Lonnie December 7th, 2007
No-one creates a blog like this one if they don’t love the city in which they live. But not all the news is good. Syracuse is being used, fairly, as an example of environmental racism. Did you know that we were featured in Ms. Magazine last spring? Take a look. From that article:
The civic leaders of Syracuse, like those in other places, put sewage and water-treatment plants, along with numerous other environmental hazards, within or very close to the city’s poor communities. Not surprisingly, the health problems experienced by residents of those communities as a result of the pollutants are tremendous. To take just one measure, the asthma rate of the predominately African American community situated on the edge of Syracuse’s industrialized area and the interstate is 13 times higher than in the rest of Onondaga County. Women and children in particular bear the brunt of the health problems.
I don’t know about you, but I find this appalling. Continue Reading »
Lonnie August 28th, 2007
My daughter-in-law and her father have dreamed for many years of hiking down into the Grand Canyon. This year, they’re going to do it! But she’s got to be in shape, so she’s using Sunnycrest Park as part of her training. Take a look at this Gmaps pedometer map she made. You can use it to figure out how many calories you would burn doing this fascinating power walk. Continue Reading »
Lonnie July 12th, 2007
One of the reasons we moved from the ‘burbs to the city was so that we wouldn’t have to drive so far to get to the kinds of stores we like to shop in: small, ethnic grocery stores that have fascinating ingredients, as well as the Regional Market with its locally-grown and produced foodstuffs. It’s not just that the vegetables are fresher and the eggs taste better, it’s that we can buy more of our food in bulk in these places and thus control the way they’re packaged. We’re trying to avoid plastic. Here’s why: Continue Reading »
Lonnie June 26th, 2007
At Cafe Kubal, in the Eastwood Plaza on James St., we are frequently tempted by these heavenly goodies:
But for the more health-conscious, Matt and Rachel are now offering this:
Watching your carb consumption? Just want something savory? Check this one out - we did, and it’s the best hummus we’ve ever had!
But… what do we come to a cafe for, anyway? Why, the “café”!
Matt’s getting really good at this latte art!
Lonnie May 22nd, 2007
I’ve been reading a fascinating book, Upstate Travels: British Views of Nineteenth-Century New York, in which is found the following excerpt, written by James Stuart about his visit to Saratoga Springs in the fall of 1828:
There are few more striking points of difference between this country and Britain, than in the numbers of the people who ride and walk on the public roads. It absolutely seems disgraceful to be seen walking; and, though there are no fine equipages here, everyone rides in his gig, dearborn, or open carriage of some description or other. This circumstance no doubt proves the easy circumstances of the mass of the people, as well as the value of time to a mechanic, or labourer, whose wages may be from one to two dollars a day, and can better afford to pay for a conveyance, and spend less time, than to walk, and spend more. Still I am persuaded that our habits in this respect are for more favourable for health; and that dyspepsia, a very general complaint in New York State, and in this country, is in no inconsiderable degree owing to the people supposing, that enough of exercise can be had in carriages and waggons, especially by persons almost always partaking of animal food largely three times a day, who hardly every walk a mile, or mount on horseback.
Suffering from dyspepsia? When was the last time you walked a mile? Do you have a favorite route in Eastwood that gives you the exercise and/or the social contact you enjoy in this community?
Lonnie May 21st, 2007
Did you see this and laugh as hard as I did? I’m sure the Palace didn’t mean to imply that holistic health is a hoax!
It’s wonderful to see the variety of events Mike Heagerty is bringing to Eastwood, including movies like The Hoax and a great Holistic Health Fair.
Lonnie August 20th, 2006
In the Wall Street Journal of August 16, there’s an interesting article entitled Money and Happiness: Here’s Why You Won’t Laugh All the Way to the Bank
This is such an excellent article, all I’ll do is quote from it. You’ll get my point.
“…The five professors also studied government data detailing how folks divvy up their waking hours. They found that people with higher incomes tend to spend more time working, commuting and engaging in obligatory nonwork activities, such as maintaining their homes. All of these are associated with lower happiness.
“People who are richer aren’t having a better time,” Prof. Schkade concludes. “But if you ask them about their lives, they report being a little more satisfied” than those who are less affluent.
• Buying time. This raises the question: If more money won’t make us much happier, what will? Here are four pointers.
• Keep your commute short. Tempted to use your latest pay raise to buy a big house in a distant suburb? Don’t do it. While we often adjust amazingly well to life’s hardships, commuting is an exception. “You can’t adapt to commuting, because it’s entirely unpredictable,” says Daniel Gilbert, author of “Stumbling on Happiness” and a psychology professor at Harvard University. “Driving in traffic is a different kind of hell every day….”
Read the rest of the pointers in the article.