Car crash might have a great upside
Madison Hanna is getting a crash course in marketing because of her family's car crash. If that sounds crazy, Madison is hoping it is crazy enough to win her a 2009 Volkswagen Beetle.
She can thank her cousin Patrick Crooks, a student at Penn State, for getting her name in the forefront of a monthly contest being held by Fox Valley Volkswagen, which has been encouraging people to submit a short story about why their loved one deserves a new car.
Crooks' story told of his long friendship with his cousin, but also the tough luck that Madison, a 2007 Geneva High graduate and a communications major at DePaul University, was facing when one of the family cars was totaled in a crash. The family has three kids in college at the same time, so sharing one car became the norm.
With some help from her mother, Nancy Hanna, and her production company forword.tv, Madison is using Facebook to market her cause and garner votes on the lovebugcontest.com Web site. Votes are being taken for the top stories in contention for the new car. The top vote-getter will be driving the new beetle by mid-December.
Classic gesture: "A Classic Christmas in St. Charles" figures to be a highly enjoyable event this weekend Onesti Italian Steakhouse & Supper Club, 18 N. 4th St., but Ron Onesti wants to give it even more meaning. A portion of the proceeds will go to St. Charles schools' Suicide Prevention Program.
Perfect tie-in: They couldn't make a necktie that fit the occasion more perfectly than the one Geneva schools Superintendent Kent Mutchler wore last week during the leadership breakfast at the high school.
It was American Education Week, and Mutchler's tie said as much as any words. It was a colorful tie, showing a one-room schoolhouse, an American flag, school buses and a student riding a bike to school.
First sign of winter: Meteorologists and nature lovers could point to numerous things that qualify as the first sign of winter. Usually, a cold wind reminds us just fine.
A local "first sign" would be the haystacks and plastic fencing going up at the bottom of the Fabyan Forest Preserve hill where the region's trademark windmill sits.
It means the sledding season could break out at any moment.
Dessert by any name: It doesn't matter if a dessert is "casual" or "elegant." I will eat them either way.
But it makes a difference to someone who creates the desserts. Alain Roby of Geneva, who is the senior corporate pastry chef for Hyatt Hotels, would fall into that category.
I like this fellow because he declares chocolate as his favorite dessert. But he's got a lot more on his mind than just chocolate in his new cookbook, "American Classics: Casual and Elegant Desserts."
Dessert lovers can meet Roby and check out the book when he appears for a signing from 1 to 4 p.m. Dec. 4 and 5 at Past Basket, 200 S. Third St. in Geneva
dheun@sbcglobal.net