East Olive Community Center open house – an album
– photos courtesy of Facebook
St. Joseph Catholic School students service project
On Wednesday morning St. Joseph 4th, 5th and 6th graders raked their little hearts out as a service to some of the parishioners and community.
Thanks to the many parents and grandparents that drove them around town. They did such a great job.
Retired teacher enjoys new career as freelance writer
Bob Holzhei from St. Johns is a retired St. Johns High School English Teacher, Newspaper Adviser, Adult Education Instructor and Evening Supervisor. He has an Associate degree in Arts-Delta College 1966, B.A. MSU 1967 English Literature with an emphasis in Creative Writing and a minor in Psychology, M.A. MSU 1971 College of Education.
What do you currently do?
I am a freelance outdoor travel writer with 442 published stories across the United States and a self-published author of four books including Canadian Fly-In Fishing Adventure (1993), Alaskan Spirit Journey (1999), The Mountains Shall Depart (2017), and The Hills Shall Be Removed (2018). I am a member of the Michigan Outdoor Writers Association and the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers (AGLOW). I have presented sessions at the annual AGLOW conference including a joint keynote session, new member sessions, and a self-publishing session. I also speak at community events, campgrounds, and libraries.
What projects are you currently working on?
In addition to writing outdoor travel stories, the sequel to my third and fourth book is underway with a target completion date of early next summer. The book will finish the trilogy.
Tell us about the awards you have won for your writing including the third-place award you recently received from AGLOW in the Best Book category for the novella The Mountains Shall Depart.
It was an honor to receive the Best Book category award. Other national awards from the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers include first place for Best Newspaper Story, third place in the Newspaper Open category, two presidential awards for service, and from the Michigan Outdoor Writers Association a third place.
How did you get into writing?
I had an English instructor at Delta Junior College (Mr. Cahill) for a writing class and he initially inspired me to write. I found poetry and literature inspiring. Good teachers are motivators; they allow the seed to sprout and grow.
Where do you get your inspiration for your writing?
The words do not come from me, but rather through me. Each person has God-given talents that can either be watered or wilt away. Life has its joys, challenges, and hard times. The difficult times are only temporary, never permanent, unless a person lets them be. At MSU, I took a class studying Hemingway’s work. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Harper Lee also are authors I admired.
What are some of your favorite memories of your days as a student at MSU?
My wife, Shirley, and I lived in married housing in Spartan Village. She worked in the Communication Department. Friendships were made and have lasted a lifetime. I vividly remember various lectures of dedicated professors who taught from the heart, encouraged, and inspired me.
The words do not come from me, but rather through me. Each person has God-given talents that can either be watered or wilt away. Life has its joys, challenges, and hard times. The difficult times are only temporary, never permanent, unless a person lets them be.
How has your English major, with an emphasis in Creative Writing, and Arts & Letters education helped with your career?
The foundation for my life was poured in concrete with a hard work ethic from growing up on a family farm, determination, and a will to never give up. My wife, Shirley, believed in me in the early years when I wondered if I’d ever make it through college. She believed in me for so long that the seed for my self-confidence was planted and the rest of the story is still being written!
What do you see as the importance of a liberal arts education?
The arts are an important part of life, which allow creativity to blossom into a lifelong learning adventure. Often my muse arouses me from sleep with an idea, a phrase which spills into a sentence, then a paragraph, and finally the story arrives at its climax followed by the resolution. When the story is finished, I am fully satisfied and out of breath. The words do not come from me, but rather through me. Writing is a God-given gift!
Explain the process you go through with your writing
In writing (as well as other art forms), a person either celebrates life or writes about what troubles him. The Mountains Shall Depart dealt with the events leading up to the suicide of my father and my attempt to let go of a past that was out of his control. Often, I awaken in the middle of the night with an idea. I toss and turn and have learned not to force myself back to sleep, but rather to get up and write. My mistress, the muse arrives for an erotic encounter with the words, and I begin the chase. She always remains just out of reach, and by the time the story reaches its climax and resolution, I am out of breath and fully satisfied. The sequel, titled The Hills Shall Be Removed, also comes from the book of Isaiah chapter 54 verse 10. The book traces German immigrants arriving in the new land in the early 1600s. It traces the corruption behind the scenes involving bankers, attorneys, and corporate farms that combine to destroy the lives of farming families. A number of farmers in a place called Hamlet not only shot themselves, one hung himself, and another jumped from the top of a grain elevator. I allow the ideas to flow and usually write around 800-900 words in a sitting.
Your advice to students
I graduated in the bottom quarter of my high school class and applied to Delta Junior College. I was not admitted because I was deficient in English, reading, and math. However, if I agreed to take remedial classes during the summer and pass them, I would be admitted in the fall. I purchased my remedial books and entered our kitchen where my father stated: “Why did you buy all that crap, you’ll never make it!” It was in the later years when I realized what a favor he had given me. I had an excellent English and writing instructor at Delta, who encouraged my writing. I taught two classes of students at St. Johns High School that were deficient in basic skills and many couldn’t read. I convinced my principal to purchase a book for the classes, titled See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar. Each day at the beginning of class, I’d count to three, we’d all clap and state, “I’m going to have a good day today!” Once the positive thought was planted, students’ behavior and attitudes improved. After 21 days, significant changes occurred.
On occasion, I’d skip the ritual exercise and a student would ask:
“Hey Uncle Bob didn’t you forget something today?”
“I don’t think so, can you help me out,” I’d reply.
“Aren’t we going to say, I’m going to have a good day today?”
And so, life-changing behaviors were planted and bloomed!
A Look Back – 1968 St. Johns Football Team
by Barry Clark Bauer
This St. Johns football team photo was taken 50 years ago. None of the team is identified, nor do I know if it’s Varsity or Junior Varsity.
The 4-H buildings in the background indicate this was the practice field.
Bennie and Jesse’s Pet Info – Do Dogs Have a Sixth Sense That Helps Them Read Your Mood?
courtesy of Dr. Sarah Wooten
Whenever I am sad, my dog Alma never fails to sit by my side, put her head into my lap and bring comfort. Conversely, when she has done something naughty, Alma has this uncanny ability to slink away as soon as I look at her.
Do you ever feel like there’s a dog sixth sense that allows your pup to read your moods and react accordingly? I can imagine you reading this right now, vigorously nodding your head yes!
If you have ever wondered about this phenomenon, or if you like you are losing it for thinking that your fur friend has supernatural dog senses, you are not alone. Pet parents across the globe have the same question: Can dogs pick up on our subconscious cues, and essentially, read our moods?
The Love Hormone Helps Process Those Emotions
It turns out that animal behaviorists have the same question, and this very concept has been studied in both dogs and cats. Dogs, who have been evolving alongside humans for thousands of years, have clearly demonstrated an ability to recognize and respond to human emotions, and scientists now know that they use ordinary and extraordinary dog senses to do this. A 2009 study found that dogs gaze much longer at happy versus sad human faces, indicating that they may be sensitive to human emotions.
Dogs preferentially look to our eyes to read our emotions, and the hormone oxytocin is also involved in this connection. Secreted by the mammalian brain, oxytocin is nicknamed “the love hormone,” and it affects social behaviors and cognition, among other things.
In a 2017 study, researchers used eye-tracking technology to follow gaze patterns of untrained dogs in response to human faces. The faces displayed positive or negative emotions in order to investigate the effect of oxytocin on eye patterns in the dogs. What they noticed was that in order to process the emotions of humans, all of the dogs looked at the eye region of the human faces.
Researchers found that oxytocin decreases the amount of time that dogs looked at the angry human faces and also decreased the dogs’ preference for gazing at the eye region altogether, even with happy human emotions. While more research needs to be done, oxytocin is definitely involved in our fur friends’ ability to read our emotions.
Dogs Avoid Angry Humans
Another study, published in 2016, found that dogs process human emotions from gazing not just at the eye region, but also the midface and mouth regions. Dogs are a highly social species, and they are evolved to evaluate social threats rapidly, including threats the come from humans.
This study found that when dogs viewed images of other threatening dogs, they reacted with increased attention to the image. However, when they viewed images of threatening humans, they responded by avoiding the image.
This makes a lot of sense when you think about it—if you come home and you chew your pup out for chewing on the couch, they are going to slink away to avoid you. Your pet isn’t feeling guilty, but is afraid of you.
This has massive implications on the way we interact with and train our canine companions. The fact is, expressing anger by yelling, shouting or frowning at your dog creates conflict within your relationship and can severely damage the human-animal bond.
Some dogs are more sensitive than others; at the slightest hint of displeasure, my dog Alma slinks away from her human family and hides.
A dog that is afraid is more likely to have behavioral problems, a reduced attention span, increased stress, fear-based aggression, anxiety and a shortened life span. They are also more likely to be relinquished to a shelter and have an overall reduced quality of life.
So How Do I Use This Information?
Knowing how your dog interacts with your emotions and facial cues is empowering. You can modify your interactions with your dog to create a healthy relationship that is based on mutual trust and love—both of which dogs give in spades when they feel safe.
First, be extraordinarily mindful of your emotions around your dog and emotions that you direct toward your dog. This is especially important in high-stress situations like veterinary visits, where the dog is already likely to be triggered.
You can use this information to your benefit when training your dog. Your dog is always looking for positive reinforcement from you to guide behavior development. When your dog does something right, make sure to communicate this with your whole face and your voice; that way, your dog will be more attune to your signals and more likely to repeat the desired dog behavior.
If your dog is engaging in undesirable behaviors that you want to stop, in order to avoid conflict in your relationship, you will need to communicate in a way that is not threatening. Simply by lowering the tone of your voice when you say, “No” can be enough to get a dog to stop what they are doing and look to your face for cues.
As soon as they stop what they are doing and look to you, smile, praise your dog and give a dog treat, or provide some fun playtime! That communicates clearly to your dog what is and what is not desired by you.
The more you work with your dog in a non-threatening manner, the closer your bond will become and the easier it will be to communicate. Remember—your dog can read your facial cues, so keep it positive, and enjoy all the benefits that a healthy relationship with a dog can bring.