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How to pick the perfect Christmas tree

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How to pick the perfect Christmas tree

Does Southern California have seasons? Angelenos would argue sure. There’s earthquake season (trace: That one is year-round). If we’re fortunate, some years we get a wet season. And we’ve got a fall season, although nearly the one leaves that change coloration are palm tree fronds that catch on fireplace.

And now, nicely into sad-about-early-sunset season, we’re on the brink of have fun the vacation season. Residents of the Golden State naturally gravitate towards vegetation and sparkly issues, so after all Southern Californians love Christmas bushes.

In 2020, The Instances spoke to consultants about methods to purchase an actual Christmas tree. Listed below are a few of the ideas they shared, plus extra on how to select a tree and maintain it merry and shiny till the brand new yr.

How a lot does an actual Christmas tree price?

The common worth of a reside Christmas tree was $69.50 in 2021, in keeping with a survey carried out by the Nationwide Christmas Tree Assn., a commerce group that represents tree farmers and associated companies. Anticipate to pay anyplace from $50 to $200, relying on the place you purchase your tree and what sort and measurement of tree you need.

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For those who don’t have a tree stand already, you’ll need to purchase a kind of as nicely, both on the lot together with your tree or forward of time. These will set you again one other $20 to $100, relying on measurement and performance. It’s additionally conventional to tip the employee who helps you tie your tree to the highest of your automobile.

You should buy your tree from a big-box retailer, which is able to in all probability be on the cheaper facet. However that’s as a result of these bushes are typically decrease high quality, stated Brandon Helfer in a 2020 interview with The Instances. He’s the proprietor of Mr. Jingle’s Christmas Bushes, which sells reside bushes at a number of areas round Southern California. Christmas tree heaps like Mr. Jingle’s often have nicer bushes at a better worth level.

Some Christmas tree heaps are cash-only — in case you don’t usually carry money, name to ask earlier than you head over.

What Christmas tree measurement do I want?

By way of tree top, you need your ceiling top minus a minimum of a foot so there’s area for the tree topper. Don’t neglect to measure the width of the area the place the tree will stand to ensure your chosen evergreen will match.

How do I choose an actual Christmas tree?

Ask a employees member on the lot which kinds of bushes can be found. Most California heaps may have Douglas and noble firs, which develop on the West Coast. Douglas firs are gentle inexperienced with positive needles and are usually cheaper and extra aromatic. They’re additionally recognized for not lasting as lengthy and shedding copious quantities of needles. Noble firs have thicker blue-green, upward-growing needles and are costlier; they may keep their good cheer longer and necessitate much less sweeping, however will not be as aggressively aromatic.

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Before you purchase, ask when the tree was reduce down. You both desire a tree that was reduce not too long ago or one which has been saved within the chilly for preservation.

When you’ve chosen your selection and know the overall measurement you’re on the lookout for, it comes down to non-public choice.

Some small concerns: If the tree goes to sit down in a nook, solely the half you’ll be capable of see must look good. The extra branches you have got, the extra ornaments and strings of lights you’ll have to placed on it.

Do not forget that perfection doesn’t exist in nature: If you need a perfect-looking tree, purchase a pretend one. A part of the appeal of an actual tree is the realness: the wonky needle sample, the errant bald spot, the jaunty angle of the topmost department. Like cats and canine, all Christmas bushes are good in their very own manner, and each deserves a loving — dare we are saying “fir-ever” — house.

When you’ve chosen your tree, ask a couple of tree shaker. It’s a tool that offers your tree a very good onerous shake, so all of the free needles hit the bottom on the lot as an alternative of in your lounge. Not each place may have one. The lot could supply to make a contemporary reduce of the trunk of your tree. If not, you’ll desire a noticed helpful at house. In both case, go away a minimum of 6 inches of trunk between the reduce and the place the branches begin. Some locations supply flame retardant or faux-snow flocking.

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Wherever you get your tree, it should have twine and somebody prepared that can assist you hoist your bounty onto your automobile’s roof and tie it down. Having an previous towel or blanket to place down first will shield your automobile, although it’s not obligatory.

How do I arrange my Christmas tree at house?

When you get the tree and the stand inside, it’s time to set it up. Some tree stands have a spike within the center on which to impale the tree; others use adjustable bolts or fasteners to carry it upright.

Mac Harman, who offered reside bushes for 9 years earlier than founding synthetic Christmas tree and ornament website Balsam Hill, stated in a 2020 interview that the optimum setting-up course of entails three individuals: one to carry up the tree, one to crawl beneath it to regulate the stand, and a 3rd standing throughout the room to evaluate straightness. However you may make it work with just one or two.

How do I maintain my Christmas tree contemporary?

The important thing to a contemporary, completely happy Christmas tree is preserving it hydrated. The water degree in your tree stand ought to all the time be 2 to three inches greater than the bottom of the trunk. Care to your tree by checking the basin day-after-day or each different day and including water as wanted. Bushes suck up water in the course of the day and let a few of it again down at night time, so don’t fill the basin all the best way otherwise you’re risking a messy overflow. Like different houseplants, a tree will respect being misted, although watch out about mixing water with strings of electrical lights.

Your tree will keep more energizing if it’s away from sources of sunshine, drafty air and fire-hazard-creating warmth sources.

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A Beijing restaurant critic arrives at a crossroads in this absorbing family drama

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A Beijing restaurant critic arrives at a crossroads in this absorbing family drama

Gu (Xin Baiqing) struggles with his own sense of impermanence in The Shadowless Tower.

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Gu (Xin Baiqing) struggles with his own sense of impermanence in The Shadowless Tower.

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The title of The Shadowless Tower refers to an enormous 13th-century Buddhist temple that looms over the Xicheng district of Beijing. It’s called the White Pagoda, and it was designed in such a way that its shadow can be hard to see.

That makes it a poignant metaphor for the movie’s middle-aged protagonist, Gu, who’s struggling with his own sense of impermanence. As he quietly drifts through a life riven by loss and disappointment, he wonders, as time slips away, if he himself will leave a meaningful impression.

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The viewer, however, will not forget him anytime soon. Gu is played by the actor Xin Baiqing, whose movingly understated performance holds you through every step of this leisurely but absorbing drama.

We first meet Gu as he and his family are visiting the grave of his recently deceased mom. It takes a few moments to figure out how everyone’s related. The 6-year-old girl we see is Gu’s daughter, and she’s as happy and upbeat as her name, Smiley, would lead you to believe.

But we soon learn that Smiley lives with Gu’s older sister and brother-in-law, who have effectively adopted her. While Gu is very much a part of their lives, he’s an unreliable father at best, prone to showing up late — and sometimes drunk — for regular visits.

Whatever Gu’s failings as a parent, they seem to faintly echo those of his own father, whom he hasn’t seen since he was a young boy for reasons that are not immediately clear. Now, decades later, his long-absent father has been quietly reaching out to the family, and Gu is considering letting him back in.

You can imagine how this all might play out in a different movie, with stormy flashbacks, anguished recriminations and a tear-jerking happy ending. But the writer-director Zhang Lu is after something subtler and more realistic. He knows how hard it can be, in life, for even two willing parties to connect.

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The movie’s other key relationship proves similarly elusive. Gu, who once dreamed of being a poet, now works as a restaurant critic. One of his colleagues is a mischievous young photographer named Ouyang, played by Huang Yao, who takes pictures of the dishes he writes about.

But while the two have a flirtatious chemistry, their romance never really gets off the ground. That may be because of their age difference, which Ouyang pokes fun at by playfully introducing Gu as her father or her boyfriend, depending on the situation. But it may also have something to do with Gu’s passivity. As another character puts it, “Too much politeness builds a wall between people.”

In its own unassuming way, The Shadowless Tower means to knock down some of those walls. Most of us realize, sooner or later, that we’re more like our parents or other family members than we care to admit. But the movie articulates that truth with a gentleness that can take your breath away, like the eerie moment when Gu realizes how much Smiley resembles the grandfather she’s never met.

And if this is a story of intergenerational conflict, we see some of that tension reflected in Beijing itself. The camera follows Gu around the city, where sleek modern surfaces coexist with ancient traditional buildings — like that White Pagoda, often seen in the background.

There’s another inspired touch that resonates powerfully if you know to look for it. Gu’s father is well played by the filmmaker Tian Zhuangzhuang, who, like many Chinese directors of his generation, experienced government censorship and persecution earlier in his career. His 1993 drama, The Blue Kite, set during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, was banned in mainland China, and Tian himself was restricted from filmmaking for 10 years.

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I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Tian’s character in The Shadowless Tower is seen flying a kite, or that he’s shown to be emerging from exile. There’s sadness in that parallel, but also a sense of hope — a reminder that while none of us can change the past, the future remains beautifully unwritten.

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Oprah Says She Starved Herself for 5 Months in Past Diet

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92NY, a historic cultural center, turns 150 — grappling with today's Israel-Hamas war

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92NY, a historic cultural center, turns 150 — grappling with today's Israel-Hamas war

The 92nd Street Y, New York is celebrating its 150th anniversary. As a Jewish cultural institution, it’s also facing criticism related to the Israel-Hamas war.

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The 92nd Street Y, New York is celebrating its 150th anniversary. As a Jewish cultural institution, it’s also facing criticism related to the Israel-Hamas war.

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Nonprofits often struggle to adhere to their original mission statements, especially as they develop new programs and serve new audiences. For Jewish institutions, the Israel-Hamas war has been an inflection point.

That’s been especially true of The 92nd Street Y, New York, which turns 150 this month.

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92NY was founded by a group of German Jewish New Yorkers as one of the earliest branches of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association, which were modeled on the Young Men’s Christian Associations, better known as the YMCA.

It had a simple goal — help immigrants assimilate, said Seth Pinsky, CEO of 92NY.

“They saw a growing wave of Eastern European Jews and felt that these new immigrants would need a place where they could learn how to become Americans, become educated, gain skills, and adjust to a new life in a new country,” Pinsky said.

Swimming at New York’s Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA) in 1911. The YMHA eventually became The 92nd Street Y, New York, a cultural force that hasn’t lost its community center vibe.

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Over time, The 92nd Street Y, New York became much more: a nondenominational, cultural powerhouse open to all. “Even though it was founded as a Jewish institution, has always been a Jewish institution, it is also an institution that has always served the wider world,” said Pinsky.

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‘Category buster’

Look through the archives and it seems like anybody who’s anybody in culture, science, politics and the like has appeared at 92NY: writers such as Dylan Thomas and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, entertainers like Paul Robeson and Carol Burnett, and scientists like Dr. Jane Goodall. Modern dance pioneers Martha Graham and José Limón taught at 92NY before founding their own companies. Alvin Ailey debuted his best known work, Revelations at 92NY in 1960.

Martha Graham was among the modern dance pioneers who taught at 92NY before founding her own company.

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The 92nd Street Y, New York

Every day, thousands of people still use The 92nd Street Y, New York as their local community center. They come for its swimming pool, daycare, gym and numerous classes, from tap dancing to jewelry making.

They also come for events and lectures. Recent speakers include actor Emily Blunt and actor/singer Audra McDonald, former U.S. Rep Liz Cheney, and Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. Special Envoy to Combat and Monitor Antisemitism. During the pandemic, 92NY started streaming virtual presentations online, reaching millions of people around the world.

“It’s a category buster and there’s really nothing else like it anywhere,” said Pinsky.

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Pinsky said 92NY was built on Jewish and American values including “debate and a robust exchange of ideas.” From Israeli prime ministers to civil rights activists, for decades it has thrived as a place for diverse programs and points of view.

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, spoke with Rabbi David Ingber, senior director at 92NY’s Bronfman Center for Jewish Life on Jan. 24, 2024.

Vladimir Kolesnikov/Michael Priest Photography/The 92nd Street Y, New York


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Vladimir Kolesnikov/Michael Priest Photography/The 92nd Street Y, New York

But that identity was shaken after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Afterward, 92NY postponed an event by one of its divisions, the well-regarded Unterberg Poetry Center.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Viet Thanh Nguyen was scheduled to talk at 92NY two weeks after the attacks. But he was also one of hundreds of writers who’d signed an open letter in the London Review of Books condemning Israel’s occupation and calling for a ceasefire. The Israeli government says that a ceasefire could lead to further attacks.

Nguyen’s novels are about surviving war and trauma, but Pinsky said it was not the right time for him to appear at 92NY.

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“It was during the traditional Jewish period of mourning, and it was about a week after the so-called Day of Rage, when Hamas called for the targeting not just of Israelis, but of Jews and Jewish institutions,” Pinsky said. “And so what we said was not that he couldn’t hold those opinions and not that he could never appear on our stage. But maybe that moment wasn’t the right moment.”

The Poetry Center’s director, Bernard Schwartz, refused to postpone and quickly arranged for the event to take place at a local bookstore instead.

Nguyen told the audience he believed he was canceled.

“Art is supposed to keep our minds and hearts open. So the greatest irony of all of this is that what could save us — or one of the things that could save us — art — has been silenced,” Nguyen said.

Writers, including playwright Tony Kushner, signed an open letter angry at 92NY’s decision. Some of those scheduled to speak last fall withdrew. Schwartz and the two other members of the Poetry Center’s staff resigned, effectively suspending the program.

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“It sends a terrible message, because writers have to be able to express themselves,” said James Shapiro, an author and English professor at Columbia University. He’s been actively involved with 92NY for years, including teaching a class on Shakespeare. He said he’s so furious, he doesn’t plan to return.

“I’m a Zionist. I’m a supporter of the Y. I’m a defender of my community,” said Shapiro, “And when a group within that community is effectively making it worse by aligning it with a view that Jews censor writers who don’t line up with their beliefs, it sets a terrible example.”

Shapiro praised the work of the Poetry Center’s small staff and “the brave stand that they took in defense of free speech.”

Pinsky said he’s well aware there are people in the literary world “who are not happy with the decision we made.” He vowed to rebuild the Poetry Center. “We’re ready to do the work and we think our poetry program and literature program is an important one, and it’s one that we want to get back on its feet.”

Cultural institutions need to ‘reconsider everything we do’

92NY is just one of many cultural institutions getting heat for whatever they do — or don’t do — related to the Israel-Hamas war. The decisions they make could affect their funding, audiences and staff morale.

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“The 92nd Street Y, like all Jewish institutions, but I think all institutions with conscience, have to think ‘How do we respond?’ ” said Susannah Heschel, chair of the Jewish Studies Program at Dartmouth College. “I think it means we have to reconsider everything we do. As a professor of Jewish Studies, what do I hope to achieve? And I’m not sure.”

CEO Pinsky said 92NY’s commitment to a “robust exchange of ideas” hasn’t changed. Since Oct. 7, it has featured conversations that have been both critical and supportive of the Israeli government.

Trying to make sense of difficult topics is one of the many reasons people go to 92NY. But they also come for concerts or to take a class or go for a swim. Pinsky said its mission to enrich individuals and create community is needed now “more than any time” in its 150-year history.

“The fabric of society is being pulled apart in so many different ways,” he said. “And bringing people together and making them feel connected is incredibly important. And that’s who we’ve always been and that’s who we continue to be.”

This story was edited for audio and digital platforms by Jennifer Vanasco.

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