Conversations on Health

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Conversations on Health: How We Get There is a monthly podcast series about health care, health care systems and the connections we need to make outcomes better. Through health professionals and patients – each podcast will explore a different aspect of health or health care. Or a different country’s health care system as it compares to ours in the US. We’ll also look at social care as it affects health. As a veteran reporter – I want to know why so many Americans still don’t have access to the comprehensive health care so normal in other advanced countries. How are health systems dealing with higher costs and changing demographics? And if, after the disastrous response to COVID 19, the US and other nations are now prepared for another major public health crisis. Of ANY kind.

I hope you’ll enjoy the podcasts which are quite wide-ranging. Look for new ones on the 3rd Tuesday of each month unless otherwise announced. You can find the upcoming episode’s subject and summary at the bottom of this page. And please, DO SUBSCRIBE so you won’t miss any. Thank you so much!

The podcast is available as a video on YouTube

And also as an audio podcast on Podbean and the Podbean App, on the Apple Podcast app and on other platforms. Including Deezer

EPISODE NOTES

Episode 27:  A Continued Conversation with Dr. Steven D. Culler, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at Emory University, on Medicaid and Obamacare Updates for 2025

Open enrollment for Medicare supplement plans, which continues until December 7, runs somewhat concurrently with the annual sign up period for the Affordable Care Act plans – commonly called Obamacare. The plans became available on state marketplaces on November 1 and the window closes on December 15 for coverage beginning January 1. We explained the major Medicare changes for 2025 in Episode 26 – check it out if you or someone in your family still needs the podcast’s actionable information. But right now let’s talk about the other actionable information – the 2025 Obamacare plans and who’s eligible for them. Back again is Dr. Steven D. Culler – our expert from Episode 26 and last year’s more extensive Episodes 14 and 15. He’s an Associate Professor at the Rollins School of Public Health, and Affiliated Associate Professor at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta.

Episode 26: A Conversation with Dr. Steven D. Culler, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at Emory University, on Medicare Updates for 2025

Once again it’s open enrollment time for Medicare plans  – which runs for just 6 weeks each year – from October 15 until December 7. Millions more Americans who don’t get health insurance through their jobs or Medicaid can find or change so-called Obamacare insurance plans from November 1 through January 15 of next year. 

In this episode we’re concentrating on the biggest changes to Medicare for 2025, including qualifications for weight loss drug Wegovy coverage and the Medicare Advantage plans used by about 50 percent of Medicare recipients. Episode 27 – dropping on November 15 – will catch you up on the Affordable Care Act changes and their relationship to the state-run Medicaid coverage. This is hard information you can – and should use right now. We’re also taking a look at the effect of the top Medicare changes on private, work–related insurance plans, which are likely to make adjustments for 2025.

If you need a primer on how these programs actually function – check out Episodes 14 and 15. Dr. Steven D. Culler – our expert from those earlier episodes – was kind enough to come back again for this update.  He’s an Associate Professor at the Rollins School of Public Health, and affiliated Associate Professor at the Goizueta Business School – at Emory University in Atlanta.

More info: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – CMS

More info: Medicare Part D Premiums:

Episode 25: A Conversation with Dr. Mirella M.N. Minkman on Neighbors Helping Neighbors Toward Better Health in the Netherlands

Health experts in many countries – including the United States – are looking beyond standard health care and medical treatments to some kind of community-based care.  Both as a way to improve people’s general health – and as a way to cut the spiraling costs of medical procedures and new drugs.

The Netherlands appears to be well ahead of most countries with its varied efforts to re-invent what is generally called “social care” – starting right at the neighborhood level.

With the huge Boomer population aging quickly – the Netherlands also has a particular focus on integrated care for people with multiple health issues. Which includes giving them access to adequate health care before those issues become serious.

My guest is one of the Netherlands’ top experts in these areas – Professor Dr. Mirella M. N. Minkman of Tilburg University, Tias Business School and CEO of Vilans, National Center of Expertise for Care and Support. We cover a lot of territory – including what is a growing problem virtually everywhere – more and more young people with mental health needs. You’ll be surprised to find out how varied – and sometimes how simple social care can be.

Episode 24: A Conversation with Maggie and Suzanne About Having Friends and Loved Ones in Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Facilities

Do you know someone – perhaps in your own family – who has spent time in a rehabilitation facility? Maybe after an illness or operation? Lots of people – and particularly older people who live alone – find themselves in rehab or long term care facilities. These are somewhat different from the assisted living or independent care communities we talked about in Episode 10 – when we explored one family’s exhaustive effort to find a place for their Mom in North Carolina. Rehab facilities are often affiliated with hospital groups and deal with everything from recovering from knee replacements to stroke and even dementia care.  The residents may be there for just a few weeks – or much longer. My husband and I discovered that two good friends each have someone they care about in residential care at the same, independently owned, northern New Jersey facility. One day they started talking about the issues they’re encountering – like staffing, adequate physical therapy, mental stimulation and the overall differences between this independently owned facility and the more common and usually larger, company-owned facilities. My husband – the video editor and producer for this podcast series said – “you know -– this would make an interesting episode”. And I thought it may also be very helpful. We decided not to use the actual name of the place – or the names of our friends. So – cozy up with a cup of tea or coffee – and join “Maggie”, “Suzanne” and me for the conversation

Episode 23: A Conversation with Dr. Jihad Malasi, Primary Care Physician, Royal College of General Practitioners, Senior Fellow of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, United Kingdom

We’re spending some time this summer revisiting the UK’s National Health Service. It’s celebrating its 76th birthday this month – although I doubt anyone would use that exact word. Actually, right after the Labor Party swept the UK parliamentary elections on July 4th – both the new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his new Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said flat out that the NHS is broken. Both promised to save it. And – both stressed it couldn‘t be done overnight. Small comfort to the nearly 10 million people the BBC says may be on NHS waiting lists for doctor visits, operations or tests. That’s somewhat more than the official NHS count of 7 million. But the lists do seem to depend on who’s counting. There’s a crisis in available hospital beds. In doctors to care for patients in those beds. And – at the point of first patient contact – a shortage of GPs or general practitioners. People in some parts of the UK can wait weeks or months to see their doctor, as overworked GPs retire without being replaced.

So – as the new UK government settles in – how do GPs feel about their own future? Do they think the Labor government – the first in 14 years – can make meaningful changes in the NHS? And make them quickly enough to save it – as the party has promised?

My guest on this episode is Dr. Jihad Malasi. He’s been a practicing physician in the UK for over 20 years and is trained in family medicine and psychiatry. His practice is in Kent and the borough of Medway – an area south of London. Dr. Malasi is a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners and a Senior Fellow of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management. His interests are in primary care, health economics and policy. He holds a Master of Science degree in Health Economics from the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) and works for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and Kent & Medway Integrated Care Board as Mental Health clinical lead. Full profile on LinkedIn. The interview was recorded AFTER the July 4th UK Parliamentary elections.

Episode 22: A Conversation with Dr. Amani Hassan, Practicing Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist NHS; Faculty Chair, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Royal College of Psychiatrists, Wales, UK

As the US Surgeon General calls for a social media warning label similar to the one on cigarettes and alcohol, we focus on child and teenage mental health in this somewhat longer than usual episode. And about halfway through – we get into a really good discussion on that really big issue: the role of social media in the growing problems of Gen Z and the youngest children – Gen Alpha.

We’re talking about all this with a child psychiatrist from the United Kingdom’s storied but now struggling National Health System. And she has some ideas you probably haven’t heard before. This is one of several episodes revisiting the NHS and it’s ongoing shortages and waiting lists from the standpoint of the doctors who keep it functioning. Often with great difficulty.

If you haven’t heard or watched Episode 11 – perhaps you might want to for the overall story of the NHS and its current woes. A quick refresher:  the NHS began in 1948 – more than 75 years ago – and along with the slightly younger Swedish system – is the basic model for taxpayer financed, government controlled, universal health care. Free at the point of use for all.

Many of the NHS doctors that patients see are also its caretakers. Helping their local systems function while they also work in their specialties. Like my guest in this episode – who lives and works in Wales, one of the UK’s four devolved nations.

Dr. Amani Hassan is an experienced practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist  – a consultant, as many doctors are called in the NHS. She also chairs the Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Wales and works as well in learning disability psychiatry. Additionally, Dr. Hassan researches neuro-developmental disorders. She was the Training Program Director (2015 to 2018) of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Wales Deanery.

There is some discussion about mentally disturbed young people. So I’ve included information below on how to get help if you or someone you know needs it – in both the UK and the US.

IN THE UK: NHS National Suicide Prevention Line

0800 689 5652. 6pm to midnight. Backup: 0800 689 0880999 for life threatening emergencies. Or go to nearest A and E. https://spuk.org.uk

IN THE US: 988  Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 24/7

Reaches local crisis centers similar to the way  911 functions for all other emergencies. https://988lifeline.org/

Episode 21: A Conversation with Theodore Lawrence, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan

How many times have we all asked – when will they find a cure for cancer? Of course there is no one cure any more than there is just one type of cancer. Each one requires its own research pathway.  But there have been great strides in recent years. Some cancers which used to be a death sentence can now be basically cured or turned into treatable, chronic illnesses.

My guest for this episode is Theodore Lawrence, MD, PhD. He’s a Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Michigan and has an active oncology medical practice. He’s also researching better treatment outcomes for gastrointestinal and central nervous system cancer.  His research continues to be supported by the National Cancer Institute.

I’ve known Ted for many years – since he was still a medical student, recently married to my second cousin. He’s always been really excited about his work. And he has that rare ability to explain really complicated concepts in a way we can all clearly understand. 

Episode 20: A Conversation with  Mohammadali Habibi, MD – an electrophysiologist with The Valley Health System in New Jersey

This may surprise you with all the medical advances we’ve made in the last decade – but heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the US. As it has been since 1921. A recent poll conducted for the American Heart Association found 51 percent of respondents had no idea! According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  –  one person dies every 33 seconds in the US from cardiovascular disease. And this may also surprise you. The CDC says in 2019 – the last year it lists – heart disease cost the US about 2 hundred and 40 billion dollars. Think about the inflation you’ve experienced in the last few years and you can imagine how big that number will be for all of 2024. One reason for the growing cost of heart disease is that much of what causes it is treatable now. And as the huge boomer cohort moves into the senior class – older people with heart disease are living longer. So I thought it would be interesting to talk to a heart specialist I know – who would likely have been doing something else just 30 or 40 years ago. Dr. Mohammadali Habibi is an electrophysiologist with the highly rated Valley Health System and Valley Hospital in New Jersey. Valley’s state-of-the-art, new hospital just opened. Valley is also partnered with the country’s top ranked heart hospital – The  Cleveland Clinic.

Episode 19: More of A Conversation with Catharina Barkman, Project Director, Forum for Health Policy in Stockholm on Sweden’s Universal Health Care System

Part 2:  I think we all learned a lot in episode 18 about Sweden’s pioneering universal health care system. Most countries except for the US have some version of this – health care that’s paid for by taxes, controlled by the government and essentially free at the point of use. But health care costs are skyrocketing everywhere. So now we going to talk about how AI and other data-driven innovations may help Sweden – and health care systems in general – cope with the demographic changes and expensive medical breakthroughs already straining budgets. This is the second half of my discussion with Catharina Barkman of Sweden’s Forum for Health Policy. It’s a non-profit, independent think tank aiming to boost innovation and development in the health care system. Catharina has also held several top positions within the system itself in the region of Stockholm – Sweden’s capital.

Episode 18: A Conversation with Catharina Barkman, Project Director, Forum for Health Policy, Stockholm on Sweden’s Universal Health Care System

Part 1:  Most of us are familiar with the idea of universal health care. Ideally – tax-paid, “free” health care for all. We know that in the US we don’t have it – while almost all other countries do – in some form. One of the first countries to adopt universal health care was Sweden – in the early 1950s. But how – exactly – does such a system work? And can it keep afloat as health costs keep rising?  I ask Catharina Barkman who heads Sweden’s Forum for Health Policy – a non-profit, independent think tank aiming to boost innovation and development in the health care system. Catharina has also held several top positions within the system itself in the region of Stockholm – Sweden’s capital. I think you’ll learn a lot about how universal health care works from our conversation – not only in Sweden but also in other countries. And you may be surprised – as I was – to see that even here in the US – we have some aspects of health care for all. 

Episode #17: Celebrating the Podcast’s First Year and a Half

We start the 2024 season by celebrating the podcast’s first year and a half. A fast review of some of the widely varied subjects and guests. Some are experts on health care systems. Others just people trying to navigate the way the privately-driven US system works. Or for many – doesn’t work.  Maybe you’ll find one or two conversations you missed?

Episode #16: A conversation with Alan Weil, Editor-in-Chief of Health Affairs and Podcast Host of A Health Podyssey on Why Drug Costs are So High in the US

I’m sure you’ve heard or read that Americans have better access to the newer, often life-saving drugs than people in other countries. But access and being able to pay for the drugs are two different matters. As anyone knows who has been to a pharmacist window lately – these great new drugs are really expensive. And in the United States – unlike other countries – they’re often not covered or poorly covered by insurance. Sadly in this rich country – some people actually have to chose between the drugs which control their disease – and feeding their kids. Or even themselves. Like so much else in health care – it’s complicated. Joining me is Alan Weil, Editor-in-Chief of Health Affairs since 2014 and the podcast host of “A Health Podyssey” – where he talks with leading researchers shaping the big ideas in health policy.

Episode #15: More of a Conversation with Dr. Steven D. Culler, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at Emory University, on Open Enrollment Period and Much More.

Part 2: Open enrollment for 2024 Medicare supplementary plans continues into December – while those under 65 who don’t have employer health insurance can look for Obamacare plans on state marketplaces until mid January. In Episode 14 we talked mainly about how those Obamacare plans work. Now we’re focusing more on Medicare. More on the difference between Medicare Advantage and purely supplementary plans. And toward the end – we do some “blue skying” about the future of Medicare and health care in general. And how to pay for it. Lots of useful info in the rest of my discussion with Dr. Steven D. Culler, Associate Professor at the Rollins School of Public Health, and Affiliated Associate Professor at the Goizueta  School of Business – at Emory University in Atlanta.

Read his just published, collaborative paper on Medicare spending here.

Episode #14: A Conversation with Dr. Steven D. Culler, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management at Emory University, on Open Enrollment Period and More.

Part 1: Starting in mid October and ending January 15th, millions of eligible Americans who don’t get health insurance through their jobs or Medicaid can use what is known as the Open Enrollment Period to sign up for or change various insurance plans.  Medicare recipients – mostly 65 or older – have 6 weeks ending on December 7th this year to choose supplemental insurance or Advantage plans.  And those who have or want what most of us call “Obamacare” – health insurance created under the Affordable Care Act – can change or enroll from November 1st.  That’s the easy part. The rest – like virtually everything about health care in the US – is really complicated. So I’m asking an expert from Atlanta’s Emory University – Dr. Steve D. Culler – to explain it all. You may not believe all the hidden pitfalls he points out.

Read his just published, collaborative paper on Medicare spending here.

Episode #13: A Conversation with Gina Mžourek on Her Health Care Experiences in the US, Germany and the Czech Republic

Talking about health care systems doesn’t have much meaning unless you know how they actually affect people. My friend Gina Mžourek is an American from New Jersey. She currently lives in Germany with her Czech husband.  But over the past 24 years she’s also lived in the Czech Republic, France and of course – the US.  Gina has a chronic illness so she’s very good at comparing the health care systems. They’re all state run except of course – ours here in the US. We talked on Zoom this summer – me in Prague, Gina in her small German town – and I think you’ll find her insights very helpful.  FYI – Zoom’s recording has some lag.

Episode #12: A Conversation with Teacher Martina Frybortova on the Czech Health Care System

Imagine what it’s like to know that if you get sick or need a knee replacement or just grow old – you’ll never have to worry about paying for your medical care? It’s something few Americans can even imagine. But something that is simply normal for most Europeans. So last month when my husband and I were in Prague – I had a conversation with a Czech friend who’s a public school English teacher and translator. She pays the usual high taxes into the state-run health care system. And then never gives the cost of her medical future another thought.

Episode #11: A Conversation with the UK’s David Hunter, Emeritus Professor, Newcastle University on the National Health Service at 75

We’re looking at the growing health care crisis in the United Kingdom in this episode. The government-funded and run National Health Service or NHS as it’s usually known was started in 1948 and most UK citizens really love it. It’s basically the international role model for health care services which are free at the point of use. Something most Americans can only dream of.  But ever since the COVID lockdowns ended – the NHS has been in real trouble. I’m sure you’ve seen or read about its huge financial and personnel issues. Doctors and nurses, ambulance drivers – seemingly everyone constantly on strike – demanding higher pay and more workers. Many Brits complain about waiting months just to see their general practitioners. Never mind complex surgery where waits can be years. What might fix the NHS? Money? Rejoining the EU? Better management? More emphasis on preventive health measures? I put the hard questions to David Hunter, Emeritus Professor of Health Policy and Management, Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University.

Episode #10:  A Conversation with Rich on his Family’s Search for the Right Assisted Living Facility for Mom

After the last two episodes on mental health, we’re talking about another difficult issue many families are struggling with – when and how to find an affordable and caring assisted living facility for Mom or Dad. Rich’s 92 year old Mom is doing well in her new home and Rich shares a lot of helpful information if your family is just beginning to the emotionally draining search. I’m also giving you some useful U.S. research links below:

To find home-based services, contact Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 or visit https://eldercare.acl.gov. You can also call your local Area Agency on Aging, Aging and Disability Resource Center, Department of Human Services or Aging, or a social service agency.
https://longtermcare.acl.gov/

Episode #9:  More of A Conversation with PhDr. Radek Pěkný about Mental Health Issues and Care in the Czech Republic, the US and beyond.

Part 2: When Part 1 ended – we were talking about how life has changed after the COVID pandemic. and how many people seem to be having trouble just coping these days. Part 2 picks up there. And as we go on – I think you’ll feel almost like you’re in your own personal therapy session as we talk a lot about mental resilience and our lack of it, the effects of social media and how you know you need help. You don’t want to miss the rest of this thoughtful and wide-ranging conversation on mental health with Czech clinical psychologist and psychotherapist PhDr. Radek Pěkný.

Episode #8: A Conversation with PhDr. Radek Pěkný about Mental Health Issues and Care in the Czech Republic, the US and Beyond. Part 1.

Part 1: Many Americans seem to be having trouble coping with life these days  –  perhaps because the COVID pandemic changed life as we knew it. It changed life  everywhere – including in the Czech Republic. How do we deal with uncertainty? What does it mean to be a man in 2023? Are our children as mentally resilient as we were? What about the effect of social media? Do Czechs try to ignore mental health problems as many Americans do? This is a very thoughtful and wide-ranging conversation on mental health with Czech clinical psychologist and psychotherapist PhDr. Radek Pěkný. You’ll find we’re more alike than we are different.

Episode #7: A Conversation with Lisa Layne D.M.H.,M.I.A. On Just About Everything

It’s hard to characterize Dr. Lisa Layne because she’s worn so many hats. As a result – the way she looks at health care and our relationship with its delivery is quite unique. Dr. Layne went from being a Foreign Service Officer to earning a doctorate in Medical Humanities and later, certificates in Bioethics.  As you can imagine, we talk about a lot. We even share a few laughs. What did she learn from her years as a patient advocate at a New Jersey hospital? What’s it like to get sick in a foreign country compared to the US? And what are her COVID takeaways – as she continues to broaden cultural perspectives as an adjunct professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Episode #7- Preview:  a Conversation with Lisa Layne D.M.H., M.I.A. On Just About Everything

It’s hard to characterize Dr. Lisa Layne because she’s worn so many hats. As a result the way she looks at health care and our relationship with its delivery is quite unique. As this preview of Episode 7 suggests – we talk a little about a lot. Dr. Layne went from being a Foreign Service Officer to earning a doctorate in Medical Humanities and later, certificates in Bioethics. What did she learn from her years as a patient advocate at a New Jersey hospital? What is it like to get sick in a foreign country compared to the US? And what are her COVID takeaways – as she continues to broaden cultural perspectives as an adjunct professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University. The full episode will drop on Friday  – that’s March 24.

Episode #6: Christine Dorn-Moldovan on Nursing

At the core of any country’s health system are the nurses. And  I’m sure many of you are aware of the continuing nurses’ strikes against the UK’s state-run health care system  – as well as the recent one here in New York City. Yes – nurses want pay hikes. But the biggest issue is the continued understaffing at hospitals and other care facilities. Christine Dorn-Moldovan is now a semi-retired school nurse who spent many years as a hospital nurse and supervisor at large New York hospitals. And also worked in the public health system.  What does she think has to change now to make the US health system work for burned-out nurses post COVID —  and the rest of us?

Episode #5: The Continuation of A Conversation with Richard Saltman, PhD, Health Policy Expert

Part 2: We continue to compare the US health care system with those of Sweden and other Nordic and European state-run systems. Does the US really have a mostly private system? Are countries already developing new, hybrid models as the cost of breakthrough medical procedures and designer drugs skyrockets? And can we really compare any single European country to our sprawling land of more than a hundred and 33 million people?

Episode #4: A Conversation with Richard Saltman, PhD, Health Policy Expert

Part 1: We’re delving into the mix of private insurers, doctor groups, regional hospital systems, Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Health Administration – plus a federal and state public health system- which together are considered the US health “system”. How does the US “system” compare to those in Europe and the Nordic countries? You may be surprised at what you hear.

Episode #3: Pam’s Healthcare Nightmare

Most of us have had some experience with the mish-mosh of health care in the US which substitutes for a real health system – the European kind you learned about in episodes 1 and 2. Both dealing with health care in the Czech Republic. But here in the United States – it’s not so simple. If you’ve had to navigate the maze of doctors, hospitals, health care alliances and insurance in the US – you probably have a horror story. Like my friend Pam Cookson.  Who lives in St. Augustine, Florida. Pam’s struggle to get a simple bladder infection treated – something millions of us have also done – is eye-opening. And sadly – likely to sound familiar to many of you.

Episode #2: When Writer Steve Fisher Nearly Died in Prague, CZ

Steve Fisher is a friend of mine who lives and works in the Czech Republic. A few years ago he got very sick and is very, VERY grateful for how well the Czech health system took care of him. It’s a very dramatic story.

Episode#1: A Conversation with Dr. David Marx, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

I started with a typical European, mostly public health care system in the Czech Republic because I spend a lot of time there. You can compare it to your own experience in our very fragmented PRIVATE system in the US. Like all the European and Scandinavian countries and the United Kingdom – working Czechs and their employers pay a lot in taxes and insurance fees to support most of the overall health care system. EVERYONE has similar, solid coverage. To get an overview of how the system works – I sat down with an internationally known expert on health care – Dr. David Marx – in his office in Prague. He heads the Department of Public Health of the Third Faculty of Medicine – part of the renown Charles University Medical program.

Episode #28 will be out Tuesday December 19, 2024

Right now I’ve got two great guests lined up for the next 2 podcasts. We’ll either be discussing the future of Women’s Health with the renown New York City endocrinologist and gynecologist Dr. Michelle Warren or the future of Telemedicine with another acclaimed expert -Dr. Ateev Mehrotra of Brown and Harvard Universities. Whichever comes first – the other will be out a month later – on episode 29. Check this space!

Who Will Build Another Twitter? (Hint – it’s not Meta)

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Twitter is dead; long live Elon Musk’s X. Yes- many of us are still there – rather desperately posting or reposting potential world-altering words or deeds or events. Accompanied of course by photos, videos and live streams. We’re still there because government leaders and other world figures and organizations seem to have stayed. Even though many are openly horrified at what Musk in his mindless, libertarian quest for absolutely free speech now allows and often applauds.

Wasn’t Meta’s Threads supposed to be the savior of us all? Well – have you been there lately? It’s threadBARE. Meta rushed it out the last time X had an advertiser meltdown. Word was users were deserting the now sewer-like app in droves. Millions signed up to Threads with their Instagram accounts. To find – crickets. No world leaders. No way of controlling your feed. Odd symbols for repost and the rest. Meta’s algorithm determined what you saw in your feed and what you saw, even if you followed only news outlets, their reporters and opinion writers, was riddled with Instagram-like, off-topic nothingness. And the news stories were sometimes 4 days old! Like a Facebook feed which coughs up a “friend’s” old post every time someone finds it and comments.

Meta said when it released Threads it was supposed to be another chat-type app. Meta didn’t reach out to any news organizations and in fact mostly ignored the word “news”.

Not much has changed in the months since. But of bunch of newsies have been desperately trying to clone the old, pre-Musk Twitter on Theads. Not that the old Twitter was a paragon of propriety – far from it. But at least there were guide rails, Donald Trump’s account and those of others who aped him remained suspended after the January 6th insurrection. Others got warnings. There were basic rules and at least sometimes, they were enforced by Twitter employees who were hired specifically to – in a sense – keep the peace on the platform. Yes some people were harassed and doxxed. But that’s true of all social media. No one has yet figured out or cared enough to figure out a set of pan-platform public decency regulations to keep snark and threats to a minimum.

Here’s the thing. We need Twitter. Or a new Twitter. Even pre Musk there were always 2 Twitters. The one I saw – filled with news, analysis, legitimate video and comments from legitimate users. The ones with real names and real profiles and often with the blue checkmarks bestowed by the old Twitter to verfiy those entities and people. And of course the other Twitter – the ugly, cruel, hate-mongering Twitter so loved by Elon Musk. That one we definitely DON’T need. Let Musk keep it.

The rest of us need a Twitter because in an age when factual news and its evil twin misinformation circle the globe in nanoseconds – there has to be at least one place where leaders and those who report on them can “meet”. Where ordinary people hungry for real information can find it. My old Twitter was as close to that as we’ve gotten. And you can still find a great deal of legitimate news and information and comments on Elon Musk’s Twitter. Um, excuse me, X. But it’s only there because there is just nowhere else right now. And everyone still there for that reason knows they can’t stay much longer unless Musk the libertarian somehow has an epiphany, cleans out his septic tank and comes up with another, free method of verifying those who should be verified.

So I’m back to the beginning. We need a (new) Twitter. And we need it quickly. In the US we have a Presidential election in less than a year. Perhaps the most consequential election since Abraham Lincoln’s days. We are involved in two wars now even without boots on the ground. We need a legitimate platform for legitimate information and discussion. Maybe instead of all the rambling talk about AI and Chatbot GT someone who actually knows how to use the new technology can use it to create a new platform. With all the old Twitter’s “important people” and organizations and government entities. And an even better way to let users discuss politics, culture and change. And their intersection.

But get a move on. The sewer is cracking quickly. Major advertisers left again after Elon Musk seemingly endorsed very anti-Semitic comments. Despite Musk’s subsequent trip to Israel and live interview hosted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – X may not make it even to the New Hampshire GOP Primary.

Credits: Get it on black and white twitter logo png hq download

Anxious? Isn’t Everyone?????

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The Scream – Wikimedia.org

Maybe you saw the study that came out a few weeks ago. About how anxious we all are? That we’re so anxious doctors should screen us when we come in for a checkup? I mean, this is news?

Think about it. COVID is still a threat, even though countries (except China) have mostly given up enforcing even basic efforts to contain it. And because people don’t seem the least bit interested in getting additional vaccine shots for winter – we’re probably all going to get it. Then there’s Putin’s war against Ukraine. And his repeated nuclear threats. And I’ve only just begun.

The stock market is falling with many stocks back in a bear market – down more than 20 percent as they were in June. Mortgage and credit card rates are soaring. Inflation – except for gasoline prices – remains stubbornly high. Rents are beyond crazy. Food prices are absurd. At the supermarket or even in a lowly diner. The Holidays are coming. What about the Thanksgiving turkey? Christmas toys for under the tree? Ye gods – what about the TREE???

And if all that isn’t enough – The Federal Reserve – and national banks of most advanced nations apparently intend to keep raising interest rates until the whole world slides into recession. Yah – THAT should help cool inflation – when only the rich can afford to eat. Do you think THEY’RE anxious??? Did they even ask any rich people in that study? “Oh hello! Are you anxious about your hedge fund today?”

And if all that isn’t enough – oh wait – I already said that. Well I may have to say it a few more times. Because there’s a soon to be HUGE hurricane bearing down – at this writing – on Florida’s Gulf Coast. And from there – who knows. The hurricane before – Fiona – ripped up Canada’s eastern seaboard last week. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland? Labrador? A hurricane???

Anxious??? We’re all out in front of our homes at night – baying crazily at the moon.
Most of us would be down at the local pub having a few cold ones, and then maybe a few more. Except who can still afford even one? Oh – yes. Those rich people who might be anxious about their hedge funds probably could still afford one. At least one.

Reading about that study did one good thing for my communal anxiety. After I stopped screaming, “Whaaaaaat??? You’re spending money studying WHAAAAAATTTT?” I started to laugh. A very loud laugh. And isn’t a good laugh perhaps the antidote to anxiety? I mean if we’re ALL anxious about – mostly – the same things — maybe we should just start passing that laugh around. You know – to the guy who is anxious about crossing the busy street. Or the woman who is anxious about having to go back to the office 3 days a week. Or that rich guy again who is anxious about taking the elevator up 45 floors to his pencil thin penthouse.

Maybe if we realize we’re pretty much all in this anxiety mess together – and we started a laughing chain – we could help each other a little. And then maybe we wouldn’t be yelling at each other so much about some of those really, REALLY big political issues. We might EVEN be able to get together to fix some of the stuff that’s making us so anxious in the first place.

I’m not sure the laugh would work for Vladimir Putin though. He’s so anxious about losing his hold on Russians that he still might nuke all of them along with the Ukrainians and the rest of us – just to be the last man standing. For a split second anyhow. But then again — does anyone know one of his henchmen? You could try…..

Queen Elizabeth Is Gone

Personal Opinion and Analysis, , , , ,
Image by WikiImages from Pixabay

Most Americans are probably quite tired of so much media coverage of Queen Elizabeth. And her somewhat unexpected death at 96 when only 2 days earlier she met with the UK’s outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson to accept his formal resignation and then the new Prime Minister Liz Truss –  “asking”  her to form a government. All according to British law and custom. Both Johnson and Truss traveling to Balmoral Castle in Scotland for the nearly back to back meetings. Which of course were private. But we all saw the photos with Truss and the Queen’s trademark, delighted smile.

Since I wrote that first paragraph late last week, there have been memorial services in Scotland after the Queen’s Royal Standard draped casket traveled slowly through the towns and countryside to Edinburgh. Large crowds paying their respects along the route. After a flight to London, the Queen was driven slowly through the streets of London to her official home at Buckingham Palace. More mourners from all parts of the UK and beyond lined the way. Then – just a day later, with her children and grandchildren walking behind her casket – her final ride from the Palace to the oldest part of the Parliament Buildings – Westminster Hall. Which dates from the 11th century. Where ordinary people from all over the world can file by Queen Elizabeth’s casket 24 hours a day until the state funeral on Monday. As I write this – the online Queue Tracker Live estimates the line extends 4.9 miles. A wait of at least 9 hours. Update going into the weekend — the Queue Tracker Live warning of 24 hour waits and a cold night.

September 16, 2022 London time

I’m an Anglophile so if I could – I’d be in that queue. But I’m supposed to be working on my soon to be launched podcast. So here I am at home – watching BBC, Sky News, and CNN coverage wall to wall. Watching the BBC ‘s live international stream now and then of the Queen’s coffin lying regally in that ancient hall while so many of those ordinary people – old and young, some tearful, some bowing or curtsying – walk quietly by. Hard to turn away when my heart is in London. I’ll pay my own quiet virtual respects over the weekend.

The first alert that the Queen had died came over my iPhone. From Sky. The print looking very small and lonely on that screen. It said simply, “Queen Elizabeth has died”. I said quietly – almost viscerally  – “oh no”. There were no other alerts. For more than 5 minutes the screen was quiet. I was watching BBC. Nothing. I quickly began streaming Sky News on my iPad – in time to watch the reporter at Balmoral read the announcement which had just been handed to him. He almost couldn’t get through it. It took BBC at least 5 more minutes before the anchor read his own, halting announcement. Perhaps the delay was to give the on-air people a moment to digest it. But they couldn’t.

I had an overwhelming feeling that everything familiar had just ended. That the sky was falling. A feeling some of the reporters later said was common among older Brits. She was their queen yes. But at 96 she had become the world’s grandmother. A constant in a world changing so rapidly that when we went to bed at night we no longer knew what it would look and sound and taste like when we woke up in the morning.

I don’t think my husband – who grew up in a small New Jersey town – has the same relationship as I do to the British Royals. He didn’t grow up in Boston. Where so many of the stately old brick and cement homes in Back Bay and on Beacon Hill were built to resemble the London neighborhoods many early 19th century Americans once knew. Where the streets I walked on had the same names as those in London. I doubt my husband read the same historical novels in school. And I know he never wanted to live in London. As I always did.

The historical films and tapes of Queen Elizabeth from her girlhood have been fascinating. Her grainy black and white coronation is the first nearly live international TV many Americans can remember. I always thought it was live – actually the first live international broadcast. So did my husband – who also recalls the grainy shots. But more important – it was my first personal memory of Queen Elizabeth and the modern British monarchy. In Boston we studied tons of British, Scottish and Irish history but never, seemingly, anything current. At least I don’t remember it. (Or much of the history).

There’s been lots of discussion during the coverage this week about the future of the British monarchy. Even though so many young people have come out to honor the Queen. But of course they are honoring a person. A special woman who seemed part of everyone’s family despite being the Queen. Will they also honor her son?

I’ve heard and read many more eloquent words about the Queen than I can ever write. But – like so many other people – eloquent or plain spoken – I feel the door closing on an era. MY era. Life will go on. Charles will be the King he was raised to be. William will succeed him if the monarchy survives. But it won’t be the same. There will be no delighted smile on our Granny’s face. No one dressed in bright colors who always does and says the right thing. No constant in our spinning ever faster world. Queen Elizabeth is gone….

Rant #1,475+/- International Airline Travel

Personal Opinion and Analysis, , , , ,

Have I said this before? Probably. But so many of the long-standing security rules in international travel are simply absurd! Especially for flights to the US. Moreover, the rules aren’t even universal. They’re country by country. The European Union has its own requirements. And now the UK does also – having fully “brexited” now. Its citizens have been learning the folly of their leap backward this summer as they wait in long lines everywhere just to get OFF their island.

I have a knee replacement. Had it for 13 years. And for 13 years I’ve had to experience the same insane, insulting indignities. Even in airports which use body scanning, millimeter wave viewers as well as metal detectors. AND I have TSA Pre!! Meaning I went through a security background check and paid a fee to get faster, less invasive airport screening. Which includes keeping my shoes on.

Every time I fly I do the same thing. Right off – before I even walk through the metal detector, I tell a TSA officer or their overseas equivalent, “I have a knee replacement.” I point to it. We nod pleasantly to each other. I walk through the metal detector. And then it begins.

Now typically I very purposely wear very form flitting clothes. Slim jeans or jean-tights. A torso-hugging, no-room-for-even-a-Kleenex top. A basic, minimal bra with no wires or padding. Plus anklets and running shoes. But nooooo – I still could have something strapped to my 5’ 1” tall, 103 pound body SOMEWHERE. So first there’s a wanding. The metal in my right knee is evident. But on the way to Prague last month from JFK,  the wand was turned up so high it picked up the 2 tiny metal grommets on the perfectly flat front of my jean tights as well as the ones on the (also empty and perfectly flat) back pockets. Triggering the usual, jailhouse pat down. For which I have to wait for a female TSA officer. It’s become routine for me – with or without grommets.

On the EU-bound trip I noticed a lot of older people (like me) – the ones more likely to have knee or hip replacements – being put through the same indignities. Also not unusual. Also totally absurd and insulting.

But wait, there’s more. Not satisfied with finding nothing, I’m directed to remove my obviously well-worn running shoes. So they can be tested for nonexistent (and of course non-visible) explosives powder. Seriously. 21 years after the infamous Shoe Bomber. This typically entails another 5-20 minutes. Including the unlace-re-lace phase. Meanwhile – in the very crowded security area – my exposed laptop (thankfully still in its carrying case), backpack with EVERYTHING important in it, iPad and carry-on are left unattended at the end of the security area. 3 bins full. Instead of letting a well trained (key words “well trained”) security person use just a little bit of common sense.

Then- there’s the return flight. The one I’m on as I write this. The one and only direct flight from Prague to the NYC metro area. Your TSA Pre is useless outside the US. So EVERYTHING electronic has to come out of your suitcase and backpack. And out of their covers and carry cases. To be left in easy reach of someone’s super-quick hand while I go through another, senseless rerun of my outbound experience. This time they didn’t find the grommets. But the pat down – in typical EU style- is even MORE demeaning. Fingers of the agent slipped under and around the top of my jeans. Very hands-on. And on and on and on. It’s always that way in the EU when flying to the US. And this time AGAIN – merely because of that knee replacement – the shoes must go to the explosives’ powder detector. While all my irreplaceable electronic devices still sit – and sit – at the end of the security area. With not even a security guard to watch them.

In the EU, the security check usually comes at or near your flight’s gate. Now I am a US citizen. And at this point in the process I’ve already gone THREE TIMES through a passport control. And – along with my husband – already answered a bunch of questions asked by a very nice DELTA employee designed to show I’m mentally stabile and not planning to cause ANY kind of trouble. I’ve taken this DELTA flight for many years back and forth. And always some version of the questions. Including the old “did you pack your bag yourself?” And it’s equally aged sister questions.  I don’t recall such hackneyed grilling on the one stop United flights I take when the Delta flight is on its winter (or more recently COVID) hiatus.

Obviously there are some rules here which should be reconsidered in the electronic age. When I’m carrying my QR Coded boarding pass on the airline’s iPhone app. Meaning my passport and past flight history (a long one) were already digitally reviewed and approved when I checked in from home. And then that QR Coded boarding pass has already been electronically read by a scanner-gate before I even get to the official passport control in the country I’m leaving (in the case of flying INTO the US).

With every airline desperately urging people to jump back into international travel, these agencies which apparently never talk to each other either in the US or abroad ought to take a good look at the pile of rules and regulations developed since hijacking and later the September 11th attacks changed air travel decades ago. Some should go or be modernized, some should be kept. But continually discriminating against people with joint replacements merely because we HAVE them – and that’s millions of us in every country – needs to be stopped. Use the metal detector. Use the body outline machines. Look at a person’s age and flight history (right there in the passport stamps). Most of all – JUST USE A LITTLE COMMON SENSE!

It’s not fair to the security workers and cabin crews, who already have enough to put up with, to get a grumpy, annoyed and deeply insulted group of older folks as well. Sounding off to the poor security workers who are only doing their jobs. Enough already. Stop. Desist. Just plain cut it out!  Having a  joint replacement is NOT a criminal activity!

OK. Rant over. Until my next flight.

The Concert at the Castle

Personal Opinion and Analysis, , , , ,

Once upon a time– there was an empire centered in this city. The King and Queen lived at the castle with their family and a retinue of sycophants and servants. And sometimes – the Royal couple had a party for their servants. To thank them. They were a very nice, kind royal couple. And then one day- there were no more royals at the castle. The country became a republic. Twice. But the castle remained the seat of power with the President of the Republic living there. The President also had sycophants. Lots of them. Unlike the Royal Families of old, he had to pay his employees. And seldom if ever did the President hold a party at the Castle to thank anyone.

There were – and are many old European capitals to fit my parable but right now I happen to be in Prague – the ancient capital of what is now the Czech Republic. And as the seat of a kingdom or a Republic it has always been a city always full of music. Except for a dreadfully dismal detour into the gray-black world of communism and the Soviet Union. But since 1989’s Velvet Revolution, Prague has been its old self. With a new, modern overlay. And at least once a year there is still a party at the castle. For the people of the entire city – as many who wish to come, sit on the old courtyard cobblestones and lose themselves in the magic of the night.

Concert for the People

And so – for the third time – my husband and I were among those standing or sitting on the cobblestones recently on a perfect summer evening, at the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra’s traditional free concert ending its formal, concert hall season.

It was a huge crowd. Old, young, babies in carriages. Many drinking beer bought from the tiny pub on the edges of the square. Beer they held carefully as they picked their way through the rest of us to find a cobblestone or two of their own. There were a few relaxed guards at the castle gates. But not a police uniform or car to be seen. Most of us didn’t know each other. Or even speak the same language. But we all smiled. And smiled. At the music, each other, the little kids – and the dogs. As we all peacefully shared this party at the castle.

A Dog’s Life at the Castle

A few weeks later there was another “party” you might say. In the Old Town Square in the oldest part of the Old City of Prague. Which dates to the 14th century. Or even earlier. The Bohemia Jazz Fest – which – like the Czech Philharmonic concert at the castle – hadn’t been held for two COVID-restricted summers. And is also always free. As in pull up a cobblestone or two, maybe grab a beer – and just groove. 

Old Town Square, Prague

For Czechs – it’s normal. But for me – who lives most of the time in the too often violent US – it’s downright amazing!

Yes, there were probably some undercover police mixed among us. At both concerts. But if so – they weren’t needed. We were all there simply to enjoy the music. Free in an increasingly unaffordable world.

Maybe it’s the magic of gathering in a place that’s withstood so many wars – big and small – over the centuries. Not to mention the fires which plagued so many old cities.

Bohemia Jazz Fest 2022

You can feel the ages, almost physically wafting from the buildings, seeping up through the cobblestones. Even as the Jazz Fest employs the video, lighting and sound tricks used at most concerts now – in 2022. Incongruous yet perfectly normal. The old merging with the new. In a country with a difficult history – which includes the murderous Soviet Union and the deadening burden of Communism after World War 2 – a burden the Velvet Revolution threw off in 1989.

Whatever the reason – I cannot imagine such peace at ANY gathering in the United States. Czechs are allowed to own guns to defend their homes. They have their political differences and often don’t mix well with others’ cultures and histories. But there are no explosions of rage ending in massacres at these celebrations of life in what is now their own, free country.

So I groove to the music, and suck up the vibes. Two peaceful moments in a turbulent time. How perfectly lovely.

Student Loan Forgiveness

Personal Opinion and Analysis, , , ,

I never had a student loan. I think my mother would have fallen over dead at the thought of ANY kind of college loan. Instead – I knew as a high school student my mother had put every money gift I had ever received into a separate savings account. When it came time to apply to a college or two – that 17 years of savings was the determinator. Not me.

I wanted to get as far away from home (and Boston) as humanly possible. My dream school was UCLA. Northwestern a close second. I wanted to major in journalism or communications or TV production. Maybe all of them. And also get discovered by some talent agent. Maybe sitting – Lana Turner-like – at some coffee shop counter. It didn’t matter that I wore thick glasses and couldn’t sing, dance or act. Or had seen too many old Hollywood films.

And then my mother told me how much money was in the cookie jar – so to speak. Enough for Boston University tuition if I lived at home. Or Syracuse University in upstate New York. If I lived with my irascible aunt and her stamp-collecting husband. Either way, I would have to keep working to pay for my books, transit fares and lunches. Despite my inflated opinion of myself – I didn’t qualify for an educational scholarship to a top tier school. And that was the only kind of non-loan financial help available then.

Dreams. Dashed.

So I sucked it up and went to Boston University. Since I already knew my way around the broadcast world in Boston and had a great part time job. I’m not sure exactly what I learned at BU – except to question everything. Maybe the most valuable knowledge anyone can take away from any advanced education. I developed the only live jazz show in Boston on the then BU-owned FM station. DJ’d a jazz show on a rival college FM station as well. And when I graduated and got a job in New York City and then a studio apartment with a friend – I owed NOTHING. To NO one. Who needed UCLA? Or even Harvard across the Charles River – which we downscale BU students so loved to hate. And after that first job – no one ever cared WHERE I had gone to college. Just that I could do the job – and was more than willing to give it 200 percent.

So now it’s 2022 and a raft of college graduates with varying degrees and job skills owe an eye-popping $1.75 TRILLION for their education, according to the latest Federal Reserve data. The average college grad owes $36, 510. Private school debt averages $54,921. For which many graduates are not-so-humbly demanding forgiveness. For ALL of it.

The Education Department is already poised to cancel $5.8 Billion in debt for about 560,000 students who enrolled in the for-profit Corinthian Colleges. The largest loan-forgiveness ever by the Federal department. Corinthian folded in 2015 after a Federal investigation. And there is great pressure on President Biden from his own party’s self-named Progressives to forgive at least the $10,000 per graduate now being actively discussed in the White House.

So here comes the rant. ARE YOU KIDDING? Didn’t any of these former students or their parents or grandparents or aunts and uncles KNOW what taking out a 4 or 6 or 8 year college loan meant? Has anyone ever had their home mortgage loan just “forgiven”? How about that car loan? And consider the amount of credit card debt almost all of us carry. If you know a bank that’s willing to pretend it never existed — could you please tell the rest of us? And particularly all those former students who have – dutifully – done what they knowingly signed up to do. Pay off their student loans.

Now it’s one thing to knowingly take out a loan for a specified amount of money. And it’s quite something else to have to pay off twice or three times the actual loan — because of the often usurious interest charged for all student loans. At least I think it’s usurious. And it’s something no one ever seems to talk about. Cancel the loan? No way. Cancel the interest? Totally.

And let’s say you take out a loan when you go to college at what even I might think is a reasonable interest rate. Next year it probably won’t be quite so reasonable. Because Congress sets new rates for the loans every year. And if banks are raising rates — you can be sure the Feds will raise them also. Which is how many people end up paying off their original loan 2 or 3 times.

So here’s my proposal. Keep the loans. Cancel the interest. Yes, ALL of it. Why should anyone have to pay INTEREST to be educated? But those who took out the original loans should still have to pay them off. Like all the rest of us have to pay off OUR loans of any kind. And while we’re at it – let’s limit the amount of loans allowed for attending private, for-profit colleges and universities. Some of the best universities in the US are state or even city-run. And before states started cutting the money they put in their budgets for education – tuitions to those really good state schools were actually affordable. Especially for those who actually lived in the state.

And while we’re at it – how about limiting at least some loans for graduate school as well – to cut down on the education mission creep that contributes nothing to most jobs except, perhaps, slightly inflated salaries. You don’t need a graduate degree, for example, to be a good journalist. A careful review of primary school spelling and grammar might be good, however. I’m sure the kids in summer school would love to help you.

Dear Elon!

Personal Opinion and Analysis, , , ,

So for days I’ve been listening to all the analyst dissection of your $44 billion plan to buy (or not to buy) Twitter. And reading your tweets about counting bots and creating open source algorithms and having “fun” by opening the platform to just about anyone no matter the lies or misinformation or disinformation. Like reinstating President Trump. And his buddies. All of whom were banned for life after the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol.

So Elon (I hope you don’t mind my using your first name – kind of what to expect when you restore that old soapbox to Twitter). Anyhow – Elon – you say you want to take a public social media platform private. But I’m not sure you really understand about Twitter. You really CAN’T own it. Nor -actually – can the current shareholders. Nor the board members who represent them and whom I’ve been told never actually use the platform.

Seriously Elon. WE own Twitter. Really. All of us who use it. That, of course, includes you – but no more or no less than each of us. And have you actually looked at who “us” are? Well there’s me of course but I really don’t count. And all the yahoos who think they’re being really cool by being snippy and snarky and just plain stupid. You know – like a lot of them who tweet back at you. No – I’m talking about literally every leader in the modern world – except perhaps those who have banned Twitter in their countries because it IS owned by the rest of us. In fact I would call Twitter the newsfeed for the world. Presidents and Prime Ministers and Kings and Queens make their official policy announcements on Twitter. Movie stars and rap stars and universities and companies — and on and on — tell their Twitter followers first. With all the rest of us watching.

Twitter is too important to belong to one somewhat erratic, imperious but brilliant entrepreneur Elon. It’s not Facebook or Instagram or Telegram or any other social media app. It’s too important to the world to be judged on Wall Street’s standards of new monthly users or total advertising dollars. Maybe it started that way but it’s morphed into something very different now. Something quite unique. Something which is the center of official and unofficial world information.

So – Elon – you really can’t have it. It’s not your plaything. Give it back to us. To everyone who thinks or writes or governs or sings or has a winning tennis swing. Just go back to getting us to Mars . It’s really more interesting and needs your genius. Twitter doesn’t. It just needs everyone who matters in the World – including you – to keep tweeting. So those of us who don’t matter quite so much can continue to feel a part of something really, really BIG.

Spring, Ukraine and Me

Personal Opinion and Analysis, , , , ,

Photo credit: Bilozerska.info

If somehow you haven’t noticed – it’s finally spring. Even up here in the Northeast. The forsythia and early daffodils are finally giving way to the flowering fruit trees and even a tulip or two. The lawns of suburialand are that perfect, spring green. Not quite kelly green. But that crisper green that eventually gives way to the deeper, summer green. If you walk around the neighborhood without your AirPods – and really look – you’ll see it.

So yes – it’s spring. But far away from my greening landscape is another one. It’s spring there also. We can tell from the live shots. The trees leafing out around the horribly gray, bombed and shelled-out buildings. Spring in the land Russia’s Vladimir Putin is trying to obliterate in the name of recreating the Czarist Russian empire he alone yearns for. Spring in the destroyed land where so many Ukrainians have already died, where so many lives have been unalterably changed, where so many futures have been destroyed. Where the bombs and shells just keep falling.

Does anyone else here in our comfortable America feel as guilty as I do? Walking every day in the warming beauty of Spring, hearing the birds singing and calling to each other to mate and produce the next generation? There will be no bombs to frighten them away or pulverize them in their nests. As always, spring will just slowly turn to summer here – with its more mature beauty. Yes there will be storms and localized floods – even tornados and later, hurricanes. But they will be random – with no pre-programmed, evil intent to destroy an entire people and its country.

How can I immerse myself joyfully in the annual ritual of spring when on the TV each morning and evening, or streaming from my phone or tablet are those searing images from Ukraine?

How can I smell the young grass and the blossoming trees and rejoice in their colors after the drab gray winter when I see the still gray, pulverized city of Mariupol? When I think of the people who used to live there, in a then modern city quite similar to ours here? And who are now dead or gravely wounded or forever traumatized by Putin’s marauding, undisciplined army of unschooled Russian conscripts?

And so for me at least – this is a very different spring. One in which I constantly ask myself and anyone else who will listen – how can so-called human beings, the ones who power our Western world, have allowed all this to happen? How could they have been unable or unwilling to stop Putin’s medieval siege and blockade of Mariupol and its last holdouts in the steel factory on its outskirts? For Ukraine it’s far too late now to even care about the answers of course. Mariupol is finished and – tragically – the last-ditch defenders left in the steel factory nearly so. But still – I care. I need to know. Because even if spring still comes every year – one year it may be OUR cities demolished, OUR citizens killed. By some undisciplined army, led by some other megalomaniac. Drunk on ancient visions of glory. Green shoots in front of OUR pulverized buildings.

Remember – almost no one thought it could happen to Ukraine either.

Stress

Personal Opinion and Analysis, , , , , , ,

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a reporter who loved stress. She called it “good stress”. And it was mostly about making deadlines and finishing marathons. Interviewing, writing, live shots, telling people’s stories – that all got better under the good stress.  Knowing there wasn’t an option NOT to train for a marathon got her out the door those cold snowy mornings. Before work. And after just four hours sleep.

Ahhhhh good stress. How I miss it.

Stress now is mostly about the endless pandemic. Covid-19. And variant after variant. Almost 2 years of fear, grief, lockdowns, masks, travel bans and Zoom.  Families in mourning. Families divided. Friends not speaking. Children in hospitals.  Vaccine passports. Vaccine mandates. Tests to fly to a foreign country. Tests to get back home. Rules changing overnight. Anti-vaxxers clogging up hospital systems through rounds of different variants. Jobs lost. Or maybe – The Great Resignation. Live events – theater, concerts, clubs – cancelled or restricted.

Only big league sports escaped the shut downs. Even before vaccines. Perhaps because there was so much money at stake. But then this month – as the omicron variant flared – the money suddenly stopped talking.  As the ultimate bad boy story unfolded. Tennis star Novak Djokovic – adamantly unvaccinated – got tossed out of Australia before he could defend his title. For lying on his visa. More or less.

Inflation is soaring, the supply chain has been broken for months and months, The Federal Reserve still seems paralyzed, the withdrawal from Afghanistan was and still is a tragic disaster and President Joe Biden – elected to fix what his predecessor had broken – seems – along with his dysfunctional party – unable to walk and chew gum. Meanwhile the democracy most Americans have cherished for hundreds of years looks ready to collapse under the weight of social media-driven misinformation and Trump-world QAnon lies and conspiracy theories.

You want to talk about stress?

A few months ago I read in a health report that collectively – Americans’ blood pressure has risen markedly since COVID-19 enveloped us.  I know mine has. I’m angry all the time now. So is everyone I know and seemingly, everyone I DON’T know. It’s an inchoate anger.  At everything that keeps going wrong. At a rickety health system where doctors, nurses and other hospital staffs worked until they collapsed and yet somehow loved ones and friends died. It’s an anger that more than a year after vaccines started going into arms – the now militantly UNvaccinated have made it almost a Trumpian religion to stay that way. Even as Trump himself has finally begun touting the virtues of getting the vaccine his administration actually produced. It’s an anger that keeps building because once again the hospitals are full, health workers are exhausted and at least 80% of those on respirators now are unvaccinated. Many of the rest just didn’t bother to get their boosters.

There have always been lots of things which stress us out. They’ve usually varied – person to person. Often in the past, money – or rather the lack of money – has been the biggest stressor. Now – it’s all tied up in COVID. Somehow, in some continually frustrating way, the virus is at the heart of everything. Sometimes it seems we’re not just wobbling under this burden of stress. We’ve all gone down that rabbit hole in some way. Descending into a fragmenting world where everyone seems not just stressed but after almost two pandemic years – almost mentally ill.  Every week it seems we hear of someone pushed onto the subway tracks. Or knocked over from behind on a busy city street. Or shot for literally no reason at all.

Meanwhile the confusing rhetoric from health officials continues. About the omicron variant and masks and maybe a fourth vaccine shot when so few have even gotten the third…..and on and on and on and on.

I yell all the time. At my husband (who yells back at me). At the poor cats. In my car. As everyone else in THEIR cars seems to be doing the same thing.

When will this end? HOW will it end? Where are the psychologists on cable TV or even on Twitter who can explain us to ourselves.  Tie it all together and tell us how to make it stop?

There is seemingly nothing in this world right now (except perhaps Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aberrant dream of recreating the Soviet Union) that is not based on or caused by or related to the COVID-19 pandemic. And the way our officials handled or didn’t handle it. And the way we in the free world are reacting to losing the personal freedom we all once believed could never be ripped away.