By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times

They were not even born at the time their city erupted in flames, violence and rage against a system that would not convict Los Angeles police officers of brutally beating a black man.

But high school students Jiaya Ingram, Ashley Torres and Jessica Maldonado have been gripped by accounts of the 1992 Los Angeles riots as they learn about them through poetry and plays, readings and recollections of their parents and others.

They say they felt shock over police actions, horror over the mob violence and an uneasy feeling that it could happen again, particularly as unarmed African Americans are killed, most recently in Florida, Oklahoma and Pasadena. Yet these teenagers also express hope that they can make a difference through personal action — education about stereotypes, for instance, or peaceful protests.

“I’ve learned that you have to be the change you want to see in the world,” said Jessica, a junior at the Social Justice Leadership Academy, a small school at the Torres High School campus in East Los Angeles. “History is not wars and dates; it’s about the choices you make.”

But two decades after the riots sparked massive violence that would leave dozens dead and thousands injured, lessons about them appear to be limited in Southern California classrooms. For many teachers, the pressure to teach content that will be tested in state standardized tests and Advanced Placement exams next month has crowded out time for the riots, however crucial they are to city history and the nation’s larger civil rights struggle.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has not formally included the riots in its history curriculum because it is not part of the California social studies standards. The district plans to post material on its website for optional teacher use, however.

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California Teachers Association President Dean Vogel will be visiting Lake Tahoe Community College on May 7 for an evening of discussion about the current state of California’s public education system.

This is Vogel’s first official visit to the Lake Tahoe Basin since becoming CTA president. Teachers, students, school staff and administrators, and all community members interested in the health of public education are welcome to attend the 5-7pm event at the Duke Theatre.

Vogel will begin by sharing the educator’s perspective on the problems K-12 schools and community colleges face in California, and how CTA’s organizing plan can help to improve public education in our state. He’ll also discuss school funding and Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax initiatives on November’s ballot.

Following his remarks, Vogel will host a Q&A session and an informal reception. Light refreshments will be served.

CTA’s Higher Education Director Theresa Montaño will also be available to discuss issues within the California State University system and the community colleges.

This event is being hosted by LTCC’s Classified Employees Union and Faculty Association.

Bona Fide Books will host an art reception for Sierra photographer and writer Stacy Hicks on May 5 from 5:30-7:30pm.

It will feature 16 black and white images from her collection “What Remains”.

The event in Meyers is free.

Stacy Hicks' photos will be on display at Bona Fide Books.

Hicks, who lives in Strawberry, says that her photographs reveal the things that people often don’t see, and this is what she finds most interesting in her subjects.

Hicks also contributed to “Tahoe Blues: Short Lit on Life at the Lake”, a book about life at Lake Tahoe featuring local writers that will come out June 8 from Bona Fide Books.

Hicks’ work will be on display at Bona Fide Books May 1-27. Bona Fide HQ is located at 1069 Magua Street, No. 4, behind the Getaway Café in Meyers.

For more information, contact Kim Wyatt at editor@bonafidebooks.com.

By Michelle Higgins, New York Times

The complimentary wine and fruit platter was sent up to Jessica Griffin and her family moments after they strolled into their roomy suite. They were accompanied by a bellhop who placed their bags near a tidy crib made up with luxurious, high thread-count sheets for Griffin’s 1-year-old daughter.

The V.I.P. treatment at the Cheeca Lodge and Spa in the Florida Keys last month hadn’t come with an extra cost. In fact, Griffin said, she paid about $100 a night less than the standard rate for her room. And the deal wasn’t the result of hours of tedious online research either. She had finagled her savings the old-fashioned way: through a travel agent.

“I needed recommendations and someone to steer me in the right direction,” said Griffin, who opted to work with an agent after years of making her own reservations because she needed a getaway suitable for a toddler and had little interest in scrolling through endless and conflicting user hotel reviews online. “There are so many,” she said. And with every site displaying beautiful pictures and tantalizing offers, “it can be overwhelming.”

“I wanted somebody from a reputable agency who could say yes, you’ll enjoy this stay,” she said.

According to those in the travel agent industry, clients like Griffin are not alone, and are in fact helping to stanch the bloodletting the industry has experienced since the onset of D.I.Y. booking more than a decade ago. Nearly one in three leisure agencies is hiring, according to PhoCusWright, a travel research firm. And in 2011 travel agencies experienced a second consecutive year of growth; their bookings account for a third of the $284 billion United States travel market.

This comes after years during which all signs seemed to be suggesting that travel agents would soon go the way of telex operators. And it’s true that the numbers are stark: During the industry’s peak years of the mid-1990s, there were about 34,000 retail locations booking trips. Today, there are 14,000 to 15,000, according to PhoCusWright. In 2009 alone, in the throes of the recession, bookings through traditional agencies plummeted by 23 percent.

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The Douglas County Public Library in Minden is bringing back Nevada outdoor author Mike White on May 15 from 4:30-6:30pm.

The award-winning author will give a presentation of some of the best Nevada hikes as featured in his books “50 Classic Hikes in Nevada” and “Backpacking Nevada”. Spanning the entire state of Nevada, the presentation is designed to inspire and inform lovers of the outdoors about a spectrum of trails, from a half-hour stroll to an all-day jaunt. He will be available to sign books after the presentation.

The Douglas County Public Library is located at 1625 Library Lane in Minden. For more information, call (775) 782.9841.

By Cathy Locke, Sacramento Bee

A group of foster care agencies has launched a 100-day campaign to encourage more people in Placer and Nevada counties to become foster parents and allow children to remain in their communities.

The initiative, “Today’s Foster Parent,” highlights the need for local foster parents. The main purpose of the campaign, which runs through July 30, is to prevent children from moving from foster home to foster home, and to improve their chances for a permanent family.

“Far too many children in foster care are forced to move outside of their communities, far from their birth parents, friends, schools and other support groups,” Gail Johnson Vaughan, executive director of Mission Focused Solutions, said in a written statement. “We are asking local families to step forward to make a difference in the lives of these children.”

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By Mandy Kendall

I was invited to join a meeting of the Lake Tahoe Business Referral Network this week and met a great group of like-minded business owners doing great things for business in our community. During my short presentation I decided not only to introduce the Health Connective – a great group of natural health practitioners also doing wonderful things for our community – but also to talk briefly about another subject close to my heart – supplements.

Research has revealed that a lot of people fall under the category of “I think I should be taking supplements, but I don’t know what I need or which ones to take” or, if they are already taking supplements, the general consensus seems to be “I’m not sure if I’m taking what I need or if they are doing me any good?”.

Mandy Kendall

Surveys conducted in more than 4,000 health practitioner’s offices revealed that 85 percent of patients wanted their health care provider to advise them on supplementation.

Interestingly, people who do take supplements often use a variety of methods to choose which supplement and brand to use, including criteria such as: “I saw it on TV”, “I liked the label”, and “it was the cheapest”.

While these may be the ways we choose many of the products we use in our lives, when it comes to our health it might be prudent to take a little more expert advice.

So where do you start? It seems every day someone is telling us that something we were told last year is good for us is now on the bad for you list. There are so many supplements to choose from, all seeming to claim to be just what you need for complete health.

Then if you know which supplement you should be taking there are so many different brands. So it’s hardly surprising that some ignore the supplement issue all together, or base their choices on random criteria.

So why take supplements at all?

Medications deplete some nutrients — According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, statins appear to deplete the body of Coenzyme Q10, necessary for the production of ATP, which is the major energy source of human cells. This tends to require supplementation in addition to a balanced diet containing foods such as salmon, tuna, organ meats and some whole grains. Some studies also indicate that Coenzyme Q10 supplementation can help with the muscle pain sometimes experienced when taking statins. However, always check with your doctor for any possible supplement/medication interactions

Essential nutrients — Some nutrients are called ‘essential’ which indicates that they cannot be made by the body so must be obtained through food or supplements. Omega 3 fatty acids are considered essential for health, and by themselves can raise HDL (good cholesterol) and lower triglycerides (high levels can lead to risk of heart disease). In children these fatty acids are ‘essential’ for brain development and immune function and there are studies that claim some behavioral issues can be linked to an Omega 3 deficiency. Foods high in Omega 3 include cold water and oily fish, some nuts and some vegetables. As there probably aren’t too many kids keen on any of these foods it could be wise to consider a good Omega 3 supplement.

Overfed and undernourished — Today’s fast-paced lifestyles are leading to an array of poor dietary choices and chronically stressful lives, with convenience diets that provide too many calories with too few nutrients. Couple that with overfarming of land, and the mass production of food worldwide, and the nutritional value of food is not as high as it used to be. In today’s world, we tend to be missing some of the valuable nutrients our bodies need.

Stress — Affects the body’s metabolism like an engine racing in a high gear. The increased metabolism can cause an increase in the use, and excretion of, many nutrients such as vitamins A, C, D, E, K, and B complex, and minerals such as magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, chromium, selenium, zinc, and potassium. If these are not replaced we can become deficient, however the effects of these deficiencies tend not to be obvious until a disease or condition manifests.

Lifestyle — Smoking and alcohol (yes, I’m afraid that means wine, too) cause a deficiency of a number of nutrients in the body. Thiamine, Zinc and Niacin (vitamin B3) perform a wide range of functions in the body, including aiding memory, DNA processes, and brain functioning and are all detrimentally affected by alcohol. Smoking drains the body of many essential vitamins and minerals. For example vitamin C, one of the body’s natural antioxidants (which mop up free radicals that harm our cells), is drawn from tissues and blood to help counteract the effects of smoking. This deficiency leads to low absorption of iron and the reduction of antioxidant protection can lead to the onset of numerous diseases. Smokers are generally advised to increase their daily intake of Vitamin C to 2000mg which generally cannot be achieved through diet alone, therefore requiring a supplement. (That said, no amount of supplements or antioxidants can protect the body against the damage caused by smoking.)

All supplements are not created equal — Everything from ingredients, types of processing used, to the delivery mechanism (tablets versus liquids) will affect how effective a supplement is. Isotonic formulas (liquids easily absorbed by the body) tend to be four to five times more effective than tablets because of the digestive process required to break down tablets, which often results in some of the tablet passing through the entire body without being digested at all. The quality of ingredients is also an important consideration and often will make the product seem more expensive, but ultimately worth it.

So, as you can see, there are many considerations when choosing a supplement. Everyone’s supplement requirements are going to be very different, based on the huge variations of lifestyle, health and environment. So it is advisable to seek advice from a medical or licensed professional, familiar with your situation, who will assess your particular needs and help determine what supplements are best for you.

The Health Connective strives to support its community in all natural health and wellness issues, so please contact us at healthconnective@gmail.com if you have any questions, or would like any further information, about the article above.

Until next time.

Mandy Kendall operates Health Connective in South Lake Tahoe. If you have any questions, would like some advice, or would like to request some Qwik-e tips on any health and wellbeing topic, please feel free to drop me an email at healthconnective@gmail.com, visit us on Facebook, or keep an eye out on Lake Tahoe News for regular Qwik-e tips on how to make healthy changes one Quick and Easy step at a time.

By Keld Jensen, Forbes

Albert Einstein’s was estimated at 160, Madonna’s is 140, and John F. Kennedy’s was only 119, but as it turns out, your IQ score pales in comparison with your EQ, MQ, and BQ scores when it comes to predicting your success and professional achievement.

IQ tests are used as an indicator of logical reasoning ability and technical intelligence. A high IQ is often a prerequisite for rising to the top ranks of business today. It is necessary, but it is not adequate to predict executive competence and corporate success. By itself, a high IQ does not guarantee that you will stand out and rise above everyone else.

Research carried out by the Carnegie Institute of Technology shows that 85 percent of your financial success is due to skills in “human engineering,” your personality and ability to communicate, negotiate, and lead. Shockingly, only 15 percent is due to technical knowledge. Additionally, Nobel Prize winning Israeli-American psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, found that people would rather do business with a person they like and trust rather than someone they don’t, even if the likeable person is offering a lower quality product or service at a higher price.

With this in mind, instead of exclusively focusing on your conventional intelligence quotient, you should make an investment in strengthening your EQ (Emotional Intelligence), MQ (Moral Intelligence), and BQ (Body Intelligence). These concepts may be elusive and difficult to measure, but their significance is far greater than IQ.

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By David Wescott, Bloomberg

Don’t expect to find Ronit Rogoszinski in meetings, entertaining clients, or hunched over her desk around lunchtime. The 45-year-old wealth adviser and financial planner in New York describes herself as an expert “practitioner of the power nap.”

After waking up at about 5 a.m., sending her kids off to school, and putting in a morning of meeting with clients, Rogoszinski needs to crash.

“By noon, my brain starts to fry,” she says. So she heads to one of her hideouts – her car, for example – to recharge. As she puts it, “I’m not quite sure how I’d handle the day without that timeout.”

Rogoszinski is by no means a lone clandestine sleeper. Comments on Wall Street Oasis, a Web forum popular among investment bankers, reveal an obsessive interest in daytime napping, with tips on “sleep hacking” (moving to polyphasic sleep schedules), recommendations on where to doze (bathroom stalls, conference rooms), and directions for how to act when caught (as if nothing unusual had happened).

When nodding off on a toilet, “you clearly need the seat down for maximum comfort,” advises one commenter, “which necessitates pants up to prevent your bare ass on the cold porcelain. Longest I ever slept uninterrupted without tipping over was two hours, from 4-6am.”

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Soroptimist International South Lake Tahoe is looking for artists to design the 2012 poster for the annual wine tasting.

The original art piece should be 11 x 17, with theme being Tahoe and Wine Tasting.

The artwork will become the property of SISLT and will be used for advertising the event.

Drop off entries at Elevate Wellness Center, 1113 Emerald Bay Road, weekdays between 10am-6pm by June 11.

The inning artist receives $250 and two tickets to the event.

For information, email gina@elevate-wellness.com or call (530) 541.9355.