Thursday, May 1, 2008
Breaking the Chains and Cracking the Whip
By Michael Ronan
Members of the Break the Chains Alliance gathered April 24 in Foley Square to protest the controversial Immigration Reform and Control Act. The Break the Chains Alliance, a coalition of several ethnic and labor organizations, argued in an open letter to presidential candidates that these sanctions are a “road to disaster.”
The protest continued the dialogue started in that letter while also publicizing the group's May 1 walk to protest IRCA. With posters saying “Repeal IRCA Now!” behind them, speakers explained how IRCA divides documented and undocumented workers from joining together, resulting in worsening working conditions.
IRCA was originally put into place in 1989 in efforts to answer the country’s immigration problems. The act made it illegal for employers to knowingly hire illegal immigrants, but also gave amnesty to illegal immigrants who had come to the country before 1982.
As New York University politics professor Lawrence Mead said, “IRCA was a huge liberal victory.” However, several problems arose since IRCA’s installation, the largest of which was an increase in illegal immigration. “IRCA is an open door,” said Mead, explaining that after IRCA, “illegals all went out and bought fake documents.”
He said, “IRCA is a chameleon. The right sees it as a tremendous sellout to the left and the left sees it as creating a second class.”
John J. Crogan Jr., organizer with the Industrial Workers of the World, expressed this belief, calling IRCA, “a slave law to keep underclass workers.”
While acting on the behalf of both documented and undocumented workers, the Break the Chains alliance is not indicative of the country as a whole. “Most people are ambivalent [about the issue]," said Mead. “They do not like it when people break the law, but are sympathetic on an individual level.”
Mead also explained that the calls for change made at the April protest can be attributed to a “close connection to the illegal workers themselves,” as well as a fear against the recent “movement of tightening up” of immigration restrictions by the current administration.
For those reasons, speakers made a call on presidential candidates in an open letter to end what they called divisive immigration policies. Immigration has been a hot button issue that candidates have somewhat avoided during the election because how it divides voters. The immigration stance of the current government, however, as moved toward the right.
Mead explained this saying, “homeland security is beginning to crack the whip, but the whip is not IRCA.” The “whip” is the backlash from the failings of IRCA, as the government becomes more diligent in checking for illegal immigrants. Because of this backlash, Thursday’s event attacked the perceived root of the problem; IRCA.
“We are not going to wait till next year,” said one protestor. “That’s why we are marching on May 1.” May 1 marks International Workers’ Day, a day where workers had united in the past for the betterment of the working class.
Unity among workers, both documented and undocumented, is one of the ways the Break the Chains Alliance hopes to achieve better conditions for the working class. “Employers are using the laws to divide documented workers and undocumented workers,” said Adolfo Lopez, a member of the National Organization against Sweat Shops.
Stanley Mark, senior staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, added, “The law makes it foreign born versus native born people.”
Lopez used personal examples to illustrate this divisive policy in action. He recalled how, as an undocumented worker, he only made $15 a day while documented workers made substantially more. When Lopez asked his boss why he was making less money than the documented workers although he worker longer hours, he said it was because they had papers. Employers are “using the law to separate us [documented and undocumented workers] so we cannot fight together.”
For that reason, Lopez, and other members of the Break the Chains Alliance invited, “all workers, documented and undocumented to come to the march.” As Gustavo Mejias, member of the Million Worker March said, “They cannot divide us, black, Latino, Chinese. They cannot divide us.”
While stories like that of Lopez may make employers seem like the quintessential bad guys, as Mead explained, the issue is more complex. “Employers are not necessarily in the driver’s seat,” he said. Mead added that they are having trouble filling jobs that no one will do.
But doing the jobs no one else is willing to do has left undocumented workers with a desire for a better life and a clearer path toward citizenship. Jei Fong, an organizer with the Chinese Staff & Worker’s Association said Thursday’s protest was “not a call for guest workers, not a call for legislation that will criminalize good workers.” She said, “We are going to demand that all immigrants have a path to citizenship and won’t have to live in the shadows.
“We need to take control of our lives, take control of our work,” she urged.
“We all lose out big time,” said Harlem Tenant council head Nellie Bailey, explaining why action is needed. “Not only workers but the community.” Bailey then called on the unity of worker of all ethnicities saying repealing IRCA is “deserving of all the voices of the community across this city.”
Repealing the IRCA could be in the near future explained professor Mead. He said, “I think IRCA will be consigned to the scrap heap. The likelier outcome is no new law but a tightening up of restrictions.”
This is exactly what the members of the Break the Chains Alliance wish to avoid, demonstrated by their open letter. Tosh Anderson on behalf of the Break the Chains Alliance wrote that tighter restrictions “will just result in new means of circumventing those measures that will push undocumented workers even further underground and worsen the working conditions for all workers.” But unfortunately for them, this seems to be direction the country is heading.
New Yorkers Going Green at Gardening Festival in Union Square
By Alexandra Beggs
New Yorkers can’t seem to get enough green. Going green—from composting, to green roofs, to year-round container gardening—was the focus of a festival for National Garden Month in Union Square on Sunday.
The festival, NYC Grows, was a celebration of gardening in the city where backyards are on rooftops, and choosing what to plant is a strategy against shade, wind, and ruthless winters. But the festival was also an opportunity for new, ecologically-conscious horticulturalists and business owners to inform the public about new ways to live greenly.
Martha Desbiens, a principal landscape architect for VertNY, designs green roofs and urban gardens.
“In the city you have to be more creative to be green,” she said. Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC has tax incentives for people with green roofs, which Desbiens said has sparked the interest of many New Yorkers.
The gardens cost more, she said, but they last a long time, reduce water run-off by 50 percent, and reduce heating and cooling costs. The ecological designs have been utilized by many apartment tenants, as well as larger companies such as the Lichtenstein Foundation.
Kristi Stromberg Wright, also a principal designer at VertNY, does not think green roofs will be a transient public interest.
“Chicago is good example because they have amazing tax breaks for green roofs, so many people do it; it won’t be a fad because the environmental benefits are so great.”
Alex Feleppa, Director of Horticulture at The Horticultural Society of New York, described the society’s mission to foster the community and improve life through horticulture. Feleppa said the society has several programs of community outreach, even an interning program at Rikers Island, where inmates learn skills such as woodworking and horticulture in order to help them find job placement after they leave.
“It’s really gratifying getting people empowered and excited about doing it themselves,” said Feleppa. He noted that more visitors are posing questions on his blog, and visiting the society’s library with inquiries about becoming greener.
“[The Horticultural Society] is like the glue for all the green groups in the city,” he said, because the society offers resources and basic knowledge of horticulture, which then leads to ideas ranging from conservation to composting.
The subject of composting brought many curious visitors to the booth of the Composting Council of Canada.
Doug Hill, the General Manager of the Environmental Division, explained the process of composting.
“With a backyard composter, you put your kitchen scraps in the machine and it grinds them up. Then you can use it for your flowers, vegetables, whatever you’re growing.” He also pointed out that the curbside composter, a specially designed trashcan that many Canadians use is another way to compost. The contents are picked up in the same way the trash is, but instead of going to a landfill, they are turned into compost.
Hill noted that in Toronto, 92 percent of the citizens have curbside composting. In the United States, citizens in California and parts of Minnesota are also growing in participation.
“But because the curbside composting is not very profitable, it becomes a question of political will,” Hill said. Many visitors to his booth were eager to receive a compost bucket, which is for the scraps that are taken to composting locations.
Con Edison has also taken an active stance in reducing carbon emissions in the city. Bob McGee, a spokesperson for the company, said that “vampire electricity” is a new way New Yorkers can realize, and take efforts to reduce their energy usage.
“Vampire electricity is when common things in your home, such as computers and handheld devices, use power even when you’re not using them,” McGee said. Con Edison has proposed several summer energy efficiency programs, including a lighting program that installs Energy Star fluorescent lights in homes and an incentive program for homes with Energy Star heating and cooling systems.
Presenters at the festival also tried to spread the word about the differences individuals can make by changing small aspects of their lifestyle, such as buying groceries locally.
Chef Colin Alevras from The Tasting Room, a wine bar and café, brought his family to help him discuss the benefits of buying from local farmers while he tossed a salad of greens purchased at the Union Square Green Market.
“We find ourselves in unchartered water with these ingredients,” Alevras said about the often unfamiliar produce at the market. He held up a leaf and laughed, “I bought this the other day and I have no idea what it is.”
“It’s important for me to stay regional,” he added, encouraging the audience that buying from farmers’ markets stimulates the local economy and helps the community.
Joanne Wessel is a part of a community garden, Dias y Flores, which is located on the Lower East Side.
“Most people don’t know much about gardening” at the garden, “but once it becomes a part of your routine, it becomes a part of yourself,” she said. “[Gardening] rooted me spatially in the community, especially in New York because people are so territorial, I’ve become more open.” Many of these gardens make up a larger coalition of public gardens in the city, where volunteers dedicate their time for the upkeep of the gardens.
In regards to the Green Movement, Wessel expressed amazement at the growth of organic grocery chains and her own visitation to the Green Market.
“Now 14th Street is a Mecca for foodies! I come to the market at least twice a week and religiously on Saturdays,” she said. She added that she visits the market “to support the community, it’s vital, you eat better, and you’re preserving a way of life.”
Bloomingdale's Workers and Management Reach Tentative Agreement After Rally for a Fair Contract
by Lisa Bonarrigo
Bloomingdale’s workers and management reached a tentative contract agreement Wednesday, April 30, avoiding the intended strike declared by the leaders of Local 3, a union representing Bloomingdale’s workers under the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). A strike would affect over 2,000 workers and close the Bloomingdale’s 59th St. store indefinitely.
The old contract expired Wednesday night, implementing a new 4-year contract which addresses all but the workers’ desired health care plan. Before the contract is ratified, an additional two weeks has been allotted for discussion of this and the general wage increase demanded by the workers.
Workers at the Bloomingdale’s 59th St. store sent a message to management Thursday, April 24 when they voted to strike for a better contract, ultimately generating the tentative agreement. This decision came after Local 3 rallied outside the 59th St. store on Tuesday, April 22.
Local 3 members repeated chants such as “What do we want? Contract. When do we want it? Now” and “Who are we? Local 3” at the demonstration, which lasted a little over an hour. Yellow fliers were distributed reading “Bloomingdale’s workers are demonstrating today as part of a Union effort to convince Management and Macy’s Inc, the parent company, to be fair and just.”
Immediately following the demonstration, Local 3 representatives and Bloomingdale’s management met to continue contract discussions which began on Feb. 14. The workers’ demands for a general wage increase and a better health care plan were not met at that time.
RWDSU Local 3 President Ida Torres expressed her concern for the workers at the rally. “At this point, we’re looking for a living wage. A wage that ensures our workers can put food on the table for their families; we want them to have the health benefits they need to survive,” Torres said.
According to Torres, under the most recent contract workers at Bloomingdale’s are being paid as little as the $8 an hour minimum wage in New York City. Another category of workers are paid by straight commission. “They don’t know what they’re making, it depends on what they sell,” Torres said.
The health benefits under the most recent contract do not meet the demands of the workers in order to ensure a decent standard of living, according to Torres.
Torres mentioned the National Labor Relations Board, which was created by Congress under the Wagner Act in 1935 to guarantee employees the right to organize and negotiate with their employers. “With a union, the boss has to deal with the voices of the workers,” Torres said.
Cassandra Berrocal, Secretary Treasurer of RWDSU Local 3, similarly noted the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, also known as the Labor-Management Relations Act. This act made union organization laws more specific, such as more clearly defining unfair labor practices.
At the time of the rally Berrocal was positive about the pending negotiations with the company. “Our intention is to settle by May 1,” she said. The workers’ contract originally expired on March 1, but an automatic 60 day extension was implemented.
Berrocal stressed the amount of workers represented by Local 3, and how many are discouraged with the current contract. “Our local union represents workers from all divisions of operation in the 59th St. store – the selling division, the non-selling division, housekeeping, and so on,” Berrocal said.
Sal Leibowitz has worked in the Advertising Department of Bloomingdale’s 59th St. store for 40 years. He said he’s witnessed a couple of demonstrations similar to the one on April 22, but did not believe a strike was necessary. “This isn’t the worst, but it’s pretty bad,” Leibowitz said.
Leibowitz said he’s stayed with the company for so many years because of the security of having a job. “I like the people here and I enjoy the work, but I’ve got to survive also,” he said.
Harriet Farmah, a sales associate at the 59th St. store for past two years, was also concerned about security. She said that the workers are being treated unfairly due to a lack of respect from the company. “We are not appreciated at all. We bring the store millions of dollars every year and it’s not appreciated,” Farmah said.
The Bloomingdale’s workers received support from many union workers around New York City who joined them to picket. “We have the support of the RWDSU and local unions from the Central Labor Council – which represents 1.5 million workers,” Berrocal said.
RWDSU represents union workers throughout New York City. President of the RWDSU, Stuart Appelbaum, was at the demonstration and said that he was concerned for the workers at Bloomingdale’s. He agreed with Farmah, saying that the workers deserve respect from the management. “We have workers here that have made this company successful throughout the years. They demand dignity and respect,” Appelbaum said.
He also went on to explain how both the workers and their families are affected by the contract negotiations. “They want to know they won’t have to worry how they’re going to survive or how their families are going to have the healthcare they deserve,” Appelbaum said.
Ruben Fort, Vice President of Local 377, another union within New York City represented by RWDSU, said that what happens to one union can often affect others. “That’s why we’re here in solidarity with Local 3 today,” Fort said.
Daniel J. Walkowitz is Director of Experiential Learning with a particular interest in labor at New York University’s Metropolitan Studies Department. He said that union workers rally to build public support, draw attention to their cause, and educate consumers as an alternative to a strike, which deprives them of wages.
Walkowitz also mentioned why negotiations are necessary with pending strikes. “Some owners, usually the more intractable ones, prefer to negotiate and recognize unions as a way to create labor peace, and have organized spokespersons that can discipline the labor force and avoid wildcat strikes. Strikes cast workers wages in the short term, but they cost owners profits that can not be recouped,” Walkowitz said.
Jack the Dripper's Killer Exhibit at the Jewish Museum
by Walter Ancarrow
The Jewish Museum previewed its newest exhibition, Action/Abstraction: Pollock, De Kooning, and Postwar American Art, 1940-1976 on Tuesday, the first U.S. showcase of Abstract Expressionism in 20 years.
The exhibition, which begins May 4, spotlights the works of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, with smaller focus on painters like Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, and Arshile Gorky.
Also displayed are the writings of Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg, two influential art critics of the post-war era.
The exhibition aims to give fresh perspective to Abstract Expressionism by providing the audience with works of the painters and the critics, and the historical background necessary to put the movement in cultural context.
“Different art critics and writers have interpreted the art in many different ways,” said Norman Kleeblatt, head curator of Action/Abstraction. “They shape the way we still think about the art.”
Kleeblatt alludes to Greenberg and Rosenberg, who were notorious for their clashing beliefs. Their philosophy on art is summed up in the exhibition’s sly title.
Rosenberg endorsed action, or the physical way of making art, as exemplified by Pollock’s “drip” technique – the method used to make his iconic splattered paint pieces. Greenberg believed in the abstraction of the piece, or the overall look, feel, and design of the work.
Kleeblatt hopes the showcase gives the audience a launching point of comparison between the different ways Rosenberg and Greenberg viewed the art, mixed with the painters’ ideas behind the works, and the audience’s own opinion.
“It’s terrific!” exclaimed one woman who hadn’t yet seen the paintings.
“I don’t know exactly what [the artist] wants to say,” said Eva Sas, a freelance journalist from Hungary who admitted to not having very much knowledge on Abstract Expressionism. “I’ve read a few things about Pollock, that’s it.”
But that didn’t prevent her from enjoying the exhibition.
“It’s a mixture of reality, imagination, and feelings,” she said.
Abstract Expression began in the late 1940’s as one of the many movements that sprang from the New York art scene. It gained acceptance after WWII and helped propel the United States, particularly New York City, into the avant-garde spotlight, taking the attention away from Paris.
“Here you have [the United States] coming off WWII and struggling,” said Maurice Berger, curator of the exhibition’s three “context rooms” designed to help place the movement in social perspective. “This is really the only period in American art that was on the same trajectory – it too was struggling.”
Berger said that this parallel is what makes the art important.
“Over the years, art critics have begun to focus on the relation between art in the cultural and social contexts,” he explained.
His “context rooms” display newspaper clips, magazine articles, and gallery pamphlets organized in neat little rows against the wall. TVs play snips of documentaries featuring interviews with art critics of the time, Greenberg and Rosenberg included. Berger wants the audience to rethink Abstract Expressionism by providing historic framework.
Art movements like Abstract Expressionism were new ways of reflecting upon a world of radical social change – McCarthyism, the looming Cold War, civil rights, and feminist movements. The exhibition includes what Berger calls “blind spot” artists like Lee Krasner, Pollock’s wife, and Norman Lewis, one of the few African American Abstract Expressionist artists. The rise of minority artists was one social outcome of the art movement.
“Many of the important artists were immigrants or children of immigrants,” said Kleeblatt.
De Kooning emigrated from the Netherlands, while a large number of Jewish artists and critics, like Rothko, Philip Guston, and Michael Goldberg, became a force in the art world.
“Synagogues were some of the first institutions to commission abstract artists,” said Berger, citing this as one of the reasons the Jewish Museum hosted the exhibition.
“I’m glad [the curators] are tying it into being Jewish,” said Alex Schatzberg, an NYU sophomore who plans on attending the exhibition when it opens to the public. “It’s not something I normally think as being Jewish.”
Perhaps the exhibition’s biggest link to Jewish culture comes from Greenberg and Rosenberg, who helped make Abstract Expressionism mainstream. Kleeblatt believes the two critics are still influencing art admirers today.
But for some viewers, it’s about the look of the piece and not its critical analysis.
Liz Bowen, a student at Fordham and one of the few young people at the exhibition, said that, while she knows about the art movements and the ideas behind them, it’s her personal interaction with them that’s important.
“A lot of [the art’s] neat because it’s like looking into a space you’ve never seen before. It swallows you up,” she said.
Her personal favorite wasn’t exhibition headliners Pollock or de Kooning.
“I really liked the inclusion of Barnett Newman because his stuff is a lot more minimal compared to Jackson Pollock. It’s a completely different rendering of the same principals,” she said.
Overall, she was excited for the collection. “This seems like a really rare thing… to see [the art] put together in one place. It’s cool to see them all teamed up.”
Others, like Molly Zimmelman, an art student at the New School, can’t wait for the exhibition to start.
“You go to the MoMa or the [Metropolitan Museum of Art] and you see the same stuff so I’m excited for some new art,” she said. “And Pollock happens to be really interesting.”
The Jewish Museum’s Action/Abstraction exhibition runs May 4 to September 21 and features Pollock’s famous “Convergence” and de Kooning’s masterpiece “Gotham News” as well as other Abstract Expressionist works. The exhibition will travel to St. Louis and Buffalo later this year.
The Jewish Museum previewed its newest exhibition, Action/Abstraction: Pollock, De Kooning, and Postwar American Art, 1940-1976 on Tuesday, the first U.S. showcase of Abstract Expressionism in 20 years.
The exhibition, which begins May 4, spotlights the works of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, with smaller focus on painters like Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, and Arshile Gorky.
Also displayed are the writings of Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg, two influential art critics of the post-war era.
The exhibition aims to give fresh perspective to Abstract Expressionism by providing the audience with works of the painters and the critics, and the historical background necessary to put the movement in cultural context.
“Different art critics and writers have interpreted the art in many different ways,” said Norman Kleeblatt, head curator of Action/Abstraction. “They shape the way we still think about the art.”
Kleeblatt alludes to Greenberg and Rosenberg, who were notorious for their clashing beliefs. Their philosophy on art is summed up in the exhibition’s sly title.
Rosenberg endorsed action, or the physical way of making art, as exemplified by Pollock’s “drip” technique – the method used to make his iconic splattered paint pieces. Greenberg believed in the abstraction of the piece, or the overall look, feel, and design of the work.
Kleeblatt hopes the showcase gives the audience a launching point of comparison between the different ways Rosenberg and Greenberg viewed the art, mixed with the painters’ ideas behind the works, and the audience’s own opinion.
“It’s terrific!” exclaimed one woman who hadn’t yet seen the paintings.
“I don’t know exactly what [the artist] wants to say,” said Eva Sas, a freelance journalist from Hungary who admitted to not having very much knowledge on Abstract Expressionism. “I’ve read a few things about Pollock, that’s it.”
But that didn’t prevent her from enjoying the exhibition.
“It’s a mixture of reality, imagination, and feelings,” she said.
Abstract Expression began in the late 1940’s as one of the many movements that sprang from the New York art scene. It gained acceptance after WWII and helped propel the United States, particularly New York City, into the avant-garde spotlight, taking the attention away from Paris.
“Here you have [the United States] coming off WWII and struggling,” said Maurice Berger, curator of the exhibition’s three “context rooms” designed to help place the movement in social perspective. “This is really the only period in American art that was on the same trajectory – it too was struggling.”
Berger said that this parallel is what makes the art important.
“Over the years, art critics have begun to focus on the relation between art in the cultural and social contexts,” he explained.
His “context rooms” display newspaper clips, magazine articles, and gallery pamphlets organized in neat little rows against the wall. TVs play snips of documentaries featuring interviews with art critics of the time, Greenberg and Rosenberg included. Berger wants the audience to rethink Abstract Expressionism by providing historic framework.
Art movements like Abstract Expressionism were new ways of reflecting upon a world of radical social change – McCarthyism, the looming Cold War, civil rights, and feminist movements. The exhibition includes what Berger calls “blind spot” artists like Lee Krasner, Pollock’s wife, and Norman Lewis, one of the few African American Abstract Expressionist artists. The rise of minority artists was one social outcome of the art movement.
“Many of the important artists were immigrants or children of immigrants,” said Kleeblatt.
De Kooning emigrated from the Netherlands, while a large number of Jewish artists and critics, like Rothko, Philip Guston, and Michael Goldberg, became a force in the art world.
“Synagogues were some of the first institutions to commission abstract artists,” said Berger, citing this as one of the reasons the Jewish Museum hosted the exhibition.
“I’m glad [the curators] are tying it into being Jewish,” said Alex Schatzberg, an NYU sophomore who plans on attending the exhibition when it opens to the public. “It’s not something I normally think as being Jewish.”
Perhaps the exhibition’s biggest link to Jewish culture comes from Greenberg and Rosenberg, who helped make Abstract Expressionism mainstream. Kleeblatt believes the two critics are still influencing art admirers today.
But for some viewers, it’s about the look of the piece and not its critical analysis.
Liz Bowen, a student at Fordham and one of the few young people at the exhibition, said that, while she knows about the art movements and the ideas behind them, it’s her personal interaction with them that’s important.
“A lot of [the art’s] neat because it’s like looking into a space you’ve never seen before. It swallows you up,” she said.
Her personal favorite wasn’t exhibition headliners Pollock or de Kooning.
“I really liked the inclusion of Barnett Newman because his stuff is a lot more minimal compared to Jackson Pollock. It’s a completely different rendering of the same principals,” she said.
Overall, she was excited for the collection. “This seems like a really rare thing… to see [the art] put together in one place. It’s cool to see them all teamed up.”
Others, like Molly Zimmelman, an art student at the New School, can’t wait for the exhibition to start.
“You go to the MoMa or the [Metropolitan Museum of Art] and you see the same stuff so I’m excited for some new art,” she said. “And Pollock happens to be really interesting.”
The Jewish Museum’s Action/Abstraction exhibition runs May 4 to September 21 and features Pollock’s famous “Convergence” and de Kooning’s masterpiece “Gotham News” as well as other Abstract Expressionist works. The exhibition will travel to St. Louis and Buffalo later this year.
People and Pets Fight Animal Cruelty
By Piper Wallingford
On April 10, the New York chapter of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals observed its third annual ASPCA Day. Supporters dressed in orange to tell New York that pets are as important as people are, and every animal deserves a loving home.
Many people went “orange for animals,” dressing themselves, and even their pets, in the color of the ASPCA. At 8 p.m., the lights on the Empire State Building glowed orange, promoting awareness of animal abuse.
New York University student Megan Wang was there to support the event because she thinks the ASPCA truly cares about animal welfare. “Animals have no one to help them, and they can’t tell anyone what’s wrong,” she said. “It’s difficult to get people to care because they don’t think animals matter as much.”
Wang was a volunteer at a cat shelter, Ali’s Place, when a fire broke out at the center. “The firefighters wouldn’t go check on the animals,” Wang said. “They kept saying that they didn’t do that for animals, only for people. But when you show that you care about animals, you show that you care about people too.”
Phil Arkow is chair of the Latham Foundation, which examines the link between animal abuse and domestic violence. “People treat animals like they treat other people,” he said. “But very few [police] jurisdictions screen for animal abuse because officers are trained to deal with human issues, not animals. There aren’t even any statistics about animal cruelty.”
Arkow believes that events like ASPCA Day will encourage people to fight against animal cruelty and recognize the importance of pets. “If there’s more awareness, and more training, and more people thinking about it, then there’s going to be more programs that fight animal abuse.”
New York City law enforcement agencies have already taken important steps towards eliminating animal abuse, said volunteer Noel Dowling. Animal abuse is a felony in New York, she said, adding that New York also has humane law enforcement officers who investigate animal cruelty.
More people need to get involved to change existing animal abuse policies, said ASPCA employee Laura Meece. “People need to know that they can help and can make a difference,” said Meece.
ASPCA Day started three years ago in order to educate more people about animal cruelty. “This event has a lot of impact because it draws in so many people who don’t know what’s going on,” said Meece. “People are walking in the park or coming out of the subways. They see people in orange and the bright colors and come over.”
Dowling hopes that the event will encourage people to learn more about the prevention of animal abuse “It’s an event for people who don’t know anything – they’ve never seen the website, or talked to an officer,” she said. “Any kind of information that we can get out there, through volunteers or adoption, is important, even if we just reach someone who insists on buying a purebred dog.”
Many dogs at the event sported orange bandanas and sweaters, while some of their owners had even dyed their hair. Volunteers handed out free calendars, dog treats, and even orange cotton candy to draw in people. Some of the tents were informational, like the ASPCA enforcement officer, or the veterinarian who was answering questions about pet nutrition. Other tents were just for fun, like the artist drawing caricatures of dogs.
But the tent that drew the biggest crowd was the one that held rescued animals that were available for adoption. Crowds of people packed around cages housing rescued animals wearing “Please adopt me” vests. Cats and dogs peeked through the wire cages, and event organizers scrambled to keep order as people pushed forward for a closer look.
Wang believes that adopting rescued animals is an important way to fight animal abuse. While volunteering at an ASPCA shelter, she often saw the results of animal cruelty first hand. “A lot of animals at the shelter had been abused and were missing ears or limbs or had eye problems,” said Wang. “My favorite cat, Bobby, had a permanent ring around his neck from a choke collar.”
For Wang, ASPCA Day is an opportunity to find families for animals that have never had loving homes. “Bobby was adopted and went to a home where people care about him. Other abused animals can be adopted here, and it’s important to encourage that love between owners and pets.”
Danielle Ramos-Castro wanted to see every animal go to a new home. “I like seeing animals and knowing that that they all have a chance to be adopted,” she said.
Danielle’s mother, Susanna Ramos, thought that having adoptable animals on site was a great way to raise awareness. “Animals have a greater opportunity to be adopted at events like this because everyone wants a cute kitten or puppy,” she said.
The Ramos’s dog, Nina, was rescued, and Ramos considers her a part of the family. “We dressed in orange and came today so everyone can be aware of how important animals are in our lives.”
Jessi Santiago adopted her Pomeranian, Teddy, at the first ASPCA Day three years ago. “We adopted Teddy from ASPCA because they’re the only people who stick up for animals,” she said. “We have two other pets, two cats, and they’re all absolutely spoiled. Every animal needs a chance to be loved.”
Having volunteered for the ASPCA for more than 20 years, Dowling said that loving an animal is one of the greatest joys anyone can know. “The love between pets and people, you can’t explain it to non-animal people, and you don’t have to explain it to people with pets,” she said.
ASPCA Day gave many people the opportunity to start understanding the love between people and animals, as well as other benefits of having a pet. “Pets teach you how to relax, and they keep you happy,” Dowling said. “They do so much, there’s absolutely no question we love our pets.”
On April 10, the New York chapter of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals observed its third annual ASPCA Day. Supporters dressed in orange to tell New York that pets are as important as people are, and every animal deserves a loving home.
Many people went “orange for animals,” dressing themselves, and even their pets, in the color of the ASPCA. At 8 p.m., the lights on the Empire State Building glowed orange, promoting awareness of animal abuse.
New York University student Megan Wang was there to support the event because she thinks the ASPCA truly cares about animal welfare. “Animals have no one to help them, and they can’t tell anyone what’s wrong,” she said. “It’s difficult to get people to care because they don’t think animals matter as much.”
Wang was a volunteer at a cat shelter, Ali’s Place, when a fire broke out at the center. “The firefighters wouldn’t go check on the animals,” Wang said. “They kept saying that they didn’t do that for animals, only for people. But when you show that you care about animals, you show that you care about people too.”
Phil Arkow is chair of the Latham Foundation, which examines the link between animal abuse and domestic violence. “People treat animals like they treat other people,” he said. “But very few [police] jurisdictions screen for animal abuse because officers are trained to deal with human issues, not animals. There aren’t even any statistics about animal cruelty.”
Arkow believes that events like ASPCA Day will encourage people to fight against animal cruelty and recognize the importance of pets. “If there’s more awareness, and more training, and more people thinking about it, then there’s going to be more programs that fight animal abuse.”
New York City law enforcement agencies have already taken important steps towards eliminating animal abuse, said volunteer Noel Dowling. Animal abuse is a felony in New York, she said, adding that New York also has humane law enforcement officers who investigate animal cruelty.
More people need to get involved to change existing animal abuse policies, said ASPCA employee Laura Meece. “People need to know that they can help and can make a difference,” said Meece.
ASPCA Day started three years ago in order to educate more people about animal cruelty. “This event has a lot of impact because it draws in so many people who don’t know what’s going on,” said Meece. “People are walking in the park or coming out of the subways. They see people in orange and the bright colors and come over.”
Dowling hopes that the event will encourage people to learn more about the prevention of animal abuse “It’s an event for people who don’t know anything – they’ve never seen the website, or talked to an officer,” she said. “Any kind of information that we can get out there, through volunteers or adoption, is important, even if we just reach someone who insists on buying a purebred dog.”
Many dogs at the event sported orange bandanas and sweaters, while some of their owners had even dyed their hair. Volunteers handed out free calendars, dog treats, and even orange cotton candy to draw in people. Some of the tents were informational, like the ASPCA enforcement officer, or the veterinarian who was answering questions about pet nutrition. Other tents were just for fun, like the artist drawing caricatures of dogs.
But the tent that drew the biggest crowd was the one that held rescued animals that were available for adoption. Crowds of people packed around cages housing rescued animals wearing “Please adopt me” vests. Cats and dogs peeked through the wire cages, and event organizers scrambled to keep order as people pushed forward for a closer look.
Wang believes that adopting rescued animals is an important way to fight animal abuse. While volunteering at an ASPCA shelter, she often saw the results of animal cruelty first hand. “A lot of animals at the shelter had been abused and were missing ears or limbs or had eye problems,” said Wang. “My favorite cat, Bobby, had a permanent ring around his neck from a choke collar.”
For Wang, ASPCA Day is an opportunity to find families for animals that have never had loving homes. “Bobby was adopted and went to a home where people care about him. Other abused animals can be adopted here, and it’s important to encourage that love between owners and pets.”
Danielle Ramos-Castro wanted to see every animal go to a new home. “I like seeing animals and knowing that that they all have a chance to be adopted,” she said.
Danielle’s mother, Susanna Ramos, thought that having adoptable animals on site was a great way to raise awareness. “Animals have a greater opportunity to be adopted at events like this because everyone wants a cute kitten or puppy,” she said.
The Ramos’s dog, Nina, was rescued, and Ramos considers her a part of the family. “We dressed in orange and came today so everyone can be aware of how important animals are in our lives.”
Jessi Santiago adopted her Pomeranian, Teddy, at the first ASPCA Day three years ago. “We adopted Teddy from ASPCA because they’re the only people who stick up for animals,” she said. “We have two other pets, two cats, and they’re all absolutely spoiled. Every animal needs a chance to be loved.”
Having volunteered for the ASPCA for more than 20 years, Dowling said that loving an animal is one of the greatest joys anyone can know. “The love between pets and people, you can’t explain it to non-animal people, and you don’t have to explain it to people with pets,” she said.
ASPCA Day gave many people the opportunity to start understanding the love between people and animals, as well as other benefits of having a pet. “Pets teach you how to relax, and they keep you happy,” Dowling said. “They do so much, there’s absolutely no question we love our pets.”
Revolutionary Activists Speak Out Against Religion
Tanya Burnett
NEW YORK—“We have reached an era where a leap to totalitarianism is possible,” said revolutionary activist Sunsara Taylor on Wednesday night at Cooper Union’s Wollman Auditorium.
Taylor’s statements came during a debate on the provocative topic of “Atheism, God, and Morality in a Time of Imperialism and Rising Fundamentalism,” which also included former New York Times Middle East correspondent Chris Hedges.
In front of an audience of more than 200 people, Taylor criticized the religious base in America, which she believes is the cause for war and economic inequality around the world, while Hedges expressed that radicalism on either end of the spectrum—whether atheist or Christian—will only lead to destruction.
Although it seemed like a balanced debate, the audience—on the other hand—was mostly comprised of atheist individuals like Taylor, most of who are active members of radical organizations such as the Revolutionary Communist Party and the Harlem Revolutionary Club.
With over 50 communist organizations currently active in the U.S, the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) is the most known out of such organizations. Its objectives are to speak out against U.S imperialism and urge people to liberate themselves through communist political revolution.
The party was formed in 1975 and led by elected National Chairman and primary spokesperson Bob Avakian. His most recent work Away With All Gods: Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World is one of the many books in which Avakian challenges religion, which he deems to be a strong force behind imperialism.
“What we want to do is forge a classless communist world, in which the power of the ruling class of white men is broken down. All we have in America, and other nations, in which the U.S. government has forced so-called democracy onto, is a handful of rich exploiters and we need to put power back into the hands of the people,” said co-founder of the RCP, Carl Dix.
Dix stated that the biggest obstacle to the “classless world” is religion. “Religion obscures reality,” he said.
Religion, as Dix put it, does not make people individually responsible for their actions. Christianity preaches that all of the corruption in the world can be attributed to the concept of original sin, which demonstrates that the human race is automatically inclined to be sinful due to the sin of giving into temptation committed by the biblical figures Adam and Eve.
“The problems in this world are created by people and the operation of exploitation, not by some mythical figure. We have the ability to change greed,” Dix said.
Clarence Williams, a member of the Harlem Revolutionary Club and author of the book Truth, agreed that religion impaired individual responsibility and self-empowerment.
As a man who grew up in a Pentecostal church, Williams stated that he always felt that “the church preached ignorance and complacency rather than knowledge and activism.”
This idea, however, was rejected by Hedges during his presentation at the debate. As he stood in front of the podium in the hot and humid auditorium, Hedges claimed that humans are innately irrational and the idea that humans can evolve morally—an idea held by many atheists—is false.
“Religion is an attempt to deal with the non-rational forces that make us human beings—love, grief, the search for meaning, death, annihilation, and so on,” he said.
Hedges also criticized the radical mindset of atheists, like Taylor, who rage
against religion and faith.
He stated: “Radical atheists have managed to replicate what the Christian Fundamentalists have said, but only in a secular language.”
Christian Fundamentalism is characterized as an aggressive and religious movement that seeks to combat what they regard to be the liberal takeover of the state, family and church. Christian Fundamentalists have also spread their influence in politics. They have formed alliances with conservative political forces and, with groups like Christian Coalition and Family Research Council helped the Republican Party to gain control of the White House, both houses of Congress, and a more conservative Supreme Court by the mid-1990s.
Evangelical Christians make up 20 percent of the population, but Distinguished Professor of Anthropology of the City University of New York (CUNY) and author of the book A Brief History of Neoliberalism, David Harvey says that although their numbers are small, “the alliance between big business and conservative Christians backed by the neoconservatives steadily consolidated, eventually eradicating all liberal elements from the Republican Party, particularly after 1990, and turned it into the relatively homogenous right-wing electoral force of today.”
But before the conservative rise to power, leftist organizations were prominent and influential in political and economic affairs.
“Communist and social parties were gaining ground, if not taking power. Across much of Europe and even the U.S., popular forces were agitating for widespread reforms and state interventions,” Harvey stated.
According to Harvey, “In the U.S, the share of the national income taken by the top 1 percent of income earners fell from a pre-war high of 16 percent to less than 8 percent by the end of World War II, and stayed close to that level for nearly three decades.” But when “the stable share of an increasing pie” collapsed in the 1970s when real interest rates went negative among other things, the upper classes clamored to “protect themselves from political and economic annihilation.”
“Right now, we have a shrinking middle class, a growing lower class and a small stagnant upper class, which is back by Christian conservatives who continue to subtly enforce economic and social inequality for their sole benefit,” said Harlem Revolutionary Club activist Noche Lares.
Lares explained that the Republican Party, under the influence of Christian conservatives, is responsible for the war in Iraq and the crippling of the economies of developing countries.
“They have told [Americans] that they want to spread democracy and free markets, or they need to find terrorists. When all they’re really doing is implementing the same economic and social inequalities that they have instituted in America, but to a more severe degree.”
Lighting the Path to a Greener You
By Cory Carroll
How many light bulbs do you have to replace to help the world?
Osram Sylvania unveiled the Sylvania micro-mini Twist at the annual Light Congress in New York City on Earth Day. The Twist is currently the smallest CFL (compact fluorescent light bulb) on the market. Sylvania’s bulb is a replacement for incandescent light bulbs regularly used in consumers’ homes and one of the initiatives for a creating a more eco-friendly environment.
The Twist is the newest product in Sylvania’s Ecologic line of environmentally friendly lighting products and part of the growing trend of creating eco-friendly lighting. According to Bob Ponzini, commercial engineer at Osram Sylvania, the current trend is to make “efficient, longer-life products that minimize hazardous materials going into the light,” and to help minimize “manufacture packaging.”
The Twist (available at local hardware and grocery stores as a 2-pack for $9.99), for example, can be used to replace 60, 75, or 100-watt (W) incandescent light bulbs without compromising the light’s functionality. This product is 30 percent smaller than a standard CFL and can last for about 11 years. In contrast, a standard 75-watt clear incandescent light bulb has an average life span of about 63 days.
While Ponzini says there is “no perfect light source,” he says the goal of Sylvania and their products is “to be at the forefront to meet the needs of customers and legislation.”
Sylvania has also been working to decrease hazardous materials in the bulbs, like mercury and lead. While mercury, for example, cannot completely be eliminated from lighting systems because it increases the efficiency of the lamps, Sylvania has “reduced the amount of mercury used in many of [their] lamps by up to 92 percent” (according to Sylvania’s “A Guide to Sustainable Lighting Sources”).
In addition to improving efficiency and removing harmful products, Osram Sylvania has changed the packaging of their products. “Space is key for packaging,” says Ponzini. By packaging more efficiently and minimizing space used, Sylvania has looked beyond their products for innovative ways to conserve resources. “The more lamps in a truck cuts down on diesel fuel for trucks to transport,” says Ponzini. In addition, as more lamps can be transported, fewer trucks are needed to transfer the product.
Helping to unveil the Twist was “Gossip Girl” actress Kelly Rutherford. In a press release Rutherford says, “I replaced a number of the incandescent light bulbs in my house with the Sylvania micro-mini CFL and now I won’t have to think about them for another decade!” Rutherford is one of many eco-conscious celebrities, including Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio, working to bring awareness on how to go green.
On the horizon for the development of energy efficient lighting is the possibility of the European Union’s (EU) Directive RoHS being placed in effect in the United States, according to Greg McCord, Sylvania’s application engineer. RoHS stands for “the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment” (rohs.gov.uk) and became effective on July 1, 2006 in the EU. This Directive is based on corporate and residential compliances dealing with “disposal factors” and “a change in the manufacturing process that has no lead or mercury base,” says McCord. The RoHS Directive is just beginning to come into effect in parts of the U.S., including “California RoHS” which began on January 1, 2007.
In addition to the creation of eco-friendly products, the global green initiative is being put to use by companies, universities, and personal consumers across the U.S.
The New 42nd Street in NYC, for example, recently finished energy efficient plans that were devised in 2003. The New 42nd Street includes the New 42nd Street Studios, a state-of-the-art, ten-story building of performing arts rehearsal space, and The New Victory Theater on 42nd Street. Working with grants from NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) and Con Edison, the New 42nd Streets’ director of production, Dave Jensen, and director of facilities, Benno Van Noort, began with changes to the studio building’s façade.
According to Jensen, “The façade cost about $60,000 a year to light.” Jensen says he “came up with the idea to work with the new technology to balance the new power units in the façade” and replaced the existing lights with LED (colored lighting found in traffic signals). With this change, the façade’s “usage dropped 95% without any change in the artistic fixture,” says Jensen, and “after six years the cost of the work on the façade will pay back.”
At the university setting, NYC’s New York University has developed a campus-wide sustainability task force and recycling department, ranks as the largest university buyer of wind energy in the U.S. and created a cogeneration power plant project. According to Jonah “Cecil” Scheib, director of Energy and Sustainability at NYU, the school “works in conjunction with NYSERDA for rebate and funding opportunities whenever possible.” While the costs of the programs initiated vary, he says “paybacks can be as short as 4-6 weeks (for instance, the replacement in dorms of incandescent bulbs with CFL) or as long as 2-5 years for more expensive projects.”
From a university that covers “over 5 million square feet of interior space” (according to NYU’s official site) to a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx, individuals are recognizing the benefits of energy efficiency too.
Marcus Lofthouse, a dual resident of a studio in Manhattan’s Financial District and a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx neighborhood Highbridge, brought lessons he learned from his alma mater, Oberlin College in Ohio, to the Big Apple. Since moving to NYC in 2005, Lofthouse says he “replaced all of the lighting in the main area of the studio with energy efficient bulbs and lamps.” With the simple changes he made (some in lamps he purchased in Ohio), he says, “Some of the bulbs I have only replaced once in five years.”
Further down south in Auburn, Alabama, Kristen Murphy says she implemented changes around her home over a year ago beginning with all of the canister lights in her kitchen. Murphy says she and her husband, John, are very conservative, and she learned about the eco-friendly effects of changing their lighting from their neighbor who is in charge of green projects at the University of Auburn.
Regardless of whether a celebrity or an eco-conscious neighbor galvanizes you, or whether you change a light bulb or create one, each person involved is helping to conserve energy and protect the troubled planet. By switching to eco-friendly light bulbs, you can save energy and money. So how many light bulbs do you have to replace to help the world? The answer: one.
How many light bulbs do you have to replace to help the world?
Osram Sylvania unveiled the Sylvania micro-mini Twist at the annual Light Congress in New York City on Earth Day. The Twist is currently the smallest CFL (compact fluorescent light bulb) on the market. Sylvania’s bulb is a replacement for incandescent light bulbs regularly used in consumers’ homes and one of the initiatives for a creating a more eco-friendly environment.
The Twist is the newest product in Sylvania’s Ecologic line of environmentally friendly lighting products and part of the growing trend of creating eco-friendly lighting. According to Bob Ponzini, commercial engineer at Osram Sylvania, the current trend is to make “efficient, longer-life products that minimize hazardous materials going into the light,” and to help minimize “manufacture packaging.”
The Twist (available at local hardware and grocery stores as a 2-pack for $9.99), for example, can be used to replace 60, 75, or 100-watt (W) incandescent light bulbs without compromising the light’s functionality. This product is 30 percent smaller than a standard CFL and can last for about 11 years. In contrast, a standard 75-watt clear incandescent light bulb has an average life span of about 63 days.
While Ponzini says there is “no perfect light source,” he says the goal of Sylvania and their products is “to be at the forefront to meet the needs of customers and legislation.”
Sylvania has also been working to decrease hazardous materials in the bulbs, like mercury and lead. While mercury, for example, cannot completely be eliminated from lighting systems because it increases the efficiency of the lamps, Sylvania has “reduced the amount of mercury used in many of [their] lamps by up to 92 percent” (according to Sylvania’s “A Guide to Sustainable Lighting Sources”).
In addition to improving efficiency and removing harmful products, Osram Sylvania has changed the packaging of their products. “Space is key for packaging,” says Ponzini. By packaging more efficiently and minimizing space used, Sylvania has looked beyond their products for innovative ways to conserve resources. “The more lamps in a truck cuts down on diesel fuel for trucks to transport,” says Ponzini. In addition, as more lamps can be transported, fewer trucks are needed to transfer the product.
Helping to unveil the Twist was “Gossip Girl” actress Kelly Rutherford. In a press release Rutherford says, “I replaced a number of the incandescent light bulbs in my house with the Sylvania micro-mini CFL and now I won’t have to think about them for another decade!” Rutherford is one of many eco-conscious celebrities, including Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio, working to bring awareness on how to go green.
On the horizon for the development of energy efficient lighting is the possibility of the European Union’s (EU) Directive RoHS being placed in effect in the United States, according to Greg McCord, Sylvania’s application engineer. RoHS stands for “the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment” (rohs.gov.uk) and became effective on July 1, 2006 in the EU. This Directive is based on corporate and residential compliances dealing with “disposal factors” and “a change in the manufacturing process that has no lead or mercury base,” says McCord. The RoHS Directive is just beginning to come into effect in parts of the U.S., including “California RoHS” which began on January 1, 2007.
In addition to the creation of eco-friendly products, the global green initiative is being put to use by companies, universities, and personal consumers across the U.S.
The New 42nd Street in NYC, for example, recently finished energy efficient plans that were devised in 2003. The New 42nd Street includes the New 42nd Street Studios, a state-of-the-art, ten-story building of performing arts rehearsal space, and The New Victory Theater on 42nd Street. Working with grants from NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) and Con Edison, the New 42nd Streets’ director of production, Dave Jensen, and director of facilities, Benno Van Noort, began with changes to the studio building’s façade.
According to Jensen, “The façade cost about $60,000 a year to light.” Jensen says he “came up with the idea to work with the new technology to balance the new power units in the façade” and replaced the existing lights with LED (colored lighting found in traffic signals). With this change, the façade’s “usage dropped 95% without any change in the artistic fixture,” says Jensen, and “after six years the cost of the work on the façade will pay back.”
At the university setting, NYC’s New York University has developed a campus-wide sustainability task force and recycling department, ranks as the largest university buyer of wind energy in the U.S. and created a cogeneration power plant project. According to Jonah “Cecil” Scheib, director of Energy and Sustainability at NYU, the school “works in conjunction with NYSERDA for rebate and funding opportunities whenever possible.” While the costs of the programs initiated vary, he says “paybacks can be as short as 4-6 weeks (for instance, the replacement in dorms of incandescent bulbs with CFL) or as long as 2-5 years for more expensive projects.”
From a university that covers “over 5 million square feet of interior space” (according to NYU’s official site) to a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx, individuals are recognizing the benefits of energy efficiency too.
Marcus Lofthouse, a dual resident of a studio in Manhattan’s Financial District and a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx neighborhood Highbridge, brought lessons he learned from his alma mater, Oberlin College in Ohio, to the Big Apple. Since moving to NYC in 2005, Lofthouse says he “replaced all of the lighting in the main area of the studio with energy efficient bulbs and lamps.” With the simple changes he made (some in lamps he purchased in Ohio), he says, “Some of the bulbs I have only replaced once in five years.”
Further down south in Auburn, Alabama, Kristen Murphy says she implemented changes around her home over a year ago beginning with all of the canister lights in her kitchen. Murphy says she and her husband, John, are very conservative, and she learned about the eco-friendly effects of changing their lighting from their neighbor who is in charge of green projects at the University of Auburn.
Regardless of whether a celebrity or an eco-conscious neighbor galvanizes you, or whether you change a light bulb or create one, each person involved is helping to conserve energy and protect the troubled planet. By switching to eco-friendly light bulbs, you can save energy and money. So how many light bulbs do you have to replace to help the world? The answer: one.
Brain Tumor Association in the Money with Record $700,000 Fundraiser
by Damon Beres
Over 5,000 people braved the cool lakefront temperatures and cutting winds last Saturday to support the American Brain Tumor Association’s third annual Path to Progress, a 5K run and walk that raised nearly $700,000, a $300,000 increase from last year’s event. 2008 marks the 35th anniversary of ABTA, commemorated by a Path to Progress turnout that trounced last year’s by 1,000 people.
“It’s great to have people come together, even though our weather is awful,” said Stephanie Melone, from the Gray Matters Team, so-named for the region in the brain that forms a key part of the central nervous system. “To have everybody raise money is amazing… We found out how we could turn something negative into something positive.”
The walk, held at Chicago’s Montrose Harbor, generated funds to advance brain tumor treatments, develop insights into the cause of brain tumors, and work towards a cure. Leading the fundraising effort this year with just over $47,000 was Team Survivor: Chicago, comprised of more than 200 Northwestern Memorial Hospital Brain Tumor Support Group members and their friends and family. Team Hope claimed second with $25,000, almost $18,000 of which was raised by top individual fundraiser Juliana Schafer.
“This was a bigger event than last year and the year before,” said Naomi Berkowitz, Executive Director of ABTA, adding that the figures from the Path to Progress will only continue to grow over the coming months through further donations and matching gifts. “Preliminary revenue figures are approaching three-quarters of $1 million.”
Already off to a strong start, ABTA hopes to reach new heights this year by raising $2.5 million. Though not the only brain tumor foundation in America, ABTA is unique in that it is an independent organization that awards research grants to scientists throughout the United States and Canada. A group of over 20 scientific advisers, ranging from a doctor of neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School to a molecular oncologist at Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, makes recommendations to the board of directors, which then decides where to allocate funds for its Fellowship Awards and Translational Research Grants. Over $2 million is awarded by ABTA each year for brain tumor research across North America.
With 120 kinds of brain tumors, however, even that much money can seem like a drop in the bucket.
“We need more help to raise more money,” said Dr. Jeffrey Raizer, a neurologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Raizer is currently working on developing new treatments, including Avastin, a medication that blocks vessel formation using a derivative of scorpion toxin, which binds selectively to tumor cells.
Though ABTA and new therapies like Avastin are making headway on the brain tumor treatment front, it is still simply not enough. Raizer stresses that for most, brain tumors can be considered death sentences, and though he personally worked with a couple hundred brain tumor patients last year, most people know of brain tumors “only what they glean off the internet.”
“I didn’t know a single thing,” said Melone. She became involved with ABTA only after teammate Mark Averson received a brain tumor diagnosis.
With the Path to Progress’s growing numbers, however, it’s clear that awareness is spreading rapidly. Melone assembled her team only a month before the walk, but still raised over $3,000. “We were pretty surprised - pleasantly surprised. We’re hoping to make it an annual event.”
ABTA gives each team and its individual members web pages from which donations can be solicited. It’s easy to get others involved, which explains how Melone’s team grew to 40 people in such a small amount of time. While research and treatments like Avastin are clear goals for ABTA, spreading awareness and increasing participation are vital in keeping the organization going. As involvement grew so much from last year, things are clearly heading in the right direction for the Path to Progress.
Participants in this year’s walk reflected this optimism. Despite overcast skies for much of the morning, a fitting reflection of the gray matter on everyone’s minds, walkers and runners joined for food and festivities on Montrose Field surrounded by upbeat rock music from WTMX-FM. By the time the 5K started, the sun even began to shine. For fundraisers, the Path to Progress was cause for celebration, not sorrow.
“Personally, I was extremely touched by the showing displayed on Saturday,” said Carolyn Licata, a walker and fundraiser. “People weren't crying as they walked, they were having fun. I met a group who traveled from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio just to show their support… If they aren't sad about the things they see on a daily basis, then there certainly must be hope.”
Pat Hurley, the head of Team Hurley, which placed eighth in the top fundraising teams with $12,435, was similarly upbeat. Chatting loudly with friends and family, Hurley appeared to be in tiptop shape and ready to walk. It would be impossible to tell from looking at him that he’s recovering from a year’s worth of treatments for astrocytoma, a type of tumor that manifests in the central nervous system.
“They got it,” said Hurley. “They did surgery, radiation and five days out of the month, chemo, so it’s not bad at all.”
While not every brain tumor patient is as lucky as Hurley, the Path to Progress is lined with hope. Records set this year are expected to be exceeded with the next walk, and donations will continue to roll in throughout the year. With optimistic participants in for the long haul, ABTA surely has much to look forward to.
“I think that it's something that a lot of people see as fatal and there is no hope,” said Danae McDuffee, a walker. “I think it's great to support this cause as a sign of hope for those affected so it doesn't need to be a death sentence.”
Over 5,000 people braved the cool lakefront temperatures and cutting winds last Saturday to support the American Brain Tumor Association’s third annual Path to Progress, a 5K run and walk that raised nearly $700,000, a $300,000 increase from last year’s event. 2008 marks the 35th anniversary of ABTA, commemorated by a Path to Progress turnout that trounced last year’s by 1,000 people.
“It’s great to have people come together, even though our weather is awful,” said Stephanie Melone, from the Gray Matters Team, so-named for the region in the brain that forms a key part of the central nervous system. “To have everybody raise money is amazing… We found out how we could turn something negative into something positive.”
The walk, held at Chicago’s Montrose Harbor, generated funds to advance brain tumor treatments, develop insights into the cause of brain tumors, and work towards a cure. Leading the fundraising effort this year with just over $47,000 was Team Survivor: Chicago, comprised of more than 200 Northwestern Memorial Hospital Brain Tumor Support Group members and their friends and family. Team Hope claimed second with $25,000, almost $18,000 of which was raised by top individual fundraiser Juliana Schafer.
“This was a bigger event than last year and the year before,” said Naomi Berkowitz, Executive Director of ABTA, adding that the figures from the Path to Progress will only continue to grow over the coming months through further donations and matching gifts. “Preliminary revenue figures are approaching three-quarters of $1 million.”
Already off to a strong start, ABTA hopes to reach new heights this year by raising $2.5 million. Though not the only brain tumor foundation in America, ABTA is unique in that it is an independent organization that awards research grants to scientists throughout the United States and Canada. A group of over 20 scientific advisers, ranging from a doctor of neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School to a molecular oncologist at Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, makes recommendations to the board of directors, which then decides where to allocate funds for its Fellowship Awards and Translational Research Grants. Over $2 million is awarded by ABTA each year for brain tumor research across North America.
With 120 kinds of brain tumors, however, even that much money can seem like a drop in the bucket.
“We need more help to raise more money,” said Dr. Jeffrey Raizer, a neurologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Raizer is currently working on developing new treatments, including Avastin, a medication that blocks vessel formation using a derivative of scorpion toxin, which binds selectively to tumor cells.
Though ABTA and new therapies like Avastin are making headway on the brain tumor treatment front, it is still simply not enough. Raizer stresses that for most, brain tumors can be considered death sentences, and though he personally worked with a couple hundred brain tumor patients last year, most people know of brain tumors “only what they glean off the internet.”
“I didn’t know a single thing,” said Melone. She became involved with ABTA only after teammate Mark Averson received a brain tumor diagnosis.
With the Path to Progress’s growing numbers, however, it’s clear that awareness is spreading rapidly. Melone assembled her team only a month before the walk, but still raised over $3,000. “We were pretty surprised - pleasantly surprised. We’re hoping to make it an annual event.”
ABTA gives each team and its individual members web pages from which donations can be solicited. It’s easy to get others involved, which explains how Melone’s team grew to 40 people in such a small amount of time. While research and treatments like Avastin are clear goals for ABTA, spreading awareness and increasing participation are vital in keeping the organization going. As involvement grew so much from last year, things are clearly heading in the right direction for the Path to Progress.
Participants in this year’s walk reflected this optimism. Despite overcast skies for much of the morning, a fitting reflection of the gray matter on everyone’s minds, walkers and runners joined for food and festivities on Montrose Field surrounded by upbeat rock music from WTMX-FM. By the time the 5K started, the sun even began to shine. For fundraisers, the Path to Progress was cause for celebration, not sorrow.
“Personally, I was extremely touched by the showing displayed on Saturday,” said Carolyn Licata, a walker and fundraiser. “People weren't crying as they walked, they were having fun. I met a group who traveled from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio just to show their support… If they aren't sad about the things they see on a daily basis, then there certainly must be hope.”
Pat Hurley, the head of Team Hurley, which placed eighth in the top fundraising teams with $12,435, was similarly upbeat. Chatting loudly with friends and family, Hurley appeared to be in tiptop shape and ready to walk. It would be impossible to tell from looking at him that he’s recovering from a year’s worth of treatments for astrocytoma, a type of tumor that manifests in the central nervous system.
“They got it,” said Hurley. “They did surgery, radiation and five days out of the month, chemo, so it’s not bad at all.”
While not every brain tumor patient is as lucky as Hurley, the Path to Progress is lined with hope. Records set this year are expected to be exceeded with the next walk, and donations will continue to roll in throughout the year. With optimistic participants in for the long haul, ABTA surely has much to look forward to.
“I think that it's something that a lot of people see as fatal and there is no hope,” said Danae McDuffee, a walker. “I think it's great to support this cause as a sign of hope for those affected so it doesn't need to be a death sentence.”
Hard Rock is Honored with Hendrix Guitar
By Mike Sobiloff
The Times Square Hard Rock Café received a classic guitar owned by Jimi Hendrix, as a reward for exemplary service, Tuesday.
The guitar, owned by, Hendrix, the legendary guitarist and singer of the Jimi Hendrix Experience is part of the “Top of the Rock” awards program. The award is a global effort by the Hard Rock Café to reward exemplary branches of the restaurant. A Café that is awarded must show strong ties to the community, while having unique sales accomplishments and drawing top performance artists. It is granted to six company owned and six franchise Hard Rock Cafés each year.
The New York café is a leader for the company’s “Save the Planet” motto. The restaurant uses recycled paper products, energy efficient lighting, and environmentally safe cleaning products, while donating cooking grease to Tri-State Bio Diesel. Over the past few years, the café has hosted a live television broadcast of the CBS Early Show with the Jonas Brothers, the Musicians on Call benefit concert with singer Seal, and many different national touring acts.
“This is a great honor for us,” said David Miller, the director of operations at the New York Hard Rock. “We are committed to serving the community as well as doing our part to help the environment and setting a standard for all Hard Rock Cafes. We will proudly display this guitar in the heart of our restaurant.”
The guitar was played by Hendrix on the Dick Cavett Show in 1969, and will be on display at the restaurant for the next two months. The signature white Gibson SG is accompanied by a plaque explaining its significance, and detailing the many places it has traveled since 1969. Before making its way to New York, it was on display at the Hard Rock in Paris. It will remain in the restaurant for two months.
“This is one of the most valuable items that travels around Hard Rocks, and receiving it is a great honor,” said Kristen Hauser, the assistant account executive working with the Hard Rock Café. “Along with the original Eric Clapton guitar, which was the first piece of memorabilia that the Hard Rock Café received, and Ace Frehley’s smoking Gibson Les Paul from the 1996 KISS reunion tour, this guitar is the most prestigious.”
The Hard Rock New York will also be inducted in the company’s “Performance Hall of Fame” next month. All recipients of the “Top of the Rock” award are inducted in the corporate offices in Orlando. The branch will receive 300 limited-edition pins modeled after the Hall of Fame trophy. Those pins will be sold in store in the restaurant.
DHL delivers all “Top of the Rock” pieces around the world, as per a special agreement with the Hard Rock Cafe. “DHL has taken the utmost care with this guitar, and all of the “Top of the Rock” pieces,” explained Richard Coppola, a sales manager with DHL. “Because of its value to DHL, the Hard Rock Café, and the general public, it was given top priority as it was shipped in, and it will continue to be guarded closely as long as it is in our care Obviously, Jimi Hendrix is an icon, and so this is a great honor for both DHL and for the Hard Rock Café.”
The guitar was sealed in a metal case, with a plexiglas screen so that it may be viewed. It will stay in the case for the duration of its stay in New York. DHL handled all of the documentation for the guitar, until it reached the restaurant where Miller signed for it.
Fans lined up at the Hard Rock to see this guitar, and its symbolic delivery. Adrian Villalobos, a musician from New Jersey said “Hendrix was and will always be an icon. Getting to see this guitar means a lot to me and anyone who is serious about music. The things that he did with it changed the world forever, and having it in New York makes me very proud.”
Others were excited to catch an unplanned glimpse when they arrived to have lunch. Kaoru Ayabe, a student from Philadelphia did not know that the guitar would be there, but was excited to see it when he arrived. “I was blown away when I walked in and saw all this press huddled around a guitar. When I found out what it was, I couldn’t believe it. I’m really lucky that I decided to come in here today of all days.”
“Not only is this special because it’s a guitar that Hendrix played, but it’s special because it’s an SG,” explained John Shmergel, who operates a popular music networking site C3.tv. “Hendrix almost exclusively played Fender Stratocasters, but somehow, someone found a Gibson SG that he actually had in rotation. That’s like having the shoes Alice Cooper uses to go golfing, but much, much better.” Shmergel continued to explain that Hendrix made a lasting mark on the music world saying “Any guitar of his is as important to rock music as anything. The Hard Rock Café should be honored to have it.”
Hendrix became popular in the 1960s when he wrote songs like “Purple Haze,” “All Along the Watchtower,” and “Foxy Lady.” He was known for his flamboyant stage presence and his wild onstage antics. Often, he would play his guitar with his teeth or behind his head, and on occasion, he would light it on fire, right in front of the audience. He died tragically in 1970, of drug-related problems, at the age of 27.
Next month, a franchise will be awarded “Top of the Rock” and will display the Ace Frehley signature guitar.
The Times Square Hard Rock Café received a classic guitar owned by Jimi Hendrix, as a reward for exemplary service, Tuesday.
The guitar, owned by, Hendrix, the legendary guitarist and singer of the Jimi Hendrix Experience is part of the “Top of the Rock” awards program. The award is a global effort by the Hard Rock Café to reward exemplary branches of the restaurant. A Café that is awarded must show strong ties to the community, while having unique sales accomplishments and drawing top performance artists. It is granted to six company owned and six franchise Hard Rock Cafés each year.
The New York café is a leader for the company’s “Save the Planet” motto. The restaurant uses recycled paper products, energy efficient lighting, and environmentally safe cleaning products, while donating cooking grease to Tri-State Bio Diesel. Over the past few years, the café has hosted a live television broadcast of the CBS Early Show with the Jonas Brothers, the Musicians on Call benefit concert with singer Seal, and many different national touring acts.
“This is a great honor for us,” said David Miller, the director of operations at the New York Hard Rock. “We are committed to serving the community as well as doing our part to help the environment and setting a standard for all Hard Rock Cafes. We will proudly display this guitar in the heart of our restaurant.”
The guitar was played by Hendrix on the Dick Cavett Show in 1969, and will be on display at the restaurant for the next two months. The signature white Gibson SG is accompanied by a plaque explaining its significance, and detailing the many places it has traveled since 1969. Before making its way to New York, it was on display at the Hard Rock in Paris. It will remain in the restaurant for two months.
“This is one of the most valuable items that travels around Hard Rocks, and receiving it is a great honor,” said Kristen Hauser, the assistant account executive working with the Hard Rock Café. “Along with the original Eric Clapton guitar, which was the first piece of memorabilia that the Hard Rock Café received, and Ace Frehley’s smoking Gibson Les Paul from the 1996 KISS reunion tour, this guitar is the most prestigious.”
The Hard Rock New York will also be inducted in the company’s “Performance Hall of Fame” next month. All recipients of the “Top of the Rock” award are inducted in the corporate offices in Orlando. The branch will receive 300 limited-edition pins modeled after the Hall of Fame trophy. Those pins will be sold in store in the restaurant.
DHL delivers all “Top of the Rock” pieces around the world, as per a special agreement with the Hard Rock Cafe. “DHL has taken the utmost care with this guitar, and all of the “Top of the Rock” pieces,” explained Richard Coppola, a sales manager with DHL. “Because of its value to DHL, the Hard Rock Café, and the general public, it was given top priority as it was shipped in, and it will continue to be guarded closely as long as it is in our care Obviously, Jimi Hendrix is an icon, and so this is a great honor for both DHL and for the Hard Rock Café.”
The guitar was sealed in a metal case, with a plexiglas screen so that it may be viewed. It will stay in the case for the duration of its stay in New York. DHL handled all of the documentation for the guitar, until it reached the restaurant where Miller signed for it.
Fans lined up at the Hard Rock to see this guitar, and its symbolic delivery. Adrian Villalobos, a musician from New Jersey said “Hendrix was and will always be an icon. Getting to see this guitar means a lot to me and anyone who is serious about music. The things that he did with it changed the world forever, and having it in New York makes me very proud.”
Others were excited to catch an unplanned glimpse when they arrived to have lunch. Kaoru Ayabe, a student from Philadelphia did not know that the guitar would be there, but was excited to see it when he arrived. “I was blown away when I walked in and saw all this press huddled around a guitar. When I found out what it was, I couldn’t believe it. I’m really lucky that I decided to come in here today of all days.”
“Not only is this special because it’s a guitar that Hendrix played, but it’s special because it’s an SG,” explained John Shmergel, who operates a popular music networking site C3.tv. “Hendrix almost exclusively played Fender Stratocasters, but somehow, someone found a Gibson SG that he actually had in rotation. That’s like having the shoes Alice Cooper uses to go golfing, but much, much better.” Shmergel continued to explain that Hendrix made a lasting mark on the music world saying “Any guitar of his is as important to rock music as anything. The Hard Rock Café should be honored to have it.”
Hendrix became popular in the 1960s when he wrote songs like “Purple Haze,” “All Along the Watchtower,” and “Foxy Lady.” He was known for his flamboyant stage presence and his wild onstage antics. Often, he would play his guitar with his teeth or behind his head, and on occasion, he would light it on fire, right in front of the audience. He died tragically in 1970, of drug-related problems, at the age of 27.
Next month, a franchise will be awarded “Top of the Rock” and will display the Ace Frehley signature guitar.
What We’ve Got Here is a Failure to Communicate
by Jessica Kramer
America has failed – failed in protecting its citizens against terrorism, spending the budget wisely, coping with outside threats, and much more, as decided by a panel of authors and politicians, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at New York University’s Law School Monday, April 28, 2008.
The afternoon event held in the Tishman Auditorium was the second in a series of Cohen-Nunn Dialogues featuring William Cohen, the former U.S. Secretary of Defense, and former U.S. Senator (R-Maine) and Sam Nunn, Chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Board of Trustees and former U.S. Senator (D-Ga.) as the hosts. This was called Preserve, Protect, and Defend: The Challenges to America’s Homeland Security, and this time, Bloomberg, Stephen Flynn, author of America the Vulnerable, and Jessica Stern, author of Terror in the Name of God, were the discussants.
NYU President John Sexton opened the night saying, "According to recent surveys, nearly 70 percent of Americans believe that our nation is headed in the wrong direction … Civil discourse seems to have collapsed into talking points. The panel will attempt to elevate the discourse [and] help drive public policy into a better place.”
David Berman, Associate Director at the Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response at NYU, started organizing the event with NYU over a month ago. Berman helped host the event and organize the telecast on CNN.com, the NYU webpage and the CCPR website. He said the 400 seats were at capacity.
Admiral James Loy, Former Deputy Security of the Department of Homeland Security, introduced the event. “The panel will focus its discussion around three basic points: the terrorist threat itself – understanding it, defining it, comprehending it; second, protecting Americans against that threat; and lastly, responding to catastrophes if and when that must be the case.”
Debbie Boylan, who works for the Howard Gilman Foundation who sponsored the event and help select the panelists, said they started planning for the event two or three months ago. “The organizers got together [looking for the] best venue in New York.” Last month the first dialogue was held at George Washington University. The intention is to have them at colleges and get youth involved. “I think it was very successful. [There was a] very high level panel and great questions from the audience.”
The professionals had much to consider. Cohen said the first obligation of the government is to remain secure physically, fiscally, economically, and environmentally. We should evaluate our threats: what have we done, what have we failed to do, where do we go from here?
Nunn asked, “What does winning mean in terms of the fight against terrorism? Does it mean getting down to zero risk? I don’t think so.”
Flynn mentioned this “exclamation point” of a fact: the total GDP of Iran is just under $600 billion last year, which is about 15 to 20 percent less than our defense budget.
“We need to be very mindful of the current terrorist threat … but as a society come to broader grips with the fact that confronted power increasingly is going to have this civil, economic component to it,” he said, “and is going to require a far different strategy than the hunt and destroy missions around the planet for anybody who may pose as a threat.”
Stern has talked extensively with jihadists, and said the term is not always correct as many “are not completely committed to the mission they do.”
But some are. One young member of the Mujahideen told Stern something she said she would never forget. “The same way you’re addicted to writing, I am addicted to jihad,” he had told her.
She said we should make it clear that “the main victims of … jihadi terrorism are the Muslims themselves.”
Things we might think are related to terrorism, such as lack of education, are not risk factors for it, she said. And what’s more, studies show that people who support terrorism may be slightly better educated than those who do not, but nobody has looked at the content of that education. Lack of democracy is also not a factor. “In fact, autocracy is a better bulwark against terrorism than democracy,” she said.
As to whether Osama Bin Laden hates us for who we are (with our freedoms) or where we are (involved in the Middle East), Stern quoted the man himself. “I am not opposed to … liberal democracy,” he had said. “If I were I’d be attacking Sweden.”
Youssef Cohen, an associate professor of politics at NYU, has somewhat contradictory views of our protection. He thinks we should have the surveillance and security currently in place to protect us from terrorism, yet he also believes everyone in the country should be legalized and given legal papers.
Elizabeth O’Callahan, who is currently unemployed, came to the event because she would like to work in disaster services, and said, “I was hopeful in the beginning [with] Senator Cohen talking about four different areas he’s concerned with.” But he only focused on two of those, she said, the physical and environmental, and he didn’t talk to the degree she hoped for with the latter. “It was more or less what I expected, not necessarily what I hoped for,” she said.
A CAS freshman, Heather Hodder, attended the event because she was covering it for WSN and because she wanted to see the mayor. “I think they addressed the topics well … [and] answered the audience questions well,” she said. “It wasn’t totally dry, political debate. Every time Bloomberg spoke people clapped in the audience. I thought that was really interesting.”
Patrice Fyffe, an after school drama teacher and student advocate at Harlem Children's zone, came because she wanted to hear what the politicians had to say, and thought it was great. “There were a few points I wasn’t aware of [such as] how much we’re spending on the military,” she said. But she noticed there were pressing questions that didn’t get answered by far more people who had their hands raised.
Responding to a question on what the Bush administration has done correctly, Cohen explained, “There hasn’t been an effort on our part to try to identify what the administration’s done right or wrong, to pin the tail on the donkey so to speak – or the elephant, in this particular case,” he added with a smile.
Cohen explained the motivations of the dialogue and the current political climate. “We’re doing this because we’re concerned that the political process today is defeating the other party, … we need to get back to the center … If you watch the political processes unfolding, you’ve got a focus on something that’s quite trivial compared to what we need to find out: how are the candidates … going to bring the country together? What’s going to be required in terms of leadership?”
He reiterated some of Flynn’s earlier statements, saying we should be mobilizing the American people. “Not to appeal to fear,” he explained, “but to build a resilient society that can cope with anything that Mother Nature throws at us, or what the jihadists or others may throw at us.”
America has failed – failed in protecting its citizens against terrorism, spending the budget wisely, coping with outside threats, and much more, as decided by a panel of authors and politicians, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, at New York University’s Law School Monday, April 28, 2008.
The afternoon event held in the Tishman Auditorium was the second in a series of Cohen-Nunn Dialogues featuring William Cohen, the former U.S. Secretary of Defense, and former U.S. Senator (R-Maine) and Sam Nunn, Chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Board of Trustees and former U.S. Senator (D-Ga.) as the hosts. This was called Preserve, Protect, and Defend: The Challenges to America’s Homeland Security, and this time, Bloomberg, Stephen Flynn, author of America the Vulnerable, and Jessica Stern, author of Terror in the Name of God, were the discussants.
NYU President John Sexton opened the night saying, "According to recent surveys, nearly 70 percent of Americans believe that our nation is headed in the wrong direction … Civil discourse seems to have collapsed into talking points. The panel will attempt to elevate the discourse [and] help drive public policy into a better place.”
David Berman, Associate Director at the Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response at NYU, started organizing the event with NYU over a month ago. Berman helped host the event and organize the telecast on CNN.com, the NYU webpage and the CCPR website. He said the 400 seats were at capacity.
Admiral James Loy, Former Deputy Security of the Department of Homeland Security, introduced the event. “The panel will focus its discussion around three basic points: the terrorist threat itself – understanding it, defining it, comprehending it; second, protecting Americans against that threat; and lastly, responding to catastrophes if and when that must be the case.”
Debbie Boylan, who works for the Howard Gilman Foundation who sponsored the event and help select the panelists, said they started planning for the event two or three months ago. “The organizers got together [looking for the] best venue in New York.” Last month the first dialogue was held at George Washington University. The intention is to have them at colleges and get youth involved. “I think it was very successful. [There was a] very high level panel and great questions from the audience.”
The professionals had much to consider. Cohen said the first obligation of the government is to remain secure physically, fiscally, economically, and environmentally. We should evaluate our threats: what have we done, what have we failed to do, where do we go from here?
Nunn asked, “What does winning mean in terms of the fight against terrorism? Does it mean getting down to zero risk? I don’t think so.”
Flynn mentioned this “exclamation point” of a fact: the total GDP of Iran is just under $600 billion last year, which is about 15 to 20 percent less than our defense budget.
“We need to be very mindful of the current terrorist threat … but as a society come to broader grips with the fact that confronted power increasingly is going to have this civil, economic component to it,” he said, “and is going to require a far different strategy than the hunt and destroy missions around the planet for anybody who may pose as a threat.”
Stern has talked extensively with jihadists, and said the term is not always correct as many “are not completely committed to the mission they do.”
But some are. One young member of the Mujahideen told Stern something she said she would never forget. “The same way you’re addicted to writing, I am addicted to jihad,” he had told her.
She said we should make it clear that “the main victims of … jihadi terrorism are the Muslims themselves.”
Things we might think are related to terrorism, such as lack of education, are not risk factors for it, she said. And what’s more, studies show that people who support terrorism may be slightly better educated than those who do not, but nobody has looked at the content of that education. Lack of democracy is also not a factor. “In fact, autocracy is a better bulwark against terrorism than democracy,” she said.
As to whether Osama Bin Laden hates us for who we are (with our freedoms) or where we are (involved in the Middle East), Stern quoted the man himself. “I am not opposed to … liberal democracy,” he had said. “If I were I’d be attacking Sweden.”
Youssef Cohen, an associate professor of politics at NYU, has somewhat contradictory views of our protection. He thinks we should have the surveillance and security currently in place to protect us from terrorism, yet he also believes everyone in the country should be legalized and given legal papers.
Elizabeth O’Callahan, who is currently unemployed, came to the event because she would like to work in disaster services, and said, “I was hopeful in the beginning [with] Senator Cohen talking about four different areas he’s concerned with.” But he only focused on two of those, she said, the physical and environmental, and he didn’t talk to the degree she hoped for with the latter. “It was more or less what I expected, not necessarily what I hoped for,” she said.
A CAS freshman, Heather Hodder, attended the event because she was covering it for WSN and because she wanted to see the mayor. “I think they addressed the topics well … [and] answered the audience questions well,” she said. “It wasn’t totally dry, political debate. Every time Bloomberg spoke people clapped in the audience. I thought that was really interesting.”
Patrice Fyffe, an after school drama teacher and student advocate at Harlem Children's zone, came because she wanted to hear what the politicians had to say, and thought it was great. “There were a few points I wasn’t aware of [such as] how much we’re spending on the military,” she said. But she noticed there were pressing questions that didn’t get answered by far more people who had their hands raised.
Responding to a question on what the Bush administration has done correctly, Cohen explained, “There hasn’t been an effort on our part to try to identify what the administration’s done right or wrong, to pin the tail on the donkey so to speak – or the elephant, in this particular case,” he added with a smile.
Cohen explained the motivations of the dialogue and the current political climate. “We’re doing this because we’re concerned that the political process today is defeating the other party, … we need to get back to the center … If you watch the political processes unfolding, you’ve got a focus on something that’s quite trivial compared to what we need to find out: how are the candidates … going to bring the country together? What’s going to be required in terms of leadership?”
He reiterated some of Flynn’s earlier statements, saying we should be mobilizing the American people. “Not to appeal to fear,” he explained, “but to build a resilient society that can cope with anything that Mother Nature throws at us, or what the jihadists or others may throw at us.”
German Consul General Announces Bronx-Germany Exchange to End Ignorance
by Cathryn Horwitz
The German consul general announced the four Bronx high school students selected to participate in an exchange program created to end ignorance among Germans and African-Americans.
The U.N. consul general to the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Hans-Jürgen Heimsoeth, made the announcement on the morning of Friday, April 11 in the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice (LGJ).
The two week program will be an exchange between two students from LGJ with two students from the Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx, and four German students from Gymnasium Runge FF, a public high school in Oranienburg.
An incident of a German military instructor using racist training techniques that circulated in a video online and in the media motivated Heimsoeth and administrators of LGJ and the Eagle Academy to create the program.
The video showed the instructor telling his trainee to imagine he was in the Bronx and a group of African-American men approached him and said insulted his mother. He then ordered the soldier to shoot while screaming an obscenity.
The German consulate in New York had responded within days of the video’s airing.
“Let’s make this an opportunity for growth in the relationship with the African-American community in the Bronx,” Heimsoeth said to describe his initial reaction.
Heimsoeth explained that the program’s intention is to improve relations and alleviate ignorance on both sides.
Assemblyman Michael Benjamin and his wife and chief of staff, Kennedy Benjamin, were integral to the program and the selection of the students.
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin narrowed 12 final applicants to four: two freshman boys from the Eagle Academy—Isaiah Horstoa, 15, and Durrell Noel, 14—and two senior girls from LGJ—Angela Donkor and Nasais Veloz, both 17.
Donkor and Veloz are competing for valedictorian, Mrs. Benjamin said.
Michael Benjamin introduced his wife as “the brains behind this [the exchange’s] operation.” He explained that the incident occurred about a year ago. On April 27, 2007, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin met with the German ambassador and Heimsoeth to discuss German relations.
“We’re all the same people,” Mr. Benjamin said. “We’re all made by the same God.”
Kennedy Benjamin said she is “a person [who is] big on heart” as she introduced Gabriel Rohde, a German woman who organized many of the logistics of the trip, including finding host families for the American students traveling to Oranienburg.
“Your kids are in great hands,” she said to the parents regarding Rohde, whose cheeks were covered with tears.
When Rohde was in New York last October, Dr. Sabina Margalit of the Goethe Institute alerted her to the incident and the program the consulate was organizing, urging her to go to the consulate and get involved.
Rohde explained that Oranienburg is about a 20-mile train ride north of Berlin. She said the students will attend school in the mornings, and travel in the afternoons, including visiting Berlin, seeing former concentration camps and visiting the German parliament—the Bundestag. They will spend weekend with their host families, because Rohde said it was important that the students be involved in German family life.
Noel and Horstoa, the two participating students present at the announcement, said they were thrilled.
“I expect to meet new friends [and] live their life,” Horstoa said. He said he was excited at the opportunity to travel the world and meet new people.
Noel said he wants to connect with the world and experience the life of another.
The selection process for the students involved multiple interviews. The students wrote essays to explain their interest in the program, and Mr. Benjamin insisted on a question that asked the students to demonstrate their knowledge of the differences between American and German political systems.
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin interviewed the students, and Heimsoeth met with a smaller group of applicants as well before the final four were selected.
Kennedy Benjamin explained that, though the four participants are not aware of this yet, their obligation upon their return is to educate their community and begin to break down the ignorance between Germans and African-Americans.
“The requirement …is that he’s got to come back…with a full report,” Kennedy explained to Horstoa’s mother, Sandra Singleton. “He’s our eyes. The other students’ eyes.”
Dr. Mary Nolan, a German history professor at New York University who has published two books on 20th century German history and has worked extensively on American-German perceptions and relationships, said in an interview that she was not surprised by the incident of the video.
“This is a part of what is so corrosive about military culture…that you are taught to see people not as human beings with any kind of humanity and complexity but as kind of dehumanized others,” Nolan said. She explained that racism like that in the video is not just present in German military, but military culture in general, including in the United States.
“I’m sure the German army has had its share of other epithets it might use in basic training,” she said. “I think it’s not so surprising that a training exercise would have something like, ‘Imagine you’re in the Bronx…’”
But from where does this invocation of African-Americans in the Bronx stem? Nolan theorized the source was the spread of American culture, including media and movies.
In response to LGJ and the Eagle Academy’s exchange program, Nolan said, “I think the more exchanges that go on, the better.”
Students from Alexandria, Ind. visiting LGJ as part of an exchange between Alexandria, the Bronx and Oranienburg also attended the announcement.
Kennedy Benjamin explained that the high schools chosen for the program were chosen specifically by their past record with exchange programs. Mrs. Benjamin named Eagle Academy specifically as a school with which she and Mr. Benjamin were familiar, with their reputable record and history of such programs.
The two week program will begin April 23 and run through May 3. Chaperones from the Bronx and Oranienburg will accompany the students from each side of the exchange.
The German consul general announced the four Bronx high school students selected to participate in an exchange program created to end ignorance among Germans and African-Americans.
The U.N. consul general to the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Hans-Jürgen Heimsoeth, made the announcement on the morning of Friday, April 11 in the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice (LGJ).
The two week program will be an exchange between two students from LGJ with two students from the Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx, and four German students from Gymnasium Runge FF, a public high school in Oranienburg.
An incident of a German military instructor using racist training techniques that circulated in a video online and in the media motivated Heimsoeth and administrators of LGJ and the Eagle Academy to create the program.
The video showed the instructor telling his trainee to imagine he was in the Bronx and a group of African-American men approached him and said insulted his mother. He then ordered the soldier to shoot while screaming an obscenity.
The German consulate in New York had responded within days of the video’s airing.
“Let’s make this an opportunity for growth in the relationship with the African-American community in the Bronx,” Heimsoeth said to describe his initial reaction.
Heimsoeth explained that the program’s intention is to improve relations and alleviate ignorance on both sides.
Assemblyman Michael Benjamin and his wife and chief of staff, Kennedy Benjamin, were integral to the program and the selection of the students.
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin narrowed 12 final applicants to four: two freshman boys from the Eagle Academy—Isaiah Horstoa, 15, and Durrell Noel, 14—and two senior girls from LGJ—Angela Donkor and Nasais Veloz, both 17.
Donkor and Veloz are competing for valedictorian, Mrs. Benjamin said.
Michael Benjamin introduced his wife as “the brains behind this [the exchange’s] operation.” He explained that the incident occurred about a year ago. On April 27, 2007, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin met with the German ambassador and Heimsoeth to discuss German relations.
“We’re all the same people,” Mr. Benjamin said. “We’re all made by the same God.”
Kennedy Benjamin said she is “a person [who is] big on heart” as she introduced Gabriel Rohde, a German woman who organized many of the logistics of the trip, including finding host families for the American students traveling to Oranienburg.
“Your kids are in great hands,” she said to the parents regarding Rohde, whose cheeks were covered with tears.
When Rohde was in New York last October, Dr. Sabina Margalit of the Goethe Institute alerted her to the incident and the program the consulate was organizing, urging her to go to the consulate and get involved.
Rohde explained that Oranienburg is about a 20-mile train ride north of Berlin. She said the students will attend school in the mornings, and travel in the afternoons, including visiting Berlin, seeing former concentration camps and visiting the German parliament—the Bundestag. They will spend weekend with their host families, because Rohde said it was important that the students be involved in German family life.
Noel and Horstoa, the two participating students present at the announcement, said they were thrilled.
“I expect to meet new friends [and] live their life,” Horstoa said. He said he was excited at the opportunity to travel the world and meet new people.
Noel said he wants to connect with the world and experience the life of another.
The selection process for the students involved multiple interviews. The students wrote essays to explain their interest in the program, and Mr. Benjamin insisted on a question that asked the students to demonstrate their knowledge of the differences between American and German political systems.
Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin interviewed the students, and Heimsoeth met with a smaller group of applicants as well before the final four were selected.
Kennedy Benjamin explained that, though the four participants are not aware of this yet, their obligation upon their return is to educate their community and begin to break down the ignorance between Germans and African-Americans.
“The requirement …is that he’s got to come back…with a full report,” Kennedy explained to Horstoa’s mother, Sandra Singleton. “He’s our eyes. The other students’ eyes.”
Dr. Mary Nolan, a German history professor at New York University who has published two books on 20th century German history and has worked extensively on American-German perceptions and relationships, said in an interview that she was not surprised by the incident of the video.
“This is a part of what is so corrosive about military culture…that you are taught to see people not as human beings with any kind of humanity and complexity but as kind of dehumanized others,” Nolan said. She explained that racism like that in the video is not just present in German military, but military culture in general, including in the United States.
“I’m sure the German army has had its share of other epithets it might use in basic training,” she said. “I think it’s not so surprising that a training exercise would have something like, ‘Imagine you’re in the Bronx…’”
But from where does this invocation of African-Americans in the Bronx stem? Nolan theorized the source was the spread of American culture, including media and movies.
In response to LGJ and the Eagle Academy’s exchange program, Nolan said, “I think the more exchanges that go on, the better.”
Students from Alexandria, Ind. visiting LGJ as part of an exchange between Alexandria, the Bronx and Oranienburg also attended the announcement.
Kennedy Benjamin explained that the high schools chosen for the program were chosen specifically by their past record with exchange programs. Mrs. Benjamin named Eagle Academy specifically as a school with which she and Mr. Benjamin were familiar, with their reputable record and history of such programs.
The two week program will begin April 23 and run through May 3. Chaperones from the Bronx and Oranienburg will accompany the students from each side of the exchange.
Redefining Public Space with New Library Exhibit
By Mary Jane Weedman
MAY 1, 2008 The New York Public Library will introduce this week a new exhibit on public space as it relates to photography. The collection of photographs features the works of five artists.
MAY 1, 2008 The New York Public Library will introduce this week a new exhibit on public space as it relates to photography. The collection of photographs features the works of five artists.
“Eminent Domain: Contemporary Photography and the City” documents those artists’ travels around the city. The exhibit, located in the Gottesman Exhibition Hall in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, will be on display throughout the summer.
Stephen Pinson is the curator of the exhibit. He said he thinks a major theme of the included photography is the changing nature of the public and private spaces of the city.
“The concept of eminent domain is used as a lens or a filter to raise questions that hopefully resonate…about the shifting of public and private space,” said Pinson.
Pinson suggested that photography could help to define the borders between public and private space, but New York University photography professor Mark Jenkinson questioned the connection.
“What does any of that have to do with photography?” he said.
But NYU freshman and Washington Square News photography editor Christine Lockerby finds a tie between public space and photography, even if it is not identical to the tie Pinson sees.
“A photograph can relate to a public space in that you take a picture of something and you can share it with other people…maybe it was like a quiet moment or a scene that only you saw and you can show it to other people so they can enjoy it and see its beauty,” said Lockerby.
She explained that she thought public areas were similar to photographs in the way we share them. A picture allows us to share a beautiful moment we experienced; an open, public park allows us all to share beautiful time in that park.
Regardless of whether or not the connection is present, each artist in the exhibit invested months of effort into documenting a part of the city. Sometimes that meant spending nights and days with a young Chinese family living in New York. Other times it found an artist taking a photograph of Manhattan from the same location every day for 11 years.
For contributing photographer and part-time NYU professor Bettina Johae, the exhibit meant spending three years biking around the edges of each of New York’s boroughs, and then photographing and investigating what she saw there.
“[She is] taking on a different view of the cities in which she’s living….[and] making literal the public spaces of the city,” said Pinson.
Johae agreed that she thinks her photographs show a side of the city many New Yorkers rarely see. How often do Brooklyn residents find themselves biking along the edge of Staten Island? That’s precisely what Johae did, however.
In conjunction with her exhibit, Johae is offering bicycle tours along some of the paths that she photographed. By doing so, she said she hopes to bring people to a place where the city is very different from what those people expected.
Johae encouraged students who long for fresh air and green grass to explore places she discovered in her biking—like the large park spaces in the Bronx.
“People should get out of their dorm rooms, get out of Washington Square Park,” said Johae.
Pinson also discussed Washington Square Park, though for a different reason. For Pinson, many of the photographs in the exhibit speak about the privatization of public space. One of his examples of a public space being privatized was the park.
CAS freshman Steph Wells said that she doesn’t think the park has been privatized by any group or organization.
“I don’t think NYU is really taking over Washington Square Park, even though we technically surround it,” said Wells. “It’s still a public park. It’s still a public space.”
CAS senior Roger Almeida said he would support an NYU privatization of the park, even if it meant closing the park off to the general public, because it could result in a better campus for NYU.
Tisch freshman Greg Karlin agreed with Pinson that the park has become privatized in a sense, but not due to NYU’s presence.
“I think it’s the million dollar brownstones in front of the park. Greenwich Village destroyed itself, it got too popular and richer people moved in,” said Karlin. To Karlin, all of that private ownership surrounding the park means a more privately owned ‘feel’ of the park.
Perhaps the artists’ photographs themselves can offer their own commentary about this conflict. Interested readers can visit the exhibit for free beginning Friday, May 2 until it closes August 29.
JP Morgan Chase Announces its Partnership with the Star Learning Center
by, Jamie Letica
One of the best aspects of the Star Learning Center, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is that it is always bustling with kids. Your eye is drawn immediately to the precisely laid out cups of orange juice, and packages of some sort of children’s snack depending on the day. The kids, although a little rowdy because they have just come from a long day at school, settle in to learn anything from telling time and making change to Calculus. They are all united by the common goal of succeeding in school, but each child has a unique reason for attending STAR as their afterschool activity certain days a week.
JP Morgan Chase presented the Star Learning Center with a ceremonial check for 15,000 dollars late on Monday afternoon. The Star center is the bank’s newest undertaking. Jenny Low, a manager at Chase, decides which community organizations the bank will sponsor in New York City, below 96th street. Her group has a three-focus area in looking for organizations: community, arts and culture, and serving the community in a more holistic way. Low also works closely with pre-collegiate education and public schools to improve the quality of the teachers as well as public education.
The Star Center, in partnership with United Way of New York City, and St. Matthews/St. Timothy’s Neighborhood Center, is a school-year tutoring service that is geared towards children who cannot afford private tutoring. While there is an initial registration fee, there is no charge for each individual tutoring session and all of the tutors are volunteers.
The Star Center is one of 200 programs that JP Morgan Chase helps to sponsor below 96th street in New York City. While Low believes that “programs like this should help fewer and fewer children if the school system is serving its purpose,” she supports the Star center because of its excellence in tutoring. To which Dena Hellman, the director of Star Learning Center replied, “we are happy to fall under your umbrella.” Low believes the center has a strong impact on the community they serve, which has grown significantly since its start 50 years ago.
Hellman says while the majority of the children used to be just the “neighborhood kids,” the students now come from all five boroughs. She even has one family from Pennsylvania. Although the parents work in the city, Pennsylvania was the only affordable place to buy a house. Therefore the parents drive into the city each day, drop their kids off at school, then at the Star Center, and they finally “make the long commute back home at the end of the day,” sais Hellman.
Hellman stressed the idea that “if you come with a need, all I need to do is find a volunteer. “ She says they very rarely turn a child away and finding the volunteers is her biggest challenge. “We even have a request for Latin,” she exclaimed.
There is no criterion for a child. The program is meant for low-income families, but Hellman and her team never ask for a profile on the family or the school that the child attends. However, each child is tested with the center’s own diagnostic test that is then used to match the child up with a tutor.
There is no limit on how long a child can be tutored for. The majority of the children stay for a full school year, however there are also a number of children who remain at the center for many years. Hellman pointed to one special case in which a young boy began coming to the Star Center for tutoring when he was in second grade. He is now 11th grade, and still comes regularly to be tutored by the same tutor he has always had. He also tutors young children to “give back to his community,” said Hellman.
Lillian Robles, the Director of St. Matthews and St. Timothy’s, says the center “never advertizes for a child.” She is proud of the recent partnership with the Star Learning Center and stresses the importance of being involved in every aspect of a child’s school life. Each child is asked to bring in his or her current report card, and letters are sent to the child’s teachers to let them know what is being accomplished during tutoring. She says the center works closely with a child’s family and “is always willing to contact a child’s school and teachers if the family does not feel comfortable.”
While Stephan Russo, the executive director of the Goddard Community Center, an affiliate of the Star Learning Center, says they do not actively try to get involved in the non-academic aspects of a child’s life, “if a child comes to us with a problem, we are going to try our best to help them solve it, no matter what it may be.” The center now has the advantage of Goddard’s social workers to help the children, as well as the resources that St. Matthews and St. Timothy’s offer.
Hellman piggybacked Russo’s statement, by saying, “we don’t advertize that, but if we can help a family, we will.”
Kendall Frank, a former tutor at the Star Center, says her experience working with the children was uplifting. Frank worked with two different children while she was there. She says that Star is definitely worthy of JP Morgan Chase’s support. “It is so nice to see a small neighborhood organization grow, because it is benefiting so many children,” she says.
Frank, like many of the center’s volunteers, worked at the Star Learning Center for more than merely one year. Kate Maxwell, the outreach coordinator, works closely with Hellman to make sure their volunteers maintain this loyalty. It is the feeling of the tight-knit atmosphere, and the willingness of the children to succeed in their endeavors that attached me to the Star Learning Center, as a volunteer for my final two years of high school.
The Star Learning center is truly a special place, and it seemed as if the center and JP Morgan Chase are just beginning the start of a great friendship. ###
One of the best aspects of the Star Learning Center, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is that it is always bustling with kids. Your eye is drawn immediately to the precisely laid out cups of orange juice, and packages of some sort of children’s snack depending on the day. The kids, although a little rowdy because they have just come from a long day at school, settle in to learn anything from telling time and making change to Calculus. They are all united by the common goal of succeeding in school, but each child has a unique reason for attending STAR as their afterschool activity certain days a week.
JP Morgan Chase presented the Star Learning Center with a ceremonial check for 15,000 dollars late on Monday afternoon. The Star center is the bank’s newest undertaking. Jenny Low, a manager at Chase, decides which community organizations the bank will sponsor in New York City, below 96th street. Her group has a three-focus area in looking for organizations: community, arts and culture, and serving the community in a more holistic way. Low also works closely with pre-collegiate education and public schools to improve the quality of the teachers as well as public education.
The Star Center, in partnership with United Way of New York City, and St. Matthews/St. Timothy’s Neighborhood Center, is a school-year tutoring service that is geared towards children who cannot afford private tutoring. While there is an initial registration fee, there is no charge for each individual tutoring session and all of the tutors are volunteers.
The Star Center is one of 200 programs that JP Morgan Chase helps to sponsor below 96th street in New York City. While Low believes that “programs like this should help fewer and fewer children if the school system is serving its purpose,” she supports the Star center because of its excellence in tutoring. To which Dena Hellman, the director of Star Learning Center replied, “we are happy to fall under your umbrella.” Low believes the center has a strong impact on the community they serve, which has grown significantly since its start 50 years ago.
Hellman says while the majority of the children used to be just the “neighborhood kids,” the students now come from all five boroughs. She even has one family from Pennsylvania. Although the parents work in the city, Pennsylvania was the only affordable place to buy a house. Therefore the parents drive into the city each day, drop their kids off at school, then at the Star Center, and they finally “make the long commute back home at the end of the day,” sais Hellman.
Hellman stressed the idea that “if you come with a need, all I need to do is find a volunteer. “ She says they very rarely turn a child away and finding the volunteers is her biggest challenge. “We even have a request for Latin,” she exclaimed.
There is no criterion for a child. The program is meant for low-income families, but Hellman and her team never ask for a profile on the family or the school that the child attends. However, each child is tested with the center’s own diagnostic test that is then used to match the child up with a tutor.
There is no limit on how long a child can be tutored for. The majority of the children stay for a full school year, however there are also a number of children who remain at the center for many years. Hellman pointed to one special case in which a young boy began coming to the Star Center for tutoring when he was in second grade. He is now 11th grade, and still comes regularly to be tutored by the same tutor he has always had. He also tutors young children to “give back to his community,” said Hellman.
Lillian Robles, the Director of St. Matthews and St. Timothy’s, says the center “never advertizes for a child.” She is proud of the recent partnership with the Star Learning Center and stresses the importance of being involved in every aspect of a child’s school life. Each child is asked to bring in his or her current report card, and letters are sent to the child’s teachers to let them know what is being accomplished during tutoring. She says the center works closely with a child’s family and “is always willing to contact a child’s school and teachers if the family does not feel comfortable.”
While Stephan Russo, the executive director of the Goddard Community Center, an affiliate of the Star Learning Center, says they do not actively try to get involved in the non-academic aspects of a child’s life, “if a child comes to us with a problem, we are going to try our best to help them solve it, no matter what it may be.” The center now has the advantage of Goddard’s social workers to help the children, as well as the resources that St. Matthews and St. Timothy’s offer.
Hellman piggybacked Russo’s statement, by saying, “we don’t advertize that, but if we can help a family, we will.”
Kendall Frank, a former tutor at the Star Center, says her experience working with the children was uplifting. Frank worked with two different children while she was there. She says that Star is definitely worthy of JP Morgan Chase’s support. “It is so nice to see a small neighborhood organization grow, because it is benefiting so many children,” she says.
Frank, like many of the center’s volunteers, worked at the Star Learning Center for more than merely one year. Kate Maxwell, the outreach coordinator, works closely with Hellman to make sure their volunteers maintain this loyalty. It is the feeling of the tight-knit atmosphere, and the willingness of the children to succeed in their endeavors that attached me to the Star Learning Center, as a volunteer for my final two years of high school.
The Star Learning center is truly a special place, and it seemed as if the center and JP Morgan Chase are just beginning the start of a great friendship. ###
Kenya Lures Back Tourists Following Political Unrest
By Nicholas Luckenbaugh
In the wake of Kenya’s post-election conflict, the Kenya Tourist Board launched the first phase of its campaign to bolster the country’s injured economy last month, flying over 200 foreign journalists into Kenya.
The journalists’ itineraries showcased the beauty spots across Kenya, emphasizing the nation’s attractions. Board officials hope that this endeavor will help counter the negative publicity that the country has received in the global media since outbreaks of violence following the December election.
“We wanted them to touch Kenya. We wanted them to smell Kenya. We wanted them to feel Kenya,” said Rose Kwena, public relations manager at the Kenya Tourist Board office in Nairobi.
Kwena stressed the positive experiences had by the invited media, hoping that they would “go out and testify” against the unsafe image Kenya has acquired during the past four months.
Last month’s media itineraries took journalists across Kenya, including areas that have been considered dangerous, said Fred Okeyo, North American regional manager of the Kenya Tourist Board.
“The world has only received a portion of the story of Kenya since the election last year,” said Okeyo.
Following the announcement of the presidential election results on December 30, 2007, media outlets around the world reported outbreaks of violence in Kenya relating to the election’s disputed results.
“The crisis brought Kenya right into the living rooms of America,” said Kwena.
“People are scared to go [to Kenya] because of what happened, and understandably so,” said Peace Corps volunteer Katie Moore, 24.
Moore was stationed as a deaf education volunteer in Litein, a small town outside of Nairobi, when the violence began.
“The day after the results, I started hearing gun shots and people rioting,” said Moore. For a week, Moore went into hiding until she could be evacuated from the country via helicopter. Since the post-election conflict, the Peace Corps program in Kenya has been temporarily disbanded.
Despite the violence, Kenya Ambassador Peter N.R.O. Ogego insists that the country is “back on the path to peace.”
“We are well on our way to resolving our post-election controversies,” said Ogego.
Ogego stressed Kenya’s reliance on tourism, saying that the decline of tourists following the eruption of violence has hurt the country’s economy immeasurably.
Tourism, Kenya’s largest industry, was on a record-breaking high in late December, surpassing the million-arrivals mark for 2007. The largest challenge Kenyan tourism faced in December was trying to improve and grow its infrastructure without putting its renowned wildlife and culture at risk.
But since strife broke out for the first few weeks of 2008 over claims that the presidential election was rigged from both sides, tourism to Kenya has suffered a severe blow. During the four months following the post-election crisis, the number of tourists has declined 73 percent compared to 2007 figures, costing the country one billion dollars in revenue each month.
“When the economy went to a standstill, the entire country went on its knees,” said Kwena.
Following its April outreach to media outlets worldwide, the Kenya Tourist Board launched the second phase of its recovery campaign. Beginning mid-April, the Board initiated a series of U.S. press conferences, alerting the media and travel agencies to the nation’s effort to promote tourism while marketing Kenya as a major world destination.
“We need to educate everyone who is traveling in Africa,” said Maisa Fernandez, public relations manager of the Kenya Tourist Board. “It is our job. We’re not going to sleep until this is over and those numbers are up.”
At its press conference in New York on April 21, the Kenya Tourist Board reaffirmed its continuing efforts to bolster tourism. The Board announced that it would sponsor a Travel Agent Familiarization Tour, hosting U.S. and Canadian travel agents in Kenya throughout the summer months, the nation’s peak travel time.
“Word of mouth is huge for us,” said Fernandez, hoping that the press conferences would generate a “buzz across the country.”
The recovery plan will culminate in a massive consumer promotion campaign, including a North American fall road show and various partnerships with non-tourism industries in the United States.
“We are hoping to work with you to present this beautiful destination,” said Okeyo. “We are getting there, we are committed and we are on the move.”
Despite these efforts to improve Kenyan tourism, some travel agents invested in the industry, like Hema Shah, are skeptical of the Kenya Tourist Board’s approach. Shah works with United Travel Group, a travel agency that specializes in safaris.
“It’s definitely possible to bounce back from this, but they’re focusing too much on the wrong things,” said Shah. She wishes that the Kenya Tourist Board would address the travel advisory that the United States has placed on international travel to Kenya.
After a 2002 terrorist attack in Kenya, the U.S. Department of State has maintained a travel advisory for the country. In spite of the warning, tourist numbers have climbed since then.
“People got used to it,” said Shah.
In January, the United States placed a heightened travel warning on Kenyan travel in response to the post-election conflict. Although Department of State officials lightened the language of the warning after the political situation improved in March, the travel advisory still remains in effect.
“We can’t sort of shove it off and say its just another sort of advisory,” said Shah. “We need to address it and make it go away.”
Moore is also wary of the travel advisory.
“I’m hopeful that people will start going back soon, but I have my doubts,” said Moore.
But the advisory is little more than an “irritant” to Ambassador Ogego.
“We are back on our feet,” said Ogego.
Ogego and the Kenya Tourist Board plan to continue with the recovery campaign throughout the year, confident that it will bring tourists to Kenya.
“We need your support to get people to come back to Kenya,” said Kwena. “Forget Disney World. Kenya is the original home of the safari.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
