The year was 1994. The New York Rangers eliminated their cross-river rivals in the Eastern Conference finals, fulfilling the promise by captain Mike Messier that they would win, and advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals.

For a young Elvis Tominovic, watching as the Rangers won their first Stanley Cup since 1940 was enough to spark a passion in the young Croatian immigrant that would lead  him to play for his country’s national team. Unfortunately, like many who strive to reach hockey’s top echelons, his road would end in the minors just like a few of his current teammates, Ivo Mocek, Tom Lambertson and Paul Durante, who play for the Steiner Stars at Chelsea Pier’s Division I adult league. Their dreams of having a career in the NHL were not realized.

Regardless, the road to making even the national roster was long and arduous. To reach that level, a player has to meet a long list of prerequisites before beginning to play hockey, let alone playing the sport professionally. From learning how to skate, to learning the mechanics of the game, to developing the infamous “hockey sense,” (a player’s ability to read the ice and make fast decisions) Tominovic picked these things up almost effortlessly.

“Hockey was fun from the start, it was fast paced, lots of hitting and a lot of hard work,” said Tominovic.” It came to me naturally, even though I played it from sunrise till sunset as a kid. My first position was defense because I was a big kid growing up and the coach put all the big kids on defense. I played defense until I was 14 and moved to Long Island then the coaches put me at forward. I can play both defense and forward in men’s league however in a competitive full contact game I am a forward.”

It was thanks to this natural talent that Tominovic was able to play in the first place. His family wasn’t exactly financially well off to support an economically demanding sport such as hockey.

“Hockey was very tough because of financial reasons,” Tominovic said. “My mother and father are immigrants from Croatia and hockey is a very expensive sport. From the equipment to ice time it was tough at first to play.”

Of all sports, ice hockey is perhaps the most difficult to maintain if your wallet is thin. With a decent stick going for just under $100, the skates and other pads will make the stick seem like a piggy bank purchase. And while it is possible to rent out equipment or get used ones, learning to play hockey competitively in it wouldn’t be a cakewalk. But Tominovic endured, and grasped at any chance that he could. With the help of some his coaches, he was able to get some equipment and start his training.

“The coaches started taking me under their wing and gave me old equipment to use and let my mother only pay half the fee for ice time,” he said.  “Sometimes they allowed me to work at the rink in order to receive free ice time in return. Without their help I would have never played ice hockey.”

This free ice time helped develop Tominovic into a strong and effective skater and his talent landed him in the nationally ranked SUNY Fredonia Division III hockey program. Getting noticed on the hockey level was the key to Tominovic’s invitation to play for his national team. Yet while for many this would seem as the top of the mountain, for Tominovic it was evident that making a living off of hockey was not reasonable, and the National Hockey League, the dream of every kid with a hockey stick in his hands and skates on his feet, was out of reach.

“I moved on to play for the Croatian National Team and from there they offered me a contract to play for Medvescak of Zagreb in Croatia,” he said. “After I got back to the States I played minor pro in the EPHL (Eastern Professional Hockey League).”

Yet the professional level of play was much different then what he expected and caused him to realize that this wouldn’t be enough to make a living.

“In college it’s about working hard and playing a fast, hard hitting game and we always played to win,” said Tominovic. “In minor pro we also played to win but it was more about fighting and entertaining the fans than working hard and playing hard. Minor hockey is fun but at the end most of us have to come to the reality that it was a nice dream […] the dream was fun but hockey will not pay the bills.”

His teammate, Paul Durante, made it  much closer to the professional level but it was something entirely different and much more unfortunate that took him off that path.

Durante was a late bloomer, although he loved hockey since a really young age. His mother didn’t want him to play hockey, claiming that he was a “china doll.” Yet an event that most would consider traumatic for a child, brought Durante access to a sport he intensely wanted to play: his parents got a divorce.

“In order to get custody of me, my dad told me, ‘Hey Paul, if you come live with me I’ll let you play hockey’,” said Durante. “So I ended up playing hockey because my father wanted to spite my mother.”

Durante began playing ice hockey at the age of 11, though he “played street hockey since he could walk.”

After rising up to the junior level, Durante played through a bunch of junior leagues until he finally got invited to the NHL’s Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes) training camp. At the time, Durante was on his high school’s wrestling team and a sport he had no dreams of pursuing ended a dream that was part of every Canadian kid’s life growing up.

“I badly dislocated my shoulder (wrestling) and it ended my hockey career,” Durante said. “So I stopped playing when I was about 18 or 19 […] my shoulder took a long time to heal and I didn’t play until I was 29.”

It’s a memory that still causes regret and something that Durante always thinks about. Not being drafted and going to an NHL training camp did not necessarily spell success but it was definitely better than not going at all.

But while Durante was the closest to reaching fame, another teammate Tom Lambertson was the closest to playing with fame.

Growing up in Texas, he and his brother decided to stray from the popular pastime of football
and ended up taking hockey as their sport. Living close to the rink didn’t hurt their new hobby either.

Playing from a young age, Lambertson attended a regional camp where he was ranked as #256. From there, after playing in high school, Lambertson moved on to Buffalo State University where he played Division III hockey. Yet after enduring a losing season, he ended up being done with that and later ended up in California, where he was noticed by an ECHL (Easter Coast Hockey League) coach. That was the closest he would get to getting paid for hockey.

“For me that was professional,” Lambertson said.

The team was linked to the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens and any players who didn’t perform well at the pro level would be sent down to where Lambertson was playing.

He noticed at that point, when he played with sent-down players, that he wasn’t going further than this level. They were “in your face” and were basically “f****g everybody up.”

If that wasn’t enough to crush someone’s dreams, then playing against Sidney Crosby, currently a center for the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins and arguably the best player in the world, definitely could put the nail in the coffin.

“He would just win the face-off to himself, one guy would slash him on the hands and he would just be like ‘Okay, no,’ I’d try to grab him, he would be like ‘no’ and he’d go down the ice and score a goal,” Lambertson recalled.

When looking back on it, he still has regret.

“Yeah, I mean, I drank and smoked and all of that,” said Lambertson. “Maybe if I hadn’t done that, I don’t know.”

Even though their dreams didn’t turn into reality, playing at Chelsea’s Division I is more than enough now.

“You know it’s all about having fun,” said Mocek. “And I have that here, at men’s league.”

Two Hundred Years of Chutzpah and Counting

By Robert Frenkel

One hundred years ago one would have been hard pressed to stroll down Orchard Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side without a smattering of the mameloshen, or “mother tongue” of Yiddish.

Yiddish is a fusion of Germanic and Slavic languages and is written in Hebrew.

Today however, the language, much like the people who spoke it, has been virtually exterminated. Banished to a few quips and pejorative phrases, the Yiddish that remains has become as New York as the bagel and schmear.

Though seemingly on the brink of extinction, Yiddish is beginning to mimic its practitioners and is seeing a large revival, both here and abroad.

One of the bastions breathing new life into an old language is the National Yiddish Theatre, or Folksbiene. Literally translated to “People’s Theatre”, this almost 200 year old Jewish institution is a driving force behind the resurrection of a virtually dead language.

Feliks Frenkel, the former president of the board and current chairman, describes how important maintaining the language is, “Yiddish is the blood of our ancestors. If we ever truly lose this  language, we will lose countless generations of a people. The Folksbiene is the only theatre of its kind in America, through the efforts of the staff there we are going to be able to save a language that saved its people.”

A few years ago, the Folksbiene Theatre offered a program for children and adults called “Kids and Yiddish”. The show was “90% English, 10% Yiddish, and 100%fun”.

Zalmen Mlotek, the director of the Folksbiene recalls, “What made the show successful was the bridging of the entire family. The songs were tailored to the younger generation by adding Yiddish words to new songs and the sarcasm and humor reached the adult demographic.”

In the Jewish world, Jews are mainly divided into three groups: Ashkenazim (European), Mizrahim (Middle Eastern/North African), and Sephardim (Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula prior to the Inquisition).

In Israel, the upswing in Yiddish learning can be largely attributed to Mizrahi students. As Menachem Gold, a 22 year old student pursuing his PhD in Jewish history in Israel describes, “A century ago, ninety percent of the Jewish world spoke Yiddish. If anyone wants to even attempt to understand the pains, thoughts, and emotions of generations of Jewry, they must know the language of these people, and that is Yiddish”.

In the era of the Holocaust, many Jews tried to hide their heritage, both from themselves and their children. Just like their Russian ancestors, who attempted to escape the pogroms of their inhospitable country, the Jews of Europe sought to forget their persecuted past. This meant full assimilation into their host countries, which meant forgetting the language of the oppressed: Yiddish.

Today, however, many of the grandchildren of these diaspora Jews are discovering their hidden past. Zalmen Mlotek, the director of the National Yiddish Theater: The Folksbiene, recounts his trip to Poland, “About fifteen years ago, I was invited to travel to Poland with a friend of mine who was archiving the Jewish struggle and attempting to bring Jews from America to meet with those in Poland. The trip was being sponsored by a local high school, so when we gathered the Jewish students into a dining hall, they were joined by their local counterparts. As we began singing Yiddish songs, I noticed something very unusual: the Polish kids were singing along with us! Like the scent of a freshly baked pie wafting through a room, one by one, the entire venue came to the same realization. Many of the young Poles didn’t understand how they knew both the lyrics and the melody to the songs, but the few who were touched by the epiphany that they are Jewish began to instantly break down in tears. It was on that day that I truly witnessed the power of Yiddish and Yiddishkeit – Language and Soul.”

Only time will tell whether the mameloshen will have enough chutzpah to survive the flames of time,  however the unprecedented upswing in youth seeking both identity and understanding seems to have ensured its future.

“Yiddish is the only language in the world that has a word like Yiddishkeit. In order to truly even describe the word, I would have to explain it to you in Yiddish, however it basically means the soulful feeling of the culture. No other language in the world is both a form of communication and a feeling,” exclaims Ariel Lana, a 16 year old high school student hoping to become a Yiddish performer.

Professor Vilna Bashi Treilter Q&A on Trayvon Martin’s Case

For the past two months, George Zimmerman has been the subject of national discussion for his involvement in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman, 28, was on a neighborhood watch when he shot Martin, an unarmed African-American 17-year-old. Angela B. Corey, the state attorney in Florida, has charged Zimmerman with second-degree murder.  Martin’s parents and leaders in the African-American community were outrage when a judge granted Zimmerman’s release on $150,000 bail.  I talked with Vilna Bashi Treilter, a professor of Black and Hispanic Studies at Baruch College and an expert in race issues.

Whose fault is it, George Zimmerman or “Stand Your Ground” law?

The law did it kill anyone; Zimmerman did…the law says if someone feels threated. What’s the definition of “ground” and where is Trayvon Martin’s ground?

Why do you think African-Americans are being target by the police?

Well, there are two books that have recently come out that talk about the history of colonialization of African American in practically men. One is Maslow Alexander “The New Jim Crow”, and the other is Criminalizing Blackness. They both would teach us that Criminalization is not new. However, what’s happen is that of White crimes against African American are on the rise because the war on drugs which has made it so that people like Gant Marley are now considered criminals for possessing marijuana not laws, not applied evenly throughout our nation. Certain people will not be chase down for possession of that drug and certainly not will guns drawn and at risk of losing their life. But, so violent crimes, burglary and such are have gone way down in our nation history. But incarnation rates has gone sky high and there is a lot of new research that shows that equal applications of these laws certainly indicates that race is the reason why African American are targeted.

Should ‘Stand Your Ground’ law be eliminated?

I think it should. I don’t understand how it’s going to be upheld. Everyone can feel under a threat, I’m sure that Trayvon Martin felt under threat. He’s just not just being walking around with arms in order to enforce that law against others. I don’t understand how it can stand but I wouldn’t be surprise because again unequal application of law is part of our nation history

In recent news, under Trayvon Martin case, there will not be grand jury? 

I am very concerned that it seems that there’s not enough evidence to have a grand jury hearing on the case. Again, there is a young man   dead for having gone to the store during an intermission of basketball watching and I know that the corpse of the young man was tested for drugs. Where Mr. Zimmerman was not tested, he has been walking free for the last month and half. It seems to me that there are 911 calls, people heard him screaming. I understand the judgment but I hope justice is done at some point.

Do you think racism will end?

Do I think racism will end? I’m hopeful that will at some point but once people make categories that are use to oppress other people. I think it is in ordinary difficult to unmake them. I don’t know how we would do that racism as been around in the United States of American since 1500’s—lets says— and I don’t see it ending tomorrow.

Reaction from New Yorkers:

Vermelle VanDuyne, Teacher

AUDIO: Vermelle VanDuyne

Tilsa Pattee, Mother of two

AUDIO: Tilsa Pattee

Hector W. Soto, Professor at Hostos Community College

AUDIO: Hector Ortiz

Eight-year-old Kayden Montes, who lives in the West Farms section of the Bronx, has great respect for “El Cuko,” the imaginary monster he hears when night falls.

“When it’s dark outside the Cuko comes out with all his Cuko friends and I hear them from my room all the way up here yelling and screaming all the time,” Kayden recounts.  “My mommy says that if I don’t do good in school, that’s how the Cuko gets you and makes you follow him too.  That’s why she doesn’t let me play outside.

What Montes does not realize is that the Cuko and its friends are actually neighborhood delinquents, and his mother is trying to protect him from becoming just another “hood rat”.

She keeps Kayden close to home and school.  “But that’s ok,” the boy says, “cuz I get to see all of my friends in afterschool, and they let us play after we finish our work.”

Kayden’s mother, Patricia Hernandez, 26, voices the concerns of many families in the area.  “This place isn’t a good environment for kids to grow up in, if it isn’t gun shots, its ambulances, or police sirens waking you up in the middle of the night,” said Hernandez, a single mother who also has a daughter, Kailin Montes.

http://youtu.be/RaNOwhzRwN0

Parents in the West Farms neighborhood of the Bronx look to after school programs as a means of keeping their children on track for a better life, but with plans for extensive cutbacks to those programs many parents fear the subsequent fallout.

Long time West Farms resident Maria Merejido, 54, remembers what it was like raising 4 boys in this neighborhood, “I always had to stay on top of them and make sure they did all of their work, I let them watch TV after but there was no way I was gonna let them play outside in that mess.”

The mess she referred to was a neighborhood embroiled in gang wars during the late 80’s and early 90’s.  With all of her children grown now, ranging from ages 26 to 34, Mrs. Merejido recalled putting them through college, “It wasn’t easy but I always on top of them about their work.  Around here college is a dream, but too many of these kids give up on it.  So many of these kids get stuck doing the wrong things and it’s hard once you start down that road.”

An area primarily consisting of low income housing, West Farms is one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City with 34% of its households making $15,000 or less, according the Census Bureau.  Located a mere block away from the southern entrance to the Bronx Zoo, teams of families bustle through the neighborhood on a regular basis for a day of animal watching.  Somehow those same people seem all but oblivious to the seedy orange five story buildings that surround their pathway to the zoo.

Many will never know how the crime rate has dropped 65% since 1993, as reported by the CompStat for the local precinct, yet the neighborhood remains one of the more violent in the entire city.  With a populace that is primarily too poor to live anywhere else, the residents consider the two fastest ways out of the neighborhood to be either getting an education or getting thrown in prison.

Now the city is planning to close 10 schools in the Bronx, which happens to be more than any other borough, as reported by SchoolBook.  At least 3 of these will directly affect the West Farms neighborhood, but almost all are located in the South Bronx.  Parents and teachers in these high needs areas are all feeling the stress.  “All of my friends that still teach in the Bronx are saying similar things, they feel underappreciated and under attack when they are not to blame,” laments Annette Garb, 28, a former third-grade English teacher.

The Panel for Educational Policy, led by Chancellor Dennis Walcott, decided that these schools could not be kept open any longer: after considering test scores, graduation rates, and evaluating the leadership.  All of the schools being shut down have received a grade of D or F in the last round of evaluations.  Afterschool programs, on the other hand, are suffering at the hands of a tightening budget.  With over $170 million in children’s services cuts proposed for the 2013 budget, as stated on Thirteen.org, more than half of the afterschool programs in the city will see their end.  Now many children will have to go straight home and wait for their parents to arrive from a long day of work, in the hopes that they can help.

But in areas like West Farms it’s never that simple explains afterschool advocate Angela Johnson, “A lot of these parents want to be more involved but either they have to work all the time or they just aren’t capable of helping, so it comes down to programs like these and people like us to give these kids a chance.”

Impassioned though Mrs. Johnson may be her analysis of the situation is hard to contest, “These kids have it hard enough living in this neighborhood.  It’s our responsibility as adults to make sure they have every chance to make it out.”

“I used to only ride my bike on the bike path that runs along the FDR, which limited where I would be willing to go on my bike” said Julie Neusner, a self-described casual biker. “But with the bike lanes on First and Second Avenues I now ride instead of taking the train a lot more.”

Neusner is referring to the new type of bike lanes that the city has installed on sections of a few Manhattan avenues. In 2010 the Department of Transportation started building bike lanes with a new design that would separate bikers from car traffic with a “floating” lane of parked cars.

One of the most common bike lanes found in Manhattan

“After I got used to riding in those lanes I was more confident, and now I’m even willing to ride in unprotected lanes” added Neusner.

The new design places the bike lane right next to the sidewalk so that a row of parked cars keeps moving traffic away from cyclists. Many riders like this system because of how much safer they feel since their interaction with drivers is greatly reduced. However, not all bikers are in favor of the new design; many feel that they increase the chance of accidents with pedestrians, and limit cyclist’s ability to avoid obstacles.

While the first bike lane in America was built in 1894 along Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, there were very few lanes for cyclists built in the following century. That changed in 1997 when The Department of City Planning and the DOT created The New York City Bicycle Master Plan, which outlined a network of dedicated bike lanes in an effort to increase bicycle riding in the five boroughs.

Some of the lanes created by this plan had a “buffer zone” to distance riders from traffic, however, because it was only painted on, cars could still freely pull into the bike lanes. The Bicycle Master Plan was a ten-year project but its success in encouraging people to bike has led to more bikers and a continued interest in improvements to keep them safe.

View The Bike Lanes of NYC in a larger map

Between 2006 and 2011 New York City has added or improved 289.2 miles of bike lanes around the city according to the DOT. While the new design is only on First and Second Avenues between Houston Street and 34th Street, Eighth Avenue from its beginning on Hudson Street to 34th Street and Ninth Avenue from 30th Street to 16th Street right now, there are plans to extend them further north.

It is common for cyclists to encounter people parked in the bike lane and bikers traveling the wrong way in them.

Not all bikers like this plan. “They took away my favorite bike lane and replaced it with one I refuse to ride in” said Eric Gill of the Second Avenue bike lane. “If I use it, I am forced to ride slower than I usually would.” Before the installation of the new design, the Second Avenue bike lane ran alongside traffic with the painted buffer zone separating the two types of traffic.

The problem that many of the city’s more experienced cyclists see with these lanes is that while cars have the potential to do more damage, pedestrians are less predictable. “When you’re riding a bike, you’re quick to realize how little attention New Yorkers actually pay to where they are going,” Gill pointed out.

“I’m way more scared of people walking than people driving,” said Matthew Avedon, another city cyclist. “When people are driving it’s illegal for them to use their phone, and they’re at least supposed to use turn signals. When they’re walking all bets are off, they go where they please.”

Avedon has a point because even on the DOT’s website, one of the arguments in favor of the new bike lane design claims that it decreases the distance people must travel to cross the street. The way they came to this conclusion is that the old measurement went from one sidewalk to the other, while the new one goes from the island at the end of the row of floating parked cars to the sidewalk across the street. This measurement doesn’t count the bike lane, which seems to imply that cars are the only traffic that pedestrians need to watch out for.

The problem of people stepping in front of bikers is compounded by the fact the lane is bordered by the curb on one side and parked cars on the other. “When riding around the city, you always pay attention to your escape routes. That is, if a car makes a sudden turn or something unexpected happens you think of ways you can avoid it. When you’re blocked on both sides like you are in these lanes, you have nowhere to go if you’re suddenly blocked” Gill said.

It is not only bikers who have problems with the new lanes. Jeremy Golombeck who works at the Urban Outfitters on Second Avenue doesn’t like that delivery trucks must now park further from the curb and carry packages across the bike lane saying: “when we get big shipments, any farther away the truck has to park makes it tougher.”

Andrew Healy, the manager of NYC Velo, a bike shop on Second Avenue is in favor of the lane that passes a few steps from the shops front door. “It allows people who may be nervous about biking in the city to feel much safer since they know they will be separated from traffic” he said, adding “of course, I’m going to support anything that gets people out riding bikes more from both a cyclist and a business standpoint.”

By Anastasia Medytska

These days, the East Village is filled with hipsters slinging back $2 PBRs at Sly Fox or satisfying a 3 a.m. craving for pierogis at Veselka without any knowledge of the rich Ukrainian history behind these neighborhood hotspots.

Behind the overcrowded bar, above shelves stocked with an array of Ukrainian vodkas, hangs a sign with the words “Lys Mykyta” or Sly Fox in Ukrainian. The dive bar resembles a log cabin in the famed Carpatian Mountains of Ukraine, which is why it goes by a second name, often known only to the Ukrainians that frequent it during off-peak hours, Karpaty Pub.

A sign outside Veselka pays tribute to the neighborhood.

Just one building over, on the corner of Second Avenue and 9^th Street, sits Veselka Restaurant, open 24 hours to accommodate the merry revelers of Sly Fox and places like it. Veselka holds a major place in pop culture and the hearts of many American youth.

From movies like Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist where the titular characters grab a late-night meal near the ending of the movie, to teen-favorite show Gossip Girl, where Blair and Dan nosh on pierogies at the eatery. But what its multitudes of visitors don’t know is that it opened as a result of the Ukrainian Diaspora, when multitudes of Ukrainians fled a Soviet-controlled nation post World War II.

The neighborhood — with its unbeatable nightlife, cheap eats and Japanese markets — has a past teeming with Ukrainian culture. From retro eateries like Stage Restaurant to kielbasa connoisseurs’ favorite meat market, Baczynsky, first-generation Ukrainians built a neighborhood to carry on their culture. Today, that Ukrainian heritage is sometimes easy to miss among the many changes, but pockets of the area’s Eastern European past remain.

“I’m proud that they are still keeping the culture alive,” said Olha Medytska, a first-generation immigrant and teacher at St. George Ukrainian Catholic School, a K-12 school located on 6^th Street and Taras Shevchenko Place, which was developed for Ukrainian immigrants during times of mass immigration. “Although the majority of my students are not Ukrainian, they are still required to learn the language and they do it great! It’s good that it hasn’t been closed down; I’d be sad to see that.” However, this wasn’t always the case with St. George.

When Ms. Medytska tried to enroll her kids in St. George during the 1990s, she faced a shocking reality, “It was crazy, they told me that there were no seats in the first grade.” The neighborhood thrived during this time and it was an extremely tight-knit community. However, she said the situation has changed since then. “Today there are very few Ukrainian children at St. George and almost no first generation immigrants. The kids are American,” she said.

This phenomenon has been a more recent development in the neighborhood as it became more gentrified than what it was merely 60 years ago.

Surma Book & Music Co., a Ukrainian shop that was opened in the 1800s, has weathered all waves of Ukrainian immigration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7SnIYRpztU&feature=youtu.be

Ukrainian immigrant and active member of the Ukrainian-American community, Natalia Yezerska explained, “The end of World War II caused something known as the Ukrainian Diaspora, during which thousands of Ukrainians fled a country overtaken by the Soviet Union. They knew they could never come back to their motherland and so they developed their own ‘Little Ukraine’ here in New York to hold onto their culture.”

Little Ukraine was the 1950s moniker for what is now the East Village.

It was during the following decades that places like Veselka and Baczynsky Meat Market opened. “These immigrants worked hard to ensure that the generations to come would know what it means to be Ukrainian, without ever visiting the country,” said Ms. Yezerska. Their achievements included the opening of restaurants, shops, bars, schools and after-school activities. However, the developments stopped there. It wasn’t until 40 years later that Little Ukraine received an influx of fresh blood that would keep the neighborhood alive.

“In the 1990s, post-Soviet collapse, Ukraine finally gained independence and with it, Ukrainians earned the freedom to emigrate to America. This caused what is known as the fourth wave of immigration,” Ms. Yezerska said. During the 1990s, Little Ukraine experienced a revival as a flood of immigrants came to Manhattan, a place that was already pre-furnished with everything they needed to comfortably settle into a completely foreign country. Ms. Medytska, the teacher at St. George, came with her family during the fourth wave.

“I was lucky because I had family here already but this community helped me be more comfortable and I know it helped so many people who didn’t know anyone or a word of English,” She said.

During this time, the Ukrainian community was blossoming once again. However, despite the changing tides of immigration today, Ms. Medytska is happy that that Ukrainian spirit lives on even during the more recent gentrification.

Wares inside Surma showcase Ukrainian heritage

Ukrainians are fiercely proud of their cultural heritage, a result of Soviet domination for most of their history. Even though they may no longer flock to Manhattan, as a result of rising rent prices and falling immigration, Ukrainians still make the trip for a piece of “Little Ukraine” on weekends.

Every Saturday morning, throngs of Ukrainian parents come to the East Village to engrain some Ukrainian culture into their American-born children. The typical day starts with Ukrainian school in the morning. There are two such schools in the area, one housed in the St. George School building and another, just a block away on Second Avenue, in the Ukrainian National Home.

Children learn the Ukrainian language as well as history and customs in classrooms adorned with Ukrainian flags and symbols. Afterward, they go to either PLAST or CYM, two international Ukrainian Youth organizations. Donned in khaki uniforms adorned with badges and medals, the idea is similar to an American tradition- scouts.

However, instead of selling cookies and tying knots, the children often learn Ukrainian songs and poems and do fun activities for holidays, such as Easter egg painting. The day doesn’t stop there for some. Many children also attend dance classes, either at the Roma Pryma Bohachevska School of Dance or with a small group in St. George, where they learn Ukrainian folk dances.

Meanwhile, parents shop at Baczynsky meat market, the only remaining Ukrainian meat market in the neighborhood out of three, and visit the Ukrainian National Credit Union, the local bank with branches nationwide. They might grab a meal at the Ukrainian East Village Restaurant or go to a holiday party in the Ukrainian National Home. Then they drive back to Connecticut, Brooklyn, New Jersey and Upstate New York, only to come again for church at St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church on Sunday mornings.

The locals, who are no longer majority Ukrainian, still support the businesses on the days there are no Ukrainians coming in from the suburbs.

“This is a place for Lower East Side hipsters on weekends. Many of the young people here don’t even know it’s Ukrainian until they spend some time here,” said Ariel, a bartender at Sly Fox. Places like the Stage Restaurant, Veselka, Sly Fox and Backynzky have become somewhat of a culture icon for locals. They are a reminder of New York’s ethnic niches and of days gone by. So although there are no new places being built and the locals may no longer be Ukrainian, with the support of both visiting immigrants and local New Yorkers alike, Little Ukraine thrives on.

By Teresa Roca

Street art vendor Marty Allen wakes up at 4 a.m. every morning to commute to work. As he boards the Manhattan-bound G train from Classon Avenue in Brooklyn, he pushes a cart filled with framed photographs and whiteout drawings of real life sock puppets, each with their own personality and identity.

As Marty watches the city of New York wake up, he reaches Union Square at 5 a.m. and joins a community of street artists, each vying to secure one of 18 selling spots. Once settled, Marty watches for hours as people walk to and from his quirky stand, hoping he sells as many pieces of art as he used to before laws to limit street artists in Union Square began.

“In the past, we used to be able to set up all throughout the park,” said the street art vendor of six years. “Then these new laws were enforced. It is a lot harder to make a living doing this because of the rules.”

It is two years later, and as street artists find themselves struggling financially because of the new laws to restrict the number of street art vendors in Union Square to 18,  some artists continue to fight for their First Amendment rights.

For over 170 years, New York City residents and tourists from across the world have walked through the crowded streets of Union Square Park, taking in the vivacious and stimulating atmosphere that was once home to political protests and festive celebrations.

Street art vendors have helped create this chaotic and avant-garde environment by adding color to Union Square with innovate paintings, photography and other works of art.

This highly cherished environment became threatened in 2010 when the Parks Department proposed these new laws. Despite protests by over 90 street artists, the rules came into effect in July 2010.

“The city is really shutting down the artists here,” said street art vendor of abstract, architecture, nude and fashion photographs Victor Spinelli. “A couple of years ago we had a lot of energy here. People came to Union Square for that energy and to buy art. Now they are really putting the nail in the coffin. We are still fighting them in court and are trying to bring that energy back.”

According to nycgovparks.org, these laws were implemented to make way for corporate vendors and commercial interests. They are also a long-overdue effort to clear the congested pathways and sidewalks.

“We organize ourselves pretty well,” said Spinelli. “We always went in the line down here and we weren’t making obstruction like the Farmers Market with their big two ton trucks over there.”

According to nycgovparks.org, the designated spots for Union Square art vendors are on the west side and east side of the park from 14^th Street to 15^th Street. These spots are on the outer perimeter of sidewalks and are based on a first-come-first-serve basis.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays an additional 40 vendors are allowed to sell in Union Square, days when the Farmers Market isn’t running. This doesn’t make matters any better for street art vendors who are forced to set up against the crowded curb.

A ceramic photo tile mural by street art vendor Joel Kaye.

“It is strange because the spots they are giving us we would never be in,” said art vendor Joel Kaye who has been selling ceramic photo tiles of popular New York City landmarks for seven years. “They basically made these spots because they don’t want us here at all. They put us on top of each other, they turn the sprinklers on and get us all wet—it’s crazy.”

Union Square is not the only park facing these laws. According to nycgovparks.org, five vendors are allowed to sell on the High Line, nine in Battery Park and 49 in high-traffic areas of Central Park, cutting more than 75 percent of New York City’s street artists.

Many street art vendors have tried turning to galleries to display and sell their work, but because artists are obligated to have a large following, many are turned away. With gallery competition and the economy still unable to completely overcome the recession, the financial effects of the laws continue to endanger the livelihood of full-time street artists.

“This is my full-time job right now but because of the rules of the park my income has dropped significantly. It was much more consistent,” said Allen. “I am sure the economy has something to do with it, but not nearly as much as the fact that we have to set up in an area that is much less accessible to foot traffic.”

According to Allen, street art vendors are allowed to sell in parks because of their First Amendment right to freedom of speech. However, it is difficult to use that as a defense since they are making a profit and are lumped in with art vendors who do not create their own art.

“I talk to other artists and there are a lot of ideas on how to fight this, but there is an extent to which they are drumming the fight out of us,” said Allen. “It is a complicated set of issues and it has been a long road. There were cooler artists a year or two ago but people got drummed out because of the laws.”

With some artists unable to sell because of the first-come-first-serve basis, many have turned to other alternatives.

“I used to sell art on the street but because I am from Staten Island it was hard for me to travel out so early everyday,” said owner of Stay Great Apparel Rocco Miraglia who creates cartoon drawings that are screen-printed onto shirts, sweaters, shoes and hats. “I turned to the Internet and I accomplished way more than I ever thought I would. It is such a great outlet for free promotion and now my work is known all over the world.”

As some street artists have given up or turned to other outlets, many refuse to let their beloved passion go, as they continue to fight by taking the city to court for not only them, but also for the future of street art.

“When you sell on the street and get complimented on your artwork it really motivates you and gives you the confidence to want to go further,” said Kaye. “It is so great but it is being taken away by the city of New York. So even if I am not going to sell anymore, I will continue to fight for other artists that have the right to come out here, sell and show their art. I know that it will give them the opportunity to do something they love.”

View Interactive Map of New York Street Artists.

By Peter Passiglia

It was an early spring morning in Woodhaven, Queens and Forest Park was full of runners getting their daily exercise.

But not all the runners were on two legs. Four legged varieties were also getting a workout at the K-9 Korral, a fenced-in park inside Forest Park where dogs have room to run freely.

“Charlie was shy around people and other dogs when we first brought him home, bringing him to the dog park is a great way for him to get exercise, and it has really helped him become more comfortable around dogs and people as well,” said Marcie Jacobson, a regular at the dog park. Charlie is a four-year-old Louisiana Catahoula Leopard dog.

Dog parks like the K-9 Korral are important to New York City’s dogs and their owners, who often have a difficult time finding places to exercise and socialize their pets.

Urban dogs often are left at home while owners work and they can get lazy.  Being idle for long periods of time can cause dogs to gain weight which can lead to your dog developing diseases, heart conditions, and generally having a poorer quality of life.

“Before starting on an exercise program you would check with your doctor, the same care should be taken with your dog,’ said Dr. Howard Nachamie, who runs the Mobile Veterinary Unit in Forest Hills. Liver, kidney, heart, and skeletal conditions are just a few things that a veterinarian will check for your dog.

Dr. Nachamie said he was concerned with his patients’ health, but he also works on relationships between pets and their owners. He explained that dogs are social animals, and their behavior can be influenced by their socialization or lack of it.

Dog owners can reap the benefits of a well socialized dog, and in a highly populated city having a well socialized dog is almost a necessity. “The dog park is a great place for dogs to get used to being around other dogs and play,” said Mike Riley, a dog owner at Madison Square Park in Manhattan.

Not all dogs like to go outside, or they may not be used to going out that much. Dogs can still get exercise indoors, so don’t let bad weather keep your dog from getting its exercise.

Many city residents may not have access to a park or a running path so they have treadmills at home and your dog can be trained to run on them as well. A simple and fun way to exercise your dog at home is to just play with them.

Even lap dogs need their exercise. “A dog’s muscles will atrophy over time when not used, some exercise is really important to prevent this,” said Dr. Nachamie.

An overweight dog that does not get much exercise is at a higher risk for disease and other ailments. The overweight dog has more mass for its body to support and if its muscles have atrophied that just adds more stress for the dog’s skeletal system, joints, and heart to bear.

Pet food manufacturers have a wide line of products designed for the overweight dog. Dr. Nachamie said it is important to give your dog time to gradually adjust to new foods in its diet.

“Using moderation when feeding your dog and giving it snacks in between its normal feeding time is a good way to keep your dog’s weight in check,” Dr. Nachamie said.

Dogs are carnivores and can eat most foods that people eat, but again moderation should be practiced. Some foods like raisins, grapes, and chocolate can be toxic to a dog if ingested in certain quantities.

“At 125 pounds he eats a lot, so my husband or I bring him to the dog park at least twice a day to get his exercise,” said Meg Kearns, owner of Shep, a two-year-old Bouvier Diflanders. She likes meeting fellow dog owners at the dog park and the sense of community it creates.

In a city not all buildings allow dogs. Dog owners know this and are willing to pay the cost to have their dogs live with them. The love they get back from their dogs is priceless.

Many owners feel that their dog is part of the family. An exercise program can help keep an owner and its dog living a healthy and full life.

When your urban dog is ready to start its exercise program Dr. Nachamie has some tips for the owners.

1. Moderation and common sense cannot be stressed enough when exercising a dog.

2. Take it slow in the beginning and gradually increase the time of your walking sessions or play time.

3. Avoid giving large amounts of water before exercising your dog, and give moderate amounts of water after exercising. Too much water can give your dog cramps which can lead to colic a painful intestinal condition.

4. If it’s too hot for you, it’s too hot for your dog. Dogs don’t sweat they pant and expel heat from their ears and appendages. Keep your dog in the shade when possible.

5. Avoid running on hard surfaces. Walking on cement is a good way to file a dog’s nails, but too much running on it can lead to joint problems and other conditions.

6. You should be aware of ticks and fleas even in the city.

7. The relatively easy process of imbedding an identification microchip in a dog can help you recover your dog if it’s ever lost.

Zumba increased in popularity the past few years

If anyone has entered a gym or dance studio in the past year or so they may have noticed Latin music being played.

Zumba classes do not look like a typical fitness class; half the lights are off giving it more of a club feel. The room was completely full with mostly females and three males. The instructor is leading the class and at the same time motivating them to dance.

The class is taken place at Health and Racquet Club a fitness-oriented gym. There were a couple of classes that were fully packed showing that the craze will not slow down anytime soon.

Angi Purrington, the instructor, said she thinks Zumba is so popular because it allows people to dance.

“I used to love going out dancing but I hated going out at 11 p.m. So now, I get to party with amazing people Wednesday through Saturday and I am home before 9 p.m.,” she said.

Solange Gomez, a participant of Purrington’s Zumba class, said she was first introduced to Zumba about a year ago.

“I don’t particularly care for dance classes as they make me feel like a fool, but this Zumba class made me feel like I could really dance,” Gomez said. “It gave me the confidence to continue taking the class.”

According to Zumba.com, a website about the fitness program, Alberto “Beto” Perez, a Miami-based dancer, created the hip dance-fitness program in 2001 and it has spread since then. It has become an international obsession as one of the world’s largest and most successful dance-fitness program.

Viktoriya Kruglyak, who teaches at Flatbush Park Jewish center in Bergen Beach, has been teaching Zumba since September 2011 and has been certified since August 2011.

As a competitive ballroom dance for 12 years, she has noticed a few differences in Zumba. “Ballroom dance was always very strict and there was a specific way of doing it and it’s serious and competitive,” she said. “Zumba is more care free and fun. You don’t have to do it right you just keep moving and have fun.”

Zumba classes feature exotic rhythms and high-energy Latin and international beats. The energetic Latin music and stimulating, easy-to-follow moves, and the invigorating, party-like atmosphere can be one of the reasons why Zumba is increasing in popularity.

Kruglyak started going to Zumba classes in April 2011 and became motivated to teach the dance to students.

“I was inspired to become a teacher because I felt that I could give really great life changing classes. Health and fitness have always been very important to me and I wanted to help others,” Kruglyak said. “Because of my prior teaching of ballroom dance and my fitness background I knew I would be a good instructor and if I can change lives and make money doing it while at the same time getting a good workout it seemed like a no brainier.”

The notion behind combining easy dance steps in this type of workout is to help those who have a negative association with exercise, re-frame their attitude about fitness.

“Zumba is a free for all at least in my class. I always say ‘as long as you’re moving.’” said Purrington. “People just need the courage to move, and then a dance comes from that. Zumba is an aerobic/dance class that gives “versions” of salsa, Cumbia, hip hop, etc.”

Purrington, who did not have a dance background,  said instructors don’t need to be dancers in order to teach Zumba.

“I was working as a freelance make up artist at the time in New York City and needed a career change,” she said. “AI was a massage therapist in California and had decided to go back to school to get my New York License. Reebok was the first place I got hired.

“I have never taught a group fitness class before that needless to say, I had a busy summer of teaching my body how to move correctly. It definitely helped going to massage school,” Purrington said. “My education has led me to where I am now with my business with MyMa Movement. It’s about body awareness and I use this ideology in all my fitness classes and private training.”

Kruglyak believes that Zumba is important and that its growth comes from the dance itself and its students.

“Fitness in general became very important and Zumba is much more fun than going to the gym so people love it,” she said. Zumba gives you a good work out, allows you to relax have fun and forget all your problems and that’s the main reason for its growth.”

Reported By: Anthony Astacio

By Anne McCullom

On a recent Monday, Werner Schmidt firmly fastened the straps on his helmet and ascended up a wobbly staircase inside the iconic 39-floor United Nations building in midtown Manhattan, which is an empty concrete shell.

“We have done a complete rehab,” Schmidt explained. “We have torn everything out — electric, plumbing- you name it. Just the skeleton was left.”

As a spokesperson of the U.N.’s Capital Master Plan, Schmidt knows how vast the project is. And he comes often to the site.

 “The United Nations’ main complex has been opened since 1950-52. It was a breathtakingly modern building at that time but of course, more than 60 years have passed,” said Schmidt.

Things started to break down and the United Nations headquarters desperately needed a remake. The Capital Master Plan, an oversight organ for renovation was approved by the General Assembly in 2006. Member states agreed to pitch in funds for renovation.  Since 2009, different units have been cleared out. Old furniture, carpeting and art have been taken out of the Secretariat building into temporary spaces, some onsite but some further away.

“It is difficult to keep the headquarters functional while we are doing the renovation. This is a logistical challenge,” Schmidt said. “ First, we had to slowly phase out the existing building system, like heating and air conditioning and slowly phasing in the new.”
To allow the daily work of diplomats and delegates to continue, a temporary building on the North Lawn was constructed. Its white steel structure sits on top of a slight slope next to the current headquarters.

Although over 400, 000 tourists visit the U.N. every year, according to its website, the public cannot nowadays access many parts, mostly due tightened security measures after the Sept. 11 attacks. Yet, it seems like the visitors keep coming and despite of the renovations, they still can access the main visitors lobby and gift shops. 

The U.N. appears more on headlines on international and national news and people want to see with their own eyes this powerful institution where many important political decisions are made.  

“Another objective of the Capital Master Plan is to make the U.N. more secure against terrorism,” said Schmidt. “The U.N. has become a target of international terrorism.”

All windows on both sides of the facades were replaced. The new shiny green glass windows, also called “a curtain,” were applied with a film that protects against explosions and splintering glass.

“Now it’s back to the original transparency of the glass, plus more endurance,” Schmidt said with pride.

The Secretary General, H.E. Ban Ki-moon, along with 3,000 staff members had to relocate to the temporarily North Lawn Building as well. It still has good views of the East River. The old offices are expected to open by the end of 2012.

The next phase of the Capital Master Plan is to renovate the General Assembly Hall that currently operates in its old historic place. This huge conference room that accommodates all 193 member states’ delegates will be cleared out and refurbished.

Back in the days – when the U.N. was established, it started to look for a place to build its headquarters. A striving metropolis, New York City, was eager to take in the political think tank.

Much later, when the U.N. looked for expansion, many neighbors did not applaud. They were afraid that the huge semi-closed block would destroy the residential neighborhood. Rumors went that some historical Beaux Arts buildings on 45 Street and a church on 42 Street would be demolished.

Due to resistance these plans were abandoned.  

Karin Kaup, a Tudor City resident, said about recent plans on the U.N.’s expansion,  “In the fall of 2011 Tudor City residents were once again invited to protest meetings against the new United Nations land deal with New York City to build another U.N. building on the Robert Moses playground South of 42^nd Street“

She said that as a diplomat working at the U.N. she is excited about the plan; as a Tudor City resident she is pleased that part of the deal is to have the long awaited waterfront access in this part of Midtown. 

“I do feel for those Tudor City residents who would lose their river view. I myself do not have a river view to begin with,” said Kaup. 

In the 1950s the first Secretary General, Trygve Lie, came up with an idea on how to fund the much-needed conference rooms. He invited Scandinavian countries to build them.

While the GA Hall and Security Council are the best-known meeting halls, the Trusteeship Council Chamber was the most beautiful room in the building before the renovation.

The Danish government and the Danish Royal Academy of Fine Arts selected Finn Juhl (1912-1989) out of many architects to design the Trusteeship Council Chamber. A young, practically unknown Juhl had only designed his own home. Still he assembled a team with pride and enthusiasm from the very start.

“I think it was a big challenge, a big opportunity for him. He was only 38 at that time, I think,” said H.E. Carsten Staur, Danish Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the U.N.

Those who remember how the “old” Chamber looked like, say that Juhl had a good sense of practical and functional aspects but he also set new standards in furniture design. Classic Danish architects are hard to compete with, even today.

During the restoration of the Trusteeship chamber, in 2011, the Danish Queen came to New York to pay visit to the Secretary-General and announced the winner for the design of the restored Chamber.

A lot of new furniture is needed for the renovated rooms. “A number of worn-out desks and chairs will not come back. But very elegant period furniture from the late forties and fifties will be refurbished and brought back,” said Schmidt.

“Over two hundred new chairs will be made in Japan and shipped here in autumn,” said Ambassador Staur. “Another kind of chair is being developed as a prototype of new advanced material. Some older furniture, donated by Denmark, will go back.” 

Schmidt and nearly 1,000 construction workers will probably recycle their hard hats as soon as the renovation of the U.N. is finished in 2014. The metal walls of the North Lawn Building will be recycled and could be used by other builders. ”The lawn and rose garden will be restored to their original looks,” said Schmidt.

The Capital Master Plan efforts have been fruitful by bringing this historical icon into a new life and serving diplomats their arena for future disputes and discussions.

“When the chairs are ready and the Trusteeship Council Chamber reopens, hopefully in 2013, we’ll have a celebration,” said Ambassador Staur.

In Flushing, the Queens neighborhood that is home to the city’s second largest Chinatown, “Linsanity” was a phenomenon the residents embraced.

Asian players in Kissena Park

Restaurants were filled with patrons cheering on Jeremy Lin during New York Knicks games, the area’s basketball courts were filled with more Asian players than usual, and those who have never watched an NBA game suddenly became fans. To the people of Flushing, Lin — whose lightening quick rise to fame earlier this season was cut short by a knee injury — represented passion, hype and pride.

“My father, he never watched basketball before, now he started watching,” said Steve Lam, a Knicks fan even before Jeremy Lin, “Now it’s just more exciting, I’m more looking forward to every Knicks game.”

As much as the excitement he brought to the community, Lin brought controversies as well. Everybody wanted a piece of the pie. People on the street argued over Lin’s ethnicity.

The Chinese said Lin was Chinese, but the Taiwanese argued that since his parents were from Taiwan, so he should be Taiwanese. Then the conversation headed to whether Taiwan is a part of China, and on it went.

On YouTube, videos like “Jeremy Lin – Taiwanese Pride” or “Asian Pride” attracted tons of comments. Even Americans enter the fray, one commenter said, “Lin was born in America; therefore he is an American, not an Asian.”

But after a while, arguments faded away because people realized that they could be proud of him no matter his ethnicity.

The public’s love for Lin went well beyond the fact that Lin attended Harvard. He was the underdog. More than that, he looked different from everyone else on the court, yet seemed so comfortable and confident.

Many people in Flushing’s Asian community admired such a confidence, whether it was found in the younger generation or the older generation. They all understood how difficult it is to be different.

Wong wearing "Linsanity"

“Lin is for real!” said Ming Wong, a 24-year-old college student who has been a fan of basketball for more than 12 years. “To perform well for one game is easy, a lot of players have those days, but to perform well continuously is hard, especially under such a huge public attention and pressure, you have to be mentally strong to do that.”

 

There have been eight other Asians in the history of NBA, but none of them had stirred up such an excitement in the Chinese community as Lin.

Another reason people loved Jeremy Lin was that he actually plays good basketball. “His three point is so great, when they lose points, he just shoot some three points and make it,” said Richard Li, a 21-year-old student from Queens College, who has started playing basketball again because of Lin.

People just loved watching Jeremy Lin, whenever there was a Knicks game, all the sports bars and restaurants in Flushing were packed.  Watching Jeremy Lin together with families and friends became a must do thing.

Dante Claure, the manager of Applebee’s in Flushing Sky View Center mall, spent $5,000 just to make a Chinese version of his menu to accommodate the new wave of customers who were mainly there to watch Jeremy Lin.

“It’s definitely worth it,” he said. “When people started to notice Jeremy Lin, they started coming here little by little, and when he became famous, suddenly we were a full house.”

Those who couldn’t make it to the bars and restaurants stayed home and enjoyed the game with their families. “We don’t have cable before, but after Jeremy Lin, we just install it and watch him,” said Li.

Not everyone can afford Knicks tickets, but they cannot resist the fun of watching “Linsanity” together with friends and families.

Unfortunately, “Linsanity” was cut short by a knee injury, and Knicks lost to Heat 4 to 1 in the playoff while Lin was sitting on the bench. It was a heart breaker for the community.

Some said that they were glad that Lin missed the playoffs because that way he would get enough resting time for his knee so that he can come back next season fresh and healthy.

As much as the fans wanted Lin to be back to the Knicks next season, nothing is certain in this world of professional basketball. But one thing is certain, that is no matter where Lin goes, the community’s love for him will follow.

http://youtu.be/X3356qaLem8