By Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. The new House Minority Leader, New York Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, has begun the battle of the 118th Congress full of fight—something the Democrats are going to need plenty of if they are to counter the Republicans’ extreme right-wing chaos merchants now holding the House hostage. Jeffries made a strong start with the speech he gave in the wee hours of January 7, before handing the speaker’s gavel over to Kevin McCarthy. Jeffries’ brilliant and rousing speech stole any remnant of glory which McCarthy might have imagined he could salvage after it took him an entire week and a bruising 15 tries to muster the majority needed to win his post. Jeffries held out an olive branch to any Republican members—if they were willing to work in an honestly bipartisan way. But he made it clear that Democrats “will never compromise [their] principles.” In compelling oratory, Jeffries then reeled off—from A to Z—a litany of what House Democrats stand for and what they will firmly stand against: House Democrats will always put American values over autocracy, benevolence over bigotry, the Constitution over the cult, democracy over demagogues, economic opportunity over extremism, freedom over fascism, governing over gaslighting, hopefulness over hatred, inclusion over isolation, justice over judicial overreach, knowledge over kangaroo courts, liberty over limitation, maturity over Mar-a-Lago, normalcy over negativity, opportunity over obstruction, people over politics, quality of life issues over QAnon, reason over racism, substance over slander, triumph over tyranny, understanding over ugliness, voting rights over voter suppression, working families over the well-connected, xenial over xenophobia, ‘yes, we can’ over ‘you can do it,’ and zealous representation over zero-sum confrontation. On January 10, the Republican-held House voted to establish a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government and made Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan its chairman. Jordan was deeply involved in former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Minority Leader Jeffries responded to that action by dubbing the committee “a Select Committee on Insurrection Protection,” and declaring in a tweet that Democrats “will fight it tooth and nail.” The New York Times has called Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black politician to lead either party in Congress, “a disciplined tactician.” His early show of backbone is certainly very promising. Who Is Hakeem Jeffries? Though not quite as well known to the public as some of his colleagues, like Adam Schiff or Eric Swalwell, Speaker Jeffries has a very strong résumé. The son of a social worker mother and a father who was a state substance abuse counselor, Jeffries was raised in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn and attended public school. Jeffries graduated with honors from the State University of New York at Binghamton, with a BA in political science. He went on to obtain an MA in public policy at Georgetown University, and then attended New York University School of Law, where he served on the school’s Law Review and graduated magna cum laude. After law school, Jeffries clerked for Judge Harold Baer Jr. of the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He then practiced law at a prominent international law firm, and served as counsel in the litigation department of Viacom Inc. and CBS. Jeffries spent three terms in the New York State Assembly before running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. First elected to Congress in 2012, Jeffries has served six terms representing New York’s diverse 8th Congressional district, covering portions of southern and eastern Brooklyn. During his tenure in the Congress, Jeffries has served as the Chair of the Democratic Caucus, and Whip of the Congressional Black Caucus, and has been a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus as well. He was also one of the seven impeachment managers during the first Senate trial of then-president Donald Trump for corruptly pressuring Ukraine to interfere with the 2020 presidential election. Backed by Nance Pelosi, Jeffries was elected, unopposed, to be her successor as the House Democratic leader in November 2022. Jeffries Work in the Congress: Jeffries was among those championing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, passed on March 2021, which banned chokeholds, knees to the neck, and other inherently deadly tactics for subduing suspects. He backed the First Step Act, which shortens sentences by permitting convicts to earn 54 days of good time credit per year, provides funds to expand rehabilitation programs like education and vocational training, and requires the Bureau of Prisons to house incarcerated individuals within 500 driving miles of their relatives. Jeffries supports banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. As regards his district, Jeffries introduced P.J.'s Act to increase federal funding for enhanced security in public housing developments. He also established "Congress on Your Corner”—outdoor evening office hours held from June through August near subway stations, at which he listens to constituents' concerns directly. In all these ways, Jeffries is a progressive. However, he has departed from some of the movement’s positions, which has resulted in commentators labeling him as more of a centrist. In particular, Jeffries did not support the New Green Deal. And his consistent support of the U.S.-Israel relationship has sometimes placed him at odds with a portion of the Progressive movement who are farther to the left. According to The Forward, the American Jewish Congress has said that Jeffries is “one who has never hesitated to call out antisemitism and all those seeking to harm Jews.” At a rally outside the United Nations during the 2014 war in Gaza, Jeffries said: "Israel should not be made to apologize for its strength." Jeffries equated Israel’s situation with Crown Heights, where he was raised. He called Crown Heights “a tough neighborhood,” and declared that "the only thing that neighbors respect in a tough neighborhood is strength." He has also described the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement as “inherently antisemetic.” Fellow progressive New York Rep. Richie Torres told The Forward, “Pro-Israel advocacy is not for the faint hearted.” Torres added, “Hakeem is neither faint-hearted nor fair-weather.” Despite Jeffries’ differences with some in his Progressive Caucus, he apparently has shown an ability to work with the various factions of the Democratic party. And according to Vox, as House Minority Leader, Jeffries has said “he’ll work to be inclusive of ideologically diverse members in his own caucus, and seek to unify Democrats as they navigate their role in the minority.” In these times—with the larger question of Democracy’s survival at stake—the Democrats will especially need such solidarity. And like his eminent predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries appears to be the perfect person for that job. Political columnist Jessie Seigel had a long career as a government attorney in which she honed her analytic skills. She has also twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the Washington, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her fiction, and has been a finalist for a number of literary awards. In addition, Seigel is an associate editor at the Potomac Review, a reviewer for The Washington Independent Review of Books, and a dabbler in political cartoons at Daily Kos. Of this balance in her work between the analytic and the imaginative, Seigel jokes, “I guess my right and left brains are well-balanced.” More on and from Seigel can be found at The Adventurous Writer, https://www.jessieseigel.com.

Fred Plotkin, a pleasure activist and passionate Italy and culinary expert, speaks each Friday with leading people in the arts 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."

By Judi Markowitz Every year, a growing number of people are diagnosed with some form of cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, there were approximately 1.9 million new cancer cases diagnosed last year. Unfortunately, the estimated number of deaths was more than 600,000. Cancer does not discriminate — young, old, newly married, recently retired, cancer does not care. Bobby Graff, my husband Jeffrey’s childhood friend, was five days away from embarking on his retirement dream — a newly purchased house in Florida, warm weather for the winter season, fishing, relaxing with his wife Judy, and, of course, his favorite pastime, golf. But all of that came to a screeching halt after a yearly physical with his internist. At the time, everything appeared to go well with the visit, until it didn’t. While at the doctor’s office, a routine blood profile was taken. Shortly after the appointment, Bobby received a phone call from his internist. He was told there was something questionable about his bloodwork and wanted Bobby to see a specialist. An hour later, Bobby had an appointment with an oncologist scheduled for the very next day. The new doctor delivered the bad news. Bobby had leukemia. It was 2016. Bobby’s initial reaction was disbelief. “I felt like I was hit by a Mack truck. My mind was swirling with so many thoughts, I couldn’t keep them straight. I was stunned. I could not fathom that I had cancer because I felt fine. In just 90 minutes, I met with the specialist, more bloodwork was studied, and then the sentence was handed down. My life took a horrible turn.” Bobby was told he had AML — acute myeloid leukemia — the worst type. Within a week, Bobby was admitted to the hospital for what would turn out to be three and a half months of chemotherapy treatments. The medications were brutal. Chemotherapy took its toll on Bobby mentally as well as physically. The chemo racked his body–muscle loss, weight loss, hair loss. Still, Bobby knew he couldn’t give up. The strain was unbearable. He felt like he was caught in an episode of The Twilight Zone. Then, after all of the medications were exhausted, Bobby’s life depended on locating a bone marrow donor for a transplant. He was released from the hospital and went home to wait for that all-important phone call. Bobby was placed on a donor list called “Be the Match,” a worldwide organization. A coordinator at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, Michigan, orchestrated the process. It begins with donors giving blood. After an initial analysis, the bloodwork is then placed in a system for a potential match. These donors contribute to saving lives out of the generosity of their hearts–they remain anonymous. There are 10 points, or markers, for a match – even eight points will provide the desired combination. It took nearly four months to locate a match. It was from a 36-year-old man. Bobby’s journey was about to begin — it was 2017. Before the bone marrow transplant, Bobby had to endure full body radiation­­–head to toe–on both sides of his body. He told the technician “I like it medium rare, not well done.” His humor was intact, and it kept him moving forward. Bobby was only given a 30 percent chance to survive. Bobby’s close circle of friends and family, his passion for sports, and above all, his wife, paved the way to his recovery. While enduring chemotherapy, Bobby commented that the isolation was numbing. Only his wife and the medical staff were allowed in his room. Rabbis checked in with him daily, prayers were sent out on his behalf from all religious denominations and my own son, Todd, while living in Jerusalem, went to the Wailing Wall to pray for Bobby’s recovery. Cards and phone calls were in ample supply. When my husband sent a card of encouragement, he included a blast from the past: Bobby’s personal Red Wings hockey card tucked snugly inside. He knew Bobby would garner strength from it, as well as the positive thoughts Jeffrey was sending along. Bobby’s love for sports began as a child. Growing up in Oak Park, Mich., he played hockey, baseball, joined a bowling league and golfed. The relationships that grew out of these team sports still linger today. Even the lower level of his house is a tribute to the athletes he admires. The walls are adorned with memorabilia and photographs of legends such as Gordie Howe, Hank Greenberg, Barry Sanders, Al Kaline and Joe Namath. Many of these photos are even signed by the athletes. Bobby had a Man Cave before the term became popular in American culture. An important moment in Bobby’s psychological recovery was when his wife brought the magic ticket to his room — a Red Wings jersey. This was no ordinary hockey jersey. Bobby had participated in the Red Wings Fantasy Camp in 1986 and skated along with Gordie Howe — one of the greats. Bobby said that it was a glowing moment. The hockey stick Bobby used at the camp was signed by this legend of the ice. Having the jersey hang in his hospital room gave Bobby inspiration and the promise of memories yet to be made. A nurse who attended to Bobby regularly, and who was one of his favorites, picked up on the inspiration that emanated from the jersey. The fight was tough, and the nurse would leave short notes of support on the board in his room to help Bobby through each procedure. Phrases like “Keep your skates sharp” and “You have another shift, so skate hard” kept Bobby grounded and hopeful. Bobby came through the transplant in April 2017 with immense gratitude, and for a little more than a year was on top of the world. Allowing himself to live in the moment, Bobby started to see friends, attended his 50-year high school reunion, and spent treasured moments with his wife. Then the bottom fell out in July 2018 when Bobby started to feel weak and then a lump developed in his jaw. Fear gripped Bobby so tightly he felt like he was in a vice. He could not believe the demon cancer was preying on him once again. Thinking about another round and pulling through once again occupied his mind, and the weight was excruciating. Bobby was diagnosed with leukemia for a second time in August 2018. This time he was given a 10 per cent chance to survive. A repeat performance was quickly on its way: six months on a chemo pill, placement on the donor list, and six and a half months spent between the hospital and a rehabilitation facility. The experience was frightening and agonizing. But finally, some good news was presented to Bobby — another donor was found. Bobby’s friends and family kept up their vigil of hope and even sports legends were uplifting. Bobby’s brother, Paul, had a client who was a Hall of Fame basketball player–Elgin Baylor. He had played for the L.A. Lakers from 1958 through the 1970s. After hearing about Bobby’s plight, Baylor sent a signed basketball jersey with get well wishes inscribed on his number. Baylor used Bobby’s nickname — Bibby. It was bestowed upon him by my husband Jeffrey when they were in their early 20s. Bobby kept the jersey close. Finally, Bobby made it home in October of 2019. He was in a wheelchair–too weak to walk, care for himself or even eat solid food. Bobby used a feeding tube for 18 months. Physical and occupational therapy became his mainstay and pushing himself mentally was a test. Once again, his brother flew in from California to motivate and care for Bobby. After months of rehabilitation, Bobby was able to use a walker and eventually to ambulate by himself. Being able to go outside, sit down and hear the sound of the wind made Bobby reflect on his newfound motto “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s learning to dance in the rain.” Unfortunately, Bobby could not escape the side effects of the medications used in the transplants. By May 2021, his kidneys were severely affected. When inquiring about a kidney transplant, the doctors pulled no punches. They laid the cards on the table to give Bobby a clear view of his options, and it wasn’t pretty. In order to receive a kidney, Bobby would have to go through intensive radiation once again. Point blank, he was told he wouldn’t make it through this phase. Bobby’s options were now limited to dialysis three times a week. He viewed dialysis as his job and working hard to get stronger was the primary goal. Bobby’s approach–“it’s like getting ready for a big game, only this was the game of life.” Bobby is truly The Comeback Kid. With love, support, faith, and friendship as motivating forces, Bobby kept moving forward through his darkest days. In his mind, Bobby would replay the inspirational ESPY speech in 1993. delivered by basketball player, coach and broadcaster Jim Valvano, who had terminal cancer. Bobby found strength in Valvano’s motto “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” Bobby also followed Valvano’s recipe for each day — laugh, think, and be moved to tears, whether for joy or sorrow. It’s 2023 and Bobby has nothing but gratitude and a true appreciation for the years he has been given. When the bleak statistics for survival of a second bone marrow transplant were reported, Bobby opted to think positively, yet realistically. His friendships are stronger than ever, and he enjoys daily conversations with his Oak Park crew. Bobby has learned that the small things in life are really the best things. He stays focused on the here and now. With his wife by his side, he is enjoying winters in Florida, listening to the sounds of the ocean, the birds chirping and watching the sun rise. Judi Markowitz is a retired high school English teacher of 34 years. She primarily taught 12th grade and had the pleasure of her three sons gracing her classes. In addition, she taught debate, forensics, and Detroit film. Judi has four adult children and seven wonderful grandchildren. She is married to Jeffrey Markowitz, whom she met in high school. Judi grew up in Oak Park, Mich. which had a stellar school district, with excellent teachers. The city provided activities for all–and there were even sidewalks. Judi moved to Huntington Woods as an adult, which is a half mile from her childhood home. She wanted the same experience for her children as she had growing up, and Huntington Woods provided that. The View from Four Foot Two is Judi’s first book.

By Laurence Lerman / New York City I was six or seven years old when I first became aware of Elvis Presley—the music, the movies, his presence in the world, a presence that had long been in place prior to my arrival. At about the same time, I became aware of his newly born daughter Lisa Marie Presley, in all of those pictures of her as a swaddled baby being held by the King of Rock ’n’ Roll and his pretty bouffanted wife Priscilla. And saw Lisa Marie grow into an adorable little girl, her legendary father dying dramatically at the age of 42 when she was only nine years old. And she continued to pop up in pictures as I began to regularly listen to Elvis’ music throughout my teenage and young adult years. It wasn’t until Lisa Marie was a young adult that I recognized she had a life beyond the snapshots as simply Elvis’s daughter, a tumultuous life that came with her being the only child of one of the most famous people in the world. Lisa Marie died in a Los Angeles hospital last Thursday (Jan. 12), after suffering cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, Calif. Her death occurred two days after she was seen and interviewed while attending the Golden Globe awards ceremony with her mother Priscilla. They were there to see Austin Butler win the prize for Best Actor in a Drama for his starring role in Baz Luhrmann’s popular biopic about her dad’s life, Elvis. Lisa Marie seemed unwell in the red carpet interview with Extra that was widely replayed after her death. Though she had to weather her parents’ internationally publicized divorce at the age of five and the blow of her father’s unexpected death four years later, her younger years may have been her happiest, or possibly her least turbulent. Lisa Marie was married four times, each of the marriages ending in divorce, beginning with musician Danny Keogh, whom she wed at the age of 20 and had a son, Benjamin Keough, and a daughter, actress Riley Keough. She was subsequently married to musical legend Michael Jackson for two years (1994-96), actor Nicolas Cage for another two (2002-04) and guitarist/producer Michael Lockwood in 2006, from whom she filed for divorce in 2016. Lockwood was father to Lisa Marie’s fraternal twin girls, Harper and Finley, who were born in 2008. According to Lisa Marie, it was during the recovery from her daughters’ difficult birth that she became addicted to prescription opioids and painkillers, a problem she claimed to have overcome over the subsequent decade, in part through her embrace of Scientology. But tragedy followed when her son Benjamin, who was rumored to also have struggled with drugs and alcohol, took his own like in 2020 at age 27. The suicide of her only son hit Lisa Marie especially hard, a period she wrote about movingly last year in an essay for People magazine to mark National Grief Awareness Day. “Grief has to get talked about. I’m sharing my thoughts in the hopes that somehow, we can change that,’ she wrote. There were many other sad episodes in Lisa Marie’s adult life, but she appears to have garnered satisfaction in her pursuit of a musical career. She released three rock albums between 2003 and 2012, as well as the single “In the Ghetto” in 2007. A gospel-tinged country-rock Elvis song from 1969 that was re-recorded to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death, the new version of “In the Ghetto” featured Lisa Marie in a “duet” with her father. Recorded to raise money for the not-for-profit Presley Charitable Foundation, the song reached No. 1 on the iTunes sales chart that year. Elvis’ legacy always played a major role in Lisa Marie’s life. It was a legacy that she always respected and stood by, even as she inherited his entire estate at the age of 25 and sold of the bulk of it in 2005. She did, however, keep control of Graceland, Elvis’s famed Memphis mansion and 13.5-acre estate, where he and his parents are buried. Her son Benjamin was also buried there and Lisa Marie will be laid to rest next to him. Heartbreak Hotel, indeed. Laurence Lerman is a film journalist, former editor of Video Business--Variety's DVD trade publication--and husband to The Insider's own Gwen Cooper. Over the course of his career he has conducted one-on-one interviews with just about every major director working today, including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Kathryn Bigelow, Ridley Scott, Walter Hill, Spike Lee, and Werner Herzog, among numerous others. Once James Cameron specifically requested an interview with Laurence by name, which his wife still likes to brag about. Most recently, he is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online review site DiscDish.com.

By John Rolfe / Red Hook, N.Y. I’m sure that most people had heard of Jeff Beck before the legendary British guitarist passed away on Jan. 10 at the age of 78. I’m also willing to wager my last piaster that most were also unaware that they had actually heard him. Beck’s most widely known work was done in the ’60s with The Yardbirds, the rock group that also launched the careers of Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, two guitar contemporaries who eclipsed Beck by going on to greater fame and commercial success. As the leader of his own bands and as a solo artist, Beck was hailed by rock fans, critics and fellow musicians as a pioneer of heavy blues-influenced rock in the late ’60s and jazz fusion in the ’70s, and for being “the guitarist’s guitarist,” thanks to his dazzlingly unique sound and technique, constant innovation and exploration of his instrument. As Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple once said, “Jeff Beck is my idol ... sometimes he finds notes that I just do not have on my guitar.” Page tweeted after learning of Beck’s death, “The six stringed Warrior is no longer here for us to admire the spell he could weave around our mortal emotions. Jeff could channel music from the ethereal. His technique unique. His imaginations apparently limitless. Jeff I will miss you along with your millions of fans.” You can read more tributes here. To casual listeners of mainstream music, though, Beck was overshadowed by the other stars with whom he associated. His first Jeff Beck Group launched the career of singer Rod Stewart and now-Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood. He played a key role in creating Stevie Wonder’s classic hit “Superstition.” But Beck had no blockbuster hit songs of his own, and it seemed like he was usually given major exposure incidentally via a movie soundtrack (his song “The Pump” was used in the Tom Cruise classic Risky Business) or his appearances with big names such as Clapton, Page, Wonder, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sting, Kelly Clarkson and actor/musician Johnny Depp, with whom he had been touring and recording in recent years. As a Beck fan since 1971, I feel frustrated hearing tributes that include only his biggest songs with the Yardbirds (“Heart Full of Soul”, “Shapes of Things”) and most oft-played (on mainstream radio) solo tracks (“Beck’s Bolero”, “Freeway Jam” and “People Get Ready”). I understand that those tunes are what most people will recognize, but to those who don’t know much about him, the tributes convey the impression that Beck’s career peaked or even ended by the mid-’80s after a small handful of modest hits. Nothing could be further from the truth. He kept going as a vital artistic force — recording, touring, evolving, exploring fresh musical terrain, collaborating, winning Grammy Awards — right up until the sudden end of his life last week from bacterial meningitis. Beck leaves behind a résumé that includes two platinum and five gold albums, eight Grammies among his 17 nominations (the most recent in 2022), and two inductions into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (as a Yardbird and as a solo artist). But most significantly, he spent nearly 60 years as an integral part of the fabric of popular music, never becoming a household name but nevertheless putting his stamp on different styles and on the work of many other major artists such as Tina Turner, Roger Waters, Mick Jagger, Kate Bush, Toots & The Maytals, Jan Hammer, Jon Bon Jovi, The Pretenders, John McLaughlin, Les Paul, Ozzy Osbourne and more. Rock, pop, blues, jazz fusion, funk, techno, rockabilly, you name it, Beck could play it authentically and make it his own. He laid down gritty hard rock with ZZ Top and leant a lighter, playful touch to Beach Boys classics as a member of Brian Wilson’s touring band. He worked tender magic on classic pop songs like “Lilac Wine” with vocalist Imelda May and fueled gut bucket blues (“I Put a Spell on You”) with singer Joss Stone. He even cranked out politically edgy industrial rock with the band Bones UK on his 2016 album “Loud Hailer.” Beck’s instrumental interpretations of “Over the Rainbow”, The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” and the opera classic “Nessun Dorma” (both Grammy winners), and a bird’s call (“Blackbird”) are breathtaking. No matter what a song demanded, Beck delivered. I treasure the memories of seeing him perform live four times from 1975 and 2017. (If you haven’t guessed, he’s my favorite guitarist, and he’s one of the few musicians who has ever made me laugh out loud in astonishment.) The one constant was his unique touch and technique, best described by this New York Times concert review from 2016: “There was something particular, specialized and unusual about pretty much every individual sound he produced: his chords, struck roughly with his thumb, framed with strange temporal relations to the beat, and then clipped off; his sparing and startling use of fast legato flourishes; his almost constant patrolling of microtonal areas, all the pitches between the notes, through the careful use of his tremolo bar in his right hand and the fingers of his left hand; his ways of making a phrase sound physical, falling and rising and pulsating. Mr. Beck is virtuosic, he’s dramatic, and he’s in a permanent state of controlled volatility, and he doesn’t ever go out of tune.” If I had to pick one song to show someone who has never heard Jeff Beck what he was all about, it would be this version of “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” by the great jazz musician Charles Mingus. Moody and mesmerizing, Beck’s elegant rendition is loaded with superb dynamics as he plays with the melody. For those who are unfamiliar with him, the New York Times summed up Beck’s life quite nicely in this obituary. The documentaries “Still On The Run” and “A Man for All Seasons” delve into his career in fascinating detail. And, of course, there’s much great music to explore in his 32-album discography that includes the compilation “Beckology” and the career retrospective live record “At the Hollywood Bowl” (2017). If you’d like to watch an excellent, comprehensive concert video, check out “Performing This Week... Live at Ronnie Scott's” (2007) or “Jeff Beck’s Rock ‘n Roll Party” (2010), a wonderful tribute to the legendary Les Paul, one of his main influences. No doubt, Beck’s creative restlessness and reclusive nature — he was willing to share the spotlight and often vanished from public sight for long periods to work on his beloved collection of classic cars — cost him commercial rewards and much wider name recognition. So did his passing up an invitation to play Woodstock and a devastating car crash in 1969 that sidelined him for two years. But he always enjoyed the freedom to do things his way and that’s how he wanted it. "I don't care about the rules,” he once said. “In fact, if I don't break the rules at least 10 times in every song then I'm not doing my job properly." I really don’t think there will ever be anyone quite like him again. Some of my favorite Jeff Beck songs: Situation: The first song I ever heard that made me aware of him, and a fan for life. From his 1971 Jeff Beck Group album “Rough and Ready.” Where Were You: A stunningly beautiful piece from his 1989 album “Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop” that Queen guitarist Brian May says may be the finest piece of instrumental guitar ever recorded. Another delicately lovely instrumental played with exquisite touch. From his 1999 album “Who Else!” Loose Cannon: From his techno album “You Had It Coming” (2000), it includes the most ferocious riffs and solos I’ve ever heard. This live rendition of a Billy Cobham fusion-rock song features Beck in full flow. I love how he gets members of the audience exchanging knowing smiles when he lets loose with his trademark mind-bending licks. John Rolfe is a former senior editor for Sports Illustrated for Kids, a longtime columnist for the Poughkeepsie Journal/USA Today Network, and author of The Goose in the Bathroom: Stirring Tales of Family Life. His school bus drivin’ blog “Hellions, Mayhem and Brake Failure” is parked on his website Celestialchuckle.com (https://celestialchuckle.com) with the meter running.

By Bonnie Fishman / San Francisco Bay Area I get that most folks living in the Midwest, the East and the mountains have been suffering because of severe deep freezes, hurricane force winds, and piles of snow this winter. Some unfortunate souls have even lost their lives. The weather kept families apart during the holidays because of cancelled flights and horrible road conditions. We wait all year for these gatherings and the disappointment of not being together is palpable. My winter holidays tales of woe are of a completely different nature. As those of you who have been following my column know, my husband Bob and I moved out to the San Francisco Bay area two years ago after building a house in a barn, off the grid, in a semi-rural community. (I add the “semi” because if one can walk to a Starbuck’s from her home, she really isn’t that far from civilization.) We live on a large tract of land surrounded by open fields, foothills, and pastures of sheep, goats, horses, and cows. Throw in a few chickens and we have the country vibe complete. What makes us off-the-grid is that we are not attached to any city services. We have 100 percent solar power, plus our own well, septic tank, and propane delivered to our propane tank (“the pig”) every few months. We have a back-up generator when the solar isn’t enough to fuel up our barn house, my sister’s house, and our casita. Choosing to be off the grid was, in a way, chosen for us. We’re outside of the city limits, so we have no municipal services like water or sewage. We chose not to have natural gas because that would be an unwanted monthly utility expense. The solar was a whole other story. The electric company wanted $50,000 just to erect a pole near our property plus we’d have to pay them a huge monthly amount. Going total solar seemed like the best solution, even though we struggle with it sometimes. Now that I’ve declared what we have to do to keep us comfortable like a city home, I will share with you why being off-the-grid is not for the faint of heart. I had my whole family from Los Angeles plus a few cousins from back east visiting over the Christmas-New Year holidays. We increased the electrical usage tremendously as you can well imagine. All of the cooking, movie watching, loads of laundry, pots of coffee brewing, heating and so on. Needless to say, the electrical system won the battle. We were in for for a few days of cold rain and clouds, so I assumed the future would not be bright in our home. The solar power has not been reliable since we installed it two years ago, even though it is rarely cloudy or rainy. It’s a stumper. A brief surge of electrical usage, (like vacuuming!) causes the system to shut down. We wait and hope it fires up again. If not, we go out to the powerhouse where the batteries and brains of the system are kept. Then we run through the paces of eight consecutive steps, inside and out, to refire the system. That usually works. P.S. No power, no internet, another bummer. The generator is supposed to jump into action automatically. It doesn’t. This requires a manual start/stop out to the generator panel. If this all sounds complicated, IT IS! This suburban girl with a college degree in anthropology and a past cooking career knows squat about electronics and solar systems. I’m ever so slowly learning. Oh, did I mention how LOUD the generator is? B-52 bombers have nothing on our Generac. However, when we’re sitting in the cold and dark and feeling like Laura Ingalls Wilder from Little House on the Prairie, and that sucker comes on, one could overlook the noise, in fact, it becomes music to your ears. Let’s get down to a real off-the-grid problem in the colder months. We don’t have a garage and our cars are parked under a pergola next to a field. During Thanksgiving week, the check engine light on my car went on. My car coughed its way into the dealership, where I learned that rodents had eaten my engine. Almost $2,000 and a week later, I got my car back. A week later, my husband’s car wouldn’t start at all. The same buggers ate his engine. A $200 tow to his dealership ensued. His tab for repairs was $2,500. His car was gone for over a week. The day after Christmas, I started my engine, the check engine lights came on again. I looked under the hood and the rodents had thrown a party, leaving olive pits as proof. (Were they drinking martinis?!) Another $1,400 repair and we’re at our wits end. Everyone and their brother has thrown in their two cents on how to prevent rats from eating your engine. Moth balls (that didn’t work), peppermint spray (we’re going to try it), dryer sheets tied to your wires, sticky paper under the whole car, rat traps (do you want to empty those?), and on and on. We hired a rodent abatement person last week and he is installing rat traps around the perimeter. In addition, we are armed and dangerous: Bob has fortified our engines with scented dryer sheets, Irish Spring bar soap, moth balls, and an open engine hood. I pray to my higher power that this works. For those of you across the country who are hunkered down at home during heavy snow, blizzard conditions, and frigid temperatures, there is nothing like a steaming bowl of split pea soup. I have been making this recipe for decades and it has never disappointed any diners. I use ham hocks for that smokey depth of flavor, but if you don’t eat pork, go vegan. Make the recipe without the meat and brown the vegetables in oil before adding the split peas and water. You may want to use vegetable stock instead of water to give it more flavor. Are you experiencing a winter wonderland or winter nightmare? Tell us here at The Insider which way the wind blows for you. Stay warm and safe out there! Split Pea Soup Yield: 8 servings 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil 2 lg. smoked ham hocks 1 lg. onions, diced medium 3 lg. carrots, cut into 1/4” thick circles 2 celery stalks, diced medium 3 qt. water 1 lb. split peas 1 tsp. thyme 1 bay leaf 1-2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper 1/4 c. chopped parsley In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over moderately high heat.  Add the hocks. Brown on both sides. Add the vegetables. Turn heat down to medium. Cook until translucent and begin to brown, about 15 minutes. Add the split peas, water, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil; turn down to a simmer for about 1 1/2 hours. Add more water if needed. Remove the hocks.  When cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skin and fat. Dice the meat and put back into the soup.  Season well with salt and pepper. Garnish with chopped parsley. Bonnie Fishman attended the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London. Later, she owned and operated Bonnie’s Patisserie in Southfield, Mich. and Bonnie’s Kitchen and Catering in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. She has taught cooking for over 35 years and created hundreds of recipes. She is now living in Northern California.

By Andy Borowitz January 13, 2022 WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Declaring that “it’s time for a victory lap,” Representative Kevin McCarthy celebrated one week of being barely tolerated by his Republican colleagues. The California congressman was unable to contain his jubilation after a week in which the G.O.P. caucus appeared to keep its profound loathing of him marginally in check. “I’m deeply honored by the display of grudging acceptance through gritted teeth that the caucus has shown me,” he said. The House Speaker said that, though his fellow-Republicans could vote to oust him at a moment’s notice, he has decided to “be in the now.” “If it turns out that this week was the only week my colleagues managed not to recoil in disgust at the sight of me holding the gavel, I will have had a good run,” he said. Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.

By Alan Resnick / Detroit There’s a long-running stereotype that, when it comes to home repairs, Jewish men are somewhat less than handy around the house. Our primary skill has been said to be leafing through the Yellow Pages (now conducting a Google search) to find a repairman. I used to be one of those guys, but not after last week. I’m not completely inept. My comfort zone is changing light bulbs and batteries, programming a thermostat, and hanging pictures. My proudest handyman achievement before last week was changing the flapper in a toilet, although it took three trips to the hardware store before I purchased the correct model. So you can understand my panic when I went down to the basement and found my brand new golf putting mat, and the carpeting around and under it, completely drenched. I’d been in the basement less than six hours earlier to use the elliptical machine and seen no water on the floor. I opened the door to the area the where the furnace and water heater are located and saw standing water around them both. It seemed like an awful lot of water in such a short time period, so I surmised that our 20+ year-old water heater had finally died. Springing into action, I went back upstairs, changed into a pair of waterproof boots, told my wife about the problem, and, consistent with the stereotype, called our plumber. I left a voice mail for him to call ASAP because we needed a new water heater. Worst case, he was already scheduled to be at the house in a couple of days anyway to fix a leaky bathroom faucet (a repair beyond my confidence level). A quick Google search indicated that the water line to the heater should be turned off immediately. As I trudged back down into the basement my mind shifted into contingency planning. We could use paper plates and plastic ware for our meals and have sandwiches, salads, and other things that required no pots or pans. If necessary, we could shower at the health club. And no doubt family or friends would take us in for a couple of days if it came to that. I found the shut-off valve for the water line and tried to turn it to the right to stop the flow of water. It wouldn’t budge. So I tried it again, this time using a pair of pliers in the hopes of gaining more leverage. All I accomplished was to scape a couple of knuckles. The water was slowly but surely spreading to other areas of the furnace room, and the plumber had not yet responded to my SOS. Fortunately, we have one of those wet/dry shop vacuums, so I plugged it in and began sucking up the standing water. Hell, yes! Water immediately began to collect into the vacuum. Unfortunately, the vacuum also was inhaling the assorted nails, screws, and bolts that had collected on the floor over the years. I shut off the vacuum when it was full, unplugged it, and rolled the collection drum over to the basement toilet to dispose of the water. I felt like one of those prospectors in the old TV westerns, kneeling and swirling water around in a pan looking for gold nuggets. But my treasure was finding metallic hardware before they were mistakenly emptied into the commode. It took about 40 minutes to collect the standing water in the furnace room. The only remaining area in need of attention was the drain on the floor adjacent to the furnace. It collects water from the furnace and humidifier via a plastic hose. I sucked up the water and shut off the vacuum. But water immediately began to bubble up from below the drain. Aha! It wasn’t the water heater, but rather a clogged drain. I excitedly texted the plumber to disregard my voice mail as it was a false alarm. I got out my go-to tool for clogged drains, my trusty plunger. But the drain cover was corroded and the screws holding it in place were frozen. Resorting to wishful thinking, I attempted to plunge through the drain cover. No luck – the water began continued to slowly seep up and collect over the cover. I once purchased one of those fancy drain snakes that are supposed to work like an auger to cut through nasty clogs. But I threw it away in frustration out after all I managed to do was scratch the porcelain bowl. Then I remembered I had a wire hanger that I had cut open and straightened out to apply lubricant to the treadmill belt. I retrieved the hanger, gently jiggled it down into the drain, and was quickly rewarded with a gurgling sound. Success! The standing water immediately emptied into the drain. I used the vacuum on the wet carpeting around my putting mat, turned on a large fan, and checked the drain again. No standing water. I went upstairs, strode into my wife’s office, and proudly announced: “I fixed it!” She turned toward me, noticed the stupid grin on my face, cupped my face in her hands, and gave me a big smile and a hug. I don’t know if she was more pleased with my success or amused by my reaction. Most people would probably celebrate an afternoon of hard labor by kicking back, popping open a beer, and sitting back and relaxing. But I never developed the taste for beer, so I went to the microwave, heated up a cup of water, dropped in a chicken-flavored bouillon cube, and reflected upon my triumph. 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 Victoria Rolfe / Red Hook, N.Y. Well, here we are. The holidays are behind us and most of us are left with a bit of a chunky reminder of all that good eatin’, sweetin,’ and drinkin’ we did over those weeks. So, what do your wondering eyes see everywhere you look? Advertisements for gym memberships, and where there once were sugar plums and cookies, now exercise equipment adorns the store shelves. Time to take that bull by the horns and get moving if you don’t want to turn into a right chubby old elf yourself! It’s a common inclination to run out and take advantage of one of those great gym membership offers, and/or to buy yourself some fancy new exercise apparatus. Resolve is high! But you know how that goes. How many of us who buy those memberships actually continue going all year? How many treadmills become clothing racks by June? (February?) I would like to offer an alternative if I may. I humbly suggest that you already have everything you need to keep fit and it’s right under your very nose. It’s right there in the very body that you are concerned about. No expensive equipment required. It costs nothing to exercise. Old fashioned sit-ups and jumping jacks are there for the taking. If you want to shake it up, there is a myriad of varied routines you can follow along with online. If you must spend some money, buy yourself a few hand weights or resistance bands or a jump rope or an exercise ball. Any of these can enhance your routine. Another fabulous piece of exercise equipment is your legs. Right there attached to your body and you already know how to use them! You can use them indoors, you can use them outdoors, you can go uphill, downhill, or just stay on the flat. Oh, the places they can take you! And, now thanks to the wonders of modern technology, you can track exactly how many steps and miles you have walked each day. All you need is your cellphone, which, I take it, most of you already have on you 24/7/365 anyway. I aim for the much acclaimed 10,000 steps per day. But rather than going out of my way to stay fit, with a set exercise routine, I try to stay in shape by simply living in a way that requires moving throughout my daily life. Let me give you some examples of things we do here that incorporate exercise into our lives. Snow shoveling. We have no snowblower in our garage. (Bonus! We saved money by not purchasing and maintaining one!) When the snow flies, we go out there in the fresh winter air, use our handy dandy snow shovels and get a workout at the same time. Gardening. Lots of exercise to be done there! There’s digging holes for planting, shoveling, turning the compost heap over, shoveling mulch onto the beds, weeding. Even harvesting requires movement and lifting. (For example, we picked 46 pounds of cabbages last summer.) Another piece of equipment we saved money on by not buying (and help save the environment by not using) is a leaf blower. We have rakes. Housecleaning. Why hire someone to do it for you when you can do it yourself and get a workout at the same time? Pushing the vacuum, using your elbow grease on cleaning floors, shining windows, and scrubbing the tub are all great exercise. Put some music on while you clean to help make it enjoyable. In fact, while you have the music on, dancing is a fabulous aerobic exercise. Again, you can look up free routines to follow along with online if you would enjoy that. Shopping. Out in the real world. Walking around a store. Reaching up for items on high shelves. Carrying bags of groceries to and from the car. It’s all exercise. Cooking. Making bread is great for working your arm muscles while you knead the dough. In addition to that, even just moving around the kitchen, chopping, and lifting heavy pots and casserole dishes is all more exercise than just, say, sitting in your chair and lifting your phone to order something in. Going up and down stairs. We have a two-story house (well, three if you count the basement.) So, there is a lot of stair climbing for us here at home. I deliberately put the washer and dryer in the basement where there is a walk-out door to the backyard. This way I can go out there with my (heavy) laundry basket full of wet clothes and hang them on the line (while bending and stretching). Bonus: I save money on gas by not running my dryer. Of course, even when you are not home you can also take advantage of stairs. Just skip the elevator or escalator. You can also walk (or bike) places, again helping to save the planet as well as your health. You can even just park your car further away to add some steps. Child Care. If you’ve got kids in your life, they are a great source of exercise! Get out there in the yard and play with them. Not only will it knock them out for bedtime, but you will get some bonus fitness at the same time. Entertainment. When we have some leisure time, it’s nice to sit and read a book, or share drinks and snacks with friends, or just veg out in front of the TV. But there should also be room in the recreation schedule for some activity and movement. Sure, you can spend money on these things. Skiing comes to mind. But there are so many healthy activities you can do for free. Here in New York’s Hudson Valley where I live there are hiking trails galore for every skill level. All for free! There is the Hudson River to put a kayak in. There are frozen ponds in the winter for skating. For the cost of a little equipment, there are tennis and pickleball courts. And wherever you are you can always just put on your tennies and go out for a nice walk. Challenge yourself to think of ways that you can get up off the couch and add some exercise into your days. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to stay fit. It’s really just a matter of exercising your brain to think of all the creative ways you can get moving for free. And maybe you can save the money that you would have used on fancy exercise equipment or a gym membership for something more fun. Like a trip to the beach! And maybe while you are there you will be inspired to (bonus activity!) go running in the sand and swimming in the ocean. Wishing you all a hale and hardy, happy and healthy New Year! A long, long time ago, after the birth of her third child, Victoria made the life-changing decision to leave the work world behind and devote herself to being a full-time mom and homemaker. Along with her new title of Domestic Engineer, she took on the role of the Chief Home Economist for the family. At first, it was scary to try to live on less than half their income, but Victoria found that she not only rose to the challenge but thrived in the enjoyment of learning to live their best life with limited resources. She embraced this new frugal lifestyle of the at-home-mom and went on to add a fourth child to the mix. And their family was complete. Along the way she acquired a great deal of wisdom in how to not only avoid debt, but pay off mortgages early, buy cars for cash, travel on a shoe-string budget, and send kids to college with no student loans, all while also saving a tidy nest egg for retirement. She currently educates others in these skills through her business Bright Future. Now living the life of a modern homesteader in the Hudson Valley, New York, Victoria has added gardening to her list of skill sets as she grows many of her own vegetables to supplement her family’s primarily vegan diet. And she has come to realize that this waste-not, want-not, carbon-friendly, sustainable life she is living is not only benefiting her own family but also our Mother Earth, and that each of us has the obligation to live a responsibly sustainable life not only for ourselves, but for the greater good of our community, and our planet. We can all do this one household and backyard at a time. We are the world! And it all begins right at home. Victoria can be reached at brightfuture2budget4@gmail.com

By Carly Mitchell / New York City (The author, a public-school teacher, is using a pseudonym for professional reasons) It’s official. My students and I survived the first week of the New Year. Hip Hip, Hooray! Cue the marching band and bring out the majorettes! This past week, spirits have been high at the middle school where I teach in Brooklyn, N.Y. When we returned to the classroom after the holiday break, students were buzzing with excitement about the New Year, and the fact that they are already halfway through the seventh grade. As a fun return-to-school activity, I had students in my English Language Arts classroom write a “break-up” letter to the year 2022, in which they reflected upon the positive parts of the past year, wrote about what they wanted to move on from (think bad habits), and consider what they are looking forward to in 2023. Upon reading students’ letters, I was proud to see how self-effacing and honest so many of my pupils were. There were lots of promises to spend less time on devices, to work harder in school, and to avoid pointless drama and fights that cause nothing but tears and distractions. (These kinds of resolutions are always my favorite, ahh the passion!) My wonderful colleagues also seemed to be quite happy. I am fortunate to work with some of the best and the brightest in the business, I am convinced! There were many fewer teacher absences compared with this time last year, when Covid was running rampant. While we all joked about the break being a bit too short, it seemed that most of my fellow teachers were well-rested and ready to get back into the hustle and bustle. This energy is important to maintain, especially as my district goes through some big changes. They include welcoming a new superintendent and starting the process of becoming an International Baccalaureate School. What the heck is an International Baccalaureate (IB for short) school you might be asking? Allow me to explain. The IB Programme (yes, programme–it’s European), is a curriculum that emphasizes student-centered learning, real-world application of concepts taught in the classroom, globalization, and the importance of receiving a higher education. Check out its mission statement, “The IB develops inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through education that builds intercultural understanding and respect.” IB students are expected to be “internationally minded” and should strive to embody 10 attributes that are referred to as the IB “Learner Profiles.” These are: inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, and reflective. As the name suggests, the IB Programme is internationally renowned and the curriculum is taught around the world. According to its website, as of January 2023 there are over “7,700 programmes being offered worldwide across over 5,600 schools in 159 countries.” You do not just become an IB school overnight. It is a lengthy process that involves a request for candidacy, a consultation, an application for authorization, a verification visit, and loads of professional development for school leaders and teachers. Did I mention that it is also pricey? The application fee for the school is $4,000. This teacher understands the benefits of us becoming an IB school, especially because the program (yeah, I have to go back to the American spelling of program on this one), is highly student-centered, project-based, rigorous, and seems to prepare students to become citizens of a global society. The professional development workshops I have attended have been interesting enough, and the resources I have received about how to unit plan according to the IB Curriculum are thorough and certainly helpful. That’s the good news this semester. Alas, there are still a few troublesome issues. The most glaring one for me at the moment is that we do not have a working library at my school. Last April, I wrote a piece in The Insider called “Judging a Library by Its Cover,” in which I lamented the fact that my school, a New York City public school, does not have sufficient funds to operate our library. We have a library. We have books. But there is no librarian, the most recent books on the shelves are from 2015, and the room is in disarray. It is a glorified storage space, where teachers can house old textbooks that they no longer want in their classrooms, or where students can go to make up a test that they missed. In every single IB professional development session I have attended, the role of the school library is discussed. This means that to become an IB School, you need a functioning library. Do you see where I am headed? The fact that budget cuts have resulted in our not having a library is something that is never really brought up. My fellow teachers and I have mentioned it to one another, and our administration is certainly aware of this being a major problem, but so far there is no talk of any sort of solution. The more I reflect on the fact that we want to become an IB School without having the proper resources, the more I come to realize that we are merely a microcosm of a huge problem in general, especially in New York City education. When it comes to educational reforms, it seems that there are always new ideas and talk of bringing these ideas into fruition, but rarely do folks focus on the small stuff. Nevertheless, our days in the classroom consist of the small stuff. There are no lessons without pens and pencils, without paper or books. These are the small but mighty things that are too often overlooked in favor of big picture ideas. So when New York City Mayor Eric Adams stepped up to the podium recently and talked about his new education initiative proposing that 50% of public school lunches be vegetarian, I thought it was ludicrous. Still, my students and I will make the best out of what we have, and have fun doing it. Let’s see what you have in store for us, 2023! We are ready for you. Carly Mitchell (a pseudonym) is a public-school teacher in Brooklyn N.Y. who loves to learn, to educate, and to expose the hypocrisy of New York City politicians.

Jeffrey D. Sachs | January 9, 2023 | La Repubblica I inaugurate this new series of columns in a New Year and a new beginning for Brazil with the inauguration of President Lula da Silva. His well-wishers poured out across the country in a revival of hope for Brazil after four years of disastrous rule under his right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who had fled Brazil for Florida on the eve of Lula’s inauguration. Bolsonaro left behind a mob that rampaged government office buildings before being arrested in large numbers by the police. The mob tactics will not stop Lula, nor will they have a long-term effect in the US, where Donald Trump’s similar maneuvers on January 6, 2021, were also shut down. In both cases, demagogic politicians used social media to rile up a mob; in both cases, the mob was put down within the day. The real issue, in my mind, is not the mob, but the deeper changes in the world that are generating growing tensions in world politics and economy. The deep changes can’t and won’t be stopped by mobs. Our real challenge is to understand the deeper changes at play so that we can manage them for the common good. Such an understanding is the aim of my future columns. The biggest turmoil is geopolitical. We are no longer in a US-led world, nor even a world divided between the US and its rival China. We have already entered a multipolar world, in which each region has its own issues and role in global politics. No country and no single region can any longer determine the fate of others. This is a complex and noisy environment – with no country, region, or alliance in charge of the rest. One reason why Lula’s return to the presidency is so consequential is that Brazil will be a key regional and global actor in the years ahead. Lula will work closely with like-minded progressive presidents in Chile, Columbia, Argentina, and elsewhere in South America. Brazil will also hold the Presidency of the G20 in 2024, part of a four-year run in which major emerging economies hold the G20 presidency (Indonesia in 2022, India in 2023, and South Africa in 2025). The management of a multipolar world is fraught with difficulties. We urgently need more dialogue with other countries, and to move beyond the simplistic propaganda of our own governments. Here in the West, we are bombarded daily with ridiculous official narratives, most originating from Washington: Russia is pure evil, China is the greatest threat to the world, and only NATO can save us. These naïve stories, spun out endlessly by the US State Department, are a great hindrance to global problem solving. They trap us in false mindsets, and even in wars that should never have occured and which must be stopped by negotiation rather than escalation. When we accept the reality of a multipolar world, we will finally be able to solve problems that have so far eluded us. First, we will understand that military alliances such as NATO offer no answers to the real challenges that we confront. Military alliances are in fact a dangerous anachronism, not a true source of national or regional security. It was, after all, the US attempt to expand NATO to Georgia and Ukraine that triggered the wars in Georgia (in 2010) and in Ukraine (2014 until today). Nor did the NATO bombing of Belgrade in 1999, or fifteen year failed mission in Afghanistan, or bombing Libya in 2011, accomplish any real objectives. Neither is China the grave threat that is portrayed today in the West. The US tries to pretend that we still live in a US-led world, and that China is a dangerous pretender that must be stopped. But reality is different. China is an ancient civilization of 1.4 billion people (almost one in five in the world) that also aims for high living standards and technological excellence. We will solve our global problems not by vainly trying to “contain” China, but by trading, cooperating, and yes, also competing economically with China. Other great global challenges lie elsewhere: the deep dangers of environmental catastrophe; the rising inequalities in our own societies; and the onrush of new technologies that can disrupt the world if these technologies are not properly harnessed and controlled. Brazil is the epicenter of the environmental challenge. Can the Amazon, constituting half of the world’s rainforests, be saved? Lula came to power promising to do just this. He won the vote of the Amazon states of Brazil. Globally, Europe is in the environmental lead with the European Green Deal. Europe’s main geopolitical opportunity is to encourage other regions, including the African Union, China, India, the Americas and others, to adopt their own bold green deals. That’s a far better task for Europe than expanding NATO, fighting an endless war in Ukraine, or confronting China. Brazil is also an epicenter of inequality, with one of the highest degrees of inequality in the world. That inequality was originally created by European imperialism that suppressed indigenous peoples and enslaved millions of Africans. Their descendants continue to pay the price. Social justice is Lula’s calling, and our global calling, after centuries of racial and social injustice. Brazil can also be an epicenter of the new technologies, for example a leader in the new bioeconomy in which the wonders of the Amazon’s and Brazil’s biodiversity are not destroyed for more cattle ranches but instead to produce new life-saving medicines, nutritious foodstuffs (such as the açai now booming worldwide), or advanced biofuels for green aviation. Technological change is perhaps the deepest driver of global change. We need the new technologies to confront the crises of climate change, hunger, education and health. Yet we also suffer from the new digital technologies when they are misused, such as to mobilize mobs, or weapon killer drones in Ukraine. Advanced biotechnology may well have created the virus that causes Covid-19 (we still don’t know). Every day we confront the disruptions and inequalities caused by artificial intelligence, robotics, and the rapid overturning of jobs. The confluence of global change, disruption, and danger is astounding. Solutions lie in understanding, cooperation, and problem solving. A better understanding of the New World Economy will be the aim of this column in the months ahead. Translation of the article published in La Repubblica https://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2023/01/10/news/colpo_di_stato_brasile_che_cosa_succede-382821004/

One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 115 By Laurence Lerman / New York City Last Saturday, January 7, the 2023 AVN Awards were held in Las Vegas at the Resorts World Theatre, marking the annual event’s 40th anniversary. The 2023 Awards were the first to be held since January 2020, just weeks before Covid-19 kicked in, effectively putting the brakes on the entire industry (and a sizable portion of the mainstream entertainment world as well). Created by the adult entertainment industry’s leading trade publication, the Adult Video News (AVN), the gala recognizes performers, craftspeople, executives, companies, movies and other content providers for their contributions to and excellence in the adult industry. The awards make for a colorful and crazy kind of evening attended by a lively mix of porn professionals and eager (sometimes overeager) fans. This year, I took the plunge into the sexy maelstrom, which I’ve done a number of times over the past two decades as a journalist whose beat occasionally included covering the adult industry. Three years after the outbreak, with the industry carrying on in a start-and-stop manner and on-set and production rules regularly being revisited, the awards return to honor an altered industry that is today more inclusive of the adult webcam community. The surge in webcamming since the outbreak of the pandemic—performers doing what they do in the safety of their own homes and streaming it on the Internet via a live webcam broadcast—led to the popular live webcam site MyFreeCams (MFC) serving as one of the sponsors of this year’s show. And there was also the addition of dozens and dozens of webcam models making the scene and strolling down the red carpet. And what a red carpet, it was! Three hours long and featuring hundreds of sexily clad and occasionally barely dressed adult performers parading across the Resort World event center in front of a phalanx of photographers and video broadcasters. Some 4,000 attendees made their way to the theater for the awards, which were hosted by popular porn-starlets-of-the-moment Abella Danger and Reya Sunshine, along with comedian Matt Rife (a TikTok sensation who joked about how much he had looked forward to the “naked trophy girl show.”). It kicked off at 9:00 p.m., with awards, acceptance speeches, video clips and musical interludes by Grammy-nominee Kehlani and global musical artist Shenseea coming at a steady clip for the next two-and-a-half hours. As for the awards themselves, well, as is frequently the case with honors that are bestowed at an awards show, the winners and the merit behind their victories are frequently beside the point. (This can certainly be considered the case with the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, the Grammy Awards, and most of the others.) The show is more about the promotion of the nominees and their product, the early evening red carpet fashion factor, and the subsequent coverage of the event by the media. The AVN Awards are the adult film industry’s biggest annual event, and the bulk of the adult community’s creators and performers attend it. The numbers speak for themselves: at this year’s ceremony, there were 130 categories, ranging from the obvious (Best Movie, Best Actress, Best Actor and so on) to the specialized (Best Anal Sex Scene, Best Oral Sex Scene), to the highly-specialized (Best Double-Penetration Sex Scene, Best Trans Newcomer) to the downright ridiculous (Most Clever Title, which this year was awarded to I Can’t Believe It’s Nut Butter!”). All manner of adult related products and accoutrements are also given their due, with categories like Best Lubricant Brand, Best Lingerie or Apparel Line and Best Boutique up for consideration. It's during the actual awarding of the statuettes that one can have their own personal reaction to watching an adult actress thank her parents for their support and guidance as she accepts an award for Best Girl-Girl Scene (this year, the winners were Vanna Bardot and Gianna Dior for Heat Wave). By the close of the evening, 380 trophies were given out, with 62 being awarded to women, 55 going to men, and 45 presented to individual movies. Like many awards shows, the big “winner” of the night is the awards show itself, as it reaffirms the show and industry’s stature and pride in itself and reminds all participants and viewers (including those at home who livestreamed the show) that there really are no losers if you’re a fan of adult content. And for the curious who’ve never taken a dip into the curious spectacle of the adult entertainment industry and the annual gathering when it honors itself, a shorter version of the evening will be broadcast on Showtime this spring. 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.