By Alan Resnick Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that over 100 million (39%) of the nation’s adults have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and 55% have received at least one dose. Disneyland reopened after 13 months, albeit allowing only in-state guests and operating at 25% of capacity. And cruise lines will resume sailing by midsummer if they can certify that 98% of crew and 95% of passengers are fully vaccinated. So things are beginning to return to normal. But most of us still have questions about how to change our behaviors and understand just how protected we and the others around us are — or are not. It remains unclear how long the vaccines will remain effective (latest research indicates at least six months), and whether vaccinated individuals can become infected and spread the virus, even if they themselves don’t get sick. These sorts of questions have left some people in a state of panic, even if they’ve been fully vaccinated. I’m a semi-retired industrial psychologist who has volunteered for the last four years as an online crisis counselor. The past few months have seen a dramatic uptick in the number of people reaching out to talk about depression and anxiety relating to participating in such basic daily activities as visiting a grocery store, riding public transportation, or even going out for a walk. Mental health professionals and the media have labeled this reaction “reentry anxiety,” and it is very real and traumatic for some people. A February Psychology Today article stated, “We cannot underestimate the psychological impact of this past year … Many of us will basically be recovering from a form of PTSD” (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Reentry anxiety has both a rational and an irrational component. Some of the initial information we received from our top health agencies about Covid-19 was simply incorrect. For example, the public was initially led to believe that the virus is spread by heavy droplets that settle and linger on surfaces. Think back to some of the things we were doing last year before it became clear that Covid-19 is actually transmitted via breath in a microscopic, highly contagious mist. Remember wiping down counters, doorknobs and appliance handles, and sinks with disinfectant wipes? I recall receiving a package from Amazon and treating the box as if I was defusing a bomb. It was a two-person job with me in a mask and disposable gloves opening the box on the front porch and handing the contents to my wife (also in a mask and gloves) who then cleaned each bottle with a disinfectant wipe. After breaking down the box on the porch and putting the packaging in the recycling bin, I went inside, shut the door with my elbow, carefully took off the gloves, changed clothes, and washed my hands with soap and water for 20 seconds before drying them with a paper towel. All this for some shampoo and body wash. It also took scientists awhile to establish the importance of wearing a mask and social distancing. And, of course, the CDC and National Institute of Health (NIH) had to deal with the nonsense that was billowing from the former President, such as the “benefits” of hydroxychloroquine, the medicinal value of ingesting bleach, and using a flashlight as a suppository. So perhaps it is understandable that the CDC and NIH have been, until last week, extremely if not ridiculously conservative regarding the need for masks for even outdoor activities. On April 27, the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people can now unmask at small outdoor gatherings or when dining outside with friends from multiple households. They can also walk, run, or bike outdoors sans mask with members of the same household. Hopefully, this shift of focus from what can’t be done to what can be done safely without a mask if vaccinated will motivate some of the undecided or skeptical to roll up their sleeves. But after more than a year of being told to wear a mask, stay home, and socially distance or risk gasping for breath on a ventilator with no visitors permitted, is it any wonder that some people, even if fully vaccinated, are struggling to unchain themselves from dire warnings? As Dr. Robert Klitzman, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University’s School of Public Health put it in a recent STAT article, “Our brains see these dichotomies in black and white rather than shades of gray. We don’t deal well with ambiguities or notions of relative safety, and like to think of situations as merely either completely safe or unsafe, rather than as partially or relatively safe.” The problem, however, is that anxiety is maintained by avoidance and fueled by uncertainty. So, if you are waiting for the day that you will have zero anxiety about doing something, you’re in for a very long and apprehensive wait. Or as clinical psychologist Ellen Hendriksen, author of How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety, puts it: “Feeling anxious doesn’t mean you’re in danger, doesn’t mean something is wrong, it is a normal part of entering post-pandemic life.” So what can be done if you or someone you love is experiencing reentry anxiety? The experts have come up with some basic yet powerful recommendations. FIRST, take baby steps and go slowly. There’s no need to leap from sheltering in place to your pre-pandemic lifestyle in one day. And it certainly would be inadvisable if not downright dangerous to attempt to make up for lost time. But now that the weather is getting warmer, take a walk or, better yet, invite someone to walk with you. If you and a friend have both been vaccinated, buy a carry-out lunch and meet at a park, on your deck, or inside your house. The fancy term for taking small but progressively larger steps is “exposure therapy.” It really doesn’t matter how small the step you take is as long as you’re moving forward from where you are today. SECOND, focus on what you can control. Life would be so much easier if we could control the behavior of other people, but unfortunately that’s impossible. Getting angry, frustrated, or resentful with those who ignore CDC guidelines or behave differently than you will only cause your anxiety to spike. THIRD, stay with some of the CDC recommendations if they help calm or alleviate your fears. There’s nothing wrong with wearing a mask on public transportation or a plane even when things get back to normal. Frequent hand washing certainly helps ward off common colds and flu. FOURTH, exercise in your home, in a gym with a mask on, or outdoors. Taking care of your body is a great way to take care of your mind. Aerobic exercise has been found to elevate brain activity and help reduce chronic anxiety. FIFTH, reflect on what truly makes you happy. Most likely it will involve family and friends, recreational or social activities outside, or simply returning to life as you knew it. Let that bigger picture function as a stimulus for overcoming fears that might start to seem small by comparison. SIXTH, it’s perfectly fine to have a different set of boundaries than another family member or friend. My wife and I were comfortable grocery shopping even before we were vaccinated, but neither of us is ready to eat inside a restaurant. Similarly, we’re not going to travel by plane this year, but have already planned a road trip for October. As my wife is fond of saying, “Everybody does what’s right for them.” SEVENTH. talk to family and friends about how you are feeling and inquire as to how they are doing. And if you’re noticing that your anxiety or a loved one’s is becoming debilitating, reach out to a mental health professional or contact Crisis Text Line (text 741741) where I volunteer. Someone will be there 24/7. Don’t worry—you’ll get there, at your own pace. Alan Resnick is an industrial psychologist with over 40 years of professional experience. He and his wife are sheltering at home in Farmington Hills, Michigan. He is passing the time by cooking, exercising, catching up on friends’ recommendations of must-see TV and writing.

By John Rolfe Driving a school bus is ordinarily like coaching a synchronized swim team of cats … at 30 miles an hour. I thought it would be even more challenging after schools reopened last October in my district of New York’s Hudson Valley with a mask mandate. I’d read and heard an awful lot about how kids would be even worse than adults when it came to wearing masks or at least keeping their schnozzes covered. But to my surprise, the third-through-eighth-graders I chauffeur have been very cooperative. Occasionally, one will board the bus without a mask (I keep a supply handy) and every once in awhile, I have to remind them over the P.A. to pull their masks up, “So we don’t all end up in quarantine.” Maybe once or twice during the past six months, I’ve had to deliver stronger medicine as a warning, because Covid-19 remains an abstraction to many kids. They keep hearing about it, but the reality of it eludes them. “Has anyone here had Covid or know anyone who has had it?” I ask to the usual silence that greets my solemn pronouncements. “Well, I’ve had it and I can tell you it’s no fun. You don’t want it and you don’t want to give it to someone you care about.” When the coronavirus pandemic began sweeping the nation in the winter of 2020, the kids on my bus anxiously discussed it. One fourth-grader wore her headband across her face like a mask. I took the opportunity to tell them that they'd probably be fine as long as they washed their hands, ate their vegetables, got plenty of sleep, did their homework and chores, and listened to their parents, teachers and, of course, their bus driver. I was tempted to add, "The only sure way to catch coronavirus is by standing up while the bus is moving" as a remedy for a constant problem. But I refrained, as there was already no shortage of misinformation and disinformation about Covid. The kids now nod at my suggestions and sage advice … and behave. With fewer riders because of remote classes, and one kid per bench seat for the sake of social distancing, there’s less deviltry for them to get up to. One fifth-grader defied my "masks on at all times; no eating or drinking" rules by leaving a generous sprinkling of cookie crumbs on and around her seat, but this kind of outrage is rare and small spuds compared to the mayhem I’ve dealt with in the past. As schools return to normal schedules, our buses steadily fill up and the weather gets nice, the main problem we drivers face is keeping kids from piling on top of each other and getting up to their usual shenanigans. The virus is largely out of sight and out of mind to them except for our occasional reminders. Now that vaccines are flowing and the end of the pandemic is hopefully in sight, we’re all sick of masks. I feel bad making the kids wear them on hot days (my bus has no air conditioning), but they don’t complain. Based on what I’ve seen and what my colleagues have told me, kids have done much better with masks and behaved more responsibly than many adults have during the past year. There’s been no whining about their rights being taken away or a sinister conspiracy to control them (although I always try … mostly in vain). All in all, it’s been a much smoother trip that I imagined it would be. 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.

A Poem by Dr. Barry Lubetkin I have not smelled fresh grass for a year I have not smelled smoke from a cigarette for a year I have not smelled garbage truck trash for a year I have not smelled another’s bad breath for a year I have only known the smell of my own fear of dying, my face pressing against a cloth covering that has felt so foreign to my nature. And it has made me angry at its encumbrance and grateful for its protection. A year ago I scorned the naked faces of the young that exposed me to illness and death. And I continued to scorn the cult led fools and sheep who beyond any reason remained naked. And now I am told by a government I finally trust to divest myself of my N95. And to breathe deeply again, the sweet air that just a year ago was an enemy that terrified me to my core. But I am still confused. All around me strangers continue to show me only their eyes. What do they know that I don’t? What do their eyes imagine that I am afraid to? Variants and mutants and tampered doses, and strains from India and Brazil, and booster shots and coverings so porous that the germs will dance through them. And is this to be my future? Masks on strings hanging off my ears like unholstered guns, ready to save my life whenever I go inside a place anywhere, everywhere? I fear I must memorize the smell of fresh grass. Barry Lubetkin, Ph.D. is the co-director and co-founder of the Institute for Behavior Therapy in New York City. The Institute for Behavior Therapy is the oldest private cognitive behavior center in the United States.

April 29, 2021 Jeffrey D. Sachs | Project Syndicate Intellectual Property must serve the global good, rather than humanity serving the interests of a few private companies. And in the case of COVID-19, the global good is not in doubt: rapid worldwide immunization, in order to save lives, prevent the emergence of new variants, and end the pandemic. NEW YORK – The governments of South Africa, India, and dozens of other developing countries are calling for the rights on intellectual property (IP), including vaccine patents, to be waived to accelerate the worldwide production of supplies to fight COVID-19. They are absolutely correct. IP for fighting COVID-19 should be waived, and indeed actively shared among scientists, companies, and nations. The pharmaceutical industry and the governments of several vaccine-producing countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Commission, have been resisting the IP waiver, while 150 public leaders and experts have sent an open letter to US President Joe Biden in support of it. There is no longer any question about who is right. Given the surge of COVID-19 in several regions, most recently in India, the continuing emergence of new and deadly variants of the virus, and the inability of the current vaccine producers to keep pace with global needs, an IP waiver or its equivalent has become a practical urgent need as well as a moral imperative. As a general principle, IP should not stand in the way of scaling up production to fight COVID-19 or any other public health emergency. We need more countries to be producing vaccines, test kits, and other needed commodities. IP-related delays could mean millions more COVID-19 deaths and more viral mutations that sweep across the entire world population, possibly infecting people who have already been vaccinated. And yet we face a situation in which the world’s urgent needs are pitted against the narrow corporate interests of a few US and European pharmaceutical companies. The companies are even trying to turn their opposition to an IP waiver into a geopolitical issue, arguing that China and Russia must be prevented from gaining the knowhow to produce mRNA vaccines. This argument is immoral, indeed potentially homicidal. If opposition to IP waivers slows the production of effective vaccines in China and Russia, it would directly endanger Americans, Europeans, and everyone else. Even in the best of circumstances, IP involves a balancing act of costs and benefits. Patents give an incentive for innovation, but at the expense of granting 20 years of monopoly power to the patent holder. The benefits of innovation must therefore be weighed against the cost of monopoly power that limits supply. In a deadly pandemic, the choice is clear: we should waive the patent rights in order to increase the supplies of life-saving commodities in order to end the pandemic. The relevant international law, known as the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement, already recognizes the right and occasional need of governments to override IP in the case of public health emergencies by invoking a compulsory license. A compulsory license gives local companies the right to use patent-protected IP. The right to compulsory licensing of IP to protect public health was already agreed in 2001 as part of TRIPS in the case of production for domestic use. In 2005, it was extended to cover production for exports to countries that lack their own production capacity. It is likely that Brazil, China, India, Russia, and South Africa could develop the capacity for increasing the global supply of COVID-19 vaccines. Yet these countries are reluctant to invoke compulsory licenses for fear of retaliation by the US Government or other governments where patent-holders are based. The proposed general waiver of IP would overcome the fear of each country in invoking a compulsory license, and would solve other heavy bureaucratic obstacles in using compulsory licenses. A waiver would also be helpful for non-vaccine technologies (solvents and reagents, vaccine vials, test kits, and so forth). An IP waiver could be carefully designed and targeted. Patent-holders should still be compensated at a reasonable rate for the successful use of their IP. The waiver should be limited to COVID-19, and not extended automatically to other uses. And it should be temporary, say for five years. The pharmaceutical industry argues that an IP waiver would deprive the industry of its rightful profits, and of financial incentives for future drug development. Such claims are greatly exaggerated, and reflect greed over reason. The IP held by Moderna, BioNTech-Pfizer, and others is not mainly the result of those companies’ innovations, but rather of academic research funded by the US Government, especially the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The private companies are claiming the exclusive right to IP that was produced largely with public funding and academic science. Some of the key scientific breakthroughs of mRNA vaccines were achieved by two researchers working under NIH grants at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1990s and early 2000s, and their pioneering work relied on a network of academic researchers funded by the NIH. The University of Pennsylvania still owns key patents that have been sub-licensed to BioNTech and Moderna. Since the emergence of COVID-19, the US government provided at least $955 million to Moderna to fund accelerated work, including the clinical trials, and also entered into an advanced market commitment with BioNTech-Pfizer. All in all, the recent US Government support for the rapid development of the COVID-19 vaccines has totaled more than $10 billion. The companies brought in private investors to build up manufacturing capacity and the late-stage research and development and clinical trials needed to bring the vaccines to fruition. This is indeed an important role, and private investors put substantial sums at risk to carry it out. But they have done so with the US Government as an indispensable partner. The private investors will surely earn huge returns, so they should restrain their greed (or have it restrained for them) by recognizing the need to share the IP globally at this stage. Moderna is currently capitalized at some $73.4 billion, compared with the roughly $1.1 billion in equity raised by the company’s initial public offering in 2018. The benefits of mRNA and other IP should be made available globally without further delay, and the knowhow should be shared as rapidly and widely as possible. We have the capabilities to scale worldwide immunization, in order to save lives, prevent the emergence of new variants, and end the pandemic. IP must serve the global good, rather than humanity serving the interests of a few private companies. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/covid19-intellectual-property-waiver-is-a-moral-imperative-by-jeffrey-d-sachs-2021-04 Jeffrey D. Sachs, University Professor at Columbia University, is Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He has served as adviser to three UN Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General António Guterres. His books include The End of Poverty, Common Wealth, The Age of Sustainable Development, Building the New American Economy, A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism, and, most recently, The Ages of Globalization.

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."

One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 34 By Laurence Lerman As this year’s Academy Awards broadcast quickly recedes into the past (if your viewership declined by 58% from the previous year, you’d wanna quickly recede, too!), we’re left, as always, with the films...dozens and dozens of films. And whether they were award-winners or not, there were plenty of outstanding ones from across the world to consider. Thomas Vinterberg’s alcohol-infused comedy-drama Another Round from Denmark won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film this year, the prized title in a category that emerged from a record number of 93 eligible entries submitted by 97 different countries. (That’s right, 93 submissions for the 93rd Academy Awards. Synchronicity, right?) It is genuinely thrilling that so many countries accepted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s invitation to submit their finest films for Oscar consideration. In this record year, it’s worth noting that three countries submitted films for the first time, all of them dramas: Sudan sent in You Will Die at Twenty, Lesotho offered up This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection and, from Suriname, came Wiren. Until this week, I’d only seen a handful of the international submissions beyond the five final nominees. A good number of them are out there and available to stream, so this week I pushed the button on three of them that very deservingly made the Oscars shortlist. The Mole Agent (Chile) The official submission of Chile also holds the distinction of having been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Those who avoid documentary features in favor of multi-part streaming doc programs shouldn’t be put off by Maite Alberdi’s 84-minute effort, which is actually more of a drama-documentary hybrid. In the film, detective Rómulo Aitken selects an octogenarian widower from Santiago, the sharp-minded Sergio Chamy, to go undercover in a nursing home and investigate whether one of the residents is being abused by the staff or any fellow residents. The clandestine mission is filmed through Sergio’s spy glasses and Alberdi’s film crew, which is on-site under the guise of their making an actual doc on the facility. Over the three months that Sergio spends at the institution, his life and interests intertwine with the those of the other residents, particularly the women, who open up to their hearts and emotions to Sergio as he listens with interest and compassion. Much sweeter, sensitive and sympathetic than you would initially imagine, particularly when one considers the plight of the elderly and the awful truths of the modern healthcare system we’ve seen over the past year, The Mole Agent warrants the attention it’s been getting. Dear Comrades! (Russia) Russia’s entry comes from veteran filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky, whose 45 years behind the camera have included everything from Chekhov adaptations (Uncle Vanya, 1970) to historical epics (Siberiade, 1979) to steely action-adventure dramas (Runaway Train, 1985) to idiotic Hollywood cop flicks (Tango & Cash, 1989). In Dear Comrades!, which picked up numerous honors in its native Russia, as well as at the Venice Film Festival and with the National Board of Review, Konchalovsky chronicles the 1962 Novocherkassk massacre. It was an ugly event that saw the shootings of dozens of protesting workers in the eponymous Russian city by order of the Government Commission. The writer/director tells the story through the eyes of Lyuda (Yuliya Vysotskaya), a staunch Communist and party worker whose beliefs are seriously challenged when she witnesses the shootings at the demonstration and the Commission’s subsequent attempt to cover up every aspect of it. Crisply shot in high-contrast black-and-white and edited with precision, Dear Comrades!’s formal style can barely contain the horrors and darkly anxious humor that bursts forth from its frames. Two of Us (France) In Italian-born writer/director Filippo Meneghetti’s debut feature, Martine Chevalier and Barbara Sukowa are Mado and Nina, aging neighbors who live in adjacent apartments. The two are more than just casual friends, though—they’re lovers who have been together for decades, a secret that nobody knows, particularly not Mado’s dutiful adult daughter. The two older women have a plan that involves Mado selling her place and the pair moving from France to Rome, where they’ll live out the rest of their lives happily and without any constraints. The plan is derailed when Mado suffers a debilitating stroke and her children hire a caregiver. That’s followed by a plan to move her into a nursing home, not considering Nina to be anything more than an overly concerned neighbor. And they’re not interested in Nina’s caretaker ideas, feelings or her rising anger when it comes to the care of her secret lover, which is on the brink of no longer being a secret. The performances of Two of Us’s leading ladies are exemplary, with every gesture and familiar glance hinting at the shared history the two have secretly enjoyed. While Ms. Chevalier might have the trickier role, as she’s relegated to only her eyes and some shuffling motions after having her stroke, it’s the mighty Ms. Sukowa who brings it on as a determined woman whose wrath is unleashed when she’s denied the opportunity to care for her lover. It’s the kind of focused energy that Sukowa exhibited in Fassbinder’s Lola (1981) four decades ago. Or maybe it’s just a reflection of young filmmaker Meneghetti’s own talents and drive. Has anyone seen any of the other official international submissions? With 93 of them to choose from, I’d love a suggestion or two to point me in a good direction. I have occasionally defaulte to what I refer to as my culinary guide (“I enjoyed Bhutanese cuisine once before–maybe I’ll check out Pawo Choyngh’s Dorji’s Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom from Bhutan!” Any ideas, Insiders? 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 Naomi Serviss Eighteen years ago, my husband was made an offer he couldn’t refuse. Five weeks in Paris. At the time, Lew was the metro copy desk chief at the New York Times. The Times had bought the Washington Post’s 50 percent stake of the International Herald Tribune. It’s Paris-based. Copy editors were urgently needed. Spouses invited. No-brainer in theory. A hitch in reality. We had just moved three months earlier to Sea Cliff, Long Island. Still unpacking. Sea Cliff is a quaint village with picture-book Victorian houses. Many are New England-y “Painted Ladies,” with three dazzling colors. The stuff of which my childhood dreams were made. A 100-year-old white-and-blue-trimmed three-story Victorian seduced me. Its beckoning wraparound porch was white wicker-furnished. A picket fence and hedgerows fronted the small lawn. Love at first sight. Spacious living and dining rooms. Four bedrooms festively painted. Hardwood floors and high ceilings. Pocket doors. A built-in granite breakfast counter. The walk-in kitchen pantry sealed the deal. Then came Paris. My reaction: “Of course, say yes!” I found a recommended dog-loving house sitter. Good news for Maggie, our basic brown rescue. I reached out to a travel editor who green-lit my Paris feature pitch. Public relations directors from five-star hotels were eager to accommodate me. I was a contributor to L’Écran Fantastique, a Paris-based science fiction film magazine. It was founded by Alain Schlockoff in 1969. We remained friends and he invited us for a friends-and-family tour. Lew flew out a few days earlier. He settled into a furnished apartment near the Louvre. Lew met my red-eye. I was both jet-lagged and amped up.. Drunk on endorphins and desperate for sleep. Lew was eager to show me everything. I was trying to form a coherent sentence. Something like: “Show me around now? Are you nuts? I just need to sleep.” But words failed. We made a pit stop at the Citadines Opéra Paris. Ditched my suitcase at the one-bedroom furnished apartment. The hotel faced Rue de Richelieu. a heavily trafficked street on the Right Bank. We fast-walked past the Paris Opera, the Comédie-Française, Palais-Royal and Notre Dame. I take Lew’s word for it. I remember nothing. Finally, we headed back. I collapsed onto a soft bed in a cozy dark room. Slept fitfully. Scattershot dreams were thick with bus fumes and incessant honking. Manhattan Lite. The apartment was dark because it had no direct sunlight. Windows faced the busy Rue de Richelieu. Like Midtown on matinee day. I hadn’t been dreaming about traffic noises. The buses idled below the bedroom window. Diesel air circulated through the cracks. My family knows I’m picky about hotel rooms. As a travel writer I’ve spent a few nights in posh hotels. I wasn’t expecting swanky. This place didn’t meet even my basic standards. Like fresh air and sunlight. A few urgent phone calls later, we piled our belongings in a cab. We explained our dilemma in fractured French. Hightailed it to a Left Bank Citadines on the Seine. We checked into a spacious one-bedroom with natural sun and fumeless air. Lodging anxiety dissolved. Food foraging was next up. We scoped out a nearby supermarket and stocked up on essentials. Cheese, bread and coffee. Breakfast was covered. Lunch and dinner out was a given. The next few days were dreamily delicious. A Modigliani exhibit, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Champs-Élysées and Notre Dame. We lounged at cafes, nonchalantly sipping lattes. Croissants were swoon-worthy. We did our best not to act touristy gleeful. While Lew worked I meandered like a hopeful romantic. I took photos of store window dogs and enormous doors to apartment courtyards. Alain brought us to the catacombs. The dank, spooky burial tunnels were haunting. Skulls and bones were piled everywhere. The ancient floor was slippery. Alain ignored the DON’T TOUCH signs. He casually picked up a skull. We admonished him in a friendly way, citing possible bad luck. As he returned it, he fell hard on his ankle. Insisting he was fine, we carried on. He took us to the city’s largest flea market. It was a grand indoor and outdoor repository for vintage furniture, knick-knacks and treasures. A funkily ornate bronze door knocker called me. Alain bought it. He was limpy but insisted his foot was fine. We ambled to a nearby restaurant. Afterwards, he brought us to his multi-storied family apartment. Alain regaled us with film festival stories for hours. We made plans for the next day. Unsurprisingly, he called to reschedule. He had broken his ankle after taunting catacomb spirits. Next up was a weekend at the five-star Hyatt Paris Madeleine. My host gave a highlights tour before dinner. The luxury suite would rival a Park Avenue penthouse. The furnishings were comfortably contemporary. The bed was beautifully pillowed. Custom-made bathroom amenities were generously supplied. Their fragrance was lightly scented, not perfumy. A delicate mix of rose and jasmine notes. I enthusiastically relayed my aromatic affection for all the things. “Would you like to meet the perfumier who created them?” he asked. I nodded. That evening Blaise Mautin bounded into my colorful Parisian adventure. An instant rapport, we became fast friends. He brought me to his lab a few Metro stops away. It had been set up on the third floor of his family’s spectacular apartment. Suitable for an Audrey Hepburn movie. Blaise’s immaculate space was punctuated by tiny perfume bottles. A refrigerator protected works in progress. He brought one out and gently waved it under my nose. A hint of rose took my breath away. He put the bottle in my hand. “Your Paris souvenir.” The Four Seasons George V. was next. Opulent palatial luxury. Public spaces dressed to the nines. Bountiful fresh floral bouquets elegantly arranged on tabletops. My congenial host showed me to my room. It wasn’t a room. It was the Audrey Hepburn suite. Her Paris nest. The door opened to a lovely foyer and sweeping staircase. A dining room, kitchen, living room and bath on the first floor. Chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne on a highly polished coffee table. Framed photos of Audrey Hepburn adorned each room. City views from the windows. On the second floor was an office, living room, two bedrooms and a beautifully tiled bathroom. Windows opened to an Eiffel Tower view. Visible while taking a bubble bath. Dinner fulfilled my Paris food fantasies. Each course was wine-paired after a tête-à-tête among the distinguished sommeliers. We were giddy during the cheese course. Decadent chocolate cake released our remaining endorphins. The following day we visited the Chanel store and had drinks at the Ritz. The remaining days sped by too fast. It was hard to leave but I missed Maggie and our new Sea Cliff home. Maggie and I ecstatically reunited. Lew flew back a week later. He brought a jester puppet from Au Nain Bleu, the famed century-old toy shop. That night we watched Charade. 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 May 3, 2021 WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In an employment trend that industry leaders are calling “dire,” thousands of Presidential fact checkers have been laid off during Joe Biden’s first hundred days in office. Harland Dorrinson, the executive director of the American Society of Presidential Fact Checkers, said that Biden has single-handedly destroyed the employment picture for many of the group’s members. “Over the past three months, America’s Presidential-falsehood infrastructure has all but collapsed,” Dorrinson said. “We have not experienced such a devastating downturn since Richard M. Nixon left office, in 1974.” Dorrinson acknowledged that many in the Presidential-fact-checking profession had got complacent during the four years prior to Biden’s Inauguration. “Those were boom times for our industry,” he said. “We should have realized that they were too good to last.” He said that his group’s members were hoping that the 2024 Presidential election would bring a much-needed recovery, and were “keeping their fingers crossed” that figures such as Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Marjorie Taylor Greene would run. 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 Victoria Rolfe Okay! So, hopefully by now your garden is all ready--a blank canvas, just waiting to be filled with a phantasmagoria of life! And now the fun begins. With those beautiful packets of seeds you have carefully selected clutched in your eager little hands, it is time to get started. Don’t forget to read the backs of the seed packets for spacing and depth of planting guidelines. As a general rule of thumb, the smaller the seed, the shallower it will be planted. Some spring seeds (lettuce, for example) are so tiny they barely get covered with a fine layer of soil. Look at the packets for germination times, too, so you know when you can expect to see those first tender shoots emerging. Some seeds, like carrots, notoriously, take a long time to germinate (up to 21 days). It is good to be armed with that knowledge in advance so you don’t give up on them when they haven’t emerged in two weeks. Because many of these cool weather crops have such short growing times (“days to maturity” are on the seed packet), you can double or even triple (or more!) the number of plantings you can yield from one garden plot or planter. Some plants, such as radishes, can be ready to harvest in as few as 30 days after planting, thus freeing up garden space for another crop of radishes or something else for that spot. This is called succession planting, and it gives you much more yield for your garden space. Another way you can take advantage of these short maturity times is to stagger your plantings. Rather than plant your entire crop of carrots or beets all at once, plant a smaller amount now, and then every two to four weeks, plant some more seeds. Some vegetables can be planted from seeds sown directly into the garden right up until midsummer. (Look up the “last-plant-by” dates for the crops you are growing.) The great advantage of doing your planting this way comes at harvest time, when you do not have your entire crop mature and ready to pick all at once. You can continue to enjoy picking and eating for many weeks from summer right into fall. Remember to write things down as you do them! It is so easy to forget the specifics. Make a little diagram on paper, indicating what you planted, the date and where. This will help you greatly as the season progresses and in subsequent years. Also, put labels in your garden where you planted your seeds. You can use anything you have around the house to create labels. I know you think you will remember, but trust me, you won’t! Once you have things planted, your next job is to keep your garden watered and weeded as your new seedlings emerge. You will need to water frequently at this point, so as not to let the seedlings dry out. Sometimes it is necessary to do this more than once a day, particularly if it is very hot and the ground gets very dry. But you do not have to water deeply. You are only keeping that top few inches of soil moist for now. If you are new to growing a particular plant, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with what it looks like when it emerges from the ground, so as not to accidentally pull out any of your little babies. (That would be heartbreaking!) Vegetables are not the only plants you can seed directly into your outdoor garden. There are also many flowers that are quite easy to grow this way. These include, but are not limited to, cleomes, cosmos, marigolds, morning glories, nasturtiums, sunflowers and zinnias. They do not all go into the ground this early. Consult your seed packet for the specific instructions on when to sow seeds for the flowers you choose to grow. This is a very inexpensive way to add an abundance of color and beauty to your garden. Another bonus to growing these flowers is that many of them will then reseed themselves for your garden the following year. Be sure to closely note what they look like after they break ground. This way you will not inadvertently weed them out when they sprout for an encore performance next spring. Often, a dollar or two spent on a seed packet will give you flowers for a lifetime. How’s that for an incredible garden investment?! 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.

By Andy Borowitz April 25, 2021 PALM BEACH (The Borowitz Report)—Unsparing in his criticism of the President, Donald J. Trump blasted Joe Biden for firing almost no one in his first hundred days. “It took me barely over a week to fire Sally Yates, and by March I’d axed forty-six U.S. attorneys,” he said. “I hit the ground running and I never looked back.” At the rate Biden is going, Trump said, “He’s going to be looking across his desk at the same losers the entire time he’s in office.” In another alleged failure of Biden’s first hundred days, Trump ripped the President for having picked “no fights whatsoever” with TV celebrities. “It’s almost like he doesn’t even watch TV,” Trump said. “What does he do all day?” 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.

Opinion by Jeffrey D. Sachs | CNN.com April 23, 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) - By every standard, President Joe Biden's climate change summit was a remarkable success. With great diplomatic dexterity, Biden and climate envoy John Kerry assembled world leaders representing 82% of world carbon emissions, 73% of the world population and 86% of world economic output to commit to bold climate action. Biden deftly used the occasion to set the US economy on the path of bold decarbonization by 2030. And all of this was accomplished by videoconference, a daily act for schoolchildren and office workers, yet a much-needed breakthrough for a gathering of world leaders. The summit represents a tipping point. The world's largest economies -- the United States, Canada, the European Union, China, Japan, Korea, India, United Kingdom, Brazil -- are finally aligning around the goal of deep decarbonization, meaning the shift of the energy system from fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) to zero-carbon sources (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, biomass and nuclear). Cynics might claim that we've been here before -- big political talk about climate action but with little prospect of follow up. Yet such cynicism is not well placed. The stark dangers of a warming planet, coupled with the breakthroughs in low-cost, zero-carbon technologies, are convincing political and business leaders not to be left behind in the great global energy transformation already underway. It's a powerful signal of this new energy consensus that electric vehicle producer Tesla has a $690 billion market capitalization, more than eight times General Motors' $82 billion market capitalization. Any country that delays decarbonizing will be left with stranded assets and shrinking markets for its exports. We are still a long way from achieving this goal, but the debates over the objective -- net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, the timing (by around 2050), and even the basic pathways to success -- are largely over. The key reasons for the new geopolitical consensus are clear. Earth has already warmed dangerously -- by around 1.2° Celsius, or 2.7° Fahrenheit over the past 250 years -- and will continue to warm at around 0.2° C per decade or higher unless the global energy system is decarbonized. Yet rapid decarbonization is now feasible at low cost thanks to remarkable technological advances in solar and wind power, battery storage, electric vehicles and more. Even better for the economy, the green (low-carbon) economy will produce a lot more jobs in the rising clean energy sectors than will be cut in the declining fossil fuel sectors. All governments are to make long-term pledges on decarbonization at a global summit this November in Glasgow. Biden's meeting of 40 leaders was a prelude to the that gathering, which will include all 193 United Nations member states. The message from the White House meeting to the 150 or so governments not present is crystal clear: Prepare to arrive in Glasgow (in person or perhaps online) with plans for a clear pathway to net-zero emissions by mid-century. There is a crucial engineering backdrop to the strong consensus that was on display at the White House gathering. Governments are doing their technical homework. Lo and behold, they are finding that decarbonizing the energy system is not some pie-in-the-sky dream, but is rather a practical and achievable task, with six basic steps in the transformation: First, stop building any new fossil fuel-based power generation (such as coal-fired power plants) and replace all mothballed power plants and new generation capacity with zero-carbon power (such as wind, solar, nuclear, etc.). Second, electrify transport. All of today's automakers and many aspiring automakers of the future know that the automotive future lies in electric vehicles. Major auto producers will shift fully from internal combustion engines to battery electric vehicles by around 2035. Third, electrify buildings. New buildings will be fit with electric heat pumps and electric cooking, and old buildings heated with home heating oil and natural gas will be retrofitted for electricity. Fourth, improve energy efficiency through smart appliances, improved building design, better materials and other cost-effective energy savers. Fifth, produce "green" fuels such as hydrogen using zero-carbon electricity for use in industrial applications that can't be electrified directly. Hydrogen or other zero-carbon fuels will be used in sectors such as aviation, ocean shipping and steel production. Sixth, adopt nature-based solutions to store more carbon dioxide in forests and soils by creating more protected nature reserves and by shifting from extensive (land-using) agriculture to intensive (land-saving) agriculture. The various commitments announced at the White House meeting follow these six basic steps. The US pledge to cut emissions by half by 2030 is based especially on the first step: to shift decisively to zero-carbon electricity this decade, taking account of the plummeting costs of zero-carbon power generation in the US. Biden's infrastructure plans also invest in other steps. For example, they support the transition to electric vehicles through investments in charging stations and R&D for advances in battery technology. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro did a U-turn at the White House. After long parroting Trump's anti-environmentalism, Bolsonaro abruptly fell in behind Biden by announcing Brazil's intention to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and to scale-up nature-based solutions in Brazil's vast Amazon rainforest. Chinese President Xi Jinping not only underscored China's commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2060, but also to draw down coal use after 2025, a major step forward, and one that will likely put China on the path to reach net zero by 2050, alongside the US. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro did a U-turn at the White House. After long parroting Trump's anti-environmentalism, Bolsonaro abruptly fell in behind Biden by announcing Brazil's intention to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and to scale-up nature-based solutions in Brazil's vast Amazon rainforest. Chinese President Xi Jinping not only underscored China's commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2060, but also to draw down coal use after 2025, a major step forward, and one that will likely put China on the path to reach net zero by 2050, alongside the US. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi both promised climate action but offered few new details. Russia is of course heavily dependent on fossil fuels, yet Putin knows that Russia needs to change as foreign markets for Russia's gas exports inevitably decline. India is still coal dependent, yet the Indian government recognizes India's vast solar power potential, its high vulnerability to global warming and the serious risks of losing export markets if India delays its energy transformation. Cooperation beats Cold Wars. A few more Zooms by world leaders and who knows what they might accomplish to build a safer, fairer and more sustainable world. https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/23/opinions/biden-success-climate-change-summit-sachs/index.html