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By MARY THERESE BIEBEL
marytb@leader.net
Monday, March 10, 2003 Page: 1A
WILKES-BARRE Jane Niemic of Laflin comforted her chilled nose with a
warm scarf as she scurried down the street. Police officer Al Rodriguez
protected most of his face with a woolen balaclava. And Liz Guzick of Plymouth
longed for her “hat with the bunny ears” that she’d forgotten at home.
“This is horrifying,” said Harriet Bilal, a visitor to the area, as she
adjusted the hood of her camel-hair coat. “I want to go home to Savannah and
my 70-degree weather.”
Hungry for the call of the robin and the scent of peach blossoms, Bilal had
to contend instead with a week of Wyoming Valley weather overnight lows near
zero, a traffic-snarling, spirit-dampening snowfall on Thursday and the
promise of a daytime high hovering in the 20s today.
Sigh. Since Bilal could not possibly have room to house all the Wyoming
Valley folks who would like to follow her to Georgia; most of us will stay
here to endure the last 10 days of winter.
As for coping strategies, hearty Northerners fall mainly into two camps.
While the “we’re-prepared” crowd faithfully dons long underwear and
Siberian-style parkas, another band scorns such accoutrements and rushes
bare-headed, bare-handed and, sometimes, coatless, into the Arctic wind.
You could say the latter group is brave.
Privately, you might think they’re crazy.
They’ll tell you they’re young and strong.
“It’s because of the way our systems work. Our blood flows faster, so we
can withstand the cold,” said 17-year-old Coughlin High School student David
Macekura of Wilkes-Barre.
Not that it would be uncool to cover his head, insisted his friend
16-year-old Chaled Awad, but “my hair would be all messed up.”
While Macekura wore a leather jacket earlier this week and Awad a
fleece-lined coat, their buddy Ian Donnelly, 15, insisted his outerwear, no
heavier than a sweatshirt, was plenty protection for 20 degrees.
Parents and grandparents have asked the trio to wear hats so their body
heat won’t escape, but they’ve discovered that “I left it at school” works as
an excuse. So does “I lost it.”
Other local residents some not much older than the warm-blooded youths
need no urging to suit up against the icy blasts that have been so much a part
of this persistent winter.
For Guzick, 21, that means sporting a black stocking hat “with ears” to her
job at the Hoyt Library in Kingston. She doesn’t mind the occasional teasing;
it’s better than having her hair freeze after her morning shower.
“I’m not a hat person,” said her co-worker Maryann Hovan. “But I wear
this,” she said, rolling up her sleeve to reveal a thermal undershirt with a
dainty design.
Many would say Hovan and Guzick are lucky because they work inside.
Wilkes-Barre policeman Rodriguez, in contrast, spends hours outdoors on
patrol with Ballou the horse. Nature gifted his equine partner with a thick
winter coat, but Rodriguez relies on insulated riding boots and gloves, a
balaclava that covers most of his face, and, he’s not embarrassed to admit,
“long underwear, my dear.”
Marcia Ashton of Wilkes-Barre, heading home this week after her volunteer
stint helping the elderly work out their income-tax returns, lacked only a dog
sled to complete an ensemble worthy of the Iditarod.
For those who prefer more subtle ways to keep warm, King’s College staffer
John McKeown of Wilkes-Barre recommends dress pants that are lined with wool,
and retired postal worker Len Chapura of Nanticoke says all you need is a hat
preferably black, like his fisherman’s cap, because “it retains the heat.”
Perhaps most subtle of all was a Kingston woman who never wears pants, for
religious reasons. She decided to fight last Monday’s cold by adding a thick
pair of leggings under the long denim skirt she wore to study hour at the Hoyt
Library.
“The rules say you have to be modest,” she said. “They don’t say you have
to freeze.”
TIPS ON STAYING WARM
Wear a hat. Mom and Grandmom are right. Ninety percent of your body heat
escapes from your uncovered head.
Layer, layer, layer. Some of the happiest people we talked to wore long
underwear or an extra shirt under their sweaters. Warm air trapped between the
layers provides insulation for your body.
Mittens rather than gloves. When your fingers are nestled together, they
help keep each other toasty.