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/36926
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD Top Gun: Todd Whitehurst may be theWEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY “father” of from 42 to 60 children, based on statistical probability that recognizes his virtuosity as a sperm donor, according to a June New York Post profile (though one website, Donor Sibling Registry, claims to have documented 129 children sired by an unnamed seed demon, who is one of 92 highly productive men with 10 or more). Whitehurst, who like the others, was selected based on his sperm’s profile and speed, donated weekly for about three years in the late 1980s (for $50 a session), and has been contacted so far by nine teenagers who sent him their photos after piecing together evidence identifying him (despite sperm banks’ promises of confidentiality). Whitehurst, acknowledging the resemblances to his “offspring,” seems to find the relationships fulfilling, however limited they are. Said he, “I love Father’s Day.” [New York Post, 6-19-2011] Bright Ideas New York scent artist Christopher Brosius had made his name with fragrances recalling childhood (such as Clean Baby Butt, Green Bean and Baseball Glove), but felt it was time, according to an April report in New York magazine, to approach the next frontier — to make a perfume so exclusive that no one could smell it. By Brosius’ reasoning, the scent’s chemicals would provoke whatever reactions scents provoke in those exposed to it, but the actual scent would be undetectable to the nose; hence, no one would know why they were reacting as they were. By trial and error, he combined jasmine, sandalwood and natural amber, and scaled them down in power, yielding what he calls Where We Are There Is No Here. Said Brosius, “The question, ‘What perfume are you wearing?’ should never arise.” [New York, 4-24-2011] Blow Against the Empire: Bank of America (BA) had the tables turned on it in June after the company wrongfully harassed an alleged mortgage scofflaw in Naples, Fla. BA had attempted to foreclose on homeowners Warren and Maureen Nyerges last year even though the couple had bought their house with cash — paid directly to BA. It took BA a year and a half to understand its mistake — that is, until the Nyergeses sued and won a judgment for expenses of $2,534, which BA promptly ignored. The Nyergeses’ attorney obtained a seizure order, and two sheriff’s deputies, with a moving truck, arrived at the local BA branch on June 3 to load $2,534 worth of furniture and computer equipment from the bank’s offices. After about an hour on the phone with higher-ups, the local BA manager issue a check for $2,534. [Naples Daily News, 6-3-2011] In Tooting, England, in May, an unnamed senior was rescued by firefighters after he got his testicles caught in a shower seat in which he was sitting while bathing. [The Guardian, 5-11-2011] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM ARIES (March 21-April 19) You don’t like to be told precisely what to do. You need the free- dom to make your own decisions. Then again, having too many choices is almost worse than having none. This week offers you just the right amount of structure. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You give your all to the projects and people around you. So choose your work carefully. You’re so deeply committed and motivated, and it would be a shame to waste this energy on anything other than what you really, really want. Think long and hard about what is going to make you happy, and write it down. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) There’s an atmosphere around you. Sometimes it’s an at- mosphere of playfulness, silliness and whimsy. Other times, your personal environment is seri- ous, thoughtful and regimented. You are very much in control of the mood this week. CANCER (June 22-July 22) Sometimes you wonder if your accomplishments will ever be enough to make you feel that you have indeed “arrived.” Give yourself overdue credit, and you just may realize that you “arrived” long ago and have been here all along, deserving of respect, love and acceptance. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) You could spend a lifetime searching for your purpose and never completely defi ne it. You are too multifaceted to pin down in a single statement. So don’t worry about trying to fi t in or do what you should. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) You have a system of reward and punishment, but you don’t consciously realize what it is. Think about the things you do to make yourself feel bad or good. You will determine the fairness and effec- tiveness of these methods and work toward a better system. ADVICE GODDESS Coma Sutra LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) A loved one may secretly fear that she has little to give compared to another person in your life. You realize that all humans are vulnerable to feelings of inad- equacy. Your compassion and understanding will heal the situation or at least calm it for the time being. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) You may not realize how low your level of inspiration is until you fi nd yourself wandering through the aisles of a store or library, looking for nothing in particular. An aimless search will bring you to your next awesome source of inspiration. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) A father fi gure will play a role in the way karma unfolds. If you play your cards right, you’ll gain a position of power. It is crucial that you show humility, understand your place and pay respect where it is due. You will be promoted and praised because you are emotionally generous. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You won’t give up on what you want, but you also see that pushing your agenda, for the time being, isn’t working. So you’ll set it aside for a while, will- ing to see if there isn’t something better that is supposed to happen. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) You’ll carefully plan out events, though you’re also fl exible enough to abandon what’s not working. There’s no shame in turning to plan B, C or D. Your balanced mix of attentiveness and free- spirited attitude is a recipe for success. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) You have certain habits that are so much a part of your everyday life that you don’t even think of them as behav- iors anymore. Rather, they are just what you do when you are “doing you.” But you’re changing this week, and you could decide that a certain habit is unnecessary or even destructive and do away with it. By Holiday Mathis I’ve been married for over 20 years, and though my wife and I have a very good relationship, she has a low sex drive and never initiates sex. She used to make snide remarks about my sex drive, but I pointed out my options (no sex, self-service, her or someone else). She knew I wouldn’t cheat, so rather than let this cause a rift, she said she wanted me to come to her for my sexual needs. We now average two to three times a week. A couple times a month, we have mutually mind-blowing sex, but other times, she does it just for me. I’ve tried holding back and waiting for her to make the fi rst move, but that seems like a head game to her and makes her feel something’s wrong. Is there a way to get her more interested? — Frustrated Every month, I get a slew of letters from married people — mostly men — whose spouses haven’t had sex with them in this century. You’re writing to complain about how good and healthy your marriage is. There was no dragging your wife off to years of marriage counseling or therapy weekends. You simply explained your needs, and she set about meeting them. If she might not Amy Alkon always be in the mood for sex, it seems she’s often in the mood to make you happy. I suspect that many marriages and relationships that have tanked have done so because of the assumption that male sexual desire and female sexual desire play out the same way. They actually don’t. Sexual medicine specialist Dr. Rosemary Basson discovered this after she wondered about data suggesting that a third of women were pretty uninterested in sex. She began to suspect that the problem wasn’t in the women themselves but in how male sexual response, with its spontaneously occurring lust, was held up as the female sexual norm. Basson discovered that in the early While others retreat, we are moving forward. Some publication’s numbers are falling behind. Your free community paper is moving forward. Readership of free community papers is now higher than paid daily papers, and continues to grow. Rather than being replaced by “instant” media, your local free community paper has become an important part of our neighborhood. Another sign we’re working for you. Free Papers Working For You stages of a relationship, or if a woman is away from her partner for days or weeks, she’s more likely to experience the “spontaneous sexual desire” and “conscious sexual hunger” that men typically do. But, once a woman’s in a relationship, the desire for sex may be there, but it often needs to be physically activated. Basson calls it “triggerable,” meaning that the couple start fooling around, kissing, whatever, and the woman gets aroused, which makes her want to get it on. Basson’s fi ndings suggest that for many women, initiating sex doesn’t come naturally. So, your “holding back and waiting for her to make the fi rst move” and then getting pouty that she isn’t reading your mind is a particularly bad strategy. Seeing as she made an effort the last time you told her what you needed, there’s a pretty good chance she’d do it again. Just tell her you think it’d be really hot if she’d initiate sometimes. You might also try to appreciate what you have. Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. JULY 20-26, 2011 UCW 23