ConfessionsCorner
BY VICKI MORELAND

This Trailer Park Feels Familiar

I’m originally from Alabama, where the summers are sweltering, the Southern accents are thick, and the cooking is good. We also had our share of trailer parks, and my bus stopped at few on the way to school — but none of the people I knew from these places were like the characters in The Great American Trailer Park Musical. And that’s a darn shame.

WellRed
BY WEB EDITOR KARSEN PRICE

Big Girls Do Cry ... On Planes

The hit musical Jersey Boys is performing in Las Vegas at the Palazzo indefinitely. I know this because I recently stayed at The Venetian hotel/casino, big sister to the newer Palazzo hotel/casino, and every time my friend and I stepped into the elevator, there was Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons singing “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” Indefinitely.

WellRed
BY WEB EDITOR KARSEN PRICE

Bye-Bye Eastland

By now I’m sure you are aware that, after much to-do, Eastland Mall closed its doors this week.

Talk about a complete and total reversal of fortunes. I remember back in the day — before the shootings, before all the anchor stores jumped ship — when Eastland Mall was the place to be.

ConfessionsCorner
BY VICKI MORELAND

It's Just My Backyard

This time of year, I usually drink my coffee on the patio and watch the birds flit from tree to tree, waiting their turns at the birdfeeders. Occasionally, they watch me as if they do not like my presence. I suspect they are nervous about my dog, Molly, who usually follows me outside.

WellRed
BY WEB EDITOR KARSEN PRICE

Justifying My Love For Justified

It’s official. I have a new TV boyfriend. And he shoots people.

I like that about Raylan Givens, the protagonist of FX’s new series, Justified. I realize this makes me a bit of a hypocrite. I get infuriated with my husband over little things — for instance, it aggravates me that he won’t let fellow drivers in front of our car, and he rarely puts up his clothes (he will wash, dry, and even fold, but put up? Never!). However, Raylan Givens can shoot, on average, four to six people in an hour, and I love him for it.

ConfessionsCorner
BY HEATHER FOWLER

Me, Myself & The Puffer

I never imagined I could become attached to a fish. But it happened.

About nine months after setting up my saltwater aquarium, I saw the sweetest, tiniest, little puffer fish at the fish store. With its big, blue eyes and clumsy body, at first sight it seemed more than just a fish. That’s not to say I don’t care about all of my fish — I get pretty upset if any of them die — but with the puffer, it was different. Instantly, I knew that this fish was more … more like a kitten or puppy, more like a “real” pet.

WellRed
BY WEB EDITOR KARSEN PRICE

Nothing Ringling Brothers About Cavalia

Let me begin by saying that I hate the circus. All those sounds, smells and colors, animals in cages, women dangling from trapezes, and men stalking around on stilts … it feels like a bad dream after too much Chinese food.

But as you probably know, I’m rather obsessed with horses. So, I was pretty happy about the free media tickets I received to Cavalia this month. Happy, but skeptical. I expected Barnum & Bailey with horses.

WellRed
BY WEB EDITOR KARSEN PRICE

So You Think You Don't Know Shakespeare?

I was texting a friend the other day, and I wrote, “Therein lies the rub.” She texted back, asking, What rub? What are you talking about?

It reminded me of something Elise Wilkinson told me in an interview for my May 2010 story on Collaborative Arts Theatre — that Shakespeare had coined hundreds of words “from scratch.” It made me wonder. What exactly did “the rub” mean … and where did the phrase come from?

I searched (nerd alert), and yep, it was Shakespeare. Hamlet first said the phrase “There’s the rub” back in the early 1600s.