The Insider: Hi Jerry. Thanks for agreeing to text with us today! Jerry Snee: You’re most welcome! Thank you for having me, Andrea. The Insider: Let’s start by finding out a little about you. Do you live in New York City? Jerry Snee: Yes. I live in Brooklyn. The Insider: Are you a native New Yorker? Jerry Snee: Of sorts. I was born and raised on Long Island. The Insider: Where did you go to school? Jerry Snee: After high school, I attended college at the State University of New York at Fredonia. I received a BFA in Musical Theater. During my time there I worked with many fine teachers and also had the opportunity to assistant teach. The Insider: Were you on your way to Broadway? Jerry Snee: Hardly! But I did enjoy a tour and several off-off Broadway plays and showcases. I also sang for a few years with an a cappella quartet. No regrets. The Insider: Sounds great! Jerry Snee: It was. And I learned a lot about human nature and myself. And honed some skills that would later support other endeavors. The Insider: What was your next stop? Jerry Snee: After performing arts and several years of jobs in arts administration and, yes, working as a cater waiter, I spent about eight years working as an administrative associate at a foundation. During that time, I occasionally did some directing of small productions about town. After that, I spent some time unemployed. And realized that for many years, I had put off doing a teacher training at Integral Yoga Institute right here in NYC. Very soon, I attended an open house for potential trainees, sat on it for a couple months, and then something great happened. The Insider: Do tell! Jerry Snee: The summer of 2009 came to a close, and I was feeling directionless. About that time, out of the blue, several people in my circles of friends and family - many of whom didn’t know each other -were coming to me, all of them saying, more or less: “Hey Jerry, you’re out of work and have time on your hands - what about that yoga teacher training you always used to talk about?” I felt a strong sense of going in the right direction. Like the universe was conspiring to bring me to a new place. I contacted Integral on a Thursday, at which point they told me that Friday was the last day they were accepting applications. I put it all together, had a sunset interview on the roof of Integral Yoga on West 13th Street on that Saturday, was accepted, and started training the following week! The Insider: Sounds like it was meant to be! Jerry Snee: I believe it. A little side note: After my interview, I met a friend and went to see a film at BAM. In the film, the founder of Integral Yoga was portrayed in the background of one scene. What’s the word? Serendipity, maybe? Whatever the word, there was a lot of messaging to me to keep moving with this new endeavor. The Insider: The Yiddish word for it is beshert. Preordained. Inevitable. How long did you go through the training to be a yoga instructor? Jerry Snee: I love that. That first training was 200 hours of class time over a four-month period. And then there I was. A certified yoga instructor. With no job. More coincidence: A friend I’d worked with at my foundation job, named “Joy” of all things, checked in on me to seeing how and what I was doing. When I told her, she lit up at the idea, and said she knew someone in her building who taught yoga for people with cancer. I never thought that I was destined for working with folks living with cancer or other special needs, but here again, I was led by the nose - or should I say, by the heart - in the right direction. I met with Joy’s neighbor, Roberta Schine. She mentored me, and over the years we’ve worked together and still remain dear friends. The Insider: How did that change your path? Did you start working in that area too? Jerry Snee: Yes. For a few years, when I was only teaching part-time, almost all of my work was in that area. A few years later I began working with other folks with special needs and teaching other styles of yoga including restorative. It was a wonderful day when I realized that I could make my living in the service of teaching yoga. By the way, in a sense, we all have “special needs.” I try to keep that in mind every time I teach, no matter what the class or the population. Speaking of various styles of yoga, one of my favorites is chair yoga. Accessible to so many people; useful to anyone. Some of my favorite classes and people are those I've encountered doing that work. The Insider: I’m sure that among our readers, there are both yoga devotees and yoga deniers. Can you help explain a little why so many people are enthused these days about yoga? Jerry Snee: As far as yay- or nay-sayers, I am totally comfortable with the fact that yoga may not be for everyone. As for the enthusiasm, I’m thrilled about it. To those who find yoga is right for them, the benefits go on and on. Better health for the mind and body - "body and soul," if that speaks to you. For some, yoga as a practice also supports their spiritual health. It can build community - the Sanskrit word is “sangha”. You should see how folks in ongoing classes rally around each other through thick and thin. I am sure I’m leaving something out. Suffice it to say: I love this work. The Insider: You mentioned teaching different populations. Can you please give us a sense of the type of people you’ve worked with? Jerry Snee: Great people, one and all. Really. But to break it down a bit more, I’ve worked with people in their late teens through early 90’s. Some who use wheelchairs, some who use other chairs, some who use yoga mats. All of whom have likewise been my teachers. The Insider: That’s wonderful! What kind of classes are you teaching now? Jerry Snee: Zoom! Sad but fortunately true. I say fortunately because, without this technology - and other platforms like FaceTime - the pandemic would have obliterated most of the classes in which I’m involved. That said, I’m still involved in cancer care classes with great organizations like Mount Sinai and the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. And I have loyal and lovely private clients. Chair yoga, wheelchair yoga, mat yoga. It’s all good. If I can loosely translate, Yoga means “union”. And I love that union, that connection. I’m devoted to it. The Insider: What’s your advice to neophytes who are worried that they’re too clunky to do yoga gracefully? Jerry Snee: At the risk of commercializing yoga more than it’s already been, I’d say “shop around”. Talk to people. Ask questions. State with no hesitation what your needs are. Your doubts and hopes. As for being “too clunky”, no worries, we all have our moments, don’t we? And we come in all shapes and sizes. And as far as grace goes, it’s one of the things one can learn to cultivate by the very practice of doing yoga. So don’t think of going to your first class as a final exam. It’s a learning process. And yes, yoga is often referred to as “practice.” I love that, in yoga, practice just cultivates more practice. I often think that in yoga - and in life - the real perfection is in doing one’s best. The Insider: That’s a lovely place to stop. But before we do, I’d be remiss in not asking you what your own yoga lifestyle is. Jerry Snee: Ah, great question! I remember one of my trainers at Integral saying: “don’t become a yoga teacher who never takes class, never studies”. To that I’m hardly perfect. I do my best. I’ve taken additional trainings. Before the pandemic I went to more classes in-person. In terms of yogic styles, I enjoy Hatha in which I was trained - characterized by among other things, sustained poses - and Kundalini, which I discovered and was welcomed to years ago right here at Kundalini Yoga in Park Slope. Lovely people. Among my favorite yogic practices are meditation, breathing practices, and doing things with devotion, or “Bhakti” in Sanskrit - be it in teaching, in doing yoga poses and movement, or just in the actions of daily life. The Insider: Makes me want to grab a mat! Thanks so much for your time and enthusiasm. Jerry Snee: Grab a mat, grab a chair, bring yourself. Welcome! Thank you so much, Andrea! For more information on yoga classes, including private classes and the following cancer-care programs, please contact: Jerry Snee, Certified Yoga Instructor jerrysnee@msn.com Chair Yoga for Seniors + Caregivers Section 1 Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan Thursdays - Mar 31- Jun 9, 1:30-2:30 pm For more information and to register, go to: https://mmjccm.org/programs/virtual-chair-yoga-seniors-caregivers Yoga for Men Who Are Cancer Survivors JCC/Mount Sinai - Thursdays 3:00-4:30 pm Healing Yoga for Women Living with Cancer JCC - Thursdays 6:45-8:00pm Yoga for People with Cancer Mount Sinai - Fridays, 2:00-3:30pm

By Olive Beck / New York City She may just be in kindergarten, but Olive Beck knows how to go after a story. The younger sister of two of The Insider’s rising columnists, Olive shyly asked the Editor recently if she might write a story about her family’s upcoming trip to Niagara Falls. Naturally, we jumped at the chance! After nabbing the assignment, the author proceeded to bring along a notebook on her journey, in which she drew two columns: one for events that she would write about, and one for events that she would not. (See below.) She also directed family photographers to take pictures to accompany her writing. Below is Olive’s account of her journalistic adventure, dictated from her notes: Hi. I’m Olive. I’m five and three-quarters. I’ve just come back from Niagara Falls. I went there with my grandparents and cousins and uncle and aunt and my family. At the airport, I saw a candidate for governor, Tom Suozzi. He took a picture with us. Then we went to the hotel. We got FROOT LOOPS for breakfast!!! It was so yummy. After breakfast, we went on a path by the river to the Maid of the Mist, where you get to see the Falls. We saw geese on the way and goslings. We saw a rainbow over the Falls. To get on the boat, we needed a poncho that covered you from head to toe. It was blue. I got sprinkled! The Falls were beautiful. We took a thousand pictures. Olive's wonderful waterfall weekend! After, we went up the elevator to get back to outdoors, and we took pictures with MICKEY MOUSE! He was visiting the Falls too! After lunch, we went to Three Sisters Island. It’s funny because I have two sisters! On the way home, we saw another rainbow. I spotted it! The next morning, we went to a museum about electricity from water. We had to wear these necklaces that said “Power Player” on one side and “Place your picture here” on the other side. But it was actually asking for a sticker. So we took our pictures and then printed them out and put them on our badges. The grown-ups didn’t get their pictures taken. We went to get ice cream in the afternoon. My ice cream matched my shirt because it was chocolate with rainbow sprinkles, and my shirt was brown with gems that matched the sprinkles. You want to know something really silly? Our plane got delayed coming home, and then it was cancelled! We stayed overnight in a hotel and woke up around 4:30 am to get on a plane. It was a great trip! Olive, who will turn six in August, is finishing kindergarten at PS 87 in Manhattan. She loves reading chapter books, riding her bike, and playing with her babysitter Stephanie. When she grows up, she wants to be a scientist.

One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 83 By Laurence Lerman / New York City Method acting is easier to identify than it is to define, at least for the layman who doesn’t study or research the craft. Like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously opined when asked to describe the kind of material that exemplified obscenity, “I know it when I see it.” For a time, this idea of “seeing” a fine performance referred primarily to noting the physical transformations and lifestyle changes that an actor would go through for a role, the kind of purely visual “acting” that has become very identifiable with method acting over the years. Think of Robert De Niro in 1980’s Raging Bull, where his preparation for the role of self-destructive middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta included De Niro training with LaMotta himself, competing in three actual fights in a Brooklyn ring (De Niro won two of them) and then De Niro binge eating for four months to increase his weight from 145 to 215 pounds in order to portray Jake in his older years. There’s more to method madness than just gaining a lot of weight and getting in the ring, of course, as I learned in theater director and historian Isaac Butler’s fascinating new book, The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act. The history of the acting style primarily originated with Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski, who co-founded the Moscow Arts Theatre in 1898. The MAT drew acclaim for its production of such Anton Chekhov masterpieces as The Seagull, Uncle Vanya and The Cherry Orchard. Aimed at producing a more realistic acting, as opposed to a showier, more heightened approach, “the system” (as Stanislavski named the training he developed) focused on affective memory, concentration and in-depth script analysis. To achieve emotional truth in the presentation, the actor would have to mine his own life experiences and memories to correlate with the character’s motivations and actions. Bringing this kind of strength to a character, Stanislavsky stressed, requires a strong psychological and, yes, physical commitment. In America, Polish-born theater director, actor and teacher Lee Strasberg of New York City’s Actor’s Studio organization (which Strasberg helmed from 1951 until his death in 1982) was supportive of Stanislavski’s system. Strasberg adapted it to the U.S. using his own “method.” Unique to Strasberg’s technique was his insistence that actors go beyond emotional memory and use a “substitution” technique to temporarily become the characters they are portraying. This is heady stuff for those of us who don’t act, though we can usually identify strategy when we see it. One of the first times I “saw” it was in Marlon Brando’s performance as Stanley Kowalski in the 1951 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire. Directed by Actor’s Studio co-founder Elia Kazan, it is generally considered to be the first major example of method acting in the cinema. And what an example! Brando’s heated portrayal of Kowalski is dripping with emotion and power. Brando’s Kowalski is always moving, always sweating, always fiddling about, always on the brink of some kind of anger or violence. As strong as the material and dialogue is, it is Brando’s simple presence and the apparent melding of his external self to the character that clearly stirring inside of him that draws us in and dazzles. It’s that presence that made Brando eminently watchable in so many films. And not just classics like On the Waterfront (1954), The Young Lions (1958), Burn! (1969) and The Godfather (1972), but also such relatively unheralded pictures as Bedtime Story (1964), The Night of the Following Day (1969) and The Missouri Breaks (1976). There are probably hundreds of well-known acolytes of the “Method”—either formally trained or informally observational—who have let it loose on the big screen. From Al Pacino to Adrien Brody, Lee Grant to Lupita Nyong’o, Ben Gazzara to Brad Pitt—they’re out there, sweating it out and going through God-knows-what in their heads to deliver the perfect performance. Tales of the preparation and behavior of method actors in the cinema have a long history, and the talented performers at the center of these stories are usually comfortable in explaining their approach or confirming what others may have been saying. (Well, maybe not Brando or De Niro.) What follows are a half-dozen of my favorites. The performances are all outstanding. Trust me—I know it when I see it. Dustin Hoffman in "Marathon Man" (1976) The scenes where Hoffman’s graduate student is kidnapped and tortured by Laurence Olivier’s Nazi dentist and his crew was the basis for one of the most famous tales of a method actor’s methods. Upon Olivier asking Hoffman how he prepared for the scene, wherein his character had been awake for three nights in a row, Hoffman revealed that he had stayed up for 72 hours to get into character. “My dear boy,” Olivier reportedly replied. “Why don’t you just try acting?” Daniel Day-Lewis in "The Last of the Mohicans" (1992) During the production of Michael Mann’s sweeping epic version of the James Fenimore Cooper classic in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, dedicated method actor Day-Lewis remained in character as the frontiersman Hawkeye around the clock. This included stalking, shooting and skinning his own meals, learning the crafts of his adopted Native American tribe, carrying a rifle with him in between takes and living in the wilderness over the course of the months-long shoot. “If he didn’t shoot it, he didn’t eat it,” Mann once said of his leading man’s on-set dining ritual. Hilary Swank in "Boys Don’t Cry" (1999) In preparation for the audition for what would be her breakthrough role in the Kimberly Peirce-directed drama, Hilary Swank spent a month living as a man—cutting her hair, binding her breasts and sticking socks down the front of her jeans. Reportedly, she was so convincing that Swank’s longtime neighbors believed that the actress had invited her brother or her cousin to move in for the season. Jim Carrey in "Man on the Moon" (1999) After winning the part of iconoclastic comedian Andy Kaufman for the Milos Foreman-directed biopic, Jim Carrey was, in his own words, “out of my control.” Not only did Carrey star in character as Kaufman both on and off the set for the duration of the production, he would take it out into the public. One incident found him storming Steven Spielberg’s offices at Amblin Entertainment in Kaufman’s Tony Clifton character and demanding to see Spielberg so the two could talk about “that shark.” A 2017 documentary, Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, details Carrey’s method approach to his role. Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland" (2006) In preparation for his role as Ugandan leader Idi Amin Dada in the 1970s, Whitaker lived for three months in Uganda, learned how to speak Swahili, mastered Amin’s East African accent and even learned how to play the accordion. During these preproduction months, Whitaker also gained 30 pounds, which probably wasn’t as much fun as it sounds. “I have to say, this was a role I played 24 hours a day almost, even in my sleep sometimes, because my dreams would include Idi Amin,” Whitaker said. “I guess I was totally consumed by the character toward the end.” Kate Winslet in "The Reader" (2008) For her role as a former guard at a Nazi concentration camp, Winslet immersed herself in documentaries about that period in German history. She also adopted a thick German accent and would speak to her kids that way when she got home after work. “It’s like I’ve escaped from a serious car accident and need to understand what has just happened,” Winslet later said about the months it took for her to “recover” from the role, which won her the Academy Award for Best Actress the following year. 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 Naomi Serviss / New York City Is it mere coincidence that Mother’s Day and Mental Health Awareness Month fall at the same time? Rhetorical question. Mothers are supposed to drive their kids nuts. It’s in the manual. That being said, mothers deserve an official day of acknowledgement and celebration. (Even if your mother was an emotionally abusive narcissist with a borderline personality to boot.) Fortunately, we’re all adults now and can discuss suicidal ideation without blanching. And who hasn’t been depressed, anxious, panic-stricken and a smidge agoraphobic in the past two years? We’re all touched by posttraumatic stress disorder. How could we not be, after living two years on Covid-hold? Merely living in the here and now, going about my business, I’m shadowed by whispering variants that float effortlessly, airborne. But I’m not paranoid, just worried about everyone’s mental health. Everyone is susceptible to the unthinkable. The latest shocking celebrity suicide was country singer Naomi Judd who struggled for years with mental illness. Judd’s daughters Wynonna and Ashley attributed their mother’s suicide to “the disease of mental illness” in a statement. Judd had been open about her mental health issues for years. At the nadir of despair in 2013, she spent two years on the couch. Considered taking her own life at a bridge near her farm. In 2017, Judd wrote River of Time: My Descent into Depression and How I Emerged With Hope. That year, she discussed her experiences on morning news shows and seemed to be in good spirits. When famous families speak publicly About their loved one’s pain and suffering, it benefits those without familiar surnames. Debra, 79, (not her real name) has been in therapy for 50 years. Gratefully, she reports being at a balanced, healthy juncture. A far cry from the two times she tried to kill herself. Chronic depression is a disease that’s haunted her, treatment-resistant. Name an antidepressant and Debra’s likely been on and off of it. She now undergoes Ketamine treatments a day’s drive away from home, under medical supervision. Her “trips” as she calls them, can be soothing and restorative, psychologically satisfying or nerve-wracking. “This weekend I was really agitated and didn’t want to bike or play mahjong or meet for lunch.” Her support-team family helps her maintain equanimity. “It’s always a struggle and has ups and downs. I have more up days now than down,” Debra adds. “Really learning how to let go of the past shit in my life, which is healthy.” Debra credits her in-patient, psychiatric hospital experience as being one of the best things she’s ever done. Jessica Hendy is a multi-talented Broadway actor/cabaret-singing writer who understands depression. Her autobiographical play with music is Walking With Bubbles. The tale reveals Hendy as a single mom navigating a life enmeshed with her ex, who became homeless in New York City. He refused treatment. “I watched his rapid and severe mental decline and finally left with my four-year-old son, Beckett,” (aka Bubbles). When Hendy moved to New York City, her ex followed. “His brain couldn’t handle big city life and that’s when he began living as a homeless man. “I struggled with guilt, shame and secrecy,” Hendy said. “I lived a double life. We would meet him in parks and Bubbles could see his dad.” Keeping her secret upended Hendy’s life and mental stability. Therapy and writing anchored her. Her “light-bulb moment” was realizing that everyone has been touched, in some way, by the disease. She hoped that by sharing her harrowing story it would encourage others to share theirs. “Going to therapy is a path to own and love your story,” Hendy added. “We’re all more alike than we think.” Hendy’s truth-telling play with music has a May 19 midtown reading. Among attendees (she hopes) will be generous angels and discerning producers. The month of May will forever be linked to honoring our foremothers. It's also the perfect gratitude moment for our mental health support team. Without mine, I wouldn't be here. Naomi Serviss is a New York-based award-winning journalist whose work has been published in The New York Times, Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Highroads (AAA magazine), in-flight publications, spa and travel magazines and websites, including BroadwayWorld.com

By Andy Borowitz May 16, 2022 SAN FRANCISCO (The Borowitz Report)—Chaos enveloped Twitter after the social-media company discovered that the Elon Musk who had offered to buy it three weeks ago was actually a bot. The bid for Twitter is believed to be the largest corporate takeover ever proposed by a bot, mergers-and-acquisitions experts say. A visibly embarrassed Parag Agrawal, the C.E.O. of Twitter, explained to reporters how the company was persuaded that the Elon Musk bot was actually Elon Musk. “The bot account had a blue check, indicating that it had been verified,” Agrawal said. “It now appears that the bot had somehow been given the blue check by another bot.” The C.E.O. said that Twitter was conducting a “thorough internal review of procedures” to insure that it is not purchased by a bot in the future. “The bot appeared to be an actual human being, which should’ve been our first clue that it wasn’t Elon,” he said.

By John Rolfe / Red Hook, N.Y. It was a simple mistake. I suddenly realized I needed to be in the turning lane to make a right. So, sensing an opening in the line of traffic next to me, I moved over … and cut a guy off. He was furious. As he followed me closely for the next couple of miles, I could see him jawing and gesturing at me. Now he also seemed to be torqued off because I was driving at slightly above the speed limit and he couldn’t get around me as we were in a single lane where passing was forbidden. For the next half hour, no matter where I went, he stayed right on my tail. I even made a few random turns just to be sure he was actually following me. He was. I knew because I sped up and managed to briefly ditch him only to have him suddenly reappear at an intersection I was approaching. Back on my tail he went. I was about to drive to a police station when he finally gave up. Why, I don’t know. But hardly a day goes by when I am not tailgated by an agitated driver. People have always driven like maniacs, but there seem to be more nuts out there with an added edge to them these days. Indeed, statistics back up the sense that road rage, like unbridled anger on planes and in other public places, is distressingly common. According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 80 percent of the motorists it surveyed reported experiencing at least one recent rage incident. And America’s proliferation of guns only increases the danger. Last year was the worst on record for road rage shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, with more than 700 that killed or wounded more than 500 people. I’m a conservative driver because my personal driving record can affect my job piloting a school bus. It amazes me how many drivers will cut into the oncoming lane, often crossing a double yellow line, and roar by me only to immediately swerve in behind the vehicle ahead of me. Then the game starts again, with the speed racer trying to get around that motorist. I confess that I chortle with great satisfaction when an impatient driver remains stuck for miles in the spot immediately ahead of me at the same speed I was going. However, my blood simmers when I’m harassed by a tailgater, a near daily occurrence, often in the dark on slick pavement, with deer likely to bolt out into my path. I know I should just let the tailgater by and pay them no mind, but I’m sorely tempted to frustrate them by not letting them pass. Not only are they in a drooling rush to get wherever they’re going, the slightest perceived provocation will almost surely unleash a torrent of obscene words and gestures or worse. The most breathtaking (not literally, thank heaven) act I’ve witnessed was on a stretch of Route 9G, a rural road in New York’s Dutchess County where I live and work. A slow-moving car with its hazard lights blinking was leading a line of traffic at about 10 miles under the speed limit. This was intolerable for the guy behind the distressed car, so he swerved to the left and braved oncoming traffic in order to linger alongside the creeping vehicle while giving the finger. But that wasn’t enough. The angry guy then ducked back behind the blinking car, cut onto the shoulder (which was fortunately paved), pulled alongside, and stuck his arm out the window with middle finger upraised. But wait, there’s more. Angry guy then roared out in front of slow-moving car, slowed down, and blocked it. Now both drivers were gesticulating wildly. It’s a miracle there wasn’t a collision at some point. I attribute this madness to our society’s inability to handle life stress, which has been made worse by the pandemic’s uncertainties and dangers. We’re also conditioned to want instant results and gratification, and to have our own way. We’ve lost the ability to be patient and let little things slide. And it doesn’t help that we live in such a fraught political environment. A bumper sticker, decal or flag can invite all kinds of abuse. Behind the wheel of my school bus, I see alarming stuff every day including flagrant speeding and motorcyclists recklessly popping wheelies in traffic. Drivers run the flashing red lights and extended stop signs on my bus, endangering kids who are getting off or crossing the street. Parents, too, are in jeopardy. (Mounted cameras now automatically report each offense, which carries a $300 fine and five points on your license. A similar program in Suffolk County, Long Island, hauled in $12 million in fines in eight months!) Being caught behind a school bus making frequent stops is aggravating enough, but many people don’t seem to understand that I’m not trying to delay them. I’m trying to pick up, drop off and transport children as safely as possible. Still, if I have to pause to answer a question or hand a kid a mask (some still ask for them), I get words or the bird from steamed motorists. I’m a pretty mellow soul (friends and family feel compelled to check for a pulse) who is usually slow to anger. But the ire that can consume us when we’re behind a wheel is contagious. Maybe it’s because we are not face-to-face with the objects of our displeasure. The thing about rage is once it’s unleashed, you never quite know where it will take you and those around you. So far, I’ve been lucky on the road and in life. I’ve never paid a steep, long-lasting price for losing my cool though I certainly have made bad matters worse. I always feel embarrassed after blowing a gasket. So is it really worth risking your life and the lives of others to get somewhere as quickly as possible? To paraphrase The Good Book, for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain 15 feet or 15 minutes and lose his own license? Or a couple of hundred bucks? Or both? Or maybe even his freedom or his life? 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.

Opinion by Jeffrey D. Sachs | CNN.com May 12, 2022 Editor's Note: Jeffrey Sachs is a professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia Universit and president of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. His most recent book is "The Ages of Globalization" (Columbia University Press, 2020). The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author; view more opinion on CNN (CNN) - The inflation report for April brought no good news. The year-over-year inflation rate was 8.3%. The monthly “core” inflation, stripping away volatile food and energy prices, was 0.6%, which comes to 7.4% at a compounded annual rate. Inflation, in short, continues running at near 40-year highs. For the first time since the 1970s, we are at risk of entering a period of worldwide stagflation – meaning high inflation combined with low or negative growth. Notably, the preliminary estimate of America’s GDP for the first quarter of 2022 showed an outright decline, though we should not read too much into preliminary data for just one quarter. We can expect a slowing US and world economy however as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates in order to reduce the inflation rate and as other disruptions hit the world economy. President Joe Biden has called the inflation “Putin’s price hike,” implying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the main culprit for the jump in inflation. While it has played a role, we need to look more deeply. Just as was the case 40 years ago, when I published my first book, “The Economics of Worldwide Stagflation,” there are many factors in play. Several are under our own control. As in the 1970s, we must look to a mix of conditions, including disruptions to global supply chains, monetary policy, and geopolitics. The first factor in the current inflation is the highly expansionary monetary policy in recent years. The Federal Reserve issued more dollars between December 2019 and December 2022 ($3 trillion) than in the preceding 23 years. The monetary base (currency plus bank reserves) soared as the Federal Reserve bought up vast quantities of Treasury bills and bonds used to finance Covid-19-related budget deficits. Advocates of so-called modern monetary theory told us not to worry, on the dubious idea that we could print money without inflationary consequence – or at least we’d know just what to do if inflation started to rise. Well, it’s far past time to worry. I warned 15 months ago we could not borrow or money-print our way through the budget deficits. We would indeed need to raise taxes to prevent inflation. The second factor is the massive disruption of Covid-19, and the failure of the government and public to get the virus under control. Yes, vaccines have reduced deaths markedly, but the rush to eliminate all other kinds of public health controls and to declare the pandemic over, despite the continued arrival of new variants, has meant an ongoing high rate of disease transmission and continuing disruption of supply chains. The third factor is the fallout of the Ukraine war itself, which is blocking ports in the Black Sea and impeding export of grains, fertilizers and other commodities from both Ukraine and Russia. The fourth factor is the fallout of the US and European sanctions on Russia, which are also designed to reduce or stop the export of Russian oil, gas, and other commodities by Russia to world markets. Biden told us the US would have to make sacrifices to support Ukraine, and so it is the case. The fifth factor is the ongoing geopolitical tension with China. The Trump Administration unilaterally imposed tariffs on more than $300 billion of Chinese goods, thereby driving up their prices, and Biden has kept those tariffs in place until now. The US is also restricting the sale of technology to China that in turn is disrupting China’s own supply chains, with a knock-on effect on US prices. Because of the huge increase in the money supply in recent years, the Federal Reserve does not have any sure fix on stopping the inflation. The Fed has begun to gradually raise interest rates, but interest rates are still negative in real terms, meaning the level of interest is lower than inflation by a wide margin. The Fed is still borrowing at a one-year horizon at just above 2%, far less than the inflation rate. Speculators are borrowing at negative real rates to buy commodities, thereby pushing their prices up still higher. We will likely be living with high inflation for the next couple of years under almost any realistic scenario, but there are several steps we should be taking now to help bring inflation under control. The first is to urge Russia and Ukraine to undertake serious peace negotiations. The longer this horrific war continues, the more will be the stagflationary consequences for the whole world, not to mention the utter devastation to Ukraine itself. The second is to ratchet down the hostility with China, first by dropping the Trump-era tariffs on consumer goods, and second, by returning to prudent lines of cooperation. The State Department recently, and for no reason, ratcheted up tensions with China by provocatively changing the description of US relations with Taiwan. (In a press briefing Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, “There’s been no change in our policy (toward Taiwan). All we have done is update a fact sheet, and that’s something that we routinely do with our relationships around the world.”) This kind of needless taunting is tantamount to shooting ourselves in the foot in our attempt to engineer a soft landing for the economy. The third is to raise taxes, following a line recommended recently by Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who argued we should raise corporate taxes and other taxes on the wealthy in order to reduce the budget deficit while also funding some infrastructure, energy efficiency, and social programs. Manchin is right: higher taxes should be used for three purposes, to restrain inflation, fund important programs, and cut the budget deficit. The fourth is to end the reverie that easy money can go on indefinitely. Both modern monetary theory and Republican supply side economics have long evaded the basic budgetary arithmetic. Yes, we need sizable government investments and social services in order to transform our economy to be more fair, productive, and environmentally sustainable. We need to learn, after 40 years of unaffordable tax cuts for the rich and recent years of excessively expansionary monetary policy that the federal government must pay its way with sufficient taxes to fund the needed public outlays to secure a productive, fair and sustainable economy. https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/12/opinions/the-bad-news-about-economy-sachs/index.html

By Naomi Serviss / New York City Last week’s leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would kill Roe v Wade lightning-bolted Americans. Conservatives were shocked and outraged that America’s sacred judiciary was violated prematurely. Liberals were incredulous, angry and dumbfounded that abortion rights are once again on the chopping block. Wasn’t this settled, say, 50 years ago? Public anger manifested in peaceful protests in front of justices’ homes. Not a very nice thing to do, said some talking heads. Protesting draws unwanted attention and violates judges’ privacy, they claimed. Ironic how the same five unelected judges can deny women control over their own bodies or right to privacy. Women grappling with abortion anguish deserve privacy as well. Unless they feel compelled to share with friends and relations. A few women shared their personal experiences and opinions with me on this five-alarm hot topic. All names have been changed. When MARIE was 45, divorced with two sons and in love, she became pregnant. It was an unwelcome surprise. But she knew she couldn’t bring a pregnancy to term. She made an appointment with her gynecologist, who performed the abortion in her medical office. “It wasn’t an easy decision but it was the only decision for me at that time,” Marie continued. “To be honest, during the procedure, I started to cry. I told myself ‘Now was not the time for another child at my age.’” Marie is an active proponent of women’s reproductive rights and has been marching for women’s rights for decades. She sighed about having to march again. Even a fit, 78-year-old (with aches and pains) has a limit. “The clock is turning in the wrong direction. It’s beyond depressing.” DONNA had multiple abortions: “Too young to be a responsible mother. And my own mother would have killed me. "Result of a rage fuck with a man I was divorcing, to prove that, no, I was not frigid, I just hated him.” “Much wanted, with a man not yet divorced from his horrible wife, with suffering children. It was a two-day process. He hung out in the waiting room during the procedure. Said he’d be there, but went to work. I was past 12 weeks. Wanted to have a child with this man, but the timing was just wrong.” What about the leaked document signaling doomed legal abortion rights? “It’s a travesty. Stomping on women. Even if they throw in rape or incest, a woman’s (or girl’s) rights and body have to be violated for her to have autonomy? “And Medicare covers boner pills.” LOUISE, 65, and her brother were raised by their single mother in a Lower East Side tenement. “I was four or five. We lived in two rooms, with a communal bath.’ One day, Louise saw a horrifying, traumatic sight: her mother sitting in a chair, a pool of blood ever widening at her feet. “I thought my mother was going to die.” Desperate, her mother had used a coat hanger to abort her pregnancy. She was mentally ill, staying with a physically abusive husband. Just couldn’t bring another child into the world. “I’m very upset over Roe v Wade. Fifty years of progress is going down the drain. “These people are shrewd pro-lifers,” Louise adds. “They use religion and guilt to coerce and intimidate. “I feel very strongly that no woman should be forced to have a child.” WENDY, 76, has a different perspective. She’s an avid Fox News follower and grows emotional when talking about the latest Supreme Court debacle. “It’s disgusting that someone leaked that document,” she says vehemently. Her anger rises when discussing Roe v Wade. “There’s no civility anymore. “People like Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren are screaming about their rights. It should be state’s rights. “You can see it in how people dress," Wendy says. “Miniskirts on women and girls who have no business wearing them. It’s ridiculous, no sense of decorum.” Wendy has had five abortions. “I was on my own at 18, with no support, no one.” She regrets those decisions with every fiber. She is now a pro-lifer and echoes conservative talk-show personalities. Wendy is not a fan of confessional outpourings. “It shouldn’t be something people my age should scream about. It’s not something to celebrate.” “I’m passionate, not emotional.” ME. I was newly married at 19 to an abusive and cheating spouse. It was a doomed union from the start and my depression worsened the longer I stayed with him. Months into the marriage, I had an epiphany when I became pregnant. My realization was simple: I didn’t want to bring a life into this world with him as the other parent. Fortunately, it was a period of enlightenment regarding safe, legal abortions. I had one in a hospital setting and separated from my husband soon after. While I’ve thought about the experience throughout my life, I’ve never regretted my decision. The availability of safe, legal abortions should be a no-brainer in a democracy. What’s so hard to understand? 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

A Poem by Dr. Barry Lubetkin / New York City My daughter cried last night. Tens of millions of women cried. The tears were different. Not losing a boyfriend, not failing a test, not a sad movie. The tears were sourced from the highest court in the land. “What was it like before Roe?” she asks. Waiting at LaGuardia in New York, a sanctuary city, to greet terrified young women. Never been out of their hometown. Money for a taxi and directions to a doctor who could save their future. Or terminations gone horribly wrong around America, in filthy rooms by unqualified butchers. Or shame and guilt foisted upon the poor, whose chance of a life of dreams realized died with an unwanted baby’s birth. Generations of girls and women shudder as their human rights are ignored. Their protest placards scream their anger, their disbelief. Is this the start of an Orwellian science-fiction movie, or can we shut the theater? Can we scream our rage so loud that five shepherds of the law will open their hearts and minds to the aching needs of those who are already born and alive? Barry Lubetkin, Ph.D. is the co-director and co-founder of the Institute for Behavior Therapy in New York City. The Institute for Behavior Therapy is the oldest private cognitive behavior center in the United States.

By Emmy Serviss / Boston I don’t know what to say. I have all these feelings swirling inside my mind and body, but I don’t have the words to articulate them. And since I consider myself (among other things) a writer, this is extremely frustrating. This frustration adds to the swirling inside my brain but since there are still no words there, it just makes me want to yell and hit things. I want to scream at all the old men who decided that they get to dictate what happens to bodies that don’t belong to them. I want to scream at all the people that voted to give these old men power over us. I want to scream at all the people who agree with the old men. All the people that think it’s perfectly fine to tell a stranger what she can or can’t do with her body. Or tell a stranger whom they can or can’t love. Or who they can or can’t be. I don’t know what to say because words don’t seem to work anymore. Logic and compassion don’t work. Humanity is a concept that has lost all meaning. Let me be clear. I am not pro-abortion. I don’t think there’s anyone who is pro-abortion. No one wants an abortion. No one is carrying a sign that says “YAY ABORTIONS!” No one skips down the road to Planned Parenthood because she’s excited about getting an abortion. I don’t want an abortion. No one wants an abortion. But we want the option. I want the goddamn option. And I understand why it’s such a delicate topic. People have their own beliefs about life and their own conception of what is “right and wrong” and that’s all very nice. People are allowed to believe what they want to believe. People are allowed to believe whatever the hell they want. But it’s telling other people what they get to believe that I have a problem with. When I was a kid, I believed that if I stepped on a crack I might break my mother’s back. So I didn’t step on cracks in the sidewalk, because I love my mother. Now, this belief may strike you as silly, and I agree that it’s silly. But there are hundreds or thousands of kids (and maybe adults) that believe this silly concept enough to avoid cracks in the sidewalk. Which is fine, because having a belief is fine. Living your life according to your beliefs is fine. But if I stood outside on the street and screamed that no one else was allowed to step on a crack, that would be absolutely absurd. And if I wanted to arrest anyone who stepped on a crack anyway, that would be insane. Ordering complete strangers to live their lives according to my beliefs is insane. I know it may seem like a ridiculous comparison. Abortions and stepping on cracks in the sidewalk. It is a ridiculous comparison. Because the whole thing is ridiculous. I could throw around facts about how the world is overpopulated and there are already children who need to be adopted and the government doesn’t seem to care about any of those children. I could research how many women die each year due to complications from illegal abortions, and how many lives would be saved if abortions were available as needed. I could share statistics about the babies that are born with debilitating conditions because the mothers were forced to carry them to term. But I don’t want to do that. I just want to scream and yell because I don’t understand how people can blindly fight for the rights of a clump of cells when the life of an actual living, breathing woman is at risk. I don’t understand. Someone explain it to me because I don’t understand. Why are there women who aren’t outraged that they get to decide for us? Why are there human beings who aren’t outraged that they get to decide for us? I don’t understand. Why is it a violation of other people’s rights to make them wear a mask, but we don’t get any rights when choosing whether or not to house a person in our uterus for nine months? Why is it a violation of their rights to make them get a vaccine (even though vaccines helped eradicate smallpox and polio), but we don’t get any rights even if keeping the baby means losing our own life? It would be great if there was any kind of consistency in this logic. Or at least the illusion of consistency. Because it can’t be a matter of personal freedom when your belief dictates the laws that will affect the lives of millions of other people. But MY decision whether or not to keep MY baby somehow has an effect on you. There is no logic. There is no consistency. I have no words. Because I don’t understand. Emmy Serviss is a Boston-based writer, actor and video editor. Once it is safe to return to live theater, you can find her performing with ComedySportz Boston and the sketch group SUZZY. When not on the stage, Emmy enjoys indulging in her new pandemic hobbies, laughing way too loudly and counting the days until Halloween.