It felt "like being bashed across the cheek with a lead pipe."

That's how Carmen Gentile, a freelance journalist who has done a lot of reporting from Afghanistan for USA TODAY, describes what it was like last September when a rocket-propelled grenade fired at U.S. troops in Kunar province caught the side of his head.

Like many of you, we hope, The Two-Way is planning to take some time off over this holiday weekend.

We may put up a post or two, and will certainly jump back in if there's major news. But the general plan is to resume blogging Tuesday morning.

The reason Americans are have a long weekend, of course, is that Monday is Memorial Day. And that's much more than just the unofficial start of summer.

From this year's presidential proclamation:

The Los Angeles Unified School District plans to lay off thousands of employees, as it faces a budget shortfall of more than $640 million. The cuts include 85 school librarians — who have been told that they no longer count as teachers. The change in classification would make it easier for the school district to cut the jobs.

The librarians have been facing questions from the district's lawyers, as an administrative law judge seeks to determine if they should be considered as teachers.

It's been nearly a decade since Congress, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, hastily approved the USA Patriot Act and its historic expansion of law enforcement and domestic intelligence-gathering powers.

For just as long, civil libertarians have been agitating for legislators to hold a full-blown debate on the sweeping measure, fast-tracked to President George W. Bush's desk just four days after it was raised in Congress.

U.N. Security Council diplomats have been studying a draft resolution condemning Syria for its deadly crackdown on demonstrators protesting the rule of President Bashar Assad. As the crisis drags on and the Security Council weighs its options, U.S. policymakers are trying to plan for what might come next. In Washington, there is a growing sense that Assad's rule is coming to an end.

If there's such a thing as cello mojo, Alisa Weilerstein has it. Not only did she make her Carnegie Hall debut at age 15 and perform for President Obama in 2009, but last year she was also chosen by conductor Daniel Barenboim to perform the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Serious race fans are eager for one of the country's most anticipated races of the year, when the Indianapolis 500 starts Sunday. For non-serious race fans, the big event starts Saturday, with the 43rd running of the Kinetic Grand Championship.

The self-professed "toughest sheriff in America" vows to remain in office despite facing a growing number of serious problems.

The one thing you need to know about Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is that he craves publicity. He's regularly on local TV news, cable talk shows, even international programs. But the 78-year old lawman now finds himself dealing with the kind of publicity no elected official wants.

Two floors above the bodegas of Sunset Park in Brooklyn, Karsh Kale walks me through his digital orchestra. The composer is known for his use of Indian instruments to create lush electronic music.

"Here we have staccato cello," he says. "Then there's this horn effect sound, just to add drama."

Daphne Willis seems to be on the verge of something big. Her debut album, What to Say, helped her build critical and commercial momentum last year. She moved from Chicago to Nashville. She surrounded herself with new talent. She began to write more of her own music. And, this spring, Willis put out her second album, Because I Can.