Five companies doing right thing, one dad trying to

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By ERNEST HOOPER

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 11, 2001

Kudos to Aerial Innovations, Answers Systems, Lazzara Yacht, Bayfront Health System and USF for helping their employees balance the demands of job and family.

The five local companies were honored Thursday at the Family Friendly Business Awards breakfast at the Hyatt Regency.

While parents certainly need that assistance from companies, they also need fellow employees without children to be understanding. Some colleagues who don't have kids resent what they see as unequal treatment in the workplace.

As a father of two boys, my promise is simply this: Someday, somehow, you will reap the benefits of picking up the slack.

Maybe my son will be the doctor who handles your health problems, or the lawyer who handles your estate. I hope.

Just lend a hand now, and we'll all be better for it in the long run.

As a 66-year-old Realtor and community activist, Ana Crespo hardly lives life in the slow lane. But the Cuban native really kicks up her heels on Saturdays when the band Cuban Son plays boleros in the courtyard of Pipo's restaurant on Davis Islands.

"It's like your Frank Sinatra songs, big band music," Crespo explained. "The beauty about it is I think it's the only place not with salsa but the old Cuban music. That music has so much meaning to the years we grew up in Cuba."

Pipo's owner, Danny Hernandez, has struck upon a nice formula. Last Saturday, the courtyard was full.

Timmothy B. McCann has added a different flavor to the literary scene. Walking through the door of opportunity opened by the likes of Terry McMillan, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, the Gainesville native has written three contemporary African-American novels, but their appeal is broad.

"I've gotten e-mails from Asia and parts of Europe," McCann said. "I don't want my message to be diluted by thinking the novels are for one race, one sex or one anything."

McCann will sign copies of his novels -- Forever (his latest, about the first year of a marriage), Always and Until -- at Waldenbooks in West Shore Plaza Mall Saturday noon-2 p.m., and at Books For Thought (10910 56th St. N) 4-6 p.m.

I guess I'm asking my colleagues to be understanding about balancing work and family because come November, I'm going to need some additional help. Know what I mean?

Maybe my cousin, comedian Maryellen Hooper, can pitch in. She's playing Side Splitters in Carrollwood with two shows tonight and Saturday (8 and and 10:30 p.m.) and Sunday (8 p.m.).

Okay, maybe we're not cousins, but after checking out her brand of humor at maryellenhooper.com and learning she has appeared on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno, I'm making every attempt to claim her. If the Hemmings clan really is descended from Thomas Jefferson, can you say for certain Maryellen and I aren't related?

So exactly how do you go about telling people you're going to be a father, again? You can't say something too soon, but you don't want people finding out when you come home from the hospital. You want to share the news with friends, but it's egotistical to convene a meeting and tell everyone.

Maybe you should just say something in your column.

- Ernest Hooper can be reached at (813) 226-3406 or Hooper@sptimes.com. His column appears on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

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