MERCATO DI PORTA NOLANA (Part 4)

 NAPLES, ITALY

Let’s start the week off with a beautiful cat picture.

This sweetheart looks well-fed and much-loved.

The feline friend lives on the street, tempted by the seafood and other delights at the market.

OVEREATING -- ROOTED IN SADNESS

I WAS TAUGHT TO MAKE FOOD MY DRUG OF CHOICE

I understand the factors that made me overweight from a young age.

My late mother was severely mentally ill and dad unspeakable things to me. A chaotic and terrifying day was a good one.

A day of having everything you loved dearly -- including trinkets your beloved late grandfather gave you on his deathbed when you were nine – torn from your arms, broken then burned in a ceremony of anger and draconian punishment, those were the hard ones. And they sometimes outnumbered the “simply” torturous days of chaos and agony.

When my mom would come out of her fit of fear, anger and rage – she’d run to get her little boy a big pizza.

When she snapped out of it -- and realized she should not have told me I would be an orphan because she was either fated to die within a year or would take her life in front of me – she would bake a pie and feed me half of it.

After a round where my mom, nearly psychotic, would attack me, pummel me – then lie and tell my dad that I raised my hand to her, so he would beat me black and blue when he got home from work – she would order a 4-piece fried chicken dinner with huge breaded jo jo potatoes to some how make up for it.

When I went years without seeing a museum, park, zoo, or play on a school field trip – because her messed up mind felt I would be exposed to imagined death-causing germs for leaving the classroom – she compensated my weeping (because of being left out) with half bags of chips, pretzels and sugary sodas.

When I became isolated from all friends – I was the only kid who never was allowed to host sleep overs, or have visitors, or join a sports team – and considered a leper to be made fun of, mom would feed me a half dozen big donuts from the in-store bakery at the new super market.

From about second grade on, you can see it in my school pictures. As my tummy outgrew its little body, my eyes looked vacant, sad, mournful, hopeless.

Part 4, the final chapter, published in this blog on Sunday March 14

MERCATO DI PORTA NOLANA (Part 3)

  NAPLES, ITALY

The market's namesake is medieval city gate Porta Nolana, which stands at the head of Via Sopramuro.

Its two cylindrical towers, optimistically named Faith and Hope, support an arch decorated with a bas-relief of Ferdinand I of Aragon on horseback.

--Lonely Planet

MERCATO DI PORTA NOLANA (Part 2)

  NAPLES, ITALY

Naples at its most vociferous and intense, the Mercato di Porta Nolana.

It is a heady, gritty street market where bellowing fishmongers and greengrocers collide with fragrant delis and bakeries, contraband cigarette vendors and Bangladeshi takeaways and grocery stores. 

--Lonely Planet

MERCATO DI PORTA NOLANA (Part 1)

 NAPLES, ITALY

Diverse locals meet daily, from morning to mid-afternoon, to stock up on fresh meat and produce at Mercato di Porta Nolana, near the port and within walking distance of the main train station.

WHEELS ON CAMPUS -- A GUIDE TO WHEELCHAIR-FRIENDLY HIGHER EDUCATION (part 27)

AUBURN UNIVERSITY

AU also is well-known for its disability studies courses that cover the foundation and history of the disability move­ment. 

The program, along with rehabilitation courses, pre­pares students to become professionals in the fields of dis­ability studies, rehabilitation counseling, case management, human services, as well as allied health fields such as occupa­tional and physical therapy.

WHEELS ON CAMPUS -- A GUIDE TO WHEELCHAIR-FRIENDLY HIGHER EDUCATION (part 26)

AUBURN UNIVERSITY

Robb Taylor, an assistant coach of the gold medal-winning Men’s U.S. Paralympic Basketball Team, was recruited by Donald a decade ago to be the first full-time coach of the coed wheelchair basketball team. 

Taylor and Donald are quick to point out that the team is far from a feel-good program, but rather is a recruiting tool that brings the best and brightest student athletes who are able to meet Auburn’s high academic standards.