Food for thought — School meals dish up healthy challenges

By Jenny Neyman

Photos by Jenny Neyman, Redoubt Reporter. Mackenzie Elsey eats a fruit pop during lunch at Redoubt Elementary School on Aug. 26.

Redoubt Reporter

First-graders at Redoubt Elementary School worked their way through the lunch line on the second day of school Aug. 25, oblivious to the considerable amount of nutritional research, economic budgeting, staff training and overall planning, consideration and preparation that went into the experience.

The meal that awaited them, teriyaki meatballs with whole-grain rice and a choice of up to three sides — corn, chilled pineapple, a fruit juice bar, 100 percent fruit juice and milk — had been carefully planned to meet U.S. Department of Agriculture standards for nutrition. The meals provide a proper amount of vitamins, minerals, nutrients, fiber, whole grains and protein while limiting fat, sodium, sugar, calories and the percentage of calories from fat.

The methods and means by which lunch would be served had been designed to maximize the appetizing appeal of the food while limiting packaging waste and expense. The staff serving the meal had been trained in food safety protocols, nutritional standards and efficiency.

Even the rate and time at which the kids got their lunch had been orchestrated. Students cycle through every five minutes, the theory being that eliminating long lines eliminates opportunities for goofing off.

All these factors are critically important to USDA student nutrition administrators and Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Student Nutrition Services personnel, teachers, administrators and school staff, parents and school board members. These factors can have serious impacts on budgets, the functionality of the nationwide and worldwide web of food vendors and transporters, and, most importantly, on students’ health and ability to focus and learn.

To the kids, though, all that matters is the food deposited on their trays and what they thought of it. On this particular day, many students didn’t think much of lunch.

Rickey Fiebelkorn, a student helper, serves corn during lunch at Redoubt Elementary School.

“Meatballs?” said first-grader Faith-Lynn Rose Gattenby as she left the food line with her tray.

“I don’t like them. Do I have to eat the meatballs?” she asked. Her question was answered by an older student passing by, who imparted a kernel of wisdom that strikes frustration in the hearts of all the professionals who put so much work into the meal, yet is universally known by picky eaters through the district:

“No. You have to take it, but you don’t have to eat it,” the older student said.

With that, Faith-Lynn sat at her table, drank her milk, poked at her pineapple chunks and happily devoured her frozen fruit juice bar, leaving the meatballs and rice barely touched and bound for the trash.

So goes the school food battle, waged between 70 KPBSD Student Nutrition Services personnel who will serve about 900,000 student meals in the 2010-11 school year, and students trained to want grease, fat, sugar and carbohydrates, in a state where 27 percent of high school students are overweight and 11 percent obese, and 42 percent of adults don’t meet physical activity guidelines and 76 percent don’t consume the recommended five servings of fruits and veggies each day.

Shoot for a good year — Girl celebrates birthday with hunting trip

By Joseph Robertia

Photo courtesy of Cannava family. Ryann Cannava shows off the ducks she shot on her birthday, which falls on the opening day of hunting season.

Redoubt Reporter

Ryann Cannava didn’t celebrate her 8th birthday Sept. 1 in ways little girls often do. Rather than a pink princess costume, she donned waders and camouflage. Instead of “Dora the Explorer” decorations, she set up duck decoys. As an alternative to a streamer-festooned noisemaker, she blew into a duck call while listening for the sounds of whistling wings overhead.

“Her birthday coincides with opening day, so our ritual the last three years has been to get up at 4 a.m. and go duck hunting on the Kenai Flats,” said her father, Joe Cannava. “She loves it. Anything else that early and I’d have to drag her out of bed. But for this, she’s up before I am.”

Cannava said the idea originated with Ryann’s grandfather, Garth Bilderback, who also accompanies them annually on the early morning hunt.

“He’s very involved in waterfowl hunting and conservation and he believes in fostering young hunters,” Cannava said.

Typically using either a .410 or a 20-gauge, Ryann isn’t much taller than her shotgun’s barrel is long, so it took some time for her to be at ease with the firearm.

“We’ve gone over a lot of gun safety aspects with Ryann and we’ve taken her to target shooting so she’d be comfortable and ready to go.”

“I was nervous at first,” Ryann added, “but the more I shot it the more I liked doing it.”

Adopting a dream — Young runner chases speed

By Clark Fair

Photo by Clark Fair, Redoubt Reporter. Mekbeb Denbrock practices running in Johnson Lake Campground in September.

Redoubt Reporter

On June 12, some of the competitors in at the Run for the River may have been astonished to see a diminutive runner with a rapid gait passing them by on his way to 17th overall finish. That runner was Mekbeb Kirba Denbrock, a second-grader at Soldotna Montessori Charter School, and he finished the five-kilometer race in 23 minutes and 16 seconds.

In the five-kilometer Rotary Unity Run the following month, Mekbeb’s father, Jake, who had held him back in the June race, “let him go from the beginning” on this occasion. The result was 12th-place finish in the men’s division and a time of 20 minutes and 34 seconds — about 3 minutes behind the winning time.

Not bad for a 7-year-old — a boy who loves running above all other activities, a boy who hopes to improve on those impressive times before the summer is out, and a boy who would like to run in the Olympics someday.

But more impressive than Mekbeb’s running times and his desire to be the best is the fact that he is even here to run at all.

Mekbeb and his 6-year-old brother, Maleda, were born in Ethiopia, a country of 82 million in which a corrupt government, meddling al-Qaida operatives, border skirmishes, civil wars, famines and epidemics of malaria and AIDS have resulted in political turmoil, alleged human rights abuses and more than six million orphaned children.

The boys’ mother died of unknown causes in late 2005, when Mekbeb was 2 and Maleda was 1. Only a few months later, in early 2006, their father also died, presumably from cancer.

With their three older siblings, they went to live with their aunt and grandmother in the village of Dalle, which is located in the Sidamo Province in southwestern Ethiopia, but the women were unable to care for so many children, and so Mekbeb and Maleda were left to fend for themselves.

“They basically were free-ranging children,” said Jake Denbrock. “He (Mekbeb) protected his younger brother and foraged for food. They slept in the dirt. It was survival of the fittest.”

Pretty threatening — Weeds take late-blooming opportunity to spread

By Janice Chumley, for the Redoubt Reporter

Photo courtesy of Janice Chumley. Common tansy is pretty but efficient at reproduction, quickly choking out native plants.

While autumn may be approaching, hastening the end of the growing season, there are still several plants blooming along our roads and trails. Many folks might think of them as wildflowers, but they are anything but.

These invasive weeds are using the late-blooming opportunity for noncompetitive seed production — a chance to spread before the snow flies and replace more native plant habitat come spring. These late bloomers are:

• Fall dandelion (Leontodon autumnalis). Quickly spreading along trails and roads across the central Kenai Peninsula, this late-blooming yellow flower is often confused with the common dandelion. The leaves of the fall dandelion are deeply lobed, smooth and form a basal rosette — a ground-level arrangement of leaves around the plant’s central stem. This plant was introduced from Europe where it is commonly called Hawkbit, and has the same spreading habits as the common dandelion. Controls for this plant are similar to the common dandelion — don’t let this one go to seed!

5-kilometer run funds Tustumena School fun

By Joseph Robertia

Redoubt Reporter

Feet beating the pavement, arms rhythmically swinging and controlled breaths coming in through the nose and out through the mouth. There is a routine to running for pleasure, but one of the most enjoyable aspects of exercise is it allows the mind to wander. Problems can be mulled over and solved.

For Kasilof resident Carolyn Roush, her thoughts while running a few years ago revolved around her kids and the other children who attended Tustumena Elementary School.

Extracurricular activities were in jeopardy of being lost due to tightening educational budgets, and she mulled a solution while out for her daily jog.

“I was looking for a way to help,” she said. “And as a runner myself I thought it would be a good idea to have an event where people could be active while also raising money.”

Roush suggested a Tustumena five-kilometer fun run, and the inaugural event was such a success it has come back every year since.

Now in its fourth year, the fun run will be held Saturday.

“It’s been growing and growing. Last year we had 61 participants, which is up from the 30 to 40 we had the first few years,” Roush said.

Gear up for long-term use in the field

By Steve Meyer, for the Redoubt Reporter

It seems once you reach a certain age, it becomes difficult to speak of things in the past without dating one’s self. The other side of that is, after awhile, you don’t really care.

What made me think about that was thinking about my early days as a hunter and waiting each year for the Herter’s catalog to show up. Back then it was the go-to catalog for hunters and trappers. Those old catalogs had about everything one could want — guns, ammunition, reloading supplies, packs, traps, hunting clothing and on and on. The catalog wasn’t color and the items in it were made to be used, not looked at.

For the most part, the equipment they sold was reasonably priced and could be expected to have a decent service life. There was not a lot of testimonials or fancy advertisement for hunting equipment back then. Hunters learned what worked and what didn’t from word of mouth and hunting stories in magazines.

Today, it is a rare week when I don’t receive at least one Bass Pro Shop or Cabella’s catalog. I sometimes marvel that they make any money at all, considering how much they must spend on postage. And then there is the twice-annual receipt of the Cabella’s hardcover catalog. These are encyclopedia-sized, hard-bound books that look great on an outdoor bookshelf and are loaded with about anything you could ever want in the way of hunting or fishing equipment.

There are so many brands and styles and price ranges now it is difficult to know what you are really buying, because every product is vaunted as the “best” by the manufacturer. Of course, I suppose no one is going to say, “Well, it isn’t that great, but it’s cheap.”

Plugged In: Implementing new technology strategically

By Joseph Kashi, for the Redoubt Reporter

It’s always fun to talk about the newest, fastest computer hardware and photo gear on the market, but it pays to step back and strategically evaluate the technology that we use in our businesses and professional lives.

Simply throwing expensive new technology at a business or organizational problem often lowers profitability, rather than raising it.

Although that premise may sound counterintuitive, it ultimately makes sense. Buying, configuring and implementing any new technology takes time, money and resources away from your existing business. Profitability falls if that expensive new technology guzzles resources without producing significantly greater business efficiency.

At the same time, failing to evolve and modernize at least as fast as your competition is a death sentence for any business in a free-market economy. How should you strike a balance?

Technology produces its greatest benefits when we “re-engineer” what we do and how we do it, taking advantage of a new technology’s unique capabilities and efficiencies. Suppose that you overhauled how you do business and tried to be as efficient and effective as possible. What technology makes the most practical sense, how much should it cost, and how would you do it?

Tough economic times force any business to learn how to become more profitable and efficient. In terms of technology, a small business’s owners and employees may end up becoming the frontline technical support and system administrator. More often than we might like, your own daily needs and technology investment are likely pulling in different directions. With that in mind, what makes sense for the small business revamping its technology?

You don’t need to spend yourself into bankruptcy to acquire effective computer hardware. High-performance computer systems are no longer expensive or unreliable. Effective automation is now a cornerstone of any successful business, but ill-conceived automation can be an expensive solution in search of the right problem.

Automation’s long-term usefulness and profitability depends greatly upon how you plan for the future. Even though simple approaches and programs often provide the best return for your automation investment, it’s far too easy to simply throw a lot of immature, bleeding-edge technology, expensive hardware and even more expensive employee time at what is really a business management problem.

Art Seen: Harvesting art support — Annual auction reaps fine finds

By Zirrus VanDevere, for the Redoubt Reporter

“So Sweet,” by Melinda Hershberger, is one of many pieces on display and up for auction at the Kenai Fine Arts Center, as part of the 11th annual Harvest Art Auction.

The Harvest Art Auction is coming up on its 11th year, and is a great way to support the Kenai Fine Arts Center while getting into some local art for great prices. Tickets are $35 and are being presold only for the event occurring Sept. 25 from 6 to 9 pm.

Sue Biggs and Jack Will are providing musical entertainment, and Charlotte’s is catering the dinner buffet. Jim Evenson has donated an original stone lithograph called “Harbor Scene I” that will be raffled and is on view at the Kenai Visitors and Cultural Center until the night of the auction. Raffle tickets, as well as event tickets, can be purchased at the KFAC and the KVCC in Kenai, and at Donna’s Gifts and Art Works in Soldotna.

There are a range of offerings, from paintings and photographs to pottery, mixed media and jewelry, and the donated works fill the space nicely.

Almanc: Success, by the sound of it — Performing Arts Society forms to bring music home

By Clark Fair

Photo courtesy of Sitka Summer Music Festival. Paul Rosenthal has made many visits to perform in Soldotna for the Performing Arts Society.

Redoubt Reporter

Bringing jazz and classical music to the central Kenai Peninsula has usually been a seamless affair for the local Performing Arts Society — but not always.

“The closest thing we’ve had to ‘Oh my God, what are we going to do now?’ was one winter when the Sitka musicians were coming in,” said Jean Brockel, one of the PAS founding members.

The Sitka troupe, led by violinist Paul Rosenthal, had finished its winter concerts in Anchorage and was on a subsequent tour of rural and remote communities. The musicians had performed in King Salmon, and the central peninsula was next on the list — a concert in the cozy and acoustically friendly confines of the sanctuary at Christ Lutheran Church in Soldotna.

When the King Salmon concert had ended, however, Rosenthal and his fellow musicians discovered that the weather had soured.

“In King Salmon it was snowing like crazy — no visibility, can’t get off the ground,” said Brockel. “But they had a day or two to play with so, OK, that’s fine. So the night of the concert (in Soldotna), we just assumed everything was OK. Sometime during that day, we got word that they were still in King Salmon but that the weather was lifting and they were going to be able to make the concert.”

Sonorous singing instrumental to Chic success

By Jenny Neyman

Graphic by Chris Jenness

Redoubt Reporter

Chic adj. 1. Sophisticated and stylish.

Gamine n. 2. A girl with impish appeal.

Chic Gamine musical performers 1. A multitalented, multilayered, multidimensional, multilingual, multigrain (they could be, judging by their chewy rhythms and sometimes-nutty lyrics) group of musicians who blend harmonies, genres, influences and styles into a lush sound resplendent with fun, funk, passion and originality.

The Winnipeg/Montreal, Canada-based group Chic Gamine, winners of the 2009 Juno Award (Canada’s version of the Grammy) for Best Roots/Traditional Album of the Year, will perform in Kenai on Sept. 23, presented by the Performing Arts Society.

The four women vocalists of Chic Gamine — Ariane Jean, Andrina Turenne, Alexa Dirks and Annick Bremault — perform their version of a capella (they call it A’capulco) backed only by solo percussion from Sacha Daoud, and the occasional bass or keyboard support. The absence of instrumental music doesn’t create holes in their sound so much as openings for the singers to fill with their own voices, which they do in ways that are soulful, smooth alternating with snappy, and often surprising.

“We started Chic Gamine knowing that we wanted to limit the instrumentation,” Bremault said.

The performers came together in 2007 from folk and world music projects with a similar arrangement, and it seemed natural to continue that format into Chic Gamine.

“At first we thought, ‘We’ll see how this goes and maybe down the line, we can add a bassist if we feel like we need it.’ For the most part, we like that our arrangements leave space for people to imagine where other instruments would go, without them actually being there,” Bremault said. “We love harmonies and how they can so completely envelop the listener and tug at their heartstrings. When starting the group, we liked the idea of having all of this space to create a new sound the way our ears heard it. And having the backbeat of the drums and other percussion was necessary for us to realize this vision. It’s like having a limitation that makes you think outside of a certain box and forces you to be creative about how you’re going to find the best, most enjoyable solution.”

Time to shine — Brass trio is chance to hit new notes

By Jenny Neyman

Photo courtesy of Christopher Sweeney. Chugach Brass, with Linn Weeda, trumpet, Cheryl Pierce, French horn, Christopher Sweeney, trombone, and Dean Epperson, piano, will perform in Soldotna on Nov. 6.

Redoubt Reporter

Pardon the pun, but Christopher Sweeney has a bone to pick with orchestral music.

As a performing trombonist as well as a full-time university music professor, he, of course, loves playing in an orchestra. And, of course, has the utmost respect and appreciation for the music of the greats — Beethoven, Mozart, etc. But the brass section often tends to get typecast in the beefy supporting roll. There isn’t typically much opportunity for variety and, other than playing a shiny instrument, Sweeney doesn’t often get much chance to shine. Not like the opportunities that come in a smaller setting, like the Chugach Brass trio.

“As an instrumentalist, I love playing in orchestras a whole lot. But I think, for me, chamber music is where you really are tested and you really get to grow as a musician. It’s the intimacy, it’s the collaboration with the other two players, having to really know your part because every part shines. That makes it really interesting,” Sweeney said.

Chugach Brass consists of Sweeney, Cheryl Pierce playing French horn, and Linn Weeda playing trumpet. The group formed in 2006, after Sweeney and Pierce both decided to audition to get on the substitute player list for the Anchorage Symphony. Weeda, who plays principal trumpet in the symphony, listened to their auditions and heard in them the potential to form a chamber group.

“The next day he (Weeda) came in and said, ‘You know, I really like the way you play and I’ve been wanting to get this chamber music ensemble together and there’s this new horn player in town and I thought she played really well, and I think we should try to form a trio,’” Sweeney said.

Sweet sounds of summer warm annual winter concert

Staff report

Paul Rosenthal

Alaska is blessed and cursed when it comes to classical music. It’s an expensive destination to travel to and perform in, without the population base of potential audience members available in larger, more-accessible venues in the Lower 48.

Yet the area’s beauty and listeners’ appreciation for live classical music can be enough to overcome logistical hurdles in convincing well-established musicians to come north to perform. That’s especially true when one of the state’s own world-renown musicians extends an invitation to come enjoy the natural beauty of Alaska and the music to be performed.

That’s the premise behind the Sitka Summer Music Festival, which, under the direction of violinist Paul Rosenthal, draws world-class musicians to Sitka each summer to perform for no other compensation than simply to enjoy the experience.

During the rest of the year, Rosenthal organizes tours of Sitka Summer Music Festival musicians, to re-create some of the magic of the Sitka festival elsewhere in the state.