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."

One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 75 By Laurence Lerman / New York City The Godfather turns 50 this week and I can report that it remains healthy, vital and beloved as it settles into a middle age of unceasing admiration and worshipful status, befitting a work that has moved beyond the realm of cinema to become an immortal slice of American culture. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who also served as co-writer with Mario Puzo, based on the latter’s 1969 bestselling novel, and produced by Albert Ruddy, The Godfather is everywhere this month. The media blitz is unstoppable—all the major news outlets and online sites are doing features acknowledging the film’s golden milestone, Coppola and most of the surviving cast members are appearing on talk shows and online interview forums, and virtually every major print magazine and newspaper is doing a featured story. The New York Times alone has produced no less than six features, including an in-depth interview with co-star Al Pacino, a piece that “explains” the film via seven of its most famous quotes (take the cannoli, please!) and an inevitable, deep-dive trivia quiz. Premiering on streaming platform Paramount+ next month is The Offer, a dramatic miniseries starring Miles Teller, Matthew Goode and Dan Fogler, about the development and production of The Godfather. Filmmaker Barry Levinson will offer his take on the same story in the upcoming feature Francis and The Godfather. Currently in pre-production, it’s slated to star Oscar Isaac as Coppola, Elisabeth Moss as his wife Eleanor and Jake Gyllenhaal as studio executive Robert Evans. Last month, Paramount rolled out a shimmeringly restored theatrical edition of The Godfather to limited AMC Theatre locations, with a Dolby Vision makeover (Dolby Labs’ new brand of high-end imaging technology). And on March 22, the studio will issue restored versions of all three films in Coppola’s Godfather trilogy in 4K Ultra HD format for the first time. The release marks the latest new tech edition of the trilogy to arrive, following more than two decades of “Anniversary” restorations and releases that have been dropped every five years or so. March 2022 feels not unlike the month The Godfather opened in the winter of 1972. Hollywood regularly revives, relives and reaps the rewards of its valuable, time-honored properties, of course, but it all begins with launching a film in a big, big way as well. The much-anticipated arrival of the film adaptation of Puzo’s The Godfather—and subsequent launch into the stratosphere—started out simply enough, with its premiere March 14, 1972 on a late-season snowy night at New York City’s Loew’s State Theatre in Times Square. The weather didn’t deter an eager crowd from attending the happening—a healthy line of moviegoers snaked down several blocks. Celebrities were also out in full force. Nicholson, McGraw, Hackman, Welch, Bronson, Coburn and other Hollywood Royalty surnames of the moment were in attendance, along with such notables as the Neil Simons and Mr. and soon-to-be Mrs. Henry Kissinger. Most of the cast, production team and executives were in attendance, save for co-star Marlon Brando and Coppola himself. The director had jetted off to Paris a few days prior, in fear of the critical and public reaction to this, his fourth feature film. Invited guests enjoyed a sumptuous premiere party afterwards at the St. Regis Hotel, which was recounted extensively in the tabloids the following day. The tabs weren’t the only outlets hungry for coverage. A number of feature articles on the film’s history and production appeared in The New York Times that week, a cover story was published in the March 13 issue of Time magazine and a Fawcett World Library paperback reprint of Puzo’s novel that included a 32-page insert of photogs from the film had been released a month earlier. The Godfather trickled out to a limited number of theatrical venues its first few weeks in release, creating huge lines outside of movie houses and prompting many theaters to keep the movie running around the clock. By mid-April, the popularity of the film and the very act of attending it became the subject of media stories, including one in the Los Angeles Times entitled “Lifestyles for Waiting in Line to See ‘Godfather.’” As it became the film du jour and began its dominance of the domestic box office for the next year, The Godfather was embraced by the hungry, growing beast that is American popular culture. Johnny Carson joked about it during his Tonight Show monologue several times a week for months, with a Mob-oriented sketch or two thrown in for good measure. That autumn, Mad Magazine did a send-up of the film entitled The Odd Father, illustrated by the great Mort Drucker, which, like the film it parodied, was considered an instant classic. Marvel Comics jumped on board that season with the debut of a new supervillain in The Amazing Spider-Man, the cranium-challenged, stylized Mob boss Hammerhead, who nearly ventilated your friendly neighborhood webslinger more than once (and who’s still out there raising hell). And it was only a couple of years later that Saturday Night Live, in its 1975 debut season, gave us John Belushi and his pitch-perfect Brando impression as Vito Corleone detailing his woes at a group therapy session (“The ASPCA is after me about this horse thing…”). By Labor Day weekend 1972, The Godfather had grossed more than $75 million in North America and became the highest-grossing picture of all time, famously knocking Gone with the Wind off the box-office pedestal it had stood upon for decades. It broke a number of other box-office records over the ensuing months, with profits so high that the earnings for Gulf & Western Industries, Inc, the owner of Paramount Pictures, jumped from 77 cents per share to $3.30 per for the year. But it’s not The Godfather’s box office heights that keeps it alive today. It was dethroned by Jaws (1975) only a few years later, and then by Star Wars (1976) after that, followed by an unceasing wave of megahits by both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas into the Eighties. No, it was The Godfather’s resonance with moviegoers and the pop culture surrounding it that maintained its strength and durability. It remains a perennial with the public, because the public regularly watches it and reads about it and loves it. The filmmaker created The Godfather, the studio launched it and we all have kept it alive. Back then and just as it is now. Anything less would be a crime. 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 March 14, 2022 PALM BEACH (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump has reached out to Vladimir Putin to help Russia file for bankruptcy, the former U.S. President has confirmed. Calling the Russian economy “in very, very bad, terrible shape” as a result of Western sanctions, Trump said that bankruptcy was “quite frankly” Putin’s only option. “Bankruptcy is scary the first time you do it,” Trump said. “But once you’ve done it five or six times it’s the easiest and most beautiful thing in the world.” Trump said that “the first thing Putin should do is stop paying his bills, and that’s something I can show him how to do.” The former President also offered to send his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to Moscow to advise the Russian Federation on bankruptcy. “No one can get you into bankruptcy faster than Jared,” Trump boasted.

By Emmy Serviss / Boston Whilst many a basketball fan looks forward to March Madness for some good old-fashioned sports betting, I wouldn’t know a three-pointer from a Pointer Sister. If there are others out there who don’t follow sports, but would also like to have something to celebrate in March, might I suggest the following holidays? March 14th – Pi(e) Day For those who are lactose intolerant and think cake is overrated, this day is for you! The 14th day of the third month of year (or 3.14) has been affectionately dubbed as “Pi(e) Day.” You could celebrate in a few different ways. The obvious (and most delicious) way to celebrate would be to indulge in some pie! You could go fruity with a tangy key lime, creamy banana, or classic apple pie. You could go decadent with a chocolate mousse, pecan, or Boston cream pie. Hell, you could even go savory with a pizza, shepherd’s or chicken pot pie. Pro tip: pies always taste better with a homemade crust! Pecan and apple pies baked by the author The second way to celebrate is to bask in all the nerdy math glory of the arrival of the date 3.14 – the first three digits of Pi. In fact, mathematical enthusiasts had even more to celebrate 7 years ago, since that Pi(e) Day date of 3.14.15 was the first five digits of Pi! You could also impress and/or annoy your friends by memorizing and reciting as many digits as Pi as possible. There are over a million digits of Pi, so memorizing the entire thing seems just a smidge unrealistic, to say the least. In fact, according to the Pi World Ranking List, the current reigning Pi Champ is Suresh Kumar Sharma from India, who in 2015 recited over 70,000 digits of Pi. Actually, he recited 70,030 digits of Pi, and those extra 30 digits were enough to unseat the previous reigning champ. Nonetheless, reciting anything past 3.14 is impressive in my book. I can memorize an entire play to perform but memorizing anything longer than a phone number is beyond daunting. If the first two options are too much work, you could always celebrate Pi(e) day with a double feature of Pi and The Life of Pi. I haven’t seen either movie, but I’m a supportive of any tiger that doesn’t involve the Tiger King. March 15th – The Ides of March Maybe this holiday isn’t one to celebrate, but to acknowledge. Most people will tell you that March 15th is the day that a soothsayer told Julius Caesar to “Beware the Ides of March,” and the Roman leader was later assassinated during a Senate meeting. Ever since then, the day has had an ominous reputation. Maybe there’s something to the superstition. After all, Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia on March 15th in 1939. That’s pretty bad. But some good things have also happened on the day! Maine entered the Union, Rolls-Royce was founded, and The Godfather premiered on the big screen. So the Ides of March can’t be ALL bad, right? Superstition aside, Ides, Kalends and Nones were really just an old way of marking the date in relation to the lunar phases. Ides simply meant the new moon, which was usually around the 13th – 15th of the month. Julius’ death was just a crummy coincidence. (Thanks, Shakespeare!) If you’d like to pay respects to the Ides of March without a stereotypical toga party, you could pour a glass of wine to honor the late Julius Caesar, check out a documentary on the Roman Empire, or call your local senator. (A phone call is a tad more polite than a knife to the back.) March 16th – My Boston Anniversary Okay, so this holiday is a personal one. But 11 years ago, this was the day that I packed up my bags (and two cats) and boarded a plane to Boston. I had spent seven years on the West Coast, split between Los Angeles and Portland, and it was time to come back home. Well, home-adjacent anyway. I grew up on Long Island, about an hour outside of NYC. But moving back to the East Coast with no job and a dwindling savings account did not mesh with New York prices. So when my good friend Jed said he needed a roommate in Boston, it seemed like fate. Jed and the author in Los Angeles, 2005 (left) and in Boston, 2011 (right) March 16th is my day to reflect. I think about who I used to be, who I am, and who I’m aspiring to become. I think about how lucky I am to be where I am in my life, and how grateful I am to Jed for bringing me to Boston. I think about all the things that must have gone right in my life for me to be where I am today. So while March 16th may not have any particular significance for you, I will gladly share the day with all of you this year. Spend the day with yourself and use it for some quiet self-reflection. March 17th – St. Patrick’s Day This is probably the holiday that needs the least explaining, but I’m going to anyway. Originally, St. Patrick’s Day was a day to observe the death of the actual patron saint of Ireland – you guessed it – St. Patrick. He helped to convert the Irish to Christianity and built monasteries, churches and schools, but more well-known are the legends of how he supposedly drove the snakes out of Ireland and used a shamrock to explain the holy Trinity. Over the years, the day evolved into a day of celebrating Irish heritage and culture, especially in my current city of Boston. And then, at some point, the day became one full of day-drinking and dyeing everything green. I remember, as a child, knowing St. Patrick’s Day was just around the corner when my mom brought home green bagels from the local bakery. Personally, I’m not a big drinker, so I usually observe St. Patrick’s Day from the sidelines. But whether you spend the day dining on corned beef and cabbage, sipping on a Shamrock Shake or drinking a pint at the pub–enjoy yourself this week! But seriously, please drink responsibly. And maybe plan to take the day off work on Friday. Sláinte! 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.

By Neil Gorosh This story originally ran at nu-detroit.com and is reprinted with the author's permission. I’m another one of those people. I got the Covid. I can’t recall how many home tests I may have taken over these many months, but this is the first one that ever came back positive. While the test kit states that the brightness of the line — the one denoting a positive result is immaterial — mine seemed to light up like a fireworks finale. There have been almost 80 million reported Covid cases in the United States. Over 900,000 Americans have died from this scourge, with almost 35,000 from Michigan alone. Until my positive (unreported) test result, these were just numbers to me. Only now am I feeling their true weight. Before you feel too sorry for me, you should know that I must have gotten the Omicron variety. It just feels like a nasty, persistent cold. Today (Day 5) is a little better than yesterday and a whole lot better than the first three days. As it turns out, dealing with the physical symptoms is the easiest part of this entire ordeal. I’ve become a pariah, Patient Zero for our little supper group. I am the same person I was before the symptoms began, but now I can’t show my face anywhere — not even in my own bed. My wife of 43 years banished me to one of the kid’s old bedrooms. I didn’t put up much of a fight. She’s a doctor. I’m a patient with no bargaining power. I can’t go out in public, not even with a mask. I’m self-quarantining and feeling crummy. Not very good company, even for myself. My symptoms first appeared on a Saturday morning. We had plans that night with two other couples. Being the responsible person I am, I did a home test: Negative. I didn’t cancel the plans. In retrospect, not my finest moment. I blame the Covid. For almost two full years now, I have been consumed with avoiding the physical consequences of the Coronavirus. I didn’t think about the psychological effects. It was agonizing to tell those two other couples that they have been exposed to the virus and that I was to blame. No one mentions guilt in the list of Covid symptoms. It got worse. While my wife has remained disease free, two of the four friends have come down with the virus. Even more cruelly, one of the couples had to cancel a planned trip to Florida, their first vacation after a long, dark winter. Now, I feel truly awful and it has nothing to do with my runny nose, headache or fatigue. As a society, we need to get Covid from “pandemic” to “endemic.” We could have gotten there with vaccinations, but what should have been a purely scientific question became political. As a result, the only way this nightmare is going to end is basically when everyone has been infected. There was a part of me that wanted to contract the virus, to ease the anxiety, to get it behind me. In the words of Forrest Gump, I wanted “one less thing” to worry about. I was wrong. Even though, for the vast majority of people, the Omicron variant results in mild cases, the sheer number of cases we are experiencing means that notwithstanding a low lethality rate, roughly 2,000 people in this country continue to die every day. And what of the truly immune-compromised people who can’t be protected by vaccination? We must remain vigilant. We must continue to do the things we know will help. Wear a mask. Get vaccinated. Respect the virus. We are all in this together. When, exactly, did "personal freedom" trump our civic duty? Personally, I will strive to ensure that my personal choices never put others at risk. This should not be controversial. It’s social responsibility. It’s basic citizenship. If American Exceptionalism meant anything, it was embodied in principles of self-sacrifice and volunteerism. Somewhere along the way, we lost these values. We need to find them again. But first, we just need to put this national nightmare behind us — one mask, one vaccine, one self-quarantine at a time. Epilogue Three days later, my wife tested positive and is symptomatic. So are the other spouses. Now, because of me, everyone exposed to me that night has Covid-19. That’s an accomplishment only Typhoid Mary might envy. Every single one of us has been triple vaccinated and at least one of us was diagnosed with Covid previously. This is not an argument to sit and do nothing. It is merely six more tiny steps on the road from pandemic to endemic — to the point when each year we will be offered a Covid booster along with a flu shot. Only then will we be able to reclaim our lives.

By Naomi Serviss / New York City Apocalyptic evil incarnate unleashed on innocent civilians. Cluster bombs, drone strikes, nuclear threats. Ukraine’s dogged determination to thwart Putin’s vile slaughter and debunk his hideous lies is of myth-making proportion. We’re tuned into heartbreaking real-time horror. Bearing witness to the unthinkable. TikTok aficionados upload raw footage with ferocious, armed determination. President Zelensky Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, a worldwide hero of Shakespearian dimension, epitomizes passionate righteousness in the face of tyranny. Putin is a repulsive war criminal whose sociopathic megalomania recalls his biggest American fan, the former disgraced American president. NATO allies know what’s at stake, as do all freedom-loving nations and citizenry. Echoes of 1939 and 1989 haunt the airwaves, relentless news of totalitarian brutality. Shocking footage of bloodied children pierce our collective conscience. Cancer patients are being treated in the Kyiv Hospital basement. Some 1.3 million refugees have sought sanctuary in Poland, Hungary, Moldavia and Romania. Half a million are children. Will global demonstrations and economic sanctions affect a desperate despot? A forbidden pro-Ukrainian rally in Tbilisi, Georgia attracted thousands. Americans are wearing Ukrainian colors in solidarity. New York City landmarks light up at night with the embattled nation’s hues. How do we comprehend the unfolding atrocities? Who isn’t gutted by Putin’s inhumanity to man? This “teachable moment” isn’t easily taught or explained when there are no words. The Russian dictator’s willingness to invoke nuclear weapons by attacking a power plant is terrifying. Experts say ‘contained’ reactors at Zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, shouldn’t explode like the April 26, 1986 disaster in Chernobyl Small comfort. That’s the good news. Here comes the bad: Damage to its cooling system may simulate 2011’s Fukushima accident. The former Soviet republic has 15 nuclear reactors, This military conflict is the first in European history to play out on such dangerous ground. Ukraine’s Chernobyl disaster, shattered the world stage. That memory is still vivid. At the time, my daughter was a preschooler in Long Island’s Northport Nursery School. Emmy attended morning sessions. Cooperative parents pitched in there, from assisting teachers to bathroom cleanup. Kids learned how to share and care about their classmates in a warm, encouraging environment of cooperative learning. I was carpooling with another three-year-old’s mom in Emmy’s class when we heard the horrific Chernobyl news. Stunned, we took comfort in our shared panic. Our kids played together that afternoon, serenely innocent. We talked about nuclear fallout and stressed out over our children’s inheritance of a world on life support. Dazed, we worried realistically about living on an island where the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant had been inexplicably constructed. We imagined the chaos that would follow an emergency evacuation should the unthinkable happen. If you’ve never driven through Nassau and Suffolk counties, picture bumper-to-bumper traffic on a typical commuter’s day. Miraculously, the plant never opened. In 1994, it was fully decommissioned, which made the nuclear reactor inoperative. Most of the $6 billion cost of the unused plant was passed on to Long Island residents. Chernobyl’s meltdown was the worst in history, both in casualties and cost. It wasn’t military action that threatened the world that cruel April month. It was human error. Putin’s annihilation playbook is intentional. Staff at the Ukrainian power plant warned that Russian troops were laying down explosives. Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Zelensky, who is Jewish, remained defiant. “I don’t want Ukraine’s history to be a legend about 300 Spartans, he said. I want peace,” The Russian people are not our enemies, he added, just the demented president. Putin’s self-proclaimed ceasefire is another lie, as evidenced by launched air and military attacks. How can we support President Zelensky’s Herculean leadership during these horrifically unprecedented times? Maybe by continuing public demonstrations, making donations to vetted charities and supporting independent, truth-disseminating journalists who are putting themselves on the front lines of history. 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

March 9, 2022 Jeffrey D. Sachs | Project Syndicate Although Vladimir Putin's perfidious war against Ukraine has united America and its allies behind the objective of crushing the Russian economy, there is no good reason to think that righteousness will bring an end to the bloodshed. The history of conflicts in the nuclear age has made clear that compromise is the only safe option. NEW YORK – Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine is horrific and barbaric. Yet it could still be ended with a diplomatic solution in which Russia withdraws its forces in exchange for Ukraine’s neutrality. Putin signaled his openness to this possibility in his recent call with French President Emmanuel Macron: “this is first and foremost about demilitarization and neutrality of Ukraine, to ensure that Ukraine will never pose a threat to Russia.” Translated into action, this could mean that NATO and Ukraine would forswear Ukraine’s future membership in the Alliance if Russia immediately withdraws from Ukraine and forswears future attacks. In a diplomatic solution, no party gets everything it wants. Putin would not get to restore the Russian empire, and Ukraine would not get to join NATO. The United States would be forced to accept the limits of its power in a multipolar world (a truth that would also apply to China). To be sure, a diplomatic compromise does not fit with the current mood. The world is appalled by Russia’s perfidy and moved by the Ukrainian people’s heroic resistance. Yet Ukraine’s survival (and possibly even the world’s) ultimately depends on prudence prevailing over righteous valor. Ukraine is calling for more fighter jets, more heavy weaponry, and a NATO no-fly zone. Each of these steps would increase the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO – one that could quickly escalate into a nuclear showdown. European and US leaders’ instinct is to crush Russia economically, to prove decisively that barbarism does not pay. From this perspective, compromise seems like appeasement, yet the compromise would be to save Ukraine, not to cede it. Economic warfare is also fraught with profound risks. The global dislocations will be enormous, and the demands to move beyond economic warfare to a military response are bound to rise. In the meantime, the fighting will continue, producing massive bloodshed and probably leading to a Russian occupation anyway. Diplomacy can work even in the starkest of confrontations. In fact, diplomacy is essential to resolve great-power disputes in the nuclear age. The Cuban Missile Crisis is a case in point. Whether one blames that incident on the US, for having backed an invasion of Cuba in 1961, or on the Soviet Union, for having deployed atomic weapons there in 1962, the conflict brought the world to the brink of nuclear Armageddon. In the end, the crisis was defused by diplomacy and compromise, not by a one-sided victory. US President John F. Kennedy agreed to remove US missiles from Turkey and pledged never again to invade Cuba, while Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the Soviet missiles from the island. The world got lucky. As the historian Martin Sherwin later showed, nuclear war between the two powers almost erupted despite Kennedy and Khrushchev’s efforts to avoid it. In response to Putin’s war, the US and Europe rapidly deployed an impressive range of economic measures to disconnect Russia from global trade and finance. These included freezing Russia’s central bank reserves and other private asset accounts; seizing yachts; stopping technology flows; ending insurance coverage; and delisting Russian securities. But such sanctions rarely deter, much less bring down, a ruthless regime. The US tried similar measures to topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, but succeeded only in crushing the economy. According to the International Monetary Fund, Venezuela’s per capita GDP declined by more than 60% between 2017 and 2021, yet Maduro remains entrenched (and now is being courted by the US so that Venezuela will pump more oil). Nor have US sanctions overturned the regimes in Iran and North Korea. Moreover, the Russia sanctions are likely to wear thin over time. After producing enormous short-term havoc and distress globally – with oil prices soaring and major commodity supply chains being disrupted – they will create countless arbitrage opportunities for Russia to sell its valuable commodities to entities beyond the reach of US sanctions. China and others will not be keen to enforce a sanctions regime that could well be used against them next. Russia thus will not be as isolated as the US and Europe seem to think. After the initial shock of the new sanctions, its trading opportunities will likely grow, not diminish. In addition to the economic sanctions, the US and Europe are also funneling weapons into Ukraine. Again, this is very unlikely to prevent a Russian occupation, but it will make it more likely that Ukraine becomes another perpetual killing field, like Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria before it. Even more ominously, the flow of arms into Ukraine will risk a direct military confrontation between Russia and NATO. Whereas Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria had no nuclear weapons, Russia has nearly 6,000, with an estimated 1,600 active and deployed. Diplomacy might well fail. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth trying. As Kennedy famously declared, “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” That sentiment saved the world in 1962, and it could save it again now. Russia watchers are deeply divided about Putin’s real motives. Many believe that he will stop at nothing to recreate the Russian Empire. If so, God help us. Others believe that he aims to destroy Ukraine’s democracy and smother its economy, so that it cannot become a beacon to the Russian people. Still others, however, argue that Putin’s vociferous opposition to NATO enlargement – and to US political meddling in Ukraine (including its support of the uprising against Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014) – is genuine. It is time to test that proposition. What if Ukrainian neutrality really is the key to peace? Pursuing diplomacy is not appeasement; it is prudence, and it could save Ukraine and the world from an unmitigated catastrophe. Jeffrey D. Sachs, University Professor at Columbia University, is Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He has served as adviser to three UN Secretaries-General, and currently serves as an SDG Advocate under Secretary-General António Guterres. His books include The End of Poverty, Common Wealth, The Age of Sustainable Development, Building the New American Economy, A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism, and, most recently, The Ages of Globalization.

By Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. Fair warning to the reader: this article is admittedly intemperate. I am venting the anger I feel even as much as what I think—and maybe then some. Watching the news on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, about to go into its third week, I’ve been building up to a big, steaming mad-on. If I were a cartoon character, the cartoonist would draw smoke coming out of my ears. I am, of course, disgusted by the horror Putin has wrought—cities under medieval-style siege, their hospitals and schools targeted, their buildings turned to rubble, and citizens fleeing by the millions, attacked as they flee. But my greatest frustration comes from my own sense of impotence and the slowness of our leaders in the West to take timely action to aid Ukraine in its stand against the Russian invaders. Watching the talking heads on television, whether pundits or official representatives of various western nations, I have come away with the impression that all they do is talk talk talk. They metaphorically wring their hands and dither about what NATO could do, should do, might do, or will do at some point in the future. And that appears to be mostly imposing sanctions on Russia in increments, now including a ban on Russian oil, and confiscating assets to put pressure on Putin through his people and his oligarchs which—all admit—will take months or even years to have an effect. By then, the Ukrainians will all be dead or, if they’re lucky, displaced from their country. The Ukrainians don’t have months or years for sanctions to work. And neither does Western Europe. And neither do we. Ukraine is the only thing standing between the NATO countries and Putin’s ambitions. Western leaders are not behaving precisely like Neville Chamberlain; that is, they are not talking appeasement. But the slow, belabored discussions over how to handle Putin may create the same sort of result, bringing on the very World War III that the world is trying so hard to avoid by not acting, or not acting much. Certainly, by not acting fast enough. On many recent nights, MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell has adamantly and repeatedly emphasized that “no-fly zone” is a fictional term for what is really an “aerial combat zone.” He has explained that the no-fly zone Ukraine keeps requesting would actually be the United States going to war with Russia—with us shooting down their planes and them shooting down ours, possibly expanding the conflict into another world war, this one between two nuclear powers. Given Putin’s recent reminder to the world that he has nuclear weapons, along with Russia’s attacks on some Ukrainian nuclear plants and takeover of others, the U.S. and NATO do not want to test themselves against Putin’s nuclear blackmail on behalf of a non-NATO nation. Surely, Putin has counted on that in making his threats. And if he is allowed to get away with his scorched earth tactics, backed by his nuclear warnings, what is to keep him from using such blackmail to take over a NATO nation? Or ultimately, bit by bit, control of the entire world? But, fair enough. I’m not advocating we establish a no-fly zone or, as O’Donnell has perhaps better defined it, an aerial combat zone. But the Zelensky government has also asked, as its second choice, for planes—old Russian MiG’s that the Ukrainians know how to fly—so that they can police their airspace against Russia’s aerial attacks themselves. I hear that plea every single day on the news. Most recently, I see that the United States is trying to broker a deal for Poland to give Ukraine the MiG’s in exchange for the U.S. giving Poland more modern F-16 fighter planes. With aerial attacks threatening civilian targets every day, every hour, every minute, where is the action on this? It is needed now. Not days or weeks from now—if Poland agrees to it at all. But perhaps I am not being completely fair about NATO’s lack of action. According to CNN, there is an undisclosed airfield near the Ukrainian border that is being used as a hub for shipping weapons. CNN has said that, so far, the U.S. and other NATO members have sent Ukraine 17,000 anti-tank missiles, and 2,000 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles—and that Ukraine has put them to effective use. In addition, $240 million of a $350 million U.S. security assistance package, including anti-armor capabilities, has been delivered to Ukraine. Nevertheless, watching cities turned to rubble through Russia’s aerial attacks, and hearing President Zelensky and other Ukrainian representatives’ daily pleas for aid, what has been given thus far doesn’t seem like nearly enough. After all, the Ukrainians must know what the Ukrainians need and what they are capable of using, and they’re still pleading for military aid—especially planes. And given the aerial bombardments, planes are what they need most. Without at least supplying Ukraine the planes, all the nations’ claims of support amount to empty words. As for the rest of us--we do what? Wear the colors of Ukraine’s flag, yellow and blue, to show solidarity? Place signs in the window and memes on Facebook? The symbolism is nice, but does more for our psyche than Ukraine’s survival. Some stalwart souls may go to Ukraine’s borders to help refugee efforts in person. And the rest of us can give contributions to charities or NGOs that will aid the refugees. Helping to pick up the pieces may be all that we as individuals can do. But it does not make me feel less impotent. It’s not enough. It’s just not enough. Political columnist Jessie Seigel had a long career as a government attorney in which she honed her analytic skills. She has also twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the Washington, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her fiction, and has been a finalist for a number of literary awards. In addition, Seigel is an associate editor at the Potomac Review, a reviewer for The Washington Independent Review of Books, and a dabbler in political cartoons at Daily Kos. Of this balance in her work between the analytic and the imaginative, Seigel jokes, “I guess my right and left brains are well-balanced.” More on and from Seigel can be found at The Adventurous Writer, https://www.jessieseigel.com.

Fred Plotkin, a pleasure activist and passionate Italy and culinary expert, speaks each Friday with leading people in the arts FRED PLOTKIN is one of America’s foremost experts on opera and has distinguished himself in many fields as a writer, speaker, consultant and as a compelling teacher. He is an expert on everything Italian, the person other so-called Italy experts turn to for definitive information.  Fred discovered the concept of "The Renaissance Man" as a small child and has devoted himself to pursuing that ideal as the central role of his life. In a “Public Lives” profile in The New York Times on August 30, 2002, Plotkin was described as "one of those New York word-of-mouth legends, known by the cognoscenti for his renaissance mastery of two seemingly separate disciplines: music and the food of Italy." In the same publication, on May 11, 2006, it was written that "Fred is a New Yorker, but has the soul of an Italian."

By John Rolfe / Red Hook, N.Y. Smiling faces returned to my school bus on March 2. That’s the day the mask mandate was lifted by the public-school district I drive for in the Mid-Hudson Valley. There were scenes of jubilant celebration reminiscent of Times Square on V-J Day in 1945 as anti-maskers on our staff laughed and hugged and greeted each other as if they hadn’t seen each other in decades. On my bus, the reaction was more muted. All through the pandemic, the kids I’ve driven have taken masks in quiet stride. None refused to wear them. None ever complained. Approximately 250 elementary, intermediate- and middle-schoolers have graced my big yellow madhouse during that time. If they forgot to bring a mask, they asked me for one. I usually had a supply handy unless I’d run out mid-trip due to high demand. So when the mandate was finally no more, the kids came aboard as if nothing much had happened. There were a few jokes about smiles, and a second-grader said to me, “You look different.” “I’m not wearing a mask,” I told him. “Why are you wearing a beard?” he asked. (It’s a disguise, kid. Don’t tell anyone.) All along, adults have been the ones raising a mighty stink and turning school board meetings into rant ‘n rage fests, some of which required a police presence in nearby districts. My mind boggles when I look at the brave, unified response of the Ukrainian people to the brutal Russian invasion of their country. Then I think about how millions of Americans have whined and howled and stamped their feet at the insufferable hardship, the terrible tyranny, of having to temporarily wear a little piece of cloth on their faces to ward off a potentially lethal virus. To boggle my mind even more, the superintendent of my district felt compelled to send an email to all staff members, parents and students requesting that students who choose to continue wearing masks not be bullied or harassed. It’s a strange statement to make about human beings that they will harass or bully other humans for individually trying to prevent the spread of a harmful disease. Giving them hell for wearing a mask is like assailing them for wearing a hat. How does it harm anyone else? And then we have imbeciles like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. On the same day my district lifted its mandate, DeSantis spoke at a news conference at the University of South Florida, where he chastised a group of Middleton High School students behind his podium. “You do not have to wear those masks,” he said. “Please take them off. Honestly, it’s not doing anything. We’ve got to stop with this Covid theater. So if you want to wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous.” Some of the students removed their masks. At least one said he felt pressured. That politicians like DeSantis have turned a simple preventive measure into a successful, fiery crusade and divisive issue speaks to the utter absurdity of the political climate in this nation. Again, I direct your attention to Ukraine where even elderly people are heeding a call to arms to defend their nation from a ruthless invader. They are passionately giving up their lives and comforts. Here, we can’t stand being told to watch out for others’ health by donning a piece of cloth. Beam me up, Scotty. So far I have seen no harassment of the kids on my bus who have chosen to keep wearing a mask. I’d say the total is as high as one-quarter of my current riders, or about 12. There hasn’t been a peep about it from anyone. I’m keeping a supply handy just in case I get a request or another outbreak requires a mandated return. And as for me, I’m going maskless … for the most part. I’ve had Covid. I’m fully vaxxed and boosted. I feel fine. On my bus, there is always fresh air circulating around me — via a window, the door, the fans above the dashboard, or the heaters — and no passenger is close for more than a second or so. But when I’m in places where most people are wearing masks, I’ll put one on. I don’t mind but I mostly feel compelled to do it by the politics of this situation. I don’t want those people to feel uneasy or that I’m against them. Call me a virtue signaler. I don’t give a plump rodent’s caboose. I actually take comfort in knowing that by wearing a mask I’m knotting the knickers of nitwits like Ron DeSantis. Having to even consider all of this is a ludicrous state of affairs. 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 74 By Laurence Lerman / New York City “For the entire world, Marilyn Monroe became a symbol of the eternal feminine,” Actors Studio legend and one of Marilyn’s mentors Lee Strasberg said in his eulogy at her funeral in 1962. Only a little more than a decade later, the legendary star’s status as one of America’s most popular icons, performers and sex symbols began fueling a near-industry of film and TV programs. And now, nearly 50 years and dozens of films and programs later, comes a long-gestating feature that’s been getting an excess of buzz since it first went into production back in pre-Covid 2019. It’s Blonde, starring Cuban-born actress Ana de Armas, who was cast before she became a substantially hotter commodity via her roles in the comedic whodunit Knives Out (2019) and Daniel Craig’s James Bond swansong No Time to Die (2021). Based on Joyce Carol Oates’ well-regarded 2000 historical fiction novel, Blonde was in development for over a decade by New Zealand-born filmmaker Andrew Dominik. Known for his vivid, character-driven critics’ favorites The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) and the neo-noir Killing Them Softly (2012), Dominik announced to the trades in mid-February that Netflix will release the film to theaters and then onto its streaming platform later this year, with a possible NC-17 rating in the U.S. Of the chatter surrounding the adults-only classification, the none-too-shy filmmaker told trade magazine Screen Daily, “It’s a demanding movie! If the audience doesn’t like it, that’s the fucking audience’s problem. It’s not running for public office.” That’s the kind of attention-grabbing quote that will help put Blonde on everyone’s radar the moment a release date is announced. The Marilyn Monroe bio-pic industry launched with 1976’s Goodbye, Norma Jean, an awful Australian/American co-production starring Hee-Haw’s Misty Rowe that reveled in the more sordid aspects of Marilyn’s life, wherein she endures a never-ending cycle of physical, mental and sexual abuse. While her well-documented life certainly had its sadder and more tragic aspects, Marilyn’s subsequent depictions on screens large and small have been much more open to positive aspects of her story. And that’s while her life was being fictionalized (to varying degrees) and chronologically splintered, as is the wont in bio-pics. And so, the rollout of Marilyn chronicles began, moving through the ‘80s and into the ‘90s with Susan Griffiths in 1991’s Marilyn and Me and Melody Anderson in 1993’s movie Marilyn & Bobby, Her Final Affair, both high-profile TV movies. That so many biographical projects over the years have been television productions speaks of Marilyn’s accessibility and appeal to the masses, along with Hollywood’s content creators re-constructing and sometimes even reinventing her life in a clearly episodic format. Even when she wasn’t the main subject of a program, Marilyn has popped as a supporting character in countless biographical pics on other famous figures (Barbara Niven in the 1998 HBO quickie The Rat Pack about Sinatra and company and Charlotte Sullivan in the 2011 miniseries The Kennedys, to name a couple). Then there are the dream sequences and masquerade riffs that have appeared in a number of TV shows (Blake Lively in a 2012 episode of Gossip Girl; Uma Thurman, Megan Hilty and Katherine McPhee in 2012’s short-lived Smash, about the making of a Broadway musical about Marilyn). Until Blonde arrives, there are more than enough narrative pictures out there to sate those seeking a Marilyn fix (or you could go for the real McCoy and dive into one of a myriad Marilyn docs). You can begin with these half-dozen of the more notable screen biographies, which are all available to stream on major platforms. Two are feature films, four are television projects, and some of them really deliver, while others really don't. But I can honestly say that each and every leading lady offers a lively, earnest portrayal of the late Hollywood legend. And that is saying something. Catherine Hicks in Marilyn: The Untold Story (1980) Based upon Norman Mailer’s popular 1973 Marilyn: A Biography, this well-appointed TV movie stars Catherine Hicks, who turns in some significant adult charm years before her decade-long family-friendly triumph in TV’s Seventh Heaven (1996). Reportedly a troubled production with three credited directors (Jack Arnold, John Flynn and Lawrence Schiller), The Untold Story earned four Emmy Nominations, including a Best Actress nod for Hicks. Theresa Russell in Insignificance (1985) A dearth of challenging roles for the always game Theresa Russell gave way to her lively take on Marilyn in this experimental effort adapted by British dramatist Terry Johnson from his 1982 play of the same name. Directed by arthouse auteur Nicolas Roeg (Russell’s husband at the time), this chamber piece follows a mythical meeting of four famous people in a New York City hotel one night in 1954: Joe DiMaggio (billed here as “The Ballplayer), Albert Einstein (“The Professor”), Joseph McCarthy (“The Senator”) and Marilyn Monroe (“The Actress”). The highlight is when Marilyn demonstrates to an enthusiastic Einstein his theory of relativity using a flashlight, some balloons and a toy train. Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino in Norma Jean & Marilyn (1996) Tagged with the line “Marilyn Monroe was our fantasy. Norma Jean was her reality.,” this HBO Original Film features Mira as Marilyn and Ashley as Norma Jean, her younger self. Filled with a number of dreamlike scenes that find Marilyn and Norma Jean appearing on-screen together (and even taunting each other!), this strangely conceived concoction garnered five Emmy Award nomination, including a pair for both lead actresses. Poppy Montgomery in Blonde (2001) This 2001 made-for-TV film was actually the first adaption of Joyce Carol Oates’s same-named 2000 novel. Like Catherine Hicks twenty years earlier, this very competent take on the public life and inner turmoil of Marilyn was a high-profile served as a kick-off to the actress’s subsequent television career, which includes leading turns in the popular series Without a Trace (2002) and Unforgettable (2011). Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn (2011) This Simon Curtis-helmed drama concerns a week during the production of the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl starring Marilyn and actor/director Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh), when in Marilyn was escorted around London by a young production assistant (Eddie Redmayne). Based on a pair of Marilyn-themed books by Colin Clark, this Week feels like a plausible piece of historical fiction, but that could be due to a remarkably sensitive performance by Michelle Williams, who picked up a Golden Globe Award and Oscar nomination for her efforts. Kelli Garner in The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe (2015) Though it tries its best to focus on the seldom-seen relationship between Marilyn and her mother, there aren’t really many surprises in this Lifetime two-part miniseries. That doesn’t take away anything from Kelli Garner’s outstanding performance or that of Susan Sarandon as her troubled mom. And let’s hear it for Jeffrey Dean Morgan and his great take on Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio! 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.