Heroes Homecoming Coverage a Hit

Mr. Bowman,

First, after all these years of knowing you, it is nice to be able to say to fellow Vietnam Veteran, WELCOME HOME!!! It has amazed me how many there are of us and we had no idea.

Just read my latest issue of Up & Coming Weekly datedNovember 2-8. Thank you for your publication’s coverage of the upcoming Heroes Homecoming. As a member of the Heroes Homecoming Executive Committee and a Vietnam veteran, it is wonderful that you and others have done great things to help tell the story. What a great series of happenings for veterans, but especially Vietnam Veterans.

Looking forward to seeing you at some of the events. I plan on extending my hand to you and personally telling you WELCOME HOME!!! It will be my honor to do so.

Doug Nunnally, Fayetteville

Readers Respond to Occupy Wall Street

Mr. Bowman,

I have enjoyed your editorials with the conservative slant for some time now, and this week was no exception as you exposed the irony in the latest group of protesters on Wall Street.

You referenced entrepreneurs in Fayetteville and I wanted to add a name to your list...Hall Powers. He has been involved in multiple adventures in capitalism including the restaurant Powercard that has been widely successful throughout Cumberland County these past 10 years as a fundraiser for local schools, clubs and the hospital.

However his latest venture you may not be aware of: the purchase and remodeling of the Technimark Bdlg. next to the vacated Black & Decker plant on 301S. He purchased it for $1.9 million and completely renovated it from within to build both a new school — Freedom Christian Academy — but also a community center which houses four basketball courts, or nine volleyball courts, plus a nautilus center and a coffee shop. The school opened on this new campus three weeks ago and the gyms, which will be open in November, will house JO volleyball practices and tournaments, AAU basketball and its tournaments, plus indoor soccer, wrestling, etc. No longer will our local teams have to travel to Charlotte to play competitive ball.

Both Mr. Powers, the founder, and the architects were in agreement that the motif of the physical plant should highlight the manufacturing community with its retro design. The building also honors American Exceptionalism “our grand experiment” with its giant murals/paintings, founding father quotes and etched glass Preamble in the huge front lobby. It is a must-see.

You sound like the kind of man who takes objection to the re-writing of American History... if so please stop by for a tour on Veterans Day.

Joan Dayton, Fayetteville

Mr. Bowman,

You ask in the title of your article, “Where is the Logic in Occupying Wall Street?” My answer to that would be with a few more questions: What was the logic behind Ghandi marching with hundreds, if not thousands, of his country’s people to the sea to make their own salt when the English Viceroy denied them of the spice? What was the logic behind sit-ins, bus boycotts, and other protests of the 1950s and 1960s? Very simply... it’s grassroots efforts that mark the path of improvement. Those things you mention in your article about getting an education, fi nding a job, even when there are so few to be had, are the things that result when a free and self-governed nation find an outlet for their voices. Especially for the generation your article is targeting.

Leisa Greathouse, Fayetteville

In Time (Rated PG-13)  2 Stars

I love a good science-fiction movie. Let me know if you hear about one coming out soon, because this one sucked. The major flaws include stupid dialogue, bad acting, characters with poorly realized motivations, and a series of thinly veiled references to class inequality. While writer/director Andrew Niccol has a few wins to brag about (The Truman Show, Gattaca), he really should hide In Time (109 minutes) at the bottom of his resume

.In a future sort of inspired by Logan’s Run and sort of ripped off from a Harlan Ellison short story (one of his better ones, in my opinion), people stop aging at the of age of 25, when a one-year clock starts counting down, and unless you earn more time, you die. Following your untimely death, you leave a fabulous looking corpse in the suspiciously clean ghetto streets, which then ap-parently disappear via some super-efficient yet completely unex-plained futuristic corpse-disappearing mechanism.

Each “Time Class” lives in a different “Time Zone.” The poor, including working class hero Will Salas (Justin Timberlake), work each day to earn enough money to pay the bills and earn a few more hours of life. The inhabitants of the lower-class “Time Zone” basically run around with a day or so left on their clocks, which makes me wonder what happens if somebody gets sick. Perhaps the Hippocratic Oath is under general suspension? Or have they found the cure for the common cold and wiped out all disability and disease? Maybe doctors only work for the rich? There are burning administrative questions going unanswered here!

While wandering around aimlessly, instead of working overtime for extra life, Salas runs into a 100-year-old man. Which really isn’t that old compared to characters introduced later in the film, but we are clearly supposed to be blown away by his Vampire Lestat-style boredom with immortality. The old man does the equivalent of flashing a roll of hundreds on a street with a lot of abandoned cars and shady guys, consequently attracting the attention of Fortis (Alex Pettyfer).

Apparently, Fortis is a mobster who spends his time stealing the time other people have earned and leaving them for dead. It seems like a major flaw in the system that stealing time is as simple as grabbing someone’s wrist. How could anyone sleep at night? If they got robbed they would totally wake up dead. Also, it must cost much less in time currency than it would cost in dollars to buy an international plane tick-et, since Fortis has a pretty random British accent. And several scenes establish that the mega-rich live wrapped in bubbles, and don’t take even the slightest risk of an accident cutting their lives short, so do people even fly commercial anymore?

So many questions, and we’re not even that far into the movie. Did I mention that movie-killer Olivia Wilde has a prominent role as well? As does Amanda Seyfried, playing the Patty Hearst of the movie, Sylvia Weis (So Niccol apparently ripped of the 1987 classic Dragnet as well).

See, when Salas ventures into the time-rich side of town he meets up with spoiled Weis and her daddy (Vincent Kartheiser). He kidnaps her and they find true love. It’s just like Bonnie and Clyde!

One wonders what Cillian Murphy was doing in this subpar, lackluster mess of a film. He really should have read the script, realized his character made next to no sense, and opted out. Overall, as much as the set tries to be retro-futuristic the film has a very sterile look. It was hard to sit through without laughing, and many of the lines were unintentionally hilarious. The movie could have been so good … but there was so much left unexplored.

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

The 2011-2012 version of the Fayetteville FireAntz can be summed up in one word — bigger. The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) enters it’s second decade with more teams, more speed and more opponents.

Kevin MacNaught, team president and general manager, says many factors are responsible for these changes. Several other leagues at higher levels have seen a reduc-tion in the number of teams in their leagues which has increased the talent pool look-ing to play professional hockey. The SPHL has also matured as a league and college and junior players see the SPHL as a viable option to continue their playing careers and try to move to the next level.

Sean Gillam, the new head coach, is in his first year in the league, but he has been watching the league for a while and has seen it improve each year. He has seen many players, whom he watched for years as their careers progressed, make it to the SPHL. Five to 10 years ago, players who were capable of playing at a higher level were hesi-tant to come to the SPHL and play for fear they would not be taken seriously at those higher levels. Gillam says that is not the case anymore. Players now feel the SPHL may be their best chance to get noticed and “get their shot” at moving to the next level.

Many players on the roster this year have come from the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) and Central Hockey League (CHL) training camps. In fact, several were on rosters in the ECHL or the CHL last year.

Training camp was a little more complex this year as the CHL camps opened the same week the SPHL camps opened. The filter-down of players starts with the National Hockey League (NHL). After the NHL camps break they move players to the American Hockey League (AHL). Then the AHL move play-ers to the ECHL, who in turn start releasing players. It’s at this time that the SPHL and the CHL start hearing from agents, coaches and free-agents. Coaches then have to move fast to secure the best players available.

Gillam, who was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings and went through three NHL training camps, has been there and under-stands how the process works. Having played three years in the AHL and then playing and coaching in the ECHL and CHL has given Coach Gillam many connec-tions. Gillam has worked to assemble a big, hungry team of rookies and experienced players to create an exciting team for the Fayetteville FireAntz and the community.

After three weekends, the FireAntz are hovering around the 500 mark but Gillam said he did not come to Fayetteville to be “average.” He said his team is still coming together with a radically changed roster this year, but expects things to change by Thanksgiving.

The FireAntz have been on the road since the Oct. 29, but return to the Crown Coliseum for a home stand on Nov. 18 and 19. The FireAntz will then have their traditional home game on Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, complete with turkey bowling and all of the entertaining trimmings the FireAntz provide for their home games.

Group tickets for all the home games are available by calling the FrieAntz office at 321-0123 and as always kids tickets are just $5 dollars.

Photo: Many players on the roster this year have come from the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) and Central Hockey League (CHL) training camps.

In our Oct. 12-18 issue, Up & Coming Weekly ran a syndicated article by Earthtalk from the editors of Environmental Magazine about some of the environmental and health risks associated with tat-toos. A few hours after the issue hit the streets we heard from local tattoo studios asking for an opportunity to set the record straight. A digital copy of the article can be found at www.epageflip.net/issue/44467 on page 18.

Adrian, Charlie and Hadley, tattoo artists at Divine Line Studios, Mark, owner and tattoo artist at Sky Dragon Tattoos and Piercings and “E,” owner and tattoo artist at Cherry Blossom Studios Custom Tattooing and Art Gallery all weighed in to defend the tattoo industry and educate the uninformed about their work.

Just like any industry, there are highly trained professionals who take their work and their art very seriously, and there are posers out to make a quick buck with no regard to standards, best practices and the laws that regulate the industry or the health and safety of their customers. Anyone thinking about get-ting a tattoo should do extensive research before getting inked, and they all warned against the dangers involved in going to an untrained, unknowledgeable, unlicensed “scratcher” tattooing out of their home.

The Earthtalk article stated “If the tattoo parlor’s needles and equipment aren’t properly sterilized in an autoclave between customers, you could be exposing yourself to hepatitis B or C, tuberculosis, mycrobacterium, syphilis, malaria, HIV or even leprosy.”

Charlie and Hadley both pointed out that this is true, which is all the more rea-son to research a potential tattoo artist, their studio and their practices before baring your skin.

“Any idiot can buy a kit online and start jacking up his friends the next day with no idea about cross contamination or the risk of infection,” said “E,” owner of Cherry Blossom Studios Custom Tattooing and Art Gallery.

Many of the problems tattoo customers face are self-inflicted. “In order for a tattoo to heal properly it is really important to follow the instructions your tattoo artist gives you,” said Mark. “You’d be surprised how many people will get a tat-too and the very next day go water skiing or something crazy, not clean it and then wonder why it is infected and try to blame the artist.”

Earthtalk claims that “…some red inks used for permanent tat-toos contain mercury.” Artists from all three studios refute this claim saying that they know of no professional ink maker or line of ink con-taining any mercury in any of the colors. In fact, there are ink compa-nies that specialize making purely plant-based inks. Adrian was quick to point out that just like the kits that can be found online, there are probably dangerous inks available, but no artist who cares about his work or his customers would even consider using them. “

A reputable artists will always use the safest, best-quality inks and tools available no matter what the cost,” noted “E”.

Finding someone to do a name tattoo for $20 might sound like a reasonable deal, but for an artist using top-quality inks, and proper tools and sterilization practices, it costs about $50 just to set up their station — before they’ve even touched their customer or talked about size and style of the tattoo.

The artists at all three studios maintain that no self-respecting artist worth their salt would give a tattoo without making sure the customer is comfortable with their processes and practices. They stressed over and over how important it is to commu-nicate with the artist and not to move forward without feeling comfortable.

For someone looking to get inked, whether it is your first piece or one of many, here are some guidelines from the tattoo artists featured in this article for finding a good artist and protecting yourself.

• Check with the health department about the shop’s licensure and health record.

• Ask to see the spore report for the studio’s autoclave. In N.C. autoclaves are required to be spore tested every 30 days.

• Ask to see the equipment. Many places use disposal needles and other equipment. Ask to see the packs of needles and make sure they are not expired.

• Ask the artist about the process. What do they use to clean the skin before the procedure? What brand of inks do they use? Then go home and research the ink company.

• What are the aftercare procedures?

• Does the tattoo parlor look clean?

• Does the tattoo artist have dirty fingernails? Look sober?

Please Take My Seat

Let’s just admit it.

The South is hot right now. Hotter than a firecracker. The joint is jumping. The place to be seen, and — forgive me all you grammarians out there — “where it’s at!”

The talking heads tell us that for political year 2012, North Carolina is the new Ohio, and we are indeed seeing President Obama and his surrogates dropping in to visit with increasing regularity. As soon as the Republicans settle on their nominee, we can expect to see him or her with equal frequency.

Ordinary tourists turn up as well, sunning themselves on our beaches, and snapping photos of our colorful mountain leaves. I have even heard “bless your heart” come out of the mouth of a distinctly non-Southern network television anchor. Our foods are hot as well, with pimento cheese shedding its humble origins and popping up on trendy big city menus across the country. A recent issue of the New Yorker magazine, a high-tone publication usually chronicling all things New York, sports a lengthy piece on a Charleston chef whose mission is to revive traditional Southern cooking as it was at its peak by recreating its original ingredients in their organic, pre-industrialized agriculture forms.

Yum! I can hardly wait for that effort to succeed.

It seems that everyone wants a little piece of us in whatever form they can get it. At least one point of Southern pride seems to be slipping, though, which both alarms and saddens me.

America’s “old grey lady,” The New York Times, ran a story by Kim Severson recently with the disheartening headline, “A Last Bastion of Civility, the South, Sees Manners Decline.”

My maternal grandmother, a steel magnolia born, raised and laid to rest in Kinston, N.C., held that manners are the “glue” that holds us together. If pressed, she would say that manners are what keep us from killing each other. My own experience has taught me the truth of her wisdom. Manners are the tool that can keep families from exploding into open warfare, give friends the opportunity to love the best of each other and overlook the rest, and, until recent years, allow politicians to debate each other by day and dine together by night. Manners are a vehicle to show respect to other people.

Southern children are often taught to say “Yes, sir” and “Yes, ma’am,” but manners are more than just going through the mechanics of polite behavior. They are practiced to make other people feel comfortable, and what could be kinder and more courteous than that?

Former President George H. W. Bush, or President Bush the First, is often said to have perfect manners, which he displayed when a White House dinner guest made what could have been an embarrassing social gaff. The guest, obviously unfamiliar with the formal custom of using fi ngerbowls, picked his up and drank from it. The President, who knew very well about fi ngerbowls, did not miss a beat in making his guest comfortable. He picked up his fi ngerbowl and sipped from it as well.

The NYT’s article says the South, long viewed as the nation’s most polite and gracious corner, is slipping in the manners department.

Most of us have seen an example of this.

My most recent one was a perfectly normal-looking woman motorist who apparently took issue with some aspect of my driving and angrily poked a finger at me — a finger which was defi nitely not a thumbs up “atta girl” for my skills behind the wheel. I cannot imagine anyone doing this to my grandmother.

I see men who no longer stand when a woman enters the room and able-bodied people of all ages who do not yield their seats to the elderly, the handicapped or someone unusually burdened. The NYT quotes an Alabama second-grade teacher who bemoans the current low level of manners and says parents who have moved South from somewhere else instruct her not to teach their children to say “ma’am” and “sir.” “Too demeaning, they say.” It also details an Atlanta lawsuit involving two men who declined to give up their seats at the bar to two women.

Oh, well.

If we are honest, though, we have to concede that manners can be used to “keep people in their place” — not necessarily a good thing.

That being said, I buy my grandmother’s argument about the “glue.” Manners do grease the skids of human interactions. They do make us comfortable with each other and help turn some us from mere acquaintances and business connections into fast friends.

They are part of our Southern charm and part of what endears us and our region to people from all over the nation and the world. These people come to our community with the military, and they are coming to our state next year for the National Democratic Convention. The world’s spotlight will be trained on us, and it is our best interest for the South to shine in every way.

As one Southerner optimistically told the NYT, “It’ll be all sweet tea and hush puppies.”

Yes, ma’am, I certainly hope so.

Photo: President George H.W. Bush is said to have perfect manners, the kind that allow politicians to debate each other by day and still dine togther by night.

The Heart of Christmas Show has grown quite a bit since its inception in 1999. Anyone who spends more than a minute with Laura Stevens, the director, can tell you that she is passionate about this show in the same way that mothers are passionate about their newborn babies. She looks forward to the performances with the magical anticipation of a 6-year-old waiting for Santa to come down the chimney.

This year’s performances are on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 7 p.m. and Sunday Nov. 27 at 3 p.m., and Stevens is giddy with excitement about it.

“There are just so many wonderful elements to the show,” said Stevens. “Every year I look forward to fi nding new ways to make it even better.”

That’s a tall order since there are so many people in the community who tell Stevens about their favorite segments and plead with her to keep them in the line-up. Still, she’s always searching for the next skit, the next number, the next dance that will take the show to a higher level of glamorous excellence — because for her it is about more than putting on a great performance.

“The show is absolutely about giving the audience something to remember and putting them in the Christmas spirit,” said Stevens. “But it is also about all the hard work and dedication that the performers put into it. These kids and their families eat, sleep and breathe this show for several months each year and seeing the smiles on their faces and the joy in their eyes when the audience applauds at the end of each number is incredible. They work so hard to be able to deliver an amazing performance for the audience.”

The performers, who are all between the ages of 6 and 19, work hard to deliver perfect performances, and Stevens works just as hard to make sure that each and every segment touches the audience in some way, whether it means laughing out loud, bringing them to tears or evoking reverent silence.

Voices of the Heart, an all-girl, teen Christian vocal group is a huge part of the performance every year. This year Katelyn Godbold, Hannah Godbold, Mandi Hawley, Rachel Crenshaw and Hannah Pritchard bring the group to new heights.

“Each year Voices of the Heart is amazing,” said Stevens. “This year’s group is just phenomenal. It is like having five Mariah Careys up on the stage when they perform. Part of what makes this show so incredible is that the performers are all children and young adults. The fact that they deliver such a high-quality performance every year really says something about their talent and dedication.”

The show starts off each year with a fun and light-hearted look at Christmas through the eyes of children. It explores the joy and sense of anticipation that makes the Christmas season such a magical time for the young-at-heart.

The second half of the show is more about the Christmas story and the birth of Jesus. It’s a testament to the talented performers that the audience is left in awe-struck silence following the manger scene.

The performers are clearly dedicated to the show, and it has paid off as year after year people come form further and further away just to see The Heart of Christmas Show.

“We’ve had people tell us that they’ve come from Florida to see the show and that they look forward to the trip up here to experience it every year. Other people have said that our show is as good as anything they’ve seen in Branson, Mo.” said Stevens. “Last year I met a lady who told me that this is the show that puts her in the Christmas spirit. She leaves the show and goes right home to bake Christmas cookies.”

And it all started as a way to bring something more to the community. From the very fi rst performance, Stevens has made sure that all proceeds from the ticket sales are put right back into the community. Generous sponsors cover the costs of production each year, providing an opportunity to help Fayetteville’s youngest and most vulnerable citizens, its children. So far, more than $300,000 dollars has been donated to Friends of Children, The Child Advocacy Program, the Autism Society and Falcon’s Children’s Home.

Stevens is quick to thank the long list of sponsors who make it all possible. “The support we have from the local business community is amazing, but as much as we appreciate the support they give us, what means the most is when I see our sponsors bringing their friends and families to the show every year.”

Tickets are available now and can be purchased at Hawley’s Bicycle World, The Crown Center box office, by calling 978-1118 and at ticketmaster outlets. Adults and Children tickets are $12.00 in advance, $18.00 at the door. Group rates $10.00 per ticket are available for groups of 15 or more.

Photo top right: The talented teens in Voices of the Heart are one of the reasons the show is so successful each year. The girls are joined by other performers and dancers to make the show a hit.

Like the original Grand Ol’ Opry house, to quote the late great singer, John Hartford, another piece of America has done gone on. The atomic wizards at the Pantex Nuclear Bomb Emporium in Texas recently dismantled the last B53 nuclear bomb. It is no more. It is deceased, like the dead parrot in the Monty Python sketch. The B53 was a bomb that Dr. Strangelove would have coveted and cherished. How should we love the B53? Let us count the ways. It was a Prince among nuclear weapons. A consummation devoutly to be wished. It was the Clint Eastwood of atomic death and destruction. The B53 was the biggest, baddest, bomb on the block. It was America’s largest nuke. Nobody dissed the B53. Our big bomb was born in 1962 weighing in at a svelte 10,000 pounds and was about the size of a mini-van or one half of Donald Trump’s ego.

The B53 could do it all. It was 600 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Imported to a target by a B-52 bomber, the B53 was designed to blow up stuff buried way under ground. Recall the Russki’s Doom’s Day device in Dr. Strangelove. The only way to survive the Doom’s Day device was go live way underground. The elite government leaders and particularly attractive and fertile women were to go down into mine shafts for several centuries to live, work and procreate until it was safe to come out. The B53 could have been used to blast the Russkis deep in their mine shafts leaving only Americans surviving in our red, white and blue mine shafts. Using the B53, we could have won a nuclear war, if winning is defi ned as wiping out the rest of the world. Our American government leaders would emerge from the depths of the Earth to once again reign supreme.

Deceased at the tender age of 49, the B53 bomb was loved by atomic apocalypse enthusiasts everywhere. Having outlived its creators, the B53 died after being dismantled while surrounded by its new friends and paid caretakers. The original wizards who invented the B53 had long since retired or died. They weren’t available to tell us which plugs to pull. The instruction book that came with the B53 when it was a brand new bouncing baby bomb had been misplaced over the years. The engineers who took it apart had to fi gure out ways to euthanize the B53 without setting it off and causing a really large glowing hole in the Texas desert.

Coincidentally, a number of States are currently considering laws to establish that life begins at the moment of conception. At the other end of the spectrum of life and death, the Pantex plant had to decide when a B53 bomb is offi cially dead. The B53 bomb was declared dead after the removal of the 300 pounds of high explosives embracing the uranium pit which is the nuclear explosive material. The uranium pit is then stored for that sunny day when once again America will need to resurrect the world’s biggest nuclear weapon. The B53 died without ever getting to kill millions of people. Shiva and General Curtis LeMay would be so disappointed. It is the end of an era.

Speaking of the end of an era, where were you when you heard the riveting news that Kim Kardashian was divorcing NBA player Kris Humphries? Their marriage lasted only 72 days. Their divorce news is a moment that was seared in America’s collective psyche like the Kennedy assassination or the day that Herman Cain introduced Plan 999 from Outer Space.

No one saw a divorce coming between Kim and Kris. This marriage would last forever, or at least 73 days. Kim explained that sometimes, things just don’t work out. Maybe the alliteration of their fi rst names was too much to bear. Maybe it was after the $18 million check cleared they received for the publication rights to their wedding orgy of good taste that they suddenly realized they had made a terrible matrimonial mistake. Somehow these kids are going to have to pick up their lives and start all over with nothing but an $18 million payment for a sham wedding to grubstake them in their attempt to live a quiet simple life. Kim explained they were still the best of friends but that she wanted to be able to spend more time with her cats.

Maybe we should have suspected the marriage might not last when the media reported that the wedding punch was made out of Prime Evil brand embalming fl uid. Let us bid a fond farewell to the B53, Kim and Kris. We hardly knew ye.

A state-of-the-art cold kitchen is the newest addition to the Culinary Arts Department at Fayetteville Technical Community College. The most recent expansion to the facilities was designed to provide a kitchen with temperature and humidity control features. The cold kitchen was completed in October, creating additional space for Culinary training which consists of three kitchens and a dining room.

Humidity and temperature control are critical in a bake shop when preparing sugar and chocolate work. Students are instructed in the preparation, construction, and assembly of confectionary show pieces and dessert items. Show pieces are decorative competition entries made from various confections and must be completely edible. If the temperature and humidity are not perfect when preparing and holding these show pieces and dessert items, they will become sticky and eventually melt, losing their shape and form in the process. Imagine a wilting fl ower and the slow demise of the fl ower on a hot humid day. This is exactly what happens to chocolate and sugar pieces that have been properly prepared, but not kept at the proper temperature and humidity in the preparation and holding process. Having a cold kitchen also allows longer working time with chocolate and confection mediums. This will give students a better opportunity to understand and utilize the scientifi c reactions that are occurring while tempering chocolate and pulling or blowing sugar.

The temperature of the cold kitchen will be kept at 62 degrees Fahrenheit and will be set at approximately 10% humidity or below when working with most pastry and confection products. This environment is impossible to maintain in a typical hot kitchen, particularly in the south. Most of North Carolina is considered to have a humid subtropical climate with a relative humidity anywhere between 48% and 95% depending on the time of year and the region. The cold kitchen will allow the instructors to control factors that will allow successful student training. The students will actually be able to prepare, handle, assemble, and display their sugar and chocolate show pieces with success due to temperature and humidity control feature in the cold kitchen.

In addition to your typical bake shop equipment, the department purchased a commercial dough-sheeter for the cold kitchen. Culinary students will work with various types of dough including sugar dough, gingerbread, and laminated dough like croissants and danish that must be rolled out into a uniform thickness. This piece of equipment will allow students to quickly prepare large quantities of dough products precisely in a uniform thickness ranging from 5 inches to 1/16 of an inch. In addition, the machine can be used to prepare rolled fondant for covering decorated cakes and as preparation for gum paste fl owers to adorn wedding cakes.

Currently, the Culinary Arts department offers a Baking Certifi cate as an offspring to its Associate of Applied Science in Culinary Arts parent program. The Baking Certificate can typically be completed in two semesters. Students graduating with a Baking Certificate are trained to master the preparation of quick breads, cakes, lean and rich bread dough, pies, tarts, sweet sauces, meringues, basic sugar centerpieces, chocolate tempering, basic molded, dipped and formed chocolate truffles along with basic chocolate and marzipan modeling skills. Students are also able to decorate and assemble multi-layered cakes using buttercream, royal icing, fondant, marzipan and gum paste decorations. Any student who completes the Baking Certificate at FTCC would be a huge asset to any master chocolatier, pastry chef or baker.

We are hopeful that the Culinary Program’s cold kitchen will be a stepping stone to offering a Baking and Pastry Arts Associate Degree option sometime in the near future. This would require the addition of course work in the areas of artisan bread, chocolate artistry, European cakes and tortes, advanced cake decorating and design, and bakery startup and management.

For more information about the Culinary Arts degree or certificate programs including the Baking, Garde Manger and Demi-Chef Certificates, please contact Kay Gilbert at 678-8295.

Photo: Elizabeth Culbreath, Tracey Deskin and Michael Schafhausen are Culinary students making pastillage, a sugar dough made of sugar, gelatin and white vinegar and formed into a sugar ceramic. These decorative pieces and can be painted, glazed and air brushed.

The holidays are approaching and it’s about that time to go on your annual Christmas shopping spree. While Santa Claus is coming to town, so is the 21st annual Yule Mart on Friday, November 18th through Sunday, November 20th. Come to the Fort Bragg club and visit some local and regional vendors, browse the homemade goods andcrafts, and check some presents off that long Christmas list.

Yule Mart is a non-profit organization that was put together by Fort Bragg’s Officers’ Spouses’ Club and has been the club’s biggest fundraiser throughout the years. “It’s our thing; it brings back a lot of money that we can put back into the Fort Bragg community,” says Missy Ehrenbeit, the Officers’ Spouses’ Club’s Publicity Chairperson, “It helps raise money for scholarships for people on Fort Bragg,as well.”

“There’s going to be local and regional vendors and everything is going to be hand crafted,” saysEhrenbeit “so the booths that will be there will actually have the person that makes the stuff.” Yule Mart will consist of about 70 different vendors that will feature everything from Americana décor to holiday decorations to homemade breads and granola. “There will be a lot of different things,” says Ehrenbeit, “We’ll have stained glass, a lot of jewelry; there will be a lady that makes bags out of ACU’s and old uniforms, and a lady that makes wreaths.”

Aside from the craft show, some other activities that will be going on are a Secret Santa Shop that is done by the 82nd airborne. Here the kids can purchase presents for their parents and get them wrapped there so that the parents don’t know what the kids bought them for Christmas. Some other features of Yule Mart will be pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus’ Bake Shop, “but the biggest thing there is going to be the vendors,” says Ehrenbeit.

On Friday, the craft show will open at 10 a.m. and run through 7 p.m. that night. Saturday the mart will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. As far as admission goes, there are daily passes and weekend passes that are available for purchase. The daily pass is $5 per person, while the weekend pass is $8 per person and children ages 10 and under are free. Get in the Christmas spirit this year at Yule Mart. “It’s a wonderful event,” says Ehrenbeit, “We encourage all to come and check it out and help give back to the community.”

Serving over 12,000 dinner guests might intimidate some folks, but not those behind the 53rd Annual “World’s Largest Spaghetti Dinner and Greek Pastry Sale.” The event takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 16, from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. at the Hellenic Center of Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church, 614 Oakridge Ave. in Fayetteville. The cost for each meal is $6, and tickets may be purchased at the door.

Last year, volunteers at the annual charity event served about 12,500 dinners.

“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly the number, but for the past three years, it’s been around the same number said Tony Kotsopoulos, chairman of the event for over 20 years. His late father-in-law, Pete Parrous, started the project for the community as a fundraiser to build the church.

And just how long might one spend in the kitchen preparing 12,000-plus meals?

“It takes four days,” Kotsopoulos said. “Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, we do the food preparation, and Wednesday, we put it together.”

The “we” to whom Kotsopoulos refers is a small army of dinner veterans and volunteers who prepare 4000 pounds of dry pasta, which become about 10,000 pounds cooked, and about 1000 gallons of meat sauce, a highly guarded secret recipe of all-natural ingredients used only for the dinner.

“For the preparation of the spaghetti, we have about 20 people that will be hired under my supervision, and they’ve been working with me for many years,” said Kotsopoulos. “They all have other jobs, and they come and work for three days and we put it together, and then volunteers in the Greek community work for days getting all the other stuff ready – opening things, boxing up the cheeses, breads and other stuff.”

The meals include spaghetti and sauce, cheese –– and napkins –– and are available for takeout only.

“Although some people do sit down,” Kotsopoulos said, “mostly they take out. It has become a tradition now – businesses and homes – everyone is looking forward to it.”

If a business or other group purchases more than a few meals, volunteers have a system in place to facilitate a speedy pickup.

“If you have more than 10 or 15 meals, we have people who direct you to the proper place where they quickly put them together,” said Kotsopoulos. “We have refi ned that process now, so the wait is very minimal, and any wait is only between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Before and after that time, it’s not that much of a wait.”

In addition to the impressive pasta and sauce, dessert is also not to be missed. A variety of delicious Greek pastries and desserts freshly prepared by volunteers will be available for purchase, including the always-popular baklava; kataifi , a sweet honey dessert made with angel hair pastry and honey; and sugar cookies.

Proceeds from the annual dinner event go to charities, including the Red Cross, the Autism Society and the International Christian Charities, and Kotsopoulos admits his amazement at the community’s support.

“We appreciate their support year after year. The most amazing thing to me is not the work that we do, but when I go outside the back door of the kitchen, and I peek and I see people from all over Fayetteville come to the Greek church to get or one or two or five or 10 or 50 plates of spaghetti — to me that’s amazing. It tells me that they don’t just come for the spaghetti.”

For more information, call the Hellenic Center at 484-8925, or visit the church’s website, www.stsch.nc.goarch.org.

Chasing the American Dream

It is rare, in fact, I can’t recall when I have ever responded to an opinion put forth by a columnist in our paper. I have published many things that I disagree with to the very core of my being — things that make my skin crawl — and made no response. But last week’s editorial by Sharon Valentine, along with the local news, moved me out of my bed at 11 p.m. (even though I get up at 4 a.m.) to respond.

Occupy Wall Street is not a movement that will create reform. Occupy Wall Street is nothing more than a distraction from the real problems that face our economy, our nation and our society as a whole. It is a sound bite for the media. In short, Occupy Wall Street (Raleigh and Fayetteville) is a tempest in a tea pot with people who seemingly have nothing better to do.

I would suggest that if these folks really want to make a difference in our economic free fall, they get out of their chairs, put down their picket signs, pack up their $200 tents, put down their $4 lattes and get a freaking job.

Yes, I said it: GET A JOB.

And before you all run to your computers to say there are not any jobs — yes there are. They may not be what you want, but they will start to pay the bills. There are a number of people who feel that certain jobs are beneath them. Guess what? When you’ve got no money, your extended unemployment has run out and the rent is due, nothing is beneath you.

I have been poor. And I don’t like it. So I did what I had to do to change my situation. I have been a hostess at restaurants, tended bar, turned socks, lifeguarded, worked in a deli, a daycare and at a newspaper that expected me to work 80 hours a week for less than most people make on unemployment. (Oh, and I always paid for my own insurance.) I can honestly say, with no exaggeration, that since I have been 19-years-old I have worked no less than two jobs at any given time. I now have three.

Do I have to? Nope. Do I do it because I want what is best for my family. You bet. So I have little patience or time to listen to people who complain about not being able to get $50,000 a year jobs. Work two jobs, work three jobs if that’s what it takes to meet your economic expectations. Do what you have to do to be successful.

When my husband and I bought our fi rst house, we paid $83,000 for it. We didn’t go out and buy a $300,000 house we couldn’t afford. That, Ms. Valentine, is why the housing market crashed — people reached beyond their means to buy what they thought they deserved, not what they could afford.

I keep hearing about the 99 percent and the 1 percent. Would it surprise you to know that if you earn more than $150,000 in a household of two working people, you are knocking on the door of what our tax system and our current administration calls wealthy?

Is it somewhat disconcerting to anyone that you are actually penalized for working hard, for chasing the American Dream? I know at tax time it’s pretty darn disconcerting for me.

I grew up in a one-income family. My father was in the military, and despite what you hear to the contrary, the salaries for enlisted soldiers are not that great. No one in Congress who keeps saying the military is overpaid, would work the hours, face the hardships or give up their plush lives in DC to spend one minute on a forward-operating base.

I forgot to mention that my father had five children. My mother was a stay-at-home mom. We didn’t have fancy cars, clothes or homes, but we always had enough. They always managed to make it work. In short, we lived within our means.

My grandfather, who lived through World Wars I and II and the Great Depression, raised 15 children. They didn’t always have everything they wanted either, but they had what they needed. I can assure you, they didn’t have $200 tents, and they didn’t stand around on street corners all day long whining about what they didn’t have. They worked. They worked long hours in the fi elds on the farm, the saw mill and in the house.

And at the end of the day, I will always remember what my grandfather said about the hard times, the good times, and what he would probably have said about Occupy Wall Street.

“Smart people don’t starve — they just work harder.”

Get a clue. The American Dream isn’t dead. What is dead is the desire of many to pursue it.

Bikers For Bikers Foundation (BFBF) is a nonprofit organization founded to help injured/sick bikers and needy children. Motorcyclists across America are known for hosting charitable benefits for people in need, supporting the families of fallen service members, doing toy runs for less fortunate children at Christmas, gathering food and coats for the homeless during the months before the bitter cold sets in, supporting breast-cancer campaigns, and doing poker run benefits for emergency situations when people have fallen ill or lost homes to fires and disasters. However, when was the last time you heard of a “biker” asking for help? It doesn’t happen very often.

In 2010 there were more than 10 million registered motorcycles in America. With an average of approximately 100,000 accidents recorded year-ly, there are approximately 90,000 injured, and 5,000 killed yearly accord-ing to the U.S. Department of Transportation statistics from 2000 to 2010. Motorcyclists are strong and often too proud to ask for help, but the numbers are staggering.

When Mickey, founder of BFBF and a North Carolinian, went down some years ago and broke an ankle he couldn’t get any help because he was “a biker.” He had kids to feed and clothe and basic bills like everyone else. He vowed that someday he would change that. After researching some of the larg-est charitable organizations in America, he was shocked by the percentages taken by large charities and how little of it actually goes to help those in need. Even more alarming was the fact that several of those charities have CEOs whose salaries are nearing the million dollar mark. The average is more than 50 percent and in some charities up to 99 percent of the money given actually goes to pay salaries, marketing expenses, buy office supplies and purchase and maintain corporate jets.

Bikers For Bikers Foundation is not a “big charity” or a household name — yet. It was started by a man who had a vision and one year of pocket-change. It is still a small, but rapidly growing organization with the goal of being known by every biker in America while keeping the operating cost to a minimum, so the money goes to help those in need instead of lin-ing the pockets of CEOs or employees. To date, everyone who works with the foundation volunteers, including the founder. The foundation is head-quartered in Cumberland County, and has members in 46 states, and state captains, who help raise funds in four states. BFBF is not affiliated in any way with Biker For Bikers, incorporated out of Texas, nor is it a club. The organization shares no one’s information.

If you ride, or have loved ones or friends who ride, this is one nonprofit you should take the time to visit their web-site, www.bikersforbikersfoundation.com, and show support for their cause.

The Big Year  (Rated R)  Four Stars

The Big Year (100 minutes) is surprisingly restrained, consid-ering both Jack Black and Owen Wilson have starring roles. Not only is the picture fairly low-key, it also manages to avoid any ob-vious audience manipulation. Considering that David Frankel also directed the emotional cannonball that was Marley and Me, we can all be grateful The Big Year didn’t involve a lot of dead birds and crying children. I mean, dead birds do appear, but early in the film before the audience gets emotionally invested in them, so it’s okay.

Weirdly, writer Howard Franklin, who adapted the Mark Obmascik birding (never bird-watching!) novel, not only wrote what is arguably the best Bill Murray vehicle ever (The Man Who Knew Too Little), but also scripted The Name of The Rose AND Romancing the Stone, which is a weird resume if I ever saw it.

The film introduces us to the world of competitive bird-ing, peopled with obsessives who are nonetheless also trusting fools. Example: In attempting to achieve the North American Bird Watching Record for most birds seen during a big year (or something … I’m not clear on the actual title), it is sufficient to report seeing or hearing the birds … photographic evidence is not required. Since achieving this record apparently elevates winners to superstar status, worshipped by teenage boys everywhere they go, it seems like there should be safeguards in place to prevent heading over to the zoo and claiming those birds for one’s list. But maybe I’m just a cynic.

In any case, it seems pretty obvious that the title is for a rich man to win. Who else would have the time and money to travel around the United States averaging more than two unique bird sightings a year? Of course, that means in addition to the independently wealthy Bostick (Wilson) and the desperate-to-retire Preissler (Steve Martin) we get the adorable underdog Brad Harris (Black). I am instantly reminded of the good stormchaser/bad stormchaser dichotomy set up in Twister, where any hobbyist with money is automatically evil, while the scruffy underfunded little guys are always good (see also Dodgeball and Rocky IV).

Brad is divorced, and his daddy (Brian Dennehy) is surprisingly unsupportive of him taking a year off to run through his meager savings. Bostick, the current big year record-holder, is married — and his wife is surprisingly unsupportive of his plans to fly around the U.S. for a year and look at birds. Preissler, in the midst of phased retire-ment, has a supportive wife (JoBeth Williams) but unsup-portive coworkers, who keep interrupting his big year to trick him back into the highly lucrative job that he loves.

The three meet several times before the plot really gets going, and there are several plot points set up, only to be dropped without resolution. For example, it is implied several times that Bostick might have cheated, but it is left for the au-dience to decide one way or the other. Maybe failing to spell out every little detail is not such a bad thing. However, since the idea was not introduced in a subtle way, the viewer waits for a dénouement that never comes.

Rounding out the cast is Rashida Jones, playing a love in-terest shoehorned in to the story. As is typical for Hollywood, the film is essentially about male bonding and men finding themselves … women are only bystanders.

Finally, for those of you dying to know, the criteria for The Big Year shown in the film limits the birders to the American Birding Association area, which excludes Hawaii. Approximately 925 bird species have been seen in the United State and Canada, and the winning number in the film is more than 700 bird species seen in a single year.

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

Military Service and Social Security

Fayetteville is in the midst of its 10-day Heroes Homecoming celebration. Many special events have been planned to recognize Vietnam veterans for the sacrifices they made so many years ago. Thanks to the people of Fayetteville for recognizing the need and doing something to show American soldiers our appreciation.

As a public service to the seniors and veterans of our com-munity, we are printing the following article from the Social Security Commission.

Each year, on Nov. 11, America observes Veterans Day and honors the men and women who have served in our nation’s Armed Forces. Many Vietnam-era veterans are now nearing retirement age or are already there. It is important that they — and other American service personnel — know just what retirement benefits they can count on from Social Security as they make their future financial plans.

Like most of the civilian workforce, all current military personnel pay Social Security taxes and earn Social Security coverage. Earnings for active-duty military service or active-duty training have been covered under Social Security since 1957.

In addition, earnings for inactive duty service in the reserves (such as weekend drills) have had Social Security coverage since 1988.In addition to regular military pay, Social Security adds special-earnings credits to an individual’s Social Security record when he or she serves in the military. The extra earnings are for periods of active duty or active-duty training. If, for example, a person served in the military between 1957 and 1977, he or she has been credited with $300 in additional earnings for each calendar quarter in which active-duty basic pay was earned. These extra earnings may help someone qualify for Social Security or increase the amount of the Social Security benefit.

The number of credits an individual needs to qualify for Social Security depends on his or her age and the type of benefit. Any future Social Security benefit payment depends on a person’s earnings, averaged over a working lifetime. Generally, the higher a person’s earnings, the higher his or her Social Security benefit will be.

Remember that Social Security is more than retirement. If a worker becomes disabled before reaching retirement age, he or she may be eligible for Social Security disability benefits. A disabled worker’s spouse and dependent children also may be eligible for benefits. If a worker dies, the widow or widower and dependent children may be eligible for Social Security survivor’s benefits.

If you, or someone you know, were wounded while on active duty in the military, find out more about what Social Security can do by visiting our website designed specifically for wounded warriors: www.socialsecurity.gov/wound-edwarriors. At that website you will find answers to a number of commonly asked questions, as well as other useful information about disability benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Veterans and others who are within 10 years of retirement age should begin planning for retirement. A good place to start is with Social Security’s Retirement Estimator at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator.

For more information, you can read the fact sheet, Military Service and Social Security, which is available at www.socialsecu-rity.gov/pubs/10017.html.

For more information call 484-7200 or visit www.homeinstead.com/647.

Hockey in Fayetteville, N.C. is more than just a stick to a puck, it is wholesome family entertainment that has captured the attention of Fayetteville and surrounding com-munities for the past 10 years.

For 10 years, the Fayetteville FireAntz have obtained an unbeliev-able fan base, of whose loyalty and dedication have elevated the organi-zation to what it is today. With more than 7,000 fans in attendance during the 2011-2012 Opening Weekend alone, which took place on Friday, Oct. 21 and Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Crown Coliseum, the FireAntz seem to be headed in the direction of continued success.

Although the 2011-2012 sea-son has seemingly launched with a BANG, there is still plenty of time to catch a FireAntz home game in the near future. With the return of five players, the FireAntz are set to play back-to-back home games against the Louisiana Ice Gators on Friday, Nov. 18 and Saturday, Nov. 19 beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Crown Coliseum. And, if you happen to find yourself searching for something to do with the family after enjoying a hearty Thanksgiving spread, the FireAntz will host the Augusta RiverHawks on Thanksgiving night at 7:30 p.m. For a complete listing of Fayetteville FireAntz home games, visit www.fireant-zhockey.com.

As for the dynamic of the FireAntz team, this season proves to be one of transformation. With a new head coach, a revamped logo, and 11 new player additions, the Fayetteville FireAntz have proven that change is for the better. Head Coach, Sean Gillam, expects players to work hard and remain disciplined, while also remaining dedicated to the organization and sport. Leading the team in those expectations are the recently announced team captains: Chris Leville, center, who is one of five returning roster players this season, along with alternate captain Bobby Reed, forward, and alternate captain Matt Smyth, a defense player.

Aside from the ice, the Fayetteville FireAntz organization has made quite an impression within the local community. Whether through corporate part-nerships or non-profit participation, the FireAntz have gained notoriety on many levels. For instance, the FireAntz have formed lasting partnerships with community agencies such as Friends of Children and the Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center. During the Oct. 21 opening night game, the FireAntz donated over $1,000 to the Breast Cancer Center of Cape Fear Valley and last week’s Oct. 29 specialty Military Night was dedicated to local mili-tary personnel. The FireAntz will host a second specialty Military Night on Saturday, Feb. 4.

President and General Manager of the Fayetteville FireAntz, Kevin McNaught, refers to the organizations commitment to the community as, “quality of life.” He states, “We rely on the community to support us, so it is easy for us to give back with appearances and having the players in schools where they can be role models.”

The Fayetteville FireAntz also joins in the community in hosting children’s birthday parties, hail and garewells, and company outings and get-togethers. For more information, please contact the Fayetteville FireAntz front office at: 321-0123.

Come and experience change, fun, and Fayetteville FireAntz hockey, “Where Fire and Ice Unite!”

Photo: With a new head coach, a revamped logo, and 11 new player additions, the Fayetteville FireAntz have proven that change is for the better.

Like many of the readers of Up & Coming Weekly, I am not a native of Fayetteville, or even North Carolina. I was born and raised in Arkansas, so before my move, my only familiarity with Fayetteville was of the Arkansas variety. Eighteen months ago that changed when I was offered a job right here in America’s hometown. As expected, I was excited about the pros-pect of a fresh beginning, but daunted by the reality of not knowing a soul within 500 miles. As many of us under-stand, moving to an unfamiliar place is frightening. Fortunately, after a couple of weeks in town, I was invited to attend the weekly Kiwanis lunch. At this lunch I happened to sit with Kristie Meave and T.J. Jenkins, both members of Fayetteville Young Professionals (FYP).

Kristie and T.J. told me all about the events and opportunities offered by FYP. Needless to say I was very intrigued. I had discovered that Fayetteville is a very dynamic community, but it can be difficult for a young professional to meet people in their age group with similar interests. I decided FYP was worth checking out, so I attended one of their monthly Lunch & Learns. Honestly, I do not remember the guest speaker or the topic, but I do remember the people I met and how welcome I felt. In fact, I met a few of my good buddies that day. After that Lunch & Learn I knew I wanted to get involved with FYP. I began attending as many events as I could, because I realized FYP is not another boring networking organization. It is a dynamic and interesting way to make some great friends who just happen to be great business contacts as well.

Since becoming a member of FYP I have had a change of jobs. In my initial move to Fayetteville, I was coming to work for a community bank. I was excited to be a part of that organization, and am proud of my time there. However, through my contacts in FYP, I was approached about an opportunity at another institution. After some careful consideration, I decided it would be more ben-eficial to my career to pursue the new opportunity, an opportunity that came to me because of FYP! The individual, who asked me to consider the position, and would be integral in the hiring decision, is an FYP member. Had I ignored Kristie Meave’s invitation to check out FYP, I would have never known about this opportunity, and I certainly would not have been asked to apply.

After realizing what FYP had done for me, I made the decision to help them by joining the Professional Development Committee. There are several commit-tees which all FYP members have a chance to be a part of, including member-ship, social, and marketing committees. Each committee plays an integral role in our group and allows members to help lead events that fulfill their personal and professional interests. For me, Professional Development was a good fit. Through that committee we have hosted some great speakers and roundtable discussions in our monthly Lunch & Learns. I am proud of the work our various committees have done for FYP. This is why I was happy to accept the role of Professional Development Committee Chair and a place on our executive committee for our current membership year. All of this has taken place in 18 months.

I am telling you my story because, without FYP, my Fayetteville experience would have been much different. FYP provided many opportunities for me that I did not know existed. I eventually would have made some contacts, and certainly would have made some friends; however, FYP made this a much simpler process.

If you are curious about FYP, please look us up online at www.fayyp.org and come join us at our next event! To make life a little simpler, I have included a few of our upcoming activities. However, we are always adding new Meet-Ups and events, so keep checking our online schedule and look us up on facebook for updated news.

FYP’s Up coming events:

Wednesday Wake Up — Every Wednesday from 7 a.m.-9:30 a.m. at Haymont Grill.

December 15 — FYP Christmas Party at Itz Entertainment City.

Photo: FYP provided many opportunities for me that I did not know existed.

Crowds of folks will stretch out like a ribbon along routes through the downtown Fayetteville area as walkers and motorcy-clists take to the road for the Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation’s Friends of the Cancer Center 6th Annual Ribbon Walk & Ride for Cancer, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011, in Festival Park.

Last year, more than 1,000 walkers and riders participated in the event and raised more than $90,000 “to help cancer patients right here at home.” All proceeds benefit Friends of the Cancer Center, one of six friends groups within the Foundation that “…help develop programs to assist patients with needs that contribute to the heal-ing process, but that go beyond the scope of Cape Fear Valley’s mission to provide medical care and treatment,” according to the event website, www.ribbonwalkforcancer.org.

A press release for the event noted, “Through fundraisers, such as the Ribbon Walk & Ride, Friends of the Cancer Center provides prescription medicine, emergency funds for utilities, dietary supplements, transportation assistance, wigs, hats and scarves to Cancer Center patients.” Friends of the Cancer Center is supported 100 percent by donations and gifts and the help of 80 plus volunteers.

Chances are, everyone knows someone who is fighting cancer or who has fought cancer, and this is a way to help patients right here in Fayetteville. Friends of the Cancer Center’s Ribbon Walk welcomes all partici-pants willing to come out and walk for survivors and encourages survivors to be there, as well as any others who can walk for a co-worker, a friend, a son, a daughter, a spouse — anyone who is battling or has battled this killer disease.

Participants may register the day of the event or preregister at www.rib-bonwalkforcancer.org and download the donation form and view walk and ride routes. Additionally, people may donate to a particular walker, rider or team online. Registration is $25, and checks should be made payable to Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation. The top team and top three individual fundraisers will receive prizes, including T- shirts, stainless-steel water bot-tles, backpacks, caps and fleece jackets.

Registration and kickoff for the ride are at 8:45 and 9:45 a.m., respec-tively. Walk registration begins at 9 a.m., and the walk begins at 10 a.m.

For more information on the Ribbon Walk, sponsorship, registration or volunteering, please call Cape Fear Valley Health Foundation at 615-7618 or visit www.ribbonwalkforcancer.org.

Photo: Last year, over 1000 walkers and riders participated in the event and raised more than $90,000 to help cancer patients right here at home.

In 2002, when the first Soldiers began to return from Afghanistan, the nation was awash in yellow ribbons and American flags. Nowhere was that more obvious than in Fayetteville.

Fayetteville is the home to the more than 50,000 troops who are assigned at Fort Bragg and Pope Army Airfi eld. It is also the home of the XVIII Airborne Corps, the 82nd Airborne Division and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. It has been said that when the world dials 911, the phone rings here at Fort Bragg.

The families of the soldiers who were going in and out of Afghanistan, and later Iraq, showed their support for their soldiers while they were deployed in very visible ways. And upon their return, the community welcomed them with open arms.

Flash back 40 years, and it was a totally different story.

In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s the streets of Fayetteville were also awash in a sea of uniforms. Hundreds of thousands of young men came to Fayetteville prior to shipping out to Vietnam and stopped there upon their return.

This close association with the military and the Vietnam War resulted in Fayetteville’s unfortunate moniker, Fayettenam. And, in its heyday, the name fit.

The soldiers, many of whom underwent training at Fort Bragg, went off to fight on foreign soil, and returned home to turned backs and protesters. Unlike their predecessors in World War I and World War II, there were no ticker-tape parades and the nation did not embrace them.

Today, Fayetteville is seeking to change that by hosting Heroes Homecoming, a 10-day homecoming celebration for Vietnam veterans that will culminate with a parade down Hay Street on Veterans Day.

According to organizers, Fayetteville created Heroes Homecoming as a way of showing all Vietnam veterans that they remember and appreciate their courage, their sacrifi ce and everything they’ve done to defend freedom — now and forever.

And just as they have shown today’s soldiers an outpouring of love, the city is pulling out all of the stops to show that love and thanks to the veterans they hope will travel to the city to take part in a celebration that many believe is long over due

.The event officially kicks off on Nov. 4, with an opening ceremony at the N.C. Veterans Park Amphitheatre at 10 a.m. And then a dizzy array of events follows for the next 10 days.

Throughout opening day and the remainder of the month, you can check out a variety of exhibits at Fayetteville’s many museums.

At the Arts Council of Fayetteville-Cumberland County, you can take in the Vietnam Photography Project and Witness: The American Vietnam Experience, as told by local Vietnam veterans and native-born Vietnamese. At the Museum of the Cape Fear, you can peruse Voices of the Vietnam Warand, on Fort Bragg, the John F. Kennedy Special Forces Museum is home to numerous exhibits focusing on Special Forces involvement in Vietnam.

The Airborne and Special Operations Museum, and the adjacent N.C. Veterans Park, can be considered ground zero for the celebration.

On Nov. 6 at 8 a.m., The Vietnam Moving Wall will be escorted to the museum by the Fayetteville Police Department and N.C. Rolling Thunder Chapter 1. At 3 p.m. a Salute to Veterans ceremony will officially open the parade field, featuring flags representing veterans from all services. The Vietnam Moving Wall will also be open to the public at this time.

The half-size replica of The Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., will allow visitors to experience seeing the more than 58,000 names of those service men and women who lost their lives during the Vietnam War. Rolling Thunder volunteers will assist with locating names for visitors. The Vietnam Moving Wall will be on the museum grounds and open to the public 24 hours each day from Nov. 6 through noon on Nov. 14.

The Airborne and Special Operations Museum Foundation is selling 30-inch fl ags ($5) to be displayed on the museum’s grounds from Nov. 6-14. According to Paul Galloway, executive director of the museum’s foundation, this year Vietnam veterans will be honored in a special way. “We are going to separate the Vietnam veterans’ fl ags by putting them in a place of honor directly in front of the Moving Wall. We feel this will help give these veterans the added recognition they deserve.”

Throughout the week the museum foundation will show free movies, such as Operation Dumbo Drop, The Green Berets, Platoon, Hamburger Hill, We Were Soldiers and Good Morning Vietnam.

“Before each showing there will be special guest speakers who are associated with that particular movie,” said Galloway. “We are especially pleased to be able to feature Adrian Cronauer, the U.S. Airman who was a DJ in Vietnam, before Good Morning Vietnam.”

All movies are free and open to the first 250 reservations.

On Nov. 11, a POW/MIA Vigil and MIA Recognition Ceremony will take place. Every hour on the hour the meaning of the Missing Man table will be explained and bios of current Vietnam MIAs will be read. This will take place from noon to 8 p.m.

On Saturday, Nov. 12, the day will begin with a Veterans Day Service and Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Vietnam Memorial at 10 a.m. A second ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. at the N.C. Veterans Park. This is the offi cial North Carolina Veterans Day celebration.

On Saturday, Nov. 12, events will be ongoing throughout Fayetteville’s historic downtown, but perhaps the most anticipated event is the Heroes Homecoming Veterans Day Parade at 11 a.m. All Vietnam veterans are welcome to participate in the parade.

One veteran who will be on hand is Rossy Nance. He is a Vietnam veteran who proudly served in the Air Cavalry. Nance, the vice president of the N.C. Vietnam Vet Association, will be driving a restored Vietnam-era jeep and trailer in the parade.

For a complete calendar of events, visit www.heroeshomecoming.com or see the schedule located on page 11.

Photos: middle left; Rossy Nancy, vice president of the N.C. Vietnam Vet As-sociation, will be one of the many Vietnam veterans who participate in the Veterans Day Parade. Bottom right; The arrival of the Moving Wall in Fayetteville will be an integral part of the Heroes Homecoming Celebration. 

“Goooooood Morning Fayetteville!” Those aren’t exactly the words that made Adrian Cronauer famous, but they are important because Cronauer, a Vietnam-era military radio broadcaster, will be in Fayetteville to help welcome home and salute Vietnam veterans.

Cronauer, the inspiration for the main character in the 1987 film Good Morning Vietnam, is also the author/screenwriter. Robin Williams was nominated for and received an Academy Award for his portrayal of Cronauer in the movie, which deals with issues of censorship by the military in the reporting of the war, and the relationships and betrayals that were part of the daily lives of military men and women serving in Vietnam.

As part of the Heroes Homecoming celebration, Adrian Cronauer will be in Fayetteville Veteran’s Day weekend, participating in many of the scheduled events and welcoming home America’s Vietnam War veterans.

In a recent telephone interview, Cronauer recounted how the movie came to be. When he first wrote the script, it was in the form of a sitcom. M*A*S*H was at the top of the ratings and so was WKRP in Cinncinati. It made perfect sense to Cronauer that a sitcom about broadcasting and war had potential so he wrote a script based on his time as an armed forces DJ in Vietnam. The television industry wasn’t interested and turned Cronauer away.

The script eventually made it into Williams’ hands. He saw potential in the story and was willing to take a chance with it, which paid off for Cronauer.

“I took a year off college to travel the lecture circuit right after the movie came out,” said Cronauer. “What I made doing that paid for law school.”

Later he worked as the Special Assistant to the Director of the Pentagon’s POW/MIA Office.

“It was an amazing thing, when the movie fi rst came out, to see Robin on the screen as Adrian Cronauer,” said Cronauer adding that “If you ever see it again, keep in mind, and anyone who has ever been in the military will tell you, that if I did even half of the stuff that Robin did in the movie I’d still be in Leavenworth!”

At an event as meaningful as the Heroes Homecoming who better to extend a hand of welcome to veterans than one of their own?

“It is very common among Vietnam veteran’s to greet each other with the phrase ‘Welcome Home,’” he said. “No one else ever said that to them. With events like Heroes Homecoming we are finally changing that.”

He’ll only be in town for a few days, but Cronauer’s schedule is packed. He’ll speak at the opening of Miss Saigon, attend the American Red Cross gala, speak at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum’s showing of Good Morning Vietnam, attend the Darius Rucker concert at the Crown Theatre and attend the Veterans Day Parade.

Cronauer will also have the honor of emceeing the USO of N.C. Variety Show at the Crown with Connie Stevens,who is remembered fondly by Vietnam vets for the time she spent entertaining them at hastily put together USO shows in jungle outposts.

“I was there with USO troupes,” Stevens said during a 1998 interview with the New York Daily News. “I was there with Bob Hope and with Neil Armstrong in 1969 and 1970.”

She did what many talented young starlets did: They sang, they danced and they fl irted with the boys who became men long before their time. “I was only a young star at the time, but I landed in the middle of jungles and felt what it was like to be shot at and to hear explosions in the distance.”

Like Stevens, Cronauer, who says his 15 minutes of fame is fading, is sincere in his commitment to this particular generation of vets, and says he is looking forward to connecting, celebrating and remembering with his brethren during Heroes Homecoming. Find out more about the 10-day celebration honoring Vietnam veterans at www.heroeshomecoming.com.

Photo: Above: Adrian Cronauer during his radio days in Vietnam. Right: Connie Stevens with Bob Hope at a USO show in 1969.

Fall's This, That, and the Other

It is impossible not to be horrifi ed by the shooting of a 15-year-old student at Cape Fear High School late last month.

All of us, including this mother of three, kiss our Precious Jewels goodbye on school mornings as they head for the school bus or the carpool. We hope they will have a successful day both in class and in their social scenes. We might fret over looming band, forensic, soccer or cheerleading tryouts, a scary test they are facing, the often vicious atmosphere on playgrounds and in lunchrooms or some other anxiety transmitted from child to parent.

I suffered more of the above than I like to recall.

I cannot, however, remember a single day when I sent a child to school fearing he or she might be shot on campus.

The shooting at Cape Fear High School occurred with professional educators doing their jobs in close proximity on what was, by all accounts, a normal school day. Nothing seemed off kilter, just students, teachers, and administrators going about their routine and responsibilities two months into a school year.

Then came a shot from nowhere, aimed, apparently, at no one.

What a mystery is the human brain!

Even more, what a mystery is the teenaged human brain!

Current science suggests that it takes decades for our brains to come into their own — for our judgment to catch up with the stunning physical capabilities of our bodies. If we are honest with ourselves, all of us remember some really stupid action we took because we could and because our young brains did not snatch the behavioral reins and say “Whoa!”

So what are we to make of what happened at Cape Fear?

No suggestion of adult slacking has been fl ated nor has any hint of teenaged provocation. The incident appears so ill-conceived, so random and so completely avoidable that it could only have come from a teenaged brain.

Those teenaged brains have changed many lives, including their own, forever and now they must live with the consequences.

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The ongoing Occupy Wall Street movement, now camping out in New York City and in many other places around the country, is all about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. It expresses this sentiment, in part, by saying the richest 1percent is making all the decisions for the other 99 percent of us, although the concept remains a bit sketchy.

OWS does have a point about the dangers of pronounced financial inequity in any society.

Richard Wilkinson, a retired British medical school professor of social epidemiology and author of The Spirit Level has studied the social health differences in nations with high disparities in wealth and those whose wealth distribution is more level, and the news is not good. Says Wilkinson about countries with signifi cant gaps, “Mental illness is say, three times as common. Life expectancy is lower. Teenage births are much, much higher, rates of violence as measured by homicide are much higher.”

There are many ways to calculate and assess wealth, of course, and much discussion about the importance of rewarding merit in any culture. It is worth noting, though, that by many measures the gap between the haves and the have-nots in the United States is among the largest in the world in industrialized nations, and that gap — by almost any measure one uses, is growing. Our rich are indeed getting richer and poor, poorer.

Cheery news, n’est pas?

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When they perceive dear old Mom is a tad ornery, my Precious Jewels call me Andy, shorthand for Andy

Rooney, everyone’s favorite curmudgeon.Rooney, now 92, retired last month from his long and award winning career in journalism, which culminated at CBS. For 34 years and 1097 broadcast essays, he harrumphed on camera behind a walnut table he made himself about all the things that drove him — and many of us — crazy. How do you feel about annoying relatives, pricey bottled water, unwanted and unreturnable Christmas presents, multiplying brands of cars and milk? How about the cost of groceries and gas and grandstanding politicians?

Andy was not shy about what he thought on these and a smorgasbord of other topics big and small. He gave voice to what many of us were thinking, too. In his last grumpy essay on CBS’s Sixty Minutes, Rooney bid farewell to his friends, viewers, and fans.

He also requested that if any of us see him out to dinner somewhere that we just keep our good wishes to ourselves and let him enjoy his meal in peace.

As we say in the South, bless his sweet heart.

Photo: Rooney, now 92, retired last month from his long and award winning career in journalism, which culminated at CBS. For 34 years and 1097 broadcast essays, 

Response to Occupy Wall Street

Hey, just a minute Mr. Publisher. Could you possibly be misreading the Occupy Wall Street movement?

My read on the “sit-in” of 2011 is an American public angry with the Wall Street-Washington cartel that is gutting the middle class. It is not a protest against capitalism but the against a “bastardization” of capitalism that allows a Goldman-Sachs to post its first loss in earnings this quarter and still set aside $10 billion for year-end executive bonuses. It is frustration with hundreds of millions of dollars anonymously “invested” into national and state campaigns to assure ownership of politicians. (Did you know that Congressmen Chris and Dodds were the biggest recipients of Wall Street campaign largess?)

If you are the average guy earning $20 an hour in a plant you have no clout in Washington.

You state that this nation was built on capitalism and the vision of entrepreneurs. I agree with you. But capitalism requires “capital”.

The cozy deal between D.C. and Wall Street that struck down the firewall and allowed the investment banks to move into the conservatively managed arena of the commercial banks blew up the housing sector. This critical sector not only employed a lot of people and kept manufacturing humming but was also the original retirement account for most Americans — the equity in a home. Millions of homeowners are still underwater or facing foreclosure. Employment opportunities go unmet as potential workers can’t sell a house and move (i.e. BRAC).

Occupy Wall Street is demanding some answers on why our tax dollars were used to bail out the “big banks” and those government bastions of confl ict of interest: Fannie and Freddie. Local banks are in shell shock, very cautious and over regulated. The result is “no capital” capitalism — no mortgages, no business loans, no lines of credit unless you have enough money that you do not need a loan.

Other Occupy Wall Street frustration is directed at a tax code that helps the rich get richer. If you believe that the rich really pay taxes I have some shocking news for you. Do you recall that our treasury secretary got a “pass” on forgetting to file his return? The 1 percent has lawyers, accountants, corporations and a “favorable” tax code that has resulted in an income disparity that is outrageous. While we worker bees have had incomes that are “flat lined” for the last 30 years, the wealthy have soared into the economic stratosphere with not a responsible glance back at the ravages of their excess. Deregulation of the commodities market (that was once the safety net of farmers) has allowed hedge funds to “win” (not earn) billions of dollars. In a system that has Goldman-Sachs executives moving between major government positions and the bank, we can’t fix this system by just voting. It will take major structural changes.

That is why I give Occupy Wall Street a pat on the back. They are doing what angry, frustrated Americans do when they do not know how to change the process. They are in the streets raising awareness to our increasingly dangerous future. They may not have candidates — nor did the Tea Party originally. And they may not have the ballot answers — but neither does Congress, our President or our courts. They are successfully forcing the system to pay attention. They are demanding reform:

• Reform of an unfair tax code

• Reform of a broken political process

• Reform of a “rigged” economic system

• Reform of a system that favors 1 percent over 99 percent

• Reform of a system that no longer offers the dream of upward mobility.

The Thing   (Rated R)  3 Stars

The prequel The Thing (103 minutes) needs to get from point A to point B. Point B, of course, equaling all the details revealed in the 1982 John Carpenter remake of the 1951 movie, The Thing From Another World, which was itself based on the John W. Campbell, Jr. short story, “Who Goes There?”

Those details include a charred and smoking two-headed corpse, a large block of ice with the top middle portion miss-ing, a radio guy with frozen blood at his wrists, a dog running from an abandoned research station, two dudes who only speak Norwegian flying a helicopter to shoot the aforementioned dog, and most importantly, no survivors at the station.

Yes, the film does that. But I am still not sold on the idea that the film needed to be made at all. There are one or two im-provements to the original plot, but for the most part, the flaws of the original remake (which still managed to be a great movie) carry over into the prequel without any of the redeeming points. There are still far too many cast members, many of whom behave like idiots. Despite the minor improvements to the narrative, the prequel is burdened by a lack of creativity and an overabundance of computer generated effects. Rob Bottin didn’t need a com-puter to scare the bejeebies out of the audience with the 1982 spider head guy and right now, even though he is alive, he is rolling over in his grave.

The 2011 version opens a few days before the 1982 version. A Norwegian science team has nearly fallen on top of a large hunk of metal. In a dramatic scene, there are stuck upside down in a glacial crevasse. I bet the story of how they escaped this seemingly inescapable situation would be an exciting tale! Too bad we don’t get to hear it. Maybe they died? I can’t tell. All grimy, frozen, snow suited, dirty-joke-telling Norwegians look alike.

A scene shift introduces both Dr. Sander Halverson (Ulrich Thomsen) and improbable paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). I mean, she seems competent enough when dissecting the saber tooth (?), but loses that pretty quickly in the face of a male authority, which spends quite a bit of time telling her to hush. Imagine how Macready would have reacted if a Halverson told him to shut his trap and concentrate on extracting the monster? He would have whipped out the flame thrower in about five seconds. After all, he does spend most of the 1982 film restraining and killing people who turn out not to be monsters at all. Good times.

Anyway, completely ignoring the possibility of expos-ing the entire station to an alien pathogen, everyone gathers round the ice block to collect a sample using a drill. During a drunken Norwegian celebration, American pilot Derek (Adewale-Akinnuoye-Agbaje) watches The Thing escape from the block of ice. The group splits up, and we get our first on-screen casualty, Henrik (Jo Adrian Haavind). Kate and Adam (Eric Christian Olsen, looking like a young Cary Elwes) perform an autopsy and discover that even after burning, The Thing is still alive on a cellular level.

Too bad she puts all the pieces together after the pilots have already left the base with a couple of shell-shocked survivors, one of whom immediately trans-forms and eats the other. Because, for an alien, that is a totally reasonable re-sponse when you are in midair and in full view of witnesses.

The cast is steadily whittled down and the film approaches the climax in fairly short order. The film ends on a fairly ambiguous note, although the disap-pearing/reappearing Lars (Jørgen Langhelle) remains a bit puzzling, almost as if the filmmakers left him out of the sec-ond third of the film because they couldn’t figure out what to do with him.

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

During the first 10 days of November, the Fayetteville community will honor Vietnam veterans during the Heroes Homecoming event. The Cape Fear Regional Theatre is doing its part to honor these American heroes through the staging of Miss Saigon.

Miss Saigon, a modern adaption of the opera Madame Butterfly, is set during the closing days of America’s involvement of Vietnam and revolves around an American soldier and a Vietnamese girl who find love in the midst of war and its associated pain. The two are ripped apart as Saigon falls, and the musical ultimately addresses the hard questions of what people will do to survive and who are the real victims of war.

Under the direction of Bruce Lumpkin, the cast of Miss Saigon has been working at a quick pace to put the show together. According to Lumpkin, who is revisiting the play for the fifth time, the staging of this show in Fayetteville is going to be unique.

“Each time I’ve done the show, it has been totally different,” said Lumpkin, “but this one will be even more different. We are using a lot of projections and photo montages to bring people into the story.”

Lumpkin hopes that the use of actual footage and photos of the fall of Saigon will help people really see the reality of that moment and the way that people’s lives were torn apart.

“I know that many people in the audience will have served in Vietnam and will have memories of those days,” said Lumpkin. “I hope this will strike a chord with them and those memories.”

For Shannon Tyo, who is playing the role of Kim, the show is very personal.

“For someone of my age and ethnicity and vocal range, this part is tailor made for me. It is a beautiful, wonderful part, and hopefully I can do it until the day I die,” said Tyo. “I love this part.”

“I was adopted from Korea when I was 3-years-old. In the musical, Kim is forced to make a very difficult choice concerning her child,” she explained. “For me, it is interesting to see what it is like from the mother’s side. I think about a lot of things that have happened in my life, and think about the mother who wanted a better life for her child, like Kim wants for her child. This is truly a story of great love and sacrifice.”

Tyo, like Lumpkin, is very aware that many in the audience may have actually lived through these times, and sees it as a great honor to get to perform for them.

“This is really a beautiful interpretation of the musical,” she said. “Being here in this place with such a strong miltiary background, it is very important for us to get things right. I am nervous to a certain extent, but I am very excited for them to see what we are doing. I hope it is going to be beautiful and mov-ing for them, and I am excited for them to come and see it.”

Of the videos and photos, she noted, “It’s mind-blowing how the videos and photo take you exactly where you need to be. In an instant, you are in Sai-gon in 1973.”

Lumpkin has been working night and day to ensure that atmosphere is set. “Miss Saigon is a big show, but it is also a very intimate piece of theatre. If it is well done, and you have a great group of people — like we have here – you don’t need the expansive scenery or the helicopter, because the story is what is important.”

The musical will run from Nov. 3 through Nov. 20. Tickets range in price from $12 to $27. All Vietnam veterans will recieve tickets for $15, while other veterans will receive a $3 discount. For show times, and to make reservations, visit the website at www.cfrt.org.

“October is the weirdest month” as T.S. Elliot might have writ-ten. The weather finally becomes perfect but people and institu-tions seem to come unhinged with the first chill of Autumn. That fluttering noise you hear is the sound of the wings of the chickens coming home to roost on Wall Street with the Occupy Wall Street campers. If you listen closely to the Republican Presidential de-bates, the angry candidates seem to be chanting, “It’s zombie time in America.” And the zombies are hungry.

As much as would-be Presidents try to reanimate Ronald Reagan, Ronnie ain’t coming back. And they are no Ronald Rea-gan. Each Republican candidate has to prove he has more bumper sticker ready solutions to complex problems than the next one. It’s the end of the world as they know it, and they don’t feel fine. The sunny optimism of the Gipper cannot light the doom and gloom of the Presidential debaters.

The Republican Presidential debates are even more gruesome than the return of AMC’s cable show The Walking Dead. There are a few living humans among the candidates, Mitt, Cain and Perry. The others are undead but don’t know it. They won’t lie down or go away. They haunt the Republican debates from the far ends of the stage, sniping at first one front-runner, then another.

“Brains! Brains! We must have brains!” they mumble in Zombie-speak. Michele Bachmann, the Newtster and Santorum are politically dead but still walk among us. Huntsman, believing in evolution, has no chance. Ron Paul is auditioning for his third party run against Mitt and President Obi. Ron is not among the undead. Like Dracula, he will rise up as the Tea Party’s candidate for President to suck the life out of Mitt’s campaign and re-elect President Obi. Thanks, Ron Paul.

Whereever you look, spookiness is on the march. It’s not just the Presidential debates and the return of the usual Halloween/Christmas shopping season. Lions, tigers and bears escape a private zoo in Ohio to terrorize mid America. Weirdness stalks the land like that piece of moldy celery in the far back of your refrigerator’s vegetable crisper. It remains in the recesses of the crisper until it smolders into a wretched gooey bio-mass.

Speaking of wretched gooey bio-masses, I have learned a lot about zombies from watching The Walking Dead. For those of you who are not familiar with this excellent show, a summary is in order. A plague swept the Earth wiping out most humans except for a hearty band of intrepid souls who are trying to find happiness and sanctuary from the undead somewhere in Georgia. Zombies are traveling in herds looking for human grub. Fortunately zom-bies are not really smart and can often, but not always be avoided. Being undead, zombies have certain medical impairments. Zom-bies suffer from conjunctivitis. Their eyes, when they have them, are always red and runny. Zombies seldom bath. They are decom-posing so you can smell them before you actually see them. Most zombies need extensive dental work as good oral hygiene is not a priority among the undead. They don’t floss or even brush their fangs. Zombies need orthotics. They suffer from foot drop, a condition in which the muscles of the foot malfunction in lifting the zombie’s feet, causing the distinctive shuffle that zombies have when pursuing prey.

Not all zombie qualities are suboptimal. As zombies do not breathe, they never get winded. They can chase human prey for many miles without tiring. Zombies are egalitarian. They will eat anybody. They have no leader. As such, all zombies are created equal. The opinion of one zombie, no matter how humble, is respected by all the other zombies, much like the organizational style of Occupy Wall Street.

The Occupy Wall Street movement has spread across the globe like kudzu on steroids. There’s camping in the streets, from Baltimore to D.C. Our friendly Tea Baggers have been pushed off the nightly news by the Occupy Wall Street crowd as the media’s flavor of the week. The Tea Baggers are crankier now. Mitt is going to be the Republican nominee and the OWS people are stealing their limelight. They are reduced to yelling at those dratted neighbor kids to get off their lawn

.The most frightening October news is the return of Beavis and Butthead to MTV after many years ab-sence. The horror. The horror.

While walking around FTCC’s Fayetteville campus, it is hard not to notice the banners and posters with I-PASS on them. But really, what is it? Is it a place? Is it a concept? Is it a person? Well, it is all of those things!

The developmental studies division has expanded to include services spe-cifically tailored to its students. Who is a developmental student? Any stu-dent taking one or more of the follow-ing courses: ENG 070, 080 and 090; or MAT 050, 060, 070, 080 and 090; or RED 070, 080 and 090. Students enrolled in these courses can go to either the I-PASS Center in Cumberland 314 or the McLean Learning Lab in Cumberland 315 to receive services

.I-PASS offers multiple services to assist developmental students. First, developmental students can receive intrusive advising. During an intrusive advising session, an advisor informs the students of financial aid limitations, developmental course-work, attendance policies in developmental courses, repeat policies for developmental courses and much more. An intrusive advising session lasts about 20 minutes and allows students the opportunity to ask ques-tions and voice any concerns they may have about college.

Second, I-PASS offers professional tutoring by instructors who actually teach the courses. In addition, student tutors are available to assist with problems. If students prefer to work alone, they can check out a net-book to work on during the time they spend in the I-PASS Center. Coming soon, math students will be able to uti-lize a SMART board to further improve their math skills.

Finally, the I-PASS Center has a full-time counselor who is available to assist with personal, emotional or behavioral issues. The counseling ses-sions are confidential, and appointments may be made ahead of time. The counselor also provides workshops per-taining to student issues like time- or stress-management.

Does I-PASS really work? Yes! The more time students spend receiv-ing tutoring, the better their grades. Further, over 90% of students who receive tutoring are either satisfied or very satisfied. In addition, over 82% of students who received intrusive advising were either satisfied or very satisfied with their experience.

So the next time you see one of those I-PASS signs, you will know how I-PASS can help you. Stop by sometime; we will be waiting!

Photo: During an intrusive advising session, an advisor informs the students of finan-cial aid limitations, developmental coursework, attendance policies in devel-opmental courses, repeat policies for developmental courses and much more.