It’s no secret that the NBA All Star game isn’t what it used to be. Long ago, fans stopped caring about watching the best players in the League get together and see whether the East or West can commit to less defense, which usually ends up with some team scoring 160 and only winning by four. To be honest, it’s actually not that far from what the NBA regular season looks like these days anyway.

My celebration of Shabbat, the traditional Jewish Sabbath, is a rather sedate, internal affair: long Friday night dinners with friends and family, leading worship at my synagogue on Saturday, and catching up on reading or a nap before Sabbath’s end on Saturday night.

The big news last week was the election results. By and large, it was a good election day for Democrats across the nation. Here in New York, Democrats won in many parts of the state. For example, Democrats picked up control of the Onondaga County Legislature, a feat that they have not accomplished in almost half a century.

Dick Cheney died last week, and that has created some confusing feelings for a lot of people. On the one hand, plenty of folks view Cheney as a uniquely negative force in American politics and on the world stage.

Perhaps because of the many holidays in November it is a slow month in theater. But what is available is well-worth attending.

If you want to know what’s wrong with civilization look no further than forest bathing.

I stayed up to watch the election results and was rewarded with evidence that the “sleeping giant” --- the American people --- had finally awakened to the danger that Trump and Trumpism poses to our society.

English folk-rock pioneer Richard Thompson brings his well-crafted songs and his virtuosic guitar-playing to the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., tonight at 8pm.

Our collective future depends on what is happening in our classrooms. That’s not exaggeration — it’s fact. Because the lessons taught there shape how young people see their place in the world — and their power to change it.

I get it. Basically, once every four years I do a commentary right after an election, and depending on the gravity of the moment, it might feel a bit vapid to drone on about who just won a football game or drafted a point guard.