APRIL 2024 MAGAZINE

This month  Barbara Lloyd McMichael writes about a young woman, Raihab Baig, who has taken her passion for exploring healthy beverages to create a thriving business. Nick Licata’s analysis of the Middle East succinctly places the current Gaza Conflict within a historical context. In How NOT to Read the News, Patricia Vaccarino writes about how we can get a reality check to tell what is real from what is not. As always, Time Marches On! Happy March! 

There is something perverse and horrifying about scanning the news on our phones, seeing babies dying in Gaza, juxtaposed next to gossip about celebrities wearing wigs, and an ad for Scope Mouthwash. Dishing up tragedy, trivia and trash in the same screen creates ambiguity, a false take on reality, and it is eroding our consciousness. The news has become a trigger for anxiety, depression, anger, and despair.

In Tacoma, Washington, a 20-something entrepreneur has combined her faith, her culture, her business training and her commitment to healthy living to launch Aafiya Lounge. Currently, Raihab Baig is running her enterprise as an event mocktail catering service, searchable online via Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, but her aspiration is to open a bricks-and-mortar nonalcoholic venue in Tacoma sometime in the next year.