SEARCH: Detoxing from Social Media

Detoxing from Social Media

by Kristin Battestella

Are there not enough hours in the day because social media is consuming every waking minute of your time? If you had to seriously take pause and ponder this often rhetorical and seemingly innocuous question, then this article is for you! Whether you grew up before the age of social media—and remember what life was like without it—or are of the younger generations who can’t imagine a state of being without instant interconnectivity, it’s important to give yourself a social media respite from time to time. Liberate yourself from technological negativity and other people’s drama with these sage considerations. It can be done!

Why are you on social media? Are you on each social media site for the right reasons? Are you communicating with friends and participating in worthwhile networking or is it all just endless hate-scrolling? Think about all the content you don’t like—the beauty obsessed, pictures of food, oversharing moms, oversharing couples, political extremists—and ask yourself if you are contributing to online negativity or a distorted image of who you are. If you’re stressing over

Read more in SEARCH Magazine‘s Spring 2023 #FreshStart issue.

SEARCH: Rosie the Riveter Museum

Rosie the Riveter Museum: A #FreshStart for New Kinds of Workers

by Emerian Rich

When WWII broke out, the industrial workforce in America swelled with millions of new workers from a previously untapped and, in some cases, unwanted source. Suddenly women and minorities could find jobs helping with the war effort, and families flocked to newly-born wartime boomtowns across the country. Richmond, California was one of those early boomtowns. 

During its heyday, this was the birthplace to all those Rosie the Riveters and the lesser-known Wendy the Welders. Whether they had to work to support their families, felt the urge to help with the war effort, or both…millions of women suddenly had new jobs.

Now, some of you may not know that Rosie the Riveter was not a real person, but a term that stood for women getting into the industrial workforce. The iconic poster of a woman, her hair back in a bandana and arm flexed in a show of strength, was an advertising ploy to get women to sign up. A song of the same name came first and, although it’s debated who the actual song was named after, a riveter named Rose Will Monroe was selected to portray her in films and posters. Rosie is symbolic of all the gals…

Read the rest of the article in our Spring 2023 #FreshStarts issue.

SEARCH: Spring 2023 Table of Contents

Read our Spring 2023 #FreshStart issue!

Table of Contents

• #FreshStart: Combining Households
• #Tech: Detoxing from Social Media
• Humor: Reinventing Tim
• Author Spotlight: Kay Tracy
• Music: Edith Piaf, From Adversity a Rose Blooms
• Travel: Spring in the English Countryside
• #FreshStart: The Anne Rice Revivial
• Rosie the Riveter Museum: A #FreshStart for New Kinds of Workers
• Food: Reinventing New Orleans Red Beans and Rice, Vegan Style
• Fitness: Tai Chi for the Health of It
• City Spotlight: Victoria B.C.
• Autism: Starting Over (And Over) Again
• Poetry: Fresh Start

Read it all in our Spring 2023 #FreshStart issue!

SEARCH: 2023 Spring Issue Editor Letter

SEARCH Magazine Spring 2023 #FreshStart

Starting over is a great thing. It’s the first sheet of blank paper in a new notebook. Full of promise and free from mistakes, there’s something intimidating about making the first mark, but it’s the only way to make progress.

With springtime comes new promise and the chance to start fresh. Old habits can be discarded for new ones. New exercises, new looks, new relationships, and new mindsets can be tried on for size. Sure, not every fresh start is a winner, but new haircuts grow out and hearts rebound.

SEARCH Magazine is here to try a few #FreshStarts of our own. Our authors examine changes in history, such as the emergence of Rosie the Riveter and the scope of Edith Piaf talent. Look ahead with articles about detoxing from social media, combining households, and starting over. Finally, we have a few articles with a #FreshStart mindset that allow you to find peace right where you are. Give Tai Chi a chance, cook some red beans and rice vegan style, and reinvent yourself like Tim Reynolds does in “Reinventing Tim.”

The truth is, we have endless chances to start over because life is about renewal. Whether yours is annual or by the decade, the only constant is change and the only hope any of us have for progress is to make that first mark on the page. And when the page gets too full, turn over a new leaf. We all deserve a #FreshStart.

Heather Roulo / Editorial Director

SEARCH Magazine Spring 2023 #FreshStart

SEARCH: The Lighter Side

The Lighter Side

by Oksanna Normandeau

In everything I do,
I want to manifest

Joy, happiness, love.

The feeling of being…ALIVE.

My God,
How GOOD
It feels
To be ALIVE.
With a flawlessly imperfect flesh
carrying me,
A voice that soothes,
Even the most colicky of babies,
With eyes that are weak
but can still SEE every little detail
Of your lips that form
A perfectly crested smile,
Sending shivers
Down my neck…
I LISTEN,
With beautiful ears
Of intention

Read more of Oksanna Normandeau’s poetry in SEARCH Magazine‘s Winter 2022 #KeepLaughing issue.

SEARCH: Sharing a Laugh

Sharing a Laugh

by Lillian Csernica

Children and adults who have Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) struggle with learning social skills. Symptoms of ASD often include difficulty making friends, understanding what other people are thinking or feeling, and appearing rude or not interested when they don’t mean that at all. These symptoms can lead neurotypical people to think ASD people have no sense of humor. The truth is, ASD people may display a more authetic sense of humor than people who have been socialized to laugh or giggle whether or not what’s being said is funny.

“One of the reasons autistic people are thought to lack a sense of humor may be due to the fact that they engage less than neurotypicals in ‘social interaction’ laughter,”…

Read more of Lillian’s article in our #KeepLaughing issue.

SEARCH: City Spotlight on Pullman, WA

City Spotlight on Pullman, WA

by Renee Roulo

Located in eastern Washington, deep in the Palouse, Pullman is an adorable college town with cute coffee shops, bike paths, and rolling hills.

The Palouse region was formed following the ice age when glaciers moved down from Canada and ground up the earth below it, causing rock dust to cover everything in layers of silt. Wind blew the dust until it finally settled into the hills we see now. Pullman is separated into several different parts.

Washington State University sits in the center of the town on a massive hill. Students get “cougar calves”—named after the school’s mascot—from walking up and down the hill all day.

South of campus, is Pullman’s downtown. It has several great

Read more in SEARCH Magazine‘s Winter 2022 #KeepLaughing issue.

SEARCH: I Still Use the Wii

I Still Use the Wii

by Kristin Battestella

I first learned about the Wii as an Activities Director in the aughts. Every senior facility wanted Nintendo’s newest console.

I also realized I had a very bad Lyme Disease case when I couldn’t compete with my elderly charges and several years later my husband bought the Wii Fit Plus to help my recovery. Most of my video game experience stemmed from Atari and Space Invaders or DOS with The Ultimate Doom, but the Wii’s hook was that anyone can use it—even groups or nongamers like me. I began with lighthearted Sports and gentle yoga before advancing to running multiple miles and the EA Sports Active Challenge. This daily Wii had me back in high school ice hockey shape…

Read more in SEARCH Magazine‘s Winter 2022 #KeepLaughing issue.

SEARCH: Mary Tyler Moore

Mary Tyler Moore

by Kristin Battestella

In 1970, The Mary Tyler Moore Show premiere introduced Mary Tyler Moore as the idealistic Mary Richards, the new associate producer at perpetually low-rated WJM-TV Minneapolis
News. Mary left her doctor fiancé, who couldn’t say I love you.

She portrayed a modern working woman and the trials—and humor—to go with it. The series tackles Mary living alone amid robbery fears and endears viewers with sitcom familiars
from the beloved wife on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Early in the series, ageism and divorced friends are addressed before pushing the envelope with career choices and the “lonely single gal guilt-tripped into working on Christmas Eve” trope. The awkwardness of someone short dating someone tall…

Read more from Kristin Battestella in SEARCH Magazine’s Winter 2022 #KeepLaughing issue.

SEARCH: The Dancing Flower Girl

The Dancing Flower Girl
by Michele Roger

It was one of my very first performances as a solo harpist. The bride had asked me if there was a children’s song that I could play that would cue her four-year-old niece when it was time to carry her basket of flowers down the aisle. Weeks ahead of the wedding, we agreed, “Little April Showers,” from the Disney movie Bambi would be the flower girl song.

When the day of the wedding arrived, the archway where the couple would exchange vows was covered in the most beautiful purple wisteria I’d ever seen. Family slowly made their way to their seats while I played a prelude filled with love songs. The grandparents walked down the aisle to the song from their wedding, “I’ll Be Seeing You.” Then, the parents walked down to their wedding song, “Color My World” by Chicago. Finally, it was time for the wedding party. Each wedding couple proceeded down the aisle in lavender gowns that matched that of the wisteria in the archway.

When the wedding coordinator gave me the cue, I began to play “Little April Showers,” as planned. A little girl gingerly took about ten steps while enrobed in many layers of toile before she recognized the music being played for her. About mid-aisle, she stopped and set down her basket of rose petals. A tiny gasp could be heard from the wedding guests…

Read more in SEARCH Magazine‘s Winter 2022 #KeepLaughing issue.