Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Snow White, Jake Tapper, Jules Feiffer, Cuomo Bros, "Cheers," Seder suggestions.
LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN NEWSLETTER #70 APRIL 7, 2020
Why are there no female images in this Newsletter other than a cartoon character and the mother of a famous guy? I'm asking myself the same question but don't have time to fill in the blanks. Please forgive.
* Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane give us 5-minutes on how we got "Trumped" here.
* The perfect poem for now was written in 1869, about 10 years after the Irish famine
And People Stayed Home by Kathleen O’Meara (1839 – 1888)
And people stayed home
and read books and listened
and rested and exercised
and made art and played
and learned new ways of being,
and stopped
and listened deeper.
someone meditated
someone prayed
someone danced
someone met their shadow
and people began to think differently
and people healed
and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways,
dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
even the earth began to heal
and when the danger ended
and people found each other
grieved for the dead people
and they made new choices
and dreamed of new visions
and created new ways of life
and healed the earth completely
just as they were healed themselves.
* Metaphor for what we're up against. Draw your own conclusions:
* If you're obsessed with the latest stats on the pandemic click here to stay informed.
VIDEOS
* Prescient clip from the old TV show, "Cheers." 55 seconds of fun.
* Jake Tapper asks Trump "What's the plan?" 3 minutes of questions to which we demand answers
* "Not getting COVID today" -- original lyrics with apologies to Stephen Sondheim.
JULES FEIFFER'S ADVICE
* Factoid: The word "quarantine" dates to the mid-17th century & derives from the Italian word, quarantina ‘40 days’ from quaranta ‘forty.’ (thanks Larry Russell)
* Musical interlude: A playlist of pieces by black composers from Cedille Records. Pure pleasure.
[cartoon by R.J. Matson]
* Pandemic Stock Market Report (courtesy of David Reingold)
Helium was up, feathers were down. Paper was stationary.
Fluorescent tubing was dimmed in light trading.
Knives were up sharply. Pencils lost a few points.
Hiking equipment was trailing.
Elevators rose, while escalators continued their slow decline.
Weights were up in heavy trading.
Diapers remained unchanged.
The market for raisins dried up. Balloon prices were inflated.
And toilet paper hit rock bottom.
THANK YOU, ANDREW CUOMO
* New York's Governor has become America's Governor. Cuomo's exemplary leadership is helping us through these challenging times. His news conferences combine emotion and reassurance with hard facts and reality. I'm not the only one wondering if he might... Watch 44 seconds of Chris & Andrew.
(Above) Chris, their mom, Matilda, & Andrew Cuomo.
HAPPY PASSOVER
* It's not too late to make your seder more creative & fun for the kids. Click for ideas from Abigail Pogrebin
* "Waters of Babylon." Socially-distanced harmonies by the wonderful feminist singing group, BETTY
* The Torah Speaks of 4 Different Kinds of People Who Use Zoom
The Wise. The Wicked. The Simple. The One Who Does Not Know How to “Mute”
The Wise Person says: “I’ll handle the Admin Feature Controls and Chat Rooms, and forward the Cloud Recording Transcript after the call.”
The Wicked Person says: “Since I have unlimited duration, I scheduled the meeting for six hours—as it says in the Haggadah, whoever prolongs the telling of the story, harei zeh ‘shubach, is praiseworthy.”
The Simple Person says: “Hello? Am I on? I can hear you but I can’t see you.” [Jerusalem Talmud reads here: “I can see you, but I can’t hear you.”]
The One Who Does Not Know How to Mute says: “How should I know where you put the keys? I’m stuck on this stupid Zoom call with these idiots.”
To the Wise Person you should offer all of the Zoom Pro Optional Add-On Plans.
To the Wicked Person you should say: “Had you been in charge, we would still be in Egypt.”
To the Simple Person you should say: “Try the call-in number instead.”
To the One Who Does Not Know How to Mute you should say: “Why should this night be different from all other nights?”
Wishing you a sweet Passover starting tomorrow night. A happy Easter on Sunday. And a generous Ramadan starting April 24. Stay strong, stay safe, stay home. -- Letty