Post-Tribune

Jerry Davich: How do you define success?

Wed, 22 May 2013 02:01:23 -0500

The caller didn’t mince words about a subject that always comes up this time of year. “You see, your column proves that you don’t always need a college education to earn a good living,” explained Matthew K. of Michigan City. “Kids can still learn a trade and be a productive worker in society, even in our global workforce. I did it, and so did tens of thousands of other workers in this region.” He was responding to my recent column on an innovative underwater welding class project at Kankakee Valley High School, which garnered plenty of reader feedback, mostly from …

Jerry Davich: New habitat, new life for families

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:28:00 -0500

Marella Rodriguez sat in her parents’ car and stared at the construction site of her new house. Birds chirped overhead. A neighbor mowed his lawn. And a building permit sign proudly stood in front of the new foundation of Marella’s house, at 753 Cyrus St. in Valparaiso. “This will be our brand new home, like a brand new life,” the 12-year-old girl told me. “I’m excited because we don’t have a home that’s ours.” Marella’s parents, Tony and Carol Rodriguez, sat together in an affectionate embrace on the edge of the site’s foundation, admiring their home-to-be. The couple was selected …

Jerry Davich: Program aims to help parents be teachers

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:42:00 -0500

“Parents as teachers.” You would think this simple, even primal concept would be so obvious that a nationally recognized program isn’t needed to remind young parents. However, you would think incorrectly, as I did. Every day, dozens of potential teachable moments take place in young children’s lives but too many parents are not aware of them, experts say. Say, for example, a routine visit to a grocery store, which is jam-packed with possible lessons for eager young minds. “A grocery store can be like a children’s museum if you frame it that way,” said Gail Johnson, public advocacy director for …

Jerry Davich: Fight Club challenges men to be men

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:01:12 -0500

It’s called Fight Club. No, not that “Fight Club,” the 1999 movie starring Brad Pitt. This Fight Club is a real-life 12-week program for men who seek something greater than themselves by challenging their minds, bodies, spirituality and even their sexual purity. “By men, for men, to reach men,” as its manly mission states. Its name comes from a Bible verse, Nehemiah 4:14: “After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for …

Jerry Davich: ‘Honor Flight’ movie premiering in region

Sat, 18 May 2013 02:02:15 -0500

Two years ago, I was privileged to attend a veterans event that gave me chills, goose bumps, and a lump in my throat, as it did for most every guest. This Tuesday evening, you will be able to experience a similar feeling, thanks to a heartwarming documentary that wonderfully captured that scene and others like it. The film is coming to this region for a one-night only showing. Back in 2011, at Chicago Midway International Airport, I watched curious Cub Scouts, girls with flowers, and older loved ones with promised kisses wait patiently with tiny American flags. I watched gray-haired …

Jerry Davich: We’re to blame for being a ‘fast food nation’

Wed, 15 May 2013 02:02:21 -0500

The fresh-faced McDonald’s drive-through worker paused to contemplate my seemingly unusual question. “Hmmm,” she thought to herself. “What’s the healthiest menu items we have?” “Well, we have wraps and salads and diet Coke,” she said proudly. I asked how popular those items are to most drive-through customers. “They’re kind of popular, but mostly we sell a lot of burgers, Big Macs, fries, and McNuggets,” she replied. “But those people do get diet Cokes.” The reason for my questions stemmed from a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, stating how fast food restaurants have made “disappointing” progress towards …

Jerry Davich: A dangerous rite of spring?

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:19:56 -0500

The Portage mother was still upset when she called me, claiming another high school student’s mother acted irresponsibly on prom night. “My son did wrong by drinking alcohol, but why didn’t the other mother call me when he was in no shape to drive?” asked the Portage mother. “Parents shouldn’t help teenagers drink, even if they take away their car keys and backpack.” The situation involved an 18-year-old Portage male who reportedly attended a party last weekend at a friend’s home, on prom night, drank too much booze and passed out afterward outdoors. He somehow stumbled — illegally — into …

Jerry Davich: ‘It’s easy for mothers to feel underappreciated’

Sun, 12 May 2013 02:00:11 -0500

Ivonne Anderson pulled a colorful blouse from a hanger and held it up high. “If you see anything you like, just grab it. It’s time you think just about yourself while you’re here. Happy Mother’s Day,” she told Denie Collazo, 34, of Merrillville. On Friday evening, Anderson invited a dozen mothers to her Highland consignment shop, Beautiful, Again, to take part in her first-ever “Women of Honor” event. For the past three years, Anderson and her longtime friend and co-worker, Carole Lahey, have donated hundreds of items to local church pantries. The donated items included clothing, accessories, shoes, handbags and …

Jerry Davich: Misdeeds of Cleveland ‘hero’ grays a black and white situation

Fri, 10 May 2013 02:01:03 -0500

Is Charles Ramsey an accidental hero, an incidental liar, or a convicted abuser? All of the above, it seems. The no-name 43-year-old dishwasher from Cleveland is a perfect example of our society’s natural inclination to lionize an otherwise nondescript person. Ramsey also serves as a perfect candidate for media’s kneejerk efforts to amplify this good-for-ratings phenomenon for us. “Bro, I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms,” exclaimed our new American hero to TV news cameras earlier this week. “Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway.” Yes, something was very wrong in …

Jerry Davich: Underwater welding students make a splash

Mon, 06 May 2013 15:16:58 -0500

Dave Hass is a first-year instructor at Kankakee Valley High School so he figured he would go “all in” with his latest classroom project. All in the water, that is, introducing his vocational class students to underwater welding using the school’s swimming pool as a test site. Man, what a splash he made. “I’ve never heard of it being done, so I wanted to give it a try,” said Hass, of DeMotte. Last week, 10 of his advanced welding students — all juniors and seniors — made 15-minute dives into the pool to apply what they first learned in the …

Jerry Davich: Hoarders are out of control

Sun, 05 May 2013 16:06:59 -0500

Jeannette Hamilton calls herself a “hoarder’s daughter.” The Lake Station woman’s mother was a hoarder of all things, including animals, a common aspect of the mental illness condition that compels people to compulsively collect items and refuse to discard them. “At one point, I could safely guess she had at least 25 cats and eight dogs in a 900-square-foot house that only had goat paths as a means of getting around,” Hamilton told me. “It got to the point that she didn’t even let me in the house.” Hoarding is the excessive collection of things, for various reasons, typically creating …

Jerry Davich: Merrillville aims to celebrate its diversity, not fear it

Fri, 03 May 2013 02:02:23 -0500

In late March, the shooting death of 14-year-old Depree Mims shook the Merrillville community and its school district. The promising Pierce Middle School student was shot in the head in his own home, allegedly by thugs during a misguided gang initiation. Soon after his death, the whispers of misguided fear, prejudice, and racism riddled through the town and our region. “That’s Merrillville for you,” outsiders hissed to each other. “We need to leave Merrillville,” a few town residents wrote on online chat rooms. Danny Lackey, among others, has heard enough of the unfair and unwarranted remarks. “You can imagine the …

Jerry Davich: Waffco’s business is towing for the big boys

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 02:00:40 -0500

Kevin Farthing parked his black tow truck at the end of a road that went nowhere, behind the Family Express, just off Indiana 249 in Portage. There, not one but two semi-trucks were stuck in sand, helpless to navigate their way out of the muck without his assistance. An hour earlier, truck driver Angela Washington of Hammond turned her rig onto the dead-end road to turn it around and park. She planned on grabbing a bite at the McDonald’s across the street. “It seemed like a good idea, but it sure wasn’t,” said a dejected Washington, who works for Denton …

Jerry Davich: A different side of Gary, in three acts

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 02:01:57 -0500

The city of Gary has become stereotyped, pigeonholed and, too often, unfairly judged by its most “newsworthy” attributes — crime, poverty, and abandonment. But the tarnished steel city brims with productive, good-hearted, God-fearing people who strive for a better life, just like most everyone else in Northwest Indiana. Today’s column offers a brief snapshot of those unheralded or unnoticed residents who we would otherwise never know — from daycare to adult care — in a three-act play that never takes center stage. Act I The weathered and withered home on the west side of the city looks like just another …

Jerry Davich: Reminder to Little League parents: It’s for the kids

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 02:01:32 -0500

With Little League baseball back on our local fields of dreams, it’s the perfect time to remind parents of something they already know but often forget as the season progresses. It’s for the kids, not you. Wait a minute, I didn’t say that correctly. Let’s try again. IT’S FOR THE KIDS, NOT YOU. There, maybe those parents – you know who they are – will get the point this baseball season. Maybe not. “The game at this level is supposed to teach sportsmanship, team play, and adhering to the rules of the game. It can be the most rewarding experience …

Jerry Davich: Did social media come of age in wake of Boston tragedy?

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 02:01:58 -0500

In the wake of the Boston Marathon attacks, city-lockdown manhunt, and hyper-intense news coverage, has social media finally come of age? Or is it still in its infancy, reflecting its owners’ knee-jerk hyperbole, fear-mongering, and gaper attitudes? “Many say that TV news came of age during the Kennedy assassination, and I believe that the Boston manhunt was the tipping point for social media,” said Chris Kraft, president and co-founder of Splash Media, a Texas-based social media marketing firm. The shocking attacks and attention-grabbing story turned millions of American citizens into so-called smart-phone “digital deputies,” sharing breaking news, new photos, and …

Jerry Davich: They call him ‘Mr. Piggee’

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:56:23 -0500

James Piggee was just a teenager when he left Gary to attend Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. His mother put him on a bus, gave him a $50 bill, and said simply, “Boy, go be something.” Fast forward several decades and the now 74-year-old retired Gary Schools Corp. administrator has echoed his mother’s sound advice to thousands of high school students across the country. Go be something. For 27 years in a row, Piggee has coordinated a bus tour during spring break, with visits to dozens of historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, from Grambling to Howard. The now …

Jerry Davich: ‘You’re never prepared enough for this’

Wed, 15 May 2013 06:52:40 -0500

Before leaving Bartholomew Funeral Home in downtown Valparaiso, I felt compelled to ask one last haunting question that had been on mind for many years. Has any customer ever asked to lie down inside a casket, to see what it would feel like? “No,” replied funeral director Chuck Harris, who also serves as Porter County Coroner. So, I asked him, “Can I?” Sure, he said with a curious look, rolling one out from a wall in the downstairs level of the funeral home. I climbed inside with arms crossed, eyes closed, and mind racing. It felt more comfortable than I …