BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The 100 Days of Nonviolence campaign concluded Monday, January 20, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, with a shoe distribution, neighborhood cleanup and a field trip to Atlanta to reward the young people who led the initiative.
On Monday, Council President Pro-Tem Jay Roberson, who launched the initiative in 2010 in an effort to combat senseless youth violence in our community, partnered with Samaritan’s Feet to provide free shoes for over 200 young people, with Wenonah High School to pick up trash in the Roosevelt City neighborhood, and with Dr. Bernice King and The King Center in Atlanta for a field trip with about a dozen students to the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat game for “Choose Nonviolence Day.” The King Center launched their 100 Days of Nonviolence initiative, the “Choose Nonviolence – No Shots Fired” campaign on Monday. Visit www.choosenoneviolence.org for more information.
 “Birmingham has experienced another successful year with the 100 Days of Nonviolence campaign,” said Roberson. “For the fourth year in a row, we have reached the end of the campaign without the loss of one young person under the age of 18 due to senseless violence. The young people in our community need to be commended for honoring the pledge, their dedication and hard work. I would also like to thank all of our partner agencies for their commitment to these youth.”
The three events to commemorate the 100th day of the campaign were:
Samaritan’s Feet Shoe Distribution
Time: 8 a.m. – 10 a.m.
Location: A.G. Gaston Boys and Girls Club (2900 South Park Drive, SW, Birmingham, AL 35211)

District 7 Clean Sweep in Roosevelt City
Time: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Location: Roosevelt City Community Center (5832 Brewer Dr. Birmingham, AL 35228)

Field Trip: Atlanta Hawks versus Miami Heat Game “Choose Nonviolence” Day
Time: 1 p.m. (depart from City Hall)
Location: Birmingham City Hall (710 North 20th Street, Birmingham, AL 35203)
The campaign kicked off in October with a press conference at United Way of Central Alabama with a new motto – “We’re All In” – and new partnerships. Through the 100 days, the various partner agencies held a number of events to offer young people alternative activities to negative behavior.
The campaign has been so successful in deterring youth violence in Birmingham, that other cities around the country have launched complementary programs, including Greenville, South Carolina; Saginaw, Michigan; Columbia, South Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia.

By Jessica Jones

Author of the art shoe book Art and Sole and former executive vice president of Stewart Weitzman boutique, Jane Weitzman, will be signing copies of her book at Gus Mayer, Jan. 23 from 2-5 p.m.
The book features an introduction written by Weitzman followed by over 150 photographs of different “art shoes” that were discovered and commissioned by Weitzman, some of which have been displayed in the window of her husband’s, Stewart Weitzman, boutique on Madison Avenue in New York. The store began showcasing art shoes from the time of its opening in the mid ‘90s. The display window became a popular attraction with passersby who stopped to look at the different designs.
As fantasy shoes that aren’t meant to be worn, these unique art shoe pieces have been made of unconventional materials such as cardboard, jewels and flowers. The shoes are no longer on display since the couple sold the chain, and are now in storage, but Weitzman still wanted to share the one-of-a kind creations with the public.
Before she married her husband of 46 years, Weitzman said she already had a love for shoe fashions, but that love was taken to another level working with her husband.
“I never cease to be amazed at all the things that Stewart can do that are new and fresh,” she said. “He’s been doing this for a long time and he always manages to do something new.”
As someone who had experience in the art world prior to managing the boutique’s display, searching for extraordinary pieces proved a rather simple task. Her experience, coupled with her interest in art, fueled her desire to find more designs to present.
“My love of art kept me going,” she said. “The more I got into it, the more interesting it became to me.”
Finding pieces became even easier when the popularity of the shoes grew into something greater than expected.
“If I liked the feel of someone’s art, I would ask them if they could try (designing) a shoe,” Weitzman said. “Very often people came to me,” she said.
Weitzman’s approval was the only criteria for an artist to have his or her work displayed in the window, but for someone who’s seen the best, nailing the perfect design was difficult for some.
“Once the windows were up people came to me and most of them I couldn’t use. They weren’t exciting or interesting enough.”
Before she ever thought of creating a coffee table book of art shoes, Weitzman would sell the pieces in the window, something she now regrets.
“I regretted selling some of the shoes from the early windows because then we didn’t have them,” she said. “I didn’t know at the time that we would ever have any more stores. I thought it was just the one store in New York and I certainly never thought there would be a book. I just didn’t realize what the future held.”
She recalled one buyer in particular who made a rather extreme purchase.
“I remember once a man came in and bought a whole window to put in a shoe store he owned in London,” she said. “At some point I might auction them off for a charity, but right now there are people who want to borrow them for exhibits, and I just haven’t had time to deal with that, but eventually we’ll probably loan them for exhibits.”
Of the 150 shoes pictured in the book, Weitzman said she doesn’t have a favorite. Instead, she thinks of them as children.
“It’s sort of like a parent thing I have to say,” she said. “They’re all so different from each other, and I think they’re all exciting in their own way. I wanted the book to be very eclectic so we have everything from corrugated cardboard to ceramic or paper to resin, and I wanted a good verity of things.”
Weitzman’s interest goes beyond fashion and art, she’s also using her passions as a means to raise awareness. The profits from the books that were sold at Stewart Weitzman stores in the U.S. this past September benefited ovarian cancer research and in October the profits went toward breast cancer awareness.
“I’ve also been going around to different countries speaking to different organizations and hopefully that will help raise awareness for different things I think are important,” she said.
The profits from the upcoming event will be donated to the Birmingham Jewish Federation.
After so many years searching for and commissioning eye-catching and imaginative designs, the most well-known fantasy shoe remains elusive.
“I still haven’t found a glass shoe,” she said.

Miss Marissa Alexandria Lee, 17 years old, was crowned Miss Hewitt Trussville High School on January 18, 2014. She is the daughter of proud parents Atty. Sandy E. Lee (an attorney in Bessemer, Ala.) and Dr. Loretta T. Lee.
Marissa is the first Black Miss Hewitt Trussville High School pageant winner. She will be joining her brother Marcus Lee, a junior, at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, in the fall.

On December 27, 2013, guests walked the Red Carpet into a gala, red rose draped setting to witness the introduction of Imperial Club, Incorporated’s 2013 Debutantes at Birmingham’s historic Boutwell Auditorium. Following an opening prayer by Councilman Rev.Steven Hoyt and greetings from Mayor William Bell; honored guests, including Circuit Judge Helen Shores Lee, Dr. Debbie Voltz, Dean of the UAB School of Education and 1978 Imperial Club, Incorporated Debutante, Congresswoman Terri Sewell and Mayor Bell were introduced to guests. At the height of the event, parents of the 2013 Debutantes presented their daughters orbs of red roses as each Debutante was introduced. The rose orbs represented the theme for the Ball: “Closing the Circle: Celebrating a Legacy of Lifting and Climbing.”

The young ladies who were presented as 2013 Debutantes were:
Miss Elbonie Latrice Edwards, a senior at Hoover High School was presented by her mother, Aundrunette Davis and her Godfather Cedric Sparks.
Miss Alana Olivia Ingram, a senior at Spain Park High School was presented by her parents Klonaris and Tracy Ingram.
Miss Nayirah Adia Muhammad, a senior at John Carroll Catholic High School was presented by her parents Maurice and Fanchon Muhammad.
Miss Andre’a Shania Lawson, a senior at A.H. Parker High School was presented by her parents the late Andre’ Munday and Lameeka Munday.
Miss Antionique Leonard, a senior, at George Washington Carver High School was presented by her parents Antonio and Cherique Leonard.
Miss Jalia Charna’ Lewis, a senior, at Clay-Chalkville High School was presented by her parents, Edward and Jamesel Lewis.
Miss Lauren Chanel Pitts, a senior at Hewitt Trussville High School was presented by her parents Michael and Sonya Pitts.
Miss Alexia Reed, a senior, at Minor High School was presented by her parents Orlanda and Rhonda Phillips Reed.
Miss Bianca Gayle Tompkins, a senior, at John Carroll Catholic High School was presented by her parents Albert and Charlene Tompkins.
Miss Eboni Alexis Wright, a freshman, at Jefferson State Community College and Samford University was presented by her parents Walter and Carmen Wright.

The official Debutante escorts, the Imperial Club, Incorporated 2013 Floormen, were:
Mr. Elbert Edwards, a senior at Hoover High School, presented by Mrs. Andrunnette Davis, and his Godfather, Mr. Linbergh Carter.
Mr. Devin Jamal Hudson, a junior at Midfield High School, son of Mr. & Mrs. William Hudson, Sr.
Mr. Bryan Alexander McMillan, a senior at Pinson Valley High School, son of Randy & Soneshia McMillan.
Mr. Ira Cornelius Johnson Jr., a senior at Gardendale High School, son of Ira & Michelle Johnson Sr.
Mr. Roderick Micah Patterson, a senior at Shades Valley High School, son of Roosevelt and Dominga Powell.
Mr. Ronald Pressley Jr., a senior at Clay-Chalkville School High, son of Ronald and Cheryl Pressley.
Mr. Keion Raspberry-Chandler, a senior at Minor High School, son of Rosalind Raspberry.
Mr. Shawn Devontay Seward, a junior at A. H. Parker High School, son of Jeryl & Tabatha Seward.
Mr. Tyshun Underwood, a junior at Jackson-Olin High School, son of April Pickens.
Mr. Eric Williams, a senior at Minor High School, son of Keith and Kay Williams.

Miss Bianca Tompkins was robed Debutante Queen 2013 and received the Imperial Club, Incorporated Queen’s Scholarship. Mister Ronald Pressley Jr. was named Floorman of the year and received the Darrick Clarke scholarship from the Imperial Club, Incorporated Men’s Auxiliary.
The theme, “Closing the Circle: Celebrating a Legacy of Lifting and Climbing”, was chosen to acknowledge Birmingham’s 50 Years Forward Commemoration of the Civil Rights era. During the “Closing the Circle Ceremony”, Misses Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia D. Morris Wesley, Carole Robertson, Denise McNair were named Honorary Debutantes. Mrs. Sara Collins Rudolph, who survived the church bombing, was also named honorary debutante. Virgil Ware and Johnny Robinson, teenage boys who were also killed on September 15, 1963, were remembered during the ceremony. The ceremony symbolically closed the circle of four years from December 1963 through December 1966 when this Debutante Ball was not held due to extreme civil unrest in the city.
A centerpiece of the ceremony was presentation of keepsake boxes that contained the traditional 16 button length gloves and the tiara worn by all Imperial debutantes to families of Honorary Debutantes. A plaque with the name of the honoree was affixed to each commemorative box. Metro Birmingham NAACP, Dr. Martha Barber, Dr. Emma Jean Shepard and Christina Shepard Norman, Imperial Deb, 1984, Girl Scout Troop – 208 of Sixth Avenue Baptist Church and Imperial Club, Incorporated sponsored the Keepsake boxes.
Mrs. Maxine McNair (Imperial Debutante 1948) and Miss Lisa McNair (Imperial Deb 1997) mother and sister of Honorary Debutante Denise McNair joined the circle of approximately 100 former debutantes who represented Imperial Club, Incorporated Debutantes from 1948 through 2013.
Co-Directors for this event were Mrs. Peggie Myles (Debutante 1959) and Dr. Ruth S.Tucker (Debutante 1967). The club’s Debutante Ball Steering Committee included former Imperial Debutantes: Tabatha L. Seward, Vonderia Yeldell, Christina S. Norman, Cassandra F. Fells and Elana P. Merriweather. Mrs. Mary B. Jackson is Imperial Club, Incorporated President.

By Jessica Jones

If it looks like the girls of today are growing up faster than girls a few generations ago, it could be because they are. Many girls are exposed every day to images of slim figured girls and women dressed in clothing that leaves little or nothing to the imagination. There are now crop tops made for preteens and mini skirt, fish net, high heel-wearing dolls are marketed to girls who are a long way away from puberty.
Whether or not the problem is lax parenting or media taking advantage of children is debatable, but what isn’t is the fact that girls are mimicking what they see and hear in the media, and the negative effects are far-reaching.
With the destructive effects of childhood in mind, Dannah Gresh’s Secret Keeper Girls Crazy Hair Tour – coming to Clearbranch United Methodist Church in Trussville on Jan. 25 – is spearheading the mission of promoting girls to wear age appropriate clothing and encouraging healthy self-image as well as build a bond between mothers and daughters.
“We like to say that a Secret Keeper Girl is a masterpiece created by God,” said Gresh, creator of the event, and author of the book of the same name. “Everybody is all about showing everything off, mentally, emotionally and physically and a [Secret Keeper Girl] is a young woman who is confident enough to say I know my value. I don’t need to prove it, and so she’s very culturally different.”
To demonstrate the importance of modesty the event features an exercise called ‘Truth or Bare,’ a fashion test for girls to determine if their clothes are a reasonable and modest fit.
As a mother of young girls, building a relationship with her own daughter helped her discover her calling for addressing the issues that girls face today. The importance of fostering good relationships between mothers and daughters is essential for young girls to have positive self-image.
“One of the factors in social research is parent-child connectedness,”Gresh said. “When mother and daughter are deeply connected, connected enough that they can talk about things, they’re not afraid to talk about issues of sexuality and beauty and insecurity and boys. There’s hardly a teenager out there that says ‘hey mom, wanna be friends?’ You have to develop that relationship when she’s younger. So you have to go in there when she’s in those teen years, get so deeply connected that that connection maintains itself to the more difficult teenage years.”
Gresh came to the conclusion that modesty was a topic that needed to be addressed among preteens and tweens when her research showed the risks for girls who wear clothes that aren’t appropriate.
“My research at the time was on sexual risk of teenagers and what increases the age when they have their first sexual debut,” Gresh said. Her research showed that girls who wear age inappropriate clothing and make up at an early age are more likely to engage in sexual activity sooner. This discovery led her to the idea of being able to spread what she had seen work in the lives of her and her daughter.
“So I realized dressing in an age appropriate way was really a safety mechanism for my daughter, and I wanted to apply that to her life and the doors just opened for me to share that vision with other moms as well,” she said.
This year’s theme for the tour is crazy hair. Girls are encouraged to come to the event wearing their craziest, most outrageous hairstyle that expresses who they are.
“With hair, makeup, clothing and branding, we all kind of want to be the same, and so being able to come to a place where you can say you know I’m confident in who I am and I’m going to be crazy tonight,” Gresh said. Gresh said the crazy hair theme for this tour is a teaching tool that allows girls to truly be themselves and shows them their worth through their individuality.
In one of her recent books, Gresh writes about how creativity and imagination are harmed by toys and video games. Gresh hopes to combat this and encourage creativity instead.
“Anything that allows creativity is good,” she said. “50 years ago kids weren’t confined by a certain kind of play because they had a toy that told them, ‘these are the rules and this is how it works.’ They would go outside and they would make something up.”
This, Gresh said, is essential to a young girl’s development of self-governance and decision making.
“Research has shown that that helps muscle up the prefrontal cortex of the brain which is where self-control and executive function are controlled,” Gresh said. So any time a girl is faced with an opportunity to create and problem solve or play make believe, you’re teaching her self-control. You’re teaching her the art of executive function.”
While the goal is to teach girls how to carry themselves, the teaching isn’t overwhelming or preachy; it’s engaging and interactive. Gresh describes the experience as “the most fun mom and dad are ever going to have together, and it’s definitely the most fun a mom and dad are ever going to have in church.”
“There are games mother-daughter show downs, giant beach balls confetti cannons, crazy hair dance offs where we take them not only through fashion, but the crazy hairstyles of the decade,” she said. “They’re going to have so much fun, but they’re also going to be confronted with some really good cultural questions about their value.”
Self-regard and self-esteem building exercises are the focal point of the event during which girls will ask themselves important questions.
“Is this going to make me beautiful or am I going to believe that the way God made me is beautiful,” Gresh said. “I don’t have to conform to the crowd. I can be just how I was created and that’s enough.”
Society has trained society to view a certain thing as beautiful, Gresh said, and her goal is to change that by teaching acceptance for all body types.
“The reason we think a certain type of girl is beautiful is because that’s how our culture has trained us,” she said. “The sad thing about that is you can go all through history and all through every culture and find that because they’ve been told that something is beautiful, they’ll do something stupid and drastic. We’re coming up against the American standard of beauty that tells you you have to weigh negative zero to be beautiful. That’s just not true.”
Mothers might debate whether to tell their girls they’re beautiful regardless of how they look or tell them beauty doesn’t matter at all, but for Gresh one extreme over the other isn’t her aim.
“I think either extreme is unhealthy,” she said. “I’m leery when our backlash from one unhealthy trend is to go entirely in the other direction. I think moms can be hyper focused on beauty and she can be constantly telling her daughter she’s beautiful and constantly getting her to exercise that beauty by taking care of her hair and clothes and all that stuff, but I think the other extreme to ignore beauty is as unhealthy. We are a culture that appreciates beauty and I think God created us to appreciate beauty and I think it’s perfectly okay to appreciate it. We just can’t be fixated on it.”
Fixated is exactly what some girls are, particularly those who strive to obtain a “thigh gap” – a gap between the upper thighs when standing with the feet and knees touching – or the latest unhealthy body trend, the “bikini bridge,” a space created between a bikini bottom and the wearer’s body caused by protruding hip bones.
These dangerous fads that girls desire to have go beyond being a mindless follower of a trend, Gresh said.
“They are a cry out for this generation that they need help,” she said. I think there are a few bodies here and there, especially young bodies who can make a natural bikini bridge, but all in all if your hips are sticking out that far, it’s probably because you’ve starved yourself.” The same is true for the thigh gap,” she said. Some, because of their bone structure, have a natural thigh gap, but for the rest she said, “Their thighs were made to be friends. They were made to meet.”
The message that body trends sends is destructive, she said.
“We’re saying that skinny – and not just skinny, but starved skinny – is beautiful, and that’s a message that we don’t want any daughter to embrace,” Gresh said.
What Gresh does want young girls to embrace is their individuality.
“You don’t have to be like anyone else,” she said. “Normal is overrated. Be crazy.”
Secret Keeper Girls Crazy Hair Tour will be at Clearbranch United Methodist Church in Trussville, on Jan. 25 from 6 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Tickets purchased on or before Jan. 24 are $15, $20 after. For tickets and more information please visit http://secretkeepergirl.com.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Local entrepreneur Jasmine Allen has recently founded a new company, Girl Friday.
Girl Friday is a local business based in Birmingham, Alabama focusing on Private Concierge and Personal Assistant Services.
Girl Friday offers individualized services and assistance to anyone wishing there were more hours in the day and for those that need extra help whether elderly, post‐surgical, or nanny services.
Her passion and entrepreneurial spirit stems from her parents, Larry and Lynda Allen, owners of Rhino Agency  and producers of what was once the largest multicultural festival in the Southeast, The
Birmingham Heritage Festival.
Instilled with the aspirations of successful entrepreneurs, Allen set out to create a company to provide affordable, dependable services to anyone who would benefit from an extra set of hands, an errand crossed off their list, or more regular help.
These personal providers, otherwise known as concierges, are no longer luxury hotel service providers for the 1 percent. Girl Friday offers customizable and need‐based services, with a wide variety of
offerings such as childcare, event planning, errands, housecleaning, pet‐setting, personal shopping, home and office assistance, personal organization, post‐surgical care, elderly assistance and
just about any other service a client may need.
Allen says the best part about this service is that you don’t have to have a six‐figure income to afford Girl Friday. Their guiding principles include dependability, flexibility, reasonable pricing, and no contracts.
Girl Friday offers services for a few hours a week, or a month, completely customized to each customer’s needs. Imagine a stress‐free day spending more time doing what you love while we take care of the rest.
And that is Girl Friday’s ultimate goal, to give the gift of time.
To learn more about Girl Friday Private Concierge and Personal Assistant services, visit their website at:
girlfridaybirmingham.com, follow them on Facebook, or call directly at 205.719.9019.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Better Basics, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit United Way agency dedicated to improving  literacy through school-day, afterschool, and summer learning programs, will commemorate its twentieth   anniversary at the Celebrate 20 in ’14 dinner event. The event, which will honor partners who have made a significant impact on the growth and sustainability of the organization, will be held on February 20, at The Club in Homewood. A reception and silent auction begins at 6 p.m. followed by the dinner and program which begins at 7 p.m.
Former NBA and University of Alabama basketball star, Ennis Whatley will be the featured speaker.  Ennis is a graduate of Phillips High School in Birmingham who led The University of Alabama’s basketball team to a Sweet 16 appearance in the 1982 NCAA Tournament before playing 10 seasons in the NBA. Now an inspirational speaker, he struggled through school until college, when he discovered the importance of reading and education. His message truly resonates with the mission of Better Basics.
Tickets for the celebration event are $75 each or $1,000 for a table of eight. You may purchase tickets through the website, www.betterbasics.org, or mail a check to 211 Summit Parkway, Suite 108, Birmingham, Alabama 35209.  For questions, please email events@betterbasics.org or call 205- 944-2928.
The proceeds from the Celebrate 20 in ’14 event will support Better Basics’ full range of literacy programs in area public schools. Last year, Better Basics served more than 19,000 students and gave away almost 40,000 books to children who might not otherwise have books in their homes.
“Better Basics is honored to have the support of people who are truly concerned about furthering literacy in our community,” said Karen Kapp, Executive Director of Better Basics. “By helping children develop a life-long love of reading,  we truly can increase the high school graduation rate in Alabama, create a well-educated workforce, and decrease both the number of inmates in Alabama prisons and the number of welfare recipients,” said Kapp.
The event will honor partners who played a significant role in the growth of Better Basics over its 20 year history.  Those being honored include:  John and Jane Glasser, Briarwood Presbyterian Church, Doug Shook, Sue Seay, The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Junior League of Birmingham, United Way of Central Alabama, Daniel Foundation, Susan Mott Webb Charitable Trust, Robert R Meyer Foundation, Jemison Investments, Joseph S. Bruno Foundation, Alabama Power, Protective Life, Vulcan Materials, Alabama State Council on the Arts, Jim Stephens, Rotaract Club of Birmingham, Bruce and Ida Dunbar, Eldridge Turner, Alabama State Department of Education, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children’s Literacy Guild, Comer Foundation, Hugh Kaul Foundation, Appalachian Regional Commission, Independent Presbyterian Church Foundation, Belk Foundation, Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation, John Brown, William Porter, Kym Prewitt, Malcolm Miller, Casey Thompson, Fay Fontenot, and Trenton Ellison.   
Better Basics provides literacy intervention, enrichment programs and educational opportunities for elementary- and middle-school students throughout Alabama. These programs empower students as they progress along the learning continuum, from reading to comprehension to retention, while infusing literature into their homes and exposing them to multi-cultural arts and enrichment programs. Based in Birmingham, Ala., Better Basics is a recognized authority on childhood literacy.  For more information, please visit www.betterbasics.org.