Bruce Handy, Lisa Birnbach and Joe Queenan - contributors to The Peanuts Papers. — Bruce Handy, Lisa Birnbach and Joe Queenan - contributors to *The Peanuts Papers*.

Welcome to the new year and a new decade! Let’s dust ourselves off from the excitement of the moment, or maybe even the disappointment of New Year’s Eve (always severely overrated and underperforming) and begin “Drynuary” or don’t. (I choose not to, as I abstained for the whole of January, 2019 and it didn’t change my life in any perceptible way.). Let’s check ourselves for bruises, and try to begin again. I suggest that we summon up our “better selves” and give our old resentments a swift kick in the rear.

We know January first is just December 32nd, but the break exists and helps us organize time.

I hope you’ve enjoyed your holidays. I did.

Our guests today are two old pals of mine, Bruce Handy and Joe Queenan. Both hilarious and thoughtful writers, our paths crossed at Spy Magazine, or at least Spy TV specials. (What I miss most about Spy Magazine was not editing it, but reading it. I’d often be shocked by the freedom the publication demonstrated about the usual pieties – and feel refreshed and amused and appalled, but mostly amused. Make fun of rich and powerful people? Sure, why not?) We will be chatting about the new peanuts anthology that we all contributed to, The Peanuts Reader.

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Here are the 5 Things that made my life better this week.

1. Hubub. I had many family and exhibit-adjacent people under foot for the big holiday week. I cooked a lot, seemed to be grocery shopping constantly, and loaded and unloaded the dishwasher multiple times a day. That’s okay. I enjoyed having everyone here. Speaking of underfoot, my son’s son, “Exhibit E” or “A.1” was nice enough to play hide and seek with me a lot. Also he has developed a charming belly laugh. He is moments away from accepting his Rhodes Scholarship. Sorry for bragging.

2. Bamba. Not the socks; the Israeli peanut snack. The first time I tried this food, I found it repellant. Now I love it. It has the consistency of a cheese puff but tastes like peanut butter. It is just salty enough, and fairly addictive. I buy bags at Fairway, but I’d laid off them for the last six months. However, they were invented – as far as I know – as a snack for babies, and to protect new eaters from developing peanut allergies which have become so prevalent in the last 20 years. Anyway, the baby loved them. Also my son and daughter in law loved them. They are good, honestly.

3. This column in the New York Times.

A thoughtful question by an anonymous 40 year old who clearly is looking hard at her life. I found her willingness to be so candid (even while withholding her identity) impressive, and I appreciated the seriousness of the response. You can say that someone asking this question, “How do I find Beauty and Meaning in my life?” is just very privileged and fortunate she is not asking, “How can I feed my children?” Or “how can I get over my partner’s drug addiction?” and yes, she is privileged. But all our lives could be improved with meaning and beauty. Years ago a friend reminded me to make time for beauty in my life – appreciating the skyline, say, or listening to music, or ducking into one of the thousands of galleries in New York to see a picture – and I’ve never forgotten his advice. It helps. It helps.

4. A feel good story about a community that learned ASL to accommodate a new young neighbor. If this story didn’t reach your computer or phone within the last couple of weeks, here it is. The best kind of story about strangers moving into our midst.

5. A medical breakthrough reported in the Australian press has me hopeful. It cites a vaccine that has been in development for more than 2 decades that has proven effective in reversing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia in mice, and that human trials are set to begin by 2022.