building a better bay area for a safe and secure future. this is abc7 news. >> and good afternoon. so glad you're with us. i'm dan ashley. welcome to our daily program called "getting answer." i hope you're doing well on this christmas eve. what a strange year it has been, and it's going to continue right on through the holidays. one thing that isn't changing probably for you, i know it is for me is that last-minute procrastination to get everything done. i was wrapping gifts frantically before i came to work today. i hope you can have as good as holiday as you possibly can. we're not supposed to gather. we're not supposed to travel. a lot of things are so different this year. so it is a challenging and different year. we can't control it. we can just make the best of it. glad you're with us on "getting answers" today. we're going to talk about

travel, kwanzaa, and we're going track santa as well. of course, it's his big night. first, holidays can be a very tough time, especially if you're alone. and it's likely more of us are alone this year than ever before, because yes being asked, urged, implored to not travel and not gather with family and friends as we normally would do. for a lot of people, this would be a much more isolated christmas than perhaps they've had in the past. although for a lot of people, this is always a difficult time of year. our first guest is taking a unique approach to all of it with humor and also some good common sense. joining us now, the author of "how to be alone", comedian as well as author, lane moore. lane, thank you so much for coming on. great to have you with us today on "getting answers". >> glad to be here. >> i have a million questions. before we get into, this you've spent, and i was reading about you this afternoon, you spent a lot of your life alone even as a kid.

>> yeah. >> kind of almost parenting yourself. with as much detail as you feel like getting into, why were you alone so much? why has that been the case in your life? >> you know, a lot of people grow up in situations where for whatever reason, there is all sorts of possibilities of aloneliness. maybe your parents are working a lot. maybe they weren't around that much. a lot of parents just aren't able to give what their children need. i think that it's true for so many more of us than we think. it always seems like there is only one person out there who felt really alone as a kid and had to self-parent. but i know from writing "how to be alone", i hear from so many people like myself who had to raise themselves and step up, for whatever reason that was. yeah, there is a lot of us. >> was it a physical aloneliness or an emotional aloneliness, or both? >> it was both. there are two types of

aloneness. there are people who were surrounded by love and security and all these things, but they still felt some loneliness. and then there are people who actually were very alone and did kind of have to find their way, make their way through the world and both were definitely true for me, yeah. >> and because you had this experience most of your life, which is in some ways unfortunate, i suppose, and difficult, but it also has created and turned you into the person you are today, right? you spent so much time alone, you really now say you have super powers in being alone. what do you mean by that? >> i feel like it can be in terms of the fact that, you know, i was really thrust into a situation where i had to learn how to become my own best friend, my own caretaker, all of these things that so many -- so many people who aren't forced to learn how to do that spend their lives kind of running from you never want to be too alone with your thoughts, you never want to be by yourself because it can

kind of -- maybe all these things you'd been avoiding, it can catch up to you. and i didn't have the luxury of, you know, having that time to ignore those things. so in a way, i think that it's actually a really beautiful thing because now i really was forced to, well, how do i become a real ally to myself? and that's something everybody can benefit from. >> has this process, lane, made you more self-reliant? >> oh, unfortunately, extremely self-reliant. you know, it's good to have self-reliance, but one of the things i encourage, sometimes people see the title of the book and see "how to be alone" and they think oh, i am alone. i don't need a book on that. it's not really that. it's learning self-reliance. it's learning how to develop self-love, but also beyond that, it's -- i'm not trying to help people figure out how to push everybody away. i want to help people who may have a hard time letting others in, may have a hard time finding

the right people to connect with in their lives and learn how to receive that and cultivate healthier relationships, yeah. >> you really are trying to give people the tools and the technologies needed to deal with being alone. you're not encouraging them to be alone, you just want them to be happy and to be as fulfilled as possible during those periods of aloneliness in their lives. you must be getting some very interesting and heartfelt response from readers of the book. >> very much so. i get a lot of instagram messages, tweets, things like that of people who are i didn't know that there was another person out there who felt this way. and felt this alone. again, because it can be this nuanced thing. there are people who write me sand say you know, have i this perfect loving family, but i've always felt alone in other ways. or there are people who i didn't really have family growing up and always felt alone. it can really run the gamut, but i'm really glad that the book is

helping so many people that feel like they don't belong in some way, because i felt that as well. >> what are some of the things that people can do if they feel lonely? what advice would you give them to sort of buck themselves up and make the situation a little more bearable? >> over the holidays? >> over the holidays specifically. let's start there. and then in general. >> absolutely. lots of things. i would say that the first thing to do is honor whatever you're feeling. so feel whatever you're feeling. if there is so much pressure on the holidays that you have to be really happy you have to feel really hopeful and good, this has been a hard year. it's okay if you don't feel super great. there is also an entire chapter in the book about spending holidays alone because outside of the pandemic, that does happen sometimes, whether things are fraught in your relationships, what have you, and one of the things i recommend people do is i really

love putting on headphones and having like a solo dance party, just like getting your body moving, putting on a song that makes you really happy. if you think about the things that you love to do as a child that once we become adults we feel like we can't play and have fun anymore. but those parts of ourselves are still inside of us. if you put on your favorite song and headphones, your serotonin will boost. you will feel better. these are big ones. yeah. >> that's such a great point. not only the music or playing or having fun. i think sometimes what happens to adults is they lose the sense of being -- that boyishness or girlishness, and just having fun. just lightness of heart and lightness of being. that's very important in our live, especially as we get older. i think very difficult for some people to tap into. >> totally. but i think that's what's great about, you know, a lot of us, when we would go out before the pandemic and we'd be out of a club or whatever. you might be kind of dancing in

a certain way. if you're alone this holiday and you can do that by yourself, that's really powerful. i also know there are a lot of online communities like i know every single year around the holidays, i'll post something on twitter, instagram, or whatever about being alone on the holidays. and it's beautiful to see so many people writing and saying oh, me too. i'm having a hard day today, and very often i'll see people in my comment sections who will like find each other and little friendships happen. i think that that's just so -- when you feel alone, you think you're the only person on earth who is alone. i know. i literally felt it today even. >> sure. oh, did you really? interesting. and one of the things that -- one of the ways you express yourself is through comedy. tell us a little bit about the virtual shows you have coming up. and do you use alalalal

grist for the mill for your comedy? >> i think so. so i do a show you might appreciate. i don't know if you've ever been on dating apps, but if you have -- >> mercifully, no. >> okay, i thought so. >> i haven't done it. >> so i know. i hear that all the time. it's okay. i do a show called tinder live where i go on my tinder on a projector screen and we swipe through together and it's really lighthearted and fun. i started doing some of those virtually, and it's been really beautiful because so many people are online dating during this pandemic, and it feels so isolating and alone. and one of the great things about tinder live in person as well as these virtual shows is you're with a group of people. so you feel less alone. whether you're partner order what have you, just watching somebody find humor in these ridiculous profiles. and there is a group chat.

so you're chatting with other people who are watching. i do that and i also do how to be alone show that's streaming as well where we play games. we watch reto commercials. there is an interactive chat, you know. we play this really silly '80s board game. all these things since we can't be in the same room together, i'm so excited to be able to still share that energy, share that space with other people virtually. >> excellent. you're a delight, lane. thanks for coming on. the book is called "how to be alone." elaine moore, comedian and author. happy holidays to you. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. you too. >> very interesting. stay with us. when we come back, we're going talk about bay area travel, despite the pandemic.

welcome back to getting answers on this christmas eve. i'm dan ashley. thank you so much for joining us. nice to be with you. with the holidays here, we're seeing fewer people traveling than normal years. but people are still traveling, of course. and joining us to talk more about this is a chris mcginnis, sf gate senior travel can't. hi, chris. how you doing? >> i'm great. how you doing? >> great. happy holidays to you. holiday travel is up nationwide, but bay area airports are seeing a little less flying and a lot of last-minute cancellations. what's going on? >> right. well, i think that maybe in the bay area, we're just a little bit more cognizant and observant of what's going on with covid. we reported last week on sfgate that despite the big surge in travel that we're seeing elsewhere, my contacts at sfo

said that travel is actually down compared to thanksgiving, that their passenger volume was down about 70 to 75% over thanksgiving. and throughout the month of december, it's been down about 80%. so people are definitely cutting back. and they are saying that they are seeing a lot of last-minute cancellations. and it's not unusual because airlines have really relaxed the rules. and if you decide that you don't want to travel at the last-minute, you're not going to be penalized. you can just postpone your trip, and keep all your money. >> well, that's one thing the airlines have done that has been helpful is kind of loosen up those restrictions so people don't feel compelled to waste money or to travel when they don't really feel like it. i suppose the surge that we're experiencing in the bay area of california of the country is largely responsible for these last-minute cancellations. people realizing, chris, wow, this is really serious again. we better pay attention to these

orders. >> yeah, yeah. i'm one of them. i typically go home for five to ten days every year to atlanta to see my family. and about a month ago, i was still thinking maybe i can do this, maybe i can do this. and finally i decided you know what? it's not going to happen this year. and so i canceled plans to go home to hawaii -- i'm sorry, canceled plans to into atlanta. i wish i was going into hawaii. but as you know, it's not really all that fun to go to hawaii now or just about anywhere. i'm talking to you right now from palm springs where i've been living the past few months. and it's very quiet here. so no matter where you go in the country, there is really not anything going on. there is really no reason to travel unless you want to kind of just hang out outside or be with your family. and that's what most people want to do during the holidays. that's probably what the problem is right now with travel right now during christmas. i think when you're at the airport, when you're on the

plane, there is probably not a safer place for you to be breathing than these places right now because everyone is very cognizant of what's going on. they're being very careful. the problem is when you get home and start mixing with your family, with your friends and you start drinking alcohol and having meals and spending a little bit more time indoors, that's what most of the health experts are worried about. they're not that worried about the going and the coming. it's being at home and being around that family a little bit too close and breathing each other's air, which is the big problem. >> i'm so glad you brought that up. really, from everything i've seen, i've taken exactly one trip in the last ten months. for a quick weekend, we went to santa fe several months ago, not when everything was surging, obviously. and i haven't felt like going anywhere other than that because i don't want to think about it. i want to save my travel time when i don't have to wear a mask and don't have to worry about it. i'll do it when all this is over. i'm so glad you mentioned that the airports, that's not really where the danger.

everybody is being pretty compliant at the airports. it's when you get to your destination. >> that's exactly right. i mean, i've traveled about three times since the pandemic began, mostly short flights within california. and i've noticed, you know, the planes have never been cleaner. i like to say the planes have been squeaky clean, which is a nice thing. that's something that i hope will continue on into the future. but you were talking about wearing masks on planes. i have a feeling that we're going to be wearing masks on planes for quite a while after this, just because people have become so aware of what happens on the plane. this breathing of each other's air. we don't know how much longer covid is going last or if a new covid is going come up or how long the vaccine is going to last. >> chris, i've got run, but i agree with you. i've said that for a while. i think we're going see a lot more mask wearing when this is over. certainly during cold and flu season. stay safe. thanks for coming on, chris mcginnis, not doing a lot of traveling these days, like the

rest of us, chris. thank you so much. >> that's right. >> see you soon. when we come back, ce how about poor fred wilson? what a shame. so soon after retiring. i hear his wife needed help with the funeral expenses. that's ridiculous! -he had social security. -when my brother died, his wife received a check from social security, all right-- for $255! the funeral costs were well over $8,000. how on earth did she pay for it? fortunately, my brother bought additional life insurance -before he retired. -whew! i bet that cost a pretty penny, huh? not with colonial penn. coverage options start at just $9.95 a month. less than 35 cents a day. i have it myself. we both do. -both of you? -that's right. neither of us had to answer any health questions or take a physical exam. in fact, no one our age can be turned down. for any health reason. -no one? -no one? nope. hm. is this a plan that offers

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hi there. welcome back. i'm zan lashley. you're watching "getting answers." this saturday marks the first day of kwanzaa, an annual seven-day celebration of african american community and culture. in san francisco, the village project is taking its annual celebration online, obviously because of the pandemic, which has pushed them to serve the community in new ways. abc7 news anchor kumasi aaron talked with the executive director adrian williams about what we can expect. >> from people who aren't aware, what exactly is the village project? and what kind of work do you all do in the community? >> okay. it has expanded, trust me. the village project is a nonprofit organization. we are located at st. sabrea's church. this is our 15th year. and i started out, as i

indicated, working with the babies, the kids. our program has after school program and an eight-week summer enrichment camp, which has really changed this summer. whereby we mentor and expose the kids to different culture, activities, their own culture. we do kwanzaa, which is what we're working on right now. this is our 15th season doing kwanzaa. once again, exposing the kids to their culture. and so we celebrate all seven days of kwanzaa, starting on the 26th, the day after christmas, going into january 1st. this year it has been a challenge because of covid. so we are doing it all virtual, starting this saturday. and will run from 6:00 every evening until january 1st. and now we have a food pantry, my big idea. when covid first started, i was very concerned that the seniors

and the needy families in the community wouldn't have enough food buzz of the stay in place. and so i decided that i would open a pantry. and now that pantry has grown where we're doing 2,000 bags of groceries a month. we delivered them to the seniors and to the families. the families in my program and other families in the community to make sure that they have food security during this covid pandemic. so that's just a number said. just a few things that i do. i do what the community calls me to do. >> yeah, i think that's important, because you also think about the physical needs that people have. people need to eat and make sure they're nourished and they have all the stuff during the shelter in place. they also have emotional needs to still connect with each other and to still be aware of the rich history we have. >> exactly. and so i'm excited because they're considering the fillmore

area as a cultural district. and of course kwanzaa, even though it's an african american holiday, it takes us back to our roots. it makes us honor our ancestors, think about the people whose shoulders we are currently standing on and all that they have been through in order for us to be where we are today. so kwanzaa is probably the most important event that i do. last year we had 18 different events, two and three a day. and i made each and every one, i was so proud. >> for people who are planning to tune in virtually, what can they expect for the kwanzaa celebration? >> oh, this one is fantastic. we do the kwanzaa ritual. we pour libations every day, and then cultural expression. we'll have spoken word, dancers, vocals, and then

part. at the end of each day, we will have a free blues concert, with some of the best blues artists in the bay area. all together, i am so excited about this. it's beautiful. in fact, i'm going send you guys a clip. ♪ ♪ one of these days, baby, you going spend a lot of money, hear somebody call my name ♪ >> please send me a clip. when you said blues, this has everything. we miss live music so much. so this is going to be perfect. >> i love it. it's just exciting. it's an exciting time. in spite of the pandemic, i've just learned to adapt. >> doesn't that sound like a great celebration? 15th annual. that's our kumasi aaron speaking with executive director adrien williams about the festival. you can get your free virtual tickets at the village project's sf.org, or on even bright as

well. but be sure you participate. it looks like it's going to be great this year, even though it will be difficult because of the pandemic. when we come back, we'll be

and welcome back. you know a tradition we always love continuing is tracking santa through norad. abc7 news anchor kumasi aaron and julian glover spoke about that and how they're handling it this year. >> so how do you do that? how you tracking santa? >> we are doing a combination of things. norad operates a series of radars in alaska and canada. and we also have satellites. actually, they look for infrared. and as you guys know, rudolph's

nose is pretty darn bright. that's the primary means we track him around until he comes back over to our area of the world here in canada and the united states. then we'll use the radars to track him. >> i love the origin story of how the norad santa tracking project started. so if you can retell that for folks. it started with a young kid in the 50s where he called the jahnke wrong number. >> actually, he called the right number. the newport printed the wrong number. it was a department store newspaper, or department stores that had a call-in santa line. they printed it wrong. colonel harry of the continental air defense command was on duty. he answered the phone, and a young boy asked him how santa was. and it took him just a second, but then he realized what was going on. he actually assembled a team to answer all the calls from the local area, and the tradition just grew from there. so for 65 years, we've been doing this. normally we'd have a team of about 1500 volunteers manning a

call center. a little bit different with covid this year. we still have the number to call, which is 1-877-hi-norad. but we we we we track as well. >> oh, my gosh. has it been difficult? you talk about the pandemic and the adjustments you've had to make. how has that been? what's it been like through this year? >> well, it's been tough for all of us. and i will tell you that your service members, men and women have done a fantastic job. we're insanely proud of them. they've been able to keep the mission. we protect america's airspace and canada's airspace 24/7 every day of the year, and they've done it without a beat battling through covid. and we'll really amazed at the resiliency of the force and we're thankful for the people we have. >> we're thankful too. you can track santa all night long at noradsanta.org.

thank you so much for being here. we appreciate your time. i'm dan ashley. merry chri breaking news as we come on the air. the monster storm barrelling across the country, as millions travel for the holidays. the storm already wreaking havoc on the roads. whiteout conditions in parts of the midwest. torrential rain and high winds moving east at this hour, with power outages possible on christmas morning. the dangerous weather with some 85 million americans on the move, despite those cdc warnings to stay home to prevent the spread of the virus. the staggering covid surge. the cdc now predicting more than 90,000 americans could die over the next three weeks. the alarming new images from inside a california medical center, as a record number of americans spend christmas in the hospital. the vaccine speed bump. the federal government acknowledging immunization are slower than