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/173316
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD Loco Parentis: First-time mother Amy Webb proudly notates dozens of data points about her child each day and obsessively tracks their detailed progression by computer on spreadsheets, according to the provocative first-person account she wrote for Slate.com in July. In categories ranging from ordinary vital signs, to the kid's progress in sound-making, to dietary reactions, to quantity and quality of each poop, stats are kept 24/7 (even with a bedside laptop to facilitate nighttime entries). She began tracking her own health during pregnancy, but then decided, "Why stop now?" when her daughter was born. Webb's pediatrician rated the kid's health as "A-minus," but the parents' as "C," adding: "You guys need to relax. Leave the spreadsheets (out)." Webb and her husband remain confident that their extreme tracking optimizes their chances of Chuck Sheppard raising a healthy daughter. [Slate.com, 7-9-2013] Compelling Explanations Dr. Timothy Sweo said later that he was only trying to make his diagnosis of lumbar lordosis "less technical" for patient Terry Ragland when he described her condition as "ghetto booty." The shape of her spine makes her buttocks stick out more, he said, and he prescribed pain medication as there is no cure, per se. Nonetheless, Ragland felt insulted and filed a complaint against Dr. Sweo with the Tennessee Department of Health in July. Said she, "I couldn't believe he said that." [WREG-TV (Memphis), 7-12-2013] An Anglican parishioner complained in August about the "blasphemous" bumper sticker she saw on the car of Rev. Alice Goodman of Cambridge, England, but Rev. Goodman immediately defended it as not irreligious (although, she conceded, perhaps "vulgar"). The sticker read "WTFWJD?" which is a play on the popular evangelical Christian slogan "WWJD?" — "What Would Jesus Do?" ("WTF" is a vulgar but omnipresent acronym on the Internet.) Rev. Goodman pointed out that even Dr. Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, seemed not to be shocked by her sticker when he saw it. [Daily Telegraph, 8-8-2013] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM BY WEEKLY HOROSCOPES 2013 HOLIDAY For the Week of September 22, ARIES (March 21-April 19) Sometimes the emotion you feel is not your own. If you inadvertently take on another person's sadness, it can be confusing and seem quite unfair. Realizing that you have this ability is the first step to strengthening your emotional immune system. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) It is nearly impossible to come up with an immediate and brilliant idea that will keep everyone happy. That's why the work you do to get ready for the week's events will be crucial to your enjoyment of them. Keep a running list of alternatives to plan A. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Resist the need to come up with reasons for everything that has happened. Accept each moment as a new starting place from which to move forward, not backward. CANCER (June 22-July 22) If you believe it's your job to make others feel better, people around you will sense this belief, and suddenly it actually will become your job. That's why it's better for you to believe something different. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Remember when you were in love with someone and still unsure of whether the other person felt the same way? This week brings a far more bearable kind of anticipation. The stakes are lower than true love, but there's still something good hanging in the balance. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) This week brings a rare opportunity to explore relationships at deeper levels. Your gift from the cosmos is clear vision pertaining to people that is unimpeded by assumptions and prejudices. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) If you make yourself too available, people won't respect your time. If you don't make yourself available enough, people will assume you're too busy, and they won't call. Experiment to find just the right balance. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) For you, it is a given that energy is real and perceivable through the senses. There will be many instances when it is better to act on your feelings without mention of how you came to your decision. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Caring more isn't always better. It benefits you to make a conscious decision about this instead of letting circumstances rope you into committing too much to something you're ultimately not that interested in. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) What you thought you were seeing with your own eyes was actually being framed by someone else. This can change everything. As soon as you take that frame away and observe anew, you will understand what you need to do next to be happy. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)The week's efforts may feel small and repetitive, but that doesn't mean they are futile. As Mother Teresa said, "We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) While it is only natural to want to establish a point of reference, if you mistakenly label a situation "familiar" when it's not, you will miss an opportunity for change, growth and adventure. So make few assumptions and stay keenly observant. By Holiday Mathis Good Morning Fayetteville with Goldy & Jim W Weekday Mornings 6-10 a.m. Talk Line: 910-864-6400 Local News, Weather, Traffic & Sports ADVICE GODDESS Everything Happens for a Raisin I am 18 and took a baking course at a cooking school, where I met this dreamy 19-year-old guy. We both constantly found lame excuses to be around each other, so I was fairly positive our attraction went both ways. I get that men need to show their interest by asking you out, so I flirted and flirted and waited and waited for him to ask me out, but he never did. Now the course is over, and I'm wondering what I did wrong and whether I missed out on the love of my life! — Confused He may now be hitting himself upside the head with a wire whisk for showing all the mojo of garnish. This also may have been a situational crush — one that he couldn't follow through on outside the test kitchen due to his having a girlfriend or even a boyfriend. Or maybe he's just being 19. Sadly, all that matters now is what he didn't do. But you did the right thing by not making up for a guy's inability to squeak out a request for a date. Keep on flirting, and stop fretting that you may have "missed Amy Alkon out on the love of (your) life!" Sure, you may have — if you've always dreamed of a day when you'd spot a white horse galloping toward you in the distance and, as it drew closer, see that there's no prince, only a bag of frozen vegetables duct-taped to the saddle. My girlfriend cries quite easily -- over being sick, work getting frustrating, or even our evening plans going awry. I feel the crying makes a small problem bigger, as everything becomes all about her emotions and not the problem. I try to comfort her, but when she starts crying, it's very hard to talk or reach her at all. — Daunted As for why she's so often inconsolable, it may be because her tears are, in part, a cry for more attention from you. Holding back on giving it, like those parents who let their babies scream their little lungs out all night long, is exactly what you shouldn't do, according to "the dependency paradox." Social psychologist Brooke C. Feeney, who coined the term, found that in a committed relationship, the more a person feels they can count on their partner to be responsive to their calls for comforting and support the more independent that person can be. Try being much more affectionate and caring — and not just when she's crying. When she does cry, don't try to "reach" her, except to hold her in your arms and let her sob into your shirt. Postpone any discussion till the storm subsides, tempting as it is to get right in there all guy-like and solve things. Amy Alkon all rights reserved SEPTEMBER 18-24, 2013 UCW 23