There followed that beautiful season…
Summer…
Filled was the air with a dreamy
and magical light;
and the landscape
Lay as if new created
in all the freshness of childhood.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

GOODBYE TO THE WATER BOTTLE


Worldwide sales of plastic water bottles are $60 Billion a year.

That's a lot of money for an essential resource that you can
get for free from any faucet in most, not necessarily all,
countries.

And once that water is consumed, those plastic bottles --
70 billion bottles a year in the U.S. alone - end up in
landfills or perhaps bobbing along bodies of water and
ultimately, the sea.

But there is a movement afoot in the U.S. to get rid of plastic
water bottles and it is called the Unbottle Water Campaign.
And big cities are getting into the act.

On March 4, San Francisco "became the first major city in
the U.S. to ban the sale of plastic water bottles on public
property, building on a nationwide effort to curb waste from
the billion-dollar industry," reported The Examiner.

Sales of bottles holding 21 ounces or less of water will be phased
out over the next four years. Violators risk fines of up to $1,000.

Reacting to the ban, the America Beverage Association called
the action a "misguided attempt by city supervisors to decrease
waste in a city of avid recyclers."

More such "misguided attempts" are needed in the U.S. to break
the habit of the plastic water bottle. With potable water available
nationwide, there is no reason to be buying this product which
in addition to filling up landfills poses a health hazard to people.

The polycarbonate plastic of water bottles is made using an
industrial chemical known as BPA or bisphenol A. Some research
studies have found that BPA can leach into beverages and food
(BPA is also used to coat metal cans) with potentially adverse
effects on the brain, behavior, and the prostate gland of fetuses,
infants and children.

It's time to move away from plastic to glass:  the water bottle is
a good starting point.

newdream.org/unbottlewater

Photography by Denise Blasor

Wake up today, 
and look into the heart of the universe,
at this very moment you are here,
and you are alive.

Martin Suarez

THE ELECTROSHOCK OF VINTAGE

All pictures taken at Electroshock on Loiza Street

San Juan -- Feeling the jolt of the past is as easy and immediate
as entering a vintage/thrift store and on Loiza street, that corridor
of commerce with so much going on these days, there's two of
them right across from the other, each beckoning with unique
delights.

Much of the charm of both Len.t.juela and Electroshock is in the
contrast between the cache on shelves and racks that speaks so
vividly and colorfully of past decades and the modern, edgy
look of these two stores, a contrast that reiterates how well the past
and present can coexist in mutual appreciation.

Also, they are so bright and neat, unlike so many thrift stores
one finds even in New York that are dingy, grimy and messy.
The emphasis here is on neatness and making it easy for
people to appreciate the variety of objects carefully curated
by their owners.

Electroshock's owner Monica Oquendo says it took a while for
San Juan consumers to warm up to vintage. "There was a mysticism
about it," she said. "It's been a learning process."Today she runs two
vintage stores: the one on Loiza street, which she opened earlier this
year, and another one in Rio Piedras, near the University of Puerto Rico.

















The large clothing selection, for  men and women, hangs
neatly from racks that occupy much of the store. There are
dresses, skirts, blouses, tops, t-shirts, jeans, and shirts galore,
plenty to choose from if you have the patience and time to
look around.

Additionally, Oquendo has contemporary and vintage jewelry
on display in a glass case, plus assorted items like records,
luggage, artist comic books, totes and bags. Most things in
the store are under $30.

Styles have certainly taken all kinds of twists and turns in past
decades and one of the delights of looking through racks of old
dresses is to spot those that in addition to recalling a way of
dressing also bring back a moment in history like the chic orange
frock with black lace seen during a recent visit that instantly
flashbacked to the Valentino dress that Jackie Kennedy wore
to marry shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis back in 1968.

Jackie's dress, a tunic ending in a pleated skirt, was beige and
had a high neck but it too featured bands of lace across the bodice
and the long sleeves, much as in the above dress.

The joy of vintage is all about making such finds or in the best of
cases, uncovering surprising aspects of the past one had completely
forgotten or was not even aware of.

Len.t.juela   #1852 Calle Loiza  787.408.7111

Electroshock  #1811 Calle Loiza 787.727.5428

Photography by Denise Blasor

I don't want a future, I want a present.
To me this appears of greater value.
You have a future only when you have no present,
and when you have a present, 
you forget to even think about the future.

Robert Walser

ⓒ  2014 Lorraine Blasor all rights reserved❥

Happiness makes up in height
what it lacks in length.

-- Robert Frost


Photography by Denise Blasor

A stick called Kishu

A Brita filter is a handy way to filter water and while it
beats buying endless supplies of bottled waters in the end it
is just another product using plastic that will end up cluttering
landfills for a gazillion years.

Now there is an alternative worth trying out and it's in the form
of an eco-friendly, small stick of activated charcoal that
when placed in a pitcher of water absorbs toxins commonly
found in tap water, like lead, mercury, cadmium, copper and
chlorine.

On top of that, this little stick of charcoal releases healthy minerals
like calcium and potassium. It even enhances the quality of the
water, with users commending how fresh and pure the water tastes.

Kishu filters are made from the branches of holm oak trees from
the forests of Japan's Wakayama region (once known as Kishu).
Turns out the Japanese have been using charcoal filters for
centuries and now U.S. consumers  are discovering the benefits
of this natural product.

A Kishu charcoal stick is good for four months, purifying
approximately 2 quarts of water per day. Once a month you need
to boil the stick in a shallow pan of water for 10 minutes to keep
exterior pores open and then let it dry for 30 minutes before
replacing it in the water pitcher. The charcoal starts absorbing
impurities right away but it is best to let it sit five hours for
optimal effect.

Some might consider the wait period and the need for periodic
boostups a bit of an inconvenience but consider the stick's
virtues: it is made from a sustainable resource and it is
compostable.  Brita casings, alas, are not bio-degradable though
the company in 2009 began a recycling program in Canada
under which used pitcher filter casings are recycled by another
company, Preserve, into such household items as toobrushes,
cups and cutting boards.

Amazon offers several kinds of Kishu sticks with prices ranging
from $5.99 for a stick to be used in a water bottle to $18 for two sticks.

Disappointingly, this is one more product that Amazon does not ship
to Puerto Rico which leaves island consumers with no recourse but
to order from the company through stateside relatives or friends.

Martin Travieso Street Mural, San Juan

I promise I shall never give up,
and that I'll die yelling and laughing.

Jack Kerouac

BUEN PROVECHO


Puerto Rico Restaurant Week kicks off May 14
(through May 20), an opportunity for locals and tourists
alike to try out some of the best restaurants on the island
through pre-fixe menus at lower prices.

More than 40 restaurants are participating in the event
which is not limited to dinner but, in the case of some
restaurants, also includes lunch.

Pre-fixe dinner menus are priced at $28 and $38, while
lunch menus are $14 and $19, tax and gratuity not
included.

Check out participating restaurants and their offerings at
www.prrestaurantweek.com and as Puerto
Ricans like to say, "Buen provecho," or "Enjoy your meal."




☛ A simple recipe: Red-Bean Burgers

Folks seeking a tasty, non-meat alternative to the common
burger should try this fabulously simple and appetizing recipe
recently published in Martha Stewart's Living magazine. The
recipe calls for shredded carrot, as one of the ingredients,
but onions work just as well. And for dried breadcrumbs,
use crumbled Mestemacher Three Grain Bread to give
the burger a richer taste.

Ingredients: 2 cans of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained;
1/2 a cup of shredded carrot (or onion); 1 teaspoon of chili
powder; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 3/4 cup dried breadcrumbs;
2 large eggs, lightly beaten; 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive
oil; salt and pepper.

1. Lightly mash beans in a bowl.
2. Add carrot, chili powder, oregano, breadcrumbs, eggs.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Mix together with a spoon or fork.
5. Shape into four patties.
6. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, add patties and cook
over medium heat until bottom is browned, about 10 to 12 minutes.
7. Flip over and cook until browned.

Serve on a bun with condiments.

Artwork by Lorraine Blasor

There is a happiness which is perfect
and real as long as it lasts;
it is transient, but its end
does not negate its past existence
and prevent he who has experienced it
from remembering it.

Casanova 
"Story of My Life" 

ⓒ 2014 Lorraine Blasor all rights reserved☂

ART enables us to find ourselves
and lose ourselves at the same time.

--Thomas Merton

Photography by Denise Blasor 

Consuming ART

In times like ours, of war, uncertainty, and economic blight,

the arts offer refuge and respite, a safe place from which to look
at the world anew.

Art is food and feeling and thought. And the life force at its core
is such that it can even rekindle a sense of hope and optimism.
Which is why supporting the arts is a way to promote creative
endeavors that can sustain and motivate society towards change
and progress.

Here are a few artists worth supporting:  

Isabel Batteria writes short stories and essays. For several
years, she and her husband Áxel Alfaro ran the literary magazine
Derivas as a forum for Puerto Rican writers and a venue for new
work, including translations (www.derivas.net).

Batteria's most recent effort is two handmade, brown-paper covered
books slightly larger than the palm of your hand (2" by 3 1/2")
and bound together with a piece of white string. "Taft 58" and "Villa
Mimoso" contain short essays with evocative descriptions of the
feelings and thoughts elicited by different buildings in which Batteria
has lived.

The writing, in Spanish, is crisp, clear, reflective.

"Esta semana cumplo un año desde que me mudé. Todavía
descubro y documento nuevos ruidos. Los ruidos son, para mí, una
característica importantísima de donde uno vive, una parte de su
esencia." ("This week marks a year since I moved. I am still
discovering and documenting new sounds. Sounds are, to me, a
very important characteristic of where one lives, a part of its
essence.")

Occasionally, a wild conceit breaks through.

"Una casa es un pedazo de piedra gigante. Pero por muchos años
guardé piedras en una canasta." (A house is a gigantic piece of
stone. But for many years I kept stones in a basket.")

These little books, so pleasurable to hold between your hands
and yet almost fragile, are a perfect metaphor for the evanescence
of experience captured in Batteria's cool, spare prose punctuated
with touches of humor. They invite you to reflect on your own
experiences living in a certain place and a certain neighborhood.

Soon, they will be joined by another two companion miniatures,
"Hebe" and "De la Vega," to make up the edition titled
"Santurce, PR 00911."

Available through Etsy ($10 plus shipping). Go to:
www.etsy.com/listing/162228336/ Author's Edition:
"Santurce P.R. 00911" or look up isabatt in the
search box.

Mural detail

Paula del Toro
is an earnest 25-year old
graphic artist who creates
figures at once cartoonish,        
wildly imaginative, and
amusing.

 "I was always drawn to
drawing and caricature, and the
friendships I cultivated at
the university (of Puerto Rico)
strengthened my interest towards the arts as an activity
for interchange and self-empowerment," says del Toro, who
works full-time at a hospital, a job that cuts down on her
creative time but allows her to support herself.

"Fantastic, congenial, fun," is how del
Toro describes her art. "It is simple and delicate."

She likes the power of a straight line
done with a ballpoint pen and sees a
connection between her work and that
of the late Keith Haring.

 "Like him, I have an assured and
brisk stroke and to a certain extent,
innocence. He, however, also
worked social, political, religious
and other themes. I don't do that
yet, though it interests me," says
del Toro, adding that she still has
a lot of learning to do.

Del Toro's commercial work
includes commissions to decorate
tote bags sold at Concalma in Old
San Juan and creating her own line
of t-shirts with felt appliquées,
which she sold on her own. She also
draws figures with color markers to
create stickers using adhesive
papers which she then sells at
musical or art events.


She does have one preference: "I
like to do murals in gardens, and to add a certain mysticism to
neglected spaces...I could do murals forever, if that were the
only thing to do."

To view del Toro's artwork, go to
http://www.flickr.com/photos/naricesabajo/8196527134/
For a mural commission to enhance your garden or your home,
contact the artist at pdeltoro@outlook.com/

Bill Santiago
is smart and funny. He used to be a reporter but when the
muse of comedy came calling, he bid adieux to editors and
colleagues in Puerto Rico and set off across the sea in fast
pursuit of laughter. Since then he has crisscrossed the United
States more times than you can count to appear in venues high
and low, at comedy clubs, university and commercial theaters,
on Comedy Central and even CNN as, what else, but a comic
commentator.

His brand of comedy relies on smarts rather than smut and his
word plays can often be so nimble that you really have to be on
your toes to keep up with him. Besides being very funny and an
astute appraiser of the political landscape through occasional
columns on Huffington Post,  Santiago is also the author of
"Pardon My Spanglish."

To catch him in action this week in New York, head to La Casa
Azul Bookstore on Thursday, Sept. 12, where he will be performing
beginning at 7:30 p.m. For a complete list of performing venues,
go to billsantiago.com and look up his tour schedule.

La Casa Azul Bookstore 
143 East 103rd St., New York city
between Lexington & Park Ave.
close to # 6 train - 103rd St. stop
212.426.2626

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JULIETTE BLASOR

Death is forever, irreversible and final.
Once it happens, nothing can change it.
Forever is the end of all possibilities,
where no wrongs can be righted and
no regrets can be pardoned.

DIANE WEI LANG
"THE EYE OF JADE"

 ☛ EYE ON PRODUCTS: KISHU

If you are concerned about heavy metals in your water, you might
want to try out a product called Kishu, an activated charcoal from
kiln-burned branches of sustainably harvested white oak trees. It 
comes in stick form and absorbs toxins in tap water such as lead, 
mercury, cadmium, copper and chlorine. 

All you have to do is drop a Kishu stick in a large pitcher and add
tap water. Kishu begins absorbing impurities right away but for 
optimal absorption it is recommended that you wait several hours
before drinking the water.  The stick, which lasts 6 months and is
compostable, also imparts healthy minerals to water such as calcium,
phosphates and magnesium.  Retails for $13 and  $18;  sticks 
for water bottles sell for $9.

Available online at kishucharcoal.com or call 303.810.8206. 
Also at Amazon.

Photography by Denise Blasor

Something in this world
man must trust.
Not everything - but something
One cannot live and doubt
everybody and everything.
Somewhere in this world, and not beyond it,
there is trust, and somehow trust
leads to joy.

W.E.B.DuBois

A SIMPLE TIP
If you have some leftover soup, don't discard it. Instead, use it
either as the base for a new soup (all you need to do is add
more water and vegetables to the mix) or to add flavor to one
you start from scratch.

Photography by Denise Blasor

 © 2013 Lorraine Blasor All Rights Reserved                                                        

Shopping for Vitamins

If you are not familiar with The Vitamin Shoppe, a leading national retailer of vitamins and health supplements with more than 400 stores across the United States, this might be a good week to get acquainted. 

That's because the company has a special offer on e-mail orders this week that cuts down on shipping to 99 cents per purchase. The coupon is good until Saturday, May 14.

 If you order by mail, you are probably familiar with the fact that shipping can balloon the cost of an order considerably with some companies even tacking on an additional fee on orders headed to Puerto Rico, an unfair imposition on buyers living on the island. The flat rate on Vitamin Shoppe orders runs around $5 but if you are in no rush you can also choose a slower track for $2.99. Orders in excess of $99 worth of products pay no shipping charges.

Paying 99 cents per purchase, an occasional promotion, is the next best thing.

Vitamin Shoppe retails its own very reliable and affordable brand of vitamins and supplements while also carrying as many as 400 other national brands. On its website, you can shop either by brand or by health concern. The ample product line includes vitamins and supplements, herbs and homeopathics, foods and energy drinks, products for kids and pets. There is also a section on eco-products and one devoted to natural bath and beauty products. 

The site is easy to navigate although, admittedly, there are occasional glitches using a promotional code. In that case, all you need to do is call the toll-free company line and assistance is quick and forthcoming.

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com

Photograph by Carl P. Blasor

Tell me little white cloud,

where did you come from,

where have you been.

from a Bulgarian folksong

A SIMPLE SWITCHEROO

Just consider. The U.S. alone, each year, produces in excess of 800,000 tons of plastic bottle pollution. So what are you doing about it?

Here's one solution. Just ditch the water bottle in favor of a stainless steel bottle, which you can refill as needed and carry around with the same ease and convenience as a water bottle but with the knowledge you are contributing to improve the environment. Arguably the "eco status symbol" of the moment, stainless steel bottles are available even at your local Walgreens. 

MAKE MY DAY

Not to fear. This has nothing to do with Harry Callahan -aka Clint Eastwood -- in the 1983 film "Sudden Impact (good film, though). Instead, this short video will definitely brighten up you day in a most indelible way. So check it out...

http://ociofx.com/?p=14 

Photograph by CPBlasor

 In nature there is no 'good,' no 'evil.' Only life warring

against life. 

         Joyce Carol Oates      

COPYRIGHT © 2011 Lorraine Blasor All Rights Reserved