Topic: city living

Sweet Home Indiana: No Equinox Or Hoopilates Here, But Plenty Of Ways To Work Out

Sweet Home Indiana: No Equinox Or Hoopilates Here, But Plenty Of Ways To Work Out

Big cities can sustain gyms, fitness classes and exercise options for every taste. In New York and Los Angeles, zany new fitness offerings show up all the time (remember hoopilates, Brooklyn?). Yoga classes and pilates studios are omnipresent and a bit passe. Washington, D.C. is packed with massive, polished gyms, catering to the downtown work crowd and offering up exotic new workout options all the time. But what about elsewhere? Are mid-westerners doomed to work out at a Curves tucked between T.J. Maxx and Little Ceasar’s?I was certainly worried (well, as much as any exercise-averse individual can be) about how limited the workout options might be when I moved to Lafayette, Indiana. More »

Sweet Home Indiana: You Mean I Can’t Get Tempeh & Kombucha at the Corner Store?

Sweet Home Indiana: You Mean I Can’t Get Tempeh & Kombucha at the Corner Store?

Before you want to punch me in the face, let me say that I’m being a little tongue-in-cheek with the title here, okay? I mean, yes, when I lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, I only had to walk a few blocks to get the most delicious tempeh-bacon & vegan-cheese breakfast sandwich, or buy raw almonds in bulk, or fill up a growler of kombucha on tap, or … you get the picture. More »

Sweet Home Indiana: Locavore’s Paradise

Sweet Home Indiana: Locavore's Paradise

For some reason, I never got to the farmers’ market as often as I would have liked to when I was in Washington, D.C. or New York City, though I lived less than a mile from Eastern Market in Capitol Hill, and likewise for the McCarren Park farmer’s market in Brooklyn. Maybe I was too busy recovering from the night before to make it in time. Maybe it just never seemed imperative, surrounded as I was by supermarkets and grocery delivery services. Since moving to Indiana, though, I’ve been hitting the farmers’ market twice a week. More »

Sweet Home Indiana: In Pursuit Of Health And Happiness In The Midwest

Sweet Home Indiana: In Pursuit Of Health And Happiness In The Midwest

At about age seven, my favorite movie was Baby Boom, featuring Diane Keaton as a fancy New York City businesswoman who inherited a distant relative’s daughter, moved to the ‘country’ (well, Connecticut) and learned to can applesauce. I’ve never quite approached fancy businesswoman status, and I’ve yet to can anything, but last week I moved to Lafayette, Indiana, after years of living and working on the east coast, and I can’t help thinking that seven-year-old-me would approve. The so-called good life is bound to be easier here, with no dirty subways, crowded commutes, tiny railroad apartments or exorbitant rents, right? Or will I perish for lack of constant movement, new faces and ample vegetarian restaurants? I suppose I’m about to find out. More »

City Mouse Vs. Country Mouse: The City Really Can Change Your Brain

City Mouse Vs. Country Mouse: The City Really Can Change Your Brain

So you’re living in NYC, and you just can’t understand why your friends visiting from rural Ohio seem so overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of the place. Or maybe you’re living the good life in small town, U.S.A., and you wish your city friends who came to visit could just chill out and relax for 97 seconds. Are these sort of differences between city and country temperaments all in your head? Well, yes — but that doesn’t mean you’re making them up: It turns out urban brains really do behave differently from rural ones. More »

Health Junkies: We Want You To Get Involved In City Planning

Health Junkies: We Want You To Get Involved In City Planning

I always cringe when I hear self-proclaimed health junkies say that they’re “not political,” or when I realize that they spend all their time learning the landscape of their gym, instead of contemplating the layout of their city. Why? If health care debates don’t make it obvious: Health is political. And it’s not all about health insurance, either: From the choices we have at Whole Foods to the quality of city parks and recreation, our day-to-day health depends on laws, regulations, and government budgets. It also depends on good city planning and design. So all you health junkies out there: We want you on city council, stat. More »