LOCAL Houston | The City Guide April 2017 | Page 4

LETTER
FROM THE
EDITOR
Whenever there’s a new ranking of the healthiest cities in America, Houston
never seems to fare well. According to these polls (alternative facts?), Houstonians
are overweight, spend too much time in our cars, don’t exercise and eat way too
much (which dovetails nicely with our position as a top food city in America).
I don’t know about you, but from my experience, we’re a pretty healthy popu-
lace. Every day, many thousands of runners, walkers and bikers take advantage
of our excellent park system, which links bayous, greenbelts and recreational facil-
ities throughout our 627-square-mile metropolis. Every morning and evening, our
gyms, cycling and yoga studios and Pilates classes are filled with the young and
young at heart — and there seems to be a new facility opening every other day.
Take a look at a recent arrival — 9 Round Boxing — which we profile in these
pages. Because this is the annual Health and Wellness Issue.
We cast our net far and wide to bring you stories that might not be expected —
from Chef Ryan Pera, who pays his employees to be healthy, to the folk magic
prescriptions of Stanley Drug Store, the last remaining hoodoo pharmacy in
Texas. You’ll ride along with Houston City Controller Chris Brown as he bikes to
his favorite places around the city, and learn the value of meditation skills for our
local schoolchildren. Health and wellness can be defined in many ways, and
I think our writers and photographers have done an oustanding job of bringing
their angles on the subject to you.
Get outside and exercise and enjoy the city while the weather is still tolerable.
Be well.
P.S. I'd also like to extend a warm welcome to Texas Monthly, our new neighbor
in the Sawyer Yards complex. There's nothing I like better than a “healthy“
publishing market!
Tim Moloney
editor-in-chief
BEHIND
THE COVER
What lurks inside the last hoodoo drugstore in Texas? Natural folk magic
and remedies that are hundreds of years old, along with custom prescriptions
for what ails you in the love, money or career department. Stanley Drugstore
graciously let Collin Kelly and me inside to explore and learn about this vital
link to centuries of Southern folklore and spirituality. -- T.M.
4
L O C AL
| april 17