Help is here to start 2021 with a smile
The Bibliophile Whether it’s an anthology of jokes, a humorous caper or a fun-filled calendar, start 2021 with a clean slate and a good laugh. Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld, 480 pages, Simon & Schuster hardcover, 2020 Comedian Jerry Seinfeld shares his 45-year compilation of routines arranged by decade and topic. No muddling through a memoir, no soul-searching prose. No... READ MORE
A spy reveals her life in disguise
“Don’t look back” — someone is definitely following you. “Use your gut” to choose your next move. Are you being bugged with microphones and cameras in the walls of your office or apartment? “Assume that you are.” As you drive to a crucial meeting with an asset, if you realize you’ll be boxed-in by other vehicles, scoot away. Then, before you duck out of the car,... READ MORE
Women’s Hall of Fame makes up for past
“Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin and Nobel laureate and Beloved author Toni Morrison were inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in December as part of a posthumous class of Black honorees that also includes Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were widely used in biomedical research; Barbara Hillary, the first Black woman to travel to both the North and South Poles, and civil rights... READ MORE
Bridging the generation gap
In 2016, the World Health Organization embarked on an ambitious campaign called the Global Campaign to Combat Ageism. The campaign was necessary, according to the WHO, since “unlike other forms of discrimination, including sexism and racism, [ageism] is socially accepted and usually unchallenged.” Recently, a team of researchers at Cornell University, working on behalf of the... READ MORE
Amateur artists honored by Fifty Plus
From wood sculptures to paintings, artwork from the Richmond area poured into this year’s Celebration of the Arts amateur art competition sponsored by Fifty Plus and its sister publication, the Beacon. Our seven judges, experts in their categories, selected several local artists for honorable mentions. Mixed Media Honorable Mention Cathe Hart Kervan, Mechanicsville, Va. As a child,... READ MORE
Folklore society nourishes African heritage
At the gateway to the historic black community of Jackson Ward, a light-filled, street-level building is brightened by the colors of Africa: rich reds, yellows and greens. This is the headquarters of the Elegba Folklore Society, a cultural arts organization at 101 East Broad Street, whose mission and outreach are different from other Richmond museums. The society, established 30 years ... READ MORE
A holiday gift: Garden myths debunked
As I grew up, my gardening mentor was our elderly next-door neighbor. She instilled in me a love for plants, although I don’t remember any of her aphorisms. However, since I’ve become a Master Gardener, I’ve heard quite a few questionable adages from homeowners and other gardening enthusiasts. Master Gardeners only provide information that has been proven through non-biased... READ MORE
Seeing the shades of gray in politics
For better or worse, we will be dissecting the 2020 election results for many months. So, I’d like to dust off my scalpel and dissect a group of voters. For better or worse, I am very familiar with them. Older Americans. We vote more often than any other age group. We give more money to candidates than any other age group. We do phone banking and door-knocking as much as,... READ MORE
New Army Museum opens at Ft. Belvoir
Washington’s free museum scene gained a major new addition last month when the National Museum of the U.S. Army opened on Veteran’s Day on 84 acres of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 20 miles south of the D.C area. With a theme of “Service and Sacrifice,” the museum tells the story of the U.S. Army through the eyes — and in some cases, the actual voices — of the more than 30 million... READ MORE
Flutist’s lyrical memoir uplifts
I am no dope I see how my family notes my lapses and losses of appropriate words or a name or the date and it makes me fretful to be forgetful so I try to hide it So begins one of the first poems in Eugenia Zukerman’s book Like Falling Through a Cloud, which her publisher describes as a “lyrical memoir of coping with forgetfulness, confusion and a dreaded... READ MORE
Arts 2024
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