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/145706
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD Despite Chicago's recent crisis of gangrelated street murders, the Roseland Community Hospital in a tough southside neighborhood is on the verge of closing because of finances, and community groups have been energetically campaigning to keep it open. Joining civic leaders in the quest is the Black Disciples street gang, whose cofounder Don Acklin begged in June for the hospital to remain open, explaining, "It's bad enough we're out here harming each other." Besides wounded gang members needing emergency care, said Acklin, closing would amount to "genocide" because of all the innocent people exposed to crossfire. [WMAQ-TV (Chicago), 6-32013] Government in Action Suspicions Confirmed: A warehouse in Landover, Md., maintained by a company working on contract for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, contained secret rooms of furniture and equipment described as man caves for company employees. The EPA inspector general announced the discovery in May, and the government confiscated TVs, refrigerators, couches, personal photos, Chuck Sheppard pin-ups, magazines and videos that the contractor's personnel brought in while ostensibly working on agency business. [Government Executive, 6-4-2013] Scotland's Parliament was revealed in May to be considering, as part of its Children and Young People Bill, guaranteeing that specific, named persons would be appointed for every Scottish child at birth, charged with overseeing that child's welfare until adulthood. A Daily Telegraph story acknowledged that the bill is remarkably vague about the duties and powers of the designated persons and thus it is unclear how the law might affect typical parent-child relationships. [Daily Telegraph (London), 5-25-2013] Update: "(Supermodels) is the one exception (to U.S. immigration policy) that we all scratch our heads about," said a Brookings Institution policy analyst, speaking to Bloomberg Businessweek in May. Foreign-born sports stars and entertainers are fast-tracked with American work permits under one system, but supermodels were excluded from that and must thus compete (successfully, it turns out) with physicists and nuclear engineers to earn visas among the 65,000 slots available only to skilled workers with college degrees. As such, around 250 beauties are admitted every year. (The most recent attempt to get supermodels their own visa category was championed in 2005 and 2007 by, appropriately, thenU.S.-Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York.) [Bloomberg Business Week, 5-23-2013] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM WEEKLY HOROSCOPES by holiday For the Week of July 28 2013 ARIES (March 21-April 19) The old rule dictates that if you must know someone's health, wealth or creed, the worst way to find out is to ask them directly. You'll show impressive social grace this week when you follow this and other guidelines of savvy connecting. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) The week provides many opportunities to relax, forget about the image you're projecting and just be yourself with your friends and loved ones. Lots of laughter happens as a result — the kind that bonds, heals and sets relationships on a good course. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) You'll manage to do a few impossible things this week, which will get you wondering what else could be accomplished if you were to strike the word "impossible" from your vocabulary. Fortune favors and delights you. CANCER (June 22-July 22) If something is hard to talk about, you'll find a way that not only brings it to light, but also brings levity and even laughter to the scene. Tragedy plus time equals comedy. Of course, don't forget the "time" part of the equation. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) To err is human. You easily forgive others, but when they're your own mistakes, you have a hard time shrugging them off. You know you should forgive yourself, and yet somehow that doesn't stave off cringeinducing, late-night memory recall. Stop being cruel to yourself. This week is for moving on. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) You are ready to respond to the need of the moment. Your valor, wit, ability, strength, talent and humor will be triggered by the situation at hand. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Marital closeness sometimes leads to bickering that can be awkward for outsiders. You will have the best time with people you don't know well, but who happen to share one of your most prevalent interests. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) Long ago you learned that ignoring your internal warning system never leads to anything good. Once a red flag goes off in your head, the person who triggered it will not be able to win your trust no matter how hard he or she tries. Your red-flagtriggering person will try hard this week. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Elevated dopamine levels can do the darnedest thing to brain chemistry. You may have to forgive odd behavior (in yourself or others) and chalk it up to the lunacy of love. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Avoid explanations, especially about why something is funny, good, tasteful, fascinating, worthy of respect or desirous. Shun hype of all kinds. Take your lead from the honest responses of people. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) When you were about 8, you learned why it doesn't help your social life to talk nonstop and only about yourself. Unfortunately, you'll have to deal with adults who haven't learned the lesson yet, but the way you handle the situation will make a hero of you in someone's eyes. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) At times, you've been hurt by the disapproval of others. The one you like to be around is an enabler of your many selves — someone who accepts you and makes you feel free to experiment, grow and become new again and again. This is the way to love and be loved. By Holiday Mathis Your Diamond Store Since 1955 Monday - Friday 10 am – 6 pm; Saturday 10 am – 5 pm 201 South McPherson Church Road • 910-864-2965 • HinkampJewelers.com ADVICE GODDESS Mystery Meet A man my friend was crazy for just broke up with her. I kind of saw the breakup coming, as I thought they were too different, but she thinks he just falsely advertised who he really is. They met online, and he made himself out to be this guy who loves art and culture, which to her means going to museums, shows, and lectures and to him means staying home and making things. She now insists that the only way to meet people is in the activity you want them to be doing. For example, if you want a guy who likes art museums and going to cultural events (which she does), you'd better hang out in an art museum to find a date. I think it's a mistake for her not to keep online dating, because I think she'll meet a lot more men. — Friend of Stubborn Woman People try to put their best foot forward on dating sites, and rather often, it turns out it's not actually their foot. Of course, deceptive self-marketing is not exclusive to online dating, and online dating does offer certain efficiencies that trying to meet a man at an art museum or Amy Alkon cultural event does not. For example, people join a dating site specifically because they are looking for a partner. Some man you spot in a museum may also be looking for a partner — his wife, who was right behind him just a room ago. It sounds like your friend is blaming the Internet because a guy she liked didn't like her back. They maybe both projected what they wanted on each other and needed to dig deeper to find out who the person they were dating really was. This is what dating is for. It's supposed to be a process of finding out about a person, not "I baited the hook; I caught the fish; now let's decide what's for dinner at the wedding!" We often don't need anybody to go to the trouble of deceiving us. We do that really well on our own, like by telling ourselves we've found the perfect person and ignoring any evidence to the contrary. Instead, there needs to be a vetting process, whether you meet a man online or at an artwalk. It involves asking questions and looking to see who he is and being willing to find out that he isn't right for you. This vetting is essential because, wherever you meet men, there's one thing many will have in common: insisting they're interested in whatever you are if they think you're hot. Try to help your friend see that holing up in the art museum isn't the answer. Sure, it might be kismet that Mr. Dreamypants is standing in the lobby right next to her favorite sculpture, or he might just be waiting to enjoy the work of Sir John Harrington, the guy who invented the flush toilet found in the free public bathroom. Amy Alkon all rights reserved. JULY 24-30, 2013 UCW 23