On Monday, Aug. 16, theMuseum of the Cape Fear givesyou the chance for a lunch datewith history in the fourthinstallment of their monthlyseries, Munch on History:A Lunchtime Lecture at theMuseum of the Cape Fear.

Heidi Bleazey, 1897 PoeHouse education coordinator,will present on Victorianetiquette and 1897 Poe Househistory. The lecture is in thefirst-floor conference room andstarts promptly at 12:15 p.m.

The 1897 Poe House,home of E. A. and JosephinePoe, is on Arsenal Avenue inthe Museum of the Cape FearHistorical Complex. E. A.Poe, not to be confused with the Edgar Allan Poe of The Raven fame, was aFayetteville brickyard owner and politician at the turn of the 20th century.

The house is a glimpse of the Poes’ life as an upper-middle-class family inVictorian times. E. A. and Josephine raised eight children in the home, gavedinner parties in the large dining room and welcomed society ladies bearingcalling cards. The 1897 Poe House is unique in that the exhibits are not tiedoff from the public. Visitors may step up and examine artifacts while keeping arespectful distance by not touching. Though not specifically part of the lectureseries, guided tours are available during the afternoons on weekdays and allday on Saturday. 

The Poes, like other society families of the time, were expected to follow astrict set of social rules.While some etiquette, likethe curtsey, is currentlyout of favor, other rulesof Victorian etiquetteare still relevant today.Lessons from your motherlike sit up straight inyour chair, don’t put yourelbows on the table anddon’t reach across the table for a serving dish were standards inthe early 1900s. The difference in execution is that today you mayget a disapproving glare from your mother. In the Victorian era,you would have been socially banished from polite society.

The Munch on History series is designed as a short,entertaining lunch break to connect museum visitors withFayetteville’s past. The purpose, says Leisa Greathouse, Curatorof Education, is “to raise awareness about Fayetteville’s place inAmerican history.” Greathouse explains that the series is notintended to make lecture goers experts on a topic, but “to provokethought and examine how history relates to present day.” Past topics includedthe history of the flag in honor of Flag Day and five Fayetteville eventstied to U.S. history.

Located at 801 Arsenal Ave., near downtown Fayetteville, the Museum ofthe Cape Fear is approximately 15 minutes from any destination in the city.According to Greathouse, “You can leave work at noon, arrive by 12:15 p.m.,eat your lunch during the 20 minute lecture and still be back at work by theend of your lunch hour.” Bring a brown baglunch. Beverages are provided by the museum.Just don’t put your elbows on the table.

An estimated 56 million students will be enrolled in elementary, junior high andhigh schools across the nation this fall. While retailers eagerly embrace the back-toschoolseason, many parents cringe as the costs add up for school supplies, sportingequipment, electronics and new clothes.

Today’s tough economy makes it challenging to invest in our children’s educationand future, and purchasing school supplies can be especially expensive. Stretch yourfamily’s back-to-school budget with these smart saving tips:

Assess Wants vs.Needs. Before youleave the house, makea list of items you’llneed and be realisticabout prioritizingneeds and wants. Doa complete inventoryof what supplies youalready have at home.Sure, it’s fun to buyall new, but if you justbought a new set ofmarkers or a packageof folders last spring,you can probablyhold off a few monthsbefore restocking.

Remember, too, that prime shopping season is before school starts. Delayingnon-essential purchases on items such as clothing until after school is in session (suchas during or after the Labor Day holiday, when items are marked down) can net bigsavings.

Budget, Budget, Budget.Once your prioritized list is complete, determine whatyou can afford to spend on each category – school supplies, electronics, clothing andother. Use free online budgeting tools to help you stick to that budget. Comparisonshop, check out online deals and watch store circulars for sales. Subscribe to receiveemails, text or Twitter alerts from your favorite stores for special sales. Some storeseven reward shoppers who “check-in” through social sites with more discounts.

Many states, like North Carolina, also offer a tax-free holiday for back-to-schoolshopping. Our tax-free weekend was August 5-7, so if you didn’t take advantage of it,you missed it til next year. Buying in bulk can save money, too. Look for multi-packs ofitems like scissors, pencils and markers.

Don’t forget that the annual back-to-school shopping excursion can be a greatmoney management learning exercise for older kids. Share your budget with them, andhelp them make selections to keep your checkbook on target.

Check for Student Discounts. By having a student living in your home, you maybe eligible for savings and not even know it. Many manufacturers, especially softwarepublishers, offer education eligibility discounts, and some stores offer price breaks forstudents, too.

For example, check out Academic Superstore (www.academicsuperstore.com),an online store that works with leading brands to sell deeply discounted products. Thewebsite’s catalog of more than 20,000 education-focused products includes schoolsupplies, full-version software titles and consumer electronics at prices up to 80 percentoff retail value. Some items are at such deep discounts that you will be asked to provideproof of academic eligibility – which for some products is as simple as providing an.edu domain email address or school ID.

Also, if you are military, be sure to ask if the store offers a military discount. Youjust may save 10 percent, or more.

Surf the Net for Deals.The Internet is a great place to fi nd bargains. And manyoffi ce supply and retail websites offer free shipping. Use online tools that let youcompare prices of multiple websites to fi nd the best deals. Don’t forget to search foronline coupon codes that can help stretch your dollar.

You can also save money by checking out the many online auction and trade sites.Bid on larger bundles that include several items on your list. You can further savemoney by trading gently used clothing and supplies with other area families. Lookthrough the online forums of local freecycle and swap sites to fi nd “new to you” items.

With a little pre-planning and discipline, you can manage through the financialstress and focus instead on setting a positive tone to send your kids back into theclassroom.Photo courtesy of Getty Images. Source: Family Features.

hos· pi·tal·i·ty [hos-pi-tal-i-tee] –noun, plural -ties.The friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers.

If Southerners are anything, it’s hospitable. Fayettevilleeven has its own Hospitality Association — the Fayetteville AreaHospitality Association. It’s a nonprofi t organization of businesseswho promote tourism, social welfare and quality of life byimproving the quality and variety of food, lodging and recreationalareas for travelers and local residents.

Their reach is far, and their impact on the community is great.Every person who stays in a hotel, eats at a restaurant or rents acar in Fayetteville is operating within the world of hospitality andquite possibly interacting with FAHA members.

For FAHA, hospitality means not only treating visitors well,but also taking care of the community, and for the past 10 years,they’ve done just that, and had a good time doing so, and this yearthey’ve added a new sponsor — Up & Coming Weekly to theirannual fundraising event.

On Sept. 30, FAHA and Up & Coming Weekly are hosting the Annual GolfTournament at Kings Grant. Proceeds will benefi t Falcon Children’s Home andKidsville News! of Cumberland County.“This is our 10th annual tournament,” said FAHA vice president RamonaMoore.

“This is our third year donating to Falcon Children’s Home. Last year,we made a commitment to sponsor them for fi ve years.”

Historically, the tournament has raised between $5,000 and $13,000 forvarious charities. Moore hopes that by teaming up with another sponsor, thetournament will be able to increase their proceeds signifi cantly and be able tohelp that many more children.

Kidsville News! is an educational resource in the form of a full-colorchildren’s monthly newspaper with fun, relevant and educational articles forchildren, parents and teachers. While KidsvilleNews! content is educational, it is also funand interactive, keeping children engaged andmotivated to learn! The primary mission ofKidsville News! is to encourage learning andliteracy by helping kids have fun reading.

According to its website, “Falcon Children’sHome began its ministry of caring for childrenin 1909. For more than 100 years, with the helpof our supporters, they have served childrenand families in the Southeastern United Stateswho needed out-of-home placement forvarious reasons. A ministry of the InternationalPentecostal Holiness Church, we have alwaystried to demonstrate Christ-likeness in ourapproach and in the cultivation of our careprograms. We are unashamedly a Christianministry. We believe that to serve the wholechild — mind, body, spirit, and soul — we must foster an atmosphere thatalways asks, “What is best for the child?” and make every effort to answer thisquestion with our resources, assets and best efforts.

“Falcon Children’s Home offers goal-oriented and goal-directed care aimedprimarily at family reunification and is staffed to meet the needs of students inour care.”It’s easy to support these two great causes. Sponsorships areavailable, teams are being formed and door prize donations arebeing accepted. Call RamonaMoore at 487-1400 to findout more.

It’s time to put on your parachute pants, spike up your hair and headback to the ‘80s! On August 18, Fayetteville After Five presents another freeconcert for some more “Third Thursday” entertainment. Suicide Blonde willbe playing the concert in Festival Park. The gate opens at 5 p.m., and housemusic plays until 6 p.m. There will be an ongoing corn hole tournament andsponsor giveaways. An opening act will play until 8 p.m. Then, the main act,Suicide Blonde takes thestage.

Suicide Blonde, an ‘80scover band is no strangerto Fayetteville After Five.They have played for thisevent in the past, and areexcited to be back. “With awealth of experience in manygenres of music, SuicideBlonde brings the requiredprofessionalism, musicianshipand unmistakable love of the‘80s to transport any clubor private function back tothis unforgettable time of funand excess,” the band says ofitself.

The band’s repertoirespans more than a singlegenre so that there issomething for everyone. Theirsong list includes hits such asthe classic AC/DC’s “Backin Black,” “Video Killed theRadio Star” by The Buggles,“Sweet Caroline” by NeilDiamond, “Hungry Like theWolf” by Duran Duran, and “JustLike Heaven” by The Cure. Theyplay everything from AC/DC toZZ Top.

The band consists of fivemembers. Dave Adams, thebands front man and keyboardist,has experience in the musicindustry both in the states andabroad in the United Kingdom.Dustin Askew is the band’sguitarist, and has been involvedin music since he was 17. The drummer for Suicide Blonde is Lane Moss,who has been involved in music since a very early age. He started playing thedrums at the age of eight. Bassist Warren Summer has played in other groupssuch as Bottom Line and Sugar Daddy, but the 80’s is his favorite musicaldecade. Keyboardist Greg Uselman is Suicide Blonde’s newest member.Uselman has been playing music in the Southeast for 21 years but is happy tobe a member of Suicide Blonde now.

There will be a 50/50 raffl e and kids events at the park. This eventserves as a fundraiser for the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival. Sponsors includeWeekenderNOW.com, The Fayetteville Observer, Up & Coming Weekly, Chick-Fil-A, WTVD ABC11, Magic 106.9, Rock 103, Q98 fm, and WFNC 640 am

Admission is free, but bring money for food and beverages, as there willbe stands located in the park. No outside food or drink is permitted intoFestival Park. Please don’t bring any coolers, pets or bicycles to the parkeither. Lawn chairs and blankets are encouraged, however.The gates open at 5p.m. Festival Park is located at thecorner of Ray and Rowan Street. For further informationcall 323-1934.

With gas prices and unemployment at record highs, many are feelingthe pinch come summer. The dream of the ideal vacation some place remoteevaporates with a hard look at budget and savings. Sometimes, however, the“ideal” summer has more to do with quality time and a change in scenery thanfancy theme parks.

Nestled in the heart of Harnett County, just 40 miles from Fayetteville is agem waiting to be discovered. Raven Rock State Park offers hiking trails, picnicareas, campsites and amazing views. Located between Sanford and Lillington,off U.S. Hwy 421, this state park is a great way to spend a few hours or even afew days. Famous for its 150-foot-tall rock outcropping stretching more than amile along the Cape Fear River, Raven Rock has been fascinating visitors sincebefore European settlers arrived in the mid-1700s.

According to Park Ranger David Brown, Raven Rock boasts 11 miles ofhiking trails, nine in all, on the south side of the park. The longest trail is theCampbell Creek Loop, which is 5 miles long, or 6 miles if you opt to take thespur as well.

Says Kelly Fisher, Harnett County teacher and mother of three, “ I like thewalking trail behind the Welcome Center. It is stroller friendly, and you can stillexperience the wonder of God’s creation.”

Brown cautions that most of the trails require a jogging or bike wheelstroller due to the natural rock and gravel bars. The trails also have timbers atintervals to aid hikers with slopes. “From the parking lot to the overlook, thetrails are fairly even though,” says Brown.

If your goal is to hike to Raven Rock itself, you will have to navigate 100stairs to get all the way down to the river area.

Accessible from the separate entrance off Hwy 401 N, there are two horsetrails on the north side of the river. While hikers are welcome, the trails aremaintained for horse riding and hikers are urged to leave room in the smallparking lot for horse trailers.

The park also has a number of “primitive” camping sites at a nominaldaily fee. A primitive or backpack campsite consists of a fi re pit and either acomposting or vault toilet nearby. “We get a fair amount of campers in thespring and early summer,” says Brown. This year the park has seen an increasein the number of campers due to the early good weather. Brown says that thenumber of campers usually drop off as the weather gets hot.

Fishing is also a popular sport at Raven Rock. Visitors are limited to fi shingduring operating hours, but campers are welcome to fi sh at any time. Allfi shermen are required to hold the appropriate fi shing license.

For more information, or to sign up for Raven Rock’s free mobile app, besure to visit the Raven Rock State Park website: www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/raro/main.php.

The first things many Americans did after members of Congress heldtheir noses and passed a rise in the United States’ debt ceiling was heave asigh of massive relief. The next sound in our nation was a collective snortof disgust. After months of posturing, name-calling, grandstanding withthe eyes of the world upon us which ultimately culminated in a literal fi nalhours compromise that no one likes, the dirty deed was done.

The financial repercussions of this ugly chapter in our history remaincloudy, but what is clear is that, as my father would say, the rich are indeedgetting richer and the poor are getting poorer, relatively speaking.

His is a sentiment we have all heard before, and we may well putmore stock in it during these days of our troubled economy in which newsstories tell us about both bankers and corporate CEOs with bonuses in themillions and other Americans who are struggling to keep their homes outof foreclosure and food on their tables. It just does not seem, to use a wordevery child utters to parents at some point, “fair.”

Fair or not, it appears to be true.

What we are talking about here is wealth, not income. Winning thelottery will skew one’s income for at least a year and perhaps longer, butwealth is a more basic measure than income. It is the value of what youown, your assets, less the value of what you owe, your liabilities. The moreassets and fewer liabilities you have, the higher your wealth. Conversely,fewer assets and more liabilities translate into less wealth, and sometimes,no wealth at all.

There is enough data out there about wealth distribution in the UnitedStates and the rest of the world to send most of us running for the juiciestsummer novel we can find. Truth be told, it is dry reading, and it all goessomething like this. Ten years ago, ten percent of the US populationowned more than 70 percent of the wealth, and the top one percent of thewealthiest folks held almost 40 percent of that wealth. On the other end ofthe spectrum, the bottom 40 percent of people owned only one percent ofthe country’s wealth.

Dry, indeed, unless you are in the bottom heap trying to pull yourselfinto a higher category. Then it becomes personal.

The data gets more concerning as you drill down on it as well. U.S.Census data in the news last month shows that wherever one is on thewealth continuum, racial wealth gaps are as wide as they have been in aquarter of a century. The translation of that is that our shaky economyhas erased many of the economic gains made my minority members of oursociety, leaving white citizens with an average of 20 times the wealth ofAfrican Americans and 18 times that of Hispanics.

None of this is a pretty picture to me.

My family and I are products of free enterprise going back generations,and I am convinced that hard work and entrepreneurship is what hasmade our country what we are. I know, too, that while our position inthe world may be shifting a bit, our economy and our culture remain thegold standard. We know that millions of people around our globe wouldgive their eye teeth to be here with us. Various schemes have been triedsince recorded history by everyone from the Romans to the Communists,and none have been successful over the long haul. Very few Americans,including this one, would support public policies aimed at suchre-distribution.

That being said, I cannot see how growing gaps in wealth can be goodfor our nation.

Minds far brighter than mine have advocated the importance of athriving middle class to our economic health, and that makes sense tome. Our American middle class began emerging during the IndustrialRevolution of the 19th century and came to fruition in the years followingWorld War II when veterans came home, got themselves educated on the GIBill, and built the economy that made us the wealthiest and strongest nationin history. Not to support and nurture our middle class and to allow thewealth gap to grow and divide the haves and the have nots even more canonly be dangerous folly, not just for those individuals and families, but forall Americans.

I fear that what we have just seen during our national ordeal overraising the debt ceiling is but a warm up for the 2012 election rhetoricthat is getting underway. As you think about choosing those who want togovern, ponder for yourself the importance of the American middle classand what we need to do to keep it.

This is one instance in which I hope my Daddy willbe wrong.

“Gnarly,” “munchin’ on some grindage” and “looking for some Betty’s” are all classic phrases coined by Paul Shore in early ‘90s. Shore, who has made his mark as a stand-up comedian in television and in the movies, will bring his unique vocabulary and style to Fayetteville on Wednesday, Aug. 10 at It’z Comedy Zone.

Born and raised in Hollywood, which he considers “kind of weird because most people are from small towns and come to Hollywood,” Shore’s childhood revolved around celebrites such as Elvis Presley, Sammie Davis Jr. and Tony Bennet.

His parents, Sammy and Mitzi Shore, were in the business, and operated one of Hollywood’s biggest comedy clubs, The Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard. It was there, while hanging around backstage, that Shore began to develop his own style while watching some of the greats — Robin Williams, David Letterman and the late Sam Kinison.

Like many young Hollywood teens, Shore attended Beverly Hills High School — the school made famous by Beverly Hills 90210 — but probably more so by its alumni including Angelina Jolie, Lennie Kravitz, Nicholas Cage, and of course, Shore.

At the age of 17, he began to write and perform his own comedy, introducing the character of The Weizel, a laid-back, Valley-talking dude who coins his own phrases and looks at the world in a totally different way than most.

Shore says that comedy is in his blood.

“I was destined to do this,” he says on his Website. “I feel almost like I’m the Frankenstein of comedy. My mom developed me in the comedy club and my dad had the gene. Then they put them together and then there’s Pauly.”

While his parents may have put him in the environment, it was his own hard work that got him his shot on the national scene.

His comedy connected with a whole generation, and MTV was anxious to entertain that generation, so they brought Shore on board with his own show — Totally Pauly, which had a four-year run. In 1993, he performed his first televised stand-up comedy show on HBO call Pauly Does Dallas.

The success of that show led to a three movie deal with Disney, which spawned Encino Man, Son-In-Law, In the Army Now, Jury Dutyand Bio-Dome. In 1997, FOX cast him as the freeloading son of a wealthy businessman in the short-running sitcom Pauly.

Shore’s career  atlined briefly, and in 2003 he produced, wrote, directed and starred in the critically acclaimed, Pauly Shore Is Dead, a semi-autobiographical mockumentary in which he satirizes the perils of Hollywood. In the fi lm, Pauly loses everything and decides to fake his death in a quest for post-mortem adulation. Ironically, one of the many celebrities who perform cameos on the show is Charlie Sheen, who is shown giving Shore career advice.

Most recently, Shore performed in the sketch comedy movie Natural Born Komics, for which he received the 2008 Entertainer of the Year Award from the Entertainment Merchants Association. With several projects in the works, Shore is taking some time to hit comedy clubs all over the United States

.“I’m single, I don’t have a girlfriend. My girlfriend is my mom and work; that’s where my love is,” he said. “I’m obsessed with my work. I love to come up with stuff. That’s kind of the beauty of the business, you don’t need anything but your mind and my mind is always going, going, going.”

When Shore hits the stage at It’z Comedy Zone, be prepared for side-splitting laughter and a raucous good time. Tickets are now on sale for $25. The show starts at 8p.m. To purchase tickets, visit www.itzentertainmentcity.com/comedyzone.htm or call (910) 826-2300.

It’z Entertainment City is located at 4118 Legend Ave.

Summer’s Winding Down, But the Beach Is Still Calling

If you’ve been to a store lately that sells swimwear, you’ve probably noticed that they’re already on sale for more than half off. That’s usually the case sometime after the passing of Independence Day. What’s really cool is that there’s still plenty of time to have fun in the sun, so why not buy a new suit and head east!

Ask locals about their favorite local strip of coastline and you’ll probably hear a wide variety of answers. No matter what your favorite beach activity may be, you’re sure to fi nd a setting that will suit (pun intended) your individual tastes.

Take Ocean Isle Beach, for instance. It’s located south, just minutes from the South Carolina border. Wilmington resident, Gina Locklear, owner of Gypsy Gina’s Art, Antiques & Jazzy Junk grew up spending summers at Ocean Isle Beach. When asked about her fondness for OIB (now you know what those oval bumper stickers stand for) she says it’s a “family beach that’s quiet and one of N.C.’s best kept secrets because it’s clean and affordable. There aren’t all the distractions that you fi nd in Myrtle Beach.”

Locklear, who now spends most of her time in her shop located on Castle Street in Wilmington’s art & antiques district, says these days she often ventures to Carolina Beach.

“Carolina Beach,” explains Locklear, “offers a bit more. There’s the boardwalk, summer carnival, and it’s close to Wilmington which provides even more entertainment, as well as shopping and dining options.”

The Fort Fisher Aquarium is also a great stop neat Carolina Beach.

If you’re on a budget and perhaps have kids in tow, Topsail Island is just a couple of hours from Fayetteville. If you’re into scenic routes, take Hwy 210 and stop to picnic at Moore’s Creek National Battleground in Currie along the way. You won’t find roller coasters or boardwalks, but, according to Sandie Blanton, Property Manager at Topsail Sound RV Park, what you will fi nd is a “family-friendly atmosphere, and pristine beaches without the over-crowding often found at some of the other beaches.”

Travel northward and you’ll find Emerald Isle and Atlantic Beaches, both near Morehead City. While Emerald Isle is the tamer of the two, Atlantic Beach offers a boardwalk reminiscent of a by-gone era. You’ll fi nd amusement rides, miniature golf, and of course, those mega-gift shops that sell everything from sand crabs to shell necklaces.

A trip to this part of the Bogue Banks Barrier Islands isn’t complete without stopping for a quick bite at the Sanitary Restaurant & Fish Market which has been a local staple of Morehead City since 1938.

Probably the most famous stretch of beach in our state is the Outer Banks, part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. This is where you can visit the Wright Brothers Memorial where aviation history was made. The Outer Banks is also home to five lighthouses, the oldest of which is Ocracoke Lighthouse, first erected in 1798. Another popular attraction is the outdoor drama, The Lost Colony, which is performed six nights a week during the summer on Roanoke Island.

So, what are you waiting for? Pack up the kids, the dogs and the cooler, fi ll the tank up with gas and find a beach that suits your style. The waves are crashing, the salt-air is blowing and it just won’t be summer without at least one trip to the North Carolina coast!

It’s no secret that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has been to town, working on a project for a very lucky Fayetteville family. But did you know that there is another design makeover in the works at The Salvation Army Shelter? Much like the home-makeover show, The Salvation Army is seeking to improve lives, and they understand that things, like being treated with dignity, make a difference in helping to turn lives around.

On Saturday Sept. 10, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. decorators, crafters and home-improvement gurus are invited to join the Shelter Design Challenge. It is a fun and creative way to not only let your design skills shine, but to make a difference in the community and help your fellow man.

Competitors in the design challenge will work in teams of up to six and on the day of the event each team will be put to the ultimate challenge.

This project has been a long time in the making and is something that is near and dear to Jackie Golbold’s heart. She sees thousands of people come through the shelter every year, and wants nothing but success for each and every one of them.

“We are hoping we will get design people who have a knack for it in their own lives who would want to come and take charge of a room here at the shelter,” said Godbold. “Not only is it a challenge, it will be a fundraiser, too. So it is going to be a really fun event. We are hoping to make the shelter more homey for the people who stay here.”

There are several rooms slated for the makeover at the facility, so only a limited number of teams will be able to compete in the day-long event. The areas to be made over include dorm rooms, multipurpose rooms, family rooms and patio and courtyard space.

Teams choose their room (first come, first served) and have until Aug. 10 to submit a room design plan. Make an appointment to stop by the shelter and take photos/measurements of the room that you choose to help as you make plans.

Goldbold also encourages competitors to reuse and repurpose whatever they can in the competition.

“We are the Salvation Army,” she said. “We have a thrift store and we encourage people to reuse things.”

Room design plans should be emailed to: jackie.godbold@uss.salvationarmy.org by Aug. 10 and should include a basic plan for the room, for example, painting walls, any large pieces to be brought into the room and basic colors for the room. Room designs will be approved via email by Aug. 15. If there are questions or concerns while planning, please call Godbold (910) 644-5261 or Mary Webster (910) 485-8026.

While the shelter is eager to grant creative license to the designers, there are a few limitations: no permanent structure changes, no drilling into walls, no outrageous wall colors and no expensive electronics or appliances should be placed in rooms. If you’re not sure, please ask.

Not only will competitors have a chance to wow the residents, they are also invited to join them for a cookout at 5 p.m.

The public has a chance to get in on the fun, too, and will be able to tour the building from 6 – 8 p.m., and vote on their favorite room makeover. Votes can be purchased for $1 per vote and the winning team will receive a trophy and a prize.

According to the Salvation Army Website, The Salvation Army’s Shelter in Fayetteville can assist up to 100 people per night, giving temporary shelter and counseling to destitute people. The facility provides shelter, necessities, strict discipline and spiritual guidance while encouraging individuals to find a job. They are taught budgeting along with other essential life skills in an atmosphere of love and concern.

Through the shelter, The Salvation Army is reaching out to people like Arthur, a shelter resident: “I prayed for God to take my life because of my addiction, but instead he guided me to The Salvation Army. The Army helped put God back into my life and taught me how to develop relationships with people I didn’t think I could be close with.”

It only takes a few minutes with Second Harvest Food Bank (SHFB) Director David Griffi n and Operations Manager Gideon Adams to understand that they are passionate about their work, and perhaps more importantly, they are practical about it,too.

In their business, they have to be.

In an organization that feeds more than 90,000 people every month, practicality is key to surviving. Citizens of Bladen, Cumberland, Duplin, Harnett, Hoke, Robeson and Sampson counties count on the donations of individuals and organizations to stave off hunger every day. Like many non-profi ts, things can be tough even during the best of times. With things the way they are now, the staff of the SHFB fi nds itself in the position of facing a growing need and a declining base from which to draw donations.

From Aug. 1 to Sept. 30, they are pulling out all the stops to raise awareness, have a little fun and reach out to the community to educate it about practical ways to help feed our neighbors.

“The face of hunger is changing,” said Griffi n. “It used to be mostly homeless people, and this is still an issue for them, but now we are seeing more and more working-class and middle-class people who are struggling.”Griffi n explained that often a person will get laid off but they still have the same nice car, live in the same house and wear the nice clothes that are already in their closet. The problem isn’t about those things, rather it’s now about making hard choices. They often have to choose between paying the rent or light bill and buying groceries.

Having children in the family adds to the burden. The same is true for many elderly. Costs continue to rise but their income doesn’t. Griffi n noted that many of these people were used to paying their own way and taking care of their own needs, but now they are struggling and they don’t always know where to go or how to ask for help.

“When someone is hungry it affects so much about the way they function,” said Adams. “It affects how well they can think and concentrate, which can be devastating for students, as well as the kind of risky behaviors they may choose to become involved in. We do what we can to make a difference, but it is diffi cult to reach everyone. The need is so great.”

There are four events remaining in the Hunger Days Campaign, and of course, contributions and donations are appreciated anytime. On Saturday, Aug. 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., check out the SHFB Open House at 406 Deep Creek Rd. Learn how the food bank operates and enjoy food, games, activities and entertainment. Member agencies, elected offi cials and individuals are all invited.

On Thursday, Aug. 18, there will be a Strike Out Hunger Bowl-A-Thon at B&B Lanes from 2-9 p.m. It’s not too late to register or sponsor a team. There will be a 50/50 raffl e and prizes will be awarded for different categories of entries. Sign up with your four-person team, enjoy an afternoon bowling with your friends or colleagues, and help SHFB raise money to fi ght hunger in our community.

The Strike-Out Hunger Bowl-A-Thon will consist of teams of four bowlers who will have the opportunity to bowl for 1 hour and 45 minutes. There will be a maximum of 69 teams for this event, so make sure you register today! The cost per team is $150.

On Friday, Sept. 16, the 3rd Annual Driving Out Hunger Invitational Golf Tournament will be played at Baywood Golf Club. Registration starts at 8 a.m. followed by a 9 a.m. shotgun start. Registration is $300 per team or $75 for individual entries and includes transportation, round of golf, cart and lunch. For information or to download registration forms, visit www.drivingouthunger.net/tournament.htm.

The Tackle Hunger Video Game Tournament will take place on Saturday, Sept. 17, from 2–6 p.m. at the SHFB parking lot. Registered participants will play Madden 2012 for a chance to win prizes and claim the Tackle Hunger Champion title.

Sponsorships are available for all of the events above. To register for any of these events, find out how you can help volunteer, or to find out more about these events, visit www.hungerdays.org or call 485-6923.

Second Harvest Food Bank Has Far Reach In the Community

The Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast North Carolina is a program of Cumberland Community Action Program, Inc. CCAP is a private, non-profit corporation whose express purpose is to “improve the education and economic opportunities, living environment and general welfare of the people.”

The food bank was established in 1982, and became an affiliate of Feeding America in 1994. It is one of seven certifi ed affliates of Feeding America located in North Carolina, covering all 100 counties.

The food bank provides nutritious food to those at risk of hunger through a network of over 200 non-profit members. There are over 200,000 individuals, or 18 percent, at risk of hunger within the seven counties the partner agencies call home.

The Mission

• Feed the hungry by retrieving unmarketable, yet wholesome, surplus food from major industries.

• Solicit public and private donations. Eliminate food waste by acting as a clearinghouse for all foods received through Feeding America food industries or food drives.

• Judiciously distribute food and grocery products to service our network of member non-profi t agencies; these agencies provide on-site and emergency feeding to those in need.

• Formulate a bond between local food industry, other non-profi ts and the Food Bank.

• Develop and follow plans which advocate resolutions to ending hunger.

The Programs

The Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast North Carolina works to eliminate the cycle of hunger through a wide range of programs and services. They are achieved through our member agencies and local, state, and national partners.

• Back Pack Program - provides wholesome and nutritious food to elementary school students. Each Friday, selected students receive enough food for the weekend to supplement meals otherwise not available.

• Emergency Food Assistance Program – distributes surplus food from the N.C. Dept. of Agriculture to low-income families and individuals.

• State Nutritional Assistance Program – Allows the food bank to purchase products that are normally not found in regular donations.

• Nonfood Program – the food bank receives donations such as bikes, furniture, clothing and other nonfood items from Target/WalMart Distribution Center.

• Volunteer Program – Partnerships with local and state agencies provide volunteer and community opportunities to individuals and families.

• Grocery Retail Program – This program rescues edible foods such as meat, deli and produce from grocery stores.

• Salvage Program – The Food Bank receives and distributes donations from retail stores and reclamation centers. The products are inspected to ensure they are edible and safe for consumption. 

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks at the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce. Most have read an article that appeared in the Sunday, June 24, edition of the Fayetteville Observer that criticizes the work of the Chamber’s Economic Development team and the business leaders who make up our volunteer leadership, as well as recent hirings that have taken place.

In the midst of all of this, it’s easy to get distracted from what the Chamber of Commerce does in our community. I’d like to take this opportunity to explain some of the recent complaints and to let you know what your Chamber actually does.

The Chamber essentially operates as two entities in one. Our Economic Development team is tasked with helping grow current businesses in the community, and also with helping attract new ones to the area. The Observer article focused mainly on what this team does, and what some officials feel they haven’t been doing.

Our other “entity” is the Chamber of Commerce itself. That team is tasked with helping cultivate a thriving business climate within our area, through advocacy, development, networking and a variety of other tasks. It’s not a simple explanation when answering the “What does the Chamber do?” question, as we do whatever it takes to help grow the environment in which our businesses succeed.

The Chamber staff (but, importantly, not the Economic Development staff) has been reduced in recent years, as part of belt-tightening and efficient business practice measures. You may have read about a handful of recent additions to the Chamber team and it’s understandable that you’d question how we could rationalize hiring several new people when we are saying times are tough. But in actuality, those six people really just replaced six others who have left the organization since April. Two of the six vacancies were brought by relocation to other communities. Three moved on to advance their careers. One position was eliminated in order to redirect our resources in support of our Program of Work.

None of these staff additions were frivolous, all are supported by the Chamber’s current operating budget, and none are reflected on the Economic Development side of the Chamber’s unifi ed effort. In short, the Chamber has learned to do more with less, just as many companies and not-for-profi ts have been forced to do.

Our Economic Development team is tasked with a huge effort. In fi nancially diffi cult times, this crew has been asked to help recruit businesses into our area. Each and every one of you has been impacted by the fi nancial downturn of the past several years, and it’s easy to understand how diffi cult Economic Development as a whole can be in that climate. In spite of these challenges, we’ve helped in efforts that have seen over 5,000 new jobs created in the last year.

And no, we can’t take all the credit for that by any stretch of the imagination. It’s the collective efforts of many groups coming together that make these situations possible. We didn’t have a direct hand in getting every new job in the area, but that’s not what our task at hand is. We’re tasked with helping to create an environment that makes it easier for any business to thrive here. Whether they’ve been drawn here by the Chamber of Commerce, military growth, or any other reason isn’t relevant. Our organization is thrilled any time we see job growth here, no matter who was responsible for it.

Without question, the Chamber can always do more. We know that, and we’re committed to it. Consider the state of the national and world economy – both factors far beyond our local control. Given the absolute bleeding of jobs in other communities, our economic climate is trending forward and in today’s environment, even holding your ground is pretty good. Our economy is actually growing.

If you get nothing else from this, know that your Chamber of Commerce is here for the businesses in our community. Our mission statement sums this up well. “We strive to improve quality of life by creating wealth, jobs and investment in our community.” We are committed to that mission
wholeheartedly and look forward to continued success ahead.

Indescribable! That was the feeling I had while gliding around the Raleigh Beltway. Underneath me was the new BMW K1600 GTL. The GTL (Grand Touring Luxury) is BMW’s newest at-tempt at taking on the world with its ma-chines. Riding the GTL’s 1649cc, 160hp, in-line six-cylinder engine was like being on top of my own little rocket.

I did not plan on riding that day, but I was at Capitol BMW and the bike was sitting there on the showroom floor. After sitting on the bike a few minutes, I wanted to feel it move. Capitol BMW is one of the few bike dealerships that lets you go for test rides. So I asked Greg, the sales man-ager, if I could take it out. He kindly pulled it out of the showroom while I grabbed my helmet from my car.

It was only a few months ago that I sold my BMW K1200 LT (Luxury Touring). I thought I was going to be riding an LT replacement, but once I sat on the GTL I realized it was not a replacement but something new and exciting. Ergonomically this bike is a perfect fit for me. The bike is lower, slicker, 100 pounds lighter and smarter.

As Greg explained some of the new features, controls and technologies to me I found it easy to understand. It only took a few minutes to figure out the logic of this machine.

Once the engine started the sound was unlike any engine I have ever heard. It may have had something to do with the six-hole exhaust. The sound was as unique as the bike itself. As the dashboard lit up, it reminded me of something you would see on the bridge of Star Trek. Wow!

As I twisted the throttle, I had to tell myself to go easy! Once I was on the road and I got the feel of the bike, the first thing I did was adjust the electronic wind-shield to get some air flowing. As I rotated the multi-controller instrument wheel with my thumb, the dash board displayed a menu of selections. I quickly found a radio station I liked; I cranked up the volume and set off to find a groove.

The multi-controller is the first of a kind controller on a bike. It is a wheel — much like a joy stick, except it’s a wheel. It is positioned on the inside of the left hand grip. It rotates with a flick of the thumb and you can push side to side to navi-gate the menus. This controls everything from the Sirius radio, radio or iPod to the suspension and traction settings, temperature, oil, navigation and more menus and information than I have room for here.

The GTL has DTC (Dynamic Traction Control) which adjusts the engine torque and is designed to reduce the risk of wheel spin on various pavements. The DTC modes include “rain”, “road” and “dynamic” controls. The ESA II (Electronic Suspension Adjustments II) allows you to quickly adjust the bike for a passenger or luggage. With the multi-controller I was able to switch between “comfort”, “nor-mal” and “sport” suspension on the fly.

The new audio system is very easy and sweet to use. Fortunately for me I had brought my helmet that has built in Bluetooth. Within less than a minute my headset was paired up with the bike. I was extremely surprised by the quality of music com-ing through my headset. The bike has a lower compartment which houses connec-tions for USB, iPod or MP3 devices. Unfortunately, BMW does not offer a wired helmet option.

BMW offers an optional in-dash Motorrad Navigator IV GPS system. This GPS is removable and secured by a clever mounting system for which the wind-shield doubles as a guard against theft.

There are no mountain twisty roads in Raleigh but I was able to loop around a few on and off ramps. The bike was tight and fast, much like that of a sports bike while in the “dynamic” mode. On the highway it was almost effortless to pass cars. At higher speeds I could not feel any vibration or any wind buffeting.

BMW is offering this bike in two different flavors; the K1600 GTL and K1600 GT model. As BMW is going after the Gold Wing market with the GTL, they are also going after the sports-touring market with the K1600 GT. The GT has a firmer rear suspension for more rebound dampening. The GT’s seating position is more aggressive. The foot pegs are an inch back and an inch higher for a more sporting riding position.

The GTL is designed for a passenger, speed, control, long-dis-tance riding and comfort. The only bad thing I could think of is that with a bike like this I would have to move west to one of those states with no speed limits and wide open roads.Ride Safe!

Photo: The GTL has DTC (Dynamic Traction Control) which adjusts the engine torque and is designed to re-duce the risk of wheel spin on various pavements.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

(Rated PG-13) 5 STARS

I loved it even though it made me cry. In retrospect, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (130 minutes) is better than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. That could be because with this caliber of acting, di-recting, and writing there was no way the final movie was going to be like other franchises that ran out of steam (Godfather 3, need I say more?) or because the second half of the source material isn’t just the climax of one great book, but of seven.

After the burial of Dobby, the major players (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, as if I needed to remind anyone) head back into Shell Cottage to speak with Griphook the Goblin (Warwick Davis, who also reprises the role of Professor Flitwick) and Ollivander the wandmaker (John Hurt). Ollivander tells them some relatively plot-important information about wands, and then they decide to make a deal with Griphook to break into Bellatrix Lestrange’s (Helena Bonham Carter) vault at Gringotts, which goes about as well as you would expect.

Since Dumbledore did most of the heavy lifting in discovering the hard to identify Horcruxes and setting Harry on their trail, the track now leads from one to the next with relative simplicity … too bad destroying them gets harder. In any case, having escaped from Gringotts with no time to consider that all their obvious hiding places have been booby-trapped, they apparate into Hogsmeade. To the surprise of no one except Ron and Harry, an alarm brings a ton of Death Eaters instantly to their location. Aberforth Dumbeldore (Ciaran Hinds) rescues them, and Neville Longbottom (Mathew Lewis) leads them into Hogwarts. Everyone seems really happy to see them, until they figure out that the legendary Harry Potter is actually pretty clueless when it comes to telling them what they need to do next.

Severus Snape (Alan Rickman), now the headmaster of Hogwarts, calls all the students into the main hall. After a few moments of Snape drawing out his moment in the sun (or maybe Rickman just took a Xanax before filming this scene?), Harry confronts him, and Professor McGonagall (Maggie Smith) finally grows a pair and sends Snape packing. Meanwhile, Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) lays down a psychic whammy, which leads to the imprisonment of Slytherin House. Way to reinforce the division of students into good and bad categories! Of course, this happens in the book, too — even though it is dem-onstrated numerous times throughout the series that many Hogwarts students of all houses turn on Harry when it is convenient only to suck up to him when he saves the day. But I digress.

Ron and Hermione run off to make out while Harry heads to the room of requirement in search of another Horcrux. Malfoy (Tom Felton), Goyle (Josh Herdman), and Not Crabbe (See kids? Drugs are bad and will get you kicked out of a movie franchise worth billions) interrupt his search and try to burn him alive. Luckily for Harry, whose luck has almost always outweighed his magical skill, Ron and Hermione have figured out where he went, and come to rescue him.

Meanwhile, in a battle scene that is way, way better than that last Lord of the Rings movie battle, Voldemort’s forces are attacking the castle. This scene is why the death of Dumbledore from the sixth book was re-written … and in terms of the series, saving the final violent attack on Hogwarts does make for a greater impact. Those of you who have read the book know that the death tolls increases steadily towards the end of the book, so much so that is hard to register an impact for the in-dividual casualties. But yes, the epilogue is intact, and the end-ing is fantastic.

My friend, Michele Macumber isn’t from Fayetteville. She didn’t attend high school here. She didn’t attend college here. In fact she attended “University” as she calls it, in Canada. She stumbled in to Fayetteville in 2000 by chance, although she’ll tell you it was by luck because she has grown to love Fayetteville as her home. Michele began her teaching career with several other Canadian teachers as a part of the Visiting International Faculty (VIF) program that still continues to strongly rep-resent a good deal of our international teachers in the region. She has come and gone, and come and gone, more times than I can name, from our lovely city because she has an adventurous soul. She’s always looking for something exciting and fun but unlike many people who fit that same description, Michele is rock solid. She is no flake. In fact, I feel pretty safe to say, if you know her, you can count on her.

Why She Spells Her name with one “L”

When you began this article, if you’re a good proofreader, you probably assumed we misspelled her name “Michele.” Where is the second “L”, right? I recently asked her (now that we’ve been friends for a few years I felt com-fortable enough) why she spells her name with only one “L”? Her answer: “When I was 13 years old, my ‘Nan’ let it slip that she had liked my name spelled with one “L.” She had mentioned it to my parents when they were contemplating names. In the end, my parents went with the name but with two “L’s.” So...at 13 when I heard this, I thought one “L” seemed cooler, so I changed the spelling of my name.

Michele is full of all kinds of quirky, entertaining stories. She tells of her three years teaching in Paraguay and how she must have gained 25 pounds eating all the Dulce de Leche she could muster. “It’s like eating caramel in Heaven,” she exclaims.

And she’s quick to tell you sweet and touching stories about her “little munch-kins” (how she lovingly refers to the children in her classroom at Gray’s Creek Elementary where she won “Cultural Educator of the Year” in 2010.)

Michele may lack an “L,” but she doesn’t lack in anything else!

Why YOU Should Join FYP

In April of 2009, I received an email from a girl who wanted to get involved with Fayetteville Young Professionals. I was used to receiving these emails, but usually I received them right before a big party because people wanted a discounted member ticket price. So I was surprised to open an e-mail on this particular day because we had no big social event coming up. Instead, the girl said she would love to start vol-unteering in the community and also wanted to meet new friends. She explained that she had lived here on and off for several years and that she had some great friends. But then she followed with, “We’re all just in different places in our lives right now so I figure it’s high time I meet some new friends too.” I responded to the email that FYP was volunteering as a team as part of the Fayetteville Beautiful citywide cleanup that upcoming weekend. She responded, “Count me in.” And that next Saturday morning Michele and I became friends.

Since joining FYP, Michele has been introduced to all kinds of organizations throughout our community and has served on several non-profit committees including the A Garden Party committee with the Boys & Girls Clubs, which raised more than $30,000 for the clubs this past April; As a member of The Junior League of Fayetteville’s Provisional Class; and is cur-rently serving as chair the Child Advocacy Center’s Blue Jean Ball in October 2011.

That’s why you should join Fayetteville Young Professionals!

We will get you involved.

FYP isn’t a group of strangers. I’m not saying you’ll become best friends with 450 people but I am saying that this is an organization that has fun together, learns new business and life strategies together and puts interesting people who are in the “same place” in our lives together.

FYP is what you make of it. If you want a way to get involved in this community and meet some outstanding people your age (between the ages of 21 and 40), then this is the organization for you!

And maybe you’ll even get to befriend Michele Macumber. She’ll be the one welcoming you with open arms! Visit us on face-book to find out more, www.facebook.com/fayyp.

Scholarships are defined as “money that does not have to be repaid — and is sometimes referred to as free money.” Aren’t scholarships wonderful resources for higher education expens-es? Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC), businesses, religious and civic organiza-tions, employers, philanthropic associations and individuals, colleges and universities, community agencies, and foundations offer free money in the forms of scholarships, stipends or grants. Many students and would-be students assume that scholarships are unavailable to them because they don’t have a 4.0 grade point average (GPA). This thought process is not only a fallacy but also deters numerous students from researching and applying for scholarships.

The four-program divisions at FTCC (Business, College Transfer/General Education, Engineering/Public Service/Applied Technology, and Health) offer numerous scholarships in each division. Many scholarships may require no more than maintaining a “C” (2.0) GPA or enrollment into one of the programs. Yet, all educational scholarships, stipends or grants require that the student take the initiative to find scholarships, to complete the application process and to exercise astuteness in meeting scholar-ship deadlines. Imagine the feeling of success (master student equals master employee) when a potential employer is informed that you were successful in financing your education through scholarships, stipends or grants.

The Financial Aid Office, FTCC Foundation, Inc. and the Career Center at FTCC, along with the College Foundation of North Carolina (CFNC.org), Google searches and sundry Websites (plug-in information that is unique to you, such as gender, ethnic background, academic achievement, demographi-cal information, achievements, major, etc.), are valuable resources to locate scholarships, grants, stipends and mentoring programs that will assist with higher educational goals. The researcher can uncover scholarships for allied health professionals; vocational, career and technical studies; careers in teaching, accounting, business and fashion designing; recent high school graduates; first-generation college students; cre-ative writers; working moms and/or women over 50 years old; moms going back to college; single mothers, and the list goes on with scholarship availabilities!

Many students are not willing to research and expend the time and effort to apply for scholar-ships: “…there are hundreds of millions of dollars in scholarship monies available in the United States, and many — if not most — of these scholarships are attainable by regular students with regular accomplishments.”

The processes of working diligently toward academic progression, willingly conducting research, following directions when completing forms/assignments and meeting required deadlines in the pursuit of excellence are all opportunities that “master students” embrace. Students who go beyond what is expected to experience successful educational goals are usually students who receive awards and/or free money (scholarships) to pursue higher educational goals.

Earning scholarships and other educational awards demonstrates transfer-able skills for which Fortune 500 business enterprises willingly pay megabucks. Students who receive scholarships are the individuals who usually enroll into four-year bachelor degree and graduate-level programs and/or get the megabucks in the world of work.

Photo: Many students are not willing to research and expend the time and effort to apply for scholarships.

Craving Companionship

What does an older adult want most for dinner? The answer might surprise you. According to re-search conducted for the Home Instead Senior Care network, an overwhelming majority of seniors (85 percent) say that having someone to share their meals makes those times more satisfying for them.

Those same seniors revealed that the biggest mealtime challenge for older people who live alone is lack of the shared family experience — including companionship. It’s a message that resonates with both family caregivers and senior care professionals throughout North America.

“Family caregivers and those who work with seniors may agree that older adults often need help planning and preparing nutritious meals,” said Jeff Huber, president and chief operating officer of Home Instead, Inc., franchisor of the Home Instead Senior Care network. “But that’s only part of the story. So many older adults are lacking mealtime companion-ship. They want to relive a time around the dinner table where they can share their lives with the people they love most.”

Bringing mealtimes back to older adults often revives treasured memories, which can contribute to their well-being. That’s the idea behind Home Instead Senior Care network’s Craving Companionship program at www.mealsandcompanionship.com. The program offers tips and practical advice for family caregivers to encourage companionship and easy healthy meals.

Family Support

Craving Companionship is geared to helping families support a nutritiously vulnerable population — older adults who live alone. In the United States, approximately 40 percent of the population age 75 and older — 6.7 million people — live alone, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sadly, these seniors who are alone say that several factors can get in the way of their mealtime compan-ionship. The most common obstacle that prevents seniors from sharing more meals are family/friends don’t have enough time (28 percent) or they live too far away (20 percent), according to Home Instead Senior Care network research.

The Craving Companionship program is an incen-tive for families to find more time to help their loved ones prepare the foods they’ve always loved and enjoy those dishes with them. “Who likes to eat alone? Nobody,” said Sandy Markwood, chief executive offi-cer of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

“Meals are not just a matter of sustenance, but a social outlet. It’s how we come together as a family or a community. When a senior is isolated, it’s indicative of bigger challenges that person could be facing,” Markwood said.

For more information call 910-484-7200 or search www.ho-meinstead.com/647.

Photo: The biggest mealtime challenge for older people who live alone is lack of the shared family experience — including companionship.

Loving PC

I have no memory of when or where I first encountered it.

Maybe I found it by chance in our family fridge or maybe my mother or someone else’s smeared it between white squishy bread slices on one of the Sunday evening occasions we called “nicnacs” and everyone else we knew called picnics. These communal meals were attended and consumed by several young families growing up together in what was then a new and growing Haymount neighborhood.

Our nicnacs were held at dusk near Lake Rim under a picnic shed, and the various daddies competed with each other to see who could avoid feeding spare change into the light meters to keep all of us from plunging into pitch black darkness.

All I know for sure is that I have adored pimento cheese since the moment it first crossed my lips.

It was a staple in my family of origin, as the sociologists say, and remains so in my family of now. When there is nothing else with which to create a sandwich, nothing else to put on a cracker, nothing else to eat out of the container, there is always pimento cheese.

It is eaten on sandwiches dressed up with tomatoes and other vegetables, as a grilled cheese treat, on burgers with dill pickles and other condiments and on egg sandwiches. I do buy PC in the grocery store, but the best is always homemade, especially if you make your own mayonnaise — easy using a food processor.

Basic PC is shredded cheddar cheese and pimentos held together with mayonnaise and salt and pepper in whatever proportions one likes, but there are many variations.

The version I took to a Precious Jewel’s birthday party earlier this year included two kinds of cheese, lots of garlic, and dill pickles — I think I see a trend emerging here. There are also unwritten rules of what not to include —anything really crunchy, anything that is not really mayonnaise, and — heaven forbid! — processed cheese or “cheese food.”

Another Precious Jewel attended college in New York City where most students were, well, “not from here.” Occasionally some of Big Apple friends would visit us in Fayetteville, and I delighted in serving them PC, homemade and otherwise. Not a one of them had ever heard of it, much less eaten it and every one of them fell immediately in love. To be fair, they loved other things about the South as well, “bless your heart” being a particular favorite, but PC was defi nitely high on the list. I even gave out recipes.

Apparently, these young people were in the avant garde of an emerging trend, because my old favorite, pimento cheese, is white hot in the food world right now.

My first inkling of this trend was a story on National Public Radio extolling its virtues followed several years later by an issue of Our State magazine featuring a scrumptious-looking grilled PC sandwich on the cover. Various “gourmet” versions are popping up in groceries as well.

A quick Google search shows the food press is now all over PC as a yummy regional dish taking on the luster of sophistication like a hometown girl made good in the big city. And just last month a spate of wide-circulation newspaper pieces, including one reprinted locally, has focused the spotlight on our once humble favorite, including photographs mouth-watering enough to send me running to the fridge for a PC fix.

Imagine my delight when I learned that one of the pimento cheese gurus featured, Emily Wallace, is a good friend of a good friend. My guess is that she is the world’s reigning expert on pimento cheese, having written a 100+ page master’s thesis on that delicious topic at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I emailed Emily pronto, and she was kind enough to share a copy with me, and I look forward to devouring it soon — not literally, of course.

Emily’s academic takes on PC include that it is one of the rare foods which spans the economic spectrum. Since its inception in the late 19th-early 20th centuries, it has managed to show up regularly at both the tea parties of ladies who lunch and in the lunch bags of workers in textile, tobacco and furniture factories.

Southerners who find ourselves living “somewhere else” miss PC and talk about it with each other the way ex-pats around the world talk about their home countries. PC launched and sustained profi table businesses, several commanded by women who created their products in their home kitchens for sale in groceries and from lunch and snack carts in various workplaces.

People are protective of their PC recipes, especially those handed down from Mama and Grandma, and we all like it “our way,” whatever that might be.

Most of Precious Jewel’s Big Apple chums are still way above the Mason-Dixon Line, and it amuses me to think of them now ordering the latest in pimento cheese cuisine from the menus of city restaurants.

Wonder if it is served on flax seed bread with assorted organic greens for a modest $15 plus tax and tip?

Photo: Pimento Cheese, long a Southern favorite is beginning to turn heads in the culinary world. Made from shredded cheese and pimento, it is the ideal snack when nothing else will do.

Orange County Chopper fans, now is your chance to see Paul Teutal, Sr. and his crew work their magic in person. On Friday, Aug. 5, at the Florence Civic Center in Florence, S.C., Teutul and company are planning a bike build-off and concert that is sure to get your motor running.

The show is about more than just performing though, it is about connecting with the audience and drawing them into the experience, too.

“It starts off with our Orange County Chopper (OCC) band. They open up and play some songs and then introduce me and generally I ride out on a P.O.W. bike or one of our theme bikes,” said Teutal. “We bring lots of T-shirts and Frisbees and we sign them and throw them out into the crowd. I try to get the audience to interact with me, and the guys who are involved in the show. “

Then the bike build-off begins. There are two teams; each one builds a bike on stage and whoever finishes their bike first is the winner. Once the bike is completed, the teams have to start it up and burn the tire out on the stage to win. And, it all has to be done in one hour.

While the music is playing and Teutal is entertaining the crowd, feel free to check out the several bikes that will be on display.

“We are bringing a bunch of bikes that we’ve done on the show,” said Teutal. “Then we have a bike that we’ve built — there is a raffle and somebody at the show wins that bike. Sometimes we build a “greenie,” which is an old school bike, and sometimes we build one which is called an “original,” which is more of a chopper. I am not really sure which type of bike we will be building for this event, but either one, they are equally nice.”

A big supporter of the military, Teutal is hoping for a chance to see some service members at the show and is looking forward to entertaining them, too.

“I think that it is well known that we are very involved with the military and I think that for them to be able to come down and have some regular interaction with me and the OCC band would be good — I think that would be exciting for those guys, too.”

Even though the OCC crew is busy doing shows on the road, it has not slowed them down at all in reaching their goals and growing as a company. They just signed on for another season of American Chopper and continue their work as reality performers and cutting edge custom-bike builders.

“I think that we area always into the next level, so innovation is what we strive for,” said Teutal. “Every time we do a bike we try to incorporate innovation and eventually we want to be able to build bikes that represent the times we are living in, you know? Like in the auto industry — if they are building electric cars or cars that run on ethanol or cars that run on batteries, we want to match that technology in what we do.”

It’s quite a difference from where he started. Back in the early ‘70s it was Teutal, his welder and a pick-up truck. Success hasn’t changed him though, in fact, he says he’s grateful for the chance to work hard and get ahead.

“I still feel the same way I did when I was in that welding truck 40 years ago, you know what I am saying?” said Teutal. “Only now I am enjoying the things that I could not enjoy back then.”

The bike build/concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25-$35 and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.

Photo: Motorcycle enthusiasts need to jump on their bikes and make the short ride down to Florence to check-out the crew of American Chopper in action on Friday, Aug. 5.

Study after study has come to the conclusion that family time is a good thing. Doing things together helps build and strengthen relationships whether it’s your family, friends, neighbors or coworkers.

Other studies have come to the conclusion that physical activity is good not only for your body, but it is emotionally benefi cial, too. These two well-established facts make the Fort Bragg Family Fun 5K a no-brainer when the question arises “What are we going to do this weekend?” The fact that it is free and no registration is required is just a bonus.

On Saturday, July 30 grab the family, a friend, a coworker or your neighbor and come to Hedrick Stadium on Fort Bragg and join the hundreds of other participants in a morning of fun and fi tness. The event is open to military/government ID card holders and family members.

You don’t have to be an athlete to come out and enjoy the race. In fact, you will find people of all fitness levels in attendance. Look for everyone from athletes who are training for other races, to soldiers or retirees walking to recover from surgery, to families with young children in strollers and wagons and everything in between.

The race starts at 8 a.m., although folks generally show up before that to warm up, meet their exercise partners and even socialize a little. Several post organizations come out to show their support as well. MWR brings the intercom system and music, and often, organizations wait at the fi nish line with refreshments and other goodies for the athletes.

“We have several organizations that come out and participate and support the event,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Donald Hardy, event coordinator. “It is a good opportunity to provide people with resources and information about the different programs on post, so they usually have plenty of magnets, flyers and other helpful and informative items available to take home.”

The 3.1 mile route starts and ends at Hedrick stadium and makes a loop along Long Street, Manhay, Sicily, Normandy, Reilly and Sedgewick back into the stadium where there is about three quarters of a lap to get to the fi nish line where participants will fi nd refreshments like water and fruit.

Still relatively new, the monthly Family Fun 5K has grown considerably since its start last fall.

“The first event we had 208 people show and that was in September,” said Steve Johnson of Fort Bragg MWR. “At our most recent event we had 865 participants.”

With support like that, plans are to continue with the monthly race and continue to support healthy living and relationship building.

“It has been very well received,” said Johnson who works at many of the races. “We have received positive feedback, so from an organizational standpoint that is very gratifying for us.”

The July 30, Aug. 27, and Sept. 17 events are scheduled to start at 8 a.m. because of the heat. Beginning in October, the start time is expected to return to 9 a.m.

Johnson also noted that there are a few expected changes for the August event. “We need to give people a heads up, that the Hedrick Stadium parking lot is going to be paved. Work begins in August on that. At this point it is very conceivable that we are going to have to modify the start and end point for the Aug. 5k.”

More information will be released on that once a final determination is made. Look for updates on the Fort Bragg MWR Website. For more information about this event, visit www.fortbraggmwr.com.

Photo: Fort Bragg families gather at the finish line after completing the Fort Bragg Family Fun 5K.

If you’ve been shopping lately, you’ll notice enormous back-to-school displays. Those super sales on school supplies have already begun. It’s hard to believe that summer is already more than half gone.

This year as you stock up on school supplies consider this astonishing statistic. Last year in Cumberland County alone, there were nearly 900 students considered homeless. When families are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, making sure that their child has enough pencils and paper to make it through the school day is a minor concern. While some kids are agonizing over wearing just the “right” backpack on the fi rst day of school, some kids are hoping they’ll have one to carry.

Started in 2007 by the Cumberland County school social workers, Stuff the Bus is an annual event to make sure that students living in shelters and transitional housing are prepared for school, easing the burden on parents and teachers. This year’s Stuff the Bus event kicks off Aug. 5 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Walmart located at 4601 Ramsey St. This is the beginning of the tax-free weekend, so all your donations can be purchased tax free.

Be sure to bring the kids! Not only will they be taking donations, but Buster the Safety School Bus will be on site. They will also have tours of the bus by Miss Fayetteville, Katie Ann Mills, and there will be information available on school-bus safety and student services. This is a great way to introduce the school bus to your child just starting school, and at the same time modeling to all your kids the importance of helping those less fortunate.

Says Pamela Story, coordinator of the event, “We currently partner with Operation Homefront of North Carolina to assist with their Backpack Brigade give-away. Since our first drive where we packed and distributed 80 new book bags fi lled with supplies, last year we stuffed and delivered 426 throughout every Cumberland County School. Our goal this year is 600. We receive a small grant through the Department of Public Instruction to identify homeless students and coordinate services for them, including school supplies, transportation, free breakfast and lunch, clothing and assistance with enrollment issues. By collecting donations, this reduces the amount of items we must purchase for our students currently living in transitional housing, emergency shelters, or in other living situations that are not permanent nighttime residences.”T

eachers and mothers alike will tell you that nothing disappears faster in the school year than pencils and paper. Like the stray sock in the dryer, those items seem to just vanish within a few weeks of school. Story says that the most needed items are backpacks, three ring binders, marble composition books, flash-drives and school uniforms, as well as plenty of paper and pencils. Remember, teachers also ask students to bring in items such as hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes to help keep the classroom a safe and sanitary environment.

Not sure what to give? They will also be taking tax-deductible cash donations as well as gift cards.

If you aren’t able to drop by on Aug. 5, donations can be made at the CCS Central Services building at 2465 Gillespie St. from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. all summer long.

Know someone who might be in need? Bookbags with supplies will be made available on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis through each school’s social worker after Aug. 18, so be sure to contact the child’s school for more information about how to have a child identifi ed for consideration.

For more information on how you can help, contact CCS Social Work Services at 910.678.2621.

Female Pulchritude: Too Perfect to be Real

One recent hot-as-the-hinges morning, I was beating it out on an air-conditioned gym’s treadmill and switching among the several TV offerings on my headset. As you might suspect, I am far from an ardent fan of Fox News, but a story Fox aired early that particular morning did catch my attention. It was taking a look at what the “virtually” perfect images, of what my father would have called “feminine pulchritude,” now pervading our popular culture are doing to very real teenaged girls and young women.

Translated, that asks what the ubiquitous Photoshop-perfect images of various celebrities and models are making us think about ourselves.

I have a business acquaintance who proudly displays a lovely and glamorous photograph of his wife in his office. It looks like her, only much better as all bumps, variations in skin tone, wayward hairs and the red in her eyes have been digitally handled, leaving only the good and only a little of the real.

My friend’s wife, though, is — shall we say? — a woman of a certain age, and her photograph, however improved, is not likely to have any effect on teenagers or young women.

That is not the case, of course, in our broader celebrity-obsessed culture in which girls and young women see and compare themselves to images of others which have been airbrushed and highlighted and whose body parts have been made smaller or larger depending on which is culturally more desirable. Slender arms, legs and rumps but big eyes and breasts are the picture of perfect, whether the real person actually possesses those attributes or not.

Maybe a few real women do meet these ideals naturally, but most women do not and never will, even though thousands now try to do so by every means they can think of and afford, including surgery. The thinking seems to be that “if my fi ll-in-the-blank is too big or too little, too lumpy or too white, I will just buy this product or service, eat less and exercise more until I look just like that gorgeous movie star fill-in-the-blank.”

American women, you say, have always loved and emulated celebrities, which seems true enough to me, so what is the big deal? The danger here is not so much our young women feeling good about these other women as feeling bad — really bad — about themselves by comparison. The message many young people get from looking at perfected images is that they are not good enough as they are and that they must do all they can to “correct” themselves. The saddest manifestation of this I ever saw was a girl who graduated from a local high school several years ago. She had been a good student, and as a graduation present her parents gave her breast enhancement surgery.

Would you send your high achieving daughter that message?

I came home from the gym and did a little searching and found a good bit of Internet activity on this topic, including a Photoshop demonstration which took an obese woman in lacy undies down to a slender woman in the same, though much smaller, undies. If I had not seen the video, I would not have known it was the same person.

This is what happens in magazine photographs that look too perfect to be real. They are.

I also learned that I am far from the only person worried about this.The venerable Girl Scouts of the USA, an outfit that has the best interest of young women at heart if ever there were one, partnered with Academy Award-winning actor Geena Davis and other notable women including North Carolina’s own Senator Kay Hagan. Earlier this year, they formed Healthy Media: Commission for Positive Images of Women and Girls. The idea is to encourage national discussion around this issue, to recommend positive changes to policy makers, and to back media, which are focusing on balanced images of women and girls.

The Fox news personnel discussing this issue that morning as I slogged along on the treadmill included two women and two men. The women wore sleeveless dresses displaying toned arms and hemlines at mid-thigh displaying tanned legs in stiletto heels. Both sat ramrod straight occasionally crossing and uncrossing their lovely legs. The men wore dark business suits and slouched on the set sofa as they discussed women’s body images.

My Internet search revealed that the two women are among a group known as the “Fox babes.” There are entire Websites devoted to them, including one in which the babes on the news set speak mutely while the thumping strains of “New York, New York” pound on and one which conducts a weekly poll on who is the “sexiest Fox News Babe.”

I am not kidding you.

I also think this is exactly the sort of thing Healthy Media is worried about.

Someone will finish in first place at the Run for the Red on Saturday, Aug. 6, but the real winner will be the Highlands Chapter of the American Red Cross. Billed as “the hottest race in the South,” the event, which is in its fi fth year, is one of the relief organization’s biggest fundraisers.

Last year’s event included more than 500 runners and raised slightly more than $10,000, according to Victoria Raleigh, executive director of the chapter. This year the group hopes to see close to 700 participants and raise $15,000.

“All the funding stays here locally,” Raleigh said. “We’re not a government agency, so we rely on the support of the American public to perform our humanitarian mission.”

The race has a new route this year, starting and ending in downtown’s Festival Park, where the group will also hold a Be Red Cross Ready Day.

“It will provide an opportunity to ensure everyone has a fire plan, knows how to make a disaster kit, what to do in case of a power outage and other general preparedness information,” said Raleigh. “We will have coloring books for the kids and our American Red Cross Blood Hound will be there as well as Miss Fayetteville 2011, Katie Mills.”

In light of the recent tornadoes, and with hurricane season underway, Raleigh says no one can be too prepared. There will also be information available for people who want to become Red Cross volunteers.

“(Nationally) we’re a 97 percent volunteer-based organization,” Raleigh said. “Here locally, for every one paid staff we have about 35 volunteers who support our mission.”

If helping out the Red Cross isn’t enough motivation, the race will award cash prizes for the top three male and female runners in 5 and 10 kilometer runs, starting at $100 for third place in the 5K and going up to $250 for first place in the 10K. There is also a one-mile fun run that will loop around the park. All of the fun run participants will get a medal, as well as the top times in 14 age groups of the two races. For those not handy with the metric system, 10 kilometers is 6.2 miles, and the 5 kilometers is 3.1 miles.

The course is USA Track and Field Certifi ed, which means the route has been accurately measured and that runners’ performances can be accepted as a record or be nationally ranked.

Unlike last year, when the event was scheduled on the same day as Airborne Day, Raleigh said she expects to see a lot of military runners.

“We’re so pleased to have them back,” she said. “Some units are choosing to run as a team. We’re doing a competition to see which group and/or unit will have the most participants.”

Groups don’t have to be military, Raleigh said, citing examples of local businesses and school groups who have already registered.

The cost to register for the race is $35 for the 10K, $30 for the 5K, and $5 for the Fun Run. There are discounts for military and groups of 10 or more.

Registration and more information can be found online at http://www.highlandsarc.org. Runners are encouraged to register in advance.

The 10K race will start at 7 a.m., the 5K will start at 7:45 a.m., and the Fun Run begins at 8:30 a.m. On race day, packet pick up will start at 5:30 a.m., or runners can pick up their packets on Friday, Aug. 5 from 2 to 8 p.m. at the Highlands Chapter, 807 Carol St. The fi rst 750 race participants will also receive a free t-shirt.

While there are many unanswered questions about the 2012 election cycle — about the economy, the Republican presidential nomination, and the contours of North Carolina’s electoral map, for example — no mystery remains about the state’s gubernatorial election. It will be a rematch between Democrat Beverly Perdue and Republican Pat McCrory.

Their 2008 contest was one of the closest in state history. Perdue, then lieutenant governor, narrowly defeated the outgoing Charlotte mayor, in part because of an Obama surge that benefitted Democratic candidates all the way down the ballot.

Both nominees had won what initially promised to be competitive primaries. Perdue defeated Democratic rising star Richard Moore, the state treasurer and former Hunt administration official. McCrory defeated three other major GOP candidates: state Sen. Fred Smith, conservative activist and attorney Bill Graham, and former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr.

If you’re a fan of party primaries, 2012 will disappoint you. Neither Perdue nor McCrory seems likely to draw a serious challenge. Moore, Smith, Graham, and Orr all appear to be done with runs for elective office, though not necessarily with public affairs. None of the Democratic or Republican leaders in the General Assembly has expressed any interest in the race. No members of the state’s con-gressional delegation or mayors of the state’s largest cities have, either.

In short, no experienced challengers with political heft and fundraising po-tential are on the horizon right now for either of the 2008 nominees. So they are already preparing their general-election campaigns for 2012.

Just because next year’s race for governor will likely be a rematch, however, doesn’t mean it will be simply a replay of their first contest. In fact, the 2012 race will be significantly different.

The main reason is that Perdue is now an incumbent governor, not an aspiring one. Whether she likes it or not, voters will reward Perdue with reelection based not on what she promises to do during a second term but how they feel about what she did during her first one — and whether they think North Carolina is headed in the right direction as a consequence of her tenure. If the electorate is more optimistic then than they are now, she has a shot at four more years.

If the electorate continues to feel as nervous about their econom-ic prospects as they do right now, Perdue will have a hard time winning reelection.

It’s not a political dynamic unique to North Carolina. In 2010, incumbent governors or candidates of the same party of outgoing governors were wiped out across most of the country. Because Democrats held most of the governorships going into the cycle last year, they lost most of the races. But some Republican-held governorships flipped Democratic last year, too.

To say that Perdue’s fate lies with voter perceptions about the future is not to say that Pat McCrory will be a bystander. It will be his task to draw connections between the state’s biggest problems and either inaction or wrongheaded action by Perdue.

McCrory won’t win by running against the errors and misdeeds of prior Democratic governors. And he won’t win through some kind of complex trian-gulation maneuver, or by staying warm and fuzzy. Instead, McCrory will need to articulate a positive agenda of conservative reform and contrast it with the failed policies of a liberal status quo.

For her part, Perdue won’t win by running against Republican legislators, most of whom the voters of the state couldn’t pick out of a lineup. She’ll have to defeat her actual opponent, McCrory, by raising doubts about his agenda while highlighting any signs of economic progress evident by next fall and claiming credit for them.

Here’s what won’t be different next year. Just as in 2008, the Obama cam-paign will be competing aggressively for North Carolina. Democrats, Republicans, and affiliated groups will spend tens of millions of dollars on broadcast ads and organization to get their vote out.

And, once again, history will be made. North Carolina will either reelect its first female governor or elect its first Republican governor of the 21st century.

Horrible Bosses (Rated PG-13)  5 Stars

Well, Four Christmases sort of sucked, but Director Seth Gordon hits one out of the park with Horrible Bosses (100 minutes). And we have to assume it was good directing, because screenwriters Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley, and Jonathan Goldstein are all TV people, and not hilarious TV either … the one guy wrote for Becker and the other guy wrote for $#*! My Dad Says. I mean, Daley is funny as an actor, but he has hardly any comedy writing experience.

Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman) works for Dave Harken (Kevin Spacy, channeling Lex Luthor). I would love to say that bosses this horrible don’t exist, but I once worked for someone who made me sit in a chair outside his office for two hours a day in case he suddenly needed something. Speaking of people who need to be killed … he probably doesn’t. But forcing him to spend a little time as a powerless underling would provide him with some much needed perspective. And that brings us to minor issue number one … I don’t think the movie sold the au-dience on the need for the “horrible bosses” to die.

No one will argue that this is anything other than a wish-fulfillment movie, since almost everyone has had a hateful boss that they daydreamed about offing. But at no point in the film do these guys seem believable as killers. And here is where the writing gets little bit forced. Logic is sacrificed to the central plot, as each reasonable alternative to murder is shot down by some bizarre bit of charac-ter background. Such as…

Dale Arbus (Charlie Day! I Love You!) being a registered sex offender. Except not really. He is a registered sex offender only because he used a chil-dren’s playground as a bathroom in the middle of the night. So, even though he is an otherwise stand-up guy engaged to Stacy (Lindsay Sloane) he can’t get another job. Which means he is stuck working for the sexually aggressive Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston, who should do more roles like this).

Which brings us to Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis). He works for the sweet-as-pie Jack Pellitt (Donald Sutherland, who I would find more believable as one of the Horrible Bosses). Too bad his nice boss dies, leaving him with the ex-ecrable Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell). Which brings us to minor issue number two. Bobby is too over-the-top to be a real person. He gets lines that are more broad character strokes than anything a real person would say. And I get that they were trying to make him look stupid in order to emphasize his own lack of self-aware-ness, but it is distracting. Have the character played by a Dennis Franz type, and it all becomes just a little more believable. I guess what I’m saying is that Colin Farrell can look pretty, but he can’t act, and when he tries to take away the pretty it only shows just how bad an actor he is.

After setting up the characters, the three white-collars firm up their plans to kill their horrible bosses. Through movie logic, they end up at a bar in a bad neighborhood where they meet Dean Jones (Jaime Foxx). He becomes their mur-der consultant, and sends them off to do recon on their prey. Hijinks ensue, and it is genuinely impossible to predict where the movie is headed, which saves it from being too conventional and/or mean-spirited (and it was at risk for both).

During their repeated attempts at surveillance, the police get involved. Interestingly, Charlie Day does a pretty good job of channeling Charlie Kelly from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in the interrogation scene, and even though he doesn’t get a writing credit some of his dialogue seems directly in-spired by his best known character.

Finally, for those of you who care, the NavGuide voice should seem very familiar … I thought it was Marshall Manesh from How I Met Your Mother, but it was actually the voice of Brian George who has apparently appeared in hundreds of other things.