Ep. 102 - with Alan Zweibel - Comedy writer, friend to the stars.

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. It helps get my podcast noticed. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!

 It’s been 3 weeks since George Floyd was murdered by policemen in Minneapolis.   We saw it happen.  We can’t unsee it or the wanton brutality of those cops.  As Will Smith said, “Racism hasn’t gotten worse; it’s gotten filmed.”  And suddenly there were films of neck-crushing, and baton wielding combined with fierce shoves and pepper spray and tear gas, and we don’t recognize the oppression that is a reality of all Black lives.  Now we know more.  We are seeing things we did not want to see and trying to make it better in any ways we can.

Here at headquarters we are reading books by Black authors and supporting Black-owned businesses.  We’re attending webinars on slavery and reparations.  We are delicately wading in as allies.

 As my friend Janis Hirsch posted, “there are only 19 more Tuesdays until Election Day.”  Is that possible?  It sounds remarkably soon.  I had planned to travel to swing states to help get out the vote, but it’s off to the phone and text banks for me.  Let me know if any of you are working on any campaigns.

Lisa Birnbach and guest, Alan Zweibel

Meanwhile, have you been laughing lately?  My guest this week, SNL alum Alan Zweibel is here with his new book, Laugh Lines, My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier.  He wrote with Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live, and co-created It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.  He wrote the play 700 Sundays with Billy Crystal.  Alan knows everyone and more importantly, he goes on vacation with funny famous people.  He is funny.

Have you found anything amusing or diverting?  It’s hard to locate that at the moment.  Try.  Sometimes it requires looking back at movies that you remember as being hilarious.  Some of them are still hilarious. 

My list for this week:

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1. Structure.  My days feel much more productive when I have some appointments or things to do on a schedule.  I’m not like some people who have learned a new language or to play an instrument while they’ve been at home.  But it’s good to have a purpose if you don’t have a job.  Know what I mean?

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2. The mail!  It’s sometimes the only reason I leave my apartment – to write and to receive.  I’m not crazy about bills or pamphlets, but I fully and strongly support the Postal Service, and I find myself writing more notes via snail mail, because I think it’s a treat to get an actual letter.

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3. I have 3 regularly scheduled zoom and conference calls a week.  They basically form my structure for this amorphous time.  So I depend on them.  Because we are I think more introspective the more we self-quarantine, many of these conversations go deep and so personal…. It really feels like a group therapy session.  So sustaining.  So intimate. 

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4. Buying books from independent bookstores.  This has been a priority of mine ever since a certain trillionaire started a book delivery company that has taken over the world.  I don’t mind buying nitrile gloves or vacuum cleaner bag refills from Amazon, and I truly admire their films and tv series, but I like buying books from dedicated booksellers.  I was raised with a bookstore – The Lenox Hill Bookstore which was on Madison Avenue between 86th and 87th Street – where the proprietor took pains to help his customers find just the right book for their tastes.  Let’s keep those wonderful stores alive!  One way you can is through bookshop.com, which in addition to giving your purchase to an independent bookstore, raises money for them.

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5. The Supreme Court did something I liked this past week.  In Bostock v. Clayton County, professional discrimination or termination because of sexual orientation or gender identification is now illegal.  The court ruled 6-3.  Good on them.  Firing an employee because of whom they love is unjust.  This decision gave me a glimmer of hope that at least some decency is still in our government.

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Alan Zweibel’s 5 Things:

1. His wife Robin
2. Marx Brother movie, DUCK SOUP
3. Nectarines
4. Words
5. Empty baseball fields

More About Alan Zweibel

LAUGH LINES: My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier
By Alan Zweibel

Published by Abrams Books

Website: AlanZweibel.com
https://alanzweibel.com/

Twitter
@AlanZweibel

Instagram
@alanzweibelofficial

Facebook
@AlanZweibelOfficial

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC. My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft

https://thefieldtv.com

Ep. 101 - Jeff Vespa - Documentary Evidence: Voices of Parkland

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. It helps get my podcast noticed. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!

I feel like I want to do a safety check-up on all of you.  Are you alright?  Taking care of yourselves?  Exerting your voice and point of view?  Over exerting yourself?  Feeling like there’s too much to do?  I hear you.  (I wish I could see you.)

 You know we have been living in emotionally draining, painful, and difficult times for years, now.  The digitization and virtualization of our lives have pushed each of us into our own silo, where sometimes we have had no physical interaction with others for days on end.  This was even before quarantine.  Quarantine or social distancing have only magnified our sense of being alone.  (If I had one wish for this blog and podcast, it would be to make you feel less alone.) 

 I can tell you that in the years between ExhibitA and ExhibitB graduated from high school, the reliance on cell phones took away a certain openness to meeting people in real life.  This statement is not about them; it’s about how quickly life has changed in the last decade. It’s only gotten harder since 2012.  ExhibitC’s grown-up life had just begun a year before the world shut down.  I am sympathetic to the feeling of treading water, which is a bit like what is happening to her and her peers now.

 So let me gently remind you that it was only two and a half years ago that we observed with horror the murders at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.   A school shooting is an unspeakable tragedy; as we know, schools are where people go to feel safe; to be embraced by their routines, their friends, their teachers.  A place where they are assured of getting fed at least one meal a day.  The trauma of the Parkland murders exists in a trough of other traumas and tragedies:  with the Sandy Hook Elementary School murders, and Virginia Tech murders, the shootings at Columbine High School, and so many others.   There is no way to completely “get over” these calamities.  Even if we weren’t there, we are all part of the collateral damage.

Host Lisa Birnbach and Jeff Vespa, director, VOICES OF PARKLAND

My guest today, Jeff Vespa, is a well-known portrait photographer, whose documentary, “Voices of Parkland” shows no violence, but allows survivors of the school shooting to express what they did and how they felt.   Jeff’s film will be one of the pieces of evidence about the hardship of the decade of the 2010s.

The 5 Things that made my life better this week:

1. The press.  Most people who enter the field of journalism want to expose the truth.  They want to see how the sausage is made, or how the war is being waged, or how the laws were passed.  As you see the individuals and teams of reporters outside the White House, on the sidelines of protests, and in war zones, you must appreciate that their jobs are difficult, sometimes dangerous, and certainly not well paid compared to other professions.  When I see the police shooting and arresting reporters on live tv, I sink.  What is happening when they are not on camera?  Without reporters and photographers, we would be ignorant.  Without them, the powerful would be ever more so.  They keep a form of honest pressure on the world they cover.  They help protect this democracy.

2. Emotional support.  Whether you rely on a support animal, a psychiatrist, a therapy app, or keeping a diary, we all need emotional support.  Period, full stop.  We probably need it more these days than ever before.  I wonder whether the therapists are getting enough support themselves, incidentally.  There is no shame in seeking help; no stigma in seeing a counselor, certainly not in my extended universe.  If you’ve never done it before, it can feel wobbly at first, and I salute you for making the effort. 

3. Alan Arkin.  Yes, the actor.  He makes me laugh whenever I see his picture.  Is it the imprint he left on me from “The Russians are Coming The Russians are Coming”?  “The In-Laws”? “Little Miss Sunshine”? “The Komiskey Method”?  It might be.  A couple of weeks ago, I found this video on Facebook, courtesy of the actor Miles Chapin.  It made my day sunnier.

4. Farm to People.  I’m a late comer to this farm to table delivery service, but I couldn’t be more excited about it.  It’s a wonder, honestly.  Their products are so good and so local!  You can subscribe to a weekly produce delivery, or a one and done sort of box – on automatic – wonderful vegetables and fruits, meats and poultry, they sell cheese and milk, and bakery items… but reliable, never a mistake (so far) and if you don’t want to go grocery shopping – I know a lot of people do not – this is the answer. 

When I told Farm to People i would be mentioning them, they generously made us this offer: $10 off your first order - Use code: LISABIRNBACH

Thank you !

5. Learning about being Black.  What is happening in America is an upheaval that is long overdue.  I feel like I’ve been hiding behind a cloud that has masked what has gone on in this country.  My white privilege is to think, study, and really pay attention.

JEFF VESPA’S 5 THINGS:

 It goes without saying that my wife Emily and two daughters Genevieve and Josephine are everything for me. But after that my 5 things are: 

 1. Students and Families from Parkland

 2. Omakase Sushi

 3. Los Angeles Dodgers

4. Great Artists: Marcel Duchamp, Eugene Atget

5. Making art and telling stories

More About JEFF VESPA

 Voices of Parkland

A Documentary

Directed by Jeff Vespa and Executive Produced by Judd Apatow.

 Twitter: @jeffvespa

 Instagram: @jeffvespa

Instagram: @portraits

Facebook: @JeffVespa

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is produced by The Field in NYC

This week’s episode was recorded in Santa Monica in February 2020, at Eleven Sound - Thank you to the great staff and engineer at the studio.

Ep. 100 - Host Lisa Birnbach - Time for a Change

When I began this podcast 100 weeks ago, I yearned for just a little uplift. Just for me. All my adult life I have been used to taking the role of cheering up my loved ones and my friends, of being “the funny person” who’s habit it was to make light in the darkness. Unfortunately instead of celebration we have an elegy.

I had expected the qualified candidate for president to win the election for president in 2016. Everyone did. When Trump won, it was a shock. It seemed like a big practical joke that everyone was in on but us. Even Trump didn’t expect to take the White House.

For a while we whined that privileged white whine – oh it’ll be awful, or he’s not interested in government; or, he’ll ignore his responsibilities and we’ll be okay – remember he was a supporter of Planned Parenthood, and he is a New Yorker.

The week of his inauguration things started to slide downhill. The people (white men of a certain age) he named to his cabinet (and okay Betsy DeVos is female and Ben Carson is black) were not only grossly unqualified for their positions; they were people who were in favor of disbanding their positions’ mandates: Rick Perry wanted to close down the Department of Energy before he was named to run it. Betsy DeVos had had zero interaction or background in public education; she’s been gutting it ever since.

I became more and more morose, downcast, and pessimistic. Some of my friends were concerned; the Lisa they knew had disappeared or diminished. I wasn’t reliably up and cheerful and cracking wise.

By the Spring of 2018 I decided to find just five little things that kept my spirits up – really just a classic gratitude exercise that some people I know practice in their journals, or in their meditations or prayers, or at dinner with their children. I wrote down five little things – the scent of a bough of lilacs, the delights of fresh basil, the taste of the first corn of the summer, a book I had just finished and enjoyed. It wasn’t too bad. By summer I was recording these pleasures, and in due time, the little podcast became an interview program in which our guests shared their five things too.

Even when I became spitting mad or discouraged the 10 things in our podcast left at least the two of us, my guest and me, in a better mood. It seemed to work with listeners as well.

Now here we are, two years later, and it feels like we as Americans and members of the global community are standing at the abyss. Righteous indignation has been subsumed into violence. Anger and hurt are everywhere. I’m enraged most of the day.

So in honor of the protests, and in the memory of George Floyd, and David McAtee, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and so many other Black people, murdered for being black, this week will be different at headquarters. No lilacs, no oat milk, or great Netflix series. Today I pause with you all, try to take a breath, and think about how we function with a government that is neither listening to us, or is distorting our message for their ends, while keeping a veil over what they are doing while we are distracted and miserable.

The work that we as white people have to do is substantial. We have wittingly and unwittingly been the oppressors. Now is the time for study and reflection (as opposed to thoughts and prayers), and I will endeavor to do better and be more mindful in my interactions with people of color.

I leave you with this poem by my teacher, the poet Michael S. Harper. This is “Brother John” recited by the poet.

Be kind to one another and act natural.

Ep. 99 - with June Diane Raphael - Empowering women with comedy and politics

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. It helps get my podcast noticed. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!

 So that was May.  No big deal.  It lasted about 7 minutes while March lasted 432 days.  What do you know?

 Honestly, I wouldn’t even know what day it was were it not for doing this blog and podcast every seven days.  And having had an abbreviated week due to Memorial Day, I had to look at my diary or my calendar app or both all week long.  That’s me.  Here’s what I know:  I know we are starved for one another.  For company, for a change of scenery, for the outdoors, for approval, for a feeling of security.  These are the things most of us don’t have at the moment. 

 More difficult is daily life for the many people who live alone.  Even if they have a million friends, these are lonely days.  You don’t always want to talk on the phone, or on Zoom, or communicate using DMs or texts.  And who doesn’t feel a bit of envy for people whose pictures suggest a more productive and fulfilled quarantine?   Recently I had a very blue few days – I was on the verge of tears a couple of times, but my actual own exhibits™ helped me through them.   So I am extraordinarily fortunate to have children who are old enough and wise enough to help a mother out. 

 If you are feeling frightened or lonely, please reach out to a relative or a friend.  You can even write to me if you want.  We are trying to do something our generation has never done before:  With our reduced attention span and vast supplies of information, both real and fake, it is easy to be overwhelmed while trying to gauge feeling our ways back to a semblance of normalcy.  We don’t know what normal will even be and when it will be.  So we need patience and fortitude.  We’ll get there eventually.

My guest this week is the actress, writer, and activist June Diane Raphael.  You might know her as Brianna on Grace and Frankie.  She’s stolen scenes in everything from Burning Love to Lady Dynamite, New Girl, and Big Mouth.  June Diane has appeared in Blockers, The Long Shot, Anchorman 2 and others.  A graduate of Upright Citizens Brigade, she is also the founder of The Jane Club in Los Angeles, a co-working space for women with tons of events, programs, and first rate child care.  A longtime activist, June Diane has written, with Kate Black, Represent: The Woman's Guide to Running for Office and Changing the World," a step-by-step guide for women who are considering a political career.” 

 Our interview took place in Los Angeles way back in February.  At the time, Elizabeth Warren was still running to be the Democratic nominee for president.   Restaurants and theaters and malls and hair salons were all open for business.  We spoke in a podcasting room at The Jane Club.  Social distancing hadn’t become the way of the world.  We shook hands hello and goodbye. 

Host Lisa Birnbach and guest - actress, activist and writer June Diane Raphael.

Today, I am talking to you from my apartment.  I am fully dressed but thinking about what a different world we are living in from the carefree days of the winter.

The five things that made my life better this week are: 

1. Comedian Sarah Cooper.  She dubs statements of the president, and when she does, they are much easier to take.  They are Tik Toks which I discovered her on Twitter. Hey that’s a sentence I couldn’t have written a year ago.

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2. Exhibit C™ came for another visit.  It was a spectacular day together.  I enjoyed every minute.

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3. My partner is transferring my hundreds of old video tapes (eek!) onto digital files.  For every TV show I remember vividly, there is another of which I have no recollection.  It’s weird.  Mostly I like to look at my young hair, which was shiny and black.

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4. We had our first social distanced visit with friends this week.  I needed it. We were conscientious about wearing masks, staying 6 or so feet apart, and not touching. 

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Governor Andy Beshear, Kentucky

5. Decency.  It’s the minimum we should expect from one another and from our elected officials.  When protesters showed up at the state capitol in Frankfurt, KY to protest the lockdown orders, they hung an effigy of Democratic governor, Andy Beshear from a tree.  In A state with a history of lynching.  That’s not decent.  When the president golfs as the death toll of Americans approaches 100,000, that’s not decent.  It’s not about politics.  It’s about being civil and respectful.  Who among us is against decency?

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June Diane Raphael - actress, writer, activist and co-founder, The Jane Club

June Diane Raphael’s 5 Things

 1.  Her nanny Julianna

2.  Shared photo streams on iPhone

3.  Bravo

4.  Money

5. Her assistant Anna

More about June Diane Raphael

 Instagram:  @junediane

Twitter:  @MsJuneDiane

Co-Founder, The Jane Club

 Instagram:  @TheJaneClub 

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The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced by The Field in NYC

Ep. 98 - with Abby Ellin - DUPED ! - The con man I almost married

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. It helps get my podcast noticed. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!

My weekly exercise of finding the good in this hard time has felt more like an exercise, to be honest, than ever before.  Each week brings new waves of friends or relatives who are sick.  Each week brings reminders of our fragile mortality.   And each week brings new questions about how much we can take of self-isolating and staying indoors.

 For me, staying indoors is not as much of a chore as you would think.  Some days I keep the shades mostly closed, and I pretend I’m in a blistering hot and humid place like New Orleans in the summertime, and I have to keep my apartment dark.  I’m like one of Ellen Gilchrist’s eccentric characters*.

 I do believe that many people have trouble staying put; they’re active and restless. This is different for them.  But knowing that this period will come to an end – in 2 months, in 5 months, even a year – makes it manageable.  This is a historic moment.  No one alive will ever forget the international pandemic.  Books and movies will be made about it, from every perspective.  We just need to be patient.

Host Lisa Birnbach and her guest Abby Ellin, author of DUPED: Double Lives, False Identities and the Con Man I Almost Married

This week’s guest was patient while she was dating a man who might have been “the one.”  Abby Ellin, a writer for many publications including the New York Times, New York, the LA Times, and saw many red flags, and yet decided to give this guy a chance.  Her experience gave her material for her new book, Duped: Double Lives, False Identities, and the Con Man I Almost Married, published by Public Affairs.   Being habitually lied to gave her insight into the current president too.

But before I get to Abby, here is my list of five things:

1. Exhibit A’s exhibit™ -- he’s my um, son’s son, my um grandson.  Unfortunately, we are separated by distance, but my daughter-in-law sends me pictures regularly, and we even try to Facetime every week.  But unbeknownst to them, I stare at my little love all the time.  He is my phone’s home screen, and I frequently zone out by looking at little videos she and my son have sent me.  Sometimes I kiss my phone.  TMI?

2.  Meatless meals.  It just seems we’ve been eating too much meat.  And we saw a documentary which taught us that if all of us avoided meat and cheese just one day a week (!) methane emissions would drop precipitously.  So last night we had a vegetarian meal, and honestly, it was delicious, I felt less heavy afterwards, and it felt good to do our bit.  It doesn’t mean we’re going vegetarian or vegan, but we’re becoming more mindful of what we’re eating.

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3.  Got some flowers in the house.  Spent too much money, perhaps, but the peonies and hyacinth looks festive, bring the outside in, and smell divine. 

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4.  This sponge.  It’s silly looking, but it is a hard worker.  I’d never heard of it, but bought it at our local hardware store when I was looking for Clorox wipes.  (Will they ever be able to stock them again?). I think this sponge may have some “Shark Tank” provenance, by the way.

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5.  My weekly phone calls/ zoom calls.  I have three conversations with groups of friends that honestly help me know what day it is.  Mine are on Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday.  One is with old dear friends, one is with new friends, and one is a mixture.  They are the human connection I need.  If you can, try to schedule some regularly recurring events in your week.  I think it’s helpful.

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Abby Ellin, author of Duped: Double Lives, False Identities, and the Con Man I Almost Married,

Abby Ellin’s 5 Things:

 1. Passport

2. Playing my cello

3. Climbing mountains

4. Larry David

5. Wearing a mask so you can yell at people on the street and they'll never be able to identify you in a line up.

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MORE ABOUT ABBY ELLIN

 DUPED:  Double Lives, False Identities, and the Con Man I Almost Married
By Abby Ellin

Published by Hachette Book Group/Public Affairs

Website:  www.AbbyEllin.com

Twitter @abbyellin 

 Facebook @abbyellinauthor

Instagram @abby_ellin_author

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC.

Ep. 97 – with Maya Ajmera - Five Things that Make Life Better for the week of May 15, 2020

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. It helps get my podcast noticed. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!

I hope the past week was easier for you than it was for me.  Without going into detail, one of my exhibits was very sick and in the hospital far away.  Forty-six blood tests, several MRIs, 2 COVID-19 swab tests, at least one x-ray, and other assorted diagnostic tools were deployed to figure out the malady causing my child to suffer.  She was both so brave and so alone.   Every time I thought I’d fly out to help take care of her, someone would smartly talk me out of it.  Needless to say, it only took me a few seconds to remember that going to the airport and getting on a plane are dangerous things to do, and would require me to quarantine alone somewhere where my exhibit would not be.

 Our family’s prayers were answered, and my daughter is now out of the hospital, mending from we’re not sure what.  That made Mother’s Day all the more poignant for me.

 Listen friends.  I believe that our prayers made us all feel better and that we all had a hand in her healing.  And perhaps they even helped in some cosmic way.  Nevertheless, I’m here to tell you I believe deeply in science.  As a child, I don’t know which class I disliked more:  science or math.  Oh wait, it was math, but I didn’t care much for whatever science I was forced to absorb, and I didn’t absorb much after learning about human reproduction.  Now I’m fascinated by and a bit in awe of science.  So many great thinkers over the centuries have figured out how the body works and can be fixed when it is broken.   The marvel that is an itsy bitsy pill that can regulate someone’s metabolism, or nervous system, or blood pressure, or fix an ache, or take down a fever.  The science that saw climate change decades ago and tried to alert us all to prevent it, or at least slow it down.   The work of scientists and researchers amazes me, and for that I am so grateful.

Guest Maya Ajmera, President and CEO, Society for Science & the Public, Publisher, Science News and host Lisa Birnbach

My guest this week Maya Ajmera is the President and CEO of  Society for Science & the Public and publisher of its award-winning magazine, Science News.  She started reading Science News as a student, and now not only does she run it, she runs the Regeneron Science Talent Search, né the Westinghouse Talent Search.  Spreading scientific literacy has been one of her life’s goals, and I wish I’d had a teacher like her in my young life.

Lisa’s 5 Things:

1. My daughter’s return to health

2. My daughter’s return to health

3. My daughter’s return to health

4. Mother’s Day with #ExhibitC.

5. Red wine

Maya Ajmera’s 5 (6) Things:

1.  The ability to pivot quickly and be entrepreneurial in a time of great challenges. Let me give you an example. This year, we were going to have the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the largest pre-collegiate STEM competition in the world in Anaheim, bringing together 2,000 kids from 80 countries, regions and territories to compete for $5 million in awards and prizes. We had to cancel ISEF due to COVID-19, but we pivoted to create the first-ever Regeneron Virtual International Science and Engineering Fair. This shift has helped us to include young people who wouldn't have originally been able to participate in the fair from anywhere in the world and will hear from top scientists, engineers and frontline COVID-19 researchers. This is an open forum and that gives me great pride.

2. Leading a newsroom that’s providing critical coverage of COVID-19. As Publisher of Science News, it’s been gratifying to make sure that our newsroom has the resources and support they need to report on the COVID-19 crisis. We are providing evidence-based, factual news stories on the new coronavirus that isn't hyped or sensationalistic. Also, we are providing our COVID-19 reporting for free to local newsrooms, which are being decimated right now, across the United States. Communities rely on their local news outlets and we’re hoping we can help fill in some gaps.

3. Having meals as a family every day. During these seven weeks, I have cherished having breakfast, lunch and dinner with my family every day. That just didn't happen before because my husband and I have two full-time jobs that require meetings and working late sometimes. This has been a really treasured time with my seven-year-old daughter—we can have every meal together. I feel very fortunate.

 4. I am thankful for telemedicine. My mother is going through chemotherapy and she and my dad have been isolated, but now our doctor gets online and has phone calls with my mother. We have family conference calls with the doctor which has been very comforting. You would usually go to your doctor's office, but now you have the option of protecting yourself through telemedicine.

 5. Delivery Services. I am really thankful for delivery services like Instacart, Doordash and Caviar, where we order food from our favorite restaurants on Saturday nights. I salute the people who are helping with shopping and delivering groceries during this uncertain time.

6. During this time of enormous disruption, giving of time, treasure and talent to those in need is meaningful to me. I feel incredibly blessed to have resources and work to make sure that we do more for those who don't. Faith plays a large part of this. I serve on several boards. We are making donations. Public service has never been more important than right now.

MORE ABOUT MAYA AJMERA

President and CEO, Society for Science & the Public

Publisher, Science News
 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)

 Regeneron Virtual International Science and Engineering Fair

Twitter: @MayaAjmera

Twitter:  @Society4Science

Twitter:  @ScienceNews

Website:  www.mayaajmera.com

Website:    www.societyforscience.org

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced by The Field in NYC

Ep. 96 - Stephen Henderson - 24-Hour Soup Kitchen

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. It helps get my podcast noticed. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!

Greetings, earthlings.

As the weather becomes milder it is more difficult to stay indoors.  I understand; I’m human too.  I look out our windows and see the trees blossoming, the tulips in the sidewalk tree boxes, and I want to go out there!  I want to walk around, buy a bunch of lilacs, and have a picnic.  But it’s just not to be.

Since March 14, I have left my building once or twice a week for a short walk, or some quick, local errands.  I smell the air through my mask, feel the sun on my hair, and feel grateful that things aren’t worse.  If that’s the new normal, it’s somewhat temporary, I hope.

Host Lisa Birnbach and Guest Steven Henderson

Speaking of hope, my guest this week is a man who has been able to offer glimpses of hope to the have nots all around the world.  Whether this started because of his early theological background or because of the privilege he recognized in his adult life hardly matter.  His name is Stephen Henderson, and he volunteers to cook at soup kitchens, wherever his travels take him.  His new book, The 24-Hour Soup Kitchen:  Soul-Stirring Lessons in Gastrophilanthropy details his adventures cooking in usually sub-ideal conditions in India, Peru, Iran, Japan, Israel, Mexico, and even Pittsburgh.   As a travel and fashion writer, he would be sent all around the world on the most luxurious of reporting gigs – for Delhi Fashion Week, to find the world’s most refined oven factory in France, or visit a super exclusive resort with only 30 guest rooms in the Andes.  Then, after checking out of his 8 star hotel he would look for a soup kitchen in a close-by slum or ghetto, where he would happily slice vegetables for eight hours or serve the rice to hundreds of diners.

One can’t not be inspired by Stephen Henderson.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Lisa’s 5 Things: 

1) My “Mom” mug.  My daughter, #ExhibitB ™ painted this at one of those ceramics painting studios that were all the rage in the early 2000’s.  She must have been somewhere between 7 and about 10 or 11 when she painted this, based on her signature on the bottom.  Inside, she wrote “All gone” which you can only read once the coffee’s been drunk.  It is one of the souvenirs that means a lot to me.  It was on the back of the shelf the other day and I brought it back into heavy rotation with a smile.

The Apple Family on Zoom.

2) The play,  “What Do We Need to Talk About? Conversations on Zoom” written by Richard Nelson, which debuted online this past Wednesday, April 29th is a mirror reflection on how it feels to be us now.  Nelson, the playwright and director has revisited the Apple family five times now, since 2010.  Feeling just a bit like those incredible Michael Apted documentaries – 7Up, 14Up, 28Up – we’re getting to see the adult siblings of a WASPy family living in Rhinebeck (upstate) New York.  One sibling has just been released from the hospital with severe COVID-19, and the youngest sister’s boyfriend thinks he has it.  Brother Richard works in the Albany office of Governor Andrew Cuomo.  The play, presented as a Zoom call, feels as if it were written last week.  And it essentially was.  Set on Wednesday, April 29th, the Apple family reminisces, frets, tells stories to one another, and say the things we’re all saying or thinking to ourselves.  You can find it online at The Public Theater online at Streaming free online through Sunday on publictheater.org and YouTube.

3) Reading.  More and again.  Like many of you, I’m getting screen fatigue.  I don’t think peering into my laptop screen, our tv screens, or my phone screen are doing my eyesight any favors, and sometimes whatever I see there feel like bombardments.  I’m enjoying quietly reading a book.  I’ve been reading several. 

4) My brother Jon and I saw our mom again this week.  I’m not sure if she’s getting as much from our visits as we are, but the peace of mind is inestimable.

5) My daughter in law FaceTimes me often with her baby boy.  I love watching him walk and pick up every single thing he sees and then attempt to put it in his mouth.  I’m sad we cannot be with them for his first birthday, but the live video makes the absence bearable. Vive la difference!

Stephen Henderson’s 5 Things:

1. The New York Times

2. Chock Full of Nuts "It's the Heavenly" Coffee

3. Being able to Google recipes, ingredients, and substitutes on a cell phone

4. Ben Mankiewicz, one of the hosts on Turner Classic Movies

5. Uni-Ball Jetstream Retractable Ballpoint pens, Fine Point, 0.7 mm

More About Stephen Henderson

The 24-Hour Soup Kitchen: Soul-Stirring Lessons in Gastrophilanthropy

By Stephen Henderson

Published by Radius Book Group

https://www.radiusbookgroup.com/book/the-24-hour-soup-kitchen/

Instagram:  @stephengordonhenderson

Website:  www.the24-hoursoupkitchen.com

This episode of The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast was recorded in isolation during Covid-19, and produced by The Field in NYC

Ep. 95 - Ted Kennedy Watson - How to survive CoronaVirus quarantine in style

May? Really?  After the longest possible March, April flew by without my even noticing.  It was helped by unseasonably cold weather, which has been a boon to those of us who are really staying home.  Like me. 

Ted Kennedy Watson and Lisa Birnbach - via Zoom

My guest this week is lifestyle expert and retailer Ted Kennedy Watson, owner of two of my favorite gift shops, Watson Kennedy, in Seattle (and online).  Ted knows a thing or four about making one’s home comfortable, cozy (my very favorite adjective), and inviting, so I invited him to give us some pointers on doing just that as we sequester on. 

NOTE: We’re still recording the podcast from home, audio quality via zoom (not complaining, just explaining!).

If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. It helps get my podcast noticed. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!

If you ask me, the pandemic will not suddenly disappear this summer and give us the usual vacation schedule to which we are accustomed.   Our summer has already begun, in a way – as has our fall.  Those of you who are staying at home at your summer houses know this better than we do.  You might be able to walk to the lake or the pond or the beach – separated by six feet.  Us city mice are more confined and enclosed, but I cannot complain about it or anything else.

The 5 Things that made Lisa’s life better this week.

1.  As of this past week, my Exhibits™ and I have a regularly-scheduled Zoom call.  You may have heard that Exhibit A has his own exhibit, and that almost one year old steals the show and sometimes comes straight to the computer screen and gives us spectacular views of his tonsils.  Seeing my brood all together gives me more joy than I can say.  (We FaceTime one on one frequently, but I enjoyed their interactions with one another as well.)  Since they are spread far and wide, I hope this is a custom we continue once we are allowed to socialize in person

 2.  Words With Exhibit C ™.  When she asked if any of us played Words with Friends, I said I hadn’t (because I hadn’t), but now we play together.  I think we’re well matched but so far she has won more games than I have.

3.  Roast Beef Sandwiches.  We cooked a roast beef, and it is the gift that keeps on giving.  We got a second dinner out of it, and two lunches. Very tasty. My first roast beef.  My growth as a cook has grown exponentially since we no longer eat at restaurants.

4.  Food Delivery services.  I cannot tell you how indebted I feel towards Fresh Direct and InstaCart.  But I sort of just did.

5.  My brother Jonathan took our mother out for a short drive over the weekend.  It was her first time outside in at least six weeks. They drove over to my building, and we had a good socially distanced catch up. I am so grateful to Jon, and comforted by seeing her in person.

Ted Kennedy Watson at a book signing - glassbaby on Sacramento St., SF

Ted’s Tips

How to make your house more comfortable and pleasant during a long confinement

• Light candles, even in the morning

• Polish silver. You will be amazed at how therapeutic it is.

• Have fresh flowers. SO good for the soul.

• Wash your bed linens twice as often as you normally do. A fresh bed is heaven.

• Use your produce as a visual. A big bowl of fruit is a beautiful sight.

• Set the table for each meal. Treat every meal as special. Because it is!

• Turn down dimmers for lighting. It instantly makes the space cozier.

• Light extra candles while dining. I promise you will be happier.

• Have relaxing music playing on low in the background throughout the day. For me, it is Classic King FM.

• Use your favorite room spray, liberally. Gives a room an instant refresh.

• Rehang artwork. It will give a wall a completely new look.

• Rearrange a shelf/shelves. It can take a matter of minutes but the result will bring instant joy.

• Add a stack of comfy throw blankets next to your sofa. That way you can curl up to read or nap and be extra comfy.

• Move your furniture around. It refreshes a room and doesn’t cost a penny.

• Make your dining table your desk. It allows you to spread your work out while giving you a different view.

• Have a proper cocktail hour. Get dressed up for it.

• Open up your windows wide. Gives an instant Spring-cleaning feel.

• And lastly, use the good stuff! Bring out the beautiful old silver. Open up that special bottle of wine you have been saving.

Ted Kennedy Watson with Bailey

Ted’s 5 Things:

1.  My husband. Even after 32 years, he is still who I would choose to ‘shelter in place’ with.

2.  Our pooch Bailey. You know how much I love our dog! At 14 1/2, I feel this incredible privilege of caring for her in her senior years.

3.  Flowers. To me they are like air. I need them to survive. They don’t have to be fancy, but fine if they are too. Flowers make me crazy happy.

4.  Friends. I miss seeing and being with our friends soooooo bad! A shared history is such a glorious thing in life.

5.  The US Postal Service & FedEx delivery folks. They are doing incredibly hard work at this amazingly stressful time, putting themselves at risk, and still always give me a smile when they pick up or deliver our parcels.

What to do with a vandalized storefront - The Watson Kennedy way

More about Ted Kennedy Watson

Website:  www.watsonkennedy.com

Website:  www.tedkennedywatson.com

Instagram:  @watsonkennedy

Facebook: @WatsonKennedy

Twitter:  @WatsonKenndey

Watson Kennedy: Fine Living | Fine Home: Store Locations: 206.617-9678

86 Pine Street Seattle, WA 98101

1022 First Avenue Seattle, WA 98104

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC

EP. 94 - With Billy Shore - NO KID HUNGRY

Another week in virtual lockdown.  How’s it going for you?   For me there is a kind of swirl of vagueness or dizziness, as I’m not always certain what day it is.  It’s like being inside a Las Vegas casino – except with windows.  It strikes me as weird, given that so little is going on, how the weeks still seem to be spinning out quickly.  And a new observation:  outside those windows I am hearing more car sounds.  Where are people going?  A few weeks ago there was hardly a single vehicle on the city streets. 

I’m not bored and I’m not despairing, exactly, but I’m not making the most of this time.  I’m weaning myself off being constantly battered by the news.  I do watch the news at night, which I’m positive is not great for falling asleep, but at least it’s contained, as they say.

I speak to my family more than ever, as I suspect you all do as well. (In fact, I just got off the phone with my brother Norman, and we both worked ourselves up into frothing anger.  Whoops!) I have no doubt that we will get through this together, if we are patient.  The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced we have to be doubly cautious than has been advertised.  We will probably suffer through COVID-19 through most of the year.  So stay home, friends, as much as you can.

Lisa Birnbach Zoom chats with Billy Shore - Co-Founder of NO KID HUNGRY

Our guest this week, Billy Shore, runs NO KID HUNGRY, a campaign that is making sure children who were fed at school are being fed now that schools are closed.  He is an expert on poverty and hunger, and cofounded Share Our Strength, which he still leads 35 years ago.

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. It helps get my podcast noticed. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!

Now, Lisa Birnbach’s Five Things that made her life better this week:

1.  Cooking boo boos.  Now that I’m a fulltime chef de cuisine, I’ve made some blunders.  I made a cauliflower pasta dish that was just chalky.  My partner made a meatloaf using rice instead of breadcrumbs that was …. Interesting.  But there’s always wine during the Quarantine, and we’re learning. 

2.  Clementines.  Whenever we go to the market, we pick up a bag of clementines or mandarin oranges.  I never loved them as much as I do now.  I guess they’re preventing my scurvy from staying inside.

3.  My video doctor’s appointment.  I had one yesterday and it was really good.  First of all, my doctor’s office is way on the other side of town and in a hospital – which of course is now a COVID hospital.  But the main thing I liked, is it felt like a house call.  When we were little, sometimes our situations called for the doctor to come to our house in the evening, rather than risk our getting worse or inflicting our contagion on the other kids in the waiting room.  The moment our pediatrician showed up I felt better.  And if we were his last visit, my father would offer him a brandy or scotch when our examination was over.  I couldn’t offer my doctor a brandy – it was the middle of the day, and she was at her apartment, but it had all those “feels”.

4.  The videos that entertainers are offering nightly, daily, weekly – sure they love to entertain, they love an audience, but they are doing this for us, to give us diversions and enjoyment.  It’s generosity. Check out your favorite performers on instagram or twitter !

5.  Healthcare Workers, Essential Workers, and all the people at our hardware store and local market and all of the people still working those jobs.  I thank them when I go out.  I appreciate their efforts more than I can say.  Will we ever be able to thank them enough?

Billy Shore’s 5 Things:

1. His family

2. Creating opportunities for others to share their strength

3. His bike

4. Being a volunteer firefighter

5. Writing

More About Billy Shore

Co-Founder and executive chair of Share Our Strength - parent organization for the No Kid Hungry campaign national nonprofit that is ending childhood hunger in America.

Website: www.ShareOurStrength.com

Twitter:  @BillShore

Instagram @billshore  

No Kid Hungry Instagram @NoKidHungry

No Kid Hungry Twitter @NoKidHungry

No Kid Hungry Website: www.nokidhungry.org

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced by The Field in NYC

EP 93 – with comedy writer Bess Kalb - World's funniest grandma ?

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. It helps get my podcast noticed. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!

 Hi Friends,

I hope you have been managing as well as can be. I have been staying inside my apartment for almost 5 weeks, and it’s starting to feel normal. 

My guest this week is a talented humor writer whom I discovered in The New Yorker, and then met at a panel I hosted at our shared alma mater Brown University.  Her name is Bess Kalb.  Maybe you’ve followed her on Twitter or seen her on Jimmy Kimmel where she was a writer for eight years.  Bess has written her first novel, an evocation of her grandma Bobbie called, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me.

One of my fears as we got used to living under an unpredictable and malevolent president was that we would begin to normalize our new reality.  Even before there were life or death implications to staying home, we’ve been shrugging our shoulders as truths became “alternative facts”, as riots were caused by “some fine people”, and the double standards of a self-dealing family with no consequences became more and more brazen.  I feel that my job is more “resistor” than podcaster, and sometimes it overwhelms me.

 But since this is Five Things that Make Life Better, let me tell you what makes me feel better.

 Lisa’s 5 Things:

1.  You. You make masks, and raise money for food for those doing the saintly work in the hospitals and clinics.  You applaud and strike pots and pans every night at 7 pm to express gratitude to the medical and essential personnel who keep your towns and cities operational.  The actress and activist Celia Keenan-Bolger is part of a drive to provide dinners to essential hospital workers every night.  You can give a little money to that effort.  The link is here:  https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/7yw221/donate

2.  So many go over and above the call of duty.  For example, Broadway star, Brian Stokes Mitchell has recently recovered from COVID.  To show his thanks he now sings his trademark song, “The Impossible Dream” from his apartment window every single evening.  You can see him here: https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-brian-stokes-mitchell-impossible-dream-20200413-mhwcn72drrhabiipzcgpactr2a-story.html

I just learned on Facebook that a friend’s son, who practices medicine in Louisville, is en route to New York to volunteer in an emergency room in one of our city’s overworked hospitals. It is vital, just now, to remind ourselves of the decency that is innate in almost everyone.

3.  Making your bed every day.  In telling you this I am reminding myself too. If we forget to make our bed in the morning, it sends me the message that I am only temporarily up and about.   And yet, strangely enough it is not welcoming.  The made bed says you are ready for the day. 

4.  Try to use your new exercise equipment every day, if only for a short time.  (Note to self.)

5.  Dr. Anthony Fauci.  Whomever he officially reports to, he is our beacon of scientific truth.  I am worried about his safety and health and so grateful that he appears on tv daily.  

Bess Kalb’s 5 Things:

1.  The hideous Fisher Price Rainforest Friends "Jumparoo" in my living room.

2.  The "block" button on Twitter.

3.  Rigatoni Bolognese from Speranza in Silverlake 

4.  Weekly walks with friends.

5.  Begrudgingly, Alexa

MORE ABOUT BESS KALB

Nobody Will Tell You This But Me:  A true (As Told To Me) Story By Bess Kalb

Website:  www.BessKalb.com

Twitter:  @BessBell

Instagram: @bessbessbell

 The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC