Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/131629
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD Caribou Baby, a Brooklyn, N.Y., "ecofriendly maternity, baby and lifestyle store," has recently been hosting gatherings at which parents exchange tips on "elimination communication" — the weaning of infants without benefit of diapers (as reported in April by the New York Times). Parents watch for cues, such as a certain "cry or grimace" that supposedly signals that the tot urgently needs to be hoisted onto a potty. (Eventually, they say, the potty serves to cue the baby.) Dealing with diapers is so unpleasant, they say, that cleaning an occasional mess becomes tolerable. The little darlings' public appearances sometimes call for diapers, but can also be dealt with by taking the baby behind the nearest tree. One parent even admitted, "I have absolutely been at parties and witnessed people putting their baby over the sink." [New York Times, 4-18-2013] Can't Possibly Be True Washington, D.C.'s WRC-TV reported in March that a woman from the Maryland suburbs showed a reporter a traffic citation she had just received, ticketing her for driving in the left lane on Interstate 95 in Laurel while going only 63 mph — compared to the posted ("maximum") speed of 65. The citation read, Chuck Sheppard "Failure of driver ... to keep right." The station's meteorologist noted that winds that day were gusting to 40 mph and that the woman might simply have been trying to control her car. [WRC-TV, 3-13-2013] The principal and head teacher at a Godalming, England, special-needs school were reported by employees in March for allowing a student with self-harm issues to cut herself, under staff supervision. (Unsted Park School enrolls kids aged 7 to 19 who have high-functioning autism.) Teachers were to hand the girl a sterilized blade, wait outside a bathroom while she acted out, checking up on her at twominute intervals, and then dress the girl's wounds once she had finished. The school reportedly abandoned the policy six days after implementing it. [GetSurrey.co.uk (Guildford, England), 3-25-2013] Last year, according to Chicago's WBBM-TV, Palmen Motors in Kenosha, Wis., sold a brand-new GMC Terrain SUV to an elderly couple, 90 and 89, in which the husband was legally blind and in hospice care, on morphine and the wife had dementia and could barely walk. According to the couple's daughter, it was her brother, David McMurray, who wanted the SUV but could not qualify financially and so drove his mother from Illinois to Kenosha to sign the documents while a Palmen employee traveled to Illinois to get the father's signature (three weeks before he passed away, it turns out). An attorney for Palmen Motors told the TV station that the company regretted its role and would buy the vehicle back. [WBBM-TV, 3-13-2013] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of May 26, 2013 ARIES (March 21-April 19) When conventional methods of communication don't work, explore different approaches. You may be more successful demonstrating what you want others to do instead of merely pointing out or explaining what needs doing. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) It feels like you do a million things a day for others. Anyway, it's only natural that some efforts take on exaggerated importance. Being selfless can be difficult, especially when your contributions may seem to come at a hefty personal cost. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Children shift quickly through interests and moods. Whatever they focus on, that is their world. You'll be like a child flitting from interest to concern this week. What you care about matters, but how much? Keep perspective. CANCER (June 22-July 22) You can buy a place to live, but you can't buy a home. Loved ones probably won't appreciate all that you put into your surroundings now, but they do feel the emotional warmth radiating from your environment, and they will continue to be drawn in. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Humans tend to automatically assume that other humans experience the same situations even when it's so obviously not true. You will go against this tendency as you try to understand where another person is coming from. Your powers of empathy will grow, and you'll be better than you were. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) If character is destiny, then this week should not only teach you who you are, but also where you're going. As you rise to this week's challenges, you'll learn your strengths and what you still have to work on in order to become the person you want to be. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) You've no interest in making bold, foolish choices. You want to know the facts and see measurable results before you move. What you learn this week will help you cut down on the lag time between thought and action. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Remember when you used to wonder: "When is my life going to start?" You still feel like you haven't arrived at the good part of this ride. It's a slow climb, full of anticipation. But at least you're not still standing in that long line of people below. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) You don't want to do what's wise beyond your years now. You want to be young and carefree even if that means appearing foolish and becoming temporarily broke. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) You know some pretty sneaky people. This week karma comes tapping them on the shoulder. "I saw that," says karma. And you'll finally know that you're not the only one paying attention. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Feeling good about yourself will empower your spirit, and you'll be better in every area of life as a result. Your routine could use a shakeup. Treat this week like it's just for you. Do what you like doing, even if it has nothing to do with your original plans or the agenda of others. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) To ask takes courage. Many people don't ask because they are afraid their question will be seen as an imposition or as a sign of lower intelligence. No one is born knowing. Those who are put out by a question should be examined more closely. By Holiday Mathis ADVICE GODDESS The Audacity of Grope My friend's girlfriend hits on me all the time. (We're all lesbians.) She always offers to get me a drink before she gets her girlfriend one, and she's taken to giving me quick shoulder rubs and stomach pokes. The other night was really bad. A bunch of us were seated around a big table, and after I said something that made her laugh, she slapped my thigh and left her hand there a long time and started rubbing it. She was drunk, but still. I moved my chair over and ignored her for the rest of the night. My friend seems oblivious, and I've contemplated telling her, but I suspect she'd be terribly embarrassed. So, what am I supposed to do, just not have a social life? — Fondled You, like many people, get so caught up in being irritated at somebody's behavior that you forget that you never asked the person to stop. You did try other means of communication, but unless you've had success moving dishes to the sink with your thoughts and then Amy Alkon getting whoever's dining with you to wash them, you should probably consider telepathy a bust. Having held in your feelings for so long, it's easy to explode and blurt out "You need to stop hitting on me!" or, referencing the woman she's publicly disrespecting, "Touch base with the fact you have a girlfriend instead of my inner thigh!" With either statement, you're accusing and criticizing her — and rightfully so. The problem is, as psychotherapist Dr. Carl Alasko wisely points out in Beyond Blame, criticizing a person leads to anger, denial and defensiveness, not change. To get Miss Wanderhands to listen instead of blowing up, remain calm and use passive language that focuses on the action you want changed and your feelings about it, for example, "This level of touchy-feeliness makes me very uncomfortable." This tells her "The petting zoo is closed" as opposed to "You're a bad person!" (which, by the way, she is). If she persists or makes some unwanted confession, you can be more direct: "Look, I'm not interested. Please stop." As for your friend, keep in mind that she may not be ready to see what's going on, as this would require her to take some sort of action she may not be ready to take. Until she becomes ready, her girlfriend will remain a kind and generous person, buying beer for a thirsty woman much in the way she might reach out to a homeless man: "Can I brush past your breast while getting you a sandwich?" Amy Alkon all rights reserved. MAY 22-28, 2013 UCW 19