| Author: | Sarah Crump; Plain Dealer Columnist |
| Date: | Apr 19, 2007 |
| Start Page: | E.2 |
| Section: | Arts & Life |
Distribution zones: All
Tune into ABC's "Good Morning America" Tuesday and see Ceray Doss- Williams cutting a rug with her favorite dance partner, son Christopher, age 6. The interim director of Cleveland State University's Upward Bound program is one of 10 finalists in the show's Dancing With the Moms Challenge.
Producers selected Doss-Williams' essay and a previous video she sent from more than 1,000 entries. They then sent her a video camera with instructions to dance to a Latin beat with one of her sons. "It's amusing if nothing else," Doss-Williams said of the video.
Each week, there will be a new video dance challenge issued with two of the 10 moms eliminated until four dancers are left. Those four will spend a week in New York, rehearsing with pros before a live dance-off beginning Monday, May 21. Starting next week, viewers can vote for favorites at abcnews.go.com/GMA.
Veggie toss: WOIO Channel 19 reporter Ed Gallek will reunite with his former band to perform starting about 9 p.m. Saturday night at Around the Corner Saloon & Cafe in Lakewood. "Yes, you can bring tomatoes to throw," said Ed.
Wedding belle: Nancy Borich, who works as a resident assistant at Rocky River's Harbor Court retirement community, wondered how her charges, many of whom use wheelchairs and walkers, would be able to attend her wedding.
Problem solved. Borich, 50, will marry Russ Pyle, 44, Saturday in Harbor Court's dining room.
They expect about 100 residents, staff and family to attend the afternoon ceremony and punch and cake reception. Residents are thrilled about the impending wedding, said Borich, a grandmother who has worked at Harbor Court for four years. "They keep telling me, 'just a few more days. Are you ready?' "
Pure inspiration: The gardens and landscapes of their seven-acre farm in Medina County inspire the work of artists Mary and Gary Stretar. Country Living magazine's May issue features the Spencer Township couple who moved there in 1996 from Cleveland's West Park neighborhood.
"We looked for a Greek Revival house for seven years," said Mary, who raises the gardens that yield models for her specialty -- botanical paintings. They found one, built in 1835, which they have restored.
Parent guide: Cleveland Heights lawyer Anne Southworth McFarland kept journals of her trials and victories while mothering an orphaned -- and willful -- 16-year-old girl who stayed with McFarland's family until she was 19.
"I learned how incredibly hard foster parenting is," said McFarland, who writes under her maiden name. Along the way, she shared her writings with other foster parents. "They told me, 'How did you know what was going on in my house?' "
"Nikki," the girl she wrote about, is now a U.S. Air Force veteran and mother of three, said McFarland. She has published her journals of their travails as "Next Friend: The Journal of a Foster Parent." To find out more about McFarland and her book, visit www.nextfriendpress.com.
Staff contributors to today's Sarah's World: Angela Townsend and Julie E. Washington. To reach Sarah Crump: scrump@plaind.com, 216- 999-5478
Previous columns online: cleveland.com/columns