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CI)arIotte ^osit
THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1997
10A
LIFESTYLES
Cover to
Cover
He say...
she say...
McMiUan,
Wright say
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
He Say, She Say
Yolanda Joe
Doubleday
1997
$21.95
What do you get when you
cross two Generation Xers and
a couple of baby boomers?
Problems.
In “He Say, She Say,” Yolanda
Joe takes on the gender divide,
the racial divide and a couple of
divides heretofore unknown.
When Sandy, a radio execu
tive desperately searching for
Mr. Right, meets T.J., a hand
some but somewhat lazy and
shiftless jazz musician (OK, I
know it’s a stereotype) sparks
fly-
Sandy and T.J. are joined by
Bebe, Sandy’s best friend who
happens to be old enough to be
her mother and T.J.’s dad,
Speed.
A mix of a little of everything,
“He Say, She Say” actually
takes a look into the minds of
black men, a rarity. What Joe
finds is shocking, a little
strange and often humorous.
Through a series of conversa
tions and first-person narra
tives, Joe allows the story to
evolve into a decent work.
It has a few problems.
Joe stereotypes T.J. as the
quintessential playboy. He
doesn’t often work and borrows
heavily from Sandy to stay out
of debt.
Of course, the relationship
doesn’t work out. I won’t tell
you why, but remember T.J. is
a musician and you know what
they say about musicians. But
Joe does a good job of develop
ing a solid relationship between
T.J. and Speed. Speed is a lov
ing, caring father who sacrificed
all to raise his son after the
death of his wife. Yes, finally a
happily married black couple.
“He Say, She Say” is pretty
good and well worth reading.
Out in paperback
How Stella Got Her
Groove Back
Terry McMillan
Signet Fiction
1996
$6.99
What can I say?
McMillan struck gold with the
touching, humorous tale of a
divorcee who finds romance
with a man almost 20 years her
junior.
Go ahead...exhale.
Richard Wright Reader
EcUted by Ellen Wright
and Michael Fabre
De Capo Press
1997
$22.50
A reprint of the 1971 classic
put together by Michel Fabre, a
leading scholar and biographer
of Richard Wright and Wright’s
widow Ellen Wright.
Wright, one of the leading
thinkers and writers of the
Harlem Renaissance, is skillful
ly de-mystified in 7116 Richard
Wright Reader. Fabre and
Ellen Wright use a mix of
Wright’s nonfiction works from
See CLASSIC page 16A
Heirloom gardens gaining popularity
By Leann Spencer
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
CHICAGO - The precious
heirlooms that Maryann
Underwood collects require care
ful treatment: She takes them
outdoors, heaps dirt on them
and hopes it rains.
If it doesn’t, she sprays them
with water herself.
They are poppy seeds from
Flanders Field, the World War I
battlefield, she said. Underwood
and other collectors in this new
field of memorabilia plant seeds
which they believe connect them
to the past.
There are heirloom collectors
that say they own seeds from a
fhiit tree whose ancestors are
believed to have grown in
Thomas Jefferson’s gardens at
Monticello.
Like antique aficionados who
can recite the provenance of a
piece of furniture, heirloom gar
deners keep detailed records of
their plants.
Historical plants have become
so popular that catalog giant W.
Atlee Burpee & Co. this year
issued the company’s first cata
log of heirlooms.
Proponents say the plants are
often hardier and healthier than
Century of Memories
Charlotte woman
celebrates 100 years
PHOTO/ SUE ANN JOHNSON
Jannie Roseboro spends much of her day watching neighborhood children play. At 100,
Roseboro says she still has a lot to offer.
She’s a httle hard of hearing.
And, she sometimes has a
hard time getting around.
“You can see this house,” she
says, pointing to a pile of
clothes. “It’s full of everything,
except the work and I don’t
worry about it.”
Roseboro’s decided to be
thankful for the little things.
Like the deacon from her
church who fixed her lamps so
she could turn them off and on
from bed.
“That’s just wonderful,” she
says. “I can get up in the mid
dle of the night and take my
medicine. I had the life. I laid
right there in that bed and
did everything. Isn’t that
something.”
And she’s just thankful for
being.
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Jannie Roseboro hates that
people are making such a fuss
over her.
“I had three parties,” she
says. “One on Wednesday.
Dinner on Thursday and din
ner on Friday. Now you know
that ain’t necessary. I’m not
that all important. It’s won
derful, though.”
Roseboro, a Charlotte native
who turned 100 April 19, cele
brated her birthday surround
ed by friends and family. But
life at 100 isn’t easy. It’s been
tough, she says.
“You’d be surprised at what
happens when you get old,”
she says. “Things just fall
apart.”
Her memory is not what it
used to be.
“Seems like sometimes, I
just can’t remember nothing,”
she says. “I want to remember,
but I just can’t. That’s what
happens when you get real
old.”
See WOMAN page 11A
commercial hybrids and best
suited to herbicide- and pesti
cide-free gardening.
Some say further that these
flowers, vegetables and herbs
look, taste and smell better than
modem varieties, though their
harvests may be small, produc
ing only a few blossoms or a lim
ited number of vegetables.
“They are collectibles that peo
ple can have and pass down for
generations,” said Underwood,
who has hundreds of different
seeds stashed in sterilized glass
jars of all shapes and sizes
throughout her home.
“Until earlier this century, a
lot of seed was just passed from
gardener to gardener and from
farmer to farmer,” said Kent
Whealy, director of the Seed
Savers Exchange in Decorah,
See GARDENING page 16A
Survey shows horn
honking only makes
drivers take longer
By Michael Raphael
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS '''
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - You’re not imagining it: Drivers do take
longer to leave parking spots when someone is waiting. And if you
honk, it takes even longer.
A study of more than 400 drivers at an Atlanta-area mall parking
lot shows that drivers defend their spots as instinctively as other ter
ritorial animals.
“Like our ancestors, we humans still defend territories,” said Penn
State University sociologist Barry Ruback. ‘This despite the fact
that when you’re leaving the whole point is to leave. 'There’s nothing
to be territorial about.”
The study, “Territorial Defense in Parking Lots: Retaliation
Against Waiting Drivers” appears in the May 1-15 issue of Journal
of Applied Social Psychology. Ruback conducted the research with
Daniel Juieng, an undergraduate at Georgia State University.
The study conducted three years ago found that, on average,
motorists pulling out of unwanted spots took 32.2 seconds from the
moment they opened the car door to completely leave the parking
space.
If someone was waiting, however, it took almost seven seconds
longer, and honkers were forced to wait just under 43 seconds for
spots to open up, the study found.
One reason for the extra wait, Ruback said, could be safety.
Drivers may slow down to avoid hitting the other car.
Even more interesting, Ruback said, is that drivers said in a relat
ed survey that they actually try to move more quickly if they know
someone is waiting.
“It suggests that people can be territorial even if they’re not aware
of it,” Ruback said.
Mate drivers were affected by the type of car waiting for the spot. If
a $57,000 Infiniti Q45 pulled up men exited in half a minute; when
it was a $5,200 station wagon the wait was longer than 39 seconds.
Women, on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind the kind of car.
Costly billing errors
found by medical
review service
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - If the cost of health care seems astronomical, the
fault may not be in the stars but in the hospital bill.
Although no industrywide statistics exist, a host of studies conduct
ed by private companies and the General Accounting Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, indicate that medical billing errors are
relatively common.
They are most common in large bUls listing several procedures and
charges and are far more likely to be in favor of the medical provider
than the patient.
The problem is apparent to Pam Brown and Kathleen Cordova; who
foimded a medical biU-review service last year in the suburb of La
Canada FHntridge.
They say the average $10,000 hospital bill contains overcharges
ranging from $900 to $1,300.
In one case, a hospital charged a man $17 an hour for a pulse
meter, but the bill worked out to 57 hours in one day. He also was
double-charged for pharmaceutical supplies. The total overcharges
topped $1,100.
Cordova said many overcharges are honest mistakes caused by the
maze of paperwork for medical care.
For example, each procedure has its own code. A doctor may check
the code and scribble a few notes, but the carbon copies of that bill
may be illegible to the biffing clerk.
If the bill is unclear, the clerk is likely to charge for the more expen
sive procedure.
Sometimes, numbers in a procedure code are juxtaposed. A cancer
surgery might read as cosmetic surgeiy, prompting the insurer to
deny the claim. Brown said.
See MEDICAL on page 11A j
Five of first black sextuplets survive ordeal
By Jennifer Batog
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Five surviv
ing babies of the sextuplets bom
at Georgetown University
Hospital are doing well, doctors
said 'Tuesday.
The babies, born May 8 to
Jacqueline and Linden
Thompson, are the first black
sextuplets bom in the United
States.
Doctors said the four surviving
girls and a boy have no major
health problems. Four babies
are being treated for jaundice,
but doctors said that is fairly
normal in premature babies.
Tlie babies, Octavia Daniela,
Richard Linden, Stella
Kimberly, Ann Marie Amanda
and Emily Elizabeth, weigh
between 2 pounds, 2 ounces and
2 pounds, 6 ounces each.
The sixth - a girl - was stiU-
bom and weighed less than a
pound.
“They’re doing great. They’re
aU five doing very well,” said Dr.
Joseph CoUea, who delivered the
babies.
The mother, who set a U.S.
record for the longest sextuplet
pregnancy, said she was “excit
ed, happy. I’m just proud of
myself Tm overwhelmed.”
Linden Thompson, an electri
cian, called the pregnancy “quite
an ordeal.”
“But as you can see, we are
both happy. Everything worked
out just fine. We’re just waiting
to get them home,” the father
said.
The babies are the first for the
couple, who would not discuss
whether fertility drugs were
used.
Jacqueline 'Thompson, a wait
ress and a cashier at a hotel,
was confined to bed for most of
the 30-week pregnancy, spend
ing the last four months at
Georgetown, said hospital
spokeswoman Amy Pianalto.
She sat up 'Tuesday for the first
time in four months.
Although the babies will be in
the hospital until the end of
June or early July, Mrs.
Thompson was expected to
return to the couple’s Northeast
Washington home by the end of
the week, CoUea said.