How I Learned to Stop Hating and Embrace My Fat Selfie

I ran my first 5K a couple of weekends ago. I know a lot of people run 5Ks, so whatever, but as a fat woman who has a complicated relationship with exercise, this was a big deal for me. Over the past year or so I’ve discovered what I call fatboards—Facebook groups and blogs that promote size acceptance and a body-love movement called Health at Every Size. On many of them, fat women (and occasionally men) post photos of themselves finishing marathons, trying on new clothes, lifting weights, maki

Photo bombs

Why do we feel such anxiety when we see pictures of ourselves? You get a Facebook notification. Someone's tagged you in a photo. Cold, terrible dread spreads from your belly to your throat. And there it is, all your fears realized: the quadruple chin. The lazy eye. The weird thing your arm is doing. The snarl on your face that should've been a smile, and would've been a smile if the picture had been taken a second sooner. Daisy, from Hoosick Falls, puts it like this: "I've seen some [pictures

Capital Region grownups are coloring -- and loving it

Capital Region grownups are coloring -- and loving it Admit it. Whenever the waitress hands the kid at the table next to you an activity mat and crayons, you feel a little jealous. Right? Those big empty spaces between thick, black lines, just begging to be filled in with strokes of red Crayola. Just thinking about it now makes us want to go out and get a box of coloring pencils. Next month, the Guilderland Public Library is hosting an adult coloring night as part of their adult craft series.

A standup comedy first-timer overcomes stage fright

A standup comedy first-timer overcomes stage fright with the help of a bit of gin I'm standing on a little stage, my hands clasped on an empty microphone stand, at the Mop and Bucket Improv Theatre Company in Schenectady. I'm trying out the jokes I just wrote for the Ladies of Laughter standup comedy competition, just one week away. One of MopCo's directors, Michael Burns, had actually inspired the very joke he was suggesting I don't open with. "Turn your stage fright into energy," he'd said on

My Word: Confessions of a webochondriac

Do you know what a heart attack feels like? I don’t. I’m just wondering if you do so you can tell me. Ask the Internet and it’ll tell you that a heart attack feels like everything. It literally feels like every symptom you can ever have. Stomach pain, chest pain or pressure, nausea, heartburn. Acid reflux. Dizziness. It feels like pain or numbness in your arms, elbows or wrists. Throat pain, jaw pain, back pain. It feels like fatigue. It feels like breathlessness. It feels like sweating. A feel

How to tweet the presidential debate without getting lost

How to tweet the presidential debate without getting lost Local tweeters talk about how they manage social media during elections It happens every election cycle. I get so excited for the debates — and the social-media cacophony surrounding them — that I miss half of what the candidates are saying. There I am, drinking my debate wine, laughing at Twitter with my mouth full of debate Buffalo wings, and next thing I know I don't even hear it when Donald Trump says, "I have a winning temperament."

Block Party: Saratoga Mineral Springs

The healing powers of the Saratoga Springs are well-documented. People claim the mineral water piped into several fountains throughout Saratoga has helped them with everything from morning sickness to gout. I consider myself a prime candidate for gout — I eat a lot of butter and drink a fair amount of wine. Plus, I like fizzy water, so I figured I had a win-win situation on my hands. So my husband and I headed to Congress Park. We're there. The gazebo. The old urn-looking spring thing. A bench.

Gloversville tanneries fade away, but illness remains

Nearly 30 Superfund and brownfield sites are listed in Fulton County Talk to almost anyone who grew up around the tanneries in Gloversville and they'll tell you about how they gagged on the smell of the fumes as they walked to school. That the fumes sometimes reeked of rotting flesh. The experience has left some wondering if those noxious fumes caused health problems. Richard Tesiero, 48, felt fine the day he got up to go to his maintenance job at Perrone Aerospace in Fultonville. That is, he

Dodging dangers of household chemicals

Chemicals are everywhere. Here's how you can start avoiding them. For a long time, I didn't really worry about chemicals in household products. I didn't think much of plastic storage containers and inky receipts. I assumed paranoia over the aluminum in deodorant was for overworried hippies. (I'm sorry!) I thought, Hey, the FDA wouldn't let anything bad happen to me! This is America! There are safety regulations here! Turns out ... the hippies are probably right. A recent article in The New Yo

Will there be a Hillary Clinton effect for women in politics?

Will there be a Hillary Clinton effect for women in politics? Albany County Legislator Joanne Cunningham would not have gotten involved in politics if not for her mother. "She grew up in an era where everyone got married and had a family," the Delmar Democrat says. "She did what every mom did at the time: stay home with her six kids." But then both of her parents got involved in local politics — her dad ran for office and her mom became the Democratic chairwoman of New Hartford in Oneida Coun