Winter 2009
Local resident Melvin Adams wants good things for kids and inspires them to want the same for themselves. The NBA player turned Globetrotter showman inspires youth by combining sleight of hand basketball, comedy, and motivational messages. Adams explains to students how hard work, responsible choices, and staying the course will help them realize their dreams. “God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things,” Adams tells youth at New Experience Fellowship Church. “Not only was I short, I was poor, my mother was abusive and my father wasn’t around.” His was a rough start, but he laces it with humor, “If you’re black, you’re from the hood; if you’re Hispanic, you’re from the barrio; if you’re white, you’re from the suburbs.” Laughter bubbles up, and Adams says, “I’m from duh hood.” Dressed in baggy jeans and a T-shirt, he looks like them. Born in the projects of Houston in 1971, Adams understands their temptations. And he challenges them to make it, too. “Your choices today will determine where you’ll be tomorrow. Drugs and alcohol will hold you back from your dreams, your vision and your purpose.” Continue reading “Melvin Adams”
November 2009
The gravel driveway leading to Valerie Hannemann’s home and office in the woods passes a horse pen. The licensed psychologist and Northern Arizona University professor, dressed in boots and jeans with a red and white checkered shirt, stands within the fenced area, calling one of her three horses. The spirited animal comes close and shoots off again. 
The participants arrive at Thorpe Community and Senior Center, ready for action. Bins of equipment stand ready to offer each person maximum benefit in a yoga workout. Good wishes and grins greet Iyengar Hatha Yoga Instructor Melinda DeBoer-Ayrey as her students spread out around the room. “You have enough space there?” they ask one another and joke as they set up.
group has the gusto to pull off a challenging exercise routine in any setting. Except this isn’t just any setting. And this isn’t any group of yoga enthusiasts. This is Melinda’s Stretch & Laugh Chair Yoga class. Three of the five members that day manage with some degree of wheelchair assistance. None has any hesitation to participate. It’s an attitude that propels them through their tough days. 
Sarah held a raisin and explored it with her nose, eyes and hands before putting it in her mouth. There, she noted the fruit’s lumpy shape before chewing through its firm skin to the fleshier inside. Finally, she swallowed it, reflecting on the sweet taste. “It sounds simple enough when you describe it (the class exercise), but each member of the group agreed that we’d never experienced anything quite like it,” she assured me. This was practice in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). 
Oh, my aching sacroiliac. My back’s SI joint had been shooting pain through my most basic motions: sitting, standing and sleeping. Like most people, I made a doctor’s appointment. The physician only took care of backs and wouldn’t even glance at my sore knee. “Might they be related?” I asked. After an evaluation, an MRI and physical therapy, I was released, and I guess, pronounced well. Except, I wasn’t. To pursue it further, I needed a pain management specialist. The tests said all my healthy individual parts should be working, so why the twinge? 
A couple took their fourteen-month old son to an animal fair where the little boy especially enjoyed the snuffling pigs. A week later, the family walked by that same area with their son in his stroller. He began pushing at his nose—the sign for a pig. The parents looked at each with wonder. The pigs were long gone, but their son remembered them.