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/28646
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD 21st-Century American Exports? In strife-torn Sudan (land of the Darfur murder and rape atrocities and a per-capita annual income of $2,200), an epic, year-long Ponzi scheme engineered by a lowly former police officer has enticed nearly 50,000 victims to invest an estimated $180 million (according to a March dispatch on Slate.com). At the height of the hysteria, even militia fighters in Darfur rushed to invest. (As Bernard Madoff was initially, perpetrator Adam Ismael is lounging comfortably under house arrest.) And in February, NPR reported that the United States government will soon be asked to bail out yet another bank that dramatically overextended itself with bad loans — and is now $900 million short: the Bank of Kabul in Afghanistan. [Slate.com, 3-1-2011] [NPR 2-28-2011] Cultural Diversity The essential uniform of super- ambitious Chinese businessmen nowadays includes a leather designer purse, reported the Los Angeles Times in a February dispatch from Beijing, and high-end sellers “can’t believe their luck,” now that “(b)oth sexes in the world’s most populous country adore purses.” The Coach company will have 53 stores in China by mid-year, and Hermes and Louis Vuitton are so optimistic that they built stores in less-obviously prosperous reaches of the country. (Apparently, only authentic designer items lend businessmen credibility. For the export market, China remains a world leader in trademark-pirating knock-offs.) [Los Angeles Times, 2-7-2011] Ewwww! The government of Malawi’s proposed environmental control legislation, introduced in January, was thought by some advocates to be broad enough to criminalize flatulence. The justice minister said the section about “fouling the air” should cover extreme flatus, but the country’s solicitor general insisted that only commercial air pollution was punishable. [BBC News, 1-29-2011] Only 20 percent of Cambodians have access to toilets (half as many as have mobile phones), and missions such as International Development Enterprises blanket the countryside to urge more toilet usage. In one promotion campaign in Kandal province, according to a February BBC News dispatch, an investigating team called a public meeting and singled out (“amid much laughter”) one particular farmer whom it had calculated as producing the most excrement of anyone in the village. [BBC News, 2-6-2011] Latest Religious Messages “I thought, ‘Man, is this what Jesus would do?’” said Akron, Ohio, repo man Ken Falzini, after surviving a short, harrowing ride clinging to the hood of the Lexus he was trying to repossess from Bishop Marc Neal of Akron’s Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church in January. Neal, later charged with felony assault, told a reporter he thought it “disrespectful” for Falzini to try to repossess a preacher’s car during Sunday services. Falzini said Neal was “laughing” during parts of the drive, which included sharp zig-zagging at speeds around 50 mph to dislodge Falzini from the hood. [Akron Beacon Journal, 2-12-2011] COPYRIGHT 2010 CHUCK SHEPHERD 26 UCW APRIL 6-12, 2011 WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY ARIES (March 21-April 19) You’ll stay positive this week and create fantastic luck. When you notice that your mind is going in a direction that is not helpful, happy or produc- tive, you will have the self-discipline to stop the thought process. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You are highly or- ganized and have fantastic ideas for the future. Get ready for an array of outcomes. You won’t experience many of the scenarios for which you are prepared, but that is not the point. You’ll feel confi dent knowing that you have thought ahead and made the best possible plan. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) Though you are satisfi ed in many areas of life, there is one area that is lacking, and you no longer can ignore it. Years have gone by without you getting what you want in this regard. Enough already. It’s time to take matters into your own hands and do something about this. CANCER (June 22-July 22) Your powers of imagination are strong this week. The more vividly detailed your fl ights of fancy are the more likely they will be to come true. Dreaming gives you new direction and purpose. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) It’s so important to you to make something of your life that you sometimes place a higher value on accomplish- ment than you do on being happy. Do what makes you happy, and you just might fi nd that you still accomplish your goals — and with a big smile on your face the whole time. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) You have a stellar sense of humor. Consider that there are times when it is better to laugh inwardly instead of out loud. Such occasions arise this week, when you will be around those who take a situation more literally and seriously than you would. ADVICE GODDESS Too Big Love LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Know the ones you are leading so that you can predict which jobs they will be best suited for and when they might need more assistance or training. Note that just because someone is very intelligent doesn’t mean he or she will make good choices. Stay on top of your team. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) You’re some- times too modest or too focused on current work to take the time to talk yourself up. Talk about what you’ll do, what you’re doing and what you’ve done. If you don’t, you’ll miss out on a prime opportunity. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) There are those who don’t treat you in the manner you prefer. By the end of the week, you’ll fi gure out how to command the kind of attention you deserve. This will allow you to ask specifi cally for what you need from others. You will gain infl uence and dignity. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You’re a solid performer. That doesn’t mean you haven’t made mistakes — you have. But you’ve used them to learn and improve. Because you are so consistent, you will be honored with a special responsibility. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) You’ll observe how a certain “tribe” works. You’ll study the manner of dress and communication, as well as the hierarchy of power and the unspoken rules. Your observations are so thorough that you will be able to enter this “tribe” and behave as a native. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) The projects you can manage with very little supervision will be of particular interest to you. There will also be an opportunity to travel and explore. The excitement and newness of a scene makes your experience memorable. Take pictures. By Holiday Mathis WE’RE ALL I’m an older woman (almost 50) in a six- year live-in relationship with a 25-year-old guy. The problem is he wants to sleep with other girls. I understand his need to be with other girls, especially at his age. Although I consented, I love him and cannot bear the thought of this. When he slept with two girls, he told me right away and said he’d used protection. I said, “I don’t want you feeling guilty about exploring a natural aspect of human behavior,” and I suggested taking a break from the relationship. He re- sponded that he loved me and couldn’t see his life without me. (He’s fi nancially stable, so money isn’t a consideration.) Some- times, I want to say, “This isn’t working, and I want to move on.” But, that would be far from the truth. I left a fi nancially and emotionally stable 20-year relationship to be with him, and I haven’t regretted a minute of it. — Tormented “I understand his need to be with other girls,” you say. Right. So, he’ll come home and say, “I slept with these two girls. And I have fi ve more scheduled for next week.” What do you do, say “You kids have a good time” then pack his “World of Warcraft” lunchbox with condoms and a cookie? Not many women in their 40s can fi nd their way into barely legal bliss. Unfortunately, the age-mismatched relationship has some pitfalls; for example, having one’s youngster stud Amy Alkon EARS pop up in bed, six years in, and say, “Hey, wait! I forgot to have drunken hookups!” Even if you are the hottest thing this side of menopause, you can’t compete with all the Hottie McBody 20-somethings he’s never had. Questions? Comments? Story Ideas? Let us know how we're doing. Your opinion is something we always want to hear. Call or email us your feedback. In theory, you can be all modern and evolved and say, “I love you enough to give you your sexual freedom.” In practice, while he’s off learning a thing or two from Amber and Tiffany, the position you fi nd yourself in is the fetal one, with bouts of explosive sobbing. There’s much that’s unrealistic about pledging eternal monogamy, but sexually open relationships don’t work for a whole lot of people. Even the late Nena O’Neill, who co-authored the ‘70s bestseller Open Marriage, came to that conclusion, writing in The Marriage Premise that these arrangements often leave the participants feeling jealous, resentful, insecure and abandoned — “sometimes as strongly as they do when a clandestine affair is discovered.” Being with a much younger guy is a 208 Rowan St. Fayetteville, NC 28301 910.484.6200 bit like being with a rock star. The partner who can walk the easiest calls the shots. There’s probably temptation to stay with him at all cost. That’s easy to say yes to in the abstract. And then, some night, you’ll have no calls from him for a block of hours and start fl ashing on all the horrible scenarios: fi ery car crash … or did he bump into a hot pair of twins? Think about the emotional cost of living this way, day after day, and consider whether it might be time to give him that fi nal teary kiss and part as friends with some wonderful memories. Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. 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