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 56 By Laurence Lerman / New York City One could easily imagine a chatty aunt or kvetching mother criticizing the whole of Jewish cinema with the proclamation that serves as Reel Streaming’s headline this week. Though Judaism doesn’t generally have the representations of Hell and the Devil that one finds in Christianity, there’s still all manner of dark Jewish mythology, superstition and mysticism in the breeze out there (Kabbalah, anyone?). Those thousands of years of otherworldly beliefs have made their way into a spirited collection of Jewish-themed horror movies. And a number of golems, dybbuks and mazziks, as well. No, those are not the ingredients for some kind of exotic break-fast dish, but rather the supernatural beings that haunt these Jewish fright flicks. Here are seven movies that have the power to get under the skin of some Jewish movielovers, just as The Exorcist did to many a Catholic cinephile. They’re all worth considering for cinematic noshing or, if you have a desire to raise the hairs on the back of your neck, as the creepiest of seasonal holidays arrives. The Golem (Paul Wegener, 1920) The granddaddy of Jewish horror films—and frequently acknowledged as the source of the Frankenstein myth—is the German silent film The Golem. It was inspired by the Jewish folktale of a 16th Century rabbi who used sorcery to create a giant clay warrior to protect his people from persecution. That’s all well and good, until the titular lumbering monster runs rampant, slaying townspeople, setting fire to the ghetto and abducting the rabbi’s daughter. That’s right: the trope about a hulking giant stalking off with a damsel in distress in his arms dates back to the German silent era! The Fearless Vampire Killers (Roman Polanski, 1967) Shortened from its original title, The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck, Polanski’s comedy-horror film about an aging hunter of the undead and his goofy assistant (a bumbling Polanski!) on the lookout for vamps in 19th century Transylvania remains a lot of fun. The notorious filmmaker’s only out-and-out comedy (peppered with lots of not-so-scary moments of horror) finds Polanski’s late wife Sharon Tate in fine comedic form (the pair met on this film). Jack MacGowran plays a Jewish bloodsucker whose response to a cross thrust into his face is, “Oy vey, have you got the wrong vampire!” A Serious Man (Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 2009) The Coen Brothers parable of 1970s suburbanite Larry Gopnick’s Job-like descent into grief and suffering isn’t as disturbing as the film’s opening scene. Set in a 19th century Eastern European shtetl, A Serious Man’s Yiddish-language prologue features a married couple who encounter a neighbor whom the wife believes has been dead for days. Surmising the neighbor is a dybbuk—a malicious spirit who has risen from a deceased soul—the determined wife goes to town on him with an ice pick in an attempt to kill him again, an action which prefigures Gopnick’s problems 100 years down the line. The Possession (Ole Bornedal, 2012) and The Unborn (David S. Goyer, 2009) Both of these supernaturally-flavored Hollywood horror films take on the myth of the dybbuk and the hell it raises (literally) until the dybbuk is exorcised from the body it possesses. These are respectable, contemporary offerings with fine performances by their leading ladies (Odette Yustman in The Unborn and Kyra Sedgwick and young Natasha Calis in The Possessed), along with a generous allowance of “jump scares” for audiences looking for less subtlety and more malevolence. Hanukkah (Eben McGarr, 2019) Yarmelke-wearing Obediah Lazarus, believing he is following the commands of a higher power (just like the psychotic killers who stalked such holiday horror cult favorites as Christmas Evil in 1980 and Silent Night, Deadly Night in 1984), raises all sorts of murderous hell during his own favorite holiday, the Festival of Lights. Hence, his moniker: The Hanu-killer! Oh, and in the name of God, Obediah carves a “Scar” of David into the chests of his victims. A low-budget, old school-styled crazy killer movie a la Friday the 13th (Friday’s composer Harry Manfredini also provides the music here), this one’s for low-budget shlock-shock lovers who never thought they’d live to see an honest-to-God Jewish slasher flick. This one affectionately features appearances by late horror icons Sid Haig (The Devil’s Rejects) and Dick Miller (Bucket of Blood), as well as scream queens of yesteryear P.J. Soles (Halloween) and Caroline Williams (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II). The Vigil (Keith Thomas, 2019) The debut feature from writer-director Thomas follows Yakov, a young lapsed Orthodox Jewish man, tasked with serving as a “shomer”—a kind of guardian who watches over the body of a deceased person until burial, according to Jewish law. Over the course of an interminably long evening, Yakov keeps vigil over the body of a former Holocaust survivor in Brooklyn, only to be targeted by a nasty demon spirit known in Jewish mythology as a mazzik. (Think dybbuk, but one that’s looking for a lot more trouble and not just a quick haunting.) A very atmospheric and effective effort that’s primarily set in a creaky Williamsburg home, The Vigil proved to be a fine calling card for its maker, who is currently putting the finishing touches on his second feature, a new version of the incendiary 1980 Stephen King novel Firestarter. More than most, The Vigil really mines the elements of Judaism to create a genuinely scary vibe. And while there aren’t all that many examples of the Jewish faith serving as the engine of a horror subgenre, there’s still some fun to be found this season. If you really think this is fun, that is. 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 Bonnie Fishman / San Francisco Bay Area For my son Ben’s last birthday, I told him I was sending him a rondeau. “What do I need that for,” he replied. Just go with it and use it. The cooking pot arrived at his house and Rachel, his wife, used it right away. Then he used it. Both of them are excellent and adventurous cooks. Their comment to me: “How did we ever live without a rondeau?!” I also bought one for my sister, Nancy, for hosting us in their home. She, too, said “This is my favorite pan.” If someone said to me, you can only have two pieces of kitchen equipment, one would be my knife and the other my rondeau. When I owned Bonnie’s Kitchen in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., the most sought-after pot in our arsenal was the rondeau. My chef Joan and I picked up a very large used one at a restaurant supply store. We saw it from afar. It was love at first sight. We would make humungous batches of meaty lasagna sauce, Italian veal stew, macaroni and cheese for the masses, and many other dishes. A rondeau is a wonderful pot, also called a braiser. It is commonly used in professional kitchens because of its versatility. The pot is characterized by a large flat, heavy bottom, about 3-inch straight sides and two side handles. It usually has a lid. Most are made of stainless steel. A 12-inch rondeau has a 6-quart capacity. When making stews, pasta sauces, braised chicken pieces, frying fish, this is a great size. I own two rondeaux: a 12-inch and a 14-inch that holds 8 quarts. I rarely use my 12-inch skillet anymore, because a side benefit of the rondeau’s high sides is that it cuts down on the amount of splatter on the stove top, a real bonus for cleanup. Many cooks use their large Dutch ovens for braising, and there is nothing wrong with that. What I like better about a rondeau, though, is the bottom is larger, making it possible to brown more meat at one time. Also, the sides are shorter, so it is easier to stir the ingredients around the pan. Lastly, because of its large surface, evaporation happens more easily. Your braising pot is a personal choice and luckily, there are many designs to choose from. I have seen this pot called a brasier or brazier more often than a rondeau. Braising is a classic cooking method rooted in French culinary history. According to Merriam-Webster, the English verb “braise” means ‘to cook slowly in fat and a small amount of liquid in a closed pot.” English acquired the word from the similar French verb braiser. The technique began in the 18th century when both dry and wet heat were used for a single preparation, usually a large piece of meat. The meat is seared in a little bit of fat to give it color and seal in the juices. Then a small amount of liquid is added to the pot, usually with some roasting vegetables. The liquid often has an acid component, such as wine, vinegar, or tomatoes plus some stock. A classic pot roast is a good example of braising. The recipe that I’m offering this week is a delicious fall stew, made in my rondeau. The meat is seared in oil in the beginning, then wine is added as the acid and stock. You can continue to cook this on the stove top or put in a 350° oven until the vegetables are tender. Feel free to substitute different meats or vegetables, though keep in mind that if you make this with beef or lamb stew, you will need to cook the meat with the vegetables the whole time. These are tougher cuts and will take about 1 1/2 hours to get tender. Also, try to stick with root vegetables to preserve the integrity of the dish. I serve this on wide flat noodles or offer a crusty peasant loaf of bread. Braising is one of my favorite cooking techniques, particularly because it imparts such depth of flavor. You can apply it to any ethnic style and you only dirty one pot! Go buy a rondeau or haul out your Dutch oven, but just get braising! What’s your beautifully braised dinner at your house? Please share it with our readers at The Insider! Braised Hunter’s Chicken Stew Yield: 10-12 servings 1 oz. dried shiitake mushrooms @ 4 Tbs. vegetable oil 3 lb. skinless, boneless chicken thighs cut into 1” pieces 2 lg. onions, cut into eighths 1 red pepper, cut into 1” pieces 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 12 oz. button mushrooms, quartered 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded, minced 3 Tbs. flour 1/2 c. dry white wine 2 c. peeled butternut squash 1/2” cubes 1 lg. russet potato, peeled, 1/2” cubes 5 plum tomatoes, peeled and quartered 1/2 c. whole almonds 2 c. chicken stock 2 bay leaves 1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves 1/8 tsp. ground cloves 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg 3 Tbs. fresh chopped parsley Soak the dried mushrooms in 1/2 cup hot water for 30 minutes. Strain, reserving the liquid. Remove stems and discard. Coarsely chop the mushrooms. Reserve. In a 6-quart rondeau or a large Dutch oven, heat some oil over moderately high heat. Sauté half of the chicken for 5-7 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through, seasoning with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Transfer chicken to a bowl. Add more oil to the pan and finish cooking the remaining thighs. Add to the bowl. Add some more oil to the skillet, turn down to moderate heat, and sauté the onions, red pepper, garlic, jalapeño, and fresh mushrooms. Cook for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are almost tender. Blend in the flour. Pour on the wine. Deglaze the pan. Add the squash, potatoes, tomatoes, almonds, reserved dried mushrooms and their liquid. Pour on the stock along with the bay leaves, thyme, cloves, and nutmeg. Cover. Continue to cook on the stove top, stirring occasionally for 25 minutes. Or put in the oven at 350° for 25 minutes. Add the chicken and continue cooking or baking until the squash and potatoes are tender but still retain their shape, about 10 minutes more. Stir in the parsley. Adjust the seasoning. Bonnie Fishman attended the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London. Later, she owned and operated Bonnie’s Patisserie in Southfield, Mich. and Bonnie’s Kitchen and Catering in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. She has taught cooking for over 35 years and created hundreds of recipes. She is now living in Northern California.

By Julie Kraus / Detroit In recent weeks, I’ve come to recognize something important about my life during the Covid era. For most of the pandemic, I believed that I was just living through a pause, to make sure that I didn’t get Covid or give Covid to the people in my circle. But because of the unwillingness of so many people to get vaccinated, to wear masks or to socially distance, this may be the life we are living for a long time. I’m realizing that I can’t keep thinking that when we get through this long, dark tunnel, I will be able to resume my past much higher activity lifestyle. In fact, since I’m about to reach 70, this might be the course for the rest of my days. This virus may be with us much as the flu is with us, but with Covid’s continuing variants doing even more destructive damage. I had been heading in this direction for the last several weeks as I contemplated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which began on September 6. I realized that it has now been two years since I joined religious services in the sanctuary of the Temple (although that was an option this year, I zoomed the service at home). In fact, it has been a long time since I have taught piano students, attended a concert or visited a mall. So it’s time for me to stop looking at when I can start up my life, but to start up my life differently today. That means changing my philosophy and recognizing that THIS IS MY LIFE. I don’t plan to alter my hermit-like behavior dramatically, just add a few safe activities to my schedule. I was reading an email from my state’s Office of Retirement Services, which was responding in its newsletter to questions from its members. It ended one of the answers with the words “as we emerge from the pandemic.” I see this type of reference in print or hear it a lot. A friend just phoned and in the conversation said, “when this is over.” I’m suggesting that we stop thinking about emerging from this pandemic and hoping for it to be over. I’m expecting that we’ll be living with this viral environment for the future, or at least many more years, so adjusting our thinking will help in our psychological and mental state. I know it already has in mine. I see things more positively and I know that I want to be more productive every day. My dark-cloud brooding that was a part of my daily demeanor has dissipated. It seems strange to think that acknowledging the fact that the pandemic is a long-term part of my life has resulted in a brighter outlook for me. It’s as if by accepting the negative forecast, the positive attitude has shown through. What irony! It only took me 18 months to reach this level of self-awareness. Julie Kraus is a retired Detroit Public Schools teacher who has used this pandemic to catch up on lots of reading, corresponding and long phone conversations with friends and relatives. A classical pianist who performed this past summer at outdoor concerts with social distancing, of course, she plans to keep practicing daily throughout the colder months. She hopes that everyone stays healthy, and gets vaccinated and boostered.

By Andy Borowitz October 22, 2021 WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Steve Bannon was caught attempting to flee the United States disguised as a man who had recently taken a shower, T.S.A. officials have confirmed. A T.S.A. agent at Reagan National Airport, Harland Dorrinson, explained how Bannon’s talent as a master of disguise nearly enabled him to board a plane to Moscow. “He showered, shaved, and even combed his hair,” Dorrinson said. “He was totally unrecognizable.” Bannon’s plan crumbled, however, during a routine pat down. “That’s when we noticed that his pants had a large mustard stain,” the T.S.A. agent said. “They evidently had not been laundered in months. One of my colleagues shouted, ‘It’s Bannon! Stop him!’” Taken into custody, the former White House adviser seemed bitter about his foiled escape attempt. “I took a shower for no fucking reason,” he said. Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.

By Naomi Serviss / New York City When I was a seventh or eighth grade Ogontz Junior High student, the school nurse gathered small groups of girls in her office each fall, for one purpose. To weigh us. In front of our peers. Each girl’s weight was announced. It was humiliating and terrifying. I weighed much more than the small-boned, petite popular girls who flocked together in wealthy perfection to judge outliers like me. I was always a tall kid, towering over others my age and feeling schlubby. It didn’t bother me after I was deemed a “tomboy.” No one cared if I got schmutz on my hand-me-down clothes! My passion was fueled by tree climbing, railroad track-crossing, and creek exploration. The natural world lured me away from my screwy, negligent, abusive family. And cheap rental apartments. It wasn’t a fun childhood, yadda, yadda. My older brother fat-shamed me when I was still wearing sunsuits and a stupid haircut. Epithets through the years included: Fat pig Fatso Fat ass His vocabulary was limited, but his vitriol was visceral. My mother’s Bingo friend deemed me pleasantly plump. I wasn’t even 10. I wanted to kick him. Instead, I internalized that negative moniker. My oldest brother teased me about my prominent front teeth and called me Bugs, as in Bugs Bunny. My best friend called me Pugsley, after the chubby boy in The Addams Family. You get the drift. That’s when I started taking notes. Payback is killer! Good news, bad news: My resilient nature got me through. But the price paid was a lifelong food disorder. Body dysmorphic syndrome is a mental health disorder. For instance, if you ruminate about secretary spread or rings around your neck, you’re probably painfully self-conscious. Dysmorphia affects both sexes and even prepubescents. I spent years in the Food Hall of Shame. Anorexia was not for me, I chose bulimia! You can have your cake and un-eat it, too! My mother had weird nutrition. Yes! Blame the mother! She chain-smoked unfiltered Philip Morris cigarettes drank black coffee. She picked off little brown tobacco flecks from her tongue. Eating dinner out was Lucy’s second favorite activity, after church bingo. We often went to her favorite Chinese restaurant. She taught me the dieter’s secret to eating sweet and sour pork, lo mein and spareribs. Chopstick in hand, she’d spear a portion then dunk it in her water glass. “This is how you get rid of calories.” She swirled it around, then fished it out. “And it still tastes great!” she exclaimed, popping it into her mouth. Lucy was maternal-lite to her brood of five once we outgrew toddlerhood. Some narcissists can’t tolerate competition, even with their own kids, once they stop being cute. I essentially raised myself, With encouragement from English teachers, librarians, and good friends’ families. The eldest brother flew the coop, joining the Air Force after our father kicked him out. Bully brother lobbed water balloons from the fire escape and punched a fist-sized hole in an outside wall, which wasn’t so great in winter. One older sister got out by going to university. My other sister left home when I was around 10. I witnessed my mother cutting off my sister’s hair twice and smashing her guitar. My mother’s wrath was legendary. I watched the hurried leave-taking, sitting and sobbing on the hallway steps, Lucy was screaming terrible things. Sometimes her words came out with spittle. You might correctly conclude my world was a “tad” unstable. Resilience and a little bit of luck goes far! Food became a reliable ally. Until it wasn’t. Bulimia, anorexia and other food disorders are horrific diseases. Speaking as a recovered purger, I know of what I speak. But they are symptoms of a profound psychological component that needs addressing. It’s a tough row to hoe, but the rewards can be literally life-saving. I’m in a good place now, after intense therapy and bouts with depression. My journey is not unique. Thankfully, I’m still on it, knock wood. Making mistakes, reconciling with loved ones and severing emotional ties when necessary. My daily meditation and yoga practice is a tonic. I recall memories without emotion. Like watching a movie that I directed. I’m still waiting to be discovered! Have I got a memoir for you! Food is no longer my enemy. Extra sauce! More flavor! Spice it up! I have tasty predilections with no restrictions. And numbers on a scale don’t mean a thing. 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 Victoria Rolfe / Red Hook, NY Since it has been so warm this fall, some gardens may still have summer holdouts that have not quite given up, even at this late date. But we will soon experience that first frost, which brings it all to an end. Each year is unique in the wonderful world of gardening, and that’s what keeps it fresh and exciting. Now is the time to do some organizing and tidying up, à la Marie Kondo, before the snow flies and covers your garden beds in a fluffy blanket of white. It is especially imperative to do a thorough cleanup of your vegetable plots. That plant debris, if left in the garden, can harbor insects and disease that overwinter (wait out the winter season) and then attack your plants next summer. If the plant material was healthy and simply died of frost exposure, go ahead and throw it into your compost heap. If it had any signs of pest or disease damage, then bag that stuff up and throw it away or put it on your burn pile if you have one. I know it can be tempting to leave that last batch of weeds that have cropped up, as they will just be dying soon during the winter anyway, but don’t. It is prudent to leave your garden weed-free through the winter to save yourself even more work next spring. Those perennial weeds will be establishing a good healthy root system to spread through your garden, and if you don’t pick the annual weeds, they may set seeds to spread and sprout robustly next spring. As for your flower beds, here you can catch a break. It is actually nicer if you can go lightly on the fall cleanup, as there is wildlife that depends upon leftover plant debris to see it through the cold and barren winter months. Leave some seed heads (such as echinacea, rudbeckia, sedum, bee balm or sunflowers) to feed the birds and other small creatures. If you can leave a little leaf litter in a spot or two, that can also help some little garden friends such as butterflies, frogs and toads, to overwinter until next spring. But do not leave leaf litter against tree trunks for voles to hide in and do their damage during the winter months. Now is the perfect time of year to enjoy the spectacular fall foliage show while you are out there working. And then after a satisfying day’s work, head inside to savor those delicious fall vegetable recipes made straight from your own garden. The rewards of gardening are truly exponential. Victoria Rolfe has had a love of gardening all her life, from the time she was a tiny child coveting the daffodils growing in her neighbor’s yard (and wondering why she couldn’t have them in her own), to her teenage years when she took her pot experimentation in a different direction by growing the seeds she extracted from the bag into a beautiful marijuana plant on her bedroom windowsill. She went on in her adult years to feed her family by growing a huge and bountiful vegetable garden, as well as beautifying her three-acre property with an array of ornamental trees, bushes and flowers in the magnificent Hudson Valley region of New York. Victoria learned a great deal in the process of all this plant experimentation. She then added to that knowledge by taking courses with the Cornell Cooperative Extension to become a Master Gardener Volunteer. In her volunteer capacity, she helps to educate the public on gardening through classes and information booths, most notably at the Dutchess County N.Y. Fair each August. Throughout the summer months, Victoria is most likely to be found among the weeds, either in her own garden or those of others who actually pay her to play in their dirt and do the thing she loves best, delight in the magical world of gardening. Victoria is not only a gardening aficionado; she is also passionate about helping people live a better life on less money. Visit her website and blog at brightfuture2budget4.weebly.com, or email her at brightfuture2budget4@gmail.com.

By Alan Resnick / Detroit Halloween is now upon us, that giddy time of the year when school-age children across the country dress up in fanciful costumes, participate in parades and parties, and get to binge on candy during class. But not if your child attends elementary school in East Lansing, Mich. USA Today reported last week that Halloween and Valentine’s Day celebrations have been canceled in the East Lansing school district due to concerns raised by a few prickly parents. An unspecified percentage of students have reportedly been seen crying on Halloween "because they don't have the same kind of costumes that other kids have or they didn't bring the same amazing valentines that other kids do," according to the district’s assistant superintendent. Some parents have reportedly kept their children home or picked them up early on Halloween in an attempt to minimize any possible psychological trauma associated with having less elaborate costumes than other kids. In their letter to parents, the district’s humorless principals wrote that parades and parties can also make it difficult for children to concentrate and for teachers to teach. Seriously? One afternoon each school year can be that disruptive? The parents of East Lansing who are more concerned with the challenges of the pandemic than this Halloween kerfuffle must be exploding. Surely, this outrage du jour is not the top educational concern of our era. I too admit to feeling a dull ache in my cranium as I read the USA Today article. And I am not one of those Halloweenie types who gets jazzed up about Pumpkin Day. You couldn’t pay me enough to go to a costume party, our house is devoid of any Halloween decorations, and I don’t wear a scary mask when passing out treats. It’s fun to see the little tykes dressed up in their costumes — at least for about 10 minutes until the front door is pounded on and the doorbell incessantly pressed during the middle of dinner. But unceremoniously canceling the school Halloween party or parade? A little creative thinking would have gone a long way. I appreciate that not all families have the financial resources to buy elaborate costumes, but the cutest and most creative ones I see each year are handmade and not terribly fancy. Funny costumes, no matter how inexpensive, are usually hits. And I would think that a far stronger childhood memory would come from a parent and child planning and making a costume together rather than simply ripping open a bag from Party City or a box from Amazon and pulling one out. This just seems like a spectacular overreaction. How about making costumes optional? My guess is that some kids don’t even want to wear them but are forced to do so by their parents. Or give kids an option, such as wearing one to school or creating a mask in class with construction paper or a paper bag, safety scissors, and some crayons and markers? Of course, this option would send the parents of artistically challenged children into a frenzy. Happily, though, the East Lansing school district is not canceling Halloween or Valentine’s Day entirely. It intends to add the celebrations to the course curriculum. For example, the ever-serious-minded assistant superintendent cited a class measuring a pumpkin while learning about circumference. Not exactly a parade, but at least it’s something. We’re living in a time where everything seems to offend, marginalize, demean, or ignore someone. It goes without saying that past traditions and practices absolutely should be examined for possible discrimination, deliberate inequities, and unintended consequences. But watering things down to the point that they become as inoffensive as possible to everyone may also leave them joyless and meaningless. Who wants to live in a world where either everyone gets the same things or no one gets anything? As a parent, I completely identify with the desire to keep kids safe from physical and emotional dangers. But there has to be some balance between paving over every speed bump in childhood and letting children experience and learn from them. Sandpapering down each rough spot in the name of inclusion and equity doesn’t help children develop the emotional resilience or coping skills they will need as they grow older. Eventually all kids will encounter the messiness, difficulties, heartbreak, and inequities of life, and some preparation is necessary. One of the most crucial lessons life teaches is that someone else will always have more than you or be smarter or more successful. If you spend your life comparing yourself to others and basing your happiness on equaling them, you’ll always be unhappy and unfulfilled. And there’s no disgrace in trying your best and coming up short because someone else did better. My sincere hope is that the worst thing to happen in life to the kids in East Lansing will be embarrassment over having lesser Halloween costumes or mundane valentines. But I doubt it. Alan Resnick is an industrial psychologist with over 40 years of professional experience. He and his wife are sheltering at home in Farmington Hills, Michigan. He is passing the time by cooking, exercising, catching up on friends’ recommendations of must-see TV and writing.

October 19, 2021 Jeffrey D. Sachs | Project Syndicate At the group’s upcoming meeting in Rome, many member governments will press for more ambitious action to address climate change. But these governments must also be prepared to call out the climate laggards, starting with the United States. NEW YORK – The philosopher Immanuel Kant famously said that, “Whoever wills the end also wills…the indispensably necessary means to it that is in his control.” Put simply, when we set a goal, we ought to take the actions needed to achieve it. This is an essential maxim for our governments, and it should guide G20 leaders when they meet in Rome at the end of October to confront the climate crisis. The world set a goal in the Paris climate agreement: to keep global warming within 1.5° Celsius of pre-industrial levels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has explained why this is a valid goal. To go higher than 1.5°C would jeopardize life on the planet with a potential multi-meter rise of sea level, the collapse of critical ecosystems, and the release of methane from thawing permafrost, possibly triggering runaway warming. Yet the world’s current trajectory implies a catastrophic 2.7°C increase in global temperature. Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency showed the technological pathway to achieve the 1.5°C target. We must decarbonize the world’s energy system by mid-century. This is feasible, by shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy and green fuels in power generation, transport, buildings, and industry. Beyond that, we also need to stop deforestation and restore degraded land on a massive scale. So far, governments are failing miserably to do their part. In the inimitable words of Greta Thunberg, they need to move beyond “Blah, blah, blah.” They must will the means to decarbonization. First, governments need to plan the energy system and land-use changes to mid-century. With just 28 years left to 2050, and facing the need for a massive overhaul of energy systems and land-use practices, governments must plan the necessary public investments and policies. And they must gain acceptance and support for those plans by subjecting them to public scrutiny, debate, and revision. Second, governments must regulate. As the IEA wrote clearly in its report, there is no need or justification for new fossil-fuel investments. Period. We have enough proven fossil-fuel reserves. No country should get a pass on ending new exploration and development of fossil fuels. Third, governments must finance – at scale – zero-carbon infrastructure, such as national and regional renewable-energy power grids (for example, linking the European Union, North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Middle East), as well as electrification of transport and buildings. Fourth, rich-country governments must help finance poorer countries’ efforts to make the needed investments. Rich countries have long promised to do this, but have failed to mobilize even the rather pitiful $100 billion a year – a mere 0.1% of world output – they first pledged in 2009. Fifth, developed countries should compensate the developing world for the climate damages they have already wrought and which will intensify in the future. The United States has emitted 25% of carbon-dioxide emissions dating back to 1751, despite having less than 5% of the global population. Countries all over the world are suffering massive climate disasters as a result of US energy malfeasance. Yet the US and other major historical emitters have offered nothing in compensation for the damages they are causing. Lastly, the world’s rich people, responsible for the preponderance of fossil-fuel use in their own countries and on a global scale, need to pay their fair share of the costs of climate adjustment. Yet, by and large, the richest people escape fair taxation, as shown once again in the Pandora Papers and a ProPublica report on tax avoidance. There is some good news. Many governments are taking some steps in the right direction. The EU is in the lead, with the European Green Deal, which pledges the EU to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Japan and South Korea have also pledged to reach net zero by 2050, and President Joe Biden is trying to bring the US in line. China, Indonesia, and Russia have set a net-zero target of 2060, which is heartening but can and should be accelerated. Yet major emitters such as Australia, India, and Saudi Arabia have not made any such pledge, and the US is showing signs of another massive political failure to tackle climate change, despite Biden’s efforts. Since ratifying the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992, the US Senate has blocked any action to implement the treaty and the Paris climate agreement. This track record of world-threatening inaction now looks set to continue. In the past few days, the US Senate has been busy gutting Biden’s signature budget legislation of its most important climate policies. All 50 Republican Senators and a handful of Democrats led by Joe Manchin of West Virginia are opposing Biden’s “clean-power plan” to decarbonize the US energy sector. The remarkable thing about American corruption is how blatant it is. The oil and gas industry spent $140.7 million on the 2020 elections (donating 84% to Republicans) and $112 million on lobbying last year. An ExxonMobil lobbyist was recorded confiding that Manchin is the industry’s “kingmaker” in Congress. Biden’s hold on power is so weak, and the corruption of the US Congress so entrenched, that the president cannot even face down a small-state senator from his own party, who should be shamed and derided for his devotion to Big Oil. The G20 governments have a moral imperative to adopt the means to achieve the globally agreed goal of climate safety. Their countries account for roughly 80% of global output and CO2 emissions. An agreement among these governments – followed by specific actions, including facing down the corruption in their own countries – can change the global trajectory on climate change. Many G20 governments are ready to act, and they should call out the laggards. The US should be put on notice that America’s failed response is intolerable to the rest of the world. And the same message should be conveyed to Australia, India, and Saudi Arabia. There can be no tolerance for climate corruption and impunity in a world on fire. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/g20-rome-meeting-must-adopt-credible-climate-plan-by-jeffrey-d-sachs-2021-10 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 Andy Borowitz October 19, 2021 FLORENCE, COLORADO (The Borowitz Report)—Amid news that Steve Bannon could soon be jailed for criminal contempt, the convicted drug lord Joaquín (El Chapo) Guzmán said that “under no circumstances” would he agree to share a prison cell with the former Trump adviser. The ex-kingpin said that, although he had not heard of any plans to house Bannon in his prison cell, he was speaking “out of an abundance of caution.” “If the Department of Justice is looking for a place to lock Bannon up, don’t even think about putting him in with me,” El Chapo, who is being held at ADX Florence, a maximum-security penitentiary, said. “It’s not going to happen.” “I’ve tunnelled out of prison before, and I can do it again,” he warned. El Chapo’s sentiments have been echoed by the nation’s prison population, two million of whom have signed a petition refusing to share their cells with Bannon. Speaking at the D.O.J., the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, commented on El Chapo’s recoiling at the prospect of sharing a small space with Bannon. “I can’t say I blame him,” Garland said. Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.

A Poem by Dr. Barry Lubetkin Twenty years have passed, yet feel like months, And still sear my gut and traumatize my brain, And wreck my sleep and intrude upon my memory, And cause the pandemic to feel like an impersonal tumbleweed. Because no one can share the hollow feeling, the surreal landscape, The barren streets, the smell of death dust. As I walk away from where the Twin Towers had fallen two days earlier
. The Red Cross jacket feeling heavy and unprotective. I counted. I gave out 100 teddy bears to the workers at The Pile, As they headed indoors–struggling. exhausted–for respite and food. “I don’t have a kid,“ one of them says to me. “A niece? A nephew?" I implored. "Please take one.” They wash their hands of human lives. I weep privately. I dine with them. I reach for a barbecue rib. I offer some to the construction guy next to me. “I found enough of them out there,“ he points and pushes the plate back to me. I feel sick and dizzy and swallow my own vomit. They told me I could come outside to see the flames, still angry. They put a helmet on my head but no mask. I watched and took deep breaths. And drew into my lungs what they had washed off their hands, And later, much, much later, I became ill. Barry Lubetkin, Ph.D. is the co-director and co-founder of the Institute for Behavior Therapy in New York City. The Institute for Behavior Therapy is the oldest private cognitive behavior center in the United States.

By Emmy Serviss / Boston As a child, I was scared of the dark, spiders and zombies. As an adult, I’m scared of the dark, spiders and paying out of pocket for my health insurance. But in my worst nightmares, I never imagined there could be anything as terrifying as a global pandemic. Especially a global pandemic that cancels Halloween. 2020 was a tough year for so many reasons. But cancelling Halloween on top of the six months of boredom, isolation and depression….well, that was just pouring salt in the wound. I tried to keep the Halloween spirit as best I could. I split up my decorations so I could make both my Somerville, Mass. apartment AND my ex-boyfriend’s apartment spooky and festive. I hosted an online murder mystery party, complete with creepy characters and costumes. I subscribed to Shudder and watched countless horror movies. But it just wasn’t the same. Halloween isn’t Halloween without the social aspect. Kids can’t go trick-or-treating, teenagers can’t makeout in their parents’ cars and adults can’t host extravagant costume parties. I always LOVED putting together creative Halloween costumes from thrift store finds (no bagged costumes for THIS ghoul!) and I usually had at least two costumes prepared. But last year, I could barely find the motivation to throw together a half-assed tie-dyed costume. It was a testament to how much the pandemic had affected me, since anyone who knows me know that I AM THE SPOOKY ONE. Seriously, that’s what they call me. I have no idea when it started, or why I’m drawn to the macabre. But as far back as I can remember, I’ve loved Halloween and all things scary. My earliest Halloween memory is making a “scary” haunted-house audio tape with my mom and brother on a cassette recorder. We groaned like ghosts, howled like werewolves, screamed like banshees, and described the SCARIEST things we could imagine! We also discussed our favorite candy. (I remember specifically mentioning Fiji Fruits, which no one ever remembers but I swear this candy existed.) My brother’s birthday is a week after Halloween, and for his fifth, sixth and seventh birthdays, I convinced him to have a Halloween themed birthday party. By the time he turned eight, I was no longer able to influence his birthday theme, and he had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles party. Which was fine, I GUESS. When I was about 10 years old, I was hanging out at a friend’s house and they were watching the remake of Night of the Living Dead. I don’t remember how much of the movie I watched, but I do remember trying to leave her house CASUALLY as I pretended I wasn’t terrified during my subsequent 10-minute walk home during broad daylight. The scene of zombies devouring human flesh steered me clear of eating chicken for a whole week. I even signed a contract that my mom drew up, stating I would never watch horror movies again. We filed it away in the freezer, although I have no idea why, or what happened to the contract later. I assume it got freezer burn and became null and void. A few months later I was watching episodes of The Twilight Zone and having nightmares about Talking Tina. Even when the scary things were a little TOO scary, I just couldn’t stay away! One of my favorite games to play was “Haunted House.” My brother, friends and I would gather all of the Halloween decorations we could find and then stage a haunted house in the basement. It was a lot scarier when we had an unfinished basement. It lost its effectiveness when our parents finally finished drywalling, put in overhead lights and installed wall-to-wall carpeting. But that didn’t stop me from trying! As I got older, my love of Halloween and scary things only intensified. I took over decorating for the holiday because my mom’s decorations of choice were too cutesy for my liking. I wanted fewer smiling jack-o’-lanterns and more pumpkins stabbed with real knives and pouring fake blood. Since my budget was limited to a babysitter’s income, I opted to make my own cardboard graveyard instead of paying $10 per headstone. I artfully crafted cobwebs across the bushes and hung each fake spider and bat with care. (Placement is VERY important when decorating.) Fake bodies were positioned along the path to my front door, complete with a plastic pumpkin spilling out candy all over the ground. The candy attracted REAL ants to swarm all over the fake corpse, which I thought was the creepiest and coolest thing ever! Future treat-or-treaters would be warned of their fate. Soon, my house became THE Halloween house. The only downside to being THE Halloween house is that the neighborhood kids would come en masse, hang out on my lawn and mess with my decorations. One year they stole my killer clown mask, and I mourned that loss for weeks. Years rolled by and eventually I grew out of my Halloween obsession… Bahahahahahhaha, just kidding. I’m still totally obsessed with Halloween. For two years while I lived in Portland, Ore., I got to volunteer at the local haunted house: Fright Town. Professional makeup artists made me up to look like a sophisticated ghoul, scary clown or gruesome zombie, depending on the night. I gleefully made grown adults scream like children, made teenagers fall on the floor in terror and made children pee their pants.. (Just kidding, it was only the adults that peed their pants.) While I may be too old to go trick-or-treating, my new favorite Halloween activity is to put on a scary movie and make trick-or-treat bags. I may not own my own place, but my landlord lets me decorate the front yard to a reasonable degree. (No dead bodies or fake blood…YET!) And the best part about Halloween as an adult? WAY bigger budget! Granted, the downside to the upside of having an adult budget, is that I also have the awareness that I probably shouldn’t spend $350 on an animatronic zombie for the porch. I mean, TECHNICALLY I can afford it. But it wouldn’t be financially prudent. Sure, it’s good to splurge every once in a while, but an animatronic zombie isn’t really the kind of purchase that you can use year-round. And where would I keep it for the other 11 months? Wait, I’ve gotten off track. Where was I? Halloween may come but once a year, but on the other 364 days, the spooks, scares and horrors are alive and well in my cold, dead heart. (And also on Shudder.) 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.