free shoes anyone

you have to be a girl first.

my friend katie works for ryka. she is was awesome during the mason deal to hook them up with some shoes. they are doing a shoe giveaway this fall to get people into their product line. all the stuff i have had from them is super good quality and i LOVE their shirts.

she sent the following to some friends

My company, maker of women's athletic shoes and apparel, will be giving away 50 pairs of shoes and 50 performance fit tee-shirts EVERY DAY for 50 days starting tomorrow. We have two running shoes and a walking shoe to choose from.

You can only enter once but you get entered again for every friend you refer who signs up too.

click here to sign up: http://ryka.com/goodforyoursole/

terracyle on NPR

the story finally hit the airways!

you can find it here:

Fertilizer Giant Scotts Sues for False Advertising

by Dianna Douglas

Morning Edition, September 4, 2007 · Fertilizer giant Scotts sues TerraCycle, a small company in New Jersey, for false advertising that sells fertilizers made from worm droppings. Farmers and gardeners have long used worm droppings but now they're sold by mass marketers alongside chemical fertilizers.

Dr. Bronner's 18-in-1 Pure-Castile Soap, Hemp Peppermint

i decided that i was going to do product reviews, hopefully once a week. it will probably not happen that consistantly. but there are some many things that i have/use that make my life better that i decided i would share them i feel kinda materialistic, though i think i already started with the "can-o-worms". i still love that contraption.

so the first official product review of l'année de l'amusement is of Dr. Bronner's 18-in-1 Pure-Castile Soap, Hemp Peppermint.
i love the peppermint soap. it is so minty and clean feeling. though i am not sure it can live up to the claim that it will wash away dirt and sin, you are really clean afterward.

in the heat of the summer washing with this is better than walking into an ice box. the mint oils stays on your body and leaves a delicious cool. after working out, i shower with it and not only do i smell great but i get a little mint muscle massage. it is kinda tricky to use when it is cold, because it can make you feel even colder. so i usually switch soaps when it is really cold.

it is all natural and organic. and easily biodegradable and from sustainable ingredients. you feel like a champion of the environment when you use it. and it makes an AMAZING bath! i put a couple of squirts in my baths and just relax and reinvigorate. it is awesome.

some friends have used it to clean clothes, i haven't tried it yet, but i am thinking i might have to.

just take care using it...it can make some parts of your body extra tingly. ZING!!

also awesome, is that dr. bronner is kinda crazy. this is the label to the soap:
if you click on this it should open a window and you can read all about this man's crazy rantings. while writing this post is that i learned that there is a new documentary out about dr. bronner. here is a link to the trailer. it will be showing at the jewish film festival in december here is dc, so i am going to have to go see this... let me know if you want to join me. apparently he escaped an insane assylum and then started the company. he was more concerned with uniting the universe than anything.

npr's weekend edition did a story on him in july.

Weekend Edition Sunday, July 8, 2007 · Robert Smith speaks with Sara Lamm, director of the new documentary film Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox. Emmanuel Bronner, a chemist, escaped from a mental institution and developed his own brand of peppermint soap that has a variety of uses. He also covered the label with religious and philosophical sayings. Dr. Bronner's son Ralph also joins the conversation to discuss his father's mission and life work.

if you have never tried this soap, you should. you will LOVE it. i almost got a bottle for everyone for christmas because i knew, in the end they would love that gift most.

Dr. Bronner's 18-in-1 Pure-Castile Soap, Hemp Peppermint receives a l'année de l'amusement 10 score. based on the efficacy and style of the product, the eco-friendliness of the company, and they get a couple extra points for being so interesting. there is nothing like this stuff.

muslims in america

today i visited the UMMA clinic. UMMA stands for university muslim medical association. UMMA started with a group of muslim med students who wanted to do something to help the community after the riots in the early 90's. the video below tells their story. it almost made me a muslim!





Islam teaches its followers to serve and give. it is inclusive and compassionate. i am so happy to see an organization who can demonstrate a different view of muslims in america. their story is compelling. i hope you enjoy this video! if you double click on the video it will open up into youtube and then you can read the comments. the comments are from around the world and SUPER interesting...

skid marks

i spent the day today on skidrow. thankfully it was for work and i didn't just end up there. though sometimes i am not so sure how far away from skidrow any of us are.

if you turn your head to the side you can see the L.A. Mission Health Center

elizabeth and mike and i are here to see more community health centers and get a feel for what we can do to increase american's access to health care. (i don't know why this photo is sideways like this)

this is the view from the roof of the the LA mission's roof to the east

this is what it looks like to the west
little tokyo lofts are on sell
they advertise that:
it's 12 miles from beverly hills
it's a million miles from beverly hills
they don't advertise that:
its 3 blocks from skidrow
but ignoring it like it is a million miles from skid row
with prices starting in the $300,000s.

here is the crew
the usual and herb and susan

mike is directing

he is looking down at this
the skidrow
please note the photos on the wall.

this doesn't capture all the activity that is buzzing around this center.
they provide overnight beds to 180 men each night
and about 50 beds for women
then they have residential programs that help get people out of poverty
about 200 men at anyone time
and about 80 women
and they are only scatching the surface

here are the people on skidrow
today i saw men smoking crack and shooting heron
one of the guys in this photo did it right in front of me
apparently there aren't as many people on "heroine road"
as there was a couple of weeks ago
the police were hanging out for a good long time and people left
but the professionals say, they are on their way back
the federal funded health center provides all sorts of primary care
they find tb, syphilis, and aids at 2 and 4xs the national average
people like to think it is a totally different world
but it is not
we are in the same world
blocks apart
they are americans
skidrow feels different than a thirdworld shantytown
because it isn't so distant.

we are at a VOA site where they are doing primary health care visits
this guy was once a "student" in the la mission
he is clean and now a health outreach worker

after work i hooked up with robin of the cheryl and diane family
we ate at this awesome japanese place that just opened called takami

this is the view from where we sat
it was even cooler because we got to see the sun set.
or at least the affects of the sun setting

here is robin on our way back to my hotel so she could hurry and get packed for some
crazy travel and work
thanks for hanging out tonight robin!
also, check out that moon!!!!

something about work

so i thought i would just say a bit about work. as you probably know, i currently serve as the associate director for health in the center for faith-based and community initiatives at HHS. i split my time between domestic and international public health. my goal is to engage faith- and community-based organizations in all sorts of public health ways. religious leaders hold all sorts of clout in their communities and often can motivate behaviour change. i like to use this example: the surgeon general and the secretary of health and human services have been telling americans for about 5 years that they need to exercise for at least 20 minutes 5 days a week. not much has happened. but now imagine that your bishop, priest, imam, President Hinckley, the Pope, (whatever your flavor is) told you to do the same. i can tell you right now that if President Hinckley told the mormons to start exercising, there would be a LOT more exercising and lots of fat, middle-aged mormons would lose weight.

and what is cool about motivating religious leaders to do something for public health is that it is cheap. we, the taxpayers, get alot of bang for our buck. so this type of stuff goes on all over.

in memphis we were visiting community health centers. we saw christ community heath center and memphis health center. they are in different stages of organizational development, but it is always nice to see there are people geniunely concerned for the nation's poor and working hard to help people. it is inspiring. these centers are in rough neighborhoods and help homeless, uninsured, and working poor americans. it feels good to feel like we might be able to help them (and i think we can). you might ask how. well, it is mostly by liaising. the biggest barrier for people getting help from the federal government seems to be knowing where to go for help. i think i know where to point these folks, and i think that may turn into benefit for their communities. super exciting.

here are some photos:

this was just too awesome not to capture on film
a scene from the front doors of the memphis health center
not associated with the sign
please note the credit store in the back
it really troubles me that the poorer the area is, the more of these stores exist
i just think there is something sinister about making money on people's poverty

this is the building next to the memphis health center
this area is kinda like a ghost town
everything is boarded and closed
but that one store is for rent if you are interested

on our way to the airport we had about an hour to kill so we decided to stop by graceland
it was $25/person to get in so we didn't go inside
but man that place is a trip!
the demographic of visitors is like nothing i had ever seen
except when i went there with mandy and julie

this is what i look like at the airport coming home
dianna picked me up with my bike and cycling clothes,

so i went straight from the flight to an hour-long bikeride.

30 post landing
i eventually took the necklace off
we rode for an hour

dianna stopped to pee in the woods and got poison ivy on her right butt cheek.
then we ate delicious sushi at sushi taro--

thank heavens my barbequed pork sandwich days are over!

voila Foux De Fa Fa by Flight of the Conchords

my friend katie had this on her blog and it is way to awesome not to share!