MontBleu at Stateline is hosing the 11th annual Mountain Magic Dance Convention Nov. 5-8.

It is geared to dancers of all levels. There will be workshops in West Coast Swing, Hustle, Night Club Two Step and more.

For registration information, contact Michelle Kinkaid at (415) 585.6282 or go to www.michelledance.com.

One-Stop Career Centers in South Lake Tahoe and Placerville can help people who have been laid off and who don’t expect to return to the industry they left.

Assistance is the through El Dorado County’s Human Services Department. The Dislocated Worker Program can also help those who worked in the home and were self-employed.

Applicants must be 18 or older, unemployed or underemployed, and able to support themselves while in training.

For more information, call (530) 573.4317 in South Tahoe, (530) 642.4850 in Placerville, or go to edcgov.us/humanservices/ adultservices.html.

The Rev. Emilio Rosolen, a visiting priest from “House of Hope” and Cross International, will celebrate all Masses this weekend at St. Theresa Catholic Church in South Lake Tahoe. He will speak on behalf of Cross International.

Following the Oct. 31 evening 5:30 Mass, Emilio will present an evening of prayer and reflection, and then again on the evening of Nov. 2 after the 5:30 Mass.

Some of the topics of this mini retreat are: “Finding God in Autumn” and “Healing in Ourselves and in Our Church”. The community is welcome and there is no charge.

The Rev. Emilio Rosolen, a visiting priest from “House of Hope” and Cross International, will celebrate all Masses this weekend at St. Theresa Catholic Church in South Lake Tahoe. He will speak on behalf of Cross International.

Following the Oct. 31 evening 5:30 Mass, Emilio will present an evening of prayer and reflection, and then again on the evening of Nov. 2 after the 5:30 Mass.

Some of the topics of this mini retreat are: “Finding God in Autumn” and “Healing in Ourselves and in Our Church”. The community is welcome and there is no charge.

By Kathryn Reed

ZEPHYR COVE — Demographics are changing at Zephyr Cove Elementary School.

This is one of the things Principal Nancy Cauley highlighted in her report to the Douglas County school board this month. This is the first time in her four years at the helm of the K-6 school that it has students who fit two subgroups when it comes to federal testing – free lunch and limited English proficiency.

To be a subgroup there has to be at least 25 students who fit the criteria.

“They are reading below grade level,” Cauley said of the LEP students. “We are looking at ways to implement strategies to meet their needs.”

Giving students double and triple doses of the subject matter they are weak in is being done. Whenever possible, instead of pulling students out for specialized work, a tutor-instructor is going into the classroom to address the needs of students.

Despite having more students operating below grade level, Zephyr Cove still has the designation of a Nevada High Achieving School.

Using flexible groupings, especially in math, is another tool of Cauley’s. Students are not stuck in a certain group all year – placement is re-evaluated and dependent on their capabilities.

High-achievers are going to Whittell High School for seventh-grade math.

Enrichment activities this year include spelling and geography bees for some of the grade levels. Beginning and intermediate band is offered to fifth- and sixth-graders. Sixth-grader also have a sports program. More than 70 students participate in after school programs.

Lahontan Regional Water Board plans to meet Nov. 17 from 1-3pm at Lake Tahoe Community College in South Lake Tahoe for a scoping meeting regarding pier construction in Lake Tahoe.

For more information, call Mary Fiore-Wagner at (530) 542.5425.

LTCC presents “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde in Novmeber.

This is one of the funniest comedies in the English language. Dashing men-about-town John Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff pursue fair ladies Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew. Matters are complicated by the imaginary characters invented by both men to cover their on-the-sly activities – not to mention the disapproval of Gwendolen’s mother, the formidable Lady Bracknell. With witty dialogue, outrageous characters, and intricate twists and turns, Wilde offers a sly send-up of the upper-crust chic, and invites us into a world where artifice is everything, honesty is entirely passé, and truth is “never pure and seldom simple.” This classic is a critique of love, sex and social hypocrisy that remains stingingly pertinent.

Performances at Duke Theatre: Nov. 12-14, 8pm; Nov. 19-21, 8pm; and Nov. 22, at 2pm.

By Kathryn Reed

With each pedal rotation, the crisp morning air seems to get warmer. Clearly, it’s not and it’s just the exertion and exhilaration of mountain bike riding through the forest that are warming my body and soothing my soul.

It’s mornings like this that I remember why I love living in Lake Tahoe. The smell of fall is the air – that damp wetness – those decaying leaves.

Sue Wood mountain bikes Oct. 25 to Fallen Leaf Lake. Photo/Kathryn Reed

The dichotomy of nature’s beauty this time of year and the fact that it’s the process of death is not lost on me.

So many of the aspens and other foliage turning color don’t seem to care they are at their most beautiful just before going dormant for the winter.

I seem to understand.

I want to embrace the spectacle before me. To roll in the leaves. To inhale deeply and not exhale. To keep pedaling. I want to be one with nature before winter covers the landscape, before the shoveling begins, before the desire to cocoon sets in.

On this last Sunday of October, I head into the Gardner Mountain area from Highway 89 in South Lake Tahoe, climbing slightly before heading north. It’s black. It’s what’s left from the June 2007 Angora Fire, when more than 3,100 acres of Forest Service land was charred. (The 254 houses that were lost in that fire are not in this area.)

But Mother Nature is resilient. Flora is coming back. More of that dichotomy of beauty and death woven together.

Pedaling on, it’s like a line was drawn with black and green crayons, what burned and what didn’t.

More yellow dominates this part of the dirt trail. A little uphill and we exit out of the forest to Fallen Leaf Lake Road.

A few hundred yards up is a massive meadow – aspens are everywhere.

We take the trail near the campground to Fallen Leaf Lake even though we know we’ll have to walk our bikes a bit because we’re not technical riders. Then we zip down to the lake.

The shore is full of people taking pictures, taking in the views of Mount Tallac and splashes of yellow around the lake.

Back on our bikes, we dart around the vacant campground before finding an indirect route that leads us to Highway 89. Crossing it, we hook up with the Camp Richardson bike trail.

Wanting to avoid people, we stick to the dirt trails around the visitors center and through the Tallac Historic Site. What a site it is with all the color.

It’s time for a bite to eat – fries and a bloody Mary are lunch at the Beacon. Enough fuel to get us home.

It’s a fairly quick ride, though definitely scenic, as we leave the bike path again and head for the meadows between Pope Beach and Tahoe Keys.

Just another day in paradise.

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I (and are others I know) am just curious as to why the sound has been turned off on the broadcasts from the most recent City Council meeting? If you cannot attend a meeting should there not be a chance to hear what went on?

It should be noted that in the initial rebroadcast of the meeting the audio was available. Now it’s just the film without the audio. Which, to be blunt, is quite strange to observe.

Did the controversial nature of the meeting cause the City to turn the sound off? If not, can they please turn the sound back on?

Sincerely,

Rich Hodge

Four-time world champion Carina “La Reina” Moreno has been training in Lake Tahoe to get ready for the altitude of Mexico when she defends her WBC minimum-weight title against Anabel Ortiz on Oct. 31.