C.M. Rubin's Blog, page 9

Lincee Ray: 'The Bachelor' Season 17, Episode 8 Recap: The Most Dramatic Rose Ceremony Ever

Chris Harrison typically earns his paycheck by confidently stating each week that what we are about to witness is the most dramatic rose ceremony ever. I have to admit that I was shocked by the girl who was left rose-less at the end of the night.
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Laurie Israel: Infidelity: An Opportunity For Marital Truthfulness

You have the opportunity to consider the affair a wake-up call.
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Molly Hahn: Buddha Doodle - 'All Will Come'

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Liat Kornowski: 'How I Met Your Mother' Season 8, Episode 17 Recap: The Captain Is Back And Lily's Got A New Gig

The Captain is back, and leaves a message on Ted's archaic answering machine to call him back at his earliest convenience. Ted, freaked out, recounts the story of the last time he saw The Captain, a year and a half earlier.
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Dr. Cynthia Thaik: Foods for the Soul

Nurture your soul with healthy foods that inspire you and build you up. Avoid those that create ugly feelings inside. By doing this, you will be able to keep your inner garden oasis beautiful and flourishing.
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James Scarborough: "Gotta Git It Done," The Bixby Park Community Players, Long Beach

Clocking in at a smidge under ninety spellbinding minutes, "Gotta Gittit Done," written by Glen "Frosty" Little, directed by Achille Zavatta for The Bixby Park Community Players, presents a threnody for the passing of the father of two nameless characters played by Otto Griebling and Bev Bergeron.

It's the story of a brother and sister who parade to the four neighborhood bars their just-deceased father, a colorful barfly, used to frequent. Their mission? To tell his chums about his passing. They don't speak a word throughout the production; their performances are one extended pantomime, gesture and movement, both conveyed with great emotive effect. As minimalist a production as can be, it consists of no sets, just two on-stage characters (and four off-stage voices), bathed in cigarette smoke haze, the murmur (and occasional ululation) of bar patrons, and low volume jukebox songs - Patsy Cline, Bobby Darin, Jim Reeves, Frankie Yankovic, Kyu Sakamoto - from the Sixties.

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Susan Buchanan: Lenten Seafood Demand Has Slipped, Louisiana Vendors Say

(This article was published in "The Louisiana Weekly" in the Feb. 18, 2013 edition.)

Seafood sales rise in the more than forty days from Ash Wednesday to Easter, helping some south Louisiana vendors by as much as fifty percent as tastes turn from Mardi Gras king cakes to oysters, shrimp and crabs. But the region's Lenten consumption isn't what it used to be. Sellers have been hit by multiple blows on the demand side, including Asian competition and lost business since the BP spill. Supply-side whammies have also taken a toll.

On Ash Wednesday, April Michel, saleswoman at Amy's Seafood in the Westwego seafood market, said "Lent in recent years has been slower than it was before the 2010 BP spill and Katrina in 2005." Over twenty vendors run stalls at the Westwego market or Shrimp Lot on the West Bank of New Orleans. Early last Wednesday, salespeople were at their posts serving a few customers. "People haven't trusted seafood since the spill," Michel said. Oyster supplies have remained smaller since then, too. But because of relative tightness, "some vendors are putting a 'tax' on oysters and jacking prices up a little," she said.

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Antonia Blumberg: Finding Common Ground Between Sexuality and Spirituality

If religious, spiritual, activist and LGBT organizations, alike, are invested in nurturing a sustainable and fulfilling future, they have only to gain from providing the fodder for common ground.
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Bernard Starr: God Killed Jesus: That's What the Gospels Say

The Gospels -- and several other passages of the New Testament -- state explicitly that God killed Jesus. God sacrificed his only son for the redemption of man according to Scripture:
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CNN Pundit Politely Tells Anti-Gay Interview Guest That He Is An Idiot

Contrary to popular belief, the Boy Scouts is not an organization created in the 1500s to maintain the bigoted status quo.

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