The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Compass; Map of the Week

25 MONDAY She was the tops! Jazz great Ella Fitzgerald was born on this day in either 1917 or 1918 depending on who you believe. Fitzgerald got her start at an amateur night competition at the Apollo theater. She made her first recording in 1936. She won 13 Grammy Awards and is said to have sold more than 40 million albums so far. She died in 1996 after years of suffering from complications of diabetes.

Compass; Question of the Week

What's the most precious or unusual thing you've ever dropped in a sink or toilet? What happened after that? "I was attending an outdoor craft fair. When nature called, I visited one of the port-a-potties. As I was preparing to leave the structure, I heard a splash and discovered it was my checkbook hitting the soup' below. I had no choice but to take the plunge! I reached down and plucked it.

Once in a Life Time; Once in a Lifetime, the Chance Comes for Some to Climb Mount Everest, Score the Winning Run in the World Series, Complete a Religious Pilgrimage to Mecca, Walk On the Moon or Take Students to Sing at Carnegie Hall; Going Up the Mountain: 'I Know I Can, I Know I Can'

Appleton native Jeff Justman has lived his life on a perpetual high. The professional mountain guide has scaled cliffs from Bolivia to Russia with more than 90 ascents on Mount Rainier alone. In 2004, Justman tackled the greatest height on the planet: Mount Everest. Even for this expert, that climb held some surprises. I've been guiding over 10 years. I guide with Robert Link, a pioneer of climbing, and in 2002, Robert invited me to Nepal to climb Dhaulagiri Mountain, the seventh-highest mou...

Once in a Lifetime; Making Sure Her Students Knew Magic of Carnegie Hall

The first time you stand on the stage of Carnegie Hall, you just can't believe you're there. I mean, everyone who's anybody has played there from Tchaikovsky to Willie Nelson, and here you are on the same stage. I had the opportunity to sing in Carnegie Hall with the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus on two different occasions. I also got to see my daughter sing there under composer John Rutter. But my once-in-a- lifetime Carnegie experience was taking my girls, my students from Rufus King High Scho...

Once in a Lifetime; a Long Way From Home in a Valley of Black Stars and Lunar Wonder

Harrison Schmitt belongs to an exclusive club. He is one of only 12 humans ever to walk on the moon. A member of the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, he's also the last man to step onto the lunar surface. Schmitt went from outer space to managing NASA's Energy Program Office and serving as U.S. senator from New Mexico for six years. The geologist now is an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, teaching a class entitled "Resources from Space."

Once in a Lifetime; His Biggest at Bat in the Ninth, Followed by an Extra-Inning Run Into the Record Books

Craig Counsell, a Whitefish Bay High School graduate, was a rookie in 1997 when he had a moment most veteran baseball players can only dream of scoring the winning run in the World Series. Counsell, who played last season for the Brewers and is now with the Arizona Diamondbacks, was a member of the Florida Marlins in 1997 when they beat the Cleveland Indians 3-2 in 11 innings in Game 7 of the Series.

Once in a Lifetime; Making Hajj Is Culmination of Lifetime of Longing, Praying for Muslim Woman

From the time I was a young girl growing up in Jerusalem, I dreamed of someday completing a Hajj the religious pilgrimage Muslims are required to make once in their lifetime. But as life went on, it was never certain that I would be able to make the sacred journey to Mecca, the birthplace of Islam. The trip can be very costly and since I was alone in the U.S. with six children as my husband earned money abroad, there was seldom extra money to be spent on a trip for myself.

Compass; the Rest of Us; Close the Door and Stay Off the Phone

Because I travel a great deal (too much), I get to see the inside of a great many hotel rooms. Some are the "W" kind, beloved of New Yorkers, with an immaculate bed, a case of bottled water and flat-screen televisions that are cool as art but impossible to operate if you're not Japanese.

R.S.V.P.; Make Believe Ball a Real Treat

The Crystal Ballroom of the downtown Hilton on April 16 was a pastel blur of little girls in chiffon dresses. Around the periphery, a flurry of little boys struggled to maintain their cool in unfamiliar formal wear. These neophyte socialites were at the Make Believe Ball, a black- tie night-on-the-town with mom and dad that benefits First Stage Children's Theater.