By John Rolfe / Red Hook, N.Y. “Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.” — Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Twain’s words pretty much sum up the way most of us feel about our jobs. You can see why Monday has such a bad reputation and why we often feel we have to drag ourselves to work no matter what day or hour it happens to be. Bad bosses. Obnoxious co-workers. Nasty clients and customers. Tedious work. Long hours. High stress. Low pay. No wonder, as the old saying goes, no one ever said on their deathbed that they wish they’d spent more time at the office. But as a newer saying goes, no one wants to work anymore, and it’s said more as a complaint than an observation. Labor shortages caused by the pandemic are still disrupting the economy and inconveniencing us. We’re frustrated that people won’t fill the many low or minimum-wage jobs that are available. Some of us are carping that relief funds from the government only amount to paying people not to work. That isn’t true, of course. Many people needed help to pay rent or buy food. But when Covid shut down businesses, a lot of people got a chance to re-evaluate their lives and options. As much as rising wages and other perks are now being used to attract workers, money is proving not to be the key factor in their return to the workplace. During a recent NPR report on labor shortages, Emily Abrams, a former special-education teacher, talked about how she’d happily switched to answering email for a medical company, even though she’s now paid less. "I have zero stress in this new position," she said. "I can turn my computer off after eight hours a day and live my life." Abrams also told NPR that no matter how much dough she is given, she will not return to special education and all the stress and danger she faced from kids with behavioral problems. I pilot a school bus, which makes me a rare breed. The national shortage of drivers reached a notorious level during the pandemic, with some states pressing the National Guard into service in order to get kids to school. It’s a demanding job that requires licensing, testing, training, physical exams and safety refresher courses. The demands and liabilities are high and the pay is in the neighborhood of $20 an hour with some benefits like a health plan, but the premiums can gobble up big chunks of your paycheck. My job is hardly a way to make a living. It’s good for supplementary income if you have the stomach and temperament for it. But I work with people who have been doing it most of their lives and many are eager to retire. It's not unusual for drivers to quit on the spot because they can’t stand the abuse from parents and students or the lack of support from their bosses and school officials. Others are keeping their eyes on more attractive job opportunities elsewhere or in other fields. There’s also a pushback to the “Why should I put up with this?” mentality that has blossomed as the job market has become very favorable to seekers: the belief that jobs are not meant to be enjoyed and we should just suck it up and go to work. It is true that nothing is perfect and if you’re expecting to be appreciated in your place of employment, you will likely wait until there’s an NHL franchise in Hades. Our society usually treats workers with a certain contempt and suspicion. They are seen as lazy and greedy, unions as inherently corrupt. Wage and benefit increases are blamed for price hikes. And though it is the engine of the vast wealth America produces, labor rarely shares fairly in it. Employees are expected to be on call 24/7, take on added responsibilities without commensurate compensation, accept the short end of the stick, and tolerate their unhappiness. My wife likes to cite her father, who spent his working life as a humble postal clerk. His job was hardly a field day and the U.S. Postal Service is synonymous with stress. One of my friends is a former postal worker who is now happily retired but still dealing with the physical toll the gig took on his body. Yet, these men did those jobs every day for years, supporting families. They may not have been overjoyed but they weren’t bitter. I’ve always felt that if I had to haul my carcass out the door each day, I wanted to have fun and do something exciting. I love sports and working with words and was fortunate to enjoy a 33-year-career as a writer and editor with Sport, Sports Illustrated for Kids, and SI.com. Of course, there were things about those jobs that I disliked, mainly high pressure deadlines and dealing with arrogant, sometimes nasty athletes. But on balance, it was very rewarding — I loved the travel, attending major events, and having a major platform for my work — though by the time I left the field in 2016, I was burned-out and in dire need of a change. Driving a bus and working part-time at a farm stand now help keep beans on my table while giving me time to do freelance writing and editing. I’m happy with my patchwork gig-economy life and actually appreciate the cantankerous kids I deal with because they give me plenty to write about. The emotional stakes for me are low because I can easily quit at any time. But I have a natural empathy with those who are seeking meaning and happiness in what they do for a living. My youngest son studied filmmaking in college and discovered during the course of several movie production and site scouting gigs that he didn’t like the field. So he’s seeking a new direction that will have a positive impact on the world. But it’s tough to find your way in life when you don’t know what you want to do. I’m lucky in that I’ve been certain since high school that I wanted to be a writer. Pursuing your dreams is the ideal path, and our best efforts come from passion, enthusiasm and engagement, not obligation and drudgery. But even if you must take a job just to pay the bills, I don’t see why work needs to be an exercise in misery. We spend most of our time and energy on the job and wrap much of our identity and happiness in it. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you find something positive in it. Settling for work that makes you miserable and even harms you makes little sense. For sure, there’s a vast middle ground between wanting everything your own way, and the way things usually are in a job where highs and lows, good times and bad, come with the turf as they do elsewhere in life. But the pursuit of happiness is an American ideal, right up there with life and liberty. Why not go for it if you can? 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 Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. Last week, The Insider published a story by my accomplished colleague John Rolfe examining claims recently made in the San Francisco Chronicle that California’s 88-year-old Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein is no longer up to the requirements of her job and should retire. His story also used the Chronicle’s April 14 reporting on the Feinstein attacks as a starting point for a more general discussion of age in politics. John’s article began, “Age is quite the grenade in politics these days.” I agree. I also agree with many of the points made in his well-written article. But there are a few important aspects not addressed there, so I feel compelled to add my two cents to the discussion. Might There Be Some Unstated Agenda to the Feinstein Attacks? First, I have no idea whether or not Senator Feinstein is losing her memory and unable to meet the needs of her constituents without, as her detractors claim, undue support from her staff. She has responded to the claims with the statement: “The last year has been extremely painful and distracting for me, flying back and forth to visit my dying husband who passed just a few weeks ago…But there’s no question I’m still serving and delivering for the people of California, and I’ll put my record up against anyone’s.” Those defending Feinstein’s competence–Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Feinstein’s fellow California Senator Alejandro (Alex) Padilla–did so to the San Francisco Chronicle in on-the-record interviews. Those attacking her requested and obtained anonymity. According to the Chronicle, these included four U.S. senators—three of them, Democrats, three former Feinstein staffers, and a California Democratic member of Congress. The Chronicle stated that “each spoke on the condition of anonymity, because they said they did not want to jeopardize their relationship with her and their mutual friends and colleagues.” Some claimed they were remaining anonymous “because of the sensitivity of the topic” and “out of respect to Feinstein.” But clearly, anonymous attacks on someone’s competence rendered publicly do not show respect. And based on their stated excuses, protection of their careers and political relationships was the real motive for the anonymity. Unless one is a whistleblower exposing wrongdoing, for whom the repercussions could be persecution, imprisonment or death, truth should not be hidden behind anonymity. And public delivery in the form of anonymous gossip and innuendo makes claims such as those proliferating against Feinstein questionable. One must know who is speaking in order to assess what unstated agenda may be behind dissemination of the claims—not to mention providing the subject a fair opportunity to respond. Former employees may (or may not) have some personal axe to grind. Colleagues may (or may not) have other, career-related motivations. Furthermore, it is interesting that pushes for resignation or retirement promulgated by innuendo and rushed to conclusion seem so often aimed at Democrats. First, Franken. Now, Feinstein. Dianne Feinstein is not up for reelection until 2024. If she were to retire now, California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom would appoint her successor. But that replacement would not automatically serve out the rest of Feinstein’s six-year term. Rather, he or she would have to run for the seat in the next regularly scheduled statewide general election—that is, the 2022 midterms, a mere seven months away. This would give Republicans an early opening to obtain Feinstein’s Senate seat, jeopardizing the Democrats’ razor-thin majority in a Senate which is currently divided 50-50 between the two parties. And given the current anti-democratic actions of the Republican leadership, no less than the survival of democracy will likely depend, in part, on which party controls the Senate. Age Limits for Political Retirement? – NO! According to a YouGov poll in January, 58% of Americans favor an age limit for elected officials. John’s article reported that this would include mandatory retirement at 70, making 71% of current US senators (23) ineligible to continue in office. On the plus side of such a requirement, his article opined that America is “in dire need of fresh, innovative ideas and positive, youthful energy.” That’s a nice thought in theory, but whether fresh ideas are beneficial depends on what the ideas are. And over many decades we’ve had too much change based on mere slogans like “it’s time for a change” or it’s time for “new ideas,” without any specification of what those ideas are or where that so-called change is intended to lead the country. As for “youthful energy,” Marjorie Taylor Greene has youthful energy. Josh Hawley and Madison Cawthorn and Matt Gaetz have youthful energy. That kind of new blood can be just as poisonous as old blood. (To his credit, John acknowledged that an age limit could automatically sweep out effective legislators, to be replaced by “God knows who.”) It has also been pointed out that age limits and requirements have been placed on occupations like driving automobiles and piloting planes. But those require physical dexterity necessary to public safety. The Senate does not. To impose age limits on the Congress or other political offices not only amounts to age discrimination, it deprives voters of their right to keep or oust the senator of their choice. The ultimate yea or nay on the longevity of a politician’s career should be determined at the ballot box. Political columnist Jessie Seigel had a long career as a government attorney in which she honed her analytic skills. She has also twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the Washington, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her fiction, and has been a finalist for a number of literary awards. In addition, Seigel is an associate editor at the Potomac Review, a reviewer for The Washington Independent Review of Books, and a dabbler in political cartoons at Daily Kos. Of this balance in her work between the analytic and the imaginative, Seigel jokes, “I guess my right and left brains are well-balanced.” More on and from Seigel can be found at The Adventurous Writer, https://www.jessieseigel.com.

By Willa Beck / New York City When I am older, I imagine myself as someone flying in space, with streaming red hair.  Just landed on the moon, all excited to see what adventure comes up next. Singing, dreaming, jumping. Right now, I like to feel like an astronaut. Close your eyes and imagine that you were in space, that you were an astronaut, flying from star to star, deep brown eyes, and dark red hair. Waiting to see what adventure awaits you. You can open your eyes now. Or me in a science lab inventing the best invention ever and inventing the invention that still awaits. Test tubes, mixing bottles. Thinking like Albert Einstein, flying like Mae Jemison. Waiting to see what awaits me. Willa Beck, who is 7, is a 2nd grader at PS 87 in Manhattan.  She asked her grandparents for roller skates for Hanukkah and taught herself to roller skate. Other than roller skating, Willa enjoys biking, ice skating, rollerblading, and scootering. When she grows up, she wants to be a roller-skating astronaut. She wants to roller skate on the moon.

By Laurence Lerman / New York City In the course of a career that spanned more than 60 years, actor Robert Morse was instantly recognizable by his gap-toothed grin and an easy-going vibe. That hallmark trait seasoned his characters for decades, beginning with his role as corporate ladder-climber J. Pierrepont Finch, in the 1961 Broadway musical-comedy hit How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Morse died on Wednesday, April 20, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 90. Morse won the first of two Tony Awards for his How To Succeed role of “Finchy,” a window washer at the Manhattan headquarters of the World Wide Wicket Company who gets his hands on the titular self-help book and follows its occasionally questionable advice to rise from window washer to chairman of the board. Along the way, he does a lot of singing and dancing and finagling and romancing. The lively musical, which ran for nearly 1,500 performances, won seven Tonys overall. The play and its 1967 film version are probably what Morse will be best remembered for. A fascinating collateral result was that the impish Morse’s splendid performance as a young, ambitious Everyman in Gotham painted an unforgettable picture of the New York City of the mid-1960s for the rest of the world—a brightly colored Manhattan that was buzzy, breezy, loopy and full of possibilities. How To Succeed was one of eight Broadway shows featuring Morse, who picked up his second Tony Award 28 years later for his portrayal of Truman Capote in Jay Presson Allen’s 1989 play Tru. Adapted from the pronouncements and writings of Capote, Tru’s two-act monodrama finds Morse alone onstage as Capote in his apartment—fueled by pills, booze, cocaine and chocolate truffles—musing about his life and career. Dramatic, sad and morbidly funny, it was another perfect showcase for Morse, whose warmth and accessibility somehow made it all palatable. There were a healthy handful of other movies over the years, most of them forgettable (like the leering 1967 bedroom farce The Guide for the Married Man. Oy.). Ditto for his dozens of appearances on episodic television shows, ranging from The Naked City (1961) to Love, American Style (1971) to Murder, She Wrote (1985) to Suddenly Susan (1998) Fabulously, Morse “returned” to New York for his final career triumph, a featured role on Mad Men, the long-running AMC show (2007-2015) centered on 1960s Manhattan’s world of advertising agencies and its many Madison Avenue denizens. Not that Morse wasn’t busy in the years following the end of Mad Men— he popped up as author Dominick Dunne in FX’s true crime anthology series American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson (2016) and had a nice role in a 2017 Broadway revival of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s newspaper comedy The Front Page. But as Mad Men’s Bertram Cooper, the eccentric senior partner and founder of ad agency Sterling Cooper, his very presence brought with it a feeling of both his character’s and own personal history as someone attuned to the rhythms of New York City—its highs and lows, its entrepreneurial spirit, its challenges, its pleasures—and its dangling challenge to all comers to approach and conquer it. It’s almost as if a much-older J. Pierrepont Finch had continued working in New York at the end of How To Succeed but moved over to the advertising business, bringing with him a lifetime of knowledge and experience. In his final episode on Mad Men in the show’s last season, Morse’s Bert Cooper dies in his sleep, having marveled at the historic 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing on TV only a few hours before. But Bert wasn’t quite done yet—during the next episode’s final minutes, he appears in a climactic dream sequence to sing and dance to the Broadway standard “The Best Things in Life are Free” for the troubled protagonist Don Draper. It’s both an affectionate callback to Morse’s musical-comedy roots and a sly reminder for us all to enjoy what we have while we still have it—particularly those special, personal moments like a loved one’s smile or the scent of honeysuckle or a glowing sunset. As the song declares, “The sunbeams that shine—they’re yours and they’re mine.” Indeed. Laurence Lerman is a film journalist, former editor of Video Business--Variety's DVD trade publication--and husband to The Insider's own Gwen Cooper. Over the course of his career he has conducted one-on-one interviews with just about every major director working today, including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Kathryn Bigelow, Ridley Scott, Walter Hill, Spike Lee, and Werner Herzog, among numerous others. Once James Cameron specifically requested an interview with Laurence by name, which his wife still likes to brag about. Most recently, he is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online review site DiscDish.com.

By Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. “These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy: they are deliberate exercises in doublethink” ― George Orwell, 1984 Chickens may be coming home to roost for at least one Trumpian hypocrite. Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff to former president Donald Trump, is under investigation for commission of voter fraud in the 2020 election. Meadows and his wife voted in North Carolina, using, as the residence where they physically live, a mobile home located in Scaly Mountain, N.C. But according to the Washington Post on March 10, Meadows never owned the residence and “might not have ever set foot in it.” The hypocrisy exposed by this revelation is even more noxious than the alleged criminality. During the Trump Administration, the Republican Party cynically created and exploited—and Mark Meadows energetically promoted—the lie of rampant voter fraud, in order to deprive citizens all across the country of their right to vote. In states where Republicans control the state legislatures, they have been engaged in gerrymandering, restricting absentee voting and the use of mail-in ballots, not to mention passing laws that would allow Republican-controlled legislatures to replace election results they don’t like with the legislature’s choices. Furthermore, in the 2020 election, Republican operatives in a number of states not only intimidated poll workers as they were counting votes, but attempted to submit falsified “alternate” slates of electors to the Electoral College. These actions constituted the real 2020 electoral fraud. GOP S.O.P. Although outrageous, the hypocrisy revealed by Meadows’ alleged voter fraud is not surprising. Hypocrisy has been Republican standard operating procedure for many years now. They barely try to hide it anymore. In 2016, there was Mitch McConnell’s refusal to even allow a vote on former President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, on the specious claim that it was not appropriate to approve a Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year. But in 2020, without batting an eye—or even a sly wink--McConnell rushed through the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court a mere eight days before the presidential election. McConnell again demonstrated his hypocrisy in early 2021, when he first voted against conviction in Trump’s second impeachment trial, only to turn around minutes afterwards and give a speech on the Senate floor condemning Trump and restating almost all of the prosecutors’ reasons why McConnell should have voted for conviction. A person could get whiplash trying to follow McConnell’s turns. But Mark Meadows and McConnell have plenty of company. When Donald Trump was impeached (the first time) in late 2019 for illegally withholding weapons from Ukraine, Republicans in Congress overwhelmingly voted not to impeach, and once Trump was impeached, not to convict. This, despite the overwhelming evidence that Trump had attempted to extort Zelensky. Yet, according to The Nation, when Zelensky addressed the Congress on March 16 on the need for weapons to defend his country against the ongoing Russian invasion, “those same Republicans were making sure to be photographed applauding for the Ukrainian president.” It was 17th century François VI, duc de la Rochefoucauld who originated the maxim “Hypocrisy is the compliment that vice pays to virtue.” But that form of hypocrisy presumes some pretense at virtue on the part of vice, and Rochefoucauld never met the leaders of the Republican party. Projection There is no more insidious form of hypocrisy than the projection of your political actions on to your opposition. Republican leaders have become so persistent in its practice that if a Republican accuses his opponent of some skullduggery, I will confidently give you odds of 100 to 1 that he and/or his party are the ones guilty of that behavior. Republican leaders have practiced this particularly nasty form of hypocrisy so frequently and have been so increasingly obvious about it, that it is hard to understand why some in the public are still taken in by it. There has always been the warped Republican obsession with so-called morality—especially sexual morality. In 2007, Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig was arrested by an undercover officer for making homosexual overtures in a public bathroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. He took a plea deal. This was the same Larry Craig who had opposed expanding federal hate crimes law to cover offenses motivated by anti-gay bias, and who had voted against a bill that would have outlawed employment discrimination based on sexual orientation (which failed by a single vote in the Senate), as well as having supported a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, and having voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal recognition to same-sex marriages. If Craig had not chosen to hide his proclivity behind support for legislation virulently damaging to others, he might have been a subject for pity rather than scorn. But in the wake of the QAnon fabrications that Hillary Clinton was and is involved in a pedophile ring, Craig’s hypocrisy seems almost quaint. As described by The Guardian in September 2020, the conspiracy theory created and promulgated by QAnon is that “national Democrats, aided by Hollywood and a group of “global elites”, are running a massive ring devoted to the abduction, trafficking, torture, sexual abuse, and cannibalization of children, all with the purpose of fulfilling the rituals of their Satanic faith. Donald Trump, according to this fantasy, is the only person willing and able to mount an attack against them.” During the 2016 presidential campaign, Alex Jones, the Infowars host, reported that Hillary Clinton was sexually abusing children in satanic rituals in the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant, Comet Ping Pong. In 2017, Rolling Stone stated it had found that at least 14 Russia-linked Twitter accounts had tweeted about Pizzagate, and that at least one of those was retweeted by Donald Trump Jr., Ann Coulter and Roger Stone. In addition, Rolling Stone found at least 66 Trump campaign figures who followed Pizzagate tweeters. Disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s son, Michael Flynn Jr., famously tweeted, “Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it’ll remain a story.” "Pizzagate" On December 4, 2016, triggered by the widely disseminated, manufactured anti-Hillary propaganda, Edgar Maddison Welch, a 28-year-old warehouse worker from North Carolina, came to the capital, walked into Comet Ping Pong in Northwest Washington, armed with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, a .38 handgun, and a folding knife, looking for captive children. Of course, he did not find any; there were none. Although he did fire his weapons, thankfully he did not shoot any people. Welch was arrested, pled guilty, and got four years in prison. I’m not sorry Welch went to prison—I live one Metro stop and a short 10-minute walk away from the Comet pizzeria, and he is responsible for his actions. At the same time, Welch was a just a mark who bought the story the Republican leadership were using to con as much of the public as they could. Meanwhile, Donald Trump had a history of palling around with Jeffrey Epstein, the financier charged with sex trafficking of minors. Epstein never came to trial because he was found dead in his cell, purportedly by suicide, but under suspiciously convenient circumstances. If anyone’s actions should be ripe for conspiracy theories of involvement with a pedophile sex-trafficking ring and suppression of evidence, it should be Trump. One could even speculate that such actions or awareness of them might have given someone the idea of projecting such nefarious behaviors onto Hillary. An even more insidious form of projection is the preemptive accusation. In October 2018, in the Dorf on Law blog, Neil H. Buchanan wrote: “The most extreme example of this strategy is the Republicans’ claims…that Democrats are engaging in a ‘coup’ against Trump.” According to Buchanan, the coup claim was likely directed at Robert Mueller’s investigations and the constitutionally provided process for inquiries that could lead to impeachment of a president. As Buchanan wrote, with great prescience, the “coup” charge could “lay the groundwork for an actual coup by Republicans down the line.” In fact, in the 2020 election, events proceeded much in the way Buchanan’s article predicted—with Trump claiming he was the victim of voter fraud and of plots by Democratic operatives, as well as maintaining that he did not lose and attempting to remain in the White House—an actual coup attempt. Buchanan wrote, and I agree: “The advantage of using the word coup first, and using it to describe something that is not actually a coup, is…to allow Republicans to say later, ‘We said all along that it’s the Democrats who were trying to illegally overthrow Trump and now these guys accuse us of plotting a coup?’” This sows confusion, leaving the public to throw up their hands and think that both sides are the same. Recently, Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post has begun arguing that there should be age limits for political office—presumably only for aging Democrats—since the two main current officeholders Post columnist Maureen Callahan targets are California Senator Diane Feinstein and President Biden. The larger part of Callahan’s April 14 column is devoted to Biden. She states that a recent Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 48 percent of Americans are “concerned about Biden’s mental fitness.” In fact, Biden is the man who, against Republican obstruction and all other odds—has been acting to clean up Trump’s messes, international and domestic, with great intelligence. Though I may disagree with some of the Biden Administration’s decisions concerning our nation’s problems, I nevertheless recognize them as reasoned. Given Donald Trump’s erratic and obviously declining mental state, along with the possibility that the former president will nevertheless run again in 2024, Callahan’s charge against Biden is a prime example of projection. The Callahan article is likely trying to lay the ground to tar Biden with Trump’s defects in anticipation of the 2024 presidential election. Without the development of a politically educated public, distinctions between legitimate charges and projections of political malfeasance on the opposition may be difficult to see. Many Americans, overburdened by the demands of just getting through daily life, may be tempted to throw up their hands, and say to themselves, “Who has the time?” Or they may dismiss politics as a mere sport in which both sides are equally reprehensible and withdraw from participation. But, since politics is not a sport but rather ultimately determines whether we live and how we live, we ignore the political tactic of calculated hypocrisy at our peril. Political columnist Jessie Seigel had a long career as a government attorney in which she honed her analytic skills. She has also twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the Washington, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her fiction, and has been a finalist for a number of literary awards. In addition, Seigel is an associate editor at the Potomac Review, a reviewer for The Washington Independent Review of Books, and a dabbler in political cartoons at Daily Kos. Of this balance in her work between the analytic and the imaginative, Seigel jokes, “I guess my right and left brains are well-balanced.” More on and from Seigel can be found at The Adventurous Writer, https://www.jessieseigel.com.

By John Rolfe / Red Hook, N.Y. Washington’s Wrinkled: (clockwise from top) President Joe Biden (79 years old); Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley (88 years old); former President Donald Trump (75 years old); California Senator Dianne Feinstein (88 years old) Age is quite the grenade in politics these days. An unflattering article on April 14 about longtime Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) in the San Francisco Chronicle has ignited a firestorm. Four U.S. senators, several former Feinstein staffers, and another unnamed member of Congress told the Chronicle that Feinstein’s fading memory and lack of mental acuity make her unfit to serve at nearly 89 years of age. Three of the four senators and one of the staffers who were interviewed are Democrats. Many Democrats are already torqued off at Feinstein because she lavishly praised Republican Senator Lindsey Graham during the heated confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett in October 2020. “This has been one of the best set of hearings that I’ve participated in,” Feinstein said before hugging Graham. “I want to thank you for your fairness.” Dianne Feinstein's infamous 2020 hug of fellow Senator Lindsey Graham. Feinstein has served in the Senate since 1992. Renowned for her feistiness, Feinstein is now said to be overly reliant on her staff, which has been accused of covering up her frailty and alarming lapses. So she finds herself at the center of the ongoing argument that our highest elected officials linger too long in office and grow stale or worse. Term limits are said to be the best way to keep Congress fresh, invigorated and at least a little less under the influence of big-moneyed special interests. It is pointed out that other professions have age limits. Commercial airline pilots are required to retire at age 65, air traffic controllers at 56. I suspect those particular rules have more to do with cost than safety, because salary and costly benefits usually increase with tenure in the private sector. Ageism is inevitably in the mix, too. Republicans and their media allies are having a field day with their claims that President Biden, 79, can’t find his way out of a paper bag. According to right-wing columnists like the New York Post’s Maureen Callahan, on any given day Biden “thinks that his V.P. is his wife, or that his wife is his sister and his sister is the First Lady, or that Michelle Obama is the vice president or that Barack Obama is Donald Trump and vice versa.” This constant drumbeat of “Biden is senile” claims has been very effective. A recent Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 48% of Americans are worried about his mental fitness. “So are some of his own staffers, who, according to a Politico report, mute or turn off his live press conferences — so alarmed are they by the inevitable next malapropism or false claim or thought to nowhere or near-catastrophic foreign policy bungle,” Callahan wrote in the New York Post on April 14. When I watch Biden, I see a man who is reasonably sharp for his age, especially one with the weight of the world on him. Heck, I’m nearly 65 and my memory fritzes (especially with names) while I’m speaking and my life is a breeze. My carcass is creaky and I’m starting to shuffle when I walk, but I’m still productive and I know my wife isn’t the First Lady. I find it amusing that Trump supporters never seem to mind Trump’s incoherent rambling or inability to stay focused during the course of a sentence. Nor are they troubled by his jarringly unrelated answers to specific questions or his bizarre statements such as, “If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer.” Trump is nearly 76 and will likely be even more incomprehensible by the time he returns to the White House in 2025, which is a distinct possibility. I have a growing sense that in all his self-absorption, vanity, ignorance and intellectual laziness, he is being manipulated by his party, special interests, and even foreign powers. Age-related mental decline will only make him more vulnerable to them. It’s disconcerting that after the upheaval and turmoil of the Trump years, an old white man was chosen to lead this country back to normalcy. Prior to Biden, the oldest President had been Trump, who took office at 70. Before him it was Ronald Reagan, 69, in 1980, who reportedly got loopy during his second term. The median age of our Presidents has been 55. By contrast, the Senate is a collection of ancient artifacts. The average age of its current members is an all-time high of 64.3, led by Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley, 88, who is seeking re-election. If successful, he will be in Strom Thurmond territory by the time his term ends in 2029. Thurmond, a Democrat-turned-Republican from South Carolina, went belly-up in office at age 100 in 2003. According to a YouGov poll in January, 58% of Americans favor an age limit for elected officials. Retirement would be mandatory at 70 — meaning 71% of current US senators (23) would have to vamoose. I see some merit in this as America is in dire need of fresh, innovative ideas and positive, youthful energy. The downside is that effective legislators will automatically be swept out and replaced by God knows who. Feinstein’s defenders say she’s still with it despite a particularly rough personal stretch. “The last year has been extremely painful and distracting for me, flying back and forth to visit my dying husband who passed just a few weeks ago,” Feinstein said in a statement to the Chronicle. “But there’s no question I’m still serving and delivering for the people of California, and I’ll put my record up against anyone’s.” Unfortunately, a Public Policy Institute of California poll found that only 36 per cent of likely voters approved of her performance, a nine percent drop from a year ago. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go. Unfortunately, some folks in Washington can’t tell what time it is. 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.

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 Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are making hay acting up a storm in Neil Simon’s creaky (but joyously entertaining) revival of Plaza Suite, firmly planted in the late ‘60s. The real-life couple is charismatically engaging under the influence of John Benjamin Hickey’s skillful direction. The set is pitch perfect to the period, as are the groovy clothes and footwear. Parker and Broderick portray three sets of different characters navigating a slew of complicated relationships. Shenanigans unfold in Suite 719. The trio of individual one-act plays will ring familiar to those fortunate enough to have attended the original Broadway show that enjoyed a robust run of 1,097 performances. Directed by Mike Nichols Plaza Suite starred George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton. Arthur Hiller’s 1971 film version placed Walter Matthau opposite Barbara Harris, Stapleton and Lee Grant in the three acts. The movie was considered a failure by the playwright, although fans would disagree. Plaza Suite is more ephemera than commercial heavyweights like The Odd Couple and Barefoot in the Park, but no less entertaining. Simon’s later, more autobiographical work– Brighton Beach Memoirs and Lost in Yonkers– rewarded viewers with Simon’s trademark humor laced with timeless zingers and biographical morsels. The current Broadway trifle is a comfortable vehicle for these two storied actors and household names. Who wouldn’t want to see Broadway’s royal couple cavort on stage? Sex and the City, and its sequel, And Just Like That…aficionados will get a kick out of Parker’s all-in commitment to her character’s ‘60s wardrobe, even when matronly dressed. Broderick is a gifted comic actor who’s proved his chops time and again whatever the material. Married for 25 years, the pair hasn’t been on stage together since 1996’s production of How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. The then-dating couple made sparks fly with their on-stage chemistry. Plaza Suite’s revival’s opening was slated for March 2020, but as we all know, Covid put the kibosh on live performances. How did these two talented actors find the time and inclination to anchor this production? In 2017, the couple tickled the audience in a staged reading before an appreciative crowd at New York City’s Symphony Space. It was directed by Hickey, a venerated actor and personal friend of the two. The stage was set. The first act, Visitor from Mamaroneck, has Sam and Karen Nash checking into the same suite in which they spent their wedding night 23 years past. Karen’s motivation for booking the suite gets blindsided by Sam’s workaholic ways and eyebrow-raising intimations of an affair. It’s a bittersweet mini play, as Karen longs for a romantic rekindling. Sam, business-suited and icy, is preoccupied with work. This opener provides plenty of laughs, but the undertone is the most serious of the three. The second act, Visitor from Hollywood is a hoot with Broderick sporting eye-catching plaid pants and a turtleneck sweater (all the rage then). Muttonchop sideburns telegraph successful movie producer Jesse Kiplinger’s devotion to ‘60s style. His invite to high school sweetheart Muriel Tate to pay him a visit, has a surprising outcome that will not be revealed here! Costumer Jane Greenwood and wig master Tom Watson outfit Muriel in a then-stylish Pucci print dress (I had one!) and matching tights, shoes and gloves. It’s great fun watching Parker stroll the stage inhabiting Muriel’s dressed-to-impress character. Broderick and Parker showcase their terrific physical comedy chops. The story may be a tad stale, but the execution is fabulous. The third act, Visitor from Forest Hills, is a farcical, zesty romp that many will recall from the movie starring Matthau. The story hinges on prying Norma and Roy’s daughter Mimsey out of the bathroom to take her wedding vows before an antsy crowd of friends and relations. Why revive this old chestnut now? Why not? Broadway will always tap into the steady tourist market hungry for easily digestible, lightweight theater. The tourists are back, and this production serves near-perfect family entertainment. Enjoying three hours of unmitigated joy (I’m a big Parker fan!) was a welcome reprieve from current-event stressors: –Ukraine –A new Covid variant -Flying cross country next month Broadway’s 2021-2022 season has barely taken a breath with 19 shows opening or reopening. It’s been a whirlwind run-up to the 75th Tony Awards, to be hosted by Radio City Music Hall on June 12th. Audiences are still required to be vaccinated and masked through May 31st. Since live performances resumed last fall, 5 million attendees have proven once again, that theater is not dead. 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. As a human who feels great affection for animals, I know how hard it is to bid farewell to a beloved pet. Heck, I wept at the passing of my daughter’s guinea pig Freda Fluffernutter and the demise of a Rhode Island Red hen my wife named Freda (in honor of her mother). So I’m not surprised that pet cloning is a lucrative industry. Ever since scientists in Scotland produced Dolly the Sheep in 1996, tinkering with the genes of animals has expanded from attempts at improving farm critters by making them more disease-resistant to replicating furry friends such as dogs and cats. The process is complicated, can take eight months to a year, and involves multiple animals (the original, an egg donor, and one to carry the embryo to term). It’s also expensive. ViaGen, a biotechnology company in Texas, charges $35,000 to clone a cat and $50,000 for a pooch. Legendary singer Barbra Streisand forked over $100,000 for two copies of Samantha, her beloved Coton de Tulear. The company says it cranks out hundreds of replica pets each year. I say “replica” because anyone hoping to bring their dearly departed back to life or create an exact carbon copy will be disappointed. For one thing, the new edition may look almost exactly like the original but is certain to have a different personality. (This reminds me of Stephen King’s classic novel, Pet Sematary, in which Church, a family’s sweet cat, comes back from the dead with, shall we say, a malevolent streak.) Experts in the biotech field say personality in animals is the product of environment and genetics and can’t be reproduced in a lab. My cat Katie (aka Doodle) is 18 and, though she’s still reasonably healthy, the end is in sight. That’s an event for which I am bracing myself. The last of a group of four felines, Doodle is sweet but sour. She constantly seeks my company and attention but often looks highly annoyed by it. (We call her customary expression her “resting bitch face.”) She can be cantankerous and is extremely vocal, usually at max volume. The app MeowTalk, which records a cat’s utterances and “translates” them, informs us that Doodle is most often “saying” things like, “It’s on! I’m gonna take you down!” Oh, dear. So it occurs to me that cloning might be better used for improving pets that have unpleasant traits. Our former cat Squeekles was extremely aloof. Perhaps cloning would have sweetened her up a bit. So would I clone Doodle? Not unless I desired an exercise in terror. Since the passing of our other three cats left her the uncontested queen of our home, Doodle tolerates no interlopers. She howls and chases Spartacus, our neighbor’s hapless cat, off our property whenever she sees him. I’m sure she’d be rather displeased by the presence of anyone else, even a clone of herself. Besides, I have better things to do with 35 grand. There are also ethical issues. Animal protection advocates argue that there are more than enough unwanted cats and dogs for adoption, so spending great sums to create replacements for the deceased is hardly necessary. And then there are sales tactics that remind me of the funeral industry, which preys on the grieving by making them feel they need to cough up thousands of dollars on a box or urn for their dearly departed. "People really want their pet that knows them and knows certain tricks and so forth," George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, told the BBC. "In that sense, it's a little bit taking advantage of people's grief." I suppose if one insists on never letting go, one can always have one’s pet stuffed or freeze-dried Somehow I don’t think Doodle would be too keen on those options, either. 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.

One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 79 By Laurence Lerman / New York City Nearly 60 years after its theatrical premiere and 50 years following the release of its 1971 film adaptation, the musical Fiddler on the Roof remains as beloved, fresh and vital as it did when it first opened at Broadways’ Imperial Theater in New York City in 1964. Let’s add “frequently performed” to that list, too, as Fiddler is currently in the middle of its latest national tour, a revival directed by Broadway mainstay Bartlett Sher that was initially derailed in 2020 by the pandemic. On the road again, recent months have seen it mounted everywhere from El Paso, Tex. to Birmingham, Ala., with an upcoming run scheduled to open at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, N.J. on June 17. Meanwhile, there are a pair of recently released documentaries on the Fiddler on the Roof phenomenon that do a fine job up taking up the slack created by the pandemic delay. The latest film, Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen, which was directed by Daniel Raim, focuses on the show’s 1971 Hollywood movie adaptation. It opens at New York City’s Angelika Theater on Friday, April 29 while also rolling out to Jewish film festivals across the country. And currently streaming on most major platforms is Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles, directed by Max Lefkowicz, which pays tribute to the genesis of the Broadway production and its subsequent versions, along with offering an expansive survey on the show’s enduring popularity over the decades. As both documentaries detail, Fiddler on the Roof is based on the story Tevye and his Daughters and other tales by Sholom Aleichem, the central figure of early 20th century Yiddish literature. It tells of the lives of the poor dairyman Tevye and his family in the village of Anatevka in the Western region of the Imperial Russian Empire circa 1905. Featuring music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and a book by Joseph Stein, Fiddler on the Roof’s legacy is the stuff of theatrical legend. The most successful English-language stage production ever about Jewish life in Eastern Europe, Fiddler was the first Broadway musical production in history to surpass 3,000 performances (in a nearly eight-year run). It won the 1965 Tony Award for Best Musical and eight other Tonys, including acting honors for stars Zero Mostel and Maria Karnilova for their portrayals of Tevye and his wife Golde. The show has been revived on Broadway five times since closing in 1972, and that doesn’t even count 2018’s nearly two-year Off-Broadway run of an all-Yiddish version by the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene, directed by Joel Grey. (There were English language supertitles projected on either side of the stage.) Fiddler on the Roof has been performed in every metropolitan city in the world. And in an essay in 2003’s Key Texts in American Jewish Culture, Brandeis University professor Stephen Whitfield wrote that there are an estimated 500 amateur productions a year in the U.S. alone. A look at the docs finds Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles brimming with recently filmed interviews and archival footage which bring the saga of the Broadway smash to life. The fine footage of the late artists Zero Mostel and director Jerome Robbins (gone for 50 and 25 years, respectively) actually plays second fiddle (no pun intended) to the insightful commentary offered by producer Hal Prince (who passed in 2019) and the creative triumvirate of Bock, Harnick and Stein (of whom Harnick is still alive and kicking at 97). All are lively and engaging in their discussion of the musical’s original conception, its spirited choreography and Marc Chagall-influenced production design, and Mostel’s frequently difficult behavior. Others on tap to discuss the show’s strengths and influence over the years include Stephen Sondheim, former Broadway Tevyes Harvey Fierstein and Danny Burstein and Tevye offspring Josh Mostel and Michael Bernardi (son of Hershel Bernardi). Superfan Lin-Manuel Miranda (who also appears in Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen) turns up with home video footage of him singing the Fiddler song “To Life” to his new bride and friends at his 2010 wedding reception. The worldwide appeal of the show is highlighted with cutaways to a New York high school version of the play and various international productions, including a Tokyo staging from 2017 that starred the popular Japanese performer Masachika Ichimura as Tevye. Mounted at the prestigious Nissay Theater and marking the 50th anniversary of the show’s premiere in Japan, Fiddler is the Toho Stage Company’s most popular and frequently revived musical. As Fiddler is a show about tradition and, clearly, the difficulties of maintaining traditions in modern times, it’s not hard to imagine that its tale of a father and his daughters in a fast-changing world would click with Japanese audiences. Norman Jewison, director of the 1971 film version of Fiddler on the Roof (which he deems a “spiritual and creative quest”), leads the charge of interviewees and vintage footage and clips in Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen. The non-Jewish Canadian-born filmmaker, got his start helming live television in the Fifties and Doris Day movies in the early Sixties, before moving on to such substantial films as the Oscar-winning In the Heat of the Night (1967) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). As for Fiddler, he only has positive memories of the production, which was largely shot outside the city of Zagreb in the former Yugoslavia production and at London’s Pinewood Studios. Jewison’s pleasant remembrances are seconded in other recent interviews with Israeli-born actor Topol, who portrayed Tevye, and actresses Rosalind Cash, Michele Marsh and Neva Small, who played his daughters. Cash has the most vivid recollections of the group, particularly as she recounts Jewison’s reaction to the time she and her celluloid sisters decided to “go Method” and groom themselves like early 20th century Russian women. (“Go shave those pits right now!” was Jewison’s bellowing on-set reaction.) The film was a box office hit and nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Jewison, Best Actor for Topol, and Best Music and Scoring Adaptation for John Williams, who won his award, the first of his five Oscar victories over the years out of a staggering 62 nominations (many of them for films he scored for Steven Spielberg). Jewison would be awarded an Oscar years later (an Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1999), but hopefully even more rewarding for him are the memories that came out of Fiddler’s production. As Jewison has recounted many times over the years, in 1970, he was summoned to a meeting with United Artists studio chief Arthur Krim, who asked him if he would direct the film version of Fiddler on the Roof. Jewison took a breath and responded, “What would you say if I told you I was a goy?” After a moment’s hesitation, Krim told him that the offer was still good. The punchline to that infamous exchange is that the not-quite-Jewish Jewison went on to further prove his diversity with his very next film project: 1973’s Jesus Christ Superstar. 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 April 18, 2022 TALLAHASSEE (The Borowitz Report)—Proposing a sweeping ban on math in Florida’s classrooms, Governor Ron DeSantis asserted that “the latest research” indicates that “math makes children gay.” “For years, liberals in the education mafia have brainwashed Americans into thinking that our children should learn to add, subtract, multiply, and divide,” he told reporters. “We now know that numbers are a portal into a so-called alternative life style.” “Children who learn how to count are more likely to pursue careers in fashion and Broadway musicals,” the Governor claimed. “Even worse, some of these musicals will be produced by Disney.” DeSantis said that he was establishing a task force to determine how many of Florida’s schoolchildren may have been exposed to math in recent years. “Fortunately, thanks to the tireless efforts of our former Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, those numbers are fairly low,” he said. After a reporter noted that DeSantis had just referred to numbers, the Governor abruptly ended the press conference to “pray the math away.”

By Bonnie Fishman / San Francisco Bay Area This stirring phrase from the Haggadah, the book that sets forth the order of the Jewish Passover seder (feast), has been applicable throughout history and for all peoples. Here we are in 2022, millennia after the Jews escaped from Egyptian bondage, and we are witnessing atrocities in Ukraine. Jews and Christians alike are trapped by Russian forces. They are hiding underground in tunnels or trying to immigrate to other countries, fearing for their lives all the while. This is very much the Passover story of the fleeing Israelites. On top of being trapped, millions of Ukrainians are hungry, many dying of starvation. Their food supplies are gone and new provisions are not necessarily getting through to those who need it. “Let all who are hungry come and eat” is so true, especially now. Food insecurity is a real threat to multitudes of people all over the world, including here in the United States. Individuals may wonder what they alone can do about it. My sister Nancy had an idea of how she could make a difference. Back in 1988, she began picking up fresh leftover food from bakeries (like mine), caterers, and restaurants. She delivered them from the back of her Jeep to soup kitchens around the area. By 1990, Nancy created Forgotten Harvest, with one employee and a donated van. Fast forward to the present day. Forgotten Harvest has grown into the largest fresh food rescue operation in the country and possibly the world, distributing over 50 million meals per year to many food pantries, charities, and soup kitchens in Southeast Michigan, where residents are in need. The food is collected from major groceries and suppliers, both retail and wholesale. The fleet of 37 refrigerated semitrucks travel around picking up and delivering food within 24 hours of rescue. Forgotten Harvest even raises vegetables in a huge garden to help support the operation. The organization and its 100 employees just moved into a new state-of-the-art facility in our family’s hometown of Oak Park, Mich. Many fresh food rescue organizations from around the country have visited Forgotten Harvest to learn their successful operation model. (Forgotten Harvest welcomes donations at: https://www.forgottenharvest.org) It is no wonder that Nancy had this spirit of giving back. An important lesson we learned from our parents was their amazing generosity. They looked for anyone who had no place to go and invited them to our table whatever time of year. My personal memories of our holidays are fond ones. Anyone and everyone was welcome. As adults, we have carried on that tradition of inclusivity whenever we prepare a holiday meal. During the spring, the season of rebirth that brings us Passover, Easter, and Ramadan, we are reminded of religious miracles and our gratitude for freedom. We have many opportunities to help those in need. Open your doors to folks who have no place to go. Food is nurturing and sharing that bounty fills our hearts to be of service to others. “Let all who are hungry come and eat.” The first course at the seder is often gefilte fish, a ground fish ball made with eggs and matzo meal. It is served cold with a side of horseradish. During the eight-day Passover holiday, observant Jews do not eat leavened bread because, as the story goes, the Israelites left Egypt in a hurry and couldn’t wait for the bread to rise. Hence, the creation of matzo. I would have to say gefilte fish is an acquired taste. If you are unfamiliar with it, please don’t open a jar and eat that as your introduction. Hopefully, you will be able to try someone’s homemade version or make this recipe yourself. It’s quite easy. Usually gefilte fish is formed into round balls or ovals and poached in a fish broth. An easier way would be to bake it in loaf pans, covered, and put in the oven in a water bath until set, about 60 minutes, depending upon the size of your pan. Chill the loaf completely and slice it into pieces. I make this recipe throughout the year. It keeps for several days in the fridge and can be part of a brunch, lunch, or snack. Using salmon as opposed to the usual whitefish or pickerel is a bit different but quite delicious. It comes out a pale pink. Have a wonderful holiday meal and let us know here at The Insider how it worked out! Salmon Gefilte Fish Yield: 2 dozen 1 lg. Spanish onion, cut into chunks 2 1/4 lb. salmon filets, cut into chunks 1 Tbs. kosher salt 3/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper 2 lg. eggs 1 egg white 2 Tbsp. matzo meal 2 Tbsp. fresh chopped parsley Stock: 1 lg. fish head, skin and bones 2 lg. carrots, coarsely chopped 1 lg. Spanish onion, cut into chunks 2 1/2 qt. water 2 tsp. kosher salt 1 1/2 tsp. sugar Mince the onions in the work bowl of a food processor.  Transfer to a mixing bowl.  Puree the salmon in the food processor, scraping down the sides as needed.  Return onions to the work bowl along with the fish and remaining ingredients.  Puree until finely ground and smooth, scraping as necessary. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or clear wrap.  Using a 1/4 cup measurement, scoop the fish into about 24 balls.  Wet your hands periodically and roll the balls into ovals, laying them on the cookie sheet as you go.  Chill while you make the stock. Put the stock ingredients into a large wide pot or Dutch oven.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon, remove solids from the stock and discard. Bring the stock to a boil and gently add the fish.  Cover pot and simmer, turning down the heat again, until the fish is tender and cooked through, about 20-30 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fish to a large shallow casserole.  Strain stock over fish.  Refrigerate until cold. Bonnie Fishman attended the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London. Later, she owned and operated Bonnie’s Patisserie in Southfield, Mich. and Bonnie’s Kitchen and Catering in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. She has taught cooking for over 35 years and created hundreds of recipes. She is now living in Northern California.