| Leila Elwy
Leila ElwyI am happy with most of the acting I’ve done. Let’s say 80 percent.Born in 1962, Leila Ahmed Elwy grew up in the neighborhood of El-Helmeya El-Gedida. Her Egyptian father worked in a tourism company, while her Greek mother, Stella, was an anchorwoman at Radio Cairo’s local European Service. Her parents, neighbors before they married, shared a passion for music and theater they passed on to Leila, who dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer. Elwy’s first brush with fame was through radio shows with famous children’s show presenter Abla Fadeela (see Egypt Today cover story August 2005 for more on Abla Fadeela). .
The latest 'Idol' boasts North Texas ties
He wasn't featured much till the early Hollywood rounds, and even then it was only because he had such a mellow reaction to being sent to the top 24. Performing experience: Castro was the drummer for Dallas-based rock band Keeping Lions, whose MySpace page lives even though the band is no more: www.myspace.com/keepinglions Fun fact: Castro is the ex-boyfriend of singer Cheyenne Kimball, and was featured in episodes of the Frisco native's MTV reality series, according to the Rockwall Herald-Banner. JASON YEAGER Age: 28 Hometown: Grand Prairie How to spot him: Look for the big smile and the shock of blond at the front of his dark brown hair. Audition city: Dallas How he did in the audition episodes: According to Yeager (see Q&A, page 6E), he did very well, but you'd never know it from how little we got to see him in the audition episodes.
W.Va. businesses strike gold promoting good health
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Nobody has health problems like West Virginia, and maybe that's why the state is beginning to become known for its knack in fighting those health problems. "We've gotten good practice," says Ralph Gaines, chief executive of Charleston-based beBetter Networks Inc., a wellness consulting company. "We've developed a real expertise." The state leads the nation in the percentage of women who smoke during pregnancy, younger adults who smoke and people who suffer heart attacks, strokes and from heart disease, among other maladies. "With West Virginia's smoking issue, weight issue, there's no question that many people need services like ours," Gaines said. BeBetter runs corporate-wellness programs such as organizing health screenings and assessments and it's experiencing massive growth.
Author reads into "Other People" stories
Zadie Smith might be best known as the audaciously skilled young author of "White Teeth" and "On Beauty," but she claims her gifts lie elsewhere. "I think I'm a pretty talented writer," she once told the poet Robert Hass, "but I'm a great reader." Judging by "The Book of Other People," an anthology of stories she edited to benefit 826, Dave Eggers' writing lab for kids, Smith might be on to something. Who else would put graphic novelist Chris Ware and Irish novelist Colm Toibin between the same pages of a short story anthology? Smith's instructions to them were simple: "Make somebody up." That permission seems to rub off on the work. "The Book of Other People" is full of writers taking chances. Some of the characters we meet here talk their way into existence, like Rhoda, the chatterbox grandmother in Jonathan Safran Foer's story.
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