Tuesday, December 07, 1999
Their holiday trip helps others to see
BY JIM KNIPPENBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Here's the downside: Drs. Joshua Sands, Don Stephens and a bunch of their friends are going to miss a batch of holiday parties.
Here's the upside: Lots of folks will be able to see because of it.
Sands is associate prof of ophthalmology at UC's College of Medicine; Stephens, his former student, is now in New York.
In 1995 they began once-a-year trips to Manuel Bueno (Dominican Republic), a poor rural village with no access to eye care.
“Don came to me when he was still in school here and asked if I'd be interested. I was,” Sands says.
Since then, they've built a clinic and seen about 1,500 people.
Their attack? They take used eye glasses collected between trips, treat cataracts and ptergia (a growth over the cornea) and distribute glaucoma medicine. Eleven doctors, nurses and support types left Saturday and return Dec. 12.
ABOUT TOWN: Making the weekend rounds, here a gala, there there a cup of coffee whilst discussing the ever-so-surprising fate of Tiny Tim ...
GALA CHATTER: First off, there's the Saturday black tie do reopening UC's College-Conservatory of Music. Among the things overheard:
• Hugh Downs, retired from 20/20 and here to narrate the evening's showcase of student talent, talking about his second career at the ripe young age of 78.
Seems he's now a classical composer, hard at work on a piece for cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The St. Louis Symphony and Ma are scheduled to do the world premiere May 3.
Guess we shouldn't be too surprised: Downs, it develops, is a heavy duty music lover. He talked lots that night about growing up in Lima (Ohio) and frequent trips here for the old Zoo Opera.
• Suzanne Farrell, former Cincinnatian, CCM grad and former principal with the New York City Ballet, was there with old pal Peggy Kahn, one of the founders of the Cincinnati Ballet. She was talking about Cincinnati things that she misses living in New York: Frisch's, for one.
Specifically, Big Boys and fries, and never mind that even as she was speaking, an army of servers was passing nibbles while another army was setting up a zillion buffet tables loaded with beef tenderloin, crab legs and heaven only knows what else.
“Big Boy and fries, I'd like one right now.”
SEEN AROUND TOWN: Dale Powell, hanging around Mount Adams Bookstore Saturday morning signing books, greeting fans and sipping coffee.
Doesn't ring a bell? Consider: Powell, an eighth-grade English teacher from Lucasville (the town, not the prison) is author of Timothy Cratchit's Christmas Carol (DickensWorld, $12), a sequel that follows Tim from the end of the original to the days of World War I.
Reason we care is because it's set in Cincinnati: “I was going to do New York, but I'm not familiar with the city,” Powell said. “But in my research, I found Cincinnati, with its huge immigrant population early in the century, fit as well as New York.
“And I know Cincinnati.”
Indeed. Wife Barbara Eichenlaub is from Covington and her parents still live here.
The story takes place on Dec. 24, 1917, and Tim's beloved grandson has been killed overseas. He sees no reason to live.
He's visited by, gasp, kindly old Scrooge, then by the Ghost of Christmas That Might Have Been (what would have happened if he had never lived), Ghost of Christmas In Your Heart (the good things in his life despite his grandson's death) and Ghost of Christmas That May Still Be (all the good things to come).
The book, published in a limited edition in '98, made its national debut in November. It's available at bookstores or by calling (888) 750-4802, where it's $9.95 if you say you read it here.
Knip's Eye View appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
KNIPPENBERG ARCHIVE
