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A growing number of cities and counties are using zoning, licensing regulations and other techniques to discourage strip clubs without running afoul of the businesses' First Amendment rights.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that cities and states can ban nude dancing and regulate adult-oriented businesses, but can't prohibit them from operating. Federal courts generally protect such businesses unless communities can prove "harmful secondary effects" — increased crime, blight or diminished property values.
"This is a pressing issue all across the country," says David Hudson, a scholar at the
Angelina Spencer, executive director of the Association of Club Executives, a strip-club trade association, says legislative efforts to restrict the nation's 3,000 clubs are increasing, especially in rural areas. "We aren't opposed to regulations," she says. "We're opposed to oppressive legislation … designed to put these places out of business."
In January,
The rules are meant to be so restrictive that such clubs decide to locate elsewhere, Presiding County Commissioner John Bartosh said. "We can't stop them from opening, but we can make tough restrictions so they can't make any money."
Last week, the building's owner scrapped plans for nude strippers and decided to open a bar and adult video store. Bartosh says he "definitely" believes the new limits forced the change. Lawyer Bill Fleischaker, who represents the owner, says the business will "comply with the ordinance."
Eric Damian Kelly, an urban planning professor at
Elsewhere:
•A federal appeals court last month upheld
"If these businesses go away, that's fine," County Attorney Garry Edmondson says.
•A Shelby County, Tenn., ordinance that took effect Jan. 1 bans alcohol in strip clubs and requires background checks and licenses for employees. Because a city ordinance allowing alcohol in
"I don't think the law we adopted will get rid of them, and we never said it would. But if it becomes less attractive to do business here … maybe there will be fewer of these clubs," County Commissioner Mike Ritz says.
•In January, the Bourbonnais, Ill., village board voted to allow strip clubs only in areas zoned for industrial use, prohibit them from having liquor licenses and keep them 1,000 feet from churches and schools. Mayor Robert Latham says his "personal wish" is to keep them out of town or put them where they "do the least amount of damage."
Jeffrey Douglas, a lawyer and board chairman of the Free Speech Coalition, an adult-entertainment trade group, says efforts to restrict such businesses often are driven by lawyers who promise communities they can help write limits that will stand up in court. The bottom line, he says: "Cities may not place such restrictions on the placement or operation of the business that makes it, in essence, a ban."
Can an American Orchestra Help to Open Up a New Relationship with
I'm halfway around the world today, in a country where everyone has been raised to think of the
On Feb. 26, the New York Philharmonic will play a groundbreaking concert in
After much debate, and long discussions with the
Without a doubt, it's going to be a memorable experience for all of us, but for a few of the Philharmonic's members, this groundbreaking concert brings mixed feelings. That's because this concert will be in
"My father actually does not like the idea," says Lisa Kim, the Philharmonic's associate principal second violin. Kim's father was injured during the Korean War, while her mother's town was invaded by the North Korean army. In spite of this, she says, her mother urged her to go.
"I think I'll be very sad and emotional at first," says violinist Soohyun Kwon, whose father also fought in the Korean War. Kwon was born and raised in
The Philharmonic's concert, just one day after Condoleezza Rice will be in
This week marks a return for me, as I am back in
Back then, we wanted to know about
That's also partly what this concert is about. It's scheduled for the day after
On Feb. 26, at the insistence of the Philharmonic, the DPRK has agreed to broadcast the concert live within the country, so North Koreans will be listening along with the rest of the world. The orchestra pushed for this because it thought it was important that North Koreans be able to at least see real Americans, playing music. Back in 2005, most people I met said they had never seen an American before.
It's not like this is the first time "cultural diplomacy" has opened a door. Leonard Bernstein conducted the Philharmonic in 1959 behind the Iron Curtain in the USSR. And American Ping-Pong players were the first to travel to communist China, back in 1971.
Nobody can argue that symphony music, or Ping-Pong, has political content. Nobody knows, too, what kind of difference a concert like the one on the 26th will make.
Thanks for reading, and I'll keep posting over the next few days as we continue our trip here.
| The makeover elements are meant to help diners achieve happiness and fortune — whether they realize it or not. That's because the restaurant was redesigned using the principles of feng shui, the ancient Chinese practice of arranging objects and numbers to promote health, harmony and prosperity. The concept is an unlikely fit with fast food. But the restaurant's owners say the designs are aimed at creating a soothing setting that will encourage diners to linger over their burgers and fries, and come back again. The makeover is part of the attempt by McDonald's Corp. in recent years to remodel hundreds of its restaurants to attract more patrons with unique decor and amenities that might entice them stay awhile. It also fits into McDonald's larger corporate practice of catering to local tastes, such as a fondue-style burger in "We can't look too cookie cutter," Mark Brownstein, one of three owners of the restaurant, said about the new decor. The basic principles of feng shui include placing strategic representations of five natural elements — earth, water, fire, metal and wood — around the room to increase the flow of chi, or energy. Feng shui (pronounced fung shway) has been employed in the designs of high-rises, banks, even zoo exhibits, and has been popularized by countless coffee table books and TV shows such as HGTV's "Fun Shui." It's also used in the designs of the Panda Express Chinese food chain. The McDonald's in this The textured walls patterned after ocean waves symbolize "life and relaxation — the balanced things that you want in your life," she said.
| "When we first walked in we were amazed, we were happy we skipped the drive-through and went inside," Andrew Chen said while lounging in a white leather booth with a friend. Chen, 20, said he didn't notice the feng shui elements. He just thought it was a modern interior. Two workers at the nearby post office said they've been taking more lunch breaks at the remodeled McDonald's, which opened in late December. "We're here two, three times a week," Waldo Alfaro said as he munched on a Filet-O-Fish and a salad. "It's relaxing, you don't feel any pressure here." Nevermind that this is the same McDonald's that's been vilified by critics over its artery-clogging Big Macs and fries. The buzz about the feng shui McDonald's is starting to attract curious onlookers. "It's successful as a design. It's got a very clean, open, airy appearance," said Elaine Bjorklund, a professor emerita of cultural geography at the "I'm not a McDonald's habituee," she added as she snapped pictures of the dining area. "It would be interesting to see if this trend will spread." Brownstein said he and his partners chose the feng shui makeover because the restaurant is located near a renowned Buddhist temple, which is considered good luck. The designs were meant to appeal to the area's growing Asian population, but were also done in a way that would help all customers tap their inner Zen. With the help of a feng shui master, the designers added details that only feng shui practitioners could appreciate. They include positioning the doors in a way that would block out bad spirits while keeping good ones inside, Clifford said. The eight rows of red tiles near the food counter are another symbol of fortune, because the number eight is considered auspicious, she said. Meanwhile, the metal sculptures of a crane and Koi fish adorning one wall represent fertility and prosperity, she said. Clifford said she made the nearly fatal mistake of putting 44 seats in the dining area, until she learned that feng shui followers consider the number four a symbol of bad luck. So she added an extra seat to make it 45. "Few people would notice it, but if you're in the know, you'll say 'Oh my God, that's terrible,'" she said. She went as far as staggering the grout lines in the tiles rather than keeping them straight. "You want to have obstacles in life, it makes you grow," she explained. While the menu remains the same, there is a McCafe offering lattes and gourmet coffee drinks. When McDonald's restaurants in He said business has picked up at his restaurant too. Other franchise owners are taking notice. Clifford said her company has been hired to feng shui two more McDonald's in |
Euphoria-inducing asphyxiation has become especially deadly as youths use ligatures that allow them to play alone.
The "choking game," a type of asphyxiation practiced by children and adolescents seeking a euphoric rush, has killed at least 82 children since 1995, according to the first
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scoured news reports to tally deaths from the game -- also known as the "pass-out game" or "space monkey" -- because no official, nationwide records exist. The first report came in 1995, with three or fewer deaths annually until 2004. There were 22 deaths in 2005, 35 in 2006 and nine in 2007, with victims ranging in age from 6 to 19, the agency said Thursday.
"The choking game involves intentionally trying to choke oneself or someone else with one's hand or a noose to obtain a brief euphoric state, or a high," said Robin L. Toblin of the CDC's
Public health officials are calling attention to the practice because most parents were unaware of it until their children died. Nearly 90% of those who died were boys playing alone. Signs of the game include bloodshot eyes, marks on the neck, severe headaches, and ropes, scarves or belts tied to bedroom furniture, according to a CDC report.
The activity cuts off the blood supply to the brain, which deprives it of oxygen and can kill brain cells. Children typically lose consciousness, followed by a floating and tingling feeling as oxygen-rich blood rushes back to the brain.
Permanent disability can develop. The practice also puts children at risk of concussions, fractures, hemorrhaging in the eyes and coma.
The game has been played for decades but has become more deadly as children use ligatures that allow them to play alone. In the study, 67 of 70 deaths that were detailed in news reports occurred when children were by themselves.
It is also widespread, with deaths reported in 31 states. The number of choking-game fatalities is probably underreported, Toblin said, and there is no way to get an accurate national total since they aren't regularly reported or listed on death certificates. >>>>
Hotels with a political past: These places played key roles in American politics and political slang.
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| - | Lakers' Gasol is a quick study, an instant hero -- and homeless |
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| - | Northern Illinois University shooting leaves 6 dead, 16 wounded |
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These days Khaleda Begum, 25, hardly leaves the confines of her one-bedroom flat.
And when she does, her heart thumps and she looks over her shoulder in terror. For, in the eyes of her Muslim family, Khaleda has done the unthinkable.
Disgusted by her arranged marriage to a cousin - a suitor found for her by her father - she has fled her family home and now, fearful of reprisals, lives under police protection.
Khaleda's story makes shocking reading for anyone who is under the misguided belief that such marriages do not regularly go on in
For Khaleda, who was born in
And according to Khaleda - who today, having escaped "the marriage from hell," lives in hiding with her British partner, Phil - she is far from alone.
She says: "Virtually every Asian girl I have ever met has an arranged marriage and the vast majority of them are to their cousins.
"It is well known within the community that such marriages do produce deformed babies. No one talks about it, but it is one of the reasons why I found such a marriage to someone so closely related to myself to be so very repugnant.
"Just before I was forced to marry I heard of one of my cousins who'd been forced to marry her auntie's son.
"They had a baby daughter who died and when they asked doctors why, they were told it was because of inter-breeding. They were told the parents were too closely related to have a normal baby.
"And this was just one of many instances I would hear of. Anyone who thinks it doesn't happen is in denial. As I know from the most painful and personal experience, it is barbaric and unnatural.
"Marrying someone who is related to you - and being forced to do so - goes against all your natural urges. It is not racist to tell the truth. What I cannot understand is why it is allowed to go on in this country at all."
Khaleda's parents, Miryam and Khalid, came to
A third son, now 25, followed, before their much-wanted daughter, Khaleda, was born.
"I had a happy childhood. I was especially close to my mother and, until my wedding, I shared a bedroom with her," she says.
"I loved it - we would spend hours talking, especially at night. I was the ideal Muslim daughter - I wore traditional Asian clothes and always helped with the housework."
Many of Khaleda's extended family lived nearby and weekends were often filled with family parties, some of them wedding celebrations.
"I was about eight when I remember the first ceremony I went to," says Khaleda.
"I remember thinking how beautiful the bride's dress was and I looked forward to having my own husband and family.
"But as I grew older I began to understand that any husband would be chosen for me. It was something I found extremely worrying. My mother's marriage was arranged but my father was cold and dominant, and it wasn't happy.
"When I was about 12, I remember saying: 'You won't make me have an arranged marriage, will you?' I'd begun to realise that many Asian women were forced to marry, even forced to marry their cousins.
"The thought of marrying someone I didn't know, and someone who was related to me, was disgusting."
Yet, as Khaleda reached her teens her father became stricter.
"I went to local state schools but unlike friends who went to parties and clubs, I knew that wasn't our way. It didn't bother me - I accepted our culture was different.
"Instead, I concentrated on my studies - I was in the top set for virtually every subject and enjoyed family parties at weekends."
Having gained nine GCSEs with top grades, Khaleda left school at 16 to go to college to do A-levels in English literature, Urdu and computing. Later, aged 19, she began courses in book-keeping and childcare.
"By now my father had begun talking about when I would be married and I realised that was my fate. I tried not to dwell on it but I purposely didn't even bother with meeting boys as I knew it was pointless."
Khaleda concentrated on her ambition to become a teacher, finding a job in telesales to fund herself through college. It was around this time that she met Phil Williams, a delivery driver.
"Phil lived down the road," she recalls. "I used to see him when I popped to the shops or walked to the bus stop.
"At first we just nodded hello. I used to keep my head down - he looked so lovely but I knew it couldn't go any further."
However, after two months the pair began talking and Khaleda found herself falling for Phil.
"He was so quiet and I just liked him so much," she says. "I used to see him when I went to college or sneak around to his house, telling my parents I was seeing a friend. I even bought a mobile phone - something my parents had forbidden - so I could speak to him secretly at home."
Life seemed fantastic. Adds Khaleda: "I had met Phil and also adored earning my own money and being independent. Within two months of working I'd been promoted to a junior managerial role.
"However, one day when I came home my father was waiting for me at the front door. As I went in he said I wasn't to go to work any more. Apparently some family members told him it could bring shame on the family and that a woman's place was in the home. I was devastated."
From then Khaleda was hardly allowed out of her room. Ominously, letters marked "private" began arriving from
"I knew something was happening," she says. "I would regularly hear my father on the phone speaking in Urdu in muffled tones. I worked out the letters were from his family in
"I was terrified that my worst nightmare was coming true. No one spoke to me about it at all but at night, when everyone thought I was asleep, I'd hear my parents arguing about whether I should have an arranged marriage.
"I even used to hear my brothers rowing with my father about it. I would lie crying in bed, hearing them shout they didn't want me to be forced into marriage. But my father didn't listen to anyone."
Worse, was Khaleda's father's choice of groom. "Haram, my husband-to-be, was my father's cousin and about 20 years older than me.
"My brothers nicknamed him Fatso because he was so overweight. As he spoke no English and had always lived in
"By now, Phil and I were very much in love. We regularly met in secret and I saw my future with him, not with some ugly man who I'd never even met.
"I told my mother I couldn't have an arranged marriage but she said I had no choice. I had no one to turn to. I knew then that refusing to get married would bring enormous shame on my family and that if I did, I may live in fear of reprisals from my family for the rest of my life."
A date was set for Khaleda's £25,000 wedding in
The celebrations, including dancing and singing, would last for two weeks.
"Almost immediately family members visited with gifts and greetings," she says, "but I couldn't stop crying. I was still seeing Phil and, when I told him, he was completely shocked. Like me, he couldn't believe such a thing was happening."
Four weeks later, the whole family flew to
"Haram had a large family of eight crammed into a tiny two-bedroom house, so there would be no privacy. I felt as if my whole life was ending."
On the day of the ceremony, held at the family home, a priest arrived. Khaleda, adorned in a gold wedding dress and surrounded by family and friends, sat with her husband beside her, choking back sobs. She had only ever seen him from a distance before.
"I couldn't look at him," she recalls. "I didn't want to speak to him. As a little girl I'd always dreamed of a perfect wedding day. The sick reality was I was marrying a relative. It was a nightmare.
"After the ceremony I sat on a bed in his home that was decorated with petals for our wedding night. Haram locked the door and began to touch my face and take my jewellery off. His hands made me feel nauseous.
I kept brushing them away, repeating 'no.' Tears rolled down my cheeks and, even now, I cannot talk of that night as it totally disgusts me."
The following day Khaleda could take no more, running back to her mother - but she was furious.
"She told me I was married and I would just have to get on with it," she says, "I was distraught and felt so betrayed. I couldn't believe how my parents could have done this to me."
For the next four weeks Khaleda lived with Haram and his family. During this time she regularly texted and rang Phil. Eventually, she was sent back to the
As soon as the plane touched down at Manchester Airport, Khaleda ran into a waiting Phil's arms.
"Seeing Phil again made me realise how much I loved him. I knew then we could never be apart again," she says.
Within four months the rest of Khaleda's family and Haram had come back to the UK, living again in the three-bedroom house. Haram was expected to share the bedroom with Khaleda but she made excuses and always ensured she slept on the sofa.
"My worst nightmare was that I would get pregnant," she says. "But it wasn't only the thought of having a baby with Haram that revolted me, I was simply terrified that any baby would be terribly deformed or even stillborn."
Research has shown that babies born to cousins are twice as likely to suffer a birth defect than one born to a couple who are not related. While the risk is lowered if someone marries their father's cousin, it is still "reasonably high," an expert said.
So Khaleda refused to sleep with her husband and her whole family refused to speak to her.
"Then one day, about six months after we married, I went to my bedroom to get changed to find Haram lying on my bed," she says, "I just looked at him and realised I couldn't go on living like this, desperately unhappy, as an unwelcome stranger in my own home."
The following day, when everyone was out, Khaleda plotted her escape.
"There wasn't time to pack," she explains, "so I quickly gathered up just my passport and a small make-up bag. Then, I took a few photos as mementoes of my family and walked out."
Khaleda knew her family would report her missing so she fled to London, staying with a friend of Phil's. A few days later the couple flew to France, staying in cheap hotels, and later with friends abroad, for three months.
When she came back to the UK, she found she was listed as a missing person and the police wanted to speak to her.
Once she explained her plight they put her in touch with IKWRO, an organisation that helps women in such situations, and it helped her and Phil find safe accommodation.
"But then a relative, a distant cousin, told Phil in March last year that my mother was seriously ill and had been asking for me," she says.
Worried her mum would die and she'd never see her again, Khaleda went back home with a police escort, only to find her mother was well.
"It was just a trick to get me to come back," she says. "This time I told them I was leaving and I wasn't coming back at all. I haven't heard from my family since and I have to accept that I won't ever see them again."
Khaleda went into hiding in London. Since then a friend of Phil's has been threatened by thugs, who said they'd put a gun to his head because he wouldn't reveal the couple's whereabouts.
Consequently, today, they live under police protection, their flat alarmed to alert the local police station.
"While I know I made the right decision to leave, I have lost all my confidence and I am frightened that a relative will see me and find out where I am, and there could be reprisals," she says.
"Sometimes I just sit and cry and I've since been prescribed anti-depressants by my GP.
"I feel so guilty at the shame I know my family has suffered and not a day goes by when I don't wonder how my mother is. I miss them so much.
"Even as a Muslim I have no idea why families want to intermarry like this. I can only think it is to keep wealth within the family. But unless this practice is outlawed, more young Muslim women like me will have their lives ruined."
Sadly, Khaleda's future is far from clear. She longs to marry Phil but is still legally wed to Haram.
"I desperately want a divorce but I am too frightened to make contact," she says. "And as for my career, well, I am too scared even to pursue my dream as a teacher."
And so another young Muslim woman's life is ruined by this outdated practice. Just how many more babies will have to be born deformed, or even dead, before it is finally stopped?
How my twins saved my life by kicking loose a tumour while still in my womb
Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate,") generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity.
Culture is manifested in music, literature, painting and sculpture, theater and film and other things.
Although some people identify culture in terms of consumption and consumer goods (as in high culture, low culture, folk culture, or popular culture)
, anthropologists understand "culture" to refer not only to consumption goods, but to the general processes which produce such goods and give them meaning, and to the social relationships and practices in which such objects and processes become embedded. For them, culture thus includes technology, art, science, as well as moral systems.
Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically. This capacity has long been taken as a defining feature of the humans. However, primatologists have identified aspects of culture among humankind's closest relatives in the animal kingdom.
As a rule, archaeologists focus on material culture (the material remains of human activity), whereas social anthropologists focus on social interactions, statuses and institutions, and cultural anthropologists focus on norms and values. This division of labor reflects the different conditions under which different anthropologists have worked, and the practical need to focus research. It does not necessarily reflect a theory of culture that conceptually distinguishes between the material, the social, and the normative, nor does it reflect three competing theories of culture.
Culture can be defined as all the behaviors, ways of life, arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation. Culture has been called "the way of life for an entire society." As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, norms of behavior such as law and morality, and systems of belief as well as the arts and gastronomy. 
Various definitions of culture reflect differing theories for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity. Edward Burnett Tylor writing from the perspective of social anthropology in the UK in 1971 described culture in the following way: "Culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society."
More recently, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) (2002) described culture as follows: "... culture should be regarded as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs".
While these two definitions cover a range of meaning, they do not exhaust the many uses of the term "culture." In 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions.
These definitions, and many others, provide a catalog of the elements of culture. The items cataloged (e.g., a law, a stone tool, a marriage) each have an existence and life-line of their own. They come into space-time at one set of coordinates and go out of it another. While here, they change, so that one may speak of the evolution of the law or the tool.
A culture, then, is by definition at least, a set of cultural objects. Anthropologist Leslie White asked: "What sort of objects are they? Are they physical objects? Mental objects? Both? Metaphors? Symbols? Reifications?" In Science of Culture (1949), he concluded that they are objects "sui generis"; that is, of their own kind. In trying to define that kind, he hit upon a previously unrealized aspect of symbolization, which he called "the symbolate"—an object created by the act of symbolization. He thus defined culture as "symbolates understood in an extra-somatic context."
The key to this definition is the discovery of the symbolate.
Seeking to provide a practical definition, social theorist, Peter Walters, describes culture simply as "shared schematic experience", including, but not limited to, any of the various qualifiers (linguistic, artistic, religious, etc.) included in previous definitions.>>>>>>>
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