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One Thing or Another Column: Midlife Waist Land
Narration provided by Wondervox
By Mark McNease
One Thing or Another is a column about life, aging, and the absurdities of it all.
Midlife Waist Land
Since this column was first written we’ve seen a revolution in weight loss with the introduction and rapid spread of GLP-1 drugs. I’ve been using one myself for awhile now and I’ve lost 30 pounds. Will they change America’s obesity epidemic, or be another disappointment when we finally stop using them—if we ever do? Only time and affordability will tell. Stay tuned for the long-term side effects.
Whether or not you think your 60s still count as midlife (who doesn’t anticipate celebrating their 120th birthday wheezing out a single candle on a grocery store cake, flanked by an anxious home health aide and an impatient funeral director), the fact remains that age and width are proportionate for most of us. Not all of us, of course. There are those among us who insist they’re only as old as they feel, despite sharp disagreement from titanium hips and birth certificates. You know who you are: you swear by kale smoothies, you’ve never met an elliptical you didn’t want to mount, and you start each day by posting life-affirming platitudes on social media.
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Tech Talk: Alexa, Stop Spying On Me! What Else Is Available?
Narration provided by Wondervox
By Mark McNease
We would not have a small electronic spy sitting on our kitchen counter insisting it would never mislead us.
Not long ago we were eating dinner at the kitchen table, enjoying the soothing sounds of 70s music from the all-knowing Alexa. Suddenly its robotic voice shouted out, “I would never lie to you!” We had not asked it anything, or inadvertently said ‘Alexa,’ or in any other way prompted this startling and dystopian intrusion into our meal.
That was that: she had to go. We’d read recently that Alexa would soon start recording every conversation it hears and storing it in ‘the cloud.’ Opting out of this police-state function was not an option. How true any of it is, or what it could mean, didn’t matter. We would not have a small electronic spy sitting on our kitchen counter insisting it would never mislead us.
So … what are some alternatives for those looking for a similar device? After researching several, we decided on the Apple HomePad Mini. At just $99, it’s doing the few things we want, especially playing music, checking the weather, and providing easily-accessible information. Keep reading for some pros, cons, and maybes about other devices.
Exploring Alternatives to Alexa: Smart Home Voice Assistants
Our choice ($99):
The Apple HomePod Mini. It’s a small, round, simple solution for people who value basic functionality and privacy. Its design blends into any room (it’s just a small, colored orb), while the sound quality is excellent for the size—rich, clear audio perfect for music lovers and ‘what’s the weather’ junkies. In addition to privacy-centric features, which is very important to us, it integrates with Apple’s ecosystem, allowing users to sync their calendars, send messages, and control HomeKit-enabled smart devices. It uses Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, and can be set to recognize your voice. NOTE: it’s set up using on person’s iPhone/system. You can set it for multiple uses, but that’s a little more complicated.
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This Week’s Survey: What’s Your Favorite Time of Day?
We’re back with a new survey created very early this morning! That’s a hint as to what my favorite time of day is. I also love those end-of-the-day hours watching TV with my husband, the worries of the world and the stresses of daily living gone silent for the night.
What’s your favorite time of day? TAKE THE SURVEY HERE.
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The Weekly Readlines June 23
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S STOP STORIES
Or maybe just my favorites …
Peace President Starts a War
Who didn’t see that coming?Medicare And Social Security Go-Broke Dates Pushed Up
Get it while you can, folksNIH To Phase Out Guidelines On HIV Treatments
Larry Kramer always said they want us deadThousands Pour Into Downtown For Raleigh Pride, Declaring ‘Equality Hurts No One’
We hold these truths to be self-evidentLGBTQ
New LGBTQ+ Archive To Save Scrubbed Federal Resources – Washington Blade
Sidetrack Could Become The First Gay Bar In An American Airport (Chicago’s O’Hare)
Transgender Health, Aging, And Advocacy: A Podcast With Noelle Marie Javier And Jace Flatt
Teenager Arrested For Vandalizing San Francisco’s Massive Pink Triangle
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Book Reviews: What is Queer Food? How We Served a Revolution, by John Birdsall, AND Dining Out, by Erik Piepenburg
Narration provided by Wondervox
“What is Queer Food? How We Served a Revolution” by John Birdsall
c.2025, W.W. Norton $29.99 304 pages
“Dining Out: First Dates, Defiant Nights, and Last Call Disco Fries at America’s Gay Restaurants” by Erik Piepenburg
c.2025, Grand Central $30.00 352 pagesYou thought a long time about who sits where.
Compatibility is key for a good dinner party, so place cards were the first consideration; you have at least one left-hander on your guest list, and you figured his comfort into your seating chart. You want the conversation to flow, which is music to your ears. And you did a good job but, as you’ll see with these two great books on dining LGBTQIA-style, it’s sometimes not who sits where, but whose recipes were used…
When you first pick up “What is Queer Food?” by John Birdsall, you might miss the subtitle: “How We Served
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Savvy Senior: Does Medicare Cover Annual Physical Exams?
Narration provided by Wondervox
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
Does Medicare cover annual physical exams? I’ve gotten a physical every year since I turned 50 and would like to find out what Medicare covers when I sign up in a few months.
Almost 65
Dear Almost,
No, Medicare does not pay for annual physical exams, but it does cover a one-time “Welcome to Medicare” checkup during your first year after enrolling in Part B. And after that, it covers annual wellness visits to keep track of your health. Here’s what you should know.
Physical vs Wellness Exam
In an annual physical, a doctor examines you, may do bloodwork and other tests and looks for problems even though you don’t have a specific complaint or risk.
The Welcome to Medicare checkup and annual wellness visits are different. They focus primarily on preventive care.
Your doctor will review your risk factors, develop a personalized health plan for you, check that you’re up to date with preventive tests such as cancer screenings and flu shots and may refer you for other tests. Here’s a breakdown of what these exams may include.
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On the Map: On the Map: Youngstown Ohio and Fellows Riverside Gardens
Narration provided by Wondervox
By Mark McNease
We just got back from a quick three-night trip to Youngstown, Ohio. We hadn’t seen my in-laws for eleven years, including Frank’s niece Tess who was just 4 at the time. She’s now a 14-year-old, and very much a teenager. Brother-in-law Brett and mother Melanie were as changed as you’d expect two people to be after that much time, yet much the same. Now in their forties, they’re raising Tess as best they can, and it was a pleasure to see them again—except for the grueling drive. When the GPS says it’s 6 hours and 15 minutes, you know that’s a 9 hour trip. Bathroom breaks, meals, gas, and the inevitable bouts of traffic. I personally dread long drives like that, and when we make our annual trip to Provincetown for our timeshare week in August, we split it up by spending a night halfway there and halfway back.
I don’t think I’ve ever been to Ohio, despite having grown up in Indiana. The similarities in the landscape were obvious. Both states, at least Youngtown and northern Indiana, are mostly flat and a little colorless, but it also reminded me of my hometown and the surrounding area.
Now for some scoop on Youngstown and the wonderful park we visited.
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A House in the Woods 2: The Devil’s Due – Chapter 2 (Audio)
CHAPTER 2
Welcome to the episodic audio edition of A House in the Woods 2: The Devil’s Due. Fasten your headphones and enjoy one new chapter each week. You can find all the episodes here.
A House in the Woods 2: The Devil’s Due picks up where A House in the Woods left off. Laurel Calloway is still in the mysterious town of Strickland, New Jersey, where nothing is as it appears to be. Two years have gone by, and they’ve been good to the Calloways. Laurel and her husband Jeremy have a new house, and a new family with baby Isabel about to celebrate her first birthday. Everything seems perfect, until Laurel begins to have dreams. Bad dreams. Something tells her these dreams could really be memories. But of what? Of whom, and of when?
Did she really run over a woman in the road at night? Had they once had a dog? Why are these things trying so hard to surface, swimming slowly up from her subconscious? The more she begins to tell the people around her about these dreams, the more convinced she is that they’re part of it, and that these nightmares aren’t really dreams at all. Page after page, the pace escalates as Laurel begins to learn the truth and plot her escape. But will she succeed? The Devil is in the details.
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Tech Talk: To AI or Not to AI—Some Pros and Cons
Narration provided by Wondervox
By Mark McNease
It feels increasingly like something we can’t get away from even if we want to.
As someone who embraces technology I think it’s important to consider the ongoing controversies surrounding AI (artificial intelligence). Forms of it have been around for a long time. Rudimentary applications have been used in everything from self-checkout kiosks in grocery stores, to voice activation and automatic teller machines (ATMs). And now it’s being introduced—imposed?—in ways we often don’t want, from typing Word documents with annoying AI ‘assistants’ popping up on the page,’ to emails and texts that insist on writing themselves. It feels increasingly like something we can’t get away from even if we want to.
As a one-man production studio, I consider AI a tool that helps me accomplish my goals and maintain an output. I would never ‘write’ a novel with AI, but I use it to generate images and to do the sorts of research I used to perform online with key words and a Wikipedia page. It’s my responsibility to make sure that information is correct, but the hunting and gathering is made tremendously easier with AI. I also find the technology exciting in many ways. I don’t think we will ever be replaced by AI, or even if that would be such a bad thing for the planet, but there is a lot of fear around it.
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‘A House in the Woods 2: The Devil’s Due’ Now An Episodic Audio Edition
Welcome to the episodic audio edition of A House in the Woods 2: The Devil’s Due. Fasten your headphones and enjoy one new chapter each week. This is not an audiobook in the conventional sense, and no audiobook narrators living or dead were harmed in its production. This is a way for me to share some of my writing in an audio format. So settle back and enjoy the screams. You can find all the episodes here.
A House in the Woods 2: The Devil’s Due picks up where A House in the Woods left off. Laurel Calloway is still in the mysterious town of Strickland, New Jersey, where nothing is as it appears to be. Two years have gone by, and they’ve been good to the Calloways. Laurel and her husband Jeremy have a new house, and a new family with baby Isabel about to celebrate her first birthday. Everything seems perfect, until Laurel begins to have dreams. Bad dreams. Something tells her these dreams could really be memories. But of what? Of whom, and of when?
Did she really run over a woman in the road at night? Had they once had a dog? Why are these things trying so hard to surface, swimming slowly up from her subconscious? The more she begins to tell the people around her about these dreams, the more convinced she is that they’re part of it, and that these nightmares aren’t really dreams at all. Page after page, the pace escalates as Laurel begins to learn the truth and plot her escape. But will she succeed? The Devil is in the details.
PROLOGUE AND CHAPTER 1
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The Weekly Readlines June 16
From the Editor’s Desk: “The rest is gravy.” I don’t remember where I heard that phrase, but it’s always stayed with me. It means that life has many difficult moments, many trying periods and eras in our lives, but when we can meet them with grace and even some degree of humor, “the rest is gravy.” I feel that way today. I may not tomorrow, but for now I’ve managed to step back and readjust my perspective. The failure of the military parade to instill fear, while rightfully making us laugh and almost (but never quite) feel sorry for the man who needed it to validate his greatness, helped tremendously. So did seeing an estimated 4 million people say, “Oh no, you don’t,” in protests across the country.
There are plenty of reasons to be dispirited in these times, but America has survived many fissures, many fractures. We will survive this. We will have elections. We will have the opportunity to repair at least some of the damage being done. But this regime and its godhead have shown themselves again and again to be not just paper tigers, but tissue paper tigers. A little rain, rows of half-empty bleachers at an embarrassing military parade, an elderly man falling asleep at every presidential event he attends. Seriously? This is what terror looks like? Not today.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S STOP STORIES
Democratic Lawmakers Murdered in Minnesota
No Means No: No Kings Protests Draw 4 Million
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Book and Speaker Event a Success in Lambertville
Along with a constant downpour, Saturday brought a successful book reading and speaker event in Lambertville, NJ, at my home-away-from home: Soupcon at Bucks on Bridge Coffee Shop.
I helped Tara Benedetti’s mother, Lynda Young, publish her daughter’s book of poetry and arranged for a reading and speaker on schizophrenia. Shea Dibley, VP of NAMI Hunterdon, spoke to us after the readings about his own experience living with schizophrenia. It was a true success, and an opportunity be of service.
Some photos
