Our Town Downtown - January 25, 2018 by OurTown Downtown

The local paper for Downtown wn

2018

WEEK OF JANUARY

25-31 P.12

2018

SECRETS OF A CENTENARIAN GRAYING NEW YORK Chelsea resident Ruth Katz celebrates 100 with a big turnout at the McBurney Y BY DEBORAH FENKER

City officials unveiled plans last week to implement protected bike lanes on 26th and 29th Streets, the ﬁrst protected crosstown lanes in Manhattan that would span nearly river-to-river. 26th Street (pictured), currently does not have a bike lane, while 29th Street now features a painted bike lane. Photo: Michael Garofalo

SAFER CROSSTOWN BIKE LANES EN ROUTE STREETS City plans to add protected lanes on 26th and 29th Streets BY MICHAEL GAROFALO

Manhattan cyclists looking for a safer route across town will soon have a few new options. Plans are underway to reconﬁgure 26th and 29th Streets to include protected bike lanes

that would span almost uninterrupted from the Hudson River to the East River, the city’s Department of Transportation announced last week. As bike use has exploded in Manhattan over the last decade, protected north-south bicycle thoroughfares on the borough’s wide avenues have proliferated — First, Second, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Avenues, as well as Broadway, now feature substantial stretches of

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

NYC CYCLIST FATALITIES

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Source: NYC DOT

Of all the potential difficulties I imagined in interviewing a centenarian, coordinating a time in her busy schedule was not one of them. But Ruth Katz is an exceptional individual, and not only in her striking longevity. She was born the fourth of ﬁve siblings (the others were all boys) in Milford, Connecticut, on New Year’s Eve 1917. That was a world much different than ours now, most of which she has taken in stride. Katz, a Chelsea resident, doesn’t use a cellphone, but she has an iPad, and while she admits to not using it very much, she keeps telling herself she’ll start ﬁguring it out tomorrow (or the next day). This seems to be pretty much the only thing she procrastinates on: everything else she is adamant about taking care of on the spot. “At my age,” she says, “you never know what’s going to happen, after all.” Katz has seen quite a few tomorrows, and more than her share of yesterdays, the last decade of which she has spent in a very cozy and immaculately-kept apartment off Union Square. “My palace,” she states proudly, and with good reason. The walls are a soothing pale blue, a fruitful life’s hall of fame, covered with photographs new and old. There is a portrait of a great-

Ruth Katz at her party at the McBurney Y. Photo: Deborah Fenker grandchild in a darling red holiday onesie, and classically somber black-and-white images of her parents, yellowing with time. Vacation pictures commemorate adventurous travels to exotic locales, especially for that era, taken with her husband. She had two children, one daughter who lives nearby in New York City, and a son whom she sadly outlived, but left her with twin grandsons, two great grandsons and a great grand-daughter, all of whom live in Baldwin, Long Island where she spent most

Downtowner

OurTownDowntown

O OTDOWNTOWN.COM @OTDowntown

Crime Watch NYC Now Voices City Arts

3 6 8 10

Restaurant Ratings 20 Business 22 Real Estate 23 15 Minutes 25

WEEK OF APRIL

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW < CITYARTS, P.12

FOR HIM, SETTLING SMALL CLAIMS IS A BIG DEAL presided over Arbitration Man has three decades. for informal hearings about it He’s now blogging BY RICHARD KHAVKINE

is the common Arbitration Man their jurist. least folks’ hero. Or at Man has For 30 years, Arbitration court office of the civil few sat in a satellite Centre St. every building at 111 New Yorkers’ weeks and absorbed dry cleaning, burned lost accountings of fender benders, lousy paint jobs, and the like. And security deposits then he’s decided. Arbitration Man, About a year ago, so to not afwho requested anonymity started docuhe fect future proceedings, two dozen of what menting about compelling cases considers his most blog. in an eponymous about it because “I decided to write the stories but in a I was interested about it not from wanted to write from view but rather lawyer’s point of said Arbitration view,” of a lay point lawyer since 1961. Man, a practicing what’s at issue He ﬁrst writes about post, renders and then, in a separatehow he arrived his decision, detailing blog the to Visitors at his conclusion. their opinions. often weigh in with get a rap going. I to “I really want whether they unreally want to know and why I did it,” I did derstood what don’t know how to he said. “Most people ... I’d like my cases the judge thinks. and also my trereﬂect my personalitythe law.” for mendous respect 80, went into indiMan, Arbitration suc in 1985, settling vidual practice

9-16

MANHATTAN'S APARTMENT BOOM, > PROPERTY, P.20

2015

In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS

The effort to help small seems to businesses in the city be gathering steam. Two city councilmembers, Robert Margaret Chin and Cornegy, have introduced create legislation that wouldSmall a new “Office of the within Business Advocate” of Small the city’s Department Business Services. Chin The new post, which have up told us she’d like to would and running this year, for serve as an ombudsman city small businesses within them clear government, helping to get through the bureaucracy things done. Perhaps even more also importantly, the ombudsman and number will tally the type small business of complaints by taken in owners, the actions policy response, and somefor ways to recommendations If done well, begin to fix things. report would the ombudsman’s give us the first quantitative with taste of what’s wrong the city, an small businesses in towards important first step fixing the problem. of for deTo really make a difference, is a mere formality will have to the work process looking to complete their advocate are the chances course, velopers precinct, but rising rents, -- thanks to a find a way to tackle business’ is being done legally of after-hours projects quickly. their own hours,” which remain many While Chin “They pick out boom in the number throughout who lives on most vexing problem. said Mildred Angelo,of the Ruppert construction permits gauge what Buildings one said it’s too early tocould have the 19th floor in The Department of the city. number three years, the Houses on 92nd Street between role the advocate She Over the past on the is handing out a record work perThird avenues. permits, there, more information of Second and an ongoing all-hours number of after-hours bad thing. of after-hours work the city’s Dept. problem can’t be a said there’s with the mits granted by nearby where according to new data jumped 30 percent, This step, combinedBorough construction project noise Buildings has data provided in workers constantly make efforts by Manhattan to mediate BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS according to DOB of Informacement from trucks. President Gale Brewer offer response to a Freedom classifies transferring they want. They knows the the rent renewal process, request. The city They 6 “They do whatever signs Every New Yorker clang, tion Act go as they please. work between some early, tangible small any construction on the weekend, can come and sound: the metal-on-metal or the piercing of progress. For many have no respect.” p.m. and 7 a.m., can’t come of these that the hollow boom, issuance reverse. owners, in business moving The increased beeps of a truck has generto a correspond and you as after-hours. soon enough. variances has led at the alarm clock The surge in permits

SLEEPS, THANKS TO THE CITY THAT NEVER UCTION A BOOM IN LATE-NIGHT CONSTR NEWS

A glance it: it’s the middle can hardly believe yet construction of the night, and carries on full-tilt. your local police or You can call 311

n OurTownDowntow

COM

Newscheck Crime Watch Voices

for dollars in fees ated millions of and left some resithe city agency, that the application dents convinced

2 City Arts 3 Top 5 8 Real Estate 10 15 Minutes

12 13 14 18

CONTINUED ON PAGE

of the nearly fifty years she shared with her late husband. They married in 1946 in NYC, but moved to Baldwin after a couple of years before returning to the city in 2006. Still, when asked if she considers herself a New Yorker, where she has spent seventyplus years, she responded “Well, partially. I think you are where you started from,” making her a Nutmegger at heart. True to that, a favorite activity is watching the

CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

We deliver! Get Our Town Downtowner sent directly to your mailbox for $49 per year. Go to OTDowntown.com or call 212-868-0190

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

SAVING THE SACROSANCT RELIGION The Landmarks Conservancy awards matching grants to two storied sites in Chelsea — the “Christmas Church” and a Tibetan Buddhist temple frequented by the Dalai Lama BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, at 346 West 20th Street in Chelsea, has received a $25,000 matching grant from the New York Landmarks Conservancy that will help the fabled “Christmas Church” shore up its 180-year-old exterior walls. Photo: New York Landmarks Conservancy The local paper for Downtown

Clement Clarke Moore is best known as the presumed author in 1823 of “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” which has been beloved by generations of school children for its immortal opening line, “Twas the night before Christmas.” Less well known is that Moore was also a fabulously wealthy, God-fearing churchman and property owner in Chelsea who transformed his grand country estate into one of the most desirable and elegant residential neighborhoods in the city. Among his great gifts: Vast tracts of donated land, including his apple orchard, which became the sites of the General

Advertise with Our Town Downtown today! Call Vincent Gardino at 212-868-0190

otdowntown.com

Theological Seminary and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, twin institutions that have long helped to deﬁne, preserve and enlighten the community. As the guiding light at St. Peter’s — or the “Christmas Church,” as it’s been called for 180 years — Moore served variously as warden, usher, organist, vestryman, trustee, ecclesiastical scholar and unofficial publicist. He also underwrote the bulk of its construction costs. Unfortunately, the timbers, masonry and gables he paid for have seen better days. No wonder. St. Peter’s, located at 346 West 20th Street, was consecrated in 1838 and survives from an era when church spires, steeples and bell towers dwarfed every other structure on the skyline. Since then, the gales off the Hudson River and the punishing winters of Chelsea have exacted their toll, and so, for decades, the church has been grappling with rotted planking and crumbling masonry, washed-out mortar and loose stones, a leaking roof and a drooping ceiling. Now, the New York Landmarks Conservancy is coming to the rescue. Again. The nonproﬁt, which funds restoration projects that preserve and protect the city’s architectural legacy, has been helping St. Peter’s repair its sanctuary in multiple stages since 1988. The group established its “sacred sites grant program” 31 years ago to assist religious organizations statewide in preserving their historic proper-

ties, and St. Peter’s was one of the ﬁrst institutions tapped to receive funding. “It’s one of the most architecturally and historically signiﬁcant religious buildings in the city,” said Ann-Isabel Friedman, the director of the Conservancy’s sacred sites program. “It has incredible stained glass and murals and original woodwork, it’s one of the country’s earliest Gothic Revival churches, and it’s significant for its role in the history of Chelsea and its connections with Moore,” she added. Since its launch in 1986, the program has awarded 780 congregations some 1,400 grants tallying more than $10.4 million, sums that churches and synagogues are typically required to match in a process that has helped leverage roughly $630 million in restoration projects. The grants help professionalize what stewards of religious buildings often dub the “patchand-pray method,” referring to rehabilitation efforts that sometimes appears haphazard. In announcing its new round of sacred site challenge grants last week, Conser va ncy funders pledged $25,000 to St. Peter’s that, once matched, will help jumpstart an ambitious $1 million structural and exterior masonry restoration project. It follows an earlier $25,000 matching grant in 2014 that helped fuel a $2 million roof repair-and-replacement project that was completed last October. Previous grants, in 1988, 1995 and 2000, began the task

of stabilizing and shoring up St. Peter’s, which was briefly closed in 1941 and again in 1990 over fears its sanctuary had become unsafe. “We’re giving the church TLC,” said the Reverend Stephen Harding, who is guiding the restoration. “It needs a lot of work and a lot of love, and that’s what we’re trying to do.” The Conservancy also provided a $3,000 matching grant to Yeshe Nyingpo, a Tibetan Buddhist temple in a landmarked Greek Revival rowhouse that was built around 1846 at 19 West 16th Street in Chelsea. “It’s a very special building — it’s so blessed and so holy, ﬁlled with prayers and blessings — and the Dalai Lama sometimes comes here when he’s in town,” said Theresa Giorgi, the general manager of the temple, which has occupied the townhouse since 1976. There is a special throne in the building maintained for the Dalai Lama’s personal use, she added. The funds will be used to restore the temple’s recessed, double-leaf, mahogany front door. “We were afraid that at any moment, that door was going to fall off its hinges,” Giorgi said. For a nonproﬁt sacred space with a modest budget, raising the $3,000 match was not easy: “It took over a year, and we got donations from all over the world — Spain, Italy, Portugal, California — but we did it!” she said. The restoration work on Yeshe Nyingpo’s entry door began on Monday, January 22nd.

Yeshe Nyingpo, a Tibetan Buddhist temple in a landmarked 1846 Greek Revival rowhouse at 19 West 16th Street in Chelsea, has received a $3,000 matching grant from the New York Landmarks Conservancy to help it restore its recessed, double-leaf, mahogany front door. Photo: New York Landmarks Conservancy

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

CRIME WATCH BY JERRY DANZIG STATS FOR THE WEEK Reported crimes from the 1st district for Week to Date

Photo by Tony Webster, via Flickr

ARMED ROBBERY IN SUBWAY A teenager survived a scary encounter in the subway. At 9:40 a.m. on Sunday, January 14, an 18-year-old woman was riding in the last car of a southbound 4 train when she was approached by a man some 18 to 25 years old who displayed a black ﬁrearm and told her, “Empty your pockets and give me your phone!” She handed over her $800 cellphone and he then reached into the victim’s left sweatshirt pocket and took four $5 bills. He got off at the Fulton Street station and told the young woman to stay on the train. Fortunately, she had sustained no injuries, but police were unable to ﬁnd the robber in the area.

Year to Date

2018 2017

% Change

2018

2017

% Change

Murder

n/a

Rape

-100.0

Robbery

100.0

-33.3

Felony Assault

-100.0

Burglary

100.0

PINCHED POCKETBOOK

RUDE AWAKENING

Grand Larceny

50.0

-2.9

Police remind women to keep pocketbooks and handbags in your lap when you patronize coffee shops, bars or restaurants. At 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 9, a 46-year-old woman sat at a table and laid her bag down next to her in the Birch Coffee shop at 8 Spruce Street. At 12:05 p.m. she noticed that her bag was no longer there. The items stolen included a navy blue Longchamp pocketbook valued at $150, a wallet priced at $200, $400 in cash, a pair of prescription sunglasses tagged at $200, and various credit and debit cards and other items.

Falling asleep in the subway can be a nightmare. At 4:50 a.m. on Tuesday, January 9, a 26-year-old man riding the southbound E train woke to see a man wearing a white jacket trying to steal his bag. The two men got into a ﬁght, and the victim told police he thought something had been thrown at him. When he got off the train at Spring Street he realized that he’d actually been slashed. He told police he’d never seen the instrument that the robber used to cut him. He did manage to retain his bag, however.

Grand Larceny Auto

n/a

MOTORCYCLE STOLEN

COAT THEFT

It’s often risky leaving your motorcycle parked on a street for a single night, much less three weeks. A Gramercy Park man told police on January 8 that his black, 2012 Ducati was stolen sometime between November 25 and December 18 from where he had parked it on Pearl Street. Police searched the neighborhood but couldn’t ﬁnd the heisted bike, which is valued at $12,000.

A young man probably regrets not having checked his coat in a nightclub. At 11 p.m. on Friday, January 12, a 25-year-old man left his a gray Moncler coat, valued at $1,700, on a chair inside Paul’s Casablanca at 305 Spring Street while he went to the restroom. The garment was missing when he returned just ﬁve minutes later.

ACTIVITIES FOR THE FERTILE MIND

thoughtgallery.org NEW YORK CITY

Lecture-Performance: Zach Blas, Metric Mysticism

'RQ·W /HW +HDULQJ /RVV /HDYH <RX 2XW

SATURDAY, JANUARY 27TH, 6PM e-flux | 311 E. Broadway | e-flux.com Artist Zach Blas gives a presentation on “the appropriation of mysticism and magic by Silicon Valley start-ups and governmental surveillance agencies alike.” He’ll look at the crystal ball as a metaphor for information processing, in conjunction with Blas’s first solo show in NYC (free).

Skirball Talks | Insightful Brevity: Media, Fake News, and the New Generation of Informed Citizens

MONDAY, JANUARY 29TH, 6:30PM NYU Skirball Center | 566 LaGuardia Pl. | 212-998-4941 | nyuskirball.org A panel of media luminaries speaks about new patterns of news consumption (shareability trumping the long read) and the Fourth Estate’s changing role as a check and balance (free).

Just Announced | Dan Rather Reﬂects on Patriotism

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8TH, 7PM Temple Emanu-El | 1 E. 65th St. | 888-718-4253 | emanuelnyc.org Dan Rather remains active, a presence on social media (he’s got two million Facebook followers). Find him in conversation on his new book, What Unites Us: Reﬂections on Patriotism, a look at our nation’s ideas and ideals, and what it means to be American ($18, includes book copy).

For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,

+DYLQJ WURXEOH IROORZLQJ FRQYHUVDWLRQV" 'R SHRSOH VHHP WR PXPEOH ZKHQ \RX DUH VSHDNLQJ ZLWK WKHP" ,W PD\ EH WLPH WR JHW \RXU KHDULQJ FKHFNHG

Let us help you! Schedule your appointment during the month of January and receive: )5(( +($5,1* 6&5((1,1* /,9( '(021675$7,21 2) 7+( 1(: :,'(; %(<21' 7(&+12/2*<

8S WR

2))

D SDLU RI SUHPLXP KHDULQJ DLGV 2IIHU H[SLUHV 1/31/18

3$5. $9(18(

&2/80%86 &,5&/(

&+(/6($ 0$5.(7

6&$56'$/(

1036 Park Ave. Ste. 1B (SW Corner of 86th St) New York, NY 10028

426 W. 58th St. Between 9th & 10th Ave. New York, NY 10019

314 W. 14th St. 2nd Floor (b/w 8th & 9th) New York, NY 10014

688-A White Plains Rd. Lord & Taylor Plaza Scarsdale, NY 10583

6SDFH LV OLPLWHG &DOO (888) 471-0544 WRGD\ WR VFKHGXOH \RXU DSSRLQWPHQW ZZZ 0\+HDULQJ([SHUW FRP

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Useful Contacts

Drawing Board

POLICE

BY PETER PEREIRA

NYPD 7th Precinct

19 ½ Pitt St.

212-477-7311

NYPD 6th Precinct

233 W. 10th St.

212-741-4811

NYPD 10th Precinct

230 W. 20th St.

212-741-8211

NYPD 13th Precinct

230 E. 21st St.

NYPD 1st Precinct

16 Ericsson Place

212-477-7411 212-334-0611

FIRE FDNY Engine 15

25 Pitt St.

311

FDNY Engine 24/Ladder 5

227 6th Ave.

311

FDNY Engine 28 Ladder 11

222 E. 2nd St.

311

FDNY Engine 4/Ladder 15

42 South St.

311

ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmember Margaret Chin

165 Park Row #11

Councilmember Rosie Mendez

237 1st Ave. #504

212-587-3159 212-677-1077

Councilmember Corey Johnson

224 W. 30th St.

212-564-7757

State Senator Daniel Squadron

250 Broadway #2011

212-298-5565

Community Board 1

1 Centre St., Room 2202

212-669-7970

Community Board 2

3 Washington Square Village

212-979-2272

Community Board 3

59 E. 4th St.

212-533-5300

Community Board 4

330 W. 42nd St.

212-736-4536

Hudson Park

66 Leroy St.

212-243-6876

Ottendorfer

135 2nd Ave.

212-674-0947

Elmer Holmes Bobst

70 Washington Square

212-998-2500

COMMUNITY BOARDS

LIBRARIES

HOSPITALS New York-Presbyterian

170 William St.

Mount Sinai-Beth Israel

10 Union Square East

212-844-8400

212-312-5110

CON EDISON

4 Irving Place

212-460-4600

TIME WARNER

46 East 23rd

813-964-3839

US Post Office

201 Varick St.

212-645-0327

US Post Office

128 East Broadway

212-267-1543

US Post Office

93 4th Ave.

212-254-1390

POST OFFICES

HOW TO REACH US:

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

212-868-0190 nyoffice@strausnews.com otdowntown.com

Include your full name, address and day and evening telephone numbers for veriﬁcation. Letters that cannot be veriﬁed will not be published. We reserve the right to edit or condense letters for libel, good taste, grammar and punctuation. Submit your letter at otdowntown.com and click submit at the bottom of the page or email it to nyoffice@strausnews.com.

TO SUBSCRIBE: Our Town Downtown is available for free below 23rd Street in select buildings, retail locations and news boxes. To get a copy of downtown neighborhood news mailed to you weekly, you may subscribe to Our Town - Downtowner for just $49 per year. Call 212-868-0190 or go online to StrausNews.com and click on the photo of the paper or mail a check to Straus Media, 20 West Ave., Chester, NY 10918

NEWS ITEMS: To report a news story, call 212-8680190. News releases of general interest must be emailed to our offices by 12noon the Thursday prior to publication to be considered for the following week. Send to news@strausnews.com.

BLOG COMMENTS: We invite comments on stories at otdowntown.com. We do not edit those comments. We urge people to keep the discussion civil and the tone reﬂective of the best we each have to offer.

PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD: Call 212-868-0190. Classiﬁed ads must be in our office by 12pm the Friday before publication, except on holidays. All classiﬁed ads are payable in advance.

PREVIOUS OWNERS: Tom Allon, Isis Ventures, Ed Kayatt, Russ Smith, Bob Trentlyon, Jerry Finkelstein

CALENDAR ITEMS:

ABOUT US

Information for inclusion in the Out and About section should be emailed to hoodhappenings@strausnews.com no later than two weeks before the event.

Our Town Downtown is published weekly by Straus Media-Manhattan, LLC. Please send inquiries to 20 West Ave., Chester, NY 10918.

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

THE LONG ROAD AFTER THE MARCH VIEWPOINT The Women’s March displayed the power of anger manifest in action BY ALIZAH SALARIO

The 2018 Women’s March agenda was “Power to the Polls.” Come November, many women will be laughing all the way to the ballot box in the face of naysayers who scoffed at their pink pussy hats. But don’t be fooled. We’re still angry. It’s estimated that this year’s Women’s March drew more than 200,000 protesters in New York City — about half the number of people in 2017, according to The New York Times. Protesters marched down Central Park West and toward Trump Tower, where they chanted “Unstable! Unfit! Donald Trump is full of shit!” reported the New Yorker. The subways were full of people on the way to and from the march on Saturday; I struck up a conversation with a woman holding a “threaten my existence and you’ll meet my resistance” sign. Last year, she said, she didn’t know there was a march. This year she was pushing friends to attend. I felt buoyed by the easy solidarity I found with strangers on the subway last weekend. But if the 2016 election taught us anything — let’s not forget that 53 percent of white women voted for Trump — it’s that women are not a monolithic voting bloc with a singular agenda, and even those unified in their opposition to Trump are splintered in their focus. Some might see these fissures as the sign of a fraught movement, but the branching and flowering into myriad goals is to me a sign of growth. From

BIKE LANES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 protected lanes — but similar protections for bikers on east-west streets have been slower to materialize. Stretching from the Hudson River Greenway to First Avenue, the 26th and 29th Street bike lanes would be the ﬁrst protected crosstown routes to span nearly the entire width of the island. The city’s move to provide more protections for cyclists travelling on east-west streets was spurred, in part, by a series of recent collisions involving bikers on Manhattan streets without dedicated bike lanes, including the June death of a Citi Bike rider on West 26th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. There were 23 cyclist fatalities in New York City in

generalized resistance to Trump in 2017 spurred by his infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, the 2018 Women’s March had a clear set of objectives and action steps to reach them: getting women to the polls, supporting DREAMers and immigration, building the #MeToo movement. And the movement doesn’t stop with the march. TIME magazine reported that at least 79 women are exploring runs for governor in 2018, potentially doubling a record for female candidates set in 1994, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. What’s more, “to date, 390 women are planning to run for the House of Representatives, a ﬁgure that’s higher than at any point in American history. Twenty-two of them are non-incumbent black women — for scale, there are only 18 black women in the House right now,” wrote New York magazine’s Rebecca Traister. On the local level, “Beyond Suffrage,” a new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, traces women’s political activism from the ﬁght to win the vote to the present day, focusing on how women navigated New York politics — often behind the scenes. The Women’s March helped triggered the current wave of political involvement, but it’s part of a long history of women coming up to the political plate in response to dissatisfaction with those in power, particularly in New York. The Women’s March had its one-year “glow up,” complete with snazzy PR and an online swag shop. It’s easy to forget that critics scoffed at last year’s march, questioning the effectiveness of marching at all. When I attended the march in 2017, like any cynical journalist I too questioned the march’s

agenda, and my own. Was marching smug virtue signaling (reinforced by the obligatory Instagram selfie) to those who already shared my politics? Was it merely a collective conscienceeasing that absolved women like me — white, relatively privileged — from doing the real work of change? I marched because the election results ﬁlled me with a frenetic energy I couldn’t shake, and I feared it might manifest in self-destructive behavior. And, like any journalist who got into the profession because of starry-eyed ideals, I wanted to tell my daughterto-be that (I was pregnant at the time) perhaps I’d been part of history when she’d been part of me. Energized and emboldened, I marched past Grand Central up to Trump Tower. It was then, beneath the sea of knitted pink hats and behind the glittery signs, that I recognized en masse the feeling I’d had since the election: unmitigated, raw anger. “When I walked in the Women’s March in Washington a year ago — one body among thousands — the act of marching didn’t just mean claiming the right to a voice; it meant publicly declaring my resolve to use it,” wrote the novelist and essayist Leslie Jamison in a recent essay on turning anger into accountability. Jamison’s observation echoed my own experience, and we’re two of many women who are using anger to torpedo them to action. Righteous anger has long been seen as the providence of men, expressed in ﬁery speeches, or in some cases, violence and destruction. Women’s anger is often downgraded to a passive emotion like despair, or amplified for frightening impact. How often is the word “feminist” preceded by shrill, strident or humorless? Perhaps, given all that women’s anger has accomplished, the

emotion can adopt a new image, one deﬁned by power and hope. I’m not running for office or launching a movement, but I do feel a renewed call to hold myself accountable — to my own ideals and goals. It’s this personal reckoning that is harder to quantify. For me, and many women I imagine, it’s a private, personal calculation. Data doesn’t capture how many women will follow a dream or leave a toxic partner, start a business or sim-

2017, the highest total since 2007 and the second consecutive year that the number of deaths went up. Key to the DOT’s cyclist safety efforts is the expansion of the city’s network of protected bike lanes, which shield cyclists from passing vehicle traffic with a buffer of parallel street parking, pedestrian crossing islands and other physical barriers. As of last summer, 425 of the city’s 1,133 miles of bike lanes were protected, and the DOT has set a goal of adding 10 new miles of protected lanes each year. According to the DOT, none of the nine cyclist fatalities that occurred in Manhattan in 2017 took place in a protected lane, and injuries on corridors with protected lanes have decreased 20 percent. Both 26th and 29th Streets are currently one-way streets with a single lane of vehicle traffic and curbside

parking on both sides of the street. There is no bike lane on 26th Street, while 29th Street features a painted bike lane that is not separated from vehicle traffic. The planned reconﬁguration would create a new protected bike route along the south curb on each street — eastbound on 26th Street, westbound on 29th Street — separated from vehicle traffic by a parking lane. The change would result in a loss of between two and nine parking spaces on a typical block. According to the DOT, the anticipated budget for installing each new lane is “less than $500,000.” Department officials hope to begin phased implementation by this summer and presented plans to Community Board 4 last week. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer has long championed the im-

plementation of protected crosstown lanes, calling them “a no-brainer and long overdue” in an op-ed in these pages last September. “Last summer’s tragic crashes threw a spotlight on the glaring need for safe, protected crosstown bike routes in mid-Manhattan,” Brewer said in a statement on the announcement of the new lanes. “I’m glad the Department of Transportation has responded and put together a plan, and look forward to hearing the input of the areas’ community boards.” Despite the fact that annual cyclist fatalities have stayed relatively flat over the last decade, ﬂuctuating on a yearly basis from a low of 12 to a high of 24, officials say that bike safety has actually improved considerably when the city’s unprecedented growth in bike ridership is taken into account. Citywide cycling volume increased

Photo: Alec Perkins, via ﬂickr ply say “no” when in instances they long said yes because of the collective anger that made its force known in streets around the world this year, and last. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, especially — as the “daily prayer” meme that’s now printed on tshirts and tote bags says — she’s been granted the conﬁdence of a mediocre white man.

150 percent from 2006 to 2015, while the number of bike commuters in Manhattan nearly doubled from 2010 to 2015. On a per-trip basis, which accounts for the ridership increase, the cyclist fatality rate dropped 71 percent from 2000 to 2015. Along with the changes to 26th and 29th Streets, the city plans to add two more crosstown protected bike lanes further north in Midtown. The DOT has explored 55th Street as the possible site of a westbound lane and 52nd Street for a possible eastbound lane, but the area is still being studied. Last month, the DOT announced that in anticipation of the looming 18-month shutdown of the L train for tunnel repairs in 2019, 13th Street would be reconfigured to include a two-way protected bike lane, the borough’s ﬁrst, running from Avenue C to Ninth Avenue.

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Discover the world around the corner. Find community events, gallery openings, book launches and much more: Go to nycnow.com

EDITOR’S PICK

Everything you like about Our Town Downtown is now available to be delivered to your mailbox every week in the Downtowner From the very local news of your neighborhood to information about upcoming events and activities, the new home delivered edition of the Downtowner will keep you in-the-know.

Sun 28 CRAZY FOR KNISHES Museum at Eldridge Street, 12 Eldridge St. 212-219-0888. eldridgestreet.org Who knew dumplings of doughy goodness could be so controversial? Two immigrant families who opened knish shops right across the street from each other in New York’s Lower East Side back in 1916 sparked a crazy culinary competition — and provided the real-life inspiration for Joanne Oppenheim’s new children’s book, “The Knish War on Rivington Street.” At this special program, Oppenheim will read and sign books, as well as share details about the special role kids played in the knish war. And yes, there will be food — knishes, now an endangered species in New York, from the Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery.

And best of all you won’t have to go outside to grab a copy from the street box every week.

It’s your neighborhood. It’s your news.

Yes! Start my mail subscription to the Downtowner right away! 1-Year Subscription @ $49

Name

________________________________________________

Address _________________________________ Apt. #

________

New York, NY Zip Code __________ Cell Phone _________________ Email Address___________________________________________ Payment by

Check # __________

Money Order

Credit Card

Name on Credit Card (Please Print) ___________________________ Card # _______________________ Exp. Date

____ //____ // ____

Signature of Cardholder ___________________________________

Return Completed Form to: Straus News, 20 West Avenue, Chester, NY, 10918 or go to otdowntown.com & click on Subscribe

Photo by bensonkua, via Flickr

Thu 25 Fri 26 Sat 27 ‘LIKE ME’ SNEAK PREVIEW

▲ BRYANT PARK WINTER FESTIVAL

IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave. 7 p.m. $15 A reckless loner (Addison Timlin) sets out on a crime spree that she broadcasts on social media and amasses a huge following. Robert Mockler’s latest ﬁlm offers commentary about isolation in our increasingly digital world. See the provocative ﬁlm, then attend the Q&A with Mockler and producer Larry Fessenden. 212-924-7771 ifccenter.com

Bryant Park, Sixth Ave. between 40th and 42nd Streets Noon. Free Bundle up and embrace the chill at the this joyful annual winter carnival! Be sure to check out the brewhouse, curling and silent disco, plus new additions like broomball, puppet shows for the kids and much more. Skate rental is $20, and food and beverages will be available. bryantpark.org/programs

SOUTH STREET SEAPORT WALKING TOUR Seaport Museum 12 Fulton St. Noon. $20/$30 Discover the treasures of the South Street Seaport district with historian William Roka on this special guided tour. From a peek inside the upper ﬂoors of Schermerhorn Row to a warehouse built by one of the most famous 19th-century American architects, the buildings at the Seaport tell the story of the rise of New York. 212-566-6700 mas.org/tours

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

YOUR FATHER KEEPS WANDERING AWAY FROM HOME. BUT IT’S YOU WHO FEELS LOST. Sun 28 Mon 29 Tue 30 ▲ FREE YOGA Bloomingdale’s SoHo 504 Broadway 11 a.m. Free Before you shop till you drop, bend so you can mend at this yoga sculpt class held between the racks at Bloomingdale’s SoHo. Boost your metabolism and build lean muscle mass as you move to upbeat music, plus enter for a chance to win one month of unlimited yoga. Bring your mat. eventbrite.com

BROAD COMEDY COMES HOME

DEEPAK CHOPRA: THE HEALING SELF

SoHo Playhouse 15 Vandam St. 7:30 p.m. $35 A riotous and in-your-face all-women troupe, Broad Comedy has been producing provocative and lovable comedy and satire since 2001. Starring Danielle Cohn, Molly Kelleher, Tana Sirois, Carlita Victoria and Katie Goodman, the troupe now has a home at the off-Broadway SoHo Playhouse. Every Monday at 7:30 through March 26. 212-691-1555 sohoplayhouse.com

Great Hall at Cooper Union 7 East Seventh St. 7 p.m. $35 You’ve probably heard about mind over matter, but what about mind in matter? The mind-body connection, the role of our thoughts in healing, and the importance of making the right lifestyle every single day are the themes of “The Healing Self.” Come hear Chopra talk about his fascinating new book. 212-473-1452 strandbooks.com

Wed 31

Photo: Sands Foley Entertainment, via Wikimedia Commons

THE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND RELATED DEMENTIAS FAMILY SUPPORT PROGRAM. Caring for a family member who has trouble with thinking and memory can be extremely challenging. So challenging, in fact, that caregivers may feel overwhelmed, struggling to maintain their own health and well-being. NYU Langone’s Family Support Program provides convenient, personalized, and ongoing support to people caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or other thinking and memory disorders. The program is provided free of charge to individuals living within the ﬁve boroughs. You will receive access to counseling; connections to doctors and support groups; and compassionate guidance by being paired with a caregiver who has had a similar experience.

◄LERA LYNN, LEFT-OF-CENTER AMERICANA

Join a community dedicated to providing the support and guidance you need, for as long as you need it.

City Winery, 155 Varick St. 6 p.m. $18+ Singer-songwriter Lera Lynn brings her twang and twinkle to Manhattan. The multi-instrumentalist juggles many roles on “Resistor,” an album that ﬁnds the Nashville transplant embellishing her Americana roots with a mix of spacey, left-of-center rock and experimental pop-noire. 212-608-0555 citywinery.com/newyork

For more information or to enroll, call us at 646.754.2277 or visit nyulangone.org/memorydisordersupport. The Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Family Support Program is supported by a grant from the New York State Department of Health.

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Voices

Write to us: To share your thoughts and comments go to otdowntown.com and click on submit a letter to the editor.

CIVIL DISCOURSE EAST SIDE OBSERVER BY ARLENE KAYATT

Read back — Would like to share and respond to reader reactions to recent columns: “Comings and Goings.” Inveterate East Sider that I am, a reader called me out for not knowing that Gabriela’s restaurant was on Columbus, not Amsterdam, Avenue. So sorry. Won’t happen again and be assured that I’ll revisit

Gabriela’s on Columbus for their margaritas. Not their bean soup. Can’t ﬁght the small spoon spillage... And a reader, Dr. Loosen, wants to know if there are reasons other than rising rents that are causing empty storefronts. Here’s my short list: higher costs, government regulations, higher wages, developers and hospitals that lust for Manhattan real estate and will pay big, big bucks for the privilege of razing blocks of residential and commercial tenancies so they can build, build, build.

These buildings are fertile ground for massive construction. Like it or not, the age of moms and pops and small independent businesses are passé. Maybe it can be stopped on an ad hoc basis, but IMHO it’s a losing battle... Dr. Loosen also wanted to add, in response to the “Street Seens” column reporting on the classy closing of Hu’s paleo restaurant on East 86th Street, that Hu’s 14th Street location survives because trust fund students can afford it. I’d posit that Hu’s menu and preparations are more in sync with a student population whatever the price. Just saying. From chair to bench — Community Board 8 recently bid farewell to James G. Clynes at Maz Mezcal res-

taurant on East 86th Street. In November, Clynes, who chaired CB8 for the last 3 years and was a member for 12 years, was elected to be a judge in Manhattan Civil Court. He will be inducted on January 25 in the Civil Court House at 111 Centre Street at 4:30 p.m.

It’s 9 p.m. ... no lights — It may be an old wives tale, but it seems to have resonance these days. If you look up at a low-rise building at about 9 p.m. and there’s the glow of maybe one TV flickering with all other windows gone black, it has come to mean that the building is going byebye. Think 79th/80th on First. And now it seems to be the fate of the block — buildings, storefronts — on Third Avenue between 76th/77th

on the east side. The high-end, ever popular Atlantic Grill is shuttered. Bank closed. McCabes liquor store on the 77th Street corner is moving across Third Avenue. Explanation? See “Read back” item above.

Movie comeback — Was glad to see lines and “Sold Out” signs at Cinema 86 for the recent showings of “Phantom Thread,” “I, Tonya” and “Lady Bird.” Made me think that the upcoming demise of Lincoln Plaza on Broadway and the Landmark on East Houston doesn’t mean that there aren’t still moviegoers who like seeing films on a large silver screen in a movie house in addition to watching Netflix films at home and on hand-held devices.

TO MAKE IT IN NYC, STAY UNCOMFORTABLE BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL

Rest in peace, my Angel. Angel Nails, the salon that I’ve gone to for the last 17 years, pushed back its last cuticle on December 31, 2017. Keeping things in perspective, it’s not like my husband abandoned me, yet my initial reaction to the shuttered business would have fooled you. On the Upper East Side, if you’re looking for a mani-pedi all you have to do is throw a rock; nail salons are as ubiquitous as Starbucks and Duane Reade. Yet notice of the closing left me with an oh-no feeling, which is my usual response when a “go-to” suddenly is no more. Frankly, I have no one to blame for my dismay but myself. Options are the name of the game in NYC and not keeping abreast of them defeats the purpose of living in the city where you can get anything at any time. As a native, I should know better, but I allowed myself to fall into the trap many New Yorkers do: we want to feel that we don’t just live in our city, but own it. To prove that we put the word “my” in front of everything — my grocery store, my diner and yes, my manicurist. There’s a certain cachet of “having people.”

Photo: Lorraine Duffy Merkl And then we get comfortable, which leads to being thrown when something as mundane as a bakery moves locations or shuts down completely. My mistake of not broadening my horizons is not limited to neighborhood businesses. I have been a NYC freelancer from way before the gig economy became the norm. Ask any contract worker and they will tell you: it’s either feast or famine, and looking for your

next job is a major part of the job. Many a time, I made the mistake of exhaling during the heady “feast” times, when I had three or four clients consistently feeding me assignments and designating me their de facto writer. I convinced myself I was too busy working to look for more clients. I got — yes, comfortable, and foolishly thought my good fortune would last forever.

The longer the clients enlisted my services, the rustier I got at networking. Naturally panic set in when a client decided they needed new thinking on an account (aka a different writer), fell on hard times and had to keep assignments in-house, or closed their doors. I always managed to pick myself up off the floor, and start cold-calling again, but my pitches would feel less smooth, and the realization would

set in that I’d fallen behind the pack, which can sting. But never was the “comfort zone” more painful than years ago when I was young and single in the city. I prided myself on being a one-man-woman. Why, I don’t know. Perhaps because then like now (so I’m told), dating could be more exhausting than fun. But tying oneself to someone without the promise or even hint that commitment was on the horizon, often (read: always) left me feeling as though I had wasted time with nothing to show for it; and having to begin again with someone new was more daunting then exciting. (“So what high school did you go to?” Ugh.) I guess with age comes, if not wisdom, at least the desire to not keep making the same mistakes. (After a while, that just gets embarrassing.) I decided to use saying goodbye to my go-to salon as the incentive to not tie myself to the same ol’ same ol’, and make 2018 the Year of Living Uncomfortably, trying something/somewhere new and keeping my options open. There’s too much going on in NYC to keep oneself closed off. Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author the novels “Back To Work She Goes” and “Fat Chick,” for which a movie is in the works.

President & Publisher, Jeanne Straus nyoffice@strausnews.com

STRAUS MEDIA your neighborhood news source nyoffice@strausnews.com 212-868-0190

Vice President/CFO Otilia Bertolotti Vice President/CRO Vincent A. Gardino advertising@strausnews.com

Associate Publishers Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth Regional Sales Manager Tania Cade

Account Executives Fred Almonte, David Dallon Director of Partnership Development Barry Lewis

Editor-In-Chief, Alexis Gelber Deputy Editor Richard Khavkine

Senior Reporter Doug Feiden

Director of Digital Pete Pinto

Staff Reporter Michael Garofalo

Director, Arts & Entertainment/ NYCNow Alizah Salario

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

HUNTER’S FIRST RHODES SCHOLAR SPEAKS OUT IMMIGRATION An academic star of Haitian descent responds to Trump’s anti-immigrant remarks BY ILGIN YORULMAZ

Thamara Jean is a regular at Good Shepherd Baptist Church in Brooklyn, where she helps her family at the church all day every Sunday. For the 22-year-old political science major at Hunter College — who in November became the first Hunter student to be awarded the highly-selective Rhodes Scholarship — her family and the Haitian community she belongs to come first. When President Trump recently made derogatory remarks about immigrants from certain countries and singled out Haiti, it hit those like Thamara Jean at the heart: “It intensifies when the insults are so targeted towards a community that you specifically belong to,” she says. “There are people who come to this country who don’t necessarily become doctors, lawyers and engineers,” Jean adds. “They might just be nurses, janitors, and sanitation workers. But those people, who are just dignified, humble, good, tax-paying citizens also deserve just as much as a right and a place in this country as any exceptional immigrant ... ” At Thamara Jean’s church, whose congregation is mostly of West Indian origin, Trump’s comments were not surprising “considering whom they came from” and “given the general continued disappointment with his immigration policies,” Jean says. Instead, the general sentiment among Jean’s strong Haitian community, whom she calls “her extended family,” was one of “focusing on a message of love, about uplifting and supporting the community rather than his hate,” she says calmly. But she also mentions the energizing power of the protests held in New York City and elsewhere immediately after Trump’s remarks. Jean was born in Brooklyn, the youngest of three children. She finished Edward R. Murrow High School in Midwood.

Thamara Jean has been politically engaged at Hunter. Photo courtesy of Thamara Jean Her parents are Haitian immigrants who arrived in the U.S. separately in the 80s and the 90s. Her mother, Grace, is a nurse, and her father, Vital, is the groundskeeper at a synagogue near Prospect Park. Without the resources to own or rent their own building, the church that the Jean family attends borrows space from the synagogue to conduct services. “My family is physically detached from the home they came from, but when you get a large community ... you have the chance to recreate some of your culture here in the city,” Jean says. She herself hasn’t been to Haiti yet, but hopes to go one day. The number of Haitians in the U.S. has reached 676,000 according to the 2015 census. They are primarily issued visas as seasonal workers in agriculture and other industries. Jean’s family has been living the American Dream: Her brother will soon become a physiotherapist. Her sister is with her husband who is serving in the Navy base in Guam. Jean, who has been politically engaged at Hunter, explains that frustration with the current system has always been the main motivation behind her activism and intellectual curiosity. In one of the earlier projects she worked on at Hunter, Generation Citizen, she taught a civics curriculum to youngsters and people who don’t traditionally have access to government, emphasizing the “stakes of getting involved in their local and even national politics” early on to improve

their community on issues like affordable housing. She has also advocated for the Equal Rights Movement. Her startling realization as a political science student that her “identity as a woman isn’t protected under federal law” motivated her to join the movement. Through a campaign, she and other local activists reached out to students outside New York City, in Washington D.C., Arizona and Missisippi. In 2014, at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests across the nation, Jean started noticing the gap between Western political thinking and the philosophy that empowered protesters on the ground. For her junior thesis at Hunter, she asked why “all the qualities that make us American seem to fall short when we came to discussing black citizens.” These days, the Hunter senior has focused her attention on the legal ramifications of another Trump administration decision closely related to her community. The day after she won the Rhodes Scholarship, the Department of Homeland Security announced that along with Sudanese, Yemenis and Salvadorans, nearly 59,000 Haitian immigrants, who were allowed to stay in the U.S. after a massive earthquake hit their country in 2010, would lose their temporary protected status (TPS) in the next 18 months unless they applied for extended residency or left the U.S. “I immediately thought of the kids ... who have spent the majority of their lives in this country,” Jean says. “It’s upsetting to think how many stories like mine are potentially being upended, because now these children are being sent back to a place where ... they may not have the best shot in life.” The prestigious R hodes Scholarship is an international post-graduate award to study at the University of Oxford in England. Thamara’s plan is to study political theory at Oxford, where she will be headed this fall after graduating from Hunter. She may then pursue a Ph.D., depending on the circumstances, and hopes to be politically engaged through a career in politics or the nonproﬁt sector.

Chef Hemant Matur at last year’s Art of Food event

TANDOORI LAMB CHOPS Fine dining restaurant Sahib is bringing its high-end Indian cuisine back to the Art of Food this year. Their acclaimed chef, Hemant Matur--the ﬁrst Indian chef in the U.S. to be awarded a Michelin star--will be creating a unique dish to pair with a piece of artwork at this event, where New York’s art and food scenes become one. Taste incredible dishes by New York’s top chefs, and enjoy the artwork, wine, and spirits that accompany each. To get tickets, visit: www.artoffoodny.com

ART OF FOOD at

Presented by

While we wait to see what Hemant serves up at The Art of Food, he’s sharing a favorite recipe with our readers:

Tandoori Lamb Chops Serving Size: 4

INGREDIENTS: 8 to 10 American lamb rib chops, about 2 pounds, cut 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick 1 cup yogurt, drained in a cheesecloth-lined strainer or coffee filter for 2 to 4 hours 1/4 cup malt vinegar 1 lemon, juiced 8 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced 1 3-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated 1 tbsp garam masala 1 tbsp cumin, toasted 1 tsp ground cardamom 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 1/4 tsp ground mace 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 2 tbsp canola oil 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS: 1. Cut three or four deep slashes in each of the lamb chops, taking care not to cut all the way through the chop. 2. Combine the yogurt, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, garam masala, toasted cumin, cardamom, cayenne pepper, mace, and nutmeg in a gallon-sized reusable plastic bag. Add the lamb chops, then turn to coat them in marinade and refrigerate for four hours or even overnight. 3. Preheat a grill to medium-high heat (you should be able to hold your hand five inches above the grate for no more than three to four seconds). Add the oil to the marinade bag, reseal, and massage the chops to incorporate. 4. Transfer the lamb chops to a baking sheet and let the lamb rest for five minutes. 5. Brush each lamb chop with melted butter and place on Grill until each side is evenly browned, about five more minutes per side, and serve.

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

JANUARY 25-31,2018

HEAVEN AND EARTH ON FIFTH At The Met, a photo reproduction of Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling BY MARY GREGORY

At the 1964 World’s Fair, New York hosted a very special guest. Michelangelo’s Pietà was installed in a specially designed exhibit in Flushing Meadows Park. Thousands lined up to see it. I, a preschooler, holding my mother’s and father’s hands, was among them. A conveyor belt slowly carried us into a pitch-black space that opened into a room where a miracle occurred. Illuminating the darkness was a piece of marble carved by Michelangelo, caressed by spotlights, transformed into something as transcendent and important as the characters it portrayed. My parents, in their wisdom, had prepared me that this was something quite special, more important than any of the other fun and excitement at the World’s Fair. Also in their wisdom, according to my mother, when the conveyor belt deposited us at the exit, we — my mother, father, brother and I — walked right back to the end of the line and saw it again. And again. And again. It remains my ﬁrst clear visual memory, something I can call back to my mind’s eye at will. Also on that line was a young Daniel Weiss, now the president and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “I remember visiting the World’s Fair quite vividly because, after all, it was an exciting thing to visit, but that was the highlight for me — the theater of it but also the object itself,” Weiss said of Michelangelo’s marble sculpture in a 2016 interview. “That was the ﬁrst time I remember a meaningful interaction with art.” Now The Met Fifth Avenue is hosting Michelangelo in an extraordinary exhibit comprising more than 200 works, which Val Castronovo recently detailed in these pages. Whether indebted to that decades-old memory of a prominent New York art lover or independent of it, part of “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer” that deserves its own consideration is the exhibition’s installation. Worth a revisit or visit on its own is an incredible quarter-scaled backlit high-resolution photographic reproduction of Michelangelo’s painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. No book, postcard or device screen can give the feeling of the seemingly miles of masterpiece that stretch across the ceiling, even a downscaled one. It’s stunning, humbling, fascinating and practically close enough to touch.

IF YOU GO WHAT: “Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman & Designer” WHERE: The Met Fifth Avenue, 1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street) WHEN: through February 12 www.metmuseum.org Seven male prophets and five female sibyls (prophetesses from the ancient world who were said to have foretold the birth of Jesus) are depicted on the Sistine ceiling. “Studies for The Libyan Sibyl” is one of The Met’s masterpieces. Photo: Adel Gorgy No, it’s not the real thing. (Reproductions of China’s Terracotta Army have warranted their own museum exhibitions and delighted audiences.) And no, you don’t have the experience of being in the Sistine Chapel. But at the Vatican, you don’t have the ability to look at the detailed drawings Michelangelo used to plot his course across the heavens. Here, we can see The Met’s own exquisite red chalk “Studies for the Libyan Sibyl” sketched by Michelangelo, a nude figure based on a young male model. We can see how the musculature of the model had to be worked out before the artist morphed the figure into a clothed female, dressed in flowing pink and orange robes. And then, there she is, above you, in a full color reproduction on The Met’s ceiling. Michelangelo’s careful consideration of the drapery of fabrics, so important that it deserved its own drawing, devoid of even a hint of a figure, is presented at eye level, inches from the viewer. The finished treatment, again just above, is an extraordinary before/after picture, and can only be seen at The Met. Maybe you’ve been to the Sistine Chapel, but years have dimmed the memory. Maybe you visited before the fresco was cleaned, and it wasn’t the memory was dimmed, but the work itself. Maybe you’re too young, too old, too busy, too broke, or too whatever to get to Rome. You, especially, should see this before it goes away. Sometimes the most miraculous things drop by New York. The Pietà was one. The Met’s installation of a full scale, brilliantly lit, awe-inspiring reproduction of arguably the greatest feat of painting in the Western world is another.

“The Creation and Downfall of Adam and Eve” imagined by Michelangelo, reproduced and presented by The Met. Photo: Adel Gorgy

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Your Neighborhood News Source

BEYOND BROADWAY - DOWNTOWN The #1 online community for NYC theater:

www.show-score.com

NOW PLAYING IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD FROM $55

SWEENEY TODD 648 REVIEWS ENDS MAY 27

FROM $39

FROM $31

JOSEPHINE: A BURLESQUE CABARET DREAM PLAY

UNTIL THE FLOOD 11 REVIEWS ENDS FEB 18

41 REVIEWS ENDS FEB 11

85 This immersive pie-shop staging of Sondheim’s iconic musical stars Tony nominee Carolee Carmello.

This solo show explores the life of international superstar Josephine Baker through theater, song, and burlesque.

Written in response to Michael Brown’s death, Dael Orlandersmith plays many faces and voices to build a mosaic of life in St. Louis.

BARROW STREET THEATER - 27 BARROW STREET

SOHO PLAYHOUSE - 15 VANDAM ST

RATTLESTICK THEATER - 224 WAVERLY PLACE

WHAT’S TRENDING ACROSS NYC

COMING SOON

FROM $55

FROM $39

HINDLE WAKES

[PORTO] PREVIEWS START JAN 28

54 REVIEWS ENDS FEB 17

A surreal play about the patrons of a local bar in a gentrifying neighborhood where a regular’s routine is disrupted by a handsome stranger.

MCGINN/CAZALE THEATER, 4TH FLR - 2162 BROADWAY

Stanley Houghton’s slyly comic effervescent 1910 morality tale returns to NYC for the ﬁrst time in 95 years.

FROM $30

THEATER ROW / CLURMAN THEATER - 410 W 42ND ST

EDWARD ALBEE’S AT HOME AT THE ZOO

FROM $39

PREVIEWS START JAN 30

CRUEL INTENTIONS

A revision of Albee’s two-act drama ‘The Zoo Story,’ from 1959. Starring Tony Award-winners Katie Finneran and Robert Sean Leonard.

88 REVIEWS ENDS FEB 19

PERSHING SQUARE SIGNATURE CENTER - 480 W 42ND ST.

80 FROM $49

A jukebox musical based on the classic ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses,’ and the sexy 90s teen drama.

AMY AND THE ORPHANS

LE POISSON ROUGE - 158 BLEECKER STREET

Three siblings reunite for a road trip after their father’s death. Why is Amy, who has Down syndrome, the only one of them who knows her own mind?

PREVIEWS START FEB 1

FROM $51

LAURA PELS THEATER - 111 W 46TH ST

FRIENDS! THE MUSICAL PARODY 150 REVIEWS ENDS MAR 31

FROM $35

HEY, LOOK ME OVER

OPENS FEB 7

Encores! kicks off its 25th season with a review of gems they have not yet revived. Featuring an all star cast: Bebe Neuwirth, Vanessa Williams, and more...

A new unauthorized musical parody of the beloved sitcom about the antics of six young New Yorkers. ST LUKE’S THEATER - 308 W 46TH ST

NEW YORK CITY CENTER - 131 W 55TH ST

Content provided by

KEY:

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

2018

HOW SUMMER CAMP MADE ME WHO I AM Conquering Mount Katahdin and other obstacles BY CAROLINE ROTHSTEIN

Caroline Rothstein at Camp Walden in 1997. Photo: Courtesy of Caroline Rothstein

When I was 15 years old, I hiked the top of the Appalachian Trail. It was my last summer as a camper at sleepaway camp and the oldest age group always climbed Mount Katahdin in Maine. As my bunkmates and I ascended into the sky bearing our bulky late1990s frame-packs. I began experiencing horrible cramps. I had an ulcer in my stomach, and a bruise at the base of my esophagus. It was the result of bulimia, which I’d developed just before heading to camp two summers prior. I’d had an eating disorder since I was 11. I asked the counselors if we could stop. The weight of my pack made the pain unbearable. And the weight of my perfectionism made reaching the top of Katahdin a non-negotiable goal, even though I’d bailed midway through our practice hike a few weeks

earlier and descended with one of my counselors before making it to the top with everyone else. The counselors had us pause. My bunkmates and me had sorted a week’s worth of food and cooking supplies among ourselves, and they redistributed my load amongst themselves. They lightened my load. We hiked onward. I got to touch the sky. Of the myriad meaningful stories I accumulated throughout my nine, 8-week summers at sleepaway camp — five as a camper and four as a counselor — from the countless lifealtering moments and experiences that shaped who I am, this moment has always struck me as the epitome. Not only did my bunkmates physically lighten my load that summer day in 1998, they also have been metaphorically lightening my load ever since. I went to a predominantly all-girls camp in Denmark, Maine — Camp Walden, founded in 1916. My mom was a camper in the 1960s. My dad, too, had gone to camp. My sister was a camper in the 2000s while I was

Caroline (left) with her sister Natalie at Camp Walden in 2004. Photo: Courtesy of Caroline Rothstein

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

N U F E R R E H E S M T R M A T U S S Siblings at Walden. Caroline Rothstein (left) as a counselor, with her sister Natalie as a camper and their brother Josh on visiting day in 2002. Photo: Courtesy of Caroline Rothstein a counselor. She went on to become head counselor for many years. My brother went to camp. My aunts and uncles and cousins on both sides all went to camp. And we all went to day camp before shuttling off for two months every summer with stuffed duffel bags and shower buckets and all the other requisites. Camp is part of my blood. It was inevitable I would go, but it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t inevitable that it would shape my life. Camp is not an untainted white picket fence of peace and love. Kids get homesick. Not everyone experiences unmitigated bliss, either at the time or, through nostalgiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lens, retrospectively. I know plenty of kids who got bullied and picked on at camp â&#x20AC;&#x201D; both at mine and elsewhere. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a guaranteed safe space. But I also think camp gives us a better shot at learning how to navigate the best innate human kindness has to offer, beyond the potentially challenging dynamics of school or family or the outside world. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an intentional, intimate space. I also know I am one of many people for whom sleepaway camp was a formative experience. Camps come in all shapes and forms. I happened to go to a private camp â&#x20AC;&#x201D; albeit one of the most rustic of its kind: It had no electricity or hot water in the cabins, and only screens for windows rather than glass â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which I recognize was a particular privilege allotted to me in how camp shaped my life. Still, there are countless accessible and affordable options for camps around the country â&#x20AC;&#x201D; arts-focused, religious, non-

proďŹ t and scholarship-based. And still, I count not only the relationships I built at camp, but also how I learned to build all relationships in my life as the greatest privilege I gained from camp. In both middle and high school, I always distinguished between my â&#x20AC;&#x153;camp friendsâ&#x20AC;? and my â&#x20AC;&#x153;home friends.â&#x20AC;? Then I got to college and realized I made new friendships that felt like my friendships at camp, and that even my friendships from growing up felt like camp friendships too. I realized that because of how I learned to build relationships at camp â&#x20AC;&#x201D; friendships rooted in lightening one anotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s metaphorical loads â&#x20AC;&#x201D; every relationship in my life feels like camp. In fact, my whole life feels like the sacredness of what I

used to only touch for eight epic weeks among the pines trees of Maine. I even credit the self-esteem and conďŹ dence I built at camp with what later became the infrastructure for my ultimate recovery from that eating disorder. Camp was my playground for discovering my core; my strengths and my vulnerabilities; my weaknesses and my fears; my nuances and my quirks; my indefatigable zest for friendship and life. Even now, in my mid-30s, camp is still my lifeline to myself. It is nothing short of the honest truth when I say that everyone should go to camp. Living with people at a young age and developing into a teenager who understands how to lighten a peerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s load can undoubtedly change the world.

EARLY BIRD PRICING Register by May 18 & Save!

CHELSEA PIERS SUMMER CAMPS The Areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Best Youth Sports Day Camps For Ages 3 - 17 Years # # " " # # " # # " # ! chelseapiers.com/camps

Caroline (left) and her Camp Walden bunkmates at the top of Mount Katahdin in 1998. Photo: Courtesy of Caroline Rothstein

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

A Premier Day Camp for Boys and Girls LOCATED IN NEARBY ROCKLAND COUNTY, JUST 30 MINUTES FROM THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE

A UNIQUE CAMP EXPERIENCE for Boys & Girls, Ages 3-15

t t t t t t

+VOJPS $IBNQT "HFT t (JSMT 4JEF 4QJSJU "HFT #PZT 4JEF 1SJEF "HFT t UI (SBEF -FBEFSTIJQ 1SPHSBN 0QUJPOBM 5SBJM #MB[FST 5SJQ 1SPHSBN "HFT %PPS UP %PPS 5SBOTQPSUBUJPO t "FSJBM "EWFOUVSF 1SPHSBN *OTUSVDUJPOBM BOE (FOFSBM 4XJN JO )FBUFE 1PPMT 4QPSUT "SUT $VMUVSBM "DUJWJUJFT 4QFDJBM &WFOUT and More!

Experiences and relationships developed within a camp setting can be useful, even requisite, preparation for success elsewhere. Pictured, North Charleston, S.C., Summer Camp. Photo: Ryan Johnson, via ďŹ&#x201A;ickr

EQUIPMENT FOR LIVING At camp, cultivating essential interpersonal skills BY THOMAS WIENER

To say that expectations and pressures for high school students have increased is an understatement. The competition to get into the best univer-

DAY CAMP IN THE PARK

Discover the Magic of Camp Ramaquois!

(845) 354-1600 WWW.RAMAQUOIS.COM 30 MOUNTAIN ROAD, POMONA, NEW YORK 10970

Is an ACA award winning day camp celebrating serving campers ages 4-15 for 40 years! Located on over 1000 acres on a protected nature site right on majestic Lake Tiorati in Rockland County. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve created every camperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paradise for our children of every interest to learn skills, be safe, and have fun! With over 100 activities including Swimming, Archery, Dance, Arts & Crafts, Kickball, Skateboarding, Ceramics, Soccer, Music, Basketball, Climbing Wall, Woodworking, Softball, Batting Cages, Tennis, plus a fully certiďŹ ed Nature and Hiking program. Our campers play and make friends in our incredible forest setting featuring swimming twice every day in both our lakefront swimming dock and waterpark or in our massive in-ground heated pool, plus over 25 indoor cabins, and a boating center with over 50 boats! CertiďŹ ed teachers lead every group and we include door-to-door A/C transportation almost anywhere in Rockland, Bergen, Westchester, Orange, and Manhattan. Only 30 minutes from the GWB on the Palisades Parkway.

sities dominates the minds of teenagers and parents alike, with colleges seemingly ever more selective. This shift has put renewed emphasis on augmenting adolescent learning experiences. For most people, learning conjures up images of classrooms. But there are other important categories as well. A less obvious one can occur during the summer through â&#x20AC;&#x153;experiential learning,â&#x20AC;? which includes gaining skills and understanding through organic, hands-on exposure. During my last six summers, such learning has come primarily from my time at camp, as both a camper and teen leader. Spending up to seven weeks with my fellow campers has allowed me to foster skills â&#x20AC;&#x201D; some seemingly basic but essential â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as well as qualities of character that would probably not have developed in the classroom. Most importantly, what I have gained from these experiences has also enabled me to ďŹ nd success elsewhere. This past summer, in addition to returning to camp, I chose to embark on foreign study, participating in a four-week

JANUARY 25-31,2018 language program in Rennes, France. During this “School Year Abroad” (SYA), I stayed with a host family while taking language classes and exploring the culture of northwestern France. My friends and family were as excited as I was about this new adventure. They asked if I was nervous, thinking it might be scary to jump into the unknown, far away from home and not knowing a single person. Actually, I wasn’t worried at all. Except for possibly making a fool of myself by crashing into the language barrier with my ninth-grade, subpar-at-best French, I had done this before. Indeed, the skills that I had acquired over my ﬁve years at camp became some of my most valuable assets during my journey in France. Living at camp had forced me to interact and build relationships with others face-toface, not just on one side of a phone or computer screen. I learned how to create strong, healthy, and close friendships. From eating meals together to teaching kids tennis with fellow junior counselors, I connected with campers of different ages and genders. At SYA, despite being one of only seven boys in the 33-student program — as well as one of the youngest — I was easily able to break through age and gender gaps. I brought people together, even those who were shy initially. At camp, I had met kids and adults from differing backgrounds within the US and abroad. I developed a keener awareness of cultural dissimilarities and learned how to handle such barriers, whether they were eating habits, hygiene regimens, or fashion choices. Of course, constant close contact with peers can lead to problems along the way, such

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com as conﬂict over personal space or sharing. While such seemingly minor issues are typically avoidable in the classroom, in cabins campers must confront and resolve them. The greatest challenges I faced while abroad, however, often came from within. Selfmanagement was the makeor-break task of a successful experience in Rennes. My ability to take care of myself did not magically coalesce on the plane to France; much of it came from summers of understanding that my freedom away from home necessitated my completing tasks without regular reminders or aid. I’ve realized that a healthy dose of responsibility early on goes a long way toward independence down the road. Taking responsibility for myself as well as for my requirements and personal goals as a junior counselor had instilled in me the same positive habits that enabled me to manage both my daily 40-minute, two-bus commute and my progress with the French language. At camp I also experienced a culture of leadership among the junior counselors and gained essential values from that. These values have made me an asset, rather than simply a guest or participant, in other programs. In fact, the more I spoke of my time abroad, the more compelling a connection I saw between my learning experiences at camp and those in France. Last fall I began yet another new life chapter, starting my ﬁrst year at Phillips Academy

Andover. The same challenges I faced at camp and in France awaited me there. But I knew that my last six summers had equipped me with the skills, conﬁdence, and character not only to survive, but also to thrive at Andover. At camp, I had found a preparation for life. Thomas Wiener is a sophomore at Phillips Academy Andover, in Massachusetts, where he plays soccer and tennis. A native of Greenwich, Connecticut, Thomas is a member of the teen leadership program at Cape Cod Sea Camps and, last summer, also participated in an educational exchange program in France. He enjoys volunteering and working for tutoring and after-school programs for younger students in the Andover area. Originally published in Camping Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the American Camp Association. ©2017, American Camping Association, Inc. The American Camp Association® (ACA) is a national organization with more than 11,000 individual members and 3,000 member camps. ACA is committed to collaborating with those who believe in quality camp and outdoor experiences for children, youth, and adults. ACA provides advocacy and evidence-based education and professional development, and is the only national accrediting body for the organized camp experience. ACA accredits approximately 2,400 diverse camps nationally. Accreditation provides public evidence of a camp’s voluntary commitment to the health, safety, and overall well-being of both campers and staff. For more information, visit www. ACAcamps.org.

CAMP RAMAQUOIS CAMP RAMAQUOIS, “A day camp as complete as sleep-away camp”, situated on 44 magnificent acres in nearby Rockland County. From adventurous activities to creative arts to athletic activities, boys & girls, ages 3-15 experience a traditional day camp program filled with a variety of stimulating activities. Facilities include an air-conditioned indoor gym, group bunks with bathroom facilities, a 5-acre crystalline lake, 9 heated swimming pools, a splash park, an aerial adventure park, tennis, basketball, pickleball & volleyball courts, hockey rinks, ball fields, a soccer field, a soccer rink, nature facility with petting zoo, special events & much more. Seven period programs planned for each age group. Junior Camp for 3-6 year olds has a separate campus with age-appropriate activities and facilities. Ramaquois offers our preteens and teens a regular camp program in combination with an optional personal choice travel program. Day trips planned for 3rd–10th graders; overnight trips planned for 5th-10th graders. 10th Grade Leadership Program. Hot lunch (nut aware) served in our air-conditioned dining room. Door to door air-conditioned mini-bus transportation provided using professional school bus drivers; a bus counselor provides safety, as well as planned activities on the bus. Ramaquois is a magical camp where children experience a sense of adventure, meet new challenges, create wonderful memories and make lasting friendships. Visit us at www.ramaquois.com or call 845-354-1600 to schedule a personal tour.

COOKING CAMP July 9-13 July 16-20 July 23-27 July 30-August 3 August 6-10 August 13-17

PASTRY CAMP July 30-August 3 August 6-10 August 13-17

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

PREPARING STEWARDS OF THE OUTDOORS In Indiana, combating a “nature deficit disorder,” and winning BY JOYCE RUSSELL

PORTER, IND. — Just more than 20 years ago, Lee Botts and a group of environmental-

ists dreamed of a place where children could learn and gain respect for the unique ecosystem that is northwest Indiana. “The future depends on the kids,” said Botts, who now lives in Oak Park, Illinois. “We wanted to ﬁnd a way to make them good stewards of the Indiana Dunes for the rest of their lives

CHELSEA PIERS SUMMER SPORTS CAMP Chelsea Piers is home to multiple specialty sports camps for children and teens ages 3 to 17. For the past 22 summers, campers have enjoyed worldclass facilities, expert instruction and the most exciting sports curriculum available - without leaving Manhattan! Full-day Camps include: Sports Academy, Elite Soccer, Basketball, Gymnastics, Golf, Performance Golf, Ice Hockey, Ice Skating, Acceleration Hockey, Ninja & Parkour and Urban Adventure for teens. Chelsea Piers also offers Preschool and Junior camps in gymnastics, ice hockey and ice skating. Children are grouped by age and ability to maximize learning and focus on individual skill development. In addition, each camp features a daily recreational period that gives campers a well-rounded sports education. Aftercare and bus transportation serving major neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn are available for full-day campers. Summer Camps run from June 18 - August 31. Early Bird pricing available through May 18. Register Today! www.chelseapiers.com/camp

Asphalt Green Summer Day Camp builds character, confidence, and community. When you are part of Asphalt Green Summer Day Camp, you are part of something special. Our core camp values — community, empathy, independence, energy, respect, and confidence — are focal points of every activity, creating a safe space for children to learn and grow. Whether playing sports, doing arts and crafts, or swimming, we encourage campers to be mindful of their actions. Children take the life lessons they learn at camp and apply them to school, sports, and social settings. Each week we focus on a specific value, bringing all of the principles together on the final week of camp.

and to get kids outdoors more.” Botts, now retired Indiana University Northwest professor Mark Reshkin, and then superintendent of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Dale Engquist, wanted a place where youngsters not only could get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine but become good stewards of the land. That place, Dunes Learning Center, was authorized by the U.S. Congress in 1997 when U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, who represents Indiana’s First Congressional District, and former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar coauthored legislation that earmarked $1 million for the camp. It opened in October 1998. Since that time, Dunes Learning Center has taught more than 100,000 youngsters, in grades four through 12, about the uniqueness of the Indiana Dunes. Students from the nearby, Chicago and as far as central Indiana and southwest Michigan have come to hike the dunes, spend the night in cabins and leave with a greater appreciation of their environment, Executive Director Geof Benson said. The camp is on the site of the former Good Fellow Youth Camp, which had operated as a summer camp by U.S. Steel from 1941 to 1975. The camp on Howe Road was

At Dunes Learning Center, students learn from hands-on experiences, grow to appreciate the environment and take action as the stewards of tomorrow. During the 2016-17 school year, the center helped 12,001 students connect classroom lessons with the natural world. Photo: Dunes Learning Center staff purchased then by the National Park Service and became part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The mammoth lodge and outbuildings laid shuttered until 1997, when the learning center was authorized. National Park Service workers and volunteers went to work to begin restoring the camp. The former staff quarters became administrative of-

Just 25 miles from the GWB, Spring Lake Day Camp of Ringwood, NJ is the place to be. Our 30 acre campus is a kid’s paradise offering a well balanced swim, sports and arts program. Our unique day camp experience offers a 5 acre lake for boating and ﬁshing, heated pools with water slides, awesome athletic ﬁelds, adventure ropes, shade and plenty of indoor facilities for rainy day events. Catered lunch, door to door air-conditioned mini-bus transportation, and uniform shirts included. We are the perfect choice for Manhattan campers. We are not just a camp, we are family. SLDC is single family owned & operated since 1989 by Mitchell & Michelle Kessler who reside on the UWS. We are proud to be celebrating our 30th Anniversary! Every Child deserves a SLDC Summer.

ﬁces. Ten new cabins and a new lodge were constructed. “It truly was a community effort,” Botts said on the development of the learning center, adding she isn’t surprised by its two decades of success.

Education is key One of the first tasks of the new learning center was to develop curriculum. They de-

veloped or adopted programs such as Frog in the Bog, Dunes Versity and Dunes Scope for different levels of students. They also adopted Mighty Acorns and Calumet is My Back Yard outreach programs. The center isn’t only for students. Staff offer a variety of programs for all family members and for educators. Westville High School environmental science and agriculture teacher Bill Smith has been bringing youngsters to the camp since it opened. “It makes the classroom come alive,” Smith said. “We are fighting a nature deficit disorder. Kids have gotten away from being outdoors.” Smith said his students sometimes go out for the day, sometimes overnight. They’ve helped raise the chickens reintroduced to Chellberg Farm and are participating in a University of Massachusetts maple sugar study to determine if maple trees are migrating northward. They participate in the CIMBY program and visit Red Mill County Park in LaPorte County with staff from the learning center to learn of the land’s stewardship needs. Portage Township Schools Assistant Superintendent Debra Dudek said Portage has had students participate since the beginning.

In its long-time home on West 89th Street, the Ballet Hispánico School of Dance has been impacting young lives for almost 50 years. With an eclectic curriculum of classical ballet, Spanish Dance, and contemporary forms, the School creates a nurturing family atmosphere centered on the joy of dance. With year-round programs for dancers of all ages, Ballet Hispánico gives students a passport to discovering Latino cultures through dance. Their summer camp programs are a wonderful example of this. “This year, in Los Explorers (ages 3-5), campers will have fun moving their way through the varied and diverse dances, songs, artwork, and landscapes, traveling through Mexico, Spain, and the Caribbean,” said Michelle Manzanales, director of the School of Dance. “Older campers, Los Adventurers (ages 6-8), add to their experience with an introduction to ballet and ﬂamenco. The perfect adventure for both boys and girls, all week-long camps culminate in an invitation for loved ones to see the beautiful crafts created by the children, watch the dances they have learned, and celebrate their accomplishments.” 167 W 89th St, New York, NY 10024 (212) 362-6710 ballethispanico.org

JANUARY 25-31,2018 Local students, she said, often take the Indiana Dunes and its unique ecosystem for granted. Getting them outdoors helps them learn about the special place they live. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gone hiking and snowshoeing and spent the night at the center. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The experience for the kids is very rich. They become better stewards of their environment, and this becomes one of their favorite activities and a lasting memory,â&#x20AC;? she said.

Other beneďŹ ts â&#x20AC;&#x153;The trend is that kids are spending more time inside today then ever before. On average, they spend about seven minutes a day outside,â&#x20AC;? Benson said. Today, some schools donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even offer recess time, the centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s director said. In a way, he said, the learning center experience reintroduces them to the outdoors. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is even more relevant that they get more excited about being outdoors,â&#x20AC;? Benson said. Center marketing and development manager Michelle Krueger said the experience is even more important with the growing concerns about childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Kids need to get outside,â&#x20AC;? she said.

How it works The learning center is a nonprofit organization, Benson said, and operates on a $1.2 million annual budget. It is overseen by a 20-member volunteer board of directors. Funding for the center, which operates year-round, comes

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com from grants, corporate sponsors and individual donations, he said. The center employs 25 to 44 people, depending on the time of the year. They house, feed, pay and train 10 naturalists, usually recent college graduates. They also employ 10 counselors, a director of education, three outreach educators, a chief naturalist, food service director and multiple part-time food service workers. The food service workers serve some 25,000 meals a year, Benson said. Unlike other local eateries, they are inspected by the U.S. Marine Corps because the learning center is housed on federal property. Benson said each of the schools that sends students receives some sort of ďŹ nancial support. The center itself provides $62,000 in residential program scholarships and $77,000 in summer camperships. Benson said that after nearly 20 years of operations, there is talk of expansion. Booking schools and campers, he said, is like playing Tetris at times, trying to ďŹ t in all the requests. He said they hope to add facilities soon to accommodate additional campers, and are looking to get larger buses to transport campers to various sites in the Indiana Dunes. Benson said they will continue to look at additional donations and securing grants to fund future plans. The (Northwest Indiana) Times

The Cathedral Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Summer STEAM Camp The Cathedral Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s summer STEAM Camp combines immersion in the ďŹ elds of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math with classic summer camp activities for 5-12 year olds. Our STEAM Camp encourages collaborative problem-solving, critical thinking, risk-taking and perseverance through project-based learning. From ďŹ eld trips to summertime carnivals, our campersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; days are ďŹ lled with fun. Cathedralâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s STEAM camp takes advantage of the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s state-of-theart classrooms, talented faculty, and dedicated young Cathedral alumni counselors. Every afternoon campers will enjoy activities led by The Cathedral Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Athletic Director and PE teachers on our 13-acre campus or in the surrounding parks and playgrounds.

SIX WEEKS OF STEAM FUN Sign up for one â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or all six â&#x20AC;&#x201C; of our terriďŹ c STEAM weeks: t -JWJOH (SFFO XJUI 45&". VSCBO TVTUBJOBCJMJUZ UISPVHI TDJFODF t 5IF 1PXFS PG ) XBUFS XBUFS FWFSZXIFSF t $JSDVJU $JSDVT DPNQVUFS DPEJOH DJSDVJUSZ BOE HBNF EFTJHO t #FZPOE 3 % PVS WFSZ QPQVMBS SPCPUJDT XFFL t #MPDL CZ #MPDL CVJMEJOH UFTUJOH BOE DSFBUJOH BT FOHJOFFST t 'FFM UIF 3IZUIN 'FFM UIF 7JCF DSFBUJOH FMFDUSPOJD NVTJD BOE TPOHXSJUJOH Sign up today at cathedralnyc.org. For more information, contact Camp Director Emmanuel Saldana at steamcamp@cathedralnyc.org

Based within Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, Dunes Learning Center is surrounded by scenic trails, historic sites and one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world. For many students, their overnight camp experience is often their ďŹ rst time away from home, ďŹ rst hike in the woods, ďŹ rst encounter with animals in the wild, ďŹ rst exposure to Lake Michigan, ďŹ rst sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;more by a campďŹ re and ďŹ rst time identifying constellations in the night sky. Photo: Dunes Learning Center staff

New programs are being developed at Dunes Learning Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;newestâ&#x20AC;? campus, Chellberg Farm, where live animals and a historic working farm from the turn of the 20th century are the backdrop for contemporary lessons in food, health, community and agriculture. Photo: Dunes Learning Center staff

Know an aspiring young chef who loves to experiment in the kitchen, cooks family dinners, and never misses an episode of MasterChef Junior? International Culinary Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s week-long summer Cooking Camp and Pastry Camp for Teens are the place for them to be! Designed for students 13-18 years old, Teen Camp builds conďŹ dence and skills in the kitchen while learning from the same ICC Chef-Instructors who teach our professional students. No prior experience is required â&#x20AC;&#x201C; even if theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never cracked an egg before, students will gain the culinary techniques and sweet skills to impress foodie friends and family! Teen Camps begin in July and run each week from Monday through Friday, 9:30am-2:30pm. Register today to begin their training where Food Network star Bobby Flay and MasterChef judge Christina Tosi earned their culinary chops. Visit culinarycenter.com/teencamp to learn more. International Culinary Center 462 Broadway, New York, NY 10013 888.324.2433 | info@culinarycenter.com

Goddard Riverside 4 Summer Day Camps at Goddard Riverside meet familiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; need for high quality, low-cost youth programming for their 4 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 14 year old children. The comprehensive nature of services and long-term involvement with many of our families sets us apart from other area day camp providers. All programs offer activities which engage youthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s imaginations, develop literacy, promote STEM learning, build physical strength and coordination, and foster interpersonal skills.Each program also has its unique offerings and one of the camps is a specialty Performing Arts Camp. Full and half summer sessions are available. Camp hours are 9am-5pm, with early drop off at 8am and late pick up until 6pm. Breakfast and lunch included. To register & learn more about speciďŹ c camps, visit www.goddard.org; call 212-799-9400, or go to site: Bernie Wohl Center - 647 Columbus Ave Beacon Program - 154 W 93 Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center - 250 W 65 Performing Arts Camp - 647 Columbus Ave

Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts is the preeminent arts day camp in greater NYC. With more than 100 classes and over 1,500 students each summer, Usdan guides every camper on a path of individual and creative growth, with the help of a team of artists and talented arts educators. The Usdan approach is distinctively interactive and hands-on, rooted in a balance between creative process, artistic practice, and craft on the one hand, and ďŹ nal product and performance on the other. Programs allow students to dive deeply into a single discipline while also exploring across multiple disciplines. Advanced students have abundant opportunities to deepen their craft alongside distinguished, professional artists. Come and see Usdan for yourself! For more information on scheduling a campus tour or attending an open house, please visit Usdan.org, or call to speak with us at 1-855-894-CAMP.

Enter promo code CAMP to save $100 on enrollment.

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

local news in print & online is still here providing neighborhood news that matters to you. Sign up for our e-newsletter @ otdowntown.com Want a copy in print? Call 212 868 0190 â&#x2013;

â&#x2013;

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

BUILDING CHARACTER. CONFIDENCE, AND COMMUNITY Ages 4 1/2 - 15 | JUNE 27 - AUGUST 17 REGISTER TODAY AT ASPHALTGREEN.ORG/CAMP

Upper East Side

Battery Park City

555 E. 90th St.

212 North End Ave.

/asphaltgrn

@agkidsnyc

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

RESTAURANT INSPECTION RATINGS

Le Turtle

177 Chrystie St

American Cut

363 Greenwich Street A

Cafe Hong Kong

51 Bayard St

Grade Pending (36) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked ﬁsh and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food prepared from ingredients at ambient temperature not cooled to 41º F or below within 4 hours. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Davey’s Ice Cream

261-267 Canal St

Coco Fresh Tea And Juice

79A Mott St

Not Yet Graded (30) No facilities available to wash, rinse and sanitize utensils and/or equipment.

Gogo Rock

64A Bayard St

Great N.Y. Noodletown

28 Bowery

CLOSED (116) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked ﬁsh and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan. Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Live animals other than ﬁsh in tank or service animal present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food contact surface improperly constructed or located. Unacceptable material used. Insufficient or no refrigerated or hot holding equipment to keep potentially hazardous foods at required temperatures. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Beach Street Eatery

57 Beach Street

Baz Bagel And Restaurant

181 Grand St

Mamam

239 Centre St

Grade Pending (2)

Kabab Bites

369 Broome St

Grade Pending (43) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked ﬁsh and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours. Food Protection Certiﬁcate not held by supervisor of food operations. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service. Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.

Chiu Hong Bakery

161 Mott Street

Grade Pending (21) Food from unapproved or unknown source or home canned. Reduced oxygen packaged (ROP) ﬁsh not frozen before processing; or ROP foods prepared on premises transported to another site. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

Starbucks

150 Varick Street

H.K Wonton Garden

79 Mulberry Street

Mika Japanese Cuisine & Bar

150 Centre Street

Grade Pending (20) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked ﬁsh and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

JAN 10 - 16, 2017 The following listings were collected from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s website and include the most recent inspection and grade reports listed. We have included every restaurant listed during this time within the zip codes of our neighborhoods. Some reports list numbers with their explanations; these are the number of violation points a restaurant has received. To see more information on restaurant grades, visit www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/services/restaurant-inspection.shtml.

Little Poland Restaurant

200 2nd Ave

Drunken Dumpling

137 1st Ave

Ootoya

41 E 11th St

Kellogg’s NYC

31 E 17th St

Not Yet Graded (28) Food from unapproved or unknown source or home canned. Reduced oxygen packaged (ROP) ﬁsh not frozen before processing; or ROP foods prepared on premises transported to another site. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Frank

88 2 Avenue

25 Avenue A

Minca Ramen Factory

536 East 5 Street

Mr Bing St Marks

115 Saint Marks Pl

F & M 99 Cents Pizza

153 Avenue C

Not Yet Graded (30) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Horus Kabab House

93 Avenue B

Grade Pending

Sophie’s

507 East 5 Street

The Spotted Owl

211 Avenue A

Fifty

50 Commerce St

Nourish Kitchen + Table

95 Greenwich Avenue

CLOSED (59) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food not cooled by an approved method whereby the internal product temperature is reduced from 140º F to 70º F or less within 2 hours, and from 70º F to 41º F or less within 4 additional hours. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Black Stone Coffee Roasters

502 Hudson St

Not Yet Graded (21) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked ﬁsh and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Evidence of mice or live mice present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.

Da Falafel Guys

127 Rivington St

Grade Pending (12) Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.

Tiny’s Giant Sandwich Shop

129 Rivington Street

Grade Pending (18) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked ﬁsh and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation. Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.

Grade Pending (26) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F. Food Protection Certiﬁcate not held by supervisor of food operations. Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment.

Osaka Grub

120 Essex St

Old Man Hustle

39 Essex St

Excuse My French

96 Orchard St

Vivi Bubble Tea

183 Hester St

Butcher Bar

146 Orchard St

Ten Ren’s Tea Time

73 Mott St

Weather Up

159 Duane Street

City Vineyard

233 West St

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

TRADITIONAL GNOCCI

Art of Food alum chef Stefano Marracino is bringing his love for authentic Italian cuisine back to The Art of Food again this year on Feb 10. At the event, he’ll be serving up a unique dish based on a piece of contemporary artwork curated by Sotheby’s. While we wait to see what he’s serving up for the exclusive event, Stefano is sharing one of his favorite recipes with our readers: potato gnocci. “The beauty is in the simplicity,” says Marracino.

ART OF FOOD at

Presented by

Birthday cake for Ruth Katz. Photo: Deborah Fenker

CENTENARIAN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 UConn women play when one of her grandkids invites her. But only live: the televised version is lost on her (“Just a bunch of people running back and forth”). Her interest in sports originated in her youth. While measuring just 5’1” at her tallest (she’s pretty sure she’s shrunk an inch), Katz loved playing both high school and college ball. In 1935, 5’1” wasn’t so tiny — the tallest girl on her team “was five-six, maybe five-seven,” all of whom would have to have been lucky to be point guards in today’s competitive brackets. Otherwise, Katz spends her days focused around meet-ups with friends and her daughter, and has found a wonderful social and activity hub in the McBurney Y. She’s not an early riser, but if there’s a class she wants to take there it’s great motivation to get out of bed. Normally, six or seven hours constitutes a good night’s sleep for Katz, and

while that may sound a bit skimpy, she ﬁnds it adequately restorative — though she’s not at all opposed to an occasional afternoon nap. I tried to pry a Fountain of Youth elixir out of her, but if she has one, she’s not telling. Her daughter Judith, however, mentioned “dancing, vodka, and chocolate.” She takes astoundingly good care of herself, that’s for sure. She couldn’t provide a favorite neighborhood restaurant, although I had to coordinate our rendezvous around two lunch dates she had scheduled. She mostly cooks at home (“I like to know what I’m eating”), simple dishes of chicken and fish, and a little red meat. She drinks coffee rarely, more frequently tea, and enjoys a small dram of vodka on the rocks (“mostly ice,” she chuckles) before dinner. She even shops for fresh produce at the Union Square Greenmarket, and enjoys that park as well as Washington Square, where she loves taking walks. She certainly stays active, religiously attending Aqua Exercises and Sitting

Fit at the Y, and exercise has always been a vital part of her life. Even as a child, her cherished memories include playing hopscotch, baseball and races with neighborhood kids. She attributes activity, both social and physical, as “the beginning of a sturdy individual, a very healthy life.” But she also displays a very relaxed and tolerant sensibility, instrumental in avoiding stress. She tactfully refused to talk politics, certainly a current hotbed of controversy, although she did choose Roosevelt as her favorite president of her lifetime. She found him “inspiring.” The Y threw her a big party last Tuesday. There was an enormous turnout, as many party-goers as her years, with ﬂowers, gifts, and a beautiful cake from the vaunted bakery Veniero’s, which predates her by over two decades. New York City’s longest-living person reached a laudable 116, and given Ruth’s competitive nature and her vivacity at just 100, she has her eye on the prize.

Potato Gnocci INGREDIENTS: Potatoes, 1 lb. Flour, 1 1/2 c. Sea salt

METHOD: 1. Boil the potatoes in salted water until fork tender. 2. Peel the potatoes and discard skins. 3. Puree potatoes. 4. Slowly mix in flour until fully incorporated. Allow mixture to rest for 30 minutes. 5. On a flat, floured surface, roll out the dough and cut the individual gnocchi. 6. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, then add gnocci. When the gnocchi float to the top leave for about 30 seconds, then remove from water. 5. Add sauce, cheese, and any fresh herb of choice and enjoy!

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Business

REJOINING THE WORKFORCE For those recovering from mental health issues, programs at Goddard Riverside help individuals find and maintain jobs BY ELISSA SANCI

Finding a new job is nerve-wracking for anyone, but the process can be particularly tough for those who have dealt with mental illness. Staff at the Goddard Riverside Community Center on the Upper West Side have created a supportive environment, reaching out to New Yorkers and their families, as well as running two programs aimed at helping those with mental health issues interested in rejoining the workforce: The Other Place (TOP) Clubhouse is a community of members who work together to operate and manage a clubhouse, where they do everything from cooking their meals to writing newsletters; TOP Opportunities is designed to help individuals ﬁnd and maintain jobs. TOP Clubhouse and TOP OP are closely related. Deborah Kaplan, Goddard Riverside’s director of employment and rehabilitation programs, oversees both projects and says she works with the same community of members. Kaplan joined TOP OP’s staff in 2006 and has watched the programs grow over the years. TOP Clubhouse grew from Goddard’s homeless outreach program, which originated as a way to help the mentally ill homeless. The program had a drop-in center, and Kaplan says it was only logical to create a program to keep members engaged throughout the day. That program, in turn, transitioned to the clubhouse model, becoming a place where people ages 18 and older from any socioeconomic background with any mental illness could join. An alternative to a medical program, the clubhouse model uses a psychosocial approach to rehabilitation, where members work alongside professional staff to operate the clubhouse. TOP Clubhouse, which is open during the week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends, usually operates from the basement of a church on West 87th Street between West End and Broadway — however, due to a burst pipe, they’ve been temporarily displaced, now meeting in a much

Staff and members of the TOP clubhouse work together to organize and decorate their newly-renovated clubhouse. TOP helps people develop their life and work skills. Photo courtesy of Goddard Riverside smaller space at 646 Columbus Ave. “It’s a way for people to get back into the community and work on their recovery,” Kaplan says. “It’s a place for people to come where they feel welcome, where they can feel needed. You have to cook a meal, get the mail, make a newsletter — you have to all kinds of things to keep your clubhouse running.” Members are usually referred to the program by their physicians and outpatient programs, but aren’t paid for their work at the clubhouse. Kaplan explains that the purpose of the program is to create a participatory and collaborative environment, rather than establish a hierarchy through paychecks. Members also pay for their meals, although at a very reduced price of $1.50 a meal. The clubhouse creates a schedule for its members, who often struggle with time-management issues and keeping appointments, and provides a routine that builds skills that one day can be

put towards rejoining the workforce. Once members are ready to make that transition, TOP OP helps them by offering assistance through supported employment. Supported employment, Kaplan explains, is a practice where specialists work closely with members to assess their skills and interests, helping them with their job search. A large part of supported employment and one of the cornerstones of TOP OP is transitional employment: time-limited, paying jobs that help members overcome the barriers to the workforce. As Kaplan explains, transitional employment jobs belong to the program, not the individual. Placement managers (who are typically Goddard staff) train for the job; then, they work alongside a clubhouse member on the job for as long as that person needs before he or she can work independently. The biggest perk of transitional employment is that it gives guaranteed shift coverage to the employer: if, for some reason, the

member can’t work on any given day, the placement managers will work that shift. Members keep jobs for about a year before rotating out. “The idea is that you’re helping them get back into the workforce, but it’s not quite as threatening or frightening as getting a job on their own,” Kaplan says. “If somebody wants to go back to work, there are opportunities for them.” Many of TOP OP and TOP Clubhouse members are graduates of the Goddard’s ACT Team program, the center’s outpatient program serving the Upper West Side, Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood. ACT Team clients are people who didn’t do well in traditional psychiatric centers; to qualify for ACT, a person must have a severe mental illness (such as schizophrenia or mood disorders like bipolar disorder) and must have been hospitalized three times within the last year.

ACT Team director Derrick Manigo says that in order to help a client improve, the ACT Team sometimes must work with the family as well. “A lot of time, the client may not have been the problem,” he says. Many times, the ACT Team has been able to repair rifts within families that resulted from the client’s mental illness. Manigo says that this is one of his favorite things about working with ACT. “It’s a magical thing when you see clients reach their highest potential,” he says. “Even just reaching a certain point where they can go on to another program and graduate from us.” One of the most important aspects of Goddard’s mental health programs is the determination to help individuals become independent and self-sufﬁcient. “It’s about not creating dependency and not doing for people, but teaching them and encouraging them to do for themselves,” Kaplan says.

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

!"" # !! $##

&' (# )!*+!%&+!,"

!!,-

. /

0, #$$4 $##

! (#

. /

&% # !0 $##

&' (# )&+---+--- *!,

0" # !& $##

0 / 7

)"%"+---

06 # !- $##

! (#

06 # !- $##

! (#

0, # !- $##

&' (# )&+5--+--- *5

. /

,152 3

05- 7; < #/ #

0 (#

)!+0""+---

!-&

&1!2 3

6& # 5 $##

! (#

)!+0"-+---

. /

&1"2 3

!!! $ / $##

0 (#

)!+*--+---

"1!2 3 *

)50!+"!6

01&2 3

!1%2 3

051*2 3 0

!6-

)!+6!-+---

"2 3 &

)!+,--+---

6102 : 3 !

0 &

6- # , $##

0 (#

)0+&"-+---

. /

*% =7/ $##

0 (#

)!+&!%+"--

"152 3

!* # * $##

!!!&

&' (#

)&+0--+---

. /

!1"2 3

!56 7; < #/ #

0 (#

)!+*6-+---

!,0

%- .< $> / $##

0 (#

)0+&-*+---

0--

. /

0162 3

*- ( / $##

0 (#

)0+,--+---

. /

61"2 3

&-, $##

! (#

)"&-+&--

&162 3 6

&&- $7/ $##

0 (#

)0+%"-+---

&!*

. /

*1%2 3

!,152 3 " ,

( .

*%0 $##/ 7.< $##

0 (#

)!+*0,+---

50 > 7 < $##

0 (#

)0+55"+---

. /

!!0 < / $##

0 (#

)!+,-!+---

. /

-1&2 : 3

!-1&2 : 3 !0

"& ># / $ $##

&' (#

),+5--+---

"-!

. /

"-162 3 ,

0-- .< (#$ $##

&' (#

)&+,"-+---

. /

&1,2 3 5

!!5 .< (#$ $##

&' (#

)&+0--+---

0%6

. /

0"1"2 3

*& $$ 4 $##

0 (#

)!+%*-+---

-1"2 3

0!0 $$#/ $##

0 (#

)0+*%"+---

!5!

. /

,102 3

%! / $##

!"(

! (#

)55"+---

. /

!0& <7/ / $##

<"69

0 (#

)0+"55+%,%

6"0

. /

&&& $#. $ > .#

!--%

! (#

)!+!!-+---

!!%

. /

!!102 3 !!

&,- $#. $ > .#

0-?

0 (#

)!+&0"+---

. /

!!162 3

"6 7/# $##

0 (#

)5%"+---

*5*

. /

&&1*2 3

8 !*&1,2 3

%" >> $##

&&?

)%0!+---

05,

. /

!01!2 3 !0

0- # $##

)6--+---

066

. /

!51,2 3

8 @ 1 A1 @ B B 8 A 1 9 A A + @ 88 C 1

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Got an EVENT? FESTIVAL CONCERT GALLERY OPENING PLAY

Get The Word Out! Add Your Event for FREE Just $10 per day to be featured

nycnow.com

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

YOUR 15 MINUTES

To read about other people who have had their “15 Minutes” go to otdowntown.com/15 minutes

FROM THE PAGE TO THE SCREEN Emmy Award-winning producer Nikki Silver on her latest impactful film based on an acclaimed young adult novel BY ANGELA BARBUTI

“Monster,” the ﬁlmed adaptation of a young adult novel that chronicles a high school honors student from Harlem on trial for murder, made its premiere in the Dramatic Competition of the Sundance Film Festival earlier this week. Written by the late Harlem-raised Walter Dean Myers, the book, about the killing of a store owner and its aftermath, was a New York Times best seller, and also earned a Coretta Scott King Honor and a National Book Award. Producer Nikki Silver took on the powerful project, adapting the book, also called “Monster,” for the screen with her business partner Tonya Lewis Lee, who is married to Spike Lee. The Emmy Award-winning pair, who met on another children’s novel adaptation, launched a film and television production company called Tonik in 2012. “It’s the combination of our names, and also we like to say we’re a tonic for the world,” Silver said. “To do projects that are focused on women and diversity, because that’s who we are and that’s what we’re about.”

Film producer Nikki Silver. Photo: ToniK Productions

The film’s star-studded cast includes Jennifer Hudson, ASAP Rocky, Nas, Jeffrey Wright and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as its protagonist. As for the overarching message Silver, a Washington Heights native now living on the Upper West Side, wants to convey through this, said it’s about examining the question of whether or not one act should deﬁne a young person’s entire life.

us the opportunity to be involved with just amazing literature, travel across the country and tell great stories. Children’s television today is very different than it was when we were doing “Reading Rainbow,” because everything now is mostly animated. And back then, having LeVar [Burton, host of “Reading Rainbow”] speaking directly to and with kids, was so empowering.

How did you get your start in children’s programming?

You were president of On Screen Entertainment and worked on many children’s literature adaptations. Give us an example.

I was always interested in media and the impact it could have. And I was introduced to this incredible woman, Orly Wiseman, who was working at “Reading Rainbow” at the time. And I was always going between teaching and media, and children’s programming, to me, was the perfect marriage between the two.

What did your job entail as producer of “Reading Rainbow?” “Reading Rainbow” was some of the best years of my life. “Rainbow” gave

Filming “Monster” on location in New York City. Photo: ToniK Productions

What was great was, from working in children’s television and with “Reading Rainbow,” I was able to be involved in the adaption of some amazing young adult novels. Those included “Miracle’s Boys” by Jacqueline Woodson, which was a miniseries we did for Teen Nick. And actually, it was on that project w where I met my nowpartner of Tonik, Tonya Lewis Lee. We T were put together togethe to produce “Miracle’s Boys,” which was just an amazing six-part series. Spike Sp Lee directed the ﬁrst and last episodes and Neema Barepiso nette and LeVar Burton and Bill Duke. B It was an incredible group coming incred together to tell th this story about three half-black, half-Puerto Rican orphans half-Pu who were living in Harlem.

Tell us the story of “Monster” and the message you want audiences to take away from it. “Monster” is a cautionary tale for teens. It is the story of a 17-year-old st black kid from H Harlem who’s from a great family, is a great student and an aspiring ﬁlmmaker. And he gets involved with some kids invo in the neighborhood and it’s a “was he or wasn’t he involved in a bodega i robber y that goes rob wrong?” And somewr body bo is murdered. And he, he Steve Harmon, is now n on trial for 25 to life. All teens make li very silly mistakes. v I have teen children. But B it’s about how one o act can define your life and should y it? it And why our system te doesn’t allow for teens to make difficult te choices, sometimes ch bad ones. But how their whole who life shouldn’t be given give away for that.

How did you ﬁnd your cast? cas We ﬁrst, Tonya and I Well, brought on our director, brou

Filming “Monster” on location in New York City. Photo: ToniK Productions Anthony Mandler. It’s his ﬁrst feature. He comes out of the video music world. He’s done music videos for Rihanna, really every major music talent. And together, we started assembling this amazing cast, starting with our Steve Harmon, Kelvin Harrison Jr., who is a superstar. And then, ASAP Rocky came aboard to play King. He will tell you that this is the one book he read in high school and he loved. And he’s a Harlem boy, and we thought that was so important. And then Jennifer Hudson and Jeffrey Wright came on to play the parents, which is amazing. And Nas, who plays Raymond “Sunset” Green. And very early on, Tonya and I brought on John Legend and Get Lifted Film Co. to produce with us. John just wrote the most incredible song to go with the ﬁlm. We’re thrilled.

“Monster” was ﬁlmed on location in New York. Where are some places you shot at?

We were all through Harlem. We were in Jackie Robinson Park. On the streets. We were in the Brooklyn courthouses. Really all throughout Manhattan.

Which neighborhood did you grow up in? I grew up in Washington Heights. I’ve moved a sum total of four miles down the Hudson River, because I’m an Upper West Side girl. So it’s New York through and through for me. tonikproductions.com

Know somebody who deserves their 15 Minutes of fame? Go to otdowntown.com and click on submit a press release or announcement.

Downtowner 7

19 23 28

34 37

7 4

2 3

4 6

5 9

Level: Medium

S Q S E M A T E O X H Q E Y C

M S B Y R S C T N A Q C L P L

A E P Q C R T T N V N A O O S

R Q E E B S Y N A J D R P X I

S F M F A Z A P B Y C E U M N

N E X B K R Q F G F Z Y D K A

D R F P A E S A N U U D Z V T

B R D H V D G U F U S V F J R

M N Q X Z A E T T G T H C N A

G R H Y C N Q L S J W F E T V

The puzzle contains 15 sailing related words. They may be diagonal, across, or up and down in the grid in any direction.

F V I M O H K J E N Q D N R Y

Adele Beyonce Bieber Carey Dion Ladygaga Lopez Madonna Mars Perry Rihanna Sinatra Spears Swift Usher

ANSWERS E

49 42

A M N

39 36 33

M B

G A L

29 26 20

R E

D U

P E

R C

12 1

U T

W O O

13 5

E M S 6

L O

E N

A N

I 37

R O 27

B O O

30 18

M P 40

D O F

L A

U M E

E S

I T

H S A

B E Y O N C E Q J Q Z D T P M

I U A C J W V Q M V Z O I P V

D N P V R B B A A V A I R O U

J H P D I B D H D S W I F T N

S Q S E M A T E O X H Q E Y C

M S B Y R S C T N A Q C L P L

A E P Q C R T T N V N A O O S

R Q E E B S Y N A J D R P X I

S F M F A Z A P B Y C E U M N

N E X B K R Q F G F Z Y D K A

D R F P A E S A N U U D Z V T

B R D H V D G U F U S V F J R

M N Q X Z A E T T G T H C N A

G R H Y C N Q L S J W F E T V

F V I M O H K J E N Q D N R Y

5 3

7 1 8

2 3

7 4

4 5

1 6 2

6 4 2 5 1 9 8 3 7

9 7 3 6 8 4 5 2 1

1 8 6 9 2 5 3 7 4

4 2 5 1 7 3 6 9 8

3 9 4 8 5 7 2 1 6

8 6 1 3 9 2 7 4 5

2 5 7 4 6 1 9 8 3

25 Printing stroke 27 Town dweller 28 Real big goldﬁsh? 30 Hair curler 32 Bird that doesn’t ﬂy 34 Wiped out 37 Elton John, for example 38 Unsophisticated 40 Give out 41 Detailed description 42 Roman pot.... 43 Trial lawyer’s advice 44 Mariner’s point 46 Melancholy 47 Timeworn 48 “The Matrix” hero

J H P D I B D H D S W I F T N

50 Daddy day staple 51 Low-lying area 52 Must have 53 And all that jazz 54 Edible starchy tuber Down 1 Diminish 2 Government ﬁgure, for short 3 Chit 4 Brunch serving 5 Pitcher 6 Gangster’s gal 7 Loneliness 8 Exquisite in quality (2 words) 9 “Give it ___!” 10 ___-tac-toe 11 Fireplace remains 16 Beer, for short 19 Seafood delicacies 20 World time standard 21 In the direction of the stern 22 Latin American priest 24 Island greeting

D N P V R B B A A V A I R O U

I U A C J W V Q M V Z O I P V

B E Y O N C E Q J Q Z D T P M

WORD SEARCH by Myles Mellor

Across 1 Heroic story 5 Middle of the alphabet letters 8 Facts and figures 12 Rude person 13 Pursue 14 Auspices 15 Wildflower 17 Scottish lake 18 Confines 20 Rubbernecked 23 Lone Star state 26 Business grad 27 String instrument 29 Really small amount 30 Moves along 31 Metal bearing rock 33 No charge item 35 Not her 36 ___ cotta 37 Mix-up 39 Forgetfulness 42 Applies 45 Put in jail 49 Mysterious letter

39 43

4 5

Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9X9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3X3 squares. To solve the puzzle each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. Puzzles come in three grades: easy, medium and difficult.

SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan

by Myles Mellor

CROSSWORD

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

CLASSIFIEDS CAMPS/SCHOOLS

POLICY NOTICE: We make every effort to avoid mistakes in your classified ads. Check your ad the first week it runs. The publication will only accept responsibility for the first incorrect insertion. The publication assumes no financial responsibility for errors or omissions. We reserve the right to edit, reject, or re-classify any ad. Contact your sales rep directly for any copy changes. All classified ads are pre-paid.

PUBLIC NOTICES

HOME IMPROVEMENTS

BE THE SOMEONE

WHO HELPS A KID BE THE FIRST IN HER FAMILY TO GO TO COLLEGE.

MASSAGE

MERCHANDISE FOR SALE

:H DUH D SURXG PHPEHU RI WKH $VVRFLDWHG 3UHVV DQG WKH 1DWLRQDO 1HZVSDSHU $VVRFLDWLRQ

newyorkcares.org

NEED TO RUN A LEGAL NOTICE? Quick | Easy | Economical

Call Barry Lewis today at:

212-868-0190

Telephone: 212-868-0190 Fax: 212-868-0198 Email: classified2@strausnews.com

Remember to: Recycle and Reuse

JANUARY 25-31,2018

Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com

Our Town’s

ART OF FOOD at

Presented by

30 TOP CHEFS 30 PIECES OF ART 1 NIGHT ONLY Saturday, February 10 LIMITED TICKETS LEFT DON’T MISS OUT: artoffoodny.com 5 Napkin Burger Andy D’Amico

Amali/Calissa Dominic Rice

Crave Fishbar Todd Mitgang Garden Court Cafe Tsering Nyima

Flex Mussels Alexandra Shapiro

Il Valentino Divino Sena

La Pulperia UES Carlos Barroz

Little Frog Xavier Monge

Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque Hugh Mangum Quality Eats Rachel Dos Santos

Bistro Chat Noir Mario Hernandez

Socarrat Paella Bar Lolo Manso

Freds at Barneys New York Mark Strausman

Jones Wood Foundry Jason Hicks Magnolia Bakery Bobbie Lloyd

Orwashers Bakery Keith Cohen

Sahib Hemant Matur

Sen Sakana Mina Newman

T-Bar Steak Benjamin Zwicker

The Meatball Shop Daniel Holzman

Candle 79 Angel Ramos La Esquina Fabian Gallardo Maya David Gonzalez

Paola’s Stefano Marracino Serafina Always Vittorio Assaf

Great Northern Food Hall Claus Meyer

The Penrose Nick Testa