Reader's Digest USA 10.2020

National Interest

center of a diabetes epidemic, there the South struggled to find and afford
wasn’t a single diabetes specialist— health care. The American Medical
an endocrinologist—within 100 miles. Association excluded Black doctors,
as did its constituent societies. Some
This is what uncontrolled diabetes hospitals admitted Black patients
does to your body: Without enough through back doors and housed them
insulin, or when your cells can’t use it in hot, crowded basements. Many re-
properly, sugar courses through your quired them to bring their own sheets
bloodstream. Plaque builds up faster and spoons, or even nurses. Before
in your vessels’ walls, slowing the federal law mandated emergency
blood moving to your eyes and ankles services for all, hospitals regularly
and toes. Blindness can follow, or turned away African Americans, some
dead tissue. Many can’t feel the pain in their final moments of life.
of blood-starved limbs; the condition
destroys nerves. If arteries close in In 2015, when Dr. Fakorede moved
the neck, it can cause a stroke. If they to Mississippi, the state had the na-
close in the heart, a heart attack. And tion’s lowest number of physicians per
if they close in the legs, gangrene. capita. It had not expanded Medicaid
to include the working poor. Across the
Bolivar Medical Center, the local country, 15 percent of African Ameri-
hospital, credentialed Dr. Fakorede, cans were still uninsured, compared
allowing him to consult on cases and with 9 percent of White Americans.
do procedures in their facilities. His
most complicated patients come in Vascular disease presents a special
through the emergency room. Some challenge. The Affordable Care Act

AFRICAN AMERICANS DEVELOP CHRONIC
DISEASES A DECADE EARLIER THAN WHITES.

arrive without any inkling that they mandates that insurers cover all pri-
have gangrene. One had maggots mary care screenings that are recom-
burrowing in sores. Another showed mended by the U.S. Preventive Services
up after noticing his dog eating the Task Force, an independent panel of
dead flesh off the tips of his toes. Dr. preventive-care experts. The group,
Fakorede took a photo to add to his though, had not recommended testing
collection. “It was a public health cri- anybody without symptoms, even the
sis,” he says. “And no one was talking people most likely to develop vascular
about amputations and the fact that disease—older adults with diabetes,
what was happening was criminal.” for example, or smokers. (Up to 50 per-
cent of people who have the disease
For decades, African Americans in

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Reader’s Digest

are believed to be asymptomatic.) most reliable imaging to show whether
General surgeons have a financial and precisely where blood flow is
blocked, giving the clearest picture of
incentive to amputate; they don’t get whether an amputation is necessary
paid to operate if they recommend sav- and how much needs to be cut. Insur-
ing a limb. And many hospitals don’t ers don’t require the imaging either. To
direct doctors to order angiograms, the

100 october 2020

National Interest

Surgeons get paid controversial view: The professional
to operate. guidelines for vascular specialists—
both surgeons and cardiologists—
Dr. Fakorede recommend imaging of the arteries
prefers prevention. before cutting, though many surgeons
argue that in emergencies, non-
Dr. Fakorede, this was like removing a invasive tests such as ultrasounds
woman’s breast after she felt a lump are enough. Marie Gerhard-Herman,
without first ordering a mammogram. MD, an associate professor of medi-
cine at Harvard Medical School and a
He was determined to make sure cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s
that no one else lost a limb be- Hospital, chaired the committee on
fore getting the test. This wasn’t a guidelines for the American College
of Cardiology and the American Heart
Association. She says that angiogra-
phy before amputation “was a view
that some of us thought was so obvi-
ous that it didn’t need to be stated.

“But then I saw that there were
pockets of the country where no one
was getting angiograms, and it seemed
to be along racial and socioeconomic
lines. It made me sick to my stomach.”

Patients didn’t know about vascular
disease, or why their legs throbbed or
their feet blackened, so Dr. Fakorede
went to church. He met pastors, and
he stood before a pulpit several times
each month. He told the crowds that
what was happening was an injustice,
that they didn’t need to accept it. He
told them to get screened and to get a
second opinion if any surgeon wanted
to cut off their limbs. In the lofty Pil-
grim Rest Baptist Church in Green-
ville, he asked the congregation, “How
many of you know someone or know
of someone who’s had an amputa-
tion?” Almost everyone raised a hand.

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Reader’s Digest

At first, Dr. Fakorede took a con- it turned away patients who couldn’t
frontational approach with colleagues. pay for revascularization, she did not
Some seemed skeptical that he could respond directly: “We are dedicated to
prevent amputations; it’s a tall claim providing care to all people regardless
for a complex condition. Over time, of their ability to pay.”
though, Dr. Fakorede tried to rein in
the arrogance. “You peel off a layer At $237 billion in medical costs each
that may be composed of: I’m from year, diabetes is the most expensive
up North, I know it all, you should be chronic disease in the country. One of
thankful we’re here to provide ser- every four health-care dollars is spent
vices that you probably wouldn’t get on a person with the condition. When
before,” he says. He picked up some it’s left untreated, the costs pile on.
southern manners. Dr. Fakorede be- Medicare spends more than $54,000 a
gan texting doctors photos of their year for an amputee, including follow-
patients’ feet along with X-rays of their ups, wound care, and hospitalizations.
arteries before his intervention and Then come the uncounted tolls: lost
after. Referrals picked up, and within a jobs, dependence on disability checks,
year he’d seen more than 500 patients. relatives who sacrifice wages to help
with cooking and bathing and driving.

“HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO’S
HAD AN AMPUTATION?” MOST HANDS WENT UP.

But Bolivar Medical Center, he Dr. Fakorede decided that in order
learned, was turning away people to treat as many people as possible, ir-
who couldn’t pay a portion of their respective of income or insurance, he
revascularization bill up front. “It’s a needed to build a lab of his own.
for-profit hospital. It’s no secret. It’s
the name of the game,” Dr. Fakorede LAST JANUARY, THAT LAB was Henry
says. “But a for-profit hospital is the Dotstry’s best shot. The hospital’s con-
only game in town in one of the most sulting surgeon expected to amputate
underserved areas. So what happens his leg below the knee. He had writ-
when a patient comes in and can’t af- ten that because Henry’s kidneys were
ford a procedure that’s limb salvage? impaired, the contrast dye used in an
They eventually lose their limbs.” angiogram would be dangerous. But
Dr. Fakorede could replace the dye
A hospital spokesperson said that with a colorless gas.
last year, it gave $25 million in char-
ity care, uncompensated care, and After Dr. Fakorede told Henry’s fam-
uninsured discounts. Asked whether ily his plan, his sister, Judy Dotstry,

102 october 2020

National Interest

looked over at her brother, who sat ABOUT EVERY FIVE YEARS, the doc-
slumped over the side of the cot, a blue tors and researchers who make up the
gown slipping off his bony shoulders. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Their father had been a sharecropper, reassess their screening guidelines. In
and Henry had dropped out of ele- 2018, the members returned to periph-
mentary school to help on the farm, eral artery disease and the blood flow
harvesting soybeans, rice, and cotton. tests that Dr. Fakorede had asked local
Of ten kids, he was the oldest boy, and doctors to conduct. Once again, the
he took care of the others, bringing in panel declined to endorse them.
cash and cooking them dinner. They
almost never saw a doctor. Instead, In its statement, the panel ac-
they’d relied on cod-liver oil or tea knowledged that public commenters
from hog hooves parched over a fire. had raised concerns that the disease
“is disproportionately higher among
Henry had spent his career driving racial/ethnic minorities and low-
tractors, hauling crops, and plowing socioeconomic populations” and that
fields, but he wasn’t insured and still this recommendation “could per-
rarely saw doctors. At 60, when he was petuate disparities in treatment and
diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and outcomes.” The panel said it needed
prescribed insulin, he didn’t know better evidence. But as the National
how to manage the medicine prop- Institutes of Health has found, mi-
erly; he had never learned to read. norities in America make up less than
Insulin pumps were too expensive— 10 percent of patients in clinical trials.
more than $6,000. His blood sugar lev-
els often dropped, and he sometimes Joshua Beckman, MD, director of
passed out or fell on the job. Little by vascular medicine at Vanderbilt Uni-
little, his employer cut back his du- versity Medical Center, was an expert
ties. In 2015, he had a stroke. A year reviewer for the task force, and its
later, his right foot blackened and was report struck him as irresponsible.
amputated at the ankle. The infection It hardly noted the advantages of
kept spreading, and soon his lower leg treatment after screening; the ben-
went. He could no longer work. efits were right there in the data. The
panel discounted the strongest study,
Two of his sisters had died from a randomized control trial, which
complications of diabetes. Judy had demonstrated that vascular screen-
stood over their beds just as she was ing reduced mortality and days in the
now standing over Henry’s. He’s still hospital for men ages 65 to 74. (The
here, she reminded herself. study bundled peripheral artery dis-
ease screening with two other tests,
She crossed her arms. “He’ll be all but in Dr. Beckman’s eyes, the out-
right if they don’t have to amputate comes remained significant.)
that leg,” she said.

rd.com 103

Reader’s Digest

He was confused about why the task coming back,” he says. “And where
force had published its evaluation of there’s a hot spot, that’s where we
screening the general public when it need to focus.”
was clear that the condition affects
specific populations. Guidelines from Dr. Fakorede, along with the Con-
several American and European pro- gressional Peripheral Artery Disease
fessional societies recommended Caucus, is pushing for the task force
screening people with a higher risk. to reevaluate the evidence on screen-
“You wouldn’t test a 25-year-old for ing at-risk patients, for federal insur-
breast cancer,” Dr. Beckman says. ers to start an amputation-prevention
“Screening is targeted for the group program, and for Medicare to ensure
of women who are likely to get it.” that no amputation is allowed before
evaluating arteries. Other groups are
Vascular surgeons who study limb advocating for legislation that would
salvage have come to see preventive require hospitals to publicly report
care as perhaps more important than their amputation rates.
their own last-ditch efforts to open
blood vessels. Philip Goodney, MD, By early 2020, Dr. Fakorede had
a vascular surgeon at Dartmouth seen more than 10,000 cardiovascu-
and White River Junction VA Medical lar patients from around the Delta. He
Center, made a name for himself with was performing about 500 angiograms
research that showed how the regions annually. Last year, he published a pa-
with the lowest levels of revasculariza- per in Cath Lab Digest describing an
tion, such as the Delta, also had the 88 percent decrease in major amputa-
highest rates of amputation. tions at Bolivar Medical Center, from
56 to 7. The hospital has different in-
But revascularizations aren’t silver ternal figures, which also reflect a sig-
bullets; patients still must manage nificant decrease: Between 2014 and
their health to keep vessels open. Dr. 2017, the hospital recorded that major
Goodney believes his energy is bet- amputations had fallen 75 percent—
ter spent studying preventive mea- from 24 to 6.
sures, such as blood sugar testing,
foot checks, and vascular screening. UNDER A CRISP, WIDE SKY, on Martin
Many patients have mild or moderate Luther King Jr. Day, churches around
disease and can be treated with medi- town were opening their doors for ser-
cine and counseled to quit nicotine, to vices. Dr. Fakorede’s office was sched-
exercise, and to watch their diet. uled to be closed, but he’d called in
his nurses and radiology technicians
“We need to build a health system to staff Henry Dotstry’s case.
that supports people when they are
at risk, when they are doing better, “What’s up, young man?” Dr.
and when they can keep the risk from Fakorede greeted Henry, who was

104 october 2020

National Interest

fading into his Ambien, and then he She folded over, running her palms
handed Judy a diagram of a leg. “The along her thighs. “Y’all have done a
prayer is that we can find this many miracle, Jesus.”
vessels to open up,” he said. “As soon as
I’m done, I’ll let you know what I find.” Henry would need wound care,
help controlling his sugars, and a
In the procedure room, he put on month in rehab. Judy and her daugh-
his camouflage-patterned lead apron, ter would have to learn to manage
and with an assistant, he inserted an his antibiotics and find him an apart-
IV near Henry’s waist. He wound a wire ment. He’d still be able to tinker with
across Henry’s iliac artery, into the top his cars, as he did most afternoons.
of the left leg. The femoral artery was
open, even though it had hardened Dr. Fakorede scrubbed out. He sat
around the edges, a common com- at his desk to update Henry’s doctors.
plication of diabetes. They shot a gas He dialed the hospital, asked for one
down the arteries in Henry’s lower leg of the nurses, and explained what
so the X-ray could capture its flow. he’d found: Henry didn’t need a leg
amputation.
Dr. Fakorede looped his thumbs
into the top of his vest, waiting for the “Oh, great,” the nurse replied. “The
image. Other than a small obstruc- surgeon was calling and asking about
tion, circulation to the toes was good. that. He called and tried to schedule
“They don’t need to whack off the one.”
knee,” he said, staring at the screen.
Henry would lose one toe. Dr. Fakorede had been typing up
notes at the same time, but now he
After they’d cleaned out the plaque, stopped. “He was trying to schedule
Dr. Fakorede called Judy into the lab it when?” he asked.
and showed her a playback of the
blood moving through Henry’s ves- “He was trying to schedule it
sels. She could tell that his foot had today.” RD
enough flow.
propublica (may 19, 2020), copyright © 2020 by
propublica, a nonprofit newsroom that
investigates abuses of power; propublica.org.

A Surprising Wind Instrument

A Pennsylvania man believes he has discovered the cause of extreme
weather in his particular corner of the country: “We didn’t have

tornadoes here until we started putting in the traffic circles,” he says.
“You wanna know why? When people go round and round in circles,

it causes disturbance in the atmosphere, and causes tornadoes.”

phillyvoice.com

rd.com 105

Reader’s Digest

FIRST PERSON

My School
Desk—in a Bar

It was an unusual place to raise a child, but the characters this boy
met in his dad’s saloon gave him a master class in life

By Jeffrey Sabbag

Illustrations by Tim Bower rd.com | october 2020 107

grew up in a bar. When most kids my
age were at the park playing ball or
riding bikes, I was watching old men
shoot pool and play shuffleboard. I
saw a barroom fight before I ever saw
a sporting event on TV. I don’t imagine
that Dr. Spock’s book on child rearing,
which was so popular 50  years ago,
advised exposing children to dimly
lit drinking at an early age. But les-
sons can be taught by unlikely teach-
ers in unusual environments. All that
is needed are instructors with pure
hearts. Clear eyes are optional.

108 october 2020

First Person Reader’s Digest

My parents owned a neighborhood My father spent his entire life serv-
bar called the M Ninety-Seven, named ing drinks and bringing cheer to an
for a nearby highway, on the corner eclectic clientele. There were the
of State Fair and Hoover Avenues in white-collar executives who would
Detroit. Built in the ’30s, it had a long stop in to unwind from the day’s
wooden bar that was on the right as stress. They would bend elbows with
you walked in. It was curved at the end, the blue-collar and day laborers on ei-
with four-sided lamps, the kind you ther side of them. It always surprised
might see in an old movie about 18th- me that they were able to mingle. Of
century London, hung low over the bar course, eight ounces of draft—and/or
every three or four feet. Customers sat any liquor splashed over ice—have a
on stools with burnt-orange vinyl seat way of helping two parties find com-
backs or at one of six tables against the mon ground. I would sit at the last
wall. Miller was always on tap. table by the kitchen, sipping Cokes
and eating a bag of Better Made po-
tato chips with my twin sister, watch-
ing it all.

It was the 1960s version of a real-
ity show. There was Cran, the school-
teacher, who always said he graded
his sleep-deprived students on an “S”
curve, handing out passing grades
even to those who nodded off because
he knew they were making up for the
sleep they lost in their troubled home
lives. If the students stayed awake,
they received a B. If they slept through
class, they got a C.

Then there was Big Bill, the tough-
talking policeman who stood six and
a half feet tall and weighed just shy of
the beer truck he drank daily. Bill was
not what you would call politically cor-
rect. In fact, his views on society could
be hard to listen to at times. But one
night, he showed that he was all talk.
While Bill was on patrol, a call came
over the radio about an apartment fire
just blocks from his location. He raced

rd.com 109

his scout car to wife, Eleanor, had nine children, who
the scene, beating blessed them with 48 grandchildren
even the fire crew. and, well, let’s just say several great-
The building was grandchildren. Frank and Eleanor
ablaze. He ran raised their large brood on his meager
up three flights salary. But together these two people
of stairs through scraped by in the little bungalow that
smoke and flames had more bodies than doorknobs.
to rescue two
frightened chil- Frank often said, “I don’t have a pot
dren. The burly to pee in or a window to throw it out
cop carried them of.” Still, no matter how much he had
out in his arms like to drink, he never went to bed without
each was a carton saying a prayer for “the other guy.” He
of eggs. The man with told me, and his wife confirmed this,
an explosive mouth but a that he never once asked the Lord for
keg-sized heart had saved the anything for himself. A guy without
day. It is just too bad that Bill wasn’t a pot or a window, and with more
at the bar to stop the man who ate a mouths to feed than the Brady Bunch,
full ashtray of cigarette butts to win never thought to slip a request in to
a bet! have a C-note or two slide under the
front door to make things a bit easier
Without a doubt, the most memo- around the old bungalow. Instead,
rable guest of the establishment was
a man dubbed the Mayor of State Fair
Avenue. His parents had named him
Frank, but throughout the neighbor-
hood, everyone called him Mr. Mayor.
He lived just a rolling beer bottle
from the back parking lot, and the
bar would light up when the Mayor
brought the room to session. He had
a smooth tongue, smooth enough to
talk my teetotaler grandmother into
hoisting a beer with him.

Frank was balding and bespecta-
cled and often wore a cardigan over
his slim frame. He was retired from
his tool-and-die job by the time I
got to know him. He and his lovely

110 october 2020

First Person Reader’s Digest

through bloodshot eyes, Frank prayed pondered how people can talk one
for someone else every night of his way and act another, even risk their
life. They could not bottle enough lives, as Big Bill the cop did, and
Kessler whiskey to make him forgo how it benefits us all to pay little at-
his nightly ritual. tention to what people might some-
times say—and absolute attention to
Years passed, my father died, and what they do. A man with few worldly
the bar was sold. Like secondhand
smoke, the words and the ensemble I HAD A FRONT-ROW
from that bar stayed with me. SEAT TO THE

One day years later, I heard the sad GREATEST SHOW
news that the Mayor of State Fair Ave- ON EARTH.
nue had died. I knew that I had to go to
the funeral home to pay my respects to goods showed me how important it is
the man who had always put the other to care more about another’s burden
guy first. I was two decades removed than your own. The line of people
from the little boy at the back table and waiting to pay their respects was the
now working for the post office. The proof.
parking lot was full, the streets were
lined with cars, and the sidewalk was I remembered all those old-timers
packed with people waiting to get in who would flop down in a chair at my
the front door. That Sunday afternoon, table to dole out wisdom above the
I couldn’t get within two blocks of the din of the jukebox. They often told me
funeral home. I stood in line smiling in the same thing, that I would get a bet-
the summer sun and began reflecting ter education in the bar than I would
on those long-ago smoky days when I ever gain from school.
had a front-row seat, at the back table,
to the greatest show on earth. These men were right. I certainly
have retained more of the wisdom
I thought about Cran, the teacher, that they imparted to me in the bar-
who realized that tough circum- room than I ever have from what I
stances can make it more beneficial learned in a classroom. RD
to rest a weary head on a book than
to have a nose planted inside it. I

Party Foul

To the person who brought multigrain chips to the party—you could
have just said you didn’t want to come.

@anniemumary

rd.com 111

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W T ,HZ[LYU ;PTL VU 5V]LTILY

The Boy Scouts ofAmerica (“BSA”) has filed bankruptcy in order to restructure
its nonprofit organization and pay Sexual Abuse Survivors. Please read this
notice carefully as it may impact your rights against BSA, BSA Local Councils
and organizations that sponsored your troop or pack and provides information
about the case, In re Boy Scouts of America and Delaware BSA, LLC, No. 20-
10343 (Bankr. D. Del.). This notice is a short summary. For more detail, visit
www.OfficialBSAClaims.com or call 1-866-907-2721.

>OV :OV\SK -PSL H :L_\HS (I\ZL *SHPT&

Anyone who was sexually abused during their time in Scouting, on or
before February 18, 2020, must file a claim. This includes sexual abuse in
connection with Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, or any entity or activity associated
with Scouting. Sexual Abuse Claims include, but are not limited to: sexual
misconduct, exploitation, or touching, sexual comments about a person or
other behaviors that led to abuse, even if the behavior was not sexual or
against the law, and regardless of whether you thought the behavior was
sexual abuse or not. These acts could be between a: (1) child and an adult or
(2) child and another child.

>OLU HUK /V^ :OV\SK 0 -PSL H :L_\HS (I\ZL *SHPT&

You should file a claim using the Sexual Abuse Survivor Proof of Claim by
November 16, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). If you do not file a timely
Sexual Abuse Claim, you may lose rights against BSA, BSA Local Councils
or organizations that sponsored your troop or pack, including any right to
compensation. Only BSA is in bankruptcy. If you have a claim against the
BSA Local Councils or other organizations, you must take additional legal
action to preserve and pursue your rights.

Your information will be kept private. You can download and file a
claim at www.OfficialBSAclaims.com or call 1-866-907-2721 for help
on how to file a claim by mail. Scouting participants who were at least
18 years of age at the time the sexual abuse began may also have claims
related to sexual abuse and should consult the appropriate claim form at
www.OfficialBSAclaims.com.

(*; 56> )LMVYL ;PTL 9\UZ 6\[!

File a Sexual Abuse Survivor Proof of Claim.

If your claim is approved, you may receive
compensation from the bankruptcy.

WWW. Have questions?
Call or visit the website for

more information.

If a plan to reorganize BSA is approved, it could release claims you hold
against certain third parties, including against BSA Local Councils and
organizations that sponsored your troop or pack. Please visit the website
to learn more.

6[OLY :\WWVY[

BSA will fund in-person counseling for current or former Scouts or their
family. To request in-person counseling, please call 1-866-907-2721 or
email [email protected].

Your information will be kept private.

^^^ 6MÄJPHS):(JSHPTZ JVT

THE
GENIUS
SECTION

10 Pages to sharpen

Your Mind

114 october 2020 Photographs by Joleen Zubek

Reader’s Digest

IN PRAISE OF
HITTING REPEAT

Surprising benefits of “Been there, done that, love it”

By Leah Fessler

adapted from the new york times

noun project (icon) Scrolling through social than to familiar things, which we’ve
media feeds can quickly already established won’t hurt us.
convince you that everyone’s
life is more interesting than What’s more, words such as
yours is. During a particularly repetition tend to be associated with
adventurous week on Instagram more negative emotions than words
some months ago, I saw waterskiing like novelty, says Michael Norton,
in Maui, hiking in Yosemite, and PhD, a professor at Harvard Business
swimming with wild pigs in the School.
Bahamas. Wild pigs!
“Classic research shows that
Impulsively, I started googling when we think about upcoming
flights to new places, imagining experiences, we think about variety,”
adventures. Then I ordered food from says Norton. “If I ask you right
the place I eat at every week and ... felt now to select a yogurt for each day
bad about not trying somewhere new. next week, you’ll pick your favorite
flavor—say, blueberry—a few times,
This fear of missing out, or but you’ll mix in some strawberry
FOMO, is rooted in a common tic: and peach. Because who wants to
Evolutionarily, we’re disposed to eat that much blueberry yogurt?
find novel experiences more exciting Over the longer term, though, as the
and attention-grabbing than repeat original experience fades in time and
experiences, according to research in memory, repetition can become more
the Journal of Experimental Biology. pleasurable.”
That’s our fight-or-flight psychology
at work. Because our brains can’t He adds, “We’re simply more boring
process all the stimuli around us, we than we’d like to admit.” Yet because
evolved to pay attention to potentially few of us have the time or money to
dangerous new things more intently regularly indulge in new experiences,
we feel bad about our lives’ monotony.

rd.com 115

Reader’s Digest

Recent research about repeat and some people were asked to imagine
novel experiences in the Journal of repeating the experience, while
Personality and Social Psychology others actually did repeat what they
suggests that we ought to reconsider had done. The researchers found that
those negative feelings. Ed O’Brien, across the board, participants said
PhD, a professor of behavioral science that repeating experiences was often
at the University of Chicago Booth far more enjoyable than they had
School of Business, launched a series predicted.
of studies on the topic. Many of us
happily listen to our favorite song on “COFFEE WILL NEVER
repeat, he notes, or rewatch favorite TASTE AS GOOD AS
movies and TV shows. IT DOES IF YOU QUIT
IT FOR A MONTH.”
“There’s a general belief that if
you want to seem like an interesting, There is joy in repetition partly
cultured person, the best thing you because every human mind wanders.
can do is to showcase that you’re Consequently, we miss a substantial
open to new experiences,” he says. part of every experience.
“That may be true, but I think we take
for granted the other value of really “As I’m enjoying a museum or a
digging deep into one domain.” beer, my mind is also thinking about
e-mails I need to send, phone calls I
To test this hypothesis, O’Brien and need to return, and the name of my
his team exposed all participants to third-grade teacher,” Norton says. “So
the same stimulus, including museum repeating things can really be seen
visits, movies, and video games. Next, as another opportunity to actually
experience something fully.” This is
especially true when the experience is
complex, such as going to a museum
or watching a movie, leaving ample
room for continued discovery.

“Our studies show that people
are too quick to assume that they’ve
‘seen all the layers’ even in those cases
where they haven’t,” O’Brien says.

It’s safe to assume there are more
explorable layers in any experience,
according to Ellen Langer, PhD, a

The Genius Section

professor of psychology at Harvard she says. “So that if we look for ways
University who is known as the the experience is rewarding, exciting,
“Mother of Mindfulness.” That’s interesting, we’re going to find
because the process of looking for evidence for that. Seek and ye shall
new insights is fulfilling in and of find.”
itself.
Beyond helping us feel excited at
“When you’re noticing new things in the prospect of strolling around the
any experience, neurons are firing, and neighborhood rather than jet-setting
that’s the way to become engaged,” to a tropical beach, O’Brien’s research
Langer says. “All you need to do is suggests we should think twice about
approach whatever task is at hand by our cultural obsession with doing and
searching for the things that you didn’t accomplishing as much as humanly
see in it the first time around.” possible.

If you’re unsure about how to be “Coffee will never taste as good as
more mindful in repeat experiences, it does if you quit it for a month. So
Langer offers three tips. “First, it’s true that novelty is fun, but given
recognize that everything is always enough of a break in between, repeat
changing, so the second experience experiences regain that initial buzz,”
is never exactly the same as the first Norton says. “This is why people do
experience,” she says. “Second, if seemingly crazy things, like creating
you’re looking for novelty, that’s itself time capsules. If you looked at your
engaging, and that engagement feels third-grade report card every day,
good.” And third, you must realize you’d get sick of it—but if you bury
that events are neither positive nor it in a time capsule and unearth it
negative. 20 years later, that’s fascinating.” RD

“It’s the way we understand events the new york times (november 7, 2019), copyright
that makes them positive or negative,” © 2019 by the new york times, nytimes.com.

Howdy, Planter

If you walked up to one of the first settlers and said, “Howdy, Pilgrim,”
he wouldn’t have responded. That’s because the settlers referred
to themselves as Planters to distinguish themselves from the
Adventurers, those who financed the colony, says the website
plimoth.org. It wasn’t until the early 19th century that the term
Pilgrim was used to describe the Mayflower passengers and
others who arrived in Plymouth in the early 1600s.

uncle john’s bathroom reader

rd.com | october 2020 117

Reader’s Digest

BRAIN GAMES

Quick Crossword 12

easy Cucurbits—better 3 45 6
known as gourds—are

one big happy plant

family of nearly 7

1,000 different species.

Fit these ten in the grid.
8

PUMPKIN TINDA 9
SQUASH MELON
BRYONY CHAYOTE 10
LOOFAH ZUCCHINI
GHERKIN CALABASH

Expand and Conquer Double Trouble darren rigby (expand and conquer)

difficult Each of these sequences medium Rephrase each item below
follows the same rule, and each one as a pair of rhyming words. Hint: Each
continues until it resolves to a number item’s number is also the number of
under ten, at which point it naturally syllables in each word in the answer.
comes to a stop. How should the
sequence starting with 87 continue? 1. A comfortably tight embrace
2. A safari animal born in September
35, 15, 5 or October
68, 48, 32, 6 3. A softcover book for a flannel-wearing
79, 63, 18, 8 woodworker
87 ... 4. A well-read office assistant
5. A formal statement given by a
118 october 2020 witness at an official gathering

For more Brain Games, go to
rd.com/crosswords.

The Genius Section

We Leave You
Hanging

easy Each of these
paintings must be hung
on the wall on one of the
hooks shown. Naturally,
the hook goes in the
middle of the top edge
of the painting so it
hangs straight. Paintings
can touch but cannot
overlap. How can you
hang all five without
moving any hooks?

darren rigby (we leave you hanging). noun project (stroller) Three Cheers

medium Ruby and Lewis are expecting ... triplets! They already know what
they will name their children, but they aren’t sharing the names until the
babies are born. For now, all they’ll say is this:

✦ All three babies are boys.

✦ Their names are six letters long and
anagrams of one another.

✦ Their names include both their parents’
initials but none of the other letters
in their parents’ first names.

What will Ruby and Lewis name their triplets?

For answers, turn to page 123.

rd.com 119

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The Genius Section Reader’s Digest

WORD POWER 9. factious adj.
('fak-shuss)
What a difference a letter makes! This a split into cliques.
month’s words come in pairs—plus one b inaccurate.
triplet—that are nearly identical, save one c self-serving.
character that has been added, removed,
shifted, or replaced. Can you tell these look- 10. fractious adj.
alikes apart? Turn to page 122 to find out. ('frak-shuss)
a irritable.
By Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon b splintered.
c buried deep.
1. apprise v. 5. inculcate v.
(uh-'pryz) (in-'kull-kayt) 11. averse adj.
a force open. a add up. (uh-'verss)
b inform. b instill. a unrhymed.
c honor. c hit a dead end. b opposed.
c skilled.
2. appraise v. 6. inculpate v.
(uh-'prayz) (in-'kull-payt) 12. adverse adj.
a evaluate. a file down. (ad-'verss)
b compliment. b swallow. a unfavorable.
c bid on. c incriminate. b upside-down.
c commercial.
3. gaffe n. 7. mantel n.
(gaf) ('man-tull) 13. jib n.
a camera operator. a straw wreath. (jib)
b social blunder. b handsaw. a bad attitude.
c hunter’s boot. c fireplace shelf. b tomcat.
c triangular sail.
4. gaff n. 8. mantle n.
(gaf) ('man-tull) 14. jibe v.
a special favor. a baseball cap. (jyb)
b comedy routine. b cloak. a agree.
c metal hook. c flowering tree. b terrify.
c dance.

15. gibe v.
(jyb)
a lend a hand.
b ridicule.
c take a bow.

To play an interactive version of Word Power on your iPad,
download the Reader’s Digest app.

rd.com | october 2020 121

Reader’s Digest

That Sinking Feeling

Don’t let this oft-confused pair get you down:
To founder is to sink, like a ship, or to fail utterly
at something. To flounder is to thrash about
helplessly, either literally or figuratively; think
of a flapping fish. Both words likely come from
the Latin noun fundus, meaning “bottom.” You can
do both, unfortunately—but in logical order, you’ll
probably flounder before you founder.

Word Power 6. inculpate (c) incrimi- 11. averse (b) opposed. koya79/getty images
nate. “I advise you to I’m not averse to trying
ANSWERS keep quiet, or you risk new things, but you’ll
inculpating yourself,” the never persuade me to
1. apprise (b) inform. lawyer warned. go skydiving!
Has anyone apprised
Cinderella of the mid- 7. mantel (c) fireplace 12. adverse (a) unfavor-
night curfew? shelf. Malik hung his able. Lexi stopped taking
grandmother’s portrait the medication after she
2. appraise (a) evaluate. over the mantel in his had an adverse reaction.
As part of the review, study.
employees will be asked 13. jib (c) triangular sail.
to appraise their own 8. mantle (b) cloak. The captain lowered the
performance. Pulling her black mantle jib and mainsail and let
around her shoulders, the the boat drift with the
3. gaffe (b) social blunder. witch scurried through currents.
I admit, gargling with the the dark forest.
table wine was a bit of a 14. jibe (a) agree.
gaffe. 9. factious (a) split into “That doesn’t jibe with
cliques. “The city council what your sister said,”
4. gaff (c) metal hook. has been factious in Dad said suspiciously.
Samantha used a gaff to recent years, but now is a
haul the 100-pound mar- time for unity,” said the 15. gibe (b) ridicule.
lin into the boat. mayor. The crowd gibed the ref-
eree for botching the call.
5. inculcate (b) instill. 10. fractious (a) irritable.
Coach Perez works to Like most toddlers, Vocabulary Ratings
inculcate confidence in Timmy is fractious when
her young players. he’s tired. 9 & below: good
10–12: gold
13–15: god

122 october 2020

The Genius Section

mlaauuksgeh! BRAIN GAMES
ANSWERS

See page 118.

Quick Crossword

across
7. CHAYOTE
8. CALABASH
9. BRYONY

10. PUMPKIN

down
1. SQUASH
2. MELON
3. TINDA
4. LOOFAH
5. ZUCCHINI
6. GHERKIN

darius bashar/unsplash Caption Contest Expand and Conquer

What’s your clever description for this 87, 56, 30, 0.
Multiply the digits in a
picture? Submit your funniest line at number to get the next
number.
RD.COM/CAPTIONCONTEST. Winners will
appear in a future Photo Finish (PAGE 124). Double Trouble

Reader’s Digest (ISSN 0034-0375) (USPS 865-820), (CPM Agreement# 40031457), Vol. 196, No. 1. Snug hug
1164, October 2020. © 2020. Published monthly, except bimonthly in July/August and 2. Libra zebra
December/January (subject to change without notice), by Trusted Media Brands, Inc., 44 South 3. Lumberjack paperback
Broadway, White Plains, New York 10601. Periodicals postage paid at White Plains, New York, 4. Literary secretary
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Reader’s Digest and The Digest are registered trademarks of Trusted Media Brands, Inc. Marca
Registrada. Printed in U.S.A. SUBSCRIBERS: You may cancel your subscription at any time and Three Cheers
receive a refund for copies not previously addressed. Your subscription will expire with the issue
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Reader’s Digest The Genius Section nature picture library/superstock

PHOTO FINISH

Your Funniest captions

Winner
“Before school, all temperatures will be taken.”

—Barbara Hendrickson Kalispell, Montana
Runners-Up

The Von Trout Family Singers!
—Karen Fabing Belton, Texas

“NUDE BEACH!”
—Raiford Grigsby Jonesboro, Arkansas
To enter an upcoming caption contest, see the photo on page 123.

124 october 2020 | rd.com

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