On Sunday night, the news broke that New York Senator Charles Schumer, the fully vaccinated and boosted Senate Majority Leader, has Covid. Well, why not Chuck? It feels like every third person here has the virus now. New York’s sixth Covid wave has driven the city’s positivity rate up to 15 percent, the highest since January. According to Tuesday’s New York Times, “the city is logging about 3,700 cases per day, though experts estimate the true number of infections is as much as 10 times higher with most people testing at home.” This week’s cover story brings you text interviews by Insider editor Andrea Sachs with three New Yorkers who have fallen victim to the variant du jour. (One of them is a member of the Insider family—our talented web consultant Matt Nadelson.) We suspect that this story will make you grab for your mask! Oh, No! My Whole Family Has Covid Now—a Second Time! Interview with Matt Nadelson FRIDAY The Insider: Hi Matt. Thanks for talking by text with us! Matt Nadelson: Most definitely. The Insider: Just a few bio questions before we get started. Where do you live? Matt Nadelson: I live in Kew Gardens, in Queens, N.Y. The Insider: How old are you? Matt Nadelson: I’m 39 The Insider: And what kind of work do you do? Matt Nadelson: I am the founder and president of an IT support and managed IT services company called Computer Camaraderie Corp. The Insider: Yesterday, NYC reported its highest Covid positivity rate since January. It sounds like you’ve gotten caught up in that, alas! Matt Nadelson: Yes indeed, though I believe I actually caught it while I was out of town for the July 4th weekend. The Insider: Where did you go? Matt Nadelson: I went to my family’s bungalow in the Catskills (Monticello N.Y.). My mother was already up there for a day when I arrived last Saturday with my wife Lev and our 11-month-old son, Daniel. My mom mentioned that she had a headache and had taken some pain medication. We didn’t think much of it at the time. Our weekend plans proceeded pretty much as expected. We went out to eat that night at a local Greek restaurant that we normally frequent. And later that night, my wife and I and a friend from the bungalow colony went to the casino. On Sunday, we spent time at the pool and still felt completely fine, though my mom was clearly experiencing some cold-like symptoms at that point. The Insider: Did you start to think your mom might have Covid? Matt Nadelson: The thought definitely crossed our minds. We did think it might be a good idea to test her just in case, but we didn’t have any at-home Covid tests with us. And we figured the probability of it being an issue for us was low anyway, because we’re all triple vaxxed (except my son) and because I already had Covid just a little over a month ago. My wife and son presumably had it then too, so we all felt like we had sky-high immunity. We actually didn’t notice anything really until Monday the Fourth. Our son Daniel was super cranky all day and was fighting his naps with more fervor than usual. He also felt unusually warm, but we thought it was just because it was a hot day. At that point, my wife and I had some very slight nasal symptoms but nothing that you couldn’t mistake for allergies. The Insider: And then… Matt Nadelson: My symptoms started to escalate throughout the day. On our drive home, I had a bad headache. Later that night, when we got back to Queens, we got a call from our friend from the bungalow colony. She said she had some bad news. At first, I thought something happened to her on her ride home. But instead, it was to tell us she had tested positive for Covid. I immediately called my mom and asked her to take a test. Then my wife and I took a test at home as well. My mom and I were both positive. My wife tested negative, but her symptoms had also escalated so we presumed that she also had it. We didn’t want to test Daniel because he’s so young, but we took his temperature and he had a fever of nearly 102°. The Insider: That’s awful! Did you feel at that point like Covid was supposed to be one and done? Were you very surprised? Matt Nadelson: I was not surprised that my mom and friend had it because they never had it before. But I was definitely shocked that my family had gotten it, presumably for the second time. The other crazy part is that the first time I had Covid, the symptoms were actually milder. So I definitely didn’t expect to have it again so quickly–and have a worst case of it to boot. The so-called “super immunity” from being triple-vaccinated and infected in the past felt completely useless now. The Insider: But you might have ended up in the hospital without them, right? Matt Nadelson: Absolutely. I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened if I didn’t have whatever immunity the vaccine and the prior infection brought me. We just found out that a couple we know who have a one-month-old baby just tested positive, and none of them are fully vaccinated. So I am very concerned about how this will play out for them. The Insider: It’s four days into your illness now. How are you all feeling? Matt Nadelson: The good news is we’re all improving. Nobody has a fever anymore. My son is still coughing but mainly back to his usual rambunctious self after acting kind of lethargic for a few days. My wife and I are also still quite congested (she to the point that she can’t smell anything). But overall, we’re moving in the right direction. The bad news is that my wife and I took another Covid test today and both of us still tested positive. During my last bout with Covid, I only tested positive once during the entire duration of my symptoms. And even then, the line on my home test was very faint and barely visible. My Covid tests now are all still showing really thick lines. Not sure if there is any significance to that, but it certainly feels like I have a worse case this time around. The Insider: Has any of you seen a doctor? Matt Nadelson: We have not. Our son actually had a pediatrician appointment on Wednesday to get his one-year-old vaccinations, ironically. But we had to cancel it since you can’t do that while you’re infected with Covid. The Insider: Do you feel as though a doctor couldn’t help any of you? Matt Nadelson: We considered getting Paxlovid, but from what I read it has no statistical benefit for people who are vaccinated, have no preexisting conditions, and are in my age range. And once our fevers went down, we figured we were trending in the right direction and that there probably wasn’t much else to do other than wait. The Insider: Have you been taking over-the-counter medicines? Matt Nadelson: Yes, we’ve been taking Tylenol and some decongestants as well. They’ve been working wonders. I think the Tylenol really kept Daniel’s fever in check, too. And then of course there’s chicken soup and my wife’s family’s Soviet tea cocktail that works wonders on just about any infection I put it up against! The Insider: Do you plan to have Daniel vaccinated for Covid when he’s better? Matt Nadelson: A few weeks ago, I would’ve told you no because we already had Covid and Daniel already had some immunity because my wife got vaccinated during her pregnancy. But after this experience, I think we will strongly consider it as long as the vaccine is updated for the latest strains. It definitely seems like the current crop of vaccines or having had a prior infection doesn’t do much against this latest version of Covid. And that is very concerning. The Insider: What variant do you assume this is? Matt Nadelson: My assumption is that this is the omicron variant BA.5. That is the one that we have been reading about lately, the one that is becoming quite dominant and the one that they say has more immune “escape” capability than any version of Covid before it. The Insider: Meaning it can get around vaccines too? Matt Nadelson: Yes, they say that the vaccines are much less effective against it, to the point that many people who are vaccinated and have previously been infected (like us) are getting reinfected with this variant very quickly after having had Covid already. The Insider: Last question: knowing everything you know now, will your pandemic lifestyle change because of this experience? Matt Nadelson: Yes. I definitely think I will go back to being more cautious again–especially in indoor settings. I was exceptionally careful for 2-plus years, and the result was that I didn’t get Covid. As soon as I let my guard down fully, I got it not once, but twice, in the span of a month and a half. It’s a stark reminder that we are not out of this pandemic yet but also that social distancing and mask wearing work! I think many people develop a false sense of security when they are vaccinated, especially if they were also previously infected. But my experience says we still have to remain vigilant. The Insider: Best of luck and health to your family! Thanks so much for doing this. Matt Nadelson: Thanks! SATURDAY The Insider: Hi Matt—Just checking in. How is your family doing? Matt Nadelson: Overall, I thought we were getting better. My wife and I are not as congested as we were before, though we still have slight sinus headaches. But we noticed a new troubling symptom in the last day or so–our sense of smell is almost completely gone and all of the food we eat tastes bland. Since we’re not that congested now, this is also not like the usual loss of smell and taste you would get with a cold. We actually didn’t realize our son Daniel pooped on two different occasions because we both can’t smell anything. He was also rather cranky today, so we don’t know if he is also having some sort of new symptom that is making him uncomfortable. The Insider: I am so sorry! How is your mother doing? Matt Nadelson: She is actually doing the best of any of us. It’s ironic since she is the oldest. She told us she has no symptoms and can smell and taste everything normally. However, she still tested positive as recently as last night. The Insider: You mentioned that you have friends with a baby who are partially vaccinated who have Covid. May I ask you about them? Matt Nadelson: Sure The Insider: Are they also in New York City? Matt Nadelson: Yes, they live in Brooklyn The Insider: And how old are the parents? How old is the baby? Matt Nadelson: The mother is 34 and the father is 38. The baby is a little over three months old The Insider: Correct that they’ve never been vaccinated or boosted? Matt Nadelson: The mother definitely wasn’t. The father was twice vaxxed but not boosted. The Insider: Do you know the reason why they didn’t get vaccinated? Is it political? Matt Nadelson: In their case, it was not political. They generally aren’t very political people compared to other friends of mine. I’m not 100% sure about the father, but I know the mother was afraid to get it because she thought the side effects might be worse than the disease itself. She also was pregnant around the time the vaccines were becoming widely available and I think she feared how the vaccine might affect her baby The Insider: Did they find out they had Covid at the same time as you and your family did? Matt Nadelson: Actually they found out just a day after us. They started getting symptoms after visiting a friend. I’ve been checking in with them periodically to make sure things are OK. They are really not doing well. They all have fevers, including the baby. And the father was not able to hold down food or liquids so he had to go to the hospital to get an IV. He’s back at home now but last I heard, he was still unable to eat or drink anything. The Insider: Are they taking medicine? Matt Nadelson: Not that I know of. I did encourage them to take Paxlovid because of their vaccination status, but they told me that they were worried about side effects, so I assume they haven’t. The Insider: Yikes! It’s impossible not to be frustrated by their point of view. Side effects? Aren’t they worried about Covid killing them or their baby? Sorry to be intemperate! Matt Nadelson: Unfortunately, I think like many people, they are underestimating the risk that this disease poses and overestimating the risk of side effects from the vaccine. I’ve seen this with many people I know, especially younger people. I think they figure they are young and healthy so they don’t need a boost The Insider: What do they say about the fact that your family, which is vaxxed and boosted, is doing better than theirs? Matt Nadelson: That’s something my wife and I have actually talked about a lot but we haven’t brought it up. The last thing we want to do is tell them that now, while they are already suffering so much from this virus. We’re really hoping and praying that they recover quickly, and so far, we are doing our best to resist the temptation to say “I told you so” The Insider: I’m curious about their educational backgrounds. College graduates? Matt Nadelson: Yes, they both have master’s degrees. The mother in financial management and the father is in information systems The Insider: So what is your own family planning on now? Any doctor’s visits or medicine? Matt Nadelson: For now, we’re just continuing to rest and pound the Tylenol. Our biggest concern is that the loss of smell and taste could be long-term, which has happened to others. So we may reach out to a doctor to ask about that if it doesn’t improve in the next day or two. The Insider: That sounds like a good idea. Thanks so much for the update, Matt! We’ll check in again soon. Feel better! Matt Nadelson: Thank you! SUNDAY The Insider: Hi Matt! How are you folks doing today? Any better? Matt Nadelson: Not too good. I was up most of the night last night feeling nauseous but unable to vomit. My wife still can’t taste or smell. And my son isn’t eating as much as usual and has random fussy periods where it seems like something is bothering him. The one silver lining is that my sense of taste and smell is a little better today. The Insider: This is much worse than the first time you got it a month ago. Why, do you suppose? Matt Nadelson: It definitely is. I suspect this is a different strain. I also think I probably got exposed to a higher viral load because I was around my mom for an entire weekend while she was already symptomatic. The first time it wasn’t clear exactly where I got it, which makes me think I was exposed to Covid for a much shorter period or to someone who wasn’t very symptomatic. The Insider: On Friday, New York City officials suggested that people in the city wear masks inside. What did you think? On the Upper West Side, where I live, it’s like Mardi Gras. The restaurants are packed inside. Broadway’s mask rule is being eliminated. I just don’t get it. Matt Nadelson: I did read that. I think it’s definitely good advice, though it probably wouldn’t have helped in my case because I caught it from a family member during a holiday weekend. I imagine that is probably how many other people also caught it during this latest surge. But I think we‘ve all let our guard down a bit when it comes to indoor events and dining, and that is probably costing us now. The Insider: How are your partially vaccinated friends with Covid doing now? Matt Nadelson: I’m not sure how the father is doing but the mother told me that she is also experiencing some stomach upset today. It seems like there are a lot of digestion related symptoms with this strain. This variant is definitely worse! “I Am Sure That If We Did Not Take Paxlovid, We Both Would Have Been Sicker, for Longer” Interview with Jackie The Insider: Hi Jackie! Thanks for agreeing to do an interview with us. Jackie: Hi! The Insider: Where do you live? Jackie: Huntington Station, New York. The Insider: And what kind of work do you do? Jackie: I’m a retired teacher. The Insider: What kind of teacher? Jackie: A Spanish teacher at a suburban middle school. The Insider: It’s all over the news in New York that there’s a Covid surge going on now. It sounds like you unfortunately got caught up in that. Jackie: I was in D.C. on vacation in early June when we got it. My husband got it too. The Insider: Was it the first time that you’d traveled during the pandemic? Jackie: Yes. We went to a lot of museums and were pretty close to people. We did wear our masks. Someone sneezed and I felt a droplet on my cheek, despite my mask The Insider: And you suspected at that moment that you’d been exposed to Covid? Jackie: I thought about it The Insider: How many days were you in D.C.? Jackie: Five, and on the fourth day there, my husband began coughing a lot. We went to an urgent care and were both tested. Lou came back positive, mine was negative until I got back home and self-tested. I was then positive The Insider: What symptoms did you both have? Jackie: Chills, coughing, sneezing. I felt like someone had me by the throat. I took my necklace off because I was so bothered. My husband is immunocompromised. I am sure if we did not take Paxlovid, we both would have been sicker, for longer. The Insider: Did you go to a doctor in D.C. immediately? Jackie: Yes. I knew it was important to get treated fast, especially for Lou. The Insider: Were you both fully vaxxed and boosted? Jackie: Yes. But it had been a few months since our last booster. The Insider: Were you surprised how sick you felt, or that you had gotten Covid at all? Jackie: No, I wasn’t surprised. It seems that most people will get it The Insider: What did your urgent care doctor in D.C. tell you? Jackie: For some reason, urgent care did not give us a rapid test, so Lou did not get his D.C. results until the next day. The Insider: So did your New York doctor prescribe Paxlovid after you requested it? Jackie: Yes, I called Lou’s oncologist, who prescribed it. The Insider: Tell us about taking Paxlovid. Were you initially nervous about it? Jackie: No, I am a big believer in science. I was grateful for the antivirals. They were not around when I was younger. They are wonderful. The Insider: Is Paxlovid pills or a shot or what? Jackie: Pills. Five days worth. The Insider: Did you have to pay for them, or does insurance pay? Are they expensive? Jackie: Free. I have insurance, but the government might pay for all Covid-related medicine. I am not sure The Insider: Any side effects? Jackie: No side effects that I noticed. We recovered quickly after going on meds. Within a few days The Insider: And have you totally recovered now? Any lingering symptoms? Jackie: Yes, fully recovered The Insider: That’s great! One more question. Will your experience change you and your husband’s pandemic behavior now? Jackie: We were always careful. We will be more cognizant of the time between boosters. Happy and grateful for science! The Insider: I can understand why! Continued good health to both of you. Thanks so much for talking with The Insider! Jackie: Thanks! Take care. “’I Would Rather Work Remotely Full-Time, But They Won’t Allow It” Interview with Rachel (a pseudonym) The Insider: Hi Rachel. Thanks for talking with us. Have you gotten caught up in the current upsurge of Covid in NYC? Rachel: Yes, I tested positive for Covid two days ago The Insider: I’m sorry! Is this the first time you’ve had it? Rachel: The first time I’ve officially had it. At the start of the pandemic, I got really sick but wasn’t able to get tested at the time. The Insider: Where do you live? Rachel: Manhattan The Insider: What kind of work do you do? Rachel: I work in finance The Insider: How did you find out you had Covid? Rachel: I took an at-home test which was positive and then went to a CityMD The Insider: What kind of symptoms are you having? Rachel: Mostly sore throat and cough, plus minor cold symptoms like runny nose and sneezing The Insider: Were you surprised to get Covid, or did you know you’d been exposed to it? Rachel: I wasn’t completely surprised because people in my office were testing positive, but I didn’t know anyone personally who I was exposed to The Insider: Have you been vaxxed and boosted? Rachel: Yes, vaxxed and boosted The Insider: Not fair, right? When you went to CityMD, did you just get tested or did you see a doctor, too? Rachel: I got tested and then they sent a doctor in. She explained the results and that I had to isolate The Insider: Did she say anything about medicine? Rachel: No, she didn’t The Insider: Did you ask? Rachel: I didn’t ask either The Insider: Because you assumed there was nothing to take? Rachel: For my symptoms? The Insider: No, something like Paxlovid, intended for Covid. Rachel: I don’t know too much about that or whether I qualify to take it The Insider: Did you have to contact any other people to tell them you had tested positive? Rachel: Just my husband and work The Insider: Does your husband have it now too? Rachel: He doesn’t have it, thankfully The Insider: Yes, it seems to be random. Are you trying to isolate at home, or is that impossible? Rachel: Yes, I’m trying to isolate at home. It is hard, though The Insider: Do you need to self-test at home? Rachel: The doctor told me not to rely on self tests and just make sure to isolate, then to quarantine. I will self-test before going back to work or being around people The Insider: So are you taking over-the-counter meds? Is anything helping? Rachel: No, I’m not taking anything except I have cough drops and drinking vitamin C The Insider: Were you working in person in your office? Rachel: Yes, we are going into the office a few days a week The Insider: After being remote for awhile? Rachel: They’ve actually wanted us back in for a while now. We’ve been going in for over a year, since September 2020. The Insider: I wonder how you feel about that. Rachel: I would rather work remotely full-time The Insider: Has there been some pushback in your office against going in in-person? Rachel: Yes, but they won’t allow it The Insider: Has anyone quit because of that? Rachel: Yes. A handful of people that I know of The Insider: How many people in the office have gotten Covid now? Rachel: I have no idea. I’m not sure how often they inform us. The Insider: Are you aware of some? Rachel: Yes, I’m aware that there have been positive cases The Insider: To be honest, that sounds like a real misjudgment by management. Rachel: Misjudgment by having people back in the office? The Insider: Yes, by compelling it. But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that’s standard now. How do you feel? Rachel: I don’t agree that they force us into the office. We need to come in four to five times a week. When someone tests positive in our office, they send out a generic email. The Insider: Telling you what? Rachel: That someone in our office tested positive and those within close contact have been notified The Insider: Meaning that you should get tested? Rachel: I’m not sure if they mean to get tested. I think they are just obligated to tell us The Insider: I’m interested in what you’re hearing about other offices. Is that standard now? Rachel: I think it’s standard in finance offices, but I’ve heard other industries are more flexible The Insider: Just curious—do people wear masks in your office? Rachel: We are not required to wear masks, but I do see a few people wear them in the halls. Not many The Insider: Last question: Do you think that having had Covid will change your pandemic behavior, at work or in your personal life? Rachel: No, I don’t think so because I’ve always been careful and cautious during the pandemic The Insider: I’m very grateful for your time, Rachel! I hope you feel better soon! Rachel: Thank you!

July 12, 2022 By Cameron Hewitt | Rick Steve's Europe Reprinted with permission of the author When I tested positive for COVID on the morning I was supposed to fly home from Europe — on day 46 of a 46-day trip — I realized something: At this stage in the pandemic, every traveler is expected to be their own ethicist. I. The day before, I’d wrapped up a very busy seven-week research trip with a sprint through Glasgow. By mid-afternoon, I was feeling worn out. No surprise there — I’d just worked my eighth straight day without a break, and I had to push hard to finish up the final items on my list. By bedtime, back in my hotel, my throat was getting scratchy. I hoped it was nothing a good night’s sleep wouldn’t fix, and tried to get some rest. I woke up early the next morning feeling decidedly crummy — my throat was worse, and I felt flushed. My flight was due to depart in just a few hours. So I faced a dilemma. Less than two weeks earlier — on June 12 — the US had waived the requirement to present a negative COVID test to re-enter the country. And when I’d checked in for my flight, I was not asked any questions about whether I had symptoms. Technically, I was within my rights to shrug it off and get on the plane. What would you do? I imagine many of you would say: You should test, of course! And if you’re positive, you should postpone your flight. And many of you would probably say: Come on! COVID is everywhere now. If you have it on the plane, so what? Certainly, others will, too. As long as you try to mask up, you might as well just go home. I’m a pretty idealistic person. And since the very start of the pandemic, I’ve been preaching about the importance of looking out for each other. So, of course, the “right decision” was to test and wait. On the other hand… ...if I was at the very start of a lengthy illness, wouldn’t it be better to recuperate at home? This could drag on for days. Not to mention the extreme hassle and significant expense of having to extend my stay. These things seem clear in the abstract. But I have to admit, facing this question in real life was challenging. While I was deliberating, almost as a knee-jerk instinct, I fished around in my bag for my last remaining COVID test. I swabbed my nose, dunked the stick in the little tube of testing medium, and squeezed a few droplets of that solution into the reservoir on the test strip. Since home tests became widely available, I’ve tested myself more times than I can count: before or after a trip; before seeing someone I didn’t want to expose; simply because I wasn’t feeling great. The test procedure, while thrilling and terrifying in those early days, had grown dull and anticlimactic. After a few minutes, I’d begin squinting at that little control line, waiting for the second test line to appear…and it never did. This time, however… That accusing red test line came through loud and clear, and very quickly. It was definitive: I had COVID. Just to make sure, I strapped on my best N95 and ran to the nearby long-hours pharmacy. Just inside the door was a stack of home tests for £2 apiece. I grabbed six, used the self-checkout machine, and got out of there as fast as possible. I tested twice more back in the room. Both positive. I called my wife, waking her up in the middle of the night, and we both agreed that the appropriate course of action was clear: I should postpone my return home. And that’s how I wound up spending several extra days in Glasgow, stretching my trip past the 50-day mark — almost the entire time spent in my quite small (but comfortable) hotel room. II. Those first few hours were extremely stressful: Reading articles on “what to do if you test positive for COVID,” I learned that some people continue having symptoms and testing positive for many, many days. A few days’ delay felt manageable. But I certainly did not want to spend another week or two in this little hotel room, far from home. I had things to do, a life to resume. As my flight departure time neared, I realized I could still just barely make it onto that plane if I left right now. Again, I was so tempted to head home. This is a very confusing time to be making these decisions. Many governments (including in the UK, where I was, and the US, where I was going) are essentially washing their hands of the problem. They offer “guidance” and “advice.” But at the end of the day…it’s up to you. For me, it came down to two points: First, I was feeling worse by the hour. At this rate, I’d be getting on my evening transatlantic flight just as I felt my crummiest. Selfishly, that did not sound like fun. But the overriding concern was altruistic: I imagined the many people I know who are still being extremely careful. Some are elderly and have reason to believe that, even fully vaccinated, they might struggle with a COVID infection. Some have kids who are too young to be vaccinated (though, thankfully, that has started to change even since this happened). And some are immunocompromised. It’s easy to say, “Well, those people shouldn’t travel, then.” Fair enough. But it’s also fair enough for someone who has put off a dream trip for two and a half years to finally say, “I know there’s risk. But I am tired of waiting. I will take every reasonable precaution to stay safe and take a leap of faith.” I don’t blame those people for getting on an airplane. However, the wild card is other people’s behavior. I can’t control if someone with COVID gets on the plane for a nine-hour flight. But there is one thing I can control: Whether I am that person. In the end, tempted as I was to just get home, I asked myself one question: “Would I want my parents to be sitting next to me for nine hours across the Atlantic?” And the answer to that question was unequivocal: No way. I will say, I wish my airline (Lufthansa) had been more supportive of this decision. Because it was within 24 hours of departure, there was no way for me to change or cancel my flight online. After searching for a working telephone number for about a half-hour, then spending an hour and a half climbing through their phone tree, I was told that changing my flight would be possible only if I could fly home six days later…and the fare difference would exceed the original round-trip price. It apparently made not one iota of difference that my sole reason for rescheduling was not wanting to expose Lufthansa’s passengers to COVID. This was treated as a matter of personal choice. (Which, I suppose, it was.) The best they could do was to suggest that “maybe” I could get future flight credit. They gave me another phone number to request this, and, after 30 more minutes on hold, I was told to email my request instead. The response could take weeks, if not months. That night — right around the time that I would have been boarding the plane — my fever spiked to over 100 degrees and I had a severe case of chills. I was very glad not to be on that plane. III. When you’re lying around for days recovering from COVID, you have ample time to ponder one suddenly very pressing question: How, exactly, did I get COVID? The fact that I can’t pinpoint the answer tells you everything you need to know. Simply put, I let my guard down, and put myself in multiple situations where I could’ve been exposed. Partly because I was fully vaccinated and recently boosted, I was (perhaps foolishly) more willing to take on the risk. But I am living proof that “taking on the risk” can have real consequences. When traveling earlier this year, I had been very careful: I masked anytime I was indoors, and I actively avoided indoor dining, with rare exceptions. On this trip, I was still masking on public transportation (planes, buses, trams) and in crowded museums…and I was, very often, one of the only people who was masking. Here’s me in a crowded ferry terminal — the only mask in sight — on the day when I suspect I was exposed. And yet, I’ll admit, in other ways I was more lax. I stopped masking for brief conversations throughout the day with museum ticket clerks and hotel receptionists. These conversations usually last just a few minutes…but sometimes stretch (delightfully) much longer. Did one of those lovely digressions wind up exposing me? Part of the reason I let my guard down was simply social pressure. In the places I visited on this trip, masking has become vanishingly rare. In dozens upon dozens of interactions each day, I could count on one hand the number of times the person I was talking to wore a mask. It started to feel pointless to mask up each time I went inside. I wish I weren’t so susceptible to “peer pressure,” but, frankly…when, time after time, you find you’re the only masked person, you begin to feel a bit like a weirdo. Probably more consequentially, I also got in the habit of eating in restaurants. (Scotland’s unseasonably cold and rainy summer weather limited my outdoor dining options.) In retrospect, this might have been the main thing I’d have done differently, had I known how staggeringly high cases were in the places I was visiting. Speaking of which, I believe the single biggest factor in how I got COVID is that Scotland was absolutely on fire with COVID while I was there. Later — when it was too late — I found a BBC News article estimating that, during the very week I was sick, one out of every eighteen people in Scotland had COVID. One in eighteen! With those odds, there’s no doubt I was exposed at multiple points each day. To be honest, this news frustrated me. As I was traveling through Scotland, occasionally I’d hear, anecdotally, that cases were going up. I kept checking the same “dashboards” for global COVID rates that I’ve been relying on since March 2020 — keeping an eye out for hot spots. According to those numbers, Scotland’s rates were increasing, but not to an alarming degree. However, those statistics rely on confirmed cases. And, like most other places, Scotland has drastically reduced formal testing. (The NHS Scotland website specifically says: “Most people in Scotland no longer need to test for coronavirus.”) Many people who have COVID never even know it for sure, or they know only because of a home test that they likely don’t report to the authorities. Those deceptively low case counts lulled me into a false sense that things were still under control, well after the point when they definitely weren’t. Had I known the rates were one-in-eighteen, you can be sure I’d have upped my masking. Would that have made a difference? Maybe not. But I wished I’d taken it more seriously when I started seeing “business closed due to illness” signs popping up. In the end, though, my decisions were my own. At some level, I figured — being so close to the end of my trip, and having been fortunate so far — I could probably skate on through without too much worry. I thought to myself, “I haven’t had it yet, so who knows? Maybe I just won’t get it.” I was wrong. IV. Fortunately, I was fully vaccinated. In fact, I had gotten my second booster shortly before this trip (which might be what spared me until now). Especially after that first night, my symptoms were not bad at all. I ran a slight fever for a couple of days; I had a stuffy nose and a sore throat; I was tired, but not even what I’d call “fatigued.” I would rank it merely as a mid-level cold — far from the worst cold I’ve had. And it was certainly not the sickest I’ve been on a trip to Europe. The only thing that made it remotely unusual was knowing it was COVID. In fact, I found myself thinking, “This is the reason we all put our lives on hold for a year and a half? This is why nobody could travel for so long?” But then I’d remind myself that people of my age and general health were dying at alarming rates in those early days of the pandemic. And I felt extremely grateful for those miraculous vaccines. On four separate occasions over the past year, I’ve trained my body what to do in case this happened. I gave my immune system clear instructions and ran it through drills for exactly this eventuality. And so, when the real thing hit…it knew what to do, and it dealt with it admirably. (I am aware that some of the newer variants do a better job of escaping the old vaccines. This is why we’re starting to hear about potential boosters for this fall. In any event, I was very glad for whatever protection my vaccinations gave me. ) I’ve heard some people say, “I got fully vaccinated and I still got COVID! Obviously, the vaccines don’t work.” This thought never crossed my mind. Nobody every said that the vaccines guaranteed we’d never get COVID. Rather, we’ve been told all along that the vaccines make COVID less dangerous, drastically reducing severity and hospitalizations. And on that count, they’ve been a smashing success — including for me personally. As for being stuck in that hotel room…to be honest, it wasn’t so terrible. It was plenty comfortable, with a fun view over the train station’s glass canopy. Having an excuse to take it easy, at the end of a long and demanding research trip, was weirdly welcome. I’d work on finishing up my guidebook writing as long as my energy held out…then I’d reward myself by binging some TV. I consider British television an important cultural experience. Usually when I’m in Britain, I’m working nonstop, so at best I have the TV on in the background. But COVID let me settle in and enjoy some shows I’d only flipped past before. (Related: I am bewildered that no American television production company has managed to properly adapt the wonderful show Gogglebox — in which ordinary, everyday Brits from various walks of life are recorded in their living rooms, watching and discussing TV shows — for the American audience. They attempted a “celebrity” version, which misses the point, and predictably flopped. Come on, America. We can do this!) Fortunately, the hotel was able to extend my stay in the same room. They told me I was lucky, in a way: Scotland is packed to the gills, and it’s hard to find a room. But because of the ongoing rail strike, they had several cancellations. If you’re going to be sick anywhere, try to be sick in Glasgow — where people are simply wonderful and kind and easy to talk to. I notified the reception desk I had tested positive to make sure nobody would enter my room and unwittingly expose themselves. The receptionist said, “So sorry to hear that. But it’s not surprising. I just recovered from it myself last week!” They took it in stride and told me they’d sanitize my room with extra vigor when I checked out. I’d venture out of my room once or twice a day, taking short walks for my sanity. Each time I’d strap on my N95 the entire time and sanitize my hands like crazy before and after I touched anything. (I even shaved my scraggly beard, just to encourage a tighter mask fit.) For food, I’d run into the ubiquitous corner grocery stores, grab a few items, use the “touchless” self-checkout stand, and be on my way as quickly as possible. On a couple of occasions, I ordered food in a restaurant, then waited outside while it was being prepared. Often, while standing out there in my mask, I’d be passed by multiple unmasked people who were hacking, coughing, snuffling, and sneezing. Given the high caseloads, it’s a certainty that at least some of these people had COVID…but, unlike me, were doing nothing to avoid spreading it. And that leads to a question I asked myself again and again as I was waiting out this nasty bug: Is it somehow old-fashioned or deluded to be so worried about spreading COVID? Are we beyond that now? Should we really be treating it as “just a cold,” and stop taking extreme precautions…like the ones I was taking? I’m sure that day will come. Personally, I don’t think we’re there quite yet. I know we’re fed up with the disruption to our lives. (Believe me — after this trip, I speak from experience.) But COVID remains a dangerous virus that can have devastating long-term consequences. To this day, a 9/11’s worth of Americans are still dying of COVID about every two weeks. For those of us privileged enough to be generally healthy and fully vaccinated and boosted, COVID is usually just a nuisance. But for a lot of people, COVID could be a huge problem. And that’s really the frustrating part about COVID. It’s not going out with a bang. It’s trailing off with a whimper. At what point will we be able to totally forget about COVID — just truly not worry about it anymore? Probably never. Maybe it’s like terrorism after 9/11: Gradually, the constant fear and vigilance will fade…but some element of it will always be with us. In the interim, for me, it’s too early to throw caution entirely to the wind. Yes, I’m personally more willing now to lower my guard and take a few more chances. But when we take those chances, we have to be prepared for the consequences. And I believe we need to respect others who are trying to make their own choices. If I got on the plane with a 100-degree fever and an active case of COVID, I would be robbing my seatmate of that choice. Maybe they wouldn’t care; perhaps that person would be part of the fast-growing population who’ve decided that getting COVID is a reasonable tradeoff for doing as they please. (Heck, maybe I’d be sitting next to someone nursing their own COVID fever.) But it could just as well be someone with good reasons to expect others to have their back. I think that person deserves my consideration…even if it causes me some inconvenience. (Then again, I’m also someone who never reclines my seat back. But that’s a whole other blog post…) V. After what felt like an eternity in that little hotel room, I had reached the CDC-recommended five-day isolation period. More important, my symptoms had almost entirely resolved, and I had not run a fever in nearly three days. I was able to book a last-minute flight back to Seattle. So I got up, packed my bag, unwrapped and strapped on a brand-new N95 (which I would barely take off for the next 18 hours)…and headed to the airport. Boarding my flight in Glasgow, I did a little math. My plane had about 180 seats. If one in eighteen people in Scotland had COVID at that moment, there were likely at least ten active cases on that plane. I saw only about a dozen people who, like me, were wearing masks. Which means there were almost certainly unmasked COVID cases on that flight. (And remember that masks — especially when worn by just one person — are far from a guarantee of safety. They are just one layer in what should be a stacking series of protections.) Allow me to editorialize for a moment. (I think I’ve earned it.) Even though I postponed my trip voluntarily, I understand the need to lift the testing requirement to re-enter the US. But not requiring tests makes far less sense when masking on board planes is optional. After two and a half years of struggling with this virus, we know of two things that are unequivocally, demonstrably effective in slowing the spread and reducing the impact of COVID: vaccinations and masking. As we “get back to normal” on so many fronts — and, predictably, cases are surging — how many COVID cases are getting on planes these days without masks? Failing a mask mandate, we can’t control whether other people wear masks (even if they’re hacking and coughing the whole way across the Atlantic). But you can control whether you wear one. Assuming you still care about not wanting to get COVID — or, perhaps, unwittingly spread it to someone else — mask up on board. These days, not wearing a mask on a flight is like playing Russian roulette with five bullets. During my layover, I was fortunate to find a nearly deserted concourse. I sat alone and was able to take off my mask for a few minutes to eat and drink. I am aware that air circulation and filtration during a flight helps reduce the spread of COVID. But other aspects of air travel — including waiting in a crowded, unventilated jetway — are more risky. So I tried to be one of the last people to board the plane. My connecting flight — much longer, at over seven hours — was the one that worried me. Fortunately, everyone within two seats of me, in every direction, wore their mask the entire time. That was a relief. And I kept my mask securely in place for the duration of the flight (other than occasionally sneaking into the bathroom to gobble a snack or blow my nose). Landing in Seattle, I felt confident I’d made the right decision by delaying my return. And I have to say…it was very, very good to be home. VI. Rick Steves likes to say that our job as travel writers is making mistakes so you don’t have to. His favorite example is losing your travelers’ checks. But I suppose catching COVID is more timely. And, much as I deeply regret being your guinea pig…is there anything you can you learn from my COVID experience? First, if you want to travel but still really don’t want to get COVID, don’t let your guard down. It’s so tempting to give in to social pressure and take off that mask. Or to have a nice, relaxed meal in a (crowded) restaurant. But if you want to keep your level of risk to a minimum, prepare yourself mentally to stick to your “good behavior”…even if it means you’re flying in the face of current social norms. Another lesson: This was a reality check that these days, nothing prevents someone with COVID from traveling however they like. (I can attest to this, because I came very close to being that person.) You should assume that there are active, contagious, unmasked COVID cases on any plane (or train, or bus) you board. Assuming you still care about not wanting to catch COVID, this demands scrupulous masking with high-quality masks. Don’t mess around with cloth or surgical masks: Get and use a medical-grade N95 (or, failing that, a KN95 or equivalent). As you’ll be surrounded by more and more unmasked people, now is the time to up your mask game…not lower it. Something that I take to heart now — more than ever before — is really making the effort to understand the current risk in the place you’re visiting. Had I bothered to pay more careful attention when I started hearing that “cases were going up,” I might have better understood how dire the circumstances were becoming, and adjusted my behavior accordingly. When you’re trying to enjoy a vacation, assessing current caseloads is far from “fun.” But it matters. And it can help you decide when it’s probably OK to go ahead and have a nice meal in a restaurant…or when you need to hunker down and stay outside. Finally, if you do get COVID, I hope you’ll follow my example and do your best to think about your impact on others. I was determined to be the final link in this particular chain of the virus. I took all reasonable (and, some might say, unreasonable) precautions to avoid exposing other people when I knew I would be at my most contagious. Having been though that decision-making process, however, I have a new empathy for people who might make the opposite choice, and get on that plane despite having COVID. It’s a tough call, and these days, we are essentially on our own. In my case, I kept coming back to what I have been saying since day one of the pandemic: The only way through this is by looking out for each other…even when it’s inconvenient, or expensive, or frustrating. Or, try this rule of thumb: If I were healthy, would I want to be sitting next to me on that plane?

One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 91 By Laurence Lerman / New York City The French holiday known as Bastille Day, the National Day of France, is celebrated every year on July 14th. It commemorates the storming by French revolutionaries of the Bastille, the Parisian fortress largely used as a state prison by the kings of France over the centuries, on that day in 1789. It was a seminal event in the history of France, and indeed Europe, that’s generally regarded as the flashpoint of the French Revolution, the decade-long period of radical political and societal change in France that essentially marked the end of France’s ancien régime by abolishing the feudal system of the French nobility and monarchy. In France, the day is usually celebrated with parades, picnics filled with too much food and wine, dancing, singing and fireworks. In that sense, it’s not unlike the Independence Day celebrations found in the U.S on July 4th. On these shores, if Americans are celebrating Bastille Day, it’s usually in the form of a meal at a French restaurant that has an enticingly priced “Bastille Day Special” on its menu board. Or, in my case, a gentle prodding of Insider readers to check out one or more of the dozens of respectable films about the French Revolution. Though the storming of the Bastille remains one of the most vivid images of the Revolution, cinematically speaking, there’s a lot of potential in any movie about the La Révolution française. The convening of France’s Estates General in 1789; the awful violence of the Reign of Terror; the rise of Napoléon Bonaparte; France’s wars with Prussia, Britain and the Netherlands; the executions of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette by guillotine in 1793—plenty to see here! While one shouldn’t look to the movies for an authoritative account of any significant historical event, it’s always a good place to start. If the movie is doing its job, it will whet a viewer’s appetite and inspire them to consider the possibilities of a more deeply researched dive into the subject. And along with way, you can ooh and ahh at the lovely costumes, sets and production designs that are frequently the pièce de résistance of well-produced period films. Here’s a quick survey of 10 good ones to help you usher in Bastille Day. Et bien, bon film à toi! Napoléon (1927) Directed by Abel Gance One of the masterpieces of early cinema, French filmmaker Gance’s silent epic has lost none of its power. Following the life and career of Napoléon Bonaparte from his early military training through the War in the Vendée in 1896, Gance’s work is revolutionary in its own right, with the filmmaker using such innovative moviemaking techniques as fast cutting, handheld camerawork, multiple exposures and superimpositions. The multi-screen, triptych finale involving the simultaneous projection of three reels in a horizontal row remains a breathtaking cinematic experience. A Tale of Two Cities (1935) Directed by Jack Conway Produced by David Selznick's prestige production unit at MGM (alongside that same year’s David Copperfield and Anna Karenina) Jack Conway’s polished, stately adaptation of Dickens’ 1859 historical novel starred respected British performers Ronald Colman and Elizabeth Allan and was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Film Editing. Reign of Terror (1949) Directed by Anthony Mann Revolutionary France meets film noir in this striking take on the period, concerning a group of plotters who seek to bring down the agitating statesman Maximillien Robespierre and to end his bloodthirsty titular reign. Richard Basehart, Robert Cummings and Arlene Dahl star, with evocative cinematography courtesy of noir master John Alton. History of the World, Part I (1981) Directed by Mel Brooks Cloris Leachman is Madame Defarge, Andreas Voutsinas and Harvey Korman are royal advisors Béarnaise and Count de Monet (pronounced “Count da Money”) and Mel Brooks is a snuff-snorting King Louis XVI in Brooks’ colorfully raunchy sendup of the Revolution. This sequence is the final segment in a film that also tackles the Stone Age, the Old Testament, the Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition and the hysterical forward-thinking possibilities of Jews in space. Danton (1983) Directed by Andrej Wajda Gérard Depardieu stars as champion of the people Georges-Jacques Danton, one of the leaders of the French Revolution, in Polish filmmaker Wajda’s story of Danton’s final weeks prior to his execution. Set during the Reign of Terror, the politically attuned Wajda made the film against the backdrop of martial law that had been imposed on his native Poland at the time. La Révolution française (1989) Directed by Robert Enrico and Richard T. Heffron This two-part, six-hour film was co-produced by France, Germany, Italy, Canada and the UK to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. Costing $50 million (making it at the time the most expensive film ever shot in France), it’s purportedly a faithful story of the Revolution, covering everything from the convening of the Estates-General in 1789 to the death of Robespierre in 1794, and everything in-between. The international cast includes Klaus Maria Brandauer, Jane Seymour, Peter Ustinov, Claudia Cardinale, Jean-François Balmer and Sam Neill. Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) Directed by Christophe Gans Set during the middle of the Revolution, this unique period action-horror film is loosely based on dozens of real-life brutal killings that took place in the war-torn province of Gévaudan, reportedly by a crazed, wolflike animal. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop supplies the animatronics and puppetry behind the murderous beast, while Monica Bellucci provides the film with the most luscious of Italian courtesans who witnesses the horror from her perch at a local brothel. The Lady and the Duke (2001) Directed by Éric Rohmer This historical romantic drama by the late French New Wave master follows the story of a Scottish aristocrat (Lucy Russell) and her former lover, the Duke of Orléans (Jean-Claude Dreyfus), who find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict that is the French Revolution. Rohmer’s customary verbal sparring is abetted here by an injection of graphically depicted savagery and violence. Farewell, My Queen (2012) Directed by Benoît Jacquot Based on the 2002 novel by the same name by Chantal Thomas, Jacquot’s sexy and well-appointed period drama offers a fictional account of the last days of the rule of Marie Antoinette (Diane Kruger), as seen through the eyes of Sidonie Laborde (Léa Seydoux), a young servant whose job description includes her reading aloud to the queen. There’s a lot of gorgeously costumed palatial intrigue in this one. The Visitors: Bastille Day (2016) Directed by Jean-Marie Poiré The third entry in the popular Visitors time-traveling comedy-adventure series that dates back to 1993, Bastille Day once again centers on the misadventures of the medieval knight Godefroy de Montmirail and his squire Jacquouille la Fripouille (returning stars Jean Reno and Christian Clavier). This time around, the pair meet their own descendants when they trip the temporal pathways and land in the middle of the French Revolution at the height of the Reign of Terror. 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.

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 Laurence Lerman / New York City The evening I heard the news of James Caan’s passing last week, I put on the television to watch one of his films. I settled on streaming the 1999 mob comedy Mickey Blue Eyes with Hugh Grant and Jeanne Tripplehorn, one that I had never seen. Caan co-stars as Tripplehorn’s dad, a mid-level NYC gangster who has serious reservations about his daughter’s upcoming nuptials to Grant, a dapper art auctioneer. Though not unpleasant, the movie overall was silly and forgettable. But not so the always reliable James Caan, who over the course of a six-decade career was anything but. Caan died on Wednesday, July 6. His death was announced by his family on Twitter. He was 82. Ten years into his acting career, James Caan became an “overnight” star with his role as the gangster scion Santino “Sonny” Corleone in 1972’s The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola from Mario Puzo’s 1969 bestseller by the same name. The critics praised his energetic immersion into the character—the heir apparent to a Mafia family whose hot-headed, violence-prone manner proves to be his undoing. And audiences loved Sonny, right up until–need I put a spoiler alert here?–he’s brutally rubbed out by a rival faction at the Long Beach Causeway toll plaza in one of the film’s most famous scenes. Playing a prominent role in the landmark Mafia epic elevated Caan’s career to Hollywood’s highest echelon, but it also resulted in his being cast in villainous roles for the next 50 years, often in crime comedies. The results were often fun, as in 1990s Dick Tracy and 1992’s Honeymoon in Vegas. Other times, audiences were left with unexceptional efforts like Mickey Blue Eyes and quickies like Wisegal, a 2008 Lifetime flick starring Alyssa Milano as a mob princess. But in those decades after The Godfather, Caan came off as a guy’s kind of guy, bringing energy, bravado, accessibility and a naturalistic presence to his work, which included some 70 feature films and a handful of TV series, including the glittery 2003 hit Las Vegas. A nice Jewish boy born in the Bronx and raised in Queens, James Caan dropped out of a couple of colleges before giving acting a shot in the late 1950s, studying for five years under the respected acting teacher Sanford Meisner at Manhattan’s Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater. He hustled for work and quickly began getting roles on TV in “guy shows” like Naked City, Route 66, Combat!and The Untouchables, as well as such films as the thrillers Lady in a Cage (1964) and Games (1967) and the John Wayne western El Dorado (1967). In 1969, Caan starred in the in the critically lauded drama The Rain People, written and directed by Francis Coppola, which led to his casting in you-know-what a couple of years later. But Caan wasn’t through with television. In 1971, he starred in the made-for-TV football movie Brian’s Song as ill-fated Chicago Bears halfback Brian Piccolo, opposite Billy Dee Williams as the Bears’ great Gale Sayers. Caan’s lively, likeable performance in the beloved tearjerker really put him on the map, warming up audiences for his ferocious big screen triumph in The Godfather the following year. The 1970s through the early 1980s were Caan’s most fertile period, with his swaggering presence on display as a Navy sailor who falls for a prostitute in Cinderella Liberty (1973), a college classics professor with a dangerous addiction in The Gambler (1974), a rebellious superstar in a brutal sport of the future in Rollerball (1975) and a master safecracker looking to retire in Thief (1981). Also quite fine was the 1980 drama Hide in Plain Sight, which also marked Caan’s only directorial effort, about a divorced father searching for his children after they and their mother have been put into the witness-protection program. Even when his movies struck out critically or commercially, as was the case with such efforts as the comedies Freebie and the Bean (1974) and Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976), and the musical Funny Lady (1975), Caan generally received positive notices. A number of fine performances in a mix of genres followed after a down period in the 1980s where Caan’s hard-living, bad-boy lifestyle (divorces, cocaine, financial problems, joining the rodeo circuit, earning a black belt in karate, living for a time at the Playboy Mansion—the usual drill for many a superstar of that era). He was always working, yes, though he never attained the heights of his post-Godfather decade. Still, his work in the Stephen King thriller Misery (1990), the neo-noir Flesh and Bone (1993) and the holiday comedy Elf (2003), among others, are all outstanding and memorable. The 2015 Canadian horror offering Sicilian Vampire and his portrayal of mobster Sonny Trafficante? Not so much. Caan himself expressed embarrassment over that one. But the man liked to work and he did so until nearly the very end, co-starring opposite Ellen Burstyn in last year’s Queen Bees. Caan looks like he’s enjoying himself in the very sweet retiree rom-com. And much to Ms. Burstyn’s delight—and ours—he was still swaggering 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 Andy Borowitz July 11, 2022 WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a blistering takedown of the President, Tucker Carlson accused Joe Biden of cynically leveraging the power of his office to lower gasoline prices. “For weeks, Biden has been saying that he’d do something about the price of gasoline,” the Fox News host said. “Now, lo and behold, gas prices are lower. Joe Biden has been acting in plain sight.” “The American people aren’t dumb,” Carlson continued. “When they fill up their tanks, they notice that it costs less. They can tell that something’s going on, and they’re not going to put up with it.” After gas prices showed their biggest one-day drop in almost fifteen years, Carlson said, “It’s time to call out the man behind this conspiracy: Joe Biden.” Carlson demanded that Congress “stop investigating January 6th and focus its attention on a real scandal: Joe Biden’s corrupt plot to lower gas prices.” “This is worse than anything Hunter has done,” Carlson charged.

By Naomi Serviss / New York City “It stinks!” So opined Jon Lovitz, voicing an animated New York film critic in the appropriately named 1994 TV cartoon sitcom, The Critic. It’s been my go-to declaration ever since SCOTUS declared war on America a month ago. Something stinks to high heaven, as my mother was wont to say. The air sours with a right-wing guile, off-putting. We’re fighting for personal health rights, again? It’s depressing. Déjà vu once more. Not content to mess with women’s reproductive rights, the Supremes shredded any semblance of a church/state separation. I can picture the six justices rolling up their judicious black sleeves and having at the nitty-gritty of privacy, First Amendment rights, oh, the list grows. What could be dismantled, castrated or gerrymandered next, you might ask. How about Mother Earth, skies once blue pure waters below? Humanity is kneecapping its own habitat. Credit the Industrial Revolution and its spawn. How about the greedy corporation-running bastards who grow fat on stolen profits, pushing fossil fuels like there’s no tomorrow? Irony is not dead. Thanks to this 2022 right-leaning, partisan high court, the Environmental Protection Agency (created by Richard Nixon!) has been strip-mined. On June 30th, the conservative Supreme Court majority put the brakes on the EPA’s ability to protect our own environment. Which means that reducing emissions isn’t all that important in the long run. Unless you like inhaling oxygen. It’s the gas and oil industry who will profit. And they, in turn, scratch Republican’s backs with, oh, maybe a contribution perhaps. Those same industries gave 84 percent of their generous contributions to Republicans. How could anyone in their right (and logical) mind accept climate deniers’ screeds and rants? It’s an embarrassment that our United (ha) States is ruled by those six misogynists (why can’t a woman be a misogynist as well?). Our beloved country of origin is controlled by authoritarian-loving right-wingers. They can now stymie actions that might forestall a catastrophic climate emergency! Even to this layperson, it is obvious we’ve hit Def Con Infinity, the worst of all possible outcomes. Just made that up. A green light given to those entities that poison us with carbon dioxide tailpipe emissions. Not to mention gas and oil blight. Because the Supreme Court’s majority decision wrests away even a smidgen of EPA clout, “to respond to the most pressing environmental challenge of our time.” So wrote the court’s dissenting liberal minority. I am a sorrowful Boomer, who is ashamed that my contemporaries (and I) couldn’t get it together enough to leave our kids a healthy planet. I’m not the only one. We were such idealistic hippies! Always grooving on peace and love. Earth Day was every day. Our vibe was a collective goodness that would heal the world. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Regardless of who's to blame, it still stinks! Naomi Serviss is a New York-based award-winning journalist whose work has been published in The New York Times, Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Highroads (AAA magazine), in-flight publications, spa and travel magazines and websites, including BroadwayWorld.com

By John Rolfe / Red Hook, N.Y. One of the distressing marvels of modern life is how the United States of America, one of the world’s wealthiest nations, could be so awash in mental health problems, physical illness, violence, and a palpable atmosphere of anger and despair. The National Institute of Mental Health says more than 52 million Americans age 18 and over suffer from some form of mental illness (depression, anxiety, bipolar or obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias or more). Our average life expectancy (79 years) ranks only 50th in the world, according to World Population Review. High rates of obesity and related illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer have made us particularly vulnerable to the Covid pandemic that has claimed more than a million lives here since 2020. Violence is, in some ways, a uniquely American scourge. According to the Gun Violence Archive, each year around 50,000 acts of violence committed with firearms claim 20,000 lives in the U.S. Between 2009-2018, we had 57 times as many school shootings as the other G7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom) combined. What is it about our society that produces so many messed-up people? I believe the reasons are many and intertwined. Each one will have to be effectively addressed before we can stop simply turning this country into a miserable maximum insecurity prison for all. Our materialistic consumer culture, fixated on the acquisition of wealth, fame, status and physical beauty, encourages us constantly to compare ourselves to others and never be satisfied. The inability to accept one’s self and appreciate one’s blessings despite life’s inevitable setbacks is a recipe for perpetual unhappiness. To me, Donald Trump is the personification of the American mindset: an extremely wealthy, self-absorbed, miserable man obsessed with attention and power and prone to violent outbursts. It is bitterly ironic that he served as our president and may do so again. Economic pressures such as unemployment and debt feed stress and anxiety. While many Americans struggle to earn enough to cover basic needs, many more bring trouble upon themselves with their inability to manage their money or control their impulses to spend. Buy now, pay later … and how. Our lack of face-to-face community (as in actually knowing your neighbors and being involved in each other’s lives) is exacerbated by social media and the Internet, which lure us into a virtual reality of our own choosing. We are more easily in contact with like-minded individuals but rarely meet them. Ultimately, we are more isolated and alone with the fears and grievances we share with those virtual friends. The absence of physically present, personal forms of social support contributes to feelings of loneliness, depression, and nihilism. It also feeds a tendency to resort to violence as a means of settling disputes, which makes the easy availability of guns (used in 77 percent of all killings), so devastating. It’s no surprise that incidents of road rage and other public displays of antisocial behavior are common. Our environment (air and water) is full of toxins and our diet is heavy in processed foods that aren’t nutritious and are laden with chemicals such as preservatives and artificial colors and flavors. Exactly how these pollutants affect us is hard to say, as everyone reacts differently to different things. But they all add up. The benefits of good nutrition — and even what “good” nutrition is — are very poorly understood by doctors and the general public. Common sense dictates that a “garbage in/garbage out” principle applies. Mental health is often a matter of balance in one’s brain chemicals, which are affected by physical health, stress, drugs (legal and illegal), and abuse of other substances such as alcohol. According to the Mayo Clinic, “Neurotransmitters are naturally occurring brain chemicals that carry signals to other parts of your brain and body. When the neural networks involving these chemicals are impaired, the function of nerve receptors and nerve systems change, leading to depression and other emotional disorders.” Our lifestyles are largely sedentary. Exercise provides well-documented health benefits but our lack of fitness is alarming. The U.S. military is now dealing with a wave of applicants so out of shape they can’t get through basic training. Our popular entertainment (movies, TV shows, video games, music, literature) reflect a culture that has historically glorified violence by romanticizing the Wild West, outlaws, notorious gangsters, and vigilantes. This country has a long history of using violence as a tool for stability — America has been at peace (involved in no armed conflicts) for only 14 of its 246 years — and resorting to illegality in the name of law and order. For the latest example, consider the brazen attempt by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election, including the storming of the Capitol by a mob of angry, aggrieved supporters. All of these things are factors in violence, especially social alienation. Criminologist Lonnie Athens, quoted in the essay “Why We Americans Are So Violent” by social history professor Howard Smead of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, says violence has less to do with insanity than “violent socialization.” The human need to belong to a community with a purpose drives many into the arms of QAnon, militias and other political or religious extremist groups. The 18-year-old white supremacist who slaughtered 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. was radicalized in online hate forums like 4chan. The 21-year-old gunman who shot 53 people, killing seven, in Highland Park, Ill. on the Fourth of July was active in Internet communities that glorify violence and turn it into a kind of performance art for attention-seekers who often simulcast their attacks. "I've described this as sort of like a mass shooter creation machine," Alex Newhouse, an extremism and counterterrorism expert told NPR. "A lot of these communities are designed to spin out mass shooters over time, over and over and over." Studies have found that the people most vulnerable are men between the ages of 16 and 24. The National Institute of Mental Health has found that the 18-25 age group has the highest prevalence (more than 30 percent) of mental health issues. And while it fashionable to blame poor mental health for mass shootings and other violence, it is only part of the puzzle. “Stressors — such as unemployment, isolation and uncertainty about the future — can lead to increased frustration and anger,” Justin Nix, an associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, is quoted by social historian Smead. “People experiencing these negative emotions are more prone to turn to crime when they lack access to more positive coping mechanisms. And previous research has shown how financial stressors and a lack of social support work together to influence the overall homicide rate.” That is particularly true in impoverished, inner-city neighborhoods like the most notoriously violent ones in Chicago. Alone in our echo chambers, our detachment from reality and sense of grievance, helplessness, frustration, and being ignored and disrespected is further fueled by traditional forms of media (radio, TV, newspapers) full of highly partisan commentators such a Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, who frequently reminds his conservative followers that they are viewed with contempt and condescension by liberals. So how do we fix ourselves and our society? As it is, we’re very prone to treating symptoms but not underlying causes. Gun laws and hardening schools and other public places may make us a bit safer but they will do nothing to stop the constant creation of people who are driven to violence. We should increase the availability of mental health services, but they offer often impersonal, drug-based treatment after the fact. We need more prevention. Our “take a pill for it” health care system won’t solve much either. So-called “wellness visits” to doctors are often diagnostic tests and scant advice for protecting one’s health. Want to lose weight? Take a medication or have a surgical procedure. How about not becoming overweight in the first place? As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I am seeing arguments that it’s much more effective to spend on things like housing, health, education, behavior modification, and community-based violence intervention programs than police or prisons. We already have the largest penal system in the world, and where has it gotten us? As it is, it’s too easy and perversely comfortable to keep doing what we are doing and adapt to things as they are. Our misery is the devil we know. Gun and junk food manufacturers, Big Pharma, health-care providers, lenders, private prisons, media and entertainment companies have found ways to profit handsomely from it. That makes it almost impossible to change without a concerted across-the-board effort. Ultimately, it’s going to take each one of us making profound changes in the way we live and see life, ourselves and each other. Until that happens, America will remain a very unhealthy, dangerous place. 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 Andrea Sachs, Editor This story is also available at nu-detroit.com. Good golly, Miss Molly! What was that all about? We blinked, and the Supreme Court rolled things back a century. Suddenly abortion is illegal, carrying guns in public is de rigueur, the Environment Protection Agency is a nullity and a Bible-thumping football coach at a public high school is entitled to pressure his players to pray on the 50-yard line. Justice Clarence Thomas, once mercifully quiet, is now making noise about revisiting the right to use contraception or to marry someone of the same sex. Yep, faster than you can say Merrick Garland, there are three new right-wing justices in town, impatient to make their mark and to mobilize their fellow conservatives. For the sake of saving space, let’s just call them the United Trump Injustices (UTI). As Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus put it a few days ago, “This was the term the Supreme Court decided to ignore the speed bumps.” Far be it from me to pretend to know what is going inside the cloistered high court, but I don’t think that it’s a lovefest these days. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a fearless truthteller, sent up a distress signal at oral arguments for the abortion case in December: Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts? I don’t see how it is possible. So now the court term is mercifully over before the Supremes could overrule Brown v. Board of Education. And predictably, a cry is now going up in the land for the Democrats to pack the Supreme Court with enough liberal justices to trump the Trumpies. True, court packing didn’t go over well in 1937 when FDR decided that he needed as many as 15 new justices to neutralize the obstinate ones blocking his New Deal legislation. And true, Joe Biden will be a hard sell — he called court packing a “boneheaded idea” in 1983 and is still stubbornly against it, despite the political pickle he finds himself in. And true, the idea may not go over well in the Manchin fiefdom. But let’s show some team spirit! Even the hapless Susan Collins can read the writing on the wall. Personally, I think FDR was stretching it by saying he needed 15 new justices. I figure that we’ll need only nine or ten more to treat the UTI. But at that rate of growth, let’s face it — we’re not going to be getting the law review crème de la crème. In fact, we may be scraping the bottom of the legal barrel by the time that we reach our quota. So I have a modest proposal: Why not me? I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a bit rusty, after three decades as a journalist. But by some oversight, they still haven’t rescinded my J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. Luckily, it will take an archeological dig to unearth my law school records. I graduated a century ago, as it were — in 1978 — the ink on my transcript has presumably faded to the point of being undecipherable. Okay, it’s a fact that my grades in law school ranged from middling to embarrassing. I do remember getting one of my few (my only) A’s in a Law and Psychiatry class, taught by a brainy psychiatrist, Dr. Andrew Watson. That will come in handy when the case of The United States v. Donald J. Trump crosses my SCOTUS docket. (To be honest, I still feel guilty about having taken the seat of some nice young man who was bound for a cushy salary at some corporate firm. And yes, in those days, it was likely to have been a man. My class was 75 percent male. What can I say? I aced the LSATs; English majors are good at standardized tests.) Let’s not overlook the fact that I am still technically licensed to practice law in New York — and I that I was an unhappy government lawyer for three tear-stained years during the Carter and Reagan administrations. So, sure, I could brush up on the particulars in my spare time. Does Stanley Kaplan offer a cram course for Supreme Court nominees? One of the pleasures of being on the court will be sitting next to Ketanji Brown Jackson, the newest justice, who strikes me as a superstar-to-be. And naturally, I revere Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. (The Notorious RBG looks to me in the rear-view mirror like someone who should have retired early enough to save her seat for democracy’s sake, but who am I to give career advice?) It’s quite the hen party up there now, with three bona fide female feminist justices and one real-life Handmaid’s Tale nightmare, Amy Coney Barrett. Rest assured, America — I will not be the worst justice in US history. Chief Justice Roger Taney has a lock on that title. He was the author of the 1857 pro-slavery decision in Dred Scott. I would call Dred Scott the most odious ruling in the annals of the court, but I don’t want to underestimate Justice Samuel Alito, who has shown a remarkable capacity to disregard human rights and the arc of the moral universe. Without me on the bench to keep him in check, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization could just be the tip of the Hindenburg. So I humbly offer myself, Mr. President, for your consideration as a member of the supersized Supreme Court. You need not worry that my undistinguished track record in the legal world will hobble my decision-making abilities on the bench. I will have no trouble deciding how to vote. I will do the opposite of whatever Clarence Thomas does, so help me God. https://www.nu-detroit.com/super-sizing-the-supreme-court-why-not-me/

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 Victoria Rolfe / Red Hook, N.Y. It’s been a stressful few years, to say the least, and we could all use some much needed rest and relaxation these days. But how exactly do we get it? Covid is still lurking out there, as well as the resulting problems that the pandemic has created in the travel industry. There is sky-high inflation to deal with, with gas prices, in particular, through the roof. And last, but definitely not least, there is just the general craziness out there that has become the backdrop of our lives and the world in these turbulent times. I, for one, am glad that I’ve done a fair amount of traveling in the past few decades. I have been to England and France, Australia, Singapore, Japan and Hawaii. And closer to home, to Canada and much of our own fair country. So, personally, I am ready to sit this one out. I have no desire to attempt to foray out into to that madness for the time being. To that end, I am very happy that we have created our own little oasis here in the country that we can relax in and enjoy. We have our gardens to putter in, and at the end of the day, we can sit and gaze at our beautiful flowers while we feast on fresh food from our own vegetable patch just a few feet away from us and watch our chickens frolic about. That is certainly an option for any of you. What can you do to make your own home a place of comfort and joy? Maybe you can take the money you would have spent on a vacation and do whatever it takes to get that vacation feeling at home. You could create a beautiful outdoor patio to relax on, maybe with some candles and a fire pit. Or put in a lovely garden of your own. Even if it’s just some pots on your balcony. It doesn’t take much to evoke that leisurely, peaceful atmosphere of a relaxing holiday at home. But if you just cannot quell your wanderlust to get away, here are some tried and true tips of how I have saved money on vacations past. If you know me at all, you know that I do not do anything full price, so I will let you in on how I have managed to travel, usually with at least one or two (or four) of my kids along for the journey as well, on a shoestring budget. Planning: Of course, the first step is to be realistic about what kind of vacation you can afford on your budget. If you have $2,000 to spend, you are not going on a six-week trip around the world. But can you do something fun on a smaller budget? Absolutely!! Take a little time to think about your priorities. What is the best thing about vacation time for you? Sightseeing? Beach time? Activities? Relaxation? Time with the kids? You may not be able to do everything, but you should be able to attain a few of your priorities. Half the fun of a vacation is actually in the planning stages. Talk about your vacation dreams with the people you will be vacationing with. Have fun with it! Which of your fantasies might you be able to fulfill on your next vacation? While you’re at it, daydream about future vacations. There is great pleasure to be had in just the dreaming alone! Accommodations: The time to book is as early as possible, again keeping your budget in mind. If you can’t afford a motel, camping might be the way to go. If you can’t afford to travel, keep it close to home. See if you can lock in a good deal as early as the summer before. Keep your eye out for specials. There are so many travel and discount websites now, you just have to go to your favorites and watch for them. If it is feasible, try to find something with a kitchen to save on meal expenses. Or you can try a house swap, or hostel. Don’t forget to check out Airbnb for some offbeat affordable options. If you are very flexible about where and when you go (retirees, for instance) here is where you may be able to snag some great last-minute deals if you keep watching! Transportation: Again, keep the budget in mind. If money is tight, this is not the year to be flying off somewhere. Keep it closer to home. But if you have a little more leeway, then maybe this year you can take it further afield. Don’t feel you need to fly away to get away. Remember, some people are flying to wherever you live to “get away.” Again, starting at least six months out, keep your eye on the flights. When you see a good deal, book it. Don’t wait to see if there are last-minute specials. The airlines don’t really do that anymore and you may very well end up paying more for a last-minute flight. There are also apps and websites that will alert you to a drop in price, and some airlines will send you a refund for the difference. You can save some money by flying on any day except Friday or Sunday, the two most expensive days to fly. And also, by booking at less-than-optimal times or taking flights that have layovers. Remember to watch for add-on expenses, such as checking in luggage. The best thing to do is learn to pack very light. One carry-on bag and you’re done. I’ve done this on several two-week trips with no problem whatsoever. You don’t need a lot! You can wear things over and over with no dire consequences. If you are driving, remember to factor gas prices into your budget, also tolls and parking expenses. If you are renting a vehicle, get the smallest (cheapest) vehicle you can make do with–it will also be more fuel efficient. It may be a good idea to go with mass transit at your destination if you can. Meals: Here, as I have alluded to earlier, the more you can avoid eating out, the better. It’s great to have a place with a kitchen. But even if you don’t, always bring a cooler to keep stocked on meal options. Try to get a room that includes free breakfast. Eat up on that! This way a light lunch will do. Keep things in your room for that. Sandwich bread, peanut butter (or other fillings), fruit, yogurt, cheese, crackers, nuts, or the like. Don’t forget to bring your refillable water bottle. Now you can eat in your room or take your lunch out on the road for a picnic wherever you go for the day. Dinner does not have to be a fancy affair every night. A quick deli meal or some tacos will do. Also remember to share meals if you go somewhere with big servings (or bring a “doggie bag” home for the next night’s dinner). And for the adults, try not to go out for drinks every night. You can have cocktail hour on your balcony sometimes, with a bottle of wine (or cocktail ingredients) brought from home or purchased locally. Activities: These can run the gamut, from those pricey theme park vacations or expensive activities to a (free) hike in the woods or making s’mores around the campfire. You should “limit ” yourself to what your budget dictates. Why do I put limit in quotations? Because there are so many beautiful experiences you can have for free that I hardly think this is a limiting factor. In fact, I might argue here that the best things in life truly are free! Get a local paper and look up free events in the area. Bring along (or rent) bikes, boats, balls, rackets, etc. Bring board games for rainy days. The things that bring joy to you and your family are the fun and pleasure of spending time together. You cannot buy relaxation or happiness. If you can’t afford a vacation right now, you can’t afford a vacation, but you can still enjoy yourself and share good times and laughter with your family and friends. And whatever your vacation budget is, you can still have a quality vacation and make memories to last a lifetime for you and your family. It’s all up to you! 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 Naomi Serviss / New York City When I was a fifth grader in Mrs. Vinet’s class at Shoemaker Elementary School, we started the day with a sleepy, sing-song recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, right hand over our hearts. Afterwards, we pushed our small wooden chairs under our desks and folded our hands. Heads bowed. Mrs. Vinet was a no-nonsense, stern and joyless teacher who wore her hair in a strict bun. No strands dared straggle. She graded kids on personal appearance. O=Outstanding G=Good S=Satisfactory N=Needs Improvement Apparently, I needed improvement. The haves (many in Elkins Park, a wealthy Philadelphia suburb) never had an off-day. Put together by their anxious moms, kids shined, neatly pressed and dressed. Nice shoes, as well. I always noticed the shoes. But it wasn’t just the Pledge. We sat quietly (as possible) on the small wooden chairs under our desks. Next came the artillery. Her thin lips began The Lord’s Prayer. We followed along, voices softened by tutored sincerity. "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Pledging Allegiance was practice for memorizing lines in school plays. It didn’t bother me to repeat the lines by rote. What’s symbolism to a fifth grader? Nothing was ever explained by the teacher. No one ever asked: “What do ‘pledge’ and ‘allegiance’ mean?” There was never time for explanation, Mrs. Vinet’s agenda was not to be trifled with. She’d segue into math: “Time for fractions!” My albatross to this day. But the praying. It put me off. Made me squeamish and uneasy. Felt like an interloper. My family of origin is Jewish. We didn’t do Christian prayers. Or Jewish prayers. Nada. But this was school! Where I felt most safe and protected. Shoemaker Elementary was my surrogate parent, whose teachers encouraged my reading and writing. I wouldn’t dream of going against the grain (that was high school). If the school ordained it, so be it. We got used to saying the Pledge, Kids mangled words on purpose. “For Richard Stands, one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.” That was way more fun than a typical exercise. Saying “God” out loud didn’t seem to bother anyone else. But I word-played and repeated a favorite word. tressssssss pppppppasses, elongating each note. Hissing snakelike from my diaphragm. The class sounded sinister in unison. Tressssss passsssses. Shoemaker was not the only prayerful school. Not by a long shot. Public school prayer was a commonplace practice in America’s schools during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Fortunately, people came to their senses in 1962. The Supreme Court ruled that school-sponsored prayer would no longer be sanctioned. Then this week’s SCOTUS landmine blew. The United Ssstate’s Supreme Court ruled it’s now A-OK to bring prayer back to public schools. In a blink, the religious Right scored with its Hail Mary pass. Separate church and state? That’s so 2020. Keep up! The court overturned decades of precedent separating church and state. Good job, well done! Of course, (hopefully) intelligent, rational thinkers will despise this turning of the screw. It started with Joseph Kennedy, a public high school football coach and evangelical from a suburban Seattle community. It’s a complicated case but here’s the gist: In 2015, Kennedy sued the community he worked for religious discrimination. The school objected to his public (very loud and attention-grabby) prayers on the 50-yard line of a public high school’s football field. Student players were encouraged (which is to say pressured) to participate. He lost at the circuit and district levels. In 2019 Kennedy moved to Florida. Always a bad move. My lawyer friend told me that technically, his case should have been moot! (I attended Moot Court, so I know what that means.) The present conservative Supreme Court (unsurprisingly) gave a hearty Thumbs Up to hearing the case! Wonder why? It’s moot, technically, isn’t it? Doesn’t matter, when you’re wearing ominous black robes and death-glares. Maybe have an axe to grind. Across liberals’ necks. The justices ruled (6-3) in Kennedy’s favor. Mrs. Vinet would have approved. Naomi Serviss is a New York-based award-winning journalist whose work has been published in The New York Times, Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Highroads (AAA magazine), in-flight publications, spa and travel magazines and websites, including BroadwayWorld.com