by Darlene Superville

WASHINGTON (AP)—Michelle Obama’s advice for couples on Valentine’s Day and beyond: Laugh with your partner.

She said it’s what she and President Barack Obama do, and it seems to be working. Their marriage, although tested throughout the years by his political ambitions—for the Illinois Senate, the U.S. Senate and later president—is going on 19 years.

ROMANTIC—In this Jan. 2009, photo President Barack Obama dances with first lady Michelle Obama at the Midwestern Ball on the night of his inauguration in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

“I think a lot of laughing,” the first lady said Feb. 8 at a White House luncheon with reporters who asked about the Obamas’ union. “I think in our house we don’t take ourselves too seriously, and laughter is the best form of unity, I think, in a marriage.”

“So we still find ways to have fun together, and a lot of it is private and personal. But we keep each other smiling and that’s good,” she added.

ATLANTA (AP)—Filmmaker Spike Lee joined Education Secretary Arne Duncan in issuing a call Jan. 31 for more Black men to become teachers, making their plea at the country's only all-male historically Black college.

The two took part in a town hall meeting at Atlanta's private Morehouse College just a week after President Barack Obama urged more people nationwide to become teachers.

ATTENTIVE AUDIENCE—Audience members look on during a meeting where Education Secretary Arne Duncan; Filmmaker Spike Lee; Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.; and others called for more Black men to become teachers at Morehouse College, Jan. 31. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

PHILADELPHIA (AP)—A doctor accused of running a filthy abortion clinic and using scissors to kill babies should sell assets if necessary to hire a lawyer for his murder trial because he doesn’t qualify for a public defender, a judge ruled Friday.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, of West Philadelphia, is charged with killing a patient during a botched abortion and using scissors to sever the spinal cords of seven viable babies born alive. His wife, Pearl Gosnell, a cosmetologist accused of performing abortions, is among 10 clinic employees charged last month after a lengthy grand jury investigation.

January 7

From 4th Century AD—Ethiopian Christmas—known as Ganna—is celebrated on Jan. 7. Ethiopian Christianity was much closer to the Christian Coptic Church of Egypt and as a result never incorporated many of the dictates of the early Roman Catholic Church. Thus, a plausible argument can be made that Ethiopian Christianity is more pure (or less corrupted) than that which emerged from the early Christian Church in Europe. Regardless, the best scientific speculation is that Jesus was born neither on December 25th nor January 7th. The most probable month of his birth is April.

Five Fisk graduates— From 1888. W.E.B. DuBois is second from left.