Dear Reader, If your life were a set of building blocks, your health would be the foundation. We all know that our physical wellbeing depends on the consumption of nutritious foods (in appropriate quantities), heart pumping and strengthening exercise, and adequate amounts of rest and water. Although sometimes the advice of our doctors falls onto... Continue Reading →
Two Good Wheels
Dear Reader, Sometimes you love things even when they hurt you… at least that’s how I feel about my new bicycle. One unfortunate side effect of the coronavirus pandemic is that universities are closing their campuses and students are being evicted from housing. With less than a week’s notice to pack up their belongings, students... Continue Reading →
A Year without Green Beer
Dear Reader, Happy St. Patrick’s Day! While this holiday for many is just small text on the calendar, St. Patty’s Day warrants real festivity in Boston. As we are all painfully aware, social gatherings have been restricted across the United States. “Social distancing” is the new norm to slow down the spread of the highly contagious... Continue Reading →
Chicken Soup for the Reader’s Soul
Dear Reader, When I was in sixth grade my homeroom was the middle school library. Many mornings, my friends and I would mosey over to one of the shelves and sift through the titles. At one point, we had a phase in which we would read aloud the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. For... Continue Reading →
Mayhem at the Marketplace
Dear Reader, There is nothing that we take for granted more in a first world country than access to the essentials. A few days ago, I, like many other Americans had an interesting experience at the grocery store—milk, bread, and eggs were fresh out! It is disconcerting to encounter a supermarket that has the look... Continue Reading →
Easy as Pi
Dear Reader, Happy Pi Day! With all the tough news concerning the ongoing pandemic, it is becoming harder to find reasons and venues to celebrate. In a search for things to do, I looked up activities for Saturday, March 14th. After I scrolled through about seven entries for 3/14, it occurred to me that today... Continue Reading →
You don’t have to go home, but you can’t meet here
Dear Reader, First, I just want to express my hope that you are all healthy and in good spirits as you read this. Now, I want to continue to write about the big white elephant that is trampling the world--the coronavirus. One of the unfortunate side effects that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is... Continue Reading →
Spot of Chai
Dear Reader, What is your go-to café drink? I’m not a coffee drinker, but I have recently come to love chai tea lattes. Actually, chai tea lattes are the only beverages that I have ordered from cafés these past few weeks…. This fact has encouraged me to do a little compare and contrast of the... Continue Reading →
Happiness Here and Now
Dear Reader, The present and engaged mind is the mortal enemy of stress. Last week, I took a course on presentation skills and had an opportunity to give a three-minute talk on a topic of my choosing. Encouraged to speak about something that makes our heart sing, I immediately thought to make stress the theme... Continue Reading →
Boston’s Little Belgium
Dear Reader, Where do the little pockets of culture lie in your city? Boston has a few different cultural centers including Chinatown in downtown, Lusophone neighborhoods in Cambridge, an Armenian constituency in Watertown, and Hispanic comunidad in East Boston among others (more here). Even where there is not a national or cultural community, many parts... Continue Reading →