Lee Magazine June 2010 - July 2010

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LIGHT YOUR FIRE Sizzling summer meals

ATTACK OF THE ENGLISH MAJORS! The Grrrrrls of Summer

JUNE / JULY 2010 • VOLUME 3 • NUMBER 3

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editor’s note

E

diting the calendar for this issue of Lee Magazine, I was once again amazed at the choices we have in Lee County. We have Elvis impersonators (June 22, 7 p.m., at Opelika Municipal Park), a Neil Diamond tribute artist (June 1, 7 p.m., Opelika Muni Park), Soviet propaganda posters (June 5 through August 14, June Collin Smith Museum) and Welcome Home celebrations (all day July 17, Opelika). There are art shows, farmers markets, and learned lectures. Then there are all the unscheduled pleasures of summer like early mornings in the garden, walking the dog after sunset, grilling in the backyard, and writing poems about plutonium.

OK, just kidding about plutonium. The heat’s getting to me.

But I confess, one event in the calendar this issue stood out above all others for its zaniness, for its do-not-miss silliness, and for its winning inventiveness and that’s the Second Annual Doxie Palooza at Kiesel Park June 19 at 11 a.m.

Andrea Jackson, an accountant for the city of Auburn, created Doxie Palooza last year after visiting the Doxie Races in Montgomery when her two-year-old dachshund, Piper, was just a pup.

“It was just so much fun I said, that sounds like something we can do here.”

If we play our cards right, Alabama could become the Dachshund Capital of America. Think about it.

So last year Jackson arranged to use Kiesel Park, hung some posters around town, and held her breath. The morning of her first Doxie Palooza, “I thought, we’re going to get out there and there will be three dachshunds.” But when she, husband David McAllister and son Jonathan Shoff showed up an hour early to set things up, a man and his dachshund were already there waiting. It was a sign.

Before the dog show began, fifty dachshunds scampered around Kiesel Park.

Dachshund owners can find the registration form for the free event online at doxiepalooza.net and they can also fill out the registration on the day of the event. Dogs can come in costume or appear “bare naked.” Jackson is no snob. Dachshund mixes are also welcome to Doxie Palooza and are full participants. The show is followed by the dachshund dash, a series of heats to establish the champion wiener dog.

I grew up with dachshunds. I can’t imagine one of ours running in a straight line or caring about winning.

“They don’t,” Jackson says. “It’s hilarious. It’s a totally hoot. There might actually be one or two that do but mostly they’re walking around, playing with each other.” It usually takes two people to manage a racing dachshund, one at the starting gate, and one at trying to entice the animal to the finish line. It’s a big responsibility.

Last year, just as the Doxie Palooza dog show finished, a storm moved in, canceling the race. So this year, Doxie Palooza has a rain date. In the event of downpour, Doxie Palooza takes place June 26.

“I hope it will be a little bigger every year,” Jackson says, “and I hope we have volunteers to help us as we grow bigger.”

I can’t think of anything better than watching dachshunds race on a Saturday in summer. This event sounds like a wiener, er, winner. If you’d like to lend a hand, or have questions about the event, you can call Andrea Jackson at 524-3694.

Jenni Laidman

The Place to Find

Your Healthy Balance

LEE M

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For the smart, savvy Alabama woman

Publisher: Beth Snipes Editor: Jenni Laidman Sales manager: Meg Callahan Sales reps: Betsy McLure Blake Copy Editor: Joey Harrison Web Designer: Brock Burgess Distribution: John Snipes

Contributors

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Food: Fashion: Fitness: Garden: Momitude:

Heida Olin Taylor Dungjen Lisa Gallagher Connie Cottingham Kelly Frick

CONTACT US AT beth@lee-magazine.com editor@lee-magazine.com

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Published by Pickwick Papers Publishing, LLC. Copyright ©2008 Lee Magazine.

All rights reserved. Reproduction and redistribution prohibited without approval.

For more information, contact editor@leemagazine.com.

contents JUNE/JULY 2010

6

Food

Light your fire Sizzling summer meals

10 Garden

Adding your personal pizzazz

12 Fashion

Canny camouflage

14 Momitude

12

22 18

10

Don’t Make Me Stop This Car!

16 Smarts

Falling in love with words

18 Brawn

12

Cellulite Fight

20 Brain

Positively transformative

22 Cover Story

6

ON THE COVER

From left, Babe E. Quakes, aka, Amber LeCroy, and Cho Cold, also known as Carrie Hozmeister, put on their game faces.

PHOTO BY BETH SNIPES

Mean Girls Rule!

The SURPRISING Burn City Rollers

10

24 Calendar

Lots of Doings in Lee County

IF YOU CAN’T TAKE THE HEAT, FIRE UP THE GRILL

By Heida Olin

It’s Hot!

Who wants to put a pot of spaghetti on to simmer or heat the oven to bake a casserole when the temperature hovers around ninety degrees? So I make a pitcher of sweet tea, do a little gathering and chopping, and head to the deck to sip tea and enjoy the delicious aromas from my grill.

I can do everything but maybe make a salad on my grill. Well, OK, rice would be tough, but it just about cooks itself, so if dinner calls for rice I’ll put on a pot before heading outside.

I own a gas grill. As far as I’m concerned charcoal is for camping and maybe tailgating. Gas grills usually come with a thermometer and have temperature controls, so there’s not much guessing about when the heat is medium and when it’s way too hot.

The grilling season prompts me to stock up on heavy-duty aluminum foil and my favorite meat rubs. There are many commercial marinades on the market but I tend to keep it simple preferring buttermilk, citrus, and oil-based marinades. Worcestershire,

6 LEE MAGAZINE

soy sauce, and teriyaki are mainstays for many grilled things, so I keep those on hand as well.

The farmer’s markets are in full swing and fresh produce like zucchini, corn, peppers, peaches, and other stone fruits are all great for the grill. Be adventurous. Have you ever grilled bananas, tossed them with a shot of spiced rum, and served it over grilled pound cake? Just grilling fresh fruit like mango, peaches or pineapple adds a caramelized finish without making them mushy. Just add a scoop of ice cream and you’re in dessert heaven.

ALABAMA BURGERS Originally I called these Cajun burgers because I included andouille, a spicy sausage indigenous to Louisiana Cajun country. Oma’s frikadellen inspired this burger. She made the dish from ground sausage and ground beef. I use ground beef and Conecuh sausage from right here in Alabama, thus, Alabama Burgers.

IStockPhotos

Summer sizzle

1 pound ground round ½ pound Conecuh spicy smoked sausage (half a package) Slices of pepper jack cheese (optional) Grilled onions (optional) Petite French rolls

Remove sausage casing, cut sausage into 2-inch sections, and grind in food processor until the consistency of the ground round. With clean hands, lightly mix the sausage and ground round until combined.

Use a light hand so the juices can flow through the meat as it cooks; don’t squish it together. Divide and make 4 to 5 patties. Cook over a medium grill 6 minutes on each side (or to your desired doneness).

Top with a slice of pepper jack cheese and serve with grilled onions.

on the grill, stirring occasionally until the color suits you.

PRESSED HENS I was skeptical when I first tried this recipe.

I’d read that the Tuscans liked to put bricks on their chickens, so I wanted to see how that would affect the chicken. I was pleasantly surprised! Cornish game hens shine with this cooking method and a regular fryer does great as well. It just takes longer to cook. I haven’t tried it but I think it would be a good way to cook quail or dove.

2 Cornish game hens Your favorite poultry seasoning or concoct a blend with fresh herbs, lemon zest, and olive oil.

2 bricks that have been washed and wrapped in foil, preheated on the grill

Remove the giblet bag from the bird cavity and freeze the giblets to make stock another time. Remove the spine by placing the hen breast down on a cutting board with the tail pointing at you. Using poultry sheers, cut along the spine on both sides up to the neck. You’ll cut through all the small bones along the spine. (Add this to the giblets for that future stock.) Turn the hen over, breast side up, and press on the breastbone to break it and flatten the breast pieces. Sprinkle liberally with poultry seasoning on both sides of the hen and spray with cooking spray. Place bird on a platter and refrigerate until ready to grill.

Heat grill to medium heat. Make sure your bricks are hot as well. Place the hens, skin side down on the grill, and top each with a brick. Cover and grill for 15 minutes. Remove the bricks, turn the hen

GRILLED ONIONS

continued next page

You can also grill peppers, potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, and even beets.

-lm

1 large Vidalia onion, peeled and sliced Drizzle of olive, canola, peanut, or seasoned oil

Toss the onion with a drizzle of oil. Season with salt, pepper, and seasoning, if desired.

Tear off a 2-foot to 3-foot size piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil (I like the wide kind). You’re going to make a packet for the onions. Spray one side of foil with cooking spray — no need to spray to the edges. Put the sliced onions in the center of the sprayed foil, bring the torn edges together, and fold down two or three times.

Roll the open ends toward the center just enough to seal and form a rough rectangle.

There needs to be room inside the packet for air to circulate. Shake the packet a few times during cooking to redistribute the vegetables for even cooking.

Put packets on the grill for 20 to 30 minutes. Open carefully because of steam build up. The vegetables will be done, but to brown a bit more, leave the open packet

Southern Crossing OFFERS A BRIDAL REGISTRY, AS WELL COOKING WITHAS CHARCOAL GIFT IDEAS FOR BRIDESMAIDS, GROOMSMEN If you use a charcoal grill, you can test the temperature with your palm. Be careful EXCLUSIVE LINES AS: now!SUCH With the grill top removed, hold your palm above the coals at the same height as • Sid the Dickens grill. Count the seconds that elapse before you must pull Mandy Bagwell • Beatriz Ballyour hand away.

AND HOSTESSES, INCLUDING

Cinda b

2 seconds, high temperature 3 seconds, medium high 4 seconds, medium 5 seconds, low

LEE MAGAZINE 7

over. Finish cooking without the brick, 10 to 15 minutes more.

Remove from grill and let the hen rest 10 minutes before serving.

Cut the hen in half to serve.

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

GRILLED FRUIT SALAD

Place the pork chops in a large bowl and cover with brine, making sure they are submerged. Refrigerate overnight or at least 6 hours. Drain the brine, rinse the chops, and then soak in clean cold water for 10 minutes. Pat dry.

Brush both sides of pork chops with marinade and place in a shallow dish. Pour any leftover marinade atop the chops. Marinate for 1 hour.

Heat the grill to a low heat (about 325 degrees). Grill chops turning after 6 to 8 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chop.

The meat should register 145 degrees in the center when cooked.

Remove from grill and let sit about 5 minutes before serving.

This is light and delicious and goes well with any meat. It would even be a good side dish for brunch. You could keep this as simple as peaches, plums, and bananas. Stone fruits and tropical fruits work great here.

Keep the fruit pieces large to grill. Later, cut to a more manageable size to toss with dressing.

1 mango, peeled, pitted, and sliced (not too ripe) 2 peaches, pitted, cut into 8 sections 4 spears pineapple 1 banana cut on sharp diagonal into 6-8 pieces (depending on size of banana) 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 2 tablespoons honey 2 tablespoons extra light olive oil 1 teaspoon poppy seeds

Place a large piece of heavy-duty foil on the grill and spray with cooking spray. Heat the grill to medium. Place the fruit evenly on the foil and watch it carefully. You don’t want it to get mushy.

The bananas will be done first; just sear them. Put all the grilled fruit into a bowl and cut fruit to about 1½-inch pieces. In a separate container whisk together the vinegar, honey, olive oil, and poppy seeds. Beat until emulsified. Pour over fruit and serve.

2 tablespoons olive oil Whisk ingredients together.

Heida Olin is a local caterer and educator. You can reach her at heida@lee-magazine.com.. Please visit her blog at www.lee-magazine.com

��

PORK CHOPS DIVINE This is a Sunday dish in my house because of the long prep time. I put the chops in brine early, before church, which gives them just the right amount of soaking by dinner. This is wonderful served with a pasta salad and grilled pineapple rings.

4 center-cut pork chops — a thick cut is nice and the bone is optional

For the brine (good for as many as 8 chops) ¼ cup Kosher salt ¼ cup granulated sugar 5 cups water

Whisk the ingredients together until the salt and sugar dissolve.

Marinade: 2 garlic cloves, minced fine or pressed 1 tablespoon fresh thyme — strip leaves from stems and chop to release flavor, or 1 teaspoon dry thyme 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary — chop fairly fine, or 1 teaspoon dry rosemary

8 LEE MAGAZINE

COOKING WITH CHARCOAL If you use a charcoal grill, you can test the temperature with your palm. Be careful now! With the grill top removed, hold your palm above the coals at the same height as the grill. Count the seconds that elapse before you must pull your hand away.

2 seconds, high temperature 3 seconds, medium high 4 seconds, medium 5 seconds, low

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speak warmly about adding garden ornaments. And on garden tours, the most enchanting include ornaments that bring the owners’ personality and sense of humor into the garden.

If your personality responds to classical order and discipline and that marble statue

IStockPhoto

A gardener’s world is a very personal place, yet one that is freely shared.

TREASURES IN THE GARDEN

Adding sparkle with those personal touches

By Connie Cottingham

I

once heard a garden designer proclaim that any garden should have only one or two pieces of fine garden sculpture to command the garden and add class.

I cringed. I have garden ornaments aplenty, many of which have sentimental value. Then I got a bit huffy — how dare she think my garden would be better with

10 LEE MAGAZINE

one marble statue than with the spinning ornament given to me after speaking to a garden club, or the bouncing heart stake I bought while on a nursery excursion with Brenda, or the license plates from all three states where we have lived nailed onto the raised herb bed, or the Ertl car I played with as a kid.

Since then I have heard other designers

speaks to you, then by all means it should be in your garden. If another style is you, then express that. A gardener’s world is a very personal place, yet one that is freely shared. Plants and the ornaments are usually added a few at a time and often come with memories. Iris from your grandmother’s garden, a native tree bought during a conference, a birdfeeder given by a friend all help create your garden and your story.

Celebrate them — tastefully.

How many times have we put an ornament in the ground, and then just left it there for years? Take a stroll around the garden and look at your furniture, garden ornaments, birdbaths, and feeders. Then consider some maintenance and rearranging. Are they still in good shape? Is one now hiding behind a shrub? I found both an ornament and a kneeling pad under overgrown rosemary this spring. Is the furniture safe, attractive, the right color? If you have a tendency to collect dog statues, would an eclectic pack be an amusing display? Could the bird feeders be clustered outside your window to create a feeding station? Would

a coat of bright paint or a new planter enliven a seating area? Is there something in your house or shed that could be displayed outside?

Mother Nature makes sure that your garden is fresh and new in spring with lots of blooms and green leaves. But once July and August hit, the garden can look a bit worn, and it’s up to us to revive it a bit.

One way to do this is by reevaluating all the stuff in our gardens. We have decluttered, redesigned, painted, and added fresh flowers inside our homes — don’t our outdoor living spaces deserve attention too?

One way to start looking at your garden is through a camera lens. Take some photos, then go inside, pour a glass of tea, and look at the photos as if they were magazine shots. What is working in this garden?

What great plants and ornaments deserve more attention? What would you change in this garden? OK — let’s do it!

Connie Cottingham is licensed in three Southern states as a landscape architect. You can reach her at connie@lee-magazine.com.

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IMAGINATION, ARTISTRY, CRAFTSMANSHIP … ECLIPSE When details matter

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EAST ALABAMA’S BEST SELECTION OF ARTISAN WINES

F A S H I O N

Opelika native Taylor Yates, who works at Ellie’s in Auburn, shows how to pick clothes that flatter.

SUBTRACTION BY DESIGN FINESSE THE THINNESS

By Taylor Dungjen

T

Photos by Beth Snipes

12 LEE MAGAZINE

he advice and suggestions Lisa Gallagher gives Lee readers every issue are great and usually pretty simple. But what if there was a way to help camouflage while you’re on your way to tightening and toning?

Clothing isn’t just “cover up.” The right clothes draw attention to your best features and hide anything you’re uncomfortable with. From head to toe, you can dress yourself ten pounds thinner.

The first, most obvious, and most broken rule: Make sure your clothes are the right size. Women trick themselves into believing that bigger, baggier clothing will hide everything and will make them look smaller. In reality, the opposite is true. Big clothes make you look bigger and more unkempt.

TOP HEAVY It’s best to start from the inside out. The

most basic and necessary layer? Underwear. Start with a bra that fits and has underwire to lift the girls up and out — you’ll be amazed how much of a difference it makes. There are experts in this. Go have a proper fitting.

Find a shirt that is fitted just under your breasts. It will accent the narrowest part of your body, making your upper half look thinner. Make sure the shirt then skims your belly, and is not fitted.

To make your arms look slimmer, opt for a loose sleeve. Also avoid sleeves that end at the widest part of your arm, especially if the color contrasts your skin color.

BOTTOM BALLAST Again, start from the inside out. They might not be the sexiest of undies, but a pair with heavy elastic that comes up to the ribcage can smooth out and hold in.

To minimize your hips, opt for boot cut

denim in a dark wash. In the denim, avoid whiskering — shredded fibers — on the thighs. It only highlights the largest parts of your lower half. Take it one step further and wear a pair of pumps with your denim to help elongate your legs.

Pencil skirts are always in and, lucky for us, always helpful. A shapely pencil skirt that shows curves and still narrows your lower half will do all sorts of good things for your body (and booty).

FOOT PATROL Depending on the style of shoes, there are about 1 billion different rules.

Wear boots that are tall enough to go over your calves.

Backless shoes make ankles look thinner and, thus, your legs more shapely.

Wear taller pumps (so long as you can still walk). Kitten heels – the very short, thin heel that curves in from the back of the ankle — make legs look stumpy.

Shoes with a little bit of toe cleavage are ideal, too. The more skin you show, the

longer your legs will look.

Shoes with a T-strap or in the Mary Jane style were probably really cute when you were seven. Now, they aren’t doing anyone any favors. Avoid both if possible.

If you’re not wearing tights or pantyhose, wear nude heels. Your legs will look like they go on for days.

THE LITTLE EXTRAS I never really thought accessories could make that much of a difference until I started to experiment.

Earrings: If you have a wide neck, avoid studs and go for a chandelier or dangle style.

Bracelets: Find balance by rocking delicate bracelets. Chunky jewelry is fun, but wearing it all the time can make your body look heavier.

Rings: The size of your fingers and hands will determine how big your rings should be. A good rule: the ring should not take up

FACE VALUE

more than half the space from your palm to your first knuckle. Big rings on small hands will only make hands look smaller.

THE BIG PICTURE Wear red. Red highlights and reflects light so you look more curvaceous and bodacious.

Find a sassy wrap dress.

Fabric choices mean everything.

Look for matte silks, which can drape beautifully. Also ideal are crepe fabric, its soft ribbing adds a flattering touch. Denim and linen garments are good when they’re structured.

It doesn’t sound that hard now, does it?

Get on with Lisa’s workouts, try on some slimming clothing, and you’ll be looking better than ever. Don’t worry, you can thank us later. -lm

Taylor Dungjen is a freelance writer who often covers fashion. Write to her at taylor@lee-magazine.com.

Dear Rhonda, I had clear skin as a teenager, but now my skin looks horrible! At first my nose and cheeks flushed uncomfortably after exercise class, but now any time it’s hot my skin burns for up to an hour. My skin isn’t just blotchy; it’s red, with small veins and what look like white heads. It’s embarrassing! The face wash and moisturizer I’ve used for years make my skin burn, too. What is this? What can I do about it? Please help!

Embarrassed in Auburn

Q

Dear Embarrassed, Don’t be! This is very likely rosacea, a disorder of the facial blood vessels. Blood vessels are hypersensitive to both external and internal stimuli with rosacea. As you’ve discovered, heat, humidity, and exercise can trigger an outbreak. Other common triggers include spicy foods, alcohol, hot beverages, and some skin-care products.

We can help. Treatments for rosacea vary from person to person just as the triggers vary. It is important that you establish a gentle cleansing regime and avoid chemicals that aggravate your skin. Make sure your mineral foundation doesn’t contain dimethicone, which can cause breakouts in sensitive skin. The sun is a strong trigger, so use a non-irritating physical sunscreen such as zinc oxide or titatinium oxide, daily. Chemical sunscreens can cause irritation, but physical sunscreens rely on the reflective properties of the main ingredients.

Every rosacea patient is unique and needs individual treatment. At Stewart Dermatology we will help you have better looking skin quickly. Our team includes dermatologist, Dr. John A. Stewart, and me, Medical Aesthetician Rhonda Trammell. We provide both medical intervention and medical spa services and products that will work for you.

June is GloProfessional skin care month at Stewart Dermatology, and all GloFacials are 10 percent off. Make an appointment for June 22 and a Glo consultant will be on hand for makeup and skin-care consultations. Glo Mineral and GloTherapeutics products are 10 percent off that day only.

Please send skin care questions to stewartdermatology@bellsouth.net, or visit our website www.stewartdermatology.net.

R honda

Stewart Dermatology

25 Medical Arts Center, Opelika • 334-749-5604

M O M I T U D E

Photo by Kelly Frick

John Frick takes aim on Capitol Hill.

VACATION VEXATION

When staying at home with bickering kids just isn’t enough

By Kelly Frick

ARE WE THERE YET?

2. DVD players in cars limit the number of “Are we there yets” by 15 or so, and, Each summer, we try to plan a Big Fam3. There is a limit to how much family ily Trip. Pretty typical I think, considering most parents of school-age children togetherness one can stomach.

Case in point: Our recent Big Family get three chances at time off: Christmas, Trip to Washington, D.C., a guaranteed spring break, and summer vacation.

The Big Family Trip is the time when way to combine fun and education.

When we arrived, we hit the Lincoln you reconnect, make memories, and maybe even relax. Or at the very least, not come Memorial first. As my husband and I stood, home more exhausted than when you left. marveling at how this great man led our In my experience, the family trip also country through its most tumultuous period, our first-grade son John said the line teaches you that: 1. Hotel rooms, tents, and guest bed- that would become his mantra for the trip: “I’m hungry.” (Why isn’t there a McDonrooms get smaller as the week goes on.

14 LEE MAGAZINE

ald’s on The Mall? I bet I’m not the first parent to ask that.)

On Day Two, Emma, my 10-year-old daughter, said the subway was cool, but not quite as good as the roller coasters at Disney.

When I explained it was a transportation system, not an amusement park ride, she fired back with her own trip mantra: “Whatev.” (Which is short for whatever. Emma includes an eye roll for effect. It works.)

On Day Three, we hit the National Air and Space Museum. (The cafeteria is a McDonald’s! Brilliant.) The kids loved it — There are planes! And rockets! And a

gift shop!

At the end of Day Four, we stopped for a photo opportunity in front of the Capitol.

“Emma,” John said as I pulled out the camera, “if you touch me, I’ll hit you.”

“I’m not touching you.”

“But you always do in pictures. You grab me and make our cheeks touch.”

“No, I don’t.”

Me: “Kids, just be quiet and look at me.”

Then Emma kicks John in the shin. John returns with a fist to her shoulder.

And that’s what I caught on film. (In hindsight, a fight on Capitol Hill is fitting.

But at the time, I was mortified as a tour group watched my children beat each other and my husband and I pry them apart.)

This was the point in the trip when I realized a) Four days is about my limit of being able to spend time exclusively with my family, and b) Next time we go to the beach where my children won’t learn anything, but they serve daiquiris on demand.

We went to bed early that night and woke up in better spirits. We spent Day Five walking around the monuments until

the kids were too tired to complain.

On our last day, we took a tour of The White House, where John asked enough questions about the Obama girls to put us on a national security watch list. (Do they play soccer on the lawn? Do they do their homework in the library?) He was also fascinated with the “bomb-smelling” dogs outside, and saying the word bomb as often as possible, which I’m pretty convinced he did just to see Chris and I look incredibly uncomfortable.

“I think it’s time to go home,” my husband said.

As the kids put on their headphones to hunker down for the drive home, I asked Chris if he thought the kids learned anything. Just then Emma says, “You know, I never knew how cool Thomas Jefferson was.

I think he might be my favorite president.”

John chimes in with, “I like Franklin Roosevelt because I like World War II.” Chris and I smile. Another successful Big Family Trip.

I pop in a DVD for the kids and enjoy the silence. -lm Kelly Frick is a writer and mother of two.

SAVE THE DATE! Happenings along South Railroad Avenue

Opelika Main Street Farmers Market Now open

Every Tuesday 2:00-5:00 p.m.

THERE IS ANOTHER CHOICE IN NOVEMBER 2nd Annual

Touch-A-Truck

Saturday, June 5th 9-1p.m.

Rain date: Saturday, June 12th

M. Joanne Camp ATTORNEY AT LAW

and

The Lady Listens Paid for by the campaign to elect Joanne Camp

Welcome Back to Opelika Celebration Saturday, July 17th 10 a.m- 4 p.m.

Evening concert

Opelika Main Street

www.opelikamainstreet.org Be a fan on Facebook LEE MAGAZINE 15

S M A R T S

Another possibility, help your child write a simple story, and then illustrate it with digital photographs on the computer.

Just add fun HOW TO GROW A READER

S

ummer is a great time to plant a seed for the next school year. A child in love with words is a child in love with learning. Here are some tips we’ve gleaned from a number of sources on turning your kids into readers this summer.

Togetherness: Pick a popular children’s book and read it together. You can gear this for the age of your child, either letting her read to you, or each reading the book at the same time. Then plan a special outing —– a picnic in the backyard perhaps —– and discuss what you’ve read so far.

Book Club: Form a parent-child book club, inviting your children’s friends and their moms.

Make It So: Set aside twenty minutes a day for family reading —– and this 16 LEE MAGAZINE

means you and dad too. Ask a librarian to help pick books with your child’s interest at heart.

Library Prizes: Lewis Cooper Jr. Memorial Library in Opelika hosts a “Make A Splash” family reading program.

Kids can pick up a sheet at the library of the seven fun reading tasks they can complete for goodies such as certificates for ice cream. The Auburn Public Library has a similar program.

Author! Author! Save this for the day you’re hearing, “I’m bored!” Grab some family snapshots —– photos with the child in them work best —– and some construction paper. Let your child write a book about the photographs. Punch holes in the pages and bind it all with yarn. Enlist an older child in this effort, having him help the little one and double the payback.

What’s Cooking? Have your child read a recipe to you and help retrieve the ingredients. Even let them measure. In the process, you tackle reading, math, and following directions. Take pictures along the way for a future Author! or blog project. Pick a tasty recipe that comes together easily. Licking the beaters is always a good reward.

Stay Up Late: How about a little Midnight (or almost midnight) Reading Madness. Issue flashlights and read in the dark for a special stay-up-late night. Make sure you have fun books on hand. Don’t forget to break for snacks.

Movie Research: Before you watch Jurassic Park, hit the library for some good dinosaur books to inspect together and separately. Try to pick books with themes of your movies.

Comic Adventure: Buy comic books. Not educational comic books, just regular ones. (Tread a little carefully here.

Not all comic book content is kid friendly).

You want to make a reader and there are millions of entrees into the reading world.

This is one.

Set the Stage: Have books and magazines around the house. It helps if children see you engaged in reading. It can be anything from a beautifully illustrated edition of the Bible to hunting magazines, art books, and how-to manuals. -lm

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Blog Baby! It’s a snap to start a blog, and your child could too. Using free blogging sites such as blogger.com, livejournal. com, wordpress.com, or vox.com —– and there are dozens of others —– your child can create his own website. Send the web address to aunts and uncles. Their feedback can be incentive to keep writing.

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7056 LEE RD 54 Brick duplex, both sides rented. extra trailor lot., nice private yard with deck, in excellent condition. 138,900 LEE MAGAZINE 23 LEE MAGAZINE 17

B R A W N

Say (Cottage) Cheese (Thighs)!

In the battle against heredity, exercise is your best revenge

By Lisa Gallagher

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t was my seventeenth birthday and my best friend, Laura, gave me a gift. As she presented it, Laura told me that her Mom said it was, “Too personal.” What in the world is too personal between best girlfriends?

My present was some fantastic smelling herbal soap, a hard, bumpy, plastic applicator, and body lotion. An anti-cellulite kit! The instructions said to rub the soapy applicator over your thighs and buttocks for five minutes each time you shower.

After showering, massage the lotion in a circular pattern and you will reduce the appearance of cellulite.

I spent an extra ten minutes in the shower for six months, soaping, rubbing and moisturizing, and It worked! In hindsight — and truly, this was hindsight — this was probably because I didn’t have any cellulite to begin with, and didn’t gain weight easily. But even back then I was a believer in preventive medicine, and hey, the soap smelled nice.

Can you rub off, or smooth out that layer of fat that has been referred to as orange peel thighs, cottage cheese butt, hail damage, or my personal favorite, cat in the bag? You may enjoy the soap, but smoothing out the fat layer by rubbing in circles is highly unlikely.

Cellulite is fat that is just under the skin, pushing up through the connective tissue. Heredity plays a part in whether you have firm, smooth, cellulite-free thighs, but so does body composition.

If we don’t effectively strength train, women lose muscle and gain fat. The average woman loses five pounds of muscle in her thirties, another five pounds in her forties, five more in her fifties, and likely ten pounds in her sixties. This muscle loss reduces metabolism by three percent each decade, the overall result being that the average American woman packs on fifteen pounds of fat ev-

Picking up a potato chip and bringing it to your lips is a bicep curl, but it’s not going to make your arm sleek and firm. ery midlife decade. A typical sixty-year-old woman has less than half her original muscle and has fifty percent body fat (Westcott, Hudson Sun, 2009).

If you don’t want to say goodbye to shorts and sleeveless tops, forty minutes of exercise three times a week is the most effective and affordable solution. Your exercise program should include a variety of cardiovascular exercise options, like walking, jogging, cycling, or Zumba — a Latin-inspired workout. Including different types of exercise will keep you motivated. Plus, you don’t know what you’ll enjoy until you try it.

Strength training is an often ignored, but extremely important

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component of an effective program. To regain the muscle you’ve lost, and keep the muscle you have, you need to lift weights.

The amount of weight matters! Picking up a potato chip and bringing it to your lips is a bicep curl, but it’s not going to make your arm sleek and firm. The correct amount of weight for you will fatigue your muscle within eight to fifteen repetitions. The last three reps should feel different from the first three. Give it a shot and you will see results in six weeks or less.

Don’t forget to stretch. Devoting some time to stretching after each workout will reduce anxiety, improve posture, and get rid of nagging back pain. Add a short stretch immediately after each strength exercise and you will gain more muscle.

You can’t get the time and money spent on chasing cellulite cures back, but you can get your muscle back. In addition to having a smoother, firmer physique, you will decrease your risk of serious health problems including diabetes, heart attack, and stroke.

Go ahead and buy yourself some great smelling herbal soap, for after your workout. -lm

Lisa Gallagher, director of the Fitness Center at the Opelika Sportsplex, is a wellness coach, personal trainer, and group fitness instructor. You can contact her at lisa@lee-magazine.com.

Foster Parents of the Year

Les and LeAnn Tyer of Opelika were named Foster Parents of the Year by the Lee County Development Center Therapeutic Foster Care program in May. Also recognized were Tarice and Martin Bitzer of Auburn as Rookie Foster Parents of the year. Sonia Francis of Loachapoka won the appreiciation award

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LEE MAGAZINE 19

B R A I N

POSITIVELY FABULOUS

The triumph of feel-good science

By Jenni Laidman

“Be open.

Be appreciative.

Be curious.

Be kind.

Be real.”

The above words do not come from the Dalai Lama, a television feel-good evangelist, or even Oprah Winfrey.

They are the words of Barbara L. Fredrickson, a scientist. Fredrickson, a professor at the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill, studies positive emotion. Her findings make me a little giddy. And that’s a good thing. er research shows that feeling good makes you smarter, more creative, more attentive, more mentally flexible, and more efficient. A positive emotion now helps you bounce back more quickly when something bad happens tomorrow.

In the face of tragedy, you’ll show resilience. You’ll be more skilled at stepping away from your problems and seeing them clearly from a variety of angles, and you’ll be better at solving them. You’ll handle stress better. Your world will expand, and you’ll have more resources to learn new skills and make new friends. You may even live longer.

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In short, Fredrickson says, positive emotions feed flourishing lives.

If all this seems utterly crazy, let me add to it: Research by a guy named Marcial Losada led to a formula for flourishing.

Losada’s specialty is working with industry to create high-performing teams. When he applied statistical observations to positive emotions, he discovered that experiencing three positive emotions for every negative emotion creates a crucial tipping point for flourishing. Fredrickson says when we reach a three-to-one ratio, positive emotions and the broadened thinking they produce will lead to more positive emotions and broader thinking, until they produce “an upward spiral in which people become better able to cope and experience appreciable increases in their well-being.” otice that negativity doesn’t disappear. This isn’t about pretending to be happy when you’re not. Research shows that pretending to feel good — pasting on a fake smile — may be bad for you. This is about noticing and cultivating good feelings, not pretending away the bad.

Here’s a simple experiment that demonstrates what positive emotions can do.

Fredrickson offers this self-test in her book, Positivity, which came out last year.

To take this self-test, you’ll need paper,

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pen, and the back of your hand, because you’re going to study it. Spend some time noting the landscape around your knuckles, your wrist, your finger bones. Notice how the skin stretches, how the knuckles protrude, or where the blue veins appear.

Get to know it in great detail. When you complete your in-depth study, make a list of everything you would like to do right now if you had thirty minutes free to do whatever you wanted.

Did you do it? Don’t read on until you do. There is no wrong answer here, by the way.

OK. Good. Now onto part two of the test. You’ll need paper for this, too.

Remember a recent high point in your life, something that went incredibly right, or a moment that you enjoyed deeply. Relive the moment in great detail, savoring the feelings it gave you. When you’re done, pick up your pen and write a list of everything you would like to do right now.

Which list is longer? fter I looked at my hand, all I could write on my to-do list was “moisturize.” My second list wasn’t super long, but it had four items. The point is, even reliving a brief happy memory had more creative power than a neutral contemplation.

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your outlook.

Other studies showed that positive emotions eliminate racial bias, improve medical decision making, and elevate math scores.

If only I had known this in ninth grade. n one study, Fredrickson’s research team taught employees of a Detroit company to perform loving-kindness meditation in which one focuses loving feelings first on oneself, then on friends and family, and eventually on acquaintances and strangers. Participants in the study showed a slow, steady rise in positivity. After three months, participants who spent about ninety minutes per week meditating reported life was more satisfying, and showed fewer signs of depression. They also reported improved social relations, better ability to focus, and improved health.

Fredrickson’s research shows we can build our positivity through a variety of means, including meditation. But Fredrickson says you can start by the words that begin this column as your guideline: Be open. Be appreciative. Be curious. Be kind. Be real.

And, eventually, be flourishing. -lm

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This self-test resembles an experiment Fredrickson performed with the help of one hundred and four undergraduate students. The research was published in 2005 in the journal Cognition and Emotion. he students watched one of five brief film clips. In one, baby penguins waddled about acting adorable, evoking the positive emotion of amusement. Another film showed beautiful natural scenes, creating feelings of serenity, another positive emotion. A third film, designed to evoke anger and disgust, showed young punks mocking and taunting Amish people. The fourth showed a dangerous

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mountain climbing accident, which produced anxiety and fear. The final film clip was a meaningless computer screensaver, the neutral “control” condition.

After the film, students wrote a list of what they’d like to do. The group who saw the penguins had the longest lists on average, followed by the students who saw the nature scenes. Those who saw the films designed to provoke anger and anxiety had the shortest lists. The screensaver viewers were right in the middle.

The point: Even a brief film clip changes

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22 LEE MAGAZINE

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They’re HELL on wheels

LEE COUNTY’S ROLLER DERBY DIVAS CALL HER BABE E. QUAKES. And call her teammates by their chosen roller derby names, each carefully constructed from a pun and an attitude.

Amyn Atcha (sound it out). Nine-Pound Hammer. Cuban CrusHer. Cho Cold (say it fast).

Paina Skully. She stole the name from Agent Dana Scully of “The X Files” and combined it with her plan to put the hurt on opposing players. It’s a goal she shares

with every member of the Burn City Rollers, the only roller derby team in southeast Alabama, dreamed up and essentially willed into existence two years ago by Carrie Holzmeister, aka Cho. These women don’t just like to skate.

They like to hit. “Last bout, I made a girl squeal,” says Holzmeister/Cho, a slender, polite woman whose derby name reflects her Korean birth in a way her married name doesn’t. She says this modestly,

but can’t help adding, “I’m really proud of that.”

Nine-Pound Hammer (Suzanne Samples) drew inspiration for her name from an old coal miners song, her West Virginia roots, and the fact that she barely measures five feet tall. She’s just as plain-spoken. “I like to hit,” she says.

She’s taking a break during practice at Gr8 Sk8 in Phenix City, one of the two venues the Rollers use. (The other is Lam-

STORY BY JUDITH SHEPPARD PHOTOS BY BETH SNIPES

Amber LeCroy uses hip action to make it past teammate, Brittany Green, during practice.

bert Skate Center in Auburn.) From the outside, Gr8 Sk8 is a scary place, low and dark and perched like Bates Motel on an unlit hill, the kind of place where a lone woman hesitates to leave her car. Inside, though, the rink is lit, and ten or twelve women are laughing and wheeling by in wide ovals.

“It really gets aggression out,” says Samples, who attributes some of hers to a Napoleon complex. She takes a swig from the water bottle in her gym bag. The girls practice for two hours straight, and it’s exhausting. When Samples takes off her shiny helmet, her hair is soaked with sweat. “I’ve never told anybody this, but I picture my ex-boyfriend’s face on the other team members’ when I hit,” Samples says.

“Yeah. I like it.” e all know that men find it satisfying to form teams and assault each other, all in pursuit of ultimately meaningless trophies and titles, forging deep lifelong friendships along the way.

But women? And, in particular, these women?

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24 LEE MAGAZINE

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et this. At least four of them have earned or are working on graduate degrees in English at Auburn University and are experienced instructors in composition and literature. Samples is in the doctoral program; Holzmeister and Skully (Nadya Boyko) have master’s degrees.

Red RumBlur (Trish Campbell) is working on hers. What’s more, Groovy Hott LoveyCakes — Brittany Green — is working toward a master’s in engineering.

Amber LeCroy — Babe E. – is working on her bachelor’s degree in physical education. Cuban (Tatiana Fernandez) is putting her AU criminology degree to use as a correctional officer in the Lee County Justice Center jail. Amyn (Amy Baker), a part-time student at Southern Union State Community College, plans to get the same degree and become a forensic detective.

Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, the governing body of the sport, reports that 91 percent of derby girls claim at least some post-secondary education. It makes sense that in a college town, at least some

of the derby girls would come out of academe.

Still, a fleet of pointy-headed intellectuals on wheels? Even other Rollers think it’s a hoot.

Baker is one. She just returned to the workforce and school after three years as a stay-at-home mother. “Yeah, all these other women are, like, ‘I’m a college professor,’” she says with a laugh, “and I’m like, ‘Well, I work at Cracker Barrel.’” olzmeister finds it intriguing how many rollers have come out of the English department. “I think maybe English (studies) have a lot of people who have a lot of sides to them.”

Or, as scholar/skater Campbell says, with a mysterious smile: “We have a lot of pent-up rage.”

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PROFESSORS OF POUND ‘EM The Rollers are one of four teams in the state but will travel as far away as Baton Rouge, La., and Austin, Texas, to play. So far this season, which runs roughly parallel to pro baseball’s, they’ve won one and lost two.

Holzmeister said the Rollers came about because “I was bored and I was looking for my niche in Auburn.” She’d received her master’s in English and was teaching literature and composition at AU and at Columbus State Technical College.

“I saw an article in USA Today about the revival of roller derby,” she says. “I thought, well, I like hitting people, and I like roller skating.” er husband, James, who is working on his Ph.D. in English, received the news that she wanted to be a derby girl calmly.

“I said, ‘I’m going to play roller derby,’ and he said, ‘OK,’” Holzmeister recalls.

“And then I said, ‘And I’m going to have to start a league.’” Neither knew how much time, energy, and money it would require. But Holzmeister quickly found herself immersed in not only the skating but the thousand small duties that create a dynamic team out of thin air: recruiting players, finding refs, setting dues (thirtyfive dollars a month), locating places to practice and play, selling merchandise, publicizing the team, learning the derby association’s strict rules. Creating a league remains Holzmeister’s goal. She hopes enough skaters will catch derby fever to form several other teams, which can then constitute a league. Even after that, it’s tough getting derby association accreditation; only seventy-eight teams have met its rigorous requirements.

“I didn’t realize how big of a deal it was going to be,” says James. “I am endlessly impressed by her, by her ability to launch this thing and keep it going.”

Word spread through the English department, friends told friends, campy, sexy posters went up all over Auburn, Rollers made public appearances at community events and held fundraisers and yard sales.

Burn City is still struggling. But it’s claiming its place in a culture that’s as colorful and complex as it is fun. lmost solely a women’s sport, roller derby was famous in the 1970s, but, as a 2009 New York Times article noted, it “all but petered out” not long after. It’s back with a vengeance. The derby association says the revived sport grew from

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one flat-track team in 2001 to a current four hundred and seventy; the Times estimates that about fifteen thousand women are part of derby in the United States and Australia. Regulated by Women’s Flat Track Derby Association rules and standards of sportswomanship, it’s becoming recognized as a legitimate sport, played by real athletes. t its best, roller derby is a fun intersection of feminism and flirty little

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are their armor.

Yet almost all the Burn City Rollers are small, slender women; some are even waifish. Many avoided sports all their lives, although Fernandez earned her AU degree on a full four-year softball scholarship, and Green played varsity soccer and basketball at Birmingham Southern. They are the exceptions. Boyko recalls inventing “painful bunions” to get out of high school physical education. “I was desperate,” she says.

Photo by Sydney Fagen

The derby pace is often lightning fast.

skirts, of physical prowess and fishnet hose, of personal confidence and bad-ass alter egos. Players take pride in their hits and moves, but they also love the pageantry.

They choose their names carefully, being sure not to duplicate any of thousands of registered names. (“Snarking another roller girl’s name,” says one Web site offering help on nom de skates, “is just not cool.”

But many are tempting — Pocahuntress and Killary Clinton or Ann T. Christ, say).

They personalize their gear — their “boutfits” — with ruffles, sequins, tutus, colored tights, jeweled belts, brightly colored skates and laces, and Catholic schoolgirl skirts.

They shovel on the paint and the lip gloss.

“You can never have too much eyeliner,” a derby girl explains to a newbie in “Whip It,” the 2009 movie about the resurgence of roller derby in Austin. They feel like warriors, and their boutfits and make-up

“I didn’t need people yelling at me while I was running.” Campbell didn’t even know how to skate. ven some of the Rollers were initially scared by the stereotypes. Goldie Chop Chix (Brandy White) is still in the category the derby association delicately calls “fresh meat” — rollers in training who have not yet passed the lengthy, demanding safety assessment test. On the rink she falls often — hard. But her teammates cheer her on. “Don’t give up, Gold-EE!” one calls. Taking pain, as well as delivering it, is part of the pride.

“I was really nervous,” White says one night, standing on the rink sidelines. She wears her magenta-tinted hair short; her spectacles are scholarly, her piercings many. She’s an office manager at a beauty supply store. “I thought, ‘Will they accept me? Are they going to be a bunch of big

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LEE MAGAZINE 25

Amy Baker rides a teammates shirt tails to gain momentum.

women who are going to be mean to me?’ I hadn’t been on skates for years. But then I thought, that seems like a lot of fun.”

“The stereotype is all roller derby girls are mean and tough,” Holzmeister says.

“Nobody believes me when I tell them I’m in roller derby because of how small I am.

We’re all pretty small, or at least short, and we do play people who are huge and can just lay on you. ut roller skates are the great equalizer. I know that that big girl may be scary, but I can hit her just right and she’ll go down.”

The Rollers neither trumpet nor hide their alternate identities. They appear in public at fund-raising events, and their photos and biographies are on a team website and on Facebook. Samples says that any English lit class that knows she plays roller derby is a class that knows to pay attention. Boyko filled in her co-workers, but says, “It’s not the first thing I’d roll out on a job interview.”

Are they aware that for all their practice, pain, and effort, a lot of men — and women — come just to see tightly clad women sweat, slam into floors and walls, show a lot of skin, shove and hit each other and maybe brawl? Absolutely. “Fast Chicks, Hard Hits,” says one poster enticing audiences to a “Down and Derby” fundraiser.

Fernandez’ fellow sheriff’s deputies love it.

“Oh, they think it’s exciting to see women hitting each other,” she says.

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DON’T MESS WITH THE BEST Even most Rollers wince a little when

26 LEE MAGAZINE

they repeat the term, but they almost all say it: It’s about empowerment. Women get strong and swift on their skates. And they get close to other women in a tight, blood-oath-loyal way that’s rare in this culture.

“It’s so unexpected to find women in a contact sport,” Boyko says. “It subverts people.”

Campbell, who looks a bit like Kirsten Dunst, but whose small, breathy voice is pure Marilyn Monroe, says becoming a Roller has transformed her.

“I have a lot more confidence as a woman. I feel a lot stronger,” she says. “It’s helped me embrace the strong side of me and showed me I can be simultaneously strong and sexy. I’m not afraid to be out alone at night. I feel like I can at least hold my own.”

Samples sees derby as a natural outlet for her drive. “If you’re going for your Ph.D., you already have a strong personality,” she says. “You have to be able to work hard and meet goals. It’s important, especially for a woman trying to make a mark in the world.” he’s proud of her performance, though she’s working on it. “I’m not the fastest skater or the hardest hitter,” she says, “but I’m working on endurance.

And I’m an insulin-dependent diabetic. So it means a lot to me to do this.”

The sport is so swift and the players so tightly packed that it’s hard to see what’s going on, even at the level of the “suicide seats” a few yards off the edge of the rink.

Two or three refs watch in the center, and

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the bout is divided into halves which are then divided into “jams,” the derby equivalent of a down, which last a maximum of two minutes. One woman from each fivemember team wears a star on her helmet; she’s the jammer, and only she can score points, which she does by passing as many opponents as possible. The others block for her. Sometimes even the skaters lose track of what’s going on. “You’re playing defense and offense at the same time,” says Green. “Sometimes you just miss it.”

There’s a penalty box for fouls and for dirty moves — using elbows, tripping, not “falling small” and causing a crash.

Holzmeister says her team is especially careful about that. “Our thing is classy,” she says. “Even if I lose, as long as we’ve played well, I’m fine, as long as we’ve been classy. Other teams do a lot of trash talking, but we don’t do that. It all comes down to: Do we respect them? Did they play well? Did we?”

Of course, they also feel an athlete’s high when they skate away from the thud of an opponent hitting the floor, or hear the air leave someone else’s lungs after a perfect hit, or show off bruises and bandages like trophies.

At practice they lap the rink over and over, thud to their knees in rehearsed falls, explode from the mark the way horses burst from the gate. Some concentrate on tricky moves; others blur by and try to score a hit at high speed. They practice game chatter, but good mood softens their ferocity.

Instead, they yell nonsense. “Happy Birthday to You,” two warble loudly. Another shouts random sentences: “These shorts are too tight!” Quakes begins a chant that trails off in a rueful critique: “Well, I was going for a rhyme, actually. I’m a little disappointed.”

ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL The Rollers love the outrageousness of it all. In polite society, particularly in the Deep South, their in-your-face sass can be shockingly unladylike. And in Auburn, which obsesses over contact sports played by men but prides itself on its collegial mien, the team is a real novelty. But repeatedly and unprompted, the Rollers say

this team gave them something more than the female version of cojones. It gave them “instant family.”

“Our team has something special,” says Samples. “I don’t know what it is. It’s camaraderie. We’re family. We’ve seen each other at our best and at our worst.”

“I honestly don’t know where I would be without it,” says Baker, talking on the phone over the sounds of her three- and one-year-olds. “My husband says I let it take over. It’s good to go hit on other people. And the friendships are incredible. We are all really, really good friends.

“It’s turned into something I’m really passionate about. Yeah, we’re a roller derby team, but we’re family. Sure, we have our ups and downs, dramas, stuff like that. But we’re making it work.”

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A break in action gives player a moment to rest.

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eCroy calls it “instant universal family.” They hang out together. The Rollers pamper L.B., Boyko’s thirteenyear-old blind, diabetic cat. And Baker’s three-year-old is “infatuated” with Holzmeister. “When are we going to get there?” she asks in the car. “I’m ready to see Cho.” Their boyfriends or husbands sometimes step in as refs.

“Friendships,” summarizes Fernandez. “This is almost too good to be true.”

Campbell says Samples told her to be careful when she joined: “Derby is going to take over your life.” Sitting out a minute for an interview, she looks over at the rink, where, under the big disco ball, some Rollers are practicing their falls on well-padded knees. A song plays on the P.A., and Green and LeCroy start dancing, shouting the chorus: “She’s a brick ... HOUSE!” The house where she grew up wasn’t a warm one, Campbell says, and she worries that, if she leaves Lee County after graduation, she won’t find this kind of family again.

“These are my friends,” she says. “I love them more than I ever thought I could love anybody.”

-lm Judy Sheppard is a freelance writer and an associate professor teaching journalism at Auburn University.

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calendar JUNE / JULY 2010

Auburn City Public Library, 479 East Thach Avenue, Auburn. Hours: Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 2-6 p.m. Information: 501-3190.

Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center Gallery, 222 East Drake Avenue, Auburn.

Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission: Free. Information: 5012963.

Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, 901 South College Street, Auburn.

Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 4:45 p .m. Saturday. Admission: Free. Information: 8441484.

Lee County Humane Society, 1140 Ware Drive, Auburn. Adoption hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Drop offs strays or pick up found pets: Tuesday through Sunday, 8:30 to 5 p.m.; Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Information: 821-3222; lchs@leecountyhumane.org.

Lewis Cooper Junior Memorial Library, 200 South Sixth Street, Opelika.

Hours: Monday and Tuesday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Information: 705-5380 Lee County Historical Society, 6500 Stage Road (Highway 14), Loachapoka. Information: 887-3007, webmaster@leecountyhistoricalsociety.org. Hours: Second Saturday of every month, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve, 3100 Highway 147 North, Auburn.

Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission: Free.

Information: 707-6512.

28 LEE MAGAZINE

ONGOING: the Lee County Humane Society, 1140 Ware Drive, Auburn, offers Tuxedo Tuesday discounts for “tuxedo” wearing pets. All adoptions of black-andwhite cats and dogs, as well as solid black cats and dogs, are $50. Information: 8213222 or lchs@leecountyhumane.org. In celebration of National Cat Adoption Month, the humane society is also dropping the adoption fee for cats to $50 and the kitten adoption to $70.

ONGOING THROUGH JULY 3: The exhibition, Ding Dong Daddy and Other Fluorescent Prints by William Walmsley, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. ONGOING THROUGH JULY 3: The exhibition, Audubon’s Final Achievement: The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts.

ONGOING THROUGH JUNE 12: Twelfth Annual Juried Arts Exhibition of Lee County artists, Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center.

ONGOING THROUGH AUGUST 28: American Luster: Selected Examples of Contemporary Studio Glass, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts.

JUNE 1 AND EVERY TUESDAY: Opelika Main Street Farmers Market, 2 p.m. through 5 p.m. along South Railroad Avenue.

JUNE 1 THROUGH JULY 31: Children can win prizes in the Summer Reading Program at the Auburn Public Library. There are two reading groups, one for children ages three through eleven, and another for children entering sixth grade to those entering twelfth. Children who wish to participate in either program must register at the Youth Services Desk.

JUNE 1 THROUGH JULY 31: The Make A Splash Puddle Prize Game is the summer reading program at Lewis Cooper Junior Memorial Library. Children can register and pick up a list of reading activities to complete for prizes. And don’t forget to register for Family Summer Reading, with prizes for the family.

JUNE 1 AND EVERY TUESDAY: Story time for babies six-months to eighteen months and their caregivers, 10 a.m., Auburn Public Library.

JUNE 1 AND EVERY TUESDAY through July: Tween Movies for children in fifth through eighth grade, 2 p.m., Auburn Public Library.

JUNE 1 AND EVERY TUESDAY IN JUNE: Almost Anything Goes, activities for children in kindergarten through fifth grade, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., at the Lewis Cooper Junior Memorial Library, Opelika.

JUNE 2 AND EVERY WEDNESDAY: Story time for preschoolers three years to five years old, 10 a.m., Auburn Public Library.

JUNE 2 AND EVERY WEDNESDAY: Children in kindergarten through fifth grade are welcome to attend Salmagundi at the Auburn Public Library from 2 to 3 p.m.

JUNE 3 AND EVERY THURSDAY: Story time for toddlers eighteen months through three years old, 10 a.m., Auburn Public Library.

JUNE 3 AND EVERY THURSDAY in June: Imagination Station, a program for children in third through fifth grade, takes place from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Lewis Cooper Junior Memorial Library, Opelika.

JUNE 3 AND EVERY THURSDAY: Teen Café at the Auburn Public Library is from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. for eighth through twelfth graders.

JUNE 3 AND EVERY THURSDAY through August 26: The Market at Ag Heritage Park is an outdoor farmer’s market featuring local and organic produce as well as homemade products. The market on South Donahue Drive between West Samford Avenue and Lem Morrison Drive on the Auburn University campus also includes live music. Market hours are 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Information: 321-1603 or herrilm@auburn.edu.

JUNE 5 THROUGH AUGUST 14: The exhibition Views and Re-Views: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons opens at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. JUNE 7 AND EVERY MONDAY: Story time with Tim takes place from 10 a.m. to 10:20 a.m. at the Lewis Cooper Junior Memorial Library.

JUNE 8: Avery Jones & the F.U.N. Machine, a live musical-comedy for kids, takes place at 10 a.m. at the Lewis Cooper Junior Memorial Library. Admission is free.

JUNE 7 THROUGH JULY 9: Photography Invitational I is a free exhibit of Alabama photographers at the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center.

JUNE 8: Route 66 performs oldies, pop, and rock in Opelika Municipal Park as part of the Summer Swing Series. Music begins at 7 p.m. Opelika Band Boosters will sell Summer Swing Sack Suppers from 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The vintage train, Rocky Brook Rocket, will give free rides.

JUNE 10: Arts and Hearts, a fundraiser for Alabama Rural Ministries, takes place 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Event Center, 614 North Railroad Avenue, Opelika. The features music by Martha’s Trouble, a silent auction, food. and a cash bar. Tickets are $25 and available at Magnolia Salon, 2408 East University Drive, Suite 110 in the Asbury Hills Plaza in Auburn. Information: 663-5165 or jen@marthastrouble.com; or 332-9088 or dawn.spurlock@gmail.com.

JUNE 11: John Wort Hannam per-

forms in the Sundilla Acoustic Concert Series, 7:30 p.m., at the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 450 Thach Avenue. Tickets: $10, students $8, children 12 and under, free.

June 12: Truel Watts Ride-to-Read Poker Run takes place at Big Swamp Harley Davidson in Opelika. Tickets to this fundraising motorcycle ride are $25 and include lunch and a T-shirt. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., with the first bike out at 9:30 a.m. All proceeds benefit Jean Dean Reading-is-Fundamental/Kiwanis. Information: 749-5631.

June 12 and July 10: Second Saturday at the Lee County Historical Society features historic re-enactments of traditional arts and crafts from10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Whistle Stop Pickers perform at 1 p.m.

Admission is free. Information: 887-3007 JUNE 12: Children from kindergarten through high school work with plaster and pewter for sculpture from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Saturday Art Club at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. Instruction is tailored to each age level. Parents are encouraged to attend and learn the principles and elements of art. Information: 844-1484.

JUNE 15: Kidd Blue performs eclectic rock, soul, and R&B in Opelika Municipal Park as part of the Summer Swing Series.

Music begins at 7 p.m. The Opelika Band Boosters sell Summer Swing Sack Suppers from 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The vintage train, Rocky Brook Rocket, gives free rides.

JUNE 15 AND JULY 20: Senior Bingo Lunch takes place 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Dean Road Recreation Center, 307 South Dean Road, Auburn. Bring a friend and a covered dish. Information: 501-2930.

JUNE 17: Abbott Gleason, professor at Brown University, discusses “The Art of Political Persuasion Reconsidered” as part of Third Thursday Late Night at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. Admission is free and the lecture begins at 5 p.m.

JUNE 18: SummerNight 2010 Downtown Art Walk: Auburn downtown merchants extend their hours, local artists show their work, and local musicians perform at Toomer’s Corner. This free event takes place

from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Information: 5012963.

JUNE 19: Children from kindergarten through high school try batik and tie-dye from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Saturday Art Club at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts. Instruction is tailored to each age level. Parents are encouraged to attend and learn the principles and elements of art.

JUNE 19: Dachshunds and their families are invited to the Second Annual Doxie Palooza at Kiesel Park, 520 Chadwick Lane, Auburn, for an 11 a.m. dog show and 12:30 p.m. doxie races. Free registration is available at doxiepalooza.net. Advanced registration is recommended, but day-of registration will also be accepted. Information: 524-3694. In case of rain, the event takes place June 26.

JUNE 22: Bill J. Brooks performs his “ELVIS Lives” Concert in Opelika Municipal Park as part of the Summer Swing Series. Music begins at 7 p.m. Opelika Band Boosters will sell Summer Swing Sack Suppers from 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The vintage train, Rocky Brook Rocket, will give free rides.

JUNE 24, 25, 26: Auburn University Theatre presents A Way With Words: Plays for a Summer Evening at 7:30 p.m. in the Theatre Upstairs of the Telfair Pete Theatre, Samford Avenue and Duncan Drive. The $5 tickets for this one-hour show are available at the door only. Information: 844-4748.

JUNE 26: Children from kindergarten through high school try batik and bookmaking from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Saturday Art Club at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts. Parents are encouraged to attend and learn about materials for children. Information: 844-1484.

JUNE 29: Auburn University Summer Concert Band performs at the Summer Swing Series in Opelika Municipal Park.

Music begins at 7 p.m. The Opelika Band Boosters will sell Summer Swing Sack Suppers from 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.. The vintage train, Rocky Brook Rocket, will give free rides.

JULY 1: Annual Freedom Celebration takes place at the Opelika High School football practice field. The event includes

continued ←

calendar continued inflatable games for kids, live music by Muse, skydivers, food, and fireworks. Admission is free. The event begins at 6:30 p.m., with fireworks starting after dark.

JULY 4: Annual Fourth of July Celebration at Duck Samford Park featuring live music by Floyd the Barber, food and fireworks. The free event begins at 6 p.m. with fireworks at 9 p.m. Information: 501-2963.

JULY 6: Muse performs acoustic soft rock in Opelika Municipal Park as part of the Summer Swing Series. Music begins at 7 p.m. The Opelika Band Boosters will sell Summer Swing Sack Suppers from 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The vintage train, Rocky Brook Rocket, will give free rides.

JULY 9: The Lewis Cooper Junior Memorial Library in Opelika’s Friday Afternoon Movie features “Horton Hears a Who,” at 1:30 p.m.

JULY 10: Children from kindergarten through high school explore projects involving planes and kites from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Saturday Art Club at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts.

Instruction is tailored to each age level.

Parents are encouraged to attend and learn about interdisciplinary art. Information: 844-1484.

JULY 13: Crossroads with Jessica Wilson performs classic rock in Opelika Municipal Park as part of the Summer Swing Series. Music begins at 7 p.m. Opelika Band Boosters will sell Summer Swing Sack Suppers from 6:15 to 7:30. The vintage train, Rocky Brook Rocket, will give free rides.

JULY 16: The Lewis Cooper Junior Memorial Library in Opelika’s Friday Afternoon Movie features, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” at 1:30 p.m.

JULY 17: Children from kindergarten through high school learn about perspective and landscapes from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Saturday Art Club at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts. Parents can attend and learn about judging art and asking questions. Information: 844-1484.

JULY 17- Historic Downtown Opelika will host the Opelika Summer Celebra-

30 LEE MAGAZINE

tion from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event features live music, barbecue, local artists, and children’s entertainment, including a bike, trike, and wagon parade at 6:30 p.m., hula hoops, and an inflatable obstacle course.

Shops will open late for a sidewalk sale and there will be music by Crossroads along Railroad Avenue. Also available will be homemade ice cream, watermelon slices, and hotdogs, plus, the Museum of east Alabama, Avenue A and Ninth Street, will be open to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

JULY 17: Opelika invites anyone who has ever lived in the city, gone to school here, or worked in Opelika to come home for a special Welcome Back Home to Opelika celebration. At 10 a.m. on South Railroad Street you’ll be officially welcomed home with a ceremony and the unveiling of a new historic marker for the city. The festivities continue until 4 p.m. downtown with entertainment, artist exhibits, a soapbox derby, food, special events for the kids, historic tours, and more. The Museum of East Alabama, the Darden House and the Cultural Arts Center – formerly the Brown School – will be open. At 7 p.m. there’s a concert on Courthouse Square as well as “A Taste of Opelika.” Opelika-born musicians Adam Hood and Brad Cotter will be special guests. More surprises are in store.

Information: opelikamainstreet.org JULY 20: The Fedoras perform as part of the Summer Swing Concert Series. Music begins at 7 p.m. The Opelika Band Boosters will sell Summer Swing Sack Suppers from 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The vintage train, Rocky Brook Rocket, will give free rides.

JULY 23: The Lewis Cooper Junior Memorial Library in Opelika’s Friday Afternoon Movie features, “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” at 1:30 p.m.

JULY 24: Children from kindergarten through high school create art involving musical instruments from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Saturday Art Club at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts. Parents can learn how to discuss difficult topics in art.

Information: 844-1484.

JULY 26 THROUGH AUGUST

21: The puzzles and sculptures of Eric Harshbarger and the carved sculpture of Vernon Robinson will be featured at the Summer Invitational 2010 at the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center. Information: 501-2963.

JULY 27: Martha’s Trouble performs in Opelika Municipal Park as part of the Summer Swing Series. Music begins at 7 p.m. Opelika Band Boosters will sell Summer Swing Sack Suppers from 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The vintage train, Rocky Brook Rocket, will give free rides.

JULY 30: The Lewis Cooper Junior Memorial Library in Opelika’s Friday Afternoon Movie features, “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” at 1:30 p.m.

JULY 30: Auburn Arts Association Community Art Happening is a multicultural arts festival that features live musical performances, storytelling, visual arts, and dance. This free event will be held at the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Information: 501-2963.

JULY 31: Children from kindergarten through high school use the drawing techniques of the Old Masters from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Saturday Art Club at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts. Parents can discuss art history knowledge. Information: 844-1484.

JULY 31 THROUGH NOVEMBER 6: The exhibition, Old Master Drawings from the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, opens at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art. AUGUST 4: Southern Gospel acts Fred Jones and The Good News Trio perform in Opelika Municipal Park as part of the Opelika Summer Swing Series. Music begins at 7 p.m. Opelika Band Boosters will sell Summer Swing Sack Suppers from 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The vintage train, Rocky Brook Rocket, will give free rides.

August 7: Children from kindergarten through high school make and string glass beads from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Saturday Art Club at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Arts. Parents will talk about preparing for the school year. -lm

On This Day in History...

Seventy Two Years Later...

Introducing the “New Normal” in Event Planning The Event Center Downtown Announces

WE’RE OPEN! An Event Venue...

• Training & Seminars • Exhibitions • Trade Shows • Concerts

• Weddings • Receptions • Private Parties • Charity Events

Tours given daily Monday-Friday, 8:00am - 4:00pm Discounts on facility fees booked prior to December 31, 2010

“It

is such a blessing to see the vision of the Event Center Downtown become a reality. We look forward to sharing the experience of bringing people together with you and many others.” - Owners Chris and Lisa Beck

Event Center Downtown would like to thank our contributors: Auburn AudioVisual, Carpenter Landscape Architecture, Charter Bank, Computer Paramedics,City of Opelika, Concrete MakeOvers, Garden of Eden, Green Alliance,Hanstone Quartz by Hanwha Surfaces, Lee Magazine, Michelin Development -East Alabama, Southern States Bank, Strategic Equipment & Supply Corp, Thomas M. Eden, III of Capell & Howard, P.C., Tiger Motion Productions, Vows Bridal Directory

Call 334-705-5466

Click http://www.facebook.com/eventcenterdowntown www.eventcenterdowntown.com • Email info@eventcenterdowntown.com Visit 614 N. Railroad Ave., Historic Downtown Opelika, AL

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