March 30, 2020 DANGER ZONE

The Twilight Zone--Created in 1959 by Rod Serling--is still important today--because it addressed many controversial issues--THAT ARE RELEVANT in 2020. When I taught English--I always found a way to weave an episode in now and then. The KIDS LOVED THEM--I'm pretty sure I single-handedly created a whole new generation of fans. HA!  Since we're living in The Twilight Zone right now--I thought I'd share some of my favorite episodes with you. They are all free on Netflix or watch them on youtube. Without further ado--My Top 10 Episodes of The Twilight Zone:
"To Serve Man", "The Obsolete Man","Deaths-Head Revisited", "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street", "Eye of the Beholder", "Time Enough at Last", "Back There", "The After Hours", "Where is Everybody", "Nightmare at 20,000 ft". We ALL have too much time on our hands--might as well spend some of it "In a dimension as vast as space and timeless as infinity............." And when you get sick of watching television you might want to read  In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allande.

In this lovely novel, three very different people's lives become intertwined after a minor accident during a major snow storm in Brooklyn. Richard Bowmaster is a lonely professor at NYU. While trying to drive home during a storm, he back ends a vehicle driven by Evelyn Ortega. Evelyn is an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who doesn't speak. After Richard gives her his insurance information, she turns up at his house looking for help. In turn, Richard enlists the help of his tenant, Lucia Maraz, a fellow teacher at NYU. After becoming snowbound, the trio begins to open up about their lives before coming to America. This book explores many issues including human rights, immigrants, and refugees and it's  also a love story. It's about 350 pages or a 4 mile run well worth the effort.