b'Matters heart of thematter Featuring Local People, Places and Thingsthat Matter Since 1990PUBLISHER Learning& EDITOR IN CHIEFEllen DonkerASSOCIATEEDITOR & SwedishSOCIAL MEDIA MANAGERAnne MandellADVERTISING CONSULTANTSRene Conlon Im on a streakH. Leslie Gilman BY ELLEN DONKERAlex KoenigAmy Power GRAPHIC DESIGNEllen DonkerCOPY EDITORS M ya daughterInthese days. I have a number of other sub-Charles HammerJayson RodriguezCONTRIBUTORS M d e l i n escriptions that encourage me to keep my Kristen di Gennaro hasbeenstreaks going. Zwift, an app on my sta-Adrianna Donat encouragingtionary bike, warned me that I needed to Charles Hammer metolearnpedal today or else Id break my 10-week Judie Hurtado Swedishforstreak.IthinkIhadalreadybrokenmy Donny Levit alongtime.streak on the Peloton, so I Zwifted instead. Amy Lynn-Cramer 2018, I had taken her and her brother, Chris- Easy choice.Cindy Perman tian, to Stockholm and they loved it so much that theyI also have streaks going with Words with Friends. I Ilysse Rimalovski started learning the language and stuck with it. Nowplay with a few different people, but I have the longest Julia Maloof Verderosa when they talk, theyll throw a few Swedish words intostreak with my mother. Playing with her is a way for me Danielle Alfonzo Walsmantheir conversation and have a private laugh.to know that she has engaged with the game at some I dont know what was the tipping point for me atpoint during the day. In other words, it allows me to the beginning of January, but I decided to learn Swed- keep tabs on my 93-year-old. ish, too. (For the record, I am a quarter Swedish.) I hadAlthoughitsgoodtohaveconsistenthabits,like Please address all correspondence to: said that I didnt have the time or interest to study a lan- brushing ones teeth and keeping the house clean, I dont Visual Impact Advertising, Inc. guage spoken in one country. But Madeline and Chris- need an app to track everything I do. Apparently, Snap-P.O. Box 198 tian kept saying that the Swedish news outlet Dagenschat was the first app to use streaks. Now it seems every Maplewood, NJ 07040 Nyheter sends updates faster than U.S.-based news sites.app prods you to keep up the good work. Even the Bible 973-763-4900 Although I dont know this to be true, I finally decidedapp does it, which can be helpful but not if it stresses mattersmagazine.comthat learning Swedish well enough to be able to readme and makes me feel guilty. Well, maybe a little guilt info@mattersmagazine.com Dagens Nyheter would be an interesting exercise for theis needed.Matters Magazine is owned and publishednew year. I used to start the day with Wordle, but I didnt like by Visual Impact Advertising, Inc., P.O.To learn the language, Im using Duolingo, the appthe idea of being on my phone the moment I woke up. It Box 198 Maplewood, NJ 07040. MattersMadeline recommended. After three weeks, it startedtook a few months to finally let that one go. I had added Magazine is free, with editions direct mailed seven times a year to the residents of Maple- congratulating me on my lesson streak. I had not missedthe medications I took on my iPhone. Every night it wood and South Orange and distributed toaday.Iproudlysharedthenewswithmykids(thereminded me to take them, but I soon got weary of log-businesses and surrounding communitiesapp encourages you to message your friends and fam- ging my activity. I guess it would be useful if I couldnt totaling 16,000. Subscriptions are available to non-residents for $30 (U.S.) $40 (Foreign)ily about your achievements). But pride goeth before aremember to take my meds, but thats not the case. And annually. No part of the publication may befall. Not four days later I forgot to complete my lesson.do I really want to share everything I do with Apple?reprinted or otherwise reproduced without writtenpermissionfromVisualImpactI couldnt believe I had broken my streak, even with allSo although I will use my streak freeze to keep me Advertising, Inc. the reminders Duolingo sends me.in good standing with Duolingo and my kids, I pledge But wait! Duolingo has a way to reclaim ones streaknot to pursue any other streaks this year. I hope that by CIRCULATION VERIFIED BYU.S. POSTAL RECEIPTS. with the streak freeze. That is how Madeline has accu- year end I will be able to read Dagens Nyheter, give my mulated a streak of 1,205 days.friends and family the latest news scoop and share some READ & RECYCLE This got me thinking. Streaks seem to be a thingSwedish humor with my kids. 8/ matters magazine / winter 2026'