Money is tight these days, and gym membership fees can be expensive. If you belong to a gym and don’t go there to work out multiple times a week, you could be paying more than you should.  

 

Many people don’t want to go to a gym for several reasons. Maybe they’re uncomfortable and feel out of their element — they’re not for everyone. But that’s no excuse not to live up to your New Year’s resolution of getting in shape.

 

There are plenty of exercises and stretches anyone can do at home on a daily basis. But the first and most important step is motivation, which is essentially part of what people are paying for at a gym. At-home fitness starts with changing daily routines, so that working out becomes as natural as taking a shower. Even if you have a gym membership it’s important not to let yourself go when you don’t attend. Here are some tips from both gym-goers and those who prefer to exercise at home.

 

First, how do you get motivated to make such a seemingly big change in your life? 

 

Rewarding yourself after a rigorous workout can be one way to get this process started. It doesn’t have to be something extravagant. In fact, it should be something small but meaningful that you enjoy and  deprive yourself of if you don’t follow through one day. This can be different for everyone.

 

One way to make the whole process easier is to designate a specific time each day to work out. If you have time in the morning, it can be a great way to wake up. Exercise helps relieve stress, increase energy and gets blood flowing.

 

Next, find a regimen that works for you. This will vary depending on your goals. If you’re trying to strengthen your legs, it can be as simple as riding a bike or going for a run. If you’re looking for an upper body workout and don’t have your own bench at home, push-ups and pull-ups always work. Start small, about 50 a day, and gradually increase the repetitions each time. This is an important rule of thumb for any exercise. 

 

Most importantly, know your limits. Going all out the first day will leave you sore and resentful for the next couple of days. No matter what your routine, don’t forget to breathe.

 

For those who have a hectic schedule or work at a desk all day, isometric exercise is a good way to go. It’s a form of resistance training, in which one exerts force against an immovable object or holds a specific muscle in a fixed position for a given period of time. Author Tom Weede, former editor of Men’s Fitness magazine, offers a few such exercises in his new book, “The Entrepreneur Diet: The On-the-Go Plan for Fitness, Weight Loss and Healthy Living.” To work out your biceps, triceps and chest, sit upright in a chair and press your hands firmly together in front of your chest. Hold for 10 seconds, release, and repeat four times. For a midsection workout, grab the armrests or the sides of a chair and pull your stomach in as much as possible for 10 seconds, then release and repeat eight times. 

 

Try a variety of exercises in your weekly workout. One day focus on your legs, another day work your midsection or upper body. One infamous exercise, called “burpees,” includes a little bit of everything. Begin by running in place for about 20 seconds, bringing your knees up high. Then stand in place and stretch your arms up and down twice before dropping to the floor to do five push-ups. Repeat five to 10 times.

 

Like most things, the hardest part is getting started. Once you form the habit and find a routine you like, working out regularly can become something you enjoy, not dread.

Growing up in Berlin during World War II, Jürgen Schadeberg witnessed the destruction of his hometown. As a result of experiencing the dismantling of Germany’s Nazi regime, Schadeberg developed a lifelong hatred of anti-democratic injustices. So it came as no surprise to people who know him that he would one day become internationally recognized for his pioneering photography focused on struggles for human rights.

After the war, young Schadeberg volunteered with the German Press Agency in Hamburg. Then, in 1950 at age 19, he followed his mother’s and British stepfather’s footsteps out of war-torn Germany to racially divided Johannesburg, South Africa — just two years after apartheid became institutionalized.

“I wanted a change and some adventure and thought that this would be an exciting move,” the now 80-year-old Schadeberg told the Weekly in an email conversation from his current home in Berlin, where he lives with wife Claudia.

Schadeberg’s intuition that the move would be an adventure proved correct. In 1951, he was offered work as a freelance photographer for the then-new Drum Magazine, which this year celebrates its 60th anniversary. When he joined the magazine, then owned by Robert Crisp, there were three employees: the great investigative journalist Henry Nxumalo, music writer Todd Matshikiza and a secretary.

 

“My five years of photography training enabled me to launch into a new paper with an exciting aim of creating a magazine for black readers and largely created by black journalists,” Schadeberg explained. “I became picture editor, art director, printing supervisor, stand-in editor and a mentor to the new generation of photographers, as previously there were no black photographers.”

Tom Harding, co-founder of Altadena-based Art Aids Art, which is hosting an exhibit of Schadeberg’s work at two Pasadena libraries, noted how Drum pushed the racial envelope before American magazines did. “It’s notable that Drum Magazine was started by dissidents in response to the regime and that during this incredible time of racial oppression and the heart of apartheid, there was this magazine that featured black women on the cover as images of beauty,” said Harding. “Three years later, LIFE magazine finally followed suit, making Dorothy Dandridge the first African-American woman to be on the cover.”

 

Schadeberg’s new positions allowed him to interact with and photograph historic figures in their early years — including Nelson Mandela, Dr. James Sebe Moroka, Walter Sisulu, Yusuf Dadoo and Trevor Huddleston — during key moments, such as the Defiance Campaign of 1952, the Treason Trial of 1956, the Sophiatown Removals and the Sharpeville Funeral in 1960.

 

“My first encounter with Nelson Mandela was in 1951, when I photographed him at the Bloemfontein African National Congress Convention, where he was the Youth Leader,” wrote Schadeberg. “In those days, it was not difficult to photograph these events, as there was little interest from the white world, and the black world was very happy when someone took an interest in their activities. I was one of the only photographers to document the Defiance Campaign with Mandela, which was a very important catalyst in the struggle for democracy and freedom.”

 

While his many photos of Mandela and others were done on a mostly freelance basis for various newspapers and magazines to supplement his then meager income, Schadeberg maintained that “financial considerations were secondary to the cause.” 

In many ways, Schadeberg was an activist photographer. He often received threats from the white Security Police, who followed him on assignments, because it was illegal for whites to enter black townships. He was even arrested while trying to protect a black photographer at the Treason Trial.

 

“During my many visits to the black townships in the early 1950s, I was made welcome, but the apartheid government was not happy with several of my investigative stories, such as slave labor conditions on the potato farms in Bethal and blacks being banned from white churches,” he wrote. “They were against any stories which challenged the government.”

In the early 1970s, Schadeberg met Claudia in London, and they got married in 1984. A year later, they went back to Johannesburg to make films about pivotal social, cultural and political moments in black history, according to Claudia. A year after that, they had a son, but Schadeberg still found time to travel for projects, documenting farm conditions and evictions in South Africa and the effects of AIDS for a United Nations project. 

 

“We both traveled around the south on our project about jazz greats, many of whom had, sadly, been largely forgotten,” wrote Claudia. “We also concentrated on urban human rights issues in Johannesburg and Soweto, such as our documentation in 2007 of the great economic divide between the rich and poor in Johannesburg.”

 

Schadeberg maintained a lifelong friendship with Mandela, who invited the photographer and his wife to private parties and lunches after his release from prison in 1990. In 2006, as the first democratically elected South African president, he opened Schadeberg’s exhibition of the Defiance Campaign at the Mandela Foundation.

 

Today, Schadeberg and his wife continue working on photographic projects, exhibitions and book production. “Jürgen and I have worked together for 27 years, and I am always amazed by the energy, passion, speed and skill in his work, both in photography and film,” Claudia wrote.

 

Schadeberg said he is particularly proud of a body of his work from 1959, when he photographed the San people and their Dance of Exorcism in the Kalahari Desert.

 

“The Bushmen of the Kalahari were a marginalized group whose peaceful, respectful and gentle lifestyle was being threatened by Western values and commercial interests,” he wrote. “Although I have traveled widely to Africa, Europe and the States, I enjoy whichever country I am based in, as there are always interesting stories to cover wherever you are.”

Art Aids Art is a nonprofit organization that stimulates economic opportunity for South African artist collectives by purchasing artwork at fair trade prices and selling the pieces at Altadena and Pasadena home parties. The group then reinvests that income into various community-building projects in Cape Town. On Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, the group opened an exhibition of 60 years of Schadeberg’s iconic photos of South African history at the Pasadena Central Library. The exhibit, “South Africa: A Nation in Transformation,” ends Tuesday but reopens at Pasadena City College’s Shatford Library from Jan. 15 to Feb. 27.

 

Harding explained that a South African jewelry artist they work with, Beverly Price, uses archival photos, including some of Schadeberg’s work, as part of her jewelry. Price put the organization in touch with him while one of his exhibits was being shown early 2011 at UC Berkeley.

 

“We were honored to have him,” said Harding, “and we thought his work should be showcased in other public venues, like libraries, where people who don’t necessarily go out of their way to see artwork would see it. We wanted to have the Pasadena exhibit designed to share information and challenges about South Africa now, in addition to the role Pasadena had in denouncing the country’s apartheid history.”

 

Pasadena was one of the first cities that took formal steps to divest from South Africa during apartheid.

 

“As educators, we feel it’s critical that artwork serve a purpose, and not just be shown in the usual limited places where art lovers go, not just galleries, but also public places, where people come across it without planning to see artwork.”

The exhibit will be open to the public during both libraries’ regular hours. Before it moves to PCC it will be available to see from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday and its final day this Tuesday, Jan. 10 at Pasadena Central Library, 285 E. Walnut Street. Visit ci.pasadena.ca.us/library or call (626) 744-4066 for more information. 

Life can be an overwhelming process that produces more questions than answers. People feel a wide range of emotions during their lifetimes — from ecstasy to misery — that result from different circumstances experienced daily.  

 

Times have been particularly difficult lately for many, if not most, people. What should anyone do when things become too much to bear?

 

Different circumstances require different approaches. Many are suffering financially due to the ongoing recession, which appears to have no end in sight. People are losing jobs and homes and everything they’ve worked for, which can easily trap them in difficult to break cycles of depression, anxiety, boredom, lack of motivation and other obstacles that make existence that much more challenging.

 

Others are dealing with relationship woes or family issues or grief related to any number of calamities, both personal and global. A lot of people approach these issues with temporary solutions, such as prescription medication or other metaphorical Band-Aids, which in many cases can make the situation worse over time.

 

“All humans have patterns of thinking that are automatic, and that we are largely unaware of, that shift us into negative and positive mood states,” said Dr. Jessica Sanchez-Brown, a clinical psychologist based in Pasadena. “The key is to identify the negative ones and replace them with more positive, rational and helpful ones in order to improve mood, emotions and behaviors as well as how others respond to us.”

 

As minister, author and motivational speaker Norman Vincent Peale once put it, “Change your thoughts and you change your world.”

 

The next step toward fixing these problems, as opposed to merely coping with them, is to not only recognize that a problem exists, but summon the courage to try to change the things that are causing the problem, according to Dr. Joseph Ho, a clinical psychologist from Pacific Clinics who specializes in working with children but works with adults as well.

 

“Consulting a professional, such as a mental health counselor or a psychologist, would be an important step,” said Ho. “One of the main positive intervention and protective factors is to have very strong social support.”

 

Most of these issues are interconnected. For instance, if someone is depressed and is experiencing a lack of motivation, more than likely they will feel disconnected from friends and family. Ho suggested that since people who feel depressed also experience loneliness, finding a strong social support network is critical to addressing those issues.

 

“Sometimes they overlap, but almost everybody experiences anxiety throughout their everyday life,” said Ho. “But sometimes it can be overwhelming, and that’s when you want to seek help.”

 

There are also a number of things one can do on his or her own to improve mental health, according to Sanchez-Brown. These include taking care of your body as well as your mind. Exercising, hygiene and eating nutritious, protein-rich foods on a daily basis are all relatively small tasks that can go a long way toward improving mental health.

 

Ultimately, however, if someone has problems that are affecting their mental health and everyday life, it’s entirely up to them to take those first difficult steps toward positive change.

 

“In many cases a person can only get help if they want help,” said Ho. “If you don’t want someone to talk to you and consult with you then those problems will persist. There’s also a social stigma. Some people tend to see mental illness as a source of weakness, which discourages who tend to feel alone and are affected more by depression and suicidal thoughts.”

Having watched the Rose Parade pass near her home all her life, Drew Washington always dreamed of being part of such an important event. Little did she know as a girl that, by the age of 16, she would be selected as not only the youngest member of the 2012 Royal Court, but Rose Queen.  

 

Washington’s journey to the center of the Tournament of Roses world — a trip that required ambition, intelligence and leadership — has produced an “exciting and electric feeling,” the now 17-year-old Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy senior said during a recent interview.

 

Washington is currently preparing to apply to some 18 colleges after tackling an impressive array of activities at her high school. Besides being the captain of her varsity volleyball and track and field teams, she’s a member of the Multicultural Club, the Latin Club, the National Honors Society, the California Scholarship Federation, the Student Ambassador Club and Students Against Destructive Decisions, to name a few. Through her participation in these and other programs, Washington says she has learned how to work as a member of a team.

 

“I’ve learned that it’s OK to step up and lead, but that it’s also OK to follow,” the poised and polished youngster told the Weekly during a talk in the President’s Room of Tournament House, headquarters of the Tournament of Roses Association. “I think what makes a captain of a team or a leader of a group is someone who can show both of those aspects: someone who’s able to lead and to follow. When I came together with these seven girls, I realized that we had to work together, because being on the Royal Court for three months can’t work if you’re falling apart. That’s really been my core concept — making sure we stay together and that nothing comes between us.”

 

Once in college, Washington is hoping to major in communications, with an emphasis on marketing and public relations. When she gets older, she wants to make movie trailers. While her experience throughout the Royal Court process has enhanced her public speaking skills, Washington’s interest in marketing developed when she was a little girl. Her father, Craig Washington, who has been a Tournament member for 12 years, would take her to see two or three movies a week. She always wanted to get to the theater early to see the previews, which were her favorite part.

 

“I’ve always been interested in how someone can put together an intricate montage of different pieces of a movie combined with loud music and big dramatic scenes that entice viewers to want to see a movie without giving away the end and without giving away too much of what the movie’s about, but still telling them what the plot is generally about,” she said. “That’s really what sparked my interest. And being on the Tournament of Roses, I’ve also learned a lot about the media, working with people and presenting yourself in public, and that’s also further driven my interest into doing what I want to do.”

 

The queen’s family has lived in Pasadena since 1955, and some family members have lived in Los Angeles since 1883. So Washington’s sense of community was instilled in her at a very young age. She is the second African-American Rose Queen in the history of the parade, the first being Kristina Smith in 1985 — 10 years before Washington was born. The importance of this fact is not lost on the young queen.

 

“I think it’s a big step and it’s also a smaller step,” Washington said in response to a comment by Pasadena NAACP President Joe Brown, who called the selection of an African American as Rose Queen a strong message. “The Royal Court has always been very diverse, and they’ve always picked girls who represent each type of background and each member of the community. We’re ambassadors of the city of Pasadena, and we want to communicate that to each and every individual in the community. So I feel as though it’s not necessarily a huge step, but it is definitely a statement, and it’s what has really impacted me the most, because I’ve realized I’m not only an ambassador for the Tournament of Roses and the Pasadena community, but also the African-American community as well. I am completely honored to be picked to represent the community in that way.” 

California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye recently echoed the findings of a panel headed by former state Attorney General John Van de Kamp of Pasadena, which found that implementation of capital punishment was costly and ineffective.

 

“It’s not working,” the judge, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said in an interview with reporter Maura Dolan of the Los Angeles Times. “It’s not effective. We know that.”

 

Van de Kamp told the Weekly that Cantil-Sakauye, whom he described as a moderate to conservative chief justice, has raised major doubts about whether capital punishment should be continued. He went even further, calling the practice immoral.

“I personally have been opposed to the death penalty on a whole series of grounds,” he said, adding he supports recent efforts to put the issue before voters. “Beyond morality, what the chief justice is saying is what the previous chief justice said, that the death penalty today is dysfunctional and the cost has been enormous.”

 

In 2004, Van de Kamp headed the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, which found that abolishment of capital punishment would save the state more than $1 billion over five years.

 

Van de Kamp, who served as Los Angeles County District Attorney before being elected state attorney general in 1982, was recently inducted into the California Forensic Science Institute’s Hall of Fame for his work in “advancing forensic sciences as tools [such as the DNA database] to assist criminal prosecutions and exonerate the innocent throughout California,” LA County DA Steve Cooley said in a prepared statement.

 

Van de Kamp said his role in the area of forensics was as an administrator, not a scientist. “When I became attorney general, I put great stock and energy into trying to improve our law enforcement, crime labs, etc.  “My own work in this field is probably secondary in a sense, but I was a cheerleader and a proponent for these changes. Just as you need the scientists, you need people in high offices like I was to give support.”

 

When it comes to capital punishment, “I think even people who support the death penalty are recognizing that it’s not working as a deterrent in the way it’s been administered and that there are better ways to deal with this,” said Van de Kamp.

Citing the lack of legal consequences resulting from red-light camera tickets and the rising costs associated with running the program, the chair of the Pasadena City Council’s Public Safety Committee told the Weekly on Monday that the city will discontinue using the cameras in June.

 

At the Dec. 5 committee meeting, Pasadena Police Chief Philip Sanchez and Transportation Department staff jointly recommended the city allow its contract with Arizona-based American Traffic Systems (ATS) — the company that runs and operates the city’s Automated Red Light Cameras — to expire on June 30. ATS will be responsible for removing the cameras from intersections at Foothill and San Gabriel boulevards, Lake Avenue and Union Street and Union Street and Marengo Avenue. The cameras were installed in 2003 and 2005.

 

The cameras take pictures of supposed traffic infractions, along with the driver and the vehicle’s license plate. However, the tickets are unenforceable, because drivers do not sign a promise to appear in court. Without the signature, the tickets cannot go to warrant and instead are sent to GC Services, an LA County collection agency.

 

“The [Department of Transportation] staff does not intend to renew the contract,” said Public Safety Chair Steve Madison, a private attorney and former federal prosecutor. “I don’t believe it will come before the City Council. It will die a natural death. I am of two minds about it: On the one hand, I like the deterrent ability that it has. On the other hand, there is a Big Brother aspect I don’t like.

 

From a pragmatic standpoint, it is riddled with problems. Nothing happens if you ignore it; it does not go on your DMV record, no one comes looking for you and the police have to look at each picture to make sure that they are sending the ticket to the right person.”

 

Committee members Margaret McAustin, Gene Masuda and Jacque Robinson did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story.

 

The camera program will be replaced by stronger police enforcement at those intersections.

 

“More and more people are figuring out that they will not be punished if they refuse to pay the violation fine, let alone have to show up in court at all,” said Pasadena Police Officer Brian Bozarth, who runs the camera program and will return to field work after the program is dismantled. “Because the driver who was caught by a camera running a red light did not sign anything promising to appear in court, we have no legal recourse to issue a warrant for their arrest. The citation then gets handed over to a collection agency, but even then after they mail a couple letters and make a couple annoying phone calls, they cannot force the violator to pay the fine.”

 

Bozarth said that ignoring the initial ticket — which costs about $500 — and the collection agency will not affect the violator’s credit rating or DMV record.

 

The amount of time Bozarth had to spend in court addressing contested tickets was one determining reason for ending the program, according to Department of Transportation Director Fred Dock.

 

“The use of police resources is the biggest factor,” Dock told the Weekly. “The time commitments for sworn personnel have grown exponentially. The citations issued have diminished, and there has been a large uptick in the amount of challenges due to the large amount of information about fighting the tickets. We now have an officer that is spending more time answering challenges to the tickets and is spending less time in the field. The recommendation is to get the police personnel back in the field instead of in court.”

 

The city’s contract with ATS was slated to expire June 30, 2011, but the City Council voted to extend the contract one more year so staff could prepare a thorough report detailing its pros and cons.

 

“I am very supportive of staff’s recommendation to not renew 

the red-light program contract,” 

 

said Sanchez, who added that he thinks the camera enforcement 

is impersonal.

 

There are also other problems with the system, according to a joint staff report issued by the Police Department and the DOT that cited a loss of revenue due to rising costs connected to the program. 

 

The city pays ATS $274,100 each year, and although the city made $344,013 in fiscal year 2010-11, that income has rapidly decreased while electricity and personnel costs for both the Police and Transportation departments run at least $74,000, creating an annual deficit of at least $4,487 that comes directly out of the city’s General Fund.

 

“There doesn’t seem to be any way to enforce it,” said Councilman Terry Tornek. “It is too bad, but as I recall [the cameras] were reasonably effective at eliminating broadside collisions. Presumably, they have some other techniques. I still think that if people see the camera, they pay attention to it.”

 

But despite Tornek’s assertion, the report stated it could not be determined if the cameras served as a deterrent, as opposed to other traffic safety measures established at the intersections when the cameras were installed. At that time, city staff also set the yellow light timing at 0.3 to 0.4 seconds above the required minimum, making it impossible to attribute the decline of  broadside collisions to the presence of either the cameras or the lengthened yellow light times.

 

In the meantime, according to the staff report, the city “has many existing safety programs, including but not limited to selective traffic enforcement, ongoing signal synchronization to provide more regular traffic flow, implementation of longer yellows and ‘all-red’ clearance intervals that will maintain our level of continuing efforts to improve traffic safety throughout the city.”

 

While the Police and Transportation departments recognize that the red-light camera program is an important tool, the city has many more safety initiatives designed to continue and maintain improvement of traffic safety at signaled intersections. The city also plans to update and extend the yellow light timing at all signaled intersections throughout the next 18 to 24 months.