Only an excerpt of this article survives in the archive. The recovered text is preserved below.
Originally published on Pittsburgh Magazine “Clearly, the sun loosened morals and melted minds. Then the Germans got naked and changed everything.” No. Not nudist biergarten. Close. An article in The Atlantic about the healing power of the beach. Doctors used to prescribe “sun, sand and surf” to cure ills. And rightly so. Who doesn’t feel better after a trip to the beach? There is something about the salty air, the hot sun and cool water. And there is something about seeing the great ocean* and its majestic waves that automatically gives me a readjustment of context. No doubt about it, the beach is healing. Doctors should prescribe it again. Now that they are prescribing fruits and vegetables why not a script for the sea? Imagine that. Instead of knee-jerk antibiotic and antidepressant prescriptions we get beach and broccoli. Instead of pharmacies we’d go to farmers’ markets and travel agents. “One week at the beach. Do you have your insurance card with you?” “Hmmm, your plan only covers generic so I can only give you a week in Myrtle Beach not Maui. But you only have $400 in your deductible and when you reach that, your insurance will pay for 80% [...]