Hello, Cosmos

First day. New job.

Mon, 06 May 2013 09:35:40 -0400

First day. New job.

A good deed in my neighborhood

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 20:04:32 -0400

A good deed in my neighborhood

Great and honest insight from start-up founders #eiforum:...

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 17:41:53 -0400

Great and honest insight from start-up founders #eiforum: Hoppit, Earmark, House on Beekman, FaithStreet.

Lent’s over. I can drink again. Bad news for my thesis.

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 20:20:27 -0400

Lent’s over. I can drink again. Bad news for my thesis.

Nick Cave. #IHeardNY with @creativetimenyc @artsfortransit....

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:10:47 -0400

Nick Cave. #IHeardNY with @creativetimenyc @artsfortransit. Great start to the day! (at Grand Central Terminal)

River of gold

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:07:50 -0400

River of gold

A little Grand Central splendor en route to work...

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:39:32 -0500

A little Grand Central splendor en route to work #grandcentennial (at Grand Central Terminal)

My people know how to celebrate. #chinesenewyear (at Sara Delano...

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 12:03:19 -0500

My people know how to celebrate. #chinesenewyear (at Sara Delano Roosevelt Park‎)

Sunday afternoon. (at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA))

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 15:40:34 -0500

Sunday afternoon. (at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA))

Friday night. Brooklyn. (at Hot Bird)

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:27:28 -0500

Friday night. Brooklyn. (at Hot Bird)

Anticipation. #christmaseveseve

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 22:23:14 -0500

Anticipation. #christmaseveseve

Man of steel

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:45:48 -0500

Man of steel

Moment of stillness

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 01:37:27 -0500

Moment of stillness

It’s a Ramen-kind-of-day

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 13:43:15 -0500

It’s a Ramen-kind-of-day

fromstarstostarfish: (Maps courtesy of USDA.) Food Deserts...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 01:33:58 -0500

fromstarstostarfish:

(Maps courtesy of USDA.)

Food Deserts Across America

A food desert is a low-income area that lacks access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and other foods that make up a heathy diet (limited or no access to supermarkets and grocery stores, sometimes coupled with limited to no transportation); instead, these areas are riddled with convenience stores and fast food restaurants.

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 required the USDA to study food deserts for one year. In the study’s findings, some key points were:

About 2.3 million households (~2.2% of the population) live more than a mile from a supermarket and have no access to a vehicle. Another 3.4 million households live between 1/2-1 mile from a supermarket and have no access to a vehicle.

Roughly 23.5 million people live in low-income areas that are more than 1 mile from a supermarket. However, only 11.5 million (4.1% of the population) of these people are low-income.

Urban areas are more likely to suffer from limited food access due to racial segregation and income inequality. In rural areas, it’s because of a lack of transportation infrastructure.

Shopping at small stores and convenience stores more likely to be found in food deserts is significantly more expensive than shopping at a large grocery store or supermarket.

While some researchers and their studies point towards lack of availability to nutritious foods as the reason for a lack of intake (and instead relying on the convenience stores and fast food restaurants), other researchers/studies prove otherwise. Either way, more research is needed in this area.

Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, vice President and chief medical officer of Blue Cross Shield Texas (not to mention former Texas commissioner of health and a national leader on childhood obesity) said:

The link between inequitable access to healthy, affordable food and chronic diseases is evident in every region of the country. Low-income and being African-American, Latino, or American Indian increases the likelihood of poor access to good food and the prevalence of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes. From deep in the heart of Texas to the center of Midwest farm country, to President Obama’s hometown of Chicago, healthy food is not easily accessible to millions of Americans and people are sicker as a result.

Access to healthy, affordable food is a major public health problem and should be considered as important as affordable healthcare.

While Alan Hunt, senior policy associate at the Wallace Center at Winrock International had this to say:

We thank the USDA for undertaking this thorough study. Much of it verifies what we already knew - that for millions of people in low-income communities, access to fresh and healthy food is limited.

Now it’s time for action. What is needed is a set of coordinated, community based activities across the country, including outreach to existing corner stores, incentives for locating new retail stores, public transportation improvements, farmers’ markets development, nutrition education, and other activities to improve food access.

…

Supporting successful programs that address inequitable food access - from the development of a network of farmers’ markets that serves the nearly 80,000 mostly low-income residents of Camden, New Jersey, to the remarkable work in Black Hawk County, Iowa, where local producers work together to make fresh, healthy and local food available to restaurants, retirement homes, and universities while generating millions of dollars of sales - is the beginning. Continuing efforts like these requires national support and leadership to ensure healthy food choices are accessible in all communities.

And the holidays have officially arrived! #nofilter...

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 19:00:46 -0500

And the holidays have officially arrived! #nofilter #rockefellertree (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza)

Pies - check. Looking forward to dinner chez @theladyv !

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 12:59:25 -0500

Pies - check. Looking forward to dinner chez @theladyv !

Found an old Elmo shirt. Sadly, this now has taken on a whole...

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 09:45:08 -0500

Found an old Elmo shirt. Sadly, this now has taken on a whole new meaning…

Shred your burdens. #interaction #release #letgo

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 16:35:37 -0500

Shred your burdens. #interaction #release #letgo

Updates from Mudzini Kwetu

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 18:19:46 -0500

First a calf, now a baby… #chrisnamesake

manyhopeskenya:

By Chris Lewis

I wasn’t exactly sure why I was following Alice to the small mud hut outside our front gate. Alice didn’t know why she was following herself either; all we knew is that our neighbors wife wasn’t feeling well and may need to go to the hospital. I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying when we arrived at the door, but when it opened my first thought was, “What is that white baby doing in that woman’s hands?”

A baby had been born just seconds before we arrived. I was standing looking at a half-clothed woman sitting on the ground with an older woman crouched in front of her holding a motionless white baby in her hands. I didn’t understand what anyone was saying but I was fearful that the child hadn’t made it. Then the grandmother lightly poked his shoulder and he started to squirm. He was starting to breathe. The mind races to odd places in times of such craziness, and a brief moment of hesitation came over me as all eyes were upon me as I stood in the doorway; did they think I was responsible? Alice eventually clued me in; I was the first man to see the boy. And since the boy was still white from just being born and I, a muzungu (white man), had arrived to help, he was to be named after me. So, there’s another Chris in the Mudzini neighborhood.

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