Steven

First it was my brother, Bobby, the boy who never met a stranger. Bobby was much like Daddy in that he always tried to make everybody laugh. Everybody liked Bobby. We grew up poor, but Bobby always had people buying him stuff because they liked him. He was just that sort of person. But, just like Daddy, Bobby s flaw was that he was an alcoholic. Bobby was incarcerated for not paying on his fines for DUI and also possession of marijuana. He had been trying to get his life together. He was enrolled in a program at a technical college where he was taking auto body repair. He said he felt different there at school--that he really applied himself and that others didn t even act like they cared. He finally had hope. But one trip back with his old friends in his old hometown was enough to get him back into one of his old patterns and he...

Lower back pain caused by a herniated lumbar disc is a very common problem and a major reason for lost productivity and time off the job in the United States. First a bit about what a disk is. Our vertebrae spinal bones are cushioned by pads of tissue called disks. The disks are made up of a outer capsule or ring called the annulus which is made up of a tough fiber amterail. It surrounds a nucleus, which is a spongy center of jelly material. When disks are healthy and working like they should, they serve as shock absorbers to the spine and keep us flexible. When the disks are damaged somehow by an injury or age or disease, they begin to bulge abnormally and can even rupture the jelly-like material breaks through the tough outer layer. This is called a herniated disk. Herniated disks can occur anywhere in the spine, but most of them...

Melissa Etheridge has long been known as an artist who produces music that fits the core of what many consider American Rock and Roll. Her style combines folk, blues, rock and roll and searing guitar melodies that cut to the soul. Her wide-ranging style has captured the hearts and ears of millions of fans, and Etheridge is returning to the stage in the summer of 2006. A look at her life will at least partially explain how her style came to be. Early Life Etheridge was born in Leavenworth, Kansas on May 29, 1961. She almost immediately became involved with music, as she learned to play the guitar at the age of eight and began writing music shortly thereafter. She played in a series of local bands through her teen-age years and was accepted into the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston after high school. Etheridge stayed at...