Ep. 112 - Kurt Andersen - What about Trump?

August 28, 2020

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I consider myself fortunate. Even though I have no second home to which to escape from New York City, I have a healthy family and a close relationship with them. I have had an interesting life. I am grateful, but I need to expound on something.

The death of New York is a huge topic of conversation these days, and one that I can’t help but take personally.

I was born in New York, I was raised in New York, I very deliberately decided to move back to New York to begin my life in the so-called real world. When on my first tour around the United States, I found myself defending New York, exemplifying New York – both positively and negatively. I looked forward to returning home from trips and missed the thrum of the city’s energy.

I was married in New York and very determined to raise my own family here – which I did. There were years I felt I was more loyal to my city than my city was to me. How dare I think such a thing? It wasn’t due to the tough times; it was during the fat times, when people were making so much money so fast, that they quickly and ostentatiously ate up apartment buildings – because they could. Because their bonuses were so enormous they might as well buy the apartment below theirs, or next to theirs, or above theirs, and construct mcmansions within the building.

These people brought their aggressive style to other aspects of New York. They wielded money and entitlement like sabers. They had connections that brought them what they summoned: treasured spots in coveted schools, reservations at restaurants. Mergers & acquisitions that took place in private clubs, ski resorts, Teterboro Airport, in the Hamptons, and at Art Basel. They didn’t mean to be rude; they just needed what they needed more than we did. Did they take up all the air in the room when they took cell phone calls in public rooms? Yes, but it wasn’t worth getting tangled up with them.

The New York City they devised required they devour cherished institutions, like Rizzoli and other independent bookstores, luncheonettes, Gem Spa in the East Village, and other neighborhood-defining businesses, to make way for new luxury condominiums, serving newcomers with no skin in our game, here to invest or to show off until they lost interest (emotional or financial).

The city became homogenized. Where districts had flourished for decades, now was the same StarbucksStaplesSoulCycleSephoraDuaneReadeSweetGreensFedExRiteAidLePainQuotidien…. A continuous loop that became more generic each year.

You didn’t even need to live in New York to see the exact same logos, menus, and so on.

Scruffy, variegated New York City was the real New York City. We had strikes, black outs, and our set of problems, but we had orchestras, theater companies, art galleries, and bohemians. A little opera company had a stage a few blocks from the premier punk rock venue. We had texture and flavor.

Now we’re like America only we have never liked or admired or trusted Donald Trump for longer than the rest of you. He has punished our state and will continue to if re-elected.

Until Covid-19 is arrested or cured, New York will have to go on a kind of pause, but I for one will never give up on it. And if the super rich do, so be it.

A great New Yorker, Kurt Andersen is back this week. His new book – a careful exegesis of how America became user unfriendly to the middle class and below – how the rich and the conservative ate us up – is called Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A New History, is now on the New York Times bestseller list. It is published by Random House.

First, my five things:

1. For the first time in 6 months I am with all my Exhibits™. I am cooking for them, hanging with them, and just enjoying our proximity. Cooking together. (Yes we had to leave NY to see them, and it was with a steamer-trunk full of precautions that we made the trip.). The risk on one hand, the emotional succor of being together on the other. No contest

2. Sunglass readers. Perhaps a most underrated invention. I have a pair of SEE over the counter reading glasses. I believe I bought them at the Museum of Modern Art gift store. They look good and enable me to read in the sun. (I have to be able to read in the sun too. How else am I going to relax?)

3. Oatly Full Fat milk. I’m embarrassed to crow about another Oatly product; I swear not only am I not on their payroll. I doubt they know how much I like them. The Full Fat milk, which I think is a newer product feels and tastes like half and half.

4. Green plants. We have some plants growing somewhat successfully in our apartment. I will get more. A sign of life is a great plus right now.

5. The truth. In the real world, which is based on science, there is one empirical truth. That is wearing a mask, keeping one’s distance, and obeying the laws of nature. This week the GOP is trying to persuade Americans that the 180,000 human beings who have died so far from COVID were a necessary sacrifice – just the right number for a country of our size. That is a lie.

More About Kurt Andersen

EVIL GENIUSES: The Unmaking of America - A Recent History

By Kurt Andersen

Published by Ebury Publishing a division of Penguin Random House.

Twitter: @KBAndersen

Instagram: @kurtbadnersen

Facebook: @kurtandersenbooks

Website: KurtAndersen.com

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

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Ep. 111 - Kurt Andersen - Recording current history.

August 21, 2020

Just when life seemed most disordered and chaotic, the homemade-ish and scrappy Democratic National Convention came to the rescue. At least it rescued me.

Yes, with hiccups, and delays, and a few awkward “Am I on?” “Is this thing working?” “I didn’t hear you say ‘action’” moments (not literally), and even a moment or two of video pixilation (at least on my tv), it was real and it showed us a different kind of America from what’s been monopolizing our brains since January, 2017. And that was even before Michelle Obama’s magnificent speech.

It brought to mind Walt Whitman’s glorious, “I Hear America Singing,” which also reminded me of #education.

I Hear America Singing

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

--1860

Day 2 brought me more pride, in the stirring roll call of states. There was such investment by each state’s spokespeople, by their accents, and choices of clothes – by their landscapes, and by their histories. Seeing Matthew Shepherd’s parents announce the delegate count for Wyoming, was more surprising and moving than I would have imagined. Seeing the dignified Khizr Khan – the gold star father who had been dissed by candidate Trump — disavowing the disgusting march and murder in Charlottesville as he spoke for Virginia…. My heart is full. Maybe we can return to the essential decency that has been stomped on and shredded by the thugs and nitwits of this administration.

Kurt Andersen is my guest this week. A native Nebraskan, he’s had a remarkable career since he graduated from Harvard, involving most of America’s important media companies. A short bio includes working at Time Magazine, co-founding and editing the satire magazine SPY (where we met and worked together in the 20th century). Becoming the editor in chief of New York Magazine, the co-creator and host of Studio 360 at WNYC, and the writer of books, the giver of talks, and the soul of wit. His latest book, Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History was just published by Random House, and is a work in which he gathered evidence, conversation, and political philosophy to explain how America has lost its way.

This is part 1 of a two part conversation.

First: My Five Things

1. Patriotism. It’s not about holding the flag, wearing a pin, or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. (Do schools even teach that any more?). To me, patriotism is being a good person and caring about your neighbor. It’s coming to the defense of someone or some principle that has been wronged. Watching Colin Powell, and Marie Yovanovich, and the Carters, and Cozzie Watkins, the older woman who spoke from North Carolina this week, we saw patriotism on our screens.

2. Michelle Obama. I could have listened to her beautifully written speech and her soft but steady voice all night. I was startled by her one use of Trump’s name – she never mentions it – and her pointed repetition of his answer to all the deaths due to COVID-19, “It is what it is.”

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3. The Bidens. At long last (three and a half years have never felt so long) we have a couple and a family that have actual familial feelings and warmth. No more children profiting from dad’s job or becoming unauthorized and unapproved yesmen for their father. No more hostile appearances on the right wing media. The job belongs to the president. The Bidens have authentic reasons to have become angry and cynical. And yet they are not. Donald Trump never worked for a boss before, never endured poverty or loss. And yet he and his entitled kids wake up angry every single day. The Bidens remain humble and grateful. However they’ve accomplished this is a wonder. The respect they show one another is lovely to observe.

4. Science. Thank you, Democrats for believing in science. It’s the only way to try to get a handle on the coronavirus and on climate change. We cannot wait.

5. The Democratic ticket. It looks like America. Maybe you’re disappointed that your candidate didn’t finish first or second. But the candidates who used their time in the spotlight to advocate for what meant the most to them – whether it was Pete Buttigieg, or Andrew Yang, or Tom Steyer, or Jay Inslee – they’re all part of this effort to correct the global insult that has been Donald Trump. I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about Biden/Harris.

Kurt Andersen’s 5 Things

1. My new intraocular lenses

2. My daughters' writing and design work

3, My wife's gardens

4. Roasted salted pepitas

5. Imagining the day he's finally vanquished

More About Kurt Andersen

EVIL GENIUSES: The Unmaking of America

By Kurt Andersen

Published by Ebury Publishing a division of Penguin Random House.

Twitter: @KBAndersen

Instagram: @kurtbadnersen

Facebook: @kurtandersenbooks

Website: KurtAndersen.com

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

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Ep. 110 - Daphne Merkin - Writing about obsessive sex and love

August 14, 2020

I took a class in early American literature in my sophomore year of college. I am cloudy on why this period interested me at the time. Cotton Mather, Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, Thoreau. Writers only an English major would want to read.

Every day as class began our professor intoned, “This world clean fails me; still I yearn.” That’s from Herman Melville’s poem, Clarel, from 1876. I think of that every single day in the chaos and misery of these solitary pandemic times. Will we get to a good old days again? Weren’t we supposed to be alerted when they were over? (And come to think of it, was it on 9/11? It took a long time, but we smiled again, saw our loved ones, even flew again, enjoyed parties, weddings, births, christenings, bar and bat mitzvahs – rites of passage that happen with or without celebrations and caterers. We bade our loved ones goodbye too, with pain and heartbreak and incredulity.)

For some it might have been Hurricane Katrina, or Hurricane Sandy, or the tsunami in Japan, or any of a number of natural disasters. Or maybe the good old days ended when children and their teachers were assassinated at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, or at the Pulse nightclub that horrible night in 2016, or when Trump was inaugurated in 2017, or at the Parkland high school on Valentine’s Day, 2018 or when the Boston Marathon finish line was bombed in 2013, or when George Floyd was killed for no reason by brutal cops a few months ago.

If you were directly affected by this heedless violence, you probably haven’t had a good old day ever since. My thoughts are with you. And thoughts aren’t enough, I know. We know.

Besides being active and trying to help those in need, the other thing I’ve found that helps is fiction. If you get involved in a compelling book, you tacitly accept the terms and goes where the author leads you. You have nothing to do but follow.

My guest this week is the novelist and essayist Daphne Merkin. Her new novel is 22 Minutes of Unconditional Love, and it gave me respite for the days I read it. We used to know one another in college and haven’t actually seen one another since then.

I loved talking to her and think you’ll enjoy her.

Lisa’s five things for this week:

1. My friend Shelley’s sour cherry pie. It was made of the end-of-season crop and it had a gorgeous lattice-patterned crust. Dennis’ roast chicken was wonderful too. Eaten in a secret garden in Soho, with distance and candles.

2. My mother’s birthday dinner. She’s 90, but looks 80. We took her out for two different dinners last week. I know this world clean fails her, but still she goes to the beauty parlor.

3. My Exhibits™. They’re all doing exciting things, making their own way in their careers. All independent and creative, and all on their own.

4. The understanding I have with my feet, that I will not be wearing high heels anytime soon. I wore sandals with heels to my mother’s second birthday dinner, and my left foot was sore for a whole day afterwards. It’s a bit of a bummer, but I accept it. I’m making it a positive.

5. Dr. Fauci! Stay safe. My friend Sylvia sent me a note saying that he is actually somewhat stressed out, and a friend of hers has sent him a thank you note for his great service to this country. I will do the same.

If you’re interested, you can write him here:

Dr. Anthony Fauci c/o
NIAID Office of Communications and Government Relations
5601 Fishers Lane, MSC 9806
Bethesda, MD 20892-9806

Daphne Merkin’s 5 Things That Make Life Better

1. Discovering a great new book
2. Lying in the sun by a pool or on the beach
3. Listening to Patty Griffin
4. That moment in writing when I’m so absorbed, I forget about the time
5. Laughing hysterically about something with my daughter that only we’d get
6. Breyer’s mint-chocolate cup ice cream

More About Daphne Merkin

22 MINUTES OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE: A NOVEL,

By Daphne Merkin

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Instagram @daphmerkin

Twitter @DaphneMerkin.

Her website is Daphne-Merkin.com

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

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Ep. 109 - Jamie Lee Curtis and Boco Haft - "Letters From Camp" the podcast

August 7, 2020

In the last week I’ve baked an apricot pie, a dozen blueberry muffins, a blueberry loaf cake, and a brown butter pound cake. As you may have gathered, I never baked before this pandemic. A tsunami of baking is happening in my kitchen.

I like dessert, but I try to go easy on it. It’s way more skippable for me than you’d think. I don’t think I’ve had ice cream in two years.

So now I’m asking myself why I’m baking. Is it to prove I can? Is it to begin the trip on the downhill ramp of life, and become more proficient as a homemaker when my career options dry up? Is it to provide treats for my honey? Is it a futile way to lure my exhibits™ home to be nurtured at last by mommy’s kitchen?

As this blog is often a surrogate therapist, I’m going to say all of the above.

I had thought to try learning a new language during this plagued year, but the language I’m learning is of baking soda, baking powder, and cake flour vs. all-purpose flour. It’s foreign alright, but I’m beginning, bit by bit to feel more comfortable with it. One cake, that I’ve made three times has had three different outcomes. My progress is not a straight line, by any means. And like the early days of learning a language, I’m not finding it very much fun. But I will continue to plow forward to reach that point of satisfaction and ease among the pans and springforms. And like my friend Shelley, who is a fluent and wonderful baker, I will bake for others and have to resist the temptations I make.

Lisa Birnbach and her guests Jamie Lee Curtis and Boco Haft.

My guests today are givers, something I aspire to be.

You know Jamie Lee Curtis – famous from birth – her baby picture was in Life Magazine as well as Photoplay. Her parents were movie stars Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. You may have seen her in Knives Out, or the Halloween Movies, or A Fish Called Wanda, Trading Places, True Lies, and Freaky Friday, among others. She’s written a dozen children’s books, is a talented photographer, a great friend, an amazing parallel parker, and a godmother to the multitudes.

She has, as of this first week in August, opened a philanthropic shop, “My Hand in Yours,” which I’m eager to learn about.

My other guest is writer Boco Haft, who happens to be one of my exhibits. She was manager of the JV Basketball team in 9th grade, editor in chief of her high school yearbook, the head writer of the Sketchies, the sketch comedy troupe founded by actor Michael Zegen, and the head of the Skidmore College Comfest in 2015. She moved to Los Angeles to become a comedy writer. She is also one of Jamie’s godchildren.

They are here to discuss “Letters from Camp”, the new Audible original play, drama, comedy, series that they’ve co-created.

1. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/ Center for Public Safety COVID-19 newsletter.

Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

centerhealthsecurity@mail301.jh.edu

This fact-filled with no frills newsletter is now published twice a week. It is simply numbers and trends of this awful disease. This document has no politics. Just data. But it does tell you not only where the pandemic is surging, it is now telling us where it’s returning. Anyone can subscribe to this newsletter for free.

2. A fresh plum. Before biting into one, I think I know how it will taste, and yet I’m always wrong. Some are sweet at first bite and then taste tart at the end. Earlier today I ate one very slowly and mindfully. Plums are much more complex than we give them credit for.

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3. Marigolds. I never appreciated the marigold until I traveled to Thailand, where they are the hardworking and beautiful flower they use in garlands, and elaborate arrangements. My grandmother had some in her garden, and I didn’t like the earthy way they smelled. Now I like them and their sassy orange color.

4. Receiving packages. Most of the time, it turns out to be something quite ordinary that I ordered online: vitamins, a wooden spoon from Williams-Sonoma, or some vinyl gloves. But I don’t care; a package is a package! Sometimes the package contains a real treat that I didn’t expect, and that’s even better!

5. Dr. Fauci. I worry about him: is he getting enough sleep? Is he stressed out by Dr. Brix? I think we’re overtaxing him. He’s 79 years old. He’s a great doctor and sometimes seems like the only grownup in the room.

Jamie Lee Curtis’s 5 Great Things About Camp:

1. Lanyards
2. Trunks
3. Bug juice
4. Camp songs-The cat came back
5. The camaraderie

Boco Haft’s 5 Great Things About Camp:

1. Campfire Songs
2. Friendship Bracelets
3. No parents
4. Color War
5. Camp Routine

Letters From Camp

An Audible Original

Starring and Co-Created by Jamie-Lee Curtis

Co-Created and Written by Boco Haft

CLICK HERE to listen.

Jamie Lee Curtis Instagram @curtisleejamie

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

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Ep. 108 - Chef JJ Johnson - Cooking while Black. Being an American chef in 2020.

July 31, 2020

Oh wow is life strange. Now that I’m mostly indoors, when I go outside, I’m whacked by the heat. I usually love the summer, it’s my first or second favorite season. (Definitely not my third or fourth.). I have got to be careful -- as do we all -- and so, I’m essentially sitting this one out.

And yet…. More ugliness in the world, especially in the United States. More contentious hearings that force you to recognize the differences between us. Was this divide bound to emerge or should it have stayed hidden? You tell me. I am not a historian, so I don’t know. Out of the pain of Black Lives I hope we rectify our mistakes in a more serious, empathic, and permanent way. I am just sorry that so many lives have been lost, terrorized, and harmed, and that the wounds are so profound.

Lisa Birnbach and guest, Chef JJ Johnson

My guest this week, Chef JJ Johnson, of Harlem’s popular FieldTrip restaurant, and author of the James Beard award-winning cookbook, Between Harlem and Heaven, was on a straight trajectory after he graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, the country’s most prestigious cooking school. He used to drive to and from work at the Morgan Stanley executive dining room.

One night after meeting friends after work, he had one drink and hours later was on his way home, when he was cut off by a taxi. He swerved to get out of the way, and was stopped by police. They approached him and almost immediately made him get out of his car and slammed his head against the window, an approach they might not have used with a white driver. They charged JJ with assault. It was outrageous.

For those of us enjoying our white privilege, this is a commonplace occurrence. It should never be.

JJ Johnson is a good man: a wonderful chef, a community activist, a husband, a father, and a son. He is an optimist. I know you’ll enjoy hearing him today.

First, my 5 Things:

1. Last week I had the most marvelous and unexpected day with my #ExhibitC. We talked and talked, more openly than we’ve done in years. I feel we opened up a new path of candor and I have new respect for her. Nothing that happened this week comes close.

2. Getting my bills paid on time. Old school me – not a surprise to any of you – still writes checks and puts them in the mail. Do you pay your bills online? (I do pay some that way, before you mock me.). I like paying by check because in writing those checks I am mindful of what I am spending, and what some goods and services cost. I really like seeing a stack of envelopes, ready to go to the mail.

3. Nails in the time of Corona Virus. I have little hands – I can admit it – and feet, and I was never a person with gorgeous nails. Sometimes I felt self-conscious about them. But now, with no one getting their nails done, I like the way mine look. I’m sure I’ll get a manicure again some day; I doubt it will be soon. I only worry about the women who made their living off the tips they got from doing nails and other treatments for a living. (I need to think about that.)

4. No One is Unreachable these days. If they’re “on vacation” they are still home or at their other home. It’s easy to contact anyone you know.

5. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She inspires me every day. What tenacity! What determination! Let’s all keep her good health in our thoughts and prayers.

Chef JJ Johnson

CHEF JJ JOHNSON’S 5 THINGS:

1. Family

2. Real friends

3. Good partners

4. Focus

5 Being true to yourself

MORE ABOUT CHEF JJ JOHNSON

Chef JJ Johnson, owner, FieldTrip restaurant in Harlem
FieldTrip Restaurant
109 Malcolm X Blvd.
New York, NY 10026
917-639-3919
https://www.fieldtripnyc.com/

FieldTrip Restaurant
Instagram: @fieldtripharlem
Facebook: @fieldtripharlem

Between Harlem & Heaven
James Beard Award-winning cookbook
By JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls

You can follow JJ Johnson on Instagram and Twitter @chefjj and on Facebook @fieldtripharlem.
https://www.instagram.com/chefjj/
https://twitter.com/ChefJJ

https://www.facebook.com/fieldtripharlem/

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

https://thefieldtv.com

My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

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Ep. 107 - Sheila Nevins - The Queen of Documentary Filmmaking.

July 24, 2020

It is what it is. So says the president. I’m just going to say here that he is uneducated and crude, and doesn’t care about Americans. If that offends you, I have a feeling you should leave the room, as we approach Election Day I may become downright partisan! (Just kidding. I am deeply offended by his determination to financially profit from his time in office.).

But he has existed in a hermetically sealed environment for years, even when going outside and breathing the fresh air of nature and the world in its entirety was possible. He lives in a Trump bubble – which allows him to go to his own golf courses – all the time – and Mar-a-Lago. He never enjoyed touring; he enjoyed staying at his various hotels, exposed to only a certain slice of society. But I digress.

For me, it is never what it is. Does that make sense? There’s always a deeper place to go to find out why it is, or what can be changed or how it can be amplified. (It’s one of the reasons I like reading fiction so much – character development.)

And reading I have done, once I was able to recapture my concentration, attention, and nerves. Most of you know how much I love to read. It’s the most escapist thing I can do, besides dreaming.

My guest this week is the formidable, accomplished, opinionated, and always surprising Sheila Nevins. Now the head of MTV Documentary Films, Sheila created and was president of HBO Documentary Films. She worked at HBO for most of 35 years, and produced over 1000 documentary movies, including the work of such directors as the Maysle brothers, DA Pennybacker, and Liz Garbus. In the process the documentaries won tons of awards – Oscars, Peabodys, and Emmys over the years. Sheila herself has won 31 primetime Emmy awards, more than any other person ever. Her book, a memoir which leaves you wanting to know more, is called You Don’t Look Your Age… And Other Fairy Tales.

The 5 things that made my life better this week:

1. I finally tried Lloyd’s carrot cake. I’m a lifelong New Yorker, and I’d never heard of this apparently famous confection until I met a family from Westchester. The story is that a man named Lloyd Adams started baking in his kitchen in Harlem, with a view to making people happy. In 1985 he was able to open his first bakery shop in Riverdale, in the Bronx. Lloyd died in 2007, but his bakery lives on thanks to his wife and children. There’s a branch in East Harlem, and though the business is called “Lloyd’s Carrot Cake”, they make other kinds of cakes and cupcakes as well. I’ve tasted the carrot cake. It’s very, very good. They ship nationwide!

https://www.lloydscarrotcake.com/order

2. Method’s Antibacterial Spray. I was looking for Clorox products and couldn’t find any. This sort of “fancier” line smells much better than bleach. (No, I’m not going to sip it.). Well maybe with a spritz of Aperol? NO. I KID. I do still spray my groceries and some packages when they arrive. Call me old school. And I like this stuff.

3. Blue light reading glasses. I can’t believe I didn’t mention them before. They look the same as any other pair of reading glasses but they are said to be easier on the old eyeballs than normal ones. I don’t know if they are helping me, but I don’t think they are hurting me. Lots of online retailers and opticians offer them. Try them yourself and tell me what you think. (A lot of people like Caddis brand, but my tiny head is too narrow for them, so I’m trying Eyebobs.)

4. Competence. The one thing that this endless quarantinarama has taught me is that to some extent, I am capable. I can now follow a recipe and make a tasty dinner. I can bake something edible at least half of the time. I can parallel park our car beautifully about half of my tries. And every time if I don’t feel pressured. I can clean my house and do the laundry adequately. I can reach genius almost every day on the New York Times’ Spelling Bee.

5. Dr. Fauci. He’s clearly telling us something, even sometimes by his very absence. Listen to this brave and credible doctor. He will lead us to where we have to go. And wherever you go, wear a mask, please!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUiDLcp_hIw

Sheila Nevins | Photo Credit: Brigitte Lacombe

SHEILA NEVIN’S 5 THINGS:

1. Money in the bank

2. My dog

3. The tree outside my window (realizing nature has outsmarted me)

4. Eating cake without gaining weight

5. Making people laugh / being outrageous in expressing the unexpressed - carefully, of course

MORE ABOUT SHEILA NEVINS

You Don’t Look Your Age…and Other Fairy Tales

By Sheila Nevins

You can follow Sheila on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @TheSheilaNevins

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

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Ep. 106 - Andy Slavitt - Pandemic expert, believer in science.

July 17, 2020

Guest Andy Slavitt and host, Lisa Birnbach

Isn’t it amazing how busy we are paying attention to the news? (You could say I’m riveted, but I’m not sure that even gets to it.) Watching this enterprise-- the Trump world that has replaced our usual -- one feels one has to keep their eyes on whatever is happening, lest it get worse. And yet, it still gets worse. The first federal execution in seventeen years took place this week – in Indiana, after the Supreme Court of Texas weighed in at 2:30 in the morning. Things keep churning whether we’re watching or not. I am now at a place of deep rage that is not productive or beneficial in any way. I recognize that. But this is why I’m so pleased that my guest this week is Andy Slavitt, the former Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Obama. He stated in 2015 that he wanted to prioritize the health care and its reach to the underserved population in rural and urban areas. Andy Slavitt worked on Obama’s Heroin Task Force and VP Biden’s Cancer Moonshot task force. He worked on the Affordable Care Act as well, until the final days of the Obama administration. After Trump’s inauguration, Andy Slavitt traveled around the country (often on his own dime) to explain what new administration’s repeal of the ACA would mean to regular Americans.

By this past February, 2020, Andy Slavitt was criticizing the Trump team’s preparedness for the incipient pandemic. In early March he wrote an open letter to the American governors warning them of the likely inadequacy of supplies of beds, ICU units, ventilators, and equipment due to the unstoppable spread of COVID19. Since then, Andy has been one of our country’s leading advocates for staying home, respecting the lockdown orders in place, wearing a mask to protect others from this frightening virus. He is a proponent of contact tracing.

I read his tweets and threads devotedly. They are realistic about how grim things are, but are well grounded in science, which is really the only way out of a pandemic. Science. This podcast is sponsored by Science.

The 5 Things that made my life better this week:

1. Sitting at my desk. For the moment, my desk is my happy place. First of all, it’s air conditioned the right way – I’m not in the direct line. Secondly, I am enjoying the privacy of the space. I can print recipes, read, and appear in zooms against the deep blue wall. Although you wouldn’t know from looking at it now, my desk is organized into areas – writing, receipts, bill paying, letters.

2. Frozen pastry crust. I’ve begun to bake in this pandemic, which is not something I ever did willingly before. I have easily avoided desserts for the last number of years, and now I’m baking. Am I doing it for my boyfriend, who has a sweet tooth? Maybe I’m doing it because I’m such a bad embroider, and I want so much to MAKE something. Frozen crust solves all my problems.

3. Reading offline. I know a lot of people are complaining that they cannot concentrate these days. Have you tried reading a magazine article or a short story on paper? I was recently accused of being like a 90-year-old because I don’t read e-books. Insult me all you want; when I’m reading, I’m in another place. I like paper. Sue me!

4. Throwing out dead pens. I know this is not a thing, but I’m making it a thing. I have four big jars of pens, pencils, highlighters, and markers. When a. pen, especially a good looking one seems to be out of ink, I have saved it, thinking it’ll write the next time. Consequently, I have four jars with probably 2 jars worth of working implements. What the hell? I’m about to throw them out. I actually can’t wait.

5. Dr. Fauci and Science. What is it about REAL SCIENCE that scares the president and his band of governmental looters? What is it? Is it that they’ve ignored the truth and don’t want to get caught? Is it just blind lemming-like following their king? Science will provide a way through these terrible times – through Covid, through global warming, through shortages of power, food, forests, and clean water. Listen to the scientists. Read the science stories in your newspapers. It won’t hurt.

ANDY SLAVITT’S 5 THINGS

1. A morning with nothing I have to do

2. Friends who let me have their back and have mine

3. When the dog rests his head in my lap

4. When there are people who need me and I can help without doing a lot of work

5. A great 80s pop song

MORE ABOUT ANDY SLAVITT

In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-the-bubble-with-andy-slavitt/id1504128553

http://www.westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/in-the-bubble-with-andy-slavitt/

You can follow Andy on Twitter and Facebook at @ASlavitt and Instagram @AndySlavitt.

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

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Ep. 105 - with Kari Lizer - Comedy writer, animal lover.

July 9, 2020

A number of my friends are trying to ignore the news that gushes continuously like lava, a spill so toxic that it prevents them from doing things. From enjoying their constricted summers. From feeling good feelings. I do understand this.

There’s a part of me that wishes I could join that community, and read more fiction, take more walks, and eat meals with friends al fresco.

I simply cannot. I make no judgement. I am not wired to not pay attention to what is going on – on so many fronts. I do know how to compartmentalize my thoughts, as most people who have been through an unhappy marriage learn to do, but that is not the same at all.

I can still enjoy my new life as an amateur baker and cook. I am able to read (thank God) and write and adore my family. I am talking more with friends on the phone, and getting pleasure from my endless rounds of purging my closets. But sorry, I cannot for a moment put out of my head that the numbers of Americans who will die from the Coronavirus will probably double, while their feckless and malignant president plays another round of golf. I can’t put out of my head the racism I read about on blogs and even on Instagram. I can’t not dwell on the evil of Tucker Carlson’s disrespect to Senator Tammy Duckworth, whose legs were blown off in the Iraq war. (While Carlson dared it all to be on “Dancing with the Stars”.). I cannot forget for one second the vile monologues of Laura Ingraham pretending that masks are the problem.

Author Kari Lizer and host, Lisa Birnbach

I’ll stop here because I have also had some very positive feelings in the last week, and before I tell you what they are, let me introduce you to our guest. She is Kari Lizer, a very funny writer whose work you know from tv – she wrote and produced “Will & Grace” and created and wrote “The New Adventures of Old Christine.” Now she has written her first book, Aren’t You Forgetting Someone? Essays from my Mid-Life Revenge. And I think you’ll enjoy her.

My list;

1. As I’ve found old mementos and souvenirs, I’m planning on going to the framer with some pieces and shuffling the art around on my walls. That’ll freshen things up.

Summer_Skin_Protection_Skincare_Arizona_Blogger_Paige_Poppe_Art_5_1024x1024.jpg

2. Covid skin: If this were a normal summer, I’d already be tanned and pushing my body into premature aging. Given that I’m indoors most of the time, my epidermis is enjoying a break from the UV rays. And when I’m outside, I’m wearing a hat and a mask, and a SPF 41, so no harm.

3. I’m loving the preppy face masks from Rowing Blazers. The ones I have are made from striped shirting material and seersucker. You can order them at rowingblazers.com/collections/face-masks. With every mask they sell the company donates a mask to the Food Bank for New York City.

4. Rosé. A glass of chilled rose is the perfect way to end my workday. It reminds me it’s summer.

5. Dr. Fauci. LISTEN TO HIM!

Kari Lizer’s 5 Things:

Five things that make my life better:

1. My dogs

2. Always having a trip in the works

3. Notebooks (and Uniball pens)

4. Saying No

5. Ugly underwear

More about Kari Lizer

Aren’t You Forgetting Someone? Essays from My Mid-Life Revenge
By KARI LIZER
Published by Running Press

Instagram @KariLizer

Twitter @LizerKari

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

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Ep. 104 - with Susanna Styron - Migraine: The film that explains it all.

July 3, 2020

Wait? Are you kidding? JULY???????

Alright. If you say so.

Everywhere I go (in the virtual sense), I talk to people about race. I might bring it up, or they might. I’m thinking about skin color and why I haven’t thought more about skin color until now. We white people have not understood the exhaustion it must cause, the strain of every single day a Black person navigates in the world. I am trying to add that to the equation of how extra hard life is if you are Black. That’s all I can say now.

Teenage Lisa’s first cake from a mix - age 15 ish?

Meanwhile, at Headquarters, I am reading a lot (publishing didn’t stop during the pandemic) and botching up a significant amount of craft material. (I’m trying to knit while watching the news, and that is not going well.). We are cooking and now baking, and I do not recognize myself! I used to cook only under duress and baking never. The photo here is my last previous attempt at baking, a cake for my orthodontist, Dr. Brendan Boylan, to reward ourselves for a good (long) run with braces.

Host Lisa Birnbach and her guest, Susanna Styron, writer/director, OUT OF MY HEAD

My guest this week, Susanna Styron is a filmmaker and writer, who I have known casually for a number of years. When I discovered she’d made a film about migraine (not migraines), I had to see it and talk to her, as I have been a migraine sufferer for the last few years. For a longtime I only knew a few people who dealt with this crippling syndrome; now it seems that its numbers have increased like crazy, or that more symptoms are now understood to be part of this disease; or that people are more open about their individual medical challenges. In any case, in this stressful summer of COVID and police brutality hastening an understanding about Black persecution, I feel a migraine coming on. And perhaps you do too.

And now, the Five Things that made Lisa’s life better this week:

1. I got my hair done. You can say I’m vain or silly or have my priorities all screwed up. Go ahead! But my matriarch has been chomping on the bit about her hair for the last four months, and I was sporting the hair of Patti Smith (whom I admire for her authenticity as well as her art). My brilliant colorist has a salon in Connecticut which was open for business and is as airy and pleasant as can be. It was an adventure: My mother, my #ExhibitC and me – the last time the three of us had been alone together was last August for lunch in honor of my mom’s 89th birthday. We came masked and gloved. Angela Cosmai and her team were masked and gloved. We were classic, raggedy befores. Now we are sleek afters. Did it make all three of us feel better, more energized? Yes, and we had a few laughs in the process.

2. Rhubarb. I have been a fan of rhubarb’s even before I knew what the vegetable (according to Google) looked like in its raw form. For those of you who haven’t had it, it’s that pink celery looking stuff in the produce section. It’s really only around in the spring/summer. Rhubarb has a tartness that’s much more subtle than lemon or kiwifruit. And paired with other fruits it offers a kind of “umami” as a balance. YOU CANNOT EAT RAW RHUBARB, so this summer, of course I’m baking with it. My friend Marsha who is my food twin* sent me a recipe for an olive oil rhubarb and lemon bundt cake that uses absolutely every bowl and mixer, and spoon, and measuring cup, and tool in my kitchen, not to mention about an hour to make but it’s worth it. (I failed at it the first attempt.). And I found a recipe for rhubarb crumb cake that is yummy and much much easier. As I said, I don’t recognize myself.

3. The Lincoln Project. Founded last December by Republicans George Conway, Steve Schmidt, Rick Wilson, John Weaver, Jennifer Horn, and others, its purpose is to prevent Trump and Trumpism to prevail in the 2020 election. “We look to Lincoln as our guide and inspiration. He understood the necessity of not just saving the Union, but also of knitting the nation back together spiritually as well as politically. But those wounds can be bound up only once the threat has been defeated. So, too, will our country have to knit itself back together after the scourge of Trumpism has been overcome.” The Lincoln Project has been producing and airing very tough commercials about Trump’s many lies, hypocrisies, failures, and profiteering. Indeed, many of them are tougher than the ads produced by Joe Biden and his troupes. But now, partisanship doesn’t matter. (I realized that in 2017 when I saw how many Republican writers and politicians I had begun to follow.) The ads point to Biden as the only option reasonable Americans have. Go to their website at lincolnproject.us.

4. Shtisel will be coming back for Season 3. (Followers of this podcast and blog, I ask you: have I shown restraint by not putting this at #1, or not?). The brilliant, complex, and nuanced Israeli tv series that began with a modest run of two seasons in Israel in 2013 has become an international sensation over the last few years on Netflix. The fact that this family is Charedi – ultra Orthodox Jewish, living in Jerusalem, and speaking in Yiddish or Hebrew melts away as we see the family dynamics of any family writ large. Now, 7 years later, “Shtisel” is back in production for its third season, with I believe, all the original cast. The title is the surname of the family we have come to understand and care about. If you haven’t discovered this program yet, you have time to do it now.

5. Dr. Fauci. Having not seen him in a few weeks, maybe people thought we were winding down our concerns. Sadly, of course, that was not the case, nor would it be in a country that has no uniform and sensible policy. Now states are reclosing. The US is now poised to have triple the fatalities as first estimated. By God, what would we do without him?

Susanna Styron’s 5 Things:

My five (in no particular order):

1. Coffee

2. My daughter and her partner quarantining with me

3. Heather Cox Richardson

4. Large bodies of water

5. Protest

More About Susanna Styron:

Out of My Head
Migraine. It’s Not Just a Headache.

A film by Jacki Ochs and Susanna Styron
www. outofmyheadfilm.com

A filmmaker, seeking treatment for her daughter's migraine attacks, discovers a confounding neurological disease and learns why a devastating condition, afflicting nearly a billion people worldwide, remains so deeply misunderstood.

Facebook
@TheMigraineProject

Twitter
@MigraineProject

Instagram
@outofmytheheadfilm

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

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Ep. 103 - with Stephanie ("Sweetbitter") Danler - author, memoirist, survivor.

June 26, 2020

Amazing how time flies when you are stuck inside your apartment. I’m writing this as my home, New York City enters “Phase 2”, and all that that will entail. I’m trying to find a new form of zen in this moment. My life has winnowed down to a smaller footprint. I’m homesteading in Manhattan. I cook. In fact now I bake. I spend a great deal of time thinking about the food my boyfriend and I will eat. Then I scout my reserves of food, and usually find I need just one thing or two things. I figure out the best way to get those one or two things and then I go to it.

I cook. Then clean. Then load and unload the dishwasher. There are just two of us, and yet we seem to fill up the dishwasher at least once a day, depending on how ambitious my recipes are.

The dishwasher has become my partner during the quarantining. I bless it. The washer-dryer as well, but I don’t use it as frequently.

I read. I stopped watching much TV. I organize. I’m offloading stuff. That feels really really good.

Host Lisa Birnbach and her guest, author Stephanie Danler

My guest today, Stephanie Danler, rode a giant wave of success with her first novel, Sweetbitter, about a back waiter at an important restaurant in Manhattan. It was turned into a series on STARZ for two seasons. People thought it was a memoir, due to Danler’s past as a back waiter at NY restaurants, such as the Union Square Café. It was not. Her new book, Stray, is her memoir, and whoa! It is intense, it is poetic, and filled with a shocking amount of neglect and bad choices made by her alcoholic parents. If you look at her photograph and biography, you’ll see a beautiful and cool young writer, mother, and wife. But reading Stray, you will see Stephanie as a survivor, and someone who has done an enormous amount of work to get to the place she is now.

Here are the 5 things that made my life better this week:

1. Once again, my family. Let’s hear it for the kids. They didn’t have the easy childhood my parents gave them; theirs was riven by parents (who wanted different things and eventually had different values) and who blessedly but with difficulty split up. I give my exhibits all the credit in the world for whatever resilience they have. And as ever, I apologize for the unhappy times you guys endured.

2. My family now extends to my partner, his lovely daughter, my wonderful daughter in law, and the baby. It’s wonderful to fall in love as an adult. You know yourself better, and know what matters most.

3. Early Voting. We got our say in the Democratic primary over the weekend at an early voting location. Three of us got to go to a clean and well- monitored polling place in a high school in Harlem. Everyone was so pleasant and eager to help. It is always a privilege to vote; I never felt more so as I did this time. I cannot wait until November 3rd.

4. A kitchen scale. I never knew I would need one, but it does help follow recipes a bit more closely. As a plus it can also weigh small packages!

5. I think I’m cured of my shopping via Instagram disease. Everything takes forever – if it arrives – and then I have to start disputes via PayPal (not fun), and then the item is a cheapened facsimile of what was illustrated. I bought a dress that was supposed to be embroidered, but was printed. Hey guess what? I know the difference. And I’ve quit cold turkey.

STEPHANIE DANLER’S 5 THINGS:

1. Poetry: I’m leaning into the black poets in my library, picking up collections that feel like old friends. Kevin Young, Robin Coste Lewis, Claudia Rankine, Lucille Clifton, Danez Smith, Donika Kelly, Nicole Sealey, Nikki Finney, the list goes on and on. Some of these are overtly about race, violence, oppression (like Claudia Rankine’s Citizen), but others are about black lives: love, family, memory, joy. Kevin Young’s collection Brown has the intimacy and momentum of a memoir, and Donika Kelly’s creature poems in Bestiary are so eloquent and sensual.

2. Meditation: Obviously the world feels extremely uncertain and unstable at the moment. Global events and catastrophes aside, I’ve just released a book and I’m 34 weeks pregnant. I am using every tool available to me to stay grounded and manage anxiety. I use the Headspace app daily. I just took a Meditation Tools for Labor class at the wonderful Loom Education Center (they're doing all their classes on Zoom), and I am checking in with spiritual teacher Jan Birchfield, whom I met on a meditation retreat at the Antara Center in Taos, New Mexico. It seems like a lot, but it’s really about small, consistent increments of time where I’m coming back to my body and my breath.

3. Marcella Hazan: The Italian cookbook author has taken my husband from a decent cook to an excellent chef. Throughout quarantine he’s been making big batches of her five-hour Bolognese and freezing the leftovers. We’ve had her olive oil cake, her asparagus risotto, and her simple tomato sauce for our son. We would not be making it without her.

4. Sequoia National Park: We love to camp (my husband a bit more than me, but still), and I have been craving the quiet of the wilderness. The last time I was pregnant we ran out to Joshua Tree two weeks before my due date. This time we took our 18 month old to Sequoia National Park. There’s nothing like waking up in the giant trees, or the freedom children find in nature. I’m extremely grateful the parks have opened back up.

5. My lemon tree. Outside my bedroom is a Meyer Lemon tree that produces the sweetest lemons I’ve ever encountered. I can’t get enough of them, and neither can my son. He eats them raw, like they’re an apple (including the rind), and I squeeze huge amounts of lemon juice for my water. We put them on Marcella’s olive oil cake, we put them on the grill, in vinaigrettes, next to roasting vegetables. This tree is the reason I will never leave California.