 JANUARY 2 • 2020 | 5

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for starters
Looking Ahead in 2020
W

ow, it’
s 2020. 
Say it out loud. 
Doesn’
t it sound 
like a year that is still 
decades away? 2020 has a 
nice ring to it as a year. A 
year, I think, for literary 
purposes, 
George Orwell 
would have 
considered as 
the title for 
a sequel to 
his legendary 
dark novel 
1984. I skipped 
reading 1984 when I 
found out it wasn’
t about 
the Tigers’
 World Series 
Championship.
Wikipedia, my source for 
unsubstantiated facts when 
I’
m in a hurry, describes 
1984 as a story that “takes 
place in an imagined 
future when much of the 
world has fallen victim to 
perpetual war, omnipresent 
government surveillance, 
historical negationisms and 
propaganda.” Ha, ha, ha. 
What a wild imagination 
Orwell had. That could 
never happen.
As 2019 came to a close, 
were you on the receiving 
end of any of those 
delightful year-end family 
newsletters from someone? 
You know, the ones that 
are usually five pages long, 
8-point type, single-spaced 
that summarize down 
to every last detail what 
transpired in each and every 
family member’
s life over 
the past year? 
I let another year go 

by without preparing a 
newsletter. It’
s just as well 
because, to be perfectly 
honest, the ones I usually 
receive describe families 
leading much more exciting 
lives than mine.
Don’
t get me wrong, 
my family has proudly 
had it’
s fair share of 
accomplishments over the 
last year; it’
s my day-to-day 
life that isn’
t compelling. 
So, until I go skydiving, 
zip-lining over the Grand 
Canyon, complete a half-
marathon (make that a 
3K) or take a photo of a 
charging rhinoceros while 
on safari, I’
m refraining 
from sharing details of 
my boring existence in a 
newsletter. I have these 
columns to do that. 
2020 is a big year for 
me. On Feb. 1, I will 
officially be on (drum roll) 
Medicare! Yep, I’
m turning 
65, which when I say it 
out loud sounds like it’
s 
still decades away! What 
happened to husky little 
Alan Joel Muskovitz, the 
youngest child of Florence 
and Dave, once lovingly 
referred to as the “baby” 
of the family? Was it really 
that long ago that I was in 
diapers? How much longer 
will it be before I’
m back in 
them? I’
m old enough now 
that even my hindsight isn’
t 
20/20.
 
Let’
s see, what else is 
worth looking forward to in 
2020? Oh, this is exciting. 
Curb Your Enthusiasm 
returns to HBO for its 10th 

season on Jan. 19. We had 
to wait six years for Curb to 
return for a ninth season in 
2017, so the wait this time 
has been more palatable. 
You can see the trailer for 
the upcoming season online 
and it looks, as Larry David 
would say, “pretty, pretty, 
pretty, pretty good.” Every 
bit as cringeworthy as 
seasons past. 
On the sports front, I 
hope the rumors about the 
Lions 2020 TV schedule are 
true. 
My sources tell me the 
NFL will finally give in 
to Detroit fans’
 demands 
and agree to blackout both 
home and away games this 
year.
And last but certainly 
not least, there’
s, of course, 
a monumental decision 
facing us Americans in 
2020. And when the dust 
settles and the field finally 
gets whittled down to the 
final two, you’
ll be proud to 
say you made a difference 
in picking the winner of 
season 18 of American Idol. 
It all begins on Feb. 16! Still 
no word yet on whether 
Russian viewers will be 
permitted to vote.
Wishing you and yours a 
pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty 
good New Year! 

Alan Muskovitz is a writer, voice-
over/acting talent, speaker, 
and emcee. Visit his website 
at laughwithbigal.com,“Like” Al 
on Facebook and reach him at 
amuskovitz@renmedia.us.

Alan 
Muskovitz

Jewish Family Service has 
received a grant for its Legal 
Referral Service for the 
2019-2020 fiscal year.
 Funding from the 
Oakland County Bar 
Foundation will allow the 
agency’
s Legal Referral 
Service to provide profes-
sional trainings and educa-
tional programs to JFS staff, 
the legal community, as well 
as the broader community 
on prevalent legal topics. 
 Kelly Goldberg, program 
coordinator of the Legal 
Referral Service, 
said, “It will 
enable us to 
once again bring 
expert Oakland 
County attor-
neys to speak to 
JFS staff about 
their high-demand legal 
specialties in order to add to 
our social workers’
 knowl-
edge base.”
The JFS Legal Referral 
Service was created to help 
JFS clients facing tough eco-
nomic times to obtain legal 
consultation and possible 
representation. 
The program connects 
those in need with the com-
munity’
s most prominent 
attorneys in the fields of 
family and elder law, pro-
bate, debt resolution and 
bankruptcy, landlord and 
tenant issues, real estate and 
tax law. 
 

Jewish Family Service 
Receives Grant for 
Legal Referral Service

Kelly 
Goldberg

