Jamie Tobias Neely

1. Susanna Sweeney-Martini works on a spelling test with her intructional aide Diane Sterling. She spells the words on a computer after Diane pronounces them for her. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Right: Leaving her wheelchair in the hall, Suzanna works with her instructional aide at Jefferson Elementary School. 3. Susan Sweeney (left) and her daughter Susanna Sweeney-Martini talk with Princess Diana, a leading supporter of conductive education. The Birmingham Post

Need an easy gift idea that truly says Spokane? The American Association of University Women have the perfect present for you.

With the 21st century looming as a high-speed, hard-wired, cyberspace frontier, how will the ordinary human brain keep pace? Dr. Kenford Nedd, a Vancouver, B.C. physician, believes the next century will require each of us to retool and rewire our brains. He'll speak Tuesday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Cavanaugh's Inn At the Park. His topic: "Mind Fitness Training for the 21st Century." Tickets are $47. "Habits of performance and thinking are actually grooved into the nervous systems," Nedd says. "Motivation or knowledge is not enough to create change. If you're interested in personal transformation, you need to retool the whole personality." Nedd advises people to take better care of their brains to ensure that they can perform well under pressure, break out of the fog and focus clearly. Here are his tips for jump-starting the brain: Fuel your brain each morning by always eating breakfast. Exercise regularly. Memorize a new poem, quotation or scripture every week to keep your brain challenged. Sprinkle scents, such as peppermint, that stimulate the brain around your workplace. Play music such as Vivaldi with 60 beats per minute to stimulate learning. Learn to focus the mind and body through breathing and relaxation techniques. Create more fun in your life. Change your perspective. Don't make sales simply to make money, but to give people increased options in life. Reduce the fog by getting up from your desk to move, splash cold water on your face or go for a walk. Pay close attention to whatever you do. You'll generate more interest and sharpen your clarity. "Life is one darn thing after another," Nedd says. "As you go into the 21st century it will continue to be more darn things. "To sharpen the brain means to dig more into the immense resources you already have." For tickets, call 325-4858. Nedd's lecture is sponsored by the International Stress Control Center in Vancouver, B.C.

Two titles that will look good under the Christmas tree. Photo by Molly O'Hara/The Spokesman-Review

(From Society column, Sunday, November 19, 1995): Clarification: Margaret Ross Thrailkill, who was recently honored as a YWCA Woman of Achievement, is a retired teacher from Spokane Falls Community College. The school was not identified in last week's column. 1. YWCA Women of Achievement Award winners include, from left, Dr. Joan Craig, Margaret Ross Thrailkill, Peggy Goodner Tan and Nancy Fike. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 2. Award winners Donna Hanson, Bobbi Johnson and Shayna Silverstein. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

1. As a high school senior, Stacy Riggiola weighed 178 pounds. 2. Above, Stacy Riggiola (left) works on her routine with coach Nancy Armstrong at Northwest Gymnastics. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 3. Left, Riggiola includes stretching as part of her daily workouts.

1. Judy Wolf and Lois Kieffaber hammer together framing for the Women's House project at Fourth and Haven. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 2. Kay Hurst, one of the construction supervisors, has been instrumental in the building of the Habitat for Humanity Women's House. Photo by Molly O'Hara/The Spokesman-Review 3. Mary Siegel, in the wheelchair, and Shirley Watson, to the right of Siegel, celebrate the ground breaking ceremony for their new house. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Adele Faber loves her own advice - published now for 20 years, translated into more than a dozen languages - so much that she even applies it to the family dog. One day as her husband brushed their collie, Darby, the dog erupted with fury. She chased Faber's husband from room to room, barking like Lassie at a squirrel convention.

Mary Kay Ash, yes, THE Mary Kay of the watermelon lipstick, the lemon meringue hair and the powder-pink Cadillacs, is dying to let the American woman know how to have it all. She's written a book with that very title, " Mary Kay: You Can Have It All," and she's got a built-in market of 400,000 Mary Kay consultants who shot this book to the No. 3 spot on the Wall Street Journal best-seller list two days after it reached the stores.

(Cover of book)

Aging begins long before Willard Scott starts wishing you Happy Birthday. Now's the time to figure out how to do it well. A Washington State University conference next week might be a start.

Let 1995 go down as the year Ellen Goodman learned to play golf. But don't be confused about the symbolism. Think mid-life adjustment, not new conservatism.

Effie Chow brings healing technique to Spokane.

The dreamer twirls the lock on her high school locker. She's forgotten the combination. She rushes to the principal's office, only to find a long line ahead of her. She darts back into the hallway. She's lost her class schedule, too. She heads into the first class she finds. It's the wrong one. But the lecture has already begun and she hates to disturb the other students. Resigned, she sits back and listens to a lecture she doesn't need to hear, in a place she doesn't need to be. This classic dream of frustration recurs in the REM sleep cycles of three Spokane sisters. They only recently realized that all three had been dreaming this identical dream for years. Right down to the glassedin principal's office.

Pop quiz: You're eight months pregnant. Do you: A. Zip out to see "Mortal Kombat." B. Stay up late for "NYPD Blue." C. Rent a gentle film and bliss out at home.

Joyce Kilmartin habitually drove down the street railing at anyone who got in her way. A vice president for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island, she was a fast thinker, fast talker, fast driver. She had a closetful of expensive business suits. She lived in an all-Volvo neighborhood in Barrington, R.I., and she was angry all the time.

Imagine Blondie with 40 extra pounds, sagging breasts and a sardonic sense of humor. You'd come close to Janet, a fictional free-lance newspaper columnist and a character in the new comic strip "Us & Them." After 100 years of perky housewives and well-stacked secretaries, the world of newspaper comics has finally begun portraying women - and men, too - more realistically. Once in awhile, the strips are even drawn from a female perspective.

Mallard Fillmore is moving to the editorial pages.

John Bradshaw is author of "Family Secrets."

A record-breaking bid of $1,425 bought a date with bachelor Tom Hall during the recent Easter Seal Bachelor Auction in Spokane. Hall, an AT&T; account executive, planned a date to "Phantom of the Opera" in San Francisco.

1. Campers head out to do some fishing at Camp Goodtimes. The camp, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, is held every summer at Camp Reed. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review 2. During quiet time, Don Ashford (bottom bunk), 15, plays his guitar for his cabin mates. "It's good," he says softly, "to be alive." 3. Camper Emily Hansen, 10, gets a hug from junior counselor Amy Seppa.

Today, faithful readers of the Funky Winkerbean comic strip will discover one of its characters has attempted suicide. Susan Smith, a smart, sensitive high school student, has swallowed a bottle of pills because she's discovered the teacher she loves plans to marry someone else. In a world of shifty-eyed cats, talking ducks and running gags, Susan Smith's suicide attempt may appear jarringly real. So real, in fact, that several newspapers have refused to run the strip. But cartoonist Tom Batiuk hopes to raise awareness of this serious issue at a time when teen suicide rates have reached an all-time high.

1. Tom Hall 2. Bruce Berezay 3. Ron Jensen 4. Marty Pujolar

I turned 40 this year, and my favorite birthday gift wasn't what you might expect. It was a line in a 39-year-old letter, tucked into a scrapbook from my mother. It told of my father singing duets with me in the car on the way to the baby sitter's house in the morning. Duets with my father. It's an amazing image. Even after years of standing beside him in church, hymnals in our hands, I could have sworn I never sang with my father. I sang. He stood silent. Maybe he hummed along on "Silent Night" on Christmas Eve, but I couldn't swear on it.