The James Logan Courier

By Jessica Stewart, Courier Editor-in-Chief

“She hadn’t seen him in three long months. The last time he’d asked her out, he’d told her if she refused him, he wouldn’t ask again.

She'd refused.”

Fortunately for Joe, three months later, Luna finds herself in need of him, although not for the reasons he imagines. This novel represents the end of the Winston family series and the beginning of the Visitation series, and does an excellent job of being both an ending and a beginning. It’s a great book for simple summer reading with a bit of substance and spunk.

Luna Clark and Joe Winston have major chemistry, and Joe knows it. But to his chagrin, Luna keeps on rejecting him. He would just move on to another woman like he usually does, but he just cannot get her out of his head, and he finds himself becoming celibate, unheard of for a player like him.

By Joseph V. Amodio
Newsday (MCT)

Pop culture is littered with celebrities and their lesser-than siblings. For every Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears, there's an Ashlee, Ali or Jamie Lynn, yearning to prove they're talented, too. In some cases, it's true — Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine, Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal, John and Joan Cusack. Occasionally, a younger sibling outshines the elder — Julia and Eric Roberts, say, or Casey and Ben Affleck.

Most of the time, however, the sibs are a pale imitation. Think of Michael Jackson's kin (with the obvious exception of Janet). Or Alec Baldwin's (excepting no one).

Not that it matters. In our LaToya Nation, we are subjected to them all as they follow one of two standard trajectories:

Reality show
(yep, that's Stephen Baldwin on "Celebrity Apprentice," and Daniel Baldwin on "Celebrity Rehab").

Unauthorized biography.
These days Madonna, when not dodging are-they-or-aren't-they rumors about A-Rod, is dealing with No. 2.

By Sandra M. Jones
Chicago Tribune (MCT)

CHICAGO — There's no cheerful way to say it: Get ready for a sober Christmas season.

Yes, it's only July, but retailers already are deep in planning mode for the holiday season, and what they are sensing adds up to potential trouble, with some experts saying this could be the toughest environment in almost 30 years.

From wikipedia:
Betye Irene Saar (July 30, 1926 in Los Angeles, California) is an American artist, known for her work in the field of assemblage. Her education included a time at the University of California, Los Angeles, from where she received a degree in design in 1949, and graduate studies in printmaking and education at Pasadena City College, California State University, Long Beach.

Her interest in assemblage was inspired by a 1968 exhibition by Joseph Cornell, though she also cites the influence of Simon Rodia's Watts Towers, which she witnessed being built in her childhood. She began creating work typically consisting of found objects arranged within boxes or windows, with items drawing on various different cultures reflecting Saar's own mixed heritage (African, Native American, Irish and Creole).

Learn more about Betye Saar, see examples of her work, and watch video interviews of her, free from netropolitan.org.