Where Few Divas Dare To Tread

by Angela Rocco DeCarlo copyright, 2009 We just can’t let go of US Airways Captain Chelsey B. Sullenberger, III. We want to look at him. Listen to him. Stand in the heat of his reflected glory to stem the chill of months of castastrastrokes. Sully and his remarkable crew of the January, 15, US Airways flight 1549, have taken up the huge empty space in our national psyche reserved for those who are undeniably honorable and competent. Every culture needs its heroes and ours have gone missing. As a country, we feel adrift in a sea of offensive behaviors on nearly every front: Deceptive incompetent politicians, effete Wall Street greedmeisters, mortgage hucksters on the make, and entrepreneurial Octomom, primed to reap millions from her planned popping of six, and than the full house hand of eight babies, for which we Californians will pay the tab. We’re sinking in a grotesque nightmare of fiscal and moral morass. Sully and his crew threw us a life raft. Is it any wonder we are dazzled by the Miracle on the Hudson crew with their brilliant, but modest, success in saving lives – at least for the moment. For we all know such miracles are merely a ...

Title: PALENKE SOULTRIBE Live! en Gotica Bogota Location: Bogota, Colombia Description: Event: PALENKE SOULTRIBE Live! en Gotica Bogota SABADO 13 What: Club Party Host: GOTICA BOGOTA Start Time: Saturday, December 13 at 11:00pm End Time: Sunday, December 14 at 3:00am Where: CLUB GOTICA To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below: http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=37730394319 Start Date: 2008-12-13 Start Time: 23:00 End Date: 2008-12-14 End Time: 03:00

Title: Surin Elephant Round-up by Anna Carranza Location: Surin Thailand Description: It’s not everyday you get to party with the elephants, but in mid November, a small town north of Bangkok celebrates one of Thailand’s best-known annual festivals. Once an ancient courtesan display and now criticized for commercial exploitation. For three days, hundreds of trained elephants parade in medieval warfare, play football and engage in a gargantuan game of tug of war. Diva tip, don’t wrestle the elephant yourself, unless you want to be dragged in front of forty thousand spectators. Tickets for The \"Elephant Show\" 500 Baht and 200 Baht Advanced reservations are available for 500 Baht tickets. Please call Surin Provincial Office: 0-4451-2039 Contact information: TAT Northeastern Office - Region 1 Tel: 66 4421 3666, 66 4421 3030 Fax: 66 4421 3667 Start Date: 2008-11-18 End Date: 2008-11-19

(dates change every year - this year depending on insurance laws) The streets of Ottery St. Mary are set ablaze every year with men, women and children running rampant carrying tar-soaked barrels.  This tradition has been carried on from as far back as the 17th century and is said to rid the streets of evil “as if burned off.”  The hoisting of a barrel onto your back is considered “a great honor” and given only to men who pass the barrel onto another male relative, and so on, until midnight.

If natural phenomena is more your style, head over to the northern region of Thailand, the Nong Kai Province.  Every year on the first full moon of October spectators are awed by hundreds of lights and balls of fire that surge abruptly into the night above the Mekong River.  This occurrence directly follows the end of the Buddhist Rains Retreat, and is the main event of a two day Thai festival along the river including light and sound shows, an illuminated boat contest, the King's Cup long-tailed boat race and food offerings.  These Naga fireballs, named after the mythical fire-spitting serpent Naga, say to bring over 400,000 visitors to the region year after year.