Sorrow

'The Milk of Sorrow' MPAA rating: Unrated Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes Playing: Laemmle's Music Hall, Beverly Hills

Popular shows like “Big Love” and “Sister Wives” have given us a small glimpse into the life of a woman within a polygamist family - her struggles, her relationship with the other wives and her expectations. In debut novel “Amity and Sorrow” (Little, Brown and Co., $26),  Peggy Riley uses her thorough research on escapees and survivors of polygamist cults to tell the story of a mother, her two daughters and their lives after escaping a life of polygamy. Amaranth, the first of 50 wives to a polygamist cult founder, and her daughters Amity and Sorrow, escape a community full of rape, incest and abuse, driving for four straight days for fear of being caught.

Popular shows like “Big Love” and “Sister Wives” have given us a small glimpse into the life of a woman within a polygamist family - her struggles, her relationship with the other wives and her expectations. In debut novel “Amity and Sorrow” (Little, Brown and Co., $26),  Peggy Riley uses her thorough research on escapees and survivors of polygamist cults to tell the story of a mother, her two daughters and their lives after escaping a life of polygamy. Amaranth, the first of 50 wives to a polygamist cult founder, and her daughters Amity and Sorrow, escape a community full of rape, incest and abuse, driving for four straight days for fear of being caught.

WEST, Texas -- In the dimly lit sanctuary of Assumption Catholic Church, hundreds gathered here to embrace their friends and family, to cry and to pray for answers just about 24 hours after the tragedy that has left this small East Texas town reeling. They tried to take stock of what has unfolded here, and tried to search for the clarity that has evaded them thus far. "Our hearts are hurting, our hearts are broken," said Father Ed Karasek, pastor at the parish. "Our town of West will never be the same, but we will persevere.

Today is bound to arouse wide sentiment, some looking back and others forward, remembering good times and bad--and hoping for better times ahead. The last day of 1999? It seems only yesterday that the year began, with promise, as all years do, then unfolding, as all years do, with joy and sorrow. The great outdoors is not immune to this grand scheme. And looking back, it's not too difficult to find a few striking examples of how wonderful life is, but how fragile our existence can be.

I feel great sorrow for Steve Howe, arrested on cocaine charges. On the other hand, his rap sheet of suspensions, reinstatements and missed opportunities is a matter of public record. Which gives me greater sorrow when I think of Pete Rose. What a shame that the people who are in a position to reinstate Rose are so insecure in their positions that they can't admit a mistake. DON KUMFERMAN Ridgecrest

A television glows in the dimly lit living room of the Huntoon household, and 15-year-old Tran Thi Tuyet Mai watches transfixed as a daytime soap opera plays out a typical story line: agony and ecstasy, hope and sorrow, tears and laughter. Every so often, Barry Huntoon glances at the screen, but he cannot focus on the dialogue. He is too consumed by his family's real-life drama, the one in which he may or may not be Mai's father.

The Committee of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia said 3,500 troops die of bullying, malnutrition and disease every year. A spokeswoman said the committee had received statements from 2,244 mothers in the first half of 2001 reporting the deaths of their sons from beatings and hunger. "We are processing the figures for the second half of last year now," Valeria Pantyukhina said. A Defense Ministry spokesman said the military was trying to stamp out the tormenting of new recruits.

One key issue that both Sandra M. Gilbert ("Wrongful Death: A Memoir," Jan. 29) and readers' follow-up letters (March 5) failed to address was the lack of information she was given about her husband's status following surgery. During anxious hours in the waiting room, no one told her that there had been complications, that it seemed that he was hemorrhaging, that he was receiving transfusions, that efforts were being made to save him. And she was falsely reassured and encouraged to go to dinner.

I never thought I'd read a near-perfect summation of one of my favorite bands in just 12 words: "[System of a Down] juxtapose the absurd and the serious while playing with tempos and temperaments" ("Now It's Personal," April 22). Simple, yet terribly, painfully complex. Susan Carpenter deserves a humanitarian award for her article on S.O.A.D. Most writers of such articles on System cannot fathom or encompass the history, the policies, the crime, the culture, the sorrow and the beauty that have shaped their music.

NEW YORK - Police identified a suspect in the hit-and-run deaths of a young married couple Monday, hours after their premature baby boy also died. Authorities were seeking Julio Acevedo, 44, believed to be the driver of a BMW that hit a cab carrying Nathan and Raizy Glauber, both 21. The Glaubers were rushing to a hospital early Sunday because Raizy wasn't feeling well. Her husband had called the cab because, like many New Yorkers, the family didn't own a car. The accident occurred in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.

PORTLAND, Ore. — For decades, leaving the Clippers was something that could be done with a smile. Neil Olshey made parting ways with the longtime laughingstock a joyless endeavor. Particularly for himself. Olshey fashioned the Clippers into a sail-worthy franchise after eons spent adrift. He orchestrated the most significant trade in team history by acquiring Chris Paul. He also helped assemble a core poised for sustained success, an elusive concept for a franchise that has made the playoffs eight times in its 42-year history.

President Obama and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, expressed shock and sorrow Friday over the deadly shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. Obama pledged federal support to the community and law enforcement efforts in connection with the case. The White House released a statement from the president early Friday morning. Obama is in Palm Beach, Fla. on the second day of a campaign trip. Spokesman Jay Carney said John Brennan, Obama's chief counter-terrorism advisor, notified the president of the incident at 5:26 a.m. EDT Photos: 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting "Michelle and I are shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting in Colorado.

As Colorado reeled from a late-night mass shooting at a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises," social media offered glimpses of the chaos as it occurred -- and of the horrific aftermath. Early this morning, a Denver Twitter user named Caitlin (@dingos8myTARDIS) tweeted “Shots fired in the theater.” “It was my theater,” she told a friend. “I'm outside, one of my friends is still inside. No one knows what's going on.” She added, “Oh God, I don't know what to do.” Photos: Scene of the shooting | Hollywood reacts A YouTube video showed the scene outside the doors of the movie in the wake of the shooting; there was no screaming, but moviegoers can be seen filing out of the theater, including one man covered in blood around the 0:50-second mark of the video.

The pair's split, like many high-profile break-ups, has been public and messy.  Mike and Ike, a staple at movie theater concession stands and grocery store check-outs, called it quits. The announcement came through the candy's Facebook page last week, and also announced on Tumblr and Twitter. "Yes, it's true," the announcement read. "We should have seen it coming. " Oh, the made-up heartache. With the stunt, the candy maker, Just Born Inc., which also makes Peeps and Hot Tamales, is pumping $15 million into a year-long advertising campaign, a spokeswoman confirmed -- a big jump from 2011 when the company spent $125,000 on advertising.

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday told Mexican Catholics that renewed faith and a pure heart will help them stand up to "distressing times of human suffering" in a nation stalked by drug violence, crime and uncertainty. At a vast, sunbaked open-air Mass, with several hundred thousand people arrayed before him, the pope said Mexico faced "times of sorrow as well as hope" and he reiterated a call for the special protection of children. Of particular significance here, Benedict repeatedly invoked the Virgin of Guadalupe, patron saint of Mexico and Latin America.

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev today expressed sorrow over the Challenger shuttle disaster, but Polish and Czechoslovak papers said the seven astronauts died in a "Star Wars" program aimed at military domination. West Germany postponed its hunt for new space travelers pending assurances on the safety of the shuttle program. Gorbachev led a host of world dignitaries who voiced their shock and sorrow to President Reagan, the American people and relatives over the deaths of the astronauts.

I had traveled a lot in the Middle East, but never before to Beirut, the "Paris of the Orient. " I went just before Christmas last year, to interview a famous, beautiful woman, and I had a half-day to see the sights. Out on the Corniche, beyond the ruined art deco beachfront high-rises — lodging rats now, not VIPs — you can rent a bike. No one seemed to have a map, but the mid-December sun was warm and it seemed a shame not to pedal along the seashore on my free afternoon. Seeking the bike shop, I encountered two boys on a bench by the sea. One was smoking, holding his cigarette between flesh stumps where his hands had been cut or burned off at the wrists.

Auto racing was stuck in low gear Monday. The day after Dan Wheldon crashed, his sport was crumpled. This was not ordinary, as if any death in any sport can be called ordinary. This one had the people who race and the people who watch the people who race walking around with a deer-in-the-headlight look. Shock and disbelief come in degrees, and this one was off the charts, especially in the categories of who and how. For the younger race fan, of which there are millions, this was akin to the loss of A.J. Foyt or Mario Andretti.