by Lavinia Plonka | Feb 28, 2019 | Humor/CosmiComedy
My sister and I were recently wondering whether our grasp of the continuously evolving vocabulary of the English language would help us prevent dementia: terabyte, download, netiquette, malware, neuroplasticity, acid-reflux, bromance, bingeable, biohack, microbiome....
by Lavinia Plonka | Feb 10, 2019 | Humor/CosmiComedy
“Rosebud,” Last word of Citizen Kane Long, long ago, in eternally sunny Southern California, (remember when sunny California sounded like heaven instead of a dry and gasping desert?), I was sitting around with some friends with nothing better to do than play with...
by Lavinia Plonka | Feb 5, 2019 | Humor/CosmiComedy, The Creative Body
I’m feeling ridiculous, standing here, holding a sock filled with cornstarch, tied at the top. A new miracle cure, you ask? Perhaps an esoteric facial treatment endorsed by Gwyneth Paltrow? A fun way to whack your husband? I know I should throw it away, yet I stand...
by Lavinia Plonka | Feb 10, 2017 | Humor/CosmiComedy, The Creative Body, The Feldenkrais Method®
Now that Ringling Bros. have announced their final season, I find myself reflecting on the word circus. What will happen to it, if there is no more circus? Will it re-boot itself to mean something new? After all, the original “circus” was simply the arena...
by Lavinia Plonka | Aug 10, 2016 | Humor/CosmiComedy
When asked what surprised him about humanity the most, the Dalai Lama replied: “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. “ Nothing is more important than your health….except for your money –...
by Lavinia Plonka | May 10, 2015 | Body Language, Humor/CosmiComedy, Movement as Medicine, The Creative Body
“A person who smiles a lot is either a fool or an American.” Russian saying Gray skies are gonna clear up Put on a happy face. Brush off that frown and cheer up Put on a happy face. From Bye Bye Birdie I...
by Lavinia Plonka | Dec 29, 2014 | Humor/CosmiComedy
The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. The Tempest Act 4, scene...
by Lavinia Plonka | Sep 4, 2014 | Humor/CosmiComedy
Years ago, I went to Hayden Planetarium for their sky show, which was a trip through the universe, and a lesson on scale. For the finale, the camera began to pull back from our conveniently located position at the center of the universe, to its furthest edges, and...
by Lavinia Plonka | Aug 21, 2014 | Humor/CosmiComedy
California Style Magazine stares up at me from the coffee table in my hotel room. It features a parade of impossibly tall, thin women with sculpted faces and futuristic Barbie hairdos. Like the almost human androids in the movie Blade Runner, these women seem...
by Lavinia Plonka | May 1, 2014 | Humor/CosmiComedy, The Creative Body
I ran away for the first time in Kindergarten. Standing in line after school with all the other kids waiting for the stupid bus, I had the existential realization that life is too short to wait for a bus and decided I needed to explore the world. When the nun turned...
by Lavinia Plonka | Apr 14, 2014 | Humor/CosmiComedy, The Creative Body
I am having lunch with an old friend. Just as he is bemoaning all the goings on of his collapsing marriage, the phone rings. His cell phone that is. “Excuse me,” he purses his lips in that embarrassed “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I left my cellphone on”...
by Lavinia Plonka | Apr 7, 2014 | Body Language, Humor/CosmiComedy, Movement as Medicine, The Creative Body
I’m told that a treadmill affords people the possibility of movement and exercise that would not be available because of weather or other circumstances. Yet every time I see someone walking or running, getting nowhere, I experience a poignant tug, somewhere between...
