Lisa Niver's Blog: We Said Go Travel, page 50

Niver In PRINT: Blog Bytes October 2021 Jewish Journal

[image error] Thank you to the Jewish Journal for publishing me online for over a decade. Since they resumed print publication in Fall 2021, I have been in the Blog Bytes section more than fourteen times! [image error] Here are the four issues that I was in during October 2021: Jewish Journal Oct 1, 2021: p.26From my article about Frutos del Guacabo: Frutos del Guacabo is teaching farming and changing the food economy of Puerto Rico!

I went to Frutos Del Guacabo on Aug 14, 2021. I loved our tour with Efrén Robles. He and his family work with 200 chefs and restaurants providing food from 50 farmers. They work as a hub for distribution and teach techniques like hydroponic farming so that more people can grow food. In Puerto Rico, 80 to 90% of food is imported.

Frutos del Guacabo is a family business that began in 2010 as a small farm for the development of hydroponic products, now they also focus on the sustainability of products and processes. Their innovation includes the production and development of edible flowers, micro-sprouts, breeding-handling of animals especially goats to make cheese, and its certification as an agro-tourism farm so they can give tours and share their educational mission.

At Frutos del Guacabo, culinary agriculture is promoted through a “Farm to Table” experience. Chefs, waiters, diners, and students exchange their knowledge and experiences to continue developing the gastronomy of the island. On your tour, you can see their goats, rabbits and horses as well as taste the edible flowers, micro-greens and the goat cheese among many other tasty treats. We had a lovely lunch and tour. I highly recommend you visit and milk a goat like I did!

[image error] [image error] [image error]

@lisaniver

Lisa in #PRINT #PUERTORICO frutosdelguacabo: #Thankyou #JewishJournal 10/1/2021 #issue article: https://bit.ly/JJPuertoRico #WATCH my #VIDEO : https://youtu.be/HNXkEmZfRao #farm #videos #puertorico #writer #thanks #grateful #greenscreen #news #magazine @jewishjournal @discoverpuertorico

♬ Soft company background (60 seconds) – TimTaj

Learn more about Frutos del Guacabo: See all of my adventures in Puerto RicoJewish Journal Oct 8, 2021: p.28

From my Sept news:

My fortune cookies said:“If you wish to see the best in others, show the best in yourself.”“Happiness isn’t an outside job, it’s an inside job!” [image error] [image error] [image error] Jewish Journal Oct 15, 2021: p.26From my article about my trip to Seattle:

“I love to explore a city by foot. I feel like I understand a place better. I was thrilled when my friend, Mia, offered to guide me around her hometown and show me the sights. I hope you get to visit Seattle soon because there is so much to see and do.”

[image error] [image error] [image error] What to DO in SEATTLE? Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass & the Underground City TourJewish Journal Oct 22, 2021: p.28

Quote is from my article: Cruising Alaska’s Inner Passage with Princess Cruises #WeAreBack 2021

In Ketchikan, Alaska, I went on the Black Bear, Wildlife & Nature Walk – An Animal Planet Exclusive at the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary from from my cruise on the Majestic Princess on Sept 3, 2021 which I LOVED!! It was INCREDIBLE to be so close to so many bears! We saw 8 or 9 bears and a mother with cubs. The cubs were climbing up a tree. I loved every minute of watching these black bears catch salmon and walk in the river. I would definitely go again. 20 years ago when I worked onboard for Princess Cruises, I walked with bears with a naturalist. This was awesome to be almost next to them but be on the wooden platform above them.

This article is about my cruise to Alaska on Majestic Princess: An Awesome Alaskan Summer Cruise on the Marvelous Majestic Princess!

@lisaniver

Lisa in PRINT: #Thankyou #JewishJournal 10/22/2021 article: https://bit.ly/3H2qN8o #video #bears alaska: https://youtu.be/8KcV0ST_ws0 #writer #fyp #foryou #thanks #greenscreen #princesscruises #majesticPrincess #cruise #cruising #ketchikan #travel #traveling @jewishjournal @Princess Cruises

♬ Pieces (Solo Piano Version) – Danilo Stankovic

[image error] [image error] [image error] THANK YOU TO THE JEWISH JOURNALSee my stories that were in the September print issues here!

The post Niver In PRINT: Blog Bytes October 2021 Jewish Journal appeared first on We Said Go Travel.

Me and Mr. Li: A Reflection on Chinese New Year

For four years of my early life, I was what they called a “third culture kid.” For those who have yet to live abroad, a “third culture kid,” or “TCK,” is a kid who has the opportunity to grow up in a completely different place than their parents. My mom was born in Long Island, New York, and my dad’s from Kansas City, Kansas, and I’m American going back at least two generations. The TCK aspect came in when my dad moved our family to Beijing, China at the end of fifth grade.

This had all sorts of cultural and social implications for me; nothing like you’d see in the Karate Kid (something to which I was frequently compared when I returned to Los Angeles after four years). Instead, I was introduced to an international school, the Western Academy of Beijing, which boasted a student body from over 70 countries. I was suddenly friends with kids from all over the world, and this meant an influx of new cultures to learn about. I had friends from Australia and New Zealand, with whom I’d celebrate ANZAC Day, and friends from South Africa, with whom I’d celebrate Freedom Day. However, one of the key privileges we all had was enriching ourselves in the local culture, and taking part in festivities related to the holidays.

If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to revisit a memory. Another privilege, albeit an odd one, of living in China was that my dad’s company paid for our own personal car and driver. From the moment we arrived at the airport in Beijing, we were blessed with a beaming, wonderful man who introduced himself to us as Mr. Li. For three of the four years we were there, Mr. Li was always the first face I saw after school, and always had our Buick minivan stocked with popular local snacks and energy drinks, ice cold in a cooler in the trunk for us on hot days.

[image error] L to R: myself, our housekeeper (“ayi”), my dad, my sister, Mr. Jiancheng Li. 2012

Mr. Li’s job was simply to get us from one place to another, and he did it with style, waiting for us and smoking with other drivers in parking lots while we did whatever us “expats” (short for expatriates, a slang term for people living abroad) did. In his free time, he would sit in the car listening to Chinese-to-English translation tapes, training himself to speak better conversational English so he could talk to us.

Mr. Li took me to and from some of my first concerts and gigs, many of which were heavy metal-related, and would grin ear-to-ear as my 6’4” Norwegian buddies blasted death metal through his car radio. I remember him driving me to the Water Cube, the former Olympic water sports arena-turned-water park, and laughing when I emerged from the exit sopping wet. Almost once a week, he’d show up early with a bag full of fresh produce and groceries he’d picked up at a local market and paid for out of his own pocket, wanting to make sure we had enough to eat. He was a truly lovely man, whom we lost far too early to a heart attack at the approximate time of my sister’s Bat Mitzvah, which we’d flown back home to Los Angeles to have.

All of my memories of Mr. Li are bright and happy, filled with sunshine and good times. But one of the most fun evenings we had with Mr. Li was during Chinese New Year, a time in which he really should have been home with his family. But there he was, ever so happy to be spending time with us. I think that may have been the first time he accepted our invitation for him to come inside, as this was an almost unthinkable concept to him. We had a lovely dinner, where we laughed and celebrated the Chinese New Year.

The key elements of Chinese New Year have always been food, family, and good fortune going into the new year, and we took part in all of it. The single thing I miss most about living in China is the food. I crave it daily, especially when Chinese New Year rolls around. I can basically smell the hot pot, the plates on plates of dumplings and vegetables, the slow-cooked pork, chicken and duck that falls off the bone when you bite into it; I can feel the crunch of the caramelized sugar crisp on the fatty ends of the meat.

In the background, the streets explode with the cacophony of fireworks, many of which are simply designed to make noise, no light show involved. Nevertheless, the skies are alight with every color of the rainbow, followed immediately by billows of smoke. You could hear music and cheering in the distance, as every individual family had their own celebration.

[image error] Fireworks in the streets of Beijing. 2014

This brings me to my specific memory with Mr. Li. Unlike America, where simply having a firework in your possession could land you in jail, in China they’re sold on the street corner in a giant yellow-and-red hut resembling a circus big top. You’d walk up to the kiosk, and be greeted by hundreds, if not thousands of firework options. They had handheld roman candles that you’d simply point at the sky and shoot like Harry Potter, and sparklers and windmills that you could watch come to life in your own hands. And then, they had the big boys. Perforated cardboard boxes with multicolored logos splattered across them advertising the “BIGGEST BOOM” or “5 minute show!” in Mandarin, of course. These boxes ranged in price from several hundred to several thousand RMB, which is extremely cheap given the quality of shows these boxes put on. Even with some of the smaller boxes, which we bought a smorgasbord of, the pyrotechnic shows could last upwards of 3-4 minutes. And the bigger boxes, which were more expensive so we went a little easier on, lasted 5-10 minutes, shooting rockets upwards of 100 feet upwards and exploding into kaleidoscopic patterns before our very eyes. We lit these with our parent’s help, and with a big group of friends, but Mr. Li was terrified of us getting hurt, and insisted on helping us meticulously light each box, one after another.

[image error] Mr. Li helping my sister (purple jacket) and a friend light a small box of fireworks. 2011

This Lunar New Year is extra special for me, as it’s the Year of the Tiger. The last one was in 2010, the year before we moved to Beijing. The one before that, was 1998, the year that I was born. I can’t help but feel that this means that this year means the precipice of big changes for me; as evidenced by the fact that I’m graduating from college in less than 100 days and transitioning to the real world.

I think there’s something to be said about being Jewish and living in China, and something else to be said about being American and living in China. But I was blessed to be able to celebrate three separate New Years during my four years there. Every year my family would tune in to our local synagogue (Nashuva)’s livestream, which we would watch at night to accommodate the time difference. We are Kohanim, so we’d say the sacred blessings to the TV from the safety of our living room. We’d often travel for actual New Year’s, as flight tickets from Beijing to elsewhere in Asia are relatively cheap, and I was blessed again to spend New Year’s in several different countries, watching the clock count down from midnight in Bali, Bangkok, etc. And I was blessed a third time with being able to celebrate Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year, in Beijing, with both my blood family and the family we met along the way. I think Mr. Li felt this same blessing, and I think of him often, hoping he would be proud of the person I’ve turned into.

[image error] Fireworks reflect off the high rise window. 2014

The post Me and Mr. Li: A Reflection on Chinese New Year appeared first on We Said Go Travel.

The post appeared first on We Said Go Travel.

The post appeared first on We Said Go Travel.

Click here to support Help Golf Be Accessible to All org...

Click here to support Help Golf Be Accessible to All organized by Ben Hulin https://t.co/3GARO3ZC40 #GoFundMe

— Stand Up and Play Foundation (@standupandplay1) October 21, 2021

The post appeared first on We Said Go Travel.

ParaGolfer: Help Golf Be Accessible to All

By Ben Hulin

GoFundMe: Help Golf Be Accessible to All

In 2006, I was in a no-fault motorcycle accident and the accident took away my ability to walk and to participate in sports the way I did before my accident.

In the last two years, I have discovered and experienced the sport of golf, again, at TopGolf in Salt Lake City, UT from a seated position.

My dad taught me the sport of golf at a young age. Since my accident, I have not found a “normal” way to play the sport I grew up playing with my dad, brothers, family, and friends until this summer.

This summer, I was able to experience the equipment that got me back to “normal” golf. I was able to use the ParaGolfer in South Carolina. This all-terrain wheelchair helped raise me to a standing position and hit the ball. This also allowed me access to the putting surface and gave me the opportunity to play a full round of golf.

The only problem is that I had to travel to South Carolina to use one. The closest ParaGolfer around Utah is in Nevada. The golfing community in the great state of Utah needs technology like this to be inclusive of everyone in the game of golf.

This equipment is beyond expensive and I appreciate any support from individuals or companies to help get myself and others in Utah back to this great sport and provide the equipment needed to be used at different golf courses.

I am a Physical Education teacher at a small private school in Salt Lake City, UT. I have been able to introduce my students to different adaptive sports. This will continue to show them that you can do anything with the right equipment.

This ParaGolfer will be used to progress inclusion in the state of Utah and show how others can still play the sport of golf and will be used for clinics and demonstrations for others to experience the great game of golf.

Thank you in advance for your support.
Thank you so much,
Ben

[image error]

Learn more in Utah Golf and Travel (pg 27)

[image error] GoFundMe: Help Golf Be Accessible to All

Click here to support Help Golf Be Accessible to All organized by Ben Hulin https://t.co/3GARO3ZC40 #GoFundMe

— Stand Up and Play Foundation (@standupandplay1) October 21, 2021

The post ParaGolfer: Help Golf Be Accessible to All appeared first on We Said Go Travel.

Custom Styles

{“version”: 2, “isGlobalStylesUserThemeJSON”: true }

The post Custom Styles appeared first on We Said Go Travel.

Honored by your SUPPORT: Niver’s News: Jan 2022

Jan News 2022 with Lisa Niver & We Said Go Travel:Thank you for all of your support! I am a two-time finalist for the 14th annual 2021 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism (NAEJ) Awards! I will keep you posted when the WINNERs are announced! Please see this link — https://lisaniver.com/awards/ — over the last six years I have won five times and been a finalist nineteen times for a variety of broadcast, print and digital categories! Want to read more of my writing? Click here for all of my stories in 2021. [image error] I now have more than 300 videos on Tiktok, Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels and YouTube Short Video! Please comment, like and share on your favorite platform! From Nov 17, 2021 to Jan 24, 2022 (10 weeks), I had over 400,000 new views! I am going for 1 million. I appreciate all of your support. [image error] THANK YOU BUZZFEED

Lisa’s TOP TEN Short Form Videos In Jan 2022 After 8 Weeks On TikTok

Where Can You PARTY with PIXELS?

New On Tiktok For The Holidays: My Top 10 Most Viewed–Over 50 & Playing With AR Filters!

[image error] Thank you to Princess Cruises for including me in the December 2021 Captain’s Circle magazine! [image error] [image error] [image error] Thank you to Julie, Alessio, Marco and Eva for our adventures with the Gibbons:Thank you to the Fortezze’s for our hikes: I have been learning TIKTOK filters including the Spiderman Portal: Since the Jewish Journal resumed print publication in Fall 2021, I have been in the Blog Bytes section fourteen times! Click here to see the two print sections from Sept 2021. I will be posting the other months in future newsletters. [image error]

[image error] WHERE CAN YOU FIND MY TRAVEL VIDEOS?

Here is the link to my video channel on YouTube where I have over 1.5 million views on YouTube! (Exact count: 1,501,255 views)

Thank you for your support! Are you one of my 3,400 subscribers? I hope you will join me and subscribe! For more We Said Go Travel articles, TV segments, videos and social media: CLICK HERE

Find me on social media with over 150,000 followers. Please follow  on TikTok: @LisaNiver, Twitter at @LisaNiver, Instagram @LisaNiver and on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and at LisaNiver.com.

My fortune cookies said: “You will find hidden treasures where least expected.”“It’s not the amount of time you devote, but what you devote to the time that counts.” [image error]

The post Honored by your SUPPORT: Niver’s News: Jan 2022 appeared first on We Said Go Travel.

The Gift of Kindness: 2020, COVID and ChanukahThe post a...

The Gift of Kindness: 2020, COVID and Chanukah

The post appeared first on We Said Go Travel.

THANK YOU NAEJ Awards! I am a 2x Finalist

[image error] Thank you for all of your support! I am a two-time finalist for the 14th annual 2021 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism (NAEJ) Awards!

Please find my two nominated stories below. Thank you to the Los Angeles Press Club and Diana Ljungaeus, Executive Director!

[image error] F18. Commentary Diversity/Gender

* Lisa Niver, Jewish Journal, “The Gift of Kindness: 2020, COVID and Chanukah”

The Gift of Kindness: 2020, COVID and Chanukah

* Sydney Love, Alta Journal, “California’s White Wine Problem”

* Sandro Monetti, Hollywood International Filmmaker Magazine, “Geena Davis – Gamechanger” 

* Keenan Norris, Alta Journal, “One Coyote”

* Malina Saval, Variety, “Too Jewish For Hollywood: As Antisemitism Soars, Hollywood Should Address Its Enduring Hypocrisy In Hyperbolic Caricatures of Jews”

[image error] I8. Commentary Analysis/Trend — Film

* Lisa Niver, Thrive Global, “Building Life Again After Loss: Sliding Doors, Braver Than You Think and My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me”

* Kate Aurthur, Variety, “What It’s Like to See ‘Tenet’ in a Movie Theater” 

* Kate Bove, Eric Mueller and Patricia Puentes, Ask Media Group, “Disney Has a Queerbaiting Problem: Ask’s Editors Break Down How It Harms the LGBTQ+ Community” 

* Ashley Lee, Los Angeles Times, “Theater is Hollywood’s talent incubator. It’s time Hollywood stepped up to save it” 

* Manori Ravindran, Variety, “What It’s Like Attending a Film Festival During COVID-19”

[image error] LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 16: BJ Korros and guest attend the Los Angeles Press Club’s 63rd Annual Journalism Awards Dinner at Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles on October 16, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Robin L Marshall/Getty Images)

Lisa Niver has won many awards! From 2017 to 2022, in the Southern California Journalism Awards and National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards, she has won five times and been a finalist nineteen times for a variety of broadcast, print and digital categories.

2021 Finalist: National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards2021 Winner: Southern California Journalism Awards for TECHNOLOGY REPORTING 2021 Finalist: Southern California Journalism Awards for BOOK CRITICISM2020 Winner: National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards for Book Critic. See all of Lisa’s book reviews here.2020 Finalist: National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards for Book Critic2020 Winner: Southern California Journalism Awards for print magazine article: Hemispheres Magazine for United Airlines2020 Five Time Finalist: Southern California Journalism awards 2019 Winner: NAEJ Award for KTLA TV segment2019 Finalist: National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards in three categoriesCategory H2a. Soft News: Ms. Magazine: Polar Bears Can’t Vote So You Have ToCategory F6a. Soft News Feature – Under 5 Minutes—Film/TV: KTLA TV Oscars Countdown to Gold with Lisa NiverCategory C1b. Business, Music/Tech/Art: My Wharton Magazine article: Four Female Founders Share Their Origin Stories2019 Finalist: Southern California Journalism Awards for Broadcast Television Lifestyle Segment: Ogden Ski Getaway2018 Finalist for three categories of Southern California Journalism Awards:SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY REPORTING: Smithsonian TRAVEL REPORTING: Popsugar FitnessPERSONALITY PROFILE: Saturday Evening Post2017 2nd place winner for Southern California Journalism Award Print Column “A journey to freedom over three Passovers” and finalist for Travel Reporting.

More about Lisa Niver: https://lisaniver.com/awards/

The post THANK YOU NAEJ Awards! I am a 2x Finalist appeared first on We Said Go Travel.

Spread the Love: Peanut Butter Makes a Big Difference!

[image error] Move for Hunger Over 40 million people are struggling. Your donation can help Move For Hunger provide meals to the families, kids, seniors, & vulnerable communities who are facing hunger.  [image error] Spread the Love

Did you know the #1 requested item by food banks is peanut butter? That’s right! You can help “Spread the Love” this Valentine’s Day by signing up your business, school or community by collecting jars of peanut butter (and jelly) to be picked up by Move for Hunger and distributed to the food banks in need in your area this February.  SIGN UP HERE

[image error]

Move for Hunger was launched in 2009 when founder Adam Lowy saw how much food was being thrown away when people relocate.  His family’s moving company saw first hand how people tossed or left behind canned goods and more every time they moved.

[image error]

Since launching Move for Hunger, Lowy and his network of apartment management companies and national movers have collected 26 million pounds of food. That’s 21 million meals!  They have helped food banks across the nation keep people in need fed.

[image error]

Move For Hunger is a national nonprofit organization that has created a sustainable way to reduce food waste & fight hunger. Our mission is to mobilize the leaders of the moving, relocation and multi family industries to provide their customers, clients, and residents with the opportunity to donate their food when they move.  All of the food stays local-a key component of Move For Hunger’s model. Members of Move For Hunger also organize community food drives, participate in awareness campaigns, and create employee engagement programs.  

Since 2009, Move For Hunger has delivered more than 25 million pounds of food to food banks and pantries all across the United States & Canada providing more than 20 million meals for those in need. Members of Move For Hunger’s network also organize community food drives, participate in awareness campaigns, and create employee engagement programs.

Move For Hunger’s network now includes over 1,100 moving companies, more than 2,900+ multi-family apartment communities, and many of the world’s leading relocation companies.

The need to help fight hunger and food waste is more important than ever.  37 million Americans face hunger every day.  1 in 6 children are unsure of when they will have their next meal.  Meanwhile, we waste 40% of the food we produce every year.  Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, an estimated 17.1 million MORE Americans are food insecure. The work that Move For Hunger does to help support local food banks & pantries across the country is more crucial than ever.

35 million people move each year.  If we rescued just 1 pound of food from each of them, we’d be able to provide 29 million meals for families in need.

The post Spread the Love: Peanut Butter Makes a Big Difference! appeared first on We Said Go Travel.