To the Editor:

This is an open letter to my classmates, the Guilderland Central High School Class of 1962.

Don Asch, our class president, asked us to tell our stories, and he went first. OK, for me, here goes. I think I can help you. I can really, really help you in the coronavirus time. I’m thinking about reviving my book (with Dr. Hari Sharma, Professor of Medicine Emeritus at Ohio State and expert in Ayurveda), “The Answer to Cancer.” It’s all about immunity, which everybody wants during a pandemic.

Here are some things that help:

— Sleep right, and you develop COVID-19 virus antibodies faster than if you do the usual thing at our age and grab a couple hours sleep here and there;

— “Laugh a lot.” That seems the best fit for our class. I went to Janet Milne’s Facebook page, and it’s really funny. Laughter turns loose lots of serotonin, so it’s a medical effect;

— Do yoga. Makes us stable;

— Get exercise, which not only makes us strong. It detoxifies us.;

— Eat healthy (and I have recipes in there);

— Stay calm and don’t panic, which Transcendental Meditation really helps with. 

Scan the table of contents of “The Answer to Cancer” for free on Amazon. You get a good idea of the tips even just doing that. I tell you the right way to take turmeric, which has become a binge-bought substance for immunity. And I have an immunity spice mix in there you can enjoy. Mix it with veggies or soup or whatever you are cooking.

In fact, here it is: 

6 parts turmeric

3 parts cumin

3 parts coriander

6 parts fennel

1 part powdered dry ginger

1 part black pepper

¼ part ground cinnamon

I’ve got a few other items you can enjoy online that will help you stay calm. There’s a talk I gave in Albany when we got together for a 55th. It’s on YouTube (the same talk) from when I gave it at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong. While I was being nostalgic and reliving my high school days in Guilderland, I wrote this piece for The Enterprise. If you do go to the Enterprise website, you can check out my Carol Roemer piece and one I wrote this spring about baseball.

So, how am I doing in the pandemic? I live in a hot spot. Los Angeles. I’m living in the Encino Hills. The previous tenant of my house was Sandra Denton, a rapper. She’s Pepa in the group Salt and Pepa. I’ve finished another book, actually two books. I’m scrambling to learn about hashtags and blogging and SEO  — search engine optimization — and, of course, websites themselves, because that’s how you promote books these days.

I loved hearing about Don’s eagles. A bobcat prowled through my yard the other day, in broad daylight, and stopped to stare me down. While on my daily walk, I saw a coyote cross the street and the sidewalk in front of me about 20 feet away. She never glanced at me and just vanished in the shrubbery.

I don’t think I have the virus so far. Thanks for asking, Don. Sending love, and stay safe everybody.

Jim Meade

Los Angeles