You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July, 2007.
I’ve recently embarked on a new health-conscious lifestyle. To make a long story short, this lifestyle is not being embraced on a mere whim, and armed with a carefully crafted eating plan by a registered dietician, I have set off to explore the world of “healthy eating.” I haven’t had too much trouble learning how to cook all over again; however, I am encountering some difficulty eating out. Since the horrors of the fast food industry in terms of quality and quantity have already been extensively covered in the media (i.e., the documentary “Super Size Me”), I won’t go on about it here.
No, I want to comment on how some in the restaurant industry try to disguise unhealthy food options by re-defining “healthy” for the consumer, and secondly, on their reluctance to deviate from prescribed menus to accommodate specific requests of the patron.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Wait a minute, I was just in my local such-and-so restaurant and they had a ‘light and healthy’ whatchamacallit on the menu. They’re trying; they really are!” Well, that’s what they want you to think.
Let me demonstrate what I’m talking about. While running errands Saturday morning, I walked by one of those glossy franchises where they juice the fruit in front of you. They pass themselves off as “healthy” because it is, after all, just fruit, right? Let me just say that the typical 24 ounce fruit drink offered by one of these establishments is about 500 calories or more and about 100 grams of sugar. According to my dietician, 4 ounces of juice is one serving, Any more would be too much sugar hitting the system at once. 100 grams of fruit sugar is too much, not just for me but for anyone. Fine, you say. Don’t order a 24 ounce class of juice. Easier said.
I decided that a little blueberry juice would hit the spot and fit my plan (about 40 calories, 8 grams of sugar). And how hard is it to throw a few berries into the machine? So I went in the store.
“May I have a 4 ounce class of blueberry juice?”, I asked the teenaged girl behind the counter. She stared back as if I were speaking another language.
“Four ounces?”
“Yes.”
“Ask her.” She pointed to another girl.
“Am I able to get a 4 ounce blueberry?”
“Four ounces? The smallest container we have is 12 ounces.”
“Can’t you fill it just one third?”
“I guess so.” She stares for a moment at her cash register and then tentatively starts poking it.
“50 cents”.
“That’s all?”
“Well, I don’t have a button for that size drink, so I’m just charging you what we’d charge for an extra shot.”
“Okay…” I paid her, feeling a tad guilty (just a tad).
Then, she moves to the counter and begins putting orange juice in the bottom of a cup.
“No, not orange juice, blueberry.”
“No orange juice? You just want it mixed with water?” She had a look of disgust on her face.
“Yes.” I didn’t feel the need to have to explain my preferences to her.
She shrugs and begins preparing my juice. When she finished, she hands me the 12 ounce cup completely filled to the top plus another small cup with more juice (and I thought they didn’t have any small cups!)
At this point, I gave up and left the store, tossing out the excess juice into the trash. Since no one is forcing me to patronize this place, I have scratched it off my list.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Why are you even setting foot in a fast-food restaurant?” Okay, good point.
But this problem is endemic to other types of restaurants as well. For example, I used to frequent this tropical-themed restaurant (another franchise establishment). I went to their website to research the nutritional value of a high-end burger I had there a few nights before: 1430 calories, 820 of them from fat, and 2280 mg. of sodium! Okay, I should know better than to eat burgers. So I checked what the restaurant claimed to be the “healthy alternative”: soft chicken tacos without cheese-790 calories, 270 from fat, 2040 mg of sodium! I’m still trying to figure out how they can justify this as ”healthy”. I have scratched this place off my list.
I have nothing against an unhealthy eater being able to get what he or she wants to eat. I used to be one of those eaters. But I object to being deceived into thinking that something I am eating is healthy when it is not, and this should concern all consumers. Furthermore, because it is not cost effective to change the structure and pricing of their menu to accommodate smaller eaters, they won’t even train their staffs to know what to do when someone asks. They are going to force us to eat their garbage because they’ll lose money if they are forced to re-tool. And this thinking is systemic, starting at the top all the way down to the kid working the counter.
The answer? I don’t know. Re-educating the consumer seems obvious, but that’s a monumental task. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to have for breakfast tomorrow. I do know that since I’ve started educating myself, I’ll be darned if I’m going to let the food and dining industry define “healthy” for me. It may be obvious and cliche’ to say this, but for now, I will continue to search out and patronize those establishments that truly let me “have it your way.”
Thanks for indulging my rant.
Lori Gloyd © 2007
“Cover Design: The Magic Garden“
Lori Gloyd (c) 2007
This digital construction was created after reading the Kazakh folk tale, The Magic Garden and in response to the directive “Create a cover for the parable of The Magic Garden”. This directive is found in the visual/spatial grid of New Approaches to Literacy/Global Teacher, a website of the Victoria (Australia) Department of Education.
The border design is an authentic Kazakh pattern, and it, along with the animal images, are from Dover Press.
We’ve been talking about pets over at Anita Marie’s blog. Y’know, cats that assault firemen, felines on psychotropic meds, that sort of thing.
It got me to thinking about the pets that I’ve had-you name, I’ve had it. I am petless at the moment (by choice), but I’ve been owned by a number of weird animals over the years.
Here are some that stand out:
When I was a kid, we had a tortoise named Zippy. He loved to eat rose-petals and dandelions, and, I swear, he KNEW stuff. For someone with the brain the size of a grape, he had the most intelligent eyes. He’d send a piercing look my way and I’d feel like I just got caught with my hand in the cookie-jar. We had him for over 30 years. Then one year he just did not come out of hibernation. That’s the way to go.
Then, I had a big Dobie/Shepherd mix who ate an entire living room sofa in one sitting. He was one of many animals that just showed up on the front porch. When he arrived he was very sick with distemper but somehow survived. After that, every time I took him to the vet, the vet would call all the interns to look at my brain-damaged dog. His name was Lazlo Sonofabich (the dog, not the vet).
I also had an African lovebird named Peaches. Her I bought. She was very affectionate towards me which is unusual for lovebirds. They are actually bad-tempered little birds with lungs like Pavarotti. Peaches often sat on my shoulder while I watched TV. When she felt affectionate, she would regurgitate in my ear. Nothing says Love like an earful of bird vomit.
Peaches did not like my TV remote control. She would start hissing and biting it whenever she saw it. Some roommates just HAVE to be in control of the remote.
I had a pair of budgies named Sam and Idgy who were my little earthquake predictors. Whenever they’d fall off their perches in the middle of the night and start flipping around the cage, all I had to do was wait a moment and we’d have an earthquake. That was weird.
Oh, then there was BooBoo-Kitty, a stunning black cat with green eyes. She showed up on my porch one day, meowing all pathetically, and acting like she was totally abandoned by the human race. So I fed her. And, unknown to me, so was everyone else in the building. She stayed around for a couple of months until her owner, a big jerk from the building next door, showed up screaming at all of us for feeding his cat and making her fat. Some pets are just smarter than their owners.
Finally, I had a white dove land on the hood of my car one day as I was pulling into the driveway. I figured it was some sort of message from heaven. Then it died. Uh-oh.
As I said, I am blissfully pet-free right now, but I often wonder why some of these animals zero in on me. I must emanate some sort of message in a language only they understand: “Sucker lives here. Act cute and she’s yours!”
Lori Gloyd © 2007
Up until now, I’ve been sending out to my personal mailing list monthly e-mail announcements regarding new work. This has always put some pressure on me to produce new work at the end of each month. It also put a lot of expectation on my friends and family to visit my blog when they really don’t have the time to do so. So, to free us all up from burdensome expectations, I’m just going to post as I can (hopefully several times a week) and if you are here reading this, thank you for coming by. If you come back, I am even more grateful. And if you comment, well…. I’ll worship the ground you walk on. And I can always count on the SFC Ravens to fly in and roost for a while! 
Right now I’m in a creative slump. I like what one of my e-colleagues from the Soul Food Cafe does. Chefleur writes a weekly journal entry discussing what she’s doing creatively. What a good organizing, motivating technique. I could do that.
Another blog-buddy, Anita Marie, writes daily on all manner of topics. I don’t think I could output that much daily, but it gives me something to shoot for.
So what am I doing this week? I just finished up a set of Artist Trading Cards (for an explanation and to see the card, please see the previous blog post).I am trying to prime the writing pump by collecting 6 verbs, 6 nouns, and 6 adjectives from a famous poem (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner) and crafting a a story or poem out of them. I have a bunch of pictures on my camera that I need to upload to my computer. If there’s anything decent, I’m going to either use them straight or make some digital art out of them. Distractions: Besides being distracted by the usual life traumas and dramas, I have been reading the new Harry Potter book. I want to finish it before someone spoils the ending for me.
Anyway, stay tuned for more.
LJG
“Through the Raven’s Eye”
Soul Food Cafe ATC Swap
August 2007
Lori Gloyd
What does a raven see? She sees sunlight fractured into a thousand colors, blades of grass that glitter with fire, she sees YOU with a eye as yellow as citrine.
This is my contribution to the first SFC ATC swap. For those who don’t know, an ATC means “Artist Trading Card”. The rules are simple: a group of artists get together (in this case some of the Soul Food Cafe artists). Each makes an original piece of art 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. These cards may only be swapped; they cannot be sold.
The theme of SFC first swap is “Ravens” in honor of our mascot bird. My piece is a digital output (a raven mandala I constructed last year), trimmed and glued to a background of orange mulberry and “basketball” textured franchise paper. The feather is of black ecorce paper. The beads are Czech glass, freshwater pearls, and lemon citrine stone. I have made 11 of these for those in the group.
I and the other artists will be sending our ATCs to one in the group who will divvy them up and send a complete set on to each of us. I will end up with 11 pieces of original artwork from all over the globe. Pretty cool, huh?
Lori
“The Church at Taos, New Mexico”
Lori Gloyd (c) taken in the late 80’s
“Journey”
This is one of my very first creations using Photoshop. I’ve learned so much since 2003.
Lori Gloyd (c) 2003, 2007
“Through the Portal”
Lori Gloyd (c) 2007
Digital Construction
Isn’t he cute? I just about melted in a puddle of goo when I first met this little feller. He and his mama were begging for carrots (which I happily provided). This was taken in Oatman, Arizona, where the burros roam free.
Lori Gloyd (c) 2007
This was written in response to several to team-blog prompts at the Soul Food Cafe.
Not being a rider, I was quite concerned when I was informed that I would need to acquire a mount for my adventure along the Serpentine Road. Since all the best donkeys had already be claimed by other travelers, I was forced to find another purveyor of transportation. I happened upon a stable near the Hermitage. Big Mike, the stable owner, said he had “just the right animal” for my trip. I thought I heard some snickering from the stable hands standing nearby.
“A fine, sure-footed beast,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. Since the price was right and I was in a hurry, I struck a deal. I walked away, leading a tall, heavy-maned white horse, complete with saddle and tack. He heard the stable hands burst out in snorts and guffaws.
“Well,” I said, when I had worked up enough courage, “I guess it’s time to be off.” I was quite pleased with myself when I mounted and did not fall off the other side.
I settled my in the saddle. “Giddyapp!”
The horse stood there, unmoving.
“C’Mon, girl, let’s move!” I gave the animal a goad with my heels.
“Ouch! What idiot gave you a pair of spurs?” rumbled a deep voice.
I froze in my saddle.
“And who are you calling ‘girl’?”
“Excuse me, but did you just say something?” I asked as I leaned forward. The horse’s massive head swung around and he glared at me.
“Yes, I did. Do you see anyone else around?”
“Um, no, but, gee, well……”
“Well, what?”
“You’re a horse.”
He shook his mane and snorted. “Great. They’ve given me a real smart one.”
“But…. you talk…..”
“Stop, you’re overwhelming me with you mighty powers of observation! Of course, I can talk. All animals can talk if you just stop and listen to them. Except mice…. wretched little beasts……always underfoot….”
“Um, okay. You can talk. I apologize for being a dolt. Someone should have warned me I was getting Mr. Ed as a partner on this trip.”
“Uncle Ed? You know my Uncle Ed? “
“Nevermind. We need to get going.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No. You aren’t ready to leave yet. You need to leave it.”
“Leave what?” I asked nervously, shifting in my saddle.
“You know what.”
“Um, I beg to differ.”
Suddenly, the horse gave a soft buck with his hind quarters and I went sprawling on the ground. My saddle bag flopped open and the contents went flying as well.
A small box landed in front of me.
“That. Leave it.”
“Oh…. ha…. yes, how could I forget to leave that.” I slowly picked up the Surrender Box.
“You thought you could take that with you? All the bad memories– the memories you keep replaying in you mind– those vile conversations that you rehearse over and over– all those angry thoughts you keep mulling over in your heart. Too heavy. Not even I can carry those on this trip.”
I felt my face blush with shame.
He turned his head towards me and softly said, “No need for that, sweet cheeks…. you need to cut yourself some slack. Now get up and put that box away….. that’s it. Just leave it. No one will want it. One of the ravens will be by to take it and fly it far, far away. You won’t be seeing it anymore”
I placed the box as he directed and brushed a tear from my face.
“Now, now, let’s get away from here.” He nuzzled me gently with his soft nose. “The sun is rising high and those flies are such a bother when it gets along in the day. Up you go.”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“They call me ‘Sweet Albert’”.
I mounted Sweet Albert and with a gentle trot, we were our way down the Serpentine Road.
Image and text: Lori Gloyd (c) May 15, 2006; Revised, July 7, 2007.
“Our Lady of the Nile Lilies
Lori Gloyd (c) 2007
Constructed from excerpts of these photographs.
“Sea Foam Mandala”
Lori Gloyd (c) 2007
Digital Construction
“Chrysanthemum Mandala in Blue and Gold”
Lori Gloyd (c) 2007, Digital Construction
“Where in the World is Lemuria”
Digital construction
Lori Gloyd (c) 2007
“Mystic Madame”
Digital Construction in Photoshop & Illustrator
Lori Gloyd (c) 2007
To see the rest of my published digital artwork, go to my main “Pixelations” blog.
Stained Glass from inside the chapel
Chapel Garden Series, Lori Gloyd (c) 2007
Taken on the campus of Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California
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