Winners of MLK essay, poetry and art contests announced

During the Martin Luther King Jr Day events in Chelsea yesterday, the winners of the 2009 youth essay, poetry and art contests were awarded. In their submitted work, the participants were asked to address the theme: "Why do we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.?" The contests were organized by One World One Family, the Chelsea Center for the Arts, and many community volunteers.

ESSAY/POETRY CONTEST:
1st Place
Karana Wickens (9-11 age group / essay)
Bonnie Bairley (12-14 age group / essay)
Lindsey Smith (poetry)

Runners up:
Ellie Doman (9-11 age group)
Erinjen Lin (9-11 age group)
William Wickens (12-14 age group)

ART CONTEST:
First place award winners, listed alphabetically.

Kelly Bertoni (age 10 - pencil)

Kali Hill (age 11 - mixed media)

Josie Surel (age 8 - mixed media)

Mitchell Taylor (age 10 - pencil)

Winners received prizes from the event sponsors, including Cranesbill Books, the Chelsea TreeHouse, River Gallery and Chelsea Gallery.

We sure have some talented young people in our midst. Keep up the great work! Congratulations!

Events in Chelsea to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Artwork by Sid Maurer.
Source: www.sidmaurer.com/americans.html

The annual celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day takes place in Chelsea on Monday. As has been the tradition for the past few years, One World One Family and many community volunteers have put together a full schedule of events.

Check out the full schedule on the OWOF website events page.

Be sure not to miss:

• The Sneetches: A Family Play - a story of being different, performed by local children's theater. Performaces are at 12 noon and 2pm. Note that the 2pm showing of the play will also feature a presentation of the winners of the MLK Art Contest.
• Dance Arts of Chelsea Jazz Ensemble Performance - an inspirational work displaying their portrayal of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech. 5pm at the Chelsea Library
• MLK Peace March and Featured Speaker - Begins on Park St, goes through downtown and meets back at the libary for a catered reception to meet featured speaker, Gilda Snowdon. Mrs. Snowdon is an acclaimed contemporary artist, art professor and Detroit native. She will be speaking at 7pm at the First United Methodist Church. Read more about Gilda Snowdon on the Detroiter.com . Winners from the MLK Youth Essay/Poetry contest will be presented at the evening presentation.
  

Don't Rush To Flush (disposing of old meds)

While I catch up on my local news articles, I came across a public service announcement worthy of repeating. The article appeared in the Chelsea Standard earlier this month Pharmacies help dispose of prescription drugs. (Jan. 1, 2009)

The message is that when you have unused medications leftover, don't flush them down the toilet or the pour them in your sink. These items need to be disposed of properly so they don't end up in our ground water. This includes prescription drugs, over the counter cold remedies, medicated ointments, inhalers, pet medications, and many other categories of things you may have in your cabinets.

Visit the Medication Disposal page on the eWashtenaw.gov website for instructions on how you SHOULD dispose of these items. Some local pharmacies will take the drugs and dispose of them properly for you. Those listed in the Chelsea and Dexter areas include:

Dexter Pharmacy
8059 Main St.
Dexter, MI 48130
(734) 426-4641

Dexter Pharmacy 2
7039 Dexter-Ann Arbor Rd.
Dexter, MI 48130
(734) 426-1600

ChelseaCare Pharmacy (at the Chelsea hospital)
775 S. Main St.
Chelsea, MI 48118
Map and Directions
(734) 475-3996

If you have your own preferred pharmacy, you may want to give them a call and see if they offer this service as well.

Another important issue to be reminded of is that expired medications may be ineffective, or even toxic. Don't keep them past their "used by" date.

Happy New Year... only a little late

Wishing you a happy new year, here on the 11th of January. I took a couple weeks off in December to celebrate the holidays with my family, and enjoy a great visit with my sister and her family. Sis had been working in the U.K. for the past year, and it was a long overdue time to catch up in real life (Facebook just doesn't quite cut it!). This was my first full week back, and its amazing what piled up while I was out of the office. I think I am nearly back up to speed -- with the exception of numerous expected and unexpected appointments at the dentist for members of my household. All is well now, and I look forward to future updates on the The Chelsea Blog, my various local websites.

The Things To Do In Chelsea calendar is choc-full of events, classes and workshops in January and February, and more and more are being added every day (ADD YOURS HERE). The Chelsea Library and the Chelsea Center for the Arts in particular have many fun things going on this month. We are also gearing up for Chelsea's annual events to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. There is the peace march (which *everyone* is invited to join), music, guest speakers, youth writing and art contest awards, and much more. Visit OWOF.org (One World One Family) for details, or search the Chelsea-MI.com website for "MLK" events.

If you are like many of us, another goal for the bleary winter months is to try something new and some fun. Here are some suggestions in town:

• Purple Rose Theatre - enjoy an afternoon or evening out with some friends at the "thea-tah"
• Garden Mill - get inspired for your spring gardening
• Tree of Life Studio - massage, smoothies, dance classes and performances
  
• Take a class through any of a number of places in Chelsea, such as Chelsea Center for the Arts or Adult Learners Institute or Yoga Chelsea or Scrapbook Memories
  

And of course, keep an eye on Chelsea's local event calendar at www.chelsea-mi.com. New events and directory listings are added daily by members of the community. If you know of an event that is not yet listed, you are welcome to add it using the online form.

Thanks for all your support, enthusiasm and great ideas in 2008. Looking forward to another busy, fun and interesting year in 2009.