My relationship with cigarettes began long before I adopted the habit. I was born in the eighties, when the restrictions on tobacco that we see today were merely a gleam in the Surgeon General’s eye, and all over town people were lighting up in eateries and indoor shopping centres.
My mother told me smoking was a “filthy habit” but I found it glamorous and grown-up. I used to mimic the adults I saw in restaurants. In between sips of imaginary wine, I’d bring a white Popeye cigarette candy to my lips and pretend to inhale, feeling like a very sophisticated six-year-old.
It was inevitable that I would try smoking – I just needed an opportunity. When I was in Grade 8, I got my chance. My best friend’s mother was a heavy smoker and left cigarettes around her house in various drawers. Our curiosity got the better of us and we borrowed a few from a pack we found in the living room. Which led to borrowing more. Regularly.
When I was 14, most of my evenings were spent in my friend’s smoke-filled bathroom. With an open window and a towel under the door, we’d watch ourselves in the mirror, perfecting our technique. We spoke with elaborate hand gestures, enjoying the added drama of holding a cigarette. We practised blowing Os. At 10 p.m., I would drown myself in perfume and walk home with my secret safely masked under a barrier of coconut and floral aromas. The whole thing felt taboo.
Smoking was my first act of teenage rebellion. It brought excitement into my otherwise mundane, predrinking-age life. It was the nineties and the health implications of tobacco use had become apparent. But the well-meaning anti-smoking campaigns aimed at young people inadvertently sensationalized the habit. Smoking was now legitimately “bad,” and it had never been cooler. My friends and I would unapologetically light up in the bus station, in doorways and right outside the movie theatre.
Like a burning ember that retreats into the soggy end of a filter, the shock value eventually fizzled out. I was aware that my smoking habit had become more of a necessity than a novelty, but I truly believed I could stop any time I wanted. I based this on an inflated sense of self-control and the fact that I had never pictured myself as an adult smoker. The millennium celebration came and went and I resolved to work out more and eat less pizza. I puffed away in my party dress and sparkly gold New Year’s tiara, unaware of the changes to come.
Smoking bans were introduced and even in bars and nightclubs, smokers were forced outdoors. There was nothing glamorous about sucking down a cigarette through chattering teeth on a below-freezing winter night. But still this did not dissuade me. I began chain-smoking at home, which turned my one-bedroom condo into an interior disaster.
My countertops were cluttered with overflowing ashtrays. Small round burns dotted the couch and carpet. The stench of hundreds of cigarettes stubbornly clung to the walls, despite my air purifier and ornamental potpourri. I was disgusted by these conditions and too ashamed of the mess to invite people over. My once social habit was ostracizing me, yet I lived like this for several years.
Over time I began to see smoking for what it really was: a pointless habit that was ruining my health and draining my finances. All the things that had initially drawn me to it were childish notions, adolescent fantasies. The honeymoon was over. I wanted out.
2011年11月21日星期一
2011年10月27日星期四
Punk Rock Parking Lot Apocalypse
I'll never forget where I was or what I was doing when I first heard of The Cramp. The year was 1984. I was eighteen and camped out at home in my African-jungle-by-way-of-Sears-bedecked bedroom, thumbing through Rolling Stone magazine, gazing blankly at glossy pics of vacuous, not too terribly rockin' movie and television stars. Somewhere in the record review section my eyes fell upon a thumbnail of the most psychotic album cover I had ever seen, gracing the most illuminating description of music I had ever read. This elvish, marvelously unhinged critic discussed The Cramps' newest release in such glowing terms that I was completely enthralled. He was delirious; gushing over "the shittiest guitar solo" he'd ever heard and quoting couplets from "T.V. Set" as if they were Elizabethan verses crafted by twee miniature dolphin-angels. Suddenly, I got it! Great punk rock is so bad that it's legitimately good, good enough to rate rave reviews by establishment magazines. So I picked up a vinyl copy of The Cramps' Bad Music For Bad People and my musical palate was forever enriched.
As a form of expression, punk rock is inherently queer simply by being digressive. Queer culture always gets co-opted for being ahead of the curve and so does punk. Sometimes punk gets gussied up and expanded upon stylistically, as when The Clash incorporated elements of ska and dub in their early 80s salad days. As with any progressive cultural movement, punk gets pulverized and fed through the grinder only to be repackaged as radio-friendly pablum. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing. Much of what is now considered proto-punk was radio-friendly pablum throughout the Animal House 60s; take for example The Troggs' truly sublime #1 hit, "Wild Thing." The Cramps never had a prayer as far as finding any kind of radio exposure in the Reagan era of Journey and REO Speedwagon but their blood-lust can be heard in the tightly modulated hysteria of The Pixies' "Wave Of Mutilation," in My Bloody Valentine's long-form "shitty guitar solo" album Loveless and even in Nirvana's hopeless "Rape Me." The Cramps were here, they were queer and a lot of people were listening, goddammit. Where was the Casey Kasem American Top 40 love, I ask you?
Punk itself is here to stay and will never, ever grow old. By virtue of its inherent and perpetual galling disregard for every little thing, it has established itself a purifier and a revelator. Thus its indelible purpose is to re-set rock and roll whenever it gets stuck in a rut and starts to take itself too seriously. Throughout the past couple months a slew of New York City bands, Making Friendz, Light Asylum and Little Victory to name a few, have been sexing up OWS-era downtown barroom dance-floors with a take-no-prisoners punk rock swagger. Loosely clustered around the unhelpful descriptor 'lo-fi', they have little in common other than occasional drop-in personnel and the fact that they hijack 1980s cultural touchstones such as Ian Curtis and Romeo Void's Deborah Iyall to subvert and to suit their own unique purposes. They gig gay venues but their queer mojo is a natural fact and not a campy, flag-waving disposition or even their raison d'etre. Their sexuality is not specifically target-marketed or polemical. It is however unapologetic and unmistakable. These bands don't strive to serve realness, they simply are what they is.
For me, right now, Little Victory is punk rock parking lot apocalypse. They're The Only Band That Matters Not A Whit. They're John and Exene X grabbing the mic from Stiff Little Fingers, singing odes to Cherie Currie who's too busy feathering her fucking hair in somebody's compact mirror to even know they're alive. Oh and incidentally, they're queer as freak folk. I asked frontman Zan Amparan how The Gay Thing factors into Little Victory's worldview:
"It's hard to judge how other people perceive us but I'm pretty sure that most people probably know I'm gay the moment I start talking, either because I sound, shall we say, 'not quite butch' or because I talk a lot and my references, point of view and subject matter tend to be pretty incredibly homosexual. I wouldn't ever describe our band as militant, I just don't write songs that way, but it would be fair to say that we are all political in our own ways. I mean, a grown man singing about being a young man identifying with bad-ass young women as I do in 'Cool Girls' is pretty undeniably gay."
As a form of expression, punk rock is inherently queer simply by being digressive. Queer culture always gets co-opted for being ahead of the curve and so does punk. Sometimes punk gets gussied up and expanded upon stylistically, as when The Clash incorporated elements of ska and dub in their early 80s salad days. As with any progressive cultural movement, punk gets pulverized and fed through the grinder only to be repackaged as radio-friendly pablum. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing. Much of what is now considered proto-punk was radio-friendly pablum throughout the Animal House 60s; take for example The Troggs' truly sublime #1 hit, "Wild Thing." The Cramps never had a prayer as far as finding any kind of radio exposure in the Reagan era of Journey and REO Speedwagon but their blood-lust can be heard in the tightly modulated hysteria of The Pixies' "Wave Of Mutilation," in My Bloody Valentine's long-form "shitty guitar solo" album Loveless and even in Nirvana's hopeless "Rape Me." The Cramps were here, they were queer and a lot of people were listening, goddammit. Where was the Casey Kasem American Top 40 love, I ask you?
Punk itself is here to stay and will never, ever grow old. By virtue of its inherent and perpetual galling disregard for every little thing, it has established itself a purifier and a revelator. Thus its indelible purpose is to re-set rock and roll whenever it gets stuck in a rut and starts to take itself too seriously. Throughout the past couple months a slew of New York City bands, Making Friendz, Light Asylum and Little Victory to name a few, have been sexing up OWS-era downtown barroom dance-floors with a take-no-prisoners punk rock swagger. Loosely clustered around the unhelpful descriptor 'lo-fi', they have little in common other than occasional drop-in personnel and the fact that they hijack 1980s cultural touchstones such as Ian Curtis and Romeo Void's Deborah Iyall to subvert and to suit their own unique purposes. They gig gay venues but their queer mojo is a natural fact and not a campy, flag-waving disposition or even their raison d'etre. Their sexuality is not specifically target-marketed or polemical. It is however unapologetic and unmistakable. These bands don't strive to serve realness, they simply are what they is.
For me, right now, Little Victory is punk rock parking lot apocalypse. They're The Only Band That Matters Not A Whit. They're John and Exene X grabbing the mic from Stiff Little Fingers, singing odes to Cherie Currie who's too busy feathering her fucking hair in somebody's compact mirror to even know they're alive. Oh and incidentally, they're queer as freak folk. I asked frontman Zan Amparan how The Gay Thing factors into Little Victory's worldview:
"It's hard to judge how other people perceive us but I'm pretty sure that most people probably know I'm gay the moment I start talking, either because I sound, shall we say, 'not quite butch' or because I talk a lot and my references, point of view and subject matter tend to be pretty incredibly homosexual. I wouldn't ever describe our band as militant, I just don't write songs that way, but it would be fair to say that we are all political in our own ways. I mean, a grown man singing about being a young man identifying with bad-ass young women as I do in 'Cool Girls' is pretty undeniably gay."
2011年10月12日星期三
Some eco-friendly winter survival tips
The winter season is right around the corner, soon to usher in cold temperatures, snow and ice for many people across the country. There are plenty of people who revel in the idea of frolicking over snow-capped hills, but many others hope winter passes them by rather quickly.
Much of the focus each winter is on staying warm and surviving this often harsh season at whatever the cost. But there are ways to survive winter while helping the environment.
Lighting: Thanks to daylight savings time, many areas of the country experience nightfall around 5 p.m. during the winter months. That means people are more likely to turn on artificial lighting to illuminate homes and surroundings. The International Dark-Sky Association says that artificial lights can waste energy and confuse nocturnal animals. If you must use nighttime lighting, select a lowwattage bulb and point it downward. Motion sensor lights save energy and also will turn on intermittently, not enough to disturb animals.
Reconsider winter traction techniques. Before you throw down chemical ice melt products, think about safer alternatives. Regular table salt will melt ice and may not be as harmful to the surrounding environment. Sand can offer improved traction when scattered on walkways and it's nontoxic.
Select a real tree. When holiday decorating, choose a real tree. These trees are harvested from tree farms that replenish stock as soon as trees are felled. They can be recycled into mulch, and real trees are also biodegradable.
Keep houseplants thriving. Houseplants serve as natural air deodorizers and provide fresh oxygen inside of a home. The EPA and its Science Advisory Board have consistently ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health. Considering most people spend the majority of their time indoors when the weather is cold, breathing poor air can result in illness. Houseplants are an all-natural way to filter out offensive air without relying on powered air purifiers or chemical air fresheners.
Weatherproof the home. Do yourself - and the environment - a favor by weatherproofing your home. Add a storm door, check weather-stripping or caulking for drafts, seal entry points for cable, phone and water lines with foam insulation, and also be sure attic and other spaces of the home are thoroughly insulated. This will keep from wasting energy on heating, which is harmful to your budget and the environment.
Don't warm up the car. Many cars can do a cold-start and get on the road without the need for idling in the driveway. Instead of wasting gasoline and pouring engine emissions into the air unnecessarily, just get in and drive. If you're sensitive to a cold car, try to park it in the garage during the winter.
Carpool. Individuals who used to bike or walk to work when it was nice outside may be tempted to take the car when it's cold. Maximize energy savings by carpooling with like-minded individuals.
Invite people over. Instead of turning up the heat when the indoor temperature drops, invite friends and family for an impromptu party. Research indicates that each guest is the equivalent of a 175-watt heater! Not only will you have fun, you'll feel toasty, too.
Surviving the winter in an environmentally friendly way really isn't that difficult when you employ some simple strategies.
Much of the focus each winter is on staying warm and surviving this often harsh season at whatever the cost. But there are ways to survive winter while helping the environment.
Lighting: Thanks to daylight savings time, many areas of the country experience nightfall around 5 p.m. during the winter months. That means people are more likely to turn on artificial lighting to illuminate homes and surroundings. The International Dark-Sky Association says that artificial lights can waste energy and confuse nocturnal animals. If you must use nighttime lighting, select a lowwattage bulb and point it downward. Motion sensor lights save energy and also will turn on intermittently, not enough to disturb animals.
Reconsider winter traction techniques. Before you throw down chemical ice melt products, think about safer alternatives. Regular table salt will melt ice and may not be as harmful to the surrounding environment. Sand can offer improved traction when scattered on walkways and it's nontoxic.
Select a real tree. When holiday decorating, choose a real tree. These trees are harvested from tree farms that replenish stock as soon as trees are felled. They can be recycled into mulch, and real trees are also biodegradable.
Keep houseplants thriving. Houseplants serve as natural air deodorizers and provide fresh oxygen inside of a home. The EPA and its Science Advisory Board have consistently ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health. Considering most people spend the majority of their time indoors when the weather is cold, breathing poor air can result in illness. Houseplants are an all-natural way to filter out offensive air without relying on powered air purifiers or chemical air fresheners.
Weatherproof the home. Do yourself - and the environment - a favor by weatherproofing your home. Add a storm door, check weather-stripping or caulking for drafts, seal entry points for cable, phone and water lines with foam insulation, and also be sure attic and other spaces of the home are thoroughly insulated. This will keep from wasting energy on heating, which is harmful to your budget and the environment.
Don't warm up the car. Many cars can do a cold-start and get on the road without the need for idling in the driveway. Instead of wasting gasoline and pouring engine emissions into the air unnecessarily, just get in and drive. If you're sensitive to a cold car, try to park it in the garage during the winter.
Carpool. Individuals who used to bike or walk to work when it was nice outside may be tempted to take the car when it's cold. Maximize energy savings by carpooling with like-minded individuals.
Invite people over. Instead of turning up the heat when the indoor temperature drops, invite friends and family for an impromptu party. Research indicates that each guest is the equivalent of a 175-watt heater! Not only will you have fun, you'll feel toasty, too.
Surviving the winter in an environmentally friendly way really isn't that difficult when you employ some simple strategies.
2011年6月15日星期三
We are leaving our children a toxic transportation legacy
THE end of the school year is rapidly approaching and I find myself in a situation millions of Los Angeles parents face each June, how to find safe, healthy summer activities for my 6-year-old son during the summer. Turns out getting him out of school is the safest thing I can do.
Keeping my child at home will prevent him from breathing air full of hazardous, invisible air pollution radiating from the heavily trafficked Interstate 5 freeway, which sits just a stone's throw away from his school's front door. These next two months are especially valuable since the freeway is scheduled to move even closer to his school by the time he starts second grade this fall.
For decades, our region has sought extensive and expensive freeway projects as a way to solve mobility and congestion problems. This current expansion abutting my son's elementary school affects the area between the 134 and 118 freeways.
Not only are all 450 students at Glendale's Franklin Elementary at risk, but so are the other tens of thousands of students at 30 other school campuses between the 710 to the 14 freeways. These students will inhale dangerous levels of particulate matter pollution not only from increased vehicle traffic along the I-5, but from pollution emanating from chronically polluting construction equipment required
to undertake this multi-year project.
A study in the American Economic Review found that traffic density on the typical interstate roughly doubled from 1983 to 2003, independent of whether new miles had been added. When new pavement is added to existing roads, the AER study found that new commercial traffic and additional trips by current residents made up the bulk of that increase, followed by driving by new residents attracted by the development. In the case of the I-5 project, designed under the premise that new lanes will facilitate existing drivers, this is clearly a fallacy confirmed by anyone who has sat in L.A. traffic.
Across the region, thousands of children living or going to school near freeways subsidize freeway expansions with their health. This collateral damage is felt not only in the 17 percent childhood asthma rates in some L.A. neighborhoods, but in the thousands of annual premature deaths attributed to air pollution. Air quality studies document obvious health effects on children and adults who live close to busy roadways.
Instead of sinking billion of dollars in widening existing freeways, we should invest in healthier transportation alternatives. Changing the transportation infrastructure of Los Angeles will no doubt require more than a few of the daily 6 million cars to stay parked while their drivers take public transportation. But it can be done, and the city of L.A. is already investing in several initiatives through the 30/10 program to make those transit options available.
If CalTrans continues the freeway expansion projects, it must include strategies to protect our kids from the pollution. The safest solution is to relocate schools nearest the freeway. Other measures are higher soundwalls, planting a canopy of mature trees in and around the school, and installing air monitors, purifiers and filters in all the classrooms and buildings.
Before adding more pavement to our region, we should stop and reflect on the transportation legacy we're leaving to the next generation. In 10 years, when my son can legally drive, I don't want him held hostage by gridlock traffic. When the I-5 widening project is finished, my son will be in fourth grade and 9 years old. He will be 6 inches taller, three years older and have three years of toxic diesel pollution in his lungs.
This is not the legacy we should leave our children.
Keeping my child at home will prevent him from breathing air full of hazardous, invisible air pollution radiating from the heavily trafficked Interstate 5 freeway, which sits just a stone's throw away from his school's front door. These next two months are especially valuable since the freeway is scheduled to move even closer to his school by the time he starts second grade this fall.
For decades, our region has sought extensive and expensive freeway projects as a way to solve mobility and congestion problems. This current expansion abutting my son's elementary school affects the area between the 134 and 118 freeways.
Not only are all 450 students at Glendale's Franklin Elementary at risk, but so are the other tens of thousands of students at 30 other school campuses between the 710 to the 14 freeways. These students will inhale dangerous levels of particulate matter pollution not only from increased vehicle traffic along the I-5, but from pollution emanating from chronically polluting construction equipment required
to undertake this multi-year project.
A study in the American Economic Review found that traffic density on the typical interstate roughly doubled from 1983 to 2003, independent of whether new miles had been added. When new pavement is added to existing roads, the AER study found that new commercial traffic and additional trips by current residents made up the bulk of that increase, followed by driving by new residents attracted by the development. In the case of the I-5 project, designed under the premise that new lanes will facilitate existing drivers, this is clearly a fallacy confirmed by anyone who has sat in L.A. traffic.
Across the region, thousands of children living or going to school near freeways subsidize freeway expansions with their health. This collateral damage is felt not only in the 17 percent childhood asthma rates in some L.A. neighborhoods, but in the thousands of annual premature deaths attributed to air pollution. Air quality studies document obvious health effects on children and adults who live close to busy roadways.
Instead of sinking billion of dollars in widening existing freeways, we should invest in healthier transportation alternatives. Changing the transportation infrastructure of Los Angeles will no doubt require more than a few of the daily 6 million cars to stay parked while their drivers take public transportation. But it can be done, and the city of L.A. is already investing in several initiatives through the 30/10 program to make those transit options available.
If CalTrans continues the freeway expansion projects, it must include strategies to protect our kids from the pollution. The safest solution is to relocate schools nearest the freeway. Other measures are higher soundwalls, planting a canopy of mature trees in and around the school, and installing air monitors, purifiers and filters in all the classrooms and buildings.
Before adding more pavement to our region, we should stop and reflect on the transportation legacy we're leaving to the next generation. In 10 years, when my son can legally drive, I don't want him held hostage by gridlock traffic. When the I-5 widening project is finished, my son will be in fourth grade and 9 years old. He will be 6 inches taller, three years older and have three years of toxic diesel pollution in his lungs.
This is not the legacy we should leave our children.
2011年4月19日星期二
Roelandts Fellows Grants Fund Projects from Compressed-Air Bikes to Solar-Powered Water Purifiers at Santa Clara University
Nearly two dozen Santa Clara University students and faculty members are researching ways to bring science and technology to underserved parts of the world, thanks to an endowment from benefactors Willem “Wim” Roelandts and Maria Constantino-Roelandts, to SCU’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society.
The Roelandts Fellows grant program provides nearly $50,000 of annual support for Santa Clara University projects focused on the study and implementation of science and technology for social benefit.
“I believe that technology can do a lot to help people progress in life,” said Wim Roelandts, a lifelong engineer and the former chairman and CEO of Xilinx. “I hope some of these ideas will result in projects that really make change on the ground, make people’s lives better somewhere – maybe even one day receive a Tech Award.”
His wife Maria Constantino-Roelandts agreed, saying the couple was especially excited to come to campus to counsel and guide the student grant recipients in any way necessary. She said she and her husband try to get all young people who come into their orbit – including nieces, nephews and student scholarship recipients -- interested in engineering. “Engineers really are the creators of wealth, and play an important role in improving lives,” she said.
The students and faculty researchers who received grants for 2010-2011 plan to use their awards for projects such as a mobile application for piece workers in developing countries to learn if they’re getting a fair price; solar-powered water purifiers; motorized bicycles powered by clean compressed air; and bamboo housing for Haiti and elsewhere.
The Roelandts’ have a long history of support for Santa Clara University, including as members of the university’s valued Golden Circle of donors. Wim served for more than 10 years on the advisory board of CSTS, and was granted an honorary doctorate in engineering from SCU in 2004. In addition to her activities with the Golden Circle, Maria serves on the executive committee of the SCU Board of Fellows, of which she’s been a member since 2008.
“Santa Clara is very grateful for the Roelandts family's unwavering support of our mission and values," said Santa Clara University President Michael Engh, S.J. "Their generous donation of expertise and funds enables us to advance technology that provides for the fundamental needs of people for a more just, humane, and sustainable world."
The Roelandts Fellows grant program provides nearly $50,000 of annual support for Santa Clara University projects focused on the study and implementation of science and technology for social benefit.
“I believe that technology can do a lot to help people progress in life,” said Wim Roelandts, a lifelong engineer and the former chairman and CEO of Xilinx. “I hope some of these ideas will result in projects that really make change on the ground, make people’s lives better somewhere – maybe even one day receive a Tech Award.”
His wife Maria Constantino-Roelandts agreed, saying the couple was especially excited to come to campus to counsel and guide the student grant recipients in any way necessary. She said she and her husband try to get all young people who come into their orbit – including nieces, nephews and student scholarship recipients -- interested in engineering. “Engineers really are the creators of wealth, and play an important role in improving lives,” she said.
The students and faculty researchers who received grants for 2010-2011 plan to use their awards for projects such as a mobile application for piece workers in developing countries to learn if they’re getting a fair price; solar-powered water purifiers; motorized bicycles powered by clean compressed air; and bamboo housing for Haiti and elsewhere.
The Roelandts’ have a long history of support for Santa Clara University, including as members of the university’s valued Golden Circle of donors. Wim served for more than 10 years on the advisory board of CSTS, and was granted an honorary doctorate in engineering from SCU in 2004. In addition to her activities with the Golden Circle, Maria serves on the executive committee of the SCU Board of Fellows, of which she’s been a member since 2008.
“Santa Clara is very grateful for the Roelandts family's unwavering support of our mission and values," said Santa Clara University President Michael Engh, S.J. "Their generous donation of expertise and funds enables us to advance technology that provides for the fundamental needs of people for a more just, humane, and sustainable world."
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