Empty houses, all in a row
On my street there are three houses for rent.
This might not be especially remarkable, except for the fact that houses in our neighborhood are usually only vacant for a few weeks before someone moves in. Not so this time around. If anything is an indicator of how overbuilt Fayetteville is, this certainly is.
In fact, just around the corner, several houses have been available for a few months.
We know the solution here, don’t we - build more houses.
For an excellent analysis of the coming year, by Howard Kunstler, author of “The Geography of Nowhere,” just click here:
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802142494/maccpu.
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The Further Adventures of Raymond Burks
A few months a go I wrote about Raymond Burks, who produced a pretty cool little soap opera for C.A.T. called “Bring Down the Moon,” which has been building a nice fan base, both here in Fayetteville and among those who watch it on YouTube.
No season two for “Bring Down the Moon,” as Burks is now working as an intern on “The Bold and the Beautiful” on CBS. I guess the revolution really is beginning . . .
This should serve as an inspiration to all of us who haven’t pursued our dreams as ardently as Raymond has. Personally, I’ve got a novel just sitting here which I keep saying I’m going to try and interest a movie studio in - just like I keep saying every year.
Well, maybe this year I’d better get off my lazy butt and do it. Thanks for the inspiration, Raymond.
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Children at War
Among the number of "enemy combatants" held at Guantanamo Bay are a number of teenaged fighters. "These are not children," declared Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld, meaning that they could be treated just the same as any adult detainee. The truth is, however, that Rumsfeld - as is he is in somany matters - is wrong in this instance as well.
As youngsters, many of us thrilled to the fictional story of Johnny Tremain, the young boy who runs off to fight in the Revolutionary War. Indeed, history of filled with the stories of young boys and girls who run off in a patriotic fervor and fight for their homeland.
And many is the young boy who has harbored glorious childhood visions of combat.
Reality paints a much grimmer picture, however. Especially today, when boys and girls are rarely - if ever - volunteers, but instead are brutally torn from their families and thrust into a cruel world in which it is truly, "Kill or be killed."
In "Children at War," P.W. Singer has provided a chilling look into the world in which children are forced by cruel adults into a world of murder and sexual abuse. It is a certainly a book one should read before nodding in agreement with fatuous remarks like those made by Donald Rumsfeld.
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The Real Greenlea? What’s up with that?
Over at ABC, All My Children is bringing back Rebecca Budig in the role of Greenlea Smythe, trumpeting her return as “The return of the real Greenlea!”
Boy, I’ll bet that makes the actress playing the role now feel really great. Why don’t they just buy her some cyanide as a going away present?
rsdrake@nwark.com
