Garb

POSTVILLE, Iowa -- Used to be if you wanted a quick breakfast here, your choices were pretty much limited to doughnuts: one with sticky pink frosting or one smeared with gooey chocolate. Now you can get a kosher blueberry bagel. Or a loaf of dense, tangy Russian bread. Even a Mexican pastry.Diversity has arrived in this tiny farm town, and coping with it is a struggle for many locals.For 150 years, Postville was all white, all Christian, all Norman Rockwell, an everyone-knows-everyone, live-and-die-here kind of town run by farmers of German and Norwegian stock.

MIAMI -- Cornerback Ray Buchanan of the Atlanta Falcons understands what Super Bowl week is all about.It's not about football, it's about getting noticed on the biggest stage in the sport. It's all about being part of the hype.That's why he "guaranteed" the Falcons were going to beat the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII last week.P.T. Barnum would have understood that. The point is to get the people in the tent. The writers were sure to stop by his podium yesterday at Media Day to check out the guarantee stuff.

Awadagin Pratt cuts a glamorous figure at the keyboard. His unconventional concert garb -- colorful, open-necked shirts and casual trousers -- are stylish enough to grace the cover of GQ. Without a shirt, his athletic body could land him on the cover of Men's Health and Fitness. To put it simply, he's drop-dead beautiful. His piano-playing is another matter.Pratt, who performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major last night with the Baltimore Symphony, idolizes the playing of the late Glenn Gould.

EIGHTH-GRADER Eddie Allan sounded the call on his trumpet. Guidance counselor Joe Dymek -- dressed in turkey garb -- supervised the students at the starting line.When the starting gun popped, they took off on Burleigh Manor Middle School's seventh Turkey Run on Wednesday.The 1.1-mile cross-country course wound around the Burleigh Manor and Centennial High School playing fields.Pupils finished amid shouts of encouragement from parents and teachers.Barbara Calvert of the Howard County Striders, a running club, clocked each child's time.

LONDON -- Britain's House of Lords, the upper chamber of Parliament, often resembles the world's most exclusive retirement community. But lately their lordships have been acting so robust it may kill them.Between catnaps and supper breaks, the graying politicians, religious leaders and aristocrats showed they can be as defiant as a bunch of teen-agers.They grudgingly voted Monday to let the country's top judge, the Lord Chancellor, shed his 17th-century ceremonial garb, enabling him to put away traditional tights and buckled slippers and dress in trousers, socks and shoes.

Vincent Anthony Hungerford, a loan officer by day and sometime rock-'n'-roll singer by night, died in a fire May 3 in his Charles Village apartment. The former Charles County resident was 34.Battalion Chief Hector L. Torres, a spokesman for the Baltimore Fire Department, said investigators have determined the fire started in the living room of Mr. Hungerford's home, in the 2700 block of St. Paul St. The cause of the blaze had not been officially determined.Mr....

WHILE THEY may look like extras from a 1940s prison movie, inmates at the Carroll County Detention Center are the real thing. The old-time, black-and-white-striped uniforms, with a red "P" (for prisoner) on the back, surely prevent walkaways and escapees from blending with the crowd. That's one benefit for public safety and better control at the crowded jail.But distinctive fashion is not the main reason that Carroll County Sheriff John H. Brown ordered the inmate garb last month. He says the two-piece uniform design, without pockets or a belt, makes it harder to smuggle contraband into and within the detention center.

Carroll County Sheriff John Brown, who made headlines last year when he announced he would house prisoners in tents to ease jail crowding, has caught the attention of judges and the public defender's office -- this time by issuing traditional prison-striped outfits to inmates.The new county jail uniform -- a black-and-white jumpsuit with a large red "P" emblazoned on the back -- might be good for Carroll County Detention Center security, but defense attorney Daniel Shemer says the garb could be prejudicial if inmates are forced to wear it to court.

While living in different regions of Algeria as a child, Karima Roudesli was introduced to the geographic variations of the country's traditional dress. The daughter of an oil company manager, Roudesli could afford to acquire brilliantly hued, embroidered dresses and suits for her dowry, a custom that she and other Muslim women adhere to with happy anticipation.Roudesli, 43, a linguist fluent in French, English, Spanish and Arabic, as well as its Algerian dialect, treasures the history behind Algeria's native customs, but she is also a self-proclaimed feminist who has never been one to shy away from snug jeans and a T-shirt.

The menu at "Queer Cafe" -- the omnibus title of an evening of short gay and lesbian plays produced by the new PussyCat Company at the Theatre Project -- features entrees ranging from domestic drama to more experimental poetic work.Though the poetic offerings are by far the most striking aspects of the production, the evening as a whole displays some impressive talent in terms of performance as well as writing.Shirlene Holmes' "Peaches" is the most audacious selection from its opening moment, when performance artist Krystal-Kleer strides on stage and proclaims, "Grab a seat and hold on fast."