Our Town August 22nd, 2013

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NYPRESS.COM • THE LARGEST PAPER ON THE EAST SIDE • AUGUST 22, 2013

Clearing the Shelves City seeking waiver for school librarian cutbacks Joanna Fantozzi Is the school librarian going the way of the milkman? Despite a state mandate calling for a librarian in every school, New York City employs only 333 librarians for its 1,700 public schools – and is seeking a waiver from Albany to exempt the city from the librarian-in-every-school requirement. The DOE says that in a world of Google and ebooks, the need for traditional librarians is ebbing. “While libraries continue to be an important resource, the old model of a room full of books with a staff member managing the access is changing,” said Devon Puglia, a DOE representative. “Schools are innovating and providing access in many different ways including rich classroom libraries, curated online research sites, and full online curricula.”

The city’s stance has prompted some uncharacteristically loud complaints from New York’s librarians. “I’m furious,” said Stephanie Rosalia, the staff librarian at New Explorations Into Science Technology and Math School in Soho. “The public perception persists that we shush people and dust the shelves, and this perception comes from people who don’t know better what a 21st century librarian does. As an instructor, I feel like I’ve failed.” Rosalia said that at New Explorations, she considers herself more of an information technology instructor. It’s not all about books, she said, although she does maintain a book collection and teaches kids to be enthusiastic about reading. Rosalia said that she creates lesson plans for grades K-12 at her school about how to access and dissect information. “Picture this,” she said. “You assign a paper, and every kid jumps on Google and they all come in with this copied and pasted report. We teach them to think differently.” The United Federation of Teachers, the union that also represents librarians, has re-invigorated its efforts to file a petition with Commissioner John King about the lack of librarians in schools, and eventually take the issue to court, according to UFT representative Alison Gendar. Sara Kelly Johns, the president-elect of the New York Library Association, said a decision on the city waiver may not come until the UFT petition is brought to court. She said she was surprised when news of an expected waiver surfaced, since she had just spent two days at a conference in Albany that

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Housing residents face forced moves Budget shortfall could require Section 8 recipients to downscale By Daniel Fitzsimmons Father George Baker had just finished high school in 1975 when he moved into apartment 9J with his parents at the Knickerbocker Plaza. The hulking housing complex, at 86th Street and 2nd Avenue, had opened that year in an area then known as Germantown, for its abundance of German restaurants. Baker came back to the apartment after seminary in Rome, and was there in 1997 when his father died and when his mother passed two years later. “To this day everyone still knows each other, greets each other,” said Father George, who is 57. Two years ago, Baker left the apartment he shared with his parents and moved into a smaller one-bedroom in the Knickerbocker. Now, because he receives a Section 8 enhanced housing voucher, he could be forced to downscale again, as the city’s Department of Housing

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TAPPED IN Ethics Committee Joins Fray Over Kellner Allegations By Daniel Fitzsimmons The New York State Assembly Ethics and Guidance Commission has launched its own inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment against Assemblyman Micah Kellner, according to Kellner’s former chief of staff. This latest inquiry is separate from the one launched last week by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. In 2009, a female staffer in Kellner’s office brought 15 pages of chat transcripts to Eliyanna Kaiser, Kellner’s chief of staff at the time. The chats included sexually suggestive comments by Kellner, who was 31 and not married at the time, to the staffer. Kaiser forwarded the transcripts to Assembly lawyer William Collins, where the complaint appears to have stopped and was never forwarded to the Assembly ethics committee. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver dismissed Collins over the matter when these allegations surfaced last month. Kaiser told Our Town that the latest subpoena, which she received Aug. 6, was for “all documents, including but not limited to communications relating to any inappropriate behavior on the part of Assemblymember Micah Kellner directed toward you or any other staff member.� She said the subpoena “includes, but is not limited to, comments, actions and conduct of a sexual nature.� Kaiser said the Assembly ethics committee’s chair, Assemblyman Charles Lavine (D13), interviewed her Aug. 1 about the 2009 complaint. Kellner, who is running for city council, apologized last month for his behavior. After news of the joint ethics commission broke, he released a statement, which said, “If I had been aware that documents pertaining to me had been submitted to an Assembly counsel four years ago, I would have immediately requested an investigation. I welcome such an

investigation now and I will cooperate fully.� When contacted on Aug. 9, a Kellner spokesperson said he was not aware of any inquiry by the Assembly ethics committee.

Sandy Rebuilding Task Force Releases Rebuilding Strategy The federal task force on rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy, chaired by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, released a rebuilding strategy to serve as a model for communities facing greater risks from extreme weather and to continue helping the Sandy-affected region rebuild. The Rebuilding Strategy contains 69 policy recommendations, many of which have already been adopted, aimed at helping homeowners stay in and repair their homes, strengthen small businesses and revitalize local economies and ensure entire communities are better able to withstand and recover from future storms. “From the moment the storm hit last October it was clear New York City and the region as a whole would need to rebuild smarter and mitigate any future natural disasters,� said local Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. “Superstorm Sandy dealt a devastating blow to our country’s economic engine. I am glad the Administration is working with state and local officials to provide the flexibility needed to help families and businesses recover from catastrophic damage while investing in resiliency efforts.� Among the recommendations that will have the greatest impact on federal funding is a process to prioritize all largescale infrastructure projects and map the connections and interdependencies between them, as well as guidelines to ensure all of those projects are built to withstand the impacts of climate change. The strategy also explores how to harden energy infrastructure to minimize power outages and fuel shortages – and ensure continuation of cellular service – in the event of future storms.

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

CRIME WATCH

Illustration by John S. Winkleman

CRAIGSLIST CRIME A man paid for an item advertised on craigslist with counterfeit bills. At 4:57 PM on Thursday, August 8, a 35-year-old man met a 25-year-old man at the northeast corner of Second Avenue and East 59th Street to sell a Canon EF lens he had advertised on craigslist, valued at $1,200. The two men made the deal, but when the seller got to his bank afterwards, the teller told him that the bills he had been paid with were counterfeit.

By Jerry Danzig

Cell Phone Scuffle A man’s cell phone was pinched during a dispute outside a parking garage. At 3:53 PM on Wednesday, August 14, a 56-year-old man from Staten Island was parked in the driveway of an eastside parking garage, when a 54-yearold man walked by with his dog. The two men got into a dispute, and the dog walker reached into the driver’s side window and grabbed the driver’s cell phone from his hand. Police searched the area but were unable to find the cell phone snatcher. No injuries were sustained. The cell phone stolen was valued at $500.

Check Cheating Fraudulent checks were issued and cashed from the account of an 80-year-old woman. At 12 noon on Thursday, August 8, an 80-yearold woman living on East 72nd Street was notified by her bank that checks had been cashed out of state against her account totaling $18,000. The woman told police that she had not authorized or given permission for the transactions.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

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Transfer Treachery A large amount of money was transferred electronically out of a woman’s bank account. At 3 PM on Tuesday, August 13, a 75-yearold woman living on East 65th Street was notified by her daughter, with whom she had a joint bank account, that unknown persons had contacted their bank and used the older woman’s personal account information to make unauthorized internal transactions. There were two such transactions, removing $157,000 from her account without her knowledge or permission.

Fare Beater A passenger attempted to stiff a yellow cab driver on his fare. At 1:18 AM on Tuesday, August 13, a 27-year-old male taxi driver picked up a male passenger with long blonde hair at Sixth Avenue and Houston Street and drove him to First Avenue and East 79th Street. When they arrived at that destination, the passenger presented his credit card for payment, but it was declined. The passenger then got out of the cab without paying, and the cabbie tried to stop him. The passenger kicked the cabbie and pushed him to the ground. The taxi driver later complained of pain in his left knee and right ankle. Police searched the area but could not find the fierce fare beater.

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The Most Rat-Infested Block on the Upper East Side According to city data, a stretch of East 93rd Street had the highest number of rat complaints in the neighborhood By Adam Janos

R

attus norvegicus: the street rat. It’s a menace that New Yorkers can’t seem to shake -- particularly if you live on 93rd Street on the Upper East Side. According to city data, 93rd between 1st and 2nd avenues is home to more rat complaints than any other spot in the neighborhood -- a fact largely attributed to continuing work on the Second Avenue Subway. As workers dig up sidewalk and scatter debris, the rats underground come up into the light of day‌ or, more frequently, to the calmer quiet of night. New Yorkers on 93rd Street called in 31 complaints over the last year as the MTA builds out what will one day be the 96th Street subway station serving Yorkville. That is the most complaints logged for a single block in the neighborhood.

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Joseph and Marina Yudborovski, residents of the rat-infested block, accept the rats with a shrug. As renters who came to the Upper East Side a year ago, they see a lot more rodents now than they did before, when they lived in a comparatively ratfree zone on 30th Street. “They’re the size of small cats,� Marina says. “Sometimes they get run over by cars. That’s the worst.� Still, the Yudborovskis have no intention of allowing the pests from pushing them out of the neighborhood, noting that the rats haven’t made it into their building. And in New York, it could always be worse. “It’d be worse if there were roaches,� Marina says. “Rats are smarter. They at least get out of the way.� Or do they? Josh Barbour, who has been on the block for two years, thinks the rats have become emboldened as the ongoing construction has allowed them to familiarize themselves with their new neighbors. “They got fearless,� Barbour asserts. “They don’t run anymore, even if you jump at them.� For the Waterford, a 230-unit, 47-story tower on the corner of Second Avenue at 300 East 93rd Street, the work staff is at a loss for how to deal with the profusion of pesky rodents on their property. One concierge, who requested anonymity for fear of jeopardizing his job, said that in his 15 years of working at the apartment complex the rat problem has never been so bad. The garden in front of the building has become overrun with the creatures, and he says that tenants will squeamishly hustle in and out of the building at night to reduce the amount of time in their presence. “The poison was working before,� the Waterford employee told the paper. “Not now. There are just too many.� “All people can do is call 311. They’re scared, but they can’t do nothing.� Here – in Yorkville, in New York – there will be rats for the forseeable future. But that won’t stop policymakers from trying to eliminate them. On the Upper West Side, starting in September the city will begin a pilot program to keep the rats from nesting in trees through the use of a gravel-like substance that deters them from building. The MTA, likewise, announced a pilot program this spring to use infertility-inducing bait to

try to get the rat population under control. Of course, these are both pilot programs; there’s no telling what will work, and until then, perhaps the best residents can do is remind themselves that the rats are just one more piece to the New York trade off; the cost to ride in the one of the most culturally-engaging, densely-populated urban centers in the world. For now, it looks like it’s a price we’ll all just have to continue paying.

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There have been 533 total complaints to 311 about rodents to community district 8 since last August. Our map shows some of the top rat complaint spots on the Upper East Side in the past year, according to data from 311. Callers to 311 either identify an actual rat sighting (the overwhelming majority of complaints) or can cite conditions attracting rodents, which may include open trash containers, construction sights, or abandoned structures.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

No Chance for Upper East Side Republican David Garland, the subject of your story “Upper East Sider Declares for City Council� (Daniel Fitzsimmons August 8) has already lost. Republicans haven’t offered Democrats serious competition for public office on the city, state or federal level in years. The citadel of liberal Republicans based in the East Side of Manhattan was totally eliminated years ago. Neighborhoods formerly represented by the late Congressmember Bill Green (1978-1992), State Senator Roy Goodman (1969-2002), State Assemblyman John Ravitz (1991-2002) and City Councilmembers Charles Millard (1991-1995) and Andrew Eristoff (1993-1999) are now safely in Democratic Party hands. Despite overwhelming Democratic Party enrollment in Manhattan, creative gerrymandering by the GOP controlled State Senate in 1970. 1980, 1990 and 2000 continued

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to preserve the seat of Republican State Senator Roy Goodman. He lost his final race for another term in the 2002 General Election. For the last two decades, party leadership gave up running real candidates with proper financing to challenge Democratic incumbents. They preferred living off the political patronage crumbs from Manhattan Democrats in exchange for taking a dive. Democrats in return gave the few GOP office holders a free ride. This combined with Democrats gerrymandering over decades of district boundaries contributed to atrophy resulting in their virtual disappearance today. Enrolled Manhattan Democrats outnumber Republicans over seven to one. David Garland needs $800,000, not the $8,000 he has raised to date, to be competative and overcome these obstacles. Sincerely, Larry Penner

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NEWS Librarians Continued from page 1

“We go beyond the concerns of just the basic inquiry,” said McIntosh. “It’s going to be unfortunate that if this trend continues you will dumb down a whole populace of young people.” McIntosh said that he is concerned for his job, as are many of his colleagues. The librarian at Washington Irving Campus in Gramercy, who had worked there for almost her whole career, had to be bounced around from library to library this past school year as a temp. “Come this September, I may have to confront this issue, and if that’s the case, believe me, I won’t go quietly into that good night.”

looked at how resources like libraries and museums contribute to the new common core education standards. Jody Howard, a spokesperson for Urban Librarians Unite, an advocacy group, said that with city budgets strained, librarians, along with music and art teachers, are among the first to go. “We are the one person besides the principal who knows everyone and what every student likes,” she said. “Waive it? The idea of waiving it is short sighted. It’s certainly cost effective to pay one librarian per school than to not have kids be college and career-ready.” Paul McIntosh, the librarian at Wadleigh Secondary School on West 114th Street, says he sees his job as inspiring students.

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“We’re going to try and match up as many people who have received a notice with individual attorneys to look at the Preservation and Development evaluates his circumstances and to see if something can situation under new occupancy guidelines. be done to at least preclude HPD from Budget cuts in Washington have led to downsizing you if you have a legitimate basis,” a $35 million shortfall in the Section 8 said Garodnick. housing program. To deal with the deficit, Rita Popper, president of the tenants the department is moving voucher recipients association at the Knickerbocker, said she is into smaller units. Under the new occupancy considering launching a class-action lawsuit guidelines, a family of two currently living in against HPD over the changes. a two-bedroom unit will have to move to a “I think that they counted upon us being one-bedroom unit, regardless of the family’s old and not doing anything about it and structure. A family of three or four will be tucking our tail between our legs and wringing downgraded to a two-bedroom unit and a our hands,” said Popper. “They didn’t count family of five or six to a three-bedroom. A that we are going to fight this and we are going person living alone, like Baker, will be moved to win because right is might.” from a one-bedroom to a studio apartment. Of the 577 apartments in the Enhanced Section 8 tenants they will Knickerbocker, 340 tenants receive Section be required to move when a unit in their 8 housing vouchers and 220 - or about 38 building or development becomes available. percent of the building residents - are at risk Those who have regular Section 8 vouchers of having to move after their evaluations in could see their rents increase under new October. standards that came with the new occupancy Some residents have already received letters guidelines, and will have to choose whether to from HPD informing pay more in rent or request “I think that they counted upon us them that they’ll have to a smaller unit so their share being old and not doing anything move. Robert Hunter, won’t increase. 57, currently lives alone about it and tucking our tail Residents affected by the in a two-bedroom unit between our legs and wringing changes will be evaluated at the Knickerbocker. He our hands,” said tenants associain October. tion president Rita Popper. “They received a letter from HPD Last Tuesday, city didn’t count that we are going to in August saying that he’ll council members Dan fight this and we are going to win.” have to move to a studio. Garodnick and Jessica Hunter, who is an Army Lappin met with about veteran and uses a therapy 150 residents of the dog to help him cope with Knickerbocker, some of whom have lived in schizophrenia, said a studio is too small. He the complex since it opened. Garodnick and appealed to the HPD with a note from his Lappin said they would fight to keep people in doctor and is awaiting a decision. their homes. “The HPD didn’t do its job in my “I couldn’t make it in a studio, I really view,” said Garodnick. “There was no public couldn’t make it,” Hunter said. “It would comment, there was no transparency, there be too small for me. The disability I have was no ability for your legislators or your wouldn’t really agree with that.” tenant leaders to comment on the proposed An HPD spokesperson said the new regulations.” occupancy guidelines and subsidy standards Both councilmembers are meeting with the are an attempt to keep all Section 8 HPD to discuss their objections to the new participants in the program, which has seen occupancy guidelines and see what can be massive cuts at the federal level. “The bottom done to mitigate its effect. line is that because of sequestration, Section “This is crazy. I don’t know how else to say 8 has been greatly underfunded,” said an it,” said Lappin. “Who’s going to move you? HPD spokesperson. “We are trying to keep When? Are they going to help the seniors? our existing tenants housed, but given the What if your kids aren’t the same sex? Who’s magnitude of cuts to our funding we’ve had to going to answer these questions for us?” implement measures that require everybody Those who receive a letter saying they have to make some sacrifice so that nobody risks to move after the October evaluation can losing their Section 8 benefit.” appeal the decision to the HPD. Garodnick HPD administers 37,468 Section 8 housing said both his and Lappin’s office will be vouchers in NYC, 11,578 of which are in available to connect residents who believe Manhattan. Of those, 3,700 are enhanced they have grounds to appeal with free legal housing vouchers. help. Housing Continued from page 1

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

The 2013 Race: A Marathon That’s Far From Over Voters will be making crucial decisions three times in the upcoming months By Tom Allon

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Tom Allon So, from October 2 until November 5, a five-week period of light fall breezes and pre-Halloween costume-picking, we will be debating the future of our city. Should we continue “proactive policing?” Will there be retroactive raises for our city workers? What can be done to straighten out our public education mess? How will we lift the middle class again in New York? On November 5, how many people will turn out and vote for our next mayor? We had more than 1.8 million New Yorkers vote in 2001, and it has gone steadily down to just over 1.1 million in 2009. In 2013, will our populace be engaged and energized enough to get a strong turnout in the general election? Will the future of public safety (to some, “stop and frisk” is the key policy) be a decisive factor differentiating the Democratic and Republican candidates and the two third-party contenders? When the dust settles on November 6 and the new mayor is anointed, there will be one more important leg in this journey - the transition and the selections of key personnel: the police commissioner, the chancellor and the deputy mayors, as well as the agency heads and the commissioners. Will we have another data-driven administration or will it be more “touchy-feely,” with a focus on social programs and inequality? The biggest hurdle of all lies ahead: how to govern a city of 8.2 million and follow in the footsteps of a larger-than-lfe billionaire mayor, who put his indelible stamp on so many areas. Make an informed choice on September 10, October 1 and November 5. Your family, your neighborhood, your borough and your whole city is counting on your wise vote. Tom Allon, president of City & State, NY, is the former Liberal Party-backed candidate for Mayor. Comments? Email tallon@ cityandstateny.com.

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While many insiders think there’s just three weeks left until we pick a new mayor, comptroller, public advocate, two borough presidents, a district attorney and a new city council - an unprecedented turnover in our municipal government - it’s actually just the second half of a long marathon race that won’t conclude until six months from now, in early 2014. The September 10th primary - which comes just a week after Labor Day, five days after the Jewish New Year and on the second day of school - will only definitively determine our next comptroller, most of the new city council, two new borough presidents and the Brooklyn district attorney. Yes, the only three things that will be certain on September 11, 2013, will be: death, taxes and whether we’ve witnessed the incredible resurrection of Eliot Spitzer into New York political life. On the mayoral front we will simply have eliminated five Democratic contenders (including likely the once high-flying Anthony Weiner) and two Republican candidates. For three weeks from September 11 to October 1 (the day of the mayoral and likely public advocate run-off ), we will see a slugfest between the two semifinalists in the Democratic mayoral marathon. Right now, unless the topsy turvy campaign takes a really strange turn, there are three likely mayoral runoff possibilities: Christine Quinn v. Bill Thompson, Quinn v. Bill de Blasio or Thompson v. de Blasio. It’s a three-way game of survivor, in other words, with one of these career pols getting knocked off the island. No matter what, the three weeks after the primary will be a highly-charged time of debates, negative media stories, unions jousting on behalf of their candidates and, hopefully, great voter engagement so that the Democrats pick a truly qualified person to potentially succeed Mike Bloomberg. Lying in wait will be the GOP nominee, either former MTA head Joe Lhota, or billionaire businessman John Catsimatidis. Spicing up the general election mix will be tech millionaire Jack Hidary and Independence Party candidate Adolfo Carrion.

THE 7-DAY PLAN

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Last Week of Summerstage

East River Park, Cityparksfoundation, 7-9PM, free The end of August marks the ending of many summer special events, chief of which is the Summerstage Festival in Central and East River Parks. A dizzying array of acts, performances and concerts have graced the stage already over the last three months, but there are still a few left, including acclaimed hip-hop artists Pete Rock and DJ Premier ,Canadian singer-songwriter Mac Demarco, and Afro-Cuban Latin legend, Larry Harlow.

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Submissions can be sent to otdowntown@strausnews.com

RiverFlick for Kids ◄ Last Pier 46, 353 West Houston St, riverflicks.com, 8:30 pm, free The last outdoor movie of the summer on Hudson River Park will be Tintin, an adaptation of the classic comic book about an intrepid reporter and his dog as they search for buried treasure. Rated PG. Free popcorn served.

LOL! NYC Comedy Slam 158 Bleecker Street, Le Poisson Rouge, 7PM, $10 cover On the 4th Friday of every month, comedians and would-be comedians in New York can make a quick buck by performing an equally short act at LOL! NYC Comedy Slam, presented by the Inspired Word. Come early to sign up because there are only 25 comedians. 5 judges. 1 superlative clown. Must be 21 or over.

Met Summer HD Festival Beings

Chelsea Bazaar at Sundown

10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Metoperafamily.org, 8PM, free The popular free festival for a fifth year, featuring ten consecutive nights of free encore screenings of Met’s Grammy, Peabody, and Emmy Award-winning productions. More than 3,100 seats will be available each night, and still Lincoln Center Plaza will be filled with standing space. Opening night will surely be a tough act to follow with Natalie Dessay starring in Verdi’s La Traviata, directed by Willy Decker and conducted by Fabio Luisi. No tickets are required for the festival. Runtime 1hr 45 min.

The Atman Building, 135 West 18th St, 6:30-9:30 PM, chelseabazaar.com Join hundreds of other New Yorkers in supporting small businesses while enjoying an open bar and buffet, courtesy of Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce. The bazaar will feature various local vendors looking to expand their audience and build their presence in the area.

MTV VMA Awards

Flourescence All- White Loft Day Party

Barclay Center, 620 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn 5PM The Video Music Awards from the Barclays Center in New York City, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. The VMA is an award presented by the MTV cable channel to honor the best in music videos. The VMA’s were originally brought about to serve as an alternative to the Grammy Awards, as they appealed to and attracted a much younger audience.

Club 404 NYC, 404 Tenth Ave. corner of 33rd Street, eventbrite.com, 3-11PM, $15 Who better to throw an all-white party than PINK with DJs Magic and Scoota as MCs? Dress in your finest summer whites since you won’t be able to wear them for much longer, but make sure they can go from light to night because this party is all-day as well. Must be 18 or older. Tables upstairs for larger parties.

“Forever Ray”All-Star Revue BB King Blues Club, 237 W. 42nd St., goldstar.com, 8PM, $15 The Ray Charles Tribute Series continues with a performance by Whitley and the Hard Times Band, a stellar 12-member ensemble, featuringh a number of veteran musicians. They will play some of Brother Ray’s timeless hits which range from Jazz and Blues to Country and R&B.

Phones Bryant Park ◄ E.T. 41 East 40th St, bryantpark.org, 8 p.m., free Don’t miss the final outdoor screening in the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival, which has saved the best for last. Sit under the stars as you travel through intergalactic space in Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. As always the lawn will open at 5 pm to picnickers, and the film will roll at sundown.

Linda Oh’s Music Release The Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27th Street, 9:30PM, $20 Linda Oh is not only one of the finest bassists but also the most unique composer to emerge on the New York scene in the past five years: Born in Malaysia of Chinese heritage and raised in Western Australia, she has matured into a strong player in a grand tradition. On the tail of her previous album dubbed a Top Ten Jazz Recording of 2012, her third album as leader, Sun Pictures, will be presented and celebrated by the Jazz Standard and Greenleaf Music.

Korean Movie Night 54 Varick Street, Tribeca Cinemas, koreanculture.org, 7PM, free The Korean Culture Society continues its Free Korean Movie Night series with a screening of Duresori: The Voice of the East, a narrative documentary about the true story of high school seniors Seul-ki and Ah-reum who join a choir blending classic Western music and traditional Korean Song. Seating is first-come, first-served. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

◄

A Come-Back Cabaret Show

How I Learned To Break All the Rules

The Duplex, 61 Christopher St, 7-8PM, 212-255-5438, $10 cover Fresh off the set of the award-winning off-Broadway production, Sleep No More, Danielle Grabianowski, a recipient of the MAC award, will resume her talent for in this eclectic, impromptu set of standards, stories and pop tunes. She will be accompanied by longtime colleague, Nate Buccieri on the keyboard. There is a 2 drink minimum to attend.

Happy Ending Lounge, 302 Broome St, 8 PM, www. howilearnedseries.com, free From the popular monthly How I Learned Series, founded Blaise Allysen Kearsley, comes a lecture on lifelong lessons for being rebellious, as learned by writer/actor Will Hines, comedian Mindy Raf, storyteller Aaron Wolfe, actor/director Amanda Duarte, and writer/performer Jen Bosworth.

THURSDAY

PAGE 8

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Nights with Jerron Paxton ◄ MOMA 11 W. 53rd St, moma.org, 212-708-9400, 5:30 PM, Jerron Paxton, an African American/Jewish/Indian/Irish musician in his mid-twenties plays in a songster style that channels all these traditions and all genres. But, no matter what he is playing, he tries to make his audience feel like he is in their living room, or in this case, a museum. Listen as the MOMA goes from being a silent space during the day to a strident symphony after-hours, filled with singing, fiddling, banjoing and the guitar.

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

DINING

The Meatball Rolls Uptown The team that shined a culinary spotlight on the lowly meatball brings their wares to the Upper East Side, where it all began By Adam Janos Ramen, cupcakes, pork belly - here in the city, there’s a new trendy food popping up every New York minute, only to exit stage right a couple New York seconds later. But for co-owners Michael Chernow and Daniel Holzman of the ascendant Meatball Shop, the cultural tide they’re riding is one that’s been marinating in them since childhood. Chernow and Holzman are New York entrepeneurs; they’ve opened five Meatball Shops in three and a half years, the most recent one last week at 1462 Second Avenue, between East 76th and East 77th Street on the Upper East Side. By 7 p.m. Friday night, the wait for a table was over two hours. According to them, it’s their biggest opening yet. For the two restaurateurs, both originally from the Upper East Side, it’s a thrill. They’ve been friends since their early teens, having worked their way up the restaurant ladder from delivery boys. Chernow, beaming, humbly calls it 50 percent luck, but says that, “The other 50 percent is passion, experience, and authenticity. Little babies love meatballs, little old ladies love meatballs, and everyone in between loves

lunch,� Chernow excitedly says. Adds Holzman: “Also, as busy as I am, I don’t spend as much time with my mom. It’ll be great to see my mom.�

meatballs too.� It’s not hard to understand why the restaurant is so popular: the ambiance is elegant but unpretentious, and the food is fresh and cheap. An order of four meatballs, sauce, and bread is $7; for small upticks in price, the meatballs can be redressed over pasta ($12), in a sandwich with a salad ($10) or in a variety of other configurations. “We have always thought that the Meatball Shop would be great on the Upper East Side,� says Holzman, co-owner and executive chef. “There are so many mainstay restaurants up there, but a lot haven’t evolved to the idea that most people are eating out more. They’re not cooking at home, and a lot of these restaurants are special occasion places. It’s an underserved neighborhood for wholesome, good, inexpensive food cooked by someone else.� That’s the mission that Holzman and Chernow have taken on with the Meatball Shop, and while they aren’t the first ones to come up with the idea of good food at affordable prices, they do seem to have a knack for the execution. Chernow and Holzman met as young teens on the Upper East Side. According to Holzman, Chernow was the “cool� one, a charge that his co-owner gracefully deflects. “I’m the idea guy and Dan’s the executioner,� Chernow explains. “My number one passion of them all is making the connection. I love to connect with people, and he loves to connect with people through food. So between my people skills and his engineering and functional skills, we have the bases covered.� “We really complement each other,� Holzman explains. “I was always more responsible and conservative, and he was less so, but he was Dignified, Affordable and Independently Owned Since 1885 always really successful. WE SERVE ALL FAITHS AND COMMUNITIES The takeaway for me was that you can have a good 5 )/'&1 /'+$1)-,0 -+.*'1' 5 )/'&1 2/)$*0 time, and still accomplish. 5 4.'/1 /' *$,,),( 3$)*$%*' You can laugh and still be serious about what you’re doing.� And that’s the takeaway 1297 First Ave (69th & 70th & + # " $& )" $ " $ at the Meatball Shop, ) * "#( & " $ + ))) $& '" $ #! #! too. Like the owners, the Each cremation service individually performed by fully licensed members of our staff. We use no outside agents or trade services in our cremation service. We exclusively use All Souls Chapel and Crematory at the prestigious restaurant reflects a blend St. Michael's Cemetery, Queens, NY for our cremations unless otherwise directed. of light-heartedness and hard work that is eminently charismatic. Linda’s Cat Assistance, Animal Care & Control & North Shore Animal League America For the two owners, the East side location is the equivalent of home, allowing them to further carve out their legacy in their old stomping grounds. 235 E. 9th St. (Btw 2nd & 3rd Ave) “I remember going to %3 !-.) ! 6 6 5 Wagner High School, and going to the pizza place on 3rd Ave or the Chinese spot .-"$3"4 0 6 %3 !-.) ! across the street. For P.S. 6 5 158, we’re gonna be that place that kids go to for

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

OUR TOWN

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PAGE 9

‘Hood Happenings Friday, Aug. 23 August Film Series at New York Public Library on 58th St. (between Park & Lex Aves.) This week: October Sky

Saturday, Aug. 24 Lexington Avenue Fair featuring artists, crafters, and vendors. Lexington Avenue from 42nd to 57th St. For more info: www. fairsandfestivals.net The 82nd Street Greenmarket (between 1st & York Aves.) sells local produce, poultry, eggs, beef, cheese, and more. Composts and collects fabrics and clothing. Also, bring old household items (batteries, corks, eye glasses, etc.) for recycling. Health and Race Walking with New York Walkers Club. Meet at 9:30 a.m. at the North Meadow Recreation Center, middle of Central Park at 97th Street. For more info, visit www. centralparknyc.org. History of Sports in Central Park Tour. Meet at the Dairy Visitor Center (mid-Park at 65th Street). 12:30 PM. Runs 75 min. Free

Sunday, Aug. 25 Pakistani Independence Day Parade and Street Fair. Along Madison Avenue from 37th St. to 23rd St. Starts at 3:30PM. The 92nd St. Greenmarket (from 92nd to 93rd streets along Lexington Ave) will feature the best of local produce, baked goods, seafood and more. Bring old household items to be recycle or reused. Forr more info www.grownyc.com

Monday, Aug. 26 Monday Fun Days at New York Public Library on 67th St. (near 1st Ave) means Summer Craft Fun! Learn to spool, knit and make a colorful “book” worm. Ages 6-10. 4 PM. Please call 212-734-1717 to pre-register. The Wild Garden exhibition and Catch & Release fishing at Dana Discovery Center (inside the Park at 110th St. between Fifth and Lenox Aves). Repeats every day until 09/01. Open 10 AM-5 PM. For more info call (212) 860-1370.

PAGE 10

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Fall Education Preview

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

OUR TOWN

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PAGE 11

Table of Contents How the new Common Core will affect your child. Page 14

Schools get innovative to teach new skills. Page 16

PAGE 12

Ask kids questions - and actually get answers. Page 22

Tips for filling the empty nest. Page 18

OUR TOWN

How our next mayor will impact education. Page 19

Juggling school overcrowding. Page 20

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Smart snacking Don’t be a college for Back to School. helicopter parent. Page 21 Page 25

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

e r o f e B r e v E n a s th r e n n i W d r a w FA S N Y N U More C

M

ore than 20 outstanding CUNY students in 2013 won National Science Foundation awards of $126,000 each for graduate study in the sciences. No other University system in the Northeast won more.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

OUR TOWN

1-800-CUNY-YES cuny.edu/allstars

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PAGE 13

Restore balance and relieve stress with the art of Zen. Dr Jimmy Yu (Florida State Uni.), a practitioner of Zen for more than three decades, shares with us how we can find our center, establish inner composure, regain health and restore our spiritual vitality.

I

Zen and Stress Reduction

Honorable Speaker: Prof. Jimmy Yu (Guo Gu) F. S.U.

DATE: Thurs, Sept 26th TIME: 7:00 p.m. ~ 9:00 p.m. VENUE: NYIT Auditorium, 1871 Broadway, New York City For more info, please visit http://www.cbcausa.org/event/artofzen.html.

www.cbcausa.org

Fall Festival & Open House October 13, 10 am – 4 pm

High School Open House November 2, 10 am – 1 pm

Nurturing living connections... early childhood through grade 12 Situated on a 400-acre Biodynamic farm in New York’s Hudson Valley, Hawthorne Valley’s integrative Waldorf curriculum helps young men and women grow academically, artistically, and socially into the creative individuals needed in today’s complex world.

Day and Boarding Programs t Accepting Applications 518-672-7092 x 111 info@hawthornevalleyschool.org WALDORF SCHOOL | www.hawthornevalleyschool.org 330 County Route 21C, Ghent, NY 12075 | 518-672-7092 x 111

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NYC educators support Common Core, but not the way it’s being implemented By Daniel Fitzsimmons

The Art of

PAGE 14

New Testing Is All in the Execution

August, the state education department handed down scores from the first standardized tests given to students in New York that were aligned with the new national Common Core Standards. In New York City, 26 percent of students in third through eighth grade passed the English test; 30 percent passed the math test. Statewide, 31 percent of students in the same age group passed the English and math tests. The tests administered this past spring were among the first in the nation to be aligned with the Common Core, a curriculum that will be fully implemented in the state in the 2014-15 school year. So far, 45 states have adopted Common Core and are in various stages of implementation. The tests were given to gauge how well students were learning the new material. The results were dismal, as education officials knew they would be due to the more rigorous standards. But supporters of Common Core, including State Education Commissioner John B. King Jr., said the low scores will provide a baseline for measuring progress as the implementation continues. “These proficiency scores do not reflect a drop in performance, but rather a raising of standards to reflect college and career readiness in the 21st century,” said King in remarks after the test scores were released. “I understand these scores are sobering for parents, teachers, and principals. It’s frustrating to see our children struggle. But we can’t allow ourselves to be paralyzed by frustration; we must be energized by this opportunity. The results we’ve announced today are not a critique of past efforts, they’re a new starting point on a roadmap to future success.” But many are asking the question of what the poor results will mean for students when the Common Core Standards are actually implemented in the 2014-15 school year, when the standardized test could determine if a student will be held back or if a teacher is doing their job well. Jessica Shalom, Academic Coordinator for the Computer School on the Upper West Side, said that as a concept the Common Core Standards make a lot of sense; it increases the amount of non-fiction reading

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in the curriculum and allows students to read for depth and comprehension, not for volume. But her concern is that the new curriculum is such a major shift in learning for students - and educators, who will be evaluated on students’ performance - that it will change the landscape of the classroom to one that’s centered on preparing for a test. “I worry that our teachers are getting spread thin and I worry that we’re going to move towards...lots of how-to manuals and lots of really short test-preppy looking things and away from literature, both novels and non-fiction, in order to prep for these tests,” said Shalom. “And that’s not the intention, but I just think that’s what it’s going to end up looking like because of how high-stakes these tests are.” Tim O’Mara, a teacher at the Computer School, said he supports the Common Core Standards because they’re designed to promote a higher level of critical thinking in students. But O’Mara feels teachers were not given the necessary tools to prepare students for the higher standards. “I’ve spoken with many colleagues who have had to scour the internet in search of materials and information to help them put the [Common Core] practices into their lesson plans and assessments,” said O’Mara. “I’m expecting to get a sixth-grade math textbook this September which is written towards meeting the [Common Core Standards], I’ve been waiting two years for this.” That point of view is shared by the United Federation of Teachers, New York City’s largest teachers union. UFT President Michael Mulgrew sent a letter to members after the test scores were released that said, in part, that the City hasn’t provided them with the tools necessary to implement Common Core in their classrooms. “Our students need to develop the higherlevel cognitive skills and deeper learning at the heart of the new Common Core Learning Standards,” said Mulgrew in the letter. “But if you are going to take your instruction to this new level, you need new curriculum that the Department of Education has been slow to provide, time to plan that is not available in the current school day because of needless paperwork, and professional development tailored to the new standards.” Tim O’Mara said he’s also concerned with the way the tests measure students’ knowledge of the Common Core. “With all the focus on teaching students to be more critical thinkers and providing them with more time and ways to demonstrate their skills and knowledge, I was dismayed

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

- but not surprised - that the 2013 test was overwhelmingly multiple choice,” he said. The multiple choice format, according to O’Mara, is the “antithesis” of demonstrating critical thinking skills. “Multiple choice tests are easier, quicker, and cheaper to grade than those assessments that a real live educator has to grade. It also seems to me that a true assessment of the Common Core Standards should not be timed,” said O’Mara. “The bureaucrats who rightfully show their support for the Common Core Standards have also shown a disappointing lack of creativity and imagination when it comes to assessing these standards and the teachers responsible for implementing them.” Jessica Shalom said the new standards, which feature a heavy focus on literacy, are going to negatively affect those students who trail in that area. Even the mathematics portion of the standardized tests have a literacy component built-in to the questions, she said, and she’s seen students who had average literacy skills but very good math skills do poorly on the math section of the standardized test. “My gut is that now that the Common Core is pushing so much literacy across the board, you’re not going to see those high math scores,” said Shalom. “You’re getting essentially a literacy score across the board... the math test is essentially a reading test also.” Shalom said the literacy-heavy curriculum is also a concern for non-native English speakers. “The hardest hit are going to be the kids who struggle with literacy the most,” said Shalom. “In places where literacy is less of an issue, the test is going to be less of an issue.” Shalom said the rapid move to the Common Core curriculum feels like it’s too closely linked to standardized testing, and not a new and more innovative way of teaching children. If the standardized tests are about showing where a student is compared to where they should be, and comparing that student to their peers, than it’s really useful, she said. “But if instead it’s about categorizing [them] and [their] teacher I feel really different about the testing.” Next school year, all city schools are expected to teach the Common Core curriculum and the state will begin to integrate Common Core Standards into some of its Regents exams. By the 201415 school year, full implementation of the Common Core Standards is expected in all city schools. “I guess I just worry that because of the unfortunate timing, as testing is just ramping up so much in the last decade, what are we testing and what does it mean for what classrooms actually look like?” said Shalom.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

How Neighborhood Schools Performed Better performing Lillie Devereaux Blake School (PS6) 45 East 81st St. Grade 3 ELA Level 4 15.9% (excel) Level 3 55.8% (proficient) Level 2 22.1% (below proficient) Level 1 6.2% (well below proficient) Grade 3 Math Level 4 37.7% (excel) Level 3 34.2% (proficient) Level 2 23.7% (below proficient) Level 1 4.4% (well below proficient) Grade 4 ELA Level 4 41.9% (excel) Level 3 32.6% (proficient) Level 2 18.6% (below proficient) Level 1 7% (well below proficient) Grade 4 Math Level 4 59.7% (excel) Level 3 23.3% (proficient) Level 2 10.1% (below proficient) Level 1 7% (well below proficient) Grade 5 ELA Level 4 37.8% (excel) Level 3 34.5% (proficient) Level 2 20.2% (below proficient) Level 1 7.6% (well below proficient) Grade 5 Math Level 4 42.1% (excel) Level 3 33.9% (proficient) Level 2 14% (below proficient) Level 1 9.9% (well below proficient) Key NYS Level 4: Students performing at this level excel in Common Core standards for their grade in English language arts and mathematics. NYS Level 3: Students performing at this level are proficient in

Worse performing Vito Marcantonio School (PS50) 433 East 100 St. Grade 3 ELA Level 4 0% (excel) Level 3 6.3% (proficient) Level 2 18.8% (below proficient) Level 1 75% (well below proficient) Grade 3 Math Level 4 0% (excel) Level 3 9.4% (proficient) Level 2 21.9% (below proficient) Level 1 68.8% (well below proficient) Grade 4 ELA Level 4 0% (excel) Level 3 5.6% (proficient) Level 2 47.2% (below proficient) Level 1 47.2% (well below proficient) Grade 4 Math Level 4 2.7% (excel) Level 3 10.8% (proficient) Level 2 21.6% (below proficient) Level 1 64.9% (well below proficient) Grade 5 ELA Level 4 2.9% (excel) Level 3 5.9% (proficient) Level 2 38.2% (below proficient) Level 1 52.9% (well below proficient) Grade 5 Math Level 4 0% (excel) Level 3 20% (proficient) Level 2 20% (below proficient) Level 1 60% (well below proficient)

Common Core standards for their grade in English language arts and mathematics. NYS Level 2: Students performing at this level are below proficient in Common Core standards for their grade in English language arts and mathematics.

Students performing at this level are well below proficient in Common Core standards for their grade in English language arts and mathematics. For more information on the Common Core Standards performance level descriptions visit www.engageny.org

For more information on the Common Core Standards performance level descriptions visit www.engageny.org

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PAGE 15

Classrooms Get Innovative Local private schools are pushing the limits of technology to find new ways to educate students By Katya Johns

W

ith all the electronic games, gadgets and widgets out there it is hard to make school seem relevant, let alone interesting. As one teacher put it, “A functional skill set is given to anyone with access to technology…the school is the last one to the party.” Far from resisting these threats, many schools are playing by the rule, ‘If you can’t beat them, join them.’

The Wired, Wireless Classroom It’s out with the old and in with the new at NYC private schools—the old being not the antiquated chalkboards, but the Smartboards that schools spent millions to install just five years ago. The new hot items are individual wireless tablets for staff and students. Not long ago, teachers banned all electronic devices from their classroom, deeming them distractions; now they are encouraging them. “The new wireless classrooms [are] allowing teachers to engage students directly during lectures and classroom exercises,” wrote Joseph Amatrucola, director of information technology and chair of the computer science department at Regis High School on East 84th Street, in an article about the latest classroom feature. Today, there is talk of “technologyenabled learning” that reaches students across time and space. iPads bridge the divide not only between teachers and students, technology and textbooks, but between school and home as well. Now students can watch lectures before they get to class and access their homework while in class, greatly increasing the stream of content being fed to students. While teachers may have first adopted technology to meet students half-way, now they themselves are taking it all the way—giving many students their first iPads so they can partake in online quizzes, live chats, course wikis, virtual book clubs, and video lectures. Ron Posner, associate head of the Lower School and a 5th grade teacher at the Dwight School on the Upper West Side has seen “a big improvement in student motivation, communication and participation” since the 1-to-1 iPad program was introduced. But, he adds,“It’s hard to say whether it has caused test scores to go up.”

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Being Digital One way to ensure that technology doesn’t get the better of you is to make the technology yourself. Posner has his 5th graders at Dwight create their own electronic board games to consolidate math concepts. In two short weeks students go from designing to doing, using free software to program their own question-and-answer flash cards. He thought “it was something [students] would be very motivated to do and it really worked out well.” By 9th grade, Dwight have made 3D visual models of spaces in their school to learn about the environmental impact of buildings, and of spaces in their own minds to learn about Tibetan meditation practices. Some of their projects have led them to partnerships with NYU Polytechnic Institute, Dataville, and Google Earth. Not all of them have been successful, however. “A lot of students were much more interested in creating programs that informed people of the problem instead of actually solving it,” said Al Doyle, the visual arts chair and 9th grade technology teacher. “They are more comfortable building physical solutions like straight-up websites and videos. Teachers become more important,” said Doyle, “because we take the skills which are a given for students nowadays and put them in a critical and globalized context. Otherwise kids would just trivialize technology.” Doyle is changing the title of his course from ‘Technology’ to ‘Design’ precisely because he wants students to learn design problem-solving before applying it to electronic design. “I’m skeptical about technology myself,” Doyle admits. “It’s not the answer for everything and it doesn’t replace traditional skills which I’m perfectly in favor of. It’s just another tool in your toolbox which you can’t ignore.”

In Defense of Traditional Learning While recent research and development are introducing new ways to teach students, they are also uncovering new reasons to trust old practices. Citing mounting evidence that playing an instrument boosts academic performance, the Leman Manhattan Preparatory School in the Financial District has earmarked a chunk of their budget to purchase violins for each student, one class at a time. Hannah Picasso, the violin teacher, hopes to teach the 5-8 year olds “musical and technical skills, which are very transferable skills that ultimately become life skills.” Sometimes the interdisciplinary link can be as explicit as memorizing the U.S. states through a song, but other times it can simply be teaching students how to think creatively, critically and confidently. After a few weeks of basic instruction, students are ready to improvise, compose and perform their own pieces in front of their peers, demonstrating a technology-free way to learn collaboratively. “We would like to have a blend of the traditional and the new too,” says Picasso, who sometimes teaches her students pop songs or the program Garage Band. The upperclassmen created an ensemble group using iPhones and iPads as electronic instruments, which – thanks to their violin lessons – had a depth of meaning and complexity that it wouldn’t have had otherwise.

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Educating Our Future Leaders Implicit in teachers’ explanations are a hurriedness to keep up with the fast-paced world at large. Dwight’s Ron Posner endorsed the 1-1 iPad program because “it felt like we were really preparing them for the future,” he said. Leman too, aside from its violin program, is most proud of Touchpoints, a two-year-old program for 2nd-8th graders that teams up students from Leman with other Meritas schools around the world to research, debate and propose solutions to complex global problems. At the end of the year, the far-flung students hold a Lincoln Douglas-style debate “face-to-face over Skype,” in which they learn to approach a problem not only from their point of view but from others way outside their Manhattan bubble. “These are the problems these kids will be facing as adults,” says Colleen Brown, a director of Touchpoints. “We need to educate them now and empower them to take on bigger leadership roles.” In many ways, teachers today face a greater challenge than ever before: they must simultaneously pull students away from the path of distraction and push them in the steep direction of galloping progress.New technologies and teaching methods might accomplish both steps and make strides in educating students of the 21st century.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Art and Gym Teachers to Get Graded Teachers and education advocates wary about new standards

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By Joanna Fantozzi

P

arents, get ready. Starting this year, the way your child’s school hires and fires teachers will change significantly. The 2013-2014 New York teacher evaluation standards introduce a whole new way of rating teacher performances, including more observations throughout the year, and grading teachers on a rubric scale instead of giving them a simple satisfactory or unsatisfactory grade. But perhaps the biggest change is the inclusion of specialty subjects like art, music and physical education, as well as evaluation of kindergarten teachers. Previously, statemandated evaluations were limited to non-specialized subjects. Many teachers and education advocates agree that it’s high time that subject teachers were subject to evaluations. “We need to get kids ready for college and eventually their careers,� said Lisette Caesar, the principal of Mosaic Prep on East 111th Street. “Everyone should have an extensive background in a variety of subjects, and when the students become adults, they should be able to participate in conversations around the arts and music and not feel intimidated.� Mosaic Prep was one the schools selected to participate in the DOE pilot training program this year to test the new evaluation standards. Caesar said that the new evaluations take some getting used to, and that she believes that the new rubric-style standards are less subjective, and fairer. For Tyee Chin, the principal at Wadleigh Secondary School on West 114th Street, the new evaluations will not constitute much of a change at Wadleigh. “Every teacher here already gets a rating; we are required to do that,� said Chin. “For too long, gym and art weren’t held to the same level of standards, and that’s why some students don’t put value into those classes and they think it’s ok to skip those classes. Now that they know they will be rated they will hopefully approach it differently.�

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

All teachers, will be evaluated the same way: 60 percent on classroom observations, where principals visit the classroom (either one formal evaluation and three informal, or six informal visits). The other 40 percent is split between measures that will vary from school to school, and standardized testing scores. The United Federation of Teachers said they will be providing training and support for those subject teachers and specialized education teachers. Amy Arundell from the United Federation of Teachers said that UFT believes the DOE needs to work out the kinks and really concentrate on how these new subject areas can be evaluated. The issue, for many education advocates, comes down to utilizing test scores to assess teacher performance. “Right now, linking these tests to an evaluation on an English teacher creates turmoil and anxiety but now we’re going to extend that to kindergarteners and specialized subjects?� said Noah Gotbaum, the former president of CEC 3. “We should be focusing making sure we have the resources of art, music and gym and not using our resources to evaluate and potentially lose teachers who are being cut anyway.� Another issue raised by teachers is the confusion utilizing standardized tests to evaluate gym and arts teachers. At present there are no standardized tests in these areas, and according to the Department of Education, they are working on creating tests for subject areas like music and gym. But a test specifically for music students would not be ideal, according to Kim Walton, a choir teacher at Wadleigh Secondary School. “You can’t show with a bubble test if a kid can sing a perfect fifth,� said Walton. “Are they learning how to sing in tune? Can they sight sing? But I think all teachers are worried about the new evaluations. It seems like they are less about students learning and more about firing tenured teachers.�

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OCTOBER 10

NOVEMBER 7

9 - 11 AM

9 - 11 AM

OCTOBER 24

NOVEMBER 14

9 - 11 AM, 5:30 - 7 PM

9 - 11 AM, 5:30 - 7 PM

NOVEMBER 1

NOVEMBER 21

9 - 11 AM

9 - 11 AM

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A uniquely diverse, coeducational, Pre K-8 independent school linking a challenging academic curriculum with an innovative farm program. Tours Farm Festival Open House

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Tuesdays & Fridays at 9:15am beginning September 17th Saturday October 19th 10am - 4pm Thursday, October 24 at 6:30pm RSVP to Lois Gelernt, Admissions Director Monica Amaro, Associate Director of Admissions

7 E. 96th St 212.348.0952 manhattancountryschool.org

PAGE 17

NextAct Programs staying alive for as long as we live.

Are you over 55 and want to keep learning? UPCOMING NEXTACT PROGRAMS

Institute for Senior Action (IFSA) 10-week advocacy program Tuesdays, Oct. 8 – Dec. 17 10:00 am – 2:00 pm JASA Cooper Square, 200 E. Fifth St. For info, contact ifsa@jasa.org or 212-991-6572

Volunteer Open House Thursday, Oct. 10 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM RSVP: volunteer@jasa.org or 212-991-6572

Sign up for Sundays at JASA’s Fall Semester Sundays at JASA is a one-of-a-kind, collegelevel continuing education program with courses ranging from Shakespeare to Laughter Yoga.

Open House/Registration: Sept. 15, 10:00am – 2:00pm Courses: Sundays, Sept. 22 – Dec. 22 (no courses Nov. 10 & Dec. 1) Address: John Jay College, North Hall, 445 West 59th Street, New York City

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Come and explore all that Cathedral has to offer you!

OPEN HOUSE Sunday, October 20, 2013 ~ 12 – 3 PM Visit our website at www.cathedralhs.org 7th and 8th graders are invited to come spend a day at Cathedral. Visit our website for more information. Accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges & Schools

PAGE 18

T

he day has come when you say

“Goodbye� to your freshman college student. Letting go is hard for both parents and child. It is a moment of nervous excitement, bittersweet, anxiety provoking. Your child no longer needs you in quite the same way. It is a new chapter, a passage for parents, student and siblings. The family as a unit has changed. Your purpose as a parent takes on new meaning. New horizons beckon for your child, for you and others in the immediate family.

Learn, meet, explore, advocate, grow, discuss, and volunteer!

Change will aect the relationships between parents, children and siblings as well as between spouses By Susan M. Isaacson

To receive the NextAct catalog with all our Fall programs contact Sara Tornay at 212-273-5304 or stornay@jasa.org.

When your child goes off to college

OUR TOWN

If it is the oldest child leaving for college, the relationship between siblings and parents will shift. Younger children will look up to their older brother or sister in a new and different way. Siblings will view them lucky to live without rules, not having to answer to anyone, having more freedom. Siblings will also struggle with the loss of having an older sibling, once readily available, to give advice, protect and teach. Parents will also feel the loss. Perhaps an eldest has helped in relieving parents of certain responsibilities such as greeting a younger child at the end of the day when a parent is stuck at work or driving other children to after school activities. Siblings will climb a rung on the family ladder reminding parents that they will soon follow suit, eventually leaving parents as they began, as a couple. For single parents, this loss can be particularly poignant. The stress of living alone, losing your companion, a trusted individual can create feelings of grief.

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Empty nesters For parents sending their youngest or only child off to college sparks different issues. Couples might stare at one another, wondering what happened during the last 18 years‌. How could so much time go by in, what feels like a heartbeat? Who is this person I’ve been living with, do I still like him or her, can we rekindle what once was? For couples, now considered “empty nesters,â€? the sense of loss can be profound. Some couples who have been on the brink of divorce might decide that this is the moment to end the marriage, further complicating their loss. Other couples may relish in the idea of planning couple activities and pursuing dreams put on hold while raising their family. Whatever your circumstance sending a child off to college is life changing. Thinking of this transition as a gain rather than a loss can help in coping with saying “Goodbye.â€? You have accomplished what most parents dream .. completing your role in developing and nurturing a baby into a young adult who will begin their own journey in self-reliance, independence and goal achievement. Congratulations. This is a new and exciting time for all.

Susan M. Isaacson (MA, CCC, LMSW, LCSW, NASW CertiďŹ ed) is a New York State and New Jersey licensed psychotherapist www. yourfeelingsmatter.com. Blog: www.yourfeelingsmatter.com/blog/

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Who Will Be A True Education Mayor? primary education - and also wisely champions installing a “master teacher” program, an idea I trumpeted ad infinitum when I was a candidate. John Catsimatidis, the GOP successful businessman, has correctly pointed out that we need to greatly expand career and technical By Tom Allon Tom Allon education (formerly called “vocational education”). He would make a hen Mike Bloomberg took cornerstone of his education program the office almost a dozen years training of high school graduates for the careers ago, he said he wanted his of tomorrow. tenure to be judged by his Joe Lhota is perhaps the closest in philosophy ability to fix our public to Mike Bloomberg - he would continue the education system. The self-styled “Education Bloomberg model of expanding charter schools, Mayor” even won mayoral control (with lots of would continue closing “failing schools,” and is autonomy) from the state legislature, something a big proponent of a rigorous teacher evaluation his predecessor had failed to achieve. system. There has been a lot of change as a result of The ideas of these five candidates - along Bloomberg education reform: over a hundred with some sound ones from Adolfo Carrion, new charter schools, the closure of many Anthony Weiner, John Liu, Sal Albanese and “failing” schools, the creation of more than one others - are heartening in some respects. hundred small, themed high schools, a new But what is disheartening to me is the lack of teacher evaluation system and an increase in a comprehensive plan with specific timelines, the high school graduation rate (which is still funding mechanisms and benchmarks for alarmingly low at 61 percent). success. The next mayor will likely try to undo some Even more worrisome is the total lack of of Bloomberg’s education reforms. attention to teacher training, both before they Looking at the current crop of candidates and get to the classroom and then the constant their education ideas, there are rays of hope, but rigorous professional development necessary still no overarching roadmap that will get a vast to retain teachers and make them improve and education system that serves 1.1 million kids to evolve. become a beacon of hope for public education The next mayor could force schools of around the country. education to buy into the medical model of Bill de Blasio is right when he says that early clinical training in the classroom as part of education should become a priority and that teacher training - a recommendation made by a we need to find funding for its expansion. national blue ribbon panel of educators in 2010 The education achievement gap between in an NCATE report. white children and minority children starts at Much of what ails public education in New kindergarten; we must close this gap through York (and around the country) is ill-prepared universal pre-k. teachers, and the first mayor who tackles this on Bill Thompson, the former head of the Board a large scale will be lighting the way for wouldof Education (so named before it was changed be “education mayors” around the country. to Department of Education - maybe they So, we watch and listen patiently as this were “bored” with that name), is the endorsed crop of mayoral candidates heads into the choice of the United Federation of Teachers. final month of the primary campaign season, He wants less emphasis on high-stakes testing, praying that one will wake up to our teacher less focus on closing “failing” schools and wants crisis and will synthesize some of the good ideas to reduce class size through DOE cost savings each candidate has into a cohesive “Education and pushing for more state funding from the Reform Roadmap.” Campaign for Fiscal Equity landmark decision. It’s still possible that one of the leading Thompson’s instincts here are correct and candidates will present a convincing, I applaud his concern about “class size.” The comprehensive and highly specific plan that will major difference between a private education win me - and the general populace - over. and a public education is class size and teacher When it comes to public education in New attention; anyone who denies the importance York we need “the fierce urgency of now.” of class size - particularly for lower performing Tom Allon, the president of City and State, NY kids - is ignoring a self-evident truism. and a former English teacher at Stuyvesant High Christine Quinn talks about reforming School, was the Liberal Party-backed candidate middle school education - the “black hole” of for Mayor.

The next executive leader of the city will likely usher in a new era for the city’s schools

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

OUR TOWN

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Protect Young Eyes in the Technology Age Whether it’s a tablet with an educational purpose or a big screen displaying the latest video game, the use of electronic technology is skyrocketing among kids. In fact, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, children ages eight to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours with electronics every day. Unfortunately, all of that screen time can cause eye fatigue, and ultimately have an impact on your child’s overall vision and eye health. To view things closer, our eyes automatically adjust by drawing inward; our pupils get smaller to focus, and our eye muscles adjust so we can see a clear image. As a result, extended use of electronic screens can cause tired, blurry or irritated eyes. Intense focus on a video screen also leads to a diminished blink rate, which can result in eye injuries. Although there is no scientific evidence that computers and handheld electronic devices directly cause vision problems, using these devices wisely can help prevent eye fatigue and strain, as well as associated headaches, blurred vision and dry eyes. To help protect your child’s vision, consider these tips from Ameritas, a leading provider of dental, vision and hearing care plans: * Know that prolonged use of electronic devices can exacerbate underlying eye conditions, so electronics should be used in moderation. Limit screen time to two hours

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or less a day (including watching TV, playing video games and using mobile phones). * Encourage intentional blinking while electronic devices are in use to help refresh eyes with natural moisture that helps prevent bacterial infections, dry spots and corneal breakdown. * Reduce additional eye strain by managing glare from windows and using low-watt bulbs in light fixtures. * Keep computer screens 20 to 28 inches away from the face. * Practice a rule of 20s to give eyes a rest. Every 20 minutes, ask your child to look at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds before refocusing attention up close again. * Move around and change positions periodically while using a device. * Watch for signs of eyestrain while electronic devices are in use, such as squinting, frowning at the screen or rubbing eyes. * If vision problems or discomfort arise, schedule an appointment with an eye doctor for a professional evaluation. When taking into account time at the office in front of a computer screen, many adults regularly use electronic devices for as long as, or even longer than, their children. Following the same advice not only sets a good example, but it can help protect your own eye health. For additional information and tips for managing eyestrain while using electronics, visit www.ameritasinsight.com.

PAGE 19

District 3 Schools' Percentage Capacity

Creating Capacity What the city is doing to keep local schools from spilling over with students The Department of Education is constantly juggling numbers, space and seats in order to keep schools at or below their maximum capacity. The Office of Portfolio Management is responsible for planning for new schools and shifting schools and zones around in order to keep overcrowding at bay. Here are some of the proposed plans for the upcoming school year. District 2 - The Department of Education (DOE) is proposing to open and co-locate the high school grades of the Harlem Success Academy Charter Schools– Harlem 1 (84M351), Harlem 2 (84M384), Harlem 3 (84M385), Harlem 4 (84M386), and Harlem 5 (84M482), collectively known as Success Academy Charter School – Manhattan High School in school building M620 beginning in the 20142015 school year. The DOE is also proposing to temporarily colocate the eighth grade of Harlem 1 in M620 for the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school years and the eighth grades of Harlem 2, Harlem 3, and Harlem 4 in M620 for the 2015-2016 school year. - The DOE is proposing to open and colocate 02M139, a new district high school, in school building M520, at 411 Pearl Street, with existing school Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers beginning in the 2013-2014 school year. Separately, Bergtraum will undergo a planned enrollment reduction beginning in September 2014. Between the 2014-2015 and 2017-2018 school years, Bergtraum’s enrollment will decline by

PAGE 20

approximately 400-450 students. The proposed new high school, 02M139, will offer a rigorous academic program with a career and technical education component that will prepare students for post-secondary education and work. If this proposal is approved, 02M139 will be co-located with Bergtraum, an existing high school serving students in grades nine through twelve. - The DOE has proposed to temporarily co-locate a new district middle school (02MTBD) in new building M338, located at 515-533 West 44th Street, for the 2014-2015 school year. M338 is expected to open by the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year. New Middle School will be co-locatedtemporarily in M338 with P.S. 51 Elias Howe, an existing elementary school serving students in grades kindergarten through five, and P094@ M338, one site of a multi-site District 75 school. P094@M338 will open in the 20132014 school year and will serve students in kindergarten through second grade. At M338, New Middle School will serve students in grade six. District 3 - The DOE is proposing to co-locate grades five and six of Success Academy Charter School–Harlem 4 in Tandem Buildings M185 and M208, located respectively at 20 West 112th Street, and 21 West 111th Street, for the 2013-2014 school year only. Grades five and six of Harlem 4 will be co-located in M185/ M208 with four existing schools: P.S. 185 The Early Childhood Discovery and Design Magnet School, a zoned early childhood school; P.S. 208 Alain L. Locke Magnet School for Environmental Stewardship, a zoned elementary school; Harlem Link Charter School, a public charter school; and P226M, one site of a multi-site District 75 school.

OUR TOWN

FUTURE LEADERS CHARTER-M PS 859 HARLEM SUCCESS CHARTER-M HARLEM SUCCESS CHARTER-M PS 334 PS 333 IS 243 PS 191 PS 180 PS 165 PS 149 PS 149 PS 76 UPPER WEST SUCCESS ACADEMY PS 452 HARLEM SUCCESS ACADEMY IV HARLEM LINK CHARTER-M HARLEM LINK CHARTER-M PS 242 PS 241 PS 208 PS 199 PS 185 PS 166 PS 163 PS 163 PS 145 PS 87 PS 84 PS 75 PS 9 IS 862 WEST PREP ACADEMY IS 258 IS 256 IS 250 IS 247 IS 245 IS 54

85 66 118 110 124 109 82 91 83 90 87 150 115 74 44 113 49 188 100 64

49 104 89 103 233 97 103 108 91 103 107

86 82 75 88 87 65 91 0

50

100

150

200

250

Percentage of Schools' Capacity (2011 BOE data of 2011 Registered) BALLET TECH/PUB SCHL/DANCE PS 347 PS/IS 276 PS 225 PS/IS 217 PS 126 PS 111 SPRUCE STREET ED PS 290 PS 267 PS 234 PS 234 PS 212 PS 198 PS 183 PS 158 PS 151 PS 150 PS 130 PS 124 PS 116 PS 89 PS 77 PS 59 PS 51 PS 42 PS 41 PS 40 PS 33 PS 11 PS 6 PS 3 PS 2 PS 1 IS 896 IS 422 NYC LAB MS IS 89 IS 260 IS 255 IS 167 IS 131 IS 114 IS 104

70 52 72 96 59 89

74 43 122 107 104

142 100 121 133 88 45 102 113 103 113 123 132 143 128 114 127 125 86

83 126 108 87

79 82 114 87 94 53 105 86 79 97

Percentage of Schools' Capacity (2011 BOE data of 2011 Registered)

88 0

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District 3 Schools' Percentage Capacity

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

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Smart Snacking for Back to School Tips for Parents and Children on Healthy Ideas for School Lunches

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No More Space! Community leaders get creative with solutions for overcrowding By Joanna Fantozzi

S

school overcrowding is a perennial problem with few solutions beyond building new schools, but some community leaders are envisioning alternative solutions that go beyond construction plans. One local activist, Ben Kallos, a candidate for city council on the Upper East Side, imagines schools that grow up with their students. Picture a school that is housed in what used to be just an office building. The school occupies a few of the upper floors of the building. It would start out as a middle school, but as the student body grows, it will be turned into a high school. The Department of Education could have the option to close the school when the lease is up, and open another temporary school somewhere else. Another option would be to keep the school open. The concept of leasing out a building and transforming it from a middle school into a high school as the students age has never been attempted before in New York. “Whenever we build new schools from scratch, we take a school property the city owns, give it to a developer so they can put in a commercial space or high rise and they give us back the same school we had,” said Kallos. “The concept of spending four years and $200 million dollars to build these schools is ludicrous.” City Council Member Dan Garodnick has said that private investment in public schools can help ease the financial stress of building yet another school on the city’s alreadycrowded blocks, and pointed to the privatelyfunded, soon-to-be school on 57th and Second, funded by World-Wide Group.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Millennium High School, on 75 Broad Street in the Financial District, combines the best of both of these solutions. Created right after 9/11 to draw positive attention and population back to Lower Manhattan, the school was funded with federal grants, as well as the by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The school itself is located on the 11th-13th floors of an office building. “This is absolutely a great solution to overcrowding,” said Angela Benfield, the parent coordinator at Millennium High School. “If there’s empty office space that can be transformed into school buildings, it will work well. The students just have to get used to taking the elevator.” But there are other solutions to overcrowding aside from a creative use of space. In Greenwich Village, it’s the parents who came up with a solution to lack of school seats. They banded together to find a space for a new middle school, and in 2012, they won the battle to open the middle school after four years of pleading with the DOE to buy the property from the state. “Oftentimes the city is last to recognize a problem, and in Lower Manhattan six years ago, Greenwich Village parents walked the neighborhood, made a list of possible locations and sent it over to the DOE,” said Shino Tanikawa, the president of distric 2’s Community Education Council. “The overcrowding problem has become so severe, that parents have taken matters into their own hands.” Education expert and NYU Professor Pedro Noguera gave a few words of caution about all of these creative solutions, and said that we have to be careful not to sacrifice quality for the sake of creating space. “We don’t have the luxury that schools in the west have because they have a lot more land,” said Nogeura. “We have to squeeze and try to make existing structures work so there is no ideal solution right now. We have to work with what we have.”

OUR TOWN

ith the start of the school year around the corner, now is the perfect time for parents to ramp up efforts at infusing their kids’ lunches with creative, healthy options. “You don’t have to completely cut back on snacks and sugars to ensure that your child eats a well-balanced meal,” explains Dr. Joel Lavine, chief of pediatric gastroenterology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. “Kids can still get the sugars they crave from low-fat snacks and fruits, while parents are satisfied with the nutritional content.” In addition to finding healthy food choices, some parents face the challenge of providing meals for their children with digestive conditions such as Crohn’s disease or irritable bowel syndrome. “Try to avoid sending trigger foods,” explains Dr. Aliza B. Solomon, a pediatric gastroenterologist at NewYorkPresbyterian/Komansky Center for Children’s Health. “For someone with active Crohn’s disease, this might mean avoiding high fiber food or fresh fruit. Children with irritable bowel should avoid foods with polyols, such as sorbitol and xylitol, often found in sugarfree gum, which can lead to bloating.” Nutritionists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital offer more tips on making your kids’ lunches healthier: • Salty Snack Substitutions. Instead of packing potato chips or pretzels, which have no benefits, try air-popped popcorn (with a little sea salt and olive oil). This provides fiber as well as healthy fat, while providing less sodium than most processed chips and pretzels. • Food Allergy Alternatives. For kids with peanut allergies who like their PB&J, try a sunflower seed puree or even a yellow pea puree product available on the market. • Kids LOVE Color! How about this for a sandwich alternative: “Rainbow wraps” -spread hummus and ranch on a whole wheat tortilla and fill with chopped tomato, shredded carrots, lettuce, avocado, cucumbers, and shredded red cabbage. • Be Wise with Bread. Make sandwiches with whole grain bread instead of white bread. Choose breads that list whole wheat as the first ingredient. They’re rich in fiber, B vitamins, and iron.

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• Choose Lean Meats. Chicken, turkey, and tuna or salmon packed in water are healthy choices for protein-packed meals. • Consider the Calories with Cheese. When adding cheese to sandwiches, opt for low fat or fat-free varieties. Cheeses are high in calcium, which is an important mineral for growing children, but they can also contain a great deal of saturated fat. Low-fat alternatives make a great choice, containing 3 grams of fat or less per ounce. • Encourage Their Involvement. Work with your children to pick healthy choices: o Go shopping with them o Let them help you prepare meals o Encourage new choices o Offer them a variety o Embrace their curiosity and creativity NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and the NewYorkPresbyterian Hospital/Phyllis and David Komansky Center for Children’s Health NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, which is affiliated with Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Phyllis and David Komansky Center for Children’s Health, which is affiliated with Weill Cornell Medical College, have built a reputation as two of the nation’s premier centers for pediatric care.

PAGE 21

How to Listen (and Question!) So Children Will Talk By Beth Pereira

I

s it a challenge to engage your child in a conversation about school? When you ask “How was school today?” does your child say “Fine.” and quickly end the conversation? When you ask “What did you do in school today?” does your child say “Nothing.”? If so, here are some tips on initiating a longer conversation. Kids answer questions with one word for many reasons. They may be tired, they can’t remember their day, they like to keep school their own special place or more often, it’s that they need a more direct question. Open ended questions can be difficult for elementary aged children to answer. Try to be specific and pointed. To help do this well, you can get information on your child’s schedule from their teacher so that you know what specialty class happens on which day. Ask, “What did you do in Art today?” If you know that your child has lunch, yard or play time, ask about that. Each morning, say that you will want to know what they did in a specific activity. This way, they can focus on remembering just one part of the day. Most young children will get some free time to play in the classroom. Kids tend to choose an activity based on what they want to do rather than with whom they want to play. The dynamic changes each time your child participates. You can glean a lot of information about your child’s day by what they chose to do and the experience they had based on whom was with them. Tucking talk into a game-like structure can make chat entertaining. In my class, we sit in a circle and share what’s going on in our home lives. You can attempt the same type of sharing circle about school. Sit around the table or floor and have everyone share their day and listen to one another. Active, engaged listening is a vital partner to effective talk. Try playing a version of a game we know as “Roses and Thorns.” Everyone says the best part of their day (the rose) and/or the worst part (the thorn). You can get creative and add in a bud for something you’re looking forward to or a leaf or stem for something funny. Another game to try is to make some index cards with phrases like “A time I felt proud.” Add cards with other feelings or experiences like “frustrated,” “confused,” “jubilant,” “had an aha moment.” Adults can read it as “A time I felt proud at work or home.” and children can read it (or have it read) as “A time I felt proud at school.” Discuss the topic in a truthful, yet age appropriate way that makes sense to your child. They will get to see how it’s done while getting to know you better too. As added benefits, talking will help to build your child’s social and emotional skill set, broaden their vocabulary and even help to elicit great writing ideas (“You could write about that!”)! Starting discussions early will help your child know that you are a trusted resource for advice and a safe confidant. Your child will discover that it’s okay to naturally talk about things that are hard for them to accomplish or hard to talk about. You’ll be there to brainstorm solutions and build self esteem and confidence. I live by the axiom, “Children have to know you care before they care what you think.” These tips should help get your child yapping up a storm about their exciting days in school and bring you closer at the same time!

PAGE 22

OUR TOWN

Some DOS and DON’TS: • DON’T ask questions like a firing squad; take time to listen and add on to the conversation. • DO try something new or stop and try again another day if talking doesn’t feel seamless and comfortable for both of you. • DO keep the bigger goal in mind. You may not really be interested in the game that your child played in P.E. but you are interested in growing talk to get to know your whole child. This sets your child up to trust you as they grow and struggle. • DO try to get on eye level with your child, sitting on the couch, at a table and especially during snuggle time. • DO give your child a few minutes to settle in when they first get home. Just like adults sometimes need a minute or two to unwind, kids do too. • DO give positive reinforcement. (“I love when we talk about your day.” “It makes me feel special when you share things with me.” “I can understand how that makes you feel.”) • DO listen without judgment or advice. If you want to tell a related anecdote or offer guidance, ask if they’re open to it. Turn them ON to talking! Beth Pereira, M.S.T. is a public school teacher and private learning specialist on the Upper East Side. She has over 14 years of early childhood experience. You can reach her at LearnWithMeInNYC@gmail.com. www.nypress.com

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

More Practical Ideas:

Conversation Starters:

• What did you do at (yard, computer etc.) this week? • Have you made any new friends? • Who sits at your table (near you on the rug, etc.)? What are they like? • Have you heard any great read alouds that we should check out? • What’s your favorite specialty class? Why is that? • Anything exciting (worrisome, new etc.) happening this week at school? • Is anything hard for you? • Is there anything you love to do? • Did you understand this topic in class?

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

OUR TOWN

• Find out class routines and schedule. Your child’s teacher can be your best resource. • Check the school/class website for information on curriculum, trips and specials. • Read notes that come home each night so you can question your child when it’s fresh in their mind. • Go over the class list with your child. Ask about their friends and plan play dates together. • Engage other parents and ask what works for them. • Choose a time that works for your child. If you have to fit in homework, bath time, story time and dinner in a short busy period, chatting in the morning may work best for you and your child. • Pack “post its” or a notepad in your child’s folder or backpack so they can jot a quick note about a funny read aloud or something to remember to share with you. • Negotiate for extra time before bed with 5 minutes of talk. • Try a game. Use a funny voice (Alien, Robot, Cowboy, The Queen, etc.) to initiate talk. • Have a silent conversation and write or type to each other to make communicating more engaging. You can even use private instant messaging! • Start a blog for relatives who live out of town (check for password protection). • Play a routine game like Connect 4 or checkers and casually talk- especially if eye contact and chat is hard for you or your child. Chess or a game like “Apples to Apples” requires too much concentration and focus on the game. • Play school at home. Notice your child’s manner and tone. What do they portray?

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PAGE 23

Meet these CUNY award winners Ru Chen Ru Chen worked “morning and night” to improve her oral English by reading newspapers after arrival from rural China and graduated from City College with a degree in chemical engineering. She will pursue a doctorate with the help of a National Science Foundation grant.

Dane Christie Dane Christie grew up in Jamaica, began a minor-league baseball career with the Toronto Blue Jays in the Dominican Republic, and worked for four years in New York City construction before finding his way into the HostosCity College dual-degree engineering program.

In 2008, Nikoleta Despodova “made one of the biggest decisions of [her] life and moved … to the United States to pursue a degree in forensic psychology.” With her degree from John Jay College and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Despodova plans to examine possible differences in jurors’ perception between incidents of intimate-partner violence among same-sex couples and heterosexual couples.

Aaron Dolor, now a doctoral candidate, graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in biochemistry from Hunter College, and won a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Philip Liu, a 2012 Macaulay Honors College at City College graduate is using his National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to decrease the risk of short circuits and heat-related issues.

Aleksey Ruditskiy graduated from the Macaulay Honors College at City College 11 years after arriving in the U.S. He is now working toward a Ph.D. in chemical engineering trying to develop “an environmentally responsive material in a liquid form.” Uses could range from the “mundane,” “like seals for doors on a ship that can compress and decompress by flipping a switch,” to science fictional, such as creating body armor that would render its wearer invisible, he says.

Jan Stepinski Julius Edson Vadricka Etienne

Vadricka Etienne, a student at the CUNY Graduate Center, will use her National Science Foundation Research Fellowship Award to focus on how secondgeneration immigrants, have “refashioned the cultural heritage of their parents,” to try to convey their culture

Julius Edson, a doctoral student who earned a 2012 B.E. in chemical engineering from City College, plans to use his National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to find a way to combat drug-resistant bacteria. Edson says he was driven to help others after his own survival from “various illnesses” contracted while growing up in Nigeria.

Jasmine Hatcher

to their children.

Meryl Horn Meryl Horn, who received a 2012 B.A. in biochemistry from Hunter College and is now in a doctoral program plans to use her $126,000 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to look at how the brain’s circuitry that controls contextual memory can be altered in drug-addicted animals. “The fact that a context brings back memories is very relevant to human behavior,” she says, as these cues can trigger relapses in recovering addicts.

Jasmine Hatcher, a student at the CUNY Graduate Center plans to use her National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to study technetium-99, a radioactive element used to image the body in nuclear medicine scans, and a byproduct of uranium and plutonium fission from nuclear weapons manufacturing in the 1940s and 1950s. “I want to see whether we can reduce technetium to a pure metal form to store it more safely,” says Hatcher.

Ekaterina Larina Ekaterina Larina believes deep sea creatures may hold the key to discovering the cause of climate change induced mass-extinction over 65 million years ago. Larina plans to use her National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to pursue a doctorate after earning her master’s in 2014.

PAGE 24

Sarah Levitan hopes to develop a computerbased system to analyze children’s speech, looking for patterns consistent with autism spectrum disorder—which is believed to occur in about one in 88 births. This idea helped Levitan win her National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Philip Liu

Aleksey Ruditskiy

Nikoleta Despodova

Aaron Dolor

Sarah Levitan

OUR TOWN

City College of New York 2013 valedictorian Jan Stepinski will use his National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in an area related to environmental sciences and applied mathematics.

Tayyaba Toseef The National Science Foundation awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship to Tayyaba Toseef, a master’s student at Hunter College, to pursue basic science research that could point the way toward therapies that may reverse the degenerative process in multiple sclerosis patients . She is “modestly proud” of her proficiency in extracting specific cell types, she writes, and thanks New Yorkers for not trampling her into oblivion when she moved here last year with very little to call her own.

Christopher Parisano Christopher Parisano, a Macaulay Honors College graduate with a B.A. in political science and anthropology, plans to use his National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to examine the clash between marginalized city dwellers and the government over archeological ruins in Lima, Peru.

Lukman Solola Lukman Solola, a 2012 graduate will use his National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to develop a process to separate rare-earth elements from the ores that contain them. Typically, he says, the separation process is “tricky,” because the chemicals involved in the process are not environmentally friendly. Production of these elements—which are necessary to produce cellphones, electronic equipment and clean energy products—has been almost monopolized by China, says Solola.

Maria Louisa Strangas Maria Louisa Strangas, a CUNY Graduate Center doctoral student, will use her National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to study how temperature patterns have affected the evolution of some rare lizards in Brazilian mountain forests.

Jake V. Vaynshteyn Jake Vaynshteyn, a 2009 graduate of City College is interested in problems of the human brain. He worked as a technician at Rockefeller University for two years before starting a doctoral program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University with the support of a 2013 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Ben Hixon Ben Hixon, a Hunter College graduate is using his National Science Foundation Research Fellowship money to improve the technology which extracts facts instead of keywords from stories and stores them in a database.

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Jamar Whaley Jamar Whaley plans to use his National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to study internet addiction disorder, but not until he returns from a Fulbright Fellowship. The U.S. is said to rank second behind China in internet addicts, who “neglect academic work and domestic responsibilities and suffer financial problems and social isolation similar to substance abusers,” Whaley writes. He hasn’t had an easy road thus far, and a recent battle with thyroid cancer made it all the tougher. He knew he had to persevere, though. “My time for giving to others isn’t over yet,” he says.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

How Not to be a Helicopter College Parent You’re sending your kid off to school here’s how to avoid becoming one of “those” parents By John S. Winkleman

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ou colored within the lines, made the Coliseum out of sugar cubes, cajoled an A instead of a C from the algebra teacher, pulled an all-nighter to finish the bacteria report started the day before and rewrote and edited that college essay. All in the name of good parenting and helping your child get accepted into a better college than the one you attended all those years ago. It’s almost your kid’s first day at college - now what? The obvious answer is to relax, give a sigh of relief and remove that helicopter appendage that’s been weighing you (and your child) down for the last 18 years. Easier said than done. Long distance parenting – especially “helicopter parenting” – is as simple as a click, text or call away. The temptation to “hover” give guidance, hand-hold, enable and make decisions for your newly minted freshman - is enormous, especially if that’s what you did when he or she was younger. While the advice, email or call may be free, unlike the 1970s and 80s when many of us went to college and calls had to be scheduled and paid for, there is a price to be paid. The person who is taxed is your child. A 2013 study in the Journal of Child and Family Studies, “Helping or Hovering? The Effects of Helicopter Parenting on College Students’ Well-Being,” found that helicopter parenting behaviors were related to higher levels of depression and decreased satisfaction with life. Its results extend previous research that found increased use of prescription drugs for depression among college students who reported helicopter parenting.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

6 Tips to Avoid Being a Helicopter College Parent Snip the cell phone cord. Limit the number of texts, calls and email to a couple a week or, in the beginning, to once a day. By being virtually present 24/7, you may be undermining your child’s sense of independence and delaying his or her ability to become a self-sufficient and resilient adult. Encourage problem solving. While you may know the answer or the wisest route, allow your college-aged child to make decisions and learn from mistakes. Problem solving is a talent that will serve your child throughout life. By practicing it, abilities will be honed. Support financial independence. When they are young, we are part-time bankers – doling out money for essentials as well as for special keepsakes and memorable activities. College is the time to become more fiscally self-reliant and a part-time job, if it does not negatively impact grades, will do wonders for a child’s self-esteem and wallet. Listen without judgment or advice. For many students, freshman year is the time to try new things, meet people from different walks of life, explore alternative perspectives and begin to hone in on who they are. They most certainly will encounter viewpoints, concepts and personalities that are counter to their own. Often what your child will need is for you to act as a sounding board – all ears and no opinions. Learn how to step away. There comes a time when you need to acknowledge that this is your child’s life and you have done everything you could to bring him or her to this junction successfully and healthfully. College is that moment. Letting go and stepping back does not mean abandoning your child. It means that you respect his or her capability of becoming an independent, competent and intelligent adult. Ask your child’s college for guidance. With hundreds, if not thousands of students each year, admissions representatives, the dean of students office and other college personnel are experts in helping versus hovering. They will be more than delighted to assist you in ways to best support your child in college. John S. Winkleman is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University and Fordham University.

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Savvy Money Tips To Share With Your Teen Most parents have learned things about money they wish they had known at a younger age. But when it comes to broaching the topic with their own teenagers, about a third would rather talk to them about smoking, drugs and bullying than money. Parents can take the angst out of teaching money management by working it into everyday routines. “Your kids are most likely interested in money and having more of it, but they may not know where to start,” says Susan Ehrlich, president of financial services for H&R Block. “Teaching money skills before they graduate will help them make smart choices and learn from their financial missteps now, so they’re better prepared when they’re on their own.” H&R Block provides free financial education for teens through H&R Block Dollars & Sense, which offers these tips: Encourage learning by earning. You may or may not want your teen to hold down a job while in high school, but you can instill the concept of earning by encouraging occasional paying projects, such as babysitting or mowing lawns. Practice makes perfect. Ask your teen to manage a portion of the family budget, such as writing the weekly menu and grocery list to

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fit your budget or keeping track of eating-out expenses every month. Save now, spend later. Open a savings account for your teen to plan for future purchases. If you’re able, offer to match a portion of their savings to encourage the behavior. This can help convey the difference between needs and wants. Verbalize your own wants for something the entire family can save for and enjoy together, then share your progress toward the goal. Set some limits. If your teen has a credit card, set a realistic credit limit so the balance can be paid in full each month. Your teen will also see the impact of interest rates and annual fees. Be a good financial role model. Pay your own bills on time and ask your teen to be part of the process. Talk to your teen about the importance of a good credit score and how to maintain it - for example, paying your bills on time accounts for 35 percent of your score. Help them understand lower credit scores mean higher interest that could cost thousands of unnecessary dollars. For more tips visit www. hrblockdollarsandsense.com.

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Don’t let these exciting events pass you by!

Information Session Graduate School of Social Service

Information Session Fordham School of Professional Studies

Saturday, September 7 | 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. 12th-floor Lounge | E. Gerald Corrigan Conference Center www.fordham.edu/gss

Wednesday, October 2 | 6:30 p.m. 12th-floor Lounge | E. Gerald Corrigan Conference Center www.pcsinfo@fordham.edu

Six Months of Pope Francis A panel discussion with Fordham theologians and prominent religion journalist Rachel Zoll of the Associated Press

A Home in the City: Strategies for 21st-Century Housing An Urban Dialogues Lecture Series panel discussion about New York City’s growing housing needs

Monday, September 9 | 5:30 p.m. 12th-floor Lounge | E. Gerald Corrigan Conference Center Information: 718-817-3240 or theology@fordham.edu

Monday, October 7 Discussion: 5:30 p.m. | Reception: 7 p.m. Museum of Arts and Design | 2 Columbus Circle RSVP@fordham.edu

Hitchcock! at the New York Philharmonic

The E. Gerald Corrigan Conference Center is located

Fordham Professor Mark Shanahan shares his insights on the famous scores of the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Tuesday, September 17 Dinner: 5:15 p.m. | Performance: 7:30 p.m. Avery Fisher Hall | 10 Lincoln Square Information: 212-636-7501 or braithwaite@fordham.edu

113 W. 60th St., New York City.

Leadership Biases A Flaum Leadership Lecture presented by Gen. Peter Pace, USMC (ret.), 16th Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff

Proud to be a Yellow Ribbon University eeo/aa

Tuesday, September 24 | 6 p.m. 12th-floor Lounge | E. Gerald Corrigan Conference Center RSVP@fordham.edu

in Fordham University’s Lowenstein Center at

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OUR TOWN

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Lower East Side Walking Tour Fordham Professor Daniel Soyer, Ph.D., leads a historical tour highlighting the immigrant past of the Lower East Side. Tuesday, October 8 Tour: 10 a.m. | Lunch: Noon Lower East Side, Manhattan (meeting point TBD) Information: 212-636-7501 or braithwaite@fordham.edu

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

cityArts

Edited by Armond White

New York’s Review of Culture . CityArtsNYC.com

“Wow” Kar Wai The Grandmaster is both remake and original masterpiece By Armond White

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uring one of the intricatelyedited fight scenes of Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, his first film in six years, I recalled asking Wong in 2008 if it was true that he was actually going to do a remake of Orson Welles’ 1946 The Lady From Shanghai? He replied “Yes, but that it won’t be same.” His enigmatic answer explains the splendor of The Grandmaster’s action scenes which owe less to the kung fu tradition of its story than to Welles’ dazzling barrage of romantic fantasy and existential fatalism. Each of The Grandmaster’s fight scenes-between lovers, rivals, equals and enemies-are so conceptually daring and thrilling they go beyond the genre’s established high standards to recall Welles’ Cubist mirror maze sequence in The Lady From Shanghai. It’s fair to imagine that cinematic connoisseur Wong took that audacious scene as a guide for his latest, noirish love excursion. The Grandmaster plot is certainly different; only common for the kung fu tradition--the story of Ip Man, the real-life kung fu master best known for teaching Bruce Lee. Wong’s film shows Ip Man bringing together different martial arts styles from all of China from 1936 to 1953, during years of tribal and national division and World War II. Ip Man (played by Tony Leung) Wong’s solemn, elegant lovewarrior familiar from Ashes of Time, falls in love with the daughter of China’s kungfu leader, Gong Er (Ziyi Zhang) who, as a woman, is denied to practice the art despite her filial devotion and skill. Intrigued by Ip Man, she challenges him. This competitive love story is as fraught

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

with passion-and-restraint as David Lean’s great Brief Encounter. Wong pursues his usual romanticism while exploring martial arts ethics--ideas on virtue, vengeance and honor. Ip Man and Gong Er represent their culture’s complex traditions and morality. Wong salutes both with his postmodern expertise, gracing the kung fu genre to the grandest esthetics of the romantic imagination. Each fight fulfills the genre’s narrative conventions yet Wong bases them in the characters’ personal motivation. Violent spectacle is less important than emotional expression--the proud smile Ip Man shows when jousting with his compatriots, Gong Er’s unsmiling determination when she fights for her family name. These are the best action scenes since Man of Steel, containing splendid flourishes such as rain spinning off Ip Man’s white hat brim or his urgent rush towards an opponent that stops for an elegant, balletic foot pivot. Whether or not The Grandmaster pleases kung fu aficionados, the fights are like dances and the best have the dreamy, slowly-dawning excitement of amorous seduction. (Rogers and Astaire were never as romantic as this.) Wong has seen inside the esthetics of The Lady From Shanghai and applies them to a national epic, making The Grandmaster a cross-genre masterpiece. His slo-mo supplies nervous anticipation, “hesitant” rhythm that conveys a fascination with movement, image and potentially unbound human ambition that, indeed, links this film to cinema’s heights. Wong’s mastery of montage and portraiture evokes the superior expressivity of silent cinema. (At one point Ip Man and Gong Er exchange love letters depicted as intertitles.)

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During Er’s railroad station fight with Ma San (dashing Jin Zhang), the well-mixed train noise and soundtrack music are thrillingly elemental--a magnificent sound/image collage. And Ma San’s soliloquy is superb: tragic and gorgeous. Yes, this is high-style filmmaking--with Wong’s natural, chic “Wow”--but it’s also a touchstone with cinema’s most stylish epics. Years pass as in Doctor Zhivago; fashion connotes character as in a woman’s leopard high-collar coat or the Marcelwaved hair of prostitutes in a brothel that evoke The Conformist. Best of all are Wong’s mesmerizing close-ups. He contemplates faces as did Josef Von Sternberg--and Leung and Zhang can act out the complicated feelings. Both have aged but they’re capable of emotional purity, seeming young at will, showing the essence of their characters. As in Sternberg these mercurial feelings denote an

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entire way of life; the result is a king fu movie that is also emotionally epic. The ideas spoken (“To yield is not to lose”) are not fortune cookie sentiments but astute realizations. Not merely a stylist, Wong evokes more than just the Ip Man biography. The Grandmaster is about courage, passion and conviction. Through expression and gesture, Wong gets extraordinary feeling for circumstances that too many genre movies trivialize. When Er is challenged to abandon her family honor, her objection resonates from the cosmic to the personal---a profound trajectory that makes the story’s romance and sacrifice universal. The Grandmaster is what movies ought to be at their best. Through the rules of kung fu (“Being. Knowing. Doing.”) and his estheticized taste, Wong defines pure cinema. Follow Armond White on Twitter at 3xchair

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CITYARTS THEATER

Uptown, Downtown Stages Summer Theater in the City By Leslie (Hoban) Blake

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an’t get away to the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor or the Williamstown Theatre Festival in the Berkshires this Summer? Well sweat not (or as little as possible), because you can enjoy some excellent, inexpensive (free to $25) Summer theater right here in the city through the rest of August. Shakespeare in the Park’s second free Summer production, a musical version of Love’s Labour’s Lost brought the Bard to the big borough reuniting Obie Award winner Michael Friedman (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) with two-time Tony Award nominee Alex Timbers (Peter and the Starcatcher). The duo offers up a fresh and unexpectedly madcap celebration of true love and coming of age in an evening of song, sonnets and Shakespeare featuring Daniel Breaker (Shrek) and Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live) at the head of a cast of more than twenty very exuberant players. In “Summer Shorts 2013,” the seventh annual festival of new American short plays from both established and emerging writers, is once again being presented in two Series of three one-act-shorts at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street between Park and Madison Avenues), with a ticket price of $25 (members $17.50). “Series A” kicks off with a peek into an actor’s psyche during the audition process, then moves on to an imaginary take on some very real political runningmates and ends with an imaginative retelling of a classic fairy tale. Good Luck (in Farsi) by Neil LaBute (Reasons to Be Happy) concerns two young actresses, one still struggling along without an agent, and the other fresh off of a cancelled television series. As both wait to audition for the same part, they while away the time alternately sharing audition tips and trying to sabotage each other’s chances. Lucas Hnath (A Public Reading of An Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney) presents a different kind of audition in About A Woman Named Sarah. The eponymous Sarah and her husband Todd travel for a job interview with a man named John and his wife Cindy…sound familiar? Ending “Series A” is Breaking the Spell, by Tina Howe (Coastal Disturbances), a comic spin on Sleeping Beauty, wherein a king (Michael Countryman) hopes to revive his sleeping daughter not with the traditional Prince’s kiss, but through various Prince’s musical stylings. “Series B” presents an emerging playwright, a screenwriter who loves the stage and a seasoned comedy writer who give us a blind date scenario, the reunion of three college friends and finally an elderly couple, haunted by their former spice. In Marian Fontana’s Falling Short, a struggling freelance writer meets a struggling actor over “Asian soul food” and far too much to drink, but in vino veritas,

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OUR TOWN

as their defenses fall away. Change, by Paul Weitz (American Pie, About a Boy), reunites three old friends — a married couple and their reprobate druggie college buddie, Jordan. Will they go to pot or (God forbid!) even something stronger? And finally for “Series B,” Alan Zeibel (700 Sundays) delivers Pine Cone Moment, in which Harry and Bunny, an elderly couple, find themselves haunted by their late spouses while planning a late-life trip to Disneyland. Among the spice, Camille Saviola is a most corporeal spectre as Harry’s jealous late wife. For the more adventurous New Yorker, the “17th Annual New York International Fringe Festival” runs through August 25th in some 20 downtown venues from East 14th Street to the West Village and from Tribeca down to the LES in such varied theaters as The Players, The Kraine, Theatre 80 and the recently renamed Lynn Redgrave Theater. There are 185 shows from 13 countries including Spain, Sweden, Italy, Japan, Holland and Australia) and 17 states from California to Ohio and Utah to Missouri. Last year’s attendance topped 75,000, making the NYIFF, the fifth largest annual New York event after the Tribeca Film Fest and the New York City Marathon. Go to FRINGENYC.ORG for a complete list of schedules and venues and be sure to plan ahead - it’s a bit daunting but very rewarding, especially when you’re among the first to discover the next Urinetown, or Silence. Actors who have performed in the past included Mindy Kaling, Michael Urie and Bradley Cooper. Topics this year range from Jack the Ripper’s victims (The Unfortunates) to an evening with Tennessee Williams (En Avant), from Whitman (Like Poetry) to Jack London (Sex Love and Revolution) and include ‘gumboot dancing’ from the mines of South Africa’s Jo’burg’ (Ndebele Funeral), stripping in a cold climate (Naked in Alaska), 50 celebrity impressions (The TomKat Project), a cowboy musical (Cowboys Don’t Sing) and last, but not least, renegade clowns with a semi-automatic (Clown Play). When in doubt about what to see, click on the Fringe site’s photo and check out the descriptions and locations, then close your eyes, point and get a ticket to whichever show your finger lands on - you can’t go very wrong and you just might go right. Final warning: Don’t be late, there’s almost never late seating.

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Shows to Check Out the Last Weekend of FringeNYC -The TomKat Project: Yes, a parody of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ relationship- tickets available for showtimes from Wednesday to Saturday at The Players Theater -Waiting for Waiting for Godot: Two stage hands waiting around backstage at a production of Waiting for Godot. Tickets available for Wednesday-Sunday at the Kraine Theater -Antony and Cleopatra: Infinite Lives: A taste of the Shakespeare play, complete with an Egyptian ex-patriot and modern scenes of the revolution in Tahrir Square. playing Sunday at the Lynn Redgrave Theater -Rubble: Simpsons writer Mike Reiss brings us a comedic look at life and death from the point of view of a man trapped under rubble after a California earthquake. Playing Thursday the 22nd, Saturday the 24th and Sunday the 25th at The Players Theater -Ex-Machina: A dystopian farcical comedy set in an IPhone factory in China- showtimes Wednesday the 21st, and Friday the 23rd at Teatro LATEA. Tickets and full show listings are available at fringenyc. org; all tickets are $18 at the door.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

By John Goodrich

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mong the first works in Llyn Foulkes’ current retrospective at the New Llyn Foulkes “Pop” (1985-90) Museum is a video of the artist/musician singing Some of the heads vilify icons of American and playing his “Machine,” a home-built culture such as Ronald Reagan and Walt contraption of car horns, cow bells, drums, Disney. But these works are more than and xylophone. Ornery, cynical, rebellious, cranky diatribes; Foulkes’ gift for color and and most of all honest, his music sets the tone composition impart to many a peculiar for an exhibition of nearly a hundred works pictorial weight. In “The Broken Window” spanning five decades. (1974), for instance, an evanescent blue-green Like his contemporaries and fellow background turns the dense darks of the Californians Ed Kienholz and Bruce Conner, figure’s shoulders into sturdy hills. Perched Foulkes cut his artistic teeth on surreal above, the elongation of the ruddy head is assemblages in the late 1950s. But as a itself uncannily bisected by a horizontal storyteller, Foulkes has proved to be more photo of a white wall. In the 13-foot wide of a straight shooter, turning the medium “The New Renaissance” (1991), Foulkes’ increasingly to his own rhetorical battle almost classical measuring of details and against the evils of power and corporate intervals imparts gravity to a work of wildly brainwashing. disparate techniques (from swelling, sculpted Today, his early mixed-media works mounds of paint to cartoon-like outlines) depicted raw landscapes and hieratic figures and extravagant imagery (which includes a feel haunted, but also a bit studied; many of crucifixion on a Santa Monica telephone pole). these meticulously somber works include a Sometimes Foulkes’ intimations feel Jasper Johns-type frieze of alphabets or small, scattershot. In “Day Dreams “ (1991), the repeating images. In the mid60s, the artist hit image of a pistol floats above a slumbering his stride with his own brand of Pop: large man in a thought-balloon made of real paintings of cows, pigs, and especially rock cotton, while a ghostly Superman reads a formations, sometimes presented serially bedtime story; viewers may well conclude in a single work, with eerily dematerialized that less would have been more. Foulkes’ textures produced with a rag. frames effectively set the stage for his bloodied Despite (or more likely because of) the heads, but in several large tableaux paintings acclaim of the “rock” paintings, Foulkes produced since the 80s–works as vast and turned to greater provocations in the 70s: three-dimensional as dioramas—the staging ghoulishly bloodied and distorted heads, becomes all. These are really installations mostly obscured by corporate logos, discarding the particular disciplines of masks or dollar bills. Highly inventive in painting and sculpture, and while revealing technique, they combine paint, wood, paper, immense labor, they’re for me less challenging. photographs, and actual objects like neckties It’s as if the artist’s alienation has found its and envelopes. Elements often extend beyond comfort zone, and we’re left to browse. the frames, which the artist has fashioned himself out of old, reversed frames and other Llyn Foulkes runs through September 1 at found objects. the New Museum.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

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2013

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BEST Manhattan

The Six Eschateers Edgar Wright arrives at The World’s End By Armond White

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“Bluebloods!” Simon Pegg and Nick Frost shout, standing beneath the bright light of realization in The World’s End. At the climax of their pub crawl over “the golden mile” of their hometown Newton Haven, these British lads Gary King (Pegg) and Andy (Frost) retrace their youth along with three other middle-aged mates, Steven (Paddy Considine), Oliver (Martin Freeman) and Peter (Eddie Marsan). Their class sensitivity the truth of mankind’s future. Satirizing their own immaturity, these once self-proclaimed “five musketeers” confront their hard-drinking, club-hopping youth and their adult fears and regrets. At the final stop on their pub crawl, The World’s End tavern, these funny, anguished Englishmen come back to the inescapable issue of class. This awareness is what differentiates PeggFrost’s, and their collaborator-director Edgar Wright’s, humor from American satirist Quentin Tarantino. They all deal with genre tropes but while Tarantino is only interested in compiling movie references, the Brits can’t help but deal with social subtexts. Wright-Pegg-Frost’s previous film Hot Fuzz parodied cop-buddy flicks yet found gravitas--and deep laughs--by spoofing British manners. The point of The World’s End isn’t escape from suburban boredom but examining how it affected the lads’ personalities as restless teens drinking along with 90s pop music and now as bored, dissatisfied men who gradually understand the authoritarian nature of their society’s traditions--even in a pub crawl. A press screening note from Wright requests reviewers don’t “reveal some of the surprises, twists and actors that do not feature in the trailers. Forgive me for asking, as I know you would never dream of doing such a dastardly thing.” So out of respect for the brilliant guy who made Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, I’ll only mention that here Edgar spoofs sci-fi/horror films like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Quartermass and the Pit, Children of the Damned along with the nostalgic pleasure of 90s British pop from Happy Mondays and Suede to The Housemartins and The Sisters of Mercy. It all comes together, unlike a Tarantino jamboree, as a summation of cultural

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experience--a pop awakening to the nature of hegemony: Bluebloods! Class! Brits are always shocked at the class system they indulge yet can never escape and this compulsion drives Wright-Pegg-Frost toward action-movie satire richer than most. (They’re heirs to such Ealing comedies as The Man in the White Suit.) Pegg’s characterization of the alcoholic Gary King, drowning his self-destructive, unshakeable rebellion (he sees the end of the world in his own self-loathing), would be Oscar-worthy in a different context and his co-stars are on his level. Wright’s complex, old-friends badinage recalls dramas as serious as Chayefsky’s Bachelor Party and Cassavetes’ Husbands as well as Tom Hanks’ antic 80s Bachelor Party and the classic friendship movie-musical It’s Always Fair Weather. Not a frivolous Tarantino genre mash-up, this reflects how, at the end of the postmodern world, pop cultural experience has turned into genuinely frightening liberal conformity. The five musketeers--and Wright, their eschatological sixth member--encounter a “Network” that replaces people of influence and takes over institutions to “change the way we think, make us more like them.” Look around, it’s the year’s most succinct statement on our media age. From slapstick fight-staging to timing an old flame’s reappearance to the break in Saint Etienne’s “John Our Club,” Wright shows vigorous panache--superior to This Is the End, the Hollywood-doofus apocalypse comedy that anxiously avoided issues of faith and self-examination. Wright polishes Hot Fuzz and these characters cut deeper, still The World’s End seems like a sequel rather than a revelation. Its familiar themes felt newer in Attack the Block where immigrant youth’s clash with British tradition transcended genre satire. So did Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, so did Pegg and Frost’s solo outing Paul. The sixth Eschateer, indubitably talented Edgar Wright, is ready to move forward. Follow Armond White on Twitter at 3xchair

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Healthy y Manhattan

BEST Manhattan OF

2013

Helping a smoker quit Tell us where Useful tips for friends and is the... BEST family

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espect that the quitter is in charge. This is their lifestyle change and their challenge, not yours. Ask the person whether they want you to ask regularly how they’re doing. Ask how they’re feeling – not just whether they’ve stayed quit. Let the person know that it’s OK to talk to you whenever they need to hear encouraging words. Help the quitter get what they need, such as hard candy to suck on, straws to chew on, and fresh veggies cut up and kept in the refrigerator. Spend time doing things with the quitter to keep their mind off smoking – go to the movies, take a walk to get past a craving (what many call a “nicotine fit”), or take a bike ride together. Try to see it from the smoker’s point of view – a smoker’s habit may feel like an old friend that has always been there when times were tough. It’s hard to give that up. Make your home smoke free, meaning that no one can smoke in any part of the house. Remove lighters and ash trays from your home. Help the quitter with a few chores, some child care, cooking – whatever will help

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

lighten the stress of quitting. Celebrate along the way. Quitting smoking is a big deal! Don’t doubt the smoker’s ability to quit. Your faith in them reminds them they can do it. Don’t judge, nag, preach, tease, or scold. This may make the smoker feel worse about him or herself. You don’t want your loved one to turn to a cigarette to soothe hurt feelings. Don’t take the quitter’s grumpiness personally during their nicotine withdrawal. Tell them that you understand the symptoms are real and remind them that they won’t last forever. The symptoms usually get better in about 2 weeks. Don’t offer advice. Just ask how you can help with the plan or program they are using. If your ex-smoker ‘slips’: Don’t assume that they will start back smoking like before. A “slip” (taking a puff or smoking a cigarette or 2) is pretty common when a person is quitting. Remind the quitter how long they went without a cigarette before the slip. Help the quitter remember all the reasons they wanted to quit, and help them forget about the slip as soon as possible. Don’t scold, tease, nag, blame, or make the quitter feel guilty. Be sure the quitter knows that you care about them whether or not they smoke. Source: American Cancer Society: www. cancer.org

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Nominate Your favorite doorman super or building cleaner! Do you know a great doorman, porter or handyman where you live? Is there an office cleaner, security officer or maintenance worker who helps make life a little easier at work? How about a school, theater, event or stadium cleaner who deserves recognition? Join Our Town, The West Side Spirit, Our Town Downtown and 32BJ SEIU, the property workers union, in honoring the people who keep our homes, offices, schools and public buildings clean and running smoothly. We’ll be selecting the people you nominate and vote for at a special awards ceremony in October, and be writing about them in New York’s leading community newspaper. So tell us, who’s gone above and beyond to make residents’, tenants’ and New Yorkers’ lives better?

GO TO: buildingworkerawards.com TO VOTE

Nominate and Vote Today Deadline for voting is September 12, 2013 2 theatre tickets awarded weekly just for nominating For more information, contact Courtney Kniffin at 212.868.0190 accounting@strausnews.com or Teresa Candori at 212.388.3696 tcandori@seiu32bj.org

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CELEBRITY PROFILE

Rob Sheffield Gets Carried Away with Karaoke The Rolling Stone columnist and bestselling author speaks about 99 Luftballoons, Bowery Ballroom, and spa-raoke By Angela Barbuti

W

riter Rob Sheffield explains that karaoke is the only American pastime that rewards you for subpar performance - but that’s what makes it so fun. In his new book, Turn Around Bright Eyes: The Rituals of Love and Karaoke, which got its name from the first duet he sang with his wife, he vividly describes the karaoke scene in New York City. “New York is a place where people are used to people making a spectacle of themselves,” the 47 –year-old said. He proves that this makes our city a perfect venue for the art that is karaoke. The book gives you the urge to round up a group of your friends - or total strangers - and head to the closest karaoke bar. Once inside, you can belt out your favorite Britney, Beyonce, on Bon Jovi song, certain that the crowd will treat you like a rockstar, even if just for the night.

How was your book launch at The powerHouse Arena? Oh my God, that was so fun. They set up a karaoke machine at the bookstore and I was like, “Wow this seems like it could be a logistical challenge.” They had it where people just signed up to sing and I thought they would be shy in that environment and need a little nudge. Obviously, I was totally wrong. I sang “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” It brings out dangerous and depraved things in me. [Laughs]

Explain the concept of karaoke bars in New York. Karaoke is a beautiful things because it allows anybody to participate in music, even those of us with no talent whatsoever. The fact that New York is a city that’s just crawling with different kinds of karaoke experiences makes it a great place to explore. New York is full of music everywhere you go - a big open space with a lot of strangers singing together, or a dingy, little private room where it’s just you and your friends destroying each others’ favorite songs. Your favorite karaoke venues are

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

mostly downtown, right?

kind of tell.”

Yeah. I love Sing Sing. It’s a place where there’s a big red awning with a microphone with the ying and yang symbol in it. They have this songbook with all sorts of stuff. I love to see ordinary people turn into stars before your eyes. You see these total strangers you’ve never seen before and you’re never gonna see again. I was in Sing Sing a couple weeks ago and there was this kid who got way into Madonna’s “Borderline.” It was a young kid and he might have been from Sweden or Denmark. This kid probably grew up dreaming of being in New York and singing that song. You just had this sense that there had been this huge cosmic journey in his life to be there, actually in downtown New York in a dingy karaoke place, singing “Borderline.” It was really beautiful.

The first time I ever did karaoke was in New York. It was funny because I went out with some friends and said, “I’m gonna sit here and watch and clap, and that will be fun. No way am I getting up and singing.” Of course it didn’t take long for me to try one. I sang Neil Diamond and there’s something about the unshakable Brooklyn-bred confidence of Mr. Neil Diamond; I wanted some of that to rub off on me. I sang the song “I Am.” I’m someone who has always loved music and written about it and tried to spread the word about music. But I could never actually sing or play an instrument. It blew my mind how it finally led me to the one thing that I wanted to do all my life but never could.

The first song you sang with your wife, Ally, was “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

You moved to New York in 2000 a few years after you lost your first wife, and you said people here went out of their way to be nice to you. Yeah, it was really funny how everyone was super nice in New York. I always found that if you’re just polite, people take that seriously. Something I noticed is that if I ordered a drink at a bar and said, “please,” they would actually listen to my drink order. [Laughs] That’s something about New York that’s always blown me away, how people come here because they’re curious. And there’s a kindness that comes with curiosity. Soon after I came here, I went to a record store, Rockit Scientist, and I bought a Television live bootleg called This Case is Closed and the guy looked it and said, “I’m not gonna charge you for this ‘cause it’s scratched.” I took it home and played it all night, and it played fine, so I went back the next day and said, “I want to pay you for it ‘cause it played fine.” He said, “Keep it as your ‘welcome to New York present.’ You’re new in town, right? I could

OUR TOWN

Describe your first karaoke experience.

A friend of ours was having a loft party in Chinatown with karaoke as part of the party. I gotta admit the party was kind of druggy, which probably had to do with the fact that people were singing. She hadn’t moved to town yet and didn’t know many people here. I was like, “This girl is fearless. She will get up in front of a room of people in New York she never met.”

You speak about singing karaoke a few weeks after September 11th and what that felt like. I was living on John Street, which was closed off with tanks and everything, so it was the first time that I’d gone out of the house. A friend had a karaoke party in the East Village for his birthday and, for almost all of us there, it was the first time we’d been out in a public place with a lot of other people in a long time. It was emotionally cathartic. At the end of the night, somebody sang “99 Luftballoons” and it was like, “Oh wow, someone’s really going

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there.” And we were all singing along and just crying openly. It’s really strange the emotional intensities that you can have when you’re completely destroying a German new-wave song at two in the morning.

How did your job at Rolling Stone come about? I’ve been writing about music since the ‘80s. I wrote for SPIN, Village Voice, Boston Phoenix. I wrote a music column for Details for a couple of years. I started writing for Rolling Stone in 1997. The first issue I ever wrote for, to give you a sense of where it was placed historically, had Tori Spelling on the cover. I wrote about Bob Dylan. Writing about Bob Dylan in Rolling Stone was jumping into the deep end.

What are your favorite concert venues in New York? Whether you want a hall-in-the-wall, sweaty punk-rock club or the glitzy stadium show, New York City really has it all. Bowery Ballroom is in a class by itself. That was the best part about living downtown. I would walk up Bowery and in 15 minutes I’d be there. And that’s when all these amazing new bands were popping up all over the city - The Strokes, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Liars.

You even did spa-raoke in the city. That was the best. Somewhere in the East 30s. My friend Jenny had her birthday party there. You’re just sitting in the chair and someone’s getting a pedicure and singing Stevie Nicks. Someone did Beyonce while getting her hair blown out. It was combining two of my wife’s favorite things into one! Follow Rob on Twitter: @robsheff Rob will be at Barnes and Noble on the Upper West Side on August 22nd Happy Ending Lounge on September 25th www.howilearnedseries.com

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