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Local monument companies donate time to repair cemetery

By
Fred Altvater
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Workers with Artistic Memorials of Perrysburg help reset monuments March 23 at Riverside Cemetery, which was damaged by ice from the Maumee River. Free Press Photo by Fred Altvater
Workers with Artistic Memorials of Perrysburg help reset monuments March 23 at Riverside
Cemetery, which was damaged by ice from the Maumee River. Free Press Photo by Fred Altvater.

When the Maumee River flooded two weeks ago it sent huge chunks of ice careening into Riverside Cemetery in Maumee, knocking over monuments, destroying trees, fences and anything in its path. In all nearly 90% of the 1,900 monuments in the cemetery were toppled over, moved off their foundation, or require some repair. Area residents were amazed by huge sheets of ice covering River Road from Side Cut Park to Stitt Road as the total damage has been estimated at over $1 million.

Two local monument companies, Artistic Memorials from Perrysburg and Maumee Valley Memorials from Waterville are volunteering their equipment, manpower and time to reset the monuments and restore the cemetery to its original condition.

On Monday both companies sent crane trucks and crews to the cemetery to upright headstones and identify those in need of repair. Some stones had been moved as much as 25 feet from their original locations, while a small percentage remain untouched.

Jeff Pettit, owner of Artistic Memorials, told the Toledo Free Press,

“This work will take several days and may even span months to complete. On Monday the two crews were only able to upright approximately 100 of the nearly 1,700 monuments dislodged.”

“The work is also hampered with nearly 50% of the cemetery still covered in 3’-4’ of ice,” he added.

Alan Taraschke, Supervisor of Operations for the City of Maumee expressed his gratitude for the additional help from Artistic Memorials and Maumee Valley Memorials,

“The time and effort they have donated to the city of Maumee thus far has been invaluable. The city normally only uprights 10-15 stones annually. A job of this magnitude requires the expertise of these two companies. I cannot express how much their help means to the city.”

There is still much remaining to accomplish at Riverside Cemetery and the two local companies have committed to continue to help restore it to the original condition.  

Fishing, boating, picnicking and hiking the many trails along the banks of the Maumee River provide many hours of outdoor recreation for area residents. Every few years the river reminds us of the awesome power, hidden behind its normal tranquility.

Letters to the Editor, Mar. 29, 2015

By
Dock David Treece
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Tax rate column on point

I am adding my congratulations on a well-written commentary regarding the increased sales tax rate for Lucas County sales transactions (“How does new Lucas County sales tax rate really compare to other urban Ohio counties?,” March 8). The information, as written, appeared well researched and presented in editorial form. I am in perfect agreement with the guest columnist Gary Kiss; could not argue on one point. I look forward to future guest column commentary on your opinion pages.

— Chuck (Richard) Schlageter, Sylvania

No to Strickland

Let’s take a look back at November 2010. Ted Strickland was in the political fight of his life. In that year, jobs lost under him increased to 350,000, education cuts equaled $380 million and he told the National Guard to stand down when Millbury needed them to come in after the city had been devastated by an EF4 tornado, which killed seven and destroyed nearly 50 homes.

The fact is, Ted Strickland was an extremely flawed governor and would be an equally flawed senator. As Gov. Strickland begins what I believe will be a laughable campaign in a quest to become the next U.S. senator from Ohio, I ask you all to remember the days when he reigned as our governor: the jobs lost, the education cuts and the failed leadership. Thankfully we had Gov. John R. Kasich to come in clean up the mess that Strickland left behind him.

I urge you to do your research. Sen. Rob Portman is a middle-of-the- road politician who will always listen to both sides of an argument. Portman fights for Ohio, whereas Strickland seems to fight against Ohio. Vote no against Ted Strickland in 2016 so we can continue the progress Ohio has made, and not return to his failed policies.

— Byron Swartz, Millbury

McGinnis: Misadventures in theater

By
Jeff McGinnis
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Having the chance to interview local theater legends like Jennifer Rockwood always brings to mind how much I love theater, and have almost all my life. I love acting, I love directing, I love watching other people perform. Theater is as big a part of my soul as almost anything you can name, which is somewhat odd when you consider that my first memory of being on stage was a feeling of utter humiliation.

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Like most everyone, my first show came in the form of an elementary school “pageant” during first grade. I was a proud attendee of Luckey Elementary in rural Ohio, a wonderful three-floor brick building that I believe hasn’t changed in all its decades of existence. I visited there a few years back and the place seemed exactly the same, apart from feeling incomparably smaller than it had during my youth.

My elementary school days were largely spent daydreaming. I was a notoriously lazy student when it came to actual schoolwork. How could I concentrate on math problems and parts of a sentence when the world was in peril and only I, along with my trusty pals Optimus Prime and He-Man, could be counted on to save it?

One of the few classes I could be counted on to pay attention in was music. In a small room in the school’s basement, we would while away hours practicing scales and singing songs while perched on tiny squares of carpet. It was in music class that we learned of our big stage debuts in the upcoming Christmas pageant.

Grade school shows, at least in my childhood, can only be called “theater” in the loosest sense of the word — dozens of kids crammed onto a small stage, singing with terrified smiles plastered onto their faces. When time came for “dialogue,” a member of the young “chorus” made their way down to one of the two stand-up microphones on the stage, said their line and then shuffled back to their place in the menagerie, the big moment of glory over before it began.

There were no tryouts or auditions for these shows; you earned a part by simply existing. My role for my theatrical debut was a jack-in-the-box in a show where toys came to life; decades of separation have dulled my memory of the remainder of the “plot.” I do, however, remember my first line with terrifying clarity: “Jumping for joy! Oh, this is so exciting! First the star, and now, Sammy!”

Please note that “Jumping for joy!” was not actually part of my line. It was a stage direction, meant to instruct the actor on what he or she was supposed to be doing — jumping about being a rather natural activity for a jack-in-the-box. However, I assumed that since it was written there, I was supposed to say that too, and my long-suffering music teacher gave up on correcting me about 10 minutes into the first rehearsal.

The night of the pageant arrived, and I was ready. I had a wonderful costume lovingly crafted by my mother out of an old television box, with my head poking out the top and hands barely peeking out the sides — less a jack-in-the-box than a jack-IS-the-box. I had my lone line memorized and my choreography (Jumping for joy!) down pat. There was no trace of stage fright in my mind.

Finally, my time came. I strode to the microphone and with every eye in the auditorium on me, began my line: “Jumping for joy! Oh, this is so exciting! First the star and now — BWAAAAANG!!!”

That last bit was not a word I said. It was the sound of feedback made when, as I was “jumping for joy!,” the corner of my costume/box slammed directly into the microphone in front of me.

Pandemonium. Literally EVERYONE in the auditorium exploded into laughter. I looked dumbfounded at a sea of faces roaring at my blunder. I looked down at my kindly music teacher, and even she was doubled over and covering her face. Bewildered and embarrassed, I turned back to one of my fellow chorus members/toys: “Should … should I do it again?”

So yeah, it’s a little remarkable that I still have such a fondness for the stage, what with my first memory of the spotlight ending in such utter humiliation. Maybe it’s simple practicality. Really, what could possibly happen that could be worse than that? Or perhaps, like the old phrase, I laugh, that I may not cry.

Or jump for joy.

Jeff McGinnis is Pop Culture Editor at Toledo Free Press. He can be reached at [email protected].

Retirement Guys: Is your income in retirement protected adequately?

By
Mark Clair & Nolan Baker
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We’ve been discussing in recent columns the importance of creating a written retirement income plan.

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Identify what is important in life and use the right investment tools to accomplish those goals by producing as much cash flow as possible. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities, bank products and alternatives such as real estate and precious metals are all various tools that investors use to accomplish their goals. Remember, there can be no retirement without income, so increasing predictable income is the goal of creating a written plan.  The next step is to identify and eliminate risks that could blow up that plan.

  • Will another major crash in the market destroy your financial future?

    For some investors, this is one of their primary fears when it comes to their current plan. In our experience, that is an extremely valid concern. In the past 15 years, as countless current retirees and baby boomers were working in their peak earning years to save for retirement, they saw two major stock market downturns that destroyed their confidence in the financial markets.

  • Is a buy-and-hold strategy the right approach for retirees?

    The traditional investment approach is to buy and hold on to investments, because over time the stock and bond markets should go up in value.  Often, that investment approach works out great.  Yet, as people draw close to retirement or retire, does that same approach always make the most sense?  In several cases, we would say no.

  • Are you counting on stock market growth to fund your retirement?

    In the past 117 years, there were four periods of time that the Dow Jones went years with flat to negative cumulative returns.  The shortest of these periods was 11 years in the January 2000 to December 2010 stock market and the longest was 25 years from September 1929 through November 1954.  Thus, if the retirement plan is based upon the growth of the stock market, can the average retiree afford to risk the lottery of the returns of the stock market?

  • Use circuit breakers to try and avoid major losses.

    We are not saying baby boomers and retirees should not own stocks.  In fact, stocks can be a great investment and we like dividend-paying stocks.  Once an income plan is created and enough predictable income is generated from Social Security, pensions, annuities, dividends and interest to cover the monthly cash flow needs of a retiree, the daily noise of the stock market becomes less important.Still, a lot of investors would want to avoid seeing a major decline in their account values due to a dramatic drop in stock prices.  That is the goal behind using circuit breaker technology.

    In our homes, we all have circuit breakers. Next to the sink, a GFCI switch is designed to protect someone who is washing their hands.  If too many appliances are plugged in and it becomes unsafe, a breaker should trip, shutting off power to that area.  Or heaven forbid there is a major problem, the main switch can shut off power to the whole house.

    A circuit breaker can also be used when it comes to investing in stocks and bonds. It is designed to be a safety net with the goal of protecting investors.  When risks grow too high, the breaker trips and moves the account to an area that could have lower risk, like cash. Occasionally, people think of this as trying to time the stock market.  That is not the focus of our recommendation.  The goal is first and foremost to limit against significant losses and protect profits based upon an individual’s risk tolerance.

  • When should investors add circuit breakers?The best answer would be right before a stock market crash occurs. The problem is, no one controls the stock market and predictions by even the smartest economists are often wrong.  Oil embargoes, wars, assassinations of a president, terrorist attacks, the gold rush, even back to the Black Death — unexpected events should be considered the norm when it comes to investing.  Just when everything seems fine, unexpected events will shake the foundation of the economy and the markets.

Focus back on your own individual plan.  Is your retirement income plan generating enough predictable income? At what point do you want to protect your accounts against a decline in value?

Using history as a guideline, as today’s markets reach record highs, now is the time to consider adding in more protection with circuit breakers.

For more information about The Retirement Guys, tune in every Saturday at 1 PM on 1370 WSPD or visit www.retirementguysnetwork.com. Securities and Investment Advisory Services are offered through NEXT Financial Group Inc., Member FINRA / SIPC.  NEXT Financial Group, Inc. does not provide tax or legal advice.  The Retirement Guys are not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group. The office is at 1700 Woodlands Drive, Suite 100, Maumee, OH  43537. (419) 842-0550  

Local health care IT firm secures more funding

By
Duane Ramsey
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Joe Gough of Homeward Healthcare, right, is pictured with Greg Stevens, a reseller for the company in South Africa at the American Case Management Association in Columbus earlier this month. Photo Courtesy Homeward Healthcare

Toledo-based Homeward Healthcare recently finished its second round of fundraising with a $750,000 investment from Arsenal Capital Management (ACM).

St. Louis-based ACM joined CQuence Health Group as lead investors in Homeward Healthcare. Omaha, Nebraska-based CQuence invested $500,000 in Homeward Healthcare in the firm’s first round of funding in late 2013.

Joe Gough of Homeward Healthcare, right, is pictured with Greg Stevens, a reseller for the company in South Africa at the American Case Management Association in Columbus earlier this month. Photo Courtesy Homeward Healthcare

“We are very pleased to partner with Homeward Healthcare,” said ACM Managing Director Pete Reinecke in a news release announcing the partnership. “Helping patients achieve a better outcome while lowering readmission risk and thereby health care costs is a primary objective of [Homeward Healthcare’s] Digital Discharge program. We believe Joe [Gough] and his team are on the right path to achieving that goal.”

Homeward Healthcare is an IT company redesigning the discharge and care transition process for the benefit of patients, hospitals and payers. President and CEO Joe Gough is one of the company’s three co-founders.

“[Medicare and Medicaid] view preventable 30-day hospital readmissions as one of the major challenges for hospitals in 2015,” Gough said in the release. “Our motto of ‘Better outcomes and lower costs’ is the direction we see innovation moving in health care.”

Recent hospital studies indicate the Homeward Healthcare platform helped lower the baseline 30-day readmission rate by 32 percent for 200 cardiac patients in a pilot program and 19.3 percent overall, Gough said.

“We’re trying to make life easier for nurses and care managers by saving 19 to 34 minutes per patient, or $250,000 of savings in hourly wages for the discharge process,” he said.

The calculated savings are based on the annual number of discharges in a midlevel hospital, he said.

“Homeward Health is optimizing care transition episodes between hospitals and medical homes by going from paper to digital and automating the entire process,” said Brandon Cohen, general counsel for the company.

Homeward has developed three programs to help hospitals accomplish those goals.

The first program, Digital Discharge, is an interactive multimedia program providing discharge instructions, including patient assessment, to ensure patients are following care instructions.

The second program is Risk Score, which gives the care transition team an overall risk of the patient being readmitted within 30 days, Gough said.

Third, the CareTrans program provides the care transition staff a dashboard for patient messaging and navigation.

A hospital can use any one of the programs or all three.

Gough’s co-founders are Dr. James Weber and Dr. Michael Roebuck of the University of Michigan. Gough is listed as the lead inventor on the company’s pending patent application.

Dr. Jacques Donzé serves as clinical director on the advisory board for Homeward Healthcare. He is currently clinical director at Bern Hospital in Switzerland, where he is on loan from Harvard University.

Donzé co-created the HOSPITAL Score while working on a hospital readmission study at Harvard, which is the basis of Homeward’s risk indication platform and what Medicare has adopted for its risk stratification measure, Cohen said.

Gough and Cohen met through their involvement in the University of Toledo’s Innovation Enterprises. Cohen is an associate lecturer teaching business law and entrepreneurship in the management department at UT’s College of Business and Innovation.

Homeward Healthcare originally operated out of incubator facilities at UT but left in late 2013, just prior to its first fundraising round with CQuence Health Group.

The firm’s sales and business operations are located in its Toledo, office, currently operating out of another local incubator facility. They plan to relocate to the Medical Technology Business Incubator under development by ProMedica Innovations at ProMedica’s Wildwood campus, Cohen said.

For more information, go to www.homewardhc.com.

Massage Green set to open in Toledo mid-April

By
Ashley McMahon
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Massage Green Spa will open its doors in Toledo next month. The spa franchise is scheduled to debut its first location in the area April 13 next to Rick’s City Diner on Monroe Street.

David Schmier, owner of the Massage Green franchise in Toledo, teamed up with partner Jeffrey Belen to bring the new business to the area. The pair plan to open 25-30 spas in Northwest and Central Ohio, including three in the Toledo area. The second local location will be in Perrysburg with a third location to be announced, Schmier said.

“We only considered one market for our first Massage Green — Toledo,” Schmier stated in a news release. “We love that it’s close to our homes and other businesses in Southeast Michigan and that it has a strong and growing economy.

“It’s a growing economy down here, things are going really well,” Schmier told Toledo Free Press. “Toledo has the right psychographic. Not just demographic, but also psychographic for our demographic. There are people who care about health and the importance of getting massages.”

The Monroe Street location will employ approximately 20 licensed massage therapists, receptionists and managers.

Massage Green offers massages, including Swedish, deep tissue, sports, cranial-sacral and pre/postnatal. It also offers European facials and an infrared sauna service. It was founded by Allie T. Mallad, owner of the world’s largest Little Caesars Pizza franchise, in 2008.

Massage Green offers a one-hour, full-body introductory massage for $29.95. After that, clients are eligible for one of several wellness plans, Schmier said, adding that in the most popular plan, members are pre-charged for one massage a month at $39.95 with any additional massages also at that price. Up to four members of a household can share the plan and any unused massages roll over to the next month. In addition, members can cancel their plan at any time with no penalty or fee.

There are currently 75 Massage Green Spas with 100 more scheduled to open by the end of 2016, and over 500 more in development throughout the country, Schmier said. It is also the exclusive therapy clinic of the Detroit Tigers, the Detroit Red Wings and University of Michigan football and basketball teams.

“The research is absolutely clear: regular massage is a critical part of a health and wellness regimen,” Schmier said. “For many people, it’s right up there with regular exercise and a reasonable and balanced diet. And Jeff and I are happy that we can bring high-quality, therapeutic massage and infrared sauna to Toledo at incredibly affordable prices.”

For more information, visit massagegreenspa.com.

Jurich: Justice for Danny Brown — still waiting

By
Toledo Free Press
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I am really glad to be writing a column for Toledo Free Press again. It’s been over a year and a half since I last appeared in these pages, and a lot has happened during that time.

Shortly after writing my last column, my boyfriend and I drove around the country together for three months. We had so many beautiful experiences as well as intense fights while trapped inside of our car, so I could tell those tales of adventures and love.

I could also write about how I was bullied out of organizing the Maumee Bay River Festival for its third year, an event I founded in 2012 and, as many of you know, was very passionate about.

I could write about the Lake Erie algae crisis, and how we have given our right to clean water to politicians and corporations. I have plenty of stories to tell about spending time with my beautiful 2-year-old niece. I would be proud to tell readers about the new business I have started in Toledo, producing and bottling kombucha, a fermented probiotic tea.

Instead I want to tell readers again about my friend Danny Brown. For too many years people have turned their ears, unwilling to take in the story, unwilling to feel his reality, unwilling to accept that our legal system and those elected to uphold it with honor and justice are not perfect, and that people are still receiving unethical treatment and are wrongfully incarcerated to this day.

On March 4, Brown’s lawyer filed a wrongful imprisonment suit against the State of Ohio. Brown has been fighting to declare his innocence since 1981, when he walked into a police station after hearing he was a suspect for the rape and murder of Bobbie Russell, knowing that he had nothing to hide.

Imagine spending almost 7,000 days as an innocent man in prison, every waking moment feeling heartbroken and wronged to a degree that hurts you and your family to the core.

Brown was finally released from prison in 2001 after DNA evidence cleared him of the crime and instead linked it to serial killer Sherman Preston. After his release, however, the story in the court “conveniently” changed from there being one person at the crime (whom they had wrongfully identified as Brown), to there being two people at the crime; now Brown is considered suspect as an accomplice. Not only has this case not been resolved, Brown is also being held as a captive of the court until they exonerate him or reopen the case.

It is my hope that this lawsuit will bring justice once and for all not only to Danny Brown, but to those that fall into the same situation, like Joel Coleman, and all of the family members involved in the injustices brought forward in this case by the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office.

Stacy Jurich can be reached at [email protected].

Skate for Hope: Bowling Green native Alissa Czisny leads lineup for May 2 fundraiser

By
Tom Konecny
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Bowling Green native and two-time U.S. national champion Alissa Czisny will be among the performers at the Skate for Hope fundraiser May 2 at the BGSU Ice Arena. Toledo Free Press Photo by Christie Materni

Originally created to help children cope with a friend or family member’s cancer diagnosis, Skate for Hope has a history of drawing some of the biggest names in skating.

The event will glide into the Bowling Green State University Ice Arena on May 2.

Bowling Green native and two-time U.S. national champion Alissa Czisny will be among the performers at the Skate for Hope fundraiser May 2 at the BGSU Ice Arena. Toledo Free Press Photo by Christie Materni

Alissa Czisny, 27 — two-time U.S. national champion and Bowling Green native — will appear in the show, returning for her first public performance in Northwest Ohio since 2005.

“It’s a pretty high-profile event,” said Czisny, who now lives in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and trains at the Detroit Skating Club. “It means a lot to contribute to this cause.”

Admittedly not at 100 percent following a 2013 hip injury, Czisny retired from competition last summer and soon began performing in skating shows across America and around the world, including China and Brazil.

However, she hasn’t completely ruled out another Olympic run for 2018, when the games will take place in South Korea.

Czisny is one of several notable skaters who will appear at the single-performance show. Others include Emily Hughes, 2006 Olympian; Jeremy Abbott, four-time U.S. national champion and 2014 Olympian; Alexe Gilles, Elsa from Disney on Ice’s “Frozen”; Dan Hollander, world professional champion; and Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim, U.S. national pairs champions.

Skate for Hope was founded by Ohio native and lifelong skater Carolyn Bongirno, who battled and overcame a stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis at the age of 33.

“Children are terrified at carrying the emotional strain of a cancer diagnosis, and dealing with the fear and unknown,” Bongirno said. “I never imagined in a million years raising $543,000 in 11 years.”

During its history, Skate for Hope has attracted major skating headliners such as Bowling Green native Scott Hamilton, Sarah Hughes, Johnny Weir, Tatiana Totmianina, Max Marinin, Rachael Flatt and Ashley Wagner — all of whom donated their time and talent, Bongirno said.

“When your intention is to do for others, others do for you,” Bongirno said.

The show will also feature 95 amateur skaters from Northwest Ohio who earned spots in the event through local fundraising.

Cora Egbert, 9, of Gibsonburg, is a member of the Bowling Green Skating Club, and has raised more than $1,800 since November by walking door to door and asking local businesses and residents to contribute to the cause.

During the show, she’ll also enjoy a special moment when a family friend will be publicly honored with an event medal.

Although her parents now live in California, coming back to Bowling Green is special for Czisny, who said she “more or less grew up in the [BGSU] Ice Arena,” along with her fraternal twin, Amber.

“For a club this small, in a town this small, I think it’s pretty telling to what this rink can hold,” said Czisny, who is known for her elegant and graceful skating style.

Tickets are $11 and $19, and are available online and at all Ticketmaster locations, as well as the Stroh Center box office at BGSU and at the door.

Proceeds from Skate for Hope go toward multiple cancer research and support service organizations, including the Scott Hamilton CARES Initiative.

For more information, visit www.skateforhope.org.

Bowling Green native and two-time U.S. national champion Alissa Czisny, center, pictured with local youth skaters, will be among the performers at the Skate for Hope fundraiser May 2 at the BGSU Ice Arena. Toledo Free Press Photo by Christie Materni

McGinnis: Analysis of the Zombie Apocalypse: Why are we so obsessed with the undead?

By
Jeff McGinnis
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Editor’s Note: Through a remarkable accident involving a laptop, a microwave and a copy of “Joe Dirt” on DVD, we have somehow accessed a column that Jeff McGinnis will write five years from now, in the year 2020. Please enjoy this glimpse into our horrific future.

Hello, everybody! How are you all doing? Holding up okay? Cool. Now, it’s been a most atypical few days, I admit, what with the sudden outbreak of the zombie apocalypse and all. I trust if you’re reading this you still have ready access to the internet, or have managed to fight your way to a corner store to pick up a print copy of the Free Press. If the latter is true, I speak on behalf of all of us at the paper when I thank you for your loyal patronage. We hope our product is worth every second of your blood-soaked commute.

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I realize the temptation is to get all panicky and doom-and-gloom in a situation like this. I mean, sure, bodies walking the streets, loved ones returning as rotting corpses, the stench of death in the air, etc., etc. But really when one thinks about it … this isn’t as bad as it could have been, is it?

I mean, seriously. We’ve been made to anticipate that the coming of zombies would signify the end of the world. Hundreds and hundreds of movies, novels, comic books, video games, TV shows and so on have conditioned us to have certain … well … expectations of what this day would be like once it arrived. The swift collapse of society, the rapid rotting of human existence down to its ugly core, an every-man-for-himself fight for survival, blah blah. We know what’s supposed to happen. That’s the way it’s always depicted.

But the reality is really not that horrific, right? I mean, sure, the first time you sink an axe into the head of what used to be your next-door neighbor, it’s a little unsettling. But after three or four times, it just kinda becomes another thing that you do, right? You wake up, brush your teeth, grab the paper and decapitate Steve from up the block who’s now a monster lazily gnawing on your mailbox. It’s just another thing.

And it’s not like the zombies have proven to be that horrific or deadly. For real. I mean, all those fantasies of fast-running packs of flesh-eating ghouls ready to tear us limb from limb just seem silly now, don’t they? We are talking about walking, rotting corpses. Their tendons would probably snap like dry twigs the second they broke into a light trot. So they’re stuck doing that slow, wobbly shuffle and getting distracted by shiny things — not exactly characteristics of an apex predator.

So really, unless you’re remarkably slow or remarkably stupid, the zombies aren’t much of a bother at all. Sure, if you’re stationary long enough — getting gas, in line at the movies, voting, what have you — one might become a nuisance. But all you have to do is walk away at even a slightly brisk pace and you’re fine. Really, after all the hype, your average zombie attack is only slightly more annoying than an encounter with a Jehovah’s Witness.

This won’t even last that long, at the end of the day. As mentioned, these are corpses. Animated corpses, sure, but dead flesh regardless. And what corpses do best is … well, rot. After a few more days, the walking dead will become the piles-of-viscera-we-run-over-on-the-way-to-work. The most lasting impact of all this will be the bill for cleanup.

This all has made me wonder — why? All those years we were so enthralled by stories of this kind of thing, wildly unlikely tales of a world forever torn asunder by zombies. What about those stories did we find so engaging?

I guess because in reality, the apocalypse — the real one, whenever it comes — won’t be nearly as thrilling as this. The end of civilization probably won’t be something we can dramatically take a stand against. It’ll be a bug that wipes us out. Or an asteroid. Or climate change will finally become a problem too big to ignore. Sure, we coulda done something years ago about that one, but what fun would that have been? You can’t solve global warming with a machine gun, can you?

So we indulged in the easy fantasy, the one we could imagine ourselves surviving and thriving in. But now that the zombies have come and gone and it’s been as worrisome as an above-average snowfall, will we grow up enough to tackle the real problems head-on?

Eh, probably not. Come on. I’ll meet you all on the roof for target practice. Best headshot wins a soda.

Jeff McGinnis is Pop Culture Editor at Toledo Free Press. He can be reached at [email protected].

Rox: FOX’s hip-hop ‘Empire’ strikes back

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Toledo Free Press
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Unless you’ve been under a rock, you have likely heard about America’s latest television obsession, FOX’s “Empire.” It’s a show about a family-owned record label that started with drug money. Sounds stereotypical, right? It is that storyline along with the heavily African-American cast that has some people giving it accolades and others giving it grief.

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The main characters are played by Oscar nominees Taraji P. Henson as ex-drug dealer/ex-con/star maker Cookie Lyon and Terrence Howard as her ex-husband/music mogul Lucious Lyon.

The reunion of this epic duo from the 2005 movie “Hustle & Flow” makes this Wednesday night soap opera as dramatically entertaining as “Dallas” and “Dynasty” were in the 1980s. “Empire” adds the musical element that has proven successful for ABC’s nighttime drama “Nashville.” The talent of the main cast is showcased weekly along with guest stars like Courtney Love, Mary J. Blige and Estelle. Timbaland produces the music and FOX owns it all.

It truly is art imitating life. In the beginning, “Empire” was plagued by comparisons to 50 Cent’s show “Power,” which airs on Starz network. Two different shows that share hip-hop as their foundation.

The fact is that with the exception of a few major urban record labels, a number of black-owned recording “empires” started with drug money, from Master P’s No Limit Records, Slim and Birdman’s Cash Money Records to Jay Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records. It is common knowledge in black communities that owning our own labels has been the only way to be properly represented in the music industry.

Beyond the drugs and violence in “Empire,” there is also a gay main character. Controversy sells, and if the 14 million viewers and rising don’t convince you to binge watch on demand or tune in for season two, the much-talked-about first-season finale and all-star cast should.

Let’s face it: Urban programming is winning with shows like ABC’s hilarious “Fresh Off The Boat,’” featuring an Asian-American family, and “The Mindy Project,” which has one of the most culturally diverse casts on primetime television. It has been a long time coming, but there is finally enough urban programming on TV to love to hate and hate to love.

No longer are primarily African-American casts relegated to African-American networks or syndicated reruns from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. “Scandal,” “How to Get Away With Murder” and “Black-ish” are posting record numbers for ABC.

Choosing to watch positive or negative images on television is up to each viewer and I find it a bit self-righteous to tell people what to watch in their homes. Social media commentary on the trend seems split between discussion of the aforementioned programming and “show shaming” from those who are against “Empire” and reality TV content or feel left out of the conversations.

African-Americans are not the first group to disagree with their media representation. Asian- and Italian-Americans have felt the exaggeration and exploitation of their heritage for decades. I am happy we have more cultures and nationalities on America’s major networks. We should always demand better programming, but I would be remiss if I did not admit that I enjoy being a part of a range of cultural representation. Like it or not, this is America and everyone has their moment. It comes in waves and this happens to be a diverse wave, so let’s ride it out.

As we continue on …

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