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From The March Cover                                Amanda Gorman, Inaugural Poet

                                                                                    By Richard Lederer
             ChaiFlicks: Jewish And Israeli                       On January 20, Amanda Gorman, 22 years of age, became the
               Entertainment On Demand                          youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history when she delivered her
                                Since the pandemic, movie-goers have   kinetic poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at President Joe Biden’s and Vice
                                                                President  Kamala Harris’s inauguration. Having overcome a severe
                              looked toward streaming platforms to   speech  impediment  as  a  child,  she  is  our  first  U.S.  National  Youth
                              cure their cabin-fever. Jewish themed   Poet Laureate.
                              TV series such as Unorthodox and The   In “The Hill We Climb,” Gorman illuminated the power we have to
                              Marvelous Mrs. Maisel  seemed  to in-  seize the “dawn” before us and to rejuvenate our democracy. She did
                              crease in popularity.             not cast her poem in traditional rhyme and meter. Rather, she fused
        With an abundance of Jewish and Israeli themed programming avail-  free verse with rap rhymes, near rhymes and hip-hop musicality. Hers
      able, long-time film industry executives, Neil Friedman and Heidi Oshin   was performance poetry, as all the while she gestured expressively
      of Menemsha Films (the leading distributor of Jewish and Israeli themed   with every word she shared.
      cinema) and Bill Weiner formerly of New Regency Productions (12 Years   John F. Kennedy‘s 1961 inauguration marked the first time a poet,
      A Slave, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) launched ChaiFlicks—the new streaming   Robert Frost, participated in such an event. Bill Clinton followed suit
      platform devoted to Jewish and Israeli entertainment.        by featuring Maya Angelou at his first inauguration and Miller Williams
        ChaiFlicks offers over 300 acclaimed feature, documentary and short
      films (both classic and new), TV series, stage productions, plus music   at his second. Barack Obama included Elizabeth Alexander in his first
      and dance performances that embrace Jewish and Israeli tradition   inauguration and Richard Blanco in his second. And now Amanda
                                                                Gorman has joined these literary luminaries in creating and voicing
      and culture.
        Three new programs per week are added to the channel, which has   words that will echo through the minds of Americans for years to come.
      an endless variety of genres. The latest additions are Israel’s smash   On February 6, 2021, Amanda Gorman again made history when
      hit comedy series The New Black, which follows the adventures of   she  became  the  first poet  to  perform  at  a  Super  Bowl.  That  game
      four Haredi students at a yeshiva in Jerusalem, and The Tobacconist,   was punderfully billed as the GOAT (Tom Brady, “Greatest of All
      a vibrant coming-of-age drama starring the late Bruno Ganz and based     Time,” 43-years-old) vs. the Kid (Patrick Mahomes,
      on the international bestseller by Robert Seethaler.                     25-years-old).
        ChaiFlicks is user friendly and doesn’t break the bank. The monthly
      subscription price is only $5.99 per month or a discounted annual price     Dr. Richard Lederer is the author of more than 50
      of $65.99 with a 7-day free trial.                                        books about language, history and humor, including
        ChaiFlicks’ is available on your TV, mobile device, desktop, etc.,      his newest books, “A Treasury of Halloween Humor”
      with Apps for Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple iOS, Apple TV, Android &        and “A Treasury of Christmas Humor.” To order signed
      Android TV!                                                               copies, explore his website, verbivore.com or write him
        Learn more at https://www.ChaiFlicks.com.                 Richard Lederer  at richardhlederer@gmail.com.















































      12 / BoomerTimes & SeniorLife                   BoomerTimesFL.com                                     MARCH 2021
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