Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2023 i Reader's Digest

WHEN BUFFALO bills player Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field during the first quarter of a Monday Night Football game on Jan. 2, viewers around the world held their breath. I was one of them. I sat on the couch with my sons and watched as trainers and first responders used CPR and an automated external defibrillation (AED) device for 10 minutes before rushing Hamlin to a hospital. Doctors determined that the then24-year-old had suffered commotio cordis, a rare type of cardiac arrest that the American Heart Association defines as the result of “blunt force trauma to the heart that happens at exactly the wrong time in the heart rhythm.” During his hospitalization, people in Buffalo held vigils, and fans everywhere flooded Hamlin with cards and letters and donated millions…

EVERY FALL, THE mayor of Munich taps the first keg of Oktoberfest from inside the city’s oldest beer tent, the Schottenhamel-Festhalle. Surrounded by a cheering crowd and a brass band, the mayor proudly proclaims “O’zapft is!” (It has been tapped!) Germany’s most famous Oktoberfest draws millions of beer drinkers every fall. No surprise, given that beer is the world’s most-consumed beverage after water and tea. It is also one of the oldest, having been first brewed in ancient Mesopotamia (most of which is now Iraq) around 12,000 years ago from barley and yeast. Beer back then was not the same refreshing end to the workday that it is today. Instead, it was thick and porridge-like, flavored with date syrup instead of hops. It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that Catholic…

1 WHEN YOU think of mushrooms, the white button, cremini and portobello probably come to mind first—they account for about 90% of mushrooms eaten in the U.S. But there are more than 10,000 known types, and many mycologists (mushroom experts) say this is only a fraction of what’s out there. 2 BUT NOT everyone is an enthusiast. In 2019, mushrooms made a list of America’s least favorite vegetables, with 18% of the respondents saying they didn’t like them. Many haters cite texture as the turnoff, but mushrooms may also trigger disgust for their association with mold. A 2015 Washington Post exploration on the science of disgust listed mushrooms among those foods that can trigger a not entirely rational response. 3 YOU DON’T have to eat mushrooms to reap their benefits. Reishi…

UNTIL RECENTLY recently, no one had heard of this game with the crazy name. Last year in the United States, nearly 5 million people played the friendly racquet sport on courts around the country. There’s even a major league for pickleball, MLP for short, with pro athletes Tom Brady, Kim Clijsters and LeBron James counted among the team owners. The International Federation of Pickleball, with 60 member countries and counting, is working to make sure pickleball will be part of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. If you haven’t played it yourself, you’ve probably at least heard of pickleball. Here’s how the game is played. “Pickleball takes components from tennis, badminton and table tennis,” says Hope Tolley, managing director of recreational programs for USA Pickleball. It’s played on a…

A man is struck by a bus on a busy street. As he lies dying, he calls out, “A priest! Somebody get me a priest!” A police officer checks the crowd—no priest, no minister, no man of God of any kind. Then out of the crowd an elderly man comes over. “Officer,” he says, “I’m not a priest. I’m not even a Catholic. But for 50 years I’ve lived behind St. Elizabeth’s Church, and every night I’ve listened to the Catholic litany. Maybe I can be of some comfort to this man.” The officer agrees, and the elderly man kneels down over the injured pedestrian and solemnly intones: “B-4. I-19. N-38. G-54. 0-72 …” —JEWISHMAG.COM I’ve been trying to finish writing a book about surviving bankruptcy, but I can’t get…

IT’S BEEN NEARLY nearly seven years since a group of volunteers broke ground at What Cheer Flower Farm in Providence, Rhode Island, with a simple goal: get flowers into the hands of anyone in need of a pick-me-up. Best of all, each one of the tens of thousands of bouquets that What Cheer grows and delivers are completely free of charge. “We want to blanket the state with flowers and create happiness and joy,” says Erin Achenbach, What Cheer’s farmer and head florist. What Cheer regularly delivers blooming joy to people at local hospitals, food banks, hospices, senior centers, recovery centers and more— including AIDS Care Ocean State, which provides support to those affected by HIV. “Seeing the smiles on people’s faces who weren’t expecting it—who just came in to…

WHEN DARRELL LANGWORTHY was growing up, Thanksgiving meant 30 neighbors sharing a potluck meal in the family driveway. “My parents worked at a golf course. They’d invite all the workers to Thanksgiving dinner. They would never turn anybody away,” he says. “If there was a kid in the neighborhood who needed dinner, he got it.” Today, Langworthy carries on the tradition at his restaurant in Colchester, Vermont, where a combination of barbecue and community service has made Mark BBQ a hot spot. Colchester is a small town on the shores of Lake Champlain, just north of Burlington. Locals know Mark BBQ for its brisket burgers, pulled-pork sandwiches and Tex-Mex meatloaf. For many, Mark BBQ is also a stop on the road to recovery. Enter: Recovery Kitchen, a program that brings…

I think of myself as a good sleeper. Give me a book and a horizontal position, and I could fall asleep strapped to the top of a bullet train. Sleep has been a constant ally, a friend. When I was a teen, it was a refuge. I used to pray for sleep; its temporary oblivion was a welcome respite from anxiety and obsessive thoughts. It was a pause—not a death, but close enough to it. Every time I fell asleep, there was a chance of resurrection, to wake up new. My girlfriend, Allison, however, does not think I’m a good sleeper. She knows the truth. At night, I thrash around and scream. Occasionally, it sounds as if my breathing stops. Worst of all for her, I snore. Badly. She’s shown…

A 282-Page Highlight Reel Readers have turned to this magazine for heartwarming tales of community and humorous slices of life for more than a century. It wasn’t easy, but our editors selected 40+ of our all-time favorites— ones we know you loved and ones that still resonate years later—and put them all into The Best of Reader’s Digest: Timeless Favorites. This keepsake collection of our absolute best content is yours for just $10. We’ll even cover the shipping. To order a copy, visit rd.com/2308C.…

AS MARY-ELIZABETH BROWN (below) draws the bow across the violin’s strings, a dark and mellow sound emanates through the room. Brown has been playing the violin since she was 5, but this one is different. This violin, 3D-printed in polymer plastic for less than S37 (traditional wood violins can sell for thousands), is part of a project to improve access to music education for kids of all economic backgrounds. Says Brown, director of the AVIVA Young Artists Program in Montreal: “It’s my hope that future music students will find these instruments engaging to make, easy to play and an inspiring start to their musical journeys.”…

When my son entered his teenage years, he became interested in girls. My husband has handled it wonderfully, explaining everything in an open, honest manner, paying the proper respect for women and placing the answers within the framework of our religious beliefs. So when I found my son in the game room eyeing a TV screen full of bikini-clad women, I called for my husband. “Honey, your eldest son is up here watching the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Special!” My husband, up to the challenge, shouted back, “What channel is it on?” —KATHY ELLIOTT Plano, TX Our dog knows way too many phrases now, so my husband and I have resorted to talking like Victorian nobility to get anything by him. “Have you taken the dog on a brisk adventure recently?…

I don’t make a lot of goals, because it’s embarrassing when you fall short. Drink more water? Can’t do it. Go to bed early? But what about my shows? Save more money? But what about buying stuff? Lose weight? Is there a pill for that, and, if so, can I take it in cheese like a dog? Eliminate bad habits? What would I be without them? I don’t have a lot of coping mechanisms that aren’t wholly selfdestructive, but here is one good one that I will recommend: saying I like things that I like. At first blush, that doesn’t sound revolutionary, I know, but let’s get into it. One of the tools bad people use to make people who are not bad feel bad is the casual dismissal of…

DARK GREEN VEGETABLES are often considered to be the cream of the health-food crop because they’re particularly rich in essential minerals such as iron, magnesium and calcium, plus vitamins C, K and a bunch of the Bs. New green powders promise all that nutritional goodness in one convenient scoop—just stir into a glass of water. These products, from Athletic Greens, Garden of Life, Vital Proteins and others, are made of dehydrated veggies such as spinach, beetroot and broccoli, plus spirulina, a type of algae full of nutrients. But is drinking your greens as healthy as eating them? The short answer is no because they’re missing one crucial element: fiber. Fiber is good for your gut, helping to keep food moving through the digestive system. Still, getting your daily servings of…

By the time the blizzard hit Buffalo, Craig Elsrton was the last barber left in his shop. Inside were warmth, safety and a well-stocked candy machine. Outside was a swirling mess of some of the worst that winter can dish out. “It was like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Elston says. “Eighty-mile-an-hour winds. If you went outside, it would just knock you over.” It was Dec. 23, 2022. The day had dawned mild, but by midday, temperatures had plunged, winds were blasting and snow was piling up fast. News reports grew urgent: Get off the roads. Find shelter fast. Soon neighbors were knocking, desperate for warmth and safety. Over the course of the next five brutally cold days, Elston would help dozens stay warm, fed and alive—at least 40 people, maybe…

IT WAS 3 A.M. when the flood came on an unseasonably warm night in June, the summer rain melting snow from an unseasonable Memorial Day blizzard. Susan Roberts, new to Red Lodge, Montana, a small town of 2,300, woke from an uneasy sleep. She saw the lights on at her across-theway neighbors) on the side bordering Rock Creek, a 55-mile river skirting the town’s eastern edge. “You could hear the boulders smashing together,” says Red Lodge Mayor Kristen Cogswell. “It was surreal, like nothing I’d ever heard before.” Roberts’s next-door neighbor, a police officer, was evacuating with his four kids, and he advised Roberts to do the same. So she put her dogs in the car and moved it to an alley behind her home, about 10 feet uphill, as…

For the past seven years, our readers have nominated thousands of towns, cities, libraries, parks and even a front porch(!) as some of the Nicest Places in America. Take a journey around the country to see this year’s winners, starred on the map above. Read more and visit our previous Nicest Places at rd.com/nicest, where we are already collecting nominations for 2024. ★ Buffalo, New York ★ What Cheer Flower Farm in Providence, Rhode Island ★ Red Lodge, Montana ★ Unity Park in Greenville, South Carolina ★ Mark BBQ in Colchester, Vermont OUR PAST WINNERS Gallatin, Tennessee, 2017 Yassin’s Falafel House in Knoxville, Tennessee, 2018 Columbiana, Ohio, 2019 Buchanan, Michigan, 2020 The Quality Inn in Kodak, Tennessee, 2021 Coulterville, California, 2022…

1 Manage your inbox. AI can sort through your emails in a flash, identify important messages and even compose responses on your behalf. You can check them before they’re sent if you’d like. 2 Plan a trip. Try a prompt like: “I have 36 hours in Atlanta. Can you suggest a travel itinerary that includes must-try restaurants and music venues?” 3 Give (or get) homework help. Socratic is an AI app that can help students with math problems and other homework. It won’t do their homework for them, but it can explain concepts and walk them through a math solution. 4 Plan meals. You could say, “Give me 10 ideas for dinner that aren’t burgers.” Or, if you have limited ingredients in your fridge, you could ask for “five meal…

TV Is there any contemporary creator who understands the soul of America better than filmmaker Ken Burns? In his newest documentary, Burns trains his lens on one of our country’s beloved icons: the buffalo. Once, tens of millions of magnificent bison (the North American species) roamed from the Idaho Rockies to the Florida flats; today they number around 350,000, most descendants of just 77 animals protected at the start of the 20th century Burns’s look back at the bison’s sacred relationship with Native Americans, their history and lore, and the people who saved them from near-extinction is fascinating. Even more fascinating is his look forward, an optimistic glimpse at what we can learn from their conservation to protect more of the nature we love. (Premieres Oct. 16 and 17 on…

IMAGINE SITTING in your breakfast nook having a cup of coffee when all of a sudden you see someone about to die. What would you do? Last Christmas, John Gelinne found out. On Dec. 26, Gelinne, 60, was gazing out the back windows of his home in Edgewater, Maryland, at frozen Beards Creek. Children and grandchildren bustled around the house. That’s when Gelinne’s daughter, Aimee DeMayo, spotted the Piper Cherokee. “Look!” she cried. Gelinne looked up just in time to see a small aircraft a few hundred yards away, losing altitude. As the plane disappeared behind the trees, Gelinne, a former Navy commander and current cybersecurity expert, realized it was going to land in the creek. He flashed on a moment from more than 20 years earlier: Sept. 11, 2001.…

Before our young daughter went off to her Sunday school class, she told us she needed money. “What for?” I asked. “I need to give it to my teacher,” she said. “Miss God.” —DONNA WENZEL Papillion, NE As he was putting his 6-year-old daughter to bed, our son, a pastor, told her, “I love you. And Jesus loves you too.” She replied sleepily, “And I love you two guys.” —MARK BERRIER Mena, AR On Easter Sunday, upon seeing Jesuson the cross above the church altar, my 3-year-old granddaughter experienced a moment of confusion, shouting, “There’s the scarecrow!” —CHARLENE KENNEDY Reno, NV During Communion, when pieces of bread were passed around, my 3-year-old grandson asked hopefully, “Does it come with chicken?” —FRANCISCA YODER Mesa, AZ…

A French man who was fired in 2015 for essentially being boring recently won his lawsuit against his old bosses. The man was let go after refusing to join his co-workers after hours at pubs and elsewhere— outings that he said often ended in debauchery. Nor did he partake in the exchange of crazy nicknames. In siding with the ex-employee, the court ruled that the company couldn’t force its workers to be fun. —METRO.CO.UK If you have a small bladder, don’t think about taking a job with Anpu Electric Science and Technology. The Chinese company has a once-a-day toilet break policy. Need to pee again? You’ll be labeled a slacker and fined 20 yuan (about $3) for every infraction. —ODDITYCENTRAL.COM And then there are the future bosses, who, during job…

THE TROUBLE WITH TRAFFIC People who live near busy roads deal with a daily barrage of horns, sirens and engine noise. Turns out, it’s not just a nuisance— it’s a health risk. According to a large study from researchers at the University of Leicester and Oxford University in England and Peking University in China, this soundscape increases the risk of hypertension. The study compared homes with differing levels of air pollution and noise. The people who were regularly exposed to high levels of both had the highest hypertension risk of all. This means that there is a public health case for adopting measures such as quieter vehicles, noise barriers and buffer zones around highways. A New Option to Lower Cholesterol For people who need to manage their cholesterol to prevent…

When it comes to choosing the Nicest Places in America, Reader’s Digest has always had an infallible North Star: our readers. Every year, we ask you to nominate the nicest places you know, and every year, your submissions blow us away. Choosing our finalists means making some tough decisions, and our hats are off to all you good people out there spreading kindness. After a thorough vetting process, our editors and judges named 2023’s Nicest Places in America. MITCH ALBOM Philanthropist and author of Tuesdays with Morrie MÓNICA GUZMÁN Senior Fellow for Public Practice at Braver Angels and author of I Never Thought of It That Way BONNIE KINTZER Chief Executive Officer, Trusted Media Brands JIM RHODES Nominator of Coulterville, California, 2022’s Nicest Place in America DENINE TORR Dollar General’s…

Asking the Right Questions A friend was babysitting for five kids and found crayon scribbles all over the wall. He knew the culprit wouldn’t go down easy, so he cleverly asked, “Who drew those beautiful pictures on the wall?” Of course, the guilty party announced, “I did!” — CATHERINE ERAMO Wall, NJ Dropping—Then Picking Up—the Ball I babysat my sister and her friend every New Year’s Eve. We’d have our own little party with snacks and sparkling grape juice. The girls didn’t know our time zone was an hour behind New York City’s, so every year, at 11 p.m., we’d watch the ball drop, then they went off to bed and I was free to watch whatever I wanted. Fortunately, when my sister realized years later, she thought it was…

Whether you like it or not, fall is here. Soon the weather will get colder, the leaves will die and the nights will stretch longer than the days. Another year is dying; that’s just how it goes. At least, that’s the way autumn often is cast—as a time of aging and decay. William Shakespeare called it “Death’s second self,” when youth burns to ashes. More recently, it’s become a time to acknowledge our existential dread. For many of those who struggle with seasonal depression in the winter months, the fall is the beginning of their symptoms. A few small studies even suggest that if you are ruminative, or deeply preoccupied with your thoughts, in the autumn, you may be at more risk for depression in the winter. Changing the clocks…

Octavia E. Butler: The Last Interview Introduction by Samuel R. Delany For years, The Last Interview book series has compiled the sharpest, most essential conversations ever published, including interviews with Julia Child, Kurt Cobain, Fred Rogers and other luminaries. Parable of the Sower author Octavia E. Butler takes center stage in the newest edition, a volume of 10 interviews (three never before published) offering an entrancing look into the mind of the legendary science fiction writer as she dominated a genre with scarce representation for Black women. Fans of Butler and the genre will be delighted. —Adrienne Farr The Fraud By Zadie Smith One of our greatest living writers returns with her first novel since 2016’s Swing Time. Here, Zadie Smith takes her first crack at historical fiction, turning to…

1. schmutz n. (shmuts) A dirt B joke C deli meat 2. schlep v. (shlep) A run B haul C pass through 3. meshuggener n. (muh-’shu-ge-ner) A cute child B foolish person C important date 4. mensch n. (mentsh) A payment B talent C person of integrity 5. nosh v. (nahsh) A explain B snack C forget 6. bubbe n. (Ébuh-bee) A grandmother B little one C hotdrink 7. kvell v. (kvel) A walk noisily B cry C rejoice 8. bissel n. (‘bi-sl) A little bit B letter C secret 9. shonda n. (‘shahn-duh) A assistance B star C scandal 10. plotz v. (plahts) A misunderstand B burst with emotion C hide 11. shtick n. (shtik) A weird idea B ditty C comic routine 12. schlock adj. (shlahk) A shoddy B entertaining C funny 13. kvetch v. (kvech) A complain B laugh C…