10A
Cljarlotte
LIFESTYLES
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1997
Gantt
Around
Charlotte
•Former Charlotte mayor
Harvey Gantt
has been
tapped to
receive one of
two
Hiunanitarian
Awards from
the National
Conference.
Gantt, who
has a long his
tory of service
to the conunu-
nity, was recognized for his
innovative ideas on education,
the environment, health care
and housing. Gantt and fellow
recipient Douglas Wade Booth,
a member of Johnson C. Smith
University’s Board of Visitors,
will be honored in a ceremony
May 6. For ticket information,
call 332-4420.
•Portraits of Color, a nonprof
it art education organization, is
accepting applications for its
cultural arts and development
programs for children through
age 18. Classes begin Feb. 3
and end May 22. Classes will be
held at the Hawthorne
Recreation & Community
Center. Cost is $125 per disci
pline. For more information,
call 535-3633.
•Crisis Assistance Ministry is
in need of volunteers. For more
information, caU Anne Davant
at 371-3001, extension 114.
•Homes are needed for at-risk
children. For more information,
call Lutheran Family Services
at 342-9785.
•The Charlotte Writer’s Club
is sponsoring its annual
Children’s Story Contest. Entry
fee is $5 for non-members. For
more information and contest
rules, call 541-8454.
•The West Charlotte High
School National Alumni
Association will meet Sunday at
4 p.m.
•'The Charlotte Mecklenburg
Republican Women’s Club will
meet Tuesday at the YWCA,
3420 Park Road.
•The Charlotte Repertory
Orchestra at Biddle
Auditorium, Johnson C. Smith
at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Admission $3.
Piercing
not just for
hippies
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HANCOCK, Mich. ^
Remember when pierced ear
lobes could only be seen on
“fast girls’” or free-spirited
hippies?
Today, pierced ears are so
much the norm it’s almost
impossible to find clip-on ear
rings for those who don’t have
holes in their ears. It is
becoming more common to see
people in all walks of life, of
either sex, sporting one or
even multiple piercings on
their ears.
But the piercing of other
body parts is still regarded by
the majority of the population
as weird and outlandish.
It wasn’t always so. The ori
gin of piercing reaches far
back into mankind’s history.
Enduring artwork as well as
archaeological records show
us how ancient people altered
their bodies through tattooing,
piercing, scarification and
stretching the skin of the ears,
nose and lips. But it tells us
nothing about what signifi
cance those societies attached
See RITUAL on page 14A
Charlottean
plans hot
‘Super
Sunday’
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Super Bowl Simday just isn’t
Super Bowl Sunday without a
party.
For the last eight years,
Brenda Bell-Boone, 34, and
about 40 of her closest friends
can be found around a wide
screen TV, feasting on chiU with
all the trimmings and some of
her famous wings.
“The wings are four-alarm,”
she says with a laugh.
A lifetime Pittsburgh Steelers
fan, Bell-Boone began having
her annual fete to bring fi-iends
closer together.
“As we get older in order to
keep relationships alive we have
to have events together,” she
says. “It gives us an opportimity
for friends to gather. Everyone
knows that they will gather
each year. It’s a way of seeing
friends that you might not see
during the rest of the year.”
Bell-Boone decides on a theme
and lets her imagination take
over from there.
“In order to keep it alive, you
have to try to make things dif
ferent and new. You know the
location (of the game) at the
beginning of the season,” Bell-
Boone says. “You know the
approximate date. That makes
it easier to plan your party.”
This year’s theme: Mardi
Gras.
Bell-Boone, who loves to cook,
is serving up jambalaya, dirty
rice and of course, chUi.
The cluli has become sort of a
tradition.
“Red hot chili was my theme
about four or five years ago,”
she says. “I got lights, the kind
that you put on a tree, shaped
like chili. I strung them up on
the poles outside and in the
kitchen, around the cabinets.
That is the first time I did chUi.
People liked it so much, we
decided that chHi would always
be a part of the party.”
Bell-Boone buys things year
round, stockpiling plates, cups
balloons and banners. She has
everything from football bowls
for chili to collectors items, like
limited edition coins and cloth
ing.
She also makes sure people
who won’t get into the game
have options as well.
“Not everyone is a fan or
wants to watch the game,” BeU-
Boone says. “Some people just
want to gather together. We
have games set up. This year we
have Bingo, Outburst, checkers,
card games and hockey. It’s
family style for people who have
children. There will be a sepa
rate room for children with
games and videos.”
Bell-Boone’s best Super Bowl?
Last year, of course. The
Steelers were in it.
This year’s game is a little
harder to call.
“I really don’t have a team in
it,” she says. “Tm just puffing for
a good game.”
Super Bowl XXXI kicks off
Sunday at 6 p.m. on WCCB-TV.
The station begins its coverage
at 11:30 a.m.
PHOTOS/USA RICE COUNCIL
New Orleans lends itself to great parties and foods, like the easy Jambalaya pictured above. Recipe on page 14A.
No Panthers,
no problem (really)
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
We know.
The Panthers did not make
the “Big Dance.”
That doesn’t mean that yom
Super Bowl party has to be can
celed. Weather permitting,
throw open the doors leading
onto your patio or deck and kick
off your own Super Bowl pre
game party with a menu that
will warm the hearts and whet
the appetites of football-loving
guests.
Fire up the grill for spicy
sausages, beef teriyaki and
seafood kebabs, pots of hearty
soup, chili and chowder, or
imaginative grilled pizzas
topped with anything fi-om pep-
peroni to squid.
Fill coolers or galvanized tubs
with ice or fresh snow (hey, any
thing is possible), beer, wine
and nonalcoholic beverages.
Bring out blankets and beach
chairs to make the get-together
as comfortable as possible. (Or,
if the weather is especially
frosty, grill outside - never
inside - and bring the cooked
foods quickly inside.)
For snacking, serve your
favorite dip - in the shape of a
football, of course - with an
assortment of chips and dips,
sandwiches and salads.
You can also jazz up your pre
party by latching onto the New
Orleans theme. Lots of hot and
spicy creole foods can warm up
even the coldest party.
Or, just drag out your washpot
and hard-fiy some croaker and
hush puppies.
And don’t forget about the bar
becue. Chicken, beef and, of
course, pork make perfect can
vases for special sauces.
We’ve picked out a few of our
favorite recipes, dips and salads
to make your tailgate/pre-parfy
party a Super Bowl success.
The Associated Press con
tributed to this article.
See RECIPES on page 14A
PHOTO/ SUE ANN JOHNSON
The Omegas of Charlotte tailgate during a Panther game.
When needed, man’s coffin stands ready
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ESCANABA, Mich. - When
Dick Hanson dies, his family
won’t have to select his coffin;
he’s already built it. But they
will have to remove the books,
magazines and shoes to make
room for the corpse.
Hanson, a retired building
contractor with a decidedly
lighthearted outlook on dying,
started work on his coffin five
or six years ago. He got the
idea from a book that said
frontiersman Daniel Boone
had built his own coffin and
kept it under his bed.
“I thought, ... ‘That’s a neat
idea,’ ” said Hanson, 66, of
Escanaba.
He’s heard of coffin builders
using their creations as coffee
tables. But he decided to
stand his on its side, build
shelves and use it as a book
case until needed for its
weightier task.
The coffin-to-be now con
tains a few antique books,
magazines and a “happy
birthday” computer printout
from his granddaughter. On
the bottom shelf, Hanson
stores his painting shoes - the
ones he wears when helping
construct theater sets at the
William Bonifas Fine Arts
Center.
Hanson takes a straightfor
ward approach to death.
“I’m not frightened,” he told
the Daily Press of Escanaba
for a story Monday. “You die
when you are ready or when
the time comes. ... I tell my
wife that when I die I’ve saved
her two grand (by building the
coffin).”
He gets some surprised reac
tions from people who hear
about his coffin, but insists his
project is not morbid.
‘"To me, being morbid is pre
tending you’re never going to
die.”
Before starting work,
Hanson asked a lawyer if
there were any laws in
Michigan governing coffins.
He said there weren’t.
He consulted an undertaker
to make sure his coffin would
fit in the concrete vault that
encases caskets in the ground.