Takes A Village

EVEN SOME of her most faithful media supporters are now wondering if Hillary Rodham Clinton may have gotten a little too greedy when she accepted an $8 million advance to write her White House memoirs. The New York Times, which endorsed Mrs. Clinton's successful Senate bid, called her book deal "an affront to common sense." "You don't have to be a hypocritical Clinton-hater to be concerned," admitted Joe Conason, a columnist for the New York Observer, who's defended the soon-to-be ex-first lady regularly for eight years.

Bullying is in the news a lot lately, and for good reason. Being bullied can be a searing, scarring experience, and in some ways, it might be a bigger problem than it ever was. In adulthood, we often push aside the memories of being bullied, try to forget it ever happened. But for those who've gone through it - and there are many - the dread, shame and even panic at being the butt of childhood bullying can last a lifetime. We live in an age when consciousness has been raised about the humiliation one youngster can inflict on another.

HOLLYWOOD -- The host gets the photo shoot, the nominees get the luncheon and the winners, of course, get the Oscars. But the people who make the Academy Awards telecast possible get the cool Oscar gear - sweat shirts and hats emblazoned with the show's number and famous logo. That and all the assorted "truck food" they can eat. The Academy Awards show is consistently the largest entertainment-driven live broadcast in the world, and it takes roughly 1,000 people to make it happen. At this year's production meeting, there were more than 200 in the room, representing the disparate areas of expertise the show requires, from the medical staff to the stage manager, from the set designer to the telephone technician, the limousine coordinator to the director.

STARNER'S DAM. Melrose. Smallwood. Know where they are in Carroll County? If the county commissioners approve, these places would soon achieve the status of official "rural villages."The county Planning and Zoning Commission has approved listings of 35 such places -- many you've never heard of -- for designation as villages with defined geographic boundaries.With eight established municipalities, Carroll is the leader in the region in incorporated towns. Now the list would grow to nearly blanket the county with villages.

I PULLED INTO WHITE River Junction in July anticipating a born-again Vermont town crackling with artistic energy and a glam organic vibe. Instead, I found a tidy, nearly deserted village and nary a hint of cool. So much for Internet intelligence -- or so I thought. White River Junction's facade served as an ideal ruse for this unsuspecting traveler. I quickly discovered that the village exults in its persona as an arts hub masquerading as a sleepy way station to elsewhere. That anyone would stumble into town expecting instant coolness only escalates the amusement of residents such as Kim Souza, who abides by the village's unofficial motto: "Make your own fun."

It may have started out as a cartoon, but it's coming in on giant cats' paws and not with a whimper, but a roar. When The Lion King begins its 14-week run at the Hippodrome Theatre on Thursday, it will launch the longest engagement of any touring show in Baltimore history. And though we've been inundated over the years with Lion King books, CDs, stuffed animals, T-shirts, watches, snow globes and baseball caps, there's still plenty of magic in the show's mid-Atlantic premiere. Adapted from Disney's 1994 animated film, the Tony Award-winning musical tells the story of Simba, the cub who flees the kingdom of the Pridelands after his father's death.

"It Takes a Village Idiot: Complicating the Simple Life," by Jim Mullen (Simon & Schuster, 220 pages, $23). Mullen, an inveterate Manhattanite, a writer responsible for among other things, the "Hot Sheet" irony column in EntertainmentWeekly, shocked himself and virtually all who knew him by moving into the dairy farming country of the upstate New York Catskills. This mook is a fanciful memoir of the experience, a respectful if often awed tapestry of observations of the fundamental differences between modern city living and traditional agrarian existence.

What a joyful, uplifting story that greeted me as I read my morning paper on Friday! The front page story on artist Dylan Guest ("Baltimore County grad wins national art awards," Aug. 17) should serve as an inspiration to every child with a "different" learning style, every parent and every teacher looking forward or dreading the start of the school year. The struggles and hardships this obviously gifted young man has gone through and now has not only overcome but triumphed is amazing.

Since moving to Carroll County last fall, Terry Pitt has found herself immersed in pastries and books. As the founder of The Stone Soup Foundation, a nonprofit that provides meals for the homeless and people in need in Carroll County, Pitt raises money for the organization by combining two of her hobbies - baking and reading. "When I moved here to Carroll County last October, I decided to take a different direction," said Pitt, a professional caterer for more than 11 years.