What is your sales power up song?

Take this quiz to discover your sales power up song.  This personality test will help you determine what music inspires you before making an important sales presentation or conference speech.  I hope you find it both useful and enjoyable.

- Joanne

What’s your sales power up song? by Euroffice.

U.S. Presidents and First Ladies Quiz #3

With the Americans going to the polls on November 8th to elect a new president, Number 16 proudly presents its third quiz on U..S. Presidents and First Ladies.  If you think you think you know your presidential trivia, give it a try.  Good luck and enjoy! By the way, if you are interested in the first two quizzes, you can find them by clicking the "QUIZ PAGE" tab at the top of the webpage.


U.S. Presidents and First Ladies Quiz #3


1.  What two American presidents share the same birthday - November 2?

A.  Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy

B.  Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter

C.  Calvin Coolidge and George W. Bush

D.  James Knox Polk and Warren G. Harding

E.  John Adams and William Howard Taft



2.  Which U.S. president was licenced as a bartender?

A.  William Howard Taft

B.  Abraham Lincoln

C.  Thomas Jefferson

D.  John Quincy Adams

E.  Martin Van Buren



3.  Which of these 20th century U.S. president did not have a college degree?

A.  Harry S. Truman

B.  Lyndon B. Johnson

C.  Herbert Hoover

D.  Warren G. Harrding

E.  William Howard Taft



4.  Which of the following living Presidents of the United States is NOT left handed?

A.  George H.W. Bush (term in office: 1989 to 1993)

B.  Bill Clinton (term in office: 1993 to 2001)

C.  George W. Bush (term in office 2001 to 2009)

D.  Barack Obama (2009 - present).

E.  All of the above are left handed.




5.  Which American president held approximately 200 slaves, although he opposed the institution and supported legislation to free slaves?  Many historians believe that he fathered multiple children with his biracial slave.

A.  John Adams

B.  James Knox Polk

C.  William Henry Harrison

D.  Andrew Jackson

E.  Thomas Jefferson



6.  Who was the most recent American president to have facial hair while in office?

A.  Grover Cleveland

B.  William Howard Taft

C.  James Garfield

D.  Abraham Lincoln

E.  Benjamin Harrison



7.  Where was Woodrow Wilson born?

Woodrow Wilson

A.  Princeton, New Jersey

B.  Springfield, Illinois

C.  Erie, Pennsylvania

D. Staunton, Virginia

E.  West Branch, Iowa



8.  Which U.S. president was the youngest to die?

A.  John F. Kennedy

B.  James Garfield

C.  James Knox Polk

D.  William McKinley

E.  William Henry Harrison



9.  Who was the first First Lady of the United States to have been both a wife and a mother to a U.S. president?

A.  Dolly Madison

B.  Barbara Bush

C.  Anna Harrison

D.  Letitia Tyler

E.  Abigail Adams


10.  Who was the first U.S. president to have been born in a hospital?

A.  John F. Kennedy

B.  Jimmy Carter

C.  Richard Nixon

D.  Gerald Ford

E.  Bill Clinton



 11,  Who was the first President of the United States to die of cancer?

A.  James Monroe

B.  Rutherford B. Hayes

C.  Franklin D. Roosevelt

D.  Ulysses S. Grant

E.  Calvin Coolidge




12.  What American president's name at birth was Leslie King, Jr.

A.  Bill Clinton

B.  Herbert Hoover

C.  Gerald Ford

D.  Calvin Coolidge

E.  Warren G. Harding



13.  Who was the first First Lady to hold the Bible for her husband's presidential oath of office?

A.  Jacqueline Kennedy

B.  Lady Bird Johnson

C.  Eleanor Roosevelt

D.  Laura Bush

E.  Bess Truman




ANSWERS

1.  D

James Knox Polk

Warren G. Harding

James Knox Polk and Warren G. Harding share the same birthday.  James Knox Polk, the 11th President of the United States was born in a log cabin on  November 2, 1795 in what is now Pineville, North Carolina, in Mecklenburg County, near Charlotte. Warren G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States, was born on November 2, 1865 on a farm in the tiny Ohio community of Corsica (present-day Blooming Grove).


2.  B

Lincoln

Before he entered politics, Abraham Lincoln was co-owner, along with his friend, William F. Berry, of a general store/drinking establishment in New Salem, Illinois called the Berry-Lincoln Store. Berry and Lincoln purchased the store in January of 1833.  In March of 1833, they were issued a tavern or liquor licence.  The two men were very different as Lincoln preferred not to drink, while Berry was apparently an alcoholic.  According to the website of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, the business failed, leaving Lincoln heavily in debt.  In 1834, he gave up bartending to run for state
legislator.


3. A

Truman

Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, did not have a university degree. Truman graduated from high school in Independence, Missouri and found employment as a bank clerk in Kansas City.  He then moved to the family farm near Grandview, Missouri and managed the farm after his father's death in 1914.  In 1917, when the United States entered World War I, Truman served overseas.  When he returned to the U.S. in 1919, he married Elizabeth (Bess) Wallace.  He also opened a haberdashery with an army friend, but the business venture failed.  Truman began his political career in 1922 when he ran successfully for county judge.

Truman actually spent a semester at a business college in Kansas City.  He dropped out to find a job, although he later attended some night classes at the University of Missouri's law school.  Three other U.S. presidents enrolled in college but did not complete a degree.  They are James Monroe, William Henry Harrison and William McKinley.  McKinley, who was assassinated in Buffalo in 1901, attended Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvaia for a year.  He also studied at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio.  He did not graduate from either university.  Beginning in 1866, Mckinley attended Albany Law School in New York.  He was admitted to the bar in 1867 in Warren, Ohio without having earned a degree.


4.  C.

George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States, is right-handed.  His father, George H.W. Bush is left-handed as are Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.  Note: The next American president will be right-handed as both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are right handed.


5.  E

Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the American Declaration of Independence was a slave owner.  Many historians believe that he had children with his biracial slave Sally Hemings, the half-sister of his wife, Martha Wales Skelton Jefferson.  It is thought that Hennings, Martha's half-sister, became Jefferson's concubine after Martha's death in 1782.


6.   B

William Howard Taft - moustache

Ulysses S. Grant -  full beard

William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States (1909-1913), is the most recent president to have facial hair.  Taft wore a moustache.  The last president to wear a full beard in office was Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (1889-1893).  Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (1861-1865) was the first bearded American president.  However, Lincoln's beard was not a full beard.  It was a "chinstrap"  because he shaved his upper lip.  Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (1869-1877) was the first U.S. president to have a full beard.


7.  D

Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, was born in  Staunton, Virginia on December 28, 1856.  He spent his early years in Augusta, Georgia and Columbia, South Carolina.  Although Wilson later became President of Princeton University and Governor of New Jersey, he was born a Southerner.  His father, Joseph Ruggles Wilson, was a Presbyterian minister who defended slavery.

Virginia is known as the "Birthplace of Presidents."  Four of the first five presidents were born in that state.  To date, eight U.S. presidents have been born in Virginia, the most recent of whom is Wilson. The other seven Virginia-born American presidents are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler and Zachary Taylor.


8.  A

John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States was the youngest to die.  Kennedy was 46 years old when he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.  James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States,was the second youngest president to die.  He was 49 years old when he was assassinated at a railroad station in Washington, D.C. in 1881.  The youngest president to die of natural causes was James Knox Polk, 11th President of the United States.  Polk died of cholera at the age of 53 on June 15, 1849.  His death came just three months after he had left the office.of the presidency.


9.  E

Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams was the first First Lady to be both a wife and a mother to an American president.  Her husband was John Adams, 2nd President of the United States and her son was John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States.  In 2001, Barbara Bush, wife of George H.W. Bush, became the second First Lady to be both spouse and mother to a U.S. President when her son, George W. Bush, became president.


10.  B

Birthplace of Jimmy Carter, now the Lillian G. Carter Nursing Home  

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, 39th President of the United States, was the first American president to be born in a hospital.  Carter, now 92 years old,  was born on October 24, 1924 at the Wise Sanitarium, a small hospital in Plains, Georgia.  His mother, Lillian, was a registered nurse there. Jiimmy Carter's birthplace is currently a nursing care facility called the Lillian G. Carter Nursing Center.


11.  D

Grant and his cigar

Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States was the first president to die of cancer.  Grant, a heavy cigar smoker, died of throat cancer on July 23, 1885.  He was 63 years old.


12.  C

Gerald Ford

Gerald Rudoph Ford, Jr., 38th President of the United States, was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska on July 14, 1913.  His mother, Dorothy, claimed that her husband was physically abusive and moved to the home of her parents in Grand Rapids, Michigan  She divorced Leslie King and then married Gerald Rudolff in 1916.  The three-year-old future president took on his stepfather's name but did not change his name legally until 1935.


13,  B

Lady Bird Johnson became the first First Lady to hold the Bible at her husband Lyndon B. Johnson's inauguration.ceremony on January 20, 1965.  She did this at LBJ's request.  Until then, the Bible had always been held by the executive secretary of the Joint Congressional Inaugural Committee.  LBJ and his wife began a tradition that has continued to the present.


- Joanne

Around the World in School Lunch Boxes

Here's an infographic on school lunches from around the world.  I hope you find it interesting and informative.  Take note that the Asian diet is the healthiest, followed by the Mediterranean and Scandinavian diets.  The British and American diets are the least healthy.  

- Joanne


by Euroffice

Halloween Trivia

HALLOWEEN TRIVIA JUST FOR YOU

DID YOU KNOW that Halloween or Hallowe'en is a contraction of All Hallows' Eve, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day or All Saints' Day (November 1), which is dedicated to honouring martyrs, saints and the departed?  It is widely believed The Americanized version of Halloween, with costumes, candies and pumpkins, originated with the Celtic harvest festivals in Britain, which may have been pagan, and that those customs were later adapted to Christian and immigrant tranditions.  However, some academics contend that Halloween began as an independent Christian feast.

DID YOU KNOW that the famed illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini died on Halloween?

Harry Houdini, born Erik Weisz, died on October 31, 1926 in Detroit, Michigan, USA from a ruptured appendix and peritonitis (inflamation of the peritoniium. the tissue that lines the inner wall of the abdomen)  He was 52 years of age at the time of his passing.  Houdini's death occurred after an incident in the Princess Theatre in Montreal, Canada.  A McGill University student, J. Gordon Whitehead, apparently delivered multiple munches to Houdini's abdomen.   According to some eyewitness, Houdini was asked whether it was true that punches in the stomach did not hurt him.

Houdini had a high fever and acute appenditis when he later arrived in Detroit.  He ignored advice to undergo immediate surgery. Instead, he performed his final show at Garrick Theatre in great pain and died at Detroit's Grace Hospital.




DID YOU KNOW that Nevada joined the United States on Hallween?

Nevada became the 36th state in the union on October 31, 1864, just eight days before the presidential election of that year. Statehood was rushed to help ensure the reelection of Abraham Lincoln and post-Civil War Republican control of Congress.  As it turned out, Lincoln won the November 8th election handily anyway.  (Coincidentally, the presidential election of 2016 will be held on November 8th, just eight days from today).




DID YOU KNOW that Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977, was assassinated on Halloween?

Born on November 19, 1917, Indira Gandhi was India's first female prime minister and head of government.  On October 31, 1984, two of her Sikh bodyguards shot her to death with their service weapons in the garden of the Prime Minister's Residence in New Delhi.  The shooting occurred just before she was to be interviewed by British actor Peter Ustinov, who was filming a documentary about her for Irish television.

In her last speech, the day before her death, Indira Gandhi delivered an inspiring and prophetic speech.  She spoke the following words:

I am her today, I may not be here tomorrow.  But the respsosibilty to look after national interest is on the sholulder of every citizen of India.  I have often mentioned this earlier.  Nobody knows how many attempts have been made to shoot me, lathis have been used to beat me.  In Bhubaneswar itself, a brickbat hit me.  They have attack me in every possible manner.  I do not care if I live or die.  I have lived a long life and I am proud that I spend the whole of my life in the service of my people.  I am only proud of this and nothing else.  I shall continue to serve until my last breath and when I die, I can say, that every drop of my blood will invigorate India and strengthen it."




DID YOU KNOW that Jimmy Durante left an imprint of his nose on Halloween?

On October 31, 1945, American singer, pianist and comedian Jimmy Durante, left an imprint of his "schnozzola" in the cement outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California.  Durante passed away on January 29, 1980 at the age of 86.




DID YOU KNOW that Harry Potter's parents were killed on Halloween night?

According to the timeline of the Harry Potter novels by British author J.K. Rowling, Voldemort killed Harry's mother and father on the night of October 31, 1981.  Volemort, the archenemy of the boy wizard first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was released in 1997.



DID YOU KNOW that Benito Mussolini took power in Italy on Halloween?

Fascist leader Benito Mussolini became the 27th Prime Minister of Italy on October 31, 1922.  At 39 years old, he was the youngest Italian prime minister until the appointment of Mateo Renzi in February of 2014.  Known as Il Duce, (The Leader), Mussolini ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he established a legal dictatorship.  On June 10, 1940, Il Duce's Italy officially entered World War II on the side of Germany.  On April 27, 1945, Mussolini and his mistress, Clara were captured by Communist partisans near the village of Dongo on Lake Como.  They and other Fascists were summarily shot.




DID YOU KNOW that the English poet John Keats was born on Halloween?

John Keats, the celebrated romantic poet, was born on October 31, 1795 in Moorgate, London, England.  He died of tuberculosis in Rome in 1821,  He was only 25 years old at the time of his passing.




DID YOU KNOW that Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins was born on Halloween?

Astronaut Michael Collins was born on October 31, 1930 in Rome, Italy, the son of U.S. Army General James Lawton (1882-1963).  In July of 1969, he was the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 11, the first spaceflight that landed humans on the Moon.  He piloted Columbia alone in lunar orbit while his colleagues Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin walked on the moon.  Collins celebrates his 86th birthday today.




DID YOU KNOW that Nationalist Chinese leader Chiag Kai-Shek was born on Halloween?

Chinese political and military leader Chiang Kai-Shek was born on October 31, 1887.  He served as the leader of the Nationalist government of China from 1928 until his death on April 5, 1975 at the age of 87.  While training in the Japanese military, Chiang became a believer in republican ideals.  Upon his return to China, he opposed the dying Manchu imperial dynasty.  He joined forces with the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) of Sun Yat-sen, the revolutionary, founding father and first president of the Republic of China in 1912.

A Happy Halloween to all from Number 16.

- Joanne

Do Your Own Plumbing: Five Plumbing Jobs You Should Be Doing Yourself

Here is an infographic tip sheet on how to do five common plumbing repairs.  Keep in mind, though, that it is not recommended that you try to fix anything more complicated without calling a plumber, especially if you are not particularly good at handiwork or mechanically inclined.  Nevertheless, there are a few jobs that you could do on your own and save the expense of a plumber.

- Joanne


Plumbing Hacks by Radiator Valves 4u.

Mrs. Miller: Cult figure of the 1960s

Listeners loved the novelty of Mrs. Miller. She sang off key and out of sync with the band, but she was a good-natured, plump 59-year-old woman whose enthusiasm for performing and overconfidence in her singing ability seemed authentic.

- Suzanne Raga
"The '60s Housewife Who Couldn't Sing - But Landed on the 'Billboard' Charts Anway"
mentalfloss.com, May 29, 2015 

Recently I saw the movie Florence Foster Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant.  The film is based on the true story of a New York socialite by that name.  Florence Foster Jenkins, who was portrayed by Streep in the film, was an amateur soprano with poor singing ability.  Known for her flamboyant costumes, she became something of a cult figure in New York City during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. On October 25, 1944, at the age of 76, Florence performed at a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall. The concert turned out to be her swan song.  She died about a month later, on November 26, 1944.

After viewing the film about Florence Foster Jenkins, I was reminded of Elva Miller, who recorded under the name of "Mrs. Miller" and was a cult figure of the 1960s.  Since I have an interest in '60s pop culture, I decided to do some research on Mrs. Miller.  I wanted to know how in the midst of the of the Vietnam era and the civil rights struggle, she became so popular.  At a time when young people were told not to trust anyone over 30, how did this 59 year-old suburban housewife become a star?

Elva Ruby Connes was born in Joplin, Missouri on October 5, 1907, the third of the seven children of Edward Connes and Ada Martin.  Elva's family soon moved to a farm in Jetmore. Kansas.  As a teenager, Elva left Jetmore  and went to live with a family in Dodge City, Kansas.  In Dodge City, she continued her high school education and sang in a church choir.

On January 17, 1934, Elva married John Richardson Miller, a professional investor and horsebreeder who was thirty years her senior.  In 1935, the couple left Kansas behind and moved to Claremont, California where Elma studied music and voice at Pomona College. Elva kept busy with church and community work and produced several recordings which she financed on her.own, mainly classical, gospel and children's songs.  When arranger Fred Bock heard her, he persuaded her to record some contemporary songs and offered the recordings to various record companies.

In the early 1960s, Gary Owens of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in fame was a disc jockey at KMPC radio in Los Angeles.  Owens, who was a friend of Fred Bock, played Elva's songs on his radio show. In 1965, she was signed to Capitol Records,

The story of Mrs. Miller's rise to success is extraordinary.  Within 18 months, she rocketed to fame. Her debut album, Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits, sold 250,000 copies within three weeks.  In April of 1966, her rendition of Petula Clark's hit song "Downtown" reached the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, peaking at Number 82.

Below is a promotional ad from Capitol Records for Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits.  The ad also highlights Elva's whistling and humming ability.

Meet Mrs. Miller.

You've been teased long enough.

This is Mrs. Elva Miller, our newest vocal find, with her distinguished and well-mannered sound.  

Mrs. Miller is a singer a whistler, and a hummer.  She is also a founder of the Foothill Drama and Choral Society, located near her Claremont, California home.  

Mrs. Miller is not one to live in the past.  Today's music is her music.  Classics-to-be such as "Downtown," "A Hard Days Night," "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," and "Let's Hang On" are inimitably rendered in her new album.  Thus,we believe they now belong to the ages.  

By that token, we at Capitol proudly introduce a new talent and a superlative musical document, "Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits."

Was Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits all just a gag, a tongue-in-cheek joke on Capitol's part.  How serious did Mrs. Miller take herself?  In a December 1967 interview with Bob Thomas for The Associated Press (AP) ("Mrs Miller Tries to Change Image"), Elva shed some light on the issue and seemed determined play it straight with a new image.  She stated that "Capitol Records created the angle that 'she's so bad that she's good.  Or it's what you call camp." Elva also claimed that she wasn't originally in on the gag.  She insisted that she didn't sing off key. She said that "They got me to do so by waiting until I was tired and then making the record. Or they would cut the record before I could become familiar with the song. At first I didn't understand what was going on. But later I did, and I resented it. I don't like to be used."

Mrs. Miller's second album for the Capitol label was titled Will Success Spoil Mrs. Miller? While Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits focused on contemporary hits, Will Success Spoil Mrs. Miller? contained traditional pop standards such as "Moon River" and "Strangers in the Night."  In 1967, Mrs. Miller's third and final album for Capitol was released.  It was called The Country Soul of Mrs. Miller and it did not sell very many copies.

At the height of her fame, Elva Miller performed at the Hollywood Bowl and entertained U.S. Servicemen in Vietnam.  She made television appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The Ed Sullivan Show, Art Linkletter's House Party and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.  In December of 1966, she appeared on Hollywood Palace with Jimmy Durante and they sang a duet of "Inka Dinka Do."  Mrs. Miller was also featured in the film The Cool Ones, starring Roddy McDowall.  She sang "It's Magic." in the 1967 comedy about a has-been pop star and a go-go dancer.

Mrs. Miller with Jimmy Durante

Mrs. Miller singing "It's Magic" in The Cool Ones"

After three albums, Capitol Records unceremoniously dropped Mrs. Miller from its label.  In a December 1967 AP article by Bob Thomas, Elva related her feelings about being rejected by Capitol.  "I could see that they were doing nothing for my records in the way of promotion," she stated, "and I felt this was a signal.  So we asked for my release. Without consulting us, Capitol released the news that I was being dropped."

In 1968, Elva released one album, Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing, on the Amaret Records label.  She then released some singles on her own label, Vibrato Records. On the album cover, she is dressed in a psychedelic hippie outfit, holding a plate of green brownies.  The album included songs with drug symbolism.

By the early 1970s, Mrs. Miller's career was largely non-existent.  In 1973, she officially retired.   
Elva Miller spent the last years of her life in Hollywood and then in Northridge, California (in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles) where she occupied herself with charity work.  In 1994, her Northridge apartment building collapsed during an earthquake and she was immediately moved to a convalescent hospital.  On July 5, 1997, Elva  passed away in Garden Terrace Retirement Home in Vista, California.  Mrs. Miller was 89 years old at the time of her death.


END NOTES

* In The Book of Lists 2 by Irving Wallace and David Wallechinsky, Mrs. Miller's voice was likened to the the sound of "roaches scurrying across a trash can lid."

* Elva and John Miller did not have any children.

* In a September 1967 interview with Life magazine, Elva Miller talked about whistling.  She that "for whistling you need a good tight pucker.  I use ice clamped between my lips.  I leave it there about 20 minutes.  It doesn't hurt.  It just freezes up."


- Joanne

Teched Out House: A Look at a Technology Friendly Home of the Future

This infographic provides a glimpse of how technology may affect the homes of the future.  I hope you enjoy it and that you find it thought-provoking.  Think about how prophetic it will turn out to be.  Challenge yourself.

- Joanne


Teched Out House Infographic by The Rug Seller by The Rug Seller

Upcycling Your Rug: How to Give Your Rug a Second Life

Here is an infographic with tips on how to give fresh life to an old rug.  It tells you how to convert your rug into items such as bags or purposes.  It also shows you how to find other uses for a rug that are a bit shopworn.  Hope you enjoy it and find it useful.

- Joanne



Upcycling Your Rug Infographic by The Rug Seller

Keeping Up With Debby Boone

The woman who lit up our lives is 60 years old today.  Deborah Anne "Debby" Boone was born on September 22, 1956 in Hackensack, New Jersey.  Aside from being the third of the four daughters of singer Pat Boone and his wife Shirley.  Debby is best known for her huge 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life."  At he age of 14, she began touring with parents and her three sisters: Cherry, Lindy and Laury.  The sisters made recordings as the Boones or Boone Girls.  Although they primarily recorded gospel music, they also released singles for the Motown and Curb labels that were covers of secular pop songs.  Debby, who was the lead vocalist on the recordings, eventually branched out on her own.

As the daughter of Pat Boone, Debby had a strict upbringing.  She also has a great musical pedigree because her mother, Shirley, is the daughter of country music star Red Foley.  Due her parents, Debby was surrounded by some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including Frank Sinatra.  In a July, 2013 interview with Nicki Gostin  for Fox News, Debby discussed how Ol' Blue Eyes took her under his wing when she was starting to launch her solo career. She was Sinatra's opening act and she stayed at his Palm Beach compound.  "It was the 1970's, she said.  "He was never grumpy with me.  Getting to stay on the property and getting a touch of the life he lived . . . All the guesthouses were named after his albums. They had little notebooks and match pads engraved with our names on them. We could either order room service to our private guest house or we could eat in a common room with everyone. He treated us all like royalty."

Debby Boone's first solo effort was "You Light Up My Life."  The song was composed by Joe Brooks for a movie of the same name.  Brooks wrote and directed the 1977 film, starring Didi Conn.  Although the late Kvitka "Kasey" Cisyk, performed "You Light Up My Life" for the film's soundtrack, it was 21-year-old Debby's recording that became a monster hit.  The song was  charted number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for ten straight weeks.  It also won Debby a Grammy Award for for Best New Artist,  Remarkably, she has never had another major pop hit. In the 1980s, she focused on country music and Christian music.

Debby has also performed in stage in productions such as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Camelot and Meet Me in St. Louis.  In 1990, she starred as Maria in the Lincoln Center's production of The Sound of Music.  In 1996, she played Rizzo in a revival of Grease.  In 2001, she played the role of Anna in the Rqdgers and Hammerstein's The King and I at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Center in California.

Debby's television work includes a 1978 TV adaptation of O. Henry's Gift of the Magi in which she co-starred with John Rubinstein.  She also had two of her own NBC musical specials - The Same Old Brand New Me (1980) and One Step Closer (1982).  In 1984 she appeared in a television movie entitled Sins of the Past with co-stars Anthony Geary of General Hospital fame, Barbara Carrera and Kim Cattrall.

In a self-deprecating manner, Debby Boone assessed her career on the Oprah Winfrey Network's Where Are They Now?:

Basically, the truth is I am a one-hit wonder. You know, I have one big hit record. .  I had some country number ones and some contemporary Christian records and that kind of thing.  I've had a career.  But basically I'm known for one recording.  And I think people knew who Debby Boone was.  I was the daughter of Pat Boone and I was, you know, all-American, squeaky clean, you know, me and Marie Osmond . . .

Debby told the Arizona Republic (March 16, 2003), that her career "wasn't the best-managed career in the history of show business."  "I would love to be able to sing a medley of my hits, but I'm not complaining," she said.

On September 1, 1979, Debby Boone married Gabriel Ferrer,  Gabriel, a priest in the Episcopal Church, is the son of singer/actress Rosemary Clooney (1928-2002)  and Oscar-winning Puerto Rican actor Jose Ferrer (1912-1992).  His first cousin is Hollywood star George Clooney.  Debby told Fox News that  she "adores" George and that he "always will be the most charming guy."  She also said that she and Gabriel almost never see him because he is so busy.

Debby and Gabriel have four adult children: son Jordan (born 1980), twin daughter, Gabrielle and Dustin (born 1983), and daughter Tessa (born 1986).  They have collaborated several children's books such as The Snow Angel and Counting Blessing, with Gabriel providing the illustrations.

In 2005, Debby Boone released a CD album  album called Reflections of Rosemary.  The album is a tribute to her mother-in-law, Rosemary Clooney, who died on June 29, 2002 at the age of 74.  It is a collection of 16 songs that, according to Debby, paint a musical portrait of the legendary singer.  The songs include Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies," Duke Elligton's "Moon Indigo" and Sammy Cahn and Jule Stynes' "Time After Time,"

Debby's most recent album is called Swing This.  It is a tribute to Las Vegas during the 1960s "Rat Pack" era.  From May 19th to June 5th of this year, Debby starred as the witch in the musical Into the Woods at the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Johnstown, Colorado.

Photo credit. Garland Photography

END NOTES

* Of her late father-in-law, actor Jose Ferrer, Debby Boone is quoted in Tom's Colorado Theatre Reviews (April 29, 2016) as saying "“I was always a little shy with my father-in-law, Jose Ferrer, however, as he was so well known and so very intelligent..”

* Unlike her father, Pat, Debby has become a supporter of gay rights.  In April of 2014, she attended the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles with a lesbian couple who attended the church where her husband, Gabriel, was an associate rector. At the event, she stated, "It’s getting to know people -a lot of the gay and lesbian people who I have come to know really well. I just can’t continue to reconcile what I believed with what I know now.  It has really shifted the way I grew up thinking."  

* Debby and Gabriel have a grandchild, a granddaughter who was born in 2015.


EDITORS UPDATE: (February 8, 2019:  Debby's mother, Shirley Boone, passed away on January 11, 2019.  Shirley was 84 years old at the time of her death.


- Joanne

Hillary Clinton: Does she face blatant sexism?

Although I am not an apologist for any politician, I feel compelled to respond to the way Hillary Clinton is being treated by the media and by Donald Trump and his supporters.  Enough is enough! Isn't this 2016?  Shouldn't a woman be able to run for the office of President of the United States without being called "shrill" and "unlikeable."  Name me one male politician who has been called "shrill" and "unlikeable."  Has anyone discussed Trump's likabilty?  Why should the election of the President of the United States be treated as a popularity contest anyway?

Words like "shrill" are part of a code, a cover for anti-woman sentiment, just as President Barack Obama's detractors use code words to hide their anti-black sentiments.  Obama's opponents don't dare mention his race, so they question whether he is a "real American"  Even though the president's birth certificate has been produced, they still refuse to believe he was born in Hawaii.  One of the most prominent of the "birthers," by the way, is one Donald J. Trump.

Hillary Clinton, of course, is not without her flaws and she is not above criticism.  She is, however, very experienced, very knowledgeable and very competent.  She is a supreme achiever.  In fact, Hillary is the only American woman who has been First Lady, a United States senator, U.S. Secretary of State and the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.  That's quite a resume, isn't it?  It may also be the reason she is so disliked.  Could it be that a successful and ambitious woman still unnerves a large number of Americans?  Is it true that in the 21st century many Americans still consider aggressiveness to be an unattractive and scary trait in a woman,  Evidently, the answer is yes.  Otherwise, the election would not even be close, considering how much more qualified the female candidate is.

As U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary was a participant in some of the Obama administration's most difficult and significant decisions.  Contrast her experience to that of Donald Trump's lack of experience.  Trump  has never even held public office (although that fact makes him attractive to his supporters).  Recently, Matt Lauer asked The Donald what he had experienced in his personal and professional life that had prepared him to make the decisions that a commander-in-chief must make.  Here is Trump's response:

Well, I've build a great company.  I've been all over the world.  I've dealt with foreign countries.  I've done very well, tremendously well dealing with China and dealing with so many other countries that are just ripping this country . . .

Donald Trump's reply was so unfocussed and rambling that Lauer was forced to repeat the question..  "But what have you done in your life," he inquired of Trump, "that prepares you to send our men and women into harm's way,"  This time Trump's response was that he had the good judgement to oppose the invasion of Iraq.

Many people have built great companies, travelled all over the world, dealt with China and other countries and opposed the invasion of Iraq.  Does that make them qualified to be President of the United States?  Trump's lack of experience and skill in foreign policy and diplomacy is worrisome.  He is not qualified to make life and death decisions.  If he should be elected president, he will be holding office the most powerful public office in the free world.  He will be stepping into that office as an inexperienced and ill-prepared neophyte.  Frankly, that's a frightening scenario.

Hillary Clinton, as we know, does not score well among voters in terms of trustworthiness.  She has been dogged by an email scandal, for which she has admitted her error and has accepted responsibility for her mistake.  I can't think of any politician who has endured the intense scrutiny that Hillary Clinton has endured through her years in public life.  As Barack Obama has stated, she has been under a microscope, for decades.

This week, we witnessed the spectacle of the media's over-the-top obsession over Hillary's health.  I understand that all-news stations such as CNN have to fill 24 hours, but really?  She had a bout of pneumonia (which she should have revealed sooner). She's not dying.  If Hillary were a man, would Trump be accusing her of not having the energy and stamina to carry out the duties of the highest office in the land?  President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a much-publicized heart attack in September of 1955.  Yet that didn't stop him from seeking a second term in office in the election 1956, which he won over the less popular Adlai Stevenson.  Can you imagine how today's media would have reacted if Hillary had had a heart attack?

Meanwhile, Donald Trump continues to make outlandish remarks and disgusting comments.  It is not Hillary who wants to build a wall between Mexico and the United States.  It' wasn't Hillary, but Trump, who stated that Mexicans are "bringing crime" and that "they're rapists."  Trump also added that he assumes that some are good people.  Well, isn't that generous of him.  At least he didn't say, 'Some of my best friends are Mexicans."

It's not Hillary who's campaigning for the presidency as if she were hosting a reality show.  She hasn't called her political opponents names such as "Little Marco," "Lying Ted" and "Crooked Hillary." Given his own record, Donald Trump has some nerve calling anyone "crooked."  It's not Hillary, but Trump, who has allegedly refused to pay hundreds of workers.  Steve Reilly of USA Today, did a thorough probe of Trump's business practices and discovered a large number of people who worked for Trump in the past and were not paid much or nothing at all.  Reilly wrote the following about Trump:

The number of companies and others alleging he hasn’t paid suggests that either his companies have a poor track record hiring workers and assessing contractors or that Trump businesses renege on contracts, refuse to pay, or consistently attempt to change payment terms after work is complete as is alleged in dozens of court cases.

Oh, and don't forget the Trump University scam.  In a June 2, 2016 article in The New Yorker, John Cassidy asks the following question:  "Will one of the world's leading democracies elect as its President a businessman who founded and operated a for-profit learning annex that some of its own employees regard a a giant ripoff, and that the highest legal officer in New York State has described as a classic bait-and-switch scheme?"

Then there is the matter of the Trump Foundation, a private charitable organization that Trump started in 1987 from the profits of his bestselling book, The Art of the Deal.  New York's attorney general, Ed Schneiderman said he is investigating the foundation over "suspected" impropriety.  Not surprisingly, the Trump campaign has called Schneiderman, a Democrat, a "political hack."

Let's talk about transparency now.  It's not Hillary who hasn't released her tax returns.  It's Donald Trump.  If he has nothing to hide, why doesn't he release them for heaven's sake.  Furthermore, Trump hasn't been forthright about his medical history either.  One day after he announced he would release his larger health history on The Doctor Oz Show, Dr. Oz admitted that he wouldn't ask the Republican nominee any difficult questions.  "This is a doctor's office, the studio" Oz declared yesterday morning on Fox and Friends.  "So, I'm not gong to ask him questions he doesn't want to have answered, and I also don't want to talk about anyone else."

It's not Hillary, but Donald Trump, who is outspoken in his admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin.  It's not Hillary, but Donald Trump, who is the favoured candidate of white supremacist David Duke.  It is Trump who thinks hat climate change is a hoax, despite a mass of scientific evidence to the contrary.  It' is Trump who wants to revoke the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as "Obamacare," despite the fact that millions of American now have health insurance.  Hillary, on the other hand, has promised to continue and improve upon Obama's health care policy.

Female leaders are nothing new.  Germany's Angela Merkel and Britain's Theresa May currently lead two of Europe's most powerful countries.. Now Hillary Clinton has made history by becoming the first woman presidential nominee of any major American  political party.  Unfortunately, due to her gender, she has been disparaged and denigrated.

The  Republican Party is the party of Abraham Lincoln.  Surely the GOP can do better than to elect Donald Trump as its nominee.  America can do better than to elect him.  It's sad that he has come so close to occupying the Oval Office.  It will be even sadder if he wins the election.  The media are a huge mart of the problem.  Trump is a born showman, an entertainer.  The media find him immensely entertaining. They enjoy covering his controversial comments and his many antics.  Trump revels in the attention. He enjoys performing for the cameras.  Is it any wonder that some American's have trouble distinguishing between "realty" and a "realty show?"  The lines have been so blurred that Trump himself behaves as if he is auditioning for a television show - The Presidency of Donald Trump, starring Donald Trump.  Voters need to be reminded that the American presidency is not a game.  It's not a show and its certainly not a real estate deal.


- Joanne

15 Years After September 11, 2001: Memories and Reflections

The world marks a terrible anniversary today. 15 years have passed since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and life has never been the same.  We face stiff security and regulations around the world at airports and baseball parks. The days when I, as a Canadian, could enter the United States with just a birth certificate are long gone.  Subways and other public places in major cities are vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

I will never ever forget the details of that dreadful day, 15 year ago.  I will always remember the horror and the courage displayed.  Both are stamped indelibly in my mind.  As I prepared to go to work at the Toronto Star newspaper library that fateful morning, I turned on the television to catch the news headlines.  With a deeply sombre voice, an announcer reported that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.  The crash was replayed over and over again.  At first, I thought it was a terrible accident, that a pilot had miscalculated and lost control of the plane.  Such was not the case.  There was more to it, something much more sinister.

Before I went out the door, I was informed that the second tower had also been hit and that there had been terrorist attacks elsewhere.  I was shocked and astonished. As I stepped outside to wait for my bus, I couldn't help noticing what a picture perfect day it was.  There was nary a cloud in the bright blue sky.  My head was spinning.  What was going on?  Was this Armageddon?

When I arrived at work I immediately noticed a flurry of activity in the library and in the newsroom. The little television in the library was turned on to CNN.  I was shocked to see that both towers had completely toppled.  Reporters were scurrying around the library searching for road maps and routes from Toronto to New York City.  They were determined to get there to cover the story.

I sat down at my computer to begin archiving the day's paper, as I was assigned to do.  My colleagues  at the reference desk were besieged with requests.  Our manager at the time walked over to help out at the reference desk.  As she passed me, she asked, "How can you work at a time like this?"  "It has to be done," I responded calmly, although my head was still spinning.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt described December 7, 1941 as "a date which will live infamy."    September 11, 2001, 60 years later, is the second "date which will live in infamy,"  The Third Reich and Imperial Japan were eventually defeated, but terrorism still rears its ugly head.  Sadly, radicalism and anti-Western hatred have been energized by the U.S. military response to 9/11 - America's ill-fated and ill-conceived invasion of Iraq.  Understandably, America was literally and figuratively wounded on 9/11..  Americans wanted to lash out at someone or something.  Unfortunately, invading Iraq was the wrong choice.  It was a tragic choice.  Not a single 9/11 terrorist was from Iraq.   All of the 19 hijackers were affiliated with al-Quaeda.  15 were Saudi Arabian citizens.  Of the remaining four, two hailed from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt and one was from Lebanon.

With the misguided belief that Iraq held weapons of mass destruction, the United States, under President George W. Bush, invaded Iraq in 2003.  Many innocent people, the vast majority of them Muslims, were killed.  It was a terrible loss of human life and Iraqi's wondered why they were being killed and punished in retaliation for 9/11.  In short the invasion of Iraq was unconscionable in human cost.  Bush's folly also cost the United States greatly in financial terms.  Here are some statistics according to the Costs of War Project by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island: According to the 2013 report, the U.S. war in Iraq killed at least 134,000 Iraqi citizens might have contributed to the deaths of quadruple that number.  When journalists, humanitarian workers and insurgents were added to the total, the wars death toll increased to an estimated 176.000 - 189,000.  The war cost a whopping $1.7 trillion with an extra $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, a number which is still growing and could reach $6 trillion over the next forty years (with interest factored in).

When I look at those numbers, I want to weep.  The waste is human terms and financial terms is staggering.  It makes me think of what Donald Trump's folly might cost in terms of lives and money if he should become President of the United States.


- Joanne

Making Your Student Room or Dorm Feel Like Home

Here is an infographic especially for university students.  It contains tips on how to make your student room or dorm feel as comfortable and familiar as your bedroom at home.  I hope you find it useful.

- Joanne



22 Great Tips to Make your Student Room a Home Infographic by The Rug Seller