Catholic Charities Community Services’ DIGNITY House was recently named Homeless Service Provider of the Year by Phoenix Neighborhood Services. DIGNITY House received the award for its outstanding efforts assisting women with intensive residential recovery to help them live an independent life. The award was presented last month during the city’s National Community Development Week celebration.

If any piece of classic American literature should be depicted on film with wildly decadent and boldly inventive style, it's "The Great Gatsby." After all, who was the character of Jay Gatsby himself if not a spinner of grandiose tales and a peddler of lavish dreams?

Just about all the actors in “The Big Wedding” are severely typecast. Diane Keaton is a high-strung, divorced mother like in “Something’s Gotta Give,” Robert De Niro is the father of somebody getting married like in “Meet the Fockers,” Amanda Seyfried is a blushing bride like in “Mamma Mia,” Robin Williams is an eccentric minister like in “License to Wed,” Topher Grace is a deadpan, quick-witted nice guy like in “That ‘70s Show,” and Katherine Heigl is a needy single woman like in every movie she does. Even though the actors are in their comfort zones, not a single person feels natural in “The Big Wedding.” That’s probably because the film doesn’t understand its own characters or their motivations. Nobody behind the camera has any idea what they’re doing, resulting in one of the most awkward romantic comedies of recent memory.

An Ahwatukee Foothills resident is making her dreams come true by providing much needed furniture to families getting back on their feet after homelessness.

Just about all the actors in “The Big Wedding” are severely typecast. Diane Keaton is a high-strung, divorced mother like in “Something’s Gotta Give,” Robert De Niro is the father of somebody getting married like in “Meet the Fockers,” Amanda Seyfried is a blushing bride like in “Mamma Mia,” Robin Williams is an eccentric minister like in “License to Wed,” Topher Grace is a deadpan, quick-witted nice guy like in “That ‘70s Show,” and Katherine Heigl is a needy single woman like in every movie she does. Even though the actors are in their comfort zones, not a single person feels natural in “The Big Wedding.” That’s probably because the film doesn’t understand its own characters or their motivations. Nobody behind the camera has any idea what they’re doing, resulting in one of the most awkward romantic comedies of recent memory.

The media loosely throws around the word “sociopath.” Many people don’t understand what being a sociopath means. But, if recent studies are correct, 1 in 25 people are considered to be sociopathic. That tells us that most of us will meet several sociopaths in our lifetime. The goal is meet them, work with them, pray with them, but do not get into a relationship with them. Attempting to have a relationship with an emotionally unavailable person will ultimately be psychologically destructive.

Harmony Korine seems to want it both ways, all day, with "Spring Breakers," his super-stylized descent into a sunbaked hell where bikini-clad, gun-toting college babes serve as our guides.

The only incredible thing about "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" is that way it makes Steve Carell so thoroughly and irreparably unlikable. In a film about magic tricks, this is the most difficult feat of all.

A federal judge has permanently blocked Arizona from cutting off funds to Planned Parenthood solely because the organization also performs abortions.

Q: Where can I take my old computers and cell phones to be recycled properly? — Suzanne

Alyssa Ragan

The Desert Vista boys basketball team will spend Saturday morning at the Chandler food bank at the Chandler Community Christian Community Center from 10 a.m. to noon. The players will help prepare and serve food.

Nearly every week someone asks me what they should do with their old electronic equipment and for many years I would tell them to smash it up, run it over with their truck or car, melt it down, or any of a dozen or so demises I have employed over the years but the bottom line was always, “then throw it in the garbage.” As an environmentally concerned citizen, I am officially appalled at my actions. I, of all people, should have known better, even in the early days, but I did not.

Desert Foothills United Methodist youth are getting a unique opportunity to spread Christmas cheer abroad by delivering donated gifts to needy families in Mexico.

An effort to get emergency funding to go toward domestic violence victims before the holidays failed to pass a vote before a city of Phoenix subcommittee on Wednesday.

Local police and firefighters will exchange toys for rides in cop cars and fire trucks on Saturday, Dec. 15 to benefit needy kids in the community.

When I hear the words “Holiday Spirit” I get a flood of great memories and an eagerness to continue traditions of giving. I can remember, when I was younger, the day after Thanksgiving we would start decorating for the upcoming Christmas holiday. I loved hanging the lights outside with my dad, drinking hot cocoa, watching holiday movies, trimming the tree with family and friends, shopping for that perfect present to bestow on someone.

This is it people, the long awaited day that Stephanie Meyer’s asinine chronicle of lame vampires, talking CGI werewolves, and the single worst female protagonist in all of fiction comes to a close. While the fandom may live on for decades, at least we’ll never have to suffer through one of these movies again. Of course Meyer’s could always write another novel and cash in. But maybe I’m speaking too soon. Perhaps “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2” will be the rare sequel that finally delivers on all the hype, at the very least working as a light guilty pleasure along the lines of “True Blood.”

Arizona voters will see Proposition 204 described on their ballots as a “tax increase’’ despite protests from proponents that it really is not.

A.W. Tozer once said, “Next to the Holy Scriptures, the greatest aid to the life of faith may be Christian biographies.” I agree. While I love reading about the lives of heroes of the faith from the Bible, I can often relate better to someone’s story who lives in a more modern time.

Supporters of Mitt Romney enthusiastically tout his private sector success as qualifying him to lead our nation. There is no question that Romney was incredibly successful as a venture capitalist, although admittedly he started a little farther down the road than most people could.

The recent political jostling over stay-at-home and working mothers renewed the debate over the success of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, the U.S.’s main cash aid program, and the Child Care and Development Fund, which provides child care assistance to low-income families.

The recent political jostling over stay-at-home and working mothers renewed the debate over the success of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, the U.S.’s main cash aid program, and the Child Care and Development Fund, which provides child care assistance to low-income families.

I have a parasite. Not sure whether I picked it up in Africa or perhaps just from eating a salad in the U.S. Either way, it is not fun and it is not leaving without a fight.

I have a parasite. Not sure whether I picked it up in Africa or perhaps just from eating a salad in the U.S. Either way, it is not fun and it is not leaving without a fight.