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Boy or Girl? Growing Up Intersex
Iowa’s Aftermath--What the Rains Leave Behind
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Boy or Girl? Growing Up Intersex
Jul 24, 2008Meet people who are growing up intersex.
Also, a discussion with the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Jeffrey Eugenides, on the book club selection “Middlesex.” Today at 4 on Oprah, only on News Channel 11.
Posted by News Channel 11 It’s My Baby, Too!
Jul 24, 2008Attention men: If you have a child on the way, or dream of being a father some day, you don’t want to miss this show!
A little-known law could keep you from having any rights to your child. Bryce and Esther dated for one month before Esther became pregnant. Bryce says he wanted to marry Esther and raise their child together, but Esther says she wasn’t ready to be a mother. When they broke up, Esther decided to place the baby for adoption without informing Bryce. When Bryce finally learned his daughter was born, she was already seven days old and placed with another family. Now Bryce is fighting to get his child back, but because of an obscure law in some states, he has lost his rights as a father. What law did Bryce fail to comply with that even the lawyers in this case weren’t previously aware of? Is he unfit as a father, or is this law unconstitutional? Bryce and Esther’s lawyers give their opinion. Plus, the grandparents at odds over Esther’s decision face off. Don’t miss this heated discussion and learn more about the Putative Fathers Registry! Tonight at 7 on Dr. Phil, only on News Channel 11.
The Jonas Brothers Phenomenon
Jul 23, 2008The much-loved Roloff family from TLC’s hit “Little People, Big World” are here!
With parents Amy and Matt at just over four feet tall, they share what it is like raising a family and showing the world that “little people” are just as capable as anyone else. Plus, their twin sons born just two seconds apart, but now nearly two feet apart in height share what it is like growing up in a family like theirs. Then, music phenom, the Jonas Brothers are here to perform for an audience filled with their biggest fans! Oprah talks to the brothers and their parents on what it’s been like to become an overnight sensation and how they handle the fame. Today at 4 on Oprah, only on News Channel 11.
Behind Closed Doors”
Jul 23, 2008When people think of sexual predators, they often envision a pervert wearing a trench coat walking the streets.
But research shows that a family friend, helper or family member is often the person who victimizes innocent children. Heidi was sexually molested by her stepfather, John, for 12 years. Her mother, Susan, knew it was happening because she walked in on an attack when Heidi was 9, but she stayed with her husband for years after, even as the molestation continued. When Dr. Phil confronts Susan, will she apologize to her daughter? After two decades and years of mental anguish, will Heidi get answers from her mother? The sparks fly as mother and daughter go head to head. Will they heal their wounds and reunite? Then, the molester joins the show. Find out what he reveals and why Dr. Phil doesn’t believe him. And, why does Heidi say she has more respect for her abuser than her mother? The twists and turns in this story will shock you. Watch and listen carefully to make sure this doesn’t happen to your child. Tonight at 7 on Dr. Phil, only on News Channel 11.
Iowa’s Aftermath--What the Rains Leave Behind
Jul 16, 2008WJHL Viewer Ed Horton offers his perspective on the damage to his beloved former residence.
Random Thoughts on Iowa
As most of us gasped at the enormity of the flooding in Iowa, I have a unique interest in the State for I lived there from January 1, 1977 to May 1992. My employer, Rockwell International had acquired Collins Radio, an Avionics developer based in Cedar Rapids. I had been promoted to my first managerial position with responsibility for establishing two Iowa based non union manufacturing operations and an engineering operation which was later based in Van Nuys, CA.
As I watched the flooded downtown area on FOX News and CNN it was almost unbelievable to witness the familiar areas where I frequently walked…completely covered by river water. I recall the Roosevelt Hotel where I stayed during my 30 day temporary housing period. I recall walking to the Cedar River Bridge in the middle of January 1977 and watching huge chucks of frozen ice slowly moving down stream, something I had never seen neither in Southwest Virginia nor in Tennessee!
As the TV camera spanned the downtown scene I noted with interest the marquee for the Paramount Theater where I attended the annual Rockwell-Collins management meeting, it was at least 2.5 stories high barely visible in the muddy Cedar River water. I watched with interest as the boxcars which normally held grain for the local Quaker Oats plant were loaded with huge boulders and positioned on the 8th Avenue bridge in hopes that the weight of such massive weight would hold the structure in place and then to see hours later that the entire structure …..railcars, rocks and bridge abutments were now in the middle of the Cedar River! Such awesome power I had never ever seen before! I also listened as a hydrologist, a profession which I had never heard before, reported how a gauge which measures the height of the Cedar River failed. First it lost electric power and the battery backup didn’t work and then the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) team was not allowed on the rapidly rising river to fix it until later.
I recall visiting Czech Village where the early settlers of Cedar Rapids started businesses and built their homes. Many of these small enterprises have their signs written in Czech or some other Slavic language. Having lunch or dinner with my coworkers in the various restaurants was indeed a treat! The large busted women with their colorful dresses who worked in the diners and the Czech museum still spoke English with a very heavy accent. It was like being in another country. Sadly, I noticed on television that the Czech restaurants, Polehna’s Meat market the Czech Museum and the various antique shops had been completely flooded!
A phone conversation with a former colleague currently living in Cedar Rapids and is dealing with the huge tasks of clearing floors, removing soggy carpeting etc informed me that all of the valuable artifacts which had been hand carried to this country from the former Czech Republic and had been in many homes are lost for ever! . It was a scene from a Will Smith horror movie and everyday the ending was never ceasing.
In addition this area proved to be even more diverse by the amalgamation of other ethic people of German, Greek and Polish extraction. Imagine what fun I was at the Company Christmas parties when some staff member always wanted to teach me how to Pokka! It was too funny for words! My administrative assistant was of German heritage and so was her husband. They were proud of their vintage Porsche and their VW. As a matter of fact they were proud of anything that had “made in Germany” stamped on it.
My greatest shock was to observe on television my former Pastor, Jeff Gilmore on CNN wading through 10ft of dirty water…in the sanctuary of Park View Evangelical Free Church of Iowa City. I know that guy I shouted to my wife! That place was my home Church while I was a graduate student at the University of Iowa! I was a member of the choir, attended Sunday School, participated in the Men’s Fellowship including Promise Keepers. It was there that I became a Stephen’s Minister and taught Bible Study to the College and Career Students! I was busy and I saw miracles that resulted in a Church growth that increased from 200 to 1500 members most of whom were Iowa students….and now the place was completely soaked! It was in this place where I was convinced that the Revival which many Christians had prayed for had indeed occurred and that it had broken out in the heartland of America!
I saw students who finished academic programs and elected not to pursue opportunities in corporate America but instead joined other young people on the Missions field. I have met persons who were finishing their Medical Residencies and elect not to join a lucrative practice in some major city but instead join an organization such as called Doctors without Borders or volunteer to provide free care at some Indian Reservation in Arizona or in some struggling free clinic in the Mississippi delta. The amazing piece of knowledge was to see Christian men and women making new career choices such as pursuing a course of study at a Seminary or Theological Institute.
After I had calmed down, I went to my computer and began to view the Parkview Church web site. I read that the Congregation had conducted several weekly services at a local High School. There was an average of 1300 members out of 1500 in attendance every Sunday since the flood! Pastor Gilmore’s series of messages have dealt with “Facing Life’s Trials and Emerging Victorious”. This was indeed a very appropriate message for a very stressful time.
The third phase of my Iowa story concerns my time at the University of Iowa campus. As a Division 1 school which had close to 30,000 students enrolled. I enjoyed the company of colleagues from all over the world! It is a beautiful campus with caring and nurturing faculty members, many of whom I knew for they were evangelicals from my home church. What is truly amazing is that their names were posted publically for those students who felt the need to talk to someone with a spiritual focus. I have to remind myself that this University was a State supported school and to find proud evangelicals of the professorial staff making themselves available for mentoring college students was truly awesome!
The University web site reported that close to 20 building had been affected by the flood. Many of those buildings were dedicated to mostly undergraduate classrooms and resident halls. There were other buildings which held more value to me as a result of the flood. For instance, the Iowa Memorial Union where I heard Alex Healey, the author of Roots, speak. It was fascinating to listen to this man from Tennessee talk about his family and share stories of his youth. I identified with him for I too had stories about life living in Wise County Virginia and Kingsport. As I look back at that event, I could not help but think there I was in an auditorium with an audience of several thousand and in the midst of that august group were only three black listeners…the Dean of Students, Alex Hailey and Ed, a little guy from the hills of East Tennessee!
Hancher Auditorium, a performance building which would showcase some of the finest example of Broadway shows, both domestic and international musicals and other types of touring entertainment venues. Most of these cultural enrichment activities were available for “free” with a University ID card. Needless to say, I attended as many of these as my schedule would permit.
Carver-Hawkeye Arena, a world class basketball facility…one of the finest in the Big 10 Conference. This facility was named after that famous black American scientist George Washington Carver who was instrumental in developing Tuskegee Institute for poor black students in Tuskegee, Alabama. Carver-Hawkeye Arena has a reputation as a powerhouse in women’s basketball due to the skill of the highly successful Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer. That name should be familiar to most of America for this same lady who later became Head Women’s Basketball Coach of Rutgers University! This is the same person who successful turned their program around at Rutgers University as she successfully did previously at the University of Iowa….only to be subjected to the crude,rude and boorish comments from the radio personality, John Imus. I personally knew her and her deceased husband as “classy” individuals. I saw Vivian and her teams of coaches take young ladies from some of the most violent and depraved neighborhoods of Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia and other urban cities and bring them to a 98% predominately white campus located in the heartland of America and make them successful, independent and yes….champions! Normally very few people will attend a Women’s basketball game; however, I can not tell you how many times every seat (15,000) was filled in that arena! As a matter of fact, I can recall when the Iowa Hawkeyes played teams like the University of Connecticut, the University of Tennessee or Louisiana State University….the Arena would hold up to 25,000 crazed fans and the Fire Marshall would be found hyperventilating in the waiting room of the University Hospital! It was truly a wonderful time to be a graduate student at The University of Iowa!
In summary rivers may wash away Iowa but Not the resolve of Iowans. These are the descendants of the pioneers of very divest European, Scandinavian and Russian cultures who created that word picture which is contained in the first stanza of America the beautiful “for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain!” It was those early pioneers who first marveled and sang out in their broken English “America! America! God shed HIS grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood; from sea to shining sea! I can testify to their concept of “brotherhood” for they welcomed me to their homes, their churches, their Bible studies and some members showed up once to prepare my Sunday meal….and they provided the food…..and cleaned up! At another time, I filled my tired Volvo with Amoco premium fuel and discovered that I did not have a wallet nor any change in my pocket! I walked into the Amoco station and informed the manager that I had NO money to pay him; however, if he would allow me to return tomorrow I would satisfy my indebtedness. The elder Swede with the blue eyes and the bald head simply smiled and waved me off and said….” We know all about you for we know your neighbor…go in peace”.
There are so many examples of the kindness shown to me by these people and I can not tell it all. Whether their faith were Lutheran, Catholic, Congregationalist or a conservative Evangelical these folks demonstrated their faith in many ways. Although they did not look like nor talk like me, I always look back at the years spent in Iowa as the turning point in my faith and will always make myself available for the unselfish service to others. Only in Mid- America can you experience the hope for the rest of the country, I am convinced that the Great Revival which so many Christian pray to come….I think that it started in Eastern Iowa! I continue to marvel how we constantly hyphenate terms such as Italian-American, Irish-American and yes Afro-American. I have been remembered by my dear Viet Nam comrade, a Swede called Roger Johnson and thousands of others who befriended me in the days of my youth…..we are all Americans!
The storm that left areas of Cedar Rapids and Iowa City flooded is referred to as “the Katrina of the Midwest”. Crops were damaged neighborhoods were flooded and many were shocked to discover that yes, it can happen to you. …you too, can lose everything in “the twinkling of an eye”. Senators McCain nor Obama should not have shown up to survey the damage done in Iowa. Iowa needs their money…..I am quite sure that Iowan can take care of their own.
Respectfully submitted by Ed Horton USAF retired…an American
Posted by Neal Boling 
