SO fiddle

Test Fiddle mainly for SO Questions

by Nick Craver

HTML

<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.4/themes/overcast/jquery-ui.css">
<div id="menu">
        <dl>
            <dt id="dont_select1"><a href="#">don't 1</a></dt>
        </dl>
        <dl>
            <dt id="dont_select2"><a href="#">don't 2</a></dt>
        </dl>
        <dl>
            <dt id="dont_select3"><a href="#">don't 3</a></dt>
        </dl>
        <dl>
            <dt id="select_me1"><a>select me 1</a></dt>
            <dd id="community-sub">
                <ul>
                    <li><a href="#">Sub 1</a></li>
                    <li><a href="#">Sub 2</a></li>
                    <li><a href="#">Sub 3</a></li>
                </ul>
            </dd>
        </dl>
        <dl>
            <dt id="select_me2"><a>select me 2</a></dt>
            <dd id="state-sub">
                <ul>
                    <li><a href="#">Sub 4</a></li>
                    <li><a href="#">Sub 5</a></li>
                    <li><a href="#">Sub 6</a></li>
                </ul>
            </dd>
        </dl>
    </div>
    <div id="other">
        <dl>
            <dt id="else1"><a href="#">else 1</a></dt>
        </dl>
        <dl>
            <dt id="else2-main"><a>else 2</a></dt>
            <dd id="else2-sub">
                <ul>
                    <li><a href="#">Sub 1</a></li>
                    <li><a href="#">Sub 2</a></li>
                </ul>
            </dd>
        </dl>
    </div>

JavaScript

$("#menu dd").prev("dt").css('color', 'red');