Saturday, September 5, 2015
Sunday, March 1, 2015
5 Ways to Make Your Backpack Lighter
As a highschooler I witness and experience everyday, the pains of mine, and other's, massive backpacks. It is an epidemic. Now this does not apply to everyone, for there are those who go with the "well I will just find a way to stuff it all in this stylish purse" attempt, or there are the one's who just magically don't have an incredible amount of stuff to lug around like I do. By the end of the day, coming home from the Upper West Side to Brooklyn, I will be carrying not only five notebooks, six folders, a couple of books and a couple of binders, but dance shoes, voice music, scripts and sometimes even a whole textbook! So what can one do to cure this epidemic of strain on poor teenager's back's? Well, here are some ideas:
1. Condense several subjects into only one notebook.
Why carry around all the extra paper? You would be surprised how much weight blank paper can add up to. Use cute markings and flags to seperate subjects and voila! This is a very organized way to lighten up the load and in the end saves you money because there is less of a chance notebooks will end up only being half used when you are finished.
2. Create a central small pouch or purse to store the most important items.
Now this is mainly an organizational tip but it can help you rethink what you really need in your backpack at all times. You can pick either a really small pouch or a large one, depending on your needs. I personally have a large Sportsac zipper pouch that I use to put my keys in, my phone, wallet and other essentials. This also helps me know exactly where everything is when I need it.
3. Get rid of the extra pencils.
Now this is a great idea if you are like me. I LOVE cool pencils and pens and always think I need every single one at school with me all the time. But the truth is, I don't. Pencils and pens can add up to a lot of weight and you really only need a couple basics with you per day. I recommend limiting yourself to two mechanical pencils, one non mechanical, one blue pen, one black pen, one other color pen and two different colored highlighters. This is really all you need! I know, it's hard believe!
4. Empty it out!
Now not all teachers may be okay with this idea, so check with your teachers first, but I find that it is a great saver of weight to empty out loose sheets/ handouts every two weeks. Usually, for my teachers, sheets from more than two weeks ago are not going to be used again, unless you are studying for an exam or the teacher specifies other wise. Another way to do this is empty out your folders every time you have a test. This is especially great for someone who, in their classes, always starts a new unit after each test.
5. What type of binder do you use?
Now there are many types of binders out there but some are a lot lighter than others! The brand that is very popular right now is the Staples Better View Binders, the one's with hard covers. These however are very heavy due to the super sturdiness of the front and back. Now these do hold up pretty well but is that really worth killing your back? I recommend the kind that have thin plastic flexible fronts and backs. Most of them will last a school year and they are much lighter.
Hope these ideas are helpful and will help you lighten the load on your back!
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| flowersandgardeners.com |
1. Condense several subjects into only one notebook.
Why carry around all the extra paper? You would be surprised how much weight blank paper can add up to. Use cute markings and flags to seperate subjects and voila! This is a very organized way to lighten up the load and in the end saves you money because there is less of a chance notebooks will end up only being half used when you are finished.
2. Create a central small pouch or purse to store the most important items.
Now this is mainly an organizational tip but it can help you rethink what you really need in your backpack at all times. You can pick either a really small pouch or a large one, depending on your needs. I personally have a large Sportsac zipper pouch that I use to put my keys in, my phone, wallet and other essentials. This also helps me know exactly where everything is when I need it.
3. Get rid of the extra pencils.
Now this is a great idea if you are like me. I LOVE cool pencils and pens and always think I need every single one at school with me all the time. But the truth is, I don't. Pencils and pens can add up to a lot of weight and you really only need a couple basics with you per day. I recommend limiting yourself to two mechanical pencils, one non mechanical, one blue pen, one black pen, one other color pen and two different colored highlighters. This is really all you need! I know, it's hard believe!
4. Empty it out!
Now not all teachers may be okay with this idea, so check with your teachers first, but I find that it is a great saver of weight to empty out loose sheets/ handouts every two weeks. Usually, for my teachers, sheets from more than two weeks ago are not going to be used again, unless you are studying for an exam or the teacher specifies other wise. Another way to do this is empty out your folders every time you have a test. This is especially great for someone who, in their classes, always starts a new unit after each test.
5. What type of binder do you use?
Now there are many types of binders out there but some are a lot lighter than others! The brand that is very popular right now is the Staples Better View Binders, the one's with hard covers. These however are very heavy due to the super sturdiness of the front and back. Now these do hold up pretty well but is that really worth killing your back? I recommend the kind that have thin plastic flexible fronts and backs. Most of them will last a school year and they are much lighter.
Hope these ideas are helpful and will help you lighten the load on your back!
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Bruschetta; Life is Good with a Little Baguette and Basil
Today I made a very quick and easy recipe with my friends. It is called Bruschetta. It is a fabulous appetizer and snack that, in my opinion, combines some of the most delicious ingredients together into a bitesize piece of amazingness!
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
- One Large Baguette (or really any crunchy on outside, soft in middle bread)
- Cherry tomatoes
- Chopped Basil and Full Leaf (for garnish)
- Butter (or ghee, which is clarified butter and is considered a dairy substitute)
- Parmigiana cheese
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Finely Diced Garlic
- First cut the Baguette into slices at a slight diagonal angle, so to make even slices.
- Then melt a little bit of butter in a pan/skillet and tilt to spread.
- Take each slice of bread and gently dip in olive oil and then place in pan.
- Let the bread get nice and toasty and make sure it is not soggy then flip to other side.
- Chop the cherry tomatoes into either quarters or halves and put in bowl.
- Drizzle a little olive oil into the bowl and coat tomatoes.
- Then add the finely chopped garlic to the bowl and mix.
- Then add the chopped basil and repeat again. Then add salt and pepper to your liking.
- Next coat every nicely toasted piece of baguette with the tomatoes, garlic and basil.
- Then to finish it off shave Parmigiana cheese on top and some basil leaves, for garnish!
And VOILA!
Enjoy!
Side Show; A Musical Treasure to Be Remembered
There is no other show anything like what Side Show was, on Broadway right now. It is a fantastic show that tells the true, heartbreaking story of how two conjoined twins, Daisy and Violet Hilton, rise from sideshow performers to one of the top Vaudevillian acts of that time. The show had amazing production qualities, very talented actors in the cast, and an A- list production team. So why did it have an early closing on January 4th? There are several reasons.
First, the St. James Theater, where the show was playing, has been looking for a profitable, hit show to come through its doors for a while. Darren Bagert, one of the producers of Side Show, stated; “We were persuaded to post a notice prematurely, in the middle of a holiday season ticket upswing,” noting that box office sales had recently improved slightly. “If there weren’t another show clawing at the door, I think we’d still be at the theater,” (The New York Times). It is quite sad this wonderful show could not contend with the deadly combination of slow but steady ticket sales and another show ready to take the stage.
Secondly, it also could have been that the hard subject matter- conjoined twins and other “freaks”- was not appealing to tourists and theater goers. In the New York Times article the show’s creative supervisor Jack Tantleff talked about how “When it comes to musicals, if the perception — not the reality, but the perception — is that this will be challenging for me to sit through, it seems to hugely affect ticket sales, [1]” Bagert also related the show to the box office difficulties of “The Scottsboro Boys” (which dealt with racism) and “Parade” (anti-Semitism). As he points out, the data from all three musicals show a turn off for theater goers when it comes to the perception that the subject matter is too difficult to sit through. When I saw the show on Friday night the whole orchestra was filled, though it seemed a good portion of the audience consisted of theater “geeks” who might have had the chance to see the original production in 1997. Those who did see that production however would of been surprised to see that the show has been changed drastically since the original production. This change could be a possible third reason the show might of needed to close early. The changes were made in order to rework the musical under the leadership of the new director Bill Condon, a successful film director known for the movie Dreamgirls (2006). It was through Dreamgirls that Condon met composer Henry Krieger, who did the music for Dreamgirls and Side Show. According to the writers at least 60 percent of the material in the show was changed. According to most reviews these changes were overall a beneficial thing but some of the people who saw the original production might not have wanted to see the new production because of the changes. The president of Jujamcyn, the landlord of the St. James theater, Jordan Roth, said in a statement to the New York Times; “It’s heartbreaking that despite the magnificence of this production and its rave reviews, that sales were not definitive.” And he is right.
I thought it was definitely a show that deserved more than what it has received. First of all, the two leads, Emily Padgett (Daisy) and Erin Davie (Violet), were no less than extraordinary. Their emotional power and connection to one another on stage was incredible. They made you fight for them the whole show, wanting them to find happiness and acceptance in the world. The plot is based on the true lives of the twins, who were born in 1908 and died in 1969. It is a very emotional story and contains many symbolic themes that make you leave with a full heart and compassion, something that many shows on Broadway fail to do. Also the production qualities of the show were magical, with amazing lighting design (Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer) and some really beautiful songs such as the second act ballad “I Will Never Leave You.” (Henry Krieger and Bill Russell). Overall, it was a fantastic production and Broadway has lost a true gem of musical theater.
“Something Rotten”, a new musical comedy, is reported to show at the St. James theater next. ♫
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[1] quote and resource taken from New York Times article; “Theater Owner Pushes ‘Side Show’ to Close” By Patrick Healy, published Dec. 12, 2014.
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