Good crazy woman

Last Tuesday, March 19th, The Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA, published the results of a very important study about the cholesterol content on an the egg and its impact on cardiovascular diseases.

The title, Associations of Dietary Cholesterol or Egg Consumption With Incident Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality, could be considered the most extensive and comprehensive study developed in three decades.

The sample included  29,615 American adults with an average age 51.6 who were monitored for seventeen and a half years nonstop. Continue reading “Eggs are not the enemy”

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

Photo by Martin Pu00e9chy on Pexels.com

Last Wednesday, The New York Times published an article in the weddings section that caught my attention. It was about a new trend of honeymoon called “solomoons” in which each newlywed travels to a different destination.

You read it right. After pledging, “Til death do us part” in their vows, each one grabs his or her suitcase and takes a trip alone or even with other people. 

The first example in the article is an Irish couple, she 37 and he 40. While she went to Canada to visit a friend, he chose to go to France with three of his buddies and watch Ireland play at the Euro Cup.

Continue reading “Honeymoon for One”

Since last Saturday, infamy has been happening at the border between Venezuela and Colombia for the world to see. The delivery of the wished and publicized U.S. humanitarian aid to Venezuela became a punishment instead of relief.

The images of the Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, dancing salsa in Caracas and declaring victory because he took food from the mouths of thousands starving fellow countrymen, felt like salt on a fresh wound.

Although the leadership of Juan Guaido, Venezuela’s opposition leader, has inspired the Trump administration, the E.U., and the neighboring republics to sponsor his emancipation efforts, it is clear that they all have ignored Lao Tzu’s military principle: “There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.” Continue reading “To Be Continued…”

On January 29th, 2019 Fernando Gaitan, the creator of the Colombian hit TV drama Ugly Betty, died in Colombia of a sudden massive heart attack. He was 58. When I read about it on the news I felt nostalgic.

Although I never met him, I do remember seeing him often at a popular bar in Bogota when I was in college. The producing channel RCN started the rerun of the soap opera last week and since then, I have been glued to the TV every weeknight at nine p.m.

Beatriz or Betty is one of those characters that makes the actor who plays them invisible and timeless. Today, two decades later, the TV ratings have positioned the rerun at the top of the Colombian charts.

Continue reading “The Ugly’s Luck”

Last Thursday, January 31st, I had the privilege to present the awards for the Second Eagle Quills Creative Writing Contest at Timberlin Creek Elementary School in St Johns, Florida.

The contest was promoted by yours truly last year, and it has received the participation of third, fourth, and fifth graders. The topics of the fiction and non-fiction stories included secret agent missions, cast-away adventures, and the value of friendship and kindness. Continue reading “The love of children for literacy”

Two things that still puzzle me about life in America are: first, that bikers are not required to wear helmets by law, and second, that fireworks are sold without any restrictions during New Years and the 4th of July celebrations.

I have to admit that it still surprises me when I visit the supermarket and I am welcomed with shelves full of sparklers and other pyrotechnics at arm’s reach.

Although I grew up in Colombia in the 80’s, watching fireworks light up the sky every New Year’s Eve in the streets of my neighborhood, these displays have been forbidden since 1995 unless performed by professionals. Continue reading “Playing with Fire”

On Monday December 3rd, my husband Jeff, one of our employees, Karalee, and yours truly, had the privilege to meet 1st Sgt. Michael Lippencott, active member of the Marine Corps, and Ramonia Diallo, Navy Veteran and Combat Casualty Visiting Nurse of the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS) in Jacksonville.

Before Thanksgiving, Karalee–also a Navy veteran–met Ramonia at a charity event and learned about this non-profit organization. Touched by the stories of veterans in hardship, Karalee shared the information with our company staff. Shortly after, we created a small fund to which all the employees contributed. 1Sgt. Michael Lippencott was the service man we chose as the recipient of our donation. Continue reading “Top Mission: Coming Home”

Last Sunday, December 16th, I missed the Miss Universe broadcast for the first time in a long while. Born and raised in Colombia, beauty pageants were part of my culture and I always watched it with my family.

But since I moved to the U.S., almost fourteen years ago, I had to watch it alone. My husband dreaded this each year because of my non-stop yelling during the two hour phone conversation with my mother or girlfriends. Continue reading “Beauty Pageants Biggest Miss”

On Monday, November 26th, the international scientific community was shaken to its core by Hen Jiankui, the biomedical researcher who posted a video on YouTube telling about the existence of the first twin babies whose DNA was modified as embryos before birth.

Their names are Lulu and Nana, and they were allegedly born in China a few weeks ago. According to He Jiankui, the objective of the research was to achieve that two twin baby girls, whose father is HIV positive, could be born resistant to the disease. Continue reading “The genes of a very lucrative business”

During the last two centuries, the eradication of infectious diseases such as smallpox and rinderpest became a reality, thanks to breakthroughs in immunization science.

Other illnesses like polio and the highly contagious measles are on the same path. And, if the eradication of these and other diseases has been delayed, it has been due to the difficulties of distribution in the world population, not the lack of effectiveness of the vaccines.

However, vaccines have been the target of negative controversies since the 90’s. The best-known case, and probably the modern genesis of the movement against children vaccination, was the study of the British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield. Continue reading “Rejecting vaccines increases health risks”