Neighborhood Couple Practices Patience &Perspective on Haitian Relief Tripby Jill Hufnagel

When Staci Maroney and her husband Sonny Nguyen heard that VT’s College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) was organiz-ing a relief trip to Haiti, they were a natural fit to join the group of six physicians, one nurse and 29 med students. Sonny, a physician with Lewis Gale, and Staci, with a background in public health, have both spent significant stints living in areas replete with need, so they had a sense of what was ahead. In 1994-95, Staci spent two years living in Haiti and working in a clinic created by Johns Hopkins’ In-ternational Health Department, with an aim to preventing the spread of TB and HIV. Staci has lived in struggling areas in China and Indonesia. “But in Haiti,” she says, “the poverty is simply aston-ishing. It’s a really hard place to live. We almost never had electricity and, therefore, water. When the electricity would come on, you ran as fast as you could to turn on the pump and fill buck-ets and tubs with water. In terms of food, it’s bare bones beyond rice and beans.” And so the pair went to Haiti with a certain history — and an understanding. Sonny came with medical expertise and Staci came with fluency in Creole and therefore the ability to translate, a pre-cious commodity as one of many struggles facing the decimated region is coordination of care and services. With borders opened between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, medical options have expanded just as translation issues have doubled. Spanish-speaking Dominicans and Creole-speaking Haitians find their efforts stymied by language barriers, punctuated by a native tongue that’s, as Staci quips, “not a Rosetta Stone kind of thing.” As they prepared for the trip, they relied on the kindness of fam-ily and neighbors to coordinate their own domestic details. And with three children — Nathan, age 11; Emmeline, age 8; and Hen-ry, age 3 — leaving home was only the first of many crossings. Staci’s parents came from Texas for the week to care for the kids.

The couple packed their bags with a few changes of clothes and the $400 collected from a relief drive at Highland Park Elementary School (where both Nathan and Emmeline attend the PLATO pro-gram). They were ready to leave the creature comforts of their home on Avenham to sleep on the bus and eat the canned tuna, granola bars and fruit cups that would serve as their primary food during the week-long trip. VCOM had a plan that would land the group in Jimaní, a border

town where some 3,000 patients had flooded a 40-bed hospital and spilled over to take up residency in a neighbor-ing orphanage. They arrived by air and then traveled by bus the 10 hours to Ji-maní. However, minutes before they ar-rived, another medical relief group had checked in and, just like that, the need was no longer there. And those plans so well mapped by VCOM were, says Staci, “out the window!” By chance, VCOM coordinators came upon a medi-cal team from Boston who said they could be of help in Barahona, a town

about two hours back. And there was a perk to this new plan: a mis-sionary woman offered up a big house where they could all sleep: guys out on the balcony and women in a dormitory-style room with bunk beds — both scenarios a tremendous plus over sleeping on the bus. And so, the group learned from day one to bend to the changes around every turn: a refrain that would define much of the trip. Staci was able to see the bigger picture, even as she sat with bouts of frustration: “We were learning as we went, figuring out whom to go to, where to go. Even though it seemed chaotic, there was organization at a certain level and care was being coordinated for these refugees.” On day two, the group visited a rural 40-bed hospital that had had 123 critical patients dropped on them in an eight-hour stretch

— Continued on page 11

march 2010

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Husband and wife Sonny Nguyen and Staci Maroney make a great team, at home and in Haitian relief efforts. Photo by Mary Anne Marx

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He Said... As I sit here starting this column, with the tv set to a local channel on mute, flakes are fall-ing. The kids went to school today, against the grain of the forecast. And I know they need to get to school. And yes, I’m tired of the snow like so many of you. Tired of the digging, arranging schedules, rearranging, and mustering up the energy to find something for the kids to do. And yet . . . the flakes are falling, and I feel strangely happy. Snow gives everything a great atmosphere. The flakes are alive while everything else is so dormant and grey. Their delicate clinks as they hit the surface drown out all but the loudest sounds: the crunch of the plows, the scrape of the shovels, and the giggles of the kids. The contrasts are intoxicating. I also like the drama, and I think I have lots of company on this score. It explains the runs on milk and bread, as if we are all going to run through our pantries and have to get down on a Donner level to survive. And it’s a great excuse to put things off, and, as a committed procrastinator, I’m a big fan. It doesn’t work for writers though. Those lanes on the digital highway are always open. Perhaps the reason I’m not burnt out on the snow is because the clan and I recently so-journed to a far sunnier clime—Disney to be exact. To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I have had a love/hate relationship with the mouse and his ilk for as long as I can remem-ber. Some of my earliest favorite films were The Apple Dumpling Gang and Escape to Witch Mountain. As I got older I rejected such fare. When my brother Andrew was little, I tortured him by singing in a grating falsetto, “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. I torture my children now abusing The Wiggles in the same way. But Disney World was a delight. I found myself energized, racing the children to squeeze in another ride on Test Track. My only frustration was a lack of time. I made the suggestion to Jill that this would be a fun trip for adults. I see a vision of myself twenty years hence, drinking a beer, scarfing down seafood, and reveling in the magic. Other than a nightmare trip home involving Cole, his stomach virus, and an airplane bathroom — and this is Jill’s story to tell — I have nothing but praise. So I’ll bide my time and look forward to the day when I can go back with the excuse of taking the grandchildren if necessary. Meanwhile, there’s the flakes. And the promise — al-though I know it’s not popular — of more snows in March. — B.S.

Enduring Snowby Deloris McKinney

Quiet.Magical.Pure.Demure.Mother Nature may be glad.She may be sad.Either way we have hadso much . . . SNOW.Glorious snow!Snow! Again and again.

Previously a resident of Raleigh Court, Deloris has lived in South Roanoke for two years. She lived in New York for nine years where she studied dance and later taught dance locally.

The “Peekaboo Owl” is located in a hole in a tree in front of 2529 Rosalind Avenue. A few years back I spotted an owl in a different hole in that tree and took several pictures of the owl. One night I took a great picture of two owls in that hole. Unfortunately the limb with the owl hole broke off. I purchased an owl house and hung in on that tree about where the old hole was located. The owl has come back to the tree but as far as I know never used the owl house I hung on the tree. — Thomas Dalzell, Rosalind Avenue SW

Peekaboo Winner

Photo by Mary Anne Marx

3

My son, Noah, will be nine this summer, about how old I was when I began appreciating popular music. When I was pre-school age, my brother was a DJ at top-40 station, but as soon as his shift was over, my parents would flip over to an easy listening station. Although I was born in 1967, the “Summer of Love”, my earliest mu-sical memories are of acts like Roger Whittaker and the Carpenters. I had this kids’ record player that folded up like a little suitcase. Mickey Mouse was under the cover. The needle was a tiny mouse claw under Mickey’s plastic three-fingered hand. It had four speeds: 16, 33, 45 and 78 rpm. Have you ever seen a 16 rpm record? I haven’t. My mother had some old children’s 78s from her child-hood in the 1930s. I remember a Sesame Street record I had, from back when they would still allow Cookie Monster to chow on cook-ies. My favorite was “Rubber Duckie”. Sesame Street was great – they would teach letters, numbers, and shapes, and also tolerance for diversity, without being preachy about it. Then the Snuffalupagus came around. I hated him. He was depressing. Later along whined Elmo and ruined the whole show. Not that you asked. Having three much older brothers helped foster my appreciation for music. They left behind some great records from the ‘50s and ‘60s: Elvis, Del Shannon, The Ventures, The Byrds, some early Beatles. There were also some obscure things, such as “Yogi” by the Ivy Three, which was a song about Yogi Bear and BooBoo. I wore out the “Monster Mash” ’45. What I didn’t realize until years later was that they took all the really cool stuff with them, like the Beach Boys, Joni Mitchell, the Rolling Stones, Buffalo Springfield and Jefferson Airplane. I had to discover them on my own. When I was eight I started hanging with a kid from the neighbor-hood who had a 12 year-old brother, Jon, with a cool stereo and the patience to let a couple third graders hang around. Suddenly, my world changed as we listened to Humble Pie and Black Sabbath. One of my favorite albums even to this day is Aerosmith’s Rocks. Trust me. You need no other Aerosmith record because after 1976 it was all downhill. “Love in an Elevator” Pffffft. Forget it! Listen to “Rats in the Cellar” from Rocks and hear what should have been. Jon was a huge Kiss fan. The first LP I bought was Kiss Alive. That was the album that broke them, even though “Rock and Roll All Night” was released a year earlier. It took me awhile to realize that Kiss was more show than talent, but it was still a great leap forward. For proof, I’m not sure why I’m admitting this because anyone would be justified in beating me up even 35 years later, but the very first single I bought, the first dollar I ever shelled out for a record of any kind, was for “Muskrat Love” by the Captain and Tennille. See what I’m saying? My neighbor Jon saved my life. Another epiphany came when I found a pink cassette tape on the street one day. Literally, the cassette itself was pink. I expected kid stuff, more Sesame Street. But no: Led Zeppelin IV. I took it home

and popped it in my father’s cassette player that he used for taking field notes (he was a civil engineer). Whoa! About ten seconds into it I was a lost cause. There was no going back to Neil Sedaka. I had heard of Led Zeppelin, but I never truly listened to them. Within a couple weeks I bought all their albums, confined myself to my room, and listened over and over and over. My parents were mortified. I got a new stereo and branched out from there. I couldn’t find a band I didn’t like. You name it, I had it. Sure, I had the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and fell for disco. Who didn’t? But every-thing widens the spectrum. By high school I gravitated mostly to pro-gressive rock, like Rush, Genesis, and Yes, but never limited myself. Steely Dan is still a favorite. I doubled back to music from the late ‘60s, immersed myself in California bands like the Eagles, America, and the Grateful Dead, I was blown away by Stevie Wonder and

followed that path toward jazz. In college I turned to punk and new wave and eventually grunge in the early 90s, but I didn’t leave anything behind. Had a brief flirtation with country but it didn’t stick. I like “alt-country” and blue-grass, but mainstream country doesn’t move me. Hip-hop has some high points, but overall it’s not what I choose. Eminem is highly overrated. I like early rap, but at risk of sounding like an old coot, much

of what tops the charts now doesn’t strike me as requiring a lot of talent. A lot of production, yes, but vocal talent, I don’t see it. Speak-ing of over-production, I do like Lady GaGa. Who’d have thought I would mention her in two successive columns? I was motivated to choose this topic because I’m so impressed with the new local station, 101.5 The Music Place. That frequency started out as modern rock WZZI. It lasted a couple years, but the format was already on the wane when they started. Then it was something else for awhile before becoming The Planet, which claimed to play “Everything that Rocks”. They didn’t. The Music Place is skewed toward a more acoustic, folk rock, indie sound, but overall there is a great variety. You’re not likely to hear Metallica but you will hear the Pixies. The great thing is that every day, even in the brief time I’m in the car, I hear new songs that make me want to rush home and start downloading. Noah was recently invited to a karaoke party and was assigned to pick two songs he would sing. From what I’ve told you here, even though I like most anything, you can tell my heart is with the hard stuff. I nudged him toward songs he knows from Rock Band, like Interpol’s “PDA” or “Give It Away” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But no, in the end he picked “Fireflies” by Owl City, about the most milquetoast song you can imagine, but it’s popular among the young people nonetheless. That’s OK. I started out with “Muskrat Love” and within weeks I had “War Pigs” cranked to eleven. I’m sure he’ll be there soon. David is a 40ish working husband and father of one. He’s quick to tell you how things ought to be, but real slow to do anything about it.

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by Lillian King Meidlinger

Many (and I dare say most) of you have heard of or knew the legendary late Judge Beverly T. Fitzpatrick, Sr. (Affectionately referred to by many as simply “The Judge.”) Not only was he your neighbor (on Nottingham) for 50 years, he was an incredibly well-respected judge, a staunch civic leader, and a much-loved husband and father. What you may not know, however, is that on top of it all he was also a gifted artist whose work will be exhibited at the Taubman Museum of Art this month. I had the pleasure of meeting the Judge’s lovely, lively wife, Helen, and spoke with her about their lives in South Roanoke and his labors of love outside the workplace. The Fitzpatricks moved to Sherwood Forest from Maiden Lane in 1950 with two small boys in tow (Bev, Jr. and Broadus; Eric was born after the move). It was in the days of calling cards and reciprocat-ed visits. “We were the first small house on Nottingham,” recalls Helen. She re-members with playful dismay a neighbor paying a visit and referring to their home as “a really nice little place.” The place she saw as her castle! “It’s been a wonderful place to live because it’s close to town and yet it’s al-most in the country because it’s quiet,” says Helen. All three of the Fitzpatrick boys continue to live in the neighbor-hood. “I could thrown rocks at all of them,” laughs Helen. When I ask her if she ever does, she shakes her head and says, “and I don’t ever go to see them unless I’m invited. I try and be a good mama...they’re

awful good to me.” She tells me that her sons nearly always called their father “Judge” and rarely called him “Daddy”. Perhaps that’s where the moniker began. But before he became “The Judge”, Bev Sr. and Helen grew up together. Helen says she always had a big crush on him. She also recalls that he was forever making something. She thinks back on the first thing he made for her, “When I went to Europe at the age of fifteen, he carved a little ring out of wood for me to put my scarves through...He just loved making things, especially making things out of nothing.” Mr. Fitzpatrick was a graduate of Jefferson High School and Washington and Lee University. He then served in the Navy dur-ing World War II. Though he had never previously been on water,

he loved being on board his ship (and amazingly never got seasick!). Mr. Fitz-patrick was present for both the landing in the south of France and the invasion at Iwo Jima. After his time in the Navy, he worked at becoming The Judge. He went to law school, got a job as Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney right out of school, and was appointed to his judge-ship soon thereafter. The Judge was the youngest judge ever appointed to the bench in Virginia. Helen notes that The Judge would al-most always have a side project going

that he would work on daily. “I don’t think that anyone who knew him in his work would have dreamed that he did all of this stuff with his hands” she muses. He would come home from work, play with the boys and help get them to bed, then head down to his shop. Mostly, The Judge worked on small projects, things they needed for the house like shelves or fences. In the beginning, “leaner” years, he would make things that they couldn’t afford to purchase, such as the wooden waddling duck toys they would offer as baby gifts to friends. The Judge loved wood and collected scraps of lumber for his projects whenever and wherever he could. “He was into everything with his hands,” says Helen and just seemed to be born knowing how to make and fix things. “Anyone needed anything fixed, Bev would fix it,” she adds. There were larger projects, too. He made what Helen refers to as their “Saturday Greenhouse” (because he only had time to work on it on Saturdays). The family also built a vacation house from the ground up at Smith Mountain Lake. Then, sometime in the 1980s, came The Battleship. Over a period of numerous, hard-working weeks The Judge assembled an enormous model of a battleship using nothing but found items. “He made it out of nothing!” laughs Helen. The battleship is composed of items such as hair curlers, ballpoint pens, curtain rods, and clothes pins. The base was made of scrap lumber and bits of metal siding. But after The Judge spray painted the creation gray, it looked like a great battleship: a hand-some tribute to his time at sea. Unfortunately, the great battleship was not seaworthy. One day not long after the ship was completed, the family took bets as to whether or not it would sail. The Judge was sure it would; his sons were not as convinced. With a Mexican Dinner riding on it, the fam-ily went to great lengths to load the battleship up in a car and take it to Eric’s house (where there is a large pond) for the test. They put it gently in the water, it immediately began to tip over but was quickly saved before incurring any damage. The Judge bought a big dinner that night. Even though he was disappointed that his masterpiece

The Judge’s Off the Record AvocationPalette Profiles: a series of articles profiling neighborhood artists

The Judge and his masterpiece. Photo courtesy of Fitzpatrick family

— Continued on page 8

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Photos by Mary Anne Marx

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Soon everyone will be able to enjoy the tax-free benefits of a Roth IRA, regardless of annual income. Historically, the Roth IRA has had strict eligibility requirements based on income levels, which limited investor participation in this valuable retirement sav-ings vehicle. With the new Roth conversion provisions, that’s all set to change. Beginning in 2010, the $100,000 modified adjusted gross in-come ceiling will be eliminated for conversions from a traditional IRA (and some employer retirement plans) to a Roth IRA.

Tax-free Roth IRA benefits extended to investors with higher incomes Like a traditional IRA, the Roth IRA offers tax-deferred growth – plus, these additional retirement benefits:

-ers, and potentially for spousal beneficiaries

for individuals with earned income

Contribute to your traditional IRA today Remember, there are no income eligibil-ity limits for non-deductible contributions to

with earned income can contribute up to $5,000 for 2009. Investors age 50 or older can make an additional annual $1,000 in catch-up contributions. You can then convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA starting in 2010.

Stretch tax liability over two years You will have to pay income tax on the taxable portion of the assets you convert to a Roth IRA. However, for amounts converted to a Roth IRA in 2010, tax liability can be stretched over the next two tax years by paying 50% in the 2011 tax year and 50% in the 2012 tax year. Check with your tax advisor for additional details on whether or not the conversion strategy makes sense for you.

Important pro-rata rule If you convert from a traditional IRA, SEP-IRA, SIMPLE IRA or rollover IRA that contain both pre-tax and after-tax assets, you should be aware of the pro-rata rule. The taxable portion of your conversion will be determined by the ratio of the pre-tax earnings to the after-tax contributions.For example, let’s say your IRA is worth $400,000:

If you convert 25% or $100,000 of the total amount to a Roth IRA, the conversion amount will be taxed as follows:

If you have multiple IRA accounts (traditional IRA, SEP-IRA, SIM-PLE IRA or rollover IRA), this ratio will be based on the combined

pre-tax and after-tax assets from all of your IRAs.

Here’s how the Roth conversion strategy worksBefore the Roth conversion – Beginning in 2007, Tom, age 35, began funding a traditional IRA with non-deductible after-tax contributions. He contributed $4,000 in 2007, then $5,000 in each of the following three years: 2008, 2009 and 2010, for a total of $19,000. By 2010, Tom’s IRA grows to $23,000 ($4,000 in gains).Tax treatment at conversion – Tom converts the tradi-tional IRA into a Roth IRA in 2010. He owes no taxes on the $19,000 in contributions because they were made with after-tax dollars. He owes $1,320 in income tax on the $4,000 gain. Tom can split the $1,320 tax bill on the $4,000 in gains over the next two years.After the Roth conversion – After Tom converts the

$23,000 to a Roth IRA, it continues to grow tax-free. If Tom keeps the money in the Roth IRA for 20 years and earns an 8% annual growth rate, the assets could grow to $107,000. He will owe no taxes on the distributions. Also, there are no required minimum distributions (RMDs).

To convert or not: some factors to consider

need to pay taxes on the taxable portion of the conversion amount.

to a Roth at a later time. Or, you may decide that converting only a portion of your assets is best for your situation.

-ment, converting to a Roth IRA now may help offset your tax burden later.

for tax-free growth from a Roth IRA.-

gible for conversion.

Is a conversion right for you? Contact your Financial Advisor today to discuss the Roth conver-sion. Together, you can evaluate whether a Roth conversion makes sense as part of your overall financial plan. Paul Higgins is a Vice President with UBS Financial Services and a Principal of the Trinity Wealth Management Group. He can be reached at 540-855-3381 or paul.higgins@ubs.com. As a firm providing wealth management services to clients in the U.S., we offer both investment advisory programs and brokerage accounts. Advisory ser-vices and brokerage services are separate and distinct, differ in material ways and are governed by different laws and separate contracts. For more informa-tion, please visit our website at www.ubs.com/workingwithus Neither UBS Financial Services Inc. nor its employees provide legal or tax advice. You must consult with your tax and/or legal advisors regarding your personal circumstances.

Economics 24014Is there a Roth IRA in your future?by Paul J. Higgins, Vice President, UBS Financial Services Inc.

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As some of your New Year’s resolutions inevitably fall by the wayside, I suggest that you consider an environmental action for 2010. Roanoke is blessed by a beautiful natural environment and our neighborhood has direct access to both the Roanoke River and Mill Mountain. It’s easy to take for granted how much our quality of life, at local and global scales, is connected to the environment. Climate change is a serious environmental risk. Although this winter has had more snow and cold than usual, it’s important not to confuse weather with climate. Weather is a short term local phe-nomenon while climate can only be considered over many years and large geographic regions. NASA reported this month that:

-peratures have been taken.

measurement began in 1880.

were among the top 15 warmest. The uncertainty is not whether the earth is warming, but rather the magnitude, speed and impact of the changes. For most people, there are too many day-to-day issues that seem more important than an uncertain environmental future. However, some actions we take now to address other pressing issues can also improve the environment and minimize the risk of climate change. Consider the issue at the forefront of many people’s thoughts - the economy. I’m sure I wasn’t the only person in the neighborhood that was shocked by the January utility bills. The cold weather, increased electrical rates, and drafty old houses in our neighborhood are a perfect storm for high heating costs. You have likely heard these tips before, but it’s a good time to revisit the simplest and least expensive ways to reduce your heating bills:

sleep each night or when you leave your house for extended periods

and windows If you’ve taken these steps already, a professional energy au-dit will identify your biggest house energy inefficiencies as well as potential safety issues with furnaces and hot water heaters. Since most houses are heated and cooled using fossil fuels, these changes improve the environment by slowing the extraction of these finite resources and by releasing less carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere. For some, health issues are a bigger concern. While there has been a significant debate about health care recently, there has been

much less discussion about the prevention of health problems. Re-search indicates that many health issues are caused or adversely af-fected by our environment. Air quality is one concern in the Roanoke Valley given our weather patterns and geography which results in elevated smog and ozone levels. We have all seen that haze in the valley from higher elevations - this is the air that we are breathing. Air pollutants are known to:

The exhaust from automobiles is a primary source of air pollu-tion. Simply driving fewer miles by carpooling, combining trips, or using public transportation reduces this pollution and improves air quality and our health. All of these changes also keep money in our pockets. So, travel downtown on the trolley rather than in your car; the trip is free, the walk to the trolley stop is good exercise, there’s no stress trying to find a parking space, and fuel and emissions are reduced. Recycling on trash days is another easy action with multiple ben-efits. All you have to do is sort your waste and get it to the curb or alley – the city and your tax dollars take care of rest. This year colored glass can again be recycled every other week in the city. Recycling your glass, paper, plastic, and metal will not only save resources, energy, and space in the landfill, but has the potential to generate revenue as the economy rebounds. If these suggestions don’t resonate with you, the Roanoke Citi-zens for Clean & Green Committee has developed a Carbon Reduc-tion Pledge with 15 suggestions to reduce carbon emissions, save money, and improve the local environment. If implemented widely across our neighborhood, these changes could make a significant difference. Check out this pledge and sign on at www.roanokeva.gov/85256A8D0062AF37/DocName/$greenpledge. If you’d like to go a step further and estimate your carbon foot-print, a relatively simple calculator is available at http://www.rvccc.org/footprint.html. Contact me directly if you need help completing this estimate for your house which can help identify how to reduce your carbon emissions most efficiently. Environmental awareness is increasing, but now we need action sooner rather than later from everyone. Resolve to take action this year for a better local environment. Not only will you save money, but you will help to increase the quality of life for everyone. Sean teaches at Virginia Tech in the areas of sustainability, the environment, and engineering. He lives in South Roanoke with his wife, Amy, and two young daughters. He is thankful for the Smart Way Bus which saves money, time, and stress for his commute to campus.

By Sean McGinnis

A 2010 Environmental Resolution

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Mention ad for $25 off any service Sunny and Jack Rosso with Weeza, Drummer, and Bella (canine residents) from Spring Town, Pennsylvania to Jefferson Street. “It has everything! Walking distance to the post office and Tinnell’s, close proximity to downtown, wonderful neighbors, a sense of neigh-borhood, ... This was the best idea we ever had!”

Tom Kennedy from Albuquerque New Mexico (with a misguided short stop in Lynchburg) to Richelieu. “I chose this neighborhood because every time I drove through it I saw lots of people walking dogs and Obama bumper stickers on cars. I figured both those reasons would please my seven-month-old Scottish Terrier, Hamish. So far, so good. I’ve been so busy with the new radio station 101.5 The Music Place and trying to get settled that I haven’t had a chance to do much exploring, but I will. I think the weather here is dreadful and I’ll never move in February again. I’m looking forward to being a good neighbor.”

a red wagon welcome to just some of our newest neighbors

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Seven-year-old Madison wanted a castle for her birthday and her father delivered. That and more. “Every castle has to have its drag-on”, says Bobby McMahon. He sculpted and painted for over ten hours to create the scene at the corner of 23rd and Crystal Spring. Photo by Mary Anne Marx

would not float, Helen remarks that he was an incredibly good sport about it, which is just one example of his good character.

The Battleship has been sitting in the Fitzgeralds’ basement ever since its maiden non-voyage. The Judge would show it to people who came by the house and visiting relatives would always ask to see it year after year. He even had a sign to go with it that asked folks to see how many of the ship’s components they could identify (and asking them to please not touch!). But The Battleship has never been publicly shown. Until now.

The Taubman Museum of Art caught wind of The Battleship’s existence (Helen suspects Eric had something to do with this) and pursued it for an exhibit that starts this month. The exhibit, entitled “Unusual Suspects,” features a genre of art known as “Visionary Art.” Visionary Art (sometimes known as outsider art) “refers to art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose works arise from an innate personal vision that revels fore-most in the creative act itself” (according to the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore). With a gleam in her eye, Helen says, “Just think! I hope Daddy’s looking down and can see that this is going to go to the Taubman Museum!” I asked her what she thought he would make of it all and she replied, “He would have been so humbled by it but I think he’d have been terribly pleased inside...he worked a long time on this and he worked hard on it and made something great.”

I had heard The Judge referred to as “an artist with a day job” and asked Helen how he might react to that title. “He would have loved that; would have thought that was just great!,” she says and then continues, “I wish you could have known him. He was so much fun.”

Lillian King Meidlinger has lived and played in South Roanoke for seven years (a newcomer by neighborhood standards). She writes for fun and profit when the small people holding her hostage allow it.

Continued from page 4 —

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Imagine making this announce-ment to your fam-ily: “Hey, gang, starting today, we are going to eat as many fruits, vegeta-bles and as much fiber as we can.

Every day, and every meal! From now on you can expect to

see those green beans, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, pears, peas, blueberries, garlic, and flax seed on your plate, in your glass, and filling your bowls! So who’s with me?” In some families you’d hear a cheer from the crowd. In other families, you’d be ducking those fruits and vegetables thown at your head! So what’s the kitchen magician to do? The answer might lie in your ability to add nutritional value to the menu without having a family mutiny. In other words, disguise these guys. Decide what nutritional items you want to add to the meals your family enjoys most. Use your blender and puree them. Pureed, rather than diced, veggies can be hidden in homemade soups, sauces, and dressings without being noticed. Just remember: when it comes to this stealthy adding, less is better. Pizza and pasta are favorites in many homes. Start with pur-chased tomato sauce and add a puree to it or give homemade sauce a shot. Easy additions include carrots, peas, garlic, parsley and even canned beans. Want to sneak in another healthy addi-tion? How about more fiber? There are clear, tasteless, easily dis-solved fiber supplements that can be added to just about anything on the table. If my kids read this, they’ll now know that it’s in our pancakes, breads, juice, soups, scrambled eggs, and they have never even noticed! I’m not advocating that stealthy cooking replace healthy educa-tion. Create an expectation that these foods are part of every meal. Start with a tray of raw vegetables before each meal. Many kids like crudités as long as they have some sort of dip to go with it. And regularly serve out small amounts of fruits before or during a meal. Do you “juice”? My kids usually hate the look of freshly juiced

carrots, celery and apples, but after I force them to try it, they actu-ally like it. I do have to filter some of the froth away: however, the boost of nutrition and the wonderfully fresh taste of juice is worth the effort. Juice can be also be frozen into juice bars or used to make ice “slushies” – a great alternative to ice cream and popular with the kids. Here’s a great homemade tomato sauce:

-blespoon dried thyme leaves

favorite canned tomato and you can ask me the name – I just cannot “advertise” any particular products here)

dried basil

Other ingredients to consider:

ground pork or ground beef; best to cook these first, and remove excess fat before adding onion, garlic, etc.

either cut into small pieces or consider pureeing them and adding them when the tomatoes go in.

Directions:In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion first and a bit later, add the garlic. Cook until soft and light golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot, and cook 5 minutes more, until the carrot is quite soft. Add the to-matoes, paste, basil and oregano and bring to a boil, stirring often. Add the wine and vinegar. Lower the heat and simmer very low for 30-45 minutes. It will thicken as it simmers. Season with salt, pep-per and serve. Garnish with fresh basil. This sauce holds 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.

Cook’s Nookhelpful hints for

quick, healthy meals

by David Lake

Stealthy Health

11

of time, resulting in 17 patients with 19 amputations. There, in this open-air, concrete structure, Sonny found himself surprised: “Most everyone we saw was getting really good care. Under the circum-stances, we were impressed.” Communicating largely through mobile phones, they worked at sorting out their next move. One phone was quickly dubbed “the change of plan phone,” because every time it rang, their course changed. And while this was trying, says Sonny, it was also a tell-ing snapshot of the current situation. Sonny sketches his own role: “I sat in the back of the bus with the students and tried to relay patience to them — and encouragement. We bonded, we knew we were handcuffed, and so we waited for those windows of opportunity.” Sonny reflects, “When there’s a moment of quiet on the bus, that’s when you think about home, about the kids.” While they called home daily, they lost their phone charger early in the trip and so they spent the rest of their stay flipping their phones on and off to maintain that initial charge. Sonny found a certain congruence in this: “It was indicative of the larger trip. You had to be judicious with your resources.” And so they were: the charge lasted them through to their flight into Charlotte. On day three, they visited another hospital, called Cabral, where they found lots of patients in need of attention and a scar-city of medical supplies. “There,” said Sonny, “you have to reinvent yourself — not by U.S. standards, but in terms of using what you have, being innovative.” While administering care, Sonny noticed distinct cultural differences: “The Haitians are great. Broken bone, bone sticking out: they’re not screaming for narcotics. They’re winc-ing and squirming, but that’s about it. If you give them food, they don’t eat it there on the spot. They take it back to their family, their neighbors. There’s a great sense of community on their part.” Staci recounts the mix of reactions in the patients for whom she translated. For many, medical care was certainly not a top priority. “Again and again, I heard, ‘Forget surgery. I don’t know where my kids are. I want to go back to Haiti.’” Others wanted to avoid surgery out of a fear of amputation — a reality that became more likely the longer surgery was delayed. Still others, upon receiving treatment in the D.R., would say, “No, I’m not going back to Haiti. All that’s waiting for me there is a dirt bed. Here at least I have a roof.” Staci explains, “There are all these disjointed pieces, so we of-ten found ourselves doing a lot of waiting. Waiting to sort out where to go, whom to talk with, who needed what and who could provide it.” In the midst of 100 degree heat and ambling along largely dirt roads, their patience was tested again and again. Sonny puts it simply: “Stories were always changing. And so we had to change our vision.” Transportation was typically makeshift — with patients often piled in the backs of mattress-lined trucks. While the Domini-can Ministery of Health had two ambulances, funds for gas were scarce. So the group also coordinated these kinds of efforts: getting the ambulances together with the groups who had the funds. They were aware that peripheral damage was often overlooked, that rehab, follow-up and psych counseling were beyond the frame of this picture, and so they had to work in the now. “As a provider here, you envision a complete package of treatment. But if you come in with that picture, you’re set up for failure,” says Sonny. “You have to narrow your goal to the present and hope to make bridges to con-tinued care. We tried to hand off to the next group. But in fact, we don’t know.” Along the way, the group photographed their patients and at the end of the week, they gave the pictures of the patients they had catalogued to the Haitian Consulate. They spent their last day coordinating care for 60+ patients, arranging transportation and specialty surgeries at other sites, and even sending some back to Haiti for rehab. During their final debrief, students talked about learning a lot about themselves and other people. Sonny explains, “They talked in terms of a life experience. For some, this reinforced their decision to practice rural or mission medicine.” Sonny also looked at his own

journey: “We had a vision to save the world. That vision narrowed and narrowed . . . We probably helped a small village. We had a bigger goal, but that was okay. To make a significant difference was what we went to in the end. Would I do it again? Yes.” Want to help the cause? “While needs change by the minute,” Staci and Sonny suggest that you consider making a donation to one of the following organizations: Partners in Health (co-founded by Paul Farmer): http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti; Weill Cornell Medical College (30 year history of providing care in PauP): http://weill.cornell.edu/globalhealth/; Li, Li, Li! (Read, Read, Read! – Reading out Loud to Haiti’s Displaced Children – founded by friends of Staci and Sonny): http://lililiread.blogspot.com/

Continued from page 1 —

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