Microbrew-Braised Rutabagas

“Who knew? With a little experimentation, I discovered rutabagas and beer are made for each other. Add this side dish to a wintertime menu that features roast pork, grilled sausages, braised brisket, or even roast chicken. A porter-style beer works best, delivering a rich malt flavor without a bitter finish,” writes Diane Morgan author of Roots: The Definitive Compendium with more than 225 Recipes.


Microbrew-Braised Rutabagas
(Makes 6 servings as a side dish)

 Rutabagas, photo by Antons Achilleos
Photograph by Antonis Achilleos. Excerpted from Roots by Diane Morgan.

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In Dutch oven or other heavy pot, melt butter with oil over medium-low heat until butter is foamy. Add onion and stir to coat evenly. Cover and cook until onion begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until onion is evenly golden brown and caramelized, about 20 minutes.
  2. Add brown sugar, salt, Aleppo pepper, black pepper, and cinnamon and stir constantly until brown sugar has melted and spices are aromatic, about 1 minute. Add rutabagas and stir to coat. Add beer and stock, pressing down on vegetables to submerge them. Liquid should just cover vegetables. If it doesn’t, add more stock or water as needed. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat until liquid is at a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. Stir in oregano and thyme, re-cover, and continue to cook until rutabagas are fork-tender, 5 to 10 minutes more. Using a slotted spoon, transfer rutabagas and onions to serving bowl, cover, and keep warm.
  3. Increase heat to high and boil braising liquid, stirring occasionally, until it reduces to about ¼ cup and has thickened to syrup consistency, 10 to 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, return rutabagas and onion to pan, and toss to coat in sauce. Heat until vegetables are hot, and then taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately.

Cover of the book Roots by Diane Morgan. Photographs by Antonis Achilleos.

Recipe excerpted from Roots by Diane Morgan. Photographs by Antonis Achilleos. (Chronicle; October 2012; $40.00/Hardcover: ISBN-13: 978-0811878371). Chroniclebooks.com.

What to Wear This Winter

Winter Clothes
Get outdoors this winter. Just remember to wear layers and bright colors. Photo by Maridav/Shutterstock.

Dress right for walking in the snow, skiing, or snowboarding by wearing layers of clothing that help you stay warm and also allow good circulation through the body. People can faint or experience headaches, blurred vision, or tingling in their legs or back when their apparel is too tight, according to Donna Mendez, MD, a member of the Society for Vascular Surgery.

Don’t hibernate. Get out and get fit with these tips to dress from the inside out:

Build your base: Thermal underwear and polyblend thermal tops pull moisture away from skin. Spandex clothing traps fluids and can constrict blood vessels that supply oxygen to the brain and body.

Add a mid-layer: Polyester sweaters, polyester shirts, and fleece-lined snow pants provide insulation.

Top it off: Bright red, yellow or orange clothing helps others to see you. (Never wear white or gray.) Opt for nylon pants with a cinch cord waist and zippers at the ankles. Invest in a hooded jacket with fleece lining that zips into the outer shell for extra protection and insulation. If clothes don’t have reflective trim, sew, tape, or iron it on chest, arms, waist, legs, and ankles.

Protect hands and feet: Big gloves with polyester liner; smartwool or polyliner socks; and insulated winter boots keep extremities warm and dry.

Cover head and face: Neck warmers and fleece or knitted hats or caps add warmth; ski goggles protect eyes and vision.

Cartoons: Job Interviews

cartoon, your last employer. Jan/Feb 1984

“Of course, if you’d rather we didn’t check with your last employer …”
January/February 1984

Cartoon, Any other References?

“Very good. Any other references besides your mother?”
May 1952

charcter references cartoon

“Just because everybody says you’re a character,
Mr. Johnson, we don’t consider them ‘character references.'”
January/February 1978

work history, more specific.

“I see in your resume that from 1961 to 1982 you were at work. Can you be a little more specific?”
January/February 1984

experience on the job.

“Let’s see, I’ve had one week’s experience at Hagley and Company, two days at Farson Brothers, half an hour at Beglo Company …”
December 1953

typewriter experience

“I haven’t worked for 20 years. I can’t wait to get back behind a typewriter.”
July/August 2000

Snow Days

Snow Day

There are things I liked as a kid that in my adult years I no longer enjoy, but my enthusiasm for snow has continued undiminished. My Grandpa Hank told me I wouldn’t like snow when I got to be his age. My grandfather was wrong about a number of things, but this was his biggest misjudgment.

I liked snow as a kid because it got me out of school. The cancellations would be announced on WGRT, our town’s radio station. Sometimes WGRT wouldn’t even wait for official word. They would predict the closing the night before, working themselves into a frenzy. My siblings and I would take their prophecies as gospel truth, put on our coats, and go for a walk around the block in the snow. I remember how the snow lit the night, and the smothered quiet, and the feel of snow landing on my exposed neck and running in rivulets to the collar of my long underwear. When we got home, Mom would make us hot chocolate, not the stuff in a packet with the pebble-hard marshmallows you dump into hot water, but the real kind with milk and cocoa and sugar. I would stay up late, sitting at my bedroom window, watching the snow fall, backlit by the street light. Cleo Walker would drive past in the snowplow, the strobe casting and retracting its yellow light against the houses. Cleo was a nice man, but it was hard to feel kindly toward a man working to get us back to school.

There were two sledding hills in our town. One of them was at the park but would be closed whenever a kid rammed into the basketball post at the bottom of the hill and cracked his head open. It was always the same kid, Donny Millardo, who had a permanent crease in his forehead from hitting the post.

The other hill was in our backyard. Kids from all over town would descend on our backyard. I went through 12 years of school without ever getting beat up. All the bullies wanted to stay on my good side so they could sled on our hill. Snow was my salvation. If our yard had been flat, I wouldn’t have lived past junior high.

The only thing I didn’t like about snow were the rubber boots my mother made me wear when the first flake hit the ground in mid-November. They had eight buckles, which iced over and froze shut. I couldn’t unlatch them until the spring thaw. There were five children in our family and I fell toward the end, so I wore hand-me-down boots from my brother Doug, who had the smallest feet in the state of Indiana. I would pull the boots on over my shoes, straining and grunting and stomping until the heel of my shoe cleared the back of the boot. I wore them all winter, even slept and showered in them, lest I snap a bone pulling them back on.

This was back in the day before good gloves. When I was a kid, only one kind of glove had been invented: the brown jersey glove. They were made of a special kind of cotton that absorbed 10 times their weight in water and within five minutes would freeze into an icy claw. I continue to like snow because it gets me out of work. On the days it snows, I shovel my driveway, clean my walks, spread salt, then drive over to my parents’ house and do it all over again. If I really want to avoid work, I shovel out my brother’s house, my sister’s house, and my neighbor’s house. Then I drive to the grocery store and buy doughnuts for the town workers plowing the streets. A good snow can occupy me for eight or more hours, by which time it’s too late to go to work. I can enjoy an entire day off from work and look virtuous doing it, even though I’m playing hooky.

We don’t seem to get as much snow as we did when I was a kid. It wasn’t uncommon, when I was five or six years old, for snow to be up past my knees. I can’t remember the last time that happened. Now it only reaches the top of my boots. I’m no weather expert, but I suspect this has something to do with global warming.

Still, to waken in the morning and see the glint and dazzle of snow upon the ground was, and remains, a deep and wondrous joy. I’m not sure what it was that turned my grandfather against snow, but I hope whatever it was never happens to me.

The Post’s Civil War Half-Time Report

Fredericksburg
Halt of Wilcox’s troops in Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, previous to going into battle. Photo courtesy The Saturday Evening Post (January 17, 1863).

No country can win a war if its military strength isn’t matched by the determination of its people. If a war lasts too long, the public’s resolve runs out before the ammunition does. Case in point: it would have been extremely difficult if not impossible for the administration to maintain public support for the Vietnam War for its entire 14 years. More recently, our country’s determination has been challenged by 11 years in Afghanistan that have produced no decisive victories.

It was no easier 150 years ago, when the Union Army was still recovering from its December 1862 defeat at Fredericksburg. A growing number of Americans were demanding that President Lincoln negotiate with the Confederate government.

In this winter of discontent, the Post responded to the “gloom and dissatisfaction which secessionists are striving to spread over the land” by comparing the achievements of the Northern and Southern armies. In “What We Have Done and What the Rebels Have Done” (February 14, 1863), the editors credited the Union with 33 victories and the Confederacy with just 17.

This ratio of battlefield successes—nearly two-to-one—gives the impression the Union Army was outfighting its Confederate counterpart. But, if truth be told, Post editors were fiddling with the numbers for reasons that were hardly journalistic. The publication had an agenda to stir up waning enthusiasm for Lincoln’s war efforts.

There had been plenty of support for the war when it began in March 1861. Young men throughout the North rushed to enlist, their only worry being the war would be over before they had a chance to prove themselves. After all, they presumed, this would be a short, decisive war.

Then the long list of Union defeats began. In July 1861, the Confederates defeated General McDowell at Bull Run. In March 1862, they defeated General McClellan on the Virginia Peninsula. In August, they defeated General Pope, again at Bull Run. In December, they threw back General Burnsides at the battle of Fredericksburg.

The only place where the Union seemed to advance was in the western states, where Ulysses Grant was making a name for himself with a string of river victories. But Kentucky and Tennessee were a long way from Richmond, Virginia, the seeming invulnerable Confederate capital.

So Post editors rewrote the war to put the Union Army and Navy in a more positive light, using standards that consistently favored the North. For example:

• Three of the Union “victories” were not achieved by combat but reflected territories fell into Federal hands after the Confederates abandoned them.
• The “Evacuation of Manassas” was, in fact, a retreat.
• Two of the Confederates’ major wins at Bull Run were listed as just one victory.
• The editors counted five Union victories in the Peninsula Campaign, but gave the Confederates just one for winning the entire campaign. Moreover, everything the Union gained at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Hanover Courthouse, Fair Oaks, and Malvern Hill, they lost when driven from these battlefields as they retreated down the peninsula.
• Overall, the editors also didn’t weigh the Union and Rebel successes on the same scale: the South’s victories at Bull Run, the Virginia Peninsula, and Fredericksburg were a greater feat of arms than the minor battle of Drainesville or Mill Spring, but reading the Post article, you’d never know that.

Southerners would have recognized the true disparity in the two armies’ successes. They knew that, for all the North’s small victories, the South had kept them from advancing into Virginia for two years. What they couldn’t see in 1863 was how these little victories were quietly adding up and reducing their ability to wage war. The Confederacy still put its faith in winning with a decisive victory in one, big battle. It had been true in Napoleon’s day, but was no longer. Modern wars, waged across the breadth of a nation, were won by countless small wins with little glory and savage fighting.

But a campaign that relies on countless small wins, as we’ve seen in our current fighting in the Middle East, doesn’t look like progress.

Classic Covers: Happy Birthday, Norman Rockwell!

How did Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) begin painting covers for The Saturday Evening Post? We are celebrating Rockwell’s February 3 birthday with his first three Post covers and the stories of how they came about.

The Baby Carriage

Norman Rockwell cover from May 20, 1916. Brother and baby carraige.

The Baby Carriage
Norman Rockwell
May 20, 1916

 

In his early 20s, Rockwell was an illustrator and art editor for Boys’ Life magazine. But, according to Rockwell in My Adventures as an Illustrator, he was tired of being accepted only by children’s publications and fed up with seeing “the Rover Boys and their lousy dog with the Mounted Police” on his easel. He dreamed of his art on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post; the thought of having his paintings viewed by millions excited daydreams of being famous: “surrounded by admiring females, deferred to by office flunkies at the magazines, wined and dined by the editor of the Post, Mr. George Horace Lorimer.” But that was the rub. Twenty-two-year-old Rockwell was petrified by the thought of approaching “the baron of publishing” who had “built the Post from a two-bit family magazine with a circulation in the hundreds” to a major publication with millions of readers. He had heard the publisher was tough. What if Lorimer didn’t like his work?

Rockwell had a friend named Clyde Forsythe, a cartoonist who knew his way around the world of commercial art. Forsythe was also straightforward. He was the only person Rockwell knew who wouldn’t just ooh and ah over his work, but would give an honest evaluation. He visited Rockwell one day and found the dejected artist lying on a cot in his studio. He asked Rockwell what was eating him, and Norman “hemmed and hawed but finally told him.” Forsythe’s advice: “‘Stop chewing on your tongue and do a cover. What the hell, you’re as good as anybody. Lorimer’s not the Dalai Lama.’”

So Rockwell did a couple of paintings, both attempts to mimic the high society images the Post favored at the time: one a romantic scene with a debonair pair of lovers in the style of Charles Dana Gibson and the other a beautiful ballerina curtsying under a spotlight. Forsythe returned and denounced them as “‘C-R-U-D, crud,’” noting Rockwell was a guy who just couldn’t paint beautiful women. Then he snatched up one of the illustrations Rockwell had just completed for a story in Boys’ Life. “‘Do that,’ said Clyde. ‘Do what you’re best at. Kids. You’re a terrible Gibson, but a pretty good Rockwell.’”

It was sound advice. On his first meeting with Post Art Editor Walter M. Dower, Rockwell sold two paintings (The Baby Carriage and The Circus Strongman) and had three sketches for future covers approved (including Gramps at the Plate). Though his work had been OK’d by Lorimer, Rockwell had yet to meet the publisher; instead it was Dower who informed him that he would receive $75 for each cover. Rockwell’s monthly salary as art director and illustrator for Boys’ Life was $50; he was over the moon. His first cover The Baby Carriage appeared on May 20, 1916.

(The story above was adapted from My Adventures as an Illustrator by Norman Rockwell.)


The Circus Strongman

The Saturday Evening Post cover for June 3, 1916

The Circus Strongman
Norman Rockwell
June 3, 1916

 

1916 was something of a golden year for America. The economy was good and it was the last year before the U.S. entered into World War I. And boys dreamed of becoming the great strongman, Eugen Sandow. Showman Florenz Ziegfeld made a star of Sandow, who would lift weights, pose, and even break chains across his chest for audiences. Edison Studios did a short film of Sandow posing and flexing. This was the stuff of dreams for young boys.

Posing children would be a challenge to any artist, and getting a child to maintain a pose long enough to sketch the scene was difficult. But Rockwell had a way of dealing with the restlessness. At the beginning of each modeling session with kids, he set a stack of nickels on a table next to the easel. Every 25 minutes, he would take 5 nickels from the stack and set it aside, telling the model, “Now, that’s your pile.” Five cents in 1916 would be about a dollar in today’s money, and watching the coins pile up was great motivation. The model for “Sandow” was Billy Paine, who posed as all three boys in The Baby Carriage above. Rockwell used Paine in several Post covers. Sadly, Paine died at age 13; he’d been horsing around a second-story window and fell. “He was the best kid model I ever used” Rockwell said.


Gramps at the Plate

The Saturday Evening Post Cover, August 5, 1916 Norman Rockwell

Gramps at the Plate
Norman Rockwell
August 5, 1916

 

The young artist still hadn’t met the powerful publisher, George Horace Lorimer, but was dealing with Walter Dower, the art editor. Rockwell’s first two finished paintings were accepted without any changes, but when Rockwell submitted his third painting—the baseball-playing grandfather—he found out being a Post cover artist wasn’t so easy after all. In My Adventures as an Illustrator, Rockwell tells the story of this cover:

“Mr. Dower brought word out that Mr. Lorimer thought the old man was too rough and tramplike. Would I do the painting over? Of course. I stretched a new canvas and began again. ‘Better,’ said Mr. Dower. ‘Mr. Lorimer thought it was better. But the old man’s too old, he thought.’ I did the painting over again. The boy was too small. I did that painting over five times before Mr. Lorimer accepted it.”

Later, Lorimer informed Rockwell that he had been testing him. Why? To test the new artist’s versatility, his ability to take direction, his perseverance, or maybe just to see if Rockwell would do his bidding. Whatever the reason for the test, the ordeal almost caused the young artist to give up: “I wonder if he ever knew how near I came to flunking his test.”


Winter Recipes from The Green Smoothie Bible

“Winter produce can certainly present a challenge compared with the abundance of summer fruits. But it also can be a time for creativity when it comes to green smoothies,” says Kristine Miles, author of The Green Smoothie Bible. “Ginger and warming spices like cinnamon can be used. Nut milks, ginger, and spices can add a more filling and warming element to a winter green smoothie. By the same token, use of ice and frozen fruit is best avoided given the weather is cold enough as it is!”

Green Smoothie with Pineapple, Grapefruit, and Avocado

Recipe 1


Chia Seeds

Recipe 2


Fresh spinach in a bowl
Tip: If you’re new to green smoothies, Miles recommends that only 10 percent of your smoothie be greens (spinach is a good beginner’s green because of its mild flavor) and gradually increase them to 40 percent as you grow accustomed to the flavor.

Of the 300 available recipes in The Green Smoothie Bible, we will feature nine of Kristine Miles’ seasonal recipes (three more in summer, two in fall, and two in spring). Try one or all and share your green smoothie adventures in the comments below.


Kristine Miles is a health professional with more than 15 years experience. She is passionate about lifelong learning, plant-based nutrition, and living a healthy lifestyle. Kristine works full time as a physiotherapist in a private practice, is a part-time cooking demonstrator, and is a blogger at kristinemiles.com and greensmoothiecommunity.com. She is happily married and lives on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia.

Flu News with Scrubs Alum Sarah Chalke

Sarah Chalke, Flu Shot
Arm yourself against the flu for kids’ sake, says actress and mom Sarah Chalke. Photo by Eric Reed/AP Images on behalf of Faces of Influenza.

Flu is a big deal and it hit early and hard. But it’s not too late to get a flu shot: flu season can last as late as May. “Like all mothers, I do whatever I can to keep my son healthy—and that includes getting him immunized against the flu. I’ve learned that everyone is at risk of catching and transmitting this disease. So my family and I get annual vaccines to make sure we don’t spread the virus to him,” says actress Sarah Chalke, known for playing Dr. Elliot Reid on the hit TV series Scrubs and starring in the comedy series How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life) set to premiere in April.

The widely available vaccine is a good match for circulating flu bugs and immunity kicks in after two weeks. Federal health experts recommend that everyone 6 months of age and older be immunized annually, yet fewer than half of children ages 6 months to 17 years were immunized during the 2011-2012 flu season. Flu can lead to severe complications, even death, for patients or those with whom they come into contact. Each year in the U.S., influenza and its related complications result in an average of 226,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 to 49,000 deaths.

No vaccine is perfect. To boost your defense during outbreaks, avoid crowds and keep hands away from your face because pesky flu viruses can lurk for hours on hard surfaces. Six of the grimiest places you encounter through the day include: the kitchen sink, elevator controls (especially the first floor button), shopping cart handles, purses, playgrounds, gym equipment, and the office phone, according to leading commercial cleaning franchisor Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System®.

Learn more about the flu at facesofinfluenza.org.

Cartoons: Sleepyheads

Cartoon of a sleepy dad with water for son.

“Hey! Over here!”
April 1953

 

Cartoon of a dad thinking he's reading the paper. May 24, 1952

“Just slip it to him quietly, he thinks he’s reading it now.”
May 1952

 

Cartoon of a Guy asking for a half cup of coffee till he wakes up. December 19, 1959

“Just half a cup. I can’t lift a full one yet.”
December 1959

 

Cartoon of a wife pushing coffee across floor with broom to husband. November 21, 1959

November 1959

 

Cartoon of a man at bus stop wearing bacon as a tie. December 26, 1959

“Isn’t that a strip of bacon you’re wearing?”
December 1959

 

Cartoon, still waiting at train station.

“You still here? The 7:10 went a half hour ago.”
November 1957

 

cartoon, man sleeping at desk. October 17, 1959

“… just soft-boiled eggs, dear.”
October 1959

 

Top 4 Tiny Tablets

The tablet revolution began less than three years ago with the debut of the Apple iPad, a notepad-sized slate with a 9.7-inch touchscreen. While the iPad remains the world’s most popular tablet, it now has a number of worthy competitors, many of which are smaller, lighter, and easier to carry. These petite devices have screens that measure between 7 and 8 inches diagonally, and yet offer the same features as their larger brethren, including email, video, music, e-books, and Web browsing. Here’s a roundup of the best of the bunch.

Apple iPad Mini
Apple iPad Mini. Photo courtesy Apple Computer Inc.

1. Apple iPad mini
The late Steve Jobs once declared 7-inch tablets too tiny to be useful, but the company he cofounded decided otherwise when it saw consumers snapping up smaller slates made by its competitors. The result is the iPad Mini, which does nearly everything its predecessor does, but at a much lower price. The iPad Mini has a 7.9-inch screen that works well for Web browsing and streaming video, although the resolution is surprisingly lower than that of Apple’s 7-inch competitors, which cost $80 to $130 less. The iPad Mini includes optional 4G LTE service, which costs an additional $130 plus a monthly cellular charge. The tablet’s aluminum and glass exterior is sleek and slim—just what you’d expect from Apple. Its front- and rear-facing cameras capture high-definition pictures and video too. Its biggest advantage can be summed up in one word: apps. Apple’s App Store has more than 275,000 programs created for the iPad—a vastly greater selection than what you’ll find in competing app markets from Google, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. Priced from $329 for a Wi-Fi model with 16GB of storage to $659 for a Wi-Fi plus cellular unit with 64GB; the iPad Mini is the upscale option in a crowded market.

The Post Honors American Fiction Contest Finalists

Saturday Evening Post Covers
New York City’s media elite gathered at Michael’s New York to honor the winner and finalists of The Saturday Evening Post’s first-ever Great American Fiction contest.

Last Tuesday, January 8, I had the opportunity to attend The Saturday Evening Post’s event at Michael’s restaurant in New York City. The purpose of the event, which was co-hosted by Publishing Executive, was twofold: to toast the winner and finalists of the Post’s first annual Great American Fiction Contest while also celebrating the recent redesign of the magazine.

Michael’s Garden Room was packed with people when I arrived a little after 6 p.m., a palpable sense of excitement already hovering in the air. Writers, editors, agents, and reporters were crowding around the oversized reproduction of the Post’s Jan/Feb cover, complimenting the vibrant painting of Shirley MacLaine and—inspired by one of the magazine’s cover lines—debating the U.S. prison system. Servers were navigating the crowd, delivering plate after plate of hors d’oeuvres while the lines for both bars snaked around the room.

Ignoring the tempting food (and alcohol), I decided to wade into the fray to talk to some of the short story writers in attendance. As a graduate of an MFA creative writing program myself, I was anxious to talk to some other “storytellers.”

The first writer I talked to was a fellow named Jonathan Blackwood. (Good name for a writer.) He had written a short story called “Kin,” which was selected as one of the contest finalists and is also being published in the print collection. We talked about the craft of writing for quite a while. For such a young writer (he’s a recent college graduate) he certainly seemed to have a lot of the basics figured out. He also told me that “Kin” is his first published story. Starting out in a collection from The Saturday Evening Post is a pretty good place to begin a writing career!

Of course, I also spent some time talking with the amazing Lucy Jane Bledsoe, the author of the winning short story, “Wolf.” I particularly enjoyed her comments on the state of contemporary short fiction and literary journals. She made an interesting observation about happy endings, and how she feels that it’s easier (from a writer’s standpoint) to have everything go to crap at the end of the story because it’s inherently more dramatic to indulge in tragedy. In her view, crafting a positive or even neutral ending that doesn’t smack of sentimentality is a much tougher achievement.

The night ended with comments from Steven Slon, editorial director and associate publisher of the Post, as well as from Ms. Bledsoe.

All in all, the evening as a tremendous success, setting the stage for the Post’s future and launching the magazine’s 2014 Great American Fiction Contest, which is already accepting submissions now.

Photos from the event:

They Socked It To Us

Laugh-In Football Sketch
Laugh-In football sketch. Alan Sues is the player. Dave Madden the coach.

Humor’s a funny thing.

Consider the joke that makes us roar with laughter today. Twenty years from now, audiences may hear it without even cracking a smile. Or consider the comedians we think are side-splittingly funny. Few will still be thought amusing a generation or two from now. Who now remembers Ed Gallagher and Al Shean, the headliners of the 1910s? Or Joe Weber and Lew Fields, the top comedy team of the 1890s? Or the most popular comedians of the late 1960s, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin?

Actually, many baby boomers will still remember Rowan and Martin, although their TV comedy program has been off the air for 40 years. Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In featured straight-man Rowan feeding lines to Martin, who responded with screwball responses that were a cross between Stan Laurel and Gracie Allen. This was followed by a wild assortment of unrelated skits and jokes. That formula may not sound so original now, but in 1969 and 1970, it was a breath of fresh air, and made Laugh-in the most watched program on television. It was, as a Post article put it, “Where TV Comedy Is At.”

Laugh-In was manic, relentless, and unlike anything we’d ever seen. It used nearly every comedy device known: short skits, one-liners, puns, slapstick, improvisation, and satire. Much of the show reworked ancient gags from vaudeville. It even offered a touch of burlesque with its leering close-ups of graffiti painted on bikinied women, most notably the then-sex-symbol Goldie Hawn whom the show turned into an overnight sensation.

But Laugh-In also brought innovations to TV comedy. It was the first show to fill an entire hour with comedy without a plot or theme. There were no singers, acrobats, or dance troupes—just comedians. And if the quality of jokes wasn’t all you might want, you couldn’t complain about the portion sizes. Laugh-In served at least 250 jokes every show.

We should add that these were not always ‘jokes’ in any traditional sense. One of the great laugh-getters—and we are not making this up—was the line “Sock it to me.” Just that. “Sock it to me.”

Celebrities lined up for the privilege of delivering that line on the show. Even Richard Nixon appeared in a September 1968 episode to speak it, though he stated it in the form of a question—“Sock it to me?” Hubert Humphrey, who was running against him for the presidency that year, declined an offer to go on camera and utter the phrase. And he lost the election, you’ll remember.

Classic Art: The Many Faces of Winter

Post artists portrayed winter’s transformation with meandering paths, trudging footsteps, and rolling hills.

Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland inside art January 1, 1937 Country Gentleman

Winter Wonderland
Walter Baum
Country Gentleman
January 1, 1937

 

Of winter’s lifeless world each tree now seems a perfect part;
Yet each one holds summer’s secret deep down within its heart.
—Charles G. Slater

This scene with its impressionistic, stark, winter trees is an inside illustration from Country Gentleman, a sister magazine of The Saturday Evening Post. The artist, Walter Emerson Baum (1884-1956), was born in Sellersville, Pennsylvania, and painted many landscapes of his home state. He is particularly known for his rugged work ethic; he frequently painted outdoors, even as winter storms raged.

Baum, in addition to illustrating and producing fine art, was an art teacher in Allentown, Pennsylvania, from 1926 to 1956. He was also a writer, a columnist for the Sellersville Herald and eventually he became the paper’s editor. He wrote the book Two Hundred Years, a history of the Pennsylvania Germans in his hometown.


Tumble from Sled

Saturday Evening Post Cover from January 27, 1940

Tumble from Sled
Dominice Cammerota
January 27, 1940

 

This Dominice Cammerota illustration shows the fun side of winter. The artist painted two more Post covers, also of women enjoying seasonal pastimes: a summer sunbather reading the paper on her rooftop (August 3, 1940) and a springtime gardener in a wheelbarrow (May 10, 1941). If only there was a fall cover to complete the set.

Interestingly in this issue, which went to press while Gone With the Wind was captivating Americans in the theater, an editorial offered up the fate of a fraudulent manuscript purportedly written by Margaret Mitchell, whose book the movie was based on. The editorial included the first paragraph of the 50-page manuscript, noted that the editor had contacted the real Margaret Mitchell, and advised readers: “We’re holding the manuscript,” then asked, “Would the author like to collect it?” Not surprisingly, there were no takers.


No School Today

Country Gentleman cover from January 27, 1923

No School Today
Angus MacDonall
Country Gentleman
January 27, 1923

 

We don’t know how far this young man trudged through the snow to get to school, but it was all for naught. The sign on the door says it all. This 1923 cover was typical of the humorous, homespun style of Angus MacDonall (1876-1927) who did 21 covers for sister magazines, The Saturday Evening Post and Country Gentleman. He was a cartoonist and illustrator for Life for many years and contributed artwork to other publications such as Harper’s and Ladies’ Home Journal.

MacDonall came from St. Louis but eventually moved to the seaside town of Westport, Connecticut, where he helped establish it as an art colony. Among its list of famous residents throughout the 20th century are Post artist Stevan Dohanos, American author F. Scott Fitgerald, and actor Paul Newman.


Herding in Winter Storm

Country Gentleman Cover March 1, 1944

Herding in Winter Storm
Matt Clark
Country Gentleman
March 1, 1944

 

Matt Clark (1903-1972) and his brother Benton, also an illustrator of Western art, came from a Coshocton, Ohio, family whose lives revolved around horses. Both artists were inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2008. The society, in describing the brothers’ similar styles, summed up this 1944 cover aptly: “Not reliant on close-ups or facial expression to express the emotions of the characters, they used the attitudes or the actions of whole figures to describe their relationships. That also included the settings—letting the landscape play a role.”

The Clark brothers did more than 100 illustrations for fiction in The Saturday Evening Post, and Matt Clark created six Western or rural-themed covers for Country Gentleman magazine.


Snow on the Farm

Saturday Evening Post Cover December 22, 1956 by John Clymer

Snow on the Farm
John Clymer
December 22, 1956

 

“My approach was to look for human interest subjects and then try to place them in a proper setting to fit the idea,” illustrator John Clymer (1907-1989) said. The children (along with cat and dog) playing in the snow in this 1956 cover are all but overwhelmed by the beautiful landscape. Clymer could say what he liked about his human subjects, but his landscapes always dominated the 80 covers the artist did for the Post.

Painting covers for The Saturday Evening Post was a career highlight for any illustrator, but they often learned the hard way about accuracy, as Clymer told art historian Walt Reed in John Clymer, an Artist’s Rendezvous with the Frontier West: “There was only one drawback about doing covers for the Post. They went everywhere in the country, and because I picked and painted actual places, there would be several hundred people who lived nearby who’d scrutinize every detail to try to find something wrong. There would always be someone like a telephone lineman who’d write in and say, ‘I don’t think that was the kind of insulator they used in that area.’” But only once did Clymer have to correct a cover he submitted: “I sent in a picture that had an automobile in the foreground. I had completed everything, lights, chrome, trim, spokes, but forgot to paint the door handle.”



Daily Dialysis Goes Home

Sr. Mary and Sr. Catherine
Sister Mary and Sister Catherine, Roman Catholic Benedictine nuns, are thick as thieves at 71 and 81 years old respectively. Photo courtesy Sister Mary.

Sister Mary, assisted by care partner Sister Catherine, is one of just 8 percent of people with ailing kidneys who currently receive dialysis at home—in her case a Benedictine monastery. Five days a week after morning prayer, Sr. Catherine helps Sr. Mary with her dialysis treatment while they work on crossword puzzles, embroider, and watch their favorite program The Price is Right.

Most people don’t think much about their kidneys—until they go awry. Choosing foods with less salt, and keeping blood pressure and sugar levels in check protect kidney health. Yet about one in ten Americans (more than 20 million) has some level of chronic kidney disease (CKD). CKD is considered a silent disease because many people don’t experience any symptoms until the kidneys are badly damaged. In 2010, more than 870,000 people were being treated for kidney failure. Only blood and urine tests can tell how well kidneys are functioning.

Diabetes and hypertension are common causes of CKD. Over time, elevated blood sugar and blood pressure can impair the kidneys’ ability to filter blood as they should, causing harmful chemicals to build up in the body that lead to other problems. And when kidneys fail, the only treatment options are a transplant or lifelong blood dialysis. More than 90 percent of dialysis patients travel to a medical center three times each week to receive the therapy, although clinical data show more frequent treatment with portable, at-home dialysis significantly improves symptoms and survival.

Today’s home dialysis units are smaller and easier to use than earlier versions. Dozens of small studies show patients who do daily or nightly dialysis at home report better blood pressure control, less limited diet, and reversal of some heart damage caused by high blood pressure, according to the NIH brochure on home hemodialysis.

Although growing, the number of clinics that offer home dialysis is limited. Find training sites at the the Home Dialysis Central website.

Cartoons: Little Girls

cartoon angel, "Hasn't her teacher got her playing a little out of character?"  December 11, 1948

“Hasn’t her teacher got her playing a little out of character?”
December 1948

cartoon about perfume. "I put all your perfume into one bottle so you’ll have more room on your dresser."  December 10, 1960

“I put all your perfume into one bottle so you’ll have more room on your dresser.”
December 1960

Poem cartoon, "Just read the poem, Mercedes ... don't ham it up."  1957

“Just read the poem, Mercedes…don’t ham it up.”
1957

Girl's father falls asleep. "I won again!" Mar/Apr 98

“I won again!”
March/April 1998

pestering lady cartoon, "The way you pestered that nice lady—I'll bet she’ll be glad to see you gone!"  May/Jun 99

“The way you pestered that nice lady—I’ll bet she’ll be glad to see you gone!”
May/June 1999

looks to survive cartoon, "I sure hope I grow up to be beautiful—'cause if I can't get by on my looks, I'm doomed."   Sept/Oct 06

“I sure hope I grow up to be beautiful—’cause if I can’t get by on my looks, I’m doomed.”
September/October 2006

Jailhouse Blues

Pelican Bay State Prison
Pelican Bay State Prison is designed to house California’s most serious criminal offenders. Photo courtesy California State Department of Corrections.

We are facing a crisis in America. The crisis is largely hidden from view, but like a cancer, it threatens the very health of society. We have become a superpower of incarceration. Today we warehouse 2.2 million inmates according to the most recent U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics report.

That’s more than the entire population of Houston. More than two-thirds that of Chicago.

China, with more than four times the U.S. population, is a distant second with 1.5 million inmates. The United States imprisons 760 people per 100,000. The number for France is 96, Germany 90, and Japan 63. As an NAACP advertisement points out, we are 5 percent of the world’s population and we house 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.

How did we get here? Between 1925 and 1972, our state inmate population increased 105 percent—roughly proportionate to the country’s overall growth. Since 1973, when stiffer sentencing came in—particularly the so-called Rockefeller drug laws providing lengthy minimum sentences for possession of small quantities of banned substances—the number of prisoners has increased more than 700 percent. That’s about 14 times the country’s overall growth.
The costs are staggering. In a survey of 40 participating states, the Vera Institute of Justice concluded that U.S. taxpayers were shouldering an annual bill of $39 billion. And that’s just the direct costs. Indirect costs, which tend to be carried by government agencies other than corrections departments, are incalculable.

“The system is so skewed,” laments Bob DeSena, executive director of Council For Unity, an anti-gang initiative headquartered in New York City. “As a society we are completely focused on punishment. People are willing to spend hundreds of thousands on incarceration, but they don’t want to spend a few dollars on programs that are proven to prevent them from becoming criminals in the first place.”

What to do with criminals—what warrants imprisonment, for how long, and how to reintegrate released men and women—is one of society’s most difficult challenges. In modern times, the great philosophical debate has been whether the mission is to reform or to punish. And possibly no society has cycled quite so widely between the two extremes as America.

The prison reform movement started more than 200 years ago, in the throes of the Industrial Revolution when a surge in the urban population came with a steep rise in crime. At the time, jail was little more than a means of segregating malefactors from the rest of the population. Perpetrators who weren’t killed outright (Pennsylvania, the first state to outlaw capital punishment for theft, didn’t do so until 1786) were dealt with harshly, confined in dungeons or tawdry, violent, and often disease-ridden jails.

One early attempt at reform was nearly as harsh as the system it replaced. New York’s Auburn Prison, built in 1816, was governed by the then-radical notion that prisoners were capable of change. Hence, prisoners were put to work, and community activity was encouraged during the day. But strict silence was enforced at all times, and prisoners were isolated in solitary confinement at night. Prisoners who so much as broke the silence were flogged or hung by their wrists or had their heads locked in iron cages.