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 Horse show jumping is a longtime Olympic sport, but for the last 10 years, equestrians have been performing in "horseless" show jumping, in which horse courses are run by "riders" on foot (who, by the way, do not straddle broomsticks). According to an October report in The Wall Street Journal, an international association headed by retired pro equestrian Jessica Newman produces at least 15 shows a year, with between 40 to 130 competitors galloping over jumps that vary from two to four feet high (five feet in "Grand Prix" events), with the "riders" graded as if they were on horses (timed, with points off for contacting the rails). Explained Newman about the shows' success: "It's just fun to be a horse." [The Wall Street Journal, 10-8-2012] Cultural Diversity Chuck Sheppard WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY For the Week of November 11, 2012 ARIES (March 21-April 19) You really don't need others to tell you you're great in order to feel at your confi dent best. Then again, it certainly doesn't hurt. So choose your friends carefully. If they are not supportive members of Team You, why do you keep them around? TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You like to ob- serve and learn, but you also realize that doing this is only the beginning of a growth process. In order to really improve, you have to apply what you learned. You have to get into the mix and experience things on your own. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) "Insecurity" has a bad connotation, and yet a person in an enclosed or restricted environment longs to be literally insecure: for the securing devices to be lifted. This week you may wonder what and whom to trust and hold on to. Think of this as a kind of freedom. CANCER (June 22-July 22) Passion is not some kind of rare seashell you fi nd one day while combing the beach. It's an inner response that will burble up when it's good and ready. Forcing things won't make it happen. Expose yourself to different situations, and your pas- sion will emerge, taking you by surprise. Official Gaydar: Malaysia's Education Ministry has held at least 10 seminars recently to teach parents and teachers how to head off the pesky homosexuality that their kids may be in "danger" of developing. According to officials, sure signs are when boys wear "V-neck" or sleeveless shirts or carry big handbags. For girls, the most obvious sign is "having no affection for boys." Last year, according to a September Reuters report, the government set up camps specifically to teach "masculine behavior" to "effeminate" boys. [Reuters via Washington Post, 9-14-2012] Championship eaters gobble down hot dogs on New York's Coney Island, but in August, when a Filipino restaurant in Brooklyn wanted a more ethnic contest, it offered plates of "baluts" — the Philippine delicacy of duck fetuses. Wayne Algenio won, stuffing 18 down his throat in five minutes. Typically, the baluts have barely begun to develop, sometimes allowing a "lucky" diner to sense in his mouth the crackle of a beak or the tickle of a feather. Since baluts are exotic, they are considered to be (as is often the case in Asia) aphrodisiacs. [Huffington Post, 8-27-2012] A September religious festival in Nanchang, China, is a favorite of beggars, as visitors are in a generous mood, but officials expressed concern this year about the increasing hordes of panhandlers harassing the pilgrims. Thus, town officials ordered all festival beggars to be locked up in small cages (too tiny to allow standing) to minimize the hustling. Beggars are free to leave, but then must stay away permanently. Most beggars chose to stay since they still earned more in festival cages than they would have on the street. [Daily Mail, 9-19-2012] COPYRIGHT 2011 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) You'll be working closely with others. Decide on one point person to help the group, and try to move forward together. It takes a superhuman to speak only kind words about others. A unifi ed intention will make up for a lack of experience. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Logical people assume that decisions made in the heat of emotion are bad ones and those born of a cool, reasonable frame of mind are good. It isn't necessarily true.Trust yourself. ADVICE GODDESS The Call of Doodie Loved your response to the bored-out- LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) It takes so much energy to judge others. Besides, people often condemn others for the crimes they themselves are guilty of committing. If you feel judgmental, pondering the personal implications is usually enough to inspire you to let it go. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) You are sensi- tive to energy, especially that which is nervous or negative in tone. But you don't always feel it's right to run in the opposite direction just because you detect a bad vibe, especially when you think you might be able to do something to help. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Control issues arise. Your tolerance for standing corrected will play a key role in a relationship's development. You might fi nd you're happier when you say "I was wrong" and move on together than when was you say "I was right" and move on alone. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You will be extremely helpful, compassionate and empa- thetic. As the climber of the zodiac, you live by certain wisdom. For instance, you understand that no one knows the weight of another per- son's backpack until they have actually strapped it on and walked in it a few miles. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) There have been many times in your life when you have responded to pressure by doing something amazing. The week brings new risks, and you need to be in tiptop shape to take them on. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) The biggest danger you face this week is the danger of arro- gance. By resolving to be humble in all things, you will avoid all problems. Also, do not give advance thanks. By Holiday Mathis of-their-gourds parents of the 1-year-old. I'm three months pregnant and a little worried in the wake of a recent dinner party. There were four sets of new parents there, and all the wives seemed to resent the hell out of their husbands. The husbands, predictably, seemed defensive and angry in response. My husband and I have a really great partnership, and I'd like to keep it that way. Are there things we can do to avoid the parental hate stage, or … fret, fret … is it an inevitability that comes with the stress of having a child? — Baby On Board Today's marriage is reportedly a more equal partnership. For a lot of couples who become parents, here's how that works: The woman blimps out for nine months, spends hours and hours in agony squeezing a huge thing out an extremely small opening, and then becomes a 24-hour milk dispenser and poo-slave for the better part of a year. The man holds her hand and says "You can do it, honey!" while she's in labor, helps name the kid, and then, when friends come over to watch the World Series, picks it up and says, "Look what we made!" Sure, there are certain biological Amy Alkon problems with sharing the nightly feeding duties. But, just because the booby with the drinks in it is on only one of you doesn't mean there can't be catering. In other words, Daddy can bottle-feed if mommy breast pumps, and nothing's stopping him from diaper-changing. What matters is that Mommy and Daddy are going halfsies on sleeplessness. As a happily married male friend with a new baby puts it, it's essential to "scrupulously share" wakeup duty, or a wife who used to look lovingly at her sleeping spouse may begin calculating how much jail time she'd get for smothering him with a pillow. During daylight hours, a little time off for the stay-at-home mom, even for 20 minutes after Dad comes home, is a huge relief, as are playdates — one night a week for her to go out with friends and be a person instead of a big udder. Just a little alleviation goes a long way in showing that a husband doesn't think women have babies and men have babies as props — to parade around Starbucks in a BabyBjorn, making all the hot girls coo, and then hand back to Mom until the kid's old enough to be interesting: "Hey, little man, Daddy's gotta read the newspaper and putter around the garage for six or seven years. Let's talk when you're big enough to throw a ball around." Amy Alkon all rights reserved. NOVEMBER 7-13, 2012 UCW 23