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Vote Next Tuesday And Follow The News
By MICHAEL SCHENKLER
Follow me on Twitter @QueensTribune
Next Tuesday, September 15 is Primary Day. With the exception of the Mayoral Election and at most three Queens Council seats, the winner of the Democratic Primary, will most certainly be the winner of the General Election.
That’s right, the Comptroller, Public Advocate, and probably 13 out of 14 Councilmembers who win the primary will be the victor in the general election. Such is the way of life in Democratic New York.
Turnout is expected to be low since the Democratic Mayoral Primary on top of the ticket is not viewed as a close race and has not generated much interest. Therefore, in the other races, with fewer voters, the more each vote counts.
It is vital for each of us to participate.
Our endorsements are on Page 6 of this paper; read them and, agree with them or not, if you’re a registered Democrat, go vote.
Our future depends on it.
Tribune Alum
We like to follow the path of our many Tribune alum writing for papers across the country and across the city. Last week, several Trib grads caught our eye.
Lisa Colangleo, who wrote some memorable stories for us perhaps 20 years ago – including the Thanksgiving death of homeless Avery Medez — has been doing it ever since, the past decade at the Daily News.
Although Lisa’s stories have been exciting and varied through the years, this cute little bit which ran last week, brought Lisa home to Queens.
“The assignment seemed simple enough - the Daily News wanted me to serve as a Big Apple Greeter for a day and take some visitors off the beaten tourism path,” Lisa explained in her lead.
Well, Lisa, ever-the-Queens-girl, took her assigned visitors from the Netherlands, across the Blvd of Death and for refreshments, to the Lemon Ice King.
Welcome home Lisa.
A second piece which caught our attention last week was from the creative eye of former Trib editor Jeremy Olshan who entertains us regularly at the NY Post.
Headlined, “Hizzoner’s stock picks prove golden,” Olshan begins:
“Mayor Bloomberg’s supporters may start chanting, ‘Four more stock tips!’
“Six months ago, back when economic doomsday seemed upon us, Bloomberg made an off-the-cuff suggestion at a routine press conference that New Yorkers invest in companies such as GE, Macy’s and Saks.
“Elected officials normally steer clear of providing investment advice to their constituents, and Bloomberg quickly backed off his remarks — but perhaps an exception should be made for billionaire politicians.
It turns out if you took the Mayor’s off-handed tip, you saw a 133 percent return on your investment — “an astonishing profit more than three times the growth of the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes during the same six-month period,” declares Olshan.
“Bloomberg never suggested that New Yorkers should put all their money in these stocks. In fact, in light of the Bernie Madoff scandal, the mayor said that no one should put all their eggs in one basket, and that most investors are better off buying mutual funds than individual stocks.”
But when asked, the Mayor did plug New York companies.
“‘These companies have at least one thing in common — they have an awful lot of New Yorkers working for them,’ the mayor told the Post.”
Remember those tips were more than six months ago and like the Post, we remind you that the Mayor did not make his billions picking stocks. Proceed with caution.
And former Tribbie from back more than 30 years ago, Richard Sandomir, has his third book on the shelves and online. The Final Four of Everything features contributions from experts on everything from breakfast cereal and movie gunfights to First Ladies and bald guys. It celebrates everything that’s great, surprising, or silly in America, using the foolproof method of bracketology fitting the graphic method of match-up a la the U.S. Tennis Open at Flushing Meadows.
MSchenkler@QueensTribune.com
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| From the Daily News photo by Alvarez, former Tribbie, News reporter playing Big Apple Greeter Lisa Colangelo, with Netherland visitors Pascual and Roelyke Gallego at Gantry Plaza State Park.
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September: Oysters ‘R’ In Season; Academic Year Begins
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| Henry Stern
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By
Henry J. Stern
The first of September has always been a calendar day of some significance to me. It falls midway between my birthday and New Year’s Day, thus dividing the year into three trimesters. More importantly, it is the first day of the month in which the academic year begins. That is memorable because I went to five schools for 17 academic years, and my children went for 26 years.
The month is particularly significant to us because the Jewish holidays Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippur usually take place in late September, sometimes ending in early October. Observing the Holy Days helps to give a person the sense of making a fresh start, with the sins of the old year forgiven by God’s mercy. My theology is very weak, but I know it is a good thing to take the time to evaluate your own behavior, and to try to improve it in the future.
It is a great leap to go from what is holy to what is traif (not kosher), but there are other associations with the month of September. This, the month when the Blue Point Fish Market, which was located (at least, in the 1940s) on Dyckman Street in the Inwood section of upper Manhattan, posted a large sign: Oysters ‘R’ in Season. Proud that I could read it, I was naturally curious as to what it meant, so I asked the fishmonger. He explained that it was all right to eat oysters in months that contained the letter ‘R’, but not in the other months of the year. I first wondered how the oysters knew when they were in season. Nor could I fathom what the letter ‘R’ had to do with an oyster, except that it was the last letter in the word.
On checking the calendar, I found that every month from September to April contained the letter ‘r,’ while May, June, July and August did not. Years ago, when freezing food was not widespread, it was considered unsafe to eat oysters in the summer because they might be spoiled by the heat. There is, however, another reason to avoid summer oysters. The hot months are the time of year when oysters spawn. During that time their bodies (underneath their shells) become thin and flabby from the strain of reproduction, and therefore less desirable to eat.
We didn’t eat oysters anyway because they weren’t kosher, and my mother wouldn’t know what to do with them if they were in the house. The same went for other types of shellfish; once I brought a live crab home from Chinatown, and had to bring it to the Harlem River and restore its freedom. Now, many years later, I’ve come to enjoy oysters.
The month of September also provides needed relief from the heat of August. The city’s pools and beaches close, so that the Commissioner is relieved of the anxiety of worrying about drownings. No matter how often people are warned to stay out of dangerous waters, some will enter them and be swept away. Landlubbers consistently underestimate the hazards of waves and rip tides, but the ocean is not a large bathtub.
September also marks the return of the psychoanalysts from their Cape Cod vacations. This is a relief to many who have spent August without the benefit of their services. It may inform a few of them that they can get by with other means of support.
And no former Parks Commissioner could fail to point out the start of the magnificent display of fall foliage, as the leaves turn, many from green to yellow and then to red. Any of our large parks is a wonderful place to watch the changing landscape. Though it might be a pleasant excursion, it is not necessary to travel to New England to watch the leaves change color.
For millennia, the numbering of the months has presented an anomaly. September clearly derives from the number seven, but it is the ninth month of the year. The same inconsistency applies to October, November and December. When was the New Year changed from March to January, and why was it done?
Starting the year in January does not make enormous amount of sense from a naturalist’s point of view. March, the month of the vernal equinox, is a more logical time for the year to begin. It is in March that spring arrives, plants start to grow, and animals come out of hibernation. Nothing special happens in January; it is a cold and bitter month, except in the Southern Hemisphere, where it generally marks the hottest time of the year. Two other months have been renamed: July, which honors Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE), was formerly Quintilis (the fifth month) and August named for Augustus Caesar (63 BCE – 14 CE), was formerly Sextilis (the sixth month).
September marks the change of seasons and the renewal of work after summer vacations. People should look around and contemplate the passage of time and the fresh opportunities offered each day. It is human nature to be so preoccupied with the rituals and demands of daily life that we do not pay attention to the larger picture. This variety of observations about this month, with its generally moderate climate, is intended to help our readers sit back and think about the world and our small place in it.
StarQuest@NYCivic.org |
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Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato |
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