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By David Salazar OperaWire “Opera in the Times of COVID” is an interview series in collaboration with photographer Frances Marshall of Marshall Light Studio. We talk to notable figures from around the opera world to get their perspective on how they feel these challenging times may change opera’s present and future. I think it’s hard to find someone who loves opera as much as Fred Plotkin. In my interactions over the years (though often limited), his passion for the artform comes through every time he brings up a recent performance or an interaction with a certain artist. If you get a chance to catch any of his “Adventures in Italian Opera” videos online (here is one with Sherrill Milnes), you’ll know exactly what I am talking about. This enthusiasm also extends to his passion for adventure and food, which he has also written extensively on. His love for the arts is everywhere in this interview, with Plotkin acknowledging how this very crisis and its emotional impact can be seen in many of the great operas of the past. OperaWire: What have you done during this time to keep yourself positive and productive? Fred Plotkin: I am not a singer or musician, yet my working life has a lot of similarities in that most of my income is derived from appearing in front of audiences in places of public assembly. People buy tickets to what I do so, of course, that means that all of my contracts have been canceled until November. That said, I have been self-employed since 1991 and, for better or worse, I have learned about self-discipline and time management in a way that enables me to ‘make hay when the sun shines’ but also know that so much is not within my control. That really is the key: manage what you can but don’t panic about that which you cannot control. There is nothing you can do about that. Yes, these are very scary times and I fully understand those friends, colleagues and other people who are depressed, angry or frightened. But I have had many fallow periods in the past and used them to plant metaphorical seeds and do some work every day even if no one is paying me to do that. In this tragedy, there is also a rare opportunity for people who make things or are performers who want to explore their artistry and interests. I always keep a file of creative ideas that I tell myself I would like one day to take on. Not all of them come to pass but, right now, I have chosen to undertake one of those because, like it or not, I have the time to do it. I have written nine books in my career and have at least a few more in me. One of them, that I drafted in 2017, is calling out to me now. Each day, for at least three hours, I sit down and write it. For the first time in my career, I am writing a book without a contract (and, therefore, no guaranteed income). But I find that focusing intently on this book, even if it never gets published (though I think it should be!), gives me a break from the stresses of the outside world. Needless to say, when I am writing I do not look at social media or listen to broadcasting of any kind, including music. It’s just me and the book. I have been through this before. In the months after 9/11, whose events took place in full view of where I live, I was completing my  “Classical Music 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Classical Music.” There was so much grief and struggle in the city and I devoted part of each day to helping in any way I could because I knew people who died and there was so much need. But I took four hours every day to write the classical music book. It made everything else possible. On April 24, I began hosting a weekly show for Idagio Live called “Fred Plotkin on Fridays.” I will be joined by musicians, by people in the music business, and others who feel music deeply. The organizing theme is inspiration and how we find it in music and elsewhere. My first guest was Thomas Hampson. On May 1 I have Christine Goerke, on May 8 is Ben Heppner and on May 15 will be Julia Bullock. And many excellent people are lined up after that. I think that inspiration is something we must connect with more than ever. OW: What do you feel will be the greatest impacts of COVID-19 on the opera world moving forward? What are some new developments that you feel are here to stay? FP: You know that I adore opera, not only as an entertainment but for the emotional specificity and its ability to go deeper into my soul than just about anything else. But it is inherently a live art form and only really works its magic in a theater with singers and instrumentalists performing in that moment while the audience—at least a good audience—gives back the energy and emotion that propels the singers forward. I fear that, until a vaccine is developed, all performing arts will struggle to return to a fully live, collective experience. This crisis is still all too new and I want to reflect on how the art form can work its special magic in the face of a new reality. When I have some ideas about this, I plan to write about them and perhaps help make them happen. OW: One of the major developments of this time are the emergence of streaming and connecting with fans and followers more directly via social media. How has this impacted your time in quarantine? FP: Streaming certainly existed before COVID-19 and it  had mixed success in financial terms for the companies and artists who made them. And it is well-known that in certain cases the presentation of HDs (as opposed to streaming) cannibalized the ticket sales of the companies that presented them. Many people in the metro area of those companies stopped buying tickets to live performances and chose to see the HD transmission. In terms of streaming to our homes, as often as not, there was a fee involved to view the video and, at times, to listen to the performance in audio form. If a company such as the Vienna State Opera did this, it was newly found income because that theater is almost always sold out. But the VSO has about half the capacity of the MET and strong government funding so streaming (which people all over the world signed up for at a not very steep price) represented an additional revenue source. OW: What is an outcome of it that you didn’t expect? FP: What is different now in these pandemic times is that opera companies in Europe and North America are opening their vaults to present existing recorded performances for free. This is a balm in difficult times and I respect their doing it. OW: What is something that makes you apprehensive about streaming’s sudden preponderance? How can opera companies and artists around the world learn from it moving forward and should it become a bigger part of the opera season experience moving forward? FP: I don’t know the details of all existing contracts and how they address whether performers will receive any compensation. A real crisis is happening this year in that almost every opera singer and instrumentalist has lost all of their work and, in way too may cases, has lost all of the pay that would go with it. This has a profound impact on their lives and they are justifiably despondent. Remember, most singers do not have endlessly long careers so that every year counts in terms of income not only to survive but to save for the future. OW: And in your view, is the idea of streaming as a major part of the industry even feasible for all parties (not only companies but artists) involved? FP: Beyond the financial implications of streaming, there is also the fact that a video transmission of an opera—no matter the size of the screen it is viewed on—is not an opera performance. It is a report from the stage of an opera house just as watching a sporting event on television is a report from the stadium. Someone (usually a director or editor) is deciding what you see and how you see it. And, in the case of opera, even the best audio system cannot replace the quality of sound in a theater. When viewing HDs in cinemas, at least there is the advantage of a communal audience sharing a moment. Seeing an opera in isolation is dispiriting in ways that listening (on recording, radio or other format) to that opera is not: when you just have audio, your imagination is summoned to picture the singers and performance and how the story is being told. OW: What are you most excited about doing once the quarantine officially comes to an end and we are allowed to resume a “normal” life? FP: Travel. It is just about my favorite thing to do because all the pleasures in life can be found when one sees new places, meets new people and experiences new cultures. When we travel the world, we learn more about ourselves.” OW: Who have been the people you have relied on most to help you through these challenging times? FP: Giuseppe Verdi, Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz. This is the music I am listening to in this period. OW: Most people in quarantine are actively engaging with the arts via either music, TV, film, reading, literature. Etc. What have you been watching or reading during this time? FP: I am spending this period in the home of an elderly loved one to take care of her. She reads and listens to music but watches too much news for her own good. To give her company and to get her away from incessant “breaking news” saying the same things, we make a daily movie date, watching a film on TCM. I try to make it one I have never seen. Recently, I saw a film called “People Will Talk” with Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain. It was made around 1950 but is modern and unconventional in its approach to medical ethics. On another day we watched the original “Godzilla” (1954), a film I had never seen! It was a fascinating exploration of fear and helplessness in the face of danger, but also of the sacrifices made by “average” citizens (who are anything but average) and the courage of scientists. OW: Speaking more globally about the pandemic, what can the world learn about this experience? What do you hope to see from our leaders (political or even industry) in order to build a better future that enables us to better manage any similar type of situation? FP: We need a new, more inclusive economic model that provides health care to all citizens. This will allow people who work in the arts to pursue their careers without having to worry before going to a doctor that they cannot pay their medical bills. It will also save lives and improve the quality of life for millions of people who are marginalized. This is a humane thing but also makes financial sense. Wellness means fewer expenses if conditions one can live with are caught earlier and it also means we will have more people who are productive, contributing citizens. We also need to turn to culture more assiduously to learn from history and about human nature. Through opera, but also literature, music and theater, we can learn about arrogance, hubris and derangement as well as love. Connection to culture gives us wisdom and tolerance as we juxtapose our current experiences with what is described in the art works from the past. Listening to and watching Violetta expire at the end of  “La Traviata” tells us with heart-rending emotion what it is like to die. When you look at “Manon Lescaut” die alone at the end of Puccini’s opera, you realize what it is like for all of the people now in hospitals to be dying alone because their loved ones cannot be near them. Reading Manzoni’s  “I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)” helps us understand what happens when plague devastates Lombardy, something we are witnessing again now. It may sound sappy to say it but I think this collective COVID-19 experience is teaching us that time is so precious, life is fragile and that love and kindness really do contribute to the health and well-being of others and ourselves. I still hear certain public figures as well as read comments by grouchy people in social media who think that selfishness and heartlessness are acceptable. They are wrong! We just have to look at all the sacrifices so many first responders (including cultural first responders) are willingly making and the millions of more people who are victims of circumstance. In opera, we audiences as well as the performers are regularly asked to do the emotional hard work that we now see millions of people facing. But most opera characters are also quick (apart from “Turandot” and  Amelia in “Un Ballo in Maschera”) to tell others that they love them. Now is the time to connect, to show love and to find courage where we can. And get back to work, whether it is creativity or doing something that will make things better for others.

A weekly roundup of fiction recommendations by Gwen Cooper Greetings, agoraphobes, and welcome back for the last of my three-part list of binge-worthy authors. As you may recall, we’re defining “binge-worthy” as meaning that the author in question has at least five novels or story collections independently worth reading, and we’re also avoiding the Austens and Roths who have undoubtedly been on your radar for years and years. Let’s get to it! Lorrie Moore: If I had never read Elena Ferrante, I would say that nobody creates vivid, “voice-y,” and thoroughly believable narrators like Lorrie Moore. That I put her in the running with Elena Ferrante—who I think does this better than any other living writer—should tell you just how high my opinion of her in this area is. To finish reading a Moore story, or her much-ballyhooed 2009 novel A Gate at the Stairs, is to feel that you’ve just spent a chunk of time having an actual conversation with a real person you know intimately. Her characters live, is what I’m saying—and the feeling that you’re always in company when you’re reading Moore makes her an ideal author and virtual companion for the age of involuntary social distancing. Start with: Birds of America—Moore’s 1988 collection of short stories is the first thing I ever read by her, and converted me thoroughly from reader to disciple. My favorite: A Gate at the Stairs—This was a tough call, but I’ll give it to Gate primarily because, while Moore doesn’t fully stick the landing in transitioning from short-form narrative to novel, it’s still well worth getting to read her at length. Leslie Marmon Silko: Technically, I’m fudging a bit by including Silko who—while having written a prolific body of poetry and non-fiction—only has three novels to her credit. Then again, she was a debut recipient of the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant in 1981, so who am I to quibble? Silko would be one of my very favorite writers even if she weren’t a unique voice among Native American novelists, of whom there are far too few. (I’m not overly fond of Louise Erdrich, which is limiting.) It’s almost a cliché to use words like “haunting” and “lyrical” to describe an author’s voice, but Silko is both of those things and far more. She also leans heavily on the po-mo device of non-linear narrative, but does so in a way that feels so intuitively logical that the reader never feels lost. She brings to brilliant life the Native American communities of the American Southwest—which, for this Jewish girl from Miami Beach, always feels very much like an adventure. Start with: Ceremony—A haunting (there’s that word again!) attempt to reconcile the WWII experience with that of Native Americans who saw, and were shattered by, combat. My favorite: The Almanac of the Dead—A sprawling, panoramic novel encompassing the history and present (at least, up until 1994) of Navajo and other Southwest tribes, along with the effects on their communities of urbanization and modernization. Tons of characters, tons of plot—a genuine epic. Angela Thirkell: If you read the earlier column where I wrote about my love of Anthony Trollope, you can perhaps imagine how I felt when I discovered a few years ago—quite by chance—that another British novelist, by the name of Angela Thirkell, had written some thirty-ish novels set in the Trollope “universe,” i.e. in Trollope’s fictional county of Barsetshire, from the years 1933 to 1961. There’s no overlap between Trollope’s characters and Thirkell’s, nor would I say that Thirkell quite measures up to Trollope’s shrewd character insights. Nevertheless, Thirkell has written an addictive series of light and witty comedies of manners that go down as easily as really good petit fours. Read her enough and you’ll feel like you just got back from vacationing in a British country house (delightful gossip and lovers’ quarrels de rigueur), which is undoubtedly a better place to spend your quarantine than a cramped New York City apartment. Start with: High Rising—The first of Thirkell’s Barsetshire novels, lighter than air, and yummy all the way down. My favorite: Same as above, which isn’t to say that her subsequent Barsetshire novels aren’t thoroughly enjoyable. Gloria Naylor: Naylor often cited Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston as two of her biggest influences, and the fingerprints of both those titans are evident on Naylor’s work—Morrison in Naylor’s glowing descriptive powers and dips into folklore and magical realism, and Hurston in Naylor’s mastery of vernacular and the extent to which her work (much like Hurston’s) is in constant conversation with Abolition-era slave narratives. And yet, Naylor is an entirely original voice and storyteller. I don’t know that any other author has ever made me laugh harder or broken my heart more thoroughly, all within the span of the same book. I sometimes think that Naylor doesn’t so much create characters as call forth the ghosts of actual people who will continue to live with you long after you’ve turned the last page. Start with: The Women of Brewster Place—You may remember Oprah Winfrey’s star turn in the late-80s TV adaptation. I’ve found that this one ages very, very well (the novel that is—I can’t speak for the movie). My favorite: Bailey’s Café—Read it and you’ll never look at sweet potato pie the same way again. Also, this observation will get big laughs from you. Gwen Cooper is the New York Times bestselling author of Homer's Odyssey and My Life in a Cat House, among numerous other titles. Her latest book, The Book of Pawsome: Head Bonks, Raspy Tongues, and 101 Reasons Why Cats Make Us So, So Happy, is now available for purchase on Amazon.com. Gwen will donate 50% of the first week's proceeds to Meals on Wheels.

By John Rolfe For those of you trapped at home with children and bravely trying to further their education while limiting the carnage they wreak, all I can do is quote Science Officer Ash from the sci-fi horror movie Alien: “I can’t lie to you about your chances, but you have my sympathy.” You see, I am an angel of mercy sidelined by the pandemic lockdown and sadly unable to save you. I drive a school bus — that sweet yellow chariot that cometh forth each morn to carry your urchins away and restore peace to your domicile. I'm also the father of three and stepfather of one, though my offspring are grown and on their own (save one), so a certain amount of amnesia has set in. My wife reminded me of what life could be like when she mused one recent morning, “I am soooo glad I don’t have school-age kids I’m stuck in the house with indefinitely … forever … trying to make them pay attention and do their homework and chores and clean up their messes. I remember those days of praying for the bus to arrive. This is one for the Gratitude Journal!” For sure. However, I must confess that I was usually ensconced in an office in Manhattan during those trying times, leaving my gallant, suffering spouse to deal with all the horror. Now that I’m piloting a 40-foot madhouse for a local school district, I am more keenly aware of what she was — and you are — up against. I can’t help noticing the look of gratitude in parents’ eyes whenever I arrive at their child’s stop. So what can you do, short of resorting to strong drink, to preserve your sanity until the lockdown ends? If you’re trying to teach kids yourself, received wisdom suggests making the first lesson of the day fun, so they have a reason involve themselves in activities they regard as a waste of their precious time. Schedule the most challenging material for about 10:30 a.m. when they are most engaged. As for their domestic duties, my wife suggests tying treasured possessions and privileges like video games, online time and cane sugar ingestion to the completion of assignments, chores, and cleanup. “Whenever they ask you for something, always be thinking, ‘What can I get out of this?’” she says. If that doesn’t help, you can try some of the containment methods I employ on my bus: Assign seats. Kids hate them, especially when they can’t sit with their friends or partners in crime. Separate troublemakers. The “Honored Student” seat on my bus is right behind me where I can better keep a jaundiced eye on those who chronically misbehave. They may not stop, but at least I have the satisfaction of highly annoying them. Read them The Riot Act. I have what I call my Roadside Lecture Series where I pull a particularly fractious bus over, turn off the engine, slowly rise as the roiling masses grow quiet, and deliver a thunderous address on why mixed martial arts matches in the aisle, doing headers over seatbacks, or distracting me with constant complaints and requests are not in their best interests ... or mine for that matter. Write them up. We drivers use a form that cites infractions such as fighting, pushing, tripping, littering, unacceptable language, destroying or defacing property, smoking, rudeness, excessive mischief, menacing, domestic terrorism, high treason, and violations of the Emoluments Clause. It is basically a ticket to the principal’s office for a stern reprimand. If you don’t have an office handy, a sizable closet can be a suitable site for a frank discussion. If all else fails, try shrieking. Then again, I suspect you are already doing plenty of that. Good luck and Godspeed! I hope to see you again soon, at which time I’m sure we shall share a tearful hug. 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.

'Close To Genocide By Default’ “What else do you call mass death by public policy?” asked Yale’s Gregg Gonsalves, as draft FEMA documents project 3,000 deaths a day. By Lee Moran A Yale epidemiologist pulled no punches with his searing assessment of the United States’ botched handling of the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting it is now “getting awfully close to genocide by default.” “How many people will die this summer, before Election Day?” tweeted Gregg Gonsalves, co-director of Yale’s Global Health Justice Partnership, on Wednesday morning, the day after President Donald Trump said the White House’s coronavirus task force would be wound down despite case numbers still rising. (Trump, however, tweeted later Wednesday morning that the group “will continue on indefinitely with its focus on SAFETY & OPENING UP OUR COUNTRY AGAIN.”) “What proportion of the deaths will be among African-Americans, Latinos, other people of color?” asked Gonsalves. “This is getting awfully close to genocide by default. What else do you call mass death by public policy?” In later tweets, Gonsalves confirmed he was serious with his suggestion. “What is happening in the US is purposeful, considered negligence, omission, failure to act by our leaders,” he wrote. “Can they be held responsible under international law?” COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, has now killed upwards of 72,000 people in the U.S. There are more than 1.2 million confirmed cases nationwide, more than any other country in the world. On Sunday, Trump said up to 100,000 people could eventually die from the virus. A week earlier, he said there would be up to 60,000 fatalities. A draft Federal Emergency Management Agency report over the weekend, however, showed there could be 3,000 deaths daily by June 1. Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, members of the White House’s task force, have also previously suggested that between 100,000 and 240,000 people could die from the virus in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes on its website how “current data suggest a disproportionate burden of illness and death among racial and ethnic minority groups.” Almost one-third of those who have died from the disease in the U.S. are Black, according to an Associated Press analysis. Trump for weeks downplayed the threat of the virus before dithering on what action to take, as case numbers worldwide soared. He has used the daily task force briefings to attack journalists and tout unproven cures, such as his suggestion last month that injecting disinfectant could be a possible remedy, which he later claimed was sarcasm.

By Doug Dworkin Vice President Mike Pence finally wore a mask today but,  unlike most people, I was not at all alarmed by his recent maskless appearance at the Mayo clinic. I know something that escaped the notice of even the most perceptive observers:  Pence’s face IS a mask.  He is, in fact, not a human but a secretly developed cyborg planted on earth by persons unknown.  U.S .intelligence agencies are fully aware of this, but the President is not.  They decided to keep this fact from him by putting it in the President’s Daily Briefing, which he never reads. Oddly enough, it was not the intelligence agencies that first discovered this astonishing fact.  One day, while entering the White House Briefing Room for one of the daily updates, Dr. Birx was walking behind the Vice President and noticed a string hanging out from under his jacket.   Thinking that it might be a loose thread, she pulled on it and it just kept coming.   When she released it, it retracted and the Vice President suddenly blurted out, “But what’s remarkable to me as a layperson, Mr. President, is because of this partnership you’ve forged, we’re almost there.  And we’ll be there very, very soon for the American people.”  Curious, Dr. Birx pulled the string again and Pence uttered, “This is one more step where we, literally, as the President said from early on, are leaving no stone unturned, and we are delivering a whole-of-government approach for our states as they deal with the coronavirus outbreak.” Because of social distancing, no one but Dr. Birx heard Pence speaking (perhaps the cyborg has an automatic control that increases volume when he’s near the President)   In any event, Dr. Birx suddenly realized that the Vice President is some kind of sophisticated other-worldly “Chatty Cathy.”  Alarmed, but fearing for her job if she told the President, Birx dutifully reported her findings to US intelligence agencies, where the secret remains until Trump decides to read his daily briefing. It’s possible he already knows.  Some in the agencies have theorized that the Pence cyborg may not be from another world at all, but an artificial intelligence device secretly developed in China at the request of Trump so he can always count on having a dedicated toady at his beck and call. Doug Dworkin is a former junior high school teacher, encyclopedia editor, and IT executive at IBM. Now retired, he Is beginning a new career as a professional dabbler and dilettante.

By Merrill Hansen Donald Trump considers himself an expert on women’s looks. Good hair is important (“Hair is my thing”), and he absolutely frowns upon lip implants. But there is something Trump hates more than a woman with bad hair and lip implants--a strong, attractive woman with brains. That goes doubly for one who is on Joe Biden's short list of possible vice-presidential running mates. That's Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan: great hair, no lip implants, and very smart. While Trump was still treating coronavirus as a little glitch in his re-election campaign plans, Whitmer was fighting to get protective supplies for healthcare workers in hospitals in her state that had almost reached capacity. Michigan has the third highest death rate from coronavirus among the states. Whitmer didn't give a damn about Trump's misogyny, and she'd rather eat dirt than refrain from criticizing him publicly if he deserves it. So she did just that, and not surprisingly, Trump retaliated. By his own standards, though, he couldn't make fun of her looks, so he dismissively referred to her as "that woman from Michigan.” To his obvious annoyance, she wore that label with pride. (She certainly didn't want anyone to think she was the Governor of Georgia.) Finally, Trump settled on calling her Gretchen "Half” Whitmer, which she probably found amusing, considering that he may really believe that "wit" is spelled "that way. Trump also retaliated by interfering with the Michigan governor’s ability to get supplies and ventilators from the companies with which she had contracted. His refrain--"I'm not going to help people who don't appreciate me-- was reminiscent of parents whining that they slaved all day to keep a roof over their kids’ heads and nobody appreciates them. But Whitmer was shrewd. Because Trump was putting her in the spotlight, every cable show wanted her as a guest. Not wanting to do the limbo rock with Trump ("how low can you go?"), she talked about what shewas doing to battle the virus, and everyone could see she was not only smart and attractive, but she was witty. She even landed a spot on “The Daily Show,” and wore a blue THAT WOMAN FROM MICHIGAN T-shirt that probably outsold Trump MAGA hats the next day. While Trump's aides were begging him to stop speaking at coronavirus briefings, Whitmer was becoming a darling of TV news. Unable as usual to admit defeat, Trump decided to go another round. He urged his loyalists to gather in Michigan’s capitol, Lansing, to protest Whitmer's stay-at-home order with its new restrictions. Republican organizations and operatives, including those with big donor money ties, mounted a protest event that looked more like satire. Protesters came with assault weapons, Confederate flags, Trump 2020 banners and Nazi signs. Because the demonstrators were there to defend their constitutional right to spread a deadly virus, most of them refused to wear masks and glove. They even blocked ambulance entrances at hospitals. In her deft handling of the situation, Whitmer won the ultimate cultural prize when “Saturday Night Live” did a skit portraying the poised Michigan governor chilling out with a few beers. https://youtu.be/gqPCJfKULgs While all of this was playing out, I was a statistic myself, one of the thousands of coronavirus cases in Michigan, scared witless I could become an even more dire statistic. I already was a fan of Governor Whitmer, but now I was certain that she was going to do everything she could to control the virus, even though she would have to suffer the wrath of others. She did exactly that, magnificently. The protesters' way of thinking is completely foreign to me. So when they took to the streets to protest against Whitmer’s stay-at-home order, I found myself wondering how many of them would suffer in silence if they, or their family members got the virus. Who would they take to the streets to blame then? Not "that woman.” Merrill Hansen is a legal assistant, living in West Bloomfield, Michigan. She describes herself as a frustrated writer, who wishes she could be Nora Ephron (when she was alive), if only for a day. She is a news-, political- and FB-junkie, a combination that requires a constant reminder that she needs to take deep cleansing breaths when responding to people who don't agree with her.

By Anokhee Mepani / New York City Dear Insiders, I've been feeling especially grateful during this crazy time. I’ve taken this period to reflect on and be thankful for so many things: my supportive partner, my secure job, my safe shelter, my entertaining friends, and especially my loving family. It’s given me a deep appreciation for the small joys in life, like being able to develop a relationship with a wonderful neighbor like Andrea. It’s also given me time to invest in something I care deeply about: Learn to Love (www.learntoloveinc.org), a nonprofit organization I started in 2005 to support the education and healthcare of differently-abled children in poverty. On my last trip to Mumbai, I got to spend a lot of time at the school with the students. Here’s a picture of me hanging out with the youngest students at the SEC school during recess. Much of my family lives in Mumbai, India. I typically visit Mumbai every year, and when I was younger, I would live there for months at a time. If you’ve never been to Mumbai or to India, I highly recommend going - India is a vibrant country, full of spirit, color, amazing food, and kind people. It is also a country that, like many countries, fails its most vulnerable - the poor, the differently-abled, and the minorities. During my visits I began volunteering at a small network of schools for differently-abled children in need (the schools are operated by the Society for the Education of the Challenged - www.sec-india.org). While India technically offers free education to all children up to the eighth grade, it does not necessarily make that education accessible. Many of the students I met could not go to the state schools because there were no handicap-accessible buses to get them to school, or the schools themselves were on the upper floors of buildings with no elevators or ramps. I fell in love with the kids and was glad they had a place to come to every day that could provide them with food, shelter, and an education. The schools also gave students mobility equipment (e.g. wheelchairs, crutches), and basic healthcare needs. In 2005 I began fundraising here in the US to support the schools financially. I turned my fundraising initiative into Learn to Love (LTL), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For 15 years, we have been providing funds to enable the schools to provide special educators; nutritionists; physical, speech, and mental health therapists; art, music, drama, and sports program; handicap-accessible transportation to and from school for all students; mobility equipment; medicine; sanitary and hygiene items; and more. We’ve also taken on large projects, like renovating bathrooms to make them hygienic and accessible to all. The entire time I was volunteering at the schools, fundraising for them, developing an organization to support the vulnerable children - the entire time, the baseline assumption was that the schools were there and open to the kids. The goal was also to make the students’ lives at the schools happy and well-rounded - all of the funds we raised and spent and all of the programs we stood up were centered around the school. School was the safe place, the place that removed the weight of being underprivileged and differently-abled from the students’ shoulders and made it possible for them to just be kids. This pandemic has taken school away from the children. Most of the kids live in slums in and around Mumbai. Forget classes through Zoom - many do not have consistent access to food, medicine, or basic necessities. Their families and their homes are not set up to handle their challenges - they likely do not have an accessible bathroom nearby, and cannot move or go anywhere. For the past month, Learn to Love has been raising funds to support the children at home, in this desperate time of need. For $65 a month, we are able to provide the child and his or her household with milk, eggs, flour, lentils, biscuits, rice, oil, soap, toothpaste, and the specific hygiene and medical items the child needs. If you are able to and would like to donate, you can contribute to this fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/raise-funds-for-kids039-basic-needs-during-covid . Every dollar will go towards our impoverished, differently-abled students who are severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. I can’t express in words how grateful we are for your donations. This global crisis has brought so much pain to the world, but it has also shown us just how resilient we are, how much strength we can muster when we support each other. In my reflections I am reminded of a quote by Helen Keller that is painted on one of classroom walls in one of the schools, reminding each child that they are capable: “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” I wish my fellow insiders and their loved ones health, safety, and strength during this most difficult time. May we all overcome together. Anokhee Mepani grew up in Boston and has lived in New York City for the past decade. She founded Learn to Love in India and is an active member of her local community here in the U.S. In addition to being committed to helping others, Anokhee has a career in finance and technology and is the director of strategy and operations at Addepar. In her free time, she loves to dance, read, and meet new people.

Day 1 – I Can Do This!! Got enough food and wine to last a month! Day 2 – Opening my 8th bottle of Wine. I fear wine supplies might not last! Day 3 – Strawberries: Some have 210 seeds, some have 235 seeds. Who knew?? Day 4 – 8:00 pm. Removed my Day Pajamas and put on my Night Pajamas. Day 5 – Today, I tried to make Hand Sanitizer. It came out as Jello Shots!! Day 6 – I get to take the Garbage out. I’m SO excited, I can’t decide what to wear. Day 7 – Laughing way too much at my own jokes!! Day 8 – Went to a new restaurant called “The Kitchen”. You have to gather all the ingredients and make your own meal. I have NO clue how this place is still in business. Day 9 – I put liquor bottles in every room. Tonight, I’m getting all dressed up and going Bar hopping. Day 10 – Struck up a conversation with a spider today. Seems nice. He’s a Web Designer. Day 11 – Isolation is hard. I swear my fridge just said, “What the hell do you want now?” Day 12 – If you keep a glass of wine in each hand, you can’t accidently touch your face! Day 13 – Watched the birds fight over a worm. The Cardinals lead the Blue Jays 3–1. Day 14 – Anybody else feel like they’ve cooked dinner about 395 times this month? Day 15 – I realized why dogs get so excited about something moving outside, going for walks or car rides. I think I just barked at a squirrel.

By Susan Weill Cooking for me can be very creative and fun but only when the mood strikes, not when I have to. More often than not, dinner consists of some combination of prepared and fresh foods – chicken potstickers (thanks Trader Joe’s), quinoa veggie burgers (also TJ’s) or, if I’m really uninspired, a can of soup. I jazz up these dishes by adding broccoli and teriyaki sauce to the potstickers, topping the burger with sautéed onions, peppers and shredded cheese and enhancing the soup with some frozen mixed vegetables. Before we started sheltering in place, I would stop into Trader Joe’s several times a week (there are two nearby) and pick up other groceries at ShopRite and Stew Leonard’s. These days, food shopping is way too stressful and involves a whole new set of issues – getting “suited up” with mask and gloves, long lines to get in the door, empty shelves, and then the cleaning protocol once you get home. As a result, I’ve been making one shopping trip a week to just one store where I get the few things I need. Thankfully, I stocked up on my favorites before things shut down (or as much as I could in a small kitchen with limited storage), so I continue to cook the same things with a few variations such as the recipe below. I had all the ingredients on hand except the sweet potato and jalapeño so I bought a sweet potato on my last trip to ShopRite but forgot the jalapeño. No way was I going back out there so I figured the substitution of red pepper flakes would work. Hope you enjoy! (And feel free to make your own substitutions.) Sweet Potato and Black Bean Hash (Adapted from Vegetarian Times) Serves 4 Ingredients · 2 tsp. vegetable oil · 1 medium onion, diced · 1 medium red pepper, diced · 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice (See Note #1) · 2 large cloves garlic, minced · 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced (See Note #2) · 4 - 5 tsp. ground cumin · 1/2 tsp. salt · 1 cup frozen corn · 15-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed · Shredded cheddar cheese (optional, as garnish) Preparation 1. In large heavy skillet, preferably cast-iron, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and peppers and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. 2. Add sweet potato, and cook, stirring often, until beginning to brown in spots, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in garlic, jalapeño, cumin (start with 4 tsp., add more to taste), and salt and cook, stirring often, 30 seconds. Add ¾ cup water and cook, stirring to scrape any browned bits from bottom of pan, until potatoes are tender, about 5-10 minutes. Stir in corn and beans and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through. Season with freshly ground pepper to taste, and serve hot. Pass the shredded cheese to sprinkle on top. Notes: 1 - To speed up the cooking time for the sweet potatoes, put diced potatoes into a microwaveable bowl, add 2 tablespoons of water, cover and microwave on High for 1-1 ½ minutes. 2 – If you don’t have a jalapeño, sprinkle in some red pepper flakes for a bit of heat, according to taste. Susan Weill, a former Time Research Librarian and occasional freelance researcher, is sheltering at home in Westchester.

By Andy Borowitz May 1, 2020 LANSING (The Borowitz Report)—Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, is “arrogantly forcing the residents of her state to remain alive,” Attorney General William Barr charged on Friday. In a blistering takedown of the Democratic governor, Barr said that Whitmer was “depriving Michiganders of their constitutionally enshrined right to die before their time.” Hinting that the Justice Department could soon file a lawsuit against Whitmer, Barr alleged that her “unhinged obsession with keeping her state’s residents breathing” represented “government overreach at its worst.” Barr also suggested that Whitmer’s “blatant anti-coronavirus bias” would likely come back to haunt her at the ballot box. “Gretchen Whitmer never asked Michiganders for their consent to remain alive, and they won’t forget that any time soon,” Barr 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.

From MSNBC (click image below) Jeffrey Sachs: “We have a leader who is the worst in our history and such an idiot….Americans are dying by the tens of thousands because we’re not doing the basics.”