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    The Joy Of Ex
        My boyfriend stays in touch with many exes, including one he was wild about who calls as his “friend” to tell him why I’m wrong for him. How do I know? He tells me. Can I ask him to put his past in the past? He tells me not to worry, but how can I not when she’s a woman with whom he had an intense sexual thing?                                          

    —Disturbed

        As far as one’s current partner is concerned, there are three kinds of sex one’s had with one’s exes: Bad sex, boring sex and really bad, really boring sex. And then there’s your current partner, hanging up the phone and announcing: “Hey, just talked to my ex, the one I had all that mind-blowing sex with, who keeps insisting I can do better than you. And how was your day, Honey?” Sorry, but why is he telling you this? He’s immature? Insecure? Passive-aggressive? Or just a blithering idiot? You don’t tell a guy who he can talk to, but you can tell him what you do and don’t need to hear. Do that, and see whether he comes around — and with more than a “Why Your Girlfriend’s Not Good Enough” pie chart from his ex.

    SOME LIKE IT DOT COM
       My boyfriend stays in touch with many exes, incluAfter my boyfriend moved in with me, he basically started “playing dead” when I made advances. I discovered he’s engaging in online sex chats. I’m thinking this is why he never had anything left for me. I asked him to leave, and he did. Now, he’s apologizing and begging me to take him back. Do you think he was just being greedy and feeling trapped by commitment? Or, do you think this is a serious addiction?
                                                                                     —Reconsidering

        {mosimage}As far as one’s current partner is concerned, there are three kinds of sex one’s had with one’s exes: Bad sex, boring sex and really bad, really boring sex. And then there’s your current partner, hanging up the phone and announcing: “Hey, just talked to my ex, the one I had all that mind-blowing sex with, who keeps insisting I can do better than you. And how was your day, Honey?” Sorry, but why is he telling you this? He’s immature? Insecure? Passive-aggressive? Or just a blithering idiot? You don’t tell a guy who he can talk to, but you can tell him what you do and don’t need to hear. Do that, and see whether he comes around — and with more than a “Why Your Girlfriend’s Not Good Enough” pie chart from his ex.

    Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA  90405, or e-mail AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com)

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        Most people like gadgets. Admit it, even though when you jump on your bike you’re thinking about the open road, your mind might still wander to some cool gadget or accessory that you saw that just might make your ride a little more enjoyable. And there’s no shame in that.
    Here’s a list of a few gadgets that just might catch your eye. They aren’t necessities, but they just might make your ride a little more fun. 
        {mosimage}The Throttle Rocker. The throttle rocker allows you to rest your wrist, keeping the throttle at a constant speed for long distance highway rides.. Once you put a throttle rocker on the throttle, you can forget that it is there, and use it as a cradle for your right wrist. So cheap and so useful!
        There are other cruise control “systems” that can you let you cruise long distances without using your right hand to keep the throttle rolled at a constant speed.
        Battery Charger. Nothing is more irritating or dampens the joy of the open road more than a dead battery. So a small, inexpensive, battery charger is almost a necessity, after all, you don’t want to get stuck on the side of the road, you want to own it. There are various type of battery chargers, you just need to make sure that it is a low voltage charger.
        Hydration system. Another very useful of the many motorcycle gadgets, particularly for long trips, is some sort of hydration system. A long tube connected to a bag of fluid, that you can use when you need some water.
        A hydration system has a dual function during really hot weather. You can fill the reservoir with ice cubes and water, for an “air conditioning” system and a source of refreshing cold water. You’re still going to need to stop for bathroom breaks, but you are going to be cooler on the road. Many in the military are well acquainted with the Camel Back system — not only does it come in handy in the sanbox, it’s also great when you get a chance to play.
        Another”must have” motorcycle gadget relates to tires — you should really carry a pressure gauge, as well as a tire repair kit.
        Finally, taking a first-aid kit on the road is just common sense. You never know what you are going to encounter on the open road, and you don’t know where you are going to be when you might need that band-aid or dab of antiseptic.

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    Dear EarthTalk: How is it that hydrogen can replace oil to run our cars? There seems to be a lot of controversy over whether hydrogen can really be generated and stored in such a way to be practical?                                
           — Stephane Kuziora, Thunder Bay, Ontario

        The jury is still out on whether hydrogen will ultimately be our environmental savior, replacing the fossil fuels responsible for global warming and various nagging forms of pollution. Two main hurdles stand in the way of mass production and widespread consumer adoption of hydrogen “fuel cell” vehicles: the still high cost of producing fuel cells, and the lack of a hydrogen refueling network.
    Reining in manufacturing costs of fuel cell vehicles is the first major issue the automakers are addressing. While several have fuel cell prototype vehicles on the road — Toyota and Honda are even leasing them to the public in Japan and California — they are spending upwards of $1 million to produce each one due to the advanced technology involved and low production runs. Toyota hopes to reduce its costs per fuel cell vehicle to around $50,000 by 2015, which would make such cars economically viable in the marketplace. On this side of the Pacific, General Motors plans to sell hydrogen-powered vehicles in the U.S. by 2010.
        {mosimage}Another problem is the lack of hydrogen refueling stations. Major oil companies have been loathe to set up hydrogen tanks at existing gas stations for many reasons ranging from safety to cost to lack of demand. But obviously the oil companies are also trying to keep customers interested in their highly profitable bread-and-butter, gasoline. A more likely scenario is what is emerging in California, where some 38 independent hydrogen fuel stations are located around the state as part of a network created by the nonprofit California Fuel Cell Partnership, a consortium of automakers, state and federal agencies and other parties interested in furthering hydrogen fuel cell technologies.
        The benefits of ditching fossil fuels for hydrogen are many, or course. Burning fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil to heat and cool our buildings and run our vehicles takes a heavy toll on the environment, contributing significantly to both local problems like elevated particulate levels and global ones like a warming climate. The only by-product of running a hydrogen-powered fuel cell is oxygen and a trickle of water, neither of which will cause any harm to human health or the environment.
        But right now 95 percent of the hydrogen available in the U.S. is either extracted from fossil fuels or made using electrolytic processes powered by fossil fuels, thus negating any real emissions savings or reduction in fossil fuel usage. Only if renewable energy sources — solar, wind and others — can be harnessed to provide the energy to process hydrogen fuel can the dream of a truly clean hydrogen fuel be realized.
        Stanford University researchers in 2005 assessed the environmental effects of three different hydrogen sources: coal, natural gas, and water electrolysis powered by wind. They concluded that we’d lower greenhouse gas emissions more by driving gasoline/electric hybrid cars than by driving fuel cell cars run on hydrogen from coal.
        Hydrogen made using natural gas would fare a little bit better in terms of pollution output, while making it from wind power would a slam-dunk for the environment.
    CONTACT: California Fuel Cell Partnership, www.fuelcellpartnership.org.
    GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

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        The Women’s Center of Fayetteville usually operates behind the scenes. So much so, that a lot of people don’t even know about the facility.
        “We like the people that we serve to be the heroes,” said Stephanie Kennedy, the Women’s Center marketing director.
        That’s all well and good, but now this organization that, by its own calculations, has brought close to $100 million in federal money to this town in the past eight years, is feeling the pinch themselves. Long story short — a computer glitch (on someone else’s computer) is costing them $50,000. That’s half their budget and money that would have been put to use helping to better Fayetteville.
        The Women’s Center is a resource center for the entire community, not just women. It has been in town for over a decade, and in 2006-2007 alone it  worked one-on-one with 354 (business) clients; offered 83 workshops which had 473 participants; assisted 70 clients in applying for financing; assisted 16 clients in opening new businesses; and assisted 25 clients in expanding their businesses.
        Their largest program and the one that Kennedy believes makes the biggest impact on our community is the Women’s Business Center; and again, don’t let the name fool you — it says Women’s Business Center, but it serves everyone. Kennedy points out that there are a lot of places a person can go in Fayetteville for help starting a business.
        “Where I think we’re different is that one-on-one relationship factor that a lot of places don’t give you,” she said. “We don’t teach you how to write a business plan and send you on your way. When you come in to us we educate you through classes, we walk you through a business plan, financial plan, we make sure and go over it with a fine tooth comb so that if you need funding, if you  need loans before that business plan goes before the loan officer we know it’s going to pass.”
        The center has a number of programs designed to help those interested in starting a business, with programs ranging from loans to credit counseling and marketing. To offer the wide array of programs, the center obviously needs financing.
        {mosimage}And to help earn money to support these programs, the Women’s Center has opened a business of their own. The store front formerly known as Unruly, is now Downtown Décor. “The store is just part of what we are doing,” said Kennedy. “Downtown Décor is one avenue that we are trying to make ourselves self sufficient.” 
        The idea sprang up out of a “You know what this town needs...” conversation between the Women’s Center Executive Director Sylvia Gray and C.J. Malson.  “She (C.J.) had mentioned what Fayetteville was lacking was a very upscale resale consignment and home décor store — and not just furniture — not just lamps; we’re not talking knick knacks or anything like that,” said Kennedy
        “But a place where people who want nice furniture can go to and buy it and it looks very nice and looks new but not have to pay an arm and a leg for it.” 
        It’s been open since the end of May, and Malson is the manager and decorator for the store.     “You can go to any store and purchase furniture or home décor items and that money is going in their pockets,” said Kennedy.
        “If you come to Downtown Décor, the money that you’ve given to the store goes right back into the Women’s Center.” 
        The store operates as a non-pofit, so any donations to the facility are tax deductible. 
     

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        As the heat of an eastern North Carolina summer has settled in, my thoughts are often relaxed and wandering. Here are some of them.
        Just a few weeks ago, Americans were digesting the riveting news that a group of teenaged girls in Massachusetts may have made a pact to become pregnant and raise their babies together. I and other opinionated writers worried in print about what lies ahead for those too-young mothers and unsuspecting infants.
        Now comes word about babies whose lives are going to be much different from those of the New England bundles of joy.
        As I write this column, celebrity extraordinaire Angelina Jolie is ensconced in a French hospital suite overlooking the Mediterranean Sea awaiting the birth of her twins, fathered by her partner actor Brad Pitt. Television trucks camped outside the hospital to beam images around the world of Pitt and the couple’s other children as they come and go from visits with Jolie. Public relations experts report frenzied bidding for the first photographs of the Jolie-Pitt twins, bandying about numbers as staggeringly high as $20 million.
        Clearly, these children will not need to worry about college expenses.
        These yet unborn babes may be the objects of the highest dollar media attention ever, but they are hardly the only ones to receive it. Remember baby Suri, the child of actors Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise? Somehow, she managed to be publicly unphotograhped for her first several months of life, and media speculation abounded that something must be wrong with the child for her parents to keep her under wraps.
        Blessedly, the child is fine, and I see plenty of her on tabloid covers as I stand in the grocery checkout line. Likewise, I have also learned about the potty training progress of other celebrity tots and which ones are given to temper tantrums.
        The question which comes to mind now is why in the midst of a presidential campaign year and a war on foreign soil are we interested in infants and toddlers we will never know.

    That
        A recent interview with author Barbara Ehrenreich on National Public Radio caught my attention. Ehrenreich gained national attention with her book Nickel and Dimed in America in which she attempted and ultimately failed to make ends meet with low-wage service jobs all across our country. She, of course, was able to return to the world of a successful writer but was clearly torn to leave her former co-workers behind in the world of minimum wage.
        Ehrenreich has published a new book of essays, This Land is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation, in which she tackles the growing gap between the haves and the have nots and other topics. Among them is the fiscal acumen of America’s young people, which is not stellar. My own observation is that too many of them view balancing a bank account as sticking their debit card into the ATM machine to get their current balance and that few can pass up an attractive purchase in favor of a savings account.
        That being said, Ehrenreich offered some thoughts for young Americans college bound for the first time.
        To paraphrase, she says that over the next few years they will become more in debt than they ever imagined, that they will drink more alcohol than they ever imagined and will regularly regret it on the morning after, and that, if they happen to bring their virginity to college with them, they will have lost it by the time they leave.
        I have no idea whether those notions apply to all college students, but they almost surely fit some.

    The Other Thing
        {mosimage}And, finally, this, reprinted in my latest Kiwanis Club bulletin in memory of George Carlin, a truly original and funny fellow. Carlin died last month, but he left us many wonderful and intriguing thoughts.
        “Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty.
        One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
        The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.
        Isn’t it a little unnerving that doctors call what they do practice?
        If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?
        Why do they lock gas station bathrooms?  Are they afraid someone will clean them?
        Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains?
        What was the best thing before sliced bread?
        Where are we going? And what’s in this hand basket?
        If the “black box” flight recorder is never damaged during the plane crash, why isn’t the whole d*** plane made out of that stuff?”
        Happy musings of your own, and stay cool.

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        {mosimage}When I was younger (and a lot less wise), I had what some would call “quite a mouth” on me. My speech was liberally laced with profanity. It became a habit — one that I dropped upon hearing that I was pregnant. I realized the words coming out of my mouth were not words that I ever wanted to hear come out of my child’s mouth.
        Having dropped the habit (although like everyone else, I occasionally slip up), it disturbs me to hear people let loose with profanity without any regard to those around them. This past week, I was reminded just how much it disturbed me. I had an appointment with a friend, and, having arrived a little early, I took the time to sit outside in the sunshine in front of the shopping area where we were to meet.
    Sitting there, watching the people walk by, I was shocked to see what was written on one guy’s T-shirt. Right there for anyone and everyone to read were the words “overworked and under (insert the F-word here).” That’s right. That’s what was on the guy’s shirt.
        For a mother of a child who having learned to read now reads everything — signs, T-shirts, billboards — all I could think of was sitting there hearing my little boy read that T-shirt out loud to me. That was enough to make my blood boil.
        It was only compounded by the guy’s next action. He got on his cell phone and called one of his friends. Standing on a public walk way, with families with small children walking by, he started a conversation with his buddy. If you thought his T-shirt was shocking, his phone call was over the top.         Every other word was the “f-bomb.”
        It seemed to be his adjective of choice. Actually although it usually doesn’t work this way, it was also his verb, adverb and noun of choice. And he wasn’t talking quietly. He was loud and his conversation was long. I wanted to go over, rip the phone from his hand and do what mothers of old have always threatened — wash his mouth out with soap.
        I know, I know. First Amendment Freedom of Speech. But there has to be a line drawn somewhere. What’s appropriate in our homes, is not always appropriate in public. Sometimes, it’s never appropriate in public. And when that happens, then the merchants who are seeking business have to take a stand.
    If dance clubs can enforce a dress code on the people who they allow to enter their facilities, then eateries and shopping venues can do the same. The management of the facility I was at should not have allowed that “gentleman,” and I use that term very facetiously, entry into their place of business. Not only was his shirt inappropriate, but every person entering the place of business during that 15 minutes was met with his blue streak of profanity. It was unacceptable.
        I’m sure if the man in question spent more time with Mr. Webster and his friend Mr. Thesaurus, he could wear a shirt that would express the same sentiment without offending everyone he met. Not to mention the fact that his telephone conversation would probably have made a lot more sense.
      Publisher Bill Bowman had a similar experience recently, and he pointed out the problem to the manager of the establishment, who quietly asked the patron to leave. If people cannot act in an acceptable manner in public, then they can always eat at home, where they are free to express themselves anyway they want.

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        You might not think about Christmas in July, but some local motorcycle enthusiasts have made the Christmas in July Toy Run a part of the Fayetteville landscape for the past six years.
        The event, which raises funds for the Children’s Miracle Network and the Duke Children’s Hospital, is the brainchild of two local men — Joe Cook and William Winford, both associates at the Wal-Mart Logistics Distribution Center located in Hope Mills. Their goal is to make the event the largest charity motorcycle event in the state.
        Wal-Mart has long been a corporate sponsor of the Children’s Network, signing on in 1988. Since that time,        Wal-Mart/SAM’sClub associates and customers have raised and contributed more than $300 million to the Children’s Network. Locally, the event has raised more than $46,000 in cash and toys for the hospital.
        The Children’s Miracle Network is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children by raising funds and awareness for 170 nonprofit hospitals throughout North America, serving more than 17 million children with all types of illnesses. Research funded by the Children’s Miracle Network helps give babies a chance for happier, healthier lives.
    Held each July, the event raises cash and collects toys for use in the hospital. Each rider who participates in the event pays a $15 entry fee and brings one toy. Each additional rider must pay a $10 fee. Last year, the event brought in more than $9,000 in cash, and more than $4,000 in toys and gifts.
        The gifts are used to fund the hospital’s “treasure chest” for the children. Items needed include: rattles, stackable rings, lullaby tapes/CDs, stack and sort blocks, musical toys, Legos, playing cards, dinosaurs, trains, Barbie dolls, Playdoh, journals, craft kits, disposable cameras, magazines, door basketball goals, gift cards to restaurants, and other items for the playroom, which includes DVDs, Nintendo game cube games, bubbles, crayons, construction paper and CDs.
        {mosimage}This year’s event is slated for Saturday, July 19, with the rally point at M&M Leather and Custom Cycle, one of the many corporate sponsors of the event. Registration is from 7:30-9:50 a.m. While waiting for the ride to start, participants can purchase raffle tickets and take part in an auction. At 9:50 a.m., the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department will give riders a safety brief prior to their departure.
        The brief is important, as riders will travel through four counties and nine cities on the run up to the Duke University Children’s Hospital. The ride will officially kick off at 10 a.m., with riders heading out Bragg Boulevard on their way to Durham. With an expected 300 riders and almost a mile in length, it is important that riders obey the safety rules and are aware of the route the ride is taking.
        Riders are expected to arrive at Duke University Children’s Hospital at noon, where they can enjoy a great lunch provided by Texas Roadhouse. At 1 p.m., the money and gifts will be presented to the hospital in a special ceremony that involves the families whose children are being treated at Duke. At 1:30 p.m., riders can head back down the road to Fayetteville to prepare for the closing ceremonies.
        This year, as in past years, a cookout will be held at M&M Leather. There will be a 50/50 drawing, as well as drawings for various gifts and prizes. In addition to the great fun and prizes, there will also be some awesome entertainment, featuring Gasoline, Wicked Lizard and DD Productions.
            On Friday night, a pre-event Kick-Start Party will be held at Legends Pub from 6-8 p.m. Participants can pre-register for the ride at that time.
    Corporate partners include: Double D Productions, JEB Designs, Legends, M&M Leather, Up & Coming Weekly, Texas Roadhouse, The Custom Edge, Inc. Wal-Mart Logistics TO 6840 and DC 6040 and Arctic Fox Video Production

     

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         If you’re under the age of 6, you probably don’t need to be introduced to the Backyardigans, but since our reader’s survey tells us our readers are a little older than that, you might want to take your kids over to the Crown Theatre, July 11-12, to meet some of their favorite cartoon friends. The Backyardigans will come to life for you and your preschoolers in their brand-new live show, The Backyardigans Live! Tale of the Mighty Knights!
        The Backyardigans have been a staple in children’s television since 2004. Since its debut on Nickelodeon's preschool weekday lineup, the show has become the number two rated show for preschoolers on television. The program, which features five preschool friends — Pablo, Tyrone, Uniqua, Tasha and Austin — combines music and dancing to build your child’s imagination, just as the friends build their daily backyard adventures. Each episode features a different genre of music (big band, reggae, polka, Motown and disco), with at least four new songs appearing in each episode.
    In their latest adventure, the friends go on one of the greatest adventures of all.
    Uniqua and Tyrone are knights on a quest to protect King Pablo’s egg. Along the way they meet some interesting characters — Grabbing Goblin Austin and Flight Fairy Tasha — who join in on the fun. They all wind up chasing the unpredictable egg, which hatches feet and dashes all the way up to Dragon Mountain.
        {mosimage}Of course, as strong as the knights are, they are going to need some help. And that help come from the audience. The audience is asked o join in the singing and dancing to give the knights the courage they need to face the dragon who rules Dragon Mountain. Of course, don’t forget, they are going to need a little imagination.
        The show runs a little over 75 minutes, with two 30-minute acts with a 15-minute intermission.
        All five Backyardigans appear in the live show. Similar to Dora and Diego Live, the characters are portrayed by actors in costumes, with their faces revealed. The creators of the live show chose to use this approach so that the audience see and hear the expressions of the characters and really relate to them. Kids easily suspend their disbelief and experience the magic of the live theatre while playing along with their backyard friends.
        "We’re excited about our latest live theatrical endeavor for families,” said Stuart Rosenstein, senior vice president, Resorts and Theatricals, Nickelodeon Recreation.  “The Backyardigans has proven to be a huge hit with Nickelodeon families, and based on the enormous success of the Dora and Diego Live shows, we’re confident The Backyardigans Live!will have the same fantastic response from kids and parents across the country.”
        Show times are Friday, July 11 at 7 p.m., and Saturday, July 12 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tickets are $18 to $38. Tickets may be purchased at the Crown Center Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster.com or by calling (910) 223-2900. The Crown Center’s main box office is located at the Crown Coliseum and is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

     

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        The Fayetteville State University Summer Opera Series is staging a performance of Mozart’s opera,The Marriage of Figaro, on July 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m., at Seabrook Auditorium on the campus of Fayetteville State University.
        There will be a children’s matinee on July 19 at 1 p.m., sponsored by The Youth Growth Stock Fund. The matinee is a one-hour presentation for youth and families and tickets are free. Visit the Web site to reserve these free seats.       
        “We wanted to bring a new kind of cultural aspect to Fayetteville,” said Dr. Marvin Curtis, producer and musical director of the production, assistant dean of the graduate school and choir director of Fayetteville State University. “We have been fortunate to receive two grants in the last three years from the National Endowment for the Arts.”
        Curtis added that this year they received $64,000 in grants.   
        This performance will be a memorable one for Curtis because he is leaving FSU to take a position as dean at another university. The artistic director of the production is Phoebe Hall, director of theater at Fayetteville State University.      
        The Marriage of Figarois a cornerstone of the operatic repertoire. It is based on a stage comedy in which the plot recounts a single day in the palace of Count Almaviva in Spain.{mosimage}
        “It is a story of love, potential infidelity, masquerade and finding one’s true love,” said Curtis. “I call it all that with music.”
    Rosina is now the Countess; her husband, the Count, is seeking the favors of Susanna, who is to wed her love, Figaro, the Count’s valet. When the Count detects the interest of the young page, Cherubino, in the Countess, he tries to get rid of Cherubino by giving him an officer’s commission in his own regiment. Figaro, Susanna and the Countess conspire to embarrass the Count and expose his infidelity. They find themselves on the palace grounds where a comic series of cases of mistaken identity result in the Count’s humiliation and then forgiveness by the Countess.    
        Four international singers have been chosen for the lead roles: Ivan Griffin, Louise Toppin, Dr. Frank Ward Jr. and Gregory Gardner. The cast members include Kristen Campbell, Johanna Young, Ashley Kotz, Gail Morefesis, Bruce Cook, Clayton Riddle and Michael Jones. 
        The production will be accompanied by local musicians from the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, students and other area musicians.
        “We are using a 28-piece orchestra,” said Curtis. “There is also a chorus of nine singers.”         
        The production has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America Program, Cumberland County Tourism Development Authority and The Arts Council of Fayetteville Cumberland County.            
        “People told me that we could not do opera here in Fayetteville,” said Curtis. “The first year we had 2,000 people during a three-day period and this year I expect a full house.”
        Ticket cost is $10 for adults, $5 for children and $8 for senior citizens and military. Interested persons and groups can go to the Web site, www.uncfsu.edu/fah, for information on tickets for this event, or call 672-1276.

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        The Friends of the Library do a lot to enhance the Cumberland County Public Library system. Perhaps one of the greatest contributions they bring to the table is bringing noted authors to our community to share their works. Over the course of the year, the organization brings a nsumber of authors to the community, and on Tuesday, July 15, it will host noted North Carolina author Lonnie Busch.
        Busch, who resides in western North Carolina, has gained acclaim for both his writing and his illustrations, but during his visit to the Headquarters Library, he will focus on his latest work,    Turnback Creek, the winner of the 2006 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize. The book focuses on the life of Cole Emerson, a retired heavy equipment operator in a small town.
        By day, Emerson cooks, cleans and tries to make the last days of his dying sister comfortable. But the night belongs to him. Unlike others in his situation, he doesn’t seek out bright lights and large crowds to remind him that he is still alive. Instead, he seeks the solitude of Hardman Lake, where he fishes for bass and puts his own thoughts on mortality and life in order. His routine is suddenly and irrevocably shattered one night on    Turnback Creek when he meets a mysterious girl who reminds him that while he might spend his day surrounded by death, that he is, in fact, still alive, and still has dreams and desires.
        {mosimage}The book has received rave reviews, having been called “a bittersweet tale of a confrontation of one old man with mortality, his own and that of those who love him.”
        Author Jubal Tiner noted that the book is “Part ghost story, part love story, all with the bite of loss, grief and redemption.    Turnback Creek has it all, and Busch’s deft prose brings it palpably to life. It is not to be missed.”
        This offering is departure for Busch, who up to this point has focused on short tories. His works have appeared in several publications, having been a finalist in the World’s Best Short Story Competition in 2004 and earning The Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction in 2005.
        More in the realm of popular culture, his illustrations have found their way into Americana, having been chosen for U.S. postage stamps honoring the Olympics in 2004 and a series of Wonders of America stamps in 2006. His most recent, and probably most talked about illustration, was for the cover of Jimmy Buffet’s novel,    A Salty Piece of Land.
        Busch will be reading from his works, as well as talking about them during his appearance at the library. The event begins at 7 p.m. at the Headquarters Library and is free and open to the public.

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        Something wicked this way comes... and it ROCKS!
        Wicked Lizzard is a Fayetteville-based band that doesn't want to take the same road as many local groups, seeking that big record contract and MTV video in heavy rotation — it's a group of four musicians who simply want to play a wide range of rock 'n' roll cover songs that appeals to an eclectic range of ages and genres.
        Most importantly, they're all about bringing the fun back to the local music scene — for themselves and their fans.
        "We’re a high-energy, hard-driving rock band," said Jay Lambert, Lizzard's lead singer. "We're not really original — some bands are more original, some bands are just slamming metal and you can’t understand them. We’ve got a nice mix. We get a good age mix. You look over here and you got a 23-year-old and you look over here and you’ve got a a guy who’s 45.
        "We also play a wide variety of songs," said Jay. "If you don’t like the song we’re playing, wait until the next one because odds are we’re going to play something you like. We’re learning new stuff too, so we’re not just stuck in one genre."
        When Lambert says Wicked Lizzard plays a wide variety of tunes, he ain't just whistlin' "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down;" the Lizzard has more than 50 songs on its set list, ranging from old school rock such as Kiss, AC/DC and Traffic, to new blood like Radiohead, Alice in Chains and 3 Doors Down.{mosimage}
        All the musicians have more than 20 years experience playing in bands, including bassist Jamie Gardner, who started out playing in a jazz band in high school, and then played with a country rock outfit for 12 years. However, like each of his band mates, he feels he's truly struck gold with Wicked Lizzard.
        "This is by far the best band I've ever played in," said Gardner. "There are no egos or issues here — everyone has an equal say in what we do and what we play."
        Wicked Lizzard plays out about three times a month and is looking to expand on that number. The band's favorite local spots to play include FuBar, Louie's Sports Pub and The Dog House.
    Having a little age on the band members has caused some surprise to club owners and fans when the Lizzard hits the stage and begins rocking like guys half their age.
        "The guy at FuBar’s had never seen us, but we got in there and just exploded and he really wants us back," said Lambert. "That’s not bragging, we’re just psyched about that. They thought we were just going to get up there and start doing Johnny Rivers tunes; we bring it a little harder than that. We want to give the people their money’s worth.
        Guitarist Roger Biggerstaff — Sgt. First Class Biggerstaff of the United States Army, that is — is the one most responsible for making sure the songs are just right before the band hits the stage.
        "We try to come as close to the sound of the song as we can," said Lambert. "Roger is the leader of that. He’ll say we’re not going to do that song until we practice, practice, practice and get it right. We screw some songs up on stage sometimes like every band, but we’re shooting for perfection."
        And keeping it all nailed down and sounding good is drummer David Morris, who is also responsible for shaping the band's sound.
        "He breaks his neck getting the PA set up," said Lambert. "He makes it all sound pretty; we just show up and go."
        Expect an old-fashioned show complete with smoke and mirrors when you go see Wicked Lizzard. What some bands call "kitsch," the Lizzard sees as putting on a show. A lifelong member of the Kiss Army, Lambert believes every show needs some of that old "I Want To Rock and Roll All Night" sizzle.
        "I won’t compare us to them (Kiss), but the way they do a show, we do it on a local scale what they do on a big scale — smoke, lights," said Lambert. "A lot of bands don’t like to do that but we like to blow it up. Image is fun. We don’t do it because we’re saying we’re gods or anything, we just love doing it. Put the smoke machine on top of me — I eat it for breakfast."
        And if you get a chance to see this group of vintage rockers at a club near you, they guarantee you'll eat it up, too.
        "I was a hired hand for a few years, playing with whoever wanted me," said Gardner. "This is what I prefer — you walk into a bar and drop a quarter in a jukebox and hear what you want to — that’s what I want to play... and we've found that's what the people want to hear."
        You can catch Wicked Lizzard live on the following dates: July 20 at the Dog House; July 26 at Big Harry's Tavern; Aug, 14 at the Dog House; Sept. 5 at FuBar; Oct. 4 at FuBar.

    Tim Wilkins, Associate Editor
    COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 105 or
    tim@upandcomingweekly.com

  • Details

        When I was a child, comic books were my escape — my escape from being a 5-foot-nothing munchkin of a boy who tipped the scales at a whopping 80 pounds and was a favorite target of that most horrible breed of real-life monster: the bully.
    Retreating to my room after school with a black eye and bruised psyche, I would grab one of my stack of seemingly several thousand comic books and be transported to a land where bullies and bank robbers and bad guys from outer space were vanquished by cartoon pen and ink drawings of extraordinary men and women who could fly, see through walls and lift skyscrapers as is they were empty toilet paper boxes.
        Of all these imaginary heroes, my very favorite was the Incredible Hulk, who had been turned from mild mannered scientist Bruce Banner following an experiment with gamma rays gone awry into a great green monster, who became the Hulk when riled — like when a bully placed a wad of Double Bubble in his hair. I always imagined myself on the playground, being pushed once too often, transforming into the Hulk and throwing my tormentors to, say, Kansas.
        So, I was very interested in the second film adaptation of my favorite comic book,    The Incredible Hulk, directed by Louis Letterier and starring Edward Norton as the title character. I was hoping for a much better showing than the 2003 version, directed by Ang Lee and starring Eric Bana. For one thing, Ang's version ofThe Hulk had terrible CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) — when looking at the Hulk in that cinematic incarnation, you never believed he was more than a couple of million pixellated dots created by some fat CGI tech who munched cases of Doritos and drank gallons of Jolt Cola while sequestered behind his computer monitor.
        And there was no soul in    The Hulk. Ang Lee is obviously not a comic book fan, and Bana was about as wooden as a Hulk plywood cutout.
        Fortunately,    The Incredible Hulk has great green globs of both soul and amazing CGI.{mosimage}
        Norton, one of our truly excellent, underrated actors, is perfect as Banner, not too wimpy and not too condescending concerning his genius — he's a brainiac for every man.
        We see the Hulk immediately, as the experiment unfolds wordlessly to open the film, showing Norton transferred into his leviathan Mr. Hyde, breaking out of the lab and unintentionally harming fellow scientist and the love of his live, Betsy Ross (Liv Tyler), and her father, General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt).
        A vindictive Hurt spends the rest of the film attempting to capture Banner/The Hulk, so he can dissect him and finalize his plans to create a "super soldier" to dominate the battlefield. Banner, meanwhile, spends his time on the lam, searching for an antidote to his condition, finally ending up in Brazil where he works by day on a soda assembly line and by night communicates via encrypted e-mail with a mysterious Mr. Blue who thinks he can cure Banner of his "Hulkness."
    In a plot detail too complicated to explain in this limited space, General Ross finds out where Banner is hiding and sends an elite military unit, including a nasty little gnome of a guy named Emil Blonsky (the always intense and incredible Tim Roth) to bring back Banner alive. The mission fails miserably when Banner turns into the Hulk during the pursuit and opens up a great big green can of whup ass on the elite soldiers. This defeat ticks off Blonsky, who decides he wants to have the same power as the Hulk.
        Banner escapes, walking all the way back to the States and reuniting with girlfriend Betsy. (Liv Tyler, by the way now belongs to the long litany of women far too glamorous to be taken seriously as a scientist, joining the ranks of Nicole Kidman in    Days of Thunder — nuclear physician; Denise Richards,The World is Not Enough — nuclear weapons expert; and Jessica Alba, The Fantastic Four — generic scientist babe in God only knows what field.)
    After an impressive showdown on a Virginia university campus, Banner and Miss Ross escape to New York where they find         Mr. Blue, a nerdy scientist who uses all kinds of gizmos and apparently "cures" Banner of his green curse. Unfortunately, Roth discovers the good scientists and forces him to use the same technology to give him the powers of the Hulk, turning Blonsky into a 10-foot tall abomination called... The Abomination, which begins doing more damage to life, limb and New York City than the giant praying mantis/thingamajiggy from    Cloverfield.
        Of course, Banner finds a way to turn back into the Hulk and whips some Abomination booty, saving the day and setting up the obligatory sequel, which will apparently star Iron Man (Tony Stark as played by Robert Downey, who shows up at the end of the film and says he's getting a group together to battle the Hulk — pan out with Downey's mysterious Mona Lisa smile and raised eyebrow).
        Like I said, I really like this flick. It had human touches that soothes the savage, computer-rendered beast, such as when he wipes away a tear from Tyler's face with a green finger the size of a Louisville Slugger.
        Kudos to the director for planting references to the stars of    The Incredible Hulk television series which ran from 1978-1982 and starred the late Bill Bixby as Bruce Banner and body builder Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk. Bixby is seen in a television clip fromas Norton surfs the tube, and Ferrigno has a cameo as a security guard.
        Again, human touches that kept this film from being just another lame comic book adaptation.

    Tim Wilkins, Associate Editor
    COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 105 or tim@upandcomingweekly.com

  • Details

        To its credit, the city council is considering banning the curbside sale of goods by temporary vendors. To be politically correct, they are called itinerant merchants. Let’s be honest and call it like it is — a blight on every corner, especially on weekends. 
        {mosimage}Why do they seek out street corners in the mall area or heavily traveled roadways? Is it the visibility, and in many cases ease of access? The marketing people would dub this curb appeal, but again, it is simply another form of blight and denigrates our community image.
        {mosimage}Many of the passersby see it for what it is — i.e., a flashing “buyer beware” sign — and keep on driving. However, there must be enough folks who stop because they have been a part of the weekend landscape and blight for years. Their presence continues to foster the “want to buy a watch” customer mentality for which this community has been branded and which keeps the higher-end retailers away. We can get the big-box folks, but just try and persuade a Nordstrum or Joseph A. Bank site selector who visits here on a weekend to pick an out-parcel near the mall area.
        These itinerant merchants are in many instances from another county or state, so citing them for a violation may prove to be a futile effort, unless the monetary penalty is significant. If the citation is the common civil form, collectible as a debt, the city will have to spend more time and money because they will have to go to district court rather than the less expensive small claims court.
        Any proposed ordinance will need to eliminate an exception in the ordinance that allows property owners to grant permission for the itinerant merchants — otherwise, nothing is gained. How can it be a nuisance if the property owner consents? Why not cite the property owner who knowingly permits the vendor to set up, as well?
        When the debate becomes more public, the city council needs to consider the image of the city as a whole on this issue, and not their individual districts. They certainly should not be persuaded by an out-of-town, non-property owning caller in opposition to the proposed ordinance. Has anyone asked these vendors for a copy of their N.C. privilege license, which if they have one, means they have to collect and report sales tax? 
        As a community, we need to stop and smell the roses on this issue. What can the sale of a velvet Elvis possibly do to improve our image?


  • Details

        Summertime and the living ain’t easy. Jobless rates are jumping and the gas price is high. The oil companies are rich and Angelina Jolie is good looking. So hush jobless Americans. Don’t you cry. One of these mornings you’re going to rise up foreclosed. Then you’ll pack your SUV and you’ll drive to the dump. But until that morning, nothing but reality can harm you. With big oil and Angelina standing by.
        With due apologies to George Gershwin, welcome to America’s Summer of Discontent. You already know the parade of fun: recession, stock market tanking, house prices falling, layoffs as far as the eye can see. America needs a friend or at least a more reliable pusher of oil. And who is America’s best friend/pusher in the world? Why none other than King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who is going to kick up oil production a bit to ease our withdrawal symptoms. With friends like King Abdullah, who needs herpes? What a pal we have in King Abdullah.
        The King has been spending time reading the collected works of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia told    60 Minutes that people who were still stressed over the theft of the 2000 presidential election by the Supreme Court should just "get over it." The King was quoted recently regarding the high price of oil telling consumers just to "get used to it." Quote the King, "Consumer countries have to adapt to the prices and mechanisms of the market. We have nothing to do with the current sharp increase in crude prices." He’s like the little character inFamily Circus called "Not Me." Whenever Jeffy would break a lamp or a cookie jar he denied it and blamed Not Me as the culprit. King Abdullah’s Not Me reasoning makes me feel much better about paying more than four bucks a gallon for gas.{mosimage}
        Welcome to the wonderful world of Faith-Based Economics. No one is responsible for anything. To quote the great Donald Rumsfeld, "Stuff happens." Big oil producing countries have nothing to do with the price of oil. Big oil companies have nothing to do with the price of oil. Not Me raised the oil prices. But being proud, red-blooded Americans, we need to blame someone for the current mess. We ain’t buying King Abdullah’s Not Me. We are not going to go gentle into that good night of little bitty sissy fuel efficient cars and mass transportation. No Sirree! If the logical beneficiaries of the record breaking oil profits are not responsible for high prices we need to blame someone else. Don’t blame it on the bossa nova — blame it on mutant dark matter.
        A 2008 study from the International Astrological Society ruled out the previous theory that duct tape was the force that kept the universe intact. The new study reports regular dark matter has been holding the universe together since the Big Bang. Unfortunately, dark matter has an evil twin called mutant dark matter which causes more trouble than seven years of the Bush administration. Earth recently passed through a giant cloud of mutant dark matter which was on parole from a federal prison in Pennsylvania. Mutant dark matter has caused the recent financial upheavals we are all enjoying.
        Mutant dark matter has had multiple pernicious effects on our fair planet. The delicate balance of stuff which orders our planet has been turned into Bizarro World. Bizarro World, discovered in Superman comics, is a place where everything is the opposite of the Earth. Bizarro Superman is dumb, whereas real Superman is smart. Up is down, hello means goodbye. You get the picture. Earth is now Bizarro Earth due to its exposure to the mutant dark matter. Examples of Bizarro Earth are everywhere: drowning polar bears at the North Pole; colossal green algae blooms messing up aquatic events at the Chinese Olympics; former Evil Axian North Koreans getting food from the U.S.A., while South Koreans riot about our mad cows; Wall Street accounting firms who can’t count; 600 Starbucks closing; and the automotive industry sales racing to the bottom of the oil barrel.
        What are we as Americans to do about mutant dark matter exposure? Take the advice of the Homeland Security Administration — buy duct tape and sheets of plastic. Make a safe room in your house while you still own it. Watch    Entertainment Tonight. Eat Cheetos. The best is yet to come.

  • Details

        A half million images!
        Can you imagine sorting though that many photos? It is a happy challenge for the North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill’s libraries. It comes from the family of the late Hugh Morton, which gave the collection all Morton’s photos, truckloads of them, more than 60 years of his camera work all over North Carolina.
        Morton always shared his photos, most recently in two collections of his work published by UNC Press,    Hugh Morton’s North Carolina andHugh Morton: North Carolina Photographer. The several hundred photos in those collections showed how widely Morton covered North Carolina events and people.
        Now, the task of the collection is to examine the extraordinary depth of the pool of Morton’s work and make it as accessible as possible. In the past, the sorting and recording of photography collections has been a slow and tedious process for libraries and museums. Once sorted and filed, the images were available only to those who could take time to review written descriptions of the photos and then personally examine them.
        Handling the Morton photos in this fashion would have taken lifetimes.
        Modern processes now make it possible for the staff of the collection, over time, to make digital copies of all of Morton’s work. But it is not that simple. Take for instance Morton’s photographic slides — approximately 200,000 of them. Using simple, hand operated equipment to digitize these slides would take years and years. The collection considered contracting this work to an outside company that could get the job done in less than a year. But the cost would be “in the six figures.” Way too much for a library budget, even for such an important project.
        {mosimage}The collection decided instead to purchase automatic equipment like that used by the outside contractor. But there was a problem. Because most photographers are now using digital cameras, rather than film and sides, there is no longer a strong demand for that conversion equipment. So, the manufacturer stopped making it.
    Finally the collection found a source for used equipment. After a series of repairs and adjustments their “new” machine can digitize about 600 slides a day, which means all 200,000 Morton slides could be processed within a year.
        But it is only a beginning.
        Morton had several hundred thousand other kinds of images that must be processed.
        One of collection’s staff members, Karen Hull, recently looked out over her crowded work area full of boxes, cans, and stacks of Morton’s work. Facing the enormity of the task, she wrote about “what it is like to process a collection as large, varied and disorderly as the Morton photos…. How do you impose order on chaos, while respecting what few pockets of order do exist? How do you decide what to digitize, and when? How do you balance the needs and interests of the many people who will use this collection with the preservation needs of the material itself?”
        One answer might involve you, if you are willing to help. Many, probably most, of Morton’s images do not have any identification of their subjects. That kind of information is critical for anybody who wants to find pictures of particular people, places and events.
        Now that Morton’s work is being digitized, the collection is posting many of them on a “Web blog” that anyone can visit. People are checking the posted photos. When they recognize a person or scene, they add comments that give the image an enhanced identity.
        And, they are having fun viewing some fantastic Morton photos of North Carolina scenes and people. If you join in, maybe you could identify two North Carolina “Dutch Girls” in a 1940s photo. Or the beautiful woman holding an X-Ray with WBT radio personality Grady Cole.
        Visit this Web address: www.lib.unc.edu/blogs/morton/
        You can help document history and get an early look at some of the half million Morton pictures that will someday be available for everyone to see.

  • Details

        If participants in North Carolina political debate truly wish to serve the public, they will say what they mean and mean what they say.
        For example, politicians and activists on the Left, and more than a few on the Right, say that people need health insurance because without it, they can’t afford routine medical services. This is an incoherent statement. If North Carolinians can’t afford routine health care, creating an insurance program won’t help them.
        All insurance is financial insurance. It is a means of managing the financial risk of a sudden, unwelcome and disastrous event. If everyone reasonably expected to make more annual monetary claims on their insurance than they pay in annual premiums, the insurance would never be offered because the insurance pool would be unsustainable. There would never be enough money available to pay all the claims.
        To use medical insurance as a mechanism to finance annual physicals and occasional doctor visits for minor injuries or infections makes no more sense than using auto insurance to finance oil and tire changes or homeowners insurance to finance house painting or air-conditioner service.
        {mosimage}It’s not that these aren’t worthwhile, even necessary, expenditures. You ought to change your oil and tires. You ought to keep your home and its major systems in good repair. But because these are routine expenses, creating an insurance pool and having everyone send money in and make claims out would be a silly way to pay the bills. You might achieve some bulk-buying advantages, but they’d be offset by the administrative and billing costs.
        If made “universal” by government mandate, such an insurance system would penalize car and home owners with relatively new property requiring less attention, sufficient savings to cover their needs or the requisite skills to fix their own cars and homes. They would have to pay money in knowing that they will be net losers. If the system isn’t mandatory, many of these folks would see no rational reason to participate and would forgo the insurance, leaving the system with more claims than revenue and necessitating higher premiums, which would chase still more customers away. A vicious cycle would ensue.
        Sound familiar?
        When political activists say they want to “insure” everyone, what they really mean is that they want to socialize the payment of doctors, hospitals and other medical providers. That is, they want to use government’s taxing and regulatory powers to force healthier and wealthier people to pay the cost of treating sicker and poorer people. They want to redistribute income, in other words.
        Sure, they often argue that expanding insurance coverage of preventive services in the short run will save taxpayers money in the long run, but the argument is invalid. While some forms of preventive care reduce overall health-care costs by heading off diseases or complications, most preventive care doesn’t.    Governing magazine recently observed that the “growing consensus in the medical research community is that preventive care usually does not save money.”
    So don’t be distracted by those who claim that “insuring” more people will save money by increasing the use of preventive care. The game here is income redistribution.
        Needless to say, I’m not a fan of socialism. It is grotesque and impractical. Human beings do have a moral responsibility to help those less fortunate, starting with their own family and neighbors and then extending beyond that to the human race as a whole. But this is a moral responsibility free individuals must    choose     to shoulder, not a justification for state-assisted theft (hey, Lefties, what happened to the idea that the government shouldn’t legislate morality?)
        However, at least if advocates of government health care said what they really meant, rather than hiding behind insurance terminology that doesn’t fit, we could have an honest discussion about freedom, socialism and the proper use of force in addressing social problems. Because North Carolinians and other Americans still don’t cotton to straightforward calls for socialism or even European-style social democracy, its pallid cousin, you shouldn’t count on these advocates to say what they mean.

  • Details

        Fayetteville's Jim Gollins has the answer to all of America's energy needs, as well as the wallet-busting prices at the gas pumps — an  answer that flows not from an oil well, but from perhaps the most unlikely of places: a faucet.
    Gollins says that he, and many other like-minded folks in America and across the globe, have learned a secret that the U.S. government and Big Oil doesn't want you to know: You can make cheap, plentiful, nonpolluting energy from water.
    Actually it's what Gollins says is distilled from the water that provides the fuel: hydrogen.
        "I believe hydrogen is the fuel of the future," said Gollins. "You will eventually run your car on it; you will power your house with it; you will power your lawnmower with it. Each quart of water contains enough hydrogen gas to fill the Pittsburgh Steelers' football stadium two times."
        {mosimage}And Gollins says he can show anyone, even those not gifted in mechanics, how to build and install a hydrogen fuel converter in their vehicles that this, along with other measures, can increase gas mileage by more than 50 percent. He says he knows because he's already installed one in his own vehicles. He claims that since he installed one of the homemade devices on his Ford Ranger pickup, his gas mileage has improved from 14 miles per gallon to 26 mpg. And on July 12, he's going to hold a free seminar at the Ruritan Club on Campground Road to show how it's done.
        He says the apparatus, in addition to running on that most basic of elements, H2O, requires a small electrical current (such as provided by a car battery) and one other ingredient — a substance found in just about every family's cupboard.
        "Believe it or not, it's common baking soda," said Gollins. "The way to extract it (the hydrogen) is to disturb the molecules. You take distilled water and add baking soda — an eighth of a teaspoon per quart of water — and it allows the water molecules to be disrupted much more easily.
        "By putting a negative and positive charge in the water, you disrupt the molecules and the resulting action from that is HHO (hydrogen oxygen). That gas, siphoned off and injected into the intake of any modern vehicle, will burn and mix in with your fossil fuels."
        He demonstrated the process by igniting hydrogen gas produced by his small, homemade fuel cell — it went off with a loud "pop — and opening the hood of his smoothly running Ranger, which indeed sported a strange looking contraption connected to his engine that contained a jar full of agitated water.
        {mosimage}Gollins says a simple fuel cell can be built for about $10, while a system for your car will be a little more, but nowhere near the $1,600 or so online merchants are asking for such devices. He also says the device will not harm your vehicle and that the emission from the exhaust system is 100 percent water vapor. He even says that after about 30 days of using HHO, your car engine will be "scrubbed clean" by the nonpolluting water vapor, which runs so hot it destroys all other emissions.
        According to Gollins, a few of your engine's parts, such as the oxygen sensor, need to be modified to make the project work, though he says it's something even the most mechanically disinclined can do with proper training. However, he says using the hydrogen cell alone will not give you all you need to get maximum gas mileage; Gollins adds that in addition to the hydrogen cell, you must do common sense maintenance on your car, such as checking the tire pressure, changing the air filter and driving correctly — no "stop and go" driving.
        Gollins says the truth about the ease with which water can be converted to hydrogen has been suppressed by the government for economic reasons.
    "The government believes that if this nation converted to hydrogen fuel, all the industries related to petroleum products would go bankrupt and destroy the economy," said Gollins. "And if you think about it would destroy oil companies and put the people out of work at these refineries and at gas stations... anyone who gets his livelihood from oil-based products, which is a lot of people."
        Converting water into hydrogen is not a new idea. The process is called electrolysis and has been known to scientists for 200 years. However, the practice of converting hydrogen on a large enough scale to power this nation's automobiles is discredited by many — particularly oil companies and government.
        Jerry Ittenbach, a physical science instructor at Fayetteville Technical Community College says "theoretically," Gollins' ideas about mixing hydrogen with petroleum as a fuel additive is possible.
        "However, I'm not an expert on engines, so I don't know how everything would react inside the engine," said Ittenbach. "What most people mean when they talk about using hydrogen as fuel is to build these huge, expensive cells that create electricity from hydrogen. Honda recently advertised such a vehicle, but it's very expensive."
        Gollins adds that hydrogen-powered vehicles, such as Honda's FCX Clarity, are very expensive to operate and there is a lack of hydrogen fuel stations to power them — none in North Carolina and just 38 in the entire nation.
        "Also, remember, hydrogen is very volatile, it's what powered the Hindenburg," said Gollins. "If you have an accident at a hydrogen filling station, you're not going to have a fire, you're going to have a crater. That's why I don't recommend anyone attempting to modify their vehicle without getting the proper instruction."
        Gollins will provide some of that know-how on July 12, at the Ruritan Club from 8 a.m. to noon. He'll give a demonstration and answer questions.
        And the water will be free.

  • Details
        Who hasn’t been unprepared a time or two? It happens to the best of us every now and again. Being caught at the grocery store with no wallet, going to a meeting with no pen, forgotten homework, that one ingredient for the great recipe that never made it into the grocery cart, these things happen. Although it is frustrating, it is not really that big of a deal most of the time. There are times though, when being prepared really does matter — a lot like during a hurricane for instance. {mosimage}
        With hurricane season upon us, now is the time to check your emergency kit, and if you don’t have one, make one. There is no better time to put one together than before it is needed. Even with so much information available through places like the Red Cross, only about 1/3 of the population actually has an emergency kit put together according to Jack Nales, executive director of the American Red Cross, Highlands Chapter.
        “Even following a year where there are landfalls of hurricanes or a large disaster you would think everyone would say ‘Oh this does really happen. I do need to be prepared,’” said Nales. “I’m sure some people think they are not vulnerable and they can ride things out, but I am sure a lot of it is just other things competing for their attention.”
        He said making and maintaining an emergency kit needs to be a priority in order for it to work in a time of need.
        Putting an emergency kit together is pretty straightforward. “It is basically stuff that is normally in the home anyway — we are talking food, clothing, first-aid kit, important documents — its just getting everything organized” said Nales.         And by planning ahead, building an emergency kit doesn’t need to break the bank. It is a matter of picking up a few extra things at the store over a period of time.
        “When you are buying your food, you need to have some things in your pantry that are easy to eat … easy to open. You need to have either a manual can opener or some of those cans with pop tops on them so you can access the food,” said Nales. “Nothing worse than looking at ‘OK, I can live off beanie weenies’ and then realizing ‘Oh no, my electric can opener doesn’t work and I don’t have a manual can opener, and these aren’t the ones with the pop tops on them.’ So it’s just looking at things like that and stocking up on things that you normally have,” he added.
        If the thought of starting a kit from scratch is too overwhelming or time consuming to think about, the American Red Cross has thought of that too. There is an online presenentation at www.redcross.org/beredcrossready on the things to do to make a plan, and the things to do to make an emergency kit. The third section has some CPR information on it too. “So in about 40 minutes or so you can watch all this stuff,” said Nales, “and for a lot of people it is a lot easier to watch it than to read it or research it.” The Web site also has printed materials on what you need to do to be prepared.
        Just in case you don’t make it to the Web site, here is a list of some things from www.ncready.org to consider, in keeping you and your family ready for a disaster.
         Essentials:
    •Water — 1 gallon per person per day (a week’s supply of water is preferable); {mosimage}
    •Water purification kit or bleach;
    •First-aid kit and first-aid book;
    •Pre-cooked, non-perishable foods, such as canned meats, granola bars, instant soup & cereals, etc.;
    •Baby supplies: formula, bottle, pacifier, soap, baby powder, clothing, blankets, baby wipes, disposable diapers, canned food and juices;
    •Non-electric can opener;
    •Anti-bacterial hand wipes or gel;
    •Blanket or sleeping bag per person;
    •Portable radio or portable TV and extra batteries;
    •Flashlight and extra batteries;
    •Essential medications;
    •Extra pair of eyeglasses;
    •Extra house and car keys;
    •Fire extinguisher — ABC-type;
    •Food, water, leash and carrier for pets;
    •Cash and change;
    •Seasonal change of clothing, including sturdy shoes;
    •Sanitation supplies;
    •Large plastic trash bags for waste, tarps and rain ponchos;
    •Large trash cans;
    •Bar soap and liquid detergent;
    •Shampoo;
    •Toothpaste and toothbrushes;
    •Feminine hygiene supplies;
    •Toilet paper;
    •Household bleach;
    •Rubber gloves.
        “If you have a plan of what you would do in case of a disaster and have a kit and your supplies ready (whether you have to stay at home or leave and go to a shelter) can make an experience during a disaster the difference between an inconvenient camping trip and feeling like you are an unsuccessful candidate on survivor,” noted Nales.

  • Details
        The new jewelry exhibit at Cape Fear Studios gets high marks for invention, creativity and its well crafted and originality. Creative Metalsmiths: the Works of Erica Stankwytch Bailey and Students is an exhibit that proves how we all have an artist within us. As evident in the exhibit, people from all different types of professions have proven a quality body of work can be created and exhibited. All that is needed is a certain amount of skill and creativity, having the right encouragement, working with a knowledgeable and effective teacher and working very hard to meet deadlines.
    Bailey and 10 of her students are also demonstrating how jewelry design has a secure position in the discipline of fine arts. No matter what their profession, each artist has combined aesthetics and experiences with the rigors of learning how to manipulate, fabricate, form, solder and design wearable art in metal.{mosimage} 
        A well-known metalsmith in the area, Bailey exhibits locally and nationally. Her work is known for being sculptural in essence, mixing perforated and solid surfaces. Approaching jewelry as a sculptor; her forms are often large in scale, asymmetric in design and always have a minimalist flare for suggesting something beyond the object itself.
    A consummate metalsmith, Bailey earned a degree in metals from East Carolina University. Upon returning to Fayetteville she began teaching courses at Fayetteville Technical Community College. That experience has turned into seven years of teaching, which has resulted in a group of committed students who have studied with her for up to seven years. It is this core group of students that are exhibiting in Creative Metalsmiths: the Works of Erica Stankwytch Bailey and Students.
        A well-known artist, Bailey is also a dedicated teacher. I am aware of her enthusiasm and passion for teaching. She commented, “For me, having the opportunity to share my passion with others is priceless. I feel like I am creating a local niche for myself with a group of people that enjoy discussions about annealing, forging and all things metal. As an artist it is great to have a group of peers who discuss technical and aesthetic concerns. As an educator it is truly fantastic when you see the light go on when they finally get it! I am so proud of the work these students have completed to share with the community.”
        Nancy Tiska mounts stones in her silver fabricated bracelets and necklaces. What is particularly interesting is that the stones in Tiska’s work are actually parts of ceramic tiles. While visiting the island of Ponza, off the mainland of Rome and Naples, she collected the ceramic chards on the beaches. The tiles edges were smooth from the wear of the water. A registered nurse by profession, Tiska remarked, “taking jewelry with Bailey started out as a hobby and is just fun. I have plans to make special pieces for my family and friends.”
        Although Dale Parker has taught art in the public schools, metal work was a new experience for her. Her work in particular is organic in design. Parker has worked with Bailey for two years and stated, “I have become intrigued by the transformation of solid, rigid metal into forms that express fluidity and movement.”
        Pandy Autry has always been fascinated by “pattern and texture in nature, textiles, and in ordinary everyday objects.” A decorative painter, Autry has only worked with Bailey for a little over a year. For the exhibit she has fabricated shades for night lights. Autry’s mini lamp shades are exquisite in the way fabricated mesh has been soldered onto a metal frame to create unique and functional forms.                                                                                         Connie Bennett is a “computer technician by day and a jewelry junkie by night.” Her bracelets are carefully swirled round silver wire to create a rhythmic pattern of repetition and movement. Bennett has worked with Bailey for three years and enjoys using mixed media by combing resins and enamels to add color to her metalsmithing techniques.
    One of the more technically elaborate bracelets was made by Terry Milliken, a doll maker. A mixed-media cuff bracelet, sterling silver is combined with copper, the surface of the bracelet passed through a rolling mill to create a lace texture. Sterling silver vines, leaves and flowers were added to create a raised relief on the bracelet surface.
    The anthropologist of the group is Jennifer Grocer. Her knowledge of the ancients is evident in her work. Solid surfaces are covered with detailed, intricate arabesque patterns — evoking the jewelry style of several ancient civilizations. Mass in Grocer’s work is balanced with the delicate pattern.
        Wendy Marsh has been studying metalsmithing with Bailey for two years. As a massage therapist, Marsh’s earrings and necklace are graceful organic shapes, a vein of silver flows though the center of the form, ending with a delicate spiral. Like most of the Bailey’s students, Marsh has the joy, at this point, of exploring jewelry for the delight of designing and making works of art for family and friends.
        Fabricating horse hair bracelets has been a creative outlet for pharmacist Kim Howell. Owning a business called Twisted Tails; Howell makes braided horsehair bracelets for customers who send her hair from their horses. After working with Bailey on and off for six years, Howell has found unique ways to mix fabricated metal techniques with her unique horse hair jewelry.
        Lee McMillan always enjoyed “digging through her mother’s jewelry boxes and items of the 1950s.” In retro style, McMillan presents her bracelet on a white glove; beads dangle from her silver forms creating a delicate twinkle of the traditionally feminine. What began as trying to learn a few soldering techniques, has become two years of study with Bailey.
        Due to a canceled watercolor class, Kathy Moore decided to take a jewelry class. Three years later she is still working with Bailey and enjoys experimentation with jewelry making. Moore’s work in particular focuses on ways to integrate color with metal. Like several of the other student’s, Moore is inspired by nature.
        While viewing the exhibit, visitors to the gallery will immediately notice how Bailey’s tutoring does not end at the jeweler’s workbench. There was an extensive amount of preparation and planning on how to present the work. From the way each student’s shadow boxes were lit, to the building of the shadow boxes and the choices each artist made to present their work, Bailey lead the way in creating and promoting an exhibit, meeting deadlines, pricing and many other experiences which would be outside the realm of a regular class syllabus.
        {mosimage}Each student had only compliments and words of praise for their teacher guru. Parker remarked, “I appreciate that she allows input from her students as to what they want to learn. She encouraged me to go for it and didn’t expect us to emulate her style of work; instead we are encouraged to find our own style.”
        Creative Metalsmiths: the Works of Erica Stankwytch Bailey and Students will remain at the Cape Fear Studios through July 23, 2008. The studio is located on Maxwell Street, two blocks behind the Arts Council in historic downtown Fayetteville.




     









                                     




  • Details

    Bragg Mutual Federal Credit Union Contributes $3,000 to kids voting of cumberland county
        Bragg Mutual Federal Credit Union recently presented a check in the sum of $3,000 to Kids Voting Cumberland County.
        Kids Voting Cumberland County is a unique program that provides a state-approved comprehensive K-12 civics curriculum with dynamic classroom activities that are easy for teachers to adapt to best fit their needs. The curriculum makes learning about civics relevant to students. Through a “real-life” voting experience that replicates the adult ballot, with a full slate of candidates and issues, students gain the knowledge, skills and confidence necessary to be active participants in our representative democracy. Students, who learn these skills during their early school years, will reach adulthood with a greater appreciation of their responsibilities as citizens, with the abilities to identify the issues, gather information to reach solutions, think critically about the consequences of various actions and work together with others to do what is best for all.{mosimage}
        The $3,000 was raised by $1,500 in sales of candy bars at Bragg Mutual’s main office and three branches and matching funds provided from Armed Forces Financial Network matching grant program.

    Cape Fear Valley Appoints New Chief Finance Officer
        Sandra S. Williams, MHA, CPA, has been appointed Chief Financial Officer for Cape Fear Valley Health System.
        Williams, a native of St. Petersburg, Fla., has more than 28 years of professional finance experience. She was previously Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she was responsible for financial management of a 1,300-bed, six-hospital regional health system. Prior to that, Williams was Chief Operating Officer/Chief Financial Officer for University Community Hospital in Tampa, Fla.
        She has also served as an Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer for Presbyterian Healthcare/Novant Health in Charlotte, and as a Director with PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Healthcare Practice in the Middle East.
        Williams is a Certified Public Accountant and received a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and a Master of Arts in Healthcare Administration from the University of South Florida.
        At Cape Fear Valley, Williams will oversee finance for the 10th largest healthcare system in the state, which averages 875,000 patient visits a year.

    Arts Council seeks vendors for International Festival
        The Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County is seeking vendors for the 30th Annual International Folk Festival, Sunday, Sept. 28 from noon until 6 p.m. at Festival Park in downtown. Spaces are available for arts and crafts vendors, food vendors and vendors selling merchandise with cultural or ethnic themes.         Applications are online at  www.artscounciloffayetteville.pmailus.com/pmailweb/ct?d=FZIlLwA8AAEAAAHgAAH92A or www.theartscouncil.com/International_Folk_Festival.html. For more information, call (910) 323-1776.

  • Details
        You could take one day to celebrate our nation’s freedom, but why take just one? The owners of The Dog House have a better idea — take the whole weekend to celebrate the Fourth of July, with great music, great bikes and fantastic fireworks. All of these things come together at the First Annual Freedom Bike Fest, July 4-6.
        {mosimage}The Dog House has long been a destination for great music and a favorite for modern day cowboys who love to ride with the wind in their face and the feel of throbbing metal between their legs as they race down the highway and their horses of steel. (For those of a less poetic bent, that would be bikers.) Organizers are capitalizing on the love of music and bikes to bring together one of the biggest Fourth of July celebrations in the state.
        The event, which is a little bit country and a little bit rock ‘n roll, will be held in Parkton, on the site of the Southern Comfort Air Ranch. The ranch used to be the site of some great sky diving. These days the skies aren’t as busy as they used to be, but that will change over the course of the weekend. The ranch is 300-plus acres, some of which will be used as campsites for attendees at the rally. Camping is a major part of the Freedom Bike fest experience. All campgrounds are clean and well maintained with 24-hour security provided by the local law enforcement Freedom Bike Fest security staff. Freedom Bike Fest also provides trash and recycling, collected daily, and portable restrooms which are cleaned daily. The campground will not open until noon on Thursday, July 3. Only one motorized vehicle is allowed per campsite. You must be at least 18-years-old to camp at the event. Organizers note that the event is not designed for small children, and no pets are allowed either.
        The remaining land will be eaten up by the main stage; a vendor city and activities all designed to put you in a party state of mind.
        The event isn’t just about music, although there will be plenty of that. It’s also about charity. Each day, charity bike rides will begin and end at the ranch. They will spread throughout the area, with all monies raised going to local charities.
        There will also be some fun events. Events like the Biker Olympics, the FMX Stunt Riders, extreme sky divers and celebrity bike builders. Oh, we forgot to mention the world-famous tattoo artist who will be on hand. Ami James is an Israeli-born American tattoo artist. He is the co-owner of the Miami, Fla., tattoo parlor known as LoveHate, and is the subject of the TLC reality television program Miami Ink. If you ever thought you wanted a great tattoo, this would definitely be the man to talk to.{mosimage}                                                And while all those events will complement the music, it is the music that will rule at Freedom Bike Fest. Organizers of the event are bringing together some great national acts, as well as local groups, for three rocking days of fun. Local bands slated to perform include: D.L. Token and The Fifth. They be joined by regional acts such as: Rebel Son, The D.B. Bryant Band and Dixie Highway.
        Big name draws to the show Molly Hatchett, Blackfoot and Sammy Kershaw. Molly Hatchett and Blackfoot are both southern rockers who have definitely made their mark on southern rock. The two bands are known for good times and great music — they are good ‘ol boys whose guitars get pretty loud. Kershaw adds a bit of country to the mix. Known for such hits as “Queen of My Doublewide Trailer” and “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful,” will end the three day-event with his performance on Sunday night. On Saturday night, following the Blackfoot performance, a fantastic fireworks show will light up the Parkton skies.
        One-day admission to the show is $25, while a three-day pass if $50. In order to camp on site, you must purchase a three-day pass. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com and all Ticketmaster outlets. Southern Comfort Air Ranch is located off U.S. 301 on Little Marsh Road, between Fayetteville and Lumberton.

  • Details
        {mosimage}When you think about the Fourth of July, you think parades, picnics, patriotic music, flags and fireworks. And while you might find some of those elements at other community Fourth of July events, nobody does it better than Fort Bragg.
        If Fort Bragg is the place the phone rings when the nation dials 911, then it’s only right that it be the center of the celebration of our national freedom — especially this year as Fort Bragg sponsors Operation Celebrate Freedom VI: A Welcome Home Ceremony.
        “We always celebrate the Fourth of July every year here on Fort Bragg, but this year, we are blessed to have most of our soldiers home, although there are a number still deployed,” said Heather Staffel, special events coordinator. “That’s going to make it a little more special.”
        With that in mind, the installation is pulling out all of the stops to make this year’s event one not to be easily forgotten. The event will kick off at 3 p.m. at the Main Post Parade Field. While the field normally plays host to much more austere ceremonies, on the Fourth of July it becomes one of the biggest backyard barbecues in the nation, with everything from games and rides to food and music.
        The mini-carnival will feature children’s rides only. A $5 bracelet covers the cost of all the rides. Of course,  you may want to ride the rides before you settle down to eat, but when you do decide to check out the food vendors, be prepared. Vendors will offer everything from barbecue to brats to pizza and ice cream. There will be 16 food vendors. If none of that tempts your tummy, you’re always welcome to bring along your own picnic basket.
        Fort Bragg’s festivities have long been associated with great music, and this year is no exception. At 3:30 p.m., Dakota Rain, one of Fayetteville’s favorite country music bands, will start the party. The band, which has been together for more than seven years, is something of a staple at the Fort Bragg festivities, having opened for national acts for a number of years. Dakota Rain highlights its performances with a mix of cover country tunes, southern rock and its own original music. Woman Behind the Man, a tribute to military wives, received considerable air play locally and in other areas throughout North and South Carolina.
        The band will be followed by Rockie Lynne, a former Fort Bragg soldier turned musician. Lynne, a North Carolina native, signed his first record deal in 2005, and has since charted four times on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. His first hit came with the song “Lipstick,” which peaked at number 29. He currently has two singles out — “I Can’t Believe It’s Me” and “Holding Back the Ocean.”
        It wouldn’t be the Fourth of July on Fort Bragg unless someone jumped out of a plane, and at 5:45 p.m., you can catch the world-famous Golden Knights free fall parachute demonstration. The Knights are among the most elite skydivers in the world, competing around the world annually. The aerial acrobatics and precision landings are a great way to warm the crowd up for another elite performer — the incomparable Wynonna.
        There are only a select few celebrities who have the panache to be known only by their first name — Wynonna definitely makes the cut. The auburn-haired beauty has a powerhouse voice that was made for country music. She gained fame in the ‘80s as a member of one of country’s most popular duos — the Judds. Their story is well known. Wynonna, along with her mother, Naomi, had a meteoric rise to the top, recording more than 10 studio albums and charting 14 number one songs. The duo appeared unstoppable until 1991 when Naomi was forced into retirement due to health issues. {mosimage}
        Many speculated how well Wynonna would do on her own, but she didn’t let her fans down. Launching her solo career, she has sold more than 10 million records, won the Top Female Vocalist award from the Academy of Country Music, and recorded 13 top 10 hits. She has been called innovative, inspired and imaginative, and has proven to be something of a rebel. The tabloids have followed the songstress closely, taking note of her successes, and thrilling when she falls down. But the singer, who has likened herself to a female Elvis, takes it all in stride, and continues to produce great country music. She is currently touring in support of her new release What The World Needs Now Is Love. Wynonna has a special place for the military in her heart, having performed a number of times for the military and their families, including shows at the Pentagon and most recently at Alaska’s Operation Gratitude, a concert for the U.S. military. That show was simulcast to troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, who were able to interact with her via video conferencing. Once you’ve had your taste of country, prepare for a big bite of mom, apple pie and country, as the event turns to the patriotic side. The Flag Ceremony, long a Fort Bragg tradition, pays tribute to the men and women who serve by honoring the flags of every state. If you’ve never seen this ceremony, be prepared for goose bumps.
        At 8:30 p.m., the 82nd Airborne Division’s All American Band will perform the “1812 Overture,” which will flow into the Concert in the Sky fireworks show at 9:30 p.m. This is one show you are not going to want to miss.
        Admission to the event is free and open to the entire community. If you do not have a Fort Bragg sticker on your vehicle, you will need to enter through one of the authorized gates for non-registered vehicles. Expect a delay of at least 30 minutes to access post, so plan your trip accordingly, but leave your pets, grills and glass bottles at home.

  • Details
        The town of Hope Mills is planning a bang-up celebration this year, with plenty of events, performances and fun and games that are sure to create fond memories for the entire family.
    Hope Mills’ Parks and Recreation Program Supervisor, Kenny Bullock, has been working to ensure that this year’s celebration is a success. Even with all the hard work, Bullock enjoys watching the impact his efforts have on the public.
        “I enjoy the parade and seeing the kids have fun --— and the games” said Bullock. And everyone’s favorite … the fireworks. “The fireworks are always the top of the show. Everybody loves to see the fireworks,” he added. 
    Last year, Bullock estimates that 6,000 or so people turned out for the Fourth of July celebration, adding that,“This year we hope to have more.”
         The day starts at 10 a.m. with a parade. It will start at Hope Mills Middle School and will end at Hope Mills Municipal Park. From noon until the fireworks everything will take place at the park. “We try to make it a fun family atmosphere,” said Bullock.  
         {mosimage}Bullock strives to keep things interesting by bringing in new and different entertainment for each annual Fourth of July celebration.
        “We’ve got some different venues coming in,” he noted. “We’ve got Shadows of the Fire and the Kindred Spirits Student Group that will be performing, and we have a magic show for the kids at 5:30.”
         Every age group has their favorites, and the Fourth of July celebration strives to meet everyone’s expectations. “The children love the inflatables (and) the adults love the entertainment,” said Bullock. “This year we have Dakota Rain. They’ll start performing at 7. The crowd will start filling up probably around 3 with everyone wanting to get involved.”
         There will also be a horse shoe tournament, train rides, a karaoke contest, and other fun games. And don’t forget the fireworks. They start at 9:30 p.m.

  • Details

        {mosimage}Dr. James Anderson, the new chancellor at Fayetteville State University is the right man at the right time to lead FSU into the 21st century.
        Coming off a tumultuous year at FSU that included the much publicized nursing school brouhaha, Anderson, 59, wants to restore order, raise admission standards, and, most importantly, make FSU more competitive and attractive to students.
        “We have to not only emphasize recruitment, but on top of that, retention and graduation. It hurts an institution when it lowers its standards,” Anderson said. “Now, I didn’t get into why that happened. What I have tried to say since I’ve been here is when you lower your standards you begin to lose your competitive edge. It’s very hard to argue that you’re a great institution when you’re lowering your admissions standards.
    “So we’ve bumped those up some and they will continue to gradually move up,” Anderson said. “But we are not an institution of choice, meaning when students think about their first choice, many of them don’t think about Fayetteville State University. For many of them, we are their default institution. We want to change that; we want to be able to go after some of the best and brightest in North Carolina, who either leave the state or go to other schools here. We want to be able to offer the competitive scholarships that attract them.”
        In order to attract “the best and the brightest,” Anderson says the school needs to recruit star students, just as athletes are recruited. He also says the business of recruiting should not be left solely to the admissions office, but should also include the faculty.
        “We want to have faculty involved in student recruitment, to have faculty to begin to contact students in their junior year in high school or get them to come here for various kinds of summer initiatives, etc.,” Anderson said. “When they begin to see you early on, they begin to develop more of an affinity for you, they begin to see how serious we are about wanting them here.”
        As part of his recruitment strategy, Anderson wants to add more diversity to the student body, recruiting more Hispanic and international students. And he says he especially wants to attract more black males to FSU — a commodity that is sorely lacking not only at FSU, but across the nation as a whole.
        Anderson has a hard won advantage over most university presidents or chancellors in the recruitment of black males — he can relate to black males because he’s “real.”
        Anderson was born out of wedlock in a Washington, D.C., hospital. His mother’s family forced her to leave the infant at the hospital and he didn’t see her again until six years ago.
    He lived the wild life, surviving and hustling on the hard streets of D.C., getting in and out of trouble. But he was saved by the discipline of a Catholic classroom and the stern, no-nonsense guidance of the schools’ angels in black and white.
        “I got in lots of trouble, and yet I always did well in school,” Anderson said. “The nuns saw something in me and just always pressed me to do well. In high school I was a big high school basketball player, but I always put academics first.”
        After leaving high school, Anderson attended Villanova University — where he remains a member of the board of trustees — and then to Cornell, where he earned his Ph.D. in psychology under his first true mentor, Wade Boykin — the first African-American faculty member at Cornell in the psychology department. Anderson was the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. in Boykin’s program.
        After having spent most of his academic life at all-white or predominantly white schools, Anderson decided that for his next gig, he wanted to experience a traditionally African-American college, so he chose to teach at Xavier University in New Orleans.
        Anderson left Xavier for Indiana University in Pennsylvania, where another mentor, Hilda Richards, suggested he get into administration.
        “She said, ‘James I know you love teaching, you’re rated as one of our best instructors on campus... our students love you... but I think you would make a great administrator,” Anderson said. “She said a line I will never forget: ‘You can change a few lives of students in a classroom, but you can change the whole university if you run it.’”
        And thus began his quest to lead a university as a president or chancellor. His journey to that destination took him to the University of Richmond in Virginia; N.C. State, where the school created a brand new position for him — the dean of undergraduate studies; Texas A&M, where he served under then-President Robert Gates, who is now President Bush’s secretary of defense; and finally, he went to work at Albany State University.
        Shortly after starting his job at Albany State he learned about the opening for a chancellor at FSU.
    “I finally made the decision that I wanted to be a chancellor,” Anderson said. “I only applied to two places and this one came through.
        “A couple of things pulled me to FSU,” he added. “First and foremost, my respect and admiration for the University of North Carolina system, which I consider the best in the country. When I came down for my visit I really felt a couple of things: one, that there was very good student leadership here, and that if people were given the chance to be creative, to be innovative, they would. I knew there was a little troubled time here preceding that search, so we had to recast the image of the university in a more positive light. The board seemed very inspired in that they really wanted to find someone that was a good match. A lot of the stars aligned at the same time.”
        After a long search, Anderson, who has a wife and three daughters, says FSU is his last job... that he will be here until he retires.
        Anderson says implementing the changes he’s seeking won’t be easy. He says that some of the “old guard” may resent the recruitment of different races at a traditionally African-American school — though he says that at one time, FSU’s student body was 33 percent white  — he says that some alumni may balk at the fund-raising he says is necessary to implement some of the technological initiatives needed to make sure FSU students remain competitive when they venture into the work place.{mosimage}
        “The fund-raising effort at Fayetteville State may appear to have been sufficient in some ways, but for the things we want to do, the creative initiatives, the things we want, we have nowhere near the resource support,” Anderson said. “So we’ll have to do fund-raising, which entails having alumni increase their gift giving rate, which is very low. I don’t understand why 25 percent of the alumni can’t give $50 each year. See, people always think you’re asking for $100,000 or $50,000, etc. If $50 is all you can give, that’s fine. But I would like to be able to say one day that 25 percent of our alumni give, which is pretty good considering the national average is around 19 percent.”
        Anderson insists that when it comes to recruiting students, fund-raising and pushing his initiatives, he will never take a back seat.
        “I will lead the push for more money. I will lead this school in the pursuit of new technology. I will recruit  prize students, even if it means hopping on a plane at my own expense and flying across the country.”
        The right man. The right time. The right job.

  • Details
        When I learned, 28 years ago this month, that I was expecting our first child the reaction throughout our family was a resounding, high-fiving, back-slapping “YES!,” in anticipation of the first grandchild, niece-nephew on either side. At the time, I was a 30-year-old married woman working in my family business with a stable, income-producing spouse.
        It was still hard. 
        Having and raising that child and the two others who followed him remains the great challenge of my life. I suspect most parents would say the same.                                                                                                                                          That is why recent news from Gloucester, Mass., is so troubling. Who could ever have imagined a pact among adolescent girls 16 and younger to become pregnant, give birth and raise their children together. I immediately conjured images of a lovely Victorian house with a rose-covered picket fence where fresh-faced young women and their perfect, healthy and beautiful babies live happily ever after.{mosimage}
    The thought of it almost takes my breath away.
        Grown-ups — that would be the people in charge at school and other folks in authority, began to take notice when more girls than usual appeared at the high school health clinic seeking repeated pregnancy tests, when, as we used to say in the olden days, “the rabbit died.” Girls one might expect to burst into tears upon hearing such news were actually delighted to find themselves in the family way, with no dads in sight. 
    Since Time magazine first reported the story, there has been considerable backpedaling and general confusion. The mayor of Gloucester held a press conference to say that the high school principal might have misunderstood a few things, and the teen moms themselves are nowhere to be seen.
        Time has stood by its reporter and its story. Nonetheless, it is certainly true that a “pact” — real or imagined, forged among teenage girls in high school bathrooms, in cars or on school buses, during slumber parties or wherever is quite a bit more slippery than the public signing of a NATO treaty by various heads of state.
        The former has lots of wiggle room, shades of gray, and deniability, while the latter does not.
     Gloucester is a hard scrabble American town, one which has fallen upon hard times with the demise of the New England fishing industry, just as many North Carolina communities continue to reel from the loss of manufacturing jobs in the textile, tobacco and furniture sectors. It is understandable that people in those communities seek refuge and relief whereever they can.
        Teenaged motherhood, though, seems a serious, significant, and lifelong overreaction. I think of how much our culture has changed on the issue of out of wedlock births since my own teenaged years. Then, I knew girls who suddenly and inexplicably went to spend a summer with a mysterious Aunt Thelma in Nebraska, a relative whom no one had ever heard of before and have not since.
        Times are different and much less judgmental today. We have baby showers for moms in middle school, and we all rightly embrace our precious babies, whatever their parental status when they arrive.
    But I know, and I know you know, that having a child and being a parent is hard. I have no idea what went on with those teenaged girls in Gloucester, and, I suspect, neither do they. The fact, however, that this year’s teen pregnancy rate in that community is quadruple the expected number says that something is afoot. Other than the dads who do not seem to be publicly stepping up, what is it?
        {mosimage}Social scientists tell us that cause and effect are notoriously difficult, if not impossible to prove. I cannot help but suspect, however, that in addition to the economic distress of Gloucester, our popular culture, including the likes of Angelina Jolie and Jamie Lynn Spears, play a role. It glamorizes high fashion pocketbooks, empire waistlines and stiletto heels and, in the same breath, describes “baby bumps” as if they were just another modern fashion accessory.
        Everyone wants one.
        A designer bag, a fabulous dress, a pair of killer shoes, though, can wind up in a pile at the back of the closet. The baby, subsequent to the bump, is forever. Untold millions of women throughout time have borne and raised children alone, mostly inadvertently. It appears, though, that at least some of the young mothers in Gloucester set out to have babies on their own, pact or no pact, which tells me that there is a real gap between the romance of motherhood and its reality.
        Very early motherhood can turn out well for all parties, but I do not know anyone who would not say it is almost always more difficult than for a mother who is more emotionally, educationally, and financially prepared and who has a contributing partner.
         My heart is with these young mothers and their babies as they embark upon the road they have apparently chosen for themselves — and for their precious and unknowing little ones.

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