THE LEFT LANE
Show care with a bear

Advertiser Staff and News Services

With that in mind, the "Show You Care ... Share a Bear" event will be held April 3 with thousands of teddy bears being collected at Pearlridge Center Uptown, during the Seventh Annual Teddy Bear Round-Up, sponsored by Prevent Child Abuse Hawaii and Partners for Prevention.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., people can donate bears (new or gently used) or other stuffed animals, and listen to entertainment. The bears are distributed to shelters, children's hospitals and organizations that help families in crisis.

Information: 951-0200.

Shameless trickery

Nothing inspires creativity like a good April Fool prank. And if you've ever been a perp, a victim or just a reliable witness to an inspired act of April 1 trickery, we want to hear about it. Send your best April Fool story along with your name and phone number to mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com by Friday. If your story is interesting, funny or clever enough, we'll write about it in an Island Life story on April 1.

No foolin'.

Grammar refresher

The rules of language always are changing. Consider the "Got milk?" commercials and e-mails that read more like telegrams than literary epistles.

Find out what's happening to English, and whether you can throw out your grade-school grammar, in "Sin and Syntax: Writing for the 21st Century," a free talk at 7 tonight at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, Krauss Hall 12, Yukiyoshi Room.

The presentation features Constance Hale, author of "Wired Style" and "Sin and Syntax" — two guides to writing well. For details: 956-8244.

A song for the miles

Got a long-distance dedication?

What songs do you listen to when you and your loved one are apart?

We're doing a story about music to bridge the distance, so write us and tell us what song is on instant replay in your head.

Whether it's James Taylor's "You Are My Only One," Toby Keith's "American Soldier," Usher's "U Got It Bad," or something so new we've never even heard of it, let us know.

Tell us what makes your song so special.

We're listening.

Send your song and your story, along with your name and daytime phone number, to relationships writer Tanya Bricking Leach at tbricking@honoluluadvertiser.com, or give her a call at 525-8026.