Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Library Preservation Week
Monday, April 18, 2011
Ride Your Bike to Work Week
The City’s Green Sustainability Team is hosting various exhibits, displays, activities and events throughout the City to celebrate the 41st anniversary of Earth Day (April 22) and to raise public awareness of the environment and promote a more “sustainable” lifestyle. This week is Ride Your Bicycle to Work Week and City employees have been encouraged to ride bicycles to work instead of driving private motor vehicles.
The City’s Local Historian & Archivist Janet DeVries took up the challenge and rode her bike to work this morning. Below is Janet’s firsthand account of the experience.
“This morning I was up before the sun, had my ‘forty-five’ on, and in celebration of Earth Week, rode my bike to work. With a backpack carrying a change of clothes behind me, I inhaled the salty air and began my five mile trek to work.
Riding a bike gives a person an incredible sense of freedom. It felt good to be getting exercise, fresh air, and saving money and natural resources at the same time. As I pedaled along at a comfortable pace, I wondered why I hadn’t tried this before.
My peaceful ride was interrupted now and again by a few loud mufflers and the diesel engine of the Palm Tran bus. Instead of getting annoyed with the bus I remembered public transportation and carpooling are alternative ways to save precious energy. Today Palm Tran buses even have bicycle racks mounted on the front of them allowing riders to combine using their bike and the bus for door to door service.
“As my legs pumped up and down and I trekked closer to work I pondered. How did people travel before we had all these automobiles and buses? As if in answer to my question, I felt a vibration in the earth signaling the presence of an approaching train. I was riding south on Federal Highway along the FEC tracks. South Floridians have been riding the rails since Henry Morrison Flagler brought his Florida East Coast Railway down here in the 1890s.
Another aspect of note was the absence of schoolchildren. Don’t kids ride their bikes to school anymore? Seems most of them don’t. Society has become a little soft today. I remember reading that before the first high school in Boynton was built in 1926, students rode their bikes all the way to the old Twin Lakes High School in West Palm Beach. That’s 15 miles away! The roads are much smoother today.
The ride was quite peaceful while I was riding along a nature area that runs parallel with the train tracks. I saw several scrub jays and one cardinal. Now and again I smelled some wonderful flowery smells. I began to hear a strange rustle in the bushes. Was that a gopher tortoise? It started to sound like there was lots of wildlife in the underbrush. I pedaled harder.
Suddenly this whole ride your bike to work journey seemed a little far-fetched. I still had nearly two miles to go, was getting winded, the animals in the bushes were getting louder, and the bike was slowing down.
Flat tire! The strange noise was coming from my own bicycle. The tube was completely flat and I had been riding for a block or two almost on the rim. It was somewhat disappointing to not finish the morning’s journey aboard my two-wheeled steed. The good news is that within my line of vision was a teal colored bus stop sign.
I still made it to work on time; freshened up and slipped into an only slightly rumpled dress. Perhaps I smell a little of coconut sunscreen and perspiration. The experience was priceless. More people should think about using a bicycle. If not for work, perhaps for errands and quick trips to the grocery store. Your body and your Earth will both benefit.”
For a complete list of the City’s Earth Week activities, click here.
Operation Tribute to Freedom
 Spc. Marfel Ortiz-Brown | Current Unit:2nd Battalion, 321stAirborne Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Current Position:Food Service SpecialistComponent:Active Army | Current Location: Fort Bragg, N.C. Hometown: Boynton Beach Years of Service: 9 Age: 32 |
Recently, Spc. Marfel Ortiz-Brown was one of 200 military chefs who put their cooking skills on display at the annual U.S. Army Culinary Competition in Fort Lee, Va. Despite being a freshman member of the Fort Bragg Culinary Team, she came home with three individual medals, including a bronze for her dessert skills.
But the competition wasn’t the first time her cooking was put to the test. Ortiz-Brown has deplyed to both Iraq and Afghanistan and while there, she was responsible for bringing a little piece of “home” to the Soldiers in her unit.
“It was very important for troop morale that the food we prepared tasted as close to homemade as possible,” she said. “I made sure that there was always a hot meal ready when my guys returned from a mission.”
Throughout the deployments, Ortiz-Brown made it a priority to keep all-American entrees on the menu, including chicken parmesan and occasionally steak, and on holidays, she worked extra hard to provide a taste of home for all of the Soldiers who were missing out on family celebrations.
“Although we were in Afghanistan for Thanksgiving, we made sure the Soldiers had turkey, mashed potatoes, fresh shrimp, corn on the cob, pies and cakes,” she said. “We hung a bunch of festive decorations in the dining tent to make it look nice and comfortable for the Soldiers. We wanted them to enjoy the holiday away from home.”
In addition to her cooking duties, Ortiz-Brown would often accompany her brigade on missions and had the opportunity to serve as a driver for the patrols.
After returning from Afghanistan, she assumed cooking duties at Fort Bragg, and it was not long before her culinary skills were recognized. When trying out for a spot on the prestigious Fort Bragg Culinary Team, she had just one hour to prove herself to the team captain.
“I only had 60 minutes to prepare a dish in front of the team captain. I chose to make a lemon tart with a lemon meringue soufflé,” she said. “It didn’t go as well as I wanted it to, but they saw that I had solid cooking skills, and I ended up making the team.
The Fort Bragg chefs practiced both individually and as a team to prepare for the U.S. Army Culinary Competition, and ultimately came home with the second-place title – losing to the Pentagon Culinary Team by just one point.
“I learned a lot from my teammates and other experienced chefs who had already competed at the U.S. Army Culinary Competition – it was truly an amazing experience,” she said.
Ortiz-Brown currently lives with her husband, also a Soldier, and daughter in the Fort Bragg, N.C., area. In the future, she hopes to use the culinary skills she has gained in the Army to open up a bakery of her own.
(Editor’s Note: This story was submitted to us by Operation Tribute to Freedom, a Headquarters Department of the Army outreach program designed to honor the contributions and sacrifices being made by Soldiers currently serving and returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2003, the Boynton Beach City Commission, by resolution, reaffirmed the City’s support of Company D, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division Air Assault, a.k.a. DELTA DEMONS.)
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