Clarion Content

The American Heart Association reports that one of the best ways to protect yourself against heart attack is to laugh often and exuberantly. Researchers compared patients who had suffered heart attacks or had undergone angioplasty or similar revascularization procedures with healthy aged-matched control patients. Results showed that the patients who had suffered heart problems were 40% less likely to laugh in a variety of situations than their healthy counterparts.

"The old axiom that, 'laughter is the best medicine' appears to hold true when it comes to protecting your heart," said Michael Miller, M.D. and Director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore. Miller and his team could only speculate about why this is so. "We don't know why laughing protects the heart, but we do know that mental stress is associated with the impairment of endothelium, the protective barrier lining in our blood vessels," said Dr. Miller.

So laugh it up people...

Labels: health, humor, Practical Advice

We would like to welcome to our pages for the first time a distinguished guest writer by the moniker of, Smotha Righter. His caustic, if heartfelt columns, will soon be available everywhere. We are glad to have first dibs.



Somebody once told me, "Take care of your body, its the only one you get." Advice that I seem to remember taking lightly at the moment, the passage of time, entropy, has underlined the soundness of this simple suggestion.

I have fifty-year old friend, the mother of four children, and people are forever telling her that she looks ten years younger than her age. From her kids' adolescent peers to attractive men in their thirties, she is perceived as younger. Her secret? She took and takes care of her body, like many more women than men. It is no coincidence that the rise of MILF as a wildly popular slang for attractive older women has occurred during an era where older women are taking better care of their bodies than ever previously.

As for myy friend it helps of course, that she doesn't drink or smoke. On the other hand as W.C. Fields once put it, "I pity those who don't drink, because when they wake up in the morning, that's the best they are going to feel all day." So there is that...

But either a drinker or no, the time is now, fellas, to fall in with the ladies. Take care of your body. My friend, she eats right and never to wild excess. She exercises. She puts on some sort of creams and lotions. I have been in her bathroom, but I am a guy, so the details of such things remain a mystery to me. The point is not the exact regimen, but simply that you have one. My own male roommate prefers to read the health advice to men in Esquire Magazine. Whatever. So long as you do something and stick to it.

It is not rocket science. What did they tell you as a kid? Wash behind your ears, in your pits, your butt crack, and underneath your balls, fellas. Oh wait, maybe that was what they told you in the Marines, but the point is the same. Do some maintenance on your body. You change your car's oil every 5,000 miles? Mix in a salad, do regular exercise, use skin lotion.

Think hard for a minute, fellas, and try to determine if your skin seems more oily or dry. Come on now, you have been living in it your whole life. It is perfectly acceptable to conclude that you are oily in some places and dry in others. Pony up and get two kinds of lotion or skin cream. Read the labels and apply accordingly. [The labels say whether they are for oily or dry skin.] Don't get something that smells flowery.

Check your body out. Buy a hand held mirror if you do not have a full length one. You think she doesn't notice if she gets a new growth, a new mole, a new zit, an in-grown hair? Want to look great yourself, than you should notice too. Not to mention sometimes these are the warning signs to other things that are much more treatable if you catch them earlier.

Body maintenance. Make it a norm. Take a baby aspirin on the days you're not drinking, and/or before intense exercise. Get some intense exercise at least once a week. Take walks when you can't mix in any other exercise. Stretch as often as you can. Find a partner and have sex. Love thine ownself. Body and soul. Love and care for your body. We all have but a precious one. Wash regularly, smelling good is très important.

Labels: Guest columns, Pop Culture, Practical Advice

You may, dear readers, remember this author and Clarion Content guest columnist, one of Durham's own, from his on-going work of meta-fiction. The hilarious and wildly popular, The Unauthorized Autobiography of G.Ia.M'Rock. Read the old chapters here. Today he brings you a piece in the manner of practical advice. Listen up, fellas.

There may be exaggerations in this article. There, I've warned you. Every man needs certain, specific and different items to speed him on his way through life. And while I might cast all of these items as 'must-haves,' obviously the need is less for anyone living in a city where a car is not a constant companion. My readers in New York, DC, Chicago, and Boston may heartily disregard this advice, and know that they are in situations where the needs of a given moment are not constrained by either their reliance on a car, or the possibility of being stranded without any more supplies that might be ready to hand.

That being said, I do think that the contents of the glove box of any vehicle, for a man who relies on his car, ought to be carefully considered, and thoughtfully arranged. For your average man, living in your average city (and I consider my current hometown of Durham, NC, population~200K to be an average city,) a car is not only an indispensable tool, but also a source of refuge. It gets you to work. It is helpful getting the groceries home. It saves you the cost of a cab most places you wish to go. And it occasionally serves as a comfortable sleeping place when you've had enough to drink, and have spent the contents of your wallet such that the aforementioned cab is not necessarily possible.

So let me begin with suggesting that you look into your glove compartment. You'll likely see a few cigarette butts, McDonald's wrappers and some ketchup packets. The leatherbound folder containing the user's manual and a three year old copy of an insurance verification. Oh, yes, plus that copy of a map detailing a portion of the country that you once visited back in 1998, and would never go back to again. Perhaps, if you think you're witty, there will be a glove. When you break down in the middle of the highway hours away from home, your cellphone out of juice, you're screwed. It really doesn't need to be that way. Empty out that little trash midden and replace your little 1'x1'x6" box with some lifesaving materials.

1) A copy of your license, registration, and proof of insurance. Even if you keep your license in your wallet, which is always in your back pocket, there's going to be that one time where you forget your wallet. Perhaps while driving to the store to pick up a bottle of champagne to make mimosas for some lady you're attempting to impress the morning after some disappointing sex. If you can't get a legal second license in your state (North Carolina being one of those,) a photostat of the same will give the officer at that 6AM checkpoint enough information that he can run your records and perhaps let you off with a warning. If a friend borrows your car, it's always good for him to find a little folder with these items on top, just on the off chance he runs a red light, so that he doesn't wind up on jail for lack of proof of insurance. And if you leave your car in the wrong place, many states will require copies of all three of these in order to get your car out of impound. It's always easier to ask for access to your car than to have to rush back home to find a secondary copy.

2) A flashlight. This doesn't need to be a four-foot Maglite suited for bashing the brains of a bear. Find a little six inch flashlight at any convenience store, throw a couple of AA batteries in it, and forget about it. When you get a flat tire at 2AM, it's significantly easier to change your tire when you can see what you're getting at. Similarly, any time you need something else in the glovebox or your car, it's always fantastic to have a little flashlight around to shed a little light on the subject. That jerk you see next to you in the parking lot with his ass hanging out of the car, scraping around for a quarter to feed the meter? He didn't put a flashlight in his glovebox.

3) A tire gauge and a rag. If you own a car, you need to have these two things. Might as well have them in a convenient location. Every time you fill up your gas tank, go around all four tires and make sure they're filled to the proper pressure. Then go check your oil dipstick. Doing these two things will extend the life of your vehicle, as well as increase your gas mileage, which is why I tie them into filling up my car. The total cost of the pair, at the local Autozone, is $.84. The cost of a new set of tires, or a new engine, significantly more. This is one of those seemingly silly little things your Dad told you to do when you bought your first car that is totally worth it. Taking your car out for a long trip to 'blow out the crud on the plugs' is not. If you don't know how to check your tire pressure or your oil with these two items, call Dad. He missed a few things in your 'being a man' talk.

4) A Swiss Army Knife. This doesn't have to be a branded: Wegner or Victorinox. I'm just talking about any multitool utility knife: SAK, Leatherman, or otherwise. When you forget to pack a corkscrew for a picnic, having one of these in the glovebox changes a day without wine into a two minute inconvenience. Bought a new CD and want to listen to it on the ride home? The gentleman with a knife in the car is on his way in seconds, while the schlub without spends ten minutes and gains a chipped tooth opening up the package. The one I keep in my glove compartment was a Employee Appreciation gift from a past job, and includes a little flashlight on the end, completing requirement 2 above. If someone breaks into my car and steals it, I'm out about $5 at the local gas station to get a new one. Multiple tools will solve multiple problems, any day.

5) A Map of your Hometown. Even if you've lived there all your life, I promise that there's at least one street that you don't know the location of. And, at some point, that street is going to be the location of a happening party. Toss this item in the very back of the glove compartment, and forget about it. One day, you're going to be in some strange part of town and desperate to know the fastest route to the highway. You're saved!

6) Beef Jerky. Everyone takes a road trip once in a while. If you haven't, get out and live more. When you do, there's likely to be some time where you're a little bit hungry, but there's no reason to stop for gas (and the ensuing fast food stop.) Keeping some food in your glove compartment will keep you from having to pull over for a while. I recommend jerky because it keeps forever, and while it might get a little bit less delectable, it stays edible for years at a time. If, for some reason, you get completely stranded, having a small amount of food on you can be the difference between sanely staying where you are and a death-hike into the wilderness. Now, if you're a vegetarian, or just hate jerky, let me suggest sunflower seeds instead. Or perhaps salted peanuts. Proteins will fill you up much faster and longer than any other sort of food. If you've got some high-carb, high-fat Cheetos in the car, you'll be hungry in an hour even if your body can absorb just as many calories from them. Proteins will keep your stomach satiated for up to five times as long.

6) A three-pack of condoms. So you've had an enjoyable night with a young lady. You make your way to her house, but as you pull up in the driveway, you realize that you haven't packed any rubbers. You can either go with that one you've kept in your wallet (and your butt-heat has reduced the effectiveness of) or you can just chastely kiss her on the cheek goodnight. Ah-ha! Joy! You recall that you've kept some high quality (don't count on those Lifestyles you got from Planned Parenthood, get some Trojans, lad) condoms in the car.

7) A $20 bill. Cash is king. Even if your situation is dire, i.e. you're broke, you should be able to throw together $20, and that's a fine nugget to be stocked away for future risks. $20 can buy you a pint of oil, a few gallons of gas, or perhaps pay off a bouncer getting you into that club, without having to find a cash machine. An ATM card, these days, will get you most places. In case of emergency, an Andrew Jackson will get you into the rest.

You might find, after stocking your glove compartment with the aforementioned items, that you've got some extra room. And, definitely, there's some other things that may be helpful in an emergency that you'd love to have in your car. Just remember that the more you put into any given place, the more difficult it will be to find the right things in an emergency. So keep the blanket (useful for keeping warm, or providing traction in ice), flares (useful for signaling for help or for the Fourth of July) and the tire iron (useful for getting your wheels off or for beating in the head of an obnoxious motorist) in the trunk. The glove compartment is devised for those items which are both small and useful in many situations.

Labels: Guest columns, Practical Advice

Whatever one thinks about the United States of America, those of us who live here should be grateful. No matter how much one disagrees with the systems of the United States of America, we are lucky to have that freedom to disagree. It is our duty to treasure and preserve that freedom.

Today is not about indulgence: it is not about beer or barabeque or the beach. It is about the men and woman who have personally made an effort to preserve our freedom.

Please take some time to reflect on those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Please talk with your friends, family and other loved ones about what freedom means to you, and why you are grateful for it.

See the faces and read the stories of fallen North Carolinians here, including people from Durham, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Garner and Oxford.

Labels: Practical Advice, thought

Premature death, the death of young or middle age people always kicks the Clarion Content in the teeth. As loyal readers know, the Clarion Content felt deeply the passing of actress Brittany Murphy. Earlier this week we were shocked and saddened to read of the death of Murphy's widower, Simon Monjack. Maybe we just don't read enough US Weekly, maybe we are not on TMZ as frequently as we could be, but dang, we did not see it coming and we cannot help but wonder and speculate on the interconnections of their passings.

Murphy's death from what is known as polypharmacy, the administration of excess prescription medications, was tragic and probably avoidable. Monjack's death has been called a heart attack, but one wonders what might have weakened his heart? Grief and stress have untold power. Self-medication is not the answer. People die anonymously from depression and prescription drug overdoses every day. All we can hope for is that these kind of sad passings are a lesson learned, not a life lost alone in a vacuum, or worse yet, a terrible course to be imitated.

When Google image searching the phrase, "Too many prescription drugs," images of Murphy, Michael Jackson and Anna Nicole Smith all come up on the very first page. Don't go that way! If you are depressed, get help.

Labels: Pop Culture, Practical Advice

This brilliant poem by Jonathan Reed has received more 13 million views on You Tube.



Thanks to the Morris County New Jersey contributor who sent it our way!

Labels: ecology, economics, po et tree, Pop Culture, Practical Advice, technology, thought

Perhaps you already know this, dear readers. Or perhaps you don't suffer from ingrown toenails. However, if you do or know someone who does, maybe you will appreciate this tidbit.

Ingrown Toenails
Cutting tiny v-shaped notches in the center of the toenail (while not pretty) prevents ingrown nails very effectively. The nail is urged to grow toward the center of itself, rather than outward into the toe and cuticle area.

Labels: health, Practical Advice

In the dumpster?

In Durham, North Carolina we are lucky to have a reasonably competent local paper, the Independent. We are even more blessed to have a wonderfully vibrant and activist population. The Independent this week noted one such Durham citizen's efforts. Jonathan Bloom is writing a book about the food wasted in America.

His website, like the Clarion Content, is a conscious call to action. Bloom notes that "Americans waste more than 40 percent of the food we produce for consumption." This feels like something we must have already known in our collective guts, but it is horrifying nonetheless. Bloom goes on to tell us that this "comes at an annual cost of more than $100 billion. At the same time, food prices and the number of Americans without enough to eat continues to rise." Worse a recent study found that America's food waste is bigger than ever, "US per capita food waste has progressively increased by ~50% since 1974...Food waste now accounts for more than one quarter of the total freshwater consumption and ~300 million barrels of oil per year."

Durhamanian Bloom is working on an important issue. Check him out here at wastedfood.com. And keep an eye out for his book. In the meantime check out this practical advice link that we encountered on his site, "10 Tips to Reduce Food Waste in 2010."

Labels: Economy, food, Politics, Practical Advice

One more reason to ditch Facebook, researchers say it makes people in relationships jealous. Forgive us, if we are not surprised.

One of our Ohio readers recently emailed us this link from CNET News. The article discusses a study from the University of Guelph in Ontario published in the journal CyberPsychology and Behavior. The study says Facebook feeds a vicious cycle of partner snooping and jealousy. Some subjects in the study describe themselves as becoming addicted to such behavior.

"Ambiguous scenes involving a partner and contact with past romantic and sexual partners are among the common triggers of jealousy in romantic relationships, and these ambiguous scenes are a regular occurrence on Facebook... Heightened jealousy leads to increased surveillance of a partner's Facebook page. Persistent surveillance results in further exposure to jealousy-provoking information."

The only way to win is not to play the game.

Labels: Pop Culture, Practical Advice, technology

The Clarion Content was greatly saddened to hear about the death of actress Brittany Murphy at a mere 32 years of age. She first came to our notice in Clueless, where she was paired with long time Clarion Content fave, Alicia Silverstone.

Murphy, a stunning beauty, played the ugly duckling wonderfully. She later had more serious and interesting roles like the tragically abused, chicken eating Daisy in "Girl Interrupted" and Eminem's love interest in the biopic, "8 Mile."

There has been mad speculation surrounding the details of her death. She was a tiny person and was reportedly underweight, bordering on anorexic. We have to be honest, that and prescription drugs were first things bandied about the staff office when we heard of her passing.

The Clarion Content has been attempting to sound the alarm bell about the wave of prescription drug addiction that has been sweeping over America. Celebrities, rather than being immune, have been at the forefront, from Rush Limbaugh's arrest with a suitcase full of prescription drugs, to Heath Ledger's tragic death from a drug cocktail of his own mixing, to this week's announcement that Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler was checking into rehab to get off prescription painkillers.

Reports from Fox News indicate Murphy may have been stumbling down the same tragic path. Scads of prescription drugs were found in the bedroom of the home where she suddenly collapsed. Murphy may have been practicing what is known as polypharmacy, the administration of excess prescription medications. The problem was compounded because likely none of the doctors writing the prescriptions had the full picture. Bottles found in her bedroom had prescriptions written for Murphy's mom (who does not live in the home) and Murphy's husband.

The list of drugs is long enough to be horrifying to the casual observer (even one steeped in drug culture): Topamax & Carbamazepine, anti-seizure medications used to treat depression and bipolar disorder; Topamax is also commonly used to treat migraines, benzodiazepines, Klonopin & Ativan usually prescribed for anti-anxiety, Vicoprofen & Hydrocodone which are narcotic painkillers, Propranolol, a beta-blocker used for high blood pressure and heart disease, as well as a performance anxiety drug and for migraines, plus the generic for the antidepressant/anti-anxiety drug Prozac; the antibiotic Biaxin; and methylprednisolone, which is an anti-inflammatory.

Going through anyone's medicine cabinet after their death is likely to reveal some personal information. It is for similar reasons that folks are so concerned about keeping their medical records private. There is no guarantee that these drugs caused Murphy's death or that there were not other factors, including possibly pneumonia or the flu. However, the Clarion Content thinks it is important that the laundry list of drugs is brought before the public eye as a warning. Our bodies are a delicate vessel. We are each only given one. Youth and celebrity both produce a euphoria and depression cycle that for many borders on bi-polar. Over medicating oneself is not the answer.

Labels: Pop Culture, Practical Advice

One of our Pennsylvania sources sent us some advice about dealing with the 2010 United States Census. It has already gotten underway in some places and is set to get going across the country. This advice comes from the Better Business Bureau, and the Clarion Content has verified it is legit.

"With the U.S. Census process beginning, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) advises people to be cooperative, but cautious, so as not to become a victim of fraud or identity theft. The first phase of the 2010 U.S. Census is under way as workers have begun verifying the addresses of households across the country. Eventually, more than 140,000 U.S. Census workers will count every person in the United States and will gather information about every person living at each address including name, age, gender, race, and other relevant data. The big question is - how do you tell the difference between a U.S. Census worker and a con artist? BBB offers the following advice:

** If a U.S. Census worker knocks on your door, they will have a badge, a handheld device, a Census Bureau canvas bag, and a confidentiality notice. Ask to see their identification and their badge before answering their questions. However, you should never invite anyone you don?t know into your home.

** Census workers are currently only knocking on doors to verify address information. Do not give your Social Security number, credit card or banking information to anyone, even if they claim they need it for the U.S. Census. While the Census Bureau might ask for basic financial information, such as a salary range, it will not ask for Social Security, bank account, or credit card numbers nor will employees solicit donations.

Eventually, Census workers may contact you by telephone, mail, or in person at home. However, they will not contact you by Email, so be on the lookout for Email scams impersonating the Census. Never click on a link or open any attachments in an Email that are supposedly from the U.S. Census Bureau."

All makes good sense to us. Be cautious with your personal information, answer no more than the basic questions. Never give out your social security number, bank account info or credit card info to a anonymous stranger!

Labels: Practical Advice

A newly released report by the Journal of Safety Research says that over the five year period studied 66,000 Americans ended up in emergency rooms with injuries caused by lawnmowers. Nearly 100 people were run over by lawnmowers during that time, including children who had been riding on the laps of the mowers. An unfortunate six folks met their demise by lawnmower in the five years studied.

Be careful with the lawnmower, America. Read the whole story here in the BBC. (Over in England they have got a special Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents or RoSPA. Here in America, we have lawyers to sue the lawnmower company ex post facto.)

Labels: Pop Culture, Practical Advice, technology

A dear friend of the Clarion Content's editorial board works as a butcher in our local Durham, North Carolina area. The butcher says, "Don't eat the meat in the tube." If you are buying ground beef, get the stuff that is saran wrapped on the white tray. The difference? It is packed locally, whereas, the meat in the tube is mass wrapped in distant locales, hopefully kept cold, and shipped to your local grocery store. (In Durham, that would be a Harris Teeter, Kroger and Food Lion or retail giants Wal-Mart and Target.)

Labels: Practical Advice

Welcome to our 14th edition of Pithy F*rging Sayings gathered from the singularity.

As always the citation of these sayings does not necessarily imply endorsement, the goal is to provoke thought.

"When comparing stars of different eras it is safest to rank the newest idol the greatest, for that way one can always be assured of voting with the majority."---Walter Vosburgh

"Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice make perfect."---old coach on Fox Sports Radio

"People who stand on ceremony about their job description and its limits are ultimately losers, not leaders."---staff

"Outside of a dog a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."---Groucho Marx

Follow this link to old P.F. Sayings posts. You will see this one again first. Scroll down for older ones.

Labels: Practical Advice, Sayings

The pool at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
courtesy of Oyster.com

Recently, in our politics section the Clarion Content noted that even the normally slump proof Las Vegas was struggling in this deep downturn. While looking into the issue we did see that there are some great deals for hotels, shows and entertainment in Vegas right now. However, if you are traveling there, dear reader, a word of caution.

Anecdotally we are hearing and reading that in many parts of the country, police are more active, and thereby are generating more revenue for their state, county or municipality. (Many of which are financially in the pits post the reign of King George the II.) This is especially true for speeding tickets, which are not only more expensive, but are being handed out with greater frequency. You may recall our post on not so welcoming Virginia. Insofar as Vegas goes, looks like the cops may be being more active there as well. Of course, in Sin City, the cops who are on the prowl are often vice.

This note in the San Jose Mercury News caught our eye the other day, "Las Vegas police say they have arrested seven people on drug charges and one for soliciting prostitution at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino pool." This was daytime on a Sunday afternoon. The Mercury News continues, "Authorities say the undercover operation is part of an increased effort by police to fight increased occurrences of "illicit activities" at resort pools throughout Las Vegas."

A word to the wise, behave or be careful, even in Sin City.

Labels: Pop Culture, Practical Advice

This excellent video came our way from a New York City reader. It is a very dramatic demonstration of how to deal with and how not deal with a grease fire. Do NOT throw water on a grease fire ever, it will explode. The water, being heavier than oil, sinks to the bottom where it instantly becomes superheated. The explosive force of the steam blows the burning oil up and out. Also, do not throw sugar or flour on a grease fire. One cup of either creates the explosive force of two sticks of dynamite.

Labels: Practical Advice, science

Columnist Cliff Phillips returns with a brilliant piece about place and change, chronicling our shared modern sense of dislocation with his own poignant New Jersey narrative. There is much to chew on here and cultural advice is hard to take. But who is this other? Aren't they all us? When the tale is from the gut and viscerally we respond to it, perhaps there is hope. The potential for change lies within us. As it says in the Talmud, the power of your dreams is your belief that they will come true.




"I'm not from here"

I live in rural New England, but I’m not from here. I moved to western Massachusetts twenty years ago, and around here, I am the Other, a from-away, and I always will be. It’s an important distinction for natives to make, and I respect it.

No, I’m a native of New Jersey, or at least that’s where I was born and raised. I’ve heard all the jokes and most of them are true. People often ask “Jersey? Which exit?” but they never ask how it got that way. The truth is, nobody knows. Like any tragedy, no one can quite explain how it happened, or why. It’s been so long since I left, people are usually surprised to learn I grew up there. I’m almost surprised myself. I suppose I could go back and try to reacquaint myself, but all those places are gone. Literally, gone. Can you imagine that?

I was born in Morristown, New Jersey, a place first settled by the Dutch in the early 1600’s. It’s a real colonial town, with Revolutionary War sites, and snow in winter, which was long. It was a lot like New England in a lot of respects.

When I was small, there was still new interstate highway construction in the old Northeast, and in northern New Jersey, that meant Route 287 was gradually extending its reach northward toward New York State in an arc around the New York Metropolitan Area. At the time it stopped just north of Morristown, stalled by fervent opposition. I didn’t know it was new and I didn’t know it represented a dramatic kind of change. Maybe I assumed the highway had always been there, on a wide flat plain which happened to have been a perfectly graded, open meadow. I was a kid and I took the world as it was.

I grew up in a 1950’s subdivision carved from a wooded hillside. Mountainside Drive. I didn’t know it was new and I didn’t know our split-level was replicated all over the hillside in nearly identical neighborhoods. A kid doesn’t know the relative ages of things, let alone comprehend the scale or significance of them. Of course, the interstate and my neighborhood were a forested valley and ridge just a short time before I was born.

We were lucky to live at the end of a dead end street where our yard fronted a wide empty circle. It was a place for the neighborhood kids to congregate. It served as a paved playground and gave onto a trail which led through woods to another dead end in a neighboring subdivision. The woods seemed a vast frontier and an enduring mystery to my unchallenged mind. I have been told the roads are now connected and the woods are gone, but I won’t be going back to see that. I’m from New Jersey and I’ve seen enough of that.

From age nine, until I left the state at age eighteen, I lived in Kinnelon, a smaller, more remote town further north. A bedroom community, it was a sad, lonely, beautiful place set among wooded lakes. Dry open ridges of scrappy weather-beaten oaks and wild blueberry fell off steeply into enormous assemblages of glacial boulders, often as big as a house, among the quiet shelter of hemlock forest and the brighter but impassable thickets of mountain laurel.

In the mid-nineties, I returned to the area for the wedding of two friends from this second half of childhood. Approaching from near Morristown, I followed the wedding invitation’s directions northward to be confronted by apparent unreality where the conquering Route 287, now encircling a dominion which extended to the New York State Thruway, had obliterated miles of familiar landscape and ran screaming along the formerly quiet Ramapo Mountains.

The outlying towns were choked by pavement and frantic with pointless commerce. The approaches were a crush of seething resentment as each isolated driver, alone in their car, tried to assert their position against the Other on the already crowded superhighway. Chunks of mountain were gone, blasted away into bits of rock which were baled up in massive chain link cubes and stacked grotesquely like toy blocks. I was less than fifteen minutes from my old home. I recognized nothing. Everything was altered. I know I can’t describe the uncomprehending shock and disbelief I felt, the haunted disorientation, the sweeping sense of exile which has remained ever since.

In New Jersey, a shocking verbal assault can pass for a civil greeting, and the mild disparagement would burn New England ears. Waving is rare but the finger is frequent. In a swathe between New York City and Philadelphia, the people live in a fully developed and totally privatized environment. For many, the only accessible open space is the highway and the parking lot. Both are thronged. Many towns are completely “built out,” and the last forested ridgelines which stood between urban or suburban corridors have fallen to development. Some municipalities have hired sharpshooters to kill off deer trapped in residential settings where hunting is no longer possible. There is ample shrubbery for the deer to browse, but aside from the snipers, there are no predators. There is no habitat.

The places the people grew up are also gone. The places their parents frequented are forgotten, demolished, entombed beneath asphalt. Continuity has been banished, and history has been erased. It’s as if the people’s collective memory has been wiped clean. Social isolation is the rule, but is perversely aggravated by going out in public. Many people migrate from this toxic social and physical environment. The lucky ones, given enough time, find another chance to integrate into a community and belong to a place and a landscape again, though they be forever from-aways in their new homes. Who can blame them?

It’s difficult to see one’s place, which is a birthright, changed from the outside. It’s an injustice. Yet it is worse to see it disfigured beyond recognition. Many New Englanders resent the hypocrisy of the from-away, who would bring change from the outside even while proclaiming “your beautiful New England must be kept intact.” They mistake it for arrogance, but I have a word of advice for any native of rural New England or any other undeveloped island of our great paved country.

Please try to have some compassion and a receptive ear for the most despised of your local transplants, who have trickled into your quiet towns from America’s many ruined and impervious landscapes, like refugees fleeing man-made disaster. Wonder where they came from, with their hatchet accents and impulsive social customs, their tackiness and bad habits. Picture their forsaken homes for yourself: the invasive sameness, the fuming traffic, the blanketing fog of amnesia where corporate culture steps in to set the tone, to name the policy, and to garland the thoroughfares with stoplights, logos and trash. Once beautiful places, all of them, but indistinguishable now.

It can happen anywhere. It can happen everywhere.

Can you imagine that?

Labels: Cliff Phillips, ecology, Economy, Guest columns, Practical Advice, thought

These are people, families.

Amidst the barbecue and the flag waving, above the work-a-day Joe and Jane's joy over a Monday off, we must remember.

We must remember, whether we agree or disagree with the current war or any of the wars of America's past.

Today is the day to remember.

Countless servicemen and servicewomen have given their LIVES to preserve our freedom to agree or disagree as we so choose.

Click here for a thoughtful memorial to those who have lost their lives in the second Iraq war.

Labels: Practical Advice, thought

A face with a name?

Has Google decided to enter the arena of social networking? After a poor showing with "Lively" (Google's attempt at a 3D virtual world), Google is now offering the opportunity to create a profile to accompany vanity/ego searches. That is to say, when one searches for one's name on Google, or more likely one's ex, a person now has the opportunity to post a profile that can found at the bottom of the "name-query" page searched. Google may be vying to take on, rather than buy, MySpace and Facebook.

Google claims, "when searching for yourself to see what others would find, results can be varied and aren't always what you want people to see. We want to make that better and give you more of a voice." The profile service is a way to influence the information displayed when one's name is queried. However, it is also widely suspected that Google can use information connected to profiles to mine for more connected relationships and searches likely of value to advertisers and marketers.

Google could personalize advertisements and search suggestions for profilers and those who search for and look at their profile. And if in creating the profile one gives personal info to Google (links to friend networks, interests, etc.) its pipes will not only become the precursor to finding those one is searching for, but could potential interlink one's entire social network.

As usual with the internet, user be wary.

Labels: Practical Advice, technology

Here is one more reason to be wary on social networking sites, this is especially for our younger readers. The Los Angeles Times cites a new report by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, which says that about a quarter of U.S. colleges reported doing some research about applicants on social networking sites or through Internet search engines.

The LA Times quotes David Hawkins, the director of public policy and research for the group, "Don't post anything that you don't want your mother or father or college admission officer to see."

Food for thought.

Labels: Pop Culture, Practical Advice, technology