Salubrious Life

Natural Health Magazine

Natural Health
by Rachel Lehmann-Haupt, Friday, December 2, 2005

WINTER IS LOOMING, AND Natural Health immediately caught my eye on the supermarket magazine rack with its "Winter Wellness Guide." A smiling model in a hot pink hat and scarf jumps off the page and makes those grueling months look like a downright party. "Wellness," a holistic approach to taking care of your mind and body, used to be a style of living only found in hippie health food stores, but is now striking chords with a mainstream audience: the magazine was sitting right between an US Weekly and a Cosmo.

While I'm all for a natural health approach, a flip through the front of the book was an immediate turn-off. It opens with a cheesy photo of a winter night accompanied with the caption "Footprints in the Snow" and a hokey "deep thought" from the author of a book called Invisible Acts of Power: Personal Choices That Create Miracles. Ugh.

The magazine succeeds on a practical level, however, with an easy-to-read layout that uses lots charts. The front of the book is mostly a product play reviewing everything from types of brown rice to natural beauty treatments that use figs and olives. I was happy to see that the editors are not vegetarian snobs like so many healthy living gurus, and there is a good article called the "the eco-conscious carnivore," that explains the healthiest cuts of meats and the meaning of different meat labels like "organic," "certified humane," and "natural." The Good Medicine section offers "an integrative approach to total well-being," which combines advice on drugs, natural therapies, and lifestyle changes.

And then there is "The Winter Wellness Guide," which is what made me buy the magazine in the first place. Despite the annoyingly cheery models, which make the winter look just a bit too cozy, I like the advice and the quirky illustrations that accompany each digestible paragraph. The advice includes everything from eating more dark chocolate, (helps to lift your spirits if you have Seasonal Affective Disorder) to wearing more bright colors (no wonder the cover caught my eye) to adding more ginger root and garlic to your food in order to boost your immune system, as well as rubbing yourself down with black spruce oil after a shower in order to protect yourself from bacterial infections.

While the magazine doesn't focus a lot on new studies or in-depth reporting, the advisory board of holistic and traditional medical experts whose quotes are scattered throughout the book gives it enough credibility that you feel like you're not just being sold a trendy lifestyle, but real advice.

Rachel Lehmann-Haupt is a contributing writer to Media Post.

Tango Magazine

THE PREMIERE ISSUE of Tango Magazine launches this month.  Tango, a magazine about relationships will try to stand alone as a read with a sole focus on the most fundamental part of life - our relationships.

Tango's hope is to steer clear of  fashion, hair and clothes and make-up and focus on how to get, keep and stoke the fires of love.   Can they do it?   Will advertisers flock to editorial that has no direct link to selling  things they make??

A male writer pens a piece about how men feel when their girlfriends move in and redecorate their cave. A money column focuses on the pros and con of separate bank accounts, there is a piece about sharing the remote, and Dr. Pepper Schwartz explains the psychology of the quickie. Snooze.

The editors do manage to get some marquee writers into the pages of this launch. They include a sweet piece by Gail Sheehy on her media marriage (her husband is editor and publisher Clay Felker, who founded New York magazine), and a well-reported piece by Leslie Bennetts on "The New Stay At Home Momism," which she argues is not smart because of the divorce rate. "Even when our parents stayed married, it was painfully apparent that many mothers were frustrated by a domestic life that didn't provide them with an independent identity or the manifold satisfactions offered by a career." I agree with this statement about the new generation of postfeminist stay-at-home moms, but what she neglects to discuss is that many of these women choose this life so that domestic work is given more value by the greater society.

Well see.........but I predict this mag will turn just like all female skewed mags before it toward what sells........clothes, make-up, hair and ..........sex.

Spirituality & Health

GRANTED I AM MORE INCLINED than some to notice health, wellness and spirituality magazines on the shelf, but I do notice a surfeit of them lately.

I do not often get my information from a monthly as I prefer to be fed by RSS and search for what I need on-line.  Still, I am in the minority as part of my work surrounds the topic.  I took a browse through the October issue of Spirituality & Health, because it's one publication I've not really taken the time to look at.

The warrior pose on the cover was pretty and the article titled "Calling on the Power of Women"  was all I'd need to read in order to tell a whole lot about this publication.

To my way of thinking, the entire category of health, wellness and spirituality needs to move from a feminist, crunchy and let's be honest.....intimidating feel to a more mainstream and welcoming one.  And so I tucked into the article.

YIIIPES! I'm ready to burn my bra and do a million woman march.  This article channels all the pro-women personalities that make me wretch.  We do ourselves a dis-service when we become uppity and over-zealous.  Do women have the ability to be superior negotiators?  Hell yes, and I've proven that myself around a board room table.  Should more women be heard on the world stage?  - of course, as a complement to the male perspective - providing the empathy and compassion sometimes missing from the linear male mind.   

They had me, then they lost me.  Don't rant women.....men turn a deaf ear.  Instead of yet again defining the inequities facing women of the world, talk about how we women can step up and take that power position. Be instructive and constructive about the solutions.

Add to that the the suggestions for inclusion in an "alternative" first-aid kit, such as homeopathic remedies and prayer/poetry snippets and now I'm sort of smirking.   "Oh hey....Jimmie's gotten into the entire box of moth balls again, hand me the corn meal salve and a Yanni tune"

I think when it comes to spirituality, a mass magazine won't satisfy.  So deeply personal and individual an area will never be something one can turn to a monthly to nourish oneself with.  At least in my humble opinion.

I am sure the magazine will appeal to some and there were some nuggets I enjoyed but all in all, I give Spirituality & Health a pass.

The Company We Keep

Socially responsible investments have grown exceptionally in the same year that "moral values" determined a presidential election. So why has business been so slow to catch on? In a new book, The Company We Keep, small business owner and entrepreneur John Abrams makes a case for a return to workplace values, and shows how we can ultimately profit by them.

The Company we Keep is more than the success story of a revolutionary company. It sets down a framework for a model of employee ownership and community involvement that has piqued the interest of entrepreneurs around the country. In the words of Abrams, "This is a book about a different way of doing business in today's world-a way based on workplace democracy, shared ownership, staying small, building community, commitment to a place, and long term thinking."

John Abrams founded the South Mountain Company, a design and building firm, on Martha's Vineyard more than thirty years ago. Through a commitment to place and community entrepreneurship, he has seen the company grow and prosper, while at the same time experimenting with a revolutionary employee ownership model that has challenged the traditional business rhetoric of unchecked growth.

There is a revolution going on in corporate America, and social entrepreneurship is leading the way. Rejecting the myth that short-term profits are the only indicator of business health and wealth, John Abrams shows how building a company to serve the needs of people (employees and owners), community, and the environment can be a successful business plan as well. Part entrepreneurial business plan, part guide to democratizing the workplace, and part prescription for strong local economies, TheCompany We Keep marks the debut of an important new voice in the literature of American business.

For more information click here.

O Magazine

THERE IS LITTLE ABOUT the Oprah Winfrey media empire that I don't find inordinately entertaining. The emphatic you-go-girl banter, the free Pontiacs, the Oprah-goes-to-an-impoverished-place-and-hugs-children-and-delivers-ponchos-and-we-all-feel-good-about-humanity-for-18-brief-seconds segments. She acts. She diets. She runs marathons faster than I do. There is no mountain she can't climb (and, of course, subsequently document for a prime-time spectacularo featuring fellow human cash register Dr. Phil).

Her magazine, however, seems to have taken her worshipful and easily led audience for granted. O, The Oprah Magazine celebrates the obvious in the most obviously obvious way possible. The publication relies on the tried and true--as well it should, given the brand's beyond-reproach status--meaning that we're treated to recipes and book lists and what I'll elegantly describe as "a really big photograph of Idaho." But while that might be a smart business decision, it doesn't exactly make for scintillating reading. A seven-page interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour and Oprah doesn't deign to ask about the dreeeaaaammmy Anderson Cooper? What is this, U.S. News & World Report?

Any issue of O, The Oprah Magazine necessarily begins with the Oprah-tastic cover photo. Can you imagine some of the conversations that go on in the mag's art department? "No, we've already used Oprah being fitted for opera glasses and Oprah behind the wheel of the General Lee. How about Oprah wearing a beret while fly-fishing in the Ozarks with the two surviving Baldwin brothers?" This month, the cover theme might best be described as "Oprah, smiling, touching her chin." Man, that augurs bad things--BAD THINGS--for the pages that follow.

Or not. The September issue is as airy and eminently browsable as any magazine on the rack today. You get meticulously tailored items on successful women business owners, a few polite giggles in Martha Beck's "Why Can't Life Be Like TiVo?" exegesis, and a foldout calendar featuring a horrifying depiction of three pterodactyls ripping apart a young child limb by limb (okay, it's only a garden scene--just checking whether you were paying attention). There are style tips and advice columns aplenty, plus raves for jeans with apples embroidered on the ass and so-called "creamware" that "makes everyday meals feel sweeter." I hear you loud and clear, dude.

My disdain for simplemindedness aside, I recognize why O, The Oprah Magazine has resonated with readers. Tonally, it eschews the negative--most people likely get enough of that in their day-to-day lives, thank you very much--and design-wise, it presents every morsel of information colorfully and with a distinctly modern feel. Just look at the densely packed "Shopping for Fall" and "Getting Dressed" fashion spreads: shopping-only mags could learn a lot from their spare elegance.

But for me, all this ain't enough. Through her book club, Oprah could convince the nation to devour Carrot Top's "Red on the Outside, Blue on the Inside" as if it were something out of the Richard Russo canon. Fortunately, she uses her gargantuan influence mostly for good, turning slack-jawed TV devotees onto essential fare like "Their Eyes Were Watching God." Yet despite her treacly opening and closing notes and her "O List" of recommendations, Oprah doesn't seem inclined to similarly throw her weight around on behalf of the mag that bears her name.

Somebody--either Goethe or Spider-Man's step-grampa--once said: "With great power comes great responsibility." And as witnessed by her book club and her astonishing charitable outreach, Oprah knows how to wield the baton. That sense of direction and purpose, however, is absent in the September issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. Too bad--she's got the grandest pulpit in the history of mass media, and she's missing an opportunity to raise the bar.

Larry Dobrow is a Contributing Writer.

Note from SalubriousLife:  I could not have said any of this better - hence direct cut and paste from Media's - Larry Dobrow

Jelaluddin Rumi - One Song

One Song, A New Illuminated Rumi

09/15/2005

Source: LOHAS Weekly Newsletter

Author: Running Press

The extensive body of work by 13th-century mystic poet Jelaluddin Rumi continues to fascinate readers with a taste for the spiritual, and his writings, which speak passionately of truth, enlightenment, and love for God, appeal to those of all religions. Translations of Rumi’s writings by the contemporary poet Coleman Barks have sold more than 500,000 copies since 1981. Now acclaimed illustrator Michael Green -- who collaborated with Barks on The Illuminated Rumi -- has produced a new and fabulous mystic fusion of sacred poetry and art. This all-new volume features rare poems of Rumi, some of which have never before been translated. There are many collections of Rumi’s poetry, but few are illustrated-and none as gorgeously as this full-color book. It is well positioned to capture the favor of spiritual seekers of all ages, including today’s spiritually adventurous young adults.

For more details on the book click here.

The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift

09/09/2005 Source: LOHAS Weekly Newsletter Sustainability has become a buzzword in the last decade, but its full meaning is complex, emerging from a range of different sectors. In practice, it has become the springboard for millions of individuals throughout the world who are forging the fastest and most profound social transformation of our time - the Sustainability Revolution. The Sustainability Revolution paints a picture of this largely unrecognized phenomenon from the point of view of five major sectors of society: Community (government and international institutions) Commerce (business) Natural Resources (forestry, farming, fisheries, etc.) Ecological Design (architecture, technology) Biosphere (conservation, biodiversity, etc.). The book analyses sustainability as defined by each of these sectors in terms of the principles, declarations and intentions that have emerged from conferences and publications, and which serve as guidelines for policy decisions and future activities. Common themes are then explored, including: an emphasis on stewardship the need for economic restructuring promoting no waste and equitable distribution an understanding and respect for the principles of nature the restoration of life forms, and an intergenerational perspective on solutions. Concluding that these themes in turn represent a new set of values that define this paradigm shift, The Sustainability Revolution describes innovative sustainable projects and policies in Colombia, Brazil, India and the Netherlands and examines future trends. Complete with a useful resources list, this is the first book of its kind and will appeal to business and government policy makers, academics, and all interested in sustainability. For more information and to purchase the book click here. Andres R. Edwards is an educator, author, media designer and environmental systems consultant who has specialized in sustainability topics for the past 15 years. The founder and president of EduTracks, an exhibit design and fabrication firm specializing in green building and sustainable education programs for parks, towns and companies, he lives in northern California.

Men's Vogue

IT WAS ONLY A matter of time before the Metrosexuals got their bible. Cargo hasn't been cutting it, and too many women read GQ and Esquire at this point to really call them men's magazines. So it makes sense that the fashion elitists at Vogue got the job to service the Metrosexual elite (think $120K cars, million-dollar watches, and 30K cell phones, $600 shoes).

The premiere issue of Men's Vogue, edited by Jay Fielden, a former Vogue editor, is well done, and it definitely hits the more masculine side of the fancy boy trend--although it basically covers the same departments as its sister pub: fashion, beauty, art, food, design, and rich people.

In usual Vogue style, it pairs New York's top writers with the best brands and topics that are out of the usual range of the regular Joe. The departments include a culture section called "Critics" that covers elite wines, theater (Nathan Lane's "Odd Couple" is reviewed), art, movies, books (war correspondents on Iraq), and food (Jeffrey Steingarten writes about his love affair with a prosciutto slicer). The fashion section, called "Threads," is no surprise: expensive watches, bespoke suit tailors, and Marina Rust on how to buy jewelry for a woman.

Like its sister publication, Men's Vogue offers articles that are easily skimmable, and the photography is gorgeous. The beauty section is called "Regimen," and includes a story about a new face scanner that tells a man how much sun damage he has, and product advice from New York's most chic pharmacist.

I've never been a reader of Vogue features. Not that they aren't well-written or about interesting subjects. It's just that the photography always steals the spotlight, and when you're in fashion-skimming mode, it's hard to get into New Yorker reading mode, even if some of the writers are on staff at The New Yorker. So, despite interesting topics such as a story about an ancient tribe that survived the Tsunami, a story about the art of raising Chinese crickets, and a profile of cover star George Clooney, I was as usual much more taken in by Irving Penn's cricket up close, the spread of fashionable couples, and the inside of Nathaniel Rothschild's West Village loft. Men's Vogue does its job--except I have to say that I really missed the horoscopes. Come on, boys--we know you read them!

by Rachel Lehmann-Haupt, Friday, September 9, 2005 , Media Post

body + soul

Body + Soul

MARTHA HEAL THYSELF!!!!!!!!! Now that Ms. Stewart is out of jail (and almost completely free) her media empire,  MSO (Martha Stewart Omnimedia) is pushing a new addition to its stable -  Body + Soul magazine.

No longer advocating being the perfect hostess, prepping the perfect evening complete with perfectly set table (preferably with all dishes handmade perfectly by you) The new age MSO wants to teach us how to be perfectly "whole".   And yes......that happens to be their tag line - "whole living".  Not unique or even imaginative and not in the least resembling any perception I hold of Ms. Stewart or her organization.

And unless you've been hiding in some remote location, you will know that this is a time when whole foods, yoga, and wellness have gone mainstream.  So whether or not Ms. Stewart herself buys into the whole living concept, it is the perfect ad play. 

Begrudgingly I will admit that Body + Soul is a functionally good read.  Some pretty unimaginative headlines on the August issue such as "Relax! Go with the Slow,"  and "Take Yoga off the Mat" try to draw readers in.  Still, the articles are well written, filled with facts, tips and useable ideas.

With an increasing number of titles on the market attempting to fill this space, time will tell if Body + Soul is able to carve out its own audience.   I for one will not be subscribing.  Sadly,  I can't get over the association with Martha Stewart to buy into Body + Soul as a credible read.

Dwell Magazine

DWELL IS EXACTLY THE kind of design magazine I want. It combines quirky stories, a little high-brow architecture, modern design product reviews, and low-cost, do-it-yourself ideas. The magazine launched in 2000, just before the onslaught of mass-market décor books hit.

While refurbishing her home in Mill Valley, Calif., Lara Hedberg Deam, the editor in chief, decided that she didn't have a magazine to articulate the voice of her design style. So this direct marketing heiress decided to invest her money in a 225,000-count direct marketing test to see if her particular tastes existed in a larger psychographic. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and now Dwell magazine has defined a new modernist vision that combines the simplicity of functional design and the clean lines of modern architecture.

What makes Dwell an enjoyable read is its strong point of view. The magazine defines a warm and accessible modernism, and offers personal stories that are about real people's homes. The July/August issue, which features modern waterfront homes, has a cover shot of a couple standing on a dock looking over a crisp, cold lake. It is clean and inviting, and this summer vibe holds throughout the book, offering cooling stories about pool houses and a gorgeous feature well about waterfront homes from Hawaii to Wisconsin.

The front of the book offers a cleanly designed presentation of useful new home design products (i.e., blenders for summer fruit drinks), a good roundup of new buildings, and design and architecture books. One of the most surprising aspects of this book is that the writing, even in the product descriptions, is funny and clear.

In the "Off the Grid" section, the story about Millennium City--an environmentally friendly commune outside of Tokyo that is based on the concept of a greenhouse--is particularly appealing. There is also a useful feature about storage and closet organization, a subject that everyone seems to be talking about as the physical salve to our crazy modern lives. While the home design features are beautifully photographed and laid out, they get a little repetitive in terms of structure. I'd much prefer one or two of these features and more do-it-yourself ideas.

From Media Post. by Rachel Lehmann-Haupt, Wednesday, August 3, 2005