Lifestyle
2024 brings the Year of the Dragon. Are we in for a lucky, powerful year?
My dad was born in 1952, the Year of the Dragon. He’s an immigrant from Taiwan who came to the U.S. for graduate school at San Jose State University, and he worked as an engineer until his retirement.
In some ways, he’s the reason I never took Chinese horoscopes that seriously. The other members in my family have signs with character traits that seem to suit them. Sure, she’s loyal and honest like a Dog, and yes, he’s smart and charming like a Rat.
But my dad is very introverted and soft-spoken. He’s always smiling — the only time I remember him getting mad at me was when my brother and I were jumping on the bed as kids and wouldn’t go to sleep.
With my limited understanding of the zodiac animals and their characteristics, I’d think, “Is this the ferocious dragon breathing fire?”
The upcoming Lunar New Year brings the Year of the Dragon, fifth in the 12-animal Chinese zodiac cycle. Dragons were born in the years 2024, 2012, 2000, 1988, 1976, 1964, 1952 and so on — but after the Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 10 this year.
(Yunyi Dai / For The Times)
Since 2022, I’ve consulted with Laura Lau, co-author of “The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes,” annually prior to Lunar New Year, on what we should expect.
Lau’s late mother, Theodora, wrote the first edition of the horoscope guide in 1979. At the time, she had been giving informal consultations in Hong Kong and realized none of the English-language horoscope books were written by authors of Chinese descent. So she wrote her own.
When Lau talks about horoscopes, she frequently mentions her mother, who saw Chinese horoscopes less as a crystal ball that foretold the future and more as an entry point in understanding people who are different from you. The idea is that if you take the time to consider where people are coming from, you can make more thoughtful decisions for yourself.
According to superstition, each year takes on the traits of that year’s animal. The tiger, in 2022, brought passion and rebelliousness. The rabbit in 2023 was supposed to bring us some peace.
So what about the dragon?
The dragon is the only animal on the Chinese zodiac that is a mythical creature. In Chinese culture, dragons symbolize good luck, strength and power. They control the weather and water. (Also, they don’t breathe fire. They breathe clouds.)
Those who believe in the superstitions even go so far as to try to have babies in the Year of the Dragon because they believe dragons are destined for greatness and good fortune.
Characteristics of the dragon, according to Lau, include creativity, power and charisma. They’re confident, so they have an ego. They’re also energetic and impulsive by nature.
What does this mean for the upcoming year?
First it’s important to understand that we’re coming off the Year of the Rabbit, who is the diplomat and the peacemaker.
“The rabbit is about making things nice,” Lau told The Times last year. “That doesn’t mean that the rabbit year doesn’t have drama underneath, but it’s kind of like, ‘Let’s be polite. Let’s maintain etiquette. Let’s move forward. Let’s have more productivity.’”
Some people like the calm. Others find rabbits frustrating. “Often you don’t know what’s going on … so you still end up feeling bad,” Lau said.
You know where you stand with a dragon. They’re an open book. They’re swift. They’re not going to drag anything on for too long.
Dragons, in contrast, are very straightforward and clear. You know where you stand with a dragon, Lau said. They’re an open book. They’re swift. They’re not going to drag anything on for too long.
Each year also has an element, and this year is the wood dragon. The wood tempers the dragon and makes it more introspective, Lau said. Wood also is associated with morality and ethics, and the dragon is an animal that likes to have a sense of purpose and duty.
Lau added that people tend to respect dragons. But they can be individualistic, so sometimes those who are more community-minded will butt heads with the dragon.
It’s an election year. What might the Year of the Dragon bring in that sense?
The fact that 2024’s Year of the Wood Dragon also is an election year is extra fascinating to Lau, because dragons are competitive. If they win, they want it to be a decisive win. If they lose, they’re resilient, so they will move on.
One more tidbit about Chinese horoscopes: Each animal has its animal enemies, the ones directly across from it on the zodiac wheel, along with its animal friends, a trio formed from the animals four spaces away in either direction that makes up a triangle of affinity.
(Yunyi Dai / For The Times)
This year, the goat will have a particularly hard time with the dragon, compared with the dragon’s friends, the monkey and the rat.
Lau said her mother liked to look at each country’s day of independence to analyze the country’s animals. The U.S. — born 1776 — is a monkey. Her mother would always say that America is like a monkey: We’re very creative, we like to do things our own way and we’re innovative.
Lau hopes that because the U.S., as a monkey, is compatible with the Year of the Dragon, the elections will go more smoothly and there will be a clear and decisive result.
What signs should we look out for?
Whatever type of year it’ll be, we’ll know very quickly, she said. One of the superstitions tied to those who are born in the Year of the Dragon is that the weather on their day of birth — whether it is stormy or calm — impacts the type of life that person is going to lead.
Lau is going to be paying close attention to the weather on Feb. 10. Having bad weather on that day doesn’t mean we’ll have a bad year, she said. But the year might be a bit more unpredictable.
I ran Lau’s analysis by my dad and asked if he believed any of it. He shrugged. He thinks his generation of Taiwanese American immigrants, who pursued a Western education and have now lived in the U.S. for most of their lives, are less likely to believe in Eastern mythology.
But it turns out my late grandfather — a small-business owner from Taichung, Taiwan, who sold mushroom spawn in jars and bags — was also a Dragon. He was born in 1928.
My grandfather was a believer in feng shui and fortune-telling, and he had my dad’s reading done at birth. My father found the prediction in a notebook when he was browsing his father’s bookshelf as a young adult.
“If I had a iPhone back then, I would have taken a picture of it,” my dad said. “But now, I only remember one line: 不富而貴 bù fù ér guì.” That means “not rich but noble.”
Nobility is another characteristic of a dragon.
He laughs. “I mean, I’m an engineer, so not quite ‘noble’ like a king. But not bad.”
Mara is a single mother of two in Minnesota. She and her family have depended on SNAP benefits to make ends meet.
Caroline Yang for NPR
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Caroline Yang for NPR
Although Mara is unemployed, she is busier than ever.
When she is not taking care of her two children, Mara is at her desk applying for jobs. She is surveying her belongings to see what she can pawn off to buy toiletries. Or she is sifting through bills, calculating which ones can wait and which need to be paid right away.
Soon, Mara, a single mom in Minnesota, may have another task on her busy schedule: figuring out how to afford food for her and her family.
That’s because of new work requirements for people receiving aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps.
“It would be so beyond hard” to lose SNAP benefits, Mara said. “Without SNAP, there’s no funds for food.” Mara asked for her last name to be withheld given the stigma tied to receiving government assistance. She is also worried that speaking publicly will affect her chances of getting a job.
Previously, SNAP recipients with children under 18 were exempt from work requirements mandating that recipients work, volunteer or participate in job training at least 80 hours a month. But now, under President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, that exemption only applies to those with children under 14 — which is how old Mara’s youngest child turned in December.
“It would be so beyond hard” to lose SNAP benefits, Mara said.
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Caroline Yang for NPR
The Trump administration has argued that the mission of the nation’s largest anti-hunger program has failed.
“SNAP was intended to be temporary help for those who encounter tough times. Now, it’s become so bloated that it is leaving fewer resources for those who truly need help,” the White House said in a statement in June.
But policy experts say the SNAP changes do not fully take into account the unique challenges faced by single parents like Mara or the sluggish job market in many parts of the country. They argue that losing food assistance will only create more barriers for recipients struggling to find work.
The timeline for implementing the new SNAP policy varies based on state and county. In Mara’s home state of Minnesota, recipients who don’t qualify for an exemption or meet work requirements will be at risk of losing assistance as early as April 1. Others may have more months depending on when they next need to certify they are eligible for benefits.
Over 100 job applications
Mara imagined she would have a job by now.
It was August when she was let go from her part-time administrative assistant role due to her workplace restructuring. Since then, Mara estimates that she has applied for over 100 positions. She has also attended job fairs and taken free workshops on resume writing.
She has been working since high school, she said, but “ I’ve never been out of work for more than one month, so it’s very difficult.”
Mara spends time working at the computer at CareerForce, a resource for job seekers in Minnesota, on March 4.
Caroline Yang for NPR
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Caroline Yang for NPR
Although she misses her old job, Mara said it didn’t pay enough to support her and her kids, so she relied on SNAP benefits.
Many recipients are part of the low-wage labor market, where job security is often unpredictable and turnover tends to be high, according to Lauren Bauer, a researcher at the Brookings Institution who has studied SNAP extensively.
“SNAP is supposed to be there to help people smooth that and not let the bottom fall out when they experience job loss,” she said. “And this policy doesn’t account for that at all.”
Mara’s lowest point came in November when the government shutdown led to disruptions in SNAP benefits. Not only was she searching for a new job, but she was constantly figuring out where to get her family’s next meal.
“I might be looking for food stuff during the day when I should have been looking for a job,” she said. “Then, I’m trying to make up that time in the evening after my kids go to bed.”
During the pause, Mara turned to food banks, which revealed other challenges. First, food pantries do not always provide enough for an adult and two growing teenagers, she said. Second, they often lack gluten-free foods, which is essential for her daughter who has celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that causes digestive problems if gluten is consumed. Gluten-free products tend to be more expensive.
If Mara loses access to SNAP again because of the new work requirements, she fears another stretch of long days spent looking for the right food and enough to feed her family.
“I would be so reliant on looking for food shelves or food banks,” she said. “There would not be time to even live.”
“We’re going to see increases in poverty. We’re going to see increases in food insecurity”
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that roughly 2.4 million people will lose food benefits in a typical month over the next decade as a result of the new SNAP requirements — including 300,000 parents like Mara with children 14 or older.
Gina Plata-Nino, the SNAP director at the nonprofit Food Research & Action Center, says many of the affected recipients will be single mothers who make up a majority of single parent households in the U.S. She added that the changes target a group that often lacks or struggles to afford a support system to help care for their children.
“How can they have a full-time job when they need to pick up their children [for] various activities?” she said. “And they are working — just not enough hours because they need to be there present for their children.”
Mara shops for groceries at a local discount grocery store.
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Caroline Yang for NPR
The new law also imposes work requirements on veterans, homeless people, young adults aging out of foster care, and able-bodied adults without dependents from ages 55 to 64.
It also toughened the criteria for waiving work requirements for recipients in areas with high unemployment. Previously, there were multiple ways to determine a weak labor market and secure a waiver. Now, it only applies to places with an unemployment rate above 10%. (Alaska and Hawaii have a different measure.)
For those who fail to meet the work requirement, SNAP provides assistance for up to three months within a three-year span. But Bauer from the Brookings Institution argues that it is not enough and the impact of SNAP changes will be widespread.
“We’re going to see increases in poverty. We’re going to see increases in food insecurity. We’re going to see increasing strain on the charitable food sector,” she said.
Mara holds her favorite anchor ring, which carries the inscription, “God for me provide thee.”
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Caroline Yang for NPR
As anxiety hangs over her head, Mara tries to put on a brave face for her children. She does not want them to worry, explaining that her recent struggles have reminded her how tough life can get as an adult.
“I remind them it’s not their responsibility and they’re not accountable for me or for what’s happening,” she said. “I say, just know you get to be a kid.”
Dylan Dreyer
Savannah Will Likely Come Back … Just Not Sure When
Published
TMZ.com
Dylan Dreyer is giving a small update on her embattled “Today” co-host, Savannah Guthrie, as the search continues for Savannah’s mom, Nancy — telling TMZ she does believe she’ll likely return to the show at some point.
We caught Dylan leaving NBC Tuesday afternoon, and she said while she thinks Savannah will come back, the timing is totally unclear — adding everyone at the show is simply giving her the space she needs because they care about her so much.
TMZ.com
Dylan also reflected on Savannah’s emotional visit to the “TODAY” studio last Thursday, saying the hug they shared was something they both really needed in that moment.
Catch the full clip — Dylan says the visit was incredibly emotional, adding Savannah clearly wants to get back to some sense of normal life … she just doesn’t quite know how yet.
Still, Savannah managed a few smiles during the brief stop by the studio, doing her best to keep moving forward during an incredibly tough time.
TMZ.com
As we reported, Nancy was taken from her Tucson home in the middle of the night on February 1. She was last seen entering the house just before 10 PM on January 31 after dinner with her daughter Annie and Annie’s husband, Tommaso Cioni.
Kevin Kline plays actor Richard Bean, and Laura Linney is his sister-in-law Kristen, in American Classic.
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David Giesbrecht/MGM+
American Classic is a hidden gem, in more ways than one. It’s hidden because it’s on MGM+, a stand-alone streaming service that, let’s face it, most people don’t have. But MGM+ is available without subscription for a seven-day free trial, on its website or through Prime Video and Roku. And you should find and watch American Classic, because it’s an absolutely charming and wonderful TV jewel.
Charming, in the way it brings small towns and ordinary people to life, as in Northern Exposure. Wonderful, in the way it reflects the joys of local theater productions, as in Slings & Arrows, and the American Playhouse production of Kurt Vonnegut’s Who Am I This Time?
The creators of American Classic are Michael Hoffman and Bob Martin. Martin co-wrote and co-created Slings & Arrows, so that comparison comes easily. And back in the early 1980s, Who Am I This Time? was about people who transformed onstage from ordinary citizens into extraordinary performers. It’s a conceit that works only if you have brilliant actors to bring it to life convincingly. That American Playhouse production had two young actors — Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon — so yes, it worked. And American Classic, with its mix of veteran and young actors, does, too.
American Classic begins with Kevin Kline, as Shakespearean actor Richard Bean, confronting a New York Times drama critic about his negative opening-night review of Richard’s King Lear. The next day, Richard’s agent, played by Tony Shalhoub, calls Richard in to tell him his tantrum was captured by cellphone and went viral, and that he has to lay low for a while.
Richard returns home to the small town of Millersburg, Pa., where his parents ran a local theater. Almost everyone we meet is a treasure. His father, who has bouts of dementia, is played by Len Cariou, who starred on Broadway in Sweeney Todd. Richard’s brother, Jon, is played by Jon Tenney of The Closer, and his wife, Kristen, is played by the great Laura Linney, from Ozark and John Adams.
Things get even more complicated because the old theater is now a dinner theater, filling its schedule with performances by touring regional companies. Its survival is at risk, so Richard decides to save the theater by mounting a new production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, casting the local small-town residents to play … local small-town residents.
Miranda, Richard’s college-bound niece, continues the family theatrical tradition — and Nell Verlaque, the young actress who plays her, has a breakout role here. She’s terrific — funny, touching, totally natural. And when she takes the stage as Emily in Our Town, she’s heart-wrenching. Playwright Wilder is served magnificently here — and so is William Shakespeare, whose works and words Kline tackles in more than one inspirational scene in this series.
I don’t want to reveal too much about the conflicts, and surprises, in American Classic, but please trust me: The more episodes you watch, the better it gets. The characters evolve, and go in unexpected directions and pairings. Kline’s Richard starts out thinking about only himself, but ends up just the opposite. And if, as Shakespeare wrote, the play’s the thing, the thing here is, the plays we see, and the soliloquies we hear, are spellbinding.
And there’s plenty of fun to be had outside the classics in American Classic. The table reads are the most delightful since the ones in Only Murders in the Building. The dinner-table arguments are the most explosive since the ones in The Bear. Some scenes are take-your-breath-away dramatic. Others are infectiously silly, as when Richard works with a cast member forced upon him by the angel of this new Our Town production.
Take the effort to find, and watch, American Classic. It’ll remind you why, when it’s this good, it’s easy to love the theater. And television.
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