Nun Raised in Beverly Hills Traded Posh Life for Prison Life

She was living what many would consider to be a dream life: Raised in Beverly Hills, living in a beachfront home along the California coast, lots of kids and grandkids nearby.
And then she left it all to live in a Mexican prison.

After making headlines for her decision to become a nun and tend to prisoners in Tijuana, Mexico, more than three decades ago, Sister Antonia Brenner has died at age 86, the Los Angeles Times reported. Brenner died in the convent she founded in Mexico, according to Channel 8 in San Diego, She had been suffering from a weak heart and a neuromuscular condition.

The wife and mother who became a sister at the age of 50 raised seven children and had married (and divorced) twice.

 Born Mary Clarke in 1926 to Irish immigrants, she led a busy life in Southern California, raising her children and doing charity work, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In 1965, she made her first trip to La Mesa State Penitentiary to deliver medical supplies, according to the Daily Mail. The place, inhabited with drug dealers, murderers, and thieves, had an impact on her, "filling her with compassion," the Times reported.

"Something happened to me when I saw men behind bars," Brenner told the Times in a 1982 interview. "When I left, I thought a lot about the men. When it was cold, I wondered if the men were warm; when it was raining, if they had shelter. I wondered if they had medicine and how their families were doing. ... You know, when I returned to the prison to live, I felt as if I'd come home."
In 1977, divorced and with her children out of the house, Brenner gave away her pricey possessions to become a Roman Catholic nun and moved into the Mexican prison, trading her Ventura beach house for a concrete 10-by-10 room and slept on a cot. She became known as the "prison angel."
"I'm the mother of seven children," the nun with a memorable giggle told the Times in a 2002 interview. "I'm prepared for everything."

Not that it was an easy life. The prison had a reputation for riots, which she did not fear. An uprising in 2008 led to the death of 23 inmates. "I'm effective in riots because I'm not afraid. I just pray and walk into it," she told the Associated Press in 2005. "A woman in a white veil walks in, someone they know loves them. So silence comes, explanation comes, and arms go down."

 But Brenner did not isolate herself from her family. According to her daughter-in-law, she made frequent trips back to Southern California with stories of her charitable work. "She was a tiny woman with a little fire and a lot of passion," Christina Brenner told the Associated Press. "We called her the Eveready battery. She wouldn't stop. She was always going."

Guards and inmates referred to her as "Mama," and she helped victims and guards as well as the prisoners. "There isn't anyone who hasn't heard my lecture on victims," she told the Times in a 2002 interview. "They have to accept that they're wrong. They have to see the consequences. They have to feel the agony. ... But I do love them dearly."

 Eventually, Brenner started her own religious community, the Eudist Servants of the Eleventh Hour, the place she eventually lived as her health failed her and where she died on Thursday.

Along with her seven children, Brenner is survived by 45 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the Times reported.

Madonna Banned From Alamo Drafthouse Movie Theater Chain

Following last week's incident at the "12 Years a Slave" premiere at the New York Film Festival, where the songbird allegedly texted throughout the first half of the film until she was asked to stop by another moviegoer, the "Material Girl" has been banned from attending movies at the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater chain.

The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain has a strict no-talking and anti-texting policy for its theaters, and will reportedly ask patrons who violate the policy to leave the theater. Naturally many of The Queen of Pop's fans sprang to action on Twitter, telling Alamo Theaters that they were overreacting to the situation, but League stood his ground and followed up with a series of chiding tweets.

League claimed on Saturday that his Twitter tirade toward Mo was all a joke and was simply meant to get the issue of texting during movies into the public eye, but Madonna's fans aren't buying it and are calling for him to apologize. Madonna's camp has not responded to the controversy on Twitter and has not released a statement regarding the ban. Do you think Madonna should be banned from going to the movies for texting during a flick? Sound off in the comments.

9-Year-old Boy becomes Nigeria’s Youngest Microsoft Certified Professional

A nine-year-old pupil of Role Model School, Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos, Jomiloju Tunde-Oladipo, has emerged the youngest Nigerian Microsoft certified professional.

He came tops among 21 pupils who sat for the professional examination in Lagos.

He is now a Microsoft office specialist in office word 2010.

Jomiloju scored 769 out of 1,000 in the examination held in August.

In his examination score report, the slim-built boy performed well in Sharing and Maintaining Documents, Formatting Content, Applying Page Layout, and Reusable Content, among other subjects.

By the feat, Jomiloju has joined the league of young Microsoft certified professionals, including Nigeria’s 10-year-old Anjolaoluwa Seyi-Ojo; an eight-year-old Indian, Lavishnashree, and two Pakistanis, named

Arfa and Thobani.

Microsoft Certified Professional is a certification programme provided by Microsoft Corporation. The certification is tailored towards building skills on Microsoft business solutions, focusing on client-end operating systems such as windows XP, Vista, Windows7 among others.

Jomiloju, whose certificate was signed by the Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Corporation, Steven Ballmer, says he did not achieve this feat easily, but through persistence and hard work.

He says, “It was not all that easy, because I had attempted the examination last year, I did not make it then. But I remained focused and I put in a lot of hard work.

“At home and in the school, I am always on the computer. After school hours, if am not doing anything, I will go to my Information Communication Technology teacher, to learn more.”

Jomiloju sat for the examination when he was in primary Five.

Relating his experience, Jomiloju says, “In all, I answered 20 questions, after answering a question, the computer takes you to another one. And at times, there will be an instruction to skip the next question. But the programme still directs one to come back to those questions one had earlier skipped.”

Beer In Space: 11-Year-Old's Tiny Brewery Will Fly to Space Station

In a couple of months, the astronauts on the International Space Station will help make a cosmic brew, courtesy of a sixth grader from Colorado.
Eleven-year-old Michal Bodzianowski's microbrewery experiment, designed to test the effects of making beer in space, has won a trip to the space station, thanks to the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education's Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP). Bodzianowski's experiment, which he developed at STEM School and Academy in Highland Ranch, Colo., is slated to fly to space aboard Orbital Science's robotic Cygnus spacecraft, expected to launch in December.
The tiny brewery is set up inside a 6-inch-long (15 centimeters) tube, filled with separated hops, water, yeast and malted barley — all of the key ingredients used to make beer — and will be delivered to the station by the commercial firm NanoRacks. An astronaut aboard the station will shake up the mixture to see how the yeast interacts with the other ingredients in the beer. [Space Food Photos: What Astronauts Eat in Orbit]
"I really didn't expect this from the start," Bodzianowski told KDVR, a Fox affiliate in Denver. "I really just designed my experiment to get a good grade in my class."
It might sound like a somewhat frivolous experiment, but Bodzianowski has some good reasons for wanting to investigate the way beer can be made in space. In case of an emergency in space, alcohol is a cheap way to purify water, so figuring out a good way to make beer in space could be practical.

"Let's say it's a long-duration spaceflight and the water supply is contaminated," said Jeff Goldstein, center director for the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and founder of SSEP. "There's no way to refresh that water by simply going back to Earth and getting some more."
"If we can create a fermentation process and water supply, that would create some level of alcohol content that could sterilize the water supply," Goldstein continued. "There was a real logic behind what he [Bodzianowski] was saying, from the standpoint of the scientific investigation proposed."
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program was created to give students a taste of what it's like to be a scientist. Students in communities around the United States carefully craft proposals for the kinds of experiments they want to see fly to space.
Three projects from each community are chosen during the first step of the review, and a review board of spaceflight scientists, educators and engineers pick the final experiments that will fly to space.
"I think that one of the reasons why there's so much interest in this project is it's cool to think about, 'Wow, let's make beer in space,'" Goldstein told SPACE.com.
Other experiments selected to fly with Bodzianowski's microbrewery look into the developmental effects of microgravity on the spotted salamander, how microgravity changes calcium absorption in bones, crystal formation on the station and seven other selected experiments.
The SSEP just put out a call for new experiments to fly to the International Space Station for the program's sixth mission. Learn more about the opportunity on the SSEP website. Interested communities should inquire about the program on or before Oct. 31.
This is the second beer-related space news in a matter of weeks. A Delaware brewery has crafted a special beer using moon dust. The traditional German Oktoberfest beer, called "Celest-jewel-ale," is created using lunar meteorites ground into dust.

Nollywood actress, Nuella Njubigbo Completes NYSC

NYSC Batch "C" Members passed out today and Nollywood actress Nuella Njubigbo was one of them.
Big congrats to her.

Popular attractions in Owerri

Owerri, the capital city of ‘the Eastern Heartland’, Imo State, and the acclaimed ‘entertainment capital of Nigeria’, is one such city that is full of life and colour. It’s a place to catch all the fun one could ever need and its people are friendly and very accommodating. In fact they seem to ‘love strangers more than themselves’ – and protect them too.

Owerri has a reputation of being very busy at nights, especially on weekends, as people from all around Nigeria, especially other Easterners, go there to enjoy the weekend. Popular opinion holds that any stranger entering Owerri on a Friday night will not get accommodation as hotels will already be full to the brim – notwithstanding the fact that there are hundreds of hotels in Owerri.

The influx of visitors into the city of Owerri is made possible by virtue of its location; Imo state is situated in the midst of other Eastern Nigerian states, bordered by states like Rivers, Abia, Delta and Anambra, thus the reason for its slogan; ‘the Eastern Heartland’.

Another factor is the position of Owerri as the capital city of Imo State, plus the fact that there are only other few cities in the whole of Imo; Orlu, Okigwe and Ngor-Okpala, none as big as Owerri. Almost every major establishment can therefore be found in Owerri, little wonder Owerri is an expensive city to live in.

Other than the position and status of the city, the major thing that attracts others to Owerri is the lifestyle. Owerri people are widely believed to be among the most fun and lively in Nigeria. They are friendly and warm.
Other attractions are seen in things like the environment, the business potential, the beautiful women and the food. Owerri also has few notable tourist attractions.

Environment

Owerri is known for its beautiful environment that also has great weather. The tall buildings and malls, companies, city churches, schools, clubs and colourful hotels that line and adorn the major roads, and the streets, make for good sight-seeing. The main roads are clean and neatly tarred, and the residential houses are in well-organized arrangements.

Stephen Olayinka, a member of the outgoing 2012/2013 Batch C National Youth Service Corps, Imo State – originally based in Lagos State – had this to say about Owerri.

"I initially had the desire to serve in the East, but when I eventually got here, I was blown by the things I saw, especially the fleet of hotels in the city of Owerri. Judging by the fact that I’ve had the opportunity of visiting many local governments in Imo State, they really are nothing compared to Owerri – especially the sights you see."

Entertainment

Owerri is full of entertaining joints, like clubs and bars, many of which serve as an extension to the bigger hotels. Other clubs and bars like Orange Room, 40-40, Orange Groove, Mimi, are famous joints popular amongst visitors, and they experience high patronage.Other entertainment centres like Ibari Ogwa, Splash Lounge, Valencia, and restaurants that offer more than just food are also worthy of mention.

Owerri is currently referred to as the ‘entertainment capital of Nigeria’ and homes an annual beauty pageant called "Miss Heartland".

Women

Imo a reputation for producing the most beautiful women in Nigeria. Imo State has produced a lot of beauty queens to represent Nigeria in international beauty contests. Imo State’s 22 year old Ezinne Akudo Anyaoha is currently Miss Nigeria 2013, and the 19 year old Stephanie Okwu, from Imo State, became first Runner-up in the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (MBGN) 2013 contest, and will represent Nigeria in the Miss Universe 2013 competition in Moscow, Russia.

When you ask anyone in Owerri what attracts people to them, the first thing they say is ‘the women’. A lot of men really do travel to Owerri because of the women. They are indeed beautiful – and friendly. Nigeria’s most popular actress, the beautiful star Genevieve Nnaji is clear evidence of this fact.

Food

Generally, Igbos and other tribes in the East are famous for their delicacies, especially the soups. Many say these states have the best foods around, and Owerri is no exception. Owerri however has its own indigenous delicacies.
Mrs. Chinwa Agbai, owner of Blossom Restaurant in the World Bank area of Owerri (behind Ideal Suite hotel) had the following to say.

"Even though Owerri is not really a tourist zone, people come to Owerri from all over Nigeria to have fun. In fact, people make money and come to Owerri to spend it. The major attractions are the hotels and other fun joints, and the women too, but Owerri also has its own delicacies that visitors love to try, especially soups like Ofe-Owerri, U’gba and Okra."

Hospitality business

The hotel business is the most thriving business in Owerri. The hotels alone are enough attractions to the lively city. The big hotels offer high class bars and clubs for people with exquisite taste for fun and entertainment. They are just too many to mention, but Rockview Hotel is one of those really worthy of mention.

Beautiful, hospitable and friendly people, homely environment, lots of fun and high-end entertainment, and great delicacies to try; Owerri is just a place to be – and as inhabitants believe, it’s a good place to spend your money!