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three things we love

Blue Zones

Top five places in the world for the longest life

Dan Buettner has written several books focused on why people live longer

Blue Zones are regions of the world where a higher than usual number of people live much longer than average. Journalist, author, health activist, and National Geographic fellow Dan Buettner spent over ten years finding these extraordinary places where people have significantly lower rates of heart disease, obesity, cancer, and diabetes. They include Okinawa, where women live the longest; the Ogliastra Region in Sardinia which has the world’s highest concentration of men living over the age of 100; the Costa Rican Nicoya Peninsula which has the world’s lowest rate of middle aged mortality; Loma Linda, California where people live ten years longer than the average in the United States; and the Ikaria Island in Greece which has one of the world’s lowest rates of dementia. Founded by Dan Buettner, bluezones.com is rooted in the research and identification of what makes for these longest-lived cultures and seeks to apply the tenets of the Blue Zones in over fifty cities throughout the United States, significantly improving health and lowering healthcare costs.

I am on their mailing list and in a recent email, they explored why people in places like Denmark, Costa Rica, and Singapore report being happier than the rest of us and my guess is that this contributes to a longer life. To find the answers of what makes a happy country and see how you rate on the happiness scale yourself, click here to take the five minute test.

Violinist Prodigy

I don't claim to know anything about classical music but I stumbled on this beautiful piece of music recently by Jules Massanet 1842-1912), from his opera Thaïs entitled Meditation, performed by Christian Li (born 2007), the Chinese-Australian prodigy violinist who came to international attention in 2018 when he became the youngest-ever winner of the Menuhin Competition. He is accompanied by Timothy Young on piano, arranged by R. Nichols for violin and piano. I thought I would share it with you here

I'm Not Racist

This Palestinian/Israeli Rap video Let’s Talk Straight Bo Nedaber Dugri has gone viral.

Hiphop artist Joyner Lucas created this song/music video back in December 2017.

My late Danish husband Gert told me back in 2012 that with all the red state, blue state talk, we Americans better be careful because we were heading straight for a civil war. At that time, I did see storm clouds on the horizon, although I couldn’t imagine that it would come to that. Now I am not so sure. So, in an attempt to look this straight in the eye, I include here an entry that is not for the faint of heart. It is not a feel good story and comes with a strong warning—harsh hate speech, profanity, racial tropes—laced with ugly stereotypes. I am including two videos, from different sides of the earth that are brutal conversations that no one wants to have. The first Let’s Talk Straight Bo Nedaber Dugri, features two men—an Israeli (Uriya Rosenman) and Palestinian (Sameh Zakout) rapping to each other, laying it all on the line and not holding back on all the stereotypes and hate that stands in the way of Arab Israeli peace. The inspiration for their video was actually an American video called I'm Not a Racist, from a music video and by the American hiphop artist Joyner Lucas that features a normal Joe with a MAGA hat sitting across a table to a young Black man in braids, shouting stereotypical hate at each other. I personally believe that although terrible to look at these ugly truths head on, it is the first step necessary to get to the bottom and underside of racism and hate so that everything is out in the open and we can move forward. That is the hope of both these videos. I agree with the critics that have called these videos necessary to spark conversation by tying in both extremes of the debate, although others feel that they are "clichéd" and "cheesy", and that it oversimplifies the debate by reinforcing stereotypes. What do you think? I struggle with wondering what are the best ways we can all work towards that final hug to embrace our common humanity?

painting of the week

Pam Smilow, Pink Princess Dress (Mandala Series) mixed media on canvas, 80” x 48”

Charity of the Week:
Jane Goodall Institute

Found this quote this morning in a worthwhile NYTimes piece on Jane Goodall. Seemed to express my thoughts entirely and why I began this blog in the first place. Click on the image to read the full article.
Please donate if you can: https://janegoodall.org/make-a-difference

“…We absolutely need to know all the doom and gloom because we are approaching a crossroads, and if we don’t take action it could be too late. But traveling the world I’d see so many projects of restoration, animal and plant species being rescued from the brink of extinction, people tackling what seemed impossible and not giving up. Those are the stories that should have equal time, because they’re what gives people hope. If you don’t have hope, why bother? Why should I bother to think about my ecological footprint if I don’t think that what I do is going to make a difference? Why not eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die?”

Jane Goodall, New York Times Magazine, July 18, 2021

Another Self Portrait going grey in the time of Covid…

About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow created the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her, check out the essay written by the Hammond Museum's Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.