Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority held its annual Poster Contest this Spring, in conjunction with the American Water Works Association’s Drinking Water Week.

Nearly 500 fourth-through-eighth graders from Beaufort and Jasper County Schools participated in this year’s contest. The theme of the poster contest was “Celebrate Water,” drawing attention to the importance water plays in our daily lives. The grand prize winning poster came from sixth grader Thauney Vilayvanh, who is in Dee Dee Thompson’s science class at Beaufort Middle School.

Drinking Water Week, and the poster contest, is held annually as a customer appreciation event, and to encourage citizens to learn about local water sources, water quality and water conservation.

The Backyard Tourist Sails on Stranger Tides: Food, drink and music in America’s Oldest City

Editor’s note: To read Part I, go here.

The words are etched on the window in the shape of a giant eye in bold block print: FOR SCENIC VIEW PRESS NOSE HERE. It’s a postcard spring day on St. George Street, St. Augustine’s pedestrian promenade of shops, bars, restaurants, museums, street performers, and local color. This is the heartbeat of the tourist trade, the main vein. St. George splits the north end of the historic district running from the City Gates southward eventually spilling out in the shadow of the magnificent Cathedral Basilica onto the Plaza de la Constitución. 

I catch a lot of grief for all the time I spend on Facebook. It’s probably well-deserved. When you enjoy something as much as I do Facebook, it can’t possibly be good for you, right?

But for a columnist – and someone who’s endlessly fascinated by humans and how they think – it comes in handy professionally. No, seriously. Yesterday, I found myself marveling, as I often do, at the diverse array of opinions about a diverse array of topics expressed by my diverse array of FB friends on my homepage. There’d been a theory creeping up on me for a while, and I decided to test it right there on my wall. Why Facebook? I was looking for a broad sampling of regular people. I wanted to take a poll.

Without the breath, life is non-existent.  There is a Hindu proverb that states, “For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth.”

What if we are born with a finite number of breaths?  Shouldn’t we use each breath wisely?  Yoga teaches us to witness and to cultivate our breath.  Through asana (yoga poses) pranayama (breath work) and meditation, we learn to expand the breath, to lengthen the breath, to explore and command the breath.