Here in the Twenty-first Century, there are still a few taboos that our enlightened society can't seem to rise above. One of them: Faith.
This seems particularly true in areas like architecture and urban planning, where it's presumed that all "people of faith" have bad taste, are afraid of progress, hate cities, and want to live in McMansions in the suburbs. These stereotypes are not completely unwarranted; there are factions of the Christian faith that are in opposition to contemporary voices in culture and urban life. But this small percentage does not speak for the whole.
Faith is particularly taboo in the academic realm where students are told to check their religious lives at the door and, consequently, never have a chance to develop the relationship between their private faith and their career. (Check out Ben Stein's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed for his perspective on how this plays out in the realm of science.) This produces a lot of young people who believe they have to choose between two things they are passionate about: their faith and changing the world.
Is it possible to have both?
Some of us believe so.
A friend of mine, an urban planner in a moderately large city, recently asked me how I navigate my work in the public realm as it relates to my faith. Her experience is that Christians (especially of the conservative vein) are, at best, a joke in the city planning world. Now, my work in community improvement is not nearly as "public" as her position with the city. But, she has heard me speak (and write) quite a bit about how my faith informs my views on politics, community development, and urban life. And she was curious how I manage being an "eco-friendly, urban, transit-loving, libertarian Christian" (her words--not mine) without feeling emotionally crushed while working with my peers.
A blog I frequent--Urbanophile--recently posted a link to an interesting podcast on this issue. You can access it here.
The basic gist of the podcast is this: historically speaking, faith has always been a prime motivator in public life, for progress and justice. So, why do we ignore this connection when training those to whom we entrust our public life?
There is a lot of discussion in Christian circles these days about urbanism and how the Church should address issues related to city life and urban culture. But, the secular arena doesn't seem very educated about the contemporary Christian perspective--and they definitely ignore the historic one.
I'm fairly new to the conversation and definitely don't claim to have all the answers for how faith and public life are supposed to intersect, but, I am convinced that I need not "check my faith at the door" in order to have something to contribute to the broader conversation.
And I would encourage any young, passionate "people of faith" to pursue the health of their faith and the welfare of their city.
Maybe we can have both.
"But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." - the prophet Jeremiah, Old Testament.
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
I Couldn't Agree More
I definitely haven't said much lately on this blog. Rest assured, it's not for lack of ideas or desire. I've simply been too busy and overwhelmed to sit down and write.
Until I get my act together and write something original, chew on this:
A great article, courtesy of good.is about the value of planning cities with families in mind.
Thanks, GOOD. I couldn't have said it any better.
Until I get my act together and write something original, chew on this:
A great article, courtesy of good.is about the value of planning cities with families in mind.
Thanks, GOOD. I couldn't have said it any better.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Things to Love: Bento for a Better Lunch!
I've always been a fan of eating smaller portions of many things as a single meal, rather than the one-burrito-to-hold-it-all meal philosophy. So, it's only natural that I often prepare my son's meals that way. A normal child's lunch in the McEwan household: A teeny sandwich, a few small pieces of cheese, a handful of grapes, shredded carrots (because his teeth are not quite ready for chomping on full bites yet), a couple pretzel sticks, and sometimes a cookie (though my son, funny enough, usually skips on the sweets).
Enter: Bento. (or Obento--choose your poison)
In short, Bento is the artful presentation of a meal, but if you're familiar with the concept you know that it isn't quite that simple. I have been familiar with Bento since the summer I spent in Guam a million years back and saw the Japanese culinary phenomenon firsthand. I didn't really understand the breadth of the phenomenon until much later, when I discovered the obsessive side of Bento. (And, man, people take their Bento very seriously, collecting oodles and globs of Bento supplies, entering contests for the best Bento, and I can only imagine having serious anxiety over your average "sack lunch" meals.)
All obsessions aside, Bento is awesome for many reasons:
1. It is potentially waste-free. Not only will parents save on plastic baggies and paper lunch bags by purchasing reusable bento boxes, but the meal itself is free of wrapping and often made from scratch. (i.e. serious Bento parents don't toss a single-serving twix bar in the lunch for good measure)
2. It is a clever way to encourage hearty and healthy meals. So the philosophy goes: when food looks fun, kids are more likely to eat it. Even if a parent doesn't go all-out Bento crazy and make a freaking aquarium for their child's school lunch, some simple Bento tricks can turn a healthy meal into something colorful and inviting. ("Eat me," basically.)
3. It takes less time to eat. Rather than navigating a half dozen ziploc bags during their 15 minutes of lunch, your children can open their box, survey the food in one take, and eat it all up. As our local paper recently pointed out, kids are being given less and less time to eat their meals at school, which leads to lots of waste and (I would assume) a lot of kids skipping to dessert so they don't have to mess with their 1/2lb peanut butter and jelly sandwich that's been wrapped in a yard of tin foil.
4. It's a way to expend some creative energy while loving your family. If you're anything like me, you worry that parenthood has stripped you of your pazazz. I know, I know, a few attractive Bento lunches won't jump start my music career, but they could remind me that I still have that creativity lurking inside me. And, they will remind my children that I love them at the same time. Seriously, who wouldn't feel like a million bucks when they opened their lunch to find this:
photo courtesy O'Bento Lunch 4 Kidz blog
If you're interested in adapting a little bit of the Bento philosophy into feeding your family, you can find some tips, tricks, and advice at the following links.
Locally, you can purchase some basic Bento boxes (like Laptop Lunches) at local favorite Park + Vine. On my next trip to the market, I'll take a closer look at Saigon Market to see what they've got in stock, too. And I'd bet that Jungle Jim's has some interesting Bento supplies, though I haven't been up there in ages...
Enter: Bento. (or Obento--choose your poison)
In short, Bento is the artful presentation of a meal, but if you're familiar with the concept you know that it isn't quite that simple. I have been familiar with Bento since the summer I spent in Guam a million years back and saw the Japanese culinary phenomenon firsthand. I didn't really understand the breadth of the phenomenon until much later, when I discovered the obsessive side of Bento. (And, man, people take their Bento very seriously, collecting oodles and globs of Bento supplies, entering contests for the best Bento, and I can only imagine having serious anxiety over your average "sack lunch" meals.)
All obsessions aside, Bento is awesome for many reasons:
1. It is potentially waste-free. Not only will parents save on plastic baggies and paper lunch bags by purchasing reusable bento boxes, but the meal itself is free of wrapping and often made from scratch. (i.e. serious Bento parents don't toss a single-serving twix bar in the lunch for good measure)
2. It is a clever way to encourage hearty and healthy meals. So the philosophy goes: when food looks fun, kids are more likely to eat it. Even if a parent doesn't go all-out Bento crazy and make a freaking aquarium for their child's school lunch, some simple Bento tricks can turn a healthy meal into something colorful and inviting. ("Eat me," basically.)
3. It takes less time to eat. Rather than navigating a half dozen ziploc bags during their 15 minutes of lunch, your children can open their box, survey the food in one take, and eat it all up. As our local paper recently pointed out, kids are being given less and less time to eat their meals at school, which leads to lots of waste and (I would assume) a lot of kids skipping to dessert so they don't have to mess with their 1/2lb peanut butter and jelly sandwich that's been wrapped in a yard of tin foil.
4. It's a way to expend some creative energy while loving your family. If you're anything like me, you worry that parenthood has stripped you of your pazazz. I know, I know, a few attractive Bento lunches won't jump start my music career, but they could remind me that I still have that creativity lurking inside me. And, they will remind my children that I love them at the same time. Seriously, who wouldn't feel like a million bucks when they opened their lunch to find this:
photo courtesy O'Bento Lunch 4 Kidz blogIf you're interested in adapting a little bit of the Bento philosophy into feeding your family, you can find some tips, tricks, and advice at the following links.
Another Lunch
Lunch in a Box
Just Bento
Locally, you can purchase some basic Bento boxes (like Laptop Lunches) at local favorite Park + Vine. On my next trip to the market, I'll take a closer look at Saigon Market to see what they've got in stock, too. And I'd bet that Jungle Jim's has some interesting Bento supplies, though I haven't been up there in ages...
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Read This: The Urbivore
I've discovered a new blog--The Urbivore's Dilemma.
I was turned on to it by the folks over at GOOD. (Check them out if you're not already familiar.) It chronicles a New Yorker's experience of switching from a diet consisting of mostly take-out to one of primarily local produce from her new CSA share.
Since this is my first year as a CSA shareholder (I've bought into an Urban Farm Project), I immediately understood the dilemma. The challenge of a CSA is not only adjusting to a vegetable-based diet, but of learning to cook with whatever food is fresh, in-season, and available. The first few weeks of my CSA were hard to navigate--lots of lettuce and greens, beets, and turnips. (I froze a lot of the root vegetables, hoping to figure out what to do with them at a later time.) But the past few weeks have been much easier--carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, etc. It's been a relief to use the vegetables in meals I would normally cook, but still gives me a little room to experiment. The familiarity of the more recent produce makes my investment seem more reasonable.
I'm excited to follow along with the Urbivore's experiment in changing her diet and maybe get some good ideas for my own local produce experiment. Does anyone else want to share their experience of learning to eat local, in-season produce? Recipes? Funny recipe failures?
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Prediger at Urbivore's Dilemma.
I was turned on to it by the folks over at GOOD. (Check them out if you're not already familiar.) It chronicles a New Yorker's experience of switching from a diet consisting of mostly take-out to one of primarily local produce from her new CSA share.
Since this is my first year as a CSA shareholder (I've bought into an Urban Farm Project), I immediately understood the dilemma. The challenge of a CSA is not only adjusting to a vegetable-based diet, but of learning to cook with whatever food is fresh, in-season, and available. The first few weeks of my CSA were hard to navigate--lots of lettuce and greens, beets, and turnips. (I froze a lot of the root vegetables, hoping to figure out what to do with them at a later time.) But the past few weeks have been much easier--carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, etc. It's been a relief to use the vegetables in meals I would normally cook, but still gives me a little room to experiment. The familiarity of the more recent produce makes my investment seem more reasonable.
I'm excited to follow along with the Urbivore's experiment in changing her diet and maybe get some good ideas for my own local produce experiment. Does anyone else want to share their experience of learning to eat local, in-season produce? Recipes? Funny recipe failures?
Monday, March 22, 2010
Do This: Ohio State Roadway Cleanup
I know it might be a little taboo to promote a work event on my personal blog, but here goes:
With millions passing through Cincinnati every month, potholes and heavy traffic aren’t our only problems.
Would you like to know that your concerns about highway litter are being answered? Are you ready to be a part of the solution?
For years, the Ohio Department of Transportation and volunteers with Keep Cincinnati Beautiful have been working to keep litter off of our Ohio State roadways. This year, as a part of the annual State Roadway Cleanup on March 27th, we’ve asked for your help in choosing the cleanup locations! The results are in and will be used to mobilize volunteers during the State Roadway Cleanup, an extension of the nationwide Great American Cleanup.
Now, you are invited to be a part of the solution by volunteering on Saturday, March 27th for the annual State Roadway Cleanup, a partnership between Keep Ohio Beautiful, Keep Cincinnati Beautiful and the Ohio Department of Transportation. To volunteer in the Cincinnati area, you can complete the online volunteer form at KeepCincinnatiBeautiful.org. Once your volunteer form has been submitted and accepted, you will be sent a confirmation email with complete event details and volunteer information. Please allow a few days to process your volunteer form.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
8:30am- Registration;
9:00am- Kick-off Event;
9:30-12:30pm Cleanup Event
Meeting Location:
Cincinnati Union Terminal 1301 Western Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45203-1123
All State Roadway Cleanup volunteers who sign up through Keep Cincinnati Beautiful will receive a $1 coupon for the Cincinnati Museum Center’s new Omnimax film: Under the Sea and are eligible to receive one of five pairs of tickets that will be raffled during the event kick-off press conference!
Volunteers will meet in the Cincinnati Union Terminal parking lot, participate in a state-wide kick-off ceremony, and then be mobilized to their respective cleanup locations. This kick-off event will include a special appearance by Cincinnati Bengal Andre Smith, live music by local favorites Jake Speed and the Freddies, and light coffee breakfast.
Volunteers for the State Roadway Cleanup events in Cincinnati must be aged 18 or over, as all cleanup locations will be on or near Ohio State highways. Carpooling to Union Terminal is highly recommended. Some volunteers will ride together in a bus; others will transport themselves to the cleanup locations. All cleanup locations will be overseen by ODOT staff and all proper safety measures will be observed. All cleanup supplies will be provided. Volunteers should dress for weather conditions and light outdoor manual labor. Closed-toed shoes are required. For more information, visit KeepCincinnatiBeautiful.org, call (513)352-4384 or email liz.mcewan@cincinnati-oh.gov
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Local Issues: Raising Kids in a Lead-Contaminated City
According to a news article from 29 Dec, 2009:
When our son was born, we considered leaving, but also made a plan for the work we'd need to do on our apartment if we stayed. Insulating the back of the apartment and building bedrooms in that section, closing/insulating the ceiling, painting the floor, and rebuilding the bathroom were all on the list. Frankly, the past year has gone by too quickly and we've been too tired to do all that work ourselves (not to mention unwilling to foot the bill).
The one issue, though, that keeps haunting us is the open ceiling, which is basically just the floorboards of the unit above us. Not only does it mean there is no sound barrier between us and our neighbors, but that everything from water spilt on the floor above to the everyday dust from walking has the potential to end up in our apartment. Needless to say, keeping our floor clean is like conquering Goliath. As soon as our son started crawling, the open ceiling and the dust the results became our primary concern. This brings me back to the issue of lead contamination.
At my son's nine-month doctor's visit, he was subject to a routine blood test to check for lead contamination in his blood. As any mother would be, I was happy to comply and, as any mother living in the City of Cincinnati should be, I was anxious to hear the results. Knowing that my apartment is A) built long before 1979 and B) owned by a man who is not particularly interested in making improvements left me concerned that not only the paint on our walls but also the everyday dust on the floor could be poison for my son.
A month later, I got a very calm and courteous voicemail message from a nurse named Donna:
To make a long story short, my son's lead contamination level at the time of the test was 8.3 migrograms per decileter of blood. A level of 10 is considered "poisoned," and the City can do very little to help us unless my son has been poisoned (i.e. enforcing lead abatement laws with my landlord, inspecting my apartment to pinpoint the contamination). Thanks to the help of the nurse who visited us and took a sample, we know that the paint on our walls is not lead paint and so we can assume the paint dust falling from the ceiling is not contaminated either (since they appear to be a result of the same paint job). Because that was our assumed source of contamination, we're totally stumped as to how our son could have ingested or inhaled the lead.
Some thoughts:
- The nurse told us that all the rehab work being done in OTR could be producing lead dust to such an extent that my son could have inhaled it. Could this have happened just walking up and down Vine St. in the past few months?
- I would assume our building has lead pipes somewhere down below. Although the pipes "should not" produce lead-contaminated water, what if they do? We're going to purchase a cheap (and often unreliable) lead test to see.
- We've been very careful about the toys we've purchased for our son--where they're made, what they're made of, etc. But we've let some toys slip in from friends and family members. What if my son ingested lead from a cheap, foreign-made toy? We're seriously considering getting rid of all of them, just in case.
- When asked to compare the severity of my son's 8.3 lead level, the nurse said that a child can ingest one single lead-contaminated paint chip and their blood be poisoned to a level 20. So, there's a chance that my son's lead exposure was a one-time fluke that will soon be a memory.
So, until we get connected with the Lead Clinic at Children's Hospital so our son can be watched closely for further exposure, my husband and I are playing detective to find the source and taking extra precautions to get our baby's blood healthy (via extra iron and calcium and lots of hand-washing).
I'm curious if any other folks out there have had experience with lead abatement in your buildings or a lead scare with your own children.
Thoughts?
Ideas about the source?
Another point of interest: There are all sorts of theories and rumors around the environmental health world that suggest lead poisoning (and not poor parenting, education, or culture) as the primary explanation for the high presence developmental delays, ADD, and behavioral problems in poor urban youth. This theory holds weight, I believe, if you consider that many families in cities live in rental properties and not family-owned homes, do not have the financial means to abate their own living spaces, and may not have the education to know the dangers of lead and how to prevent lead poisoning in children.
For further information about lead poisoning, visit the Children's Hospital website or read this Wikipedia article.
Ninety-three percent of the city's housing stock was built before 1979, before lead was banned from paint. If the paint is intact, it does not pose a problem. However, when the paint chips and peels due to poor maintenance, dangerous toxins are exposed. Young children are particular susceptible because they touch the floor and windowsills, ingesting the poison, which can cause developmental and cognitive delays. (Read the complete article here.)My husband and I live in a loft apartment in Cincinnati's historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in a building that was once a brewery. In many ways, the apartment is a dream: we have 15ft. ceilings, concrete floors, over 2000 sq/ft of open living space, and pay pennies per square foot compared to other folks in our city. In other ways, though, this apartment is a nightmare: it's impossible to properly heat, the landlord neglects normal maintenance issues in the units and the building, and my husband has had to invest his own time and energy into the most basic of improvements on our place. It's a trade-off. We get a ton of space for cheap, but we have to work to make it comfortable.
When our son was born, we considered leaving, but also made a plan for the work we'd need to do on our apartment if we stayed. Insulating the back of the apartment and building bedrooms in that section, closing/insulating the ceiling, painting the floor, and rebuilding the bathroom were all on the list. Frankly, the past year has gone by too quickly and we've been too tired to do all that work ourselves (not to mention unwilling to foot the bill).
The one issue, though, that keeps haunting us is the open ceiling, which is basically just the floorboards of the unit above us. Not only does it mean there is no sound barrier between us and our neighbors, but that everything from water spilt on the floor above to the everyday dust from walking has the potential to end up in our apartment. Needless to say, keeping our floor clean is like conquering Goliath. As soon as our son started crawling, the open ceiling and the dust the results became our primary concern. This brings me back to the issue of lead contamination.
At my son's nine-month doctor's visit, he was subject to a routine blood test to check for lead contamination in his blood. As any mother would be, I was happy to comply and, as any mother living in the City of Cincinnati should be, I was anxious to hear the results. Knowing that my apartment is A) built long before 1979 and B) owned by a man who is not particularly interested in making improvements left me concerned that not only the paint on our walls but also the everyday dust on the floor could be poison for my son.
A month later, I got a very calm and courteous voicemail message from a nurse named Donna:
"Ms McEwan, I'm calling about the lead test results for your son. First of all, I would like you to know that he is NOT lead poisoned, but the test did show signs of lead contamination in his blood and I'd like to speak with you about it."The next week involved a lot of phone calls, internet searches, panicky floor cleanings and "what if" conversations with my husband until we were able to have our home visit from the nurse and discuss the issue of lead in general and our apartment and baby specifically.
To make a long story short, my son's lead contamination level at the time of the test was 8.3 migrograms per decileter of blood. A level of 10 is considered "poisoned," and the City can do very little to help us unless my son has been poisoned (i.e. enforcing lead abatement laws with my landlord, inspecting my apartment to pinpoint the contamination). Thanks to the help of the nurse who visited us and took a sample, we know that the paint on our walls is not lead paint and so we can assume the paint dust falling from the ceiling is not contaminated either (since they appear to be a result of the same paint job). Because that was our assumed source of contamination, we're totally stumped as to how our son could have ingested or inhaled the lead.
Some thoughts:
- The nurse told us that all the rehab work being done in OTR could be producing lead dust to such an extent that my son could have inhaled it. Could this have happened just walking up and down Vine St. in the past few months?
- I would assume our building has lead pipes somewhere down below. Although the pipes "should not" produce lead-contaminated water, what if they do? We're going to purchase a cheap (and often unreliable) lead test to see.
- We've been very careful about the toys we've purchased for our son--where they're made, what they're made of, etc. But we've let some toys slip in from friends and family members. What if my son ingested lead from a cheap, foreign-made toy? We're seriously considering getting rid of all of them, just in case.
- When asked to compare the severity of my son's 8.3 lead level, the nurse said that a child can ingest one single lead-contaminated paint chip and their blood be poisoned to a level 20. So, there's a chance that my son's lead exposure was a one-time fluke that will soon be a memory.
So, until we get connected with the Lead Clinic at Children's Hospital so our son can be watched closely for further exposure, my husband and I are playing detective to find the source and taking extra precautions to get our baby's blood healthy (via extra iron and calcium and lots of hand-washing).
I'm curious if any other folks out there have had experience with lead abatement in your buildings or a lead scare with your own children.
Thoughts?
Ideas about the source?
Another point of interest: There are all sorts of theories and rumors around the environmental health world that suggest lead poisoning (and not poor parenting, education, or culture) as the primary explanation for the high presence developmental delays, ADD, and behavioral problems in poor urban youth. This theory holds weight, I believe, if you consider that many families in cities live in rental properties and not family-owned homes, do not have the financial means to abate their own living spaces, and may not have the education to know the dangers of lead and how to prevent lead poisoning in children.
For further information about lead poisoning, visit the Children's Hospital website or read this Wikipedia article.
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