUB President’s ScholarshipMatching Program, and endow-ment collaboration with thenational Hispanic ScholarshipFund, our scholarship fund hasbecome one of the premier schol-arship programs of its kind,” hesaid.

The HESF Advisory Board iscomprised of local business, edu-cation, and community leaders.Supporters of this event includeChevron, State Farm Insurance,Sempra Energy, Univision, andBright House Networks.

For tickets to the dinner, callGloria Castaneda at 654-2282 orvisit: www.csub.edu/hesf.

For more information about theHispanic Excellence ScholarshipFund, contact Dr. Thomas Mar-tinez at 654-3064.

T

Y O U R C E L E B R A T I O N S

CSUB Hispanic Excellence ScholarshipFund to award 65 successful students

BY CHRISTINE GRONTKOWSKICommunity contributor

hat’s the latest withMS research andtreatments? So muchis in the news — fromnew oral medications

to symptom management drugs tothe latest research on what causesMS, and how to stop, reverse andeven prevent the disease.

The National Multiple SclerosisSociety, Southern California Chap-ter is bringing two leading MS spe-cialty neurologists from USCMedical Center to Bakersfield tosort through the new develop-ments, answer questions, and helpkick off Walk MS 2010.

Dr. Margaret Burnett, MD andDr. Regina Berkovich, MD will be atthe Clerou Lecture Center locatedon the Truxtun campus of MercyHospital in Bakersfield on Satur-day, Sept. 18 from 1 to 3 p.m.

The doctors will discuss the latestin MS research and trends, and willalso allot time to answer your ques-tions — whether they are aboutoral treatments, symptom man-agement therapies, or the possiblelink between MS and CCSVI(Chronic Cerebrospinal VenousInsufficiency).

You will also have the opportuni-ty to learn about and register forBakersfield’s Walk MS coming upOctober 30, which helps fund localprograms and services, along withcutting-edge research worldwide.

Dr. Burnett is currently the Direc-tor of the L.A. County/USC MSclinic, Director of the MS Clinicand MS Infusion Center at RanchoLos Amigos Medical Center, andAssistant Professor of Pathology atUSC Keck School of Medicine. Shecontinues to be involved in severalsignificant research studies thatrelate to MS treatment medica-

tions. Dr. Burnett has been directlyinvolved in patient care andresearch for more than 20 years.

Dr. Berkovich has served as assis-tant professor, lecturer and con-sultant in the area of neurology for15 years. She is currently AssistantProfessor of Clinical Neurology atUSC’s Keck School of Medicine andis currently on staff at USC Univer-sity Hospital and L.A. County/USCMS clinic. Dr. Berkovich is PrincipalInvestigator on two research stud-ies currently, and continues as aCo-Investigator on several otherongoing clinical trial studies relat-ed to MS.

The “Advances in MS Care” MSUpdate and Walk MS Kick Off pro-gram is free. Pre-registration isrequired.

To sign up or receive more infor-mation, please call 321.9512 oremail:christine.grontkowski@nmss.org.

WLeading MS specialists visit Bakersfield to talk to patients

MARILYANTONEducation columnist

BY GABY TAMAYOCommunity contributor

ust like with people, accidents and emergencies can happento animals — so being prepared could make a lifesaving dif-ference.

At Pet First Aid you will learn the symptoms and how tocare for common ailments and emergencies in both cats

and dogs.You will also learn tips on maintaining your pet’s health and

what to do in life threatening situations — and much more!To register, or for more information, please call the American

Red Cross — Kern Chapter at 324-6427 or visit: www.kernred-cross.org.

Classes are on Oct. 5 and Nov. 9 from 5 to 9 p.m. Cost is $50.

J

First aid class helps you preparefor pet accidents, emergencies

Esparza

CALIFORNIAN FILE PHOTO

Veterinarian Mike Keese draws blood from Azucar Cafe, owned byDavid Pesina Jr.

E X T R A ! E X T R A !

‘At’ — one word to avoid atend of sentence

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