Lisa Napoli's Blog, page 61
April 1, 2011
#3goodthings
*that beautiful house and that beautiful party so kindly thrown by the Merritts *lunch with George's family, and in particular, his amazing grandson
*swimming in the warm pool in the heat of the day and running into neighbor Dr. Dan
#3goodthings
March 31, 2011
#3goodthings
-Liz coming to cook at the Downtown Women's Shelter with us for the first time, all the way from across town
-grabbing food from the Korean BBQ truck with Ted in the middle of a really crappy day and eating in the sunshine
-watching the people at Food4Less and wondering about our very different lives, and what really makes them different.
#3goodthings
Ugly can be beautiful
Love this essay on Zocalo today by Meghan Lewit extolling the virtues of her favorite place to go, her gym. Which is anything but posh…. A reminder that something doesn't have to be shiny and perfect-looking to instill a sense of comfort, and community.
Excerpt:
"Tucked away in K-Town, my gym brings together a genuine cross-section of the city. There are lots of Asians, many Latinos, a handful of blacks, a few whites, some Indians, and even the occasional Borat-like patron of mysterious origin. You might even say that my gym is the city of Los Angeles. It's a place of nearly constant frustration where diverse people are peacefully forced together, united primarily in their sourness and irritation. And yet we dimly suspect, despite the hassles, that this is exactly where we want to be.
I usually go to cardio classes in the Olivia Newton John studio a couple of times a week, and I've gotten in the habit of chatting with a fellow club member, a middle-aged Asian lady who's usually accompanied by her teenaged daughter. After about a year of brief exchanges, we figured out that we live just one block apart. Her husband has been the mailman in our neighborhood for the past 20 years.
My favorite weekly class is Bollywood Dance, taught by a lithe Indian man with a posh (to my unschooled ears) British accent. He blasts the music so loudly that it rattles the grungy mirrors on the walls. Every once in a while, one of the muscled weight lifters will wander in to join the fun. Everyone looks ridiculous. No one cares. Then we pour out, a little healthier, into the pungent night of smog and flashing neon lights and go our separate ways."
March 30, 2011
Getting older is good, after all
This article from the Toronto Sun says don't expect happiness, truly, until you're 70!
Excerpt:
"Researchers have found that those 70 years old and older — if they have enough money and a partner by their side — are likely the most content people you know.
The theory goes against common assumptions that the elderly are grumpy curmudgeons who want nothing less than to box the ears of some kid on a skateboard who should stay off the damned lawn because it's private property, you little punk, by God I won't tell you again!
Lewis Wolpert, an 81-year-old professor of biology at University College London and author of a tribute to getting older called You're Looking Very Well, says carefree happiness doesn't belong to the young.
"Surveys show that mid 40s is when people feel at their lowest," he tells QMI Agency from his U.K. office.
His advice to those in that age group, who spend their commutes arguing with people on the radio and finding fault with every billboard advertisement they pass?
"You will, with age, slowly get better," he promises."
Shangri-La #13 on the SoCal Indie Bestseller list
Since most of these other people are famous or established writers and/or have had the benefit of major national media coverage in the last couple weeks, I feel particularly proud as well as enormously lucky to be on this list. (Thanks, Matt, for sending it along!)
The SoCal Indie Bestseller List, as brought to you by IndieBound and SCIBA, for the sales week ended Sunday, March 27, 2011. Based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association and IndieBound. For an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.org. Hardcover Nonfiction 1. Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand, Random House, $27, 9781400064168 2. The Social Animal David Brooks, Random House, $27, 9781400067602 3. Cleopatra Stacy Schiff, Little Brown, $29.99, 9780316001922 4. Unfamiliar Fishes Sarah Vowell, Riverhead, $25.95, 9781594487873 5. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother Amy Chua, Penguin Press, $25.95, 9781594202841 6. Physics of the Future Michio Kaku, Doubleday, $28.95, 9780385530804 7. Red Sammy Hagar, It Books, $26.99, 9780062009289 8. Blood, Bones & Butter Gabrielle Hamilton, Random House, $26, 9781400068722 9. Townie Andre Dubus III, Norton, $25.95, 9780393064667 10. Moonwalking With Einstein Joshua Foer, Penguin Press, $26.95, 9781594202292 11. Life Keith Richards, Little Brown, $29.99, 9780316034388 12. Win Frank I. Luntz, Hyperion, $25.99, 9781401323998 13. Radio Shangri-La Lisa Napoli, Crown, $25, 9780307453020 14. A Widow's Story Joyce Carol Oates, Ecco Press, $27.99, 9780062015532 15. The Information James Gleick, Pantheon, $29.95, 9780375423727
March 29, 2011
You're happier if you're beautiful
At least according to these University of Texas at Austin researchers.
EXCERPT from a story run by UPI:
"Study authors Daniel Hamermesh and Jason Abrevaya say beautiful people are generally happier than their homelier counterparts, mostly because of higher salaries, other economic benefits of being beautiful and more successful spouses, who also are beautiful.
"Personal beauty raises happiness," Hamermesh says in a statement. "The majority of beauty's effect on happiness works through its impact on economic outcomes."
Hamermesh and Abrevaya analyzed data from five surveys conducted by social scientists in the United States, Canada, Germany and Britain that asked more than 25,000 people about their levels of happiness and required an interviewer to rate participants' attractiveness or evaluate their beauty from pictures.
The study found the top 15 percent of people ranked by looks are more than 10 percent happier than people ranked in the bottom 10 percent of looks, the researchers say."
Prayer wheel in the lobby of the Nova Southeastern University library
Plus a photo exhibit about the Dalai Lama, who visited there last year. Was there for the Festival of Books for the Broward County Library Foundation.
Nothing like UTEP's altar and thongdrel in the library lobby, but then again, Nova isn't connected to El Paso the way UTEP's connected to Bhutan. 
Great story about the King of Bhutan
…when he was Crown Prince and encountered a tourist on the path.
This is from reader Craig Peterson of Evanston, IL, who also has some amazing photos up at Tourismcollaborative.com See below this frame for his story:
My wife and I, together with 14 others, visited the country in 2005. One day our minibus took us to a cascading river site as a jumping off point into hilly farmland and a shrine up a steep hill. One lady couldn't join us because the farmland mounds were too difficult for her to navigate. After a four hour hike we returned to the river area full of enthusiasm for our little excursion but feeling sorry for our colleague who had to remain behind with the driver. She proceeded to tell us that she, too had fun: an entourage of white toyotas had come down the road, off loaded a large raft, and prepared for a river trip. One person, in Oxford English, asked our colleague many questions about her Bhutanese experiences to date and at the end wished her a good continuing journey. She said goodbye and asked what he did in Bhutan. "I'm the Crown Prince" was the reply. This was one really surprised and happy visitor; and the story seems to me very typical Bhutanese. (He's the King now, of course)(
