In Episode 71 we talked about “Grief and Loss”, an issue we all struggled with following the unthinkable violence in Newtown on December 14th. Joining me at the beautiful new restaurant Indgo by the Water in Milford were Jocelyn Maminta, Jud Smith, Raeleen Mautner, Holly Adam and Licensed Professional Counselor Amanda Romaniello. Over her distinguished 20-year […]
A Trip Down Germ-emory Lane
“Now is the winter of our discontent…” No truer words were ever written. Last week my boys were home sick with me. Then came the Snowpocalypse of 2013. Between the brazen assault of the blizzard and the ninja-like stealth attack of cold bearing germs, my children have been home from school with me for nearly […]
Germs
Every day we come into contact with millions of invisible warriors just waiting to destroy us! In fact, if we could see them, the consequences would be devastating! Thankfully, most of us come equipped with our own arsenal of defenses against these invisible invaders. Bacteria, viruses and fungi are the invaders. They can be found […]
Episode 70: Germs
For our 70th “in person”conversation, we’ll be talking about “Germs”, which came to mind because we’re having a really bad flu season, and because experts are now talking about the highly contagious (and extremely unpleasant) norovirus. Gathered around a table at the newly opened Lenny and Joe’s A Fish Tale‘s new Long Wharf restaurant (over some […]
Soylent Blues
The spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down is toxic. According to Michael Pollan, “We are processed corn, walking.” Based on carbon-13 isotopes in our flesh and our hair, we North Americans “look like corn chips with legs.” Corn is the soylent yellow of our day; corn is people! The Franken-wheat we love […]
Growing Up “Husky”
Just like everybody else, my sense of myself was formed by my upbringing. As explored on this week’s Real Life Survival Guide, we are all conditioned to eat in ways that can really wreck our perspective when it comes to what we eat… Growing up in mid 20th Century whitelandia (the suburbs of New York […]
Episode 69: Healthy Eating
As we rounded the corner in to 2013, my thoughts turned from the food I had been eating during the holidays to the food I’ve been eating during the football playoffs, and I figured it was a good time to talk about what we put in our bodies on a daily basis. For this conversation, […]
Blue Christmas
“It was Christmas eve babe In the drunk tank. An old man said to me, Won’t see another one.’ And then he sang a song, The rare auld Mountain Dew I turned my face away and dreamed about you…” These are the opening lines of The Pogues’ magnum opus, Fairytale of New York. Over the […]
Episode 67: Holiday Stress
For episode 67 of the RLSG, we decided to talk about “holiday stress”. This was before our perception of the world changed – just two days ago – as the heartbreaking series of events played out in Newtown. There will be more than the normal level of stress during this holiday season, and for too […]
Confessions of a Franken-Foodie
“Eat this apple,” she said, and Adam did, and you know the rest. But still they say “An apple a day” like it’s God’s gift even though Eve, the First Foodie, cursed her husband and children and their children’s children when she offered Adam a bite. Despite its reputation, we see that damning apple everywhere […]
Mary Elliott: Naked and New – Re-thinking What We Deserve
Like any other Catholic baby, I was born with the proverbial millstone around my neck—the burden of Original Sin—but baptized and therefore saved in the chapel of the U.S.S. Vulcan, a naval ship docked in the Norfolk shipyards. It was a regular, low-key baptism documented with Polaroid photos—no champagne bottle cracked over my head just […]
Is there a safe way to protect yourself from mosquito bites?
And this BONUS question: how to handle the itching from when they (inevitably) get you. This topic was pitched by by guest editor Ann McGuire in Episode 5 at The Glenwood Drive In. Ann complained that “I can spray myself, it doesn’t work. I can sit in front of a smudge pot, it doesn’t work.” […]
What’s the best way to treat – or prevent – spring allergies?
The big downside to spring for any allergy sufferer is the knowledge that your eyes nose and throat might, at any moment, stage an “uprising” against your face. We’re told to stay indoors to avoid the symptoms. Yeah, right. Have you successfully treated your spring allergy symptoms – OR – have you discovered a way to […]