Real talk, Real people

There are more than 11,000 people locked up in the Connecticut prison system who are potentially on death row as COVID-19 slithers through the densely populated spaces.

Should some of them be released in an effort to keep them from potentially becoming infected and infecting others? The governor says no; my two guests say yes -- and give their reasons why. 

I was under the impression that only essential employees had to show up to work to maintain social distancing as health experts attempt to get a handle on the coronavirus. But I was wrong. There are a lot of non-essential employees whose lives are being put at risk when they could be working from home

Normally, my Monday podcast is a followup conversation to my Sunday column in Hearst Connecticut newspapers.

But I admit, the unknown factors of COVID-19 have inched my anxiety up a notch and I lost my cool this week.

So I decided to switch things up and bring in someone who could offer us some inspiration. Sometimes, when there is a crisis like we are experiencing now, it is interesting to hear what a member of the clergy has to say. 

Like many Americans, my rational thought process tells me we will get through this, but I admit, that process is constantly interrupted by my emotions.

I can’t help but worry about how much damage covid-19 will eventually do to the nation and more importantly, if it will affect my family and the people that I care about. I have family members throughout the US. This is what is going on where they live

We’re doing something a little different with the podcast this week because what else is there to talk about but the coronavirus and we’re being hit with enough of that. We know what we have to do. And I am doing it.

But you know this social distancing stuff is tough.

I mean, there is only so much house cleaning and binge watching TV you can do.

So I decided to give listeners something else instead of talk this week.

My guest today is music. We all have talented family members and mine is no exception. My brother Allan is an actor who has numerous commercials, has appeared on TV shows such as Manifest, Orange is the new black, Gotham, Law and Order among others. He also wrote the music for this podcast.

About 20 something years ago, he and his now-husband, Tom, started recording songs in their apartment in Brooklyn and every four years or so, they put together a collection on a CD that makes its rounds of family and friends.

Here is their latest. I think you will like it.

It is pretty clear that the problem is we don’t know who is carrying the coronavirus -- but we do know as Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, admitted: “We’re past the point of containment.”

And once you understand what that statement means, then you know the only thing that is going to stop the spread of this disease that has hijacked America, is a cure.

And we don’t have one.

We must follow what health experts are asking us to do. But will it keep us safe?

Until recently, it seemed like coronavirus was something happening to people far away in other parts of the world. But even when you feel immune, it is scary watching it jump from country to country while the numbers of deaths rise.

Still, at least to me, it was one of those impending crises you hear and read about and watch television for the latest news on it -- but one that is still far away.

That is, until it knocks on the door of someone you love -- in this case, my sister, Michelle, who lives in Rhode Island.

Sometimes, I like to take a different approach when writing a column to give people an alternative way of looking or thinking about a problem. In this case, I used tic-tac-toe to illustrate how the absence of fathers hurts children and the household

I was invited to speak at Greenwich High School Friday as part of its Diversity Awareness Club’s Black History Month program. Here is an overview of that speech, which centered on domestic violence, being black in America and finding some success. 

The Bridgeport Police Department recently announced it would resurrect and enforce its youth curfew to curb teen violence after a rash of shootings. The curfew has been in place since 2012 but never enforced. But do curfews work? Many studies say no. And curfews are clearly a violation of constitutional rights. Bridgeport Councilman Ernest Newton and Bridgeport Board of Education member Joseph Sokolovic join the conversation.