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.
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NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD Latest Religious Messages Unclear on the Concept: India’s Ganges River has become famously polluted, in part by reverent Hindu pilgrims who toss “offerings” (such as clothing, statues and the cremated ashes of loved ones) into it in hope of prosperous lives and holy afterlives. Hindu immigrants in New York City, without access to the Ganges, have called upon Jamaica Bay as a stand-in. The formerly quiet waters adjacent to JFK International Airport now ebb and flow with similar offerings that ultimately litter the bay’s federal recreation area shoreline. Hindu community leaders in New York, with only mixed success, constantly urge greater environmental sensitivity. [New York Times, 4-21-2011] From time to time, clever rabbis suggest ways of bypassing ancient Talmudic laws that restrict observant Jews’ behavior on the Sabbath (a day of “rest”). In April, Rabbi Dror Fixler, an electro-optics expert from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, said he could foresee a day when even driving a car might be permitted on the Sabbath. The driver would wear an encephalography helmet that could catch brain signals and transmit them to a car’s operating and steering system, removing the need for “action” on the driver’s part (thus theoretically leaving him “at rest”). [The Local (Berlin), 4-12-2011] The Continuing Crisis Mattel revealed that its best-selling fashion doll in the last year, for the age-6- and-up market, has been the teen werewolf “Monster High” model, Clawdeen Wolf, who comes with heavy makeup, a short skirt and high boots, and who supposedly spends her time “waxing, plucking and shaving.” Though Mattel claims the doll celebrates girls’ imperfections, a counselor told Fox News she was appalled that the company tells young girls they “need to sculpt, tweeze, wax and ... change their bodies” to attract men. [Fox News, 3-16-2011] Tacky: The Columbus, Ohio, school board accepted principal Kimberly Jones’ resignation in May following revelations by The Columbus Dispatch that she, though earning $90,000 a year, swore on federal forms that she made just $25,000 -- so that her own two children would qualify for reduced-price school lunches. [Columbus Dispatch, 5-4-2011] Prime Healthcare Services, with a reputation for rescuing financially failing hospitals, reported that two new acquisitions, in Victorville, Calif., and Redding, Calif., somehow curiously experienced rates about 40 and 70 times the state average in patients with a rare Third World Ghanian sickness that, conveniently, qualified the hospitals for enhanced Medicare reimbursements. [SFGate.com, 2-20-2011] Least Competent Gun-Handling Former Camden, N.J., police Sgt. Jeffrey Frett pleaded guilty in May in a scheme to qualify for early retirement by arranging to be shot in the leg (to be attributed to random street violence). The plan deteriorated, police said, when Frett’s wife (the designated shooter) missed his leg, merely ripping a hole in his uniform pants. [Philadelphia Daily News, 5-12-2011] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD 22 UCW JULY 6-12, 2011 WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY ARIES (March 21-April 19) You don’t have to do anything to connect with the natural rhythms of life. You already live within them. You can feel it this week, as there will be several instances in which you realize you don’t have to mold yourself to your surroundings. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You do feel tired and defeated from time to time, but you always get over it quickly. Part of what helps is that you know others are counting on you. Loved ones depend on you for these qualities and also for the compassion you bring at every turn. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) There are specifi c thoughts and habits that will help you achieve the level of success and fulfi llment you so want and deserve. You already sense what they are, and some reinforcement from a mentor or friend will seal the deal. CANCER (June 22-July 22) Don’t obsess over what another person thinks about you. It’s best to assume he or she isn’t thinking about you at all. That will allow you to relax into the mo- ment and act naturally and with confi dence. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) If you ignore a part of you for too long, eventually it will fi nd a way to make you take notice. For instance, pushing yourself to work all the time in spite of exhaus- tion may lead you to get a cold so that you are forced to relax and take a personal day. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) This week’s expe- riences will teach you not to think in hyperbole. It can be dangerous to exaggerate your feel- ings, especially the negative ones. When part of you is feeling sad, the rest of you does not have to follow suit. From a refl ective place, you can keep everything in perspective and choose happiness. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) This week brings events you’ve been looking forward to for a long time. You’ll feel ready to take full advan- tage of each and every opportunity. You plunge into the future wholeheartedly, never turning back. The earth signs are your allies – that’s Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. They’ll help you hit the ground running! SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) Just because two people are together for a long time doesn’t mean they like their relationship. Ditto for those who’ve been in the same job for many years. Make no assumptions. You’ll resolve not to settle for a mediocre situation when you could be thriving. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) This week someone opens up to you and feels so comfort- able and accepted around you that he or she will give you access to a world you didn’t know existed. The best part is, you can return whenever you want. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You have feelings that you don’t act on, sometimes several times a day. Your maturity allows you to separate yourself from your emotions so you can listen and understand them without becoming them. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Anger does have a positive side. It’s an affi rmation of your emotional involvement. You get angry only because you care so much. You will use the positive side of anger to create change. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Many people stay in a situation they don’t like because, as bad as it is, the problems involved are already known. You’re brave this week, and you’ll break free of tired situations, opting to explore the unknown instead. Because of your courage, you will live in a way that few people ever get to experience. By Holiday Mathis 'twv #&tsCssRsw HUaYEFUXXET` Terrific home in Carolina Lakes (between Fort Bragg and Sanford). 3 bed- rooms, 2 baths downstairs. Large living room, 2-tiered custom deck, screened in porch. Bonus room over garage. Master bath has jetted tub. Two-car garage. Next to wooded lots in quiet area of neighborhood. Pets allowed upon approval. 24 hr gated commu- nity w/security guards, multiple lakes, golf course, community pool, beach area, parks, tennis & basketball courts, softball field, clubhouse, fitness trails & much more! For rent by owner, $1300. Call 910-551-2883 for appointment. Your Community Handbook News, Views, Arts and Entertainment. Ne En Fa Ne in w Fayetteville's Community Newspaper providing useful information for you every week. www.upandcomingweekly.com 910.484.6200 ADVICE GODDESS The Shopping Cart Before the Horse I had to talk a guy friend out of showing up on a fi rst date with a rose and a book the woman had casually mentioned she liked. He’s a genuinely nice guy and professionally quite successful, but he repeatedly turns women off by coming on too strong too soon with these gifts. Can you please explain to guys why they shouldn’t do this? — Woman Who’s Been There It’s a really bad idea for a guy to give fl owers to a girl he’s just meeting, unless she’s just won the Kentucky Derby. In that case, he could also slip her a carrot and slap her on the rump. Unless a woman shows up for your fi rst date wearing a saddle, limit your gifts to an on-time arrival and smelling like you’ve showered recently. Anything more comes off like a sales promotion. Selling a woman on liking you before you see whether you like her suggests you have wildly low standards. Never mind who she is; you’ll take any woman who’s a woman and not in jail or too busy fi ling a restraining order against you to meet you for a drink. Evolutionary Amy Alkon psychologist Gad Saad, author of the terrifi c new book The Consuming Instinct, has studied the timing of gift-giving in romantic relationships. He explained to me that courtship behaviors need to be modulated in their timing and frequency. “Telling a woman that she looks beautiful is nice. Repeating it 35 times during dinner is not. It creates an asymmetry in the power dynamics that renders the guy less attractive.” Likewise, giving gifts too early in dating “reeks of desperation,” Saad said. “Recall that many women are attracted to alpha males who can otherwise only be ‘tamed’ by the love of the one unique woman (the classic rendition of the male archetype in romance novels). If the guy is swooning all over the woman on the fi rst date, there is nothing to tame.” There’s that saying that gifts should be given from the heart, which always makes me fl ash on gift-wrapping Grandpa’s stent. But, as a rule, you shouldn’t give a present to a woman until you’ve worked up some affection for her and she seems to have some for you. Expensive gifts early on tend to make a woman who isn’t a gold digger uncomfortable and tell a woman who is that you’re a prime chump. Instead, give fun, inexpensive things that tell her you were listening when she said she loves monkeys and weren’t just saying “Yeah, uh-huh” and running baseball stats in your head. By showing that you care about what’s special to her, you’re telling her that she’s becoming special to you, sending the message “It had to be you,” as opposed to “It could’ve been anyone, but you’ll do.” Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM 8VH7@SG6I9 H6 UU@ST UPD te InsideA TE INSIDE Upda FEBRUARY 9-15, 2011 VOLUME 16 ISSUE 06 Quacks Up Duck Derby Slated Bring Your Love ing ur ve Downtown owntow wn I Love Downtown They Invented Champagne Entertains Th Th Ch En The Night nted ne Fo Fayetteville Focus On Fayetteville INSIDE