ecial for Grandparents' Day' - Local History Archives

Where are
dogs' belly-
buttons?
Imponderables are life's
small enigmas. They're the minor
puzzlements often preceded
by grumbled musings '" "If
they can send a man to the
moon ... why can't they .. "
. . . make airplanes out of the
same stuff airplane black boxes
are made of, for Instance.
Imponderables can't be
solved. The answers can't be
looked up somewhere. They're
just - something to be pondered.
• Like, who counted the peo_
ple who were allegedly not
counted in the 1990 census"
After fretting Rnd fussmg
about the vast uncounted for
months, U.S. Commerce Secretary
Robert Mossbacher finally
said that even though the census
bureau estimated It had
missed 5.3 million people, the
government would not revise
Its numbers
Why, one muses, doesn't the
government Just add 5.3 mJllion
to the total?
• Like, why are Slskel and
Ebert on so late?
Two highly respected, intelligent,
witty, topIcal, entertammg
guys with a simple,
straightforward TV show _
that people like - are on at
12.30 a m. Monday morning,
while snore-fest stuff like
"Monday NIght Football" IS
blasted in our faces right m the
middle of prime tIme. This
Grosse Pointe News
Change.
It's the watchword of 1992,
politically, sociologically, educatIOnally.
We're fed up with
everything, and sometimes
ready to throw out the good
with the bad
Matthew Hanly, the new
headmaster at University Liggett,
quotes the dean of the education
school at Harvard as
saying that we tend to pick on
the schools when we're unhappy
with ourselves.
Nancy
Pannenter
A provocative thought. Amer-
Icans have certainly maintained
a steady, VICIOUSattack
on their public schools, though
private schools have tended to
be viewed more favorably And
Liggett has always held a more
or less pre-eminent poSItIOn.
But even at Liggett, the last
decade hasn't been all roses.
1'he school has had five headmasters
in nine years, counting
Interims (though Hanly says he
can think of schools that have
had even more hands on the
helm). And nobody at ULS will
say so, but rumors abound that
the road under the last head
had, shall we say, more than
Its share of bumps
ULS plunged wholeheartedly
mto dIVersifymg its student
body; like many independent
schools, it is way ahead of pubhc
schools In its ethnic
makeup But that hasn't been
accomphshed without difficulty
- black stUdents there complained
a couple of years ago of
feeling inviSible, and the result-
I:;S~y
'II ( I I
Margie Reins Sniith
I 'll
doesn't make sense .
• LIke, why, every SIXweeks
or so, do I go to bed lookmg
normal and wake up needing a
haIrcut?
• LIke, why do some purchased
envelopes have "After 5
days return to" printed In the
upper left-hand corner?
Does the U S. Postal ServIce
need to be reminded to put letters
WIth illegIble addresses
and Insufficient Postage aside
- let them rIpen for five days
- then return them to their
senders?
What if they're returned in
four days? Or SIX?
• Like, where are dogs' bellybuttons?
• And hke, why do dogs bark
at nothing?
On a quiet summer evening,
one small Lhasa apso-generated
woof can set off a cham reac.
tlOn of arfs and yips and bowwows
that lasts 10 minutes and
fans out across the Umted
States like ripples in a pond
Ron Blauet of the MIchIgan
Humane Society recently offered
an answer to this imponderable
on his "Pet of the
Week" spot on Saturday mornmgWJR-AM.
Dogs bark, he said, because
they hear other dogs barkmg
Somebody dId a study, he
saId, countmg the barks generated
by a cocker spamel m Peo.
ria (or someplace). She barked
907 tImes m 10 minutes
ThIS important research
could be subcontracted to postal
workers who are waltmg the
reqUired number of days to reo
The Op-Ed Page
T~~
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ing discussion and disagreement
rOlled the campus for a
whl1e.
But even the students who
complained said they beheved
the school admmistratlOn was
well-intentIOned about diversity,
but Just didn't know how
to go about achieving harmony.
That's an illustratIOn of the
change that Hanly hopes to
bring to the school.
Hanly, who started his duties
officially in July, has a background
in counseling (before
serVIng as ULS middle school
head). He's planmng to listen
to the kids.
"I hope to create a community
of spirit," he said ''That, I
think, has been lackmg at our
school."
Unity has been a popular
theme at ULS, but for the last
several years, it was focused on
phySIcally umfying the campus
Plans to sell the middle school
property dIdn't work out for a
variety of reasons, though Now
the concept of umty IS refocused
- on emotional unity.
"I've seen us operate as virtually
four separate schools,"
Hanly said "I'm frustrated
that we give so much play to
our differences and so little to
our commonality.
"We are all young adolescents
"
And not necessarily nch adolescents,
either Hanly is eager
to make the point that about a
quarter of the 6th.12th graders
receIve financIal assIstance -
and that almost all (98 percent)
of the assIstance is need-based.
And he'd hke to see the assistance
base WIdened to mclude
some of the younger kIds
As to ethnic diversity, even
Hanly was surprised when he
looked at the numbers After
attending a conference on diversIty
while he was middle
school head, he returned to examme
the enrollment hsts He
discovered that about 28-29 percent
of the students '''~re chzldren
of color, including blacks,
Asians, HIspanics, and Middle
Easterners But, he said, he
was so accustomed to just
seemg them as kids, he had
hardly noticed.
An emotIOnal community
needs stabihty, whIch Hanly
also hopes to provide. With
luck, the school won't be lookmg
at any more rounds of revolving
headmasters. And
Hanly, who has known since
April that he would be headmaster,
had a hand in selecting
his successor at the middle
school, as well as the new upper
school head and dean of
students (a new positIOn).
That dean IS part of the new
approach. There has been a
great "perceived need," as Hanley
put it, for Increased empha.
sis on values and ethICS, as well
as order and consIstent disciphne
at the upper school Dean
Dana Boocock WIll handle those
areas - and superVIse a brandnew
program of community service
Commumty servIce isn't new
to LIggett, of course, but thiS
year, for the first time, It WIll
be required for graduation.
"There are both pros and
cons to making it a requIrement,"
Hanley conceded The
Idea has been floatmg around
the school for some time, but It
was Hanley who gave the impetus
to formahzmg the re
qUlrement.
Students Will have to do 25
hours of servIce during school
breaks or after school hours,
WIth the mtent that the mvolvement
wzll heIghten their
sense of belongIng to the larger
community It's part of the increased
emphasis on values and
ethiCS that Hanly hopes will be
mculcnted both by example and
by new content In eXlstmg
classes
Portraits
Wayne State UniverSIty's
Department of Neurological
Surgery recently commissioned
portl'aits of former department
chaJrmen Dr. Murray
Thomas of Grosse Pointe Park
and the late Dr. Stephen
Gurdjian.
The portraIts were painted
by Harry Hammond of Panama
City, Fla., and dedIcated
at a reception held in honor of
the chairmen and their famihes
at the Renaissance Club
Dr. Fernando Diaz, chairman
of the neurolOgIcal surgery
department, dedicated the portraIts,
emphasizing the commitment
to excellence in education
and the contnbutlOns to neurosurgery
of GurdJlan and
Thomas.
Tasters' delight
FoOd from the kitchens of
more than 50 of Detroit's finest
restaurants wIll be ready for
sampling from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday,
Sept. 20, at Schoolcraft
College's Waterman Campus
Center.
TIckets to the event, called
the Culinary Extravaganza, are
$35
"Workmg together," he saId
"They're words I honestly believe,
that we need to get all
the groups pullmg in the same
dIrectIOn
"1 hope my style IS one of inclusion
The headmaster can't
do it alone"
Fortunately for Hanly, the
headmaster Isn't haVIng to do
It alone. He and the rest of the
ULS communIty are already
plungIng ahead with a $7 million
capital campaIgn, have
completed a new hbrary, and
are deep in work on a new prekindergarten
building The
largest portIOn of the campaign
funds will be allotted to the en.
dowment (to Improve faculty
salaries) and to student aid,
Hanly said.
So change is all over the
place at University LIggett and
all Hanly has to do IS control
Its dIrection.
He appears to be up for It
"There's tons of energy and enthUSIasm
around the school,
waiting to be unleashed," he
saId.
Watchmg political claIms
and counter-clalms on TV the
other day, Bob said, "You
know, these guys can claIm
anything - and we have no
way of knowmg whether it's
true"
Bill Clinton had JUst saId
there are 72 countnes in the
world that have figured out
ways to give parents some time
off work for various family reasons,
but that the United
States has failed to step up to
the challenge
Well, we checked - and Chnton
was wrong There are more
than 100 countries WIth man.
dated maternIty leave for work-
109 women But ClInton also
was TIght. We should get \'vlth
It
•
Guests will get to graze, tasting
and testmg a varIety of
hors d'oeuvres, appetizers, entrees
and desserts prepared by
the likes of The Whitney, the
Golden Mushroom and Joe
Muer's restaurant
Some participating Grosse
Pointe eat shops are One23 and
Tom's Oyster Bar.
Grosse Pomter Tom Schoenith
of the Roostertall Catering
Club will be among the caterers
represented at the food fest.
Schoemth, hIS WIfe, Diane, and
their son, Michael, will CJrCulate
in the crowd carrying silver
trays laden with hors d'oeuvres
for hungry guests.
This will be the fIrst gourmet
taste event of the Schoolcraft
Culinary Arts program, whIch,
by the way, has graduated
more than 1,000 students since
it was established in 1966.
The money raISed at the eu
linary Extravaganza IS earmarked
for student scholar-
OzIlToday 527-7550
1-800-272-5270
Three 10canOn.lo ,erve you:
9830 Conner, DetrOIt.
12005 Morang, DetrOIt.
21142 Mack. Grosse POinte
turn lost lettet''> It might even
Improve post office employee/
canine relations, whIch hlStol'!
cally have been le::.s than amicable.
Blauet's answer also explazns
several other Imponderllbles,
hke why teenagerb wear TIpped
Jeans and hang out zn shoppmg
malls
• Today's final imponderable
What is the Hair Club for
Men?
Is thiS a community service
club? A speCIal mterest group?
A chaTlty organizatIOn? A sup
port group? Are women excluded?
If so, is there a Ladles'
Auxlhary? Do the men have
meetmgs? What do they dl~uss
at thelr meetmgs?
Do they have an annual dm
ner dance?
If so, they could call It the
Hair Ball
Margie Reins Smith
ships for the program
Joe Muer of Grosse Pointe
IS honorary chaIrman
Tickets are avaIlable by call-
Ing Schoolcraft's InstitutIOnal
Advancement office at 462
4417 VIsa, MasterCard, DIS
cover and personal checks WIll
be accepted
Apple facts
MichIgan WIll produce ap
proximately 17 8 millIOn bush
els of apples thiS year, accord
mg to a USDA projectIOn
There are 1,500 apple glOwers
in the state.
MIChigan IS the largest pro.
ducer of Jonathan apples
Apples are low-fat, sodIUmfree,
low-calone. They'l e full of
fiber, vitamins A and C, potas .
slUm and other good stuff
The average Amencan eats
more than 18 pounds of apples
a year
Here's
something~1!.ecial for
Grandparents'
Day'--_ ~
Gralldparents'
Day IS September 13th
The
F1D@
Grandparents'
Day Bouquet
~i~
. ""' Send thIS
speCIal greelmg
/11: ' arId you call
'9 wma
• "Gralld Famzly
Re-ullion"
call usfor
details
24.95
Our
Grand
Fruit
Basket
l~
A delICIOUS r-coliectlOll
of L_ J