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/38754
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD In January, a baby was born to Canadians Kathy Witterick and David Stocker, but seven months later, they still have not revealed to family or friends whether little “Storm” is a boy or a girl. The couple are intending to raise Storm free of gender- specific cultural stereotypes (i.e., such things as domesticity, aggressiveness, preferences for arts or mathematics) because society tends to overvalue “boy” norms. On a larger scale, in Stockholm, according to a June Associated Press dispatch, the 33 Swedish preschoolers at the Egalia school socialize in daily environments scrubbed of all gender references. For example, boys and girls alike play with kitchen toys and building materials, and when playing “family,” parental roles are interchangeable. Critics say the children will be left unprepared for the “real” world. [WRAL-TV (Raleigh, N.C.)- AP, 6-26-2011] The Entrepreneurial Spirit! Who Knew? “The streets of 47th Street are literally paved with gold,” said one of New York City’s gold wranglers, as he, down on all fours and manipulating tweezers, picked specks of gold, silver and jewels that had fallen off of clothing and jewelry racks as they were rolled from trucks into stores. The man told the New York Post in June that he had recently earned $819 in redemptions for six days’ prospecting. [New York Post, 6-20-2011] In June, scientists at China’s Agricultural University in Beijing announced that they had produced human breast milk from genetically modified dairy cows and expect supplies to be available in supermarkets within three years. Employing technology once used to produce the sheep “Dolly,” researchers created a herd of 300 modified cows, which yielded milk that was reported as “sweeter” and “stronger” than typical cow milk. [MSNBC-Reuters, 6-16- 2011] Civilization in Decline A loaded handgun fell from the pocket of a kindergarten student in Houston in April, firing a single bullet that slightly wounded two classmates and the “shooter.” [Houston Chronicle, 4-19-2011] Prosecutors in Grant County, Wis., filed first-degree sexual assault charges recently against a 6-year-old boy, stemming from a game of “doctor” that authorities say he pressured a 5-year-old girl into in 2010. [Wisconsin State Journal, 5-1-2011] Lakewood, Colo., police, attempting to wrest control of a sharpened stick that a second-grade boy was using to threaten classmates and a teacher, gave him two shots of pepper spray. (The boy had just finished shouting to police, “Get away from me you f---ers.”) [KUSA-TV (Denver), 4-4-2011] Full-Circle-Outsourcing: A Mumbai, India, company, Aegis Communications, announced in May that it will hire about 10,000 new employees to work in its call centers fielding customer service problems for U.S.-based companies. However, those jobs are not in India. Aegis will outsource those jobs to Americans, at $12 to $14 an hour, at nine call centers in the United States. [Washington Post, 5- 20-2011] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY ARIES (March 21-April 19) If you think you must succeed, you’re wrong. Winning isn’t ev- erything — in fact, it can be highly overrated. And focusing too intently on the outcome may severely affect your ability to relax, which will in turn impede your performance. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) As in the case of herbal tea, perhaps the ceremony involved in preparing the beverage is more relaxing than the beverage itself. The same will apply to other rituals in your life, so don’t be too quick to take shortcuts. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) You have a talent for choosing upbeat people with whom to mingle and enjoy. The best part is that you can share this talent by introducing your friends to one another. You change the world for the bet- ter by connecting good people together. CANCER (June 22-July 22) You’ll shine your corner of the world by handling mental and physical clutter. Empty your mind onto paper. Caution: At fi rst, this exercise could make you feel more overwhelmed than you did when you started, but you’ll know exactly what it is you’re dealing with. . LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) A project begins with a brainstorm. Don’t try to skip this step in hopes that a fully formed idea will land on you and you’ll know exactly what to do next. That’s not going to happen. So prepare to exercise your imagination muscles. Bad ideas will come fi rst, and you’ll have to press on through until you get to the good ones. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) There is an intelli- gence above language. That’s what you’ll use to read your loved ones this week. You’ll sense the feelings leaping off of them, and because you are so in touch with their world, you will have a good idea about the cause of those feelings. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) The world you inhabit this week is fraught with strange complications and oddities. They do take up much of your time, and yet there is something amusing and also useful in it all. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) You love the sound of a foreign accent. It reminds you on some deep level that there’s much of the world you want to experience. And even though you are satisfi ed at home, this week you may secretly long to go where people live and com- municate differently. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) There are many perks that spring from the heightened sensitivity you will experience this week — for instance, you’ll be more creative, observant and productive. However, you may also be a bit on edge, as your inner reality won’t always match what is going on in the outer reality. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Remember that criticism and rejection are not the same things, though you may sometimes experience them in the same way. Someone who has con- structive opinions is actually rooting for you. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Aristotle’s exact birth date is unknown. But his point of view is similar to yours. “Without friends, no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods; even rich men and those in possession of offi ce and of dominating power are thought to need friends most of all.” You need your friends, and they need you. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Your level of happiness will depend largely on what you are thinking about this week’s circumstances. Pick your thoughts like you would pick wild fl owers to arrange in a vase for your table. Go for the big bright ones that stand out, and also pick several sprays of small lovely fi ller thoughts to bring it all together. Look for the winners in our September 14 issue or online at Who will be crowned? www.upandcomingweekly.com. Reserve your ad space now for this special issue! e our yo ce t this Sponsored by Utley & Knowles CPAs ADVICE GODDESS Frozen Dude Section Men’s magazines and blogs always have some article telling guys to pick up women at grocery stores. Really? I’ve actually never heard of a guy successfully asking a girl out in the vegetable section. The meat counter doesn’t seem all that conducive to romance, either. What’s the real deal on meeting women at the supermarket? — Cleanup In Aisle Two There’s all this breathless encouragement for guys to go meet women at the supermarket, as if the place is the key thing. The guy most likely to score at the supermarket is one who has the mojo to score at a wake, while leaning over the embalmed dead body. Sure, if you spot some babe foraging in the probiotic dairy products, try your luck. But, as the author who calls himself “Mystery” points out in his book The Pickup Artist, the supermarket is a poor place, statistically speaking, to go to meet women. You might see one hot one there some night, but, in his words, “Why run around searching for one woman at a time when you can wait in a valley where Amy Alkon all the animals will come to drink from the water hole?” By Holiday Mathis Although Mystery tries to pick up women everywhere he goes, he fi nds there’s no “water hole” that compares to clubs. (In his defi nition of “clubs,” he includes bars, “social restaurants,” and parties.) Even if you don’t like venues like these, they’re the best training ground for a guy who needs to get game, because there are lots of women who are single and looking, and not just for fresh cilantro. Having lots of women to hit on is how you get practice, which is how you get good. (Essentially, you fail your way to success.) The high volume of women in a club also helps keep you in a more positive mindset. If one disses you, it’s just a sign to move on to the next — in an environment conducive to approaching them. There’s sexy music and lighting, and you can ask a woman to dance, buy her a drink afterward, and talk. What do you say in the supermarket, “Lemme buy you that head of cabbage”? Part of what you need to practice is having the right stuff going on in your head. Mystery talks about conveying personality rather than convincing a woman you’re worthy of her. This takes having fun trying to meet women. You do that by making your goal going out and having a good time working on your mojo instead of being on some grim life-or-death mission to score. Once you get good at hitting on women in clubs, you increase your chances of success everywhere … increasing your chances that some woman will follow you out of the supermarket, determined to get into your pants, and not just because she saw you on the security tape sticky-fi ngering a box of Pop-Tarts. Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. AUGUST 10-16, 2011 UCW 23