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/139742
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD Orestes De La Paz's exhibit at the Frost Art Museum in Miami in May recalled Chuck Palahniuk's novel and film "Fight Club," in which lead character Tyler Durden's principal income source was making upscale soap using discarded liposuctioned fat fetched from the garbage of cosmetic surgeons (thus closing the loop of fat from rich ladies recycled back to rich ladies). De La Paz told his mentor at Florida International University that he wanted only to display his own liposuctioned fat provocatively, but decided to make soap when he realized that the fat would otherwise quickly rot. Some visitors to the exhibit were able to wash their hands with the engineered soap, which De La Paz offered for sale at $1,000 a bar. [WLRN-TV (Miami), 5-16-2013] The Entrepreneurial Spirit As recently as mid-May, people with disabilities had been earning hefty black-market fees by taking strangers into Disneyland and Disney World using the parks' own liberal "disability" passes (which allow for up to five relatives or guests at a time to accompany the disabled person Chuck Sheppard in skipping the sometimes-hours-long lines and having immediate access to the rides). The pass-holding "guide," according to NBC's Today show, could charge as much as $200 through advertising on CraigsList and via word-of-mouth to some travel agents. Following reports in the New York Post and other outlets, Disney was said in late May to be warning disabled permitholders not to abuse the privilege. [New York Post, 5-14-2013; NBC News, 5-31-2013] "Ambulance-chasing" lawyers are less the cliche than they formerly were because of bar association crackdowns, but fire truck-chasing contractors and "public adjusters" are still a problem — at least in Florida, where the state Supreme Court tossed out a "48-hour" time-out rule that would have given casualty victims space to reflect on their losses before being overwhelmed by homerestoration salesmen. Consequently, as firefighters told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in May, the contractors are usually "right behind" them on the scene, pestering anxious or griefstricken victims. The Sun-Sentinel found one woman being begged to sign up while she was still crying out for her dog that remained trapped in the blaze. [å 5-18-2013] WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of June 30, 2013 ARIES (March 21-April 19) You'll add new friends. There's nothing wrong with choosing a moderately giving person as a friend, or even a dozen of them — but one truly generous friend will turn your whole world upside down in a good way. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) You are hyperaware of the energy in a room full of people. You read where the energy flows, how people are connecting, whom they want to impress and follow, and with whom they hope to work and play. You will seize an opportunity and run with it. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) The smart way to play it is to answer "the call" when you get it. It's not every day that you're invited to do something bigger than you — something more exciting and special than everyday life. Be courageous and rush forward. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) You have a talent for understanding just how much you can and should take on. When working toward a goal, it is better to experience a bit of discomfort and work through it than to experience the pain of never getting to your goal. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Those who make excuses or pass blame deprive themselves of the chance to learn what's necessary to do a task right. You'll put your best into everything you take on. By getting it wrong a few times, you'll learn what you need to do to get it right. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) People who keep others at arm's length aren't necessarily snobbish. They may be careful about whom they let into their busy life. They may just be shy. Don't assume it's about you. Give without pushing — you'll attract the best people and the best in people. CANCER (June 22-July 22) The process of learning begins with watching, listening and following the teacher. Maybe the teacher is not a person, but rather a book, a principle, something that happens in nature or none of the above. You'll meet some form of a stellar teacher this week and soak up the lesson. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) You usually don't like it when people who don't need help ask for it anyway. But who has the time to make sure each request is legit? When you help others (regardless of whether they really need or deserve it), you yourself will be helped. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) It would be easy to make the mistake of resenting your problems and believing they are to blame for whatever ails you. It's untrue. Treat your problems as the friends they really are. They show you how you're going to grow. They make you more creative and resourceful. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You have a feeling about people — you sense what they can do. As far as you're concerned, to be a part of another person's growth and help them experience success is one of the great pleasures of life. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Before you dive into an endeavor, you don't like to think about the possible problems that could arise. There's someone you know who has a talent for identifying potential landmines. Run your plans by this person and be open to the advice he or she has to give. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) The people you have trouble communicating with are exactly the ones you most need to talk to this week. They will help you sharpen your skills. If you can win over a difficult person, you'll have no problem winning over more agreeable types. By Holiday Mathis Good Morning Fayetteville with Goldy & Jim W Weekday Mornings 6-10 a.m. Talk Line: 910-864-6400 COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Local News, Weather, Traffic & Sports ADVICE GODDESS The Upgradest Love of All I'm a single dad of three children, who are my world, and it was a battle to get custody of them. For three years, I've dated a woman with grown children, and on our shared birthday (Valentine's Day), I proposed and she accepted. Two days later, she ended everything via text and hasn't spoken to me since. She claimed she wants to come first in someone's life, and my kids and dealings with my ex-wife took priority. Didn't she figure this out earlier? Three weeks after she broke things off, I learned she was "in love" with an older rich guy with no children and that she's spreading lies about me to mutual friends. We had a great relationship, and using her words, were "total soulmates." Now she tells people how miserable she was. Even her friends are confused. — Baffled Chances are, your girlfriend long resented your prioritizing your kids but just sucked it up — until you got down on one knee and presented her with the fork in the road. Ironically, back here in the real world, a person Amy Alkon who believes she's your soulmate is actually a flight risk. Social psychologist Dr. C. Raymond Knee has explored the effect on relationships from "destiny belief" — the belief that people have "soulmates," that relationships are either fated to be or they're not — versus "growth belief," the belief that successful relationships don't just fall out of the sky; they take work. Partners with growth belief think that relationships are cultivated and developed over time, that problems are a natural part of them, and that working through them is a way to build a closer and stronger bond. A destiny believer, on the other hand, tends to see problems as a sign she's in the wrong place and as reason to bail. As for why your self-proclaimed soulmate dumped you via text and then trash-talked you all over town, well, some women are into shoes that match their handbag; yours turned out to have a cold heart to go with her cold feet. This strongly suggests that what she felt for you was not love but "love the one you're with." In trashing you now, chances are she's trying to punish you for her failure to figure out what she really wanted and maybe trying to justify dumping you to both herself and her friends. The way for you to go forward is by looking backward. Explore whether you bought into the idea that she was loving and didn't allow yourself to see the woman she appears to be — one who's looking for that special someone to take her hand and walk off into the sunset with her toward his bank's nearest ATM. Amy Alkon all rights reserved. JUNE 26 - JULY 2, 2013 UCW 19