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Personal Essay

“Hometown” of Reader’s Digest Leaves Surprising, Lasting Impact

August 24, 2020 by Dietrich Gruen

Pleasantville-Coach K with a helmetless Dietrich at his side

It was a bright and sunny day–in the 70s–the 1970s. Not much else is memorable–except how we were greeted upon introducing ourselves to Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion, being broadcast from St. Paul, MN. So we stood tall, saying: “We’re from Pleasantville, New York,” adding, “home of Reader’s Digest.”

To which the radio host quipped: “Funny,… you don’t look condensed.”

The whimsical Keillor knew that Reader’s Digest is renowned for hardcover anthologies of “condensed” books and other easy-to-digest articles, humor, and whimsical anecdotes about “Life in these United States.” Also well-known is that Reader’s Digest calls Pleasantville, NY, its hometown. Great made-up name, right? Almost as fiction-sounding as “Lake Wobegon” is for Garrison Keillor and his prairie home companions.

Pleasantville is a real place, but did you know that name is used by ten other towns in these United States? (DE, IN, IA, MD, NJ, NC, OH, PA, TN, and WI.) I learned that much when the coming-of-age movie, Pleasantville, debuted in 1998. I had insisted that movie featured my hometown but was told otherwise–that it was based on a composite fictional Pleasantville.

Nothing fictional about where I grew up–except for the fiction that Reader’s Digest is located there. While most Americans would connect the Reader’s Digest Association with the Pleasantville in NY, all their books and magazines were produced in the next town over, Chappaqua. But my Pleasantville won its USPS contract, which accounted for 96% of all mail passing through our post office.

I hasten to add: The Readers Digest Association did start in Pleasantville in DeWitt Wallace’s garage in 1922. Over the next 17 years, it occupied 14 overflowing office spaces throughout our little village. It moved to a 116-acre campus in Chappaqua in 1939, remaining there 71 years until declaring bankruptcy and reorganizing. At its peak in the 1980’s, Reader’s Digest reached 100 million readers in 163 countries, with 48 editions and 19 languages. Westchester County, NY, is still home to all U.S.-based Reader’s Digest editorial members.

An injured Dietrich cheers on his team

Because of its Pleasantville origins 98 years ago and the still-current USPS connection, the Reader’s Digest Association put my little hometown (circa 7000 pop) on the map. Otherwise, we are a tiny bedroom community of suburban NYC, my household blending with 25 million others within an hour’s drive.

I grew up as one piece in a 1000-piece puzzle, trying to figure out how to fit into the bigger picture. Little did I know then how much that little town in the shadow of

the Big Apple and its association with Reader’s Digest would influence my life and chosen livelihood.

I was raised by a stay-at-home mom and a commute-to-NYC dad who worked 55 years for one company, tackling enemy combatants in WWII and all manner of epidemics since, missing just two days of work. Companies facing today’s pandemic shut down and furlough workers–but not then, not to the Greatest Generation. They would mask-up and make sacrifices to combat COVID-19.

A village of parents sacrificed themselves to rescue me from a reckless life and ‘enemies’ that plagued me. A local pastor and his wife, John & Muriel, became my second parents, turning me to Christ and his church. I also grew up under Pleasantville’s Coach K, a Vince Lombardi-type football coach who always had us ready to tackle enemies within–and those across the scrimmage line. To this day, thanks to the influence of a small village, I am loyal, well-prepared, disciplined, passionate, and ready to tackle giant obstacles like COVID-19.

Pleasantville not only turned my life around, but shaped my livelihood, too. I am now a copywriter whose writing niche includes book summaries, people profiles, populist blogs, study notes and reflection questions with whimsy–all to bring meaning and life application out of good books and the Good Book. I used to collect, from garage sales, anthologies of Reader’s Digest book summaries. I was busy, lazy and a slow reader, so this was just compensation for my deficits. I later figured others like me could benefit from a digest of Christian resources to make the Bible and its truth more accessible.

Yet all this time, I had not subscribed to Reader’s Digest. After they tracked me down online, I yielded. What is more, I gifted a subscription to my brother in DC. As we move into retirement, we have more time to relish this timeless treasure.

Reader’s Digest–with its small hometown values and giant legacy–affirms the idiom that “what goes around comes around.”

Filed Under: Inside Thoughts Tagged With: Coach, DeWitt Wallace, Essay, Football, Garrison Keillor, Hometown, Lake Wobegon, Personal Essay, Pleasantville, Reader's Digest, Reflections, USPS

‘The Points Daughter’ Tells All!

August 24, 2020 by Jessie Greenstein

 

The author and Cindy Greenstein, aka The Points Mom

It’s not easy being the daughter of The Points Mom. Whether I must snap tons of photos for my mom’s Instagram or listen to my mom talk shop constantly, my job as “The Points Daughter” is somewhat difficult. At restaurants with my friends, before COVID-19, I was fearful that I would pull the wrong card out of my wallet. I always prayed that I was not the family member that must plead guilty to my mom’s text “who used the blue card for dinner”? It’s hard to hide the mistakes when the bill comes. Luckily, the extra time with quarantine has pushed me to memorize which card to use when: gold for food, blue for everything else. Needless to say, she makes us use our credit cards for everything. I don’t mind though, she pays my credit card bill!!

My mom is always looking to expand her audience, especially with teenagers. She would insist my friends follow her on Instagram (thepointsmom_) and like her Facebook page. My mom has also been spotted in her prized t-shirt donning The Points Mom logo. She often wears this shirt at big tourist attractions, but now on Zoom calls. Can someone else walk next to her please?

My mom is always looking for more content for her website. She loves stealing articles from my website, kiddingaroundtheglobe.com, for her website, www.thepointsmom.com. I think that’s plagiarism.   

People are always asking my mom for advice. She does Zoom consultations and gives lectures and her clients never hold back to shoot her texts and calls. I don’t know how anyone can listen to her talk about points for so long. However, she does seem to know what she’s talking about. I have picked up on some of her lingo like “maximizing points” so that whenever my friends ask why I use this or that card, I can truly answer as ‘The Points Daughter’.

My mom even offers advice to strangers when she sees them using the wrong card at the supermarket, or, pre COVID-19, at the airport paying for bags. She makes sure to offer advice about using “the right card.” My brothers and I make sure to run away or hide when my mom does this.

Travel is one of many things that I miss. My mom alleviates lots of the stress that comes with travel. TSA PreCheck and Clear offers us expedited security checks. My family no longer needs to yell at one another to rush out of the house, or wake up 30 minutes earlier to beat the line. Airport lounges are also the best; we get them for free. My family gets to stock up on nuts and pretzels, recharge our devices, and relax before our flight. But, I mostly like them for the free food.

Unfortunately, airplane seats are never favorable. We often arrive at the airport with “no seats,” a price you may pay for booking using miles. We frequently end up sitting far apart. In fact, we often have one person in row 5, while another is in the back row in a middle seat; this person is usually my dad. However, sitting alone taught me at a young age to fare for myself on a plane. I have even mustered up the courage to order my own snack box. I know what card to use and exactly how much I need to spend on each plane ride. My brothers and I always have to buy snacks on the plane to use up free airline credits–even if we aren’t hungry.

My mom is always doing things for “credit.” On one trip, we had to order breakfast from a hotel down the road to use up my mom’s free hotel credit. And when I go to my yearly swim meet in Florida, we stay at a Hyatt, while the rest of my team stays at the Hilton, because we get free nights with my mom’s Hyatt credit card. Luckily, over the years, my mom has convinced other swim moms to get a Hyatt credit card too.

As annoying as her know-it-all remarks are, she knows her stuff. One day, I hope I am as passionate about something as my mom is about credit card points and travel. I am inspired by her commitment in helping other families travel for free. It goes without saying, but thank you mom. Our family vacations have been great, even if you take way too many pictures. I am excited to see what you have to bring in the future and I am proud to be The Points Daughter.

Filed Under: Inside Thoughts Tagged With: airport, Cindy Greenstein, credit card, Humor, Hyatt, Personal Essay, plane ride, Points, The Points Daughter, The Points Mom, thepointsmom_, Zoom consultations

On Accepting Isolation-and Learning from the Prescient John Lennon

March 25, 2020 by Daniel Levitz

Artist: Corinne DECARPENTRIE, courtesy of pixabay.com

The fantastic and, generally, under appreciated John Lennon song, “Isolation” contains the following lyrics:

People say we got it made
Don’t they know we’re so afraid
Isolation
We’re afraid to be alone
Everybody got to have a home
Isolation

            I don’t think the wonderful ex-Beatle was being especially prescient concerning our current situation with Covid-19 but I do think he instinctively understood the myriad of feelings one might experience while enduring a forced segregation. His somewhat unique plight was being, perhaps, the most famous artist in the world and falling in love with a person that his enormous number of fans would not accept. His emotional isolation from the world he lived in was painful and raised questions of personal freedom, racism and an intrusion upon his own life choices from people he didn’t even know.

            Fortunately, Lennon was able, as great artists tend to do, to use his pain to drive his creativity. His beautifully raw first solo record, “Plastic Ono Band”,  is mainly about his life, love and struggle.  To those who’ve never heard it I can’t recommend it any more fervently. For those returning to it, I believe it can be a source of positivity in this specifically challenging period. Also, not a bad time, in general, to go back (or begin) listening to complete albums. Most of us absolutely should have the time to do so at the moment.

            As we are all now faced with a conscious and necessary effort to isolate and separate from anyone other than our own families I have no great words of wisdom other than the obvious. This situation should be taken seriously and every effort should be made to isolate and social distance. This is not negotiable and is the only hope to get things headed back in the direction of normalcy.

            For my family that means doing whatever work we can from home and otherwise trying to pass the time productively, meditatively and not generally freak out. At the moment I’m looking at three, way past their prime, bananas and contemplating baking banana bread. I’m taking my time with it and may even have this be my evening activity. The bananas can wait. How much blacker could they get anyway?

            My wife is taking work calls which I think is fantastic. Any sense of ordinariness is welcome and I’m happy to have her occupied by what is usually just another day’s work.

            My son, when not playing video games online with his friends, is now considering what graduate program to enroll in when, hopefully, schools are open again in the fall. A very strange feeling to get long awaited and diligently earned acceptance notices in the middle of all of this. It all seems to fade into the background as we wade through these strange days. However, any whiff of conventional good news linking us to the past and a hopeful future are welcomed. Notably, the discussions comparing and contrasting the various programs feel especially sweet and meaningful.

            The hardest day to day aspect of isolation for my family is the absence of my daughter who remains at boarding school. Safety-wise, she couldn’t be in a better situation right now. We miss her terribly and the only saving grace is that, I suspect, she’s happier right now being with her friends than stuck at home with the family like many teenagers would be.

            As for me, I’ve already went for a hike, chopped some wood (sounds more masculine when written down – the actual execution was not pretty but all my digits remain intact), texted with nervous friends/relatives, ate first and second lunches and am still, at my own pace, eying those bananas.

 

Filed Under: Surviving COVID-19 Tagged With: activity, baking, banana bread, bananas, COVID-19, creativity, falling in love, home, isolate, isolation, John Lennon, Personal Essay, stay home, wisdom

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