Month: April 2017
In Jersey City: Thinking outside of the box about littering
via Our moon is full. A blog about living (in Jersey City):
It’s been a few weeks since I talked to Scott Garibaldi about the litter situation on Duncan Avenue. I knew that the Department of Public Works had met with him after that blog post, and that they spoke with him about improving services. Checking in with him this evening, he said mostly what I had expected: “Even though things have gotten better, it is still not enough to keep up with the severity of the situation.”
Thinking about this persistent problem made me curious to do some research and talk to some people outside of Jersey City, outside the direct mix of personalities and particulars of our area, to hopefully get a fresh perspective on this problem. After all, litter is a issue everywhere; cities throughout the US have all come up with their own programs and ways of dealing with it.
Nobody gets a PhD in litter strategies (at least, no one I could find), but there are related fields. I found Dr. Rosemary Wakeman, the Coordinator of Urban Initiatives at Fordham University, through a friend who suggested I speak with her. And by way of an article about litter and what communities can do to help with it, I also found Justin Travis, who is a specialist in Industrial Organizational Psychology and instructor at several colleges/universities. Wakeman and I spoke via the phone; Travis and I emailed each other. Here’s what I found out from speaking with them.
Read more here.
Walking that walk in the inner city – Guazabera Insights
In light of the daily debates taking place on social media and beyond about crime, drug use/abuse, and protests about police in inner cities, it’s nice when you see someone actually walking the walk behind the talk.
Dennis Febo of Guazabera Insights, LLC, is one of those people.
I’ve known Febo (though, virtually, not in person!) since 2013 through my college sorority network. (My sorority, Mu Sigma Upsilon has a brother fraternity (Lambda Sigma Upsilon), which Febo is part of.)
He founded Guazabera Insights in 2010 as a health and educational services provider whose mission is to raise social consciousness and uplift communities. They do this through the dissemination of cultural and social consciousness education in communities of need, while addressing the social issues that affect communities through organizing and action.
Most of the work is done in Jersey City, a large and diverse city right outside of Manhattan in which 52% of its population speak another language other than English in the home, and, in some wards, citizens still struggles with crime. The organization also provides employment and internship opportunities in Jersey City and Paterson, N.J.
Each weekend, Febo and others from Guazabera Insights hit the streets to educate the public on healthier lifestyles. He explains why in this video, which was shot recently while engaging with the public in Jersey City’s Journal Square.
But the work doesn’t stop on the streets. How about helping the incarcerated at Hudson County Correctional Center, which many wrongly assume are beyond change, with a reintegration program? Febo, a fantastic public speaker, does that, too, as illustrated in the video below.
You can watch a more comprehensive video of Guazabera Insights’ work at the Hudson County Correctional Center here.
A Brooklyn native, Febo graduated from the University at Buffalo with a master’s degree in Humanities Interdisciplinary: Caribbean Cultural Studies, studied in Havana, Cuba and Bahia, Brazil. His master’s thesis, “Sazón Batería y Soberanía: Puerto Rico in the Dance for Self-Determination,” is a documentary regarding Puerto Rican Sovereignty. He also attained a bachelor’s degree in Latino Studies, concentrating in history and politics.
Learn more about Guazabera Insights here.
Cooking with sea kelp noodles
Experiment is the name of the game & tonight it was #SeaTangle#KelpNoodles. I should have cut them more w a kitchen scissor, as they’re super long! They were good. They’re very neutral on taste. I thought they’d pick up flavor like tofu, but no. A good compliment to my dinner, though, bc they’re somewhat crunchy (I should have run them under warm water longer) & filling though super low in calories & rich in calcium, iron & vitamin K. #healthyeats #cooking Bought these at @organicbasicfood in #Hoboken.
For a good blog post on how to prepare kelp noodles in a salad, check this out.
Beautiful photos from Yosemite National Park
All photos via photographer Jason Towlen and the rights belong to him!
WHY HAVEN’T I BEEN HERE YET?
Photo by: Pablo Andrés Sandoval Vargas
Catch me at the Bronx Zoo this summer!
Julie Larsen Maher © WCS
I go to the Bronx Zoo at LEAST once per year, but the return of these interesting guys guarantees a summer 2017 visit!
Critically endangered Indian Gharials have returned to the Bronx Zoo for the first time in 25 years.
Gharial are a slender-snouted crocodilian native to northern Indian subcontinent. They are classified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Eighty percent of the remaining world population live in the Chambal River in India – the last stronghold for the species.
The Gharials have been added to the river habitat in “JungleWorld,” which first opened in 1985 and is one of the marquee exhibits at the Bronx Zoo. It is an award-winning indoor Asian rainforest that features several multi-species habitats that create a total immersion experience for guests.
The “JungleWorld” river already serves as home to turtles and fish native to Asia. White-cheeked gibbons, mouse deer, Indian fruit bats, painted storks and numerous other species of birds can also be seen along the river’s edge.
Julie Larsen Maher © WCS
WCS’s Bronx Zoo is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays, 5:30 p.m. weekends from April to October; 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m all days November to March. Adult general admission is $19.95, children (3-12 years old) $12.95, children under 3 are free, seniors (65+) are $17.95. Parking is $16 for cars and $20 for buses. The Bronx Zoo is conveniently located off the Bronx River Parkway at Exit 6; by train via the #2 or #5 or by bus via the #9, #12, #19, #22, MetroNorth, or BxM11 Express Bus service (from Manhattan that stops just outside the gate.) To plan your trip, visit bronxzoo.com or call 718-367-1010.
WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in nearly 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit:newsroom.wcs.org Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: 347-840-1242.
CLINTON news that has nothing to do w Hillary or Bill.
There’s Bill. There’s Hillary. There’s Chelsea. And now, meet Tyler Clinton. The nephew of the former President and former Secretary of State, 22-year-old Tyler is the son of Bill’s half-brother. He’s nearly six feet tall, just graduated from college and moved to New York, and appears to have inherited the family genes of drive to…
via Hillary Clinton’s Model Nephew Knows How to Strike a Pose — TIME
Scene By Gina 