Faye Brown Sought Freedom from Prison. Ultimately, Nothing but the Coronavirus Could Get Her Out

Monday, May 25, 2020 Shawwal 2, 1441 AH

Doha today 280 - 380

Cover Free, in death Story Faye Brown sought freedom from prison. Ultimately, nothing but the coronavirus could get her out. P4-5

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Del Rey wants freedom of Take care, expression without judgement. caregivers. Page 15 Page 16 2 GULF TIMES Monday, May 25, 2020 COMMUNITY ROUND & ABOUT

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USEFUL NUMBERS Gossip Girl (Leighton Meester) is the toast of the adolescent population DIRECTION: Stephanie Savage, Josh Schwartz of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, envied by her friends and the CAST: Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Chace adversary of many fellow rich girls. Crawford, Kelly Rutherford, Ed Westwick Her ideal world begins to collapse, however, when her SYNOPSIS: Gossip Girl, a ruthless and mysterious ex-best friend, Serena Vander Woodsen (Blake Lively) freshly blogger reveals secrets about privileged teens living on the excluded from her previous boarding school, enrols at Blair’s Upper East Side of New York. The beautiful Blair Waldorf private school. Emergency 999 Worldwide Emergency Number 112 Kahramaa – Electricity and Water 991 Local Directory 180 International Calls Enquires 150 Hamad International Airport 40106666 Labor Department 44508111, 44406537 Mowasalat Taxi 44588888 Qatar Airways 44496000 Hamad Medical Corporation 44392222, 44393333 Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation 44845555, 44845464 Primary Health Care Corporation 44593333 44593363 Qatar Assistive Technology Centre 44594050 Qatar News Agency 44450205 44450333 Q-Post – General Postal Corporation 44464444

Humanitarian Services Office (Single window facility for the repatriation of bodies) Ministry of Interior 40253371, 40253372, 40253369 Good Girls themselves by robbing the local grocery store. But when the Ministry of Health 40253370, 40253364 DIRECTION: Jenna Bans manager catches a glimpse of one of them and the loot is far Hamad Medical Corporation 40253368, 40253365 CAST: Christina Hendricks, Retta, Mae Whitman more than they expected, it doesn’t take long for the three Qatar Airways 40253374 SYNOPSIS: When three suburban moms get tired of best friends to realise the perfect getaway will be harder than trying to make ends meet, they decide it’s time to stick up for they think.

ote Unquo Qu te “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” — William Shakespeare

Community Editor Kamran Rehmat Friends SYNOPSIS: Rachel Green, Ross Over the course of ten years, this e-mail: [email protected] DIRECTION: David Crane, Marta Geller, Monica Geller, Joey Tribbiani, average group of buddies goes through Telephone: 44466405 Kauffman Chandler Bing and Phoebe Buffay are massive mayhem, family trouble, past Fax: 44350474 CAST: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney six 20 something year-olds, living off and future romances, fights, laughs, Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, of one another in the heart of New York tears and surprises as they learn what it Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer City. really means to be a friend. Monday, May 25, 2020 GULF TIMES 3 BODY & MIND COMMUNITY How much protection do face masks offer against Covid? Face masks combined with other preventive measures, such as frequent hand-washing and social distancing, help slow the spread of the disease

an face masks help cloth masks and N95 masks have prevent the spread of different purposes, both are intended coronavirus disease 2019 to slow the spread of Covid-19. A (Covid-19)? cloth mask is worn to help protect Yes, face masks others in case the wearer has the Ccombined with other preventive virus. An N95 mask helps protect the measures, such as frequent hand- wearer from getting the virus from washing and social distancing, help others. slow the spread of the disease. Countries that required face So why weren’t face masks masks, testing, isolation and social recommended at the start of the distancing early in the pandemic pandemic? At that time, experts seem to have had some success didn’t yet know the extent to which slowing the disease’s spread. people with Covid-19 could spread Common sense also suggests that the virus before symptoms appeared. some protection is better than Nor was it known that some people none. But wearing a cloth face have Covid-19 but don’t have mask will lose any value unless it’s any symptoms. Both groups can combined with frequent hand- unknowingly spread the virus to washing and social distancing. others. Cloth masks are cheap and These discoveries led the Centres simple to make. Instructions are for Disease Control and Prevention Surgical mask easy to find online. Masks can be (CDC) to do an about-face on made from common materials, such face masks. The CDC updated its as sheets made of tightly woven guidance to recommend widespread cotton. The CDC website offers use of simple cloth face coverings directions for no-sew masks made to help prevent transmission of from bandannas and T-shirts. Covid-19 by people who have the Cloth masks should include virus but don’t know it. multiple layers of fabric. Some public health groups argue that masks should be reserved for How to wear a cloth face mask healthcare providers and point to Cloth face masks should be worn the critical shortage of surgical in public settings where social masks and N95 masks. The CDC distancing measures are difficult to acknowledged this concern when maintain, such as in grocery stores, it recommended cloth masks for especially in areas of significant the public and not the surgical and community-based transmission. N95 masks needed by health care Here are a few pointers for putting providers. on and taking off a cloth mask: 1. Place your mask over your How do the different types of mouth and nose. masks work? 2. Tie it behind your head or use ear loops and make sure it’s snug. Surgical masks: N95 mask 3. Don’t touch your mask while Also called a medical mask, a wearing it. surgical mask is a loose-fitting 4. If you accidentally touch your disposable mask that protects the mask, wash or sanitise your hands. wearer’s nose and mouth from 5. Remove the mask by untying it contact with droplets, splashes or lifting off the ear loops without and sprays that may contain germs. touching the front of the mask or A surgical mask also filters out your face. large particles in the air. Surgical 6. Wash your hands immediately masks may protect others by after removing your mask. reducing exposure to the saliva and 7. Regularly wash your mask respiratory secretions of the mask with soap and water in the washing wearer. machine. It’s fine to launder it with At this time, the Food and other clothes. Drug Administration has not approved any type of surgical mask Finally, here are a few face mask specifically for protection against precautions: the Covid-19 virus, but these masks 1. Don’t put masks on anyone may provide some protection when who has trouble breathing, or is N95 masks are not available. unconscious or otherwise unable to Cloth mask remove the mask without help. N95 masks 2. Don’t put masks on children Actually a type of respirator, an particles. The name indicates are intended to be disposable. Cloth masks under 2 years of age. N95 mask offers more protection that the mask is designed to However, researchers are testing While surgical and N95 masks are 3. Don’t use face masks as a than a surgical mask does because block 95% of very small particles. ways to disinfect N95 masks so in short supply, cloth masks are more substitute for social distancing. – it can filter out both large and small Like surgical masks, N95 masks they can be reused. accessible and reusable. Although Mayo Clinic News Network/TNS 4 GULF TIMES Monday, May 25, 2020 COMMUNITY COVER STORY Twist of fate In a classic example of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, Faye Brown found her life upended on a murder charge she came to resent. She came this close to being released in 2009 but the court overruled. Coronavirus finally let the soul out 44 years later

It was that one time in your life when you feel like you’re finally getting ready to live your life again

— Faye Brown, convict who turned to teaching, working as a hairstylist after ‘ being denied a second chance ’

SO NEAR....YET SO FAR: Faye Brown, centre, listens as special deputy Attorney General Tiare Smiley questions North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women superintendent, Kenneth Royster during a hearing in a Wake County courtroom on December 11, 2009.

“Like most of my fellow North By Josh Shaffer Carolinians, I believe life should mean life, and even if a aye Brown was a quiet, stoic woman who rose each morning in life sentence is defined as 80 a Raleigh prison, pulled on a pair of dress slacks and walked out years, getting out after only the gates to catch a city bus — her routineF for years. 35 is simply unacceptable” At age 67, she had earned enough trust to work each day as a teacher and hair stylist at Sherill’s school of cosmetology, carrying a — Ex-Governor Beverly Perdue pair of scissors though she was serving a life sentence for murder and bank robbery. At the end of each day, she caught the bus back to prison, where the younger inmates Monday, May 25, 2020 GULF TIMES 5 COVER STORY COMMUNITY

considered her a grandmother — an “She didn’t show a lot of emotion,” older, wiser prisoner who loved Cowart recalled. “She was always peppermint candy and held a vain kind and pretty reserved.” Then the hope she would be free one day. Supreme Court shut the door for She always admitted walking good in 2010, and Brown returned to into a Martin County bank in her bunk at NCCIW. 1975, carrying a loaded pistol and “She took her clothes off and she stuffing money into her purse. But put a prison dress on with a pair of she always resented the murder thermals,” Wells remembered. “She charge. As the robbers fled, Brown’s put a hair wrap around her hair, accomplice Joseph Seaborn hid in crawled up in her bed, read a book the back seat of their getaway car, and cried.” and when a state trooper pulled Brown beat cancer twice while in them over, he fired a sawed-off prison, Humphrey said. shotgun through the window, She recovered, but in her waning killing Trooper Tom Davis. days, she showed signs of weakness. “She always said she didn’t Her legs would give out. want to die here,” said Pamela Once the virus broke out across Humphrey, her friend at North its prisons, the state granted early Carolina Correctional Institution release to roughly 640 prisoners. As for Women. “She’d say ‘Pam, we they protested earlier this month, ain’t going to die here.’ She never Brown’s friends said they remain gave up hope.” in contact with people inside, and She came close in 2009, but was they report no efforts at social stopped by the North Carolina distance with inmates sleeping a Supreme Court the next year. On few feet apart. May 8, however, Brown kept her Brown was hospitalised April 19, promise, technically. She died in TRIBUTE: A sign and flowers, seen here May 9, 2020, sit in front of the N.C. Correctional Institution for Women sign in one day after testing positive for the a Raleigh hospital from Covid-19 memory of Faye Brown, a 67-year-old inmate who died of Covid-19 complications there on Wednesday, May 6. virus. Friends at the prison said she complications — the first casualty at did not return. the Raleigh prison, which has seen a month to visit her sister on justices held that the state was found Brown and her accomplices “Any death is deeply saddening, upward of 90 coronavirus cases, weekends. obligated to apply credits for good hiding in a soybean field with their and we continue to work hard to according to the North Carolina She steered the young inmates behaviour toward his sentence. weapons and stolen money. deal with Covid-19 in our prisons,” Department of Public Safety. toward school programmes, told This ruling cleared the way for “Trooper Davis did not get a Todd Ishee, Commissioner of Twenty former inmates recently them not to cross the correctional other prisoners convicted between second chance,” he wrote. “So why Prisons, said in a news release. “The gathered outside the Southeast officers and warned them on which 1974 and 1978 — including Faye should Faye Brown get one?” safety and health of the staff and Raleigh prison decrying her death prisoners to avoid if they wanted Brown — when a life sentence Emily Cowart, then an attorney the offenders in our custody remain and protesting crowded conditions. to keep from trouble, said Christy meant 40 to 80 years. with North Carolina Prisoner Legal our top priority.” Inside, Humphrey and others Wells, her friend and former bunk Brown prepared for release, but Services, recalled Brown as soft- Humphrey added a more personal waved to them, making heart mate at NCCIW. Governor Beverly Perdue ordered a spoken and insightful, calm despite eulogy. “She was a classy lady and shapes with their hands. Then in 2009, after 33 years in halt on releasing 20 inmates serving having so much on the line. a true friend in an atmosphere of “They told us her family was prison, Brown got a windfall that time for murder, rape and assault. As they arrived in Wake County friendlessness,” she said. “It seems there,” Humphrey said. “I don’t nearly freed her altogether. She came “Like most of my fellow North Superior Court, she was surprised that all the public wants to hear are know if we’re being told that to so close to officially leaving that she Carolinians,” she said at the time, to see the room fill up with the negatives. And yet they funnel appease us.” made it out the gate and into the “I believe life should mean life, and spectators in black robes, all from thousands and thousands and Brown grew up in Garysburg, a parking lot before being called back. even if a life sentence is defined as Brown’s cosmetology school. possibly millions to educate us so town of 932 sitting a few miles from “It was that one time in your life 80 years, getting out after only 35 is “We were expecting the we don’t make mistakes again, and Roanoke Rapids. when you feel like you’re finally simply unacceptable.” courtroom to be packed with when we take advantage of those For a 2005 TV documentary, getting ready to live your life again,” The idea of freeing Brown, troopers,” Cowart said. “Instead, it we’re still condemned.” Women on Death Row, she told an said Wells. “I’m sorry. I’m going to regardless of her sentence or was a bunch of hair stylists.” As they protested, her friends interviewer that she came from a cry.” behaviour, rankled many statewide. Brown won her case in Superior on the outside wore T-shirts in large family of modest means, and In 2009, the North Carolina Willie Rogers, a retired highway Court on a Monday morning solidarity, each with a tribute in that she thrived in school, making Supreme Court ruled in favour of patrol sergeant in Goldsboro, wrote in December 2009, and by that cursive: “Faye Finally Free.” — The valedictorian at her eighth-grade Bobby Bowden, a Fayetteville man a letter to the News & Observer Monday afternoon, the Court of News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)/ graduation. convicted of murder in 1975. The reminding readers of the day he Appeals ordered her to stay put. TNS Her attitude changed when her parents shifted her to a majority white school nearby, where she felt unwelcome and gave up studying. She found a bad crowd and drifted into drugs. On the morning of the robbery, she told the documentary crew, she had been up all night taking LSD, and she fell asleep in the front seat after exiting the bank. At his trial, Seaborn explained that he had fired the only shot, saying it was accidental. “I am truly sorry for your loss,” Brown said in the documentary. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Never meant to harm anyone, and I hope someday they will forgive me.” Convicted of murder in 1976, she initially got sent to death row. That got commuted to life in prison, and Brown began a bitter stretch in Raleigh, continuing her drug use and flouting the rules. It wasn’t until 1991, around the time of her mother’s death, that she began to change, according to a profile in the Worldwide Women’s Criminal Justice Network. She earned a bachelor’s degree PROTEST: A small group of former inmates and supporters from the N.C. Correctional Institution for Women gathered across the street from the facility to in prison, got certified to style protest prison conditions. Their friend, 67-year-old Faye Brown, died there of Covid-19 complications. They have argued for early release of nonviolent offenders hair and began teaching others and those within two years of finishing their sentences to prevent the spread of the virus, citing personal knowledge of the conditions that make social at Sherill’s. She got two passes distancing impossible. 6 GULF TIMES Monday, May 25, 2020 COMMUNITY TRAVEL Post coronavirus: Your next road trip may look like this

on how to sanitise your home, By Catharine Hamm many of which are applicable to the car: bit.ly/CDC clisinfecting. (Bleach or cleaning solutions with ew things having to bleaching agents should not be used do with travel will be on surfaces, such as carpeting, that unchanged in the post- are not colourfast.) coronavirus world, but 8. Pack plenty of charging cords of all the ways we travel, and perhaps external batteries Fthe all-American road trip may for electronic devices. If your be least affected – at least, from navigation system contains a regulatory standpoint. No one emergency calling, enable that as will tell you to wear a mask or take well, Connelly said. your temperature or demand blood 9. Read the fine print. work before you hit the road this Understand the lodging’s summer. cancellation rules. “Make sure the But questions abound about this hotel or rental property you book American institution, including has an ironclad refund policy,” whether it’s safe – at least, safer Clevlen said. “Major hotels seem than airline travel. to have been very reasonable, but Here’s what your road trip of the still ask.” Booking directly with future may look like. the hotel may spare you some back and forth with a third-party site if Is driving safer than flying? something goes wrong, he said. People are increasingly looking at car trips for their vacation plans, And now, for some good news according to data from MMGY In a year in which good news has Travel Intelligence in partnership been rare, here’s some: You’ll pay with the US Travel Association. significantly less for gasoline. Small In a survey taken April 17-22, 47% MUST HAVES: Pack masks and gloves for all riders, Winters said, and make provisions for hand washing/sanitiser. fluctuations in gas prices usually of respondents said they would Disinfectant wipes are a must. make little difference in your trip be more likely to travel by car, an costs, but this year is an exception. increase from 35% in data collected 3. Double-check whether 4. Pack masks and gloves for 7. Clean your car. About a third of April 4-11. the state you’re heading to all riders, Winters said, and make drivers clean the inside of their car One final, delicate topic: the For all travellers, safety is a has self-quarantine in effect. provisions for hand washing/ only about once a year, said Sheryl rest stop priority, and many are asking Although federal law cannot bar sanitiser. Disinfectant wipes are a Connelly, a futurist who studies Calling ahead to be sure your whether driving is safer than flying you from travelling to a state, must. global consumer trends for Ford favourite rest stop is open is a good these days. local authorities can require 5. Check in with your healthcare Motor Co., adding that the steering idea. You’ll also want to take an In terms of the coronavirus, self-quarantine for as long as provider, AAA suggests, especially wheel is generally four times dirtier occasional break and avoid driving probably, said Dr Robert Winters, 14 days. To check whether the if your passengers are older or have than a restroom. Besides that high- drowsy, which accounted for more a Southern California infectious state you’re planning to visit medical issues. touch point, clean safety belts, door than 100,000 accidents in 2019, disease specialist. has such a regulation, call the 6. Pack a cooler with drinks and handles and even the fob you use to according to the National Safety “If travelling with others in a car, state health authority from a snacks, including high-protein start the car. In the future, cars may Council. Further, the CDC notes one would assume you know the list provided by the CDC: bit.ly/ goodies that will not go bad, to have anti-microbial surfaces, she that many thousands of Americans person that is sitting next to you statehealthdepartments. reduce the number of stops. said. The CDC offers suggestions report “short sleep,” that is, getting and you know their health status,” less than seven hours a night. Winters said in an e-mail. Add to that the stress of recent “Car travel has to be safer than events that’s keeping us awake, and airline travel when you factor it’s a formula for falling asleep at the in controlled boarding/exiting wheel. processes, number of people on the So by all means, stop. Pull over. airplane, unknown health status of Take a snooze. But before using people on the flight, uncooperative the restroom, consider the grunge children sitting near you, etc.” factors. You need a restroom with In terms of crashes, planes are soap and hot water, two forceful safer. In 2019, about 39,000 people combatants against the coronavirus. died in automobile accidents, Create a restroom break kit for according to the National Safety each person travelling with you: Council. Airplane crashes caused small bars of soap, paper towels (for 257 deaths that year, according to drying and avoiding high-touch To70’s aviation review. handles), travel-size packs of toilet seat covers; include hand sanitiser Before you leave and wipes for when soap and water 1. Do your car’s regular pre-trip are not available. check – tires, especially – that If you are at a gas station, consider AAA recommends, noting that the restroom break after you pump getting stranded may have greater gas, and wash hands before and consequences because of reduced after. (If only pumping gas, gloves service. are a good idea. Dispose in the 2. Check conditions at your nearby trash containers, not on the destination to ensure that you’re ground.) not hitting a hot spot. The Centres Overreacting? Possibly. But in for Disease Control and Prevention this age of the coronavirus, we must offers a map that shows hot act as though our life depends on spots and provides data at bit.ly/ POSITIVE SIDE: When travelling with others, in a car at least one would assume you know the person that is sitting the precautions we take. coronavirus hotspots next to you and you their health status. – Los Angeles Times/TNS Monday, May 25, 2020 GULF TIMES 7 GARDENING COMMUNITY Poquito perfect in the pollinator garden Poquito Butter Yellow agastache delivers colour to the garden like a champion, writes Norman Winter

t may be called Poquito, which means a little, but I promise you in the case of Poquito Butter Yellow agastache it delivers colour Ito the garden like a champion. In September, this new hummingbird mint won the prestigious Classic City Award in University of Georgia Trials. The Garden Guy has been an agastache lover for well over 20 years and is quick to challenge growers and garden centres that fail to have them in production or for retail sale to the gardening public. Agastaches typically prove to be among the top five plants attracting bees, hummingbirds and butterflies all the while blooming all summer. I’ve longed for the yellow and orange selections to perform in the hot humid south and Poquito Butter Yellow fulfils that dream. In Penn State Trials it averaged 4.72 on a scale of 5. So, this hummingbird mint with DNA-leaning Western US, has knocked it out of the park in the East. Now, you may be wondering how Poquito is this hybrid agastache. Terra Nova Nurseries, the company of origin, suggests 10 inches in height, 15 inches in width and flower spikes at 13 inches. So it is compact and bushy. making it an incredible border plant with the taller blue selections like Blue Boa or Violet Vision. It obviously makes a dreamy PICTURESQUE: A drift of Poquito Butter Yellow agastache stands out in this combination with your favourite bed with coreopsis, echinacea and crocosmia. blue salvias – mine being Rockin Blue Suede Shoes. You will be happy to know that all midsummer will keep the plants at Son James is using them in large agastaches or hummingbird mints peak for the fall. mixed containers with Supertunia like Poquito Butter Yellow are not Vista Fuchsia petunia and Luscious on this menu. To grow yours select a Planting guide: Royale Cosmo lantana, creating a site in full sun for best blooming and Soil: Thrives in any well-drained, look that is riveting to say the least. to keep the plants better branched. even dry, soil. The Garden Guy is using them in Poquito Butter Yellow is cold Light: Needs full sun to thrive. proximity to Vermillionaire cuphea hardy from zones 5-10, meaning a Water: Enjoys average to low soil and Blue Boa Agastache. huge region can enjoy the fragrant moisture, will not tolerate prolonged With a garden full of salvias, foliage and blooms. The next wet or soggy conditions. pentas and agastaches, it took the item may be most critical in your Spacing: 2 to 3 feet apart hummers a little while to catch on happiness. The soil should be fertile Fertilising: Not required or to this new yellow version of the and well-drained. Wet feet will spell recommended. Overly fertile soils or hummingbird mint. I am thrilled to doom for the hummingbird mints conditions result in floppy growth. say that the Poquito Butter Yellow during the winter, so incorporate Winterising: No special winter has now reached the status of entree organic matter to loosen the soil or requirements; dry conditions in on the main hummingbird menu. plant on raised beds. You will want winter are preferred and foliage can The showy, butter-yellow flowers to space plants around 15 inches be left standing. draw lots of attention and it blooms apart. Maintenance and pruning: freely from June through September. Though the plant is drought Clean up old foliage in late winter or Its compact size makes it ideal for a tolerant, watering during prolonged early spring. mass planting in a perennial border dry periods does pay dividends or use it to create a bright, colourful with added flower production. If In the series there are also a container. you have an established clump, Poquito Orange, Poquito Dark Much of the Southeast is overrun feed with spring growth using a Blue and Poquito Lavender. AWARD-WINNING: Poquito Butter Yellow agatache is an award-winning by marauding deer laying waste light application of a slow-release Here’s hoping they are champs in hummingbird mint that will attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. to almost any flower in their path. fertiliser. Another application in University Trials too! – TNS 8 GULF TIMES Monday, May 25, 2020 COMMUNITY BOOK REVIEWS Recommended books to broaden your horizons - I

Samantha Power, former UN ambassador, author Quarantine by Eavan Boland “In the worst hour of the worst season / of the worst year of a whole people / a man set out from the workhouse with his wife.” I don’t know where I was when I read Eavan Boland’s poem Quarantine, but its first line stayed with me. Of course I didn’t anticipate that a pandemic would come along to give fresh resonance to a poem set during the Irish famine. But thanks to Boland, whom I began reading in university and who died in April, the lives and experiences of individuals often erased from history took centre stage. Mothers, grandmothers and young girls appeared, often in small moments. Boland rendered their voices and characters so vividly that I found them achingly familiar. What some labelled the “domestic” side of life, Boland made clear was simply life. She used her writing to convey the inherent dignity of individuals – especially those denied it in daily life.

f you currently feel confined, Richard Cohen’s 2016 book this book to any writer, whether opener: at the same time, geology, Philippe Sands, lawyer and reading can open up new acted as a tonic to me. It didn’t she is making a tentative beginning physics, intensely poetic prose in writer worlds. Authors and thinkers at make me more Russian, but it fired or reeling under the weight of her its descriptive passages, and a rich Why Be Happy When You this year’s Hay Festival Digital up my imagination. I have never own words. history of a place wrongly assumed Could Be Normal? by Jeanette recommend books to take you annotated a book so fiercely. I to have none. It is in its way a Winterson onI a journey. scribbled most of a short story on Simon Schama, historian perfect book and a trailblazer in This is one of the finest memoirs the blank pages at the back, and on The Ice: A Journey to environmental writing, and turned I’ve ever read, with the best title Hilary Mantel, novelist those at the front began my long- Antarctica by Stephen J Pyne me towards the kind of research ever. It introduced to me to worlds How to Write Like Tolstoy by contemplated Dullest Novel of the It was published in 1986 and and writing that eventually I had engaged with but understood Richard Cohen Nineteenth Century. I recommend for me was an extraordinary eye- produced Landscape and Memory. only inadequately. To address Monday, May 25, 2020 GULF TIMES 9 BOOK REVIEWS COMMUNITY Recommended books to broaden your horizons - I

sensitive personal matters with overseas work travels. My sisters anti-consumerist voice (no need highway by advertising billboards. about what was next, this book such humanity and generosity of and I raided his luggage and found to buy special things, make toys There again, the main characters nudged me to remember how lucky spirit caused me to revisit my own no toys, but discovered an Argos from rubbish) and includes the live complicated and rewarding I am. prejudices. Nothing is ever only catalogue. We had seen nothing best advice I’ve ever been given, lives full of agency and autonomy, quite what it seems. Like no other, like it before; there were no such which is to train your child as but also constrained by political Lisa Taddeo, author of Three this book helped me discover stores in Lagos. We were fascinated early as possible to relish apple and economic structures. My own Women a different voice of my own as that there was a book of things that and cheese because then you are work relies on data, rather than the The Little Virtues by Natalia I wrote East West Street. I feel you could buy, and that you could free to go anywhere without fuss. particulars of any one destiny, but Ginzburg eternal gratitude. buy everything from one shop. I’m in lockdown with that son I try to put respect and dignity at Natalia Ginzburg’s The Little We turned to the toy section and and his wife and their baby and the centre of what I do. Reading Virtues opened my eyes to the Jessie Burton, novelist found some items marked, which now I dream of the day that my these books was like seeing my way I thought about pain, to the The Book of Night Women by was proof Dad had been thinking granddaughter and I can safely set work in a mirror, starting with the understanding that my own pain Marlon James of us. The thought did count, and out on an adventure with our apple individual to reflect on the general. was microscopic in the grand When I was young, I studied buoyed by this, my sisters and I and cheese. It also taught me the deep power scheme. Of course that’s “self- Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. Sir began imagining, then playing out, of empathy, something that I have absorption 101”, but it was early Thomas Bertram was absent in skirmishes where we recruited Esther Duflo, economist tried to keep with me ever since. in life when I read Ginzburg and Antigua, but I remember feeling toys to form fearless imaginary Random Family by Adrian I felt my brain expand under her something more than the patriarch armies with which we waged war Nicole LeBlanc and Behind the Jon Sopel, news broadcaster quiet wisdom. I remembered was missing. Underneath Austen’s against each other. This involved Beautiful Forevers by Katherine The Tattooist of Auschwitz by only the wholeness of the book, pages was another novel, which three solid hours of intense battle Boo Heather Morris the masterpiece of it; it wasn’t might, once and for all, explain strategy, the suspension of belief I have devoted my life to the I have read a lot during this until I read it again, this time as a to me the roots of such English and the power of imagination. We study of poor people and how period of being by myself in wife and a mother, that I noticed wealth and power and give me attached narratives to those static they live their lives. Two books Washington DC, including The the tiny and giant eviscerations. more than a weak echo of the images, and it is all I have done that I read roughly at the same Tattooist of Auschwitz, which I There is a passage that begins: colony, this tropical state of mind. ever since. time, although they were written had picked up at an airport but “My husband died in Rome, in About a decade later, I found The at different times, have deeply hadn’t got around to reading. It the prison of Regina Coeli ... Book of Night Women by Marlon Polly Samson, novelist affected my perspective. Beginning really helped me put the privations Faced with the horror of his James, and my other education Your Baby & Child by in 1990, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc of Covid lockdown into context. I solitary death ... I ask myself if began. Set on a Jamaican sugar Penelope Leach spent 10 years immersed in the life suspect if I’d read it when it first this happened to us – to us, who plantation at the end of the 18th I’m thinking of another moment of an extended clan (the “random” came out I would have been moved bought oranges at Giro’s and went century, and seen through the eyes when it seemed I might never family in the title refers to the set by the terribleness and evil of for walks in the snow.” If you read of those who were forced to serve make it out of the house again. of connections people form with the setting, but the story is really it again and again, and then read it, it is one of the most expanding, Cornwall, a cottage in a dark friends, boyfriends, relatives) in about the indomitable nature of the joyful works that predated that lyrical, relevant novels I will ever hollow surrounded by woods in the the Bronx, New York. LeBlanc the human spirit, how even in the horror, which made the horror all read. hugger-mugger days following the writes about the lives of a cast worst of human circumstances the more horrific, you might hear birth of my first son, our horizon of interconnected characters, there is space for compassion and her say, as I do, that life is neck- Inua Ellams, poet hidden behind fat dark rain clouds, giving them a depth and a sense of a sliver of hope. I’m not sure this breakingly cold and sometimes The Argos catalogue November, mud, puddles, bitter tragedy that makes one think of the novel broadened my horizons but that’s what also makes it beautiful. I know how ludicrous this winds. The book that promised rich world of Balzac’s sprawling as I faced another day and another And you might feel, as I do, that seems, but context is everything. wider horizons then was Penelope novels. Katherine Boo writes about night without speaking to another Ginzburg is one of the best writers We were kids in Nigeria, my Leach’s Your Baby & Child. Hers lives in a slum of Bombay, hidden human in the flesh, as I felt cut who ever lived, who also died while father had just returned from his is such a sensible, reassuring, from the traveller on the airport adrift from my family and anxious she was living. – The Guardian 10 GULF TIMES Monday, May 25, 2020 COMMUNITY INFOGRAPHIC Monday, May 25, 2020 GULF TIMES 11 LIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE COMMUNITY Obesity may trigger mental fatigue

besity has been researchers administered an shown to put physical open-field test, which measures stress on the body speed and distance as the animals and researchers have move through a maze in a given now revealed that time frame and determine excessO weight may also cause physical exhaustion. mental fatigue. A novel object recognition “Although we were not fully test, which measures mental surprised by this finding, exhaustion by analysing the time this is the first study, to our the rats spend examining new and knowledge, to be reporting familiar objects, was given in the mental exhaustion in high-fat final week of the trial. diet-induced obese rats,” said Both rat groups gained weight study principal investigator during the trial, but the high- Chaya Gopalan from Southern fat diet group, not surprisingly, Illinois University— Edwardsville gained more than the control in the US. group. For the findings, published in Blood glucose levels fluctuated the FASEB Journal, researchers more in the high-fat diet group aimed to learn more about the as well. There was no significant onset of obesity and its impact on difference in the average glucose both physical and mental abilities levels or ketones between the two by studying two groups of rats. groups. One group was fed a high-fat According to the researchers, diet, and the other ate a standard the high-fat diet group performed diet for six weeks. poorly on the novel recognition The research team measured test when compared with the the rats› weight, blood glucose control group. and ketone levels twice a week. “One message from this study Ketones are chemicals made by is to avoid a high-fat diet, which the liver when there is not enough not only makes one become obese, insulin in the body to convert but also has consequences on glucose into energy. cognitive capability,” the authors In the fifth week, the wrote. – IANS

Aries Taurus Gemini March 21 — April 19 April 20 — May 20 May 21 — June 20

You’re filled with vitality today, Aries, which means you’re going to You may have gotten a financial boost lately in the form of some You’re almost certainly in a phase of psychological transformation, feel great about yourself! You’re less afraid of introducing yourself to sort of raise or reward, Taurus. The day ahead will make you realise Gemini, and you’ve recently seen major changes in your circle of people and making requests. With fewer doubts about everything, that more discipline and work is necessary if you want to continue friends and associates. Today provides an opportunity to assess just including yourself, you’re comfortable working smarter instead of prospering. While there’s no need for anxiety, it’s a good time for where you are and how far you’ve come. For instance, you could be harder. Try to notice what, specifically, is making you feel so good. putting together a strategy for the future and not just any old introduced to a new team that compels you to display your many That way, you can recreate the feeling tomorrow. strategy. Think airtight, waterproof, and fail-safe! talents. For an extrovert like you, this is right up your alley. Cancer Leo Virgo June 21 — July 22 July 23 — August 22 August 23 — September 22

You might feel a little worn out right now, Cancer, as if you haven’t If you’re in love, Leo, you’ll love today. You could plan for almost Virgo, you may feel a little tired and depressed over breakfast this been getting enough vitamins or rest. This isn’t the best time to anything from a little post-lockdown trip together (hopefully that morning. Domestic responsibilities sometimes overload your spirit. let your health falter! Maybe you feel like you’re losing track of day comes soon!) to a lifetime full of children and grandchildren. How about treating yourself to a short staycation? A little free time issues that are important to you, such as your children’s interrupted Even though your foresight sometimes eclipses your spontaneity, just for you? It’s vital for your morale! Take a safe walk and breathe education. Slow down a bit whether you or not want to. Today, give let yourself yield to the unexpected a little bit. The future will be a fresh air through your facemask. Use the time off to draw up a top priority to all the commonplace details of your daily life. bright contrast after the comparative gloom of the past few weeks. weekly schedule that will make your workload seem less daunting. Libra Scorpio Sagittarius September 23 — October 22 October 23 — November 21 November 22 — December 21

This would be a good day for sorting out your business, Libra. File Doctors are crazy busy during this horrible pandemic, Scorpio, but This should be a peaceful day for you, Sagittarius. Be sure to make important papers and get rid of extraneous materials cluttering up your you don’t have to be sick for a non-urgent conversation with your the most of it, because it’s the calm before the storm. Look forward home workspace. Making time for this now will save you even more health care provider. If you have questions about staying well or need to discussions and exchanges with colleagues or close friends. time in the long run. As for your love life, be expressive. Clear up any reassurance about your physical being, that’s why he or she is there! Today would be ideal for tightening some of your professional ties. old misunderstandings that could interfere with your pleasure? Even if Some self-care practices are just common sense, anyway. Get some Certain people might suddenly seem more reasonable than you social distance is a necessary evil. Above all, enjoy yourself! rest, eat a good breakfast, take a brisk walk, and face the day renewed. imagined them to be, so listen up! Capricorn Aquarius Pisces December 22 — January 19 January 20 — February 18 February 19 — March 20

Your heart is going pitty-pat, Capricorn, and you’re tempted to escape You may feel a stressed today as you try to figure out the best way of Your family side is powerfully charged today, Pisces. The more you to a fantasyland in which you play the starring role. The bad news getting to where you need to be, Aquarius. On one hand, the happy tune into this side of your nature, the happier you’ll be. One thing to is that something could be trying to hold you back. It could be that approach calls for you to let loose, be courageous, and strike out with watch out for, however, is keeping at least one foot on the ground responsibility is coming on the scene and reminding you that work conviction toward what means the most to you. On the other, duty at all times. Make sure that you’re working from a stable platform of needs to be done here in the real world before you can go off to your holds you back. Take the best of both worlds. Come up with your own honesty and practicality. Without it, taking down walls and putting in little fairytale world. It could also be two little words: social distancing. plan of attack. And this is all metaphorical because shelter-in-place! windows could be structurally unsound. 12 GULF TIMES Monday, May 25, 2020 COMMUNITY CARTOONS/PUZZLES

Wordsearch Adam

Pooch Cafe

ACTIVE BIRTH CONSCIOUS ESSENCE FLAME PRESENCE SELF SPARK SURVIVAL BEING BREATH CREATION EXISTENCE MIND PSYCHE SOUL SPIRIT VITAL

Codeword Every letter of the alphabet is used at least once. Squares with the same number in have the same letter in. Work out which number represents which letter.

Garfield Puzzles courtesy: Puzzlechoice.com courtesy: Puzzles

Sudoku

Bound And Gagged

Sudoku is a puzzle based on a 9x9 grid. The grid is also divided into nine (3x3) boxes. You are given a selection of values and to complete the puzzle, you must fill the grid so that every column, every anone is repeated. Monday, May 25, 2020 GULF TIMES 13 PUZZLES COMMUNITY

Super Cryptic Clues Colouring

Across Down 1 A hunt’s dog, perhaps! (9) 2 Stories about New Testament 8 Fruit swallowed by some gifts (7) Londoners (5) 3 Departing, I must leave to find 9 A lot of money to get a piece of medal (4) music? (7) 4 Compensation for not filming? 10 Call the band (4) (6) 11 Dreadful imp hears angels (8) 5 Dry man on oddly famous 13 Poor Annie’s crazy (6) landing place (8) 14 Backing team working for 6 Rose, perhaps, for former recording pioneer (6) president (4) 17 Damned ringleader framed by 7 Stopped being a detriment, one on trial (8) possibly (10) 19 Endure, after all the others (4) 8 A novelist drinks outside in the 21 Popular drink I had is flat (7) morning (6,4) 22 Annoyed Irish king - 12 Fearless one printed novel (8) extremely exasperated (5) 15 Second speaker - one 23 Coming by river is a daring engaged in stealthy pursuit (7) enterprise (9) 16 Interfere with award, by the sound of it (6) 18 Price paid for company’s time? (4) 20 Garment Christopher has left inside (4)

Solution Answers

Wordsearch Codeword 14 GULF TIMES Monday, May 25, 2020 COMMUNITY BOLLYWOOD Jeetendra on son Tusshar: I wasn’t even 1% of what he is as a father

there used to be just two shootings, played a cameo in her hit TV show By Natalia Ningthoujam we used to feel jobless. Now look Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Th how things have changed! People years ago. do one movie in a year. And they are “When you are young, you are eetendra, 78, says happy, comfortable and confident.” fond of watching films and then lockdown and age have He shared that even the pattern you want to act in films. I became made him realise that of releasing films has changed in an actor. My hobby became my when he was a busy actor, the country. profession. It is a very beautiful he missed out on spending “When a film released in Mumbai thing. But coming back at the age timeJ with his two children – son or Delhi, films didn’t release of 78... is not coming back,” said Tusshar Kapoor, who is an actor, simultaneously. There was a movie Bollywood’s “Jumping Jack”. and daughter Ekta Kapoor, a called Do Raaste. It was a very big He did notice a lot of changes, producer. hit of Rajesh Khanna. It was first but he believes that “change is a The veteran actor had a released in Mumbai and then in way of life”. quarantine special birthday with Delhi after 10 months. Can you “After every two years, there is his family last month. imagine? Now within two weeks, a new technology. Earlier TV was Talking about it with a smile, he everything is over,” he said. the craze. A lot of movies started told IANS: “That is my world.” In the last few years, Jeetendra coming on TV, too. Now it’s the As for coping with the ongoing was seen making appearances in OTT platform,” he said touching lockdown, he said: “I am into reality shows on television. As for upon the topic of filmmakers constructions now. I just have to the big screen, he featured in a song directly releasing films on OTT give instructions. I don’t have to go along with many of his friends in platforms. to keep the bricks and all. I don’t Om Shanti Om back in 2007. “The idea is to entertain people go out much for work. So, things He returned to acting with his in any form. OTT will grow by leaps haven’t changed much.” daughter Ekta Kapoor’s production, and bounds. It will become a way “But one thing I have learnt Baarish 2, which recently released of life. But the theatre will never go during lockdown is that when I was on ALTBalaji and ZEE5. It marked away. It has the charm of outing – a busy actor, I could not give much his debut in the digital world. going out to a place, the cafeteria, time to my children. I missed that.” “An actor is an actor. You keep meeting people there and enjoying Looking at Tusshar with his son a camera in front of him and tell a movie with a lot of people. See a makes him realise what he couldn’t him to act, he will act. But making movie alone and see a movie with a be. me act after such a long time was crowd, you will enjoy it differently,” “When I look at Tusshar, he amazing. Being a part of Balaji, it said Jeetendra. makes me proud. What a wonderful was like homecoming. The cast and He might not be making a father he is. I was not even one crew were very warm and friendly. I comeback on the big screen anytime percent of what he is. This is all the could see the amount of respect and soon, but his 1980 filmThe Burning realisation that has come with age love they had for me. I simply loved Train is being remade. and lockdown. After all, you learn the vibe on the set, full of positive “There was a time when I was till you go to your grave.” energy,” he said. only doing remakes – from Telugu Jeetendra had an active acting He did struggle a bit though, to Hindi and all,” he said, recalling career from the sixties to the coming back after all these years. a string of his biggest hits including nineties. There was a time when he “My memory side has gone for a Himmatwaala, Tohfa, Mawaali, would have nine releases in a year. full toss. I could not remember the Maqsad, Jeene Ki Raah, Jigri Dost Looking back at those days, the long lines properly. But the director and Khilona among many more. actor said: “You know how we used was so wonderful. He made me feel “So today when I see somebody to work? I come from a middle- comfortable,” he said. making a remake of my film, I think class background. I was so insecure. Did the experience prompt him the people making the remake are We used to start working from 7am to act more? “You should never say better judges than me. I am totally to 1pm at one place, then 1pm to no. You never know. Whenever Ekta disconnected from cinema. I cannot 5pm at another place then 6pm to has asked me, I have never said no pass a comment on this,” he added. 10pm at another place. Whenever to her,” said Jeetendra, who had also — IANS CLOSE-KNIT: Jeetendra, left, with son Tusshar Kapoor.

Madhuri: Candle exclusively on Facebook and (1988) and went on to star in the showcases glimpse Instagram. I hope you love it as top-grossing romantic dramas of my journey so far much as we enjoyed creating it! like Dil (1990), Beta (1992), Hum See Less.” Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994), and Dil Madhuri Dixit-Nene dons Madhuri, who has forayed into To Pagal Hai (1997). She was last many hats and one of them is the world of singing with Candle, seen on the big screen in the 2019 her beautiful voice. The actress says the single gives a glimpse of multi-starrer Kalank. has released her first single titled her journey so far. The actress, also a producer, Candle and it is like a ray of hope Speaking about the new is fondly known as Bollywood’s and inspiration amid the lockdown song, the actress said: “Candle dancing diva owing to her dancing owing to the coronavirus showcases a glimpse of my journey skills. pandemic. The video opens with a so far, which has been full of Before Bollywood stardom close shot of Madhuri, who croons surprises, struggles, celebrations happened, Madhuri worked in the number gracefully while being and soul-searching. But the the Rajshri Production TV series seated at her home. The frame one thing that ties this journey Paying Guest. On the small screen, keeps switching between Madhuri together is love and hope that she has also judged dance reality and snaps of deserted streets and everything happens for all the shows such as Jhalak Dikhhla markets across the world. right reasons.” Jaa and Dance Deewane, besides The video was shared by She hopes that Candle motivates hosting the matrimonial show Madhuri on her official social her fans to “stay strong and burn Kahi Na Kahi Koi Hai. Madhuri media page. She wrote, “Happy, brightly no matter what obstacles has also hosted the competitive excited & a little nervous! Here’s they face”. cooking game show, Food Food my first ever song, out for all of Madhuri grabbed the spotlight Maha Challenge, along with TALENTED: Madhuri Dixit-Nene has released her first single titled you to enjoy. #Candle out now with the action romance Tezaab Sanjeev Kapoor. — IANS Candle Monday, May 25, 2020 GULF TIMES 15 HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY

Lopez not thinking yet When I turned 40 I started losing my sight: Vergara about going back on sets Actress Sofia Vergara says she Actress-singer Jennifer Lopez is thinking about started losing her eyesight when safety first, instead of going back to working on she turned 40-years-old. sets. Vergara said she refused The Hollywood star says a lot of people are to wear glasses because she contemplating ways to go back to work safely after thought she looked old, reports the pandemic, but she has no clue how that would aceshowbiz.com. play out. “We all have to think about safety first. “When I turned 40, 41, 42, I You don’t want to create a situation where a bunch started losing my sight. It’s the of people could get sick or die,” Lopez told variety. normal thing that happens at com, asked when she would feel safe to go back to that age. I refused to wear glasses working on set. CAUTIOUS: Jennifer Lopez said: “We all have to think because I felt old. I was like, ‘No, “I think there are just going to have to be big about safety first.” I’m going to hold it. I don’t need procedures in place, whether it’s testing everybody them. I don’t need them’,” she before they get on a project and then tests the movie at their homes. “Someone came in and told people.com CREATIVE: Sofia Vergara has joined throughout production. I think crews for a while set up a camera and lights, and then left because of Vergara, who has joined hands hands with creatives at Foster Grant will be much smaller than they usually are. But social distancing. We had a Zoom call. I start doing with creatives at Foster Grant to to create a collection of reading and this is just me speculating because I have no idea. I the scene with Maluma and we’re hearing echoers create a collection of reading and sunglasses. know studios are working hard, TV and movies, on and we’re all like, ‘Everyone has to mute’. We were sunglasses, says she’s happier how to get back to work because so many people are just figuring it out as we go. We got through the with the glasses she has helped to create. out of work,” she added. scene. It’s going to be in the movie. It’s not the ideal “We’re going to have to use them no matter what at this age, so at least Lopez has been spending time in quarantine with way of filmmaking, but we got it done,” she added. use something that makes you look cute, not like you’re the little grandma.” her children and fiance Alex Rodriguez. Work is The film is currently in post-production. “Those little ones at the top of your nose make you look like a granny if keeping her busy amid the lockdown. She is looking “We were supposed to come out in the fall, but you’re reading or something. And I hate that. I prefer the ones that are bold forward to the fourth season of World Of Dance, and we don’t know if that will happen,” Lopez said. and already a statement, not tiny little things that sit on your nose.” finishing her upcoming romantic comedy Marry She had to shoot the finale of World of Dance The Modern Family actress says amid lockdown she has been reading a lot Me, in which she plays a pop star who is left at the without an audience because of Covid-19. more. wedding altar by her famous rocker husband-to- “I found it very tough. We were trying our best “Now that I am home reading so much more, I know how important they be (essayed by Maluma). She goes on to marry a to try to make it what it should have been for those are to so many of us. I also know a woman wants to feel good when wearing stranger (Owen Wilson). people who fought so hard to get there without an them, wherever she is. I wanted to offer fashionable, chic, fresh eyewear “It was me at home and Maluma in Colombia. We audience cheering them on and all that energy of all styles, allowing women to not just to see, but to see beautifully.” weren’t sure how it was going to work out,” Lopez those people. It was hard,” she said while recalling her The proceeds from sales will benefit Foster Grant’s RestoringVision said while recalling how they shot some portions of experience of shooting without an audience. – IANS charity. – IANS Del Rey wants freedom of expression without judgment

of colour) issue when I’m talking about my By Christi Carras favourite singers,” she wrote in response. “I could’ve literally said anyone but I picked my favourite … people.” inger-songwriter Lana Del Rey Del Rey’s Instagram moment comes defended herself last Thursday nearly two weeks after cookbook author after drawing criticism for a lengthy Alison Roman sparked a similar backlash by Instagram post name-checking insulting two women of colour with booming several female artists of colour. lifestyle brands: celebrity chef Chrissy Teigen SWhile many perceived the message – and celebrity organiser Marie Kondo. which named Doja Cat, Ariana Grande, Roman, whose popular New York Times Camila Cabello, Cardi B, Kehlani, Nicki cooking column has been put on hold, later Minaj and Beyonce – as a slight against her apologised for her remarks and acknowledged industry peers, Del Rey argued otherwise in her privilege as a white woman. the comment section. Later in her original post, Del Rey reflected “To be clear because I knowwwwww you further on being misunderstood by “female love to twist things,” Del Rey wrote. “I … writers and alt singers” who take issue with love these singers and know them. #that is the content of her songs. The Summertime why I mentioned them. I would also like to Sadness hit-maker is known for exploring have some of the same freedom of expression dark themes, such as depression and without judgment of hysteria. There you go.” domestic violence, in her work – and for In her original missive, the Norman F — sparring with music critics, most notably ing Rockwell mastermind reacted to sceptics NPR’s Ann Powers. who say her music is “glamorising abuse,” “I haven’t had the same opportunity to writing, “Now that Doja Cat, Ariana, Camila, express what I wanted to express without Cardi B, Kehlani and Nicki Minaj and Beyonce being completely decimated,” Del Rey have had number ones with songs about reiterated in the comments. “And if you want being sexy, wearing no clothes, cheating, to say that has something to do with race etc – can I please go back to singing about that’s your opinion but that’s not what I was being embodied, feeling beautiful by being saying. in love even if the relationship is not perfect, “This is the problem with society today, or dancing for money – or whatever i want not everything is about whatever you want it – without being crucified or saying that I’m to be. It’s exactly the point of my post – there glamorising abuse???????” are certain women that culture doesn’t want While many praised Del Rey for speaking to have a voice it may not have to do with race her mind, several others wondered why she I don’t know what it has to do with. I don’t chose to single out mostly women of colour, care anymore but don’t ever ever ever ever … accusing her of trampling on their success. call me racist because that is (false).” MIFFED: Lana Del Rey hits back at social media critics asking not to be called a racist. “Bro. This is sad to make it about a (women – Los Angeles Times/TNS 16 GULF TIMES Monday, May 25, 2020 COMMUNITY Take care, caregivers Certified Personal Trainer Xiomara Henriquez urges women to be physically active while staying at home

By Mudassir Raja “As women, we are often the he role of a woman at home is often more caregivers of of a caregiver for the rest of the family. the household. The responsibility of manyT women may have increased If we don’t manifold as people are stuck at home because of the Covid-19 take time to pandemic. It has become increasingly love and care important for women to be active, fit and healthy in order to be able for ourselves, to take care of their loved ones at home. They need more physical it becomes activity and exercises to keep them mentally strong. difficult to do Xiomara Henriquez is woman carrying a diverse set so for others. of qualifications. She has a university degree in biology Working with minor in chemistry. She also has certified qualification out at home in emergency medical services and clinical lab sciences. “I have gives you the always been enthusiastic about health, sports, and fitness. As a opportunity to young girl, I played volleyball and basketball; and at university I be active with began taking courses on strength training. I am a certified WBFF your family. It’s (World Beauty Fitness Fashion) fitness professional competitor; another way to and have competed in shows within the USA, Canada, and bond and spend UK. In 2016, I was ranked among the top 10 at WBFF Worlds and time together” WBFF European Championship competitions in the category — Xiomara of ‘Fitness Diva-Masters’. I am featured in online fitness training Henriquez videos for Udaya (packages available at https://udaya.com/ teaching proper exercise form during this pandemic. For our fitness/ under the “General and techniques, discussing mental and physical well-being, Fitness and Barre” category).” nutrition, and demonstrating it is important to stay active. Xiomara carries practical how to increase mobility/ Incorporating physical activity can experience as a certified personal flexibility through stretching. benefit you in the following ways: trainer, pre and post-natal trainer, I believe it is important that a 1. Boost your immune system. fitness nutrition specialist, health and fitness programme 2. Reduce fat. functional exercise trainer, include exercises that enhance 3. Increase your metabolism to and corrective exercise trainer. stability, mobility, and strength help burn calories. “Additionally I have eight years of at the same time. With guidance, 4. Reduce stress and anxiety. experience in aerial fitness. I help clients develop the skills to take 5. Increase your energy levels. clients improve their activities ownership of their health and be 6. Help you get quality sleep. of daily living. Since moving to a leader in advocating for their 7. Reduce daily body aches and Qatar four years ago, I’ve been well-being. All programmes are tension. instructing aerial fitness and customised to fit each person’s 8. Help improve mental clarity. functional strengthening classes goals, lifestyle, schedule, and 9. Help create a support system for Yama Yoga Studios, training equipment availability.” to achieve your goals. clients for a reputed hotel in Doha, In general around the world, 10. Set a positive example for and offering private training to women tend to stay at home your family and friends to become clients in their residential gym.” most of the time. Since the novel active. The fitness trainer has also coronavirus outbreak event, the “As women, we are often the resorted to online sessions due working women are also confined caregivers of the household. If we to the stay-at-home norm. “As to home. The female fitness don’t take time to love and care many of us are spending more trainer believes it is necessary for for ourselves, it becomes difficult time at home, I offer one-to-one women folk to be physical active to do so for others. Working out at consulting and training sessions to have mental strength and better home gives you the opportunity online. These sessions include, immunity. “I would like to take a to be active with your family. It’s but not limited to, me guiding moment to speak to women who another way to bond and spend FITNESS: Xiomara believes that for our mental and physical well-being, it is clients through their workout, find themselves at home more time together.” important to stay active.