FRED PLOTKIN is one of America’s foremost experts on opera and has distinguished himself in many fields as a writer, speaker, consultant and as a compelling teacher. He is an expert on everything Italian, the person other so-called Italy experts turn to for definitive information.  Fred discovered the concept of "The Renaissance Man" as a small child and has devoted himself to pursuing that ideal as the central role of his life. In a “Public Lives” profile in The New York Times on August 30, 2002, Plotkin was described as "one of those New York word-of-mouth legends, known by the cognoscenti for his renaissance mastery of two seemingly separate disciplines: music and the food of Italy." In the same publication, on May 11, 2006, it was written that "Fred is a New Yorker, but has the soul of an Italian."

Opinion by Jeffrey D. Sachs | CNN.com June 1, 2021 Editor's Note: Jeffrey Sachs is a professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and president of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. His most recent book is "The Ages of Globalization" (Columbia University Press, 2020). The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author; view more opinion on CNN (CNN) - The alarm bells are sounding for President Joe Biden's ambitious American Jobs Plan, which aims to rebuild the nation's aging infrastructure while preparing it for the demands of the 21st century. After weeks of seemingly endless bipartisan negotiations, it's time for Biden to give up and push through his plan on a party-line vote. At the start of Biden's presidency, I very much hoped for bipartisanship, but that hope was based on my expectation that the GOP would repudiate former President Donald Trump, defeated and disgraced after his botched handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the January 6 insurrection. Instead, the handful of Republicans who voted to impeach him for his role in the insurrection have been censured by their own state parties and/or are facing primaries from Trump loyalists next year. Too many Republican leaders would rather tear apart the country than admit that Trump lost the 2020 election. These profoundly cynical leaders seem to believe that their overriding economic aim -- to enrich the wealthiest Americans who are their biggest donors -- can succeed only by tacitly supporting Trump's lies and drafting legislation to suppress the vote. Though Biden is a true believer in collegiality and compromise, he must face the truth -- the Republican Party is not committed to reaching a bipartisan deal. Sure, when Biden introduced his American Jobs Plan, the Republicans called for bipartisanship. But their counteroffer to the President's plan is a sham -- based on three faulty premises. First, their offer is simply a continuation of the status quo under a false headline. The Republicans announced that they would spend $928 billion on infrastructure over eight years. Yet only $257 billion of that offer would go toward funding new public works projects, as the rest was already budgeted in baseline transportation spending. That $257 billion is a pittance compared with the needs of the American people. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that the 10-year funding gap for surface transportation, water and wastewater, airports and seaports comes to $2.6 trillion, and that sum doesn't include digital infrastructure, retrofitting buildings and other capital improvements in the Biden infrastructure plan. The Republicans' proposal is, therefore, less than a tenth of our nation's estimated infrastructure needs. Second, the Republicans want to tax average Americans rather than the richest Americans to pay for the infrastructure plan. They have the audacity to criticize Biden's plan to tax corporations and the wealthiest Americans while saying that their plan would be paid for by "user fees," such as gasoline taxes, toll fees, and other charges, which would hit working-class Americans the hardest. So while Biden is trying to protect average Americans, the Republicans are trying to squeeze them. Third, the Republicans claim that Biden's infrastructure plan is too costly, would create a "massive tax increase" and lead to generational debt. This is utter nonsense, argued by people who either cannot do basic arithmetic or, more likely, do not want average Americans to. The Biden plan, presented in detail in the 2022 fiscal year budget, would spend about $2.2 trillion over 10 years. (Though, in the context of negotiations, Biden has also offered a more limited package at $1.7 trillion.) The $2.2 trillion plan sounds like a lot when stated as a single number, but it's actually quite moderate and easily affordable. The US gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the nation's domestic output and income, is currently around $21.7 trillion. With economic growth and inflation, GDP will average around $28.2 trillion per year from fiscal years 2022 to 2031, summing to $282 trillion over the ten years. The $2.2 trillion American Jobs Plan over ten years is therefore only about 0.8% of GDP per year. Suppose that you are a family earning $100,000 per year. Would it be outrageous to spend an extra 0.8% of your income, or $800 per year, on capital upgrades of your property, including your electrical system, automobile, cable connection and home repairs? Clearly not. It's even more reasonable since Biden is proposing that it's the rich CEO living in the mansion behind the tall gates at the end of the street who should pay for the neighborhood's capital repairs, given that the corporate sector has gotten massive tax breaks over the years, culminating in the 2017 Trump tax giveaway, while your take-home pay has barely kept up with inflation. Corporate taxes as a share of GDP were 4.0% in 1960. After rounds of tax cuts, they were a minuscule 1.2% of GDP in 2020. Biden's plan calls for a partial reversal of the 2017 tax cuts and a minimum corporate tax to prevent companies from using tax havens and other tricks to avoid paying taxes altogether. And the leaders of America's biggest companies certainly have some change to spare. Professors Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, specialists in income inequality, recently wrote in The Washington Post that the richest 400 Americans have a combined wealth equal to 18% of the US GDP. According to the Economic Policy Institute, CEO pay, which averaged 15 times the average worker earnings in 1965, was 320 times the average earnings as of 2019. So we have come to the crux of the matter. The Republican Party aims to serve a tiny coterie of the nation's wealthiest Americans. The public gets this. An overwhelming majority believes that the political system unfairly favors powerful interests. And, as recent polling shows, a majority of the American people support taxing corporations to pay for infrastructure needs. The US needs to move forward, and the President and Democrats in Congress need to lead. The time has come to pass the American Jobs Plan. A new generation of Republican politicians, no longer beholden to the richest Americans, will eventually follow -- if they hope to regain the support of the people. https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/01/opinions/biden-stop-gop-negotiations-infrastructure-plan-sachs/index.html

By Naomi Serviss What a long, strange trip it’s been. I’m not referring to our annus horribilis. I’m talking Princess Diana and her embattled kids. Reading biographies and keeping tabs on the unfolding royal soap opera are two ways I’ve been coping in the pandemic’s wake. I only watched the Diana episodes of The Crown. Getting lost in Audrey Hepburn, Burt Lancaster, Carrie Fisher and Princess Diana tomes has been a tonic. I binged movies like I was cramming for a lit final. Classic black and white Barbara Stanwyck films crashed my dreams. Watching documentaries, comedies and dramas filled my days. This was a good distraction from the unavoidable death toll statistics. Burt Lancaster’s trapeze training paid off handsomely. His circus background served him well on screen. Those toned shoulders, muscular body and mesmerizing speech patterns made him irresistible. Lancaster’s screen presence remains timelessly captivating, even in the clunkers. Princess Diana has fascinated me since she made her world stage debut at age 19. She was adorably naïve, in her black sheep sweater and country outfits. Yet I sensed an underlying sadness. She smiled wistfully, as though real happiness would be elusive. Of course, I’m projecting. I also married at age 19. Hoping for a prince, I got stuck with a toad. Fortunately, I broke the bonds as soon as the scales dropped from my eyes. Diana seemed lighthearted and normal during those early courting days. Even when her intended gave a stupid answer about being in love. Maybe Charles was a late-bloomer and would grow to appreciate the young woman he was destined to wed. Diana was smitten with an older cad. And not even out of her teens. Diana was shy and fertile. The perfect maiden waiting. Her wedding was a dreamy fantasy. She radiated youthful beauty. The Disneyesque, puffy-sleeved gown was trailed by an ethereal train. Watching the ceremony was a vicarious thrill. I was a few years older yet felt benign kinship. Diana’s troubles were literally broadcast world-wide. The fickle media stalked her incessantly. She stole all the royal thunder from her self-centered mate, who seemed pouty and distressed. I hoped that by her providing an heir and a spare, Charles would end it with Camilla. Wishful thinking. My kids are a little older than William and Harry. I felt sad whenever Diana left them to fulfill palace responsibilities. I was grateful to have my kids near whenever Diana traveled kidless. When news about her eating disorder and suicidal ideation surfaced, my affection for her grew. I, too, lived with life-threatening disordered eating. And had considered self-harm. Fortunately, years of therapy gave me the tools to reclaim my life. Diana didn’t get the support and encouragement she needed, and floundered. Charles was not her savior. He hadn’t a clue or inclination to help Diana navigate her emotional minefield. She needed to hone self-preservation skills. Not an easy task when unsupported by supposed loved ones. Diana made headway by speaking out about her mental and physical trauma. But her marriage was irrevocably broken. Her public disclosures didn’t bring her closer to the Queen’s heart. She remained an outlier, beloved by her adoring public but virtually shunned by The Firm’s inner sanctum. Thankfully, public mental health discussion is no longer taboo. William and Harry are forever scarred by Diana’s tragic life and senseless death. Harry is his mother’s heir apparent. He wears his sorrow like an unwanted inheritance. His mother was cruelly taken from him as he was approaching adolescence. A time when little boys need their mother’s love and support the most. William seemed more stoically designed, though he too must have been crushed when Diana died. Harry is more his mother’s son. Volatile, passionate and out of control in his early twenties. Now married to another outlier, he’s divorced from the monarchy in spirit. He’s compelled to speak out about his own mental challenges. This is a good thing. I feel sorry for the Queen. She’s trying to keep it together because, it’s tradition! William and Kate were to the manor born. They seem genuinely smitten with each other and their kids. Picture perfect, Kate’s spot-on outfits are beautifully tailored. She looks like she’s having fun. William became more endearing as he settled into royal married life with his soulmate. Harry seemed a boisterous, mischievous kid. The toxic trauma of his mother’s senseless death is visible in his eyes. Harry’s been spilling the royal beans on Oprah. He’s vocal about his emotional turmoil and conflicted family relationships. That takes gumption and a willingness to be publicly judged. Harry’s still a kid, learning to construct a meaningful life out of castle shadows. When he announced his engagement to Meghan, an American, woman-of-color divorcée actress, the royal smelling salts were passed out. He, Meghan and Archie are making a go of it in California, close to her mother. They seem attuned to the vibe, acclimating to life outside The Firm. The Diana biographies are among my favorites. I’ve reread three since March. Documentaries with actual footage are heartbreakingly sad. Still, there’s so much for me to be grateful for. I’m tentatively emerging from my pandemic cocoon, fortified by science and common sense. Emmy recently stayed with us for a week. We hadn’t seen her since Thanksgiving 2019. There was much jubilation and hugs galore. We ventured out for brunch on Restaurant Row in Midtown. Her first eating-out venture since Boston’s lockdown! She accompanied me on a Central Park walk and met some of the regulars. We had heartfelt talks. I shared my struggles with mental health and eating disorders. She spoke honestly about mother-daughter issues. I rubbed her back and we hugged some more. Emmy applied silver-tipped nail strips to my fingers. We bonded over nail care and she videoed her nail art technique for Facebook. It was a glorious week, ending too fast. After she departed, my thoughts turned again to Diana’s unconditional devotion to her children. She would be proud of Harry’s outspokenness. He’s taking a giant step towards self-realization by laying bare his emotional struggles. I’m grateful my children are well and safe. They know they are unconditionally loved. Diana’s birthday is July 1st. She would be turning 60 this year. I hope William and Harry reconcile. Naomi Serviss is a New York-based award-winning journalist whose work has been published in The New York Times, Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Highroads (AAA magazine), in-flight publications, spa and travel magazines and websites, including BroadwayWorld.com

By Andy Borowitz June 1, 2021 AUSTIN (The Borowitz Report)—In a video message posted on Sunday, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, attempted to lure Democratic lawmakers back to work by offering them free NPR tote bags. Displaying one of the canvas bags on offer, Abbott said that it was “perfect for carrying around all your liberal needs.” “Let’s say you want to bring a copy of Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming’ to work, or perhaps some amazing book by Rachel Maddow,” he said. “With this limited-edition tote, you’ll be the envy of all your lib friends.” Abbott told lawmakers that the tote bag, which comes with a “Fresh Air” mug, could be theirs, free of charge, but only if they return to work on Monday. “Come and get it, snowflakes,” he said. Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.

By Bonnie Fishman Having been an anthropology major in college, I have often contemplated the correlation between sharing meals and friendship. This is so universal, crossing all cultures, religions, socioeconomic levels, past and present. It is a true human experience. Now link a specific dish with a specific friend and you have magic. When you dive into this lovingly prepared meal, your brain connects immediately with your pal whether you’re with them at the moment or not. Is it your friend Gary’s famous BBQ ribs? Is it your oldest school chum Jane’s curried chicken salad? Or maybe it’s your college roommate’s macaroni and cheese. For me, it’s my dearest friend Thelma and her Southern fried chicken. The aroma emanating from the kitchen, the snap-crackle-pop in the pan, the sight of her standing at the stove in her royal blue apron, grinning from ear to ear, with a pair of tongs slinging wings and legs with such grace and ease. The first bite into this succulent fried chicken brings it all back. It is but a sweet memory for me in that Thelma left this earth four years ago today. She was one of the most extraordinary women I have ever met and it was an honor to call her my friend. Thelma and her sister were born dirt poor in Mississippi during the 1930’s to a farmer and his wife. Seeking a better life for his family, her father migrated north to Detroit to work in the auto factories. Through a series of events, she came to work for my in-laws as a “maid” in the 50s. Think of the movie The Help and you get the picture of the times. Fast forward to the late 70s when Bob and I returned from living in the Bay Area. We “pit stopped” for several months at my in-laws while we waited to get into our new house. Thelma, who was still their “maid,” became my fast friend. We were kindred spirits in the kitchen–and truth be told–many aspects of life. I had just begun a catering business and corralled her as my lieutenant. We had a blast! Yes, it was very hard work, but because of her beaming personality, warmth, and can-do spirit, it was worth it. Word spread over the years about Thelma as my team captain. When we catered parties in people’s homes and offices, the customers often requested her. Thelma and I had the perfect symbiotic relationship: Without that extra catering income she couldn’t have brought herself out of poverty to afford a new home and help others. She was another me in raising my kids and taking my parties on the road, which gave me freedom and peace of mind. We were personal confidants to each other’s troubles and we celebrated each other’s accomplishments and joys. One day in 2012, Thelma was returning from church and stopped for groceries. The woman in line in front of her was short a few dollars. Thelma reached into her purse and gave her last dollar. That night, someone fire bombed Thelma’s house because of mistaken identity. She escaped with her life and dog and not much else. As a testament to how amazing and loved this woman was, within a week enough money was raised by her community to buy her a new house, rehab it, and supply it with furniture. As we were sitting on her new couches, Thelma asked me why people were so generous to her. I told her because of who she was and the kindnesses demonstrated that day in the store. Whenever I make and eat her delicious fried chicken, I am connected to that warm embrace, shining smile, hearty laugh, pure unconditional love that was Thelma to me and so many people. The smell just knocks me flat and she is standing with me. Today, I am offering her recipe and technique. Will mine be as good as hers? I think not. But it’s the best we can do. And don’t forget to make real mashed potatoes and peas. Thelma wouldn’t have it any other way. Many of us have lost a friend or loved one recently due to Covid or for another reason. Share with The Insider that “memory dish” that reminds you of that special person. Thelma’s Fried Chicken Yield: Enough for the masses! A few notes about the recipe: Thelma always began by sanitizing her kitchen sink. Then she rinsed each piece of chicken. After patting them dry, she seasoned the chicken meat directly with Lawry’s Seasoning Salt. Most recipes have you season the flour. She felt that this was a better result. Continue on in the recipe with dredging the chicken with flour and frying it. I usually take the chicken out at least an hour before beginning the process, so it’s not icy cold when it hits the hot oil. There are no amounts or measurements. This recipe is technique driven according to Thelma’s way. Chicken pieces on the bone with skin (if the breasts are large, cut them in half crosswise) Lawry’s Seasoning Salt Salt Pepper Flour Vegetable oil for frying Take chicken out of the fridge one hour before preparing. Scour your sink. Put the chicken pieces in the sink and wash them. Pack them dry with paper towel. Season both sides of the chicken with Lawry’s, salt and pepper. With the thighs and breasts, pick up the skin gently and season directly on the meat. Heat about 2” oil in a large Dutch oven, brassier, or skillet with high sides. The oil should reach and maintain a temperature of 375°. To test the heat if no thermometer is available, put a wing tip in the oil. It should begin to sizzle. Begin with one cup of flour in a large Ziplock bag. Put your first batch of chicken in the flour (as much as will fit in the pot without crowding). Close the bag and shake with the flour. When oil is hot, using tongs, remove each piece of chicken, shaking off excess flour into the bag, and place in the oil. Enough oil should surround each piece. Cook for about 7-8 minutes per side. When the chicken is golden brown, place on a baking sheet lined with paper towel to drain excess oil. Continue with remaining chicken. You will need to add more flour to the bag as you go along. To reheat, lay pieces in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with foil. Heat at 350° until hot throughout. DO NOT COVER or the skin will sweat and get soggy. You can also serve chicken at room temperature. Bonnie Fishman attended the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London. Later, she owned and operated Bonnie’s Patisserie in Southfield, Mich. and Bonnie’s Kitchen and Catering in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. She has taught cooking for over 35 years and created hundreds of recipes. She is now living in Northern California.

One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 36 By Laurence Lerman On the occasion of Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday last week on May 24th—a milestone for one of the greatest songwriters and most popular figures of our time—a deep dive into Dylan’s film career is now in order (particularly with so much on tap to potentially stream). Culling stills and footage from the hundreds, no thousands, of hours of his concert performances, interviews, video shorts and music clips that have been archived, the Dylan seen in the audio/video deluge reaffirms his powers as an exciting, intriguing, and genuinely inimitable performer. They also reveal that he’s at his finest onscreen when he’s simply being Dylan. This could clearly be seen from the outset with Dylan’s fine performance—one of his best—in 1967’s Dont Look Back, the great documentarian D.A. Pennebaker’s landmark chronicle of the 24-year-old sensation’s 1965 tour of England. (That’s right, there’s no apostrophe in “Dont”—Pennebacker decided to remove the punctuation mark in what he described as “My attempt to simplify the language.”) Dont Look Back laid down the template for all of Dylan's nonfiction film work that was to follow—and the majority of his narrative cinema as well: Dylan wasn’t an actor; he was Dylan, whether he was following a script or taking direction (or opting not to do either). Or maybe he sees it all as one big punch line... Dylan’s acting debut came in Sam Peckinpah’s 1973 revisionist western Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, starring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson as the titular lawman and his former friend-turned-outlaw. The first of Dylan’s several brief appearances in the film comes at the halfway point, when his character, a stranger named Alias, mutters something about his cypher-like name, before helping out Billy by burying a knife into a bounty hunter’s neck. Though he didn’t make much of an impression on me during his few on screen moments, there are those who grooved on Dylan’s walk-ons. (One such online fan declared Dylan’s portrayal as “cool as you can be without a guitar.”) Peckinpah’s troubled production has garnered more attention and respect as the years have gone by—Coburn’s firing off his shotgun filled with rolls of dimes is awesome!—but the film is still best remembered for Dylan’s fine soundtrack. Consisting mainly of instrumental music that was inspired by the movie itself, it also includes “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” which went on to become an international Top 10 hit and one of Dylan’s most covered post-Sixties songs. Dylan went multi-hyphenate as the director-co-writer-star of 1978’s Renaldo and Clara, an ill-fated multi-hyphenate concert film-documentary-drama. The concert sequences are taken from Dylan’s 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour, while the documentary material notably includes footage of Ruben Carter, the boxer wrongfully convicted of murder who is the subject of Dylan’s song “Hurricane.” The “drama” comes in the form of Dylan as the guitar-strumming Renaldo and his then-wife Sara as Clara, strolling about and having encounters with offbeat characters played by such recognizable personalities as Allen Ginsberg, Harry Dean Stanton and Sam Shepard (the film’s co-writer). How out-there is Renaldo and Clara? Well, musician Ronnie Hawkins and actress Ronee Blakely play the roles of Mr. and Mrs. Bob Dylan, for starters… Critically and commercially drubbed upon release (both here and abroad), Dylan edited the film down from its initial four-hour running time (!) to a more digestible two hours. But it still didn’t click and he withdrew the film from distribution in 1980. Bits and pieces of it have popped up over the years in bootleg form and as bonuses on various releases, but the whole of Renaldo and Clara has yet to see an official release in any format since its premiere. The big “But…” with Renaldo and Clara is that it contains the definitive live performance of “Tangled Up in Blue.” Lifted from the Rolling Thunder tour, it finds a hatted Dylan, his face smeared in clown-white makeup, offering an astounding acoustic version of one of his true emotional masterworks. And that surely counts for something. While Dylan’s first two acting projects may not have been overly compelling, they weren’t easily forgotten, either. Sadly, that’s not the case with 1987’s Hearts of Fire, an entry so rote and unengaging that it’s lack of any kind of distinction makes it the anomaly of the quartet. An uninspired romantic drama about a reclusive, aging rock star (an uninspired Dylan) who takes a female protégé (singer-actress Fiona Flanagan) on the road only to see her interests shift toward a younger rising rocker (Rupert Everett), Hearts doesn’t offer any insights into love, lust and ambition in the rock world. Nor does it cut it as a vehicle for Dylan, who contributed two original songs to the film’s equally forgotten soundtrack. Hearts was unenthusiastically released for a week or two in the U.S. and U.K. to awful reviews before being pulled and relegated to a straight-to-video rollout. It was the last film directed by Return of the Jedi helmer Richard Marquand, who would die of a stroke later that same year, earning it the nom de meurtre of “The Film That Killed Richard Marquand.” Dylan’s most recent acting gig is 2003’s Masked and Anonymous, which he co-wrote under the name Sergei Petrov with Seinfeld creative partner Larry Charles, who also directed. Shaggy and anarchic, the film finds Dylan as iconic rock legend Jack Fate, who’s bailed out of prison to perform a one-man benefit concert for the future of North American society. Along the way, he encounters a slew of nutty characters played by such stars as Jessica Lange, John Goodman, Penelope Cruz, Bruce Dern, Jeff Bridges, Angela Bassett, Mickey Rourke, Val Kilmer and a zillion more. Filled with ideas on totalitarianism, conspiracy theories, the futility of politics and a host of other chaotic ideas, along with a load of Dylan songs and covers, Masked and Anonymous is an indulgent and pretentious piece, but it’s still fascinatingly watchable. At one point near the end of the film, Dylan’s Jack fate admits that he has no solutions to the problems the film presents and that, “I stopped trying to figure everything out a long time ago.” That said, it’s arguably more timely now than it was two decades ago. What else? Well, Dylan has a cameo as an artist in Dennis Hopper’s 1990 romantic crime thriller Catchfire (which Hopper disowned, citing studio interference, before issuing a director’s cut years later under the title Backtrack.) He also quickly pops up as a chauffeur named Alfred in the 1999 neo-noir Paradise Cove with Ben Gazzara (a forgotten film I’ve only recently heard of!). But even more than his four most sizable onscreen roles, Dylan is, again, at his best when he’s Dylan. There are, of course, a handful of curiosities. Unless you don’t consider Dylan’s surprise appearance on a 2010 installment of the History Channel’s Pawn Stars autographing costar Chumlee’s original vinyl copy of his 1970 Self-Portrait album to be a bit bizarre. Or his unexpected spot on a 1999 episode of the sitcom Dharma and Greg, where he jams on a Memphis blues with T-Bone Burnette and Jenna Elfman on the skins. The name of the episode? “Play Lady Play.” A smiling Dylan even gets in a couple of jokes. Then there’s Dylan’s 2004 Victoria’s Secret ad, his TV commercial debut (he’d previously licensed and performed his songs for ads, but this one marked the first time he ever appeared in on screen). In the spot, a somber-looking Dylan makes his way through a deserted Venetian palazzo as he seemingly stalks a scantily-clad lingerie model. I would have thought he’d be smiling for this one… Then again, he probably was smiling—40 years earlier. As noted by historians when the commercial debuted, Dylan was once asked at a 1965 press conference in San Francisco, “If you were going to sell out to a commercial interest, which one would you do?” “Ladies garments,” he responded with a smile. Don’t think twice—Dylan always gets the last laugh. Laurence Lerman is a film journalist, former editor of Video Business--Variety's DVD trade publication--and husband to The Insider's own Gwen Cooper. Over the course of his career he has conducted one-on-one interviews with just about every major director working today, including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Kathryn Bigelow, Ridley Scott, Walter Hill, Spike Lee, and Werner Herzog, among numerous others. Once James Cameron specifically requested an interview with Laurence by name, which his wife still likes to brag about. Most recently, he is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online review site DiscDish.com.

By John Rolfe Last October, I wrote here about convalescing with a chicken. Her name was Freda. She had a digestive ailment. I had Covid. I fully recovered. She did not. A Rhode Island Red hen named after my late mother-in-law, Freda was returned to our flock of six after a month of recuperation in our basement. Ordinarily, chickens are not welcomed back after an absence even if they’re fully healthy. It takes time to reintegrate them. So, for several weeks my wife and I had to remand Freda’s attackers to “chicken jail” (a fenced-off part of their compound) or use a “bully-blaster” squirt gun to make them back off her, which they did … for a while. Chickens may be cute but they are ruthless about ridding their flock of the sick and injured, lest they spread disease or attract predators. Unfortunately for Freda, her ailment defied the many remedies we tried. It improved, but her gastric condition was still obvious to her coop-mates, who shunned her. She spent the winter by herself while the others foraged and sat together. One recent morning, I forgot to let the hens out of their little house before I left for work. Cooped up for an extra hour or so until my wife discovered them, the other hens got restless and started pecking Freda, leaving her with a nickel-sized open wound on the back of her head. My wife isolated her in the compound, but Freda’s new digs weren’t totally secure. We knew the other hens could get in by flying over their house, but we didn’t think they would. It was wishful thinking. One morning not long after, my wife found Freda with gruesome head injuries. The other hens had finished their ghastly job. We spent several days trying to save her, but she died, leaving us heartsick. During her earlier stretch in our basement, she had bonded with my wife and become our favorite. This sad saga left me kicking myself and stewing about violence, nature and human behavior. People make chickens look like pikers when it comes to savagery, but if the pandemic proves anything, it’s that we are the odd ducks. Some fearful folks have been directing their violence at Asians while blaming China for “creating” the virus that has so far killed more than 3.5 million people worldwide. But too many others — and this totally blows my mind — are directing abuse at those who try to prevent the spread of infection by wearing masks. Unable or unwilling to grasp the concept that masks (a time-tested form of pandemic containment) mainly protect not the wearer but others, and consumed by the hideously mistaken belief that they are bravely defying the virus by going barefaced, nitwits have been verbally and physically assaulting innocent people for more than a year. People have been killed in disputes about wearing or not wearing a mask. Public health and government officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer receive death threats and need security protection simply because they tried to warn the public about the severity of the virus and make us take steps to thwart its spread. And as if enough feathers aren’t flying in Chicken Coop America, muttonheads are being egged on by crowing loudmouths like Tucker Carlson of Fox News, who in April condemned mask-wearers as “the aggressors” in a war on freedom. “It’s our job to brush them back and restore the society we were born in,” Carlson declared. “So the next time you see someone in a mask on the sidewalk or on the bike path, do not hesitate. Ask politely but firmly, ‘Would you please take off your mask? Science shows there is no reason for you to be wearing it. Your mask is making me uncomfortable.’” Ye gods. A mask is just a piece of cloth you wear for brief periods in various places. And you can take it off. You can’t take Covid off after you get it. But Carlson even went as far as to say making kids wear masks outdoors is child abuse and cause for calling the police or child protective services. If stupidity were a virus, people like him and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene would be on life support. Taylor Greene has unapologetically equated mask mandates with Hitler’s marking of the Jews for extermination during the Holocaust and claimed “this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about." Chickens may be vicious, but to their credit they don’t come up with utter, contemptible nonsense like this. Chickens aren’t idiotically political. They have a valid excuse (pure survival instinct) for their ugliest acts. But humans? What’s ours? John Rolfe is a former senior editor for Sports Illustrated for Kids, a longtime columnist for the Poughkeepsie Journal/USA Today Network, and author of The Goose in the Bathroom: Stirring Tales of Family Life. His school bus drivin’ blog “Hellions, Mayhem and Brake Failure” is parked on his website Celestialchuckle.com (https://celestialchuckle.com) with the meter running.

By Jane Fishman Prologue Trains are a gift of time. They’re a philosophy. At 79 miles an hour, you pass through small-town America. You see a Little League game, a city hall, an old-timey hardware store, an opera house in the middle of North Dakota. They remind you that life is about the journey. My life as a newspaper columnist on deadline is always rush, rush, rush. There is no rushing on a train. But there are stories. There are people you wouldn’t ordinarily meet. That’s what I look for. There’s time to just stare out the window or read or doze off. They’re not cheap. They’re not fast. They’re not like the high-speed European models. They’re just what we have – which is why you’re always bound to meet someone from England or Belgium. They know the value of trains (even Amtrak). They know the value of time. I started taking them on a lark. The Silver Meteor to New York City put me smack in the middle of Manhattan. You can’t beat it. A direct train from Savannah to Washington D.C. introduced me to the drop-dead gorgeous Union Station, one of a couple dozen Beaux Arts depots in the country. After that, I started piecing together routes that would take me to Minneapolis, Eugene, Ore., Los Angeles, Austin. Riding the train encourages reflection, observation and time to do nothing. They suit my temperament. Time to Bust Out of Town It’s over and boy howdy am I ready. I’m tired of cooking, tired of washing dishes, tired of surreptitious shopping in the supermarket, tired of feeding the compost pile and the worm bin, tired of separating plastic (is it No. 3 or No. 6? Who can read those small numbers?), tired of my own juicing. I’ve had it with soba noodles, butternut squash, fish tacos, feta cheese, avocadoes, smoothies, cottage cheese, yogurt, eggs. I’m tired of looking at the same white plates. Cooking and eating at home was fun for the first eight months. Now? Not so much. What does John Berryman say? “Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so. After all, the sky flashes, the great sea yearns, we ourselves flash and yearn, and moreover my mother told me as a boy (repeatedly) ‘Ever to confess you’re bored means you have no Inner Resources.” Time to bust out. Time to board Amtrak’s Silver Meteor for South Florida, with your bike ($20 extra) and your wife. Time to read, sleep, stare out the window, stopping only to say things like, “Florida’s different than Georgia, isn’t it?” Time to watch people say goodbye to their pets at the depots and crowd near the conductors, who use yellow pencils and a yellow stool to help folks board and detrain (yes, that’s a word). Trains are so analog, so human. They have personality. “Mr. Appleman,” Carmela says to the car conductor, who stops to talk about how much easier it is to clean Naugahyde than cotton after I compliment him on the upgrade of the train seats in coach. “Mr. Apple-man, meet Miss Fish-man.” We laugh. She tells him I wrote a book about trains. He says, “No shit! I’m going to buy one.” Later when Carmela leaves her book, Where the Crawdads Sing, and return ticket on the back of the mesh seat in front of us, Mr. Appleman calls. Leave it with Delores or Ruben at the Savannah station, I tell him. Will do, he says. And he does. The ride is long, twelve hours. I don’t care. I’m not in charge. My eyes are cast somewhere new. I never realized how much the train signals sound part-harmonica, part- squeezebox. At 4 o’clock p.m., as we might at home, we crack open the gingersnap cookies and dunk them into Amtrak coffee, which isn’t half bad. Note: post-pandemic Amtrak only takes credit or debit cards. No cash. Julio meets us in Hollywood, Fla., outside Miami, affixes my bike to the top of his car and carries us off. He seems to know what he’s doing. That night we walk across the Hollywood bridge, pass more varieties of palms than I could imagine, pass stucco homes with Spanish-tile roofs and clean lines. My favorite tropical tree – a frangipani – is blooming. We eat ceviche at a Peruvian restaurant across from the Atlantic Ocean. In the next two days, we eat Greek, Korean and Vietnamese, where I have ramen for the first time. It’s not the old-fashioned cheap ramen I remember. We indulge. Somewhere else. We drink someone else’s coffee, stretch out on someone else’s couch, pick up their books. We get massages. We go out on their boat and pass the Port of Ft. Lauderdale. When the boat acts up and we have to go back early, I feel sorry for Julio but I don’t really care. Look at the gnarly roots on those mangroves, I say. We play tennis in the courts across from Julio’s house where, unsolicited, a retired alta cocker from Russia tries to give us some pointers. We indulge him. The Russian community in South Florida is huge. On the way back from the Old Florida Book Shop in Fort Lauderdale, a real find with carpeted narrow aisles, chandeliers and at least ten stacks of books, we pass the looming Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in the shape of a guitar. Through a random text, I learn a friend’s son lives seven blocks away. “How old is Che now?” I ask Billy. “20-something?” “Jane, he’s nearly 40.” Who can keep track? The ride back on the Silver Star is uneventful. We’re on time. In Orlando, we get out for a “smoke stop,” which really means they’re topping off the water in the cars, and watch 89 people board for the ride north. In Savannah, where we arrived on time, we call Rancho Alegro, our very own Cuban restaurant, and order dinner. Where can we go next? So What's The Hurry? Tales from the Train Available on Amazon Jane Fishman’s got a great life in Savannah. She gets to grow garlic, write newspaper columns in the Savannah Morning News about any wacko she can find (and get paid for it), publish books (her latest: I’d Rather Be Seen Than Viewed, a collection of her columns; preceded by So What’s the Hurry? Tales From the Train ; I Grew it My Way, How Not to Garden; The Dirt on Jane; and The Woman Who Saved an Island, the Story of Sandy West and Ossabaw Island), listen in on conversations with her two grandchildren, Baker and Benny, while going on morning nature walks as they debate which is better, living in the country or the city (“I like both habitats,” says 7-year-old Benny). Fishman owned a laundromat in Eureka Springs, Ark., cooked in a French restaurant in Key West, won a bunch of journalism awards in Savannah for humorous and serious columns. When she lived in Chicago and worked at WTTW public television, she met Fran of Kukla, Fran and Ollie and watched Abbie Hoffman rant at the trial of the Chicago 7. Fishman grew up in Detroit (Huntington Woods, really), where she never owned a car. She was the sports editor of her high school newspaper (The Acorn) at Royal Oak Dondero. This is her first wedding.

Opinion by Jeffrey D. Sachs | CNN.com May 25 2021 Editor's Note: Jeffrey Sachs is a professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and president of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. His most recent book is "The Ages of Globalization" (Columbia University Press, 2020). The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author; view more opinion on CNN (CNN) - The leaders of the Poor Peoples' Campaign, Rev. William Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Democratic US Reps. Barbara Lee, Pramila Jayapal and other Congressional backers of the new House resolution titled the Third Reconstruction, are doing the Lord's work, not only in scriptural terms to lift the poor but in patriotic terms to fulfill America's founding credo that we are all created equal. Their call for a third reconstruction is as pragmatically achievable as it is morally right. The resolution, released last Thursday and subtitled "fully addressing poverty and low wages from the bottom up," calls on Congress to recognize that it is a "moral abomination" that there are more than 140 million Americans "who are poor, low-wealth or one emergency away from economic ruin" and to recognize that the US federal budget is a "moral document that exposes the priorities and values" of the nation. The truth is that what the third reconstruction advocates in economic policy already exists in Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden and many more countries, just not in the United States. These countries, whether led by governments of the center-right (as in Germany, Netherlands, and Norway) or the center-left (as in Canada, Denmark, Finland and Sweden), believe that all citizens should live dignified lives free of economic deprivation. In Europe such economies go by the name "social market" or "social democracy." Yet these terms, so common there, are little used and even less understood in the US. Right-wing news outlets like Fox News and the Wall Street Journal spread misinformation about social inclusion by labeling such mainstream ideas as "socialism," and thereby spread fear among poorly informed Americans. Socially inclusive economies work like this. Every child gets a good chance in life with publicly provided health care, childcare, and quality education. Every worker gets a decent wage through union-backed collective bargaining and public labor standards, including vacation time, family leave and sick leave. Citizens are encouraged to vote, and voter registration is easy if not automatic. People work productively but with moderation; they like their leisure and family time too. The social democracies collect more government revenues as a share of national income than in the US, enabling government to reduce inequalities and to provide quality public services and infrastructure. The US ranks lower than many socially inclusive economies on every key dimension of life, with a lower life expectancy, higher poverty rate, no guaranteed paid sick leave, longer working hours per year, and, yes, less happiness. Herein lies the case for America's third reconstruction. The first, 1865-1877, followed the Civil War. For a brief period, freed slaves enjoyed suffrage in the defeated Confederate states and used their political power to establish public education in the South for the first time. The first reconstruction was brutally cut short by the return to power of White supremacists, who implemented an apartheid-type regime to re-subjugate African Americans through vagrancy laws, lynchings, forced labor and racial terror. The second reconstruction was the Civil Rights movement of the 1940s to 1960s, which dismantled most of the race-based legal structures yet failed to fully uproot the racism that had underpinned this era. The second reconstruction was followed by the Republican Party's swing to the right under Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, and the mass incarceration of young Black men as a new form of slavery (the documentary "13th" offers a scathing exposé). Social democracy is based on the proposition that all citizens are equal before the law and in the market economy. Yet from the start, America has been in a non-stop struggle over that supposedly very-American proposition. The original drafters of the Constitution did not implement a system that included racial or gender equality. Rather, the institutions they crafted enslaved the African Americans, oversaw ethnic cleansing and genocides against the Native Americans and left women without suffrage or legal rights. As later immigrants arrived, the White elites tried to attract some to their side through the politics of White supremacy, while others -- based on their race, religion, and geographic origin --were pushed into the large underclass of the poor and peoples of color. Historically, Europe had its notorious class, gender and religious divisions -- all causes of war and hatred. But America's race-based politics was something new. Indeed, the Nazis learned much from America's racist immigration laws and its wars of extermination against Native Americans. Adolf Hitler was an avid reader of Karl May's novels about the genocidal wars on Native Americans that opened the West to settlers. Deep inequalities continue to divide the nation, and as such, America needs a third reconstruction. The most recent US Census Bureau data on poverty are stark: In 2019, on the eve of the pandemic, the poverty rate of White, non-Hispanics was 7.3%. For African Americans, it was much higher -- at 18.8%; Hispanic Americans, 15.7%, and American Indians and Native Alaskans, 20.3%. Poverty worsened during the first months of the pandemic according to monthly data by Columbia University researchers. The new House resolution rightly aims to end poverty "from the bottom up," meaning by empowering the poor. The first mechanism for doing so is ensuring voting rights for the poor and people of color. Rich Whites in the US have always tried to hold power through voter suppression, and are trying to pass new laws to do so again. The second mechanism is reversing the nation's long-term decline in union representation, the result of a sustained corporate war on unions. And the third is instituting fair labor standards to enforce anti-discrimination laws and require minimum decent standards for hourly wages, vacation time, leave time, and working conditions. The fourth is supporting social programs that ensure that access to education and health care are basic rights guaranteed by law. America's greatest historian, W. E. B. Du Bois, a genius of unsurpassed eloquence and insight, wrote of the failure of America's first reconstruction in his monumental 1935 treatise, Black Reconstruction. He described how the rich, White elite -- southern landowners and northern capitalists -- broke the working class by enticing poor Whites to the side of the rich and promising a system that would leave them ahead of still poorer Black people. Du Bois argued that poor Whites were the "swing vote" in American politics: Would they side with their economic interests or with the rich White oligarchy, on the evil promise of White supremacy? This is the same game that White racists play today, trying to entice working-class White men to vote against union bargaining, a living wage, modernized infrastructure, health care protection and honestly taxing the rich -- through the lie that the federal government is the enemy of the White, working class. The Third Reconstruction should aim to end -- once and for all -- the oligarchy of rich Whites by creating an America in which all are equal at the voting booth, the school, the clinic and the workplace. Most Americans today support the bulwarks of social inclusion, including a more active government that promotes health care, education, infrastructure, and other public investments and services. If the new attempts at voter suppression do not stop the poor from turning out at the polls, the Third Reconstruction will prevail. As the saying goes, "third time's the charm." https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/25/opinions/third-reconstruction-end-poverty-sachs/index.html

By Andy Borowitz May 26, 2021 NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—After news broke that the Manhattan District Attorney was convening a grand jury, Donald J. Trump changed the name of his company to the Eric Trump Organization. The former President made the announcement in a press conference at his signature Manhattan building, the newly renamed Eric Trump Tower. “Changing the name of the company is no big deal,” he said. “It’s going to be the same company that it’s always been—with Eric Trump running the show and me just following his orders.” “It’s only fitting to call this company the Eric Trump Organization, because Eric is responsible for everything it has ever done,” he added. “This is long overdue.” Asked about the grand jury, Trump said, “From what I’ve heard, they’re going to be looking into Eric’s businesses quite strongly. I hope he hasn’t gotten himself into a big mess. He’s been a great boss to work for all these years, and I wish him well.” Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.

By Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. In a memorable May 13 address in the Rose Garden, President Biden took off his mask. He proceeded to call it a “great day for America,” and announced the CDC’s new guidelines that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer need to wear masks inside or outside. Then he and Vice President Harris, who had been standing to his right, walked shoulder-to-shoulder, smiling and maskless, back into the White House. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky amplified that message the same day, saying, “Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing. If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic. We have all longed for this moment when we can get back to some sense of normalcy.” Three cheers, right? But not so fast. Though the science may be sound, there is a big problem in the information’s delivery and its possible effect on the public’s behavior. There are many exceptions that President Biden left out of his celebratory announcement, and the media largely left out in their reporting of Walensky’s statement. The vaccinated still need to wear masks and socially distance when going to doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, homeless shelters, prisons, on buses, trains, planes and other public transit, as well as in airports and bus stations. Some fully vaccinated people can nevertheless get infected, so if they have symptoms they should put their masks back on and get tested. And immunocompromised people who have been fully vaccinated should still consult with their doctors before going maskless, because the vaccine may not provide them as thorough protection as it does for others. In fairness, President Biden’s speech constituted a well-deserved victory lap for what he has accomplished so far on the Covid front, as well as containing strong encouragement to the public to get vaccinated if you have not yet done so. Likewise, Director Walensky’s announcement at her May 13 White House briefing did enumerate most if not all of these caveats. She justified the new remove-your-mask guidance for vaccinated people by noting three studies—one from Israel and two from the U.S.—demonstrating the Pfizer vaccine’s real-world effectiveness. The Israeli study showed Pfizer to be 97 percent effective against symptomatic Covid and 86 percent effective against asymptomatic Covid. The U.S. studies found vaccines 90 percent effective against infection, and 94 percent effective against hospitalization if infection occurs. Walensky also said that the vaccines are effective against some variants and that, in the rare cases when a vaccinated person contracts Covid, “it is likely to have a lower viral load, be shorter in duration, and likely less risky of transmission to others.” She stated a final caution that the virus is unpredictable, so the guidance could change again based on future information. It is doubtful that most people will run to the CDC’s website (www.cdc.gov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html) or hunt up video of Walensky’s May 13 White House briefing (https://www.c-span.org/video/?511739-1/cdc-eases-mask-wearing-restrictions-fully-vaccinated-individuals#) to investigate details. More likely, they will rely on the President’s statement and the media’s truncated quotes of Walensky—which add up to a sunny public relations exercise that does not provide the specific day-to-day guidance people need, and transmits the false impression that the vaccinated can do anything they want without concern. It could also unintentionally result in all Americans abandoning Covid public health measures. Furthermore, Walensky’s stated basis for the new guidance did not take notice of the differences in virus transmission levels or community spread in different parts of the country and—given that people travel—that our behavior may need to change according to local conditions. In addition, as the Times noted, only about 36 percent of the U.S. is fully vaccinated and there is no way to tell them apart from the 64 percent who are not. Celine Gounder, who served on Biden’s coronavirus task force during the presidential transition, immediately took issue with the CDC’s guidelines. According to the Washington Post, Gounder suggested that, rather than give blanket guidance, the CDC should connect mask-removal to evidence of low community spread and higher vaccination rates. She also argued that the new guidance should have been issued to state and local health departments, not stated as a wholesale change in health policy. Gounder expressed concern that both the vaccinated and unvaccinated are likely to stop wearing masks as societal pressure to do so lessens. The reaction of Dr. Leana Wen, former health commissioner for the city of Baltimore, was in line with Gounder’s. Wen told the New York Times that mask recommendations should be lifted locally in regions achieving vaccination rates of 70 percent. Expressing shock at the abrupt turn-about of CDC’s announcement, she said, “We now have a free-for-all. No one is checking who is fully vaccinated. What is to stop people from doing whatever they want to do and making everyone unsafe?” “Free-for-all” seems the right description. Although the CDC’s most current guidance was issued at the federal level, vaccinated people still must continue to abide by existing state and local regulations. State and local jurisdictions, as well as private businesses, are developing their own varying policies in reaction to the guidelines, creating a confusing mishmash of requirements. Most Republican governors had already lifted the mask mandates to one degree or another without regard to any of the CDC’s guidelines. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican exception, said that he was going to review the new guidance before adopting it. Democratic governors are approaching the new guidelines with caution. Some are keeping portions of their mask mandates in effect, whether for indoors or outdoors. Others are waiting to reach the 70 percent vaccination mark before reopening. And some have said they want to review the guidance before adopting it. According to WebMD Health News, some large companies like Kroger, Home Depot, Walgreens, and Macy’s are keeping mask requirements in place. Others, like Target, Costco, Starbucks, Walmart, and Trader Joe’s are reportedly easing or dropping mask requirements. Meanwhile, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the labor union that represents more than 800,000 grocery store workers in the U.S, and Canada, criticized the CDC for failing to consider how this new policy will affect workers, who must deal with unvaccinated customers. Marc Perrone, the union’s president, said in a statement: “Millions of Americans are doing the right thing and getting vaccinated, but essential workers are still forced to play mask police for shoppers who are unvaccinated and refuse to follow local Covid safety measures. Are they now supposed to become the vaccination police?” In addition, WebMD Health News reported the concern expressed by Lisa Labruno, Senior Executive Vice President for the Retail Industry Leaders Association. Labruno said that the CDC’s announcement “creates ambiguity for retailers because it fails to fully align with state and local orders.” She urged coordination between the CDC, state, and local governments to provide business retailers with some consistency. Defending the CDC, a senior HHS official told Politico that the agency “just can’t win. First, they are told that they are being too careful, too cautious with masks and travel. Then, they go forward with recommending getting rid of masks for vaccinated people and they are targeted for doing too much too soon. I mean, which is it?” This complaint inadvertently touches upon the crux of the problem. The CDC should not be framing its public pronouncements based upon either pressure to be more cautious or to be less so. Its messaging, like its work, should be based on the science. But the Biden-CDC messaging appears to be based instead on principles found in social science—in particular, an attempt to use public relations to sell people on vaccination. The promotion of the freedom to socialize that only vaccinated people can enjoy is meant to entice others to get vaccinated. But this won’t work on anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers who already refuse to don masks and openly socialize at spreader events anyway. (The old capitalist enticements of free tickets to music festivals offered by New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio or the free hamburgers and French fries offered by the Shake Shack chain seem more likely to succeed.) The so-called hesitant, who may be reachable, need to be convinced by thorough information, not enticed. The Biden Administration also appears to be trying to quiet the Trump-created partisan political divide over mask wearing by speaking oh-so-softly and carrying no stick. In heralding the CDC’s removal of the mask mandate, Biden said, “Some people may want to continue to wear a mask even if they are fully vaccinated. Let’s all be kind and respectful to one another as we come out of this pandemic and respect those who want to continue to wear a mask even if they’ve been vaccinated.” He also said, “Please treat them with kindness and respect. We’ve had too much conflict, too much bitterness, too much anger, too much politicization of this issue about wearing masks. Let’s put it to rest.” Though President Biden had the best of intentions in making that statement, pleading in that supplicating fashion with those who oppose masks is insulting to those of us who are vaccinated—treating us as if we are nervous Nellies who should be humored and shown patience by the unvaccinated or unmasked until we get comfortable with this alleged return to normalcy. But treating our behavior as neurotic normalizes theirs. And our behavior is anything but irrational. The CDC’s changes, updates, and sometime backtracking of guidelines does not inspire confidence. For example, a May 17 Politico article reported that CDC guidelines issued on March 8 said vaccinated people could gather indoors, maskless, with unvaccinated people from one other household. But how was that determined? Why was it limited to one other household and not two? Or none? Three weeks later, the guidelines were revised to say that vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks indoors or out when in small groups with other vaccinated people and, in some circumstances, with unvaccinated people as well. But it does not appear that “small groups” was defined. Would this be five people? Ten? Fifteen? We are left to figure out the full meaning of CDC guidance on our own. Under these circumstances, it is not absurd for us to take mask removal slowly. In addition, though infection of the vaccinated may be rare, and the CDC claims such cases would be mild, it does not specify what is meant by “mild.” Would it be like a cold with a bit of fever and a slight cough? Or would CDC define it as anything short of being put on a respirator? If the latter, one might still be well advised to do their utmost to avoid catching the virus, including wearing a mask around unknown people who may go about unvaccinated and unmasked. Furthermore, since there is no established process for determining who has been vaccinated and who hasn’t, how can we be expected to trust that anyone without a mask is vaccinated? One must wonder whether the Biden Administration is shying away from instituting some form of certification for fear that the Republicans will use it to further inflame their right-wing followers, as they have already done by labeling even the idea of vaccination certificates “vaccine passports.” In the meantime, we are left with the practical everyday quandaries of how and to what degree we still need to protect ourselves. The May 13 guidelines depend, in essence, on the honor system, on—as Walensky put it—people being honest and doing the right thing. We’ve already seen that this has not worked with anti-maskers. In the early 1900s, Mary Mallon, an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid (yes, she is the infamous Typhoid Mary) insisted on continuing her trade as a cook, by which she was spreading the disease. New York City’s Department of Health did not rely on the honor system; they stopped her by holding her in isolation–in Mary's case, for years. In a health emergency, depending on everyone in a large population to do the right thing on their own is a rose-colored recipe for disaster. That approach does not belong in a public health policy. Nor do public relations considerations or political pressures. The Biden Administration and the CDC need to work with states and localities to correct this serious misstep before it undermines the nation’s fragile Covid recovery. Jessie Seigel is a fiction writer, an associate editor at the Potomac Review, a reviewer for The Washington Independent Review of Books, and a dabbler in political cartoons at Daily Kos. She has twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her work. But, Seigel also had a long career as a government attorney, in which she honed her analytic skills. Of this double career, Seigel would say, “I guess my right and left brains are well balanced.” More on and from Seigel can be found at The Adventurous Writer, https://www.jessieseigel.com.

By Victoria Rolfe Now that we are in the second half of May and the ground temperatures have warmed up, it is time to move those little indoor seedlings we’ve been coddling out to their summer home in the garden. Because they have been so pampered in the cushy environment of your temperature-controlled home, it would be too much of a shock for your little darlings to go abruptly into the outside world. You must begin to prepare them by gradually getting them used to life in the great outdoors. (If you are a parent, you will be familiar with this process.) About one week before transplanting, you will need to put the seedlings in a sheltered spot outside for a few hours. Then bring them back in for the night. Continue to increase the length of time they are outside each day, and gradually get them used to direct sunlight, until by the end of the week they are staying outdoors all night. (You don’t have to dread this all-nighter as much as you did with your teens.) Now they are ready to be planted into their permanent garden home. Remember that seed packet you were cautioned not to throw out? It’s time to consult it once again for proper spacing and other growing condition needs. The best day to transplant them is actually a cool, cloudy (even rainy) day, late in the afternoon if possible. Many a time I have been that crazy lady in the neighborhood who is out there playing in my garden in the rain, so as not to traumatize my baby seedlings by planting them in the hot baking sun. You will need a trowel, water, some fertilizer or compost, and your labels. Remember: Your transplants are still babies, so treat them as such. Be very gentle. Dig your hole, add a spoonful of fertilizer or shovelful of compost and fill it with water. Then very gently squeeze the sides of your container until your seedling slips out without being tugged. Place it in the hole. (If the roots are tightly wound, spread them apart with your fingers.) Now fill it with soil and tuck your plant in. Most plants can be placed at the same depth that they were growing in the container, but tomatoes will benefit from being buried deeper, and will actually grow more roots along the portion of the stem that is buried in the ground. After you plant it give it another drink of water and move on to the next. Remember to label each group. When you are done for the day, go back and give all your transplants one more watering, and keep them well watered for the next few days to help them get thoroughly established in their new summer home. Late May to early June is also the time to get your summer/fall crop seeds into the ground. Those you can sow directly at this time include all plants in the squash family, cucumbers, melons, and beans. Now is also the time to plant the flower seeds that I suggested you do once the ground has warmed up (such as cleome, cosmos, Heliopsis, marigolds, morning glories, nasturtiums, sunflowers, and zinnias). Again, consult your seed packets for the correct depth, spacing, and growing requirements. Some require some support, such as cucumbers, pole beans, and morning glories. You can eliminate the need to use a trellis for beans by choosing bush varieties if that suits you better. You can use anything to support your viney plants. Of course you can just go out and buy a trellis, but if you don’t want to spend the money, or if you feel like being whimsical, just try whatever you can find that the plants can grab ahold of and climb up. I once saw someone use an old bed frame. That is part of the fun and charm of gardening. You get to use your imagination! Once you have everything planted, your main job will be to keep your transplants and seeds frequently watered. You will also have to do some weeding to keep the competition away. As your plants become better established, you can mulch them to suppress the weeds and hold in the moisture. At this point you are in full swing, and your garden is up and running for the summer. Soon you will begin to enjoy the fruits of your labor! Victoria Rolfe has had a love of gardening all her life, from the time she was a tiny child coveting the daffodils growing in her neighbor’s yard (and wondering why she couldn’t have them in her own), to her teenage years when she took her pot experimentation in a different direction by growing the seeds she extracted from the bag into a beautiful marijuana plant on her bedroom windowsill. She went on in her adult years to feed her family by growing a huge and bountiful vegetable garden, as well as beautifying her three-acre property with an array of ornamental trees, bushes and flowers in the magnificent Hudson Valley region of New York. Victoria learned a great deal in the process of all this plant experimentation. She then added to that knowledge by taking courses with the Cornell Cooperative Extension to become a Master Gardener Volunteer. In her volunteer capacity, she helps to educate the public on gardening through classes and information booths, most notably at the Dutchess County N.Y. Fair each August. Throughout the summer months, Victoria is most likely to be found among the weeds, either in her own garden or those of others who actually pay her to play in their dirt and do the thing she loves best, delight in the magical world of gardening. Victoria is not only a gardening aficionado; she is also passionate about helping people live a better life on less money. Visit her website and blog at brightfuture2budget4.weebly.com, or email her at brightfuture2budget4@gmail.com.