Commentaries, Interviews & Profiles
To celebrate the 20th annual convention of the National Plasterers Council, Bruce Hughes – the organization’s founding chairman and former president of one of the industry’s largest plastering firms – looks back on NPC’s first years and the difficult process by which a feuding group of strong-willed contractors came together to form an association that has become a force for research, standards and industry progress. I remember it well: The National Plasterers Council’s first conference was a compact, one-day event in Los Angeles staged by an association that had only been around for about two years and had to that point been
The benefits of swimming and other forms of aquatic exercise are better defined and more widely known than ever before, notes Dr. Bruce Becker, one of the nation’s top researchers into all the good things that happen when people get in the water. But there are a number of obstacles that are keeping some of those who would benefit from actually getting in the water to help themselves, he adds – a surmountable set of issues he explores here. It seems obvious enough. To reap the physical and psychological benefits of swimming and other forms of aquatic exercise and therapy, a person must first get into the water. Experience shows, however, that this initial step is often not
I’ve known David Tisherman and his work for more than 20 years. Back when I worked for another industry publication, there was a time when that magazine had
When Jim McCloskey and I began working toward the launch of WaterShapes in the summer of 1998, we knew that making our new magazine into something completely different would require expert advice from top people in the field. One of the first I suggested turning to was Dr. William N. Rowley. By that time, Bill’s accomplishments in the field of
Even as one who makes a living writing and editing, it’s difficult for me to find words sufficient to describe the experience of meeting and getting to know Anthony Archer Wills. The best I can do is to describe encountering him as being something akin to
My father was a teacher by trade. When I was a kid, there were bookcases on the landing between the two floors of our home filled with the volumes he had used in teaching the history of science and technology in the 1940s and ’50s. There was one book on those many shelves that always fascinated me. He’d purchased it in France just after World War II ended, and it had neverbeen bound or trimmed, meaning the pages didn’t open unless you cut the edges with a knife. The book was entitled L’Architecture: Le Passé, Le Présent, and it gradually revealed its treasures to me as I grew bold enough to
I’m the sort of person who prefers to think about what’s next rather than spend much time dwelling on the past. That’s not to say, however, that I don’t value past experiences, especially when I know they’ve had a role in creating the foundations for where we are now and for things yet to come. The occasion of WaterShapes’ 100th issue certainly qualifies as an event that inclines me to look back: For me and many others, the past nine-plus years of the magazine’s existence have been
There’s truth to the notion that the only thing that’s permanent in human endeavors is change. For the past seven years, I’ve had the privilege of sharing with you scores of details, insights, opinions and descriptions of the watershaping process, always hoping that, through words and images, I might influence the way some of you approach your work. It’s been a pleasure throughout, but the time has come for me to change things up, step aside and let other
Most people know that swimming is a great form of exercise, but far fewer seem aware that getting in the water can mean the difference between a life of disability and one of well being for those who live with chronic injuries and illnesses. In this special feature, Barbara Goldstein describes how a daily swimming regimen has enabled her to stay fit and able in mind, body and spirit while keeping symptoms of three serious medical conditions at bay. When I was a child, I read a biography of Theodore Roosevelt and discovered that we had asthma in common. In my case, doctors treated the condition with medications, but Roosevelt had lived in a time long before the era of modern medicine, and I was interested to learn that he kept his condition under control by swimming regularly. About the time I turned 40, we had a pool installed at our home. Even with
Plain Silly