Nice Day for a Green Wedding
By Andi McDaniel
If you’d asked me in college whether I would consider wearing a traditional white gown with a train to my future wedding, I would have arched my brow, put my hands on my hips, and scoffed, “You have got to be kidding.” What planet- and self-respecting modern woman would be (continue reading...)

Celibate Good Times
By Dani Katz
“Are you sex positive?” Assigned the topic by the editors of this magazine, I asked every person I knew, and a few more I didn’t. Nobody knew what it meant, let alone if they were or not. And — aside from some vague notions involving Tantric eye gazing, three-ways (continue reading...)

The Marrying Kind
Conversations — By Rachel Dowd
At 5:01pm on June 16, 2008, Robin Tyler and Diane Olson made history. Four years after they had filed a lawsuit for the right to marry with the California Supreme Court, they became the first same-sex couple in Los Angeles County to tie the knot. When a reporter asked where (continue reading...)

Cupid’s Call
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Bestowing your beloved with chalky, heart-shaped candies and short-lived long-stemmed roses is hardly the best way to say “you rock my world.” This Valentine’s Day, surprise your sweetie with a heartfelt gift that will nourish body, mind and soul. (continue reading...)

Night of the Living Dead
On Our Radar —
New flat screen TVs are in, so cathode-ray tube clunkers are out — especially since TV stations will stop sending out analog signals come February 17. But a nationwide boob tube swap out could spell an environmental disaster if old TVs are sent to landfill graves en masse. Analog TVs (continue reading...)

Peace, Lovin’ and Happiness
On Our Radar —
Looking for love in all the wrong places? Fear not, dateless one. Cupid is striking the warrior pose and launching love arrows from his laptop this Valentine’s Day. New cyberdating spot Gaia Soulmates (soulmates.gaia.com) aims to hook people up with a more meaningful matchmaking service, connecting singles with shared (continue reading...)

Get Active!
On Our Radar —
Feeling red with anger this Valentine’s Day? Sure, there’s a lot to be peeved about. You’re probably thinking about all those virgin rainforests being cut down for throwaway V-Day cards. Or cringing about the absurd amounts of pesticides dumped into waterways for long-stemmed roses that will only last four days. (continue reading...)

What Counts?
On Our Radar — Compiled by Jenny Rough
2,600: People who die in car crashes each year in the United States due to talking or texting on their cell phones (another 330,000 are injured). 80: Percentage of accidents that occur within three seconds of a driver distraction. 7: Number of states — Alaska, California, Connecticut, Louisiana, (continue reading...)

Urban Essentials
Urban Essentials — By Andrea Manitsas
Open Up And Say Raw You don’t have to live near one of Café Gratitude’s abounding Bay Area eateries to enjoy the indulgence of having their raw, vegan chocolates delivered right to your doorstep. The small box comes complete with two handmade Caramel Cups and two Coconut Fudge Snowballs. But (continue reading...)

Off the Mat, Between the Sheets
Healthy Living — By Kate Hanley
You already know yoga can give you greater flexibility, better muscle tone, a surefire way to release stress and maybe even enlightenment. But better sex? Really? Yoga offers myriad physical and emotional benefits that add up to more fun between the sheets and a more fulfilling, meaningful sexual relationship with (continue reading...)

Partner Yoga
Healthy Living :: Yogapedia — By Julia Levitt
Background: We often put a lot of pressure on our relationships, setting a high bar for how we look and act, and obsessing over how to keep our loved ones and ourselves healthy and happy. This Valentine’s Day, why not try breaking new ground? Get close to someone you care (continue reading...)

Hibiscus for High Blood Pressure
Healthy Living :: Body Talk — By Elizabeth Barker
Sipping hibiscus tea may help tame high blood pressure, recent research from Tufts University suggests. For six weeks, a group of adults with mildly elevated blood pressure drank three cups of the tart tea or a placebo drink daily. By the end of the study, tea-taking participants had significantly lowered (continue reading...)

Romancing the Gorge
Healthy Living :: Tastebuds — by Amy Pennington
Ah, February. The month for lovers when red becomes the new black and folks everywhere start making dinner reservations at their favorite restaurant for Valentine’s night. I never was one to thoroughly embrace the sweet holiday of Valentine’s Day. There is something so overly sappy to me about all (continue reading...)

Sweet!
Healthy Living :: The Mindful Menu — By Mani Niall
More than a few years ago, I spent a summer in England as a private chef for a family with five children. Those kids could eat a lot of cookies, so I did a lot of baking. Rather than using as the primary sweetener in these treats the standard American (continue reading...)

Hot For Teacher
Tune In — By Carly Milne
Sure, love comes naturally. But sometimes, a little extra help in the arts of seduction can mean all the difference between a pleased smile and all-out blissful exhaustion. We don’t have to guess which one you’d prefer. And while we’re all for sexual expression and exploration, (continue reading...)

The Age of Uncertainty
Prophet Motive — by Daniel Pinchbeck
Recently, I have taken as my personal mantra the not very transcendent phrase, “I don’t know.” The list of things I feel unsure about seems to be steadily increasing. For instance, I don’t know if our solipsistic species will survive much longer, and sometimes I am not even sure how (continue reading...)

Reviews
Art & Soul —
Food, they say, is an emotional topic — and nowhere is this fact of life more evident than in the constant controversy surrounding genetically modified foods. Heralded by some as a cure-all for hunger in the developing world and (continue reading...)

All You Need is Like
From the Editor —
I have a longstanding fascination with couples who have been together for an extended amount of time — and still appear to genuinely enjoy each other. They seem to be a rare find these days, so when I encounter this endangered phenomenon (on vacation, in an elevator, in line at (continue reading...)

Jill Andersen
People In Your Neighborhood —
At age twelve, Jill Andersen joined the working world in an effort to support her habit. “I was consumed by shopping,” admits Andersen, whose weaknesses at the time included Esprit, Guess and Generra. “I can remember even as a kid I was always really into clothing.” Decades later, the brands (continue reading...)

Hello, My Name Is...
Life, the Universe and Everything — By Kristy Lund
My co-worker, originally from India, blushes as he asks, “Do you know what your last name means in Hindi?” “No,” I answer. Could it be the name of a flower? Or perhaps artistic one? I muse. “Well,” he replies, staring at his feet, “I don’t know (continue reading...)