Skin

Amber Willard GLENDALE -- Irma Ellis and Katherine Jaynes don't seem like they would have much in common -- Ellis is a Glendale Police officer in the community outreach office and Jaynes is an animal keeper in the Los Angeles Zoo nursery. Their connection is their skin. Both women, in their jobs and personal lives, are hard on their epidermis. Ellis is up almost every day before dawn, headed to the gym before hitting the streets for work. Jaynes spends a lot of time outside with the zoo babies, who often crawl all over her. They're just the kind of women the representatives of Dove soap were looking for while casting "real women" to try the new Nutrium Nourishing Bar. "I was surprised it was for a national commercial," said Jaynes, who will appear in the spots that are scheduled to air in a few weeks.

Mirjam Swanson CRESCENTA VALLEY HIGH -- One brilliant play, with seven seconds left in the match, was sufficient to erase the other 27 minutes, 53 seconds of sloppy, unsatisfactory play by the Crescenta Valley High boys' water polo team in its 12-11 win against La Serna High on Friday in its own pool. The clutch drive began with a mid-pool steal by Jeff Little. The senior faked a shot and passed to David Mulcahey in the corner. Mulcahey presented a quick fake of his own, before drilling the winning shot into the back of the net, in the process sending an increasingly loud crowd into momentary delirium.

Editor's Note: Numerous instances of plagiarism have been discovered in Dan Kimber's “Education Matters” column, which ran in the News- Press from September 2003 to September 2011. In those columns where plagiarism has been found, a For the Record specifying the details will be appended to the piece. There is a memorable character from the movie "Teachers," Mr. Ditto, who reminds me of a few teachers I had in school and, I must add, a few I have known over the years as colleagues.

Friday morning was not just another rainy day in physical education classes at La Cañada High School. Instead, it looked like a lecture hall at a prominent university. Each hour, more than 100 students packed into the lecture room of the school's Information Resource Center, to hear Dr. Michael Novak, a Glendale dermatologist, assisted by Rosana Vicente, from Glendale Adventist Hospital, speak about the dark side of the sun, its effects on the skin, and how to prevent sun damage and skin cancer.

For former La Cañada resident and La Cañada High grad Brita Petersons, being a contestant on UPN's hit reality show "America's Next Top Model" was like pulling teeth. She just wanted to get out of there. Petersons was eliminated from the show for what the judges on the show called a "horrible photo." And indeed, Petertsons did not seem to be happy with it. "I didn't know I had freedom to move," Petersons said in a telephone interview about the photo shoot. "I asked [the photographer]

The Glendale Galleria - a retail powerhouse whose 1970s-era all-brick façade has been criticized as being overtly drab - plans to undergo a major overhaul in the next two years, including a revamped entrance plaza featuring 11-foot-high letters jutting out of a pool. The project, approved by the City Council on Tuesday, will ditch the mega-mall's windowless, brick exterior, which was typical of shopping malls built in the 1970s, but has become increasingly dated with the rise of the glitzy Americana at Brand and a more mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented downtown.

Alluria Skin Care, Inc. announced plans to introduce the Obagi ELASTIderm Eye Cream, a novel eye-therapy product clinically proven to help the natural abilities of skin to produce insoluble elastin, decrease the number of wrinkles and increase functional elasticity of the skin. "A significant number of people in our community are actively seeking strategies to reduce lines, wrinkles and other effects of aging on the skin," said Alluria Skin Care Founder Gigi Schlueter, a lifelong resident of La Canada.

The great thing about children is that they are blind when it comes to skin color. Most, if not all, children I have met don't pay attention to their friends' skin colors or cultural ancestry. They make friends with someone who has the same interests they do. Race or ethnicity is not a factor when they pick and choose who to be friends with. The same can't be said about many adults. Recently, I paid a visit to Columbus Elementary School in Glendale and attended the school's annual multicultural assembly.

Glendale Memorial Hospital was the place to be for a free lunch and the latest information on common diseases of middle age Nov. 17. The hospital auditorium was overflowing with sandwiches, pasta salad, cookies, beverages, doctors-in-the-know and valuable medical information. There was even a free opportunity drawing thrown in to boot. Paula Devine , chairwoman of the Glendale Commission on the Status of Women, welcomed some 40 men and women who wanted to know more about the topic: “Aspects of Melanoma and Skin Cancer.

At the California Science Center viewers of "Body Worlds" are mystified and left in awe of the human body. This eerie exhibit uses real cadavers and body parts. "This exhibit gives the public an opportunity usually reserved for medical professionals," said Dr. Richard Sass, senior research scholar, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University. "Viewers get a chance to look inside their own bodies and experience the wonder and respect for what it means to be human." There are more than 200 specimens of organs, body parts, transparent slices and 25 whole body specimens in the exhibit.