Your Tax Dollars at Work: Beware of Hippie-Toothpaste-Squeezing Terrorists

Filed Under All Posts, Environment, Prudence Baird, Travel | 6 Comments

The middle aged mom and her long-haired teenaged son snaked their way through the security line at Bob Hope International.  A short, dark haired woman stuffed into her TSA uniform bellowed, “Gels and liquids to the left!  Everyone else, straight!”

The mom heaved their overnight bag onto the examination table, unzipped it, and presented the regulation zip-locked baggie to TSA II, a grizzled man with spectacles flecked with bits of skin and lint.  He gripped it between latexed finger and thumb and examined the tiny shampoo bottle from a long-forgotten hotel and the almost empty tube of Tom’s of Maine Silly Strawberry Toothpaste for Kids, crumpled and rolled within an inch of its life.  Read more

Have Praise House Will Travel

Filed Under All Posts, Melissa Howden, Travel | 8 Comments

I am not entirely sure that this is true but I would wager a guess that any doctor would say that it is physically impossible for the heart to expand at the same time you are gasping for breath. But I am here to tell you it is possible, not an entirely comfortable or peaceful state, but telling in its own way.

Not that long ago I went to the 60th birthday celebration of my beloved Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir. Specializing in the soul survival music of the African diaspora in the Americas—I’ve seen the choir perform many, many times in their 18 years (most memorably at my 50th birthday celebration last year—one of the greatest nights of my life). A “riff whisperer” with an encyclopedic knowledge of her material, Linda and the CHC always have the effect of expanding the collective heart in the room, raising it up and leaving you gasping for breath at the same time. Read more

Come Fly With Me: Travel Tips

Filed Under All Posts, Group Posts, Travel | 6 Comments

The days of Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) have become the days of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and stylish stewardesses (AKA flight attendants) have come and gone. With today’s travel more of a challenge than a delight, we gals at Fifty is the New… thought we’d share some travel dos and don’ts to help make the journey more comfortable, stylish and hassle-free.

Got tips? Share your own travel advice in the Comments section! Read more