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the mag
Winstori-Salem Chronicle
Young And Gifte
I She's a
at the ri
V?I
1 By ROBIN ADAMS
g Staff Writer
At 3:15 every weekday after&
noon, a vibrant 7-year-old with
* If long, swinging braids skips into
jg her mother's office in normally
|| quiet Hill Hall at Winston-Salem
8 State and brings it to life.
I "She is what keeps me going,"
Melva Daniels says.
"She" is a bundle of energy
IP named Melinda, a second-grader
j at Moore Alternative School, and
& a very active child who enjoys talking
-- something she does a lot of?
j| and telling original stories.
"I just tell stories/' Melinda
says, "but I don't know why. I
| write some of them down, but
usually I forget them when I finish
/ telling them.''
But Melinda does not simply tell
|| stories. She acts out each character
| with a different voice and
brightens her narratives with
& detailed descriptions of children,
1| pets and scenes.
Before beginning a story, she introduces
the characters. "Hello,
^fl|
k'
I
I Professional Ice skater Tai Bab
headlines with her partner Rar
I (photo by James Parker).
I Kimberly P;
~ 9
By EDWARD HILL JR.
I Staff Writer
This article is the third in a s
I neighborhoods In the black co
Despite being primarily a low- t
come area, Kimberly Park ranks am
tive and tightly-knit neighborhoods
I Located northwest of East Winstc
in parts of Cherry Street, Underwo<
thwest Boulevard, 14th Street and tY
"There are 556 families in
Park projects. The resident
c/ivcn nhnut whnf rnmps in (h
I neighborhood than any other
-- Lor
housing projects.
The neighborhood has a mix o
under the Section 8 Turnkey fede
gram, but the majority of the resi
Kimberly Park projects.
Economically, the residents mos
L categories: blue collar workers, th
and the unemployed.
. Larry Little, alderman for the Kit
says the community has undergoi
over the years.
"Outside of the project area, a lo
;azine s
-X &b: m ;w&m
a
master stor
ipe, old age
my name is John," Melinda says in
her version of a deep, masculine
voice, "and my name is Sue," she
continues, in the most feminine,
childlike tone she can muster.
"I like to use different voices,"
she says. "Sometimes I talk like
Sue (her favorite female heroine)
and sometimes I like to talk like a
boy. You know, sometimes I talk
in so many different voices, I
forget what my real voice is,"
But whatever voice she uses,
Melinda uses almost non-stop, a
trait her mother says she inherited.
"I'm a talker, so that has caused
her to be a talker," Ms. Daniels
says. "We have always talked to
her, even as a child. When she was
an infant, I talked to her as if she
might have been an adult. Melinda
mac olcn lh? vnnnopct rhilH in nnr
T UJ UIJV/ V IV J VUH^V^I VMliW V M i
family and was treated like an
angel. She was so verbal and personable
that she was passed
around from person to person like
_ a plate."
During the interview, a professor
comes into Ms. Daniels* office.
JH I
nai I
J|
BB8; /? ^
/
f 6^
ilonta takes a moment to relax
idy Gardner, sets up in the Wl
ark: What ii
has been torn d
neighborhood.
were built in its
eries profiling land in this are<
mmunity. the largest trad
Lorraine Th<
o moderate- in- since 1968, say
ong the most ac- tivities in Kimt
in the city. volved.
>n, the area takes "There are
3d Avenue, Nor- projects," say
le Kimberly Park Kimberly Park
__ have more says
,He Kimberly
* have more Homemakers'
nd out of this has 92 membei
in the city. " Community
raine Thomas agrees: "The
from other n
oriented. Thei
here. We have
f modest homes program, a co
ral housing pro- 45 parents and
idents live in the Boy Scouts pr<
Ms. Johnni
tly fall into three have brought
e underemployed munity.
"A parking
nberly Park area, built as a resi
ne major change working toget
other vacant lc
t of slum housing
ection
Features, Sport
yteller
of 7
"Spell 'understanding,' Melinda,"
he challenges.
Melinda repeats the word slowly
i - * -
several times ana reacnes ior a
piece of paper and writes the word
down, sound by sound and syllable
by syllable. When she's finished,
the word is correct and Melinda
says in triumph, "You thought
you could get me. Now you owe
me one."
Later, a janitor arrives and asks
Melinda what she's doing. 4Tm
being interviewed for the
newspaper/' she says like a true
celebrity. "1 don't have time to
talk."
Rut Y/fplinHa'c anfirc inct rlrtn'f
stop with talking. She's got a
generous supply of charm to boot.
"When Melinda was only four,
we went to Miami. Instead of her
sitting in her seat on the plane, she
flew the whole trip in the cockpit
with the pilot," Ms. Daniels says.
"She knew the captain personally
by the time we disembarked."
Then there's Melinda the 7-yearold
entrepreneur. During one
workshop Ms. Daniels attended,
34
while the Ice Capadci show the
ns ton-Salem Memorial Coliseum
t lacks in ma
own," says Little, who grew up in the
"Some apartments and new houses
place. There is a lot of vast acreage of
i. In fact, Kimberly Park has some of
ts of vacant land in the city."
3mas, who has lived on Derry Street
s that there are many clubs and ac>erly
Park to keep most residents in556
families in Kimberly Park
s Ms. Thomas, president of the
; Residents Council. "The residents
o about what comes in and out of this
than in any other in the city. We have
Girl Scouts for the kids, the
Club and a senior citizens club that
s who actively participate."
services worker Audrey Lowery
thing that separates Kimberly Park
eighborhoods is that it is activity*e
is something for everybody over
; a 4-H club, a basic adult education
ncerned parent organization that has
, of course, everyone knows about the
ogram out here."
* * t? ;j ? . . i _rr ? .
C Ingram says inc rcsiucms cuuris
two significant additions to the cornlot
and a basketball court have been
jit of the residents of Kimberly Park
her," says Ms. Ingram. She adds that
md has been slated for future use in the
Please see page 16
e*
!
s, Lifestyle
&7TJI
At the tender age of seven, Me
(photo by James Parker).
Melinda became so restless that she
made toys out of drinking straws
and sold them to the workshop
participants.
"She meets challenges well,"
Ms. Daniels says. "But she's not
competitive. She likes competition
They've bei
'^itjrltyfNELL HOWARD
Many young children sit in a*
poetic movements of champion ic
sion, dreaming of gliding over
themselves.
One such young black child nc
become one of those skaters, bu
world champion* and a contender
the 1980 Winter Olympics with h
Gardner.
The two now skate togeth
headlining the Ice Capades.
That child, Tai Babilonia, 22,
with her exotic beauty and skill
skater. Tai is a native of Sherma:
the daughter of a Fillipino and a
She is one of the few black ska
Olympic level of competition. W
are no major differences in being
skater, she said that many black i
able to make the financial sacr
make their children champions.
Funding training for a skater c
iterial riches
Th? Klmberly Park neighborti
and Boys Scout Troop No. 85"
by Jamu Parker).
? -i
The Chronicle, T1
,/!
..x>-:x f I 1 *_J
BP^- < _^M
Rs|E; . . .-: :. >;&p^i|^^'l
A Bundle of Energy
llnda Daniels Is already becomli
I iuct f/M? ?Ua fim af it Ck. ?...?.:.? t
juai IV/I iiiv IUII \ji 11. out suipiiacs
me with the things she's interested
in."
Lately, Melinda has shown an
interest in soccer and computers
and likes to try her hand (usually
through guesswork) at student
en big asset 1
to $14,000 a
estimated^~?*
44My father
'e of the graceful, while 1 was coi
e skaters on televi- Ice Capades s
the ice someday Salem Memori
Once Olym
)t only grew up to their bid for a
it also a U.S. and way weeks bef
for a gold medal in Tai and Ra
icr partner, Randy sional skaters
years to comp
er professionally, So the two
the Smithsonii
woos the audience History in 193
as a professional t4I don't th
n Oaks, Calif, and badly in 1984
black woman. been very diff
iters to excel to the ing. And if yo
rhile Tai said there it, it's a waste
a black or a white your coaches'
'amilies may not be Randy agre<
ifices necessary to a lot of fun to
and I'm glad
an cost a family up
$ it makes u]
Clean-Up Crew
ood haa a number of ongoing pre
[' cleanup program la one of the f
' A '
tiursday, April 21, 1983-Page 13
Thursday, April 21, 1983
H
J)mj*
jjj
lg an expert storyteller ^
math tests on the computers at g
WSSU.
Melinda likes to sing, too, "but P
I only like to sing one song -- M
'Ebony and Ivory.' That's the only ~1
song 1 know all the way through." ||
Please see page 16
to Olympian
year, Tai and 24-year-old Randy
was wonting mrcc jods 10 support me
mpeting," Tai said last week while the
>how was settling into the Winstonial
Coliseum.
pic contenders, Tai and Randy lost
medal in 1980 when Randy's leg-gaveore
the Olympics.
ndy later decided to become profesrather
than train an additional four
ete in the uDcominc 1984 Olvmoics.
turned their skating uniforms over to
an Institution's Museum of American
fc^ncTfoined the Ice Capades.
ink we really wanted to compete that
Tai said. "Mentally, it would have
icult, plus another four years of trainu're
not willing to put 100 percent into
) of your time, your parents' time and
time."
ed. 4,It was a good decision. We've had
gether," he said. "I've enjoyed it a lot
that we did get together and skate
Please see page 22
p in pride
ejects and activities for its residents
nore viaible in the community (photo