Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Reader 39 S Digest USA - 04 2021
Reader 39 S Digest USA - 04 2021
I Love
ARMY
FOOD!
DON’T
By KELLY
MCHUGH-STEWART
YOUR
3 Things N ot to Buy
2
HOME
REMEDIES
That Truly Work
An RD GLOBAL SURVEY
In the Jaws of a
GRIZZLY
A DRAMA IN REAL LIFE
Inspiring Meeting My
LIFE Heart Donor’s
U-TURNS FAMILY
PEOPLE WHO TOOK A CHANCE From BICYCLING
Reader ’s Digest
CONTENTS
Features 68 88
Good deeds drama In real lIfe
56
Cover story
The Biker with
a Big Heart
Her son’s organ dona-
A Grizzly Encounter
A lone hiker crosses
paths with a bear three
DON’T WASTE tion saved his life. times his size—and with
YOUR MONEY ON So he rode 1,426 miles one enormous appetite.
to meet her.
THESE 23 THINGS By A. C. Shilton From
By omAr mouAllem
Avoiding unforced
spending errors
BiCyCling mAgAzine
96
13 thInGs
will let you save
for the stuff you
78 Top Folk Remedies
InspIratIon from Around the World
really want. Starting a
By Jody l. rohlenA And We asked our interna-
AmAndA WAlker New Chapter tional editors to share
Some people don’t their popular home
find their true direction health treatments.
in life until they are Here are the ones
halfway through it. that check out with
By Andy SimmonS And
emily goodmAn scientific research.
104
AnnA knott
natIonal Interest
The Last Days
of the Pioneer
After printing the
local news for 121 years,
another small-town
paper faces the end of
a noble enterprise.
78 By riChArd FAuSSet
AdApted From
the neW york timeS
Departments
6 Dear Reader
8 Letters
EvEryday HEroEs
14 Off the
Beaten Path
By Andy SimmonS
17 Just the Ticket
By mArc PeySer
QuotablE QuotEs
24 Bubba Wallace,
Pope Francis,
Amanda Gorman
lifE WEll livEd
26 The Taste
of Home
By Kelly mcHugH-
StewArt AdAPted
from tHe new yorK
timeS mAgAzine
i Won!
30 National
Teacher of
the Year
14
On the Cover
Photograph by Joleen Zubek
Blue Cross Blue Shield Companies are independent licensees of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
Reader ’s Digest Contents
114
We found a fix
32 Ant-Proof Pet
Food Dishes, Humor
and More 18
The food on Life in These
your plaTe United States
36 I Am Mangoes
By KatE loWEnstEin
40
and daniEl GritzEr All in a Day’s Work
your True sTories 52
42 Poultry in Motion, Laughter, the Best
and More Medicine
neWs from The 87
World of medicine Laugh Lines
44 Home Is Where
103
the Heart Risk Is,
Humor in
and More Uniform
DEAR READER
Front-Porch
News For 121 years, the Pioneer reported the
comings and goings in Warroad, Minnesota.
y first job was as a cub re- Warroad, Minnesota, just the kind of
Three remarkable brothers born with unique Remembering a Great American Hero: Marian Anderson is
abilities save their village by fighting a twisted a condensed chronological narrative compilation,
and powerful warlord and his demented amply illustrated by engaging photos, that shares
psychopath son. the teachable lessons of Anderson’s well-lived long
life - especially important today.
This final installment completes a series on Paul’s This is a story of a poor Ecuadorian who
Letter to the Romans and discusses Chapters moves from Gualaceo to the Oriente as well
12-16, which illustrates the practical application as his dreams and endeavors to make his life
of the truths of the previous two books. a little better.
Mythological wizard Merlin time travels This tale centers on six-year-old Connie who
from the twelfth century to the nineteenth has recently moved to a town from the city.
and covertly assists a Pinkerton detective and She learns she’s adopted, meets her best friend
a Lloyd’s insurance detective with and falls in love with an orphan puppy.
their investigations.
Word Power
I was surprised to
LETTERS
Notes on the
learn that love in
tennis actually comes
February issue from “the love of the
game.” Years ago, my
French teacher told us
the French called zero
She Finally Said Yes “the egg,” or l’oeuf, and
I loved this story about the 40-year gap English tennis players
changed the pronunci-
in Georgene and Jerry’s relationship. My ation to love.
wife and I met in 1955 and then ran into —A.S. via e-mail
each other for the first time in 40 years at
our class reunion in 1996. We dated long- You Call That a
Compliment?
distance for a year and now have been mar- I loved your story
ried for 24. My advice: Don’t ever give up! about backhanded
—Tracy Perry Longmont, Colorado compliments. It re-
minded me of an old
Can You Trust I Think Black History boss. We called her
Your Dentist? Month Should Last the Big But because
Every industry has All Year every compliment
practitioners who take As I was reading, I we got from her was
advantage of clients. thought that more immediately followed
Trust must be a two- accomplished Black by “but ...”
way street. As a practic- Americans beyond —LaVerne Perkins
ing dentist, I trust the usual ones would Fort Garland, Colorado
patients to give an ac- finally be praised. But
curate health history. only a few were men- True Stories
They trust me to give tioned. What about Frank Mongiello’s true
the best care possible. Ursula Burns, the first story about running
My heart goes out to Black woman CEO of a into a woman from his
those deceived. There Fortune 500 company? postal route and her
are great dentists out Or Bessie Coleman, the saying she didn’t recog-
rd photo studio
there. Please find us first Black woman to nize him with clothes
to receive proper care. hold a pilot’s license? on gave me a good
—Robert Johns, DDS —Tarrilynn Wall laugh. A swim student
Leawood, Kansas Kerrville, Texas once saw me at the
8 April 2021
Reader ’s Digest
Rd.com 9
For adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D), along with diet and exercise,
once-daily RYBELSUS® can help lower blood sugar
a
Commercially insured patients only. Offer valid for up to six 30-day fills. Eligibility and other restrictions apply.
b
Message and data rates may apply. Check with your mobile service provider. Message frequency will be based on your selections. Text HELP to 44535
for help. Text STOP to 44535 to quit. See Terms and Conditions of Use at RYBELSUS.com.
Revised: 01/2020
EVERYDAY HEROES
Off the
Beaten Path
When a hiker falls 75 feet from a mountain cliff,
a young stranger goes to extremes to save her
By Andy Simmons
But when he saw hikers still searching, were bleeding. Though he didn’t know
he decided to lend a hand. “My young it then, she had suffered a compound
dumb brain was like, ‘I can do it,’ ” he leg fracture, ten broken ribs, a broken
says. After assuring his mother that he clavicle, and a serious concussion.
would be safe, he trekked off the trail Securing himself against a tree,
alone, hoping he wasn’t too late. Grant gently put her hand in his and
After 15 minutes of scrambling over tried to keep her mind off the pain by
boulders, pushing past prickly brush, peppering her with questions: “Where
and slipping down patches of loose are you from? What do you do for a
dirt, Grant spotted a figure about living? Do you have kids?” Soon, they
25 feet above him. She was dressed in were joined on their perch by another
pink and crumpled in a kneeling po- hiker named Simon.
sition on a small rocky outcropping. About 45 minutes later, first re-
The woman had fallen about 75 feet. sponders arrived on the summit. To
Miraculously, she was alive. reach them, a rescuer rappelled down
and secured Paula to a stretcher.
“MY YOUNG DUMB Rescuers at the summit lifted the
stretcher to the top and then carried
BRAIN WAS LIKE, her to a waiting ATV. Eventually, Paula
‘I CAN DO IT.’ ” and her husband would be flown by
helicopter to a hospital.
Meanwhile, Grant and Simon were
“Paula!” Grant shouted. “Paula. Is now the ones in a tricky spot. The
that you?” rescuers attached harnesses and pul-
The woman barely responded. She leys to help them climb the 75 feet to
was clearly hurt and delirious. Grant the trail above. Five hours after the
called 911 to report her location. He woman in pink had fallen, Grant was
waited where he was for a bit, but she back on top of Squaw Peak.
kept trying to move, and every time Paula, who has fully recovered,
she moved, she slipped a little more. is Paula Kaplan-Reiss, a New Jersey
Afraid that in her muddled state of psychologist who had traveled to the
mind she might tumble off the out- Berkshire mountains of Massachusetts
cropping to her death, Grant crawled for some R and R following her moth-
on all fours up a tight, narrow path, er’s death. Instead, she met a young
gaining traction by digging into the man who, as she stated in a letter to
dirt with his fingers and feet until he the Boston Globe, was her new hero.
reached Paula. “At 18,” she wrote, “Henry has al-
She was moaning and barely mak- ready participated in building the rest
ing sense. Her head, arms, and legs of my life.” RD
16 April 2021
Everyday Heroes
S tough years. In 2012, her eldest On July 10, Sims called the police
daughter was murdered during and made an anonymous donation.
an argument in Kansas City, Missouri. Moved by her generous expression of
Last year, the single mother lost her thanks, the officers did what they do
job in the recession. She had only $7 best—they tracked Sims down. When
in her pocket as she headed into the she explained the family’s motiva-
grocery store one day last July with tion, the officers could hardly believe
her 12-year-old it. “Wi t h h e r
daughter, Rakiya current finan-
Edmondson. cial hardship,
And then Lady we encouraged
Luck finally her to keep the
cut Sims some m o n e y ,” t h e
slack. She and department
h e r d au g ht e r later explained.
found a dollar “She refused,
bill in the park- saying the of-
COURTESY ThE KanSaS CiTY MiSSOURi POliCE DEPaRTMEnT
Rd.com 17
Reader ’s Digest
LIFE
in these
United States
Rd.com 19
IS YOUR Urgency
BLADDER
Frequency
ALWAYS
Leakage
TAKING
YOU ON A Take charge of your
TRIP OF overactive bladder (OAB)
symptoms by talking to your
place of talking with your doctor about your medical condition or treatment.
What is Myrbetriq (meer-BEH-trick)?
Myrbetriq is a prescription medication for adults used to treat the following symptoms due to a
condition called overactive bladder:
• Urge urinary incontinence: a strong need to urinate with leaking or wetting accidents
• Urgency: a strong need to urinate right away
• Frequency: urinating often
It is not known if Myrbetriq is safe and effective in children.
Who should not use Myrbetriq?
Do not take Myrbetriq if you have an allergy to mirabegron or any of the ingredients in Myrbetriq.
See the end of this summary for a complete list of ingredients in Myrbetriq.
What should I tell my doctor before taking Myrbetriq?
Before you take Myrbetriq, tell your doctor about all of your medical conditions, including if you:
• have liver problems or kidney problems
• have very high uncontrolled blood pressure
• have trouble emptying your bladder or you have a weak urine stream
• are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if Myrbetriq will harm your unborn
baby. Talk to your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.
• are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. It is not known if Myrbetriq passes into your breast milk.
Talk to your doctor about the best way to feed your baby if you take Myrbetriq.
Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter
medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Myrbetriq may affect the way other medicines work,
and other medicines may affect how Myrbetriq works.
Tell your doctor if you take:
• thioridazine (Mellaril™ or Mellaril-S™)
®
• )
• propafenone (Rythmol®)
• digoxin (Lanoxin®)
®
)
How should I take Myrbetriq?
• Take Myrbetriq exactly as your doctor tells you to take it.
• You should take 1 Myrbetriq tablet 1 time a day.
• You should take Myrbetriq with water and swallow the tablet whole.
• Do not chew, break, or crush the tablet.
• You can take Myrbetriq with or without food.
• If you miss a dose of Myrbetriq, begin taking Myrbetriq again the next day. Do not take 2 doses
of Myrbetriq the same day.
• If you take too much Myrbetriq, call your doctor or go to the nearest hospital emergency room
right away.
What are the possible side effects of Myrbetriq?
Myrbetriq may cause serious side effects including:
• increased blood pressure. Myrbetriq may cause your blood pressure to increase or make your
blood pressure worse if you have a history of high blood pressure. It is recommended that your
doctor check your blood pressure while you are taking Myrbetriq.
• inability to empty your bladder (urinary retention). Myrbetriq may increase your chances of not
being able to empty your bladder if you have bladder outlet obstruction or if you are taking
other medicines to treat overactive bladder. Tell your doctor right away if you are unable to
empty your bladder.
• angioedema. Myrbetriq may cause an allergic reaction with swelling of the lips, face, tongue,
q and tell your doctor right away.
The most common side effects of Myrbetriq include:
• increased blood pressure • dizziness
• common cold symptoms • joint pain
(nasopharyngitis)
• dry mouth • headache
• constipation
• urinary tract infection • sinus (sinus irritation)
• back pain
(cystitis)
Tell your doctor if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away or if you have
swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat, hives, skin rash or itching while taking Myrbetriq.
These are not all the possible side effects of Myrbetriq.
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to the FDA
at 1-800-FDA-1088.
How should I store Myrbetriq?
• Store Myrbetriq between 59°F to 86°F (15°C to 30°C). Keep the bottle closed.
• Safely throw away medicine that is out of date or no longer needed.
Keep Myrbetriq and all medicines out of the reach of children.
General information about the safe and effective use of Myrbetriq
Medicines are sometimes prescribed for purposes other than those listed in the Patient Information
ot prescribed. Do not give Myrbetriq
to other people, even if they have the same symptoms you have. It may harm them.
You can ask your doctor or pharmacist for information about Myrbetriq that is written for
health professionals.
For more information, visit www.Myrbetriq.com or call (800) 727-7003.
What are the ingredients in Myrbetriq?
Active ingredient: mirabegron
Inactive ingredients: polyethylene oxide, polyethylene glycol, hydroxypropyl cellulose, butylated
hydroxytoluene, magnesium stearate, hypromellose, yellow ferric oxide and red ferric oxide
(25 mg Myrbetriq tablet only).
What is overactive bladder?
Overactive bladder occurs when you cannot control your bladder contractions. When these muscle
contractions happen too often or cannot be controlled, you can get symptoms of overactive bladder,
which are urinary frequency, urinary urgency, and urinary incontinence (leakage).
Marketed and Distributed by:
Astellas Pharma US, Inc.
Northbrook, Illinois 60062
Myrbetriq® is a registered trademark of Astellas Pharma Inc. All other trademarks or registered
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
©2012 - 2018 Astellas Pharma US, Inc.
Revised: April 2018
206813-MRVS-BRFS
057-2652-PM
Reader ’s Digest
QUOTABLE QUOTES
I want to make music that helps. ’Cause
that’s the way I help. I’m not a doctor. I’m not a lawyer.
I don’t work in government. I make music.
—Lizzo, musician
Put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket.
—Andrew Carnegie, industrialist
People can’t drive you crazy if you don’t give them the keys.
—Mike Bechtle, author
POINT TO PONDER
We lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what
stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our
future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay
down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
—Amanda Gorman, poet
getty images (7)
25
LIFE WELL LIVED
By Kelly McHugh-Stewart
AdApted From the New York times magaziNe
26 April 2021
Reader ’s Digest
28 April 2021
Life Well Lived
helicopters and their big, echoey han- will continue to feel a little extra pride
gars; dusty brown boots, camouflage for the Army every year on Flag Day,
uniforms, and heavy flight helmets. the service’s birthday. Because, like
These were just parts of the job for my MREs, these things are a reminder of
father, but they defined my childhood. my “home.”
I grew up on post, saying “Yes, sir” “They’re not so bad, right?” I said
and “Yes, ma’am,” using military time, to Mark with a smile, breaking my
and speaking in acronyms. I showed dry cracker in half and smearing the
my military ID card at the shoppette lumpy cheese spread on each piece.
when I filled my first car with gas Growing up, I never, ever would have
and then again at the gym, the com- shared this precious MRE side dish
missary, and the PX. These on-post with anyone. “This cheesy stuff,” he
amenities were created exclusively said, eyeing the cracker before taking
for service members and their depen- a bite. “It’s not that bad.” RD
dents, but as a child I never knew they
were unique to my community. Kelly McHugh-Stewart holds an MFA
I’ve never served in the military in creative writing from the New
myself, but I’ll always feel a kinship School and is currently working on
with those wearing a uniform when I a memoir about her father, Col. John
walk by them at airports or see them M. McHugh, who was killed in action
on subway platforms. I’ll forever smile in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2010.
when I hear the familiar hum of a
The New York Times magaziNe (april 17, 2019),
Chinook helicopter flying overhead. I CopYrighT © New York Times, NYTimes.Com.
Rd.com 29
Reader ’s Digest
I WON!
NATIONAL
TEACHER OF
THE YEAR
TabaTha RospRoy,
age 33,
Winfield, Kansas
How long have you been big on the idea of to do that for others.
teaching preschool? school family as an ex- That teaching of self-
Eleven years, so this tension of home family. lessness, I think, is
feels like a good cele- missing in our society.
bration of a decade Do they learn together?
of hard work. Yes. We’re often work- Do you ever catch
ing on similar skills, yourself speaking to
And you teach in a such as conversation adults the same way you
rather unusual school. and fine motor skills. speak to preschoolers?
We are the first public So we get to target two Absolutely. My hus-
school pre-K in Kansas populations with some band gets upset with
housed inside a nursing of our teaching. I work me for telling him to
home. The impact the closely with the nursing “go potty” before we
children have on the home’s activities direc- leave the house. But
lives of the residents is tor, and I love when our my friends think it’s
profound, as is the im- objectives overlap. really funny. RD
pact the grandparents—
which is what we call What’s your number
our volunteers—have one goal as a teacher? Rosproy is the first early
on my students. I want the kids to childhood educator
understand that it’s named National Teacher
Lucky kids to have important to take care of the Year by the
dozens of grandparents! of yourself, but you also Council of Chief State
They really are. We’re have a responsibility School Officers.
WE 1
Ant-Proof Pet Food Dishes
FOUND PETS Spring brings lots of nifty stuff
A FIX
9 Tricks to
(such as flowers and baseball), but it
also welcomes seasonal pests (such as
Improve Your Life* ants) that crawl toward available food
sources, including your pets’. Protect
your dog or cat’s bowl by setting it in
a pan of water. Not only will the water
act as a moat that deters potential
ant-invaders, but also pets can slurp
away whenever they need a drink.
3
De-Stink a Funky Wooden Spoon
5
Last Call for
Cleaning Do tonight’s brownies taste like yesterday’s Stimulus Checks
stir-fry? The culprit might be the wooden spoon Money Since the $1,200
you’re using. Cook’s Illustrated tested several cleaning spring 2020 stimulus
agents, including baking soda, water, detergent, payments were based on
vinegar, bleach, and lemon, and found that since 2019 tax returns, if you
baking soda is water soluble and easily absorbed, didn’t have updated (or
it’s able to neutralize organic acids soaked up by any) information on re-
wooden utensils. To protect them from lingering cord with the IRS or don’t
food residue, wipe down clean wooden utensils file tax returns due to low
with olive oil and pop them into a 350-degree F income, you may have
preheated oven for two minutes. been left out or received
a check for less than the
4
full amount. If so, the IRS
announced the Recovery
sam kaplan/trunk archive
Rd.com 33
Reader ’s Digest We Found a Fix
6
Keep Your Trash Bag Fitted to the Can
8
Hide from Google
home Does the plastic shopping bag lining your kitchen Street View
or bathroom trash can keep falling in, no matter what? tech Google Street View
Attach a pair of plastic adhesive wall hooks (the kind has its perks, but the idea
you might stick by the door to hang keys) upside down that anyone anywhere
outside the can. Loop the bag handles underneath to can get a good look at
keep the bag in place. Makes for easy removal too! your home is a tad Big
Brother. To fix, pull up
your address in Street
7
Pick the Fastest Grocery Line
View, click the three verti
cal dots on the toolbar,
and choose “Report a
Problem.” Then select the
Shopping Dan Meyer, chief academic offi- option to blur (your home,
cer at math software company Desmos, license plate, or face) and
estimates that in a standard checkout drag the red box over the
part of the view you want
line each item takes three seconds to scan to obscure. Submit, and
and the rest of the transaction (niceties, anonymity is yours.
paying, etc.) takes 41 seconds. So one
overloaded person with 100 items will
take less than six minutes to be rung up,
9
Unstick a
while four people with 20 items Bumper Sticker
each will take around Auto Have you ever put
seven. In other words, a bumper sticker on your
car, later realized that you
you’re better off are a mercurial being in a
behind the one constant state of reinven
customer with the tion, and wanted to re
Peter Dazeley/Getty ImaGes
FOOD
the
O 2000s, Pennsylvania dentist
Bhaskar Savani sat outside the
arrivals gate at New York’s John F. Ken-
nedy International Airport waiting for
ON YOUR his father to emerge. Three hours after
his dad’s flight from India had landed,
PLATE the senior Savani finally materialized,
his fingers smelling of, well, me. U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) of-
ficials had barred him from carrying
his haul of mangoes into this coun-
try, and rather than tossing them into
the trash as instructed, he ate several
pounds of them right there in customs.
The younger Savani, whose father
and grandfather were mango growers
in Gujarat, India, wasn’t surprised at
his dad’s refusal to let those mangoes
go to waste. He was smuggling in the
family’s Alphonsos—the most prized of
500-plus varieties of me—precisely be-
cause they were not allowed in
the United States. Alphonsos
are so much sweeter, juicier,
and more layered and floral in
flavor than those you can find
in supermarkets here. Indeed,
the family has spent the two decades
since trying to bring it and other outra-
I Am Mangoes … geously delicious Indian mangoes into
A Sweet Treat your homes.
sam kaplan/Trunk archive
PERFECT
MANGO
LASSI
Using a countertop or immersion
blender, combine 11/2 cups yogurt
(preferably whole milk), a pinch of salt,
and 11/2 cups canned Indian mango pulp.
(You can order the Swad brand of either
the Kesar or Alphonso variety from
amazon.com or walmart.com—it’s worth
the trouble.) Blend in milk 1/4 cup at a
time to reach desired thickness. Blend in
1 teaspoon sugar at a time to taste; flavor
with ¹⁄8 teaspoon ground cardamom or a
few drops of rose water. Serve room tem-
perature, chilled, or on the rocks, option-
ally garnished with crushed pistachios.
The lassi can be made ahead and refriger-
ated up to one day; whisk before serving.
40 April 2021
Reader ’s Digest
Rd.com 41
Time in Memoriam
YOUR After my husband passed away, I had no
choice but to find new homes for all of his
TRUE electronics. A man named Jim wanted a
STORIES
in 100 Words*
clock my husband had made, even though
it was dusty and all the wires were hanging
out of it. Weeks later, a package came: my
husband’s clock, gleaming and working like
A New Member new. Jim’s note said he had a strong urge to
of Arnie’s Army fix it and return it to me. I believe my hus-
When I was a student at
Wake Forest University band wanted that clock to be home again.
in North Carolina, I lived —Ellen Haveman Newtown, New Jersey
in a dormitory named af-
ter a famous alum, Arnold
Palmer. A big portrait of
the golf legend hung in
the foyer. One day, a
friend of mine—an inter-
national student from
China who didn’t know
who Palmer was—came
to pay me a visit. When
she got to my room,
she asked me, “Why is
there a huge painting
of George W. Bush in
the lobby?”
—E.G.
Ossining, new YOrk
Is There a (Real) the dining room just as
Doctor in the House? my son was explaining to
I have a PhD in acoustics, a classmate, whose father
To read more true and I spent my career was a physician, “My
stories or submit one, working as a research dad’s a doctor, too, but
go to rd.com/stories. physicist. On my son’s not the kind that does
If we publish yours in 11th birthday, we invited anybody any good!”
the print magazine, it his sixth-grade class over —Gerald Kinnison
could be worth $100. to celebrate. I walked into san DiegO, CalifOrnia
Poultry in
Motion
By Megan Bacigalupo
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Rd.com 43
Rethinking
the Risks of
Breast Cancer
Surgery
Breast cancer can often
be stopped through
surgery—mastectomies
and lumpectomies—but
doctors don’t always
offer it to women over
News From the 70, worrying that it
may do them more
WORLD OF harm than good. How-
likely to quit smoking if their other halves vival with and without
did and 6.4 times more likely to follow the surgery. It’s available at
other’s lead in improving their diet. agegap.shef.ac.uk.
44 April 2021
Reader ’s Digest
IN CPR, Nighttime
BREAKING Blood Pressure:
Why It Matters
BONES IS THE
LESSER EVIL For most people, their
blood pressure dips
How to Cook You wouldn’t know it slightly when the body
Arsenic Out of Rice from watching TV relaxes at night. But for
portrayals of people others, it spikes—a con
Arsenic is found in soil performing CPR, but dition called “nocturnal
and water, and unfortu nearly a third of recipi hypertension.” For a
nately, rice is good at ents end up with bro Japanese study, people
absorbing this toxic el ken ribs. Still, if you are with daytime hyper
ement as it grows. The working to save a life, tension or other cardio
finished grain doesn’t don’t worry about frac vascular risk factors
contain enough arsenic tures. A recent Spanish (diabetes or high cho
for most adults to study found that adults lesterol, for example)
worry about, and while with CPRrelated frac wore ambulatory blood
no ricerelated harms tures had a much better pressure monitors for
have been documented chance of surviving at least 24 hours. The
in children, in general cardiac arrest without devices revealed that
their small bodies can brain damage than 12 percent of the partic
AlinA 555 /Getty imAGes (rice). mydoc 3737 /Getty imAGes (hAnds)
Rd.com 45
Reader ’s Digest News from the World of Medicine
CHOOSE AN EXERCISE
APP THAT SUITS YOUR The Pros and
PERSONALITY Cons of PPIs
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God is speaking to
Moses.
God: I’ve got good
news and bad news.
Moses: Give me the
good news first.
God: The good news
is that you have been
chosen to deliver my
people from bondage.
I will force the pharaoh
to free the people by “I like a man with a good firm elbow bump.”
sending plagues of lo-
custs, frogs, darkness,
devastation, and more. The opposite of ... counselor asks them
The pharaoh’s armies ✦✦ ... mermaid is what the problem is.
will chase you all the landlady. The wife starts
way to the Red Sea, but —@calbo listing every issue the
don’t worry. I will help ✦✦ ... formaldehyde is couple had ever had
you part the waters to casualdejekyll. in the 15 years they’ve
aid your escape. —@Browtweaten been married. She
Moses: So, what’s the ✦✦ ... Iceland is water goes on and on.
bad news? water. When she’s finally
God: You have to pre- —@HotBitHoran done, the counselor
pare the environmen- gets up, embraces
tal impact statement. A husband and wife the woman, and kisses
—Submitted by go to see a marriage her passionately. The
Robert Strand counselor. At the start woman is stunned.
Springfield, Missouri of their session, the The counselor then
apartment.
—Submitted by
aWards 2020. krànitz roland/comedy Wildlife photo aWards 2020. max teo/comedy Wildlife photo aWards 2020
NATURE’S BLOOPERS
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards recognize nature’s silliest moments,
captured for posterity. We wrote equally silly captions for these recent finalists.
“Talk to the hand, sweetheart.” “Can you believe what he’s wearing?”
Rd.com 53
Reader ’s Digest
EVERYDAY MIRACLES
t was July 2014. We were building My finger was naked. I was devastated.
Rd.com 55
Reader ’s Digest
COVER STORY
Don’t Waste
Your Money
on
THESE 23 THINGS
AVO ID IN G
UNFORCED SPEND
IN
E R R O R S W IL L L E G
T YO
S AV E F O R T H E S T U
UFF
YO U R E A L LY WA N
T
By Jody L . Roh
lena
and Amanda
Walker
58 April 2021
Cover Story Reader ’s Digest
The easy-to-grab
flowers near the
produce section
won’t last. Buy
the refrigerated
ones instead.
Rd.com 59
Reader ’s Digest Cover Story
LARGE RUGS
A lot of work goes into weaving good-quality handmade rugs,
and the price can skyrocket when you go up in size. For example,
a four-by-seven-foot Turkish rug might be $300, while an
eight-by-ten version could cost $2,000. To save money but get
the look, Rebecca Hawkins, president and head buyer for furniture
retailer Celadon Home, suggests trying a decorator’s technique
called layering. Buy a large rug in an inexpensive material such
as sisal, jute, or seagrass for around $200. Then place a smaller,
more expensive rug on top, like that four-by-seven Turkish model.
Result: You’ve spent $500 instead of $2,000. “Designers and
home stagers use this a lot to save a bundle,” Hawkins says.
60 April 2021
“Every credit card in your wallet
right now should be earning its keep,
and if you’re not traveling like you
used to, you might do better putting
charges on a card that’s going to, say,
pay you three percent cash back on
the money you spend at grocery stores
and drugstores,” Nolan says.
Rd.com 61
Reader ’s Digest Cover Story
62 April 2021
your bank account. For ex-
ample, for service in White
Plains, New York, where
the Reader’s Digest offices
are located, Xfinity charges
as little as $40 per month
for download speeds of
100 Mbps, $80 for 1,000
Mbps, and a whopping
$300 for 2,000 Mbps.
A REPAIR-PRONE AUTO
Before you choose your
next ride, check the True
Cost to Own calculator at
edmunds.com to find out
Chances are how much different mod-
you’re being sold els would cost you over
faster Internet time. Information includes
than you need.
purchase price, repairs, de-
preciation, insurance, fuel,
typically costs $2 to $3 per quart. Use and more based on your ZIP code and
your homemade broth as a flavorful five years of ownership. For example,
base for soups, sauces, and gravies and Houston buyers purchasing a 2020
as a cooking liquid for rice or quinoa. Honda Civic two-door LX coupe can
expect to pay $12,339 over those five
EXTRA-FAST INTERNET years ($4,541 for fuel, $7,127 for in-
Companies such as Xfinity and surance, and $671 for repairs), while
Google offer home Internet speeds of a BMW 330i could run $17,444 ($6,584
up to 2,000 Mbps (or 2 Gbps), but un- for fuel, $8,275 for insurance, and
less you are a hard-core online gamer, $2,585 for repairs). Of course, check
that blazing-fast service is probably a with your insurer to see rates for par-
waste of money. The Federal Commu- ticular models.
nications Commission recommends
Internet speeds of 12 to 25 Mbps for ENERGY-GUZZLING APPLIANCES
most families, even those who stream Older dishwashers, refrigerators, and
games or videos. You won’t see a big other essential appliances use a lot
difference in your everyday browsing more energy and water than newer
speed, but you will see a difference in models, especially those with an
Rd.com 63
Energy Star certification from the En- ETFs [exchange traded funds].” A sim-
vironmental Protection Agency (EPA). ple way to do this is to check the ex-
For example, a dishwasher with an pense ratios—the amount of a fund’s
Energy Star label uses 3.5 gallons of assets that goes toward administrative
water or less per cycle, compared with and management costs—of the hold-
the more than 10 gallons used by some ings in your 401(k), IRA, and other in-
older models. Energy Star- certified vestment accounts. Then see whether
washing machines clean clothes using similar funds charge less.
33 percent less water and 25 percent For example, Vanguard’s S&P 500
less energy than standard washers, Index Fund ( VFIAX ) and Invesco’s
while certified clothes dryers use S&P 500 Index fund (SPIAX) both mir-
20 percent less energy than other ror the performance of the S&P 500
models. So if your existing model is index. But the Vanguard fund has an
on its way out or you’re looking to expense ratio of 0.04 percent, while
upgrade, choose an energy-efficient the Invesco fund charges 0.54 percent.
replacement for long-term savings.
If you invested $10,000 in each for ten all kinds of services out there that
years, earning an average of 9.8 per- claim to have ways to get negative
cent a year, you’d have $2,590 more information removed,” Andrew Pizor,
using the lower-cost Vanguard choice. an attorney at the National Consumer
To research your fees and find Law Center, told Money magazine. But
funds with lower ones, consult a fi- there are only a few legitimate repairs
nancial website such as morningstar that can be done, such as updating
.com. If you have a 401(k), ask the em- old information or correcting errors
ployee relations department for that on your credit reports—all things you
information. can do yourself, for free.
To improve your score, you should
CREDIT-REPAIR SERVICES also try to pay down any debt you’re
Don’t fall prey to sales pitches from carrying, such as credit card bal-
companies that promise they can fix ances, and pay all your bills on time,
your credit score for you. “There are says Keith Gumbinger, vice president
the costs of maintaining one acre the same size lawn covered in
of native prairie or wetland plants traditional turf would set you back
such as grasses totaled about around $20,000—and even more
$3,000 over 20 years. Maintaining for a larger lawn.
Reader ’s Digest Cover Story
STORAGE BINS
Organizing guru Marie Kondo sug-
gests using shoeboxes to organize Smart tricks
items such as T-shirts, socks, and can save you
tools in your drawers and closets. If up to 85 percent
you’re decluttering, these freebies on pet meds.
can save you quite a bit, considering
that shoebox-sized bins from the Con- pet prescriptions. For instance, gaba-
tainer Store cost $5 (or more) apiece. pentin, a medication used to control
seizures, costs about $10 for ninety
NAME-BRAND PET MEDS 300 mg capsules with GoodRx ,
Buying generics can save you as much whereas the average cash price is
as 85 percent on prescription drugs— more than $70.
and the same goes for your furry fam-
ily members. Ask your veterinarian FULL-PRICE FURNITURE
whether a generic substitute might The biggest sales at furniture stores
work for a drug your pet needs. Ide- typically take place on certain
ally, get a written prescription and holidays— Presidents’ Day, Memo-
compare the amount your vet charges rial Day, and Labor Day—and also at
with the prices you find at drugstores the end of the year, says Chris Gaube,
and big-box stores. Many pharmacies head of brand marketing at the home
fill pet prescriptions if they stock the furnishings retailer Raymour & Flani-
same medication for humans. gan. A smart strategy is to shop before
Discount programs, including those those holidays to check prices and
offered at most big chain stores, may then wait to buy at the holiday sales,
also help. GoodRx says using one of when much of the inventory could be
its coupons may save you as much at least 10 to 20 percent cheaper.
as 80 percent off the retail price of And if you want to save even more,
66 April 2021
ask about buying floor samples. Says REPLACEMENT TIRES IN PAIRS
Gaube, “Typically our floor samples Tires don’t usually go flat in pairs, but
are discounted 30 percent to 50 per- the salesperson at the tire store will
cent during holiday sales.” tell you that you need to buy them two
at a time. Unless the tire on the op-
LARGE OUTDOOR PLANTS posite side of the one being replaced
“A plant in a three-gallon pot looks has less than 75 percent of its tread,
nice and big, but it has usually been say the experts at Family Handyman,
repotted a number of times, so the root you don’t necessarily have to change
structure has been compromised,” says it at the same time.
Marsh of the New York Botanical Gar-
den. When you’re looking for plants BOX SPRINGS
to grow in your yard, think smaller. “A If you’re shopping for a new mat-
one-gallon potted plant has a healthier tress but your box spring isn’t broken,
root system that will allow it to catch don’t let the salesperson talk you into
up to the bigger plants in a season or buying one. That'll save you roughly
two, plus it is a fraction of the cost.” $150 to $300 if you’re buying a queen
Or go even smaller and buy plant mattress, the most popular size, ac-
plugs—tiny plants with deep root cording to Consumer Reports testers.
systems. “Within a growing season Those testers also say that you
or two, they will be the equivalent in should be able to get a good quality
almost every case of a plant you paid mattress for less than $700, including
five times as much for that comes innerspring models, which tend to
in a one-gallon pot,” says horticultur- be more popular than cheaper foam
ist Eierman. For example, a Lindera mattresses—and cost far less than the
benzoin, or northern spicebush shrub, thousands of dollars many brand-
can cost $29 in a one-gallon pot, while name manufacturers charge for some
five plugs of the same shrub cost $25. models. RD
Rd.com 67
GOOD DEEDS
THE BI
K
ER
WI T
Her son’s organ donation
saved his life. So he rode
1,426 miles to meet her.
By A. C. Shilton From bicycling magazine
TH
AB
IG HEART
Mike Cohen, left,
with Christine and
David Cheers
Reader ’s Digest Good Deeds
I T TO O K S E RA L
drafts to get the letters right. To dis-
till her boy’s life into the two dimen-
VE
sionality of words on paper. To paint
a picture of someone so full of energy
and love so that the beneficiaries of
his death, the recipients of his organs,
would know just how lucky they were.
Three weeks earlier, the thread that
held Christine Cheers’s world together
had been ripped clean away. On Feb-
ruary 21, 2018, someone on the other
end of the phone had said the words
that bring parents to their knees:
“There’s been an accident.”
Her son, 32-year-old Navy flight
surgeon James Mazzuchelli, had
been injured in a helicopter training
mission at Camp Pendleton. If she
wanted to see him while he was still
alive, she needed to get on the next
flight from Jacksonville, Florida, to
San Diego—and she needed to pray.
James was still breathing when
Christine and his stepfather, David
Cheers, arrived at Scripps Memorial
Hospital in La Jolla, California, the
next morning. Machines were keep- He would never smile at her again.
charlotte kesl (right)
previous spread: john
francis peters (left).
ing him alive, and the doctors told It was time for Christine to honor
Christine that what she was seeing the spirit of a man who had switched
was likely his future—that her scuba- his major from commerce engineering
diving, world-traveling, overachiever to premed because he wanted to help
of a son was never going to wake up. people. It was time to make her very
He would never breathe on his own. worst day some stranger’s best one.
70 april 2021
Mike setting
out on his
cross-country
journey
Christine instructed the hospital Mike Cohen was just 18 when he’d been
to begin the organ donation process. diagnosed with an aggressive form of
john francis peters
These few words, as hard as they were leukemia in 2004. Doctors warned
to say, would soon ripple outward, him that the treatment protocol could
allowing a man to return to work, a cause lasting damage to his heart. At
veteran to get his health back, and an the time, surviving cancer seemed like
ailing cyclist to get back on his bike. the more pressing concern. He took
rd.com 71
Reader ’s Digest
his treatment seriously, doing the ra- tethered to the indoors by a cord that
diation and chemo and even moving ran out of his abdomen. Even with an
from New York to San Diego for his last emergency backup battery pack, “You
year of chemo because his oncologist couldn’t go out in public because you
felt that mild weather would be easier couldn’t trust that someone wouldn’t
on his body. The risk had paid off— knock into the cord,” he says. His old
two years after his diagnosis, he was active life seemed like a thousand life-
cancer-free. And the move had been a times ago.
good fit too. As soon as he was healthy Doctors had told him the device
enough to get outside, he was hiking could work for eight months or eight
or riding his bike. A casual cyclist as a years. Six months later, though, Mike
kid, Mike became bike-obsessed. was back in Sulpizio Cardiovascular
To celebrate his sixth year without Center at UC San Diego Health with
cancer, Mike decided to ride his bike another clot. His heart was failing. He
cross-country to New York. From the would need a new one.
get-go, it was a grind. Somewhere in Heart transplant priority lists are
eastern Arizona, Mike was so over tricky. You have to be sick enough to
it he nearly threw his bike into on- truly need the new organ but not so
coming traffic. sick you can’t withstand the lengthy
What he didn’t know during that surgery or the immunosuppressant
ride was that his heart was beginning drugs heart transplant patients take
to fail, and in the years that followed,
his health continued to deteriorate. “THE OLD HEART
Even on days he didn’t ride his bike, WAS LIKE A TWO.
he always felt tired. Then one evening
in 2017, he started having chest pains. THIS HEART
His brother, Dan Cohen, rushed him IS A TEN.”
to the emergency room, where doc-
tors discovered a golf-ball-sized clot
lodged in his left ventricle. They tried for the life of the new organ. Mike fit
blood thinners, but the clot wouldn’t those parameters and was at the top
budge. Soon hospital staff were pre- of the list. Now he just had to hope he
paring him for open-heart surgery to survived waiting for a new heart.
install a left ventricular assist device On the plus side, Mike’s blood
(LVAD), which would do the pumping work showed the clot had dissolved
that his heart couldn’t accomplish. enough that he could safely go home.
The implanted LVAD required As he packed his bag on February 24,
constant access to an electrical out- a nurse walked in. “I have good news
let, which meant Mike was literally and bad news,” she said. Mike asked
72 April 2021
Good Deeds
serving in the Navy, and helping others. most,” Christine says. As a serviceman
and physician, James embodied the
for the bad news first. “You’re not go- ideals of bravery and altruism. “James
ing home today,” she said. The good had such an amazing heart,” she says.
news? They’d found him a heart. When a hospital representative de-
The next morning, Mike woke up in livered the news that James’s heart
a hospital bed with a new heart beat- was headed out of the hospital, David
ing in his chest. His energy seemed ran into the hallway. He could see the
to improve immediately: He took his image of someone holding a cooler
first steps around his hospital room reflected in a curved safety mirror.
just five days later and was walking David yelled for Christine. The pair
the hallways shortly after. “The old watched through the mirror as James’s
heart was like a two. With the LVAD my heart left the building.
energy was like a five,” he says. “This In the ensuing weeks, Christine
heart is a ten.” descended into a grief so deep that
After two weeks, he was sent home climbing out seemed impossible. Her
with instructions to report to cardiac lone consolation, she knew, would be
rehab, where he was limited for the to find out that James’s organs had
first few days to slow walking on a helped people. That the recipients
Rd.com 73
Reader ’s Digest
74 April 2021
Good Deeds
first was from the man who got James’s so he could care for Mike after his first
kidney and pancreas. He thanked her, open-heart surgery) to tag along in an
saying how the organs had changed RV as support. Then Mike asked his
his life—that he could go back to work friend Seton Edgerton to ride with
and provide for his family. But his him. They figured the trip from the
Rd.com 75
Seton had rigged Mike’s heart rate
monitor so he could see the read-
out on the computer attached to his
bike’s handlebars as they rode. He
watched helplessly as the beats-per-
minute number shot up. Both men
were thinking to themselves: This is
just the first day. Should we even be
attempting this?
But on they rode. Across Arizona
and then on to Texas, Mike and Seton
rolled along in matching blue jerseys,
the struggles of that first arduous day
“As cliché as it sounds, I wanted
behind them as Mike’s heart rate set-
her to know that James’s heart was
in a safe place,” says Mike, shown
tled down. Somewhere in the desert,
here with Christine. they took a wrong turn and ended up
slogging through deep sand. Some-
cardiac ward at UCSD to James’s grave, where in Texas Hill Country, they got
roughly 2,300 miles, would take just barbecue they still talk about. In the
under two months with them biking first 1,000 miles, they got a combined
most of the way and riding in the RV 24 flat tires.
only on the busiest highways. From Florida, Christine and Da-
When Mike announced on social vid followed along on social media,
media that he was riding to his do- worrying about traffic and dogs and
nor’s grave site, the Cheers family de- all the things that can befall a rider in
cided they would meet him there. the middle of nowhere. A few times,
when Mike and Seton couldn’t find
It was day one of what would end roads suitable for riding, they de-
up being for Mike a 1,426-mile jour- toured onto an interstate, causing
ney on his bike, and, as with his first Christine to wince at the thought of
cross-country trip, his heart was not semis whizzing by those boys—and
cooperating. Perhaps he hadn’t eaten that heart. If it had been her son, she
enough or hydrated properly. What- might call him and dress him down.
ever the cause, it didn’t really mat- But Mike wasn’t her son; he was a
ter. What mattered was that he had stranger with her son’s heart.
charlotte kesl
to keep his heart rate under 150 beats On November 20, 2019, Mike and
per minute and the steep Cuyamaca Seton left the Flamingo Lake RV park
Mountains east of San Diego were in Jacksonville and pedaled the last
sending it sky-high. dozen miles of their trip. All Mike could
76 April 2021
Good Deeds Reader ’s Digest
think about was what a gift it was to be In that moment, Christine felt a
healthy. He’d doubted his body for so deep sense of calm, as if she’d known
long, but now he finally felt that there Mike her entire life. They folded into a
could be a normal life ahead. deep hug. Then came the tears. They
As he got closer to the cemetery, weren’t the deep weeping tears of
Mike grew nervous, unsure what kind grief. They were the tears of relief from
of emotions may be attached to meet- a mother who knew she’d done right
ing strangers who had already come by someone she loved and from a
to mean so much to him. “It’s just grateful man who’d been accepted, or
such an intense moment to share with at least forgiven, by the family whose
someone I’ve never met,” he says. worst day was his best.
The two released and together
“KNOWING MIKE walked the few steps to James’s head-
WAS DOING WELL stone. Mike squatted down and took a
deep breath, feeling the strong pulse
REALLY HELPED,” of James’s heart in his chest. Silently
SAYS CHRISTINE. he told James how thankful he was
for his sacrifice and how sorry he
was they’d never get to be friends. He
Christine and David Cheers got to promised to take care of his heart.
the grave site early. They wanted some Someone ran back to the RV to grab
time alone with their son before Mike the stethoscope from Dan’s medical
arrived. It was a perfect Florida autumn kit. Christine slid the cold metal head
day: sunny with a high of 72. They underneath Mike’s blue jersey and lis-
heard the whir of hubs as Mike and Se- tened. She shifted the instrument up
ton coasted into the cemetery and rode and then down and a little to the left.
toward the couple at James’s grave. And there it was, loud and clear.
Mike unclipped from his pedals, The best part of her son, still very
handed his bike to Seton, and walked much alive. RD
straight to Christine. At a loss for
Bicycling Magazine (January 24, 2020), copyright
words, he managed a quiet “Hi.” © 2020 By hearst Magazine Media, inc.
Rd.com 77
Reader ’s Digest
INSPIRATION
Carl Allamby
overcame
self-doubt
to realize his
lifelong dream.
arl Allamby had a problem. years it had grown into two shops
80 April 2021
Inspiration
further. So at the age of 34, the Beach- says. “There were often times you
wood, Ohio, resident decided to go wouldn’t carry your books home due
for his bachelor’s degree in business to the threat of being jumped.” So he
management. set aside thoughts of becoming a doc-
There was a wrinkle, however: After tor in favor of a more realistic career
taking classes part-time over the next path—fixing cars.
five years, Allamby was told he had But a different Carl Allamby walked
to take biology to get his degree. The into that biology class at age 39. The
last biology class he had taken was in world may have knocked him around
ninth grade. What do I need to take bi- once or twice, but it hadn’t flattened
ology for, thought Allamby. him. He was ready to live his dream.
Turns out, it was the best thing to With the support of his wife and fam-
have happened. Biology class rekin- ily, he soon decided to skip business
dled a childhood dream that he had
tucked away somewhere deep within
himself. “After the first day, I remem- “I REMEMBERED THIS
bered this feeling of wanting to be a FEELING OF WANTING
doctor back when I was younger,” Al- TO BE A DOCTOR WHEN
lamby says. “I kind of lost that dream
somewhere through high school and I WAS YOUNGER.”
through life. When you’re young, you
feel you can be anything, and then the
world teaches you much differently.” school in favor of the science classes
Born in East Cleveland, Ohio, he’d need for a second career as a
Allam by and his five siblings were health-care worker. Becoming a doc-
raised by their stay-at-home mother tor when he would be approaching
and a father who sold home goods the age of 50 was clearly insane. He
door-to-door. “As you can imagine, would instead become a nurse, a phy-
that didn’t pay so well,” Allamby says. sician assistant, or a physical therapist
Growing up in a poor African Amer- like his wife, he reasoned.
ican neighborhood, he faced low ex- But Allamby’s chemistry professor
pectations and numerous barriers at Cleveland State University stopped
to pursuing his dream. His school him after class one day. “Carl,” he
didn’t offer the advanced science said, “you’re like the oldest guy here.
classes that might have led him on What’s your end game?”
a premed path. Even if it had, doing Allamby went through the spiel he’d
well in school could prove dangerous. developed about how he’d like to be-
“You could get into a lot of trouble come a doctor but it would be more
just for being the class nerd,” Allamby practical to aim lower.
Rd.com 81
Reader ’s Digest
“Why not a doctor?” the professor shops and everything that was in
asked. “You have a great intuition for them. “I sold my whole life in a matter
the work. You will go a long way.” of hours,” he says. “It was liberating.”
He was right. Allamby aced all his Then he started at Northeast Ohio
courses. “It took someone standing Medical University.
In 2019, at the age of 47, Carl
Allamby became Carl Allamby, MD.
“HOW MANY PEOPLE He took a job in emergency medicine
CAN HAVE SO MUCH at Cleveland Clinic Akron General.
STIMULATION AT SUCH Now that Allamby is a second-year
A LATE STAGE IN LIFE?” resident, his fellow residents never
let him forget that he is the old man
in the room. “Some of my jokes from
the ’80s don’t go over so well,” he says,
on the outside to tell me what I didn’t laughing.
even see in myself,” he says. It’s a small price to pay for the life
And so in 2015, Allamby cut ties he now gets to lead. “How many
with his past. He auctioned off his two people can do something so brand-
new and have so
much stimulation
and responsibil-
ity at such a late
stage in their life?”
82 april 2021
Inspiration
Bobbie Floyd
(center, in pink)
surrounded
by her eight
children
By Emily Goodman
n October 19, 2016, 41-year-old ages 8 and 13, watched the color-
Rd.com 83
Reader ’s Digest
sisters, ages 7 and 11. Floyd and her here,” she says. Months turned into a
husband had talked about adding to year. When Floyd learned that “her”
their family, a dream she had initially three kids had three more siblings (a
thought had gone with him. But about sister and two brothers) in the foster
a year later, she had reconsidered and system, she decided to make room
signed up to become a foster mother. for them. “We started adding bunk
“I was lonely,” she says. “And fostering beds and making lofts,” she says. For
is not adopting. That was my mental- some of the siblings, Floyd’s house
ity. I’m just fostering these kids, loving was their ninth foster home. “I just
them and then giving them back.” And kept seeing this family getting tossed
now, at last, the call had come. around in the system,” she says. “So I
figured, why not take them all?” When
Serenity, one of the three girls, asked
WHEN ONE OF THE THREE that she officially adopt them, Floyd
GIRLS ASKED THAT couldn’t say no. Her two biological
SHE ADOPT THEM, FLOYD sons were on board.
Last year, the adoption became of-
COULDN’T SAY NO. ficial for four of the six kids, and it’s
almost complete for the other two.
Then Floyd will be the mother of
Floyd was happy to take in both girls, eight, ages 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, and
but when she opened her door to greet 17. “We’re like a well-oiled machine,”
them, there were three children, not she says. “In the kitchen, we’re sliding
two. The girls’ brother, Lysander, 9, also and grooving. We glide in and out of
needed a foster family. Floyd agreed to bathrooms. We make it work.”
take him in as well. Siblings often get Just a few years ago, Floyd was a
separated in the foster care system, lonely widowed mother of two. She
and she wanted to prevent that, even can’t help but think that her late hus-
if she had only three bedrooms. band had a hand in her life’s transfor-
Per her fostering agreement, Floyd mation, especially since the phone
took the kids every three months to call from the social worker came on
family court in case their biologi- the anniversary of his death. “I feel
cal parents were ready to take them like he was saying, ‘Here, take these
back. Each time, the judge extended kids. Get busy. Stop crying.’ And I was
the foster agreement for another busy, but I was still crying. Then he
three months. Meanwhile, the longer was like, ‘Here’s three more kids. Take
the kids stayed with Floyd, the more them.’ Now I have no time to cry, so
they grew to trust her. “They wrote I just laugh and play and yell all day.
notes saying that they wanted to stay Then I wake up and do it again.” RD
84 April 2021
Inspiration
Second-Act Stories
I’m with the Band Now about myself. The first step was to
My 50th birthday made me stop seek counseling.
and examine my life. With no great Today, I have over three years of be-
accomplishments behind me other ing porn-free. My wife and I were re-
than raising a wonderful son and united after a two-month separation,
showing up for work each day, I but there was still a long road of repa-
needed a new life adventure, one rations ahead. Our first marriage had
that would be creative and bring me to be burned down to the foundation.
joy. So I told my husband I was going There are no more lies or secrets be-
to start a rock band. I got a bass tween us, just the bold, honest truth,
guitar and, after some lessons, even if it hurts. Our second marriage
advertised for other musicians to join is characterized by an incredible
me. Nineteen years later, our band, intimacy that did not exist before.
Friends in Sound, still performs in —James Devine
venues all over New York City. My GleNdale, arizoNa
band has made my life complete.
—Nancy Lenart The Children Made Me an Author
New York, New York In my 20s, I moved into a trailer park
after fleeing an abusive, childless
I Confronted My Addiction marriage. As I cleaned my trailer and
My wife and I are in our second spruced up the landscape, children
marriage—with each other. On kept stopping by, curious about the
Friday, September 29, 2017, I came newcomer. They clearly craved at-
home from work to discover that tention, not to mention shoes, warm
my wife had left me. I never saw it clothes, and reading material. I
coming. As I would soon realize, I was couldn’t fulfill all their needs, but I did
the problem in our marriage. That buy an old bookcase and some used
acknowledgment was my first step children’s books and set up a lending
toward admitting I had an Internet library in my home. On cold after-
pornography addiction. If I wanted noons, kids stopped by for home-
to save our relationship, I pretty made bread and glasses of milk,
much had to change everything which they enjoyed while coloring,
Rd.com 85
Reader ’s Digest
86 April 2021
Reader ’s Digest
LAUGH LINES
Saw some idiot at the gym
I’m afraid of being murdered put a water bottle in the Pringles
only because they would
holder on the treadmill.
record my stomach contents.
—@MIKhanX
—@elunatyk
—@wx388
88 April 2021
DRAMA IN REAL LIFE
On a trail near a
mountain named
for his grandfather, a
lone hiker crosses paths
with a bear three times
his size—and with one
enormous appetite
By Omar Mouallem
Illustration by Ryan Garcia
Rd.com 89
Reader ’s Digest
90 April 2021
Drama in Real Life
Colin had intended to stop at a in the other, Colin started hiking. Af-
tackle shop for bear spray, but the ter traversing steep terrain and thick
gorgeous weather meant the parking forest for about an hour, he started
spots at the city’s boat launch would marking his trail with blue ribbons.
fill up fast. So as he added up the min- He made lots of noise to ward off any
utes, he drove past the store, deciding curious creatures. Near the end of the
Rd.com 91
Reader ’s Digest
day, he realized the canister of bear and then began heading in his direc-
spray was gone. It must have slipped tion. Colin flung his backpack off his
out of his pocket when he rested dur- shoulders, snatched a hiking pole,
ing a navigation stop. and extended it in front of him. As
Colin didn’t want to risk getting the bear approached, Colin started to
caught in the dark looking for the make out its features. About five years
spray. Instead, he spent an hour old and nine feet from tail to snout,
searching for a place to camp, even- it was nearly three times Colin’s body
tually settling on a flat, dry spot with weight—and though it showed no
branches low enough to set up his signs of aggression, its curiosity was
bivy bag. He strung his food and piqued.
clothes high up in a nearby tree and The bear walked along the opposite
crawled into the bivy by 9:30 p.m., side of the road, coming closer and
satisfied with what he’d accomplished closer. The gap between them closed
that day. With his scouting done, he to 30 feet. Colin carefully stepped off
would return home after a night’s his bike, which seemed to startle the
sleep. animal. It shuddered from its paws
up to its rump and then continued to
THE NEXT MORNING, Colin tried with- stalk nearer. Colin pivoted his bike,
out luck to locate the spray on his way shielding himself with it. The bear
down the mountain. He gave up by passed by. Then, suddenly, it stopped,
the time he recovered his bike, and turned, and looked right at him.
as he pedaled, he daydreamed about Colin calmly raised the hiking pole
getting home early to enjoy some fam- and pushed it against the bear’s big
ily time and a beer or two. forehead, right between the eyes. This
As he passed a marker showing four seemed to hold the bear in place, un-
miles to the logging camp, he came til the rubber tip rolled off his muzzle.
around a bend and suddenly hit his Before Colin could try again, the bear
brakes—a mangy grizzly stood in the chomped on the pole. “Oh, come on
middle of the narrow road, a hundred now, we don’t need to do this,” he
feet away. Colin paused on his bike, said, careful not to react aggressively
calculating his chances of turning with the animal so close. “I’m your
around for a quick escape. The bear friend.”
could easily tackle him by the time he Colin let the pole drop. He tossed
picked up speed. He opted to try to his backpack beside the bear, hop-
scare the bear away. “Hey, bear,” he ing the pepperoni scent would en-
bellowed. tice it away. The bear took one sniff
It didn’t work. The animal looked and then turned back with his paw
from him to the bush, back and forth, in the air and delivered a light swat
92 April 2021
Drama in Real Life
that Colin blocked with his bike. He Thoughts of leaving behind his fam
dodged a second, heavier swat, and ily, of missing every part of his daugh
another and another, each stronger ters’ lives, raced through Colin’s mind.
than the last. He regretted that he’d put himself in
When the bear raised another such a dangerous position—and that
threatening paw high in the air, Colin he’d lost the bear spray.
threw the bike at it, but the creature As he tried to pry the animal’s jaws
barely stumbled. Instead, it lunged open, saliva trailed off its yellow teeth.
forward and snatched Colin up in its It chomped through his hand. “Stop!”
mouth with one swift chomp to his he screamed. “Why? Stop!” It didn’t
abdomen. Colin was flung sideways, make sense. He knew that grizzlies
draped across the bear’s muzzle. The typically attack only briefly and then
animal’s canines sank deep as it car leave humans alone. When would this
ried him to the edge of the road. Colin end?
felt no pain, just warmth. He didn’t The bear moved on to taste his
resist, thinking only that if it carried other leg. As he heard the sound of
him into the bush, he would be too in his femur grating in its teeth, Colin
capacitated to get back to the road and remembered the knife in his pocket.
would die before anyone found him. He reached for it just as the grizzly hit
The grizzly placed him by a ditch at a nerve. Colin arched and yelped.
the side of the road and lifted its head OK, he thought, I’ll play dead.
for another bite. There was no roar, But then the bear hit another leg
no growl, just huffing while it chewed nerve, and Colin screamed even
Colin’s flank. Colin tried to gouge its louder. I can’t play dead while I’m
eyes, grabbing at the fur on its face screaming; I have to get the knife, he
and poking as hard as he could into said to himself.
the bear’s left eye. Agitated, the bear The weight of the grizzly’s chest
swung him 180 degrees, hoisted itself was on his stomach, pinning his arms
high, and chewed into his upper leg. to his left side, opposite the knife.
Over and over, the bear lifted his head Unable to feel his right arm, Colin
and bit into him. wiggled his left hand between their
Rd.com 93
Colin being attended to by paramedics
at the logging camp (left) and recovering
in the hospital
bodies and into his pocket. He opened in blood. Colin cut his left shirt sleeve
the blade with both hands and in with his knife and tied it around his
advertently sliced the bear’s chest as left leg. Once it was tightly knotted,
he pulled his left arm out. he flopped onto his backside, scooted
Colin stabbed the bear’s neck as fast to his bike, pulled himself onto it, and
and hard as he could. Blood gushed concentrated on resting his feet on the
from the wound. Even the grizzly pedals. He collapsed off the bike after
seemed surprised. one push.
“Now you’re bleeding, too, bear,” Colin fought to remount and take
said Colin. off, keeping a tight grip on his knife.
courtesy colin dowler (2)
The bear stepped off him and He felt his seat warming as blood from
walked slowly away, trailing blood his wounds flowed down his back.
on the gravel. As it disappeared into Focusing on his breathing, he felt his
the forest, Colin assessed the damage odds improve.
to his body. His sides and legs were He pushed ahead for 30 minutes
riddled with cavities. A femoral ar until the road sloped toward the log
tery wound drenched his lower half ging camp. He bounced painfully over
94 April 2021
Drama in Real Life Reader ’s Digest
the bumps all the way to the mess hall instead of Colin’s. She saw him pacing
railing and then fell on his side. outside on a call.
Colin flung himself onto the land- He hurried over. “I don’t want you
ing, legs flopping on the stairs. “Help! to panic,” he said. “He’s stable, but
Call a helicopter. I’ve been mauled by Colin was attacked by a grizzly bear.”
a grizzly,” he yelled through a screen At first, Jenifer thought it had to be
door. Five men, including Giannan- a joke and expected her husband to
drea, found Colin streaked with blood jump out from behind a tree.
and dirt, smelling like an animal. It was too late for her to catch the
They kept him talking for 40 min- last ferry to the mainland. She finally
utes until a medevac finally arrived. arrived at the hospital late the next
He received two units of blood at the morning, just as Colin woke up from
camp and was eventually airlifted six and a half hours of surgery. Doctors
to Vancouver General Hospital. His had had to make an eight-inch incision
younger brother, his cousin, and his to repair an artery wound and treat
sister were already waiting for him more than 50 gashes and bite wounds.
there. But Jenifer, herself on a camp- In all, Colin needed close to 200 staples
ing trip, was unreachable. and stitches. He was groggy, equally
confused by the sight of his family and
IT WAS EVENING when Jenifer re- all his bandaged limbs.
turned home. She and Sadie had gone The news was as good as it could
the day without reception and hadn’t be. The grizzly’s teeth had mostly
turned their phones back on. “Look, bounced off his hips and ribs. Had Co-
it’s almost eight o’clock,” said Jenifer, lin been any larger, there would have
driving into their neighborhood. “It’s been more room for the bear to sink
almost time to start worrying.” its teeth into his internal organs.
Their house came into view, and In the end, the wiry physique
Jenifer immediately noticed her he’d tried to defy all his life had saved
brother-in-law’s truck in the driveway him. RD
Rd.com 95
13 THINGS
!
FANTÁSTICO!
Top Folk Remedies from
Around the World
We asked Reader’s Digest editors at our international
editions to share their popular home health treatments.
Here are the ones that check out with scientific research.
PORTUGAL
1
quatre voleurs (“four thieves’ vin-
Garlic for Warts, Corns, egar”) has many uses, including as a
and Calluses type 2 diabetes treatment and an ap-
In Portugal, garlic isn’t just for flavor- petite suppressant.
ing food. Many people use it to get Evidence It Works: Though more re-
rid of corns and calluses (the thick- search is needed, studies have shown
ening and hardening of skin at pres- that vinegar can affect blood sugar
sure points on the hands and feet) levels by delaying the rate at which
and warts (the small growths caused the stomach empties, which reduces
by the human papillomavirus, or the blood sugar spike after a meal.
HPV, that can occur anywhere on the But if you have type 2 diabetes, talk to
body). In fact, research from 2005 your doctor first, as the vinegar could
published in the International Journal drop your blood sugar too low.
of Dermatology showed that all warts Vinegar may also prevent overeat-
treated with garlic extract disappeared ing. A small Swedish study found
within two weeks, and corns disap- that individuals who consumed vin-
peared for 80 percent of subjects after egar with a meal reported feeling
three weeks. Garlic capsules could more satiated than those who didn’t.
also provide some overall antibiotic However, it’s best not to drink vinegar
protection. straight, as its acidity could damage
Evidence It Works: The main compo- tooth enamel. Instead, add one or two
nent of garlic, allicin, is said to have tablespoons to water or tea.
topical antibacterial effects. But be
GERMANY
3
careful not to allow raw garlic to touch
healthy skin for prolonged periods, as Marigolds for Inflammation
it can cause burning and irritation. Not only do Germans use mari-
golds (called calendula) as a topical
FRANCE
2
treatment for insect bites, acne, and
Vinegar to Aid Digestion dry skin but they also have their own
French folklore has it that dur- recipes for balms. Popular formulas
ing a plague in the 17th century, include combining the flowers with
a gang of four thieves would rob warm pork fat, petroleum jelly, bees-
corpses yet never catch the plague wax, or olive oil and allowing the mix-
themselves. Supposedly, rubbing a ture to steep for a day or more.
concoction of vinegar and herbs (in- Evidence It Works: High levels of
cluding garlic, rosemary, sage, cin- antioxidants in the dried petals help
namon, mint, camphor, and more) prevent infection and reduce cell
on their heads and hands protected damage caused by free radicals. For
them. Today, the French vinaigre des people with venous leg ulcers who
Rd.com 97
Reader ’s Digest
NETHERLANDS
4 Licorice for Sore Throat
Licorice-based candies
called dropjes are as Dutch as
wooden shoes, but while few
farmers still wear wooden
shoes, ever ybody eats
dropjes, especially in the
winter. They come in all
shades of brown and black
and can be sweet or salty.
Evidence It Works: A 2013 ran-
domized double-blind study of
236 people by the Medical University
of Vienna found that patients who
gargled with a licorice solution be-
fore being intubated for surgery had
fewer sore throats afterward.
FINLAND
5 Sauna for Circulation
Saunas are a way of life in Fin-
land. In a country of 5.5 million peo-
ple, there are an estimated 3.2 million
saunas. Last year, UNESCO added
Finnish saunas to its list of Intangible
Cultural Heritage markers. Not bad
for a 150-degree F (and higher!) room
designed to make you sweat.
98 April 2021
13 Things
SPAIN
7
Evidence It Works: Finnish research
published in JAMA Internal Medi- Olive Oil to Soften Earwax
cine in 2015 showed that sitting in a Spain produces more olive oil
sauna two to three times a week low- than any country in the world. Among
ers the risk of dying from any cause by its nonculinary uses, the Spanish (and
24 percent. Another study showed that others) warm it and use it to dissolve
15 minutes a day in a sauna five days a earwax.
week may help ease mild depression. Evidence It Works: A University of
Sauna newbies should start with five Southampton review of 26 clinical
or ten minutes; 20 minutes is the maxi- trials found that earwax softeners,
mum. If you have heart disease or high including olive oil, are effective, and
or low blood pressure, speak to your that side effects are rare. Nevertheless,
doctor about whether a sauna is safe. it’s recommended that you check with
your doctor before attempting self-
SLOVENIA
6
treatment of ear issues.
Saint-John’s-Wort to
BRAZIL
8
Soothe Skin
Saint-John’s-wort is a plant with yel- Marcela for Cough
low flowers that’s native to Europe Marcela (Achyrocline satureioi-
and other parts of the world. Slovenes des) is a plant in the daisy family. Bra-
mix it with olive oil to treat sunburn, zilians steep it to make a bitter tea.
insect bites, and bruises. Evidence It Works: A review of sev-
Evidence It Works: A 2010 Iranian ran- eral studies published in 2014 in the
domized double-blind clinical trial of Brazilian Journal of Pharmacognosy
144 women published in the Journal found that marcela appears to be anti-
of Alternative and Complementary spasmodic and helps relieve coughs.
Medicine showed that those who had
MEXICO
9 10
undergone cesarean sections and ap-
plied a Saint-John’s-wort ointment
three times a day for 16 days had im-
& Arnica for Bruising;
Aloe Vera for Burns
proved wound healing and less pain Arnica, from the sunflower family, is
and scarring than those in the pla- sometimes called a mountain daisy
cebo and control groups. Animal and is a popular anti-inflammatory in
studies out of Turkey in the past few Mexico. For burns, Mexicans have long
years have shown that the plant heals turned to aloe, or sábila in Spanish,
wounds and burns; rats treated topi- which grows in the wild there.
cally with Saint-John’s-wort four times Evidence It Works: A 2013 review of
a day experienced more rapid healing 174 people with hand arthritis found
than those that weren’t. that arnica gel improved pain and
Rd.com 99
Reader ’s Digest
11
that volunteers with digestive com-
MALAYSIA plaints such as bloating and consti-
Papaya for Digestive Health pation had significant improvements
Tropical papayas are very after ingesting a papaya pulp supple-
popular in Southeast Asia—and so ment. The fruit is also rich in vitamin
popular in Malaysia that they are C and high in water and fiber content,
an unofficial national fruit. They are which regulates bowel activity.
12
also prized as an aid to digestion, for
everything from an upset stomach to NEW ZEALAND
constipation to food poisoning. Manuka Honey for
Evidence It Works: A study from Oba- Almost Anything
femi Awolowo University in Nigeria For centuries, the Maori community
published in the Journal of Medici- of New Zealand has relied on the
nal Food found that papaya fights leaves and bark from the manuka
tree—which is native to
New Zealand and some-
times called a tea tree—
for its antibacterial and
wound-healing properties.
Today, Kiwis use manuka
honey to boost their im-
mune systems and for more
specific ailments such as
sore throats and general
inflammation. Manu-
ka’s curative properties
have become so highly
touted that there’s a
thriving industry for
fake manuka honey.
(The genuine product is
labeled UMF for Unique
Manuka Factor.)
Evidence It Works : Re-
search at Cardiff University
showed that components
of manuka honey can stimu-
late immune cells, increasing
Rd.com 101
Reader ’s Digest 13 Things
Humor in
UNIFORM
My brother-in-law
Dayton, a Marine
Corps captain, was
invited to a reception
hosted by his com-
manding officer and
his wife. Dayton was
new to the base, so the
CO’s wife took it upon “Well, if your allies said that about you,
herself to introduce then they’re not your allies.”
him to other officers.
However, she was hav-
ing trouble remem- In boot camp, we’re the sergeant shouted
bering his first name. trained to respond to back.
“It’s Dayton,” my a sergeant with such The recruit an-
brother-in-law said. phrases as, “Here, swered, “Here I am!”
“Just like the city in sergeant. Yes, ser- —Richard Guro
paul noth/cartooncollections.com
Rd.com 103
NATIONAL INTEREST
By Richard Fausset
AdApted from the New York times
rd.com 105
Owner Rebecca
Colden and
the paper she ran
for 11 years
buoyed her spirit of late: that local news papers have histori-
“This is my story, this is my cally provided.”
song/Praising my Savior all In Warroad, the Pioneer was full of
the day long.” Now she was photos of fishermen with their outsize
trudging into the news- catches, news of awards won by chil-
room on a cold May morn- dren and Shriners, and stories about
ing with vodka, olives, and city officials, the school board, and
tomato mix. A mock-up local sports.
of the front page greeted This, then, was what the desert
her on the newsroom might look like: No hometown pa-
printer, screaming out a per to print the obituaries from the
bold, striking headline: Helgeson Funeral Home. No place to
FINAL EDITION. She sat at chronicle the exploits of the beloved
a desk and opened some
bills, one of them stamped
“past due.” ROUGHLY 2,000
“I don’t want to feel like
I’m letting the community
NEWSPAPERS HAVE
down, but I also know I’m CLOSED OVER
a small business, and it’s THE LAST 15 YEARS.
dollars and cents,” says
Colden. “I’m broken with
the decision. I’m just bro- high school hockey teams. No histori-
ken with it.” cal record for the little town museum,
which had carefully kept copies of
ith the distribution of its each issue of the newspaper in boxes
Rd.com 107
Reader ’s Digest National Interest
Rd.com 109
The paper was a team
effort. Editor Koren
Zaiser (seated, right)
sometimes got help
from her husband,
Rick Zaiser (standing).
recently run afoul of the law. Everyone Church, Colden’s preacher, who had
read the Court Report. Over the years, been counseling her through the pa-
people had tried to bribe their way out per’s last days. “That nobody is above
of it, Colden says, to no avail. If you anybody else.”
messed up, you were going in. In fact,
Colden herself had made the Court olden bought the Warroad
Report for speeding, as had Provance,
for driving with expired tags, and
Zaiser, for driving while drunk.
C Pioneer in December 2008. Her
background was in marketing,
but she discovered her inner assign-
It was the truth at its most raw, and ment editor, incessantly scouring the
Colden believes it served an essential town for story ideas.
small-town function: “Accountability,” She soon found herself swimming
she says. against the current of the Great Re-
After her appearance in the Court cession. Like other publishers, she
Report, Zaiser wrote a confessional introduced a website, but it did little
column, acknowledging that her for her bottom line. The paper never
drunken driving could have killed had more than four full-time employ-
somebody. The experience, she says, ees during her tenure and had always
set her on a path to a renewed Chris- relied on freelancers for much of its
tian faith. coverage. At a point, Colden had been
“It’s one of those things that shows forced to lay off her sole freelance lo-
us that all of us are fallible,” says cal government reporter. The desert
Wayne Maxwell of Woodland Bible was creeping closer, and people felt it.
“Definitely, it got slim,” says Bill says. “That was not this conversation.”
Boyd, a Marvin employee. “Even the Her staff saw the toughness in her
ads—if you wanted to get a snow- in April 2010 when she was forced to
blower, you used to look at the paper. tangle with John W. Marvin, known as
Now all of that’s on Facebook.” Jake, the chief executive of the Mar-
vin company at the time and brother
n the Wednesday before the of Warroad’s mayor, Bob Marvin. The
Rd.com 111
The newspaper went on to cover olden’s rule for Bloody Mary
two of the more important local sto-
ries of the last decade. The first was
about a budget crisis in the school
C Monday is that the vodka stops
flowing at noon. In the late after-
noon on that final day, like any other
district that forced teacher layoffs day, there were familiar headaches to
and the consolidation of all grades deal with: The father of Scott Johnson,
into a single school building. The the Pioneer’s landlord, had died, and
Pioneer used public records laws to
request e-mails sent by school board
members, which revealed depths ON THAT FINAL DAY,
of infighting and dysfunction, and
pointed to a possible violation of
LIKE ANY OTHER DAY,
open-meeting laws. THERE WERE
The second was a scandal at the HEADACHES.
county board of commissioners,
where one of the commissioners had
been accused of improperly ben- the obituary had just come in from the
efiting from a county gravel contract. funeral home. Colden asked Provance
Colden described the matter as “ludi- to bump the issue up to 18 pages from
crous” and an “example of backwoods 16. Zaiser was on the phone hunting
politics and finger-pointing.” The for a student who could tell her the
commissioner, Roger Falk, was found names of two high school baseball
innocent of a criminal charge in 2017. players in a photo.
Rd.com 113
THE
GENIUS
SECTION
10 Pages to sharpen
Your Mind
By Elizabeth Bernstein
From the Wall Street Journal
Rd.com 115
Reader ’s Digest
says Tal Ben-Shahar, a psychologist his outbursts brief. “It’s wasted energy
who specializes in the science of hap- and wasted time to focus too long on
piness. “It lets us reset.” the hostility of the moment,” he says.
Not all meltdowns are created “I let it out, and then I have an imme-
equal. Bad ones happen often and can diate feeling of relief.”
hurt people around us or leave us feel- Mike Veny was walking to his truck
ing worse. Good ones are rare, ideally one afternoon when he received an
take place when we’re alone, and leave e-mail from a colleague stating that
us feeling better than we did before. some information he needed for a
To have a productive meltdown, project wasn’t available. Immedi-
experts say we should accept that it’s ately, his stomach dropped. His fists
happening (or about to). Meltdowns clenched. He began stomping down
are as natural as gravity, says Ben- the street, ranting about a growing
Shahar. We need to identify what will list of complaints: a coworker who
make us feel better—and explain this annoyed him, the state of the coun-
to others. We should be careful to try, whether people on the street were
manage the negative effects and ex- looking at him funny, how his dad
plore the meaning afterward. hadn’t called him all week.
“It was like going down a rabbit hole
“IT SPIRALED UNTIL in Alice in Wonderland,” says Veny,
who lives in New York City and owns
THINGS FELT 10,000 a company that provides mental-
TIMES WORSE THAN wellness and diversity training for
THEY REALLY WERE.” corporations. “It spiraled faster and
faster until things felt 10,000 times
worse than they really were.”
Woodruff, of the tissue tantrum, Luckily, Veny has a plan for dealing
has minor meltdowns several times a with meltdowns. He paused in the
week nowadays and makes a point of middle of the street to collect himself
taking his frustration out on inanimate and then got into his truck. He sat for
objects—throwing a piece of wood 20 minutes and thought about the
across his workshop or slamming sil- answers to three questions: “What
verware into the dishwasher. He some- do I feel?” (Anger, but also sadness
times plans his emotional purges in at losing work and fear of whether he
advance. When he replaced his wonky would get the coronavirus by going to
computer a while back, he carried the the gym.) “Where do I feel it?” (In his
machine out to his fire pit, destroyed it chest and stomach.) “What do I need
with a sledgehammer, and set it on fire. now?” (Time to feel his emotions
But Woodruff makes sure to keep rather than suppress them.)
Next, he went to the gym. The mu- an important lesson. “Having an occa-
sic was loud, and he cursed while he sional meltdown and recovering from
worked out. When he got home, he it helps people see that we can be OK
did yoga, which he says helps him let through these expressions,” says Carrie
go of his emotions. Krawiec, a licensed marriage and fam-
In bed that night, Veny realized he ily therapist.
had a smile on his face. “I felt free of
whatever it was that had been cooking Try an “alternate rebellion.” When we
up inside me,” he says. “I felt like I was lose control, we often want to rebel:
in control again, like I had taken my quit our job or tell off our father-in-
power back.” law. Instead, plan a healthy rebellion
Here are some tips on how to have that satisfies the need to assert control
an effective meltdown: in your life, recommends Jenny Taitz,
a psychologist and assistant clinical
Accept it. Don’t judge yourself. A professor at the University of Califor-
meltdown lets you release tension nia, Los Angeles. One idea: Tell others
and frees up energy that was spent that you are turning off your phone for
suppressing emotions. a while and can’t be reached, then go
do something you enjoy.
Know what you need. Some people
prefer to be left alone when they lose Calm yourself, explore the meaning
control. Others want a hug or a pep of your meltdown, and move on. Get
talk. Be clear with your loved ones some intense exercise or try paced
about your needs, says Luterman. breathing—six counts in and eight
counts out—to calm your nervous sys-
Model a good meltdown. No kicking tem. Then reflect on what happened.
the dog, punching the wall, or full- Apologize if you’ve upset others—and
blown meltdowns in front of children— forgive yourself: Having a meltdown
it can frighten them. But showing makes you human. RD
others, especially kids, that you can
express painful emotions in a way that RepRinted by peRmission of Wall stReet JouRnal
(octobeR 6, 2020), copyRight © 2020 by doW Jones &
doesn’t negatively affect others can be company, inc. all Rights ReseRved WoRldWide.
Rd.com 117
Reader ’s Digest
BRAIN GAMES
Quick Crossword 1 2 3
easy Get ready for Tax Day by filing
these tax-related words in the grid.
4
INCOME
PROPERTY
SALES 5
CITY 6 7
ESTATE
8
CAPITAL
GAINS
CORPORATE 9 10
FLAT
PAYROLL
emily goodman (quick crossword, pass the salt, please). noun project ( 4 )
Pass the Salt, Please
MediuM On April Fools’ Day, your mischievous teenager replaces the salt in three
of your four salt shakers with sugar. He leaves a note next to each shaker:
A. B. C. D.
THIS IS SALT. THIS IS SALT. THIS IS THE SALT IS
SUGAR. NOT IN B.
If only one of these notes is true, which shaker still contains salt?
Phoning It In
MediuM Each number in the message below corre-
sponds to a letter on a standard telephone keypad.
For instance, a 2 could represent an A, a B, or a C;
a 3 could be a D, an E, or an F, and so on. Can you
decipher the message to reveal a timely fun fact?
marcel danesi (pyramid scheme). sue dohrin (the sock-eating dryer). emily goodman (phoning it in). noun project ( 12 )
1 2 3
ABC DEF Pyramid Scheme
difficult In total, how
many distinct triangles
4 5 6 are there in the figure
GHI JKL MNO above? Note: Some
of the triangles are
made up of two or
7 8 9 more smaller ones.
PQRS TUV WXYZ
Rd.com 119
IF YOU PURCHASED MAXWELL HOUSE OR
YUBAN BRANDED GROUND COFFEE PRODUCT(S)
BETWEEN AUGUST 27, 2015 AND JANUARY 18, 2021,
A CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT MAY AFFECT YOUR RIGHTS
Para información en español, visite el sitio web o llame al 833-644-1596.
The lawsuit claims that Defendant deceptively • Exclude Yourself – This is the only option
packaged and labeled Maxwell House, and Yuban that allows you to keep your right to sue about
ground coffee Products as containing enough the claims in this lawsuit. You will not get
coffee to make a represented number of cups. any money from the Settlement. Your request
As part of the Settlement, Defendant has agreed for Exclusion must be received on or before
to change their Labeling practices and provide April 7, 2021.
payments to customers. Defendant denies any
wrongdoing. • File an Objection - Stay in the Settlement but
tell the Court why you think the Settlement
Who is included in the Settlement? should not be approved. Objections must be
You may be included in the Settlement if you received by April 7, 2021.
purchased Maxwell House or Yuban ground
coffee Products for personal use between August The Court will hold a Fairness Hearing in the
27, 2015 and January 18, 2021. United States District Court for the Southern
District of Florida, U.S. Federal Building and
What does the Settlement provide? Courthouse 299 East Broward Boulevard,
The Settlement will provide up to a maximum of Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 in the courtroom
$16,000,000 to pay Valid Claims, an Attorneys’ of the Honorable Rodolfo A. Ruiz, II, on
Fees and Costs Award, and Administration June 21, 2021 at 9:00 a.m., to decide whether to
Expenses. Only one Claim may be submitted approve the Settlement and to award Attorneys’
per Household under either Tier 1 or Tier 2, and Fees and Expenses of up to $3,900,000. All briefs
final amounts paid may be reduced based on total and materials filed in support of the Settlement
number of Claims received. and the Application for Attorneys’ Fees and
• Tier 1 - Without Proof of Purchase: You can get Costs will be made available on the Settlement
up to $.80 per Unit purchased up to a maximum Website at www.GroundCoffeeSettlement.com.
of 6 Units per Household for up to a maximum These materials will be made available on the
reimbursement of $4.80 per Household. website by March 24, 2021, which is 14 days
• Tier 2 - With Proof of Purchase: You can get before the deadline to file Objections. You may
up to $.80 per Unit purchased for the number hire an attorney, at your own expense, to appear at
of Units for which a valid Proof of Purchase the hearing, but you don’t have to.
has been provided, up to a maximum Claims will be paid only if the Court approves the
reimbursement of $25 per Household. Settlement and all appeals are resolved. Please
What are my rights? be patient. If the Settlement does not become
• Submit a Claim – You must submit a Claim effective, the litigation will continue.
to get a monetary Benefit from this Settlement. This is only a summary. For more information,
Claim Forms must be submitted online by or please visit www.GroundCoffeeSettlement.com,
received on or before May 18, 2021. or contact the Settlement Administrator at
• Do Nothing – If you do nothing, you remain in 833-644-1596 or by writing to Ferron v. Kraft
the Settlement, you give up your rights to sue, Settlement, c/o Settlement Administrator, PO
and you will not get any money. Box 189, Warminster, PA 18974-0189.
www.GroundCoffeeSettlement.com
833-644-1596
The Genius Section Reader ’s Digest
9. guerrilla n.
WORD POWER (guh-'rih-luh)
A large monkey.
B outlaw soldier.
C grilled pita.
What do fettuccine, football, grasshoppers,
and a carryall have in common? If you think 10. milliwatt n.
you’re seeing double, you’re right—each ('mih-luh-waht)
A tooth whitener.
of those words contains two sets of repeated B unit of power.
letters, as do all the words this month. C earthworm.
Will your answers be errorless? Don’t be em-
barrassed to turn the page for the answers. 11. abbess n.
('ab-ess)
A deep wound.
By Sarah Chassé B convent leader.
C grand estate.
Make
BRAIN GAMES us !
ANSWERS L ugh
a
See page 118.
Quick Crossword
ACROSS
4. PROPERTY
7. SALES
8. FLAT
9. INCOME
10. CITY
DOWN
1. CORPORATE
2. CAPITAL
3. PAYROLL
5. ESTATE
6. GAINS
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Reader ’s Digest The Genius Section
PHOTO FINISH
Your Funniest captions
Winner
The Maytag Repairman: The Early Years. Nasos Zovoilis/WesteNd 6 1/superstock
—William Kandell Holbrook, New York
Runners-Up
Long skeptical of the dish-running-away-with-the-spoon story,
Joey decided to investigate their disappearance himself.
—Nina Diehl Oak Park, Illinois