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Country superstar McBride to sing at Stranahan

By
Toledo Free Press
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Country superstar Martina McBride. Photo by Randee St. Nicholas

When Martina McBride has a day off, she likes to stay home. 

“I catch up on stuff around the house. I like to cook, so I like to cook dinner for my family,” she said. “I love to read — just the normal stuff. I’m really pretty boring when it comes right down to it, honestly. There’s no awesome hobby that I have — like skydiving or anything.” 

But the Grammy Award winner has that awesomely powerful voice that soars and empowers on hits that include “I’m Gonna Love You Through It,” “Independence Day” and “A Broken Wing.” That soprano also is heard on romantic songs, including “I Love You,” “One Night,” “Valentine” with pianist Jim Brickman and “Marry Me” with Train lead singer Pat Monahan. 

Her 2011 disc, “Eleven,” marked a renaissance for the music veteran. It’s McBride’s first release on a new record label, Republic Nashville, and she worked with a new co-producer, Byron Gallimore. And she signed with Morris Artists Management. 

“It just seemed time to make some changes in my career as far as management and record label, and it just was inspiring, you know, anytime you get surrounded by fresh energy and passion. It inspired me to make a record that pushed the boundaries a little bit,” she said during a call from her tour bus, which was leaving Rochester, N.Y. 

The four-time Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year and three-time Academy of Country Music Female Vocalist also helped write six songs. 

“I think it’s my most personal record,” the Sharon, Kan., native said. “I take ownership of songs like ‘Independence Day,’ songs that I’ve recorded before that I sang for so long, but there’s something different about writing your own words. And it’s kind of liberating to be able to write those words instead of waiting for someone else to come up with something you identify with, so I pulled from my own life.” 

She co-wrote “Teenage Daughters.” The mother of three laughed when asked if the girls thought she was cool. 

“I’m just their mom, the one who enforces the curfew and tells them to pick their clothes up off the floor, makes them be home for family dinner when they’d rather go out with their friends. What I do is so much a part of our lives that I don’t think they really think about it much unless they see me on stage or on TV.” 

Meanwhile her music inspires millions. 

“When I heard ‘Independence Day,’ it made me more aware [of domestic violence] and I wanted to do something to help. And the same thing with ‘I’m Going to Love You Through It,’ this past year singing that song, I’ve met so many [breast cancer] survivors and their caretakers and people who have told me their story, and it just makes the songs come to life and you want to do something to extend that experience of the song.  

“So we’re working with General Mills for Save Lids to Save Lives, which is a great, great thing that they’re doing; they’re donating $2.5 million to the Susan G. Komen Foundation,” she said. “It’s easy for me to do something like that and it makes a big difference.” 

McBride will perform an 8 p.m. show Oct. 27 at Stranahan Theater. Tickets range from  $37 to $75. 

The singer who released her debut in 1992 has sold 18 million records and is the most played female artist on country radio for the past 11 years, according to both Mediabase and Broadcast Data Systems. 

 “I’m most proud of the longevity that I’ve been able to have,” she said. “The fact that I’m still able to do this after 20 years is more than I ever expected, and it’s a long career in a really crazy business, and I’m proud that I’ve been able to endure and hopefully stick around a few more years.” 

 

UT professor’s book details history of disabilities

By
Matt Liasse
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A week after Kim Nielsen signed the contract for her new book “A Disability History of the United States,” her teenage daughter became disabled.
“My daughter has a rare neurology disease and so is now a part-time wheelchair user,” said Nielsen, a University of Toledo professor. “It’s been a good
learning experience for my family.”

The book, published by The Beacon Press, was released Oct. 2. The book offers insight on both U.S. history and Nielsen’s personal life.
“I’ve realized that disability is part of my life in ways that I had not
even realized, but I think that’s the case for all of us,” Nielsen said. “The book means a lot to me.”
In the book, Nielsen, who holds a doctorate in history, explores the past of people with disabilities in America.
She also digs into the changing definitions of said disabilities. It is the first book to cover the whole timespan from the European arrival to the present day, she said.
Nielsen said she wrote her book for both a general and a scholarly audience. She said she hopes it’s approachable for anyone interested in history.
“History is about telling stories and telling them well,” she said. “[It’s an] interesting topic with lots of rich stories and interesting people.”

Kim Nielsen

At first, Nielsen was worried the book’s topic was “too much to bite off.”
“Probably all writers write in spurts,” Nielsen said. “You know there’s agonizing days where you work to write a paragraph and nothing will come at all.”
Nielsen said there was a lot of research required for the book and a lot of working with primary sources.
In the book, Nielsen wrote that disability is central to the history of the United States. She said that when we look at the history of disability, it forces us to examine our ideals ofcommunity and independence.
“People with disabilities have been ignored in U.S. history and yet they’ve been really integral to U.S. history,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen also uses storytelling methods in her book.
In one of the book’s stories, Nielsen wrote about a Civil War veteran who lost his arm before returning home to his fiancée, who left him because of it.
Nielsen included a poem the veteran wrote about the situation in her book.
“It’s written with so much humor that he became somebody that I really would’ve liked to have met,” Nielsen said. “He told the story with real grace and humor.”
Not every story in the book has humor to it though. Nielsen said that a slave ship sailing to America from Africa was overridden with a disease that left a lot of passengers
on the ship blind. When told this information, the captain gave orders to throw all the ill slaves overboard as “damaged cargo.”
“That story just haunted me for months and months,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen recently joined the University of Toledo as a professor in Disability Studies. Such departments are “new, but growing” on college campuses, said Jim Ferris, director of the School of Disability Studies.
The UT Disability Studies program was created as a partnership with The Ability Center of Greater Toledo (ACT), which sets it apart from other universities in the nation.
ACT is a nonprofit organization that aims to assist people with disabilities, according to abilitycenter.org. Ferris also serves as ACT’s endowed chair
in Disability Studies.
UT’s department has 90 students and will be hiring two more faculty members by the fall of 2014.
Ferris called Nielsen’s book “groundbreaking,” and “another step in creating a world-class program.”
Nielsen is teaching two classes this semester and more in the spring.
“I have marvelous students,” Nielsen said. “I’m enjoying them very much.”
Nielsen has written four other books, but said “A Disability History” was the book she learned the most from.
“It was the book that stretched me the most intellectually,” Nielsen said. “It’s nice at 46 to know that I can still learn new things and develop new skills and continue to better myself as a historian.”
Nielsen said it is impossible to say what her favorite book she has written is.
“Parents will never identify their favorite child,” Nielsen said. “I’m a little hesitant to do that.”
Nielsen said people have contacted her praising the book and telling her their personal stories of living with disabilities as well.
“That’s been really lovely, to see people connect themselves with the book and the stories that I’m telling,” Nielsen said. “All of us are part of this story.”

Kuron: SOS, War of 1812 style

By
Don Lee
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My dad served in WWII and occasionally made something called SOS for us kids.
You vets know what the acronym means; for the rest, just think “Something” On a Shingle. It was beef, cooked with flour and water, and poured over a piece of toast. I’ve never made it for myself since; it just can’t compete with, well, any other food choice I could imagine. But according to dad, it was the staple dish in his Army life.
Accounts from diaries and quartermasters’ reports show that the 1812 military rations were likewise quite limited in variety, and often in quantity. Meals most often came as flour, jerked beef or salted pork pulled from barrels, and sometimes freshly butchered from animals that were herded alongside the troops.
Today, freeze-dried, vacuum-sealed, essentially spoil-proof food serves as backup rations for our troops when they aren’t able to enjoy a balanced meal.

But in 1812, men from all over Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky were either in constant motion across our region or settled into fortresses like Fort Meigs. Strategies had to be developed to feed them in both circumstances. The transportation of the foodstuffswas a daunting logistics challenge.
Wagons got stuck in the muddy waters of the Black Swamp; sleds frequently broke through thin ice and were lost to the waters below. Over time, barrels succumbed to moisture making their contents rancid.

In the spring of 1813, even the sudden thaw of the Maumee River wiped out unknowing, grazing pigs and cows as the water and mini-icebergs flooded over its banks.
It wasn’t only the men who counted on food being available. Herds and horses quickly devoured any roughage growing near the forts. If sufficient food and fodder didn’t arrive in time, starvation took down both men and beasts.

Every unit had different rations, but always just the staples. Sutlers, or local merchants, followed behind troops selling luxuries like coffee, tobacco and even chocolate. But when food ran out, it was out; men took to eating whatever they could find along their routes.

Ducks, geese, wild turkeys and deer were abundant around Fort Meigs. Walleye, muskies, catfish and sturgeon were plentiful. But there was little time, and a lot of danger of being attacked while hunting or fishing.

After months of nothing but salted meats, flour and water, it’s no wonder that soldiers on their way to Canada relished what they discovered growing all over Middle Sister Island in Lake Erie — leeks, those green onions on steroids.
The men clawed and dug them out as soon as they landed and devoured the 9 acre’s worth within minutes.
There are similar accounts of troops coming upon private farms and consuming every vegetable at hand. One beekeeper had his hives destroyed by soldiers who risked the swarms to satisfy their sweet tooth. One soldier sang the praises of the sweet corn he ate raw, because there was no time to cook it.

In the dead cold of January, one Ohio unit, coming to our area to build Fort Meigs stopped on the beach of Sandusky Bay to eat. With no utensils, salt, yeast or shortening whatsoever, they drew their portions of salted pork and flour. After building a fire from driftwood, they roasted the pork on pointed sticks.

The flour they scooped into their dirty handkerchiefs or leaves, dipped them into the lake water, and buried them in the ashes of the fire to bake. Others cooked “johnny-cake” style on slabs of bark placed near the flames.

Worse than the monotony of having to consume the same staple foods every day, was that they often ran out. Half, to quarter, to no rations at all, inevitably occurred too often.

I appreciate the abundance of my local grocery.

Frank Kuron is author of the War of 1812 book, “Thus Fell Tecumseh.” Email him at [email protected].

Veterans Matter spokemen ZZ Top to play at Stranahan

By
Vicki Kroll
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Dusty Hill, Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard of ZZTop. Photo courtesy Sanctuary Artist Management

It’s a familiar scene: Customized hot rods rolling over cracked, dusty terrain. The vehicles stop, doors open, and three sultry women emerge.
The sizzling images are accompanied by searing guitar riffs — and that oh-so recognizable voice.
Splice in shots of two bearded men sporting hats and sunglasses playing guitar and bass and a mustachioed drummer. Leave the ladies with a silver double Z keychain and fade out.
ZZ Top’s video for “I Gotsta Get Paid” from the new disc “La Futura” pays tribute to the past while the trio races on. The disc opener is based on the rap song “25 Lighters” by DJ DMD with Lil’ Keke and Fat Pat.
“[‘25 Lighters’] was recorded at a Digital Services Recording in Houston, where we were working on the ‘Rhythmeen’ disc at the time, and we got to know the guys and that song remained with us since then,” lead singer and guitarist Billy F Gibbons wrote in an email interview.
“It really stayed in our head as we figured out how to deconstruct it and transform it into a guitar-based, blues-infused rocker as you hear it on ‘La Futura.’ That guitar breakdown is something of a tribute to the great Lightnin’ Hopkins, another of our ‘heroes of the Houston ghetto.’ ”
Since 1970, the Texas hombres have sold 25 million discs, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, thanks to classics “La Grange,” “Tush,” “Cheap Sunglasses,” “Legs,” “Got Me Under Pressure,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’” and “Sharp Dressed Man.”

Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
ZZ Top will play an 8 p.m. show Nov. 1 at Stranahan Theater. Tickets are $48-$68.
Gibbons answered some questions for Toledo Free Press via email from a tour stop in Kansas City, Mo.
Toledo Free Press: ZZ Top has been playing for more than four decades. What gives your music that longevity?
Gibbons: We enjoy what we do and realize that there’s nobody we’d rather do it with. This is because each of us has developed a “sixth sense” about the other two. When we deliver a new riff, we can predict with almost metaphysical certitude how we will respond with it, of course. The point is it’s still a fine, fine time when we get to light the fuse.
TFP: What was it like being part of MTV’s heyday, making those now iconic videos with your cool car?
Gibbons: It was like the greatest! We had those pretty girls to work with, and our little ’33 Ford Three-Window Coupe got to be a star. The irony was getting to be bystanders in our own videos.
TFP: Have you or Dusty shaved since you grew your beards in 1976? How do care for that famous facial hair?
Gibbons: No, we haven’t, but I do scissor it every once in a while to keep things (somewhat) in line. We suds ’em up and apply conditioner and air dry when possible, but sometimes there’s a rush circumstance that necessitates the use of power tools, like a blow dryer.
TFP: Your first band, The Moving Sidewalks, opened for The Jimi Hendrix Experience — what was that like?
Gibbons: We found him to be as warm a guy as you could possibly imagine, instantly inventive on the spot, and always happy to share his ideas and act as a mentor. Jimi led us not only in guitar technique, but the importance of theatrics and asserting one’s self onstage as well. It’s one thing to play, it’s something else to entertain, and Jimi had both of those aspects down cold!
TFP: In addition to your hot guitar playing, you’re also known for hot sauces and barbecue sauces — and work in the kitchen. Cooking up any special dishes of late?
Gibbons: We’ve got our own BFG Brand line of sauces. The BBQ sauce is sweet, tangy, spicy and smoky, all in one. Great on ribs, chicken, beef, anything that needs a little zing. And, of course, the BFG Brand Sauce Piquant will perk up just about anything you might consume. It’s the real “hot stuff,” fo’ sho’!
TFP: You’ve had an amazing career so far; what are you most proud of?
Gibbons: The topper, so to speak, has got to be our induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by the one and only Keith Richards. That will always stand out as the pinnacle of what we’ve been able to accomplish over

Allegrini: I didn’t appreciate what I had until it was threatened

By
Scott Allegrini
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Am I better off now than I was four years ago?

I am a typical middle-class American: married, with two dogs, a mortgage and too much debt. I am blessed to make a modest living, but still live check to check.

My house has lost value — $20,000 since 2008 and I am upside down — but I can still make payments. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for others on my street. We’ve seen many foreclosures and lost our neighbors just last year. We experienced unemployment when, in 2010, my wife lost her job.

Only with prayer, my family and my wife’s diligence in finding a job were we able to struggle through. I understand the depths of despair many face when unemployment hits and jobs are scarce. It’s times like these when people, just like me, look to solutions like garage sales or loans from caring parents.
Today, it costs more to fill a grocery cart as food prices have skyrocketed. A basket full of groceries for a family of two is upward of $150 a trip. The rising price of beef makes it quite a treat as opposed to a necessity. Even my Chips Ahoy! have become the victim of inflation — the cookies and the packaging are smaller, yet the price is the same. My Diet Coke now comes in 20 packs instead of 24 at the same cost. And don’t even get me started on ice cream. My leased Ford 500 has turned into a 1996 Ford Escort, so we don’t have a car payment. Yet it still costs $30 to fill my tank and with a 70-mile-a-day commute, it takes a toll on my wallet. We even got rid of cable because it’s an expense we cannot afford.
Why I am sharing all this personal stuff?
Because many believe that conservatives are out-of-touch, heartless rich folks. The reality is I am just the “average Scott,” living day to day and trying to taking care of my family. Financially, I am not better off than I was four years ago, but when George W. Bush was president things were not all that great either. With all the takeovers, bailouts and spending, government was out of control. The problem is not who is in office, but too much government.
In 2008, as Bush was pushing TARP, I realized that in order to change my government, I needed to become a good citizen, an involved citizen. I needed to put up or shut up. I needed to stand up for the principles that made this country great and the envy of the world for so long. It was time for action, not words.
So now my wife and I work two jobs. Why? Because it’s our responsibility to take care of ourselves, not the government’s. We eat out less, and brown-bag it for lunch. Why? Because it’s our responsibility to provide for our family, not
the government’s.

We volunteer at church, donate to charity, support the Cherry Street Mission and other causes in which we believe. We do this because we should and because it’s our responsibility. As a Christian, I know that it’s my responsibility to take care of my fellow man, not the government’s.
When we are confronted with a piece of legislation like health care, or mandates or more regulation, we read and research before we have an opinion. Then we ask questions to clarify and make sure that our opinions are based in fact and truth. Why? Because it’s our responsibility to decide what’s best for us, not the government’s.
Some may be looking for a lot of statistics proving why I am not better off than I was four years ago, but frankly, I am sick of sound bites and the blame game that pit us against one another. I want a president who understands I am an adult, not a child — who will tell me the truth no matter how bad it is. I want a president who has morals and principles.

The truth is, I am a better man today than I was four years ago. I am a better citizen than I was four years ago, and I have a much greater appreciation for this great
country than I did four years ago.
The only way to change the course we’re on is to vote for a man who shares our values and principles, a man who understands that it’s the people and not the government that make this country great. To be better off four years from now, vote for someone who will get the government out of the way. In the end though, it’s up to all of us to ensure that our own lives are better in four years than they are right now.

Miller: ‘8’

By
Michael Miller
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Jennifer Rockwood is a force of nature. The director and actress, who serves as assistant dean for The University of Toledo’s College of Innovative Learning and director of the First Year Experience Program, possesses a personality designed to mobilize other people into action.  As a 20-plus-year veteran of  theater on and off campus, she has guided hundreds of people through the always compelling and often introspective journey that leads actors to the stage. 

I have known and worked with Rockwood since the early 1990s, when I was a student journalist and she was directing plays at UT. We collaborated on a taped soap opera, “XXXX,” my first and last experience in writing by committee. 

Rockwood is as much a part of my definition of “Toledo” as a Mud Hens game, the Hi-Level Bridge and a signed hot dog bun at Tony Packo’s. Her husband, John, is one of the naturally coolest men on the planet, a musician with Voodoo Libido who also takes insightful and often breathtaking photos of other musicians. 

So back in July, when Rockwood asked if I would take part in a staged reading of the marriage equality play “8,” I jumped at the chance to work with her and be part of an important social and political statement. 

I once narrated a stage play about George Washington, “Let George Do It!” back in 4th or 5th grade. Even then, my role in life was to observe the action around me and comment on it for the amusement of others. Outside of that, the stage has never called to me. As a journalist interested in the dynamics (and often heartbreaking malleability) of truth, standing up and speaking someone else’s words has never appealed to me. 

But a staged reading on a topic I have openly supported, for a director and friend I admire, seemed like an easy commitment. 

“8,” written by Oscar-winning screenplay writer Dustin Lance Black, also appealed to me because it is very much a work a journalism. Black took the court transcripts of Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown), a federal district court case filed to overturn California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay and lesbian couples’ right to marry in that state. By presenting actual transcripts of testimony (for a trial that had been closed to television broadcast), Black was revealing the testimony and facts behind the arguments. 

I have long maintained that gay marriage in the United States is as inevitable as interracial marriage and other once-contested civil rights. There is no cogent, empirical argument that allowing gay people to marry has any detrimental effect on heterosexual marriage, that stalwart institution that barely 50 percent of Americans can successfully navigate. You don’t have to like it, but understand that your distaste is irrelevant to the legal and social standards that should guarantee this right for all Americans. 

The cast of “8” met for one table reading and two stage run-throughs before the Oct. 7 performance. My role, marriage equality advocate Evan Wolfson, was a little but loud moment of conflict on a talking heads news show, arguing with marriage equality opponent Maggie Gallagher, played by Merlaine Angwall. The brief appearance called for us to step on each other’s lines in protest and escalate our rhetoric to a flash of righteous anger. 

“Loud and indignant? I can do that,” I told Rockwood. 

It was a tremendous learning experience, watching the actors and non-actors gel and slip into character. I was particularly struck by the efforts of Ben Pryor as proponents’ attorney Charles J. Cooper and John Meadows as proponents’ witness David Blakenhorn. Both men took difficult strings of often stuttering, insupportable dialogue and brought them to life with wit and empathy. 

“8” also features real commercials that were run to convince California voters to overturn gay marriage rights. The commercials are stunning examples of lying propaganda, focusing on how marriage equality would supposedly destroy families, children and education as we know them. 

As plaintiffs’ attorney Theodore B. Olson (played by John Adams) argued, “Your Honor, the words they put into the hands of all California voters, focused heavily on: protect our children. Protect our children from somehow learning that gay marriage is okay. For obvious reasons, the ‘gays are not okay’ message was largely abandoned during the trial in favor of procreation and deinstitutionalization themes. 

“And I submit that the overwhelming evidence in this case proves that allowing persons to marry someone of the same-sex will not, in the slightest, deter heterosexuals from marrying or from having babies.” 

Some of the most striking moments in “8” focus in the frustration gay couples feel in not being able to participate in marriage, how that exclusion keeps them from expressing the basics of their relationships and humanity. 

As spoken by plaintiffs Jeff Zarrillo (Rob Salem) and Paul Katami (Larry Dean Harris), “A civil union? A domestic partnership would relegate me to a level of second class citizenship, maybe even third class citizenship. It doesn’t give due respect to the relationship that we have had for almost nine years. Only a marriage could do that … ‘Husband’ is definitive. It’s something that everyone understands. There is no subtlety to it. It is absolute, and comes with an understanding that your relationship is not temporal, it’s not new, it’s not something that could fade easily.”

Illuminating testimony about gay marriage was provided by Dr. Gary Segura (played by Carter Wilson): “For starters, and I would include in this undocumented aliens who are a distant second,  there is no group who has been targeted by ballot initiatives more than gays and lesbians. The number of ballot initiative contests since the late 1970’s is probably at or above 200. Gays and lesbians lose 70 percent of the contests and a hundred percent of the contests over same-sex marriage and adoption. 

“ At last count only six people have ever served in the House of Representatives who have been openly gay and only two of those were elected as openly gay. There has never been an openly gay Senator or cabinet member or certainly President. And only about one percent of the states’ legislators are gay.” 

In his closing argument, Olson said, “The Supreme Court has said that: Marriage is the most important relation in life. It is the foundation of society. It is essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness. It’s a right of privacy older than the Bill of Rights and older than our political parties. A right of intimacy to the degree of being sacred.” 

Denying anyone that right is un-American. And as Blankenhorn testifies, “we would  be more, emphasize more, American on the day we permitted same-sex marriage than we were on the day before.” 

More than 500 people attended Rockwood’s one-time only reading of “8.” My guess is the vast majority of them already support marriage equality. It is up to them, and forces of nature of Rockwood, to keep educating and working to share the message that “8” dramatizes so effectively. 

Treece: The Law of Unintended Consequences 

By
Toledo Free Press
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It is true that our actions sometimes have outcomes that we are not able to foresee. Our actions may have had the best intentions, but as another old saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Current federal tax policies and regulations are certainly having unintended consequences, and wreaking havoc on the jobs market and the economy. 

It is important that readers realize that this piece is not intended to be political speech that favors one camp over another. When managing money, we have to look at the facts that are presented in front of us and develop an analysis based off of those facts. We wanted to take real life examples of businesses and high net worth individuals responding to high tax, high regulation policies. 

The fact is that the current administration has pushed for higher taxes on businesses, middle class Americans without health insurance (The Huffington Post reports that nearly 6 million Americans will face a new tax penalty under the health care legislation) and high net worth individuals all while pushing for more costly regulation, i.e. the Affordable Care Act and regulations from the EPA.  

The Telegraph reports that in fear of income taxes in France spiking up to 75%, the mega-wealthy have fled the country. According to the head of Sotheby’s Realty in France, “…a large number of wealthy French families are leaving the country as a direct result of the proposals of the new government.” The elite French have elected to pack up and move to Switzerland, which is bad news for the French government. 75% on zero euros is less than 30% on billions of euros, a theory many government types have failed to understand.  

In the US, class warfare rhetoric has turned us in to a nation of percentages. The “1%,” the “99%,” the “47%,” all due to this thought that the wealthy need to pay their fair share. The fact remains that the top 10% of income earners in the United States pay far more than the top 10% in other countries, as Stephen More has recently shown us. 

Las Vegas resort tycoon Steve Wynn recently said in an interview that he is holding off on a project that could create 10,000 regular jobs and another 25,000 indirect jobs because he is “…afraid of the President. I have no idea what goofy idea, what crazy, anti-business program this administration will come up…And I have to tell you that every business guy I know in the country is frightened of Barack Obama and the way he thinks.” Wynn also commented on the fact that he donated 120% of his salary to charities last year, as he does most years, and that through class warfare rhetoric he feels the current administration has made business owners like himself appear evil and greedy. 

NewsBusters recently came in to possession of a letter written by Westgate Resorts CEO David Siegel (verified by Gawker) to his employees in which he stated that he was tired of only being rewarded 50% for his hard work, and that if his employees were to take a 50% paycheck deduction that they would be rightfully angry. He informed his employees that if we continue to pursue these fiscal policies that he would have no problem closing up shop and retiring, which would put all of his employees out of work.  

Darden Restaurants, which own Olive Garden and Red Lobster, have started hiring workers to only 28 hour weeks in order to lower health care costs. The Affordable Care Act states that companies with employees working more than 30 hours a week must be provided health insurance or face fines of up to $3,000 per employee.  

Whether or not you agree with their response, business owners are feeling the squeeze from the government when it comes to taxes and regulations. These 3 examples show business owners who have been unable to hire, or even willing to lay off workers, as a direct result of federal policies. Until we as a nation are able to begin rewarding success instead of vilifying and demonizing the successful, our economy, workforce and GDP will continue to suffer. 

Ben Treece is a 2009 Graduate from the University of Miami (FL), BBA International Finance and Marketing. He is a partner with Treece Investment Advisory Corp (www.TreeceInvestments.com) and a stockbroker licensed with FINRA, working for Treece Financial Services Corp. The above information is the express opinion of Ben Treece and should not be construed as investment advice or used without outside verification. 

 

 

Rockets winning despite injuries

By
Nate Pentecost
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The UT football team dealt with its fair share of injuries in 2011.  

Before the season began starting safety Mark Singer went down for the year with a torn labrum.  

Then All-Mid-American running back Adonis Thomas broke his arm and missed a trio of games. 

Fellow all-conference honoree, linebacker Dan Molls, spent time on the sideline with Thomas, missing half the 12 game season after injuring his leg during practice in early September.  

Things only got worse for the Rockets when All-MAC defensive end T.J. Fatinikun’s season ended Oct. 8 due to an elbow injury he suffered against Eastern Michigan.   

But not even the injuries Toledo was forced to combat in 2011 could have prepared them for being without three of four starting defensive linemen this season.  

Yet, so far the Toledo defense has not skipped a beat.  

For Molls, the nation’s leader in total tackles (71), the reason is simple.  

“A lot of guys are just seizing their opportunity,” Molls said. “We lost some great players but we have just as many good players hungry to go make a play. Guys are really stepping up.” 

Among the great players Molls speaks of is senior defensive tackle Danny Farr, who finished second on the team with seven tackles in the season opener at Arizona. Farr, however, was forced to leave in the first half of the Wyoming game with a knee injury when a teammate rolled onto his leg.  

Rockets head coach Matt Campbell said Farr is expected back this weekend or next but his return cannot wholly compensate for the injuries which occurred during his absence.  

Since Toledo’s trip to Western Michigan Sept. 29 the Rockets have been without Fatinikun and his counterpart at defensive end, junior Christian Smith.  

Fatinikun’s torn Achilles, essentially ends the senior’s collegiate career, while Smith’s undisclosed leg injury will keep him off the field the rest of the year.  

In spite of these setbacks, the Rockets have held strong, rising from 99th to 55th of 120 in rush defense the past four games.  

Elijah Jones (four tackles per games) continues to anchor the defensive line at nosetackle — arguably the most physically demanding position in football — and senior tackle Phil Lewis has performed capably in Farr’s stead, registering nearly three tackles an outing.  

UT entered last weekend —the Rockets first game without all three injured defensive linemen —allowing 310 yards passing (116th in the country) and 142 yards rushing per contest. Toledo held the Chippewas (2-3, 0-2 MAC) to 246 yards through the air and a meager 46 on the ground.  

“Yes, guys like Danny and I were playing well but the guys out there are playing so hard and I’m just so proud of how they’ve performed,” Fatinikun said. “[I wasn’t concerned] with how they’d do because we’ve worked out together, we’ve practiced together and we all sit in the same meetings together. We believe that if somebody goes down the next guy will be ready so I have the utmost belief that these guys are going to hold up and continue to get better.” 

Jayrone Elliott — Fatinikun’s backup — has made the biggest splash since the starting defensive line began looking more like a MASH unit.  

At first glance, Elliott’s six tackles the past three games seem insignificant, but the junior recorded at least a sack in each game, including two against FCS foe Coastal Carolina Sept. 22.  

Elliott’s knack for getting to the quarterback has provided Toledo with an enormous lift in the pass rush, a factor of great importance in shaping one of the Rockets specialties— forcing turnovers.  

“We have to step up when are number is called,” Elliott said. “They brought me here to make plays and I’m trying to do my best to do that. 

There are certainly plenty of numbers to call, too.  

Taking the majority of snaps at end, junior Ben Pike (1.5-tackles-for-loss) brought the quarterback down behind the line last weekend as well, while fifth-year senior Hank Keighley has contributed three tackles per contest and a total of 2.5 tackles-for-loss as part of the defensive end rotation.  

The depth at end has been tested so greatly that former three-star recruit Allen Covington was thrust into service for the first time last week. The true freshman did not record a tackle, but Elliott, among other teammates, believes Covington can make a considerable impact as the season rolls on.  

“He could have been playing since week one but we wanted to redshirt him,” Elliott said. “Unfortunately two ends went down and so he had to step in.” 

Yet another Rocket may be joining the defensive end platoon soon. Redshirt Freshman Keenen Gibbs (12.5 tackles-for-loss and 6.5 sacks his senior year at LaSalle High School in Cincinnati), who tore his ACL in the spring game, is anticipated back within the next few weeks.  

As is evident, Toledo has no shortage of bodies to fill the end positions. Whether those players can match the disruptiveness of Fatinikun, and the stability provided by Smith is a question that must be answered on the field each week.  

“We can only handle what Toledo can do,” Elliott said. “Sometimes we play 30 guys a game on defense so almost everybody has been playing. We just have to stay confident in ourselves and stick to our game plan.” 

Carly’s Party raises more than $50K for progeria fight

By
Toledo Free Press
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Elaine Purdy poses with her granddaughter Carly Kudzia at Carly's Party for the Cure.

More than 400 people attended Carly’s Party for the Cure Sept. 28, 2012, at the Pinnacle. More than $50,000 was raised at the event for the Progeria Research Foundation Inc.

Heather and Ryan Kudzia, parents of the 2-year-old, said the fundraiser wouldn’t have been possible without sponsors and a team of more than 50 volunteers.
“The support of our community amazes us. Thank you for supporting progeria and for raising us up,” Heather said. “It’s easy to have faith with all the positivity that  surrounds us. Hope starts here!”

Toledo Museum of Art exhibit focuses on Manet portraits

By
Erin Holden
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The Railway, by Edouard Manet.

A new exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) drew from more than 30 public and private collections worldwide to comprise the first exhibit focused on the portraiture of 19th century French painter Édouard Manet.
“Manet: Portraying Life” opened Oct. 7 and runs through Jan. 1. Toledo is the only American venue for the exhibition.

After TMA, the works will be exhibited at London’s Royal Academy of Arts.
“This exhibit has been a long time in the making,” said TMA Director Brian Kennedy. “This is an important examination of a very important artist.” Often credited as “the father of modernity,” Manet’s style inspired many well-known Impressionists, including Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet and Edgar Degas.
“A lot has to do with what he put in and what he left out,” Kennedy said, referencing “The Railway,” Manet’s painting of a girl looking at a train. The train is not in the painting, only steam from its engine. “In the way Manet encapsulates his period, we have a window into the birth of our modernity.”
Manet was born in 1832, just as daguerreotype photography was being developed, said co-curator Lawrence Nichols, TMA’s senior curator of European and American painting and sculpture before 1900.
He painted straight portraits, which depict the physical appearance of an individual, as well as genre scenes, in which subjects became actors in representations of contemporary life in 19th century Paris.
“Manet painted his family, friends and literary, political and artistic figures of his day, often in casual settings rather than traditionally posed portraits,” according to a news release. “His subjects come to life on canvas, making the viewer curious to know more about these people and their lives.”
His portraits are representations of love, the Industrial Revolution, social unrest, war and more, Nichols said.
“He was depicting his day and he was also responding to photography, which was new,” Nichols said. “He was living in an age in which the reproduction and representation of faces was expanding exponentially with photography.”
Nichols hopes Manet’s works prompt viewers to contemplate their conception of self, something especially relevant in today’s social media-saturated culture, he said.
“It is very much about 2012 and what it means to conceive of yourself and what it means to be perceived by others,” Nichols said. “How many times do we pull out our own cameras and take pictures of family and friends or have our picture taken?”
The exhibit includes 34 oils and five pastels by Manet, Nichols said. There are also photographs, prints and books.
The pieces are on loan from museums in Europe, North America and Japan.

“Édouard Manet is one of the major artists in Western European painting tradition. Michelangelo, Raphael, Rembrandt — Manet ranks among these, absolutely. This excites the daylights out of me,” Nichols said.
“This is a very wonderful opportunity. There will definitely be no other chance to see this number of Manets in Toledo in the very near future. It’s not exhaustive, but we have some ofthe absolute greatest [of his portraits]. The gems are here.”
The museum is located at 2445 Monroe St. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday and closed Mondays and major holidays.
Admission to the exhibit is $8 for adults, $5 for seniors 65 and older and students age 6 to 22 and free for TMA members and children 5 and younger with a paid adult admission. An audio tour is available for $3. General admission to TMA is free. For more information, call (419) 255-8000 or visit toledomuseum.org.

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