Cruise the Main Drag on memory lane — a whiff of suntan lotion and hair spray … hot summer days and hotter nights, with cool music that stirs the soul.

Carolina beach music is more than a lifestyle … it is a genre. Its roots go back to the 1940s. The music captures tunes from blues, rhythm and blues and southern soul and has been heard in the pavilions and beach clubs along the beaches of North Carolina and South Carolina for at least six decades. The thin beach strand of these two states is the place where true beach music originated. And for those who must move to the beat and the songs that speak to youth and love, the Shag was born.

So forget fighting the traffic across the bridge at Wilmington, finding a place to park on Ocean Drive or worrying about the weather. The beach is coming to Fayetteville. It is Spring Break and the fun is rolling into Hay Street.

The Headquarters Library will begin the festivities with a program on the rich cultural legacy of music that is also our Carolina history. John Hook, an author of eight books on beach music and one of the people who lived the times as a radio personality in Myrtle Beach will immerse us in memories of bands like The Embers, The Drifters, the Tams and the Chairmen of the Board

.The evening begins with Warren McDonald and Classic Soul taking us to the audio “fountain of youth” with songs like “Carolina Girls,” “My Girl” and “I Love Beach Music.” Our own Fayetteville shaggers will demonstrate the dance.

The music and shag begins in the Pate Room at 6:45 p.m. for audience enjoyment. Hook will speak to the times and remembrances with a special announcement of Fayetteville’s special link to beach music — The history of beach music: A Fayetteville first.

Friday afternoon, March 30, the “beach crawl” begins along Hay Street. Downtown merchants will offer beach “specials.” Find sandals, wine, books, picnic goodies, cute fashions and other goodies to prepare for the coming summer. Sample food and special drinks (i.e. “Sex on the beach” at Huske Hardware) while shopping or taking a break from dancing.

Classic Soul, our own sidewalk beach band, will play beach music starting at 3 p.m. in front of the Parkview Offices on the 320 block of Hay St. Wear your shag shoes because the Fayetteville Shag Association will be giving shag lessons.

The classic cult movie, Shag, is scheduled to be shown at the Cameo at 3 p.m. and at the Gilbert Theatre at 7 p.m. for donations only. So bring the family for this feel-good film that shows the Myrtle Beach culture of the ‘60s along with crinoline slips, tailfin convertibles, beach parties and beach music with the some of the original groups.

The evening will culminate with a “fun” raiser for the Cameo Theatre. Classic Soul will open the concert and shag dance (of course) with The Embers.

Curtiss Carpenter, the “voice of beach music” will emcee the evening. Mellow Mushroom will offer a cash bar for wine, beer and soft drinks … and pizza!

Tickets are $25 and are limited. So buy early. Tickets include a chance to win a free weekend at Myrtle Beach. Tickets can be bought at the Cameo Box Offi ce (910-486-6633) or Up & Coming Weekly (910-484-6200).

This event, like the original efforts to buy the digital cameras for the Cameo, started with a small committee of people committed to saving our art theatre; a “grassroots” movement that grew out of love for our downtown. So come down and enjoy. It is Spring and time to “Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy”—no matter how old you are.

Photo: The Embers

Nonprofits serve a very important role in our current society, nationally, locally and globally, with one of the most important roles being improving quality of life. In the past, people have depended on government programs to care for many needs of our senior citizens, disabled veterans, physically/mentally challenged individuals and undernourished children, just to name a few. While federal, state and local governments are striving to rein in budgets and are cutting government programs, a tremendous number of needs that are unfulfilled or will be left unfulfilled remain. A family breadwinner who becomes unemployed and no longer meets qualifications for federal subsidies due to downsizing of government programs will look to nonprofit organizations and their volunteers for help in feeding his or her family. Uninsured individuals needing extensive medical treatments, such as cancer patients, turn to nonprofit organizations for financial and emotional support.

While many label charitable organizations as nonprofit, they can be highly profitable. Nonprofits do not provide a balance sheet to shareholders with profits or losses reflected in bottom lines; their credence and standing as a “profitable” nonprofit is based on the value of service and/or goods they provide in fulfilling the needs of the community. There are numerous organizations locally that provide such services. These organizations are headquartered not only locally but also nationally and internationally.

Nonprofits play a significant role in the current economy, and it appears they will continue to do so in the future. This impact is not only in services they provide, but also in the employment opportunities they provide. The Urban Institute reported in November of 2012 that while unemployment in the business and government sectors of employment was dropping, employment in the nonprofit sector grew by 4 percent, and wages increased by 6.5 percent from 2007 to 2010. Nonprofits employed 9 percent of the country’s labor force in 2010. In 2013, the N.C. Center for Nonprofits reported that nonprofits provide 1 out of every 9 jobs in our state or 11 percent of jobs, while paying $15 billion in wages to North Carolinians.

A nonprofit organization is gauged on its ability to achieve its objectives, and therefore organizations are specifically seeking individuals with backgrounds in this area. As employment opportunities increase in the nonprofit sector, specialized training in nonprofit management, including fundamentals of compliance, ethics and stewardship, reflects positively on one’s resume and job applications. If you are interested in working with a nonprofit organization or starting your own, FTCC is now offering a certificate in Nonprofit Management as part of its Business Administration/Public Administration program. Certificates may be completed in one year and cover coursework in accountability, compliance, fundraising, stewardship, board governance, leadership, ethics, marketing and public speaking.

The BA/Public Administration program also offers an Associate Degree in Public Administration, Community Leadership Certificate, and Government Procurement and Contracting Certificate. The degree and certificates may all be completed through online courses.

For more information, contact Cheryl Campbell, Program Coordinator for BA/Public Administration at 910-678-8595 or by email campbelc@faytechcc.edu.

¹http://www.urban.org “Nonprofit Sector is Growing Faster than Rest of Economy”, 11/01/12.

²N.C. Center for Nonprofits, www.nonprofits.org, “Quick Facts: Nonprofits’ Impact on North Carolina”, 1/12/13.

Exorcism (Rated R) 1 Star

When you name your movie The Last Exorcism you had better mean it. Obviously, since there was money to be made, the producers of The Last Exorcism Part II (88 minutes) decided to ignore this one simple fact. I have seen some crap horror movies in my time but this one is right up there in the top ten. I would venture to say it is even worse than any crap horror movie I saw in 2012 — The Apparition and Silent Hill: Revelation don’t even come close to matching this level of bad. I can never claim I didn’t know in ad-vance just how bad it was probably going to be, but this week’s alternatives weren’t much more appealing. For example, I would rather drive rusty railroad spikes into my eye sockets then watch Jack The Giant Slayer.

I’m not sure what is worse — that the first movie was actually a four star horror movie in my book (rendering the sequel that much more awful by comparison) or that this movie is so patriarchal it verges on satire. Of course, the first movie celebrated the patriar-chy just as much, but in the original version it worked by making male domination of the protagonist add to the horror of the narra-tive. Here, it just makes me roll my eyes.

And while we’re on the topic of the patriarchy and male oppression, etc., which Big Book of Stereotypes did the writers use to come up with the dialogue in this movie? I swear if I never hear the word “chile” for “child” again it will be too soon. And writers, please tell me more about your made-up religion that vaguely resembles Voodoo!

The film opens on some archival footage from the shaky-cam original. Then, the scene shifts to some kind of condo and a couple of randoms who are about to have a real bad day. When Random Male is attacked, the spooky musical cues clue us in that Something Demonic is Afoot. The scene ends on Nell (Ashley Bell, still looking like Michael Cera in a wig) crouched on top of a kitchen coun-ter, still wearing the filthy white nightgown from the first film.

She is supposed to be about 17, not that she looks it. For most of the film she is dressed like a thirteen old who is channeling her great grandmother. Maybe her fashion sense is what gets her put into the group home? Since it is immediately obvious to the doctors treating her that she has survived an encounter with a cult (eye roll), she is promptly put into a home for Wayward Girls Who Have Been Through Some Stuff.

The home is run by Frank Merle (Muse Watson) because if there’s one thing that girls from abusive homes need, it’s a strong male authority figure to fix their lives for them and tell them not to wear crosses for some undefined reason. Seriously — a group home, run by a creepy dude, who suggests to his young and vulnerable charge that she should not wear her cross.

Nell’s roommate Gwen (Julia Garner) befriends her, but she is possibly involved in the cult from the last movie or possibly possessed, or possibly a poorly written character. It’s really hard to tell. They work at a motel together, where Nell meets a boy named Chris (Spencer Treat Clark from Gladiator). Chris is not as creepy looking as Caleb the Ginger from the first film, but he’s pretty close. He is also possibly involved in the cult from the last movie, or possibly possessed, or possibly a poorly written character.

So, nothing really happens for most of the film, except her possibly dead or possibly not dead father Louis (Louis Herthum) showing up a few times. Then, there is this voodoo lady, and she is stupid and does stupid things with her stupid voodoo friends; the end. Thankfully, it was not filmed in shaky cam — the only thing that would have made this movie any worse.

Now showing at Wynnsong 7, Carmike 12 and Carmike Market Fair 15.

Last year Barbara Spigner was a partner in the team Cape Fear Heroes. She has recently become its sole owner. She has a vision to take the team to the next level and wants do to some exciting things going forward. Being a successful business woman, Spigner knew her skills would allow her and the team to do great things with the right goals and objectives behind her. Part of her vision is for the team to be more accessible and active in the community and for the team to work more with charitable causes. That being said the Heroes were set up as a non-profit legal entity and although it will still take strong participation from team sponsors and ticket sales to make the Heroes successful. The non-profit status will help the team do many additional things within the community.

The Cape Fear Heroes open up their 2013 professional indoor football season against the Washington Eagles on Friday, March 29 at the Crown Coliseum. The theme for the evening is “Celebration and Youth.” There will be a poster give-away to the first 700 fans through the door. Game-night festivities include the official unveiling of the 2012 Heroes Championship Banner, entertainment for all ages, recognition of area youth groups as well as City and County First Responders.

The fun starts at 5 p.m. in the tailgating area with Heroes Fan Fest. Here, Heroes fans can enjoy a free kids inflatable area with various games. Bring your favorite food and tailgate with your family and friends before the game. City and County First Responder Units will have special vehicles displayed in the tailgating area.

At 6 p.m., the band 45 RPM takes the stage for an hour long concert. 45 RPM is an all-female band. RPM stands for “representing positive music.” 45 RPM is made up of for multi-instrumentalists whose goal is to put out positive music along with a positive image. The band consists of Katie Goulet (bass guitar/keyboards/guitar/vocals), Tayler Morgan (drums/keyboards/bass/vocals), Teraasia Archer (percussion/keyboards/vocals) and Sarah Martinico (guitars/vocals).

Just learning their instruments within the last two years, the band has performed as opening acts for cpuntry music artist Josh Thompson. They were asked to perform as Clarence Burke’s (“Ooo Child”) band for several shows and performed for ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover Fayetteville concert. They have performed at the Crown Coliseum (Fayetteville, NC) on various occasions, Fayetteville’s Amphitheater Festival Park multiple times and performed at many local fairs and school functions. The group was founded and produced by Grammy nominated producer Brian Morgan.

Spigner has not wasted time in getting the Heroes involved in the community. This past season she donated five laptop computers to players from the Heroes Youth Football Organization, a member of the AIF for Kids program. Players were asked to write about one of their heroes in life, a player with the best essay was then selected from each age group. When the tragedy happened in Newtown Conn. recently, the Heroes we looking for a way to acknowledge the 26 people who lost their lives and offer a positive reinforcement for the surviving family members and loved ones.

The Heroes sent each family (through the Newtown Police Department) a Build-A-Bear custom teddy bear in remembrance of their lost loved one.

For game day tickets contact the Crown Coliseum Box Office or any Ticketmaster location or go online to ticketmaster.com. For group tickets contact the Heroes offices at 910-835-0919

.For more information about the Cape Fear Heroes go to www.capefearheroes.com.

Spring Break is that magical marker in time that denotes the passing of winter and the promise of Spring. For thousands of college students that means an exodus to sunnier climes. For smaller children, it may mean a magical trip to Disney World or the first toes-in-the-sand visit to the beach. For those who work for a living, it usually passes without much notice — but not this year.

On March 29, supporters of The Cameo will bring Spring Break to downtown and you’re invited to kick off the work-week blues and join in the fun. Step back in time when dancing the Shag was all the rage, when the soles of your Weejuns were slick from so much time on the dance fl oor and the beach was always hopping.

The event, which is sponsored by Park View, Duggins & Smith Companies, Mellow Mushroom, Chuck Weber and Up & Coming Weekly, kicks off at 3 p.m. with Shag lessons and demonstrations at the Park View offices at 321 Hay St. Once you’ve figured out how to dance the Carolina’s favorite dance, slip out onto Hay Street for the Downtown Beach Crawl, which features beach bargains including everything from books and wine to beach music and art brought to you by Cape Fear Studios.

Also at 3 p.m., you can slip into the Cameo to view the iconic film tribute to the dance, Shag. The movie, which pretty much went straight to video, is a coming-of-age story of four Carolina girls who shrug off their responsibilities and head down to the forbidden land of Myrtle Beach to participate in the Ocean Drive Shag Contest. The film is fun and, if it doesn’t get your feet itching to dance or at least to cruise the strand, you have been working way too hard. A repeat of the fi lm will be shown at 7 p.m. at Gilbert Theater.

Following the movie, you may want to grab something to eat at one of your favorite downtown eateries before heading over the Metropolitan Room to dance the night away to the sounds of Classic Soul and the godfathers of Beach Music, The Embers. This event, which is being touted as a “Fun” raiser, will benefit the Cameo Art Theatre’s campaign to go digital. There will be a cash bar and pizza brought to you by Mellow Mushroom. Classic Soul will perform at 6 p.m. and at 7 p.m., The Embers will rock the house. The event is being emceed by beach music legend, King Curtis Carpenter, one of the founders of the CAMMY’S, North Carolina’s own Beach Music Awards Show.

If you are not from the Carolinas, you might be wondering about this thing called the Shag, well here’s is a brief primer for you.

“Beach Music is Coming to Town” is a headline you couldn’t see in the 1950s and early 1960s, even though Beach Music was all around. Fas’ dancers in the Carolinas were steppin’ to this music at the coasts, a few dozen inland armories, lakeside dance slabs, and other widespread pavilions. But it didn’t have a name.

In 1965 Beach Music silently celebrated its 20th birthday. There still wasn’t a universal name which everyone understood, it had just blossomed. Jack Stallings, one of the early Catalinas from Charlotte remembered a party they played in Conway that summer. Several times that day, a few of the kids requested some ‘beach music.’ Jack fi nally asked what they were talking about.

“You know, those songs you can hear down at the beach,” they named a few by the Impressions, Four Tops, and Drifters. Jack thought, ‘oh, rhythm and blues, we play that stuff all the time.’

Two years earlier, Dillon County musician Rufus Oates took the first steps of his dream to open a music store to sell all kinds of instruments to school bands and musicians like himself (if it had strings, Rufus could play it — bass, mandolin, guitar, banjo, fiddle). Rufus opened his Music Center in September 1963 back at the beach where he’d wanted to return since he and his wife lived in Conway a few years earlier before moving to Tarboro, NC. The dream was on with his new Beach Music Center in downtown Myrtle Beach.

Funny thing about that name … right away folks saw the sign, went in and asked if he had “Sixty Minute Man,” “One Mint Julep” or “Green Eyes.” Ever the capitalist, Rufus said he’d be getting them in pretty soon. That was the beginning of the section of his store which became the (*Beach Music* Center) inside the Beach *Music Center.*

It took two or three years for the word to spread about the new ‘Beach Music’ store in Myrtle Beach. Apparently the term ‘Beach Music’ automatically made sense to people who had experienced the R&B heard almost exclusively on the Pavilion jukeboxes up and down the coast.

Beach Music is a phrase that describes more than one phenomenon. It’s the convergence of at least three infl uences.

There was the unnamed music which Shaggers and Boppers (or Fas’ dancers and Basic dancers) danced to from 1945-1965. A tiny percentage of those songs were retroactively named Beach Music.

Local combos began to appear on college campuses before Rufus’ store opened: Gladiolas at Limestone College 1957, Clemson 1958, USC Chapel Hill 1958; Catalinas at Charlotte College 1958; Jetty Jumpers at Wilmington College 1959; Hot Nuts at UNC Chapel Hill 1959; 1961-1965 Plaids, Weejuns, Madras, Turk-Cords, Bob Collins and the Fabulous 5, Embers and a few others were playing the campuses, but they still weren’t *Beach Music* … The term wasn’t universal beyond the Beach and Conway. The fi rst documented mention of “Beach Music” we’ve found beyond the beach is in a May 1967 issue of the Robesonian in Lumberton, NC.

Some bands played as early as 1960 and 1961 at the Magic Attic upstairs in the Myrtle Beach pavilion. Bands played at Folly Beach pavilion in the early 60s, the fourth Pawley’s Pavilion from 1960 onward, Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, and a number of other bandstands throughout the region. People showed up to Shag and Bop, but it still wasn’t called Beach Music until after the mid-point of the 60s.

Randy Rowland of Statesville co-owned Groucho’s, one of the premier Shag clubs in Charlotte from the 70s to the 90s. Not surprisingly, he left a good, full-time job to be close to the music and dance he loved.

Rowland also has one of those memories that are a researcher’s dream.

The first three records he heard on his family’s vacation together there in 1959 were “Almost Grown” by Chuck Berry, “…some of them were half-timing to it and some of the jitterbugs were trying to dance to it straight up [at its natural tempo],” Rowland remembers. The other two songs were “There Goes My Baby” by the Drifters and Lloyd Price’s “Stagger Lee.”

Occasionally, Rowland and a friend visited Kostakes Music in the NoDa district of North Charlotte. Kostakes was a jukebox and music distributor who sold used records in ‘grab bag’ boxes of 125 for $40. “We’d take those boxes home and look for treasures, Billy Stewart, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, and the Temptations to name a few,” Rowland went on. “We called it ‘soul’ music.”

After Larry Pressley’s Cellar opened in 1965, Rowland and friends attended Wednesday nights to hear the Embers and dance to the music, but it still had no name.

“We danced to it at Grace Park Recreation Center and George’s in Statesville, but I never heard it called ‘Beach Music.’ That was still true at the big 1967 dance contest Jimmy Kilgo of TV 9’s Kilgo’s Canteen at the National Guard Armory in Statesville. Kilgo had Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs set up at one end of the building and the Catalinas at the other. They’d alternate, playing the music we loved, but it didn’t have a name.”

Randy first heard the term “Beach Music” in the Army in 1968.

“One of the first guys I met was Durwood Martin. We used to talk about the music that we listened and danced to back home, the music Durwood’s band played. Durwood was an early member of the Embers. Once in a while someone would say, ‘yeah, I miss that good old Beach Music back home.’”

We asked Randy how he thought that ‘Beach Music’ might have retroactively annexed songs from earlier years and moved them under the 60s’ umbrella term Beach Music?

“The first record I bought was ‘I’ll Be Satisfi ed’ by Jackie Wilson in 1959. I’ve loved that song ever since. Funny thing is, most of the records on the jukebox at Sonny’s Pavilion on the Cherry Grove section of Ocean Drive, S.C., were still on the jukebox in 1966. They switched them out from time to time for some others, but the same records were being rotated.”

Shag and Beach Music ended up in Panama City, Florida in 1953 as a direct, personal import by a young girl and two guy-friends who traveled to Ocean Drive just to learn the Shag. By the time they got home they’d turned the ‘basic’ dance around. The dance became known as the P.C. Bop. Bop music dove deep to find the right beat in Gulf Coast rhythm and blues and blues.

In the Beach Music Guide Volumes 1 and 2 it is documented that the first Black music on jukeboxes in white venues showed up in 1945 simultaneously at Carolina Beach, Minnesott Beach, and Oriental Beach. It wasn’t by committee or telephone conference, it just happened.

No matter what suits your fancy, from Old World Charm to Carolina Beach Music, Givens Performing Arts Center delivers in April. Givens Performing Arts Center at UNC Pembroke is one of the best kept secrets in our local performing arts scene bringing in Broadway touring musicals, European Orchestras and more.

During April, GPAC kicks off the month in the grand tradition of Russian Ballet on April 2 with Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake performed by the Russian National Ballet. This outstanding presentation is followed by The Acting Company’s performance of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men on April 25, and the month is wrapped up by the ever-rousing performer of North Carolina Beach Music, Jim Quick and the Coastline Band, Robert Lee Smith and the original Tams and The Embers on Friday, April 26.

If you wish to make your evening complete, match your musical tastes with culinary delights. Each of these performances is matched with a four-course meal served in the Chancellor’s Dining Room and deliciously prepared by Sodexo. The dining experience is $25 per person which includes a wine and cheese reception prior to dinner. Reservations are required.

One popular misconception is that the shows which come to the Givens Performing Arts Center are not the same touring groups which perform in larger venues across the state, however, this is not the case.

The Russian National Ballet Theatre was founded in Moscow during the period of Perestroika in the late 1980s with the help and support of the Ministry of culture of the Russian Federation. The company and its dancers are dedicated to the timeless tradition of classical ballet while incorporating new developments in dance from around the world. In 1994, the legendary Bolshoi principal dancer Elena Radchenko was selected by Presidential decree to assume the first permanent artistic directorship of the company.

Swan Lakewill continue its U.S. tour later in April appearing in Pennsylvania and New York. Quoting from the Washington Post, “The Russian National Ballet Theatre is a cut above its rivals.”

The Acting Company was founded in 1972 by two NYC graduates of Julliard’s Drama Division, producer/director/actor John Houseman and producing director Margot Harley. The company has won numerous awards for performance and education including the Obie, Audelco, Los Angeles Critics Circle Award and a TONY for Excellence in Theater “The Acting Company endures as the major touring classical theater in the United States,” according to The New York Times. After leaving Pembroke the show will continue its April offerings in N.C., Ky., Tenn., and Va.

Beach Music requires no introduction in North Carolina, so whatever your tastes may be, don’t overlook these fi ne opportunities for an evening of dance, drama or songs offered and supported by UNC Pembroke and GPAC.

All performances are at 8 p.m. with tickets available through the box office at (910) 521-6361. Find out more about GPAC and the Broadway Series at www.uncp.edu/gpac/broadway.

Photo: GPAC features Of Mice and Men as part of its Broadway and More Series.

Downtown Fayetteville is the heart of the city, and 4th Friday is when it truly comes alive with all the culture the area has to offer. This month, 4th Friday falls on March 22. The streets will be full to the brim with food, music and culture for everyone in the area to enjoy. Nearly everything will be open late for anyone to explore.

The art scene is one of the most prominent features of downtown, and this is the perfect time to explore it because everything will be open later than normal. Don’t miss Anne Frank: A History for Today and Propaganda in Nazi-occupied Holland. Both exhibits are featured this month at the Arts Council Fayetteville/Cumberland County. The exhibits are free and open to the public and not only provide historical insight to the World War II era, but take a hard look at intolerance and how the issue is still relevant today.

The Fayetteville Transportation and Local History Museum offers a companion exhibit that showcases the history of Fayetteville’s Jewish community. Learn of the many personal stories of sacrifi ce and challenge that Jewish immigrants face as they moved to the South. Explore the struggles they faced as they assimilated to a new land while keeping their cultural and religious identities. In addition, the Transportation and Local History Museum is open from 6 to 10 p.m. and will have its normal exhibits open, too.

Cape Fear Studios will also be open late for 4th Friday festivities. The studios are located at 148 Maxwell St. and the artists who work there are passionate about providing the public a free way to view and experience art. The gallery of various mediums of art such as, paintings, photographs, sculptures, wood working and glass art will be open for the public to explore. There will also be pieces for sale.

4th Friday is also a child-friendly experience. Fascinate-U is designed to interest and teach young children, and on 4th Friday admission is free and the hours are longer. This month, the museum celebrates the coming of Easter with an egg-decorating craft for kids. Families can make unique and beautiful foam Easter eggs using buttons, sequins and any other materials they would like. The craft and admission are free from 7 to 9 p.m.

Art is not the only thing going on in downtown Fayetteville. The area is brimming with historical importance. The Market House will be open from 6 to 10 p.m. with a special exhibit just for March. The March exhibit is Cumberland County in the War Between the States. The Market House is located at 108 Person St. All the shops and restaurants along Hay Street will also be open late for festivities. Many of them will have free drinks and snacks; some will even have live music for patrons to enjoy. There is no time quite like 4th Friday to come to the center of the town and see all that it has to offer. From the shops, to the history and art there will be something for everyone to enjoy on March 22.

In partnership with the Downtown Alliance, several shops offer special deals and discounts for the monthly event. Find out more about 4th Fridayat www.theartscouncil.com or www.faydta.org.

Photo: Anne Frank. Photo credit: ©AFS/AFF Amsterdam/Basel

Usually a period of sweetness and light ensues when individuals are hired in high-profi le positions in local government. Such may not be the case in regards to Rochelle Small-Toney who has been announced as deputy city manager.

In Fayetteville, her responsibilities will focus on community development in areas related to minorities that will include furtherance of the Murchison Road Corridor, public housing and addressing fairness for minorities and women in the city’s granting of contracts. These assignments are closely related to Small-Toney’s previous jobs in Charlottesville, Va., and Savannah, Ga.

In Charlottesville she oversaw the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. In Savannah Small-Toney managed various community-development programs. She was appointed Savannah’s city manager in March 2011 and was asked to resign that position in September 2012. The relatively short tenure of Small-Toney’s career as Savannah’s city manager was marked with controversy beyond what might be considered normal.

The Savannah Morning News reported that as she took her offi ce, the city was in the midst of general belt tightening. Still, she chose to redecorate her offi ce with a price tag of $40,000. That was preceded by a $7,500 welcome aboard party for 400 or so guests that she threw for herself. Meantime the police department was asked to reduce its budget by 5 percent. The African-America police chief had his knuckles rapped for having the effrontery to complain and was ordered to say no more by Small-Toney.

A surprise development shortly after Small-Toney took office was the denial by the city’s bonding company of a $50,000 bond for her which is a requirement for Savannah’s city managers. The cause was a problem with Small-Toney’s credit history. But a more serious issue with Small-Toney’s tenure related to unprecedented salary increases for several staffers who received increases of more than 20 percent while city policy permitted no more than 2.5 percent. These raises also occurred while the city was in a severe budget crisis. To the dismay of the city council and citizenry, Small-Toney hired an Emergency Services Director at twice the salary of his predecessor. And, as it turned out, the new guy lied about his qualifi cations and was subsequently fi red for cause.

These issues were among failure to timely report travel expenses, inappropriate travel and convention charges and a purchasing department in disarray. Six months into Small-Toney’s tenure the City of Savannah elected a new mayor, who like Small-Toney, is an ambitious and successful African-American woman. In the year that followed, the mayor and city manager had difficulty working together and in September 2012 the mayor asked for Small-Toney’s resignation, which was rendered.

Had the issues that occurred during the brief year and one half that Small-Toney served as city manager been stretched out to five or 10 years she may have weathered the storm of criticism leveled at her. But the management style that Small-Toney demonstrated to the Savannah City Council, her staff and the people at large was too much and too soon. She clashed with a strong-minded female mayor and it was over.

So the obvious question is which Small-Toney will fill this newly created position in Fayetteville’s city government? Will it be the progressive hard driving get it done Small-Toney that attracted Ted Voorhees or will it be her counterpart that led ultimately to her demise in Savannah?

Hopefully she has profi ted by past errors in judgment and behavior and if such is the case Fayetteville will be the better community.

Photo: Rochelle Small-Toney

Are you math phobic? Do you cringe when someone wants you to figure the amount of a tip or taxes? People avoid math like the plague with the common refrain, “I’m just not good at math!”

You don’t have to learn about the Etruscans to study the Civil War; you don’t need to know how to diagram a sentence to study poetry. However, math is different; math builds on itself. Without a strong base, the upper stories of your math ability are a little shaky.

Many students seeking admission to Fayetteville Technical Community College’s academic programs need to strengthen their mathematical skills. developmental mathematics courses are a key component of the college’s “open-door” admissions policy.

Developmental mathematics courses offer students an opportunity to improve their mathematical and problem-solving skills, which will prepare them to enter the curriculum of their choice with a better probability of success.

In an effort to better serve students who require developmental math courses, the North Carolina Community College System has redesigned the developmental math curriculum across the state. Students can now complete the curriculum sooner with an individualized plan to meet each student’s need.

FTCC will offer these developmental classes with two options of delivery: (1) face-to-face delivery where students attend regular class meetings for one hour each day (Monday through Friday) and (2) customizable learning, where students work at their own pace in a computer lab setting with an instructor present to facilitate learning. These approaches will allow for quicker completion time of developmental coursework, and this will allow students to complete their degree in a shorter period of time.

Along with these new developmental classes, a new placement test has been created. This test will allow students to be more accurately placed in the coursework appropriate to their skill level.

The new developmental math curriculum at FTCC may not solve all of your math anxiety, but the redesigned developmental curriculum should make it easier to complete the math courses needed in order to enter your chosen program of study. FTCC will offer Developmental courses starting fall of 2013.

For those students who aspire to obtain a four-year university degree, allow FTCC to provide the solid foundation for these plans with one of our college transferable, two-year associate degrees. We offer the Associate in Arts, Associate in Science and Associate in Fine Arts degrees, all of which are accredited and covered by the North Carolina Comprehensive Articulation Agreement for smooth transition to a University of North Carolina System school. FTCC truly provides education for life.

Photo: Developmental mathematics courses offer students an opportunity to improve their mathematical and problem-solving skills.

Turning Over Control

Plumb expriences first-hand the power of a song…her song.

Christian artist Plumb has written or co-written many songs that have inspired and encouraged thousands of people. Her latest song, “Need You Now” is a great example, only this time she was one of those on the receiving end of that encouragement.

Plumb was very vulnerable when sharing her story of how the song spoke to her in a time of desparation. “Literally God used this song to carry me through a really difficult, dark time in my life. Last year when everything seemed to be falling apart in my life I didn’t think I’d even still get to be who I am as an artist. Even though I’ve grown up in the church and I know Jesus and I love Jesus, I fell in love with Jesus for the first time when all that happened last year.

What do I do now?

I remember kinda repeating over and over as things were kind of unraveling, ‘I don’t know what to do; what do I do, what do I do?’ It sounds good to say ‘turn to Jesus’ but that’s a verb. When you’re in a crisis you can’t make sense of truly what am I supposed to do right now. And he reminded me in ‘Need You Now’ there’s no punch-card with him, there’s no limit. He doesn’t grow tired of our need for him.We have to trust him, we have to surrender.

Giving up control is scary

It took me about six to eight weeks of being in the midst of this real terrifying time in my life and my marriage and my home and some other things, and he finally got through. He got me out of the way. He needed me to quit talking. He needed me to just be still. That didn’t feel proactive. I wanted to fix things and it was very clear that I was making things worse. I’m being prompted to just be still and be quiet, and that felt scary.

Peace finally returns

The more surrendered I became, the more control I felt him take, and the more joy and the more peace I found. No matter how this turns out, whether I like it or not, I have a quiet confidence that God is in control of this now. And you know, joy is birthed from sorrow. Whatever sorrow someone is going through, and they may hear this song or a Matthew West song or an Aaron Shust song or any other song that makes them feel hopeful, it’s real. Hope is real. God wants to give us joy and he does not leave us and He does not give us more than we can bear. He really does carry the added load.

We can always begin again

Believe it or not, there is beauty from your ashes if you’ll let him turn it into that. You can have a confidence that I am pleasing the Almighty and I can trust him to protect me and to provide for me and to love me. It’s not contingent on whether or not I did the right thing 5 years ago or 10 years ago or 10 minutes ago. His mercies are new every morning. It’s good to remember to really live in the now and be hopeful about what is to come. Right this second, it’s a brand new breath, begin again.God is the master of begin-agains!”

That is an excerpt from a recent conversation I had with the artist Plumb referring to her song, “Need You Now”.

The Parchman Hour, on stage at the Cape Fear Regional Theatre, may be the most socially relevant and important theatre to be staged this year in Cumberland County. Now, having said that, I realize it might sound pompous or may even make you want to run screaming from the idea of seeing the play — but don’t let it. This is the must see of the season.

Written and directed by Mike Wiley, the show doesn’t just entertain; it challenges you to look inside, to do a reality check on your own ideals. As uncomfortable as that sounds, I would be remiss not to say that while it is a sanity check, it is also outstanding theatre. It entertains as well as illuminates the human condition, while visiting a dark era in our nation’s history.

The show chronicles the hot summer of 1961 and the Freedom Rides to integrate the segregated bus lines of the South. Historically accurate, the show focuses mainly on the tribulations of nine of the students/activists who traveled South during this turbulent summer. The cast, comprised of just 16 individuals, is required to play the role of a number of characters that cross both gender and racial lines. As a whole, the cast was without equal.

Wiley, who knows the material intimately, reworked the script for the staging of the show at the CFRT. Having drawn rave reviews across the nation, it was its opening at the Playmakers Repertoire in Chapel Hill, N.C., that drew the attention of the CFRT Artistic Director Tom Quaintance. In the notes for the show, Quaintance wrote:

“Sometime in the middle of the first act, I started to shake,” wrote Quaintance, who is the son of an Alabama Civil Rights lawyer who was intimate with the Freedom Riders.“

I grew up in a household where the Civil Rights movement was central to our identity, yet I knew very little about the Freedom Riders and their amazing story.”

After seeing The Parchman Hour, Quaintance knew it was a project that he had to bring to the CFRT stage.

“It was one of those ‘This is why I do what I do’ moments. This is why I became a theatre artist. This is why I moved my family across the country, so I could be in the position to support a production like this in a community like Fayetteville.”

Quaintance believed it was a show that the community would embrace, and from what I saw, he was right. To talk about a show like The Parchman Hour, you have to be honest. So, I am honest in saying that as much as we as a community tout our diversity, we remain a fairly divided community. Those who are regular patrons at the theatre will, if they are honest, acknowledge that the audience at most of the shows is fairly white. That wasn’t the case with this show. This show brought our community together to talk about one of the most divisive times in our nation; I believe that common ground was found.

You cannot see this show without having your biases, even if you don’t admit that you have them challenged — and that goes to people of all races. While the content is heavy and will leave you on the edge of your seat, you will feel uplifted at the ability of the human spirit to overcome hate and ignorance. The story is told through short vignettes that are interspersed with music; music that will uplift your spirit, even while it chronicles the sorrow of others. It was in music that the students and activists who were imprisoned in Parchman found their salvation and it is where we find it in the telling of this story as well.

While the story and Wiley’s telling of it is the ultimate star of this production, the performances by cast makes it shine.

Tim Cain, who portrayed Jim Farmer, the director of the Congress of Racial Equality (the group who organized the Freedom Rides), showed strength, wisdom and above all faith in the face of unadulterated hatred. What I particularly liked about Cain’s performance was the degree of humility that he brought to the role, rather than coming off as an extremist, he played the role of an elder statesman, who in the end, had to confront his own weaknesses. Sonny Kelly, a local minister who works with Fayetteville Urban Ministry and Christ Gospel Church, was a stand out. Kelly, who played the role of Stokely Carmichael, brought a passion to the role that shone through in his singing and dancing.

Joy Ducree Gregory has a beautiful singing voice that can make you see heaven even in the face of hell. Her mastery was matched by Hazel Edmond. Quickly becoming a favorite on the CFRT stage, Samantha Fabiani wowed with her vocal prowess. Lack of space prohibits me from mentioning everyone, but the performances by the cast as whole were stellar.

The show runs through March 24. To get your tickets, visit www.cfrt.org.

Photo: The Parchman Hour chronicles the hot summer of 1961 and the Freedom Rides to integrate the segregated bus lines of the South.

Ballet Classics springs to life on March 17 at Methodist University’s Reeves Auditorium. Ballet Classics, danced by the North Carolina Ballet, is directed by Charlotte Blume and will feature three separate ballets.

The lyric and beautiful “Les Sylphides” is set to music by Chopin and will headline the program. Holst’s The Planets will feature signature pieces “Jupiter” and “Venus.” The third ballet will be “Variations” and “Grande Pas Classique” from Paquita.

“Les Sylphides,” with choreography by Fokine was first presented in Paris by the Russian Ballet in 1909. It was staged by Fokine in 1940 for the American Ballet Theatre and restaged by Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1984. Blume learned the choreography from Fokine in his latter years and has staged the ballet for the North Carolina State Ballet.

The Planets, by composer Holst has bee performed in orchestral and electronic versions. The Tomita electronic version is the best known. The performance will feature Tomita’s electronic rendition of “Venus.” An orchestral rendition of “Jupiter” will accompany the dancers and contains the most well-known musical themes of The Planets. Choreographer Wei Nei has staged The Planets in a modern classic form.

Pasquita was staged for the Russian Imperial Ballet by Petipa in 1847. It was the first work he ever staged. Some 40 years later, Petipa revised the ballet to music by Minkus and that version has endured. “The Finale” and “Grande Pas Classique” remain in the repertory of the American Ballet Theatre. Nei has staged Pasquita for the North Carolina State Ballet.

A performance for Cumberland County and Regional Schools will be offered on March 14, at 10 a.m.

Reservations may be made for both the school and public performances by calling the ballet company at 910-485-4965 or through the company website at www.ncstateballet.com. Tickets are $16 for general seating and may be purchased through quicktixx.com or at the door. Children under 12 are admitted free.

Photo: Jupiter ‘The Bringer of Jollity’ from Holst’s The Planets will be a feature of the North Carolina State Ballet, Ballet Classics, March 17, at Reeves Auditorium, Methodist University. 

  For five years, Cindy Williams has joined two of her best friends, Julia Adkins and Carol Jones in putting together the American Girl Fashion Show to support the Child Advocacy. For the women, it’s an opportunity to enjoy each other’s time while raising funds for a charity that is near and dear to their heart. More importantly, for Williams, it’s an opportunity to teach her daughter about giving.

Her daughter has been modeling in the show for the past five years, and while this may be her last year in the show, Williams doesn’t see it as the last of her volunteer time with the Child Advocacy Center.

“This is something we do together,” said Williams. “She loves to volunteer with me each year to put the show together. If she is not on stage, she is right by my side helping me get things done. She and her friends have told us (Williams and her cochairs) that we have to continue to organize the show until they are old enough to take it over.”

It is that kind of caring and desire to give back to the community that Williams sees the fashion show promoting in the girls who participate in the event each year. She explained that there are 141 models involved in this year’s show, many of whom have returned year after year. The models, all volunteers from within the community, work hard to prepare for the show, but also in raising funds for the agency. So far, they have been very successful. With a goal of $50,000, last year the show raised more than $45,000 for the Child Advocacy Center.

“We’ve been doing this for a number of years and several of the girls, like my daughter, are aging out. We have a lot of new girls this year,” she said, “but so many of them come back year after year. It is in their heart to give back to the community. It makes me proud to see that in them.”

The $50,000 goal has been the target for a number of years, and each year the girls inch closer to it.

“Every year we get higher and higher,” said Williams. “This year could be the year.”

For those not in the know, the American Girl Fashion Show is a national fundraiser designed around the American Girl books. The show, originated by the makers of the books and accompanying dolls, is designed to raise funds for child-centered nonprofits like the Child Advocacy Center.

The CAC, celebrating its 20th year, has as its purpose alleviating the “trauma children experience once a disclosure of sexual abuse or serious physical abuse occurs by creating a community of collaborating advocates.”

The advocates come together under the auspices of the agency to coordinate services for child abuse victims and their families by providing a safe and child-friendly environment where professionals from 19 community agencies work together to interview, investigate and provide support for abused children by reducing the number of interview and providing specially trained personnel to conduct the interviews. In addition to the hands-on interaction with the children, the CAC provides continuing education to professionals who serve child abuse victims, as well as serving as an advocate in the community to raise awareness about child abuse.All of that comes with a cost, some of which is covered through state and federal funds as well as corporate and individual sponsorships. Started as a nonprofit volunteer agency, the CAC still depends on support of individuals in the community to fund its programs. That’s why the American Girl Fashion Show has been so successful. It lets the community take ownership of the agency by allowing children to provide support for other children.

“The caring these children show is modeled in the American Girl books,” explained Williams. “They are so wholesome and show strong role models for girls.”

Over the years the event has evolved from strictly a showing of the dolls with the models to a family event replete withe special events and refreshments. This year, the number of vendors who participate in the show has increased. They sell everything from clothes for the dolls to pretty things for the girls and their moms. The students at Paul Mitchell Beauty School are returning this year to provide manicures and hairstyles for girls and their moms the day of the event. All funds raised by the school go directly back to the CAC. This year’s show has a Western theme as it is based on the newest American Girl doll, Sage.“We’ve changed up the menu and the set is just beautiful,” said Williams. “It’s a complete Western theme.”

In addition to the introduction of Sage, the new historical doll being unveiled is Caroline. Locals may recognize the doll as it is modeled after one of last year’s models, Mya Long. Long, who participated in last year’s show, went to New York to audition for the American Girl company, and was selected as the face of the new doll.

The show is scheduled for Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24 at the Crown Ballroom. The event includes elegant refreshments, party favors, raffles and door prizes. Tickets to the event are still available and can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com or in person at the Crown Box Office. VIP tickets with seating close to the stage is also available. For more information, visit the CAC website at www.childadvocacycenter.com.

It’s been said many times and in many different ways: “Don’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.” Many parents have said these exact words to their children. It’s easy to imagine their young minds wandering and suddenly an image of tiny feet inside of a big old pair of shoes comes to mind. They could be boots. They could be sneakers. They could be sandals or slippers. They could be oxfords or penny loafers. They could be cleats or fl ippers. Or they could be... high-heels.

The Rape Crisis Volunteers of Cumberland County is hosting the third annual Walk Awhile in Her Shoes fundraiser event on March 22 in downtown Fayetteville. Walk Awhile is a part of the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes international project in which men are asked to wear high-heeled shoes to raise awareness of sexual violence in local communities. Yes, men. Yes, high-heels.

These handsome guys will strut their stuff down Hay Street beginning at the Market House and ending at the AIT building where a reception will be held. Refreshments will be available for participants, whether they walked or simply donate to the cause. Band-Aids will also be on scene for those brawny, brave men who showed those stilettos who’s boss. General registration is $20 and includes a T-shirt, admission for two to the reception and two drink tickets per person. Student registration (must have ID) costs $10 and includes a T-shirt and admission for one to the reception. Participants can register onsite at the Market House at 6 p.m. and the walk starts at 7 p.m.

Bill Cannon and his two sons, Tyler (20) and Trent (15), will participate in the walk. Cannon feels that it’s important to set a good example for his boys and get them involved in their community.

“By getting my sons involved it teaches them that it’s okay to humble yourself, put yourself out there, and give back to your community for a great cause,” Cannon said.

Sexual violence doesn’t stand out as a topic of discussion in most people’s minds. It isn’t pretty, so it’s sometimes diffi cult to raise awareness. The people at Walk a Mile in Her Shoes understand this and that’s why Walk Awhile works; because it’s fun. It isn’t uncomfortable (unless you’re a foot) and it makes a sensitive subject easier to talk about.

“A lot of people don’t want to see it,” Cannon stated. “They want to close their eyes. This fundraiser can help open the eyes of those that may be too afraid to acknowledge the existence of sexual violence, but in a fun way.”In 2012, 100 men showed up to give their support and raise awareness in the community by taking that valiant, yet glamorous, stroll down those historic cobble-stone streets. This year the RCVCC hopes to raise at least $25,000 to help support the growing demand for volunteer and financial resources at the Rape Crisis facility. It is reported that in the 2011-2012 Fiscal Year, at least 378 victims of sexual assault were provided services by the RCVCC in our community; the number of cases continues to climb.

“We need more men to go out and support things like this,” Cannon said. “These women need to know they’re not alone.”

Statistics show that one in four American women are victims of sexual assault; meaning it’s likely that we all know someone who has been affected. Doing your part to support these victims can be as simple as putting one fabulous foot in front of the other, just be careful not to break a heel.

If you have any questions, want more information or wish to sponsor the walk, contact Deanne Gerdes, executive director of the RCVCC at 485-7273 or by e-mail at gerdes.deanne@gmail.com.

Photo: Real men wear heels.

Dr. Howard Loughlin, M.D., has been selected as the recipient of the 2013 National Children’s Advocacy Center Outstanding Service Award in the category of Medical Care. He will be recognized at the 29th National Symposium on Child Abuse on March 20 in Huntsville, Ala.

Dr. Loughlin was nominated by Fayetteville’s Child Advocacy Center in recognition of his many years of service to the children of Cumberland County. In 1991, Dr. Loughlin helped to found Friends of Children at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center to serve hospitalized children and their families. In 1993, Dr. Loughlin and other concerned professionals came together to establish the Child Advocacy Center, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year. Dr. Loughlin has served on its board throughout its history.

Dr. Loughlin started the Child Abuse Evaluation Clinic at Southern Regional Area Health Education Center in Fayetteville in 1994 so he and other local physicians could provide the necessary examinations for child abuse victims. He was director of that clinic until July 2012, when he partially retired. He continues to work at SRAHEC part-time.

In 2009, Dr. Loughlin was one of the first physicians in the nation to take and pass the exam to become a Board Certifi ed Child Abuse Pediatrician. In 2012, he received the Champion for Children award from the Cumberland County Break the Chain of Child Abuse Committee.

Skirmishes & Shortages: NC in 1863

On Saturday April 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the grounds of the old Fayetteville Arsenal will once again host Confederate soldiers. “Skirmishes and Shortages: NC in 1863 is a Civil War Sesquicentennial living-history event focused on what was happening in our state 150 years ago. Members of the 26th N.C. Regiment will set up camp and provide musket and drilling demonstrations for the visiting public at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. in Arsenal Park.

The Carolina Citizens, a civilian living-history group, will portray female munitions workers employed by the arsenal and visitors can try their own hand at rolling cartridges. Demonstrations are ongoing throughout the day.

Musical performances will be provided by the Huckleberry Brothers Band at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 pm. This popular group of musicians from eastern North Carolina performs songs, ballads and fiddle tunes from the 19th century. Instruments include five-string banjo, fiddle, guitar, accordion, mandolin, tin whistle, harmonicas, bones and tambourine.

Want to learn more about women workers in the Arsenal? Guest speaker Raina Kellerman, adjunct professor at Mount Aloysius College in Pennsylvania, will speak on this fascinating topic at 1 p.m. in the museum. She has been involved in Civil War living history for 17 years and is currently in the process of writing a book about women who worked in Civil War arsenals.

Have your tintype image taken by fine-art photographer Harry Taylor. Taylor uses the wet-plate collodion process, the same method used during the Civil War, which involves large format cameras up to 16x20 and on site processing in a mobile darkroom. Visitors are welcome to have their images taken and purchase a 4x5 tintype or ambrotype on glass for $50, or an 8x10 is available for $100. Photography will be available throughout the day.

Discover the story of “Long Grabs” McSween, the unofficial war correspondent for the Fayetteville Observer. A Fayetteville native, McSween wrote more than 80 letters to the Observer in 1862-1863. He was twice wounded at Petersburg as a member of the 26th N.C. McSween returned to Fayetteville after the war and became editor of The Eagle newspaper. Learn more about his extraordinary life and listen to an interpretive reading of his letters at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Photo: Dr. Howard Loughlin

Each year Better Health hosts an Evening at the Theater. It is a night of fun and entertainment that is unique every time. While offering something different year after year must be a challenge, event organizer Cassandra Vallery delivers time and again. Mark the calendar for March 23, and plan to head to the Highland Country Club for a cabaret show featuring Georgia Rogers, with Cassandra Vallery as the opening act.

A long-time supporter of Better Health and a performer in her own right, Vallery has had a hand in both writing and performing Evening at the Theater for several years running. Her vision for this latest rendition is defi nitely something worth getting excited about according to Judy Klinck, Better Health executive director.

“We have a professional cabaret performer coming to be the main performer in our show,” said Klinck. “She has done cabaret and stage plays and club singing and other theatrical work around the country and she writes her own shows. There will be a lot of opportunity for laughs — she is funny, and a great singer, too.”

One of Klinck’s favorite things about this event is that it is one-of-a-kind theater that can’t be foundanywhere else in town.

“People coming to this event won’t be able to go out next weekend and see this at a different venue, in fact as far as I know there is no other establishment in Fayetteville that provides this kind of entertainment,” said Klinck. “It is a unique opportunity to see a show you wouldn’t get to see ordinarily. It is also an opportunity to do good.”

In addition to an evening of entertainment, Better Health has some impressive items to raffl e. Come prepared for a chance to win a 46-inch sterling silver and rose quartz necklace from the David Yurman Collection. Retail Value: $975; Dom Perignon 2002 vintage champagne, Andy Warhol Collection (3 bottles). Retail value: $600; or a gift certifi cate for $100 to Morgan’s Chop House. Raffl e tickets may be purchased in advance from Better Health a board member, or at the event. Tickets are $10 each or three for $25. Participants do not have to be present to win. Three tickets will be drawn.

While this event is indeed a lot of fun, the proceeds benefi t a serious cause – the health of the community. Last year alone, Better Health fi nancially assisted 1,376 people with prescriptions, dental extractions and other emergency needs; served 488 people who participated in diabetes programs; loaned medical equipment to 277 individuals in the community and reached 1,221 through community programs about healthy lifestyle.

“The $30,000 we hope to net from this event is 9 percent of our current budget,” said Klinck. “So it is a signifi cant piece of the annual revenue Better Health needs to operate. We can get so caught up in the excitement of the event that it is easy for participants to forget what we are doing this for and that is to continue our services. We exist 100 percent on donations. We are locally grown and supported. The people we help are here in our community — 24.5 percent of people here do not have health insurance. We have a 13.5 percent diabetes rate, which is very high in the state. That is why we are a doing this fun and exciting event.”

Reservations for the event are $85 per person and are available at www.betterhealthcc.org or by calling 483-7534. Reservations include the show, heavy hors d’oeuvres, beverages, dessert and coffee. Find out more at www.betterhealthcc.org

Photo: Cassandra Vallery

Who wants to play pin the pink star on the foreigners? It’s an exciting new fun game brought to you by the all Republican all the time current government of North Carolina. President Obi created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that prevents the deportation of illegal immigrants under 30 who were brought to the U.S. as children and are now high school graduates, enrolled in college or who have served in the military. As part of this program, these people are eligible for driver’s licenses.

The N.C. General Assembly is not happy about issuing driver’s licenses to these folks. It came up with a colorful way to comply with licensing. Licenses issued to the undocumented will bear a pink stripe and the words “No Lawful Status.” How long do you think the General Assembly will be content with just putting the Pink Badge of Otherness on North Carolina driver’s licenses for this group? Pink Striping is not going to be enough for the Republicans. Some Republican representative is likely to introduce a bill requiring people licensed under this law to wear pink stars on their clothes to broadcast their status. Forcing people to wear the mark of Cain is what the strong do to the weak. Come on General Assembly, just do it. Make ‘em wear pink stars. You know you want to.

Remember Chuck Conner’s old western TV show Branded? Of course not. But I do, so you don’t have to. The General Assembly could recreate Branded’s opening sequence in its grudging issuance of driver’s licenses to those dastardly foreigners. Consider Conner’s plight. He is in the U.S. Cavalry. Through an unfortunate turn of events he is wrongly convicted of cowardice during a fight with the Indians. His commanding offi cer marches Conner, in full Army uniform, out into the middle of the fort and ceremoniously rips off all his uniform insignia, takes his hat and breaks his sword. The CO tosses Chuck and his broken sword out the front gate. Chuck is now on his own. As the theme song goes: “All but one man died/There at Bitter Creek/And they say he ran away/Branded, scorned as the one who ran/ What do you do when you’re branded, and you know you’re a man?”

The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles could use that branding experience to create the ceremonial issuance of driver’s licenses to the undocumented. March the prospective driver’s out into the middle of the parking lot at the DMV. Put their new driver’s licenses in a vat of chicken fat filled with water moccasins. Make ‘em bob for their licenses. When they get their license, pin the Pink Badge of Otherness on them. Paint a pink stripe down their cars for easy identifi cation by law enforcement. What could possibly go wrong with this plan?

The Republicans won the election and now we have them and they have us. We are in a world where Republicans frolic and run free to spread blessings upon the Haves at the expense of the Have Nots. A world of trickle-up economics with reduced unemployment benefi ts, increased sales taxes and rejected Medicaid benefi ts for people silly enough to be poor and sick.

Recall the great political philosopher Meat Loaf who wrote the classic song of young love, “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.” Mr. Loaf sang of young love that parallels N.C.’s current young love affair with the Republicans. The boy is attempting to convince his girl friend to make whoopee: “We were doubly blessed/’Cause we were barely 17/And we were barely dressed/... Though its cold and lonely in the deep dark night/I can see paradise by the dashboard light.” The girl replies, “Stop right there!/Will you love me forever?/Will you take me away and will you make me your wife?” The boy tries to dodge the question by telling her “I’ll give you the answer in the morning.” She isn’t buying it. He is overcome by the moment and “I started swearing on my mother’s grave/That I would love you till the end of time”

After the moment passes, as all such moments do. Mr. Loaf says “So now I’m praying for the end of time/To hurry up and arrive/ ‘Cause if I’ve got to spend another minute with you/I don’t think that I can really survive/I’m praying for the end of time/So I can end my time with you.” Some of us non-Republicans are now praying for the end of time so we can end our time with the Republican paradise by the dashboard light. Happy motoring!

Education is more important than ever in the current age. In the fast-paced science- and math-driven world, a sound basic education enables children to face their higher education goals with a head start. It is never too early to give a child a great education or an advantage for the future. St. Patrick Catholic School is one institution known for the quality education it has provided local residents over the past 75 years.

The school has educated thousands of students, but it had humble beginnings.

“St. Patrick Catholic School opened in 1937 as a parish ministry of St. Patrick Catholic Church at 811 Hay St., with an enrollment of 33 students. Four Sisters of Providence staffed the two-story building, which held three classrooms and a library on the first floor and provided living quarters for the sisters on the second floor,” according to school officials. “The backyard was used for recess and games. By the end of the first year, the school had grown to 50 students with one each in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.”

From there school moved to its new location on Fort Bragg Road where enrollment peaked at 295. In 1986, it relocated to a new building near Village Drive, and current enrollment is 225.

In order to celebrate its 75th anniversary and the growth and development of the school, St. Patrick Catholic School will host many events including a Fun Run. This is a 5k run/walk that will help fund the improvements in its technologies, Beth O’Leary, the coordinator of Family Life Ministry at the school explained. The event is scheduled for March 16.

Increasingly schools are turning to technology to supplement educational practices. It is often far more interactive and a very engaging form of education for the students — and an engaged student is a student that learns more effectively. Unfortunately, these technologies can be incredibly expensive, but proceeds from the registrations for the fun run will help to offset the cost of improvements. There is no better way to celebrate years of success than to raise money for more improvements.

“This is just a fun run in which anyone who likes to run or has a goal to run a 5K can participate. People can walk the route too,” O’Leary says.

There are no requirements to participate in the race, and everyone is welcome regardless of whether or not they are affiliated with the school.

Improving the education of the youth of the area is a great investment for the community. Well-educated citizens improve a community, so supporting the education of the next generation of leaders is an event where everyone can contribute. The event also celebrates the success of a longstanding and well-respected institution in Fayetteville.

Race day registrations is $25, with registration opening at 7:30 a.m. The race will start at 9 a.m. at St. Patrick Catholic School, which is located at 1620 Marlborough Road off Village Drive. Register online at active.com or at the school.

Frustrating. How do we teach our children responsibility? How do we instill honesty, pride, dignity and integrity into their young developing characters when our entire country, from the President on down, continues to display such ridiculous and senseless levels of corruption, political correctness and irresponsibility? All of which results in no one, including our members of Congress, willing step up, man up and be responsible for the direction and well being of our country.

The recent sequestration volley is an example of irresponsible political behavior and fi nger pointing in what seems to be our country’s fifth rendition of the Republican and Democratic blame game. Who’s at fault? Who is responsible? Who even cares anymore?

Believe me, there is enough blame to go around for everyone. As a nation, we are reaching the pinnacle of obscurity when it comes to leadership. And, from where I sit, the reason nothing is getting done is pretty obvious. No one has to do anything. It seems that political entitlements now dictates that no longer does anyone have to be responsible for his or her actions, or inactions, in an American leadership position. How convenient.

Why is this? Our leaders have eliminated all responsibility and consequence. More simply put, our politicians at all levels have become so adept at shirking their duties and responsibilities that every Washington victory comes complete with a wardrobe of Tefl on suits. Nothing sticks. No accountability. No consequences. It just doesn’t matter!Where do we go from here?

I am concerned. Last Friday I attended a wonderful Dr. Seuss birthday party put on by the Cumberland County Association of Educators. It was a great community-supported event. There were hundreds of young children playing, reading, laughing and singing — all oblivious of the dismal future we adults are carving out for them. It made me sad to think of the kind of world we will be leaving them if we don’t come to our senses and start being responsible for our actions. We cannot continue to exist as a nation of no consequences. This is the core of what builds character in our young people.

How can we teach our children one thing and continue to demonstrate and practice another? No wonder our children are distracted, detached and confused. In their eyes, moral lines that separate good and evil must not only be blurred but quickly disappearing. Consequences do matter!

Today, it seems that it doesn’t matter what you do, what you saw or how bad, brutal, heinous, bazaar, corrupt or irresponsible the act or action was. It just doesn’t matter because there will be no consequences.

Recent examples:

Solyndra: We lost $500 million of taxpayers’ money. How? Why? It doesn’t matter — no consequences.

Our American Embassy gets attacked and destroyed in Benghazi. Four people die including our American Ambassador. How? Why? Who is the culprit? Who is responsible? It doesn’t matter — no consequences.

An American border guard loses his life because of a stupid gun-hustling plan — Fast and Furious. Who is at fault? Where is the justice? Who is in charge here? It doesn’t matter — no consequences. Thousands of imprisoned illegal immigrants were released from jail and no one knows who gave the order. Again, it doesn’t matter — no consequences.

Billions of taxpayers’ dollars are wasted on documented cases of waste, fraud and abuse of food stamps, welfare and other numerous entitlement programs yet these practices are allowed to continue unabated. Why? Because political correctness has reached unheard of levels and a corrupt political system encourages, rewards and fosters such behavior allowing it to become an accepted way of life. How did that happen? Because, there are no consequences for such behavior.

In closing, let me make it clear that this is not a Democrat or a Republican thing or a black, white or Hispanic thing or a rich, poor or middle-class thing. This is an American thing. A very sad American thing. So, breaking down this problem into it’s simplest form I will ask: In this kind of political environment how do you teach young children love, respect, honesty, a work ethic and integrity? At some point, there must be a consequence. Without it, there will never be truth.

Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.

picture caption: How do you teach young children love, respect,
honesty, a work ethic and integrity? 

Intolerance is nothing new to humanity. Throughout human history individuals, and even entire ethnic and religious groups have been targeted not just for harassment, but for extinction. This spring several organizations in the community will come together to promote diversity and tolerance.

The Arts Council opens two exhibits on March 18: Art and Propaganda in Nazi-Occupied Holland and Anne Frank: A History for Today. Anne Frank: A History for Today was developed by the Anne Frank House and is sponsored in North America by the Anne Frank Center USA.

Unlike previous exhibits, visitors won’t enter through the front door. No, the exhibit opens in the Arts Council basement amid dirt and debris — a space reminiscent of a bombed-out building, dark and devastated; a potential hiding place for someone who is a afraid and on the run. Once inside, the walls are lined with Dutch Resistance Art and offi cial propaganda from the World War II era. There are original posters that were used by the Nazi-controlled Dutch government; linoleum and woodcut prints created by Marie de Zaaijer that show the hardships suffered in Holland during World War II; and original drawings created by Henri Pieck when he was interned at Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

Amid the oppressive propaganda that urges people to “support the heroic struggle of the German Wehrmacht against the dark forces of Bolshevism,” is a dusty furnace door that leads to what could have made a safe haven for any of the numerous “undesirables” targeted by the Nazi party during that time period. As visitors move to the upstairs exhibit, there is a stop along the way to the main gallery to watch a 28-minute video, The Short Life of Anne Frank. From there the tour concludes with Anne Frank: A History for Today, which is a timeline of the story of the Holocaust through the life of Anne Frank.

 “This tells the story of the Holocaust and it introduces people to the great history of World War II,” said Marketing Director at Arts Council of Fayetteville/ Cumberland County, Mary Kinney. “It talks a lot about the importance of individual action whether then or now.”

There are several other free exhibits throughout the community in March and April that parallel the message of the Anne Frank exhibits. From April 1-May 22, Cumberland County Public Library and Information Center will host a multimedia traveling exhibit from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The exhibit showcases how book burning played a part in America’s battle against Nazism. From March 18 - April 21 the Fayetteville Transportation and Local History Museum will exhibit A History of Fayetteville’s Jewish Community. Images, information, and artifacts tell the story about the positive impact of Jewish emigrants on the economic, social and cultural welfare of the local community.

The Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex examines intolerance through a different lens with an exhibit called Fayetteville and the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898. Propaganda and race relations are closely linked in America, even as far back at the late 1800s. This exhibit examines the struggle that took place in Wilmington and Fayetteville’s response and connections.

The JFK Special Warfare Museum offers a look at many of the propaganda posters used by different organizations during World War II. The four major themes in this exhibit are Support of Allied efforts; Security, Homeland Conservation and Production and War Bonds. The 82nd Airborne Division Museum has artifacts the division captured from the Dutch National Socialist movement during World War II on display. There is an additional exhibit featuring the liberation of Wobbelin concentration camp. The Airborne and Special Operations Museum features several examples of American propaganda posters from the World War II-era.

Beth Israel Congregation invites the public to a community observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra and Cape Fear Regional Theatre will present Olivier Messiaen’s “Quatuor pour la fi n du temps” (“Quartet for the End of Time”) and selected readings from a stage adaptation of the Diary of Anne Frank.

For more information, visit www.theartscouncil. com or call 323-1776.

Photo credit: ©AFS/AFF Amsterdam/Basel

It had just started getting tense in the South during the month of May in 1961. Little did the people who called the South home know that the summer was just beginning to heat up. That month, the first group of young Civil Rights activists boarded interstate buses to make the long trip into the integrated South. The first group of Freedom Riders, as they came to be known, left Washington, D.C. on May 4, 1961 and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17. The purpose of their trip was to challenge Supreme Court rulings in Boynton v. Virginia and Morgan v. Virginia, which challenged the segregation of interstate buses.

The young idealists left Washington, with little or no idea of the reactions they would encounter in the Deep South. They were attacked by local mobs and did not have the benefi t of police protection. Instead, when the police arrived, the students were arrested for various reasons: trespassing, unlawful assembly and violating state and local Jim Crow laws.

As they moved further south, resistance and anger boiled to the front. It came to a head on Wednesday, May 24, when the Freedom Riders boarded buses to head into Jackson, Miss. While the buses were surrounded by the state Highway Patrol and National Guard, the students felt somewhat safe. That feeling didn’t last long as the minute they stepped off the bus, they were arrested. Once the local jails were filled to overfl owing, the students were transferred to one of the nation’s harshest jails, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, which was commonly known as Parchman Farm. While at Parchman, the students were placed on Death Row. They were only issued underwear. They were not allowed to exercise or receive mail.

All of this was intended to break their spirit. But it didn’t. Instead, it allowed them to keep their dreams of freedom alive through songs and the use of their imagination to take them beyond the walls of the dreaded farm.

 The stories of these brave students are chronicled in The Parchman Hour at the Cape Fear Regional Theatre from March 7-24. The show, directed by the author of the play, Mike Wiley, is one of the most anticipated shows of the season.

“It has been a fabulous journey thus far,” said Wiley during a recent interview. “It has been a pleasure to know and work with the great professionals at the CFRT to get this production going.”

Wiley was inspired to write the play following a visit with one of his friends.

“Bill Saone is a writer and playwright, as well as a musician who most people know from the Roof Top Singers,” explained Wiley. “I was sitting on his porch with him one afternoon in Maine chitchatting about things when he mentioned his time in jail in Mississippi. That gave me pause, because I thought I knew a great deal about the man and his history and hearing he had been in jail really came out of the blue.”

Once Wiley delved into his friend’s story, he found that he had been jailed while traveling as a Freedom Rider. He shared his story of his journey south and those of his fellow college students. The story gripped Wiley and he couldn’t let it go.

“These college kids literally fi nished their exams and then wrote wills and got on a bus and traveled to the Deep South to try and stop segregation,” said Wiley. “I realized this was a story that needed to be told.”

Wiley spent a lot of time getting to know other Freedom Riders and documenting their stories. They told him stories of abuse and terror. More importantly, they told him stories of triumph. They talked about how they overcame hate with music and imagination. They told him about the Parchman Hour. It was the time when the prisoners came together to sing and act and generally encourage each other. The state could take away their freedom of movement, but not their freedom to dream.

The Parchman Hour was originally staged at PlayMakers Repertory in Chapel Hill. Wiley has traveled to various universities to share the story with students hoping to inspire a new generation of idealists. While in Mississippi, he was astounded to fi nd that one of the Freedom Riders was in the audience. This young man was a native of Mississippi, but joined forces with the Freedom Riders. He was brutally whipped for his involvement.

“We were doing the Q&A after the show when he stood up and came up on stage. He said this was a story that needed to be told,” said Wiley.

The show that is set to debut at the CFRT is an updated script and features music that seamlessly adds to the tale. The actors and musicians who have been cast have found that rather than just telling the story, they have found themselves immersed in it. They have been changed by their involvement.

As one cast member explained, “This show makes you think about what you would do if you were faced with this kind of racism, with this kind of injustice. Would you act? Would you be moved? How would it change you?’

That’s a question that Wiley hopes many will wrestle with after seeing the show. Beyond that, he believes it is an important show in the way it shows the resiliency of people and the way it deals with a really bloody time period in our history.

The show will open on March 7 and will run through March 24. Throughout the run, there will be several special events.

Freedom Riders in the ‘60s Saturday, March 9, 5 p.m. at CFRT. Dr. Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, founding chairman of the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will talk about his personal experiences in the Civil Rights-era and give a contextual framework for the Freedom Rides. This is a free event.

Author Visit Monday, March 11, 7 p.m. at Headquarters Library. Wiley will discuss the play. This is a free event.

Pre-Show Conversations Each evening before the performance at 6:45 p.m., there will be an informative pre-show talk about the production, which will give insight into the time period and the historical characters.

For tickets and more information, visit www.cfrt.org.

Portsmouth where? Maine? Virginia?

Like many North Carolinians, my friend had not heard of Portsmouth, N.C. He was resisting my push to visit Portsmouth in connection with a planned trip to Ocracoke Island to participate in a program for public school teachers organized by the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching, known as NCCAT.

Take out a state road map, I said, and look for an island just south of Ocracoke. You will see Portsmouth Island, and on it is marked the town of Portsmouth.

Portsmouth is just a small village with a few old buildings: houses, a store, post office, church, a former lifesaving station and a graveyard.

But no living people.

By the 1970s only three people remained on the island and they are long since gone.

The buildings, maintained by the National Park Service, stand as reminders of what Portsmouth once was: a thriving and important commercial center.

Portsmouth lies to the south of Ocracoke Island, separated by Ocracoke Inlet, which, according to the late Dirk Frankenberg’s recently reissued classic, The Nature of North Carolina’s Southern Coast, is “the only inlet on the Outer Banks that has been open continuously throughout recorded history. It was a major entry into North Carolina’s coastal sound and estuaries in colonial times — first for pirates and smugglers,” including Blackbeard, who was killed at the inlet in 1718. After the Revolutionary War, “the inlet became important as a transshipment site for materials used for developing the land resources of North Carolina and southern Virginia.”

The village, established in the 1750s, Frankenberg wrote, “played a major role in the maritime commerce of North Carolina for the next century.”

Local pilots were necessary to guide ocean-going boats across the shallow inlet. Later, facilities grew up to accommodate the need to transfer goods between larger ocean-going ships and the smaller boats that delivered cargo to local ports near the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds.

Over time a sand build-up made the Ocracoke Inlet more tortuous, and Frankenberg wrote that it was “quickly abandoned for the clearer channels of Hatteras and Oregon Inlets that were opened by the hurricane of 1846.”

My friend agreed to add Portsmouth to our trip. Our three-hour ferry ride from Swan Quarter got us to Ocracoke just in time to join NCCAT leader Alton Ballance and his group of teachers on a boat that gave us a long, cold ride across the inlet to Portsmouth with guide Rudy Austin.

Austin told us about each building and the people who worked and lived there. But other than his voice there was no sound. The eerie quietness surprised and then delighted us.

Ballance told us about once spending the night alone in the deserted village, feeling the spirits of the dead and departed villagers and trying to imagine what they were like and how they lived.

Later I remembered how Michael Parker’s book, The Watery Part of the World, set out a fictionalized version of the last three people who lived on the island. In Parker’s version, university researchers visited a couple of times each year and asked questions about history and life on the island. They recorded the answers and preserved the distinctive way the threesome spoke. Their answers were not always totally honest, and their brogues became more pronounced for the outsiders they called “the Tape Recorders.”

The history lessons and the spur to imagination that came from our visit to Portsmouth make such a trip easy to recommend, notwithstanding the difficulty in getting there.

But, says guide Rudy Austin, be careful about going in the summertime when mosquitoes and other bugs “will eat you alive.”

The Final Countdown

Since midnight on New Year’s Eve 2012, many residents in our community, including me, have been living under the gun. It’s a threat that we have little control over and one, in which our voice has not been heard, but come March 1, it’s one that we all will face.

If you are not a news junkie, you might not know what I am talking about, but in the coming weeks, even if this threat doesn’t directly affect you, it ultimately will.

I’m talking about Sequestration.

Sequestration is just a big word for making cuts in our national budget with no rhyme or reason. In particular, it targets the Department of Defense. And if you think civilian cuts to the DoD don’t affect you, wake up! The very economic health of this community is built on the budgets of every unit and command assigned to Fort Bragg. There are around 14,125 Department of Defense civilians employed on Fort Bragg. In total, the annual payroll for these employees is $548,502,504. Triple those numbers and you will be knocking on that of the soldiers assigned here.

Think about how much of that money is going into our community in housing, dining, retail, etc. If you don’t think it impacts our community, then you are probably living in the same dream world as the Congress.

If, over the next week, Congress makes no move to prevent Sequestration there will be $85 billion in cuts to the U.S. budget that will impact everything from food inspections to air traffi c control to law enforcement to education. If left as is, these austerity measures could cost 750,000 jobs and keep weak economic growth stunted for the rest of 2013, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

First implemented in 2011, these dire measures were supposed to be so painful that it would force the children serving in Congress to work together to make more intelligent cuts. That didn’t happen. So, instead of working as the clock winds down, Congress went on an eight-day President’s Day Break. President Obama, said on Tuesday from his golf hiatus that the Sequestration would “visit hardship on a whole lot of people.” Obviously not anyone who lives in Washington, D.C.

But here in Fayetteville, it’s a different story. Sequestration will directly impact this community. The hardship will be evident. Many of the companies that have relocated to Fayetteville in order to pursue government contracts will be left with their pockets empty as contracts are slashed. Remember those government civilians who bring more than $548 million to the economy? Cut that by close to $110 million. Guess who won’t be eating out? Guess who won’t be shopping? Guess who won’t be getting their haircut, their carpets cleaned or buying new cars or houses? Now think about how that will impact you and your neighbors.

Do you think our elected officials have thought about the second- and third-order effects of their inability to govern? Let’s look at what they are doing and what they are saying. First, they are on vacation. Really? When I have a deadline looming, I’m at my desk hard at work. I’m not taking a break.

Let’s look at what the House Minority Leader had to say when it was suggested that if all government employees were going to lose 1/5 of their pay over the next six months, then she should as well. Nancy Pelosi’s well-reasoned response was:

“I don’t think we should do it; I think we should respect the work we do,” Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. “I think it’s necessary for us to have the dignity of the job that we have rewarded.”

Seriously? Who would have thought these words would have ever come out of her mouth. Consider them against the words of Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter when testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee. Carter, who spoke eloquently of the dangers implicit in these cuts to our national defense brought it down to a personal level.

“There’s a real human impact here,” Carter said. “And in addition to the military and civilian personnel, the effects will be devastating on the defense industry, upon which we depend.”

Carter said that if Sequestration happens, and if government civilians are forced into 22 days of furlough, they will not feel the pain alone. He pledged to return a fifth of his own salary to the U.S. Treasury, noting that he cannot be furloughed because he is a Senate-confi rmed presidential employee. But he gets it. You can’t ask others to absorb the pain if you aren’t willing to do it yourself.

I propose that every member of Congress return 22 days of their pay, which collectively is $779,000. Further President Obama should return his 20 percent or $46,538.

It’s time that Congress gets the message: Get it together or get out.

Remember your senior prom? The angst of waiting on that special guy to ask you, then finding the perfect dress, planning the perfect pre-prom dinner locale and the after-prom party. For most high school students, the weeks gearing up for the prom are nerve wracking. Here’s your chance to attend your prom all over again, without the angst or worry. Join the Community In Schools-Cumberland County for an evening of fun at School House Rock: The Prom Edition.

School House Rock is one of the most anticipated fundraising events each year. Put together by the Communities in Schools-Cumberland County (CIS-CC) and its volunteers, the event brings the community together for a night of food, fun and dancing — all in support of the CIS mission, which is to to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.

Working in more than 3,400 schools in 24 states and the District of Columbia, Communities In Schools serves more than 1.2 million students and their families each year. Locally, CIS serves students in 56 Cumberland County Schools. Communities in Schools is the nation’s leading dropout-prevention organization, and the only one proven to both increase on-time graduation rates and reduce dropout rates.

Locally, the organization fulfi lls its mission through key programs:

Project Reads:Research shows that on average, low-income and minority students lose two months of reading skills during the summer. To combat this problem and encourage reading, CIS in partnership with Harvard University, is studying summer reading loss with an initiative called READS for Summer Learning. Local students receive 10 books over the course of the summer, complete questionnaires, and receive additional comprehension lessons. READS for Summer Learning, a five-year study, is funded by an i3 grant from the US Department of Education. Students at 10 elementary schools are participating in the initiative.

Yanoff Music Program:

CIS of Cumberland County in partnership with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra and Cumberland County Schools introduces classical music to all 4,500 third grade students. Created in 2004, this community collaboration brings a trio of symphony musicians into music classrooms around the county and provides each third grader with an arts field trip – a private concert with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra.

Fuller PLC:

The Fuller Performance Learning Center® opened in the fall of 2007 providing another learning option for our high school students and community. CIS of Cumberland County and Cumberland County Schools partnered to open this non-traditional high school with grant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Students complete assignments using an integrated online and project-based curriculum. This small learning environment serves students on a 4×4 schedule who are not succeeding in a traditional school setting.

CIS Sites:

CIS is the nation’s leading dropout-prevention organization and the only one proven to both decrease dropout rates and increase graduation rates. Through a school-based coordinator, CIS surrounds students with a community of support, connecting students and their families to critical resources, tailored to meet their needs. In Cumberland County, CIS serves more than 8,000 students, elementary through high school, offering a range of programming and services from enrichment opportunities and parent engagement, to mentoring and career exploration.

Teacher of the Year:

CIS-CC proudly sponsors this prestigious event that honors CCS’ Teacher of the Year and also recognizes the district winners from each of the ten attendance areas throughout the county.

Educational Mini Grants:

Educational Mini Grants are a favorite among Cumberland County teachers with CIS awarding approximately $25,000 at an annual teacher-recognition luncheon each year. The program provides merit grants of up to $1,500 for teachers who have developed innovative classroom programs using special equipment, manipulatives or creative instructional materials.

Bill Harrison Scholarship Fund:

The Bill Harrison Scholarship Fund was established in 2008 by former Superintendent Bill Harrison in partnership with CIS – CC to assist a Cumberland County Schools graduate who plans to pursue a career in teaching.

The success of the organization is all in the numbers. Last year, 95 at-risk students graduated from Fuller PLC. Ninety-six percent of the students working with CIS were promoted, with a 90 percent graduation rate. Students showed both improved achievement in academents and attendance at 86 percent and 72 percent respectively. That success would not be possible without the support of the community, particularly support to its main fundraiser, School House Rock, every year.

This year’s event, again held at the Highland Country Club, will focus on proms from the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s — think “Stairway to Heaven,” “Almost Paradise” and “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing.” Think blue tuxedo, puffy sleeves and material girls. If you can bring your prom back into perspective (or maybe even still fi t in your prom dress) then you are ready for this year’s event. The prom starts at 8 p.m. and goes until midnight (don’t worry, you’re an adult now, you don’t have a curfew). It features hors d’oeuvres and cocktails (yes that’s right, you don’t have to drink wine coolers in the parking lot). You can plan to dance the night away to music performed by Jump Street, a band that “stays true to its roots while performing a variety of musical genres, including classic Motown, contemporary R&B, Top 40, as well as the classic dance hits from every era.”

Tickets for the event are $75 and can be purchased online at www.schoolhouserock.info or via mail by sending checks payable to Communities in Schools, PO Box 2882, Fayetteville, NC 28302. Your name will be added to the guest list. No tickets will be mailed out.

It has been said that while bread may nourish the body, it is the flower that nourishes the soul. But which flower would nourish your soul the most? If you were to ask the members of the Fayetteville Camellia Club, you could probably bet that they’d say...the camellia. March 2 and 3 the FCC will host the 67th Annual Camellia Show at Cape Fear Botanical Garden, where there will be hundreds of blossoms for your viewing pleasure. Last year there were more than 1,000 blooms on display and the number of attendees reached into the 300s.

A flower that is native to the Orient, the camellia is a blooming shrub that produces large and small, often double and wonderfully flamboyant flowers. From scarlet reds and pinks to pure whites and yellows, this fl ower is sure to please the eye. Blooming mainly in the fall and winter months, the camellia offers a respite from barren limbs and brown grass and brings with it the promise of spring.

“I have put camellias in pots on my front porch for the winter season. They have shiny, dark green leaves and their winter flowers give a nice contrast to the usual pot of pansies,” said Cathy McCamish, the president of the FCC. McCamish is also a Certified Master Gardner with a certifi cate in Ornamental Horticulture.

“The first camellia show I attended left me in awe,” McCamish explained. “I thought I would find a few favorite flowers to use in my landscape, only to start a never-ending wish list of camellia varieties.”

Whether you’re already a seasoned camellia lover or just starting out, there is something for you at the show. Planned are seminars with guest speakers on Saturday and tours of the Mary McLaurin Camellia Garden on both Saturday and Sunday. Admission to the show is free. However, a $6 fee for adults and a $1.50 fee for children will apply to those who want to take the tour as it provides attendees access to the entire 78-acres of the garden. If you’re looking to buy a camellia plant, an FCC member can help you choose from a selection of the best quality. They’ll even advise you on how to care for them.

“They can live for 50 years or more, with very little care,” McCamish said of the plant. “They’re attractive even without flowers, and their leaves stay green year-round.”

For those of you with green thumbs, you might enjoy entering your own camellia blooms for a chance to be a prize winner. Prizes will be awarded in 30 different categories, including Novice and Best Local Unprotected. If you think your blooms have what it takes, go to the FCC’s website (www.fayettevillecamelliaclub.org) and see how to prepare them to enter by clicking on the Camellia Show tab. Contestants must have their blooms to the Orangery, at the far right of the Cape Fear Botanical Garden visitors’ center, between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. Saturday, March 2. Judging will conclude around 12 p.m. and the winning blooms will be marked. The overall winners will be given the honor of being displayed together in their own separate group throughout the show.

“We hope to live up to our mission,” McCamish said of the FCC. “To stimulate and extend appreciation of camellias and to encourage and support the science and art of camellia culture.”

The show begins March 2 from 12-4 p.m. and continues March 3 from 12-4 p.m. Attendees should go to the Orangery at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden. The garden is located at 536 N. Eastern Blvd. (Route 301), Fayetteville. If you would like to sponsor the Annual Camellia Show or just want more information, go to www.fayettevillecamelliaclub.org or email them at info@fayettevillecamelliaclub.org.

Photo: The Camellia Show  is scheduled for March 2, at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden.