it’s what you are reading, watching or eating before bedtime, and change it. Creating a sleep ritual is helpful; I light candles and lower music in the house to wind down long before when I want to be asleep.


How do models manage to look like a million bucks on a modest income while they await their big break? Confidence is the most beautiful thing. Good posture makes you look thinner and better-looking. It’s not the number of pounds that matter; you know before you step on the scale if you are happy with the way you look and feel. As for fashion, it’s not just what


you wear, but how you wear it. How clothes fit is important. We all have different shapes, and even models will have “muffin tops” if the pants aren’t hitting their hips in the right place. Rather than focus on the size, focus on how a garment looks on you.


You’ve been told that you aren’t “commercially beauti- ful”. How can each of us re- frame the way we think about our own appeal?


I’m sometimes told I’m too edgy- looking or too strong-featured. But as my agent says, if everyone liked me, I would just be ordinary. You need to love whatever is different about you. Cindy Crawford has a noticeable mole; Tyra Banks has a large forehead. These models turned such “flaws” into per- sonal trademarks that set them apart.


The industry can be unkind to older models. What lessons have you learned from watch- ing your predecessors? The modeling business is finally real- izing that society wants to see more natural-looking women, so they are bringing back the older supermodels, and they look amazing. We are even seeing models in their 80s now as an awesome positive representation of older women. It’s all about having a positive outlook and embracing who and what you are.


Connect with freelance writer April Thompson at AprilWrites.com.


inspiration


Fall Flyways


Thrill to Flocks in Full Flight by Timothy Boucher


F


all migration literally brings birds of a different feather than in spring- time. Spring migration brings a glo- rious burst of song and color as millions of tiny feathered gems pour northward, singing their hearts out, flitting about with the excitement of arrival at their breeding grounds. They are relatively easy to spot and identify by their voices and bright plumage. In the fall, birdwatching is trickier.


To survive, migrating birds need to go to warmer climes for food, because in- sects do not thrive in cold temperatures. Males molt their bright plumage, need- ing fresh feathers for the long flight. Most retain some color, but generally, they are duller and look similar to the females. Identification becomes harder because some species are similar in appearance and the singing gives way to an occasional, subtle call, emitted as little chipping sounds at most. The Internet offers a comprehensive


range of data that can suggest which days are best for early morning viewings. Experienced birders know the best local spots, and weather forecasts are good indicators of timing. Sid Gautreaux’s pioneering study of bird migration in the 1960s using weather radar, still ongoing at the Radar Ornithology Lab at South Carolina’s Clemson University, is avail- able to birders on regional websites via Tinyurl.com/USBirdTrackingRadar.


While radar can confirm the magnitude and direction of the migra- tion over the previous night, weather predictions help forecast when big flights will occur. So, the next step is to hold a wetted finger up to the wind. A big cold front will hold up birds from moving south because the associated low pressure brings southerly winds and storms. Birds wait it out, storing fuel. Then, when the front clears and a tailwind comes from the north, a flood- tide of birds pours southward. Eager birders, having arrived short-


ly after dawn, await at selected spots 200 to 300 miles south of the leading edge of the former front. On days like these, the skies are brimming with birds. Grassroots monitoring reports on the birds’ progress from mid-August through October are posted at eBird. org, sponsored by New York’s Cornell Lab of Ornithology (Birds.Cornell.edu). As Joni Mitchell sang, we rejoice


that, “They’ve got the urge for going now, and they’ve got the wings to go.”


Timothy Boucher is a senior conserva- tion geographer at The Nature Con- servancy (Nature.org), focused on ecosystem services, land use, habitat conditions and links between conserva- tion and human well-being. His field- work spans six continents, encompass- ing local and global issues.


natural awakenings September 2013 39


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