2B OOP'
LIFE/tC|ie Ctiarlotte
Thursday, April 13, 2006
No time for loving
Continued from page 1B
women, don’t like dealing with
men who don’t have a so-
called job because he’s unsta
ble,” Kitchen said. “A lot of
women I meet don’t under
stand that I do a variety of
things. They ask, Svhy don’t
you have a real job?”’
However, Kitchen hasn’t
ruled out findii^ the ri^t one
and settling down. She’ll just
have to understand that
they’re going to have to make
the best of the time they’d
have together.
“Sometimes it’s not when
you see the person but what
person,” he said.
Men aren’t the only ones
who don’t have time for
romance and relationships.
Wendy Covington, who works
in public relations in Raleigh,
said working 52 hours a week
, hobbies and workir^ in the
church doesn’t give her the
time or energy to look for love.
“By the time the weekend
rolls around, I want to do
things around the house,
wash the car and relax,” she
said.
Covington isn’t alone in
choosing carear over relation
ships. According to a 2003
Institute, a center for
women’s studies, women
today are either postponing
marriage, taking advantage
of career opportunities or shy
ing away from marriage all
together. According to the
2000 U.S. Census, the per
centage of unmarried women
was 49 percent, the highest
level ever.
‘Tm so focused on what I
am ri^t now that (marriage)
doesn’t even seem necessary,”
Covington said.
Get kids into exercising
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - At Foid
Elementary School outside
Atlanta, the kids keep going
aroimd in circles. That’s just
how the teachers and the par
ents want it.
Before class each morning,
about 200 children walk laps
in the gym, earning prizes for
the amoxmt of distance they
cover. Intended to keep early
arriving students fiom sittii^
around in the hallways, the
program also takes aim at
today’s weight problem
among children.
The fitness campaign at the
Acworth, Ga., school has
become so popular that Idds
have taken to walking and
running during fi^e time
with their parents. Lisa
Jacobi, whose daughter
Ohvia takes part in the
school’s walking program,
saidparents should take evaa
more steps.
‘Tmjust amazed at the size
of Irids now,” said Jacobi, who
oversees the “Mileage Club”
for the school. “The kids who
are considered typical toda—
when I was growing up, they
woiold have been the heavier
kids. I guess it just bothers
me that it is accepted so
much. We need to be doing
something about it.”
Health of&dak say she’s
right.
“Our nation’s young people
are, in large measure, inac
tive, imfit and increasit^y
Please see PHYSICALLY/4B
you do in the time you see the study by the Beverly LaHaye
Katrina blows away
social networks, too
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW ORLEANS-Ray
Heisser misses the surprise
visits.
The doorbell on Camberley
Drive would chime and
thaw’d be an old fiiend on
Hedsser’s porch mopping the
humidity off his forehead,
stopping by for no good rea
son. “What yah gettin’ into?
Come on, take a drive with
me.”
They had teamed up for
grade-school baseball games,
cradled one another’s new
borns and raised beer bottles
to celebrate retirements.
Before Katrina scattered
them to Las Vegas and
Houston, they hved a half-
mile fixim one another in a
quiet, mostly black neighbor
hood dotted with palm trees
and ponds.
‘We’ve been knowing each
other since we were this big,”
says the 66-year-old Heiss^,
lowering a weathered, big-
knuckled hand down to his
knee. ‘What I miss most is my
way of life. The unity”
Austin J. Badon Sr. nods;
“It’s a fiiendship, but it’s also
a family”
Most people they know
want to rebuild, eventually
But no one can quite imagine
the day when their houses
will be livable again and now
the glue of their fives is
gone—their neighl»rs, local
businesses, social clubs. Just
about every black institution
in town is strug^ing or has
disappeared.
What is any school or
church or company without
its people?
“The culture is all about tire
people,” Heisser says. “That’s
a big part of New Orleans.”
Even if everyone came back
tomorrow, the scars would
last a long time.
But let’s face it—not every
one’s coming back. Barely
200,000 are now living in the
city. Before Katrina, there
were 465,000 residents, seven
in 10 of them black. Experts
including the Rand Corp., a
nonprofit think tank, agree
it’ll stay smaller than it was
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