Opinion
Stressed? Help Yourself, Your Pets
“challenging People to shape
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It is just around the corner. Close
your eyes and smell that turkey,
roast beef or favorite family dish
at your holiday table. Is that taste
of buttery mashed potatoes, or
Christmas cookies that brings
back memories?
The holiday season is a time for
reflecting about the year and our
lives. Did you accomplish your
goals? Have you made a written
list or one in your head about what
you hope and wish for next in the
coming year? Are you focusing on
your perceived failures and
lamenting about what you might
have done differently? It is also a
time of year when we think of
those who are not longer with us
and those who we have lost con-
tacted with for reasons both good
PET HEaLTH
Faye Pietrokowsky
and bad.
As stressful as the holidays are
for humans, they are also difficult
for our pets too. This comes as no
surprise because many pet lovers
and animal fans are completely
unaware of how their behavior
impacts our furry and feathery
friends.
Know that animals feel our ten-
sion and it can make them sick.
Because so many of us are busy
during this time of year, pets get
less attention from us.
Visiting company can easily
overwhelm animals with their
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friends in the care of someone who
knows and likes them.
—Some animals prefer to stay in
their own home. Respect their
wishes. You aren’t the only one
that needs to feel good about their
care when you are gone.
—Above all, talk to your ani-
mals. Your voice is assuring and
comforting to them. Remember,
they understand more than you
realize.
Faye Pietrokowsky is owner of
inner-Design-applied intuition-
coach, teacher, consultant. For
more
information
go
to
www.inner-design.net
Remembering Ron Walters at Christmas
Around this time every year,
shortly before I leave to visit my
mother in Augusta, Ga. for
Christmas, I attend a party at the
home of Pat and Ron Walters in
Silver Spring, Md. I attended the
annual party Saturday night with
one noticeable difference – it was
held without Ron, an enormously
talented strategist and political sci-
entist.
Ron died of cancer Sept. 10,
2010 and to her credit, Pat decided
to hold the party this year because
she knew that’s what her Ronnie,
as she calls him, would have want-
ed. It’s also what his friends want-
ed. We wanted to let Pat know that
although her Ronnie has passed
from this earth, we still feel his
presence.
I wrote shortly after Ron died
that he was a one-man civil rights
movement. And he was. More
than that, the distinguished profes-
sor who served at Howard
University and the University of
Maryland taught us how to use our
professional skills to improve the
plight of our people. In that
respect, he was very much like
W.E.B. DuBois, who like Ron, did
his undergraduate work at Fisk
University in Nashville.
Ron was quoted more than any
other political scientist of his time.
He could have opted to teach his
university classes and be a talking
T HE c urrY
r EPOrT
George E.
Curry
Those of us who covered that
first campaign witnessed how Ron
prepared Jesse Jackson for TV
debates. Ron would be hovering
above and Jackson, outstretched
on the floor in blue jeans, would
listen to Professor Walters, process
the information, and then restate it
in his own unique way. Those prep
sessions were so detailed that
Jackson never had a Rick Perry-
like ooops moment in any debate.
Unlike some public intellectuals,
he was not enamored with rap. He
didn’t record a rap CD, like Cornel
West, or teach a course on Jay-Z,
like Michael Eric Dyson. When it
came to the empowerment of
African-Americans, Ron Walters
was serious. Very serious.
Above all else, Ron Walters was
consistent. It didn’t matter if Bill
Clinton, George W. Bush or
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loud voices and efforts to be close
to them. Their routines are
changed with some being restrict-
ed to certain rooms. Furthermore,
holiday travel means that some
animals are left in the care of non-
family members.
What can you do to minimize
the “fallout” for your pets? There
are several things that can help.
—Do some planning so that you
aren’t so stressed out.
—If at all possible, avoid rush-
ing.
—If you are hosting a party,
make sure that your pets are safe
and ask your guests to let the ani-
mals approach them if they want
attention.
—When traveling without them,
leave your furry and feathery
When it came to the empowerment
of African-Americans, Ron Walters was
serious. Very serious.
head on national TV, but he didn’t.
He felt obligated to do more,
which explains why he quietly
advised the Congressional Black
Caucus on a variety of issues. It
explains why he served as Jesse
Jackson’s presidential issues
adviser in 1984 and 1988.
Barack Obama was in the White
House. You could count on Ron
holding them all to one standard:
What have you done for Black
people? And he wasn’t content
with words, he wanted to measure
how well policies had helped – or
harmed – people of African
descent.
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Page 4 The Portland Skanner December 21/ December28, 2011
His take-home tests for polit-
ical leaders, Black and White,
usually covered 10 subjects:
health disparities, police bru-
tality, equal access to educa-
tion, voting rights enforcement,
racial profiling, housing, equal
employment, ex-offenders’
voting rights, access to credit,
and economic justice.
And Ron didn’t believe
President Obama should be
allowed to skip the test or be
judged any differently from
anyone else who occupied the
White House.
As serious as Ron was, he was
also a person who enjoyed a good
laugh.
I thought about him Saturday
night as I was replaying a Dick
Returning the favor, Joe had me
laughing uncontrollably after he
proposed that we start our own
mega-church in Prince George’s
County, Md. and I would be the
pastor. I think Joe was joking. He
had it all figured out down to the
big rings I should wear on my
pinky finger, the type of limo I
would be chauffeured in, and care-
fully demonstrated how my cape
would be removed.
He even told me about a church
in his native Detroit that had such
divided loyalties that two pastors
preached on Sundays at the same
time, one addressing his followers
on one side of the church and the
other preaching to his supporters
on the other side. I don’t know if
Joe was telling the truth, as he
He felt obligated to do more, which
explains why he quietly advised the
Congressional Black Caucus on a
variety of issues.
Gregory joke for my friend Joe
Madison, the activist and talk
show host. Joe and his wife,
Sharon, were sitting on kitchen
stools when I asked Joe if he had
heard what Dick Gregory had said
at Troy Davis’ funeral. As you
know, protesters objecting to
Davis being put to death in
Georgia carried signs and wore T-
shirts proclaiming, “I am Troy
Davis.”
Dick Gregory being Dick
Gregory said at the funeral service
for Davis that a bill collector had
telephoned his house and asked for
Dick Gregory. When asked if he
was Gregory, Dick claimed to
have replied, “I am Troy Davis.”
Joe buckled in laughter. We both
agreed that only Dick Gregory
could come up with that joke.
claimed. But when you’re laugh-
ing hard and having a good time at
the Walters residence, it doesn’t
matter whether it was true or a
product of Joe’s fertile imagina-
tion.
When we finished laughing, we
kissed Pat goodnight, and headed
for the door. We had carried on
just as if Ron were still there. And
we pledged to not only continue
laughing like we did when Ron
was around but to be as serious
about advancing the cause of our
people as Ron was. If we can con-
tribute half as much as he did, we
will not betray his legacy.
george e. Curry is former edi-
tor-in-chief of emerge magazine
and the nnPa news Service
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