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Rebecca Walker shares five ways out of the muck for all those not immediately feeling the happy new year vibe.
Writing Prompt: What inspires you to focus on the good?
The dawn of 2011 has been mixed. Healthy family, busy writing life, and beautiful Hawaiian rain. Watched “Inception” and “I Am Love,” two brilliant films that inspired me to no end. Patti Smith’s “Just Kids” is bringing me back to the magical vortex of New York — the mecca where so many of us began on this perilous road of love, life and

I have been a fan of the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim for more than 40 years. His sly, bittersweet sense of relationships, attachments, longing and the frightened heartbeats change inspires have captured me and millions of others. I’ve seen productions of “Company,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music” and so many others all over the world.
I was, therefore, excited to receive the recent DVD release of “Evening Primrose,” which hasn’t been available since ABC presented it in the fall of 1966 — 44 years ago.
Television critic David Bianculli reminds us that “‘Evening Primrose’ is kind of a ‘Twilight Zone’ episode set to music. And that makes sense, as it is based on a short story by John Collier whose creepy, fanciful tales inspired not only episodes of ‘The Twilight Zone,’ but a handful of ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ installments as well.”
“Evening Primrose” is about a young poet in New York City who decides to avoid both pressure and rent by moving into a department store, hiding during the day and living there rent-free at

Any parent knows that choosing a preschool (and paying for it) can be a daunting task. As parents, we want to ensure our children receive quality early childhood education so they can start their academic careers on the right track. Yet we face a number of challenges that can make it hard to find the perfect fit. “How will we pay for preschool?” “Which preschool is the right fit for our child?” “How do we know which preschools are the best?”
Luckily, Denver has a unique program that helps parents answer those

The amount of times this Daily Kos article about the lockout has been circulated has inspired me to set the record straight for my friends in the political blogosphere. Simply put, the article was a rehash of NFL Players Association (NFLPA) talking points — in some cases, literally — and since the NFL lockout is going to take on increasing significance for many in politics over the coming weeks and months, I just want to make sure everyone understands the situation.
This is about two groups fighting for the billions that we give them. Neither side is in the right. And if there is no football in the fall, both sides will be in the wrong.
Yes, the NFL owners opted out of the current bargaining agreement and are seeking a greater share of revenues — as is their

Activists try to stop a massive coal plant from being built in South Africa
The United States is poised to help lock South Africa into dependence on dirty energy for decades to come.
The U.S. Export-Import bank (Ex-Im) is the official export credit agency of the U.S. and a good friend of dirty

One outcome of the troubles in Egypt and Tunisia has been the fascinating debate on the rights and wrongs of US support for corrupt dictators. But what happens if we apply the same debate to our travel choices? Should we as tourists visit and support the same nations beset by corruption and human rights abuses? In doing so are we prioritizing personal gain over political pain?
China
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Daily Beast’s 50 Best Cities For Love: What Missed The Cut? (PHOTOS)
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8 Weirdest-Looking Roads Around The World (PHOTOS)
China makes for a fascinating destination, The Great Wall, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Terracotta Warriers in Xian, the landscape of Guilin and of course the mountain landscapes of Tibet.
Unfortunately according to Freedom House it also scores 7 out of 10 for political rights and 6 out of 10 for civil liberties (10 out of 10 is the worst possible score) and features in the top 20 of the world’s most repressive societies, primarily for what goes on in Tibet.
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Take Egypt for example. When the storm passes, I suspect tourists will have very short

February is such a dreary month in much of the U.S., filled with cold, rainy and slushy days, punctuated by the usual prediction, made by a groundhog, that spring will return earlier than expected. The only redeeming features of this month are that it has the fewest days of any in the calendar, and that it allows us to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
We often regard this as silly holiday, flacked by companies to sell products. But we can choose to make February a great month, where we focus on what we can do to make our lives sensual, sexual, libidinal and romantic. As women in or approaching menopause, we shouldn’t forget that romance is always possible, and that being a sensual person is always a choice.
Valentine’s Day month is a great opportunity to try some new tricks to jump start a libido that might be on life support, or to make better use of the juice we know we have.
Here are a few suggestions:
Start every day in a sensual

Makram Mohamed Ahmad, head of the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate and a longtime Mubarak apologist, has found himself in a tough spot during the past two weeks. Ahmad, as countless Egyptian journalists have told me for years, has done next to nothing for the very journalists whose rights he is obliged to protect. Ahmad watched idly as hundreds of Egyptian journalists were targeted through politicized trials. He did nothing in 2009 and 2010 when plainclothes police and intelligence personnel posed as journalists in demonstrations and collected information to use in suppressing dissent and rounding up demonstrators and

Lulu DK fabrics founder and designer, Lulu deKwiatkowski may be best known for her bold colors and hand printed geometric designs, but she’s also a natural born wanderer. Lulu de K., as she is popularly known, spent her childhood traveling between the Hamptons, the Bahamas and Manhattan; but these days she seeks inspiration in more far-flung destinations; always merging business with pleasure. Her globe-trotting is perfectly chronicled in her book LULU, part travel journal, part art book and part autobiography, hand-written throughout, featuring colorful collages of her life, adventures and loves.
Lulu took a moment to share some of her favorite travel hits and misses with me, while juggling her latest creation, one month old son Pier Giorgio.
What’s the best hotel you’ve stayed in?
I cannot deny it, I love The Four Seasons. I did a long trip around South East Asia while doing a little research for my book LULU, it was a long and windy, sometimes grueling trip, so I wrapped it up by spoiling myself for a few days at the Four Seasons in Ubud,

“Global health? You must find your work so rewarding!” said a flight attendant who chatted me up on my recent trip from Seattle to Washington.
“Indeed I do,” I replied, and especially right now.
The truth is, the rewards of a career in public health are infrequent and often hard to see. In clinical medicine, doctors and nurses have the benefit of experiencing the impact they have on people’s lives on a daily basis. For them, delivering babies, bringing relief to sick patients and fixing boo-boos are all part of a day’s

Would it help if you knew you were the joy behind the laughter, the color in the painter’s brush? Would it help if you knew the ache in your heart is your teacher, and loneliness your inner wisdom calling you back?
Your way will be different from mine and his and hers. And it will change.
Would it help if you knew you are the truth you are looking for? Find your way to live the love you are. What have you found so far? What are you finding now?
Since our paths now cross, let me first share with you; then you share, too.
When I look for who I am, I now skip past the thoughts and instead watch within. I focus on the one actually doing the thinking, who is within asking, “Who am I?” I look within and

In text blasts, emails and news posts veiled in mystery and secrecy, the Bills announced the team will sport new uniforms in 2011, with the official unveiling coming later this year.
Apparently, a lot of people think this is the type of announcement I’d be particularly thrilled by because I got numerous messages from numerous people alerting me to the information I already knew about. Surprisingly (or maybe not), I really don’t care one way or the other. Uniforms are never what I was looking at every Sunday — I was more interested in, oh I don’t know, the football game going on.
The only time I’ve ever consciously thought about the uniforms are:
A) When they wear the throwbacks.
B) When I’m scrolling through game day photos.
And even then, I’m not really thinking about the uniforms. I’m either wishing the throwback uniforms had actually thrown us back into the era they were worn during, or I’m admiring how nice the bottom half of several key players look.
If I had to find a reason to be excited, it’d be because maybe Bills gear will now be considered “out of date” and go on

With the Winter 2011 season starting in New York, I thought I’d post a Q&A with Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa. Calvin Klein is, after all, one of the most quintessential American fashion labels. Here, Costa talks about his career, creative process and what it means to be a fashion designer working today.
Blue Carreon: When did you first realize that you have made it big?
Francisco Costa: I won’t say I’m big at all. There is so much to do

Since the Egyptian uprising began, Iran’s opposition figures inside and outside the country have looked to the streets of Cairo with admiration and regret. Who would have thought it would be the Egyptians capable of forcing concessions — however limited they might be at this stage- from their authoritarian rules, not the Green movement?
“For the first time in history, the Iranians are jealous of the Arabs,” said a young oppositionist, who was active in the 2009 protests and has become exiled in the West, referring to the centuries-old arrogance the Persians have maintained over the Arabs.
Now, week three into the Egyptian uprising, Iran’s de-facto opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi have announced plans for rallies in Tehran on Monday — ostensibly to show support for the Egyptian uprising, but in fact to try to seize upon the rebellious wave sweeping the region.
Their request was already denied on Wednesday, despite a flurry of enthusiasm from the Iranian regime, which is backing the Egyptian uprising and calling it an Islamic revolution inspired by its own in 1979. The applause from Tehran’s leaders, particularly Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has become so overwhelming that even the religious scholars from Al Azhar in Cairo, the world’s highest seat of learning for Sunni Muslims, have been forced to denounce Khamenei in order to make clear that the Egyptian revolt is not about establishing a religiously-inspired, Iranian-style theocratic

Recently, while in Newport, a friend took me to a bar known for their extensive and admirable beer selection. My friend ordered a Ngne Imperial Stout, a tar-like Norwegian brew, while I ordered a Dogfish Head World Wide Stout that clocked in at 19% ABV — a fine beer to take the edge off a night that saw the mercury peaking at just under 10 degrees. Although I hadn’t tried the beer before, I generally knew what to expect: a generous, thick concoction, redolent of alcohol, tasting of dark plums, chocolate, or perhaps caramel or coffee — normal stout flavors, yet it being a Dogfish Head creation, it would be a bit, erm, off-centered.
The drink arrived, and I raised it to my lips, breathing in waft of alcohol borne from an excessively chestnut-hued head, but I instantly knew that there was a problem, and that my enjoyment of the beverage would be somewhat

Today, Washington’s lawmakers began hearings on the massive fiscal problems the Great Recession dumped on American states and cities. The looming possibility of municipal defaults, which some say could total hundreds of billions of dollars, is causing grave concern. Hedge funds are also deeply concerned about America’s municipal debt crisis. They worry about how to best profit from it.
The Wizards of Wall Street have looked over the catastrophe of cash-strapped America and found it good for

Dan Snyder, the Napoleon of NFL executives, may have reached his Waterloo. The buffoonish owner of the Washington Redskins has done some stupid things in the past, but nothing compares to this latest stunt.
The tale begins last November when Dave McKenna, a veteran writer of the little known Washington City Paper, wrote a lengthy takedown of Snyder entitled, The Cranky Redskins Fan’s Guide To Dan Snyder. The piece was an A-Z list detailing the astonishing incompetence of the Snyder regime. The lowlights included stories of Snyder suing decade-long season ticket holders because they were slow on their payments during the recession, as well as a long list of coaching

“El shaab yureed taghiir el naqeeb (the people want to change the union’s president),” chanted members of Egypt’s journalists syndicate, on a variation to the mantra protesters have been repeating in their call for ousting President Hosni Mubarak.
It reflected their displeasure with yet another symbol of the maligned Egyptian regime and of the syndicate head’s close ties to the country’s president.
Egyptian journalists union head Makram Mohamad Ahmad (white arrow)
dissed outside his office (Abu-Fadil)
“Barra, barra (out, out),” the journalists shouted aggressively as they shoved Makram Mohamad Ahmad and tried to prevent him from reaching his office.
They were outraged the union hadn’t stood in solidarity with them when a reporter was felled by a police sniper’s bullet while he filmed security forces’ attacks on demonstrators with his phone camera from an office balcony.
Angry journalists held a symbolic memorial for the murdered journalist, Ahmad Mohamad Mahmoud, in front of the union’s headquarters.
“Ya naqeeb, ya naqeeb, bi’t shaheedna bi cam geneih? (union president, for how much did you sell out our martyr)?” they demanded to know.
The journalists slammed government-run TV channels and some privately-owned stations for broadcasting disinformation in what they deemed “a professional and moral crime,” the independent daily Al Dustour reported.
The journalists carried signs saying the union’s president did not represent them, notably since President Mubarak approves the appointment of the heads of the journalists syndicate and of state-run media.
Makram Mohamad Ahmad once served as editor of Rose El Youssef, a leading Egyptian magazine, whose current editor is Abdallah Kamal, a member of the discredited ruling National Democratic Party.
Elsewhere, noted TV talk show host Amr Adib also drew Egyptians’

Building and construction unions have been hit especially hard during the economic downturn and are desperately looking for jobs, says Dorian Warren, a professor at Columbia University who is writing a book about the effects of Wal-Mart on large cities.
Using union contractors is an effective strategy for a retailer that has long been viewed as anti-union, and has a history of discouraging its US employees to organise.
“Wal-Mart drives a very strong wedge between the unions,” says Prof Warren. “Now it can say 'we are built by unions'.”
A similar deal came about in Chicago last summer when two stores on the South Side were approved by the city

Each month Rock the Vote introduces our community to socially-conscious artists who are making music that inspire others and using their microphones to promote civic engagement.
Meet the Crash Kings, whose bassist Mike Beliveau talks to us about what the right to vote means to him and the change he’d like to see in the world. Check out the Crash Kings music for free here at RocktheVote.com.
Tell us about your first concert experience.
I think my first real concert was the Allman Brothers. Derek Trucks performed with them when he was only

When I first saw Paul Doomm at a health forum of Gulf residents in New Orleans, he was flat on his back, gasping for air from a seizure that had suddenly overcome him. His mother, father and 11-year old brother were at his side consoling him in the meeting hall of the First Unitarian Church, trying to keep his head from banging against the hard floor as his body went into convulsions.
His parents, Matthew and Kathy Doomm, a registered nurse, remained calm as they attended to their son. They said the seizures happened several times a day. They had been to 14 hospitals, Kathy explained, but no one could tell them what was causing his

You know how it is. A colleague says something you disagree with, and so you start pulling faces and rolling your eyes. You might start groaning very loudly. You might, if you think they’re really beginning to make a fool of themselves, and you think their boss has noticed, find yourself yelling out for

Having voted to repeal health care legislation, House Republicans have now taken aim at government regulations, describing efforts to protect people and the environment as “job-killing.” This claim conveniently papers over the fact that it was the lack of regulation of Wall Street that tanked the economy and caused the current downturn. But nonetheless, seeking rhetorical points to boost their anti-regulations campaign, House Republicans are trumpeting a recent report, done for the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. The report, authored by Nicole Crain and Mark Crain, claims that regulation cost the U.S. economy $1.75 trillion dollars in

A few Missouri politicians are busy trying to repeal or dismantle Proposition B, the voter-approved Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, which sets humane standards for large-scale dog breeding operations. Prop B passed in a statewide vote — and won majorities in most state Senate and state House districts. But a handful of legislators want to substitute their own judgment for the wisdom of 997,870 Missouri voters who favored the new law. While this attempted power grab is coming from the state capitol building, more reasonable voices around the state are calling on lawmakers to respect the will of the people.
State