Around the Way: The Brooklyn Public Library

The Park Slope branch of the Brooklyn Public Library

At Home: Afternoon Light

bookcase still life

Picture Window: Northern Light

winter morning, january

Picture Window: Horizon

a line of light begins the new day

Around the Way: The Magic Hour

sunset on 5th avenue

Green Hair Care, for Curly Girls on a Budget

Hello to the all the Curly Girls, Guys, Kiddies, and people who love them! We know by now that we can't use typical drugstore products, like widely available, commercial, and typically cheap shampoos and conditioners for our hair type. It strips our hair of moisture and causes frizzies like we've been trekking through a rain forest for two days: in other words, a snarled, tangled mess.

We also know that cleansing conditioners without sulfates are the way to go, but with the best one on the market being produced from top-shelf, organic oils, it's a pricey deal for great hair. If you can afford No-Poo from DevaCare, do it. Do it now. Do it today. Just run out and buy it, curly girl, and don't look back. Thank me with years of great hair pictures on your Facebook profile, or whatever you kids do nowadays. In stores, it retails at around $15.00-$18.00 for 12 oz. of product, but I just did a search, and I found an online retailer selling it for $7.32 without tax or shipping. I can't vouch for it, because I haven't ordered from the site before: http://www.buy.com/prod/devacurl-no-poo-zero-lather-conditioning-cleanser/230761186.html?listingId=239661618.

If you're days away from a payday, or you're currently without a paycheck at all, what can you do? I found a few lower end options that you can buy in stores, for all budgets. My local drugstore chain had an organic brand called Renpure on the shelves that was on sale for around $10.00, but the picture on the 18 oz. bottle of the founders' straight-haired niece did not bode well for me. Experience agreed with my assessment, and I found that his blend did not work for my scalp type and curls. C'est la guerre.

One afternoon at my local Target, I got a cleansing conditioner that smelled like vanilla and also cost only $10, but I can't remember the name of it, just that it was in a cheerful blue bottle. I couldn't find it online, either. Booooo! May your next trip there be more fruitful than mine. Look in the multicultural section, around products like Shea Moisture and Mixed Chicks. Down and out, I had to find something else on the shelf that would work for my hair type. After a lot of searching and scrutinizing of labels, I found a Suave Naturals line that might do the trick, at the bargain price of $2.00.

It's important to remember that commercial conditioners have more than enough cleansing power for your delicate curly hair. You do not have to use shampoo, just work the conditioner through with your fingers, and scrub your scalp well. Rinse a couple of times, still massaging your scalp vigorously and working your hands through your hair, removing loose hair and excess sebum. That's it! I'm back on the same "wash every two days" schedule that I'm on with the pricier organic cleansing conditioners, though my curls are drier and not as defined like they are when I use more specifically targeted organic products for curls. The Suave label does have natural oils listed, along with some more dangerously chemically-sounding derivatives, but it's definitely better than using commercial brands that have harmful sulfates and no organic products or natural oils at all.

Happy Hunting!

The Queen of Versailles

The Queen of Versailles brought together several themes I've been interested in for a lifetime; the curdling of The American Dream, and the seamy ugly underbelly of a mythical beast we helped to create. What do you do when you finally wake up from that artificially pink, fluffy, Disneyland princess fantasy with a huge credit card bill and a hangover? This movie tells you exactly what happens. Consider it the antidote to the toxic poison you've been swilling for decades.

It starts off on a high roll, like the best night in Vegas you've ever had, before the collections department comes to repo your leased Benz for missed payments. We see the old head of a company married to a typical trophy wife, consuming and spending like a glutton who thinks the Thanksgiving feast will never end. She fits the marketing version of beauty that we've come to expect nowadays: tall, thin, with long, flat-ironed, dyed-blond hair, a former model (a divorced Mrs. Florida from 1993) with an obvious boob job who tans excessively, shops to excess, then brags about it, and loses herself in the process.

He sees himself as The King to her throne, and in turn labels himself a kingmaker for his huge campaign contributions to then-President George W. Bush Jr., claiming credit for securing his presidency, though he is loathe to disclose details that he hints may be "illegal". They're a horrible couple blinded by greed, with cartoonishly bad taste in just about anything and everything you can think of: food, art, design, pets, clothing, furnishings, and houses. On a serious money high, they embark on building the largest private residence in the world that they dub "Versailles", through bank credits and mortgages.

Because his fortunes are based on selling Florida timeshares to the working poor through pyramid schemes and high pressure sales tactics, like fly-by-night con-men selling uninhabitable swampland as a vacation paradise, he can't actually afford what you see in the film. It's almost all on credit, living just like the vulnerable people he directs his pitchmen to target and attack. When the market flips on them in 2008, you see how little resources the couple actually have to draw upon, and the depths to their superficiality that exist on every level. There's no emotional support between them, because their marriage isn't built on that. There's no financial support, because bankers turn cruel when your money dries up. 

When they start going downhill, no one around them can stop the landslide. Their nannies struggle to clean up after them, because the wife is too incompetent to run a large household. The staff is also awash in debt. In an ironic Capitalist twist, one of their nannies is in foreclosure for her modest home at the same time their Versailles goes into foreclosure, a horrid symmetry when the supposed "rich" and "poor" are exactly alike. The other nanny raises their eight children, seven of them and a family niece, because the wife got hooked on having babies when she found out she wouldn't have to raise them. In another heart-breaking reveal, we find out that her nanny, broken down and in tears, hasn't seen her own son, who lives in the Philippines, for years, because she saves every penny she can to send home to her family who depend upon her.

It is cruel and bleak and savagely funny because it's obvious to us that they are steeped in dysfunction and compulsion. He proclaims himself the victim of a money-lending system that got him "hooked" on cheap available cash, which we feel very little sympathy for. The banks stop the joy ride when he doesn't deliver on empty promises built upon the backs of people too crippled to bail themselves out, let alone their rich master. His third wife is snared in all the usual traps that women like her fall into: shopping sprees with unlimited spending and expensive cosmetic procedures, because her prince of a husband has already charmingly joked about trading her in for younger models. Isn't that funny? No? I wanted to cry, too - how little value they have as humans, because they've become zombified through addictions that have become deeply entrenched in the American lifestyle.

When I was on my way to the library to return the DVD, I ran into a new friend who was coming out as I was walking in. We discussed our DVD selections. I talked about the documentary I just saw and my ideas for this piece. He confessed to being a salesmen for timeshares while living in Florida years prior; a man on welfare, living in a tiny room in a dilapidated building that has one shared run-down bathroom on the second floor, piecing together part-time work through a series of small jobs, going to community college in the hopes of a better life, battling drug addiction and mental illness. He admitted to me that psychological tactics were an important part of the job, and that he himself bought a timeshare back then, too. Of course he did.

http://www.magpictures.com/thequeenofversailles/ 

Picture Window: Daybreak

dawn triptych

The Island President

Like the people of Shishmaref*, the people of The Maldives are living the hell caused by climate change right now. The more the planets' temperature rises from carbon emissions injected into the atmosphere, the higher sea levels rise, forcing entire civilizations to relocate or disappear. The Maldivians have had a culture for over 3,000 years that they are naturally fighting to sustain; not ten years from now, not ten minutes from now, but the very minute that you are reading this post. *http://mariedoucette.blogspot.com/2011/11/last-days-of-shishmaref.html

Because of the urgency of the threat to their group of islands, the President had to address the huge issue of climate change immediately, after years as a journalist and activist fighting to free his country from the grip of a brutal dictator. Mohamed Nasheeds' life story is the gripping beginning to his epic battle to win the right for his people to live peacefully. Upon winning the presidency in the first free democratic election, the fight then becomes one to save his people. Period. http://maldivesdemocracymovement.com/

Even now, The Maldivians still struggle against forces of oppression by counteracting the next coup staged by the former dictatorship that ousted Nasheed from his post as President. His courage to survive solitary confinements and police brutality underscore the amount of bravery that we, as responsible inhabitants of this planet, must summon up to conquer those forces that we feel are bigger and more threatening than we are. But that's exactly what we must do; we must speak up. Every time you are at the cash register, you have the opportunity to buy a product that either a)  contributes to a toxic, wasteful lifestyle that hurts both us and our planet , or b) contributes to a healthier lifestyle and planet for us all. 

It's the very reason that someone like me, who fights hard for every dime I earn, still makes the conscious decision to choose green and compassionate products over cheaper harmful ones whenever I can; choices that directly impact my here and now, with the future payoff of a better future for us all. That's exactly what's expected of us: be the David who fights Goliath, every minute of every day. Not tomorrow, but today. You have to start today.  Be brave! 

http://theislandpresident.com/

Green for boys and girls

Continuing on with the green theme, I ran into an eczema emergency yesterday, after a bad night of scratching brought on from prickly radiator steam heat that neither the humidifier or olive oil could help. So, what to do? The local pharmacy chain had all the big brand names on sale, rife with Petrolatum*, that cheap viscose substance created from friction through the oil refining process. Yuck. No wonder it's readily available. And who wants to support oil-based by-products? We should be phasing those out, so we can start cutting loose from our fossil fuel dependency totally. That extends beyond cars and transportation to include any and all products made from the refinery industry. *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_jelly

Luckily for me, the local .$99 store had a green alternative called Naturals by Safety 1st for the bargain price of $1.99: an all-natural skin lotion for babies and kids made with natural ingredients. Yes! I slathered myself in it yesterday and today, and my skin feels better already. I checked a bunch of links, and it's readily available to buy online if you can't find a store in your neighborhood that carries it. Just make sure you buy carbon offsets* if it has to travel far to be delivered to your doorstep. Happy skin softening, baby!
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_offset

Green to go!

Ever on the search for green and affordable products, I decided to try a commercial deodorant I found at a local drugstore that carries a wide range of ethnic imports, which makes it a fun place to explore. I'd read that continued use of baking soda and cornstarch, while very effective for curbing bacteria and odor, could lead to irritation, and such was my case. It felt like itchy razor burn under my arms!

This new product "Herbal Clear Naturally!" satisfied my needs on all levels: completely natural, no aluminum or artificial ingredients, and the price was a deliriously low $2.50, much better than the other popular brands on the shelf that contain harmful chemicals. Score!!

I'd also wanted to try a homemade face scrub idea that I'd read about online, of a lemon half sprinkled with sugar. The exfoliation from the sugar would remove dead skin cells on the surface, allowing the citric acid to zap pours. Well, I had limes in the fridge and brown sugar in the pantry, so that's what I went with yesterday morning before my bath. It worked really, really well as an exfoliating scrub, so if you have a citrus fruit and a gritty type of sugar on hand, go for it! Be healthy and natural on a budget.

Picture Window: dark, then dawn

dark, then dawn

Greener Pastures

In my quest for the cheap and green, I've come upon some great deals. An old pharmacy staple from England, Yardley's Lavender Soap is a bargain at around $1.50. It lacks the harmful foaming agent Sodium laureth sulfate* that most low end cleansers use as a filler, and it smells incredible. The cardboard box it comes in is also recyclable.

As great a home cleanser as baking soda is, green and cheap, it was making my scalp irritated and itchy with continued use, so I decided to try another kitchen staple, baking powder*. Since I tend to have oily skin and hair after a few days, those of you with the same may benefit from it more, like I did. I found I can go a lot longer between rinses using a baking soda mixture because it has more acid in it. It's the same mixture as that of a baking soda rinse: one tablespoon diluted into one cup of warm water.

Happy cleansing!

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_laureth_sulfate
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baking_powder

Picture Window: OMG, It's a Ghost Cloud!

ghost cloud drifts by

I remember exactly what I was thinking when I saw this cloud drifting past the windows and across the sky: "What a cute cloud!" It seemed to have a real force behind it by keeping its' head and body shape, moving up and down slightly like a Chinese paper dragon making its' way in a parade, or a mysterious sea creature undulating slowly past me under water. What a happy feeling!

Jorge, homeboy, this one's for you. Keep looking out at that horizon.

Olmsted

New Yorkers know Frederick Law Olmsted* through the creation of our famously beautiful public parks, like Central Park in Manhattan, and Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

Like many early Americans, his history is far more interesting than simply being the father of landscape architecture and design. Did you know it wasn't even his profession by training?

Check out this cool PBS special about him and his incredible life.

Watch Olmsted and America's Urban Parks on PBS. See more from THIRTEEN Series.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Law_Olmsted