Breaking News

Local Commentaries

Helping Hands across New York City

The three different doctors who sold me my three knees strongly agreed on one aspect of my future: “Don’t fall. Do everything you can to proceed safely. DO NOT FALL.” Gotcha. I have respected their advice and been uncharacteristically cautious. During the past 21 years, since Knee 1, I have fallen – but only three times. None of those tumbles was my fault. I am v-e-r-y careful. Until last week. When I was visiting New York City. I blew it. My dear BFF, Ginger, lives in Forest Hills, a leafy section of Queens, just outside Manhattan. Ginger converted her late husband’s ...

Chew had ‘significant impact’ on many

Life, much like a ticking clock, continues to move on. Last week the last role model of my formative years passed on into the great beyond. First it was football coach, Toby Shea. Then during the COVID years my college wrestling coach, Dr. Bob Barnett. Then my brother and dad, Dean and Don ...

Coaching style also a lesson in life

It is a sad day to read of the passing of Coach Lee Chew. May his family find comfort in the coming weeks and months as their feelings of loss transition to sweet memories of their life together. Far too few times in life do we reflect on, or more importantly convey the significant impact some individuals have on the lives of others. Certainly, Coach Chew forever holds this place in my life. Lee Chew was a purveyor of “Man Training,” determination, discipline, and excellence. As a teenager it wasn’t possible to fully comprehend the overall significance of his coaching style. ...

In Senate race, Fetterman serves up class envy card

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman likes his hoodies. He doesn’t seem to have any other piece of clothing in his wardrobe, and he struts around in the “everyman’s” uniform as if he were campaigning to repair the broken cement on your front curb instead of a seat in the U.S. Senate. Fetterman, who comes from affluence, has played this “hail fellow well met” game all of his adult life. I’m not sure how it went over at Harvard, his alma mater, but it’s snookered a lot of folks in the media. Bully for him, the Twitter bully. Fake it till you make it, as they say. But ...

A return to school

When it gets to be about this time of year I always think of my days in the classroom. I went to school long before the students. I had things to get ready. I made name tags. I put up bulletin boards. I got my plan book filled in with the activities. When I was teaching kindergarten, I was aware that this was the student’s first experience with school. Often, I sent them a letter. In my letter I gave them something to bring to school on the first day. Sometimes it was a sheet to color. Other times I asked them to bring something to share – the requirement was that it had ...

A chatty visit to the Big Apple

The alarm was set for 4:30 a.m. Or as we night people call it: zero dark thirty. My BFF, Ginger, was having a significant birthday. She flew here for my celebration last fall, so naturally, I was heading to NYC for hers. I hate it when I have to set an alarm for three hours early, because I don’t sleep. Well, I sleep a little… but not well… awake every half hour or so. Getting to bed after 1:00 AM didn’t help. My flight was leaving out of Buffalo at 10:05AM. From where I live, JetBlue is always 5.5 hours away from wake-up time. Just before heading out the door, I checked ...