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Barhite: Social media guru wants Toledo to be ‘benchmark’

By
Toledo Free Press
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The hiring of Toledo’s new digital and social media specialist took some by surprise. LOL

But it shouldn’t be surprising this newly created position went to Andrew (Aj) Rinaldi who has worked part time for the city in the past. OMG

For his master’s degree research, Rinaldi studied three municipalities using social media to engage citizens.

He hopes to use that research to shape a social media strategy for Toledo.

The Bowling Green State University graduate talked with me via email (how appropriate) after starting his job in September.

“I have a passion for what I do with social media and the City of Toledo, and I bring with me relationships with other cities who are willing to partner and help with our social media efforts and the knowledge of best practices to ensure we are successful right out the gate,” Rinaldi said.

His goal is for citizens, media and employees visiting Toledo’s social media and website to get information about what the city is doing before they get it from other resources, he said.

Rinaldi has been on Facebook since December 2004, just 10 months after the social media site was officially launched.

His first tweet was in July 2009, with his current Twitter handle, ajrinaldi.

“The inspiration was to keep it easy and simple enough for a person to remember and professional,” he said.

This practical guy has 484 Facebook friends, which demonstrates he is rather selective. But he tries not to take himself too seriously. For instance, he hasn’t untagged himself in any pictures he finds embarrassing or unprofessional.

“I was out with a few friends and we decided to go dancing. A couple of friends thought it would be funny to snap a picture of me and post online and tag me without my knowing till after it was taken,” he said.

Rinaldi said there are a number of contenders for the next big thing in social media. Google+ is still new and he expects to see more creative platforms like Pinterest and Instagram.

He also anticipates a platform to merge all social networks into one stream. He just started using Glos.si, which is a living magazine for social networks.

These new platforms could eventually be intertwined into Toledo’s social media strategy.

“I would like Toledo’s social media to become a benchmark, where other cities want to come and see how we do it, to learn and improve their social media,” Rinaldi said.

Children with progeria show improvement from drug trial

By
Vicki Kroll
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Carlee Kudzia and Kaylee Halko. Toledo Free Press photo by Joseph Herr.

The Halko family of Monclova Township was happy to hear the news: Results of the first drug trial for children with progeria showed improvements in weight gain, bone structure and the cardiovascular system.

Kaylee Halko was one of 25 children with the rare, rapid-aging disease who participated in the study from 2007-09.

“I have not heard just Kaylee’s results. But as her mom, watching her, I think she’s doing good,” Marla Halko said. “Just seeing her every day, she doesn’t slow down, she doesn’t tire; I think she’s doing well.”

“I was glad the results were finally released. People have been asking us for a while, and we weren’t allowed to say anything,” said Tim Halko, Kaylee’s dad. “We could tell though that the drug was helping.”

The results were published Sept. 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Funded by the Progeria Research Foundation, the study was conducted by researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center.

“[The initial drug trial was] a wonderful first step. It’s not a cure, it’s one treatment and it helped certain things and it didn’t help others, but it’s the first of hopefully many, many wonderful successes with other drug trials,” said Audrey Gordon, president and executive director of the Progeria Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to discovering treatments and a cure for the fatal genetic condition.

Kaylee and the other children in the study were treated with a farnesyltransferase inhibitor (FTI), a drug originally developed to treat cancer.

“To discover that some aspects of damage to the blood vessels in progeria can not only be slowed by the FTI called lonafarnib, but even partially reversed within just 2.5 years of treatment is a tremendous breakthrough because cardiovascular disease is the ultimate cause of death in children with progeria,” said Dr. Leslie Gordon, lead author of the study, said in a news release announcing the trial results.

In 1998, Gordon learned her son, Sam, had progeria. After finding out there was no research being conducted, she and her sister, Audrey, and family and friends founded the Progeria Research Foundation. Gordon is the medical director of the foundation and a staff scientist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Since 1999, the foundation has discovered the LMNA gene causes progeria; established a test to determine if children have the disease; started a cell and tissue bank; and raised funds for two drug trials and are planning a third study.

“To go from nothing to a drug treatment in 13 years is the kind of progress that we need for these kids because we are in a race against time,” Audrey said.

Children in the first drug trial showed improvement in at least one of three areas: weight, bone structure and the cardiovascular system.

Researchers found that one in three children posted a greater than 50 percent increase in annual rate of weight gain or switched from weight loss to weight gain due to increased muscle and bone mass.

“Children with progeria have highly abnormal bone structure, and we believe this contributes to their bone fragility. So for the children that could be tested, that severely abnormal skeletal rigidity achieved normal level overall with treatment,” Audrey said.

Arterial stiffness, often a predictor of heart attack, stroke and atherosclerosis in those aging, decreased by 35 percent, according to the study. Vessel wall density also improved with treatment.

“This really does give true hope to the families, to others and perhaps the more general population, but we’re really excited for the courageous families that are out there helping with these trials and being ready, willing and eager to participate in future ones,” Audrey said. “This is wonderful news, but we’re going to keep on going.”

The foundation plans to launch a third drug trial with rapamycin, which decreased the disease-causing protein progerin by 50 percent in mice, according to a 2011 study published in Science Translational Medicine.

“To see [the results] on paper and just with the treatment being successful and knowing that the third trial is coming up, it really gives me hope that it’s going to be successful as well, and it’s one more step to actually getting the FDA to approve the trial,” Marla said.

The Kudzia family of Whitehouse is waiting for the third drug trial to start; Carly, 2, is set to participate.

“It’s proven now that there is a treatment that provides a benefit for kids with progeria,” Heather Kudzia, Carly’s mom, said. “It’s not a cure, but I would say step one, check. Now give me some!”

“We’re very excited about the next trial. The doctors and researchers have come a long way,” Tim said. “Our hope is that each new drug added helps prolong these kids’ lives until eventually a cure is found.”

Christ Child Society hosts shower to collect supplies

By
Kyle Cappelletty
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Members of the Christ Child Society with some of the gifts they collected for area children. Photo courtesy CCS.

“Nothing is too much to do for a child.”

The slogan of the Christ Child Society (CCS) is echoed by the more than 200 women in the Toledo area who have dedicated themselves to the welfare of children.

“In my five years with the organization, the most rewarding experience I have had was during our Clothe a Child Program,” said Membership Chairman Jane Larsen. “When I gave a young boy a brand-new winter jacket, it was one of the most satisfying experiences of my life and I will never forget his enthusiastic reaction.”

The CCS is a national volunteer organization that has spent more than 125 years serving children. The Toledo chapter was organized in 1990.

The Red Wagon Shower is one of the CCS’s annual community outreach programs. The CCS of Toledo will host its 10th annual member-only Red Wagon Shower event on Oct. 9 at Sylvania Country Club.

“The CCS signature red wagons will be used in loving memory of our founder, Mary Virginia Merrick,” said Director of Public Relations Kitsie Valiton. “The famous Red Wagon raffle will feature many items donated by generous area sponsors. Many of the wagons will be filled with fantastic items for the raffle and the remaining red wagon centerpieces will be filled with beautiful fall flowers.”

Members are encouraged to attend the event for lunch and to donate diapers for the organization’s layette program. A layette is a package of newborn essentials including clothing, blankets, diapers, toys, books and other infant necessities. The organization collects materials to make and distribute hundreds of these packages each year.

The Red Wagon Shower is one way CCS members’ help make a difference in the community, President Cecile Bennett said.

“Last year we were able to distribute more than 800 layettes to help mothers with newborn babies in many different hospitals in the Toledo area,” Bennett said. “Our last event collected mountains of diapers and it was enough to fill up five SUVs.”

Since its inception, the organization’s outreach has expanded to include educational programs to help address the needs of today’s children.

“With the help of more than 200 members in our organization, we are able to administer many different programs a year ranging from tutoring children to distributing layettes and winter clothing.  Working with CCS has been one of the most gratifying experiences of my life,” Bennett said.

The CCS has an annual informational meeting introducing the goals of the organization and discussing how to become a member. Following the informational meeting, the organization trains new members and gives them a preview into the work of CCS.

The Toledo chapter was recently recognized with two national awards: one for its program, “Parenting Today’s Kids,” and a second award for the greatest increase in membership.

For more information on becoming a member, visit christchildsocietytoledo.org.

Local ballet director is real-life ‘Billy Elliot’

By
Toledo Free Press
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Artistic Director Nigel Burgoine, back middle, and some of the male dance students at the Ballet Theatre of Toledo. Photo Courtesy Nigel Burgoine.

When Nigel Burgoine settles into his seat in the Stranahan Theater on Oct. 2 for the opening night of “Billy Elliot,” he will be watching a musical that eerily mirrors his own childhood.

Nigel Burgoine, artistic director of the Ballet Theatre of Toledo, grew up in England and started dancing at age 4. Photo Courtesy Nigel Burgoine.

At 58, Burgoine has enjoyed a diverse career as a professional dancer, choreographer, director, classical ballet instructor, dance advocate and artistic director of three Ohio ballet theaters. This is his sixth year as artistic director of Ballet Theatre of Toledo, a company established in 2006 by the dancers and parents of his Toledo Ballet students who wanted to keep Burgoine from leaving Toledo.

Burgoine grew up in Wavendon, a village of about 500 people in Buckinghamshire County in southeast England.

Like Billy, who is motherless at age 11 when the “Billy Elliot” musical begins, Burgoine began life motherless when his birth mother left him at the hospital only hours after giving birth. Three weeks later, he was adopted by Marjorie Brooks, a mother he said “worked herself stupid to take me to a private kindergarten when I was 4.

“Every week, she took me down to ‘Musical Movement,’ and this lady would play the piano. If the music was loud, we leapt around. If it was soft, you had to creep and hide.

“Well, the teacher said to my mother, ‘The moment the music plays, Nigel leaps around. We can’t stop him. You should really put him into dancing.’

“And my mother said, ‘I can’t even afford this private school. We can’t put him into dancing.’”

Burgoine said his childhood teacher intervened.

“‘I know the teachers at the ballet school,’” she said. “Let me have a word with them because they’re always looking for dancers, for boys.’

“So I went down there and I did skipping for two weeks. I just skipped up and down to see how the rhythm was. And then they started with dancing, and I didn’t stop.”

Nigel Burgoine, artistic director of the Ballet Theatre of Toledo. Photo Courtesy Nigel Burgoine.

From age 4 to 10, Burgoine studied dance and performed in festivals around England, the equivalent to dance competitions in the U.S., where he almost always won first place.

When he was 10, a member of the Buckinghamshire County Council who was friendly with Sir Anton Dolin, England’s leading dancer at the time, invited Dolin to watch Burgoine dance.

“I had been auditioned to go and dance at the Princess Grace School of Ballet in Monaco,” Burgoine said. “And he came and saw me and said, ‘Nope. You’re going to go to the Royal Ballet School in London.’

“I auditioned and was accepted, and I left home, like Billy Elliot did, at the age of 11 and I was a boarder at the Royal Ballet School from the age of 11 to 16. Then at the age of 17 and a half, I joined the London Festival Ballet.”

In 1965, when Burgoine left home, “all the governments wanted to make the arts something that people could do,” he said. “So I had a complete scholarship from the age of 11 to 17 at the Royal Ballet School, which was about $15,000 a year back then. Can you imagine?”

Children of the ’60s were no different than children today and Burgoine said he was often bullied growing up.

An English boy who danced ballet in 1965 was called a sissy, a poof and a pansy, Burgoine said, just like many American boys who dance ballet today are called “fags, or that sort of thing.”

“Yep. Yep. You’re gay. You’re a girl. You do what girls do. You’re not a boy like us,” Burgoine said.

“So you just have to learn to fight. It was like, ‘Fine. Let’s go outside and fight.’ And the minute it was over, you had another friend.”

Burgoine said although his current male students do get teased, the situation has gotten better than it was when he was a child.

“With television programs like ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and all of that, it’s sort of making dancing quite cool now,” he said. “It’s gotten a lot better. I think it’s respected a lot more. But in those days, it was only ignorance.”

Burgoine said the bullying stopped when he returned to his village at age 17 as a professional dancer.

“When I can back, it was, ‘Oh, you’re famous now, aren’t you?’” he said.

Burgoine graduated from London’s Royal Ballet School in 1972 to become a world-renowned performer.

From 17 to 33, Burgoine performed as the principal dancer with the London Festival Ballet, dancing 26 principal male roles in 22 ballets. He also performed 21 additional roles in 19 ballets and made 15 guest artist appearances in 15 ballets in four international ballet companies.

His career has taken him to 57 cities in 16 countries on six continents. He has also performed on three television shows and in two films and has worked as a guest teacher at 10 schools in Brazil, England, Japan, New Zealand and the U.S.

“Billy Elliot” opens in Toledo on Oct. 2 with 8 p.m. performances through Oct. 6. The final two days of the show, Oct. 6-7, will have 2 p.m. matinee shows as well. The evening show Oct. 7 is 7:30 p.m.

 

Miller: Men vs. food

By
Michael Miller
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Overwhelmed with emotion, teary-eyed, I gently ran my fingers along the skin of my old ally.

“Goodbye, Old Friend,” I said, caressing and connecting for the very last time.

My stomach purred in response.

I lay back on the gurney, an IV needle embedded in my right hand.

I was sedated, holding my wife’s hand, just minutes from the surgery that would remove 85 percent of my stomach in an effort to control my dangerously rising weight.

The physician’s assistant asked what I did for a living, and when I told him I was an editor at a Toledo newspaper, he assumed I meant The Blade and began an enthusiastic monologue about reading the daily newspaper online. I did not correct him; it did not seem wise to piss off the man with the long needle.

My surgeon stopped by the curtained area and asked, “Ready to rock and roll?”

I said I was, but inside, as the sedatives took effect, I felt more like a light waltz.

I was wheeled into the operating room and transferred to the main table. The anesthesiologist leaned over me with a mask and lied, “I’m going to give you some oxygen.”

I nodded and glanced at the large TV with my name and case details on the screen.

It was 10:02 a.m. Sept. 18.

Baby steps

The journey to bariatric surgery began Jan. 3 with the first of six monthly visits to my primary care physician, or “doctor,” as I call him. Each of the visits focused on my progress, or lack thereof, with breaking bad habits. Fast food, carbohydrates, soda, a sedentary lifestyle. Between those visits, I worked with clinicians at the University of Michigan Adult Bariatric Surgery Program. This included visits with nutritionists, physical therapists, support groups, chat rooms with former and future patients, psychiatrists and more doctors.

There are three main options for bariatric surgery. It is a huge decision, and being immersed in the culture for six months, often with mandatory spousal attendance, helped me prepare mentally and begin making necessary changes.

As described by the UM program, “LAP-BAND Surgery, also known as laparoscopic gastric banding, is a restrictive surgical procedure whereby the size of the opening from the esophagus to the stomach is reduced by a silicone band, decreasing the amount of food that can be comfortably eaten.”

The most drastic option is “Roux-en-Y gastric bypass: First, the surgeon creates a small stomach (permanently reduced to an egg-sized pouch) to restrict food intake. Next, a Y-shaped section of the small intestine is attached to the pouch to allow food to bypass the lower stomach, the duodenum (the first segment of the small intestine), and the first portion of the jejunum (the second segment of the small intestine).”

So the LAP-BAND is the least invasive and is technically reversible. The gastric bypass is common, but all that rerouting made me nervous. I also did not like the idea of my disconnected stomach slowly atrophying in my abdomen for the rest of my life. Like Goldilocks looking at two extremely opposite options and seeking a middle ground, I gravitated to the sleeve gastrectomy.

“Gastric Sleeve Resection is a restrictive form of bariatric surgery that helps with weight loss by limiting food intake and controlling hunger sensations. The procedure calls for removing about 85 percent of the stomach, while keeping both ends of the stomach intact.  It does not involve cutting or rerouting the small intestine and it does not require an implanted weight loss device.”

Choosing sleeve surgery would mean more work for me, but I wasn’t looking for a panacea, I was looking for a tool to help me turn my personal Titanic around.

To accomplish the surgery laparoscopically, with six small incisions instead of one big abdomen slice, I was required to lose enough weight to shrink my liver down so it would not be an obstruction during surgery. I was supposed to embark on a 14-day liquid diet, but I’m an orderly man, so I chose to start Sept. 1. That would give me four extra days and an easy way to keep track of the liquid diet. That daily diet consisted of three 8-ounce, sugar-free, high-protein drinks, with between-drink small servings of oatmeal, nonfat yogurt and sugar-free mini pudding cups.

In other words, I was consigning myself to the Gulag, not just for 18 days before surgery, but for the four weeks following it as well.

The Goodbye Tour

Knowing that tremendous sacrifices awaited, I decided to say goodbye to my favorite foods in style. I asked three of my closest friends, all of whom enjoy a good repast as much as I do, to join me on my Goodbye Food Tour.

We started at noon Friday at Tony Packo’s, enjoying the multiple Mother of All Dogs for the final time. That afternoon we went to Rave Cinemas at Levis Commons to see a movie and enjoy one last feedbag bucket of movie theater popcorn with a depth-charge size soda. For dinner, we visited Fricker’s for a plate of my favorite deep-fried, honey barbecue chicken wings, with curly fries and more soda.

I went to bed overfull but determined to soldier on.

Saturday started with an early breakfast at a local diner, with a skillet full of scrambled eggs, hash browns, a number of selections from our pal the pig and a pile of shredded cheese. Lunch was at Burger Bar 419, where we shared fried cheese and some of the best gourmet cheeseburgers in Toledo.

After another movie (with another bucket of popcorn and another large soda), we went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Rossford for another version of my favorite burger. I knew I was slowing down when I did not finish my fries. Nonetheless, we traveled to Mr. Freeze for a large turtle sundae, which should be the final ice cream I enjoy, on that scale, for the rest of my life. After a few hours, we met at Buffalo Wild Wings on Central Avenue, for a last round of appetizers and chicken wings.

For the first time in my adult life, I left the table with uneaten wings on my plate.

Sunday morning was a last order of our neighborhood bakery’s best doughnuts. A late lunch took place at Olive Garden, with an endless pasta bowl order that ended midway through a third bowl.

There were still days before Sept. 1, but I used those days to start getting used to the protein drinks, with one solo goodbye stop each day during the week: The Blarney Irish Pub, McDonald’s, Spaghetti Warehouse and Wendy’s.

I will spare you those gastronomic details.

That left Friday, Aug. 31, as an opportunity for one final meal. That night was reserved for my wife and me, and I knew where I wanted to go: Final Cut at the Hollywood Casino Toledo. Not only did a steakhouse date night appeal to me, I thought the name was more than appropriate. And I knew exactly what I planned to order — the 64-ounce porterhouse, a cut of steak so big it comes with its own Final Cut dog tag, which I planned to carry with me as a talisman against the upcoming hunger and fight.

Every bite of that steak was exquisite. I lingered on the final cut as long as I could. Swallowed. Paid the bill. Went to bed knowing that the next 30-plus days would be the biggest challenge of my adult life.

The liquid diet

It turned out to be even more difficult than I expected. The 8-ounce liquid medical protein drinks, Unjury, come in flavors of chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and chicken soup. It would be easy to mock and deride Unjury, but it’s not the company’s fault. The drinks could have tasted like Willy Wonka’s Special Oompa Loompa Extract and it would still curdle under the heat of the resentment, despair and ravishing hunger I brought to the table. Each day for 18 pre-surgery days, as the rest of the world around me ate what it wanted, my self-exiled liquid diet had my betrayed stomach roaring like a lion with thorns in all four paws. Not consuming was one thing; not chewing was another. If I met my protein goals for each day I was allowed a few celery sticks or cucumber slices, but for a man used to eating cheeseburgers for snacks, every day was like a crawl through a desert.

The only solace was from my wonderful wife, who, in sympathy, went on the 18-day liquid diet with me. It was a major help to look across the table and see her grimacing as I did. I was moody, depressed, angry at myself and restless without meat, bread, pasta, potatoes, all of the glorious food I centered my life around.

But on Day Five, an interesting thing happened. I took that restless energy and began walking. Just a few blocks at first, then a mile, then two miles a day. We took long family walks with our young sons, spending an hour or so together on sidewalks, nature trails and park walking paths.

And while I did not at first see a difference, I started to feel … better. I quietly tried on one shirt size smaller and found it fit. Walking got easier. I still missed eating, but I did not feel as empty as I once did.

Throughout the 18-day diet, I intentionally stayed away from our bathroom scale, which wasn’t meant to weigh anyone my size. I believed it held only false promises.

So it wasn’t until the morning of the operation that I stepped on the hospital scale.

The end of the beginning

I weighed 380 pounds on Aug. 31. The morning of Sept. 18, I was down to 339.8 pounds, a 40-pound drop.

My smile was so wide, my Blade-loving IV inserter said I looked like I won the lottery.

I was wheeled into the operating room and transferred to the main table. The anesthesiologist leaned over me with a mask and lied, “I’m going to give you some oxygen.”

I nodded and glanced at the large TV with my name and case details on the screen.

It was 10:02 a.m. Sept. 18.

When I woke up at 2:30 p.m., I looked down to see six small incisions where 85 percent of my stomach used to be.

I tried to swim to consciousness, but kept falling back asleep.

The first words I heard were from a nurse, who was talking to another nurse. About me.

“His blood pressure is way up,” she said. “At 190. We’re giving him meds to try to get it down.”

 

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. 

Play about marriage equality comes to Toledo

By
Brigitta Burks
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From left, Ben Pryor, Holly Monsos, john Adams, Jennifer Rockwood, Carter Wilson and Kate Abu-Absi of the play ‘8.’ Photo by Anthony Tscherne.

Jennifer Rockwood believes theater can change the world — so it’s no surprise she is directing “8,” a play about the fight for marriage equality in California.

The play follows Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown) filed by the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) in opposition to Proposition 8, a 2008 amendment that overturned a California Supreme Court decision giving same-sex couples marital rights.

“We’re very close to their making a new decision or it moving forward. So this whole year’s been a good year to get the word out. And, of course, I have a lot of friends who are gay and I am very sympathetic to the idea that marriage should be equal,” said Rockwood, assistant dean in the College of Innovative Learning at the University of Toledo.

The free staged reading begins at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Doermann Theatre in UT’s University Hall. Donations for local advocacy group Equality Toledo will be accepted.

“8” premiered in New York City on Sept. 19, 2011, as a benefit for AFER. The play is the brainchild of Broadway Impact, an organization that promotes marriage equality through theater. The group’s founders, Rory O’Malley, Gavin Creel and Jenny Kanelos, were inspired after reading Perry transcripts. (The court video was not made public.)

“Our minds were blown with how amazing this case was. Our side had so much. We had witnesses and expert after expert,” Kanelos said. The group decided to approach AFER and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who penned the films “Milk” and “J. Edgar,” about putting a play together.

“The court stuff is all actual transcript. Not a word of it has been altered,” Kanelos said of Black’s script.

Black also based his script on interviews he conducted with the families involved in the case.

“People are really relating to that. They’re seeing gay families are as normal as straight families,” Kanelos said.

“8” got more attention when a Los Angeles production, which included famous actors, was put online. The day after it hit the Web, Broadway Impact, which licenses the show, had 150 requests from theaters around the country.

Rockwood had read about “8” on the Internet before deciding to stage her own show. She was one of the first people to put in a request, Kanelos said.

The Toledo play features two out-of-town actors in addition to local favorites like Kate Abu-Absi. UT faculty and other community members will perform on stage for the first time.

“The actors were easy to get. It was convincing people who’d never acted before to be in it,” Rockwood said. “I was picking people that I knew would bring in different crowds. People that I thought were charismatic whether they were actors or not.”

Carter Wilson, a UT professor of political science, will play a witness — also a political scientist.

“When I looked at the script, I was just very excited and thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to play the role,” Wilson said. He is encouraging his students to attend for extra credit.

“I see this also as an educational experience, an opportunity to inform the students and the public about a critically important issue,” he said.

John Adams, UT’s senior director for early outreach, will portray attorney Ted Olson. Olson served as solicitor general under President George W. Bush and is also an advocate for marriage equality. The attorney responded to a letter Adams wrote him.

“He was very nice and very encouraging. He just mentioned I hope my words will inspire you and help you play the part. He said he would love to be there if he could,” Adams said.

Abu-Absi will play Kris Perry, one of the plaintiffs.

“[‘8’ is] the perfect thing for a college campus,” she said. “This is what college is all about.”

Kanelos agreed. “Obviously, young people are just more ahead of the rest of the world on this issue,” she said, adding college is “really when you are discovering who you are and what views you have.”

The Toledo community has been very supportive of “8,” Rockwood said. Several businesses and UT colleges are sponsoring the production.

“For all of the different kinds of people, this is what great theater is. You have carpenters who are building stuff for us, you have lighting people, you have sound people,” she said.

Equality Toledo is also helping  and hosting a panel after the show.

“Theater and art, they create a venue for people to maybe see an issue from a different perspective and open the dialogue,” said Sherry Tripepi, executive director of Equality Toledo.

“I’d hope that [‘8’] does open some dialogue to those who are more hesitant to support marriage equality,” she added.

“8” is also sponsored by Catalyst Theatre Network, a recently formed group that includes Rockwood and Abu-Absi.

“We try to pick plays that speak to the human condition,” Rockwood has said, later adding that the name Catalyst speaks to what the play is trying to accomplish.

Productions of “8” in Ohio are special to Broadway Impact, Kanelos said. Ohio Wesleyan University put on a September production and chronicled the journey online through blogs and videos.

“We found that kids, young people and high school students are so passionate [about marriage equality]. They don’t see the difference between a gay person and a straight person,” she said.

Kanelos also said her co-founders are from the Buckeye State. Creel comes from Findlay.

“It’s kind of where all our hearts are,” she said.

Pounds: Chamber insight

By
Tom Pounds
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Toledo Free Press is in the process of setting meetings with the organizers behind the seven levies that will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Endorsements will follow those discussions, but for voters understandably weary (and wary) of media interpretation, an excellent guide comes from the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber diligently meets with representatives for each levy hopeful and goes through a two-step voting process to determine which levies it will endorse. Chamber President Mark V’Soske is clear that the Chamber does not come out against levies. It endorses its choices but does not actively oppose others.

The Chamber chose to support:

  • Toledo Public Schools (TPS) is asking taxpayers to approve a new 6.9-mill continuing levy, which according to the Chamber of Commerce will cost the owner of a $100,000 home $211.28 per year. The money from the levy would fund the district’s current transformation program and balance the budget beyond the 2012-13 school year.
  • The Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Lucas County has placed a 10-year, 1-mill levy on the ballot. The board’s last levy renewal was passed in 2008, so this levy would generate new money for the agency. This levy would cost $30.62 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home, according to the Chamber of Commerce.
  • Lucas County Children Services will be represented on November’s ballot with a 1.85-mill levy. This is a 0.85 increase from the current five-year levy, which will expire in December 2013. The 1.85-mill levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $56.66 per year, an increase of $26.04 on the current $30.62 per year paid to the 1-mill levy, according to the Chamber of Commerce.
  • Imagination Station will ask voters to renew its 0.17-mill levy, which is set to expire at the end of 2013. The levy would generate about $1.3 million of the organization’s $3.2 million revenue by costing owners of a $100,000 home $5.21 a year.

The Chamber did not support (but again, that does not mean it opposes):

  • Parks and Recreation is a new 1-mill levy, which would require renewal in 10 years. Owners of a $100,000 home would pay $30.62 per year if the levy passes, according to the Chamber of Commerce.
  • Metroparks of Toledo Area will place a 0.9-mill levy before voters. The levy would replace the 0.3-mill levy that expires at the end of its 10-year term on Dec. 31. If passed, the 0.9-mill levy will require renewal in 10 years.
  • The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library is placing a 2.9-mill levy on the ballot that if passed will replace and increase their 2-mill levy, which is due to expire at the end of this year. The levy will cost the owner of a $100,000 home $88.80 per year for five years, according to a newsletter on the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce’s website, toledochamber.com.

There is plenty of time for education and information; let’s hope voters look beyond media and do some investigating on their own.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at [email protected].

Romney outlines top five priorities at Toledo stop

By
Erin Holden
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Mitt Romney speaks at the SeaGate Centre in Downtown Toledo on Sept. 26. Toledo Free Press Photo by Joseph Herr.

Editor’s Note: Updated with crowd response.

During a Sept. 26 speech in Toledo, Mitt Romney outlined five major areas he would address if elected president: energy, trade, jobs, national debt and small businesses.

The Republican nominee started the day in Westerville, Ohio, then visited Cleveland and ended in Toledo. President Barack Obama also appeared in Northwest Ohio on Sept. 26, speaking at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green.

Romney said he would take “full advantage” of America’s energy resources, prompting a cheer from the crowd of about 3,500 at the SeaGate Centre.

“I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure we create as much energy of our own as we can,” Romney said.

North American energy independence would lower gas and electricity prices, opening opportunities for job creation and the recovery of the manufacturing sector, Romney said.

A second focus would be on expanding trade.

“We can compete with anyone in the world, so I’m going to open up new markets for us to be able to sell goods to,” Romney said.

Romney also vowed to “crack down” on China, saying the country keeps its prices artificially low, putting U.S. companies out of business.

“They should not steal our jobs,” Romney said. “The president has had multiple opportunities to label China a currency manipulator. He hasn’t. I will.”

Romney’s third focus would be revamping job training.

“Instead of having 47 different federal training programs that report to eight different agencies, with all sorts of overhead, I’m going to take the dollars the federal government spends, bundle it up, give Ohio its fair share and let Ohio create its own job-training program,” Romney said.

Fourth, Romney vowed to balance the budget.

“We’re not going to have entrepreneurs go out and start a new business or big companies come here … and hire more people if they think we’re on the road to Greece — and that clock up there looks like Greece,” Romney said, referring to an electronic national debt calculator near the stage displaying $16 trillion and counting.

A crowd of 3,500 listened to Mitt Romney speak at the SeaGate Centre in Downtown Toledo on Sept. 26. Toledo Free Press Photo by Joseph Herr.

Romney said his opponent added $6 trillion to the national debt since he took office and, if re-elected, will increase debt to $20 trillion by the end of his second term. The interest alone is more than the total spent on housing, education, agriculture and transportation, Romney said.

“It’s not good for the economy, it’s not good for jobs and I, for one, think it’s immoral to pass that obligation to our kids,” Romney said.

The fifth topic Romney addressed was small business.

“We need to champion small businesses,” Romney said. “[Obama] wants to raise the tax rate on it. … I’m going to lower the tax rate. … I’ll create jobs. He’ll kill them.”

Romney spoke beneath a banner reading “We can’t afford four more years,” and his speech often focused on the need to prevent Obama from securing a second term.

“I know they are out there chanting at his events, ‘Four more years.’ Do you want four more years with 23 million people struggling to find a job? Do you want four more years where half our kids coming out of college can’t find a college-level job? Do you want four more years of trillion-dollar deficits?” Romney asked, with the crowd responding “No” to each question.

Romney said he has confidence America “will come roaring back” —as long as Obama is not re-elected.

“Were we to re-elect President Obama, there is no question in my mind we face four more difficult years,” Romney said. “When I become president, we’re going to get this economy going again. … This is not a mystery. We know how to do it. America has faced challenges before when we have strong leaders, when we have people that know how to give a hand up, not a handout.”

Obamacare

To loud cheers, Romney vowed to repeal Obama’s health plan, commonly referred to as Obamacare, saying it will deter businesses from hiring new employees.

“Obamacare is really exhibit No. 1 of the president’s political philosophy and that is that the government knows better than people how to run your lives,” Romney said. “I believe in free people pursuing their dreams. I believe in freedom.”

Romney said Obama’s policies aren’t working — and he hasn’t come up with any new plans.

“His campaign slogan is ‘Forward.’ Forward to the same ideas, the same approaches he’s had for the last four years,” Romney said. “Nothing is going to change and we know the results of the last four years.”

Romney acknowledged many Americans are suffering as income of the average middle-class family has decreased even as the cost of food, electricity and health care have increased.

“I know the president cares about America and the people of this country,” Romney said. “He just doesn’t know how to help them. I do.”

Romney said Americans are charitable and compassionate to the elderly, disabled and poor.

“They need our help and they receive our help,” Romney said. “No nation on Earth is as charitable as the people of the United States of America. … At the same time, we will insist that these people have the opportunity for work if they can.”

Romney also shared a story about U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who grew up poor but within view of wealthy neighborhoods.

“He said, ‘I never heard my parents say, “Why don’t those people give us some of what they have?”” Romney said. “Instead they said, ‘Aren’t we lucky to live in a country where if we work hard and take some risks and get as much education as possible, we can achieve that as well?’”

Romney said America’s economy cannot be driven by “government bureaucrats.”

“America’s economy is driven by freedom. It’s not guided by government,” Romney said. “That’s what makes America how we are. We’re a nation of dreamers.”

Romney said the world looks to the United States for strength and leadership.

“The world needs America to lead; our families need America to lead; our future needs America to lead,” Romney said. “If I’m the next president of the United States — when I’m the next president of the United States — I will do everything in my power to keep America strong.”

Romney told the crowd he believed they would help him win Ohio.

“The president just the other day said, ‘You can’t change Washington from the inside. You can only change it from the outside,’” Romney said. “Well, we’re going to give him that chance on Nov. 6.”

Crowd response

Among the area residents who attended Romney’s speech were Catherine Lee of Perrysburg and her 8-year-old granddaughter Nathalie Rawlins.

“I just feel it’s so important at this young age,” Lee said. “My daughters are in their 40s and when [Ronald] Reagan came to Perrysburg, I got them out of school, too.”

Although they weren’t able to get tickets to go inside, Lee also took her granddaughter to Maumee in July when Obama spoke at the Wolcott House.

“Whether we support him or not, he’s our president. We have respect for him,” Lee said. “His bus came right close to us so we got to wave.”

Joe Young of Oak Harbor sat in the front row of the bleacher seating, holding a Romney/Ryan sign.

“I like everything that he is,” Young said. “He represents what I believe.”

Pamela Burger of Oregon said America needs Romney’s leadership.

“We don’t need what’s been going on this past three and a half years,” Burger said. “It’s just a scary thought to think what could go on in the next four years with Barack Obama not having to be responsible to the American people with another election coming up. I just hope people research for themselves and see where each candidate stands on the issues and realize we can’t keep going where we’re headed.”

Burger said Romney has “great energy” and “speaks from the heart.”

“It’s like hearing your next-door neighbor talk. I think he identifies with the everyday person and I believe his heart is there fighting for every American no matter what,” Burger said. “He wants to see America succeed and he’s got the leadership experience.”

Romney supporter Lizzette Proshek of Toledo said she was curious how many people would show up to a Republican event in largely Democratic Toledo.

“We’re happy to see the outcome,” Proshek said. “I don’t like our giving away our country. Everything is just given. If you need a house, if you need food, if you need health care, it’s all free. We can’t do that anymore and Mitt Romney seems to agree.”

Opening speakers included University of Toledo senior Patrick Richardson, Lucas County Republican Party Chairman Jon Stainbrook, Toledo City Councilman George Sarantou, State Sen. Mark Wagoner and U.S. Rep. Bob Latta.

A small group of protestors gathered across the street from the SeaGate Centre, holding signs reading “Obama for all (Romney for some),” “Mitt Not Fit,” “47% No Head, No Heart, No Mitt” and “Romney knows where the jobs are: China, India, Mexico. He sent them there.” A man in a George W. Bush mask waved fake money and a man in Romney mask held a sign reading, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”

In-person voting begins in Ohio on Oct. 2. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 9.

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Szyperski: A conservative, a liberal and an independent walk into a family

By
Shannon Szyperski
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My mom has a theory that every generation has a major hurdle of acceptance it needs to clear.

The hurdles generally have to do with a majority of the population learning to respect a certain natural discrepancy among us. Examples of hurdles past include racial integration, gender equality and, most recently, marriage equality.

As we attempt to overcome our latest challenges individually and as a group (with some of us still trying to belatedly clear hurdles of the past), I can’t help but wonder what our next one will be.
I have a theory of my own. As we clear physical hurdles and social hurdles, my guess is
that we are next poised to take on intellectual hurdles. My hope is that we will soon realize our society needs to learn to embrace conceptual differences and work toward intellectual equality.
I am not referring to IQs or standardized test scores or one’s general capacity for intellectual thought. I am more concerned with the way we think and how we view the world.
More specifically, I am concerned with our seeming inability to accept those who hold
different ideals. We currently have a superiority complex about those we disagree with.
My kids are growing up at a time when it is socially admissible to stereotype and write off large chunks of the population when it comes to political ideals.
They are growing up at a time when there are mainstream books with titles like “If Democrats Had Any Brains, They’d Be Republicans,” and well-“liked” Facebook groups with names like “Americans Against the Republican Party.”

Despite decades of pleas for tolerance of one another in our culture, we are still finding acceptable reasons to loathe our fellow Americans.
Hatred and disrespect for those who see the world from a different perspective seem to be considered safe based on the fact that one’s belief system may be dynamic over time (as opposed to the more static states of race and gender) and is, therefore, up for the bashing.

Perhaps this potential for change, unlike the pigmentation of one’s skin or the number of one’s X chromosomes, is also what keeps the one religion vs. another religion vs. no religion fire burning bright. We don’t technically have to be Jewish or Christian or Muslim or atheist, but we are born into a particular ethnic lineage or gender without much potential for conversion.
According to popular belief, we also don’t technically have to be conservative, liberal or something in between.
Yet, more and more studies seem to be aimed at proving that there is some hard-wiring involved that precludes us from entirely having a choice in the matter.

Surprisingly, some of the studies seem to indicate that being hard-wired a particular way is somehow more favorable over another. Such subjective conclusions do not fit my understanding of science, but I may just be incorrectly wired to comprehend it.
From what I am already witnessing in my own three children, human beings do seem to come with some sort of prepackaged worldview mechanism.
At ages 3, 6 and 9, I already recognize a little liberal, a young conservative and a budding independent in my midst. I recognize certain qualities in them that lead me to believe they will view the world by leaning in a particular direction.
I have less concern about which way they will lean and much more concern about how they will interact with those facing in other directions.

Regardless of their natural inclinations, my advice to them will be to at least visit their friends’ perspectives and be open to recognizing the elements they have in common. I hope they maintain a level of respect for other ideals and that they never sink to beginning a sentence with “If (insert political designation) had any brains …” (also see the words “moron,” “idiot” and “ignorant”).
It has been my experience that nature doesn’t make too many mistakes. Even things that seem in error often end in education. If the discrepancy in our political nature is, indeed, natural, I can’t help but think that it is meant to be a lesson in coming together instead of a means to divide.
If our history is any indication, the things that initially come between us are actually opportunities to bring us closer together.
Shannon and her husband, Michael, are raising three children in Sylvania. 

Diocese starts restoration of Mt. Carmel tombstones

By
David Yonke
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The Catholic Diocese of Toledo has started resetting the tombstones that are in disarray at
Mount Carmel Cemetery and is looking at ways to provide a more comprehensive fix.
Thomas Szych of North Toledo raised awareness of the problem, telling ToledoFAVS and its media partner Toledo Free Press that more than three dozen tombstones were off their bases in the oldest section of the historic cemetery.
Bob Shenefield, the diocese’s director of cemeteries, responded with a letter to Szych saying that he plans to address the problem.

“Even though we are currently limited by a lack of abundant resources, it does not mean that we are unable to begin making progress in turning things around at Mount
Carmel Cemetery,” Shenefield told Szych in a letter dated Sept. 19.
“Earlier this week I walked the oldest sections with our grounds superintendent, and we began putting a plan together to remedy several of the conditions that were identified in the article,” Shenefield said.
Szych, whose parents, grandparents and numerous other relatives are buried at Mount Carmel, said he felt the fallen and neglected tombstones showed a lack of respect for the dead. The contracts that family members sign with Mount Carmel promise perpetual care of the gravesites, Szych said.
He called the diocese several weeks ago to complain, but was told there was no money or manpower to fix the fallen gravestones.
“It made me feel nice to get a letter and I called [Shenefield] back, acknowledging his acknowledgment,” Szych said. “At least somebody took the time to write the letter, and now I have a name to contact when I have a complaint.”
It was not clear how many of the tombstones had been knocked off their foundations by vandals or careless lawn care workers, and how many had fallen over from deterioration over time. Some of the fallen tombstones date to the mid-1800s.

Shenefield said cemetery workers have taken the first step of “realigning many of the individual markers that were no longer on top of their original foundations.”
Crews have also begun resetting tombstones that have fallen off their bases and are lying on the ground, he said.
“Next we are planning to lift and relevel those individual markers in need of minimal foundation repair,” Shenefield wrote in the letter. “It is apparent that there will be more to do, and larger projects to complete,” Shenefield said, “but I wanted you to know that we are aware of the situation and have made a commitment to rebuilding the faith and confidence of the families who have chosen Mount Carmel Cemetery as the final resting place for their loves ones.”
Located at Lagrange Street and Manhattan Boulevard in Toledo’s Old North End, Mount Carmel has long been the cemetery of choice for Toledo’s Polish Catholics. One of three cemeteries in the Toledo diocese, Mount Carmel was originally known as St. Mary’s and St. Francis de Sales Cemetery until it was renovated and consecrated as Mt. Carmel by Bishop Karl J. Alter in November 1936.

David Yonke was the editor and community manager of ToledoFAVS.com, a website that provided in-depth, nonsectarian news coverage of religion, faith and spirituality in the Toledo area.

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