August 30, 2024

REMINDER: YOUR SUBMISSIONS ARE ENCOURAGED AND WELCOMED

Paris 2024 Paralympics

August 28th, 2024 -– September 8th, 2024

Overview for this week.

1.The Paris 2024 Paralympics opened in style on Wednesday with the opening ceremony directed by Thomas Jolly, who also directed the Olympic opening ceremony. The opening ceremony included the parade of athletes, musical performances and an inclusive them that included dancers with disabilities.

2. While breakdancing is not being included in this edition of the Paralympics, I found a crew of breakers that should be there and could very well be paving the way for the sport’s eventual inclusion in the Paralympics. They're an internation crew of eight breakers from around the world performing dance and motivational entertainment and go by ILL-Abilities.

3. The US Open is through its first two rounds and will run for one more week. A new rising talent has already emerged. Sixteen-year-old Iva Jovic from Torrence, CA beat 2023 Australian Open finalist Magda Linette in two sets during the first round of play. Iva is a player to watch.

4. In The Next Gen I want to give a shout out to nine-year-old Olivia Vasquez Theodorakis from Tucson who is participating at the Match Point Exhibition for youth in the Louis Armstrong Stadium at the US Open. Way to go Olivia! We're all proud of you.

5. This coming Monday is Labor Day, the symbolic end to the summer. I have a little on the history of this holiday for the American worker. Get out and go to the beach, or go to the mountains, or just find a place to have a picnic, relax and enjoy the three-day weekend.

6. I have some facts about Fungi which are fascinating, they are their own separate life form neither vegetable nor animal. When I was a young girl, I use to go out mushroom savenging with my grandmother who knew just which ones were safe to eat. It's important to not pick the wrong ones.

7. In the Book Corner, avid trekkers and thruhikers, Renee Miller and Tim Beissinger have compiled their miles and miles of knowledge, recipes, and advice into their first book, Thruhikers.

8. In The Heavens, I have some beautiful footage of the auroras filmed by astronaut Matthew Dominick from the International Space Station. Don't miss this one.

9. In this week's Artist's Corner, I'm featuring the sculptor and educator, Hib Sabin. Hib Sabin also happens to be the father of Kyria Sabin of Fletcher Pilates, one of our Flock regulars I've featured in the Local Spotlight section in 2022 and 2023.

10. In the Pet's Corner we meet Kelsie, my dear friend Luly Ortega's new Eskie puppy. Kelsie is a half-sister to my own Eskie.

Now, to this week's Flock.

Tap to view past issues.

The Paris 2024 Paralymics officially started on Wednesday with another elaborate opening ceremony directed by Thomas Jolly. The ceremony opened with a bit of levity when French Para swimmer Théo Curin arrived at the Place de la Concorde in his car festooned with Phyrges to climb the stage and proclaim, "Welcome to Paris!"

From The Associared Press, By: Jerome Pugmire, August 28, 2024

Just weeks after hosting the Olympics, Paris inaugurated the 2024 Paralympics on Wednesday with a nearly four-hour-long opening ceremony in the heart of the city.

Against the backdrop of a setting sun, thousands of athletes paraded down the famed Champs-Elysées avenue to Place de la Concorde in central Paris where French President Emmanuel Macron officially declared the Paralympic Games open.

About 50,000 people watched the ceremony in stands built around the iconic square, which is the biggest in Paris and is visible from afar because of its ancient Egyptian Obelisk. Accessibility for athletes in wheelchairs was facilitated with strips of asphalt laid along the avenue and placed over the square.

More than 4,000 athletes with physical, visual and intellectual impairments will compete in 22 sports from Thursday until Sept. 8. Organizers say more than 2 million of the 2.8 million tickets have been sold for the various Paralympic events.

...Throughout the show, directed by Thomas Jolly who also led the Olympic opening ceremony, singers, dancers and musicians with and without disabilities performed on stage together seamlessly, projecting a theme of inclusion and overcoming physical differences. Lucky Love, a French singer who lost his left arm at birth, was joined by performers in wheelchairs. Other acts featured dancers with crutches.

Welcome to Paris! Opening the Paralympics in style

Now that the games are underway, don't miss your favorite events Click or tap below for the official event Schedule.

Para swimmer Ellie Marks has won the first Paralympic medal for Team USA. Ellie Marks became a competitive swimmer while recovering from a bilateral hip injury she suffered while serving in the Army in 2012. She quickly began making a name for herself in the sport. In 2016 she received the Pat Tillman Award at the ESPY Awards and was inducted into the Army Women’s Hall of Fame later that year.

From: People, By: Danielle Jennings, August 29, 2024

Swimmer Ellie Marks just brought home Team USA's first medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games!

On Thursday, Aug. 29, Marks sprinted her way to silver in the women’s 50-meter freestyle S6 race, earning the U.S. its first medal of the Paris Paralympics.

Finishing with a time of 32.90, Marks was just behind China’s Jiang Yuyan, who won gold in 32.59. Rounding out the podium was Ukraine swimmer Anna Hontar, who took the bronze medal.

Per Team USA, with her latest silver medal, Marks now has a total of six Paralympic medals – two golds, two silver and two bronze. Her medal count could also increase, as she'll swim in four additional events: the 200-meter individual medley SM6, the 50-meter butterfly S6 and the 100-meter breaststroke S6.

With its debut in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, breakdancing gathered a lot of press and attention this year. This made me wonder if breakdancing would be included in the Paris Paralympics. Sadly, it's not one of the sports this year. All that led me to find the ILL-Abilities International Dance Crew based in Montreal Canada. The crew travels around the world performing dance and motivational entertainment. What they do is amazing.

From: ILL-Abilities

ILL-ABILITIES is an International breaking (breakdance) crew comprised of eight dancers (bboy/breakers) from around the world. Created in the summer of 2007 by Montreal-based dancer/motivational speaker Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli, ILL-ABILITIES was an all-star team of differently-abled dancers whose goal was to compete in the breakdance competition circuit, showing the world that anything is possible. Their mission is to help redefine society’s view of disability by empowering individuals to live life with limitless possibilities through positive interaction within communities worldwide.

The crew gets its name from the standard in hip-hop culture of using a negative term to refer to something positive. Examples of this can be heard in studios or at competitions where dancers compliment each other by saying they were bad, nasty or mean. The “ill” in ILL-ABILITIES™ does not refer to “sick” or “unwell” but rather to incredible, amazing, intricate, talent. Rather than seeing the negative limitations of “disability”, this crew focuses on their positive, or “ill”, abilities.

ILL-Abilities Crew

The US Open is entering its third round of matches. The women's round 1 revealed a future star for American women's tennis. The tournaments youngest entrant, sixteen-year-old Iva Jovic from Torrence, California upset Poland's Magda Linette in two sets.

From The Sporting News, By: Sarah Effress, August 28, 2024

One of the several upsets so far on the women's side of the 2024 US Open also features the tournament's youngest entrant. Newcomer Iva Jovic stunned Magda Linette in her Grand Slam debut on Tuesday, eliminating the 2023 Australian Open semifinalist in the first round. 

The California native became the youngest American to win a women's main-draw match at Flushing Meadows since 2000. Jovic, the fifth-ranked junior in the world, earned her US Open spot after taking the USTA Billie Jean King Girls' 18s National Championship match earlier this month.  

“Surprised, but not surprised," Jovic said after beating Linette. “I just had a plan about what I was going to do before we started, and there weren’t that many needs for crazy adjustments because it was going well,”

Meet nine-year-old Olivia Vasquez Theodorakis from Tucson. Olivia qualified for and participated in the Match Point Exhibition for youth in the Louis Armstrong Stadium at the US Open. Word is, she blew the crowd away.

Olivia got to meet some pro players

Olivia and her stepdad, Dr. David Lapin, made it onto the big screen.

This Monday is Labor Day, so tomorrow Labor Day weekend begins, the symbolic end of summer and a great time to get in one last summer excursion. Take a trip to the beach, go camping or hiking, have a picnic in a local park, or cookout with friends and family in the back yard. I wish everybody a happy and relaxing Labor Day weekend.

From: Farmer's Almanac

In a country where we celebrate and honor many cultural and religious holidays, Labor Day is unique in that it celebrates American workers. Labor Day is a holiday dedicated to honoring the contributions US workers have made to the strength and prosperity of our country. Ahead, learn how this holiday came to be and get some ideas for how to celebrate Labor Day Weekend.

The first Labor Day was held on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City. The originator of this celebration was the Central Labor Union (CLU).

The creation of the holiday has been credited to two different people. Some historians believe Peter J. McGuire, the general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, first suggested a holiday to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.” Others credit Matthew Maguire, a machinist and, later, secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Patterson, New Jersey, as the creator. Many say he proposed the idea of a holiday to honor the working class when he was serving as secretary of the CLU in New York in 1882. What is agreed upon is that the CLU adopted a proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and a picnic.

Following the deaths of workers during the Pullman Railroad Strike of 1894 in Chicago, and in an attempt to repair ties with American workers, the United States Congress unanimously voted to approve legislation to make Labor Day a national holiday, making the official date the first Monday in September. President Grover Cleveland signed it into law six days after the end of the strike.

From: Interesting Facts, By: Darren Orf

We eat them. We drink them. We breathe them — fungi are truly everywhere. Not quite plants and not quite animals, fungi are masters of their own biological kingdom, and scientists estimate that there may be a staggering 3.8 million species. To put that number in perspective, scientists only know about 320,000 plant species total. Fungi can be good or bad for us; some contain compounds that can alter human brain chemistry, while others serve a vital role in making foods that have sustained countries and empires. It’s difficult to overstate the importance of the humble fungus, and these six amazing facts show why.

1. They’re More Like Humans Than Plants
2. They’re Used in Some of Humanity’s Most Important Medicines
3. One Fungi Can Turn Ants Into Zombies
4. A Fungus in Oregon Is the World’s Largest Organism
5. There are 80 Types of Fungi on the Heel of Your Foot
6. 90% of Fungi Is Unknown to Science

When out scavenging for mushrooms, it's important topay attention to your surroundings and not get too focused looking for mushrooms on the forest floor. a woman in Italy learned this lesson the hard way, but with a little help from nature she came out fine in the end.

From: Boing Boing, By: Allan Rose Hill, August 29, 2024

Giuseppina Bardelli, 88, was foraging for mushrooms near her Italian village of Maccagno con Pino e Veddasca when she realized she was lost. Disoriented, she fell, breaking ribs and tearing a lung. Her son who was with her on the hike until they got separated called authorities who launched a search-and-rescue operation. Four days later, they found Bardelli.

"She drank rainwater that she found in puddles," her other son Roberto said. "At night she slept under trees, using vegetation to cover herself."

She found comfort in a friendship she developed with a fox.

"The fox approached her several times. They sort of became friends. And every evening she recited the rosary. She knew that every day could be her last."

Bardelli is currently recovering in a hospital. No word on, um, what the fox said.

This week's Book Corner entry comes to us from a YouTube short that my daughter Violet ran across and decided to share with The Flock. Renee Miller and Tim Beissinger are avid trekkers and share their adventures and the knowledge they have gained along the way through their blog, Thruhikers: Renee and Tim, and their youtube channel. Now they have compiled their miles and miles of knowledge into their first book, Thruhikers.

Renee Miller and Tim Beissinger, also known as @thruhikers, share their experiences exploring the outdoors—hiking, backpacking, canoeing, and camping—with millions of people. They break down every aspect of their adventures—trail routes, gear, recipes, and more—and share stories from their time out on the trail.

Our book is now on shelves in local bookstores and libraries everywhere! Wow!

From: Scientific American, By: Saima S. Iqbal, August 14, 2024

A heavy but harmless solar storm collided with Earth over the weekend, fueling shimmering auroras centered on the North and South Poles. In the Northern Hemisphere, the dancing blue, green and pink displays appeared as far south as Texas and Mississippi—and an astronaut onboard the International Space Station (ISS) captured the scene from above in a mesmerizing time-lapse video that also shows off the moon and sunrise.

Watch a STUNNING time-lapse of the northern lights from space

Hib Sabin is an accomplished sculptor and educator who's enjoyed a long and successful career in the arts. His striking bronze sculptures, wood carvings and illustrations evoke an ethereal mythology influenced by cultures from around the globe. Hib Sabin is also the father of a friend of mine, Flock regular Kyria Sabin of Fletcher Pilates. You'll find Kyria in the Flock regulars section at the bottom of this newsletter.

From: Hib Sabin.com

Hib Sabin, born in Baltimore Maryland in 1935, holds degrees in Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia’s Academy of Fine Arts. He earned an MFA degree at the University of Pittsburgh and taught at Dickinson and at Franklin & Marshall Colleges. He began his career as an oil painter but switched from paint to sculpture in 1991. He has traveled extensively worldwide with particular interest in regional art forms and their associated mythologies. He has lived and worked in Santa Fe, New Mexico since 1981.

In the following video, Blue rain gallery owner Lerow Garcia sits down with Hib Sabin and explores his deep fascination with world mythology, shamanism, and spiritual practices. The artist discusses why his totemic and fetish works in bronze often feature motifs of ravens, owls, eagles, and other animals, and how they embody themes central to the human condition, including mortality and immortality. Influenced by diverse mythologies, Sabin’s work offers a unique perspective on the interplay between the physical and spiritual realms that is sure to captivate. Additionally, listeners will get details on an art book featuring Sabin’s work and information about his upcoming art show, set to open on July 5th, 2024, at Blue Rain Gallery’s location in Durango, Colorado

Blue Rain Gallery Podcast Episode 80: Hib Sabin

My friend Luly otega would like you to meet her new Eskie puppy Kelsie. Kelsie is a half- sister to my Eskie.

Kelsie giving cute lessons.

That's a happy pup.

Kelsie sitting on a classic Ford.

These Flock regulars are always here for you:

In coming weeks: we'll be sharing more investigative articles from our roving reporter William George, original writing from Flock favorite Dino DeConcini.

Don't Be Shy: Share Your Stories!

I'm looking forward to sharing more of your personal stories - oral, written, or otherwise, as we enter our third year. I'd so love to present them to The Flock, hit a mailbox below to share your story.

Holualoa Ed Fit Wellness & Culture 2

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