Lifestyle Archives - Page 14 of 14 -

October 27, 2016October 27, 2016

November Announcements

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Early Voting in Parkland
The only early voting location in the City of Parkland is the P-REC in Pine Trails Park. For the General Election you will be voting for President, State- and County-level positions, and City of Parkland positions. General Election early voting is at the P-REC November 6th from 9am to 6pm. For information, visit: browardsoe.org.

Parkland Public WiFi Hotspots

The City of Parkland has set-up WiFi hot spots in Pine Trails Park and Terramar Park to enable visitors to the parks the advantage of free Internet access. The hot spots are located in the center of the baseball wheel in both Pine Trails and Terramar parks, and atop the concession stands (in Pine Trails Park the concession stand nearest the baseball fields). The hotspots will be identified as “Parkland Public WiFi.” For more information, visit cityofparkland.org and facebook.com/copfl

Zika Virus Information
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Florida Department of Health, and others are monitoring the Zika virus. For information on prevention and links to regularly updated sources, visit the Zika virus page at cityofparkland.org/zika or call 855-622-6735.

Volunteer Parkland
Earn volunteer hours by helping others, or helping the City of Parkland. Gardening, Parks and Recreation events, the Parkland Library, and community events and projects are among the volunteer opportunities available. For information and to apply online visit: cityofparkland.org/volunteer
or call 954-757-4145.

Coral Springs wins award for 37^th time

The City of Coral Springs was awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada for its comprehensive annual financial report. The certificate of achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management. This is the 37th consecutive year that the City of Coral Springs has received this distinction.
Service fees go up at Mall

The Coral Springs City Hall in the Mall location has raised its service fees for fingerprinting, passport photos and notary public. Fingerprinting is $15 per card. These services are offered at City Hall in the Mall every Wednesday from noon to 6 p.m., customers must supply their own card. City Hall in the Mall does not offer these services for immigration, name changes, concealed weapons, or alcohol and tobacco licenses.

Additionally, passport photos are $12 for a set of two colored photos. For those needing a notary public, each signature block will be $10. No appointments are necessary for any passport services.

City Hall in the Mall is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10am to 4pm. The office is in Coral Square Mall, 9239 W. Atlantic Blvd.

October 7, 2016July 3, 2019

OFF TO THE RACES

dog-sled

by Victoria Landis

Humans are competitive about everything, especially sports. We are also quite inventive. So when some of us are no longer willing or capable of exerting ourselves, we find surrogates to compete for us. Who, or what, are those surrogates? Well, in the ‘good’ old days, slaves and prisoners were fodder for such amusements. In modern times, forcing others to run, fight, or die for our entertainment pleasure is, apparently, frowned upon. Sigh. So what’s a rabidly competitive society full of obese couch potatoes supposed to do?

Entrance−stage right−our animal friends. Seems as though they’re game to do anything for us. Some actually know we’re using them to amuse ourselves. Dolphins and elephants come to mind. How about the penguins from Madagascar. But others are thrust into situations that have to be bewildering to them. It’s beyond bewildering to me.

LOUISVILLE, KY - MAY 04: The field races down the front stretch during the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4, 2013 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) — LOUISVILLE, KY – MAY 04: The field races down the front stretch during the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4, 2013 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Take, for example, the Crisfield Crab Races in Maryland. Officially called the Crisfield National Hard Crab Derby, it happens annually over Labor Day Weekend. So, sorry to say, if you’re just reading about it now in October, you’ve missed your chance. It’s a crab-themed festival with cooking, rides, crafts, fireworks, beauty queens, a parade, arm wrestling, and racing crabs. A much-needed aside here−somebody please clarify for me just what sort of young woman wants to wear the label Crab Queen? Or Queen of the Crabs? I think even the pushy mothers from Toddlers and Tiaras would have enough sense not to allow their daughters anywhere near such a moniker. That is a title that will follow you for the rest of your life. What if she decided to become an X-rated film star? Her chances would be torpedoed from the get-go.

Back to Crisfield’s celebration of the crustacean. As much as I studied the web page, I did not see colored racing stripes or painted flames of glory on their backs, only boring chalky white numbers. Not very exciting. Although it paints a picture in your head of crabs doing their darnedest to inch along a track, carefully staying in their designated lane, that isn’t at all what happens. The pictures I saw show a multi-lane board all right−but one end was hiked up to an almost 45 degree angle with little ‘starting gates’ at the top. Once the gates open, the crusty critters kind of slide, more than race, down. I for one, am outraged. The good folks in Crisfield could learn a thing or two by paying attention to the other absurd animal races.

There’s hamster racing−in little cars no less−in the UK. It started in 2001, when a hoof and mouth disease put the kibosh on some of England’s horse races. They keep world records and everything. (See? I told you we were inventive . . .) There’s even Professional Hamster Racing now, covered by BBC London, The Sun, and The Daily Mail. Bookmakers take bets on it. snails

There’s races for cows, cockroaches, rabbits, lizards, buffalo, ostriches, snails, sheep, cane toads, camels, and pigs. Yikes!

As much as I would like to enlighten you about all of these wonders, my space is limited. So I will wrap up with what seems to be the biggest misnomer here: Snail Races. The world championships are hosted by our buddies, the Brits. Placed in the center of a 14-inch circle, the first snail to touch the outer circle line wins. In what has to be the most sleep-inducing event in the sports universe, it takes the average snails almost four minutes. Ah, but a snail named Archie in 1995 won it in just two minutes. Those spectators, assuming they had plenty of time for a bathroom break, must have been majorly bummed at missing that finish.

THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR

September 30, 2016July 3, 2019

A HISTORY OF CELEBRATIONS

A HISTORY OF CELEBRATIONS

by Rabbi Melissa Stollman, Congregation Kol Tikvah

This year, at sundown on Sunday, October 2^nd, marks the beginning of the first Jewish High Holy Day, Rosh Hashanah. Jews around the world mark the day by entering a synagogue to hear the shofar blast, as in the days of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem during biblical times. However, during ancient times this holy day did not mark the Jewish New Year, or literally “Head of the Year”, as it fell on the first day of the seventh month. Later this day became the beginning of the calendar year in Jewish tradition.

Shofar - a horn used in jewish holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. — Shofar – a horn used in jewish holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

Jews around the world make it a priority to observe Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Worship services, grandiose in style, include a special musical motif, and the ritual of blowing of the shofar, or ram’s horn. The mitzvah, or commandment by God, is to hear the shofar blast on Rosh Hashanah. The shofar symbolizes the ram used during the sacrifice of Isaac listed in the Book of Genesis, and is said to be curved or bent to demonstrate Jews’ humility before God.

In addition to being known as Yom Teruah, The Day of the Blasts, Rosh Hashanah is known as Yom Hadin, the Day of Judgment, when all people appear before God. Many congregations during this time change their Torah scroll covers to white, and their clergy wear white robes. This comes from Isaiah 1:18: “Be your sins like crimson, they can turn white as snow.” Rosh Hashanah marks the first day of the 10 Days of Repentance culminating in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. These holy days, and the intermittent ten days known as the “Days of Awe”, are the opportunity for Jews to apologize to one another for their misgivings, to forgive others for hurting them intentionally or unintentionally, and to ask forgiveness from God. While Jews can ask forgiveness at any time, this is the time to focus on this task in order to be inscribed for the coming year in the Book of Life. Jews reflect behavior from the past year, and this reflection focuses involves teshuvah, known as repentance, but literally means to return. However, repentance is not enough, one must seek reconciliation with those whom have been wronged during the past year. It is mitzvah, or good deed/commandment, to forgive those who have wronged us, and those who have asked for our forgiveness.

For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you of all your sins; you shall be clean before God. (Lev 16:30)

The complicated rituals and sacrifices led by the high priest, which took place on Yom Kippur in ancient times, have changed since the Temple’s destruction in Jerusalem. Now atonement is a more personal act of emotional purification through fasting, removing from our lives the wrongdoings we have made. The Torah commands Jews to practice self-denial on this day. The fast begins at sundown on the evening of, or Erev, Yom Kippur with the kindling of the Yom Kippur lights. While fasting, Jews focus their thoughts on the day and remove other distractions.

Yom Kippur is often seen as a somber day, but forgiving others and asking others to be forgiven is an important process. The day is long and tiring, but as the “Gates of Repentance” close at sunset Jews around the world celebrate this important moment with a Havdalah ritual to separate this holy and sacred time from one’s regular everyday life. The fast is broken with the final sounding of the shofar, and a joyous meal commences.

As Jews around the world approach the High Holy Days this year I want to wish you all a Shanah Tovah, a happy new year, and a G’mar Chatimah Tovah, may you be inscribed (in the Book of Life) for good.

August 20, 2016July 3, 2019

Starting off Right: Your Child’s First-Ever Day of School

startingschool

Few children today enter first grade or kindergarten with no prior school experience. The majority have either been enrolled in pre-school or they have attended VPK, the free program that prepares children for kindergarten. These programs help make a child’s first day of real school easier. In times past, kindergarten was often a child’s first experience with school.

There is an old joke about the Jewish mother who prepares her son for his first day of school, saying, “Now, bubeleh, go to school and make me proud. You’re a big boy, bubeleh, and you’re going to learn a lot in school. Oooh—here comes the bus. Give me a kiss, bubeleh, and have a wonderful time.” As the school bus pulled up to the bus stop that afternoon, the mother waited eagerly to hear about her son’s first day in the hallowed halls of education. Giving him a big kiss as he stepped off the bus, the mother said, “So what did you learn on your first day of school, bubeleh?” He replied, “I learned that my name isn’t bubeleh. It’s Irving.”

Funny as that joke is, it does contain a lesson: Make sure your child knows what their real first name is. Although many schools today are lenient about the use of nicknames, there are still some that demand that “Pat” answer to “Patrick” or “Patricia,” as the case may be. At the very least, he or she should be aware of what their true first name is. This is even truer if the nickname doesn’t derive from the first name, as in the case of kids who are used to answering to “Red” or “Shorty.”

Although you may be feeling nervous, wondering if your child will make friends easily, if he or she will be accepted by their peers, and other worries, former elementary school teacher Lenna Buissink urges that you try not to communicate those feelings to your child. Children can sense when their parents are nervous. A child who is facing the first day of school with equanimity can develop stage fright if he or she picks up on the fact that you are nervous about this impending event.

Be sure your child has all the recommended supplies. Don’t let them be the only one without a set of crayons, pencils, or whatever else the school requires.

Remind him or her that entering kindergarten is an important step in growing up—that he or she is a big kid now. Since kids take the growing-up process very seriously, capitalize on that and help them to feel proud of being big enough to go to school.

Buissink advises that if the child is nervous, you should honor that feeling. Don’t belittle or disrespect the child’s feelings by saying, “Don’t be nervous,” or “Don’t be silly. There’s nothing to be nervous about.” Instead, say, “Okay, what are you nervous about? Let’s talk about it.” Encourage your child to open up about his or her concerns, and then calmly and positively respond to them.

Even if your child has gone to pre-school or VPK, he or she may be nervous about attending real school. Don’t assume a child will be at ease because of prior school experience. Maybe he will…but maybe she won’t.

While you don’t want to send your child off to school with a teddy bear or security blanket, if there is a small trinket that is meaningful and comforting and will fit in the backpack, let the child bring it to school.

Buissink also advises that you stress how wonderful the teacher is likely to be, and also suggests trying to find something out about the teacher beforehand, then sharing that information with your child. A tidbit like, “Did you know Ms. Jones has a boy your age?” can strike a spark of kindred feeling in the child that can make all the difference between starting school with butterflies in the stomach or with a feeling of confidence and excited anticipation.

by Cynthia MacGregor

March 10, 2016January 21, 2019

Sleep Away Camp – Experiences That Last A Life Time

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The summer before third grade, I was shipped off to Hendersonville, North Carolina, alongside two of my best friends and their 7-year-old younger sisters to attend sleep-away camp for the first time. We entered with expectations exceeding little more than bug bites, sunscreen, various pool activities, and new friendships.
Little did we know that our lives would be changed forever. Despite the fact that my friend’s who-knowshow-dirty younger sister returned to her mother only to tell her, “You forgot to pack me soap!” attending sleepawaycamp that year, as young as we were, taught usincredibly valuable life lessons. “The girls in my cabin that I met when Iwas 8 years old will without a doubt be the girls that serve as the bridesmaids at my wedding,” said Julia Sherman, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who will be returning to Camp Harlem in Pennsylvania this summer to serve as a counselor-in-training. “My camp friends have helped to shape me into who I am today.” Though three years have passed since spending my summers at Camp Blue Star in Hendersonville, I still can’t manage to put into words exactly what it was about camp that captivated me to come back every summer for seven straight years. But somewhere along the way between living in a wooden cabin filled with thirteen other girls without any technology, swarms of nipping mosquitoes, and no parents for hundreds of miles, I found my comfort zone and embraced it.
“Sleep-away camp separated me from the values of my household and allowed me to explore my own values,” said Douglas senior Matt Deitsch, who attended Camp Coleman in Georgia for eight years. “It prepared me to take on the real world independently and gave me a strong friend group all around the country.” Sleep-away camp provides children with experiences and lessons that their parents could never otherwise give them. It was when I was at camp, living hundreds of miles away from anything that I had ever known, that I began to explore boundaries, manage my own freedom, learn empathy for others, discover where my interests truly lied, and even tap into my dreams for the future. While a parent’s choice on whether or not to send their 8-year-old child hundreds of miles away for a month is something that many parents seem to question endlessly, worrying that allowing their child such prolonged time away from home would be without value and unwise, I can guarantee that the choice to provide a child with the opportunity to attend sleep-away is one of the greatest gifts ever.
“Without having gone to sleep-away camp, I would never have experienced things like tubing, mud sliding, and hiking — but the greatest thing I experienced that changed my life forever was living with who would later become the most important people in my life,” said Douglas junior Hunter Luboff, who went to Chestnut Lake Camp in Pennsylvania for six years. “I learned how to work together and live with other people.”
Sleep-away camp impels children to try things that they never would at home. I voluntarily hiked up and down a 1,000-foot mountain three times in one month. I learned to build a fire and cook meals over it. I made glitter plaques and led color war chants and tried rock climbing and riflery and white-water rafting. I became an adventurous eater. I grew up, and I found myself among people whose friendships I will maintain for the rest of my life. I showered in spider-infested bathrooms. I drank “bug-juice” religiously.Most important, though, I established myself in a community of people that had existed and stretched long before me — the community of Camp Blue Star, with its generations of color war murals and catchy songs and cabins with endless amounts of names scratched into the wooden rafters; the snaking, foot-worn gravel paths and clanking of metal kitchen cutlery, banging and cheering on dining hall tables, and its magical place in my heart.

February 12, 2016January 21, 2019

Chinese New Year is Bad News for Monkeys

Suddenly, there it is – a flash of glimmering red scales as the magnificent dragon emerges from the back of the theater. Perfectly in sync with the pounding rhythm of the drums that fills the room, the dragon marches the length of the auditorium before claiming the stage as its kingdom. Then the real delight begins. The creature bounds from one side of the stage to the other, rolling its head from side to side with each step. As the auditorium lights illuminate the dragon’s body, which moves in graceful waves as it follows a ball that taunts it, a collective gasp of joy arises from the audience.

The dragon dance, a cultural tradition designed to bring good fortune and prosperity, flawlessly captures the essence of Chinese New Year. Celebrated on the first day of the Chinese lunar calendar, which happens to fall on February 8 this year, the Chinese New Year focuses most predominantly on the union of friends and family and the generation of good luck for the following year. The holiday, known as the Spring Festival in China, is the most important Chinese celebration of the year and brings together family from all over the country as well as the globe.

The dragon dance represents just one of the countless traditions that adorn the holiday, but it bears the common theme that runs through all of the Chinese New Year traditions: good luck. The red color that appears in the dragon’s body is a color that saturates this holiday. From the red lanterns strung from every conceivable surface to the red couplets stuck on the doors and the walls, the color of happiness and good fortune dominates Chinese New Year. The color red also appears in the festival’s most common gift of red envelopes, which contain “lucky money” to pave the way for future prosperity. Wearing red underwear represents yet another important tradition of the Chinese, as such an intimate object in the color of luck is believed to minimize any forthcoming bad luck.The superstitions, however, do not stop at wearing bright underwear. Chinese New Year is a holiday that does not shy away from food. Lucky foods like noodles, whose length symbolizes longevity, and spring rolls, whose gold bar-like shape symbolizes wealth, become especially important on this holiday. Additionally, during the Spring Festival, the Chinese prohibit all cleaning, forbidding everything from straightening up the house to maintaining personal hygiene. I can’t remember how many times my mother stopped me from taking a shower on Chinese New Year, for fear that I would wash away the good luck. On the other hand, good luck is reinforced by fireworks. Used to drive away the evil of the coming year, fireworks light up the sky every Spring Festival.

The Spring Festival also marks the transition of the animals of the Chinese zodiac, which bears a total of 12 animals, with each animal representing one year in a cycle of 12 years. The Chinese New Year of 2016 will bid farewell to the year of the goat and introduce the year of the monkey. Contrary to popular belief, the year of one’s animal sign on the Chinese zodiac is perceived as the least lucky year of the 12-year cycle. Thus, on February 8 this year, individuals with the goat sign can breathe a sigh of relief, while those with the monkey sign should take a large inhale and be extra careful of any impending danger.

With China’s budding influence on the western world and the increasing outward migration of Asians, the Chinese New Year will undoubtedly continue to grow in popularity outside the Asian continent. In our own community, celebrations are held every year by multiple organizations, including the Coral Springs Chinese Cultural Association and the Chinese Association of Science, Education and Culture of South Florida. These celebrations are open to the general public and are often held at local schools. So, as February 8 approaches, put on your best red clothing, stuff some luck into those red pockets, and get ready to watch a Chinese dragon dance of a lifetime.