Bettering yourself for the new year

Pete Seeger’s nephew offering dulcimer course in Newton

By Taryn Plumb

 |  GLOBE CORRESPONDENT   

DECEMBER 26, 2013

Appalachian dulcimers are long, slender and curvy stringed instruments that produce a simple, rustic, melodious sound.

Jeremy Seeger, a nephew of folk legend Pete Seeger, has dedicated his life to crafting and playing them. He’ll share his knowledge of and deep appreciation for the admittedly “underground” instrument in a session of classes at Newton Community Education starting next month.

“The dulcimer, if you play it traditionally, is very easy to get good sound out of,” explained Seeger, who splits his time between Newton and Rochester, Vt.

It’s just one of many classes offered at schools, libraries, and community centers across the region this winter, from cooking instruction in Southborough to yoga in Shirley to personal fitness in Acton.

In Seeger’s eight-week session, to begin Jan. 16 at Newton North High School and open to newcomers to the instrument, he will introduce the fundamentals of playing the dulcimer, including strumming techniques and how to tune and replace strings. The goal, Seeger said, will be to start out with basic melodies, and have each player build up a repertoire of songs, and even compose their own.

“Everybody has a yearning to make music,’’ Seeger said. “People can come in never having played it.”

With just three (and sometimes four) strings and a simple fret pattern, the dulcimer is typically considered one of the easier string instruments to play. Tradition calls for it to be played while it lays flat on the lap, with the right hand plucking or strumming, and the left fretting.

“One of the beauties of the instrument is there’s not a false note on it,” said Seeger.

Unless you’re a Joni Mitchell or Jean Ritchie fan, you may not be familiar with it; Seeger calls its culture robust but “real underground,” with roughly 250 dulcimer clubs across the country, and several festivals held throughout the year.

“I’d say it’s alive and well, and not easily commercialized,” he said.

So how did he get into it? He called it “totally intuitive,” fitting in with how he’s “wired” for music. He started playing in 1968, and soon began crafting his own dulcimers; he now sells his instruments to artists all over the world. He also builds and sells Qilauts, a sacred Eskimo drum.

“Even though I come from a musical family, music has never come easy for me,” he explained. “I had to really work at it.”

Which translates to his instructing style.

“I teach to people’s abilities and how they’re wired for making music,” said Seeger, who is soft-spoken and has a laid-back demeanor. “Some people are fast runners and some people are long-distance runners. It’s the same with music. Some of us are wired for very fast, intricate work, and for others, it’s all about putting your heart into it, and expressing it.”

Tuition for “Play the Dulcimer” is $111, plus a materials fee of $20; participants provide their own dulcimers (which can be ordered through Seeger or at Music & Arts in Newton Centre).

Other offerings by Newton Community Education include ukulele instruction, beekeeping, fitness boxing, improvisational acting, and Chinese brush painting, among many others. Visitwww2.newtoncommunityed.org for details and to register.

Original story link. 

Gardening during winter at Tower Hill in Boylston

By Taryn Plumb

 |  GLOBE CORRESPONDENT   

DECEMBER 26, 2013

JACKIE RICCIARDI FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Pretty as snow can be, the landscape enshrouded in it for months, devoid of plant life, can quickly become monotonous.

But, not to despair: There are other ways to get a little green in your life in the depths of winter.

Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, for instance, offers several educational, hands-on programs to get you interacting with plants and keep that green thumb of yours in shape in the offseason. (Not to mention that the location itself, with its views of Mount Wachusett and the reservoir, acres of gardens, indoor conservatories, and bouquet of smells and colors, is sure to perk you right up, whatever the weather has to deliver.)

“Gardens and gardening are really great for your overall well-being,” said education director Ann Marie Pilch, noting among the benefits are stress relief and exercise.

Also, don’t think of gardens as being solely relegated to the warmer seasons. If you plant them right, you can enjoy them all year long.

Such is the focus of a Feb. 1 workshop, “The Garden in Winter.” Holliston-based garden designers Jana Milbocker and Joan Butler will emphasize plants that have “winter interest,” Pilch explained, such as winterberry hollies with their bursts of red berries, evergreens with their “wide variety of texture and color,” “glowing” dogwood shrubs, and other trees with unique and varying barks.

The instructors will also discuss ways to lay out and group trees, shrubs and perennials to create the most dramatic effect.

“The garden can be a magical place in winter,” according to the course description.

Or, if you prefer, you can bring the outside in.

In a Feb. 8 class, “Flowering Branches,” Nancy Vargas of Southborough-based Le Jardin Blanc will focus on forcing cuttings, such as from forsythia or cherry trees, to bloom indoors.

“You can enjoy them as a pop of early spring,” said Pilch.

And it’s never too early to start planning for next season’s garden.

In “Hypertufa Planter Workshop,” also on Feb. 8, for example, participants will create their own planter from cement, peat moss and perlite that they can then use as an outdoor accent.

The March 29 “Healthy Lawns, and Lawn Alternatives,” on the other hand, will discuss various ways to maintain a lush expanse of grass with minimal environmental impact.

Meanwhile, “Life Cycle Gardening” on March 8 will highlight subtle changes that can make your garden easier to maintain as you age. One example, Pilcher said, is to choose lower-maintenance plants. “It’s all about how you can continue to garden as you grow older,” she said.

Ultimately, Tower Hill, which opened in 1986 and is operated by the Worcester County Horticultural Society, is underscoring health and wellness for “people, plants and the planet” throughout its programming next year.

Other events will focus on vegetable gardening, sustainable gardening, healthy cooking, yoga, meditation and tai chi. And guided garden tours are held Sundays throughout the year (weather permitting).

Classes range in cost from $15 to $80, and require reservations.

Visit www.towerhillbg.org for full details.

Original story link. 

Discover winter through Drumlin Farm

By Taryn Plumb

 |  GLOBE CORRESPONDENT   

DECEMBER 26, 2013

Submitted/Drumlin staff

The world is a place to be explored — no matter the time of year.

Winter, as with each of the other seasons, provides its own distinctive gems and treasures that, through its wide variety of programs, the Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln strives to help visitors of all ages discover.

“Obviously the world looks a lot different now than it did back in September, or back in May, and that’s what we’re exploring,” said the Massachusetts Audubon Society property’s education manager, Kris Scopinich.

One such program that fosters this for teenagers is “Weekend Adventures Club: Exploring the Woods on Skis,” to be held Jan. 18 at Weston Ski Track. Participants will have the opportunity to cross-country ski for four hours — either with their own equipment or rentals from the facility — and analyze different landscapes swathed in white.

Similar adventurous programs for children and families include “Winter Explorers,” for ages 4 to 6 and running six weeks starting Jan. 23, and “Winter Explorations,” beginning Jan. 24, also running six weeks, and geared for the whole family.

Essentially, all examine what happens in various outdoor habitats in the colder months. “What do wetlands look like in the winter, what do forests look like, what do trees look like?” Scopinich said.

Another essential aspect, particularly after a batch of freshly fallen snow, is searching for animal tracks and other telltale signs of wildlife.

As Scopinich noted, “People are often surprised just how active wildlife is in the cold winter months.”

Equally important is what’s not around. For example, turtles hibernate underwater or in debris nearby; frogs and salamanders nestle underground; and many songbirds have migrated to warmer climates.

“Some animals are able to stick around, and have adapted to get through these cold winters,” Scopinich said, “others slow down their metabolisms, while others head south — and we’ll look forward to their return in the springtime.”

For adults, there are many classes and workshops at Drumlin on birding, digital photography, tree identification, and even making cheese.

“Generally, our programs are focused on what’s happening out in the natural world,” Scopinich said of the 206-acre property on South Great Road. “We’re just following the seasons.”

But the farm animals — sheep, chickens, goats, cows, pigs, and a pony, Midnight — require care, food, water, and space to roam year-round. Families can learn more about this process in such programs as “Caretaker for a Day,” for ages 10 to 14, on Jan. 20; “Winter Farm Family,” a six-week series starting Jan. 22; and the playful “Pigs and Blankets” on Jan. 24.

With each, both parents and children can see what’s going on in the barns, help out with chores, and learn about root cellars and sheep shearing.

Scopinich said it is important to get outside in the winter, not just to stay physically active, but to maintain emotional well-being. (And also get your daily dose of Vitamin D.)

“Definitely take the time to get outside and stay active and enjoy the natural world during this special time of year,” she urged.

For more details on programs, and to register, visit www.massaudubon.org.

Original story link. 

© 2013 BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA PARTNERS, LLC

The allure of magic

Young or old, they have that magic

By Taryn Plumb |  Globe Correspondent   November 24, 2013

It all started out with a simple coin trick.
Amazed at what he had seen, and eager to master its secret and learn more, Derek Dubois was soon the owner of his first magic set.
Now, five years and many hours of practice later, the Everett 14-year-old regularly performs at birthday parties, corporate events, and retirement homes, and he’s also president of the local chapter of the Society of Young Magicians.
“It’s always been a dream to take it to the top,” said the teenager, dressed in a black blazer and pants, eyes rimmed by black-framed glasses. “Hopefully one day I’ll have a professional show. I love to entertain people.”
The domain of magic entices all types — aspiring David Copperfields like Dubois; hobbyists and dabblers; old-timers who have tried it all. Many look forward to meeting other practitioners for the opportunity to catch up on new tricks and learn from the masters.
The Society of American Magicians, Witch City Assembly 104, holds conventions for just that purpose, the most recent one held earlier this month in Peabody.
The craft isn’t just about illusions or sleights of hand, said local practitioners.
“The thing that’s so great about magic, especially for kids, is it makes you use your mind,” said Eddie Gardner, 64, club vice president and owner of Diamond’s Magic store in Peabody. It also builds confidence and public speaking skills, he said.
Beyond the expected birthday parties, magicians can be called to perform at corporate functions, trade shows, day-care centers, fairs, and hospitals. “Magic opens up so many opportunities,” Gardner said.
Stephen Anderson, 71, of Andover, agreed, noting that magic “requires you to use your head and your personality.”
“It’s not about tricking; it’s about making a presentation or story come alive,” he said.
The retired salesman’s interest in magic is purely a hobby, a way to connect with his six grandchildren, who range from third-grade twins to college age.
“I’ve always used magic as part of home entertainment, rather than the television,” he said as he stood outside the convention’s crowded lecture room, where balloons shaped like playing cards lightly bobbed against the walls.
When he was a boy, Anderson had numerous magic sets, honing his skills to impress friends. Now, manipulation of magic tricks helps to keep his “fingers nimble . . . [and] mind sharp,” he said, although he noted that he can no longer do tricks with a full deck of cards because his hands “aren’t young anymore.”
So instead, he tends to do a lot with coins — making them multiply, appear, disappear. The youngest of his grandchildren express astonishment, while the older ones tend to sneak props away to show their friends.
“Which is actually good,” he said with a shrug, “because it passes it on to someone else.”
The Society of American Magicians was founded in 1902 in New York City, and boasts among its current and former members the legendary Harry Houdini, Copperfield, and Siegfried & Roy. The Witch City chapter has about 60 members, and meets once a month.
The 12th annual gala show, which drew hundreds of magicians from throughout New England to the Holiday Inn in Peabody, included full shows, close-up demonstrations, and lectures from such headliners as Eugene Burger, Andrew Goldenhersh, and Bill Abbott.
In a dealer’s room at the conference, tables were packed: dozens of playing cards — including giant, book-sized ones — nesting bottles, multiplying balls, coin funnels, clarity (switching) boxes, spoof tarantulas, DVDs on mastering everything from balloon animals to card tricks, and many other items that only magic-makers could understand.
Gardner, a magician for 37 years, said his store has 9,000 items and caters to “collectors, hobbyists, professionals, wannabes, think-they-ares.”
“You get a lot of very unusual people,” he said.
Peter Jackson, 56, of Gloucester, is a full-time technical installer who has been practicing magic for 25 years.
He is a magician of the classic sort: rabbit, magic wand, and all.
Some of his favorite tricks include pulling cards out of “real brains,” cutting his “glamorous” assistant Lulu into three pieces – but, not to worry, she’s only 6 inches tall – and, of course, producing his black-eared white rabbit, fittingly named “Top Hat,” seemingly out of nowhere.
“It’s all fun. I definitely don’t take myself too seriously,” said Jackson, who lists Mac King, a resident performer at Harrah’s Las Vegas, as one of his favorites. “When I was a little guy, I saw magic, fell in love with it.”
Which is the same you’ll hear from many others in the craft, including J. Hubbard of Salem.
“A friend of mine was into magic; he got me into it,” said Hubbard, 49, who sports a distinctive white beard and curlicue mustache. “That was so long ago,” he added with a laugh.
He went on to do his first paid magic show at age 10, emphasizing family-style, close-up magic.
Today, he still does magic shows and idolizes such greats as Doug Henning, Jeff McBride, and Lance Burton, but he’s cultivated a repertoire of other characters as well, including a realistic Santa and a wise-cracking clown who very often bumbles his own capers.
He’s mastered face-painting, too, most notably for jersey-wearing youngsters at Fenway Park.
And he’s happy to tell people that, fittingly, he met his future wife at Chuck E. Cheese’s among the shrill chaos of birthday parties, singing animatronics, and cold pizza.
“I’m in the entertainment business full time, somehow,” he joked.

Original story link. 

© 2013 Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC

Foodies have lots of choices outside Boston, too

Food, glorious food!

By Taryn Plumb |  Globe Correspondent 
November 17, 2013

Foodies generally know where to go: the hot spots, the new, the trendy. Boston, Providence, maybe Portland, Maine (or its sister city on the opposite coast). But here in Boston’s western suburbs, fans of fine food do not have to wander as far as they may think. There are plenty of established and new entries where you can get gourmet, exotic, home-grown, and handmade eats.
Visit Hudson and taste a pumpkin whoopie pie at the Harvard Sweet Boutique. Drive through Westborough and try some “kalbi” — beef short ribs — at Sapporo Korean Barbecue and Sushi. Settle in at the Oregon Club, a onetime speak-easy in Ashland, for one of its famed steaks. Or check our list of locally made foods you can buy in shops or online.

Former speak-easy with a modern flair

By Taryn Plumb |  Globe Correspondent 
November 17, 2013

The pans have seen a lot of beef — 90 years’ worth. Originally from Boston’s Omni Parker House, they sizzled up literally thousands of steaks over the course of the 20th century at the Oregon Club in Ashland, where they’re still in service to this day.
“They sit on the burner all night long,” said chef Chris Scanlon, who took over ownership of the restaurant, which served as a speak-easy during Prohibition, in 2009 with Judy MacLeod.
The continued use of the now-antique pans exemplifies the Oregon Club of the 21st century: embracing the past with modern flair, the owners say.
“We wanted to keep the great aspects of the Briascos’ era while also making it our own,” said MacLeod, a onetime waitress at the former private club that was owned and run by the Briasco family for eight decades. “They worked hard. They kept it simple. We want to carry on with that.”
It started 91 years ago when Giuseppe Briasco opened the Briasco Inn in a farmhouse on Oregon Road in Ashland. The rooming house served just two dishes — spaghetti and steak — and also operated as a speak-easy until the end of Prohibition in 1933. With limited liquor licenses available in town after America’s 13-year dry run, Briasco opted to transform his establishment into a private club (and with the transition came the name change).
“You couldn’t get in the door if you didn’t have their membership card,” MacLeod said.
Among the regular customers were Red Sox icon Ted Williams, Boston mayor and state governor James Michael Curley, and Louis Farley, a prominent Framingham judge and 30-year patron. It served as an escape for Farley’s family, who found it nearly impossible to go out in their hometown without being approached with some legal question or another, said MacLeod.
During its nearly 100-year run, it built up a reputation for its steaks, which are prepared the same way — and in the same carbon steel pans — today, along with other Briasco specialties such as spicy mushroom soup.
Scanlon, who attended the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts and has cooked professionally for 22 years, has added such items as pan-roasted cod and crispy duck confit to the menu, and experimented with offerings like cod puree, pork and duck terrine, and foie gras.
“There are any number of things that you can’t get in any other restaurant around here,” he said.
And, he said, his regular customers as well as foodie-types who venture west from Boston “are willing to try things they’re not used to.”



Kayana Szymczak for The Boston Globe

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Gourmet baker hits sweet spot

By Taryn Plumb |  Globe Correspondent
November 17, 2013

Not many people have this on their resume: Sue George is a former software engineer and project manager who has become the owner and operator of a gourmet bakery.
Just over a year ago, the mother of two teenagers opened Harvard Sweet Boutique in a downtown Hudson storefront, building on the immense success of her Internet-based business of the same name.
“People are so excited to have a gourmet bakery in town,” said George, a Harvard resident who describes herself as self-taught in the kitchen. “There hasn’t been anything like it in many, many years, if ever.”
It began in 2007 as a small mail-order business that specialized in care packages full of sweet baked treats. But thanks to the Internet, it quickly grew into a nationwide opportunity, said George, who found herself creating packages for an array of corporate and nonprofit clients, including the Boston Celtics and Youk’s Kids, a charity founded by Red Sox player Kevin Youkilis (before he traded in his “B” for Yankee pinstripes).
Today, the care-package business continues to flourish, with customers of all types choosing from numerous flavors of brownies, cookies, truffles, toffee, and other goodies colorfully wrapped up, topped with a bow, and dispatched to their doors.
The bakery’s storefront, meanwhile, opened a year ago last month. Its pastry chefs create all manner of cakes, cookies, macaroons, gourmet cupcakes, brownies, scones, muffins, and sweet rolls, as well as seasonal specialties like pumpkin whoopie pies with maple cream cheese filling, and lunch items that include soups, fresh bread, and pizza.
“It’s all made from scratch, fresh ingredients,” said George. “I don’t cut corners, I never will. I want people to come in and say, ‘That’s the best scone I ever had,’ or, ‘That’s the best cookie I ever had.’ ”
George’s specialty is cookie batter, although she does not get around to doing much baking herself these days due to business demands. But as she was raising her children, she said, “I did tons and tons of baking for every event I could get involved in in my town.”
With the new retail space, she has also taken the opportunity to support other local food artisans she met through the years at various farmers markets. Currently on the shelves are items from Berlin-based Gracenote Coffee, Quinn Popcorn of Woburn (various flavors of organic microwave popcorn with bags free of chemical coatings and susceptors), Salt Traders in Ipswich, and Sweet Lydia’s of Lowell (gourmet marshmallows and handmade candy bars).
Ultimately, she said of the shop, “we are really a cool foodie destination. And the word is starting to spread. We get people who take a Saturday drive to come out here.”


Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff

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Expanding horizon for Korean cuisine

By Taryn Plumb |  Globe Correspondent
November 17, 2013

Korean restaurants can be a hard sell in suburbia, Jay Chung acknowledges.
The country’s cuisine has not enjoyed the popularity of other Asian fare — such as Chinese, Japanese, or Thai — because often the food and the service are not “Americanized,” he said. The dishes themselves — how to order and how to eat them — can also be perplexing.
So the goal of his family’s restaurant, Sapporo Korean Barbecue and Sushi in Westborough, has been to make their traditional cuisine more accessible for Americans.
“People want to learn more about the food,” said Chung. “The majority of our diners have never tried Korean food elsewhere, but they keep coming back.”
His family came to the United States from Seoul in 1992; almost seven years ago they opened their East Main Street restaurant, with patriarch Moon Chung drawing on his culinary experience to serve as chef.
The town has been both supportive and willing to experiment with an unfamiliar cuisine. “The community aspect of Westborough is great,” said Chung. “It’s very tightknit.”
Korean food is often described as rich and bold, with staple ingredients including garlic, soy beans, red pepper paste, and sesame. Signature dishes include kalbi (beef short ribs) and bulgogi (beef rib eye), which are both marinated in soy sauce.
But perhaps the most well-known Korean dish, Chung said, is dolsot bibimbap , which literally translates to “stone pot” and “mixed rice”. Rice, vegetables — such as bean sprouts, carrots, and mushrooms — and beef topped by a raw egg are served up in a heated stone pot.
“It’s a very spicy Korean dish,” Chung said. “It comes out sizzling, and stays sizzling throughout the meal.”
Of course, Sapporo is also popular for its sushi offerings. Chung said the favored dish has become a bit like fast food in recent years, transformed to suit the Western palate (take, for instance, the introduction of the California roll).
So Sapporo strives to serve up sushi (or nigiri, raw sliced fish atop rice) the traditional way, which, as he described it, takes “someone who knows a lot about fish, a lot about rice, and the preparation, which takes years to learn. A lot of it is the care put into it.”
But the restaurantalso experiments with more creative contemporary offerings, including designer rolls with various ingredients, sauces, flavors, and textures.
For example, its Hawaiian roll, which combines shrimp tempura topped with spicy tuna, shaved mangoes, spicy mayo, and macadamia nuts.
“There’s a lot going on in that one roll,” said Chung. “You take one bite and you get all the flavors.”
Overall, Sapporo’s offerings are a blending of old and new.
“We have a little bit of both — the traditional and more of the modern,” said Chung.

Dina Rudick/Globe Staff

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© 2013 Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC

Yes, you heard right: Cosmetic Acupuncture

Acupuncture offers holistic alternative to Botox

By Taryn Plumb |  Globe Correspondent  

November 14, 2013

Jessica Rinaldi For The Boston Globe

As Lora Lipman entered her 60s, she began to notice not only fine lines around her eyes and lips, but an uneven skin tone she described as somewhat grayish and ashy.
She was reticent to opt for chemical enhancements, or the typically invasive nips, tucks, and pokes of plastic surgery.
So instead, on a recent afternoon, she lay perfectly still on a spa table as dozens of the tiniest of acupuncture needles were gently inserted into the skin of her face and head. It was her fourth week undergoing a cosmetic treatment at the steady hands of Stephanie Kula at the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore in Marblehead.
“Now,” said the 62-year-old from Beverly, “people say ‘Your skin looks so nice, so clear and healthy.’ ”
Cosmetic acupuncture — new to the North Shore JCC but reportedly favored by the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, and Madonna — is on the growing list of natural alternatives to procedures such as face lifts and Botox and collagen injections.
It targets specific points on the face, with the tips of dozens of tiny needles — just as with other acupuncture procedures — placed beneath the skin to stimulate blood flow as well as the production of collagen and elastin. The goal, according to Kula, a licensed acupuncturist, is essentially to “overstimulate” certain areas.
The process can help to fade age spots, improve fine lines, diminish deeper wrinkles, even out and brighten skin tone, reduce jowls, rosacea, and acne, and reduce puffiness, Kula said.
She listed reducing pain, stress, symptoms of depression and anxiety, minimizing hot flashes and night sweats, and improving digestion and sleep cycles as some of the overall holistic benefits of acupuncture.
“It’s an internal and external process, and it works to relax your whole system,” said Kula, who studied the ancient practice at the Academy for Five Element Acupuncture in Gainesville, Fla., and owns the Salem-based North Shore Community Acupuncture. “It’s a way to really take care of yourself. Self-care is something we don’t really do that much of.”
While acknowledging that people can be put off by the very idea of becoming the equivalent of a human pincushion, she said it’s a relatively painless procedure because the needles are thin, less than an inch in length, and akin to a “cat whisker.”
“A lot of people come in with the fear of getting blood drawn,” she said, but having an acupuncture needle inserted is “a sensation you feel for a couple seconds, then it goes away.”
At the JCC in Marblehead, Kula offers what’s known as the Mei Zen method of cosmetic acupuncture, as developed by Denver-based practitioner Martha Lucas. The protocol involves placing 90-plus needles in various points in the face and head; Kula also has incorporated “cupping” into the process, which she says helps to speed up results through the use of suction cups placed and drawn across the skin on the face, neck, and chest to pull up the underlying muscles and tissue and increase blood flow.
She began offering the service at the JCC on Oct. 1. A full run of the procedure is five weeks — twice a week in 60- to 90-minute sessions — with follow-up maintenance once a month after that. Kula charges $150 per session throughout the five-week period, then $85 for follow-ups.
“This is a commitment you make to yourself,” said Lipman, who has been getting general acupuncture treatments for more than 30 years, and reports that they have helped her deal with reflux, sciatica issues, and a sprained ankle. And when the treatment is over, she feels “very relaxed,” she said. “My mind seems clearer. If I have any stress, it’s gone.”
On a recent afternoon, her session began as she lay down on a spa table in a private room, pillows beneath her head and calves. Her long hair was pulled back with a headband, jeans rolled up above the knees.
Kula asked how Lipman was feeling; then, after swabbing each area with antiseptic, she stuck various-sized needles into the tops of Lipman’s feet, around her ankles, below her knees, in her hands, and at her wrists.
Then, she placed a half-dozen smaller needles into the top of her head, and, finally, moved to her face, inserting numerous miniature needles above her eyebrows, on the sides of her nose, around and behind her ears, and tracing her cheekbones, lining her lips, and crowning her chin.
“I feel totally relaxed,” Lipman said as Kula softly pricked her skin. “I really don’t feel most of them. With some, it’s just a little bit of pressure — hardly at all.”
Roughly a half-hour later, Kula carefully removed the tiny implements — Lipman’s skin tinged pink in some areas where they had been applied — then proceeded to place cups on her neckline and face.
“I feel great, wonderful. It’s like having a minivacation,” Lipman reported when it was over.
For more information, go to www.nscaacupuncture.com. 

Jessica Rinaldi For The Boston Globe 

Ways to reduce stress, limit aging

You might try these other natural methods to reduce stress and slow the hands of time:

Facial Acupressure
A massage technique that — similar to acupuncture — targets specific points in the face to stimulate nerves and muscle fibers in an attempt to boost collagen production and diminish wrinkles.

Tapping

Similar to acupressure, but instead uses light fingertip taps to deliver kinetic energy to specific “meridians” on the head and chest.

Reiki
Uses “palm healing” or “hands-on healing” (inset above) techniques to redirect energy in the body.

Vinotherapy
Residue from wine-making process is used to exfoliate the skin and help reduce various issues related to aging. Encompasses various rubs, scrubs, and even wine baths.

Original story link.

© 2013 Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC

Removing the veil

Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography from Iran 

Taryn Plumb

University of Southern Maine Art Galleries

Area Gallery, Portland Campus
35 Bedford Street
Portland, Maine

Gorham Campus Center 37 College Avenue
Gorham, Maine

Through December 8 


A figure clothed in black paces back and forth in shin-deep snow, fruitlessly seeking protection under a flimsy umbrella.
Others pass this way and that, daring the elements. Our figure continues to wait — as do we — and the snow continues to fall, relentless, whipping and whirling in barren streets smothered in white. All we hear is the endless, eerie howling of the harsh wind.  
This several-minute-long video, “The White Station,” shot by Seifollah Samadian from the vantage point of an overlooking window, offers a completely unexpected view of Iran.
“Persian Visions” is the first contemporary Iranian photography to be displayed in the U.S., offering a view from insideout — rather than outside-in, such as Gilles Peress’ acclaimed “Telex Iran” — of a country considered by many in the west as once grand and opulent, now conflicted, exotic, foreign. Through its range of stark, abstract, cerebral and bold images, it strives to dispel these perceptions by presenting universal sensibilities while also offering commentary on modern life in a country with origins dating back 4,800 years.
For instance, take Esmail Abbasi’s “Generous Butcher,” which juxtaposes an antique-colored illustration of a classic Muslim story with a black-and-white close-up of a pencil snapped in half. As the story goes, a butcher sells tainted meats, then breaks his arm, only to have it healed by Imam Ali, a close relative of prophet Muhammad. The images side-by-side create a metaphor for freedom of expression in modern Iran, questioning who could restore it, and how.
Sadegh Tirafkan’s “Persepolis” also wrestles with the country’s tortured identity. Set against the ruins of the oncegreat capital of the ancient Achaemenid Empire, a man walks one way and back again across two screens. In both, all we hear is the incessant crunch of shoes on gravel. 
Sandwiched between the screens, two still photos show the same man standing still against the backdrop of the ruins, passers-by moving in a blur. Persepolis is a World Heritage Site and a major tourist attraction, and the artist implies that Iran’s identity is forever linked with the grandeur of its past.
 
Read the entire article in our magazine pages... 

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The time of Bread and Roses

FASANELLA’S LAWRENCE, A LABOR OF LOVE 

Taryn Plumb

Lawrence Heritage State Park Gallery 
1 Jackson Street
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Through December 16 

It seems only fitting that Ralph Fasanella was born on Labor Day. After all, the self-taught painter born to Italian immigrants dedicated his life to America’s working men and women. One of his many subjects was the city of Lawrence, which once hummed with working mills and was the site of the now-famous 1912 Bread and Roses strike.

During his many visits to the city in the 1970s, he crafted sketches of mill life and machinery that would form the basis for the large, colorful, richly detailed paintings that eventually made him famous (especially among the common man). With the 100th anniversary of his birthday approaching, many of his pieces have “come home,” so to speak, in an exhibit on display through Dec. 16 at the Lawrence Heritage State Park Gallery. 

Titled simply “Fasanella’s Lawrence,” the show features more than a halfdozen of his paintings and working drawings of machinery, as well as photographic prints of his paintings that were stolen over the years. The Lawrence show is a preface, of sorts, to other national exhibitions forthcoming, most notably “Ralph Fasanella: Lest We Forget,” from May 2 to Aug. 3, 2014, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 

Born in New York in 1914, Fasanella’s dedication to the working man’s cause was initially shaped by his parents — he would often accompany his father on his ice delivery route, and he also spent time with his activist mother as she fought for trade unions and against fascism, according to his 1997 obituary in the New York Times. 

Later, during the Great Depression, he worked as a truck driver and in garment factories; after serving in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to support the Second Spanish Republic, he became highly involved in labor unions in the United States.  

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