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Please, take a moment to join us on March 23

WE ARE HEARING from readers nationwide who want to help with this effort to celebrate the tireless work of caregivers—and to share fresh inspiration and ideas to help all of us as we face the challenges of aging. We’ll make this week’s Cover Story very simple:

Please, visit www.NowWhatBookLaunch.com and register to attend the free March 23 launch event where you’ll meet some of our co-authors in a 45-minute session of news and inspiration.

Want to help? We’re welcoming allies every day. After all, more than 50 million Americans already are caregivers—and all of us are aging. In a special Front Edge Publishing column, we describe many ways that allies can help with this effort.

If you do attend our virtual launch on March 23, you’ll meet some truly remarkable women and men, including our author Najah Bazzy, who is nationally known for her tireless work in helping needy families. For her work, Najah has received honors ranging from the CNN Heroes program—to having her face featured on a special edition of Lays potato chips. Just this week, the CBS network’s 62Detroit aired this 2-minute video about Najah’s work. On March 23, you’ll meet Najah as one of the first speakers in our launch event. Please, join us.

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Good News from Our Authors

Suzy Farbman: ‘The Power of a Story‘

IN HER GOD-SIGNS COLUMN THIS WEEK, Suzy Farbman writes: “Grandparents don’t always know the impact they have on grandchildren.  My husband, Burt is lucky to get that chance.  Our  grandchild Alexis received an  assignment for an English class.  The prompt: What is the power of a story in your life?  Her essay brought Burton and me to tears.” 

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Holidays & Festivals

St. Patrick’s Day

ST. PATRICK’S DAY may be a secular occasion in many communities, but it also has deep religious roots that matter to millions.

LEADING OFF OUR COVERAGE IS Holidays & Festivals columnist Stephanie Fenton, who previews the festival—with delicious and fun links as well. She also has links to three different versions of St. Patrick’s beloved “Breastplate” prayer—including the original Gaelic. And, of course, to recipes and DIY holiday ideas. This year, we also invited the Rev. Dr. Kate Jacobs to write a column from her religious perspective on how St. Patrick’s legendary battle with serpents is relevant today.

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Nowruz, Naw-Ruz, Ugadi & Ostara

SPRING! All across the Northern Hemisphere, men, women and children welcome the season of spring, marked by the vernal equinox. This ancient cycle fuels celebrations worldwide and Stephanie Fenton has the story.

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Plan Ahead for Passover

JEWISH FAMILIES around the world are planning for Saturday evening March 27, the first night of Passover this year—and the second Passover in the midst of a global pandemic. Stephanie Fenton has the story.

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WANT TO SEE ALL THE UPCOMING HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS?—It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just visit  InterfaithHolidays.com

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Faith & Film

ED McNULTY, for decades, has published reviews, magazine articles and books exploring connections between faith and film. Most of his work is freely published. Ed supports his work by selling the Visual Parables Journal, a monthly magazine packed with discussion guides to films. This resource is used coast-to-coast by individuals who love the movies and by educators, clergy and small-group leaders.

Among Ed’s free reviews and columns:

1. DOLLY PARTON: HERE I AM—Ed writes, “You don’t have to be a Dolly Parton fan to appreciate Francis Whately’s heart-felt documentary about the singer/song writer. The music alone should make it enjoyable, and the comments of a stage full of friends and admirers will add to your knowledge of the singer.”
2. A CONCERTO IS A CONVERSATION—Ed writes, “The New York Times has been offering a series of short films they call Op-Docs that are very informative and inspiring. The offering for March 6, 2021, features Oscar contender (composer for The United States vs. Billie Holiday) Kris Bowers speaking with his 91-year-old grandfather Horace about the family’s past and the composer’s own musical career.”
3. THE DIG—“Director Simon Stone and writer Moira Buffini’s adaptation of John Preston’s fact-based novel deals with classism as well as archaeological excavation, friendship, and romance. Beautifully photographed, it could serve well as family entertainment in that one of the characters is a winsome boy eager to explore the world and who finds a substitute father in the main male character.”
4. MANGROVE—”Americans have Aaron Sorkin’s social justice film The Trial of the Chicago 7 and now our British cousins have Steve McQueen’s masterful Mangrove, the true story of The Mangrove Nine. Just as Selma led to the passage of major voting legislation by exposing the depth and violence of racism, so the trial of West African-Brits brought about similar exposure and passage of anti-racist legislation in the UK.” The film is streaming now for free on Amazon Prime in the Small Axe series of films.
5. VIA AMAZON: SEE THE ENTIRE ‘SMALL AXE’ SERIES—Ed also reviews and recommends other films in Steve McQueen’s series of films, which are clustered under the series title Small Axe on Amazon Prime. After Mangrove, Ed’s other Small Axe reviews are Lovers Rock, Red, White and Blue, Alex Wheatle and Education.
6. COME BEFORE WINTER—”There have been numerous films about the martyred German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but Kevin Ekvall’s  2017 docudrama gives us an unusual take on him by pairing his story with that of a British team commissioned to broadcast anti-Hitler views and false stories to deceive the enemy.” The film also is streaming on Amazon.
7. BOOGIE—”Director/writer Eddie Huang comes up with a new twist for a basketball film—a Chinese-American player. Alfred ‘Boogie’ Chin (Taylor Takahashi) is the player living in Queens, New York.”
8. BOBBY JO: UNDER THE INFLUENCE—This is a thrilling documentary, well produced by Brent L. Jones, his wife Donna, and a skilled team of local cinematographers. It’s about the real-life hero Bobby Jo Reed, who moved from homeless to helper of hundreds.
9. BLACK EARTH RISING—”NetflixWriter/director Hugo Blick’s suspenseful eight-part political thriller is set in the aftermath of the horrible Rwandan genocide of the 90s.“
10. DARA OF JASENOVAC—”Every year another filmmaker reveals new aspects of the Holocaust. Peter (Predrag) Antonijević’s Oscar-nominated film reveals that a vast number of Serbs also perished with other victims of Nazi hatred. This is the first film set in the Croatian extermination camp Jasenovac.”

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