In Memoriam: Eunice Kennedy Shriver

"You are the stars and the world is watching you. By your presence you send a message to every village, every city, every nation. A message of hope. A message of victory. The right to play on every field? You have earned it. The right to study in any school? You have earned it. The right to hold a job? You have earned it. The right to be anyone's neighbor? You have earned it."

--Eunice Kennedy Shriver at the 1987 Special Olympic World Games

If you don't know much about the life and work of this amazing woman, read this short article.

And please consider becoming involved in or making a donation to one of the following organizations which so beautifully carry on Mrs. Shriver's life's work: The Special Olympics, or Best Buddies International.

Do something good for the world today, folks. It's not as hard as it seems. Sometimes simply treating someone with kindness can change their whole day, and it doesn't take but a second of your time. Let's all try to make the world just a little bit better today, and honor the legacy of the remarkable Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

Please, Summer! Don't Go!

No, I'm not wallowing after some hippie chick, I'm bemoaning the inevitable end of the season. Summer is rapidly coming to a close, and this makes me all sorts of weepy-sad. While my wardrobe options will clearly be better come September (Hello cute boots and trenches! How I've missed you!) real life begins again. I'm really not looking forward to having to once again juggle classes, work, grad school aps, and what little bit of a social life I have time for. Tis no fun for me. No fun at all.

Which is why I've decided to indoctrinate my autumn days with a teensy bit of summer, by way of. . .



Fla-Vor-Ice. If you don't know what Fla-Vor-Ice is, you need to run out to the nearest supermarket or junk store and pick up a box. And don't let the word "ice" in the name fool you, and look in the freezer section. You won't find Fla-Vor Ice there. You'll find these boxes full of long plastic bag-like tubes filled with brightly colored sugar water right in the regular grocery aisles. Part of their charm really is the fact that one must wait hours for Fla-Vor Ice to freeze before you eat them. This is not about instant gratification, people. This is about summer. In. Your. Mouth.

Now, just in case you are from another planet, and have really never heard of Fla-Vor Ice, I'll give you a quick tutorial for maximum enjoyment. First of all, make sure they are laying flat when you freeze them. If they're bent, you're screwed. Now, once frozen, snip off one end of the tube, and squeeze the bottom a little (I'm smirking, because that sounded dirty). The Fla-Vor Ice should pop up out of the open side of the tube, about two inches at a time. Now there are two schools of thought on Fla-Vor Ice consumption. Some poor uncreative souls just bite off bits of frozen goodness and have at it. No fun, I say. The young at heart amongst us (um, me. duh.) prefer to suck all of the color out of the ice, then eat it. You go with your gut, and eat your Fla-Vor Ice however you feel. Just know that my way is the right way.

Come Fall, I am stocking up on Fla-Vor Ice. Whenever the weather or random sources of extraneous stress gets me down, I can simply open the freezer and have a little eightiestastic taste of summer to calm me down. As good as antianxiolytic drugs? Def not, but tastier than a stress ball.