TNJ Life

At a time when musicality and training among vocalists and musicians may not be as celebrated as in the past, when music education and arts-appreciation programs in schools have been annihilated, one may well wonder how jazz will survive in the 21st century.

A secret destination, Uruguay has a World Heritage site, a plethora of beaches, thermal spas, working guest ranches, friendly people and a tranquil ambiance that is hard to find in today’s frantic world.

Every year, for five days at the beginning of September, Brooklyn, N.Y., becomes the scene of one of the state’s biggest, most electrifying cultural extravaganzas as Caribbean-Americans literally take to the streets.

Throw away your scale. Too many of us get caught up in the ritual of daily weighing, fretting over the gain or loss of a pound or two.

It looks lively for a class that started with dead women. It’s 6 p.m. on a Tuesday, the end of a workday for most people. But more than 50 women trickling into the gymnasium at Weeping Willow AME Zion Church on Milton Road, in Charlotte, N.C., are charged up and ready to go.

When the original Tavern on Nostrand closed last October, local residents Michael Pratts, M.D., and Niles Stewart lamented the “void” in the community.

In Part 2 (“Fit + Fabulous”) of their book The Black Woman’s Guide to Healthy Living (Time Inc. Home Entertainment, 2008), the editors of Essence magazine present top fitness strategies for women in their 20s, 30s 40s, and in their 50s and beyond.

It’s one thing to bump into your favorite music artists as they slip backstage for a concert or sprint from their limos. But a chance meeting in a hot tub? Or at the breakfast buffet? Or on a horseback riding trail?