By Bernard Whitmore

As it has in each election year, “What’s the point in voting? These candidates are all the same…” has become a refrain.

When I hear this sentiment uttered I’m inclined to shrug in somewhat tacit agreement.  Many of us have been taught that casting our vote is our duty in a democracy, but we don’t often think of it as a hard-fought right that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Most Americans view the Civil Rights Movement as purely a fight to end segregation; however, the underlying battle was about power possessed entirely, in most Southern counties, by white people who maintained their monopoly of elective offices through laws and intimidation that had suppressed the black vote for generations.  Law enforcement and the Ku Klux Klan provided the muscle to maintain this status quo.

In fact, there were counties in the South with less than one percent of blacks registered to vote and upwards of eighty percent living in poverty, all while more than one hundred percent of the white population (deceased were often kept on voter rolls) was enrolled.

Nowhere was this unjust imbalance more evident than in Dallas County, Alabama.  Selma, the county seat, is where the Southern Christian Leadership Conference decided to take a stand. A march that was planned from Selma to Montgomery abruptly ended in the face of carnage inflicted by state police and deputized townspeople at the Edmund Pettus Bridge; the clash became known as “Bloody Sunday.”

Images of the debacle played on TV and ran in newspapers throughout the world.  When a follow-up march was planned, Dr. King appealed to people throughout the country to come lend their support.  Many from Massachusetts took heed and headed south.  I met with a couple of them living right here in Worcester.  These are their stories.

Erwin “Dusty” Miller, an attorney at Bowditch & Dewey, has touched the lives of many in Worcester; in fact, he has a rich family heritage of community activism:

Dusty: I grew up in Worcester, my family was always very community involved, particularly my mom, whose mother was a suffragette and “marched for the vote.”

My mother was involved with the black community in the early sixties when things were starting to open up but there were still more subtle restrictions regarding where blacks could live or where they could work.

I went to Savannah when I was fifteen.  We went by train and when we pulled out of Washington they announced, “Anyone who’s not white has to leave these cars and go to the Jim Crow car.” That’s the way it was.  When you wanted a drink or use the bathroom you had to look for the whites-only or colored-only sign overhead.  I’d never seen anything like it and thought, “This is America?

I worked summers at the YMCA day camp for kids who were very poor ~ their underwear had more holes than cloth ~ mostly people of color.  Then I went on to Yale law school.  In my senior year I was doing a major paper on the Voting Rights Act which hadn’t yet passed.  It was based on the Civil Rights Act of ‘64.

And all of a sudden we began to see on television this attempt to finally get people in the South the right to vote.  Technically they had it, there were all these impediments from intimidation and threats to tests that only PhDs could pass ~ tests that impoverished white people were not subjected to.

The African American community had no political power because they couldn’t vote enough to get their leaders elected.

On a convergent path to a common goal, Carol Thompson insists that there’s not much in her family history that could have predicted her life of activism and sensitivity to those “on the wrong side of the tracks.”  Like Dusty, she’s intelligent and fascinating to listen to, punctuating her stories with peals of laughter and self-deprecating humor.

Carol: I’ve been a resident of Worcester for the past twelve years.  Officially retired, I’m working on an alcohol, drug and tobacco prevention program for children.  It’s very exciting, a website with videos that tell stories about kids who decide to use one of those substances.  The story stops and then the viewers get to finish it using their own imagination.  It’s the “Why not stop” project (www.whynotstop.org).

I got into civil rights as a natural occurrence because when I was growing up in Springfield, the people in my life were very politically active.  One of the persons was Mary Lowell, the wife of the mayor.  Mary started a program for prisoners about to be released.  In those days, the 1940s and 50s, you couldn’t be released on parole without a job.

Mary prevailed upon her husband, a successful industrialist, to hire people who’d been in prison.  She asked me if I’d be willing to call on businessmen to help get more jobs. Today most of the people in our prisons are people of color.  This wasn’t the case back then, but Mary was so concerned that minorities would have a harder time getting jobs that she opened the doors for them.

That’s how I started in… well, we didn’t even call it “Civil Rights” back then.

One Sunday morning in 1963, the priest announced from the pulpit that there was going to be this march for equality in Washington.  He encouraged anyone in the congregation to go.  I stopped on the way out and said I’d like to go.  I was the only person who did!

People in the congregation, after it was announced that I was going, asked me, “Aren’t you afraid to be with that many niggers?” Yes, they used the n-word!

We went by train and arrived in Washington the next morning.

That was the big march!  Can you imagine?  A million people!  We got off the train in Union Station and were going to walk to our designated meeting point near the reflecting pool.  I don’t think I’d ever seen so many people in one place!

I was so energized!  It was incredible.  At the head of the march was A. Phillip Randolph, who had organized the Pullman strike in the 30s.  A murmur went through the crowd as people recognized him.  And Dr. King, who many in the North didn’t even know of. Yet.

Make no mistake, the National Guard, the United States Army, and the Marines lined the entire route, elbows set, guns at the ready.  I said, “My God!  This, our nation’s capital! And here’s the military out in full force with loaded rifles!’

But here was our chance to change what was wrong in America.   It was so clear!

We got onto the mall, halfway down the reflecting pool.  When Dr. King started his speech the crowd went absolutely quiet.  Everyone focused their attention on him:

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

And there was a great rise of applause when he was finished.  It was a life changer!

When I came back, I joined the local chapter of the NAACP.  There I got to know people who organized events and [I] met Dr. King when he came to Boston.  We exchanged addresses and that’s how I received his telegram inviting me to Selma.

I also knew Charles Evers, brother of Medgar, who was running Medgar’s organization in Jackson, Mississippi.  When I told him I was going to Selma, he said, “Come to Jackson!”

So I flew into Jackson and we were going to drive to Selma.  Come to find out, that’s a twelve hour drive!  And we had to travel at night because I’m very white and everyone else in the big sedan was black.  If noticed, there would have been big problems.

So we left after dark and everyone had to take turns driving.  When it came to my turn they started talking about what would happen if Highway Patrol found us.  [Here Carol laughs.] I had to peel my hands off the steering wheel when my turn was finished!  Because of flooding, those highways are raised up with a deep ditch on both sides of the road.  They would have just pushed us off the road into the ditch and shot us all.

We got to Selma and immediately went to Dr. King’s headquarters in the basement of a church.  He barely knew me at the time; later we became great acquaintances.  Charles Evers was my entree into the group.  That’s where I met John Louis who is now, of course, a congressman.  John wore overalls.  And here I was, ready to walk [54 miles] from Selma to Montgomery in little flat ballerina slippers and a silk dress.

“Well, you had to look like a lady!” [Carol shook with laughter.]

A week before that they’d been shot at trying to get over the Pettus Bridge.  This time there were snipers on all the rooftops. Their orders were: “See any trouble, shoot!”  So I thought this would be no problem.  There were five hundred of us and all along the way there were groups of white people shouting outrageous things like, “White whore!’ because I stood out.  But I felt perfectly safe for the week-long march.

The issues were very clear to me: people were being beaten and burnt out of their homes. Beaten!  …If this kind of thing could stand in the United States, any group could be next.

Dusty also heard the call:

Dusty: President Johnson was getting more political pressure as Martin Luther King, Jr. planned the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.  By then there was concern that the march would go ahead without the cooperation of the state.  So people from all over the country were asked to come join the March to Montgomery.

Here in Massachusetts, several planeloads of people were chartered by the Mass Council of Churches.  My mother was going and I felt, “All right!  Let’s see what the real thing is!”

We landed in Montgomery at dawn on March 25.  Planes from every airline were parked everywhere.  And trainloads of people from more-liberal southern cities like Atlanta were arriving.

Everyone was assigned to a group; each had a leader equipped with a walkie-talkie who staged us on St. Jude’s field.

Eventually we started our march and as we got closer to Montgomery, first we reached the poor black section of small neat houses.  As we got closer, we reached the equally poor and similar-looking white section.  But at that point the federal troops appeared.  From there on, the March route was lined by troops.  Behind them were angry people yelling and throwing stuff.
In spite of that protection, later that day a Michigan woman was killed and people from Boston were beaten.

Dusty emphasized, “The march on Montgomery was symbolic; it was a very clear demonstration that there was national interest and support beyond just the South.”

The Selma to Montgomery marches began a sea-change that eventually transformed the country; consider the election of our president.  But, the transformation was slow and difficult, as Carol continues:

Carol: When I got home a reporter came to see me about how it was for a white woman in the March.  The day after the article was published someone threw a big rock through the front window.  I called the police and when an officer arrived, he asked, with a bit of a sneer, “Can you think of a reason why someone would throw a rock through your window?”

It was terrible, but it stood my children in good stead. The oldest, twelve at the time, was very angry.

Later on, Charles Evers asked if I’d help with voter registration in Clinton, Mississippi.  A black family put me up for two weeks.  One day we visited an old man ~ white beard, rocking back and forth on his rickety porch…the only thing missing from the stereotype was a straw hat.

We explained that we’d accompany him to voter registration.  He looked at me and said, “Honey, ‘twas this way before you came, gonna be this way after you leave.”

You see, fear of the hatred doesn’t leave.

These personal accounts, and even the Civil Rights movement, may seem like faded history now, and many of us think our “better world” is guaranteed.   But not Carol.  She repeatedly admonishes, “Nothing changes!” She’s concerned that the gains made by women are much more fragile than once thought.

That old man on the porch could be any one of us: Why vote? What’s the point?

Well, the very act of voting is important.  It sends a message to those in power: ‘We’re watching!’

It’s such a small price to pay for living in a country whose course can be corrected by a few non-violent protestors.  And if the candidates are really that bad, get involved in the process ~ Carol and Dusty can show you how.

Pictured: Top Left: The Selma to Montgomery March; Top Right: Erwin “Dusty” Miller; Bottom Left: Carol Thompson; Bottom Right: The Civil Rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963.

Driving up to Norm Eggert’s farm in Phillipston, you might assume that the beautiful New England countryside was his inspiration to delve into the world of photography. Yes, Normis a long-time chronicler of grand scenery, true, but his road to becoming a photographer started quite far from scenic back roads.

Norm got into photography several decades ago with little thought of making it a career, as he already had one as an underwriter at the [then]Paul Revere Insurance Company. In order to meet people at his place of work, he ~ with his first camera, a manual Konica Rangefinder ~ joined the newly formed photography club. Fellow members were helpful with tips and advice on equipment and technique. In a contest early on, one of his pictures placed third, not at all bad for a novice.  Norm did not think his photo was all that good, but he was pleased at the affirmation of his fellow club members.

One mentor, remembered fondly, taught Norm how to shoot weddings. After working only two under his mentor’s watchful eye, he was thrown into the deep end, shooting the third and subsequent weddings solo. At this point in our conversation, Norm’s quiet confidence begins to shine through as he talks me through the maturation of his photography career. 

Norm lived in Worcester back then and remains fond of the city. Still, the desire for a farm burned strong in his and his wife Cheryl’s hearts, so they bought an old square cape and five acres ~ five acres to which another 15, plus sheep and Australian shepherds to herd them, would soon be added, and would soon become the subjects of many of his photographs.

While he enjoyed the work environment at Paul Revere, Norm continued to pursue photography; unlike some artists, there was never a big moment when he fell in love with his craft, it was always just fun.

Norm blossomed into a full-fledged photographer during the film age, and now we are in the digital camera era; he has responded as most have, only occasionally using film these days.  We can all take better pictures than we could with our old Kodaks, but there is a flip side to that advancement: Norm shared how he had made an album from his grandmother’s ancient negatives dating from the first quarter of the 20th century.  Today, such treasure could be lost with the crash of a disk.  If there is an irreplaceable shot on your drive, Norm advised, make a print of it.

Appreciative of how much he benefitted from mentors early on, Norm has likewise been passing on his knowledge to a new generation of photographers for over 25 years.  He has taught at Assabet Valley and Mount Wachusett Community College, and has been an instructor at the Worcester Art Museum for years.

Right now at the Museum, he is instructing on outdoor and nature photography, focusing on how to improve composition.  For Norm, composition is key, as is evident in all his work: it is lush in color whether the scene is a quaint shop, seashore, or farmland.  Not bad for a man who started out working with numbers.

To view some of Norm’s work, please visit www.agpix.com/normaneggert.

Norm accepts assignments for specific projects and is available for creative family and individual portraits as well as private instruction and workshops. He can be reached at 978.249.8606 and norm@eggphoto.com.

Photos: Top, outgoing Director of Worcester Art Museum Jim Welu with incoming Director Matthias Wascheck at the Musuem; Middle, the Boulevard Diner; Bottom, the old Worcester County Courthouse

Looking back on 1971, we remember that Love Story stole our hearts on the big screen while Mary Tyler Moore stole them on our televisions at home. Tony Orlando and Dawn were teasing us to “Knock Three Times” on the ceiling if we wanted them ~ and many of us did. Stamps were about 8 cents each and gas, believe it or not, was only $.40 a gallon.

The US was still involved in Vietnam, Nixon was in office and the musical “Godspell!” ~ which began as a Carnegie Mellon College student project ~ opened off Broadway to its first of many audiences.

For over 40 years now, “Godspell!” has enchanted theatre-goers with its inspiring parables and songs like “Day By Day.” But unlike low prices at the pump, this theatrical treasure is not a thing of the past. Audiences are delighted to see the show back on Broadway with Sturbridge native Ken Davenport ~ of Davenport Theatrical Enterprises ~ producing it.

“Broadway can appear so far away,” he recognizes. Between planning transportation, hotels and finding the right theatre, this trip can seem overwhelming, but Davenport was determined “…to show people that it really isn’t.”

In February 2012, Davenport organized a stress-free opportunity for 56 people from Sturbridge, including his own mother, to purchase tickets (at group rates), hop on a bus, and go see the show. Needless to say, the trip was a grand success; the group is already asking about another.

But this is just Davenport’s way ~ he is completely dedicated to the needs, wants and lofty dreams of theatergoers. At his shows, he’s constantly meeting audience members and asking them directly what they liked or didn’t like. He also keeps an unwavering eye on online feedback, noting what is stated in reviews or on Twitter. Wherever he is, Davenport is on the pulse of theatre.

His demand for good customer service might come from being self-made and starting out in the business world at a very young age.

“My dad let me open up my first business when I was about 7 years-old,” Davenport remembers with a laugh. “I had a candy shop in his doctor’s office. It taught me about entrepreneurship, how to take control and take care of customers.”

Davenport eventually said good-bye to the candy biz and headed to Tisch School of the Arts at New York University to study acting. As he made his way through numerous internships, he realized that the one thing he wanted to do more than anything was produce.

“I was able to see all of the different positions that were available in a Broadway show ~ from stage managing to being a press agent to being a wardrobe assistant,” Davenport says. “And what I liked the most was the guy who opened up the meeting on the very first day. The producer.”

As the founder and owner of Davenport Theatrical Enterprises, Davenport’s days are busy: he reviews financial statements, deals with casting issues, attends readings, handles the marketing of the shows he produces and much more. He has a thought-provoking blog about theater which he updates regularly, he continues to write and even in his spare time he heads back to the theater, delighting in new shows as well as the classics.

In the future, Davenport sees himself trying both television and film and helping plan even more bus trips to Broadway. But theater will always be his first love.
“I want to make sure that the theater not only survives the next 50 years, but also thrives.”

Gas prices in 50 years might have us down, but we have faith that Davenport will never disappoint.

For more info on Davenport Theatrical Enterprises, go to www.davenporttheatrical.com.

To read Ken Davenport’s blog, visit  www.theproducersperspective.com.

Deidre Marie Capone was 18 years old when she was fired from a job at an insurance company because of her last name. It wasn’t the first time she had been persecuted for simply sharing the same blood as a man who many considered awful.

She was in second grade when her famous uncle Al Capone died and word of her lineage spread like wildfire until no one wanted to be near her for fear of her family.

Years later, Deidre’s two youngest children began to ask about their famous relative while attending college in Chicago and she felt a wave of déjà vu. It was then that Deidre knew the story of her famous uncle had to be told.

Her book, Uncle Al Capone: The Untold Story From Inside His Family, is currently the number four best-selling novel on Amazon.com and is creating a buzz from history buffs who can’t seem to turn away from all of the great stories within.

“My children were the impetus,” said Deidre in an interview with the Tribune from her home near Naples, Fla. “I was afraid to tell them (of their heritage). They would see references to Al Capone that were really derogatory and disrespectful.”
“The Capone DNA is surging in their bodies and it didn’t feel good for them as it never did for me,” she continued.

Historians have generally picked up facts about her family based on other books and newspaper articles that oftentimes embellished falsehoods, according to Deidre. She felt it was time to set the records straight.

“I was growing up and I’d read something in the paper that was just not true,” she recalled. “Now, these researchers and the people that are going out and writing these other books … they go back and read old newspaper articles and they’re not accurate.”

Deidre pointed out one myth in particular that is presented as fact in many accounts of Al Capone and his youth.

“I see so many things stating that Al Capone quit school in the sixth grade. He did not,” she said. “My grandfather (Ralph) had to quit school but all the other siblings graduated high school and some went to college and finishing school and people don’t know that. They were very smart and well educated.”

One of Deidre Capone’s most controversial claims regarding her Uncle Al’s legacy involves his association with the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in which seven associates of rival Bugs Moran were murdered in Chicago.

“My family told me the real story about the Valentine’s Day Massacre,” said the now 71-year-old Deidre. “The people that committed the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre were policemen and were working in conjunction with some of the top businessmen in Chicago and they did it to point the finger at Al Capone because that was all part of this plot to get rid of him.”

“They wanted Al Capone gone before the World’s Fair was to be in Chicago in 1935,” she added.

Al Capone was never convicted of the shooting but was found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison and in 1934 was transferred to the newly built and very first maximum security prison, Alcatraz. He served five years on the island in a six-by-nine cell before he was released in 1939.

When Deidre went to the famous island prison for the first time, she cried.

“Al Capone should never have been to Alcatraz,” said Deidre, who recalled reading a sign on the ferryboat featuring a quote from the first warden of the prison. “He said ‘Alcatraz was created to incarcerate irredeemable men.” That was not Al Capone.”

“He was convicted of a white collar crime,” she continued. “For heaven’s sakes, right now in our government there are people who owe the government a lot more than Al Capone ever owed and they’ve never even seen a judge.”

“Uncle Al,” features sometimes funny anecdotes about the family as well as nuggets of information that people haven’t been exposed to in history books.

She mentioned the time that Al’s older brother Ralph paid a judge $47,000 in fees and owed taxes in pennies, supplied in trucks.

There’s also the time Al Capone wanted to buy the Cubs from then owner William Wrigley and knowing that the commissioner of baseball wouldn’t approve, he thought of asking one of his friends, maybe Jack Dempsey or Al Jolson to pose as a fake owner in his stead.

Her grandfather, Ralph, recalled a story in which he asked Al Capone how he would acquire the team to which he replied “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

Then, according to Deidre, Al Capone planned on buying out Babe Ruth from the Yankees. He even planned on buying Satchel Paige’s contract and making him the first African American to play in the big leagues.

Deidre was seven when Al Capone, the notorious Scarface, died from a stroke in 1947 but she remembers the man vividly. She still recalls the time she fell out of a tree and had the wind knocked out of her and Al Capone was there to comfort her as she regained composure.

Her best memories are of the times the family would get together for meals, an epic adventure that would last for days.

“My grandmother, when she would cook, she’d start cooking dinner and planning dinner on Friday,” said Deidre, who included a few Capone family recipes in the book. “To have all the family be together for these dinners every Sunday and when Al would walk in the place, the party began.”

“It was like he arrived and the family was whole and complete and that’s the way I felt about him,” she said. “He was a very important person in the Capone family.”

Deidre was close to her grandfather and Al’s older brother Ralph and had him and his vast cache of stories until he died when she was 34. Together, the two elder Capone’s ran one of Chicago’s most infamous gangs, the Chicago Outfit.

“My grandfather really ran the business and anybody that knows their history of the mob, they know that Ralph Capone actually ran the business,” she said. “At one point, my grandfather told me he was running 300 different businesses.”

“Now what were those businesses? They were alcohol, they were gambling and they were prostitution,” she added. “All three of those things were what people wanted. There was never anybody that was made to go and gamble at the horses. Nobody was ever made to go and sit down at the speakeasy and have a drink. Nobody forced anybody into a house of prostitution.”

“Those are the things that people wanted,” said Deidre. “My grandfather and my uncle had this idea that they were providing something and they wanted it to be top quality.”

“This country wanted booze and I organized it,” Al Capone is quoted in the book as saying. “Why should I be called a ‘public enemy?’”

Deidre Capone doesn’t try to exonerate her Uncle Al completely in the book. Her compelling stories reveal the man as a warm and kind individual who displayed a gentle and protective hand to those he cared about and brutality towards men who weren’t exactly saints.

“You need to know the real Al Capone,” she said. “There’s absolutely no person on Earth who can write that book, except me.”

Art courtesy of Deidre Marie Capone.

Who doesn’t want a better sleep that is comfortable, safe, organic, eco-friendly, and natural? More importantly, who doesn’t want that for their brand new baby? Your baby will spend most of his or her infant life in bed, so it’s important to have comfort, warmth, and safety while keeping nature’s balance in mind. EgroPouch does just that for you with their wide range of organic baby sleeping bags, bamboo pajamas, and easy to use swaddles. In an effort to get their new bundle of joy Xavier to sleep, the Sack family wanted to develop the most comfortable, safe & healthy sleeping environment to reduce awake time. A unique hybrid of baby blanket and regular sleeping bag, ErgoPouch is a great way to allow your baby to move freely without getting tangled in those fancy baby blankets. So easy and so fast, the ErgoPouch had a clever upside down zipper that keeps those smart little ones from unzipping themselves and helps create easy diaper changes..

www.newinnovashun.com

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KIDS KONSERVETM LESSENS LUNCHTIME WASTE WITH INSULATED LUNCH TOTES & FOOD KOZIESTM

Kids KonserveTM, manufacturer of non-toxic, waste-free lunch packing items for both kids and adults, helps make lunch and other on-the-go meals more sustainable. The company transforms waste-producing plastic bottles into reusable, Insulated Lunch Totes, and offers reusable, waste-free “Food KoziesTM” as an alternative to plastic baggies.

“While the movement to eat healthier picks up steam, many people still rely on plastic baggies and paper sacks to carry their lunch to the office, throwing bags “away” after use,” explained Chance Claxton, Kids Konserve co-founder. “Our research indicates that the average child creates 67 pounds of lunchtime trash, headed to our ever-growing landfills each school year! We are providing both kids and adults with healthier lunch-packing solutions, better for both people and planet.”

The U-Konserve Lunch Tote is the contemporary and reusable way to keep kids’ and pre-teens’ lunches fresh, cool and stacked upright, thanks to a tall and roomy design. An inside pocket provides the perfect space for U-Konserve’s sweat-free ice pack, bamboo utensil or cloth napkin. A sturdy zipper and adjustable strap add to the versatility.

To offset the 500 billion to a trillion plastic bags consumed worldwide each year, ditch plastic baggies and instead wrap food in a reusable, recyclable and BPA-free Kids Konserve Food KozyTM . Available in two sizes, large (15.5”round) or small (13.5” round), the Kozies are ideal for preserving the freshness of everything from sandwiches, bagels and fruit slices to large blocks of cheese.

Founded in 2008, Kids KonserveTM offers a complete line of waste-free lunch and snack packing solutions, and is dedicated to educating families, schools and the general consumer on the importance of ‘reuse’ through its non-toxic, non-leaching, waste-free products. All items offered by Kids Konserve are free of BPA, phthalates, PVC and lead. Kids Konserve products can be viewed and purchased at www.KidsKonserve.com, as well as through markets and boutiques nationwide.

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LOTUS BUMZ CLOTH DIAPERS - WE MAKE THE ADORABLE AFFORDABLE!

Eco Friendly Cloth Diapers from Lotus Bumz is a new mom must-have! Lorain started Lotus Bumz when she realized that there is a great need for an affordable cloth diaper. After deciding to go with cloth diapers with her new born and seeing the physical benefits that they had on his skin as well as knowing that using cloth diapers is so much better for the environment than disposable diapers, she decided more parents need to know and be able to afford this great way of diapering. All diapers have shiny, leak-proof exterior (PUL), 3 rows of adjustment snaps to allow for a small/medium/large size in one diaper, hip snaps to prevent the sides from drooping, a waist tab that overlaps for extra-small waist size, and includes a 3-layer microfiber insert.

Other benefits of Lotus Bumz Cloth Diapers?

*Helps the environment ~ It takes 1 disposable diaper 200 years to decompose!

*Great for baby’s skin ~ Helps reduce diaper rash.

*Saves you money ~ Families who use cloth diapers save an average of $1500-2500 on diapers

www.lotusbumz.com

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BUGGYLOVE - ORGANIC STROLLER CLEANING KIT

Does your grand baby’s stroller need a spa day? Is it time to pimp their ride? Welcome to BuggyLOVE, the first-ever organic stroller cleaning kit! Baby’s ride deserves as much attention as that posh little nursery of theirs. Even the most discerning of Grams and Gramps won’t mind whipping it out in public. BuggyLOVE contains one of each of the following: FreshLOVE ~ 8 refreshing ounces of rosehip scented all over freshening spray, PolishLOVE ~ 8 delicious ounces of tangerine scented frame and wheel polish, FabricLOVE ~ 4 tangy ounces of clementine scented spot remover, and WheelLOVE ~ 1 ounce of all natural, pure listening pleasure — no more squeaks and squeals! It also come with a re-usable carry-all bag, tampico scrub brush and reclaimed microfiber cloth! Today’s parents and grandparents are on-the-go warriors looking for simple solutions to life’s messy emergencies. Now they don’t need to look any further. BuggyLOVE to the rescue!

www.buggylove.com

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PHONELIVING TALKING APPS FOR ANDROID PHONE

Need a new best friend for your grandchild? There’s an app for that. Talking Apps for Android Phones from PhoneLiving are the new standard for educational technology!

Each 3D character talks and interacts with your grandchild! When he or she speaks to the character, the character will actually speak the words back. And you can interact in other amazing ways: slide a finger to make a character laugh or giggle, tap the character to make them sad or silly, press a button to make them sing or play an instrument…the possibilities are endless. You can even “feed” them to increase their hunger meter.

There are over 100 3D characters available currently for droids, and iPhone apps will be available over the course of 2012. And no matter your OS, the free downloads do NOT have in-app ads.

PhoneLiving Talking Apps are perfect for long car rides, having company over or any other time grandma needs a little break. It’s education, interaction, friendship and tranquility all in one app.

For more information and to download,  visit www.coolbabygear.com.

By Glen Thomas

The Kitchen & Bath Channel has just launched its new consumer-focused website (www.KitchenBathChannel.com), joining the widely successful Smartphone App and Social Media sites in the suite of consumer-based research and education tools. With a directory of over 15,000 professionals from coast to coast, the Kitchen & Bath Channel features one of the most comprehensive tools available for consumers searching for kitchen & bath design and remodeling professionals. In addition, the consumer gains access to participating dealers’ blog postings, galleries of videos and images, websites, social media locations, specialties, and more.

While the focus of the site is educating and informing the consumer, kitchen & bath professionals can also use www.KitchenBathChannel.com as a marketing tool. For the professional, the site provides a profile that is discoverable by search engines, the ability to post blog feeds, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube links, an image gallery, door-to-door directions, company descriptions, contact information, branding opportunities, plus the ability to spotlight specialties, accolades and accreditations.

“We wanted to create a community with a dual focus; one for consumers and the other for kitchen & bath professionals. The Kitchen & Bath Channel allows the consumer to research and learn before they dive into a major home renovation, while providing the professional an outlet to education and inform, as well as market themselves ~ both taking advantage of the latest technologies to achieve their goals,” said co-founder and company partner Philip D. Zaleon.

www.KitchenBathChannel.com

It should come as no surprise that Tommy Bahama Home, the brand legendary for its spirited and sophisticated interpretation of relaxed island living would find its greatest inspiration on the world’s largest island. The Australian continent dominates the vast Oceana region of the South Pacific. Its relative isolation evokes a passion for creative self-expression and indigenous style that served as inspiration for Road to Canberra, the latest lifestyle collection from Tommy Bahama Home. The collection celebrates the remarkable designs and captivating style of Australia.

The Road to Canberra collection showcases a dynamic blending of natural elements, including Quartered Ash and Mindi veneers, honed travertine tops, woven leather, aged metal, woven lampakanai, and even petrified wood. One of the featured design elements is the use of unique woven veneer panels on the fronts of key items that add texture, dimension and visual interest. Pieces are gently distressed, and finished in a light natural tone with a linen-white glaze that beautifully highlights the wood grain. Each piece of hardware in the collection is custom designed and finished in rustic bronze.

Upholstered seating features a rich palette of colors and textures – Aboriginal patterns, hand-embroidered linens, natural wovens, and distressed leather. The pleasing neutral and tone-on-tone color story is punctuated with hues of spicy cinnamon, deep umber and golden saffron. In addition to fully upholstered frames, the assortment includes exposed wood silhouettes, woven leather frames, and designs that incorporate the unique woven veneer technique that is showcased on many casegoods items.

Embracing a casual Island lifestyle can be as easy as walking through your own front door. Road to Canberra captures the spirit and energy of Aussie attitude with the laid-back signature style of Tommy Bahama Home.

Nothing beats the flavor of a fresh-from-the-garden tomato ~ warmed by the sun, plucked right from the plant and eaten in the garden. And the good news is that you don’t need much space. Many gardeners ~ with more following suit every year ~ have grown food in containers or mixed it in with their flowers, shrubs, and other ornamental plantings.

Save the sunniest spots in your landscape for tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers and other vegetables where you eat the flowers or fruit. They produce their best and have the fewest disease problems when grown in eight to twelve hours of sunlight. Root crops such as beets, radishes, and carrots can get by with about a half of a day of direct sun, and leafy crops like lettuce and spinach can still produce in a shady location with only 4 hour of sunlight.

Get your garden off to a good start by using a quality potting mix when growing in containers, and make sure your containers have good drainage and retain moisture. In the garden, prepare the soil before planting. Add several inches of compost, peat moss or other organic matter to the top 6 to 12 inches of soil. This improves drainage in heavy soils and increases water-holding capacity for sandy or rocky soils.

Add a slow release fertilizer like Milorganite to the soil or potting mix. This goof-proof organic source of nitrogen meets the EPA Exceptional Quality standards and will help encourage growth without interfering with flowering and fruiting.

Jump start the season with the help of floating row covers. These polypropylene fabrics let air, light, and water through while trapping the heat near the plants. The best news is that you won’t need a hammer, nail, or other tools. Simply lay the fabric over your planting, leaving enough slack for the plants to grow and anchor the edges to the ground with stones, boards or other items.

Increase your harvest with intensive planting techniques. Succession planting ~ several plantings of short season crops in the same space ~ can double or triple your harvest. Interplant quick-to-mature crops like radishes and lettuce in between longer maturing plantings of cabbage, tomatoes or eggplant. The short season vegetables will be ready to harvest just about the time the bigger plants are crowding them out.

Consider planting vegetables closer together in wider rows. You’ll waste less space for pathways, allowing more room for plantings. Make sure each plant has enough space to grow and that you can reach all planted areas to weed and harvest

Provide proper care and get ready to harvest and enjoy a bountiful harvest from your own garden!

About the Author

Gardening expert, TV host and author Melinda Myers has 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over 20 gardening books, including Can’t Miss Small Space Gardening. She hosts the nationally syndicated “Melinda’s Garden Moment” segments which air on TV and radio stations throughout the U.S. She is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine, hosted “The Plant Doctor” radio program for over 20 years as well as “Great Lakes Gardener” on PBS. Melinda has a master’s degree in horticulture, is a certified arborist, and was a horticulture instructor with tenure. Myers’ web site is www.melindamyers.com

Photo by Melinda Myers LLC:  mix vegetables with ornamental plantings

Plow & Hearth is a trusted national catalog, retail, and internet company specializing in unique, home and garden products that are quality-built and guaranteed to meet high expectations.  What began as a small retail store in1980 has grown to include flagship brand Plow & Hearth®, offering unique, high-quality products for home, hearth, yard and garden, plus ~ over the past quarter century ~  Plow & Hearth Problem Solvers® and Wind & Weather®.  Honesty, integrity, and a commitment to customer service (including product guarantees without condition) are the cornerstones of the Plow and Hearth brands.

This spring, Plow and Hearth offers some new outdoor products that are both charming and utilitarian:

Dachshund Stool ~ Fun & functional, the whimsical Dachshund stool is super sturdy. Great as a footrest, side table, or quick extra seating. Hand-hammered iron construction with an antique copper finish. Use indoors or Out. 25”L x 7 ½” W x 14 ½” H

Wonderful, Whimsical Woodland Gnome Trio ~ Our set of 3 gnomes adds magic outdoors near a tree, in your flower bed or around bushes. Each approx. 4 ½”W x 3”D x 8”H

Flying Pig Stake ~ These adorable garden structures are crafted of hand hammered metal for a rustic look with springy wings and swirly tails. 12 ¼” L x 2”D x 44”H

Garden Planter and Fairy Furniture ~ This self watering herb planter makes it easy to keep fresh herbs close at hand. High density polyethylene, come in Stone or Terra Cotta. Furniture set include, two trellises, two benches, a bistro set and more.

Vintage Style Tractor Planters ~ These antique style tractor planters add hard working retro appeal to your home or garden. Rolling wheels add a playful touch. Come in small (holds 6” pot) or large (holds 8” pot).

Wooden Rabbit (right)~ Cast in all weather resin and beautifully hand painted, these rabbits’ endearing expressions and jointed bodies give them a liveliness and personality unlike any other garden statuary. Also available: Tortoise, Chipmunk, Woodpecker and Duck with ducklings.

Glazed Ceramic Fan ~ This fan keeps air circulating beautifully. An attractive alternate to plain metal or plastic fans, these single speed fans are conveniently sized with a top handle for easy carrying. Styles: Vine, Swirl or Sunflower.

Birds Nest Candle Holder ~ (top) ~ You’ll love the peaceful sense this pretty little bird and her nest bring to your décor. Crafted of unglazed ceramic bisque – place a tea candle in the egg for a lovely ethereal glow.

Square Foot Raised Gardening Table ~ This special table keeps rabbits and garden pests away from your vegetables, while the raised height is both wheelchair accessible and more comfortable than bending. Middle is deeper to accommodate root vegetables.

www.plowhearth.com

Formed in 1991, the Massachusetts Senior Games kindled the Olympic spirit and ignited the flame for thousands of older adults across the Commonwealth. The Games gives them the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities throughout the year.

Massachusetts Senior Games began with a “Fun Walk” in Forest Park, Springfield, MA; 150 spirited seniors crossed the finish line in the fall of 1991 and the “Games Began!”

The following year, 250 senior athletes gathered in June at Springfield College to participate in eleven events in track and field, swimming, tennis, and others. Many qualified for the USNSSO National Senior Sports Classic held in Baton Rouge in May, 1993.

1995 marked the first Winter Games held at Mt. Wachusett, Princeton, MA and at the Wallace Civic Center in Fitchburg. Over 150 athletes participated in giant slalom, cross country and ice hockey.

The growth of the Massachusetts Senior Games is directly tied to a base of committed sponsors. Bank of Boston, the first corporate sponsor, became presenting sponsor in the Fall of 1991. Later, the Executive Office of Elder Affairs and US Health Care became co-sponsors. Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Harvard Community Health Plan, Pilgrim Health Care and Secure Horizons have also joined the sponsorship team.

From the beginning, the host site sponsor, Springfield College, provided superior facilities for the summer Massachusetts Senior Games. Springfield, the host city sponsor, contributes park and recreation sites.

Each year the number of athletes, events, volunteers and supporters grows. Today, more than 1,000 athletes ~ grouped in five year age categories ~ may enter a spectrum of 23 summer events, 7 winter events, and an Olympic Fitness Walk. They may also attend educational programs and the Health/Sports Expo during the summer games, and participate in a series of clinics and workshops held all over the state throughout the year.

Keeping pace with the increase in number of participants, the number of volunteers has risen from approximately 50 in 1991 to over 200 in 1995. Support, too, has grown dramatically. Over 30 corporations and organizations presently support the Massachusetts Senior Games that have come a long way since the first lighting of the torch and parade of athletes!
It’s Time To Catch The Spirit!

www.maseniorgames.org/events.htm    (Events)
www.maseniorgames.org/events.htm  (more)

Pictured: Mass Senior Games, Women’s Volleyball ~ March 31, 2012