MORE THAN ONE-THIRD of adults in the United States (78.6 million people) can be considered obese, defined as at least thirty pounds overweight. As of 2009 not a single state could meet the rather modest goal of an obesity rate of only fifteen percent. Current projections say that by 2018 obesity-related health problems will cost the American healthcare system around 344 billion dollars every year, and that by 2020 the obesity […]
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Ruby | Why we collect
I meet Tom R. in front of the Faux Museum, in Portland’s Old Town. He offers me tomatoes from his garden as he’s unlocking the front door. Slogans in the windows: “Home of the Woolly Ant,” and “Oldest Museum in the World!” “Sometimes I can hear people standing outside and reading the signs aloud and laughing,” says Tom. “Oddly enough, those people never come in.” Tom is charmed by my […]
Sarah Westwood | My recently completed heartbreak collection
Brendan, Jeff, Kris, Lorenzo, Joey, John, Evan, Matt, Kyle, and Dan. These are the men in my curio cabinet of romance, men who each elicited some sort of feeling strong enough to brand his name on my heart. Some of them were perfectly lovely, some unnecessarily disrespectful, some criminally clueless, and some simply cruel. For now, I’ve locked the door on this cabinet of curiosities and stowed the key. Currently, […]
Rosalee de la Foret | The puzzle of health
As a teenager I loved my visits to the natural health food store, where I would prowl the aisles just looking at everything on the shelves. I would pore over the pages of Prescription of Natural Healing learning all I could about vitamins and herbs. I doubt there are many sixteen-year-olds getting their kicks from health food stores. I went to college and majored in foreign languages, another passion. I […]
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