• LGBTSR,  The Weekly Readlines

    The Weekly Readlines October 6

    BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

    Quote for the Week: “Vacations mean a change of pace, a gentleness with ourselves, a time of rest and renewal, and a time to stretch ourselves and encounter new people, new lands, new ways, and new options.”—Anne Wilson Schaef

    Speaker McCarthy out, Paris bed bugs in! For the first time in American history, the Speaker of the House has been removed, in a charge led by the inimitable Matt Gaetz. Claims that Gaetz is behind the historic Paris bed bug infestation have yet to be confirmed. Mais oui!

    California Governor Gavin Newsom named Laphonza Butler, president of pro-choice Emily’s List, to replace the late Diane Feinstein. Butler is both Black and a lesbian, making this a double dose of deliciousness.

    The MAGA government shutdown was averted at the very last moment by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s refusal to be extorted. We know the price he paid.

    Trump, more accustomed to gagging people than being gagged, was ordered to stop issuing fatwas against law clerks and attorneys general on his bizarre social media platform. The countdown clock to his violation of the order is ticking, with Vegas odds makers favoring jail time.

    And my favorite nearby town, Lambertville, NJ, was named among the most charming in the country. I told you so!

  • LGBTSR,  The Weekly Readlines

    The Weekly Readlines October 6

    BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

    Quote for the Week: “Vacations mean a change of pace, a gentleness with ourselves, a time of rest and renewal, and a time to stretch ourselves and encounter new people, new lands, new ways, and new options.”—Anne Wilson Schaef

    Speaker McCarthy out, Paris bed bugs in! For the first time in American history, the Speaker of the House has been removed, in a charge led by the inimitable Matt Gaetz. Claims that Gaetz is behind the historic Paris bed bug infestation have yet to be confirmed. Mais oui!

    California Governor Gavin Newsom named Laphonza Butler, president of pro-choice Emily’s List, to replace the late Diane Feinstein. Butler is both Black and a lesbian, making this a double dose of deliciousness.

    The MAGA government shutdown was averted at the very last moment by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s refusal to be extorted. We know the price he paid.

    Trump, more accustomed to gagging people than being gagged, was ordered to stop issuing fatwas against law clerks and attorneys general on his bizarre social media platform. The countdown clock to his violation of the order is ticking, with Vegas odds makers favoring jail time.

    And my favorite nearby town, Lambertville, NJ, was named among the most charming in the country. I told you so!

  • LGBTSR

    The Twist Podcast #243: Canada Calling, Bed Bug Couture, and an Interview with Podcaster Mark Goldstein

    Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we chat about Mark’s upcoming Canadian cruise, speculate on the language skills of French bed bugs, and enjoy an interview with Mark Goldstein, founder and podcast host of Where Do Gays Retire? 

    Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.

    Copyright 2023 MadeMark Publishing

  • LGBTSR,  The Twist Podcast

    The Twist Podcast #243: Canada Calling, Bed Bug Couture, and an Interview with Podcaster Mark Goldstein

    Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we chat about Mark’s upcoming Canadian cruise, speculate on the language skills of French bed bugs, and enjoy an interview with Mark Goldstein, founder and podcast host of Where Do Gays Retire? 

    Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.

    Copyright 2023 MadeMark Publishing

  • LGBTSR

    Cover Reveal for ‘Dreamshaping: On Shaping Reality and Living Our Dreams’

    UPDATE: NOW ON AMAZON AND FREE FOR SUBSCRIBERS!

    I’ve been working on this longer than any book I will ever write. It first came to me about 18 years ago when I was sitting on a beach on Long Island. One of my goals for 2023 was to finally finish it. Almost there …

    “It’s understandable that we can react with fear to what we think our bodies are telling us. Who doesn’t assume a grave prognosis when we go to the doctor looking for answers? It’s as natural as gasping for that first breath, terrified there will not be enough air left for another, and another, and another until we take our last. But denying our body’s messages, or pretending they’re not speaking to us at all when in fact they may be shouting, is an invitation to harm and frustration.

    Begin to hear your body. Be quiet with it and let yourself learn its language. You are its first and truest friend. You are the one it longs to communicate with. And when it asks you to pay attention, let nothing be more important than understanding what it has told you. When we become the best interpreter of our body’s language, we begin to live in partnership with it, and to trust it will never lead us astray. We may not always like what it has to say, and sometimes what it tells us will be devastating, but we will listen carefully. The answers are there, and in those answers is the opportunity for peace, acceptance and change.”

    From When the Body Speaks, Listen (Chapter 15) 

    Discover this and many other ways we inhabit the dreams we call our lives, how we create them day by day, and how we can begin to experience them as the ultimate lucid dream. No supernatural assistance is required, no surrender to powers outside ourselves.

    Dreamshaping is not wishful thinking: it is wishful doing. In this simple guide, this dreamshaper’s manual, you’ll find chapter after chapter of simple insights: how the body speaks to us, how we make choices that determine our experiences, how we act, often unknowingly, as the architect, landscaper, set designer and director of our own existence.

    Keep reading, and see what simple reflection and observation can reveal about the lives we live, and the lives we create, in which we’re both the dreamer and the dream.”

     

  • LGBTSR

    Mark McNease On Topic (Substack)

    My Medicare kicked in yesterday, October 1. It’s oddly exciting, and depressing at the same time. I can finally enjoy national healthcare, but I had to live 65 years to get it (okay, almost 65 years— my birthday is October 28).

    We had dinner with some friends last night who were hosting their friends from Germany. After giddily announcing I was finally on Medicare, I had to explain to them what the excitement was about. Like the rest of the developed world, they have national healthcare. Americans are unique in our effusive celebrations of a Medicare card arriving in the mail. It sorts of says, “Congratulations! You’ll be dead soon.” And boy, do I plan on using it. My first of several October doctors’ appointments is today!

  • LGBTSR,  Savvy Senior

    Savvy Senior: Three Vaccines Seniors Should Consider Getting This Fall

    Narration provided by Wondervox.

    By Jim Miller

    Dear Savvy Senior,

    Which vaccines are recommended for Medicare seniors this flu season?

    Just Turned 65                                                                             

     Dear Just Turned,

    There are actually three different types of vaccines seniors should consider getting this fall to protect against a repeat of last winter’s “tripledemic” of respiratory illnesses, which included flu, RSV and coronavirus. Here’s a rundown of the different vaccines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending and how they are covered by Medicare.

    Senior-Specific Flu Shots

    For people age 65 and older, there are three flu vaccines (you only need one) that the CDC recommends over traditional flu shots.

    These FDA-approved vaccines provide extra protection beyond what a standard flu shot does, which is important for older adults who have weaker immune defenses and have a greater risk of developing dangerous flu complications compared with younger, healthy adults. The three senior-specific options include the:

    • Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent vaccine, which contains four times the amount of antigen as a regular flu shot does, creating a stronger immune response for better protection.
    • Fluad Quadrivalent vaccine, which contains an added ingredient called adjuvant MF59 that also helps create a stronger immune response.
    • FluBlok Quadrivalent vaccine, is a recombinant protein (egg-free) flu vaccine that contains three times the amount of antigen as compared with a regular flu shot.
  • LGBTSR

    Dental Insurance or a Dental Savings Plan?

    Narration provided by Wondervox.

    I’m officially on Medicare now, as of October 1. In addition to the basic one-size-fits-all of Medicare parts A and B, I wanted supplemental insurance, vision coverage, and some kind of dental plan. I am a firm opponent of ‘Medicare Advantage’ plans, which are not Medicare. They are the privatization of Medicare, an insidious corporate takeover of the most successful social safety net program this country has ever enacted, along with Social Security. So … I have a Humana supplemental policy, an annual EyeMed discount plan that I already had, and now an Aetna dental save plan.

    The dental plan was the one my husband and I most hesitated over. There are quite a few that offer the same basic benefit: significant discounts for the fees charged by participating dentists. It can be as much as 50 percent lower than the charge for the service. Until now, we’d had MetLife dental insurance, with a monthly premium for both of us at around $60 a month. It’s insurance, which means we had a $150 deductible for the year, with a $2000 cap from MetLife once the deductible was met. So, having estimated our needs in a given year, it made sense to go with a dental savings plan that cost (approximately) $199 annually for a couple. It’s a gamble: if I need a crown replaced or something major, it’s going to cost a lot more, but I’m not paying $720 (plus deductible) a year for it, either.

  • LGBTSR,  The Weekly Readlines

    The Weekly Readlines September 30

    Quote for the Week: “… we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.” – Retiring Four-Star General Mark Milley

    BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES

    Senator Diane Feinstein died at 90, leaving a legacy as the longest-serving woman in the U.S. Senate. General Mark Milley retired as the head of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, ignoring calls for his execution by one-term fiasco Trump and his toady, AZ Rep. Paul Gosar. And a government shutdown is all but assured after radical Republicans chose cult over country.

    The Writers Guild reached an agreement with studios, ending a five-month strike. President Biden walked the picket line with autoworkers in Michigan, becoming the first American President to join striking union members. And Las Vegas’ Culinary Workers Union authorized a strike, threatening to cripple Gomorrah in the desert.

    Possibly realizing it’s a violation of federal law while under indictment, Trump denied purchasing a 9mm Glock after a campaign staffer said he did. And the former President was found by a judge to have committed fraud for years in his real estate businesses. His popularity among the base jumped 20 points. Who says crime doesn’t pay?

  • LGBTSR,  Savvy Senior

    Savvy Senior: Does Medicare Cover Second Medical Opinions?

    By Jim Miller

    Dear Savvy Senior,

    Does Medicare cover second medical opinions? The doctor I currently see thinks I need a knee replacement, but I would like to get some other treatment options before I proceed. What can you tell me?

    Limping Larry

    Dear Larry,

    Getting a second medical opinion from another doctor is a smart idea that may offer you a fresh perspective and additional options for treating your knee so you can make a more informed decision. Or, if the second doctor agrees with your current one, it can give you some reassurance.

    Yes, Medicare does pay for second opinions if your current doctor has recommended surgery, or some other major diagnostic or therapeutic procedure.

  • LGBTSR,  The Twist Podcast

    The Twist #242: Farewell Senator Feinstein, Military Madness, and The Twist Moves to Fridays

    Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we salute the late, great Diane Feinstein, pray for the safety of General Milley after calls for his execution, and welcome everyone to our new timeslot on Friday mornings.

    Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.

    Copyright 2023 MadeMark Publishing

  • LGBTSR,  On the Map

    On the Map: Return to Philly, the Morris House Hotel, and Eddie Izzard at the Miller Theater

    This slideshow requires JavaScript.

    Click to hear audio version.


    By Mark McNease

    It was a whirlwind two days, as Frank and I headed to Philadelphia for another two-night getaway in a favorite city. After having spent decades in New York prior to our permanent move to rural New Jersey, we now enjoy taking trips to Philly just an hour away. It’s an easy drive, an easy city to be in, and it offers everything you could want in a major metropolis: museums, restaurants, theater, walking (and more walking), lots of history, and our preferred place to stay: the historic Morris House Hotel, located within a short walking distance of everything we enjoy.

    This trip was my gift to Frank for our 10th wedding anniversary, and I didn’t want to scrimp. Fine food? You got it! Hotel we love to stay in? You got it! Surprise show at the Kimmel Center? You got it! And while we remember all our trips, this was special. I got a foot massage within an hour of arriving, while Frank racked up his multi-thousand-step daily routine. We had dinner at Buca D’Oro with his niece Jessica, who just started attending Drexel for her graduate law degree. Day two saw us walking with Jess, hitting 25,000-plus steps on my own pedometer and seeing her school up close.