Bankhead

McGruff a celebrity? Yes, its true! When you think of the word celebrity movie stars or pop stars might be the first to come to mind but entertainers are just one kind of celebrity.

Kids love to meet costumed charactersSanta, Spiderman and yes, even McGruff the Crime Dog are very real celebrities to them!

McGruff the Crime Dog has been teaching kids to "Take A Bite Out Of Crime" since the 1980s. In fact, the famous pooch turned 27 (or 189 in dog years) on July 1, 2007.

The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) is a nonprofit group who works to keep kids and families safe. It promotes public service ads under the National Citizens' Crime Prevention Campaign with McGruff as its spoke dog. You see him on TV, print ads and sometimes he even makes personal appearances.

McGruff has become well known through these public service announcements and also by making appearances at national and local events. He's done everything from walking in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York to being a guest on national talk shows and sitcoms.

McGruff's celebrity status is not slowing down any. With the coming of high-tech crimes such as identity theft and internet safety issues, McGruff is still talking -- and teaching people about preventing crime. Now McGruff doesnt just make high profile appearances at national events like National League Baseball games he will even visit your local community. Nationwide law enforcement agencies have more than 4,000 McGruff costumes that they use to bring McGruff to their communities.

Your school or other group can schedule a visit from McGruff to add some extra fun to your events. Fall carnivals and other school fundraising events are great places to have McGruff. Health and safety fairs, Crime Prevention Month and Halloween events and community events related to public safety are also great times to invite the famous K-9.

McGruffs official website at ncpc.org offers more information about public appearances. It also has warnings for citizens about such topics as telemarketing fraud and cyberbullying. The website also gives up to date information about legislation, crime rates and public opinion surveys.

If youd like to schedule a visit from McGruff for your next event, call your local law enforcement agency and ask where the closest McGruff is. If you cannot locate a costume, you can contact the NCPC for more information.

Jennifer Lawton enjoys writing about topics of interest to parents and families. She is a frequent writer for http://SuperFundraiser.com a site that provides ideas for sports team fundraisers youth groups and school fundraisers.

Quark Soup is a cryptic collection of alluring poetry that provides fodder for deep introspection, while personifying planets and attributing humans with celestial properties. The subjects of childbirth and supernovas are cleverly interwoven, often cloaking the authors intent. In great mystery, cosmic wonders flow within love and relationships, titillating the readers imagination.

Examine this segment from Coil of Life:

Hurling matter in all directions,
the particles of the embryonic universe
rush away from each other.
In the beginning there was nothing
but plasma soup. Less than a second later
pure energy became
a slippery birth cry still measurable
fifteen billion years later
in the decaying echoes of space.

***

Is the author referring to the birth of a child, or a universe?

In this excerpt from Aurora, Ms. Ball appears to be pleading with a cold-hearted scientist who has lost the capacity to perceive beauty and perhaps also the ability to show affection. Her earnest entreaty follows.

***

If I could capture that spectrum
the atomic neon sign of your lost wonder
and feed it to you on a spoon
when your lonely vigil against
poverty and incompetence
becomes ball and chain
Id give up my own food
stand with my back to the solar wind
close my eyes to beauty
to keep you warm.

Id be your personal aurora
your talisman against the dark lure of ennui
an electrical current charging
your ionosphere.

***

Science and passion fold together in masterful imagery as love, loss, and motherhood slip in and out of the image streams captured by Ms. Ball.

The subject of loss is tackled in several pieces, most particularly in Green, which addresses the loss of a mother to cancer. Examine this excerpt:

my fingers worked independent
from intent
tracing the landscape of her arched back
as she bent over her porcelain taskmaster
begging the drugs which she couldnt swallow
to kill the disease
indistinguishable from her own cells

***

Honest emotion covers themes like lonely childhood, the perfect universe, an impersonal lover, and the infinite joy of parenthood. With skillful word tapestries, the poems are infused with the wisdom of deep thought and experience, a rare commodity in such a young author. The collection is highly recommended, and will be treasured on this reviewers bookshelf.

Aaron Paul Lazar resides in Upstate New York with his wife, three daughters, two grandsons, mother-in-law, two dogs, and four cats. After writing in the early morning hours, he works as an electrophotographic engineer at Kodak, in Rochester, New York.

Double Fort is the founding book of the LeGarde Mystery series and was released in January, 2005. Upstaged, the second, was released in October, 2005. His third, Tremolo: cry of the loon, was released via Twilight Times Books under the Paladin Timeless Imprint in fall, 2006. The first book in his second series, Moore Mysteries, will be released later in 2007. Mr. Lazar is currently working on his eleventh book, Lady Blues. He is a regular columnist for FMAM (Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine) and The Back Room, A Cozy Retreat for Writers and Readers, and has been published often in the Absolute Write Newsletter. Contact him at: Aaron.Lazar@yahoo.com, visit his blog at http://www.aaronlazar.blogspot.com, or stop by his website at http://www.legardemysteries.com

Introduction

No doubt that at some part of your life so far you have had a crush on someone, maybe that is why you are here now.

You might also be here to find out how to tell what true love is or how to tell if he/she is the "perfect" match for you, well to be totally honest, noone can tell you who mr/mrs perfect is, and noone can tell you what true love is, because "true love" and "perfect" both mean different things for different people.

There is also two different types of love, I got taught these by an ex-girlfriend and didn't really understand them at the time.

Type one is "loving" someone, anyone can love someone, but love is just a word, and i love my mates/mum/sister/etc but it doesn't mean they are my perfect partner.

Type two is "being in love" with someone, the main difference with this one is that its not just a word, its a feeling, a feeling that you feel for a certain person. Being in love is the one that makes your heart jump into your mouth, the one that gets you excited everytime you see them, and being in love is the most important thing in a relationship, if you have two people that are totally "in love" with each other then the chances are they will have a long, strong and happy relationship.

Teen Dating PT2 - Whats What

As if life is not already confusing enough, and now we are gonna chuck in some love. Once you reach your teenage years you will no doubt start experimenting with the opposite sex, one of the things you might experiment with is dating.

Dating is a great experience, it can teach you many things, some are useless, but some things can change you for the rest of your life, because that person that has asked you on the date could be the person you spend the rest of you life with, it is a scary thought but there really aint much that you should be scared of, because its all part of the fun.

If you are ever asked out on a date here are a few bits of advice;

* Do you like the person that has asked you?
Dating is meant to be a fun experience, if your not interested in the person that has asked you, do the smart thing and say no, if you are interested in the person then great what you waiting for.

* Does this person pressure you?
If the person that has asked you tries to put pressure on you to do things that you do not want to do say no, you could still date but do not let them pressure you into things you do not want to do.

* Does this person make you feel safe?
The best thing about love is knowing that the other person makes you feel safe, if you are afraid of the person, or scared he might do something you dont want to do, its probally a good idea to skip the date.

* Do you share interest/hobbies?
If you both share similar interest/hobbies it makes dates a whole lot easier since it means that you will have something to talk about that the other person will be interested in listening to.

Teen Dating PT 3 - Further Down the Line

Once you start dating the same person for a while and the dating turns more into a relationship, you might start to feel pressurised to do more intimate things such as sex, your friends will also start asking questions such as "How far have you gone", or "have you shagged him/her yet", but you should not give into this pressure unless you really feel that you are ready.

If you do feel that you are ready to start having a sexual relationship, remember to take pre-cautions and have safe sex by using a condom and other forms of contraception, and girls don't think that its a boys job to remember a condom, it doesn't hurt you to have a couple spare. If you fail to have safe sex then you are exposing yourself to STIs and un-planned pregnancies.

Article written by & copyright MyCYC.com - Free Teen Blogs, for more article like these please visit my homepage.