Cooper leads OLLU past Wiley

By Tonya Whitaker
Inside The Pew

Our Lady of the Lake University men’s basketball team forced 27 turnovers en route to its 15 consecutive victory, as the Saints edged Wiley in Marshall, 96-88, on Jan. 28.

Marco Cooper scored 23 points for the surging Saints (14-0, 17-3). AJ Govan and Mike Brown added 12 points. Josh Orta added 7 assists and four steals.

The Saints, ranked seventh in the NAIA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 poll, are three games ahead of second place LSU-Shreveport (11-3, 13-6) and three-and-a-half games ahead of Texas Wesleyan University (10-3, 15-4).

Freddie Haynes led the Wildcats (7-6, 11-7) in scoring with 21 points, followed by Michael Evans and Richard Simon, who both finished the game with 13.

OLLU will next head to Shreveport to face LSU-Shreveport on Jan. 30. Tip-off against the Pilots is slated for 7:30 p.m.

In women’s hoops action, the Lady Wildcats silenced the Lady Saints, 74-73. Shakendra Moore led Wiley’s charge with 20 points, followed by Alieshia Carruthers with 12. Carruthers, Latika Smith, and Kyniddia Purdy each net five assists. Smith led Wiley in steals with five.

High scorers for OLLU were Jasmine Fuller with 20 points, Chelsea Kellogg and Nashae Owens each scored 12 points, while Kellogg added four steals and Owens added four assists.

Grief lecture this weekend in Richardson

By Grelan Muse Sr.

Inside The Pew

Dealing with grief can be a touchy topic for people. Journalist and media consultant Linda Jones has found the greatest benefit in using words to help others overcome.

Jones will facilitate an event, “Writing Through Grief” beginning Friday, April 22 at the Dallas Mediation Center in Richardson, 727 S. Floyd Road. In Friday, Jones said an introduction and conversation is planned to start at 7 p.m. and end at 8:30 p.m. The actual workshop takes place from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 23.

On Friday, an open donation is requested (give what you can). The Saturday workshop costs $65 per person. Included in the workshop is a copy of “It’s Only Temporary” journal.

The workshop will explore writing as comfort, journaling techniques and exercises, mood monitoring and music mediation and poetic approaches and affirmations. Participants are asked to bring a pen and a writing pad.

Jones has used her talents to create a series of writing series, including "Finding Your Inner Scribe" and “Zen & the Pen,” and "What I Want You to Know (Before I Go),” an introduction to memoir workshop. 

“My Writing through Grief workshop grew out of the memoir workshop. I found that during several of the exercises in my memoir workshop, a number of the participants would write about the loss of a loved one even though my prompts were never directly related to death or loss, Jones told Inside The Pew.

“It was noticeable enough for me to create a workshop that just focused on using writing as a means of navigating through grief. 

She said ministers and counselors have suggested the workshop to individuals because it is a different route to handling grief.

“Some are squeamish about the title and feel that I should come up with something a little more euphemistic. That's because many people are intimidated by the act of writing and squeamish about the topic of grief. Those who want me to change the name also mistakenly think that we will be gathering to write about grief. That is not what we do. My workshop is designed to show how the writing process can help them get through it.”