News From Fort Schuyler
April 5, 2002 - Volume 6, No. 13
THE GOVERNOR'S ISLAND - President Bush picked April Fool's Day to flummox
New York politicians by fulfilling his predecessor's pledge to give
Governors Island back to New York City for a nominal amount. According to an
April 3 article in the New York Times, 'CUNY Campus on Governors Island:
High Vision, Few Details,' (http://www.nytimes.com) the announced plan to
use the island for the City University of New York "..appeared to catch CUNY
officials by surprise. The university was first approached about it five
days ago.." The article noted that the CUNY Chancellor was "...eager to work
with other universities in developing the island. Officials at New York
University and the State University of New York expressed interest." [Wouldn't
Governors Island be a logical location for SUNY Maritime's prestigious
Graduate School of International Transportation Management and the proposed
Neil D. Levin Graduate Institute of International Relations and Commerce ?]
Perhaps operating on the theory that just because the battle to use
Governors Island for public purposes is apparently over, the war's not
necessarily won, AL BUTZEL, an organizer of the People's Flotilla 2002,
assures NFFS that "...yes, the Flotilla is definitely still on - bigger and
better than ever."Another organizer, JOHN DOSWELL, adds: "Yes, the event is
on, now more of a celebration. In the last two days several new boats have
signed up. Suddenly Governors Island is on the map !" [Stay tuned for more
details about this New York Harbor spectacular planned for 02 June.]
PENNYFIELD PIE MAN - Probably hundreds of Fort Schuyler alumni will relish
the recent NY Times story about culinary artist, LOUIS
PALLADINO. (http://www.nytimes.com) He has plied his pie-making expertise in
Throgs Neck pizzerias for the past 59 years and is still going strong.
According to the 2 April article, 'Secrets of the Dean of the Pie Men': "He
was born on Pennyfield Avenue in a bungalow directly on Long Island Sound"
and began tending the huge 18-pizza ovens at Amerigo's Restaurant when he
was 14, later running several of his own pizzerias in the area. According to
this 73-year old institution: "I must've made over a million pies and I put
my heart into every one. I like to make my pies. I'm a pie man. That's what
I am. I might be 90 years old, and if I can still make 'em, I'll make 'em."
[Amen.]
NO DOZE-ING - This addition to Schuyler academic lore from FRED LONGO,
Class of 1960: "One of FRED HESS's ploys to keep everyone awake during his
lectures was, if he saw someone dozing off, he would start to lower his
voice over a short period of time and then slam a book down onto his desk
making that person jump about two feet off his seat. The funny thing is that
when you heard his voice start to lower, you would immediately look to see
who was dozing off to see the reaction to the book slam."
For readers in the NY region, Doc Hess's newest memoir, 'Some of my
Favorite Memories from Childhood into the Twenty-First Century' is being
added to the Luce Library collection. It should be on the shelves in a week
or two. Check the catalog at
http://www.sunymaritime.edu/CAMPUS_SERVICES/LIBRARY/library.asp [Thanks to
cataloger, LISA LESCHINSKY, for this advanced notice.]
SUMMER FUN WITH KAREN AND KEN - Even though time is short, tell a school
teacher who wants to take a summer seminar to consider "New York in the 20th
Century: Transformation of American Metropolis" taught by the Chair of the
Humanities Department at Maritime College, Dr. KAREN MARKOE, and her
colleague from Columbia University, Kenneth T. Jackson. The sponsor of this
July 21-27 teacher seminar, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American
History, provides stipends, books, room and board to enrollees. The course
is taught at Columbia University, enrolment is limited, and the price is
right. For more information go to: http://www.gliah.uh.edu/seminars.html
Dr. Jackson, who also is the President of the New York Historical Society
and the editor of the monumental Encyclopedia of New York City, will be
joining Dr. Markoe and other maritime historians on the Slocum Centennial
Committee to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of this maritime disaster
in 2004.
UP FROM UNDER - The latest student underground publication, 'Maritime Screw
Keeps Turning', turned up on Fort Schuyler doorsteps in March 2002 with a
3-page edition. What's on their minds ? "This is a student newspaper that
airs out the administration and the same for anything that happens on
campus." In this issue targets included such things as staff ("..why are so
many of the upper administration staff related or childhood friends ?"),
maintenance personnel ("Why plant flowers and then have the gardeners mow
over them ?"), food ("The first food fight... of the millennium occurred the
other night."), and the regiment ("Look out mugs, it's that time of year yet
again. The uniform change to Khaki is on the second of April. Cure ???...
There is none.") In other words, all the usual suspects are given the
raspberry. [Conclusion: There is plenty of room for improvement. Grades:
Intention - A, Grammar - D, Overall Execution - C.]
RIVER - The Hudson, from the New York Harbor north to its head waters, will
be featured on a two-part PBS special on 23-24 April: 'America's First
River: Bill Moyers on the Hudson.' According to a local PBS station program
guide, 'Thirteen' "...Bill Moyers travels from New York Harbor to the
Adirondack Forest to explore the dramatic history, complex ecology, profound
natural beauty, and far-reaching legacy of the Hudson."
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