According to a new survey from the Harvard MedicalSchool, more than one in three Americans uses some form of alternative therapy. Whether it's the taking of echinacea during cold-and-flu season or utilizing more expansive naturopathic techniques, Americans have made the leap to a more holistic approach of healing.The question, then, is why, after decades of contentment with Allopathic medicine, have so many people become increasingly interested in natural medicine?Although naturopathic therapy dates back to ancient times, it didn't hit the United States until the beginning of the 20th century. But the rise of ground-breaking medicines like antibiotics, the commercialization of the medical system and the advent of widespread use of pharmaceuticals all led to a decline in the use of natural medicine.By the 1970s, however, people across the United States were becoming displeased with the limitations of traditional allopathic medicine as well as the rising costs of mainstream medical care, so they began to turn back to the therapies associated with naturopathic medicine.
You may have noticed a special section at Larry's, filled with brightly colored boxes that contain in turn a prodigious variety of goods made from matzah - unleavened bread. From matzah balls and Passover noodles to matzah cake meal and even chocolate, these Passover treats represent the beginning of spring and the Passover holiday. So what's the meaning behind this very large cracker? Passover is a holiday that celebrates the liberation, approximately 3,000 years ago, of the Israelites from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. Leaving quickly, they did not have time for their bread to rise and, therefore, baked unleavened bread, called matzah. This joyous holiday brings families together from around the world to participate in a Seder and remember the story of their ancient people with symbolic foods, songs and many different personal traditions.
Pow! Spring has exploded. With the warm winter, and then the drenching rains, luxuriant growth is rampant. It did seem to slow a bit with last week's nippy temperatures, but not for our stalwart weeds. The brilliant dandelions appear to double in numbers and showiness every hour. The chickweed mats ooze across the terrain, while the perky pest named shotweed seems to be fast-forward on its second go-round. For some dedicated gardeners, the tender growth tips of the chickweed and the leaves of their dandelions end up in their salad bowls. I applaud their approach, but thankfully I do not seem to have enough dandelions to fill my salad bowl.The real thugs for me in the garden are sweet blue-flowering profuse seeders. Let's start with borage.
The weather was rainy and cold, but the mood was warm and thankful last Saturday morning when the Heron Habitat Helpers and city officials gathered to mark two years of work restoring Kiwanis Ravine. Those attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony also honored a Magnolia activist who helped preserve the edges of the ravine as parkland.Standing on a Kiwanis Ravine over-look just off 36th Avenue West that also has been restored, HHH co-chair Heidi Carpine noted that restoration work in the ravine has helped preserve the largest rookery of great blue herons in Seattle.
There are many faces to the homeless, and that includes families with children. The Interfaith Hospitality Network of Seattle (IHNS) helps ease the pain by putting up entire families in churches such as the Magnolia Lutheran Church near the Village.That's unusual, notes IHNS communications director Gary Davis. Normally, he said, families are split up - with fathers going to one shelter, mothers going to another and children staying with either the father or mother, depending on their gender and assuming the homeless shelters take kids in the first place. Most don't.
I have misquoted the above lines for years, always putting England first. But let's forget about Harry for the moment and concentrate on George. April 23 is St. George's Day. St. George is the patron saint of England, as is St. Patrick for Ireland, St. Andrew for Scotland and St. David for Wales. St. George (d. about 303 A.D.) was an early Christian martyr born in Cappadocia, in eastern Asia Minor. His life is obscured by legend, but his martyrdom at Lydda, Palestine, is generally considered to be a matter of historical fact, testified to by two early Syrian Church inscriptions and by a canon of Pope Gelasius I dated 494, in which St. George is mentioned as one whose name was held in reverence. The most popular of the legends that have grown up around him relates his encounter with the dragon.
Years before over-$100-a-pair Adidas, Pumas and Reeboks came onto the sports-shoe market, your basic $3, kicking-around, kids play-shoe was made of canvas and rubber. I started conducting canvas shoe destruction tests at an early age when nylon-and-leather "running shoes" with their medically correct arch supports and Velcro closure systems were still 40 years in the future. We always called 'em sneakers or tennis shoes for some unknown reason - not that any of us actually played tennis in them or even knew how. I guess what the shoes really were was more of a basketball shoe - but "tennies" is what they were commonly known as. "Mom, can I get a new pair of tennies?" I begged one spring day long ago after I'd come home from school. "I just bought you a new pair last September," she answered, perplexed, "right before you started school and it was too cold to wear them all winter. Are you sure you need a new pair? ... Have you been dragging them on the pavement when you're on your bike?" she quizzed. "Not me...."
Evil has long been on the minds of thoughtful men and women. Most serious philosophers, and every seri-ous theologian, have had to come to grips with the idea of evil sometime in their career of thought, or risk leaving a cavernous gap in any conclusion about the workings of the universe they eventually arrived at.Unfortunately, evil is so frightening to the "normal" eye that there is a tendency to paint evildoers with a thick coat of black paint and leave it at that. Just as there is a quite obvious tendency to whitewash those "heroes" we feel need to be all good. To avoid kicking the current occupant of the White House yet again in this space, I'll talk briefly about someone my Irish family loved: John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
The cure to our country's insatiable oil-addiction is being administered in Seattle, and its application could not have come at a better time considering recent developments in Washington, D.C.On March 17, with a 51-to-49 vote, Senate Republicans managed to marshal their forces to kill a Democratic and moderate Republican effort to remove a provision on oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the 2006 Congressional budget resolution. The vote gives credence to the GOP-controlled House and the Bush administration, both favor drilling the oil out of ANWR. Here's the rub: drilling ANWR - considered by many to be the Serengeti of North America due to its pristine landscape and abundant wildlife - will not free Americans from their dependence on imported oil. Says who? Well, good old Uncle Sam.
I have misquoted the above lines for years, always putting England first. But let's forget about Harry for the moment and concentrate on George.April 23 is St. George's Day. St. George is the patron saint of England, as is St. Patrick for Ireland, St. Andrew for Scotland and St. David for Wales. St. George (d. about 303 A.D.) was an early Christian martyr born in Cappadocia, in eastern Asia Minor. His life is obscured by legend, but his martyrdom at Lydda, Palestine, is generally considered to be a matter of historical fact, testified to by two early Syrian Church inscriptions and by a canon of Pope Gelasius I dated 494, in which St. George is mentioned as one whose name was held in reverence.The most popular of the legends that have grown up around him relates his encounter with the dragon.
It looks to me like the neo-conservatives want ministers on the bench. Ayatollah ... I mean Senator Delay's comment about the judges in the Terri Schiavo case that "the time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior" is very revealing.This is leadership? No, this is terrorism. Delay is feeding the frenzy surrounding the Schiavo case, just as surely as the fundamentalist Muslim clerics incite the insurgents to violence in the Middle East through words. Judge Greer had already received death threats for not ruling to reinstate Shiavo's feeding tube before Delay's remark. Still not convinced that the religious right, and their congressional puppets, want a theocracy, not a democracy? Read on.
The Hundred Percenters were out in force recently at a meeting in Washington, D.C., to talk about calling for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (not a member of the JFK branch of the Kennedys).What has stirred the Hundred Percenters up about this less-than-radical justice is his recent written opinion that America shouldn't execute juvenile criminals, and another Kennedy ruling striking down anti-sodomy statutes left over from America's dark ages, otherwise known as 1950.Now, an opinion is an opinion, even if it belongs to a Supreme Court justice. Or a local newspaper columnist.The critics' language is what scares me.
Years before $100-plus pairs of Adidas, Pumas and Reeboks hit the market, your basic, kicking-around kids shoe was made of canvas and rubber and cost around $3.I started conducting canvas shoe destruction tests at an early age when nylon-and-leather "running shoes" with their medically correct arch supports and Velcro closure systems were still 40 years in the future. We always called 'em sneakers or tennis shoes for some unknown reason - not that any of us actually played tennis or even knew how. I guess what the shoes really were was more of a basketball shoe - but "tennies" is what they were commonly known as. "Mom, can I get a new pair of tennies?" I begged one spring day after school. "I just bought you a new pair last September," she answered, perplexed, "right before you started school and it was too cold to wear them all winter. Are you sure you need a new pair? Have you been dragging them on the pavement when you're on your bike?" she quizzed. "Not me...."
The cure to our country's insatiable oil-addiction is being administered in Seattle, and its application could not have come at a better time considering recent developments in Washington D.C.On March 17, with a 51 to 49 vote, Senate Republicans managed to marshal their forces and kill a Democratic and moderate Republican effort to take out of the 2006 congressional budget a provision on oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The vote gives credence to the GOP-controlled House and the Bush administration, both of which favor drilling the oil out of ANWR.Here's the rub. Drilling ANWR, considered by many to be the Serengeti of North America due to its pristine landscape and abundant wildlife, will not free Americans from their dependence on imported oil. Says who? Well, good old Uncle Sam.
A visit to Port Gamble is a step back in time. Situated on the shores of scenic Hood Canal, on the northern tip of Kitsap Peninsula, this unique town is a 120-acre National Historic Landmark. It's a quaint spot, complete with turn-of-the-century buildings, an historic church and picturesque views of Gamble Bay.The town's namesake is Lt. Robert Gamble, a serviceman wounded in the War of 1812, but the town was founded in 1853 by A.J. Pope, Capt. Win C. Talbot and Cyrus Walker, who made it the home of their sawmill company.The men had Port Gamble built to look like their native town of East Machias, Maine, and until 1995 it was the site of the oldest continuously operating sawmill in North America. In its heyday, everyone who worked at the mill lived in the town, and the men were encouraged to bring their families with them from Maine, to create a sense of community. Today the place, having been authentically restored, is managed and maintained by Pope Resources of Poulsbo.