Our Town February 20th, 2013

cityArts SINCE 1970 P.11

EVERY THURS.

OP-ED P.5

NYPRESS.COM • THE LARGEST PAPER ON THE EAST SIDE • FEBRUARY 21, 2013

The End of Recess as We Know It?

Schools are squeezing out play time just as studies are showing how important it is for kids. P.4

ALSO INSIDE

STRINGER SCOLDS DOE ON BUILDING PLANS P.23

EAST MIDTOWN REZONING QUESTIONED P.6

WALDORF FEEDS HUNGRY NEW YORKERS P.10

PETER YARROW ON MUSIC, KIDS & THE BIG BLUE FROG P.17

TAPPED IN

By Jessica Mastronardi

E. HARLEM KILLER CONVICTED MALONEY ON STATE OF THE UNION Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced that a jury in the New York State Supreme Court convicted Edward Demirdjian of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree for the 2009 murder of his daughter’s mother. As proven at trial, on July 28, 2009, Edward Demirdjian, 58, shot and killed Sherra Morganstern, 26, the mother of his daughter, while she was sleeping in her East Harlem apartment.

Morganstern gave birth to their daughter in 2006 just before moving to Orlando, Florida with Demirdjian.

Their relationship ended in 2007, ultimately resulting in Morganstern moving back to New York and leaving the child in Florida with her father. Morganstern had regularly visited her daughter in Florida with the intention of gaining full custody and bringing her daughter to New York to live with her.

Proof was provided to the jury that Demirdjian purchased a .357-caliber semi-automatic pistol and drove to New York from Florida, where he shot Morganstern three times in the early morning of that July day. The murder weapon and matching bullets were later recovered by detectives; the gun was in his Florida apartment and the bullets were in his minivan.

“A 26-year-old young mother was brutally murdered in her sleep by the father of her child,” said Vance in a statement.

“Not only has Sherra Morganstern’s daughter lost a mother to violence, she will also lose a father to prison.” The defendant is expected to be sentenced on April 23.

From where Upper East Side Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney was sitting, President Obama delivered a spot-on State of the Union Address. Maloney issued a statement shortly following the president’s speech, voicing what it was she found to be so powerful, effective and motivating, especially as a New Yorker.

Congresswoman Maloney notes, “The President’s call to help the middle class regain its footing was spot on. The tone of the speech was pitch-perfect, and its clarion call to action was just what we need.”

Areas of President Obama’s speech that Maloney found particularly important include immigration reform, gun violence, climate change and infrastructure repair.

“The President showed vision and foresight in once again urging Congress to take action on our environment and in drawing the link between global climate change and the ‘increasingly frequent and intense’ natural disasters experienced in cataclysms like Superstorm Sandy,” Maloney said. She was particularly moved by the president’s appreciation and recognition of Menchu Sanchez of NYU Langone Medical Center, the nurse who lead the charge of evacuating and rescuing the newborn infants after the power outage caused by Sandy.

ONE HOSPITAL TOO MANY? Upper East Side residents feel they have reached their limit with large, crowding buildings. Because of this, they are showing anything but support for the city-approved

plan to build the City University of New York and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center campus at what used to be a garbage truck garage at FDR Drive and East 73rd Street, DNAinfo.com reports.

Sloan Kettering’s 750,000 square foot ambulatory cancer treatment facility and Hunter College’s 336,000 square foot Science and Health Professions center are slated to be built side by side on the parcel of land. Apart from the inconvenience of being overcrowded, residents are also decrying safety and quality of life issues that they say building these infrastructures will create. Todd Schleimann of Ennead Architects has noted that he is aware of these issues and his firm is working to eradicate them.

Widened sidewalks and broad stairs are just two possible solutions the firm has developed to avoid congestion.

According to DNAinfo.com, the developers’ lawyer Shelly Friedman also mentioned that Sloan Kettering and Hunter College would consider partially funding the Department of Parks and Recreation to restore the hurricane-damaged Andrew Haswell Green Park.

These peace offerings do not seem to be appeasing the angry Upper East Siders who claim all they want is clear space and fresh air.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR Tuesday, February 26 • Community Board 8 Vendor Task Force Committee meeting,, 6:30 p.m., Ramaz School Auditorium, 125 East 85th Street.

Wednesday, February 27 • Community Board 8 Housing and Public Safety Committee meeting, 6:30 p.m., Lenox Hill Hospital Einhorn Auditorium, 131 East 76th Street.

• Community Education Council District 2 Calendar/ Working Business meeting, 6:30 p.m., Simon Baruch Middle School (M104), 330 East 21st Street.

NEWS

Local School Buildings Face Wrecking Ball Borough President questions how the DOE can move forward without a review process

By Joanna Fantozzi

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any local residents may be surprised, as was the Manhattan Borough President, to discover that the Department of Education (DOE) is planning to destroy some local school buildings.

The DOE has plans to completely demolish three schools, on the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side: the School of Technical Co-Op Education on East 96th Street between First and Second Avenues, P.S. 191 on Amsterdam and 61st Street, and P.S. 199 on West 70th Street and West End Avenue.

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The redevelopment plan, created by the DOE, along with the New York School Construction Authority and the New York City Educational Construction Fund, has left the public in the dark. Parents, teachers and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer have been up in arms because the DOE has not provided the public with any information on the redesign of these schools.

According to Stringer, the DOE owns these parcels of land, so they are not subject to the uniform land use review process, or a public

OUR TOWN

review of the land use. These questions might remain unanswered.

“These agencies should contact the schools and parents immediately and answer their questions,” said Stringer, who sent a letter to the DOE about the issue. “What is their timeline for prospective development? What is the neighborhood impact? What are their plans? We need to have a discussion.”

Stringer said that he is just as much in the dark about the proposal as the school districts themselves. “And I’m the borough president!” he said.“We have to be mindful that major development would increase traffic, impact the character of the neighborhood and add a new population to area that already lacks school seats,” said Stringer.

The borough president said that these schools in particular are experiencing major overcrowding, and that school overpopulation is something that both he and the DOE have been trying to curb.

This, he said, is probably why they are

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looking to redesign the schools. However, he emphasized, that until there is some transparency, they will not know for sure.

Another mystery that parents may be wondering about is why demolish these schools in the first place? In total, the city has spent almost $21,000,000 improving and refurbishing these schools, including exterior repairs for P.S. 191 and capital improvements for P.S. 199 and the School for Cooperative Technical Education.

“We have already contributed major capital dollars to these schools, so why are we investing all of this money to completely rebuild the schools?” said Stringer.

The DOE has yet to respond to Stringer’s letter requesting more information, as well as answers for the community.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

CRIME WATCH Your company insurance changed again?

BOY ATTACKED BY BICYCLIST A teenage boy was walking his dog on East End Avenue at 10 p.m. on February 13th when a Hispanic man with a long ponytail, approximately 5’7, wearing a black jacket and boots, rode up on the sidewalk on a BMX bike. The man dropped his bike and asked his victim for his phone, and threatened to shoot him. The perp reached into his jacket, indicating possession of a weapon. The victim handed him his phone, valued at $428, and the perpetrator fled on his bike.

By Joanna Fantozzi

BONNIE AND CLYDE STRIKE PHARMACY On the evening of December 12th, a 46-year-old male employee was working inside a pharmacy on 2nd Avenue, when he saw an unknown man and woman come in.

The man was described as 6’3, black, with a blotchy complexion, and the woman as 5’5 with dark skin and blue eyes. The couple attempted to leave with five stolen soaps, but the employee tried to stop them. The man grabbed his victim by the neck, and the woman sprayed him with pepper spray. Both the man and woman are wanted for robbery.

LOOKING FOR SOME CHANGE A 52-year-old black man was arrested on December 8th at 1:30 a.m. for criminal tampering on the corner of 3rd Avenue and East 64th Street. He was seen inserting a metal wire into a public payphone with intent to remove the monetary contents. The man caused damage to the mechanism of the payphone.

WOMAN’S CELL PHONE SNATCHED INSIDE WORKPLACE Inside a burger chain on East 86th Street on February 8th, a 19-year-old female

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Another reason to call.

employee said that she was in the break room in the back of the restaurant. She placed her phone on the table, and bent down to tie her shoes. When she looked up, her phone was gone. The victim said she will follow up with her serial number to track down the $300 phone and $60 case. Cameras were available at the scene.

PHONE THEFT IN PIANO BAR A 32-year-old man was inside a piano bar on East 84th Street at 3:30 a.m. on February 10th. The victim put his phone down on the bar to pay the bill, and later realized his phone was missing. He did not see anyone take his phone; however, he used GPS to track the phone to East 106th Street. No arrests were made, but after the discovery of the phone, the case was closed.

UNKNOWN MAN MAKES OFF WITH PHONE ON BUS

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During rush hour on February 8th, a woman was riding a crowded bus toward East 96th Street. An unknown man unzipped her pocketbook and took her credit cards.

The man fled on foot toward 96th Street.

Police swept the area, but did not find anything. The victim did not get a good look at her assailant, but because of the crowded bus, she did remember feeling bumped and jostled. No arrests have been made.

OUR TOWN

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FEATURE

Is Playtime Over?

Some NYC schools are cutting down on recess just as studies are showing how integral it is to students’ development

By Joanna Fantozzi

I

t turns out that taking a break from fractions to play football in the schoolyard has more than just physical health benefits. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released a statement emphasizing the importance of recess, and touting its benefits for the “whole child,” including academic improvements and the opportunity for the child to grow and learn social skills that cannot be taught at the front of a classroom.

“We went into this study with the attitude that recess was good for preventing childhood obesity,” said Dr. Robert Murray, one of the authors of the study. “We discovered it had a lot more influence than we thought.”

But still, Dr. Murray says that in schools across the country, as many as 40 percent are cutting down on recess, or doing away with it all together, partially because of pressure to perform well on standardized tests.

“Teachers assume that they can teach kids more if they cut recess, but their best bet is

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to use these recess breaks to allow the child to process,” said Dr. Murray. “Adults take breaks throughout the day, but we just don’t call it recess.”

In Manhattan, a child’s recess experience is as varied as the schools themselves. But of almost two-dozen recent graduates from The City College of New York’s teaching program, 14 out of 16 current New York City elementary school teachers have recess where they work, and most have recess every day.

At Yorkville Community School on East 91st Street between First and Second Avenues, recess is just as important. But with four coaches who come to the school every day during recess to organize sports games with the students, the recess experience is a lot more structured.

“It keeps every child directed and they have someone supervising them so no one’s straggling off or not keeping active,” said Principal Samantha Kaplan.

Principal Kaplan has also observed that recess has had a positive influence on Yorkville students’ social abilities. She once observed a new student who was shy to make friends bond with classmates through a game of basketball.

“Once kids find common interests they become members of the community pretty quickly,” she said, referring to the atmosphere on the playground.

At Ascension School on West 108th Street, a private Catholic School, recess is

OUR TOWN

taken very seriously, and students rarely have to play inside. In fact, the street in front of the school is shut down every day just so kids can play outside. This has stirred up controversy in the community over the past couple of years from neighbors complaining about the noise. But, Principal Christopher McMahon said, they will continue fighting for their children.

“This struggle will not deter us because recess is too important to our program,” said Principal McMahon.

“Recess is a time for kids to release energy.

It needs to be unstructured because it gives kids a chance to express themselves.”

According to Dr. Murray, unstructured recess, like the program at Ascension, is actually the best way to go.

“Unstructured recess gives kids maximum control over their own time,” he said. “Some kids may want to read, some may want to play kickball or dodge ball. It forces the kid to be creative.”

But despite good intentions, many schools simply do not have the budget for a regular recess program. The Lillian Weber School on West 92nd Street would not have a recess pogram if the PTA had not intervened.

With all of the DOE budgetary restrictions, PTA president Jeanne Moreland said the school could not pay for teacher aides to watch kids on the playground. So, the PTA had to scrape the money together to hire teacher aides on their own.

“There’s not enough money for anything right now. We have enough money for the teachers’ salaries basically,” said Moreland.

“I don’t think it’ll fix itself unless there’s a culture change on education and how things are funded.”

Schools have certainly had to get creative to keep recess in their programs. At P.S. 76 on West 121st Street, interns from Americorp come every day to watch the kids during recess, as well as teach them games and sports. As a result, said Principal Charles De Berry, recess budgets are usually not a concern.

Dr. Robert Murray did mention that school budgets were a factor that contributed to quality and quantity of education. And poorer schools, he said, are more likely to cut recess in order to get test scores back up. Ironically though, he said, it’s the kids in troubled areas who need recess the most.

At P.S. 46, on 8th Avenue and Harlem River Drive, recess has always been an important part of the school day. Principal George

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Young said this is especially important because most of the students come from housing projects and many parents do not want their children playing outside.

“I work in a challenging area. Recess is the only time they get to actually play outside,” he said. “When you see the children getting along and playing with one another, it reinforces the fact that we’re all in this together.”

We surveyed recent City College of New York teaching program graduates to find out what teachers in NYC classrooms have to say about recess.

Despite nationwide problems of cutting back on recess, most of the graduates surveyed responded that they do have recess in their schools.

In fact, a majority - over 65 percent hold recess every day.

But there are other types of recess programs. One of the teachers surveyed explained that the school gives students three or more recess sessions per day for more than 20 minutes, much more time than the average recess program. But the teacher observed that his students become more focused because of recess.

According to Dr. Robert Murray, having several breaks per day actually makes sense. “In Japan, kids take a 10-minute break every hour,” he said. “Their best bet is intensive academic time, regular breaks, and then go back to studying.”

Another overlooked aspect of recess is the importance of breaks beyond elementary school, said Murray. Three out of the four middle school teachers surveyed said that their schools have recess.

“Recess gives students time to be active that, when it is not given, translates into the students being much more unsettled during the last period or two of the day,” wrote the teacher. “Also, I believe it is important for students’ physical well-being to have active time each day.”

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Op-Ed: Stop School Closures & Co-Locations for Third Term The public advocate calls on the administration to find alternate solutions for struggling schools

By Public Advocate Bill de Blasio

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f something is broken – fix it. Sadly, Mayor Bloomberg adheres to a different philosophy where our city’s education system is concerned. The Administration’s default response to struggling schools has been to close them, without first investing enough time and resources into turning them around. And instead of laying out a thoughtful plan for multiple schools to share facilities in the same building when they “co-locate,” the Administration turns a cold shoulder to community input. Clearly, we need a new approach for our city’s one million students.

There is a time and place to close a troubled school. But that should not be treated as an end goal in itself, nor an accomplishment to boast about. When all other options are exhausted, it should be the last resort. In 2011, the Department of Education (DOE) proposed for Canarsie’s

P.S. 114 to be phased out. Yet the unwavering voices of students, parents and teachers of P.S. 114 were eventually heard, and the DOE resolved to work on lifting the school back up. Collaborating with community members like this – and really listening – should serve as a prerequisite for potential school closings. Too many of the schools doomed for closure have not been given the tools to improve, or the time to apply them.

Students at lowperforming schools need the most support.

But the Administration constantly misses the opportunity to pinpoint troubled schools, invest in them and turn them around. Too often, the Administration opts for the easier route, which is ultimately school closure. DOE’s policies have actually amplified the core problems that contribute to chronic poor performance. Adding more high-need students to poorly resourced and already underperforming schools is just one example. The end result? Performance results

for our highest-need students have hardly budged, and educational disparity continues to besiege our city.

We see the same heavy-handedness in the way the City often shoehorns charter schools into existing public schools, without a wellconsidered strategy for both institutions to thrive. Co-location can be – and has been – successful in this city.

Students at four high schools in the Brandeis Educational Complex, on the Upper West Side, learned beautifully side-by-side – until the DOE squeezed a charter elementary school into the building, despite staunch resistance from the school community. Successful sharing of space and resources can only be carried out through meticulous planning and input from all key stakeholders – students, parents, teachers, administrators, community activists and education advocates. Instead, the DOE has alienated school communities by neglecting their input and depriving them of a venue

for meaningful engagement on educational policy.

As a public school parent, I know the difference of being involved in your children’s education can make in their academic success and self-confidence.

That’s personal to me, and that priority is reflected in the recommendations my office put forth in 2010 to modify Educational Impact Statements and boost parental engagement. But the Administration failed to take our recommendations on community involvement and use of physical space seriously, resulting in a co-location process that is consistently divisive and poorly attuned to the physical demands of mutually-sited school communities.

That’s why, following Mayor Bloomberg’s latest announcement on school closures, I called on the Administration to freeze school closures and co-locations for the rest of the Mayor’s term. Until we can offer a comprehensive, community-driven plan for co-locations and school turnaround, I urge you to join me in pressuring the mayor to put a one-year moratorium on these divisive tactics. After years of disruption instead of progress, inequity instead of opportunity, haste instead of prudence. Enough is enough.

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OUR TOWN

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Garodnick Questions Wisdom of East Midtown Rezoning The council member seeks community’s input on rezoning plans

By Megan Bungeroth

Celebrates American Heart Month It’s Electric: The Basics of Electrophysiology February 12, 2013 1st Avenue at 16th Street, 3 Linsky, Conference Room 12:30 - 1 pm Sweetheart CPR: “It’s So Sweet To Have A Healthy Heartbeat” February 13, 2013 10 Nathan D. Perlman Place, Bernstein Pavillion 5:30 - 7 pm Hispanics/Latinos & Cardiovascular Disease: Raising Awareness February 19, 2013 1st Avenue at 16th Street, 3 Linsky, Conference Room 12:30 - 1 pm Heart Healthy Day: Health Screenings & Counseling February 22, 2013 10 Union Square East, 2nd Floor Conference Rooms 1 & 2 11 am - 5 pm Heart-Healthy Cooking & Ask the Expert February 28, 2013 317 East 17th Street, Fierman Hall, 8th Floor 2 - 4 pm Don’t Stress Your Test February 26, 2013 1st Avenue at 16th Street, 3 Linsky, Conference Room 12 noon - 1 pm To learn more about these events, please call 212.420.2806 or visit us online at BiHeartInstitute.org/about-us.php.

Strengthening Hearts. Revitalizing Lives.

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OUR TOWN

A

s Mayor Bloomberg’s third term is winding down, he’s plowing full steam ahead with several large-scale plans that many have dubbed “legacy issues.” Flashy, grand schemes that are meant to cement Bloomberg’s influence and mark on the city as mayor. While some ideas have been met with open arms, the plan to completely rezone East Midtown in order to boost the commercial sector in that area has garnered some harsh local criticism. The New York Times editorial board raised some of these concerns last week, citing that despite the agreed need to rezone the area, the current proposed plan is too thin and rushed to be approved by the December deadline that the mayor is pushing.

The city’s proposal would change zoning regulations in a 78-block area around Grand Central Terminal, giving developers the ability to build new and higher office buildings than are currently allowed. The plan would also involve updates and improvements to the transit system in the area. The goal of the rezoning would be to attract more business and commercial tenants and keep the district competitive in attracting high-end employers.

East Side City Council Member Dan Garodnick, who represents the district being affected by the rezoning, has launched a survey soliciting community feedback on the rezoning plan and has been urging the mayor and the city council to slow down the approval process. Garodnick has been critical of the plan from the start, agreeing that rezoning is necessary but repeatedly requesting more time and studies conducted in order to assess how best to improve the area.

“There is no question that the commercial office space in the area has gotten older, and

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less competitive, prompting the need for a rezoning,” Garodnick said in a recent letter to constituents. “But the question is how we do it — and whether we have the ability to address urgent infrastructure needs in the process. It is also not clear that we can properly consider all of the complicated issues in the very short time remaining in the term of the Bloomberg Administration.”

The letter also outlined what Garodnick believes are the main issues that the community should consider regarding the rezoning: The Grand Central area has present infrastructure challenges that need to be addressed. The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has identified $400 million in improvements that should be made today - even before any zoning changes, and before we have 80,000 more daily commuters into Grand Central with the arrival of East Side Access in 2019.

•The City has proposed to allow developers to buy air rights by paying into a “district improvement fund,” which may help pay for some of our infrastructure needs, but this is inconsistent and unpredictable, and cannot be our primary mechanism to fund infrastructure in the area.

•We should be careful not to do anything to slow down development at Hudson Yards — if it gets delayed further, it will cost the city even more money, as we are paying hundreds of millions of dollars in interest on the bonds out of the city budget until that development takes off.

•There needs to be a concurrent review of potential landmarks, as well as the impact of new development on our existing landmarks.

•Our sidewalks and open space are crowded today, and we need a plan to bolster our public realm to absorb additional density.

Garodnick has asked residents of his district to take an eight question survey, which can be found at www.surveymonkey. com/s/TRKYDNM, to give input on the plan and voice priorities of people who live and work around Grand Central and would be most affected by the rezoning.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

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OUR TOWN

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C

hesapeake Bay Crab Seasoning, Cheddar & Sour Cream, Salt & Pepper, Honey BBQ, Onion and Garlic – where am I reading from?

Kudos, if you said Utz potato chip bags.

I was always a Wise girl, but, oh, you Utz! I think the chips, with their slightly lower-than-average sodium count for the unflavored plain version, (95 mg. versus 150 mg.), are so yummy and scrumptious that I generally only buy the plain ones. But for those of you who like their lilies gilded, the above is but a small sampling of the brand’s savory seasoned offerings. Among the many examples I didn’t cite is the Salt ’n Vinegar, because I was so aggrieved by the missing apostrophe – a pair should be flanking the “n,” as you know – that I decided to punish it by omission; but, my heart has softened.

Where can you see such an extensive chorus-line display of the p-chips, including Grandma Utz’s Handmade version?

Probably not in most city markets or drugstores, but at Jack’s 99 Cent Store; to add the icing on the cake (the Cheddar on the chip?), they’re all priced at – you guessed it – rather than the $1.59 imprinted on the packaging.

Yes, mes amis, it’s that time again; time for our periodic pilgrimage to that 99-cent store without peer – the one, the only, the incredible Jack’s. Well, actually, the only real competition for Jack’s is Jack’s itself, having replicated itself a couple of times. First and foremost is the hangar-size store at 110 W. 32nd Street.

Occupying the two floors above it is Jack’s World, stocked with bigger-ticket but still

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value-priced merchandise, including home goods, hair care and upscale edibles.

There’s also a Jack’s World at 45 W. 45th Street and – this seems lesser known – a smaller outpost of the 99-center at 16 E. 40th Street.

There are hardy perennials you can pretty much always count on at Jack’s. I never visit without grabbing a few four-packs of Petking rubber-ball cat toys; dual-packs of Scott insoles (price the big name-brand ones at your local drugstore); and generoussize jars of Spice Supreme seasonings. That’s at least 10-20 bucks saved right there.

Once I’ve got those basics tossed in my basket, I let serendipity write the rest of the script. Oooh, look, DK “fine lace doilies,” so cute, so quaint, in their pristine-white scalloped-edge rounds, some centered with softly colored designs. Oh, and here: Banquet frozen pot pies for $1.29 (do not judge me; I basically scoop them out and eat the crusts, top and bottom, which I’m insanely addicted to).

But I reconsidered these, having paid 80-something cents for them at Target. See, you’ve got to be a discriminate shopper, even at this incomparable emporium of best buys.

Perfectly serviceable Brie cheese is the same wee price for a 7-oz. round, when you can find it in the fridge case. Now, that’s a four-star steal.

There’s also invariably loads of stuff you didn’t know you needed until you spot it.

Consider: What do you do with a half-eaten tomato – or onion or pepper? Wrap it in plastic or foil or…? There is no third choice, right?

Aha, there is, and it’s something for which you won’t have to pay per use, and it’ll let you immediately I.D. what you’re looking for in the fridge: one of the life-size plastic veggies here that open up to encase and protect their real counterparts. Is that not too clever by half?

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Don’t Fall for Spring Puppy Fever Important things to consider before jumping into adopting a new dog for your family

or her own family. Most college dorms do not let freshman bring dogs with them. So, in reality, mom and dad, this dog is yours.

And when the pup’s big sister or brother goes off to college, you will be there, at home, with the dog. Kids can definitely be a big help with pets, but they’re also busy with

ends. Bidawee wishes the saying, “the dog will grow out of it� was true, because then his job would be a lot easier.

Dogs need a significant amount of physical and mental exercise and stimulation throughout their lives. You’ll need to consciously focus on good habits as this

By Mike Reub, Manager of Behavior & Training at Bideawee

A

lthough we’re stuck in the dead of winter, soon spring will be upon us and many families will be thinking about adopting a puppy.

It’s a natural progression - nice weather makes it easier to go on walks and makes housebreaking your pup easier. Not to mention that kids are out of school and can help with the new puppy.

Although there are many pups who will need homes, it is important to remember that the weather will eventually become cold again. The kids will go back to school, and there will always be a puppy that needs a home. Bideawee advises you to look ahead and think about how this pup will be able to fit into your lifestyle and situations that will arise in the future. Having served pets and the people who love them for 110 years, Bidawee has learned that there are some situations that are just bad ideas and usually do not work out.

For example, getting a dog solely because your child wants one is not a good idea. Do not put the responsibility of the pup in your 11-year-old child’s hands. An 11-year-old doesn’t have the life experience necessary to understand that in all likelihood, the pup will live until he or she is at least 25. At that time, the young pup will be an older dog when you child is beginning a career, while trying to find a place to live and starting his

.com STRAUS MEDIA ďšş MANHATTAN PRESIDENT Jeanne Straus ACTING EDITOR Megan Bungeroth editor.ot@strausnews.com

school, sports and friends.

Before adopting, it is also important to remember that puppies require a lot of work and in time, they will grow. It is essential to teach puppies basic skills during the first six months of their lives. Puppies need to learn how to use their mouths correctly, be socialized, handled and housebroken. When considering adopting a puppy, be prepared to go to puppy classes and have a willingness to think outside the box about how you will raise your pup to be socially sound.

Understand that the job of training never

tiny puppy grows and starts to eat a lot more, knock stuff over in the house, have boundless energy and maybe even swallow your child’s retainer. And when winter comes, he will still need walks, exercise, obedience training and playtime. When you go to adopt that cute puppy, try to think about cold mornings spent outside picking up large piles of poop and finding your favorite hat destroyed. If you still are excited, then you are definitely ready to become a new dog owner!

ADOPT A PET

OUR TOWN

FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS Alan S. Chartock, Bette Dewing, Jeanne Martinet, Malachy McCourt, Angela Barbuti, Casey Ward, Laura Shanahan PUBLISHER Gerry Gavin advertising@strausnews.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Seth L. Miller, Ceil Ainsworth, Kate Walsh

OUR TOWN is published weekly Copyright Š 2013 Straus Media - Manhattan, LLC 212-868-0190 Straus Media - Manhattan publishes Our Town • The West Side Spirit Our Town Downtown Chelsea Clinton News • The Westsider To subscribe for 1 year, please send $75 to OUR TOWN, c/o Straus News 20 West Ave., Chester, NY 10918

A Cooperative Adoption Program of North Shore Animal League America

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PHOTO EDITOR Aaron Adler

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Joe Bendik

2151 Broadway btwn W. 75th & W. 76th New York, NY '3* '&# t 1. 1.

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CITYARTS EDITOR Armond White editor.cityarts@strausnews.com

ADVERTISING MANAGER Marty Strongin

Posh Pets & North Shore Animal League America

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Adopting a puppy can be a great time in your life. Sharing your home with a dog is unmatched, hard to describe and an incredible life experience. Dogs become our best friends. When we adopt a pup, we make a commitment to show them the ropes of life and teach them how to live in our world as they teach us how to live in theirs. They are there with us during our life changes and we witness when they go through theirs.

Hopefully, in the end we will be sitting with them in their elderly years, remembering all the ups and down and how the journey has made us laugh and cry. Because in the end, that’s what pet adoption is - a lifelong journey that most would never give back, no matter how difficult it was.

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In February, the Adoption Centers at Bideawee let pet lovers name their own price when they adopt from our Manhattan and Westhampton locations. Regardess if you’re looking for a cute kitten or puppy, or a full grown, well-trained cat or GRJ ZH KDYH WKH SHUIHFW SHW WR À W \RXU SHUVRQDOLW\ DQG OLIHVW\OH :LWK %LGHDZHH¡V XQPDWFKHG DUUD\ RI YHWHULQDU\ training and support services to accompany pets and pet lovers through their journey through life together, you and your pet are never alone. So join our family by bringing home the best of Bideawee for a price you can love.

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PAGE 9

Waldorf Astoria Helps Feed Hungry New Yorkers The world-renowned hotel lends a hand around the block at St. Bart’s Church

By Joanna Fantozzi

W

inter storm Nemo heaped more than a foot of snow onto the city last week, forcing businesses to close early, and New Yorkers to stay indoors. But at St. Bart’s Church soup kitchen on Park Avenue, things were a lot warmer with the help of Chef David Garcelon and the staff of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

The night of the storm, with no supplies for his soup kitchen, the Reverend Edward Sutherland, director of the community ministry, called up Chef David Garcelon, asking if he could help them out with supplies the following day. Even though at the time Garcelon was stranded at the airport in Canada, he remotely organized a gigantic dinner for the church. Next door, the kitchen staff at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel

came by with only 45 minutes notice with a banquet meal for the 200 people in need.

Reverend Sutherland was amazed at the results. “It was beautiful,� said Sutherland. “They walk in on Friday during Nemo and our tables are bare. We were thinking we’d get some soup, but they rolled up with chicken, steak, filet. It was amazing.�

But this is not the first time that St. Bart’s and the Waldorf Astoria have collaborated to feed hungry New Yorkers. Every Friday night, the staff at the hotel came by to cook dinner for the women’s shelter, which at the time houses eight women. Then, one Wednesday a month, Chef Garcelon himself brings a team of chefs to prepare breakfast for the soup kitchen. “Its something my team is happy to do. We’re close neighbors,� said Garcelon. “My chefs feel really good about it.

They take just as much pride as putting a meal together for people in the shelter [as in] preparing one for guests.�

It all began a couple of years

ago with a few chefs volunteering in the church’s soup kitchen, which led to a meeting with Garcelon and eventually the weekly meals. The hotel also gives St. Bart’s their bread and leftovers, like many other restaurants in the area. They were particularly helpful during Hurricane Sandy, said Sutherland, when the chefs volunteered three days in a row to cook meals for the needy and stranded.

Sutherland said that in the future, he hopes to get some of the women in the shelter interested in learning to cook. He also wants to start a rooftop garden like the one at the Waldorf Astoria, and plans on getting gardening tips from them. “Most people think of businesses as cold hearted and cruel, but here’s a business who isn’t,� said Sutherland. “Having homeless people eating around the block isn’t particularly helpful to hotels. The [usual] idea with the homeless is ‘we don’t want to see them.’ But they’re reaching out in this special way.�

This is not the first time that St. Bart’s and the Waldorf Astoria have collaborated to feed hungry New Yorkers.

Every Friday night, the staff at the hotel come by to cook dinner for the women’s shelter.

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cityArts

Edited by y Armond White

New York’s Review of Culture . CityArtsNYC.com

Dramatic Personae The Taviani’s Illuminate Reality through Theater

By Armond White

ompartive Literature classes were never as exhilarating as the best parts of Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s Caesar Must Die. This ingenious adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, combines documentary and drama as the Tavianis follow theater director Fabio Cavalli guiding a couple dozen convicts through a production of the play staged in Italy’s Rebibbia Prison.

As always, the Taviani’s, (best known for the modernist neo-realism films Padre Padrone and Night of the Shooting Stars), combine artifice and naturalism. This prismatic approach illuminates Shakespeare, cinema and life. The concept shows convicts utilizing the amount of existential acting that comprises their street and prison yard lives, their behavior as men, sons, pals and citizens. The Taviani’s interpret Julius Caesar’s political conflict, (a tyrannical leader assassinated by fellow politicians), for more than facile contemporary allegory; they reveal its insight into basic human interaction and masculine aggression.

This thesis is made endlessly fascinating by the prisoners’ real-life spectacle. Brutus’s recitation hesitates at reality’s contrast; its vulgarity and absurdity trouble him freshly—as it does a viewer. The Tavianis’ moral clarity provides fleet, astonishingly reflection. Two convicts, Gianni and Juan, get so caught up in their personal rivalries while acting that we respond to their conflict as to HBO’s prison series Oz, (especially those memorable episodes about putting a play). These faces suggest hardened versions of actorly visages. There’s a tough Derek Jacobi, a corpulent Louis Calhern, while others suggest the same Italo

C

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

ethnic types made cartoonishness by The Sopranos and GoodFellas. It’s abstract yet it gives soulfulness to a political and social perspective that transcends being Brechtian.

Sometimes the humor resembles the prison scenes in Big Deal on Madonna Street, that authentic Italian comedy about petty crooks.

Because the Taviani brothers use dialectical methods, their visual and conceptual ideas alternate, (color/b&w, theater/reality), without always merging comprehensively. Yet, their ambiguous whole

OUR TOWN

avoids the banality predictability of some of the Dardennes brothers films. This is an intellectual modernization of Shakespeare that West Side Story sold out in favor of popular appeal. The men’s discovery of theater is moving. As the movie slips past the obvious strictures of incarceration and gets caught up in the emotional space of rehearsal and the individual inmates’ personal transformations, a sense of illusion comes from temporary suspension of disbelief—very much like Louis Malle achieved in Vanya on 42nd Street, but richer.

Many of the actors are surprisingly good— passionate and credible. Cavelli encourages their naturalism: “It’s not a vulgar dialect, it’s a dialect in the mouth of noble characters.”

They discover the cultural heritage that they had squandered—and you can feel it. The Tavianis’ spartan, mostly black and white visual style contrasts “performance” with reality, a complex move in the era of Reality TV where all notions of truth, fiction and cinema verite have been corrupted if not destroyed.

The Taviani’s are admirably minimalist, but sometimes cinema calls for theater, some all around phenomenological fascination with the reality of prison as a place of confinement. The most conventional cinematic excitement comes when the

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Taviani’s zoom in and begin introducing information about the men’s crimes and sentences. The amount of Taviani’s control is perplexing but it beats Reality TV fakery by admitting the harsh truth beneath the overall artifice—and the potential beauty. When the men ponder, “How many centuries to come will see actors play this great scene of ours?” Or muse about “Kingdoms and languages yet to be invented,” the terms may not exactly express the thoughts of convicts but it’s poetry nonetheless and nothing in Dustin Hoffman’s self-satisfied opera diva film Quartet or Malle’s Chekhov caprice can touch it.

Do-gooder programs that bring hip hop into prisons cannot possibly be this effective. Marc Antony delivering his famous speech in a concrete basketball court tells us the classical arts are not dead but can elevate contemporary self-esteem. This helps illuminate the most mundane aspects of taken-for-granted life. When Cassius (Cosimo Rega) walks back into his quarters, he admits “Since I got to know art, this cell has become a prison.” Rehabilitation? The Taviani’s turn insight into a powerful act of compassion.

Follow Armond White on Twitter at 2xchair

PAGE 11

MUSEUM CITYARTS

Lenox Hill Democratic Club Presents a

Gun Reform/Safety Panel

Wednesday, February 27th 2013 7PM to 9PM At Church of the Holy Trinity 316 East 88th Street (between 1st and 2nd ave)

Barbara Hohlt States United to Prevent Gun Violence New Yorkers Against Gun Violence Brina Milikowsky Senior Policy Advisor and Counsel NYC Office of the Mayor/ Mayors Against Illegal Guns Jason C. Lippman Senior Associate for Policy and Advocacy The Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies, Inc. Bring a neighbor and be informed on gun control issues and legislation.

To be informed of upcoming events visit the Lenox Hill Democratic Club web site and sign up for our email list:

David Menegon President Lenox Hill Democratic Club lenoxhilldc@gmail.com

PAGE 12

OUR TOWN

The Accidental Buddhists

Artists’ Sacred Visions at Tibet House

By Renfreu Neff

Guest Speakers:

www.lenoxhilldems.org

“Watching the Mind” by Jayoung Yoon

T

he gallery at Tibet House is hosting “Sacred Vision, Separate Views: Contemporary Buddhist Perspectives In Art,” which is an exhibition of works by six artists whose study and practice of Buddhism have informed their work in distinctly different ways not readily identifiable as “Buddhist art”. Here is an exhibition that is vibrant and dynamic in its larger than usual dimensions, such as Japanese artist Shigeru Oyatani’s fiery red Party Line and the blizzard white No, each a 72-inch square, right- angled to each other in one corner of the gallery. There is mystery hidden in Oyatani’s great squares, as there is in two works by poet-painter James Walton Fox, who often incorporates script, including Arabic, Sanskrit, Hebrew, and Farsi, as a visual device. Proof embodies vowels and consonants of the “Ali Kali” alphabet as well as Euclidian Proof, while his more ephemeral seeming Sky Burial contains a poem of his own that follows the metrics as the Buddhist Seven-Line Prayer.

Valley Fox’s Venus In Furs Feast Offering #11 is a bold departure from her exuberantly erotic flower “portraits”; also here one sees the untamed, cascading fluidity of Pale Fire. The eye rests a moment on one of two smaller ink and pencil renderings of Study for a Line In Space, a collaboration between Fox and Wesley Simon on a sand mandala. But it is Simon’s stark ink and charcoal Mountain of Burnt Offerings, a

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large rectangle with its burned off lower edge and burnt remains in a pile on the floor, that resonates with current events, a reminder of the one-hundred Tibetans reported to have self-immolated in response to Chinese oppression, (as well as the Tunisian fruit vendor and wave of sympathizers who ignited the Arab Spring). Sculptor E. Elizabeth Peters displays Bounty of Burnt Offerings, a collection of hand- molded, skeletal objects cast of ceramic porcelain bisque then smoke fired—a foreboding human skull, dark ashen bones, goblets and pitcher—all appearing to have been unearthed from an archeological dig.

Standing thigh-high on four sensuously shaped “legs,” is a plexiglas box containing unfired clay ru: What Remains? Korean video artist Jayoung Yoon presents a series of elegantly still pieces reflective of her Butoh influences.

Tibet House does not promote its gallery as aggressively as it ought to, perhaps in keeping with the Buddhist tenet of nonego or non-attachment. This can be selfdefeating when it comes to exhibitions as notable as this one, which some, summoned by mailing list or word of mouth, have deemed the best they’ve attended. Perhaps what’s required is a gallerist, as gallery owners have come to be called, a veteran seasoned in the art market’s ways and (considerable) means.

“Sacred Vision, Separate Views: Contemproary Buddhist Perspectives In Art” at Tibet House, 22 West 15th Street, through Feb. 1.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

FILM CITYARTS

Show Biz Kids Coppola and Sheen promote Hollywood solidarity

By Armond White

I

t can’t be easy for children of famous filmmakers to escape their parents’ shadows. That’s the problem facing Francis Ford Coppola’s offspring, daughter Sofia and son Roman, the most talented of the two. Neither can seem to get out from under their father’s eminence but at least Roman gazes beyond his own navel as in the new film A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III. Charles Swan III looks at a Hollywood brat, (a free-wheeling advertising wiz and immature bachelor), who has hit crisis point.

Since it stars Charlie Sheen, director-writer Roman Coppola places his personal concern at pixilated, fantasy remove. This works nicely because both Sheen and Coppola are yoked under the same privilegedHollywood-scion onus without burdening the audience with too much enviable and undeserved celebrity identification.

Whatever one’s initial reaction to the film’s conceit, it is always complicated by realization that the film’s subject is broader and more humane than judgmental gossip.

Sheen’s recent public behavior, the hardpartying stuff of tabloid fodder, (and tabloid income), is shown in a cooler light—a light made resplendent by videographer Nick Beal who also knows to lend surrealist exaggeration to Swan‘s paranoid extremes.

This story of privilege run amok, (Swan can’t understand why his girlfriend deserts him, why business associates are dissatisfied with his selfish preoccupation), is also a tale of fond sensitivity that Roman Coppola understands and vouchsafes to the world.

(Roman co-wrote Wes Anderson’s most profoundly emotional and deeply charming film, The Darling Limited.)

Perhaps the only reason Charles Swan III wasn’t greeted with the rapturous reviews Sofia Coppola always receives is that it doesn’t rely on the poor-little-rich-girl petulance that our celebrity-worshipping mainstream media adores. Candidly masculine, it risks the tyrannically p.c. media elite’s hypocritical disapproval. Yet Roman Coppola empathizes with the more complicated bad boy tradition exemplified

by Sheen, (a childhood friend since the filming of Apocalypse Now which was directed by Coppola’s father and starred Sheen’s dad).

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Unlike the cosseted worlds on view in Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette and Somewhere, Charles Swan III offers a satirical view of narcissistic privilege as a young man’s dubious choice, not as social entitlement. Swan’s custom-designed bacon-and-eggs car, the fancy-dressed cowboy-and-squaw fantasy, the erotic vision of an out-of-reach love object poignantly, hilariously mock self-indulgence.

This rare feat of satirical candor recalls the Steely Dan song “Show Biz Kids” that predicted “Show biz kids/Making movies of themselves/You know they don’t give a fuck about/ Anybody else.” While that remains an insufferable truth about Sofia’s movies, it is exactly what distinguishes this film as a charming display of camaraderie.

(Note the lovely, reckless revenge Swan III exacts in defense of his stressed-out sister, played with sweet complexity by Patricia Arquette.) Above all, Roman helps Sheen achieve succor and Sheen returns the favor with a forceful performance—as in an ambidextrous telephone scene that shows impressive actorly skill far beyond his coasting as the oblivious roue in that TV filth Two and a Half Men. It’s been over a decade since Roman Coppola’s last directorial effort (CQ). This new film isn’t any more major but it’s of equal esoteric charm. Charles Swan III’s missteps appeal to our humanity in an era of rabid celebrity envy. No less a misanthrope than Paul Schrader recently complained to Deadline.com “It’s that Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, Chris Grown thing.

The [media] can’t stop themselves from unloading and judging. It’s a terrible fish bowl existence.” Roman Coppola’s fishbowl satire makes an uncommon objet d’art.

Asking for sympathy is more complex than a disingenuous apology.

Follow Armond White on Twitter at 3xchair

OUR TOWN

* entering kindergarten 2013

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Antiques, Fine Art and Mid Century Modern Wanted for Consignment or Purchase

“Walk-In Wednesdays”: Free appraisals 12pm-4pm Monthly Multi-Estate Auctions Next Auction: Sunday, February 24th at 12 Noon View 400 lots at www.ClarkeNY.com

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Tommi Parzinger Mid Century Console Table

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PAGE 13

THE 7-DAY PLAN FRIDAY

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

BEST PICK

Take the Gamble

Cipriani Wall Street, 55 Wall St., ypcbignightout.com, February 23rd, 8 p.m., $185, 21+.

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Who doesn’t love the occasional “big night out” in NYC? Big Brothers Big Sisters is inviting you to join them for a one night only music-playing, gourmet food-eating, silent auction-bidding evening at the “casino.”

Visit nypress.com for the latest updates on local events.

Submissions can be sent to editor.ot@strausnews.com

FREE: Priceless Creativity

The Prince & Michael Jackson Experience

New York University, 58 West 10th St., nyu.edu, 7 p.m.

The prestigious NYU Creative Writing Program will be hosting a reading series for anyone who would like to attend.

It’s the perfect meeting ground for established writers and local patrons.

Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th St., highlineballroom.com, 10:30 p.m., $12, 18+.

Highline Ballroom is luring all Prince and Michael Jackson fans for a night of legendary music. DJ Dave Paul will be playing the songs of these pop cultural icons all night long while fans dance off, drink off and dance off again. This is an event that will surely knock you off of your feet in the best way!

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

PAGE 14

FREE: Stop ‘N’ Swap

ShakesBEER Beckett’s Bar, 81 Pearl St., shakespeareexchange.org, 3 p.m., $40, 21+ “Two Beers, or not Two Beers.” Why not four beers? ShakesBEER is an NYC original Shakespearean pub crawl that combines day drinking with the theater. Stone Street will be filled with theater-loving day drinkers whose ticket guarantees them four drinks and four scenes of Shakespeare. Buy tickets anon!

James Beard Foundation Family Chef Series Children’s Museum of Manhattan, 212 West 83rd St., cmom.org, 212-721-1223, 2 p.m., free-$11.

Waldy Malouf is a chef, restaurant/bar owner, cookbook author, and food consultant. Needless to say, the man knows his food. Head on up to the Children’s Musuem of Manhattan to watch and learn his creative ways to cook simple, seasonal, affordable and delicious meals for the family. Even better, you get to taste what he makes!

New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West 64th St., nysec.org, 6:30 p.m.

Certified Holistic Health Coach Elizabeth Collier will be conducting a free introductory session for her new health and nutrition class scheduled to begin March 11. This session is a great opportunity to see what this class is all about and to see Elizabeth’s particular approach before definitely committing.

New York Rangers vs. Winnipeg ◄ FREE: Jets Manny’s on Second, 1770 2nd Avenue, mannysonsecond.com, 7 p.m.

24 Beers on Tap, 40 HDTVs, great wings burgers and wraps! Head on up to Manny’s on Second to watch the New York Rangers take on the Winnipeg Jets. It’s the coolest place to watch the NHL.

Darkness to Light…

Maslow 6, 211 West Broadway, eventbrite.com, 7 p.m., $65.

A music and wine tasting event. Discover your five senses through wine, cheese, chocolate, music and the light and darkness of day. You will leave this event having a heightened and inspired sense of each sense.

FREE: Overdressed Reading Eileen Fisher SoHo, 395 West Broadway, eileenfisher.com, 6 p.m.

How much do you spend on clothes? If the answer is “too much” Elizabeth Cline has a book for you. Head on down to Eileen Fisher in SoHo to hear her read excerpts from her new book Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. There will also be two workshops offered on how to keep your wardrobe alive for years to come!

OUR TOWN

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The Salvation Army Harlem Temple Corps, 540 Lenox Ave, grownyc.org, 212-788-7964, 12 p.m.

Are you in need of an early spring cleaning? If you are looking to rid your home of clutter, and such clutter happens to be reusable, clean and portable, bring it down to the Salvation Army Harlem Temple Corps. If you are looking to add to your home, you should head on down as well! Things to remember: everything is free, do not bring furniture or large items.

FREE: How Many Hamantaschen’s Can You Eat? ◄ Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun Synagogue, 114 East 85th St., facebook.com/

FREE: Health and Nutrition

TUESDAY

◄

ELALIsraelAirlinesUSA, 1 p.m., 18+.

To celebrate Purim, Israel’s national airline EL AL is hosting its second annual National Hamantaschen Eating Championship. For those who don’t know, Hamantaschen is a triangular shaped pastry with fillings ranging from fruits to chocolate. If this appeals to you, and you are 18 years of age or older, sign up today using the email address above. There could be a free flight to Israel in it for you if you win!

Mic Night ◄ Open The National Underground NYC, 159 East Houston St., thenationalunderground.com, 7 p.m.

Indie Rocker Mark Wynegar is sending out a call for hopeful singers to join him for an open mic at The National Underground NYC. No better time to start on your music career, or just sing for fun, than now!

Scientists ◄ Little Children’s Museum of Manhattan, 212 West 83rd St., cmom.org, 212-721-1223, 10 a.m., free-$11.

Children love to experiment, and in many instances this is not a bad thing. At the Children’s Museum of Manhattan children will get the chance to experiment with texture by painting bubble wrap. Now that’s educational and fun!

Shuffle Concert ◄ The Kosciuszko Foundation, 15 East 65th St., eventbrite.com, 7 p.m., $50-$120.

American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra cordially invites you to their Shuffle Concert. Their modern twist on chamber music calls from audience members to choose from over 40 selections and 19 different styles, thus allowing the orchestra to create a musical fusion that’s highly unique and entertaining. With purchase of a ticket you get admission, drinks, light fare and the chance to win two tickets to Nice Work if You Can Get It!

Pregnant New Yorker ◄ The Maclaren, 150 Wooster St., thepregnantnewyorker.com, 6:30 p.m., $20-$25.

Calling all new mothers and mothers to be! The Pregnant New Yorker is hosting an event that will highlight many questions these mothers could potentially have. Car seat importance, attachment theory, children and animal safety, and massage benefits are a few of the many issues that will be addressed. Bonus: those who enter could win amazing raffles!

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

NYU & Bellevue to Get $7 Million Grant for Kids’ Services The hospitals will receive state money to fund child welfare and juvenile justice programs

L

ast week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Linda Gibbs, New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) Commissioner Ronald Richter, the Child Study Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, and Bellevue Hospital announced an unprecedented effort to improve trauma services for children and young people in New York City’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

ACS, the Child Study Center and Bellevue have been awarded three grants totaling more than $7 million by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the Administration on Children, Youth and Families that will support programs assisting children in New York City with mental health assessment and treatment, as well as trained service providers who care for these children. Key partners in this collaboration

include the New York State Office of Mental Health and Office of Children and Family Services, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and regional medical centers across the country. New York City is at the center of cutting-edge research in the field of children’s mental health, housing important institutions that lead ground-breaking research to help identify and treat children who have experienced trauma.

“Children in the City’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems often suffer from the severe effects of trauma and require mental health care and attention from highly trained providers,” said Bloomberg. “This groundbreaking partnership between New York City and NYU Langone will help provide children in the City’s care with the high quality mental health services they need and deserve.”

“Many youth who enter foster care have experienced some form of trauma in their lives, which can have devastating and long-lasting mental health effects,” said Deputy Mayor Gibbs. Many of the children New York City encounters in its child welfare and juvenile justice systems have experienced trauma in their lives. Studies show that these children are more likely to suffer from trauma’s severe consequences,

including post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide attempts, substance abuse, violent behavior and school failure than children outside these systems. The grants obtained

by ACS, the Child Study Center and Bellevue Hospital address these considerable needs and will fund several initiatives aimed at improving trauma services in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems in New York City and State, including: • Funded by a $2.4 million Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant, the Child Study Center, in partnership with ACS, will establish a Center on Coordinated Trauma Services in Child Welfare and Mental Health to provide national expertise and support the specialized adaptation of effective treatment and services for children and families with trauma-related mental health needs in child welfare systems in New York City and across the United States. ACS and the Child Study Center will facilitate the testing, adaptation, and integration of the proposed mental health tools and interventions in real world settings.

• Funded by a $3.2 million grant from Administration on Children, Youth and Families, the Atlas Project Administration on Children, Youth and Families – a partnership

between ACS, the Child Study Center, the Ulster County Department of Social Services and the New York State Office of Children and Family Services – will serve as an integrated, trauma-informed, foster-care focused project. Aimed at strengthening mental health assessment and treatment for children in the City’s and State’s child welfare systems, it will also improve training for service providers; identify practices and services that are not meeting the needs of children and families; and create tools to improve safety, permanency, well-being, and adoption.

• Through a $1.6 million Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant, the Bellevue Hospital Center in partnership with ACS will provide trauma-focused care at two ACS secure juvenile detention facilities – Crossroads in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and Horizon in Mott Haven, The Bronx. Bellevue will establish trauma-informed mental health screening and evidence-based skills groups to reduce trauma-associated problems and will build partnerships in systems associated with juvenile detention to increase trauma responsiveness in those areas.

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Celebrity Profile

Peter Yarrow and Frog Love march, it’s more likely to be “Blowin’ in the The singer of Peter, Paul Wind” or “Day is Done.” If it’s for a children’s and Mary fame speaks gathering, it’ll be “Puff the Magic Dragon.” about Blowin’ in the Wind, What kind of music do you Greenwich Village in the listen to?

‘60s, and his message to I’m a fan of hearing music in person.

I’ll go to the Metropolitan Opera; I love children that kind of music. I’ll attend the Kerrville

By Angela Barbuti

P

eter Yarrow has lent his voice to multiple generations. The seventy-four-year-old has had a long career singing at monumental moments in history — from the March on Washington to Occupy Wall Street. Although time has passed, to Yarrow, the importance of respect remains constant. He continues to spread this message, which is now reincarnated in his children’s books. The newest, I’m in Love with a Big Blue Frog, released this month, includes Peter Paul and Mary’s recording of the song.

How do you think the music industry has changed since you started?

It used to be that the people who ran the record companies were in love with the music. They respected artistry and wanted to encourage the new Bob Dylans, Peter, Paul and Marys, and Beatles. Now, the dedication is to selling the maximum number of albums. And that really is a pity because when you have that kind of number one priority, you’re not going to be reaching for quality, but for whatever sells the most. And at best that is going to be mediocrity. I’m not saying they’re not valid and wonderful artists who are emerging all the time, but just that the field is not focused on speaking to the hopes and dreams of America. The last group of people highly respected in this way was Bruce Springsteen, Sting, and Bono. Who today is writing the song that everybody knows? Who’s written the “Blowin’ in the Wind” of the last 20 years?

The reason you don’t know the answer to that is because there is not that kind of focus in the music business.

What is your favorite song to perform?

It depends on where I’m singing and in what circumstance. If I’m singing at a peace

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Folk Festival. Something about hearing music being created at that moment has a great power for me. On the other hand, I have people in my life who play music that familiarizes me with what’s going on in the field and there is much that is quite wonderful. I like Lucy Kaplansky, Dar Williams, and David Wilcox. They’re not stars in the firmament that are known by everybody, but they are powerfully moving in their work. I think that Lady Gaga is terrific and her intention is terrific. This is a bright girl. She breaks the mold in certain ways.

Do you think your music played a role in changing people’s mindsets?

I have no doubt that that’s the case, but we were accompanied by many others. Folk music was the soundtrack of the nation.

What do you hope your new book, I’m in Love with a Big Blue Frog, says to children?

It’s a very powerful message. When it was written, by Les Braunstein, a friend of Peter, Paul and Mary’s, the issue was prejudice of African Americans. But now, you could apply it to gays, lesbians, and Muslims. I believe that this is not just something that entertains. This is something that educates.

When kids look at it, and they begin to have it explained to them by their mothers, fathers, and grandparents, they’ll say, “Why is it that these people are saying they don’t approve of this relationship?” This leads to a discussion of civil rights and acceptance.

Explain your work with Operation Respect.

It’s about giving kids the tools to be kind, accepting, and understanding of one another, and to resolve conflict nonviolently. It’s very much the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. It is all about the absence or presence of respect or disrespect.

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What was your role in the civil rights movement?

Peter, Paul and Mary sang at the March on Washington in 1963. We sang at the Selma to Montgomery March, the March on Frankfort. When it segued into the antiwar movement, there we were, involved in that as well. We had our lives threatened, but we were young and fearless in those days.

What was New York City like in the ‘60s?

In Greenwich Village, it was a time of extraordinary change and excitement. Every day we got together in the coffee houses and we’d sing and they’d pass the hat. We had little more than the clothes on our backs, but we were in love with life and sensed that great things were happening and we were a part of it. And we were right - great things did happen. And now we need to recapture some of what was shared in that period.

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You live on the Upper West Side. Do people stop you in the city to say hello?

They do. But they say hello to me as if they’re my friend. They just say, “Hi Peter, love your music.”

You occupied Wall Street.

I sang at occupy Wall Street several times. I did it with my son, daughter, and granddaughter. She had signs with her classmate saying, “We want fairness. We want kindness. We want a bright future.”

That was long before the police came, before pepper spray out in California. It was a loving place - and then the police came, and people became fearful and angry.

To learn about Peter’s music, visit www. peterpaulandmary.com

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